Person-First Language: Does it Matter when Describing Persons Who Sexually Offended?

Negative community attitudes towards persons who have sexually offended may be detrimental to community reintegration. Poor community reintegration is a problem as it is linked to various factors that increase the likelihood that a released person convicted of a sexual offense will commit another crime in the future. Past literature has found that the ‘sex offender’ label serves to exacerbate negative perceptions through perpetuating stereotypes that include ‘all persons who sexually offend are dangerous and incurable.’ Person-first language has begun to replace labels as a means to put the person before the behaviour and lessen the immediate negative response. The aim of this study was to test whether person-first language could result in less negative perceptions made about a fictitious person being released into the community following a conviction for sexual offending. Two hundred and ninety one Canadian participants read one of eight randomly assigned public announcement vignettes and then proceeded to answer questions regarding their perceptions of persons who sexually offend. The results indicate that the Canadian participants continued to endorse negative perceptions of the population irrespective of the label used, suggesting that the labels were not perceived differently. However, when a person-first label was compared to ‘rapist,’ and ‘pedophile,’ participants reported less negative perceptions pertaining to treatment amenability. Implications for how information is disseminated by the media to the public will be discussed. Discipline: Psychology (Honours) Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jun

Paediatric ovarian torsion: a case report and review of literature

Ovarian torsion is a surgical emergency, can result in ovarian loss, intra-abdominal infection and even death. Paediatric ovarian torsion is a rare condition, requires high clinical suspicion and prompt diagnosis. Diagnosis is a challenge since signs and symptoms are similar to those of other causes of acute abdominal pain such as appendicitis, gastroenteritis, urinary tract infection, renal colic or other conditions of acute abdominal and pelvic pain. Here, authors describe a case of a 4-year-old girl with a presentation of acute abdominal pain, treated empirically elsewhere. After investigations, a provisional diagnosis of ovarian torsion was made and patient was taken up for surgery. Intraoperatively, ovary was found to be necrosed. Detorsion was tried but ovary was unsalvageable. Right sided salpingectomy with oophorectomy was performed. Conservative surgery by laparoscopic detorsion can be tried in cases of ischemia but if necrosis has already set in, then salpingo-oophorectomy has to be performed

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) excess mortality outcomes associated with pandemic effects study (COPES): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and aimWith the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continuing to impact healthcare systems around the world, healthcare providers are attempting to balance resources devoted to COVID-19 patients while minimizing excess mortality overall (both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients). To this end, we conducted a systematic review (SR) to describe the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on all-cause excess mortality (COVID-19 and non-COVID-19) during the pandemic timeframe compared to non-pandemic times.MethodsWe searched EMBASE, Cochrane Database of SRs, MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CENTRAL), from inception (1948) to December 31, 2020. We used a two-stage review process to screen/extract data. We assessed risk of bias using Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). We used Critical Appraisal and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology.ResultsOf 11,581 citations, 194 studies met eligibility. Of these studies, 31 had mortality comparisons (n = 433,196,345 participants). Compared to pre-pandemic times, during the COVID-19 pandemic, our meta-analysis demonstrated that COVID-19 mortality had an increased risk difference (RD) of 0.06% (95% CI: 0.06–0.06% p < 0.00001). All-cause mortality also increased [relative risk (RR): 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.38–1.70, p < 0.00001] alongside non-COVID-19 mortality (RR: 1.18, 1.07–1.30, p < 0.00001). There was “very low” certainty of evidence through GRADE assessment for all outcomes studied, demonstrating the evidence as uncertain.InterpretationThe COVID-19 pandemic may have caused significant increases in all-cause excess mortality, greater than those accounted for by increases due to COVID-19 mortality alone, although the evidence is uncertain.Systematic review registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/#recordDetails], identifier [CRD42020201256]

Evaluating the utility of person-first language to reduce bias and stigma towards perpetrators of sexual offences.

Community attitudes towards persons that have committed sexual offences can have an impact on treatment effectiveness and community reintegration.  The label ‘sex offender’ is highly stigmatized and is associated with many misconceptions that stereotypes them all as being equally untreatable and at a high risk to reoffend.  Such associations may impact decision-making and increase support for ill-informed legislation.  This leads to barriers for released perpetrators of sexual violence to effectively reintegrate and thus increase their risk to reoffend.  Person-first language has begun to replace labels as a means to put the person before the behaviour to lessen stigma and discrimination.  Therefore, the present study aims to explore whether person-first language results in more informed decision-making through reducing stigmatization.  Using online crowdsourcing, adult Canadian participants will be recruited and administered one of six public announcement vignettes that will all be identical except for the type of label used and the victim’s age.  This study will be measuring decisions that underlie: punitive attitudes, perceived treatment amenability, recidivism, and how willing the participant is to have a released individual live in their neighbourhood. We suspect that those in the person-first conditions will answer in a more neutral manner compared to those in the label groups.  Additionally, label groups will be further split into ‘diagnostic’ (i.e., pedophile, sexual sadist) or ‘offence’ labels (i.e., child molester, rapist). If these labels negatively influence perceptions, then these findings would demonstrate a justification for change to person-first language in legislation and media when discussing sexual offending. Discipline: Psychology Honours Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jun

Vasoprotective Functions of High-Density Lipoproteins Relevant to Alzheimer’s Disease Are Partially Conserved in Apolipoprotein B-Depleted Plasma

High-density lipoproteins (HDL) are known to have vasoprotective functions in peripheral arteries and many of these functions extend to brain-derived endothelial cells. Importantly, several novel brain-relevant HDL functions have been discovered using brain endothelial cells and in 3D bioengineered human arteries. The cerebrovascular benefits of HDL in healthy humans may partly explain epidemiological evidence suggesting a protective association of circulating HDL levels against Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) risk. As several methods exist to prepare HDL from plasma, here we compared cerebrovascular functions relevant to AD using HDL isolated by density gradient ultracentrifugation relative to apoB-depleted plasma prepared by polyethylene-glycol precipitation, a common high-throughput method to evaluate HDL cholesterol efflux capacity in clinical biospecimens. We found that apoB-depleted plasma was functionally equivalent to HDL isolated by ultracentrifugation in terms of its ability to reduce vascular Aβ accumulation, suppress TNFα-induced vascular inflammation and delay Aβ fibrillization. However, only HDL isolated by ultracentrifugation was able to suppress Aβ-induced vascular inflammation, improve Aβ clearance, and induce endothelial nitric oxide production.Medicine, Faculty ofOther UBCPathology and Laboratory Medicine, Department ofReviewedFacult