Managing the challenges of pregnancy in a case of recurrent macroprolactinoma: A balancing act

The following provides a summary of the 16th World Congress on Inflammation (WCI 2024), which took place in Québec City (Canada) from July 21 to 24, 2024. At the meeting, researchers from around the world presented their latest findings which transcended fundamental and clinical science in the field of inflammation. Participants shared original work which covered a multitude of topics and discussed practical aspects of their research including the application of new diagnostic strategies and medical therapeutic technologies. Among the main topics discussed at the congress were: immunometabolism, immunity, infectious diseases, pathology of the lungs, skin and musculoskeletal system, microbiota, mucosal inflammation, neuro-inflammation, pain, targets in the treatment of inflammation and much more. The overarching theme of the event was "Inflammation in Health and Disease: A Balancing Act".

This article focuses on the findings in the seminal decision in Campbell as to the speech/privacy balancing act, to argue that since that decision two divergent strands of jurisprudence have emerged, placing those findings under some pressure. Firstly, it will be argued that the Campbell view of the proper conduct of the act – on the basis of the presumptive equality of the two interests at stake – is not in reality replicated at Strasbourg, and the Strasbourg stance has had some impact on the domestic understanding of that act. Secondly, the role of the Campbell model of the balancing act within the emergent and rising online privacy jurisprudence will be explored relation to situations sometimes far removed from the Campbell one. It will be argued that nevertheless the Campbell, not the Strasbourg, stance as to the balancing act can and should be deployed in the online context, including as to search-engines.

To explore and describe the experience of becoming a grandmother to a premature infant. Becoming a grandmother involves a new perspective of life. Grandmothers of sick infants find themselves in a new situation with an adult child undergoing serious stress. Few studies have approached the grandmothers' own experience of becoming a grandmother to a premature infant. A qualitative content analysis was used. Eleven women, 52-66 years of age, who were grandmothers to premature infants born at a gestational age of 25-34 weeks, were interviewed during 2010. The infants were less than three years old at the time of the interview. The interviews were analysed with qualitative content analysis. The overall theme was a balancing act. Two categories of experience were identified: emotional experiences and a new role. 'Emotional experiences' was related to the first meeting, ambivalent feelings and confidence in care. 'A new role' was related to the subcategories supportive, a balance of involvement and limitations. To become a grandmother to a premature infant was experienced as a balancing act influenced by ambivalent feelings of joy, fear and worry. The grandmothers sensed the seriousness of the situation at the same time as they wanted to be happy about the newborn infant. They worried about their adult child's as well as the premature infant's health but put their own needs aside. The grandmothers' new role was a balance between being involved and supportive without disturbing. Neonatal intensive care unit staff should be open to grandmothers' needs and acknowledge them as an obvious support for the immediate family of a premature infant. The grandmothers need guidance and information about what to expect concerning the infants health, the parents situation and their own role.

The safety and health of many workers employed in micro-enterprises (with less than 10 employees) is poor, and legal arrangements related to working environments remain a considerable challenge in these enterprises. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how Swedish occupational safety and health (OSH) inspectors perceive themselves as inspectors and their role as bureaucratic regulators when meeting micro-enterprises. In the study, 11 Swedish inspectors were interviewed and asked to reflect on their role as inspectors, how they perceive themselves as inspectors and what their role is as bureaucratic regulators when inspecting micro-enterprises. The qualitative content analysis revealed one theme—a balancing act—and three categories: one inspector, many roles; interactions with micro-entrepreneurs; and exercise the profession as an inspector. The results showed that OSH inspectors experience challenges in meeting the requirements of street-level bureaucracy while addressing the needs of micro-enterprises. In conclusion, OSH inspectors need organisational support to develop inspection models and enforcement styles tailored to micro-enterprises, as this could ease their work and contribute to better inspection outcomes. The implications of this study include a need for increased competence about working environment issues in micro-enterprises, development of enforcement styles among the inspectors, emphasis of the importance of specific governmental projects for OSH and development of models in this enterprise group. Additionally, development of micro-enterprise managers’ competence and ability to handle issues related to the working environment and health were also important.

As China rises, Sino–US competition for influence in East and Southeast Asia has become inescapable. China’s growing influence on its south-western neighbour, Myanmar, is a case in point. The impact of China’s rise is more strongly felt, politically and economically, in Myanmar than elsewhere in the world. This article asks the follow question: What explains China’s more aggressive political and economic clout in Myanmar than elsewhere in the world? To answer this question, this article argues that Myanmar holds a unique importance to China’s balancing act against the preponderance of American power in a unipolar world. Most of the available literature on China’s inroads into Myanmar focus on China’s geopolitical and strategic interests. With such focus, existing literatures take on Myanmar’s importance to China in terms of China’s politics of resource extraction that meets the requirement of its overall economic development. There is no denying it—resource extraction is important for China in order to feed its expanding economy. But hardly any study frames Myanmar’s special weight in China’s politics of resource extraction from the perspective of Beijing’s balancing act against the United States (US). China’s balancing act is characterized by an ‘economic prebalancing’ strategy. The strategy is rooted in China’s grand strategy of acquiring ‘comprehensive national strength’, and more precisely, it is embedded in Beijing’s ‘peaceful development’ strategy. The article asserts that Myanmar is critically important in China’s economic prebalancing strategy against the United States.

Feedback as a balancing act: Qualitative insights from an experienced multi-cultural sample of doctoral supervisors in nursing

Background New Zealand Rugby (NZR) implemented a concussion management pathway (CMP) to improve management at the community level. Physiotherapists play an important role in the CMP. Objective This study explored physiotherapists’ experiences in the management of community rugby-related concussion as part of the CMP. Methods We adopted a pragmatic, descriptive qualitative approach to explore perceptions of twenty-four physiotherapists involved in the CMP. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data. Results Four themes represented participants’ experiences: 1) ‘walking the tight rope between player welfare and performance’ described the balancing act between different attitudes and priorities of the various rugby stakeholders; 2) empowering physiotherapists’ authority and responsibilities, described the influence of physiotherapists’ authority within the team and concussion management responsibilities; 3) multi-directional communication, described the role of communication between multiple stakeholders; and 4) the influence of context, which included the complexity of concussion, concussion knowledge of the physiotherapists and team, resource support for the physiotherapist, and access to a medical doctor. Conclusion Physiotherapists had positive attitudes toward the CMP and are well-positioned to play an active role in the pathway. Priorities of other stakeholders, authority of the physiotherapist and the communication flow influences physiotherapists’ ability to optimally manage players with concussion.

Children with an autism spectrum disorder (autism) are vulnerable to negative experiences within the surgical setting. This qualitative study used Interpretive Description. Individual interviews were conducted with 8 parents of children with autism who had recently undergone surgery, and 15 healthcare providers (HCPs) with experience caring for children with autism. Participants were asked open-ended questions on the approaches used to support children with autism around the time of surgery and their effectiveness, how the surgical experience could be improved, and the barriers and facilitators to potential improvements. Results yielded three main themes within an overarching metaphor of a balancing act. The first theme, finding your footing through an uncertain journey, described individual factors (e.g. anticipatory anxiety) that set the foundation for surgery-related experiences. The second theme, relationships can help to keep everyone steady, highlighted how interpersonal dynamics (e.g. collaboration and empathy) influence the experience. Finally, the systems shape the experience theme captured the impact of systemic factors (e.g. the hospital environment) on the balancing act. These findings enriched our understanding of how individual, interpersonal, and systemic factors influence the surgical experiences of children with autism, families, and HCPs. Insights gained from this study can be used to inform future interventions.Lay abstractChildren with an autism spectrum disorder (autism) often have negative experiences within the surgical setting. We conducted individual interviews with 8 parents of children with autism who had recently undergone surgery, and 15 healthcare providers (HCPs) with experience caring for children with autism. We asked open-ended questions on the approaches used to support children with autism around the time of surgery, how effective they were, suggestions for improvement, and the barriers and facilitators to improvement. Three main themes emerged within an overarching metaphor of a balancing act. The first theme, finding your footing through an uncertain journey, described individual factors (e.g. anticipatory anxiety) that set the foundation for experiences. The second theme, relationships can help to keep everyone steady, highlighted how personal interactions (e.g. collaboration and empathy) influence the experience. Finally, the systems shape the experience theme captured how systemic factors (e.g. the hospital environment) affected the balancing act. These findings enriched our understanding of the surgical experiences of children with autism, families, and HCPs by demonstrating the importance of individual characteristics, relationships, and systemic factors. Future interventions should consider this complexity and intervene not just with children, but also their parents, healthcare providers, and in policy to improve experiences.

Industrial BiotechnologyVol. 4, No. 4 Feature CommentaryFree AccessPOINT OF VIEW: The balancing act: Keeping the EPA focus on sound science for GHG emissions & biofuelsSandra P. ThompsonSandra P. ThompsonSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:22 Dec 2008https://doi.org/10.1089/ind.2008.4.334AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsPermissionsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 4Issue 4Dec 2008 InformationCopyright 2008, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:Sandra P. Thompson.POINT OF VIEW: The balancing act: Keeping the EPA focus on sound science for GHG emissions & biofuels.Industrial Biotechnology.Dec 2008.334-336.http://doi.org/10.1089/ind.2008.4.334Published in Volume: 4 Issue 4: December 22, 2008PDF download

Family-centered care is a proposed way of supporting family involvement with a child's care and decreasing distress associated with a child's critical illness by improving communication, helping manage stress and coping, and decreasing conflicts. Nurses are critical to successful implementation of family-centered care. To describe nurses' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of providing family-centered care in pediatric intensive care units. Semistructured interviews of 10 bedside and charge nurses in pediatric, cardiac, and neonatal intensive care units. Questions were related to 4 domains: the intensive care unit environment and its relationship to the structure and delivery of critical care, stressors for nurses and families, communication challenges and strategies, and involvement of families in care and decision-making. The main thematic finding was the nurses' descriptions of a "balancing act" to provide quality family-centered care. The balancing act was characterized by the interaction between 2 types of changes: (1) intensive care unit policies related to visitation hours and family presence at the bedside and (2) physical transformations in the intensive care unit from shared open space to individual private rooms. All of the nurses viewed the transition to family-centered care as having benefits for families. They also described how changes had created new challenges for the delivery of nursing care in intensive care units, particularly regarding mentorship and the safety of patients and staff.

“C had a routine visit with her primary care physician at Anchor Medical Associates in Providence, RI. Though she was following the treatment plan, her glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) wasn’t at goal. Unsure what to try next, the physician asked Kenny Correia, PharmD, to meet with Catherine for additional diabetes education. Correia is a clinical pharmacist at Anchor Medical Associates, where he sees patients who are eligible for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island’s (BCBSRI) Patient-Centered Pharmacist Program.

With the emergence and rapid growth of Social Media, a number of government departments in several countries have embraced Social Media as a privilege channel to interact with their constituency. We are exploring, in collaboration with the Australian Department of Human Services, the possibility to exploit the potential of social networks to support specific groups of citizens. To this end, we have developed Next Step, an online community to help people currently receiving welfare payments find a job and become financially self-sufficient. In this paper, we explore some ethical issues that arise when governments engage directly with citizens, in particular with communities in difficult situations, and when researchers are involved. We describe some of the challenges we faced and how we addressed them. Our work highlights the complexity of the problem, when an online community involves a government department and a welfare recipient group with a dependency relationship with that department. It becomes a balancing act, with the need to ensure privacy of the community members whilst still fulfilling the government’s legal responsibilities. While difficult, these issues must be addressed if governments are to engage with their citizens using Social Media.

Yeast prions: Bungee cord domains' balancing act

ECMO support for COVID-19: a balancing act – Authors' reply

BackgroundDuring the COVID‐19 pandemic, visitors were restricted from hospitals, separating them from hospitalised friends and family to reduce the infection risk.ObjectivesThe objective was to explore how relatives of older people acutely admitted to hospital with COVID‐19 experienced being a relative, and how they felt about their contact with health care professionals (HCPs) when visitor restrictions prevented their physical presence in the ward.MethodThis study employed a qualitative design. We used individual qualitative semi‐structured interviews and the participants were relatives of acutely admitted older people from three COVID‐19 wards in Denmark. A total of 18 relatives participated, 14 female and 4 male, aged between 45 and 83 years. The analysis was guided by Graneheim and Lundman’s qualitative content analysis.ResultsThe analysis derived the following three themes: (1) the importance of trust in a period of uncertainty; (2) the meaning of contact with HCPs, and (3) active but at a distance—a balancing act. The participants' feelings of uncertainty were prominent. The unknown nature of the disease and the unusual situation challenged relatives' trust in HCPs and the health care system.Conclusions and relevance to practiceThe findings highlight relatives' stress when the possibilities for visiting are restricted and the importance of trust in, and the relationship with HCPs. This study can strengthen HCPs' understanding of relatives' situation when older people are hospitalised during and after the COVID‐19 pandemic.