Newborn morbidity and mortality remains high despite a remarkable decline in the infant mortality and under five mortality rates in Nepal over the last decade (1996-2006). Research shows that newborns’ health outcome is associated with maternal and other factors. This study was designed to understand the factors that have an impact on three good newborn care practices: safe cord cutting, early breastfeeding and delayed bathing. The study used the interview data of 815 married women aged 15-49 years who delivered a live baby between February 2008 and February 2009, collected for the baseline survey of the Community-Based Maternal and Newborn Health program implemented in the Sindhuli district of Nepal. The mean age of the sample women was 26 years. Two-thirds of them were from disadvantaged indigenous caste/ethnicity groups, about 70% were uneducated and the majority were poor. Safe cord cutting, early breastfeeding and delayed bathing practices were studied for 803, 810 and 812 women respectively and 70.7%, 46.7%, and 16.6% of the eligible samples demonstrated the practices respectively. The logistic regression method was used to examine the association of independent factors with the outcome variables. Social gradient was found to be associated with all three practices. Rich women were more likely to demonstrate good practices and bearing a child at the prime age (20-34 years) was likely to result in safe cord cutting. Disadvantaged indigenous and ‘other’ caste/ethnicity women demonstrated unsafe cord cutting practices and dalit caste/ethnicity women demonstrated poor bathing practices. Maternal knowledge also emerged as a strong predictor of early breastfeeding and delayed bathing practices. Antenatal care from a SBA determined good breastfeeding and advice from a FCHV determined good bathing practices. The results showed that the uptake of antenatal and delivery services from a skilled birth attendant is unacceptably low in rural Nepal, which is a challenge for meeting the millennium development goals. The study recommends programmes for improving economic status as a key to improving newborn care practices. As the vast majority of the deliveries are still assisted by traditional birth attendants; including them in maternal health programmes is crucial. Increasing women’s access to a skilled birth attendant and boosting the spirit of the FCHVs to increase their efficiency is also recommended. Future research on newborn health should focus on identifying other determinants of newborn care practices and survival. Qualitative studies to understand the cultural perspectives of newborn care practices are also recommended.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

This study investigated the effects of recasts, a frequently provided type of oral feedback in language teaching, on the production of English question forms in second language (L2) learning. Despite the large number of studies which have examined the effects of recasts, mixed views exist as to their usefulness as a corrective feedback technique. The present study has continued the investigation into whether their frequent use is justified and also if learners actually perceive recasts as being corrective in nature. The focus of this study is to explore developmental effects, both immediately following and delayed, of recasts while considering these two key aspects. The primary aim is to explore delayed benefits of recasts while the secondary aim is to investigate whether or not these learners perceived the feedback as a correct version of their incorrect question form. The study involved 34 English as a second language (ESL) learners from various first language (L1) backgrounds who were enrolled in a general English programme, at an Auckland language school. The participants completed demographic questionnaires and took part in task-based interaction sessions, with the members of the experimental group receiving input containing intensive recasts. The proportion and types of questions produced in the immediate and two delayed post-tests were compared and analysed to consider whether exposure to recasts was beneficial. The main findings suggest that for more advanced question types, interaction with intensive recasts may be more effective than interaction alone, for delayed L2 development, despite only weak support in the literature. On the other hand, similar positive effects on immediate question production are not strongly evident. Therefore, the results in this study add support to the claim that recasts may be beneficial for delayed second language acquisition (SLA), when the linguistic target is questions, even when these recasts do not seem effective immediately following exposure. Furthermore, awareness of negative evidence was indicated, which may have contributed, in part, to the positive delayed findings. Finally, these results suggest that recasts can be an effective pedagogical tool in the communicative L2 classroom when providing linguistic feedback in a way that does not unduly disrupt the flow of the interactive task. Practical suggestions for future research were also identified.

This study investigated the effects of recasts, a frequently provided type of oral feedback in language teaching, on the production of English question forms in second language (L2) learning. Despite the large number of studies which have examined the effects of recasts, mixed views exist as to their usefulness as a corrective feedback technique. The present study has continued the investigation into whether their frequent use is justified and also if learners actually perceive recasts as being corrective in nature. The focus of this study is to explore developmental effects, both immediately following and delayed, of recasts while considering these two key aspects. The primary aim is to explore delayed benefits of recasts while the secondary aim is to investigate whether or not these learners perceived the feedback as a correct version of their incorrect question form. The study involved 34 English as a second language (ESL) learners from various first language (L1) backgrounds who were enrolled in a general English programme, at an Auckland language school. The participants completed demographic questionnaires and took part in task-based interaction sessions, with the members of the experimental group receiving input containing intensive recasts. The proportion and types of questions produced in the immediate and two delayed post-tests were compared and analysed to consider whether exposure to recasts was beneficial. The main findings suggest that for more advanced question types, interaction with intensive recasts may be more effective than interaction alone, for delayed L2 development, despite only weak support in the literature. On the other hand, similar positive effects on immediate question production are not strongly evident. Therefore, the results in this study add support to the claim that recasts may be beneficial for delayed second language acquisition (SLA), when the linguistic target is questions, even when these recasts do not seem effective immediately following exposure. Furthermore, awareness of negative evidence was indicated, which may have contributed, in part, to the positive delayed findings. Finally, these results suggest that recasts can be an effective pedagogical tool in the communicative L2 classroom when providing linguistic feedback in a way that does not unduly disrupt the flow of the interactive task. Practical suggestions for future research were also identified.

Following vestibular schwannoma excision, a subset of cases has been reported in which hearing is present immediately after surgery, but is lost in the early postoperative period. Such cases have rarely been reported, and the postoperative audiological data collected from patients in these cases lacks the time resolution necessary to determine the pathophysiological mechanism responsible for the pattern of hearing loss. The present study aimed to more clearly define delayed hearing loss by collecting detailed data documenting changes in behavioural and electrophysiological auditory responses following vestibular schwannoma surgery. In particular, we aimed to use this data to determine the time course of changes in auditory function and to identify whether the site of impairment was cochlear or neural. Preoperative and daily postoperative monitoring of auditory function was performed in 19 patients undergoing vestibular schwannoma excision via the retrosigmoid approach at Christchurch Public Hospital. The pre- and postoperative assessment battery included pure-tone and speech audiometry, tympanometry, tone decay, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), and auditory brainstem response (ABR) measurement. Intraoperative ABR was performed in four cases in which clear preoperative waveforms were present. Transtympanic electrocochleography (ECochG) was carried out if wave I was lost in the early postoperative period. Thirteen of the 19 patients suffered immediate anacusis following surgery and six had measurable hearing postoperatively. The behavioural and electrophysiological data collected in each case is discussed with regard to the likely pathophysiology of pre- and postoperative hearing loss. No patients demonstrated behavioural evidence of delayed hearing loss, however a gradual deterioration of ABR in the early postoperative period was observed in Case 16. ECochG and DPOAEs in this case indicated the presence of cochlear function although the patient presented with immediate postoperative anacusis in the ipsilateral ear. These results are consistent with postoperative retrograde degeneration of the cochlear nerve.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-173).

Thesis (doctoral)--Copenhagen.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2010.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1951. / Typescript (carbon copy). Some charts laid in. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-54).

Background: Brain tumors are the most common solid tumors found in children. Current research is determining whether diagnosing brain tumors earlier will help improve prognosis and reduce long-term deficits; however, childhood brain tumors are often diagnosed late with a median time of 1-4 months from onset of symptoms. Prolonged symptom intervals before diagnosis have been associated with life-threatening risks, neuro-cognitive disabilities, and detrimental professional relationships between healthcare providers and families. Pediatric brain tumor clinical presentations are often non-specific and resemble less serious illnesses; therefore, healthcare providers are failing to include this in their differential diagnoses list. Purpose: To assess healthcare provider knowledge of signs and symptoms of pediatric brain tumors using The Brain Pathways Guideline. Methods: A one group pre-test and post-test e-mailed separately to nurse practitioners that have active membership in National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (NAPNAP) Arizona Chapter. Results: The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test revealed that the matched test scores were not statistically significant (p=0.157) after viewing The Brain Pathways Guideline educational materials. Conclusion: The results of this study did not show a statistically significant difference in the test scores and therefore it cannot be concluded that presenting an evidence-based guideline to assist healthcare providers to assess and diagnose patients with brain tumors will be helpful to improve pre-diagnostic symptom intervals.