The lived experience of Anishinaabe people with cancer: a focus on Indigenous healing, Western medicine and Minobimaadiziwin

Cancer is a leading cause of death in Anishinaabe people and the incidence is increasing. Despite reported successes of integrating Indigenous healing and Western medicine in the treatment of addictions, domestic violence, mental health, palliative care and chronic illness, there is a paucity of such information for cancer. A number of studies highlighted the need for awareness for policy makers and physicians of the contribution of Indigenous healing to cancer care, as well as the need for cultural safety. This Indigenous inquiry examined potential benefits and challenges of including Indigenous healing in cancer care. Using a participatory approach, I investigated how the cancer experience was affected when Anishinaabe people included both Indigenous and Western medicine in treatment and when they did not. This inquiry also examined how Indigenous healing assisted in achieving Minobimaadiziwin, an Anishinaabe understanding of health. Interviews were conducted with thirteen adults diagnosed with cancer from five Manitoulin First Nation communities. Seventeen key informant interviews were conducted with those working from Indigenous and Western health perspectives. A conversational method was employed in this Indigenous research as it honoured the oral tradition of the Anishinaabe and was concerned with co-creating knowledge in a relational context. Understanding stories involved Indigenous knowledge and Western theory, framed as two-eyed seeing. Participants recognized that Minobimaadiziwin could not be realized with Western medicine alone. With the inclusion of IH/TM and recognition of the spiritual component of life, a person can approach Minobimaadiziwin despite the obstacle of cancer along their path. This is best iv facilitated by braiding the two types of healing. Dissemination of results took two forms: a collective, teaching story for the Anishinaabe people concerning cancer and Minobimaadiziwin and publications concerning potential benefits of and challenges with pluralistic medicine for Anishinaabe cancer care.Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Rural and Northern Healt

Biigiiweyan (“Coming Home”): Social Work and Health Care with Indigenous Peoples from Competency to Safety

Cultural competency reproduces simplistic assumptions about Indigenous Peoples that are reminiscent of imperialism (Pon, 2009), directing service providers to become more sensitive to so called “norms”, “practices” and “behaviours” (Baskin, 2016). This freezes culture, ignores diverse languages and histories as well as the places and contexts that animate the realities of Indigenous Peoples. The result is limited understanding of the systemic and structural challenges and the skills needed by helpers to navigate and advocate against such barriers. Going beyond cultural competency to safety includes an awareness of ways in which “historical, economical, and social contexts” influence our position (Gerlach, 2012, p. 152) in terms of power and privilege. It recognizes current expressions of colonization and prioritizes Indigenous healing and wellness practices within helping relationships. Based on two years of research with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, community members, helping professionals, educators and students, Biigiiweyan is a cultural safety training model that offers a roadmap for educational and training programs to make the jump from competency to safety. Founded in Indigenous ways of knowing and relating, Biigiiweyan utilizes interprofessional training and live actor simulation and offers a rubric of cultural safety learning outcomes defined by Indigenous Peoples. 

Huntingtin Interacting Proteins Are Genetic Modifiers of Neurodegeneration

Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative condition caused by expansion of the polyglutamine tract in the huntingtin (Htt) protein. Neuronal toxicity in HD is thought to be, at least in part, a consequence of protein interactions involving mutant Htt. We therefore hypothesized that genetic modifiers of HD neurodegeneration should be enriched among Htt protein interactors. To test this idea, we identified a comprehensive set of Htt interactors using two complementary approaches: high-throughput yeast two-hybrid screening and affinity pull down followed by mass spectrometry. This effort led to the identification of 234 high-confidence Htt-associated proteins, 104 of which were found with the yeast method and 130 with the pull downs. We then tested an arbitrary set of 60 genes encoding interacting proteins for their ability to behave as genetic modifiers of neurodegeneration in a Drosophila model of HD. This high-content validation assay showed that 27 of 60 orthologs tested were high-confidence genetic modifiers, as modification was observed with more than one allele. The 45% hit rate for genetic modifiers seen among the interactors is an order of magnitude higher than the 1%–4% typically observed in unbiased genetic screens. Genetic modifiers were similarly represented among proteins discovered using yeast two-hybrid and pull-down/mass spectrometry methods, supporting the notion that these complementary technologies are equally useful in identifying biologically relevant proteins. Interacting proteins confirmed as modifiers of the neurodegeneration phenotype represent a diverse array of biological functions, including synaptic transmission, cytoskeletal organization, signal transduction, and transcription. Among the modifiers were 17 loss-of-function suppressors of neurodegeneration, which can be considered potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Finally, we show that seven interacting proteins from among 11 tested were able to co-immunoprecipitate with full-length Htt from mouse brain. These studies demonstrate that high-throughput screening for protein interactions combined with genetic validation in a model organism is a powerful approach for identifying novel candidate modifiers of polyglutamine toxicity

An Application of Two-Eyed Seeing: Indigenous Research Methods With Participatory Action Research

In this time of reconciliation, Indigenous researchers-in-relation are sharing research paradigms and approaches that align with Indigenous worldviews. This article shares an interpretation of the Mi’kmaw concept of Two-Eyed Seeing as the synthesis of Indigenous methodology and participatory action research situated within an Indigenous paradigm of relevant, reciprocal, respectful, and responsible research. Two-Eyed Seeing is discussed as a guiding approach for researchers offering Indigenous voices and ways of knowing as a means to shift existing qualitative research paradigms. The author offers practical considerations for conducting research with Indigenous peoples in a “good and authentic way.” Through the co-creation of knowledge with Indigenous communities, a collective story was produced as a wellness teaching tool to foster the transfer of knowledge in a meaningful way

Examining Informed Consent Processes for Indigenous families in Research: A Scoping Review Protocol

Introduction: Though numerous research pursuits in Indigenous communities have been undertaken, very few have consistently addressed community priorities, or collaborated with Indigenous peoples throughout the research process. This scoping review protocol proposes to explore the existing wise consent processes that respect the rights of Indigenous families (parents, children), and Indigenous community protocols. Methods and analysis: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for conducting scoping reviews will be followed closely. All primary and theoretical studies of any design written in English from January 1st 2000 to March 31st 2022 examining Indigenous approaches to obtaining informed consent among parents or families and/or children and youth, will be included. Two reviewers will independently review the literature in order to apply the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data from studies will be extracted and charted in NVivo, following the Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklists, depending on the study design of each included study, and the original and modified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Quality Appraisal Tool (ATSI) versions, will be used to assess study quality. A narrative synthesis of the informed consent literature will be reported. Dissemination: This scoping review will evaluate the existing informed consent processes, barriers to consent, and alternative consent processes in the literature. Results will be shared via conferences, reports and social media with our Indigenous communities, and disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication. This scoping review may prove useful to others who are investigating informed consent processes among Indigenous families in research

Self-Location and Ethical Space in Wellness Research

Working with Indigenous communities involves responsibility, relationship, respect, and reciprocity (Kirkness & Barnhardt, 2016). Our research consists of a partnership with Nipissing First Nation to explore their citizens’ understanding of wellness. Our aim is to tell a collective story of wellness based on the experiences of Nipissing First Nation citizens. As part of our relational process, our research team engaged in an exercise of self-location in preparation for working with Nipissing First Nation stories. This process involved looking back into our own stories of wellness from three temporal points: as children, youth, and adults. Our collective perspective of wellness involved three main themes of relationship, identity, and determinants of health. This exercise helped researchers become aware of their own subjective lenses about wellness. Awakening to our own stories helped us to recognize the ethical space that existed between us as researchers, the stories we will gather, and the perspectives of our community advisory committee. Engaging in this exercise illuminated the need for a continual reflexive stance, consistently being mindful about the privilege we hold as researchers and the invisible stories that creep into an analysis. The process of self-location was an essential element in beginning our research journey. It prepared us for working respectfully and reciprocally with the community that honours the ethical space we collectively share

The LHCb upgrade I

International audienceThe LHCb upgrade represents a major change of the experiment. The detectors have been almost completely renewed to allow running at an instantaneous luminosity five times larger than that of the previous running periods. Readout of all detectors into an all-software trigger is central to the new design, facilitating the reconstruction of events at the maximum LHC interaction rate, and their selection in real time. The experiment's tracking system has been completely upgraded with a new pixel vertex detector, a silicon tracker upstream of the dipole magnet and three scintillating fibre tracking stations downstream of the magnet. The whole photon detection system of the RICH detectors has been renewed and the readout electronics of the calorimeter and muon systems have been fully overhauled. The first stage of the all-software trigger is implemented on a GPU farm. The output of the trigger provides a combination of totally reconstructed physics objects, such as tracks and vertices, ready for final analysis, and of entire events which need further offline reprocessing. This scheme required a complete revision of the computing model and rewriting of the experiment's software

The LHCb upgrade I

International audienceThe LHCb upgrade represents a major change of the experiment. The detectors have been almost completely renewed to allow running at an instantaneous luminosity five times larger than that of the previous running periods. Readout of all detectors into an all-software trigger is central to the new design, facilitating the reconstruction of events at the maximum LHC interaction rate, and their selection in real time. The experiment's tracking system has been completely upgraded with a new pixel vertex detector, a silicon tracker upstream of the dipole magnet and three scintillating fibre tracking stations downstream of the magnet. The whole photon detection system of the RICH detectors has been renewed and the readout electronics of the calorimeter and muon systems have been fully overhauled. The first stage of the all-software trigger is implemented on a GPU farm. The output of the trigger provides a combination of totally reconstructed physics objects, such as tracks and vertices, ready for final analysis, and of entire events which need further offline reprocessing. This scheme required a complete revision of the computing model and rewriting of the experiment's software