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Access status: Open Access ,
Evaluating BMI-based Screening for Prediabetes Among First-Generation South Asian Immigrants in Ontario
(2026) Barua, Srabanty
Canadian South Asians have a disproportionately high Type 2 diabetes burden and develop dysglycemia at younger ages, lower body mass index (BMI), and show more visceral adiposity and insulin resistance than populations of European ancestry. Therefore, the WHO has recommended reduced BMI thresholds among the Asian population. However, despite this recommendation, the common practice of diabetes screening in Ontario is based on a universal BMI threshold, which can fail to capture high-risk South Asian populations. The proposed research question is: ‘Among first-generation South Asian immigrants, aged 25–55 years in Ontario, who do not have diabetes at baseline, does the standard BMI screening eligibility identify individuals who would develop prediabetes?’ This question determines whether standard BMI screening eligibility fails to detect first-generation South Asian immigrants in Ontario who develop prediabetes after three years of follow-up.
Access status: Open Access ,
Social and Cultural Determinants of Physical Fitness in Métis People Living in Saskatchewan
(Canadian Science Publishing, 2026-02-20) Johnson, Shara R.; Moore, Samantha; McInnes, Adam; Foulds, Heather J A
Métis People, one of the recognized Indigenous groups in Canada, continue to rebuild their community and support networks after generations of colonial disruption. The historical and contemporary experiences have resulted in health determinants and outcomes that differ from other Indigenous nations. This study examined relationships between cultural connections and social support with physical fitness in Métis People living in Saskatchewan and whether sex moderated these relationships. Métis adults living in Saskatchewan (n = 70, Age = 39 ± 16 years, females = 46) completed social support and cultural connectedness questionnaires and participated in physical fitness testing including cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength and power, flexibility, and balance. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that social support significantly predicted several components of physical fitness after adjusting for age, sex and cultural connectedness, although the variance explained was modest: grip strength (p=0.01, ΔR²=0.02), leg power (p=0.01, ΔR²=0.06) and one leg balance (p=0.04, ΔR²=0.04). Age and sex were the strongest predictors of physical fitness across all the models and cultural connectedness was not a significant predictor. Sit and reach flexibility was the only component where the relationship with cultural connectedness and social support showed moderation by sex. Overall, the findings suggest that biological factors of age and sex have a greater influence on Métis People’s physical fitness than social and cultural factors, however social support remains an important determinant. This highlighted the importance of physical fitness strategies for Métis People that incorporate age, sex and social support.
Access status: Open Access ,
Cerebral Edema and Brain Death Following Intravenous N-Acetylcysteine Overdose: A Case Report
(Canadian Science Publishing, 2026-02-20) Hartmann, Riley James; Pradhan, Sunil; Bylyku, Diana; Markieta, Kristine; Scozzafava, James; Lucyk, Scott; Yarema, Mark
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) infusions are rarely associated with cerebral edema. We present a patient that received 1242.2 mg/kg intravenous NAC over 8.3 hours who developed seizures, cerebral edema, and died. A 17-24 year-old female (48.3 kg) presented after an acute acetaminophen ingestion. Their initial presumed five-hour acetaminophen concentration was 591.7 umol/L. Initial ALT and AST were 16 and 21 IU/L, respectively. Due to inconsistencies in the time of ingestion, IV NAC was initiated as a two-step protocol of 150 mg/kg over one hour followed by 15 mg/kg/hr for 20 hours. During treatment, the patient developed vomiting, flushing, and a maculopapular rash. It was discovered that NAC had been administered continuously at 150 mg/kg/hr for 8.3 hours and was stopped. The patient became confused and agitated, and subsequently developed seizures. They were treated with lorazepam, phenytoin, intubation, and propofol. Neuroimaging demonstrated cerebral edema with cerebellar tonsillar herniation. Despite neurocritical care, the patient died 86 hours post-ingestion. The patient’s ALT and AST remained normal. Investigations including lumbar puncture and post-mortem toxicology analysis was unremarkable. Clinicians must be aware of the clinical features of supratherapeutic IV NAC dosing errors and potential adverse effects.
Access status: Open Access ,
Night Markets as Monuments of Everyday Life
(2026) Failas, Don Paolo; Phiffer, Adrian; Architecture
Night markets bring food, culture, and public life together through recurring rituals that transform open ground into vibrant social spaces. Their temporary nature creates an atmosphere of spontaneity, accessibility, and exchange, where diverse communities gather through food, music, commerce, and shared experience. Located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, New York, this project explores how architecture can preserve that cultural energy while enhancing comfort and long-term resilience. It proposes a permanent yet adaptable framework for the Queens Night Market that supports seasonal events without losing their informal character. The park is reimagined as an ecological ground plane that manages stormwater, supports planting, and creates cooler microclimates for large gatherings. Above, a lightweight canopy provides shade, shelter, lighting, and flexible infrastructure, allowing for open circulation and multiple forms of occupation. Beyond the night market, the site can host community events, food production, workshops, and everyday recreation. The project argues that temporary public rituals deserve lasting architectural support as vital expressions of civic life.
Access status: Open Access ,
Situating the political in nurses' lives: The intersection of policy, practice and career for lesbian health advocates
(2005) MacDonnell, Judith; Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
Despite professional imperatives for nurses to engage with policy and political work, there is little research describing nurses' involvement with lesbian health in a Canadian context. This study focuses on the social and material influences informing the lives of nurses who have a career focus on lesbian health and the impacts of their everyday political work on nurses themselves, their institutions and communities. I used feminist comparative life history methodology and purposive convenience sampling to explore how policies and other factors influence nurses' capacity to enhance policy change. Ten female nurses across Ontario who are publicly known as lesbian health advocates in their communities participated. They had high social privilege, were well-experienced, highly educated and represented diverse sexual orientations, geographic locations and professional settings. Semi-structured interviews addressed their personal and professional experiences, career lives, and the meanings attributed to their work. The findings indicate that complex gender dynamics inform how nurses, both insiders and outsiders to lesbian communities, experience, understand and act politically in particular contexts. As policy actors working within and outside of institutions, they accommodate to and resist dominant heteronormative discourses to enhance social reform. Their capacity to advocate is related to systems of knowledge-making in education, research, and policy domains that authorize particular knowledge-makers and forms of knowledge or inquiry over others. These lesbian, bisexual, questioning, and heterosexual nurses encounter variable institutional support to advocate and unpredictable negative career/workplace dynamics despite their high credentials. A three-part conceptual framework grounded in these career histories situates the political in nurses' lives with a focus on the interrelationships among political knowledges, political practices, and political impacts. This study opens space to discuss often-silenced nursing practices and negotiation of professional identities, while validating nurses' multiple and complex contributions to policy processes. The findings enhance understandings of political socialization processes and nursing theories related to transformative practice, ethics, political competence, and social consciousness. There are implications for theory, practice, and research that facilitate the visibility of subjugated knowledges. Policy recommendations call for institutional support by the profession and organizations to enhance career and workplace climates for sexual minorities and their political allies.