“Our recent study shows that exercise leads to expansion of the mitochondrial network and, as a result, energy is distributed to muscle in a more effective manner,” says Professor David Hood��from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health.

David Hood

On the other hand, the research shows that mitochondria become smaller or more fragmented when the muscle is not used –��due to aging, for example��–��which leads to cellular damage and degeneration of muscle cells.

The study, “Expression of Mitochondrial Fission and Fusion Regulation Proteins in Skeletal Muscle During Chronic Use and Disuse”, assesses the effects of aging on mitochondrial morphology and has been accepted for publication by the peer-reviewed journal��Muscle and Nerve.

Led by Hood, director of the Muscle Health Research Centre at 91��ɫ, the study was conducted by his graduate students Sobia Iqbal, Olga Ostojic, Kaustabh Singh and Anna-Maria Joseph.

The findings indicate that the proteins involved in maintaining the size and shape of mitochondria are also regulated by exercise, or lack thereof. According to the researchers, this can have important implications for energy production in muscle, the benefits of exercise and the consequences of chronic inactivity on our health.

The research received support from a Natural Science & Engineering Research Council of Canada grant.

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Robert Haché (left), 91��ɫ's vice-president research & innovation, and Harvey Skinner (below right), dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, will host the Research Celebration, Tuesday, Jan. 17, from 2 to 4 pm, in the Scott Library Atrium, Keele campus.

The celebration will highlight innovation in muscle health research at 91��ɫ and will include talks from four Faculty of Health researchers discussing their work.

"This celebration provides an opportunity for the 91��ɫ research community to share knowledge and ideas and to come together to learn more about the breadth and depth of innovative research taking place at the University,” says Haché.

The four researchers will discuss the role muscles play in everything from obesity and diabetes to osteoarthritis and reversing the aging process.

“Keeping people healthier longer, so that they can age positively and avoid chronic diseases and injuries, is at the heart of this celebration of ground breaking research underway in the Faculty of Health,” says Skinner.

Professor Rolando Ceddia, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator, will discuss “Improving Muscle and Adipose Tissue Function to Treat Obesity and Diabetes: The Role of Exercise and Diet”.

“My research investigates the molecular and physiological mechanisms by which obesity induces dysfunctional metabolic alterations in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle; two tissues that play crucial roles in regulating energy and glucose homeostasis,” says Ceddia, of 91��ɫ’s Muscle Health Research Centre in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science.

Left: Rolando Ceddia��

“We study the effects of exercise, either alone or in combination with nutritional and pharmacological interventions, on glucose and lipid metabolism in diet-induced obesity.”

The presentation will look at the adaptive responses induced by chronic endurance training in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue metabolism, as well as the implications for whole-body energy expenditure. The main goal is to understand the role of exercise and diet in the prevention and/or treatment of obesity and its co-morbidities.

Professor Jennifer Kuk (right)��of 91��ɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science will look at “Aerobic Versus Resistance Exercise for Decreasing Diabetes Risk in Obese Youth”. The focus of this talk is to examine the effectiveness of aerobic and resistance exercise for improving insulin resistance in youth using a randomized control design.

Insulin resistance at the site of the muscle is one of the hallmark characteristics of pre-diabetes and Type��2 diabetes, says Kuk. Increasingly, youth are presenting with insulin resistance. It is increasingly important to develop non-pharmacological interventions for treating insulin resistance.����

Aerobic and resistance exercise help improve insulin resistance in adults. Aerobic exercise improves muscle glucose metabolism and resistance exercise increases the muscle mass available for uptaking glucose.����

Biology Professor David Hood (left), a Canada Research Chair in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, will discuss the topic, “Can Exercise 'Rescue' Aging Muscles?” Skeletal muscle occupies about 40 per cent of body weight and is a major contributor to whole body health and metabolism.

“As we age, we lose muscle mass, and this is apparent in elderly, frail individuals. The mechanisms of how this muscle mass is lost are not completely understood, but a prominent theory involves the increasing malfunction of mitochondria within muscle cells,” says Hood. “Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, the organelles which supply the energy for cell survival.”

With age, mitochondrial content within muscle declines and they begin to produce molecules called “reactive oxygen species” which inflict damage on cellular DNA. If the DNA in any cell breaks down, the cell dies. In the case of muscle cells, they atrophy or shrink. If many cells atrophy, the body loses muscle mass.

“Research has shown that exercise is a potential non-pharmacological therapy which can be used to reduce the loss of muscle mass by improving mitochondrial function, thereby preserving muscle function as we age,” says Hood.

Professor William Gage (right), associate dean research & innovation, will examine “Muscles and Sore Joints: Arthritis and Muscle Activity”. The knee and hip joints experience large loads when a person walks, says Gage. To deal with those loads, the joints and surrounding muscles act together to allow a person to move, while protecting the joints from the loading that occurs during movement.

As a person moves, their muscles are activated or turned on at the right time by the right amount so their joints will not only move, but their limbs won’t collapse under the weight, says Gage. Sensors in the joints contribute to the nervous system’s knowledge of when and how the muscles should be turned on.

Previous research has shown that when a joint is painful or swollen the sensory information coming from these joint sensors is affected, which in turn affects the activation of the muscles around the joints. A long-term outcome of this response may be osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, affecting more than 50 per cent of those over the age of 65.

“Recent research in our lab has examined how different strategies during walking may influence the amount of loading in the knee joint and how muscles around the joint respond to loads that are imposed on the knee joint,” says Gage. “Future work in our lab will explore how loading and muscle activity are affected by changes in the sensory information that arises from the knee joint.”

To RSVP to Lia Novario, by Friday, Jan. 13, or call ext. 33782.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Physicians and clinicians from , and researchers from 91��ɫ, will speak at an open house Monday about how they are working together – in the hospital and in laboratories – to answer these types of questions.

The researchers, physicians and clinicians will be available to speak to reporters about their projects, which include:

• research with the chronic disease, emergency medicine and surgical departments at Southlake to understand how the brain controls complex movements, shedding light on topics ranging from dementia to concussion.
• improved surveillance of cardiovascular disease in 91��ɫ Region through the use of geospatial analysis, which applies statistical analysis techniques to geographically-based data.
• investigation of the use of Blackberry smartphones and innovative software to help patients reduce health risks through exercise, diet and improve adherence to medication regimens.
• collaboration with cardiac care and oncology clinicians to develop a more personalized approach for targeting the drugs that are used by individuals with cancer and heart disease.

Four research scientists from 91��ɫ’s and have been designed to improve patient care and outcomes, and improve use of technology in the delivery of health care.

Southlake serves 1.5 million people through its regional programs and provides tertiary level care in many areas, offering almost unlimited opportunities for research collaboration between Southlake and 91��ɫ.

What:���������������������������� Southlake Regional Health Centre welcomes 91��ɫ research scientists in a celebration event that will highlight the efforts of this partnership.
When:�������������������������� Monday, May 9, 2011, 5:30 – 7:30
Where: ���������������������� Southlake Regional Health Centre, Auditorium, Level 1, East Building

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of Southlake Regional Health Centre's Corporate Communications department and Media Relations at 91��ɫ.

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If you were wandering through Vari Hall last Wednesday afternoon, you could have stopped and chatted with��fourth-year psychology students about��some pretty esoteric��subjects.

The rotunda was a maze of posters featuring��the thesis projects of 78 students ready to explain whether��eating disturbances are��symptoms of depression, how to measure prejudice, the relationship between exercise and forgiveness, how��sound affects perception of space. Their research projects, supervised by��faculty members,��spanned all areas of��psychology��– cognitive, social, developmental, quantitative, history and theory, neuroscience, and clinical.

The end-of-year event has become so big that the Department of Psychology moved it to Vari Hall last year from the crowded halls of the Behavioural Science Building.

The poster projects are worth five per cent of students’ final mark and judged by roving graduate students based on clarity, design and the students’ ability to explain their research in a comprehensive manner.��Many will go on to present their research at a variety of national and international conferences.

“Whether you are speaking to your supervisor,��other professors or��fellow students, it is important to know how to present and communicate your results to different audiences,” says psychology Professor Susan Murtha, who has organized the event for the past three years.

And the students who go on to graduate studies will have to defend their research to external examiners who don’t know much about their field. “It is really important to be able to understand how to communicate.”

Left: Poster winners Angela Deotto (top) and Lilly Solomon. Photos by Brett Thompson

By 4pm, judges had selected two who did it best: Angela Deotto (supervised by Christine Till) for her poster "Mathematical impairment in pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis: Relationship with white matter integrity"; and Lilly Solomon (supervised by Jennifer Steeves) for her poster "MS to the ‘occipital face area’ affects face recognition but not categorization". They won $50 gift certificates to the 91��ɫ Bookstore.

Both Steeves and Till are members of the .

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Are obese girls overweight because they eat poorly and don't get enough exercise or because their bodies don't burn off fat properly? asked :

Seems no one knows. But researchers at 91��ɫ want to find out.

They are conducting the first study in the world that looks at how girls burn fat, according to Professor Michael Riddell [School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health], who leads pioneering work on diabetes.

While there have been some studies done on how boys burn fat, with conflicting results, no one has looked at how girls burn fat, particularly during puberty, he said. "It's amazing there's so little done on females," Riddell said. "We're doing cutting-edge research. We're trying to identify why some girls are overweight or obese."

The study is part of a larger [project] funded by the federal government's being run by the .

To conduct their study, the 91��ɫ researchers need to look at the diets and exercise levels of girls between the ages of eight and 16. While they haven't had trouble finding lean girls to participate, recruiting overweight and obese girls has been a struggle.

With the body image problems girls face today, that isn't surprising, Riddell said.

But the girls' identities and all the information researchers gather about them is kept confidential, said graduate student Lisa Chu, who is running the project at 91��ɫ.

Girls who participate in the study will visit the university twice.

During the first visit, they will complete a questionnaire about their exercise and diet habits on week days and weekends and take part in an eight- to- 10-minute cycling test that gets progressively more difficult. The second visit involves a longer but less intense cycling evaluation.

Chu is hoping girls interested in participating may take advantage of March Break next week to volunteer.

The incentive to participate in the study is receiving a custom-made fitness regimen, hopefully something the girls can rely on to lead healthier lives for years to come, Riddell said.

"Having a custom exercise evaluation is something only the very rich can (usually) afford," he said.

Participants will also receive a $20 iTunes voucher.

To volunteer for the study, email Lisa Chu at lisachu@yorku.ca or call Michael Riddell 416-736-2100, ext. 40493.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ Professors Chris Ardern, , Paul Ritvo and Lauren Sergio will work on site��for one to��two days a week with hospital clinicians to foster research collaborations and knowledge exchange, and engage in joint knowledge mobilization efforts.

The partnership will realize important benefits to the research communities at both institutions and for the general public, says 91��ɫ Professor (right), associate vice-president research, science & technology, who led the effort to develop the partnership with Southlake Regional Health Centre.

"The embedded 91��ɫ researchers are senior scientists who will explore and cultivate research collaborations between 91��ɫ and Southlake researchers and clinicians," says Siu. "They will act as 'matchmakers' and brokers and will bring��91��ɫ's��research expertise and knowledge to Southlake to��facilitate collaboration.

"The partnership will broaden the research capacity for both 91��ɫ researchers and the Southlake clinicians," says Siu. "91��ɫ does not have a Faculty of Medicine��or��a teaching hospital. As a result,��University researchers do not��have the patient access��they would like to have. By working with Southlake,��the University is enhancing a collaboration that would benefit both parties."

The embedded��University scientists��bring to Southlake Regional Health Centre��their recognized expertise in biomedical and health research. Southlake is the only community-based hospital in Ontario to offer six regional tertiary programs, including child and adolescent mental health, maternal and child,��cardiac and cancer care.

"We anticipate this to be an outstanding opportunity for both Southlake and 91��ɫ," says , director of research at Southlake.

"Serving some 1.5 million people through our regional programs and providing tertiary level care in many areas, the depth and breadth of programs and services, and the unexplored opportunities for reasearch collaboration between Southlake and 91��ɫ are endless," says Clifford.

"Southlake is interested in strengthening its research in terms of breadth and depth and in fact, Southlake is developing a research institute with a plan to��become a teaching hospital with an official affiliation with a Canadian university," says Siu.

91��ɫ is��a preferred candidate for this kind of partnership with Southlake, says Siu,��because the two institutions have shared goals and visions, and a willingness to work together.

The partnership offers exceptional training and educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate��students working in the research teams, says Siu.

In addition, the opportunity presented by the collaboration between the��two institutions��is consistent with the goal of integrating teaching and research with the world outside the University that was articulated in��91��ɫ's recent .

More about the 91��ɫ-Southlake embedded researchers

Chris Ardern (left) is a professor in the School of Kinesiology��& Health Science in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health.��His current research��interests include the epidemiology of physical activity, obesity and cardiometabolic risk. His most recent work has focused on the use of risk algorithms, behavioural profiling and trajectory modelling approaches to identify high-risk subgroups for the development of the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease mortality.��Arden is currently investigating the role of geospatial analysis to improve the surveillance of cardiovascular disease in 91��ɫ Region, and is a co-investigator on the Pre-diabetes Detection��& Physical Activity Intervention and Delivery (PRE-PAID) program, a six-month trial of culturally-preferred physical activity.��Ardern will be embedded in Southlake's chronic disease portfolio.

In her research, (right) works on a family of proteins known as nucleoside transporters. These transporters play significant roles in a number of clinical settings because they transport drugs used in cancer and are targets of drugs used in some cardiac care settings. Despite their clinical relevance, Coe, who is a��professor of biology in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Science & Engineering, says researchers��know very little about how these transporters work and how they differ in terms of their distribution, activity and regulation in individual patients.��Using a molecular diagnostics approach, Coe and her team will work with Southlake clinicians from both the cardiac care and oncology��portfolios to investigate the transporter profiles in individual patients and correlate these profiles with drug treatments and outcomes. The ultimate goal of this work is to contribute to the efforts to develop more personalized approaches to the treatment of disease.

Paul Ritvo (left) is a behavioural scientist who will serve as the research adviser, physical and mental health liaison and special projects scientist. A professor in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, Ritvo’s research interests focus on electronic health interventions that employ cell phones, smartphones and online programs to change health behaviours in diabetics, HIV-positive individuals and individuals with mental health difficulties. Ritvo will work with Southlake clinicians to extend current intervention studies that use Blackberry smartphones and innovative software applications to help patients reduce health risks by way of healthy exercise, diet and improved medication adherence.

Lauren Sergio (right) is a neuroscientist working in 91��ɫ's Sherman Health Science Research Centre. Her��current research projects examine the effects of age, sex, neurological disease and past head injuries (of athletes versus non-athletes) on the brain's control of complex movement. In her role with Southlake Regional Health Centre, Sergio will be an embedded researcher in the chronic disease, emergency medicine and surgical portfolios.��She works with a wide range of adult populations, including professional hockey players and Alzheimer's disease patients. Her findings have implications for neurological disease diagnosis and rehabilitation and for understanding the fundamental brain mechanisms for movement control. She is using cognitive-motor integration research to test if new instrumentation developed in her laboratory can differentiate between��types of dementia. She is also��researching the long-term effects of concussion in young athletes. Sergio is a member of the .

The embedded researcher program at Southlake Regional Health Centre is an example of the collaboration between the Faculty of Science & Engineering and the Faculty of Health at 91��ɫ and is part of an ongoing commitment by the Faculties' deans to work together.

For more information on 91��ɫ's��partnerships with��regional��hospitals, see YFile,��April 17, 2009 and ��April 21, 2009.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The PRE-PAID project, funded by the and , targets groups at high risk for diabetes and uses a community-based approach to engage them in the physical activities they enjoy. The 91��ɫ study has been operational since November 2009, and several diverse ethnic neighbourhoods in the Toronto area have participated. The Sault College project will involve individuals of First Nations descent.

"The PRE-PAID team is very excited to partner with Sault College for this important initiative,” states Chip Rowan, Researcher and Certified Exercise Physiologist at 91��ɫ. “Through this partnership, we hope to extend our program to a community that has a well documented risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Through the provision of free screening and targeting individuals with pre-diabetes, we hope that our physical activity intervention program will prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes for as many people as possible."

Canadian Diabetes Association Regional Branch Co-ordinator, Janie Bringleson, says the statistics involving those with diabetes are alarming. Nearly 1 in 4 Canadians either has diabetes or pre-diabetes and more than 20 people are diagnosed with the disease every hour of every day. The Health Council of Canada states that diabetes is much more common, and growing more quickly, among First Nations adults, who are two to eight times more likely to have diabetes than the overall Canadian population, depending on age group. Researchers hope to show participants the benefits of engaging in no cost, enjoyable physical activities. Second, it is hoped that the project will demonstrate the importance of investing in exercise to prevent diabetes. Through these interventions they expect to reduce diabetes by 60%.

The complete article is available on . More information about the is available through the Research website archives.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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I'm not exaggerating when I describe this muscle strain - or whatever it is - as life-changing. Not life-changing like, say, your first child or the new cafeteria here at work. No, it has changed my daily life, my routine, my mood, my body - and none of them for the better.

My weight is up. My motivation is down. So is my energy level. My craving for all the worst junk foods, usually suppressed by vigorous exercise, has intensified as I've worked out less and less.

“Here are two parts of your life that have been disrupted,” says Frances Flint, professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health, coordinator of athletic training at 91��ɫ and a sports psychology consultant. “That good feeling” from the workout itself is gone, she says, along with the “my time” that I had carefully built into my week. "Time away from work, phones, e-mails and other stresses".

So true. That simple joy of moving, of washing away the day's aggravation in a shower of sweat, has given way to longer sessions in front of my TV. Gone as well is the camaraderie of long runs on Saturdays with my marathon training group.

"That injury is now defining your day, your social life, your release of stress, your feeling of joy," Flint says.

. . .

In the meantime, what do I do? I figured out the most important part on my own: getting my enlarged posterior back in the gym. Flint says it's crucial to continue working out. Any kind of exercise is good, but since I'm a runner, I want to find ways to maintain cardiovascular fitness.

If I were a collegiate track athlete, she says, coaches would have me run in a pool to achieve the value of exercise with little or no impact on the body. I don't have easy access to a pool, so I've been riding a stationary bicycle, which doesn't hurt much but is excruciatingly boring, even with an iPod and a ballgame on. I've also hit the treadmill despite my injury, running slowly for as long as I can. And I've been stretching a lot more, hoping I can work out the problem myself.

It's important, Flint says, to do this at the same time of day that I used to work out. Overall, the effort will give me "the same biochemical effects" as my previous regimen, Talbott says, without stressing the injured area.

The other critical move, Flint says, is to take control of the situation. Find out as much as you can about the injury and possible therapies. Become actively involved in your care, instead of a passive recipient of treatment. Banish "negative self-talk." Some athletes like to visualize the affected area healing; they believe it speeds the process.

"I want to know as much as I can about my body," Flint says. "What is the damaged tissue? Why has this occurred?"

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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That’s contrary to what most Canadians believe, says Raphael in his new book , which looks at who stays healthy, who gets sick and why. It’s written with the goal of educating the��informed Canadian, as well as university students.

Most people think luck, treatment options and lifestyle choices shape whether they are healthy or not. After all, that is the current mantra – eating better and exercising will lead to a healthier existence – a mantra that Canadians have wholeheartedly internalized. But that’s only part of the equation, and not the biggest part, says Raphael, a professor in 91��ɫ's School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health.

“Decades of research and hundreds of studies in Canada and elsewhere tell a different story: the primary factors that shape the health and well-being of Canadians��– the factors that will give us longer, better lives��– are to be found not in those much-discussed areas, but rather in the actual living conditions that Canadians experience on a daily basis,” says Raphael in About Canada: Health��and Illness.

These factors include whether people are wealthy or poor, employed or not, working conditions, access to quality education, health and social services, and the basics of food and affordable housing. These social determinants “are crucial factors in the health and well-being of Canadians,” he says.

“Contrary to the assumption that we have personal control over these factors, in most cases these living conditions are – for better or worse – imposed upon us in the normal course of everyday life.”

Left: Dennis Raphael

That’s in large part because of the policies, regulations and laws enacted by governments at all levels, which influence employment income, family benefits and social assistance, as well as the quality and availability of affordable housing, health and social services, and recreational opportunities. That includes “what happens when Canadians lose their jobs during economic downturns such as the one that Canada began experiencing in 2008,” says Raphael.

“Governments also determine whether our children have access to affordable and high-quality child care and better-quality schools, the working conditions that we experience, and whether as seniors we receive levels of public pensions that allow us to live in dignity.”

Raphael wants to see changes in��public policy that will affect Canadians’ health in a positive way. Through About Canada: Health��and Illness, he wants the average Canadian to understand the role social determinants��play in shaping health and what can be done to improve the situation through better public policies.

Raphael is the editor of , co-editor of and author of . He served as an adviser to the California Newsreel documentary series and the Deveaux Babin Productions Canadian documentary .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The clip runs two minutes and is .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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