Science Canada | Research News ✦ July 6-10
Harnessing patient data, angry coyotes, aspen trees shield forest fires, and more ↴
RESEARCH HEADLINES · JULY 6-7
Hospital data sharing, coyote attacks, aspen-tree fire shields, and more.
Federated data is being harnessed to improve everything from conservation and earthquake detection to patient care and AI-powered medical treatments.
Let’s dig in ↴
ST. MICHAEL’S HOSPITAL
New national healthcare data system extracts hospital insights in near real-time
The new national health data platform, Vital, connects near real-time clinical data (imaging, prescriptions, notes, etc.) from 160 hospitals across Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. The aim is to allow researchers to use de-identified patient records to improve medical AI and, ultimately, boost care.
“That is the core of Vital: a secure, privacy-preserving health infrastructure for Canadians’ most important data: their healthcare. It connects real-time hospital data for research and innovation, while protecting privacy and while respecting provincial oversight.” — Evan Solomon, Minister of AI and Innovation
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
One network simultaneously tracks earthquakes, whales, and mining activity
Developed by researchers at McGill, Natural Resources Canada, Université du Québec à Montréal, and Dalhousie University, the unified system can monitor earthquakes, whales, and other activities, all at once. Installed in the Lower St. Lawrence, the system not only captured ship noise, whale sounds, mining, and tidal activity — it was also 2x better at detecting earthquakes than the National Earthquake Monitoring System.
“The Lower St. Lawrence is one of the most active seismic zones in Eastern Canada. It’s also a busy shipping corridor. That’s a concern for whale habitats, because some of the shipping noise can interfere with whale calls.” — Dr. Yajing Liu, McGill
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Increased coyote aggression linked to human habituation
In less than a year (Dec. 2020 - Aug. 2021), 45 coyote attacks near Vancouver’s Stanley Park led to the culling of 11 coyotes. That unprecedented surge in attacks has now been attributed to human habituation.
“It’s approximately one every six days, which is an incredibly high rate of attacks to be happening in such a small area…. These coyotes had become highly habituated to people, which meant that over time, they didn’t feel threatened by people in any of those encounters.” — Nathan Lewis, Doctoral Candidate, UBC
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
A new form of hereditary prostate cancer discovered
The findings from UBC researchers could aid in earlier cancer detection by identifying at-risk families. The new, rare form of prostate cancer is an inherited mutation that can be passed on, which is actually quite rare, as only 5-10% of cancers are passed down in this way.
“The opportunity now is to identify these families earlier and give people the chance to benefit from enhanced screening, when there are still curative treatment options.” — Dr. Alexander Wyatt, UBC
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Could reducing vehicle emissions save thousands of Canadian lives?
More than 3,600 lives could be saved in Montreal and Toronto alone by reducing ultrafine particles (UFPs) from vehicle exhaust pollutants. The McGill study found that cleaner power options could prevent small, microscopic particles from entering the lungs and bloodstream, thereby reducing the risk of lung disease and heart problems.
“Even without more electric vehicles on the road, we found that keeping traffic levels steady and retiring older heavy-duty diesel trucks could still prevent over 3,300 UFP-related deaths across both cities.” — Dr. Scott Weichenthal, McGill
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Caregiving can have a negative impact on mental health
Caregivers who deliver more than 20 hours a week in unpaid care show poorer mental health outcomes. However, the McGill researchers also found that social supports like respite care and community services can mitigate those outcomes.
“Factors we often assume matter (gender, income, education, where you live) did not significantly change how caregiving affected mental health once intensity was taken into account.” — Dr. Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, McGill
MCGILL UNIVERSITY
Aspen trees can help mitigate wildfires
In a first-of-its-kind finding, researchers at McGill found that large groups of aspens are more common along the perimeters of fire areas. Even though individual trees are likely to burn due to their thin bark, as a group they appear to have protective capabilities, such that they could reduce the severity of fires near communities.
“The bigger the aspen patch, the lower in severity the fire tends to be. Even with higher fire weather, as during the historic 2023 fire season, aspen’s ability to slow fire progression appears stable.” — Dr. Flavie Pelletier, McGill
SINAI HEALTH
81 genes behind the hardest-to-treat breast cancer
Researchers have used a new gene-editing tool to map genetic drivers behind the most aggressive form of breast cancer. The results could lead to the discovery of new treatment options.
“The reason we hadn’t found many of these driving genes before is that we were working in cell culture models. Now that we can study this cancer directly in a living system, we can observe the biological intricacies that only emerge in the context of a real tumour environment.” — Dr. Daniel Schramek, University of Toronto & Sinai Health