Adapting Communicative Language Teaching Approach to China’s Context Essay Example for Free

Adapting Communicative Language Teaching Approach to China’s Context Essay 1. Introduction With the development of market economy, China is accelerating its steps to join the world family in commerce and cultural partnership. With the recent accession to the WTO, the long-awaited Olympic Games in Beijing, China has made learning English a national priority. English, with its unique status, has been taught in China for more than 100 years. Today, English is becoming more and more popular. It is a compulsory course for all Chinese students from primary school to university. Clearly it is relatively easy to demonstrate the importance of English in current China. This essay intends to argue that to achieve success in English learning for Chinese students the methods of teaching must be reconsidered. Therefore this article is structured as follows: First, analyzing different types of English teaching methods in China and then focusing on the CLT Method. By analyzing and contrasting these English teaching methods, the need to change current English teaching methods in China will be discovered. Finally, explaining the problems of adopting the more modern CLT Approach and giving suggestions on how it may best be adapted to the Chinese context. See more:  Social Satire in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay 2. A Brief Introduction to English Teaching Methods in China 2.1 Grammar-Translation Method  English has been taught in China for more than 100 years. In the beginning stage, people did not have any experience on modern language teaching and learning, so they followed a European language teaching method YE Jin (1978- ), Master of education, lecturer of School of Foreign Language, Shenzhen University; research fields: English language teaching methods, cross-cultural communication, educational assessment,which is used in teaching Greek and Latin in Middle Ages in Europe—Grammar-Translation Method. Some Chinese students become accustomed to this method in learning English and generally showed great interest in language structures and linguistic details. Most of them believe â€Å"we would like to know what happens, because if we understand the system, we can use English more effectively† (Harvey, 1985). Therefore, most Chinese English teachers always stick to this method, and think it is essential to analyze grammar to learners, without considering the age of the students or their English proficiency. This method is effective and suitable for some Chinese students, but not all of them. The outcome of this method is that students develop poor oral English ability with pronunciation and intonation not standard. Although they have learned lots of grammar rules, when using English to communicate, they will make grammatical mistakes frequently. Especially when they are in foreign countries, they cannot ask the way; they cannot order taxi. They are â€Å"observers† rather than active participants in classes. Students became almost â€Å"structurally competent but communicatively incompetent† (Johnson Morrow, 1981). It has been pointed out that this grammar-oriented approach reflects an artificial and formalistic view of language skills and learning. It doesn’t allow the learners to use a language in a natural way (Widdowson, 1990). This is the most serious problem in Grammar-Translation Method and also in current China’s English teaching. 2.2 Direct Method  This English teaching method is totally different from Grammar-Translation Method. It uses English directly in teaching, such as using English to make conversations or have discussions. Students’ English competence is developed in this way instead of using mother tongue to translate. The basic principle of this method is that the foreign language learning process should be like the natural process of a child learning his or her mother tongue. It believes that language is a skill or habit, and this habit can be achieved by repetition and imitation. Although this method can inspire students’ interests in learning English and is in favour of their English pronunciation and intonation, it has certain limitations: (1) It only focuses on experiences and perceptual knowledge in English and it has little estimate on students’ level of consciousness. (2) This method rejects mother tongue in English teaching. It only sees the disadvantages of mother tongue, but never makes use of mother tongue to facilitate students’ comprehension. (3) After learning English for a long time, some students may understand simple oral English but not complicated sentences and have poor grammar skills. (4) The class size should be small in using this method. So this method is just suitable to teach English beginners, and cannot be fully applied in the large country—China. 2.3 Audio-Lingual Approach  This English teaching method puts listening and speaking in the first place. It uses sentence pattern as the base of teaching and tries to avoid mother tongue in class. When using this method in learning English, students should first listen and then speak. After a long time practice, students can automatically express what they had heard. Because this method relies on repetition and drills, the main limitations are: (1) It over emphasizes the mechanical practice and ignores students’ English skills training and learning flexibility. (2) This method focuses too much on the language structure and ignores the meaning of the language, so students’ reading and writing abilities are poor. 2.4 Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT)  In the early 1990s, a new English teaching method was introduced to China—Communicative Language Teaching Approach. This method emphasizes how to use language as a media to communicate. Teachers should not only train students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, but also train them how to use all of these language skills into the real life communication. The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely toï ¿ ¼encounter in real life. The CLT can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses (Galloway, 1993). The basic features of CLT are: (1) It focuses on students’ active participation, the whole classroom is not the teacher-centered, but students-centered one. The teacher should give students enough time to practise during class. (2) The English teacher should help students to be more independent, active and fluent in using English. In real life situation, students will use the language without teacher’s help. (3) When using the CLT, the teacher often organizes pair and group work, the whole classroom setting should be arranged in favour of these activities. Although this method is quite useful and can inspire students’ interest, it still has some limitations: (1) The textbook using in CLT breaks up the English grammatical system, which increases students’ difficulty in learning grammar. (2) This method is hard to assess. The above four English teaching methods are all used in China in different time and to a certain extent; they have their own features and focuses on improving different language skills. So the limitations are unavoidable when we use them separately in English teaching. Among them, the oldest language teaching method—Grammar-Translation Method is still popular in some places in current China. Meanwhile, for various reasons, using the CLT in China met considerable difficulties. How to use the CLT in China’s English teaching context properly still has a long way to go. 3. Adapting Communicative Language Teaching Approach in China To solve this problem, we need to use the CLT flexibly, that is to say, we need to adapt CLT to China’s English teaching context. But just as Johnson and Morrow (1981, p. 1) state â€Å"new movements often begin as reactions to old ones. Their origins lie in a discontent with an existing state of affairs†. In fact, in 1992 the State Education Development Commission (SEDC) introduced a functional syllabus, in which the communicative teaching aim was set and the communicative functions to be taught were listed. In the same year, in cooperation with the British Longman, the SEDC published a new textbook series. The syllabus and the textbooks required teachers to teach communicatively in classrooms. This action met considerable resistance at that time. 3.1 Problems  The main problems of adopting CLT in China are: First, class size. In China, each class has at least 50 students, and there are only 45 minutes in one English class. Each student could potentially speak in each class less than 1 minute. So it is impossible for English teachers to conduct CLT well in this kind of class. Second, English teachers especially some primary and secondary school English teachers lack sufficient English knowledge and teaching skills to adopt CLT without further guidance and training. â€Å"Many teachers have tried to change the dominant teaching procedures but quickly get frustrated, lose their initial enthusiasm, and acquiesce to tradition†. (Campbell ZHAO, 1993) Third, in China the whole process of English teaching and learning is heavily influenced by examinations, and the matriculation English test focuses on students’ linguistic competence. The English teaching pattern in China is textbook-based, teacher-dominated and test-oriented, which prevents students from improving their communicative competence (ZUO, 1993). Finally, lack of teaching materials is another obstacle to adopt CLT in China. Right now, some universities in China stick to their own textbooks—College English, which was published in 1989 by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, and has remained unchanged for more than 10 years. College English does include some authentic materials from English novels and magazines, but it lacks practical applications and is hard to organize communicative classroom activities to go with it. Because of the above reasons, English teachers cannot adopt CLT directly in China’s context, and the history 31 Adapting communicative language teaching approach to China’s context ï ¿ ¼has already proved that direct adoption would fail at last. They must adapt CLT and use an eclectic method according to Chinaà ¢â‚¬â„¢s current situation. 3.2 Factors to be considered of adapting CLT to China’s context The above four English teaching methods are all used in China’s English teaching. They have their own advantages and disadvantages. Previous research and analysis show that the most scientific way to teach English in China’s context is to combine those different English teaching methods together, using an eclectic method. An eclectic method is a method that accepts the best teaching techniques from other methods according to the actual situation. To reconcile communicative approaches to the teaching of English with traditional Chinese methods helped English teachers in their teaching, but to be eclectic, teachers were required to use CLT as a method while accepting elements of the traditional methods, especially the Grammar-Translation Method. 3.2.1 Combining accuracy and fluency in China’s English teaching In English learning, accuracy and fluency are two equally important factors, but in China, accuracy is emphasized more than fluency. Chinese students are keenly interested in the exact words, have a low tolerance of ambiguity, and tend to focus on discrete grammar points and specific syntactic constructions (Barnhouse, 1981). Modern society needs students use English not only accurately but also fluently, so more attention should be paid to fluency in the future’s English teaching. As for teaching beginners, a solid foundation of English must be emphasized, which is primarily built on accuracy, so English teachers should use Grammar-Translation Method more in this stage . Then teachers should encourage students to use English orally with as few errors as possible, and to manipulate the language system as spontaneously and flexibly as possible. CLT is largely involved in this process. After students have mastered the language forms, they ought to be given intensive fluency practice, because although linguistic competence is the basis of communicative competence, communicative competence does not automatically result from linguistic competence (DUAN, 1992). At this stage, English teachers should not interrupt students’ practice to correct their mistakes frequently, but at the end of each fluency practice, the teacher should let students aware their mistakes, so they can avoid next time. During the whole practice, the teacher should let students use English extensively and limit the use of Chinese. Through this way, accuracy and fluency can be achieved and students’ English linguistic competence and communicative competence can both be developed. 3.2.2 Student-centered orientation  For a long time, China’s English classroom is dominated by teachers. They always stand in front of the blackboard, and talk all the time; students sitting in lines separately to listen. This kind of classroom setting is in favour of using Grammar-Translation Method in teaching, but it is not convenient to carry out students’ practice. In order to facilitate English acquisition, students need oral practice in English classroom. Teachers must ensure that classroom interactions are managed, not just by the teacher, but by all participants. To achieve this, teachers should arrange the desks in such a way that the students can look directly at one another to help create interactions among students. 3.2.3 Teacher’s role  Instead of being the master of the class, the English teacher could act as an independent participant and facilitator in English classroom. He or she facilitates the communicative process among all learners and between students and various tasks. He or she can give guidance and advice when necessary. But this does not mean in the teaching process, the teacher should only be a passive observer. Although the teacher may be nondirective in general, it is still the teacher’s responsibility to recognize the distinctive qualities in the students (HAN, 1979) and to help students develop those qualities. Of course, to perform these roles well, English teachers in China need further guidance and training to let 32 Adapting communicative language teaching approach to China’s context ï ¿ ¼them fully understand that teaching English does not consist only of teaching grammar but that the true mastery of a language involves communicative competence, and to let them know how to use CLT in their daily teaching process successfully. 3.2.4 Classroom activities  Classroom activities such as role-play, pair work and group discussion should be largely involved in English teaching. At the same time, teachers can also use any unexpected occurrence that happens during class. I still remember when I was in secondary school, I was always attracted easily by outside sights and noises. Once in an English class, I saw a very beautiful butterfly flying outside the window. It was so beautiful that I signaled my best friend to look at it. Just at this moment, my English teacher also noticed my signal. Instead of being angry, she asked the whole class to enjoy the beautiful butterfly, and me to describe it in English. Although in China, classroom activities are usually based on textbooks; English teachers can try to create activities to provide students with speaking opportunities and motivate them. 3.2.5 Changes in English test  For a long time, English examinations in China did not have oral test and the language use section. Recently, some important English tests in China developed by the State Education Development Commission began to include the language use section. English teachers can teach to the test from now on. The section was added to measure the four English language skills used for communication and it included such elements like: role-play, reading comprehension and communicative writing. Most of my students in China told me that the English examination is more interesting than ever before and they like these changes. 4. Conclusion  English teaching in China, with its traditional setting and current situation, differs from many English speaking countries. But this does not mean that the CLT approach is not applicable in China’s context. On the other hand, English teachers can use an eclectic method according to their actual situations. Adapting the CLT approach, making full use of its advantages and reconciling it with the traditional Grammar-Teaching Method, this approach can work the most effectively in China. But adapting CLT to China’s context is a very complicated process, under the guidance of the SEDC, the representatives of the central government, it should be done step by step. Right now what English teachers in China need to do is to modernize, not westernize, English teaching.

The Impact of Advertising on Women Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Advertising on Women Essay Everyday of our lives, we are exposed to dozens of advertisements, whether it be on television, the radio, in magazines, on billboards or signs, or anywhere else that companies try to reach us in an effort to promote the products they sell. Advertisers appeal to our hopes, dreams, wants and desires, and exploit our insecurities in an effort to sell us a product, ranging from cars, to household appliances, to a bottle of shampoo. Advertising affects everyone, whether they acknowledge it or not, and it often promotes something that is out of reach to the average person, such as great wealth, or a perfect body. Advertising often carries an overload or excess of meaning, such as statements of power, wealth, leisure, and sexual allure, and they also convey meanings of race and gender. (â€Å"Introduction: Media Studies†) As this paper will demonstrate, advertising is an extremely powerful tool which has the ability to change the way we perceive ourselves. Of particular interest is the effect that advertising has on women. Women are continually bombarded by advertisements in which they are told, directly or indirectly, that they must be thin in order to be beautiful, and they are marketed products that they are led to believe will help them achieve their desired body image of being thin. Women become convinced that they must look like sexy all the time, when in reality, it is almost impossible. Women often begin dieting in order to attain the perfect body that they are striving for, and they occasionally undertake more extreme measures to lose weight, such as bulimia or anorexia, all because they are led to believe, by advertising, that they must have a perfect body. Women are also sexually objectified in advertising, and viewed as merely sexual objects. This paper will explore in depth how women are portrayed in advertising and, more importantly, the impact which it has on them. In western culture, a slender physique has come to be regarded as the standard of feminine beauty; although it is an unrealistic benchmark for nearly all women. The average woman has a seven percent chance that she will be as slim as a catwalk model, and an even lesser chance that she will be as thin as a supermodel. (Konrad, 2008) A 2000 study found that the body fat of models and actresses is, on average, 10 percent less than that of a typical active, healthy woman. (â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) The models that companies use in advertising are also getting thinner relative to the average population. Twenty years ago, models weighed 8 percent less than the average woman. Today, they weigh 23% less than the average female population. (â€Å"Beauty and Body Image in the Media†) However, these truths do not stop women from trying to attain the perfection they see in every day advertisements. Since advertising continually implies that women should be slender, those who do not have this particular body type often suffer from low self esteem and hold a negative self image of their body. After a study in which women viewed sexual and non-sexual ads, the women who viewed the sexual ads rated themselves as being larger, on average, than the women who viewed the non-sexual ads, and women who viewed the sexual ads also expressed greater dissatisfaction over their current physique than the women who watched the non-sexual ads. (Tygart) George Lipsitz has argued that consumer culture and media representations play a greater role than ever in defining identities. (â€Å"Just Do It†) When women see thinness represented in advertising, they would like to look like the models they see and have that same identity that is being shown to them. In addition to women feeling pressure to conform to the desired body type due to their constant exposure to it in advertising, they also are under pressure to attain the perfect body because they believe it is what men feel they must look like. According to a study published in American Behavioural Scientist (Choi et al. , 2008), women are able to realize that the images of supermodels that they see in advertisements are unrealistic and they recognize that they will not be able to attain the body of a supermodel. However, these same women feel that men who view these advertisements will not be able to ascertain the fact that the body types shown are unrealistic. Since women feel that men cannot discern the unrealistic nature of the female body that is presented in advertisements, they feel that men will expect them to meet the standards of beauty portrayed in these ads. Consequently, this leads women to desire to look like the models they see in advertisements, not necessarily because they want to, but because they believe that men view it as realistic and attainable. As stated by Choi, et al. (2008), â€Å"Women are influenced by unrealistic media imagery because they are well aware that men will view those images as real, and value them. † It is argued that, although women know the images shown to them in advertising are unrealistic, they are unable to ignore them, because of the threat of men judging their bodies. Since advertising has the effect of making women desire a thin, slender body that is almost impossible to attain, they frequently make radical efforts in an attempt to get it. An astonishing 75 percent of women who are a normal weight feel that they are in fact overweight. The Anorexia Nervosa Related Eating Disorders research group states that one in four college aged women undertakes unhealthy methods of weight control, ranging from skipping meals and laxative abuse, to self induced vomiting. (â€Å"Beauty and Body Image in the Media†) It has also been estimated that magazines directed to a female audience contain over ten times as many advertisements promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, advocating a variety of solutions, from diet pills to cosmetic surgery. Researchers have shown that this advertising has led to an increase in eating disorders. (Choi, et al. , 2008) Teenage girls who already claimed to be dissatisfied with their body image showed a higher tendency towards dieting and bulimic behaviours after prolonged exposure to advertisements in a teen girl magazine. (â€Å"Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising†) Self-image is often affected in teenage girls because they cannot escape the message that their bodies are imperfect. â€Å"A Girl of Many Parts†) Many researchers believe that advertisers want women to feel insecure and disappointed with their body shape, since this will create the desire for an unattainable body that will increase the consumption of products that companies are trying to sell, such as skin care creams, weight loss supplements, and others. Paul Hamburg, a professor at Harvard Medical School, states: â€Å"The media markets desire. And by reproducing ideals that are absurdly out of line w ith what real bodies do look like, the media perpetuates a market for frustration and disappointment. Its customers will never disappear. † (â€Å"Eating Disorders: Body Image and Advertising†) In terms of sexual objectification, women agreed that they were sexually objectified in advertising, however, contrary to popular belief, younger women appear to no longer have an issue with it. The â€Å"third wave† of feminism today embraces sexuality, and views sex as power. (Dahlberg Zimmerman, 2008) Many feminists now believe it is acceptable for women to use their glamour to their advantage, as long as they are doing it out of their own free will. According to a recent study, young, educated women are not offended by the sexual objectification of women in advertising, which may be a product of the highly sexualized culture we live in today. (Dahlberg Zimmerman, 2008) Although women are deeply affected by how models appear in advertisements, by their desire to want to look like them, the women of today no longer appear to be affected by the sexuality in advertising, and in many cases, they are embracing it. To conclude the efforts, if any, which are being made to change the portrayal of women in advertising should be examined. Although advertising on the whole is still relatively unchanged with respect to its portrayal of women, some companies have altered the message they send about beauty and changed their advertising to reflect this change. An example is Dove, and its Real Beauty advertising campaign. Dove launched the Real Beauty campaign in response to a study it undertook among females aged 18 to 64, the majority of whom felt that advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty for women that is nearly impossible to achieve. â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) The ads featured the use of everyday women instead of professional models, and images that were not airbrushed in any way. The campaign has been well-received and led to an 11. 4% increase in Dove’s sales in early 2005, although, some critics stated that the campaign promotes obesity in a time when many Americans are struggling with weight issues. Since Dove introduced the â€Å"Real Beauty† advert ising campaign, both Nike and Levi’s released similar campaigns, featuring everyday people as opposed to models. â€Å"Behind the Hype: Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign†) It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into the future, but at the very least it demonstrates that companies are beginning to provide an alternative to the advertising they had used in the past. In summation, advertising plays a considerable role in how women regard themselves and in their perceptions of how they should look. Advertisers use models with a physique that all but the few, most genetically gifted women could ever attain. As previously stated, he average model has a body fat percentage which is 10 percent less than that of a typical healthy, active woman, and supermodels, on average, weigh 23 percent less than the average woman. After viewing advertisements featuring supermodels, women often feel worse about themselves and begin to suffer from poor self-image and low self-esteem. Even a small amount of exposure to advertising has been demonstrated to make this occur; although women are exposed to hundreds of advertisements on a weekly basis. However, women no longer appear to be affected by the sexual objectification they see in advertising, which has been attributed to the third wave of feminism and the sexually charged culture that we live in. Women also feel pressure to look like a supermodel because, although, they often realize that what is advertised to them is not realistic, they believe that men do not realize this and want regular women to look like the models they see in advertisements. This leads women to seek out that body type, since they feel that men expect it from them. Women undertake everything from common methods of weight loss such as dieting to extreme measures such as anorexia to achieve the body that advertisers tell them they must have. The dissatisfaction they have with their bodies leads them to consume the products that advertisers are marketing to them. One company, Dove has taken a major step forward in its advertising, by using everyday people who have a normal body type in its â€Å"Real Beauty† campaign, and other companies have followed suit with similar advertising, but the majority of advertising still promotes an unrealistic body type as being ideal and desired. Until this changes, women will continue to hold on to the desire to look like a supermodel, however unrealistic that may be, they will continue to go to great distances to turn that farfetched dream into a reality.

Role of Genes and Environment in the Aetiology of Schizophre

Role of Genes and Environment in the Aetiology of Schizophre INTRODUCTION Schizophrenia (schiz = splitting; phrene = mind) is generally characterized as the fragmentation of psychic functions (Bleuler, 1950) of which the absolute causes are unknown. It is defined and diagnosed based on Schneider (1959)’s ‘first rank symptoms’ which can be further categorized into positive (e.g. hallucination, delusion, etc.) and negative (e.g. avolition, catatonia, etc.), depending on the described and observed experiences of patients (Andreasen Olsen, 1982). This essay aims to review a wide range of scientific literature and research which attempted to study the influence of various genetic and environmental factors in the aetiology of schizophrenia based on the general assumption that this mental illness is a multifactorial disease and can be viewed as an outcome of gene-environmental interaction (Van Os, Rutten, Poulton, 2008). A case study on the effect of Cannabis use on schizophrenia (Caspi et al., 2005) is analysed in order to justify the signi ficance of gene-environment interaction. GENETIC FACTORS The study of genes and how they contribute to the aetiology of schizophrenia have always been the topics of interest for neurobiologist. Multiple twins studies have shown that identical twins of 100% shared genes carry almost 40 times higher risk than completely unrelated people in developing such mental disorder if one of them was schizophrenic (Kallman, 1946; Cardno et al., 1999). In fact, schizophrenia is a polygenic illness as no single significant schizophrenia gene has been identified and numerous candidate genes such as Dystrobrevin-binding protein 1 (dysbindin), neuregulin 1 (NRG1), Catechol-O-methyltransferase protein (COMT), and Disrupted-in Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) are the aetiological factors (Ross et al., 2006). This essay intends to discuss the role of COMT with respect to the ‘dopamine hypothesis’ and dysbindin corresponding to the ‘glutamate hypothesis’. Two neurochemical models have evolved to become important theories accounting for the aetiology of schizophrenia. The dominant one is the ‘dopamine hypothesis’ which pinpointed the association of hyperfunction of dopamine system, critically at D2 receptors, with schizophrenia (Carlsson, 1988) but it is being challenged (Egan et al., 2001) and will be discussed in next section. Another recent model will be the ‘glutamate hypofunction hypothesis’ which suggested that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors dysfunction and deficiency in glutamate production can lead to negative symptoms of schizophrenia (Olney, 1999; Coyle, 2006). ‘Dopamine hypothesis’ challenged: Introduction of inverted â€Å"U† model for COMT as the regulator of dopaminergic transmission COMT gene, being located at chromosome 22q11.2, is involved in the synthesis of dopamine metabolic enzyme and it regulates the dopaminergic transmission across synapses in the prefrontal cortex (Craddock et al., 2006; Tunbridge et al., 2006). Microdeletion of this chromosomal region resulted in Velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) and approximately one third of the patients suffering from VCFS were diagnosed to be with schizophrenia (Murphy et al., 1999), depictingthe significance of COMT in aetiology of schizophrenia via regulation of the release of dopamine transmitters in PFC. Two alleles, valine (Val) and methione (Met), found on COMT are involved in the functional polymorphism which alters the activity of dopamine metabolic enzyme. The relatively lower stability of the Met allele resulted in the lower enzyme activity, which in turn reduced dopamine breakdown and increased the concentration of dopaminergic transmission in the synapses. Consequently, individuals with Met-Met genotype were expected to be more susceptible to schizophrenia (Ross et al., 2006). In contrast, research has challenged the ‘dopamine hypothesis’ by demonstrating that both the patients with schizophrenia and individuals that inherited two copies of Val alleles (with decreased prefrontal dopamine level) exhibited the lowest PFC efficiency (Egan et al., 2001). This leads to the introduction of an inverted â€Å"U† model (see Figure 1) which illustrates the relationship between COMT genotype, PFC dopamine levels and prefrontal activity (Cools DEsposito, 2011). Glutamate hypothesis: Dysbindin as the regulator of glutamatergic transmission Dysbindin gene, being located at chromosome 6p22.3, was identified to have strong association with schizophrenia (Straub et al., 2002). There is a wide colocalisation of this gene with dystrobreyin in both presynaptic and postsynaptic regions of brain such as hippocampus (Benson et al., 2001). The level of dysbindin expression in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) of schizophrenia patients is consistently found to be significantly reduced (Talbot et al. 2004, Bray et al., 2005; Weickert et al, 2008). As a result of knockdown of endogenous dysbindin protein in culture by siRNA, a small interfering RNA, glutamatergic neurotransmission can be reduced. (Numakawa et al., 2004; Talbot et al., 2004). Besides, the reduced expression also significantly suppresses the synaptic transmission of glutamate in Drosophila’s brain (Shao et al., 2011) and reduces the excitation of NMDA as well as the expression of NR1 mRNA in the PFC of mice (Karlsgodt et al., 2011). These findings wel l supported the ‘glutamate hypothesis’ of schizophrenia, which proposed this mental disorder as an outcome of dysfunction of NMDA receptors and glutamatergic transmission. Limitations Although microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2 increases vulnerability to schizophrenia, it is important to note that there might be other genes on the same location that can account for such illness as COMT is not the only gene in this location. Moreover, in contrast to the glutamate hypothesis’, reduced dysbindin expression in the hippocampus of mice increases NMDA-mediated current and long-term potentiation and increase glutamatergic transmission (Tang et al., 2009). This suggests that ‘glutamate hypothesis’ might not be applicable to the role of dysbindin in all brain areas. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS Studies using the approach of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) have consistently discovered significant brain abnormalities in schizophrenics such as reduced frontal lobes and cerebral cortex (Andreasen et al., 1986) which affected cognitive abilities. Reduced frontal cortex was later shown to have no correlation with familial influence but with environmental factors (Owen et al., 2012). Although Touloupoulou et al. (2010)’s study has demonstrated that genetic factors can explain the correlation between cognition and schizophrenia, the research also suggested that environmental factors can account for the weak link between them. This essay will then discuss the influence of prenatal and postnatal risk factors as well as childhood trauma in the aetiology of schizophrenia. Prenatal and postnatal risk factors in aetiology of brain abnormalities A meta-analysis has demonstrated the strong correlation between schizophrenia and prenatal or obstetric complications such as below standard birth weight, premature birth and perinatal hypoxic brain damage (Cannon, Jones Murray, 2002). During prenatal stage, deficiency in micronutrients such as folate, iron and vitamin D can interrupt physical development of fetus and result in low birth weight (Brown Susser, 2008). Maternal exposure to infectious pathogens such as herpes simplex virus type-2, rubella, polio etc. can also impact neurodevelopment in fetus and raise the vulnerability of offspring towards schizophrenia. Furthermore, hynoxia (deficiency in oxygen level) during perinatal stage significantly influences the development of gray matter which in turn induces schizophrenia (Opler et al., 2013). Childhood trauma and experiences in aetiology of abnormal functional and structural brain development Positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucination is of strong association with undesirable childhood experiences such as abuse and neglect. Childhood trauma acts as a stressor which adversely alters the dopamine production system in hippocampus. Accordingly, the accumulated effect of abuse can trigger dysregulation of dopaminergic transmission as well as the onset of schizophrenia (Read, Os, Morrison Ross, 2005). The abnormal dopamine level (either too high or too low) is linked with the aetiology of schizophrenia, corresponding to the inverted ‘U’ model (Cools DEsposito, 2011). In addition, childhood abuse can lead to traumatic brain injury (TBI) which results in neurodegeneration and significant volume loss in various brain regions and eventually leads to the onset of psychosis (Keightley, 2014). 1316 GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION Case Study: COMT genotypes moderates the effect of adolescent cannabis-use on risk of schizophrenia in adulthood Strong evidences have signified the use of cannabis in adolescence as the modest risk factors for schizophrenia. Early use of cannabis is capable of increasing the risk of brain abnormalities and schizophrenia because the brains of adolescents are still under development and brain maturation is extremely susceptible to the deleterious effect cannabis use (Ehrenreich et al 1999; Pistis et al 2004; Pope et al 2003; Schneider and Koch 2003). Nonetheless, this environmental factor alone cannot be regarded as an aetiology of such mental disorder because a vast majority of the cannabis adolescent users do not exhibit schizophrenic disorders in adulthood (Caspi et al., 2005). Hence, the vulnerability of individuals towards adolescent-onset use of cannabis suggests a gene-environment interaction. In fact, COMT gene, as discussed above, is involved in regulating such trait. Individuals who have two copies of Val alleles carry the highest risk of schizophrenia at age 26 if cannabis abuse was f ound in their early stages, followed by Met-Val genotypes and adolescents who inherited Met-Met COMT genotype are least vulnerable to the abuse use of cannabis (Caspi et al., 2005). Thus, this clearly demonstrates the moderation effect of COMT on cannabis use and the gene-environment interaction. CONCLUSION In conclusion, understanding the role of various genes such as COMT and dysbindin in regulating the neurotransmission can help developing adequate medications which effectively tackle the mental illness. Identifying the influence of prenatal and obstetric complications as well as childhood experiences in aetiology of schizophrenia can also effectively prevent the onset of schizophrenia. Last but not least, studying the gene-environment interaction in the case of cannabis use reveals the multifactorial properties and intricate aetiology of schizophrenia. Hence, future research is encouraged to work on such interaction in order to pinpoint the main causes of such mental disorder. REFERENCES Andreasen, N. C., Olsen, S. (1982). Negative v positive schizophrenia: definition and validation.Archives of General Psychiatry,39(7), 789. Bleuler, E. (1950). Dementia praecox or the group of schizophrenias. Oxford/England: International Universities Press. 548. Carlsson, A. (1988). The current status of the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology. Cardno AG, Marshall EJ, Coid B, Macdonald AM, Ribchester TR, Davies NJ, et al. (1999). Heritability estimates for psychotic disorders.Arch Gen Psychiatry,56 (162), 8. Kallmann, F. J. (1946). The genetic theory of schizophrenia: an analysis of 691 schizophrenic twin index families.American Journal of Psychiatry,103(3), 309-322. Kety, S. S. R. D., Rosenthal, D., Wender, P. H., Schulsinger, F., Jacobsen, B. (1974). Mental illness in the biological and adoptive families of adopted individuals who have become schizophrenic: A preliminary report based upon interviews with the relatives.Journal of Psychiatric Research,10(2), 154. Ingraham, L. J., Wender, P. H., Kety, S. S. (1991). Characterization of genetically transmitted schizophrenia in Danish adoptees.Schizophrenia Research,4(3), 279-280. Ross, C. A., Margolis, R. L., Reading, S. A., Pletnikov, M., Coyle, J. T. (2006). Neurobiology of schizophrenia.Neuron,52(1), 139-153. Straub, R. E., Jiang, Y., MacLean, C. J., Ma, Y., Webb, B. T., Myakishev, M. V., Kendler, K. S. (2002). Genetic variation in the 6p22. 3 Gene DTNBP1 the human ortholog of the mouse dysbindin gene is associated with schizophrenia.The American Journal of Human Genetics, 71(2), 337-348. Shao, L., Shuai, Y., Wang, J., Feng, S., Lu, B., Li, Z., Zhong, Y. (2011). Schizophrenia susceptibility gene dysbindin regulates glutamatergic and dopaminergic functions via distinctive mechanisms in Drosophila.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,108(46), 18831-18836. Olney, J. W., Newcomer, J. W., Farber, N. B. (1999). NMDA receptor hypofunction model of schizophrenia.Journal of psychiatric research,33(6), 523-533. Coyle, J. T. (2006). Glutamate and schizophrenia: beyond the dopamine hypothesis.Cellular and molecular neurobiology,26(4-6), 363-382. Talbot, K., Eidem, W. L., Tinsley, C. L., Benson, M. A., Thompson, E. W., Smith, R. J., Arnold, S. E. (2004). Dysbindin-1 is reduced in intrinsic, glutamatergic terminals of the hippocampal formation in schizophrenia. The Journal of clinical investigation, 113(9), 1353-1363. Weickert, C. S., Rothmond, D. A., Hyde, T. M., Kleinman, J. E., Straub, R. E. (2008). Reduced DTNBP1 (dysbindin-1) mRNA in the hippocampal formation of schizophrenia patients. Schizophrenia research, 98(1), 105-110. Karlsgodt, K. H., Robleto, K., Trantham-Davidson, H., Jairl, C., Cannon, T. D., Lavin, A., Jentsch, J. D. (2011). Reduced dysbindin expression mediates N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor hypofunction and impaired working memory performance. Biological psychiatry, 69(1), 28-34. Tang, T. T. T., Yang, F., Chen, B. S., Lu, Y., Ji, Y., Roche, K. W., Lu, B. (2009). Dysbindin regulates hippocampal LTP by controlling NMDA receptor surface expression. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(50), 21395-21400. Egan, M. F., Goldberg, T. E., Kolachana, B. S., Callicott, J. H., Mazzanti, C. M., Straub, R. E., Weinberger, D. R. (2001). Effect of COMT Val108/158 Met genotype on frontal lobe function and risk for schizophrenia.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,98(12), 6917-6922. Cools, R., DEsposito, M. (2011). Inverted-U–Shaped Dopamine actions on human working memory and cognitive control.Biological psychiatry,69(12), e113-e125. Opler, M., Charap, J., Greig, A., Stein, V., Polito, S., Malaspina, D. (2013). Environmental risk factors and schizophrenia.International Journal of Mental Health,42(1), 23-32. Gottesman, I. I., Bertelsen, A. (1989). Confirming unexpressed genotypes for schizophrenia: risks in the offspring of Fischers Danish identical and fraternal discordant twins.Archives of General Psychiatry,46(10), 867-872. Toulopoulou, T., Goldberg, T. E., Mesa, I. R., Picchioni, M., Rijsdijk, F., Stahl, D., Murray, R. M. (2010). Impaired intellect and memory: a missing link between genetic risk and schizophrenia?.Archives of general psychiatry,67(9), 905-913. Manoach, D. S. (2003). Prefrontal cortex dysfunction during working memory performance in schizophrenia: reconciling discrepant findings.Schizophrenia research,60(2), 285-298. Owens, S. F., Picchioni, M. M., Ettinger, U., McDonald, C., Walshe, M., Schmechtig, A., Toulopoulou, T. (2012). Prefrontal deviations in function but not volume are putative endophenotypes for schizophrenia.Brain, 138. Cannon, M., Jones, P. B., Murray, R. M. (2002). Obstetric complications and schizophrenia: historical and meta-analytic review.American Journal of Psychiatry,159(7), 1080-1092. Brown, A.S., Susser, E.S. (2008). Prenatal nutritional deficiency and risk of adult schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34, 1054–1063 Read, J., Os, J. V., Morrison, A. P., Ross, C. A. (2005). Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: a literature review with theoretical and clinical implications.Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica,112(5), 330-350. Van Os, J., Rutten, B. P., Poulton, R. (2008). Gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: review of epidemiological findings and future directions. Schizophrenia bulletin,34(6), 1066-1082. Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Cannon, M., McClay, J., Murray, R., Harrington, H., Craig, I. W. (2005). Moderation of the effect of adolescent-onset cannabis use on adult psychosis by a functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene: longitudinal evidence of a gene X environment interaction.Biological psychiatry,57(10), 1117-1127. Keightley, M. L., Sinopoli, K. J., Davis, K. D., Mikulis, D. J., Wennberg, R., Tartaglia, M. C., Tator, C. H. (2014). Is there evidence for neurodegenerative change following traumatic brain injury in children and youth? A scoping review.Frontiers in human neuroscience,8. Schneider, K. (1959) Klinische Psychopathologie. New York/Stuttgart : Thieme Verlag.

Rabies :: essays research papers

Rabies Rabies is an infectious disease of animals which is a member of a group of viruses constituting the family Rhabdoviridae. The virus particle is covered in a fatty membrane, is bullet-shaped, 70 by 180 nanometres and contains a single helical strand of ribonucleic acid (RNA). Although rabies is usually spread among domestic dogs and wild carnivorous animals, all warm-blooded animals are susceptible to infection. The virus is often present in the salivary glands of infected animals, referred to as rabid, and is excreted in the saliva. The bite of the infected animal easily introduces the virus into a fresh wound. In humans, rabies is not usually spread from man to man, rather the majority of infections occur from rabid dogs. After a person has been inoculated, the virus enters small nerve ends around the site of the bite, and slowly travels up the nerve to reach the central nervous system (CNS) where it reproduces itself, and will then travel down nerves to the salivary glands and replicate further. The time it takes to do this depends on the length of the nerve it must travel - a bite on the foot will have a much lengthier incubation period than a facial bite would. This period may last from two weeks to six months, and often the original wound will have healed and been forgotten by the time symptoms begin to occur. Symptoms in humans present themselves in one of two forms: ‘furious rabies', or ‘ dumb rabies'. The former is called such because of the severe nature and range of the symptoms. The virus, upon reaching the CNS will present the person with headache, fever, irritability, restlessness and anxiety. Progression may occur on to muscle pains, excessive salivation, and vomiting. After a few days or up to a week the person may go through a stage of excitement, and be afflicted with painful muscle spasms which are sometimes set off by swallowing of saliva or water. Because of this the afflicted will drool and learn to fear water, which is why rabies in humans was sometimes called Hydrophobia. The patients are also extremely sensitive to air or drafts blown on their face. The stage lasts only fews days before the onset of a coma, then death. Dumb rabies begins similarly to furious rabies, but instead of symptoms progressing to excitement, a steady retreat and quiet downhill state occurs. This may be accompanied with paralysis before death. Rabies diagnosis in this type of cases can be missed. Unfortunately with both furious and dumb rabies, once the disease has taken hold

Andrew Carnegie On The Gospel Of Wealth :: essays research papers

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835. His father, Will, was a weaver and a follower of Chartism, a popular movement of the British working class that called for the masses to vote and to run for Parliament in order to help improve conditions for workers. The exposure to such political beliefs and his family's poverty made a lasting impression on young Andrew and played a significant role in his life after his family immigrated to the United States in 1848. Andrew Carnegie amassed wealth in the steel industry after immigrating from Scotland as a boy. He came from a poor family and had little formal education. The roots of Carnegie's internal conflicts were planted in Dunfermline, Scotland, where he was born in 1835, the son of a weaver and political radical who instilled in young Andrew the values of political and economic equality. His family's poverty, however, taught Carnegie a different lesson. When the Carnegies emigrated to America in 1848, Carnegie determined to bring prosperity to his family. He worked many small jobs which included working for the Pennsylvania Railroad where he first recognized the importance of steel. With this recognition, he resigned and started the Keystone Bridge Company in 1865. He built a steel-rail mill, and bought out a small steel company. By 1888, he had a large plant. Later on he sold his Carnegie Steel Company to J. P. Morgan's U.S. Steel Company after a serious, bloody union strike.He saw himself as a hero of working people, yet he crushed their unions. The richest man in the world, he railed against privilege. A generous philanthropist, he slashed the wages of the workers who made him rich. By this time, Carnegie was an established, successful millionaire. He was a great philanthropist, donating over $350 million dollars to public causes, opening libraries, money for teachers, and funds to support peace. In the end, he gave away about 90% of his own money to various causes. He also preached to others to do the same as in giving money for education and sciences.The problem, however, was that there was such a contrast between the rich and the poor. By this he was referring to the inequalities in rights, hereditary powers, and such things. He also felt we should have a continuum of forward progress, i.e. civilizing, industrializing.Apparently in his time there was a movement to drift back into a time when there was little advance in modernizing and technologically advancing; when "neither master nor servant was as well situated.

History Of Computers :: essays research papers fc

History of Computers ENG 121 The volume and use of computers in the world are so great, they have become difficult to ignore anymore. Computers appear to us in so many ways that many times, we fail to see them as they actually are. People associated with a computer when they purchased their morning coffee at the vending machine. As they drove themselves to work, the traffic lights that so often hampered us are controlled by computers in an attempt to speed the journey. Accept it or not, the computer has invaded our life. The origins and roots of computers started out as many other inventions and technologies have in the past. They evolved from a relatively simple idea or plan designed to help perform functions easier and quicker. The first basic type of computers were designed to do just that; compute!. They performed basic math functions such as multiplication and division and displayed the results in a variety of methods. Some computers displayed results in a binary representation of electronic lamps. Binary denotes using only ones and zeros thus, lit lamps represented ones and unlit lamps represented zeros. The irony of this is that people needed to perform another mathematical function to translate binary to decimal to make it readable to the user. One of the first computers was called ENIAC. It was a huge, monstrous size nearly that of a standard railroad car. It contained electronic tubes, heavy gauge wiring, angle-iron, and knife switches just to name a few of the components. It has become difficult to believe that computers have evolved into suitcase sized micro-computers of the 1990's. Computers eventually evolved into less archaic looking devices near the end of the 1960's. Their size had been reduced to that of a small automobile and they were processing segments of information at faster rates than older models. Most computers at this time were termed "mainframes" due to the fact that many computers were linked together to perform a given function. The primary user of these types of computers were military agencies and large corporations such as Bell, AT&T, General Electric, and Boeing. Organizations such as these had the funds to afford such technologies. However, operation of these computers required extensive intelligence and manpower resources. The average person could not have fathomed trying to operate and use these million dollar processors. The United States was attributed the title of pioneering the computer. It was not until the early 1970's that nations such as Japan and the United Kingdom started utilizing technology of their own for the development of the computer. This resulted in newer components and smaller sized computers.

Philosophy of Professional Nursing Essay

Nursing as a profession includes a comprehensive strong set of principles, which should be understood and learned by each person, who decides to work in this field. Nursing philosophy, in my opinion, is not merely a philosophy of carative process, but also specific view on the patient. The present paper is designed to discuss my own approach to my profession and the related beliefs. Nursing first and foremost refers to health care, so the major value in this profession is health. I define this term as a state of physical, psychological and spiritual well-being. Individuals not always pay attention to their health, even though it substantially influences the quality of human life, so competent specialists are needed to help them understand the importance of health and lead them on their paths to positive individual and social functioning. As a nurse, or health care provided, I normally use Dunn’s approach to health as to maximum wellness, which can be described as â€Å"integrated method of functioning which is oriented toward maximizing the potential of which the individual is capable within the environment where he is functioning† (Smerke, 1989, p. 154). Individuals tend to engage in energy exchange with their environment and also seek to achieve balance in this process, or simply adapt to the environment. Although individuals strive to achieve balance and maximum functional status, they also actively seek new experiences that may disturb their balance at least temporarily† (Smerke, 1989, p. 155). This means, it is also important to deal with the roots of health dysfunctions such as lifestyle, habits, negative influences of the closest environment, job stress and so forth – I believe, each nurse is supposed to provide recommendations concerning the elimination or minimization of negative external influences and the development of healthy lifestyle, which increases productivity and both physical and psychological balance. Thus, it is necessary to take a holistic approach to health (Andrews and Amphlett, 1995), which would include both the satisfaction of health-related needs and attention to the patient’s individuality, as the final goal of nursing is the maximization of well-being. Speaking about the view on client within the philosophy of professional nursing, it is important to note that the patient â€Å"is a human being who has dignity, worth and the right to quality nursing care delivered with competence. The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the dignity and uniqueness of every individual with attention to the cultural and ethnic diversity of patients and their significant others† (Smith, 1995, p. 11). Individuals operate in dissimilar environments, so different issues might influence their health. Attentive listening and compassion within the basic nursing care might have really therapeutic effects, which will appear motivating to both nurse and health care service user. In addition, mutual understanding between the patient and the nurse are necessary to develop a true partnership in the relationship (Andrews and Amphlett, 1995), this aspect especially relates to the work with children, who often have fear of health services, hospitals and specialists in the corresponding uniform and thus refuse to cooperate. The respect for patient’s dignity includes non-judgmental approach to the client’s lifestyle and cultural sensitivity. The nurse is not entitled to be a spiritual teacher, and should be tolerant enough to avoid accusing patients of their health problems, such professionals, as I believe, should rather inspire patients to develop healthy habits rather than demonstrating strong dissatisfaction. Nurse’s role is not limited to the assistance in carrying out doctor’s orders, as they are often supposed to make their own decisions, as the number of unpredicted and unexpected situations is huge in the sphere of health care. I deem, nurses should also be advocates for patients, as they deal with service users much more closely than doctors and thus are welcome to suggest certain changes in the process of health care and discuss them with therapists (for instance, therapists not always notice that patients also require professional psychological counseling, so nurse should not hesitate to talk about this situation). I believe, nurses should also provide counseling in health care and, being prepared for work in the globalized society, they should take into consideration the client’s cultural background and their personal values, through which it is easier to articulate the necessity of adherence to certain recommendations. Furthermore, globalization also determines the need for social activity among nurses, as wellness and well-being might be threatened by dissatisfactory living conditions like poverty, against which they are encouraged to act, creating unions and associations. Working in health care teams, nurses also act as managers and team leaders, with respect to their competencies and skills. In the modern society, nursing should rely upon the specialist’s professionalism, or the ability to use the skills, learned in the course of education, depending upon the situation. Professionalism also involves the responsibility for human life and health (Smith, 1993), as nurses often have much freedom in health services and thus should be flexible enough to apply the knowledge of various disciplines where they are relevant. I believe it is also necessary to renew and enrich the knowledge; for his purpose, nursing includes the research of professional literature. To sum up, my own philosophy of nursing was developed to great extent owing to education (including self-training), as it was necessary to find out more about different approaches to health care and select the set of principles, with which I am completely consistent and to which I can adhere as a specialist. My philosophical views, as one can conclude, are comprehensive, as I take into consideration such issues as holism in health care, professional contact with patients, nurse’s roles, multiculturalism and research.