Pedagogy of Care: Emerging from The Crisis

This paper proposes to embed structured social, emotional, and professional learning tutorials in one of the core-courses that this author teaches to international students enrolled in the Master of Medical Biotechnology (MMB) program offered by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Windsor. The broad overarching goals are to offer emotion regulation, stress management, resilience, and work-life balance strategies for international students to feel greater autonomy in their lives, in mitigating pandemic-related anxiety, and a sense of ownership in the Canadian economy. New, emerging trends, structural changes, and circumstances redefine how institutions should be organized tomorrow to become the nexus of a new educational model emerging from the crisis and built for the next normal

Pathological Changes in Microvascular Morphology, Density, Size and Responses Following Comorbid Cerebral Injury

Aberrations in brain microcirculation and the associated increase in blood-brain-barrier (BBB) permeability in addition to neuroinflammation and Aβ deposition observed in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and ischemia have gained considerable attention recently. However, the role of microvascular homeostasis as a pathogenic substrate to disturbed microperfusion as well as an overlapping etiologic mechanism between AD and ischemia has not been thoroughly explored. In this study, we employ temporal histopathology of cerebral vasculature in a rat model of β-amyloid (Aβ) toxicity and endothelin-1 induced-ischemia (ET1) to investigate the panorama of cerebral pathology and the protein expression on d1, d7, and d28 post-injury. The combination of Aβ and ET1 pathological states leads to an alteration in microvascular anatomy, texture, diameter, density, and protein expression, in addition to disturbed vessel-matrix-connections, inter-compartmental water exchange and basement membrane profile within the lesion epicenter localized in the striatum of Aβ+ET1 brains compared to Aβ and ET1 rats. We conclude that the neural microvascular network, in addition to the neural tissue, is not only sensitive to structural deterioration but also serves as an underlying vascular etiology between ischemia and AD pathologies. Such investigation can provide prospects to appreciate the interrelationships between structure and responses of cerebral microvasculature and to provide a venue for vascular remodeling as a new treatment strategy

Correction to: Role of Delayed Neuroglial Activation in Impaired Cerebral Blood Flow Restoration Following Comorbid Injury (Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, (2020), 40, 3, (369-380), 10.1007/s10571-019-00735-y)

The original version of this article contained a random order of part labels for Fig. 4. The correct caption of Fig. 4 with correct order of part labels is given below

DHA Supplemented in Peptamen Diet Offers No Advantage in Pathways to Amyloidosis: Is It Time to Evaluate Composite Lipid Diet?

Numerous reports have documented the beneficial effects of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on beta-amyloid production and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, none of these studies have examined and compared DHA, in combination with other dietary nutrients, for its effects on plaque pathogenesis. Potential interactions of DHA with other dietary nutrients and fatty acids are conventionally ignored. Here we investigated DHA with two dietary regimes; peptamen (pep+DHA) and low fat diet (low fat+DHA). Peptamen base liquid diet is a standard sole-source nutrition for patients with gastrointestinal dysfunction. Here we demonstrate that a robust AD transgenic mouse model shows an increased tendency to produce beta-amyloid peptides and amyloid plaques when fed a pep+DHA diet. The increase in beta-amyloid peptides was due to an elevated trend in the levels of beta-secretase amyloid precursor protein (APP) cleaving enzyme (BACE), the proteolytic C-terminal fragment beta of APP and reduced levels of insulin degrading enzyme that endoproteolyse beta-amyloid. On the contrary, TgCRND8 mice on low fat+DHA diet (based on an approximately 18% reduction of fat intake) ameliorate the production of abeta peptides and consequently amyloid plaques. Our work not only demonstrates that DHA when taken with peptamen may have a tendency to confer a detrimental affect on the amyloid plaque build up but also reinforces the importance of studying composite lipids or nutrients rather than single lipids or nutrients for their effects on pathways important to plaque development

Designing an in inquiry-based semester theme that integrates data science and bioinformatics methods

With an exponential growth in life science research data, familiarity with bioinformatics has become an exciting as well as a popular skill set both in industry and academia. To increase students’ competencies and to get them familiarized with data science professions, we implemented a set of bioinformatic exercises into a capstone course of a graduate program. Bioinformatic exercises were designed to teach students to navigate bioinformatic databases—such as ExPASy, GenBank™, NiceZyme, and BRENDA—use built-in tools, analyze data, and perform R and Python programming. The skillsets imparted by this research-focused bioinformatic pedagogical approach will empower students to be able to leverage this knowledge for their future endeavors in the bioinformatics field. The presentation comprises a brief intro on the motivation behind the exercises, the semester theme context in which they were developed, and their impact on students’ learning. This research was approved by our institutional research ethics board

Amplifying the Voices of Canadian Muslim Excellence

Episode Description: Authors: April King and Dr. Zareen Amtul Abstract: This podcast examines the increased incidents of Islamophobia in Canada and the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim Canadians. The overall project being presented seeks to bring attention to the need for intentional strategies embedded in education to help combat Islamophobia. A specific strategy of explicitly celebrating and highlighting Canadian Muslim Excellence is outlined. Sharing the stories of Muslim Canadians that have had a positive impact on our country, is intended to increase the positive messaging surrounding some of the wonderful contributions that Muslim Canadians have accomplished. This podcast also speaks to strategies in place to assist educators in continuing the work of dismantling the stereotypes and fear that come with Islamophobia. Providing the listener with resources to share the names of Muslim Canadians to be celebrated, accompanied by their memorable stories and newly developed lesson plans for the classroom, this project aims to increase the positive portrayal of Muslim Canadians and decrease the display of negative stereotypes and acts of hatred. Canada would not be the same if it were not for our diversity. We need to be intentional in celebrating, educating, and reflecting in ways that work to combat hatred

Dipyridamole plus Triflusal versus Triflusal Alone in Infarct Reduction after Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion

Background and Purpose: The objective of this work is to study the dose-dependent effect of combination therapy with dipyridamole and triflusal over that of triflusal alone on infarct size after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) ischemia. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were subjected to a permanent MCAO in the right hemisphere. Rats received triflusal alone and with dipyridamole via oral route. Three days after surgery, infarct volumes were measured. Results: The lower dose regime of triflusal (10 mg/kg) and dipyridamole (200 mg/kg) caused the greatest decrease in infarct size compared with higher dose regime of triflusal (30 mg/kg) and dipyridamole (200 mg/kg) (P \u3c.01), triflusal (30 mg/kg) alone (P \u3c.07), and vehicle-treated controls. Conclusions: The lower dose combination of dipyridamole and triflusal appears to be more effective than triflusal alone after MCAO-induced cerebral ischemia. Therefore, there is a strong rationale to continue to examine the protective effects of triflusal and dipyridamole after cerebral ischemia. (c) 2018 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Engineering of fluorescent or photoactive Trojan probes for detection and eradication of β-Amyloids

Trojan horse technology institutes a potentially promising strategy to bring together a diagnostic or cell-based drug design and a delivery platform. It provides the opportunity to re-engineer a novel multimodal, neurovascular detection probe, or medicine to fuse with blood-brain barrier (BBB) molecular Trojan horse. In Alzheimer’s disease (AD) this could allow the targeted delivery of detection or therapeutic probes across the BBB to the sites of plaques and tangles development to image or decrease amyloid load, enhance perivascular Aβ clearance, and improve cerebral blood flow, owing principally to the significantly improved cerebral permeation. A Trojan horse can also be equipped with photosensitizers, nanoparticles, quantum dots, or fluorescent molecules to function as multiple targeting theranostic compounds that could be activated following changes in disease-specific processes of the diseased tissue such as pH and protease activity, or exogenous stimuli such as, light. This concept review theorizes the use of receptor-mediated transport-based platforms to transform such novel ideas to engineer systemic and smart Trojan detection or therapeutic probes to advance the neurodegenerative field

Altered Insulin/Insulin-Like Growth Factor Signaling in a Comorbid Rat model of Ischemia and beta-Amyloid Toxicity

Ischemic stroke and diabetes are vascular risk factors for the development of impaired memory such as dementia and/or Alzheimer\u27s disease. Clinical studies have demonstrated that minor striatal ischemic lesions in combination with beta-amyloid (A beta) load are critical in generating cognitive deficits. These cognitive deficits are likely to be associated with impaired insulin signaling. In this study, we examined the histological presence of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) and insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1) in anatomically distinct brain circuits compared with morphological brain damage in a co-morbid rat model of striatal ischemia (ET1) and A beta toxicity. The results demonstrated a rapid increase in the presence of IGF-1 and IRS-1 immunoreactive cells in A beta + ET1 rats, mainly in the ipsilateral striatum and distant regions with synaptic links to the striatal lesion. These regions included subcortical white matter, motor cortex, thalamus, dentate gyrus, septohippocampal nucleus, periventricular region and horizontal diagonal band of Broca in the basal forebrain. The alteration in IGF-1 and IRS-1 presence induced by ET1 or A beta rats alone was not severe enough to affect the entire brain circuit. Understanding the causal or etiologic interaction between insulin and IGF signaling and co-morbidity after ischemia and A beta toxicity will help design more effective therapeutics