Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is a common catastrophic lung condition that complicates critical illnesses of many types, most commonly severe infections. In ARDS, the cells that line the airspaces of the lung are injured and die. As a result, the lungs flood with fluid, becoming stiff, scarred and unable to transport oxygen into the bloodstream. Half of all patients with ARDS die, and there are currently no specific therapies to treat the condition, other than to provide supportive care. Erthropoieten (EPO) is a natural hormone that regulates the production of red blood cells in bone marrow. Injecting EPO is an established and safe therapy for anemia in patients with kidney failure, and it has been shown to protect against cell death in experimental models of stroke and heart attack. Patients with critical illness in the intensive care unit have abnormally low levels of EPO in their blood, leading to the hypothesis that low levels of EPO in the lung might contribute to cell injury and death in ARDS. Dr. Ruth MacRedmond’s research is the first to study the presence and activity of EPO in the lung. She is examining the ability of EPO treatment to prevent cell death caused by infection and the protective properties of EPO treatment in preventing ARDS. This project will expand our understanding of the mechanisms of cellular injury and death in ARDS, and explore the potential of EPO to act as a novel and important therapy for this devastating disease.
Year: 2007
Molecular Pathways Linking Socioeconomic Status, Stress Experiences, and Asthma Severity in Children
About three million Canadians have asthma, a chronic disease of the airways that causes shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, coughing, and wheezing. The prevalence of asthma among children in the developed world has been rapidly increasing, with up to one in four urban children affected. Research shows that stressful life experiences as well as low socioeconomic status have been linked to poor asthma outcomes in children. To date, few studies have examined the common underlying molecular mechanisms behind these links. Dr. Jutta Wolf is investigating how these two variables — stress experiences and socioeconomic status (SES) — can biologically influence asthma symptoms. Stress can cause immune cells to produce more “cytokine” molecules. Cytokines are proteins that stimulate or inhibit the activity of immune cells, which can aggravate asthma symptoms. Stress is also associated with the release of the hormone cortisol. Jutta is examining whether cortisol is incapable of suppressing a molecule called NF-kappa B, which causes immune cells to produce more cytokines in asthma patients, exacerbating their symptoms. This research could help care providers identify early signs of worsening asthma in children, so their condition can be better managed.
Prosopagnosia and the processing of familiarity, identity and the self
Brain injuries can have lasting detrimental effects on the way someone thinks and behaves. Prosopagnosia, a rare disorder that can result from brain injury, impairs the ability to recognize faces. Patients with this condition may have trouble recognizing family members, coworkers, and even their own face in the mirror. This disorder is debilitating because everyday interactions rely on being able to recognize people. For example, people usually act quite differently when speaking to their boss or their spouse. With her MSFHR award, Kirsten Dalrymple is studying how the healthy brain recognizes faces and how this function is impaired with prosopagnosia (sometimes known as face blindness). Certain brain activations occur when someone looks at a face. Dalrymple will record and compare how brain activations differ between people who have prosopagnosia and those who function normally. In addition, most people remember things better when there’s a connection to themselves, rather than a reference to something unfamiliar, like the face of a stranger. Dalrymple is investigating whether or not this “self-reference” ability is present in people with prosopagnosia, who may be unaware that they are looking at their own face in a picture, rather than the face of a stranger. Her findings could be used to help patients rehabilitate from, or compensate for, the effects of this disorder.
Bioinformatics of sequence indels: Novel applications for protein network analysis, drug target identification and drug development
Infectious diseases continue to be a huge threat worldwide. The effectiveness of current antibiotics is declining as many life-threatening bacteria have developed resistance to existing drugs, giving rise to the need for a new generation of antibiotics. An important factor responsible for emerging bacterial resistance is that conventional antibiotic drugs are designed to disable proteins on bacteria that allow it to infect host cells. These particular proteins mutate readily, which enhances their potential to develop resistance mechanisms against antibiotic treatment. An alternative strategy in antibiotic development would be to target “conserved” proteins – fundamental proteins that are resistant to mutations, because they perform essential functions that keep the bacteria alive. Michael Hsing’s research is focused on developing antibiotics that selectively target conserved and essential proteins in pathogens. To do this, he is investigating the important biological phenomenon of protein insertions and deletions (referred to as indels) and combining this approach with the latest computational tools to develop novel antibiotics that are more rapid and effective than the conventional approach. His goal is the development of an effective and economical method of developing antibiotic drugs to treat existing and emerging pathogens.
Cognitive, emotional, and behavioural implications of vicarious trauma
Everyone is exposed to stressors in their personal and work lives. How people evaluate and deal with these stressors determines how well they cope, which has implications for their immediate and long term health. Stress can also be less direct, the result of witnessing severe trauma suffered by others, such as the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and London subway attacks in 2005. Research has shown this “vicarious trauma” can also have a substantial impact on health, from post-traumatic stress disorder to depression and persistent worry. Rajiv Jhangiani is studying how individuals react when exposed to trauma indirectly. He is examining how people process information, react emotionally, and make decisions during their exposure to vicarious trauma. Jhangiani is assessing how certain factors influence this reaction and ability to cope, such as identifying with victims, the degree of uncertainty about the situation, information overload, and resilience. This information will help identify how individuals and health and social service providers can support healthy ways of coping with vicarious trauma.
Female sexual arousal disorder subtypes: Conceptualization, diagnosis and treatment
Sexual dysfunctions play a significant role in depression, anxiety, stress, and marital/relationship satisfaction. Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (FSAD) affects approximately 1/4 of women aged 18-59. However, there are no established treatments for this disorder, with drug therapy trials yielding inconclusive and contradictory results. Recently, researchers and clinicians have disputed the current classification of FSAD as it only involves impairments in physiological sexual arousal and ignores the subjective aspect that the majority of women report. As a result, experts in the field have proposed a new classification involving three specific FSAD subtypes. Building on her research as a MSFHR-funded Master’s student, Carolin Klein is conducting a series of three experiments using alternative modes of activating the sympathetic nervous system to extend and replicate previous findings on these subtypes of FSAD. Carolin aims to better understand sexual functioning and the relationship between physiological and subjective sexual arousal in women in order to improve treatments. If further research continues to support the delineation of FSAD into separate subtypes , it may explain why treatments that increase physiological arousal appear to have no, or only a minimal effect on subjective arousal, and vice versa. Accordingly, separate treatments will be needed depending on the FSAD subtype.
Understanding the Day-to-Day Process of Stress and Coping Among Both Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury and Their Primary Emotional Support Providers: Effects on Health, Mood, Functional Ability, and …
Approximately 4 percent of Canadian children are diagnosed with Attention–Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Their symptoms pose significant coping challenges for the child as well as for the parents and are often comorbid with other mental health problems. Indeed, the greatest impairment appears to occur in families of children who have not only ADHD, but also comorbid disorders. However, family factors associated with disorders comorbid with ADHD have received relatively little attention in past studies, with most studies focusing on comorbid oppositional or conduct problems, and few studies examining comorbid anxiety disorders in children with ADHD. Sharon Lee is studying parenting practices associated with childhood ADHD and co-occuring anxiety disorders, She will be comparing parent-child interactions in children with ADHD and comorbid anxiety, children with each disorder alone, and a control group. Analyses will examine how parental responsiveness relates to child comorbid anxiety over and above parental levels of anxiety. This research will help us to understand how parenting style may be related to comorbid anxiety in children with ADHD and such knowledge will be useful in tailoring the empirically-supported parenting interventions used for childhood ADHD to more fully account for the presence of comorbid anxiety.
Exposure to Residential Air Pollution and Diagnosis of Acute Otitis Media During the First Two Years of Life in British Columbia, Canada
Middle ear infection, or otitis media, affects up to 80 per cent of children in North America and is the leading reason children under three visit the doctor, take antibiotics, or have surgery. The costs associated with doctors’ visits, prescriptions and parental work leave are considerable. Elaina MacIntyre is continuing her earlier MSFHR-funded research investigating whether exposure to air pollution increases the risk of middle ear infection in children. The condition is a common complication of upper respiratory tract infections. Since air pollutants irritate the upper respiratory tract, it’s plausible they could play a role in middle ear infections. Recent studies in Europe have found an association between living in areas with high air pollution and the incidence of middle ear infection, but this relationship has not been previously examined in North America. MacIntyre is conducting the first North American study to analyze whether this type of infection is linked to exposure to air pollution from industry, traffic and wood burning sources. Results of her study could be useful in assessing the public health impact and health care costs of middle ear infections, and in helping reduce the incidence through strategies to prevent or limit environmental exposure of young children to environmental conditions that contribute to the development of these infections.
Wheelchair use by nursing home residents: An exploration of the relationship between wheelchair use, activity participation and quality of life
It’s been estimated that more than half of nursing home residents use wheelchairs as their primary means of mobility. But little research has examined wheelchair use within facility settings. A few studies have shown that nursing home residents experience a variety of wheelchair-related problems, such as wheelchair discomfort, immobility, poor posture, and dysfunctional wheelchairs. As well, rather than facilitating independence, wheelchairs may be used as restraints. William Mortenson is conducting a two-phase study on wheelchair use in nursing homes. In the first phase, Mortenson will explore the overall impact of wheelchairs and wheelchair seating on nursing home residents through interviews and observations. In the second phase, he will identify factors that predict wheelchair mobility and investigate the relationship between wheelchair use, activity participation and quality of life amongst nursing home residents. He has three goals for the study: to improve understanding of how the nursing home setting influences the availability of wheelchair equipment and impacts the use of wheelchairs; to improve opportunities for residents to access wheelchairs; to support lobbying for better funding for wheelchairs and wheelchair services. He also hopes his research will ultimately contribute to the health and quality of life of facility residents through the development of an intervention program, which could improve wheelchair-related institutional policies and practices for this increasing segment of the population.
Adjusting for missing information in multilevel models with a non-binary response: identifying socioeconomic, cultural, demographic and clinical predictors of end-of-life health care service …
Many Canadians believe that equal access to health care is a fundamental right; however, evidence suggests that people experience unequal access to end-of-life care. For example, approximately 70 per cent of cancer patients die in hospital. Although little is known about Canadian preferences, international studies suggest people prefer to die at their home. Socioeconomic status is known to play a role in explaining health inequities. Michael Regier is examining whether the impact of the Canadian cultural mosaic (ethnic groups, languages and cultures that interact within Canadian society) on the use of health services is more complex than socioeconomic status alone. Each culture has its own expectations for health services, so the health system must be flexible enough to integrate various cultural understandings of health, but uniform enough to reach everyone. Regier is studying how additional “ecosocial” factors like ethnicity, language, family structure, religious beliefs and acculturation contribute to the way individuals and communities understand and use health care. He is investigating the place of death for cancer patients in BC from this perspective to determine differences in health determinants for end-of-life care. Health planners can use this information to improve access to end-of-life care across cultures, geographic areas and socioeconomic differences.