Educational broadcasting in West Germany

The producers of educational broadcasts in West Germany do not expect their productions to be the only ones used in the class-room situation. Nor do they produce only for class-rooms or lecture-halls. Some of their productions are for children of the pre-school going age, and others are intended to interest people who are long past their schooling days. In other words, educational broad- casting is conceived of as including the home as well as the school. Moreover, it is directed at recipients of all ages who are interested in increasing their knowledge and enriching their culture. Not only the recipients, but also the particular qualities of the different individual media are carefully taken into account in the planning stage. The first consideration is to decide which subject fits which medium best. It is not surprising that music, for instance, should play a prominent part in radio broadcasting and that such subjects as biology and computer technology should feature prominently on television.peer-reviewe

Convergence at the origin of integrated semigroups

We study a classification of the kappa-times integrated semigroups (for kappa>0) by the (uniform) rate of convergence at the origin: $\|S(t)\|=O(t^\alpha)$, $0\leq\alpha\leq\kappa$. By an improved generation theorem we characterize this behaviour by Hille-Yosida type estimates. Then we consider integrated semigroups with holomorphic extension and characterize the convergence at the origin, as well as the existence of boundary values, by estimates of the associated holomorphic semigroup. Different examples illustrate these results. The particular case $\alpha=\kappa$, which corresponds to the notions of Riesz means or tempered integrated semigroups, is of special interest : as an application, it leads to an integrated version of Euler's exponential formula.Comment: 14 page

Note on a product formula for unitary groups

For any nonnegative self-adjoint operators A and B in a separable Hilbert space, we show that the Trotter-type formula $[(e^{i2tA/n}+e^{i2tB/n})/2]^n$ converges strongly in the closure of the intersection of the domains of A^{1/2} and B^{1/2}, along some subsequence and for almost every real number t. This result extends to the degenerate case and to Kato-functions following the method of Kato.Comment: 5 pages, submitted to the London Math. So

Why palliative care? : encountering challenging issues

Palliative care is the active holistic care of patients with advanced disease. Management of pain and other symptoms and provision of psychological, social and spiritual support is important. Palliative care is multidisciplinary and aims to achieve the best quality of life for patients and their families. In this article, the concepts of palliative care and the current issues of particular interest including the debates about physician assisted suicide, end of life issues and the importance of raising awareness of these issues and the need for further development of palliative care skills with doctors are discussed.peer-reviewe

Better mental health and well-being

Mental ill-health imposes a huge burden on individuals, their families, society, health systems and the economy. Mental health care remains a neglected area of health policy in too many countries. This statement by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2014) confirms the overall bleak assessment of the reaction to mental ill-health that prevails worldwide even in well-developed economies. Mental ill-health has accompanying costs in terms of reduced quality of life, loss of productivity, and premature mortality. Data from the European Union shows that stigma and the fear of its possible effects on personal, family and employment prospects prevents around half of those who need mental health care to come forward and request such care.peer-reviewe

Testosterone deficiency in the adult males

Testosterone deficiency leads to multiple problems but can be difficult to diagnose. However, replacement therapy can be rewarding and a life changer for the patient.peer-reviewe

The impact of globalisation on organisational communication: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

Background: Many journal articles, books and book chapters have been devoted to cross-cultural communication, highlighting aspects such as individualist vs. collectivist cultures, and high- vs. low-context cultures (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003; Lanier, 2010; Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). However, very few studies have been carried out on the implications of these aspects on global business. It is evident that people are moving between cultures for various reasons such as work or studies (Office for National Statistics, 2014), taking their cultural communication styles with them (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010). The aim of this small-scale study was to look at the effects of communication on global operations. Culture varies across geographical regions (Agar, 1994), influencing the conveyed meaning being communicated. Hence, the research question for this study was: What are the communication implications of a global workforce? Methods: A homogenous sample of four participants at senior management level was interviewed using Semi-Structured Interviews (SSI). Eleven carefully selected questions were devised with the aim of reducing demand characteristics. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith & Osborn, 2011) was applied to the collected data. Findings: Findings suggested that explicit and implicit communication is a key element for successful global business, as well as a broad understanding of cultures. Consequently, participants reported that it is necessary to have knowledge of how other cultures behave so integrity of business can be carried out. Discussion: It was concluded that implications are evident for global organisations, particularly towards management, who need to ensure there is a constant and consistent level of communication to help their employees and increase their profits

Bilateral Acanthamoeba keratitis

Acanthamoeba keratitis is a rare eye infection commonly misdiagnosed as herpes simplex or fungal keratitis. Failure to include it in the differential diagnosis in any contact lens wearer with the typical features of an eye infection, results in a delay in the appropriate treatment with eventual complications and even blindness. This report describes the first case of bilateral Acanthamoeba keratitis ever reported in Malta, which occurred in a young female contact lens wearer.peer-reviewe

A case of accidental Ricin poisoning

A case report of accidental, mild ricin poisoning by ingestion of ten Castor beans by a 70 year old man. The clinical presentation is followed by a discussion about the toxicity of ricin, its use and misuse and the contrast between the toxicity of pure ricin and the ingestion of castor beans. Management of castor bean poisoning is also discussed.peer-reviewe

Dopa-responsive dystonia and hyperprolactinaemia : a novel association in two sisters

Dopa-Responsive Dystonia (DRD) is a rare hereditary condition of childhood-onset dystonia which responds dramatically to treatment with levodopa. It was first described in 1971 as a "hereditary progressive basal ganglia disease with marked diurnal fluctuation". We describe a novel association between DRD and hyperprolactinaemia occurring in two sisters at the onset of puberty.peer-reviewe