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Enrollment of international post-secondary students is increasing across Canadian campuses. International post-secondary students may experience challenges in accessing nutritious foods that meet their dietary needs and food preferences. These challenges can pose negative impacts on their health, well-being, and academic achievement. Our aim was to describe international post-secondary students' perceptions of (1) challenges to attaining food security and (2) consequences of food insecurity on the university experience. We conducted individual semi-structured interviews with 11 international post-secondary students who had food insecurity, were enrolled at a public university in Canada, and who had requested emergency food hampers from the on-campus food bank. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using manifest, inductive content analysis. International post-secondary students reported several logistical issues related to obtaining sufficient food, including a lack of time, limited family support, modest food preparation skills, and low knowledge about supportive services and resources. Students also faced challenges in sourcing culturally appropriate foods, including issues related to food availability, accessibility, acceptability, and affordability. Further, they perceived food insecurity to negatively influence their academic performance through compromised concentration, reduced class and exam attendance, and adverse impacts on physical, mental, and social well-being. Some students reported extreme food deprivation, resulting in hunger. Our results revealed the negative impacts that food insecurity can have on international post-secondary students. Findings underscore the imperative to minimize the occurrence of food insecurity while studying in Canada by introducing and enhancing support systems on campus and in the community to enable food security.

Dental education continuously strives to provide students with positive and meaningful learning experiences. Developing or improving a curriculum usually encompasses three main phases: design, implementation, and evaluation. Most research on curriculum development in dental education has focused on the last two phases. Our commentary addresses this gap by describing a new model for curriculum design that effectively guided the design phase of the complete overhaul of the four‐year Doctor of Dental Surgery curriculum at the School of Dentistry, University of Alberta. Built on the strengths of pre‐existing curriculum design models, the new model provided enough structure and rigour to support the complexity required during a complete curriculum redesign whilst still allowing sufficient consultation and flexibility to encourage stakeholder engagement. The steps of the new 4P's model (preparation, planning, prototyping, and piloting) and main actions within each step are described. Challenges observed in each step and strategies to address them are reported. Other institutions embarking on renewing or redesigning a curriculum at a program level may benefit from using a curriculum design process similar to the 4P's model. Recommendations are discussed including the inclusion of educational consultants in the curriculum renewal committee, the importance of a leadership that effectively supports curriculum reform, purposeful engagement of stakeholders during each step of the design phase and ensuring that project and change management occur concurrently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1) To explore how children with spina bifida (SB) and their parents understand bodyweight, health and weight management; and 2) To identify what services and supports children with SB and their families feel are most appropriate to help them manage their health and weight. The study used interpretive description within a qualitative design. Participants were children with SB (aged 10-18) attending two Canadian SB clinics and their parents. Data were collected through individual interviews and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Five children and five parents participated in the study. Children and parents had a weight-centric approach to health, which was related to the child's mobility. Weight was considered to be under individual control and mostly through diet. Trusting relationships between healthcare providers, children and families were important to discuss weight in a non-judgemental manner. Children should be involved in setting meaningful and achievable weight management goals. Greater knowledge of how children with SB and their families understand weight and health offers opportunities for non-judgemental discussions about their needs and wishes. Helping families to place more value on health over weight may reduce feelings of stigma, while allowing children to develop some autonomy over health-related decisions. Children with spina bifida and their parents do not recognise the complexity of factors contributing to weight regulation. Weight regulation was often seen as the child's responsibility, which could lead to feelings of guilt and shame through internalised weight stigma Healthcare professionals working with children with spina bifida should explore their perceptions, beliefs, and behaviours related to weight, health and mobility to ensure they are not causing themselves physical and/or psychological harm [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Storytelling has been infrequently used in dental education to link clinical knowledge and practice. Our study aimed to explore dental students' views of instructor storytelling with an emphasis on clinical reasoning within a case‐based oral pathology seminar. Methods: Qualitative description guided the study design. Participants were third‐ and fourth‐year undergraduate dental students who participated in the seminar. Data were collected through semi‐structured, one‐on‐one interviews. Data analysis was approached using inductive, manifest thematic analysis. Verification strategies were employed to ensure methodological rigor throughout the analysis. Results: In total, 21 students participated in the study ranging in age from 22 to 29 years. Three interrelated themes were identified, which were related to storytelling authenticity, benefits, and recommendations for improvement. Specifically, students reported that instructor stories effectively conveyed genuine cases and clinical reasoning; were beneficial in terms of engagement, awareness, knowledge acquisition, and skill development; and needed to be educationally and clinically relevant to bridge the knowledge‐practice gap. Conclusions: Instructor storytelling was regarded by dental students as both positive and beneficial. Research is needed to further demonstrate the effectiveness of instructor storytelling in fostering clinical learning and reasoning using indirect and direct outcome measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Case‐based learning is widely used in health professions education to improve clinical learning, but little is known about how best to approach multiple cases in this active learning strategy. Our study explored dental student views of multiple case‐based learning in oral pathology. Materials and methods: Qualitative description informed the study design. Data were collected through semi‐structured, individual interviews with twenty‐one third‐ and fourth‐year dental students who participated in multiple case‐based learning seminars. Data were analysed using inductive, manifest thematic analysis. Results: Themes were identified at approach and case levels. Approach‐level themes included preparing students for clinical practice and board exams and maximising exposure (e.g., to lesions/conditions), knowledge application, and engagement within the time allotted for the learning session. Case‐level themes included using challenging but manageable cases, linking cases to lecture content, providing the necessary clinical information to solve the cases, and ensuring that cases were authentic and common with non‐typical presentations. Aspects of themes encompassed definitions of case characteristics, benefits, conditions of implementation, and recommendations for improvement. Conclusion: Cases should be considered individually, collectively, purposefully, and contextually in multiple case‐based learning. Evaluations of learning and behavioural outcome are needed to further establish the effectiveness of approaches and case characteristics in multiple case‐based learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We interviewed families to explore their views on the role of family navigation (FN) to improve access to and use of health services for managing pediatric obesity. From March to December, 2020, we conducted individual, structured telephone interviews with adolescents with obesity (13-17 years old) and their caregivers from Edmonton and Calgary, Canada. Among our 37 participants (14 adolescents, 23 caregivers), most (n = 27; 73.0%) reported FN could improve their access to obesity management. Participants recommended several activities to support healthcare access and use, including appointment reminders, evening/weekend appointments, parking/transportation support, and in-clinic childcare, all of which help families to attend appointments over an extended period to support obesity management. Most participants preferred FN be offered by healthcare professional 'navigators' who were approachable, empathic, and compassionate since issues regarding health and obesity can be sensitive, emotional topics to discuss. Overall, families supported integrating FN into multidisciplinary pediatric obesity management to improve healthcare access and use by navigators who apply a range of practical strategies and relational skills to enhance long-term access and adherence to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) are specialized sensors of luminal forces and chemicals in the gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium that respond to stimulation with a release of signalling molecules such as serotonin (5‐HT). For mechanosensitive EECs, force activates Piezo2 channels, which generate a very rapidly activating and inactivating (∼10 ms) cationic (Na+, K+, Ca2+) receptor current. Piezo2 receptor currents lead to a large and persistent increase in intracellular calcium (Ca2+) that lasts many seconds to sometimes minutes, suggesting signal amplification. However, intracellular calcium dynamics in EEC mechanotransduction remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to determine the role of Ca2+ stores in EEC mechanotransduction. Mechanical stimulation of a human EEC cell model (QGP‐1) resulted in a rapid increase in cytoplasmic Ca2+ and a slower decrease in ER stores Ca2+, suggesting the involvement of intracellular Ca2+ stores. Comparing murine primary colonic EECs with colonocytes showed expression of intercellular Ca2+ store receptors, a similar expression of IP3 receptors, but a >30‐fold enriched expression of Ryr3 in EECs. In mechanically stimulated primary EECs, Ca2+ responses decreased dramatically by emptying stores and pharmacologically blocking IP3 and RyR1/3 receptors. RyR3 genetic knockdown by siRNA led to a significant decrease in mechanosensitive Ca2+ responses and 5‐HT release. In tissue, pressure‐induced increase in the Ussing short circuit current was significantly decreased by ryanodine receptor blockade. Our data show that mechanosensitive EECs use intracellular Ca2+ stores to amplify mechanically induced Ca2+ entry, with RyR3 receptors selectively expressed in EECs and involved in Ca2+ signalling, 5‐HT release and epithelial secretion. Key points: A population of enteroendocrine cells (EECs) are specialized mechanosensors of the gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium that respond to mechanical stimulation with the release of important signalling molecules such as serotonin.Mechanical activation of these EECs leads to an increase in intracellular calcium (Ca2+) with a longer duration than the stimulus, suggesting intracellular Ca2+ signal amplification.In this study, we profiled the expression of intracellular Ca2+ store receptors and found an enriched expression of the intracellular Ca2+ receptor Ryr3, which contributed to the mechanically evoked increases in intracellular calcium, 5‐HT release and epithelial secretion.Our data suggest that mechanosensitive EECs rely on intracellular Ca2+ stores and are selective in their use of Ryr3 for amplification of intracellular Ca2+.This work advances our understanding of EEC mechanotransduction and may provide novel diagnostic and therapeutic targets for GI motility disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behavioural sciences curriculum in dental education is often fragmented and its clinical relevance is not always apparent to learners. Curriculum integration is vital to understand behavioural subjects that are interrelated but frequently delivered as separate issues in dental programmes. In this commentary, we discuss behavioural change as a curricular theme that can integrate behavioural sciences in dental programmes. Specifically, we discuss behavioural change in the context of dental education guidelines and describe four general phases of behavioural change (defining the target behaviour, identifying the behavioural determinants, applying appropriate behavioural change techniques and evaluating the behavioural intervention) to make the case for content that can be covered within this curricular theme, including its sequencing. This commentary is part of ongoing efforts to improve the behavioural sciences curriculum in dental education in order to ensure that dental students develop the behavioural competencies required for entry‐level general dentists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of parents supporting their child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and overweight or obesity (OW/OB), including their weight management support needs. Interview transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Nine parents (n = 9 mothers) of ten children with ASD (7 males, 3 females) participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The three themes developed were: (1) Our journey to obtain weight management support; (2) I need real-world solutions; and (3) The what, who and how of our weight management needs. Parents reported being proactive in seeking weight management support for their child but were disappointed with the services offered. Resources were not tailored to the child's complex nutrition and behavioural issues or their abilities and functioning. A multidisciplinary approach that integrated both disability and weight management expertise was desired, but not experienced. A range of formal and informal programs were recommended. This study provides a call to action for supports that ensure children with ASD and OW/OB receive integrated, individualised support to maximise their health and wellness. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at high risk of developing overweight or obesity. The weight management support needs of parents of children with ASD and overweight or obesity are not being met. Support must be tailored to the child's needs, which are often complex. Health services that integrate expertise in both disability and weight management are needed for children with ASD and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]