Covid-19: Emerging Considerations for Body Sourcing and Handling. A Perspective View from Nigeria

The current Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has spread to about 220 countries of the world and has resulted in a significant number of deaths globally. Infections are still on the rise, and the impact on the global death rate could be devastating. There are fears over the likely impact of a large number of deaths on body sourcing and handling of cadavers for teaching and research. Historically, epidemics come with several challenges and have often led to some level of negligence of ethical practices and health and safety regulations associated with body sourcing and handling. The authors highlighted some emerging problems in this article, focusing on Africa and Nigeria in particular. These problems include a higher risk of coronavirus exposure for body handlers, shortage of cadavers for teaching and learning, a lack of standard regulations leading to unethical body sourcing and handling, and a lack of monitoring and collaboration needed for a well-coordinated Covid-19 pandemic response strategy. If these issues are ignored, the previous gains made in anatomical ethical practices may be destroyed. Some useful recommendations for policymaking geared toward prevention or curtailing these emerging issues have been instilled in this article.     

The Unintentional Effects on Body Donation Programs of a Competency-Based Curriculum in Postgraduate Medical Education

As medical programs place increasing importance on competency-based training and surgical simulations for residents, anatomy laboratories, and body donation programs find themselves in a position of adapting to changing demands. To better assess the demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens and evaluate the possible impacts that competency-based medical education could have upon the body donation program of McGill University, Canada, the authors tracked, over the course of the last 10 years, the number of soft-embalmed specimens, along with the number of teaching sessions and the residents enrolled in competency-based programs that are using cadaveric material. The results reveal that the number of soft-embalmed specimens used within residency training increased from 5 in 2009 to 35 in 2019, representing an increase from 6% of bodies to 36.5% of the total number of body donors embalmed in this institution. Correspondingly, the number of annual teaching sessions for residents increased from 19 in 2012 to 116 in 2019. These increases in teaching are correlated with increasing number of residents enrolled in competency-based programs over the last 3 years (Pearson r ranging from 0.9705 to 0.9903, and R² ranging from 0.9418 to 0.9808). Those results suggest that the new skill-centered curricula which require residents to perform specific tasks within realistic settings, exhibit a growing demand for “life-like” cadaveric specimens. Institutions’ body donation programs must, therefore, adapt to those greater need for cadaveric specimens, which presents many challenges, ranging from the logistical to the ethical.     

Does modality matter? A latent profile and transition analysis of sedentary behaviours among school-aged youth: The UP&DOWN study

ABSTRACT

The aims of this study were to identify profiles of sedentary behaviour (SB) patterns, based on leisure-time self-reported SB modalities (screen, educative, social, and relaxing) and to evaluate changes in these profiles over 2 years among Spanish youth aged 8–18 years. Latent profile analysis (LPA), a data-driven analytic approach, was used to identify groups of boys and girls (n = 1553; 48% girls; mean±SD age: 12.56 ± 2.49 y) with distinct SB profiles using the SB modalities (time/d) as input variables. Latent transition analysis, an extension of LPA that uses longitudinal data, was used to analyse 2-year changes in these profiles. At baseline, four and three SB profiles were found among boys (labelled: screen, educative, social, and relaxing) and girls (labelled: screen/social, educative, and relaxing), respectively. Overall, more girls (range: 48%-67%) had the same profile over time, than boys (40%-52%). Participants with a screen or relaxing SB profile at baseline were more likely to have an educative profile after 2 years. Youth with a social and an educative SB profile at baseline were more likely to transition to profiles characterized by higher screen and social SB, respectively. Using a novel and person-centered approach, this study identified gender-specific SB profiles that were moderately stable over time.     

Syllable-based reading improvement: Effects on word reading and reading comprehension in Grade 2

This study examined the effects of a syllable-based reading intervention for German second graders who demonstrated difficulties in the recognition of written words. The intervention focused on fostering word reading via syllable segmentation. The materials consisted of the 500 most frequent syllables typically read by 6- to 8-year-old children. The aims were to practice phonological recoding, consolidate orthographic representations of syllables, and routinize the access to these representations. Compared to children randomly assigned to a wait-list group, poor readers in the treatment condition showed significant improvements in standardized measures of phonological recoding, direct word recognition, and text-based reading comprehension after the 24-session intervention. Poor readers in the treatment condition also showed greater improvements in development of word recognition compared to children with efficient word recognition skills. The results provide evidence that a syllable-based reading intervention is a promising approach to increase struggling readers’ word recognition skills, which in turn will improve their reading comprehension.     

‘I would say nine times out of 10 they come to the LSA rather than the teacher’. The role of teaching assistants in supporting children's mental health

This research explored how seven primary school teaching assistants (TAs) experienced their role in supporting children's mental health. Interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The participants believed that they supported children's mental health and particularly referenced the close relationships that they formed with children. Throughout their accounts of supporting children, the TAs referenced helpful factors (e.g. support from other staff) and challenges (e.g. hierarchy) within the school system. Supporting children’s mental health was an emotional experience for the TAs; they discussed the rewarding element, however, the topic also elicited fear. The findings provide several implications for school staff and external professionals about how TAs can be supported in their role. These include involving TAs in training opportunities, providing TAs with supervision, considering communication systems in schools, and introducing a mental health policy.     

面向幼儿发展的表现性评价实践研究

本研究采用表现性评价,对x幼儿园大班一个班级39名幼儿进行为期一年的发展性评价,在真实情境中对幼儿的发展状况作出连续性评价,获悉幼儿不同阶段的发展状况,同时对评价过程进行总结和反思。     

新时代我国少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理研究

采用文献资料法等研究方法对新时代我国少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理进行研究，旨在为提高我国少数民族地区体育公共服务质量和建设体育强国提供建议。研究认为，少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理是基于我国社会分层的现状以及各阶层体育需求和参与特征存在的差异而采取的差异性治理方式，分层治理有"因层制宜"的意蕴，有利于促进我国少数民族地区体育公共服务均等化和改变少数民族地区体育公共服务"供给不足"和"供非所需"的困境。现阶段我国少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理的思路包括明确少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理主体责任、完善少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理资金保障机制、积极探索少数民族地区体育公共服务分层供给方式、构建少数民族地区体育公共服务分层治理协商机制、建立少数民族地区体育公共服务分层供给绩效评价体系。     

A Bioethos for Bodies: Respecting a Priceless Resource

The value that willed body donors provide to medical education is priceless. Their precious gift helps to teach anatomy, spatial relationships between morphological structures, anatomical variation, and professionalism to medical students in a way that plastic models, podcasts, and lectures cannot. They are also an important resource for medical research and a wide variety of postgraduate training opportunities. While many body donation programs throughout the world are nonprofit organizations, there are body donation companies in the United States that sell donors for-profit. These “body brokers” have accumulated large profits from this business. It is incongruous that others would profit from such a priceless, freely donated gift. To prevent this incongruity, it is proposed that the international anatomical community develop a normative culture (a bioethos) for body donation programs. This would involve the conscious and systematic development of ethical principles for the day-to-day policies and practices of institutions that collect and use human bodies. With the development of this bioethos, a cultural shift in how donors are treated would occur and, over time, this would become the normal practice. These principles would become fundamental and foundational for the procurement and use of priceless human tissues.     

习近平新时代体育强国思想的马克思唯物主义立场及价值引领

运用文献资料法、辩证分析法、逻辑推理法等研究方法，对习近平新时代体育强国思想的马克思唯物主义立场进行了演绎与阐释。研究认为：在马克思唯物主义立场层面，习近平新时代体育强国思想坚持体育强国梦与实现中华民族伟大复兴中国梦一脉相承的历史唯物主义立场和普遍联系的辩证唯物主义立场；坚持在体育强国建设进程中遵循问题导向的唯物主义本体论立场；坚持体育强国建设要利用好国际与国内两种资源的唯物主义内外因辩证关系的立场。在新的历史时期，习近平新时代体育强国思想引领着竞技体育、群众体育、体育产业等领域的发展理念和价值，创新与发展了马克思主义哲学的实践结构和理论视角，为开创新时代中国特色社会主义体育事业的新局面提供了坚实的理论基础和实践支持。     

奇效骨伤散在治疗老年运动性骨损伤中的应用

老年运动性骨损伤是近期逐渐增多的疾患 ,本门诊部近 1年半以来接诊此类病人 38例 ,应用外敷自拟奇效骨伤散为主进行治疗 ,可迅速使骨折端达到牢靠连接 ,解除制动进行功能锻炼 ,肢体功能恢复快。与常规骨损伤疗效相比 ,疗程显著缩短 ,具快捷安全、方便经济、适用范围广等特点。优良率达 10 0 % ,且无明显并发症及后遗症。