18701 research outputs found
Sort by
From Liquid To Life: Reprogramming Urinary Stem Cells to Pancreatic Cells
No full textBackground: As of 2024, more than 250 Canadians alone die each year waiting for organ transplants (Canadian Blood Services, 2024). The ability to efficiently differentiate urinary stem cells into pancreatic cells, and form organoids sparks an optimistic approach for patients with diabetes who otherwise require insulin injections on a regular basis. Objective: Aim of the study was to identify highly specific transcription factors that play crucial roles in maintenance of cell fate, and promote stage specific differentiation from urinary stem cells to functional pancreatic beta cells. Methodology: Data mining and literature review allowed for the identification of transcription factors and supporting proteins involved in the differentiation of pancreatic beta cells. These were further refined via analysis of several databases (KEGG, Pathway Commons). NCBI Gene Database was also utilized to determine pancreas tissue specificity for each protein identified. Cytoscape (version 3.10.0) enabled visualization of molecular pathways/gene interactions through different stages of differentiation along with a hierarchical cluster analysis. Subsequent enrichment analysis was conducted on the identified transcription factors and associated proteins using StringAPP (version 2.0.3), facilitating protein-protein interactome analysis. Results/Implications: In this pilot study, with findings from Cytoscape and enrichment analysis, novel transcription factors involved in reprogramming of pancreatic beta cells were identified with high statistical confidence. Both transcription factors and supporting ECM proteins were grouped in distinct stages of pancreatic differentiation. Overall, the current study addresses the need of identifying highly specific and efficient differentiation factors essential for successful reprogramming of patient-derived stem cells into pancreatic beta cells
Validating Drosophila melanogaster as a tool to investigate the Tuberin-Cyclin B1 interaction
No full textViable, Healthy and Safe CommunitiesCancer is a disease that can arise from uncontrolled division of cells when the cell cycle is not properly regulated. The cell cycle is composed of four distinct phases: G1, S, G2 and M. To preserve cellular integrity, the cell has checkpoints which must be fulfilled in order to pass through each of the phase. Each of these checkpoints is regulated by a cyclin-CDK complex. The G2/M checkpoint is regulated by a Cyclin B1-CDK1 complex in the nucleus. In late G2 phase, Cyclin B1 (CycB1) accumulates in the nucleus from the cytoplasm. The overexpression of CycB1 has been associated with tumor aggressiveness and, therefore, CycB1 may have the potential to be a new therapeutic target in many aggressive cancers. Tuberin is a tumor suppressor protein that can bind CycB1 in the cytoplasm to regulate entry of CycB1 into the nucleus during the G2/M transition. Research into the Tuberin and CycB1 interaction may be promising for the field of cancer research. The Porter lab has studied the Tuberin-CycB1 interaction in vitro using established cell lines, but no one to date has studied this using an in vivo model which would provide us with more in-depth information about disease models. This project focuses on validating the Drosophila melanogaster as a model to study the Tuberin-CycB1 interaction. Drosophila melanogaster offers the unique advantage of having short generation times to permit high-throughput data to be collected. Moreover, the imaginal discs in the eye and wing of Drosophila contain regions of cells that are synchronized in the various phases of the cell cycle, providing the advantage that results can be seen at every phase of the cell cycle using this system. Our goal for this project is to first develop and validate a Drosophila disease model for Tuberin-CycB1 interactions and use it to gain more insight on possible targeted treatments for cancer using CyclinB1
Reconsidering the Thomistic Solution to the Problem of Universals: The 'Via Media' in the Contemporary World
Get PDFFew philosophical debates are as obscure and central as the ‘Problem of Universals’. Unfortunately, the hoary and perennial nature of this debate has obscured the question being asked, namely are universals real and if so, what role do they play? Scholars and historians of Aquinas alike find it exceedingly difficult to classify his solution to the problem in the typical scheme of categorization. Brian Leftow[1] notes that in our contemporary framing of the problem it is unclear whether he is a nominalist be it conceptual or predicative; or a conceptualist; or a realist ardent or moderate; or just plain inconsistent. Jeffrey Brower[2] takes up this important observation and tries to ameliorate these difficulties by de-conflating the medieval and contemporary framings placing strong emphasis on St. Thomas' 'via media' found in his use of common natures and differences in terminological usage. In this paper we seek to defend Aquinas’ peculiar use of common natures and what constitutes ‘being real’ from various non-realist interpretations. From this we will try to classify the Thomistic solution into the contemporary scheme and clarify some fundamental elements of his ontology. /="/">
Focus on International Joint Commission Activities (ISSN 0832-6673): vol.15 iss.3
No full textIn a recently released joint report to the Governments of the United States and Canada, the International Joint Commission (IIC) and the Great Lakes Fishery Com— mission (GLFC) warned that additional "massive and calamitous invasions� of exotic species could occur if preventive actions are not taken immediately to stop the introduction of such species into the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem
COASTIE Citizen Science Program for Measuring Impacts of Hurricane Fiona
No full text['UNSDG 13: Climate Action (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal13)']Viable, Healthy and Safe CommunitiesCanada's coastal systems are increasingly vulnerable to erosion due to eustatic sea level rise and changes in storm frequency and magnitude. Erosion of beach and dune systems threatens critical ecosystems and anthropogenic services, and there is a need to improve our understanding on the evolution of these systems in response to ambient environmental conditions and climate change. The COASTIE citizen science project at Canadian National Parks was established in 2021 and was designed to enable high temporal resolution monitoring of shoreline change and dune erosion and recovery through multiple seasons and storm events. Images taken by park visitors are uploaded directly to the University of Windsor's Coastal Research Group's database for image processing, rectification, and shoreline mapping and analysis through Matlab and ArcMap programs. This study focuses on an extreme erosion event associated with post-tropical storm Fiona at Cavendish and Brackley Beaches, located on the north shore of Prince Edward Island (PEI). Preliminary results demonstrate how the monitoring of coastal systems from pre and post storm events such as Fiona, allow for accurate measurements to be taken for sediment loss, shoreline retreat, and erosion of dunes and ultimately the recovery of the beach and dune. The photographic monitoring of coastal sites by citizen scientists has proven to be a powerful tool that will enhance public engagement and our understanding of coastal system dynamics through time
Disaster Response and Ecclesiastical Privilege in the Late Middle Ages: The Liberty of Durham After the Black Death
Get PDFThis paper examines the estate incomes of three large ecclesiastical corporations in medieval England to analyse the impact local autonomy has upon economic recovery following a medieval disaster scenario. It utilizes manorial records, assessments, and tax farms for the bishop of Durham, Durham Priory, and the archbishop of York to pursue this goal. Data is complied and presented, building off the methodology of a series of articles in the twentieth century on the changing distribution of wealth in medieval England to allow additional comparison with the wider kingdom. The character of the four truly autonomous bishops of Durham is analysed and placed into this economic context. Findings demonstrated that traditional crown-directed appointment traditions in Durham ensured a surprising resilience to sudden economic change, stymying damage caused by a disaster scenario. Once these appointment traditions ceased to be followed Durham’s economy experienced sharp negative growth until the return of traditional appointment methods returned skilled leadership to Durham. The experience presented by Durham in comparison to its contemporaries indicates that local autonomy provides a mixed boon. It yielded great benefits in the form of protection from sudden economic disaster but also great banes as once bishops lacked the skill or character to properly manage the diverse powers of the said autonomy, the economy immediately and continually suffered the extremes of disaster it had previously proven resilient to
From Supporting and Sustaining to Thriving: A Quantitative Investigation of the Pathway to Language Teacher Wellbeing
Get PDFTeachers are at the center of educational success. Teachers with higher levels of wellbeing are more open to connecting with others, enjoy higher levels of job satisfaction and performance, and have stronger motivation and commitment to the profession, thus promoting better students’ wellbeing, engagement and achievement. Unfortunately, existing studies show that teacher wellbeing is at risk, characterized by increased work-related stress, rising rates of teacher turnover, and attrition. This trend was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Not surprisingly, language teachers are no exception to this trend, and to make matters worse, language teachers experience some additional unique challenges such as emotional exhaustion and foreign language anxiety. The purpose of this study was to explore a pathway to language teacher wellbeing from supporting and sustaining to thriving through investigating the supportive role of positive organizations and sustaining role of basic psychological needs satisfaction during the pathway. Data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey with a sample of 556 language teacher participants from Chinese higher educational institutions. Descriptive analysis found that overall language teacher wellbeing fell under the category of normal functioning with a higher sense of achievement. Structural equation modeling analysis revealed that positive organizational practices including positive human resource, positive organizational practices, and positive relationship significantly supported language teacher wellbeing. Particularly, positive relationship practices produced significant influence on all the five domains of language teacher wellbeing, namely, positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, and achievement. However, positive leadership did not show significant influence on language teacher wellbeing. Furthermore, the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness significantly mediated the relations from positive organizational support to language teacher wellbeing. In particular, the satisfaction of psychological need for relatedness demonstrated the largest mediating effect. Today, as the whole society, especially educational leaders, are grappling with the problems of teacher retention and attrition, this research casts some new light. In lieu of short-term fixes or band-aid responses, long-term revitalization or bridge-building strategies that satisfy language teachers’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness should be prioritized. Other implications were also discussed
Engendering Justice for Migrant Women Fleeing Violence in the Canadian Refugee Determination System
No full textUnderstanding Border
Skin Cancer Diagnosis Based on SVM Method
Get PDFSkin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide, posing a significant threat to human health, especially when diagnosed late. Early and accurate detection of skin lesions plays a crucial role in improving patient survival rates. In this research, a machine learning (ML)-based approach is proposed for the detection and classification of skin lesions, utilizing the ABCD rule for feature extraction and Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the classifier. First, images from the ISIC 2019 dataset undergo a preprocessing phase, which includes grayscale conversion, contrast enhancement, noise removal, and lesion segmentation. Next, relevant features are extracted based on the ABCD rule, including Asymmetry, Border Irregularity, Color Variation, and Diameter. Additionally, geometric features such as compactness, elongation, area ratio, and border uniformity are extracted to provide a more comprehensive characterization of the lesions. The extracted features are then stored in a feature matrix and used as input for the SVM model, which classifies skin lesions into melanoma (malignant) and non-melanoma (benign) categories. The model's performance is evaluated using accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves high accuracy in distinguishing melanoma from non-melanoma lesions while maintaining a lower computational cost compared to deep learning methods. This study highlights that combining the ABCD rule for feature extraction with the SVM algorithm as a machine learning model can be an effective approach for automated melanoma detection in skin lesion images
Addressing the specific transition needs of diverse international students in online learning environments
Get PDFThe sudden transition from in-person to online learning, due to COVID-19, has brought about many changes, and has required students, faculty, and staff, alike, to make adjustments to their expectations, interactions, and processes. Currently, the primary focus of education is often on content delivery. While important, educators and support staff must also recognize that their role goes beyond teaching content, and must take into consideration who their students are. International students are faced with different challenges and realities than their domestic counterparts. As such, it is important to be aware of, and address, the specific transitional needs of international students, as they commence online learning. This paper will use data collected from the international student body at Brock University to propose adjustments to current institutional practices, with the focus of incorporating the human element, when responding to international student needs in the online environment