VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Characterization of mammalian Numb: A structure and function approach

Endocytosis is an important regulator of signaling downstream of cell surface receptors. Receptors are internalized from the plasma membrane into vesicles and transported to multiple locations in the cell and ultimately degraded or recycled back to the cell surface. Sorting throughout the endocytic pathway is regulated by endocytic adaptor proteins. Numb is an endocytic adaptor initially identified in Drosophila as a regulator of cell fate by antagonizing signaling from the Notch receptor. Numb is evolutionarily conserved in mammals and multiple studies have provided evidence for a similar functional role during mammalian development. The Numb protein has multiple protein-protein interaction regions including a carboxy terminal domain that contains conserved endocytic interaction motifs. In this study we identify the EHD/Rme-1/Pincher family of endocytic recycling proteins as Numb interacting partners in mammals and Drosophila. Numb co-localizes with endogenous EHD4/Pincher and Arf6 in a clathrin-independent pathway. Furthermore, functional studies demonstrated a novel role for Numb in endosomal recycling suggesting that Numb functions within multiple intracellular trafficking pathways to modulate receptor signaling. Many endocytic proteins are dynamically regulated by phosphorylation. Numb localizes to the plasma membrane and intracellular vesicles, however in some cell types Numb is asymmetrically localized. In Drosophila, the Par complex containing Par3, Par6 and aPKC, directs the polarized distribution and unequal segregation of Numb during asymmetric cell divisions. Unequal segregation of mammalian Numb has also been observed, but the factors involved are unknown. We identified in vivo phosphorylation sites of mammalian Numb and showed that both mammalian and Drosophila Numb interact with, and are substrates for aPKC in vitro . Furthermore we demonstrated that phosphorylation directs asymmetric localization in polarized mammalian epithelial cells and the Drosophila SOP lineage. Together, these studies into Numb structure and function have revealed a mechanism for directing the asymmetric localization of Numb and suggests that Numb regulates the activity of receptors at the cell surface by the modulation of intracellular trafficking itineraries. These findings highlight the importance of endocytic adaptors in the regulation of developmental signaling pathways and asymmetric cell division.
Effectiveness of sucrose in reducing pain responses in neonates during intramuscular injection of Vitamin K

Objective. To evaluate sucrose for reducing pain in neonates during intramuscular injection of vitamin K. Patients and methods. Double-blind, randomized, controlled trial in the labour and delivery unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. One hundred and twenty healthy neonates were recruited between September 2003 and September 2004. Neonates were randomized to receive either 2ml of 24% sucrose or water on the tongue two minutes prior to Vitamin K injection. Pain was assessed using the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP), percent facial grimacing (FG) and cry duration (CD). Results. There were no significant differences in neonate characteristics between groups. Neonates in the sucrose group had less pain during the procedure than those in the water group as assessed by PIPP scores, percent FG and CD (p le;0.05). Conclusions. Sucrose was effective in reducing pain during intramuscular injection of vitamin K in neonates. It is recommended for routine clinical use.
Experimental and theoretical study of coupled axial and transverse moving belt vibration

This thesis investigates the transverse vibration of a parametrically excited automotive belt, both theoretically and experimentally. Its focus is ascertaining the role and significance a belt's axial vibration can have on its transverse vibration. Experimental data is presented for a belt span subject to a fluctuating pulley excitation. Key features of the observed parametric response are highlighted. A model of the moving belt which considers the axial and transverse vibration coupling is introduced, as derived via analytical mechanics. Trends in the model's predictions are discussed, specifically for changes in belt parameters such as initial tension, transport speed, axial stiffness, and damping. Data sets from the experimental study and the numerical simulation are compared, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the effectiveness of the model. Possible causes for discrepancies between model predictions and experimental observations are discussed. Some conclusions and proposals for future work are offered.
Critical events during out-of-hospital air-medical patient transport in Ontario: A restrospective study

Transporting acutely ill patients outside of healthcare facilities (out-of-hospital transport) is necessary in a regionalized healthcare system but may put patients at risk of clinical deterioration. This thesis presents the design and analysis of a retrospective cohort study that determines the incidence and predictors of in-transit critical events during out-of-hospital air medical transport of high-risk, acutely ill adult patients. The first chapter of this thesis presents the rationale and a conceptual framework for the study of out-of-hospital transport using a novel population-based dataset. The second chapter presents the characteristics of air medical transport in acutely-ill patients in Ontario, and a description of critical events that occur during transport. Chapter Three identifies factors independently associated with in-transit critical events using multivariate regression techniques. Chapter Four summarizes the key findings under three thematic headings and discusses the relevance of each as well as directions for future research and investigation.
Application of quantitative structure-toxicity relationships to quinone-induced cellular oxidative stress

Oxidative stress can be defined as a level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation that overcomes the threshold of cellular detoxification processes, which results in cellular damage. In chapter 1 of this study, we first examined intracellular sources (organelles) for "natural" formation of ROS, by using chemicals that are endogenously found. We determined that substrates metabolized by enzymes associated with mitochondria, peroxisomes, and endoplasmic reticula, formed ROS that lead to cytotoxicity, which became enhanced after catalase inhibition. A correlation between ROS formation and cytotoxicity was found, which led us to study this correlation using xenobiotics. In chapter 2, we examined ROS formation and cytotoxicity induced by a congeneric family of quinones and used quantitative structure-toxicity relationships (QSTRs) to analyze these results for both isolated rat hepatocytes and rat PC12 cells. A two dimensional (2D) QSTR or Hansch analysis was used to derive (multiple) linear regression equations for the cytotoxicity towards both cell types. This analysis identified electron affinity (or electrophilicity) of the quinone as the critical parameter responsible for the observed cytotoxicity and ROS formation. In chapter 3 we determined the effect of inhibiting NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase (NQO), involved in a 2e- quinone reduction, with dicumarol on quinone cytotoxicity and ROS formation. Interestingly, apparent NQO inhibition affected hepatocyte susceptibility to quinones much more than PC 12 cells, which had little NQO activity relative to hepatocytes. Some quinones formed more ROS and were more cytotoxic to NQO inhibited hepatocytes, whilst other quinones were not affected. We derived 2D and three-dimensional (3D) QSTRs and found that both approaches yielded statistically significant models; but the 3D QSTR models were much more accurate. In the last chapter, we identified the bicarbonate anion (HCO3- ) as an important modulator of ROS formation and cytotoxicity. The effect of HCO3 - was titratable, and increased the cytotoxicity of redox cycling quinones, but not alkylating quinones. A carbonate radical mediated cytotoxic mechanism is proposed.
Playwriting as experiential education: beginning the process, from the perspective of three novice playwrights

Write from the Hip is a novice playwriting program for young women, aged 18 to 25, that culminates in a staged reading of 15 minute plays written during the Program. Three playwrights from this Program participated in the research. This thesis examines the process of playwriting from the novice's perspective, through a lens of experiential education theory and practice. Three questions were addressed: Do people learn from taking risks? What blocks or inhibits risk-taking? What happens when those blocks are overcome? Each of the playwrights experienced risk during their writing process. They also acknowledged the importance of trust and the role it played in their ability to complete their plays. The process of stepping outside of one's boundaries links artistic process in general with the novice playwright in Write from the Hip and principles of experiential education.

Keywords: Experiential learning
Writing
Reading
Playwriting
Phenomenological psychology
Study of the Ansei Edo earthquake wood-block prints in the Royal Ontario Museum

This thesis introduces and analyzes prints from an album held in the Royal Ontario Museum of woodblock prints produced after the Ansei Edo Earthquake of 1855. The thesis discusses the background of the Ansei Earthquake, the history and development of kawaraban and namazu-e genres woodblock prints, and the specific characteristics of the ROM album. The middle section addresses the various roles served by these prints for the survivors of the earthquake. I argue that the earthquake prints not only acted as an information medium, but they also fictionalized the terrible event in order to make it comprehensible and ultimately acceptable. Moreover, they also became a means for the townspeople of Edo to critique their own society. Numerous examples of the prints and their texts accompany the interpretive section. The final section provides a representative selection of prints from the album with their texts translated in their entirety.
Producing 'race' in the age of camps: Detention of asylum-seekers and the Australian national body

Since the early 1990s, asylum-seekers arriving on Australian shores have been subject to compulsory incarceration in detention centres--sometimes for several years--until their applications for refugee status have been resolved. This paper takes up theories of 'camps' to explore the ways in which the Australian nation-state has used mandatory immigration detention as a way to circulate certain knowledges about race and national belonging. I argue that mandatory detention of asylum seekers in Australia should not be understood as an historical or political aberration, but as part of a pedagogical project aimed at shoring up fantasies of the Australian racial body.

Keywords: Refugees, Social conditions
Refugees, Australia
Refugee camps, Australia
Refugee camps, Political aspects
Refugee camps, Australia
Racism, Australia
Maternal mending of joint action with aggressive and nonaggressive preschool children during a social-competence interaction task

The increasing number of young children with behavior problems who are brought forward for intervention services indicates the need for early promotion of adaptive processes in parent-child interactions. Currently, there is a need for a more complete understanding of those processes underlying parent-child negotiation and agreement seeking, particularly in varied groups of at-risk dyads. The purpose of this dissertation study was to develop a tool that would allow insight into the dynamics of the mother-child conflict-resolution process, employing a larger early intervention study sample of thirty aggressive and thirty nonaggressive dyads. The major goal was to study the two groups for the significant process-related components of maternal response used to restore interaction ruptures following child disagreements to the pre-defined limit-setting task---termed as maternal mending response. To achieve that, both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analyses were integrated within a mixed method exploratory research design. First, an observationally generated coding system was devised applying the four, theoretically proposed, stages of the social act thought to promote adjustment of parental optimal responses. Second, this coding system was implemented in a smaller-case selected sample of six aggressive and six nonaggressive dyads to highlight the pathways of the maternal mending responses in the two groups. Several empirically derived hypotheses were tested to provide the evidence for its utility. The findings revealed a potential of the coding system to (1) delineate group differences for the particular process-related components associated with maternal mending response, (2) build association patterns with the parent self-report, standardized measures (e.g., self-perceived scores on the effectiveness in parental discipline practice, parent-child communication, received support in parenting, interpretation of child behavior problems and affective state measures), and (3) indicate signs of mother-child positive adjustments in real time (i.e., mother-child reconnection after conflict improved in the aggressive group across the three phases of the interaction task). The study suggested that real time experiences in mastering a developmentally appropriate problem (i.e., joint-goal negotiation task) could be used in promoting more optimal patterns of interaction in dyads with aggressive preschool children.

Keywords: Mother and child
Aggressiveness in children
Conflict management
Preschool children, Psychology
Understanding approaches to optimize sensorimotor and cardiovascular recovery following stroke

Gait is often compromised following stroke, resulting from impairments in sensorimotor control and cardiovascular de-conditioning. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the role of aerobic exercise in sensorimotor control following stroke, and to identify specific training tasks that may optimize both sensorimotor and cardiovascular recovery. Muscle activation patterns and spatio-temporal characteristics of gait were compared between sub-acute stroke participants who received aerobic training on a semi-recumbent ergometer and patients who received traditional rehabilitation only. Aerobic capacity was improved, however hypothesized improvements in sensorimotor control were not observed. We then examined three novel pedaling tasks hypothesized to increase use of one limb in healthy participants to evaluate potential utility with stroke patients. Two tasks that mechanically increased pedaling load and provided electromyographic feedback were identified as candidates for further study. This work has important implications for the evolution of stroke rehabilitation and for improving quality of life following stroke.
Studies of protein-protein interactions at membrane interfaces using correlated atomic force and fluorescence microscopy

Processes occurring at membrane interfaces are important for cellular and biological functions. The inability to readily crystallize membrane proteins for X-ray diffraction, or in solution NMR to study proteins with large molecular weight and to retain all intramolecular structures of the membrane proteins during their solubilisation process by detergents are the key reasons for a scarcity of atomic-resolution membrane protein structures. This has hindered our understanding of the structure-function relationship of membrane proteins. New strategies for studying membrane proteins will provide more insights. In this thesis, we have coupled atomic force microscopy and two fluorescence microscopy techniques---total internal reflectance fluorescence microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy, to visualize protein-membrane interactions and dynamics in model membrane systems. To validate our correlated approach, we investigated the partitioning of various lipid fluorescent probes in phase-separated supported planar bilayers. We applied the same methodology in two case studies of peptide-membrane interactions in supported planar bilayers: (1) indolicidin, a cationic 13 amino-acid peptide isolated from bovine neutrophils, as a model of antimicrobial peptide-membrane interactions, and (2) NAP-22 peptide, a cationic myristoylated peptide crucial for neuronal growth and plasticity, as a model of protein-induced lipid recruitment. Using this combined AFM-fluorescence approach with supported planar bilayers, we showed that: (1) the attachment of a fluorescent dye molecule can alter the physical properties of the host lipid and inhibit the lipid-dye conjugate from associating with raft domains, (2) indolicidin preferentially associates with the more disordered fluid domain and induces gel domain lowering in a concentration- and lipid-dependent manner, and (3) NAP-22 peptide induces coalescence of raft domains at low peptide concentration and phase-immersion at high peptide concentration resulting the co-localization of cholesterol and phosphatidylinositol biphosphates. This work demonstrates the versatility of a combined AFM-fluorescence approach as well as its limitations of the current configurations.
Cultural differences in social relevance: does the analytic/holistic distinction apply?

The alleged contradistinction between the holistic perception of East Asians and the analytic perception of Westerners was examined in relation to the differential relevance of social targets. University of Toronto students of Chinese or Western-European ethnicity viewed single-word responses attributed to three different targets in a word-association exercise. Incidental memory for responses of the primary target and the two non-primary targets was compared across ethnocultural groups to examine the extent to which groups found each target relevant. Holistic perception, as recently discussed by others in relation to culture, would suggest better memory among Chinese than Western-European Canadians for the non-primary targets. This pattern was not found. In fact, there were no overall memory differences across groups. However, women's memory was superior to that of men. Also, Chinese Canadian women showed better memory for targets who shared their ethnicity. These results suggest that cultural patterns of social relevance do not conform to the simple holistic/analytic distinction.
Fit testing for N95 respiratory protection programs in GTA hospitals

Fit testing is an integral component of all respiratory protection programs. The objectives of this study were to describe the fit testing program at St. Michael's Hospital and to survey and compare various components (including: availability, location and resources) of each program in acute care hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area. Particular focus was placed on identifying key challenges in the successful implementation of the various respiratory protection programs. The results indicated lack of uniformity between fit testing programs. Lack of worker support (i.e.: non-compliance with fit testing) and inadequate respirator supply were identified as the main challenges in the implementation of the fit testing programs. Fit testing availability, location, resources and policies were associated with greater compliance. Further research is recommended to determine the impact of these key elements towards a successful fit testing program.
Spatial and temporal assessment of fish habitat and environmental-nearshore fish community relationships in the eastern Lake Erie basin

Environmental conditions were used to determine relationships with the nearshore fish assemblage of the eastern basin and to model habitat for different life stages of walleye in the eastern Lake Erie basin adjacent to the outflow of the Grand River. Optimal walleye habitat tended to be found along the shoreline of the lake and dependent on the Grand River plume. Generally, there was very little optimal walleye habitat found in the lower reaches of the Grand River. The nearshore fish assemblage tended to be size-structured and related to specific environmental conditions, such as conductivity, temperature, dissolved organic carbon, chloride concentrations, alkalinity, sampling date and abundances of emergent and submergent plants. Improvements in both biotic and abiotic features of habitat in the nearshore and tributaries will enhance the amount of habitat optimal for specific fish species, and thereby the potential abundance of these fish species.
Membrane-based fractionation and concentration of sinapic acid from the waste permeate from yellow mustard protein effluent

Sinapic acid is the main phenolic compound present in mustard. Phenolic acids are aromatic secondary plant metabolites belonging to class of plant phenolics. Based on a lab-scale aqueous process for making protein isolate from yellow mustard flour, a membrane intensive scheme was developed to recover sinapic acid and water as a separate product from the waste stream obtained after separation of protein isolate as main product. Instead of solvents or adsorbents, a combination of ultrafiltration and diafiltration was used to fractionate sinapic acid from the protein and other components, and sinapic acid was then concentrated by reverse osmosis. A yield of approximately 62% of the total amount of sinapic acid in starting material, waste permeate and 43% based on the total amount of sinapic acid in defatted mustard flour was obtained in the reverse osmosis retentate. Finally a cleaning procedure was studied to recover the permeate flux after and results showed that 62% cleaning efficiency was obtained using NaOH, while 74% efficiency was attained when 2mM EDTA solution was used as a cleaning agent.
Glacilacustrine sedimentation processes at Llewellyn Inlet, Atlin Lake, British Columbia: Implications for Little Ice Age climate change

The Llewellyn Glacier discharges from the Juneau Icefield into Llewellyn Inlet along the southwest margin of Atlin Lake in northwestern British Columbia. Patterns of sediment accumulation and deposition processes are reconstructed using Ekman, gravity and percussion cores (0.35--1.34 m) and CHIRP sub-bottom acoustics in order to establish a link between Little Ice Age (LIA) climate change and the style and quantity of sediment delivered to Llewellyn Inlet. 137Cs dating from cores demonstrate that the surface sediments are varved and allow for reconstruction of a sediment accumulation records for the last 275 years. There is a dramatic reduction in sediment delivery since 1950 related to the opening of a pro-glacial lake at the terminus of the Llewellyn Glacier. The sediment chronology matches other regional LIA glacier chronologies showing two phases of probably glacier advance, but provides a new and higher resolution record of climate-induced changes.