McGill University Theses and dissertations by author name (I)

Maximal inotropic response of electrically driven (0.5, 1 or 2 Hz) rat ventricular tissues in vitro to $ alpha sb1$-adrenoceptor agonist, methoxamine, was comparable to that of $ beta sb1$-adrenoceptor agonist isoprenaline up to 2 weeks of age. The inotropic effect of methoxamine decreased to adult levels at 3 weeks so that in tissues from rats 3 weeks and older, its inotropic effect was significantly less than that of isoprenaline. The inotropic effect of isoprenaline was not age-dependent. The inotropic effect of methoxamine was antagonized by prazosin and that of isoprenaline by propranolol. Treatment of pups at birth with dexamethasone, …  Read more

Heat transfer coefficients on the concave surface of an annulus with decaying swirl flow of hot air have been determined experimentally. The annulus tested had a radius ratio of 0.8, and the dacaying swirl flow was produced by the admission of air through two nozzles tangential to the outer cylinder near the closed end of the annulus. Three different inlet nozzle geometries were tested. [...]  Read more

Bien plus qu’une simple division du gouvernement colonial, le Département des Indiens du Haut-Canada était son propre Imperium in Imperio. Au cours du demi-siècle qui s’est écoulé entre 1796 et 1845, les priorités, les intérêts et les attitudes de ses employés ont significativement contribué au maintien des relations entre les Autochtones et l’Empire dans la région des Grands Lacs. Fermement enracinés dans les traditions d’alliance militaire et de ligature impériale qui remontent à la création du Département dans les années 1750, ses membres ont constamment prôné la continuation des pratiques diplomatiques qui avaient alors été établies. Le Département des Indiens …  Read more

Grâce à des traitements efficaces, l'espérance de vie des personnes vivant avec le VIH est allongée et un groupe plus important de personnes vieillit avec le VIH et fait face à des conditions liées à l'âge telles que la fragilité. Actuellement, il existe un large éventail d'indices de fragilité, mais il n'y a pas de mesure de référence pour la fragilité, car il y a un manque de cadres théoriques et opérationnels dans le domaine de la fragilité. Cette thèse a développé un cadre pour la fragilité liée au VIH et a étudié les effets des facteurs personnels, liés au …  Read more

In Part I of this thesis, recognition of natural scenes was tested in 72 patients with unilateral frontal- or temporal-lobe excisions and 32 normal control subjects (NC). The occurrence of a novel scene in the midst of a series of other scenes normally induces forgetting of the scene that had preceded the novel one. This phenomenon was not observed following right frontal- and right temporal-lobe lesions, and was only partially present after left temporal-lobe excisions that included the hippocampus (LTH). These brain regions were thus seen as part of a circuit that codes novel stimuli. In Part 2, recall of …  Read more

Lorenzino, Lisa Marie (Internal/Cosupervisor2)  Read more

Le cerveau encode des informations sur le monde en construisant des représentations mentales des espaces que nous visitons. Dans l'hippocampe, l'espace est représenté par l'activité de différents types de cellules spatiales telles que les cellules de lieu, les cellules de direction de la tête et les cellules de grille, mais des recherches ont montré que les représentations dans le cerveau ont tendance à dériver au fil du temps sans changement de stimulus. Le subiculum est une région de l'hippocampe, qui a montré qu'il maintient une activité stable à travers des contextes visuellement et géométriquement distincts.Cette thèse vise à comprendre la …  Read more

A cohort of 2037 first year elementary school children was established in 1978 and examined annually on two other occasions to study the epidemiology of dental caries. Data on risk factors were collected from the parents through a questionnaire at the same time as the last two dental examinations. Some information on risk factors was also collected from the child at the time of dental examination. Prevalence of caries initially was high and the evolution of prevalence indices over the 24 month period is described. The incidence of caries for deciduous and permanent dentition is given by the relative increment …  Read more

Food consumption patterns and their association with nutrient intake in 290 homebound elderly living in Sherbrooke, Quebec were: investigated. Dietary data were collected using three repeated non-consecutive 24-hour recalls and sociodemographic, physical, physiological and psychosocial characteristics were measured. Factor and cluster analyses were used to define food patterns. Due to the homogeneous dietary patterns of this population, neither the five factors nor six clusters formed were distinct. There were few dietary predictors of nutrient intake as mean intakes of energy, folacin, calcium, vitamin D and zinc by subjects in all clusters were inadequate. Protein intakes were also marginal. Eating beef …  Read more

A particle filter (PF) is a simulation-based algorithm used to solve estimation problems, such as object tracking. The PF works by maintaining a set of "particles" as candidate state descriptions of an object's position. The filter determines how well the set of particles describe the observations and fit the dynamic model, in order to form an object state estimate. The drawback of the basic PF is that the algorithm functions by collecting all data at a fusion centre. This leads to high communication and energy costs in a resource-limited network such as the sensor network. In this thesis, we analyze …  Read more

A favorable outcome of blood-stage malaria infection requires immune responses that effectively eliminate the infection with minimum pathology to the host. There is strong evidence that the innate immune system is critical for initiating and shaping the subsequent adaptive immune response to blood-stage Plasmodium parasites. As sentinels of infection and potent activators of immunity, dendritic cells (DCs) are pivotally positioned to control the immune response to malaria and thereby influence the outcome of infection. Experiments performed in this thesis work aimed to determine the role of DCs in host-parasite interactions and subsequent induction of protective immunity to blood-stage malaria. Moreover, …  Read more

Scott, Marilyn E. (Advisor)  Read more

Background: Nutritional risk is a public health concern associated with aging. While nutritional risk has been linked to various individual social factors, an assessment of the relationship between nutritional risk and the overall strength of social environment, through the assessment of multiple social factors in combination, has not been considered in previous research. Objective: To evaluate associations between the strength of social environment and nutritional risk using cross-sectional data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (n=20,786). Subgroup analyses were performed among middle-aged (45-64 years, n = 13,060) and older-aged (65 years, n = 7,726) subgroups. Consumption of four major …  Read more

The term “shock” has held a variety of meanings for the medical practitioners in the past. Even in recent times the word has been applied non-specifically to conditions such as syncope due to mental anguish, affects of trauma, both accidental and operative as well as the well-recognized and specific state which results from prolonged loss of effective circulating blood volume. According to Moon (68) the first accurate description of the shock syndrome was recorded by Dr. Samuel Gross in 1872.  Read more

Hexamethylenetetramine, commonly referred to as hexamine or urotropine, is a compound of very considerable chemical interest, since it contains, potentially at least, the high reduction and condensation reactivity of six formaldehyde molecules together v;ith the extensive combining pov/er of four tertiary amine nitrogens. The structure of this molecule has been the object of much speculation since Butlerov (1) first prepared it in 1859 by the reaction of gaseous ammonia with formaldehyde. The structure suggested by Butlerov for the compound he identified as having the empirical formula C6H12N4. is as follows [...]  Read more

This dissertation presents a new perspective on the history of conservation in North America. In contrast to historiography that locates conservation-oriented approaches to the North American environment as the product of late-nineteenth-century concerns within Canada and the United States, this study links wildlife conservation in Quebec directly to longstanding European land tenure, estate management, and associational strategies. Through a range of materials including state documents, associational records and personal and family papers, I show how advocates of fish and game protection in the province drew heavily on Old World customs and traditions, particularly those of British landowners, who displayed in …  Read more

An exploratory study was conducted to examine the effects of parental child protection employment on the children of the employees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted of eight children, who had one parent employed in a child protection agency in Eastern Ontario. The analysis of the interviews demonstrated perceived impacts on identified areas of the participants' lives: family transactions within the community; internal family functioning; and the impact on the individual participant. The interview results were also examined along four variables: gender of the child protection worker parent; gender of the participant; age of the participant; and position held by the child …  Read more

Cet essai examine le recrutement par les principales sociétés protestantes de missionnaires de femmes britanniques célibataires au cours de la fin du dix-neuvième siècle et du début du vingtième. Il cherche à comprendre ce qui motiva les femmes à postuler, ainsi qu'à découvrir la formation et les qualifications exigées d'elles avant qu'elles ne soient envoyées en mission. Les candidates célibataires qui furent acceptées comme missionnaires eurent à affronter les barrières de classe et de genre, et travaillèrent à redéfinir leurs positions au sein des missions religieuses, se professionnalisant graduellement au fil des ans. Cette thèse porte un accent particulier sur …  Read more

This study investigated the relationship between flood duration of beaver ponds in eastern Ontario and their productivity for waterfowl. The primary objective was to assess the effect of removing water from a beaver pond for one year had on the subsequent productivity of the wetland. Productivity was estimated by sampling water chemistry, standing crops of aquatic invertebrates, vertebrates, algae and vegetation composition and distribution in naturally occurring and managed beaver ponds of varying ages during 1994 and 1995. Three ponds in each of the following categories were sampled; managed ponds reflooded in 1993, managed ponds reflooded in 1991, naturally occurring …  Read more

Pyocyanine is a blue pigment characterized by the basic phenazine structure. Several other pigments were isolated from bacterial origins which contained the phenazine "nucleus." The similarities between these chemical compounds and their relation to phenazine are more readily observed by a comparison of structural formulae. [...]  Read more

Background. Various treatments for ADHD have been used, but no long-term maintenance of gains have been documented once treatment was discontinued. This has led to the development of multimodal treatment. Diverse interventions are potentially beneficial to ADHD patients. Objective. To determine whether any differences exist between the multimodal treatment group, and the two control groups, 4--7 years after completion of the program. This study examines the subjects' social, academic and behavioral functioning. Method. A parental telephone interview was used to conduct this follow-up. Results. At follow-up, mean age was 15.02 years. There were no significant differences between the groups, on …  Read more

Cette thèse présente une façon révisé pour les théoriciens de la musique à concevoir à l’interprétation, telle que perçu à travers des oeuvres pédagogiques par les interprètes connus d’histoire et d’aujourd’hui. Dans le premier chapitre, j’expose les grands lignes de mon approche théorique, par répondre aux critiques influents d’analyse et performance (Cook 1999, 2013; Rink 1990, 2002). Dans le deuxième chapitre, j’examine quelques traités instrumental par des musiciens connu d’Allemagne du fin du 18e siècle, construisant une « théorie du phrasé » rudimentaire sur la base de leurs approches au mètre. Le troisième chapitre prend en considération le traitement du …  Read more

"This study was conducted in the Morgan Arboretum, a private suburban recreational forest. It examines the behaviour and attitudes of recreationists toward forest environments in general and Morgan Arboretum in particular. There were no significant differences in either attitudes or behaviour between members and non-member users of the Arboretum. There was a positive correlation between group size and time spent during most of the year. In winter, however, the relation was negative. Walking was the main activity of Morgan Arboretum users.The Arboretum was used as a haven for temporary solitude not generally found in other urban or suburban areas. Users …  Read more

La leucodystrophie liée à l’ARN polymérase III (Pol III) est une maladie hypomyélinisante rare causée par des variants pathogènes bialléliques dans les gènes codant pour les sous-unités de l'ARN polymérase III (Pol III), incluant POLR3A, POLR3B, POLR1C, POLR3D et POLR3K. Bien que traditionnellement perçue comme un trouble centré sur les oligodendrocytes, les rapports neuropathologiques suggèrent que le dysfonctionnement des astrocytes pourrait également contribuer à la pathogenèse de la maladie. Les mécanismes spécifiques par lesquels l'hypofonction de Pol III affecte la biologie des astrocytes demeurent largement inexplorés. Les astrocytes sont les cellules gliales les plus abondantes du système nerveux central et …  Read more

Le cancer de la vessie avec envahissement musculaire (CVEM) est généralement traité par l’ablation complète de la vessie ou par la radiothérapie (RT). Toutefois, ces deux approches présentent des limites importantes : l’ablation est associée à une altération majeure de la qualité de vie et à un risque élevé de métastases, tandis que la RT, bien qu’elle permette de préserver la vessie, mène à une résistance au traitement dans environ 30 % des cas.Cette étude explore le potentiel d’une combinaison entre la radiothérapie et une immunothérapie par transfert adoptif de cellules NK, dans le but d’améliorer l’efficacité du traitement tout …  Read more

The main objective of this thesis is to show that the thirty melodies ascribed to the ashoogh Sayat Nova are melodically and rhythmically homogeneous, and that they bear similarity to both Armenian folk and sacred melodies. Since very little has been written on this topic in Occidental languages, it has been necessary to provide (1) a descriptive account of the ancient Armenian music; namely, vibassan, koosan, folk and sacred traditions; (2) a presentation of ashoogh poetic forms, rhyming schemes, and accentuation patterns, which are summarized for the first time in a chart with corresponding sources; (3) a chapter on Armenian …  Read more

Discussions with regard to circulatory alterations in shock and the end results of these changes have gone on for many years. As early- as 1944 vasoexcitor and vasodepressor substances in shock states were postulated and efforts were made to identify the substances responsible. These studies represented one of the first steps in the search to find a single substance as a common denominator in various forms of shock. Recent studies of polypeptides, their biological activity and affect on vasomotor tone have suggested their possible importance in shock states. The more recent studies by Moffat on Bradykinin release in pancreatitis, and …  Read more

These words of Hegel may be taken to express the basic outlook of the "possibilist” geographer of today as he seeks to understand the nature of the relationship of man to earth. Only as men, as individuals or groups have been possessed with an idealistic philosophy associated with a concept of God, the State, or just the urge to enter new lands, to "conquer" nature, do they become truly geographically efficacious. As Professor Crowe has said "effective" man is the concern of geography not the total number.  Read more

We investigated the use of oral corticosteroids (OCS) among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the subsequent risk of death from all causes, COPD, cardiac problems, and pneumonia. We identified an incident cohort of 2050 patients with COPD using the Saskatchewan Health databases. We matched 668 case patients who died with 6742 controls with respect to date of entry into the cohort. A nested case-control analysis was then conducted using conditional multivariate regression. The matched adjusted rate ratio (RR) of all cause mortality for any use of OCS was 1.48 (95% CI 1.18--1.84). An increased risk of death …  Read more

Cette thèse vise à préciser comment les alchimistes et les non alchimistes ont étudié et discuté de l'alchimie dans l'Islam médiéval. Pour atteindre cet objectif, nous examinons d'abord et réinterprétons les réalisations des alchimistes musulmans et pré-islamiques, ainsi que les types multiples de classification de l'alchimie par des auteurs non alchimistes. En outre, nous examinons les discussions théoriques des non alchimistes sur l'alchimie, qui ont eu une grande influence sur le développement de l'alchimie dans l'Islam médiéval ainsi que dans les détails des alchimistes. Enfin, afin de clarifier les deux positions, nous étudions le Ḥaqā'iq al-istishhād de al-Ṭughrā'ī, qui compare …  Read more

Leptin is an adipocyte-derived cytokine originally identified as an anti-obesity hormone but is implicated in other functions including immunity. The work described in this thesis addressed leptin’s role as a neuroimmune mediator during systemic inflammation and the physiological significance of this role. We first demonstrated that leptin stimulates the production of interleukin-1β, a critical pro-inflammatory cytokine, through action on brain-resident macrophages, microglia and endothelial cells known to play key roles in the brain’s innate inflammation. Moreover, leptin displayed atypical inflammatory effects, acting as an enhancer/modulator rather than a bona fide stimulator of brain inflammation. In subsequent studies, we addressed the …  Read more

We have taken two approaches to evaluate the effects of drug resistant mutations in human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT). First, we have expressed and purified histidine-tagged wildtype (wt) and mutant RTs by metal chelate affinity chromatography. The purification of wt RT and RTs containing the mutations M184V, M1841, E89G and E89G/M184V, by the method of Le Grice and Gruninger-Leitch (1990), will be discussed in Chapter 2. These enzymes were produced to evaluate the effects of these mutations on fidelity and processivity in vitro. Second, we have cultured wt and M184V-containing HIV-1 in the presence of a neutralizing …  Read more

This thesis examines the relationship between women's empowerment and low-income housing sustainability. It argues that housing projects and policies should be designed to enable women take control of their environment, which would not only profit women but ensure economic and social sustainability of the neighborhood, benefiting all its other residents as well as the city. The thesis discusses how housing policies have failed to empower women and analyzes the manner in which a built environment can empower its female residents and consequently be enriched by them, as exemplified by three decades of history of an isolated neighborhood called Mountain Sights …  Read more

Bone is a dynamic, living tissue that can respond to mechanical stress, muscular activity, and strengthen over time. It is constantly broken down and rebuilt in a process known as remodeling. When slightly less bone is deposited than resorbed, it results in osteopenia and eventually osteoporosis, which predisposes the bone to fracture during minimal trauma. Osteoporosis is a condition of generalized skeletal fragility, or "weak bones". According to the Canadian Healthy Aging questionnaire in 2009, 19.2% of women reported being diagnosed with osteoporosis. With the rise of the aging population, the prevalence and cost of osteoporosis is sure to increase …  Read more

It is well known how the Hegelian doctrine supports Capital Punishment. The founder of the doctrine as well as his disciples upheld Capital Punishment as rational; moreover, it is almost a universal opinion that the punishment of death is in accordance with the Hegelian doctrine from which it would logically descend. [...]  Read more

La production de la fructosyltransférase (lévansaccharase) par la souche thermophilique Geobacillus stearothermophilus a été investiguée à 55oC pendant 32 h de fermentation dans un milieu de culture minéral supplémenté avec diverses sources d'azote, de fer et de carbones pour l'induction. Les sources d'azotes organiques, tryptone et peptone, ont conduit à une croissance bactérienne optimale et une production maximale de la lévansaccharase. Toutes les sources de carbones utilisées sont parvenues à induire la production de la lévansaccharase, avec le saccharose (1% m/v) étant l'inducteur le plus efficace. L'addition d'une source férrique ou ferreuse n'a eu aucun effet significatif ni sur la …  Read more

The distinguishing feature of American aviation policy, both domestically and internationally, is its reliance uponuseful competition. This characteristic has effectively been limited by Congress to the realm of capacity and frequencycompetition. This thesis makes a study of the recent activities of the industry and Civil Aeronautics Board to influence thestructure of the industry through the use of capacity and frequency controls. Although this attempt has highlightedmany of the flaws in the present regulatory system, it is still too soon to predict if they will produce fundamentalchanges in domestic aviation policy. Nevertheless, in the international area, it can be concluded that …  Read more

The objective of this thesis is to provide decision makers with a tool to assist in the development of short-, medium- and long-term capacity planning for long-term care networks. Although this research may be applied to other service sectors, as well as others areas of interest to those in the operations research community, the application area of this thesis is restricted to the domain of long-term care. When designing long-term care networks for the elderly and infirm, a network should both satisfy demand in a timely fashion and take a patient's perceived quality-of-life into account. As these elderly, infirm patients …  Read more

Asthma affects millions world-wide, and to this day, still proves to be fatal despite the vast pharmacological armamentarium available. Asthma is an inflammatory disease characterized by reversible airflow obstruction and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), an excessive narrowing of the airways in response to normally benign stimuli. This bronchoconstriction has been largely attributed to the hyperreactivity of airway smooth muscle (ASM) through an increase in ASM mass and strength, a decrease in bronchodilation, an increase in velocity of shortening, and many more depending on the model studied.Focusing on allergic forms of asthma specifically, one of the dominant paradigms explaining AHR has involved …  Read more

Prenatal exposure to ethanol has been shown to alter hippocampal cell numbers in rodents and primates, and this may be due, in part, to a reduction in the number or migration of neuronal progenitor cells. The olfactory bulb has been shown to have continuous cellular proliferation and a rapid turnover of newly formed cells. Its relatively small size, compared to the hippocampus, potentially makes this structure ideal for a rapid reporter tissue investigating normal and abnormal neurogenesis. This study used the St. Kitts vervet monkey (Chlorocebus sabeus) to 1) investigate the normal developmental sequence of post-natal proliferation in the olfactory …  Read more