Implications of Global Peak Population for Canada\u27s Future

In “Imagining Canada’s Future” the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) engaged various stakeholders to help establish six Future Challenge Areas. This report elaborates on the capacity of the Canadian research community with regard to the Future Challenge Area on “What might the implications of global peak population be for Canada?” It provides answers to sub-questions associated with this theme, namely: (1) What do we need to understand in order to effectively nurture the next generations? (2) What might Canadian families look like in five, 10, and 20 years, and how might they measure their well-being? (3) Life cycle issues are challenging society, in Canada and around the world. What are the future implications of state regulation from cradle to grave? (4) What effect will global migration have on our cities of the future? (5) How could changing demographics and migration affect rural and remote communities—such as in the North, including the Arctic? (6) What are the potential impacts of global peak population with respect to Canada’s energy and resource consumption and climate change

Algal and Vegetable Oils as Sustainable Fish Oil Substitutes in Rainbow Trout Diets: An Approach to Reduce Contaminant Exposure

The aim of this study was to replace 75% of total fish oil (FO) and alter digestible protein/digestible energy (DP/DE) in rainbow trout feeds to minimize potentially hazardous environmental contaminant exposure. Two diets differing in DP/DE ratios (18 and 25) were combined with soybean (SO), canola (CO), and a blend of canola oil and Schizochytrium sp. (COS). Dietary lipids and DP/DE ratios did not affect apparent digestibility, growth, and somatic parameters. The n-3/n-6 levels decreased significantly in the growth trial, especially for the SO groups. A short washout trial restored n-3/n-6 levels for the CO and COS groups, irrespective of the DP/DE ratio, but not for the SO groups. At all sampling events, contaminant concentrations in fish flesh were lower than limits set by regulatory agencies in Canada, the US, and Europe. Contaminants were lower in the oil replacement diets compared to FO for toxaphenes, organochlorine pesticides, and PCBs but not flame retardants during the growth phase. At the end of the washout phase, no differences were detected. Thus, this study revealed that replacing 75% of total fish oil in rainbow trout feed by CO and COS, combined with a 25 DP/DE ratio, with a washout period seems to be the most efficient approach in terms of maximizing the total FO replacement and contribute to reducing POPs exposure

Early performance of planted hybrid larch: effects of mechanical site preparation and planting depth

Some site preparation is generally recommended to enhance the growth and survival of planted and naturally regenerated seedlings, but it must be justified both economically and environmentally. More severe preparation is thought to be necessary for intensive plantation silviculture, e.g., using fast-growing, ameliorated stocks, especially in boreal ecosystems. Although not justified scientifically, deep-planting of seedlings is often discouraged and may even be financially penalized in eastern Canada. We thus evaluated early seedling growth and survival of hybrid larch (Larix 9 marschlinsii Coaz) in an experiment including mechanical site preparation and planting depth treatments. Our results suggest that satisfactory early hybrid larch establishment and growth could be met using low environmental impact or low cost treatments (such as soil inversion using an excavator or single-pass disk trenching), and that deeper planting has no negative effect. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to explore causal relationships between factors influencing seedling performance at the local scale (planting microsites), including soil moisture, soil temperature, surrounding vegetation, and seedling nutrition. SEM analysis supported the absence of overall differences among treatments, while also highlighting the negative impact of increased soil water content where drainage was suboptimal, as well as the unexpected positive impact of increased competition on growth mostly through seedling nutrition, among others. These early observations will need to be confirmed over a longer period, as well as with a more comprehensive assessment of site environmental conditions and competition intensity

Integrating accompanying patients into clinical oncology teams: limiting and facilitating factors

Abstract Objectives Since 2018, four establishments in Quebec have been instrumental in implementing the PAROLE-Onco program, which introduced accompanying patients (APs) into healthcare teams to improve cancer patients’ experience. APs are patient advisors who have acquired specific experiential knowledge related to living with cancer, using services, and interacting with healthcare professionals. They are therefore in a unique and reliable position to be able to provide emotional, informational, cognitive and navigational support to patients who are dealing with cancer. We aimed to explore APs’ perspectives regarding the limiting and facilitating factors in terms of how they are integrated into the clinical oncology teams. Methods A qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups was conducted with 20 APs at the beginning of their intervention (T1) and, two years later, during a second data collection (T2). Limiting and facilitating factors of APs’ integration into clinical teams were analyzed in terms of governance, culture, resources and tools. Results The limited factors raised by APs to be integrated into clinical teams include the following: confusion about the specific roles played by APs, lifting the egos of certain professionals who feel they are already doing what APs typically do, lack of identification of patient needs, absence of APs in project governance organizational boundaries, and team members' availability. Various communication challenges were also raised, resulting in the program being inadequately promoted among patients. Also mentioned as limiting factors were the lack of time, space and compensation. Creating opportunities for team members to meet with APs, building trust and teaching team members how APs’ activities complement theirs were enhancing factors. Other facilitators include APs being involved in decision-making committees, being leaders in promoting the PAROLE-Onco program to patients and clinical team members and creating opportunities to communicate with team members to help enhance their work and provide feedback to improve patient services. Awareness of APs’ added value for the team and patients is also a key facilitator. Regarding tools, offering accompanying services by telephone allows both patients and APs to benefit from the flexibility they need. Conclusion Over time, APs were able to identify optimal factors for successful implementation. Recommendations include APs and professionals working in co-construction on organization, leadership, resources and status factors. This could help catalyze a change in culture within health establishments and allow people dealing with cancer to benefit from the experiential knowledge of other patients within their clinical team

Autoradiography, MALDI-MS, and SIMS-MS Imaging in Pharmaceutical Discovery and Development

Whole-body autoradiography ((WBA) or quantitative WBA (QWBA)), microautoradiography (MARG), matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometric imaging (MALDI-MSI), and secondary ion mass spectrometric imaging (SIMS-MSI) are high-resolution, molecular imaging techniques used to study the tissue distribution of radiolabeled and nonlabeled compounds in ex vivo, in situ biological samples. WBA, which is the imaging of the whole-body of lab animals, and/or their organ systems; and MARG, which provides information on the localization of radioactivity in histological preparations and at the cellular level, are used to support drug discovery and development efforts. These studies enable the conduct of human radiolabeled metabolite studies and have provided pharmaceutical scientists with a high resolution and quantitative method of accessing tissue distribution. MALDI-MSI is a mass spectrometric imaging technique capable of label-free and simultaneous determination of the identity and distribution of xenobiotics and their metabolites as well as endogenous substances in biological samples. This makes it an interesting extension to WBA and MARG, eliminating the need for radiochemistry and providing molecular specific information. SIMS-MSI offers a complementary method to MALDI-MSI for the acquisition of images with higher spatial resolution directly from biological specimens. Although traditionally used for the analysis of surface films and polymers, SIMS has been used successfully for the study of biological tissues and cell types, thus enabling the acquisition of images at submicrometer resolution with a minimum of samples preparation