Improving Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, Queer and Two-Spirit Content in a Radiation Therapy Undergraduate Curriculum

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and two-spirit plus (LGBTQ2S+) people have distinct healthcare needs that may be unaddressed in many undergraduate healthcare curricula. The Radiation Therapy Program (RADTH) at the University of Alberta underwent a review of the three-year didactic curriculum using an online survey. The survey sought to ascertain if, where and how topics related to LGBTQ2S + healthcare are taught. Results indicated that out of 10 RADTH program faculty respondents, three teach related topics. The total time dedicated within the three-year curriculum was approximately three and a half hours. Other findings showed that faculty are interested in receiving more education in this area and would favour discussions about how to incorporate these themes into appropriate courses. This preliminary investigation demonstrated that there has been some initial work in this area, but there is more to be done.     

The Impact of a Healthy Weight Intervention Embedded in a Home-Visiting Program on Children's Weight and Mothers’ Feeding Practices

Objective

To examine whether a healthy weight intervention embedded in the Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting program, which was previously found to improve mothers’ body mass index (BMI) and obesity-related behaviors, changed the BMI of preschool children or maternal feeding practices.

Application of the adverse outcome pathway framework to genotoxic modes of action

In May 2017, the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute's Genetic Toxicology Technical Committee hosted a workshop to discuss whether mode of action (MOA) investigation is enhanced through the application of the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework. As AOPs are a relatively new approach in genetic toxicology, this report describes how AOPs could be harnessed to advance MOA analysis of genotoxicity pathways using five example case studies. Each of these genetic toxicology AOPs proposed for further development includes the relevant molecular initiating events, key events, and adverse outcomes (AOs), identification and/or further development of the appropriate assays to link an agent to these events, and discussion regarding the biological plausibility of the proposed AOP. A key difference between these proposed genetic toxicology AOPs versus traditional AOPs is that the AO is a genetic toxicology endpoint of potential significance in risk characterization, in contrast to an adverse state of an organism or a population. The first two detailed case studies describe provisional AOPs for aurora kinase inhibition and tubulin binding, leading to the common AO of aneuploidy. The remaining three case studies highlight provisional AOPs that lead to chromosome breakage or mutation via indirect DNA interaction (inhibition of topoisomerase II, production of cellular reactive oxygen species, and inhibition of DNA synthesis). These case studies serve as starting points for genotoxicity AOPs that could ultimately be published and utilized by the broader toxicology community and illustrate the practical considerations and evidence required to formalize such AOPs so that they may be applied to genetic toxicity evaluation schemes. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 61:114–134, 2020. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.