Values for professional studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Values for professional studies - Essay Example The cycle comprises six stages namely, description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion and final stage is an action plan to prepare if the situation arose again (NHS, 2006). Baird and Winter (2005, p.156) give some reasons why reflection is required in the reflective practice. They state that a reflect is to generate the practical knowledge, assist an ability to adapt to new situations, develop self-esteem and satisfaction as well as to value, develop and professionalizing practice. However, Siviter (2004, p.165) explains that reflection is about gaining self-confidence, identify when to improve, learning from own mistakes and behaviour, looking at other people’s perspectives, being self-aware and improving the future by learning the past. In my context with the patient, it is important for me to improve the therapeutic relationship, which is the nurse-patient relationship. In the therapeutic relationship, there is the therapeutic rapport to establish from a sense of t rust and a mutual understanding existing between a nurse and a patient that builds in a special link of the relationship (Harkreader and Hogan, 2004, p.243). (Peplau 1952, cited in Harkreader and Hogan 2004, p.245) note that a good contact in a therapeutic relationship builds trust as well as raises the patient’s self-esteem, which could lead to new personal growth for the patient. Besides, (Ruesch 1961, cited in Arnold and Boggs 2007, p.200) mention the purpose of the therapeutic communication is to improve the patient’s ability to function. Therefore, in order to establish a therapeutic nurse-patient interaction, a nurse must show up caring, sincerity, empathy and trustworthiness (Kathol, 2003, p.33). Those attitudes could be expressed by promoting the effective communication and relationships by the implementation of interpersonal skills. Johnson (2008) defines that the interpersonal skills is the total ability to communicate effectively with other people. Chitty an d Black (2007, p.218) mention that communication is the exchange of information, thoughts and ideas via verbal and non-verbal communication processes. They explain that verbal communication consists of all speech whereas non-verbal communication consists of gestures, postures, facial expressions, tone and level of volume. In this assignment I discuss my development of therapeutic relationship in the circumstance of the nurse-patient relationship using the interpersonal skills. My reflection is about a patient, Mary (not the real name) whose real name is confided to protect the confidentiality of patient’s information (NMC, 2004). DESCRIPTION: (What happened ?) In this paragraph, I would describe on the event that took place during my clinical placement. I was on the female psychiatric ward. Once I noticed one woman was still sitting on her bed trying to take something from the cupboard. She was Mrs. Mary, 76 years old who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She was unable to control her muscle movement due to tremor. She was having a side effect of anti psychotic medication which was a Parkinsonism (Sahelian, 2005). She could not walk herself and need to be assisted if she wanted to stand or walk. This old woman was unable to feed on her own. Therefore, I checked her diet chart and served a cup of milk from her cupboard. To confirm that Mrs. Mary was actually wanting some milk I had to involve in a lengthy process of

Co Evolution Of Humans And Disease Organisms

Co Evolution Of Humans And Disease Organisms Co-evolution is a situation where two or more species influence each others evolution reciprocally by applying selective pressures on each other. Genetically speaking, co-evolution is the change in genetic composition of one species in response to the genetic change in another. This can lead to evolutionary arms races, a classic example being the interaction between plants and insects. The development of a gene for chemical defences that is harmful to the insect by the plant will put a pressure on the population growth of the insect, and the insect will try to overcome this by evolving something to detoxify them, the plant will in turn evolve a stronger defence and so on, without either side winning (Ridley 2004). There are different types of interactions between organisms (Maynard Smith 1998). Among some are: Competition, where 2 species compete for a limited amount of a common essential resource and one or the other will be eliminated. For example, lions and cheetahs both feed on similar prey, so they are negatively affected by each other because they will have to compete for food. Mutualism, where the presence of one species stimulates the growth of another, and both sides benefit from the relationship, such as animals like cow and bacteria within their intestines. Cows benefit from cellulase produced by bacteria to help digestion while bacteria benefit from having nutrients supply from the cows. Parasitism, host-pathogen co-evolution, interaction between humans and disease organisms is an example of this, where a parasite benefit from its host at the cost of the host. In the mid-nineteenth century, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace determined the mechanism of evolution as natural selection. Species and population do not remain fixed, but they change over time. Individuals of a same species show differences in phenotype, such as difference in height, colour, or defences against enemies. These can be passed on through generations. In a community, members of the same species will need to struggle for limited resources and avoid predators for survival. Those with an advantage in phenotype will survive better and therefore be able to reproduce more successfully. One way to recognize natural selection in a population is by using the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium to measure the allele frequencies and genotype frequencies, on the assumption that it is an ideal population with large population size and random mating, lack of mutation and migration. There are three main types of selection: Directional selection, where the phenotype at one end of the distribution is selected for and the other end selected against. Stabilizing selection, where the intermediate phenotype is selected for while those at both extremes are selected against. Disruptive selection, where the phenotypes at both extremes are favoured simultaneously. In addition to natural selection, other factors that could alter allele frequencies are like mutation, migration or genetic drift that might eventually lead to speciation, which is the formation of new species (Klug, Spencer et al. 2007). Disease organisms are called pathogens, causing diseases by infecting or infesting another organism. They are often described as parasite, because they benefit from living in or on a host, at the cost of the host and can be anything from microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses to parasitic worms like tapeworms. To discuss the interaction between humans and disease organisms, we first have to look at how humans protect themselves against infection. The first line of defence of humans against pathogens is physical barriers. The intact skin of humans serves as an impenetrable barrier to pathogens and the acidity of sweat also hinders growth of bacteria. However, pathogens can still get inside the human body and this is where the immune system comes into play. There are two mechanisms of the immune system, namely the innate immunity and the adaptive immunity. Innate immunity is the inborn ability to defend ourselves without prior learning experience and this includes phagocytes such as monocytes and neutrophils where they can eat up the pathogens, and inflammatory cells such as eosinophils and basophils that trigger local inflammation at the infection site. On the other hand, adaptive immunity is the immune response that needs to be acquired through experience and it has exquisite specificity and immunological memory. The cells working under adaptive immunity are like cytotoxic cells that kill infected cells and B cells that produce antibody to destroy pathogens. On the timeline of evolution, humans, or Homo sapiens have only been around for less than 2 million years, while worms have been around for about 750 million years. The complexity of the innate immunity in humans today is due to evolution as time passes and more species of pathogens appeared, because only the fittest individuals survived the infection to reproduce and pass on their genes to the next generation. Innate immunity provide immediate defence against infection but it only recognises prominent differences between own cells and the pathogens, therefore responding to pathogens in a generic way. Thus, innate immunity works closely together with adaptive immunity which can give long term specific immune response due to memory cells. For example, immunity for malarial parasite will not give immunity for bacteria that causes tuberculosis (Davey, Halliday et al. 2001). Exposure to a certain pathogen in varying degrees also has affect on the genetic evolution of the immune system. One example is a cluster of genes that plays an important role in the recognition and presentation of non-self antigens to the cells of the immune system called the HLA (human leucocyte antigen), also known as major histocompatability complex (MHC) has been found to have associations with diseases like leprosy and tubercolosis (May and Anderson 1983). In a human population exposed to more of the diseases shows a higher diversity on the HLA genes. Disease organisms have different generation times. For example, the bacterium Escherichia Coli can reproduce in just twenty minutes under ideal circumstances, while the HIV (Human Immunodificiency Virus) can generate 10 billion new virus particles in a day. So in the course of the humans life, these pathogens can go through hundreds and thousands of generation, evolving to become better adapted and acquiring counter-defence to the humans immune system. Some important features of the co-evolution of humans and disease organism arise from this huge difference of reproductive rates. Pathogens usually possess certain adaptations to resist humans from trying to remove them and they are very much dependant on humans as their hosts for essential resources to survive, grow and reproduce. They must be able to find a new host before their current one dies or make their transition by means of vector species. The activity of the pathogens will to some extend reduce the fitness of humans or even kill them. There is a varying degree of harm that a pathogen can cause to humans, and this property is called virulence. For the same species of pathogen, some individuals might be totally unaffected by it while some might get infection that could be mild to serious or even killed by it. Virulence of one pathogen can be measured as the percentage of infections that leads to death. The bacterium Vibrio cholera was one the most virulent human pathogens, with a virulence of 15 percent until the appearance of HIV, which has a virulence of over 90 percent, meaning that 90 percent of infected people die (Davey, Halliday et al. 2001). There are different phases in which a disease organism can adapt to its host. The first phase being accidental infection, that is the first contact of the pathogen with a new species of host. Many human diseases are caused by pathogens that infect animals such as rabies, SARS and bird flu. Host changes are promoted by frequent contact between humans and animals such as keeping a pet. The second phase is the evolution of virulence after the pathogen has successfully invaded a new host. In this phase evolution of virulence happens rapidly because the pathogen is not be well adapted to the new host and will try to overcome the immune response by the host. The third phase occurs the pathogen has been persisting in the new host for some time and tries to reach an optimal virulence. Virulence that is too high either kills the host too quickly resulting in less time to reproduce successfully , reduce the chances of the host interacting with other hosts therefore reducing transmission or ind uces an immune response that react too strongly, while mildly virulent strains will be cleared by the immune system too quickly (Stearns and Koella 2008). An example of co-evolution between the immune system of humans and disease organism is shown in flu virus. When a large proportion of the population has developed immunity to a certain strain of flu virus, the spread of the virus will be prevented until it has evolved by mutation or re-assortment. This is called antigenic drift, where a variety of strains are created until one can infect people who are immune to the pre-existing strains. If a virus is produced that has entirely new antigens, everyone will be susceptible thus causing a major pandemic. Possibly one of the best-known cases for co-evolution of humans and disease organisms is the evolution of humans for the sickle cell trait to protect against severe malaria. Sickle cell disease is caused by a change in shape of haemoglobin, causing red blood cells to be distorted and encounter problems when passing through blood capillaries. Homozygous individuals do not survive for long and rarely reproduce while heterozygous individuals produce sickle shaped red cells and normal ones but barely develop any symptoms of the disease. One would assume that the allele frequency of sickle cell would reduce in a population but this is not the case. It has been found that heterozygotes for sickle cell have an advantage over normal individuals because the sickle shaped red cells reduce the ability of the parasite Plasmodium to grow and multiply. Another example that can be given is the evolution of the bacterium such as Mycobacterium tubercolosis, which causes TB. Strains of the TB bacteriu m have evolved recently that is resistant to all drugs, namely the multi-drug resistant (MDR) strains. Depending on the changes in human population, the bacteria can change its virulence accordingly. Some pathogens are willing to trade-off virulence with transmission, keeping virulence low so that transmission between hosts can happen. However, if the host becomes abundant or the immune system is suppressed as in the case of AIDS, then the pathogen may evolve a higher virulence. Co-evolution simply means the evolution of one species in response to that of another species. However, co-evolution does not indicate dependence on one another. Humans are not dependant on parasites for survival, and the other way around. Co-evolution of humans and disease organisms has produced many fascinating variations, whether in humans or the disease organisms. The studies on this can aide us in gaining understanding of health and diseases as disease organisms remain a major cause of mortality, especially in the under-developed regions of the world.

Are viruses living entities? Essay -- Virus Biology

Viruses change every form of life. All life forms can be divided into two states, one that stores and second that acts upon information, to duplicate an organism (Levine 1992). They populate the world between the living and non-living, the ability to duplicate themselves and ones that cannot. Viruses are inherent in organization and their properties are many of secrets of life processes and life (Levine 1992). Viruses may be present in living organisms almost since the origin of life (Levy, Owens 1988). Evidence has showed that viruses can be found in many species, which means every species on this planet carries viruses (Levy,Owens 1988). Most researchers had indicated that viruses have played an important role in understanding how cells functions over the years. Scientists identified the major factors contributing to viruses, such as DNA repair, translation of mRNA, transcription and elucidation of chemical nature of genes. (Levy, Owens 1988). Viruses are regarded as phenotypic modification by the host cells. Through ageing, viruses incorporate host genes in their genomes and vice versa (Morse 1993). Are viruses impossible feature of our life on earth or just a complex chemistry in life? Scientists have yet to state whether viruses are non- living systems or living systems in life. We argue in this discussion whether virus can be living or non living entities. What is a virus? Its roots come from the word Latin, known as â€Å"Poison†. Viruses were first discovered in nineteenth century. Scientists discovered that certain disease such as foot-and mouth disease, rabies were caused by particles that resembles bacteria, however they have the ability to pass through fine filters that bacteria are not capable of. Viruses were... ...s to produce virus specified products. Works Cited 1. Carter, John. Saunders, Venetia. (2008). `Virology Principles and Applications`. Pg6-7. 2. Jalasvuori, Matti, Bamford, K.H. Jaana. Viruses and Life: Can there be one without the other? `Journal of Cosmology`. [August 2010]. Available (Online) Available from: [Assessed 20/11/2010]. 3. Playfair, John. (1995). `Infection and Immunity`. Pg 7, 12. 4. Levine, J. Arnold. (1992). ` Viruses`. Pg1, 8. 5. Levy, A. Jan. (1998). `Virology`. Pg1,2,12 6. Mims, Cedric. (2004). ` Medical Microbiology`. Pg 39-30 Third Edition. 7. Morse, S. Stephen. (1993). `Emerging Viruses`. Pg 3-6. 8. Villarreal,P. Luis. Are Viruses Alive [December 2004]. (Online) Available from: Scientific American [Assessed 18/11/2010].

4gt Technique

2. 22 Fourth Generation Techniques The term â€Å"Fourth Generation Techniques† (4GT) encompasses a broad array of software tools that have one thing in common. Each enables the software engineer to specify some characteristic of software at a high level, the tool then automatically generates source code based on the developer's specification. The 4GT paradigm for software engineering focuses on the ability to specify software using specialized language forms or a graphic notation that describes the problem to be solved in terms that the customer can understand.Currently, a software development environment that supports the 4GT paradigm includes some or all of the following tools: nonprocedural languages for database query, report generation, data manipulation, screen interaction and definition & code generation; high-level graphics capability; and spreadsheet capability. Like other paradigms, 4GT begins with a requirements gathering step, the customer would describe requireme nts and these would be directly translated into an operational prototype.But this is unworkable, the customer may be ensure of what is required, may be ambiguous in specifying facts that are known, and may be unable or unwilling to specify information in a manner that a 4GT tool can consume. For small applications, it may possible to move directly from the requirements gathering step to implementation using a nonprocedural fourth generation language (4GL), for a larger efforts, it is necessary to develop a design strategy for the system, even if a 4GL is to be used.The use of 4GT without design (for large projects) will cause the same difficulties (poor quality, poor maintainability and poor customer acceptance). Implementation using 4GL enables the software developer to represent desired output in a manner that results in automatic generation of code to generate the output. Obviously, a data structure with relevant information must exist and be readily accessible by the 4GL.To tran sform a 4GT implementation into a product, the developer must conduct thorough testing, develop meaningful documentation, and perform all other solution integration activities that are required in other software engineering paradigms, the 4GT developed software must be built in a manner that enables maintenance to be performed expeditiously. The developers decided to use 4GT because it is the methodology that fits the system. The 4GT is a systematic approach to problem solving and is composed of several phases:

Parent Involvement in Education

Children learn first at home with the support and encouragement from their parents. When your child becomes a student, as a parent you still need to be involved inside and outside the classroom. Attending school sponsored functions, working in the classroom as a volunteer, monitoring homework and communicating with your child about their day are features that will express to your child the need for them to succeed. But why is parent involvement important in education? The answer to this research question will be sought out by using different internet sources. Articles will include general information about parent involvement, not looking at specific states or countries. I have been in a classroom since childhood. With my experiences in college I have seen parents who are involved and those who are not. As a coach in a neighboring district from my hometown I have been able to compare and contrast the amount of parent involvement between districts. Introduction As parents, children learn and grow from the encouragement and guidance that is given to them along the way. The definition of parent involvement is extensive and includes different aspects of education and how parents participate in their children’s lives in and outside of school. The research paper will attempt to explain the importance of parent involvement in education through research done using different internet sources. Throughout the research report readers will see that parent involvement in directly related with student achievement. The level of achievement is apparent due to the amount of time and effort that parent put into being present in their child’s education inside and outside the classroom. When presenting the information the positive outcome will be apparent but the obstacles that hinder the benefits need to be address. These issues include the current rising number of single parents that have to work two to three jobs in order to support their family and the amount of effort that teachers and schools put into providing opportunities for parents to become involved at school. Research included in the report will include information provided by the Michigan Department of Education. The information includes Joyce Epstein of John Hopkins University six types of parent involvement that benefits your child and the National PTA’s six types and created six national standards for parent involvement that branched from Epstein’s. Epstein’s six types include parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at homes, decision making and collaborating with community. The National PTA’s standards include communicating, parenting, student learning, volunteering, school decision making and advocacy and collaborating with community. Parent involvement is an issue that all are concerned will affect the future of world. President Obama recently proposed to improve our education system. His speech to teachers, parents and students included an address of parent involvement. Proposed Program Research will begin with collecting information from different internet sources. Information retrieved from sources will be reviewed. Four questions will be evaluated when determining appropriate information. * What are the types of parent involvement? How does parent involvement effect student achievement? * How can teachers/schools help encourage parent involvement? * What are obstacles of parent involvement? The information gathered will be the fundamental information to apply to the research report. Due to school being out of session and time constraints, observation of students’ achievement due to parent involvement is not suitable. Qualifications and Experience Growing up with a mother as a teacher, a lot of my life has been spent inside a classroom. Volunteering in the classroom and at school sponsored event I have seen the decline of parent involvement. Within the past five years the amount of parents and/or family members that bring students to events has dropped drastically. I have seen children bring their book bags to school with the previous days notes still inside, untouched. Witnessing my mother touch lives of children has led me into the same profession. My college education courses have given me the opportunity to observe students at Freeland Middle School and Willie E. Thompson Middle School. Parent involvement showed through the amount of homework turned in by students. Patterns developed with students’ overtime. Attending a district for thirteen years and now coaching in the neighboring district I have seen differentiation in parent involvement numbers. My district is multi-cultural and predominantly poor to middle class. The district I coach in is mostly Caucasians and middle class. When these two schools play each other in sporting events the amount of parent, family and community support is evident.