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Nanoparticles mediated folic acid enrichment
No full textFolate is an essential component of many metabolic processes, and folate deficiency is known to cause various disorders. Folate and folic acid, a synthetic and chemically stable form of folate, enriched diet are typically used to overcome this deficiency. Folic acid and folate however, are susceptible to harsh environment and folates enrichment using nanoparticles is an intensively studied strategy in food industry. This review highlights the current methods and types of matrices utilized to develop folic acid/folate carrying nanoparticles. The folic acid/folate loaded nanoparticles prevent cargo degradation during gut absorption and under harsh food processing conditions including, high temperatures, UV light, and autoclaving. The data demonstrates that nanofortifcation of folates using proteins and biopolymers effectively enhances the bioavailability of the cargo. The encapsulation of folic acid in biopolymers by emulsion, spray drying and ionic gelation represent simplistic methods that can be easily scaled up with applications in food industry
The lived experience of female spouses of Canadian male veterans living with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textCombat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (CRPTSD) poses a significant growing health concern for Canadian forces veterans and their families. The challenges faced by spouses of veterans with CRPTSD can be particularly severe. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated these challenges, especially for families dealing with pre-existing mental health conditions such as CRPTSD. Despite the impact on spouses, there is a notable lack of research on the experiences of female partners of Canadian male veterans with CRPTSD in Atlantic Canada. This descriptive phenomenological study aimed to explore the lived experience of female spouses of Canadian male veterans living with CRPTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological psychological method, between November 2022 and September 2023, seven participants from the Atlantic provinces—Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador—were interviewed until data saturation was achieved. Giorgi’s (2009) method of data analysis revealed six essential themes: (a) falling through the cracks, (b) forced transition and transformation of self, (c) fluctuating journey of unpredictability, (d) shifting coping strategies within the relationship, (e) navigating COVID-19 in relationships, and (f) accessing support and care. It is hoped that the findings of this study will provide guidance in care delivery and program development to help this population of individuals
The role of peptide composition and architecture for folic acid delivery, and evaluation of anti-inflammatory properties
No full textFolate is an essential component of many metabolic processes, including the synthesis of nucleoproteins, purines, and pyrimidines, and is a recommended supplement to lower the incidence of various disorders, including neural tube birth defect formation. Folate metabolism involving one-carbon (1C) transfer processes, requires folate in the form of a cofactor, which contributes to the production of the amino acids, methionine, DNA nucleotides, and is involved in controlling blood homocysteine levels that ultimately impact immunomodulatory profiles of host’s immune system. Given the key role of folate in immunomodulation, the purpose of this study specifically focuses on uptake mechanism of folate in immune and gastric cells, its effect on folic acid receptors and extracellularly in the gastrointestinal tract, on the role of folic acid (synthetic form of folate) in inflammation and immunomodulation. In this study a library of cell penetrating peptides (CPP) was developed using their linear and cyclic versions folic acid conjugations. Further, the CPP conjugates were tested against cell viability and cell penetration followed by their effects on the folic acid receptor. CPP conjugates showed successful cellular uptake by using fluorophore (TAMRA), the study also confirmed the folic acid internalisation by downregulation of folic acid receptors suggesting the saturation of folic acid inside the cell. One of the main events folic acid undergoes after internalisation is its conversion into dihydrofolate and tetrahydrofolate by the enzyme dihydro folate reductase (DHFR), which was demonstrated from DHFR assay for further confirmation of results. The biomedical applications of CPPs are extensively studied, including their potential in delivering imaging agents, antimicrobial and antifungal actions, anti-inflammatory activity, and tumor
therapy
Rethinking women's and gender studies, Volume 2
No full textThe second volume of Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies addresses the complexities and inherent paradoxes within the expansive knowledge project known as Women’s and Gender Studies for audiences both inside and adjacent to the field. Each of the volume’s chapters identifies and critically examines a key term that circulates in this field, exploring how the term has come to be understood and mobilized within its everyday narratives and practices.
In constructing provocative genealogies for their terms, authors explicate the roles that this language, and the narratives attached to it, play in producing and limiting possible versions of the field. The ongoing aim of Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies, both in the original volume and this entirely new extension, is to trace and expose important paradoxes, ironies, and contradictions embedded in the field – from its high theory to its casual conversations – that rely on these terms. Forging collective conversation and intellectual community from its thoughtful and critical lines of inquiry, the second volume of Rethinking Women’s and Gender Studies remains bracingly original and full of fresh insight. It provides a perfect complement for Feminist Theory, Senior Capstone, and introductory graduate-level courses offered in Women’s and Gender Studies and related fields
Social rejection and meaning-making in young people with facial dermatological differences
No full textSocioanthropological theories predict that individuals with visible differences will be judged and treated more negatively (Langlois et al., 2000). Empirical research is largely supportive of this hypothesis, with studies demonstrating implicit and explicit reactions from observers that devalue and marginalize people who are visibly different (Stone, 2022). Research looking for psychological difficulties in people with visible differences because of presumed socially rejecting experiences has found equivocal outcomes, with some studies finding no difference or better functioning in visibly different participants (Andersson et al., 2011). In order to understand the space between socially rejecting experiences and psychological adjustment, this study used inductive qualitative methodology to hear the experiences of young people with visible differences and their impact on their psychological development. Reflexive thematic analysis of individual interviews with ten 11- to 14-year-olds with chronic dermatological facial differences revealed that all experienced social rejection from their peers. Participants described the process of trying to understand and manage these experiences while building a positive sense of self. This study succeeded in confirming that young people with visible dermatological differences experience social rejection. It also went further in indicating multifactorial pathways linking social rejection with psychological development which might account for equivocal findings in studies that assume a simple relationship. Implications for research and clinical practice are considered
The Madding Campus: the impacts of heteronormativity, neuronormativity, and class on graduate creative writing education
No full textIn this dissertation, I set out to examine what may be the experience of neurodivergent/mad/disabled graduate students in low-residency graduate creative writing education and how the workshop model might be reimagined toward a more inclusive instructional space. The dissertation drew on new materialism and mad studies as a theoretical base for the research. Using fiction-based research rooted in autoethnographic inquiry, literature review, imagination, and writing-as-research, I produced a campus novel, The Madding Campus, that explores the intersections of neurodivergence, gender, and class among students in a low-residency Master of Fine Arts program, to examine the narratives sent by and produced in writing education, broaden society's understanding of and disrupt assumptions about who belongs in postsecondary settings, and increase the cultural representation of mad and neurodivergent students. I selected the campus novel for its fit of form to subject, as well as the long history of campus novels as a vehicle for social critique. The dissertation begins with a preface and introduction, followed by the research novel, a recommendations and conclusions chapter, and an autoethnographic essay that served as pre-writing and one of many sources for the project. The Madding Campus draws attention to and asks readers to consider the multiplicity of experiences within graduate creative writing programs and to contemplate ways such programs might operate differently
Estimating the dispersal of Lepeophtheirus salmonis using routine counts among aquaculture sites in southwest New Brunswick
No full textSea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis requires intense management practices for the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick (NB). This dissertation aims to improve the knowledge of the dispersal of L. salmonis (commonly referred to as salmon lice) in the study area, which may aid in planning decisions for sea lice mitigation strategies using monitoring counts from the Fish-iTrends© database. The biology, history, and trends of sea lice counts and treatments were described to identify possible confounding factors that may be important during the model-building process. The impact of the internal and external infestation pressures on the abundance of adult female (AF) sea lice for the Bay of Fundy, NB, for 2009-2018 was estimated using a multivariable linear mixed model. This model was used to compare different connectivity measures of dispersal distance and assess their impact when calculating external infestation pressure on modelling the AF sea lice abundance. A multivariable autoregressive model for the abundance of AF sea lice was built for 2016-2021 and employed for short-term predictions at the end of the summer of 2020. The multivariable linear mixed model and the multivariable autoregressive model were compared using an overlapping subset of the datasets (2016-2018). The estimations of infestation pressures, dispersal distance and other predictors, and results from the generation of novel connectivity measures may have implications for the management of the NB aquaculture industry. The results suggest that the current area-wide management structure may need to be revised, and synchronizing mitigation strategies within and among sites could reduce infestation pressure
AIP-based Professional Intervention Program for Adversity for trauma and stress reduction in groups: a pilot study in Ethiopia
No full textIntroduction: Drawing from the principles of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy and the AIP model, the Professional Intervention Program for Adversity (PIPA) was developed with the objective of amalgamating low-intensity group exercises into a unified framework, as a comprehensive intervention for group therapy. The PIPA Program integrates various aspects of EMDR therapy—such as stabilization, resourcing, desensitization, reprocessing, and forming beliefs about the self and future—into a cohesive program. The program’s structure includes self-regulation exercises, the Pillars of Life, the Flash Technique, and the Quadrants exercise.
Methods: The PIPA Program was administered to more than 220 individuals with a high probability of traumatization by the two-year civil war in Ethiopia (2020-2022).
Results: The results of this study show a statistically significant improvement in PTSD symptoms on PCL-5 scores (from M = 38.58 to M = 20.59) after completing the entire PIPA Program and statistically significant lower SUDS scores within the program segments of the Flash Technique and the Quadrants exercises.
Discussion: Future studies should explore the long-term effects of the PIPA Program and its broader application across different therapeutic contexts. The findings suggest that the PIPA Program is a promising group-based intervention for trauma treatment that is safe and effective, especially in non-clinical settings and for culturally diverse populations.Trauma Recovery/EMDR HAPUniversity of Prince Edward Islan
Application of systematic review and meta-analysis methods in dairy science
No full textSystematic reviews (SRs) identify and synthesise all available studies relevant to a particular research problem to obtain a complete and accurate picture of the evidence base. SRs start with formulating a research question, then literature search and retrieval, data extraction, and bias assessment of the individual studies. A crucial and integral part of most SRs is the quantitative synthesis of the results extracted from the retrieved studies i.e. meta-analysis (MA).
Animal health reviews often address complex clinical research questions where multiple measurements of one underlying construct need to be assessed to fully understand the clinical picture and/or multiple interventions are administered to assess their comparative efficacy. Moreover, studies conducted in animal health often vary in the ways of reporting the outcome measured (assessment unit, time, and methods) and interventions administered (dose, route, and frequency of administration).
Such complexities required more adaptations and extensions of the conventional SR and MA methods. Data extraction is challenging in complex reviews because of the several linked treatment groups and/or outcomes. Further, Cochrane risk of bias assessment tools, ROBINS-I and ROB2 tools, were primarily developed to be applied in human health reviews of interventions. Therefore, the unique clinical settings of the enrolled participants, administered interventions, and measured outcomes in animal health studies can impede their direct application in animal health reviews.
Most meta-analytic models assume independence among the treatment effect estimates. In the traditional (univariate) MA, only one treatment effect estimate extracted from each study is synthesised across studies to obtain an overall summary estimate. This approach is adequate to answer simple research questions. However, in animal health reviews, multivariate MA is often required to simultaneously synthesise multiple effect sizes coming from multiple outcomes and/or interventions.
A dependence between treatment effect estimates extracted from the same study stems from using the same participants to calculate the treatment effect estimates for multiple outcomes. In multi-arm studies, treatment groups share a common reference treatment, and therefore, their treatment effect estimates are correlated. Multivariate MA allows to incorporate the degree of dependence/correlation between the treatment effect estimates and true treatment effects within- and between-study, respectively.
This thesis was inspired by a joint project with a general goal of assessing the efficacy of different dry cow therapy (DCT) strategies on intra-mammary infections (IMIs) using SR and MA methods. Two objectives of the project are addressed herein: the assessment of adding a teat sealant to antimicrobial treatment at dry-off on the incidence and prevalence of IMIs and the evaluation of the comparative efficacy of different antimicrobials to cure Staphylococcus aureus IMIs. In addition, the thesis covered some methodological aspects of SR and MA and their application in animal research.
The thesis comprises five research chapters (manuscripts); the second is a protocol that describes the proposed SR and MA methods used in the above-mentioned project to assess the efficacy of different DCT approaches to eliminate and prevent IMIs. The third chapter aims to establish a set of practical steps for planning and constructing data extraction tools that can suit complex SR projects and facilitate data comparisons between reviewers. The fourth chapter contrasts Cochrane risk of bias assessment tools, the ROB 2 and ROBINS-I, explains the adoption of the ROBINS-I tool to the specifics of the studies assessing the efficacy of DCT strategies and argues for the feasibility of a uniform application of the ROBINS-I tool in both randomised and non-randomised studies included in animal research reviews. In the fifth chapter, we used multivariate MA to simultaneously synthesise the incidence and prevalence data of the overall (i.e. composite) and pathogen species-specific IMIs for the effect of adding teat sealant to an antimicrobial at dry-off. Then, in the sixth chapter, we used network MA to compare the efficacy of different treatment regimens used to cure S. aureus IMIs
Interactions of binary mixtures of metals on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) heart mitochondrial H2O2 homeodynamics
No full textFor continuous pumping of blood, the heart needs a constant supply of energy (ATP) that is primarily met via oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria of cardiomyocytes. However, sustained high rates of electron transport for energy conversion redox reactions predisposes the heart to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress. Mitochondrial ROS are fundamental drivers of responses to environmental stressors including metals but knowledge of how combinations of metals alter mitochondrial ROS homeodynamics remains sparse. We explored the effects and interactions of binary mixtures of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), and zinc (Zn), metals that are common contaminants of aquatic systems, on ROS (hydrogen peroxide, H2O2) homeodynamics in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) heart mitochondria. Isolated mitochondria were energized with glutamate-malate or succinate and exposed to a range of concentrations of the metals singly and in equimolar binary concentrations. Speciation analysis revealed that Cu was highly complexed by glutamate or Tris resulting in Cu2+ concentrations in the picomolar to nanomolar range. The concentration of Cd2+ was 7.2–7.5 % of the total while Zn2+ was 15 % and 21 % of the total during glutamate-malate and succinate oxidation, respectively. The concentration-effect relationships for Cu and Cd on mitochondrial H2O2 emission depended on the substrate while those for Zn were similar during glutamate-malate and succinate oxidation. Cu + Zn and Cu + Cd mixtures exhibited antagonistic interactions wherein Cu reduced the effects of both Cd and Zn, suggesting that Cu can mitigate oxidative distress caused by Cd or Zn. Binary combinations of the metals acted additively to reduce the rate constant and increase the half-life of H2O2 consumption while concomitantly suppressing thioredoxin reductase and stimulating glutathione peroxidase activities. Collectively, our study indicates that binary mixtures of Cu, Zn, and Cd act additively or antagonistically to modulate H2O2 homeodynamics in heart mitochondria.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada