New Releases by Tracey Adams

The most accessible and intersectional exploration of the role of work in Canadian society.

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Currently, approximately 40% of DLBCL patients treated with standard of care therapies, which include a combination of immunotherapy (Rituximab; R) and chemotherapy (CHOP), will have disease that is refractory or will relapse. Tumour-associated macrophages can phagocytose opsonised DLBCL tumour cells and are therefore centrally important in determining therapeutic outcomes for patients treated with R-CHOP. Recent data from our lab and from others suggests that the modulation of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) signalling may therapeutically benefit some patients with this tumour. In this study, the effects of S1P on macrophage functions relevant to DLBCL were investigated. Using in vitro phagocytosis assays, S1P signalling through the major receptor, S1PR1, suppressed the phagocytosis of rituximab-opsonised DLBCL cells. However, chemotherapy potently induced monocyte recruitment to DLBCL tumours in vivo and S1PR1 is a primary mediator of monocyte migration both in vitro and in vivo. This work suggests that S1PR1 signalling inhibitors could improve the therapeutic efficacy of rituximab-based therapies for DLBCL patients. However, these drugs should be given only after chemotherapy and before rituximab administration so as to maximise the S1P-mediated recruitment of therapeutic macrophages to the tumour site.

Objective: This study looked at caregivers'', physicians'', and nurses'' preferences of types of nutrition support. Many cancer patients are given enteral or parenteral nutrition support because they cannot obtain nutrients orally.Design: This is a qualitative study which examined caregivers'', physicans'', and nurses'' preferred type of nutrition support, feelings toward each type, goals regarding nutrition, and how the medical team could help meet those goals. Subjects: A total of 71 caregivers, physicians, and nurses from the hematopoietic stem cell transplant unit at St. Jude Children''s Research Hospital were surveyed, of which were 17 males and 54 females. The ages ranged from 22 to 59 years old.Results: The results showed the majority of caregivers preferred parenteral nutrition over enteral nutrition, while most healthcare professionals preferred enteral nutrition over parenteral nutrition.Conclusion: Most caregivers do not know enough about the different types of nutritonal support to choose a preference.

Recent studies of work have argued that organizational restructuring and the introduction of technology are altering the nature and experience of work. In this paper, we examine whether recent change has affected managerial perceptions of the characteristics and abilities required of workers. Drawing on interviews with human resource managers in three industries (chemicals production, transportation equipment manufacturing, health services) in Southwestern Ontario, we conclude that management across these industries is indeed seeking a "new" kind of worker, and is placing new demands on their workers. Implications of these changes for employment and for workers are discussed.

The Organization and Experience of Work is the only book in the market that discusses not only the organization of work, but the experience of work in Canada. It blends a discussion of trends in work and its organization with the rich ethnographic and case study literature that illuminates what workers do, how what they do affects them, and how they feel about their work. It brings much more attention to the ways in which work is shaped by gender and race, and the extent to which work creates and reinforces social inequalities by race, class and gender, than other books available. The Organization and Experience of Work provides a more comprehensive review of the Canadian literature on work than has been assembled elsewhere and puts Canadian experiences and trends in an international context.

A retelling of the tale about a Chinese man who owned a marvelous horse and who believed that things were not always as bad, or as good, as they might seem.

This thesis examines the pressures that are being placed on the health care system, focusing particularly on long term care facilities in Nova Scotia. As the title implies, this thesis explores how strategies developed in the private business sector are being implemented in the public health care system. It looks at what those strategies are, how they are being applied, who is affected by them, who gains from them, and why these strategies are being implemented now. In order to answer these questions ideas and concepts are borrowed from three theorists: Max Weber, George Ritzer and Karl Marx. By combining different aspects of each of their works, we gain a better understanding of what is really going on behind the decisions being made surrounding long term care facilities. Directly linked to the decision-making process are the effects that those decisions have. Ten women, all health care employees, who have experienced the effects of private sector strategies which are infiltrating their work worlds were interviewed and their responses were described and compared in an exploratory fashion. There is no simple solution offered to solve all the problems faced by the caregivers. However, a better understanding of what is going on in the health care system and a greater awareness of the struggles faced by those working within the system can only help to make us, and those with the decision-making power, better able to make decisions in the best interests of residents and caregivers.