Canadian Research Research Articles

The evolving picture of long COVID

Much is still unknown about long COVID, but some pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place. A systematic review by Canadian researchers identified more than 100 symptoms associated with long COVID. Some of the most common include fatigue, general pain, sleep disturbances, shortness of

Analyzing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Decision Making towards modernized Canada – Israel Free Trade Agreement (2015 – 2019)

<em>In the beginning of the State of Israel establishment, western countries showed the most support towards the government in Tel Aviv, including Canada. Strong economic partnership between Canada and the State of Israel that was marked by the ratification of Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA) back in January 1997 which became Canada’s first trade agreement outside the North American area. During the leadership of Canadian Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the agreement began the negotiation of modernization and was done in 2019 during the leadership period of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The second phase of negotiations that were held in 2017-2018 during the Trudeau period has included certain provisions that arguably believe to be Trudeau's personal concern. American and Canadian research mostly shows how Canadian’s leader in certain periods gave their support towards Israel to such an extent that they method of building relationship. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to investigate more about the leader's individual factors towards Jewish government. Question about what influence Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision making process towards continuing negotiations and the ratification of trade agreement was employed by the Juliet Kaarbo theory of Prime Minister Leadership style. The theory uses five variables to assess leaders’ behavior and personality. Result of this study concludes that there are some variables that have significant roles in explaining the decision-making process of Justin Trudeau during the second negotiations until the ratifications process.</em>

Practical Applications of Factor Investing Using Capital Market Assumptions

In <b><i>Factor Investing Using Capital Market Assumptions</i></b>, from the January 2022 quantitative special issue of <b><i>The Journal of Portfolio Management</i></b>, three Canadian researchers—<b>Redouane Elkamhi</b> and <b>Marco Salerno</b> of the <b>Rotman School of Management</b> at the University of Toronto and <b>Jacky Lee</b> of the <b>Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan</b>—present a factor investing methodology far less complicated and expensive than existing practices by making use of publicly available capital market assumption reports. Most factor investing strategies require access to large databases and use costly proprietary mathematical models. In the hope of making factor investing possible for a wider range of investors, the team identified three macroeconomic factors that appear to be embedded in publicly available reports on capital market assumptions (CMAs): the rate of economic growth, the real interest rate, and the rate of inflation. Using these macroeconomic factors, they calculate asset class returns closely aligned to those in the CMAs. They then devised a formula to calculate the factor sensitivity of a sizable group of publicly traded asset subclasses, as well as a separate formula to price private assets. In addition, they developed a formula to reconcile their target factor weights with a portfolio that is built with constraints on diversification and risk.

Training the Next Generation of Diabetes Researchers: Evaluation of the Diabetes Action Canada Training and Mentoring Program

BackgroundThe Diabetes Action Canada Training and Mentoring (DAC-TM) Program launched in June 2017, with the goal of building capacity in the next generation of diabetes researchers in Canada in patient-oriented research (POR). MethodsWe conducted a program evaluation of the DAC-TM program using a sequential, mixed-methods research design. ResultsOur analysis of 82 surveys and 22 in-depth interviews from a wide range of DAC-TM Program stakeholders revealed consistent patterns in experience with the program. The training sessions were perceived to be well-organized, convenient educational opportunities to gain new knowledge about POR and become integrated into a community of practice of POR researchers who study diabetes and its complications in Canada. The content of the training was perceived to be useful and relevant to participants, although improvements could be made to help address the training needs of the broader DAC community. There is broad support for and appreciation of the mentorship awards, which were perceived to be appropriately targeted to early-career investigators. The mentor–mentee relationships were perceived to be positive, productive and career-advancing overall, but could benefit from a more strategic design and promote better connectivity to foster mentor–mentee relationships. In addition, feedback about opportunities to network and forge new connections was mixed and represents another opportunity for improvement to strengthen capacity building. ConclusionsFindings from this formative evaluation study show key strengths and opportunities to improve the DAC-TM Program, which can be used to help enhance its function and promote its long-term sustainability.

Networks for Science-Informed Innovation in the Arctic: Insights on the Structure and Evolution of a Canadian Research Network

In remote peripheral regions like the Arctic, research networks have been identified as an important mechanism for nurturing science-informed innovation. Given that relatively little is known about the network structures that support Arctic innovation processes, we employ social network analysis techniques to examine the structural organization and evolution of ArcticNet, a large Canadian Arctic scientific research network over a 13-year period (2004 – 17). ArcticNet funded 152 multidisciplinary research teams, connecting multiple types of science-based innovation actors, not including students (301 organizations and 1659 individuals). The research network grew without reaching saturation (increasing size, decreasing density), suggesting that ArcticNet was successful in recruiting new actors over the 13-year period. ArcticNet was centralized around non-local, public-sector actors (mainly Canadian academics). The emergence of collaborations across several boundaries (sectoral, geographic, thematic) suggests that non-local Canadian academic actors played an important boundary-spanning role, particularly in the early stages of the network. Participation by local northern actors doubled from Phase 1 to Phase 4, and with time, local northern actors had an increasing propensity for carrying out boundary-spanning roles and addressing structural holes. This study presents new insights into the networked nature of Arctic scientific research with potential implications for future research and innovation policy.

Adipocyte Size, Adipose Tissue Fibrosis, Macrophage Infiltration and Disease Risk Are Different in Younger and Older Individuals with Childhood and Adulthood Onset Obesity

ObjectivesThe timing of obesity onset and age have been shown to affect the risk of obesity-related comorbidities, although the impact of each of these factors on markers of adipose tissue function remains unclear. The aim of this study is to determine whether differences in regional adipose tissue characteristics vary with age and age of obesity onset, and whether these differences are associated with the markers of cardiometabolic health.MethodsAdipose tissue samples were from 80 female bariatric surgery candidates who were classified by age of obesity onset and age into 4 groups: 1) younger adults (<40 y) with childhood-onset obesity (< 18 y) (Childhood-Young); 2) younger adults with adulthood-onset obesity (>18 y) (Adulthood-Young); 3) older adults (>55 y) with childhood-onset obesity (Childhood-Old); and 4) older adults with adulthood-onset obesity (Adulthood-Old). Adipocyte diameter, adipose tissue fibrosis and macrophage infiltration were determined in subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Clinical parameters were obtained from participants’ medical records.ResultsVisceral adipocyte size in the Childhood-Young group was the smallest of all the groups. Age affected visceral infiltration of M1-like cells in both older groups, whereas onset, specifically childhood-onset, was related to visceral infiltration of M2-like cells in the Childhood-Old group. Fibrosis accumulation in SAT and VAT varied with age and onset, particularly in the Childhood-Old group having the lowest fibrosis levels. Markers of cardiometabolic health (fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin, total, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations) were positively and well associated with adipose tissue characteristics of the Childhood-Old group but not of the Adulthood-Young group.ConclusionsOlder adults with childhood onset obesity, who had the greatest duration of obesity exposure, were particularly vulnerable to the cardiometabolic effects associated with perturbations in adipose tissue characteristics. These results, suggest that age and age of obesity onset may have independent and cumulative effects on obesity pathology.Funding SourcesSylvia Santosa holds a Canada Research Chair – Tier 2 in Clinical Nutrition. This research is also supported by a Discovery Grant from The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

290-OR: A Randomized Controlled Trial to Alleviate Carbohydrate Counting in Type 1 Diabetes with Automated Fiasp and Pramlintide Closed-Loop Delivery

We conducted a non-inferiority randomized crossover trial to alleviate carbohydrate counting (CC) in people with diabetes using automated dual-pump delivery of faster aspart (Fiasp) and pramlintide. Adults (N=15, 9 F, 39 ± 14 years, A1c 7.2 ± 0.9%) and adolescents (N=15, 8 F, 16 ± 1 years, A1c 8.4 ± 0.9%) used (i) Fiasp and placebo with CC, (ii) Fiasp and pramlintide with meal announcement (MA) , and (iii) Fiasp and placebo with MA for 2 weeks. Fiasp and pramlintide were delivered at a fixed 1 U:µg ratio to mimic a co-formulation. MA arms delivered fixed, user-specific priming meal boluses, independent of carbohydrate content. Prior to the first arm, participants had a 1-week run-in with automated Fiasp (single pump) delivery and CC, with mean time in range (70-180 mg/dL) of 71% in adults and 64% in adolescents. In adults, mean time in range was 65% on Fiasp and placebo with CC, 71% on Fiasp and pramlintide with MA, and 64% on Fiasp and placebo with MA; non-inferiority with a pre-defined 6.25% margin was achieved in both MA arms with pramlintide and placebo (difference -6 [95% CI -12.6, 0.5]; 1 [-3.0, 4.6]) . In adolescents, mean time in range was 51%, 55%, and 46% in the three respective arms; non-inferiority was only achieved on Fiasp and pramlintide with MA (-4 [-9.0, 1.7]) . We conclude that automated Fiasp and pramlintide delivery may alleviate CC without degrading glucose control. Disclosure E.Cohen: None. E.Palisaitis: Other Relationship; Eli Lilly and Company. J.Rutkowski: None. L.Legault: Advisory Panel; Abbott Diabetes, Insulet Corporation, Novo Nordisk A/S, Other Relationship; Eli Lilly and Company, Research Support; AstraZeneca, Merck &amp; Co., Inc. A.Haidar: Consultant; Eli Lilly and Company, Research Support; ADOCIA, Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. M.Tsoukas: Speaker's Bureau; AstraZeneca, Bausch Health, Canada, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Eli Lilly and Company, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. J.E.Von oettingen: None. J.Yale: Advisory Panel; Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH, Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk Canada Inc., Sanofi, Research Support; Bayer AG, Speaker's Bureau; Abbott Diabetes, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck &amp; Co., Inc., Novo Nordisk Canada Inc., Sanofi. N.Garfield: None. M.Vallis: Advisory Panel; Bausch Health, Canada, Novo Nordisk Canada Inc., Consultant; Abbott Diabetes, LifeScan, Speaker's Bureau; AbbVie Inc., Bausch Health, Canada, LifeScan, Novo Nordisk, Novo Nordisk A/S. N.Gouchie-provencher: None. A.Jafar: None. M.Ghanbari: None. Funding Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (2-SRA-2018-654-M-B) , Canada Research Chairs

1396-P: Critical Cellular Functions That Mediate the Early Stages of Adipogenesis Are Directly Influenced by 14-3-3zeta and Its Interactome

Aim: We previously discovered that 14-3-3-zeta (14-3-3ζ) was essential for adipocyte differentiation. Although 14-3-3ζ scaffold is not a transcription factor (TF) , it undergoes nuclear translocation during adipogenesis. Considering its diverse interactome, we hypothesized that 14-3-3ζ anchors, nucleates and regulates essential transcriptional complexes required for adipogenesis. Methods: 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes were modified by CRISPR-Cas9 to express a TAP (Flag-HA) -tagged 14-3-3ζ protein. At 48 first hours of adipogenesis, nuclear TAP-14-3-3-ζ complexes were purified to identify and annotate the 14-3-3ζ interactome by MS and Gene Ontology. Highly enriched proteins functions were assessed for their roles in adipogenesis using pharmacological inhibitors or siRNA. In parallel, chromatin accessibility was assessed by ATAC-Seq from control or 14-3-3ζ-depleted 3T3-L1 cells during early adipogenesis. Results: We found that the 14-3-3ζ nuclear interactome during the early stages of adipogenesis was significantly enriched with 133 proteins, including CEBP-β, an early adipogenic TF. According to GO analysis, proteins within the 14-3-3ζ interactome were primarily associated (FDR ≤ 0.01) with histone H2B ubiquitination, DNA unwinding for replication, DNA hypermethylation and ribosome assembly. Pharmacological inhibition or depletion by siRNA of these proteins significantly dampened adipocyte differentiation. Principal component analysis of ATAC-seq results revealed that samples from 14-3-3ζ-depleted cells differed from controls in term of whole chromatin accessibility, and DESeq2 identified nearly 3400 (p&amp;lt;0.05) differentially accessible regions of open chromatin following 14-3-3ζ depletion. Conclusion: These results reveal that via critical protein interactions, 14-3-3ζ has essential roles in chromatin accessibility, DNA replication, and mRNA translation, which are crucial events for the early adipogenesis. Disclosure S.A.Rial: None. A.Alkhoury: None. G.Lavoie: None. P.Roux: None. T.M.Durcan: None. A.Martinez-sanchez: None. G.E.Lim: None. Funding Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) ; Canada Research Chairs (CRC) ; Fonds de recherche du Québec-Nature and Technologies (FRQNT)

Changing Care: Applying the Transtheoretical Model of Change to Embed Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Long-Term Care Research in Canada

Healthcare policy reform is evident when considering the past, present and future of long-term care (LTC) in Canada. Some of the most pressing issues facing the LTC sector include the changing demographic composition in Canadian LTC homes, minimal consideration for the role of intersectionality in LTC data collection and analysis, and the expanding need to engage diverse participants and knowledge users. Using the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTMC) as a framework, we consider opportunities to address intersectionality in LTC research. Engaging diverse knowledge users in LTC (e.g., unpaid caregivers, paid care staff), community (e.g., advocacy groups, service providers) and policy decision-makers (e.g., provincial government) is crucial. Empowering individuals to participate, modifying environments to support engagement, and facilitating ongoing partnerships with knowledge users are critical aspects of change efforts. Addressing structural barriers (e.g., accessibility, capacity, jurisdictional policies, and mandates) to research in LTC is also essential. The TTMC offers a framework for planning and enacting individual, organizational, and system-level changes for the future of LTC.

A Conversation with SMI 2021 Young Researcher Award winner Melina Skouras

The 2021 Shape Modeling International Young Researcher Award is presented to Dr. Melina Skouras for her significant contributions to shape modeling. For this award, the candidates must have received the their Ph.D. degrees within seven years of the award being presented.This year, 2021 is the year, which marks the passing of our founder, Professor Kunii, and the introduction of the new SMI awards. The SMI steering committee decided that the awardee’s publication should take an interview format. This permits a casual discussion of the research areas, insights, and contributions of the award winner. What follows is an edited transcript of a conversation between Melina and Brian Wyvill (University of Victoria, Professor and Canada Research Chair, retired), a long term SMI steering committee member and research contributor in shape modeling.The interview that took place on the 9th November, 2021, via Zoom.

A conversation with Bianca Falcidieno: SMI 2021 Tosiyasu Kunii Achievement Award winner

The 2021 Shape Modeling International Tosiyasu Kunii Achievement Award is presented to Dr. Bianca Falcidieno for her outstanding career achievements in shape modelling research. We are also pleased to honour her valuable service to the research community, recognizing the work she has put in as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Shape Modeling, and the SMI conference series.This year, 2021 is the year, which marks the passing of our founder, Professor Kunii, and the introduction of the new SMI awards. Achievement awards in other venues, include a publication by the award winner to be included in the proceedings. The SMI steering committee decided that the publication should take an interview format. This permits a casual discussion of the research areas, insights, and contributions of the award winner. What follows is an edited transcript of a conversation between Bianca Falcidieno and Brian Wyvill (University of Victoria, Canada Research Chair), a long term SMI steering committee member and research contributor in shape modelling.The interview took place on the 22nd October, 2021, via Zoom.

A perspective on The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering commemorating its 100th volume: 1929–2021

AbstractTo celebrate the 100th volume of The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (CJCE) in 2022, we briefly narrate its history and accomplishments. The CJCE's journey began in 1929 with the launch of the Canadian Journal of Research (CJR), which transformed to the Canadian Journal of Technology (CJT) in 1951, and finally to its present name in 1957 as the flagship publication of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE). Using statistical data and keywords mined from Clarivate's Web of Science (WoS) together with manual searches of the articles published in the CJR and CJT, we describe how the scope of chemical engineering has continued to evolve, over the past 90+ years, in becoming ever more multifaceted. Chemical engineering encompasses traditional areas, such as polymers, thermodynamics, transport phenomena, transfer and separation processes, reactor design, energy conversion, process simulation and control, and environmental science; however, it has been expanding to include biotechnology, biomedical, food processing, novel composite materials, nanotechnology, renewable/green energy, CO2 capture and transformation, and numerical techniques like neural networks, artificial intelligence, discrete element methods, etc. Like all scientific journals, the growth and success of the CJCE are attributed to the commitment of its contributing authors. We recognize and celebrate the contributions of several prominent Canadian and international researchers, who published their articles in the CJCE. With a number of new initiatives launched in the last decade, we foresee continued improvements in the stature of the CJCE as a top‐ranked journal for publishing impactful research, leading to advancements in chemical sciences and engineering.

A survey of literature examining farmland prices: A Canadian focus

AbstractThis study assesses agricultural economics literature on farmland prices and key determinants of these prices. The first section of the paper uses a basic capitalization model to organize a review of the literature and data. We then provide a focused assessment of five streams of literature examining farmland prices: (1) boom‐bust; (2) the capitalization effect of government agricultural subsidies on farmland prices; (3) agricultural zoning; (4) climate change; and (5) prohibitions against non‐local buyers of farmland. Our review highlights challenges to ongoing efforts to model changing farmland prices, the modern emphasis on econometric identification, important variation in the magnitude of estimated relationships across the literature, and the opportunity to expand research in Canada.

Indigenous Peoples and Occupational Therapy in Canada: A scoping review.

Background. Calls to Action outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) necessitate critical reflection and urgent action to improve occupational therapy with Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Purpose. This scoping review aims to synthesize the literature related to Indigenous Peoples and occupational therapy practice, research, and education in Canada, and appraise empirical research using adapted Indigenous Health Research criteria. Method. A scoping review was conducted across published academic and grey literature with additional appraisal of empirical studies. Findings. A total of 6 themes emerged from 47 articles spanning from 1970 to 2020: recognizing colonial history, responding to the TRC, participating in personal and professional reflection, identifying Western ideologies, engaging in partnership in practice, and recognizing social and systemic barriers. Empirical studies met appraisal criteria inconsistently. Implications. To meaningfully engage in reconciliation, the profession of occupational therapy must generate Indigenous-led and relevant research, critically transform curricula, and address tensions between themes in practice.

The unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical activity habits of Canadians.

Canadian and international research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in health behaviours, including physical activity. The Canadian Community Health Survey asked Canadian youth (12 to 17 years) and adults (18 years and older) to report the amount of time they spent in the past seven days engaged in physical activity across the following domains: recreation, transportation, household or occupation, and school (youth only). The present analysis compares the physical activity from two cross-sectional samples collected during the fall of 2018 (n=13,482) and the fall of 2020 (n=27,234). Youth reported accumulating, on average, two hours less physical activity per week in the fall of 2020 compared with the fall of 2018 (-129 minutes per week). The percentage of youth meeting the Canadian physical activity recommendation for children and youth dropped from 50.8% in the fall of 2018 to 37.2% in the fall of 2020. Physical activity decreased more among youth living in urban (-135 minutes per week) compared with rural (-86 minutes per week) areas. Physical activity decreased more among youth from Ontario (-168 minutes per week), Quebec (-121 minutes per week) and the Prairies (-106 minutes per week) compared with youth from the Atlantic provinces (-38 minutes per week) and British Columbia (-75 minutes per week). There was no change in the percentage of adults aged 18 and older meeting the Canadian physical activity recommendation between the fall of 2018 (52.7%) and the fall of 2020 (53.3%). Weekly physical activity was stable between fall 2018 and fall 2020 among 18 to 49 year olds, while significant increases were observed among adults aged 50 to 64 years (+41 minutes per week), 65 to 79 years (+55 minutes per week) and 80+ years (+20 minutes per week). Increases in physical activity among adults were statistically significant only among non-immigrant, non-Indigenous, those not designated as a visible minority, those living in urban areas and those with a postsecondary degree. The COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on the physical activity of youth but not adults. The findings of this study add to a growing body of evidence that shows the considerable impact the pandemic has had on many aspects of Canadian life, including physical activity.

How young drug users view police: Canadian research study

A recent study has found that young drug users in Canada are targeted disproportionately by police, and that this targeting includes harassment and discrimination. Young people's negative encounters with police can harm their well‐being as they develop, according to researchers writing in the June issue of Contemporary Drug Problems.

The Death Penalty and Sex Murder in Canadian History by Carolyn Strange

Reviewed by: The Death Penalty and Sex Murder in Canadian History by Carolyn Strange Greg Marquis Strange, Carolyn – The Death Penalty and Sex Murder in Canadian History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020. 384 p. Carolyn Strange has been producing important work on legal history since the 1990s. Many academics have cited her books and articles on the history of capital punishment, women and the law, and moral reform (and have mined them for undergraduate lecture material). Toronto's Girl Problem: The Perils and Pleasures of the City (1995) remains a model of social/legal history. Although based in Australia, which makes research in Canada a challenge, Strange, with The Death Penalty and Sex Murder in Canadian History, has written another book destined to become a classic. The exact number of people sentenced to death in British North America prior to Confederation and who either were executed or had their sentences commuted is unknown. We do know that courts between 1867 and the de jure end to the death penalty sentenced nearly 1,500 people to be hanged for murder. Of these, 697 men and 13 women went to the gallows before the de facto abolition began in 1963 (when the federal cabinet started commuting all sentences to life in prison). Strange's study focuses on 61 men convicted of "sex murder" after Confederation. Canada's Criminal Code contained no such offence; the author defines it as homicide accompanied by sodomy or sexual assault or murder cases, which, according to police and prosecutors, involved "perverted" individuals. Men who killed their spouses (who until the 1980s could not be charged with sexually assaulting them) were excluded. Strange reminds us that feminist criminology asserts that many killings of women have gone undetected or unpunished, even more so when victims have been minorities. Until 1961, there were no degrees of murder and the automatic sentence for a conviction was death. Nine convicted sex murderers avoided execution through appeals that led to acquittals or convictions for a non-capital offence. The Death Penalty is organized chronologically, starting with a chapter on the politics of capital punishment. Other chapters deal with "sex fiends" in the early twentieth century, challenges to traditional notions of criminal responsibility in the interwar period, concerns about sexual psychopaths in the post-1945 era and the 1950s, and how sex murder intersected with the capital punishment debate in the 1960s. The epilogue examines the often emotional issue of sex murders in the years following the end of the death penalty in 1976. Strange not only explores the specific question of how Canadian juries, judges, experts, and bureaucrats responded to sex murder, but also elucidates how the Department of Justice and the federal cabinet responded to death sentences. Case studies sprinkled throughout illustrate changes and continuities in how the courts, the federal government, and the media responded to murders that usually shocked communities and generated public outrage. These examples of male violence directed at children and women, make for disturbing reading. This is a well-researched book, with one page of notes for every two pages of text, and a helpful appendix on sources. Strange relies on newspapers, which in the period under review were "unreservedly sexist, racist, xenophobic, classist [End Page 222] and homophobic" (p. 238). But she builds the study mainly on federal Department of Justice Capital Case Files assembled to provide advice to the federal cabinet, which decided the ultimate fate of convicted murderers. Although not all of these files are extant and some are more detailed than others, they are an invaluable primary source as they contain trial transcripts, crime scene photos, letters from trial judges, and case summaries by Department of Justice officials (including marginal comments by other officials) not to mention letters from other justice officials and the public as well as petitions from the public. Most of these sources, as well as federal cabinet minutes, were not known or released to the press or public at the time. They reveal—or at least suggest—the racial, ethnic, class, and other factors that determined whether condemned murderers would hang or be spared. One important finding is the role of key bureaucrats, such as Department of...

Gendering practices in quantitative research on alcohol and violence: Comparing research from Australia, Canada and Sweden.

In this article, we analyse the treatment of gender in Canadian and Swedish quantitative research on alcohol and violence and compare it with the treatment of gender in similar Australian research. In previously published work, we argued that Australian research on 'alcohol-related presentations' to emergency departments, and on alcohol and violence among young people participating in the night-time economy, tends to overlook the stark gendering of violence in its analyses and policy recommendations. It does this via a series of 'gendering practices' (Bacchi, 2017): omitting gender from consideration; overlooking clearly gendered data when making gender-neutral policy recommendations; rendering gender invisible via methodological considerations; displacing men and masculinities via a focus on environmental, geographical and temporal factors; and addressing gender in limited ways. We identify a similar set of gendering practices at work in Canadian and Swedish quantitative research on alcohol and violence, as well as a key difference. This key difference emerges in relation to the practice of addressing gender. Here, we see a bifurcation in the Canadian studies: between one group of articles in which gender is central to the analyses and ensuing policy recommendations, and a second group containing only one example in which gender is partially addressed. We draw attention to the differing realities of gender, alcohol and violence iterated by these contrasting knowledge practices, and offer two possible explanations for this difference. We close by asking how future research analyses and policy recommendations might differ if gender-sensitive quantitative tools were developed, gender considerations were systematically integrated, and gendered effects were taken into account when alcohol policy choices are made.

Reporting quality of clinical trial protocols: a repeated cross-sectional study about the Adherence to SPIrit Recommendations in Switzerland, CAnada and GErmany (ASPIRE-SCAGE)

ObjectivesComprehensive protocols are key for the planning and conduct of randomised clinical trials (RCTs). Evidence of low reporting quality of RCT protocols led to the publication of the Standard Protocol...

Restriction of viral replication, rather than T cell immunopathology, drives lethality in MNV CR6-infected STAT1-deficient mice

Abstract Recent evidence indicates that viral components of the microbiota can contribute to intestinal homeostasis and protection from local inflammatory or infectious insults. However, host-derived mechanisms that regulate the virome remain largely unknown. Here, we used colonization of C57BL6/J mice with the model commensal murine norovirus (MNV CR6) to interrogate host-directed mechanisms of viral regulation, and show that STAT1 is a central coordinator of both viral replication and antiviral T cell responses. In STAT1-sufficient mice MNV CR6 is asymptomatic and restricted to the colon, despite the persistence of high viral loads. However, in the absence of STAT1 viral replication is disseminated and observed in key innate and adaptive immune populations. STAT1-deficient mice develop dysregulated inflammatory CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses, which coincide with weight loss and severe necrosis of the spleen and liver. Despite these altered T cell responses which resemble those that mediate lethal immunopathology following other model viral infections of STAT1-deficient mice, depletion of adaptive immune cells and their associated effector functions had no effect on CR6-induced disease. In contrast, therapeutic administration of an antiviral compound limited viral replication, preventing viral-induced tissue damage and death despite ongoing inflammatory antiviral T cell responses. Collectively, our data show that STAT1 restricts MNV CR6 replication within the intestinal mucosa. Unlike other model viral infections, CR6 induces disease in STAT1-deficient mice via uncontrolled viral replication rather than the concomitant development of dysregulated antiviral T cell responses. Research in the Osborne lab is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chair program and scholarships from the University of British Columbia.