Local Protest and Resistance to the Rupert Diversion Project, Northern Quebec

This article examines various political strategies employed by Nemaska Crees in northern Quebec to defend their land and way of life against the EM-1-A& Rupert Diversion Project. Notwithstanding the regional Cree leadership’s endorsement of the project and the ambivalence of the majority of the local community toward the project, a local resistance group composed of committed individuals from the Nemaska Cree community demonstrated a remarkable capacity to engage in a range of political strategies to voice their opposition to the hydroelectric expansion project. Although construction of the project is now underway, our findings affirm the role and significance of individuals and organizations operating at the local level in articulating and framing efforts to enhance local empowerment and governance and respond to the ecological degradation imposed by large-scale industrial development on the “local.”Le présent article examine diverses stratégies politiques employées par les Cris de Nemaska du nord du Québec dans le but de défendre leur territoire et leur mode de vie contre le Projet de l’Eastmain-1-A-Rupert. Nonobstant l’appui des chefs cris régionaux et l’ambivalence de la majorité de la communauté locale à l’égard de ce projet, un groupe de résistance local composé de particuliers dévoués de la communauté crie de Nemaska a démontré une capacité remarquable à adopter diverses stratégies politiques afin de communiquer son opposition au projet d’agrandissement hydroélectrique. Bien que les travaux de construction soient déjà en cours, nos observations ont pour effet d’affirmer le rôle et l’importance des particuliers et des organisations à l’échelle locale quand vient le temps d’articuler et d’encadrer des efforts pour renforcer l’autonomie et la gouvernance locales et réagir à la dégradation écologique découlant de la mise en valeur industrielle à grande échelle pour les gens de la région

Mobilizing Journalism Education

This paper evaluates several examples of integrating mobile social media within new pedagogical frameworks applied to journalism education, representing the reified activity of a journalism lecturer community of practice. We propose a mobile social media framework as a catalyst for new pedagogies that support student participation within a professional community. The framework leverages Skype and Twitter for facilitating authentic collaborative student-directed projects, establishing student eportfolios using a collage of social media, curating and critiquing mobile social media source material around news events using Storify, and the use of new and emerging collaborative mobile video applications such as Vyclone and Vine

Some Aspects of the Biology of Stephanofilaria Stilesi Chitwood in Cattle

Entomolog

A smartphone application for reporting symptoms in adults with cystic fibrosis: Protocol of a randomised controlled trial

Introduction: In people with cystic fibrosis (CF), exacerbations have been shown to have profound and prolonged negative effects such as reducing physical activity and health-related quality of life, increasing the rate of decline of lung function and healthcare costs, and ultimately increasing the risk of mortality. Delayed initiation of treatment following the signs of an exacerbation has been shown to be associated with failure to recover to baseline. Therefore, the late identification and treatment of an exacerbation due to delayed presentation will potentially worsen short-term and long-term outcomes. We have developed a smartphone application, containing questions which require yes or no responses relating to symptoms suggestive of a respiratory exacerbation. Its use is intended to facilitate the early identification of symptoms suggestive of a respiratory exacerbation, and allow the CF team to initiate treatment sooner, thereby potentially reducing the risk of severe exacerbations which require intravenous antibiotics (IVAB) and often a hospital admission. Methods: We will undertake a randomised controlled trial. 60 adults with CF will be recruited and randomised to either the intervention or control group. The intervention group will use the smartphone application weekly for 12 months, or earlier than the next weekly reporting time if they feel their symptoms have worsened. The control group will continue to receive usual care, involving regular (approximately 3 monthly) CF outpatient clinic appointments. The primary outcome measure will be courses and days of IVAB. Ethics and dissemination: Approval was obtained from the Sir Charles Gairdner Group Human Research Ethics Committee for WA Health (2015-030) and Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HR212/2015), and has been registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Results: of this study will be presented at international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals in accordance with the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement. Trial registration number ACTRN12615000599572

Ascorbic acid supplementation attenuates exercise-induced bronchoconstriction in patients with asthma

SummaryBackgroundPrevious research has shown that diet can modify the bronchoconstrictor response to exercise in asthmatic subjects.ObjectiveDetermine the effect of ascorbic acid supplementation on pulmonary function and several urinary markers of airway inflammation in asthmatic subjects with exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB).MethodsEight asthmatic subjects with documented EIB participated in a randomized, placebo controlled double-blind crossover trial. Subjects entered the study on their usual diet and were placed on either 2 weeks of ascorbic acid supplementation (1500mg/day) or placebo, followed by a 1-week washout period, before crossing over to the alternative diet. Pre- and post-exercise pulmonary function, asthma symptom scores, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO), and urinary leukotriene (LT) C4–E4 and 9α, 11β-prostagladin (PG)F2] were assessed at the beginning of the trial (usual diet) and at the end of each treatment period.Results: The ascorbic acid diet significantly reduced (p<0.05) the maximum fall in post-exercise FEV1 (−6.4±2.4%) compared to usual (−14.3±1.6%) and placebo diet (−12.9±2.4%). Asthma symptoms scores significantly improved (p<0.05) on the ascorbic acid diet compared to the placebo and usual diet. Post-exercise FENO, LTC4–E4 and 9α, 11β-PGF2 concentration was significantly lower (p<0.05) on the ascorbic acid diet compared to the placebo and usual diet.ConclusionAscorbic acid supplementation provides a protective effect against exercise-induced airway narrowing in asthmatic subjects

Comparison of CATs, CURB-65 and PMEWS as Triage Tools in Pandemic Influenza Admissions to UK Hospitals: Case Control Analysis Using Retrospective Data

Triage tools have an important role in pandemics to identify those most likely to benefit from higher levels of care. We compared Community Assessment Tools (CATs), the CURB-65 score, and the Pandemic Medical Early Warning Score (PMEWS); to predict higher levels of care (high dependency - Level 2 or intensive care - Level 3) and/or death in patients at or shortly after admission to hospital with A/H1N1 2009 pandemic influenza. This was a case-control analysis using retrospectively collected data from the FLU-CIN cohort (1040 adults, 480 children) with PCR-confirmed A/H1N1 2009 influenza. Area under receiver operator curves (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values and negative predictive values were calculated. CATs best predicted Level 2/3 admissions in both adults [AUROC (95% CI): CATs 0.77 (0.73, 0.80); CURB-65 0.68 (0.64, 0.72); PMEWS 0.68 (0.64, 0.73), p<0.001] and children [AUROC: CATs 0.74 (0.68, 0.80); CURB-65 0.52 (0.46, 0.59); PMEWS 0.69 (0.62, 0.75), p<0.001]. CURB-65 and CATs were similar in predicting death in adults with both performing better than PMEWS; and CATs best predicted death in children. CATs were the best predictor of Level 2/3 care and/or death for both adults and children. CATs are potentially useful triage tools for predicting need for higher levels of care and/or mortality in patients of all ages