This study investigates how meaning is constructed through embodied cognitive processes when EFL learners engage with The Old Man and the Sea. Grounded in Barsalou’s Embodied Cognition Theory (1999, 2008), which conceptualizes language comprehension as the reactivation of perceptual, motor, bodily, and affective systems rather than abstract symbol manipulation, the study examines reader responses to a literary text characterized by narrative restraint and minimal explicit emotional description. The participants were undergraduate students from the English Literature Study Program at Universitas Negeri Makassar enrolled in the History of English Language and Literature course (2024 cohort). 142 students across five intact classes (A–E), 57 students (40.1%) selected The Old Man and the Sea as their preferred final-test novel and constituted the focal participant group. Data were collected through an open-ended reflective questionnaire eliciting emotional reactions, imagined experiences, reflective pauses, and lingering thoughts after reading. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis with theory-driven coding, guided by embodied cognition categories including sensorimotor imagery, bodily state, action simulation, and affective response. The findings reveal that students consistently relied on embodied simulation to construct meaning, reporting strong experiences of empathy, loneliness, sadness, and admiration derived from imagining Santiago’s physical struggle, pain, fatigue, and isolation. Meaning emerged through experiential inference, as understanding developed from felt bodily and affective engagement rather than explicit textual cues. The study demonstrates the pedagogical potential of literary reading in EFL contexts to foster affective engagement, empathy development, and reader-centred meaning construction, while extending embodied cognition research to authentic classroom-based literary experiences.
Aims: Interbody fusion stabilizes the spine by promoting bony growth between vertebrae. Large animal models have physiological and biomechanical similarities to human spines that can provide safety and efficacy data before human use. Sheep models are well validated and are the model of choice to improve understanding of fusion processes by allowing post-mortem analyses of tissues unavailable in human studies. They should be consistently designed to allow appropriate translation of the results into clinical practice. This paper investigates the methodological rigour of ovine lumbar interbody fusion (LIF) studies, and proposes recommendations for researchers designing future studies. Methods: PubMed and the Cochrane library were searched up to 20 December 2024. The search terms were 1) lumbar AND ("in vivo" OR "animal model") AND "fusion" AND (interbody OR cage OR anterior) and 2) (lumbar AND ("in vivo" OR "animal model") AND (spine OR intervertebral disc) AND (sheep OR ovine) AND fusion). Results: A total of 323 papers were identified; 48 studies were included after rejection of non-spinal references, duplicates, and non-English-language papers. Data regarding 993 animals and 1,668 fusion levels were examined. Animal ages varied from six months to nine years. Cages were used in 88% of studies, with a wide range of sizes. The commonest assessments included radiography, histology, and mechanical testing. The in-life phase of the studies varied from one week to three years. High risk of bias was evident in all papers, especially considering 1) treatment allocation sequences, 2) housing randomization, 3) blinding of caregivers, and 4) outcome assessment randomization. Conclusion: This review demonstrates variability in the design of ovine LIF studies, highlights features likely to limit the translatability of results into clinical practice (sheep age and interbody cage size), shows high risk of bias in the published literature, and makes recommendations for future studies. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2026;15(1):58–72.
Abstract
BackgroundWith the increasing use of machine learning (ML)–based risk prediction models for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients, the quality and applicability of these models in practice and future research remain unknown. The prediction mechanism of ML and the number of selected factors have been research hotspots in VTE prediction.
ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically review the literature on the predictive value of ML for VTE.
MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for studies published up to March 26, 2025. Studies that developed and validated an ML model for VTE prediction in the patient population and were published in English were eligible, and studies with duplicate data were excluded. The Prediction Model Risk of Bias Assessment Tool was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. Meta-analyses were performed to evaluate the C-index, sensitivity, and specificity.
ResultsA total of 27 studies with 596,092 patients reported the assessment value of ML models for predicting VTE. The risk of bias assessment yielded 18 (67%) studies with a high risk of bias, 8 (30%) with an unclear risk of bias, and 1 (4%) with a low risk of bias. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.79 (95% CI 0.78-0.80) and 0.82 (95% CI 0.81-0.82), respectively. The positive likelihood ratio was 5.02 (95% CI 3.81-6.60), the negative likelihood ratio was 0.27 (95% CI 0.22-0.33), and the diagnostic odds ratio was 20.14 (95% CI 13.69-29.63; P
ConclusionsML has been shown to effectively predict VTE in patients. However, a high risk of bias was identified in most of the included studies (18/27, 67%), primarily due to shortcomings in handling missing data and reporting the study design. Consequently, future research must prioritize external validation and address methodological rigor to facilitate the translation of these models into routine clinical practice.
Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics, Public aspects of medicine
The pre-sessional team at a university in the Midlands (U.K.) trialled a new observation approach in which teachers had a choice between three observation types: online seen live (synchronous); online seen recorded (asynchronous); and unseen. This presented the opportunity to consider what impact, if any, the type of observation has on observer and observee perceptions and experiences of lesson observations. Perceptions of the observations were collected via focus groups and interviews and were analyzed using a pragmatic version of grounded theory (Barbour, 2018). Preliminary findings suggest that the type of observation can dial up or down certain qualities of the observation, such as who controls the data and whether observations are seen as high or low risk, creating opportunities to move beyond box ticking and towards using observations for meaningful individualized continuing professional development (CPD). This may be especially important in the pre-sessional context, in which many practitioners work under precarious circumstances, with increasingly limited access to meaningful CPD and diminishing opportunities for experimentation within their practice (le Roux, 2022). This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
When, in 1926, the renowned Edwardian poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962) travelled to Iran to visit her husband, Harold Nicolson, who was then serving as a diplomat in Teheran, she could not have imagined how disconnected her image of Persia was from reality. Despite her surprise and disappointment regarding some aspects of the country, Sackville-West’s Passenger to Teheran conveys a fantasized image of Persia. This paper aims to show that her text is influenced by inherited prejudices that are responsible for her picturing Persia as a land of exotic and romantic adventures. Instead of relying on historical facts, she deliberately invites fiction into her travelogue. Hence, despite the linear structure of the travelogue, the writer’s Edwardian representation of Persia is constantly shifted and pushed aside by the reality of life there. Building on Edward Said’s theories, this paper argues that Sackville-West’s subjective approach to her travelogue and her use of fictional elements contribute to the persistence of a mythical image of Persia despite the emergence of shifting lines and reliable information about the country.
In dem Beitrag werden Ergebnisse aus zwei Studien vorgestellt, in denen Deutschlehrkräfte und ihre Vertrautheit mit, ihre Nutzung von und ihre Einstellung zu digitalen Medien untersucht worden sind. In der eigenfinanzierten DIDID-Studie („Digitales Distanzlernen im Deutschunterricht während der Corona-Pandemie“), an der von November 2020 bis März 2021 auf Basis eines Online-Fragebogens 1981 Deutschlehrkräfte teilgenommen haben, sind Daten zu digitalen Kompetenz-, Einstellungs- und Nutzungsmustern von Deutschlehrkräften in Bezug auf digitale Medien während der Corona-Pandemie gewonnen worden. In der von der DFG 2021/22 geförderten GETDIME-Studie (“Effects of the Covid Pandemic on German Language and Literature Teachers and their Familiarity with, Use of and Views on Digital Media”) wurden auf Basis unveröffentlichter Daten in der ICILS-Studie 2018 digitale Kompetenz-, Einstellungs- und Nutzungsmuster von Deutschlehrkräften vor der Corona-Pandemie untersucht. Die Extrapolation von Grundprofilen der Deutschlehrkräfte in DIDID und ICILS ermöglichte einen unmittelbaren Vergleich. Dieser lässt eine leichte Progression der in DIDID untersuchten Deutschlehrkräfte in ihrer Vertrautheit mit, Nutzung von und Einstellung zu digitalen Medien während der Corona-Pandemie gegenüber den in ICILS 2018 teilnehmenden Deutschlehrkräften vor der Pandemie erkennbar werden. Dabei zeigt sich ein deutlich erhöhtes Fortbildungsinteresse und ein klarer konturierter Fortbildungsbedarf.
Abstract (english): German teachers and their familiarity with, use of, and attitutes toward digital media during and before the Corona pandemic in Germany. Finding from two studies.
This paper presents results from two studies that investigated German teachers and their familiarity with, use of, and attitudes towards digital media. In the self-funded DIDID study („Digital Distance Learning in the German Classroom during the Corona Pandemic“), in which 1981 German teachers participated from November 2020 to March 2021 on the basis of an online questionnaire, data on digital competence, attitude and usage patterns of German teachers with regard to digital media during the Corona Pandemic were obtained. In the GETDIME study („Effects of the Covid Pandemic on German Language and Literature Teachers and their Familiarity with, Use of and Views on Digital Media“), funded by the DFG 2021/22, digital competence, attitude and usage patterns of German teachers prior to the Corona Pandemic were investigated on the basis of unpublished data in the ICILS study of 2018. The extrapolation of basic profiles of German teachers in DIDID and ICILS enabled a direct comparison. This reveals a slight progression of the German teachers studied in DIDID in their familiarity with, use of and attitude towards digital media during the Corona pandemic in comparison with the German teachers participating in ICILS 2018 before the pandemic. This reveals a clearly increased interest in further training and a clearly contoured need for further training.
Background. Haemorrhoidal disease is a common disorder in the Western
World that commonly requires surgical treatment, but original open
techniques were associated with significant complications and pain.
Haemorrhoidal Arterial Ligation (HAL) has gained popularity for relatively
low complication and postoperative pain rates. This review assesses clinical
outcomes of this technique in comparison to alternative modern techniques.
Methods. The literature was searched on MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google
Scholar, and Cochrane Library databases. Search terms: dearterialization,
artery ligation, mucopexy, recto-anal repair. Inclusion criteria: RCTs,
original publications, grade II, III and/or grade IV haemorrhoids, elective
procedures. Exclusion criteria: non-English, non-adults, published pre-2016.
Results. 14 RCTs were included in the systematic review. HAL performed
poorly in terms of recurrence, with a pooled recurrence rate of 10.34% for
grade III haemorrhoids. HAL had a similar recurrence rate to Procedure for
Prolapse and Haemorrhoids. Pain was comparable between groups.
Conclusion. HAL is a safe surgical technique for the treatment of grade II to
grade IV haemorrhoids. It still has a relatively low complication rate, and pain
scores are comparable to other non-invasive techniques, and superior to open
techniques. HAL still performs poorly in terms of recurrence rates. New
modified procedures including suture-mucopexy only and tissue-selecting
techniques appear to have better therapeutic potential.
Over the last decade, analyses of Scotland’s historic global diasporas have incorporated more pronounced conversations on how Scotland’s current political, social, and economic contexts are rooted in the legacies of the British Empire. While this has produced narratives highlighting Scotland’s key role in imperial expansion, the resonance of this in establishing and perpetuating systems of white oppression are less widely addressed in Scotland’s consciousness of its own identity. Through consideration of how architecture’s cultural analogies reflect and represent Imperial ideologies, this paper will explore the resonance of architectural urban discourse funded by the outputs of the British Empire. It will discuss how an architecturally focused reading of our built environment can clearly recognise the systemic legacies of colonialism and imperialism within our urban realm, and further enhance inclusive narratives of Scotland’s heritage. This will highlight how a more nuanced approach to reading the historic built environment is necessary to challenge established current authorised heritage discourse of white male histories. It will demonstrate the function of the built environment in telling stories of Scotland’s prominent role in Empire and how this supports a human-rights based approach to heritage analysis.
History (General) and history of Europe, English language
Kedir Hussein Abegaz, Dube Jara, Trhas Tadesse
et al.
Background Maternal morbidity and mortality remain critical public health challenges in Ethiopia with limited evidence on the effectiveness of interventions and health promotion strategies. A scoping review of the existing literature on maternal morbidity and mortality interventions and health promotion in Ethiopia can provide a comprehensive overview of the current evidence, identify research gaps and establish a framework for successful maternal morbidity and mortality interventions.Objective The systematic review seeks to assess the existing literature on maternal morbidity and mortality interventions in Ethiopia to develop an evidence-based framework for effective interventions.Method The methodology for this study adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols guidelines for systematic review protocol. A comprehensive search strategy will be devised, in compliance with the highly sensitive search guidelines of Cochrane, which will involve using both snowball methods to identify relevant articles and searching electronic databases using specific key search terms. The following databases will be searched for studies to be included in the systematic review: MEDLINE (via PubMed), Embase, Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Science Direct and African Journals Online (AJOL).The search will be restricted to English language publications starting from January 2010 to May 2023. In a comprehensive review process, independent reviewers will meticulously assess titles, abstracts and full texts of studies, ensuring alignment with predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria at each stage of selection.Quality evaluation instruments appropriate for each research design will be used to assess the quality of the selected studies. The findings from the included studies will be analysed and summarised using a narrative synthesis approach.Ethics and dissemination Since this systematic review is based on the reviewing of existing literature and will not involve the collection of primary data, ethical approval is not required. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and conference presentations.PROSPERO registration number CRD42023420990.
Human cannot communicate with one another without language. Good language will affect the effectiveness of the information delivery. Using a good adverb clause is one of effective sentence example. However, the continuous use of adverb clauses will also create redundancies in the delivery of information. Therefore, it is necessary to have a variety of uses of adverb clauses, one of which is the use of reducing adverb clauses. This research provides a description of what elements that can be reduced in the Reduced Adverbial Clause and what changes that occurs in Reduced Adverbial Clause after the reduction process is carried out. The data of this research is collected from corpus with note-taking technique. This study uses qualitative methods with interactive techniques. Interactive technique covers three components, namely data reduction, data presentation and conclusion drawing. This research found that adverbial clause can be reduces as long as it has the same subject. Elements that can be reduced in adverbial clause are subject, subject and auxiliary, and conjunction. The changes of reduced clause can be in the form of present participle, past participle, and clause without subject and auxiliaries. Keywords: Reduced Adverbial Clause, Language, Adverbial Clause
Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population globally, and one of the Islamic beliefs among people of this nation is tarekat, which is sometimes considered as a heretic. Therefore, this article aims to analyse the meaning of diction tarekat according to the Qur’an and its implications for the Buginese community, one of the oldest ethnicities in Indonesia. This is a conceptual and empirical research with the purposive sampling method used to determine the informants from several tarekat leaders and congregations. Data were collected through documentation, observation and interviews and analysed using Miles and Huberman’s qualitative analysis technique. This process consists of data reduction, display and drawing conclusions. The study results showed that, firstly, the word tarekat in the Qur’an indicates the meaning of inner journey and the methods and ways of thinking, acting and behaving. Secondly, to the Buginese community, it implies a spiritual path to a higher level of appreciation towards their God. Thirdly, the meaning of the diction tarekat in the Qur’an has implications for its understanding, which can be seen in the practice of dhikr, spiritual behaviour and the way of life of those implementing these heretics.
Contribution: This article enriched the religious belief among Muslims, which scholars rarely uncover. Adherents of Islam in Indonesia have a social and political responsibility regarding religious tolerance within and outside other religions. This proves that Muslims contribute to world peace in Middle-East and South-Eastern Asia.
In “Introduction to these paintings” and “Art and Morality,” Lawrence suggests that, when looking at visual art, our tendency to what he calls “kodak-vision” (one indicator of dominant mental consciousness), prevents our appreciation of new perspectives, leading us to condemn the art rather than change our viewpoint. In looking at Lawrence’s response to Cézanne’s apples this paper will consider the role visual art can play in developing a greater reverence towards the non-human, and will also look at some examples of Lawrence’s prose and poetry that shows the same intent. This will lead to the suggestion that Lawrence’s ideas about the non-human can be seen as a prototype for what we now recognise as ecological thinking.
Feng-Hsu Wu, Ruey-An Chiang, Yao-Chung Tsai
et al.
Perforation is a rare complication of gastric carcinoma, and it occurs in less than 5% of all gastric carcinoma cases and in less than 1% within all acute abdomen cases. The diagnosis of malignancy is usually not validated preoperatively. In previous reported English literature, all patients with perforated gastric cancer have the feature of old age. This feature might be able to guide the surgeon to impress the differential diagnosis of malignancy before or during the emergent operation of gastric perforation.This 32-year-old male patient suffered from sudden onset of epigastric pain. We performed emergent operation under the impression of hollow organ perforation. The postoperative pathologic report of gastric ulcer revealed gastric carcinoma. We performed second-stage operation of total gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy smoothly 7 days later. As we know, this is the youngest patient having the condition of perforated gastric carcinoma reported in the literature. This case reminds us that it is possible for perforated gastric carcinoma to occur in young-age patients. Keywords: Gastric cancer, Acute abdomen, Gastric perforation
Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens
Dewan Md Emdadul Hoque, Varuni Kumari, Masuma Hoque
et al.
<h4>Background</h4>Clinical quality registries (CQRs) are playing an increasingly important role in improving health outcomes and reducing health care costs. CQRs are established with the purpose of monitoring quality of care, providing feedback, benchmarking performance, describing pattern of treatment, reducing variation and as a tool for conducting research.<h4>Objectives</h4>To synthesise the impact of clinical quality registries (CQRs) as an 'intervention' on (I) mortality/survival; (II) measures of outcome that reflect a process or outcome of health care; (III) health care utilisation; and (IV) healthcare-related costs.<h4>Methods</h4>The following electronic databases were searched: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL and Google Scholar. In addition, a review of the grey literature and a reference check of citations and reference lists within articles was undertaken to identify relevant studies in English covering the period January 1980 to December 2016. The PRISMA-P methodology, checklist and standard search strategy using pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and structured data extraction tools were used. Data on study design and methods, participant characteristics attributes of included registries and impact of the registry on outcome measures and/or processes of care were extracted.<h4>Results</h4>We identified 30102 abstracts from which 75 full text articles were assessed and finally 17 articles were selected for synthesis. Out of 17 studies, six focused on diabetes care, two on cardiac diseases, two on lung diseases and others on organ transplantations, rheumatoid arthritis, ulcer healing, surgical complications and kidney disease. The majority of studies were "before after" design (#11) followed by cohort design (#2), randomised controlled trial (#2), experimental non randomised study and one cross sectional comparison. The measures of impact of registries were multifarious and included change in processes of care, quality of care, treatment outcomes, adherence to guidelines and survival. Sixteen of 17 studies demonstrated positive findings in their outcomes after implementation of the registry.<h4>Conclusions</h4>Despite the large number of published articles using data derived from CQRs, few have rigorously evaluated the impact of the registry as an intervention on improving health outcomes. Those that have evaluated this impact have mostly found a positive impact on healthcare processes and outcomes.<h4>Trial registration</h4>PROSPERO CRD42015017319.
This paper sets out to examine the contemporary issues of radical temper in Leonard Ikerionwu’s prose fiction. It aimed at showing that the myriads of challenges of the Nigerian socio-political enclave have not escaped the creative consciousness of the emergent African (Nigerian) writer and critic. It was discovered that the text under study carefully mirrored the present society from the Marxist viewpoint, highlighting attendant problems such as marginalization among the rank and file of the military, poverty, corruption, unemployment, insecurity and leadership ineptitude. In the light of these potent issues presented, the paper sought to educate and appeal to the masses’ conscience to perceive revolution as an alternative means, towards the total restoration of change in human society.
English literature, Language. Linguistic theory. Comparative grammar
Abstract Background Recent studies have indicated an association between hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) expression and poor prognosis in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC); however, definitive evidence of this association is yet to be obtained. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the association of HIF-1α expression with clinicopathological characteristics and overall survival (OS) of patients with OSCC. Methods A literature search for relevant studies published in English language as of February 05, 2016, was performed on PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases. Eighteen studies with a combined study population of 1474 patients with OSCC are included in the meta-analysis. Odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated using random-effects model or fixed-effects model. Results HIF-1α overexpression was significantly associated with larger tumor size (OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.49–3.50, P = 0.017), advanced TNM stage (OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.50–3.49, P = 0.158), and lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.05, 95% CI = 1.19–3.53, P < 0.001), but not with poor differentiation (OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 0.55–2.64, P = 0.024). These results demonstrated an association between HIF-1α expression and biological behavior of OSCC. On pooled analyses, high expression of HIF-1α was associated with worse OS (HR = 1.70, 95% CI = 1.10–2.61, P < 0.001). On subgroup analyses, overexpression of HIF-1α was significantly associated with poor prognosis in Asian population (HR = 2.33, 95% CI = 1.72–3.15, P = 0.862). Conclusions Our findings demonstrate an association of HIF-1α overexpression with tumor size, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, and overall survival. HIF-1α could be an independent prognostic marker in patients with OSCC.
Surgery, Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens
This article analyzes the current duopoly of the companies that manage the rankings of publications and how this dynamic affects the public university, in general, as well as the system of accreditation for faculty researcher in Spain. The critical reflection on the causes and consequences of this biased assessment model evidences collision between the political and academic imaginaries which promote hegemony of science over social sciences. In the same way, it reveals a geostrategic logic over representing scientific literature in English and a propensity for quantitative aspects in the global publishing trend.
<h4>Background</h4>In order to adapt to societal changes, healthcare systems need to switch from a disease orientation to a patient-centered approach. Virtual patient networks are a promising tool to favor this switch and much can be learned from the open and user innovation literature where the involvement of online user communities in the innovation process is well-documented.<h4>Objectives</h4>The objectives of this study were 1) to describe the use of online communities as a tool to capture and harness innovative ideas of end users or consumers; and 2) to point to the potential value and challenges of these virtual platforms to function as a tool to inform and promote patient-centered care in the context of chronic health conditions.<h4>Methods</h4>A scoping review was conducted. A total of seven databases were searched for scientific articles published in English between 1995 and 2014. The search strategy was refined through an iterative process.<h4>Results</h4>A total of 144 studies were included in the review. Studies were coded inductively according to their research focus to identify groupings of papers. The first set of studies focused on the interplay of factors related to user roles, motivations, and behaviors that shape the innovation process within online communities. Studies of the second set examined the role of firms in online user innovation initiatives, identifying different organizational strategies and challenges. The third set of studies focused on the idea selection process and measures of success with respect to online user innovation initiatives. Finally, the findings from the review are presented in the light of the particularities and challenges discussed in current healthcare research.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The present paper highlights the potential of virtual patient communities to inform and promote patient-centered care, describes the key challenges involved in this process, and makes recommendations on how to address them.