Using cutting-edge genomic technologies, researchers have created the first functional map of sites within the genome that regulate androgen receptor (AR) activity — the primary driver of prostate cancer growth. Led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher Dr. Nathan Lack and published in the journal Genome Biology, the study opens the door to future explorations into this uncharted territory.
Mental illness increases the risk of substance use, disability and premature death. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more Canadians reported experiencing mental health issues — such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder — jumping from one in five Canadians in 2020 to one in four in 2021.
April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month — a time to recognize and support the over 100,000 Canadians living with the incurable neurodegenerative disease. Parkinson’s decreases dopamine levels in the brain and can lead to a variety of symptoms, including tremors, slowness of movement and rigidity, along with depression, insomnia and cognitive impairment.
Linda Heppenstall was quick to restart her exercise routine after fracturing her hip in her kitchen in early 2020. “I closed the fridge and then tried to open it again quickly, and I slipped on the floor,” recalls the 69-year-old retired dentist who is also the mother of three grown children, as well as a recent grandmother.
“I have always exercised to get rid of stress; and, I have always loved to play sports,” she says. “I played a lot of field hockey when I was young — and quite a bit of tennis and squash — and hiked a lot.”
Researchers have discovered evidence of brain shrinkage and cognitive decline among individuals with mostly mild SARS-CoV-2 virus infection. Published in the journal Nature in March 2022, the first longitudinal imaging study of its kind compares the brain scans of people taken before and after the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Vancouver, B.C. - Scarcity of a drug central to the treatment of critically ill COVID-19 patients inspired British Columbia researchers to develop a novel dosing strategy that resulted in more people being treated with smaller doses of a life-saving drug.
The seat belt is one of the most important safety features in a motor vehicle, saving around 1,000 Canadian lives each year. Yet, since its development in the 1950s, little empirical evidence has been gathered about how wearing a seat belt protects females and males of different ages.
The researchers, led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute researcher and UBC urology assistant professor Dr. Ryan Flannigan, hope the technique will one day offer a solution for people living with presently untreatable forms of male infertility.
“Infertility affects 15 per cent of couples and male factors are a contributing cause in at least half those cases,” says Flannigan, whose lab is based at the Vancouver Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.
