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Objective: To note the factors linked with delayed diagnosis of congenital heart diseases (CHDs) among children. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pediatric Cardiology, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi, Pakistan. Period: September 2022 to February 2023. Material & Methods: We analyzed children aged up to 15 years who presented for the first time with echocardiographic evidence for the diagnosis of CHDs. Socio-demographic data along with clinical information like gender, age, residential status, maternal education status, history of maternal fetal echocardiography and the frequency of delayed diagnosis of CHDs were noted on a specially made proforma. Parent or guardians were asked for possible reasons of delayed diagnosis for CHDs. Results: In a total of 250 children, the mean age was 2.33±3.81 years while 162 (64.8%) children were aged below 2 years. There were 138 (55.2%) boys. Residential status of 159 (63.6%) children was rural while maternal educational status of 99 (39.6%) was illiterate. There were 164 (65.6%) children who were diagnosed to have cyanotic CHDs while 86 (34.4%) had acyanotic CHDs. Frequency of delayed diagnosis was noted among 182 (72.8%) children. In these 182 cases, delayed first consultation was the commonest factor behind delayed diagnosis noted in 78 (42.9%) children while missed diagnosis by the pediatrician was the 2nd most common factors linked with the delayed diagnosis of CHDs as described by 62 (34.1%) parents. Conclusion: Almost 3/4th of the studied children had delayed diagnosis of CHDs while cyanotic CHDs were the most common CHD types. Delayed first consultant and missed diagnosis by the pediatrician were the most common factors linked with delayed diagnosis of CHDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Akofena is the property of Universite Felix Houphouet Boigny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: To establish and validate a targeted model for the prediction of cognitive impairment in elderly illiterate Chinese women. Methods: 1864 participants in the 2011-2014 cohort and 1,060 participants in the 2014-2018 cohort from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) were included in this study. The Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to measure cognitive function. Demographics and lifestyle information were collected to construct a risk prediction model by a restricted cubic spline Cox regression. The discrimination and accuracy of the model were assessed by the area under the curve (AUC) and the concordance index, respectively. Results: A total of seven critical variables were included in the final prediction model for cognitive impairment risk, including age, MMSE score, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), psychological score, activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental abilities of daily living (IADL), and frequency of tooth brushing. The internal and external validation AUCs were 0.8 and 0.74, respectively; and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves indicated good performance ability of the constructed model. Conclusion: A feasible model to explore the factors influencing cognitive impairment in elderly illiterate women in China and to identify the elders at high risk was successfully constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Scientific Development for Studies & Research (JSD) is the property of Journal of Scientific Development for Studies & Research (JSD) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the past two decades, the interdisciplinary push to denaturalise the concept of society has historicised the very object of social history. In this paper, I propose a way of studying the social history of education that eludes the presupposition of the social as a transcendental or pre-discursive object. My central claim is that it is possible to observe a process of socialisation regarding educational problems. This means that the social and society were not simply concepts that created a new object of knowledge, but rather that they became a visualisation principle that allowed for the abstraction of categories and made observable a set of relationships. These notions are contained and articulated in how social problems were produced, observed, performed, and acted upon by educational and political actors. I will do this by examining the production of illiteracy (analfabetismo in Spanish) as a social problem in Mexico in the first decades of the twentieth century. I argue that two fundamental processes rendered illiteracy a social problem. First, the development of statistical knowledge and methods made it possible to know the number of people who did not read and write, creating the illiterate as a statistical category. The second is the articulation of this statistical reality as a generalised problem by education experts and authorities. In this sense, literacy was abstracted and framed as an essential feature for the proper functioning of a modern society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: TMA-93 examines relational binding using images. The test has been proven to be discriminative for diagnosing early Alzheimer's disease by biomarkers. Norms for this test are available, but the elderly, at high risk for Alzheimer's disease, have not yet been widely represented.Objective: To extend normative data on the TMA-93 for people aged 75 and over.Methods: An extension of the Spanish TMA-93 normative study was undertaken. Only cognitively unimpaired people aged 75 and over were included. Age, gender, and educational attainment were registered as socio-demographic variables. Using histograms analysis, median comparisons, and linear regression analysis, we selected variables that demonstrated influence on TMA-93 total scores and provided percentile-base reference data according to combinations of those variables.Results: We included 431 new participants, resulting in a total sample of 657 individuals (median age = 78, interquartile range = 76-81, range = 75-93). Percentile-base reference data stratified by a combination of age ranges (75-79, n = 428; and ≥80 years, n = 229), and educational attainment (< first grade, n = 253; first grade, n = 209; > first grade, n = 195) revealed that participants achieved a minimum TMA-93 total score of 26/30 at the 50th-percentile regardless of stratum. At the 10th-percentile, a maximum of 24/30 was achieved in the more educated stratum contrasting with a minimum of 19/30 in the less educated stratum.Conclusion: Although mitigated by lower levels of education, performance on the TMA-93 is widely preserved in cognitively unimpaired people aged 75 and over. The test could facilitate the screening of elderly patients with memory complaints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire is a brief cognitive tool designed to screen cognitive impairment in geriatric inpatients and outpatients. The validity and reliability of this tool have not been studied in Iran so far. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the diagnostic properties of the SPMSQ for detection of cognitive disorders in elderly and determine an appropriate cutoff point based on respondents' level of education.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted through face to face interviews on a sample of 156 patients (≥60 years) referred to neurology and geriatric clinics of Ziaiyan hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Regarding the type of cognitive impairment, Participants were divided into two groups; those with cognitive disorders (n = 96) and healthy (n = 60). The level of literacy was also considered in each of the groups.Results: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the SPMSQ was 0.88. In terms of the concurrent validity, a correlation coefficient between SPMSQ and GDS was higher in the literate group compared to the illiterate patients, while in the illiterate group, the SPMSQ had a higher correlation with AMT compared to the other tools. Based on DSM-5, the cutoff point of SPMSQ was 4 in the illiterate elderly patients and the sensitivity and specificity of the tool were at 86.4 and 88.2%, respectively. However, in the literate patients, the cutoff point was 3 and the sensitivity and specificity were 83 and 93.7%, respectively. Also, two components, namely orientation and long-term memory/concentration were determined for the SPMSQ using the factor analysis.Conclusion: The Iranian version of SPMSQ has a favorable validity and reliability for diagnosing cognitive disorders and can be used for cognitive screening of illiterate older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Social Intervention: Theory & Practice is the property of Universiteit Utrecht and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: The accuracy of commonly used screening tests for Alzheimer's disease (AD) has not been directly compared to those that could be more appropriate for lower schooling. Objective: To compare the diagnostic accuracy of usual screening tests for AD with instruments that might be more appropriate for lower schooling among older adults with low or no literacy. Methods: The study included a clinical sample of 117 elderly outpatients from a Geriatric Clinic classified as literate controls (n = 39), illiterate controls (n = 30), literate AD (n = 30) and illiterate AD (n = 18). The tests were compared as follows: Black and White versus Colored Figure Memory Test; Clock Drawing Test versus Clock Reading Test; Verbal Fluency (VF) animal versus grocery category; CERAD Constructional Praxis versus Stick Design Test. Results: The means of literate and illiterate controls did not differ in the Black and White Figure Memory Test (immediate recall), Colored Figure Memory Test (delayed recall), Clock Reading Test and VF animals and grocery categories. The means of the clinical groups (controls versus AD), in the 2 schooling levels, differed significantly in most of the tests, except for the CERAD Constructive Praxis and the Stick Design Test. Diagnostic accuracy was not significantly different between the compared tests. Conclusion: Commonly used screening tests for AD were as accurate as those expected to overcome the education bias in a sample of older adults with lower or no education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This validation study is discriminant and concurrent, with the Bayer-Activities of Daily Living (Bayer-ADL) tool among the Iranian elderly dementia illiterate and literate. The tools Bayer-ADL, Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), ADL-Barthel, and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) were applied to find Bayer-ADL correlations in 311 dementia outpatients that were ≥60 years old. The Iranian version Bayer-ADL scores between illiterate and literate dementia elderly, based on GDS, observed good discrimination values (0.923 sensitivity and 0.750 specificity) in illiterate people, and excellent discrimination values were achieved (sensitivity 0.919 and 0. 986 specificity) in literate dementia elderly. The suggested cutoff points were 1.79 for illiterate and for the Iranian literate dementia elderly 1.82, based on GDS. Both forms (24 and 25 items) of Bayer-ADL were correlated to GDS, ADL, and IADL. Bayer-ADL is a valid tool to distinguish physical dysfunction between illiterate and literate of the Iranian dementia elderly; however, some revisions in the components are needed for the illiterate elderly. Generally, the findings presented in the Iranian version Bayer-ADL could be useful to both clinical purpose and international studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with no literacy are at increased risk of progression to dementia. Whether it is feasible to engage this population in visual art therapy (VAT) and yield effects on cognition and depression remained unclear. A pilot mixed-method single-blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted in a sample of community-dwelling older adults with MCI. The experimental group (n = 21) was assigned to 12 sessions of VAT over 6 weeks, and the control group (n = 18) was assigned to 6 weekly health education (HE) on nonbrain health topics. Participants were evaluated at baseline using Montreal Cognitive Assessment–5-minute protocol (MoCA-5-min) and Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF). A focus group discussion (FGD) was also conducted to the experimental group to explore their experiences of participating in the VAT. Findings indicated that both VAT and HE groups had significant improvement in MoCA-5-min scores and depressed mood over time; however, the significant group × time interaction effect was noted only for the psychological outcome. Findings from the FGD indicated that participants had challenging experiences at the beginning of the therapy, but later, they were able to cope and found that the VAT was relevant and beneficial for their cognitive and psychosocial health. This pilot study provided initial evidence about the potential benefit of VAT in improving cognitive and psychological well-being of older adults with MCI and low literacy and provided insights on how to better engage them in this cognitive stimulating intervention. A full-scale trial is recommended for a stringent evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Usak University Journal of Social Sciences / Uşak Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Usak University Journal of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The use of electronic communication has been significantly increased over the last few decades. Email is one of the most well-known means of electronic communication. Traditional email applications are widely used by a large population; however, illiterate and semi-illiterate people face challenges in using them. A major population of Pakistan is illiterate that has little or no practice of computer usage. In this paper, we investigate the challenges of using email applications by illiterate and semiilliterate people. In addition, we also propose a solution by developing an application tailored to the needs of illiterate/semi-illiterate people. Research shows that illiterate people are good at learning the designs that convey information with pictures instead of text-only, and focus more on one object/action at a time. Our proposed solution is based on designing user interfaces that consist of icons and vocal/audio instructions instead of text. Further, we use background voice/audio which is more helpful than flooding a picture with a lot of information. We tested our application using a large number of users with various skill levels (from no computer knowledge to experts). Our results of the usability tests indicate that the application can be used by illiterate people without any training or third-party's help. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Level of education is known to confound neuropsychological test performance. The INECO Frontal Screening (IFS) is an easy-to-use and brief measure of several domains of executive function, which has previously shown reliably clinical usefulness and superior psychometric performance when compared to other frontal screening instruments. However, previous studies with the IFS have been limited to participants with high levels of education, preventing its generalizability to populations with less than 12 years of formal education. This is crucial, as less than half of the Latin American population and a large percentage of immigrants in developed countries attain high school education. The aim of this study was to generate IFS normative data in a sample stratified by age and education levels. One hundred and sixty one healthy adults were assessed with the IFS as well as measures of global cognitive screening, namely, the Addenbrooke Cognitive Examination Revised and the Mini-Mental State Examination. Multiple lineal regression analysis showed significant effects for education and nonsignificant effects for age. A correction grid for IFS raw scores was developed and cut-off scores were calculated. The correction grid and cut-off scores may be useful in the interpretation of IFS scores in participants with low education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elder abuse is the result of different socio-economic, cultural, psychological and individual factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the individual contexts which are relevant to elder abuse in a Kurdish rural community in Iran. The study was conducted based on qualitative approach. Potential and eligible participants consisting of 38 females and 18 males were selected through purposive sampling. Individual interviews as well as focus group discussions were applied for collecting data. Conventional content analysis was implemented by two independent researchers for analyzing data manually. Viewpoints of the participants were finally characterized into six themes including age, gender, interactive limitation, physical disability, multiple chronic difficulties, and adopting of passive status. The findings showed that personal conditions were the main factor which facilitate elder abuse and neglect. Learning the ethical norms and adopting supportive laws may eliminate all forms of neglect, abuse and violence against older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Delirium is a common complication after cardiac surgery in older adult patients. However, risk factors and the influence of delirium on patient outcomes are not well established. We aimed to determine the incidence, predisposing and triggering factors of delirium following cardiac surgery. Methods: One hundred seventy-three consecutive patients aged ≥60 years were studied. Patients' characteristics and two cognitive function assessment tests were recorded preoperatively. Perioperative variables were blood transfusion, orotracheal intubation time (OIT), renal dysfunction, and hypoxemia. Delirium was assessed using the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit. The composite outcome consisted of death, infection, and perioperative myocardial infarction until hospital discharge or 30 days after surgery, and for up to 18 months. Results: One hundred six patients (61.27%) were men and the age was 69.5 ± 5.8 years. EuroSCORE II index was 4. 06 ± 3.86. Hypertension was present in 75.14%, diabetes in 39.88%, and 30.06% were illiterate. Delirium occurred in 59 patients (34.1%). Education level (OR 0.81, 0.71-0.92), hypertension (OR 2.73, 1.16-6.40), and mitral valve disease (OR 2.93, 1.32-6.50) were independent predisposing factors for delirium, and atrial fibrillation after surgery (OR 2.49, 1.20-5.20) represented the potential triggering factor. Delirium (OR 2.35, 1.20-4.58) and OIT ≥ 900 min (OR 2.50; 1. 30-4.80) were independently associated with the composite outcome. Conclusions: In older adult patients submitted to cardiac surgery, delirium is a frequent complication that is associated with worst outcome. Independent risk factors for delirium included education level, hypertension, mitral valve disease, and atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an in-depth study into the literature on the effect of poverty on education in South Africa. To compile this research article, qualitative research in the form of secondary data was used to determine the effect of poverty on education. The researcher conducted this study to prove that education is crucial in reducing poverty in a country. This study indicates that there are high levels of poverty currently present in South Africa. The education standards are also poor in comparison to other countries. In addition, various factors are identified that have a direct influence on education in South Africa, among these are cost of education, capabilities of teachers, infrastructure and resources available. These findings can help to provide a guideline for government and other institutions with respect to the problems that need solutions in order to lift the country out of the current education crisis. There is a staggering number of South African children who are living in poverty and who do not attend schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to identify regular usage of soya beans in Oju Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the (1) regular uses of soya beans in the menu of households in Oju LGA of Benue State, (2) accessibility of soya beans to households in Oju LGA of Benue State, (3) nutritional value/benefits of soya beans (4) different uses of soya beans in the diet. It answers three research questions and tested three hypotheses. The population was made up of all literate and illiterate homemakers. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 240 homemakers from the population. The instrument for the study was structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was dully validated and the reliability established prior to utilization. Copies of the instrument was administered on 240 subjects, filled and were retrieved. Means and t-test were used for data analysis. The findings from this study includes; (1) five (5) regular usage of soya beans, (2) five accessibility of soya beans, (3) five (5) nutritional values of soya beans and five awareness in the uses of soya beans. Based on the findings it was recommended that 1) Adequate enlightenment campaign should be carried out by government and Non-governmental organization on the importance and nutritive values of soya bean in Oju LGA of Benue State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is affected by multiple factors. Patient's education, manifesting symptoms and surgical management play a significant role on discharge outcome. The literature of same from developing country is limited. The present pilot study aims to describe patient characteristics, presenting symptom and management aspects of TBI patients from a tertiary hospital. Methods. The present study is a prospective study, where TBI patients were selected and data of injury was entered on standard proforma on electronic data base. The study was approved by institute ethical board. The data was analyzed using Stats Direct version 3.0.150 software. Results. Three hundred and thirty three patients were evaluated. Eighty percent of patients were from rural areas. About 75% of patients were illiterates and married. Patient employment was significant with discharge outcome. All the patients manifested with symptoms loss of consciousness (LOC) was higher (73%) followed by vomiting (44%). LOC and oral bleed was significant with outcome. Associated injuries was higher in extremities (22.5%) followed by chest (4.4%). About 15% of patients require intracranial surgery that was significant with discharge outcome. Conclusion. The present pilot study finding is similar to available literature data and adds knowledge to TBI data of a developing country like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scale measures cognition using specific elements that can be isolated, defined, and subsequently measured. This study was conducted with the aim to analyze the factorial structure of MMSE in a largely, illiterate, elderly population in India and to reduce the number of variables to a few meaningful and interpretable combinations. Methodology: Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed post-hoc on the data generated by a research project conducted to estimate the prevalence of dementia in four geographically defined habitations in Himachal Pradesh state of India. Results: Questions on orientation and registration account for high percentage of cumulative variance in comparison to other questions. Discussion: The PCA conducted on the data derived from a largely, illiterate population reveals that the most important components to consider for the estimation of cognitive impairment in illiterate Indian population are temporal orientation, spatial orientation, and immediate memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: There is a widespread ignorance among the public about the role of anesthesiologists and their responsibilities inside or outside the operating room both in developed and developing countries. Aims: The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge of literate and illiterate patient about the role of anesthesiologists and their concerns regarding anesthesiology. Setting and Design: This is a prospective study conducted in a preoperative anesthetic clinic of a large tertiary care hospital. The study consisted of a standard preanesthetic interview and questionnaire. Materials and Methods: After obtaining permission from the Ethics committee, patients in the age group 18-75 years of either sex undergoing elective surgery were included. The patients were divided into two groups on the basis of their education: Group A: included patient who are illiterate; Group B: included patients who are literate, completed a questionnaire, which was later evaluated. Statistical Analysis Used: Unpaired t test and correlation r test were used. Results: There was limited knowledge among both literates and illiterates regarding the perioperative role of anesthesiologists. They wanted to be fully explained about the anesthesiology technique and were keen to meet their anesthesiologist both before and after the surgery. Conclusion: To eliminate the ignorance among general public regarding the role of anesthesiologists, efforts must be made to educate and generate awareness among the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to evaluate how successful has ASA through its micro-credit activities been at reaching poor people in Bangladesh. Key issues in the micro-credit debate are discussed. Data collected in a 2009 survey of ASA micro-credit borrowers is analysed. It is found that over half of borrowers own no land. In addition, it is found that two-fifth of borrowers report having no formal education or only the ability to read and write. Since landless and low education are perhaps the two main determinants of poverty, our main conclusion is that ASA is indeed provides loans primarily to poor people [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese is a logographic language system that differs from alphabetic languages, and some of the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying Chinese logographic reading also differ from those underlying alphabetic word reading. However, whether education level effects the neural activation associated with logographic processing of Chinese is still unknown. In the present study, 11 Chinese illiterate and 11 literate (age-matched) subjects participated in an event-related fMRI experiment with Chinese character discrimination (CD) and figure discrimination (FD) tasks. All subjects were asked to view the character or figure pairs and discriminate whether the characters or figures of each stimuli pair were the same or not using response keys. Both literate and illiterate subjects activated a widely distributed cerebral network, including the bilateral inferior, middle and superior frontal gyri, superior temporal gyrus and parietal lobe, in the CD task. Finally, we directly compared the activations of literate subjects with illiterate subjects. The results suggest that the bilateral parts of the angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus are more active for literate than illiterate subjects in the CD task. We found no significant group difference in the FD task. Therefore, the present results may indicate that education level effects the neural activation associated with the logographic processing of Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the demographic profiles of community-acquired pneumonia. Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out for one year, recruiting 160 hospitalized community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients, selected by non-probability convenience sampling method. Demographic variables such as age, gender, education, marital status, residential and socio-economic status were inquired into along with Haemoglobin estimation, Diabetes, Hypertension and Ischaemic heart disease by Pre-designed Questionnaire Performa. Data collected was analyzed by SPSS-14. Results: Out of 160 patients, majority respondents 88 (55%) were males (P < 0.05), while 90 (56.25%) had rural residents predominance (P < 0.05). It revealed 140 (87.5%) respondents were married (P < 0.05), while 18 (11.25%) were < 20 years, 68 (42.5%) were between 20-40 years, 58 (36.25%) from 41-60 years and 16 (10%) were > 60 years of age. There were 110 (68.75%) illiterates from lower socio-economic class. Haemoglobin level was 8-10 gm/dl among majority 80 (50%), and 34 (21.75%) were Diabetics. Conclusion: CAP is frequent among males, rural residents, illiterate, anaemic, diabetics and lower socio-economic married patients from 20-40 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Derecho del Estado is the property of Universidad Externado de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Pharmaceutical pictograms have the potential to play an important role in optimizing compliance in the illiterate patient population. Pictograms may improve warning comprehension for those with visual or literacy difficulties and can sometimes be recognized and recalled far better than words. The main purpose of this study is to determine whether these pictograms can be effectively understood by illiterate patients, who otherwise cannot read the instructions given on their prescription order. In this study, 10 pharmaceutical pictograms were evaluated in patients attending the outpatient department of the Shri Mahant Indresh Hospital, a multispecialty, referral hospital in Dehradun (Uttarakhand). Understanding of pictograms by patients before and after interpretation was noted and follow-up interpretation was also noted. Results of the study showed that prior to explanation, the majority of the patients were unable to interpret the pictograms correctly but after explanation of their meaning, interpretation by them showed a marked improvement, indicating the need of using pictograms along with verbal reinforcement. The study also highlighted poor patient follow-up, a major cause of patient non-compliance, often leading to a poor therapeutic outcome of the prescribed medication order. Such problems can be taken care of by an active participation by healthcare professionals. INSET: Staying in touch with the journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical neuropsychology relies on the use of appropriate test norms. Normative studies frequently stratify based on age, education, sex, and race. None to date has reported norms based on literacy, despite the substantial evidence that literacy impacts cognitive functioning. Some researchers have suggested that literacy is a more accurate reflection of academic achievement and quality of education than years of education, particularly for African Americans. The current study provides literacy-based normative data for multiple neuropsychological measures based on a sample of predominantly low socioeconomic status African Americans. These normative data should improve the diagnostic accuracy of performances by African-American clients with similar demographic backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the issue of "health literacy" is not new, recent studies reveal that a significant number of North Americans cannot read and comprehend medical information provided to them by health professionals. This paper focuses on "health illiteracy" rather than "health literacy", and suggests roles medical librarians can play in addressing the problem of low-literacy, which is associated with poorer health outcomes and an increased bottom line. Multiple patient literacy assessment tools are discussed, as well as formulae for determining 'reading level' scores for written materials. Medical librarians can effect institutional change by better understanding the salient issues surrounding health illiteracy, and then applying their knowledge within the organizational structure of their individual medical facilities in order to foster personnel awareness, and ultimately drive policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Topics include a security vendor's discovery of a major ongoing cyberespionage attack, adoption of the first smart-grid standards, a start-up's energy-efficient transistors, plasma antennas that promise to make wireless networks faster, a bright display that works via techniques borrowed from nature, and an IBM search engine for the illiterate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]