Playful tactics: my practice as hortus ludi

Playful Tactics introduces a dialogue between Claude Lévi-Strauss’s definition of bricolage (1962) and my own practice. A large part of this catalogue proposes to make visible both this dialogue and the new opportunities arising from it. My research aligns with this theoretical framework, but stands alone by interrogating the metaphor of the bricoleur in the practice of landscape architecture. Bricolages and collages are playful operative modes, tactics I have observed and tested in various contexts. This approach allowed me to understand my practice in a new way, seeing it as a Hortus Ludi (garden-as-laboratory and playful place), while at the same time adding a new meaning to the name of the agency The material in this catalogue repositions the garden typology at the heart of my practice. The garden is viewed as a favourable environment to explore playful and creative modes of engagement within my practice. As a conclusion, the making of a physical garden explored collectively the principle of serendipity and the notion of play, in a new context, have opened up my reflection to new perspectives. Play constitutes a form of resistance to external forces, and refers to a principle of protection that is implicitly or tacitly established either within the agency, or by/for myself. Play refers to a complex system, to tactics that are capable of generating self-regulating dynamics within the creative process

Users’ needs for a digital smoking cessation application and how to address them: a mixed-methods study

Health and self-regulatio

Factors associated with psychological and behavioral functioning in people with type 2 diabetes living in France

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To identify demographic and clinical factors associated with psychological and behavioral functioning (PBF) in people with type 2 diabetes living in France.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In March 2002, approximately 10,000 adults, who had been reimbursed for at least one hypoglycemic treatment or insulin dose during the last quarter of 2001, received a questionnaire about their health status and PBF (3,646 responders). For this analysis, the 3,090 persons with type 2 diabetes, aged 18-85 years old were selected.</p> <p>PBF was measured with the adapted version of the Diabetes Health Profile for people with type 2 diabetes. This permitted the calculation of three functional scores - psychological distress (PD), barriers to activity (BA), and disinhibited eating (DE) - from 0 (worst) to 100 (best).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Major negative associations were observed with PBF for microvascular complications (a difference of 6.7 in the BA score between persons with and without microvascular complications) and severe hypoglycemia (difference of 7.9 in the BA score), insulin treatment (-8.5 & -9.5 in the PD & BA scores respectively, as compared to treatment with oral hypoglycemic agents), non-adherence to treatment (-12.3 in the DE score for persons forgetting their weekly treatment), increasing weight (-8.5 & -9.7 in the PD & DE scores respectively, as compared to stable weight), at least one psychiatrist visit in 2001 (-8.9 in the DE score), and universal medical insurance coverage (-7.9 in the PD score) (due to low income).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Prevention and management of microvascular complications or adherence to treatment (modifiable factors) could be essential to preserving or improving PBF among people with type 2 diabetes. A specific approach to type 2 diabetes management may be required in groups with a low socioeconomic profile (particularly people with universal medical insurance coverage), or other non modifiable factors.</p

Extracellular Vesicles: Evolving Factors in Stem Cell Biology

Stem cells are proposed to continuously secrete trophic factors that potentially serve as mediators of autocrine and paracrine activities, associated with reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment, tissue regeneration, and repair. Hitherto, significant efforts have been made to understand the level of underlying paracrine activities influenced by stem cell secreted trophic factors, as little is known about these interactions. Recent findings, however, elucidate this role by reporting the effects of stem cell derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) that mimic the phenotypes of the cells from which they originate. Exchange of genetic information utilizing persistent bidirectional communication mediated by stem cell-EVs could regulate stemness, self-renewal, and differentiation in stem cells and their subpopulations. This review therefore discusses stem cell-EVs as evolving communication factors in stem cell biology, focusing on how they regulate cell fates by inducing persistent and prolonged genetic reprogramming of resident cells in a paracrine fashion. In addition, we address the role of stem cell-secreted vesicles in shaping the tumor microenvironment and immunomodulation and in their ability to stimulate endogenous repair processes during tissue damage. Collectively, these functions ensure an enormous potential for future therapies

Development of L-γ-Methyleneglutamine-based compounds for cancer

Presenter: Md. Imdadul H. Khanhttps://egrove.olemiss.edu/pharm_annual_posters_2021/1014/thumbnail.jp

My future-self has (not) quit smoking: an experimental study into the effect of a future-self intervention on smoking-related self-identity constructs

Objectives: Envisioning one's (non)smoking future may make (un)desired future identities more accessible, salient, and personally relevant and facilitate smoking cessation. The current study assessed whether a future-self intervention can weaken smoker self-identity and expected identity loss when quitting smoking, and strengthen quitter-and nonsmoker self-identity, while accounting for personal factors-socioeconomic position, nicotine dependence, consideration of future consequences, and clarity of the envisioned future-self. Additionally, it examined the association between smoking-related identity and quitting intention and behavior. Methods: This longitudinal online experimental study randomized 233 adult smokers to an intervention condition (where they completed mental imagery, visual, and verbal tasks about a future (non)smoking self), or to a passive control condition. Smoker-, quitter-, nonsmoker self-identity and identity loss were measured post-intervention and after one-and three-months. Quit intention and attempts were measured at baseline and after one month. Results: There was a consistent increase in non-smoker self-identity, and decrease in smoker self-identity and identity loss over a period of six months for all participants, but no significant difference in smoking-related identity between the intervention and control group. While personal factors did not moderate the effect of the intervention, we found that smoking-related identity constructs do vary with nicotine dependence, consideration of future consequences, and clarity of the envisioned future-self. Quitting behavior is primarily associated with non-smoker self-identity. Conclusions: Although the future-self intervention did not significantly influence smoking-related identity or behavior, identity-in particular, non-smoker self-identity-is important to consider in smoking cessation in-terventions. More research is needed to find effective operationalizations for identity-based interventions in the context of smoking

Exercise Treadmill Test in Detecting Asymptomatic Coronary Artery Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

BackgroundThe present study was designed to develop criteria for screening patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) for asymptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD).MethodsA total of 213 patients with T2DM without typical angina or chest pain were studied between 2002 and 2007. We also evaluated 53 patients with T2DM who had reported chest discomfort using an exercise treadmill test (ETT).ResultsThirty-one of the 213 asymptomatic patients had positive ETT results. We performed coronary angiography on 23 of the 31 patients with a positive ETT and found that 11 of them had significant coronary stenosis. The main differences between the patients with significant stenosis and those with a negative ETT were age (63.1±9.4 vs. 53.7±10.1 years, P=0.008) and duration of diabetes (16.0±7.5 vs. 5.5±5.7 years, P<0.001). The positive predictive value (PPV) of the ETT was calculated to be 47.8%. The PPV of the ETT increased to 87.5% in elderly patients (≥60 years) with a long duration of diabetes (≥10 years). The latter value is similar to that of patients with T2DM who presented with chest discomfort or exertional dyspnea. The PPV of the ETT in symptomatic patients was 76.9%.ConclusionIn the interest of cost-effectiveness, screening for asymptomatic CAD could be limited to elderly patients with a duration of diabetes ≥10 years

Three new PAX6 mutations including one causing an unusual ophthalmic phenotype associated with neurodevelopmental abnormalities

The PAX6 gene was first described as a candidate for human aniridia. However, PAX6 expression is not restricted to the eye and it appears to be crucial for brain development. We studied PAX6 mutations in a large spectrum of patients who presented with aniridia phenotypes, Peters' anomaly, and anterior segment malformations associated or not with neurological anomalies.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Real-world outcomes of treatment with insulin glargine 300 U/mL versus standard-of-care in people with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective: To compare real-world outcomes with newer (insulin glargine 300 U/mL; Gla-300) versus standard of care (SoC) basal insulins (BIs) in the REACH (insulin-naive; NCT02967224) and REGAIN (basal insulin-treated; NCT02967211) studies in participants with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Europe and Brazil. Methods: In these open-label, parallel-group, pragmatic studies, patients (HbA(1c) > 7.0%) were randomized to Gla-300 or SoC BI for a 6-month treatment period (to demonstrate non-inferiority of Gla-300 vs SoC BIs for HbA(1c) change [non-inferiority margin 0.3%]) and a 6-month extension period (continuing with their assigned treatment). Insulin titration/other medication changes were at investigator/patient discretion post-randomization. Results: Overall, 703 patients were randomized to treatment in REACH (Gla-300, n = 352; SoC, n = 351) and 609 (Gla-300, n = 305, SoC, n = 304) in REGAIN. The primary outcome, non-inferiority of Gla-300 versus SoC for HbA(1c) change from baseline to month 6, was met in REACH (least squares [LS] mean difference 0.12% [95% CI -0.046 to 0.281]) but not REGAIN (LS mean difference 0.17% [0.015-0.329]); no between-treatment difference in HbA(1c) change was shown after 12 months in either study. BI dose increased minimally from baseline to 12 months in REACH (Gla-300, +0.17 U/kg; SoC, +0.15 U/kg) and REGAIN (Gla-300, +0.11 U/kg; SoC, +0.07 U/kg). Hypoglycemia incidence was low and similar between treatment arms in both studies. Conclusions: In both REACH and REGAIN, no differences in glycemic control or hypoglycemia outcomes with Gla-300 versus SoC BIs were seen over 12 months. However, the suboptimal insulin titration in REACH and REGAIN limits comparisons of outcomes between treatment arms and suggests that more titration instruction/support may be required for patients to fully derive the benefits from newer basal insulin formulations