A Warrior\u27s Song (Original writing, Poetry, Fiction).

This creative writing project is a cross-genre collection of fiction and poetry. There are short stories, poems, and oral stories/anecdotes, which center on Native Canadians who served in the Vietnam War. This is not an historical work, but rather, looks at what has happened to these men because of their war experiences. It was a unique situation for any Canadian to join the U.S. military in their campaign in Vietnam, as it was essentially against the law for those men to enlist with the American military. However, the Canadian government did not interfere with its citizens enlisting, even while it was welcoming American draft-dodgers and sympathizers into the country. Meanwhile, the officers at American recruitment offices generally knew Canadians weren\u27t legally allowed to sign up, but no one enforced that law across the border. It was an unusual time, and an unusual war. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 41-04, page: 0919. Adviser: John Ditsky. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2002

Interrupted versus continuous fascial closure in patients undergoing emergent laparotomy: A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUNDThe optimal method of fascial closure, interrupted fascial closure (IFC) versus continuous fascial closure (CFC) has never been studied exclusively in the setting of emergency surgery. We hypothesized that IFC decreases postoperative incisional hernia development following emergent laparotomies.METHODSBetween August 2008 and September 2015, patients undergoing emergent laparotomies were consented and randomly assigned to either IFC or CFC. Patients were followed up postoperatively for at least 3 months and assessed for incisional hernia, dehiscence, or wound infection. We excluded those with trauma, elective surgery, mesh in place, primary ventral hernia, previous abdominal surgery within 30 days, or those not expected to survive for more than 48 hours. Our primary endpoint was the incidence of postoperative incisional hernias.RESULTSOne hundred thirty-six patients were randomly assigned to IFC (n = 67) or CFC (n = 69). Baseline characteristics were similar between the groups. No difference was noted in the length of the abdominal incision, or the peak inspiratory pressure after the closure. The median time needed for closure was significantly longer in the IFC group (22 minutes vs. 13 minutes, p < 0.001). Thirty-seven (55.2%) IFC and 41 (59.4%) CFC patients completed their follow-up visits. There was no statistically significant difference in baseline and intraoperative characteristics between those who completed follow-ups and those who did not. The median time from the day of surgery to the day of the last follow-up was similar between IFC and CFC (233 days vs. 216 days, p = 0.67), as were the rates of incisional hernia (13.5% versus 22.0%, p = 0.25), dehiscence (2.7% vs. 2.4%, p = 1.0), and surgical site infection (16.2% vs. 12.2%, p = 0.75).CONCLUSIONThere was no statistically detectable difference in postoperative hernia development between those undergoing IFC versus CFC after emergent laparotomies. However, this may be due to the relatively low sample size.LEVEL OF EVIDENCETherapeutic/Care Management Study, level III

Functional dissection of Caenorhabditis elegans CLK-2/TEL2 cell cycle defects during embryogenesis and germline development

CLK-2/TEL2 is essential for viability from yeasts to vertebrates, but its essential functions remain ill defined. CLK-2/TEL2 was initially implicated in telomere length regulation in budding yeast, but work in Caenorhabditis elegans has uncovered a function in DNA damage response signalling. Subsequently, DNA damage signalling defects associated with CLK-2/TEL2 have been confirmed in yeast and human cells. The CLK-2/TEL2 interaction with the ATM and ATR DNA damage sensor kinases and its requirement for their stability led to the proposal that CLK-2/TEL2 mutants might phenocopy ATM and/or ATR depletion. We use C. elegans to dissect developmental and cell cycle related roles of CLK-2. Temperature sensitive (ts) clk-2 mutants accumulate genomic instability and show a delay of embryonic cell cycle timing. This delay partially depends on the worm p53 homolog CEP-1 and is rescued by co-depletion of the DNA replication checkpoint proteins ATL-1 (C. elegans ATR) and CHK-1. In addition, clk-2 ts mutants show a spindle orientation defect in the eight cell stages that lead to major cell fate transitions. clk-2 deletion worms progress through embryogenesis and larval development by maternal rescue but become sterile and halt germ cell cycle progression. Unlike ATL-1 depleted germ cells, clk-2–null germ cells do not accumulate DNA double-strand breaks. Rather, clk-2 mutant germ cells arrest with duplicated centrosomes but without mitotic spindles in an early prophase like stage. This germ cell cycle arrest does not depend on cep-1, the DNA replication, or the spindle checkpoint. Our analysis shows that CLK-2 depletion does not phenocopy PIKK kinase depletion. Rather, we implicate CLK-2 in multiple developmental and cell cycle related processes and show that CLK-2 and ATR have antagonising functions during early C. elegans embryonic development

Prognostic relevance of gait-related cognitive functions for dementia conversion in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

Background: Increasing research suggests that gait abnormalities can be a risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Notably, there is growing evidence highlighting this risk factor in individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), however further studies are needed. The aim of this study is to analyze cognitive tests results and brain-related measures over time in aMCI and examine how the presence of gait abnormalities (neurological or orthopedic) or normal gait affects these trends. Additionally, we sought to assess the significance of gait and gait-related measures as prognostic indicators for the progression from aMCI to AD dementia, comparing those who converted to AD with those who remained with a stable aMCI diagnosis during the follow-up. Methods: Four hundred two individuals with aMCI from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database were included. Robust linear mixed-effects models were used to study the impact of gait abnormalities on a comprehensive neuropsychological battery over 36&nbsp;months while controlling for relevant medical variables at baseline. The impact of gait on brain measures was also investigated. Lastly, the Cox proportional-hazards model was used to explore the prognostic relevance of abnormal gait and neuropsychological associated tests. Results: While controlling for relevant covariates, we found that gait abnormalities led to a greater decline over time in attention (DSST) and global cognition (MMSE). Intriguingly, psychomotor speed (TMT-A) and divided attention (TMT-B) declined uniquely in the abnormal gait group. Conversely, specific AD global cognition tests (ADAS-13) and auditory-verbal memory (RAVLT immediate recall) declined over time independently of gait profile. All the other cognitive tests were not significantly affected by time or by gait profile. In addition, we found that ventricles size increased faster in the abnormal gait group compared to the normal gait group. In terms of prognosis, abnormal gait (HR = 1.7), MMSE (HR = 1.09), and DSST (HR = 1.03) covariates showed a higher impact on AD dementia conversion. Conclusions: The importance of the link between gait and related cognitive functions in terms of diagnosis, prognosis, and rehabilitation in aMCI is critical. We showed that in aMCI gait abnormalities lead to executive functions/attention deterioration and conversion to AD dementia