SAMPLING Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SAMPLING - Speech or Presentation Example Simple random sample? Explain. This sampling plan results in a random sample, but not a simple random sample. The sample collected is a random sample because every school has the same chance of being selected. The sample is not a simple random sample because no teacher will be selected from schools that were not included in the ten schools selected. In other words, some schools have 100% representation in the sample while some schools have no representation at all. 4. A polling company obtains an alphabetical list of names of voters in a precinct. They select every 20th person from the list until a sample of 100 is obtained. They then call these 100 people. Does this sampling plan result in a random sample? Simple random sample? Explain. This sampling plan results in a random sample, but not a simple random sample. This is a case of systematic random sampling. This is a random sample because each person on the list has an equal chance of being selected. This is not a simple random sample because once the first person is selected, the rest of the selections are already determined. 5. The personnel manager at a company wants to investigate job satisfaction among the female employees. One evening after a meeting she talks to all 30 female employees who attended the meeting. Does this sampling plan result in a random sample? Simple random sample? Explain. No, this sampling plan does not result in a random sample and therefore not a simple random sample. This is a case of convenience sampling, as the personal manager only talks to all 30 female employees who attended the meeting that is whoever happens to be

Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Research Methods - Essay Example me teachers functioning on a split site system since they spend more time travelling from site to site, thus losing contact time with other colleagues. Although departmental meetings are well attended, there are noticeably fewer discussions in the staff room, as break and lunch times are also travelling times. These issues, with their underlying themes, are generic in nature and are relevant in a variety of contexts and are listed below: Action research is about problem solving to extend knowledge (Hult & Lunnung, 1980, West et al., 1995, McConnell, 2000). My research question involves qualitative research, which lends itself to problem solving in a cyclic manner. It involves a planned reaction to a problem, followed by feedback, evaluation, critical reflection and discussion, to redefine issues concerned with the sharing of information. A greater awareness and understanding of an identified problem is developed over time, which should lead to a solution or improved practice. As Cohen and Manion (1994) point out, â€Å"An important feature of action research is that the task is not finished when the project ends. The participants continue to review, evaluate and improve practice.† However, Cohen and Manion’s approach of ‘review, evaluate and improve’ works well with quantitative research, or for one person trying to affect a change. It does not appear appropriate for uniform progression of a group and group activity over a longer period of time. Hence for a group to progress as a unit, emphasis on developing a consensus between its members is important. For these extended studies a conductor is necessary to form an extended cyclic approach including review, evaluate, conduct and improve. Improved practice and the opportunity to develop my own relationships within the group are important to me in order to develop a sense of worth. I have chosen action research as my method as it brings the interviewer closer to the interviewee, hence it lends itself to

KFC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

KFC - Essay Example This is essential in the company's operation as consistency and reliability of its products are at stake. Consistent processes across the company's outlets ensured that each of the branches is operating at a predefined standard. Also, the image of the company which is already instilled in the company's market should be met by all the outlets. All of the above measures are instrumental to KFC's success. 2. At first, Loy made a mistake in the strategies that he employed to conquer the Japanese market. This was evidenced by the huge losses he incurred during KFC's operation of its first restaurant in Osaka. However, as he got to know the Japanese market, he proved to be effective. Loy was able to identify a target market which is the group of trendy Japanese. This new market required fresh marketing strategies. It called for the modification of the product line, place, promotion and pricing. Fortunately, Loy had essentially adopted strategies which were just appropriate for his target market. Loy's strategies involved offering products which appealed more to the Japanese market.

Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Research Methods - Essay Example me teachers functioning on a split site system since they spend more time travelling from site to site, thus losing contact time with other colleagues. Although departmental meetings are well attended, there are noticeably fewer discussions in the staff room, as break and lunch times are also travelling times. These issues, with their underlying themes, are generic in nature and are relevant in a variety of contexts and are listed below: Action research is about problem solving to extend knowledge (Hult & Lunnung, 1980, West et al., 1995, McConnell, 2000). My research question involves qualitative research, which lends itself to problem solving in a cyclic manner. It involves a planned reaction to a problem, followed by feedback, evaluation, critical reflection and discussion, to redefine issues concerned with the sharing of information. A greater awareness and understanding of an identified problem is developed over time, which should lead to a solution or improved practice. As Cohen and Manion (1994) point out, â€Å"An important feature of action research is that the task is not finished when the project ends. The participants continue to review, evaluate and improve practice.† However, Cohen and Manion’s approach of ‘review, evaluate and improve’ works well with quantitative research, or for one person trying to affect a change. It does not appear appropriate for uniform progression of a group and group activity over a longer period of time. Hence for a group to progress as a unit, emphasis on developing a consensus between its members is important. For these extended studies a conductor is necessary to form an extended cyclic approach including review, evaluate, conduct and improve. Improved practice and the opportunity to develop my own relationships within the group are important to me in order to develop a sense of worth. I have chosen action research as my method as it brings the interviewer closer to the interviewee, hence it lends itself to

GORE TEX Essay Example for Free

GORE TEX Essay Gore-Tex is a multinational textile company. It was first founded by Bill and Vieve Gore as W.L. Gore Associates in 1958. The company started with serving the electronic products market. In 1969, Bob Gore independently discovered expanded polytetrafluoroethylene and introduced in the market as Gore-Tex. In today’s date Gore-Tex is more focused on electronics, fabrics, industrial and medical products. It is a company that keeps on sustain its business with innovative design and improving the quality and service by understanding customer’s need and requirement. It is one of the 200 largest privately held U.S. companies. It has also been awarded as 21st best place to work in overall â€Å"100 best companies to work for in United States† in 2013. As it is a multinational company it has revenue of $ 3 billion and overall 10,000 employees working for the company all over the world. (Gore, 2013) As we look into the company they function in a very unique way. They follow the inversion of traditional management principal through which there are no manager, bosses and fixed assigned job. They only have leaders that they have to follow as per their wish and contribute their knowledge and skills to make the project successful. At Gore-Tex people are free to come up with their own ideas and innovation. As there is no position hierarchy they are all fair to each other. They also encourage each other to grow in knowledge and responsibility as they believe growth within the staff member will help in the growth of a company. Gore-Tex Company once has hired outsider to work on project which had a negative impact on the company, they had to bring their existing staff member from other branch to help them improve. When associates are hired, they are guided by sponsor, growing understanding of opportunities and team’s goal. This all happens in an environment that combines freedom w ith cooperation and autonomy with synergy. (Gore, 2013) So, Building trust and organizing team work with the  employees is the one of the key success factor of the company. Leader at Gore-Tex â€Å"Leadership is a process whereby an individual influence’s a group of individual to achieve a common goal’’ (Northouse, 2013). At Gore-Tex Company there is fairness among all the leaders and associates. The leaders in Gore-Tex consult with other associates within the company before undertaking any action that would impact the company’s reputation. They have different types of leader some are leaders of project, some are team leader. When an individual survey was done at Gore 50% of the associates said they are leaders. Leaders at Gore are followers as well. They believe to be a leader you need to be a follower as well. Leaders can’t be leader without having any followers. As a leader when they come up with their innovative design they share with the associates and convince them to follow them. The leader can only influence people to follow them if they have earned respect with their knowledge and skills. The company believes that one should be able to convince other associates if they want to come up a leader. In other word they should earn their position as a leader. Being a leader in Gore-Tex is hard as compared to other organisation. In other companies they have their positional power as a leader. When it comes to Gore-Tex they should be able to convince their follower to maintain their position (Hamel, 2010). We can see there is a very high level of trust within the leader and associates in the organization. As today they may be the leader but tomorrow they will another leader. The leader of the team is also elected from the team member itself. The leader is not chosen to command the team members, but to act as the representative of the team and to create coordination among them to achieve goal. Leaders in Gore-Tex are seemed to be transformational leadership as they are energetic, enthusiastic and passionate and they seemed to be concerned about the growth of their team members. (Cherry, 2013) They are also emergent leaders as they are emerged with respect to the respond they get from group of employees that work in Gore-Tex. â€Å"When others perceive an individual as the most influential member of group or an organization, regardless of the individual’s title, the person is exhibiting emergent leadership†. (Northhouse, 2013) As we looked into the case study we can identify that company operates in a very distinctive way. There are no  managers or bosses in the company but only leaders and associates. When an independent survey was done 50 % of Gore’s associates said that they all are leaders. In Gore Individual employee become leader by convincing other associates about their ideas. They create their own idea and share among the associates and the people who believe in the idea will support and follow them. There are different types of leadership styles and theories like Transactional and Transformational. When we look into transactional leaders there are usually rewarding and punishment. Although the performance is based on the followers, both leaders and associates maintain their relation as give and take. When someone performs well then they will be rewarded and if they are not performing properly they will be punished. (Cherry, 2013) â€Å"Transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and mora lity in the leaders and the followers†.(Downton, 1973) The concept of Transformational leader was introduced by James Burns, he explained Transformational leader are those who come up with their own creative ideas and innovation which will help to lead the top level management of an organization to achieve similar goal. It is also a process that changes, transforms people, concerns with emotion, values ethics, standard and long-term goal (Northouse, 2013). As in Gore-Tex there is no layer of positioning among the staff members. They have different team and the team are led by team members. They all show the characteristics of transformational leadership. They come up with their own ideas and strategy which they put among their associates and convince them to follow. Not only ideas, but the contribution or effort they put will help them to show the direction through which they can achieve goal. Comparing with the case study we can see that Gore-Tex influence there associates to come up with their idea and lead the group. Unlike in other company, associates in Gore-Tex do what is beneficial for the overall company. There is no pressure or fixed job assigned to the associates. So, they have to be leader when they come with their own innovative ideas. There is high level of trust among the employees within the company, which will help the leader to convince their follower. It is also said to be a leader you need to be a follower as well. We can also see when an associate come with a new idea, they share with everyone so that other employee interested in the idea will support and contribute. As a leader in Gore-Tex you should understand that their job is to unite team member and organize them to accomplish the objective. As we look into the Managerial Grid it helps us to give the idea about how leaders will help an organization to achieve its goal. This model is based on two factors that are â€Å"Concern for production† and â€Å"Concern for the people†. This theory was introduced by Blake Mouton, where they stated that leaders are likely to be successful if there is a balance between concern for people and the common objective. It can also be taken as a graphical plot where leader should evaluate the importance of task and the employees. As shown in the above figure leader’s behaviour are separated in two dimension, concern of the production fall in x-axis and concern of people falls in y-axis. It helps us to show the different leadership style followed by the leaders. The managerial grid also helps us to rate the leaders according to their orientation towards the production and the people. The leaders who values the importance of their team and is also focused in the personal growth of their team members while moving forward towards the objective belongs to the concern for people. Similarly, the leaders who are more focused towards achieving the concrete objective falls in concern for the production. There are different types of leadership style shown by the Managerial Grid. They are as follows: 1) Country club leadership (1,9) :- In this leadership style, leaders are usually focused in the maintaining their relationship with their people. They are more concerned about the creating a friendly and pleasant working environment. In this leadership style the outcome level of production in low. 2) Produce or perish leadership (9,1):- In this leadership style, leaders basically focused on their work to be completed. There are less bother about the employees need and their personal development. Their main target is to achieve the objective. In this style the production will be high and the concern for the people will be less. 3) Impoverished leadership (1,1):- In this type of leadership, leader is neither much interested in maintaining relationship with people nor concerned about the production. This type of leadership style will lead towards less production and low satisfactory level of their people. It is likely to result in failure or dissatisfaction. 4) Middle of the Road Leadership (5,5):- In this leadership style, leader tries to balance both the relation with employees and production. These kinds of leaders are average performers as they tries to maintain and compromise both the concerning factors. 5) Team leadership (9,9):- The leaders are highly focused on maintaining both the production and satisfaction level of the people. This type of leadership will lead towards high production and satisfaction level. These leaders are also successful leader as they balances the both concerning factors to the maximum level. This kind of leadership will helps organization to achieve its objective. When we look into the case study we can see that leaders in Gore-Tex are highly focused in maintaining the outcome of production and the relation of their fellow employees. They also have a strong relationship between the company and the associates. The member of the team is also focused towards reaching their target. The team leader will balance everything thing in a very high level. They will increase the production as well as help their people in the personal growth. As we know the (9,9) managerial grid explains that the employees understand the value of the organizations objective and is determined to achieve it. So, these characteristics can prove that, leaders in Gore-Tex belong to the (9,9) Team management where leaders are highly concern about the production and their people. Motivation at Gore-Tex â€Å"Getting the best from people, achieving results through individuals and teams, maintaining consistent high performance, inspiring oneself and other into action is known as motivation† (Adair, 2004) In Gore-Tex motivation has been another key factor for the success of their business. They motivate their staff members by encouraging them to work in their own interested areas. The associates are allowed to choose their own work field. If you work at Gore-Tex you are not paid for your work but for the contribution you have made towards the project. In Gore-Tex the associates will evaluate the contribution made by their colleagues and hence the earning is determined. This will lead to self-motivation where all the associates will be satisfied and there won’t be any discrimination. If Gore-Tex makes more profit than the company’s expectancy, it is divided among the leader and the associate though which can motivate staff member to be more focused towards their work. Another motivating factor at Gore-Tex is there is no restriction for anything. The information freely flows within the organization and anyone can directly contact anyone and get what they needed to be successful. (Hamel, 2010)Bill Gore was influenced by the theory of Douglas McGregor, â€Å"The Human Side of Enterprise†. It explained the theory X as the traditional view of direction and control and theory Y as the integration of individual and organizational goals. (Hamel, 2010) Douglas McGregor has developed the above theory X and theory Y based from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In this theory he explains that management should be aware of this given factors to motivate their employees. Both the theories have factors that belong to human behaviour, but if the management choose the theory Y rather than theory X then they will have a better result. (Adair,2004) This theory simply explains the human behaviour at their work place and towards their organization. Theory X:- Theory X explains that the human behaviour will try to ignore the work and will try to negotiate as much as possible. The reason for them to dislike or avoid the work is because they are controlled, pressurized, directed or used them to provide the adequate effort towards the organizational goal. As the employee is not willing to take the responsibility, a close supervision is required in form of supervisors and manager. When manager and supervisors take their action they mostly use directive style. In this way the employee will lose their working ambition. Theory Y:- This theory explains that supervision, punishment, control are not only the factors that will make people to add effort in their work to achieve the organizational goal. If people are committed to the work then they will be give their best without anyone supervision. It also says that average employee will not only accept the responsibility but they will look for more responsibilities. The people have their own style of creativity and understanding. Organization should be able to use people the creativity, skills as a means of resource and solve their problem. According to the case study, In Gore-Tex they are free to choose and work in their interested areas. There is no specific job assigned by their leader it’s only the contribution they make towards their work. They don’t have any form of close supervision to control them. There are only leaders and they help to guide them in moving forward towards their goal. The Gore-Tex follows theory Y as their motivating factor. People in Gore-Tex are highly motivated as there is independence in work and the environment within the company helps them to be responsible and to seek more responsibility. Groups, Teams and Team leaders at Gore-Tex â€Å"A group of individual who are united to achieve a common objective that is too large to achieve by single individual is known as team† (Boller, 2005). Team work is required in each and every business organisation. In Gore-Tex Team work Play a vital role in functioning and operating of the business. The team member in Gore-Tex plans own way of functioning, objectives and plans to achieve the goal. The team members are the ones who elect their leader. Although leaders will help them to facilitate the achievement of objective, the team member will have the knowledge of the product they are working on. In Gore- the team members will decide the earning of the colleagues according to the contribution they have made towards the project. If an employee is interested in a project and feels like they can contribute, the team members will discuss the commitment and decide their involvement in new team. The team members directly communicate between themselves easily and are aware of the changes happening in the company. Gore-Tex is a team based, Flat Lattice Organization where all team members are equally responsible to help each other to gain the objective. (Gore, 2013) Team work has always played a vital role in each and every organization. Team works helps the work to be more efficient, convenient, faster and easier. It also helps the work level to be divided among all the team members so that an individual alone will not be pressurized. An effective team work will lead an organization towards its goal. Now-a-days each and every organization is focused in creating effective teams. Teams are usually build with respect, trust, understanding and similar goals. A team can only be effective if each and every member of team contributes equally. There are different types of team according to its nature. They are as follows: 1) Functional teams 2) Cross functional teams 3) Self-directed teams 1) Functional teams: These are the teams that work on particular department with the vertical layers. These are the team that has a manager and his fellowship of a particular sector. For example, a team working on a marketing sector consists of a manager and the staff members who will be focused in marketing department only. Basically it is a layer of staff members from different hierarchy functioning together in particular sector to achieve a goal. 2) Cross-functional teams: The expertise of different department but will come and work together as a team to achieve the organization goal are known as Cross-functional team. The cross functional team are usually temporary. They have specialized skills and experience. They are bought together to achieve or complete a particular task. 3) Self-directed teams:- These are the team that works without any supervision. These team take relative action themselves to solve day to day problems. These team members also have access to information that helps them in making decision, operating day to day function and improving their operation. When we compare the different types of team with the case study we can see that the teams in Gore-Tex fall into self-managing team. They team member in Gore-Tex are self-responsible for the functioning and operating of the business. They don’t need any supervision and they are also allowed to access to all the information. The teams in Gore-Tex are also independent as they have greater flexibility. In Gore-Tex the team member has better response for their work done. It will help to increase more commitment towards their work and organization. We can also see that associates in Gore-Tex are self-motivated and they don’t depend on anyone. Recommendation Conclusion:- From the above study we can see that in Gore-Tex leaders are using transformational leadership style to lead their people. They have been successful in motivating their staff to meet the company’s objective. Although we can see that in Gore-Tex they don’t assign any particular work for their associates the company is still doing well. They believe there should be trust and understanding between the team members. The leader leading the team should be admired by their followers. The leaders also influence and help their associate in their personal development. The team members are self-motivated and help each other to function properly. We can also acknowledge that Gore-Tex has a very distinctive working environment. Although they are successful in running their business they should still maintain some rules and regulation within the organization. They should also create a hierarchy level because money is not only the motivating factor. Employee can get motivated by their job position. As there is no seniority level in the company and if they hire a new staff member they might have misunderstanding which may lead to divided teams within the organization. As Gore-Tex is multinational company and they have branches in different part of the world. So, they should adjust their company’s policy putting diversity factors in account. They should at least have a department head that should be responsible for running day- to day operation. Gore-Tex doesn’t assign any task to their associates which may lead into missing of the task that was supposed to be competed. As in Gore-Tex people get paid according to amount of contribution they make towards their work. This sometime may be demotivating as the associates may not be satisfied with the  money they received for they contribution they made to complete the task. In overall, Gore-Tex should have a layer of hierarchy. They should also maintain some regulation which should be followed by all the associates. They should also introduce some professionalism such as formal communication in their organization. They use transformational leadership which might not work in each and every situation. As they are free to choose their task, associates who doesn’t like challenges will always choose easier task. So, the task level should be equally divided. References:- Gore-Tex company information available at www. gore.co.uk Gore-Tex leadership Style available at www.gore.co.uk Peter G. Northouse, (2013) leadership: theory and practice. 6th edition, California; Sega publications Neil Thomas Ed, (2004) The John Adair handbook of Management and leadership. Thorogood Garry Hamel, (2010) Innovation Democracy: W.L Gore’s original management model available at www.managementexchange.com Kendra Cherry,(2013) transformational leaders available at www.psychology.about.com Leadership image available at www.google.co.uk

MRI for Diagnosis of Mycetoma or Madura Foot

MRI for Diagnosis of Mycetoma or Madura Foot â€Å"Dot in Circle† sign — a unique attribute of mycetoma foot on MRI: a report of two cases Aggarwal A, Gupta M, Patel B N, Patel S B Abstract Mycetoma or Madura Foot is a chronic localized granulomatous disease characterized by exuberant granulomatous tissue formation involving the subcutaneous plane. It is most common in tropical countries. Diagnosis has been traditionally done by microbiological culture and histopathological tissue diagnosis but these are often difficult to obtain and frequently inconclusive. MRI has recently emerged as a promising technique for early and prompt diagnosis of Mycetoma with the description of a highly specific sign called as â€Å"Dot in Circle† sign. We hereby present 2 cases showing this characteristic â€Å"Dot in circle† sign on MRI and thereby establishing the diagnosis of Madura Foot. Patient 1 A 52-year-old male farmer by occupation presented with a painless swelling involving the left foot, which had been operated on elsewhere two times. Previous reports of surgery were not available. Examination revealed a non tender, large swelling involving whole of the left foot and the ankle joint. It was associated with numerous chronic discharging sinuses. (Fig 1) General examination was unremarkable and the soft tissue was normal. Rotuine blood and biochemical investigations were also unremarkable. Plain radiograph revealed a soft tissue mass in the left foot with advanced bony destruction mainly involving the tarsal, metatarsals and phalanges without any calcification. MRI scan was performed to evaluate the disease further. MRI showed a soft tissue mass lesion, diffuse hyperintensity involving subcutaneous tissue, muscles, and intermuscular fascial planes. There were also multiple focal fluid collections seen in the fascial plane with ulceration of overlying skin. The mass demons trated characteristically conglomerate areas of multiple, inconspicuous, small 3–4 mm oval to round hyperintense lesions, which were separated by a low-signal-intensity rim in the subcutaneous plane of the dorsum of the foot. The centre of few of these lesions showed a small hypointense focus, resulting in the dot-in-circle sign (Figs. 2, 3). The underlying bones showed cortical erosions mainly involving the tarsal, metatarsals and phalanges. On the basis of the above clinical and radiological findings, a diagnosis of mycetoma foot was put forward. A biopsy was performed to confirm the diagnosis which revealed granulomatous inflammation and presence of eumycetoma (Fig. 4). Patient 2 A 37 year old male, complained of mass in the left foot for the past 2 years. Examination revealed multiple numerous discharging sinuses with skin ulcerations. The discharging sinuses did not contain any grains which is usually pathognomonic of Madura mycosis. Plain frontal radiograph of the left foot shows soft tissue mass with severe destruction of the bone along with a palisade type of periosteal reaction mainly involving the tarsals and metatarsals (Figs. 5). The patient underwent MRI for evaluation and extent of the disease. Similarly, the lesion showed marked inflammatory changes in the left foot with cortical erosion, with micro-abscesses formation. The characteristic dot in circle sign (Figs. 6) was described and diagnosis of mycetoma foot was made. The patient underwent an excision biopsy. Histopathology showed eumycetoma. Images Figure 2. T2-weighted axial MR cut sections  of the left foot shows extensive inflammatory  changes. Multiple hyperintense lesions which were small and round in shape and separated by tissue of low signal intensity  are noted. Some of these lesions (arrows) show a  central small focus of hypointensity, resulting in the characteristic  dot-in-circle sign. Figure 3 T2-weighted fat-saturated coronal MR image of  the left foot shows multiple microabscesses separated by  a low-intensity matrix seen posteriolaterally. Marked inflammatory changes with multiple fluid collections are noted in the fascial plane. Figure 4 Haematoxylin and Eosin( HE) : Fungal organisms  surrounded by granulation tissue. Figure 6 T2-weighted axial MR image  of the left foot shows extensive inflammatory  changes with cortical erosion. Multiple small spherical  hyper-intense lesions separated by tissue of low signal intensity  are noted. Some of these lesions show a  small foci of hypointensity centrally, resulting in the  dot-in-circle sign. Note the presence of multiple  microabscess. Discussion Madurai Mycosis is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by 2 group of organisms, the Eumyces which are also called as true fungi or eumycetoma, and the Actinomyces, which are the filamentous form also called as Actinomycetales or actinomycetoma. The disease was first described in the Madurai district in the state of Tamil Nadu, hence the eponym Madura foot. The infective organisms are normal inhabitants of the soil and cause infection by direct implantation into the skin, most commonly the foot in individuals walking bare foot. Patients classically present with multiple subcutaneous nodules which are characteristically painless. These may give rise to fistulae formation, often associated with a purulent discharge. The disease progresses slowly and over long term leads to abscess formation, sinus tracts, osteomyelitis, and fistula formation ultimately resulting in severe deformity and disability if treatment is not provided [4] . Histologically the disease is characterized by formation of so called ‘‘grains’’, which are found embedded in the abscesses. These grains are nothing but aggregates of the organism and are surrounded by extensive granulation tissue. Initially there is soft tissue swelling with induration which later progresses to form multiple discharging sinus with or without bone involvement. [5] Radiological investigations play a significant role in arriving at the diagnosis swiftly especially since tissue cultures are seldom diagnostic. Radiographs may be normal early in the disease process but later show varying degree of soft tissue swelling with destruction of the bone in form of sclerosis, cavity formation and classical palisade type of periosteal reaction. This is followed by expansion of the bone with scalloping of the cortex or osteoporosis. This condition mimics bacterial osteomyelitis but in mycetoma the bones are usually detsroyed from the outside, giving rise to characteristic â€Å"Moth eaten appearance†. [2] The â€Å"Dot in circle† sign has emerged has a highly specific sign for the diagnosis of this condition and is based on the understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease process. It reflects the unique pathological feature of mycetoma and consists of multiple small round hyperintense lesions of size measuring around 3-5 mm surrounded by a hypointense rim. The small hyperintense lesions represent the granulation tissue and the surrounding hypointense rim represents the intervening stroma having fibrous septations. The low-signal intensity dot in the centre is due to the presence of fungal grains which causes a susceptibility effect on MRI. This is a unique appearance and is easily recognisable in mycetoma. [1] This sign was proposed by Sarris et al. in 2003 on T2-weighted, STIR, and T1-weighted fat-saturated gadolinium enhanced images. Conclusion We conclude by saying that mycetoma is a severe debilitating disease with high morbidity. Until now the diagnosis of the disease was limited to clinical picture supplemented by biopsy and microbiological culture which were difficult to obtain and proved to be inconclusive in many cases. MRI has emerged as an excellent investigation in mycetoma and helps to arrive at the diagnosis much earlier in the course of disease thereby further helping in reducing the morbidity and rate of complications. Awareness of this characteristic sign is important in view of the scarcity of reports that describe it in the literature and with increasing use of MRI in the evaluation of soft tissue tumours. [3] Ref: S, Betty M, Manipadam MT, Cherian VM, Poonnoose PM, Oommen AT, et al. The â€Å"dot-in-circle† sign A characteristic MRI finding in mycetoma foot: A report of three cases.Br J Radiol.2009;82:662–5. Mycetoma revisited. Incidence of various radiographic signs. Abd El-Bagi ME, Fahal AH Saudi Med J. 2009 Apr; 30(4):529-33. Kumar J, Kumar A, Sethy P, Gupta S. The dot-in-circle sign of mycetoma on MRI.Diagn Interv Radiol.2007;13:193–5. Lewall DB, Ofole S, Bendl B. Mycetoma. Skeletal Radiol 1985; 14:257–262. Magana M. Mycetoma, some clinical and histopathological features.Turk J Dermatopathol.1994;3:94.

Autism :: essays research papers

Autism 3 An Assessment of Autism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Autism is a physical disorder of the brain that causes a lifelong developmental disability. The many different symptoms of autism can occur by themselves or in combination with other conditions such as: mental retardation, blindness, deafness, and epilepsy. Children with autism vary widely in their abilities and behavior. Each symptom may appear differently in each child. Children with autism often show some forms of bizarre, repetitive behavior called stereotyped behavior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Each child with autism is unique, with their own individual range of symptoms and behaviors. Broad areas of similarity have been identified so that it is now possible to make some basic general statements about what children with autism are like as a group. Some symptoms and characteristics are: failure to develop normal socialization, problems in speech, language, and communication, strange relationships to objects and events, unusual responses to sensory stimulation, and progress delays.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Autism 4 Scientists do not know why some children have autism. Studies have found that people with autism have differences in the structure of their cerebellums. Research is still unclear to be able to draw conclusions to biological and genetic causes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scientists have only identified one specific genetic connection with autism. A genetic syndrome called, fragile X syndrome. Fragile X syndrome is a recently discovered form of genetically caused mental retardation. Both sexes are affected by fragile X syndrome, with males usually more seriously affected. Children with fragile X syndrome can have behavior problems such as: hyperactivity, aggression, self-injury, and autistic-like behaviors. Severe language delays and problems are common. Delayed motor development and poor sensory skills are also disabilities associated with fragile X syndrome (Jordan & Powell, 1995).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the United States, there are at least 400,000 people with autism, about one-third of them are children. Autism is one of the most common developmental disabilities (Harris & Weiss, 1998). Autism 5 For reasons researchers don not know, autism occurs about three to four times more frequently in boys than in girls. For children with more severe cognitive limitations, the ratio is closer to two to one. For the group of children with higher cognitive skills, boys are more frequently represented at a rate greater than four to one. Girls, when affected, are more likely to be more seriously affected by symptoms of autism (Quill, 1995, p. 219).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To many experts and parents the number of children with autism seems to be increasing at a faster pace than before.