• Open Pedagogy

  DeRosa, Robin; Jhangiani, Rajiv S. (2023-09-21)
• The economic burden of athletic injuries across 10 years of Canada Games

  Sudiyono, Matthew; Applied Health Sciences Program

  Injuries in elite sports are responsible for a substantial economic burden on host organizations, requiring informed decisions to ensure that injury treatment is delivered in an efficient manner. However, there is a paucity of economic assessments that have been conducted surrounding elite sport injury events in Canada. Objective: To estimate the direct medical and opportunity costs of treating various injuries by volunteer medical professionals at the Canada Games (CG). Method: A decision tree model (DTM) incorporated parameters on injury treatment lengths as estimated from a Delphi survey, injury surveillance data from past CG competitions (2009-2019), institutional spending derived from the Athlete Medical Program, and fee-for-service rates for medical professionals derived from government reports. Expected costs were calculated using probabilities from logistic regression analyses and reported in Canadian Dollars as of 2023. A one-way deterministic sensitivity analysis was undertaken which varied annual spending by ±10%. Results: There were 15,717 injury events reported during initial and follow-up visits at on-site polyclinics between the 2009 and 2019 CG events (6 competitions). Median estimated treatment lengths during initial visits were highest for patellofemoral pain syndromes (30.0 [IQR = 15.0-33.5] minutes) and were highest during follow-up visits for impingement injuries (25.0 [IQR = 14.0-30.0] minutes). Knee, ankle, lumbar, shoulder/clavicle, and thigh injuries, had a cumulative average expected medical cost of about $103, $113, $383, $417, and $172, respectively, per event. After having incurred a knee injury, the average opportunity cost of being treated by a physician, a combination of athletic therapist/physiotherapist, or a combination of massage therapist/chiropractor, were $17, $184, and $35, respectively. 72% of athletes treated by a physician were referred for follow-up care. Overall, the total expected medical and opportunity cost of athletic injuries in CG per year were $156,620 and $378,574, respectively. Conclusion: This thesis reports on estimated medical and opportunity costs associated with treating various athletic injuries at on-site polyclinics at CG. Findings from our study can inform decision-making in medical management to support treatment protocol reform, while also informing economic evaluations of future CG or other elite sport competitions. More research is needed to estimate the broader health system and out-of-pocket costs of athletic injuries at elite sporting events beyond on-site polyclinics.
• Does physical activity mediate the relationship between loneliness and mental health in Canadian adolescents?

  Chattha, Hussain; Applied Health Sciences Program

  Objectives: Loneliness in adolescents has been consistently increasing over the previous two decades, a trend further exacerbated during to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is particularly concerning considering the links between loneliness and poor mental health. This thesis investigated prospective bidirectional relationships between loneliness and mental health outcomes (anxiety and psychological wellbeing), and additionally, aimed to assess the mediating role of physical activity (PA) within these relationships over a one-year period. Methods: This study used linked student-level survey data of 20,532 Canadian adolescents from the 9th (2020-2021) and 10th (2021-2022) years of the COMPASS study. Cross-lagged panel mediation models were used to test bidirectional associations between loneliness, anxiety symptoms, psychological wellbeing, and PA. Bootstrapping was used to detect mediation effects of PA in the relationships. Models were stratified by gender, and controlled for student grade, family affluence, province, ethnicity, and school-level clustering. Results: Gender-diverse/other adolescents reported higher loneliness frequency and anxiety scores, and lower psychological wellbeing, compared to cis-gender adolescents. Bidirectional relationships between loneliness and anxiety, and loneliness and psychological wellbeing were established in the full sample, with associations varying when stratified by gender. PA did not significantly mediate the relationships between loneliness and the mental health outcomes. Conclusions: Loneliness, anxiety, and psychological wellbeing prospectively and bidirectionally predicted each other, which reinforces current literature that supports loneliness as a risk factor for poor mental health outcomes among adolescents. PA did not mediate these relationships, thus future research should explore novel mediators to help explain the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between loneliness and mental health.
• The Influence of a High Fat Diet on Mice with and without Myosin Light Chain Kinase: Implications for Muscle Thermogenesis and Obesity

  Scheepstra, Katerina; Applied Health Sciences Program

  Work performed at the cellular level suggests that skeletal myosin light chain kinase (skMLCK) mediated phosphorylation of myosin participates in the regulation of muscle thermogenesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of skMLCK ablation, and resultant loss of myosin phosphorylation, on murine physiology and metabolism. To this end, we compared the morphology and metabolic rate of wildtype and skMLCK absent mice (skMLCK-/- ) in response to 10 weeks of high fat feeding. A larger metabolic challenge better tests the hypothesis that the ability to phosphorylate myosin RLC will aid wildtype mice (WT) in counteracting the obesogenic effects of a HFD more effectively than skMLCK-/- mice. Adult mice (8-12 weeks) of both genotypes were housed at 30°C (thermoneutrality) and randomly assigned to either a control or high fat feeding group (n = 8 per genotype, total of 32 mice). All mice were weighed twice weekly while dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) was used at baseline and at week 10 to detect changes in fat and fat-free mass. Metabolic measures such as kcal output as well as behavioural measures such as locomotion, fine movement and food intake were assessed biweekly. At the conclusion of the study, all mice were euthanized, and epididymal white adipose tissue, inguinal white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue were removed and weighed. Based on cellular studies, it was expected that the absence of myosin phosphorylation would render the skMLCK-/- genotype more susceptible to weight gain than the WT genotype. Contrary to our hypothesis, in vitro data did not translate to effects on whole-body metabolism. WT mice were similarly susceptible to the same morphological and metabolic changes as the skMLCK-/- group when exposed to a high fat diet. Both genotypes consumed the same amount, however, the skMLCK-/- mice were less active and yet, both genotypes gained the same amount of weight. This may suggest a compensatory thermogenic pathway may be at play.
• Lini Grol collection, 1956-2010, n.d.

  Cameron, Chantal (2023-09-19)

  The collection contains material related to Lini Grol’s artwork and writing including scissorcuts, drawings, news clippings, manuscripts, and published books of fiction and non-fiction including short stories, plays, poetry, and a novel.

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