Written output of the deaf and hard of hearing primary school students learning English as a foreign language

Contemporarily learning foreign languages it is a must for anybody who wants to acquire high quality education and be competitive on the job market. It is also true for the students who are deaf and hard of hearing. Their language disability makes it much more difficult to become a proficient foreign language user. The aim of the paper is to present the preliminary effects of the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language to the deaf and hard of hearing students. The research presented was conducted in several primary Special Schools for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing around Poland. The study concentrates mainly on the deaf and hard of hearing students’ writing skills in English. Students’ written works were linguistically analyzed by the author of this research and also presented to “competent judges” – adult native English speakers. The results show that deaf and hard of hearing student are able to construct meaningful texts in English. However, they are very simple in their form and content. This problem needs further analysis, also the comparative ones

From symposion to goṣṭhī: The Adaptation of a Greek Social Custom in Ancient India

The symposion, a male social gathering that began in ancient Greece, was a social institution by and for men, hence a type of men’s society as we might understand it in modern parlance. Its manifestation on the Indian subcontinent has to date not been fully explored. In its original form, the symposion consisted of three main elements: alcohol, sex, and intellectual pursuits in the form of literature and philosophy, commonly understood by the popular phrase “wine, women, and song”. These sympotic elements find their equivalents in a wide range of Sanskrit litera­ture, which include medicine (Āyurveda), eroticism (Kāmaśāstra), polity (Arthaśāstra), epics, and rhetoric (Alaṃkāraśāstra), as expressed in the Carakasaṃhitā, the Kāmasūtra, the Arthaśāstra, the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa, and the Kāvyamīmāṃsā. The literary evidence indicates that the three sympotic elements came to full blossom in urban Indian men’s social gatherings or goṣṭhīs dating to a few centuries before the Common Era. The paper combines this literary evidence with archaeological sources to show how a foreign social custom contributed to an indigenous institution of men’s society in ancient India by a process of adaptation. It would appear that as the institution moved into different parts of the Indian subcontinent, it increasingly came under Brahmanic influence, which led to an important ideological change that stressed literary and intel­lectual pursuits over alcohol and sex. Under royal patronage, the goṣṭhī finally became a means for the development of Sanskrit and Indian literature and drama

Mesopotamian and Indian Bird Omens

This paper explores the relationship between bird omens that occur in both the Sanskrit Gārgīyajyotiṣa Aṅga 42 and the Akkadian Šumma Ālu and related Cuneiform tablets. After an overview of the Sanskrit omens and their source, the study proceeds to compare the Indian and Mesopotamian bird omens with special reference to the omens of the crow in order to show that the series of Akkadian omens and Sanskrit omen verses share a common conceptual paradigm. A list of the different omen birds and animals mentioned in the Gārgīyajyotiṣa occurs in an appendix

Link between the laws of geometrical optics and the radiative transfer equation in media with a spatially varying refractive index

We proposed in a previous paper [Opt. Commun. 228, 33 (2003)] a modified radiative transfer equation to describe radiative transfer in a medium with a spatially varying refractive index. The present paper is devoted to the demonstration that this equation perfectly works in the non-absorbing / non-scattering limit, what was contested by L. Mart\'i-L\'opez and coworkers [Opt. Commun. 266, 44 (2006)]. The assertion that this equation would imply a zero divergence of the rays is also commented.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Real-time three-dimensional optical coherence tomography image-guided core-needle biopsy system

Advances in optical imaging modalities, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), enable us to observe tissue microstructure at high resolution and in real time. Currently, core-needle biopsies are guided by external imaging modalities such as ultrasound imaging and x-ray computed tomography (CT) for breast and lung masses, respectively. These image-guided procedures are frequently limited by spatial resolution when using ultrasound imaging, or by temporal resolution (rapid real-time feedback capabilities) when using x-ray CT. One feasible approach is to perform OCT within small gauge needles to optically image tissue microstructure. However, to date, no system or core-needle device has been developed that incorporates both three-dimensional OCT imaging and tissue biopsy within the same needle for true OCT-guided core-needle biopsy. We have developed and demonstrate an integrated core-needle biopsy system that utilizes catheter-based 3-D OCT for real-time image-guidance for target tissue localization, imaging of tissue immediately prior to physical biopsy, and subsequent OCT imaging of the biopsied specimen for immediate assessment at the point-of-care. OCT images of biopsied ex vivo tumor specimens acquired during core-needle placement are correlated with corresponding histology, and computational visualization of arbitrary planes within the 3-D OCT volumes enables feedback on specimen tissue type and biopsy quality. These results demonstrate the potential for using real-time 3-D OCT for needle biopsy guidance by imaging within the needle and tissue during biopsy procedures

Personalised treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer patients — review of current evidence

The increasing number of scientific reports on the new-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immunological checkpoint inhibitors in the management of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) results in the necessity of frequent guidelines updating and constant preparing of treatment algorithms by scientific societies. This is accompanied by the continuous search for molecular predictive factors that could allow more personalised treatment and increased therapeutic benefits achieved by patients. Based on current recommendations, patients with mutated EGFR or rearranged ALK genes in advanced NSCLC should begin their treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The use of these agents within first- and second-line treatment may produce significant improvement of prognosis in selected patients. The improvement of survival may be achieved in patients with central nervous system metastases, who have poor prognosis. The role of immunotherapy increases as well, but negative results of some trials (e.g. MYSTIC or CheckMate 026) indicate difficulties in precise defining of groups of patients with the highest chances of benefit from immunotherapy. In view of the results from some trials (e.g. CheckMate 017, KEYNOTE 021, or PACIFIC), PD-L1 expression is not an optimal biomarker for immunotherapy. Initial results of some studies and retrospective analyses suggest the predictive value of other genetic or molecular abnormalities (e.g. high mutation load in tumour genome, microsatellite instability, or repair mechanism abnormalities). Precise definition of new biomarkers and ensuring the availability of genetic testing appears to be mandatory before widespread use of immunotherapy in clinical practice. Recently published positive results of studies testing new targeted agents, which have high value predictive factors, will probably influence the updates of scientific societies’ guidelines and management algorithms. The aim of this review was to assess possibilities of personalised treatment in patients with advanced NSCLC with the use of new generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors, in view of new scientific reports.The increasing number of scientific reports on the new-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immunological  checkpoint inhibitors in the management of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) results in the necessity  of frequent guidelines updating and constant preparing of treatment algorithms by scientific societies. This  is accompanied by the continuous search for molecular predictive factors that could allow more personalised  treatment and increased therapeutic benefits achieved by patients. Based on current recommendations, patients  with mutated EGFR or rearranged ALK genes in advanced NSCLC should begin their treatment with tyrosine kinase  inhibitors. The use of these agents within first- and second-line treatment may produce significant improvement  of prognosis in selected patients. The improvement of survival may be achieved in patients with central nervous  system metastases, who have poor prognosis. The role of immunotherapy increases as well, but negative results  of some trials (e.g. MYSTIC or CheckMate 026) indicate difficulties in precise defining of groups of patients with  the highest chances of benefit from immunotherapy. In view of the results from some trials (e.g. CheckMate 017,  KEYNOTE 021, or PACIFIC), PD-L1 expression is not an optimal biomarker for immunotherapy. Initial results of  some studies and retrospective analyses suggest the predictive value of other genetic or molecular abnormalities  (e.g. high mutation load in tumour genome, microsatellite instability, or repair mechanism abnormalities). Precise  definition of new biomarkers and ensuring the availability of genetic testing appears to be mandatory before  widespread use of immunotherapy in clinical practice. Recently published positive results of studies testing new  targeted agents, which have high value predictive factors, will probably influence the updates of scientific societies’  guidelines and management algorithms. The aim of this review was to assess possibilities of personalised  treatment in patients with advanced NSCLC with the use of new generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune  checkpoint inhibitors, in view of new scientific reports.

Healthcare Consumers’ Voluntary Adoption and Non-Adoption of Electronic Personal Health Records

The use and ready availability of electronic health records is broadly purported to have the potential to improve health outcomes for individual healthcare consumers, providers and the healthcare system as a whole. Unlike electronic health records that are created and managed by providers, personal health records (PHR) are controlled by the individual consumer and the persons/entities to which they choose to grant access. Studies show while more healthcare consumers have access to PHRs, their voluntary adoption is lagging. Yet, our understanding of adoption lag is also lacking. In this qualitative study, we investigate: (1) how individual healthcare users in Connecticut currently manage their personal health information, (2) whether they have adopted an electronic PHR and the considerations that influenced the volitional adoption or non-adoption of a PHR. Initial findings casts new and surprising understandings including how healthcare consumers would like to use PHRs

CBT for a fear of morphing: a case illustration

Describes the theoretical background to the treatment of a case of morphing fear in an adult and how evidence based practice was used to treat them