June 2025: Volume 9 Issue 2

An ever-increasing rise in the occurrence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) presents a need to understand its development and progression with a goal of advancing novel treatment options. Epigenetics encompasses numerous modifications that mediate gene regulation amidst diverse genetic and environmental conditions. Specifically, histone methylations play a key role in the regulation of lipogenic gene expression and, like other epigenetic modifications, are inherently reversible. This presents an array of options for therapeutic intervention. This review explores the roles of specific histone demethylases and their dynamic relationships with transcription factors and target genes involved in NAFLD. I summarize how, in addition to enhancing disease progression, these histone modifications can conversely act to protect from harmful side effects of this disease. I suggest areas of future investigation into additional transcription and epigenetic factors that have yet to be studied in this context and are necessary to further our understanding of NAFLD and to develop novel treatment options.

This study explores the political framing of the housing crisis in Canada through a discourse analysis of parliamentary debates. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of one month of Hansards in March 2023, it examines how Canada’s main political parties frame the source of the housing crisis. The research identifies six dominant frames, with excessive federal spending and excessive bureaucracy emerging as the most prominent. These frames reflect the polarized nature of political discourse and the strategic allocation of blame across different levels of government. By linking these findings to literature on political framing and multi-level governance, the study highlights how competing narratives shape public policy in a decentralized federation. The results suggest that such framing may hinder the development of cohesive and effective housing policy.

This paper examines literature, policy documents, and government reports on trauma-informed care in federal prisons for incarcerated women and the difficulties of providing such care in a carceral environment. Incarcerated women represent a minority of incarcerated people in Canada, and they typically have increased rates of trauma compared to incarcerated males, which impairs their ability to participate in correctional programs fully. Many researchers recommend implementing trauma-informed approaches in correctional settings, and Correctional Service Canada (CSC) has attempted to do so for federally sentenced women by adhering to principles outlined in Creating Choices, a report created to influence the care of incarcerated women. Despite CSC’s efforts to use trauma-informed approaches, the non-therapeutic prison environment and the power dynamics between prisoners and staff make it impossible to provide trauma-informed care in prisons, as women are often re-traumatized in prison due to common security practices such as strip searches. Therefore, this paper offers policy change recommendations, including eliminating strip searches and providing correctional programming led by external treatment providers, that would minimize the harm women experience while incarcerated. However, given the inherent harms associated with prison that cannot be addressed through reform, allowing women to serve their sentences in the community is optimal and necessary to reduce the use of imprisonment and truly provide them with trauma-informed care.

New regulations in British Columbia have authorized pharmacists to prescribe for minor ailments and contraception. It is unknown whether the current University of British Columbia’s Entry-to-Practice Doctor of Pharmacy (E2P PharmD) Program has prepared its students for this expansion in prescribing. The current study aimed to assess 4th-year E2P PharmD students’ perceived preparedness to prescribe as they transition from the role of students to newly graduated pharmacists and to identify if any changes need to be made to the current PharmD curriculum. The study used survey methodology and contained questions associated with preparedness to prescribe. Questions consisted of Likert scales, ranking, multiple response, and open-ended formats. The web-based survey was made available to 4th-year E2P PharmD students. Twenty-four students responded (response rate=11%). Most students reported feeling pharmacists should prescribe for minor ailments (92%) and contraception (88%). Students felt least knowledgeable/confident in considering contraindications or warnings, prescribing correct frequency and prescribing correct duration. Students were most concerned with time restraint (22%) and increased workload (20%). They were least concerned with documentation requirements (12%) and knowledge base (7%). In open-ended responses, students expressed a need for further review on the permissible conditions of prescribing, or accessible information for support during the prescribing service. Our study’s findings suggest that 4th-year E2P PharmD students agree with prescribing for minor ailments and contraception and generally feel they are comfortable with the knowledge they have currently received on the permissible conditions. However, barriers and a need for further education have been recognized as factors that will deter future pharmacists from implementing prescribing into their pharmacy practice.

Anthropogenic activity around a lake is usually accompanied by eutrophication of its waters. While the relation between eutrophication and dissolved nutrients is established, direct relationships between anthropogenic activity and biotic variables related to lake eutrophication are less well studied, especially in early stages. We evaluated the effect of what is still a relatively light human presence on primary producer communities in lac Lusignan, a north temperate lake (Quebec, Canada). Human recreational activities around the lake have increased in recent years, primarily towards the lake outflow. To account for varying degrees of human activity and vegetation type along the lake’s shoreline, we classified sites into four types: human housing (Inhabited) and forest (East-forest) on the eastern bank and peat bogs (Bog) or forests (West-forest) along the western bank. We measured dissolved nutrients (nitrates and phosphorus) in the water column, as well as four primary producer responses: cyanobacterial density, littoral periphyton thickness, and macrophyte biomass and diversity. We expected that more intensively used areas of the lake (Inhabited East bank sites) would have thicker periphyton, higher macrophyte biomass and diversity, and greater cyanobacteria density; all characteristics related to eutrophication and anthropogenic influence. Nitrate was higher along the western shore sites and phosphorus concentrations tended to be higher in Bog and Inhabited areas. Periphyton was thickest in Inhabited sites, while macrophyte biomass and diversity were reduced. Cyanobacterial communities were particularly dominated by the potentially toxic and nuisance genus Dolichospermum in Inhabited sites. Our study demonstrates symptoms of eutrophication in this historically unperturbed lake and indicates that attention should be paid to regulating the densification and spread of human activity to preserve water quality.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heritable condition that is associated with microglial activation and synaptic dysfunction. Microglia are the brain’s resident immune cells in the brain which have been implicated in ASD pathology due to their role in
synaptic pruning. Papers were selected based on inclusion criteria: 1) data on microglial genes, 2) ASD condition, 3) English language, and 4) genetic data available. The initial search strategy generated 372 articles from MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and PsycInfo, after screening, 28 studies were included. Study design subsections were separated into 1) environmental, 2) experimental, and 3) case-control studies. CX3C motif chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1) and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) were implicated in the greatest number of studies with direct reference to microglial involvement. Studies screened predominantly supported the connection between microglial genetic variations and ASD symptomology: 13 experimental and environmental studies supported the ASD-microglial genetic connection and 4 were partially supportive; 8 human casecontrol studies were supportive and 2 were partially supportive. However, there was no consensus among studies regarding whether microglial up or down-regulation led to ASD symptomology. This review presents multiple novel microglial-genetic avenues such as the cyclical activation of the CX3CR1 through regionalized neural cytokine expression, the use of Gc macrophage activating factor (GcMAF) to normalize overactivated carbonyl reductase 2 (CBR2), the extensive effect of factors contributing to and resulting from maternal immune activation (MIA), and discrepancies between murine and human studies. These connections contribute to the web of ASD etiology and present targets for the development of ASD symptom management therapeutics.

As global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions continue rising to unprecedented levels, photosynthetic efficiency of terrestrial plants is also increased. This phenomenon is known as CO₂ fertilization. While advantageous to aid in the removal of excess greenhouse gases, CO₂ fertilization may be offset by the simultaneous increase in heavy metal pollutants, such as copper, cadmium, lead, and mercury. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate whether heavy metal pollution, modelled through copper II sulfate (CuSO₄), may significantly impair CO₂ fertilization and photosynthesis in marine plants. We examined the volume of O₂ produced and the rates of photosynthesis in Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort). Plants were placed in tubes of pre-boiled water with dissolved baking soda (NaHCO₃) as the CO₂ source. There were five treatment groups: no hornwort, hornwort control, hornwort + CO₂ fertilization, hornwort + CuSO₄, and hornwort + CuSO + CO₂ fertilization. We found that CO₂ fertilization increased O₂ production and photosynthetic rate, while the addition of CuSO₄ inhibited photosynthesis and the positive effects of CO₂ fertilization. These results imply that although CO₂ fertilization can increase photosynthesis and eliminate some of the excess CO₂ in our atmosphere, this effect will be eliminated if we do not also control the amount of heavy metal pollution ejected into the environment.