Reconciling traditional knowledge, food security, and climate change: experience from Old Crow, YT, Canada.

Background: Because of a lack of transportation infrastructure, Old Crow has the highest food costs and greatest reliance on traditional food species for sustenance of any community in Canada's Yukon Territory. Environmental, cultural, and economic change are driving increased perception of food insecurity in Old Crow.

Objectives: To address community concerns regarding food security and supply in Old Crow and develop adaptation strategies to ameliorate their impact on the community.

Proteomic analysis of eccrine sweat: implications for the discovery of schizophrenia biomarker proteins.

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry (MRM-MS) proteomics analyses were performed on eccrine sweat of healthy controls, and the results were compared with those from individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ). This is the first large scale study of the sweat proteome. First, we performed LC-MS/MS on pooled SZ samples and pooled control samples for global proteomics analysis.

Community-based health research led by the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.

Objectives: This paper documents an exceptional research partnership developed between the Vuntut Gwitchin Government (VGG) in Old Crow, Yukon, with a group of scientists to examine northern food security and health as part of a larger, multidisciplinary International Polar Year (IPY) research program. We focus on the elements that enabled a successful community-researcher relationship. Study design.

Mild cognitive impairment: prodromal Alzheimer's disease or something else?

The majority of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) studies use baseline and one follow-up measurement to determine the clinical course of the disorder. This report of MCI clinical course is based on the a statistical evaluation of multiple neurocognitive tests over a 60 month period in elderly normal and MCI cohorts. The data includes serial informant-based measures (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR]) and a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests analyzed by two different regression methods.

Assessing risk of mercury exposure and nutritional benefits of consumption of caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation community of Old Crow, Yukon, Canada.

The contamination of traditional foods with chemical pollutants is a challenge to the food security of Aboriginal Peoples. Mercury levels are generally low in terrestrial animals; however renal mercury levels have been shown to change over time in the Porcupine Caribou Herd, the principal food source for the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation of Old Crow in Yukon, Canada. Seventy-five Porcupine Caribou muscle, sixty-three kidney and three liver samples were analyzed for total mercury.

Importance of traditional foods for the food security of two First Nations communities in the Yukon, Canada.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate food consumption patterns in the context of food security in two Yukon First Nations communities.

Study Design: Twenty-nine members of Vuntut Gwitchin households in Old Crow and 33 members of Tlingit households in Teslin participated in individual interviews.

Methods: Food frequency questionnaires were used to quantify traditional food consumption throughout the spring 2007 and winter 2008 and to identify potential temporal trends through a comparison with data from the early 1990s.

The heme degradation pathway is a promising serum biomarker source for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.

One of the remaining challenges in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research is the establishment of biomarkers for early disease detection. As part of a prospective study spanning a period of five years, we have collected serial serum samples from cognitively normal, mild cognitively impaired (MCI), and mild AD participants, including same patient samples before and after cognitive decline. Using mass spectrometry we identified several promising leads for biomarker development, such as prosaposin, phospholipase D1, biliverdin reductase B, and S100 calcium binding protein A7.

Serial susceptibility weighted MRI measures brain iron and microbleeds in dementia.

A new iron sensitive MR sequence (susceptibility weighted imaging - SWI) enabling the simultaneous quantitation of regional brain iron levels and brain microbleeds (BMB) has been acquired serially to study dementia. Cohorts of mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) elderly (n = 73) and cognitively normal participants (n = 33) have been serially evaluated for up to 50 months. SWI phase values (putative iron levels) in 14 brain regions were measured and the number of BMB were counted for each SWI study.

Local observations of climate change and impacts on traditional food security in two northern Aboriginal communities.

Objectives: Our primary objective was to record participant observations of changes in the local environment, harvesting situations and traditional food species and to explore what impact these may have on traditional food.

Study Design: A participatory study with 2 northern Aboriginal communities in Canada.

Methods: Focus groups were conducted in both communities.

Increased production of inflammatory cytokines in mild cognitive impairment.

Recent studies indicate that chronic inflammation plays a pathogenic role in both the central nervous system (CNS) and periphery in Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have screened for cytokines differentially produced by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild AD subjects who had progressed from MCI using a commercially available cytokine array. Following determination of expressed cytokines, we quantified levels of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-8, and the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 using flow cytometry.

A multicenter study of permanent hemodialysis access patency: beneficial effect of clipped vascular anastomotic technique.

Objective: There is an urgent and compelling need to reduce the morbidity and expense of maintaining hemodialysis vascular access patency. This large, long-term, retrospective, multicenter study, which compared access patency of autogenous arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) and synthetic bridge grafts (AVG) created with conventional sutures or nonpenetrating clips, was undertaken to resolve conflicting results from previous smaller studies.

Design: Patency data for 1385 vascular access anastomoses (clipped or sutured) was obtained from 17 hospitals and dialysis centers (Appendix).