Publications by authors named "Linda J Mason"

Background And Objectives: This educational review outlines the current landscape of pediatric anesthesia training, care delivery, and challenges across Canada, Barbados, and the United States.

Descriptions And Conclusions: Approximately 5% of Canadian children undergo general anesthesia annually, administered by fellowship-trained pediatric anesthesiologists in children's hospitals, general anesthesiologists in community hospitals, or family practice anesthesiologists in underserved regions. In Canada, the focus is on national-level evaluation and accreditation of pediatric anesthesia fellowship training, addressing challenges arising from workforce shortages, particularly in remote areas.

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In this paper, we describe the model for faculty diversity developed as part of the Professorial Advancement Initiative (PAI) funded under the NSF AGEP program. The PAI, consisting of 12 of the 14 Big Ten Academic Alliance universities, had the goal of doubling the rate at which the universities hired tenure-track minoritized faculty, defined by National Science Foundation as African Americans, Hispanic/Latinx, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders. This paper reviews the key programmatic elements of the PAI and discusses lessons learned and the practices developed that helped the Alliance achieve its faculty diversity goal.

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is one of the most destructive pests of stored grains. It leads to significant quantitative and qualitative losses, resulting in food and income insecurity among farmers. Chemical pesticides are the most common methods used by farmers and other grain value chain actors to manage this pest.

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Background: Ozone gas is commercially used for deodorization and microbial control. Its efficacy against stored product insect pests is well documented. In the midst of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.

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Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags were designed to reduce grain storage losses on smallholder farms. The bag consists of three layers: two high-density polyethylene liners fitted inside a woven polypropylene bag. Recently, farmer groups, development relief programs, and government food security agencies have shown interest in PICS bags for large-scale use.

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The chemokine receptor CCR6 marks subsets of T cells and innate lymphoid cells that produce IL-17 and IL-22, and as such may play a role in the recruitment of these cells to certain inflammatory sites. However, the precise role of CCR6 has been controversial, in part because no effective monoclonal antibody (mAb) inhibitors against this receptor exist for use in mouse models of inflammation. We circumvented this problem using transgenic mice expressing human CCR6 (hCCR6) under control of its native promoter (hCCR6-Tg/mCCR6-/-).

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Bacterial infection is highly prevalent in patients who have had a stroke. Despite the potential contribution of micro-aspiration in post-stroke pneumonia, we found that the majority of the microorganisms detected in the patients who developed infections after having a stroke were common commensal bacteria that normally reside in the intestinal tracts. In a mouse model of ischemic stroke, post-stroke infection was only observed in mice that were born and raised in specific-pathogen-free facilities; this was not seen in mice that were born and raised in germ-free facilities.

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Fermentation of dietary fibre in the gut yields large amounts of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). SCFAs can impart biological responses in cells through their engagement of 'metabolite-sensing' G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). One of the main SCFA receptors, GPR43, is highly expressed by neutrophils, which suggests that the actions of GPR43 and dietary fibre intake may affect neutrophil recruitment during inflammatory responses in vivo.

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Environmental factors contribute to development of autoimmune diseases. For instance, human autoimmune arthritis can associate with intestinal inflammation, cigarette smoking, periodontal disease, and various infections. The cellular and, molecular pathways whereby such remote challenges might precipitate arthritis or flares remain unclear.

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Objective: Antibody-mediated autoimmunity involves cognate interactions between self-reactive T cells and B cells during germinal center (GC) reactions. The aim of this study was to determine the role of essential follicular helper T (Tfh) cell molecules (CXCR5, signaling lymphocytic activation molecule-associated protein) on autoreactive CD4+ cells and the role of certain environmental influences that may determine GC-driven autoantibody production and arthritis development.

Methods: We transferred self-reactive CD4+ cells from KRN-Tg mice into recipient mice, which induced autoantibodies and autoinflammatory arthritis.

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Asthma is prevalent in Western countries, and recent explanations have evoked the actions of the gut microbiota. Here we show that feeding mice a high-fibre diet yields a distinctive gut microbiota, which increases the levels of the short-chain fatty acid, acetate. High-fibre or acetate-feeding led to marked suppression of allergic airways disease (AAD, a model for human asthma), by enhancing T-regulatory cell numbers and function.

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Purpose Of Review: Clinical studies and new guidelines are frequently being published in the area of preoperative fasting. A growing population of patients with obstructive sleep apnea is being referred for outpatient procedures including adenotonsillectomy.

Recent Findings: Recently published preoperative fasting guidelines for pediatric patients are covered along with studies comparing gastric volume following different fasting intervals.

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In this article, we discuss the use of LMAs as a conduit to intubate the trachea of two Pierre Robin Sequence infants. Multiple use LMAs will admit larger diameter tracheal tubes (TT) than their disposable counterparts. Increased friction with the surface of the TT makes passing even small diameter tubes through the lumen of the disposable LMA difficult.

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