Archives-June... 

We report the case of an 18-month-old girl who presented a complex spinal dysraphism combining an intra dural lipoma and myelomemingocel. The coexistence of inradural lipoma and myelomeningocele is very rare. We will focus on the contribution of imaging to the diagnosis and follow-up of spinal dysraphim.

This article concerned with the importance of theatrical technique in literature class for the enhancement of communication skills. The investigative study was conducted on M.A English students divided into controlled and experimental groups, 50 each, by giving them role play/drama/performance (theatrical technique) of different situations taken from G.B. Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man’ that followed written test/assignment on the presented situations. The results reflected the importance of theatrical technique in the teaching of literature to enhance communications skills as experimental group performed and showed, in written form, better understanding of the text as well as was more communicative, seemed encouraged and motivated during role play. Role play/drama brings life not only to the classroom environment but furthered the learning and use of English language both in social and academic situations as the results manifest. The study suggests that teachers should use role play/theatrical technique of teaching to generate friendly environment, deep understanding of literature and enhancement of language skills in literature classes at tertiary level.

This study investigated the effect of the integrating currents issues of interest into class materials on the students’ achievement in learning grammar. The following question was proposed. Is relating current issues of interest to class materials useful on students grammar learning? It was hypothesized that integrating current issues of interest with class materials in teaching grammar has a positive effect on learning grammar. The study was performed at Islamic Azad University in Hidaj with 60 participants--male and female-- who were majoring in ‘mechanical’ and ‘electrical’ engineering. Since the researcher did not have the possibility of randomizing the subjects, 60 students of two classes who were taking their first semester at university were used for this study; one of the classes as the control group and the other as the experimental group. As Farhady (1995, p. 146) contends: “In classroom research it is unreasonable to expect the director of the courses to randomly assign students to classes for the sake of experimentation.” The subjects were taught for five weeks and finally took an achievement test. After analyzing the results of the test, and by comparing the means of the scores using t-test, it was found that integrating current issues of interest with class materials in teaching grammar lessons did not significantly improve students achievement in learning grammar.

Group-B Streptococcus agalactiae is a significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality for over last two decades. It causes two types of GBS infection in early neonates onset disease and late onset disease, characterized by pneumonia, Septicaemia and meningitis and among adults it causes UTI, wound infections, endocarditis and intra- uterine asphyxia. This study was done to determine the prevalence of vaginal colonization of Group-B Streptococcus agalactiae, its risk factor and antibiotic susceptibility patterns among the isolates. Four hundred and twenty two samples were collected from antenatal mothers, between 7th week to 40th week of gestation were screened for Group-B Streptococci colonization from 1st Jan 2010 to 25th Dec 2013. The subjects selected were between 17 to 38 years of age group. Group-B Streptococci were isolated only 136 cases from pregnant women which is about 8.5%. Among the risk factor, low maternal age, no good nutrition, unhygienic condition and those who have animal, in their house is the major factor for Streptococcus colonization among the mothers with positive culture. Neonatal infection was only present in 33 cases of neonates born from culture positive mothers. All isolates were sensitive to Ampicillin, Erythromycin and Vancomycin but moderately sensitive to Chloramphenical and Clindamycin. All isolates were resistant to Gentamycin and Tetracycline. Study done in Central Nepal showed low colonization rate of GBS in the vagina of antenatal mothers so neonatal infection was not evident. This finding is also supported by the fact that the fatal neonates colonization with GBS only 1-2% develops clinically apparent disease. Intrapartum antibiotic therapy of women colonized with Group-B Streptococcus can decrease neonatal infection. Effective strategies to detect maternal colonization with GBS infection needs to be studied properly in different populations of the world.

The vibrational properties of 2–methyl-6-nitroquinoline have been investigated by FTIR and FT–Raman spectroscopies were performed according to the SQM force field method based on DFT calculation at the B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level. The assignments of the most of the fundamentals of the title compound provided in this work are quite comparable and unambiguous. The results confirm the ability of the methodology applied for interpretation of the vibrational spectra of the title compound in the solid phase.

Spiritual training is one of the fundamental roles in the religions of the world. The concept of spiritual training is in most of the religions. Sufism is a school of thought for spiritual training in Islam and Sufi is the spiritual trainer and has a significant role for the spiritual healing of the people. Mystical Islamic School of Thought has performed a vital role in spiritual training of the people in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. The purpose of the study was to analyze the vision and mechanism of spiritual training in Islamic Sufism. The study was helpful for religious scholars and researchers in order to understand the vision and mechanism of spiritual training in Islamic Sufism. The study was of great importance for curriculum developers. The study was historical and documentary analysis in nature. The relevant material was analyzed to meet the objectives of the study.

Nutrient status, availability, reachability are the basis of soil fertility studies in agricultural soils. The East Anglia experience evaluated soil nutrient dynamics from the following parameters: whole ecosystem and soil respiration, microbial carbon , soil total carbon, soil total nitrogen, soil C:N ratio, soil temperature and soil water filled pore spaces. The following land management practices were evaluated: grassland under permanent pasture on 5 y ley before stocking; grassland under permanent pasture sown with red clover a y before stocking; grassland under permanent pasture treated with N fertilizer a y before stocking; arable land under barley; with deciduous woodland as control. Each site was replicated four times and revisited at each time of sampling. Whole ecosystem respiration was measured once a day per month with portable environmental gas monitor. At the same time soil samples were collected for actual measurement of soil respiratory activity in the laboratory; together with soil water filled pore spaces. Significant differences were observed in whole ecosystem and soil respiration amongst land management practices with grassland under permanent pasture treated with N fertilizer a year before stocking giving the highest whole ecosystem and soil respiration, 67.8 and 33.9 mmol m-2 h-1 respectively. Respiratory activity was highest over the summer months and lowest over the winter months. Whole ecosystem and soil respiration were dependent on soil microbial C (R2 = 0.6 and 0.73 respectively). It pays to get it right when land management and nutrient dynamics are at stake.

The fungus X. badia was cultured on 3% aqueous malt enriched with 6% glucose in ten Thompson bottles for eight weeks. Solvent extraction with ethyl acetate and subsequent drying on a rotary evaporator, afforded a dark brown gummy solid (5.0 g). TLC studies indicated that the crude extract was a mixture of four components. The dark brown gum was chromatographed over silica gel in a column of size 80 cm x 2.5 cm. The column was eluted with toluene, ethyl acetate and acetic acid (50:49:1) and the eluent collected in volumes of 3.0 ml. Fraction 3 gave a yellowish oil (150 mg). The oil was triturated with n-hexane to give a white powdery solid (12 mg). The solid was recrystallized from the same solvent system, yielding white crystals (8 mg). Spectroscopic analysis of this compound indicated that it is R- mellein. This is the first report of this secondary metabolite from Xylaria badia.

In recent years, the particular importance of Dynamic Assessment in L2 (Aljaafreh & Lantolf, 1994; Poehner & Lantolf, 2005; Poehner, 2008; Albeeva, 2008; Anton, 2009) has been acknowledged. However, there is a severe lack of research on the two important strands of DA in the L2 domain including Computerized Dynamic Assessment (henceforth, C-DA) and Group-based DA (Poehner, 2008). C-DA mostly follows an interventionist model with mediation offered from a menu of predetermined clues, hints, and leading questions selected in a lock-step fashion (moving from most implicit to most explicit) by the computer (Poehner, 2008. The present study, as an initial attempt in the domain of C-DA, reviews the development of the C-DA software programs designed to promote learners’ development. The study reports the data collection procedures and data analysis of the computer-based dynamic assessment of learners in first and second language contexts. The software program should generate important scores including non-mediated score, mediated score, and an LPS. Just two instances of the designed software generated all of these scores by means of computer. Moreover, the quality of hints offered is of significant value. C-DA can lead to hint-based education as opposed to spoon-feeding education.

Musculoskeletal pain (MSK) is a common issue during pregnancy. Some hormonal and anatomical changes that can affect the MSK system, creating complains about MSK pain.The objectives of the study to determine the prevalence and to assess the MSK pain and its associated factors among pregnant women. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 96 pregnant women attended in a selected tertiary public hospital situated in Dhaka city. Purposive sampling technique was used and data were collected from face to face interview with a structured administered questionnaire with consideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Severity of MSK pain was assessed by a visual analogue scale (VAS) and data were analyzed by SPSS (Version 20). Results indicated as 59% prevalence of MSK pain was found among pregnant women with low back pain (LBP) being the common prevalent site as compared to others. The maximum age range of participants was 21 to 30 years old and housewives were more than half of the participants. Maximum completed below level of SSC. In addition, most of the participants had a history of normal delivery. However, there was a highly significant relation (p= 0.001) found between MSK pain with the month of pregnancy period. MSK pain was moderately high among pregnant women where certain factors are responsible for influencing MSK pain. To reduce the severity and prevalence of MSK pain, women should be aware of their number of pregnancy and some related factors.