VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Community of Inquiry as a Social Reform: Challenging Standardization in Schools through a Juxtaposition of Aquinas' Notion of Connatural Learning, Dewey's Centrality of Experience and Buber's Concept of Dialogue
Keywords: Centrality of Experience
Community of Inquiry
Connatural Learning
Democracy in Schools
Dialogue

Education imbibes the processes of drawing from within and connecting with the world. Schools which practice standardization have not become a place where students are provided with connections and experiences that enable them to learn and link with the environment, impeding the cultivation of critical thinking and the students' abilities to exercise `knowing-how and knowing-why'. I strongly argue against standardization in schools. Education must be a critical field where learning comes from questioning, discovery and flourishing with the vast tapestry of life experiences that is imbibed through the community of inquiry - collaboration among the students and teachers. I aim to explore the possibility of resolving the problem of standardization in schools through the community of inquiry as a social reform. As a means of social reform, I characterize the community of inquiry through a juxtaposition of Aquinas' notion of connatural learning, Dewey's centrality of experience and Buber's concept of dialogue.
Engineering Red Blood Cell Progenitors to Achieve Greater Proliferative Potential
Keywords: Cell Engineering
Cellular Therapy
Erythroid
Progenitor Cell
Proliferation
Red Blood Cell (RBC)

Increased proliferative potential of mouse bone marrow derived erythroid progenitor cells was achieved by ectopic over-expression of the transcription factor c-Myc. This was enabled by stable gene transfer of a novel all-in-one lentivirus transfer vector allowing for tight doxycycline (dox) inducible gene expression. These cells maintained a surface marker expression profile, and responsiveness to both stem cell factor (SCF) and erythropoietin (EPO) similar to colony-forming unit-erythroid (CFU-E) cells for more than 6 weeks. Upon removal of ectopic c-Myc expression, the cells lost the c-kit, and CD71 surface markers, expressed Ter119, hemoglobinized, reduced in size, and enucleated. Although further work is needed to ensure the method to create these cells is reproducible, achieved results are evidence that support a novel method to produce large quantities of enucleated red blood cells (RBCs). This method may provide a platform to produce universal donor-type RBCs for traditional blood transfusions and novel cellular therapeutics.
A Safety Assessment of Dexamethasone for Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting in Children Receiving Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Keywords: Children
Dexamethasone
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Nausea
Vomiting

Though life-saving, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) carries significant risk for morbidity and mortality. Children receiving chemotherapy to prepare for HSCT also often suffer from poorly controlled chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). Dexamethasone is an effective antiemetic, but the lack of safety data, especially during HSCT, presents barriers to its routine use. Three projects were undertaken to better understand the safety of dexamethasone in children: (1) a systematic review of the literature; (2) post-hoc analysis of its immediate adverse events during HSCT; and (3) a framework to assess its impact on transplant-related mortality. Overall, we identified few high quality studies evaluating the safety of dexamethasone for CINV. Adverse events were transient and of minor clinical significance in the immediate setting. Our framework was designed to feasibly collect and analyze data from multiple centers. Future efforts will refine the overall risk of dexamethasone given as an antiemetic to children undergoing HSCT.
PERIPHERAL BLOOD MARKERS INDICATING SUBCORTICAL ISCHEMIC VASCULAR DISEASE AND THE RELATED STRUCTURAL AND COGNITIVE CHANGES
Keywords: Alzheimer's Disease
Biomarker
Oxidative Stress
Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase
Subcortical Ischemic Vascular Disease
Vascular Cognitive Impairment

White matter hyperintensities (WMH), indicative of small vessels disease (SIVD), are common in the elderlies with or without Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Lipid peroxidadtion (LP) and soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) metabolites are thought to contribute to the development of AD and SIVD. This thesis compares serum concentrations of lipid peroxidation markers (lipid hydroperoxides [LPH], 8-isoprostane [8-iso] and 4-hydroxynonenal), as well as sEH related metabolites, between four groups with or without AD and SIVD, and explores their relationships with cognitive performance. LPH, 8-iso, and ratios of sEH derived linoleic acid (LA) diol to the epoxides, were elevated in SIVD. LPH mediated the effect of hypertension on deep WMH. The ratio was associated with poorer processing speed, attention and executive function, which is explained 37% by periventricular WMH volume. Peripheral LP and sEH oxylipins were related to SIVD. Lipid peroxidation markers indicated structural brain changes, while oxylipins had additional effects on cognitive performance.
Influence of Ethnicity on Circulating Biochemical Markers in a Healthy Pediatric Cohort (CALIPER)
Keywords: CALIPER
Ethnicity
Laboratory Markers
Laboratory Medicine
Pediatric
Reference Intervals

Accurately established pediatric reference intervals (RIs) are essential for correct laboratory test interpretation and subsequent clinical decision making. Numerous studies have established sex- and age-specific RIs for several biomarkers of health and disease. However, little is known of the influence of ethnicity on RIs. It was hypothesized that a limited number of biochemical markers exhibit major ethnic differences, warranting ethnic-specific RIs. Serum samples were collected from a large cohort of healthy children and adolescents (5-
Method Development for Measuring Black Carbon (BC) Using a Smartphone Camera
Keywords: black carbon
smartphone camera

Black carbon (BC) is one of the major components of the atmospheric particulate matter (PM), which can cause adverse health impacts and contribute significantly to climate change. Poor understanding of BC sources and concentrations is the main obstacles to reduce BC emissions. Current commercial BC sensors remain too costly to deploy widely. A fast, cost-effective, and easily accessible deployment of smartphone camera was used to quantify colour information of PM collected on filters to estimate BC and elemental carbon (EC) loading. When applied to 1266 PM2.5 ambient samples collected from six sites across Ontario, Canada, the RGB-based BC model showed powerful predictability with R2=0.95 between predicted and measured BC concentrations from an aethalometer. The RGB-based EC model was trained using 478 personal PM2.5 samples collected from pre-diabetic subjects in Beijing with an R2=0.91 between predicted and measured EC concentrations from OC/EC analyzer.
Cost-effectiveness of Donor Milk versus Preterm Formula for Neurodevelopment and Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Very Low Birth Weight Infants
Keywords: Donor Human Milk
Economic Evaluation
Infant
Newborn
Very Low Birth Weight

Awareness of the benefits of mother’s milk for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants has led to a rise in donor milk (DM) use despite limited data evaluating its efficacy or cost-effectiveness. Studies estimate DM reduces hospital costs compared to preterm (PTF), but none were conducted using prospectively collected patient-level data in an RCT that reflects the actual costs of resources used. This study investigated the cost-effectiveness of DM versus PTF as a supplement to mother’s milk from a societal perspective from birth to 18 months. There was no difference in costs between groups, with median (IQR) costs of $193 404 ($129 656-$283 359) in the DM group and $189 819 ($129 343-$264 237) in the PTF group. While DM compared to PTF reduced the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis, it did not result in cost savings nor was it cost-effective for improving neurodevelopment at 18 months corrected age.
Effects of Vitamin D, K1, K2 and Calcium on Bone Formation by Osteoblasts in Vitro
Keywords: Bone
Calcium
Meta-analysis
Mineralization
Osteoblast
Vitamins

Bone loss is a major health problem that most people will face and thus research focusing on enhancing bone formation is of great importance. Although there have been many cell biology articles focusing on the effects of vitamin D, K1 or K2 on bone formation in vitro, there has yet to be a consensus amongst the literature. Through the use of several meta-analyses of past vitamin studies, we found that supplementation of vitamin D, K1 and K2, along with the combination of K2 + 1,25D, increased mineralization, while not consistently changing all of the other parameters associated with bone formation. In addition we quantified the area of von Kossa stained bone nodules in calcium, vitamin K1, vitamin K2, 25D and 1,25D treated human and mouse osteoblast cultures and found that mineralization levels varied depending on the presence of ascorbic acid or the organism from which the cell lines were derived.
Droplet Microfluidics for Additive Screening in Enhanced Oil Recovery
Keywords: additive
alkaline
droplet microfluidics
EOR
heavy oil

Enhanced oil recovery is a set of methods used to increase the productivity of a reservoir after it is not possible to economically produce oil using hydrostatic reservoir pressure, artificial lift devices, waterfloods or gas floods. Droplet microfluidics, the study and utilization of ordered multiphase flows in closed microchannels, is predominantly used for biological or chemical reaction screening and particle fabrication. This thesis focuses on using droplet microfluidics to inform enhanced oil recovery. A platform was developed to assess the effect of a set of additives on droplet deformation. Droplets were found to become more deformable with an increase in pH and less deformable with an increase in ionic strength and salinity. These trends agree with behaviour reported in the literature.
Modeling Atrial Fibrillation using Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Keywords: atrial fibrillation
human pluripotent stem cells

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinical arrhythmia and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Hypothesis: “Atrial” cardiomyocytes generated from hESCs will recapitulate the key hallmarks of human AF in a 2 dimensional tissue model, as well as demonstrate the expected electrophysiologic changes in response to drugs. Methods and Results: Our “atrial” cardiomyocytes were 80-90% positive for cardiac troponin, were enriched for the atrial markers ANF and KCNJ3, and lacked ventricular markers (MYL2 and IRX4). The “atrial” cells mimicked the human electrophysiologic phenotype with the majority (90%) demonstrating atrial like action potentials. Optical mapping of multicellular cell sheets was performed on rotors at baseline, after induction of rotor formation and with the addition of commonly employed antiarrhythmic drugs. Conclusions: We have successfully generated a human model of AF in vitro and demonstrated its utility in screening for known, and unpredicted effects of commonly employed anti-arrhythmics.
Genetic Analysis of Gata3 and Runx1 in Mammary Tumor Formation
Keywords: Breast Cancer
Gata3
Mouse Models
Runx1

Genomic analysis of breast cancer (BC) has revealed the existence of recurrent copy number losses and mutations in GATA3 and RUNX1. Interestingly, these are predominantly found in luminal tumors. GATA3 and RUNX1 are transcription factors that help specify mammary luminal lineages. To test whether BC-associated genetic aberrations of GATA3 and RUNX1 contribute to luminal-like tumorigenesis, I generated cohorts of female mice in which Gata3 and Runx1 were deleted in mammary epithelium. In addition, I have successfully generated transgenic mice that express a breast tumor-derived Gata3 mutant. To date, twelve-months old females with copy number loss of Gata3 and Runx1 are mostly tumor-free (approximately 3% and 13% of Gata3 and Runx1 conditional heterozygous have developed mammary tumours, respectively).
Pilot Study of Engineered Biofiltrations as Pretreatment for Ultrafiltration: Effects on Fouling and Disinfection By-products
Keywords: Biofiltration
Biopolymers
Drinking water
Fouling control
Ultrafiltration

This study focused on biological treatment of river and lake water to mitigate ultrafiltration fouling. Biofiltration, consisting of dual-media filtration in the absence of chlorine backwash, produced an effluent with lower turbidity and less variability than coagulation and settling alone. Biofiltration’s ability to lower turbidity, reduce biopolymer and humic concentration, and decrease membrane fouling when compared to untreated water was improved by in-line addition of low coagulant doses (
Identifying Genetic Causes of Specific Phenotypes by Whole-genome Sequencing Analysis
Keywords: Chromosome instability
Whole-genome sequencing
Yeast
Yeast two-hybrid assay

The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) makes it more practicable to extract genetic information from biological systems. Whole-genome sequencing analysis has become one of the major approaches to identify genetic causes of specific phenotypes, with the help of well-developed mapping and annotation tools. My project is aimed to identify causative mutations for some mutant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. One class of mutants belong to Ctf strains, with increased rate of chromosome loss in mitosis. Exploration of Ctf genes is helpful to understand cellular causes and consequences of chromosome instability (CIN), thereby elucidating mechanisms of some human diseases. Another class of mutants are strains that adapted for stronger growth in His- medium in a yeast two-hybrid assay (“papillation strains”). Papillation strains could harbor spontaneous genetic modifiers of protein-protein interactions (PPIs). By computational analysis of whole-genome sequencing data, I identified some candidate genes responsible for these two phenotypes, respectively, and validated some candidate Ctf genes experimentally.
Visual Scanning Behaviour in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease
Keywords: Alzheimer's Disease
Apathy
Cognition
Eye Tracking
Visual Scanning Behaviour

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterised by memory loss and is often accompanied by psychiatric disorders. Since there are difficulties administering standard cognitive and psychiatric tests to patients with AD, it is desirable to develop objective tests of such functions. Novel tests to assess memory loss and apathy in AD were developed. The tests are based on the analysis of visual scanning behaviour (VSB) when participants look at visual stimuli. Differences between the VSBs of patients and controls are used for the assessments. When compared to controls, patients with AD had significantly reduced differences between their VSBs on novel and previously shown images. This was used to assess memory loss and to accurately classify patients with AD from elderly controls. Also, apathetic patients with AD showed more uniform VSBs on images with different arousal. The results suggest that analysis of VSB can help to assess memory and psychiatric functions in AD.
Outcomes and Processes of Care Among Trauma Centres Caring for Injured Children
Keywords: Injury
Mortality
Pediatrics
Quality Improvement
Quality Indicators
Trauma Systems

Introduction: We evaluated the association between mortality and trauma centre type to elucidate the optimal care environment for injured children. Secondly, we assessed whether centres that perform well in one domain of quality perform similarly in other domains. Methods: Hierarchical regression was used to evaluate the association between centre type and in-hospital mortality. Kappa statistics were used to evaluate the consistency of centre-level performance across quality metrics. Results: Children had higher odds of death when treated at adult (OR 1.57 (1.15-2.14)) or mixed (1.45 (1.05-2.01)) trauma centres versus pediatric trauma centres. Kappa statistics showed no significant agreement of centre performance across quality indicators (-0.01 (-0.07, 0.06)). Conclusions: Efforts to determine what processes of care result in lower mortality among injured children treated at pediatric trauma centres are required. Furthermore, the inconsistency in centre-level performance across quality indicators should be considered as strategies for measuring hospital quality are developed.
Investigation of Suitability and Feasibility of Home Dialysis
Keywords: Data Analysis
Economic Evaluation
Home Dialysis
Kidney Failure
Patient Perspective

There are several aspects affecting home dialysis uptake: clinical, patient, and financial perspectives. The comprehension of these viewpoints can lead to a more encompassing plan to increase uptake. This thesis tries to assess each of the perspectives. The clinical perspective compares the clinical characteristics of patients receiving care at home to ones at facility, showing that nearly all patients should be able to be sent home. The patient perspective looks at the reasons provided by patients for not being able to or wanting to receive care at home, indicating that a significant number of patients could benefit when infrastructural and/or educational reasons are alleviated. The financial perspective compares the annual cost of a patient receiving their entire care at home to one at facility. Based on preliminary estimates, the results highlight that the annual cost of a home patient is less than half of the cost of a facility patient.
Development of Multiple J-aggregate-gold Nanoparticle Probes for SERRS Multiplexing
Keywords: Biomarker
J-Aggregate
Multiplexing
Nanoparticle
SERRS
SERS

Development of multiple J-aggregate-gold nanoparticle probes is necessary to utilize their significantly enhanced Raman scattering for biological diagnostics. As Raman probes have the potential for concurrent imaging of a much higher number of biomarkers than fluorophores, development of the maximum variety of Raman probes is required to take full advantage of their multiplexing. Herein it is reported the decorating of gold nanoparticles with a number of J-aggregate dyes, through development of a negatively charged facilitator assembly and use of an established short chain positive linker. Significantly bright probes were silica encapsulated and demonstrated a notable decrease in fluorescence background. To target these particles to biomarkers, a means of antibody functionalization was explored.
Anti-thrombogenic Study of Ultrathin Monoethylene Glycol Adlayer on 316L Stainless Steel against Whole Human Blood
Keywords: 316L
Anti-thrombogenic
Monoethylene Glycol
stainless steel
Whole Human Blood

Implantable biomaterial made from austenitic 316L stainless steel have been widely used in a variety of clinical applications. However, exposure of foreign surfaces to blood can initiate platelet adhesion and trigger blood coagulation, leading to life-threatening consequences. In order to prevent undesirable surface platelet adhesion, we have developed an ultrathin anti-thrombogenic coating based on monoethylene glycol (MEG-OH) silane chemistry. Surface characterization of major surface modification steps are done by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and supplemented with contact angle goniometry. End stage anti-thrombogenicity assessment after 20 min blood exposure at 100 s-1, 300 s-1, 600 s-1, 750 s-1, and 900 s-1 shear rate has shown significant reduction (> 90%) of platelet adhesion, aggregation and thrombus formation on MEG-OH surface modified 316L stainless steel, compared with untreated ones. This finding is confirmed by real-time surface evaluation of 60 min blood exposure at 100 s-1, 600 s-1, and 900 s-1 shear rate.
Life Experiences and Patterns of Distress in Chinese-Canadian Women with a History of Suicidal Behaviour
Keywords: Chinese
Immigration
Mental Health Care
Qualitative Research
Recovery
Suicide

Recent studies have highlighted higher rates of suicidal ideation and behaviour and associated themes of gender role stress in Chinese women residing in North America (Chung, 2004). Through qualitative interviewing and analysis, this study explores the experiences, stressors and beliefs of Chinese-born women living in Canada with a history of suicidal behaviour. They describe restricted patterns of emotional communication, feelings of lack of agency, experiences of victimization and oppression and stress related to traditional gender expectations and those related to social change. Expectations of immigration often go unmet and stress arises from financial, educational and family pressures. As the women struggle to endure this distress, they experience a negative view of self, worsening depressive symptoms and hopelessness. They come to a "breaking point" leading to suicidal behaviour that can be understood as an escape from pain, a strategy to communicate distress and a consequence of pervasive hopelessness.
Identifying the role of RGMc in an animal model of Multiple Sclerosis
Keywords: Blood Brain Barrier
Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
Hemojuvelin
Multiple Sclerosis
RGMa
RGMc

The Repulsive Guidance Molecule a (RGMa) has recently been implicated in the development of Multiple sclerosis (MS). We report for the first time that the third member of the RGM family, RGMc, is downregulated in the sera of mice induced with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE), a well-characterized animal model of MS. Treatment with soluble RGMc (sRGMc) significantly delayed the onset of EAE and reduced the clinical severity of disease. Furthermore, RGMc knockout animals developed a stronger disease progression than wild-type controls. In vitro binding studies outlined a mechanism by which soluble RGMa and RGMc competed for interaction with their shared receptor, Neogenin. Finally, we demonstrated that administration of soluble RGMc halted leukocyte infiltration by interfering with the RGMa-mediated RhoA permeabilisation of the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB). Overall, we show that RGMc treatment alleviated the clinical severity of EAE by enhancing BBB integrity and preventing leukocyte infiltration.
Targeting the Phosphatidylinositide-3 Kinase Pathway and the Mitogen-activated-protein Kinase Pathway through Thymosin-beta4, Exercise, and Negative Regulators to Promote Retinal Ganglion Cell Survival or Regeneration
Keywords: CNS Neuron Survival
CNS Regeneration
Exercise
Mitogen-Activated-Protein Kinase
Phosphatidylinositide-3 Kinase
Retinal Ganglion Cells

The phosphatidylinositide-3 kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated-protein kinase (MAPK) pathways mediate cellular survival in the presence of apoptotic stimuli. These pathways are known to promote the survival of injured retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), central nervous system neurons that project visual information from the retina to the brain. Injury to the optic nerve triggers apoptosis of RGCs. This work demonstrates that Thymosin-beta4, a peptide involved in actin sequestration, both enhances RGC survival after injury and increases axonal regeneration. Moreover, Thymosin-beta4 modulates the PI3K and MAPK pathways. In addition, this study demonstrates that exercise reduces apoptosis of injured RGCs, and explores the function of the PI3K and MAPK pathways in this process. Finally, small peptides are used to interfere with the functions of PTEN, a negative regulator of the PI3K pathway, as well as Erbin and BCR, negative regulators in the MAPK pathway. These peptides enhance RGC survival and axonal regeneration after injury.