Kat Heintzman- We’re In The Big Leagues Now

Academic respect seems to have taken a very different meaning in the transition to grad school. When you do well in undergraduate you are coddled. You get a good grade and feel good about it, ask for letters of reference, and have profs express how delighted they are to help you succeed in the academic path before you.

Grad school is different. I was invited to participate in a campus debate on Gender Identity Disorder’s inclusion in the DSM. I agreed expecting to be on a panel of undergrads. Not the case. I am on a panel with Dr. Myra Hird (a distinguished sociology professor), Dr. Margo Rivera (clinical practitioner), and Kristin Ireland (Ph.D. candidate who’s done a number of campus presentations). I don’t feel ready to have my name beside theirs. I am prepping for this, as I have to come to prep for conferences and even class, ready to be grilled.

Academic respect is now signified through an interrogation of every assumption or failed consideration. While this means that every time you speak it may feel as though you have opened yourself up for attack, I have never before been pushed so hard to think before I speak. There is a sense of empowerment that comes with this form of academic conversation. It is expected that I can hold my own and that when someone challenges me I will have the intellectual momentum to keep up. That’s pretty cool.

Travis Saunders - Exercise and Peripheral Artery Disease

Like most people, I have been aware of the problems associated with reduced blood flow to the heart for quite some time (angina, heart attacks, etc). However, I recently became aware of a related condition known as peripheral artery disease (PAD) when it was diagnosed in a friend of my family. PAD refers to the obstruction of arteries in the arms and legs, and can result in reduced blood flow to muscles below the obstruction. As well as being a risk factor for heart disease, the reduced blood flow associated with PAD can cause significant amounts of pain in the legs when walking even short distances, and can be very debilitating. Not surprisingly given the increased prevalence of risk factors including obesity and diabetes in recent years, the prevalence of PAD is also increasing.Given the serious impact that PAD has had on my friend's mobility, I was pleased when I came across an article examining the positive influence of exercise on PAD in the latest issue of the Journal of Physiology. Taylor and colleagues blocked the femoral artery in rats, then examined blood flow to muscles below the blockage after three weeks of exercise 'training' or a 3 weeks of being confined to their cage. Both groups developed 'collateral' blood vessels to re-route blood around the obstruction, which is pretty cool in and of itself. However, the exercise training group developed larger collateral vessels than the sedentary group, resulting in significantly increased blood flow to muscles below the obstruction in the exercise training group. Although the rats can't verbalize how they feel, I would expect that with increased blood flow the rats in the exercise group would also feel less pain in their legs than those in the sedentary condition.I was most excited to see this study because among other things, my acquaintance has begun a daily walking program and their symptoms have improved considerably since their training began. Exercise is not the only answer for problems like PAD, but it's nice to see that something as simple as a walking program can be part of the solution.

How to publicize your research - Peter Janiszewski

Because there are literally thousands of scientific papers published on a weekly basis, it is often impossible for your study, as important as it may be, to garner the attention it may deserve. Thus, I have recently started taking matters into my own hands. In addition to writing a daily blog (link to http://www.obesitypanacea.blogspot.com/) and hosting a podcast with my lab partner Travis Saunders on which we publicize our work as it becomes published, I have also started writing articles for local papers and newsletters.

The purpose of publicizing your research via non-peer review means (blogs, newsletters, newspapers, magazines, etc.) is manifold. First, if your research involves any number of volunteers from the surrounding community, it is a nice way to officially say thanks for their participation. It may also be one of the few ways they will ever find out about the outcome of the study. Also, if your findings are relevant to the general population and not just the 3 other academics studying your esoteric topic, it is important that your findings are seen by the general population – majority of whom are not likely to read peer-reviewed scientific journals. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, writing for a lay audience forces you to funnel your message when describing your work so that it can be easily understood by people outside of your lab – this will be a tremendous help in social settings, and may finally allow your own parents to understand what the heck it is that you do.

Click here (link to http://obesitypanacea.blogspot.com/2009/02/kingston-seniors-get-fit-for-research.html) to see an article I wrote for Kingston This Week, entitled “Kingston Seniors Get Fit For Research”, which appeared in print on February 5, 2009.

Travis Saunders- Sleep and Childhood Obesity

Although people spend a lot of time discussing the importance of physical activity and a healthy diet, these are not necessarily the only factors affecting obesity prevention and reduction. One very interesting area that is receiving increasing attention is sleep duration, which appears to strongly influence obesity and metabolic disease risk, especially in children.Although the exact physiological function of sleep is still unclear, the idea that sleep deprivation can lead to negative consequences is not a surprise to anyone. What is interesting, is that new studies suggest that even partial sleep restriction can result in increased risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and CVD. For example, adults who sleep less have been reported to have increased levels of ghrelin (a hormone which stimulates eating) and decreased levels of leptin (a hormone which inhibits eating). For a great review on this area of research by Dr S Taheri at the University of Bristol, click here. The idea that sleep deprivation might somehow affect hormones or eating patterns in the short term is not all that surprising - think of how most of us crave greasy, energy dense foods after a late night on the town. However, a recent study in Pediatrics suggests that sleep duration in childhood is a significant predictor of obesity rates well into adulthood.In their recent study, Landhuis and colleagues from the University of Otago assessed sleep time in 1000 individuals at 5, 7, 9, 11 and 32 years of age. They report that sleep duration in childhood was a significant predictor of adult BMI, even after control for confounders like socioeconomic status and childhood BMI. Interestingly, adult sleep duration was not associated with adult BMI. Individuals who were classified as childhood "short sleepers" (less than 11 hours/night) had significantly higher BMI's than moderate (11.0-11.5 hours/night ) and long sleepers (>11.5 hours/night) at all ages. Although they did not investigate mechanisms (or suggest how to convince your kids to sleep more), the results of this paper are nonetheless very interesting, and suggest that sleep patterns in childhood (when the brain is still developing) may influence the control of energy homeostasis years down the road. These results also offer one more way that simple lifestyle modifications could help reduce the prevalence of obesity in future generations.

(Photo by peasap)

Kat Heintzman- Guest Lecturing and the Beauty of Interdisciplinarity.

When I was given the opportunity to do a guest lecture I was both excited and terrified. Some of this comes from being in a stream of this department that typically deals with sport, a subject about which I know next to nothing. However, with a background in queer theory I felt like I would be able to put something together on sport and sexuality.

Inspiration comes in the strangest of places. While working on a conference presentation on the representation of transmasculinities in queer feminist pornography I stumbled onto a link to a new porn release called Champion, which tells the story of butch Jess’s sexcapades. She is a mixed-martial-artist fighting for a Championship title in a homophobic industry. (Plot matters!) This opened a whole new door and I went from thinking about discussing LBGTQ athletes to presenting on how sport is eroticized (ie. homoeroticism in contact sport that permit physical contact under the guise of homosociality) as well as how sex is sportified (foxy boxing).

What I valued most as an undergrad in this department and am glad to be a part of as a TA is the diverse material we address in the sociology classes. Courses on sexuality taught me about war and pedagogy, courses on medicalization taught me about branding and consumer choice. I feel so privileged to be a part of that. In sport class that day we talked about Christina Aguilera, foxy boxing, and group showers.

Unite for Sight- Jessica Cowan-Dewar

I just returned from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where Unite for Sight hosted their annual global health conference. Although Unite for Sight is an NGO that focuses on global eye health and preventable blindness, the conference invites speakers to present on all aspects of global health. This year’s conference “Achieving Global Goals through Innovation” featured keynote addresses by Jeffrey Sachs, PhD (Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon), Sonia Ehrlich Sachs, MD, MPH (Health Coordinator, Millennium Village Project), and Harold Varmus MD (President and Chief Executive, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Former Director of the NIH and Nobel Prize Recipient), amongst others. It was an exciting weekend in New Haven - the forsythias were in full bloom and thousands of people from across the globe had traveled to Yale in order to attend this conference. I was there to present a talk entitled “Open Medicine: A Journal and a Social Movement”. I spoke primarily about the role of online, open access, peer-reviewed journals in bettering global health. My co-presenters, Dr. Brian Leonard (a vitreoretinal surgeon at the Ottawa Eye Institute) and Dr. Maria Isabel Herran (Pediatrician at the Rainbow Centre for International Child Health in Cleveland) were excellent and the audience was most receptive. After the weekend away I feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the last of my doctoral course work. Most importantly, my commitment to the field of global health has been reaffirmed. I strongly recommend this conference to anyone interested in global health and/or development.

For more information:

Unite for Sight - http://www.uniteforsight.org/what-we-do
Conference - http://www.uniteforsight.org/conference

Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area - Allana LeBlanc

Do you ever lie awake in the early morning thinking of ways to get outdoors?! No? Well don’t worry…you’re not alone but luckily the term “morning person” describes me perfectly and the early mornings seem to be a great chance to do a little personal “research” into outdoor activities around Kingston! Maple Madness is held every year at Little Cataraqui Creek Conservation Area in March and April. The conservation area itself is speckled with hiking trails throughout the woods and although a bit on the wetter side at the moment, the trails themselves were nothing an old pair of shoes couldn’t handle! There are many other events throughout the year to stay busy in the outdoors at Little Cat including skating in the winter and canoeing in the summer..and within a 10 minute drive from downtown, a great place for an outdoor adventure.

Once in the park, you arrive to the Sugar Shack itself by either walking the trails or hitching a ride with the tractor-pulled covered-wagon. At the Sugar Shack there are guides are around to show how the making of maple syrup has evolved over the centuries…. And more importantly (in my stomachs opinion at least), they are also serve up some tasty tassssty pancakes! (our best estimate was in the 1000s/day!) When we got there it was a unanimous “wagon ride” in lieu of walking to the ol’ Sugar Shack (note – there were many children under the age of three that seemed rather content with the trek). Once off the tractor and in response to my growling stomach it was time for PANCAKES! WITH TWO SCOOPES OF SYRUP! And we’re talking REAL, straight from the trees, not even bottled, LIQUID GOLD! To say they were delicious is an understatement but my “Word Thesaurus” didn’t seem to have a better alternative. After devouring my first flapjack in seconds I understood why the person behind me stated they wanted “12”…they were about 7 years old … Mom quickly interjected.

After the sugar rush hit we decided to go back in the Shack to get a maple candy (for desert of course…) and head up the trail to check out the syrup buckets! The trails are easy to follow and lead you up and around the sprawling forest. The walk itself was a great way to get active on the weekend and a nice way to enjoy the sunshine! On the way back we stopped at the “Chickadee feeding area” to get “in touch with nature” but alas the birds were nowhere in sight and coldness was setting in. We packed ourselves back in the car and got back in town just as the sugar rush was at its end and in time for a well deserved afternoon nap…we were spent…until next Sunday…

Visit their www for more info on upcoming events! http://www.cataraquiregion.on.ca/

Working to ‘Spread the Word & Not the Disease’ - Heather Gainforth

During the course of my Master’s and undergraduate degree, I have focused on educating the public about the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the word and it is estimated that 75% of Canadians will get an HPV infection in their lifetime. HPV is contracted by skin-to-skin contact and it is the cause of cervical cancer and genital warts. In fact, during the past decade, studies have shown a firm causal link between cervical cancer and HPV (Bosch, Lorincz, Munoz, Meijer, & Shah, 2002) and HPV RNA has been identified in all investigated specimens of invasive cervical cancer (Bosch & Sanjose, 2007). Yet, despite this strong scientific evidence, public knowledge regarding HPV is lacking (Friedman & Shepeard, 2007).

In June 2006, Merck pharmaceuticals released a prophylactic vaccination that provides protection against HPV strains 16 and 18, which are classified as the top two of the fifteen cancer causing high risk types of HPV, and types 6 and 11 which cause genital warts (Munoz et al., 2003). Yet, given the lack of knowledge about HPV, many individuals are still unaware of how to prevent and protect themselves against HPV (Friedman & Shepeard, 2007). It is therefore necessary to investigate techniques to disseminate information about HPV and the vaccine.
As many other graduate students in the department can attest to, I am dedicated to educating the public about how to protect themselves against HPV. My undergraduate thesis and independent project have focused on how to disseminate information about HPV to young adults using a technique called message framing. In short, message framing refers to how messages are conveyed (Rothman & Salovey, 1997). I plan to continue to apply message framing to promote the HPV vaccine in my Master’s thesis.

It is my hope that one day my research may lead to improved health messages regarding HPV and the HPV vaccination. While I cannot offer concrete results yet, I continue to stand on my soap box telling everyone I know about HPV and asking everyone to pass on my message (and not HPV)!

Stay safe,
Heather

Want to know more?
http://www.hpvinfo.ca/

ECSEPS 2009- Jaymi Edwards

Participating in a conference is not only a great way to gain experience in presenting work, but a conference is also an excellent way to develop networks by meeting colleagues from other schools.

I recently attended the Eastern Canadian Sport & Exercise Symposium. I was able to present a study in which I am currently involved as a research assistant. Throughout my academic life I have only had experience working on studies that are quantitative in nature. However, this study is qualitative and so presenting the proposal for this study was a challenge. I had to develop expertise in the analysis of a topic with which I was not familiar. It was a very good opportunity to expand my horizons and increase my analytical knowledge.

Also at this conference I had the opportunity to listen to a professor discuss the publishing process. This was helpful to me as I am currently in the midst of preparing my undergraduate thesis and hope to have it published. It was also interesting listening to this professor because he taught me in two classes during my undergraduate time at Queen’s. I had the chance to speak with him briefly after his talk to find out where he is now and what he is currently studying.

Overall conferences are a fantastic experience. Not only are they educational in nature, but they provide a chance to socialize with colleagues in a more relaxed environment and get to know people beyond their research.

What does the function of your penis tell you about your cardiovascular health? - Peter Janiszewski

More than you might think.

Since the focus of my PhD project is on the effects of exercise on erectile dysfunction in abdominally obese and sedentary men, I have been doing much reading about the condition while writing the grant for my study which was thankfully funded and is now underway.
More that anything else I have previously done research on, the topic of erectile dysfunction catches many peoples’ attention, and for the first time since starting grad school – some non-academics are actually interested to hear about my work.

The most intriguing thing about erectile dysfunction is that is appears to foreshadow future cardiovascular disease risk (i.e. heart attack), as men who seek medical attention for cardiovascular disease symptoms often report that their penis stopped working long before they had any signs of heart problems. Thus, it is now believed that the exact same disease process which leads to erectile dysfunction also leads to cardiovascular disease. Symptoms of erectile dysfunction become apparent earlier on in the disease process due to the very small size of the arteries supplying the penis in contrast to those supplying the heart – it takes longer to plug up a water hose than a drinking straw.

So there you have it: if your penis stops working today, there is an excellent chance you may have greater problems on the horizon. Thus, seek the advice of your physician, and demand that more be done that just a prescription for Viagra.

Revved Up! - Sam Hetz

Over the past year I’ve had the unique opportunity with Dr. Amy Latimer to help develop and facilitate a really interesting exercise program called Revved Up. As a collaborative effort between Queen’s and Saint Mary’s of the Lake Hospital, Revved Up was designed to help promote physical activity in individuals with mobility impairments including as spinal cord injury, neurodegenerative conditions, spina bifida, and cerebral palsy. Revved Up also fills an important niche, as Kingston has a lack of accessible fitness facilities with qualified individuals to assist those with mobility impairments.

Participants attend Revved Up twice per week, where they are accompanied by a volunteer personal trainer through there individualized workout plan. Just speaking to the participants individually, it is clear that the program is having a positive affect on a multitude of factors.

We will be presenting some initial findings next month at the 4th International State-of-the-art Congress “Rehabilitation: Mobility, Exercise & Sports” in Amsterdam (Kasperavicius, M. L., Latimer, A. E., Hetz, S. P., McColl, M. A., McGuire, M., Smith, K. A preliminary evaluation of a community‐based exercise program for people with mobility impairments) and hope to have a manuscript addressing efficacy of the program submitted within the next few months.




Check out the Revved Up wedsite for more info... http://www.skhs.queensu.ca/revvedup/

Birthplace effects in the development of expertise – Dany MacDonald

In the first year of my master’s (which was in 2003) I became involved in a project that my advisor (Dr. Jean Côté) was working on. It investigated the effects of city size on the probability of becoming an elite athlete. Interesting findings began to emerge and we discovered that smaller cities were in fact more favorable to elite athlete development. More recently, Jared King, an undergrad student became interested in this topic and joined our research team. With the help of Dr. Côté and a researcher in Hong Kong, Dr. Bruce Abernethy, we wrote a follow-up of paper investigating this effect in groups of female athletes. It finally made it to print in the beginning of this calendar year and has begun receiving media attention. It was selected as a promotional article to “sell” the journal in which it was published and a media release is being sent to multiple sources. Although unexpected, this is a nice perk that has come from this research…

For an article related to this topic, click here…
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/03/05/2506315.htm?site=science&topic=latest