Reflections on the mission(s) to capture the ‘reader’ and ‘book’ in southern African art

This article presents some early reflections from a cultural historical project on the visualisation of reading practices. The focus is limited to images of people reading. The pervasiveness of such images in popular visual culture is illustrated, and how this relates to the established tradition amongst Western artists to paint the image of the reader. A number of scholars have contributed to the image of the reader in art as a field of study, all confirming the particular significance of depicting woman readers in Western art. The current investigation asks how, from our vantage point in the South, the representation, or non-representation, of readers in Africa, specifically southern Africa, stands within, or in opposition to, or in conversation with, the canonised tradition in Western art. The appropriation and negation of Western artistic conventions in the popular proliferation of visual images are also being considered. For the South African discussion, the artist Gerhard Sekoto is highlighted, and some of the contexts which helped shape his visualisations of people reading are being traced.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcrc202016-04-30hb201

TransRadial Education And Therapeutics (TREAT): shifting the balance of safety and efficacy of antithrombotic agents in percutaneous coronary intervention: a report from the Cardiac Safety Research Consortium

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is an integral part of the treatment of coronary artery disease. The most common complication of PCI, bleeding, typically occurs at the vascular access site and is associated with short-term and long-term morbidity and mortality. Periprocedural bleeding also represents the primary safety concern of concomitant antithrombotic therapies essential for PCI success. Use of radial access for PCI reduces procedural bleeding and hence may change the risk profile and net clinical benefit of these drugs. This new drug-device safety interaction creates opportunities to advance the safe and effective use of antithrombotic agents during PCI. In June 2010 and March 2011, leaders from government, academia, professional societies, device manufacturing, and pharmaceutical industries convened for 2 think tank meetings. Titled TREAT I and II, these forums examined approaches to improve the overall safety of PCI by optimizing strategies for antithrombotic drug use and radial artery access. This article summarizes the content and proceedings of these sessions. (Am Heart J 2013;165:344-353.e1.