Cyborg heart: The affective apparatus of bodily production of ICD patients

We argue that a cyborg approach both emphasizes the complexity in treating patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) attached to home monitoring devices, and makes it possible to decipher modern perspectives in the notion of ‘Patient 2.0’ and other representations of patients. We attempt to open up the notion of Patient 2.0 exemplified by ICD patients by drawing on the cyborg idea as developed by Donna Haraway as well as her understanding of science and the body as an apparatus of bodily production. We include the feminists Rosi Braidotti, Anne Balsamo, Geoff Bowker, and Leigh Star in discussing the cyborg, its infrastructures and affective potentials. We analyse modern imaginaries of remote monitoring as they are portrayed on the websites of the two largest manufacturers of ICD technologies, and based on an analysis of the apparatus of bodily production involved when patients visit a hospital to have their illness monitored we propose the analytical device cyborg heart to capture an affective apparatus of bodily production in the clinic and the idea of an enlarged sense of community as opposed to modern imaginaries of patient empowerment. Finally we discuss how the device cyborg heart differs from the notion logic of care

Information Technology and Politics of Incorporation

Information technologies (IT) have become a politically important issue over the last ten years. Governmental reports promote the idea of a new information society, or network society, where ITs are a prerequisite for the economic and social development. The discourse and the rhetoric about technology and its relation to society are dominated by modern, rational and macrosocial understandings of technology. In this paper we challenge dominant rational discourses on technology and present alternative views to bring new perspectives to the subject in order to complicate and enrich our understanding of technology and how it relates to society. Our aim is to develop a theoretical framework that can account for a dynamic and microsocial approach to studying the implementation of an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) at a Danish hospital. The key notions in the framework are 'trading zone', 'cooperation' and 'technological translations'

Infeksjoner med parasitten Nucleospora cyclopteri (Microsporidia) i rognkjeks, Cyclopterus lumpus

Source at https://www.vetinst.no/rapporter-og-publikasjoner/rapporter/2019/infeksjoner-med-parasitten-nucleospora-cyclopteri-microsporidia-i-rognkjeks-cyclopterus-lumpus.Nucleospora cyclopteri (Microsporidia) is one of many parasites infecting lumpfish, Cyclopterus lumpus, and has been shown to cause disease and mortality in lumpfish. Infections in fish are often multifactorial and the impact of one agent on the development of disease can be difficult to elucidate. In addition to mortality, infections in lumpfish can lead to diseases with subsequently lowered appetite. This is of particular importance since lumpfish are used as a biological control agent, eating salmon lice, Lepeophtherius salmonis, off the salmon. Knowledge on the different disease agents of lumpfish is therefore of utmost importance. The main aim of this project was to identify how to obtain an infection-free lumpfish in land-based hatcheries and to study the impact that N. cyclopteri has on the health of the lumpfish and thereby its effect as a biological control agent. The project therefore aimed to map the presence of N. cyclopteri and other disease agents in wild caught lumpfish and in eggs/sperm, in fry and in farmed lumpfish stocked in the sea. In addition, we wanted to study the transmission pathways and clinical significance of the parasite. Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain a group of lumpfish fry infected with N. cyclopteri that we intended to follow through the land phase. The study of pathogenesis, infection dynamics, or whether an infection with N. cyclopteri pre-disposes for secondary infections, was therefore abandoned. We studied the presence of co-infections, methods for optimal sampling and tissue tropism in wild caught lumpfish in this project. Nucleospora cyclopteri was present in 60% of the sampled individuals from the waters around Averøy, in county Møre og Romsdal. The fish were analysed with regard to a range of infectious agents (viruses, bacteria and parasites) commonly found in other fish species, or previously recorded in lumpfish. No viral agents or other important pathogens were detected, but supposedly nonpathogenic microparasites, like Kudoa islandica (Myxozoa) in the muscle tissue and coccidians in the intestine, were frequently found. Nucleospora cyclopteri was detected in all tissues examined: anterior, mid and posterior kidney, spleen, heart, gills, brain, muscle liver and blood, thus indicating that the infection is systemic. The density of N. cyclopteri was highest in the anterior kidney, followed by mid and posterior kidney, spleen and gills, while the prevalence was highest in the ventricle of the heart. Observations from this study indicate that the parasite is released through urine and bile. We also show that N. cyclopteri can be detected using swabs from the skin, gill and vent, and by blood samples and gill biopsies, thus demonstrating the possibility of non-lethal detection of N. cyclopteri in lumpfish. Amongst these, the most promising non-lethal samples for detection were gill biopsies and leukocyte fractions from blood samples. Images normal histology and pathological agents from this project is included in an openly available online image database. This image database can be accessed by diagnosticians and researchers and used when evaluating pathological findings in lumpfish. While vertical transmission cannot be excluded, the results from this project indicate that this is not the dominant route. It is in any case advisable to routinely screen broodfish for N. cyclopteri to avoid using positive individuals for the production of eggs and fry. Given that N. cyclopteri undoubtedly destroys leukocytes in high numbers and over large areas of tissue, it is reasonable to assume that the parasite has an effect on the immune competence of the fish

Årbog for kvindestudier ved AUC 1984, Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag, 1984, 234 s., 128,00kr.

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Køn i cyberspace

The article suggests that questions of sex/gender and advanced information technologies can be addressed through the concept it encircles prevaling discourses about sex/gender and technology and analyses the mertaphor of cyberspece within the context of a genealogical approach to the history of information. Furthermore Donna Haraway's cyborg metaphor introduses as an instance of feminist metaphorical work and the article seeks from prevailing discourses about technology. Finally it shortly decodes the rhetoric of the Danish information society report enlightened by a 'sense of cyborg'

Du stylo à l'ordinateur : la médication comme pratique sociotechnique

From pen to computer: writing medicine as a sociotechnical practice This paper is devoted to the analysis of what may appear at first glance as a micro-innovation in the field of medical information technology, i.e. the implementation of an electronic medication module in a Danish hospital. Drawing upon a careful semiotic analysis of the module and its use, we show that, even in this case, in order to get the module functionning correctly and to perform the simplification work it has been designed for, it implies a whole set of local transformations, ranging from transformations in the knowledge and practices of the various actors implied in the tasks it is supposed to coordinate, to transformations in the relationships between these actors and even to transformations into patients' life.Résumé. Cet article est consacré à l'analyse de ce qui pourrait apparaître à première vue comme une micro-innovation dans le domaine de l'informatique médicale, à savoir l'introduction, dans un hôpital danois, d'un module électronique destiné à la prescription médicamenteuse. En nous appuyant sur une analyse sémiotique fouillée du module et de ses usages, nous montrons que, même dans ce cas, pour que le module puisse fonctionner correctement et remplir son objectif de simplification, il est nécessaire que soient accomplies toute une série de transformations locales : ces transformations concernent aussi bien les savoirs et les pratiques mis en œuvre par l'ensemble des professionnels impliqués dans les tâches coordonnées par le module que les relations entre ces professionnels jusqu'à la vie même des patients.De la lapicera a la computadora : la medicación como práctica socio-técnica Este artículo está consagrado al análisis de lo podría parecer a primera vista una micro-innovación en el terreno de la informática médica, es decir, la introducción, en un hospital dinamarqués, de un módulo electrónico destinado a la prescripción de medicamentos. Apoyándonos en un análisis semiótico minucioso del módulo y de sus utilizaciones, mostramos que aún en este caso, para que el módulo pueda funcionar correctamente y cumplir con su objetivo de simplificactóon, es necesario que se realicen toda una série de transformaciones locales : estas transformaciones conciernen los conocimientos y las prácticas empleadas por el conjunto de los profesionales implicados en las tareas coordinadas por el módulo, las relaciones entre los profesionales y aún la vida misma de los pacientes.Olesen Finn, Markussen Randi. Du stylo à l'ordinateur : la médication comme pratique sociotechnique. In: Sciences sociales et santé. Volume 22, n°1, 2004. Les technologies de l'information à l'épreuve des pratiques, sous la direction de Madeleine Akrich, Cécile Méadel, Janine Pierret et Vololona Rabeharisoa. pp. 69-94