Attentional suppression of dynamic versus static salient distractors.

Attention must be carefully controlled to avoid distraction by salient stimuli. The signal suppression hypothesis proposes that salient stimuli can be proactively suppressed to prevent distraction. Although this hypothesis has garnered much support, most previous studies have used one class of salient distractors: color singletons.

From Today to Tomorrow: Leveraging Digital Health to Move toward Health for All.

This series of papers explores the concept of essential digital health for the underserved. Several cross-cutting themes are highlighted in this paper, for example: (1) harmonizing journeys of different patient groups to understand diverse perspectives; (2) engaging health professionals in interoperability, change management and health human resource capacity building; (3) ensuring harmonization of micro, meso and macro levels of health services delivery; and (4) integrating evaluation iteratively to enable continuous improvement and learning. Adopting a learning health system (LHS) approach facilitates iterative growth and evolution, incorporating concepts from the software industry, as well as participatory processes such as failing forward, developing ecosystems for collaboration and engagement of stakeholders.

Defining "Essential Digital Health for the Underserved".

The World Health Organization envisions achieving "Health for All," to strive for equitable access to important health information and services to attain wellness (WHO 2023a). The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the Canadian health system toward increasing digital health services, which improved access for some but underserved others. Integrating digital health into holistic health services delivery deserves careful consideration.

The role of salience in the suppression of distracting stimuli.

Researchers have long debated whether salient distractors have the power to automatically capture attention. Recent research has suggested a potential resolution, called the signal suppression hypothesis, whereby salient distractors produce a bottom-up salience signal, but can be suppressed to prevent visual distraction. This account, however, has been criticized on the grounds that previous studies may have used distractors that were only weakly salient.

One-step topochemical transformation of MoAlB into metastable MoAlB using a metal chloride salt reaction.

Reacting MoAlB with ZnCl at 550 °C produces metastable MoAlB through a one-step topochemical transformation. This reaction showcases differences in reactivity between boride-based MAB phases and carbide-based MAX phases, which are solid-state precursors to an important family of 2-D materials.

Diagnostic test accuracy of screening tools for post-traumatic stress disorder among refugees and asylum seekers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Refugees and asylum seekers often experience traumatic events resulting in a high prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Undiagnosed PTSD can have detrimental effects on resettlement outcomes. Immigration medical exams provide an opportunity to screen for mental health conditions in refugee and asylum seeker populations and provide links to timely mental health care.

Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste.

The adage "Never let a good crisis go to waste," widely attributed to Winston Churchill (Gruère 2019), has echoed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It aptly describes the rapid uptake of virtual care since March 2020 and other developments that it has inspired, including renewed attention to health information and data governance, interoperability, health equity, appropriateness and cross-border licensure.

Oculomotor suppression of abrupt onsets versus color singletons.

There is considerable evidence that salient items can be suppressed in order to prevent attentional capture. However, this evidence has relied almost exclusively on paradigms using color singletons as salient distractors. It is therefore unclear whether other kinds of salient stimuli, such as abrupt onsets, can also be suppressed.

Introspective awareness of oculomotor attentional capture.

Recent research has demonstrated that observers can learn to prevent attentional capture by physically salient stimuli. One critical question is how observers learn to avoid capture, particularly in situations where they receive no direct feedback about attentional performance. One possibility is that individuals have some level of introspective awareness of capture when it occurs.

Assessing introspective awareness of attention capture.

Visual attention can sometimes be involuntarily captured by salient stimuli, and this may lead to impaired performance in a variety of real-world tasks. If observers were aware that their attention was being captured, they might be able to exert control and avoid subsequent distraction. However, it is unknown whether observers can detect attention capture when it occurs.

Public Spending on Health Services and Policy Research in Canada: A Reflection on Thakkar and Sullivan Comment on "Public Spending on Health Service and Policy Research in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States: A Modest Proposal".

Vidhi Thakkar and Terrence Sullivan have done a careful and thought-provoking job in trying to establish comparable estimates of public spending on health services and policy research (HSPR) in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Their main recommendation is a call for an international collaboration to develop common terms and categories of HSPR. This paper raises two additional questions that have an international comparative dimension: There is little doubt that public spending on HSPR represents more than the "tip of the iceberg," but how much more? And how do the countries fare on the uptake of HSPR by decision-makers? I have long speculated that probably as much or more is spent by provincial/territorial governments, regional health authorities, hospitals and other agencies on HSPR activities carried out by consultants in Canada than by the federal, provincial/territorial granting agencies.

Assessing the prospects for physician supply and demand in Canada: Wishing it was rocket science.

"It's not rocket science" is an often used phrase to describe tasks that are not very difficult. Although rocketry has proven to be an exacting science with highly predictable results, the same cannot be said for physician workforce planning in Canada. The "boom" in physician supply in the 1960s and 1970s was followed by a "bust" in the early 1990s and a further boom in the 2000s.

Public and Professional Insights on End-of-Life Care: Results of the 2016 Health Care in Canada Survey.

A new dimension has been added to Canadian Medicare ߝ exemption from prosecution for physicians, nurse practitioners and assistants providing medical assistance in dying for competent and informed adult patients with a grievous and irremediable medical condition causing intolerable physical or psychological suffering, irreversible decline in capabilities and reasonably foreseeable natural death. To define stakeholders' perceptions on all contemporary end-of-life care options, we analyzed data from the 2016 Health Care in Canada Survey comprising representative samples of the adult public (n = 1,500), physicians (n = 102), nurses (n = 102), pharmacists (n = 100), administrators (n = 100) and allied health professionals (n = 100). Among the public, enhanced pain management, hospice/palliative care and home/family care were all supported at, or above, the 80th percentile; medically assisted death was supported by 70%.

Patient-Centred Care in Canada: Key Components and the Path Forward.

Canadians' health and its care continue to evolve. Chronic diseases affect more than 50% of our aging population, but the majority of public and professional stakeholders retain a sense of care quality. An emergent issue, however, is generating an increasingly wide debate.

Funding Long-Term Care in Canada: Issues and Options.

Canada's aging population is likely to result in increased health and long-term care (LTC) costs. It is estimated that between 2012 and 2046, LTC cost liability could reach almost $1.2 trillion.

Policy Capacity for Health Reform: Necessary but Insufficient: Comment on "Health Reform Requires Policy Capacity".

Forest and colleagues have persuasively made the case that policy capacity is a fundamental prerequisite to health reform. They offer a comprehensive life-cycle definition of policy capacity and stress that it involves much more than problem identification and option development. I would like to offer a Canadian perspective.

Breaking gridlock in health policy?; Comment on "A new synthesis".

Pierre-Gerlier Forest has put forward the case that we are on the brink of a revolution in health policy that will be the result of the interplay of five factors. I would not challenge any of them but would emphasize the need to address socio-economic health inequalities, which have the potential to become a major cost driver in a time of growing economic inequality. To Dr.

Canadian physicians' responses to cross border health care.

Background: The idea for this survey emanated from desk research and two meetings for researchers that discussed medical tourism and out-of-country health care, which were convened by some of the authors of this article (VR, CP and RL).

Methods: A Cross Border Health Care Survey was drafted by a number of the authors and administered to Canadian physicians via the Canadian Medical Association's e-panel. The purpose of the survey was to gain an understanding of physicians' experiences with and views of their patients acquiring health care out of country, either as medical tourists (paying out-of-pocket for their care) or out-of-country care patients funded by provincial/territorial public health insurance plans.

The healthcare quality agenda in Canada.

Sullivan et al. have captured several important themes. One of the reasons that healthcare has been slow to adopt a culture of quality has been that it has taken a long time to recognize that quality is a continuous journey along several dimensions.

Value for money: putting the patient first.

Canadians spend more on healthcare than people in most other countries. We are fifth in the OECD in terms of health spending per capita, and eighth out of 28 countries in terms of health spending as a percentage of GDP. Given these facts, it is appropriate to discuss the issue of value for money in healthcare.

Passing the baton--toward making a case for a Canadian centre for health leadership.

This paper demonstrates that the average tenure of current senior leaders in the health sector has declined sharply over the last three decades, and is substantially shorter than that of leaders in the private and public arenas. It offers potential reasons for this downward trend, and sets out the broad parameters for a Canadian Centre for Health Leadership, which could help better identify, develop, support, and celebrate leadership in health and healthcare in Canada.