Evaluating the Impacts of Community-Campus Engagement on Population Health in Ottawa and Thunder Bay, Canada: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Contribution Analysis.

Background: Municipalities play a crucial role in population health due to their community connections and influence on health determinants. Community-campus engagement (CCE), that is, collaboration between academic institutions and communities, is a promising approach to addressing community health priorities. However, evidence of CCE's impact on population health remains limited.

Combining theory and usability testing to inform optimization and implementation of an online primary care depression management tool.

Background: The 'Ottawa Depression Algorithm' is an evidence-based online tool developed to support primary care professionals care for adults with depression. Uptake of such tools require provider behaviour change. Identifying issues which may impact use of an innovation in routine practice (i.

Effect of digital health applications with or without gamification on physical activity and cardiometabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Use of health applications (apps) to support healthy lifestyles has intensified. Different app features may support effectiveness, including gamification defined as the use of game elements in a non-game situation. Whether health apps with gamification can impact behaviour change and cardiometabolic risk factors remains unknown.

The association of combinations of social factors and SARs-CoV-2 infection: A retrospective population-based cohort study in Ontario, 2020-2021.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated health inequities worldwide. While several studies have examined the impact of individual social factors on COVID infection, our objective was to examine how interactions of social factors were associated with the risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the first two years of the pandemic.

Study Design And Setting: We conducted an observational cohort study using linked health administrative data for Ontarians tested for SARS-CoV-2 between January 1st, 2020, and December 31st, 2021.

Optimising Shifted Excitation Raman Difference Spectroscopy (SERDS) for application in highly fluorescent biological samples, using fibre optic probes.

Fibre optic probe based Raman spectroscopy can deliver molecular compositional analysis of a range of diseases. However, some biological tissues exhibit high levels of fluorescence which limit the utility of the technique, particularly when the fluorescence induces CCD etaloning, which can be particulalry hard to remove in subsequent analysis. Furthermore, use of fibre probes can result in silica signals superimposed on the biological Raman signals.

Effects of Extracted Pulse Proteins on Lipid Targets for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Many clinical practice guidelines recommend dietary pulses for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The impact of extracted pulse proteins remains unclear. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of the effect of extracted pulse proteins on therapeutic lipid targets.

System transferability of Raman-based oesophageal tissue classification using modern machine learning to support multi-centre clinical diagnostics.

Background: The clinical potential of Raman spectroscopy is well established but has yet to become established in routine oncology workflows. One barrier slowing clinical adoption is a lack of evidence demonstrating that data taken on one spectrometer transfers across to data taken on another spectrometer to provide consistent diagnoses.

Methods: We investigated multi-centre transferability using human oesophageal tissue.

Lived experiences of palliative care physicians on the impacts of language and cultural discordance on end-of-life care across Ontario, Canada: a qualitative study using the intersectionality-based policy framework.

Background: Language and cultural discordance refer to when a physician and patient do not share the same language or culture. This can create barriers to providing high-quality care at the end-of-life (EoL). This study explores the intersections of language, culture, geography, and care model in EoL care from the perspectives of palliative care physicians.

Data-Driven Insights and Solutions for the Health and Human Resource Crisis in Canada.

Canada's healthcare system is experiencing a health and human resource (HHR) crisis. The available evidence of the scope of the problem and potential solutions, however, is not commensurate with the scale and urgency of the crisis. The use of linked health administrative data to study the health, well-being and work patterns of the health workforce offers critical insights into how the workforce is functioning at a population level.

The impact of patient-facility language discordance on potentially inappropriate prescribing of antipsychotics in long-term care home in Ontario, Canada: a retrospective population health cohort study.

Background: Appropriate use of medication is a key indicator of the quality of care provided in long-term care (LTC). The objective of this study was to determine whether resident-facility language concordance/discordance is associated with the odds of potentially inappropriate prescribing of antipsychotics (PIP-AP) in LTC.

Methods: We conducted a population-based, retrospective cohort study of LTC residents in Ontario, Canada from 2010 to 2019.

Coronavirus disease 2019 outcomes in a population-based cohort of people with HIV and a matched cohort of people without HIV during Omicron variant waves.

We found that rates of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR-confirmed infection were approximately 50% higher in a population-based cohort of people with HIV compared with a matched cohort of people without HIV during the Omicron era (2 January 2022 to 31 March 2023) in Ontario, Canada, after controlling for age, sex, residential census tract, and country of birth. Rates of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related hospitalization and/or death were more than double. Differences persisted independent of vaccination, healthcare access, and COVID-19 diagnosis.

Mentoring for Admission and Retention of Black Socio-Ethnic Minorities in Medicine: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: Despite numerous mentoring strategies to promote academic success and eligibility in medicine, Black students remain disproportionately underrepresented in medicine. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review to identify the mentoring practices available to Black pre-medical students, medical students and medical residents, specifically the mentoring strategies used, their application, and their evaluation.

Method: Between May 2023 and October 2023, the authors conducted a literature review.

The Portfolio Diet and HbA1c in Adults Living with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Patient-Level Pooled Analysis of Two Randomized Dietary Trials.

The Portfolio Diet, a dietary pattern of cholesterol-lowering foods, is also rich in low glycemic index (GI) foods. While strong evidence supports clinically meaningful reductions in cholesterol, evidence on the relationship between the Portfolio Diet and diabetes management is lacking. To evaluate the relationship between the Portfolio Diet and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as a determinant of glycemic control among adults living with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

The Use of Contribution Analysis in Evaluating Health Interventions: A Scoping Review.

Contribution Analysis (CA) is a promising theory-based evaluation approach for complex interventions, yet its application in health interventions remains largely unexplored. To bridge this gap, we conducted a scoping review to examine the extent of such applications and the methodologies, strengths, and limitations of this approach in health programming. Our comprehensive search strategy was developed and used in 15 databases to identify peer-reviewed articles from 1999 to 2023 that focused on using CA to evaluate health interventions.

Increasing HIV prevalence rate among men who have sex with men: results of a comparison of two national surveys.

Our objective was to compare HIV prevalence between two national surveys among men who have sex with men in Brazil in 2009 and 2016. HIV prevalence was estimated stratifying by age and socioeconomic status. HIV prevalence increased from 11.

Mental health service use among mothers and other birthing parents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Parents have reported increased symptoms of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study evaluated changes in mental health and addiction (MHA)-related health service use among mothers and other birthing parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using health administrative data in Ontario, Canada.

Simulation model to assess the validity of the clinical portfolio diet score used in the PortfolioDiet.app for dietary self-tracking: a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial in hyperlipidemic adults.

Introduction: The Portfolio Diet combines cholesterol-lowering plant foods for the management of cardiovascular disease risk. However, the translation of this dietary approach into clinical practice necessitates a user-friendly method for patients to autonomously monitor their adherence.

Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate the clinical-Portfolio Diet Score (c-PDS) as a food-based metric to facilitate self-tracking of the Portfolio Diet.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials of substituting soymilk for cow's milk and intermediate cardiometabolic outcomes: understanding the impact of dairy alternatives in the transition to plant-based diets on cardiometabolic health.

Background: Dietary guidelines recommend a shift to plant-based diets. Fortified soymilk, a prototypical plant protein food used in the transition to plant-based diets, usually contains added sugars to match the sweetness of cow's milk and is classified as an ultra-processed food. Whether soymilk can replace minimally processed cow's milk without the adverse cardiometabolic effects attributed to added sugars and ultra-processed foods remains unclear.

Associations of CD4 Cell Count Measures With Infection-Related and Infection-Unrelated Cancer Risk Among People With HIV.

Background: People with HIV are at higher risk of infection-related cancers than the general population, which could be due, in part, to immune dysfunction. Our objective was to examine associations between 4 CD4 count measures as indicators of immune function and infection-related and infection-unrelated cancer risk.

Setting: We conducted a cohort study of adults with HIV who were diagnosed with cancer in Ontario, Canada.

Enhancing the delivery of comprehensive care for people living with HIV in Canada: insights from citizen panels and a national stakeholder dialogue.

Background: People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are living longer with health-related disability associated with ageing, including complex conditions. However, health systems in Canada have not adapted to meet these comprehensive care needs.

Methods: We convened three citizen panels and a national stakeholder dialogue.