Identifying Features of a System of Practice to Inform a Contemporary Competency Framework for Paramedics in Canada.

INTRODUCTION: Paramedic practice is highly variable, occurs in diverse contexts, and involves the assessment and management of a range of presentations of varying acuity across the lifespan. As a result, attempts to define paramedic practice have been challenging and incomplete. This has led to inaccurate or under-representations of practice that can ultimately affect education, assessment, and the delivery of care. In this study, we outline our efforts to better identify, explore, and represent professional practice when developing a national competency framework for paramedics in Canada. METHODS: We used a systems-thinking approach to identify the settings, contexts, features, and influences on paramedic practice in Canada. This approach makes use of the role and influence of system features at the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, supra-macrosystem, and chronosystem levels in ways that can provide new insights. We used methods such as rich pictures, diagramming, and systems mapping to explore relationships between these contexts and features. FINDINGS: When we examine the system of practice in paramedicine, multiple layers become evident and within them we start to see details of features that ought to be considered in any future competency development work. Our exploration of the system highlights that paramedic practice considers the person receiving care, caregivers, and paramedics. It involves collaboration within co-located and dispersed teams that are composed of other health and social care professionals, public safety personnel, and others. Practice is enacted across varying geographical, cultural, social, and technical contexts and is subject to multiple levels of policy, regulatory, and legislative influence. CONCLUSION: Using a systems-thinking approach, we developed a detailed systems map of paramedic practice in Canada. This map can be used to inform the initial stages of a more representative, comprehensive, and contemporary national competency framework for paramedics in Canada.

Ranger O Low Titer (ROLO): Whole Blood Transfusion for Forward Deployed Units.

First-time use of Ranger O Low Titer (ROLO) blood and implementation of a forward-walking blood bank using predetermined donors proved essential in the survival of a 33-year-old active duty soldier following a complex blast injury during combat operations. The patient sustained significant bone, soft tissue, and vascular damage and continued to deteriorate despite resuscitation with cold-stored whole blood (WB). Only after utilizing the ROLO battle drill and transfusing with fresh WB was the patient able to be stabilized and evacuated. In this case report, we discuss how ROLO walking blood bank takes the next step in aiding resuscitation, providing smaller, forward-deployed units with blood resupply without the administrative burden of storage, particularly in resource-scarce environments. We provide an overview of WB and contrast its use to that of component therapy. In conjunction with the Golden Hour, ROLO can be incorporated as the standard damage control resuscitation to reduce the risks of noncompressible hemorrhage. By taking precautionary steps in the pre-deployment setting, ROLO offers an invaluable alternative to conventional resuscitation.

A stepwise approach to pediatric asthma.

Two guidelines and several recent studies are available to guide your care. This review--with handy figure--puts it all at your fingertips.

Detection and quantification of Bifidobacterium lactis LAFTI B94 in human faecal samples from a consumption trial.

A method was developed to allow detection of the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis LAFTI B94 in human clinical samples. A new probe, Laf94p, was developed to accomplish colony hybridization of B. lactis B94. PCR detection of B94 was also achieved using the species-specific (B. lactis) primer pair. These tests and probes allowed detection and quantification of B94 in the human intestinal flora. The sensitivity of the probe was assessed by monitoring faecal levels of B94 in humans who were fed the culture. In this trial, five volunteers were fed with the probiotic. The presence of B94 was assessed daily. Viable B94 could be detected at high levels (as high as 1.8 x 10(9) cfu g(-1) wet weight) during the feeding period. Four weeks after the feeding stopped, B94 could still be detected in one subject. These results indicate that B94 survives in the human gastrointestinal tract.

A potential food-grade cloning vector for Streptococcus thermophilus that uses cadmium resistance as the selectable marker.

A potential food-grade cloning vector, pND919, was constructed and transformed into S. thermophilus ST3-1, a plasmid-free strain. The vector contains DNAs from two different food-approved organisms, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactococcus lactis. The 5.0-kb pND919 is a derivative of the cloning vector pND918 (9.3 kb) and was constructed by deletion of the 4.3-kb region of pND918 which contained DNA from non-food-approved organisms. pND919 carries a heterologous native cadmium resistance selectable marker from L. lactis M71 and expresses the Cd(r) phenotype in S. thermophilus transformants. With the S. thermophilus replicon derived from the shuttle vector pND913, pND919 is able to replicate in the two S. thermophilus industrial strains tested, ST3-1 and ST4-1. Its relatively high retention rate in S. thermophilus further indicates its usefulness as a potential food-grade cloning vector. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a replicative potential food-grade vector for the industrially important organism S. thermophilus.

Cloning vectors for Streptococcus thermophilus derived from a native plasmid.

A 3.5-kb native plasmid (pND103) was identified in Streptococcus thermophilus ST2-1. Preliminary sequence analysis indicated that pND103 belongs to group I S. thermophilus plasmids. A region of approximately 2 kb appears to contain three components: a plus origin of replication (ori) typical of plasmids that replicate via rolling circle replication; a gene encoding a replication protein (rep); and a gene encoding a small heat shock protein (hsp). pND103 was then used to construct S. thermophilus/Escherichia coli hybrid cloning vectors by ligating different portions of pND103 to an origin-probe vector (pND330) composed of pUC19 and a Gram-positive erythromycin resistance gene. The shuttle vectors (pND913, pND914 and pND915) were successfully introduced back into plasmid-free S. thermophilus ST3-1 as well as to Lactococcus lactis LM0230 and E. coli JM109. Segregational and structural stability study indicated that these vectors can be maintained in these hosts. The results indicated that pND913, pND914 and pND915 are potential shuttle cloning vectors for S. thermophilus.

Genetic and transcriptional analysis of a novel plasmid-encoded copper resistance operon from Lactococcus lactis.

A plasmid-borne copper resistance operon (lco) was identified from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis LL58-1. The lco operon consists of three structural genes lcoABC. The predicted products of lcoA and lcoB were homologous to chromosomally encoded prolipoprotein diacylglyceral transferases and two uncharacterized proteins respectively, and the product of lcoC is similar to several multicopper oxidases, which are generally plasmid-encoded. This genetic organization represents a new combination of genes for copper resistance in bacteria. The three genes are co-transcribed from a copper-inducible promoter, which is controlled by lcoRS encoding a response regulator and a kinase sensor. The five genes are flanked by two insertion sequences, almost identical to IS-LL6 from L. lactis. Transposon mutagenesis and subcloning analysis indicated that the three structural genes were all required for copper resistance. Copper assay results showed that the extracellular concentration of copper of L. lactis LM0230 containing the lco operon was significantly higher than that of the host strain when copper was added at concentrations from 2 to 3 mM. The results suggest that the lco operon conferred copper resistance by reducing the intracellular accumulation of copper ions in L. lactis.

A distinct physiological state of Lactococcus lactis cells that confers survival against a direct and prolonged exposure to severe stresses.

When exponential phase cultures of Lactococcus lactis were directly exposed to severe stresses (acid, bile salt, heat, and hydrogen peroxide) for a prolonged period, most of the cells were quickly killed, however, a small number of the cells, approximately 0.01% of the population, was found to survive. How these 'survivor' cells might have survived the stresses, when other supposedly-the-same cells could not, was investigated. The cultures were not exposed to any mild stresses prior to the exposure to the severe stresses, and therefore adaptation can be ruled out as the cause of survival. When the survivor cells were re-cultured and re-exposed to the same severe stresses a similar pattern of survival was displayed, indicating that the survivor cells were not stress-resistant mutants. Furthermore, the survivor cells displayed typical growth kinetics once they were freed of the stresses. The survivor cells appear to be in a distinct physiological state, because when they were tested against a second stress they exhibited significantly greater survival against that stress than the normal cells exposed to the same stress. Also, cells at different time points of synchronously growing culture displayed different levels of survival against stress. It is proposed that the difference in survival of exponential phase cells is due to the difference in the protein makeup of cells at different stages of the cell cycle.

Cloning of a gene encoding nisin resistance from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis M189 which is transcribed from an extended 210 promoter.

A 56-kb plasmid was identified in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (L. lactis) M189 which encodes resistance to nisin (Nis(R)) following mobilization of the plasmid into L. lactis LM0230. The Nis(R) determinant was localized on a 1.6-kb HindIII fragment by DNA restriction fragment deletion and subcloning. An open reading frame (ORF) of 957 bases was identified by sequence analysis and its transcription start site was mapped by primer extension. The ORF is flanked by two regions which exhibit complete homology to parts of the inverted repeat sequences of IS981 and ISS1T. The promoter for transcription was found to consist of an extended -10 site (TgTGtTATAAT) that lacks a -35 site. Function of the extended -10 promoter was demonstrated by its ability to express the promoterless cat gene from Staphylococcus aureus. Base substitution analysis revealed that the TgTGt extension is essential for promoter efficiency in L. lactis.

Cloning and sequence analysis of a plasmid replicon from Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FG2.

A replication region from one of the Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris FG2 plasmids was isolated by cloning of a 4.8-kb XbaI fragment into a replication probe vector and transformation into L. lactis LM0230. A 1.8-kb region within this fragment was sequenced and confirmed by PCR subcloning to encode a functional replicon in LM0230. The replicon consists of an open reading frame encoding a putative replication protein (Rep) of 386 amino acids and a non-coding region (ori) which features several structural motifs typical of other known replication origins, including a 22-bp iteron sequence tandemly repeated three and a half times, a 10-bp direct repeat and two sets of inverted repeats. The ori region could drive replication of its plasmid when supplied with the replication region in-trans. The lack of detectable single-stranded DNA during replication and the existence of extensive homology with other known lactococcal theta replicons strongly suggest that this region encodes a theta-replicating mechanism.