Keys to well-being in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: personality, coping and meaning.

Purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults were portrayed as an at-risk group. While this may have been true in some respects, empirical studies on mental health, including well-being were conflicting. Some studies found that older adults demonstrated a notable emotional resilience against the impacts of the pandemic.

"The Rest of my Childhood was Lost": Canadian Children and Adolescents' Experiences Navigating Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Children and adolescents with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) face significant and unique challenges related to their condition. The aim of this study was to better understand some of these challenges, and to explore how Canadian youth respond to them. We interviewed 25 pediatric patients with IBD, ranging in age from 10-17, to find out about their illness experiences.

Investigating Quality of Life from the Perspectives of Older Adults in Local Communities.

Governments are increasingly interested in measuring quality of life (QoL) among older adults to inform policy. We demonstrate the advantages of situating an investigation of QoL in local contexts through a thematic analysis of focus group data collected in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, Canada. Local and broader factors relating to QoL among older adults were explored.

Men's gendered experiences of rehabilitation and recovery following traumatic brain injury: A reflexive thematic analysis.

Research shows that gender influences men's health-related beliefs and behaviours - including those within the context of traumatic brain injury (TBI) - making it a factor that should be considered when designing and implementing interventions for this population. To incorporate an understanding of such gendered influences in future educational materials for men with TBI, as well as their caregivers and clinicians, this qualitative study was informed by social constructionism, and aimed to explore how gender is related to men's post-TBI perceptions and behaviours in rehabilitation and recovery. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 men with mild and moderate-severe TBI at the acute (≤ 3 months post-TBI) and chronic (> 3 months post-TBI) phases of injury.

Municipal waste incineration fly ashes: from a multi-element approach to market potential evaluation.

Background: Fly ashes from municipal solid waste incineration contain significant amounts of (technology critical) elements. Processes to recover Cu or Zn are already in practice, but it still remains difficult to evaluate the full secondary resource potential of the ashes. One reason is the absence of a worldwide comparable analytical basis for detailed market analyses.

Sediment water (interface) mobility of metal(loid)s and nutrients under undisturbed conditions and during resuspension.

The contribution of the release from sediments to the overall river Trave budget was evaluated with respect to 16 metal(loid)s, three non-metals and the ions PO and NH. To consider undisturbed conditions and sediment resuspension in-situ dialyses-based and ex-situ suction-based pore water sampling was complemented by sequential extraction and suspension reactor experiments. In the investigated sediments, representative for the study area, metal(loid) partitioning between the different geochemical fractions was very similar despite some higher contaminated spots.

Women's Gendered Experiences of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Despite recognizing that women have worse outcomes after traumatic brain injury (TBI), little is known about how gender influences their experiences of this critical injury. Past research has been dominated by androcentrism and quantitative approaches, leaving the lived experience of women with TBI insufficiently examined. To gain insight into their experiences, this qualitative study interviewed 19 Canadian women with mild and moderate-to-severe TBIs.

Against environmental anaesthesia: investigating resident engagement with a magnetic participative art installation on a secure care unit.

Secure long-term care units come with a unique set of challenges, particularly around exit-seeking behaviour. Arts-based environmental interventions on secure units successfully reduce problematic behaviours, while simultaneously ensuring resident safety and improving resident quality of life. The present arts-based project enhanced a distraction mural intervention to incorporate magnets as a participative arts feature.

Impact of mechanical disturbance and acidification on the metal(loid) and C, P, S mobility at the sediment water interface examined using a fractionation meso profiling ICP-QQQ-MS approach.

The impact of mechanical disturbance and oxygen induced acidification on the concentration and size fractionation of the 12 metal(loid)s As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, Tl, V and the polyatomic nonmetals C, P and S in the pore water was studied. Using the meso profiling and sampling system (messy) 12 pore water depth profiles were sampled from two incubation experiments undertaken in parallel, which were both mechanically disturbed in the lab and subsequently exposed to a different air supply. In parallel to the low invasive, automated sampling process the redox potential, the pH value and the O concentration were detected.

Vital correspondence: Exploring tactile experience with resident-focused mandalas in long-term care (Innovative practice).

The materiality of long-term care and its relationship to a resident's identity is often overlooked. In response to the call for more attention to the meaningful aspects of doing art, the tactile experience of residents with dementia is considered in the context of a mandala project at a Canadian seniors' long-term care facility. The significance of making mandalas for residents is explored through three key themes: identity integration through gesture, the importance of artistic discernment and decision-making, and the value of corresponding with recalcitrant materials.

[West Africa Ebola outbreak - immediate and hands-on formation: the pre-deployment training program for frontline aid workers of the German Red Cross, other aid organizations, and the German Armed Forces, Wuerzburg, Germany 2014/15].

Background: In September 2014, the German government mandated the German Red Cross (GRC) and the German Armed Forces to support the international efforts to stop the epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West-Africa. The GRC requested specific training from the Medical Mission Institute Wuerzburg (MI).

Objectives: We describe and discuss the development, strategy, results, and evaluation of the program to formulate conclusions and recommendations for similar emergencies.

Beyond "Home-Like" Design: Visitor Responses to an Immersive Creative Space in a Canadian Long-Term Care Facility.

This study examined the benefits of expanding upon the "home-like" design by introducing an immersive creative space for residents, staff, and visitors to explore in a long-term care facility in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Data were collected through guestbook comments ( N = 93) and coded for themes according to guidelines for thematic analysis. Selected themes included visitors' enjoyment of the winter aesthetic, expressions of gratitude to the artists, time spent socializing with family and visitors in a creative milieu, and the experience of remembering in an evocative space.

Metal(loid) speciation and size fractionation in sediment pore water depth profiles examined with a new meso profiling system.

In an exemplary incubation study with an anaerobic sediment sampled at an oxbow of the river Lahn in Germany (50°18'56.87″N; 7°37'41.25″E) and contaminated by former mining activity, a novel meso profiling and sampling system (messy) is presented.

A Framework to Evaluate the Impact of Armourstones on the Chemical Quality of Surface Water.

Today, basic requirements for construction works include the protection of human health and of the environment. In the tension area between economic demands, circular flow economy and environmental safety, a link between the results from standardized leaching tests and the respective environmental quality standards must be created. To derive maximum release limits of metals and metalloids for armourstones in hydraulic engineering, this link is accomplished via a simple model approach.

Metal and Metalloid Size-Fractionation Strategies in Spatial High-Resolution Sediment Pore Water Profiles.

Sediment water interfaces (SWIs) are often characterized by steep biogeochemical gradients determining the fate of inorganic and organic substances. Important transport processes at the SWI are sedimentation and resuspension of particulate matter and fluxes of dissolved materials. A microprofiling and micro sampling system (missy), enabling high resolution measurements of sediment parameters in parallel to a direct sampling of sediment pore waters (SPWs), was combined with two fractionation approaches (ultrafiltration (UF) and cloud point extraction (CPE)) to differentiate between colloidal and dissolved fractions at a millimeter scale.

Cdc45 is limiting for replication initiation in humans.

Cdc45 is an essential protein that together with Mcm2-7 and GINS forms the eukaryotic replicative helicase CMG. Cdc45 seems to be rate limiting for the initial unwinding or firing of replication origins. In line with this view, Cdc45-overexpressing cells fired at least twice as many origins as control cells.

New microprofiling and micro sampling system for water saturated environmental boundary layers.

The spatial high resolution of a microprofiling system was combined with the multi element capability of ICP-MS to enable a better understanding of element distributions and related processes across environmental boundary layers. A combination of a microprofiling system with a new micro filtration probe head connected to a pump and a fraction collector (microprofiling and micro sampling system, missy) is presented. This enables for the first time a direct, dynamic, and high resolution automatic sampling of small water volumes (<500 μL) from depth profiles of water saturated matrices (e.

ICP-MS-based characterization of inorganic nanoparticles--sample preparation and off-line fractionation strategies.

Validated and easily applicable analytical tools are required to develop and implement regulatory frameworks and an appropriate risk assessment for engineered nanoparticles (ENPs). Concerning metal-based ENPs, two main aspects are the quantification of the absolute mass concentration and of the "dissolved" fraction in, e.g.

Successful coronary artery bypass grafting with the aid of a portable minimized extracorporeal life support system.

Extracorporeal life support system has been successfully used in patients with cardiac failure after open heart surgery, as a bridge to transplantation, and in patients with prolonged cardiogenic shock or cardiopulmonary arrest. This report presents our early experience with the new system Cardiohelp in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Between August 2010 and June 2011, 50 patients underwent CABG with the aid of Cardiohelp.

Occurrence of foodborne pathogens and characterization of Staphylococcus aureus in cheese produced on farm-dairies.

The objective of this study was to address knowledge gaps identified in an earlier risk assessment of Staphylococcus aureus and raw milk cheese. A survey of fresh and short-time ripened cheeses produced on farm-dairies in Sweden was conducted to investigate the occurrence and levels of S. aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli, to characterize S.

Surgical management of hypoplastic left heart syndrome at the Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Currently, a three-stage surgical palliation remains the treatment of choice at Birmingham Children's Hospital. After initial introduction of the classical Norwood with pulmonary blood flow provided by a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, a right ventricular to right pulmonary artery conduit at stage 1 Norwood palliation is now used in most cases, a bi-directional 'Glenn' shunt at second stage and an extra-cardiac Fontan completion at third stage. Mortality and morbidity has improved after modification of the technique.

International collaborative assessment study of the AHD575 method for the measurement of blood haemoglobin.

Accurate, economical methods for haemoglobin determination by laboratories in countries with limited resources are not available. This report provides the results of an international collaborative study evaluating the alkaline haematin detergent (AHD575) method as a reference method for laboratory services with limited resources. The study included 6 laboratories; 3 in East Mediterranean countries, 1 in East Africa and 3 in Europe.

Beating heart aortic valve replacement after previous coronary artery bypass surgery with a patent internal mammary artery graft.

Re-sternotomy for aortic valve replacement (AVR) in patients with a patent internal mammary artery (IMA) graft may present a challenging surgical problem. Thus, strategies to prevent IMA graft injury include avoiding its dissection and leaving the graft open. However, when aortic cross clamping and cardioplegia are required, this approach may be associated with cardioplegia washout, suboptimal myocardial protection, and anterior myocardial wall injury.

[Intracochlear schwannoma as a cause of a deafness: a case report].

Inner ear extension caused by schwannomas, which can cause hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo, is an extremely rare finding. We report a male patient who presented with progressive hearing loss as well as tinnitus in the right ear. Despite rheologic infusion therapy with glucocorticosteroids at another hospital, the patient showed an explicit hearing loss and vertigo related to the right ear.