Decoded: A Case Report on Dedifferentiated Liposarcoma on the Gluteal Area

Dedifferentiated liposarcoma is a soft tissue sarcoma of adipocytic lineage. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry are essential for diagnosis. A 51-year-old Filipino woman presented with a rapidly enlarging left gluteal tumor. Histopathology revealed a multilobulated tumor having prominent myxoid stroma with numerous stellate-shaped, atypical cells bearing atypical mitotic figures. Other lobules were composed of sheets of pleomorphic cells, with atypical mitotic figures. The tumor stained positively with alcian blue, vimentin, MDM2 and p16 stains. Other immunohistochemical (IHC) studies done (pancytokeratin, CK7, CK 20, CD 34, CEA, desmin, EMA, SMA, S100) showed negative results. After a 2 cm wide excision of the sarcoma, patient was free from local tumor recurrence for 2 months, after which she was lost to follow-up. We report this case and a brief review of the current literature on dedifferentiated liposarcoma.

A Feminist Reading of Filipino Women Poets

This paper draws on ideas from a shared identity of Filipino women writers. While a shift in 21st Century feminist reading, mainly the slant that to think about woman is also to think about gender, has become available for interrogation and re-inscription, the study on Filipino woman as a construct and a subject of self-representation of contemporary Filipino poetry remains scarce. Drawing at how women and their experiences were represented in select poems written by 4 contemporary women poets, this paper explored common patterns of women imaging using textual and thematic analysis, alongside French feminism expounded by the arguments of Helene Cixous, Luce Irigaray, and Julia Kristeva. The findings revealed that women poets’ rhetoric, awakening, resistance, and call to action had redefined women experience as a collective whole. Collective as they seem, the poems established a strong articulation of a feminist stance, which is a resistance against subversion and marginality. The paper is of relevance both to feminist scholars and others with practical interests in women poetry as it will enable them to better understand Filipino women experience and its representation in verse.

Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome in Hyperemesis Gravidarum: A Case Report and Literature Review

Background: Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome (WKS) is a triad of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and memory deficits due to thiamine insufficiency resulting from under- or untreated Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE), which may be associated with hyperemesis gravidarum (HEG). Case presentation: We present a case of a 36-year-old Filipino woman in her first trimester with HEG, along with the WKS triad and abnormal hyperintense signals in the bilateral thalami and midbrain, left occipital lobe, periaqueductal gray matter and pontine periventricular areas. Neurologic deficits partially improved but persisted despite intravenous thiamine administration. Evidence review: A review of current treatments for WE, and the prevention and neurocognitive recovery of WKS was done. The beneficial effects of thiamine for acute WKS are supported by several case reports and clinical experience. Evidence from one randomized controlled trial wherein thiamine was given in various doses for treating WE or preventing WKS in an alcohol-dependent population is limited by methodological issues. Rehabilitation and pharmacotherapy for neurocognitive recovery seems promising, but they have inadequate evidentiary support. More robust studies on multi-modal strategies are warranted to facilitate the neurocognitive recovery of patients with WKS.

POPS case: A 30-year-old Filipino woman with fevers, lymphadenopathy, painful scalp lesions, and a neck mass

We described a case of a 30-year-old Filipino woman who presented with fevers, night sweats, left hip pain, painful scalp lesions, and a neck mass. Symptoms began 6 months earlier, with nasal drainage, fever, cough, and occasional hemoptysis, which did not resolve with outpatient antibiotics. A further workup revealed lymphadenopathy and several lytic bone lesions. Her hospital course was later further complicated by the development of a tracheoesophageal fistula secondary to an esophageal mass and, then later, aseptic meningitis. Extensive diagnostic workup and immunologic tests were performed and finally led to the diagnosis. Here, we discussed the diagnostic workup and pathophysiology of the underlying condition. This case illustrated the importance of appropriate immunologic workup to make the diagnosis of a rare condition that proves to be clinically significant and presents challenges in management.

Tuberculosis presenting as dacryoadenitis in the USA

A 25-year-old Filipino woman living in the USA was evaluated for a 5-month history of left eye pain and a subsequent orbital mass. Histopathological analysis of the lacrimal mass showed a mixed inflammatory process with necrotising granulomas and positive cultures for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She was treated with antituberculosis therapy, with resolution of symptoms. Tuberculosis dacryoadenitis is extremely rare in the USA and other developed countries. It requires a high degree of clinical suspicion with special attention to the patient’s history to make the correct diagnosis. It can be treated successfully with antituberculosis therapy.

In Search of the Babayi: A cartography of a Distinct Filipina Theoethics

This paper on methodology is an attempt to find a distinct Filipino theology and ethics by retrieving the sense of the babayi (woman). The babayi comes from the ancient Asiatic script called the baybayin. Inspired by the courage and resiliency of the Filipina woman in the face of tragedy and war, the goal is to map out a theo-ethics that is uniquely reflective of the Filipino woman within the broader feminist and liberation ethics. As a method, it critiques the prevailing framing of Western feminism common among Filipino women writers. Following intersectionality, a paradigm that analyzes oppression as the crossroad of racism and poverty, this method locates the Filipina in the multiaxial framing of history, the struggle of poverty and discrimination, displacement, religion and dialogue, and ecology. This multidimensional approach considers the long history of oppression experienced by our people, reflects inherent Filipino values and provides a method for understanding the Filipina and her allies today.