The relationship of E. coli and total coliform culture to the quantitative molecular detection of various fecal indicators, sources, and pathogens in private drinking water wells

Water remains a predominant vector for human enteric pathogens not just for developing countries but also developed nations, where numerous infectious disease outbreaks, linked to the contamination of drinking water have been documented. Private drinking water wells are a source of drinking water that is largely unstudied even though a significant percentage of the population in Ontario relies on wells as their primary water source. As there exists little to no systematic surveillance for enteric infections or outbreaks related to well water sources, these individuals may be at higher risk of waterborne infectious diseases. The relationships between various fecal indicators in the water of private drinking water wells, including E. coli, Total Coliforms (TC) and Bacteroides, and enteric pathogens, including Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp., and Shiga toxin producing E. coli, were studied. Convenience private well water samples collected from various regions of interest during the summer of 2014 underwent membrane filtration and culture to determine quantities of E. coli and TC colony forming units. 289 E. coli positive and 230 TC-only waters were successfully analyzed by individual qPCR assays for the aforementioned enteric pathogens. Microbial source tracking methods targeted to specific Bacteroides were used to determine the source of fecal contamination as either human or bovine. The source of fecal contamination varied by geographic region and is thought to be due to such things as differences in septic tank density and underlying geology, among others. Fecal indicators, E. coli and Bacteroides, were significantly correlated. E. coli as measured by qPCR was more strongly correlated to both total and human-specific Bacteroides genetic markers than culturable E. coli. Lastly, 1.9% of samples showed molecular evidence of contamination with enteric pathogens. Although low, this finding is significant given the limited volume of water available for testing, and suggests a potential health risk to consumers. Knowing the extent of contamination, as well as the biologic source, can better inform risk assessment and the development of potential intervention strategies for private well water in specific regions of Ontario.

A Study of the Development of the Ability of the Archives Department of the Hudson's Bay Company to Carry Out Document Repairs

The objective of this thesis was to determine whether the establishment and operation of an archives services by the Hudson's Bay Company had an effect on the company's ability to carry out document repairs. Data collection methods included reviews of published material, archival records of the Hudson's Bay Company, and semi-structured interviews. The study found that the Hudson's Bay Company's commitment to operating a modern archives service in accordance with accepted archive administration practices had a substantial effect on its ability to carry out document repairs. The principled approach to repair, as practiced by the Public Record Office, was a major influence. A review of secondary sources placed this development squarely within the context of archival developments in 20th century England. Overall, the thesis findings add to the growing conversation about conservation history in England, in particular, archive conservation history as it occurred outside of the Public Record Office in the 20th century, by discussing how some methods of repair that were devised, adopted and extended by the Public Record Office in the 19th and 20th centuries were adopted and applied in the 20th century by a well-established business corporation.

Relationship between abnormal maternal inflammation and insulin resistance during pregnancy

Abnormal maternal inflammation during pregnancy is linked to complications such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. There is growing evidence that insulin resistance is also associated with a heightened inflammatory state, and is linked to pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes. This study tested the hypothesis that abnormal inflammation during pregnancy is causally linked to elevations in blood glucose and insulin resistance. To induce a state of abnormal systemic inflammation, bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was administered to pregnant rats on gestational days (GD) 13.5-16.5. Dams treated with LPS exhibited an abnormal immune response characterized by an elevation in white blood cells, which was linked to reduced fetal weight and increased glucose levels over pregnancy. Abnormal inflammation is characterized by increased levels of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and interleukin-6, which contribute to insulin resistance by inhibiting the insulin signalling pathway. TNF in particular induces a serine phosphorylation (pSer307) of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1). In our model, insulin resistance was assessed by measuring the extent of pSer307 of IRS-1 and total IRS-1 expression in skeletal muscle, as well as changes in metabolic parameters and pancreas tissue morphology associated with insulin resistance. LPS-treated dams exhibited a significant reduction in IRS-1 expression, elevation in fasting glucose levels, and reduction in insulin sensitivity indices. There were also biologically relevant increases in fasting plasma insulin levels and insulin resistance indices, but not pSer307 of IRS-1 and pancreatic islet size. To determine whether inflammation plays a role in reducing insulin signalling and the other changes associated with LPS administration, etanercept, a TNF antagonist, was administered on GDs 13.5 and 15.5 prior to LPS injections. With the exception of IRS-1 expression, in rats treated with etanercept all of the measured parameters remained at the levels observed in saline controls, indicating a link between abnormal inflammation and insulin resistance. The results of this study support the practice of monitoring the inflammatory conditions of the mother prior to and during pregnancy, and support further investigation into the potential use of anti-inflammatory agents during pregnancy in women at risk of insulin resistance and gestational diabetes.

Please Stop Rubbing Your Relationship In My Face(book): An Investigation of Online Romantic Social Comparison

It is well-documented that social networking sites such as Facebook set the stage for social comparison. Such comparison has been linked to a number of negative outcomes including envy, negative moods, and lower self-esteem. The present research aims to extend current understanding of online social comparison by investigating how it pertains to romantic relationships. I hypothesized that for individuals high in attachment anxiety (compared to those low in this construct), online romantic social comparison might be related to negative consequences—which, in the current project, was operationalized as lower mood/affect and state self-esteem. Further, I hypothesized that there would be an interaction between attachment anxiety and relationship insecurities on these negative outcomes, such that the expected difference of attachment anxiety would be more pronounced under conditions priming relationship insecurities, relative to a control condition. Two experiments were conducted, one of which focused on single individuals, and the second focusing on individuals who were themselves in dating relationships. The paradigms of each entailed experimental manipulation of a key relationship-related variable (for single individuals, pessimism for future relationships; for dating individuals, the presence or absence of rejection threat), subsequent exposure to romantic content from Facebook, and finally, measures of affect and state self-esteem. I discovered partial support for the hypothesis that some single individuals—particularly those with higher, rather than lower, attachment anxiety—do indeed report feeling more negative moods and lower state self-esteem following exposure to romantic online content, in contrast to single individuals who had instead viewed neutral online content. The association between attachment anxiety and negative outcome was especially pertinent if individuals had been primed to believe that their own future romantic prospects were grim, or if attention had been drawn to their singleness. Among dating individuals, less support for hypotheses was found; however, exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed a promising (albeit weak) trend indicating that reinvestigation of the current hypotheses would be prudent.

Sleep Quality as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Attachment Anxiety and Health Outcomes During Romantic Conflict

Attachment anxiety, or a fear of abandonment by those close to you, is an important predictor of many individual and interpersonal outcomes. Individuals high in attachment anxiety are more likely to experience physical illness due to disrupted immune functioning and deregulated stress responses. I was interested in examining potential mechanisms accounting for why individuals high in attachment anxiety are more likely to become ill. One variable that has been demonstrated to mediate the relationship between stress and health is sleep quality. As attachment anxiety is characterized by the experience of stress and worry over abandonment by romantic partners, I predicted sleep quality would mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and health. Further, I predicted attachment anxiety would interact with romantic threat, in that individuals high in attachment anxiety who perceive threat to their relationships would have poor sleep quality (compared with individuals low in attachment anxiety and individuals high in anxiety who do not perceive threat) which would mediate the most unhealthy outcomes. I tested these hypotheses using three online diary studies. In the first two studies, participants completed a seven-night diary describing their sleep quality, health, and interaction with their partner. In Study 3, I surveyed participants once a week for eight weeks to examine longer-term health outcomes. Sleep quality did indeed mediate the relationship between attachment anxiety and various health outcomes over one week (Study 2), and showed a trend towards mediating effects over two months (Study 3). Interestingly, however, attachment anxiety did not interact with perceived romantic threat to predict health in the mediation analyses. Implications for sleep as a mediating variable are discussed, as well as the lack of attachment anxiety by romantic threat interaction.

The Relationship Between Self-Awareness and Psychotic-Like Experiences

The psychosis phenotype is thought to exist on a continuum, such that the same symptoms experienced by individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders can also manifest in the general population to a less severe degree. The subclinical psychotic-like experiences reported by healthy individuals share a number of risk factors with psychotic disorders and confer greater risk of developing a psychotic disorder. Thus, healthy individuals with psychotic-like experiences comprise a valid population in which to study the underlying mechanisms of clinically significant psychotic symptoms. In this thesis, we aimed to further our understanding of psychotic-like experiences and the individuals who report them. We explored the relationships between tasks measuring different aspects of self-awareness and self-reported psychotic-like experiences using data obtained from 30 university students. We found that greater sensitivity to the difference between one’s own voice and another person’s voice predicted fewer symptoms of persecutory ideation. Additionally, we found that greater tendency to misattribute one’s own voice to an external source predicted greater symptoms of persecutory ideation.

(MIS)PERCEIVED DRINKING NORMS AND HAZARDOUS DRINKING BEHAVIOURS IN UNIVERSITY FIRST-YEAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AND THE EFFECTS OF GENDER

Purpose: Across Canada, undergraduate university students are one of the highest alcohol-consuming populations. Many students engage in hazardous drinking and are at risk for negative health and social consequences. Social Norms Theory suggests that students’ overestimation of drinking norms can result in an increase in their drinking behaviour. As of yet, none of the literature addresses the possible link between drinking norm (mis)perception and hazardous drinking in a Canadian undergraduate context. This is the first Canadian study to examine this potential association in first-year undergraduate students across multiple universities using gender as an effect modifier. Methods: Using data collected by the Caring Campus Project, for 2347 first-year students from three Canadian universities, I evaluated the prevalence of drinking norm misperceptions by site and gender. Using multiple-logistic regression models, I analyzed the relationship between misperceived drinking norms and hazardous drinking behaviours (assessed via AUDIT-C). Results: The proportion of students who overestimated drinking and binge drinking frequency norms varied by site and gender. There was a positive relationship between overestimated drinking/ binge drinking frequency norms and hazardous drinking, modified by gender. Controlling for living arrangement and site, the odds of female students being hazardous drinkers increased by a factor of 2.27 (CI: 1.73-2.99) when the drinking frequency norm was overestimated. A non-significant association was found for male students. Among female students, when living arrangement and site were controlled, the odds of being a hazardous drinker were 1.83 (0.84-3.95) and 2.69 (1.24-5.83) times greater when the drinking frequency norm was perceived at “2-4 times per month” and “2 or more times per week”, respectively. Among male students, when living arrangement, previous residence and site were controlled, the odds of being a hazardous drinker were 4.03 (2.62-6.19) and 8.54 (5.41-13.49) times greater when the binge drinking frequency norm was perceived at “2-4 times per month” and “2 or more times per week”, respectively. Conclusion: This novel study enhances the understanding of the association between (mis)perceived drinking norms and drinking behaviours in Canadian undergraduate students. The demonstrated importance of gender and site provides a strong impetus for Canadian universities to develop targeted alcohol reduction interventions.

The relationship between non-suicidal self-injury and suicidality

The overall purpose of this study was to explain the overlap and distinctiveness of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidality from a diathesis-stress perspective. The first part of this study evaluated the third variable theory as an explanation for the high rates of lifetime co-occurrence between NSSI and suicidality. Specifically, it was hypothesized that these forms of self-harm share a common vulnerability profile comprised of five affective, cognitive and behavioural diatheses. The second part of this study tested the hypothesis that NSSI and suicidality become distinguishable on the basis of immediate, proximal stressors, namely psychache and survival and coping beliefs (SCB). Participants (N = 262) were community individuals aged 16-24 years who reported either no history of self-harm (i.e., no history of NSSI, suicidality, or both), a history of NSSI, suicidality or both, or current NSSI-only or current NSSI+suicidality. They were recruited online to complete an online battery of questionnaires. Using a set of discriminant function analyses, it was found that the vulnerability profile was unable to distinguish between the three self-harm groups, but was able to differentiate the no self-harm group from a collated self-harm group. Result patterns were also analyzed for gender differences. It was also found that a current NSSI+suicidality group exhibited significantly higher psychache and lower SCB (for women only) than a current NSSI-only group. These results suggest that NSSI and suicidality may tend to co-occur because they have similar long-term diatheses, but that they may become more distinct with respect to immediate psychological stressors.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF STRAIGHT AND RECOVERED ASPHALT BINDERS FROM ONTARIO

Thermal and fatigue cracking are the major pavement distresses that contribute to a drastic reduction of the pavement’s service life and performance in Ontario. Chemical oxidation and hardening of asphalt binders deteriorates its physical properties since physical properties of asphalts depend on its chemical composition. This thesis is aimed to establish a relationship between physical and chemical properties of asphalt binders. A secondary objective is to show the strong correlation between CTOD and temperature. All recovered and straight Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) samples were investigated using conventional Superpave® test method dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) as well as improved MTO test methods such as extended bending beam rheometer (eBBR) and double-edge-notched tension (DENT) test. DENT test was conducted for all Ontario contract samples at three different temperatures based on their performance grade after three hours of thermal conditioning and compared the results in terms of essential work of fracture, plastic work of fracture and CTOD at different temperatures. Good correlation exists between CTOD and temperature according to the DENT data. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis was conducted to detect the presence of heavy metals such as zinc and molybdenum believed to have originated from waste engine oil. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) was performed to determine the abundance of functional groups such as carbonyl, sulfoxides, polyisobutylene, etc. XRF and FTIR analysis confirmed that most of the samples contain waste engine oil and/or oxidized residues, which is believed to be a root cause of premature pavement failures.

The relationship between changes in cardiovascular function and changes in VO2peak following SIT

Background: It is well known that sprint interval training (SIT), induces significant increases in peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) at the group level. However, there have been only a few studies that have addressed the variability of VO2peak response following SIT, and precise mechanism(s) that may explain individual magnitude of response are unknown. Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to: 1) examine the inter-individual variability of the VO2peak response following SIT, 2) to inspect the relationship between changes in both central and peripheral measures and changes in VO2peak, and 3) to assess if peripheral or central adaptations play a role in whether an individual is a high or low responder with respect to VO2peak. Subjects: Twenty-two young, recreationally active males (age: 20.4 1.7 years; weight: 78.4 10.2 kg; VO2peak: 3.7 0.62 L/min) Methods: VO2peak (L/min), peak cardiac output (Qpeak [L/min]), and peak deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHbpeak [mM]) were measured before and after 16 sessions of SIT (Tabata Protocol) over four weeks. Peak a-vO2diff was calculated using a derivation of the Fick equation. Results: Due to a systematic error, HHbpeak could not be used to differentiate between individual responses. There was a large range of VO2peak response from pre to post testing (-4.75 to 32.18% change) and there was a significant difference between the Low Response Group (LRG) (n=8) and the High Response Group (HRG) (n=8) [f(1, 14)= 64.27, p<0.001]. Furthermore, there was no correlation between delta () VO2peak and Qpeak (r=-0.18, p=0.46) for all participants, nor was there an interaction effect between the Low and High Response Groups [f(1,11)=0.572, p=0.47]. Lastly, there was a significant correlation between VO2peak and peak a-vO2diff [r=0.692, p<0.001], and a significant interaction effect with peak a-vO2diff [f(1, 14)= 13.27, p<0.004] when comparing the HRG to the LRG. Conclusions: There was inter-individual variability of VO2peak response following 4 weeks of SIT, but central adaptations did not influence this variation. This suggests that peripheral adaptations may be responsible for VO2peak adaptation.

The type I antifreeze protein gene family in Pleuronectidae

Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) protect marine teleosts from freezing in icy seawater by binding to nascent ice crystals and preventing their growth. It has been suggested that the gene dosage for AFPs in fish reflects the degree of exposure to harsh winter climates. The starry flounder, _Platichthys stellatus_, has been chosen to examine this relationship because it inhabits a range of the Pacific coast from California to the Arctic. This flatfish is presumed to produce type I AFP, which is an alanine-rich, amphipathic alpha-helix. Genomic DNA from four starry flounder was Southern blotted and probed with a cDNA of a winter flounder liver AFP. The hybridization signal was consistent with a gene family of approximately 40 copies. Blots of DNA from other starry flounder indicate that California fish have far fewer gene copies whereas Alaska fish have far more. This analysis is complicated by the fact that there are three different type I AFP isoforms. The first is expressed in the liver and secreted into circulation, the second is a larger hyperactive dimer also thought to be expressed in the liver, and the third is expressed in peripheral tissues. To evaluate the contribution of these latter two isoforms to the overall gene signal on Southern blots, hybridization probes for the three isoforms were isolated from starry flounder DNA by genomic cloning. Two clones revealed linkage of genes for different isoforms, and this was confirmed by genomic Southern blotting, where hybridization patterns indicated that the majority of genes were present in tandem repeats. The sequence and diversity of all three isoforms was sampled in the starry flounder genome by PCR. All coding sequences derived for the skin and liver isoforms were consistent with the proposed structure-function relationships for this AFP, where the flat hydrophobic side of the helix is conserved for ice binding. There was greater sequence diversity in the skin and hyperactive isoforms than in the liver isoform, suggesting that the latter evolved recently from one of the other two. The genomic PCR primers are currently being used to sample isoform diversity in related right-eyed flounders to test this hypothesis.

IMPACT OF RNA VIRUSES ON THE REGULATION OF IL-23 IN MOUSE AND HUMAN MODELS OF INFECTION.

Interluekin-23 (IL-23) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine critical to the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses. The main role for this cytokine is in the proliferation and differentiation of the IL-17 producing CD4 T helper cell, Th17. Virus infection deregulates IL-23 expression and function, but little is known about the mechanism behind this phenomena. Here, I demonstrate a reduction of Toll like receptor (TLR) ligand-induced IL-23 expression in lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV)-infected bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs), indicating that a function of these cells is disrupted during virus infection. I propose a mechanism of TLR ligand-induced IL-23 expression inhibition upon LCMV infection via the deactivation of p38, AP-1, and NF-κB. Further analysis revealed a direct relationship between LCMV infection with the IL-10 and SOCS3 expression. To understand IL-23 function, I characterized IL-23-induced JAK/STAT signalling pathway and IL-23 receptor expression on human CD4 T cells. My results demonstrate that IL-23 induces activation of p-JAK2, p-Tyk2, p-STAT1, p-STAT3, and p-STAT4 in CD4 T cells. For the first time I show that IL-23 alone induces the expression of its own receptor components, IL-12Rβ1 and IL-23Rα, in CD4 T cells. Blocking JAK2, STAT1, and STAT3 activation with specific inhibitors detrimentally effected expression of IL-23 receptor demonstrating that activation of JAK/STAT signalling is important for IL-23 receptor expression. I also addressed the effect of viral infection on IL-23 function and receptor expression in CD4 T cells using cells isolated from HIV positive individuals. These studies were based on earlier reports that the expression of IL-23 and the IL-23 receptor are impaired during HIV infection. I demonstrate that the phosphorylation of JAK2, STAT1, and STAT3 induced by IL-23, as well as IL-23 receptor expression are deregulated in CD4 T cells isolated from HIV positive individuals. This study has furthered the understanding of how the expression and function of IL-23 is regulated during viral infections.

Melancholy and the Early Modern University

Critics have observed that in early Stuart England, the broad, socially significant concept of melancholy was recoded as a specifically medical phenomenon—a disease rather than a fashion. This recoding made melancholy seem less a social attitude than a private ailment. However, I argue that at the Stuart universities, this recoded melancholy became a covert expression of the disillusionment, disappointment, and frustration produced by pressures there—the overcrowding and competition which left many men “disappointed” in preferment, alongside James I’s unprecedented royal involvement in the universities. My argument has implications for Jürgen Habermas’s account of the emergence of the public sphere, which he claims did not occur until the eighteenth-century. I argue that although the university was increasingly subordinated to the crown’s authority, a lingering sense of autonomy persisted there, a residue of the medieval university’s relative autonomy from the crown; politicized by the encroaching Stuart presence, an alienated community at the university formed a kind of public in private from authority within that authority’s midst. The audience for the printed book, a sphere apart from court or university, represented a forum in which the publicity at the universities could be consolidated, especially in seemingly “private” literary forms such as the treatise on melancholy. I argue that Robert Burton’s exaggerated performance of melancholy in The Anatomy of Melancholy, which gains him license to say almost anything, resembles the performed melancholy that the student-prince Hamlet uses to frustrate his uncle’s attempts to surveil him. After tracing melancholy’s evolving literary function through Hamlet, I go on to discuss James’s interventions into the universities. I conclude by considering two printed (and widely circulated) books by university men: the aforementioned The Anatomy of Melancholy by Burton, an Oxford cleric, and The Temple by George Herbert, who left a career as Cambridge’s public orator to become a country parson. I examine how each of these books uses the affective pattern of courtly-scholarly disappointment—transumed by Burton as melancholy, and by Herbert as holy affliction—to develop an empathic form of publicity among its readership which is in tacit opposition to the Stuart court.

REDUCING DIESEL DEPENDENCE IN NUNAVUT: INTEGRATING RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH POLICY ACTIONS

In the last fifty years, Nunavut has developed a deep dependence on diesel for virtually all of its energy needs, including electricity. This dependence has created a number of economic, environmental and health related challenges in the territory, with an estimated 20% of the territory’s annual budget being spent on energy, thereby limiting the Government of Nunavut’s ability to address other essential infrastructure and societal needs, such as education, nutrition and health care and housing. One solution to address this diesel dependency is the use of renewable energy technologies (RETs), such as wind, solar and hydropower. As such, this thesis explores energy alternatives in Nunavut, and through RETScreen renewable energy simulations, found that solar power and wind power are technically viable options for Nunavut communities and a potentially successful means to offset diesel-generated electricity in Nunavut. However, through this analysis it was also discovered that accurate data or renewable resources are often unavailable for most Nunavut communities. Moreover, through qualitative open-ended interviews, the perspectives of Nunavut residents with regards to developing RETs in Nunavut were explored, and it was found that respondents generally supported the use of renewable energy in their communities, while acknowledging that there still remains a knowledge gap among residents regarding renewable energy, stemming from a lack of communication between the communities, government and the utility company. In addition, the perceived challenges, opportunities and gaps that exist with regards to renewable energy policy and program development were discussed with government policy-makers through further interviews, and it was discovered that often government departments work largely independently of each other rather than collaboratively, creating gaps and oversights in renewable energy policy in Nunavut. Combined, the results of this thesis were used to develop a number of recommended policy actions that could be undertaken by the territorial and federal government to support a shift towards renewable energy in order to develop a sustainable and self-sufficient energy plan in Nunavut. They include: gathering accurate renewable resource data in Nunavut; increasing community consultations on the subject of renewable energy; building strong partnerships with universities, colleges and industry; developing a knowledge sharing network; and finally increasing accessibility to renewable energy programs and policies in Nunavut.

Performing Resistance/Negotiating Sovereignty: Indigenous Women's Perofrmance Art in Canada

Performing Resistance/ Negotiating Sovereignty: Indigenous Women’s Performance Art In Canada investigates the contemporary production of Indigenous performance and video art in Canada in terms of cultural continuance, survivance and resistance. Drawing on critical Indigenous methodology, which foregrounds the necessity of privileging multiple Indigenous systems of knowledge, it explores these themes through the lenses of storytelling, decolonization, activism, and agency. With specific reference to performances by Rebecca Belmore, Lori Blondeau, Cheryl L'Hirondelle, Skeena Reece and Dana Claxton, as well as others, it argues that Indigenous performance art should be understood in terms of i) its enduring relationship to activism and resistance ii) its ongoing use as a tool for interventions in colonially entrenched spaces, and iii) its longstanding role in maintaining self-determination and cultural sovereignty.