The Impact of Mad Cow Disease in Quebec: What to Do with Animal Carcasses?

In recent years, after the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) crisis in Europe, and after the first case of BSE was found in Alberta, both regulation and producers’ initiatives have lead to an ever smaller demand for meat meal and animal fat used in animal feed. Meat meal and animal fat were produced in great part from the rendering of carcasses, i.e., animals that died on the farm due to disease or accident. In Quebec, agricultural producers used to sell the carcasses to rendering plants. Now however, demand for meat meal and animal fat has all but disappeared, so producers must instead pay the rendering plants to dispose of the carcasses. The financial burden gives producers an incentive to get rid of the carcasses in less costly ways, not only by legal burial at the farm, but also by illegal disposal at the farm or elsewhere in nature (Deglise, 2003; Radio-Canada, 2003; Larivière, 2003a; Mercier, 2004). This leads to increasing environmental risks, specifically, soil, water and air pollution as well as potential health hazards, that need to be addressed.Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Développer des compétences technologiques lorsqu'on a 75 ans : quand le besoin de s’accomplir est encore présent

Affiche présentée dans le cadre du colloque de l'ARC «Favoriser l’accès et le partage par la création d’un observatoire» lors du 86e Congrès de l'Acfas à l' Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), les 7 et 8 mai 2018.Pour les personnes aînées, la capacité d’apprendre, même à un âge très avancé, n’est pas un obstacle. En effet, même si certaines capacités semblent décroître, on observe un phénomène de substitution des compétences pour compenser les lacunes qui pourraient apparaître. Dans le projet de recherche « Littératie numérique et culture technologique : soutien à l’apprentissage en éducation citoyenne », réalisé avec la participation de l’organisme APOP, l’équipe de recherche, qui travaille avec une cohorte d’une quarantaine de personnes ayant une moyenne d’âge de 75 ans pour le développement de leurs compétences numériques, a été à même de constater que le désir d’apprendre des personnes âgées est très vivant, selon certains paramètres. Avec une méthodologie mixte, c’est-à-dire par questionnaire et par entrevue, il a été noté que la motivation des personnes est très caractérisée et qu’il faut assurément en tenir compte lorsque l’on souhaite mettre sur pied des cohortes de formation avec ce type de clientèle. Les approches pédagogiques sont aussi à prendre en considération, puisque les objectifs des personnes âgées peuvent diverger de ceux des clientèles adultes. Enfin, on remarque que la participation à un groupe de formation peut assurément combler une portion de la notion de participation citoyenne pour les personnes âgées

Factors Impacting Program Delivery: The Importance of Implementation Research in Extension

Cooperative Extension is in a unique position, given its relationship with research-based, Land-Grant Universities, to advance the scholarship of implementation research. A stronger shift towards evidence-based practice has been occurring, oriented towards the assessment of programs for outcomes. This paper explores core concepts related to program implementation and delves into factors that influence successful implementation of Extension programs and services. The importance of implementation within the Extension Program Development Model is explored, along with emerging issues and trends

Looking Ahead: Envisioning the Future of the Extension Program Development Model

This article synthesizes key points from this special issue of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension and provides recommendations for and predictions about the evolution of the Extension Program Development Model. A foundational question addressed by each of the authors of this special issue and summarized in this chapter is, “If your recommendations regarding the Extension Program Development Model were followed, what would Extension look like in five years?

The Cooperative Extension Program Development Model: Adapting to a Changing Context

For over 100 years, Cooperative Extension in the United States has used a consistently articulated program development model including program planning, design and implementation, and evaluation that involves stakeholders in the process. This issue of the Journal of Human Sciences and Extension examines the history and evolution of the program development model for successful Extension work and adaptations to that model that have emerged due to the changing educational context. This issue provides information on how elements of the model have changed over the last 100 years; delves into contemporary issues and challenges; and provides important analysis, implications, lessons learned, and applications for current and future success of Extension programs. In this article, we provide a definition of a program, the rationale for using a program development model in Extension work, the Extension Program Development Model, other program development models used by Extension professionals, and the changing context surrounding Extension work that impacts the Program Development Model

Psychogenic or neurogenic origin of agrammatism and foreign accent syndrome in a bipolar patient: a case report

BACKGROUND: Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a rare speech disorder characterized by the appearance of a new accent, different from the speaker's native language and perceived as foreign by the speaker and the listener. In most of the reported cases, FAS follows stroke but has also been found following traumatic brain injury, cerebral haemorrhage and multiple sclerosis. In very few cases, FAS was reported in patients presenting with psychiatric disorders but the link between this condition and FAS was confirmed in only one case. CASE PRESENTATION: In this report, we present the case of FG, a bipolar patient presenting with language disorders characterized by a foreign accent and agrammatism, initially categorized as being of psychogenic origin. The patient had an extensive neuropsychological and language evaluation as well as brain imaging exams. In addition to FAS and agrammatism, FG also showed a working memory deficit and executive dysfunction. Moreover, these clinical signs were related to altered cerebral activity on an FDG-PET scan that showed diffuse hypometabolism in the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes bilaterally as well as a focal deficit in the area of the anterior left temporal lobe. When compared to the MRI, these deficits were related to asymmetric atrophy, which was retrospectively seen in the left temporal and frontal opercular/insular region without a focal lesion. DISCUSSION: To our knowledge, FG is the first case of FAS imaged with an (18)F-FDG-PET scan. The nature and type of neuropsychological and linguistic deficits, supported by neuroimaging data, exclude a neurotoxic or neurodegenerative origin for this patient's clinical manifestations. For similar reasons, a psychogenic etiology is also highly improbable. CONCLUSION: To account for the FAS and agrammatism in FG, various explanations have been ruled out. Because of the focal deficit seen on the brain imaging, involving the left insular and anterior temporal cortex, two brain regions frequently involved in aphasic syndrome but also in FAS, a cerebrovascular origin must be considered the best explanation to account for FG's language deficits

Consultations sur l'enseignement supérieur : projet de création du Conseil des collèges du Québec et de la Commission mixte de l'enseignement supérieur et suggestions de modifications au Règlement sur le régime des études collégiales

Comprend des références bibliographique

Disabling cities

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of a book chapter accepted for publication in: Bain, A.L., & Peake, L. (Eds.) (2017). Urbanization in a Global Context. Oxford University Press, following peer review. The version of record - N. Worth with V. Chouinard & L. Simard-Gagnon (2017). ‘Disabling cities’ Urbanization in a Global Context: A Canadian Perspective Linda Peake & Alison Bain (eds.) OUP - is available online at: https://www.oupcanada.com/catalog/9780199021536.htmlGeographic research on disability and cities is wide-ranging and encompasses the lives of people dealing with disability, physical impairment, and issues of mental ill health. This chapter focuses on what makes cities more and less disabling for persons with physical and mental health impairments whereby “disabling” refers to processes of physical and social exclusion arising from physical and social barriers to full participation in city life. It also engages with different ways of understanding disability (i.e., the medical, social, and embodied social models of disability) and the implications of these for whether and how cities need to change. A review of the literature on cities and disability serves to highlight a primary focus on issues of physical impairment and then is followed by an examination of processes shaping the lives of urban residents with mental health impairments.Banting Fellowship Fonds de Recherche du Québec—Société et Culture Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canad

Genetic variants and early cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence phenotypes in adolescents

Background: While the heritability of cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence (ND) is well-documented, the contribution of specific genetic variants to specific phenotypes has not been closely examined. The objectives of this study were to test the associations between 321 tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that capture common genetic variation in 24 genes, and early smoking and ND phenotypes in novice adolescent smokers, and to assess if genetic predictors differ across these phenotypes. Methods: In a prospective study of 1294 adolescents aged 12–13 years recruited from ten Montreal-area secondary schools, 544 participants who had smoked at least once during the 7–8 year follow-up provided DNA. 321 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 24 candidate genes were tested for an association with number of cigarettes smoked in the past 3 months, and with five ND phenotypes (a modified version of the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire, the ICD-10 and three clusters of ND symptoms representing withdrawal symptoms, use of nicotine for self-medication, and a general ND/craving symptom indicator). Results: The pattern of SNP-gene associations differed across phenotypes. Sixteen SNPs in seven genes (ANKK1, CHRNA7, DDC, DRD2, COMT, OPRM1, SLC6A3 (also known as DAT1)) were associated with at least one phenotype with a p-value ,0.01 using linear mixed models. After permutation and FDR adjustment, none of the associations remained statistically significant, although the p-values for the association between rs557748 in OPRM1 and the ND/craving and selfmedication phenotypes were both 0.076. Conclusions: Because the genetic predictors differ, specific cigarette smoking and ND phenotypes should be distinguished in genetic studies in adolescents. Fifteen of the 16 top-ranked SNPs identified in this study were from loci involved in dopaminergic pathways (ANKK1/DRD2, DDC, COMT, OPRM1, and SLC6A3). Impact: Dopaminergic pathways may be salient during early smoking and the development of ND