Royal Canadian Navy

Canada faces pressing challenges that threaten its economic stability, national security, and military readiness. Growing American nationalism and isolationism heighten the dangers of Canada's over-dependence on the United States, while economic reconstruction, a housing crisis, and increasing geopolitical threats in the North and Arctic demand urgent attention. Despite mounting international pressure, Canada's military investment remains insufficient even for its most basic necessities. Canada's Auditor General recently reported that the military itself is facing its own housing crisis, with aging and deteriorating facilities and thousands of military members without residential housing. Can there be an integrated national strategy that aligns military expansion with economic development? At critical moments in history, military mobilization has driven economic transformation in Canada, and this study proposes leveraging Canada's military to address the national housing crisis.

Abstract Salmonid fishes exhibit marked intra-specific variation in muscle pigmentation, primarily due to individual differences in the accumulation and assimilation of dietary carotenoids. Carotenoids are synthesized by primary producers and microorganisms, and present in the tissues of crustaceans that can serve as important prey for salmonids. Despite anadromous Arctic char ( Salvelinus alpinus ) being a key subsistence and economic resource across Inuit Nunangat, their muscle pigmentation in relation to diet and environmental variability (e.g., sea ice dynamics) has not been investigated. Using carotenoid spectrophotometry analysis and a muscle colour scale, we examined the influence of Arctic char diet, inferred from stomach contents, stable isotopes (δ 15 N), and highly branched isoprenoids on their muscle pigmentation, as well as muscle pigmentation of their prey near the communities of Rankin Inlet and Naujaat, Nunavut in two years (2021, 2022) with contrasting sea ice cover. Among prey types, invertebrates had higher carotenoid concentrations than fishes. Arctic char in Naujaat contained higher muscle carotenoid concentrations and redder muscle than in Rankin Inlet in 2021, associated with a higher invertebrate-based diet and more prevalent sea ice cover. In 2022, muscle carotenoid concentrations of Naujaat and Rankin Inlet Arctic char were similar, associated with a largely fish-based diet and similar sea ice cover, although muscle still remained redder in Naujaat Arctic char. Inter-annual variation in carotenoid concentration and muscle pigmentation associated with diet variability observed in this species may affect local resource users over the long-term due to unpredictable climate-driven environmental changes, resulting in socioeconomic impacts across the Arctic.

The recent deployment of 5G technology in the C-band has raised concerns regarding potential interference with aeronautical radar altimeters. 5G systems in the C-band operate within a frequency range of 3.7-3.98 GHz, which closely aligns with the operational frequency of radar altimeters, falling within the range of 4.2-4.4 GHz. This proximity in operational frequencies increases the possibility of interference between the two systems. In this paper, we explore two primary objectives: first, to examine the potential for interference between the 5G C-band and radar altimeters, and second, to develop techniques for mitigating this interference. To achieve these objectives, we assess interference in a real-world scenario, where multiple Base Stations (BSs) are deployed to serve an operational runway. Additionally, two interference management techniques were proposed and evaluated within the assessed real-life scenario. The first involves the implementation of adaptive BS using the Power Control (PC) method, which aims to mitigate interference with minimal impact on coverage by adjusting the transmitting power for the BS that contributes the most to the interference model. A modification to this technique was applied to loop over the coverage areas instead of individual BSs. This technique is useful in scenarios where BSs are implemented close to each other with overlapping coverage. Lastly, a Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) optimization algorithm was developed to optimize the locations of BSs, minimizing interference while maintaining coverage. This work has explored the impact of potential interference between 5G in the C-band and radar altimeters and suggested practical methods to allow the coexistence of both systems, thereby ensuring aviation safety and fulfilling the telecommunication sector’s objectives.

Abstract Introduction: Patients with basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) predominantly represented by triple-negative breast cancer have shown a high recurrence rate and are characterized by poor prognosis. There is an urgent need to undercover reliable prognostic biomarkers that can help in the clinical management of such patients and identify additional therapeutic targets. The objective of this study was to create a comprehensive transcriptomic database on a large scale and leverage it to identify and prioritize cancer-related genes associated with BLBC patients’ outcomes. Methods: We identified breast cancer cohorts from public repositories that contained gene expression data at the transcriptome level, along with clinical follow-up information. BLBC were identified using the PAM50 signature. All samples were standardized using a standard array normalization coupled with scaling to have a mean expression across all genes of 1000 in each sample and incorporated into a unified database. Redundant samples were removed. For each gene, Cox univariate survival analysis was conducted, to account for multiple hypothesis testing, the false discovery rate was computed, and a significant cutoff of 1% was employed to determine the highest statistical significance. Association with RFS and OS was performed. Multivariate analysis was performed for selected genes involving clinical and pathological variables. To uncover higher-level functions related to altered RFS, gene ontology analysis was performed using the enrichGO function in the TNM plotter (http://www.tnmplot.com). Results: The complete integrated database comprises 1,899 samples from 52 breast cancer datasets. Altogether, 2,342 genes were correlated with relapse-free survival (RFS), and 1,149 genes were correlated with overall survival (OS). 619 genes were statistically significant for both RFS and OS. The most significant genes were ANGPTL4 (p=4.25E-08, HR=2.02), NHP2 (p=5.98E-10, HR=1.93), STK3 (p=4.86E-10, HR=1.93), GBE1 (p=2.77E-09, HR=1.86), and PMVK (p=3.65E-09, HR=1.85) for RFS and PINK1 (p=1.64E-05 , HR=3.31), CAMK2N1 (p=1.06E-07 , HR=2.93), CACFD1 (p=4.79E-04 , HR=2.61), SCAP (p=3.29E-04 , HR=2.6), SDC1 (p=2.81E-04 , HR=2.57), for OS. The most significant gene ontology biological processes upregulated in tumors with a worse prognosis include GO:0000184, nuclear-transcribed mRNA catabolic process, nonsense-mediated decay (p=6.64E-18); GO:0045047 , protein targeting to ER (p=6.64E-18); GO:0006614, SRP-dependent cotranslational protein targeting to membrane (p=9.08E-18); GO:0072599, establishment of protein localization to endoplasmic reticulum (p=1.30E-17); and GO:0006613, cotranslational protein targeting to membrane (p=1.90E-17). Conclusions: Our results help to prioritize genes and to neglect those which are most likely to fail in studies aiming to establish new clinically useful biomarkers and therapeutic targets in BLBC. Citation Format: Balazs Gyorffy, Libero Santarpia. Uncovering Novel Potential Prognostic Biomarkers in Basal-Like Breast Cancer using Transcriptomic Data of 1,899 Patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO2-03-08.

Abstract This study assesses the forecast skill of the Canadian Seasonal to Interannual Prediction System (CanSIPS), version 2, in predicting Arctic sea ice extent on both the pan-Arctic and regional scales. In addition, the forecast skill is compared to that of CanSIPS, version 1. Overall, there is a net increase of forecast skill when considering detrended data due to the changes made in the development of CanSIPSv2. The most notable improvements are for forecasts of late summer and autumn target months that have been initialized in the months of April and May that, in previous studies, have been associated with the spring predictability barrier. By comparison of the skills of CanSIPSv1 and CanSIPSv2 to that of an intermediate version of CanSIPS, CanSIPSv1b, we can attribute skill differences between CanSIPSv1 and CanSIPSv2 to two main sources. First, an improved initialization procedure for sea ice initial conditions markedly improves forecast skill on the pan-Arctic scale as well as regionally in the central Arctic, Laptev Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, and Barents Sea. This conclusion is further supported by analysis of the predictive skill of the sea ice volume initialization field. Second, the change in model combination from CanSIPSv1 to CanSIPSv2 (exchanging the constituent CanCM3 model for GEM-NEMO) improves forecast skill in the Bering, Kara, Chukchi, Beaufort, East Siberian, Barents, and the Greenland–Iceland–Norwegian (GIN) Seas. In Hudson and Baffin Bay, as well as the Labrador Sea, there is limited and unsystematic improvement in forecasts of CanSIPSv2 as compared to CanSIPSv1.

Bi- or multilateral sharing of resources in jointly operated logistics, infrastructure and programmes can help achieve more effective use of expensive equipment and capacities and thus reduce the costs in polar research. This report examines a selection of the existing and planned multilateral operations in the Arctic and the Antarctic using the experience gained from earlier joint cooperation networks. The selection of 4 pilot studies covers both Arctic and Antarctic research and logistics and are relatively large scale with several countries involved in the cooperation. The studies are the basis for demonstrating how bilateral or multilateral cooperation in joint research programmes and operations can provide added value to European Polar research and allow the more efficient use of resources. Each case describes the parties involved, historical background, the methodology and development, the added value and the benefits in scientific terms, logistics and the European dimension, as well as a proposal for translation to other polar spaces with a European perspective.

In this new column, Ellen Nicholson, RCN GPN Forum Chair, shares the purpose of the forum and explains how you can get involved

Throughout history, technology has provided many and significant improvements to the way we live, but the current pace of development now often exceeds the ability for the full potential of any technological innovation to be explored and implemented before further innovations are introduced. This pace of change results both in missed opportunities for a technology in its ability to contribute to effective solutions in addressing issues such as reducing adverse environmental impact or improving the health of society. In considering the nature of technological innovation and development, the associated engineering design processes can themselves be characterized as being associated with a highly complex, iterative problem-solving exercises, involving the integration and synthesis of a wide range of technologies. This in turn requires the design team to manage trade-offs across a range of primary constraints, as for instance embodied energy in manufacturing, energy consumption in use, capital costs and operating and resource recovery costs. Further investigation into the complexity of societal issues and means for achieving a more effective and fuller utilization of both existing resources and technologies is necessary to place sustainability as a priority of the decision making process. To support discussion and provide context, three case studies are presented. The first case study examines a strategic framework adopting metrics aligned with environmental issues used as proxies for evaluating wellbeing and common good. The second case study examines the specific contribution of eHealth to wellbeing and the balance of technological, societal and political issues in determining outcomes. The third case study considers how technology might be embedded as part of the process of obtaining meta-data from within a small rural community to demonstrate the impact of mitigation strategies associated with the reduction of its carbon footprint, and hence on climate change. In doing so, the paper seeks to bring together issues surrounding environmental problems in relation to a technology driven engineering design process while positioning them in the context of social benefits arising from sustainable decision making.

Freeze-dried plasma (FDP) is a promising blood component for prehospital resuscitation given its logistic advantages over fresh frozen plasma (FFP). COVID-19 convalescent (CC) plasma has been used to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, and its corresponding FDP has potential use during future pandemics. Therefore, we conducted the study to determine if the hemostatic and immunological properties of plasma can be retained after lyophilization. Hemostatic tests were conducted with Rotational Thromboelastometry (ROTEM) and a Stago analyzer. Anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) IgG (Immunoglobulin G) and neutralizing activity were analyzed using Meso Scale Diagnostics immunoassay kits. There were no differences in ROTEM parameters and Stago measurements for prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time (PTT), fibrinogen and D-dimer concentrations, and antithrombin, factor V, VIII, and protein S activities between FFP and FDP for either pre-COVID-19 or CC samples. Differences were observed in INTEM clotting time and PT and PTT when comparing reconstituted FDP stored at 4°C for 24 h or room temperature for 4 h to healthy control. Both CC-FFP and CC-FDP showed two orders of magnitude higher concentrations of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 antigens than pre-COVID-19-FFP and pre-COVID-19-FDP and healthy control. Similarly, the CC samples showed approximately 4-fold higher %-inhibition of receptor binding than the pre-COVID-19 samples. There were no differences in either the antibody levels or neutralization activity between CC-FFP and CC-FDP. We demonstrated that FDP and CC-FDP retained the same hemostatic and antibody functional activities relative to their initial plasma sources, supporting clinical evaluation of their benefits in severe trauma and COVID-19 patients.