University Of Toronto Research Articles

Mapping current trends and hotspots in myasthenia gravis from 2003 to 2022: a bibliometric analysis.

Research on myasthenia gravis (MG) has undergone rapid development in recent years. This article aimed to elucidate the characteristics of MG publications over the past 20 years and analyze emerging trends using bibliometric methods. Information on MG articles was obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection and stored in Excel for quantitative analyses. Bibliometric analyses were performed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer to visualize publications according to countries/regions, institutions, journals, and authors. A total of 3,610 publications were included in the analysis. The USA had the highest number of publications (NP) and H-index. Among the institutions, the University of Oxford had the highest NP, followed by the University of Toronto and Duke University. Close cooperation was observed among countries and institutions. The most productive author was Renato Mantegazza, followed by Jan J. Verschuuren, and Amelia Evoli. Muscle & Nerve published the most articles on MG, followed by the Journal of Neuroimmunology and Neuromuscular Disorders. The keyword with the highest strength is "neuromuscular transmission," followed by "safety" and "rituximab." Co-citation analysis includes 103 publications cited at least 65 times, categorized into four clusters. Additionally, 123 keywords cited more than 40 times were analyzed and divided into five clusters. This bibliometric analysis shows the framework of research over the past 20 years by mapping the scholarly contributions of various countries or regions, institutions, journals, and authors in MG. The analysis also explores future trends and prospective directions, emphasizing individualized treatment based on subtypes, novel immunotherapeutic approaches, and thymectomy.

Using Integrative Thinking Techniques to Design Integrated care Programming in Ontario, Canada

Integrated Care connects care providers across sectors and often from different agencies or organizations to deliver more effective, efficient and client centered care. Creating new or redesigned programs to achieve these goals typically requires new care models delivered by a range of providers who have varying experiences and mental models about what is required for effective care. Effective care designs must also consider factors such as variations in populations, available services, and resources. Thus, creating care models for integrated care can be challenging, creating conflicts that can undermine efforts to arrive at effective delivery models. Ontario Health Teams (OHTs), a new model for integrating care, launched in staged cohorts across the province in 2019, are developing new population health-focused care delivery models for specified target populations, and, eventually, for the 15 million people of Ontario, Canada. OHT leaders and staff come from a variety of agencies with varying care models, and, in some cases, limited prior collaborations with a mandate to integrate service delivery. Leaders in each OHT can design services to fit local needs, and their performance will be assessed on specified metrics. To assist in the design of new care models that meet patient needs and support providers from multiple and different agencies, a team from the ADVANCE program at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto have used Integrative Thinking approaches to help leaders to select and combine elements of opposing care designs to create more effective strategies for integrated care. Integrative Thinking is an innovative method developed by Roger Martin and Jennifer Riel that helps decision-makers to reframe decisions by shifting efforts away from seeking compromises among competing approaches, and, instead helps decision-makers to identify the core elements of each potential model and then reassemble these components into a new, even better design. Integrative Thinking thus helps decision makers combine seemingly competitive solutions into a stronger option through a carefully structured, facilitated process. This presentation will describe the methods used for Integrative Thinking within the context of integrated care, and home care programming specifically, to better serve local populations in different care environments.
 

The many roles of people with lived experience and how these can be better supported within integrated care policy and implementation: a world cafe discussion.

Introduction: This workshop will explore the many roles that people with lived experience of health and social care can play in shaping the vision, planning and implementation of integrated care and consider what supports would enable them to fulfil these roles.
 Why are you conducting a workshop? Whilst it is widely accepted that integrated care policy and programmes should be based on the needs and interests of people with lived experience of health and social care and their communities, this is rarely achieved in practice. The workshop team have led two international projects regarding co-production within integrated care ( ‘citizen leader research’ by the Universities of Birmingham, Leiden and Toronto and the Changemakers project within Transform). A common issue identified is that people involved in such activities are asked to take on different roles – for example as a champion, ambassador, advocate, partner, advisor, connector, or leader – with the nature of these roles affecting the expectations of them and the identities that they adopt. We would like to run a workshop to give participants an opportunity to explore what is meant by these roles, how people can be supported to do so effectively, and how organisations and professions can provide a receptive context.
 Who is it for? The workshop is for people with lived experience of health and social care (including family carers) and professionals, policy makers, managers and academics who are committed to co-production as the basis of integrated care.
 What are you going to do?
 8 minutes introduction & overview of the roles that people with lived experience play (as identified in the projects)
 5 minutes response from WHO based on their meaningful engagement framework
 2 minutes explanation of the engagement exercise
 40 minutes (or ideally longer if we are able to have a 90 minute session) world café discussion
 5 minutes summary feedback from each table 
 How are you going to engage with the audience? Participants will have opportunity to move around the world café table – each one will focus on a different role that people take on. A facilitator will remain at each table to encourage discussion on the nature, support, and context for such a role. The discussion will be visually recorded to enable participants to build on what has come before to enable a rich and diverse conversation.
 How are you going to summarize the take home messages?There will be short feedback from each table on main points discussed – the facilitation team will then write up the discussions into a short and accessible summary which will be shared through social media, integrated care networks and relevant WHO routes.

Every Team Needs a Coach: Insights from Ontario Health Teams

Introduction: Globally, health systems are moving toward better integrated care organization and delivery. A current example within the Canadian context is the restructuring of care delivery in Ontario, in alignment with the Quadruple Aim. The vision for reorganizing care into Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) was announced by the government in early 2019 and this has prompted care providers across sectors to choose priority patient populations and engage in collaborative governance to achieve desired outcomes. The early implementation of OHTs was “low rules:” each OHT assembled its own leadership and governance infrastructure to meet local needs. This was (and remains) a significant task, requiring strategic thinking and inter-organizational collaboration. In response, a team of faculty at the University of Toronto developed the ADVANCE program to guide shared leadership, decision-making and accountability for leaders of OHT partner organizations. The program, designed as a virtual constellation of educational supports included two main streams of activity: (1) a six-module series of interactive webinars to support leadership council members, and (2) adaptive support to local coaches embedded in the leadership teams. 
 Methods: The Coaching Academy was intentionally designed with a responsive and adaptive curriculum, underpinned by the Collective Impact framework. OHT leadership teams nominated local coaches, based on specified coaching competencies and characteristics. We onboarded coaches through an intake interview which allowed us to better understand the collaborative culture/norms of their OHT, and their individual learning needs. These insights also informed the Coaching Academy curriculum which included virtual synchronous and asynchronous engagement methods. Monthly synchronous sessions included a blend of expert lectures and open-ended coach discussion. To encourage asynchronous engagement, we posted discussion questions and learning resources on an external collaborative platform. At regular intervals, we elicited feedback from coaches (via Google forms) and adapted our content and delivery format accordingly. 
 Results: The coach participants were diverse in terms of their educational backgrounds, years of experience, position on the leadership council (e.g., CEO, Patient/Family Advisor, etc.) and willingness to participate (e.g., volunteered or ‘voluntold’). We learned that coaches functioned in a variety of contexts, dependent on the culture and the processes adopted by individual OHTs. We observed that coaches’ needs evolved throughout the program, likely due to the dynamic intersection of OHT implementation and the ongoing management of the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2022, coach feedback indicated that less frequent touchpoints were needed, and coaches valued learning from other coaches and receiving asynchronous materials. We adapted the curriculum for the final cohort to include coach touchpoints every 2-3 months. 
 Conclusion and Next Steps: When planning the Coaching Academy, our team anticipated the need to be flexible and adaptable in terms of the program format and content to meet the needs of a diverse participant group. These insights could be helpful for others who are engaged in health care system transformation and considering varying approaches for building a culture of collaborative governance.

Қазақлық, Алаша-хан и казахская идентичность в исследовании доктора Джу-Юп Ли

This review is devoted to the book “Qazaqlïq и образование казахов. Государство и идентичность в постмонгольской Центральной Евразии” (“Qazaqlïq and the Formation of the Qazaqs. State and Identity in Post-Mongol Central Eurasia”, Almaty: Shon Publishing House, 2022), by Dr. Joo-Yup Lee, Professor at the University of Toronto. This is the Russian translation of the book, which was first published in English by Brill and received positive critical reviews and book awards (“Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the Formation of the Qazaqs: State and Identity in Post-Mongol Central Eurasia", Leiden: Brill, 2016). The book is dedicated to the socio-political phenomenon of Qazaqlïq and its role in the formation of the Qazaq people and their identity. The review highlights the strengths of the book: wide coverage of the source base; a thorough and precise study of the history of the study of the Qazaqlïq phenomenon; large territorial, geographical, and interethnic coverage. The author of the book paid considerable attention to the Qazaqlïq institution, the legend of Alasha Khan, and Qazaq identity

Headache Education in Canadian Medical Schools.

This study aims to gain a better understanding of the current scope of headache education received in Canadian medical schools. The Women's College Hospital Centre for Headache at the University of Toronto, Canada, distributed a questionnaire to administrators and physicians involved in medical student education at Canadian medical schools and gathered information surrounding headache education. Overall, the degree of headache education varied between schools in regard to the hours of training that occurred and year the training took place. This survey provides an initial insight into the current standards of headache-specific education in Canadian medical schools.

Being, Belonging, Becoming – a quality of life frame for building resilient inclusive schools for peri- and postpandemic period

This article describes the concept of quality of life in the equation of quality of inclusive education starting from the Being-Belonging - Becoming approach, a model of quality of life validated by the University of Toronto. The aim of the study is to identify solutions for inclusive schools as a social actor (through educational and social practices) that has to be involved in improving the quality of life of beneficiaries for the peri- and post pandemic period. A semi structured interview (Voice of Beneficiaries) is the main method for a radiography of the quality of education addressed to children with special needs from urban and rural geographical areas during the pandemic period, by questioning 34 experts belonging to several interest groups (16 teachers with expertise, 5 school principals, 8 parents with expertise in the field and 5 representatives of NGOs) about their perception regarding socio-emotional development and well-being of stakeholders and how learning environments/learning and assessment strategies/teacher-student interactions have changed; their improvement proposals about. This process is not designed to be statistically significant, but rather to get ideas that can be important for further analysis. The identified solutions allow us to elaborate of a matrix of educational services listed in the Being-Belonging - Becoming pattern.

Words are delicious

Words are delicious

Exploring Medical Students’ Perceptions of Peer-to-Peer Interactions Related to Applying to a Surgical Residency

The objectives were to (1) identify themes related to competitive peer-to-peer interactions elicited from the lived experiences of undergraduate medical students, and (2) understand how these experiences influenced medical students' choices related to surgical residency programs. A qualitative descriptive methodology, with purposive and maximal variation sampling (e.g., selection based on medical school location; gender), was adopted for this study. Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Participants were 15 undergraduate medical students from 4 medical schools in Ontario, Canada, who agreed to an individual semi-structured interview by Zoom or telephone. Peer-to-peer interactions influence students' perception of self and identity formation related to surgical specialty decision-making and interest. These interactions were shown to hold greater value, specifically for information gathering. Identity formation, related to pursuing a surgical residency, was influenced by the attitudes and perceptions of competition with peers throughout medical school. Cultures of competition were seen to dictate peer-to-peer interactions and their associated value, with their perception and experience differing between medical schools. Peer-to-peer interactions and a culture of competition have inherent roles in the residency decision-making process. We observed that student background and pre-formed relationships influenced how students perceived and responded to competition. Addressing the culture of competitiveness associated with peer-to-peer interactions along with considering student background and pre-existing relationships may provide insight into how medical educators can tailor learning experiences that limit the detrimental effects of hidden curriculum influences.

7th International Conference of the International Association for Music and Medicine (IAMM)

The 7th International Conference of the International Association for Music and Medicine (IAMM)Marija Pranjić, University of Toronto & Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Canada
 CONFERENCE DETAILS The 7th International Conference of the International Association of Music and Medicine (IAMM)28-29 May 2022, Athens, Greece 30 May-3 June 2022, Online

Respiratory care in focus: a decadal bibliometric review of research dynamics

This bibliometric review of respiratory care research dynamics comprehensively analyzes respiratory care's multidisciplinary nature and information science's role in managing respiratory diseases. The study analyzed 2,467 articles from digital repositories and databases, with Scopus emerging as the primary repository for respiratory care research. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain were the top producers of respiratory care studies. Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Toronto, and Harvard Medical School had the highest production of papers. The study highlights the importance of using a broader range of keywords and multilingual search strategies to ensure a more representative analysis of the literature in respiratory care. The findings of this study serve as a resource for healthcare professionals and researchers in respiratory care and encourage continued emphasis on interdisciplinary research to advance this vital field.

Research hotspots and trends on neuropathic pain-related mood disorders: a bibliometric analysis from 2003 to 2023.

Neuropathic Pain (NP) is often accompanied by mood disorders, which seriously affect the quality of life of patients. This study aimed to analyze the hotspots and trends in NP-related mood disorder research using bibliometric methods and to provide valuable predictions for future research in this field. Articles and review articles on NP-related mood disorders published from January 2003 to May 2023 were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. We used CiteSpace to analyze publications, countries, institutions, authors, cited authors, journals, cited journals, references, cited references, and keywords. We also analyzed collaborative network maps and co-occurrence network maps. A total of 4,540 studies were collected for analysis. The number of publications concerning NP-related mood disorders every year shows an upward trend. The United States was a major contributor in this field. The University of Toronto was the most productive core institution. C GHELARDINI was the most prolific author, and RH DWORKIN was the most frequently cited author. PAIN was identified as the journal with the highest productivity and citation rate. The current research hotspots mainly included quality of life, efficacy, double-blind methodology, gabapentin, pregabalin, postherpetic neuralgia, and central sensitization. The frontiers in research mainly focused on the mechanisms associated with microglia activation, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and NP-related mood disorders. In conclusion, the present study provided insight into the current state and trends in NP-related mood disorder research over the past 20 years. Consequently, researchers will be able to identify new perspectives on potential collaborators and cooperative institutions, hot topics, and research frontiers in this field.

Problem Solving and Decision-Making Skills for ESD: A Bibliometric Analysis

Problem-solving and decision-making skills are essential for individuals across various fields. These skills emphasize the importance of preparing a generation capable of solving problems and making informed decisions. Therefore, this study aimed to learn the publication trends related to problem-solving and decision-making skills for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) from 2013 to 2022 through Bibliometric analysis. In line with the analysis, a VOSviewer software was used to graphically analyze the obtained bibliographic data. A total of 1519 documents were also analytically acquired from the Scopus database. The results showed a fluctuating trend in the number of publications, with the Journal of Chemical Education and Social Sciences being the highest contributor and the most prevalent field of study at 147 and 689 documents, respectively. The United States was also ranked first in the documents emphasizing problem-solving and decision-making skills, at 512 documents. Moreover, the University of Toronto was the most prolific affiliation, contributing the most publications at 17 documents. The representatives from Indonesia were also grouped into two institutions in the global top twenty affiliates, namely (1) the Indonesian University of Education and (2) the State University of Malang. In line with the results, 159 study experts from Indonesia contributed to the analyzed theme, as the top author originated from the United States having 7 documents. The top document excerpts were also published 240 times in the journal Expert Systems with Applications. The trend of the study visualization subsequently produced 9 clusters, problem-solving and decision-making skills, human, psychology, clinical competencies, education, curriculum, support systems, creativity, and content analysis. These results were helpful to relevant experts, regarding the analytical trend in problem-solving and decision-making skills, recommending directions for future analyses.

Why go to University? Forming academic friendships at Tyndale University, a private Christian university in Ontario, Canada

This paper considers why Christian Higher Education could offer a hopeful, if metaphysical, answer to the question, “Why go to university”? The paper draws on two examples to argue that a greater diversity of higher education institutions in Ontario would tell a bigger story about what going to university is for. The first example is historic and introduces four female philosophers whose academic friendship impacted postwar moral philosophy in Britain and North America. The second example is contemporary: Tyndale University is a private Christian university in Toronto. The paper argues that Tyndale University is an example of the kind of small to mid-size universities capable of fostering the academic friendships necessary to preserve diversity, resilience and alternate imaginations during times of global disruption.

Decision making in continuing professional development organisations during a crisis.

Early in COVID-19, continuing professional development (CPD) providers quickly made decisions about program content, design, funding and technology. Although experiences during an earlier pandemic cautioned providers to make disaster plans, CPD was not entirely prepared for this event. We sought to better understand how CPD organisations make decisions about CPD strategy and operations during a crisis. This is a descriptive qualitative research study of decision making in two organisations: CPD at the University of Toronto(UofT) and the US-based Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME). In March 2021, using purposive and snowball sampling, we invited faculty and staff who held leadership positions to participate in semi-structured interviews. The interview focused on the individual's role and organisation, their decision-making process and reflections on how their units had changed because of COVID-19. Transcripts were reviewed, coded and analysed using thematic analysis. We used Mazmanian et al.'s Ecological Framework as a further conceptual tool. We conducted eight interviews from UofT and five from SACME. We identified that decision making during the pandemic occurred over four phases of reactions and impact from COVID-19, including shutdown, pivot, transition and the 'new reality'. The decision-making ability of CPD organisations changed throughout the pandemic, ranging from having little or no independent decision-making ability early on to having considerable control over choosing appropriate pathways forward. Decision making was strongly influenced by the creativity, adaptability and flexibility of the CPD community and the need for social connection. This adds to literature on the changes CPD organisations faced due to COVID-19, emphasising CPD organisations' adaptability in making decisions. Applying the Ecological Framework further demonstrates the importance of time to decision-making processes and the relational aspect of CPD. To face future crises, CPD will need to embrace creative, flexible and socially connected solutions. Future scholarship could explore an organisation's ability to rapidly adapt to better prepare for future crises.

Research hotspots and trend analysis of cell transplantation in traumatic spinal cord injury: a bibliometric and visualized analysis.

Background: A traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) can lead to severe nerve damage and disability. Cell transplantation therapy has shown great potential in the reconstruction of damaged spinal cords and promoting functional recovery. However, there is a lack of frontiers and futures analysis in the study of cell transplantation in TSCI. Methods: We used CiteSpace, VOSviewer and biblilometrix R package to perform bibliometric analysis on cell transplantation in TSCI from 2013 to 2023. Bibliometric records were extracted from English articles and reviews from the Web of Science core collection. Results: The bibliometric analysis included 284 papers published in 154 journals by 1,780 authors from 487 institutions in 41 countries and regions. The number of articles published in the past decade has fluctuated slightly, while the number of article citations has steadily increased. Mainland China and the United States are the leading countries and regions in this field, with the National Natural Science Foundation of China being the most funded foundation, and the United States being the country with the most funded articles. The University of Toronto in Canada is a prolific institution. Michael G. Fehlings has published the most articles, and D Michele Basso is the most cited author. Cell transplantation is the most published journal, and the Journal of Neurotrauma is the most cited journal. Cell and tissue engineering and clinical neurology are the basic disciplines in this field, and cutting-edge disciplines include developmental biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and materials science and multidisciplinary. This study also helps scholars understand the current hotspots and future trends in this field. Marrow stromal cells, glial progenitor, and cell therapy are current research hotspots in this field, while nerve regeneration, cell therapy, and the safety of transplantation of transplantation may be potential research directions in the future. Conclusion: Cell transplantation after TSCI is receiving increasing attention. Cell therapy is both the frontier and a possible future trend in TSCI research. In addition, glial progenitor and marrow stromal cells are also current research hotspots. Meanwhile, nerve regeneration and safety of transplantation may be potential research directions. These findings will help further deepen research on cell transplantation for TSCI in scientific work.

Making Worlds in the Pluriverse Panel at Congress: “Challenges in the Pluriverse”

These are select transcripts from a moderated panel titled “Making Worlds in the Pluriverse” held as part of Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2023 at York University in Toronto.

Faith-based organisations and their role in supporting vaccine confidence and uptake: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionFaith-based organisations (FBOs) and religious actors increase vaccine confidence and uptake among ethnoracially minoritised communities in low-income and middle-income countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent vaccine rollout, global...

Making Worlds in the Pluriverse Panel at Congress: “On the colonialism…”

These are select transcripts from a moderated panel titled “Making Worlds in the Pluriverse” held as part of Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2023 at York University in Toronto.

University Land Grabs: Indigenous Dispossession and the Universities of Toronto and Manitoba

Whether leased or sold, Indigenous land provided the endowment capital for new universities in the nineteenth century. Many institutions of higher learning – including the universities of Toronto and Manitoba – began as large-scale landowners. By 1828, Toronto’s university still held more than two hundred thousand acres of land, an area larger than the present-day city of Toronto. The extent of university landholding in settler societies, however, has often been missed because the land parcels assigned to universities were both larger than, and distinct from, their campuses. This article accordingly examines how landholding undergirded Canadian universities’ development in the nineteenth century, taking the University of Toronto and the University of Manitoba as its focus. It argues that land was the essential ingredient in university building in both Ontario and Manitoba, linking these new universities’ establishment and subsequent wealth to Indigenous dispossession. Using Indigenous land to finance higher education was not unique to these universities nor to Canada. Yet, across settler societies, university landholding made institutions of higher education the beneficiaries of Indigenous removal and agents of colonization. In addition, once in operation, these new universities would also produce knowledge about land and its cultivation. Inspired by the growing field of European agricultural science, Canadian universities with land endowments professionalized the study of branches of knowledge like agriculture and engineering, displacing Indigenous ways of being and thinking about land. The effect of this knowledge valuation is still felt today. The products of university agricultural research – from nitrogen fertilizers to hybridized corn – profoundly transformed landscapes and altered local ecologies in line with settler knowledge systems and desires.