Dyslexia affects a person’s ability to process language in order to learn to read. If undetected and untreated, the neurological disorder can lead to antisocial behaviour, depression, suicide and other consequences. Nonie Lesaux’s initial research on dyslexia revealed the persistent nature of literacy problems in adults, convincing her of the critical need to identify children at-risk of developing the disorder and intervene at an early stage. Now Lesaux is researching the effectiveness of a kindergarten intervention program for at-risk students, with a particular interest in the social and environmental factors that compound this disorder. Because dyslexia often goes undetected among low-income groups and those who speak English as a second language (ESL), Lesaux is specifically focusing on the effectiveness of the intervention program for children from low-income and ESL families. She hopes that a key result of the research will be a kindergarten screening tool to easily and accurately identify dyslexia in children.
Research Location: University of British Columbia - Point Grey
Assessing the Mental Health of Canadians: What are we measuring and How Does it Relate to Health Care Utilization?
Many studies have identified socio-economic status as a major factor affecting health. Christopher Richardson is narrowing the focus to look specifically at the relationship between socio-economic status, mental health and health care usage. This study involves the use of sophisticated statistical technologies to analyze data from National Population Health Surveys on factors affecting health such as education, income and mental health. Richardson hopes this work will lead to a better understanding of mental health and the ability to more precisely measure mental health and its connection to health care usage.
Mapping the socio-cognitive determinants of bullying and victimization: Preventative steps toward reducing childhood aggression
Bullying and victimization plague one in five Canadian children and the incidence and severity of such behaviours is increasing. Even more alarming are the long-term consequences of this behaviour, including delinquency and abusive behaviour in adulthood for bullies, and depression and suicidal behaviour for victims. Most programs designed to prevent bullying and victimization emphasize controlling and monitoring children’s lives, with limited success. Bryan Sokol’s research takes a different approach. Sokol is putting together psychological profiles of children who are routinely aggressive and those who engage in bullying. His study aims to identify the internal, or psychological factors that distinguish non-aggressive children from bullies. Sokol, who has previously researched suicide among First Nations adolescents, hopes his study will ultimately lead to more effective prevention of the health problems resulting from childhood aggression.
The Contribution of Auditory Temporal Processing to Speech Perception in Noise: Speech Comprehension Deficits in the Elderly
A common and frustrating difficulty for the elderly is understanding speech in everyday conversation, especially where the background is noisy. People commonly report that different sound sources are “Jumbled” (e.g. voices, background sounds). We propose that the brain relies on high fidelity transmission of sound codes and compares their timing in order to sort out different sound sources: When auditory neurons are activated in synchrony, their activity is perceived as representing a single sound source. Conversely, asynchronous activation conveys the presence of multiple sources. We hypothesize that age-related changes in auditory neurons introduce timing errors to the sound code, thereby compromising the use of synchrony to separate multiple sounds during perception. We will simulate this age-related hearing disorder by altering the temporal structure of speech to disrupt neural synchrony and speech perception in noise so that younger listeners experience elderly-like difficulties understanding speech in noise. In parallel, we will simulate the disorder in established computer models of auditory neurons to delineate the influence of reduced signal fidelity on sound codes and synchrony binding in the brain. The long-term goal of this research is the development of a novel hearing test battery designed to address speech-in-noise problem. We also hope to contribute to the development of novel hearing aid technology, where the device employs the temporal structure of sound to separate a single voice from the noisy environment. Currently, hearing aid technology entails the indiscriminant amplification of all sounds in the listener’s environment.
Early events of infection and genome adaptation to parasitism in Microsporidia
Microsporidia are a group of parasites composed of just a single cell, but are found to infect all known animals – including humans – and can be fatal to people with compromised immune systems, such as AIDS or transplant patients. Microsporidia grow and multiply inside their host cells, but they exist outside of their hosts as spores that can infect nearby cells. Dr. Naomi Fast is striving to understand the cellular signals that the parasite uses to infect cells. She is examining and comparing what genes are expressed before and after spores infect their hosts, to identify genes that are specifically activated during infection. Identifying these genes could point to potential targets for drug treatments.
First Nations Metaphors of Health and Trauma
Drawing from decade-long work experience as a pediatric nurse with children and adolescents in crisis, and academic work in developmental psychology, comparative literature and analysis of narratives, Dr. Ulrich Teucher is studying cross-cultural differences in young people’s sense of identity and concepts of health. Teucher hopes the research, which involves visiting remote First Nations communities, will improve understanding of these differences and provide a clearer view of what good health means to First Nations youth. This may provide new insights into reasons for the high rate of suicide and among First Nations youth and contribute to better methods of assisting those at high-risk for this behaviour.
The role of BDNF in progesterone and estradiol effects on cell proliferation, survival and cell fate in the dentate gyrus of adult female rats following contusion
Research has revealed that adult humans and all other mammals are unique in their ability to generate new brain cells as part of a process called neurogenesis. After a traumatic injury, estrogen and progesterone (female steroid hormones) and the Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) protein help the brain recover. Jennifer Wide’s Masters research focused on the interaction between estrogen and neurogenesis, and in particular, the effects of chronic estradiol treatment on neurogenesis. Based on previous research, she hypothesized that changes in neural structure affect cognition, such as through working memory (also known as short-term memory). She studied, therefore, the effects of estradiol treatment on acquisition and reacquisition of working memory. The research demonstrated that chronic estradiol treatment has a significant differential effect on working memory, especially in low doses. Increasing understanding of neurogenesis will bring researchers closer to the goal of replacing lost cells throughout the brain and have a major impact on neurotrama and neurophsychiatric disorders.
Bone Health in Adult Women: The Relevance of Dietary Restraint, Cortisol Excretion and Nutrition-Related Stress
Candice Rideout is fascinated with bones. Despite a perception that bones are static once we’re fully grown, they’re actually ever-changing, which intrigues Candice. She is also interested in how nutritional behaviours affect bone health. The two interests come together in her research. Candice, who transferred from a Masters to PhD program, is examining bone health in adult women, looking specifically at possible links between dietary restraint, stress and bone density. The first phase of the research involved a broad survey of more than 1000 healthy postmenopausal women. Phase II will be an intensive study of a sub-group of women from the first phase, in which Candice will investigate the hypothesis that high levels of dietary restraint (the perception that one is constantly monitoring and attempting to limit food intake in an effort to achieve or maintain a desired weight) is associated with increased stress and possibly lower bone density. The diet and physical health of Phase II participants will be studied over a three-month period. Candice hopes this research will contribute to a better understanding of how nutritional factors relate to women’s health and wellbeing.
Regulation of the transcriptional activator, beta-catenin, by the B cell receptor
Sherri Christian is studying a process that’s integral to the immune system: the development of B cells that produce antibodies – immune cells that attach to and destroy infectious microbes and other harmful agents. Signals from within and outside B cells direct the multi-stage process by which these cells develop. Christian is investigating the nature of these signals and specifically examining the regulation of a protein called beta-catenin. The protein’s importance in the development of other cell types suggests it may play a similar developmental role in B cells. Christian hopes that increasing understanding of B cell development will ultimately lead to therapies for prevention of disease, such as cancer, which occurs when the normal process of cell development goes awry.
Characterization of retinoschisin, the protein involved in X-linked juvenile retinoschisis
X-linked retinoschisis is the most common form of retina damage in young males. Symptoms of the genetic disease include splitting of the retina’s inner layers, blood vessel rupturing and sometimes blindness. It is often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed due to diverse changes in the retina that can occur. Winco Wu is investigating the nature of the retinoschisin protein, produced by the gene that causes the disease. He is selectively examining mutations of retinoschisin and determining the protein’s exact size, whether it binds to other molecules, and how it interacts with other proteins and its own subunits. Improving understanding of retinoschisin will further knowledge of how retina deterioration occurs, and may ultimately lead to therapies for diseases such as X-linked retinoschisis. Learning about the protein will also shed light about proteins with similar characteristics that are involved in cancer and nervous system development.