Selecting digital health technologies for validation and piloting by healthcare providers: a decision-making perspective from ontario.

Digital health technologies (DHTs) such as health apps are rapidly emerging as a major disruptor of health care. Yet there is no well-established process of decision making for selecting DHTs that are worthy of investing resources in their validation to determine whether they are ready (safe, effective, and not too costly) for health related use. We report here on an Ontario-based initiative to support such decision making.

Epithelial stratification shapes infection dynamics.

Infections of stratified epithelia contribute to a large group of common diseases, such as dermatological conditions and sexually transmitted diseases. To investigate how epithelial structure affects infection dynamics, we develop a general ecology-inspired model for stratified epithelia. Our model allows us to simulate infections, explore new hypotheses and estimate parameters that are difficult to measure with tissue cell cultures.

Pathogen-Host Analysis Tool (PHAT): an integrative platform to analyze next-generation sequencing data.

Summary: The Pathogen-Host Analysis Tool (PHAT) is an application for processing and analyzing next-generation sequencing (NGS) data as it relates to relationships between pathogens and their hosts. Unlike custom scripts and tedious pipeline programming, PHAT provides an integrative platform encompassing raw and aligned sequence and reference file input, quality control (QC) reporting, alignment and variant calling, linear and circular alignment viewing, and graphical and tabular output. This novel tool aims to be user-friendly for life scientists studying diverse pathogen-host relationships.

Isolation of Biopsy-Derived, Human Cervical Keratinocytes Propagated as Monolayer and Organoid Cultures.

The successful isolation and propagation of patient-derived keratinocytes from cervical lesions constitute a more appropriate model of cervical disease than traditional cervical cancer-derived cell lines such as SiHa and CaSki. Our aim was to streamline the growth of patient-obtained, cervical keratinocytes into a reproducible process. We performed an observational case series study with 60 women referred to colposcopy for a diagnostic biopsy.

F MRI of the Lungs Using Inert Fluorinated Gases: Challenges and New Developments.

Fluorine-19 ( F) MRI using inhaled inert fluorinated gases is an emerging technique that can provide functional images of the lungs. Inert fluorinated gases are nontoxic, abundant, relatively inexpensive, and the technique can be performed on any MRI scanner with broadband multinuclear imaging capabilities. Pulmonary F MRI has been performed in animals, healthy human volunteers, and in patients with lung disease.

A hierarchical Bayesian model to predict APOE4 genotype and the age of Alzheimer's disease onset.

In this work we use a hierarchical Bayesian paradigm to introduce a theoretical framework to determine an individual's Apolipoprotein ε4 (APOE4) genotype, which heavily influences both the age of onset and probability of acquiring Alzheimer's disease (AD). This calculation is based solely on an individual's family history. This APOE4 genotype estimation is then combined with a number of known factors that influence AD onset to produce a function that estimates the onset of AD as a function of age.

Inhaled Xenon Washout as a Biomarker of Alzheimer's Disease.

Biomarkers have the potential to aid in the study of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); unfortunately, AD biomarker values often have a high degree of overlap between healthy and AD individuals. This study investigates the potential utility of a series of novel AD biomarkers, the sixty second Xe retention time, and the xenon washout parameter, based on the washout of hyperpolarized Xe from the brain of AD participants following inhalation. The xenon washout parameter is influenced by cerebral perfusion, T1 relaxation of xenon, and the xenon partition coefficient, all factors influenced by AD.

The effect of organizational and personal variables on the ability to practice compassionately.

Background: Nursing governing bodies assert that compassion is essential to nursing practice. Despite the relevance compassion has in nursing, and ample theoretical literature, until now, there has been little empirical work conducted to examine the nature of compassion in nursing and how the expression of compassion in nursing practice may be affected.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the personal and organizational variables that might affect nurses' ability to practice with compassion.

Brain Imaging Using Hyperpolarized Xe Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Hyperpolarized (HP) Xe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a novel iteration of traditional MRI that relies on detecting the spins of H. Since Xe is a gaseous signal source, it can be used for lung imaging. Additionally, Xe dissolves in the blood stream and can therefore be detectable in the brain parenchyma and vasculature.

Use of Placebo in Clinical Trials of Psychotropic Medication.

This position paper has been substantially revised by the Canadian Psychiatric Association's Research Committee and approved for republication by the CPA's Board of Directors on March 31, 2017. The original position paper was developed by the Scientific and Research Council and approved by the Board of Directors on October 4, 1996.

Synthetic siRNA targeting human papillomavirus 16 E6: a perspective on in vitro nanotherapeutic approaches.

High-risk human papillomaviruses infect skin and mucosa, causing approximately 5% of cancers worldwide. In the search for targeted nanotherapeutic approaches, siRNAs against the viral E6 transcript have been molecules of interest but have not yet seen successful translation into the clinic. By reviewing the past approximately 15 years of in vitro literature, we identify the need for siRNA validation protocols which concurrently evaluate ranges of key treatment parameters as well as characterize downstream process restoration in a methodical, quantitative manner and demonstrate their implementation using our own data.

Opioid use in pregnancy and parenting: An Indigenous-based, collaborative framework for Northwestern Ontario.

Opioid use affects up to 30% of pregnancies in Northwestern Ontario. Health care providers in Northwestern Ontario have varying comfort levels providing care to substance-involved pregnant women. Furthermore, health care practitioners, social service agencies and community groups in Northwestern Ontario often work in isolation with little multidisciplinary communication and collaboration.

Simulating thermal effects of MR-guided focused ultrasound in cortical bone and its surrounding tissue.

Purpose: Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is emerging as a treatment alternative for osteoid osteoma and painful bone metastases. This study describes a new simulation platform that predicts the distribution of heat generated by MRgFUS when applied to bone tissue.

Methods: Calculation of the temperature distribution was performed using two mathematical models.

Non-radioactive 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose inhibits glucose uptake in xenograft tumours and sensitizes HeLa cells to doxorubicin in vitro.

A glucose analog called 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) has been successfully used to sensitize cancer cells to ROS-inducing cancer treatments such as ionizing radiation, through the inhibition of glycolysis. However, the use of 2DG can be limited by several factors such as availability, non-specific cytotoxicity, and chemoresistance under hypoxic conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of non-radioactive 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (19FDG), a drug that potentially addresses current limitations of 2DG.

Amorphous lead oxide (a-PbO): suppression of signal lag via engineering of the layer structure.

Presence of a signal lag is a bottle neck of performance for many non-crystalline materials, considered for dynamic radiation sensing. Due to inadequate lag-related temporal performance, polycrystalline layers of CdZnTe, PbI, HgI and PbO are not practically utilized, despite their superior X-ray sensitivity and low production cost (even for large area detectors). In the current manuscript, we show that a technological step to replace nonhomogeneous disorder in polycrystalline PbO with homogeneous amorphous PbO structure suppresses signal lag and improves time response to X-ray irradiation.

X-ray spectroscopic study of amorphous and polycrystalline PbO films, α-PbO, and β-PbO for direct conversion imaging.

We investigated the electronic structure of Lead Oxide (PbO) - one of the most promising photoconductor materials for direct conversion x-ray imaging detectors, using soft x-ray emission and absorption spectroscopy. Two structural configurations of thin PbO layers, namely the polycrystalline and the amorphous phase, were studied, and compared to the properties of powdered α-PbO and β-PbO samples. In addition, we performed calculations within the framework of density functional theory and found an excellent agreement between the calculated and the measured absorption and emission spectra, which indicates high accuracy of our structural models.

Molecular Imaging of Hydrolytic Enzymes Using PET and SPECT.

Hydrolytic enzymes are a large class of biological catalysts that play a vital role in a plethora of critical biochemical processes required to maintain human health. However, the expression and/or activity of these important enzymes can change in many different diseases and therefore represent exciting targets for the development of positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) radiotracers. This review focuses on recently reported radiolabeled substrates, reversible inhibitors, and irreversible inhibitors investigated as PET and SPECT tracers for imaging hydrolytic enzymes.

Self-administered versus provider-directed sampling in the Anishinaabek Cervical Cancer Screening Study (ACCSS): a qualitative investigation with Canadian First Nations women.

Background: While (Pap)anicolaou screening has helped to decrease cervical cancer incidence in Canada, First Nations women continue to have a higher burden and mortality relative to mainstream populations. Many First Nations women may feel uncomfortable with the invasiveness of this test, contributing to this statistic. Implemented from 2009 to 2015 in 10 Northwest Ontario First Nations communities, the Anishinaabek Cervical Cancer Screening Study (ACCSS) uniquely addressed this Indigenous health inequity through a mixed methods approach.

Two common variants of human papillomavirus type 16 E6 differentially deregulate sugar metabolism and hypoxia signalling in permissive human keratinocytes.

Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) is responsible for most cancers attributable to HPV infection and naturally occurring variants of the HPV16 E6 oncoprotein predispose individuals to varying risk for developing cancer. Population studies by us and others have demonstrated that the common Asian-American E6 (AAE6) variant is a higher risk factor for cervical cancer than the E6 of another common variant, the European prototype (EPE6). However, a complete understanding of the molecular processes fundamental to these epidemiological findings is still lacking.

Characterization of polycrystalline lead oxide for application in direct conversion X-ray detectors.

While polycrystalline lead oxide (poly-PbO) is known to be one of the most promising photoconductors for utilization in X-ray detectors, its major performance parameters such as charge yield and mobility-lifetime product (μτ) are still not well established and require further investigation. Combining the conventional X-ray induced photocurrent and pulse height spectroscopy techniques we examine the X-ray photogeneration and recombination processes in poly-PbO. The measurements indicate that the amount of energy required to release a single electron hole pair W (inverse of charge yield) strongly depends on applied electric field and at 10 V/μm reaches ~20 eV/ehp.