Is Brain Gym an Effective Educational Intervention?

Brain Gym® (BG) (BGI, 2008) is a popular commercial program sold by Brain Gym® International (BGI). Making extravagant claims for improved intellectual and physical development, it used in more than 80 countries. While BGI’s claims are persuasive, to date there is little empirical evidence validating the approach. We examine some theoretical assumptions from which BGI was developed, review the efficacy literature, and provide suggestions for making informed decisions about the judiciousness of investing time and resources in this program

Cohomogeneity one manifolds and selfmaps of nontrivial degree

We construct natural selfmaps of compact cohomgeneity one manifolds with finite Weyl group and compute their degrees and Lefschetz numbers. On manifolds with simple cohomology rings this yields in certain cases relations between the order of the Weyl group and the Euler characteristic of a principal orbit. We apply our construction to the compact Lie group SU(3) where we extend identity and transposition to an infinite family of selfmaps of every odd degree. The compositions of these selfmaps with the power maps realize all possible degrees of selfmaps of SU(3).Comment: v2, v3: minor improvement

STIGMA AS BARRIER TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN AFRICA

A major social challenge to the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Africa relates to the widespread stigma attached to the characteristics of disability and those who embody them. The article (a) discusses the phenomenon of social stigma as an underlying contextual lens around Africans with disabilities; (b) examines how stigma generally impacts the lives of Africans with disabilities; (c) applies (a) and (b) to the illustrative examples of stigma related to the treatment of people with albinism in Tanzania, persons with leprosy in Nigeria, and general perceptions of disability in Kenya; and (d) suggests several ways forward to diminish and eventually eradicate the significant damaging effects of stigma attached to disability characteristics and the Africans who live with disabilities, thereby paving the way for increased and more effective implementation of the CRPD in Africa

Factors influencing time to diagnosis and treatment among pediatric oncology patients in Kenya

Early diagnosis and start of treatment are fundamental goals in cancer care. This study determines the time lag and the factors that influence the time to diagnosis and start of treatment. Study participants were parents of childhood cancer patients diagnosed between August 2013 and July 2014 in a hospital in Kenya. Patient, physician, diagnosis, treatment, health care system, and total delay were explored using a questionnaire. Demographic and medical data were collected from the patients' medical records. Parents of 99 childhood cancer patients were interviewed (response rate: 80%). Median total delay was 102 (9–1021) days. Median patient delay (4 days) was significantly shorter than health care system delay (median 87 days; P < .001). Diagnosis delay (median 94 days) was significantly longer than treatment delay (median 6 days; P < .001). days. Lack of health insurance at diagnosis and use of alternative medicine before attending conventional health services were associated with a significantly longer patient delay (P = .041 and P = .017, respectively). The type of cancer had a significant effect on treatment delay (P = .020). The type of health facility attended affected only patient delay (P = .03). Gender, age at diagnosis, stage of disease, parents' education level or income, and distance from hospital did not have a significant effect on the length of any type of delay. Training on childhood cancer should be included in the curricula for medical training institutes. In-service workshops should be held for the health workers already working. Families must be obligated to get health insurance. Families should be encourage to attend conventional health facilities and informed on symptoms of cancer through mass media

Regularity of Cauchy horizons in S2xS1 Gowdy spacetimes

We study general S2xS1 Gowdy models with a regular past Cauchy horizon and prove that a second (future) Cauchy horizon exists, provided that a particular conserved quantity $J$ is not zero. We derive an explicit expression for the metric form on the future Cauchy horizon in terms of the initial data on the past horizon and conclude the universal relation A\p A\f=(8\pi J)^2 where A\p and A\f are the areas of past and future Cauchy horizon respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figur

Duelling prospecting rights: a non-custodial second?

This decision of the Northern Cape division dealt with competing "old order prospecting rights" and prospecting rights in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA). The decision represents an important contribution to the resolution of tensions between the old mineral law order and the new regime of Act 28 of 2002

ALBINISM IN AFRICA: A PROPOSED CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK TO UNDERSTAND AND EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS A CONTINENTAL CRISIS

Across Africa trafficking in albino body parts is far more complicated than mightfirst be assumed, as this activity is merely the end result of a complicated process with origins far removed from the point of sale. The literature in this area tends to focus on either (a) the actual act of procuring and selling body parts; or (b) loosely-related and fairly vague reports of why this process flourishes. There is no extant overarching conceptual framework linking key underlying interrelated vectors that combine to drive severe exploitation of persons with albinism, (for instance, stigma; traditional and other cultural beliefs; the status and impact of authority figures; local, regional and national discrimination; the financial impact and economy of scale in trafficking body parts, and so forth). The absence of such a framework directly hinders proposing or implementing effective solutions, as these solutions are unlikely to succeed if they ignore the highly-symbiotic relationships among the undergirding vectors. Therefore, we propose an initial conceptual framework that unpacks crucial connections among related variables impacting trafficking in albino body parts in Africa, and then use the framework to suggest areas of emphasis to reduce and eliminate the trafficking of these body parts in Africa

Banking customers’ attitudes toward complaining : their likelihood of voicing a complaint and service recovery they consider appropriate.

This paper measures the attitude of banking customers towards complaining and their likelihood to complain when a service failure is experienced at their current and another bank. Insight is also provided into the service recovery responses customers consider appropriate when a service failure is experienced. The target population included individuals in the Gauteng Province of South Africa who hold a bank account in their personal capacity. An interviewer-administered survey was used to collect data using non-probability quota sampling based upon population group and gender. A demographic profile of respondents, as well as the findings in terms of the aforementioned constructs and related hypotheses is provided. The study found that respondents have a positive attitude towards complaining, and that they are significantly more likely to voice a complaint when experiencing a service failure at their current bank than at another bank. Significant differences also exist with regard to the individual responses respondents consider appropriate when confronted with a hypothetical service failure experienced at their current bank and another bank

Drug Repurposing: A Systematic Approach to Evaluate Candidate Oral Neuroprotective Interventions for Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: To develop and implement an evidence based framework to select, from drugs already licenced, candidate oral neuroprotective drugs to be tested in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Design: Systematic review of clinical studies of oral putative neuroprotective therapies in MS and four other neurodegenerative diseases with shared pathological features, followed by systematic review and meta-analyses of the in vivo experimental data for those interventions. We presented summary data to an international multi-disciplinary committee, which assessed each drug in turn using pre-specified criteria including consideration of mechanism of action. Results: We identified a short list of fifty-two candidate interventions. After review of all clinical and pre-clinical evidence we identified ibudilast, riluzole, amiloride, pirfenidone, fluoxetine, oxcarbazepine, and the polyunsaturated fatty-acid class (Linoleic Acid, Lipoic acid; Omega-3 fatty acid, Max EPA oil) as lead candidates for clinical evaluation. Conclusions: We demonstrate a standardised and systematic approach to candidate identification for drug rescue and repurposing trials that can be applied widely to neurodegenerative disorders

Description of a new species of Afroedura (Loveridge) (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) from the south-western Cape

A new gekkonid species, Afroedura hawequensis, is described from the south-western Cape (South Africa). The three species groups recognized in the genus are discussed