Mental health and cultural continuity among an urban Indigenous population in Toronto, Canada.

Objectives: Mental health and psychiatric disorders significantly affect individuals on personal and social levels. Indigenous populations in Canada have disproportionately high rates of mental health diagnoses. Our Health Counts (OHC) Toronto assessed mental health, racism, family disruption, and cultural continuity among urban Indigenous people.

Long-distance travel for birthing among Indigenous and non-Indigenous pregnant people in Canada.

Background: For Indigenous Peoples in Canada, birthing on or near traditional territories in the presence of family and community is of foundational cultural and social importance. We aimed to evaluate the association between Indigenous identity and distance travelled for birth in Canada.

Methods: We obtained data from the Maternity Experiences Survey, a national population-based sample of new Canadian people aged 15 years or older who gave birth (defined as mothers) and were interviewed in 2006-2007.

Barriers to and Facilitators of Successful Early School Transitions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Developmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review.

Early school transitions are exciting, yet challenging, experiences for children with special needs, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and their families. Transition to school support practices can help facilitate this difficult process for key stakeholders. The purpose of this systematic review was to synthesize the literature on transition to kindergarten support practice use for children with ASD and other developmental disabilities.

Identification of novel oocyte and granulosa cell markers.

Here we present novel gene expression patterns in the ovary as part of an ongoing assessment of published micro-array data from mouse oocytes and embryos. We present the expression patterns of 13 genes that had been determined by micro-array to be expressed in the mature egg, but not during subsequent preimplantation development. In-situ hybridization of sectioned ovaries revealed that these genes were expressed in one of two distinct patterns: (1) oocyte-specific or (2) expressed in both the oocyte and surrounding granulosa cells.