Digital Commons Network^™

Borders And Boundaries In The Lives Of Migrant Agricultural Workers, C. Susana Caxaj, Amy Cohen, Bonar Buffam, Abe Oudshoorn

Global Health Equity Publications

In 2018, roughly 72%of the 69,775 temporary migrant agricultural labourers arriving in Canada participated in the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP). Despite having legal status in Canada, these individuals are often systematically excluded from community life and face barriers when accessing health and social services. SAWP workers’ exclusion from many public spaces and their incomplete access to the benefits of Canadian citizenship or residency provide us a unique opportunity to examine social and political mechanisms that construct(in)eligibility for health and protection in society.As individuals seeking to care for the sick and most marginalized, it is important for nurses to understand …

Arts 4 All Kids/Ymca: Cel Final Report, Sarah Collins

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

An account of my CEL experiences as a volunteer creative writing teacher for the London nonprofit organization, Arts 4 All Kids, and as an educator for the before and after school program from the YMCA. These experiences have allowed me to explore teaching in a classroom setting, planning/delivering activities and assignments, behaviour and classroom management, working with children with special needs, and working with children from struggling families.

A Truly Magical Summer: My Experiential Learning Credit With The Walt Disney World Cultural Exchange Program, Sierra Joseph

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

For my SASAH experiential learning credit, I participated in the Culture Exchange Program (CEP) at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. This program invites international post-secondary education students to work at Disney during their summer break. I worked as a Slide Operator at the Typhoon Lagoon Waterpark. Working in the “Most Magical Place on Earth” necessitates lots of training, structure, and specific procedures to follow in this safety-critical role. While working at the waterpark was a wonderful experience, my experiential learning also existed outside working hours such as connecting with other international students and being integrated into American culture. This …

The Role Of Haptic Expectations In Reaching To Grasp: From Pantomime To Natural Grasps And Back Again, Robert L. Whitwell, Nathan J. Katz, Melvyn A. Goodale, James T. Enns

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© Copyright © 2020 Whitwell, Katz, Goodale and Enns. When we reach to pick up an object, our actions are effortlessly informed by the object’s spatial information, the position of our limbs, stored knowledge of the object’s material properties, and what we want to do with the object. A substantial body of evidence suggests that grasps are under the control of “automatic, unconscious” sensorimotor modules housed in the “dorsal stream” of the posterior parietal cortex. Visual online feedback has a strong effect on the hand’s in-flight grasp aperture. Previous work of ours exploited this effect to show that grasps are …

Final Report: Internship At Hull And Hull Llp, Samantha Henderson-Whaley

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

Over the summer of 2020 I completed a remote internship at Hull & Hull LLP, an estates law firm in Toronto, for the SASAH experiential learning course. Hull & Hull handles estates and trusts litigation. I worked on digitizing charts for a passing of accounts (which is a court audit of a fiduciary’s accounting) for which there have been a considerable number of objections that we had to either refute or attempt to resolve, or there would be a trial. I was responsible for linking evidentiary material to the existing charts in order to ensure that the information was presentable …

Case – 18F-Dcfpyl-Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (Pet/Ct) Time Of Imaging, Golmehr Sistani, Ur Metser, Glenn S. Bauman, David T. Laidley, Stephen E. Pautler, Katherine A. Zukotynski

Medical Biophysics Publications

No abstract provided.

Prioritizing Specialized Children's Surgery In Canada During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Erik D. Skarsgard, Juan Bass, Paul Beaudry, Gerard Corsten, James Drake, Mark Evans, Jean Pierre Farmer, Helene Flageole, Richard Keijzer, Elke Mau, Sandeep Mayer, Pascale Prasil, David Price, Leslie Scott, Dominic Venne

Paediatrics Publications

No abstract provided.

Cortical Thickness Estimation In Individuals With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, Focal Atrophy, And Chronic Stroke Lesions, Miracle Ozzoude, Joel Ramirez, Pradeep Reddy Raamana, Melissa F. Holmes, Kirstin Walker, Christopher J.M. Scott, Fuqiang Gao, Maged Goubran, Donna Kwan, Maria C. Tartaglia, Derek Beaton, Gustavo Saposnik, Ayman Hassan, Jane Lawrence-Dewar, Dariush Dowlatshahi, Stephen C. Strother, Sean Symons, Robert Bartha, Richard H. Swartz, Sandra E. Black

Medical Biophysics Publications

Background: Regional changes to cortical thickness in individuals with neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) can be estimated using specialized neuroimaging software. However, the presence of cerebral small vessel disease, focal atrophy, and cortico-subcortical stroke lesions, pose significant challenges that increase the likelihood of misclassification errors and segmentation failures. Purpose: The main goal of this study was to examine a correction procedure developed for enhancing FreeSurfer’s (FS’s) cortical thickness estimation tool, particularly when applied to the most challenging MRI obtained from participants with chronic stroke and CVD, with varying degrees of neurovascular lesions and brain atrophy. Methods: In 155 CVD participants …

Final Report: Marketing Internships With Connected, Hadi Kiani

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

Working as the Marketing Coordinator Intern for a tech start-up was an amazing experience. I conducted competitor research, ghostwrote blog posts, ran social media, and aided in a complete company rebrand. Connected is a software product development firm. They partner with ambitious organizations to deliver on the potential of software-powered products. Joining the company halfway through their rebrand, I was immediately thrown into the deep end. Fortunately, I was able to leverage the research and communication skills I had honed through SASAH and translate them into successful contributions. Nevertheless, I had to learn a lot about industry standards, tech jargon, …

Transcriptional Profiling Of Leukocytes In Critically Ill Covid19 Patients: Implications For Interferon Response And Coagulation, Sean E Gill, Claudia C Dos Santos, David B O'Gorman, David E Carter, Eric K Patterson, Marat Slessarev, Claudio Martin, Mark Daley, Michael R. Miller, Gediminas Cepinskas, Douglas Fraser

Paediatrics Publications

BACKGROUND: COVID19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and has been associated with severe inflammation leading to organ dysfunction and mortality. Our aim was to profile the transcriptome in leukocytes from critically ill patients positive for COVID19 compared to those negative for COVID19 to better understand the COVID19-associated host response. For these studies, all patients admitted to our tertiary care intensive care unit (ICU) suspected of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, using standardized hospital screening methodologies, had blood samples collected at the time of admission to the ICU. Transcriptome profiling of leukocytes via ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNAseq) was then performed and …

Transcriptional Profiling Of Leukocytes In Critically Ill Covid19 Patients: Implications For Interferon Response And Coagulation, Sean E Gill, Claudia C Dos Santos, David B O'Gorman, David E Carter, Eric K Patterson, Marat Slessarev, Claudio Martin, Mark Daley, Michael R. Miller, Gediminas Cepinskas, Douglas Fraser

Paediatrics Publications

BACKGROUND: COVID19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and has been associated with severe inflammation leading to organ dysfunction and mortality. Our aim was to profile the transcriptome in leukocytes from critically ill patients positive for COVID19 compared to those negative for COVID19 to better understand the COVID19-associated host response. For these studies, all patients admitted to our tertiary care intensive care unit (ICU) suspected of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, using standardized hospital screening methodologies, had blood samples collected at the time of admission to the ICU. Transcriptome profiling of leukocytes via ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNAseq) was then performed and …

Experiential Learning Final Report: Forest City Film Festival And Sasah Internships, Hanbi Lee

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

Experiential learning can be difficult to attain in a traditional classroom environment, where knowledge is transferred rather than experienced firsthand. Moreover, that challenge is especially amplified during a global pandemic; nevertheless, experiential learning is a critical component of a student’s education, and there are ways to achieve it. One solution is to extend the learning experience beyond the confines of the classroom, where students can get a taste of the real-world work environment and a clearer picture of what their future jobs might entail.

To achieve meaningful experiential learning, I completed two 4-month internships at Western University and Forest City …

Reflecting On My Adventures In Experiential Learning, Will Sharpe

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

This report analyzes and reflects on my experiential learning experiences with the Forest City Film Festival and Western Libraries. I look back at my initial feelings of bewilderment and imposter syndrome and then track my progress as I’m pushed out of my comfort zone and learn the skills I need to excel. My time with the Forest City Film Festival and Western Libraries, as well as my peers’ testimonies, taught me that at SASAH, we all have the skills needed to succeed in our fields — and the experiential learning program is an excellent place to nurture them.

Final Report: Brightspark And Alumni Relations Internship, Francesca Denoble

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

For the first half of my Experiential Learning Credit, I worked for Brightspark Canada as an Educational Tour Leader. Brightspark Canada is a renowned travel company that operates out of Toronto, Ontario, and specializes in educational tours for elementary and high school students. As I tour leader, I travelled with schools to destinations such as Ottawa, Quebec City, and Montreal for days at a time and was responsible for executing the itinerary, providing historical spiels about the places with visited, and seeing to the safety of everyone in my group.

The skills most integral to the success of my job …

Final Report: Iconoclast And London Children's Connection Internships, Veronica Botnick

SASAH 4th Year Capstone and Other Projects: Publications

In my second year of university, I joined an on-campus magazine, Iconoclast, as an assistant director. In my third year, I continued with Iconoclast as a director and started another internship with the London Children's Connection. Both projects have shown the effects of different language choice. With Iconoclast, I learned the importance of taking a less academic writing approach in theme descriptions and editors' letters. A neutral tone reaches a wider audience and ensures that readers from any background gain a full understanding of our theme. At the London Children's Connection, a simple change in choice of words can improve …

Pathway‐Extended Gene Expression Signatures Integrate Novel Biomarkers That Improve Predictions Of Patient Responses To Kinase Inhibitors, Ashis Bagchee‐Clark, Eliseos J. Mucaki, Tyson Whitehead, Peter Rogan

Biochemistry Publications

Cancer chemotherapy responses have been related to multiple pharmacogenetic biomarkers, often for the same drug. This study utilizes machine learning to derive multi‐gene expression signatures that predict individual patient responses to specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including erlotinib, gefitinib, sorafenib, sunitinib, lapatinib and imatinib. Support vector machine (SVM) learning was used to train mathematical models that distinguished sensitivity from resistance to these drugs using a novel systems biology‐based approach. This began with expression of genes previously implicated in specific drug responses, then expanded to evaluate genes whose products were related through biochemical pathways and interactions. Optimal pathway‐extended SVMs predicted responses in …

Adaptive Randomised Controlled Non-Inferiority Multicentre Trial (The Ketodex Trial) On Intranasal Dexmedetomidine Plus Ketamine For Procedural Sedation In Children: Study Protocol, Naveen Poonai, Kamary Coriolano, Terry Klassen, Anna Heath, Maryna Yaskina, Darcy Beer, Scott Sawyer, Maala Bhatt, April Kam, Quynh Doan, Vikram Sabhaney, Martin Offringa, Petros Pechlivanoglou, Serena Hickes, Samina Ali

Paediatrics Publications

Introduction Up to 40% of orthopaedic injuries in children require a closed reduction, almost always necessitating procedural sedation. Intravenous ketamine is the most commonly used sedative agent. However, intravenous insertion is painful and can be technically difficult in children. We hypothesise that a combination of intranasal dexmedetomidine plus intranasal ketamine (Ketodex) will be non-inferior to intravenous ketamine for effective sedation in children undergoing a closed reduction. Methods and analysis This is a six-centre, four-arm, adaptive, randomised, blinded, controlled, non-inferiority trial. We will include children 4-17 years with a simple upper limb fracture or dislocation that requires sedation for a closed …

Adaptive Randomised Controlled Non-Inferiority Multicentre Trial (The Ketodex Trial) On Intranasal Dexmedetomidine Plus Ketamine For Procedural Sedation In Children: Study Protocol, Naveen Poonai, Kamary Coriolano, Terry Klassen, Anna Heath, Maryna Yaskina, Darcy Beer, Scott Sawyer, Maala Bhatt, April Kam, Quynh Doan, Vikram Sabhaney, Martin Offringa, Petros Pechlivanoglou, Serena Hickes, Samina Ali

Paediatrics Publications

Introduction Up to 40% of orthopaedic injuries in children require a closed reduction, almost always necessitating procedural sedation. Intravenous ketamine is the most commonly used sedative agent. However, intravenous insertion is painful and can be technically difficult in children. We hypothesise that a combination of intranasal dexmedetomidine plus intranasal ketamine (Ketodex) will be non-inferior to intravenous ketamine for effective sedation in children undergoing a closed reduction. Methods and analysis This is a six-centre, four-arm, adaptive, randomised, blinded, controlled, non-inferiority trial. We will include children 4-17 years with a simple upper limb fracture or dislocation that requires sedation for a closed …

Higher-Dose Sitagliptin And The Risk Of Congestive Heart Failure In Older Adults With Ckd, Flory T. Muanda, Matthew A. Weir, Lavanya Bathini, Kristin K. Clemens, Vlado Perkovic, Manish M. Sood, Eric Mcarthur, Jessica M. Sontrop, Richard B. Borobia, Hoi Y. Tong, Cristina Dávila-Fajardo, Mariana Rodrigues Botton, Stephane Bourgeois, Panos Deloukas, Michael D. Caldwell, Jim K. Burmester, Richard L. Berg, Larisa H. Cavallari, Katarzyna Drozda, Min Huang, Li Zi Zhao, Han Jing Cen, Rocio Gonzalez-Conejero, Vanessa Roldan, Yusuke Nakamura, Taisei Mushiroda

Paediatrics Publications

Background and objectives Sitagliptin, a dipeptidylpeptidase-4 inhibitor, is commonlyprescribed to patientswith type 2 diabetes. As this drug is primarily eliminated by the kidney, a reduced dose is recommended for patients with CKD. Some evidence suggests that sitagliptin is associated with a higher risk of congestive heart failure, particularly at higher doses.Wecompare the 1-year risk of death or hospitalizationwith congestive heart failure in patients with CKD newly prescribed sitagliptin at <50 versus ≤50 mg/d. Design, setting, participants, & measurements This population-based cohort study included older adults (>66 years) with type 2 diabetes and an eGFR<45 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (but not receiving dialysis) who were newly prescribed sitagliptin between 2010 and 2017 in Ontario, Canada. We used inverse probability of treatment weighting on the basis of propensity scores to balance baseline characteristics. The primary composite outcome was death or hospitalization with congestive heart failure. Secondary outcomes included hospitalization with pancreatitis or hypoglycemia, all-cause hospitalization, and glycemic control. Weighted hazard ratios were obtained using Cox proportional hazards regression, and 95%confidence intervalswere obtained using bootstrap variance estimators. Results Of 9215 patients, 6518 started sitagliptin at >50 mg/d, and 2697 started sitagliptin at ≤50 mg/d. The 1-year risk of death or hospitalization with congestive heart failure did not …

Western University Symphony Orchestra, Simone Luti

All Don Wright Faculty of Music Concert Programs

No abstract provided.

“It's All Window Dressing:” Canadian Police Officers' Perceptions Of Mental Health Stigma In Their Workplace, Lesley J. Bikos

Sociology Publications

Purpose: This study will provide a preliminary, general overview of Canadian police officers’ perception of stigma toward mental illness in their workplace culture and its impacts.

Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a mixed methods approach with two nationwide datasets: a self-report survey (N=727) and 116 semi-structured interviews with police officers from 31 police services. Results are grounded in theories of stigma, masculinities, and organizational culture.

Findings: Results indicate that most officers believe stigma toward mental illness in their workplace remains, despite senior management messaging and program implementation. Reporting mental illness was often seen as high risk, both personally and professionally. Policewomen, …

A Boron Difluoride Hydrazone (Bodihy) Polymer Exhibits Aggregation-Induced Emission, Alexander E. R. Watson, Joe Gilroy, Daniela Cappello

Chemistry Publications

Polymers that exhibit aggregation-induced emission (AIE) find use, for example, as cell-imaging agents and as fluorometric sensors due to their unique optical properties. However, the structural diversity of AIE-active polymers has not necessarily advanced at the same rate as their applications. In this work, ring-opening metathesis polymerization is used to synthesize the first example of a polymer (M_n = 61,600 g mol^‒1, Đ = 1.32) containing boron difluoride hydrazone (BODIHY) heterocycles in its repeating unit. The BODIHY monomer and polymer described absorb and emit in the visible region in solution (λ_abs = 428 and 429 nm, …

Student Recital, Gillian Derer, Mark Pinder, Kelvin Liu, Mattia Mihajlovic

All Don Wright Faculty of Music Concert Programs

No abstract provided.

Blast In Context: The Neuropsychological And Neurocognitive Effects Of Long-Term Occupational Exposure To Repeated Low-Level Explosives On Canadian Armed Forces' Breaching Instructors And Range Staff, Oshin Vartanian, Catherine Tenn, Shawn G. Rhind, Ann Nakashima, Alex P. Di Battista, Lauren E. Sergio, Diana J. Gorbet, Douglas D. Fraser, Angela Colantonio, Kristen King, Quan Lam, Doug Saunders, Rakesh Jetly

Paediatrics Publications

Currently, there is strong interest within the military to better understand the effects of long-term occupational exposure to repeated low-level blast on health and performance. To gain traction on the chronic sequelae of blast, we focused on breaching—a tactical technique for gaining entry into closed/blocked spaces by placing explosives and maintaining a calculated safe distance from the detonation. Using a cross-sectional design, we compared the neuropsychological and neurocognitive profiles of breaching instructors and range staff to sex- and age-matched Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) controls. Univariate tests demonstrated that breaching was associated with greater post-concussive symptoms (Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire) …

Shared Functional Connectivity Between The Dorso-Medial And Dorso-Ventral Streams In Macaques, R. Stefan Greulich, Ramina Adam, Stefan Everling, Hansjörg Scherberger

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). Manipulation of an object requires us to transport our hand towards the object (reach) and close our digits around that object (grasp). In current models, reach-related information is propagated in the dorso-medial stream from posterior parietal area V6A to medial intraparietal area, dorsal premotor cortex, and primary motor cortex. Grasp-related information is processed in the dorso-ventral stream from the anterior intraparietal area to ventral premotor cortex and the hand area of primary motor cortex. However, recent studies have cast doubt on the validity of this separation in separate processing streams. We investigated in 10 male rhesus …

Neural Responses And Perceptual Sensitivity To Sound Depend On Sound-Level Statistics, Björn Herrmann, Thomas Augereau, Ingrid S. Johnsrude

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2020, The Author(s). Sensitivity to sound-level statistics is crucial for optimal perception, but research has focused mostly on neurophysiological recordings, whereas behavioral evidence is sparse. We use electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral methods to investigate how sound-level statistics affect neural activity and the detection of near-threshold changes in sound amplitude. We presented noise bursts with sound levels drawn from distributions with either a low or a high modal sound level. One participant group listened to the stimulation while EEG was recorded (Experiment I). A second group performed a behavioral amplitude-modulation detection task (Experiment II). Neural activity depended on sound-level statistical …

Modeling An Auditory Stimulated Brain Under Altered States Of Consciousness Using The Generalized Ising Model, Sivayini Kandeepan, Jorge Rudas, Francisco Gomez, Bobby Stojanoski, Sree Ram Valluri, Adrian Mark Owen, Lorina Naci, Emily Sophia Nichols, Andrea Soddu

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Propofol is a short-acting medication that results in decreased levels of consciousness and is used for general anesthesia. Although it is the most commonly used anesthetic in the world, much remains unknown about the mechanisms by which it induces a loss of consciousness. Characterizing anesthesia-induced alterations to brain network activity might provide a powerful framework for understanding the neural mechanisms of unconsciousness. The aim of this work was to model brain activity in healthy brains during various stages of consciousness, as induced by propofol, in the auditory paradigm. We used the generalized Ising model (GIM) to fit the empirical fMRI …

Machine Learning Identifies Clinical And Genetic Factors Associated With Anthracycline Cardiotoxicity In Pediatric Cancer Survivors, Marie A. Chaix, Neha Parmar, Caroline Kinnear, Myriam Lafreniere-Roula, Oyediran Akinrinade, Roderick Yao, Anastasia Miron, Emily Lam, Guoliang Meng, Anne Christie, Ashok Kumar Manickaraj, Stacey Marjerrison, Rejane Dillenburg, Mylène Bassal, Jane Lougheed, Shayna Zelcer, Herschel Rosenberg, David Hodgson, Leonard Sender, Paul Kantor, Cedric Manlhiot, James Ellis, Luc Mertens, Paul C. Nathan, Seema Mital

Paediatrics Publications

Background: Despite known clinical risk factors, predicting anthracycline cardiotoxicity remains challenging. Objectives: This study sought to develop a clinical and genetic risk prediction model for anthracycline cardiotoxicity in childhood cancer survivors. Methods: We performed exome sequencing in 289 childhood cancer survivors at least 3 years from anthracycline exposure. In a nested case-control design, 183 case patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction despite low-dose doxorubicin (≤250 mg/m2), and 106 control patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction despite doxorubicin >250 mg/m2 were selected as extreme phenotypes. Rare/low-frequency variants were collapsed to identify genes differentially enriched for variants between case patients …

Md2 Activation By Direct Age Interaction Drives Inflammatory Diabetic Cardiomyopathy, Yi Wang, Wu Luo, Jibo Han, Zia A. Khan, Qilu Fang, Yiyi Jin, Xuemei Chen, Yali Zhang

Paediatrics Publications

Hyperglycemia activates toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) to induce inflammation in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, the mechanisms of TLR4 activation remain unclear. Here we examine the role of myeloid differentiation 2 (MD2), a co-receptor of TLR4, in high glucose (HG)- and diabetes-induced inflammatory cardiomyopathy. We show increased MD2 in heart tissues of diabetic mice and serum of human diabetic subjects. MD2 deficiency in mice inhibits TLR4 pathway activation, which correlates with reduced myocardial remodeling and improved cardiac function. Mechanistically, we show that HG induces extracellular advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which bind directly to MD2, leading to formation of AGEs-MD2-TLR4 complex …

Risk Of Suicide And Self-Harm In Kids: The Development Of An Algorithm To Identify High-Risk Individuals Within The Children’S Mental Health System, Shannon L. Stewart, Angela Celebre, John P. Hirdes, Jeffrey W. Poss

Paediatrics Publications

Suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents within Canada. While several risk factors have been found to be associated with increased risk, appropriate decision-support tools are needed to identify children who are at highest risk for suicide and self-harm. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate a methodology for identifying children at heightened risk for self-harm and suicide. Ontario data based on the interRAI Child and Youth Mental Health Screener (ChYMH-S) were analyzed to develop a decision-support algorithm to identify young persons at risk for suicide or self-harm. The algorithm was validated with …