VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Metaplasticity Associated with Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Induced Plasticity

Metaplasticity refers to activity-dependent changes in neural functions governing synaptic plasticity; depotentiation is the reversal of long-term potentiation (LTP) by a subsequent protocol with no effect alone. Theta burst transcranial ultrasound stimulation (tbTUS) is an 80s protocol that induces LTP-like effects lasting 30-60 minutes. It was hypothesized that priming continuous theta burst stimulation with 150 pulses (cTBS150), a subthreshold long-term depression (LTD)-like stimulus, would enhance the excitatory effect of tbTUS due to metaplasticity while subsequent cTBS150 would abolish the effects of tbTUS due to depotentiation. 1) sham cTBS150→real tbTUS (tbTUS only), 2) real cTBS150→sham tbTUS (cTBS only), 3) real cTBS150→real tbTUS (active primed), 4) real tbTUS→real cTBS150 (depotentiation) were tested. Changes in motor-evoked potential amplitude, short-interval intracortical inhibition, long-interval intracortical inhibition, intracortical facilitation, and short-interval intracortical facilitation were measured. Results showed increased plasticity duration with priming cTBS150 and abolished plasticity with subsequent cTBS150 compared to tbTUS only, supporting the hypothesis.

Advisor: Chen, Robert
Social Connection Measurement Tools for Older Adults in Long-Term Care Homes: A Scoping Review

Background: Tools measuring social connection in long-term care (LTC) home residents use inconsistent terminology, leading to ambiguous operationalization. This study analyzes how distinct but related aspects of social connection have been measured in LTC homes.Methods: A content analysis with a deductive-inductive approach was used to analyze measurement items and an adapted Framework Method was used for data management. Dementia and non-dementia-specific tools were compared according to content, mode of administration and scoring options. Results: 57 studies reporting on 31 tools were identified, which assessed seven aspects of social connection: social network, social interaction, social engagement, social support, social isolation, social connectedness and loneliness. Dementia-specific tools focused on social interaction and non-dementia-specific tools focused on social network and social support. Conclusion: Tools vary in their operationalization of social connection based on seven measured aspects and target population (dementia or non-dementia-specific). Future research should assess these tools’ psychometric properties.

Keywords: dementia
elderly
long-term care
measurement
social connection
tool
Advisor: McGilton, Katherine S
Bethell, Jennifer
Explore the Origins and Analyze the Space of Ghosts and the Space of Immortals in Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異

Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異 written by Pu Songling 蒲松齡 (1640-1715) in the Qing Dynasty 清 (1644-1912) is considered a monument in the history of zhiguai 志怪. As one of the representatives of Ming and Qing novels, Liaozhai zhiyi is usually discussed in the context of late imperial China. From the perspective of rhetoric and narrative, Liaozhai zhiyi is indeed influenced by literary forms such as chuanqi 傳奇 and baihua 白話 popularized from the Tang Dynasty 唐 (618-690, 705-907) to the Ming Dynasty 明 (1368-1644), but its storyline and the space in which the story takes place are always the same as those of strange tales from the Six Dynasties 六朝 (222-589). Therefore, this thesis will explore how shifts in the political system and the practice of religious beliefs in early imperial China influenced the creation of zhiguai, and how this far-reaching influence is reflected in the space of ghosts and the space of immortals in the Liaozhai zhiyi.

Keywords: Early Imperial China
Liaozhai zhiyi
Spatial Study
Zhiguai
Advisor: Feng, Linda Rui
Assessing the Emotional and Behavioural Needs of Youth in Out-of-School Programming: A Scoping Review

Ensuring the mental well-being of children and youth is a significant challenge in our society, and many do not have access to care. Out-of-school programming is a potentially more accessible option, so providing such programs with the tools and skills needed to bolster mental health may have a large impact on youth wellbeing. Research has demonstrated that a feasible needs assessment is an important step in providing support for individuals experiencing mental health challenges, yet many out-of-school programs are not doing so. One barrier may be a lack of knowledge regarding the tools and methods that can be used in this context. The present scoping review was conducted to identify the tools and methods that have been used to determine the emotional and behavioural needs of youth in out-of-school programs and to synthesize information regarding the tools and the context in which these tools and methods have been used. 57 articles met the criteria for the review, and within these articles, 69 unique measures of emotional and behavioural needs were identified. The measures were sorted into six thematic categories (self-concept, emotion and behaviour regulation, mood, general mental health, social skills, and resilience) and relevant characteristics were described. The findings of the present review can be used by out-of-school program staff as a step to best meet the emotional and behavioural needs of youth attending their programs.

Advisor: Andrade, Brendan
Bedard, Anne-Claude
Beyond Feelings: The Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Learning Challenges on Youth Substance Abuse Treatment Outcomes

This study explored the relationship between emotional intelligence, learning challenges, and treatment outcomes in youth receiving substance abuse treatment. It investigated the extent to which different aspects of emotional intelligence were associated with treatment outcomes in youth with and without learning challenges. These treatment outcomes were measured by internalizing problems. The findings indicated that emotional intelligence played a significant role in reducing internalizing problems for youth without learning challenges, while this effect was moderate for youth with only a learning challenge. Notably, the study highlighted youth with a learning challenge and comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were particularly vulnerable, as they had the highest risk of reverting to pre-treatment levels of internalizing problems after six months. To validate the findings from this study, future research should replicate the results in non-residential care setting to determine if similar patterns emerge.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence
Learning Challenges
Residential Treatment Settings
Substance Abuse
Substance Abuse Treatment
Youth Substance Abuse
Advisor: Cunningham, Todd
Iwenofu, Linda
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Women: Neuropathological Features and Neuroinflammatory Gene Expression Profile

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) impacts millions annually, producing debilitating neurological sequelae that potentially persist long-term. It is commonly held that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is the neuropathology of repetitive mTBI, being well-studied in male professional athletes and service members. However, there are known sex differences in mTBI outcomes, and CTE is virtually unstudied in women, bringing into question whether CTE is the overarching pathology of mTBI in all demographics. This is the first large post-mortem cohort study to assess CTE in the brains of women with a history of mTBI sustained through intimate partner violence. To search for novel markers of mTBI, this study also performed gene expression profiling on human brain tissue to assess neuroinflammatory gene expression, finding evidence of DNA damage and cellular senescence. Altogether, this study demonstrated that the effects of mTBI can be observed in women’s brains, even in the absence of CTE.

Keywords: Cellular senescence
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy
DNA damage
Domestic violence
Mild traumatic brain injury
Neuroinflammation
Advisor: Hazrati, Lili-Naz
Cross-Subject Transfer Learning for Visual Processing in the Human Brain

In this work, we analyze cross-subject transfer learning (CSTL) for predicting fMRI-measured brain activity in a target subject, using perceptual features of visual processing learned from source subjects. We demonstrate transferability of perceptual feature spaces derived from deep learning networks across different performance metrics. We show perceptual feature spaces outperform baseline and current state-of-the-art functional alignment approaches, such as neural code converters and hyperalignment, at small training sizes for overlapping sets of stimuli between subjects. Additionally, we show inter-individual encoding approaches perform better for lowerorder vs. higher-order visual cortices (LVC and HVC, respectively). Transferability of perceptual feature spaces is more pronounced in the LVC, and less significant in the HVC. Moreover, we show perceptual features generated using latent representations of BOLD signals exhibit better CSTL properties compared to those generated using BOLD signals in voxel space. While shown for overlapping stimuli, this was particularly evident for sets of disjoint stimuli.

Keywords: BOLD Signal
Computational Neuroscience
fMRI
Latent Representations
Transfer Learning
Visual Processing
Advisor: Uludag, Kamil
Exploring the Existence and Impact of Borderline Personality Disorder Stigma in the General Population

A lack of research has focused on stigmatizing beliefs about borderline personality disorder (BPD) held by the general population. This study examined (1) the general population’s BPD objective knowledge and whether this influences stigma (2) the relationship between diagnostic label and symptomatic behaviour, as well as factors affecting this relationship (3) and whether stigma differs for BPD symptoms. A total of 295 participants read vignettes and completed a battery of questionnaires. The general population has low BPD objective knowledge, and higher objective knowledge predicts lower stigma for most BPD symptoms. Stigma is higher for BPD symptomatic behaviour than for the diagnosis. Attaching a BPD diagnosis to BPD symptomatic behaviour did not significantly impact stigma; though, the diagnosis led to increased stigma for non-relevant behaviour. Intense anger was the most stigmatized BPD symptom; however, stigma varied for the remaining BPD symptoms. Gender interacted with BPD stigma in a number of ways.

Keywords: Borderline personality disorder
Diagnosis
Personality disorder
Stigma
Symptoms
Advisor: Uliaszek, Amanda A
Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Patterns of Cortical Thickness in Alzheimer’s Disease with and without a History of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with an accelerated course of dementia, although the biological relationships are incompletely understood. This thesis examined measures of cortical thickness from T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in participants with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with and without TBI, and cognitively normal adults with and without TBI. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the interaction between AD and TBI on cortical thickness at baseline. Among those with AD, TBI was associated with an earlier age of AD onset but, counter-intuitively, less cortical thinning in fronto-temporal regions, relative to non-AD controls. Multivariate partial least squares analysis revealed comparable fronto-temporal atrophy in the AD groups over an average time span of 33 months, but in the non-AD cohort those with TBI show lesser atrophy, thus the effects of AD are more pronounced among individuals with TBI. The novel findings provide insights on TBI-related differences in AD onset and progression.

Advisor: Schweizer, Tom A
Analysis of the Inhibitory Effects of the Plant-produced Hormone Strigolactone on Growth and Division in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Strigolactones are a class of plant-produced chemicals that function as both phytohormones in planta and as signaling molecules for interacting species in the rhizosphere. One of their most important functions as signaling molecules is in facilitating the complex interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Work by previous lab members in the Lumba lab has discovered that a fungal model organism, the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is capable of recognizing and responding to strigolactones through upregulation of the phosphate starvation response. Given the intricate relationship between phosphate homeostasis and growth, throughout this thesis, I have aimed to characterize the effects of strigolactone on the growth and division of S. cerevisiae. Based on growth analyses, we found that strigolactone causes the lag phase of yeast growth to be prolonged and the severity of strigolactone-mediated growth inhibition to be tied to phosphate uptake and signaling.

Advisor: Lumba, Shelley
Selection of Priority Population and Health Outcome Performance Indicators by Integrated Healthcare Networks: An Exploratory Multiple-Case Study

Background: Integrated care requires shared sense-making and decision-making processes among stakeholders, which are often affected by empirical evidence, and interactions and relationships between stakeholders. This dissertation explores the selection processes of priority population and performance indicators of OHTs, while identifying factors influencing them. Method: The study followed an exploratory multiple-case study design with theoretical replication. Two cases were selected based on set criteria; 12 interviews were conducted (six each) with the decision-making committee members. Data were analyzed using a case-based approach to cross-case synthesis. Results: Findings showed that sense-making and decision-making of OHTs were intricately connected and were not always governed by data. Organizational expertise, stakeholder interest, previous experience, and feasibility often guided the understanding of health system issues, thus influencing population and indicator prioritization. Conclusion: Different sense-making processes may lead to variations in decisions across integrated care networks, adapting to individual contexts.

Keywords: Decision-making
Influencing factors
Integrated care
Performance indicator
Priority population
Sense-making
Advisor: Wodchis, Walter
Steele Gray, Carolyn
A Critical Discourse Analysis and Evaluation of Education Policy and Curricula Regarding Reconciliation in Ontario and British Columbia

In 2015 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued 94 Calls to Action to begin the process of Reconciliation for the atrocities committed during the era of Indian Residential Schools. My research focuses on recommendations 62.i and 63.ii of the TRC’s Calls to Action through a textual and critical discourse analysis of policy and curricular documents from British Columbia and Ontario. I use the Indian Control of Indian Education and First Nations Control of First Nations Education documents to establish a possible Indigenous response to my analysis. My research engages Lorde’s question, “can the master’s tools ever dismantle the master’s house?”

Advisor: Wemigwans, Jennifer
Campbell, Carol
Detecting Opsoclonus Myoclonus Ataxia Syndrome (OMAS): Associations of Eye Tracking Metrics with Cognitive Outcomes

This cross-sectional study compares free-viewing (FV) eye tracking metrics between children with Opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome (OMAS) and healthy age/sex-matched controls (HC) and investigates correlations of FV metrics with cognitive metrics. Participants included OMAS-diagnosed youth (n=11) and HC (n=15), who completed a FV eye tracking task and cognitive testing (NIH Toolbox). We quantified mean saccade rate (MSR) (saccades/s) and mean fixation duration (MFD) (milliseconds) for clip-aligned analyses. The OMAS group exhibited suppressed MSR (p=0.003, d=1.026) and longer MFD (p=0.043, d=1.045) compared to HC. MSR positively correlated with Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) Task (r=0.572, p=0.011) and List Sorting Working Memory (LSWM) Test scores (r=0.575, p=0.001). MFD negatively correlated with DCCS Task (r=-0.687, p=0.001) and LSWM Test scores (r=-0.555, p=0.014). Children with OMAS demonstrated suppressed saccade rates and longer fixations across FV clip-changes: these correlated with lower scores in set-shifting and working memory tasks, indicating these FV metrics may reveal specific cognitive abnormalities.

Advisor: Yeh, E. Ann
Geographic Determinants of Atrial Fibrillation Outcomes

Atrial fibrillation management requires longitudinal care and living further from hospitals may be associated with worse outcomes. We examined associations between atrial fibrillation outcomes and hospital distance. We conducted a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation in an emergency department between 2007-2016 in Ontario, Canada using datasets from Ontario Health. Distance between patients’ residence and hospitals was compared to various outcomes including death, stroke, bleeding, and ablation. For ablations, patients living near specific electrophysiology centers were identified to explore physician practice patterns. Multivariate logistic regression was utilized. There was substantial regional heterogeneity in atrial fibrillation outcomes. Distance to hospitals was generally not associated with outcomes. There were significant differences in ablation rates for patients living around certain electrophysiology centers. Greater distance to hospitals was not strongly associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes. However, electrophysiology center practice patterns may significantly affect a patient’s likelihood of receiving ablation.

Advisor: Chan, Timothy C.Y.
The Role of NINJ1 in Hepatic Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) inherent to liver transplantation contributes to adverse transplantation outcomes such as graft dysfunction and rejection. The acute phase of hepatic IRI is characterized by an injurious inflammatory response, driven by lytic cell death pathways such as pyroptosis that result in plasma membrane rupture and subsequent release of proinflammatory molecules. Recently, the protein ninjurin-1 (NINJ1) has been found to mediate this terminal plasma membrane rupture process in macrophages. However, the role of NINJ1 in hepatic IRI and the function of NINJ1 in hepatocytes remain to be elucidated. Using genetic knockout and pharmacologic approaches in a mouse model of segmental hepatic IRI, we demonstrate that the inhibition of NINJ1-mediated plasma membrane rupture protects against hepatic IRI. Using primary mouse hepatocytes, we show that hepatocytes are capable of NINJ1-mediated cell rupture. Thus, our findings position NINJ1 as a potential therapeutic target to limit hepatic IRI.

Keywords: Ischemia-reperfusion injury
Liver
Lytic cell death
Pyroptosis
Transplant
Advisor: Steinberg, Benjamin E
“Why do you have to be a drag?”: An Exploration of 2SLGBTQIA+ Sudents’ Experiences of EmotionalLlabour in Ontario Public Schools

This thesis explores 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ experiences of emotional labour in the Ontario public school system. Building on Arlie R. Hochschild’s (1983) concepts of “emotional labour” and “feeling rules” I explore the complex ways power and emotion shape school landscapes. I ask, 1. How do politics of emotions within Ontario public schools impact 2SLGBTQIA+ students?; and 2. What are 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ in Ontario schools experiences of emotional labour? Using a secondary data set from Tara Goldstein et al.’s LGBTQ Families Speak Out Project video interview archive (2014-2018), I analyze the impact of pervasive cis-heteronormativity, and hegemonic intersecting power broadly, on the emotional landscape and expectations in Ontario public schools. Further, I use the secondary data subset to examine various ways 2SLGBTQIA+ students engage in emotional labour, namely, withholding authenticity and explaining, and educating about queerness, while also recognizing the complex relationship between resistance and/as emotional labour. My analysis of the LGBTQ Families Speak Out Project data subset provides a snapshot into 2SLGBTQIA+ students in Ontario public schools experiences of emotional labour. This thesis seeks to deepen understanding around politics of emotion in schools in hopes of nuancing discourses on 2SLGBTQIA+ students’ emotional safety in schools.

Advisor: Bialystok, Lauren
Thermal Control for a 1000 Km Orbit Microsatellite

The Space Flight Laboratory, with its focus on the micro-space philosophy, strives to make space more accessible. This thesis describes the thermal design for a DEFIANT microsatellite, a prime example of the laboratory's modular spacecraft platforms. To be operated at an altitude of 1000 kilometers, this spacecraft pushes the limits of what the DEFIANT platform has achieved. The many stages of spacecraft thermal model development and testing are described. Reference thermal designs are presented that prove the viability of thermal control for the mission. This higher altitude mission also requires an active de-orbiting strategy. The impact this additional phase has on spacecraft lifetime thermal behavior is investigated. The challenges of multi-altitude thermal design are highlighted. Finalized thermal control for launch is detailed using findings from de-orbiting investigations. The unique aspects of this mission demonstrate the Laboratory's ability to innovate and redefine what can be achieved with small spacecraft.

Keywords: Deorbit
Orbits
Satellite
Spacecraft
Testing
Thermal
Advisor: Zee, Robert E.
Engineered Constitutive Promoter for Cell-Based Immunotherapy in Syngeneic Mouse Models

Living cells can be engineered into cell-based therapeutics by utilizing synthetic genetic elements and protein effectors that reprogram cell activity to be able to treat diseases. Modular design of different components in these engineered systems creates a toolkit that enables efficient customization and scalability to different applications. This thesis describes the creation of a synthetic promoter, SFCp, that has reduced de novo synthesis costs, a short length and a constitutive expression profile achieved by compression of transcription factor motifs associated with high constitutive expression. Next, we describe the application of this promoter to cancer immunotherapy using single-chain interleukin-12. The anti-cancer ability of stably transduced tumour cells with SFCp-expressed interleukin-12 was assessed in two mouse models, N2A neuroblastoma and 4T1 metastatic breast cancer, demonstrating the modularity and potential for SFCp to be used in engineered in vivo applications. Utilizing syngeneic tumour cells as a delivery strategy for immunotherapeutics addresses the four cell-based therapeutic key pillars: therapeutic effect, targetability, immune-cloaking, and kill-switch. The development of low-cost synthetic genetic elements expands the modular components available to facilitate future engineered system designs, with compelling application to cell-based therapeutics that are capable of much more complex function and regulation than simple molecular drugs.

Advisor: Truong, Kevin