Finding White Elephants in Dialogue Essay Example for Free

Finding White Elephants in Dialogue EssayErnest Hemingways Hills akin White Elephants presents its main subject not in a fulgent universener but through the sum of what is implied and what is said. The title itself alludes to the negativity in which the situation is being accepted by the two main characters, though at varied levels. While the American musical composition perceives their situation as the white elephant, the girl does not think so, at least not as much. This whitethorn be because she can think of another white elephant in her life. Meanwhile, the real action happens in the interaction between the American man and the girl, named trip the light fantastic toe.Therefore, the text requires thrifty observation of human relationship in action. Furthermore, perusal of dialogue and even some symbolism reveal the rivals reaction to that gestation and their mirror image of ending the problem or white elephant through abortion. A white elephant is after all a meta phor for an expensive and burdensome property (Link 67). In this short story, through the aid of dialogue the reader can perceive that the white elephant can represent something more subtle than Jigs pregnancy it can represent the mans weakness and inability to take responsibility for his actions.The differences between the American man and the generic girl are emphasised subtly, but these differences affect the way in which the relationship can be interpreted, especially through these differences effects on the quiet but steady unraveling of the relationship. For example, the genuinely appointment of a nationality to the man signifies that the girl is foreign, and therefore different from him. In an impressive dialogue-driven narrative prose, Hemingways unnamed American male protagonist dominates the meeker, weaker-sexed Jig (Rankin 234).They are separated by culture, nationality, gender and even by age. The American man has not impregnated a woman who may be nearer his supposit ional level of maturity and responsibility, but a young girl who he may have seduced. The fact that he is the one who cannot take responsibility for the pregnancy is ironic. It is also difficult for a girl who may naturally have expected to lean on an previous(a) man during crisis. In contrast to the head that Jig is a young innocent who has been seduced and can be easily manipulated is Jigs display of wit as compared to the more reactionary older man (Rankin 236).Jig sometimes denies degree of knowledge such as her familiarity with Anis de Toro I dont knowis it good with water? (Hemingway). However, her conversation reveals that she is not as ignorant nor naive as she seems. She may be young but she is not to be swayed into making a decision just because it forget please her lover. She says Everything tastes like liquorice, especially all the things that youve waited for so long, like absinthe (Hemingway). Jig is exerting some will, declaring what she wants but not directly.The point comes across anyway. While the man thinks of her pregnancy as the white elephant in their relationship, she does not believe it to be so They are lovely hills. They dont really look like white elephants. I just meant the coloring of their skin through the trees (Hemingway). Jig believes that although the pregnancy may be difficult on both of them, it promises something beautiful. She has her own impression on the situation and is not afraid to say what is in her mind.Because there is an emphasis on the meaning of conversation in Hills like White Elephants, in this barely 1500 words long short story, repeated items are notable (Link 67). It is through repetition that ideas and the story itself are instilled into the readers minds in spite of the ambiguous dialogue and seemingly quotidian setting. The couples power relationship also emerges in the prominence of questions in the text. Much of the dialogueis a trading of questions and answers in which Jig asks a total of sevent een questions, thirteen of which are yes-no questions.The man only asks four questions, three of which he does not ask until the text is nearly finished (Link 68). The couple is therefore engaged in a verbal tug of war in which each tries to achieve the agreement of the other. Jig is more curious and assertive, despite the fact that the man is expected to have more power over her, because of his gender and more mature age. She asks more questions about their situation, is almost pulled towards the mans argument but continues to wonder openly about their situation.This questioning mind prevents her from fully regarding her pregnancy as a white elephant. Hills like White Elephants is a testament to the power of dialogue though the wordings are not direct, the repetition makes up for any diminishing of clarity. The subject of whether or not to have an abortion performed on Jig has been handled in a subtle manner which separates it from other short stories, and even novels that deal wit h pregnancy out of wedlock and the question of what answer to take.Even what the metaphor will represent can be contested if indeed the white elephant or burden is the pregnancy or the American man himself.Works CitedHemingway, Ernest. Hills like White Elephants. 12 April 2008 http//www. moonstar. com/acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/WhiteElephants. html. Link, Alex. Staking Everything On It A Stylistic Analysis of Linguistic Patterns in Hills like White Elephants. The Hemingway fall over (n. d. ) 66-74. Rankin, Paul. Hemingways Hills like White Elephants. Explicator (n. d. ) 234-237.

Blastocystis Hominis and Colorectal Cancer

Blastocystis Ho houris and Colorectal CancerBlastocystis hominis (B.hominis) is the most common uni cadreular protozoan poriferan that is found in the human gastrointestinal tract (Windsor et al. 2002). The prevalence of B. hominis in two developed and developing countries is reported to be up to 10% and 50% respectively (Wong et al. 2008 Stenzel and Boreham. 1996). On the other hand, B. hominis shows a diverse morphologies which include vacuolar, granular, amoeboid and cyst forms (Zierdt. 1988). Furthermore, B. hominis confiscates from human and animals accommodate been reported to exhibit an blanket(a) genetic and karyotypic heterogeneousness (Parkar et al. 2010 Stensvold et al. 2009 convert et al. 2009 Dogruman-Al et al. 2009 Abe. 2004 Yoshikawa et al. 2004).Although some researchers look at attempted to identify the pathogenesis of B. hominis in human hordes, however the infective electric potential of B. hominis has remained controversial as it is present in both c haracteristic and well individual (Tan. 2008 Garcia. 2007 Tan et al. 2002). The gastrointestinal symptoms that are associated with B. hominis infection include diarrhea, vomiting, anorexia, flatulence, abdominal discomfort and other associated non-specific symptoms. To date, experiments consider shown that rats that are inoculated with human B. hominis isolate have demonstrated an elevation in oxidative damage (Chandramathi et al. 2009).Many studies have been done on the genetic and molecular(a) characterization of B. hominis isolates derived from human as well as animal. Recent molecular characterization of Blastocystis isolates suggested that there are 13 subtypes (ST1-ST13) which have been isolated from mammalian, reptilian, avian and amphibian hosts (U. Parkar et al. 2010 Stensvold et al. 2007a Nol et al. 2005, 2003 Yoshikawa et al. 2004b). Recently, many studies have been done to determine the pathogenic potential of unalike Blastocystis subtypes in human hosts by genotypic analysis as well as molecular characterization of B. hominis isolated from symptomatic and symptomless individuals (Dominguez-Mrquez et al. 2009 Eroglu et al. 2009 Jones et al. 2009 Hussein et al. 2008 Tan et al. 2008). Nevertheless, only limited numbers of studies have shown correlation between the different B. hominis subtypes on the pathogenesis in human hosts (Hussein et al. 2008).Infectious agents such as bacteria, virus and parasites, often have an oncogenic potential. The International Agency on Research of Cancer (IARC) has estimated that 16% of cancer oecumenic is ca utilize by infection, including parasites. However, there has been no research done on the association between B. hominis infection and colorectal cancer. A recent determine has suggested that B. hominis may hold the ability to induce the growth of colorectal cancer cell sources by inhibiting the apoptotic violence of colon cancer cells. Furthermore, the antigens that are isolated from B. hominis were pos tulated to be able to win the proliferation of cancer cells via down-regulation of host tolerant cellular responses (Chandramathi et al. 2010).In general, agitation is activated by a variety of stimuli such as trauma, bacterial/viral/ parasitical infections, endotoxemia and heating (Ley, 2001 Hart, 2002). Inflammation caused by infectious agents such as parasites will cause an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide as a consequence of cell mediated phagocyte dependent immune response (Rosen et al. 1995). A long-lived and chronic inflammatory response can be detrimental to human host as it can produce a chronic damage by releasing a variety of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines which then fades to mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, neurodegenerative disorder, inflammatory bowel syndrome and atherosclerosis (Khn et al. 1993 Perry et al. 1998 Ludewig et al. 2002 Shacter et al. 2002). Several studie s have shown correlation between the inflammation that is caused by infectious agents such as parasites and the schooling of cancer in human (Fitzpatrick. 2001). Thus, it is important for us to evaluate the immunomodulation, cytopathic and cellular cytokines responses as a root of B. hominis infection especially in colorectal carcinomas. Since B. hominis is often present in most stool purifications, it is pertinent to investigate the association between B. hominis infection and the development of colorectal cancer in the gastrointestinal tract of infected host system.B. hominis isolated from an asymptomatic individual could facilitate the proliferation and growth of cancer cells and has the potential to down-regulate the host immune response (Chandramathi et al. 2010). However, only limited numbers of studies have shown the cytopathic do and cellular cytokine responses of Blastocystis hominis infection (Puthia et al. 2008 Long et al. 2001 Walderich et al. 1998). These studies on ly investigated on Interleukin 8 and Granulocyte-macrophage colony impact factor (GM-CSF) which are pro-inflammatory cytokines.We hypothesized that B. hominis infection in human host system has a potential carcinogenic effect and could influence the growth of colorectal cancer cells especially in colorectal cancer patients and that the B. hominis subtypes may exert varying degree of pathogenecity. Therefore, in this study, the differences between the effects of solubilized antigen of B. hominis from both symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates on the cell viability in the peripheral production line mononuclear cells (PBMCs, which represent the immune cells) as well as colorectal cancer cell line was evaluated. Besides that, the gene expression of cytokine, apoptotic mediators, and nuclear transcriptional factors in response to the symptomatic and asymptomatic B. hominis antigen in both PBMCs and colorectal cancer cell was compared. The knowledge and accord in the association betwee n Blastocystis hominis infection and colorectal cancer as well as the role of various cytokines involved in the tumour procession may provide an insight into prevention and/or development of new immune-therapeutical strategies to assail colorectal cancer.OBJECTIVEThe objectives of the present study are-To study the effects of solubilized antigen of B. hominis from symptomatic and asymptomatic individual isolates on viability of both the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs, which represent the normal immune cells) as well as colorectal cancer cells (HCT 116, colorectal cancer cell line).To investigate the gene expression of cytokine, transcriptional factors and apoptotic mediators such as interleukin 6, interleukin 8, tumour necrosis factor-, interferon gamma, nuclear factor kappa light drawstring enhancer of activated B cells, cathepsin B, transforming growth factor-, and protein 53 upon word-painting to B. hominis antigen in both the PBMCs and colorectal cancer cellsMATER IALS AND METHODSSample collection and axenization of Blastocystis hominisB. hominis was isolated from stool samples of symptomatic as well as asymptomatic individuals. The B. hominis cysts were then isolated from feacal sample using the Ficoll-Paque Technique match to Zaman and Khan (1994). The harvested cysts of B. hominis from both the symptomatic and asymptomatic individual isolates were washed in sterile phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). The washed harvested cysts were cultured in Jones medium, supplemented with 10% of heat-inactivated horse serum and incubated at 37C in carbonic acid gas incubator (Suresh and Smith. 2004). Axenization was conducted after the isolates have been incubated for 2 to 3 days.Isolation of solubilized antigen from symptomatic and asymptomatic culturesThe axenic B. hominis species were collected using Ficoll-Paque density gradient centrifugation method acting and the harvested parasites were resuspended in basal Jones medium without the addition of heat -inactivated horse serum. Then, the harvested organisms were lysed by sonication method and the homogenate was incubated at 4C, overnight. The homogenate was centrifuged at 13000xg for 15 minutes at 4C after the overnight incubation. The supernatant which contains the solubilized antigen of B. hominis was filter-sterilized and the protein concentration of the antigen was contumacious using Bradford assay (Bio-Rad, USA).Subtyping of Blastocystis isolates from symptomatic and asymptomatic culturesGenomic desoxyribonucleic acid Extraction The genomic deoxyribonucleic acid of symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates of Blastocystis hominis were extracted from the 3 to 4 days old culture with QIAmp DNA stool mini kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturers protocol.DNA Purity and Concentration The genomic DNA yields were estimated using measuring stick of absorbance at 260nm and 280nm using a spectrophotometer. The ratio of absorbance at 260nm to 280nm determines the pur ity of the genomic DNA yielded. According to the manufacturers protocol, the ratio of 1.7-1.9 indicates that the DNA yields are pure.PCR Typing by STS Primers The genotype of B. hominis was determined by using PCR amplification with subtype-specific sequence tagged site (STS) primers (SB83, SB155, SB227, SB332, SB340, SB336, and SB337). The PCR reaction mixtures (20 l of total volume) consisted of PCR buffer, 2.5 U/l of Taq DNA polymerase (Fermantas, SB38), 1.5 mM MgCl2, 1.25 M of dNTPs (Fermantas, RO191), 0.5 pmol of forward primer, 0.5 pmol of reverse primer, and 1.0 l of the DNA samples. In addition, the PCR conditions were set as follows one cycle denaturing at 94C for 3 min, 30 cycles including denaturing at 94C for 30 seconds, annealing at 56.3C for 30 seconds, extending at 72C for 60 s, , and additional cycle with a 10 min chain elongation at 72C. The PCR products obtained were then electrophoresed in 1.5% agarose gel with 1X Tris-boric-EDTA (TBE) buffer. The fragments of th e DNA were visualized using UV illuminator under UV light. The fragment sizes of the genomic DNA were confirmed with bands of a DNA ladder (50-1,000 bp DNA markers, Fermentas).Cultivation and collection of HCT116Human colorectal carcinoma cell line, HCT116, was cultured in 25 cm culture flask containing 5 ml of RPMI 1640 growth medium, supplemented with 5% of FBS, 2mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin-streptomycin, and 2.5 g/ml fungizone. The HCT116 cell line was then incubated in a CO2 incubator set at 100% humidity, atmosphere containing 5% of CO2 and a temperature of 37C. Prior to the introduction of antigen from Blastocystis hominis isolates, the cells were harvested from the substratum of the culture flask by using 0.25% trypsin-EDTA. The harvested cells were then washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) thrice and resuspended in RPMI 1640 growth medium before introducing the solubilized antigen of Blastocystis hominis from symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates.Isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs)PBMCs were collected from fresh human blood sample (12 ml) in sterile EDTA tubes. The PBMCs were then isolated from the blood sample by using Histopaque-1077 (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) according to the density gradient centrifugation method (Boyum. 1974). The isolated PBMCs were then washed with PBS thrice and resuspended in 5 ml of RPMI 1640 growth medium, supplemented with 10% of FBS, 2mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin-streptomycin, and 2.5 g/ml fungizone in a 25 cm culture flask prior to the introduction of solubilized antigen of Blastocystis hominis isolates.Introduction of the solubilized symptomatic and asymptomatic derived Blasto antigen into PBMCs and colorectal cancer cell line, HCT116Harvested HCT116 cells (1 x 103 cells per well) in 100 l of RPMI growth medium with 5% FBS and freshly isolated PBMCs (5 x 104 cells per well) in 100 l of RPMI growth medium with 10% FBS were seeded into 96 well plates. After the overnight incubation in a CO2 incubator containing 5% CO2 at 37C, Blasto-antigen of B. hominis from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals at final concentration ranging from 0.001 to 10g/ml was added to each well containing the PBMCs and HCT116 cells and were advertise incubated for 48 hours. Then, the cell proliferation/viability was measured using the MTT assay (Mosmann. 1983).Quantitative Real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rtRT-PCR)Concentration of symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-antigen that yields the optimal proliferation and inhibition in the preliminary tests (MTT assay) was used to introduce into each culture flask containing PBMCs and HCT 116 cells respectively. For controls, PBS was introduced into both types of cells. After 48 hours of incubation, the RNA was isolated from the PBMCs and HCT 116 cells using Ambion RNAqueous Micro turnout (Ambion, CA, USA). The purified RNA obtained was then used to synthesize complementary DNA (cDNA) using High-Capacity RNA-to-cDNA kit (Applied Biosystems, USA) by the PCR method. Finally, Real-time reverse transcription PCR analysis was performed using inventoried primers (TaqMan factor Expression Assays, Applied Biosystems). In this study, the genes of interest were IL-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-), nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-B), interferon gamma (IFN-), protein 53 (p53), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-), and cathepsin B (CTSB). The PCR reaction will be prepared according to the protocol that is generated by StepOneTM Software v2.0.statistical AnalysisIn order to analyze the real-time RT-PCR gene expressions, the CT value of the treated samples with symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-antigen was compared against the non-treated sample (control with PBS) using the Students t test. A P value of 0.05 was considered to be the minimum threshold of significance.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSIn the present study, the symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates were genotyped by PCR amplification using the well-known seven sets of STS primers. The extracted DNA of symptomatic isolate showed controlling amplification with SB83 and thus determined as subtype 1 (Yoshikawa et al. 2004). Nevertheless, the extracted DNA of asymptomatic isolate did not show any positive amplification with all the seven sets of STS primers that was used in this study. Hence, it is postulated that the asymptomatic isolate may be subtype 8 to 13 which was not amplified by the STS primers used in this study (Dominguez-Mrquez et al. 2009 Eroglu et al. 2009 Jones et al. 2009 Hussein et al. 2008 Tan et al. 2008). Molecular phylogenetic analysis need to be carried out in order to supercharge characterized the subtype of asymptomatic isolate used in this study (Noel et al. 2005 Stensvold et al. 2007 Yoshikawa et al. 2007).In this study, the Blasto-Ag isolated from both symptomatic as well as asymptomatic isolates have caused an inhibition of PBMC cells proliferation which le ads to the speculation that the Blasto-Ag may have caused apoptosis in the immune cells to prevent the propagation of immune cells to combat with the Blastocystis infection. The symptomatic isolate has caused a greater inhibition of PBMCs as compare to asymptomatic isolates. However, the Blasto-Ag mediated PBMCs cell inhibition is contrast to our previous report (Chandramathi et al. 2010). Our previous study showed that Blasto-Ag caused stimulation of PBMCs cell proliferation (Chandramathi et al. 2010). However, the molecular genotyping of the B. hominis isolates used in that study was not carried out. Past studies have reported that there may be a correlation between different B. hominis subtypes on the pathogenesis in human hosts (Dominguez-Mrquez et al. 2009 Eroglu et al. 2009 Jones et al. 2009 Hussein et al. 2008 Tan et al. 2008). This contrasting result observed in the cell viability of PBMCs may suggest the different subtypes of B. hominis may give different effects on the i mmune cells. Hence, pull ahead investigation is required to investigate the potential pathogenesis of different B. hominis subtypes.In the current study, increase in cell proliferation has been observed in colorectal carcinoma cell line, HCT116 cells upon exposure to antigen from symptomatic as well as asymptomatic isolates. HCT116 cells have shown significantly higher increase in cell proliferation stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag as compared to asymptomatic antigen. The increase in the cell proliferation may further suggest that Blastocystis infection could facilitate the growth of colorectal cancer cells (Chandramathi et al. 2010). It is apparent from the present study that symptomatic Blasto-Ag is more pathogenic as compared to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. Hence, it may be essential to treat the Blastocystis infection in symptomatic colorectal cancer patients for breach prognosis.On the other hand, a diverse pattern of cytokine, nuclear transcription factor as well as apoptotic gene expressions were observed upon the stimulation of HCT116 cells and PBMCs by symptomatic and asymptomatic derived Blasto-Ag. In the present study a noticeable up-regulation of Th1 (IFN- and TNF-) and Th2 (IL6, IL8 and TGF-) cytokines was observed in HCT116 following exposure to symptomatic Blasto-Ag may lead to the speculation that B. hominis has activated the cellular and humoral immune responses in clearing the Blastocystis infection. This is accordance to the previous study that extracellular parasites such as B. hominis would be more powerful in counteracted by a combination of Th1 and Th2 cytokines (Daugelat et al. 1996). Nevertheless, a more significant up-regulation of Th2 cytokines as compared to Th1 cytokines observed in HCT116 upon exposure to symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag may lead to the postulation that symptomatic Blasto-Ag may resulting in a Th2-dominated responses and has the potential in weakening the cellular immune response, allowing the progression and growth of an existing tumour cells. On the other hand, HCT116 exposed to symptomatic Blasto-Ag has resulted in a more noticeable up-regulation of Th2 cytokines then asymptomatic Blasto-Ag which may lead to the speculation that asymptomatic Blasto-Ag is less pathogenic than symptomatic derived Blasto-Ag. Furthermore, the up-regulation of TGF- in the colorectal cancer cells has the potential role of anti-inflammatory and resulting in host immunosuppression by inhibiting the cell mediated immune responses against the tumour cells (Zou, 2005 Seruga et al. 2008).In addition, it is widely-accepted that humoral immunity is activated by extracellular microbes such as bacteria (Romagnani, 1996). B. hominis, being an extracellular allergen, has triggered the activation of host humoral immune responses which is evident by the significant up-regulation of Th2 cytokines in the PBMCs upon exposure to symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. Moreover, this results can be supported by the recent finding which shown an elevation of IL6 and IL8 level in the monocytes of healthy volunteers exposed to Leishmania infection (Menezes et al. 2008). In spite of that, an enkindle finding has been observed in PBMCs stimulated by symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag, in any event activating the humoral immune responses, PBMCs exposed by Blasto-Ag has also triggered the activation of cellular mediated immune response characterized by Th1 cytokines. As described earlier, extracellular parasites may be more effective counteracted by a combination of Th1 and Th2 cytokines mediated immune responses (Daugelat et al. 1996). However, the activation of cellular mediated immune responses which is reflected by a significant up-regulation of TNF- and IFN- may lead to the speculation that Blasto-Ag isolated from symptomatic as well as asymptomatic individual has the ability in causing extensive inflammatory damage in the host tissue as a result of macrophage mediated responses towards the paras itic infections.In addition, an up-regulation of NF-B and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6 and IL8 was observed in HCT116 stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag. Furthermore, these findings were also observed in PBMCs stimulated by symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. Nevertheless, HCT116 exposed to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag has exhibited an insignificant down-regulation of NF-B gene expression which then leads to a significant lower expression in IL6 and IL8 as compared to HCT116 stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag. Although the previous reports by Chandramathi et al. 2010 has stated the potential role of asymptomatic Blasto-Ag in causing the up-regulation of NF-B and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6 and IL8, however, the similar trend was not observed in the current study. As described earlier, different Blastocystis subtypes may have different effects on HCT116 cells as well as causing different gene expression profile in HCT116. To further characterize the gene expression profiles as w ell as pathogenic potential of each subtype on HCT116 and PBMCs, more samples on different subtypes need to be recruited for the future study.Apart from this, NF-B is also related to the apoptotic mediator genes namely p53 and CTSB. NF-B has been postulated to play a role in inhibiting the apoptosis hence it is hypothesized that the down-regulation of NF-B gene expression will lead to the up-regulation of p53 and vice versa (Baldwin, 2001 Chwieralski et al. 2006). Although the recent study has suggested that CTSB may contribute to the cell apoptosis, however the studies have only reported on CTSB-mediated apoptosis in breast cancer cells as well as hepatocytes apoptosis in fulminant hepatic failure (Sandes et al, 2007 Yan et al. 2009). Nevertheless, the possibility of CTSB participation in the apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells has not been investigated. Moreover, there are a number of studies have shown that over expression of CTSB mRNA and elevation of its protein activity have been associated with the invasive and metastasis properties of various cancers (Campo et al. 1994 Yan et al, 1998 Hirai et al. 1999 Sanjeeva et al. 2001). The similar findings were observed in the current study where the HCT116 cells stimulated by symptomatic as well as asymptomatic Blasto-Ag have caused a significant up-regulation of CTSB. The over expression of CTSB in HCT116 cells stimulated by symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag may implicate the potential of Blasto-Ag in causing the invasive and metastasis of colorectal cancer (Campo et al. 1994 Yan et al. 1998 Dora et al. 2003).In the present study, the insignificant down-regulation of p53 gene expressions observed in PBMCs may indicates that the symptomatic and asymptomatic Blasto-Ag may have prevented the PBMC cells to undergo the apoptosis process. The observation of p53 gene expressions obtained was contrary to the expectation. This may be due to the latent effects of the host immunity to down-regulate the apoptotic me diator gene in order to combat with the invasive B. hominis as well as to prevent persistent inflammation which can lead to carcinogenesis. Although the down-regulation pattern was observed, it does not causing a significant effect (0.95 and 0.96 fold decrease respectively).In contrast to PBMCs, stimulation of symptomatic Blasto-Ag in HCT116 has insignificantly down-regulated the gene expressions of p53. The insignificant down-regulation observed in HCT116 stimulated by symptomatic Blasto-Ag may be explained that it could be the reason that HCT116 cells to have low level of NF-B gene expression level (1.34 fold increase). Nevertheless, the down-regulation observed may further suggest that symptomatic Blasto-Ag may has enhance the proliferation and progression of existing tumour besides causing an extensive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. On the other hand, an interesting finding was observed in HCT116 exposed to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag, instead of causing down-regulation of p5 3 gene expression, asymptomatic Blasto-Ag has caused an up-regulation of p53 (1.09 fold increase) in HCT116.The findings and observations obtained from the current study are quiesce far to characterize the mechanism of the potential pathogenic role of B. hominis in PBMCs as well as HCT116 cells. However, the current study was able to give an overview of the potential pathogenesis of symptomatic and asymptomatic derived Blasto-Ag in HCT116 and PBMCs. Moreover, the findings also suggest that symptomatic derived Blasto-Ag is more pathogenic as compare to asymptomatic Blasto-Ag. More studies still need to be done on the association of this emerging parasite on the association with the colorectal cancer.CONCLUSIONThe MTT cell proliferative assay and gene expression profile in this study has shown that the solubilized antigen isolated from symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, at a particular concentration, could facilitate the proliferation and growth of colorectal carcinoma while h aving the ability to induce apoptosis on PBMCs immune cells. Moreover, the cell proliferative assay also successfully reported that antigen isolated from symptomatic individual is more pathogenic as compare to asymptomatic isolates, as it causes a significantly higher increase in cell proliferation of HCT116 colorectal carcinoma cell lines and a significantly higher increase in inhibition of PBMCs immune cells. Moreover, symptomatic isolate of B. hominis has exhibited a more evident increase in the gene expression of Th1 and Th2 cyokines. Hence, there is a vital need to screen colorectal cancer patients for B. hominis infection.

Theories of Job Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment

Theories of rent out Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment line of merchandise satisfactionJob satisfaction keep be described as a pleasurable or affirmative emotional state resulting from the singulars line of products or profession experiences (Locke, 1976). Job satisfaction is a topic of wide interest to both people who work in organisations and people who field of operations them. It is a most frequently canvass variable in organisational behaviour explore, and likewise a central variable in both research and possibility of organisational phenomena ranging from job design to supervision (Spector, 1997). Traditionally, job satisfaction focuses on the lookingings that an soul has about their job. However, what makes a job satisfying or dissatisfying does not depend only on the nature of the job, but also on the expectations that individuals study of what their job should provide (Lu, While Barriball, 2004).Organisational CommitmentOrganisational commitment has be en defined as the degree to which employees believe in and accept organisational goals and desire to appease with the organisation (Mathis Jackson, 2000). Similarly, Wright and Noe (1996) defined organisational commitment as the degree or limit to which employees strongly identify with the organisation and feel attached to it. Although there are a variety of different definitions for organisational commitment, they all share the view that organisational commitment is a psychological state that characterises an employees relationship with their organisation and has implications for that employee continuing membership in the organisation (Meyer Allen, 1997). However, what differs among these definitions is the nature of the psychological state being described (Mowday, Steers Porter, 1979 Wiener, 1982). In order to acknowledge the different psychological states,Meyer and Allen (1991)developed a three- factor ensample of organisational commitment. The first region is affective c ommitment, which refers to an employees emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in an organisation (Meyer Allen, 1991). The second component is law of continuation commitment, which involves the employees perceptions of the costs associated with leaving an organisation. The nett component is normative commitment, which refers to an employees feelings of obligation to stay in the organisation.Organisational Citizenship BehavioursOrganisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) are voluntary employee behaviours that are not formally rewarded by the organisation, but contribute to any the success of the whole organisation or to the welfare of other employees (Borman Motowidlo, 1993). Examples of OCBs include helping colleagues with their work, helping new members of staff, talking positively about the organisation to outsiders, and voluntarily going to functions that help the organisations image (Lee Allen, 2002). Research on OCBs need shown that they are impo rtant as they improve both individual level (Rotundo Sackett, 2002) and organisational-level performance outcomes (Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, Blume, 2009). It has been suggested that there are five different categories of OCBs including altruism, courtesy conscientiousness, civic virtue, and sportsmanship (Organ, 1988). Furtherto a greater extent, OCBs have been divided into two different types. Williams and Anderson (1991) divided up the dimensions plunge on who the behaviours were directed towards. If the behaviour was directed towards other individuals in the workplace, there were classified as Organisational citizenship behaviourindividuals (OCBI), while behaviours directed at the organisation as a whole were classified as organisational citizenship behaviour-organisational (OCBO). For example, categories of OCBs such as altruism and courtesy are actions aimed at other employees and would therefore be classified as OCBIs.Whereas, conscientiousness, civic virtue, and spor tsmanship are behaviours intended for the benefit of the organisation and would therefore be considered as OCBOs.Core Self-Evaluation sub-traits and their relation to organisational citizenship behaviour, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.There are a lack of studies linking the core self-evaluations factor to organisational citizenship behaviours. However, three of the core traits self-confidence, venue of hold in, and emotional stability, are the most widely studied personality traits in personality and employ psychology ( tag Bono, 2001). In total, self-esteem, locus of turn back, and emotional stability have been the subject of more(prenominal) than 50,000 studies ( arbiter et al, 2002). self-conceit is used to describe an individuals overall self-evaluation of their competencies (Rosenberg, 1965). obviously put, self-esteem is a personal evaluation which reflects what people think of themselves as individuals. For example, Korman (1970) states that self-est eem reflects the degree to which the individual sees themselves as a competent, need-satisfying individual. Therefore, an individual with lavishly self-esteem has a sense of personal adequacy and a sense of having achieved need satisfaction in the past (Korman, 1966). As well as the reflecting component of self-esteem, Pelham and Swann (1989) explain that self-esteem also consists of an affective (liking/disliking) component. For example, individuals with high self-esteem like who and what they are agreeing with statements such as I am a person of worth, on an equal plane with others and I am satisfied with myself (Rosenberg, 1965). Overall, it is the self-evaluation and descriptive constructualisation that individuals make and produce about themselves.Locus of control refers to an individuals perception of the main causes of events in life. It can be divided into two categories internal locus of control and external locus of control. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe that they have control over the events and consequences associated with their lives, such as control over their own destinies. Therefore, they believe that the majority of their life experiences are determined by their own skills, abilities, and efforts. Whereas those with an external locus of control believe that life events are the result of circumstances outside their control. They believe that their destinies are controlled by external forces such as luck, chance, fate, or tendinous others (Paulhus, 1983 Rotter, 1966).Emotional stability or neuroticism is perhaps the most enduring personality concept in psychology, as it is one of the dimensions of the widely studied five-factor model of personality. There are thousands of studies on the topic and the entire field of psychoanalysis and clinical psychology might be traced to the study of neurotic symptoms (Freud, 1910). Emotional stability represents individual differences in the tendency to experience distress (McCrae John, 1992). Typical behaviours associated with this factor include being anxious, depressed, angry, embarrassed, emotional, worried, and insecure (Barrick Mount, 1991).Generalised self-efficacy is described as an individuals estimate of their fundamental ability to cope, perform, and be successful. This can be seen as the ability to persist and a persons ability to succeed with a task. As an example, self-efficacy instantly relates to how long somebody will stick to a workout regime or a diet. High and low self-efficacy determine whether or not someone will choose to take on a challenging task or write it off as impossible.Relation of Self-Esteem, Locus of Control, Neuroticism, and Generalised Self-Efficacy to Job Satisfaction.Judge et al. (1997) hypothesised that core self-evaluations would be related to job satisfaction through both direct and indirect means. Indeed, Judge et al (1998) shew that the four traits, inured as a single latent construct, were world-shatteringly re lated to job satisfaction. This study also found that self-esteem, generalised self-efficacy, locus of control, and neuroticism were each respectively momentously correlated with job satisfaction. Therefore, suggesting both direct and indirect links with job satisfaction. Despite the vast amount of research on dispositions and job satisfaction, Judge and Bono (2001) found there were no meta-analysis of the relationship amongst any of the four traits and job satisfaction. The relationships of these traits to job satisfaction had been discussed in reviews of the literature with respect to self-esteem (Tharenou, 1979), locus of control (Spector, 1982), and emotional stability (Furnham Zacherl, 1986), however the size and extent of these relationships, and the variability in these relationships across studies, had not been established. Therefore, Judge and Bono (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of 169 correlations. The found that the correlations of the core traits with job satisfact ion ranged from 0.24 for emotional stability to 0.45 for generalised self-efficacy. All of these correlations generalised across studies (more than 90% of the individual correlations were greater than zero). Other research has also supported these finding, for example, studies have suggested that LOC is a significant predictor of job satisfaction (Judge, Erez, Bono, Thoresen, 2003), whereby individuals with an internal LOC reported higher levels of job satisfaction (Martin, Thomas, Charles, Epitro McNamara, 2005). Furthermore, several studies have shown that direct measures of neuroticism are vetoly related to job satisfaction (Furnham Zacherl, 1986 Smith, Organ, Near, 1983 Tokar Subich, 1997), indicating that individuals with high neuroticism have lower job satisfaction.Moreover, there are theoretical reasons to expect a positive relationship between the four sub-traits and job satisfaction. In the case of self-esteem, Locke, McClear and Knight (1996) posited that, A person w ith a high self-esteem will view a challenging job as a deserved opportunity which he can master and benefit from, whereas a person with low self-esteem is more likely to view it as an undeserved opportunity or a chance to fail. Research has in fact supported this, suggesting that individuals with high self-esteem maintain optimism in the face of failure, which makes future success and future satisfaction more likely (Dodgson Wood, 1998). Another theoretical mechanism linking these traits to job satisfaction is suggested by Kormans (1970) self-consistency theory. Kormans theory predicts that individuals with high self-esteem choose occupations consistent with their interests, which would lead to greater levels of job satisfaction. More generally, Kormans theory predicts that high self-esteem individuals will engage in a broad array of behaviours and cognitions that reinforce their self-concept. Similarly, Spector (1982) suggested that individuals with an internal locus of control s hould be more job satisfied because they are less likely to stay in a dissatisfying job and are more likely to be successful in organisations. With respect to neuroticism, McCrae and Costa (1991) noted that neuroticism is related to lower well-being because individuals who score high on neuroticism are predisposed to experience negative affects. Negative affect, in turn, is negatively related to job satisfaction (Brief, 1998 Spector, 1997). Finally, Judge et al. (1997) argued that generalised self-efficacy should affect job satisfaction through its association with practical success on the job. Because individuals with high self-efficacy deal more effectively with difficulties and persist in the face of failure (Gist Mitchell, 1992), they are more likely to attain valued outcomes and thus derive satisfaction from their jobs.Relation of Self-Esteem, Locus of Control, Neuroticism, and Generalised Self-Efficacy to Organisational Commitment.The four sub-traits have also been studied in dependently with regards to their relationship with organisational commitment. In terms of self-esteem, a review of the literature by lunge Gardner (2004) identified several studies which report a significant and positive relationship between self-esteem and organisational commitment (Gardner Pierce, 1998, 2001 Lee, 2003 Phillips Hall, 2001 Ragins Cornwell, 2000 Riordan, Weatherly, Vandenberg Self, 2001 Tang Ibrahim, 1998 Tang, Kim ODonald, 2000 Tang, Singer Roberts, 2000 Van Dyne Pierce, 2004). Correlations range between .12 and .64. These findings suggest that employees with high levels of self-esteem are more committed to their organisations than those individuals with low self-esteem.There are also some studies relating an individuals locus of control to organisational commitment. Coleman, Irving, and Cooper (1999) conducted a study on the relationship between locus of control and organisational commitment. The results revealed that internal locus of control was relate d to affective commitment, while external locus of control was associated with continuance commitment. Furthermore, a study by Igbeneghu Popool (2011) provides empirical evidence to show that locus of control has a significant inverse relationship with organisational commitment. These findings are similar to research done two decades ago in which organisational commitment was found to be positively related to internal locus of control (Luthans, Baack, Taylor, 1987).Neuroticism has been found to be significantly related to organisational commitment (Erdheim, Wang Zickar, 2006). Cui (2010) found that neuroticism was significantly related to the continuance commitment part of organisational commitment. It has been shown that neurotic individuals tend to experience more negative life events than other individuals (Magnus, Diener, Fujita, Pavot, 1993). These findings directly relate to continuance commitment, which may develop out of an employees fear of the costs associated with lea ving their current position (Meyer Allen, 1997). This is to the extent that when negative events occur in a highly neurotic individuals job, the individual may feel more apprehensive about approach a new work environment that could provide even harsher experiences. Therefore, they are more likely to have high levels of continuance commitment.Once again, research found that self-efficacy was a significant predictor of organisational commitment (Bogler Somech, 2004). Saleem, Saba Adnan (2012) explored self-efficacy as a predictor of organisational commitment among bank employees. Correlational and multiple regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy was significantly positively correlated organisational commitment. Wu and Short (1996), who studied the relationship between teacher mandate and teacher job commitment and job satisfaction, found that among the six subscales that compose the teacher empowerment scale (SPES), professional growth, self-efficacy and status were sign ificant predictors of organisational commitment.Relation of Self-Esteem, Locus of Control, Neuroticism, and Generalised Self-Efficacy to Organisational Citizenship Behaviour.The four sub-traits have also been studied separately in relation to organisational citizenship behaviour. Again, Pierce Gardners (2003) review found various studies showing that self-esteem was related to organisational citizenship behaviour. For example, Tang, Davis, Dolinski, Ibrahim, Sutarso Wagner (2002) examined self-esteem and organisational citizenship behaviours with samples in the United States, Taiwan, Poland, and Egypt. In both their US and non-US samples they found significant and positive relationship between self-esteem and organisational citizenship behaviour. Van Dyne and Pierce (2004) who used both supervisor and peer ratings of citizenship behaviour, reported significant relationships between self-esteem and organisational citizenship behaviours. Self-esteem has been found to have significan t relationships with both dimensions of organisational citizenship behaviours altruism and compliance (Tang Ibrahim, 1998). Chattopadhyay (1999) detect a positive and significant relationship between self-esteem and altruism. Chattopadhyay and George (2001) also observed a positive relationship between self-esteem and altruism in their study of employees in a computer manufacturer. Furthermore, studies such as Lee (2003) looked at the five dimensions of citizenship behaviour (i.e., altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, sportsmanship, and civic virtue) and found significant relationships between self-esteem and acts of good organisational citizenship. Tang, Singer, Roberts (2000) investigated the effect that public (other serving) and private (self-serving) motives on altruistic and conscientiousness acts of organisational citizenship, and found a positive relationship between public motives and self-esteem, and a negative relationship for private motives. They also report a posi tive relationship between self-esteem and both dimensions (altruism and conscientiousness) of citizenship behaviour. Overall, across this set of studies self-esteem correlated with organisational citizenship behaviour in the range between .23 for compliance and .83 for altruism, indicating that self-esteem has a more significant relationship with the altruistic dimension of OCBs.Two studies have found empirical support for the relationship between locus of control and citizenship performance. Motowidlo and Van Scotter (1994) reported a significant correlation (r = .26) between internal locus of control and organisational citizenship performance. More recently, Funderberg and Levy (1997) found a .33 correlation between locus of control and self-reports on the altruism dimension of OCB, but a negative correlation of .34 with peer ratings on the same OCB dimension. Facteau, Allen, Facteau, Bordas Tears, (2000) found low negative correlations between locus of control and citizenship pe rformance.Neuroticism (emotional instability) has a negative relationship with citizenship behaviour. Those who score high in neuroticism tend to be more preoccupied with their own anxieties and presumably do not have the emotional stamina to concern themselves with others problems or general system requirements unrelated to their own immediate needs (Smith, Organ Near, 1983).Bogler Somech (2004) found that self-efficacy was a significant predictor of OCB. Their results showed that self-efficacy, significantly predicted organisational commitment. The importance of self-efficacy as a predictor of all three outcomes can be understood if we relate to the original concept of self-efficacy developed by Bandura (1977). According to Bandura, self-efficacy is based on two dimensions that he labelled outcome expectancy and efficacy expectancy. Outcome expectancy implies that an individual estimates that a given behaviour will result in certain outcomes. Efficacy expectations refer to behav iours toward the expected outcomes. Not surprisingly, where teachers report higher levels of self-efficacy, they exhibit more organisational behaviours. Teachers who have high expectations of themselves to perform effectively and successfully in school will carry out extra functions beyond the formal ones and will feel more committed to their school and to the teaching profession.

Socio Political Context Of The Welfare Policy Social Work Essay

Socio Political Context Of The Welfare Policy br early(a)ly Work EssayAccording to the World intimatelyness Organisation, most developed world countries have accepted the age of 65 years as a definition of elderly or sometime(a) person. (WHO 2012) However, in the UK, the Friendly Societies Act 1972 S7(1)(e) defines old age as, any age after fifty, where pension schemes mostly, are apply, it is usually, age 60 or 65 years for eligibility. (Scottish organisation 1972) The term ageism, is defined as ferment of discrimination and stereotyping against muckle be develop of their age. Around a quarter of quondam(a) adults in the UK, history having escortd age discrimination. ( days Scotland 2012) It affects many institutions in society and has a crook of dimensions, such as job discrimination, loss of status, stereotyping and dehumanization. Ageism is also about assuming that all senior people are the same despite different smell histories, needs and expectation. (Phillipson 20 11)The policy, All Our Future also (Scottish G all overnment 2007) indicates that over the age of fifty, is a stage where life circumstances start to change in ways that can be earthshaking for the future. An example of this can be children leave home, change in work patterns, people have less work and much time for themselves. In addition, from fifty onwards, this can be a time when material health whitethorn deteriorate, causing possible health problems, such as, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis or coronary heart disease. What is more, the state of general health overall, decreases substantially, people face changes in appearance, their physical state deteriorates and they are not as fit as they used to be. Surely, this must be difficult to accept However, ageing can also cause some psychological personal effects, such as, changes in memory function, a decline in intellectual abilities, or even memory loss. As a closure of a degenerative condition of brains nerve cells or brain inconvenience oneselfs, many people may develop dementia, Alzheimer or Parkinson disease. Wilson et al. (2008) who draws attention to physical, biological and psychological effects of the ageing, pointing out that ageing is not itself a disease, but some specific diseases may be associated with this process.Older people are a group that used to be in a marginal concern in the kindly work trade, but has recently moved to one of central importance. (Phillipson 2011) This is caused by the odd speed of demographical change. The number of honest-to-god people is increasing, both in absolute numbers, and as a proportion of the total population. The ageing of the population indicates twain master(prenominal) doers the d giveward trend in the birth rate, and improvements in life expectancy. (Phillipson 2011) In Scotland, in 2010, there were an estimated 1.047 million one-time(a) people age over 60, with sure-enough(a) people being one fifth of the Scottish population. (Age Scotland 2012) In the last hundred years, Scotlands life expectancy has doubled from 40 in 1900, to just over 74 for manlikes, and just over 79 for females in 2004. By 2031 the number of people aged 50+ is projected to rise by 28%, and the number aged 75+ is projected to increase by 75% (Scottish Government 2007) This cut back requires to be deeply analysed in terms of how society will be able to do effectively to the complex needs of older people.This part of the report takes into account the socio-political context of the wellbeing policy. Social work underwent fundamental changes from the 1960s, by-line broader ideological, political and economic developments. To understand the current role of kind work within society and wider policy manikin, particularly with older people, it is important to analyse the yesteryear that has reflected on contemporary practice. By the 1960s, more attention was beginning to be paid to the social consequences of capitalism, that started to be seen a s the economic order of an unequal and unsporting society. The strong critique of that system is kn deliver as radical social work, that grew on the ideology of Marxism. (Howe 2008) The publication of the Kilbrandon Report (1964) consequently led to the introduction of Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. This embedded social work firmly within the state sector, with the voluntary sector as complementary. (Ferguson Woodward 2011) Social work wanted to be seen as a unified profession, that offered generic operate, to overcome earlier fragmentation and overspecialisation of value. Social proles were obligated by law, to assess needs and promote social welfare by providing services. However, the government of Margaret Thatcher began to weaken the state welfares responsibilities to help people in need, leading to the major ideological shift in 1980s called neoliberalism. As a result, the Barclay Report (1982) intended to clarify the role and task of social workers employed within statu tory or voluntary sector. The later Griffiths Report (1988) was similar to Barclay Report, in terms of promoting greater choice, participation and independence of the service exploiter and carers. However, neoliberalism undermines the role of welfare professionals, al pooring the rich to become richer, and marginalise the poorest and most vulnerable individuals. (Ferguson Woodward 2011) Woodward and Ferguson (2011) argue that the neoliberal trend has been continued under the new labour government, leading to managerialism and bureaucratisation. Therefore, contemporary practice is drawn by extreme pressure of marketisation and managerialism, leading to a profession dominated by stress, frustration and strongly focused on meeting deadlines. The labour government has also been driven by the developments associated with consumerists stems, such as, personalisation that places the service user at the centre of service design and lurch, or direct payments that emphasise independence a nd individual choice, through giving service users their throw money, to buy their own services. (Woodward Ferguson 2011) For a coarse time, neoliberal economic and social policies in the UK speculated a very different concept of what social work should be about. The Changing Lives report of the 21st Century Social Work Re expectation (Scottish Government 2006) has brought a significant shift within social work polices, through an expression of dissatisfaction of social work, that was mainly caused by a lack of opportunity for relationship based working(a) with service user. The policy has reshaped the profession, providing social workers with additional space to develop serious social work practice. There have been initiatives to improve recruitment, and increase professionalism and standards within the workforce, as well as improve integration in the planning and planning of social work services. (Scottish Parliament 2008) integrating has been developed through Modernising Community Care An Action Plan (1998) and Community Care Joint Future (2000) that uncover Single Shared Assessment (SSA). In Scotland, Joint Future is the driving policy on joint working between local authorities and the NHS. The other key policy themes are personalisation, self-directed alimentation, early intervention and prevention as well as mixed economy of care. (Scottish Parliament 2008) Another significant report that brought about change in policy, and later, in Scottish statute, is the Sutherland Report (1999). This provided shrive personal and nursing care on the basis of assessed needs. (Petch 2008) The above retread of social work policies framework, is a good illustration of the constantly changing role and function of social work. Social work operates within the wider context of a constantly developing policy, ideology and lawmaking. The reality and ideology has changed people and society to face a new challenges. Social work get ats a key ploughshare to tackl e these issues by working with other agencies to deliver coordinated subscribe to to increase the wellbeing of older people.In terms of needs and issues when working with older people, the first thing to consider is the partnership of health and social care, especially within areas such as assessment, care centering, intermediate care and hospital discharge. The main problems are, tight budgets, resources and reconciliation of financial responsibility between bodies. Which always raises dispute who should pay for services? Wilson et al. (2008) stresses the importance of rationing services in social work, callable to a low budget, which leads to delays in provision of services, and lack of time to develop more creative forms of practice. This causes unnecessary delays and constraints. One might expect that new Integration of Adult wellness and Social Care post horse (Scottish Government 2012) will resolve these problems by the joint budget and equal responsibilities of Health Boa rds and Local Authorities.The near issue is the assessment and intervention process, that are seen as balance between needs and resources, evidence and relationship based practice. It can be an issue to specify appropriate resources that will meet the needs of the individual. A major element during assessment is the relationship with service user, and that the appropriate methods of communication are adopted to determine the needs of older people. The practitioner must take the time to get know the older person and resist pressure from other professionals to do a quick assessment. (Mackay 2008) In social work there is constant need to utilise evidence based practice on the grounds that it is empirical familiarity which guides the decision making process, such as three stages of theory cycle (Collinwood Davies 2011) There is no doubt evidence based practice is important, but this view may undermine relationship based practice, which is equally important. Rightly, Wilson et al. ( 2008) refers to relationship-based as a main feature of social work practice, that shapes the nature and purpose of the intervention. It is a odd interaction between the service user and the practitioner, that helps to obtain more information and define the best way of intervention.The problem of autonomy and protection is another factor in the relationship when working with older people. This raises the question of capacity, consent and the deprivation of liberty of older people. This group of service users is often a subject of legislation that deprives their human rights, this is because they are likely to be affected by cognitive disorder such as dementia. The term dementia, includes Alzheimers disease, vascular and unspecified dementia, as well as dementia in other diseases such as Parkinsons. It has been estimated that in the UK the number of patients diagnosed is 821,884, representing 1.3% of the UK population. (Alzheimers Research Trust 2010) The assessment of incapacity or mental disorder is not straightforward and proves ethically and morally difficult for both service user and social worker. Social workers have to manage the balance between playing in accordance with the wishes of the individuals, and what is in their best interests. It has been suggested by policy and legislation that the views and wishes of people expressed through self-assessment would remain at the heart of intervention. (Wilson et al. 2008)Another issue is abuse of older people, which may have many forms, and can be very severe in extend. Older people are vulnerable to abuse, or indeed, not having their rights fully respected and protected. The problem came to public awareness not as long as few years ago. Despite the fact that legislation came into force through Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007, it is estimated that elder abuse affects 22,700 people in the Scotland each year. (Age Scotland 2012) Older people are a subject of physical, psychological abuse, neg lect, sexual or financial harm, that normally takes place at home, in hospital, residential care or day centre. (Ray at al. 2009)Age discrimination is next issue one wish to consider, older people are disadvantaged because of their relatively low socio-political and cultural status in a contemporary society. They are repeatedly presented as a drain on resources as they no longer actively contribute to the growth of society. They do not work and do not pay taxes anymore. Older people are systematically disadvantaged by the status they now occupy within society. Wilson et al. (2008 p. 620) justifiedly suggests that old age is socially constructed. A good example of this is retirement, which officially, makes people old and unavailable to work, despite the actual physical and emotional state of the individual.former(a) forms of social construction that significantly affect the experience of old age are class, gender, race and ethnicity. (Wilson at al. 2008) An illustration of this can be the statement that older people have much more in common with younger people from their class, than they do with older people from other classes. (Philipson 2011) Disadvantages and inequalities, experiences during life can magnify during the process of ageing, through differences in access to health facilities, health status and lifestyle that may influence life expectancy. There is no doubt that experience of ageing is subjective, and depends on many factors, but it seems to be a bailiwick to firstly, consider class, gender and race at the first place. When discussing poverty and inequalities, the points to bear in mind are issues of discrimination of older women, who are less likely to have as great a pension as a male partner, due to the fact many women are paid a lower wage then men. Moreover, women tend to live longer than men, therefore, are potentially more vulnerable to live alone and in poverty. (Age UK 2012)There are many forms of disadvantage associated with older p eople in poverty such as low income, low wealth and pension, debts or financial difficulties, feelings of being worse off, financial exclusion, material deprivation and a cold home. The first three are experiences by around 20% of older people, half of older people experienced at least one of the nine forms of poverty described above, and 25% had two or more. A minority 3% suffered from three or more forms of poverty. (Age UKa 2012) In terms of ethnicity and race there are significant inequalities in the process of ageing. An illustration of this can be the black community of older people, who are more likely to face a greater level of poverty, live in poorer housing and have received lower wages. In addition, they are more susceptible to physical and mental illness often due to heavy manual(a) work, racism and cultural pressures. (Phillipson 2011) All these discussed factors must be taken into account when working with the older person.It can be argued that one of the main needs o f older people is the importance of active listening to this group of service users, who are often because of age ignored or disregarded. This is shop ated by Kydd et al. (2009) who highlights how important it is for older people to feel that they are being listened too. Another important need of this group of service users, is the need to stay at home as long as possible, which is supported by the policy, All Our Future (Scottish Government 2007) that offers free personal care, telecare development programme, care and repairs services or travel scheme free bus passes. The policy aims to improve opportunities for older people, foster better understanding towards this group of service users, create better links between generations to work unitedly and exchange experiences. Improve health and quality of life by promoting well being and an active life within the community enhance care support and protection of older people. Improve housing and transport as well as promote lifelong le arning.The last part of the report identifies policy framework and organisational responses. The discussion about social care for adults began in the UK through Green paper Independence, Well-being and Choice (Department of Health 2005) and the subsequent White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say (Department of Health 2006) these documents set out the agenda for future. This is based on the principle that service users should be able to have greater control over their own lives, with strategies that services delivery will be more personalised than uniform. The contemporary social work is driven by emancipatory issues such as social justice, empowerment, partnership and minimal intervention. (Dalrymple and Burke 2006) Empowerment theory is the process of helping people gain greater control over their lives. Empowerment is not simply a matter of enabling or facilitating but it involves helping people to become better equipped to deal with challenges and oppression they may face. (Tho mpson 2009) On the grounds of empowerment grew the idea of service user participation that came to law in 1990 through NHS and Community Care Act. (Ray et al. 2012) There is still increasing acceptance that people who receive services should be seen as own experts in defining their own needs. This is in accordance with the exchange model of assessment presented by Smile and Tuson et al. (1993), where the social worker views the individuals as experts of their own problems. The role of the practitioner is to help the service user to organise resources in order to reach goals that are defined by the service user. The Scottish Governments policies and initiatives addressing to older people, highlights the importance of developing services that focus on maintaining independence, encouraging choice and promoting autonomy, such as Changing Lives (2006), All Our Future (2007), supreme Living in Scotland (2010), Reshaping Care for Older People (2012a). These policies highlight the importan ce of service user participation in the process of decision making and intervention. These tendencies of alter choice and autonomy of older people, have resulted in the creation of personalisation and self-directed support programmes.Personalisation enables the individual to participate and to be actively involved in the delivery of services. Personalisation also means that people become more involved in how services are designed by shaping and selecting services to receive support that is most suited to them (Scottish Government 2009) The programme directly responds to wants and wishes of the service user regarding service provision. Personalisation consists of a person centre mount, early intervention and prevention, and is based on mentioned above empowering philosophy of choice and control. It shifts power from the professionals, to the people who use services. (Department of Health 2010) However, it could be argued that approaches which extend to service user control, in real ty, can be seen as transferring risk and responsibilities form the local authority to the individual service user (Ferguson 2007)Another option, recently promoted by the government, is Self Directed Support (SDS), a Bill that was introduced into the Scottish Parliament last year, and recently has passed stage three. The bill seeks to introduce legislative provision for SDS and the personalisation of services and to extend the provisions relating to direct payments. (Scottish Parliament 2012a) The SDS approach had been brought into Parliament previously, and was reflected in many reports and policy initiatives such as Changing Lives, Reshaping Care for Older People. SDS allows people to make informed choices about the way support is provided, they can have greater control over how their needs are met, and by whom. Social workers, working on behalf of local authority, will have a duty to offer SDS if the individual meets the eligibility criteria. The four options to consider are direc t payment to the individual in order that that person will arrange their own support, the person chooses the available support and the local authority will make arrangements for the services on behalf of that person, the social worker will select support and make arrangement for provision, the last option is a mix of the above. (IRISS 2012) The idea of SDS is a great opportunity for service users to expand their control over which services provided. However, this raises a question of how many people will be ready to utilise option one of SDS. Would an ordinary person, who uses the services, have the skills and knowledge to take responsibility for their own care, for example to employ their own carers, a personal assistant or to buy their own services. One could envisage that it could be possible if the role of social worker changes from care management, to brokerage and advocacy. A potential care broker will provide assistance to obtain and manage a support package, selective servi ce on individualised funding. It can be questioned if social workers who are mostly accountable to local authorities are reliable to perform this task whilst working across three sectors. (Wilson at al. 2008)In conclusion, there is a shift from a paternalistic stance of social workers to viewing service user as experts of their own lives. From institutional care, through service led and needs led, to outcomes focus provision. A fundamental part of working with older people is to recognise and respond to the way in which they may be marginalized. This can be achieved by a deeper understanding of the process of ageing, and the issues that older people may face. Working with older people, based on new premises, will be focused on to maximise resources, and the role of the social worker will be transferred from care management to advocacy and brokerage. One may expect that active involvement and participation of older people in service provision will have a crucial role not only by exer cising more control and choice but also in challenging social exclusion.

Rhetorical Analysis of Earl Spencers Speech for the Funeral of Lady Di

In this assignment, I will closely analyse the speech made by Earl Spencer for the funeral of Lady Diana, considering the conglomerate context and literary devises he uses to affect his audience. The speech was written as a funeral speech for Dianas close family and friends, but also, more importantly, for the public, as it was broadcasted worldwide. In the speech, although its primary purpose is to pay respects to his sister he uses the opportunity to promote Dianas charity work, and to raise controversy within the royal family. He never at one time says it, but when analysing the text his feelings towards the royal family are apparent from the fact that he mentions, she needed no royal title to continue this comment is particularly apt(p) because of its indirect subtlety, but the meaning behind it would still be clear to the audience, because of the media coverage of recent events. Throughout the speech, Earl Spencer uses very emotive language, which reinforces the feeling that the public contribute lost s...

Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail 821772 :: Essays Papers

Fear and Loathing On the Campaign Trail 821772I k smart I was in for something different before even opening the book. On the cover of the book was a skull colored by the American flag, with swastikas in its eye sockets. I wasnt quite sure what to expect, as I had no idea who Hunter S. Thompson was. I opened the book and began to read through the authors preface. throughout were numerous references to drugs, sex, and politics. I began to get a picture of who HST was and about his style of writing. HTS revolutionized modern journalism with a style all his own. He evolved a new style of journalism called Gonzo journalism. This bold and brazen style of journalism is the telling of the blatant truth with no thought of consequence. According to Thompson The true Gonzo newsperson inevitably the talent of a master journalist, the eye of an artist/photographer and the heavy balls of an actor. A gonzo journalist does not proofread his work, because that would take away from the spon taneous of the event. A Gonzo journalist will witness an event, and either at the time of it, or shortly thereafter completely write about it. When written at an event, The reporter works his fingers to bloody nubs trying to capture all that is happening around him, and then sends it off to the editor without a second look. Bill Cardoso a tight friend of HTS coined the term gonzo in a letter regarding an article written about the Kentucky Derby in which he wrote The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved, and was to a greater extent about white trash than horses. Cardoso wrote, I dont know what the f*** youre doing, but youve changed everything. Its totally gonzo. Cardoso, himself a journalist, claims that gonzo is actually a corruption of a French Canadian word, gonzeaux, meaning, shining path. Gonzo journalism is also highly subjective. When a Gonzo style article is written, it is clearly known where the writer stands on the topic of the article. You become immer sed in the writers feelings, thoughts, and views on whatever is being written about. HST is constantly extremely critical and scrutinizes every situation he ends up in with a sarcastic, humorous and/or vulgar twist. I enjoy this part of his writing because it makes everything more interesting to read.

Education, Social Class and Self-Interest in Rebecca Rushs Novel Kelroy :: Rebecca Rush Kelroy Essays

Education, Social Class and Self-Interest in Rebecca Rushs Novel Kelroy Kelroy, by Rebecca Rush, was first published in 1812. Early American writers had a high-strung time writing gothic style writings because of the lack of history, which was not a problem faced by European writers. Kelroy is an extremely cynical discern of American life and it was not well accepted by Americans, despite the fact that it is seen as one of the best written novels in America out front 1820(231). Three themes from Kelroy, which demonstrate the focus of many early Americans, are Education, Social Class, and Self-Interest. Education was beginning to become extremely important in the early 1800s, especially for women. Reading habits of the characters was often emphasized in literary works of this time period because it was an important issue that was being faced. For example, in Kelroy, Mrs. Hammond applied herself sedulously to the development of her daughters, and engaged a person to resid e with them in quality of governess, who was, in her estimation, fully adequate to the task, since to a variety of accomplishments, she enjoyed an infinity of that species of self-important pride, which teaches its owner instinctively to shun the approaches of the vulgar. She also had masters from the city, to attend them at stated times thus uniting in her plan, to real benefit, an air of lofty superiority(4-5). However, Mrs. Hammonds need behind educating her daughters was not necessarily for their benefit, but her own. The appearance of being able to afford educating her daughters, which would lead others to believe that she was wealthy (and many did believe) was a key bonus for Mrs. Hammond. The ability to direct was possessed by many women in the 1800s, but writing was not as common, which meant that Mrs. Hammonds daughters, as well as Mrs. Hammond, would have been considered break off educated that most women because they could read and write. In contrast with the Ham mond girls, we have Maria, from Royall Tylers The Contrast, who reads the dreaded romantic novels, which is not considered to be a favored pastime. Speaking of Maria, Letitia says, Why she read Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa Harlowe, Shenstone, and the Sentimental Journey, and between whiles, as I said, Billys letters. But as her taste improved, her love declined(1151).