A/Political Education: A Survey of Quebec Students’ Perceptions of Their Citizenship Education

This survey of 370 recent high school graduates reveals that history and citizenship courses in Quebec focus on cultural and religious viewpoints, favour a transmission approach to learning, and fail to connect the political process to students’ concerns and interests. Without a clear conception of citizenship as a reference point, this curriculum appears to neglect the development of agency around civic engagement and social change. Recommendations on how to improve the program are guided by students’ answers to open-ended questions and current scholarship on the need for a more critical analysis of national and global diversity and inequality in school curriculums

Connected: Facilitating Transformative Online Dialogue in Peace-Building, Reconciliation and Global Citizenship Education Programs

Since the 1990s, globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) have emerged as pathways for dialogue, connecting classrooms from around the world. Although it was initially hoped that bringing diverse populations together online would naturally foster the inclusion of disparate voices and viewpoints, it is now widely acknowledged that online communication may just as easily reinforce pre-existing social arrangements as challenge them. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore how GNLEs developed for civic and peace-building purposes conceptualize dialogue and address power inequalities. Data include multiple case studies grounded in interviews, journal and news articles, and policy and curriculum documents. Data were analyzed using a critical theory framework and a decolonizing global education checklist in order to identify potentially colonizing assumptions behind these programs. Findings from this research suggest that despite some examples of shallow and apolitical approaches to intergroup or intercultural dialogue, there are also many ways that online learning environments can be conducive to facilitating transformative and decolonizing learning experiences. This dissertation makes ten recommendations for implementing a critical approach to dialogue online. These recommendations include how to frame, structure and facilitate online dialogue through asynchronous forums and videoconferencing. In addition, the recommendations speak to the importance of addressing social and political issues while constructing learning environments that are conducive to the expression of marginalized viewpoints and forms of expression. Recommendations also address how online channels for communication and interaction can be used to address epistemological, linguistic and technological hegemonies often present in global education initiatives. These strategies include, for example, the incorporation of digital imagery and storytelling, as well as wikis that help visualize conflicting narratives and understandings of history. In addition, acknowledging and openly exploring the implications of having a dominant language for communication is necessary as is addressing differential access to technology between groups, including those excluded from online intercultural dialogue opportunities

Quels liens entre les caractéristiques des médecins et leur cadre de pratique dans le contexte canadien : une étude de la portée

Background: Physician characteristics such as education and sociodemographic attributes are associated with particular practice patterns, such as practice in rural settings. Understanding the Canadian context of such associations can inform medical school recruitment and health workforce decision-making. Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to report the nature and extent of the literature on associations between characteristics of physicians in Canada and physicians’ practice patterns. Eligibility criteria: We included studies reporting associations between 1) the education or sociodemographic attributes of practicing physicians or residents in Canada and 2) practice patterns, including career choice, practice setting, and populations served. Methods: We searched five electronic databases (MEDLINE (R) ALL, Embase, ERIC, Education Source and Scopus) for quantitative primary studies and reviewed reference lists of included studies for additional studies. Data were extracted using a standardized data charting form. Results: Our search yielded 80 studies. Sixty-two examined education, evenly divided between undergraduate and postgraduate. Fifty-eight examined physicians’ attributes, most focusing on sex/gender. The majority of studies focused on the outcome of practice setting. We found no studies examining race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Many studies in our review found positive associations between (i) rural training or rural background and rural practice setting and (ii) location of training or physicians’ origin and practice in that location, consistent with previous literature. Associations for sex/gender were mixed, suggesting it may be a less useful target for workforce planning or recruitment aiming to address gaps in health care provision. More research is needed on the association of characteristics, particularly race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, with career choice and populations served.Contexte : Il existe un lien entre les caractéristiques des médecins, comme leur formation et leur profil sociodémographique, et des cadres de pratique particuliers, comme la pratique en milieu rural. La compréhension de ces liens dans le contexte canadien peut éclairer les stratégies d’admission dans les facultés de médecine et la planification de la main-d’œuvre dans le secteur de la santé. Objectif : L’objectif de cette étude de la portée était de faire état de la nature et de l’étendue de la littérature sur les liens entre les caractéristiques des médecins au Canada et leurs cadres de pratique. Critères de sélection : Nous avons inclus les études établissant des liens entre 1) la formation ou le profil sociodémographique des médecins ou des résidents en exercice au Canada et 2) les cadres de pratique, y compris le choix de carrière, le milieu de pratique et les populations desservies. Méthodes : Nous avons effectué des recherches dans cinq bases de données électroniques (MEDLINE (R) ALL, Embase, ERIC, Education Source et Scopus) pour trouver des études quantitatives primaires et avons examiné les listes de références bibliographiques des articles inclus pour repérer d’autres études. Les données ont été extraites à l’aide d’un formulaire normalisé. Résultats : Notre recherche a permis de recenser 80 études. Soixante-deux d’entre elles portaient sur l’éducation, réparties de manière égale entre le premier cycle et le cycle de spécialisation. Cinquante-huit examinaient les caractéristiques des médecins, la plupart portant sur le sexe/genre. La majorité des études étaient focalisées sur le résultat lié au milieu de pratique. Nous n’avons trouvé aucune étude portant sur la race/ethnicité ou le statut socio-économique. Conclusion : Conformément à la littérature antérieure, de nombreuses études de notre revue trouvent des associations positives entre (i) la formation en milieu rural ou l’origine rurale et le cadre de pratique rurale et entre (ii) le lieu de formation ou l’origine des médecins et la pratique dans ce lieu. Les associations relatives au sexe/genre étaient mitigées, ce qui suggère qu’il s’agit peut-être d’une cible moins utile pour la planification ou le recrutement de la main-d’œuvre visant à combler les lacunes dans la prestation des soins de santé. Des recherches supplémentaires sont nécessaires sur les liens entre le profil des médecins, en particulier la race/ethnie, et le statut socio-économique, et leur choix de carrière et les populations desservies

PAC 1 Receptor Activation by PACAP-38 Mediates Ca 2؉ Release from a cAMP-dependent Pool in Human Fetal Adrenal Gland Chromaffin Cells* Downloaded from

International audiencePrevious studies have shown that human fetal adre-nal gland from 17-to 20-week-old fetuses expressed pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) receptors, which were localized on chromaf-fin cells. The aim of the present study was to identify PACAP receptor isoforms and to determine whether PACAP can affect intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca 2؉ ] i) and catecholamine secretion. Using primary cultures and specific stimulation of chromaffin cells, we demonstrate that PACAP-38 induced an increase in [Ca 2؉ ] i that was blocked by PACAP (6-38), was independent of external Ca 2؉ , and originated from thapsi-gargin-insensitive internal stores. The PACAP-triggered Ca 2؉ increase was not affected by inhibition of PLC␤ (preincubation with U-73122) or by pretreatment of cells with Xestospongin C, indicating that the inosi-tol 1,4,5-triphosphate-sensitive stores were not mobilized. However, forskolin (FSK), which raises cytosolic cAMP, induced an increase in Ca 2؉ similar to that recorded with PACAP-38. Blockage of PKA by H-89 or (R p)-cAMPS suppressed both PACAP-38 and FSK calcium responses. The effect of PACAP-38 was also abolished by emptying the caffeine/ryanodine-sensitive Ca 2؉ stores. Furthermore, treatment of cells with or-thovanadate (100 M) impaired Ca 2؉ reloading of PACAP-sensitive stores indicating that PACAP-38 can mobilize Ca 2؉ from secretory vesicles. Moreover, PACAP induced catecholamine secretion by chromaf-fin cells. It is concluded that PACAP-38, through the PAC 1 receptor, acts as a neurotransmitter in human fetal chromaffin cells inducing catecholamine secretion , through nonclassical, recently described, ryano-dine/caffeine-sensitive pools, involving a cAMP-and PKA-dependent phosphorylation mechanism. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide is a 38-residue ␣-amidated neuropeptide (PACAP-38) 1 originally isolated from the ovine hypothalamus for its ability to stimulate cAMP formation in rat anterior pituitary cells. Processing of PACAP-38 can generate a 27-amino acid amidated peptide (PACAP-27) that exhibits 68% sequence identity with vasoac-tive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), thus identifying PACAP as a member of the VIP/secretin/glucagon superfamily of regulatory peptides (1, 2). The effects of PACAP are mediated through interaction with two types of high affinity receptors: type I receptors are selectively activated by PACAP, whereas type II receptors bind PACAP and VIP with similar affinity (3). Three isoforms of PACAP receptors have now been cloned and designated as PACAP-specific receptor I (PAC 1-R) (4, 5) and VIP/PACAP mutual receptors 1 and 2 (VPAC 1-R and VPAC 2-R) (6, 7). Both PAC 1-R (type 1 receptors) and VPAC 1-R/VPAC 2-R (type 2 receptors) belong to the seven-transmembrane domain, G-protein coupled receptor family, and are all positively coupled to adenylyl cyclase (2). Eight isoforms of PAC 1-R, resulting from alternative splicing, have been characterized to date. These variants display differential signal transduction properties with regard to adenylyl cyclase and phospholipase C (PLC) stimulation (1, 2). In addition to these classical signaling pathways , PACAP has been found to stimulate a Ca 2ϩ-calmodulin nitric oxide synthase (8) and mitogen-activated protein kinase activity (9). These various transduction mechanisms are involved in the neurotrophic activities exerted by PACAP (i.e. inhibition of apoptosis and stimulation of neurite outgrowth) during development (9-11). PACAP and its receptors are actively expressed in the adre-nal medulla (12-14). In particular, we have previously demonstrated the occurrence of PACAP-38 (15) and PACAP binding sites (16) in chromaffin cells from 16-to 20-week-old fetal human adrenal glands. Activation of these receptors by PACAP-38 causes stimulation of cAMP production and induces a modest increase in inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP 3) formation (16), suggesting a role for the neuropeptide in the developin

Characteristics of Canadian physicians and their associations with practice patterns: a scoping review

Background: Physician characteristics such as education and sociodemographic attributes are associated with particular practice patterns, such as practice in rural settings. Understanding the Canadian context of such associations can inform medical school recruitment and health workforce decision-making. Objective: The objective of this scoping review was to report the nature and extent of the literature on associations between characteristics of physicians in Canada and physicians’ practice patterns. Eligibility criteria: We included studies reporting associations between 1) the education or sociodemographic attributes of practicing physicians or residents in Canada and 2) practice patterns, including career choice, practice setting, and populations served. Methods: We searched five electronic databases (MEDLINE (R) ALL, Embase, ERIC, Education Source and Scopus) for quantitative primary studies and reviewed reference lists of included studies for additional studies. Data were extracted using a standardized data charting form. Results: Our search yielded 80 studies. Sixty-two examined education, evenly divided between undergraduate and postgraduate. Fifty-eight examined physicians’ attributes, most focusing on sex/gender. The majority of studies focused on the outcome of practice setting. We found no studies examining race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. Conclusion: Many studies in our review found positive associations between (i) rural training or rural background and rural practice setting and (ii) location of training or physicians’ origin and practice in that location, consistent with previous literature. Associations for sex/gender were mixed, suggesting it may be a less useful target for workforce planning or recruitment aiming to address gaps in health care provision. More research is needed on the association of characteristics, particularly race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, with career choice and populations served

Managing Understory Vegetation for Maintaining Productivity in Black Spruce Forests: A Synthesis within a Multi-Scale Research Model

Sustainable management of boreal ecosystems involves the establishment of vigorous tree regeneration after harvest. However, two groups of understory plants influence regeneration success in eastern boreal Canada. Ericaceous shrubs are recognized to rapidly dominate susceptible boreal sites after harvest. Such dominance reduces recruitment and causes stagnant conifer growth, lasting decades on some sites. Additionally, peat accumulation due to Sphagnum growth after harvest forces the roots of regenerating conifers out of the relatively nutrient rich and warm mineral soil into the relatively nutrient poor and cool organic layer, with drastic effects on growth. Shifts from once productive black spruce forests to ericaceous heaths or paludified forests affect forest productivity and biodiversity. Under natural disturbance dynamics, fires severe enough to substantially reduce the organic layer thickness and affect ground cover species are required to establish a productive regeneration layer on such sites. We succinctly review how understory vegetation influences black spruce ecosystem dynamics in eastern boreal Canada, and present a multi-scale research model to understand, limit the loss and restore productive and diverse ecosystems in this region. Our model integrates knowledge of plant-level mechanisms in the development of silvicultural tools to sustain productivity. Fundamental knowledge is integrated at stand, landscape, regional and provincial levels to understand the distribution and dynamics of ericaceous shrubs and paludification processes and to support tactical and strategic forest management. The model can be adapted and applied to other natural resource management problems, in other biomes

In Vitro and In Vivo Neurotoxicity of Prion Protein Oligomers

The mechanisms underlying prion-linked neurodegeneration remain to be elucidated, despite several recent advances in this field. Herein, we show that soluble, low molecular weight oligomers of the full-length prion protein (PrP), which possess characteristics of PrP to PrPsc conversion intermediates such as partial protease resistance, are neurotoxic in vitro on primary cultures of neurons and in vivo after subcortical stereotaxic injection. Monomeric PrP was not toxic. Insoluble, fibrillar forms of PrP exhibited no toxicity in vitro and were less toxic than their oligomeric counterparts in vivo. The toxicity was independent of PrP expression in the neurons both in vitro and in vivo for the PrP oligomers and in vivo for the PrP fibrils. Rescue experiments with antibodies showed that the exposure of the hydrophobic stretch of PrP at the oligomeric surface was necessary for toxicity. This study identifies toxic PrP species in vivo. It shows that PrP-induced neurodegeneration shares common mechanisms with other brain amyloidoses like Alzheimer disease and opens new avenues for neuroprotective intervention strategies of prion diseases targeting PrP oligomers

Nanoparticle vesicle encoding for imaging and tracking cell populations.

For phenotypic behavior to be understood in the context of cell lineage and local environment, properties of individual cells must be measured relative to population-wide traits. However, the inability to accurately identify, track and measure thousands of single cells via high-throughput microscopy has impeded dynamic studies of cell populations. We demonstrate unique labeling of cells, driven by the heterogeneous random uptake of fluorescent nanoparticles of different emission colors. By sequentially exposing a cell population to different particles, we generated a large number of unique digital codes, which corresponded to the cell-specific number of nanoparticle-loaded vesicles and were visible within a given fluorescence channel. When three colors are used, the assay can self-generate over 17,000 individual codes identifiable using a typical fluorescence microscope. The color-codes provided immediate visualization of cell identity and allowed us to track human cells with a success rate of 78% across image frames separated by 8 h