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Giardia intestinalis is the causative agent of a diarrheal disease in mammals, but the mechanisms of disease pathogenesis are unclear. While proteins secreted by Giardia affect the host cells, the potential of hormone secretion has not been investigated to date. Cytokinins (CKs) are classified as phytohormones, but little is known about their role beyond plants. Mass spectrometry-based intracellular analysis revealed CKs typical of tRNA degradation, and extracellular analysis showed CK-riboside scavenging by Giardia with concurrent secretion of CK-free bases. Metabolomics profiling of culture supernatants showed similar trends where nucleosides were up taken, and nucleobases were secreted. The dynamics of amino acids, nucleosides and nucleobases were altered by CK-supplementation during encystation, along with inhibition of encystation. In summary, this is the first study to report CK synthesis and metabolism by Giardia along with the effects of CKs on the metabolite secretome of Giardia, while establishing a link between CK and nucleoside metabolism.

Author Keywords: Cytokinins, Giardia, mass spectrometry, metabolomics, parasite, secretome

In today's digital era, smartphone use is having a profound effect on family life. There is growing concern about parental phubbing, which occurs when parents ignore their children in favour of using their phones. This study examined how parental phubbing was associated with children's problematic media use (PMU), and problem behaviours (internalizing, externalizing,attention) during middle childhood. The role of the parent-child relationship, measured by closeness and conflict, was also explored given its well-established influence on child development. Participants included 99 parents/guardians of 6-8-year-olds and 87 parents/guardians of 9-12-year-olds. Data on all variables were collected through online surveys. Across both groups, phubbing was associated with children's PMU. Among the 6-8-year-old's, phubbing was also linked to internalizing and externalizing problems. In this age group, parent-child closeness buffered phubbing effects while conflict mediated the relationship between phubbing and children's behaviour. These findings enhance our understanding of parental phubbing within Canadian family contexts.

Author Keywords: Middle Childhood, Parent-Child Relationship, Phubbing, Problem Behaviours, Problematic media use

Objective: The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) is a widely used measure of trait coping that was developed to assess three basic coping styles: task-oriented, emotion-oriented, and avoidance-oriented coping. This thesis examined the psychometric properties of a short form for the CISS (CISS-SF). Method: Data from a large longitudinal sample of adults were used to conduct analyses testing the measure's factor structure, internal and test-retest reliabilities, and construct validity with respect to mental health outcomes. Results: The 3-factor model provided acceptable fit to the sample data. Internal reliabilities for the scales were acceptable across multiple administrations (by gender and age), while 1 and 2-year test-retest correlations were also consistent with what would be expected for stable coping style constructs. Relationships were found to be consistent with previous research on coping. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that the CISS-SF is a valid and reliable brief multi-dimensional measure of coping styles.

Author Keywords: basic personality, coping, coping styles, mental health, psychometrics

This study aimed to explore relationships between impulsivity scores, cannabis use, and performance on vigilance, attention, and decision making tasks. We also investigated whether cannabis use related to self-reported risk taking behaviours, including risky driving, openness to engage with cryptocurrency markets, or gambling behaviour. The regular recreational cannabis users had significantly higher impulsivity scores and tendency to use other substances than non-users. The regular cannabis users had better performance efficiency than non-users for hit targets on the vigilance task, but not the other two target trial types. The regular cannabis users made significantly fewer errors than non-users on the verbal Stroop task. There were no significant performance differences on the Iowa Gambling Task between the regular recreational cannabis users and non-users. None of our other hypotheses explorations yielded statistically significant results.

Author Keywords: cannabis, cryptocurrency, gambling, impulsivity, Stroop, vigilance

This study focuses on the world dynamics of a cholera model that includes delayed bacterial shedding and water disinfection. From the method of the next generation matrix, a basic reproduction number is found that sets a threshold of disease persistence. It is shown that the disease disappears if $R_0<1$, which means that the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable. The system is not destabilized by the delay, which leads to periodic oscillations. The numerical simulations validate the theoretical analysis, which illustrates the importance of delay and disinfection in cholera prevention and control.

Author Keywords: Basic reproduction number, Cholera, Delay differential equations, Disinfection, Lyapunov function, Stability analysis

This study examines the formal, informal, and non-formal learning experiences offeminist-identified counsellors and psychotherapists working within the Violence Against Women (VAW) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) sector of community- based social services in Ontario, Canada. Using critical, feminist polyethnography and intersectional and feminist theories, this study discusses the participants' and researcher's experiences in the field. The participants' narratives contribute to the understanding of intersectional feminist pedagogies in counselling and psychotherapy practices and spaces. Additionally, the study offers recommendations for post- secondary programs, wise practice approaches to intersectional clinical supervision, and a framework for community of practice models of peer supervision.

Author Keywords: adult learning, feminism, feminist theory, intersectional theory, psychotherapy, social work

Two dimension-based models have emerged that capture the high symptom heterogeneity observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)—one grouping symptoms by their overt presentation, the other identifying core dimensions of underlying symptom motivations. This paper presents two studies that explore (1) the relationship between these two models, and (2) the stability of the models and dimensions they each represent. Study 1 found that the core dimension motives jointly predicted overall OCD symptom severity, and that each core dimension further predicted unique nonoverlapping overt symptom dimensions. Study 2 demonstrated that despite high instances of item-level symptom change, both models and their respective dimensions were longitudinally stable, with exception to overt symptoms relating to harm/injury/bad luck. Both studies support further consideration of these models as clinical resources and support the candidacy of the core dimensions as endophenotypes for OCD. Results, limitations, clinical implications, and future directions are discussed.

Author Keywords: Core Dimensions, Endophenotype, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Overt Symptoms, Stability, Symptom Models

The purpose of this thesis is to acknowledge the contributions chapbooks have made to the world of Canadian publishing and to Canadian culture. It is important to place chapbooks in Canada's publishing history as there has not been a lot of writing on chapbooks or even on Canadian publishing. What sources there are usually focus on larger, traditional presses, often based in Ontario (Lorimer); if chapbooks are mentioned at all, they are usually mentioned only in passing (MacSkimming). On rare occasions when texts focus on micropresses or small presses, they are usually out of print and not easy to access (Anstee). Due to this short list of accessible resources on chapbooks, this project was created to help record and capture the impact chapbooks have on Canadian publishing and culture using interviews.

Author Keywords: Canadian Culture, Canadian Publishing, Chapbook, Interviews, Mirocpress, Small press

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Black People in Toronto: Informing Public Health Nurses on What They Can Do: A Scoping Review by Fitzroy H. Thompson MScN, explores Black people in low-income neighbourhoods being at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and death due to longstanding health inequity. The research consisted of white and grey literature from Canada between March 2020 and November 2022 using the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) framework. Falk-Rafael's Critical Caring Theory (CCT) guides the critical review of the research collected from the systematic search (Butcher, 2022). The SDH plays a vital role in health outcomes for Black people's access to optimal health services. Community nursing practice can optimize COVID-19 research to advocate for structural interventions tailored to improve SDH access and develop solutions to address needs for policy evolution. The findings act as the foundation for a systematic review and a scholarly synthesis of the evidence on the research question, which would further contribute to the enhancement of nursing care for Black people in low-income neighbourhoods.

Author Keywords: Black people, COVID-19, public health, race, racism, social determinants of health

Stress can significantly affect neurobiological processes crucial for learning and memory. While repeated stress enhances fear memory, it impairs memory retrieval. In most studies, however, stress exposure typically preceded fear and extinction learning. Thus, the impact of previously acquired memories formed before exposure to stress is not well understood. The goal of this thesis is to examine how acute stress impacts the ability to retrieve previously acquired fear memories. The results showed that stress impaired recall of recent fear memories, but stress seven days after conditioning did not affect memory retrieval. Analysis of c-Fos expression revealed increased neuronal activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of rats exposed to stress. Additionally, stress exposure decreased mRNA expression of Reelin, a glycoprotein in the mPFC. Notably, administering recombinant Reelin improved fear memory recall. These findings highlight potential pathways for research and interventions on stress-induced memory impairments.

Author Keywords: c-Fos expression, Fear memory, Medial prefrontal cortex, Memory retrieval, Reelin, Stress