Health Equity Impact Assessment for UBC’s Meal Share

Currently, over 30% of UBC students are food insecure mainly due to high tuition and low income. Food insecurity compromises students’ physical and mental health, and contributes to social exclusion, stigma, and poor diet quality. Food insecurity also disproportionately affects international students, transgender/nonbinary individuals, those with underlying health conditions, and students using student loans. Our group partnered with the UBC Food Security Initiative to conduct a Health Equity Impact Assessment for the UBC Meal Share Program. The goal of the project is to improve food security of equity-seeking groups at UBC through the Meal Share Program. We conducted focus groups discussion with food-insecure UBC Thunderbirds residents to investigate the potential unintended negative and positive health impacts of the UBC Meal Share Program. Participants’ discussion provided the foundation for the Health Equity Impact Assessment. Through the Health Equity Impact Assessment, we hope to increase the Food Security Initiative’s knowledge on the health impacts of and factors promoting participation in the UBC Meal Share Program. Beyond our project, it is hoped that the UBC Meal Share Program would implement more equity-based measures to improve program equity so that the Program can reach people who need it the most. To achieve our objectives, we reviewed literature, conducted focus groups with UBC students, and consulted with a program strategist from a similar program, Swipe Out Hunger. We found that focus group participants appreciated the low-barrier and stigma-free nature of the Meal Share Program. However, most would appreciate more flexibility in the funding source and more extensive promotion of the program. To evaluate our focus group question, we consulted with the Project Manager of the Food Security Initiative and Program Strategist at Swipe Out Hunger, for their feedback. To evaluate our focus group interviews, we assessed the number of participants reached versus aimed and their perceived level of opportunity to share during the focus group through a closing survey. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Land and Food Systems, Faculty ofUnreviewedUndergraduat

Public and stakeholder values of wildlife in Victoria, Australia

This paper explores the management implications of a recent study that was designed to explore public and stakeholder values of wildlife in Victoria, Australia. Questionnaires (n = 1431) were used to examine values and knowledge of wildlife held by residents from seven Victorian municipalities and members of six wildlife management stakeholder groups. The results suggest that most Victorians have a relatively strong emotional attachment to individual animals (the humanistic value) and are interested in learning about wildlife and the natural environment (the curiosity/learning/interacting value). In comparison, the negativistic, aesthetic, utilitarian-habitat and dominionistic/wildlife-consumption values were not expressed as strongly. These findings suggest that wildlife managers should expect support for wildlife management objectives that reflect the relatively strong humanistic orientation of Victorians and tailor management and education programs to appeal to this value and Victorians\u27 interest in learning about wildlife.<br /

Black History Month 2023 : Historical Considerations on Nursing Education Across Canada

The UBC Consortium for Nursing History Inquiry presented the event to celebrate Black nurses throughout February 2023. This event included three presentations from members of UBC School of Nursing (recorded), UNBJ Department of History and Politics (not recorded), and USASK College of Nursing (recorded). Topics included Join a Rockefeller Foundation report written by Ethel Johns (the first director of nursing at UBC) on the status of Black women in the nursing profession in the United States (written in 1925), the entry of Black students to UBC Nursing and UNB School of Nursing, and racism in nursing education and practice in Canada today.Applied Science, Faculty ofNon UBCNursing, School ofUnreviewedFacultyGraduateUndergraduat

Dermal IL-17-producing γδ T cells establish long-lived memory in the skin

Conventional αβ T cells have the ability to form a long-lasting resident memory T-cell (TRM ) population in nonlymphoid tissues after encountering foreign antigen. Conversely, the concept of 'innate memory', where the ability of nonadaptive branches of the immune system to deliver a rapid, strengthened immune response upon reinfection or rechallenge, is just emerging. Using the αβ T-cell-independent Aldara psoriasis mouse model in combination with genetic fate-mapping and reporter systems, we identified a subset of γδ T cells in mice that is capable of establishing a long-lived memory population in the skin. IL-17A/F-producing Vγ4(+) Vδ4(+) T cells populate and persist in the dermis for long periods of time after initial stimulation with Aldara. Experienced Vγ4(+) Vδ4(+) cells show enhanced effector functions and mediate an exacerbated secondary inflammatory response. In addition to identifying a unique feature of γδ T cells during inflammation, our results have direct relevance to the human disease as this quasi-innate memory provides a mechanistic insight into relapses and chronification of psoriasis

Antidepressant-dependent mRNA changes in mouse associated with hippocampal neurogenesis in a mouse model of depression

RATIONALE: Monoaminergic imbalances play a role in the pathogenesis of depression and most common antidepressant drugs act on monoamine neurotransmitters. However, the lag time between restoring neurochemical balance and symptom improvement suggests that the response to drugs involves complex biological events downstream of primary targets that have not yet been fully characterized. Here, we report a mouse mRNA expression study to evaluate the effect of escitalopram (a serotonergic antidepressant) and nortriptyline (a noradrenergic antidepressant) on genes that are involved in the pathogenesis of depression and to assess the similarities and differences between two drugs on gene expression levels. METHODS: Genome-wide RNA expression data from the hippocampal tissues of four inbred mouse strains (129S1/SvlmJ, C57LB/6J, DBA/2J and FVB/NJ) were treated with varying doses of either nortriptyline (NRI) or escitalopram (SSRI) and subjected to two different depressogenic protocols. Following robust multichip average normalization, we applied the nonparametric RankProd approach to identify differentially expressed genes in response to drugs across the four strains. Pathway analysis was subsequently carried out on top-ranking genes to gain further biological insights. RESULTS: A total of 371 genes were significantly differentially expressed in response to nortriptyline, whereas 383 were altered by escitalopram. Genes involved in the pathways of integrin signalling (Fnlb, Mapk1, Mapk8), synaptic transmission (Cacnb1, Dnajc5, Kcnma1, Slc1a2) or Huntington disease (Crebbp, Dlg4, Ncor1) were altered by both nortriptyline and escitalopram. Several biological processes and pathways were identified, which could explain the divergence between the molecular mechanisms of nortriptyline and escitalopram. CONCLUSION: From a large-scale animal study, we obtain gene sets comprised of commonly and differentially expressed genes in response to different antidepressant drug treatments. The results may help to characterize the response to antidepressant treatment, shed further light on the neurobiology of depressive disorders and inform future animal and human studies. Finally, the top-ranking pathways from Ingenuity provide further evidence for the hippocampal neurogenesis hypothesis of major depressive disorders. © 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins