Sunday, November 24, 2019

Fish Gills essays

Fish Gills essays Not all animals have lungs. Many animals live in environments where lungs would be efficient enough for survival. Gills are another type of respiratory system, which are very efficient at removing oxygen from water: there is only 1/20 the amount of oxygen present in water as in the same volume of air. Gills greatly increase the surface area for gas exchange and they occur in a variety of animal groups including arthropods (including some terrestrial crustaceans), annelids, fish, and amphibians. Gills are typically comprised of a gill arch, which contain veins and arteries that supply blood flow to the attached gill filaments. The arches are a rigid stucture which provide support and protection for the attached lamellae. There are usually two types of filaments, which are attached, primary and secondary. Primary lamellae (or gill filaments) extend perpendicular from the gill arch. The filaments are located close together arranged in rows extending from both sides of the gill arches. With usually 4 gill arches side by side per side of the fish (Graham, 1997) the filaments form a sieve through which the ventilatory water must pass. (Evans, 1998) Each primary lamellae house an efferent and afferent blood vessel, which supplies the secondary lamellae. Secondary lamellae extend vertically from the primary lamellae (or filaments) and are placed closely together forming small channels for water to flow through. Each secondary lamella is made up of two sheets of epithelial cells with pillar cells that hold them apart. These pillar cells form small tunnels within each secondary lamellae that act as channels for blood to perfuse through. Pillar cells are used to help regulate gas exchange across the secondary lamellae surfaces. The pillar cells have the ability to expand or contract, increasing or decreasing the size of the blood flow tunnels. This allows more or less blood to perfuse through the tunnels, it al...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Political and Economic Experience for the Puerto Rican Essay

Political and Economic Experience for the Puerto Rican - Essay Example Their migration to the U.S has had major impact to their growth since the 19th century including the strife to maintain their culture. Their relationship with U.S government has led to great economic growth and development through trade, cultural activities and sport. Other major activities in politics have had impacts on the society at large and have cemented the network politically, socially and economically. The country now faces major technological and international integration as a result of these ties which have led to good economic growth. Political advancements have had great impacts and the in terms of economic and political experiences which have modulated the trade and economic development. Politics have transformed the living standard of the citizen and given them a position of power. Politically, Puerto Ricans in the U.S began running for state elections and seats and promoting their own members for the parliamentary seat in the year 1937 (Carmen & Vazquez-Herna ndez 9). Long since very many have been advanced and much social standing has been enhanced. This has also seen a big advancement like educational institutions, sporting facilities, improved transport and improvement in the defense sector through funding. Political standings have seen the positive impacts of interrelations. The migrant to the U.S has led to both positive and negative consequences to those involved. The migrants gain control politically and the strong ones may dominate in the long run. Most of the political aspirants gain experience in the world of politics and the experiences that come with governance. They learn to exercise their rights politically and basing on the fair statutes some may venture to the civil sector to create awareness. On the other hand, these exercises may lead to danger and harassment by the opponents

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Linking pedagogy and assesment practices Research Paper

Linking pedagogy and assesment practices - Research Paper Example These skills also enhance the students’ ability to arrive at judgments and decisions as well as giving them the ability to transfer skills to novel situations (Chun, 2010). The best way to assess these skills is by use of Collegiate Learning Assessments. According to Pike (2011), Collegiate Learning Assessment requires students to produce artifacts that are evaluated using a set of scoring rubrics. These assessments make use of performance tasks in making the students to produce these artifacts. This assessment also involves creating of rubrics that assist in assigning scores to the artifacts produced by students and helps the students in the production of these artifacts. So far, this method has been proven effective in testing and developing these skills by the learning institutions that have already started to practice it. In evaluating the effectiveness of Collegiate Learning Assessment, we have to consider what it has achieved and what it has failed to achieve. According to Chun (2010), the performance tasks used in these assessment are of high quality since a good level of expertise and time investment are employed while building each one of them. This ensures that they are in line with the set assessment goals and that they are shaped to deriver sufficient information about the skills they assess. Moreover, according to Chun (2010), the performance tasks are based on the learning outcomes that students are expected to attain. Thus, this assessment reveals these learning outcomes. based on the students artifacts rather than test scores. Artifacts are more effective due to their ability to incorporate high level thinking as compared to test scores and hence they make this assessment to be more effective. The process of making Collegiate Learning Assessment tests involves numerous rounds of field testing, revision and calibration (Chun, 2010). This makes this assessment perfectly suited to deliver the best outcome possible for the skills assessed. It also helped in ensuring that this assessment is tailored towards ensuring that the artifacts can measure the level if the skills assessed are in the most accurate way possible. This has actually made this kind of assessment to be very effective in the achieving of assessment goals. However, the responses obtained from Collegiate Learning Assessments are long and complex with a wide range of possible scores (Hardison & Vilamovska, 2009). This makes them very complicated to administer and very difficult to analyze. As a result, they require a high degree of skills and proficiency among the assessors. It also requires high degree of commitment and dedication of both the assessors and the students. If it lacks this it can fail to achieve the objectives intended thus becoming ineffective. Another way in which pedagogical practice can be aligned with assessment tools is through involving students in the designing of those assessment tools. Some of the tools in which students can

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Choice a good one Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Choice a good one - Essay Example Through their pieces of advice, I also learnt that honesty resulted to a peace of mind (Masud 2). For instance, they claimed that majority of the dishonest people live in fear, and as a result lose their mental peace. Thus, it is evident that honesty eradicates all types of fear alongside enhancing an individual’s calmness as well as establishment of the peace of mind. Through what I have experienced in life, it is also evident that a stable and peaceful mind makes amicable decisions. Thus, honesty is the contributing factor for the making of good decisions as well as living quality life (Masud 3). Although they advocated good results in school, they insisted on production of honest results. In addition to promoting goodwill, my parents also claimed that honesty resulted to the emergence of society respect. This is convincible; all people in businesses as well as organizations work best with honest people. It is also evident that liars find it hard to lead a good life because of the promotion of negativism around them. To lead a success life, I ensure that I have practiced and portrayed this value (honesty) in my

Friday, November 15, 2019

Bilateral Trans-Scaphoid Perilunate Fracture Dislocation

Bilateral Trans-Scaphoid Perilunate Fracture Dislocation BILATERAL TRANS-SCAPHOID PERILUNATE FRACTURE DISLOCATION OF THE CARPUS. (CASE REPORT) Abstract: Trans-scaphoid perilunate fractures-dislocations are rare lesions. They occur in a high-energy trauma. The concomitent lesion of both wrists is exceptional. We report a case of bilateral trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocated wrist fracture in a 21-year-old man. The dislocation was treated by opened reduction and fractures by internal fixation. The functional outcome was satisfying after two years of follow-up. Introduction: Trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations are relatively uncommon.1 These are the most common form of the complex carpal dislocations2,3 causing marked disruption of the carpal anatomy. Time from injury to treatment (delay in treatment), anatomic classià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ cation, and open or closed nature of the injury are the major factors that determine the clinical outcome in trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations.4,5 Late presentation combined with missed diagnosis often causes critical delay in the treatment of these injuries. If the acute phase is missed, then some authors recommend alternative procedures such as wrist arthrodesis and proximal row carpectomy which are relatively mutilating surgeries that leave a significant functional deficit.4,6,7 The acute phase is defined as the first week after injury, whereas the delayed phase is the period between the seventh and 45th day and after 45 days the injury is said to be in the chronic phase.4 We report the case of a patient who referred to our department two weeks after the initial trauma with bilateral dorsal trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations of the carpus. Anatomic reduction, percutaneous pin fixation of the carpus and fixation of scaphoid fractures of both wrists were performed by opened reduction under fluoroscopic control. Presentation of case: A 21-year-old, right-hand-dominant man sustained an isolated injury to his both wrists after a fall from a height of approximately 4.5 m. The carpal injuries of both wrists were missed initially and both wrists had been bandaged for two weeks after the trauma. He was referred to our department two weeks later with increasing pain. The patient reported that he fell on his outstretched hands with both wrists in extension. Both wrists were deformed in marked dorsiflexion, painful, swollen, and tender to palpation, with limitation of movement. The patient complained of paresthesia in both of his hands. On physical examination, meticulous cutaneous sensory mapping was performed of both hands to determine the area of decreased sensation. This was done with the use of the sharp end of a paperclip while applying a constant pressure. This revealed minor numbness in the median nerve distribution area of both hands (thumb, index, middle finger, and the radial side of the ring finger). The two-point discrimination was normal on both sides. The mobility of the fingers was normal but painful, and there was a slight decrase in grip strength of both hands. Motor power in abductor pollicis brevis and opponens pollicis muscles was full (5/5) on both sides. The Tinels sign was negative over the carpal tunnel in both sides. The f indings of the patient led us to think that there is not any condition like acute carpal tunnel syndrome due to fracture-dislocation.We thought that the numbness of the patient was due to temporary traction injury of the median nerve caused by dislocation on both sides. The vascular status was normal on physical examination. Study of the anteroposterior, oblique and lateral plane radiographs showed that the patient had bilateral dorsal trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations of the carpi (Fig. 1). According to the classification described by Herzberg et al., the fracture-dislocations were trans-scaphoid as path of trauma and Stage 1 as displacement of capitate on both sides.4 The patient was informed about his pathology and advised to undergo surgery. If possible the patients preference was closed treatment. Therefore, we initially recommend closed reduction and percutaneous fixation. However, if this was not possible or in the situation of a failure we informed him about the open procedure. Under general anesthesia, a closed reduction was attempted with traction manoeuvre described by Tavernier8under fluoroscopic control. The reduction was not satisfactory,we opted for the open reduction by posterior approach.After anatomical reduction was achieved, intercarpal fixation was applied to carpal bones using three K-wires. The first K-wire was applied to scaphoide- lunate, the second K-wire was applied to- lunate-triquetrum and the third K-wire was applied to capitatum-lunate. After the procedure, reduction and fixation of carpal bones was confirmed under fluoroscopy. The same procedure was repeated for the other wrist. We noticed that the scaphoid fracture was reduced spontaneously along with the reduction of the carpal bones. So we performed   fixation of the left scaphoid fracture using a 3.5 mm mini Acutrak headless compression screw through the fracture line from a dorsal-proximal to a volar-distal direction. Intraoperative fluoroscopic control confirmed anatomic redu ction of the scaphoid fracture.. Finally, standard radiograms were obtained and both wrists were immobilized in a short arm cast (Fig. 2). The patient noted complete relief of symptoms the day after surgery. The pain and the paresthesia that the patient complained preoperatively was relieved dramatically and the function recovered. The post-operative period was uneventful. Four weeks after surgery, the casts and the K-wires were removed. New casts were applied for another 4 weeks when union was visible on radiographs. The casts were removed eight weeks after surgery. There was radiographic evidence of union of the scaphoid on the left side, but on the right side radiography revealed delayed union of the scaphoid. The patient subsequently underwent 3 months of intensive range-of-motion and muscle-strengthening exercises. Intermediate clinical and radiographic examinations were performed 6 and 12 months after surgery. At the two-year follow-up, the radiographs showed normal carpal bone relationships on both sides, complete union of the scaphoid on the left side(Fig.3). Wrist motion on the left side was excellent with 70 ° of palmar flexion, 80 ° of dorsiflexion, full supination and pronation, full radial and ulnar deviation. The right wrist could achieve 60 ° of palmar flexion and 70 ° of dorsiflexion, full supination and pronation, but with a mild decrease in radial and ulnar deviation. The grip strength of the right hand was 30 kg while that of the left side was 38 kg, measured with the Jamar dynamometer (J.A. Preston, Jackson, Michigan) . Fig.3 Right wrist and Left wrist anteroposterior and   lateral view after two-years. At the two-year follow-up, the patient was symptom-free concerning median nerve functions. The patient was free of pain on the left side. On the right side there was mild pain with wrist motions due to non-union of the scaphoid.The patient was able to perform activities of daily living and he had returned to all of his previous activities. The functional outcome was good on the left side, with a Mayo wrist score of 80/100. The functional outcome was satisfactory on the right side, with a Mayo wrist score of 65/100. Radiographs of both wrists revealed no evidence of radiocarpal or midcarpal arthritis. No osteonecrosis of the lunate or the scaphoid was evident. The lunate position was correct, without signs of instability. Anatomic relationships of the carpal bones were maintained. Discussion Carpal fracture-dislocations are rare injuries; thus their classification and treatment are rather difficult. Osseous variants of this injury are common; the trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocation constitutes 61% of all perilunate dislocations and 96% of fracture-dislocations.4 The trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocation is an uncommon injury sustained due to force transmission through a hyperextended wrist.9,10 These injuries may be easily overlooked or misdiagnosed.4 After a delay in diagnosis of several weeks or months, the clinical prognosis is poor compared with injuries that are treated acutely.11 According to the classification described by Herzberg et al., we initially diagnosed our patient in the delayed phase.4Regarding the literature, the management of such injuries in case of delayed presentation is rare.12,13Dislocation in this region requires rapid realignment, as untreated perilunate dislocation will lead to serious secondary damage.13,14 Perilunate fracture-dislocations are high-energy injuries, produced by wrist hyperextension.3,15 There is disruption of the palmar capsuloligamentous complex, starting radially and propagating through the carpus in an ulnar direction.3,15 This dislocation takes a transosseous route through the scaphoid resulting in a trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocation.10 In trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocations the fractured scaphoid is the initial destabilizing factor of the carpus.16 Regarding the literature, we believe that the mechanism of injury in our patient was fall from a height on the outstretched hands. Treatment options currently used for perilunar instability patterns include closed reduction and cast immobilization, closed reduction and percutaneous pinning, and open reduction. As the awareness of the anatomy and biomechanics of these injury patterns has evolved, authors have tended toward treatment approaches that attempt to repair the injured intrinsic and extrinsic carpal ligaments, that is, open techniques.4,8,11 Most authors agree that closed reduction is the initial treatment of choice for trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations.2,8,17 In addition, treatment often requires intercarpal fixation within the proximal carpal row. Most authors have agreed that the key to a good clinical result in the management of trans-scaphoid perilunate dislocation is the anatomic union of the scaphoid and the restoration of proper alignment of the carpal bones.17 In this case, we prefer a opened reduction and intercarpal fixation with K-wires, as well as screw fixation of the scaphoid, because we didnt achieve a good fracture alignment after closed reduction . Gellman et al. suggested that anatomical reductions of the scaphoid, as well as the mid-carpal joint, and the restoration of the articular surface of the lunate are the most important aspects determining the prognosis.11An open reduction further increases the risk of a scaphoid blood supply interruption, whereas percutaneous screw fixation of the scaphoid minimizes this risk.3,17,18 In addition, a rigid fixation with a percutaneous screw can also reduce the immobilization period and allow for an earlier rehabilitation. Acutrak screw fixation allows earlier discontinuance of the cast than K-wire fixation. In our case, the range-of-motion exercises of the wrist were started earlier after the initial operation. The nonunion rate was relatively higher in the series that were treated by closed reduction.19,20 In our case study the radiographs obtained two years after surgery revealed a non-union of the right scaphoid. We believe that the delay in treatment and maybe the malrotation of the scaphoid that we overlooked on the initial radiographs led to the interruption of the blood supply which was possibly responsible for the non-union of the scaphoid. Despite the non-union of the scaphoid, the functional outcome of our patient was satisfactory, with mild pain, good range of movement and good grip strength. Similarly, Herzberg et al.4 reported that unsatisfactory radiographs did not equate to a poor clinical outcome. We planned to perform open reduction and internal fixation with grafting for the non-union of the right scaphoid. Conclusion As the injury have led bilateral dorsal trans-scaphoid perilunate fracture-dislocations,  we therefore recommend minimally invasive techniques if an anatomical closed reduction and  a percutaneous rigid fixation of the scaphoid is achieved on the intraoperative evaluations.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

American History X Essay -- essays research papers

Theory Assignment on American History X This movie tells the story of a young man, from Southern California, that is the product of several unfortunate incidents, and his misguided search trying to answer the question why his life is the way it is. I. Daniel appeared to be dealing with the adolescent stage. Daniel seems to have developed his sense of self worth by mimicking his older brother. Daniels significant relationships, since his brothers incarceration has been derricks old friends (the skin head group). The scene in the principle’s office shows that Daniel is trying to live up to what he believes are his older brother’s ideals, which he believes are following in the foot steps of Nazis. Hate anyone that is not white and protestant. His own self image is one of an up and coming skin head; so he believes his identity is that of a racially intolerant neo-Nazi. Daniel’s search for that identity terminates when Derrick tells him about the experience of his prison time. This scene played out after Derrick confronted Conner at the skin head party and had to flee from his former admirers because he beat up their leader. Daniel followed Derrick and questioned him as to why he was behaving like a â€Å"Nigge r lover.† Daniels since of loyalty was shaken, and the explanation Derrick gave appeared to have turned Daniels beliefs around. Stacey is derrick’s girl friend at the beginning of the film. Stacey’s conscious and sexual identity seems to have been developed somewhat askew to the norms of middle class America, but she shows her comfort in her self during the dinner scene where the school teacher is discussing oppression of minorities with Derrick. Stacy voices an opinion that states blacks and Hispanics are a bane on society. She is a yes man to all of Derricks opinions, and during the same scene she shows her sexuality when she sensuously caresses Derrick after the altercation with Derrick’s family and his mother’s date. This scene showed that Stacey’s role models were other racist, and her beliefs were based on the rhetoric that is espoused at hate monger meetings. Stacey’s young adult stage is shown when she refuses to listen to Derrick during the skin head party scene. She had completely immersed herself in the â€Å"Derrick† persona. The idea of what she pe rceived Derrick would be like when he returned from prison. Stacey told Derrick, during the party scene t... ...s that Daniel took the same psychological ride as Derrick. The other characters remained at on a level psychological playing field. The skin heads may have become more radical, but that appeared to be because of the strength in numbers. The social view of aging in the film seemed to encompass the hatred of the time between two factions in a community in flux.The the presentation of community leaders trying to heal the community, the police captain and principal bob trying to enlist Derrick to help quell the possible uprising in the final scenes, also showed some social aging. 17. The roles of men in the film were depicted at the beginning by Derrick and his father as dominant figures in their household. Principal Bob was another strong male figure. The main female characters differed only in that Stacy seemed to bedcome independent of Derrick at the end of the film. Derricks mother and sister seemed to be typical obedient females. Derricks mom Derricks mom was â€Å"just† a housewife, and when her husband died Derrick filled the head of household role. Derricks oldest sister remained a liberal democrat throughout the movie, but showed no real interest in taking charge of her life.