Mapping the Division of Labour in Long-Term Residential Care Across Jurisdictions

Despite the international emphasis on care in private homes, the demand for long-term residential care is rising given the growing number of older persons and those living with severe disabilities. Rising acuity levels of residents have resulted in calls for more training for care providers and concerns have been raised about the supply of workers, drawing attention to the working conditions, pay, benefits and status attached to work in long-term residential care. This industry is a link in the international care chain, with wealthy countries seeking workers from poorer countries. Yet, cross-national data sources provide limited information on the long-term residential care labour force, reflecting the value attached to the sector and the level of concern about the well-being of the labour force. Data that are available indicate that care is prioritized, divided and measured in different ways in different contexts and that there are varying degrees of precariousness experienced by workers. The evidence from the data also suggests that the public not-for-profit sector and unionization are critical shelters for the mostly women providers. Using a feminist political economy approach, this thesis outlines data available from statistical sources in Europe and North America with a case examination of four countries: Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden. It critically maps the comparative data on the supply of labour in this industry of health and social care, as well as on their locations and relations. It illustrates the extent to which the framing of care in conventional terms, influenced by both neoliberal and medical notions of care, limits the statistical infrastructure in terms of its capacity to adequately measure workforces involved in long-term residential care and to provide a basis for addressing the continuing supply of labour in this sector

Brainstem atrophy in focal epilepsy destabilizes brainstem-brain interactions: Preliminary findings.

BACKGROUND: MR Imaging has shown atrophy in brainstem regions that were linked to autonomic dysfunction in epilepsy patients. The brainstem projects to and modulates the activation state of several wide-spread cortical/subcortical regions. The goal was to investigate 1. Impact of brainstem atrophy on gray matter connectivity of cortical/subcortical structures and autonomic control. 2. Impact on the modulation of cortical/subcortical functional connectivity. METHODS: 11 controls and 18 patients with non-lesional focal epilepsy (FE) underwent heart rate variability (HRV) measurements and a 3 T MRI (T1 in all subjects, task-free fMRI in 7 controls/ 12 FE). The brainstem was extracted, and atrophy assessed using deformation-based-morphometry. The age-corrected z-scores of the mean Jacobian determinants were extracted from 71 5x5x5 mm grids placed in brainstem regions associated with autonomic function. Cortical and non-brainstem subcortical gray matter atrophy was assessed with voxel-based-morphometry and mean age corrected z-scores of the modulated gray matter volumes extracted from 380 cortical/subcortical rois. The profile similarity index was used to characterize the impact of brainstem atrophy on gray matter connectivity. The fMRI was preprocessed in SPM12/Conn17 and the BOLD signal extracted from 398 ROIs (16 brainstem). A dynamic task-free analysis approach was used to identify activation states. Connectivity HRV relationship were assessed with Spearman rank correlations. RESULTS: HRV was negatively correlated with reduced brainstem right hippocampus/parahippocampus gray matter connectivity in controls (p \u3c .05, FDR) and reduced brainstem to right parietal cortex, lingual gyrus, left hippocampus/amygdala, parahippocampus, temporal pole, and bilateral anterior thalamus connectivity in FE (p \u3c .05, FDR). Dynamic task-free fMRI analysis identified 22 states. The strength of the functional brainstem/cortical connectivity of state 15 was negatively associated with HRV (r = -0.5, p = .03) and positively with decreased brainstem-cortical (0.49, p = .03) gray matter connectivity. CONCLUSION: The findings of this small pilot study suggest that impaired brainstem-cortex gray matter connectivity in FE negatively affects the brainstem\u27s ability to control cortical activation

A multinational, multi-institutional study of assessment of programming skills of first-year CS students

In computer science, an expected outcome of a student's education is programming skill. This working group investigated the programming competency students have as they complete their first one or two courses in computer science. In order to explore options for assessing students, the working group developed a trial assessment of whether students can program. The underlying goal of this work was to initiate dialog in the Computer Science community on how to develop these types of assessments. Several universities participated in our trial assessment and the disappointing results suggest that many students do not know how to program at the conclusion of their introductory courses. For a combined sample of 216 students from four universities, the average score was 22.89 out of 110 points on the general evaluation criteria developed for this study. From this trial assessment we developed a framework of expectations for first-year courses and suggestions for further work to develop more comprehensive assessments

Predicting Overweight and Obesity Among Youth in Ontario, Canada: Evidence from Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Analyses

The percentage of Canadian children and adolescents that are overweight or obese has increased dramatically since the 1980s, with approximately 25% of youth in Canada now characterised as overweight or obese. Canadian youth are engaging in multiple risk-taking behaviours, some of which are associated with an increased risk of overweight and obesity. The school environment has the potential to influence student body mass index (BMI) through implementation of comprehensive healthy school policies, programs, and practices in the domains of physical activity and healthy eating. Guided by a socio-ecological framework, this dissertation research aimed to examine: (1) how modifiable risk behaviours cluster into unique behavioural patterns in youth, and how these behavioural patterns are related to BMI; (2) the effect of engaging in unique clusters of risky behaviours on youths’ BMI trajectories; and, (3) the effect of modifying obesity-related school policies, programs, and practices on youths’ BMI trajectories. Three manuscripts addressed these objectives using linked student- and school-level data from the COMPASS Study (COMPASS). The first manuscript represents a cross-sectional analysis (2012/13), while the second and third manuscripts were longitudinal (2012/13 to 2014/15) in nature. The first manuscript assessed the prevalence and clustering of 15 modifiable risk behaviours using latent class analysis in a sample of 18,587 youth in grades 9 to 12. Four distinct classes emerged: Traditional School Athletes, Inactive Screenagers, Health Conscious, and Moderately Active Substance Users. Youth belonging to the Traditional School Athlete, Inactive Screenager, and Moderately Active Substance User clusters were all significantly more likely to be overweight or obese, compared to the Health Conscious group. The second manuscript examined the effect of engaging in the four clusters of risky behaviours at baseline on youths’ BMI trajectories, using a linked longitudinal sample of 5,084 students in Grades 9 and 10. Using linear mixed effects models, results identified a significant difference in BMIs only at baseline in the four clusters; despite these differences, BMI increased across all clusters annually by the same amount. The third manuscript examined the effect of modifying physical activity and nutrition-related programs, policies, and practices on BMI trajectories using a linked longitudinal sample of 4,951 students in Grades 9 and 10 attending 41 COMPASS schools. Between 2012/13 and 2013/14, 26 of 41 schools implemented distinct new programs or policies, none of which used a Comprehensive School Health Approach. Results indicate that none of these school modifications were associated with improved or reduced BMI trajectories. Findings of this dissertation research have implications for future public health and school-based interventions, and highlight the need for future research in this area, particularly focused on a Comprehensive School Health approach to obesity prevention. COMPASS is uniquely positioned to evaluate similar naturally occurring school-based interventions in a cost-effective and efficient, yet scientifically robust manner by following the same students as they progress through school and are exposed to a changing school environment

Production of Monoclonal Antibodies Specific for the Microgametocytes of Eimeria tenella

The objective of this study was to produce a monoclonal antibody specific for the microgametocytes of Eimeria tenella, examine the site and stage specificity of the antibody, and investigate the immunopotency of the antibody. BALB/c mice were immunized with antigen containing Eimeria tenella microgametocytes isolated from in vitro systems. After three intraperitoneal immunizations with the antigen and one booster immunization administered by tail vein injection, the mice were sacrificed and their spleen cells fused with SP2/0 mouse myeloma cells using polyethylene glycol as a fusing agent. Resultant hybridomas were screened by immunoelectrophoresis, indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay, and immunoelectron microscopy to determine the isotype, subisotype, site and stages pecificity of the antibody. Of four 96 well plates seeded with fusion products, four hybridomas were found to be producing anti body specific for the target antigen. Only the most strongly positive of these hybridomas, clone T1A3B9, was used for the study. The antibody produced by this hybridoma was found to be of sub isotype IgG2b. T1A389 monoclonal antibody was introduced into Eimeria tenella infected cell cultures on days four, five, and six post-infection. At seven days post-infection, oocyst production was assayed by fixing, staining, and counting the resultant oocysts. Results of the in vitro experiments showed a greater than 50X reduction in oocyst product ion in experimental cultures over controls. Statistical significance of the data were confirmed by a Mann-Whitney U Test. These results indicate that the monoclonal a ntibod y was exert ing an inhibitory effect on the fertilization process. T1A3B9 monoclonal antibody was incubated with Eimeria tenella infected cecal scrapings and cell culture material, immunolabeled with colloidal gold conjugates, and observed by electron microscopy. Results showed that the antibody was binding to the microgametocytes and to no other life cycle stages of the parasite, nor was it binding to host tissue. This indicates that the antibody is stage specific. Additionally, the antibody was seen to bind only to areas in close proximity to the budding flagella of developing microgametes, thus indicating distinct site specificity