Medicalisation, depoliticisation and reproductive stratification: lessons from Canada's Muskoka Initiative.

Based on critical discourse analysis of Canada's Muskoka Initiative (2010-15), this article outlines how medicalisation contributes to the depoliticisation and technocratisation of global maternal health, while reinforcing patterns of reproductive stratification. By constructing maternal health as a problem of managing medicalised risk, the Muskoka Initiative was able to position family planning as a risk-minimising practice that can improve health by averting pregnancy among populations deemed high risk. Interpreting this construction through the lenses of reproductive justice and biopolitics, I argue that this construction contributes to reproductive stratification and exemplifies how medicalised discourses have replaced overt discourses of population control within development policy, while continuing to discourage reproduction among racialised women in the Global South.

Preservation of von Willebrand Factor Activity With the ModulHeart Device.

von Willebrand Factor (VWF) destruction is common with current heart pumps. This study evaluates VWF activity with ModulHeart, a novel device using 3 micropumps in parallel. In model 1, ModulHeart was compared with Impella devices in vitro.

Real-World Management Strategies of Anticoagulated Atrial Fibrillation Patients After a Clinically Significant Bleeding Episode.

Background: Systemic anticoagulation for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) carries inherent bleeding risks, and determining whether and when to resume anticoagulation after significant bleeding is a common dilemma. We aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of AF patients discharged after a bleeding event, document real-life thromboembolic prevention strategy (TPS), and analyse their associated clinical outcomes.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of anticoagulated AF patients admitted for bleeding from 2017 to 2019.

Organ blood flow assessment with the ModulHeart cardiorenal support device.

Background: ModulHeart (Puzzle Medical Devices Inc) is a novel percutaneous flow entrainment pump anchored in the descending aorta. The current study evaluates the hemodynamic effect of ModulHeart support and its impact on cerebral, myocardial, and renal blood flow.

Methods: ModulHeart was implanted in the descending aorta of four healthy calves.

Increased copy number of the target gene squalene monooxygenase as the main resistance mechanism to terbinafine in Leishmania infantum.

We use here two genomic screens in an attempt to understand the mode of action and resistance mechanism of terbinafine, an antifungal contemplated as a potential drug against the parasite Leishmania. One screen consisted in in vitro drug evolution where 5 independent mutants were selected step-by-step for terbinafine resistance. Sequencing of the genome of the 5 mutants revealed no single nucleotide polymorphisms related to the resistance phenotype.

Surface electromyographic frequency characteristics of the quadriceps differ between continuous high- and low-torque isometric knee extension to momentary failure.

Surface EMG (sEMG) has been used to compare loading conditions during exercise. Studies often explore mean/median frequencies. This potentially misses more nuanced electrophysiological differences between exercise tasks.

Correlation between measured and predicted mismatch with valve hemodynamics in transcatheter aortic valve replacement: A sex-based analysis.

Background: Data regarding the reliability of predicted effective orifice area indexed (pEOAi) is scarce in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Aims: To assess the validity of the pEOAi in TAVR by correlating its value with echocardiography-derived hemodynamic data.

Methods: A single-center retrospective cohort study of TAVR patients from 2012 to 2021 with available echocardiograms was conducted.

The Use of Three-Dimensional Printing in Cardiac Structural Disease: A Review.

Objective: Three-dimensional printing (3DP), or additive fabrication, is a process in which a physical 3D model is created using a multitude of 2-dimensional images. This process has been applied to numerous surgical subspecialties with growing interest for the use of 3DP in adult structural heart disease. This scoping review evaluates the use of 3DP in transcatheter and surgical aortic and mitral valve interventions as well as left atrial appendage occlusion in terms of its practical and clinical application.

Formative evaluation of a STEAM and nutrition education summer program for low-income youth.

In-depth formative evaluations are vital for curriculum development and program planning but are often not conducted before a program pilots. A formative evaluation of Project stRIde was conducted to gain insight from experts and identify revisions to the curriculum. Project stRIde is a science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) and nutrition-based curriculum developed for 4th and 5th grade students from low-income and diverse families.

Development and validation of the ASKFV-SE tool to measure children's self-efficacy for requesting fruits and vegetables.

The aim of the present study was to develop the ASKFV-SE tool to measure self-efficacy (SE) towards requesting fruits and vegetables (FV) in the home and school environment with school-age children (grades 4-5) from urban, ethnically diverse, low-income households. Cognitive interviews reduced the tool from eleven items to seven. The 7-item questionnaire was tested with 444 children.

Closing the door in front of a torrential mitral regurgitation.

Background: Treatment of symptomatic severe mitral regurgitation (MR) is challenging in patients who are not candidates for surgical intervention.

Case Description: We report the case of a 64-year-old female with multiple comorbidities who was found to have severe MR due to a large mitral valve non coaptation.

Conclusions: In this case report, we show the potential of transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair using MitraClip for the treatment of torrential MR due to a large mitral valve non-coaptation in a patient with no prior history of coronary artery disease and in whom surgical intervention was not an option.

Transcatheter occlusion of a left ventricular outflow tract pseudoaneurysm using a "plug and coil" strategy.

Left ventricular outflow tract pseudoaneurysm is a rare and potentially fatal complication of aortic valve replacement. Surgical repair is the most common treatment and is particularly suitable for large pseudoaneurysms. Recently, there has been significant breakthroughs in the management of postoperative pseudoaneurysms via endovascular techniques.

First-in-Human Experience With the ModulHeart Device for Mechanical Circulatory Support and Renal Perfusion.

Background: ModulHeart (Puzzle Medical Devices Inc) is a modular device providing hemodynamic support through 3 endovascular pumps inserted in series and assembled in parallel into a self-expandable anchor implanted in the descending aorta. The current study evaluates the feasibility and safety of cardiorenal support with ModulHeart among patients undergoing high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: This study was a prospective, single-center, first-in-human study.

Long-term effect of field triage on times to endovascular treatment for emergent large vessel occlusion.

Background: Delays to endovascular therapy (EVT) for stroke may be mitigated with direct field triage to EVT centers. We sought to compare times to treatment over a 5.5 year span between two adjacent states, one with field triage and one without, served by a single comprehensive stroke center (CSC).

Tabu search for a parallel-machine scheduling problem with periodic maintenance, job rejection and weighted sum of completion times.

We consider in this work a bicriteria scheduling problem on two different parallel machines with a periodic preventive maintenance policy. The two objectives considered involve minimization of job rejection costs and weighted sum of completion times. They are handled through a lexicographic approach, due to a natural hierarchy among the two objectives in the applications considered.

A design tool to estimate maximum acceptable manual arm forces for above-shoulder work.

There is a need for design criteria for above-shoulder work to prevent shoulder fatigue and supraspinatus injuries. A tool is developed to estimate maximum acceptable manual arm forces for above-shoulder work based on 25th % female strength with adjustments for supraspinatus tendon impingement and shoulder fatigue. The tool equations are presented along with tables of maximum acceptable manual arm forces in 77 locations in the 3 D space above the shoulder that accommodates a 50th % female reach.

Sleeping through a Lockdown: How Adolescents and Young Adults Struggle with Lifestyle and Sleep Habits Upheaval during a Pandemic.

Objectives: The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between chronotype, lifestyle habits during the pandemic, and changes in sleep timing during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in youth.

Method: An online survey of adolescents and young adults (N = 449) was conducted in June 2020. Multivariate hierarchical regressions assessed the contribution of chronotype and changes in lifestyle habits to sleep timing during the COVID-19 pandemic in two age groups (12 to 17 years old and 18 to 25 years old).

Dr. Richard C. Nelson: An Important Multigenerational Father of Biomechanics.

Dr. Richard Nelson is internationally acknowledged in many countries as an extremely important leader in the emergence of biomechanics of human movement as a respected scientific discipline. As his PhD graduates, and, subsequently, their graduates, have become faculty members at many universities, Dr.

Does "Obesity Paradox" Apply for Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement?

Background: Data is controversial regarding the existence of an "obesity paradox" in patients undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). We sought to investigate the prognostic value of the body mass index (BMI) on outcomes following TAVR.

Methods: This is an observational, single-center study involving all patients who underwent TAVR from 2009 to 2019.

Percutaneous Treatment of Concomitant Severe Aortic Stenosis and Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm.

Purpose: Although rare in occurrence, symptomatic severe aortic stenosis and large thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) found in combination pose a real therapeutic challenge, especially in elderly frail patients. Surgical approaches for combined treatment are complex and at high risk of complications while staged procedures carry the risk of an unfavorable evolution of the condition temporarily left untreated. Minimally invasive approaches may therefore prove a more suitable strategy for these patients.

Challenging Diagnosis of Patent Foramen Ovale in Presence of a Large Eustachian Valve.

We report the case of a 39-year-old woman who presented with cryptogenic stroke. Conventional and contrast echocardiography modalities noticed a large Eustachian valve (EV) but failed to identify any right-to-left shunt. Conversely, contrast-transcranial Doppler revealed a grade 3 right-to-left shunt.