Self-Reported Health Status of Older Adults in Malaysia and Singapore: Evidence from the 2007 Global Ageing Survey

The aim of this study is to investigate the correlates of self-reported health (SRH) among older adults in Malaysia and Singapore. The study uses data collected in the Global Ageing Study (GLAS) 2007, one of the largest surveys of its kind, specially designed to investigate attitudes towards later life, ageing and retirement. Data were collected from 1002 and 1004 respondents from Malaysia and Singapore respectively. The study found that Singaporeans report a healthier life than Malaysians. The two countries have consistent results with regard to the influences of selected covariates on individual health. Poorer health is more prevalent among people with lower education, among those widowed, divorced or separated, and those working in blue-collar occupations. Although social support is found to be an important determinant of SRH, the effects are partially confounded with other covariates. These findings enhance our knowledge about the health status of older people, and in turn will be useful for governments to ensure effective policy making.     

The effect of state anxiety on the online and offline control of fast target-directed movements

In target-directed aiming, afferent information is used to adjust limb trajectories during movement execution (i.e. online) and to enhance the programming of subsequent trials (i.e. offline). The objective of the present study was to determine the influence of state anxiety on both online and offline afferent information processing for the first time. Participants practiced either a directional aiming task (Experiment 1) or an amplitude aiming task (Experiment 2) without anxiety before being transferred to a high anxiety condition. In both experiments, results revealed that anxiety resulted in a decrement in performance. Furthermore, use of afferent information to adjust movement trajectories online was disrupted when movements were performed with anxiety, whereas there were no differences in the offline processing of afferent information between the low anxiety and high anxiety conditions.     

Smoking,Muslim religious commitments,and the experience and behaviour of Ramadan in Pakistani men

This study examined the possibility that smoking may interfere with Muslim commitments in general and with the experience and behaviour of Ramadan in particular. During Ramadan, a sample of 29 smoking and 46 non-smoking Pakistani men responded to measures of smoking, Religious Orientation, Religious Interest, Positive and Negative Ramadan Experience, and Ramadan Behaviour. Various indices of smoking predicted a disinterest in religion, less of an Intrinsic Religious Orientation, lower levels of Positive Ramadan Experience, higher Negative Ramadan Experience, and reductions in Ramadan Behaviour. These data offered preliminary support for the suggestion that smoking presents a challenge to Muslim beliefs and practices, especially during Ramadan.     

The dual role of vision in sequential aiming movements

Previous research has demonstrated that movement times to the first target in sequential aiming movements are influenced by the properties of subsequent segments. Based on this finding, it has been proposed that individual segments are not controlled independently. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the role of visual feedback in the interaction between movement segments. In contrast to past research in which participants were instructed to minimize movement time, participants were set a criterion movement time and the resulting errors and limb trajectory kinematics were examined under vision and no vision conditions. Similar to single target movements, the results indicated that vision was used within each movement segment to correct errors in the limb trajectory. In mediating the transition between segments, visual feedback from the first movement segment was used to adjust the parameters of the second segment. Hence, increases in variability that occurred from the first to the second target in the no vision condition were curtailed when visual feedback was available. These results are discussed along the lines of the movement constraint and movement integration hypotheses.     

The contribution of peripheral and central vision in the control of movement amplitude

Past research has revealed that central vision is more important than peripheral vision in controlling the amplitude of target-directed aiming movements. However, the extent to which central vision contributes to movement planning versus online control is unclear. Since participants usually fixate the target very early in the limb trajectory, the limb enters the central visual field during the late stages of movement. Hence, there may be insufficient time for central vision to be processed online to correct errors during movement execution. Instead, information from central vision may be processed offline and utilised as a form of knowledge of results, enhancing the programming of subsequent trials. In the present research, variability in limb trajectories was analysed to determine the extent to which peripheral and central vision is used to detect and correct errors during movement execution. Participants performed manual aiming movements of 450 ms under four different visual conditions: full vision, peripheral vision, central vision, no vision. The results revealed that participants utilised visual information from both the central and peripheral visual fields to adjust limb trajectories during movement execution. However, visual information from the central visual field was used more effectively to correct errors online compared to visual information from the peripheral visual field.     

The degree of certainty in brain death: probability in clinical and Islamic legal discourse

The University of Michigan conference “Where Religion, Policy, and Bioethics Meet: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Islamic Bioethics and End-of-Life Care” in April 2011 addressed the issue of brain death as the prototype for a discourse that would reflect the emergence of Islamic bioethics as a formal field of study. In considering the issue of brain death, various Muslim legal experts have raised concerns over the lack of certainty in the scientific criteria as applied to the definition and diagnosis of brain death by the medical community. In contrast, the medical community at large has not required absolute certainty in its process, but has sought to eliminate doubt through cumulative diagnostic modalities and supportive scientific evidence. This has recently become a principal model, with increased interest in data analysis and evidence-based medicine with the intent to analyze and ultimately improve outcomes. Islamic law has also long employed a systematic methodology with the goal of eliminating doubt from rulings regarding the question of certainty. While ample criticism of the scientific criteria of brain death (Harvard criteria) by traditional legal sources now exists, an analysis of the legal process in assessing brain death, geared toward informing the clinician’s perspective on the issue, is lacking. In this article, we explore the role of certainty in the diagnostic modalities used to establish diagnoses of brain death in current medical practice. We further examine the Islamic jurisprudential approach vis-à-vis the concept of certainty (yaqīn). Finally, we contrast the two at times divergent philosophies and consider what each perspective may contribute to the global discourse on brain death, understanding that the interdependence that exists between the theological, juridical, ethical, and medical/scientific fields necessitates an open discussion and active collaboration between all parties. We hope that this article serves to continue the discourse that was successfully begun by this initial interdisciplinary endeavor at the University of Michigan.