By: Esther Liu, Contributor
The Silhouette: What is the IMPACT study?
Marla Beauchamp: With the start of COVID-19 and the public health recommendations on social distancing and staying home as much as possible, one of the things that concerned us was: "How could this be affecting older peoples' mobility and their social participation?"
We know that mobility is a really really critical aspect of health for older people and when you lose mobility, you're at risk of falling, of negative health outcomes, of hospitalization. So our team wanted to understand the impact of these social distancing recommendations on peoples' mobility and participation over time.
[/media-credit] Marla Beaucamp
Brenda Vrkljan: Our sample is focused on people in Hamilton and one of the things that we wanted to do with this study was to be very thoughtful about who is gonna be included in the study. We aim to have a random sample, but that's a very loose term because when you say “I want a random sample,” it's not really that random because you still need to obtain informed consent and those kinds of things [and] you still need to recruit people. But what we did was we sampled people in different areas of the city, different economic statuses, different social determinants of health.
How did this study come into existence?
Beauchamp: I do a lot of work with people with chronic Lyme disease. Some of the guidelines for people include that you should remain at home completely, you should not go out at all. And so I was really concerned that we were telling people not to move, right? And I wanted to understand the impact of staying at home and not going about doing their usual activities, what that could do to their health.
So that was part of the reason for doing it. Also, Brenda and I are always talking about ways that we can support older people to live in their homes and to live independently. So if we were going to think more long term about this pandemic, we really needed to understand what has been the impact: what are people doing, what are people noticing?
Vrkljan: Like any good idea, there tends to be what I called the idea stack. So, Marla goes: "I have an idea," and I go: "Oh what if we did this too?". This might draw some other people in too and then what hopefully happens is that it's picked up in a better place. One thing we have is that we involve older adults in our initiatives. Of course, we might talk to our families, but that's not quite the same as talking to somebody who's not so close to us.
Marla and I have parents who are aging. . . and we also had an older adult partner who said that we're asking her lots of questions, but one thing that we're missing out on was the impact of the quarantine. We were missing out on the experience of living through a quarantine. So we've added interviews to our study with questions about their lives before the pandemic, during the pandemic and how they foresee their lives after the pandemic.
We're calling it the trilogy approach — it's not quite Star Wars — but this idea of thinking about your life in segments and trying to understand how people manage is our next step. We want to see what strategies people are using that are helping them do really well and see if those strategies could be implemented to help more people.
We're calling it the trilogy approach — it's not quite Star Wars — but this idea of thinking about your life in segments and trying to understand how people manage is our next step. We want to see what strategies people are using that are helping them do really well and see if those strategies could be implemented to help more people.
What are some highlights from the study so far?
Vrkljan: As an occupational therapist, I'm very interested in things that occupy peoples' time — their ability to do things that are important to them. For example, being able to get out to Tim Horton's could be really important to some people, that could be where you get your socialization. When you can't do those things, it could mean that you're not getting rest, that you're not moving around as much. So together, we're very interested in how people manage their mobility and manage their social participation because we want to leverage that.
Resilience is something . . . interesting as well. It's interesting to see that some of our participants actually reported that they're having such a hard time that they would actually have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It's not a diagnosis, but it's a real struggle. Now, we don't know how they were doing before, but we just had their snapshot in time.
[/media-credit] Brenda Vrkljan
Beauchamp: I just want to emphasize that it is a small proportion of people, but obviously concerning still and not nontrivial. Another big concern with our study is that almost half of respondents said that they were very worried about falling and of the people that had a fall in previous years, almost 40% said they had a fall in the last 30 days. That is a high number of calls during a pandemic where you're supposed to be with your family at home and less in the community.
So it just speaks to the fact that if you're less active and you do have problems with mobility, it can really have an impact on your health. These are all routes highlighted by the survey that are going to be important concerns going forward as we come out of the pandemic.
C/O: Silhouette Archives
How McMaster’s COVID-19 Research Fund enables scientists and students alike to engage in exciting research to fight the pandemic
Universities across the world have come together to conduct COVID-19 research. Some research projects have even entered phase three clinical trials. The brightest minds around the globe are all hard at work in the lab or hunched over a computer sifting through collected data to put an end to the ongoing pandemic. In the midst of all the headlines boasting of some institution’s cutting-edge research, have you perhaps wondered how McMaster is fighting against COVID-19?
McMaster holds the title of the most research intensive university in Canada for good reason. Like many of the most advanced research institutions across the world, McMaster’s faculty and students have been working intensely on COVID-19 projects, from exploring the potential for new diagnostic tools to exploring potential drugs that inhibit the virus’ ability to infect human cells. Many such projects have been made possible by many grants and these include the McMaster COVID-19 Research Fund, a program whereby the university itself and donors are able to support research projects conducted at McMaster.
One recipient of the McMaster COVID-19 Research Fund is Dr. Richard Austin, a professor in the medical sciences graduate program. He is the research director at St. Joseph’s Healthcare for the Hamilton Center for Kidney Research and has been at McMaster for 25 years. His research interests are focused on understanding why those with chronic kidney disease are at a higher risk of death due to cardiovascular complications. While waiting for his lab to reopen after facing setbacks from COVID-19 regulations, Austin became interested in the potential of a connection between his work prior to the pandemic and the novel virus itself.
C/O: Dr. Richard Austin. Richard Austin pictured here.
“We had stumbled upon a couple papers that were published actually showing that one of the cell surface proteins that we work on – GRP78 – was actually identified as a receptor that can combine to spike proteins on the virus and bring it into cells,” explains Austin.
Austin’s research lab has been hard at work looking further into the potential of this discovery he made when looking through the medical literature. His lab has since paired with a large scientific company in order to have access to different molecules that can bind to GRP78 and potentially block it and ultimately the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into human cells. The goal is to find out whether such a molecule may be used as a potential antiviral agent.
C/O: Michal Moshkovich. Pictured here is Dr. Richard Austin’s research team.
“We have small molecules from another company that we're working with that bind to surface GRP78,” said Austin. “So we're going to [ask whether] if we take some of these small molecules, can they actually disrupt the interaction of GRP78 with the spike protein so it doesn't get into the cell; so it could be an antiviral agent? That's what we're thinking.”
Austin’s research project has since grown and now involves an interdisciplinary team of researchers across McMaster. The team is now a collaboration of different faculties all working together to potentially uncover an antiviral agent. The team includes Dr. Karen Mossman, a virologist and professor in pathology and medicine, as well as a medicinal chemist. “One great thing about McMaster is the collaborative efforts we have,” explains Austin. “Here's a product that's sort of spurred out of an idea at three in the morning, when I was doing nothing and wanted to check on PubMed, into now, three investigators at McMaster that are actively looking at this whole process of GRP78.”
Another recipient of the McMaster COVID-19 Research Fund is Dr. Nikhil Pai, an assistant professor in the department of pediatrics, division of gastroenterology & nutrition, for his current project, “A Prospective, Observational Study on the Diagnosis of COVID-19 Infection from Stool Samples of Children and Adults.”
The project involves many collaborators across McMaster: Dr. Marek Smieja, Dr. Jeffrey Pernica, Lee Hill, Emily Hartung, Jelea Popov, Jodi Gilchrist, Julia Maciejewski, Dr. Mark Larché and Dr. Karen Mossman.
C/O: Michal Moshkovich. Pictured here is from left to right: Dr. Nikhil Pai, Dr. Jeffrey Pernica, Dr. Marek Smieja.
However, also participating in this exciting project are two undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Health Sciences (Honours) Program, Michal Moshkovich and Melanie Figueirdo, in second and third year, respectively. Indeed, it is not only professors and PhD students who are invested in the fight against COVID-19, but the student community as well.
C/O: Michal Moshkovich. Pictured here is Michal Moshkovich and Melanie Figueiredo, the undergraduates involved in Dr. Pai’s project.
The study will help determine whether COVID-19 infection can be detected from stool samples, which could potentially revolutionize current diagnostic methods. This is especially important considering the high prevalence of asymptomatic patients or COVID-19 positive patients who test negative through nasopharyngeal swabs.
“We are testing stool obtained from patients across eight major adult and children’s hospitals serviced by south western Ontario’s regional virology laboratory,” explains Moshkovich. “This study will better define rates of community infection, increase diagnostic accuracy, broaden our understanding of disease transmission risks and potentially offer more economical approaches to COVID-19 testing.”
The study, which involves a large multidisciplinary team, has garnered attention from across the globe and professionals from abroad are reaching out to offer their own data to assist the study. This just goes to show the importance of collaboration in science, a field which can often seem uber-competitive, during global emergencies.
“What's really incredible is how quickly we and the research community were able to pivot when there’s a global crisis happening to get important, relevant data out immediately,” explains Figueirdo. “We are doing this with a pediatric infectious diseases specialist, clinical pathologist, Director of lab medicine professional; we’ve gotten ministry of health support, McMaster university support and had phone calls with collaborators from Brazil back in February who wanted to share diagnostics with us. It’s very global and rapid; it feels great!”
What better way to spend your undergraduate career than by lending a hand to global COVID-19 research? Moshkovich and Figueirdo have definitely made the most of the pandemic and have had the unique experience of being involved in the nitty gritty of research that might eventually lead to COVID-19 patient care and global implementation of diagnostic techniques. For students also interested in getting involved in the fight against COVID-19 or simply impactful research in general, Moshkovich has an important message.
“The world is evolving — everything is changing,” says Moshkovich. “Do not hesitate to reach out to specialists, practitioners, laboratory heads and offer a hand in making this change. Because that is exactly what we did!”
This article has been edited as of Feb. 27, 2020
A previously published version of this article stated that Giroux phoned his daughter to ask about Casablancas. This has been corrected to state that he asked his son.
This article is part one of a two part series. Read part two here.
The latter half of the 2010 decade brought with it the rise of various right-winged movements throughout the world. Henry Giroux, a McMaster professor in the department of English and cultural studies, felt a sense of urgency; that the public needed to be educated in order to advance our democracy and combat the right side of politics. We recently had the chance to catch up with Giroux after he published his newest book, The Terror of the Unforeseen, which includes a forward by Julian Casablancas, lead singer of The Strokes.
INTRODUCTION TO CASABLANCAS:
In 2016, Giroux received a phone call from an agent asking if he knew who Julian Casablancas was, to which he responded, “No, I don’t”. He then phoned his son to ask who the mysterious rock star was.
Casablancas brought a film crew to Giroux’s Hamilton home and interviewed the professor about his work. This was the start of the duo’s friendship. Giroux then asked Casablancas if he wanted to write a forward in The Terror of the Unforeseen to open up his narrative to a much-wider audience.
After the forward was written, Casablancas interviewed Giroux in front of a live audience at a McMaster Library event at The Westdale Theatre (1014 King St. W.) on Oct. 24, 2019. The event was entitled “The Looming Threat of Fascist Politics”.
EARLY YEARS:
Giroux was born in Providence, Rhode Island, living in a working-class neighbourhood. He obtained a basketball scholarship from the University of Southern Maine and graduated from the university to become a high school teacher. He received a scholarship to complete his schooling at Carnegie-Mellon University, graduating with a PhD in 1977.
After becoming a professor at Boston University, Giroux began researching what education looks like at universities; what does it mean to get a university education?
In 1981, Giroux’s research inspired his second book, Theory and Resistance in Education: a Pedagogy for the Opposition. In Theory and Resistance, he defends that education has become a privatized endeavour that does not prioritizes the public’s best interests, including the interests of students. This privatization has become apparent through the promotion of maths and sciences, and the undermining of social and behavioural teachings. Giroux concludes that universities are no longer producing public intellectuals, people who think and reason critically, with the absence of humanities and social sciences.
When Giroux went up for tenure at Boston University, everyone but the president of the University wanted to give him the teaching position.
“[The president] was the east coast equivalent of Ronald Reagan, and a really ruthless guy.. he was denying tenure to everybody on the left [side of the political spectrum],” said Giroux.
Giroux moved to Miami University where he started the first cultural studies centre in the United States. He was then offered an endowed chair at Pennsylvania State University. When the opportunity came to apply to McMaster University, Giroux leapt at the offer and was hired in 2004.
THE TERROR OF THE UNFORESEEN:
Casablancas joined Giroux’s project because he saw the value in Giroux’s ideology.
“The idea for the book came out of a certain sense of incredible urgency . . . motivated by the election of Donald Trump and the rise of right-winged movements throughout the world,” said Giroux.
The author coined the term “neoliberal fascism”: a cross between racist ideology and a ruling financial elite class that disregards lower classes. This term is the basis of Giroux’s book, which describes how neoliberal fascism affects universities and media, along with how it has contributed to the creation of alt-right culture.
“I tried to take seriously the notion that politics follows culture, meaning that, you can’t really talk about politics unless you talk about the way in which people are experiencing their everyday lives and the problems that confront them,” said Giroux.
He believes that fascism never goes away, that it will always manifest itself in some context. Giroux used the U.S. as an example. The wealth and power held by the governing financial elite has created a state that does not care about the inequalities faced by most of its citizens.
Giroux links the above issues to the war on youth that much of his work has focused on, with the belief that youth are a long-term investment that are being written out of democracy.
CAMPUS POLITICS:
Giroux sees elements of youth being written out of democracy on our own campus. He also recognized that neoliberal ideology could have been a contributing cause to the province’s financial cuts to universities.
“The [ideal] model for education is now patterned after a business culture and with that, it seems to me, comes with an enormous set of dangers and anxieties,” stated Giroux.
According to Giroux, universities used to operate as public good; however, this is no longer their priority. Instead, universities are constantly worried about their bottom line, due in part to neoliberalism. This is especially evident in the elimination of or lack of funding for programs and courses that bring in less money for universities. Giroux cites the example of liberal arts education, which he believes is vital for every student to obtain. He believes this field teaches students a general understanding of our interactions with the world and how to become a socially responsible citizen; however, Giroux believes that liberal arts are being neglected in favour of teaching science and math.
While he understands that universities run deficits, this need to meet the bottom line can open the door for them to become influenced to opt-in to privatization and corporate influence. Giroux believes the only type of influence major corporations should have on campus are in the forms of sponsorships to allow the university to carry out its business as students are neither clients nor products.
“We have an obligation as educators, not to prepare students for just the work, but to prepare them for the world and what it means.”
When asked about the Ford government’s stance on OSAP cuts, Giroux believes that the government has a limited notion of investment, likely stemming from neoliberalist ideals.
“You don’t invest in students, for them to return profits . . . you invest in students and do everything you can to make sure that they can distinguish between meaningful work and meaningless work; that they can have some vision of the future that’s rooted in democratic values, that has some sense of compassion for what it means to live in a world in which we’re completely interdependent.
The Terror of the Unforeseen is the 71st book by Henry Giroux.
“I write because I believe that writing matters, I believe that elevating ideas into the public realm may help change the way people view the world,” said Giroux.
Stay tuned for part two of this series featuring our interview with Julian Casablancas.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By Wei Yan Wu, Contributor
It is becoming increasingly important to plan and prepare for the future consequences that the climate emergency will bring to our planet. Zoe Li, a civil engineering assistant professor at McMaster University, has set out to tackle this need.
As someone who works with scientific models, Li does not work in an experimental laboratory. Instead, she works with different simulation models to analyze the water cycle. Through her research, Li is attempting to quantify the unpredictable by forecasting the likelihood of droughts and floods in certain regions.
Li conducts a process known as climate impact analysis to assess the impact of climate change on water resources. Recently, her research has involved working with a Master’s student and two undergraduate students on an algorithm that will be able to collect weather and climate data from numerous climate centres around the world. This will help produce climate projections for specific regions and aid in informing preventive measures.
For an area at risk of flooding, for example, there will be structural or non-structural measures; a structural measure would entail diversions to modify flood runoff, while a non-structural one would involve practices like flood proofing in order to decrease the damage susceptibility of certain floodplains.
Through climate impact analysis, Li and her team aim to use advanced machinery and techniques to provide reliable evidence in support of methods of adapting to climate change. To accomplish this, they are working with colleagues in computer science.
While Li and her team are aware that running a physically-based climate model requires a great deal of time and resources, they are able to help meet their need for mass amounts of information by collecting output from various climate centres around the world. These include, among others, the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis, the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Moving forward, Li intends to use projections, machinery and algorithms to generate a customized projection specifically for Ontario.
“I’ve always known that there’s a research gap. People have been developing global and regional climate models, but there’s nothing that’s reliable just for Ontario. Since I live in Ontario, I thought we should provide a more reliable climate projection for Ontario because this is a very important issue,” said Li.
Li has been contacted by another professor in the civil engineering department at McMaster, who, alongside one of his students, now uses Li’s results as foundation for their own model. Using information that attempts to measure future environmental phenomena, such as predicted temperatures, this professor and his student have been able to quantify the energy consumption of buildings.
Li states that her model can be applied to anything that is affected by a change in temperature and precipitation. She believes that it is necessary to have a projection of what the environment’s future will entail in order to fully analyze the possible impact of climate change.
“We are trying to provide projections so that people will know what the precipitation is, what the temperature is. For example, for the design of buildings and bridges, they will need to know whether there will be gusts and what the wind speed is, things like that. That’s the input information we can provide,” said Li.
Climate impact analysis is only one part of Li’s research.
“For the other half, we focus on how to quantify the uncertainties in different environmental systems so that we can better manage different kinds of environmental risks,” she added.
Due to the fact that model inputs, parametres and structures come with their own uncertainties, Li currently has students working to address these issues by developing quantification methods that could provide more support for risk assessment and management.
Through her research and by collaborating with different sectors at McMaster, Li demonstrates the potential benefits her work could bring to the community. She also has another project dedicated to analyzing wastewater treatment as she continues to work on environmental solutions for Ontario.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By Kayla Freeman, Contributor
Since 2019, metal straws have taken over. Every day, I see at least 50 metal straws in peoples’ beverages. That should be a good thing, right? To some extent it is, but people aren’t choosing sustainability for the right reasons. Using a metal straw is currently a trend, but are metal straws even the right answer to saving our oceans and marine life?
Of course not. Imagine if saving the environment was that easy. Every day, 500 million disposable plastic straws are used and will likely end up in our waterways. This statistic can scare many people into thinking that the solution lies in replacing plastic straws with their metal counterparts. However, many people fail to realize what materials and emissions go into making a metal straw.
The energy used to create one metal straw is roughly equivalent to creating 90 plastic straws, and also produces carbon emissions equivalent to 150 plastic straws. This may not seem like a lot, but in order to offset the environmental impact of creating a metal straw, it must be used over 150 times.
We also need to consider the harsh reality of nickel mining that is necessary in order to create these trendy accessories. The Philippines is a predominant nickel supplier. Much of the soil in Palawan, a major nickel supplier in the Philippines, has been reduced to a wasteland.
Metal straws are not the only items that are made out of nickel, meaning that they are not the sole contributors to the destruction of soil in Palawan. However, they are trendy accessories and are produced excessively. This is evidenced through the variety of designs metal straws are offered in. Our materialist society does not hesitate to contribute to this “fast fashion” accessory, with celebrities such as Jeffree Star capitalizing on the movement by coming out with their own packs of metal straws. The excessive production of metal straws contradicts the environmentalist intentions that they are meant to fulfill.
If you’re purchasing a metal straw, you would assume that it would be made out of metal, right? Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Many of these items are not labelled due to their “eco-friendly” branding strategy as they are not required to list any ingredients since the straw is not being consumed. Safe metal straws should be made with food-grade stainless steel as any other materials may corrode over time. Safe metal straws should be made with food-grade stainless steel as any other materials may corrode over time.
Additionally, painted or coloured straws also pose a risk of either contaminating the drink or containing unsafe chemicals such as Bisphenol A (BPA), which is known to cause an array of health risks. Metal straws might not be the only alternative to disposable plastic straws, but they are very popular because of their durability and cost-effectiveness.
Make no mistake, I think that we should try to be as eco-friendly as possible. But if you are going to opt for a reusable straw, try to purchase locally and support Canadian businesses, such as Glass Sipper. It’s important to keep in mind that when you are trying to be sustainable to be aware of what goes into the production of “eco-friendly alternatives” because sometimes the good intent gets lost in the action.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By Olivia Fava, Contributor
Two of McMaster’s professors, Chandrima Chakraborty and James MacKillop, have recently been named to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.
Founded in 2014 and based in Ottawa, the College of New Scholars aims to gather the “emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership” from a broad range of disciplines. Recipients of the College’s title must have demonstrated exceptional achievement in the early stages of their career. By pooling together award recipients, irrespective of their disciplines, their goal is to encourage a dialogue between intellectuals with diverse perspectives, and hopefully inspire new insights.
The College acknowledges five aspects of the current academic landscape that inform their mandate: the increasing use of new media in research communication; the emergence of interdisciplinary research; the majority of Canadian professors being recently hired; greater female representation in academia; and greater First Nations and visible minority representation in academia.
A clinical psychologist by training, MacKillop’s award-winning research focuses on addiction — the factors causing it, how it sustains itself and how it can be treated. He is currently the director of McMaster’s Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research, and co-director of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research. He studies both cannabis addiction and the potential risks of prescribing cannabis medically. He is a member of the department of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour. MacKillop was not available for comment.
Chakraborty, on the other hand, is part of the department of English & cultural studies. In the past, her work has focused on the relationship between religion, masculinity and nationalism in India, with an analysis of media and literature. Currently, she is focused on the 1985 Air India bombings and the post-9/11 targeting of South Asian populations.
Chakraborty was nominated by McMaster to become a member of the College. According to her, the nomination was formally initiated by the previous president, Patrick Deane. She considers the nomination not only personally significant to her, but also significant in its recognition of the value of research that engages the community.
“Much of my work straddles a number of different fields. History, memory studies, trauma studies, nationalism, masculinity … For me, this nomination is a recognition of that kind of work that crosses those kinds of disciplinary boundaries. I also think this recognition is important because my work is very much situated in the community,” she said.
Specifically, Chakraborty referenced her current work on the Air India bombings, through which she has interviewed families of victims and collecting photographs. She has been learning from the community and recognizing them, in her own words, as “carriers of knowledge”. She works as a mediator to bring a seldom-recognized tragedy into the realm of public consciousness.
Chakraborty’s efforts have resulted in the first-ever public archive on the Air India tragedy. She emphasizes that this project is not simply about researchers writing about the tragedy but also about families sharing their stories on their own terms. The archive also engages questions of race, Canadian citizenship and public mourning.
“Why is it that if 329 people were on that plane, and about 280 of them were Canadian citizens or permanent residents, why do Canadians of [student] age, for instance, not know about this tragedy? How do certain griefs become part of the public realm and part of the national consciousness whereas certain other kinds are seen as local? … Is it ignorance, is it apathy, is it racism, what is it?” she asked.
When asked what she would attribute her personal success in terms of this recognition, Chakraborty named her childhood experiences as a child of refugees as well as her experiences as an immigrant in Canada.
“I might be an English literature prof, but I don’t speak like white Canadians — accent and gender and race and all of those things. You learn to work harder than others … you always feel like ‘I really have to prove myself, because nothing is given to me,” said Chakraborty.
She also expressed gratitude to her teachers and family, her colleagues at McMaster for their support and the students who have expressed interest in her work.
The College of New Scholars summarizes its membership criteria as “excellence.” Congratulations to these two researchers for demonstrating the excellence of the McMaster community in a range of disciplines on the federal level.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
A new study led by McMaster researchers may change the medical treatment of heart attack survivors.
The COMPLETE study, led by Dr. Shamir Mehta, staff cardiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences and professor with the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University, investigates reducing survivor’s risk of future heart attacks.
Heart attacks occur when arteries supplying the heart with blood are blocked. Doctors typically open up the artery responsible for the heart attack and treatment proceeds with medications such as blood thinners, beta blockers and low-dose aspirin. The COMPLETE study, however, aims to investigate whether opening up more potentially problematic arteries is preferable to medication-focused treatment options.
“Given its large size, international scope and focus on patient-centered outcomes, the COMPLETE trial will change how doctors treat this condition and prevent many thousands of recurrent heart attacks globally every year,” said Mehta in a McMaster press release regarding the study.
Arteries are “opened up” through a procedure known as percutaneous coronary intervention, a non-surgical procedure in which a small structure known as a stent is put in place to widen blood vessels supplying blood to the heart. Blood vessels that require this procedure are usually narrow due to a buildup of plaque.
Beginning in 2013, the COMPLETE study has enrolled over four thousand patients with acute heart attacks from 31 countries. Upon arriving at collaborating hospitals, patients are quickly installed with a stent to widen the narrowed artery. If cardiologists discover one or more arteries that are more than 70 per cent blocked during the procedure, that patient becomes eligible for the COMPLETE study.
Patients are randomized to one of two groups: one returns 45 days later to install more stents while the other heads home with normal medication centered treatment.
The study found that 7.8 per cent of patients that had additional stents installed either had another heart attack or died. By contrast, 10.5 per cent of patients receiving conventional care experienced these outcomes.
“This study clearly showed that there is a long term benefit in preventing serious heart-related events by clearing all of the arteries. There was also no major downside to the additional procedure,” said Mehta.
The COMPLETE trial earned international attention after being published in the New England Journal of Medicine early last week, and was presented at the World Congress of Cardiology in Paris. Whether the study’s findings will convince more doctors that partially occluded arteries should also be opened up, or result in a change in medical practices remains to be seen.
The study may prove to be of special importance to Canadians. Heart disease is the second leading cause of death in Canada and cardiovascular diseases account for approximately 30 per cent of all deaths worldwide. Making changes to improve the treatment of patients with multivessel disease may help to save lives in the future.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Neda Pirouzmand
The university has banned the consumption of cannabis on campus, but the McMaster Centre for Continuing Education, Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research and Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medical Cannabis Research have combined efforts to pilot a new “Science of Cannabis” program.
Science of cannabis is going to be a three-course program that will meet the needs of health and community professionals, educators, civil servants and individuals with personal interest.
The first course of the program, Fundamentals of Cannabis Science, begins on May 13 and will run until July 21.
Lorraine Carter, director of the CCE, emphasized the evidence-based nature and relevance of the program.
“The fundamentals course is an important introduction to the general history and science of cannabis, and sets the stage for subsequent courses focused on therapeutic interventions and the risks associated with cannabis use,” said Carter. “In all, grounded in contemporary evidence and delivered by McMaster’s leading experts in cannabis research, the program is an exceptional learning opportunity.”
Michael Amlung, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at Mcmaster, will be teaching the “Fundamentals of Cannabis Science” course.
As a faculty scientist, his research focuses on cannabis misuse.
Carter saw a perfect opportunity to partner with James MacKillop, director of the PBCAR and co-director of the DeGroote Centre for Medical Cannabis Research, in the creation of the program.
“The CCE is always looking for program ideas that are timely and relevant to adult, undergraduate and graduate students,” said Carter. “With the legalization of cannabis this past October and awareness of the exceptional research in cannabis happening here at McMaster University, the chance to partner with Dr. McKillop’s research team was a natural partnership.”
The CCE offers flexible workshops and courses for students to build upon past skills, obtain a professional designation or pursue new learning opportunities.
These include crisis and mental health training, data analytics and web design.
According to Carter, despite its smoking ban, McMaster should consider pursuing programs similar to science of cannabis in its future.
“More and more students are looking for programs in specific topics and skills areas. Programs that are shorter than a degree such as a three-course certificate and that are offered online are especially appealing,” he said.
Carter explains that online courses garner over 80 per cent of enrollment in the realm of continuing education.
“The accessibility and flexibility of online courses is something that today’s learners value a great deal,” said Carter.
McMaster is following closely behind the heels of the University of Ottawa and Ryerson University in the timely introduction of cannabis-focused education.
Ryerson University launched a cannabis course called “The Business of Cannabis” last year and the University of Ottawa was the first Canadian law school to offer cannabis law courses for the 2018-2019 academic year.
Class sizes for the “Fundamentals of Cannabis Science” are limited and the second course of the program has yet to be revealed.
Depending on its success, the science of cannabis program may add more courses and update content as cannabis news and research develops.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Saba Manzoor
The federal government has awarded $3.3 million in grants to 72 social sciences and humanities researchers at McMaster.
These grants are a part of the federal government’s social sciences and humanities research council’s “Insight Development Grant” program.
McMaster was one of nearly 80 post-secondary institutions across the country to receive part of the $141 million overall grant funding provided by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
This announcement comes a few months after McMaster maintained its rank as Canada’s most research-intensive university on the list of Canada’s top 50 research universities.
Funding through government programs, such as the SSHRC-IDG, continues to play a significant role in establishing the university’s rank on the list.
In addition to being lauded for the quality of their research, McMaster’s humanities and social science researchers have also been recognized for the communicability of their research.
In particular, they were the recipients of the 2017 SSHRC award of excellence for communications, which recognized the accessibility of McMaster research for non-expert audiences.
One of this year’s research grant recipients is Jeffrey Denis, an associate professor in the department of sociology.
Denis’ funds are being put towards a collaborative project with Reconciliation Kenora, a non-profit organization comprised of Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents in Northwestern Ontario.
The goal of Denis’ project is to improve local relationships and better understand the reconciliation efforts that prevail in this part of the province.
“Our plan is to conduct a series of video-recorded sharing circles with Anishinaabe, Metis and settler residents about what reconciliation means, the barriers and enablers to achieving it and how to engage more people in the process,” said Denis.
Brent McKnight, an assistant professor with the DeGroote School of Business, is another grant recipient this year.
Through this funding, McKnight will be evaluating how external considerations, such as environmental, social and governance factors, contribute to financial investments.
Specifically, McKnight will be examining how these factors play into a retail market investment decisions.
“There are few sources of funding for social science research and this multi-year grant is critical,” said McKnight.
Mark Norman, another grant recipient, is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of health, aging and society at McMaster.
With the funding, Norman will be investigating the organization and social meanings of sport and physical recreation in Ontario youth detention centres.
According to Norman, despite their popularity in youth correctional facilities, evidence suggests that implementing sports programs for at-risk youth produces mixed outcomes.
Norman’s project aims to reconcile the knowledge gap and explore why these programs are yielding these results.
“It is crucial that Canadian governments and post-secondary institutions invest in social sciences and humanities research, particularly projects that investigate pressing social problems or provide insight on how to ameliorate social injustices in our society,” explains Norman.
Other research projects funded through the grant cover a wide range of topics, including the history of smallpox and the effects of taxation on trade.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
By: Tanya Kett & Jillian Perkins Marsh
Some say that when they last attended a job fair employers told them to apply online, so they felt it was pointless to attend. If you have similar sentiments, I urge you to keep reading.
Employers may tell you to apply online (it does save paper!), but the real reason they are there is to get a sense of the person behind the resume that is submitted online — YOU.
Who are you? What do you have to offer? Why are you unique? Are you personable? Do you seem genuinely interested? What do you know about them? Answers to these questions can only be conveyed in an application to a certain extent. Make a real connection so that when your application does come across their desk, your name gets noticed.
How can you differentiate your application from other ones in the application pile?
Do your research. Explore the event website for the list of employers confirmed to attend and do some research on them before the event.
Tailor your elevator pitch. Make eye contact and shake their hand. Be bold, assertive, and with some confidence, introduce yourself. Tell them what you do or want to do, what you have to offer and why you are interested in them. Customize your pitch based on your research.
Ask useful questions. Based on your research, prepare some thoughtful questions to generate conversation after your introductions.
Be an active listener. Really listen to what they have to say; it is easy to start thinking ahead to what you will say next, but concentrate on being in the moment. After the conversation is over, jot down any suggestions they had for applicants before you forget.
Be ready to dig deeper. If you encounter an organization of interest that is not hiring in the area you are interested in, don’t despair. Remember that organizations recruit for many diverse roles and hiring timelines are often not predictable.
Invite to connect on LinkedIn. Visit your new contact’s profile and send your request from there, so you have an option to ‘Add a Note.’ Reference something from your conversation when you invite them to connect and thank them for their time in speaking with you at the event.
After you attend the event and employ the tactics above, you are ready to submit that online application. Don’t forget to mention the contact you spoke with at the Career Fair or Company Recruitment Event. Incorporate their suggestions and offer something you learned from them in your cover letter as part of why you are interested in applying.
Now imagine you did none of the above, just attended, had a few conversations and just applied online. Which application would you be most interested in?
Use what you’ve learned in this article at our SCENE networking night on March 21. This event is open to McMaster alumni and students in their final year. Register here: alumni.mcmaster.ca under Event Listings.
Read the full article on our Medium page.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
