canada Archives

Unravelling the links between substance use and binge-like eating disorders

Written by

The researchers explore the role of brain reward systems in eating disorders and substance use disorders.

Binge eating disorder (BED) and substance use disorders (SUD) are characterised by maladaptive responses in the reward system of the brain. Dr Mary C Olmstead at Queen’s University, Canada, and Dr Katia Befort, University of Strasbourg, France, are using rodent models to explore how a part of the reward system, called the endocannabinoid system (ECS), affects the two conditions. They hope […]

What Lake Sturgeon genetics reveal about population structures

Written by

The freshwater fish Lake Sturgeon experienced drastic population declines across North America beginning approximately 150 years ago. Although commercial harvest has since ceased, many populations have been slow to recover. Stocking programs have been used to help recover the species, but they need to be approached cautiously as populations of fish that have been isolated for thousands of years may […]

Shifting aspirations: Young Syrian refugees’ experience in Canada

Written by

young Syrian refugees’ experience of Quebec’s adult education

Countries that grant permanent asylum to young refugees should ensure education programmes meet their specific needs, or risk the effects of their alienation. That’s the warning from leading educationalist Ratna Ghosh of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In groundbreaking research, Dr Ghosh looks at young Syrian refugees’ experience of Quebec’s adult education system. Despite the Quebec government’s efforts to integrate […]

Why do women experience more chronic pain than men?

Written by

Dr Singh investigates chronic pain, emphasising the need to understand the sex differences in chronic pain better.

Chronic pain is poorly managed by current healthcare systems, with limited treatments. However, little is known about chronic pain, especially in autoimmune diseases. Dr Gurmit Singh and colleagues at McMaster University, Canada, have investigated whether chronic pain should be considered an autoimmune disease and why chronic pain is more common in women. They have identified various explanations as to why women […]

A divide-and-conquer strategy for the vehicle routing problem

Written by

Li, Wang, and Du have worked out a solution to the vehicle routing problem and how to efficiently distribute goods from manufacturers’ distribution nodes to retailers’ demand nodes at the lowest cost possible.

Solving the vehicle routing problem is vital for distribution and transportation businesses needing to ensure timely distribution and minimise costs. The multivehicle routing problem is a complex variation involving multiple vehicles and numerous destinations for goods. Jiaqi Li, a graduate student at The University of Hong Kong, Yun Wang at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, China, and Professor Ke-Lin Du at Concordia […]

Change agents: Professional development for adult educators

Written by

Research by Dr Alexandra Youmans into how school boards in Ontario have developed a programme to facilitate collaboration between school boards to increase accessibility to adult education and improve outcomes for adult learners.

How can the professional development of staff be used to bring about lasting change in adult and continuing education (A&CE)? That’s the question behind new research from Canada led by Dr Alexandra Youmans of Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, and Dr Lorraine Godden of Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. They look at how school boards in eastern Ontario have come together to […]

Empathic engineering design for accessibility for deaf curling athletes

Written by

McLeod and Friesen have developed a team-based design course for computer engineering students, built on the principles of empathic design and focused on accessibility for deaf curling athletes

Deaf curling athletes are particularly disadvantaged as they rely on visual cues for their sweeping commands rather than audible ones. Professor Bob McLeod and Professor Marcia Friesen, from the University of Manitoba in Canada, have developed a team-based engineering design course for computer engineering students, built on the principles of empathic design and design for accessibility. Students form design groups […]

Bolstering brawn with the brain

Written by

Research into the impact of nervous system adaptations on muscle gain in acute and chronic resistance training

Nervous system and muscle adaptations cause strength gains during resistance training. Nervous system adaptations primarily cause the gains during the first few weeks, while muscle adaptations primarily cause gains over the longer term. There remains a gap in the research regarding the effect of chronic resistance training on the nervous system, however, due to challenges involved in collecting data over […]

Conceptual change: Learners’ response to contradictory information

Written by

Professor Patrice Potvin researches conceptual change in science education

Misconceptions can get in the way of teaching efforts and increasingly pose a significant challenge to science teachers. To discern exactly what science education literature can teach us about learners’ response to anomalous data, Professor Patrice Potvin, from the University of Québec in Montréal, Canada, has carried out a critical and systematic review of science education research literature. In this […]

Foresting Douglas-fir through targeted micropropagation

Written by

Researchers investigate the regulation of embryogenesis in Douglas-fir, aiming to lead to improved somatic embryogenesis protocols for clonal micropropagation

Conifer trees are in high demand for their aesthetic value and desirable wood, but producing these trees rapidly is challenging because of their long life cycle. Increased effort is underway to use artificial techniques to propagate Douglas-fir. However, this is constrained by a lack of viability and recalcitrance of in vitro cultures. Recent work by Drs Dmytro Yevtushenko and Mariana […]