A meteorological-based forecasting model for predicting minimal infection rates in complex using Québec's West Nile virus integrated surveillance system.

Background: The (Québec's health authority) has expressed an interest in the development of an early warning tool to identify seasonal human outbreaks of West Nile virus infection in order to modulate public health interventions. The objective of this study was to determine if a user-friendly meteorological-based forecasting tool could be used to predict minimal infection rates for the complex-a proxy of human risk-ahead of mosquito season.

Methods: Annual minimal infection rate (number of positive pools/number of mosquitoes) was calculated for 856 mosquito traps set from 2003 to 2006 and 2013 to 2018 throughout the south of Québec's.

Seasonal variations in exposure to methylmercury and its dietary sources among pregnant Inuit women in Nunavik, Canada.

Among populations living in close connection with the sea, rivers and lakes for subsistence, diet varies according to local monthly wildlife species availability and food preferences. This may lead to variations in methylmercury (MeHg) exposure over a year, although no biomonitoring studies have documented this issue in Circumpolar populations, the most exposed to international Hg emissions. Our aim was to characterize seasonal variations in MeHg exposure among pregnant Inuit women from Nunavik and to identify country foods responsible for these variations.

Exposure to ambient air pollutants and the onset of dementia in Québec, Canada.

Background: Effects of air pollutants are related to oxidative stress which is also linked to the pathogenesis of dementia including Alzheimer's and related diseases.

Objective: We assessed associations between exposure to air pollutants and the onset of dementia; the association with the distance between residence and major roads was also assessed for the island of Montreal.

Methods: We created an open cohort of adults aged 65 years and older starting in 2000 and ending in 2012 in the province of Québec, Canada using linked medico-administrative databases.

High-flavanol and high-theobromine versus low-flavanol and low-theobromine chocolate to improve uterine artery pulsatility index: a double blind randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of high-flavanol and high-theobromine (HFHT) chocolate in women at risk of preeclampsia (PE).

Study Design: We conducted a single-center randomized controlled trial including women with singleton pregnancy between 11 and 14 weeks gestation who had bilateral abnormal uterine artery (UtA) waveforms (notching) and elevated pulsatility index (PI). Participants were randomized to either HFHT or low-flavanol and low-theobromine (LFLT) chocolate (30 grams daily for a total of 12 weeks).

A multilevel analysis to explain self-reported adverse health effects and adaptation to urban heat: a cross-sectional survey in the deprived areas of 9 Canadian cities.

Background: This study identifies the characteristics and perceptions related to the individual, the dwelling and the neighbourhood of residence associated with the prevalence of self-reported adverse health impacts and an adaptation index when it is very hot and humid in summer in the most disadvantaged sectors of the nine most populous cities of Québec, Canada, in 2011.

Methods: The study uses a cross-sectional design and a stratified representative sample; 3485 people (individual-level) were interviewed in their residence. They lived in 1647 buildings (building-level) in 87 most materially and socially disadvantaged census dissemination areas (DA-level).