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An Initial Scoping Review of Dysregulation of Mood, Energy, and Social Rhythms Syndrome (DYMERS) Regarding Burnout in Healthcare Professionals During COVID-19
Get PDFBackground/Objectives: Dysregulation of Mood, Energy, and Social Rhythms Syndrome (DYMERS) characterizes the poor regulation of biological (sleep/waking), social, and behavioral rhythms that affected the level of burnout in healthcare professionals during the pandemic in particular. The aim is to provide an initial scoping review of publications on this topic. Methods: The keywords “Stress Rhythms Dysregulation Bipolar Disorder Burnout DYMERS Healthcare professionals COVID-19” were searched on 9 December 2024 following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, using five primary databases (OVID, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science), one register (Cochrane COVID-19 register), and one supplementary database (Google Scholar). Included were peer-reviewed publications. Excluded were duplicates, reports lacking either a research study or any keywords, or including irrelevant information regarding them. Results: The returns for all the databases were (n = 0) except for ProQuest (n = 4) and Google Scholar (n = 14). Of these, three ProQuest returns were duplicates of the Google Scholar search. The remaining report contained irrelevant information on healthcare professionals. The Google Scholar search results produced two relevant reports—neither duplicated with ProQuest. The excluded contained a duplicate in the search itself, three that did not mention healthcare professionals, two that contained irrelevant information concerning them, four returns that were not a research study, and three that were not peer-reviewed. Conclusions: The two studies published on this topic are by various members of the same investigating institution. DYMERS has provided valuable insights regarding burnout in healthcare professionals. The suggestion is for further DYMERS research by this team and others, anticipating future pandemics
Genotype–Phenotype Relations for the Dystonia-Parkinsonism Genes GLB1, SLC6A3, SLC30A10, SLC39A14, and PLA2G6: MDSGene Systematic Review
Get PDFThe Movement Disorders Society recommends the DYT/PARK prefix for genes where dystonia and parkinsonism are prominent in approximately half or more of patients. This systematic review explores the genotype–phenotype correlations of GLB1, SLC6A3, SLC30A10, PLA2G6, and SLC39A14—recently classified as DYT SLC39A14 and historically linked to dystonia-parkinsonism. We searched PubMed and the Human Gene Mutation Database using standardized terms, including English-language, peer-reviewed publications up to February 2024. Following the MDSGene protocol, we extracted individual-level data on patients with biallelic pathogenic variants and at least one movement disorder. Features were marked “missing” if not explicitly reported. Of 1828 articles, 128 were eligible. We identified 386 patients and 262 variants. The median age at onset was 3 years for GLB1, 3 months for SLC6A3, 2.5 years for SLC30A10, 1.5 years for SLC39A14, and 16 years for PLA2G6. Missing data may reflect underreporting of negative findings. Case reports/serie, may bias toward atypical presentations. Our analysis showed dystonia-parkinsonism predominates in SLC6A3 and PLA2G6, while GLB1, SLC30A10, and SLC39A1 show predominantly dystonic phenotypes with a low frequency of parkinsonism. Ataxia was common in GLB1 and PLA2G6. Awareness of these phenotypes is essential for early diagnosis and intervention, particularly in treatable conditions like SLC30A10 or SLC39A14. The predominantly dystonic phenotype in GLB1, SLC30A10, and SLC39A14 suggest that the DYT prefix may be more appropriate, highlighting the need to reconsider their nomenclature, and the importance of systematic reviews
Combining 24-Hour Continuous Monitoring of Time-Locked Heart Rate, Physical Activity and Gait in Older Adults: Preliminary Findings
Get PDFHemodynamic homeostasis is essential for adapting the heart rate (HR) to postural and physiological changes during daily activities. Traditional HR monitoring, such as 24 hour (h) Holter monitoring, provides important information on homeostasis during daily living. However, this approach lacks concurrent activity recording, limiting insights into hemodynamic adaptation and our ability to interpret changes in HR. To address this, we utilized a novel wearable sensor system (ANNE@Sibel) to capture time-locked HR and daily activity (i.e., lying, sitting, standing, walking) data in 105 community-dwelling older adults. We developed custom tools to extract 24 h time-locked measurements and introduced a “heart rate response score” (HRRS), based on root Jensen–Shannon divergence, to quantify HR changes relative to activity. As expected, we found a progressive HR increase with more vigorous activities, though individual responses varied widely, highlighting heterogeneous HR adaptations. The HRRS (mean: 0.38 ± 0.14; min: −0.11; max: 0.74) summarized person-specific HR changes and was correlated with several clinical measures, including systolic blood pressure changes during postural transitions (r = 0.325, p = 0.003), orthostatic hypotension status, and calcium channel blocker medication use. These findings demonstrate the potential of unobtrusive sensors in remote phenotyping as a means of providing valuable physiological and behavioral data to enhance the quantitative description of aging phenotypes. This approach could enhance personalized medicine by informing targeted interventions based on hemodynamic adaptations during everyday activities
Disciplining the Lost Shepherd: An Analysis of Public Denouncements of Paul Robeson by Walter White, Jackie Robinson, and 'Robert Alan'
Get PDFThe University of Toronto Libraries Undergraduate Research Prize awards undergraduate students in any first-entry faculty across the University of Toronto’s three campuses based on their effective and innovative use of information sources. This prize provides students with an opportunity to reflect on their information-seeking experience, showcase their research to an audience beyond the classroom, and promote scholarship excellence at the undergraduate level at University of Toronto.
Please visit the Undergraduate Research Prize website https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/undergrad-research-prize/criteria for more information about the award, including submission guidelines.In the mid-1940s, Paul Robeson was one of the most prominent Black cultural and political figures in the United States. An accomplished vocalist, film star, lawyer, athlete, journalist, orator, and activist, he enjoyed a level of fame unsurpassed by any other African American. Robeson’s immense personal success, as well as his lifelong commitment to civil rights advocacy, were acknowledged by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) when he was awarded the organization’s Spingarn Medal in 1945. However, by the decade’s end, Robeson became a pariah. Following a 1949 speech at the World Congress of Partisans for Peace in Paris, in which he reportedly said that it was “unthinkable” for African Americans to support a war against the Soviet Union, Robeson was cast as a political enemy of the American public. Labeled a Soviet puppet, his freedoms of expression and movement were heavily curtailed by the McCarthy-era state apparatus. In addition to his official blacklisting, Robeson faced sharp public denouncements from many prominent figures in the nascent civil rights movement. By 1951, his standing among the African American intelligentsia had deteriorated to the extent that NAACP Executive Secretary Walter White publicly referred to Robeson—a recent winner of his own organization’s most prestigious award—as “a bewildered man who is more to be pitied than damned”. Reflecting on such a drastic and surprising shift in the public image of such a previously celebrated figure, this paper asks: why did many African American civil rights leaders publicly denounce Paul Robeson following his 1949 speech
Optimizing Chloride and Calcium Ion Extraction from Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Fly Ash from Zhoushan, China: Effects of Leaching Conditions and Industrial Applications
Get PDFMunicipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash, containing substantial amounts of calcium (Ca), chloride (Cl), and other valuable elements, offers promising potential as a raw material for carbon capture, utilization (CCU), and alkali production. Despite numerous approaches being explored to enhance calcium ion leaching from fly ash, the combined effects of salt and leaching conditions on ion extraction have not been thoroughly investigated. This study provides a comprehensive examination of various leaching conditions, including primary leaching—optimal for efficiency—secondary leaching, which achieved the highest leaching rate, and reverse secondary leaching, focusing on their impact on calcium extraction efficiency. Considering optimal leaching efficiency and resource utilization, this study identifies the most favorable industrial conditions as a 15 min leaching time, a stirring speed of 200 rpm, a temperature of 25 °C, and a 1:10 liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S ratio). The application of a 6% NaCl solution in salt-assisted leaching elevated the calcium ion concentration from 4101.5 mg/L to 4662.6 mg/L, indicating a substantial improvement in leaching performance. Additionally, in carbonate-assisted and ultrasound-assisted leaching, the introduction of CO2 further increased calcium extraction amounts, but it did not enhance efficiency, while ultrasonic intervention had minimal impact. This research investigates enhanced efficiencies through multiple optimized and assisted leaching conditions, advancing MSWI fly ash utilization in carbon capture applications while paving new pathways for sustainable industrial practices that could revolutionize waste management and support global environmental objectives
Development of a National Colorectal Cancer Screening Research Agenda: An Initiative of the Canadian Screening for Colorectal Cancer Research Network (CanSCCRN)
Get PDFThe Canadian Screening for Colorectal Cancer Research Network (CanSCCRN) recently set out to develop a national CRC screening research agenda and identify priority research areas. The specific objectives were to (1) identify evidence gaps relevant to CRC screening and the barriers and facilitators to evidence generation and uptake by CRC screening programs, (2) establish high-priority collaborative research ideas to inform best CRC screening practices, and (3) identify one to two research topics for grant development and submission within 12 to 18 months. Three focus groups were conducted with network members and relevant parties (n = 15) to identify evidence gaps, barriers, and facilitators to evidence generation and uptake. Three workshops were subsequently held to discuss focus group findings and develop an action plan for research. An electronic survey was used to prioritize the evidence gaps to be addressed. Overall, five categories of barriers and six categories of facilitators to evidence uptake and generation were identified, as well as 23 evidence gaps to be addressed. Screening participation, post-polypectomy surveillance, and screening age range were identified as research priority research areas. Adequate resourcing and infrastructure, as well as partnerships with knowledge end users, are integral to addressing these research areas and advancing CRC screening programs in Canada and beyond
Evaluating the impact of glycemic levels during neonatal encephalopathy on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes, with a focus on cerebral visual function
No full textBackground: Dysglycemia during neonatal encephalopathy (NE) is a potential target to improve neurodevelopmental outcomes, including cerebral visual impairment (CVI). Objectives: Assess how neonatal dysglycemia, in the context of NE, affects neurodevelopmental outcomes, focusing on CVI.
Methodology: Neurodevelopmental outcomes of 44 NE survivors, with neonatal dysglycemia in 55%, were assessed at early school age using neuropsychological testing and magnetoencephalography.
Results: Neonatal dysglycemia was associated with intrinsic brain activity, including visual and dorsal attention resting-state networks on magnetoencephalography. The behavioural response to a visuomotor task, but not magnetoencephalography visual evoked responses, showed associations with maximal and labile neonatal glucose. Despite scoring lower than norms for executive function and visual processing, no association with neonatal dysglycemia was demonstrated on neuropsychological tests.
Conclusions: Results support worthwhile concerns for CVI and long-term associations of dysglycemia during NE with the dorsal stream vulnerability model. Discrepancies between assessment tools demonstrate the need for ongoing multimodal investigations.M.Sc
The Fires of Kerkenes: Computational Modelling of Urban Destruction in a Central Anatolian Iron Age Community
No full textThe present work studies the conflagration responsible for the destruction of the Iron Age site of Kerkenes, in central Anatolia. Over now more than thirty years of archaeological work at this enormous urban settlement, the fire was noted as an event of cataclysmic proportions that put a sudden and unequivocal end to the prosperous but short-lived city. Despite the importance of the blaze, scholars have never compiled, analysed, or interpreted the multiple sources of evidence documenting this momentous and destructive event. To understand the global setting in which the urban destruction at Kerkenes occurred, this dissertation explores the world of Middle Iron Age Anatolia. When the city was destroyed in the late 540s BCE, the Lydians and Persians were waging a war that spanned most of Anatolia, and the two armies were among the most likely culprits of the fire of Kerkenes. The military tactics they typically employed, as documented in both textual and archaeological evidence, made heavy use of fire as a tool of conquest and devastation.
Turning to the archaeological evidence, a thorough reanalysis of all architecture and building materials collected over the years was carried out, along with an evaluation of their likely place within the urban landscape. This allowed for an assessment of the flammability of typical structures in the city. From there, several parameters likely to influence the way the fire grew and spread across the city were determined. These parameters were then integrated into a cellular automata agent-based model designed to recreate the damage sustained by the city following the fire. The fiery destruction was determined using the results of the magnetometry survey as a proxy. Another geophysical survey, the electrical resistance survey, was used to create a detailed plan of nearly a third of the area of the city. This plan provided the basis for a “fuel map” for the cellular automata simulations. Over hundreds of iterations, variables such as wind direction, wind speed, flammability of the architecture, rate of firebrand generation, number of ignition points, and location of ignition points were cycled through the model until results most resembling the magnetometry’s burn pattern were obtained.
The results of the simulation indicate that the final conflagration was an intentional act, with multiple ignition points set across the city. The location of these ignition points appears to have followed two complementary strategies. The first included the immolation of socially meaningful points of the urban fabric, specifically the “large halls”, while the second set of fires was placed more randomly but targeted structures located along the city’s main streets. When combined, these two strategies intended to annihilate the city. As to the identity of the arsonists, the evidence does not allow to discriminate between the Lydians and the Persians. Whoever the attackers, they set the fire after the conquest of the city, after its thorough looting and the expulsion of its inhabitants.Ph.D
Influence of local river hydraulics on Kootenai River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) habitat selection during four spawning years, 2017-2020
Get PDFUnderstanding fine-scale habitat selection of endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) is an important component for monitoring and recovery efforts. Fine-scale habitat selection and quantifying temporal changes in suitable habitat contributes to the work of addressing recruitment failure within the Kootenai River population. Habitat suitability indices were developed using over 96,000 acoustic telemetry sturgeon detections and two-dimensional hydrodynamic model simulations near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, USA. The selected habitat was assessed to develop habitat suitability indices for sturgeon; females undergoing spawn migrations and non-spawners. The most frequented locations were 8-9 meters deep and water velocities of 0.3-0.7 m/s. These observations suggest sturgeon with different spawning capabilities selected similar habitat. Weighted usable area was calculated to understand temporal variability in habitat quality which showed a positive relationship with increases in flow. Results help understand the habitat limiting factors in regulated hydrologic regimes; provide biologists insight for monitoring efforts in discrete habitat conditions; guidance for water managers and the regulation of upstream water resources; and guidance to restoration practitioners for in-stream structure designs.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Rethinking the Religious Aspects of the Scottish Prayer Book Riots: A Comparative Textual Study of the Scottish Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Common Order
Get PDFIn 1637, the first worship service conducted according to the Scottish Book of Common Prayer (SBCP) at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh erupted in a riot, marking a pivotal moment in Scottish religious history. This thesis suggests the need for a close examination of the liturgical texts when analyzing the riots of 1637 and the subsequent events.
This thesis also revisits the arguments put forth by some scholars that the SBCP was compiled with consideration for the worship practices and sentiments of the Church of Scotland, and thus, that the resistance to the SBCP was primarily due to the prevailing political and social context rather than the elements of the book. Through a comparative study of the SBCP and the Book of Common Order (BCO)—the standard liturgical text in Scotland since the Reformation in the 1560s—this research demonstrates how various elements in the SBCP could have been reasonably perceived by the Scottish Presbyterians as a return to ceremonial practices, thereby challenging the notion of alleged similarities between the SBCP and the BCO.
Beginning with an examination of the transition from the late medieval Roman Catholic liturgy, the study traces the development of Reformed worship in Scotland, examining the influence of key figures such as John Knox and foundational documents such as the Scots Confession and the First Book of Discipline of 1560. It then investigates the ecclesiastical policies of James VI and I and Charles I, particularly the Five Articles of Perth of 1618 and the events leading to the promulgation of the SBCP.
By comparing elements such as the church calendar, ceremonial practices, and administration of sacraments, the thesis elucidates the ways in which the SBCP reintroduced practices and rituals that had been deliberately removed during the Scottish Reformation because they were seen as unscriptural human inventions. The findings suggest that these changes, which Scottish Presbyterians were likely to have perceived as a return to ceremonial, were a significant factor in the widespread resistance to the SBCP, thus offering a new perspective on scholarly claims that the opposition was primarily motivated by political or sociological factors.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD