Grade 8 learners' perceptions of implementing technical and vocational education in the curriculum

Abstract:M.A. (Educational Psychology

Chronic active hepatitis at Baragwanath Hospital

In a retrospective analysis of 35 Black patients with chronic active hepatitis (CAH) admitted to Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg, during the period 1972-1980, four major aetiological categories were found: auto-immune (lupoid, immunological (57%», drug-induced (isoniazid and a-methyldopa (17%», heptatitis B virus-related (14%), and alcohol-related (11%) CAH. Alcohol-related CAH was found in males only. Upper abdominal pafn was a presenting feature of alcohol-induced CAH, while jaundice was a common. presenting feature of the other types. Systemic features such as skin rashes (acne, urticaria), bacterial infections and congestive cardiac failure were prominent in the auto-immune type of CAH. The liver was enlarged in the majority of cases. Hepatitis B virus-related CAH showed an absence of tissue nonspecific auto-antibodies. Cirrhosis was present in approximately 50% of patients at the time of diagnosis. Despite the facts that isoniazid and a-methyldopa are commonly used and hepatitis B infections and alcohol abuse are 'frequent in this population, CAH. remains an uncommon condition in South African Blacks

Factors to Measure the Performance of Private Business Schools in South Africa

This article identifies the latent variables embedded within the model to measure the performance of private business schools. In the quantitative research design, 247 questionnaires, using a five-point Likert scale, were analysed after completion by private business school supervisors and managers. The data has high reliability with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.974 and excellent sample adequacy with a KMO value of 0.926. The analysis identified ten latent variables (or factors), identified using exploratory factor analysis explaining a cumulative variance of 70.56%. These are Regulatory compliance, Strategic communication, Educational technology stack, Strategic finance, Organisational development, Customer orientation, Sales, Pricing, Socio-political influence and Market focus. The study also succeeded to simplify measuring performance by eliminating 26 questions with low factor loadings (<0.40) or those that are cross-loading highly onto more than one factor from the questionnaire while retaining a satisfactory level of reliability. The results are valuable to private business school managers and to the employees wanting to measure and improve the business performance of a private business school. Researchers and academia could also benefit from the contribution of the study to either build on business performance of private business schools or, alternatively, in adopting the methodology employed in this study for another application setting

Adherence to attending appointments at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital outpatient physiotherapy department

MSc,Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2011Eighty percent of South Africa‘s population utilizes public health care facilities. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is such a facility and provides outpatient services to a population of approximately 3.5 million people with approximately 500 000 outpatients seen in the hospital annually. An audit conducted over a two month period (June 2009 and July 2009) in the general orthopaedic outpatient physiotherapy department brought to light that 38% of new patients that had appointments scheduled failed to arrive for their appointment. Non-attendance for an outpatient appointment results in a waste of resources, inefficiency, underutilization of facilities, potentially long waiting lists and potential complications for both attendees and non-attendees. Conducting research in the area of compliance to appointments would provide a better understanding of the nature of non-attendance, allow exploration of ways to reduce non-attendance, help to achieve set targets, improve efficiency in the services provided and thereby improve health service delivery. Statistics on non-attendance to initial outpatient physiotherapy appointments in South Africa is not readily available. Although non-attendance rates have been established internationally very little research has been done in developing countries on this area. The aim of this study was to identify the reasons for non-attendance at initial outpatient physiotherapy appointments. A retrospective audit and prospective descriptive series were utilized in the research project with face to face interviews conducted with attendees and telephonic interviews conducted with non-attendees. Questions used in the interview were based on areas that had been investigated previously in other studies and thought to have some impact on attendance as well as open ended question to obtain qualitative data. All data obtained in the interview were recorded on a 5 data collection sheet. Quantitative data was analysed using epi-info version 3.5.1 and qualitative data was analysed by formulating themes. Results revealed a non-attendance rate of 33% for initial scheduled outpatient physiotherapy appointments with the main reasons for non-attendance being transport problems (14%) followed by forgetting about the appointment (13%). Improved signage in the hospital, standardized information leaflets, SMS reminders, adjusting of appointment times, monitoring of waiting lists and disseminating of physiotherapy services into communities are some of the systems that can be put into place in an attempt to reduce the high non-attendance rate and thereby reduce inefficiencies, improve quality of services provided, better utilise human resources and improve productivity

Salud es Vida: Development of a Cervical Cancer Education Curriculum for Promotora Outreach With Latina Farmworkers in Rural Southern Georgia

Methods: A systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence from all prospective controlled studies on effectiveness of CHW programs in improving screening mammography rates. Studies reported in English and conducted in the United States were included if they: (i) evaluated a CHW intervention designed to increase screening mammography rates in women 40 years of age or older without a history of breast cancer; (ii) were a randomized controlled trial (RCT), case-controlled study, or quasi-experimental study; and (iii) evaluated a CHW intervention outside of a hospital setting. Results: Participation in a CHW intervention was associated with a statistically significant increase in receipt of screening mammography [risk ratio (RR): 1.06 (favoring intervention); 95% CI: 1.02-1.11, P = 0.003]. The effect remained when pooled data from only RCTs were included in meta-analysis (RR: 1.07; 95% CI: 1.03-1.12, P = 0.0005) but was not present using pooled data from only quasi-experimental studies (RR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.89-1.18, P = 0.71). In RCTs, participants recruited from medical settings (RR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.09-1.82, P = 0.008), programs conducted in urban settings (RR: 1.23; 95% CI: 1.09, 1.39, P = 0.001), and programs where CHWs were matched to intervention participants on race or ethnicity (RR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.29-1.93, P = 0.0001) showed stronger effects on increasing mammography screening rates. Conclusions: CHW interventions are effective for increasing screening mammography in certain settings and populations. Impact: CHW interventions are especially associated with improvements in rate of screening mammography in medical settings, urban settings, and in participants who are racially or ethnically concordant with the CHW

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Changes in Cognitive Functioning in Adults Undergoing Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Evidence is mixed regarding the effects of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) on changes in cognitive functioning among adults. Meta-analysis, which is designed to help reconcile conflicting findings, has not yet been conducted on studies of adults receiving HCT. To fill this gap, the current study provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of cognitive functioning in adults receiving HCT. A search of PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library yielded 732 abstracts, which were independently evaluated by pairs of raters. Seventeen studies were systematically reviewed; eleven were retained for meta-analysis. There was agreement that cognitive impairments are evident for a subset of patients prior to HCT. Meta-analytic findings of 404 patients revealed no significant changes in cognitive functioning pre- to post-HCT (P values > .05). Age, time since transplant, and total body irradiation were not associated with changes in cognitive functioning. Patients who received autologous transplants were more likely to demonstrate improvements in attention (P = .004). The systematic review identified several limitations of existing literature, including small, clinically heterogeneous samples. Large, cooperative group studies are needed to address these design limitations. Nevertheless, results from the current meta-analysis suggest that cognitive functioning does not significantly change following HCT

Selected risk factors for coronary heart disease in male scholars from the major South African population groups

A num.ber of risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) in 7 groups of South African male scholars aged between 15 and 20 years were surveyed. Selection of the groups was based on socioeconomic status and comprised urban and rural blacks, Indians of higher and lower socio-economic status, coloureds of higher and lower socio-economic status, and middle-class whites. Both Indian groups, both coloured groups and the whites had a much greater prevalence and severity of CHD risk factors than the two black groups. This held for total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC), the HDLC/LDLC ratio, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A-I, insulin, fibrinogen and mass. One exception was lipoprotein a, levels of which were higher in both black groups. In general the CHD risk factor profile was worse in the higher socio-economic groups, and it also tended to be worse in urban than in rural blacks. These findings stress the need to reduce CHD risk factors in our developed populations and to prevent their emergence in our developing peoples

A Brief Facial Morphing Intervention to Reduce Skin Cancer Risk Behaviors: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial

The current study was designed to test the efficacy of an appearance-based facial morphing program to reduce intentional UV exposure among individuals at risk for skin cancer. A three-arm randomized controlled trial was employed (N = 219) comparing facial morphing + health information to: (1) mindfulness + health information; and (2) health information only. Participants were young adults with a history of recent intentional tanning and future intentions to tan. Primary outcomes were indoor and outdoor tanning frequency and tanning intentions, with secondary outcomes of tanning attitudes, body image, and affect. Facial morphing participants reported less frequent tanning, compared to mindfulness and control participants at 1-month follow-up. Facial morphing participants also generally reported lower intentions to tan at immediate follow-up, although the magnitude of these effects weakened at 1-month follow-up. Facial morphing programs may offer a brief, efficacious, and scalable augmentation to standard of care in reducing intentional UV exposure

Motivational Interviewing to Promote Physical Activity in Breast Cancer Survivors

Abstract Despite documented health benefits, most breast cancer survivors (BCS) do not meet physical activity (PA) guidelines. Hence, evaluating diverse intervention approaches to promote PA in BCS is imperative. Motivational Interviewing (MI) offers a non-prescriptive, client-centered approach to PA promotion that has not been adequately evaluated in BCS. In this randomized-controlled trial, 66 Stage 0-IIIa BCS within three years post-treatment, insufficiently active and contemplating increasing PA were randomly assigned to a MI intervention or an active control condition. The MI intervention implemented motivational and behavior change strategies consistent with MI principles. The active control condition provided education and prescriptive recommendations on diet, PA, and stress management. Participants completed two in-person and one phone-based sessions over 4 weeks. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 6-week, and 12-week follow-up. The primary outcome was efficacy of the MI intervention to promote PA. Contrary to the hypothesis that the MI intervention would be superior, PA improvements were evident for both groups, with 60% of all participants meeting PA guidelines at 12-week follow-up. Secondary outcomes involved intervention effects on depressive symptoms, fatigue, vigor, and aerobic fitness. Contrary to hypotheses, improvements in secondary outcomes were evident for both groups. Exploratory moderation analyses yielded no group differences in PA outcomes based on baseline activity level, perceived stress, age, or body mass index. Exploratory mediation analyses indicated that the relationships between group assignment and change in secondary outcomes were not mediated by change in PA. In analyses of the combined sample, higher baseline aerobic fitness predicted greater improvement in PA over time. Overall, results suggest that diverse intervention approaches can help promote PA in BCS. Future research should evaluate long-term maintenance of gains and theoretical mechanisms of the intervention effect

Sufi epistemology encounters modernity in the Tariqa of the Sufi Master 'Abd al-Qadir al-Sufi

© 2013 Dr. Riyaz Ahmed AsvatAbstractThis dissertation compares the epistemologies of modernity and Sufism. The primary focus is on those aspects of epistemology which give us an indication of what knowledge is and how it is acquired for understanding and interpreting the meaning of reality. In this sense epistemology is the foundation on which societies base their institutions, culture and civilization. Modern society, based on the foundations of empiricism and rationalism is, in the analysis of ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Sufi, in crisis. In addition to empiricism and rationalism (‘ilm al-‘aql) Sufism has access to four more sources of knowledge, which in the view of al-Sufi can contribute to social cohesion by establishing a new nomos i.e. a balanced ordering of the external reality of the world with the illuminated internal experience of the individual. This thesis will investigate the chain of masters in the Sufi Order to which al-Sufi belongs with particular emphasis on the formative period of Sufism. It will focus on the epistemological sources of Sufi knowledge and how they have contributed to constructing the cosmology of Sufism. Since the essential element of Sufi epistemology is unveiling (kashf) it will take a detailed look at this phenomenon and the methodology by which it is achieved. It will also analyze al-Sufi’s deconstruction of modern science and social sciences through a comparative review of the pre-modern and modern worldviews. In the philosophical discourses extending from Descartes to Heidegger we will observe a movement away from epistemologies based on metaphysics to ones that are based on ontology. The ontological foundation for epistemology is a major theme in Islamic Philosophy. This dissertation will review Islamic philosophy’s focus on ontology as a way of overcoming the subject/object and knower/known dichotomies encountered in epistemology. The unique defining element of Sufism is that it is a science by which fana (annihilation of the self) and baqa (subsistence in God) can be experienced. When the consciousness of the self is annihilated God manifests Himself to the Sufi. This process is known as the acquisition of knowledge by presence as against knowledge by representation, that is discursive knowledge. Al-Sufi’s path to social cohesion will be discussed through his critique of secularism, political economy and oligarchy. Finally I will discuss al-Sufi’s contributions to the establishment of the new nomos, which for him is none other than the existential methodology of Malik ibn Anas or ‘amal ahl al-madina (the practice of the people of Madina). This dissertation will review Islamic philosophy’s focus on ontology as a way of overcoming the subject/object and knower/known dichotomies encountered in epistemology. The unique defining element of Sufism is that it is a science by which fana (annihilation of the self) and baqa (subsistence in God) can be experienced. When the consciousness of the self is annihilated God manifests Himself to the Sufi. This process is known as the acquisition of knowledge by presence as against knowledge by representation, that is discursive knowledge. Al-Sufi’s path to social cohesion will be discussed through his critique of secularism, political economy and oligarchy. Finally I will discuss al-Sufi’s contributions to the establishment of the new nomos, which for him is none other than the existential methodology of Malik ibn Anas or ‘amal ahl al-madina (the practice of the people of Madina)