Refusals to Invitations Performed by Javanese College Leaners of English in Surakarta by Using Gender as Social Variable

This is a case study of pragmatic which investigates the types of refusal to invitations and their semantic formulas, and the ways of the Javanese college learners of EFL perform the refusal types and their semantic formulas. For this study, 60 Javanese college learners of EFL (30 male and 30 females) are asked to respond in English for ten various situations of invitations in which they carry out the speech act of refusal. The data, collected from Discourse Completion Task (DCT), are analyzed in terms of refusal types, semantic formulas, and the ways of the refusal types and semantic formulas performed by the respondents. The analyzed data basically uses the taxonomy of refusals by Beebe,et.al. (1990), but in this current study the writer uses the modification of taxonomy of refusals from Yamagashira (2001), Wannaruk (2005), and Al Eryani (2007) are chosen. The result of investigation is 600 responses of refusal to invitations. Then, the English performance of the male and female respondents is compared to know the differences and similarities in refusals to invitations. The difference of performing the refusal utterances between the male and the females particularly happen in the frequency of using the refusal utterance not in the forms of refusal utterance, and generally the difference is not significant. The slight difference also happens in the ways of using the refusal utterances to invitations. These facts affirm that language used by the males and the female are different. The refusal utterances to invitations performed by the male and female respondents in the current study are also compared to the refusal utterances to invitations used by American native speakers in the previous studies of Wannaruk (2005) and Al Eryani (2007). From those comparisons between the respondents as non native speakers, and the Americans as native speakers can be revealed that the cultural issues or values underlie the differences, and it causes a pragmatic transfer. The findings advocate implications for EFL teaching methodology, including material and curriculum development, it also confirms that language and culture is inseparable. Furthermore, this study is helpful to understand speech acts and or oral communication across culture

American Exceptionalism: Population Trends and Flight Initiation Distances in Birds from Three Continents

Background All organisms may be affected by humans' increasing impact on Earth, but there are many potential drivers of population trends and the relative importance of each remains largely unknown. The causes of spatial patterns in population trends and their relationship with animal responses to human proximity are even less known. Methodology/Principal Finding We investigated the relationship between population trends of 193 species of bird in North America, Australia and Europe and flight initiation distance (FID); the distance at which birds take flight when approached by a human. While there is an expected negative relationship between population trend and FID in Australia and Europe, we found the inverse relationship for North American birds; thus FID cannot be used as a universal predictor of vulnerability of birds. However, the analysis of the joint explanatory ability of multiple drivers (farmland breeding habitat, pole-most breeding latitude, migratory habit, FID) effects on population status replicated previously reported strong effects of farmland breeding habitat (an effect apparently driven mostly by European birds), as well as strong effects of FID, body size, migratory habit and continent. Farmland birds are generally declining. Conclusions/Significance Flight initiation distance is related to population trends in a way that differs among continents opening new research possibilities concerning the causes of geographic differences in patterns of anti-predator behavior

First-Aid Treatment for Friction Blisters: "Walking Into the Right Direction?"

OBJECTIVE: Blisters are common foot injuries during and after prolonged walking. However, the best treatment remains unclear. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of 2 different friction blister treatment regimens, wide area fixation dressing versus adhesive tape. DESIGN: A prospective observational cohort study. SETTING: The 2015 Nijmegen Four Days Marches in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2907 participants (45 ± 16 years, 52% men) were included and received 4131 blister treatments. INTERVENTIONS: Blisters were treated with either a wide area fixation dressing or adhesive tape. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time of treatment application was our primary outcome. In addition, effectiveness and satisfaction were evaluated in a subgroup (n = 254). During a 1-month follow-up period, blister healing, infection and the need for additional medical treatment were assessed in the subgroup. RESULTS: Time of treatment application was lower (41.5 minutes; SD = 21.6 minutes) in the wide area fixation dressing group compared with the adhesive tape group (43.4 minutes; SD = 25.5 minutes; P = 0.02). Furthermore, the wide area fixation dressing group demonstrated a significantly higher drop-out rate (11.7% vs 4.0%, P = 0.048), delayed blister healing (51.9% vs 35.3%, P = 0.02), and a trend toward lower satisfaction (P = 0.054) when compared with the adhesive tape group. CONCLUSIONS: Wide area fixation dressing decreased time of treatment application by 2 minutes (4.5%) when compared with adhesive tape. However, because of lower effectiveness and a trend toward lower satisfaction, we do not recommend the use of wide area fixation dressing over adhesive tape in routine first-aid treatment for friction blisters

Protein Intake and Distribution in Relation to Physical Functioning and Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Elderly People: Acknowledging the Role of Physical Activity.

Increasing total protein intake and a spread protein intake distribution are potential strategies to attenuate sarcopenia related loss of physical function and quality of life. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate whether protein intake and protein intake distribution are associated with muscle strength, physical function and quality of life in community-dwelling elderly people with a wide range of physical activity. Dietary and physical activity data were obtained from two studies (N = 140, age 81 ± 6, 64% male), with the following outcome measures: physical functioning (Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), comprising balance, gait speed and chair rise tests), handgrip strength and quality of life (EQ-5D-5L). Protein intake distribution was calculated for each participant as a coefficient of variance (CV = SD of grams of protein intake per main meal divided by the average total amount of proteins (grams) of the main meals). Based on the CV, participants were divided into tertiles and classified as spread, intermediate or pulse. The average total protein intake was 1.08 ± 0.29 g/kg/day. Total protein intake was not associated with outcome measures using multivariate regression analyses. Individuals with a spread protein diet during the main meals (CV < 0.43) had higher gait speed compared to those with an intermediate diet (CV 0.43⁻0.62) (β = -0.42, p = 0.035), whereas a spread and pulse protein diet were not associated with SPPB total score, chair rise, grip strength and Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY). The interaction of higher physical activity and higher total protein intake was significantly associated with higher quality of life (β = 0.71, p = 0.049). While this interaction was not associated with SPPB or grip strength, the association with quality of life emphasizes the need for a higher total protein intake together with an active lifestyle in the elderly

An update of the WCRF/AICR systematic literature review and meta-analysis on dietary and anthropometric factors and esophageal cancer risk

Background: In the 2007 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research Second Expert Report, the expert panel judged that there was strong evidence that alcoholic drinks and body fatness increased esophageal cancer risk, whereas fruits and vegetables probably decreased its risk. The judgments were mainly based on case–control studies. As part of the Continuous Update Project, we updated the scientific evidence accumulated from cohort studies in this topic. Methods: We updated the Continuous Update Project database up to 10 January 2017 by searching in PubMed and conducted dose–response meta-analyses to estimate summary relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using random effects model. Results: A total of 57 cohort studies were included in 13 meta-analyses. Esophageal adenocarcinoma risk was inversely related to vegetable intake (RR per 100 g/day: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80–0.99, n = 3) and directly associated with body mass index (RR per 5 kg/m2: 1.47, 95% CI: 1.34–1.61, n = 9). For esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, inverse associations were observed with fruit intake (RR for 100 g/day increment: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.75–0.94, n = 3) and body mass index (RR for 5 kg/m2 increment: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.56–0.73, n = 8), and direct associations with intakes of processed meats (RR for 50 g/day increment: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.11–2.28, n = 3), processed and red meats (RR for 100 g/day increment: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.04–1.82, n = 3) and alcohol (RR for 10 g/day increment: 1.25, 95% CI: 1.12–1.41, n = 6). Conclusions: Evidence from cohort studies suggested a protective role of vegetables and body weight control in esophageal adenocarcinomas development. For squamous cell carcinomas, higher intakes of red and processed meats and alcohol may increase the risk, whereas fruits intake may play a protective role