305 research outputs found

    Cutting-edge Innovations in Cardiac Health: Galvanic Insights from a Clinician-Scientist, Dr. Benjamin Hibbert

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    Dr. Benjamin Hibbert, MD, PhD, FRCPC is an interventional cardiologist, an assistant professor, as well as the director of the Vascular Biology and Experimental Medicine Laboratory at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). With a focus on performing revolutionary bench-to-bedside  research, Dr. Hibbert’s clinical and basic science research interests include the development of novel cardiac biomarkers, elucidating the mechanisms that underlie pathological arterial remodelling in transplant vasculopathy, and the pharmacodynamics of adjuvant  antiplatelet and antithrombotic agents in cardiac disease. We had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Hibbert about his career path, research experiences, and perspectives on the importance of the clinician-investigator program in training the oncoming generation of clinician-scientists

    Cutting-edge Innovations in Cardiac Health: Galvanic Insights from a Clinician-Scientist, Dr. Benjamin Hibbert

    No full text
    Dr. Benjamin Hibbert, MD, PhD, FRCPC is an interventional cardiologist, an assistant professor, as well as the director of the Vascular Biology and Experimental Medicine Laboratory at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI). With a focus on performing revolutionary bench-to-bedside  research, Dr. Hibbert’s clinical and basic science research interests include the development of novel cardiac biomarkers, elucidating the mechanisms that underlie pathological arterial remodelling in transplant vasculopathy, and the pharmacodynamics of adjuvant  antiplatelet and antithrombotic agents in cardiac disease. We had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Hibbert about his career path, research experiences, and perspectives on the importance of the clinician-investigator program in training the oncoming generation of clinician-scientists

    Supplemental Material, JICM-19-0129_Infographic_(3)_(1) - Optimizing the Early Resuscitation After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

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    Supplemental Material, JICM-19-0129_Infographic_(3)_(1) for Optimizing the Early Resuscitation After Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest by Peter M. Reardon, Michael Hickey, Shane W. English, Benjamin Hibbert, Trevor Simard, Ariel Hendin and Krishan Yadav in Journal of Intensive Care Medicine</p

    Introduction to electrochemistry

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    An excellent way into the subject'- New Scientist Introduction to Electrochemistry is the first major new text in the field in recent years. The author takes the student from the basics through to a level suitable for beginning a post-graduate course. The chapters cover theory from electrolytes through electrodes to cells, both equilibrium and dynamic. Applications and methods are given great emphasis, and the second part of the text focuses on these aspects with coverage of electrosynthesis, electroanalytical chemistry, industrial electrochemistry, batteries and corrosion. Scattered throughout the text are panels of historical and anecdotal information illustrating unusual and often amusing aspects of electrochemistry not normally presented to the student. This, plus the highly readable style adopted by Brynn Hibbert, and his use of fully worked problems at the end of each chapter, make Introduction to Electrochemistry the ideal undergraduate textbook choice. Introduction to Electrochemistry is part of the Macmillan Physical Sciences Series

    Supplemental_Tables_for_PAI-1_RTR – Supplemental material for Performance of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 as a biomarker in patients undergoing coronary angiography: Analytical and biological considerations

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    Supplemental material, Supplemental_Tables_for_PAI-1_RTR for Performance of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 as a biomarker in patients undergoing coronary angiography: Analytical and biological considerations by Richard G Jung, Trevor Simard, Pietro Di Santo, Alisha Labinaz, Robert Moreland, Anne-Claire Duchez, Kamran Majeed, Pouya Motazedian, Rebecca Rochman, Young Jung and Benjamin Hibbert in Diabetes & Vascular Disease Research</p

    Adenosine and Vascular Homeostasis

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    Despite advancements in percutaneous coronary intervention, stents are still limited by a 2% annual rate of in-stent restenosis (ISR) related to neointimal (NI) tissue proliferation. Efforts to prevent ISR formation remain the focus of ongoing work. Adenosine (ADO) is a purine nucleoside with integral roles in vascular homeostasis, though it has limited clinical application. ADO signals primarily via four receptors with ADO receptor-A2B (ADOR-A2B) considered to play an integral role in vascular healing. Dipyridamole (DP) is a commercially approved therapy known to improve vascular events and modulate adenosine biology. Our objectives with this study included (i) assessing whether ADO could serve as a biomarker of cardiac events; (ii) determine if DP could mitigate NI formation in a pre-clinical stent model; and, (iii) quantify the mechanisms of DP-related vasculoprotection, specifically related to ADOR-A2B. We assessed the analytic and biologic variability of circulating ADO levels in humans and demonstrated that circulating ADO was not predictive of cardiac events at one year following invasive coronary angiography. We then assessed whether modulation of adenosine biology with DP had therapeutic efficacy in a pre-clinical model. Utilizing meta-analysis, we confirmed the sustained effects of DP on vascular patency rates in both pre-clinical and clinical studies. We refined a pre-clinical rabbit model of stent implantation with assessment of stent healing by intravascular optical coherence tomography – with excellent translation to clinical observations. We then assessed DP in a pre-clinical model, demonstrating reduction in ISR and improved stent healing with DP compared to control. Last, we sought to elucidate the mechanisms behind the observed DP effects, specifically related to ADOR-A2B. In vivo, DP therapy demonstrated reduced NI smooth muscle cell (SMC) content. In vitro assessment of DP demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition of SMC proliferation and migration with alteration of SMC phenotypic switching, while selective modulation of ADOR-A2B and ADOR-A2B knockdown support an ADOR-A2B-mediated component to the observed DP effects. Adenosine biology is integral to vascular homeostasis. In humans, circulating adenosine levels in humans are not predictive of one year cardiovascular events. However, DP may improve vascular healing post stent implantation and warrants clinical evaluation for stent healing. The observed DP benefits may, in part, stem from ADOR-A2B modulation. ADOR-A2B is a viable target for assessment of small molecule modulation as a novel therapeutic target to improve vascular outcomes

    The linguistic landscape of Post-Apartheid South Africa: politics and discourse

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    Liesel Hibbert is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. Her interests include discourse studies, South African writing, linguistic ethnography, political rhetoric, stylistics, the bilingual classroom and higher education pedagogy. Her previous publications include Multilingual Universities in South Africa (Multilingual Matters, 2014), which she co-edited with Christa van der Walt.The appointment of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 signalled the end of apartheid and transition to a new democratic constitution. This book studies discursive trends during the first twenty years of the new democracy, outlining the highlights and challenges of transforming policy, practice and discursive formations. The book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa’s inhabitants have changed in this time, finding that struggles in South African politics go hand in hand with shifts in the linguistic landscape. In a country now characterised by multilingualism, heteroglossia, polyphony and translanguaging, the author debates where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead

    Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1, Diabetes, and Vascular Disease

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    Patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) remain at elevated risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Specifically, stented coronary artery remains the highest-risk coronary lesion with annualized adverse event rates as high as 8-12% in the following year largely due to in-stent restenosis (ISR) and stent thrombosis. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), an anti-fibrinolytic protein, has previously been associated with CAD with known mechanism of action to regulate the pathophysiological changes associated with in-stent restenosis and stent thrombosis. Moreover, extracellular vesicles (EVs) originating from circulating blood and vascular cells are increasingly being utilized as biomarkers and mediators of vascular disease. We first demonstrate the analytical and biochemical performance of plasma PAI-1 in patients with established CAD. Specifically, PAI-1 performs similarly to established biomarkers including C-reactive protein and NT-proBNP with an analytical (CVa = 4.1%), intra-individual (CVi = 44.0%), and inter-individual (CVg = 118.6%) coefficients of variation. Following this, we demonstrate that plasma PAI-1 is not associated with MACE in one-year follow-up, but reduced levels of PAI-1 remain associated with unplanned revascularization. Subsequently, we sought to evaluate the relationship between PAI-1 and EVs in humans with platelets being a common source of origin. In the largest study of EV to-date in CAD (n=489), we demonstrate the strong predictive ability of PAI-1 platelet-derived EVs (PAI-1+ PEV) with MACE following revascularization. Patients with high circulating levels of PAI-1+ PEV had higher rates of MACE (262.3 vs. 103.0 events per 1,000 person-years; hazard ratio (HR) 2.19; 95% CI, 1.07-4.52; and HR 2.67; 95% CI, 1.22-5.84, discovery and validation cohorts, respectively). Furthermore, we reveal that high PAI-1+ PEV fractions did not enhance thrombogenicity but promoted a pro-inflammatory vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) state by enhancing proliferation and migration, through up-regulation of pro-inflammatory genes such as KLF4. Inhibition of the PAI-1-LRP-1 interaction by TM5275 dampened the pro-inflammatory VSMC response, whereas inhibition of the PAI-1-vitronectin interaction by tiplaxtinin had no such effect. Our data reveals the potential of PAI-1+ PEV as a biomarker in the post-revascularization population and postulates the mechanism in an in vitro model of VSMCs. Accordingly, our data demonstrates the potential of PAI-1 PEV as a strong biomarker following revascularization and PAI-1 inhibition by TM5275 is a promising strategy to reduce the pro-inflammatory VSMC state associated with ISR

    The linguistic landscape of Post-Apartheid South Africa: politics and discourse

    No full text
    Liesel Hibbert is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. Her interests include discourse studies, South African writing, linguistic ethnography, political rhetoric, stylistics, the bilingual classroom and higher education pedagogy. Her previous publications include Multilingual Universities in South Africa (Multilingual Matters, 2014), which she co-edited with Christa van der Walt.The appointment of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994 signalled the end of apartheid and transition to a new democratic constitution. This book studies discursive trends during the first twenty years of the new democracy, outlining the highlights and challenges of transforming policy, practice and discursive formations. The book analyses a range of discourses which signal how and by what processes the linguistic landscape and identities of South Africa’s inhabitants have changed in this time, finding that struggles in South African politics go hand in hand with shifts in the linguistic landscape. In a country now characterised by multilingualism, heteroglossia, polyphony and translanguaging, the author debates where the discourse practices of those born post-1994 may lead
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