NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Navigation spatiale avec des systèmes de substitution sensorielle tactiles dans la cécité précoce et tardive

Vision loss affects the ability to move around the environment. People who are blind today use mobility aids such as the long cane and guide dog. However, these aids do not provide enough information about the environment, and accidents can sometimes occur, especially with high obstacles not detected by the white cane. Sensory substitution systems allow visual information to be provided via another intact modality such as touch. There are mainly two types: guidance systems, like the EyeCane, that give distance information at a point, and visual systems, like the Tongue Display Unit, based on contrast which transforms the signal from a camera into electrotactile stimulation on the tongue. The aim of the study was to compare these two devices in the same full-size obstacle course (21m x 2.4m). Early and late blind, and blindfolded sighted controls had to cross the hallway while detecting, identifying and avoiding encountered obstacles (cube, door, floor, pole). It was found that all participants were able to navigate with both devices. Furthermore, with the EyeCane, the blind participants were significantly better to avoid obstacles after detection than the sighted, and the early blind were significantly faster to cross the corridor than the other two groups. However, the comparison between the two devices revealed that participants detected significantly more obstacles with the TDU than with the EyeCane without improving navigation performance. In addition, the amount of environmental information provided by the TDU appears to slow down and tire participants after a long period of use. We can then suggest that only the information of the immediate environment given by the EyeCane is necessary and sufficient for navigation. This study helps to guide the design of future devices to improve navigation independence in blind people.

Keyphrases: Navigation, TDU, EyeCane, sensory substitution, early blind, late blind
Étude de la pertinence de réseaux communautaires de pairs 
pour l'intégration socioprofessionnelle d'infirmières formées à l'étranger

In their socio-professional integration (SPI) trajectory, internationally educated nurses (IENs) seek out support from community peer networks (CPNs). The purpose of this research was to explore the relevance of these networks. An exploratory qualitative study, guided by a pragmatic constructivist epistemology, was conducted in two CPNs of IENs who had completed their training in France. Fifteen persons participated in a semi-structured interview: 6 IENs, 4 peer-volunteers and 5 partners or SPI experts. Qualitative analyses result in four interrelated themes to describe the idea of relevance: 1) a temporal dimension reveals systemic learning capacities of CPNs in their provision of individual responses to IENs, in addition to their iterative adjustments to changing political realities of SPI and 2) a focus on the well-being of IENs in a 3) context of nursing manpower retention. A fourth theme suggests that the voluntary nature of CPNs modulates their relevance. Further synthesis provides an understanding of the relevance of CPNs that, primarily, appears in their timely responses to IENs’ realities, on an individual level. In particular, our resultant systemic model suggests that increasing the relevance of CPNs would require to further channel resources on their own specific actions and purposes, aided by facilitators; rather than attempting to build uncertain alliances with partners who, inevitably, pursue different interests. This research on a grassroots strategy by and for IENs draws attention to an engaged social nursing practice that illustrates the discipline’s emancipatory knowing, in acknowledgement of the political aims of the nursing profession.

Keyphrases: internationally educated nurses, peer intervention, community network, socioprofesional integration, volunteers, social nursing practice, systemic modelling, qualitative research
L'étendue effective de la pratique des infirmières œuvrant en soins de longue durée

According to world demographics, the population is aging and the complexity of health problems and the demand for geriatric care will continue to increase. In Quebec, it is estimated that 3% of elderly people with loss of autonomy are living in long-term care centres (CHSLDs). The complex health problems of long-term care residents are well known and are on the rise. In fact, 66% of the people housed are suffering from comorbidity, i.e., they have at least three chronic health problems. There is therefore an urgent need to adapt the care and services offered for the specific needs of residents in order to ensure safe and quality care. In 2018, the Ministry of Health and Social Services of Québec (MSSS) and the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) issued recommendations to CHSLDs for the optimization of nursing practice. However, to meet the specific needs of CHSLD residents, nurses must be able to exercise their full scope of practice. To date, the studies available in the scientific literature on this subject have mainly explored the scope of nursing practice in hospitals rather than in CHSLDs. The results of these studies show that nurses only partially apply the knowledge gained from their education and experience in various care settings. To our knowledge, no study has measured the practice of nurses in CHSLDs. The purpose of this study is therefore to describe the scope of practice of nurses working in CHSLDs, using the scope of practice questionnaire (QÉPI), and to analyze whether there is an association with their level of education, either collegial or university. A descriptive correlational design was used for this study. Nurses (n = 93) from an integrated health and social services center (CISSS) in Quebec participated in the survey in the form of an online questionnaire. The results show an effective scope of practice of nurses working at the CISSS of 4,58/6 (SD = 0,74), which is greater than the results of other studies conducted with the QÉPI in hospital settings in Quebec. Analysis of the results did not allow us to conclude that there was a correlation between the level of collegial or university education and the effective scope of practice of nurses working in CHSLDs. This study is the first to have described and analyzed the effective scope of nursing practice in this setting using the QÉPI. Further studies will therefore be necessary in order to learn more about the scope of practice in a long term care environment.

Keyphrases: Scope of practice, Nursing practice, Nursing scope of practice, Nursing administration, Long-term care, Education level, Baccalaureate nurses, Baccalaureate
L'aide médicale à mourir pour des adolescents en fin de vie : les perceptions d'infirmières

Introduction: With the recent introduction of medical assistance in dying (MAID) in Quebec and Canada, the extension of this health benefit, particularly to minors, is becoming increasingly important. The role and   position of nurses close to patients puts them in the forefront of requests for MAID. This is why it seems relevant to examine their perceptions of this benefit for adolescents at the end of life: in order to better understand their opinions, and so to offer them more tools and thus to respond more adequately to  patients' needs. Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of nurses working in pediatric oncology wards regarding medical aid in dying for adolescents at the end of life, in the event MAID comes into effect for this population. Methodology: An exploratory qualitative approach was chosen for this study. The sample consisted of seven nurses working in pediatric oncology (n=3) or palliative care (n=1) or who are in contact with this population in the course of their nursing work (n=2). Data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently, using thematic analysis. Results: The results of this research highlight that: 1) nurses recognize their supportive role and involvement in the care of patients at the end of life, 2) most have a positive professional opinion of MAID for adults and distinguish that from their personal, private opinion, 3) they appreciate discussions about MAID for adolescents although they are concerned about the markers that would surround this care, 4) more experienced nurses were more concerned about expanding MAID but at the same time more comfortable in providing information about it.  Discussion and conclusion: This study shows that discussions about extending MAID are increasing in pediatric palliative units. However, nurses with little experience in these units reflect discomfort with MAID. Academic and pediatric health care institutions must assess the training needs of nurses regarding requests regarding MAID in order to better equip them to deal with such situations and thus better meet the needs of their patients.  Key words: Perception, nurses, palliative pediatric cares, oncology, medical aid in dying, adolescents.

Keyphrases: Perceptions, Adolescents, Perception, Nurses, Palliative pediatric cares, Oncology, Medical aid in dying
La pratique infirmière en procréation médicalement assistée au sein d’un établissement de santé québécois : une étude autoethnographique

Problem: Infertility – classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a reproductive system disease – affects an ever-increasing number of women and men. Today, one couple out of six of reproductive age struggles with this condition in Canada and in Quebec. It has an impact on the patients’ physical and psychological well-being, often leaving both partners stigmatized and socially isolated as infertility remains a societal taboo for many.  Infertility can be treated via Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) where the patients-families are cared for by fertility nurses, whose practice is both complex and diversified, but remains little-known. Purpose: This study explores the field of fertility nursing as it is practised in a Quebec healthcare institution. Method: The student-researcher chose to do an autoethnography in order to draw from her own experience as both a fertility nurse and a fertility patient. Semi-directed interviews, participant observation and field journal were used to collect data. A thematic analysis of data then followed. Results: The patients-families’ infertility experience is at the heart of the fertility nurse’s practice and relational care is the main dimension of that practice, regardless of which nursing activities are assigned to them in the clinic. These other dimensions were also reported : leadership/advocacy, learning/teaching, collaboration and technical interventions. These results coincide with the student-researcher’s experience, both as a fertility patient and as a fertility nurse. Impact: The student-researcher documented the practice of fertility nursing and showcased a method rarely used in nursing science: autoethnography.

Keyphrases: advocacy, fertility nursing, assisted reproduction technologies, relational care, patient advocacy, autoethnography
Effets de regrouper les soins sur la stabilité physiologique des nouveau-nés prématurés hospitalisés à l’unité de soins intensifs néonatals

The purpose of this study was to compare the physiological stability during and after clustered care of preterm infants between born between 24 and 316/7 weeks of gestational age and hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) versus a non-clustered standard care. Ten preterm infants, between 24.2 and 29.6 weeks of gestational age at birth, were recruited for the study. The analysis of covariance with repeated measures controlling for noise showed no significant difference in SCRIP scores between the periods of clustered care and control. In light of these results, preterm infants should benefit from this intervention when hospitalized in the NICU, in order to reduce the frequency of manipulations, offer longer periods of sleep and limit their energy expenditure.

Keyphrases: manipulations, NICU, preterm infants, clustering care, developmental care, manipulations, physiological stability
Exploration qualitative et systémique d’une intervention infirmière par le jeu, qui vise à préparer un enfant hospitalisé ainsi que ses parents à une chirurgie cardiaque

Hospitalization of a child for open heart surgery is a major event in a family's life. Apprehension of the surgical procedure can have serious psychological consequences and cause high anxiety in the child, but also in his parents. Many interventions have been tried to reduce this preoperative anxiety, but there is no evidence to date on the best way to prepare these families for surgery. A phenomenological qualitative study with a reference framework of Wright and Leahey's family intervention model (2013) was conducted to evaluate a preparation for surgery using doll play. To this end, semi-structured systemic interviews were conducted with ten families who benefited from the preparation. The study took place within the M3 department of Marie Lannelongue Hospital. The results of the research show that families whose children are hospitalized for cardiac surgery have a real need for information that depends on their past experiences, experiences and beliefs. Activity through play must therefore adapt to these parameters in order to effectively prepare families for surgery. This study provides a better understanding of the experiences of these children and their parents. In addition, it suggests generalizable improvements to other interventions so that care services can subsequently improve or build their own surgical preparation programs.

Keyphrases: Parents, Cardiac surgery, Anxiety, Child, Parent, Preparation for surgery, Play therapy, Doll, Family systemic, Preoperative care, Pediatric nursing
Perceptions et attentes de personnes âgées impliquées dans un processus de relocalisation à partir d’un hôpital

Given the limitations of the health system in meeting the needs of older people losing independence, relocation to a long-term care home from the hospital is common. Nurses need to understand the perceptions and expectations of older people to support them. However, limited knowledge exists on the subject. Based on the ecological approach and the Université de Montréal’s caring model of nursing care, a qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore the perceptions and expectations of older people, losing independence, involved in a relocation process to a long-term care home in the public sector from the hospital. The sample consisted of six older persons awaiting relocation recruited on five care units. Qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews were analyzed using the thematic analysis method described by Braun and Clarke (2006). Results showed that the experience of older people determine their perceptions of care and services. Also, the involvement of relatives in their life course facilitates the transition. Older people expect their needs to be met by both the professionals at the hospital and at the new facility. In addition, these perceptions and expectations are influenced by beliefs and emotions experienced by older people. Knowledge developed with this study offer nurses avenues to support globally older people by considering their needs and concerns.

Keyphrases: Perception, Placement, Qualitative descriptive, Expectation, Older people, Long term care, Level of care, Hospital, Nursing care, Nursing home
Composition avec la modalité multicyclique

This memoir elaborates on the outcome of my work during my master's degree in the instrumental composition program of Université de Montréal. It begins with a presentation of my poetic approach towards composition, where experiences of landscapes and happenings within them are illustrated through musical devices. What follows is a discussion of all methods I apply to harness the power of intervals to create these experiences. A significant chapter will be devoted to a rather intervallic approach towards modality in the form of multicyclical modes, as most of my work of this master's degree focuses on development of their use. The next chapter focus on all my explorations outside the modal structures, which are at earlier stages of development but have already given me solutions to procedures that are less applicable in a strictly modal context. That includes the treatment of cells, working with just pure intervals and integration of colours derived from the folk traditions of Eastern Europe, more specifically the Balkans. Finally, there will be a chapter that analyzes every individual work included here while digging deeper into the extra-musical imagination behind every work, determining its form and the character of all the sections including the mode of choice if there is one.

Keyphrases: Modes multi-cycliques, Multicyclical modes, Interval-based music, Cellular music, Landscapes in sound, Theatricality in music, Birdsong, Eastern European traditional music
Behavioral and muscular deficits induced by Muscimol injection into the primate primary motor cortex during a reach-to-grasp task

Fine digit movements contribute to many different aspects of our daily life and require appropriate muscle coordination. The main pathway through which M1 sends motor commands to spinal motor neurons is via the corticospinal tract. The rhesus macaque, like humans, have this direct corticomotoneuronal pathway of M1, making it a useful model to study this system. Although the effect of M1 inactivation on the control of the hand in term of behavioral changes has been studied in monkeys, little is known of how muscle activation patterns of the upper limb during reaching and grasping in monkeys becomes altered. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of a partial inactivation of the primary motor cortex (M1) in rhesus macaques on both behavioral performance and muscle activations. To do so we performed intra-cortical injections of Muscimol, a GABA agonist, to inactivate the hand area of M1. Monkeys performed a reach-to-grasp task that required a precision grip to retrieve a food pellet from a well. Electromyographic (EMG) activity of the proximal and distal muscles of the contralateral upper limb were recorded and quantified relative to the behavioral performance. We found that depending on the severity of the impairment, the Muscimol injection could induce several different movement abnormalities, such as decrease in the success rate, loss of independent finger movements, longer duration of the first flexion of the index finger, and use of alternate types of grasp to retrieve the food pellet. In cases of severe impairment, monkeys displayed all these movement abnormalities concurrently. In addition, we observed that behavioral deficits were associated with muscle discoordination. Indeed, EMG analysis revealed that the latencies and the muscle activation patterns were altered during the reach, hand preshaping and the grasp phases of the movement. These inappropriate EMG activities were visible on both proximal and distal muscles of the upper limb. In cases of mild impairment, monkeys had fewer behavioral deficits, but still showed some changes in the temporal muscle activation patterns. In contrast to the severe cases, the muscle activation patterns were more preserved. Interestingly, in the mild cases, the muscle activation patterns were altered if a rotation of the forearm was required by the task. Thus, we found that behavioral and muscular activation changes were dependent on the severity of the impairment and/or the difficulty of the task (i.e. required a rotation of the forearm).

Keyphrases: Muscimol, primary motor cortex, Muscimol, precision grip, macaque model, electromyography
Role of MCAM+ Regulatory T cells in multiple sclerosis

In multiple sclerosis (MS), autoreactive T cells upregulate cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs) to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), enter the central nervous system (CNS) and mediate damage to myelin. Regulatory T cells (Treg) are one of the key components of immune tolerance, protecting against autoimmune reactions. However, Treg's entry and function in the CNS remains largely unknown. Our lab has demonstrated the contribution of several CAMs, including melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM), in the migration of pathogenic lymphocytes across the BBB. The goal of this study is to determine whether Treg migrate into the inflamed CNS using MCAM and exert anti-inflammatory functions, possibly dampening CNS inflammation. The expression of MCAM and Treg functional markers and chemokine receptors (CTLA-4, CCR6, CCR5,), as well as cytokine secretion (IL-10, GrzmB, TGF-ß, IFN-γ, TNF α, GM-CSF, IL-17a), were studied on MS patients and healthy individuals (HC) Treg from the peripheral blood, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and in vitro culture, by flow cytometry, in corroboration with qPCR and ELISA. Moreover, the presence of MCAM+ Treg in the CNS was assessed by immunohistofluorescence (CD4, CD25, Foxp3, MCAM, nuclei) on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) affected mice.  Our data showed an increase in the expression of MCAM on Treg during relapse-remitting MS patients (RRMS) compared to HC. We observed a trend for a higher frequency of MCAM+ Treg cells in the CSF versus the peripheral blood of MS patients, suggesting that MCAM might play an important role in the migration of Treg. These MCAM+ Treg seem to have a more functional and anti-inflammatory phenotype than their MCAM- counterparts. Moreover, we found higher levels of MCAM+ Treg in periods of EAE remission, underlining their involvement during this disease phase. Overall, our data depicts MCAM as an essential CAM for Treg homing to the CNS.

Keyphrases: Cellules T Régulatrices, MCAM, Multiple Sclerosis, Central Nervous System, Inflammation, Regulatory T cells, MCAM, Blood Brain Barrier, Migration, Flow cytometry, Imaging, Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
Caractérisation de modèles Alzheimer de C. elegans transgéniques, exprimant la protéine Tau humaine dans leurs motoneurones GABAergiques

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by two hallmarks: extracellular plaques composed of amyloid-β (Aβ) deposits and intraneuronal accumulation of hyper and abnormal phosphorylated tau, also called neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). Despite many decades of research, the nature hypophosphorylated or hyperphosphorylated Tau toxicity remains ill understood. Our research project aims to characterize which state of Tau phosphorylation contributes to neuronal toxicity and identify the underlying mechanisms. To assess these objectives, we generated transgenic C. elegans models expressing either a human hyperphosphorylated tau (incorporation of 12 glutamate residues to mimic Tau hyperphosphorylation found in AD’s patients) human wild type Tau, or a human hypophosphorylated tau (incorporation of 12 alanine residues to mimic Tau hypophosphorylation) in the GABAergic motoneurons. Then, to characterize our models, we measured their behavior mainly with locomotion’s test using WormLab software. Our results showed that hyperphosphorylation of tau is the most toxic species for our models because hyperP strain showed an impair in the locomotor system translating into neurodegeneration, as well as developmental problems such as worm length. Then we tested some drugs used in taupathies C. elegans models to see if we could identify some biological pathways implicated in the toxicity. To conclude, our models may be a useful tool to identify genetic and pharmacological modifiers of tau toxicity.

Keyphrases: Alzheimer, Tau, Hyperphosphorylation, Hypophosphorylation, C. elegans, Gabaergic motorneurons