Biventricular Assist Device Terminates Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia in Giant Cell Myocarditis

We present the case of a 55-year-old woman with giant cell myocarditis who experienced a rapid deterioration in her condition. As her heart failure progressed, she developed more ventricular ectopic beats, which culminated in a polymorphic ventricular tachycardia that did not improve despite immunosuppressive and antiarrhythmic therapy. Emergent biventricular assist device placement, however, did eliminate her arrhythmia

LGBT Impact Travel Models for Connecting Potential Donors to LGBT Communities in the Global South

Capstone paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Development Practice degree.As international and community-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) face reductions in funding for LGBT and other human rights issues, they are seeking alternative funding sources to continue providing necessary social services and advocacy. Many of these organizations are ill-equipped to develop new donor relationships, and finding a sustainable and suitable form of funding requires a critical and iterative process. This report details one such process, highlighting Mossier Social Action and Innovation Center, a Minnesota-based non-profit organization that is focused on increasing funding streams for organizations in the Global South that provide advocacy and support to LGBT communities and entrepreneurs. With Mossier, our Capstone Team developed four distinct models to connect potential LGBT identifying and ally donors to nonprofits around the world. In the report, we present these models examined through a Developmental Evaluation framework1, which allowed our team to provide the insights necessary to rapidly adapt the project based on feedback from relevant stakeholders. In many ways, these models prove to be mileposts in the developmental process of finding a viable solution to alternative sources of funding. These models arose from a constant stream of information that precipitated both small and large shifts to the project. Due to this adaptive nature, the boundaries that define where one model ends and another begins are hazy. Regardless, each iteration of the model clearly represents a significant change necessitated by the information our team received from stakeholders

An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter

The surge of research on marine litter is generating important information on its inputs, distribution and impacts, but data on the nature and origin of the litter remain scattered. Here, we harmonize worldwide litter-type inventories across seven major aquatic environments and find that a set of plastic items from take-out food and beverages largely dominates global litter, followed by those resulting from fishing activities. Compositional differences between environments point to a trend for litter to be trapped in nearshore areas so that land-sourced plastic is released to the open ocean, predominantly as small plastic fragments. The world differences in the composition of the nearshore litter sink reflected socioeconomic drivers, with a reduced relative weight of single-use items in high-income countries. Overall, this study helps inform urgently needed actions to manage the production, use and fate of the most polluting human-made items on our planet, but the challenge remains substantial

An inshore–offshore sorting system revealed from global classification of ocean litter

The surge of research on marine litter is generating important information on its inputs, distribution and impacts, but data on the nature and origin of the litter remain scattered. Here, we harmonize worldwide litter-type inventories across seven major aquatic environments and find that a set of plastic items from take-out food and beverages largely dominates global litter, followed by those resulting from fishing activities. Compositional differences between environments point to a trend for litter to be trapped in nearshore areas so that land-sourced plastic is released to the open ocean, predominantly as small plastic fragments. The world differences in the composition of the nearshore litter sink reflected socioeconomic drivers, with a reduced relative weight of single-use items in high-income countries. Overall, this study helps inform urgently needed actions to manage the production, use and fate of the most polluting human-made items on our planet, but the challenge remains substantial