University of Lethbridge
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Athletic fat and disidentification: reading gender, sport/exercise, and fatness on YouTube
No full textOpen access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) appliesConsidering the gendered, fatphobic cultural assumptions shaping media representations of fat female bodies, alongside the increasing influence of online media on individuals’ lived experiences, this study examines Athletic Fat Starting Today, a South Korean YouTube channel, to illuminate the discursive construction of fat bodies within the contemporary digital media landscape. Drawing on insights from theories of disidentification and affect, I specifically discuss how social media operates as a space for rearticulating meanings at the intersection of fatness, exercise/sport, and female bodies. Analysis suggests that, through the interplay between bodily representations and audience engagement on the platform, normative ideals of femininity and acceptable bodies are unsettled, opening up possibilities for envisioning new, plural (athletic) femininities.Ye
Protective roles of psilocybin and eugenol in mitigating the effects of high-glucose and high-lipid treatment of human skin fibroblasts (BJ-5ta)
No full textSkin aging, particularly under conditions of metabolic stress, is driven by a complex interplay of oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. This thesis investigates the protective effects of two natural compounds—eugenol, a phenolic compound derived from clove oil, and psilocybin, a serotonergic tryptamine alkaloid—against premature aging in human dermal fibroblasts (BJ-5Ta) exposed to high-glucose and high-lipid (HGHL) conditions (25 mM glucose and 400 µM palmitic acid).
Both compounds were assessed using co-treatment and post-treatment approaches. A wide range of assays, including MTT, β-galactosidase staining, qPCR for inflammatory and ECM-related genes, flow cytometry for apoptosis and cell cycle, and wound healing assays, were employed to evaluate cellular viability, senescence, inflammation, and ECM remodeling.
Eugenol treatment significantly reduced oxidative stress, inflammation (notably IL-1β, COX-2, and TNF-α), and cellular senescence, while upregulating ECM components such as COL3A1 and elastin (ELN). Psilocybin also preserved cell viability, reduced apoptosis, mitigated senescence markers, downregulated IL-1β, IL-6, and COX-2, and promoted ELN expression under HGHL-induced stress.
Together, the findings demonstrate that both eugenol and psilocybin exert anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and anti-senescent effects, helping to preserve dermal fibroblast integrity and function under metabolically stressful conditions. These results highlight the therapeutic potential of natural bioactive compounds in preventing or delaying skin aging and pave the way for future clinical research on their use in dermatological applications
TikTok made me do it: the risks of self-diagnosing using social media
No full textIn an age where accessing information and personal insights is instantaneous, this project examines the rise of self-diagnosis of mental disorders among social media users. This refers to the idea that information encountered on social media informs an individual’s decision to self-diagnose. Properties of social media such as the ability to rapidly share personal stories, algorithms, and peer interaction may be perpetuating this phenomenon. Additionally, there is growing concern regarding inaccurate information and problematic understandings of mental health concepts. Adolescents appear to be particularly susceptible to this trend based on internal and external factors. Literature on this topic has emerged in recent years, however there is a gap in practice that addresses the risks involved in self-diagnosis using social media. To address this gap, this project suggests recommendations for learning as well as a presentation proposal and slideshow aimed at adolescents based on a comprehensive literature review. Additionally, a presentation proposal for teachers and parents is included. By doing so, social media users may be better equipped to engage in and interact with mental health discourse
The factors associated with suicidality among Canadian youth: a cross-sectional secondary analysis
No full textThe focus of this thesis was to examine the association between vulnerable youth and suicidality. This was done by conducting a secondary analysis on youth aged 15 to 29. A secondary data analysis took place utilizing the Statistics Canada 2022 Mental Health and Access to Care Survey for two separate papers. In the first paper exposure to childhood maltreatment was examined as an exposure variable for the outcome suicidality among the age group 18 to 29. Results indicated that those exposed to childhood maltreatment were more likely to experience suicidality than those not exposed. Additionally, the odds of suicidality increased with the number of maltreatment types experienced, suggesting a potential dose-response relationship. This association showed evidence for being partially mediated by mental health conditions, specifically meeting diagnostic criteria for depression or anxiety. In the second paper, minority status was created as an exposure variable for the outcome suicidality by combining racialized minorities (including Indigenous groups), and sexual identity minorities for the age group 15 to 24. These results showed minorities were more likely to experience suicidality compared to non-minority youth. This association appeared to be partially mediated by childhood maltreatment, which consisted of experiencing any form of maltreatment in the past. Findings from both studies suggest that vulnerable youth are more likely to experience suicidality, placing them at an increased risk for negative health outcomes. This emphasizes the importance of reducing systemic inequalities and developing context specific interventions to support these groups of youth. Policy makers, governments, and the community should aim to use proactive measures for prevention rather than implementing more crisis interventions in the future
Groups with elements of order 8 do not have the DCI property
No full textOpen access article. Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0) appliesLet k be odd, and n an odd multiple of 3. Although this can also be deduced from known results, we provide a new proof that Ck ⋊ C₈ and (Cn × C₃) ⋊ C₈ do not have the Directed Cayley Isomorphism (DCI) property. When k is prime, Ck ⋊ C₈ had previously been proved to have the Cayley Isomorphism (CI) property. To the best of our knowledge, the groups Cp ⋊ C₈ (where p is an odd prime) are only the second known infinite family of groups that have the CI property but do not have the DCI property. This also provides a new proof of the result (which follows from known results but was not explicitly published) that no group with an element of order 8 has the DCI property.
One piece of our proof is a new result that may prove to be of independent interest: we show that if a permutation group has a regular
subgroup of index 2 then it must be 2-closed.Ye
Characterization of iGABASnFR2 for in vivo mesoscale imaging of intracortical GABA dynamics
No full textOpen access article. Creative Commons 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) appliesSignificance
Although genetically encoded sensors have advanced the study of cortical excitation, tools for large-scale imaging of inhibition remain limited. Visualizing extracellular gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) dynamics in vivo is essential for understanding how inhibitory networks shape brain activity across sensory, behavioral, and pharmacological states.
Aim
Our aims are to validate and apply the genetically encoded sensor iGABASnFR2 for wide-field imaging of extracellular GABA and to characterize how cortical inhibition reorganizes across brain states, sensory modalities, and after GABA transporter blockade.
Approach
We performed mesoscale imaging in head-fixed C57BL/6 mice systemically expressing iGABASnFR2. Recordings were conducted under isoflurane anesthesia, during quiet wakefulness, natural sleep [non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement], and after administration of the GAT-1 inhibitor tiagabine. We analyzed both sensory-evoked and spontaneous GABA signals using time-series, spectral, and seed-pixel correlation analyses.
Results
iGABASnFR2 demonstrated strong and modality-specific GABAergic responses to sensory stimulation, with faster and stronger activation in the contralateral cortex. Although the general spatial patterns of sensory-evoked GABA responses were consistent across anesthesia and quiet wakefulness, the amplitude, timing, and spread of these responses were significantly greater during wakefulness. During spontaneous activity, cortical GABA levels and connectivity modulated by brain state: GABA amplitude and interhemispheric synchrony, were highest during quiet wakefulness but reduced during NREM sleep. Tiagabine elevated baseline GABA levels, abolished stimulus-evoked responses, and enhanced local and long-range inhibitory synchrony.
Conclusions
iGABASnFR2 enables reliable, high-resolution imaging of cortical GABA dynamics in vivo. These results demonstrate that inhibitory signaling is dynamically structured across brain states and can be pharmacologically modulated. This tool offers opportunities to explore the role of inhibition in health and disease at the mesoscale level.Ye
Haar graphical representations of finite groups and an application to poset representations
No full textOpen access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) appliesAnswering a question of Feng, Kovács, Wang, and Yang, we classify the finite groups admitting a Haar graphical representation. Specifically, we show that every finite group admits a Haar graphical representation, with abelian groups and ten other small groups as the only exceptions.
Our work on Haar graphs allows us to improve a 1980 result of Babai concerning representations of groups on posets, achieving the best possible result in this direction. An improvement to Babai's related result on representations of groups on distributive lattices follows.Ye
Impact of interest rates and private wealth on labor supply: a study on G7 countries
No full textThis study examines the impact of interest rates and private wealth on labor supply across the G7 countries using data from 1971 to 2020. It uses a panel data analysis to explore how the changes of these variables influence labor supply, with a particular focus on substitution effect¬ — where labor supply increases as the interest rates rise — and income effects — where wealth accumulation reduces the labor supply. The study uses a Representative Agent New Keynesian (RANK) model to frame the theoretical discourse on the labor supply decisions. In the empirical analysis we considered the possibility of structural break and implemented diagnostic checks for it. The findings postulate insightful results, such as the dominance of the substitution effect in the case of interest rates, and the dominance of income effect when the interest rate was persistently high. Although, there is a statistically significant impact of these variables on the labor supply, the magnitude of these impacts remains modes
Twelve days in the career of a China missionary: Timothy Richard at the Protestant Conference in Shanghai in 1890
No full textOpen access article. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) appliesThis article proposes to examine an obscure episode in the long career of the well-known Welsh Baptist missionary Timothy Richard, who went to China in 1870 and spent most of the next 45 years there. Richard attended the second general Protestant Missionary Conference in Shanghai in 1890 and served on committees, spoke at meetings, and presented a paper. The information available, though scanty, confirms key components of his approach to mission at this time: his goal was to achieve Chinese ‘salvation’ by promoting the principles and practices of what might be broadly termed ‘Christian civilisation’; his means of propagation was the written word; his preferred point of entry was contact with members of China's ‘ruling’ or ‘governing’ classes. In response to his call for action against anti-Christian, anti-Church propaganda, the conference appointed a permanent committee, with Richard as chair, to present an address on the ‘missionary question’ to the Qing government. It was this project that took him to Beijing in 1895, where he met with court officials and members of the educated elite, and established connections that involved him, rather haphazardly, in court politics in 1898. The sequence of events sheds light on an intriguing aspect of Sino–foreign relations during the late Qing period.Ye
Good grief?: The impact of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) on grieving experiences in rural Southern Alberta
No full textMedical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) has introduced new ethical, clinical, and social considerations in Canada’s healthcare system since its legalization in 2016. While research has explored the legal, policy, and practical implications of MAiD, less is known about the grief experiences of those closely involved in the process—particularly within rural communities. This thesis explores the grief experiences of patients, family members, and healthcare professionals involved in MAiD within a rural Southern Alberta context. Using a reflexive thematic analysis of qualitative interview data, this study investigates how participants described grief and what factors influenced their experiences.
Through this analysis, I generated three primary themes: (1) MAiD as a means to avoid a ‘bad death’; (2) bureaucratic processes and institutional policies that complicate the MAiD experience and related grief; and (3) the role of stigma and secrecy in shaping grief and limiting access to support. While many participants identified MAiD as enabling a more dignified and controlled end-of-life experience, the grief that followed was not always straightforward. Experiences were shaped by personal and professional relationships, the perceived legitimacy of MAiD within communities, and systemic barriers—including final consent policies and restrictions in faith-based facilities.
This research contributes to growing evidence that grief related to MAiD can be multifaceted and influenced by more than the nature of death itself. Findings underscore the importance of considering how rurality, cultural context, and stigma intersect to shape bereavement. The thesis concludes with recommendations for improving policy, support services, and future research, especially regarding the role of rural social norms and institutional restrictions in the experience of MAiD-related grief