Understanding the Cultural Health Beliefs in Diabetes Education Amongst the Aboriginal Population within a City in the Southern Region of Ontario

This study examined the cultural health beliefs in diabetes education amongst the Aboriginal population within a city in Southern Ontario. The purpose was to contribute to the development of a culturally relevant diabetes handbook as well as to delivery styles within current diabetes education programs. To this end, a focus group was conducted with Aboriginal men and women between the ages of 18-70 years with type 2 diabetes. Participants were recruited from 2 Aboriginal community centres and an Aboriginal health centre in a city in Southern Ontario. Themes were drawn from the analysis of the focus group transcripts and combined with the findings from the research literature. The major themes that merged were drawn from Eurocentric and Aboriginal theories. The results were a set of recommendations on the type of format for diabetes educational programs such as traditional group activities, variety of electronic format, and culture specific educational resources. The emergent results appear to provide some important insights into program planning for diabetes education centres within Aboriginal communities.

Defence of Agaricus bisporus against toxic secondary metabolites from Trichoderma aggressivum.

Trichoderma spp are effective competitors against other fungi because they are mycoparasitic and produce hydrolytic enzymes and secondary metabolites that inhibit the growth of their competitors. Inhibitory compounds produced by Trichoderma aggressivum, the causative agent of green mold disease, are more toxic to the hybrid off-white strains of Agaricus bisporus than the commercial brown strains, consistent with the commercial brown strain’s increased resistance to the disease. This project looked at the response of hybrid off-white and commercial brown strains of A. bisporus to the presence of T. aggressivum metabolites with regard to three A. bisporus genes: laccase 1, laccase 2, and manganese peroxidase. The addition of T. aggressivum toxic metabolites had no significant effect on MnP or lcc1 transcript abundance. Alternatively, laccase 2 appears to be involved in resistance to T. aggressivum because the presence of T. aggressivum metabolites results in higher lcc2 transcript abundance and laccase activity, especially in the commercial brown strain. The difference in laccase expression and activity between A. bisporus strains was not a result of regulatory or coding sequence differences. Alteration of laccase transcription by RNAi resulted in transformants with variable levels of laccase transcript abundance. Transformants with a low number of lcc transcripts were very sensitive to T. aggressivum toxins, while those with a high number of lcc transcripts had increased resistance. These results indicated that laccase activity, in particular that encoded by lcc2, serves as a defense response of A. bisporus to T. aggressivum toxins and contributes to green mold disease resistance in commercial brown strains.

Exploring the Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive-Behavior Therapy with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Interpretative Phenomenological Approach

Abstract The therapeutic alliance (TA) is the most studied process of adult psychotherapeutic change (Zack et al., 2007) and has been found to have a moderate but robust relationship with therapeutic outcome regardless of treatment modality (Horvath, 2001). The TA is loosely described as the extent to which the therapist and the participant connect emotionally and work together towards goals. Conceptualizations of the TA with children have relied on adult models, even though it is widely acknowledged that the pediatric population will rarely willingly commit to therapy, nor readily admit to any challenges that they may be experiencing (Keeley, Geffken, McNamara & Storch, 2011). For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) the therapeutic alliance may require an even greater retheorizing considering the communicative and social difficulties of this particular population. Despite this need, research on children with ASD and the therapeutic TA is almost non-existent. In this qualitative study, transcripts from semi-structured interviews with mothers of children with ASD were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). IPA closely examines how individual people make sense of their life experiences using a theme-by-theme approach. The three interviewees were mothers whose children were participants in a nine-week Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) group for obsessive-compulsive behaviours (OCB). A total of four superordinate themes were identified: (i) Centralization and disremembering the TA, (ii) Qualities of the therapist, (iii) TA and the importance of time, and (iv) Signs of a healthy TA. The mothers’ perspectives on the TA suggest that, for them and their children, a strong TA was a required component of the therapy. Implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed.

Two School Administrators’ Perspectives on How Intercultural Education is Promoted in Their Elementary Schools

This study examined the perspectives of 2 elementary school administrators (1 principal of a faith based school, and 1 vice-principal of a public school) towards intercultural education and how it was implemented in their schools. A generic qualitative research methodology guided this study. Face-to-face interviews that used a guide with open-ended questions were used to collect data. Participants were administrators in their respective schools, had been involved in intercultural activities at their school, and were professional acquaintances of the researcher. The interviews were digitally recorded and the interview transcripts were reviewed by participants to ensure accuracy. The administrators’ understanding of intercultural education tended to be limited to learning and celebration of various cultures. The intercultural education strategies used in the respective schools focussed on developing a knowledge base and provided limited intercultural interaction. The public school had greater resources available than the private faith-based school. However, the resources were not always used to facilitate intercultural education. Teachers and administrators were provided with very few professional development opportunities focussed on intercultural education.

How Immigrant Mothers Contribute to Their Children’s Learning Inside and Outside of School

Abstract The main focus of this qualitative research was to explore how parents from different national backgrounds see their role in their children’s education inside and outside of school. Although greater recruitment was described and sought after, this qualitative research gathered data from two immigrant female parents from a community parents’ group located in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with each participant using open-ended questions asking about the different ways these mothers, along with their spouses, were involved in their children’s education. Moreover, questions were designed to find out what alternatives parents use to support their children’s learning. The main question driving this research was “How are immigrant families currently involved with their children’s education inside and outside of school?” NVivo, 10 was used to code the transcripts giving rise to themes which could then be utilized to explain and explore the research question. The findings of this research are congruent with past research and demonstrate that immigrant mothers are more involved than the fathers are in their children’s education (Grolnick & Slowiaczek 1994; Peters, Seeds, Goldstein, & Coleman, 2008). A specifically important finding in this research is that schools are perceived by the immigrant mothers in this study as not doing enough to actively engage immigrant parents in their children’s education. On the other hand, findings also show that parents are eager to find different avenues to get involved and help their children succeed.

The role of microRNAs and retinoid signaling during spinal cord regeneration in the adult newt.

The molecular events after spinal cord injury that lead to the establishment of a permissive environment and epimorphic regeneration remain unclear. Two molecular pathway regulators that may converge to create a spinal cord regeneration-permissive environment in the urodele are retinoic acid (RA) and microRNAs (miRNAs). Recent evidence suggests that RARβ-mediated signaling is necessary for tail and caudal spinal cord regeneration in the adult newt. MicroRNAs are attractive candidates as mediators of retinoid signaling during regeneration, as their pleiotropic effects are vital in situations where global changes in gene expression are required. Thus, the overall aim of this thesis was to determine if miRNAs are involved in tail and caudal spinal cord regeneration in the adult newt, and if they act as regulators and/or effectors of retinoid signaling during this process. I have demonstrated here, for the first time, that multiple miRNAs are dysregulated in response to spinal cord injury in the adult newt, as well as in response to inhibition of retinoid signaling. Two of these miRNAs, miR-133a and miR-1, appear to target RARβ2 transcripts both in vivo and in vitro. Inhibition of RA signaling via RARβ with a selective antagonist, LE135, alters the pattern of expression of these miRNAs, which leads to an inhibition of tail regeneration. These data are indicative of a negative feed back loop, albeit potentially an indirect one. I also aimed to examine which miRNAs are affected by inhibiting RA synthesis during regeneration, and provided a long list of miRNAs that are dysregulated. These data provide the foundation for future studies on the putative roles of these miRNAs, as well as their function in retinoid signaling. Overall, these studies provide the first evidence for a role for miRNAs as mediators of retinoid signaling during caudal spinal cord regeneration in any system.