The letter was delivered to Zoidl by 91亚色 Vice-President Research & Innovation, Robert Hach茅, Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner and Faculty of Science & Engineering Dean Janusz Kozinski.

Above: from left, Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner; VP Research & Innovation Robert Hach茅; Professor and CRC Georg Zoidl; and Faculty of Science & Engineering Dean Janusz Kozinski

鈥淥n behalf of the 91亚色 research community, I am delighted that Dr. Georg Zoidl鈥檚 research and appointment as Canada Research Chair in Mollecular and Cellular Neuroscience has been acknowledged by Canada鈥檚 Prime Minister through this correspondence,鈥� said Hach茅.聽 鈥淧rofessor Zoidl is a highly accomplished, world-class researcher who we look to for leadership in the development of this exciting area of research and 91亚色's broader research agenda.鈥�

Zoidl鈥檚 research examines the functions of nerve cells in the brain and the visual system as a means to understanding overall brain activity in health and disease.聽The research explores the communication processes in the brain that contribute to disease-causing conditions. Even small changes in communication between these nerve cells might get amplified over a lifetime and will be at the heart of a wide spectrum of diseases.

He is addressing the role of electrical communication in the visual system and the brain using genetically-altered zebra fish; their brains and eyes utilize the basic communication principles found in humans. His research combines high-end imaging tools with careful molecular and cellular manipulations to track how information flows into the brain and eye under healthy and diseased conditions.聽The research will foster insight into the molecular and cellular basis of epilepsy and could ultimately lead to improved treatment for vision loss.

鈥淚 am honored to receive this letter from Canada鈥檚 Prime Minister, which recognizes the importance of my research,鈥� said Zoidl. 鈥淚n Canada, securing and preserving quality of life is highly dependent on an individual鈥檚 prolonged and sustained quality of health. With vision loss listed in the top 10 most costly disease groups and approximately 15,500 new epilepsy patients each year, it is important to study the fundamental communication processes in the nervous system from molecules to systems in order to develop preventative health measures.鈥�

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

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Considered one of the most vulnerable Liberal incumbents heading into the federal election, Dryden was defeated by Conservative challenger Mark Adler in the north Toronto riding. He becomes the first Tory to win the 91亚色 Centre seat since Fred C. Stinson occupied it from 1957 to 鈥�62.

. . .

But the Conservative government鈥檚 support for Israel was a key factor among Jewish voters in the riding, pundits said.

Adler is an active member of the Bathurst Jewish Community Centre and well known in the riding鈥檚 large Jewish community.

鈥淜aplan held the riding for years and he was a member of the Jewish community and the Liberal party tended to take a kind of centrist position on Israel,鈥� said 91亚色 political science professor Robert MacDermid. 鈥�(Prime Minister Stephen Harper) and the Conservatives have taken a much more pro-Israel stance on many issues and attracted many Jewish voters in that and surrounding ridings.鈥�

Fellow 91亚色 professor agreed. 鈥淣obody is unsupportive of Israel,鈥� said Drummond. 鈥淏ut I think some voters have found the Harper government rather less critical of Israel than perhaps some of the Liberals have been willing to be and that may have shifted some people鈥檚 support.鈥�

Adler founded and is president and CEO of The Economic Club of Canada which has drawn such speakers as Harper, Canadian premiers, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

91亚色 Centre is a diverse riding that includes low-income residents and a fair number of immigrants, said MacDermid.

鈥淭hey have all been hotly contested by the Conservatives鈥� attempt to win over new Canadian groupings,鈥� MacDermid said.

MacDermid didn鈥檛 think the fact that Toronto voters had elected right-leaning mayor Rob Ford was a major factor in swinging 91亚色 Centre to the Tories. Ford endorsed Harper last week.

Some voters routinely shift between the Liberals and Conservatives, and they may have been more willing to vote Conservative this time, said Drummond.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a bit of a shift towards the Conservatives in the last few elections of voters who may have been willing to go back and forth between the Liberals and Conservatives and decided they鈥檙e more supportive of the Conservatives,鈥� he said.

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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A 91亚色 political science prof says it's hit or miss. "Populism is an overused term," said . "It means having ordinary people making decisions rather than experts 鈥� it's appealing, but I think it's often a type of smokescreen for a set of policies that's not going to satisfy ordinary people, but elites," he said. "To those of us who are involved in academic life, it's frightening. It implies that information and facts can be ignored if you have a 'common sense' approach to things."

In the case of Ignatieff, voters get the sense they don't know him well, Drummond said. "But do they know Stephen Harper or Jack Layton?" he asked. "They come across as more ordinary folk. There are times when Harper does look stiff, but the sweater and the piano playing probably does help him."

Being an intellectual can be problematic in this election, simply because many people make an assumption that Ignatieff may be aloof and "probably doesn't think of himself as ordinary folks."

"That may be unfair to him, that's why...all these photo opportunities of him doing things he doesn't do very often are supposed to give him a common touch, but it doesn't work well if you look stiff and uncomfortable doing it," Drummond said.

Ignatieff is pulling out all the stops to project a more down-to-earth image, but time is against him. "He's visiting a lot of places where people get to see him up close and personal, but I don't think you can do a lot during a campaign to make that sort of dent," he said. "It's not the type of campaign in the 19th century where people appeared in person a lot 鈥� a lot of it is televised or online pleas."

Drummond's research explores public policy with a specific focus on provincial politics. He is a frequent media commentator during elections.

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

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So huge, you wonder why it wasn鈥檛 the centrepiece of last week鈥檚 dead-on-arrival federal budget.

But the Family Tax Cut plan announced by Mr. Harper Monday in Saanich, B.C. wouldn鈥檛 come into effect until the federal budget is balanced, which could be years from now. Like pension splitting before it, splitting earned or other income for tax purposes would benefit only some families and be no help at all to singles, including single parents. To get the full benefit, even qualifying families would have to have a large income disparity between the higher and lower wage earners. Even then, a maximum of $50,000 of household income would be splittable for tax purposes .

. . .

In a blog Monday the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) cited Osgoode Hall Law School tax law expert to the effect [that] the biggest winners from income-splitting are higher-income male breadwinners: 鈥淎 man can reduce his taxes by shifting them to the primary caregiver in the family, but he has no legal obligation to give her the actual income.鈥�

The CCPA warns this 鈥渢ax giveaway for affluent couples鈥� will put a big dent in federal finances.

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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Individuals who wrote themselves a compassionate or optimistic letter every day for a week were less depressed up to three months later and reported an overall increase in happiness after six months.

More than 200 people logged onto a website for seven consecutive nights to complete the exercise, then filled out questionnaires measuring their progress at intervals of one, three and six months. Participants were assigned one of three conditions: self-compassion, optimism or a neutral control condition.

鈥淚nterestingly, we noted significant improvements in mood for all participants, except those who exhibited extreme neediness,鈥� says study co-author (right), a psychology professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health.

In the self-compassion exercise, participants were directed to address an upsetting event, attempting to comfort themselves as they would a friend in a similar situation.

鈥淭he idea was to try and be good to yourself, to realize your distress makes sense and provide the words you would need to hear to feel nurtured and soothed,鈥� Mongrain says. The exercise was adapted by Leah Shapira, the study鈥檚 lead author and a graduate student in 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Psychology.

Those assigned an optimistic task were instructed to visualize a future in which current issues were resolved and give themselves advice on paper on how to get there. In the control condition, participants wrote freely about an early memory.

Researchers then looked at the effect of compassion versus optimism for individuals prone to depression. Numerous studies, including Mongrain鈥檚 own, have established that dependent and self-critical personality types are at high risk for depression. Self critics feel guilty for not living up to the demanding standards they set for themselves, generating feelings of worthlessness. Dependent personalities are characterized by fear of abandonment and the dissolution of interpersonal relationships.

鈥淚mmature dependents experience intense fear of rejection and a sense of helplessness,鈥� Mongrain says. 鈥淢ature dependents, on the other hand, thrive on connectedness; they are people pleasers who experience anxiety but can have positive and trusting interactions with others.鈥�

Researchers found that self critics experienced the greatest benefits from optimism exercises, whereas those with more connected personalities profited most from self-compassion. 鈥淐onnected individuals are able to nurture others, meaning that this compassion can theoretically be extended to the self,鈥� Mongrain says.

The study, 鈥淭he Benefits of Self-Compassion and Optimism Exercises for Individuals Vulnerable to Depression鈥�, was published in The Journal of Positive Psychology. Those with access can view the study through .

This study was funded by a grant from the .

Mongrain's study was covered by in an article that included fictional satirical letters to themselves by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:

Anyone can write a love note to himself to help create lasting happiness. The only caveat is that it doesn't work as well if you're too self-critical, needy and oversensitive to potential abandonment. That's the finding of a research paper out of 91亚色, published recently in The Journal of Positive Psychology.

"It was an effort to create a tool for when things don't go as well as you wanted," says Myriam Mongrain, professor of psychology in 91亚色's Faculty of Hedicine, who worked as project leader on the study along with lead author and 91亚色 graduate student Leah Shapira (MA '09).

Mongrain acknowledges that in Western society such Buddhist-style loving kindness directed toward the self is not encouraged or even acceptable. "Many believe that you won't get anywhere by being kind to yourself; letting yourself off the hook is a recipe for failure or disaster," she says. "They've begun to believe that they need to be tough on themselves to reach their high standards.... For them, they might think it meant they were lazy or self-indulgent. But it offers another world view, another prescription in how to relate to oneself. ... The public needs to know that this will not interfere with their work ethic."

The approach might also lead to greater harmony among people, she adds. "If you interpret events as signs that you're incompetent, that you're a failure, that you're inadequate, all of those judgments toward yourself will lead to an unhealthy approach 鈥� overcompensating for example...and you become angry as a way to defend yourself, to retaliate."

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The segment runs approximately .

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Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed retired Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci to review documents related to the Afghan detainee issue demanded by Parliament, wrote Reg Whitaker, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, in the Toronto Star March 19.

An independent review, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson stated, 鈥渨ill ensure that parliamentarians will have access to the relevant government information on the arrangements for the transfer of detainees in Afghanistan while ensuring there is no injury to Canada鈥檚 national defence, international relations or national security.鈥�

Opposition parliamentarians, and Canadians at large, who are tempted to accept this argument, should realize that they are listening to a siren song that will inevitably lead astray the search for the truth about Canadian complicity with detainee torture.

There is no justification in legal or constitutional terms for the Iacobucci appointment under Nicholson鈥檚 terms of reference, or indeed under any similar terms of reference.

Iacobucci has accepted a task which neither he nor any other person of however high repute and qualifications has any business doing. Not the prime minister, nor the justice minister, nor a Supreme Court judge can be the appropriate arbiter of what papers Parliament can order, and enforce release, from the executive, wrote Whitaker.

The rest of the article is available on The Star's .

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