Upgrading English Language Proficiency and Providing Optimum Nursing Care for Cardiac Patients: Perceptions of Non-native Nurses

Linguistic competence and effective communication are essential for providing optimum care for patients. Cardiac care is among the high-alert settings that require highly proficient nurses to be attentive and provide the best possible care for patients with heart problems. This research aims to measure the perceptions of non-native nurses towards the correlation between upgrading their English language proficiency level and providing optimum nursing care for cardiac patients. To this end, a mixed-method research design, qualitative and quantitative, was adopted in the study. First, a questionnaire was constructed and disseminated to 210 Egyptian nurses working at the Magdi Yacoub Foundation (MYF) in Aswan, Egypt. Yet, 127 nurses responded to the questionnaire. Secondly, to ensure the reliability of the research results, observation and interviews with a selected number of questionnaire takers were used as data collection instruments. Findings revealed that upgrading the English language proficiency level is believed to contribute to enhancing the performance of cardiac care nurses, their professionalism, and their learning autonomy. In addition, a taxonomy of the nurses’ uses of English for Specific Purposes has been constructed during the study.  The proposed taxonomy was constructed from the data from the questionnaire, the interview, and the observation. It can be used to identify nurses’ needs when designing English-for-nurses courses. It is recommended that further research is conducted to investigate the correlation between the level of English language proficiency and the performance of nurses in other medical sub-domains

Social Media as a Platform for Acquiring Medical English: Measuring Perceptions of Non-native Healthcare Providers

The primary goal of this study is to measure the perceptions of non-native healthcare providers towards the role of social media in acquiring medical English and enhancing language learning autonomy, and the features of social media that help them acquire medical vocabulary. To this end, a questionnaire was constructed and disseminated to 350 Egyptian healthcare providers working at Magdi Yacoub Foundation (MYF), Aswan Heart Centre (AHC), Egypt. For data triangulation, interviews were conducted with a subset of the questionnaire takers. Findings of the study reveal that social media platforms tremendously assist non-native healthcare providers in acquiring medical English vocabulary and enhancing language learning autonomy. Among the features of social media that proved to be beneficial to Egyptian healthcare providers are easiness of usage, free-of-charge availability, ability to edit, copy and share, ability to store data forever, emoticons to express feelings, choice to join private conversations, and choice to join public discussions and debates

Exploring the Attitude of ESP Learners towards Using Mind Mapping in Learning Vocabulary

The current study aims at exploring the attitude of ESP students towards using mind mapping in learning vocabulary. The research design is quasi-experimental. The sample of the study consisted of 29 students from the college of engineering at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Egypt. A questionnaire was used to investigate the attitude of students towards using mind maps in learning ESP vocabulary. The results of the study revealed that students were interested in using the mind mapping strategy in learning ESP vocabulary and the significant features of mind map; namely: colours, branches and pictures. Based on the findings, it is recommended that researchers delve deep into studying the mind mapping strategy and its relation to students’ learning preferences and that teachers apply them when teaching vocabulary items. The researcher also recommends a model to evaluate vocabulary learning techniques that can be used in future studies

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Does social media impact the development of general English vocabulary? perceptions of Egyptian university students

The importance of vocabulary in language learning cannot be overstated because meaningful communication requires a vast repertoire of words to convey ideas. Yet, social media places English language learners in multicultural communities where they can acquire new vocabulary knowledge and use it communicatively. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of social media on learning English vocabulary at university level. A case study approach was adopted. To this end, a hypothesized model on aspects of learning English from social media was constructed. That was supported by a participant observation and a thorough review of the literature. Based on the model, a questionnaire was constructed and disseminated to a total number of 135 Egyptian undergraduate university students.  Findings of the study are: 1) learning vocabulary occurs through receiving, producing and constructing vocabulary knowledge, 2) the indirect impact of social media enhances self-confidence, self-esteem, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration among Egyptian university students, 3) social media is characterized by factors that enhance vocabulary learning, and 4) social media has a few limitations that, to some extent, hinder vocabulary learning. It is recommended that further research is conducted on the effect of different social media applications on learning English language vocabulary, grammar and other aspects. Received: 24 February 2023 Accepted: 05 March 2023 Published: 20 March 2023</p

Effects of mind mapping on learning ESP vocabulary: a case study

Abstract The current study aimed at exploring the effect of using mind mapping strategy on learning ESP vocabulary. The research design is quasi-experimental. The sample of the study consisted of an experimental group (33 students) and a control group (41 students). The experimental group received mind mapping instruction whereas the control group received traditional instruction. The impact of the mind mapping strategy was measured using a pre-test and a post-test. The results of the study revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean scores between the pre-test and the post-test results in the experimental group. There was no significant difference in the mean scores of the post-test between the experimental group and the control group which implies that both mind mapping and traditional vocabulary teaching techniques had similar effects on language learning. </p

Investigating diasporic identities in the Arab-American autobiographies of Leila Ahmed and Edward Said: a Socio-cognitive approach

This study investigates diasporic identity in Arab– American autobiographies. It particularly tackles the question of diasporic identity representation and its impact on the projection of individual self-perception in accordance with the different social contexts and ideological leaning; it aims at explaining how different social contexts, that the authors encounter and experience, affect their own identity. The study employs insights from autoethnography and socio-cognitive inquiries to examine two Arab- American memoirs; Leila Ahmed’s (1999) “A Border Passage” and Edward Said’s (1999) “Out of Place”. The research adopts the “Interpretive Autoethnography” approach, postulated by Denzin (2014), to engage with the question of self-perception and identity representation through an analysis of the self- writings of the authors. The study also adopts van Dijk’s (2016) Socio-cognitive discourse studies framework to analyze the authors’ language to reflect their self-perception, and by extension, identity. Received: 06 November 2022 Accepted: 15 March 2023Published: 01 May 2023</p

Correlation between Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and ß2-Microglobulin with serum protein electrophoresis in multiple myeloma patients

Objective: To find the correlation between neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and beta2-microglobulin in patients with multiple myeloma. Method: The case-control study was conducted from November 2021 to March 2022, after approval from ethics review committees of three major medical establishments in Baghdad, Iraq. There were randomly selected multiple myeloma patients of either gender with normal concentration of urea and creatinine in group A, multiple myeloma patients of either gender with increased concentration of urea and creatinine in group B and healthy controls in group C. Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and beta2-microglobulin were assessed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Data was analysed using SPSS 26. Results: Of the 180 subjects, there were 60(33.3%) in each of the 3 groups, with each group having 40(66.5%) males and 20(33.3%) females, and overall age ranging 40-79 years. Protein electrophoresis in group A patients was significantly higher (p=0.001) in alpha1, beta and gamma globulin. Among group B patients, a highly significant increase (p=0.001) was noted in alpha1, alpha2, beta and gamma globulin. Beta2-microglobulin was a more sensitive and specific marker for renal injury than neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin in myeloma patients(p<0.05). Conclusion: Beta2-microglobulin and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin were both more sensitive markers than serum urea and creatinine in the diagnosis of acute kidney injury in multiple myeloma patients. Keywords: Lipocalin, Creatinine, Multiple myeloma, Microglobulin, Urea, Electrophoresis, Globulins, Albumins, Enzyme, Immunosorbent assay, Kidney injury