A Novel Method using Long Axis Cardiac MRI Measurements can Improve in vivo Myocardial Infarct Quantification

PurposeCurrently, the American Heart Association (AHA) 17-segment model is the preferred clinical method to define and quantify left ventricle (LV) myocardial infarction (MI) size. This method is subjective and can be inaccurate given that segmental approximation assumes a specific percent of infarcted tissue when compared to reference standard post-mortem histopathology. To improve the accuracy and reproducibility of infarct volume quantification we propose a novel measurement technique based on cardiac MRI images from a porcine model of myocardial infarction. Data were collected from serial MRI exams of Yucatan mini swine over 6 months and endpoint organ harvesting for histopathologic analysis. MethodsTwo observers evaluated four infarct sizing methods: myocardial contouring of post-mortem heart slices, contouring using cardiac MRI, AHA 17-segment model analysis and novel long-axis MRI infarct sizing. ResultsLV infarct sizes ranges were 1.6% - 25.8% (n=10) using reference standard histopathologic infarct sizing. Intraclass correlations (ICC) were calculated between two observers and averaged due to high similarity, ICC > .900. A t-test of .0006 and Bland-Altman plots show statistically significant differences in 17-segment model infarct size compared to histopathologic analysis while no significant difference was found when compared to our new novel method with 0.8198. Linear correlation showed an R 2 of 0.9111 between MRI contoured infarct size and our novel MRI infarct sizing model to predict infarct size as a percentage while the R 2 of the 17-Seg model is 0.8197. ConclusionsThe 17-sgement model provides an inferior quantitative assessment of LV infarct size compared to the proposed long-axis infarct sizing suggesting it maybe a robust and easily implementable quantitative assessment of LV infarct size in advanced imaging.

Uyghurs in China: Personal Testimony of a Uyghur Surgeon

Dr Enver Tohti Bughda is a qualified medical surgeon and a passionate advocate for Uyghur rights. Having been ordered to remove organs from an executed prisoner, Enver has since taken up a major role in the campaign against forced organ harvesting and is determined to bring China’s darkest secret to light. In this personal testimony, Enver shares his experience working as a surgeon in Xinjiang and reflects more broadly on the situation of Uyghurs in China, explaining that unless Uyghurs earn the sympathy and support of China’s Han majority, unless it is understood that all Chinese people are the victims of the same authoritarian regime, ethnic animosity will continue to serve the political purposes of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

SOCIOECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF ETHIOPIAN YOUNG ADULTS AS REFLECTED IN THREE SELECTED ETHIOPIAN YOUNG ADULT NOVELS IN ENGLISH

The main objective of this study was to show the major socioeconomic problems of Ethiopian young adults in three selected Ethiopian young adult novels written in English. This study contends that contemporary Ethiopian young adult novels in English strongly represent contemporary socioeconomic problems of Ethiopian young adults which face in their day today activities. Eclectic approach was employed in this study so as to identify the major issues represented as challenges of young adults by using thematic analysis in the three novels, namely Breaking the Chain, Behind the Invisible Bars, and The young Crusader. This study comprises five chapters. Chapter one dealt with the background of the study which contains introduction, statement of the problem, research questions, objectives of the study, scope of the study, significance of the study, and limitations of the study. Chapter two deals with the review of related literature where theoretical discussions of young adult literature, postmodern socioeconomic problems of Ethiopian young adults’ and conceptual frame work of the study utilizes as a guide line are out lined. In the third chapter methodological issues are specified. The fourth chapter focuses on a thorough analysis of the three novels where thematic issues, choice of characters and narrative point of view were identified and explored. The major thematic issues as challenges of Ethiopian young adults’ are viewed under the sections parallel themes and divergent themes. These include poverty, corruption, family problems, caring responsibility at early age, human trafficking organ harvesting, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and abortion, homelessness and loss of parents, alcohol and drug abuse, kidnapping, and new love. Choice of character(s) and third person narrative point of view in the selected young adult novels in English were identified as the styles of the authors to represent the real socioeconomic challenges of Ethiopian young adults in detail. In addition, using visual imagery and setting are identified as language feature used by the three authors. The thesis concludes with a chapter in which findings in the fourth chapter are summed up and generalization is made.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM OF MODERN SLAVERY

Modern slavery is gradually becoming one of the most widespread crimes in the world. A conscious understanding of the issue is an extremely important part of the process of tackling this problem. The aim of this work is to introduce the reader to the issue of human trafficking and its most common forms. The phenomenon splits in to the following main branches: sex trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, domestic servitude, forced marriage, forced criminality and organ harvesting. Modern-day slavery happens all around us and at a surprisingly high rate.

APPLICATION OF BIOPRINTING IN CONTEMPORARY MEDICINE (REVIEW)

3D printing is an advanced recent technology, which can be a revolutionary alternative with a variety of applications in the transplant and healthcare industry in general. 3D printing research is investigated in various fields within the healthcare industry; some of which are discussed in this article. 3D printing of human tissue and organs can revolutionize the healthcare industry by extending the average life expectancy and greatly improving the quality of life for millions of people. Organ recipients will no longer have to wait months or years for a donor with the correct blood type, organ transplant rejection will be abolished, illegal human trafficking for organ harvesting can be minimized, and war and accident amputees can once again gain full mobility. 3D Bioprinting may have unprecedented consequences on regenerative medicine and quality of life while minimizing social and legal issues which currently surround human embryo techniques.

O enfermeiro no processo de doação e transplante de órgãos

Resumo: O transplante é a opção final para as pessoas que sofrem de falência de órgão. No Brasil, a prática dos transplantes teve início no ano de 1965 na nefrologia. O objetivo do presente estudo foi refletir acerca da importância do enfermeiro na doação e captação de órgãos. Tratou-se de uma revisão integrativa da literatura baseada na publicação científica brasileira no período de 2007 a 2016 e indexada nas bases de dados SCIELO e LILACS, utilizando os descritores Obtenção de Tecidos e Órgãos, Profissionais de Enfermagem e Transplante. Concluiu-se que o profissional enfermeiro é um integrante indispensável da equipe, exercendo papel determinante no processo de doação, captação e transplante de órgãos, mas necessita de capacitação técnica específica para atuar neste contexto, pois o conhecimento adquirido na graduação não é suficiente para este tipo de exercício.Descritores: Obtenção de Tecidos e Órgãos, Profissionais de Enfermagem, Transplante. Nurses in the process of organ donation and transplantationAbstract: Transplantation is the ultimate option for people suffering from organ failure. In Brazil, the practice of transplantation began in 1965 in nephrology area. The objective of the present study was to reflect the importance of the nurse in donation and organ harvesting. It was an integrative review from the literature based on the Brazilian scientific publication from 2007 to 2016 and indexed in the databases SCIELO and LILACS, using the descriptors Tissue and Organ Procurement, Nursing and Transplant Professionals. It was concluded that the nursing professional is an indispensable member of the team, playing a decisive role in the process of donation, capture and organ transplantation, but it needs specific technical training to act in this context, since the knowledge acquired in the graduation is not enough for this type of exercise.Descriptors: Tissue and Organ Procurement, Nurse Practitioners, Transplantation. El enfermero en el proceso de donación y trasplante de órganosResumen: El trasplante es la opción final para las personas que sufren de insuficiencia terminal de órgano. En Brasil, la práctica de los trasplantes se inició en el año 1965 en la nefrología. El objetivo del presente estudio fue reflexionar acerca de la importancia del enfermero en la donación y captación de órganos. Se trató de una revisión integrativa de la literatura basada en la publicación científica brasileña en el período de 2007 a 2016 e indexada en las bases de datos SCIELO y LILACS, utilizando los descriptores Obtención de Tejidos y Órganos, Profesionales de Enfermería y Trasplante. Se concluyó que el profesional enfermero es un integrante indispensable del equipo, ejerciendo un papel determinante en el proceso de donación, captación y trasplante de órganos, pero necesita de capacitación técnica específica para actuar en este contexto, pues el conocimiento adquirido en la graduación no es suficiente para este tipo de ejercicio.Descriptores: Obtención de Tejidos y Órganos, Profesionales de Enfermería, Trasplante.

Phenomenon of Demikhov. In the Sklifosovsky Institute (1960–1986). Fighting "windmills" or lack of conditions (1961)

The article describes the results of V.P. Demikhov's working at N.V. Sklifosovsky Institute for Emergency Medicine in 1961. We have presented a brief report of his laboratory activities and a prospective working plan that included preparing for vital organ transplantations in clinic, conducting immunological and morphological studies, resolving resuscitation issues, all aimed at: 1) revitalizing dead people and their organs for transplantatio, and 2) preserving the vitality of the isolated organs before transplantation. For the first time in the history of national surgery, the question of "brain death" was raised as a criterion for the possibility of organ harvesting. However, the documents we have reviewed demonstrated that such a plan was impossible to be realized with the efforts of a single institution. V.P. Demikhov was advised to revise the plan, abridge it, and bring it into line with the modest potential of the Institute to organ transplantations.

Precarity as Personhood in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go lures readers into a dystopic world that has the artifice of a country boarding school. When the characters to which readers have become attached are revealed to be clones raised for organ harvesting, the novel forces the readers to confront questions about what it means to be human, and at what cost humanity is willing to preserve itself. In this science fiction narrative about cloning, Ishiguro invokes multiple representations of the disabled body: the clones have been created, to ameliorate disability from the rest of society. Their organs are harvested to forestall the inevitable disabilities that the ailing or aging body will experience. The novel also replicates the social apparatuses that have traditionally been used to contain and eliminate disability. Reading Ishiguro’s narrative of cloning from a disability studies perspective reveals the novel’s use of defamiliarization as a literary technique to examine both the ideological constructions of disability and the physical structures that have contained disabled bodies during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Finally, approaching Never Let Me Go from this critical perspective reveals the novel’s answer to the central question it poses: What does it mean to be human?