Political Communication and Media Reportage Essay

Political Communication and Media Reportage - Essay Example Therefore, a certain candidate should be differentiated from another one. It is no longer enough for politicians to have solid political platforms and to have experience in public service. Politicians these days need to have mass appeal and be celebrities in their own right. Sometimes, the competent political candidates lose out to less competitive ones because of the inability to recognize this. "To become a celebrity requires recognition as a star player in the field of sports, entertainment, fashion, or politics (Kellner 2003)." Our celebrities today are not only concerned about their professionalism and their performance in their fields of specialty, but of the image they project and the way they present themselves. Politicians have turned into media celebrities and their lifestyles have become as important as their policies. Style and presentation, as well as emotions, not only substance, are important. This is what Lilleker (2006) calls the "aestheticisation" of political communication. We're used to movie stars and talents being concerned about projecting a certain kind of image to the public. But now, even the politicians need to be concerned about their image and the way they appear in public to stay ahead of the game. This shows that the public perception of those who appear in the media are not accidental, but are somehow planned or executed. With the seemingly large scope of the media and the limitless possibilities, the political actors and the media are still able to offer what seems to be a personal encounter to their audience. According to Nass & Reeves' Media Equation Theory (1996), people respond unconsciously and automatically to communication media as if it were human. It is possible, therefore, for the individual to engage in interpersonal communication with the media, however impersonal it may seem. For instance, people know that there is no way that computers or television sets would respond to them, and yet they talk to them as if they were real people. A number of people think that they already know a certain actress or celebrity as well as they know their closest friends, simply by tuning in to the latter's interviews and watching anything with the celebrity on it. This very nature of interpersonal communication between the individual and the media could have resulted to extreme adoration or hate toward the celebrity. But still, more often than not, it is easier to make it work for the celebrity. Based on these observations, politicians now opt to guest on popular talk shows. They want to seem like plain folks, one of the people, as well as to appear nice and attractive. As what we've seen in the former president Ronald Reagan's case, suffering from a debilitating disease or the idea of being vulnerable and human, appeal to the public. Reagan, the first president, who was an actor by profession, had a good plotline for his presidency. He advocated the triumph of market capitalism and the defeat of communism in the Cold War. Yet, during his time, the wealth distribution became uneven, with the wealth going upward, increasing the divide between the rich and the poor. His efforts to strengthen the military cost the United States a lot of money as well as the savings and loan scandal. But despite of this, his ratings were high. Perhaps, his economic failure was overlooked by the

Drug profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Drug profile - Essay Example Indications: - bronchial asthma (RACGP, 2006; Lullman et al., 2000), - bronchitis (RACGP, 2006) - exercise-related dyspnea (RACGP, 2006) - other breathing problems (RACGP, 2006). - pre-term labour (Morgan et al., 1987). According to the Medical Reference Manual by Adult Retrieval Victoria (2011), Salbutamol (5-10 mg or 8 puffs 10-15 minutely) is one of the standard therapies for refractory asthma. Continuous nebulised Salbutamol is also used for maximum pre-intubation therapy. As well, the Queensland Ambulance Service (2011) lists approved emergency indications as bronchospasm and suspected hyperkalaemia with QRS widening and/or AV dissociation (Medical Director’s Office 2011 p. 69) for adult and paediatric administration (p. 70). Contraindications against paramedic use of salbutamol have been reported to include potential synergism with other sympathomimietics. It should also be used with caution in patients with diabetes, hyperthyroidism, and cerebrovascular disease (Albuter ol 1999, p. 1). List of drug-drug interactions with Salbutamol (Albuterol 2011) Medicine name Strength Atomotexine – may cause CVS effects such as tachycardia and hypertension case reports Digitalis – hypokalemia induced by salbutamol may cause cardiac glycoside toxicity Mechanism already elucidated Diuretics – hypokalemia Steroids – hyperglycemia or hypokalemia Sympathomimetics – additive effects Theophylline – additive effects Xanthine derivatives –hypokalemia Bendrofluazide – augments hypokalemia, cardiac effects, arrhythmia Signal Transduction Mechanisms for ?2 Receptors Figure 1.The messenger system starting with the activation of receptor, which stimulates the G-protein to dissociate into its subunits. The ?-subunit then activates the enzyme converting ATP to cAMP. Figure from Guyton, A. C. and Hall, J. E. 2006. Textbook of Medical Physiology. Philadelphia: Elsevier. Salbutamol is an agonist of the beta 2 adrenergic recep tors found on the smooth muscle lining airways of the lungs (Lullman, 2000). The intracellular components of the receptor are associated with G protein. In turn, G protein has three sub units (alpha sub unit, plus tightly associated beta, and gamma sub units). Upon binding of salbutamol to ?2 receptor, the latter activates the G protein, causing GDP (guanosine 5'-diphosphate) associated with the G protein to be phosphorylated to GTP (guanosine 5'- triphosphate), which initiates detachment of alpha subunit. The alpha subunit binds with adenylyl cyclase, which catalyses the conversion of ATP to cAMP (adenosine 5'-triphosphate to adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate) (Guyton and Hall, 2006). cAMP then inhibits myosin light chain kinase which is responsible for the contraction and hence constriction of bronchial smooth muscle (Klabunde, 2008). The inhibition of myosin light chain kinase promotes the physical relaxation and hence dilation of the smooth muscle lining of the affected airways whic h improves the potential for improved respiration which is key to addressing several pulmonary disorders Evidence of Clinical Effectiveness Despite being the most used ?2-agonist, research on the clinical effectiveness of Salbutamol had contradicting results. In a randomized control trial on salbutamol against preterm labor, 100 women, ages 17-32 years old and between 20-37 weeks pregnant, were recruited.

Qualatative and Quantitative Analysis Assignment

Qualatative and Quantitative Analysis - Assignment Example It was a form of an informal interview based on a standard set of questions. Most of the questions were open ended which required that I give my own in-depth opinion on particular aspects of the soft drink. This predominantly involved giving my perception and feelings about the product. For example, they wanted my opinion on whether I loved, hated, or was indifferent with regards to the soft drink. I do not believe the findings of this qualitative evaluation process were either valid or effective. This is for the following reasons; first the manner in which the respondents were selected was subjective in nature. I was picked to be an interviewee based on the fact that I had with me a soft drink from another company. That is, I was purposely picked, this would lock out other prospective respondents who would be also invaluable in reflecting the true perception of the populace towards the soft drink. Secondly, the questions asked were open ended. This makes data interpretation difficult and leaves the interpretation of the results at the discretion of the researcher, which might result to biased conclusions. Thirdly, the number of respondents interviewed was few in number. This would make it difficult to make any inference of the results to the general population. The findings of the evaluation were never shared with me, as the researcher considered them a part of the soft drinks’ company competitive strategy. However, as a form of compensation for my willingness to be part of the survey, I was given additional bottles of the soft drink to share with my friends. In the 1st set of variables, the trend and pattern which can be observed is that as the days go by, consecutively, the respective temperature rises. That is, the earlier months have lower temperatures but as the year progresses so does the temperature. In the 2nd set of variables, the pattern being notice is, as the price of gasoline per gallon increases so does the price of oil