Topic Initiation, Development And Shift In Conversations

This study is a replication of Coates’ study on conversations between women friends, and seeks to test Coates’ findings on topic development and shift in women’s conversations using data on female British Asian friends. Coates’ study (1996, 1998), using data on white women friends, found that in women’s conversations topics are developed jointly and are changed gradually rather than abruptly. Following Coates’ methodology of data collection and data analysis, the study suggests that Coates’ findings hold true also for female British Asian friends.</p

Perspectives on ageing, later life and ethniciy: Ageing research in ethnic minority contexts

This special issue focuses broadly upon questions and themes relating to the current conceptualisations, representations and use of ‘ethnicity’ (and ethnic minority experiences) within the field of social gerontology. An important aim of this special issue is to explore and address the issue of ‘otherness’ within the predominant existing frameworks for researching those who are ageing or considered aged, compounded by the particular constructions of their ethnicity and ethnic ‘difference’. The range of theoretical, methodological and empirical papers included in this collection provide some critical insights into particular facets of the current research agendas, cultural understandings and empirical focus of ethnic minority ageing research. The main emphasis is on highlighting the ways in which ethnic cultural homogeneity and ‘otherness’ is often assumed in research involving older people from ethnic minority backgrounds, and how wider societal inequalities are concomitantly (re)produced, within (and through) research itself – for example, based on narrowly defined research agendas and questions; the assumed age and/or ethnic differences of researchers vis-à-vis their older research participants; the workings of the formalised ethical procedures and frameworks; and the conceptual and theoretical frameworks employed in the formulation of research questions and interpretation of data. We examine and challenge here the simplistic categorisations and distinctions often made in gerontological research based around research participants’ ethnicity, age and ageing and assumed cultural differences. The papers presented in this collection reveal instead the actual complexity and fluidity of these concepts as well as the cultural dynamism and diversity of experiences within ethnic groups. Through an exploration of these issues, we address some of the gaps in existing knowledge and understandings as well as contribute to the newly emerging discussions surrounding the use of particular notions of ethnicity and ethnic minority ageing as these are being employed within the field of ageing studies.This special issue is one of the outcomes from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) seminar series on ‘Ageing, Race and Ethnicity’ (project reference ES/J021547/1),held in the UK during 2012-2014. Open access for this editorial has been provided through the University of Nottingham open access funds

Manifestation of Colonial Subjects in Twilight in Dehli and A Passage to India

The goal of this research is to examine how the colony is portrayed by both the colonizer and the colonized. This paper focuses mainly on the politics of depiction by implementing the insights of postcolonialism. In this context, Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali also deals with the same subject from the view of the colonized, whereas A Passage to India is a narrative of the British colony by its colonizer E. M. Forster. It may be argued that the writers’ two depictions of a similar colony represent different political and cultural viewpoints. The two authors’ representations of the same colony, one from a colonized civilization and another from that was colonized, consistently reflect their distinctive voices. Additionally, the latest research has incorporated Homi K. Bhabha and Edward Said’s analytical works on the depiction in the postcolonial theoretical perspective and explored the problem of cultural representation while using textual analyses. The research has shown that both works’ representations of colonial India differ significantly because of the authors’ respective cultural roles as colonizer and colonized

Cognitive disposition to respond in postgraduate trainees of general surgery at Rawalpindi Medical University

Introduction: Cognitive biases leading to diagnostic errors are associate with adverse outcomes and compromise patient safety and contribute to morbidity and mortality. Exploration and identification of cognitive biases have been a difficult task for the clinicians and medical educators. The literature is deficient in the identification of cognitive biases in surgical trainees. The objective of the study was to identify various cognitive biases that may negatively impact clinical reasoning skills and lead to diagnostic errors in trainees of general surgery. Materials and Methods: A quantitative study was conducted involving 48 trainees of general surgery to explore the various cognitive biases. The questionnaire was devised and consisted of ten items devised to explore five biases. .Descriptive statistical analysis was done on SPSS 20 and the respondents with score &gt;25 were categorized as predisposed to error scores of 20-25 were taken as a borderline and overall score of &lt;25 was insignificant for the presence of cognitive bias. Results: Premature closure was the most frequent cognitive bias found significant in 34 (70 %) of trainees followed by anchoring bias in 14 (58, 3 %) trainees. The relative frequencies of different biases are shown in Table 2. The mean score of the questionnaire was 22.7 (range 10 to 38) SD 7.2. Ten out of forty-eight (21%) trainees with a mean score of &gt;25 showed a clear inclination toward cognitive errors whereas 11 (22%) with a score in the range of 21 to 25 were categorized as having an equivocal tendency towards committing an error, Whereas 27 (56%) with a score of less than 20 were less prone to cognitive errors. Conclusion: The two most common errors seen in the study were anchoring bias and premature closure and both are related to information gathering. A larger study is required to explore the association of cognitive bias with different specialties and experience of clinicians

Neurological Improvement after Decompression for Dorsal Spine Tuberculosis (TB)

Objectives:&nbsp;&nbsp;To assess the neurological improvement after decompression for dorsal spine tuberculosis in terms of Frankel grading. Materials and Method:&nbsp;&nbsp;Prospective study was done in the Neurosurgery department, Prime Teaching Hospital Peshawar from 2018 to 2021. Patients of both genders aged between 18 to 60 years were selected while those unfit for surgery or requiring conservative management were excluded from the study. After clinical examination and radiological findings, the patients were diagnosed with dorsal spine tuberculosis requiring surgery. All patients were followed for 3 months post-operatively. Neurological improvement was measured by comparing pre and post-op Frankel grading. Complications were also documented. Results:&nbsp;&nbsp;Out of 38 patients included in the study, 16 (42%) were male and 22 (58%) were female. The mean age of presentation was 34 ± 5. The distribution for age groups was 18 – 30 (08), 31 – 40 (13), 41 – 50 (11), and 51 – 60 (06). Level of disease D4 – D8 were 17 (44.8%) and D9 – D12 was 21 (55.2%). Pre-operative neurological status of the patients was (5.2%) Frankel A, (10.5%) Frankel B, (47.3) Frankel C, (22%) Frankel D, and (7.8%) Frankel E while Post-operative grading was (2.6%) Frankel A, (5.2%) Frankel B, (23.6%) Frankel C, (47.3%) Frankel D and (18.4) Frankel E. 3 patients experienced worsening of neurology, 2 patients bleeding and CSF leak and 1 patient died as a complication of the surgery. Conclusion:&nbsp;&nbsp;Surgical option involving decompression of spine TB followed by stabilization is utilized in a majority of patients with neurological deficits. It is very effective and the results are good. The main advantage is thorough debridement and achievement of spinal stabilization. Keywords:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Dorsal Spine Tuberculosis, Frankel Grading, Spinal Stabilization

TRANSFER OF BEHAVIORAL TRAITS FROM PARENTS TO CHILDREN: AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

It is commonly believed that parents transfer their behavioral traits to their offspring. But where does one draw the line between nature and nurture? Most of us have received our first lessons in lying, trust, generosity and even selfishness from our parents. These non-cognitive skills, like patience, ambition, tenacity etc. are all thus malleable traits if we come to prove that they are transferred from parent to their child. A field experiment was conducted at a private school in Lahore, Pakistan. These experiments measured two key non-cognitive skills that literature believes are passed onto the offspring via their parents: patience and trust. To measure the correlation between parents and children, an ordered probit analysis was employed. Our findings show that there is a strong negative relationship between child’s patience to that of her parent. Child and parent trust display no significant relationship. However, a positive significant relationship was analyzed between child reciprocity and parent reciprocity

Using comprehensive geriatric assessment for quality improvements in healthcare of older people in UK care homes: protocol for realist review within Proactive Healthcare of Older People in Care Homes (PEACH) study

Introduction Care home residents are relatively high users of healthcare resources and may have complex needs. Comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) may benefit care home residents and improve efficiency of care delivery. This is an approach to care in which there is a thorough multidisciplinary assessment (physical and mental health, functioning and physical and social environments) and a care plan based on this assessment, usually delivered by a multidisciplinary team. The CGA process is known to improve outcomes for community-dwelling older people and those in receipt of hospital care, but less is known about its efficacy in care home residents. Methods and analysis Realist review was selected as the most appropriate method to explore the complex nature of the care home setting and multidisciplinary delivery of care. The aim of the realist review is to identify and characterise a programme theory that underpins the CGA intervention. The realist review will extract data from research articles which describe the causal mechanisms through which the practice of CGA generates outcomes. The focus of the intervention is care homes, and the outcomes of interest are health-related quality of life and satisfaction with services; for both residents and staff. Further outcomes may include appropriate use of National Health Service services and resources of older care home residents. The review will proceed through three stages: (1) identifying the candidate programme theories that underpin CGA through interviews with key stakeholders, systematic search of the peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed evidence, (2) identifying the evidence relevant to CGA in UK care homes and refining the programme theories through refining and iterating the systematic search, lateral searches and seeking further information from study authors and (3) analysis and synthesis of evidence, involving the testing of the programme theories. Ethics and dissemination The PEACH project was identified as service development following submission to the UK Health Research Authority and subsequent review by the University of Nottingham Research Ethics Committee. The study protocols have been reviewed as part of good governance by the Nottinghamshire Healthcare Foundation Trust. We aim to publish this realist review in a peer-reviewed journal with international readership. We will disseminate findings to public and stakeholders using knowledge mobilisation techniques. Stakeholders will include the Quality Improvement Collaboratives within PEACH study. National networks, such as British Society of Gerontology and National Care Association will be approached for wider dissemination

Comparative Analysis of Flame Propagation and Flammability Limits of CH4/H2/Air Mixture with or without Nanosecond Plasma Discharges

This study investigates the kinetic modeling of CH4/H-2/Air mixture with nanosecond pulse discharge (NSPD) by varying H-2/CH4 ratios from 0 to 20% at ambient pressure and temperature. A validated version of the plasma and chemical kinetic mechanisms was used. Two numerical tools, ZDPlasKin and CHEMKIN, were combined to analyze the thermal and kinetic effects of NSPD on flame speed enhancement. The addition of H-2 and plasma excitation increased flame speed. The highest improvement (35%) was seen with 20% H-2 and 1.2 mJ plasma energy input at phi = 1. Without plasma discharge, a 20% H-2 blend only improved flame speed by 14% compared to 100% CH4. The study found that lean conditions at low flame temperature resulted in significant improvement in flame speed. With 20% H-2 and NSPD, flame speed reached 37 cm/s at flame temperature of 2040 K at phi = 0.8. Similar results were observed with 0% and 5% H-2 and a flame temperature of 2200 K at phi = 1. Lowering the flame temperature reduced NOx emissions. Combining 20% H-2 and NSPD also increased the flammability limit to phi = 0.35 at a flame temperature of 1350 K, allowing for self-sustained combustion even at low temperatures