Researchers at the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital have confirmed what many cyclists in Toronto have long believed — that streetcar tracks are involved in nearly one-third of bicycle accidents.

A study published in the current issue of the American Journal of Public Health, found the greatest risk to cyclists occurs when they share major streets with parked cars and no bike lanes — like Dundas or King Streets — where there is a heightened risk of injury from moving cars and car doors opening.

However, 96 of the 690 crashes studied in Toronto and Vancouver directly involved streetcar or train tracks. Eighty-seven of those accidents were in Toronto, accounting for 31.5 per cent of all bike accidents in the city.

“This study has direct implications for the future of a transportation strategy in Toronto,” said Michael Cusimano, a Professor in U of T’s Department of Surgery and a neurosurgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital, who was one of the researchers in the project. The lead author of the study was Kay Teschke, a Professor in the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health.

“Safety should be a major factor in any transportation decision,” Cusimano said.

The research project found that of the accidents involving tracks, 19 cyclists (19.8 per cent) said their tires slipped on the tracks and 77 (80.2 per cent) said their tires got caught in the tracks.

Routes designed for cyclists — including bike lanes on major streets without parked cars, residential street bike routes, and off-street bike paths — carry about half the risk of being injured on a randomly selected point on their journey, the study found.

Cycle tracks — physically separated bike lanes — have the lowest injury risk for cyclists, about one-ninth the risk.

Glen Bandiera, a Professor in U of T’s Department of Medicine and head of the Emergency Department at St. Michael’s, estimates that in the summer, four or five patients arrive in the ER every day after a bicycle incident. The most common injuries are wrist fractures and shoulder dislocations from people using their arms to break their fall.

St. Michael’s was one of four hospitals in Toronto and Vancouver whose patients were tracked in the study.

The study also provided an interesting snapshot of who is being injured in all cycling accidents in the two cities: Most are men (59 percent), between the ages of 19 and 39 (62 per cent), who are regular cyclists (88 per cent) and completed post-secondary education (75 per cent).

Most were cycling to or from work or school (42 per cent) on a weekday (78 per cent) in daylight (77 per cent) and good weather (92.5 per cent). It found 68.3 per cent were wearing helmets, although that figure reflects the fact it’s mandatory for adults to wear helmets in British Columbia, but not in Ontario.

The single largest cause of bike accidents in the study was a collision with a motor vehicle (33.5 per cent).

In this short Q+A , Professor Mark Leith (Department of Psychiatry) talks about his love for theatre, the psychology of war and his play, Dinner with Goebbels.

What is your full name and title/position at U of T? How many years have you been at the university?
My name is Professor Mark Leith and I have been a clinical teacher in the Department of Psychiatry since the early 80s.

Tell us about  Dinner with Goebbels.
I love theatre—I’m part of Act II Studio, a program affiliated with Ryerson University. I have been in the program for two years now and, during this time, I have written Dinner with Goebbels, a play about the human mythology of evil and modern marketing of warfare. The production is based on a fictional dinner between Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany, Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew and the founder of public relations, and Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s former PR consultant.

Why did you choose to write a play like this one?
I have always been interested in the psychology of what drives men to go to war. Having written many articles about this topic over the course of my career, I wanted to focus my play on the modern marketing of war.  I became interested in Edward Bernays when I discovered that Dr. Goebbels had used Bernays’ books in his work to promote the Holocaust and the invasion of Europe. Through my research I also learned that Karl Rove drew on Bernays’ ideas to “up the invasion” of Iraq and create the current war on terror.

Playwriting seems totally different than psychotherapy. What is the common thread?
Theatre, like psychotherapy, is based on a narrative. Both come from the human capacity for storytelling.

What, or who, inspires your work?
I grew up during the Vietnam War and, even as a child, questioned the institution of war.  I’m part of Physicians for Global Survival Canada, an advocacy group committed to the abolition of nuclear weapons and non-violent conflict resolution.  I have been able to combine my passion for anti-war activism with my love of theatre in writing, and being involved in the production of, Dinner with Goebbels.

Dinner with Goebbels runs from Thursday, October 25, 2012 to Sunday, October 28, 2012 at the Red Sandcastle Theatre. Click here for more information.

TORONTO — Eating more legumes can significantly lower blood pressure, blood glucose levels and risk for cardiovascular disease in patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to new research from the University of Toronto and St. Michael’s Hospital.

“We know from our previous research that foods low on the glycemic index scale are helpful in lowering blood glucose levels,” said David Jenkins, lead author of the study and Professor in U of T’s Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Medicine. “But this is the first study of its kind to specially look at legumes’ effect on cardiovascular risk factors and find they also have a blood pressure-lowering effect in diabetic patients.”

Jenkins said focusing on the health impact of a specific, low-glycemic index food like legumes, which include beans, peas and lentils, “simplifies the take home message for patients.”

Jenkins, who is also the Director of the Risk Factor Modification Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital, founded the glycemic index in the early 1980s. Health professionals use it to measure how much particular foods will raise blood sugar levels: those high on the index, such as white breads and sugary treats, cause a spike in blood sugar levels; those low on the index have a stable effect on blood sugar levels and include legumes, apples and berries.

The study, published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine, randomly assigned 121 patients with Type 2 diabetes to one of two groups. The control group ate a healthy, but not low, glycemic index diet that included more insoluble fibre in the form of whole-wheat grains. The test group was given a low-glycemic index diet that included at least one cup of legumes per day.

The participants’ blood pressure, body weight, blood glucose levels, blood fat and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) — a key indicator of diabetes control — were measured before and after the three-month study.

“Legume consumption of approximately one cup per day seems to contribute usefully to a reduction in blood pressure, which is hugely important for diabetic patients,” said Jenkins, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Metabolism. “High blood pressure is a big contributor to renal failure in these patients, and so if you can control both their blood pressure and glucose levels together, you have a very powerful treatment advantage.”

On Thanksgiving Monday, Shinya Yamanaka and John Gurdon received the world’s premier biomedical science award — the 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine — for their stem cell research.
Just a few weeks later, another important international prize is recognized right here at the U of T— The Canada Gairdner Awards.  The awards are often considered an important predictor of Nobel success.  More than 25 per cent of Canada Gairdner Award winners go on to win a Nobel Prize.

For the last 42 years, U of T’s Faculty of Medicine has hosted a lecture for Gairdner Award winners (2012 awardees were announced earlier this spring), past and present.  On October 25 and 26, hundreds of world-leading scientists will gather in the Macleod Auditorium to hear the latest research in immunology, global health and biological rhythms.  This year, the Faculty will also host a symposium —New Insights into the Brain —with a special focus on neuroscience.

The awards were created in 1957 to recognize medical researchers who improve the quality of human life and inspire biomedical research.  They’re considered among the top three medical awards in the world, along with the Nobel Prize and Lasker Award.  Seven Gairdner Awards are given annually in three different areas — International Awards (5), Global Health Award (1) and the Wightman Award (1). Each award is valued at $100,000.

“Having your research recognized as groundbreaking by your peers around the world is the ultimate form of validation for a scientist,” says Alison Buchan, Vice-Dean of Research and International Relations in the Faculty of Medicine. “With all Gairdner winners getting together in Toronto later this month, the U of T community has the opportunity to hear from truly revolutionary scientists all in the same day.”

Dr. John Dirks, President and Scientific Director of the Gairdner Foundation, believes Toronto is an ideal city in which to host the awards lecture and symposium because it’s one of the largest biomedical science communities in the world.

“From stem cells and regenerative medicine to cell biology, Toronto has phenomenal research diversity,” says Dr. Dirks, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine from 1987 to 1991.  “U of T is a crucible of biomedical science and we’re gaining momentum. Now we’re at our greatest flowering point and Toronto is emerging as a champion internationally.”

Several U of T Medicine researchers have received the award, including Lap-Chee Tsui in 1990 for the identification of the gene for cystic fibrosis and Tony Pawson in 1994 for his contributions to cell signaling.

When asked about the future of science in Canada, Dr. Dirks was encouraging:  “I see more young Canadians pursuing science careers and finding themselves in the best labs in the world right here in Toronto.”

A team of Canadian scientists and clinicians, led by Dr. Michael Hill of the Calgary Stroke Program at Foothills Medical Centre and University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), have demonstrated that a neuroprotectant drug, developed by Professor Michael Tymianski at the Krembil Neuroscience Centre, located at the Toronto Western Hospital, protects the human brain against the damaging effects of stroke.

Tymianski, a Professor in the Department of Surgery, is a member of the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Toronto. He holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Translational Stroke Research. He is also a neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital, the Medical Director of the Neurovascular Therapeutics Program and Head of the Division of Neurosurgery at the University Health Network.

The study, “Safety and efficacy of NA-1 for neuroprotection in iatrogenic stroke after endovascular aneurysm repair: a randomized controlled trial,” published online today in The Lancet Neurology, was conducted concurrently with a laboratory study published in Science Translational Medicine, that predicted the benefits of the stroke drug.

This landmark clinical trial was a randomized, double blinded, multi-centre trial that was conducted in Canada and the USA. The study evaluated the effectiveness of NA-1[Tat-NR2B9c] when it was administered after the onset of small strokes that are incurred by patients who undergo neurointerventional procedures to repair brain aneurysms. This type of small ischemic stroke occurs in over 90% of aneurysm patients after such a procedure, but usually does not cause overt neurological disability.

In the clinical trial, patients were randomized to receive either Tat-NR2B9c or placebo. Those treated with Tat-NR2B9c showed a reduction in the amount of brain damage sustained as a result of the aneurysm repair procedure. Also, in patients who had ruptured brain aneurysm, which comprise a population of patients at very high risk of neurological damage, those treated with Tat-NR2B9c all had good neurological outcomes, whereas only 68% of those treated with placebo had good outcomes.

“The results of this clinical trial represent a major leap forward for stroke research,” said Hill. “There have been over 1,000 attempts to develop such drugs, which have failed to make the leap between success in the lab and in humans.”

“This clinical trial is, to our knowledge, the first time that a drug aimed at increasing the resistance of the brain to stroke, has been shown to reduce stroke damage in humans. No efforts should be spared to develop it further,” said Tymianski, who oversaw the development of Tat-NR2B9c from its invention in his lab, through to clinical trials.

Currently, t-PA is the only widely approved acute stroke therapy. It works by unblocking the arteries to the brain, however, this treatment is only beneficial for a portion of stroke victims. It also has serious potential for side-effects, including bleeding in the brain.

“Through our lab research and clinical trial, we now have a better method of predicting whether a stroke drug may be effective in humans and we now have the evidence that there is a neuroprotectant that can prevent damage in the brain caused by reduced blood flow,” said Tymianski, inventor of NA-1 and one of the study’s authors. “The benefits of this can be explored not only for stroke, but for other conditions such as vascular dementia.”
 

On Monday October 8, British researcher John Gurdon and Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the groundbreaking discovery that cells in the body can be reprogrammed into completely different kinds, work that reflects the mechanism behind cloning and offers an alternative to using embryonic stem cells. The work holds hope for treating diseases like Parkinson’s and diabetes by growing customized tissue for transplant.

Dr. Andres Nagy, researcher in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, senior investigator at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute and Canada Research Chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration, is one of Canada’s leading stem cell researchers and says Drs. Gurdon’s and Yamanka’s research was a real eye-opener.

Dr. Nagy offers his insight on their work:

John Gurdon's groundbreaking work on frog cloning was a real eye opener; for the first time, the dogma that cell differentiation was a one-way street was suddenly overturned. His discoveries eventually led to the cloning of "Dolly the sheep," once and for all proving that reprogramming of somatic cells to a pluripotent state is possible even in mammals. However, the technique of nuclear transfer cloning is tremendously complicated and inefficient.

Yamanaka on the other hand, showed in a surprisingly simple way that the expression of four specific genes are enough to convert fully differentiated cells into stem cells that in turn can become any cell type found in the body. This was a huge breakthrough that gave rise to hopes that one day, stem cells could be derived from individual patients to treat their specific conditions – diabetes, spinal cord injury, blindness and many other diseases that today are not possible to cure.

I congratulate Shinya Yamanaka for the courage to carry out the experiments that not many people believed would be possible to do. They are a clear demonstration of his exceptional talent, vision and determination.

U of T Medicine Professor Claire Pane with Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration participants.

Grand Challenges Canada has announced funding for 15 innovative projects designed to improve mental health diagnosis and care in developing countries, many of which are nations ravaged by conflict, disaster and poverty. 

Dr. Clare Pain, Professor in U of T Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and coordinator of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC), is the recipient of a $1 million grant for the Biaber Project - Scaling up Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for Common Mental Disorders in Ethiopia.  The project will train a network of Ethiopian health workers to provide culturally-sensitive mental health treatment to people in their own communities.

Dr. Pain quotes an Amharic saying: “der biaber anbessa yaser,” that means together, a spider web will tie a lion. With co-principle investigator, Dr. Dawit Wondimagegn of Ethiopia, Dr. Pain and her team will help tame the lion of mental illness in Ethiopia. One contributing factor to mental health disorders is domestic violence which has a high occurrence in rural Ethiopian families.  The violence can lead to depression, anxiety and suicide and those who suffer mental illness are often severely stigmatized.  This project will test improved screening for mental health disorders and make treatments available to many who previously could not access care.

Brain drain is a major issue in Ethiopia with over 80 per cent of foreign-trained Ethiopian physicians not returning to practice in their home country. The vision of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) is to train professionals in the country, replicating and sustaining advanced training programs over the long term, thus decreasing the need to train abroad.

Globally, close to 450 million people have mental health disorders and more than 75 per cent of those individuals live in developing countries. To make matters worse, the World Health Organization says 85 per cent of individuals living in the developing world with serious mental disorders receive no treatment at all.

“Mental health disorders are a leading cause of suffering and disability everywhere, but the problem is especially acute in the developing world,” says Dr. Peter A. Singer, Professor of Surgery in U of T’s Faculty of Medicine and Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada. 

“There is very little funding for mental health innovations in low and middle income countries where mental illness is the most neglected of many neglected diseases. It’s a terrible denial of human potential.”

NEWS:

To help keep tuition affordable, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine is expanding its medical student admissions bursary program for those who need financial support the most.

Tuition costs have been rising all across Canada in recent years.  On average, students in the Undergraduate Medical Education program graduate with more than $80,000 in debt.  Some students from lower-income families will graduate with up to twice as much debt.

To help ease the financial burden for students, the Faculty is increasing its medical student admissions bursaries from six to 10 this year, in addition to our regular student financial aid program. The Faculty is also increasing the total dollar amount of these high-needs bursaries — from $50,000 to $80,000 per student over the four-year Doctor of Medicine Program — helping students to better afford the costs of a medical education.

The Faculty of Medicine is committed to providing access for all students — regardless of their financial situation.  That’s why increasing student aid and awards was a key part of the Faculty’s recently launched Boundless fundraising campaign. When finished, the new campaign will add another $100-million in direct student support.

QUOTES:

“Our goal is to ensure that, independent of economic background, we attract and support the most qualified individuals entering our medical education program. Investing in our outstanding medical students enables them to choose training in clinical service areas focused on their passion and commitment with less concern about financing personal debt as they enter practice.“
-Dean Catharine Whiteside

“Without the generous financial support I received, I never would have been able to go to medical school while gaining clinical care experience as a primary care paramedic.  It allowed me to have a very well-rounded learning experience without worrying about overwhelming debt, and helped to make my dreams of becoming a doctor a reality.”
-Ahmed Taher, third-year MD student and former President of the Medical Society

QUICK FACTS:

• Tuition and fees for a first-year MD student are just over $21,000.
• More than 70 per cent of students enrolled in the MD program graduate with debt.  The average debt load for recent graduates has been more than $80,000.
• The first-year MD student average budget (including books, equipment, rent and other living expense costs) is just over $39,500
• About 70 per cent of MD students participate in the undergraduate medicine student aid program
• U of T’s Faculty of Medicine trains more than half of all practicing specialists and more than one-third of all family physicians in Ontario

LEARN MORE:

    Find out more about how to apply to U of T’s Undergraduate Medical Program here, or connect to the admissions Twitter feed here.
    Watch a video about the impact being made by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine.
    

For more information, please contact:

Faculty of Medicine communications
416-978-7752
medicine.communications@utoronto.ca

TORONTO, ON – The University of Toronto has launched the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development, the first institute of its kind in Canada.

The institute brings together researchers from across disciplines – including education, medicine, psychology, biology and social work – to connect in new ways and make the most of the early years with the vision of maximizing potential and providing every child with the best possible start in life. Professor Stephen Lye, of the Faculty of Medicine’s Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Physiology, will lead the Institute as executive director, alongside academic director Marla Sokolowski, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

The new institute is named in memory of early human development advocate Dr. J. Fraser Mustard, and encompasses faculties and divisions across U of T, as well as its affiliated hospitals.

U of T President David Naylor said, “We are proud to honour this great Canadian, and to recognize this giant of biosciences and trans-disciplinary research, in the launch of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development.”

At the launch, held on Thursday at the MaRS Discovery Centre, Lye said, “New science has revealed that the first 2,000 days of life are critical to a child’s life-long health, learning and social functioning. By creating a critical mass of brilliant researchers from different disciplines and professions, U of T is at the very forefront of research to maximize the health and full potential of our greatest resource - our children.”

The Fraser Mustard Institute has supporters from around the world, including Mats Sundin, former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs ice hockey team and the son of a pediatric nurse. Sundin has established exchange fellowships for two elite scientists in developmental biology between U of T and Karolinska Institutet in his home country of Sweden. “Now that I’m a new father, I see how important it is to give babies the best possible start in life. I hope the important research that will take place at the U of T’s IHD will help the world’s children develop into healthy adults.”

According to Sokolowski, “The conversation between our genes and our environment in early life has lifelong consequences for our health, learning and social functioning. Understanding how our early experience affects us is one of the research questions being asked by our highly trans-disciplinary network of researchers.”
For more information, please contact:

U of T Media Relations
media.relations@utoronto.ca
Tel: 416-978-0100

Related Links

Why the first 2,000 days of a child's life are the most important (Globe and Mail)