On the path to translation: Highlights from the 2010 Canadian Conference on Ovarian Cancer Research

Ovarian cancer continues to be the most lethal of the gynaecologic malignancies due to the lack of early detection, screening strategies and ineffective therapeutics for late-stage metastatic disease, particularly in the recurrent setting. The gathering of researchers investigating fundamental pathobiology of ovarian cancer and the clinicians who treat patients with this insidious disease is paramount to meeting the challenges we face. Since 2002, the Canadian Conference on Ovarian Cancer Research, held every two years, has served this essential purpose. The objectives of this conference have been to disseminate new information arising from the most recent ovarian cancer research and identify the most pressing challenges we still face as scientists and clinicians. This is best accomplished through direct encounters and exchanges of innovative ideas among colleagues and trainees from the realms of basic science and clinical disciplines. This meeting has and continues to successfully facilitate rapid networking and establish new collaborations from across Canada. This year, more guest speakers and participants from other countries have extended the breadth of the research on ovarian cancer that was discussed at the meeting. This report summarizes the key findings presented at the fifth biennial Canadian Conference on Ovarian Cancer Research held in Toronto, Ontario, and includes the important issues and challenges we still face in the years ahead to make a significant impact on this devastating disease

The genomic landscape of retinoblastoma: a review

Retinoblastoma is a paediatric ocular tumour that continues to reveal much about the genetic basis of cancer development. Study of genomic aberrations in retinoblastoma tumours has exposed important mechanisms of cancer development and identified oncogenes and tumour suppressors that offer potential points of therapeutic intervention. The recent development of next-generation genomic technologies has allowed further refinement of the genomic landscape of retinoblastoma at high resolution. In a relatively short period of time, a wealth of genetic and epigenetic data has emerged on a small number of tumour samples. These data highlight the inherent molecular complexity of this cancer despite the fact that most retinoblastomas are initiated by the inactivation of a single tumour suppressor gene. This review outlines the current understanding of the genomic, genetic and epigenetic changes in retinoblastoma, highlighting recent genome-wide analyses that have identified exciting candidate genes worthy of further validation as potential prognostic and therapeutic targets

Junctions of one-dimensional quantum wires - correlation effects in transport

We investigate transport of spinless fermions through a single site dot junction of M one-dimensional quantum wires. The semi-infinite wires are described by a tight-binding model. Each wire consists of two parts: the non-interacting leads and a region of finite extent in which the fermions interact via a nearest-neighbor interaction. The functional renormalization group method is used to determine the flow of the linear conductance as a function of a low-energy cutoff for a wide range of parameters. Several fixed points are identified and their stability is analyzed. We determine the scaling exponents governing the low-energy physics close to the fixed points. Some of our results can already be derived using the non-self-consistent Hartree-Fock approximation.Comment: version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B, 14 pages, 7 figures include

Case 12 : Prioritizing Emerging and Re-Emerging Non-enteric Zoonotic Infectious Diseases: What Should we be Afraid of Next?

As time progresses, new zoonoses make their way to the forefront in the media, in healthcare systems, in government projects, and in the daily lives of Canadians. Prioritization exercises carried out by public health experts can provide an indication for which zoonoses we should be most afraid of next, and ultimately most prepared for, especially in light of impeding changes in climate. Blake O’Neil and Brock Jansen have recently transitioned to new positions with the Health Professionals Guidance Unit at the Centre for Food-borne, Environmental, and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Together, they plan to develop health professional guidance documents and tools to aid in the prevention, early diagnosis, and clinical management of various emerging and re-emerging non-enteric zoonotic infectious diseases. To maintain efficiency when creating guidance documents and tools, Blake and Brock have commenced a prioritization exercise to determine which emerging and re-emerging non-enteric zoonotic infectious diseases are of the greatest threat to the health of Canadians as a result of climate change. To date, Blake and Brock have reviewed previously conducted internal and external prioritization exercises; received consultation from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba; undertaken a literature review to explore zoonoses relevant to the Canadian context; and organized an advisory committee composed of external stakeholders from various healthrelated specialties. With the results from the literature review and the input from various stakeholder organizations, Blake and Brock have developed a list of zoonoses to be included in the prioritization exercise. The upcoming federal election tenders a very constrained timeframe for Blake and Brock, specifically for engaging with stakeholders external to the Public Health Agency of Canada. As public servants, Blake and Brock need to ensure government resources are not used for partisan advantage. Therefore, any stakeholder engagement would need to be paused when electoral campaigning begins until a Prime Minister is elected and the Senate and House of Commons resume. Furthermore, prior to the federal election, Blake and Brock must produce a list of priority emerging and re-emerging non-enteric zoonotic infectious diseases so they can begin developing health professional guidance documents and tools. The pair has only been able to identify two prioritization criteria thus far: measuring the number of incident cases within Canada for each zoonosis and measuring the severity of illness associated with each zoonosis. However, because severity of illness is relatively challenging to define, the pair continues to search for a unit of analysis that adequately represents the criterion. In addition, they must tailor the incidence formula to sufficiently capture the status of the zoonoses in Canada. Blake and Brock are now at a standstill in terms of identifying three additional prioritization criteria, defining what each criterion entails, and how each criterion will be measured

Effects of a Post-Deworming Health Hygiene Education Intervention on Absenteeism in School-Age Children of the Peruvian Amazon

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are a leading cause of disability and disease burden in school-age children of worm-endemic regions. Their effect on school absenteeism, however, remains unclear. The World Health Organization currently recommends delivering mass deworming and health hygiene education through school-based programs, in an effort to control STH-related morbidity. In this cluster-RCT, the impact of a health hygiene education intervention on absenteeism was measured. From April to June 2010, all Grade 5 students at 18 schools in a worm-endemic region of the Peruvian Amazon were dewormed. Immediately following deworming, nine schools were randomly assigned to the intervention arm of the trial using a matched-pair design. The Grade 5 students attending intervention schools (N = 517) received four months of health hygiene education aimed at increasing knowledge of STH prevention. Grade 5 students from the other nine schools (N = 571) served as controls. Absenteeism was measured daily through teachers' attendance logs. After four months of follow-up, overall absenteeism rates at intervention and control schools were not statistically significantly different. However, post-trial non-randomized analyses have shown that students with moderate-to-heavy Ascaris infections and light hookworm infections four months after deworming had, respectively, missed 2.4% (95% CI: 0.1%, 4.7%) and 4.6% (95% CI: 1.9%, 7.4%) more schooldays during the follow-up period than their uninfected counterparts. These results provide empirical evidence of a direct effect of STH infections on absenteeism in school-age children

Oral colistin sulfate in pigs: pharmacokinetics and effect on fecal Escherichia coli excretion of weaned pigs challenged with Escherichia coli F4 (K88)

Colistin sulfate (CS), a polymyxin antibiotic, is used in Canada for the treatment of post-weaning diarrhea in pigs as an alternative to neomycin. The aim of the present study was to evaluate some pharmcokinetics parameters of CS and its effect on the evolution of the intestinal Escherichia coli population in pigs challenged with enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC): F4

Neutron to proton ratios of quasiprojectile and midrapidity emission in the 64^{64}Zn + 64^{64}Zn reaction at 45 MeV/nucleon

Simultaneous measurement of both neutrons and charged particles emitted in the reaction $^{64}$Zn + $^{64}$Zn at 45 MeV/nucleon allows comparison of the neutron to proton ratio at midrapidity with that at projectile rapidity. The evolution of N/Z in both rapidity regimes with increasing centrality is examined. For the completely re-constructed midrapidity material one finds that the neutron-to-proton ratio is above that of the overall $^{64}$Zn + $^{64}$Zn system. In contrast, the re-constructed ratio for the quasiprojectile is below that of the overall system. This difference provides the most complete evidence to date of neutron enrichment of midrapidity nuclear matter at the expense of the quasiprojectile

Impact of gaming disorder on first episode psychosis patients' evolution: Protocol for a multicentered prospective study.

The objective of this study is to underline the impact of Gaming Disorder on the clinical evolution of patients with First Episode Psychosis. The specific aims of the study are to determine the prevalence of gaming disorder among those patients and assess the consequences of gaming on their clinical trajectory. This is a prospective multicenter cohort study that will enrol 800 patients diagnosed with a first episode psychosis, with a follow-up period of up to 3 years. Using a systematic screening procedure for gaming disorder, the clinical staff will assess patients gaming habits at admission and every 6 months thereafter. Information from patients' medical records will also be extracted using the same timeframe. The patients' characteristics at admission and during follow-up will be presented in the form of descriptive statistics and compared between different subgroups of patients using uni- and multivariate logistic regression models. Repeated measures ANCOVA will also be performed to analyse the impact of gaming disorders on patients' clinical path as assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the Clinical Global Impression scale, considering covariates such as psychiatric diagnosis, pharmacological treatment, age, sex/gender, and duration of untreated psychosis. These findings will guide the development of prevention, detection, and treatment strategies for the comorbidity between gaming disorder and first episode psychosis, ultimately improving the patients' recovery