Language attitude studies have tended to assume that informants who listen to and evaluate speech stimuli are able to identify with consistent accuracy the varieties of English in question. However, ...misidentification could reduce the validity of any results obtained, particularly when it involves the evaluations of non-native English-speaking informants, who are likely to have had less exposure to varieties of English speech. The present study investigated the perceptions of 558 Japanese university students of six varieties of English speech. The results indicated that whilst evaluations of speakers of UK and US English were particularly positive in terms of status, a Japanese speaker of heavily-accented English was rated most favourably in terms of social attractiveness. The findings from an additional dialect recognition question demonstrated that accurate identification had a significant positive effect upon the perceived status of native varieties of English, suggesting a tendency amongst the informants to look to native speakers to provide 'notions of correctness'. The results also imply that Japanese learners retain representations of varieties of English speech and draw upon this resource, whether consciously or unconsciously, in order to identify and evaluate (speakers of) these speech varieties.
‘If it bleeds, it leads’, events characterised by fatalities, are likely to attract high levels of media coverage. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach to investigate public discourses on ...the MH17 tragedy in Malaysia and the United Kingdom. First, corpus-based discourse analysis was employed to explore the construction of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy MH17 in four selected Malaysian and British newspapers. In addition, an attitudinal study examining 50 Malaysian and 50 UK nationals’ perceptions of the tragedy was conducted. Keywords analysis revealed an overall tendency for the news media to construct the air tragedy through classifications between ‘us’ and ‘others’. Specifically, important ‘Us’ (Malaysian elites) and non-important ‘Other’ (non-Malaysian) in the Malaysian newspapers, versus good ‘Us’ (the West) and evil ‘Others’ (Russia) in the British newspapers. The attitudinal analysis shows, for both the Malaysian and the UK respondents, the most salient associations with the MH17 tragedy related to ‘conflicts’.
Introduction
Nail psoriasis is highly prevalent among patients with psoriasis yet remains one of the most challenging areas to treat. To better understand the treatment landscape for psoriatic nail ...disease, more studies are needed that compare the effectiveness of different biologics for patients with nail psoriasis. This study contributes to this objective by directly comparing the effectiveness of approved biologics in improving nail psoriasis for patients up to month 12 in a real-world setting.
Methods
Psoriasis Study of Health Outcomes (PSoHO) is an ongoing 3-year, prospective, non-interventional cohort study of adults with chronic moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis initiating or switching to a new biologic. This study assessed the change in modified Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (mNAPSI) score from baseline to months 3, 6 and 12 for 763 patients and compared the effectiveness of anti-interleukin (IL)-17A biologics versus other approved biologics, as well as ixekizumab versus secukinumab, guselkumab, risankizumab and adalimumab. Comparative adjusted analyses used frequentist model averaging (FMA). Least square mean difference (LSMD) in mNAPSI scores are presented as observed.
Results
Irrespective of the severity of nail psoriasis at baseline, the anti-IL-17A cohort had greater mean mNAPSI reductions from baseline compared to the other biologics cohort through month 12, reaching significance at months 3 and 6 in the adjusted analysis. For patients with moderate-to-severe nail psoriasis, ixekizumab showed numerically higher mean reductions in mNAPSI scores compared to all other studied biologics, reaching significance versus guselkumab at all timepoints and risankizumab at month 6.
Conclusion
This real-world study showed that patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis and any severity of concomitant nail involvement had significantly faster and more substantial improvements in nail psoriasis up to month 6 in the anti-IL-17A cohort compared to the other biologics cohort. Of the individual biologics studied, ixekizumab showed the highest numerical improvements in nail psoriasis at month 12.
Trial registration
EUPAS24207.
•Information loss during the handover from Emergency Care Providers to hospital staff is common and has a significant impact on patient care.•Development of prehospital emergency care quality ...systems, such as checklists, has been limited in the African context•Using a Delphi survey we identify relevant South African-specific elements to improve the validity and generalisability of a patient report form checklist.
Medical records are an integral part of patient care. Information loss during the handover from Emergency Care Providers to hospital staff is common and has a significant impact on patient care. Information loss can be prevented with medical documentation that is accurate, complete and contains the relevant information regarding patient management. Patient report Forms (PRF's) are used by Emergency Care Providers to record the details of their patient care and they form part of the patients’ medical records. Quality assuring of PRF's is required to determine if the required information has been recorded on the PRF. Checklists are one the means of quality assuring PRF, by comparing the points on the checklist to the content of the PRF.
An three-round Delphi survey was conducted with experts to determine the relevant information (data elements) required for the completion of a PRF including any additional South African – specific elements.
Thirty-two experts participated in the Delphi survey, which identified 166 data elements for the check list and this was refined to a final 133 elements after collation by the researchers. A proposed checklist was developed.
The Delphi process is a useful technique to develop a checklist. A checklist consisting of 133 total possible data elements to quality assure PRFs was designed. Further research regarding the use and reliability of the checklist is required.
The prevalence of active atopic dermatitis (AD) in adults in the UK according to disease severity shows variability. This study evaluated disease prevalence and treatment patterns among the adult UK ...population with AD. Data were obtained from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) database. Adults with active AD were identified by an AD‐related prescription or general practitioner visit within the same calendar year. Prevalence was defined as the number of patients with active AD on 1 January of each year as a percentage of the number of adults in the CPRD population on that date. Moderate‐to‐severe disease was classified as either referral to a specialist or prescription(s) for topical calcineurin inhibitors, phototherapy, or systemic treatment. Patient characteristics and treatment and referral patterns were analysed for patients with active AD in 2019. The overall prevalence of AD was stable at 2.4% per year during the period 2015–2019. In 2019, mean patient age (± standard deviation) was 52.6 ± 21.0 years, 58.2% of patients were female and mean disease duration was 9.4 ± 5.9 years. The most prescribed treatment was topical corticosteroids, in 78.5% of patients. 36.7% of patients with moderate‐to‐severe AD were prescribed systemic agents and 59.8% (vs. 32.3% of patients with mild AD) were referred to any secondary care or specialist treatment. The prevalence of active AD in the adult UK population was stable over the 5‐year period (2015–2019) and was comparable to estimates from similar studies based on UK primary healthcare records.
Using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink database, the prevalence of active atopic dermatitis (AD) in the UK adult population was estimated to be stable at 2.4% per year during the period 2015–2019 and was comparable to estimates from similar studies based on UK primary healthcare records. Overall, 7.5%–8.3% of adults with AD had moderate‐to‐severe disease during the 5‐year period. In 2019, mean patient age was 52.6 years, 58.2% of patients were female, mean disease duration was 9.4 years and topical corticosteroids were the most prescribed treatment (in 78.5% of patients); 36.7% of patients with moderate‐to‐severe AD were prescribed systemic agents.
Cardiovascular disease is thought to account for nearly a third of deaths worldwide, with ischemic heart disease, including acute coronary syndromes such as myocardial infarction, accounting for 1.7 ...million deaths per year. There is a clear need for interventions to impart cardioprotection against ischemia. Here, we show that the slowly activating voltage-gated potassium current (IKs) potentiator ML277 imparts cardioprotection against ischemia in cellular and whole-heart models by modulating the action potential duration. In three different metabolic inhibition and reperfusion models, an increased contractile recovery and cell survival was observed with ML277, indicative of protection. Finally, ML277 reduced infarct size in an ex vivo Langendorff coronary ligation model, including if only applied on reperfusion. In conclusion, potentiation of the IKs with ML277 imparted a cardioprotection that was equivalent to the protection reported previously by ischemic preconditioning. These data suggest that IKs potentiation may be therapeutically useful in acute coronary syndromes.
ObjectivesTo identify root causes of preventable adverse drug events (pADEs) contributing to hospital admission; to develop key messages which identify actions patients/families and healthcare ...providers can take to prevent common pADEs found; to develop a surveillance learning system for the community.MethodsCross-sectional observational study; 120 patients and families, 61 associated healthcare providers were interviewed then root cause analysis was performed to develop key learning messages and an electronic reporting tool was designed. Most common pADE-related medical conditions and their root causes and most common pADE root causes of entire cohort are reported.ResultsMost common pADE-related medical conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/asthma (13.3%), bleeding (12.5%), hypotension (12%), heart failure (10%), acute kidney injury (5%) and pneumonia (5%). Most common root causes were: providers not confirming that the patient/family understands information given (29.2%), can identify how a medication helps them/have their concerns addressed (16.7%), can identify if a medication is working (14.1%) or causing a side effect (23.3%); can enact medication changes (7.5%); absence of a sick day management plan (12.5%), and other action plans to help patients respond to changes in their clinical status (10.8%); providers not assessing medication use and monitoring competency (19.2%). Ten key learning messages were developed and a pADE surveillance learning system was implemented.ConclusionsTo prevent pADEs, providers need to confirm that patients/families understand information given, how a medication helps them, how to recognise and respond to side effects, how to enact medication changes and follow action plans; providers should assess patient’s/families’ medication use and monitoring competency.
The assessment procedures within Response to Intervention (RTI) models have begun to supplant the use of traditional, discrepancy-based frameworks for identifying students with specific learning ...disabilities (SLD). Many RTI proponents applaud this shift because of perceived shortcomings in utilizing discrepancy as an indicator of SLD. However, many professionals and organizations have noted the substantial variability between various RTI models and urged cautious implementation. RTI models that utilize substantively different assessment procedures as a primary or singular means of SLD identification are likely to produce numerous sources of measurement error, threats to validity, inaccuracy in identification, and potential legal challenges. This article examines from a psychometric perspective the risks in replacing discrepancy-based identification of SLD with the myriad options for measuring students' responsiveness and nonresponsiveness to instruction within the intervention tiers of RTI.
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