No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Skin is a dynamic and complex organ that relies on the interaction of different cell types,biomacromolecules and signaling molecules. Upon injury, a cascade of events occurs to quickly restore the skin’s integrity. Depending on the size and severity of the wound, a dressing is used to provide a temporary barrier to protect from dehydration, microorganisms and debris. Current wound dressings however, cannot accelerate wound healing beyond the natural rate, require frequent dressing changes, and cannot be easily removed without triggering additional pain ortissue destruction. Insulin, a peptide used to treat Type 1 diabetes, has been reported to improve the recovery of severe burn wounds. Yet, no one has successfully demonstrated a convenient and effective insulin delivery vehicle that can be used to accelerate burn wound healing. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microparticles, were shown to release bioactive insulin for a period of 25 days, stimulating human keratinocyte migration in vitro. A wound dressing made from poly(ethylene glycol) and alginate was formulated incorporating the insulin-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microparticles. Bioactive insulin release was achieved for nearly 3 weeks, along with favourable water handling and physical properties conducive for wound healing. Finally, in vivo testing confirmed that a constant dose of insulin from alginate-PEG sponge dressings loaded with 0.125mg, or 0.04mg/cm2 insulin, with dressing changes every 3 days, was sufficient to significantly improve wound healing by 25%, as compared to an alginate- PEG sponge dressing without insulin. Insulin releasing alginate-PEG sponge dressings are therefore, an effective method of improving burn wound healing and may serve as a delivery vehicle platform to incorporate other therapeutic molecules in the future. / Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-20 17:50:47.872

Abstract Framed within a wholly Indigenous paradigm - Gayanehsragowah - my dissertation is a counterstory constructed to engage colonialism in a decolonizing research and writing project. I chose story, an autoethnographic novel, as form to represent Indigenous reflexive method; a metaphoric text performed to unlock metaphor’s meaning, once known, I see through to and refract truth upon my own life story implicit within that text. To illustrate human potential for healing and self-change, I construct pedagogical relationship between lived experience and theoretical meaning in interlocking and entangled threads inseparable from form, not possible in conventional thesis organization. Tadoda:ho, the Great Law icon for transformation centers my inquiry into effects of cultural, social and political disconnection from Hodinohso:ni: systems; in particular, I examine historical unresolved grief carried both over the life span and across generations. I use Denzin’s approach to critical personal narrative, Ellis’s autoethnographic method and Richardson’s creative analytical practice to create an interpretive text comprised of short stories, poetry, conversations, dialogue, visual representation and layered accounts. My inquiry reveals Battiste’s transforming energy flux, which I call spirit, manifests in Indigenous language structures, and similar to Ellis’s evocative and analytical texts, once voiced through writing, creates change in the universe and in self. Critical reflection and representation of an Indigenous world in constant motion to renew livingness lends key knowledge that reconnection to ancestral histories, lands, and cultures restores Indigenous identity to resolve the trauma of historical grief. As Gayanehsragowah is performative healing narrative, my inquiry intends to add new knowledge of Indigenous story as form with power to inform self-change. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-03-06 14:34:46.945

The purpose of the current study is to better understand the experience of healing after childhood sexual abuse (CSA) through analysis of existing survivor narratives. Traditionally, study of CSA survivors has been approached from a point of view that categorizes their response to abuse a deficit or disorder. A recent movement in the study of CSA has been toward viewing CSA survivors in terms of resilience and healing. The current research study is informed from the social constructivist paradigm, and uses narrative and hermeneutics to gain a better understanding of healing from CSA by examining existing narratives of healing written by survivors. The method of narrative analysis employed is Lieblich Tuval-Mashiach & Zilber’s (1998) holistic-content approach. After interpreting each individual narrative, an overarching analysis was generated by interpretation of commonalities across memoirs. The narratives and my subsequent analysis of the narratives generated a storied construction of healing, organized into three themes: The Process of Transformation, From the Private to the Public, and Connecting to Others. The results are discussed in light of the socio-cultural and political landscapes, as well as in terms of the concept of self-compassion. Strengths and limitations of the study, as well as considerations for future research are considered

This thesis is an exploration of the phenomenon of energy healing told from the inner world of a healer. Briefly, this complementary and alternate medicine (CAM) modality involves the manipulation of subtle energy fields to affect health, something that I have known for over 15 years. Because energy healing is experienced differently by different people I chose to use autoethnography to capture and share my own personal understanding of this phenomenon. This methodology allowed me to delve into my intimate stories and experiences and through the writing process, I learnt more about energy healing than I had initially expected. In finding my personal voice and investigating the silence that has accompanied my relationship with this much maligned healing practice, I was able to explore the stories that had remained in the shadows: tales that had been influencing my relationship with this phenomenon for many years. This thesis also includes conversations that I had with my teachers and fellow healers. As I reflected on our discussions, I followed themes that appeared when we spoke and I discovered not only a deeper personal understanding of the phenomenon of energy healing, but a new profound awareness of myself. In the final presentation of this thesis, I have shared my discoveries as stories and anecdotes and I have surrounded these tales with my artwork. It is my hope that the colour and movement of my paint brush will help translate the emotions and sensations that I have known in places where words have trouble traversing. The experiential sense of knowing that speaks from my intimate perspective of this alternate healing modality comes from a private journey that is imbued with awe and wonder, stumbling and doubt, and an inspiring sense of connection - a perspective that is absent in the academic literature on energy healing. In sharing this inner world with my readers, I hope that my writing and my artwork have captured a small fragment of the elusive and esoteric nature of this phenomenon, something that for me exists in a place where there are no words.

Wounding of the cornea generates lateral electric fields (EFs) and initiates the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF; Chiang et al., 1992; Wilson et al., 1999a). Therefore, these biologically generated EFs and endogenous growth factors may be of particular significance during wound healing. In the presence of an EF (150 mV/mm) cultured corneal epithelial cells (CECs) oriented perpendicular, directed cathodally and migrated at an enhanced rate. The induction times, induction thresholds and response patterns for these behaviours in increasing field strengths, indicated that they may operate through separate and parallel pathways. The application of either HGF or KGF enhanced the rate of CEC migration but neither affected the extent of CEC orientation or directionality. The distribution of HGF receptors (HGFR) was found to be exclusive to the cell body in the presence of an EF, the receptors accumulated cathodally. Moreover, the asymmetrical accumulation of HGFR in the presence of an EF correlated with the direction of CEC migration. The application of both HGF and an EF activated extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) a mitogen-activated protein kinase. Furthermore, in the presence of an EF the observed ERK activation was greater in the cathodal facing half of the CECs. Inhibition of ERK reduced the extent of HGF and EF-enhanced CEC migration rate but did not alter EF-induced CEC cathodal directionality or perpendicular orientation. The HGF- and EF-enhancement of CEC migration rate may involve the activation of ERK and with the downstream liberation of leukotrienes and phosphorylation of MLCK, would culminate in actin contraction and polymerisation respectively. The potential clinical relevance for this work would concern the topical application of HGF and exogenous application of EFs to corneal epithelial wounds in order to augment healing in patients where this process is slow or deficient.

Dermal wound healing involves a myriad of highly regulated and sophisticated mechanisms, which are coordinated and carried out via several specialized cell types. The dominant players involved in this process include platelets, neutrophils, macrophages and fibroblasts. These cells play a vital role in the repair of the wound by orchestrating tasks such as forming a fibrin clot to stanch blood flow, removing foreign organisms and cellular debris, depositing new collagen matrix and establishing the contractile forces which eventually bridge the void caused by the initial infraction.\\[5pt] \indent Our current understanding of these mechanisms has been primarily based upon animal models. Unfortunately, these models lack insight into pathologic conditions, which plague human beings, such as keloid scar or chronic ulcer formation. Consequently, investigators have proposed a number of {\it in vivo} techniques to study wound repair in humans in order to overcome this barrier. One approach, which has been devised to increase our level of understanding of these chronic conditions, involves the cutaneous placement of a small cylindrical structure within the appendage of a human test subject.\\[5pt] \indent Researches have designed a variety of these implantable structures to examine different aspects of wound healing in both healthy subjects and individuals that experience some trauma related condition. In each case, several implants are surgically positioned at multiple locations under sterile conditions. These structures are later removed at distinct time intervals at which point they are histologically analyzed and biochemically assayed to deduce the presence of biological markers involved in the repair process. Implantable structures used in this way are often referred to as Human Implantable Models or Systems.\\[5pt] \indent Clinical studies with implantable models open up tremendous opportunities in fields such as biomathematics because they provide an experimentally controlled setting that aids in the development and validation of mathematical models. Furthermore, experiments carried out with implants greatly simplify the mathematics required to describe the repair process because they minimize the modeling of complex features associated with healing such as wound geometry and the evolution of contractile forces.\\[5pt] \indent In this work, we present a notional mathematical model, which accounts for two fundamental processes involved in the repair of an acute dermal wound. These processes include the inflammatory response and fibroplasia. Our system describes each of these events through the time evolution of four primary species or variables. These include the density of initial damage, inflammatory cells, fibroblasts and deposition of new collagen matrix. Since it is difficult to populate the equations of our model with coefficients that have been empirically derived, we fit these constants by carrying out a large number of simulations until there is reasonable agreement between the time response of the variables of our system and those reported by the literature for normal healing. Once a suitable choice of parameters has been made, we then compare simulation results with data obtained from clinical investigations. While more data is desired, we have a promising first step toward describing the primary events of wound repair within the confines of an implantable system.