BACKGROUND: It is generally unknown to what extent organ transplant recipients can be physically challenged. During an expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro, the tolerance for strenuous physical activity and high-altitude of organ transplant recipients after various types of transplantation was compared to non-transplanted controls.METHODS: Twelve organ transplant recipients were selected to participate (2 heart-, 2 lung-, 2 kidney-, 4 liver-, 1 allogeneic stem cell- and 1 small bowel-transplantation). Controls comprised the members of the medical team and accompanying family members (n = 14). During the climb, cardiopulmonary parameters and symptoms of acute mountain sickness were recorded twice daily. Capillary blood analyses were performed three times during the climb and once following return.RESULTS: Eleven of the transplant participants and all controls began the final ascent from 4700 meters and reached over 5000 meters. Eight transplant participants (73%) and thirteen controls (93%) reached the summit (5895m). Cardiopulmonary parameters and altitude sickness scores demonstrated no differences between transplant participants and controls. Signs of hyperventilation were more pronounced in transplant participants and adaptation to high-altitude was less effective, which was related to a decreased renal function. This resulted in reduced metabolic compensation.CONCLUSION: Overall, tolerance to strenuous physical activity and feasibility of a high-altitude expedition in carefully selected organ transplant recipients is comparable to non-transplanted controls.
DOCUMENT
Stefan Bengtsson's commentary about policy hegemony discusses the alternative discourses of socialism, nationalism, and globalism. However, Stefan does not adequately demonstrate how these discourses can overcome the Dominant Western Worldview (DWW), which is imbued with anthropocentrism. It will be argued here that most policy choices promoting sustainability, and education for it, are made within a predetermined system in which the already limiting notion of environmental protection is highly contingent on human welfare. What would really contest the dominant assumptions of Vietnamese policy and, more specifically, education for sustainable development (ESD) is an alternative discourse that challenges the DWW. That alternative discourse embraces philosophical ecocentrism and practices of ecological justice between all species, and deep ecology theory - all perspectives fundamentally committed to environmental protection. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2015.1048502 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
MULTIFILE
Across the globe, linguistically heterogeneous populations increasingly define school systems at the same time that developing the ability to communicate cross-culturally is becoming essential for internationalized economies. While these trends seem complimentary, they often appear in paradoxical opposition as represented in the content and execution of nationwide education policies. Given the differing geopolitical contexts within which school systems function, wide variation exists with regard to how policymakers address the challenges of providing language education, including how they frame goals and design programs to align with those goals. Here we present a cross-continental examination of this variation, which reveals parallel tensions among aims for integrating immigrant populations, closing historic achievement gaps, fostering intercultural understanding, and developing multilingual competencies. To consider implications of such paradoxes and parallels in policy foundations, we compare language education in the US and in the EU, focusing on the Netherlands as an illustrative case study.
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