news 2022

Research finds chronic adolescent cannabis exposure may harm emotional and cognitive brain development through impact on separate brain regions   Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry researchers have shown that chronic exposure during adolescence to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of cannabis, may induce long-lasting memory impairments and increased anxiety levels.

Scientists at the CRCHUM find that a bacterium called Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus HA-114 prevents neurodegeneration in the C. elegans worm used to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. CONTENU - A probiotic bacterium called Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus HA-114 prevents neurodegeneration in the C. elegans worm , an animal model used to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Therapies to target neuromuscular disorders affecting million of people worldwide are on the horizon thanks to research at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. CONTENU - Neuromuscular disorders affect millions of people worldwide. Now a discovery made at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM) opens the door to the development of targeted therapies.

Discovery will improve diagnosis and open treatment possibilities for thousands of people with this debilitating neurodegenerative condition worldwide New England Journal of Medicine reports the identification of a previously unknown genetic cause of a late-onset cerebellar ataxia, a discovery that will improve diagnosis and open new treatment avenues for this progressive condition.

Science, Health & Technology Brett Goldhawk Researchers at UBC's Life Sciences Institute have identified a compound that shows early promise at halting infections from a range of coronaviruses, including all variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold. The findings, published this week in Molecular Biomedicine , reveal a potential path toward antiviral treatments that could be used against many different pathogens.

A new study is the first to show brain stimulation improves reading in patients with macular degeneration. Drug treatments only slow down the progression of the disease, but Waterloo scientists discovered they could train the brain to use the information it receives more efficiently. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive, painless brain stimulation treatment that uses direct electrical currents to stimulate specific parts of the brain.

New research published in Science shows how the rise of modern agriculture turned a North American native plant, common waterhemp, into a problematic agricultural weed. An international team led by researchers at the University of British Columbia with colleagues at the University of Toronto, compared 187 waterhemp samples from modern farms and neighbouring wetlands with more than 100 historical samples dating as far back as 1820 that had been stored in museums across North America.

A new study led by Yves Brun shows how some bacteria living in a biofilm sacrifice themselves to ensure the survival of the community. CONTENU - Biofilms, complex communities of bacteria, abound around us: on the surface of cheese where they give off flavors and aromas, in streams where they form the slimy substance on rocks, on our teeth where they form plaque.

Science, Health & Technology Alex Walls There's a new branch on the tree of life and it's made up of predators that nibble their prey to death. These microbial predators fall into two groups, one of which researchers have dubbed "nibblerids” because they, well, nibble chunks off their prey using tooth-like structures.

Montreal biologists publish a study demonstrating that photogrammetry allows rapid and precise three-dimensional reconstruction of flowers from two-dimensional images. CONTENU - To better understand the evolution of flowers, a research team in biology from Université de Montréal, the Montreal Botanical Garden and McGill University have succeeded in using photogrammetry to quickly and precisely build, in three dimensions, a model of a flower from two-dimensional images.

New research shows promising results using neurotechnological approaches to treat depression in youth. The research, led by Simon Fraser University (SFU) professor Faranak Farzan, is published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports. Researchers investigated the clinical and neurophysiological effects of using brain stimulation followed by cognitive exercise for treating Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in 26 youth (aged 16 - 24 years old).

Does evolution follow certain rules? Can these rules be predicted? Southeast Asia's tree shrews break multiple rules when it comes to body size variation - with an unexpected twist - according to researchers from McGill University, University of Cambridge, and Yale University. The findings shed new light on the effects of climate change on the evolution of body size in animals.

Tick-borne pathogens, known for causing illnesses such as Lyme disease, are on the rise in Central Canada - presenting new risks in areas where they were never previously detected. The findings from researchers at McGill University and the University of Ottawa demonstrate the need for more comprehensive testing and tracking to detect the spread and potential risk of tick-borne pathogens to human and wildlife populations throughout Canada.

In the summer of 2020, months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic,  Samira Mubareka  and her colleagues began testing wildlife in Ontario and Quebec for the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. "Pretty early in the pandemic, we knew that there was spillover from humans to animals," said Mubareka, who is a clinician scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute and an associate professor in the department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

When it comes to spider love, female widow spiders hold the key to attracting mates, potentially adjusting their web-s attractiveness to lure males, according to new research. A study led by Simon Fraser University's resident -spider man,- PhD candidate Andreas Fischer, reveals new details about how female false widow spiders ( Steatoda grossa) communicate using pheromones-and suggests they can build more attractive webs- to lure mate-seeking males by adjusting the pH level of their pheromone-bearing silk.

The flowers of the white trillium follow the sun, which increases their fecundity, according to a research team in biological sciences at UdeM. Have you ever noticed, during your walks in the forest, that the flowers of the white trilliums all point in the same direction? In fact, the flowers are pointing south, towards the sun, and this is far from being a coincidence.

Developed by a team at Laval University, this collar, which weighs less than a dime, will allow the study of lemming activity patterns during the summer Although lemmings play a central role in the Arctic terrestrial food chain, their living habits are still largely unknown. One reason is that these small rodents spend most of the year in tunnels in the ground or snow, out of sight of researchers.

Canadian chemists specializing in nanotechnology draw inspiration from nature to create molecular transporters that optimize the release of therapeutic drugs.

A protein called 'numb' acts as a regulator of intracellular tau levels - and could someday be used to treat neurogenerative diseases, an UdeM-IRCM study finds. CONTENU - A mechanism has been found that controls cellular levels of tau, a protein whose abnormal accumulation is at the root of tauopathies, a class of devastating neurodegenerative diseases.

Researchers at the University of Toronto are inching closer to realizing a life-saving brain cancer treatment by using gold nanoparticles to make radiation therapy more effective and less toxic for patients. In their battle against glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a rare, fast-growing cancer that begins in the brain, the multidisciplinary team has discovered that the nanoparticles can keep radiation tightly focused on the tumour, shrinking its size and preventing damage elsewhere in the body.