Interpreting and the clinician : a conversational analysis of the interpreted consultation in a paediatric hospital

The utilization of interpreters in medical interviews has increasingly become a focus of research, both globally and in South Africa. Effective communication lies at the core of the delivery of a patient-focussed approach to health care and this has been a factor in the drive to improve service delivery, especially from a communication perspective. A number of studies in health care have focussed on the medical interaction between health professionals and their patients. In this study, the aim was to describe and analyse interpreted diagnostic consultations, specifically focussing on the interactions between the health professional, trained interpreter and caregiver. The research was conducted at a tertiary level children's hospital in Cape Town. A qualitative research design was employed in this study. The participants were three health professionals [medical doctors], and a trained interpreter, all employed at a tertiary level children's hospital in the Western Cape, and three caregivers of the children attending the outpatients department. Video recordings of initial assessment consultations were made and thereafter each participant in the consultation, was interviewed. Detailed analysis of the consultations was done using the methods of conversational analysis. Thematic analysis of the post-consultation interviews was done and the findings triangulated with the themes emerging out of the conversational analysis. The findings resulting from the conversational analysis, suggest that interactions taking place in this study could be described as institutional interactions. This was suggested on the basis of the patterns of interactional behaviour, which emerged in the communications of the participants, the interactional strategies used and the interpreter models employed. The need for training for health professionals in interactional strategies also became apparent and highlighted aspects, which may be included in future training of health professionals, which may serve to advance the quality of communication in medical interactions

Enhanced Andreev reflection in gapped graphene

We theoretically demonstrate unusual features of superconducting proximity effect in gapped graphene which presents a pseudospin symmetry-broken ferromagnet with a net pseudomagnetization. We find that the presence of a band gap makes the Andreev conductance of graphene superconductor/pseudoferromagnet (S/PF) junction to behave similar to that of a graphene ferromagnet-superconductor junction. The energy gap $\Delta_N$ enhance the pseudospin inverted Andreev conductance of S/PF junction to reach a limiting maximum value for $\Delta_N\gg \mu$, which depending on the bias voltage can be larger than the value for the corresponding junction with no energy gap. We further demonstrate a damped-oscillatory behavior for the local density of states of the PF region of S/PF junction and a long-range crossed Andreev reflection process in PF/S/PF structure with antiparallel alignment of pseudomagnetizations of PFs, which confirm that, in this respect, the gapped normal graphene behaves like a ferromagnetic graphene.Comment: 7.2 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Nutrition’s Students Awareness of Breakfast

Breakfast is known as a healthy meal of the day. The objective of this research is to examine the awareness of nutrition students for breakfast. Cross sectional study was used to include different studying years. Questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The results of this research indicated the low awareness of students of breakfast meal and its components. The family plans dominated the preparation and existence of breakfast. The available popular food was dominated as breakfast components. Nutrition awareness courses should be introduced to change students' lifestyle. Keywords: Breakfast, nutrition students, breakfast components, customs 

Building ontologies from folksonomies and linked data: Data structures and Algorithms

We present the data structures and algorithms used in the approach for building domain ontologies from folksonomies and linked data. In this approach we extracts domain terms from folksonomies and enrich them with semantic information from the Linked Open Data cloud. As a result, we obtain a domain ontology that combines the emergent knowledge of social tagging systems with formal knowledge from Ontologies

Awareness of Healthy Daily Nutrition Habits Among Adults

This research aimed to study the nutritional status of adults. The study concentrated on collecting information about the food habits and nutrition disturbances among adults. Questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire composed of three parts; The first part was for personal information, while the second part concerned about nutrition disturbances and the disturbances. Nutrition habits diagnosed among the sample revealed different third part concerned about food intake. The results showed that the studied sample suffers from different nutritional imbalance food intake among the sample. Awareness of balance food program should be improved through educational nutrition programs. Keywords: Food intake, food disturbances, food habi

Compilation of an interpretation manual for marine habitats within the 25 NM Fisheries Management Zone around the Republic of Malta

Several EU Directives and regional conventions are concerned with the protection and conservation of marine habitats of special importance; a necessary prerequisite to implement such legislation are marine habitat classification systems and information on the distribution of marine habitat types. There are several habitat classification schemes in use for the description, designation and monitoring of habitats. The ‘Interpretation Manual for Marine Habitats within the 25 NM Fisheries Management Zone around the Republic of Malta’ provides an updated description of marine habitats found around the Maltese Islands, as well as a cross-referencing scheme for the different habitat classification systems. Marine habitats are listed according to bathymetric zone, going from shallow to deep water. The bathymetric zones included in the interpretation manual are: (1) mediolittoral, (2) infralittoral, (3) circalittoral, and (4) bathyal. Habitats listed in the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) database were reviewed, habitats which are present in the Maltese Islands were identified, and ‘new’ habitat categories have been included in the manual where there was no equivalent EUNIS habitat. For each habitat category presented, cross- references to the system used in connection with the Protocol for Specially Protected Areas and Biodiversity in the Mediterranean (SPABM) of the Barcelona Convention, to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) classification system of predominant habitat types, as well as to the marine habitats listed in Annex I of the ‘Habitats Directive’, were established. In addition a scheme to enable the assessment of the conservation status of marine habitats as required under the ‘Habitats Directive’ was drawn up by considering the habitat range, the area occupied by a habitat, habitat structure and function, and the habitat’s future prospects. Suitable indicators to assess favourable conservation status are presented for (i) sandbanks, (ii) Posidonia beds, (iii) reefs and (iv) sea caves. In addition, indicators to assess the conservation status of maerl beds are presented due to the local significance and the sensitivity of this habitat. The manual thus intends to aid in the implementation of measures for the protection of marine habitats and hence, ultimately, to ensure effective and efficient management of the marine environment under the jurisdiction of Malta up to the 25 NM boundary, in line with the relevant legislation.peer-reviewe

Statistical Learning Ability Can Overcome the Negative Impact of Low Socioeconomic Status on Language Development

Statistical learning (SL) is believed to be a mechanism that enables successful language acquisition. Language acquisition in turn is heavily influenced by environmental factors such as socioeconomic status (SES). However, it is unknown to what extent SL abilities interact with SES in affecting language outcomes. To examine this potential interaction, we measured event-related potentials (ERPs) in 38 children aged 7-12 while performing a visual SL task consisting of a sequence of stimuli that contained covert statistical probabilities that predicted a target stimulus. Hierarchical regression results indicated that SL ability moderated the relationship between SES (average of both caregiver’s education level) and language scores (grammar, and marginally with receptive vocabulary). For children with high SL ability, SES had a weaker effect on language compared to children with low SL ability, suggesting that having good SL abilities could help ameliorate the disadvantages associated with being raised in a family with lower SES

Older Mexican Americans: Role of the Family and Mental Health Service Utilization

This study explored role of the family and mental health service utilization by older Mexican-Americans. Using qualitative exploration, the study investigated family factors influencing their mental health service utilization. The researcher used a purposive sample and interviewed 20 older Mexican Americans, who completed outpatient mental health services located in Texas. Kleinman’s explanatory model (1980) guided the ethnographic content analysis. Findings show the family took several roles to facilitate use of mental health services. The family was involved with respondents throughout the process of help-seeking and accessing mental health services. Family members helped respondents recognize their mental distress by noticing behavior signs and working with their physician. The family shared feedback with the doctor to help facilitate the respondent making the decision to go to treatment. The family motivated respondents by recognizing and acknowledging changes and progress in the treatment program

An Investigation of Road Accidents Casuality in Dar es Salaam: A Case of Reported Motor Vehicle Accidents in 2018

Increase in rate of accidents is considered to be among the factors that lead to increase in number of death rate and disability to the people having seen that; the researcher was more interested in assessing the road accidents causality in Dar es Salaam. Specifically, the study aimed at determining the extent to which human factors, climate factors, mechanical errors and the measures that can be used to reduce road accidents causality in Dar es Salaam. Case study research design methodology was used where two sampling techniques were used in the study, which were purposive and simple sampling procedure. 30 traffic police were selected from the purposive sampling while 30 Pedestrians and 20 drivers were randomly selected and 5 Key informants were interviewed from the SUMATRA. Also, the study used both primary and secondary data collection. From the findings it was observed that human factors such as drinking alcohol habits, irresponsible behaviour, wrong overtaking, failure to follow road signs tiredness/sleeping, mobile phone usage while driving, lack of driving knowledge excessive speeding inadequate visibility and non-use of seat belts. Climatic condition is also among the factors, which lead to road traffic accidents due to heavy rainfall, travelling in darkness, hot environmental condition and strong wind. Finally, the study reported on the measures to be taken which was development of comprehensive road safety program, link between the driving schools and the police stations, continuous driving training, health status, low enforcement. The study concludes that road accidents in Dar es Salaam can only be reduced if people are well educated on the proper ways of using the roads and lastly it was recommended that the government should consider road safety as the political priority by insisting people on the proper ways of using the roads as well as the health centres should be responsible in giving awareness on the health losses