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An Investigation Of Health Literacy, Acculturation, Diabetes Knowledge, And Social Supports Among Latinos With Diabetes In Southern Ontario, Ivonne Aguilar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The prevalence of diabetes is high among Latino people. This study investigated the relationships between health literacy, acculturation, social support, and diabetes-related knowledge among Latino adults with Type 2 diabetes and informal caregivers with a family history of Type 2 diabetes. A non-experimental, cross-sectional design was used to examine these relationships among 73 adult Latino participants living in Southern Ontario. Based on Nutbeam’s conceptualization of health literacy, associations existed between health literacy, acculturation and knowledge of diabetes among Latino participants, yet the concept of social support showed no direct relationship to health literacy. This research has explored the factors that …

Antihyperglycemic Medications And Hypoglycemia In Older Adults With Diabetes, Kristin K. Clemens

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: In the last decade, several new antihyperglycemic medications have been approved to treat people with diabetes. However, the hypoglycemia risk of these medications in older adults in routine clinical practice remains unclear. Further, there is limited understanding as to how these medications are being prescribed to older adults in our region.

Methods: We carried out retrospective, population-based studies of adults age 66 and older in Ontario, Canada using linked healthcare databases. We first investigated the real-world hypoglycemia risk of 2 antihyperglycemic medications – glyburide and modified-release gliclazide. In an ecological study, we then examined trends in antihyperglycemic medication prescriptions, …

Diabetic Bone Marrow & Stem Cell Dysfunction, Meghan A. Piccinin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

ii Abstract Abstract Defects in the proliferation, differentiation, and activity of bone marrow (BM)-derived vasculogenic/vascular stem cells (VSCs) have been observed in diabetes and contribute to the development of vascular complications. Diabetes leads to enhanced bone marrow adipogenesis, altering the composition of the BM stem cell (SC) niche and potentially disrupting the normal functioning of resident VSCs. Here, I establish that adipocytes have a negative influence on SC survival in culture. I also show that adipocytes and osteoblasts are responsible for the creation of distinct extracellular microenvironments, with unique expression patterns of several pro- and anti-angiogenic factors with known effects …