Cytomegalovirus Overview

Cytomegalovirus Overview 1. unocompromised host Cytomegalovirus is a significant opportunistic pathogen in immuno-compromised patients. Primary infection, reactivation of latent virus, and reinfection are possible and are often clinically silent. The onset of infection is marked by spiking pyrexia, which may resolve in a few days. Its severity is parallel with the level of immunosuppression, and is greatest in bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients and AIDS patients with low CD4+ T-cell counts. Solid organ transplant recipients, patients receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy, and subjects with congenital immunodeficiencies may also be symptomatic (Landolfo et al., 2003). Organ transplantation Cytomegalovirus is one of the most important pathogens that infect (SOT) recipients and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality (Beam and Razonable, 2012). Solid organ transplant recipients are particularly susceptible to CMV-related disease due to the immunosuppression necessary to prevent organ rejection. Patients receiving T-cell depleting therapies are at the highest risk The major risk factor for CMV pneumonia is a CMV-seronegative transplant recipient receiving a CMV-seropositive organ. Because of the multiple human strains of CMV, seropositive organ recipients are at risk of re-infection with a different strain of virus. The clinical syndrome is then usually less severe than in primary infection and the onset of disease is often delayed to approximately 6-8 weeks post-transplantation (Alexopouloset al., 2012). Clinical signs of HCMV infection in transplant recipients may be absent or severe, although severe infection is now less frequent as a result of better prophylaxis. HCMV is initially localized in the transplanted organ, but then spreads throughout the gastrointestinal tract and to the retina, skin, endometrium, lungs, and CNS. HCMV disease is more difficult to treat in BMT compared with SOT recipients, and HCMV pneumonia has a high mortality rate, despite the recent introduction of specific antiviral drugs (Landolfo et al., 2003). Lastly, an immunosuppressive syndrome often related to HCMV infection in the late post-transplant period is characterized by superinfection with bacteria, fungi, and protozoa, perhaps due to disturbance of both the humoral and cellular immune response by HCMV (Landolfo et al., 2003). Cytomegalovirus and HIV infection CMV can cause very serious infection in HIV infection (Barrett et al., 2012). Retinitis: Retinitis is the most common manifestation of CMV disease in HIV positive patients. It presents with decreased visual acuity, floaters, and loss of visual fields on one side. It begins as a unilateral disease, but in many cases it progresses to bilateral involvement. It may be accompanied by systemic CMV disease. (Barrett et al., 2012). CMV pneumonia in patients who are HIV positive is uncommon. The reason for this is unknown (Barrett et al., 2012). Gastrointestinal tract: In the upper gastrointestinal tract, CMV has been isolated from oesophageal, gastric and duodenal ulcers. Patients with oesophageal disease may present with painful dysphagia. In the lower gastrointestinal tract, patients with CMV may present with diarrhoea due to colitis (Barrett et al., 2012). CMV may cause disease in the peripheral and central nervous system (Barrett et al., 2012). Replication in the CNS of AIDS patients produces some of the symptoms observed in congenital infection, and is often followed by encephalopathy (Landolfo et al., 2003). Laboratory Diagnosis It is difficult to diagnose CMV infection in immunocompromised patients as it requires not only detection of virus but also determining whether CMV is causing disease. CMV shedding and viremia are common in patients with impaired cellular immunity even when disease due to CMV is not present (Jahan, 2010). Rapid and sensitive technique for diagnosis of CMV infection is of vital importance for the management of immunocompromised patients. A number of rapid and sensitive methods have been developed. These includes DNA probe techniques (Spector and Vacqier, 1983) , Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (Zipeto et al., 1992), CMV antigen detection in biopsies and bronchoalveolar lavage (Emanuel et al., 1986) and immunofluorescence technique for detection of CMV early antigens in cell (Vander et al., 1988). Moreover, an assay has been developed for CMV antigenemia based on the detection of CMV immediate early antigen (pp65 ) in circulating leucocytes (Boeckh et al., 1996). Histopathology: Histopathology remains the reference standard for diagnosis of tissue-invasive CMV disease (Razonable and Hayden, 2013). CMV infection is indicated by cellular and nuclear enlargement (cytomegalic cells) and the presence of amphophilic to basophilic cytoplasmic inclusions (aggregates of CMV nucleoproteins that are produced during viral replication) (Eid et al., 2010). The severity of CMV infection can be assessed based on the degree of histological involvement (Mattes et al., 2000). While these histopathologic findings are highly characteristic of CMV infection (Mattes et al., 2000), atypical features may be present and may overlap in appearance both with reactive changes and with inclusions of other intracellular viruses. Hence, the diagnosis can be confirmed further by in situ hybridization (ISH) or immunohistochemical (IHC) testing (Razonable and Hayden, 2013). The ISH uses CMV-specific cDNA probes that bind to viral DNA in the cellular materialÂÂ   (Razonable and Hayden, 2013). Likewise, IHC uses monoclonal or polyclonal antibody against early CMV antigen (ChemalyÂÂ   et al., 2004 Histopathology requires an invasive procedure to obtain tissue samples for testing (Eid et al., 2010). As a result, clinicians are often hesitant to perform it. Moreover, repeated biopsies cannot be performed serially to assess the response to treatment (Eid et al., 2010). Accordingly, many clinicians rely on the demonstration of CMV in the peripheral blood by Nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) or antigen testing to support the clinical diagnosis of tissue-invasive CMV disease in patients with compatible clinical signs and symptoms (Razonable and Humar, 2013). Serology: Serology relies on the sensitive detection of antibodies against CMV in the blood (Vauloup-Fellous et al., 2013). CMV immunoglobulin M (CMV-IgM) is initially secreted during early CMV infection, and the detection of CMV-IgM by serologic assays is indicative of active, acute, or recent infection. Weeks into the course of primary infection, CMV-IgG antibody is secreted, and this antibody persists for life. The detection of CMV-IgG is indicative of previous or past infection (Vauloup-Fellous et al., 2013). Many different assays have been described and evaluated for the detection of CMV IgG antibodies. Among these are complement fixation, ELISA, anticomplement immunofluorescence, radioimmunoassay, and indirect hemagglutination (Ross et al., 2011). Many different assays are available for IgM detection, but enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are the most widely used. Recombinant IgM assays using recombinant HCMV proteins and peptides have been developed in an attempt to standardize serological assays. However, studies have shown poor correlation of results obtained with different commercial kits for IgM testing. In addition, assays for IgM antibody lack specificity for primary infection because of false-positive results, because IgM can persist for months after primary infection, and because IgM can be positive in reactivated CMV infections (Ross et al., 2011). Because of the limitations of the IgM assays, IgG avidity assays are utilized in some populations to help distinguish primary from non-primary CMV infection. These assays are based on the observation that IgG antibodies of low avidity are present during the first few months after the onset of infection and avidity increases over time reflecting maturation of the immune response. Thus, high anti-CMV IgG avidity represents longstanding infection in an individual. Avidity levels are reported as the avidity index which is the percentage of IgG bound to the antigen following treatment with denaturing agents (Ross et al., 2011). Seroconversion remains a reliable means of diagnosing primary CMV infection but usually practical only for closely monitored patients such as transplant recipients, for whom pre and post infection sera are readily available (ONeill et al., 1988 and Pass et al., 1983). Culture: This is highly specific for the diagnosis of CMV infection (Razonable and Humar, 2013). Culture can be performed using the conventional plaque assay or the more rapid shell vial centrifugation culture system (Razonable et al., 2002). Isolation of CMV from most clinical samples (other than urine, saliva, and stool) is highly predictive of the diagnosis of CMV disease or the risk of progression from CMV infection into clinical illness (Razonable et al., 2002). In contrast, the use of urine, saliva, and stool samples for CMV culture is of limited clinical utility because viral shedding may be detected in these specimens in CMV-seropositive patients even in the absence of clinical illness (Razonable and Humar, 2013). For CMV-seronegative patients (seen most commonly in pediatric age groups), however, the isolation of CMV in urine (and other samples) may be clinically relevant, since it is suggestive of active primary infection (instead of shedding) (Razonable and Humar, 2013). The major drawbacks to viral culture are its low to modest sensitivity and long turnaround time (Razonable et al., 2002). Accordingly, the clinical use of viral culture is minimal in the contemporary era, when molecular assays are most commonly used in the clinical setting (Razonable et al., 2002). The remaining major clinical use of viral culture is in the diagnosis of CMV infection by use of samples that have not been validated or optimized for molecular testing (Razonable and Humar, 2013). Viral culture may also be required when phenotypic antiviral drug resistance testing is needed, although advances in molecular genotypic assays have emerged for detecting antiviral drug resistance (Hakki and Chou, 2011). Antigen Testing: CMV antigen detection in the blood is the most commonly used phenotypic method for the rapid and sensitive diagnosis of CMV infection (Razonable and Humar, 2013). CMV antigenemia assay uses monoclonal antibodies to detect the CMV pp65 antigen that is expressed in CMV-infected leukocytes during the early phase of the CMV replication process (Razonable et al., 2002). The result of the test is reported as the number of positive cells per total number of cells counted (Razonable and Humar, 2013). Because pp65 is secreted during viral replication, its detection in peripheral blood leukocytes generally signifies active CMV infection. The CMV antigen assay is a rapid and easy test to perform and has a higher sensitivity than that of virus culture (Razonable and Hayden, 2013). It is able to detect CMV infection earlier than virus culture, with some studies reporting the detection of antigenemia an average of 5 to 14 days before the onset of CMV disease (Razonable and Hayden, 2013). Thus, it can be used to detect early CMV replication and to guide the initiation of preemptive therapy (Singh, 2001). In general, the degree of pp65 antigenemia correlates with the risk of subsequent CMV disease. However, there is a lack of consensus as to the threshold of pp65-positive cells that should trigger the initiation of antiviral therapy (Razonable and Hayden, 2013). In some studies, the sensitivity of pp65 antigenemia testing for the diagnosis of CMV infection was comparable to that of CMV NAT by PCR (Garrigue et al., 2006). One of these studies reported a strong correlation between pp65 antigenemia and CMV PCR performed on whole-blood specimens (Garrigue et al., 2006). Other studies, however, have reported a significantly lower sensitivity of antigenemia testing than those of molecular tests (Pang et al., 2009). Moreover, the plasma PCR assay detected CMV infection 12 days earlier than the antigenemia test (Hadaya et al., 2003). The disadvantages of CMV antigenemia testing are its labor-intensive and manual nature. The interpretation of the test is subjective, and there is limited interlaboratory standardization of thresholds of positive cell counts to guide various clinical actions (Razonable et al., 2002). Blood samples being subjected to pp65 antigenemia testing should be processed rapidly (ideally within 6 h) to optimize sensitivity, since test results depend on the life span of leukocytes ex vivo. Delays in the processing of a sample for longer than 24 h may lead to a significant decrease in the number of detectable pp65-positive cells in the blood (Razonable and Hayden, 2013).

Reflection on Self Development in Mental Health Nursing

Reflection on Self Development in Mental Health Nursing The Nurse Association (ANA) (2003) defines nursing as the promotion, protection and improvement of health and abilities, stopping of illness and injury, relief of suffering through identification, medical care and support in the care of individuals, families, societies and citizenry (Nancy, 2001 p.2).Generally nursing is liable to the society for providing quality, economical as well as improving the care rendered. Hence, nurses are responsible for their patients standard of health. The area of practice I would like to develop in this regard is mental health. The World health Organisation (WHO) (2009) defines mental health as a state of well-being where all individual notices his or her own potential, can cope with normal stressful events of life, can be fruitful and productive, and is able to contribute meaningfully to his or her society. For a person to live happily and meaningfully in life, mental health is important as well as physical health. Inadequate mental health can interfere with keeping meaningful relationships, having a sense of fulfilment in ones self, work and ability to perform in daily activities of life. Mental illness can obstruct ones interest in sleep, food and sexual contact. How we cope with life situations, the way we think and feel can be defined as mental health. By description mental health could be defined as a state of well-being which enables one to be fruitful, being able to live in peace with other people, adjusts to alteration and been able to handle difficult situations. Health conditions marked by alteration or abnormalities in mood, thinking or behaviour (or a mixture of the three) that causes discomfort or impair functioning is known as mental disorder. Giving a lot of definition without going into thorough details is difficult. One huge reason that is partly responsible for the difficulty in defining mental health, mental disorder and mental illness is the differentiation between mental and physical health which is largely pretended. Our ability to think, feel and respond is governed by our brain. The brain needs constant supply of oxygen and nutrients like any other organ in the body because it can also be damaged by thyroid issues, tumours and physical trauma. Mental health and physical health are interweaved (Linda, 2010, p.334). STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES ANALYSIS OF MY CURRENT KNOWLEDGE BASE ON MENTAL HEALTH My main tool as a mental health nurse is caring for the elderly living with dementia. As a mental health nurse I show compassion for the people I am dealing with by showing care towards them. Regrettably, there is still some stigma attached to mental illness. Combating this and helping the individuals and their families deal with it is the key part of my job. The danger of violence is often associated with this branch of nursing and one of the special skills required is to spot a build-up of tension and defuse it. Dealing with the behaviour and human mind is not an exact science. The job of helping people back to mental health is every bit as valuable and satisfying as caring for those with a physical illness. Showing professional compassion in my field of practice as a mental health nurse is a very important strength that I possess. For true care to take place feeling compassionate and empathetic towards a stranger is a must; a good feedback feeling is set into motion by doing this. Feelings are important in a humans life. I will say compassion is strength because it is a very important ingredient in nursing profession. Compassion is more than just showing pity or concern; and some dictionary definitions indicate that compassion is part of caring because it involves suffering with the person (Moya, 1992 p 5). As a mental health nurse, it is my duty to understand how to care for the elderly with dementia because their cognitive and affective states are conflicting. Now my experience with the elderly does not appear to me differently put myself into the private world of my patient and this is what empathy and care requires. Moya (1992, p 8) suggested that though as mortals we may find true empathy hard to practice because true empathy is only possible among archangels. My weakness on my current knowledge based on this area unfortunately is lack of Confidence which is evident in certain instances. Public speaking, presentation and demonstration of procedures to nursing assistance plague me. It is one thing to be nonchalant and laid back when speaking with your family and friends, but in a professional environment the whole mood and interpretation of things changes. It all comes down to one thing, the amount of self -esteem that i have and i am willing to exert. CLEAR STATEMENT FOR PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE Snow (1991, pp. 195-197) identifies compassion as pain, sorrow or grief for someone else. Emotions help me focus my moral actions. From my personal knowledge as a mental health nurse, compassion should be totally added in my concept of care. Furthermore the role of a Registered nurse is to improve the health and well-being of the people. My aim in focus is to strive for moral height because I have the opportunity as a nurse to give attention to the pain and suffering of my patients (Ferrel, 2005, p. 86), with a workable process in leadership and putting more compassion in practice. Putting compassion into nursing care is really not an easy task as it involves a lot of work. How this will be achieved is by involving in a compassion program for qualified nurses; going into wards that are already selected for excellence in compassion. In addition getting myself in an NHS Lothian centre for compassionate care which is also called the beacon ward where patients can be asked what we the nurses are doing right and tell us how can improve health (2008) puts it as bottling the magic formula and sharing it. The beacon ward will involve me using an all about me sheet which patients will fill when admitted. This form is not about their medical conditions; about how they will love to be addressed and who is important to them. This gives me an opportunity to look at people values and beliefs. DEVELOPING KNOWLEGDE IN THIS AREA My professional role and expectation from my clients as a mental health nurse is to win trust and establish contact with my clients. They find it difficult to gain trust and build good relationships with professionals in this field. In achieving this, competence is needed. What is competence? Spencer Spencer (1993) describe competency as the ability to realize organizational goals. It involves skills, attitudes and knowledge. These soft skills are vital in this area of practice. Developing my knowledge in mental nursing will enable me be a better nurse and gain a higher level of competency. Registered mental health nurses are regularly faced with clients who stay away from care. They involve patients with severe personality and behavioural disorders, older people living with dementia. Nursing and Midwifery Council (2002) Professional code of conducts describes situations where my professional role as a nurse is needed to be put into practice as regards competence. Throughout my year of practice I must keep my knowledge and skills up to date. Taking part in learning activities that will develop my performance and competence. In order to practice competently and professionally i must possess the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for lawful effective and safe practice without supervision. I must know the things that I am capable of doing and only accept those procedures and practice that I am competent at. If an area of practice is above my level of competence or outside my area of specialty I should call for help and supervision from a competent practitioner except otherwise. SMART CHART DETAILING HOW I WOULD ACHIEVE MY GOALS My goals, when adequately structured can be achieved in a means elaborated below using a SMART CHART. Extension (2008) stressed that SMART goals will enable one achieve relevant actions and goal; they further explained SMART is an acronym for goals that are: Specific, Measurable (Mutual, Motivated), Attainable, Relevant/Realistic, and within a specific Timeline. Clearly stated, my goals are: Improvement in the area of my level of competence as a mental health nurse Ability to win patient trust Develop my level of confidence Broaden my level of knowledge in mental nursing S My goals are limited to my area of improvement and strengths particularly related to my area of specialization which makes it specific M These goals serve as a driving force to my striving for excellence in mental health nursing A A right move in attaining or achieving these goals is by the embarking on my current programme in the University which has boosted my assurance of being a figure head in the nursing profession. R My goals are still in line with my first degree and profession hence its relevance in to my career and to the improvement of patient status. The Nursing and Midwifery Council has embarked on nurses self-development training programmes which my goals conform to. T Putting into utmost consideration my level of adaptation to the health system of the UK and my academic pursuit, my goals are already being actualized and is an on-going process of development till my career is over because learning is a continuous process and knowledge is acquired on a daily process.

The Downfall of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe :: Government Essays

The Downfall of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe The shocking fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in the late eighties was remarkable for both its rapidity and its scope. The specifics of communism's demise varied among nations, but similarities in both the causes and the effects of these revolutions were quite similar. As well, all of the nations involved shared the common goals of implementing democratic systems of government and moving to market economies. In each of these nations, the communist regimes in power were forced to transfer that power to radically different institutions than they were accustomed to. Democracy had been spreading throughout the world for the preceding two decades, but with a very important difference. While previous political transitions had seen similar circumstances, the actual events in question had generally occurred individually. In Europe, on the other hand, the shift from communism was taking place in a different context altogether. The peoples involved were not looking to affect a narrow set of policy reforms; indeed, what was at stake was a hyper-radical shift from the long-held communist ideology to a western blueprint for governmental and economic policy development. The problem inherent in this type of monumental change is that, according to Ulrich K. Preuss, "In almost all the East and Central European countries, the collapse of authoritarian communist rule has released national, ethnic, religious and cultural conflicts which can not be solved by purely economic policies" (47). While tremendous changes are evident in both the governmental and economic arenas in Europe, these changes cannot be assumed to always be "mutually reinforcing" (Preuss 47). Generally it has been theorized that the most successful manner of addressing these many difficulties is the drafting of a constitution. But what is clear is the unsatisfactory ability of a constitution to remedy the problems of nationalism and ethnic differences. Preuss notes that when the constitutional state gained favor in North America, it was founded on the principle of the unitary state; it was not designed to address the lack of national identity which is found throughout Europe - and which is counter to the concept of the constitutional state (48). "Measured in terms of socioeconomic modernization," writes Helga A. Welsh, "Central and Eastern European countries had reached a level that was considered conducive to the emergence of pluralistic policies" (19). It seemed that the sole reason the downfall of communism, as it were, took so long was the veto power of the Soviet Union. According to theories of modernization, the higher the The Downfall of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe :: Government Essays The Downfall of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe The shocking fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in the late eighties was remarkable for both its rapidity and its scope. The specifics of communism's demise varied among nations, but similarities in both the causes and the effects of these revolutions were quite similar. As well, all of the nations involved shared the common goals of implementing democratic systems of government and moving to market economies. In each of these nations, the communist regimes in power were forced to transfer that power to radically different institutions than they were accustomed to. Democracy had been spreading throughout the world for the preceding two decades, but with a very important difference. While previous political transitions had seen similar circumstances, the actual events in question had generally occurred individually. In Europe, on the other hand, the shift from communism was taking place in a different context altogether. The peoples involved were not looking to affect a narrow set of policy reforms; indeed, what was at stake was a hyper-radical shift from the long-held communist ideology to a western blueprint for governmental and economic policy development. The problem inherent in this type of monumental change is that, according to Ulrich K. Preuss, "In almost all the East and Central European countries, the collapse of authoritarian communist rule has released national, ethnic, religious and cultural conflicts which can not be solved by purely economic policies" (47). While tremendous changes are evident in both the governmental and economic arenas in Europe, these changes cannot be assumed to always be "mutually reinforcing" (Preuss 47). Generally it has been theorized that the most successful manner of addressing these many difficulties is the drafting of a constitution. But what is clear is the unsatisfactory ability of a constitution to remedy the problems of nationalism and ethnic differences. Preuss notes that when the constitutional state gained favor in North America, it was founded on the principle of the unitary state; it was not designed to address the lack of national identity which is found throughout Europe - and which is counter to the concept of the constitutional state (48). "Measured in terms of socioeconomic modernization," writes Helga A. Welsh, "Central and Eastern European countries had reached a level that was considered conducive to the emergence of pluralistic policies" (19). It seemed that the sole reason the downfall of communism, as it were, took so long was the veto power of the Soviet Union. According to theories of modernization, the higher the

Information Warfare Essay -- essays research papers

As we entered the third wave, we traded in our pens and notebooks, for keyboards and CPU’s. A simple wire connected from a phoneline to a modem to your CPU, brings the whole world into your hands. And you into the worlds hand as well. Political realism is defined as doing what is necessary for survival. One must depend on themselves, because no one else will look out for them. Information Warfare has become a massly used tactic by individuals as well as companies looking out for their own survival, in a world of commerce, and politics. Information Warfare is an innovative and dangerous new way to harm your opponents. When one thinks of warfare the mind is usually bombarded by thoughts of M16’s, grenades, and hand to hand combat. In this new era of technology that we are living in warfare has come to mean so much more. Information warfare is the use of any type of information used to injure your opponent’s progress and further your own. The power of Information Warfare spans a broad scope of uses, from the gathering information about companies, to personal blackmail. It’s used not only by individuals against other persons, but companies and even the nation as well. As the third wave, defined by Tofflers, becomes more widely spread across the nation and world we can only expect a far larger usage of such technological tactics, being used in the home, workplace, and even international politics. Schwartau’s definition of Information Warfare is, “the use of information, and information syst ems as both weapons and targets in a conflict,'; (Schwartau 12). We are now living in a time when knowledge is power, and what is knowledge made up of? Quite simply, information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Information Warfare is not only becoming more rampantly used among people, but they are using different types as well. There are three different classifications of Information Warfare. The first one deals with personal information warfare. This is inclusive with all the information that is available about an individual. Class two deals with corporate information warfare, which involves how information effects companies, businesses, and all economic interests. Of all the classes the third one has the broadest margin. The third class is global information warfare. This purpose of this class is to deal with all a... ... being able to visit such cites that would have pornography, and/or other material unsuitable for youngsters. The school has installed a program so that if the kids were to access prohibited cites an automatic alarm would notify Education Queensland’s network administrators. By taking control of the cites that the children can visit, the school system is helping to keep the children from visiting undesireable cites.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are programs available to those parents who feel it is necessary to monitor their childs use of the Internet. Cybersitter can be purchased for around $39.95, and can help to regulate your web browser keeping your childs access to the world wide web restricted. There is even and option in which incoming and outgoing e-mails for inappropriate material.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While it is possible to intercept and not allow such things on the internet on the Internet such as pornography, or material containing racist or violent content, in order to really do so the entire net would have to be controlled. An important question that has to be asked is who will do the monitoring, and what will they base their criteria on.

A Visit to Zoo

A Visit to the Zoo Last Sunday it was cloudy. I, along with my friends visited the zoo. As we reached the main gate of the zoo, we saw a huge crowd. Some were buying, entrance tickets, some were gossiping and chatting while others were relaxing under the shady trees. We entered the zoological gardens and ca me across a beautiful lake, where some water-birds, like ducks, were swimming. Seeing the white ducks on the smooth surface of water is a charming sight. As we moved further, we came to the enclosure where birds were kept. They ranged from sparrows, eagles and parrots to pigeons of various colours.The birds were chirping. It was enchanting music. We enjoyed it very much. In the next enclosure were kept lions and leopards, tigers and tigresses, whose roars were deafening. As we approached the net, a lion rushed towards us and we were terrified. Their fierce looks were frightening. After seeing this, we came across a garden having stags, very smart and beautiful. In one of the corne rs, monkeys were jumping. Their tricks and pranks were very pleasing. Some people threw peanuts to them and they immediately jumped down the trees to eat them.Many children were making faces at them. Our next halt was at an aquarium in which we were most interested. A large number of fishes were kept there. There were fish of many species and colours. To see them fidgeting in water was really a delightful spectacle. There were many other aquatic animals. Just by the side of this enclosure we came across polar bears, which looked sad and deserted. The black bear’s enclosure attracted a mammoth gathering. The bear was playing many tricks which thrilled the spectators. Some people offered him eatables which he gulped at once.The zoological parks are so vast that it is very difficult to describe all the cages and enclosures fully. After taking a complete round of the zoo, we relaxed for some time in a cool and beautiful garden nearby. The fragrance of the flowers was tremendously intoxicating. Then we had snacks and drinks, which refreshed us very much. It was evening and the sun was setting. We came out of the zoo like many other visitors. We boarded the bus while casting our last and lingering look at the zoo, which is surrounded on one side by the old but majestic wall of the old fort, which, no doubt, added to the beauty and grandeur of the zoo.

Determination of nickel Essay

INTRODUCTION EDTA (Hâ‚„Y) is widely used to determine metals in complexometric (a volumetric analysis where the formation of a coloured complex is used to indicate the end point of a titration) titrations as it forms stable complexes with most metal ions. EDTA is a tetracorboxylic acid and in alkaline conditions, it exists as Y⠁ ´Ã¢  » ions, which form 1:1 complexes with metal ions like nickel(II) ions: Y⠁ ´Ã¢  » + Ni ²Ã¢  º NiY ²Ã¢  » A metal ion indicator (an organic dye which changes colour when it binds with metal ions) shows the end of an EDTA complexometric titration. However, for a metal ion indicator to be suitable in n EDTA titration, it must not bind as strongly with metal ions as EDTA does. Murexide is therefore suitable. AIM The aim of this experiment is to determine the percentage of nickel in a nickel(II) salt using EDTA. Approximately 2.6g of hydrated nickel(II) sulphate was transferred to a weighing bottle and the contents weighed and about 25cmá ¶Å¸ of deionised water was added to a 100cmá ¶Å¸ beaker and the nickel transferred to the water. The bottle was weighed without any remaining salt and then the mixture was stirred until the solid was dissolved before the resulting solution was transferred to a 100cmá ¶Å¸ standard flask. The beaker was then rinsed several times with deionised water and the rinsings were added to the standard flask. The solution was filled up to the graduation mark with deionised water and the flask was stoppered and inverted several times to mix the contents. The burette was rinsed with 0.01moll⠁ »Ã‚ ¹ EDTA and filled with the same solution. The 20cmá ¶Å¸ pipette was rinsed with a little of the nickel salt solution and then 20cmá ¶Å¸ of it was pipetted into a conical flask. The solution was diluted to about 100cmá ¶Å¸ with deionised water and murexide indicator (approximately 0.05g) was added to the diluted nickel salt solution along with appromimately 10cmá ¶Å¸ of ammonium chloride solution. The mixture was titrated with the EDTA solution and after and after the addition of about 15cmá ¶Å¸ the solution was made alkaline by adding  approximately 10cmá ¶Å¸ of 0.88 aqueous ammonia (concentrated ammonia solution). The titration was then continued to the end point, shown by the first appearance of a blue-violet colour. Titrations were repeated until two concordant results were obtained. RESULTS Mass of 1 Mole of NiSO4.6H2O: 262.8g Mass of 1 Mole of Ni: 58.7g Theoretical Percentage by Mass: Volumes of EDTA used in titration: 1st : 20.2cm3 2nd: 20.9cm3 3rd: 20.4cm3 Average: 20.5cm3 Moles of EDTA used = 0.1 x 0.0205 = 0.00205 Moles EDTA reacts with Nickel in a 1:1 ratio, so the number of moles of Nickel in 20cm3 of the salt solution = 0.00205Moles Number of Moles in 100cm3 = 0.00205 x 5 = 0.01025 Moles Number of Moles of Ni2+ in 2.6g of Nickel salt = 0.01025 Weight of Ni2+ in salt = 0.01025 x 58.7 = 0.601675g CONCLUSION % Mass of Nickel in salt = 0.601675 à · 2.60 = 23.14%

Comparing and contrasting two lifestyle magazines Essay

The mass media has over the years evolved to what some people judge as the way we think. No longer has everyone got their own opinion but they are conjured by adverts and promotions. People are classed into different stereotypes with their opinions reflecting their own accord, thus including what they look like, what they do and who they are. With each new stereotype category arrives a new lifestyle for people to follow. People have now taken lifestyles into their own (this is known as materialism) and identified their ‘stereotype’ by indicating this to the public through the medium. Magazines are a good way to promote lifestyles because they are easily accessible through retail, any kind of lifestyle can be promoted as the amount of magazine concepts are only barred by the levels of creativity and magazines can target a certain type of audience and still sell rather than be obliged to target a mass audience such as TV. Editors play a big part in how the lifestyle is represented in any magazine. The editor’s view reflects the lifestyle, especially if it is a large selling magazine. It basically follows the theory of how media controls our opinions which relates to the trend or ‘what’s hot or not’. Advertisements within magazines also reflect the lifestyle itself because a business wouldn’t really promote their products in irrelevant locations that would not attract consumers. I have chosen â€Å"Adobe Photoshop Handbook† (APH) and â€Å"Smash Hits† as my magazines to compare and contrast. APH is a magazine for web site designers. It shows you how to make graphics using Adobe Photoshop (a popular software with web site designers). As this software costs a lot of money (i500+) and not many people choose to use extreme personalised graphics on their web sites this is not a popular lifestyle as others this magazine does not sell to a large audience. Smash Hits is a popular magazine on pop music lifestyle. It costs a third less than APH and has a much larger audience. It generally targets males and females of 9 – 16 years of age. Pop music is hard to classify because of the amount of different kinds of music such as jazz, blues, metal, rock, dance etc. but Smash Hits generalises pop music as what is in the charts and making an impact on the teenage public. This is a good way to promote a magazine because it constantly keeps up to date with celebrity lifestyles and ‘gossip’. People like keep track of what their favourite celebrities are doing because they see them as role models in how they themselves can become just like them. APH has gossip on what kinds of talent is currently hitting the art side of the computer world. Web site designers like to be individual in their work so they don’t follow the handbook ‘religiously’ but use the ideas to apply to their own graphics. This kind of editorial has a weak concept but a good reaction. The ideology is to show people how to make attractive images that relate to the current trend of web arts but the reaction is to use these guides to work alongside web designers’ own arts. The language used in APH is complex in a computer literate fashion. Throughout the magazine there are amazing eye catching images. The front cover always has the most interesting image in the handbook because this is the main advertisement for the magazine. If the image looks good then people are more likely to buy it because they will suggest that the producers of the magazine knows how to make attractive art. They try to shorthand most of the content because they repeat words over and over again in the tutorials. Smash Hits language is Basic English; this is to make it easier for the younger audience to interpret the magazine. Many of the images in the magazine are pictures of celebrities with more focusing on whoever is in the public eye. The graphics are large and colourful this is ‘easy on the eye’ and attracts attention to it because of the primary colours reflecting off the opposite colours (i. e. black and white, red and blue, yellow and blue etc. ) When you hear your favourite artist sing a song you tend to sing along with it (in public or not), APH is like a handbook of lyrics to songs and people read off these lyrics and use it to write their own songs. This is the major difference between the two magazines. One is aimed at artists and the other is aimed at the pop music market. The readerships are bound to differ. Therefore the editorials are apt to justify with their target audience. Although they are different in lifestyles they do share comparisons. The magazines both target male and females and the conventional layout consisting of; front page, contents page, editors words, letter page, main articles, interview and then a page at the end on next months contents. The costs of the magazine diverge of each other, as there is more money in the music industry than in the web design industry and many other industries. The fact that the magazine only idealises on pop music means that it will always have a large audience of people that follow popular music, which tend to be a younger audience who have yet to develop a taste in different kinds of music. More and more people are getting into web site building because it is easy and cheap. People can make their own reflections of lifestyles in their own impressions on their web pages. This then attracts other people and the ‘acceptance’ into a society is then established (because as people know, there is a website for everything). The monopolisation of the computer market by Microsoft means that the variety of software available is limited. Denoting that the amount of different advertisers available to the publisher are limited, consequently making the magazine highly priced. The advertisement in any magazine normally reflects the lifestyle that the magazine idealises. In APH the adverts are about other computer software that work in cooperation with Adobe Photoshop. These adverts are scattered throughout the magazine in a variety of sizes depending on the quality and popularity of the products. The only other adverts are of other magazines published by future publishing (the magazines publisher) that focuses on magazines that have a ‘passion with media’. These tend to be full-page adverts; about 20% of the magazine is made up of adverts. Smash Hits is made up of 50% of editorials and the rest are adverts. This makes the magazine cheap to buy. The adverts are scattered throughout the magazine and they are all of products and services that justify their readership. For example, there is a NSPCC advert at the bottom of the letters page; NSPCC is the ‘National Society of Protection against Cruelty to Children’, which is obviously targeted at children. The adverts consist of music albums of pop bands and the other magazine that the publisher publishes also feature in the magazine on full pages. Smash Hits normally comes with ‘freebies’ such as a single or extra miniature books that are sealed onto the front cover. APH came with a guide to how you can dual boot your system with Linux and Windows; it also came with a disk with Linux on. Freebies are popular with magazines because people like to think that they are getting more than what they paid for. This makes the consumer more likely to buy the magazine because of this ‘give away’ offer. Lifestyle magazines cannot represent a lifestyle completely; it just shows a reflection of an opinion on its chosen lifestyle. A person cannot instantly know about new trends instantaneously, they need to be told about them through the media or other forms of communication. This is why they buy magazines on their favourite lifestyles and to learn about what ‘their world’ is up to. Lifestyles are endorsed as guidance for people to lead and live their lives. They are popular with people because it allows them to ‘belong’ to a society. With this self – belief of acceptance it gives people a push through life. This can be related to religion; as where people follow a religion in credence of hope and these lifestyles can be seen as hope to be accepted into society.