In the News

Research team earns AHS President’s Excellence Award

[2012-05-14]  Three Alberta medical researchers focused on improving the quality of care for people with chronic diseases have been named the recipients of the first Alberta Health Services President’s Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievements in Research.

Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn and Dr. Braden Manns—from the departments of medicine and community health sciences and members of the Institute for Public Health—led the Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration (ICDC) along with the University of Alberta’s Marcello Tonelli. The group aims to support higher quality, more equitable, efficient care for Albertans with, or at risk of, common chronic ailments such as kidney disease, diabetes and heart disease.

“Our research has always focused on informing health care policy, and so receiving recognition from one of our most important partners is particularly satisfying and rewarding,” says Manns.

"An important part of this work is making sure that our research is relevant for what our partners need, when they need it, and is expressed in a way that they can use to make their decisions easier,” says Hemmelgarn.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/may14-2012/excellence

 

UCQ appoints faculty member new director of research

[2012-05-11]  Tam Donnelly has been named director of research at the University of Calgary - Qatar.Donnelly, who is already heading up a number of projects in Qatar, has been a leading Canadian researcher at UCQ's main campus.

"(Donnelly) is an experienced researcher and also has made excellent collaborations with our partners," dean and CEO Carolyn Byrne says of the appointment.

Honoured to be named to the post, Donnelly says she will aim toward helping UCQ make its mark in the Qatari community.

"We have had more support from the State of Qatar and the University of Calgary toward making UCQ not only an institution renowned for its excellence in the training of nurses, but also as a research-intensive university in the Middle East region," says Donnelly. "But more importantly, it means that we will be able to work more intensively with Qatari community partners to make contribution toward fostering a research culture in Qatar -- addressing educational and health care needs, and conducting research studies that are benefiting the health of people of Qatar.

"I am looking forward to the bright future of UCQ, to our students' many successes, and to work forward to the vision of making the University of Calgary one of top five research intensive universities in Canada."

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/may11-2012/research

 

Jobs affect depression risk differently in men and women

[2012-05-10]  A job can increase the risk of depression in both men and women, but for different reasons, a new study from Canada suggests. JianLi Wang, an associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, and colleagues surveyed about 2,700 men and women living in Alberta between 2008 and 2011 who were not currently depressed. Participants were followed to see if they developed depression. They also answered questions about their jobs, such as their level of job strain and whether they felt adequately rewarded for their efforts.

After a year, 3.6 percent of participants were diagnosed with depression. The incidence of depression was higher in women with 4.5 percent developing the condition, compared with 2.9 percent of men. Women in the study who felt they were not appreciated at their job, or were not appropriately rewarded for their efforts, had an increased risk of depression, compared with women who felt they were rewarded appropriately, the study showed. No such link was found in men. On the other hand, a high amount of job strain increased the risk of depression in men working full time, but not in women.

Conflicts between family and work influenced depression risk for both sexes, but in different ways. Men were at increased risk of depression if their family life got in the way of their work life, while women were at increased risk of depression if their work life interfered with their family life. Even though more women are in the work force, and more men take family responsibilities, "men and women, they may view their family role or their work differently," said Wang. 

Link to FoxNews.com story
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/05/10/jobs-affect-depression-risk-differently-in-men-and-women/#ixzz1us19aarD

 

Nomination for Order of Merit for Nursing Research

[2012-05-07]  The Faculty of Nursing is celebrating National Nursing Week with the news that two of its professors will receive Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) Order of Merit awards and one will be recognized with the highest honour CNA bestows on its members. There are six awards in total handed out across Canada; for one organization to receive three is unprecedented.

• Dianne Tapp: named recipient of the CNA Order of Merit for Nursing Administration
• Nancy Moules (Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation professorship in Child and Family Centred Cancer Care): named recipient of the Order of Merit for Nursing Education
• Kathryn King-Shier: nominated for the Order of Merit for Nursing Research
• Sandi Hirst (associate professor and director of the faculty’s Brenda Strafford Centre for Excellence in Gerontological Nursing): recipient of the 2012 Jeanne Mance Award, arguably the most prestigious award given to a Canadian RN.

Link to UC story:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/may7-2012/nursing

 

Op Ed: Creative care reducing wait times

[2012-05-02]  Sometimes public health care is like the human body. When you have an ailment in one area, you need to look somewhere else in the anatomy for the cause or the contributor.

Long wait times for hip and knee replacements are a good example. The evident cause is that the system devotes too few resources for surgeries to keep up with demand from an aging population - and it's true, that is part of the problem.

But we also know many patients stay in hospital longer than Alberta's four-day provincial benchmark for hip and knee surgeries. Evidence suggests most often it's because the patient has not arranged for someone to help with recovery at home or feels more secure surrounded by professional hospital staff.

But every hour an acute-care bed remains occupied by a patient who doesn't really need to be there is an hour the same bed cannot be occupied by another patient. And for every patient, getting access to that bed means eliminating the stress of an unnecessary, very unpleasant and longer wait for surgery.

Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute, having developed the four-day length-of-stay standard using international evidence, crunched the provincial hospital stay numbers for the Bone and Joint Clinical Network of Alberta Health Services. In 2009-10, patients who had elective or planned hip replacement spent on average an extra 1.2 days in hospital, while knee replacement patients stayed an extra three quarters of a day.

This may not seem excessive but cumulatively it means approximately 16,000 bed-days would have been freed up had the stay in acute care followed the recommended standard.

If these beds had been available for hip and knee replacement patients, this would have opened up bed capacity for another 4,000 surgeries. More surgeries mean shorter wait lists and wait times without incurring incremental costs.

The answer seems obvious: apply the four-day standard.

Continuing reading this article in the Edmonton Journal at http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/news/6551789/story.html.

 

RA Remission More Meaningful Than Minimal Disease

[2012-04-24]  Patients with rheumatoid arthritis who achieve remission on an agent targeting tumor necrosis factor have improvements in a variety of measures of resource use, activities of daily living, and employment, data have shown.Investigators led by Dr. Cheryl Barnabe, a rheumatologist at the University of Calgary (Alta.), analyzed data from the Alberta Biologics Pharmacosurveillance Program for 1,315 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with a monoclonal antibody to tumor necrosis factor (TNF).

"Even in this patient group with severe disease and long disease duration, 34% were able to achieve remission in their first year of anti-TNF therapy, and an additional 25% were able to achieve minimal disease activity," she reported at the annual meeting of the Canadian Rheumatology Association.

Compared with their counterparts who had continued moderate or high disease activity, these patients had roughly one-third to three-fourths reductions in rates of limitations of daily activities, hospitalization, and curtailed work hours, and in over-the-counter drug costs.

Link to Internal Medicine News story
http://www.internalmedicinenews.com/single-view/ra-remission-more-meaningful-than-minimal-disease/3981c55724.html

 

Lecture of a Lifetime

[2012-04-24]  2012 marks the university's fifth Lecture of a Lifetime. Those called upon to deliver it are presented with a simple proposition: what wisdom would you impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance? This year, Dr. Tom Noseworthy, a professor of Community Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine, was nominated by the university community to deliver this lecture.
"The Lecture of a Lifetime is at once a daunting proposition and an incredible honour," says Dr. Tom Noseworthy as he began his remarks in the Libin Theatre. "I invite each of you to be in my shoes; you would understand that there is on the one hand a wealth and a world of things that one might choose to speak on, yet paradoxically it's difficult to know what to say."

With a career spanning 40 years—so far—Noseworthy has worn many hats, as a highly respected and dynamic teacher, a graduate student supervisor, mentor, researcher, administrator, and foremost, as a physician. Not short on experience or opinions, as the man himself freely admits, he certainly has some compelling material to draw upon.

The wisdom he chose to impart for his hypothetical last talk, was very obviously a reflection of the things that matter to him most; and with a hint of storytelling, a healthy dose of knowledge, some personal reflection, a challenge or two, and a few laughs to boot, those in attendance were undoubtedly left with at least something or maybe several somethings to think about.

Link to UC story and video
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/april24-2012/lifetime

 

Preserving the past, developing policy for the future

[2012-04-20]  When it comes to the discourse on languages and language policy in Canada and the discussion moves beyond English and French, people tend to think of what might be considered "new" languages—or at least new to Canada—that have been brought to North America through relatively recent immigration. The talk rarely turns to the languages that have been spoken for centuries, right here.

"Aboriginal languages are an integral part of Canadian society and the nation's collective memory," says Thomas Ricento. "Yet, only three of the 50 Aboriginal languages in Canada are considered robust enough to have chances of survival in the long run."

"One way to revitalize these languages is to teach them as second languages. For smaller languages, such as Tlingit, Kutenai, and Haida, second language speakers make the difference between survival and extinction."

Ricento, professor and Chair of the English as an Additional Language program in the Faculty of Education, has organized a conference to highlight research on Aboriginal languages in Canada. In particular, the full day program will consider the integration of Aboriginal students in urban educational settings in Canada.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/april20-2011/preservingpast

 

Textbooks for Tanzanian Masters in Public Health Program

[2012-04-19]  Wolters Kluwer has donated 25 copies of an internationally recognized book on community health to the Masters in Public Health (MPH) Program, taught by University of Calgary faculty at the Bugando University of Clinical Health Sciences (BUCHS) in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Dr. Robinson Vollman, an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine, is one of the editors of the book (along with Elizabeth T. Anderson), titled, ‘Canadian Community as Partner: Theory & Multidisciplinary Practice.’ Several members of the Institute for Public Health and Department of Community Health Sciences are also contributors to book chapters.

“I was so impressed last year by the value that the students placed on this book as a reference for their future work that I could not go back without copies for this year’s class,” said Dr. Wilfreda Thurston, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences and member of the Institute for Public Health. “The students generally cannot afford texts,” said Dr. Jennifer Hatfield, Director of the MPH partnership. “We were very appreciative of the generosity of Wolters Kluwer, and Mr. Dan Renaud who represented the company.”

To find out more about the Masters in Public Heath Program, visit: http://www.ucalgary.ca/ghealth/projects/TZA_MPH

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/WoltersKluwer

 

Salt levels in fast food vary significantly between countries

[2012-04-16]  Salt levels vary significantly in the fast foods sold by six major companies in various developed countries, which suggests that technical issues, often cited as barriers to salt reduction initiatives, are not the issue, says a study in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

An international team of researchers, including Dr. Norm Campbell of the Faculty of Medicine, looked at data on the salt content of 2,124 food items in seven product categories from six companies. "We saw marked variability in the reported salt content of products provided by major transnational fast food companies," says Campbell, one of the coauthors.

"Canadian companies indicate they have been working to reduce sodium, but the high sodium in these foods indicates voluntary efforts aren't working," says Campbell. "These high levels indicate failure of the current government approach that leaves salt reduction solely in the hands of industry. Salt reduction programs need to guide industry and oversee it with targets and timelines for foods, monitoring and evaluation, and stronger regulatory measures if the structured voluntary efforts are not effective."

The authors say this is an opportunity for widespread reformulation of products to contain lower levels of salt, a change that could be introduced gradually over several years to minimize consumer backlash. "Decreasing salt in fast foods would appear to be technically feasible and is likely to produce important gains in population health — the mean salt levels of fast foods are high, and these foods are eaten often," they conclude.

Link to Faculty of Medicine story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/campbellsodium

Link to UToday story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/april17-2011/saltstudy

Link to National Post story
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/16/canadas-fast-food-among-the-world-saltiest-study/

Link to Fox News story
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/17/fast-food-salt-content-varies-by-country-study-says/

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/05/10/beware-hidden-fast-food-salt-traps/

Link to FoodStuff story
http://www.foodstuffsa.co.za/index.php/news-stuff/health-and-nutrition-stuff/1980-whats-in-your-whopper-salt-in-fast-food-varies-greatly-between-countries

 

Carolyn Emery : Body checking to end for peewee hockey

[2012-03-30] Starting next season, Hockey Calgary will no longer allow hitting at the peewee level, and plans to expand the ban to include non-elite bantam and midget athletes in the years ahead.

Public input provided through a survey that garnered 3,500 responses indicated that a "slight margin" favoured removing hitting from the peewee game, Millar said.

Much debate has swirled around the topic since a study was published last year by University of Calgary researcher Dr. Carolyn Emery that found a three-fold increase in risk of injury and four-fold increase in concussion among peewee players that hit (in Alberta), when compared with those that do not (in Quebec).

Link to MetroNews story
http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/28726/body-checking-to-end-for-peewee-hockey/

 

At distracted driving forum, a focus on danger beyond '2 seconds' 

[2012-03-30] 

In a story on the National Transportation Safety Board all-day forum to review restriction of digital devices in cars, the experts hightlight the "precious few seconds it takes to go from an attentive driver to a distracted one."

Jeff Caird, University of Calgary, comments in the artilce that driver distraction is a growing contributor to traffic fatalities.

Link to CNN story
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/28/us/distracted-driving-dangers/index.html

 

Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn named inaugural Roy and Vi Baay Chair in Kidney Research

[2012-03-27]  Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn has been appointed the inaugural Roy and Vi Baay Chair in Kidney Research – the only research chair in kidney disease of its kind in Canada. An associate professor in the departments of medicine and community health sciences, Hemmelgarn is a kidney specialist, internationally recognized for her research in health services delivery for the care of patients with chronic kidney disease.

While continuing her own investigations, Hemmelgarn plans to use her new position to help coordinate research activities in the nephrology research group with the ultimate goal of making the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine a world class facility for kidney disease research, diagnosis and care. Hemmelgarn will hold the chair for a five-year term.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/hemmelgarn2012

 

A second chance

[2012-03-27]  From 2006 to 2010, the number of women serving prison sentences climbed by 18 per cent, and although women are less likely to re-offend than men, recidivism—a return to incarceration—does occur. For those who do manage to break the cycle and make it back into mainstream society, there are constant challenges such as lack of adequate housing, employment opportunities, reuniting with their children and establishing healthy social relationships.

Barbara Pickering, a graduate student in the Faculty of Education, believes there is a way to support formerly incarcerated women, and to encourage the public to be more accepting of them. And that, she says will lead to less recidivism. She developed her project when she connected with five women who had been recently released from prison. They were part of a group working with Gayle Rutherford from the Faculty of Nursing and the Faculty of Social Work's Christine Walsh, who were examining gaps in services for these women.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/march27-2012/chance

Link to Calgary Herald story
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/calgary/neighbours/6432387/story.html

 

Major leader in HQCA report

[2012-03-06] Ward Flemons was a major leader in the recent report "Review of the Quality of Care and Safety of Patients Requiring Access to Emergency Department Care and Cancer Surgery and the Role and Process of Physician Advocacy" issued by the Health Quality Council of Alberta

To view the news release, backgrounder, executive summary and full report, visit the HQCA website: http://www.hqca.ca/

 

Tulita, NWT, students get close-up look at vet care

[2012-03-03]  Students across the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories had the chance to be veterinary assistants when a group from the University of Calgary visited several communities.

The mobile vet unit comes once a year to provide services the communities don't have, and for two days students at Chief Albert Wright school in Tulita got to watch veterinary students perform surgery, and student volunteers with the clinic get help out with things from vaccinations to post surgery care.

Clinic organizers hope this kind of hands-on lesson will get the kids interested and excited about caring for the animals in their community. The program's creator, Dr. Susan Kutz, hopes the experience will lead to improved care of animals in the north. "The kids are the future and they go home and talk with their parents," she said.

Link to CBC News story
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2012/03/02/north-tulita-vet-visit.html

 

How to prevent high blood pressure

[2012-03]  Medical professionals urge that everyone, especially women, pay attention to their blood pressure, which is the measurement of the force of blood against the blood vessel walls. An optimal reading is around 120 mm Hg (millimetres of mercury) over 80 mm Hg. The top number (systolic) represents the pressure when your heart contracts and the bottom number (diastolic) measures the pressure when the heart relaxes. Norm Campbell, a University of Calgary professor of medicine and member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, stresses that your readings don't actually have to hit the 140 over 90 hypertension reading for you to be at risk of potential health problems. "Just an increase from your normal blood pressure damages the blood vessels." And this increase can lead to heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, kidney failure, loss of vision and even dementia and Alzheimer's.

Link to full story in Today's Parent
http://www.todaysparent.com/health/health-a-to-z/how-to-prevent-high-blood-pressure

 

Comment on sleeping pill use

[2012-02-28] In a story by CBC News on a US study that suggests people who take certain prescription sleeping pills even once in a while may be up to five times more susceptible to early death, Dr. Charles Samuels, medical director of the Centre for Sleep & Human Performance in Calgary, was contacted for comments. Author of guidelines for family doctors on use of sleeping pills, he considers the drugs to be overprescribed, but worries the paper will undermine their appropriate use.

"To globally state that these drugs are killing people is quite frankly irresponsible," Samuels said.

Link to CBC story
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/02/28/sleeping-pills.html

 

The ins and outs of One Health

[2012-02-24] About 70 people from different disciplines across the province gathered at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in January to talk about how to share information across disciplines in One Health initiatives. The one day event, entitled Alberta 'One Health' Surveillance Collaboration Meeting, was organized in part by Sylvia Checkley, an assistant professor in Ecosystem and Public Health at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

She says the meeting brought together dozens of representatives from diverse government ministries including health, environment and agriculture as well as academics and various private consultants that work in different areas to talk about One Health surveillance. "There are great difficulties in sharing data due to confidentiality and people have concerns about other jurisdictions seeing their data," Checkley says. "We talked about these issues and tried to develop a plan on how to move forward." Small group discussions helped participants share ideas, network and develop strategies for the future.

The meeting gave participants a better understanding of current surveillance initiatives as well as identifying opportunities and challenges for developing information sharing principles.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/february24-2012/conference/

 

Going down under to get to the bottom of Johne's disease

[2012-02-22] Faculty and graduate students from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine presented at the 12th International Colloquium on Paratuberculosis in Sydney in early February, a conference that brought together 300 leading researchers into the study and control of Johne's disease.

The bacteria, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, or MAP, is responsible for Johne's disease in cattle which causes diarrhea and emaciation. Currently there is no cure or effective vaccine and the disease has a large economic impact on cattle and sheep farms all over the world. MAP is also thought to be involved in Crohn's disease in humans.

The conference was attended by international researchers, livestock industry representatives, veterinarians and public health authorities.

Epidemiologist Herman Barkema—who collaborates with colleagues in the Faculty of Medicine on Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)—was invited to represent Canada during a forum discussion about disease control programs worldwide.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/february22-2012/conference

Link to the Western Producer story
http://www.producer.com/2012/03/alberta-groups-keep-eye-on-johnes-disease%E2%80%A9/

 

The key to an imprisoned mind

[2012-02-09] It's been almost a decade since Dr. Samuel Wiebe helped change the way doctors around the world treat people with temporal lobe epilepsy. His successful clinical trial at the turn of the century proved that surgery can actually cure some patients, releasing them from a lifetime of drugs and treatment.

"The brain is extremely eloquent," explains Dr. Samuel Wiebe, a neurologist at the Faculty of Medicine and member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI). "Whether it's smell or taste or vision, hearing things or feeling something in your hand or foot−those are all governed by different areas of the brain. So it's extremely important to pay attention to the symptoms of a seizure because that tells us which part of the brain is affected.

Epilepsy is produced by abnormal electrical discharges in areas of the brain," says Wiebe, who is also the Director of HBI's Clinical Research Unit. "If we can find the area where this is occurring and safely remove it, then we cure the disease."

Link to full story in UCalgary Medicine magazine
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/winter-2012/article/key-imprisoned-mind

 

Sheesha smoking “fashionable” for Qatari girls 

[2012-02-07]  Sheesha smoking is becoming increasing fashionable amongst young Qatari women as they look for alternatives to smoking cigarettes, a new study has found. Smoking, traditionally considered culturally taboo and socially unacceptable by older women in the Gulf state, is becoming more socially acceptable amongst younger national women, according a poll on lifestyle and health choices by the University of Calgary-Qatar.

Socio-cultural factors play a key role in Qatari women's decisions to participate in healthy lifestyles choices, said the study. "Our study highlighted the importance of considering cultural, social and religious factors when developing strategies to promote healthy lifestyle in Qatar. Any educational, health promotion and disease prevention programs developed without considering these factors are likely to be less effective," Dr. Tam Truong Donnelly of the University of Calgary-Qatar, said in a statement.

Link to online story:
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/sheesha-smoking-fashionable-for-qatari-girls-study-443989.html

 

From livestock to children in Bangladesh

[2010-02-07] David Hall, an associate professor in the Department of Ecosystem and Public Health in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine will present on a Bangladeshi project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Vancouver this month. Hall's paper—Increased Food Security in Bangladesh Using a One Health and Integrated Agriculture Approach—reports on a project in the north of the impoverished country.

"We have been working with villagers with dairy cattle and poultry and we've improved the production of the animals and livestock," says Hall. "We've helped to increase household incomes which has allowed them to purchase goods they would not normally purchase, including more vegetables and a higher amount of protein and energy dense foods. So their health has improved."

The veterinary concerns addressed, Hall and his colleagues started working with other projects and NGOs to look at other ways to improve the health of the people in the village. "We think there are opportunities to ask: What about the health of the children? Are they getting vaccinated? Are they getting educated the way they should?" Hall says. "It's become a much larger approach to how you address food security." He says the collaborations should benefit everybody: "A principal of One Health is transdisciplinarity—bringing disciplines together to generate new ideas."

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/february7-2012/one-health/

 

Evolving leadership - Faculty take students beyond the stereotypes

[2012-02-06] Just a couple of generations ago—as his family was living in seemingly endless political and economic poverty in East Africa—no one would have foreseen that Dr. Aleem Bharwani would become a specialist in internal medicine, study leadership and public policy at Harvard and become a clinical assistant professor in the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine.

But all those decades ago, with the support of the Aga Khan Development Network providing health care, housing, education and economic opportunities, Bharwani's parents were able to better their situation and eventually immigrate to Canada, where their son was born. "My family and I were clear beneficiaries of those who prioritize generational public service," says Bharwani, who as a result of his family's experience views leadership to be a very personal practice.

"Every action, every inaction, every word, every thought ought to be an act of leadership," says Bharwani. "Voting can be an act of leadership. So can mentorship, education, or any sharing of ideas, problems or opportunities. Anything we do to enhance our generational activities is, in my opinion, an act of leadership."

Too often, he says, people have too narrow a view of who is a leader, thinking only of CEOs, deans or politicians. "But I think some of the greatest leaders are friends, peers, parents, teachers, students and those great mentors who everyone has had growing up who make you think differently about world issues," says Bharwani.

Link to UC story
http://www.umag.ca/issue/winter-2012/article/evolving-leadership

 

Alberta Health Services Strategic Clinical Networks senior leadership appointment

[2012-02-02] Dr. Tom Noseworthy has been appointed Associate Chief Medical Officer, Strategic Clinical Networks and Clinical Care Pathways, Alberta Health Services. Strategic Clinical Networks are collaborative clinical strategy groups with a mandate to develop clinical strategies that achieve improvement in patient outcomes, experience, improved access to health care, and sustainability of our health care system.

A critical care physician and graduate of the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Noseworthy is the former head of the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, and former Advisor to the Provost and the Vice-President (Research) on Public Health. He has a keen interest in public health and policy. His research interests include: strengthening the publicly funded health system; improving the transfer of health information through electronic communications; and making health care more accessible by minimizing waiting times.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/NoseworthySCN

Link to Edmonton Journal story
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Major+surgery+health+care/6189623/story.html

 

Faculty of Medicine Distinguished Awards wall

[2012-02-02] The Faculty of Medicine unveiled its Distinguished Awards wall, honouring 39 current and former faculty members, with room for more to come. The wall recognizes those who have won prestigious national and international awards since the founding of the Faculty of Medicine, including: the Order of Canada, Royal Society of Canada Fellowship, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences Fellowship, Gairdner Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Health Researcher of the Year, and several other major awards.

"It is important to me that we show our pride and appreciation for the hard work, initiative, service to society, and leadership our members demonstrate," said Dean Feasby. "Those whom we celebrate today are role models for the students and young academics whom we hope will emulate their examples. "

Distinguished Awards wall honourees who are Institute members:

• John Conly
• Cy Frank
• Thomas Noseworthy
• William Ghali
• Sam Wiebe

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/DistinguishedAwards

 

Study investigates EMS response times and mortality rates

[2012-01-31] A common principle in modern EMS systems is that a faster response saves lives and many systems have translated this into responding to 911 calls within eight minutes, but new research from the Faculty of Medicine suggests there is little difference in mortality associated with an eight-minute response time policy.

The study looked at more than 7,500 life-threatening emergency calls in 2006. “We failed to detect a statistically significant difference in mortality between those patients that received a response time of less than eight minutes, versus those who were responded to in over eight minutes,” says Ian Blanchard, lead author of the study. Blanchard says the study does not suggest that a rapid response is not important for some patients. When the study team looked at patients who were admitted to the hospital, for example, there appeared to be a beneficial effect to an eight minute response time.

“A health-care system can have world-class hospital facilities and staff, but if patients are not delivered in a condition that is amenable to survival, then the full potential of in-hospital care will not be realized,” says Dr. Christopher Doig, a critical care physician, is principle investigator of the study and head of the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine. “In order to implement policies that minimize the risk for the public and EMS providers and to maximize the potential for survival of patients, more research needs to be done.”

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/emsdoigblanchard
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/february1-2012/response

Link to Calgary Herald story
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Study+questions+response+times/6082680/story.html

Link to Calgary Sun story
http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/01/31/study-suggests-minutes-dont-make-much-difference-in-ems-saving-lives

Link to Metro News story
http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/local/article/1085771--ems-response-times-not-a-quick-fix-study

 

Heal thyself

[2012-01-27] Two University of Calgary researchers were honoured to accept an invitation to share their work on physician wellness at Stanford University−one of the top medical schools in the world. Dr. Jane Lemaire and Jean Wallace, PhD, spoke at Stanford on January 17th about their research on the critical subject.

“When physicians suffer from poor physical, emotional, or mental health, the health system is not operating at an optimal level” says Dr. Lemaire, a clinical professor in the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Medicine. Physician wellness is a very important issue, however health care workers rarely acknowledge it. Lemaire says physicians are typically not good at taking care of themselves and the stresses of their job put them at risk of becoming sick, which has the potential to impact their personal lives and the quality of patient care. 

Wallace, a sociology professor in the arts faculty and adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine, says a comprehensive understanding of the factors affecting physician wellness is important and will better position health care systems to introduce changes that will benefit physicians, and subsequently patients. “Stanford Medical Centre is working towards introducing a physician wellness program and I hope that through sharing our experiences we can contribute to the success of their undertaking,” says Wallace, who is also a member of the university’s Institute for Public Health and co-lead for Wellness at the W21C Research and Innovation Centre.

Link to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/lemairewallacestanford
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/january31-2012/wellness%20

 

2011 CIHR-CMAJ Top Achievements in Health Research Award 

[2012-01-23] The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) celebrated the work of exceptional researchers when they announced the six recipients of the 2011 CIHR-CMAJ Top Achievements in Health Research Awards on Jan 23. Two Institute members were included in the recipients list.

Dr. Michael Hill and colleagues for the Calgary Stroke Program that has changed the face of stroke care by thoroughly integrating research and clinical care. Dr. Hill's team has changed the face of stroke care. The Calgary Stroke Program, through its multidisciplinary clinical research group, has guided practice changes in Canada and beyond. A defining feature of the program is that research and clinical care are thoroughly integrated. Dr. Hill is the Associate Dean of Clinical Research in the Faculty of Medicine and member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.

 Dr. David Johnson of the Department of Paediatrics and Physiology & Pharmacology was part of Terry Klassen's team who won for improving health outcomes of acutely ill and injured children visiting pediatric emergency departments. Dr. Johnson is also a member of the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/january23-2012/health-awards

 

Experts highlight pregnancy risks and complications for women as they age

[2012-01-17] Featured in the January edition of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada is an article which suggests that delayed child-bearing is associated with an increased risk of infertility, pregnancy complications, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

“While most women have some awareness of the “biological clock” and realize that conception difficulties increase with age, many are unaware of the limitations of fertility treatments and of the impact of maternal age on pregnancy outcome,” said Dr. Jo-Ann Johnson, principal co-author of the guideline and professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine. 
“This document reviews the obstetric and medical risks of delayed child-bearing, and provides specific practice guidelines for maternity care providers to help optimize maternal and obstetric outcome in this growing population”.

“While a short delay in age at parenting may pose little absolute risk for the individual woman, shifts in population distribution curves towards later child-bearing affect large numbers of women, which has important implications for the health-care system,” added Suzanne Tough, PhD, principal co-author of the guideline and professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/pregnancy_risks_older_women

 

Study offer hopes for bowel ailment sufferers

[2012-01-12] University of Calgary faculty of medicine gastrointestinal specialist Dr. Gil Kaplan, an Alberta Innovates health investigator, was part of a team that published a study this month in the journal Gastroenterology exploring the link between genetics, environmental factors such as diet and pollution, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Others authors who are Institute members: Doreen Rabi, William Ghali, Herman Barkema.

The researchers combed through thousands of international research reports from the past 50 years. They found that not only are cases of the disease on the rise, Canada has one of the highest rates in the world.

The disease is more predominant in industrialized nations, including the U.S. and United Kingdom, and rates are now climbing in India and China, Kaplan said. "The fascinating part about that is it starts to give us some clues about the environmental risk factors that might increase the risk of developing these diseases," he said.

Link to Calgary Herald story
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Study+offers+hope+bowel+ailment+sufferers/5983281/story.html

Link to MD News story
http://www.mdnews.com/news/hd/2012_03/hd_660519

Link to QR77 News story
http://www.qr77.com/News/Local/Story.aspx?ID=1637869

Link to Ottawa Sun story
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/12/cleaner-communities-more-bowel-problems-researcher

 

Compelling Calgarian

[2012-01-06] The Calgary Herald's annual feature of 20 Compelling Calgarians celebrates people who are making a difference in Calgary. Nominees are put forward to a selection committee by Calgary Herald writers.

Released on New Year's Day, the feature highlighted the remarkable achievements of three University of Calgary faculty, two distinguished alumni and a former Dinos track and field star when it was .

Dr. David Johnson, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine and a pediatric emergency physician at the Alberta Children's Hospital, was recognized for heading up a groundbreaking research initiative that investigates how care is provided to patients, and whether it is the right type of care for children.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/january6-2012/compelling

Link to Johnson feature
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Doctor+writing+prescription+better+medical+care/5933898/story.html

 

Children's Cottage Society top charity

[2011-12-16] The Children's Cottage Society (CCS)—which began with a proposal by a Faculty of Nursing associate professor—is one of Canada's top charities, according to Charity Intelligence Canada, a company that researches and analyzes charities to help donors make their giving decisions. "This is wonderful news especially because the society is celebrating 25 years since the opening of its crisis nursery," says Sandra Reilly, who wrote the original proposal, secured the funding for the initiative and serves on the CCS board member and chairs the Evaluation Committee.

CCS offers a wide range of programs for parents and children in Calgary through a network of crisis, respite, and support services. Reilly says that the key to CCS's success comes from one simple health belief. "Supporting family life advances health promotion. That is, providing social support to families in crisis or in need of respite or support is the most effective and efficient method to improving the quality of life—and health—in the community."

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/december16-2011/charity

 

Building capacity in Northern Alberta

[2011-11-25] A new Master of Social Work program was unveiled in Northern Alberta. The advanced Social Work Degree will be based at Grande Prairie Regional College and will be delivered primarily through classroom and face-to-face instruction. Jackie Sieppert, dean of the Faculty of Social Work, says “we understand that with a province as vast as Alberta, it is vital for us to search for unique ways to deliver programs to our students. And as an added incentive, we know that the local communities will benefit as our graduates from this program will likely stay in locations where they already live and contribute.”

The program is being delivered with funding from the Alberta Government’s Health Workforce Action Plan, which aims to improve health services to better meet the needs of rural and northern Albertans.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/november25-2011/social_work

 

Multiculturalism reaches middle age

[2011-11-07] On the 40th anniversary of the introduction of Canada’s Multiculturalism Policy, Tom Ricento—whose research focuses on the cultural and linguistic barriers faced by refugees as they adjust to their new lives in Calgary—says the federal government hasn’t lived up to its promises on language.

“No federal support has been provided for bilingual education for allophone (languages other than French or English) speakers,” says Ricento, chair of the English as an Additional Language program in the education faculty. “The government has not paid proper attention to the 46 per cent of the population who belong to ethnic groups not of English or French origin.”

He says the Multiculturalism Act of 1971 was an attempt to balance the rights of non-Anglophone and non-Francophone Canadians, while the 1988 act focuses on aboriginal peoples and the equality of all Canadians regardless of race, origin, or color. While these pieces of legislation are commendable, Ricento says they have resulted in an imbalance. “Language policy continues to be dominated by the needs of official language minorities, and to a lesser degree, with the needs of Aboriginal language communities.” Ricento believes this is to the detriment of not only non-English non-French immigrants but also to the nation.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/november7-2011/multiculturalism

 

Aboriginal youth get medical glimpse

[2011-11-01] Nearly 100 junior high and high school Aboriginal youth from Siksika, Morley, Canmore, Exshaw, and Kainai, Alberta, participated in health-related activities at the University of Calgary on October 31, 2011, as part of an Operation Minerva event. While Operation Minerva mainly focuses on bringing young women and female science mentors together, this particular event was open to female and male Aboriginal youth thanks to the encouragement of several educators.

Dr. Lindsay Crowshoe and Dr. E. Erasmus, both Aboriginal, represnted the Faculty of Medicine in the last session of the day, which was a career panel.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/letstalkscience

 

Avenue Magazine's Top 40

[2011-10-28] More than half of Avenue Magazine's annual Top 40 Under 40 have ties to campus, continuing the university's strong showing on the popular list and highlighting the vital contributions made by the campus community.

Dr. Gil Kaplan, MD'00, is one of the faculty members alumni and renowned researchers in the top 40. Kaplan is an assistant professor in the departments of medicine and community health sciences and an innovative gastroenterologist. He gives expertise and time to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada among others.

"The unique success of the Faculty of Medicine is the people," says Kaplan. "I can easily name 40 other individuals working at the University of Calgary who deserved this distinction. As a representative of my university, I will work even harder to strive towards excellence in my clinical practice, research, and teaching."

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/october28-2011/movers_shakers

 

Osteoarthritis

[2011-10-25] Dr. Cy Frank, professor of surgery at the University of Calgary and co-leader of the Alberta Innovates Osteoarthritis Team gives an interveiw on CBC radio's HomeStretch in advance of the Osteoarthritis Symposium Oct 26, 2011 at the Rosza Centre.

Link to CBC interview
http://www.cbc.ca/homestretch/episode/2011/10/25/osteoarthritis/

 

A novel APPROACH

[2011-10-18] Thanks to a unique registry, patients can take solace in knowing they're contributing to the advancement of cardiac care as we know it.

"APPROACH (Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease) is a cardiovascular database that goes back to 1995, and it's unique because there has been a complete capture of every person having invasive cardiac procedures in the province since 1995 with complete follow of their outcomes after having the procedure." Dr. William Ghali, APPROACH's director of research, has been with the team shortly after the project began and knows just how powerful a tool the database is.

"Having this data gives us an ability to study cardiac care, study what works and what doesn't, look at trends in quality of care, look at new technologies as they get taken up in cardiac care, and we then see the outcomes from that." The data also captures the healthcare experience for cardiac patients by keeping track of which patients underwent invasive procedures and which did not. "Studying those who did not have an invasive procedure is really just as helpful as studying those who did as we can then figure out why this happened; perhaps there were social factors involved or limited access," explains Ghali.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/fall-2011/article/novel-approach

 

Straight to the heart

[2011-10-18] In attempts to help curb the high rates of sudden cardiac arrest, a new study, lead by one of the Faculty of Medicine's own, has been launched to discover whether a small, implantable device can help.

While it may only be the size of a stop-watch, Medtronic's implantable cardioverter defribrillator, also known as an ICD, has a lot riding on it. In a new international study, the REFINE ICD trial, lead by Faculty of Medicine's Dr. Derek Exner, it is hoped to determine if ICDs can prevent death caused by heart rhythm problems in patients who have survived a heart attack. The study is based on Exner's past research in the REFINE study, where a new method was developed that identified patients at high risk for serious heart rhythm problems following a heart attack.

"Sudden death is a major cause of death in Canada and around the world," says Exner. "This study may change how we manage patients after a heart attack and has the potential to save thousands of lives each and every year."

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/fall-2011/article/straight-heart

 

W21C - A Royal Occassion

[2011-10-18] On July 7th Their Royal Highnesses visited the Facultyof Medicine's Ward of the 21st Century (W21C) Research and Innovation Centre−a 'living laboratory' and test site for cutting edge hospital design, new approaches to health care delivery and innovative medical technologies. The University of Calgary was the only Canadian university on the couple's first official international tour.

A recap of their visit is presented in the Fall 2011 UCalgary Medicine magazine:
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/fall-2011/article/royal-occasion

 

Researchers named Canadian Research Chairs

[2011-10-13] Eight UCalgary researchers were recently named Canadian Research Chairs and were awarded new or renewed funding of a collective $8.2 million for research initiatives.

"Our government is investing in the people and ideas that will keep Canada at the forefront of the global economy," said Minister Goodyear. "The Canada Research Chairs Program is helping to develop, attract and retain the world's top researchers here in our country."

Of the University of Calgary's four new Canada Research Chairs, three are Institute members:

Dr. Derek Exner: Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Clinical Trials
Dr. Nathalie Jette: Canada Research Chair in Population Health
Charlene Elliott, PhD: Canadian Research Chair in Food Marketing, Policy and Children's Health

A full list of the chairholders is available on the Canada Research Chairs website: http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/.
Details on the CFI's funding for research infrastructure associated with the new Chair awards are available on the CFI website: http://www.innovation.ca/en/news?news_id=268.

Links to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/canadianresearchchair
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/october14-2011/research

 

Faculty helping Haiti

[2011-10-13] The Faculty of Medicine has been playing a key role in helping Haiti improve the quality of health care it delivers to its citizens, by working with them as they strive to improve their medical education programs.

Dr. Genevieve Poitevien, Dean of the University of Quisqueya's Faculty of Health Sciences, visited the Faculty on October 5 to discuss such efforts. While many goals and strategies have been put into place, one of them involved dividing the Faculty of Health Sciences into not just a medical school, but to offer other health-related programs such as masters and PhD programs, as well as nurse practitioner programs. With such scarce resources in Haiti, Poitevien says they needed to expand the base of care, as well as create programs that would allow them to keep medical candidates that didn't necessarily match to medical school.

Jennifer Hatfield, PhD, Associate Dean of Global Health and International Partnerships, in the Faculty of Medicine, emphasizes the importance of creating medical education that is community focused and culturally relevant. Hatfield says it's important to look at previous similar partnerships with Laos, as the faculty moves forward to work with Haiti.

Links to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/ucalgaryhaiti
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/october17-2011/haiti

 

Sexual Assault Resistance Education (S.A.R.E) for University Women

[2011-10-12] More than one in six women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes, most by men they know. The risk of sexual assault by men is greatest for girls and women between the ages of 14 and 24 making this a critical time for intervention. Sexual assault has many immediate and long-term negative consequences for victims. Even a small increase in the ability of women to resist sexual assault will result in a substantial improvement in the mental and physical health of women. Only men can prevent sexual assault. However, women’s forceful verbal and physical resistance have been shown to reduce the severity of the sexual assault experienced and the likelihood of it being completed.

Dr. Wilfreda Thurston of the Department of Community Health Sciences is currently involved in a cross- province randomized controlled trial in which almost 2000 women on three campuses will be randomly assigned to receive the 12 hour Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act Sexual Assault Resistance Education program or a brief (15 minute) intervention involving exposure to brochures touching on sexual assault currently available on the campus. This study will establish whether the demonstrated short term effectiveness of these rape resistance interventions extends to longer periods and determine whether the program can reduce the one year incidence of completed sexual assault among women attending Canadian universities. The results will also be used to indicate how long the effects of the program last and will indicate at which point in time refresher sessions may be necessary.

Links to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/thurstonstudy
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/october18-2011/assault

 

Researcher wins prestigious prize

[2011-09-27] Dr. Marja Verhoef, Canada's only research chair in complementary medicine, has been awarded the $250,000 Dr. Rogers Prize for Excellence in Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Verhoef has been a driving force behind the establishment of several Canadian networks promoting and enabling partnerships among those interested in complementary, alternative and integrative medicine.

The most well-known of these is the IN-CAM network, a virtual organization sparking collaboration among Verhoef and researchers and practitioners in Canada, North America and around the world.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/september27-2011/award

 

'Healthy Animals, Healthy Canada'

[2011-09-22] Animal health has a direct impact on the health of Canadians, the economy and the environment. The majority of emerging diseases in humans have their origin in the animal kingdom and economic losses related to animal health events include reduced trade flows, lost incomes for farm families and fewer jobs in agricultural industries.

A new report by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) presents a host of recommendations for improving risk assessment and best practices to mitigate the negative impacts of animal health events on Canadian society.

"The well-being of animals and humans and the environment in which we live are linked in many ways," said Alastair Cribb, dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine who chaired the expert panel that produced the report titled Healthy Animals, Healthy Canada. "These links have become very apparent over the last decade as countries around the world have experienced, for example, SARS, BSE and H1N1. After examining the evidence, the panel determined that although animal health risk assessment inCanadais built on a solid foundation of knowledge and expertise, risk assessment practices can be enhanced by taking a more integrated approach."

To better understand these evolving 21st century challenges, CCA brought together 12 experts to discuss how Canada can remain at the forefront of animal health risk assessment practices, therefore protecting the health of animals, people, the environment, and economy. Associate professor of veterinary medicine David C. Hall was also a member of the panel.

For more information, or to download a free copy of the report in English or French, visit www.scienceadvice.ca/en/animal-health.aspx

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/september22-2011/animal_health

 

A place to call their own

[2011 09-13] A handful of people go through their paces under the watchful eye of personal trainers on any typical morning at the Thrive Centre in the kinesiology faculty. It looks like any other gym in the city, with one important difference—everyone here is either a cancer patient or survivor and they're all working on reducing their chances of a recurrence.

"Exercise is one of the most important things that a cancer patient or survivor can do—emotionally and physically—to regain their health and to keep their health in the future," says Nicole Culos-Reed, a kinesiology researcher and director of the Thrive Centre.

The Thrive Centre was made possible in part through funds provided by Dr. Christine Friedenreich and The Alberta Cancer Foundation. The Imperial Oil Foundation donated $250,000 to the Alberta Cancer Foundation, specifically for the Molecular Cancer Epidemiology Research Program. Those funds were used to outfit the Thrive Centre and Culos-Reed's lab in the Faculty of Kinesiology with exercise equipment.

For more information visit: www.kin.ucalgary.ca/healthandwellnesslab/Site/Free_Fitness_Centre.html

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/september13-2011/THRIVE

 

School nutrition programs failing Canadian children

[2011-09-01] Over the past decade or so, school-based nutrition programs have blossomed across the country, especially as concerns have risen regarding childhood obesity and the important role a healthy diet plays in the lives of children and teenagers. But as these programs have proliferated, their original intent - to combat issues of child hunger - has fallen to the wayside.

In an article for the Institute for Research on Public Policy, Dr. Lynn McIntyre, a professor at the University of Calgary, said these nutrition programs have failed to address child hunger as a result of "food insecurity," a phenomenon stemming from not knowing where one's next meal will come from. Although many Canadians would identify food insecurity as a major problem in developing countries, McIntyre says the problem is also applicable toCanada- the affected families just don't talk about it.

Dr. McIntyre spoke to CBC News about the ongoing issues surrounding food insecurity in Canadian schools.

Link to CBC story
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/08/29/f-food-insecurity.html

 

Do no harm

[2011-08-25] Three separate research teams at UCalgary are investigating the chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) theory and how it relates to multiple sclerosis–from three separate angles. Institute of Public Health member Luanne Metz is working on one study:

The Alberta Multiple Sclerosis Initiative (TAMSI) aims to gather information from as many MS patients in Alberta as possible to assess the safety of CCSVI treatments patients are undergoing outside of Canada. "The main thing is to describe what people are experiencing after they have had some form of CCSVI treatment compared to those that have not. We want to know who is going for it, how many are going for it and what are they having done," says Dr. Luanne Metz, a professor in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences and a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute. The study will be conducted entirely online, and patients will be asked to complete a series of questionnaires over a two year period.

"It's not simply a matter of looking at what's wrong or right with CCSVI treatments, it's about comparing people that have had an angioplasty to people that have had stents put in; or comparing people that are taking Aspirin or anti-coagulants afterward compared to people that don't," says Metz. "We need to look at all of those factors and see what role they play in the safety issues."

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/summer-2011/article/do-no-harm

 

'Working out' the symptoms of osteoarthritis

[2011-08-25] Dr. John Esdaile recently joined the Faculty of Medicine. His passion for helping those who suffer from osteoarthritis has led him to build a partnership betweenAlbertaand BC called the Arthritis Research Centre of Canada. Focused on patient and results-based research, Esdaille hopes to alleviate some of the pressures for those who suffer from osteoarthritis, the most common type of arthritis, by giving them new ways to manage their symptoms. "After a patient is diagnosed with osteoarthritis, they wonder what they can do. Chronic disease management is a really important issue to address," says Esdaille, who holds the Arthur J.E. Child Chair in Rheumatology Research at the Faculty of Medicine, the first dedicated rheumatology chair inCanada.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/research/article/working-out-symptoms-osteoarthritis

 

More family doctors on the way for Alberta

[2011-08-25] Southern Alberta is getting an injection of some much needed family doctors, thanks to the Faculty of Medicine and the latest group of residents who graduated at the end of June. A total of 51 doctors who completed their residency in family medicine are entering the workforce, the majority of which have decided to stay and work inAlberta.

"We're very proud of our residents and excited that so many are choosing to practice in Alberta," says Dr. Cathy MacLean, head of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary. "We're working hard to create more interest in family medicine as a career choice for medical students and to expand our residency positions in order to train more family physicians for Calgary and southern Alberta."

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/issue/news/article/more-family-doctors-way-alberta

 

Identifying emerging trends in healthcare delivery

[2011-08-25] Switzerland is a country renowned for its innovation and was recently ranked by the World Economic Forum as the world's most competitive economy. Dr. John Conly, MD, Co-director of the Snyder Institute, and Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Calgary, personally experienced the Swiss approach to innovation. Conly, who just returned from a year's sabbatical with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland, learned firsthand how the Swiss invest in infrastructure and technology. He was impressed by its process of working with industry and engaging large-scale projects with significant investments both within Switzerland and the European Union (EU) to study various aspects of infectious and immunology diseases.

Conly is very adept at anticipating emerging trends in technology and healthcare practices. He conceived the idea behind the Ward of the 21st Century (W21C) based on building a technologically-sophisticated ward as a testing ground for new ideas and concepts in healthcare delivery. His idea was eventually refined and forwarded to various circles of Alberta Health Services and the Faculty of Medicine and evolved with strategic input and recruitment of key leadership roles in management and communication. Recognized on a global level by the past Royal visit to the University of Calgary, the W21C is a key example of conceiving a vision, executing it and providing world-leading innovations.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/conlyhealthcare

 

Seeing the future of Canadian healthcare

[2011-08-23] The federal health minister, Leona Aglukkaq, listened intently as Dr. John Conly, Ward of the 21st Century (W21C) co-founder and former head of the Department of Medicine, explained some of the exciting initiatives coming out of the state-of-the-art research and innovation facility.

The minister's tour focused on the future of healthcare, community service, and innovation in healthcare delivery and education, and involved live demonstrations of some of the W21C's key health technologies.

W21C website: http://www.w21c.org/

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/august23-2011/W21C_tour

 

Three health service projects get funding

[2011-08-18] Three researchers at the University of Calgary have received funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Partnerships for Health System Improvement (PHSI) program, which supports teams of researchers and decision makers conducting applied and policy-relevant health systems and services research that responds to the needs of health care decision makers and strengthens the Canadian health system.

• Dr. David Johnson will develop a clinical pathway acrossAlbertato help guide clinicians in caring for children with chronic and acute asthma.
• Dr. Braden Manns will evaluate the impact of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) on the care and outcome of people with diabetes.
• Dr. Tom Stelfox will develop a patient and family-centered approach for measuring and improving the quality and delivery of trauma care. These threeAlbertaprojects are co-funded by Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions.

Link to CIHR funding announcement: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/44113.html

Link to UC story
http://www.medicine.ucalgary.ca/CIHR_announcement_August2011

 

"Clean keyboard" designed to prevent spread of hospital borne infections

[2011-08-03] A group of researchers at the University of Calgaryare testing new technology that's intended to make sure patients in hospital don't get even sicker during their stay.

"People are going from a patient from wound care and then they have to enter information into the computer. They can carry the germs from that procedure onto the keyboard," says Dr. Jon Conley, Founder of the Ward of the 21st Century.

Researchers at the Ward of the 21st Century are testing a potential replacement for traditional keyboards where dangerous germs can hide. "The number one feature of it is that it's completely washable. You can submerge it in water or instantly wipe it with the product that they use in the unit and it's clean in seconds," says Jill DeGrood.

The research team has taken swabs from existing hospital keyboards and will compare those to the keys on their new product after they've been used in a clinical setting.

Link to full Global Calgary story

 

Saving the sage-grouse

[2011-08-02] Thousands of sage-grouse used to wander around the open plains of south eastern Alberta, but oil and gas development and other human activities in the last few decades have fragmented and otherwise disturbed the birds’ habitat, causing a dramatic decline in their numbers. In 2009 there were 66 males, down to 31 in 2010, and half as many again this year.

“These birds are extremely shy and they may have lived for millennia with only a few predators to deal with and great open prairies and the sage brush around them,” says Judit Smits, associate professor in the department of ecosystem and public health. But those open prairies have been fragmented with roads, oil wells, storage tanks and related activity that has compromised the birds’ habitat and food source of sage brush.

To save the sage-grouse, which is listed as an endangered species, the governments of Alberta and Montana are working with Smits and other scientists from Veterinary Medicine, EVDS and Geography at the University of Calgary to translocate female birds to Alberta from Montana where the sage-grouse population is healthy.

The “Sage-grouse Recovery Project” plans to move about 220 birds over four years, capturing females and moving them in time for breeding season in Alberta. “We hope the majority of birds are going to hang around in the Canadian area, produce their own offspring and we can slowly start rebuilding the population here with new genetic material,” says Smits. “Then we can get it stabilized at a much healthier population size.”

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/august2-2011/sagegrouse

 

Most effective treatment for prolonged childhood seizures studied

[2011-07-21] When children suffer seizures–because of epilepsy, high fever, low blood sugar or a head injury–doctors currently treat this life threatening condition with the drugs diazepam or lorazepam, yet it is not certain which drug is more effective.

Dr. David Johnson, an emergency department doctor at Alberta Children’s Hospital (ACH) and a professor in the Departments of Paediatrics and Physiology & Pharmacology at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine, is leading a study looking at which drug is safest and most effective in children.

“Children are often therapeutic drug orphans. As doctors we cannot be reliant on studies done on adults rather than children. This study seeks to provide the most definitive information possible on which drug is the most effective,” says Johnson.

The Pediatric Seizure Study will compare the medications diazepam and lorazepam in children admitted to the emergency department. Dr. James Chamberlain is the Division Chief of Emergency Medicine at Children’s National Medical Center and the study’s principal investigator, “There are insufficient data in children on which of these two medications is superior for treating ongoing seizures. This study, because it is large and patients are randomly assigned to treatment, will answer the question definitively,” he says.

“This study is a good example of the value of a strong connection between research and practice,” says Dr. Bob Sheldon, Senior Vice-President Research for Alberta Health Services. “It starts with a question of the best approach to patient care – in this case, for children experiencing a life-threatening health crisis – and the answers it yields will help shape that care for children right across the province.”

Link to UC story
http://www.medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/epilepsy_children_study_calgary

 

Parents and school-aged flu shots

[2011-07-19] Every year, thousands of Albertans miss work or school because of influenza—either they’re sick or they need to stay home to tend to someone who is. Candace Lind of the nursing faculty and Dr. Margaret Russell of the medicine faculty think a school-based flu vaccination program could reduce that downtime, and with a $100,000 grant from the M.S.I. Foundation, they will start trying to find out.

“Alberta’s strategy has tended to focus on people who are likely to have a bad outcome from the flu,” says Russell, who works in public health and preventive medicine and researches epidemiology and all aspects of vaccine preventable diseases. “But research shows we may be able to reduce the occurrence of influenza. Vaccinating school-aged children not only protects the children themselves, but may also prevent them from spreading it.”

Children already receive some vaccinations at school so adding a yearly flu shot is an attractive option. Because parents decide if (and where) their children are vaccinated, it’s essential to consider their needs and perspectives on the concept of a school-based program—an area rarely studied.

“Using focus groups, the study will target 192 parents of children five to 18 who live in rural and urban areas within 150 km of and including Calgary,” explains Lind, an RN with research interests in adolescent health promotion and school health. She describes the study, “school-based influenza vaccination in Alberta – parental perspectives,” as a wonderful partnership between academia and practice.

The pair will begin recruitment for their study in the fall. They hope results will help guide public health policy, advising decision-makers on how best to plan vaccination programs from a parental perspective.

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/july19-2011/flu_shots

 

Alberta researchers get to the heart of cardiac research

[2011-07-14] Alberta is spearheading an international study to determine if an implantable cardioverter defibrillator can prevent death from serious heart rhythm problems in those patients who’ve survived a heart attack. Heart disease is a leading cause of death in Canada and the fastest growing disease worldwide.

Dr. Derek Exner, a heart rhythm specialist, professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Ddpartments of Cardiac Science, Medicine and Community Health Sciences, leads the study, which is based on his past research (REFINE Study). Exner and colleagues developed a method to identify patients at high risk of serious heart rhythm problems after a heart attack. The Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta will be the clinical coordinating centre for the study and will gather patient data from 16 sites in Canada, the United States and Europe during an initial, two-year pilot phase.

“Sudden death is a major cause of death in Canada and around the world. Research to identify those at risk and methods to prevent death from heart rhythm problems are vital,” says Exner. “This study may change how we manage patients after a heart attack and has the potential to save thousands of lives each and every year. It is an honor to be leading such an important study.”

Links to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/Exner_clinical_trial_cardiac
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/july14-2011/cardiac_research

 

Research suggests new approach to oxygen use in infants

[2011-07-11] Researchers in the Faculty of Medicine have made progress in refining the approach to oxygen use when resuscitating preterm infants. The study, conducted by Dr. Jack Rabi and co-authors Dr. Nalini Singhal and Dr. Alberto Nettel-Aguirre, from the Department of Pediatrics and the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, discovered that titrated oxygen from an initial concentration of 100 per cent was more effective in maintaining desirable oxygen saturation levels in preterm infants, as opposed to oxygen with a fixed concentration of 100 per cent.

“While we believe that preterm babies need extra oxygen at birth, we still don’t know the best oxygen concentration to use at the start of resuscitation and we don’t know the best approach to adjusting the oxygen concentration,” Rabi says.

Approximately 600 babies are born in Alberta very prematurely at 32 weeks gestation or less. If resuscitation is necessary, oxygen is administered in a manner suitable to the individual needs of the infant - either through a face mask or through a tube placed in the trachea.

“Our study supports that very preterm babies require some additional oxygen after birth. However, given the potential dangers of excessive oxygen exposure in this population, we must be vigilant in adjusting the amount of oxygen to meet the infant’s needs,” says Rabi. “As a community, neonatologists have realized that we must treat oxygen like any other drug, understanding its risks and benefits and giving consideration to the appropriate dose.”

The study was published in Pediatrics in July.

Links to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/rabipreterm
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/july19-2011/preemie

 

Alberta hospitals target unhealthy cafeteria menus

[2011-07-08] Alberta Health Services has launched a public survey to determine if Albertans would like to see more nutritional options available in cafeterias and retail food locations.

“We really want to understand how Albertans feel about healthy eating environments in Alberta Health Services,” said Farah Bandali, director of nutrition services at AHS.

“The goal is for us to really understand what the public’s perception is on healthy eating and their readiness for us to move forward with changes.”

The survey asks whether Albertans would like to see deep-fried items removed from cafeteria menus altogether and if soft drinks should be taken out of vending machines.

“We want to live-it to lead-it, if you will,” said Bandali. “We have a lot of initiatives we do out in the community to promote health and wellness, so we really need to be an example for it internally.”

The survey was developed as part of the new healthy eating environment policy passed by the superboard last month which will also look at food served to patients in care.

Link to Calgary Herald story
http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/energy-resources/Alberta+hospitals+target+unhealthy+cafeteria+menus/5074927/story.html

 

Royal tour of the University of Calgary's Ward of the 21st Century Research and Innovation Centre

[2011-07-07] The University of Calgary's Ward of the 21st Century Research and Innovation Centre was showcased in the visit of the Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Calgary on July 7, 2011.

The W21C actually has two distinct sites. The innovation centre is on the university campus while there is a 36-bed ward in the hospital where adult internal medicine patients are treated.

“There’s no other place in the world with a living lab like this one,” said Dr. William Ghali, director of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health and co-director of the research program at W21C.

An integral part of what the Duke and Duchess will do during the royal tour is public relations for Canada. Aside from the fancy technology, a reason W21C was chosen is that it is a model for co-operation in health care and research – funding in equal parts by Ottawa, Alberta and private sector.

"It's a good showcase of what our partnerships and collaborations with our researchers, health-care professionals and industry partners have produced that are designed to not only improve patient safety and quality of care, but also have applications in other healthcare sectors," said Dr. Barry Baylis, who heads the centre with Dr. William Ghali.

“The Royal Couple were intrigued by the cutting-edge health practices and technologies being developed at our W21C Research and Innovation Centre,” said Elizabeth Cannon, President, University of Calgary, who led the Duke and Duchess through their tour of the facility. “We are honoured to be the only university on Their Royal Highnesses’ tour of Canada, and what they saw here was unique. The University of Calgary is one of Canada’s top research universities, and it's a great opportunity to show what we can do, impacting patient care and the contributions we make to our broader society.”

Visit the 2011 Royal Visit website for links to news and media coverage
http://www.ucalgary.ca/royalvisit/news+coverage

Link to W21C website
http://www.w21c.org/

 

Eviction of seniors draws fire at for-profit care

[2011-07-06] The eviction of 30 seniors from their assisted-living homes in northwest Calgary is drawing more fire from critics who say it shows that private, for-profit businesses can't be relied on for publicly funded health-care services.

Tom Noseworthy, a physician and co-director of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health, said no one should be surprised that a private company wants to make a profit.

"Frankly, this is Chartwell making a business decision to move them out and replace them with more profitable individuals," he said. "So is that bad? Well, you know, that's business."

When a public entity such as a government health-care body enters into a contract with a profit-making enterprise in what's called a public-private partnership, or P3, patient care may eventually take a back seat, Noseworthy said. "I have had experience with private-public partnerships. They have their value, they have their down sides. You get what you want now; you pay the price later."

Link to full online story
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/calgary/eviction-of-seniors-draws-fire-at-for-profit-care

 

New Joint Liver Institute created through Chinese partnership

[2011-07-04] A unique partnership between the Faculty of Medicine and Capital Medical University in Beijing, China has resulted in the creation of a new joint liver institute that will further research and improve patient care in both countries. The Capital Medical University-University of Calgary Joint Liver Institute officially opened on June 28 in Beijing with a delegation from the Faculty of Medicine on hand, as well as representatives from Capital Medical University.

The Institute specifically joins the University of Calgary Liver Unit (UCLU) with YouAn Hospital located at Capital Medical University (CMU), which is one of the largest hospitals in China dedicated to the care of those with liver disease. The Institute will facilitate collaborative research in liver disease with the goal of quickly turning it into viable treatment options for patients.

The UCLU is the largest non-transplant hepatology group in Canada with an active clinical trials program and members who have expertise in a broad spectrum of liver diseases. Dr. Sam Lee, a professor in the Department of Medicine, will coordinate UCLU activities as director of the Joint Liver Institute from the Faculty of Medicine.

A number of initiatives are already being planned between the two Universities. Dr. Lee, along with Dr. Rob Myers and Dr. Hude Quan of the Faculty of Medicine, will offer consultation to help facilitate collaborative health services research projects, and an exchange of graduate students in this area is also planned.

Links to UC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/feasbyliver
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/july14-2011/liver_institute

 

No injury spike in Bantam bodychecking

[2011-06-21] Research by Dr. Carolyn Emery and colleagues has shown that there is no difference in injury and concussion for players who are introduced to bodychecking in Bantam, when compared to players who have been bodychecking since Pee Wee.

Emery, co-chair of the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre at the Sport Medicine Centre, began by comparing injury and concussion rates in Pee Wee hockey in Alberta where bodychecking is allowed, to those in Quebec where bodychecking is not introduced until Bantam (13-14 year olds).

She found a three-fold increased risk of injury in Alberta, and a four-fold increased risk of concussion. “When we did that study, we repeatedly heard from advocates for bodychecking in Pee Wee that the injury rate in Bantam would be much higher for players without Pee Wee bodychecking experience,” says Emery, who is cross appointed with the faculties of kinesiology and medicine. “What we found is that the overall injury and concussion risk did not differ between Bantam leagues.”

The study adds to the scientific evidence supporting the delay of bodychecking in games until Bantam, says Emery. “Our research supports the findings of 14 out of 15 other studies that show a greater risk of injury in a bodychecking league compared to leagues that do not allow bodychecking.”

Read the full article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

Links toUC stories
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/injurybantom
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/june21-2011/bodychecking

 

CIPPH Profile in Faculty of Medicine's 2010-11 Research Report

[2011-06-20] The Faculty of Medicine's 2009-2010 Research Report Innovation and Technology Improving Health is now available at http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/research_report11

The profile highlights the work of Institute members William Ghali and Susan Brien, and Melanie Rock. Others – Braden Manns, Brenda Hemmelgarn, Carolyn Emery, David Hanley, Christine Friedenreich – have been highlighted in the profiles of some of the other institutes, reflecting the the dual affiliation of many of our members to both CIPPH and also to a more disciplinary institute.

 

Chronic illness and depression link found

[2011-06-14] New research from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine, shows that adults over the age of 50 with at least one chronic illness (such as migraine) are more likely to experience a major depressive episode than those living without a chronic illness. The discovery brings awareness to prevention efforts targeting older adults exhibiting symptoms of depression or chronic illnesses.

The study, which was published in the June edition of Journal of Affective Disorders, utilized data collected by Statistics Canada between May and December 2002, from the Canadian Community Health Survey – Mental Health and Wellbeing. Information was analyzed from 15,591 participants over the age of 50, while a separate analysis was done for people over 65 years of age. The study focused on ‘community dwelling’ adults, who were not living in a hospital, care facility or retirement home.

Dr. Scott Patten, professor of psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine says, “Depression can affect cognitive function, creating difficulty in adhering to treatments. It also zaps people of the energy and optimism that are so badly needed in coping with chronic illnesses. In some instances, it makes symptoms worse. For example, depression tends to magnify the experience of pain.”

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/fiestpattendepression

 

CMC funding stokes powerful energy research

[2011-06-14] Microbes that convert coal into natural gas; the formation of icy carbon dioxide-hydrates; and public perceptions of carbon capture and storage are three areas of investigation that University of Calgary researchers are pursuing to address the problem of upstream greenhouse gas emissions.

Steve Larter, Mehran Pooladi-Darvish and Edna Einsiedel are each working on innovative research projects that are receiving funding from Carbon Management Canada (CMC), a Network of Centres of Excellence that supports game-changing research to eliminate carbon emissions from the fossil energy industry.

In addition to supporting greenhouse gas-reducing innovation, CMC is also funding social science research to inform policy-makers and industry preparing to put new technologies into action.

“The big problem, especially in the Western world, is that the public doesn’t like things near them,” explains Larter. “This human side of technology deployment is one of the issues that we have to understand and address.”

Communication studies professor Dr. Edna Einsiedel is leading an investigation into stakeholder and public attitudes towards greenhouse gas-mitigating technologies. In collaboration with researchers at Ontario’s Trent University, the University of Victoria and the Pembina Institute, Einsiedel will compare views on energy technologies in four Canadian provinces.

The team hopes to find out how and why people make the judgments they do about given technologies, including hydroelectric power and wind power in Ontario, and carbon capture and storage in Alberta. People typically raise questions from “What is the purpose of this technology?” to “Who benefits?” and “How do we ensure this technology is safe?”

Einsiedel noted that public engagement is a critical part of transparency and accountability, not only in government, but also in the investment community, who must answer to shareholders and the general public.

“Understanding how public values and preferences can contribute to shaping a technology is just as important … The scientific solution is only half the answer,” Einsiedel stresses. “You might build a great mouse trap, but if nobody wants to use it, then what good is that?”

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/june14-2011/carbon_management

 

At the Interface of Culture and Medicine

[2011-06-02] It has taken more than five years but on June 1, 2011, the University of Calgary celebrated the book launch of “At the Interface of Culture and Medicine”. Co-edited by Faculty of Medicine’s Dr. Rod Crutcher, the book explores a multiplicity of sensitive issues faced when integrating culture and health care.

Crutcher said the topic was first introduced to him as a medical student, however, once in practice, he realized he, along with his colleagues were lacking in their understanding of a topic with such complexity.

“I felt there was a need for something both broader and deeper in scope,” he said.

Crutcher added that writing the book which included collaborations with medicine, education, nursing faculties and the geography department, was an exercise in humility. He said it prompted the realization that he, along with his colleagues, were still learning how to best provide care and that cultural adaptation and understanding are multi faceted and a gradual process that cannot be rushed.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/crutcher_book

 

Member elected into Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

[2011-06-01] Dr. Samuel Wiebe will be inducted into the prestigious Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) at the Annual General Meeting in Ottawa in September 2011. The CAHS recognizes individuals of great accomplishment and achievement in the academic health sciences in Canada. The Academy provides timely, informed and unbiased assessments of urgent issues affecting the health of Canadians.

Dr. Samuel Wiebe is a professor in the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences, Community Health Sciences, and Paediatrics, and is director of clinical research for the Hotchkiss Brain Institute.

Wiebe, whose areas of interest include outcomes research in clinical neurosciences, randomized neurosurgical trials, quality of life, epidemiological research and evidence based medicine, considers it a privilege to join such a distinguished group of Canadian clinical researchers. Being awarded the recognition is important to him for two main reasons. “It highlights the role of methodologically sound clinical research, particularly in epilepsy and seizure disorders. Secondly, it recognizes the importance of mentoring and of international leadership development in the neurosciences.”

Wiebe says well conducted research can change the way we practice medicine and he hopes, as a fellow of the Academy, he will be able to foster the development and the recognition of these contributions to health sciences.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/cahsmodywiebe

 

Dogs offer many benefits to community

[2011-05-05] A new study from the University of Calgary finds that dogs help their owners remain physically active year-round. Researchers surveyed 428 Calgarians identified through random sampling, and 115 of these participants indicated owning dogs. Two surveys were completed by all of 428 participants, one in the winter and one in the summer season. In both seasons, dog-owners reported more walking for recreation in their neighbourhoods than did non-owners. These results appear in the May 4 edition of BMC Public Health.

"We are reporting, for the first time, quantitative evidence showing that dog-owners tend to go against the trend of marked declines in physical activity during winter. The winter is quite harsh in Calgary yet dog walkers tend to remain active in their neighbourhoods despite snow, ice, cold and reduced daylight," says Dr. Melanie Rock, faculties of medicine and veterinary medicine, and a member of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health. "Dog walking in the neighbourhood can also help non-owners. We know that seeing others about and active encourages people to get out and walk. Further, visibility of neighbours makes people feel safer in their communities."

Link to article on BMC Public Health: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/148

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/Rock/Lail/dogwalking

 

Academic Health Center leaders discuss collaborative partnerships

[2011-04-15] The Association of Academic Health Centers' (AAHC) International Forum was held in Washington, DC, on 28-29 March 2011. The theme of the meeting, Collaborative Partnerships to Enhance Education, Science and Population Health, highlighted a series of successful international academic health center collaborations, presented the ideas of thought leaders, and considered approaches to address the social determinants of health.

The meeting brought together academic health center leaders from around the world to discuss emerging issues, share management strategies, and identify areas for collaboration. Dr. Jennifer Hatfield, associate dean of Global Health and International Partnerships, attended the conference as a representative from the Faculty of Medicine.

Hatfield says the most positive aspect of the meeting was the remarkable caliber of the participants and the panels. The leaders of centres from around the world are facing many of the same issues of budget constraints, balancing demands for engagement internationally while watching the domestic needs, and the challenges of balancing the humanitarian approach with the business case for international engagement. The universal acknowledgement of the importance of nurturing public and population health training and research was a cross cutting theme. Many highlighted the tensions between supporting clinical disciplines and the new imperative to build public health research and training.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/aahc

 

Team tackling chronic diseases for the benefit of us all

[2011-04-12] In early 2009, Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn, a kidney specialist at the Faculty of Medicine, together with fellow Alberta-based specialists Dr. Braden Manns and Dr. Marcello Tonelli, formed the Interdisciplinary Chronic Disease Collaboration (ICDC), a research team funded by Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions. The goal of the team is to directly improve the lives of patients like Waterman.

"Chronic disease in general has increased," says Hemmelgarn. "Most recent estimates for Canada put diabetes at about 5% of the population, hypertension at about 20%, and kidney disease at 5-6% and up to 20% in the elderly population. These are very common chronic conditions."

Current healthcare strategies to deal with chronic disease are limited. Often the patients who are at the highest risk of developing serious illness are not identified before their situation becomes critical. And the problem is worse for those in remote areas who may not have access to appropriate care. Hemmelgarn, Tonelli, and Manns decided they needed to do something different to improve the treatment of chronic illness in Alberta. So they invited healthcare policy and decision makers to work with the ICDC alongside researchers and clinicians.

"By implicating decision makers at the early stage of research, we can make sure we are doing policy-relevant research which will have a real impact on patient care," explains Hemmelgarn. The group now has 26 team members, including 11 from the University of Calgary, spanning 14 different disciplines.

Link to story in UCalgary Medicine Winter 2011
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/magazine/article/strength-numbers?page=0%2C0

 

Heart surgery wait times down in Alberta

[2011-04-05] New data from the Faculty of Medicine shows that wait times for a number of heart surgeries have gone down close to 50 per cent in Alberta and British Columbia.

The objective of the study was to investigate wait times for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, after the patient has undergone diagnosis through a process called catheterization. PCI's are commonly referred to as balloon angioplasty and CABG's refer to open heart or bypass surgery.

The work was led by Danielle Southern , Dr. William Ghali, Dr. Merril Knudtson and their team. It was published in the April edition of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

"We are investing in cardiac care and it's positive to show strategic investments have been made and wait times have gone down," says Ghali, Director of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health and member of the Libin Cardiovasular Institute of Alberta.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/heartsurgery_wait_times

 

Homelessness and incarceration

[2011-03-29] Researchers, Drs. Christine Walsh and Gayle Rutherford, have been working together for several years to understand the needs for women cycling between homelessness and incarceration. Walsh, an associate professor in the social works faculty, and lead of the project, Aboriginal women's voices: Breaking the cycle of homelessness and incarceration, explains that, "the need for this project was confirmed by Aboriginal women who comprised part of the homeless community in downtown Calgary. They emphasized that something needed to be done to stop the cycle of homelessness and recidivism and to improve the lives of their sisters, daughters and grandchildren."

The researchers wanted to study women who face the challenges of personal struggles and the societal stigma brought on by incarceration-challenges that are amplified for women who also find themselves facing homelessness, addictions, violence and trauma. The researchers asked, ‘what can be done for these women in order to break this cycle?'

The women with whom they collaborated wanted to use their own experiences and their own voices to create greater understanding of these issues for the social service organizations who support them.

Link to UC Story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/march29-2011/insideout

 

Celebrating top achievements in Canadian health research

[2011-03-21] The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) are acknowledging the top achievements in Canadian health research that have had a significant impact on health, health care and health research. Several members of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health are amongst those acknowledged.

Model of care for hip and knee replacement
Dr. Cyril Frank, Dr. Deborah Marshall, Dr. Peter Faris and Christopher Smith for the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute. Their work towards cost-effective ways to treat severe osteoarthritis in the knee and hip has helped reduce wait times for hip and knee replacements in Alberta and ensure consistent quality of the procedure. Their work in this area led to the creation of the National Hip and Knee Knowledge Translation Network.

Cardiac registry for tracking outcomes in cardiac care
Dr. William Ghali, Dr. Merril Knudtson, Dr. Michelle Graham, Dr. Colleen Norris and Diane Galbraith for the APPROACH team. The Alberta Provincial Project for Outcome Assessment in Coronary Heart Disease (APPROACH) team was established as a cardiac registry initiative to track the long-term outcomes of all patients undergoing cardiac catheterization in Alberta. APPROACH is now one of the largest, most comprehensive cardiac registries in the world with more than 140,000 patients from Alberta. APPROACH is applying learnings to manage wait lists and track new diagnostic techniques, procedures and other cardiac conditions.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/CIHR-CMAJrecognition

 

Research that touches First Nations

[2011-03-15] 35 participants attended a February workshop that outlined the principles for conducting research that touches First Nations communities. The OCAP principles - for ownership, control, access and possession - are intended to ensure that First Nations communities across Canada control what research data is collected in their communities, how the data is collected, how the information is used and who has access to it.

PhD candidate Dr. Pat Curry, UCVM - who works with Inuit hunters in the North to study disease in caribou - attended the one day workshop along with her supervisor Dr. Susan Kutz and Dr. Wilfreda E. Thurston.

The OCAP principles were first discussed among aboriginal leaders in 1997, and have since been adopted by every First Nation in the country. "It has to do with the historical context of research that's been done, with or on aboriginal people," says David Turner, of the South Alberta Network Environments for Aboriginal Health Research (NEAHR), who facilitated the workshop. "An academic institution would decide in a silo that aboriginal peoples health needed to be considered in a research project, but they didn't go out to the communities to find out from the people what relevance or how the results of that research would impact them." Today, many academics are unaware of OCAP, or that they need to consider the principles and include aboriginal people in the design of research projects.

The workshop, ‘Conducting Research With (Not On) Aboriginal Peoples' was sponsored by NEAHR, the University of Veterinary Medicine Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine Department of Community Health Sciences, and the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health.

Link to UC story
http://wcm12.ucalgary.ca/researchinaction/article/research-touches-first-nations

 

ALMA grant aims to improve vaccines for cattle

[2011-03-15] UCVM assistant professor in the Department of Ecosystem and Public Health, Dr. Frank van der Meer, has recieved a grant from the Alberta Lifestock and Meat Agency (ALMA) to study a troublesome virus in cattle, bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), which causes significant economic losses in the province's beef and dairy cattle industries.

About 28 percent of unvaccinated cattle have experienced a BVDV infection, and up to two per cent of calves in vaccinated herds are persistently infected with it, says van der Meer. "The persistently infected animals are produced during a BVDV infection in the first trimester of gestation. During pregnancy, the virus establishes itself in the calf, the immune system doesn't recognize it and it stays there for the rest of its life. The animal then spreads the virus continuously in high amounts," says van der Meer. "These calves are really important for the maintenance of the virus in the population of cattle in Alberta."

His research on the variability of the virus and evaluation of current BVDV vaccines may lead to the development of more effective vaccines for the cattle industry.

Link to UC story
http://wcm12.ucalgary.ca/researchinaction/article/alma-grant-aims-improve-vaccines-cattle

 

Health research funding to support technology commercialization

[2011-03-04] Faster development and testing of new medical devices and technologies that improve healthcare services are becoming a reality through a state-of-the-art medical ward at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. A combined federal-provincial investment of more than $1.9 million under the Canada-Alberta Western Economic Partnership Agreement (WEPA) is supporting the Ward of the 21st Century (W21C) to staff and purchase lab equipment.

"As a leader of the W21C, a citizen of Canada and a resident of Alberta, I am delighted to see the federal and provincial governments invest in innovation," said Dr. William Ghali, Director of the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health, University of Calgary and Co-Director, W21C. "We are excited to progress with our mandate-improving patient safety and quality of care."

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/Federal-Provincialfund/w21c

 

Engineers at the forefront of biomedical research

[2011-03-03] Just as the intricacies of human physiology have attracted people to the study of medicine since the days of Hippocrates, Professional Engineers of all disciplines have also been drawn to study the workings of the human structure. Human beings provide endless inspiration to all fields of engineering. Research continues in Alberta and around the world as engineers work side-by-side with clinicians making inroads toward better diagnosis and treatment of injury and disease.

Professional Engineer Dr. Steven Boyd, an associate professor in the department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, and jointly appointed in the Faculty of Kinesiology, works with endocrinologist Dr. David Hanley on a research team doing leading edge work in understanding and preventing osteoporosis, which is a reduction in bone mineral density potentially leading to fracture.

Link to Calgary Herald story
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Engineers+forefront+biomedical+research/4378829/story.html

 

Trip to Haiti inspires nursing faculty

[2011-03-02] Associate nursing professor Dr. Nina Hrycak is no stranger to Central and Latin America; her research in community health has taken her to Guatemala, Honduras and Nicauraga. But her January sojourn to Haiti was strictly for humanitarian purposes and the experience has left her looking for potential connections with her colleagues to sustain the positive changes she saw in this tiny, impoverished country.

"I had some fear and uncertainty, especially since I have watched so many programs about Haiti focused on the devastation, the lack of progress and the cholera outbreak," Hrycak says retrospectively. "But the Haitians are so resilient and so hungry for more knowledge to improve their lives that you come away inspired to do more for them."

Link to UC story
http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/march2-2011/haiti

 

Drinking alcohol is good for you

[2011-02-23] Individuals who drink alcohol in moderation (about one drink a day or less) are 14-25% less likely to develop heart disease compared to those who drink no alcohol at all, finds research led by Dr. William Ghali from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine, published in the February 22 issue of the British Medical Journal.

The first paper, led by Paul Ronksley from the University of Calgary, emphasizes that a balance needs to be found between the public health message that consuming large amounts of alcohol is bad for you, and the one that drinking in moderation can have health benefits. An accompanying paper led by Dr. Susan Brien, also from the University of Calgary, finds that moderate consumption of alcohol (up to one drink or 15 g alcohol per day for women and up to two drinks or 30 g alcohol per day for men) is good for health. They say moderate amounts of alcohol significantly increase the levels of 'good' cholesterol circulating in the body and this has a protective effect against heart disease.

Link to UofC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/alcohol/heart

Link to CBC story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2011/02/23/alcohol-heart-protect.html
Link to BBC story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12531837
Link to Time story: http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/23/cheers-more-evidence-that-moderate-drinking-is-good-for-your-health/

 

City's medical officer weighs in on fluoride

[2011-02-09] Jim Brown, host of Calgary Eyeopener on CBC Radio Calgary, gets reaction to the decision by city council to remove fluoride from the city's drinking water. Richard Musto, Calgary's medical officer of health, is his guest and provides his opinion on the mater.

Link to Calgary Eyeopener interview
http://www.cbc.ca/eyeopener/episode/2011/02/09/citys-medical-officer-weighs-in-on-fluoride/

 

Debunking fluoride falsehoods

[2011-02-05] Lindsay McLaren, J.C. Herbert Emery, and Lynn McIntyre were authors of a guest column in the Calgary Sun discussing the City of Calgary's impending decision to discontinue fluoridation of drinking water. They opened by stating, "Since this decision will be difficult to reverse, it is important that it be based on credible scientific evidence and reason rather than emotion and anecdotes." They focused on addressing what they saw as the three main arguments against continued fluoridation of Calgary's drinking water.

Link to Calgary Sun story
http://www.calgarysun.com/comment/columnists/2011/02/05/17171236.html

 

Researchers discover new way to prevent infections in dialysis patients

[2011-01-26] Researchers have discovered that a drug used to treat dialysis catheter malfunction in kidney dialysis patients may also help prevent both malfunction as well as infections.

Dr. Brenda Hemmelgarn from the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine and her colleague Dr. Nairne Scott-Douglas, both members of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, undertook a randomized trial at 11 sites across Canada. 115 hemodialysis patients were administered the usual catheter locking solution of heparin after every dialysis session, while 110 patients received rt-PA once a week. Researchers found that those receiving only heparin were twice as likely to suffer a catheter malfunction and were at an almost three-fold increased risk of blood stream infection.

"We now have evidence that we can prevent these complications using rt-PA, with a goal to ultimately improve outcomes for patients with kidney failure," says Hemmelgarn.

These research findings are published in the January 27th edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/dialysis/catheter/malfunction

 

'Experimentation' with health care must end, prof says

[2011-01-26] Abolishing regional health authorities and lengthening waits in the province's emergency rooms seriously shook public confidence in Premier Ed Stelmach's government, says a prominent health economist.

But the University of Calgary's Tom Noseworthy worries the political shakeup that will follow Stelmach's departure could further destabilize Alberta's ailing health-care system. "There was never a mandate to move to a single health authority and Stelmach is a victim of the chaos it created," said Noseworthy, "but what we don't need now is more experimentation and change with a health system that is relatively unstable."

Link to Calgary Herald story
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Experimentation+with+health+care+must+prof+says/4168833/story.html

 

Researchers awarded nearly $2-million through CFI Fund

[2011-01-24] The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), under its Leaders Opportunity Fund, has awarded $1,914,453 to the University of Calgary to support eight research projects. The fund is designed to support research infrastructure and equipment associated with a Canada Excellence Research Chair.

Dr. Jon Meddings, U of C interim vice president of research, welcomed the CFI's investment. "The breadth and depth of our CFI Award winners merely underscores the quality of the people and the research being done here," said Meddings. "We greatly appreciate our evolving partnership with CFI as we all work towards better supporting our research community."

The winners are from the faculties of science, engineering, medicine and veterinary medicine and include:

Dr. Gilaad Kaplan and his colleagues Dr. Chad Saunders and Dr. Carla Coffin were awarded $175,391 for the development of a comprehensive custom made database that will serve the co-applicants by providing the information technology infrastructure needed to securely support collaboration in their clinical, epidemiological, and translational research.

Link to UC story
http://ucalgary.ca/news/utoday/january24-2011/CFIFund

 

Anti-epileptic drugs associated with increased risk of fracture in older adults

[2011-01-11] Most anti-epileptic drugs are associated with an increased risk of non-traumatic fracture in individuals 50 years of age and older, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Neurology.

While there have been studies that examined the link between anti-epileptic drugs and bone density loss in adults older than 65, little evidence exists for the association of individual anti-epileptic drugs with bone loss. Dr. Nathalie Jetté from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine and colleagues studied administrative healthcare data of 15,792 individuals who experienced non-traumatic fractures between April 1996 and March 2004.

"In conclusion, our study showed that most anti-epileptic drugs except for valproic acid are associated with an increased likelihood of non-traumatic fracture in individuals aged 50 years or older," the authors write. "Future prospective studies of anti-epileptic drugs in newly treated drug-naïve patients are needed to better examine the individual effects of anti-epileptic drugs on bone health."

Link to UC story
http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/about/Jette/EpilepticDrugs/research