No description available.

The dissertation is an ethnographic study of religion as conceived and experienced by organ transplant recipients. It is also a cultural study of North America’s collective expressions of transplant as found in Christian journals, popular media, advocacy literature and public policy statements. The study finds evidence that religious metaphors and directives, cosmological figures and theological arguments, rituals, scriptures and places of worship are actively, vociferously, and consciously engaged with organ transplant discourse and with the experience of giving or receiving organs. While the transplant recipients under study cannot be considered representative (being largely advocates for transplant and almost exclusively of Christian background or affiliation), this group was articulate about the ways their new organ invoked the sacred: they described new metaphysical understandings, they spoke of a closer relationship with God, the universe and other human beings, they divulged inexplicable incidents and mystical states of being, they articulated a complex set of ethical prescripts. “Thinking how many times you should have been dead and you’re still here” was for many an imperative to “start to find out why.” I argue that these spiritual seekers traverse a 21st century terrain shaped by the practices and discourses of what Foucault termed “biopower”. The private and public production of sanctified donors and ‘redeemed’ recipients is inextricably bound to the desires of transplant professionals and government officials, and cannot hope to escape the very real commodification of the body that transplant represents. This seeming paradox of ‘the sacred in the secular’ does not make transplant’s religious constructions inauthentic or irrelevant. Religion remains an active and inventive register for the recording of potent bodily experiences of illness, loss and conditional regeneration. Further, the religious activity around transplant affords a window on emerging rites, on contemporary understandings of death and immortality, and on new conversations about miracles and morality. Circuits of biotechnology are not immune to religious influence and inflection – but, simultaneously, contemporary religious meanings, practices and experiences are indelibly shaped by our newfound ability to transplant organs.

No description available.

Background: For patients with severe heart disease, may heart transplantation be the only opportunity for survival. Previous research highlights the importance of the nurse's role as supporters and knowledge brokers. People who has undergone heart transplant may be changed forever. Having to undergo a heart transplant can lead to that patients end up in a traumatic crisis. People's perception of herself and her perception of the world is also changing when the body is injured or suffers a disease. Aim: The aim of this study is to elucidate patients' experiences of living with a new heart, and to focus on the coping strategies used by patients to manage their new situation. Method: A literature review was chosen as the method. The 12 items used in the study have been based on studies of seven qualitative and five quantitative approaches. Articles were published after year 1995. Results: Two main categories emerged from the analysis: Patients' experiences of living with someone else's heart, and patients' coping strategies to deal with the new heart. The most important results were about emotional turmoil, changes in health, psychological adjustment and defense mechanisms. Conclusion: To have received a new heart gives different experiences. It is important that the nurse has knowledge and understanding of these individual experiences that patients can feel.

Since the discovery of cyclosporine in 1971, calcineurin inhibitors have played a critical role in the therapeutic suppression of the immune response. Patients receiving solid organ transplants rely heavily on these medications to prevent the acute and chronic rejection of allografted tissue. Introduction of tacrolimus, the most frequently prescribed calcineurin inhibitor, has lead to improved clinical outcomes for organ transplant recipients; however, little improvement has been noted in lung transplantation. Difficulties with current oral dosing regimens for lung transplant patients stem primarily from drug systemic toxicity, heightened risk of invasive infection, and erratic oral bioavailability. We have proposed that pulmonary delivery of a tacrolimus formulation with improved solubility can provide high lung concentrations, while limiting corresponding systemic levels associated with toxicity. Chapter 2 investigates the pulmonary administration of tacrolimus dispersion for nebulization to lung transplanted rats. Resulting lung and blood levels were determined by appropriate bioanalytical methods. Limited systemic absorption was seen after pulmonary delivery, resulting in a 50 to 1 lung to blood concentration ratio. A 28 day safety and stability evaluation of tacrolimus dispersion for nebulization was conducted in Chapter 3. Results showed no signs of toxicity in Sprague Dawley rats and proved the stability of tacrolimus powder for dispersion for 3 months. For cases of severe asthma, immunosuppression is also necessary to restore normal lungs function and is typically treated with corticosteroids. Corticosteroids, however, are well known for their untoward side effects and can prove ineffective in severe asthmatics that have developed corticosteroid resistance. Chapter 4 investigates the use of tacrolimus dispersion for nebulization for prophylactic treatment of asthma. Efficacy was determined in an asthma-induced animal model by quantification of inflammatory cells and signaling chemicals. In Chapter 5, tacrolimus powder for inhalation is investigated in a novel dry powder inhalation platform. Respirable particles are produced when bulk particles (500 [micrometer]) comprising a matrix of drug/excipient are sheared apart by a marketed inhalation device to produce particles of the appropriate geometric diameter (50 [micrometer]). Biocompatible material with brittle properties were found to produce fine particle fractions (FPF) up to 70.3% and total emitted doses (TED) higher than 95%. / text

The dissertation is an ethnographic study of religion as conceived and experienced by organ transplant recipients. It is also a cultural study of North America’s collective expressions of transplant as found in Christian journals, popular media, advocacy literature and public policy statements. The study finds evidence that religious metaphors and directives, cosmological figures and theological arguments, rituals, scriptures and places of worship are actively, vociferously, and consciously engaged with organ transplant discourse and with the experience of giving or receiving organs. While the transplant recipients under study cannot be considered representative (being largely advocates for transplant and almost exclusively of Christian background or affiliation), this group was articulate about the ways their new organ invoked the sacred: they described new metaphysical understandings, they spoke of a closer relationship with God, the universe and other human beings, they divulged inexplicable incidents and mystical states of being, they articulated a complex set of ethical prescripts. “Thinking how many times you should have been dead and you’re still here” was for many an imperative to “start to find out why.” I argue that these spiritual seekers traverse a 21st century terrain shaped by the practices and discourses of what Foucault termed “biopower”. The private and public production of sanctified donors and ‘redeemed’ recipients is inextricably bound to the desires of transplant professionals and government officials, and cannot hope to escape the very real commodification of the body that transplant represents. This seeming paradox of ‘the sacred in the secular’ does not make transplant’s religious constructions inauthentic or irrelevant. Religion remains an active and inventive register for the recording of potent bodily experiences of illness, loss and conditional regeneration. Further, the religious activity around transplant affords a window on emerging rites, on contemporary understandings of death and immortality, and on new conversations about miracles and morality. Circuits of biotechnology are not immune to religious influence and inflection – but, simultaneously, contemporary religious meanings, practices and experiences are indelibly shaped by our newfound ability to transplant organs.

This study investigated the transplantation of understory plants within the Cu-Ni smelterdamaged urban forest of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, to increase plant biodiversity in an area where natural colonization of understory species is delayed. The goal of my study was to evaluate establishment of 16 m2 vegetation mats along a gradient of smelter disturbance and to relate successful establishment to abiotic and biotic site characteristics. Specific investigations were conducted to determine whether soil quality influenced root growth and transplant establishment. Variables associated with smelter emissions and soil temperature were the best predictors of successful transplant establishment of understory plant species, but relationships were species specific. Also, root growth was not limited to organic soils of the transplant mat and roots were able to grow into receptor site soil. Knowledge of environmental factors influencing establishment will help to determine site locations and to select species to introduce when transplanting understory species in future reclamation projects.

Since Ferrero SpA established a manufacturing plant in Brantford, Ontario, there has been considerable interest in developing a hazelnut industry locally. One of the issues that needs to be overcome is to supply large numbers of suitable plants rapidly. They can be micropropagated, and then grown in the nursery. Usually, it takes two years to grow suitably sized plants in the nursery. This thesis investigated methods to grow suitably sized plants in one year and evaluated the nursery systems from financial aspect. Hazelnut seedlings were planted in ellepots and plastic pots, and then subjected to three treatments: grown in a retractable roof greenhouse, treated with root pruning technology or grown in outdoor environment. Also, two transplant timings were tested: the fall of 2011 and the spring of 2012. The results showed that pot type did not influence the growth of hazelnut seedlings. The retractable roof greenhouse increased growth and the root pruning technology changed the seedlings root structure but not their growth. Transplant timing did not affect the seedlings growth in the first year in the field. The retractable roof greenhouse has the potential to produce two crops of seedlings in one growing season compared to one crop in the outdoor nursery. The estimated cost per seedling under retractable roof greenhouse was $9.31, which was $1.95 cheaper than outdoor. / Ontario Centres of Excellence and Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

No description available.

No description available.