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Teaching English in India successfully is still a burning issue. After learning English for more than ten years or so, the under graduating populace cannot communicate in English either in the classroom or in real-life contexts. Therefore, students' proficiency in English has been the constant thought of teachers, teacher trainers, ELT experts, and linguists over all these years. We, as teachers, are always conscious of how we can make our students learn English, how they would become fluent in English. We do some experiments with pedagogical devices in the classroom. This paper is an attempt to find out how do role plays help in developing speaking skills. This paper is also an attempt to find out whether role plays help in developing students' communicative competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatitis B virus is a partially double-stranded circular DNA virus and is a member of the Hepadnaviridae family. The virus consists of a core capsid which contains viral DNA and this is surrounded by an envelope containing surface antigen (HBsAg). Both whole, incomplete virus particles, consisting entirely of HBsAg, are produced during replication of HBV. The HBsAg particles vary greatly in morphology and are found in high concentrations in early acute infection and continue to be produced in chronic disease. Objectives: Diagnostic potential of Hepatitis-B surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity and its prevalence was evaluated among volunteers from various localities in Solapur District, Maharashtra State, India. Methodology: The prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was studied from Solapur, Maharashtra State, India, among 767 volunteers (male 470 and female 297), aged 05-55 years volunteers, who required medical check-ups. Blood samples, collected during March to May 2010, were tested for HBsAg using a third-generation ELISA kit. Results: Of the 767 volunteers, male 1.82% and female 1.17% were positive for HBsAg. The results revealed that hepatitis B infection in the target group was below the intermediate endemicity. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that proper training of new entrants in the medical field can be pivotal in preventing HBsAg and it is advocated that a programme for education, vaccination and prophylaxis must be implemented in all healthcare set ups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the present study is to surveying the mortality in thalassemic patients from Solapur District, Maharashtra State, India. Methods: Present observational survey study, one hundred twenty five clinically proved by their medical reports, cases of thalassemic children's with age 6 months to 18 Years, coming for to get blood transfusion from different parts of Solapur district. Results: The results indicates that the increased mortality during 11-15 years of age. As a result, transfusional iron overload can cause increased morbidity and premature mortality in thalassemia patients. This study will be helpful in further defining the morbidity and mortality in thalassemic patients [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undernutrition and its risk factors among children aged 0-23 months in urban slums of Pune was studied. Maternal and child characteristics, household food security and anthropometric measurements of 400 children were recorded. Results identified prevalence of stunting to be 34%, wasting 15.3% and underweight 21.8%. Odds of stunting was higher among children 7 to 12 months of age (AOR=7.064, 95% CI: 1.908-26.150). Odds of wasting was higher among children 7 to 12 months (AOR=3.144, 95% CI: 1.631-6.060), age < 6 months (AOR=2.546, 95% CI: 1.259-5.149) and not feeding colostrum (AOR=2.806, 95% CI=1.059 -7.478). Birth weight < 2500gm increased the risk of all three manifests of undernutrition. Children who were not immunised or received partial immunization had 1.5 times greater risk of being underweight (AOR=1.933, 95% CI: 1.118-3.342). Age specific interventions to address specific risk factors is a priority to address this public health issue.

Recent investigations of time-altered speech have dealt with the effect of time compression and sensation level on intelligibility scores of native speaker/listeners of English. In the present investigation, the intelligibility of time-compressed consonant-nucleus-consonant monosyllables was studied using English speaker/listeners whose native languages are Spanish or Indo-Dravidian. Results supported earlier findings in that intelligibility decreased as a function of increasing percentage of time compression and decreasing sensation level. This effect was more prominent for the Indo-Dravidian than for Spanish speaker/listeners. The Spanish group of subjects showed generally lower difference scores than did the Indo-Dravidian group when compared to native English speaker/listeners.