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A Consolidation Algorithm for Fractionated Genomes Without a Reference
No full textAfter a genome duplication event, genes are deleted essentially at random from duplicated regions in a process called fractionation. This fractionation of the genome can lead to overestimation of the evolutionary distance between species. Software to identify these regions and correct for the distortion caused by fractionation is available, but it relies upon an ancestor genome which did not experience a duplication event for reference. This means that the distortion cannot be corrected for some species when a reference genome is not available. To gain a better understanding of the evolutionary history of these species, we are developing software to identify fractionated regions with a consolidation algorithm that does not require a reference genome
Revealing Sleep\u27s Hidden Functions
No full textThere are two universally observed states of awareness found in all animal species studied up to date, awake and asleep. Wakefulness is characterized by a high arousal level in which the organism is aware of the environment, a state of consciousness in which an individual engages in coherent cognitive responses. In contrast, sleep is defined by a low level of awareness, a quiescent behavior with a reduced responsiveness in which most external inputs to the brain are excluded from neural processing. While the biological function of sleep remains obscure, it has been observed that sleep deprivation has severe consequences for health and well-being, up to and including death. Proposed sleep functions include energy conservation, repairing wear and tear in cellular machinery, removing chemical waste products produced during the waking hours and reinforcement of learning and memory consolidation.
This poster will review the literature to date and focus on recent works suggesting that sleep is required to detoxify the metabolic waste products that accumulate during the wake period. This neurotoxic waste clearance is thought to be done by cerebrospinal fluid transport via the glymphatic system. Recently, the restorative effects of sleep have been linked to the synaptic plasticity observed in learning and memory, the ability of synapses to strengthen or weaken over time in response to changes in their activity. The synaptic structural changes involve both gene expression linked to the formation of new synapses and the covalent modifications of preexisting synaptic machinery
Analytical Study of Epicatechin Levels in Green Teas from Different Geographical Origins using Ultraviolet Spectrophotometry
No full textEpicatechin is a type of natural phenol and antioxidant, and it is a secondary metabolite found in green tea. Some research suggests it has a neuroprotective function because it is able to pass through the blood-brain barrier and activate the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) pathways. In this work, UV-Vis spectrophotometry was used to quantify the levels of epicatechin in the tea samples. The result obtained were used to compare the amounts of epicatechin in up to 20 different brands of green tea from different geographical origins. Various experimental conditions such as different water types for making the tea, temperature and time used for the tea and sugar additives were also investigated to determine their effect on the levels of epicatechin in the green teas. The precision, accuracy, and sensitivity were determined to validate the method. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to discriminate green teas in order to test the hypothesis that there is a difference of epicatechin level in green teas which grow in different geographical origins
Determination of the Octanol:Water Partition Coefficient of Indolicidin45 by Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography
No full textAntibiotic resistant bacteria (superbugs) are becoming a real problem in today’s world. There are new bacteria emerging that are completely resistant to the pharmaceutical industry\u27s conventional antibiotics such as penicillin. These superbugs are extremely dangerous as there is essentially no way to kill them and many resulting sicknesses have fatal results. In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have begun to garner interest. AMPs show a lot of potential to becoming a solution for the antimicrobial resistant pandemic the future holds. The AMP, indol45, an analog of indolicidin which has had the 4th and 5th tryptophan residues replaced with alanine, has shown increased antimicrobial activity along with reduced hemolytic activity when compared to indolicidin, making it a more viable candidate as an antimicrobial agent. The antibacterial properties of this peptide are still unknown. Whether the bacteria are killed via lyses of its membrane or by an intracellular mechanism is unknown. The aim of this research is to utilize the VEKC technique to determine the octanol-water partition coefficient. VEKC is a vesicular variation of Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography (MEKC). By determining the partition coefficient, the ability of the drug to pass through the membrane of bacteria can be determined, helping us better understand the mode of action of indol and its derivative indol45’s antibacterial properties, elucidating its potential ability as a therapeutic antimicrobial agent
Investigation of the Development of a Method for Determining Haloacetic Acids in Drinking Water Using Combined Derivatization and Static Headspace Analysis with GC/MS
No full textHaloacetic acids (HAA) are Disinfection By-products (DBP) formed when water with natural organic matter is disinfected with chlorine. HAA are regulated in Canadian drinking water at a maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) for total HAA in drinking water of 0.08 mg/L (80 µg/L). They are considered to have potential health impacts so therefore monitoring them in drinking water is required. Standard methods for determination of HAA are time consuming and involve multiple steps and reagents. Many recent literature studies have focussed on development of alternative methods using less solvent and fewer steps. Some examples are Carador et al that use micro-extraction with pentanes and Sarrion et al that uses solid phase micro extraction (SPME). Both methods use Static Headspace GC-MS as their choice of instrument and detector. The goal of the research is to investigate development of a method to determine Dichloroacetic Acid as a model HAA by combining in-situ derivatization in water with Static Headspace (SH) GC-MS. The initial approach has been to build on the work of Sarrion. It is the goal to remove these extraction processes and to see if the aqueous derivatization and SH GC-MS will allow analysis of HAA in drinking water. Results to date will be presented and discussed
Introduction to Community Service-Learning (SRCL 1000)
Get PDFIntroduction to Community Service-Learning is a general elective open to first to fourth year international and domestic students from a variety of disciplines across campus. Every fall and winter semester each student volunteers at one of 30 local not-for-profit organizations for a full semester. Students are required to complete 24 hours of service as part of their course work. In this poster session, 16 not-for-profit organizations will be represented by 27 SRCL 1000 students. They will demonstrate personal reflections on their service experiences, how their experiences connect to the course work and their organizations, and what they will take back to their own communities after the course is over.
Students representing the following Kamloops not-for-profit organizations:
Active Care Services: Nolan Fenrich
St. John Ambulance: Damilola Abiyo and Ryuki Furuta
Overlander Residential Care: Glory Amukamara
Ponderosa Lodge: Rahab Kariuki
The Kamloops Food Bank: Yu Cao, Surkamal Singh Jhand, Xiangzhong Kong and Ruotong Shi
The ReStore – Habitat for Humanity: Dion Maborekhe, Fengyi Yang and Haonan Deng
Kamloops Immigrant Services: Dipak Parmar
Maple Leaf School: Qian Wang and Mengyao Zhu
BC SPCA: Dawei Xu
TRU Sustainability Office: Akash Ghosh, Takaya Hirose, Jihoon Kim and Kosuke Masunaga
TRU Horticulture: Ols Buta
TRU The X Radio: Marie Gabriela Jimenez and MD Majharul Islam Sabuj
Beattie School of the Arts: Makoto Iida
Gemstone Care Center: Tirth Panchal
Chartwell Ridgepointe: Sakina Shikama
Sikh Temple: Gurpreet Pua
SOCW 2120: Improving Social Welfare in Canada: Every Concern Counts!
No full textStudents are introduced to the Canadian welfare state and learn how to make social services more responsive to human needs. On each poster, students briefly summarize the history of the selected social welfare policy concern and describe how it is relevant to social welfare in Canada. Students also provide a general description of the key historical milestones related to the selected concern, target population, and geographic location. Each poster outlines key reasons why the concern is not yet addressed and think critically on what should be done to set things right using the A-word to address the selected social welfare concern.
Maegyn Seibel, Bailey Johnson, Danny Bunting:
Availability of Psychiatric Support for Vancouver\u27s Downtown Eastside
Kayla Rosette:
Accessibility of Affordable Housing for Low-Income Families in Vancouver, BC
Shay Paul:
Accessibility to Food in Northern Ontario for First Nations Communities
Mikayla N. Supeene:
Accessibility of Culturally appropriate Mental Health Services for Transracial Adopted Youth in Canada
Vanessa Mafabi:
Accessibility of Proper Caregiving Services for the Elderly in Canada.
Morgan Chave:
Accessibility to school-based mental health services in British Columbia
Thomas McKillop:
Availability of Adaptive Adventure Sports in the Bow Valley
Marie Kaluza:
Adequacy of Culturally Sensitive Maternity Care for Immigrants in Canada
Emily Rogan, Chloe Bozak, Holly Andres:
Accessibility of Primary Health Care for Women in Nunavut
Jayda Renner:
Affordability of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in B.C
Ishwary Chaudhary, Padma Ghimire:
Affordability of Nutritious food in Nunavut for Single parent
Mental Health Stigma in Emergency Responders
No full textThe overall all purpose of this research is to address the lack of assistance with stigmas that surround the mental and emotional health issues emergency responders experience on a daily basis. These health issues can culminate in burnout and compassion fatigue, which can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The research methods drawn upon for this presentation are articles written by retired paramedics and advocates for occupational health and safety. As suicide rates rise each year, it must be concluded that there is not enough being done to help emergency responders. It is clear there is also a distinct lack of research into the long-term effects on today’s emergency responders verses the short-term effects from events such as war and natural disasters. The research on which current systems are based is out of date and does not address the current long-term traumatic stress issues that emergency responders experience. Therefore, it is evident that our emergency responders mental and emotional health is overlooked because there are not enough available support systems in place that allow them to feel safe and supported
Stolen Lands and Broken Promises: Settler Colonialism and the Making of British Columbia
No full textBritish Columbia finds itself in a unique position relative to other provinces in Canada regarding Indigenous land rights. Due to a lack of Treaties (with the exception of the Douglas Treaties on the island and the overlap of Treaty 8 in the North-East) and a rushed reserve system, BC finds itself at a particular confluence of land rights, resource extraction industries, and capitalist economic development initiatives. With the territory being unceded and increasing pressure from the UN to improve the treatment of Indigenous peoples, moving forward Indigenous-Settler relations are at the forefront of provincial and national concern. In this presentation I will examine settler colonialism as a fundamentally land-based process rooted in the continuous dispossession of Indigenous peoples from land. This project will review the history of Indigenous-Settler relations in BC as it relates to land by exploring the history of settlement, the creation and persistence of legislation including Treaties, and the Indian Act and Reserves, all as technologies of power and tools of cultural oppression and erasure. Understanding the complex history of Indigenous-Settler relations in BC is key in developing successful approaches to meaningful and impactful strides in reconciliation as well as developing a political climate of equality, trust, and respect. Utilizing shared Indigenous perspectives, I aim to present potential means by which such strides may be achieved with special consideration of how we as a province, and ultimately a nation, may move forward together, improving and ultimately strengthening Settler-Indigenous relations
Determining Fusarium Head Blight Resistances in Bread Wheat Using Genome-Wide Association Studies
No full textWheat is a staple crop and an integral part of the world economy; however, these crops are frequently threatened by FHB, a fungal disease. Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) is a powerful computational approach to identify the causal relationship between genetic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within a species and the phenotypic differences between individuals of the same species. In this study, we apply different GWAS models to identify the linkage between wheat SNPs and Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) resistance and to identify the best GWAS models.
The Genome Association and Prediction Integration Tool is used in this study. Associations are predicted with three statistical models, general linear model, mixed linear effects model (MLM), and the multiple locus mixed effects model (MLMM), taking into account the covariance between individuals by feeding in a k-matrix. Shell scripts were then developed to obtain the most common and significant SNPs for each phenotype with multi-year data and across the statistical tests for each phenotype.
Some of the resultant QQ-Plots do not show that the model fits the data well; however, this is due to the fact that the 90k SNP array only detects SNPs in preselected genomic regions that have a higher likelihood to be associated with traits of interest without including any irrelevant positions. Overall, the MLM and the MLMM fit the data best.
In the future, we will incorporate phenotype data that is being evaluated from greenhouses for the current season and will use other GWAS programs in order to verify and compare significant SNPs found