The Medical System in Ghana

Ghana is a developing country in West Africa with a population of about 25 million. Medical illnesses in Ghana overlap with those in developed countries, but infection, trauma, and women’s health problems are much more prominent. Medical practice in rural Africa faces extremely limited resources, a multiplicity of languages (hundreds in Ghana), and presentation of severe illnesses at later stages than seen elsewhere. Despite these limitations, Ghana has established a relatively successful national medical insurance system, and the quality of medical practice is high, at least where it is available. Ghana also has a well-established and sophisticated administrative structure for the supervision of medical education and accreditation, but it has proven very difficult to extend medical training to rural areas, where health care facilities are particularly short of personnel. Physicians are sorely needed in rural areas, but there are few because of the working conditions and financial limitations. Hospital wards and clinics are crowded; time per patient is limited. This article details some of the differences between medical practice in Ghana and that in wealthier countries and how it functions with very limited resources. It also introduces the medical education and training system in Ghana. The following article describes an attempt to establish and maintain a residency training program in General Medicine in a rural area of Ghana.     

A Comprehensive Survey of Current and Former College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Background: There is a paucity of research concerning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) pursuing higher education.Method: This study sought to augment this gap in the literature by surveying individuals with ASD who are currently college students or who have previously attended college.Results: Thirty-five individuals completed an online survey. These individuals reported receiving extensive academic supports that enabled their academic success. Their reported difficulties in the social and emotional domains received less support. In addition, not all areas of campus life were supportive, as study abroad and career service offices were reported to not understand individuals with ASD.Conclusions: Overall, the results of this survey indicate the importance of self-advocacy and the need for institutions of higher education to provide comprehensive supports for individuals with ASD in the academic, social, and emotional domains in order to effectively integrate this group into the campus environment.     

Out-of-school experience categories influencing interest in biology of secondary school students by gender: exploration on an Abu Dhabi sample

This study employed the international Relevance of Science Education questionnaire to survey the interest in biology and the out-of-school experiences of Abu Dhabi secondary school students (median age 17, mean age 17.53 and mode age of 16) in the third semester of 2014. It included 3100 participants. An exploratory factor analysis was used to categorise the items for both interest in biology and out-of-school experience. Ten interest in biology and 12 out-of-school experience factors were extracted. The summated means for each factor indicated that ‘health and fitness’ and ‘disease control’ enjoyed highest interests among students. For out-of-school experiences, the two factors of ‘digital applications’ and ‘medical treatment’ received the highest scores. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that all factors for both interest in biology and out-of-school experience exhibited significant differences between boys and girls. More girls than boys were interested in disease control, reproduction (human biology), alternative science, health and fitness, zoology, and applied cosmetic biology. No significant differences were observed for the remaining five other categories. Furthermore, analysis of variance revealed significant differences between boys and girls with regard to individual items comprising each of the factors. The highest correlations were between the two factors of out-of-school experiences of ‘the natural world’ and ‘learning through observation’ and the interest in biology factor related to ‘plant and animal farming and agriculture’. Results suggested that more emphasis must be placed on students’ out-of-school experience and their engagement in informal learning in contextual outdoor environments to enhance their interest in learning more about biology and the living environment in general.     

Evaluating the effect of health education program on outcomes of type I diabetic patients: A randomized controlled study

Background; findings from the meta-analysis have shown that patients present improvements in glycaemic control, and in the prevention and control of the acute and chronic complications, when they receive effective treatment, self-management support and regular monitoring. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of implementing a health education program on outcomes of type I diabetic patients. Quasi-experimental study design was used to fulfill the aim of the study. The study was conducted in the outpatient diabetic clinic at Asyut University Hospital; 60 adult male and female patients who attended the outpatient diabetic clinic were included. Two tools were used in this study; structured interviewing questionnaire with three parts; part one: demographic patient variables, part two: patient's medical data and part three: patient's knowledge regarding diabetes, the second tool is evaluation of type I diabetic patients' outcomes (pre/post). Results revealed that the highest percentage of the studied samples were in the age group 18 to less than 30 years, 90.0% of the study group and 83.4% of the control group were having a family history of diabetes, a statistically significant difference was found in the study group patients pre and post application of the program regarding insulin injection and glycemic control. Conclusion: this study demonstrated the effectiveness of health education program implementation on the outcomes of type I diabetic patients in terms of improved knowledge and practicing exercise, teeth care, feet care and on glycemic control.     

Visitor interest in zoo animals and the implications for collection planning and zoo education programmes

As zoos have sought to further their conservation missions, they have become powerful providers of environmental education. Outside of “formal” education initiatives, such as those designed for school and other organized groups, or structured public talks programmes, much of the learning potential that the zoo has to offer is around the viewing of animals and the response of visitors to them. In this, zoo learning is a very personal construct, develops from the previous knowledge, and experiences and motivations of each individual. In this article, we make the assertion that learning potential, although difficult to quantify, is very much related to the attractiveness of animal species and the interest that visitors show in them. Using standard behaviorist measures of attraction and interest (the proportion of visitors that stop and for how long), we analyzed the relative interest in 40 zoo species held in a modern UK zoo and the variables that are significant in predicting that popularity. Further to this, the suggestion is made that the zoo collection planning process could use such information to make more informed decisions about which species should be housed for their educational value. Taxonomic grouping was found to be the most significant predictor of visitor interest—that is, visitors were far more interested in mammals than any other group—although body size (length), increasing animal activity and whether the species was the primary or “flagship” species in an exhibit or not, were all found to have a significant bearing on visitor interest. Zoo Biol 29:715–731, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Understanding the Development and Perception of Global Health for More Effective Student Education

The concept of “global health” that led to the establishment of the World Health Organization in the 1940s is still promoting a global health movement 70 years later. Today’s global health acts first as a guiding principle for our effort to improve people’s health across the globe. Furthermore, global health has become a branch of science, “global health science,” supporting institutionalized education. Lastly, as a discipline, global health should focus on medical and health issues that: 1) are determined primarily by factors with a cross-cultural, cross-national, cross-regional, or global scope; 2) are local but have global significance if not appropriately managed; and 3) can only be efficiently managed through international or global efforts. Therefore, effective global health education must train students 1) to understand global health status; 2) to investigate both global and local health issues with a global perspective; and 3) to devise interventions to deal with these issues.     

Arts integration in rural Minnesota: A collaborative arts integration framework

In this article, we demonstrate that arts integration holds unique promise and benefits for helping rural teachers to provide more equitable arts opportunities for their students. These benefits include: professional network development in the service of both curricular development for arts integration and connecting teachers who often work in isolation; additional funding to allow for collaborative planning; and introduction to arts experiences and cultural resources for use in arts-integrated unit planning and implementation. We describe the Perpich Arts Integration Project—an innovative, state-funded program centered on a Collaborative Arts Integration Framework in three rural regions of Minnesota. Then, through data collected via a three-year longitudinal program documentation and evaluation, we describe several themes that we have identified about the implementation of arts integration in rural schools. Finally, we will describe a series of considerations and implications for rural schools seeking to implement such a program in the future.     

Bats in National Trust properties: a preliminary review

A preliminary analysis of the use by bats of National Trust properties revealed that all 14 resident species have been recorded. Comparison with a national database of records for Britain managed by English Nature (NCC Bat database) showed that the scarcer species are better represented roosting in buildings on Trust properties than in other buildings. In addition, survey of Trust properties has shown that a high proportion of buildings are used by bats. Bats provide unusual wildlife links between buildings, gardens and countryside through which the Trust can promote nature conservation, and resolve conflicts between building or landscape restoration and the bat habitat requirements. The role of the County Bat Groups in survey and promotion of bats on Trust properties is becoming increasingly important, especially if we are able to identify key properties for bats.     

Exploring the global decline of music education

This article seeks to explain the disjuncture between the decline of music education in schools and the importance music has in popular youth culture and in creativity within the new knowledge economy. The data discussed in this article have been derived from analyses of major documents on curriculum reform as well as e-mail responses from music educators around the world. This analysis reveals that these music educators agree with the perception of a demise in music education around the world, as well as the significance of the disjuncture alluded to. The four major reasons found for the decline in music education are: (1) the model of curriculum supported in educational reforms; (2) an emphasis on standardized evaluation; (3) less resources available; and (4) a wrong approach on music advocacy.