Alberta Academic Review
Not a member yet
34936 research outputs found
Sort by
Using participatory research to explore the oral health awareness of junior and senior high students at L.Y. Cairns School
Full text linkIntroduction. Vulnerable populations, such as school-aged adolescents with mild cognitive disabilities, can be partners in the creation of interactive learning tools. Objectives. This participatory qualitative study involved teachers and school-aged adolescents in the creation of artwork that answered 4 questions: 1) What does a healthy mouth look like? 2) What does an unhealthy mouth look like? 3) What foods keep your teeth healthy?, and 4) What are some healthy teeth habits? Methods/Results. Three teachers and their 33 students provided artwork that depicted their answers to the 4 questions, and written descriptions. The researchers coded the artwork individually and grouped the data into 4 major categories: Healthy vs. unhealthy (yellow teeth, pain); Lifestyle (no smoking, visiting the dentist), healthy habits (brushing, flossing); and Foods and Nutrition (fruits and vegetables - to eat, soda pops and pizza - to avoid). A four-minute-long video featuring animations of the students’ artwork was created professionally to showcase their knowledge and facilitate an interactive learning tool. Conclusion. Co-learning between researchers and participants fostered positive, collaborative learning within the community. Significance. This study provided insights into an effective strategy for creating oral health education tools for the learners, by the learners. The video presentation will be used by dental hygiene students to engage vulnerable populations in a discussion about oral health.
 
Chest compression effectiveness with vs without feedback
Full text linkThe objective of this experiment is to assess clinician perceived versus actual compression quality, and to evaluate the impact of using feedback from the Laerdal CPRMeter2 on compression quality. In our setup, we have a total of eighty four participants (43 from the Royal Alex and 41 from the Misericordia hospital). We monitored CPR quality based on the guidelines by Heart and Stroke, which breaks down chest compression effectiveness into three areas- Release, Depth and Rate. Proper Guidelines: Compress the chest at least 5cm (2inches); Compress at a rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute; Allow the chest to recoil completely after each compression. Clinical Setup: A convenience sample of participants performed two minutes of uninterrupted chest compressions on a Laerdal Resusci Anne with a CPRmeter2 on top without feedback, followed by a two minute rest period to fill out a Q.I tracking form. They later repeated the two minutes of chest compressions with the display of the CPRmeter uncovered, with the feedback visible. The chest compression metrics from the trials were compared using a data tracking form. From the data collected, enough evidence shows that the CPRmeter2 is able to improve release, rate and overall CPR quality. After filling out the survey, all of the nurses agree that the device is very useful in giving feedback and should be used in future CPR classes. Furthermore, data collected from the Q.I tracking forms indicates that nurses and other health clinicians are inadequate in predicting their own CPR abilities. Often times, nurses would either overpredict or underpredict their scores on the CPR meter. From the data gathered, the CPRmeter2 is going to be used for training in future CPR classes. Just recently, the device has been incorporated into code calls in the emergency department at the Misericordia. A T-test was done on the findings from the experiment to test if the means of two sets of data are significantly different from each other. Based on our findings, the t-test values for rate, release, and overall quality are statistically significant, meaning that the null hypothesis is rejected.
 
Text Recognition and Machine Learning: For Impaired Robots and Humans
Full text linkAs robots and machines become more reliable, developing tools that utilize their potential in manufacturing and beyond is an important step being addressed by many, including the LIMDA team at the University of Alberta. A common and effective means to improve artificial performance is through optical character recognition methods. Within the category of artificial intelligence under classification machine learning, research has focussed on the benefits of convolutional neural networks (CNN) and the improvement provided compared to its parent method, neural networks. Neural networks serious flaw comes from memorization and the lack of learning about what the images contain, while CNN\u27s combat those issues. CNN’s are designed to connect information received by the network and begins to closely mimic how humans experience learns. Using the programming language Python and machine learning libraries such as Tensorflow and Keras, different versions of CNN’s were tested against datasets containing low-resolution images with handwritten characters. The first two CNN’s were trained against the MNIST database against digits 0 through 9. The results from these tests illustrated the benefits of elements like max-pooling and the addition of convolutional layers. Taking that knowledge a final CNN was written to prove the accuracy of the algorithm against alphabet characters. After training and testings were complete the network showed an average 99.34% accuracy and 2.23% to the loss function. Time-consuming training epochs that don’t wield higher or more impressive results could also be eliminated. These and similar CNN’s have proven to yield positive results and in future research could be implemented into the laboratory to improve safety. Continuing to develop this work will lead to better translators for language, solid text to digital text transformation, and aides for the visual and speech impaired
A Walk Through the City of Edmonton
Full text linkAs an industry placement through the WISEST Summer Research Program, an opportunity was provided to work with the City of Edmonton in an exploration of careers in engineering and architecture. The focus and scope of this placement was mainly centred around the Integrated Infrastructure and Engineering Services at the City. Through shadowing multidisciplinary engineers, technologists and architects, experience in both administrative and more hands-on work was gained. Some career pathways that were explored include materials engineering, geotechnical engineering, facilities (structural, mechanical and electrical) engineering, environmental engineering, geomatics engineering, and architecture. Throughout the duration of the program, information about the different roles and their collaboration with each other was gathered. Instead of performing research in labs, absorption of information was conducted mainly through means of observation. The City of Edmonton provided opportunities to attend various site visits, building and lab tours, and even to meetings in downtown. Tasks such as reviewing reports and drawings, attending meetings, and sitting in on business calls, all demonstrated the administrative nature of engineering and architecture. On the other hand, the more hands-on aspects of engineering were also emphasised through tasks such as assisting with field work, on-site testing, sample collecting, and data logging. With Integrated Infrastructure Services (IIS), the collaborative and interconnected nature of these careers were displayed, as each branch worked in conjunction with each other. The role of each different type of engineering and architecture is further defined in sequential order of the stages that leads to the life cycle of a construction project. This shows the direct results of each career field in contributing to the development, progression and completion of a project
Establishing CRISPR/Cas9 in Lipomyces starkeyi
Full text linkThe goal of this project was to adapt the Yarrowia lipolytica plasmid based CRISPR/Cas9 system for usage in Lipomyces starkeyi. Lipomyces starkeyi is an oleaginous yeast, which synthesizes and stores high amounts of intracellular lipids. This specific yeast can store lipids at concentrations higher than 60% of its dry cell weight. Due to these high concentrations of lipids, L. starkeyi is a desired organism for the production of biofuels and other oleochemicals. However, there is a lack of knowledge and of genetic tools when trying to engineer the cells to produce these lipids for our use. The genome editing tool, CRISPR/Cas9 is efficient and simple, therefore desirable for the engineering of L. starkeyi. The goal was achieved by replacing the Y. lipolytica promoter with a L. starkeyi promoter, inserting guide RNA, as well as confirming cas9 protein expression
Cannabis in the Emergency Department: The impact of cannabis legalization on cannabis and opioid-related presentations
No full textBackground: On October 17th, 2018, non-medical cannabis became legal to adults for the first time in Canada. This has created a previously unseen opportunity to investigate the effects of recreational cannabis legalization in a developed country, particularly on strained Emergency Departments (EDs). Secondly, reports within the United States have suggested state-level legalization of cannabis, both recreationally and medically, has resulted in a decrease of opiate-related presentations. Given the pressure of the opiate crisis on healthcare resources, we sought to examine if this trend was present in Alberta.
Objectives: The current study aims to identify if presentation patterns in adult and pediatric populations have changed when comparing pre- and post-legalization periods, and if rural-urban disparities exist. We also aim to identify if the legalization of cannabis is correlated with a reduction in opiate-related ED presentations. Lastly, we aimed to address the aforementioned objectives in the context of telehealth by examining calls to poison control and HealthLink within Alberta.
Methods: Retrospective data was collected from the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System, HealthLink, and Poison and Drug Information Service. Extraction is currently in progress, and we expect to include 20 000 records and 12 000 calls. An interrupted time-series analysis will be completed, allowing for a comparison of trends pre- and post-legalization. Participants have been identified based on International Disease Classifications for cannabis and opiate-related injury. Commonly reported injuries will be clustered to identify changes in injury patterns. Data was collected from October 1st 2013 up to May 31st, 2019 for all EDs within Alberta.
Results: Preliminary results suggest the legalization of cannabis initially led to a dramatic increase in ED presentations, followed by a return to pre-legalization volume. HealthLink data suggests a different trend, with steadily increasing calls in the months prior to legalization, followed by stabilization. Cannabis legalization is also correlated with a decrease in post-legalization opiate-related calls (r=-0.51, p=0.01).
Conclusion: Overall, national legalization of cannabis appears to be responsible for a short period of increased ED usage, but does not appear to have long-lasting effects on healthcare resource utilization. Differences are apparent between telehealth service and ED use
A brief mindfulness-based intervention reduces eating disorder symptoms and improves eating self-efficacy and emotion regulation among adults seeking bariatric surgery
Full text linkBackground Up to 64% of bariatric (weight-loss) surgery-seeking adults report eating disorder (ED) symptoms (i.e., binge eating, emotional eating, addictive-like eating, and grazing) that can interfere with surgery outcomes. Well-designed pre-surgical interventions targeting eating behaviours may reduce ED symptoms and protect against suboptimal surgery outcomes.
Objectives Provide proof-of-concept data to inform the design and optimization of a pre-surgical mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) for ED symptoms. Evaluate whether the MBI produces meaningful improvements in ED symptoms and clarify the mechanisms-of-action by which the MBI impacts ED symptoms.
Methods Twenty-one pre-surgical patients with obesity and ED symptoms referred to a MBI completed self-report measures of addictive-like eating, binge eating, emotional eating, grazing, mindful eating, eating self-efficacy, and emotion regulation pre-(T1) and post-(T2) MBI.
Results Repeated-measures ANOVAs revealed improvements in binge eating symptoms (F (1,20) = 30.38, ηp2 = .60, p < .001) and grazing (F (1,20) = 7.57, ηp2 = .28, p = .012), pre- to post-MBI. Adjusting for multiple comparisons, no significant improvements were found for addictive-like eating or emotional eating. Eating self-efficacy (F (1,20) = 29.70, ηp2 = .60, p < .001) and emotion regulation (F (1,20) = 7.18, ηp2 = .26, p = .014) improved, while mindful eating decreased (F (1,20) = 16.25, ηp2 = .45, p = .001), following the MBI. Bivariate correlations found associations between improvements in the mechanism of eating self-efficacy and improvements in the ED symptom of grazing pre- to post-MBI (r = 0.46, p < .05). As well, improvements in emotion regulation were associated with positive changes in binge and emotional eating and grazing (r = 0.55, p < .001, r = 0.66, p < .001, r = 0.61, p < .05, respectively).
Conclusions After participating in the MBI binge eating, grazing, eating self-efficacy, and emotion regulation abilities improved. Further work is needed to understand and mitigate deterioration in mindful eating. Moreover, acceptability and feasibility of the MBI should be assessed prior to testing the MBI in a large-scale efficacy trial. Future research should assess the the impact of this intervention on post-surgery weight-loss, weight-loss maintenance, and maintenance of improvements in ED symptoms
Transgenerational effects of ancestral prenatal stress on the gut-brain axis
Full text linkThe effects of ancestral prenatal stress can propagate across generations to alter the well-being of directly and indirectly exposed descendants via epigenetic mechanisms. Prenatal stress has been shown to alter the function of the gut-brain axis, a bi-directional signaling pathway between the gut microbiome and the enteric and central nervous systems. There has been no study investigating the impact of remote prenatal stress in ancestors on the gut-microbiome connection. Here we investigated if exposure to transgenerational ancestral stress affects the gut-brain axis through changes in the microbiome and microbiota. A multigenerational rat cohort consisting of a F0, F1, F2, and F3 generation was utilized in this study. Pregnant dams in the F0 generation were exposed to repeated restraint stress and overnight social isolation from gestational days 12-18. Breeding of three successive generations occurred in the absence of gestational stress along with a lineage of yoked controls. Fecal collection occurred for males and female in each generation at the age of 30 days, 90 days, and 115 days. Fecal samples were analyzed using 1H-NMR spectroscopy to examine the metabolome. The data are being analysed using supervised and unsupervised machine learning approaches. The data are expected to reveal that the fecal metabolome is characteristically altered by ancestral prenatal stress in each generation, resulting in a biomarker signature that is linked to the behavioural phenotype. We predict changes in the gut metabolome and microbiome to be most significant in the F3 generation. These findings could lead to further understanding of intestinal dysbiosis and its impact on the brain, and sex-specific metabolic biomarkers that are predictive of stress-associated adverse health outcomes
Investigation of Silicon Nanoparticle-Polystyrene Hybrids
Full text linkCurrent LED lights are created with quantum dots made of metals like selenium, tellurium, and cadmium which can be toxic. Silicon is used as a non-toxic substance and is the second most abundant element in the earth\u27s crust. When silicon is prepared at a nanometer size, unique luminesce optical properties emerge that can be tuned using sized surface chemistry. Therefore, silicon nanoparticles can be used as an alternative emitter for LED lights. To produce hydride-terminated silicon nanoparticles we must synthesize the particles. Hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) is processed at 1100 °C for one hour causing Si to cluster and form a SiO2 matrix, also known as the composite. The composite is then manually crushed in ethanol. The solution is further ground using glass beads, then filtered to get the composite powder. The final step is the HF etching. The hydride-terminated particles are then functionalized using three different methods to synthesize silicon nanoparticle-polystyrene hybrids, which determine the magnitude of luminosity and the quality of the hybrids. We spin coat each method and results were analyzed. Method 1 uses heat to functionalize hydride-terminated silicon nanoparticles with styrene. This process also causes styrene to attach to styrene to form a polystyrene chain. Method 1 gave a homogeneous mixture which yielded a consistent, bright and homogenous film. In method 2, dodecyl-terminated silicon nanoparticles are mixed with premade polystyrene. While this method gave better control of the amount of silicon nanoparticles inside the polymer hybrid, a homogeneous mixture was not created due to the different structures of polystyrene and dodecyl chains. Method 3 has dodecyl-terminated silicon with in-situ styrene polymerization. It generated a homogeneous mixture. The in-situ polymerization stabilizes the particles, allowing for brighter luminescence. Because of the stability and lower molecular weight, the mixture was easier to dissolve. We concluded that the different methods resulted in different polymer molecular weights and this created distinct properties between the polymer hybrids when spin-coating.
 
Piecing Together Prehistoric Life: Scanning and Articulating Gorgosaurus
Full text linkThe Skull bones of a Gorgosaurus Libratus was laser scanned in order to articulate the model into software and 3D print. The model had to be articulated due to some missing bone, making it unrealistic to put together. Using the scanned pieces we articulated the model making a skull of The Gorgosaurus Libratus. This detailed computer skull can be sent anywhere in the world, for anyone to study. These scans could also be used to find out how the Gorgosaurus Libratus bit down or determine the way these animals moved. Prior to laser scanning, a method known as Photogrammetry was used. This method involves taking photos of the model and processing the images on a computer, which slow down the process. Another way used to replicate bones was by making silicone molds. This could damage the bone which makes it a method used less often. Laser scanning is the fastest and safest method in order to scan a bone. After the bones were articulated on the computer they were sent to a 3D printer. Unfortunately, the printer beds could not hold the massive skull. Due to this, the bones were printed half size. In order to 3D print, the holes of the model had to be filled using another program. The holes were caused by the light of the laser scanner not being able to go into all the holes creating shadows that the laser scanner could not pick up. However, after the holes were filled some of the objects were still too big to fit on the printer bed. Therefore, some of the objects were cut in half to fit. The 3D printed models were then printed and assembled