The Value of Community-Based Ethnic Archives: A Resource in Development

Archives are entrusted with the difficult task of capturing the nation's history. Obtaining an accurate reflection of a diverse nation through the documentary evidence they choose to retain is a great challenge. For much of its history, Canada's National Archive has concentrated its collecting efforts on documenting an Anglo-French perspective of Canadian history. This has resulted in a lack of archival heritage of Canada's more marginalized groups in society including women and first nations people. The group that this thesis addresses is that of Canada's ethnic communities. Ethnic people did not see their experiences and contributions to Canada reflected in the nation's heritage. Therefore, many groups took it upon themselves to establish their own archival repositories. Those early efforts met with difficulties including lack of resources and professional knowledge. The introduction of federal multicultural policy served as a catalyst for the growth of ethnic-run archives in Canada. The Canadian Jewish Congress National Archives serves as a working example of the evolution of a community-based ethnic archives. As well, two surveys were conducted in order to better understand the beginnings, evolution and persistence of the country's ethnic archives. These surveys, and the associated literature review, demonstrate some of the most valuable uses and potential applications of ethnic archival materials. This thesis extols the value of Canada's ethnic-run archives in this perod of government austerity.Master of Arts in Archival Studie

What is considered to be emotional suffering by psychotherapy patients and their therapists in Eastern versus Western Germany? : A mixed-methods study

PURPOSE This study examined what aspects of life in Eastern and Western Germany are considered by patients, therapists and society to cause (or indicate) emotional suffering so that outpatient psychotherapy is sought and warranted. METHODS In Germany, psychotherapy is covered by health insurance after patients submit an application accompanied by a written report from the therapist. We took a random sample of such applications and performed a qualitative text analysis of the reports, identifying all text units where some form of emotional suffering, distress or handicap was described. A coding system was developed based on the units, and all units were subsequently coded. The proportion of units per category was compared between reports from Western and Eastern Germany using chi-square tests. RESULTS Out of 500 randomly selected reports, 25 were from Eastern Germany. An age- and sex-matched sample from Western Germany was added. From these 50 reports, a total of 716 text units describing some form of emotional suffering were extracted (359 units from reports from Eastern Germany and 357 from Western Germany). Thirteen categories of emotional suffering emerged. In Eastern Germany, emotional suffering was considerably more frequently described in terms of somatic symptoms and in feeling nervous and tense. Patients from Western Germany were more often described as feeling depressed and hopeless, helpless, anxious and without drive (ϕ = 0.19, p = .02). CONCLUSION There is evidence that there are differences between Eastern and Western Germany in how emotional suffering is expressed and/or described

Hidden racism and systematic racism: is it contributing to the decreased health and well-being of Aboriginal homeless persons in the inner city of Cairns?

The presence of chronic rough sleeping Aboriginal persons in the Cairns inner city has been an ongoing issue for decades. Differing approaches have been taken to address this issue, including the 'hard approach' (zero tolerance) and the 'soft approach' (self-determination). However neither of these approaches has succeeded and have only served to perpetuate and escalate the problem. The complexity of the issue of long-term rough sleepers is further exacerbated by hidden racism and systemic racism which is underpinned by issues such as culture and the polemic divides that separate the service approaches to addressing this issue. Ultimately, the health and well-being of Aboriginal rough sleepers in Cairns is worsening and their quality of life is declining due to this unseen and incalculable racism. Of critical importance to their decreasing health and well-being is how their basic human needs are not being met due to the underlying racism that confounds it. This paper seeks to identify the issues of hidden racism and systemic racism among the Cairns inner city Aboriginal rough sleepers and explanations of hidden and systemic racism are offered and how this contributes to the decline in their health and well-being

Sputum neutrophils as a biomarker in COPD: findings from the ECLIPSE study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The percentage of neutrophils in sputum are increased in COPD patients, and may therefore be a biomarker of airway inflammation. We studied the relationships between sputum neutrophils and FEV₁, health status, exacerbation rates, systemic inflammation and emphysema, and long term variability at 1 year.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Sputum samples were obtained from 488 COPD patients within the ECLIPSE cohort. 359 samples were obtained at baseline, and 297 after 1 year. 168 subjects provided samples at both visits. Serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, surfactant protein D and C-reactive protein levels were measured by immunoassays. Low-dose CT scans evaluated emphysema.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sputum neutrophil % increased with GOLD stage. There was a weak association between % sputum neutrophils and FEV₁% predicted (univariate r²= 0.025 and 0.094 at baseline and year 1 respectively, p < 0.05 after multivariate regression). Similar weak but significant associations were observed between neutrophil % and health status measured using the St Georges Respiratory Questionairre. There were no associations between neutrophils and exacerbation rates or emphysema. Associations between sputum neutrophils and systemic biomarkers were non-significant or similarly weak. The mean change over 1 year in neutrophil % was an increase of 3.5%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sputum neutrophil measurements in COPD are associated weakly with FEV₁% predicted and health status. Sputum neutrophil measurements were dissociated from exacerbation rates, emphysema and systemic inflammation.</p

Recommendations for Landslide Early Warning Systems in Informal Settlements Based on a Case Study in Medellín, Colombia

Fatalities from landslides are rising worldwide, especially in cities in mountainous regions, which often expand into the steep slopes surrounding them. For residents, often those living in poor neighborhoods and informal settlements, integrated landslide early warning systems (LEWS) can be a viable solution, if they are affordable and easily replicable. We developed a LEWS in Medellín, Colombia, which can be applied in such semi-urban situations. All the components of the LEWS, from hazard and risk assessment, to the monitoring system and the reaction capacity, were developed with and supported by all local stakeholders, including local authorities, agencies, NGO’s, and especially the local community, in order to build trust. It was well integrated into the social structure of the neighborhood, while still delivering precise and dense deformation and trigger measurements. A prototype was built and installed in a neighborhood in Medellín in 2022, comprising a dense network of line and point measurements and gateways. The first data from the measurement system are now available and allow us to define initial thresholds, while more data are being collected to allow for automatic early warning in the future. All the newly developed knowledge, from sensor hardware and software to installation manuals, has been compiled on a wiki-page, to facilitate replication by people in other parts of the world. According to our experience of the installation, we give recommendations for the implementation of LEWSs in similar areas, which can hopefully stimulate a lively exchange between researchers and other stakeholders who want to use, modify, and replicate our system

Effect of Diabetes and Glycemic Control on&nbsp;Ischemic Stroke Risk in AF Patients ATRIA Study

BackgroundDiagnosed diabetes mellitus (DM) is a consistently documented risk factor for ischemic stroke in patients&nbsp;with atrial fibrillation (AF).ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to assess the association between duration of diabetes and elevated hemoglobin&nbsp;A1c (HbA1c) with risk of stroke among diabetic patients with AF.MethodsWe assessed this association in the ATRIA (Anticoagulation and Risk Factors in Atrial Fibrillation) California community-based cohort of AF patients (study years 1996 to 2003) where all events were clinician adjudicated. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate the rate of ischemic stroke in diabetic patients according to time-varying measures of estimated duration of diabetes (≥3 years compared with&nbsp;&lt;3 years) and HbA1c values (≥9.0% and 7.0% to 8.9% compared with&nbsp;&lt;7.0%), focusing on periods where patients were not anticoagulated.ResultsThere were 2,101 diabetic patients included in the duration analysis: 40% with duration&nbsp;&lt;3 years and 60%&nbsp;with duration&nbsp;≥3 years at baseline. Among 1,933 diabetic patients included in the HbA1c analysis, 46% had HbA1c&nbsp;&lt;7.0%, 36% between 7.0% and 8.9%, and 19%&nbsp;≥9.0% at baseline. Duration of diabetes&nbsp;≥3 years was associated with an increased rate of ischemic stroke compared with duration&nbsp;&lt;3 years (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.74, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.10 to 2.76). The increased stroke rate was observed in older (age&nbsp;≥75 years) and younger (age&nbsp;&lt;75 years) individuals. Neither poor glycemic control (HbA1c&nbsp;≥9.0%, adjusted HR: 1.04, 95% CI: 0.57 to 1.92) nor moderately increased HbA1c (7.0% to 8.9%, adjusted HR: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.77 to 1.91) were significantly associated with an increased rate of ischemic stroke compared with patients who had HbA1c&nbsp;&lt;7.0%.ConclusionsDuration of diabetes is a more important predictor of ischemic stroke than glycemic control in patients who have diabetes and AF

Feasibility of Virtual Assessment of Physical Frailty in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients – A Single Centre, Observational Study

Objectives: To describe the feasibility of virtual assessments of physical frailty in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients using a modified Fried Frailty Index (mFFI) and Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), and to describe the prevalence of frailty 12-months post-transplant using virtual assessment. Methods: Virtual assessments were performed using an e-questionnaire and a video-call for functional tests. Feasibility variables included: internet quality, video-call duration, presence of a companion, and adverse events. Results: 34 SOT recipients, median age 62 (46-67), 76% lung recipients, 47% female, were included. The video-call had a median duration of 12 minutes (10-15 min), without adverse events. A companion was present in 23 (68%) video-call assessments. Fifteen SOT recipients (44%) were classified as pre-frail by the mFFI, and none were frail. Three participants (8.8%) were classified as frail using the SPPB. Conclusion: Virtual frailty assessments can be used as an alternative to in-person assessments in SOT recipients