TREATING INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASES THROUGH BLOCKING P2Y6 RECEPTOR

Extracellular nucleotides can favour inflammatory diseases via the activation of P2 receptors. The proinflammatory P2Y6 is the dominant nucleotide receptor in human and murine intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) and its expression increases during inflammation. Interestingly, we found that the blockade of P2Y6 totally prevented inflammation in the murine DSS model. This project will show whether and how the blockade of P2Y6 signaling in IEC can reduce, or even prevent, mucosal inflammation.

Evaluation of interventions for improving maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes: Systematic literature reviews and network meta-analyses

Poor nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, and infectious diseases during pregnancy and early childhood can lead to poor growth and development that can be everlasting negative effects on the child. A large number of clinical trials have been conducted, but as many interventions have not been compared against each other, it is unclear what interventions are effective and should be provided over different life stages of the child.

Assessing cognitive load in cochlear implant users through short-term storage of speech

Cochlear implants are surgical implanted devices that allow deaf people to recover some form of hearing and understand speech, but current devices are limited, and the consequences of these limitations have not been fully explored. For example, there is a growing consensus that hearing loss interacts with cognitive systems. Yet, relatively little is known about the cognitive burden of CI users.

Advanced Materials and Technologies for Medical Imaging Detectors and Techniques

The proposed Mitacs program will provide internships for six graduate (thesis-based MSc and PhD) students, and two Post-Doctoral Fellows (PDFs) in a competitive R&D environment at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute (TBRHRI) – Canada’s newest health research institute. Interns will be involved in research projects which aim to develop and commercialize the next generation of customized detectors to improve medical imaging applications, which are chosen on the basis of the demands of the healthcare system and commercial opportunities developed in the TBRHRI.

Implementation of a chip-based MDTMA platform for evaluating prostate cancer treatment response and mode of action. - Year two

Prostate cancer is the disease of the old, effecting 1 in 7 Canadians with a death burden of 1 in 28. The management of the disease becomes extremely difficult with the development of the nonresponsive and aggressive form of the cancer. Thus, the clinicians are rendered helpless and hence there is an urgent need for the development of new targeted therapies. Response to chemotherapy drugs varies for every individual, leading to adverse effects in many. Hence every individual responds to chemotherapy drugs differentially, matching the right dose for individual patient is a big challenge.

Evaluation of Signal Mass as a new marker of brain tissue loss in multiple sclerosis

The degree of brain cell injury and death may be associated with disability and problems with memory and thinking skills in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This is most frequently measured by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images to calculate shrinkage of brain volume. In fact, MS patients suffer more rapid shrinkage of brain volume compared to healthy people. However, brain volume can also fluctuate due to reasons other than brain cell death, such as water coming in and out of the brain.

Ultra-low power wireless sensor node design for health monitoring use cases

In this project we address the problem of power consumption for wireless sensor nodes. This is where among different components of a sensor, RF transceivers consume a significant amount of power e.g. approximately 80%. Hence the main objective is this project is to tackle the power consumption problem at the RF transmitter, where we aim to reduce the power consumption to micro-watts of power, with minimal sacrifice in achievable data rate and by keeping the connectivity range within an acceptable radius.

Expression of muscarinic receptors in neurogenic detrusor overactive (NDO) bladders of spinal cord transected (SCT) rats after preventive treatment with anticholinergic me

Following the study of spinal cord transected (SCT) rat models being treated by fesoterodine fumarate (antimuscarinic drug) to prevent neurogenic detrusor overactivity, bladders of all 30 animals were conserved. It was observed that an early fesoterodine fumarate administration at the time of transection modulates bladder overactivity. However, the exact mechanism of action is not known and should be investigated further focusing on detrusor muscarinic receptor modifications in order to support clinical trials with humans.

Evaluating the effectiveness of video as a medium of delivery and consumption of large quantity of digital information

The goal of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of video as medium of delivery and consumption of large quantity of digital information. The team will create an automated way to generate videos for properties and rental information so as to reduce costs on manual video creation and build user profiles based on smart questions to present tailored information based on users’ needs in a video format. Through researching, implementing technologies, designing analytics tools and developing a prototype we hope to evaluate the effectiveness of dynamic video information delivery.

Understanding the cellular mechanisms sustaining functional capacity improvement with prehabilitation in colorectal cancer patients

Cancer is associated with weight loss, decreased muscle strength and inflammation. This has a tremendous impact on daily activity, autonomy and quality of life, involving both patients and care-givers. I previously worked on a preoperative intervention called ‘pre-habilitation’, a personalized exercise and nutritional supplementation delivered before surgery. The main idea is to prevent postoperative complications utilizing the time before surgery to put the patient in a better physical, nutritional and emotional state.

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