Medicine and Health 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 …

Likely Community Transmission Of Covid-19 Infections Between Neighboring, Persistent Hotspots In Ontario, Canada [Version 1; Peer Review: Awaiting Peer Review], Elisios J. Mucaki, Ben C. Shirley, Peter K. Rogan

Research Articles

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.

Putative Concussion Biomarkers Identified In Adolescent Male Athletes Using Targeted Plasma Proteomics, Michael R. Miller, Michael Robinson, Lisa Fischer, Alicia Dibattista, Maitray A. Patel, Mark Daley, Robert Bartha, Gregory A. Dekaban, Ravi S. Menon, J. Kevin Shoemaker, Eleftherios P. Diamandis, Ioannis Prassas, Douglas D. Fraser

Medical Biophysics Publications

Sport concussions can be difficult to diagnose and if missed, they can expose athletes to greater injury risk and long-lasting neurological disabilities. Discovery of objective biomarkers to aid concussion diagnosis is critical to protecting athlete brain health. To this end, we performed targeted proteomics on plasma obtained from adolescent athletes suffering a sports concussion. A total of 11 concussed male athletes were enrolled at our academic Sport Medicine Concussion Clinic, as well as 24 sex-, age- and activity-matched healthy control subjects. Clinical evaluation was performed and blood was drawn within 72 h of injury. Proximity extension assays were performed for …

Exploring Multimodal Cancer Cell Tracking Using Magnetic Particle Imaging And Akaluc Bli, Ryan J. Williams

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI), a novel imaging technology, offers hotspot visualization and quantification of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) labelled cells in vivo. Bioluminescence imaging (BLI), with the sensitive reporter Akaluc, can provide complementary information on cell viability and proliferation. Here, we combined MPI, and Akaluc BLI for a more holistic picture of cancer cell fate in mice. Breast cancer cells labelled with Akaluc and the SPIO Synomag-D, were injected into the mammary fat pad (MFP) of mice and imaged on BLI and MPI for 2-weeks. Over this period, BLI signal increased due to tumour progression, while MPI signal decreased due …

Improving Developing Countries’ Health Information Systems Capacity For Infectious Disease Pandemic Responses: A Case Study Of The Ebola Virus Disease And The Coronavirus Disease Pandemics, Uche Ikenyei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There is increasing evidence to demonstrate that current information system theoretical models meant to assess the success of the health information systems (HIS) lack the applicable theoretical underpinning suitable for developing countries. This stems partly from a theory-evidence gap where theoretical models developed in the West are applied in developing country contexts but lack tailoring to localized, contextual realities. Therefore, this study addresses this gap by enhancing the DeLeon and McLean's information system success model with six contextual factors peculiar to the infectious disease HISs in a developing country context.

This study took place in two developing countries, Liberia and …

Biomechanical Analysis Of Ligament Modelling Techniques And Femoral Component Malrotation Following Tka, Liam A. Montgomery

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous studies have demonstrated that satisfaction and revision rates following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are lower than those of comparable surgeries such as total hip replacements. A leading cause for these revisions is joint instability which may be due to improper ligament balancing or poorly aligned surgical implants. One of the methods used to investigate biomechanical forces and kinematics is computational modelling of the post-operative TKA knee.

A unique knee model was used to investigate the biomechanical and kinematic effects of ligament model complexity, as well as the effects of simulating ligament wrapping versus ignoring ligament wrapping. We then used …

Effect Of Levodopa On Eeg Connectivity In Parkinson's Patients, Sepehr Torab Parhiz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Levodopa is a dopamine replacement medication administered to patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to alleviate their motor symptoms. However, its long-term use can cause adverse side effects, including involuntary motor movements. We studied 16 PD patients before and after taking Levodopa based on resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) recordings to determine how Levodopa affects the functional connectivity of their brain networks. We used several metrics from graph theory, in particular the minimum spanning tree (MST) metric, and analyzed how they change after subjects take Levodopa. We observed significant changes in the lower alpha band toward a more path-like and less globally efficient …

Validation Of The Flexcell®Fx-5000 Tension System To Evaluate The Expression Of Cementum Protein-1 In Human Periodontal Ligament Cells While Under Cyclical Orthodontic Tensile Force, Allison Nicholls

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The pressure-tension theory of orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) states that there are differences in microenvironment between the tension and compressions side within the periodontal ligament, leading to differential gene expression within those zones. Cementum protein 1 (CEMP-1) is a human-specific protein localized to the root of a tooth and may play a role in OTM. The first objective was to develop a protocol to apply tensile force to human PDL cells similar to that within the tension zone during OTM. For this, the FlexCell®FX-5000 Tension system was used and fluorescent microscopy was used to confirm validity of the protocol. The …

Consideration Of Executive Functioning For Physiotherapy Rehabilitation: Studies Of Physiotherapists’ Knowledge, Normative Data, And A Practice Application, Nicole A. Guitar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Executive functioning (EF) refers to cognitive abilities involved in decision-making and self-regulation and can be impaired in many patients referred for physiotherapy, including older adults and people living with chronic pain. This dissertation aimed to determine what physiotherapists understood about EF, to summarize normative data for application in physiotherapy practice, and to provide an assessment of feasibility for studying EF impairments in people living with chronic pain. Study one surveyed what physiotherapists understood about EF as a concept, what EF assessments they used, and if this was influenced by their primary area of practice. Respondents (N = 262) subjectively reported …

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 …

Applications Of Genetic Testing For Endocrine And Metabolic Disorders, Amanda Berberich

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Knowledge of inherited diseases and the ability to rapidly, efficiently and comprehensively perform genetic testing are advancing steadily. However, the ideal approach to translate this ability into clinical applications for endocrine disorders has yet to be determined. This work focuses on aspects of clinically translating knowledge of select heritable endocrine and metabolic conditions.

For maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY), a monogenic disorder with no current consensus guidelines governing testing procedures, this work addresses methods to improve detection by validating the use of next generation sequencing-based techniques to identify MODY cases and to detect copy number variations.

For very …

Endothelial Dysfunction In Hindlimb Arteries Of Old Sprague Dawley Rats, And The Type 2 Diabetic Zucker Diabetic Sprague Dawley Strain., Andrea N. Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ageing, and type 2 diabetes are associated with cardiovascular diseases and endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction is characterized by a decline in endothelium-mediated vasodilation. In this thesis, we determined the vascular function of hindlimb arteries supplying skeletal muscle and extremities using isolated arteries and wire myography. For ageing studies, we used Sprague Dawley rats and for type 2 diabetes we used the Zucker Diabetic Sprague Dawley strain. Vasodilation of hindlimb arteries with acetylcholine were impaired in both models. However, protease-activated receptor 2 mediated vasodilation was upregulated in arteries. Evidence of non-nitric oxide mechanisms were also found in peripheral vasculature. These data …

Effects Of Annexin A5 On Endothelial Inflammation Induced By Lipopolysaccharide-Activated Platelets And Extracellular Vesicles, Brent Jeffrey Tschirhart

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sepsis is a dysregulated immune response to infection and the leading cause of mortality globally, accounting for 11 million deaths in 2017. To date, no therapeutics are available to treat the underlying septic response. Previous research from our laboratory has shown that annexin A5 (Anx5) treatment increased survival by 40% in mice with endotoxemia, a model of sepsis. During sepsis, activated platelets release membrane fragments called extracellular vesicles (EVs) with externalization of phosphatidylserine to which annexin A5 binds with a high affinity. We hypothesized that annexin A5 will block the pro-inflammatory response induced by activated platelets and EVs in vascular …

The Role Of Exogenous Ketones On Various Aspects Of Exercise Performance, Manuel D. Quinones

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Routinely, athletes and coaches pursue novel nutritional strategies in an attempt to support exercise training techniques and/or enhance athletic performance. Body carbohydrate (CHO) stores are limited so strategies to enhance fat use and spare CHO during exercise and thus, attenuate the onset of fatigue are commonplace. It has been suggested that oral exogenous ketone administration is ergogenic not only by altering exercise metabolism (sparing CHO), but also by improving exercise cognitive function as well as enhancing post-exercise glycogen resynthesis. However, data supporting these claims are limited and contradictory. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore the role of …

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 …

The Prevalence Of Multimorbidity In Primary Care: A Comparison Of Two Definitions Of Multimorbidity With Two Different Lists Of Chronic Conditions In Singapore, Eng Sing Lee, Poay Sian Sabrina Lee, Ying Xie, Bridget L. Ryan, Martin Fortin, Moira Stewart

Family Medicine Publications

Background: The prevalence of multimorbidity varies widely due to the lack of consensus in defining multimorbidity. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of multimorbidity in a primary care setting using two definitions of multimorbidity with two different lists of chronic conditions. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 787,446 patients, aged 0 to 99 years, who consulted a family physician between July 2015 to June 2016. Multimorbidity was defined as ‘two or more’ (MM2+) or ‘three or more’ (MM3+) chronic conditions using the Fortin list and Chronic Disease Management Program (CDMP) list of chronic conditions. Crude and standardised prevalence …

A Case Analysis Of Partnered Research On Palliative Care For Refugees In Jordan And Rwanda, Sonya De Laat, Olive Wahoush, Rania Jaber, Wejdan Khater, Emmanuel Musoni, Ibraheem Abu Siam, Lisa Schwartz, Matthew Hunt, Lynda Redwood-Campbell, Laurie Elit, Elysée Nouvet, Rachel Yantzi, Kevin Bezanson, Carrie Bernard, Takhliq Amir, Ani Chénier, Gautham Krishnaraj, Corinne Schusterwallace

Health Studies Publications

© 2021, The Author(s). Background: This case analysis describes dilemmas and challenges of ethical partnering encountered in the process of conducting a research study that explored moral and practical dimensions of palliative care in humanitarian crisis settings. Two contexts are the focus of this case analysis: Jordan, an acute conflict-induced refugee situation, and Rwanda, a protracted conflict-induced refugee setting. The study’s main goal was to better understand ways humanitarian organizations and health care providers might best support ethically and contextually appropriate palliative care in humanitarian contexts. An unintended outcome of the research was learning lessons about ethical dimensions of transnational …

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 …