1,721,049 research outputs found
Non-communicable disease clinics in rural Ethiopia: why patients are lost to follow-up
No full textObjective: Providing effective medical care for non-communicable diseases (NCD) in rural sub-Saharan Africa has proved to be difficult because of poor treatment adherence and frequent loss to follow-up (LTFU). As the reasons are poorly understood, we have investigated LTFU in a rural Ethiopian community among patients with two contrasting, but common NCDs.Method: The study was based in five health centres in southern Ethiopia providing services for surrounding rural populations where NCD clinics run by nurses and health officers were initiated in 1998. Samples of LTFU patients with epilepsy and hypertension were identified and traced through health extension workers. A questionnaire enquiring about the reasons for LTFU was administered to LTFU patients and non-LTFU, comparison patients.Results: Of 268 LTFU patients, the current status of 147(54.9%) was ascertained. Of these 62 had died, moved away or were continuing medical care at other facilities. The remaining patients (48 with epilepsy and 37 with hypertension) were compared with 113 non-LFTU patients with epilepsy and 98 with hypertension attending the same clinics. The major factors associated with LTFU were distance from the clinic, associated costs and a preference for traditional treatments together with misunderstanding as to the nature of NCD management.Conclusions: We conclude that the delivery of low cost, affordable care closer to the patients’ homes has the greatest potential to address the problem of LTFU. Also needed are increased levels of patient education and interaction with traditional healers to explain the nature of NCDs and the need for life-long management.<br/
Book Review: Principles of Medicine in Africa
Full text linkPrinciples of Medicine in AfricaEd. by David Mabey, Geoffrey Gill,Eldryd Parry, Martin W Weber andChristopher JM Whitty. 4th ed.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,2013. ISBN 978-1-107-00251-
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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