Antenatal diagnosis of intrauterine infection with coxsackievirus B3 associated with live birth.

BACKGROUND: Prior reported cases of stillbirth and neonates infected with enteroviruses suggest transplacental infection. We present a case of fetal infection with coxsackievirus B3, diagnosed antenatally and resulting in live birth. CASE: A pregnant woman presented at 26 weeks with fetal tachycardia and non-immune hydrops fetalis. Coxsackievirus B3 was cultured from amniotic fluid. Maternal antibody to coxsackievirus B3 was positive at 1:512. At 32 weeks, the fetus deteriorated and was delivered. Cord blood antibody to coxsackievirus B3 was positive at a higher titer. Following neonatal death, brain and placental tissues were positive for enterovirus ribonucleic acid by polymerase chain reaction. CONCLUSION: Intrauterine infection by enteroviruses should be considered in the differential diagnosis of non-immune hydrops fetalis. Antenatal diagnosis of coxsackievirus B3 infection is associated with poor outcome

Detecting Female and Male Language Features in Facebook Comments by Malaysian Millennial Users

This study examines gendered language use in Facebook comments by Malaysian millennial users. Textual analysis was conducted on 260 Facebook comments collected from 11 Facebook social pages. Sixty participants’ reasons for identifying the gender of the writers of 14 Facebook comments were also analyzed. The results showed that half of the participants could correctly guess the writers’ gender. The Facebook comments showed more frequent use of male than female language features. The male millennial users were inclined towards using Sexual References, Insults/Profanities, Directive/Autonomy, Strong Assertion, and Rhetorical Questions. The females, however, were inclined towards using Hedges, Polite and Emotionally Expressive Words, Interpersonally Orientation/Supportiveness, Questions, and Experience Sharing. From the participants’ perspective, male writing is short, direct, rude, negative, and crude, while female writing is lengthy, tentative, polite, positive, emotional, and reflects concern for others. The non-gender specific language features identified from textual analysis are Information Orientation, Apologies, Tag Questions, and Aligned Orientation, but different features were given by the participants (Questions, Rhetorical Questions, and Strong Assertion). The study also shows that Information Orientation, Self-Promotion, Sexual Reference, Opposed Orientation, Hedges, Apologies and Tag Questions may be falling into disuse among Malaysian millennials in Facebook comments. The findings suggest that language patterns used by Malaysian millennials deviate from conventional norms, with some comments displaying cross-gender language patterns. This indicates a blurring of conventional gender language norms in online interactions

Aligning Interdisciplinary Healthcare Team Behavior with Workflow Execution: An Example of a Radical Prostatectomy Workflow

Operationalizing care delivery through an interdisciplinary healthcare team (IHT) requires knowledge about the overall structure of an IHT and the behavioral rules that "control" the dynamics of this structure interpreted as team and clinical leadership maintenance and task allocation. While progress has been made in understanding IHT structure, there is less work on the behavioral aspects of an IHT associated with its dynamics. In this paper we fill this void by extending our Team and Workflow Management Framework (TWMF) with a set of rules to operationalize IHT behavior in terms of clinical leadership, coordination of workflow execution over multiple days as part of continuity of care, and management of tasks, including urgent ones that prevent planned workflow execution. We briefly describe a proof-of-concept implementation of extended TWMF in the form of a computer system for supporting cooperative execution of clinical workflows by an IHT. The system is built on top of an existing business workflow execution engine and employs behavioral rules to control the IHT behavior. We also illustrate the operations of TWMF in a case study where an IHT is executing a workflow for the management of post-operative inpatient recovery after radical prostatectomy

Imaging the Mechanics and Electromechanics of the Heart

Abstract-The heart is a mechanical pump that is electrically driven. We have previously shown that the contractility of the cardiac muscle can reliably be used in order to assess the extent of ischemia using myocardial elastography. Myocardial elastography estimates displacement and strain during the natural contraction of the myocardium using signal processing techniques on echocardiograms in order to assess the change in mechanical properties as a result of disease. In this paper, we showed that elastographic techniques can be used to estimate and image both the mechanics and electromechanics of normal and pathological hearts in vivo. In order to image the mechanics throughout the entire cardiac cycle, the minimum frame rate was determined to be on the order of 150 fps in a long-axis view and 300 fps in a short-axis view. The incremental and cumulative displacement and strains were measured and imaged for the characterization of normal function and differentiation from infracted myocardium. In order to image the electromechanical function, the incremental displacement was imaged in consecutive cardiac cycles during end-systole in both dogs and humans. The contraction wave velocity in normal dogs was found to be twice higher than in normal humans and twice lower than in ischemic dogs. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that elastographic techniques can be used to detect and quantify the mechanics and electromechanics of the myocardium in vivo. Ongoing investigations entail assessment of myocardial elastography in characterizing and quantifying ischemia and infarction in vivo

Conceptual and practical challenges for implementing the communities of practice model on a national scale - a Canadian cancer control initiative

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cancer program delivery, like the rest of health care in Canada, faces two ongoing challenges: to coordinate a pan-Canadian approach across complex provincial jurisdictions, and to facilitate the rapid translation of knowledge into clinical practice. Communities of practice, or CoPs, which have been described by Etienne Wenger as a collaborative learning platform, represent a promising solution to these challenges because they rely on bottom-up rather than top-down social structures for integrating knowledge and practice across regions and agencies. The communities of practice model has been realized in the corporate (e.g., Royal Dutch Shell, Xerox, IBM, etc) and development (e.g., World Bank) sectors, but its application to health care is relatively new. The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC) is exploring the potential of Wenger's concept in the Canadian health care context. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of Wenger's concept with a focus on its applicability to the health care sector.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Empirical studies and social science theory are used to examine the utility of Wenger's concept. Its value lies in emphasizing learning from peers and through practice in settings where innovation is valued. Yet the communities of practice concept lacks conceptual clarity because Wenger defines it so broadly and sidelines issues of decision making within CoPs. We consider the implications of his broad definition to establishing an informed nomenclature around this specific type of collaborative group. The CoP Project under CPAC and communities of practice in Canadian health care are discussed.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>The use of communities of practice in Canadian health care has been shown in some instances to facilitate quality improvements, encourage buy in among participants, and generate high levels of satisfaction with clinical leadership and knowledge translation among participating physicians. Despite these individual success stories, more information is required on how group decisions are made and applied to the practice world in order to leverage the potential of Wenger's concept more fully, and advance the science of knowledge translation within an accountability framework.</p

MILLENNIALS’ PERCEPTIONS OF GENDERED LANGUAGE FEATURES OF FACEBOOK COMMUNICATION

The study examined millennials’ perceptions of gendered language features in Facebook communication. A total of 60 millennials were presented with samples of Facebook messages and asked to guess the gender of the writer, and to give reasons for identifying the writer as female or male. The results showed that the participants correctly guessed the gender of 71.43% out of 14 Facebook commenters. The main markers of male language features are harsh language, straightforward and shorter comment length, certain topics of discussions, word choice, and social role. The harsh language refers to rough, animal references, and cursing. Male word choice is inclined towards negativity. On the other hand, the main markers of female language features are giving advice, longer comments, presence of emotions, supportiveness, soft spokenness, word choice and feminine topics of discussion. Female word choice is reflected in use of words like “whatever”, certain modifications of spellings and use of selected swear words. The findings indicate distinctions between female and male language features in face-to-face communication which have persisted through time and are carried into the context of social media communication