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Bioethics experts played a key role in ensuring a coherent ethical response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fields of healthcare, public health, and scientific research in Canada. In the province of Quebec, a group of academic and practicing bioethicists met periodically in the early months of the pandemic to discuss approaches and solutions to ethical dilemmas encountered during the crisis. These meetings created the opportunity for a national survey of bioethics practitioners from different fields. The survey, in which forty-five Canadian bioethics practitioners (clinical ethicists, ethicist members of REBs and government health policy ethicists, or any bioethicist practicing outside of academia) participated, explored their concerns, challenges and opportunities during the first wave of the pandemic, with the objective of informing bioethics research about the difficulties experienced by bioethicists "in the field". Participants reported increased stress levels, increased workloads, and a greater proportion of their work being devoted to public health ethics. Most of their concerns focused on groups other than themselves, such as health professionals, patients, research participants, and people in vulnerable socio-economic situations. An optimism about the future of bioethics was noted due to an increased awareness of the importance of bioethics by the public and by health and research institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To develop a clinical practice guideline covering the assessment, management, and return to work of adults with rotator cuff disorders. DESIGN: Clinical practice guideline. METHODS: Using systematic reviews, appraisal of the literature, and an iterative approach to obtain consensus from key stakeholders, clinical recommendations and algorithms were developed in the context of the health care system and work environment of the province of Quebec (Canada). RESULTS: Recommendations (n = 73) and clinical decision algorithms (n = 3) were developed to match the objectives. The initial assessment should include the patient's history, a subjective assessment, and a physical examination. Diagnostic imaging is only necessary in select circumstances. Acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and injection therapies may be useful to reduce pain in the short term. Clinicians should prescribe an active and task-oriented rehabilitation program (exercises and education) to reduce pain and disability in adults with rotator cuff disorders. Subacromial decompression is not recommended to treat rotator cuff tendinopathy. Surgery is appropriate for selected patients with a full-thickness rotator cuff tear. A return-to-work plan should be developed early, in collaboration with the worker and other stakeholders, and must combine multiple strategies to promote return to work. CONCLUSION: This clinical practice guideline was developed to assist the multidisciplinary team of clinicians who provide health care for adults with a rotator cuff disorder. The CPG guides clinical decision-making for diagnosis and treatment, and planning for successful return to work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Recherches Sociographiques is the property of Recherches Sociographiques and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose - This paper presents a method for handling everyday opportunities for improvement, led by floor staff in healthcare institutions. More than 400,000 incidents and accidents were recorded in Quebec healthcare institutions in 2013. The burden of treatment falls on hospital floor staff. The purpose of this paper is to raise the visibility of this problem and support staff better in their efforts to handle opportunities for improvement. Design/methodology/approach - Based on issues identified in the literature, which have been found to exist in various organizations, the method involved reviewing practices in the field, proposing a solution, and testing it to assess its relevance and limitations. The method was tested in partnership with the Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal, in the internal medicine unit at Hôtel-Dieu campus. The test lasted three months. Indicators from this test have been compared to results in the literature. Findings - The proposed method presents a 68 per cent increase in ideas generated per person and per week compared to the reference study. The mean time for closing actions was about 41 per cent better (lower) than in the reference case. Research limitations/implications - The test lasted 15 weeks; a longer test is needed to collect more data. Practical implications - The first practical implication of this study was the creation of a method allowing employees to seize opportunities for improvement in their daily work. The application of this method revealed: first, the operational nature of the proposal (empowerment of the work team); second, the operationalization of continuous improvement (71 per cent of ideas were finalized while the initiative was monitored); third, the smooth operation of the mechanism for facilitating continuous improvement (organization of weekly meetings and team participation in these meetings in 90 per cent of cases); and fourth, a shared feeling that intra- and inter-team communication had been strengthened. Originality/value - The main value of this paper is that it proposes a simple problem-solving process that gives employees an opportunity to improve their daily work. The originality of this paper resides in comparing results to a standard case and observing an improvement. This paper proposes a new problem-solving structure and tests it scientifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Recherches Feministes is the property of Groupe de Recherche et d'Echange Multidisciplinaires Feministes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study seeks to determine whether center-based and family-based child care services differ with respect to process quality, as measured by the Educative Quality Observation Scales ( EQOS, Bourgon and Lavallée , , ), for groups of children 18 months old and younger. It also seeks to identify structural variables associated with process quality in these settings. The study included two types of regulated child care settings located in the greater Montreal area (center-based: N = 53 and family-based: N = 36). Results indicate that process quality was lower in family-based child care than in center-based child care for the majority of elements measured by the EQOS. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that higher levels of process quality were associated with structural variables, including a lower adult-child ratio, the presence of more staff with specialized early childhood education training, and center-based care. The discussion focuses on strategies to improve these types of child care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We analyzed the temporal variability modes of annual maximum flow of 15 pristine tributaries of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec during the 1934–2000 period in relation to six climatic indices, using principal component analysis, linear regression, the Mann–Kendall test, correlation analysis and canonical correlation analysis. As for temporal variability modes, we identified three variability modes: two on the south shore (on both sides of 47°N) and one on the north shore. A statistically significant temporal trend (positive trend) was observed in the flood time series of the north shore mode only. This increase appears to be due to the continental nature of the climate, which features a strong contrast between the rainy decades (positive anomaly) and the dry ones (negative anomaly). The former (the 1970s and 1980s) followed the latter (the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s). However, the three modes were characterized by two synchronous anomaly periods on a decadal scale: a negative anomaly during the 1950s and a positive anomaly during the 1970s. That said, these two synchronous periods were characterized by greater amplitude on the north shore than on the south shore. Thus, the dry (wet) periods were dryer (wetter) on the north shore than on the south shore. As for the relationship between the climatic indices and streamflow, Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) was correlated to the north shore mode. ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation Index) was correlated to the south shore mode located north of 47°N) and AO (Arctic Oscillation) was correlated to the south shore mode located south of this parallel. This study shows that floods are not influenced by the same climatic indices on both shores of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The importance of encouraging language skills in early childhood has been well documented. Educators who are responsible for children in daycare services have many opportunities to use rich and stimulating educational practices that support language acquisition. The purpose of this study was to assess the language-support practices used by 22 educators in ECE centers with 174 children (87 girls and 87 boys) aged 55.7 months on average (SD = 4.2). The Teacher Interaction and Language Rating Scale developed by Girolametto et al. (Teacher interaction and language rating scale, Hanen Centre, Toronto, ) was translated and adapted for use in French. Analyses reveal the heterogeneity of language support provided to 4-year-old children attending early childhood education centers in Québec (Canada). Results are discussed in relation to the importance of the educational setting and specific training on language skill development provided to educators around promoting language skills in children, a fundamental prerequisite for educational success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politique et Sociétés is the property of Politique et Societes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Economic segregation, or residential inequalities based on income, is a complex spatial process. It is associated with structures which arise at certain scales and which evolve in time. In this paper, we analyse the evolution of economic segregation in Montréal from 1980 to 2000. This analysis is based on household's income and on their distribution within the residential space from four scales: households, census tracts, municipalities and some radio-concentric zones. Results confirm that the spatial organisation of economic segregation is scale dependent. More precisely, local inequalities are growing more rapidly but this trend does not prevent the consolidation of metropolitan-sized clusters. Moreover, results confirm that Montréal's economic segregation follows North American trends like the growth of economic disparities (spatial or not) or the fact that the enrichment of central and ex-urban neighbourhoods is compensated by the impoverishment of inner-ring suburbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent issue of , a number of key players in the 1960s and 1970s school of quantitative urban geography (called Chicago II in this article) set out some of the approach's key methodological premises and assessed its influence in the wider arena of urban studies. At about the same time, the 1920s and 1930s Chicago School of urban sociology (called the Chicago School in this article) was being reassessed in France ( ), and deconstructed in Los Angeles ( ). In this article, we outline a selection of basic models of urban space proposed by the Chicago School and further elaborated by Chicago II. We then consider certain aspects of three important critiques: humanist/aesthetic, Marxist, and postmodern. We argue that none of these invalidates the Chicago II approach to the study of urban areas, and we demonstrate its resilience and usefulness by way of the empirical example of Montreal. Though the results are of interest in their own right, the principal purpose of the analysis is to illustrate the type of insight that a structured quantitative approach provides and the way this approach rests on a theoretical understanding of processes at work in cities. We conclude by arguing that the humanist and Marxist critiques shed important light upon the possibilities and limits of the Chicago II approach, but that the postmodern claim that the spatial development of urban areas is not structured by at least some general processes is inaccurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent issue of , a number of key players in the 1960s and 1970s school of quantitative urban geography (called Chicago II in this article) set out some of the approach's key methodological premises and assessed its influence in the wider arena of urban studies. At about the same time, the 1920s and 1930s Chicago School of urban sociology (called the Chicago School in this article) was being reassessed in France ( ), and deconstructed in Los Angeles ( ). In this article, we outline a selection of basic models of urban space proposed by the Chicago School and further elaborated by Chicago II. We then consider certain aspects of three important critiques: humanist/aesthetic, Marxist, and postmodern. We argue that none of these invalidates the Chicago II approach to the study of urban areas, and we demonstrate its resilience and usefulness by way of the empirical example of Montreal. Though the results are of interest in their own right, the principal purpose of the analysis is to illustrate the type of insight that a structured quantitative approach provides and the way this approach rests on a theoretical understanding of processes at work in cities. We conclude by arguing that the humanist and Marxist critiques shed important light upon the possibilities and limits of the Chicago II approach, but that the postmodern claim that the spatial development of urban areas is not structured by at least some general processes is inaccurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the viability of the alternatives to acute psychiatric care in Montreal, Quebec. Issues on the cost of hospitalization; Arrays of alternative care; Significance of expanding community-based services.

Analyzes the demography of northern populations of Panax quinquefolium in Quebec. Size structure; Flowering patterns; Comparison of the dominance of reproductive stages over non-reproductive individuals; Annual mortality.

Copyright of Recherches Feministes is the property of Groupe de Recherche et d'Echange Multidisciplinaires Feministes and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Maple sap is a product of great economic value with a variable composition. Samples of maple sap were collected at different periods of the 2007 and 2008 seasons in various locations in Quebec (Canada). The aim of the study was to establish a typical chemical composition of maple sap by analyzing a large number of maple sap samples. Multiple factor analysis was also performed to help establish relationships among compounds. Results confirm that total soluble solids and sucrose concentration were higher near mid-season. The concentration of specific organic acids in sap could depend on the sugarbush (malic acid) or could be influenced by microbial activity (acetic and lactic acid). Phenolic compounds of interest were present mainly at the beginning of the season and decreased as the season progressed. The concentrations of the main minerals (K, Ca and Mg) increased over the sap flow season and the presence of calcium and magnesium seemed highly correlated. These results will help in establishing an update of mean values and ranges for many components of maple sap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]