The chair, which will receive some $2 million in funding over five years, will study ways to improve the mental health and well-being of people with ASD and their families in Canada.

Jonathan Weiss speaking at the announcement Monday

and his team will examine why people with ASD are prone to develop mental health problems, evaluate novel treatment strategies to help youth and adults with ASD deal with these issues, as well as other stressful events like bullying. It鈥檚 estimated that between 40 and 70 per cent of people with ASDs have at least one co-occurring mental health problem, including anxiety, depression and anger.

91亚色 President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri congratulated Weiss, saying 鈥�91亚色's Faculty of Health is home to some of Canada's leading researchers, who work collaboratively to improve health promotion, disease prevention and health care in the community. I am proud of their commitment to bettering the health of the nation.鈥�

Mamdouh Shoukri

The first $1 million of funding will come聽from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)聽in partnership with Autism Speaks Canada, the Canadian Autism Spectrum Disorders Alliance, Health Canada, NeuroDevNet and the Sinneave Family Foundation. 91亚色 will match those funds, along with its community partner, the Spectrum of Hope Autism Foundation.

ASDs are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioural challenges. The number, kind and severity of symptoms varying from one person to another and includes children and adults.

Colin Carrie

鈥淭he majority of people with autism will experience mental health problems at some point in their lives. Good mental health translates into better outcomes for these individuals and for their families, and to a reduced demand on our health and social systems, which benefits all Canadians,鈥� said Weiss, who also holds a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.

His team will work with people with autism, families, service providers, and government to share cutting edge research that will inform mental health care policy and practice across the country.

Weiss is also looking to hear from people with ASD, their families and service providers to help direct the research questions his team will ask. To that end, a new website 鈥� 鈥� was launched Monday where people can subscribe to learn more about what the program is doing. He will also be putting together an advisory and working group in January to provide input, determine the best way to answer the research questions, inform stakeholders of what is learned and transform that knowledge into improved policy and practice. He hopes that as the program of research grows, the advisory group will attract national representation.

Harvey Skinner

Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner believes Weiss is up for the challenge, saying he was impressed by the breadth of Weiss鈥� perspectives, as well as how he reaches out and bridges the gap with the community.

Parliamentary Secretary Colin Carrie, who was at the announcement on behalf of Leona Aglukkag, minister of health, said he understands at a personal level the need for this kind of research. He has a son with ASD who is now in university. He added that he was heartened to hear about the research work that will be done by the new chair.

Mike Lake addresses the crowd with his son

鈥淥ur Government is committed to helping Canadians maintain and improve their health. That鈥檚 why we are supporting research that will use innovative approaches to improve the health of Canadians who live with autism,鈥� Carrie said.

MP for Edmonton Mike Lake brought his son, who has been diagnosed with ASD, to the announcement. He said he also understands the challenges faced by families who have a member with ASD. With a nod to the organizations in the autism community, Lake said they 鈥減rovide a valuable link to Canadians affected by ASD and their families and they will be critically important to the success of the research program and implementation of the results.鈥�

Robert Thirsk, vice-president, Public, Government and Institute Affairs, CIHR; Dan Goldowitz, scientific director of NeuroDevNet; Dr. Margaret Clarke, senior vice-president of the Sinneave Family Foundation; Jill Farber, vice-chair, Autism Speaks Canada; and Frank Viti, CEO, Autism Speaks Canada, were also at the announcement.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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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亚色 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,鈥� states Chip Rowan, Researcher and Certified Exercise Physiologist at 91亚色. 鈥淭hrough 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 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Health Canada and Paladin Labs Inc. announced a recall Wednesday of Darvon-N, the brand name of dextropropoxyphene, also known as propoxyphene, after new research showed the drug is linked to serious abnormal heart rhythms. The announcement came less than two weeks after the US Food and Drug Administration decided the drug should be removed from the market.

But widespread safety concerns about the drug have actually been around for decades, and prompted Britain and the European Union to ban Darvon-N amid fears it was linked to suicide and accidental overdose.

Joel Lexchin, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Health Policy & Management, said should have taken an active role with respect to Darvon-N, as well as other drugs. The department's follow-the-leader behaviour exposes major shortcomings and weaknesses in its drug monitoring capabilities, he said.

"This drug should have been off the market 30 years ago," Lexchin said in an interview Thursday. "Unfortunately, it took this long to get it off the market."

Health Canada should beef up its system for monitoring the safety of drugs as well as tracking the number of patients who experience serious side effects, he said.

Lexchin is a co-author of , which calls for sweeping improvements to drug safety in Canada.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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In a paper produced by the , Dr. Joel Lexchin writes that while some drugs will always pose risks for some people, it is Health Canada鈥檚 job to identify as many potential problems as possible before drugs are approved for sale, to monitor them once they are approved, and to communicate any new safety information about them effectively.

The agency has neither abandoned those responsibilities, nor is it embracing them, the report states. 鈥淚f we want to ensure that drugs are prescribed and used as safely as possible, then needs to reorient its priorities,鈥� Lexchin said in an interview. 鈥淭here are things it could be doing right now that it鈥檚 not doing.鈥�

Lexchin, an emergency room doctor who teaches in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health, said there is too much emphasis on getting drugs on the market quickly, and that the financial penalties levied on the department for not meeting time targets 鈥� 180 days for reviewing drugs identified as priority drugs and 300 for non-priority drugs 鈥� are problematic. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e faced with that kind of thing, people are operating under pressure and they may not do as thorough a job as they think they need to,鈥� said Lexchin.

The majority of Health Canada employees do a good job, he said, but it鈥檚 a lack of political will to make the drug regulation system safer and more effective that is at issue.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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While current search-engine technology uses algorithms that rely on keywords to uncover pertinent information, the research of Huang and his colleagues uses algorithms with a capacity for natural-language processing and contextual understanding that can uncover more complex information. Rather than looking for instances of words, these elaborate algorithms can make sense of the words. The applications of the research are vast.

Right: Jimmy Huang

They can analyze, for instance, the text of blog postings and the feedback of its respondents and then make humanlike, intuitional assessments of the information. 鈥淭he analysis could indicate changes in public mood on certain issues, or rising or diminishing support for a certain political leader,鈥� says Huang.

His technology research seeks to improve the health-care system by reducing costs and improving services. Huang advocates the digitizing of all health-care records 鈥� texts, charts, X-rays and other image files 鈥� and making them securely accessible on the Internet.

How will this improve health care? 鈥淥ne of the reasons that health care is so expensive is due to the incentive for doctors and specialists to provide unnecessary or duplicate services, and to the inefficiencies of a system that creates multiple, proprietary medical records,鈥� says Huang.聽He cites the example of a general practitioner drawing blood for a test, then referring a patient to a specialist who might perform the same procedure again due to the inaccessibility of the original GP鈥檚 files.

鈥淚f there were one comprehensive set of records for the patient, centrally and securely available on the Internet, practitioners wouldn鈥檛 have to resort to phone calls and courier services to exchange information,鈥� says Huang. Improved access to information could reduce services and associated costs while maintaining the same level of care. 鈥淚t would also allow for a more global perspective on a patient鈥檚 health as various practitioners wouldn鈥檛 be limited in the scope of information available to them and, with the assistance of algorithms, could uncover heretofore unseen conditions.鈥�

Huang offers another example of the benefit of centralized resources by citing his own experience with a leg injury. His doctor referred him to a specialist near his home. However, the specialist couldn鈥檛 fit him into his schedule for two months. By then, the injury was repaired on its own, for better or worse. A centralized information system could analyze a patient鈥檚 surroundings in a more subtle way, not simply in terms of where the GP鈥檚 office is situated, but where the patient lives or works. An advanced algorithm could locate an available specialist in another area who might be available sooner.

The sphere of application is, likewise, immense: from opinion mining and sentiment analysis to context-aware computing and social networking or matchmaking.

The joint 2010 International聽Conferences on Active Media Technology and Brain Informatics will be on the Keele campus from聽Aug. 28 to 30, and聽the聽2010 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conferences on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology will take place at 91亚色 from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3.聽The 19th ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management (CIKM 2010) will be held at the Fairmont Royal 91亚色 from Oct. 26 to 30.

鈥淏ringing these venerable, annual conferences to 91亚色 for the first time represents quite a coup for the University. Among the list of sponsors are some of the major companies involved in the information technology industry and the competition for papers among prospective participants was extremely competitive,鈥� says Huang. 鈥淚鈥檓 very grateful for the support of the Offices of the Vice-President Academic & Provost and the Vice-President Research & Innovation, and the Dean鈥檚 Office of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.鈥�

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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We鈥檙e products of our environment and our living conditions determine if we stay healthy or become ill, a 91亚色 study says.

鈥淗ealth and poverty are directly linked,鈥� Vaughan Community Health Centre executive director Isabel Araya said in response to Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts. 鈥淭he poorer you are, the sicker you are.鈥�

The report, co-authored by Dennis Raphael, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health, and visiting scholar Juha Mikkonen, finds conditions are deteriorating, with serious ramifications for the quality and longevity of Canadians鈥� lives, particularly the poor.

The study profiles how our health is shaped by how much income and wealth we have, if we鈥檙e employed and, if so, the working conditions we experience. The researchers pull together a range of data to show how health is powerfully influenced by our ability to obtain quality education, food and housing, among other factors.

The complete .

on the report May 11:

Dennis Raphael knows who gets sick and why. But to make it better he needs you to know, too.

So the professor at 91亚色鈥檚 School of Health Policy & Management teamed up with visiting scholar Juha Mikkonen to produce a free public primer. Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts is a 62-page report suggesting the primary factors shaping the health of Canadians are not medical treatments or lifestyle choices, but living conditions.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been trying for years to put out something for the public,鈥� says Raphael, 鈥渂ecause the average person doesn鈥檛 go to Health Canada鈥檚 website or the Canadian Public Health Association website.鈥�

Raphael credits his tech-savvy co-author in helping to get the message out. 鈥淲ith Juha visiting from Finland, I came across someone who not only had the content expertise, but was also able to master the desktop publishing and setting up of the website. Now when someone asks what it鈥檚 all about, instead of directing them to a World Health Organization report of 300 pages or my textbook of 600 pages, they can be directed to an accessible document.鈥�

Since its launch on April the 28, has had more than 5,000 visitors, says Raphael.

Income, housing and social exclusion are three of the 14 social determinants of health the report identifies and seeks to improve. The notion that living conditions affect health is not new, but for some reason Canada has been slow to implement it into public policy, according to Raphael.

鈥淚鈥檓 not making this up. If you were to type in social determinants of health you鈥檇 see that for 30 years Health Canada has been putting this stuff out. So this is really commonplace accepted information, but it鈥檚 been more acted upon in Europe and Australia at this point.鈥�

also covered the study April 28:

A 91亚色 study has found enormous gaps in the quality of life and health among Canadians, and those lines are largely drawn along income and wealth.

The 62-page report found that while Canada is among the richest countries in the world, it鈥檚 more than willing to let its poorest citizens fend for themselves when hard times strike.

Noting that an average person鈥檚 health can be determined by a number of factors, including housing, food security, social exclusion and income, the report claims Canada鈥檚 safety net isn鈥檛 sufficient.

The cumulative effect of these inequalities, the report says, is inferior public health, increased expenditure on front-line health care and increased mortality.

The complete article is .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Political decisions and ideology continue to play a huge role in determining the quality of life of individuals and communities in Canada, as well as society as a whole, says 91亚色 health policy & manangement Professor Dennis Raphael, editor of the newly published book Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada: Essential Readings being launched this Thursday. As it stands now,聽"the quality of life聽of Canadians is聽under threat," he says.

Health is聽one of the main聽contributing factors聽to quality of life, but Canada has fallen behind or become stagnant聽over the years on many indicators of health status compared with other wealthy, developed nations, says Raphael.聽Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada brings health and quality of life issues together in one book聽as they are interrelated and intertwined as indicators聽of societal functioning,聽indicators in which聽Canada is lagging behind.

This country聽has slipped from a first-place ranking for quality of life in the late-1990s United Nations Human Development Report to fourth in 2007, and from ninth place to 12th in human and income poverty for the same period.

"In 2005, Canada鈥檚 infant mortality rate was compared to that of 30 wealthy developed nations of the OECD [Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development] (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2007). Canada鈥檚 rate gave it a relative ranking of 24th of 30 nations. Canada鈥檚 low birth-weight rate provided a somewhat better ranking of ninth of 30 nations," writes Raphael, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 School of Health Policy & Management in the Faculty of Health. These are just some of the issues facing the country.

To聽improve the quality of life in Canada, governments need to deal with these health indicators, along with emerging issues, such as the incidence of poverty. Better public policies are needed, especially for the most vulnerable groups 鈥� aboriginal people, immigrants and persons of colour, persons with disabilities and women. Similarly, work needs to be done to promote health at the individual, community and societal level.

"Health promotion is about engaging citizens in order to increase their control over the determinants of health," writes Raphael. "The best way to do this is to influence the development and implementation of health promoting public policy."

Contributors to (Canadian Scholars鈥� Press Inc., 2010) look at the importance of health promotion and the social determinants of health in bringing about quality of life. The book speaks to the need for citizens to become more involved in policy-related activities and for the focus to be broadened from the individual to include the community and society. Public policy choices have a direct impact on the distribution of resources and reveal government priorities.

Left: Dennis Raphael

鈥淭he concepts of quality of life and health promotion can help define and provide means of addressing emerging Canadian concerns,鈥� writes Raphael. 鈥淨uality of life is a multi-dimensional concept that allows consideration of a range of perspectives from individual subjective well-being through to broader indicators of societal functioning.鈥� It is a term that has relevancy for the average person.

Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada examines聽various aspects of聽these issues, including聽"Maintaining Population Health in a Period of Welfare State Decline", "The Welfare State as a Determinant of Women鈥檚 Health", "Making the Links Between Community Structure and Individual Well-being",聽"Quality of Life Indicators and Health" and "A Call to Combat Poverty and Exclusion of Canadians with Disabilities".

The contributors suggest ways to bring health promotion, quality of life and the social determinants of health together and they outline the barriers to improving quality of life and health.

The articles in the collection were supported in some part by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's () Institute of Population and Public Health, 's聽 Health Policy Branch, the North 91亚色 Community Health Promotion Research Unit, the and the Province of Ontario's (Developmental Services Branch).

Raphael is the editor of (Canadian Scholars Press Inc., 2008), co-editor of (Canadian Scholars Press Inc., 2006), and the author of (Canadian Scholars Press Inc., 2007). His research focuses on the health effects of income inequality, the quality of life of communities and individuals, and the impact of government decisions on Canadians鈥� health and well-being.

The launch of Health Promotion and Quality of Life in Canada: Essential Readings will take place Jan. 28, from 5:30 to 7pm, at the Riverdale Public Library, 370 Broadview Ave. at聽Gerrard Street, Toronto.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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