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During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Province of Ontario, Canada, launched a wastewater surveillance program to monitor SARS-CoV-2, inspired by the early work and successful forecasts of COVID-19 waves in the city of Ottawa, Ontario. This manuscript presents a dataset from January 1, 2021, to March 31, 2023, with RT-qPCR results for SARS-CoV-2 genes and PMMoV from 107 sites across all 34 public health units in Ontario, covering 72% of the province's and 26.2% of Canada's population. Sampling occurred 2–7 times weekly, including geographical coordinates, serviced populations, physico-chemical water characteristics, and flowrates. In doing so, this manuscript ensures data availability and metadata preservation to support future research and epidemic preparedness through detailed analyses and modeling. The dataset has been crucial for public health in tracking disease locally, especially with the rise of the Omicron variant and the decline in clinical testing, highlighting wastewater-based surveillance's role in estimating disease incidence in Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most waterfowl nesting failure in the prairie biome is attributed to predation. However, the contribution of small mammal abundance to the prairie predator-prey cycle and how this affects waterfowl productivity is not known. We modelled seasonal variability of nesting success, including a number of habitat and nest-related variables, to quantify influence of rodent abundance for prairie nesting waterfowl for six study sites in the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada, 1996-1998. We estimated there is a curvilinear relationship between the abundance of meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)) and the nesting success of ducks. The relationship has characteristics of the alternate prey hypothesis at low vole density and characteristics of the shared prey hypothesis at higher densities. At low vole densities, duck nests appear to be buffered from predation by voles but, at higher densities, nesting success was affected negatively. We recommend that predator-prey dynamics should be included as an integral part of management plans for nesting waterfowl and suggest further research using rigorous experiment design to elucidate mechanisms and pathways responsible for this observed relationship. On attribue la plupart des échecs de la nidification des oiseaux aquatiques dans le biome des prairies à la prédation. Cependant, la contribution de l’abondance des petits mammifères au cycle des prédateurs-proies des prairies et son effet sur la productivité des oiseaux aquatiques restent inconnus. Nous modélisons la variabilité saisonnière du succès de la nidification et incluant plusieurs variables reliées à l’habitat et au nid, afin de mesurer l’influence de l’abondance des rongeurs sur les oiseaux aquatiques pendant leur nidification dans les prairies à six sites d’étude dans la région des cuvettes des prairies canadiennes, en 1996-1998. Nous estimons qu’il y a une relation curviligne entre l’abondance des campagnols de Pennsylvanie (Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815)) et le succès de la nidification chez les canards. Cette relation possède, aux faibles densités de campagnols, certains caractères de l’hypothèse des proies de rechange et, aux densités plus élevées, des caractéristiques de l’hypothèse des proies partagées. Aux faibles densités de campagnols, les nids de canards semblent être préservés de la prédation par les campagnols, mais, aux densités plus fortes, le succès de la nidification est affecté négativement. Nous recommandons que la dynamique des prédateurs-proies fasse partie intégrante des plans d’aménagement des oiseaux aquatiques durant la nidification et nous proposons des recherches supplémentaires avec un plan d’expérience rigoureux pour élucider les mécanismes et les voies responsables de la relation que nous observons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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1. In situ experiments were conducted using specialised incubation devices to grow biofilms under varying light regimes and grazing intensities (by excluding fish and large-sized zooplankton, >2 mm) both within and between two sites in Lake Saint-Pierre. 2. Biofilms growing under greater in situ UVR and light exposures found in the south water mass were characterised by a greater biomass and nutrient content, but their total fatty acid (FA) contents and ratios of elemental nutrients were not significantly different from the north. There was a relatively greater abundance of chlorophytes and cyanobacteria in the south water mass, along with a greater proportion of low nutritional quality saturated fatty acids (SAFA). Conversely, biofilms growing in the north had a greater relative abundance of diatoms, as well as greater eicosapentaneoic acid (20:5 ω3) and docosahexaneoic acid (22:6 ω3) concentrations (two FAs implicated in the physiological competency of grazers). 3. The prevailing community structures created differences in terms of nutritional status of the biofilms for benthic grazers and their predators at the two sites. The biofilms from the southern site were characterised by greater food quantity at the expense of quality, while biofilms from the northern site contained less food of a better quality. Despite this, the nutritional regime in the south supported a greater productivity at higher trophic levels. The secondary treatments (light and grazing by fish and macro-invertebrates) had lesser effects on food quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) people in Canada. Despite higher SARS-CoV-2 exposure risks, likelihood of being quarantined, and risk of severe disease outcomes, little is known about the pandemic's effects on this community's mental health. This study aims to identify factors associated with changes in ACB Canadians' mental health during the pandemic and provide guidance for improved access to mental health resources. Data was collected from May to July 2021 using a cross-sectional, national, online survey. Eligible participants for this community-based study were ACB adults residing in Canada. Survey measures included demographics, pandemic-related experiences, mental health status, and access to mental health services. Bivariate analyses and multinomial logistic regression examined associations between variables. Among the 1,556 participants, 25.4% reported improved mental health and 33.1% reported worsened mental health since the pandemic's onset. Improved mental health was associated with younger age, receiving at least one pandemic-related benefit, and living in a home that became safer. In contrast, worsened mental health was associated with younger age, working less, the pandemic having a major impact on ability to pay bills, not receiving pandemic-related benefits, home becoming less safe, and increased substance use. Barriers to accessing mental health services included difficulty getting an appointment, cost, pandemic measures, and lack of culturally competent care. These insights underscore the positive impact of pandemic-related emergency relief, the challenges in accessing mental health services, and the gaps in culturally competent mental health care., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to this study., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: This qualitative research study aimed to better understand and help improve the Canadian context for health communication with intersex adults by centering the voices of those directly involved and impacted., Methods: We conducted 22 semi-structured interviews with intersex individuals (14) and healthcare practitioners (HCPs, 8) from diverse areas of care. Interviews were analyzed via template thematic analysis and filtered through a conceptual lens that brought together agency-based and social-ecological models of health communication., Results: Findings produced three interlocking axes for change: HCP skills and approaches, structural access to care, and norms and discourses. Participant accounts depict a landscape for intersex health communication where practices are improving, but adverse experiences are still commonplace and intersex individuals cannot assume HCPs will be competent in intersex care. Rather, they utilize a variety of strategies and expend considerable efforts navigating structural gaps and barriers to access affirmative HCPs, who themselves often gained their expertise via individual initiative. Interviewees advocated for HCPs to get a baseline background in intersex care during their medical training, as well as skills in accessible health communication and person-centered and trauma-informed approaches. They also connected broader societal stigma and pathologization to harmful medical practices and called for naturalization and normalization of intersex variations., Conclusion: This study highlights the need for collaborative efforts across multiple sectors and by multiple stakeholders to drive meaningful change. Findings can help guide HCPs, medical educators, researchers, advocates, and policymakers towards accessible, affirmative, and agency-based care., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. YJ declared that he was an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2025 Knoppers, Voutsinas, Palmour, Saulnier, Holmes, Charron, Gallois, Jamali, Ordal and Joly.)

The objective of this study was to translate the Preference-Based Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Scale to French-Canadian. After the scale underwent forward and back translations, the expert committee examined the translated versions and found minor grammatical errors and suggested idioms to be changed to better represent French-Canadian language. Cognitive debriefing interviews were carried out to assess the pre-final version for clarity, and minor changes were made. Consensus from the expert committee and people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on the measure's clarity, word choice, and meaning were achieved, resulting in the final French version of the Preference-Based Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Scale.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) cadets experience high volumes of potentially psychologically traumatic events, suggesting a need of normal cardiac cycle interval data on the cadets for comparison. We characterize the cardiac cycle of incoming RCMP cadets starting the 26-week training program. The cadets collected their cardiac data using the LLA Recordis™ device. Male RCMP cadets had higher ( p  < 0.05) myocardial and diastolic performance indices, aortic valve open to aortic twist time, and isovolumic relaxation time than female RCMP cadets. Monitoring the cardiac cycle intervals in RCMP cadets can provide insights into changes in their heart function from their occupational demands., Competing Interests: J. Patrick Neary is a coauthor on a patent related to the seismocardiography device to be used in this study (Mac Quarrie et al. 2024). There are no other reported conflicts related to this study.

Social isolation matters for health and longevity, but little research examines transitions into or out of social isolation or whether transitions are gendered or socially patterned. We described gender-specific trends in breadth and lack of social participation over 6 years overall and by age, country of origin, geographic location, education, wealth, and household income. We used three waves of CLSA data to evaluate changes in social isolation (0-1 activities) and broad social participation (5+ activities) in adults aged 45-75 (n = 24,788), by gender and socio-demographics, in linear and multinomial logistic regressions with post-estimated predicted probabilities. The number of social activities decreased over time, with greater declines for women. About half the sample (more men than women) stayed not highly socially active (<5 activities) and almost 1 in 5 became not highly socially active. Most adults (77 %) remained not socially isolated and 14 % became or remained socially isolated. Women were more likely than men to remain not highly socially active and less likely to have multiple social isolation transitions. Broad social participation changed over time for several subgroups of women and men, with gender differences notable for income levels. Social disparities in social isolation transitions differed by gender only for education. Older age and socioeconomically disadvantaged adults had higher probabilities of becoming socially isolated or becoming less socially active. Findings indicated the diversity of social activities declined as Canadians age into later life and transitions in both social isolation and social participation differed between genders, especially for specific vulnerable subpopulations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Canada remains one of few Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries without a well-established nationally harmonized and funded school food program (SFP); however, the Canadian federal government recently announced the development and implementation of a national SFP that might supersede the uncoordinated patchwork of SFPs currently delivered across Canada. We designed and conducted novel survey research to systematically identify the characteristics of organization-led SFPs, building on previous research that focused on the characteristics of provincial and territorial government involvement in school food programming. An electronic survey was developed to include items deemed most relevant based on applicable literature and expert content validation, and distributed to organizations involved in the purchasing, planning, and/or preparation of school foods. Responses were categorized post hoc into the RE-AIM categories to assess SFP Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance. Analysis identified key SFP implementation characteristics (including funding source, payment model, and student eligibility), program components, SFP goals/mandates, and factors that determine what foods are served; and assessed correlations among key characteristics. Results from 67 SFPs across 10 provinces indicate considerable variability in SFP characteristics. SFP-delivering organizations reported a predominant goal of reducing student food insecurity, while nutrition and cost were cited as the main factors determining food served. Collectively, organizations were found to rely primarily on donations, while provincial funding accounted for only 30% of total funding. These findings reveal strengths and areas for improvement within Canada's current school food landscape and highlight important gaps that could be addressed with federal involvement., Competing Interests: The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Background: Examining ways to support persons with dementia and their caregivers to help minimize the disease's impact on individuals, families, and society is critical. One emerging avenue for support is technology (eg, smartphones and smart homes)., Objective: Given the increasing presence of technology in caregiving, it is pertinent to appreciate whether and how technology can be most useful to a care partner's everyday life. This study aims to further understand care partner technology use, attitudes, and the potential role of off-the-shelf technologies (eg, smartphones and smart homes) in supporting caregiving from the perspective of care partners for persons with dementia., Methods: We conducted a telephone cross-sectional survey using random digit dialing with 67 self-identified care partners of persons with dementia across one Canadian province. Participants were asked about attitudes toward technology, barriers to and facilitators for technology use, technology use with caregiving, and demographic information. Eight open-ended questions were analyzed using content analysis; 2 closed-ended questions about comfort with and helpfulness of technology (rated on a scale of 1 to 10) were analyzed with frequencies. From these data, an in-depth semistructured interview was created, and 10 (15%) randomly sampled care partners from the initial collection of 67 care partners were interviewed approximately 1 year later, with responses analyzed using content analysis., Results: Frequency analysis rated on a scale of 1 to 10 suggested that care partners were comfortable with technology (wearable technology mean 7.94, SD 2.02; smart home technology mean 6.94, SD 2.09), although they rated the helpfulness of technology less strongly (mean 5.02, SD 2.85). Qualitatively, care partners described using technology for functional tasks and some caregiving. Barriers to technology use included cost, lack of knowledge, security or privacy concerns, and undesirable features of technology. Facilitators included access to support and the presence of desirable features. Some care partners described merging technology with caregiving and reported subsequent benefits. Others stated that technology could not be adopted for caregiving due to the degree of impairment, fear of negative consequences for the person living with dementia, or due to incongruity with the caregiving philosophy. Furthermore, care partners noted that their technology use either increased or was unchanged as they moved through the COVID-19 pandemic., Conclusions: The 2 analyses were conducted separately, but there was notable overlap in the data, suggesting temporal stability of identified content. Both analyses suggested care partners' relative comfort with technology and its use, but other care partners noted concerns about integrating technology and caregiving. Care partners' reports of increased technology use throughout the COVID-19 pandemic may also suggest that the pandemic impacted their perceptions of the usefulness of technology, being influenced by the requirements of their reality. Future investigations should examine how to support care partners in adopting relevant technology., (©Karl S Grewal, Rory Gowda-Sookochoff, Shelley Peacock, Allison Cammer, Lachlan A McWilliams, Raymond J Spiteri, Kristen R Haase, Mary Harrison, Lorraine Holtslander, Rhoda MacRae, Joanne Michael, Shoshana Green, Megan E O'Connell. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 13.12.2024.)

To date, an affordable, effective treatment for an HIV-1 cure remains only a concept with most "latency reversal" agents (LRAs) lacking specificity for the latent HIV-1 reservoir and failing in early clinical trials. We assessed HIV-1 latency reversal using a multivalent HIV-1-derived virus-like particle (HLP) to treat samples from 32 people living with HIV-1 (PLWH) in Uganda, US and Canada who initiated combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) during chronic infection. Even after 5-20 years on stable cART, HLP could target CD4 + T cells harbouring latent HIV-1 reservoir resulting in 100-fold more HIV-1 release into culture supernatant than by common recall antigens, and 1000-fold more than by chemotherapeutic LRAs. HLP induced release of a divergent and replication-competent HIV-1 population from PLWH on cART. These findings suggest HLP provides a targeted approach to reactivate the majority of latent HIV-1 proviruses among individuals infected with HIV-1.

Visual representations of aging have historically relied upon binarized clichés: idealized youthfulness versus frailty and illness. To challenge these oversimplified depictions, graduate students developed a community outreach project titled 'Seniors of Canada'. The aim of this project was twofold: (1) share images and stories of people in later life; and (2) challenge dominant narratives and stereotypes of aging. In this note, we outline the prevailing discourse of what aging 'looks like', how we collected stories and images, and implications for knowledge mobilization and research in Canada. This article highlights insights gained since the inception of the project, including three key learnings: (1) Building bridges across academia and community , (2) Intergenerational connection and digital tools , and (3) The power of visual storytelling. We provide a practical overview of a successful knowledge mobilization/community outreach project and showcase the power of bridging academia and community for social change.

In Canada, there is a lack of research that addresses the sexual health and well-being of African, Caribbean, and Black young women. This paper aims to gather perspectives of young Black women to address the social contexts of how young Black women navigate issues related to sex and sexual health. Young Black women experience unique dynamics in navigating their sexualities and sexual healthcare. The nuanced experiences stem from social contexts with historical underpinnings, such as the perception of Black women's bodies, Black identity, gender roles, and sexual double standards. This Community-Based Participatory Research study (N = 24) utilized focus groups to examine young Black women's experiences navigating sexual health. Employing a thematic analysis, participants identified four themes representing their narratives of navigating sexual health. The themes included the perceptions and hypersexuality of Black women's bodies, navigating sexual double standards and gender roles as Black women, diverse Blackness, and migration experiences concerning sexual health and surveillance of Black women's bodies. This paper is intended to add to scholarly discourse and will include practical strategies for use by researchers and community practitioners in sexual health within the Black community., (© 2024 The Authors. American Journal of Community Psychology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Community Research and Action.)

Background: Dancing offers several health and wellness benefits for older adults: it may promote physical literacy (PL) and positively influence the aging process. Yet, limited research considers the perspectives of those with experience working with older adults and in community dance programming., Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand program experts' perspectives on how older adult community dance can promote PL and contribute to age-friendly cities and community initiatives., Methods and Findings: Four themes were identified from semi-structured interviews with five program experts: (1) expert instructors tailor classes to participants' needs and interests; (2) the heart of what draws us to dancing: authentic experience and social connection; (3) elitist, ableist, and gendered assumptions of dance prevent social inclusion of older adults in dancing spaces; and (4) collaboration across sectors is needed to offer accessible, sustainable, and valued dance programming., Discussion: Recommendations for developing and implementing older adult community dance programming are described.

Close social ties are important for health but these can decline as people age. Moreover, losses of close social ties may be worse for women, older age and low socioeconomic groups. We characterized alterations in both marital status or living arrangement over 6 years by gender, and assessed patterns by age, country of origin, geographic location, education, wealth, and household income. We used three waves of Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging data on 25,327 adults (45-85 years at baseline) to construct transition variables and multinomial logistic regressions with post-estimated predicted probabilities. Close social ties were stable over time, with most Canadians remaining partnered (77 % of men and 62 % of women) or co-living (82 % of men and 72 % of women). Adverse close social ties over time were gendered and socially patterned, with women 75+ years and of low socioeconomic status (SES) having the greatest risks. Becoming widowed or remaining non-partnered was relatively more likely for women with oldest age (RRR range: 6.08-15.64) or with low SES (RRRs: 2.29-47.06), and for men with oldest age (RRRs: 1.07-8.77) or low SES (RRRs: 2.03-31.72). Becoming or remaining lone-living was relatively more likely for women of oldest age (RRRs: 5.57-8.72) or low SES (RRRs: 2.16-65.78) and also for men of oldest aged (RRRs: 2.33-2.57) or low SES (RRRs: 2.08-49.62). Tailored healthy aging strategies to foster close social connections of women or men in older and low SES groups seems warranted., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)