Audit on follow-up of patients with primary Osteoporosis

Aim: To document the frequency of Dual-energy X- ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scanning and Rheumatology clinic follow-up visits of patients with primary osteoporosis, and compare these with recommended guidelines. Method: Medical notes of all primary osteoporotic patients attending a hospital Rheumatology clinic were reviewed over a period of four months. Data was collected on age, gender, frequency of follow up visits, frequency of DEXA scanning, osteoporosis treatment, any changes in such treatment during the last visit, and comparison of the last two DEXA scan results. Frequency of follow up DEXA scans was compared to Group Health Osteoporosis Screening Diagnosis and Treatment guidelines.1 Results: Eighty-two patients were included, 6 males (7.3%) and 76 females (92.7%). The age range was 35-87 years (mean age was 68.6 years). In total, 42.7% of all the patients were on combined calcium and vitamin D, with added Bisphosphonates, Strontium ranelate, or Denosumab. During their last clinic visit, 61% showed improvement in T score since their previous result, and 64.6% of patients had no change in treatment. In this audit, 29.3% were being followed up on a 13 monthly basis, and 72% had annual bone mineral density scans or more frequently Conclusion: According to the guidelines, none of the patients included in this audit should have had a repeat DEXA scan within less than two years. Patients attending the clinic have too frequent DEXA scans and therefore, too frequent follow up appointments.peer-reviewe

Performance Management and Citizen Induced Financial Sanctions and Incentives in Education: Is There Public Support?

Widespread political support has expanded the use of market driven performance reforms. A growing number of these reforms aim to increase democratic accountability and enhance performance by including citizens in the evaluation phase of the administrative process. However, citizen support for market themes is unclear. Do they share elected officials enthusiasm or are there limitations on their support? This research assesses these questions by examining the demographics of support for financial sanctions and performance pay in education. The results reveal targeted demographic groups are generally less supportive of organizational sanctions and employee incentives than untargeted groups. Targeted parents, including racial minorities, urban, poorly educated, and economically disadvantaged parents were the most opposed to market reforms designed to enhance of the quality of educational services provided in their communities

Appropriated Threads: The Unpicking and Reweaving Imported Textiles

The Silk Route has become synonymous with the movement of knowledge that accompanies the trade of objects. Many of the textiles discussed here were not traded along the Silk Route, but all are representative of the associations that are made with this artery of cultural exchange. The examples cited arrive from a range of cultures and geographies: Indonesia and Nigeria, the Southwest United States and New Zealand. From these vastly different regions, using a variety of materials, weavers painstakingly unpicked yarns from woven fabrics for use in other weavings. The term ‘raveled yarn’ refers to threads that have been unpicked from a piece of woven cloth and rewoven into another. This paper attempts to determine the reasons behind what seems in the twenty-first century to be such a laborious undertaking. Unpicking fabric to remove flaws, examine the structures involved or possibly recycle precious threads is common. But rarely does the contemporary designer work with materials of such inherent value that time is not considered more valuable. Historically, the reasons for unpicking yarn have been both aesthetic and economic. Penelope’s ruse to stall time by unpicking her daily weaving each night may be one of the earliest examples. Certain cities developed reputations for deconstructing fabrics for thread such as the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra along the Silk Road which was devoted to the unpicking and reweaving of silk to local fashions. On a more intimate level the instinct to recover threads from woven materials appears in an example from the other side of the world where slave women and girls in the southern United States are thought to have unwound threads from their owner’s discarded stockings and fabric remnants so that they could use the thread to stylishly wrap around their own hair. As early as 1730 a Danish envoy in Africa wrote, “Opoku bought silk taffeta and materials of all colours. The artists unravelled them so that they obtained large quantities of woolen and silk threads which they mixed with their cotton and got many colours.” In 1817 a British envoy wrote of chiefs “in a general blaze of splendor” who “wore Ashantee cloths, of extravagant price from the costly foreign silks which has been unravelled to weave them in all the varieties of colour, as well as pattern.” In Documents on the Portuguese in Mozambique and Central Africa it is written: Now, the Moors once more make in this land quantities of cotton, much of which is gathered here; they spin it and weave it into white cloth and, since they do not know how to dye, or because they do not have dyes, they take blue painted cloths from Cambay, unravel them and gather the thread into a ball and, with their white weave and with the other they make them painted, from which they obtain a great sum of gold

The Strategic Value of Attractive Influencers for Advertising Comunication: The Influence of Parasocial Interaction Processes on the Persuasive Effect of Brand Placements

[EN] Although brand placements can be seen more and more frequently in social media channels of so-called “influencers”, current brand placement research has rarely focused on the persuasive influence of these media characters. The "Balance Model of Product Placement Effects" of Russell and Stern (2006) began to integrate both, the recipient and the recipient's specific perception of the media context, into brand placement research. The result of these considerations is a triadic connection between the recipient, the acting media characters and the placed brands. Adressing this, the following study investigates the mediating influence of cognitive phenomenon of parasocial interactions to an influencer of a YouTube make-up tutorial as well as her specific attitude/valence towards the brands in her immediate context. Brand perception, purchase intention and actual purchase of the presented brand were measured as dependent variables of advertising effectiveness.Gröner, P.; Hedderich, B. (2022). The Strategic Value of Attractive Influencers for Advertising Comunication: The Influence of Parasocial Interaction Processes on the Persuasive Effect of Brand Placements. En Proceedings 3rd International Conference. Business Meets Technology. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 135-144. https://doi.org/10.4995/BMT2021.2021.1361613514