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Ubsiol-Q10 as a Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease in a Transgenic Mouse Model
No full textAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting over 500 000 Canadians and is caused by death of neurons, formation of amyloid plaques, and impairments in memory and behaviour. Currently there is no treatment available for AD and with increases in the aging population this will result in exponential growth in socioeconomic and healthcare cost. Hence, it is urgent to identify remedies to halt the progression of AD. A water-soluble formulation of Coenzyme Q10 (Ubisol-Q10) has shown to provide neuroprotection in animal models of Parkinson's disease. We investigated if this formulation can halt the progression of AD in a genetically predisposed double transgenic mouse model of AD. These transgenic mice express the human amyloid precursor protein and the mutant human presenilin 1. The transgenic mice were divided into two groups; one receiving Ubisol-Q10-supplemented water and the other regular water. In addition, there was a wild-type group acting as a control. The treatment continued for one year and four months following which the mice were sacrificed and immunohistochemistry was conducted to measure the levels of neurodegeneration and astrocyte activation. Immunohistochemistry and Congo red fluorescence both showed a decrease in the level of amyloid plaque in the hippocampus of Ubisol-Q10 treated mice compared to the untreated groups. GFAP immunohistochemistry staining showed increased astrocyte activation in the hippocampus and cortical regions of the treatment group compared to the untreated group. Thus, Ubisol-Q10 has demonstrated potential in providing neuroprotection against neurodegenerative diseases like AD
Literacy Gatekeepers in the Ontario Education System. Why ESL Students Fail: A Bordieuan Perspective
Get PDFOntario's education system aims to improve children's literacy levels who hail from diverse backgrounds. Schools must tailor their program layout to their students' unique needs. Immersion is one of them. As with submersion, instruction occurs in the second language (L2), but there are significant differences. ESL students experience linguistic barriers. According to Migration Matters (June 2017), by 2022, 78% of job openings will require some post-secondary training or university degree. Many immigrants do not have the skills necessary to succeed, and these percentages have not improved. There is a widening incongruence between the complexity of the needs of ESL learners and the availability of ESL [English as a Second Language] services in Canadian schools. School boards across Canada have steadily reduced ESL services over the years (Nichols et al., 2020). Schools are not meeting the language needs of immigrant youth in Ontario, where 29.1% of the population, the highest of any province, is foreign-born (Government of Ontario, 2017). In 2017, 63% of Ontario's elementary schools and 58% of secondary schools had English language learners (ELLs). However, only 38% of English-language elementary schools had ESL teachers (People for Education, 2017). 20% of elementary schools and 31% of secondary schools have no formal process for identifying ELL students (People for Education, 2015), which is the first step to placing students in ELL services. Students' diverse needs must be met for them to acquire necessary literacy skills. Literacy is a civil right – no one should leave the school system as an illiterate person
The Gay Commute: On the Development of Queer Community and Identity in the Windsor-Detroit Borderlands, 1945-1980
Get PDFThe development of queer community and identity has always necessitated the delineation of queer-friendly spaces as a locus for socialisation, sexual expression, and freedom from animosity and hostility towards queer sexuality. Within the urban area of post-war Windsor-Detroit, the threat of exposure and possible arrest affected the everyday lives of queer individuals, which necessitated a quest for private locales that were amenable to the expression of queer sexuality and gender identity. What is here referred to as “the gay commute” was a defining characteristic of the lived experiences of the white middle-class gay residents in the Windsor-Detroit borderlands through the latter decades of the twentieth century. This phenomenon can be understood as the movement of queer individuals from locations that are deemed unaccommodating or hostile to queer gender and sexual identities to spaces that are accessible and amenable to lived queer sexual and social lifestyles. This project will explore the extent and characteristics of the gay commute, as it manifests in the post-war Windsor-Detroit borderlands, and uncover its influence on the formation of queer identity and community
Focus on Great Lakes Water Quality: (ISSN 0711-0855) vol. 10 iss. 2
No full textThe work of this Commission is important. They have a charge and responsibility and their work is not in vain," affirmed Madame Jeanne Sauvé, the Governor General of Canada, as she spoke to the audience gathered at the International Joint Commission (lJC) Great Lakes Water Quality meeting held at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, June 24-27, 1985
Designing of Next Generation Motor Drive Control for Electric Vehicle Application
Get PDFIn order to achieve a mission of zero emission, as most automotive industries around the world are pledging to, the research and production of efficient and eco-friendly electrified vehicles (EVs) is a necessary goal to pursue. They are of high interest to governments and research facilities across the world as they have higher efficiency levels and are more environmentally friendly than current gasoline vehicles. At the core of electric vehicle application, electric motor drives act an important role to direct the motor to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy and provide electrical control of the processes. Therefore, it is required for researchers to make the motor drive more energy-efficient and have bi-directional power flow capability to ensure the improvement of motor performance and be flexible regarding controllability. The goal of the author is to investigate the development of a better motor-drive to achieve a control that provides a superior control of the traction motor. This requires improving the existing flux weakening motor control that is used for traction application. The improved control is programmed and hard coded into a Digital signal processor which is embedded in the control drive board. In a conventional inverter, this drive unit controls the gate drivers which in turn controls the IGBTs, there by enabling variation in operating performance of the motor. Currently, there is a lack of unified program that can operate any kind of traction motor like permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) or induction motors(IM). This is leading automotive industries to invest a lot of resources in research and development in this field of work so that the future vehicles can be swapped with any motor as per requirement. The authors are currently working on developing this motor control and also reducing the complexity of the code and real-time operation on the microcontroller. This will be implemented in future on existing and new-generation inverters to test the control on various motor and inverter setups
Gender Equality & Female Empowerment in Central Asia
No full text['UNSDG 5: Gender Equality (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal5)']Viable, Healthy and Safe CommunitiesAccording to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, gender equality is considered a necessary foundation for building a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. This research demonstrates how the collapse of communism undermined the prospects for the successful political and economic empowerment of women in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. As some scholars argued, despite some progressive legislative acts passed by the governments of the four Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, gender asymmetries have increased considerably across the region since the 1990s (Khitarishvili, 2016). In addition to gender inequalities in the labour market, women were also left out of politics and were left to face the revival of traditional values and gender stereotypes (Ishkanian, 2003). This is not to say that the performance of countries did not differ, with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan demonstrating slightly better results than its regional neighbours. Based on extensive statistical and qualitative data collected as part of this research project, including semi-structured interviews with women activists, and building on women empowerment literature, the study first summarises the state of gender equality in the four post-Soviet republics and then explores the causes for the divergent trajectories of women's post-Soviet empowerment. Our hypothesis is that several factors, including the differences in the levels of urbanisation and economic development, lifestyle and secularism, women's enrolment in tertiary education, political openness and the exposure to feminist ideas, contributed to different levels of women's empowerment in Central Asia
Determining the Dependency of Spy1 based on Rb Status
Get PDFDetermining the Dependency of Spy1 based on Rb Status Visconti, T., Philbin, N, Fifield, B, Porter L.A. University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. N9B 3P4 Porter Lab, Department of Integrative Biology/Biomedical Sciences Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide and the most common cancer among women. Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer with many subtypes based on gene expression profiles. There are currently no targeted treatments for TNBC due to its molecular characteristics, urging the discovery of new therapeutic targets. Potential therapeutic avenues are the cell cycle and its mediators which play an important role in cancer formation and progression. Spy1, a cyclin-like protein, promotes cell proliferation through the G1/S and G2/M checkpoints. Spy1 promotes proliferation even in the presence of DNA damage, overriding checkpoints and increasing cancer susceptibility. While Spy1 has been found to be elevated in breast cancer, its unique binding structure makes for an ideal candidate for cell cycle inhibition therapy. The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (Rb) is known to regulate the DNA damage response system and is key in regulating the cell cycle. However, studies have shown that Rb is often mutated in TNBC inducing deregulated cell cycle progression potentially leading to tumor development. For some breast cancer subtypes the presence or absence of Rb (Rb status) can dictate response to treatment by cell cycle inhibitor drugs. Using in vitroTNBC models (MDA-MB-231 & Bt549 cell lines), this study aims to determine if Spy1 can override checkpoints independently of Rb status, and if elevated levels of Spy1 alter this response. These results could provide further guidance in developing cell cycle inhibition targeted therapies and potentially better TNBC patient outcomes
Rethinking Retirement for the 21st Century
Get PDFCanada’s labour force has been gradually growing older in recent decades. An aging labour force creates significant problems for the country and the future growth of our economy. With an aging labour force, comes the need to start rethinking how Canadians look at retirement in the 21st century and how both the government and private sector can contribute solutions to adapting to an older workforce. This problem is not unique to Canada, most of the industrialized west has been or will begin to experience the same demographic shift as we are in Canada. The main challenge this paper examines is the changing demographic Canada will be facing within our labour force and how this will affect retirement of our older workers. I will examine these demographic changes and what they mean for Canada’s labour force, specifically looking at how both the government and the private sector can rethink retirement in the 21st century. To do this, I will examine other western industrialized nations like Japan, Germany and the US that have been experiencing a similar aging labour force as Canada will be shortly. Examining the question and the difficulties of the topic is the first step in providing exposure to at least some of the viable options from government, private industry and even the individual themselves, that can be implemented to deal with the demographic shift and secure a strong economy for the future of the countr
Kropotkin, Expropriation, and Technologies of Oppression
No full textBeginning with revolutionary political theory, drawing heavily on the anarcho-communism of the late nineteenth-century author Peter Kropotkin, this paper explores the problem of liberation from within oppressive technological systems. Leftist theory often calls for the expropriation of the means of production, meaning, in practical terms, the seizure of technical systems. A clear conception of technology, however, must recognize that technical systems themselves have political values embedded into them. A clear revolutionary praxis must, therefore, account for the oppressive politics embedded in technology, and provide a scheme for the liberation from those systems, which nonetheless fulfills the goal of economic liberation by means of distributing the products of those systems. This paper begins the work of constructing this scheme by reconciling Kropotkin's views on technology and technological inheritance with theories drawn from more recent philosophy of technology
Session B: Do Human Animal Interventions Benefit Humans at the Expense of the Well-being of Animals?
No full textPracticeHuman animal interventions, animal assisted therapy, animal welfare, therapy animal