Life Sciences Commons^™

Likely Community Transmission Of Covid-19 Infections Between Neighboring, Persistent Hotspots In Ontario, Canada, Ben C. Shirley, Eliseos J. Mucaki, Peter Rogan

Biochemistry Publications

Introduction: This study aimed to produce community-level geo-spatial mapping of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ontario Canada in near real-time to support decision-making. This was accomplished by area-to-area geostatistical analysis, space-time integration, and spatial interpolation of COVID-19 positive individuals.
Methods: COVID-19 cases and locations were curated for geostatistical analyses from March 2020 through June 2021, corresponding to the first, second, and third waves of infections. Daily cases were aggregated according to designated forward sortation area (FSA), and postal codes (PC) in municipal regions Hamilton, Kitchener/Waterloo, London, Ottawa, Toronto, and Windsor/Essex county. Hotspots were identified with area-to-area tests including Getis-Ord Gi*, Global …

Using Spatial Methods To Analyse Anthropogenic Predation Risk And Movement Ecology Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus), Rhiannon D. Kirton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Hunting has been used as a central tool by wildlife managers to maintain populations of game species, however, we still lack a good understanding of exactly how hunting influences deer biology. Technological advances in GPS data over the last two decades now enable us to perform more detailed analysis on the effects of human hunters on wildlife populations. This research explores the spatial ecology of hunters and White-tailed deer in the Cross Timbers ecoregion of Oklahoma. Using new statistical methodologies to analyse simultaneous GPS tracking data on deer and hunters to study their spatial interactions. The results show how new …

Fear Of The Human "Super-Predator" In African Mammals, Nikita R. Frizzelle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Humans’ exploitive killing of virtually every mammal species globally may result in a perception of humans as feared, ultra-lethal predators. In Africa, mammals are central to the continent’s tourism industry; however, it is largely unknown whether African mammals fear the presence of tourists. Firstly, I aimed to review how the presence of humans on the landscape affects African mammal behaviour. Of 31 studies, most authors reported that humans alter mammal behaviour in a manner that may negatively impact survival. To test if a fear of humans can pervade communities, I simulated the presence of humans, hunting, lions, and birds using …

Elucidating The Structural And Dynamical Properties Of The Intrinsically Disordered Protein Nrf2 Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Megan Nicole Chang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) protein is a critical transcription factor for activating the antioxidant response pathway, a primary defense mechanism against disproportionate levels of oxidants in the cell, via the upregulation of cytoprotective genes. Notably, aberrant activation of Nrf2 in cancer cells increases their resistance to chemotherapy, rendering the treatment ineffective. The focus was to uncover the conformational landscape of Nrf2’s Neh4 and Neh5 domains, which participate in crucial interactions for complete transcriptional activation. Since Nrf2 is an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP), molecular dynamics simulations were employed to capture its dynamic nature and conformational heterogeneity. The …

Investigating Mycelial-Crop Residue Mat Application To Reduce Early-Colonizing Weeds In Row-Crop Agriculture, Donald T. Watson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Herbicide use within conventional agriculture has contributed to greatly increased crop yields since its widespread adoption, but environmental concerns regarding overuse and reliance on selective herbicides continue to mount. Using five fungal species and two crop residues in a factorial design, I created a novel slurry to control weeds through inhibition by the mycelial mat formed after application to soil. I monitored weed stem counts and the strength of the mycelial mat under the treatments. Additionally, as a proxy for crop yield, I measured the wet and dry mass of crop plant grown under application treatments. Weed prevalence was significantly …

Investigating The Role Of Pkc And Its Mechanisms In Regulation Of Igf-I Bioavailability In Fetal Growth Restriction, Allan W. Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with decreased nutrient availability and reduced insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I bioavailability via increased IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-1 phosphorylation. While protein kinase C (PKC) is implicated in IGFBP-1 hyperphosphorylation in nutrient deprivation, the mechanisms remain unclear. I hypothesized that the interaction of PKCα with protein kinase CK2β and activation of PKCα under leucine deprivation (L0) mediate fetal hepatic IGFBP-1 hyperphosphorylation. Parallel Reaction Monitoring Mass Spectrometry (PRM-MS) followed by PKCα knockdown demonstrated the PKCα isoform interacts with IGFBP-1 and CK2β under L0. Pharmacological PKCα activation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) increased whereas inhibition with bisindolylmaleimide II …

Understanding The Kinomic Contributions To Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Resistance In Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Cory Lefebvre

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) presents a growing challenge in the development of therapeutic targets for cancers such as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), where conventional therapies are ineffective at combatting systemic disease. Potential targets in TNBC include the receptor tyrosine kinases EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) and c-Met, however, targeted anti-EGFR and anti-c-Met therapies have faced challenges in clinical trials due to acquired resistance. We hypothesize that response versus resistance of triple negative breast cancer to the tyrosine kinase inhibitors erlotinib and cabozantinib is mediated by compensatory changes in the kinome and phosphoproteome. To test this, we (1) …

Hibernation Is Super Complex: Dynamics Of Electron Transport System Supercomplexes, Amalie J. Hutchinson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The electron transport system complexes form supercomplexes (SCs) within mitochondrial membranes, perhaps increasing respiratory capacity or reducing reactive oxygen species production. My project aimed to determine the abundance, composition, and stability of SCs in a hibernator. Hibernators have dynamic metabolisms that change greatly during the winter. I isolated mitochondria from rats and thirteen-lined ground squirrels (TLGS) in different hibernation states and measured mitochondrial respiration. I extracted mitochondrial proteins using two detergents of different strengths, and quantified SC abundance using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting. Rats had fewer SCs than TLGS. SCs are dynamic in hibernation and the complex III composition …

Exercise As A Treatment For Cognitive Decline In Older Adults: The Role Of Growth Factors And Inflammatory Cytokines, Joshua A. Titus

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the effects that exercise modalities have on neurotrophic and inflammatory blood markers and cognitive outcomes in older adults. A systematic review and meta-analysis were completed. The included studies illustrated that most of the literature evaluated the effect of aerobic exercise interventions on systemic concentrations of the blood marker brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The review found that aerobic exercise increases BDNF and resistance training increases insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Interventions with sex-specific cohorts presented advantages in males for blood marker and cognitive outcomes compared to females. One of three included interventions decreased …

Investigating A Novel Receptor That Mediates Vasoconstriction In Mouse Femoral Arteries, Joselia Carlos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The synthetic peptide trans-cinnamoyl-leucine-isoleucine-glycine-arginine-leucine-ornithine-amide (tcLIGRLO) causes smooth muscle contraction in mouse femoral arteries. The identity of the receptor that mediates this response is undetermined. We hypothesize that the novel mechanism for tcLIGRLO-induced contractions involves a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) and a G_q-Ca²⁺ signalling pathway. Chapter 2 describes experiments using femoral arteries isolated from male and female systemic protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2KO) mice (n=31; 21 – 39 weeks of age) using tcLIGRLO and the G_q-inhibitor, YM-254890 (YM). Contractions produced by tcLIGRLO did not differ by sex but decreased as age increased. YM inhibited tcLIGRLO-induced contractions. Chapter …

The Study Of The Structure And Dynamics Of Parkin Activation, Elaine Aisha Freeman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Parkin is an RBR E3 ubiquitin ligase that has been implicated in both sporadic and familial Parkinson’s disease. Upon mitochondrial damage, parkin is activated step-wise to recruit and ligate ubiquitin to a substrate on the outer mitochondrial membrane. Disruption of this activation and ligation cascade is hypothesized to result in neuronal death related to Parkinson’s disease.

While structures of parkin for a number of these activation states exist, it is important to note they are not of full-length human parkin. These structures are often truncated and come from various non-human species to eliminate important, yet hard to quantify structural elements. …

Metabolic Regulation During Extraembryonic Endoderm Differentiation, Mohamed Gatie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The inner cell mass undergoes orchestrated cellular divisions resulting in the formation of the epiblast (EPI) and primitive endoderm (PrE). Understanding the process of cell fate specification is crucial to appreciate the intricacies of proper embryonic development. While the mouse embryo is an excellent model, limitations do exist with number, technical challenges, and accessibility, therefore, in my thesis I employed two cell-based models to recapitulate the EPI-PrE fate in vitro. Many signaling pathways have been implicated in this lineage decision, metabolism and its downstream products have been recently regarded as a driver of lineage commitment. Using various biochemical, molecular, …

Kindlin-1 Is Involved In Spreading, Migration, And Protein Regulation In Epidermal Scc-13 Cells, Naomi Mishan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Kindlin-1 is a scaffold protein linking the cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. Loss of function mutations in the FERMT1 gene (encoding Kindlin-1) cause gastrointestinal and skin defects associated with increased susceptibility to aggressive epidermal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This study investigated the consequences of targeted FERMT1 inactivation in the SCC-13 cell line of epidermal SCC. My studies demonstrate Kindlin-1 is not essential for SCC-13 proliferation or clonogenic potential in culture. Kindlin-1 was required for cell spreading on collagen I, but not on laminin-332, and its absence enhanced SCC-13 directional migration. Finally, I identified several proteins involved in tumor formation and …

Restructuring Training (Participation House Support Services), Victoria Lun, Do Yeon Oh, Nadir Saeed, Joe Thorne, Alexander Trusler

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

Participation House Support Services (PHSS) is a non-profit organization with over 60 locations across Ontario that serves individuals with complex medical, physical, and developmental needs with the goal of including them in the community. The scope of the project covers members of the PHSS organization and the London community that they serve by addressing problems with burnout and culture of resentment that the Coordinators of the organization face. After initial discussions with the community partner, qualitative research was done via focus groups with PHSS Coordinators and training staff. An agreed-upon solution of restructuring the training process was developed, as training …

Increasing Civic Engagement And Awareness Of Poverty & Homelessness Through Social Media (Project Hope London), Vanessa Chan, Sairam Gajavelli, Majid Khan, Iris Kwon, Masum Patel

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

As the Project Hope London (PHL) Social Media Team, the purpose of our project was to utilize social media to support PHL in their goal of helping to improve the overall health of individuals experiencing homelessness. We aimed to broaden the organization’s audience through Instagram as this popular platform has the potential to reach younger demographics, such as the Western student body, and local businesses. Our team took control of their Instagram page to revitalize their social media presence. We redesigned the bio, curated posts with modern aesthetics, and ran a social media campaign to further boost engagement with the …

A Wicked Problem: The Implementation Of Clinical Guidelines Application To Optimize Patient Care (Uhn Openlab), Ardavan Bonyadi Behrouz, Nelson Chang, Jasmine Luo, Daniel Olteanu, Naomi Smith

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

The purpose of our partnership with the UHN OpenLab was to discover the barriers involved with automating the sporadic release of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) into the Innovate Guidelines Application (IGA). The problem is considered wicked—interlocking challenges cannot be addressed by a single solution. Accordingly, the goal was to explore the barriers of stakeholders and specialization groups, general guideline issues, and the considerations of healthcare professionals and public perception. An initial literature review was conducted to discover unidentified problems before a first draft of the systems map was created. Subsequently, connections were formed across problems and each was categorized based …

A Physician’S Guide To Clinical Documentation Improvement: Aligning Cdi To Health Information Practice (Canadian Health Information Management Association), Noor Baldawi, Jacky Cheung, Georgia Diamanakis, Alvina Jiwani, Zexi Wang

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

The field of clinical documentation improvement (CDI) is emerging alongside the need for more accurate health care information that is reflective of the health status of Canadians. Health information management professionals and physicians play a critical role in the collection, transformation, protection, and distribution of clinical documentation. The quality of health data is dependent on the physician’s specificity in clinical documentation of patient health records, as this information is converted into data by coding specialists. Coded medical information, and associated hospital data, provides information surrounding patient severity of disease, a hospital’s expected length of stay, and a hospital’s mortality rate. …

Discovering Body Positivity & Self-Image (Gender Equality Coalition Of Ontario), Ella Clarke, Morolayo Ilori, Melanie Peck, Hannah Polley, Mili Shah

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

Body image refers to the way we perceive our bodies, and it can positively or negatively impact physical and mental health (Alleva et al., 2015). Unfortunately, negative body image is becoming more common with some studies finding that 65% of young people are dissatisfied with their bodies (Linardon et al., 2021). This can lead to a variety of psychological and behavioral problems and disorders such as body dysmorphia or eating disorders (Alleva et al., 2015). However, many of these consequences associated with negative body image can be circumvented by learning to foster positive body images through building self-esteem (Jessie’s Legacy, …

Addressing Workplace Mental Health During Covid-19 (Global Minds Collective), Candace Brooks-Dasilva, Ashlee Jiang, Priya Modi, Komal Patel, Lilian Raphael

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

We aimed to produce novel, comprehensive tools to support The Global MINDS Collective’s mission of co-creating unique workplace infrastructures conducive to employee mental wellness. Our Systems Map uses a multifactorial and intersectional approach to analyze how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed employees’ mental and psychosocial wellness. A systems thinking approach was used to connect ideas from literature and industry resources to expand on concepts such as workplace diversity, burnout, and current practices. The interconnected nature of the systems map allowed us to identify “leverage points,” which were topics with a high degree of connectivity that could be targeted for high-impact …

Supporting Pregnant Persons: The Benefits Of Opening A Birth Centre In London, Ontario (Dynamic Doulas Of London), Alisha George, Megan Harris, Allison Kirkpatrick, Lianna Mathew, Amel Sassi

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

No abstract provided.

Determining The Impacts Of The Sunshine Foundation's Dream-Like Experiences For Children With Severe Physical Disabilities, Jason Chan, Hannah Sendzik, Reya Siby, Sneh Sunder, Matthieu Trudell

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

The Sunshine Foundation is a charity dedicated to providing dream-like experiences to children and families with severe physical disabilities with the hopes to foster optimism, independence and hope, and improve mental health. However, they lack empirical evidence to illustrate the positive long-term impacts that their wishes provide. Thus, our main goal was to generate quantifiable data to highlight the positive impacts of the program, in order to improve donor interest, raise awareness, and ultimately be able to reach more children nation-wide. We intended to do this through a literature review and present concrete statistical findings through a multi-media deliverable in …

Alignment Of The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals And The London Plan (Citystudio London), Jack Adams, Trent Arnold, Rachel Jairam, Amani Khan

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

The goal of our project was to map the City of London Plan to the UN’s Sustainability and Development Goals. An aim of the project was to present the contents in the City of London Plan in a more understandable and accessible way for London citizens and city counsellors to be able to engage with. Another aim was to measure the similarities and discrepancies of the London Plan and the UNs SDGs in a quantifiable way that could be easily examined by the city when creating future city plans. Our deliverables were a 1-minute video pitch, an excel spreadsheet that …

Improving Senior Fitness Programs & Dementia Care (Canadian Centre For Activity & Aging), Nidaal Abid, Tarannum Khan, Serena Lai, Kyle Lam, Madeline Macrae, Karen Wong

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

Our team worked alongside the Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging (CCAA) to improve senior fitness programs and dementia care through volunteering at weekly exercise classes, assisting with fitness assessments, and creating two tangible deliverables. Our first deliverable was a Wordle; a tool for visualizing the modifiable risk factors of dementia. By consulting existing literature, we concluded that hearing loss, low education status, depression, and smoking were the main modifiable risk factors. This Wordle will be used for future research and educational purposes. Our next deliverables targeted the fitness aspect of the CCAA. We helped facilitate weekly instructor-led fitness classes …

A Complete Guide To Incorporation (Project Hope London), Kevin Dong, Karen Guirguis, Rozmin Jasani, Samuel Luo, Sahara Rosha

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

Our team worked with Project Hope (PH)–a grassroots organization that supports London’s population experiencing homelessness via needs-based outreach, community building, and housing support. PH serves 250 individuals/week at outreach and intends to expand this number and explore larger-scale projects such as affordable housing initiatives. However, to attain these goals, PH needs more funding–which it has struggled to obtain due to its lack of Registered Charity (RC) status. RCs are the only not-for-profit organizations that can issue tax receipts to monetary donors, and several commercial donors only donate to RCs for this reason. Thus, our deliverable intends to streamline PH’s progress …

Stakeholders Surrounding Assisted & Affordable Housing (The Unity Project), Jiyoon Choi, Mahir Rahman, Adesh Suchit, Kenneth Wong

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

Our team worked with the Unity Project, a registered charity in London that provides emergency shelter and supportive housing, to address the current needs of the organization based on a research and evidence-based approach. Specifically, we aimed to support their goals relating to the need for improved affordable housing solutions in London and the current divide between the different stakeholders involved. We provided two main deliverables: a) a report and slide deck that outline the positions of key stakeholders involved with affordable housing, and b) a set of three infographics that provide information that connects the homeless community to useful …

Embracing Culture At The Centre Of Hope Food Bank (Salvation Army), Angela Chen, Ewan Kelly, Caitlin Lee, Sumin Shin

Medical Sciences 4300A: Addressing Healthcare Misconceptions Using Scientific Inquiry

The purpose of our project was to expand the food options provided at the Centre of Hope (COH) to better reflect the cultural diversity that exists within the London community. Overall, our project aimed to provide all individuals with the opportunity to consume food they are familiar and comfortable with, using a food choice-model system. This involved the creation of four deliverables: a comprehensive list of food options specific to the major minority groups in London, a culturally-specific food preference survey (physical and online versions, to improve accessibility), and a flyer with a QR code to encourage survey responses. The …

Fear Of Large Carnivores Is Tied To Ungulate Habitat Use: Evidence From A Bifactorial Experiment, Haley K. Epperly, Michael Clinchy, Liana Y. Zanette, Robert A. Mcceery

Biology Publications

The fear large carnivores inspire in large ungulates has been argued to have cascading effects down food webs. However, a direct link between ungulate habitat use and their fear of large carnivores has not been experimentally tested. To fill this critical gap, we conducted a bi-factorial experiment in an African savanna. We removed shrub cover and broadcast large carnivore vocalizations (leopard, hyena, dog) or non-threatening control vocalizations in both experimentally cleared and shrubby control sites. We recorded the proactive (frequency of visitation) and reactive (fleeing or vigilance) responses of multiple prey (impala, warthog, nyala and bushbuck). Critically, we found a …

Modeling Fetal Brain Development: A Semi-Automated Platform For Localization, Reconstruction, And Segmentation Of The Fetal Brain On Mri, Jianan Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With advances in fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), research in neonatal neuroscience has shifted to identify in utero brain-based biomarkers for outcome prediction in high-risk fetuses, particularly those impacted by growth restriction. Volumetric segmentation of the fetal brain can provide better understanding of the trajectories of brain development and may aid in predicting functional outcomes. The current thesis aimed to develop semi-automatic methods to target deep brain structures in the fetal brain identified on MR images in fetuses with and without growth restriction. In this study, pregnant women (35-39 weeks gestational age [n=9]) with growth appropriate (n=8) and growth restricted …

Targeting Ccn Proteins In The Treatment Of Dermal Fibrosis, Alex Peidl

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Fibrotic disorders, including the inflammatory connective tissue disease systemic sclerosis (SSc), contribute to 45% of deaths in the Western world. Currently there is no universally agreed-upon treatment for fibrosis. The CCN family of matricellular proteins are tightly spatiotemporally regulated proteins involved in development and wound healing, and are aberrantly expressed in fibrotic disease, including in SSc. CCN1 and CCN2 are overexpressed in SSc and contribute to the progression of animal models of fibrosis. CCN3 is reciprocally regulated to CCN1 and CCN2 and has been shown to suppress CCN2-mediated fibrogenic activity in kidney fibrosis. This led to the development of therapeutic …

Dopaminergic Modulation Of A Fast Visuomotor Pathway In Parkinson's Disease, Madeline C. Gilchrist

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with reduced dopaminergic (DA) input to the dorsal striatum (DS). This study investigated the role of DA in modulating automatic, stimulus-driven reactions by assessing contextual control of stimulus-locked responses (SLRs) in 10 PD patients off and on DA medication. The SLR is the rapid recruitment of limb muscles that drives the arm towards suddenly appearing stimuli. Participants reached away from (anti-reach) or towards (pro-reach) a target on a screen, depending on instruction appearing 500 or 1000ms before target appearance. Modulation of SLRs was assessed by comparing SLR magnitude on anti- and pro-reach trials using surface …