Love Experiences of Older African Americans: A Qualitative Study

The purpose of this study was to explore the romantic love experiences of African American older adults. Popular views on love among older African Americans remain highly subjective, open to the imaginations of other individuals and groups. This study attempts to challenge the popular descriptions of the nature of love among African American elderly by gathering narratives on various aspects of love as told by a sample of African-American elderly. A qualitative design is used to sample, gather and analyze data on love among African-American elderly. Our findings reveal that African American older adults value emotional intimacy. Cultural and historical factors appear to influence the choice of partners in later life. Implications for social intervention are discussed

Neonatal seizures: our experience of incidence, etiology and outcome in a tertiary care centre

Context: Neonatal seizures often evoke a sense of urgency among physician in charge of newborn as they oftenindicate a CNS dysfunction. Incidence of neonatal seizures remains high in our community even in this era ofadvanced perinatal care. Early detection of seizure and its etiology help us to provide specific therapy.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence, etiology and outcome of neonatalseizures. Settings and design: Prospective hospital based descriptive study conducted in the neonatal unit oftertiary care hospital. Material and methods: Consecutive newborns admitted with seizures were included inthis study. Data were collected regarding relevant history and examination, thoroughly evaluated for etiologyand outcome was documented. Analysed by descriptive statistics and conclusions were drawn. Results: Onehundred and eight newborns with seizures were included during study period and incidence of neonatal seizurewas 5.5%. Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and sepsis constituted the most common etiologies. HIEwas the most common etiology associated with mortality. Abnormal EEG with supressed background activitywas present in majority of mortality cases. Conclusion: Most of the cases had multifactorial etiology. Measuresfor prevention, prompt recognition and specific management of neonatal seizure help to reduce the burden ofneonatal morbidity in the community

Comparison of Time Taken for Intubation (TTI) in Conventional Laryngoscope with Video Laryngoscope for Endotracheal Intubation In Laproscopic Surgeries

Background: Direct laryngoscopy necessitates the alignment of the oropharyngeal-laryngeal axis whereas video laryngoscope is an optical vision which doesn’t require alignment. This study aimed to compare direct laryngoscopy with a Macintosh blade to King-Vision Video laryngoscope for endotracheal intubation in patients who were scheduled for elective laproscopic surgeries under general anaesthesia. Methods: In this prospective randomised clinical study,118 adults with ASA I and II requiring endotracheal intubation for laproscopic surgeries under general anaesthesia were enrolled and randomised into either of the two groups by envelope method, Group DL-direct laryngoscope and Group VL-video laryngoscope where they were intubated using direct laryngoscope with Macintosh blade or King Vision videolaryngoscope. The Primary objective was to compare Time to intubate(TTI), Visualization of the laryngeal view by Cormack-Lehane grade and Successful first attempt. Secondary objective was to record the Number of intubation failure, Number of attempts, Change of anaesthesiologist and use of adjunct equipment and the complications such as oropharyngeal trauma, neck pain, dysphagia and hoarseness. Results: In comparison to group DL (21.67±4.318s), group VL took longer time to intubate (26.21± 4.150s) but had superior glottic vision than DL group(p=0.0177). Compared to DL group (72.4%), the VL (84.5%) patients had their first successful attempt, inspite of 2 failures. Complications such as pharyngeal pain (8.6%vs29.3%), hoarseness (5.2%vs29.3%), Use of adjunct equipment like bougie (19%vs 3.4%) were significantly higher in DL compared to VL group, while oropharyngeal injury, dysphagia, number of attempts and change of anaesthetists were similar in both groups. Conclusion: In comparison to the Macintosh laryngoscope, the King-vision VideoLaryngoscope took longer to intubate but had clearer glottis visualisation and a higher first-time success rate and can be used as a good teaching tool. In King-vision video laryngoscope, there was less use of auxiliary equipment and fewer complications

Subclinical ketosis: Prevalence and risk factor analysis in early lactation dairy cattle of Thrissur district

Present study was conducted in Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University farms, various organized and unorganised farms and individual households in Thrissur district during the period of May 2021 to April 2022 with the objectives of estimation of prevalence of subclinical ketosis (SCK) by screening dairy cows on 14th and 28th day post-partum. Multiparous cows with a blood beta-hydroxy butyrate (BHB) value ≥ 1.2 mmol/L without any overt clinical signs were considered as positive for SCK. One hundred and fourteen animals from second to seventh lactation were screened for SCK. Prevalence of SCK was 23.7 per cent on 14th day and 14.04 per cent on 28th day with a total prevalence of 27.2 per cent. Occurrence of SCK was highest in animals in second lactation (54.8 per cent) with more occurrence in crossbred Holstein Friesian cows. Maximum number of positive cases were observed in dairy cows of age between four to six years (54.8 per cent). Body condition score of diseased animals were higher than normal animals. Prevalence was highest in animals calved between months of July to September and 58.1 per cent of affected animals had male calf. Concurrent abnormalities during transition period were also assessed based on clinical examination and farm records

Thecamoebians (Testate Amoebae) Straddling the Permian-Triassic Boundary in the Guryul Ravine Section, India: Evolutionary and Palaeoecological Implications

Exceptionally well-preserved organic remains of thecamoebians (testate amoebae) were preserved in marine sediments that straddle the greatest extinction event in the Phanerozoic: the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Outcrops from the Late Permian Zewan Formation and the Early Triassic Khunamuh Formation are represented by a complete sedimentary sequence at the Guryul Ravine Section in Kashmir, India, which is an archetypal Permian-Triassic boundary sequence. Previous biostratigraphic analysis provides chronological control for the section, and a perspective of faunal turnover in the brachiopods, ammonoids, bivalves, conodonts, gastropods and foraminifera. Thecamoebians were concentrated from bulk sediments using palynological procedures, which isolated the organic constituents of preserved thecamoebian tests. The recovered individuals demonstrate exceptional similarity to the modern thecamoebian families Centropyxidae, Arcellidae, Hyalospheniidae and Trigonopyxidae, however, the vast majority belong to the Centropyxidae. This study further confirms the morphologic stability of the thecamoebian lineages through the Phanerozoic, and most importantly, their apparent little response to an infamous biological crisis in Earth's history

Essays on Product Placement: An Analysis of Key Executional and Individual Level Factors that Influence the Effectiveness of Product Placements.

Product Placement or Brand Placement is the paid inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers, through audio and/or visual means, within entertainment media. This dissertation is a collection of three essays that investigate factors affecting the effectiveness of product placements. The first essay focuses on two measures of product placement effectiveness - audience recall and attitudes toward the placement. Extant empirical studies that address the antecedents of these constructs were integrated through a meta-analysis. Some key findings are as follows. The prominence of placements is a controllable executional factor that was found to have a significant positive relationship with recall. Recall was also affected by modality - audio-visual placements had better recall than audio-only placements which in turn performed better than visual-only placements. Audience attitudes toward placements had a strong relationship with the nature of the product - products that had negative ethical connotations were found to be less acceptable to audiences. However, viewers who were avid consumers of entertainment media tended to have more positive attitudes. Essay 2 focuses on the effect of repetition of placements of the same brand within a single television program. The results from an experiment show that unlike advertising, there was no negative-U relationship between the frequency of placements and audience attitudes toward the brand placed. In the case of visual placements, attitudes actually improved with frequency as a result of the mere exposure effect. However, this effect was not observed in the case of audio placements. Essay 3 addresses Need for Cognition , an individual level variable that was found to affect audience response toward the brand placed. Data were collected through an online survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The mood of the viewer and their parasocial attachment with the character in the program that was associated with the placement had significant positive relationships with their attitude toward the specific placement, which in turn had a strong positive relationship with the attitude toward the brand. However, the latter relationship was moderated by NFC, with the effect being significantly stronger for those viewers who did not engage in, or enjoy analytical activity. Limitations of the studies, the relevance of the findings to marketing practice, and the contribution to scholarly research are discussed