What Do You Do When You Don\u27t Know How to Respond? Supporting Pre-Service Teachers to Use Picture Books to Facilitate Difficult Conversations

In this paper, the authors – a preservice teacher (PST) and a teacher educator – consider how teacher education might better prepare PSTs to use picture books to facilitate difficult conversations in elementary classrooms. They share missed opportunities from their own experiences in a fourth-grade fieldwork classroom and in a graduate-level elementary literacy methods course where they felt unprepared to respond to students’ comments about “controversial” topics. They reimagine how these experiences might have been transformed to be more educative for PSTs, first by considering how they could have responded more thoughtfully in the moment and then by thinking about how they could have built upon these particular moments to deepen PST learning. Lastly, authors share ideas for how current assignments in a literacy methods course could be revised to more intentionally support PSTs to use picture books to engage with content that may be difficult to address with elementary learners

Acute cerebellitis with hydrocephalus

We report a case of an 8 years old child who presented with sudden onset of headache and vomiting. He had broad-based gait and intention tremors on admission. MRI brain revealed isointense signals on T1-weighted imaging and hyperintense signals on T2-weighted imaging. Cerebellar swelling was also identified with significant mass effect obliterating the fourth ventricle. CT head showed prominent third and lateral ventricles. He was treated with high dose corticosteroids and required an external ventricular drain (EVD) insertion. He made an uneventful recovery and suffered no neurologic deficit. The clinical and radiologic findings in this boy were consistent with cerebellitis complicated by hydrocephalus

Upper Euphrates Dialects between Arab Tribes’ Vernaculars and the Influence of Semitic Languages

لقد بات الاهتمام بدراسة اللهجات من أولويات علم اللغة الحديث، لما يقدمه هذا المجال من إسهامات كبيرة في فهم طبيعة اللغة وتتبع مراحلها التاريخية وبيان مدى تأثير البيئة والزمن في أصواتها وصرفها وبناء الجملة فيها، وما يعكسه ذلك على المستوى الدلالي، فيسلط هذا البحث الضوء على اللهجات العربية في منطقة أعالي الفرات. التي كانت عرضة لتغيرات جيوسياسية فرضت عليها أن تكون محطة لكثير من الأمم متعددة الثقافات واللغات. أثرت وتأثرت بلغات وثقافات سكانها الأصليين، فكان من الضرورة البحث والاستقصاء حول تلك المتغيرات التي تلعب دوراً في الوقوف على تأريخ اللهجات وأصالتها السائدة في هذه المنطقة قيد الدراسة، فاستعرض البحث الطبيعة الجغرافية للمنطقة ودورها في اختلاف اللهجات من قبيلة إلى أخرى، وكذلك تم استعراض الأقوام الأجنبية التي استوطنتها وتركت رواسب لغوية على عربية هذا الجزء من الأرض بشكل مختصر، ومما لا شك فيه كان التأثير متبادلاً، كما يكشف البحث عن الكثير من الألفاظ والسمات اللغوية الأصلية في اللغة العربية حولتها محاولات سرعة إيصال الفكرة والتسهيل إلى تغيير في شكل اللفظ صوتياً وصرفياً، ومن الجدير بالذكر إن من تلك الأمم الساميين التي تشترك لغاتهم بالعربية بالكثير من السمات اللغوية الناشئة من وحدة المصدر، وهو ما ركز عليه البحث في أغلب جوانبه.The interest in the study of dialects has become a priority for modern linguistics, as this area makes significant contributions to understanding the nature of the language, tracking its historical stages, demonstrating the impact of the environment and time on its voices, its disbursement and syntax, and what this reflects at the semantic level. This research highlights Arab dialects in the Upper Euphrates region which were subject to geopolitical changes that forced them to be a station for many multicultural and multilingual nations influenced and are affected by the languages and cultures of its indigenous population. Therefore, it was necessary to research and investigate those variables that play a role in determining the history and authenticity of the dialects prevailing in this area under study. The research reviewed the geographical nature of the region and its role in different dialects from one tribe to another, as well as briefly reviewed the foreign communities that settled it and left linguistic deposits on the Arabic of this part of the land and undoubtedly had a mutual impact. The research also reveals many of the original language and features in Arabic that have been transformed by attempts to quickly communicate the idea and facilitate a change in the form of the word vocally and purely, and it is worth noting that some of these nations are Sami, whose languages share in Arabic many of the language features arising from the source unit, which the research has focused on in most aspects. &nbsp

Intramedullary cavernoma with extralesional haemorrhage

Intramedullary cavernomas are rare lesions constituting 5 to 12% of all intramedullary tumours. They are more recognized after introduction of magnetic resonance imaging and detection rates have improved by advance techniques. They may be solitary or multiple or may have associated cranial lesions. They may present with gradual neurological decline or with acute loss of spinal function. In addition neurological deficit depends on the location of the lesion within the spinal cord. We are reporting the case of a 45 year old male who presented with neck pain and progressive right arm weakness with numbness. MRI cervical spine with contrast showed intramedullary lesion with peripheral T2 hypointense rim and extralesional haemorrhage consistent with cavernoma. Patient underwent successful surgery and his symptoms markedly improved with mild residual grip weakness in right hand

Apps and Online Platforms for Patients with Heart Failure

The use of the internet for health advice and information has burgeoned over recent years. This corresponds with an increasing number of people living with heart failure and, in the context of a greater focus on patient engagement, producing accurate online health information is becoming vitally important. To help meet this need, major cardiology societies have designed dedicated, patient-specific areas on their websites. This article aims to provide an overview of the patient information resources from three main professional societies: the European Society of Cardiology, American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology. A summary of the content of these dedicated websites and two smartphone apps is provided, along with a brief look into the future role of these technologies and resources in supporting both patients and their clinicians in the management of heart failure

Organizational Performance: The Role of TQM Practices in Banking Sector of Pakistan

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the m relationship between Total Quality Management (TQM) and Organizational Performance (OP). The motivation for this study was driven by the inconsistent findings in the literature concerning the relationships between TQM and OP. Due to the inconsistent results, a new research has emerged and this has prompted further investigation on the effects of other variables that may better explain the nature of these links. Questionnaires were distributed to 400 Sections of the Pakistani banks. 230 questionnaires were returned and used in the analysis using the PLS-SEM. The results of this study revealed that TQM is significant predictors of O

Association of circulatory kisspeptin levels and hormonal interplay with male infertility: A cross-sectional study in Karachi, Pakistan

Objectives: To determine the impact of Kisspeptin on male reproductive axis in a selected urban population.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Sindh Institute of Reproductive Medicine in collaboration with Aga Khan University, Karachi, from July, 2017, to February, 2018, and comprised infertile males with abnormal sperm parameters who were placed in Group A and fertile males with normal sperm parameters placed in Group B. Serum samples were estimated for Kisspeptin, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.Results: Of the 313 male subjects, 178(57%) were in Group A and 135(43%) in Group B. Median Kisspeptin levels were higher among fertile males compared to infertile males (p\u3c0.001). Mean follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and testosterone values were higher among the fertile males (p\u3c0.001). There was significant interaction between follicle stimulating hormone and testosterone (p\u3c0.1).Conclusions: Fertility in males depended on optimal secretion of Kisspeptin which exert edits effect on hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis to increase male reproductive hormone production

Measuring Healthy Lifestyle and Mental Health Indicators in South Asian Women Using the “Your Health: Quality of Life and Well-Being” Questionnaire

Introduction: Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. A literature review has revealed that there is no specific questionnaire available to assess well-being within the community. Methods: Fifty South Asian women were randomly selected to complete the “Your Health: Quality of Life and Well-being Questionnaire” assessing diet, lifestyle, and mental health among others. Data from the questionnaires was extracted and participants were categorised based on these findings. Results: This tool has positively identified a number of key risk factors for poor health, symptoms associated with mental illness, and the burden of comorbidities within the assessed cohort. Sixty-three percent of the women had an unhealthy body mass index (BMI), over half did not know the maximum limit of salt per day, and almost one-fourth had multiple health conditions. ConclusionsThis questionnaire is an effective tool to use within the community. There is a significant burden of obesity, complicated by poor lifestyle habits and significant mood and anxiety symptoms within the studied South Asian population

Do Workers’ Remittances Increase Terrorism? Evidence from South Asian Countries

This study investigates the influence of workers’ remittances on terrorism in 5 South Asian countries. The panel data comprised of 20 years from the period of 1994 to 2013 is used. The advanced econometric techniques i.e, CIPS unit root test, bootstrap cointegration, Pedroni co-integration, FMOLS, fixed effect model and heterogeneous panel causality technique have been applied. The results suggest that the workers’ remittances have a significant positive impact on the terrorism in South Asian countries. The results also indicate that the control variables, i.e., Inflation, unemployment, and population size also have a significant positive relationship with terrorism. The result of causality shows that unidirectional causality exists of remittance, population, and inflation with unemployment, however, bidirectional causality exists between unemployment and terrorism.The sample size is restricted to South Asian countries only so the result cannot be generalized to other countries. This study will help the policymakers of the region, to make necessary amendments in law so that remittance amount does not be accessible to the group to use in terrorist activities. On a larger perspective, only two studies have been carried out that examines the relationship between terrorism and remittance. One study is conducted in the sub-Saharan region by Elu and Price (2011), and the other one is conducted on panel data by Mascarenhas and Sandler (2014). No study to the best of our knowledge has been done in the South Asian context, so this study is conducted to analyze the impact of workers’ remittance on terrorism in South Asian countries