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Bourdieu describes capital as the political building blocks of social order that give meaning to social accumulation and consumption. Through a combination of Bourdieu's sociology and critical race theory, this sojourn into Afro-Trinidadian boys' achievement seeks to elucidate an approach to understanding capital as inherently raced. This is premised on an interrogation of Trinidadian society as pigmentocratically structured, where lightness is rewarded with a myriad of social advantages, and darkness denigrated as illegitimate and "other". The premium placed on lighter skin is manifested interdependently in the forms of social, economic and cultural capital. As such, the operation of capital as politic not only reflects societal structures of power and domination, but importantly also contributes in the maintenance of said structures. The concept of "Racialised facilitative capital" follows as inseparably both facilitator of social status and as racialised process.

This article reports on a study of the preparation of teacher trainees for field experience, and the conduct of the actual practicum in Trinidad and Tobago. Its purpose was to gain insights into the kinds of messages sent to trainees about teaching, and the ways in which these messages impacted on how and what trainees learned about good teaching. The study employed "grounded theory" methodology, and was conducted through document analysis, observations of practice and post-practice conferences, as well as through interviews with participants. It was found that the messages varied across physical sites and among members of the professional community. However, the most significant messages emerged around three common themes: the role of theory, the nature of good teaching, and how good teaching is learned. Trainees' responses suggested that the messages helped them to shape the principal understandings that "good" teaching: (i) had to be certified by an acknowledged expert in a formal process of assessment; (ii) could often be informed by practical experience shared by members of the teaching community, more than by formal theory; and (iii) demanded thorough college preparation and attention by expert members of the community, but these would not always be provided. As a result, trainees learned to value certain survival skills more than they valued a reflective, self-evaluative teaching practice. These centred largely on the ability to "read" and satisfy the expectations of acknowledged experts--their supervisors--who, in turn, were often guided principally by the formal understandings about good teaching contained in the official assessment instrument. The findings suggest that careful attention must be paid to major factors that seemed to shape these messages and understandings, including the assessment process, the quality and quantity of reflective thinking in which trainees engage, and the opportunities for professional development of supervisors.

Background and Aim: Access to specialized cardiac surgery is a problem in emerging countries. Here, we reflect on the approach we used to establish a cardiac surgery unit in Trinidad and Tobago., Methods: The program started in 1993 with monthly visits by a team from Bristol Heart Institute. A group of local doctors, nurses, and perfusionists were identified for training, and a senior nurse moved to the island to start a teaching program. The visiting support was gradually reduced, and the local team gained independence in managing the service in 2006., Results: The initial low volume surgery increased to around 380 cases a year with the implementation of comprehensive service in 2006. Most patients required coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). In-hospital mortality declined from 5% in the nascent years to below 2% thereafter. In the last 5 years (2015-2019), 1764 patients underwent surgery (mean age 59.6 ± 10.8 years, 66% male). The majority were East-Indian-Caribbean (79.1%) or Afro-Caribbean (16.7%), half had diabetes, and two-thirds hypertension (EuroScore II 1.8 ± 1.9). The majority (1363 patients) underwent CABG (99.5% off-pump; conversion to on-pump 1.5%). The mean number of grafts was 2.5 ± 0.7 with 98.5% and 23.1% receiving one and two or more arterial grafts, respectively. In-hospital mortality was 1.1%, re-exploration for bleeding 2%, stroke 0.1%, mediastinitis 0.2%. The length of the postoperative hospital stay was 5.8 ± 2 days., Conclusion: Frequent outside visits complemented by training in an overseas center, and transfer of knowledge proved to be an effective strategy to develop a cardiac surgery unit in an emerging country with results comparable to accepted international standards., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Cardiac Surgery published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Aims: To assess the impact of risk factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, family history, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and hypertension, on the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Trinidadian population., Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional case control study comprised 146 non-diabetics and 147 type 2 diabetics ≥18 years of age, from North Central, South West and Eastern regions of Trinidad., Results: Cross-tabulations revealed a significant difference between type 2-diabetes and age at p<0.01, and between type 2 diabetes and family history, ethnicity, waist circumference and hypertension at p<0.05. Logistic regression showed age to be the most influential risk factor. The systolic blood pressure specifically showed a significant difference at p<0.05, with the mean values for non-diabetics and type 2 diabetics being, 130.62 (±2.124) and 141.35 (±2.312), respectively. No significant difference was observed between type 2 diabetes and gender and BMI., Conclusions: Age was the most significant risk factor of type 2 diabetes. Therefore it can be concluded that family history, ethnicity, waist circumference and hypertension are more significant risk factors of this disease than BMI and gender in the Trinidadian population., (Copyright © 2014 Diabetes India. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)