Genetically engineered cardiac pacemaker: stem cells transfected with HCN2 gene and myocytes - a model

Artificial biological pacemakers were developed and tested in canine ventricles. Next steps will require obtaining oscillations sensitive to external regulations, and robust with respect to long term drifts of expression levels of pacemaker currents and gap junctions. We introduce mathematical models intended to be used in parallel with the experiments. The models describe human mesenchymal stem cells ({\it hMSC}) transfected with HCN2 genes and connected to myocytes. They are intended to mimic experiments with oscillation induction in a cell pair, in cell culture and in the cardiac tissue. We give examples of oscillations in a cell pair, in a 1 dim cell culture, and oscillation dependence on number of pacemaker channels per cell and number of gap junctions. The models permit to mimic experiments with levels of gene expressions not achieved yet, and to predict if the work to achieve this levels will significantly increase the quality of oscillations. This give arguments for selecting the directions of the experimental work

LA RACE ET L’AFFOLEMENT : LA LOCALISATION DES EXPÉRIENCES DES PERSONNES RACIALISÉES AYANT DES HISTORIQUES PSYCHIATRIQUES AU CANADA ET AUX ÉTATS-UNIS

The intersectional social construction of race and madness has significantly shaped the lived experiences of racialized people with psychiatric histories. Unfortunately, there are few studies that consider the intersections between race and madness, and fewer still that locate these intersections within the social and political contexts of colonization, Canadian and American settler states, and immigration. The primary purpose of this article is to provide a review of the literature that looks at the intersections of race and madness in Canada and the US. In particular, the author will highlight common themes that are articulated in this literature. The second goal of this article is to locate the experiences of racialized people with psychiatric histories within the socio-historical context from which they arise. The author will argue that race and madness have been mutually socially constructed in Canadian and American society. Further, the author will illustrate that psychiatric constructions of racialized people have allowed for the rationalization and justification of both historical and ongoing colonial and imperialist domination, slavery, and exclusionary immigration policies.La construction sociale intersectionnale de la race et l’affolement a formé significativement les expériences vécues des personnes racialisées ayant des historiques psychiatriques. Malheureusement, il n’existe pas trop d’enquêtes qui abordent l’intersection entre la race et l’affolement, et encore moins qui se situent dans les contextes sociaux et politiques de la colonisation, des états coloniaux canadiens et américains, et de l’immigration. La raison d’être de cet article sera donc de fournir un survol des informations concernant l’intersection entre la race et l’affolement au Canada et aux Etats-Unis. L’auteur soulignera les thèmes communs qui se trouvent dans cette littérature. Le second but de cet article sera de localiser les expériences des personnes racialisées ayant des historiques psychiatriques dans un contexte socio-historique. L’auteur constatera que la race et l’affolement ont été construits socialement en société canadienne et américaine. De plus, l’auteur démontrera que les constructions psychiatriques des personnes racialisées ont permis la rationalisation et la justification de la domination coloniale et impérialiste, de l’esclavage, et des politiques de l’immigration non-inclusives, ces trois étant soit historique, soit actuelle

Precarious Inclusions; Re-Imagining Disability, Race, Masculinity and Nation in My Name Is Khan

This paper will critically examine how dominant cultural scripts about disability are reinforced and complicated in the Bollywood film, My Name is Khan (Johar, 2010). An examination of the film's themes demonstrates that My Name is Khan allows for a nuanced analysis of disability, race, masculinity and nation

A study of various cesarean section techniques at a government tertiary care centre: Misgav Ladach cesarean section versus Pfannenstiel cesarean section

Background: It is important to examine every step in any surgery to identify and evaluate its imortance, necessity and purpose with a view to find its better alternatives if they can be found at all. The most appropriate surgical procedure is the one which takes minimum time to be complete, simplest to perform, causing least damage and least complication for the patient. Present study was undertaken to assess the benefits of the Misgav Ladach cesarean section technique in comparison to the conventional Pfannenstiel technique in the tertiary care hospital and evaluate the operative parameters like efficacy, safety, duration of surgery, blood loss, need for suture material, post-operative pain and post-operative stay in hospital.Methods: All the women posted for emergency cesarean section in the Obstetrics OT at Sir T Hospital, Bhavnagar, Gujarat were included in this study. Some of the common indications at our hospital for cesarean section were fetal distress, cephalopelvic disproportion, failure of progress of labour, breech presentation, previous cesarean section and failed induction. Informed consent was taken. All the patients were randomly allocated to two groups with 50 women in each group. Group 1 Pfannenstiel incision and Group 2 Misgav Ladach.Results: The duration of surgery, blood loss and post-operative pain were significantly less in the Misgav Ladach group (P<0.001).Conclusions: Misgav Ladach technique of cesarean section has many advantages and should be used routinely

Agnus Dei

This is a film review of Agnus Dei (2016) directed by Anne Fontaine

Disappointment after hysterectomy: a stressful situation

Background: The overall incidence of hysterectomy in India is 7% which is lower as compared to other countries like U.S. which is around 9%. But recently, there is upsurge in the prevalence of hysterectomy. The reason for this may be due to reduced hospital stay and cost. Also, now a days hysterectomy by any modality is increasingly accepted by the professionals and the professional associations and gatherings like conferences as the sole treatment for any benign condition in compare to other modalities of treatment. An attempt was made here in this study to analyse the after-effects of hysterectomy. The overall aim of this study was to describe and investigate postoperative complications and the corrective surgeries being done for them.Methods: It is a retrospective statistical hospital-based study of relaparotomy done in post hysterectomised patients who came to Sir T General Hospital, Bhavnagar in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The study was done for the duration of 6 months from October 2016 to March 2017; during the time total of 55 patients were followed for this study that underwent resurgery for their problems.Results: The incidence of Laparotomy following hysterectomy was 42.5% and the incidence of corrective surgeries for urinary symptoms and vault prolapse was 57.5% including the highest incidence of Anterior colporrhaphy with Posterior colpoperineorrhaphy being 21.2%. The occurrence of problems was more in the patients who had undergone Abdominal hysterectomy (62.5%) in comparison to those who underwent Vaginal hysterectomy (32.5%).Conclusions: Oopherectomy should be encouraged with hysterectomy after menopause to reduce incidence of Laparotomy following hysterectomy

Cell Printing: A novel method to seed cells onto biological scaffolds

Bioprinting, defined as depositing cells, extracellular matrices and other biologically relevant materials in user-defined patterns to build tissue constructs de novo or to build upon pre-fabricated scaffolds, is among one of the most promising techniques in tissue engineering. Among the various technologies used for Bioprinting, pressure driven systems are most conducive to preserving cell viability. Herein, we explore the abilities of a novel bioprinter - Digilab, Inc.\u27s prototype cell printer. The prototype cell printer (Digilab Inc., Holliston, MA) is an automated liquid handling device capable of delivering cell suspension in user-defined patterns onto standard cell culture substrates or custom-designed scaffolds. In this work, the feasibility of using the cell printer to deliver cell suspensions to biological sutures was explored. Cell therapy using stem cells of various types shows promise to aid healing and regeneration in various ailments, including heart failure. Recent evidence suggests that delivering bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells to the infarcted heart reduces infarct size and improves ventricular performance. Current cell delivery systems, however, have critical limitations such as inefficient cell retention, poor survival, and lack of targeted localization. Our laboratories have developed a method to produce discrete fibrin microthreads that can be bundled to form a suture and attached to a needle. These sutures can then be seeded with bone-marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells to deliver these cells to a precise location within the heart wall, both in terms of depth and surface localization. The efficiency of the process of seeding cells onto fibrin thread bundles (sutures) has previously been shown to be 11.8 ± 3.9 %, suggesting that 88% of the cells in suspension are not used. Considering that the proposed cell-therapy model for treatment of myocardial infarction contemplates use of autologous bone-marrow derived stem cells, an improvement in the efficiency of seeding cells onto the fibrin sutures is highly desirable. The feasibility of using Digilab\u27s prototype cell printer to deliver concentrated cell suspension containing human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) directly onto a fibrin thread bundle was explored in this work, in order to determine if this technology could be adapted to seed cells onto such biological sutures. First the effect of the printing process on the viability of hMSCs was assessed by comparing to cells dispensed manually using a hand-held pipette. The viability of hMSCs 24 hours post-dispensing using the cell printer was found to be 90.9 ± 4.0 % and by manual pipetting was 90.6 ± 8.2 % (p = ns). Thereafter a special bioreactor assembly composed of sterilizable Delrin plastic and stainless steel pins was designed to mount fibrin thread bundles onto the deck of the cell printer, to deliver a suspension containing hMSCs on the bundles. Highly targeted delivery of cell suspension directly onto fibrin thread bundles (average diameter 310 µm) was achieved with the bundle suspended in mid-air horizontally parallel to the printer\u27s deck mounted on the bioreactor assembly. To compare seeding efficiency, fibrin thread bundles were simultaneously seeded with hMSCs using either the cell printer or the current method (tube-rotator method) and incubated for 24 hours. Seeded thread bundles were visualized using confocal microscopy and the number of cells per unit length of the bundle was determined for each group. The average seeding efficiency with the tube rotator method was 7.0 ± 0.03 % while the cell printer was 3.46 ± 2.24% (p = ns). In conclusion, the cell printer was found to handle cells as gently as manual pipetting, preserve their viability, with the added abilities to dispense cells in user-defined patterns in an automated manner. With further development, such as localized temperature, gas and humidity control on the cell printer\u27s deck to aid cell survival, the seeding efficiency is likely to improve. The feasibility of using this automated liquid handling technology to deliver cells to biological scaffolds in specified patterns to develop vehicles for cell therapy was shown in this study. Seeding other cell types on other scaffolds along with selectively loading them with growth factors or multiple cell types can also be considered. In sum, the cell printer shows considerable potential to develop novel vehicles for cell therapy. It empowers researchers with a supervision-free, gentle, patterned cell dispensing technique while preserving cell viability and a sterile environment. Looking forward, de novo biofabrication of tissue replicates on a small scale using the cell printer to dispense cells, extracellular matrices, and growth factors in different combinations is a very realistic possibility