The Influence of Respiratory Syncytial Virus on Breastfeeding and Maternal-Infant Bonding

Breastfeeding is an integral element for facilitating long term immunity and bonding between a baby and their mother. When an infant is infected with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) they are put at risk of easy tiring, which increases the likelihood of requiring nutritional supplementation from a bottle to maintain adequate nutrition and hydration. This review article will discuss the pathophysiology behind RSV, how RSV can impair successful breastfeeding, the social determinants of health related to RSV and breastfeeding, and recommendations to upkeep exclusive breastfeeding if an infant has RSV to facilitate mother-infant bonding.

An Analysis of Literature Reviews in the Context of Healthcare Program Assessment

When conducting an assessment of existing literature, various types of literature reviews can be utilized. More specifically, each type has its advantages, disadvantages, and ideal circumstances in which it should be used. This paper explores the systematic review, scoping review, and rapid review in the context of research that seeks to assess existing health care programs. Evidence suggests that the systematic review is the most rigorous and in-depth, but often takes a significant amount of time to complete. The scoping review is less rigorous and used to identify what is known about a specific topic in the literature. The rapid review is similar in rigour to the systematic review, but takes less time and is often used in situations where data needs to be obtained quickly. In this paper, strengths and weaknesses, alongside examples of each review are given. They are then analyzed to see which would be best to utilize for the topic of assessing existing health care programs. In closing, it is decided that the rapid review is the best method due to its limited time frame and extensive rigour, which is the most beneficial when assessing health care programs.

Western Faculty Profile: Dr. Art Poon

Dr. Art Poon is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Western University. Dr. Poon has a background in mathematical biology and obtained a doctorate in bioinformatics at the University of California in San Diego. His research focus is on designing and implementing new computational methods to reconstruct the spread and adaptation of viruses from their genetic sequence variation. Jonathan Zhao had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Poon to learn more about his career path and his research.

Western Faculty Profile: Dr. Marie Savundranayagam

Dr. Marie Savundranayagam is an Assistant Professor in the Health Sciences at Western University. Dr. Savundranayagam has a background in Gerontology at the University of Kansas. Her research focus is on person-centered communication with home care clients with dementia. Amina Kassam had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Savundranayagam to learn more about her career path and research.

Interactions between lemongrass and lavender essential oils in combination with ampicillin influencing antibacterial activity on Sporosarcina ureae and Serratia liquefaciens

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of various combinations of essential oils (EOs) with antibiotics on bacterial growth. The molecular mechanisms behind the effects of individual phytochemicals in EOs and antibiotics is well understood, unlike the mechanisms behind the interactions between multiple phytochemicals and antibiotics in a mixture. Serratia liquefaciens and Sporosarcina ureae were exposed to various treatments of different combinations of Lavandula officinalis (lavender oil), Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass oil) with ampicillin. For each treatment group, mean zones of inhibition (ZOI) were measured after exposure for 48 hours. Controls for both species did not yield any ZOI whereas all other treatments resulted in the inhibition of bacterial growth in both Serratia liquefaciens and Sporosarcina ureae. Statistical analyses showed that the combination of lemongrass oil and ampicillin was significantly more effective than all other treatments for Serratia liquefaciens. The lemongrass oil and ampicillin treatment was the only treatment that displayed additive effects. All treatments for Sporosarcina ureae, with the exception of the control and lavender oil treatments, showed a significantly higher mean ZOI when compared to control and lavender oil treatments. It was concluded that lemongrass oil was a better candidate to be included in antibacterial cocktails than lavender oil. However, further investigation is required to elucidate EOs that interact synergistically with ampicillin when acting on Serratia liquefaciens and Sporosarcina ureae. Additionally, further investigation into the molecular mechanisms behind the interactions of the components found in these EOs with ampicillin is required.

Western Faculty Profile: Dr. Shawn Whitehead

Dr. Shawn Whitehead is an Assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and is cross-appointed in the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences. He is currently the course coordinator for Integrative Neuroscience, 4451F. His research tackles neurodegenerative disease by using integrative and translational models to investigate how different brain regions exhibit variable vulnerabilities to stress and injury.

Evolutionary GEM: Crocodilian Vocalizations

The clade, Archosauria, encompasses crocodilians and birds. Both crocodilians and birds exhibit vocalizations to communicate a variety of behaviours including courtship, distress, and aggression. The similarity in vocalization behaviours of modern day Archosauria suggests that vocal communication may be a conserved behavioural trait also exhibited by ancient Archosauria.

The Effect of Texting on Balance and Temporospatial Aspects of Gait

The purpose of this study was to determine effects of texting on standing balance and the temporospatial aspects ofgait. It was hypothesized that texting would decrease stride velocity and increase deviation from midline while walking, as well asincrease centre of pressure (CoP) excursions while standing. Fifteen participants (eleven males and four females, 21.12±1.25 yearsof age) performed two standing balance tasks and two walking tasks. A repeated measures experimental design was used. Thestanding task consisted of standing as still as possible on a force plate for 20 seconds, which was then repeated while theparticipant texted a standard text message (48 characters). The second task consisted of walking along a six metre straight linewhile being filmed posteriorly along the line of progression, and perpendicular to direction of motion. This task was completed againwhile texting a similar predetermined message (48 characters). Balance performance was quantified by the percentage of total timewithin a 5 mm radius of each participant’s centre of pressure (CoP). Gait quality was quantified using the average step length, stridevelocity, and mediolateral standard deviation from midline averaged from both feet. The percentage of time spent within 5 mm of theaverage CoP was significantly (p<0.05) less while texting compared to the non-texting control condition. Additionally, themediolateral standard deviation from the midline while walking increased significantly (p<0.05) in the texting condition. Average steplength and average stride velocity decreased significantly (p<0.05) while texting compared to the control condition. Standing balanceand temporospatial aspects of walking are significantly degraded by texting. These results are valuable due to the growingprevalence of mobile technology. These results suggest that texting and walking could be detrimental to pedestrian safety and canhelp inform decisions regarding infrastructure to minimize potential dangers associated with distracted walkers.