Pre-admission assessment of elderly applicants to long-term care

Aim: to identify whether pre-admission assessment of elderly applicants could be an effective means of identifying actual need for long term care Methods: 105 applicants to long term care were assessed at source for suitability for admission. Assessment instruments used were OARS and CAPE. All subjects were followed up after 3 months to assess actual outcome. Findings: Assessment findings showed that of the study group (n=105), 22% could remain in the community, 21% could benefit from hospital care / rehabilitation and 57% required institutionalisation. Unmet need was identified in applicants in the community (n=40) for home help, day care, social worker, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and community nursing. Conclusion: Pre-admission assessment appropriately identifies the actual needs of applicants to long-term care and prevents inappropriate admission.peer-reviewe

Persistent vegetative state secondary to a motor vehicle accident

The case presents a young girl who was involved in a road traffic accident. Despite being alive at present, her body cannot perform any basic functions since she is in a persistent vegetative state. Numerous examinations and investigations showed several lesions in the head, neck and thorax, the most striking of which being an avulsion injury at the junction of the spinal cord with the medulla. Aim: The purpose of this writing is to shed light on a rare condition brought about by one of the most common mechanisms of injury. Considering the extent of the injury that this girl presented with, her survival rate was low, yet somehow she managed to cheat death. The frequency of such cases taking place in Malta is exceptionally rare, making this episode worth publishing.peer-reviewe

Crohn’s disease

44-year-old female known case of Crohn’s disease and depression who presented with a few hours’ history of severe abdominal pain and multiple episodes of vomiting faeculant matter. An inflamed terminal ileum and ascending colon were found at laparatomy and resection of terminal ileum and caecum (right hemicolectomy) was carried out. Crohn’s is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder of unknown aetiology which can affect the whole gastrointestinal system (from mouth to anus) and is typified by asymmetric, focal, transmural inflammation and sometimes granuloma formation in the bowel wall. Signs of extraintestinal manifestation can be marked. The life-long disease is punctuated by periods of exacerbation and remission15. Genetic and environmental contributors, as well as immunological factors are implicated in the pathogenesis and severity of Crohn’s disease.peer-reviewe

THE PRODUCTION OF NOVEL GLASS-CERAMICS FROM PROBLEMATIC UK WASTES USING BORATES

Incineration of waste is increasing in the UK as landfill resources diminish. Municipal waste incineration produces waste residues; bottom ash, fly ash and air pollution control (APC) residues. The present research project focuses on APC residues, which are a hazardous waste arising from cleaning of incineration flue gases. APC residues must be pre-treated before disposal at hazardous landfill or placed in permanent secure storage. The aim of this research project was to produce novel glass-ceramics from optimised combinations of waste materials to provide a stabilised, safe material of value and to provide an alternative to disposal. Pre-treatment of the APC residues by washing was necessary to remove soluble chloride phases. Electrostatic precipitator (EP) dust and soda-lime glass cullet were combined with the washed APC residues as sources of glass forming oxides and borate. An optimised boratecontaining silicate glass was produced from the wastes, from which dense, sintered glass-ceramics and bulk glass-ceramics were successfully fabricated. A powder sintering method was used to produce a dense sintered material from washed APC residues, EP dust and glass cullet. It was determined that the use of commercially available sodium borate (Neobor®) could be used to replace the waste source of borate to produce a sintered material of equal mechanical and physical properties. The main crystalline phases of all heat treated materials were wollastonite and gehlenite. The resulting mechanical and physical properties of the glass-ceramics and sintered materials indicated they would be acceptable as construction materials. The results of the research project indicate that thermal treatment is a convenient technology for the safe utilisation of a problematic waste (APC residues from municipal waste incineration) in new products of potential commercial interest

Otherness and mothers of children with disability

This paper addresses the way disability is lived and constructed by mothers of children with disability as recounted in their narratives. It focuses specifically on the mothers’ relationships with their family members and society after the disability diagnosis of their child. ‘Otherness’ is a crucial theme in this paper. In fact, the paper explores the narratives with a view to exposing processes of ‘othering’. It shows that the way we tend to organise lives around particular norms restricts and pushes people with disabilities and their mothers to the margins. This paper also provides insights into my own sense of otherness since I wrote it while pregnant.peer-reviewe

A New Approach to the Coherence Theory of Truth

This paper does not argue that the coherence theory should be the accepted theory about what truth is. It aims, rather, to present the coherence theory of truth in a new light, in a way that sheds understanding on why the theory has had such prominence in the history of the philosophy of truth. Thus, although this paper is not a defence of the theory per se, it offers a charitable interpretation of it. The coherence theory has a paradoxical status in the literature, since it is considered the chief competitor with the correspondence theory and yet critiques of it are often extremely scathing. This paper is designed to reveal a better grasp and understanding of what the coherence theory’s status should be. The first important result is that coherence is a perfectly acceptable extensional description of truth, as it simply predicates something about all the true things. The second even more interesting result is that if coherentists want their theory to achieve an analysis of the meaning of truth then they must be committed to an ontological position, specifically, some form of idealism. The conclusions of this paper therefore are informative about the theoretical space that coherentists have to move in today and also hopefully illuminative of why the coherence theory has been attached to the philosophical doctrines and positions that it has been associated with historically

Attitudes of Maltese Consumers Towards Quality in Fruit and Vegetables in Relation to Their Food-Related Lifestyles

food-related lifestyles approach, fruits and vegetables, consumers’ attitudes, food quality, Maltese consumers, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing,

A theology of migration : mercy and education

One of the mandates of UNESCO is to make education accessible to all, in law and in fact, and in this respect, Maltese governments have certainly delivered. Where the education of children and young people is concerned, the principles of non-discrimination, of equality of opportunity and treatment, and of (intellectual and moral) solidarity have been respected, and the constitutional right of all children to attend school has not been denied, regardless of the legal or social status of the parents. All children up to the age of sixteen are entitled to free education and are legally obliged to attend school. Access to education to Third Country Nationals (TCNs) is granted through various Regulations: those concerning the status of long-term residents (Third Country Nationals), those concerning the common standards and procedures for returning illegally staying TCNs, those concerning the right to family reunification, and so on.peer-reviewe

Structural changes in a Posidonia oceanica meadow exposed to a pollution gradient from a marine fish-farm in Malta (Central Mediterranean)

Posidonia oceanica morphological parameters where measured at increasing distance from a marine fish-farm that has been operational for 7 years. Most parameters changed significantly with increasing distance from the cages, the greatest change occurring in the first 50 m.peer-reviewe

A New Approach to the Coherence Theory of Truth

This paper does not argue that the coherence theory should be the accepted theory about what truth is. It aims, rather, to present the coherence theory of truth in a new light, in a way that sheds understanding on why the theory has had such prominence in the history of the philosophy of truth. Thus, although this paper is not a defence of the theory per se, it offers a charitable interpretation of it. The coherence theory has a paradoxical status in the literature, since it is considered the chief competitor with the correspondence theory and yet critiques of it are often extremely scathing. This paper is designed to reveal a better grasp and understanding of what the coherence theory’s status should be. The first important result is that coherence is a perfectly acceptable extensional description of truth, as it simply predicates something about all the true things. The second even more interesting result is that if coherentists want their theory to achieve an analysis of the meaning of truth then they must be committed to an ontological position, specifically, some form of idealism. The conclusions of this paper therefore are informative about the theoretical space that coherentists have to move in today and also hopefully illuminative of why the coherence theory has been attached to the philosophical doctrines and positions that it has been associated with historically