Kelowna General Hospital

ABSTRACT This research study examined the experiences of racialized social workers in Canada through semi-structured interviews with five participants. Grounded theory analysis revealed six themes: participants’ experience with racism; bearing the burden: professional and personal responsibility; progress, regression, and stagnation: addressing racism; participants’ personal response to racism; participants’ experiences reporting racism; and identity, role and resilience in social work. Across all themes, participants described pervasive racism. The findings highlight the emotional labor of racialized practitioners who must advocate for racialized clients, shoulder microaggressions, and challenge racism without organizational support. Implications for social work and policy include the need for culturally responsive leadership, formal reporting mechanisms, and anti-racism training developed by racialized professionals. Future researchers should expand the sample size and compare experiences across settings. The findings from this study reinforce the importance of an anti-racist frameworks in social work education and practice.

Exercise interventions improve quality of life and survival for individuals living with and beyond cancer (ILWBC), yet equitable access remains limited. Evidence on characteristics of who enrolls in exercise oncology programs is scarce, leaving gaps for equity-focused recruitment and scale-up, particularly in rural and underserved settings. The EXercise for Cancer to Enhance Living Well (EXCEL) study offers a unique opportunity to examine these issues across a Canada-wide cohort. EXCEL is an 8-12-week tailored exercise intervention delivered primarily to ILWBC in rural/remote communities, with additional enrollment of urban participants lacking exercise oncology resources. Adults with any cancer type or stage were eligible if pre-treatment, receiving treatment, or within 3 years post-treatment. This analysis describes baseline demographic, lifestyle, medical, and fitness factors by rural versus urban residence using descriptive statistics. Of 1495 participants enrolled in the EXCEL program (rural n = 1085; urban n = 400), baseline characteristics differed modestly by geography. Age did not differ significantly between rural and urban participants. Rural participants were more often male, had lower educational attainment, and demonstrated higher BMI than urban participants. Urban participants exhibited greater ethnic diversity and higher levels of education. Physical activity levels were similar with 78% classified as physically active at baseline. This Canada-wide baseline analysis reveals rural-urban variations in age, treatment status, disease burden, education, and lifestyle, yet comparable physical activity and functional capacity levels. These findings provide descriptive evidence to inform recruitment strategies and considerations for exercise oncology program delivery across geographic settings.

This research paper focuses on developing an automated data collection and transformation framework for Algorithmic Trading (AT) forecasting using machine learning (ML). The implementation of the computational resources is supported by a grant from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC), Alliance Cloud Connect Pilot [1]. This enables large-scale data processing, storage, and model training. Historical market data and real-time data streams are collected at 5-minute intervals, stored in staging tables of a PostgreSQL DBMS, and aggregated into 15minute intervals in a custom-built Data Warehouse. It is essential to ensure that data from multiple sources remains consistent, accurate, and reliably reproducible throughout the data pipeline.

Abstract Background Anxiety and depression (A/D) affect 5% of the global population, yet only one in five receives adequate management. Problematic, as co-morbid A/D is common in chronic digestive diseases and negatively influences prognosis and management. Cross-sectional studies associate poor diet quality and high intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) with an increased risk of A/D, while adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet (MD) has been linked to improvements in A/D severity. Their comparative effects on mental health outcomes in a controlled feeding trial are unknown. Aims To determine whether adherence to a MD improves symptoms of A/D compared with a UPF diet, using a controlled feeding design. Methods Healthy adults (n = 18) completed a randomized controlled feeding, crossover trial. Eligibility criteria included absence of acute or chronic physical or mental health conditions, medication or substance use, or prior major surgery. Participants consumed a fully catered 3-week UPF diet (85.5% NOVA 4), followed by a 6-week washout period, then a 3-week MD (8.9% NOVA 4). Each diet provided three meals and two snacks daily, matched in energy and macronutrient quantity. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire 8-item (PHQ-8), and the Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12) questionnaire were administered at baseline and at the end of week 3 of each diet arm. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U and the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test. Results Eighteen participants (50% female) completed the study, with a median age of 24.5 years [IQR: 23.0-29.0], and a median Body Mass Index of 24.3 kg/m2 [IQR: 23.2, 25.2]. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score was significantly higher in MD compared to the UPF (MD: 83.7 [IQR: 82.5-87.50] WD: 41.1 [IQR: 36.4-49.6], p < 0.0001). PHQ-8 scores increased following the UPF diet (median +3.5, p = 0.002), reaching a median score consistent with mild depressive symptoms. At week 3, PHQ-8 scores were significantly higher in the UPF group compared to the MD (median 3.5-point difference, p = 0.004). Quality of life measures declined during the UPF diet, significantly reducing the Mental Component Score (MCS: -8.3%, p = 0.003) and Physical Component Score (PCS: -4.1% p = 0.004). Between-group comparisons at week 3 demonstrated that MCS and PCS improved during the MD compared to the UPF diet (MCS: +6.1, p = 0.009, PCS: +2.4, p = 0.005). There were no significant differences in GAD-7 scores. Conclusions Short-term adherence to a UPF diet worsened depressive symptoms and reduced quality of life, while the MD improved or maintained these outcomes. These findings underscore the rapid influence of diet quality on mental well-being and support further research into diet as an adjunct treatment for chronic digestive diseases. Funding Agencies Weston Family Foundation

Pharmacy residents are at risk of burnout, which can affect their well-being and performance and reduce their sense of satisfaction. Support interventions, specifically peer support, mentorship, and connectedness, may help to alleviate stress and improve well-being. To describe the current opportunities for and perceptions of support available to Canadian year 1 (Y1) pharmacy residents and to identify their interest in and desire for additional support opportunities. A cross-sectional national online survey of Canadian Y1 residents from the 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24 residency years was conducted. A subset of survey respondents participated in an online focus group designed to further explore themes identified in the survey. A total of 109 residents participated in the survey, and 7 participated in the focus group. Participants reported that support was available to them in the forms of mentorship (n = 99, 90.8%), wellness or self-care opportunities (n = 45, 41.3%), and peer connection (n = 94, 86.2%). Mentorship and peer connection were highly valued, yet just over half of participants reported being satisfied with the level of mentorship and peer connection they experienced. Identified opportunities for improvement included formalizing mentorship programs, with clear roles, protected time, intentional matching, and paid training for mentors; enhancing access to health and wellness resources; and designating site-based support for residents. Mentorship and peer connection were the most commonly provided and highly valued supports for the Canadian Y1 pharmacy residents who participated in this study. Opportunities exist to enhance all forms of support offered to Y1 pharmacy residents, which ultimately may help to reduce resident burnout and improve resident well-being.

Accurate assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness is a critical component of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and prescription for people with stroke. However, post-stroke disability and neuromuscular impairments are common and may disproportionately affect females throughout the continuum of recovery. There is a need to evaluate alternative whole-body CPET protocols and to characterize the sex-specific CPET responses throughout the continuum of stroke recovery. To characterize the sex-specific CPET responses on a whole-body recumbent stepper CPET using American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) criteria in people with subacute (7-90 d) and chronic (≥6-60 months) stroke. Participants underwent a whole-body recumbent stepper symptom-limited CPET. Each CPET was assessed for ventilatory threshold (VT), peak oxygen uptake ( ) and ACSM maximal oxygen uptake criteria, including respiratory exchange ratio ≥1.10; plateau, heart rate (HR) within 10 beats of HRmax, and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) ≥17/20 or ≥7/10. Sex differences by stroke chronicity were evaluated via t tests, rank-sum tests, χ 2 , or Fisher exact tests. In total, 145 participants underwent a symptom-limited CPET. In subacute stroke ( n = 69), no sex differences were found for VT or ( P > 0.05), but females were more likely to achieve a plateau ( P = 0.002). In chronic stroke ( n = 76), no sex differences were observed for VT or criteria ( P > 0.05), but females had lower ( P = 0.002). Irrespective of sex, achieving the RPE ( n = 41 subacute [61%], n = 38 chronic [54%]) or respiratory exchange ratio criteria ( n = 28 subacute [41%], n = 39 [51%]) was the most commonly met ACSM criteria. This whole-body CPET protocol is appropriate for eliciting peak and maximal efforts in people post-stroke; however, clinicians should consider biological sex and stroke chronicity.

Lung cancer remains a significant cause of mortality, with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) representing most cases. Currently, clinical data based models fall short in predicting survival while more advanced deep learning based image models require vast amounts of data and are often limited to predictions based on single time points. This study uses dual time point CT scans and features derived from a foundation model to predict survival. A dataset containing 102 NSCLC patients treated with radiation therapy was used, with each patient having both pre-treatment and post-treatment CT scans. A foundation model applied to the scans generated high-dimensional feature vectors and these vectors were then further summarized. Statistical analyses, including random forest and gradient boosted survival models, were then used to predict survival. The results demonstrated that temporal changes in feature vectors, specifically the Euclidean distance and element-wise subtracted feature vectors, can offer improved prediction of survival over single-time point features and clinical data.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-26365-7.