VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Early Palliative Care: Opinions & Attitudes of Canadian Palliative Care Physicians

Our aim was to describe Canadian palliative care physiciansâ attitudes and opinions about early palliative care and to determine factors associated with receiving early referrals. The response rate was 71% (531/747); 48% (257/531) were SPC physicians. The majority reported that for cancer (93.9%) and non-cancer (90.2%) patients, referral to palliative care should ideally be early. Only 20.5% reported the average survival for patients referred to them was >6 months. Having completed a Masters/PhD (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.5); providing care mainly for non-cancer patients (4.0, 1.3-12.3); and female sex (2.7, 1.2-6.2) were associated with receiving early referrals. Those agreeing that patients should have stopped all chemotherapy before palliative care referral (0.34, 0.16-0.73) were less likely to receive early referrals. We conclude that timing of referral may be related to characteristics of the receiving physician rather than only the referring physician.

Keywords: Early Palliative Care
Palliative Care
Palliative Care Physicians
Supportive Care
Advisor: Zimmermann, Dr. Camilla
Mechanisms of an Exaggerated Blood Pressure Response to Exercise in Middle-age Endurance-trained Athletes

An exaggerated blood pressure response (EBPR) to exercise is associated with an increased risk of latent-hypertension. Few data describe the mechanisms that contribute to the exercise blood pressure (BP) response in a middle-aged endurance-trained cohort. We hypothesized that alterations in vascular and autonomic function may contribute towards the EBPR. 40 middle-age endurance-trained athletes underwent maximal graded exercise testing with concurrent BP measurements. 22 subjects had a peak systolic BP â Ľ median and 18

Keywords: Blood Pressure
Cardiovascular
Endurance Athlete
Exercise
Hypertension
Advisor: Goodman, Jack
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Vertebral Fractures in Psoriatic Arthritis

Osteoporosis and fractures are common comorbidities in inflammatory arthritis. Osteoporosis prevalence in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is not known. I aimed to synthesize current evidence by conducting a systematic review of the literature and determine the prevalence and factors associated with radiographic vertebral fractures in PsA patients. A systematic review of literature, conforming to PRISMA guidelines, synthesized inconsistent and non-conclusive evidence pertaining to presence of osteoporosis and fractures in PsA. Vertebral fractures were identified by quantitative morphometric assessment on lateral spinal radiographs of lumbar (L) and thoracic (T) spine (T6-L4) after demonstrating a high inter- and intra-assessor reliability. Covariates including demographic features, measures of disease activity, body mass index and pharmacologic treatment were investigated as associated factors. We found a low prevalence of vertebral fractures in PsA (5.3%). Age (OR 1.08, 95% CI [1.04, 1.12], P

Keywords: BMD
Epidemiology
fragility fractures
Inflammation
Osteoporosis
Spondyloarthritis
Advisor: Gladman, Dafna D
Investigating Lysosomes and Protein Degradation Pathways for the Treatment of Congenital Muscular Dystrophy Type 1A

Congenital muscular dystrophy type 1A (MDC1A) is the most common congenital muscular dystrophy in Western countries. The goal of our lab is to identify potential therapies for MDC1A that can be translated into clinical use. Previously, we observed lysosome redistribution in muscle biopsies from human MDC1A patients. Here, we corroborate this observation by documenting lysosome redistribution to the myosepta in the zebrafish model of MDC1A, candyfloss (caf); however we show that manipulating the membrane-repair and membrane-fusion capacity of lysosomes with chemicals does not appear to have therapeutic potential. Alongside these experiments, we tested chemicals that had previously been explored in mouse models of MDC1A and found that MG132, a proteasome inhibitor, partially ameliorates disease pathology in caf mutants. Further investigation into the mechanisms by which MG132 functions in zebrafish, as well as targeting other aspects of lysosome function, will provide important insights into potential treatments for this debilitating muscle disease.

Keywords: autophagy
congenital muscular dystrophies
lysosomes
MDC1A
therapy development
zebrafish
Advisor: Dowling, James
Veering towards Virulence: Modelling the Evolution of HIV-1 in Response to Prophylactic Drugs

Average virulence in HIV is on the rise in several highly treated populations. The drivers of this evolution are not known, but evolutionary theory suggests that imperfectly effective med- ical interventions can select for higher virulence. Previously developed mathematical models predict that HIV treatment leads to the evolution of lower virulence, but have not accounted for the fact that treated hosts sometimes transmit their infections. Here, we use an evolutionary invasion analysis to show that higher virulence evolves with the increasing use of drugs that imperfectly treat and prevent HIV infection (i.e., antiretroviral therapy and pre-exposure prophylaxis, respectively). As a consequence, untreated infections progress more rapidly to AIDS, and the prevalence of infection in host populations increases. These findings suggest that antiretroviral drugs may have under-appreciated evolutionary consequences that threaten their benefit, and we caution that virulence evolution should be closely monitored as access to these drugs continues to improve.

Keywords: adaptive dynamics
antiretroviral therapy
evolution
HIV
preexposure prophylaxis
virulence
Advisor: Mideo, Nicole
Dynamics of the Association of Heat Shock Protein HSPA6 (Hsp70B') and HSPA1A (Hsp70-1) with Stress-sensitive Cytoplasmic and Nuclear Structures in Differentiated Human Neuronal Cells

The widely studied HSPA1A is a heat shock protein that counters the effects of protein misfolding. The little studied HSPA6 is present in the human genome and absent in mouse and rat, hence missing in current models of neurodegenerative diseases. Differentiated human neuronal SH-SY5Y cells were used to compare the dynamics of the association of YFP-tagged HSPA6 and HSPA1A with stress-sensitive sites by employing Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP). Following thermal stress, HSPA6 displayed a prolonged and more dynamic association, compared to HSPA1A, with centrioles that play critical roles in neuronal polarity and migration. HSPA6 and HSPA1A displayed similar FRAP kinetics with nuclear speckles and the nucleolus. Subsequently, HSPA6, but not HSPA1A, localized with the periphery of nuclear speckles, and displayed the greatest dynamism compared to interaction with other targets. This suggests involvement of HSPA6 in transcriptional recovery of differentiated human neurons from cellular stress not apparent for HSPA1A.

Keywords: FRAP
Heat shock proteins
HSPA1A
HSPA6
Live imaging
SH-SY5Y
Advisor: Brown, Ian R
Becoming Antiquities: How Museum Objects Gain Educational and Heritage Value

This thesis looks at the processes that change the roles of museum objects throughout their lifetime and the resulting effects on the value of objects. Using Object Biography and Actor-Network Theory as theoretical frameworks and two museum collections, a biography of the lives of these collections was created. The biographies examine a specific portion of the collectionsâ lives from the time they were excavated to their present state as museum collections; as well, they were used as a tool to pinpoint key diversions that represented a change in roles and value for the collections. The analysis of the biographies and the resources consulted revealed patterns and relationships between the type of diversion, the actors involved, the affective weight of the collections and the types of value that were affected. Interaction between actors and objects was found to bring about the greatest amount of change in roles and value.

Keywords: Archaology
Education
Heritage
Museum process
Object biography
Value
Advisor: Krmpotich, Cara
Dentofacial Morphology in Obese and Non-obese Children with and without Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Introduction: Several craniofacial abnormalities have been suggested to contribute to obstructive sleep apnea. These characteristics vary significantly among the literature and are limited by the infrequent use of polysomnogprahy, the gold standard for diagnosing and quantifying obstructive sleep apnea. Objective: To compare the prevalence of facial and/or dental imbalances in children with and without obstructive sleep apnea in cohorts of obese and non-obese children. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study of children (ages 4-16) who were referred for a polysomnogram at The Hospital for SickKids. Facial features and malocclusion was assessed clinically by one dentist, blinded to the PSG results. Results/Conclusions: Horizontal excess (overjet) was the only dentofacial finding which was significantly more common in children with obstructive sleep apnea as compared to those without obstructive sleep apnea (p=0.04). Dentofacial characteristics were also not different between children using positive airway pressure therapy and children not on positive airway pressure therapy

Keywords: Craniofacial
Dentofacial development
Orthodontics
Respiratory Medicine
Sleep Medicine
Advisor: Amin, Reshma
Tompson, Bryan
Neurobiological Mechanisms by which Stress Prevents Empathy

Mice have the capacity to transmit pain status amongst familiars, which is understood to represent empathy in rodents. Recent findings show that the stress of a social interaction with an unfamiliar mouse can block empathy, while inhibiting the endocrine stress response of unfamiliar mice can evoke it. Experiments were conducted on na誰ve male CD-1 速 mice and found higher pain responses when familiars were tested together as opposed to with strangers. Western blot analysis demonstrated higher glucocorticoid activity in empathy involved regions (prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) of mice in the unfamiliar condition compared to the familiar condition. The administration of Metyrapone (to block stress response) before testing resulted in higher pain responses in unfamiliars compared to isolated mice however no significant difference was found between Metyrapone pretreated unfamiliars and saline pretreated unfamiliars. These findings begin to uncover the neurobiological mechanisms by which stress prevents empathy using rodent models.

Keywords: emotional contagion
empathy
pain
rodent empathy
social neuroscience
Advisor: Martin, Loren J
Mix Development of PLC-based Ultra-high Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete and Characterization of Key Mechanical Properties and Time-Dependent Behaviour

This thesis proposes a new Ultra-high Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) mix design developed and optimized with the aim of lowering environmental and economic cost while achieving better performance. Instead of plain Portland Cement, the proposed mix uses Portland Limestone Cement (PLC) with 6-15 % of limestone, as a means to reduce the gross cement content. The optimized mix design features 10% of silica fume and 30% of ground granulated blast-furnace slag, 2.5% of steel fibres by the total volume, and very low water-to-binder ratio. The proposed mix is validated and characterized through a comprehensive experimental program, which shows that at 56 days the proposed mix can achieve a compressive strength at least 130 MPa, an average peak flexural stress of 27 MPa, and an average peak uni-axial tensile strength of 10 MPa. Tests also show that the proposed mix has satisfactory performance in shrinkage, resistance of chloride ion penetration, and freeze-thaw resistance.

Keywords: Concrete
Fibre
Flexural
Mix design
Tensile
Ultra-high performance
Advisor: Gauvreau, Paul
Multiphysics Design Optimization of Microwave Ablation Antennas

Microwave ablation is based on localized heating of biological tissues, enabled by an electromagnetic field. Antennas for ablation are commonly designed in a forward approach to generate a particular Specific Absorption Rate profile within the target. However, little attention has been dedicated to designing antennas inversely, to allow controllable synthesis of temperature profiles customized for the application. Also, most existing designs do not account for thermal inhomogeneities in tissue. An inverse, multiphysics methodology for microwave ablation antenna design is presented herein, that involves optimizing the antennaâ s current distribution to synthesize a desired temperature profile, while accounting for heat diffusion. The results indicate and quantify the clear advantages of this multiphysics approach. This methodology is successfully applied towards designing an easily configurable printed dipole microwave ablation antenna that addresses several limitations of existing designs. This design provides the functionality of a phased array, and allows controlled synthesis of temperature profiles.

Keywords: Antenna
Electromagnetics
Microwave Ablation
Multiphysics
Optimization
Advisor: Sarris, Costas D
The Causes and Consequences of Plant Defence Evolution

Many plant species have evolved chemical defences to reduce herbivory. I studied two aspects of the evolution of plant defence using the cyanogenesis system in Trifolium repens, white clover, as a model. First, I investigated whether cyanogenesis altered natural selection on reproductive characters. In this study, I found that the genetic variation for cyanogenesis can drastically alter natural selection on floral traits. This result suggests that the evolution of plant defence and floral traits may be interrelated. Second, I investigated the factors that drive patterns of antiherbivore defence evolution in urban environments. I observed adaptive clines in cyanogenesis in three North American cities, and identified natural selection during the winter as being the key determinant of this cline. This result highlights a novel mechanism through which humans can drive adaptive evolution in natural populations. Together, these results highlight novel processes that cause and follow the evolution of plant defences.

Keywords: Adaptive cline
Plant defense
Plant reproduction
Trifolium repens
Urbanization
White clover
Advisor: Johnson, Marc TJ
Language Education in Maasai Land, Tanzania: Parental Voices and School Realities

This research explores parental perspectives on language education in Maasai Land, Tanzania, and the ways in which school realities at a Swahili-medium government (SMG) school and an English-medium private (EMP) school align with and diverge from parental expectations. While significant research shows benefits of Swahili-medium schooling in Tanzania, many parents are clamouring for English-medium private primary schools, while the 130+ local languages are muted in formal schooling. This study employs interviews with parents at one SMG and one EMP, and school observations at these same schools, to explore and compare valuations, expectations for use, and use of Maa, Swahili and English. This research finds that parents are generally very supportive of multilingual education, with perspectives both reflecting and rejecting dominant political discourses shaped by nationalism and neoliberalism. Schoolsâ orientations towards languages as problems or resources are shaped by symbolic and economic valuations of languages in Tanzaniaâ s broader political economic context.

Keywords: English
Maasai
parent perspectives
public/private schools
Swahili
Tanzania
Advisor: GagnĂŠ, Antoinette
Hyperexcitability in Pain Processing Neurons: Pathological and Compensatory Mechanisms

Neuropathic pain is associated with hyperexcitability in primary afferent neurons (PANs) and the spinal dorsal horn network. Hyperexcitability develops despite compensatory changes that can offset the effects of pathological changes, implying that compensation ultimately fails. I hypothesized that compensatory changes, despite robustly maintaining certain aspects of excitability, fail to maintain others. To test my hypothesis in PANs, I used an existing computer model to show that distinct ion channel combinations that yield equivalent rheobase fail to yield equivalent outcomes for other factors such as energy used per spike. To test my hypothesis in spinal dorsal horn neurons whose synaptic inhibition can be compromised in distinct ways, I developed a new computer model. Consistent with my hypothesis, simulations revealed that distinct forms of disinhibition differ in their effects on dynamic range and receptive field size. These results demonstrate the limits of compensation and may help explain how hyperexcitability develops despite compensation.

Keywords: Compensation
Computation
Degeneracy
Disinhibition
Hyperexcitability
Pain
Advisor: Prescott, Steven A
The Impact of the Auditory and Visual Environments on Balance in Children with Bilateral Vestibular Loss and Cochlear Implantation

Vestibular impairment is common in congenital sensorineural hearing loss yet children are remarkably able to remain upright. To gain an understanding of how these children compensate for their bilateral cochelovestibular loss (BVL) we investigated the effects visual and auditory virtual environments in children with BVL and bilateral cochlear implantation (CI), ages 8.5-17.9 years, using clinical balance tests and measures of postural control. Children with BVL had significantly impaired balance compared to typically developing children with balance skills approximating those of a 4.5-year-old child. Body movement was significantly greater in children with BVL when performing balance tasks. Children with BVL relied on vision to a greater extent than their typically developing peers. The presence of moving objects in the environment did not significantly alter balance in either group. Balance and postural control improved in children with BVL when CI were on. Children with BVL rely on vision and auditory input through CI in order to balance but this does not restore balance to normal levels. Novel methods are required to reestablish vestibular-type input in this vulnerable population.

Keywords: Balance
Children
Cochlear Implant
Compensatory Mechanisms
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Vestibular
Advisor: Gordon, Karen A
Herbal Medicine Use in Adult Dental School Patients at the University of Toronto

Background: Some herbal medications (HM) may have potential adverse drug interactions and may impact dental treatment. To date, there is a dearth of information on the use of HM among dental patients. Objectives: The primary goal of this study is to determine the prevalence of HM usage among patients in the clinic at the Faculty of Dentistry – University of Toronto. Also, this study will determine the prevalence of recording of HM use in the medical records of the same institution. Materials and Methods: The primary method to assess the prevalence of HM use is by a survey of dental school patients and chart review. Results: 65% of patients currently use one or more HM, while their use is recorded in only 8% of the dental charts. Conclusion: There is a significant difference between the prevalence of HM use and their recording in the dental charts.

Keywords: Dentistry
Herbal medicine
Advisor: Lanca, Jose
Opportunistic Routing in Large-scale Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy self-sufficiency is one of the main bottlenecks in the implementation of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In this regard, energy harvesting (EH), the capture of energy from ambient sources of renewable energies, is a promising solution to the energy problem. However, the resulting randomness in the energy available to nodes forces the redesign of the communications protocols. Of specific interest here is to enable the delivery of sensed data to a fusion center in the EH-WSN. In this thesis, we consider two open problems of practical importance to the implementation of large-scale WSNs. First, we propose the notion of energy outage rate for a single link in WSN as a tool for online consideration of EH in such networks. Second, we propose and mathematically analyze an energy-aware, opportunistic routing protocol for large-scale multi-hop EH-WSNs. Our routing protocol significantly increases the rate of data delivery as compared to the state-of-the-art technologies.

Keywords: Energy Causality
Energy Harvesting
Multi-hop
Opportunistic Routing
Sensor Network
Advisor: Adve, Raviraj
ShahbazPanahi, Shahram
Biocidal and Sporicidal Efficacy of Thermal Spray Copper Alloy Coating with Varying Degrees of Roughness

Abstract The biocidal and sporicidal efficacy of copper alloy coating was compared to copper alloy sheet and stainless steel coupons. For surfaces with roughness values of 0.1 and 3.5 Îźm, no significant difference in the killing of Escherischia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis was observed between copper alloy sheet and thermal spray copper alloy coupons. Scanning electron microscopic analyses revealed that the degradation of B. subtilis endospores and formation of nanoflowers begin within 2 hours after exposure to the copper surfaces. Flower-like nanostructures appeared in intimate contact with partially degraded endospores. Energy dispersive technology analysis revealed that nanoflowers were composed of carbon-copper-phosphate crystals. Focused ion beam sectioning revealed that the majority of nanoflowers have petal-like structures. This study indicates that thermal spray copper alloy coatings are as effective as copper alloy sheet in the destruction of endospores; thus representing a cost-effective and viable strategy for decreasing the risk of infection within hospital settings.

Keywords: Bacillus
Copper alloy
Endospores
Nanoflowers
Surface roughness
Thermal spray coating
Advisor: Mostaghimi, Javad
Ringuette, Maurice
Platelet-rich Plasma and Cartilage Integration

Biological repair of damaged cartilage is limited by the inability of repair tissue to integrate with host tissue. The study hypothesis is that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) will enhance the integration of bio-engineered cartilage with native cartilage due to increased matrix accumulation, and that chondrocytes migrate out of bio-engineered cartilage, while maintaining their chondrogenic phenotype. Bio-engineered cartilage were either soaked in PRP or Hamâ s F12 (control) and then implanted into the core of a native osteochondral explant and cultured for 2-weeks. Integration was evaluated histologically and biomechanically. The mechanisms of integration were evaluated by biochemistry, RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and cell migration assays. PRP-soaked constructs integrated with native explants with significantly greater mechanical strength than controls with increased matrix accumulation at the integration zone. Chondrocytes migrated out of PRP-soaked bio-engineered constructs along fibres. The improved integration may be due in part to the increased matrix accumulation and cell migration at the interface.

Keywords: articular cartilage
biologics
cartilage integration
cell migration
platelet-rich plasma
tissue engineering
Advisor: Wunder, Jay