Searching for the goddess

Searching for the Goddess is a journey, my journey, in search of the Goddess, the once true Goddess, very much different from the archetypes that patriarchy presented to women to devaluate the very power of Goddess. My work is also God-talk with a feminist twist. It views God, not as the shifting head of patriarchal monotheistic religion, but a dyadic being having both the feminine and masculine elements without being dualistic in nature. This study begins with the controversy of the oppression of women in male-deity centered religions in contrast with the earth-centered Goddess worshipping cultures of ancient times when-as Merlin Stone puts it-God was a woman. It further explores Goddess worshipping cultures, how they were replaced by nomadic tribes catering to violent and vengeful male deities and how these nomadic tribes destroyed the Goddess cultures. Furthermore, it tackles Goddess-Possibles like the Virgin Mary and Sophia. Searching for the Goddess is about recovering our religious roots and perhaps attaining a semblance of salvation through the God/ess. Go beyond the maleness of world religions

A proposed marketing plan for National washing machine

For about six years now, National has been the undisputed market leader in washing machines--both in the single tub and the twin-tub categories. Its market dominance is primarily attribute to the fact that it was the pioneer in the single-tub category, providing the consumers with a solution to their household need at a very affordable price, and thus educating the market on the use of washing machines in general. In 1991, two years after the Laundrynette\u27s introduction to the consumers. National already cornered 79% of the single tub market. In the next two years, National would maintain market leadership with a market share of 73% and 72% respectively for the fiscal years 1992-1993 and 1993-1994. The industry predicts that eventually, the demand would shift to twin-tubs. However, demand for the single tubs have been steadily growing in the past four years, reaching a growth rate of 150% for the years 1993-1994. In the past year, other industry players have become more aggressive, introducing their own single tub models and investing heavily in advertising. These players include Sharp, Goldstar, Kelvinator, and GE. Sharp, specifically, has been gaining inroads in the sales of its single tub washing machine, gaining for itself a market share of 15% in the nine months that it has been in existence, from its launching of its single tub models in July, 1994. National, specifically, has been greatly affected with a decrease in its market share of about 12 points from 72% in the fiscal year 1993-1994 to just 60% for 1994-1995. As of April, National\u27s market share in the single tub category decreased to 57%. This situation calls for National\u27s defense of its market leadership before its competitors. Sharp specifically, gains more ground against them. This marketing plan proposes the development of a new, bigger capacity washing machine at 6.8 kgs. Accessorized and priced affordably at P 4,680, the new product aims to enhance the single-tub line of the company, thus counteracting Sharp\u27s threat to its market leadership. The new product\u27s target market is the CD class. Aware that consumers are price sensitive and that competitors are lowering their prices to move inventory and emphasizing on their product\u27s bigger capacities, the new product would be positioned uniquely as something with \u27added value\u27 for the consumers\u27 money, aside from a bigger capacity, capitalizing on the product\u27s known brand as well as its reputation for quality. This new product would require an additional investment of approximately P 15 M, with expenses allocated up to the end of the fiscal year 1997. Most of this investment is allocated for additional media and promotional expenditures which is aimed at pushing the product aggressively and increasing brand awareness. The product\u27s after sales service would also be enhanced to include an on-line computer system and pagers for field personnel for faster response to consumer complaints. Although there would be no additional investment required for sales and distribution, the strategy is to expand usership in the provincial areas, where the demand could still be increased. Additional investment would also be put into research on product performance, advertising, promotions, consumer\u27s acceptance and dealer feedback and performance to aid in faster planning for further competitive strategies. For the long-term, it is also suggested that further enhancement of the twin-tub line and the possibility of reintroducing a fully automatic unit be entertained as the company prepares for a shift in consumer preferences in the future

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

Azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Background Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatory actions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients were randomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once per day by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatment groups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment and were twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants and local study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to the outcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936. Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) were eligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was 65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomly allocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall, 561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days (rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median 10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days (rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, no significant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilation or death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24). Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or other prespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restricted to patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication. Funding UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and National Institute of Health Research