La praxis liberadora de la teología de la discapacidad en la Misión de la Fe Apostólica de Zimbabue: Una perspectiva teológica Cristiana

Despite the inter-disciplinary inclusivity of Disability Studies in the globe over time, the religious organization’s systems are still repulsive to accept the physical and psychosocial realities of people living with Disabilities. The growing literature that should be influencing religious perspectives about people with disabilities has not been able to extricate the dogmatic stereotypes and myths associated with Disability. As such, the prevalence of the diverse responses Disability from different contexts has compromised the ideological and material investment in Disability Studies. We used the combination of phenomenological observation and informal conversation qualitative methodologies to establish the experiences, feelings and behaviors of the Apostolic Faith Mission of Zimbabwe (AFMZ) congregants in Harare on the impact of the liberation praxis of Disability Theology. The findings showed that people with disabilities are most often marginalized, excluded and discriminated against and perpetually subjugated within the religious circles. This complexity of disabilities is exacerbated by the fluidity of policies, culture and religious ideologies when dealing with issues of disabilities. In conclusion, this study emphasized that Disability Theology within Christian tradition should function as a liberating praxis when dealing with issues of disabilities and being effectively used to enhance the participation of people with disabilities in all the religious liturgical activities.A pesar de la inclusividad interdisciplinaria de los estudios sobre la discapacidad a lo largo del tiempo, los sistemas de las organizaciones religiosas son todavía reacios a aceptar las realidades físicas y psicosociales de las personas en condición de discapacidad. La creciente literatura que debería influir en las perspectivas religiosas sobre las personas en condición de discapacidad no ha sido capaz de desmontar los estereotipos y mitos dogmáticos asociados a la discapacidad. Así, el predominio de diversas respuestas en relación con la discapacidad desde diferentes contextos ha comprometido la inversión material e ideológica en los estudios sobre la discapacidad. En el trabajo se combinó la observación fenomenológica con la conversación informal de los métodos cualitativos para caracterizar las experiencias, sentimientos y comportamientos en relación con el impacto de la praxis liberadora de la teología de la discapacidad de los miembros de la Misión de la Fe Apostólica de Zimbabue en Harare. Los resultados revelan que las personas en condición de discapacidad son marginalizadas, excluidas, discriminadas y subyugadas con mayor frecuencia en los círculos religiosos. Esta complejidad de las discapacidades es exacerbada por las políticas, la cultura y las ideologías religiosas relacionadas con las discapacidades. En conclusión, el trabajo enfatiza que la teología de la discapacidad dentro de la tradición cristiana debería funcionar como una praxis liberadora al tratar con asuntos relacionados con la discapacidad y ser utilizada para aumentar la participación de las personas en condición de discapacidad en todas las actividades litúrgicas religiosas

Do persons with disability need healing? An African Pentecostal perspective within the selected African Pentecostal Churches in Zimbabwe

Much has been written on disability care and support from human rights, cultural, and religious perspectives around the world. However, there is still a paucity of information on the experiences of Persons with Disability (PWD) in their divine healing and deliverance encounter with the African Pentecostal Churches (APC) in Zimbabwe. This qualitative phenomenological study seeks to establish the lived experiences of 28 PWD s within the selected four APC s operating in the Harare province of Zimbabwe. The central questions underpinning this study were whether PWD need divine healing, and are they getting healed? The study used the religious model of disability and the Pentecostal ‘hermeneutic of healing’ as theoretical frameworks. While healing is essential to physical life, the findings show that PWD need dignity, recognition, and compassion more than the uncertain promises of divine healing. In the premises of the preceding, the study concludes and recommends that PWD receive holistic material and psychosocial support and that they stop endlessly chasing after a physical healing

Patient-, health worker-, and health facility-level determinants of correct malaria case management at publicly funded health facilities in Malawi: results from a nationally representative health facility survey

BACKGROUND: Prompt and effective case management is needed to reduce malaria morbidity and mortality. However, malaria diagnosis and treatment is a multistep process that remains problematic in many settings, resulting in missed opportunities for effective treatment as well as overtreatment of patients without malaria. METHODS: Prior to the widespread roll-out of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) in late 2011, a national, cross-sectional, complex-sample, health facility survey was conducted in Malawi to assess patient-, health worker-, and health facility-level factors associated with malaria case management quality using multivariate Poisson regression models. RESULTS: Among the 2,019 patients surveyed, 34% had confirmed malaria defined as presence of fever and parasitaemia on a reference blood smear. Sixty-seven per cent of patients with confirmed malaria were correctly prescribed the first-line anti-malarial, with most cases of incorrect treatment due to missed diagnosis; 31% of patients without confirmed malaria were overtreated with an anti-malarial. More than one-quarter of patients were not assessed for fever or history of fever by health workers. The most important determinants of correct malaria case management were patient-level clinical symptoms, such as spontaneous complaint of fever to health workers, which increased both correct treatment and overtreatment by 72 and 210%, respectively (p < 0.0001). Complaint of cough was associated with a 27% decreased likelihood of correct malaria treatment (p = 0.001). Lower-level cadres of health workers were more likely to prescribe anti-malarials for patients, increasing the likelihood of both correct treatment and overtreatment, but no other health worker or health facility-level factors were significantly associated with case management quality. CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of RDTs holds potential to improve malaria case management in Malawi, but health workers must systematically assess all patients for fever, and then test and treat accordingly, otherwise, malaria control programmes might miss an opportunity to dramatically improve malaria case management, despite better diagnostic tools

A dynamical model for longitudinal wave functions in light-front holographic QCD

We construct a Schrodinger-like equation for the longitudinal wave function of a meson in the valence qq-bar sector, based on the 't Hooft model for large-N two-dimensional QCD, and combine this with the usual transverse equation from light-front holographic QCD, to obtain a model for mesons with massive quarks. The computed wave functions are compared with the wave function ansatz of Brodsky and De Teramond and used to compute decay constants and parton distribution functions. The basis functions used to solve the longitudinal equation may be useful for more general calculations of meson states in QCD.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX 4.1; expanded discussion, with calculation details moved to appendice

Spontaneous symmetry breaking of (1+1)-dimensional ϕ4\bf \phi^4 theory in light-front field theory (III)

We investigate (1+1)-dimensional $\phi^4$ field theory in the symmetric and broken phases using discrete light-front quantization. We calculate the perturbative solution of the zero-mode constraint equation for both the symmetric and broken phases and show that standard renormalization of the theory yields finite results. We study the perturbative zero-mode contribution to two diagrams and show that the light-front formulation gives the same result as the equal-time formulation. In the broken phase of the theory, we obtain the nonperturbative solutions of the constraint equation and confirm our previous speculation that the critical coupling is logarithmically divergent. We discuss the renormalization of this divergence but are not able to find a satisfactory nonperturbative technique. Finally we investigate properties that are insensitive to this divergence, calculate the critical exponent of the theory, and find agreement with mean field theory as expected.Comment: 21 pages; OHSTPY-HEP-TH-94-014 and DOE/ER/01545-6

Corepressor/coactivator paradox: potential constitutive coactivation by corepressor splice variants

The functional consequences of the interaction of transcriptional coregulators with the human thyroid hormone receptor (TR) in mammalian cells are complex. We have used the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which lack endogenous nuclear receptors (NRs) and NR coregulators, as a model to decipher mechanisms regulating transcriptional activation by TR. In effect, this system allows the reconstitution of TR mediated transcription complexes by the expression of specific combinations of mammalian proteins in yeast. In this yeast system, human adenovirus 5 early region 1A (E1A), a natural N-CoR splice variant (N-CoR(I)) or an artificial N-CoR truncation (N-CoR(C)) coactivate unliganded TRs and these effects are inhibited by thyroid hormone (TH). E1A contains a short peptide sequence that resembles known corepressor-NR interaction motifs (CoRNR box motif, CBM), and this motif is required for TR binding and coactivation. N-CoR(I) and N-CoR(C) contain three CBMs, but only the C-terminal CBM1 is critical for coactivation. These observations in a yeast model system suggest that E1A and N-CoR(I) are naturally occurring TR coactivators that bind in the typical corepressor mode. These findings also raise the possibility that alternative splicing events which form corepressor proteins containing only C-terminal CBM motifs could represent a novel mechanism in mammalian cells for regulating constitutive transcriptional activation by TRs

The High Burden of Malaria in Primary School Children in Southern Malawi.

Malaria among school children has received increased attention recently, yet there remain few detailed data on the health and educational burden of malaria, especially in southern Africa. This paper reports a survey among school children in 50 schools in Zomba District, Malawi. Children were assessed for Plasmodium infection, anemia, and nutritional status and took a battery of age-appropriate tests of attention, literacy, and numeracy. Overall, 60.0% of children were infected with Plasmodium falciparum, 32.4% were anemic and 32.4% reported sleeping under a mosquito net the previous night. Patterns of P. falciparum infection and anemia varied markedly by school. In multivariable analysis, higher odds of P. falciparum infection were associated with younger age and being stunted, whereas lower odds were associated with reported net use, higher parental education, and socioeconomic status. The odds of anemia were significantly associated with P. falciparum infection, with a dose-response relationship between density of infection and odds of anemia. No clear relationship was observed between health status and cognitive and educational outcomes. The high burden of malaria highlights the need to tackle malaria among school children

Sweet tooth reconsidered: Taste responsiveness in human obesity

Taste responses of normal-weight, obese, and formerly obese individuals for sucrose and fat containing stimuli were examined using a mathematical modelling technique known as the Response Surface Method. The subjects accurately rated intensities of sweetness, fatness, and creaminess of 20 different mixtures of milk, cream, and sugar, and no mixture phenomena or inter-group differences were observed. In contrast, hedonic taste responses varied across subject groups, and were affected differentially by the sucrose and lipid content of the stimuli. Normal-weight subjects optimally preferred stimuli containing 20% lipid and less than 10% sucrose. Obese subjects preferred high-fat stimuli (&gt;34% lipid) that contained less than 5% sucrose, while formerly obese subjects showed enhanced responsiveness to both sugar and fat. Hedonic responsiveness as measured by the optimal sugar/fat ratio was negatively correlated with the degree of overweight (body mass index: weight/height2). We hypothesize that sensory preferences for dietary sugars and fats are determined by body-weight status and may affect the patterns of food consumption.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25560/1/0000102.pd