Thornhill Medical (Canada)

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven ECG methods are transforming clinical workflows, signaling a shift in ECG analysis research and clinical practice. Adoption in routine care remains limited—largely due to challenges with explainability and poor integration into existing workflows. Combining human expertise with AI has potential to enhance research translation to improve clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. We applied human-computer interaction principles to develop ECG-SMART, a clinician-facing AI dashboard designed to estimate the likelihood of occlusion myocardial infarction (OMI) while intuitively communicating the model’s reasoning. We aimed to refine an ECG-SMART dashboard based on feedback from practicing clinicians through a series of qualitative focus groups (FG) and clinical usability sessions. Guided by user-centered design principles, we conducted 2 rounds of virtual FGs moderated by a FG methodologist. We asked open-ended questions to elicit feedback from clinical end-users on the scope and presentation of information provided by the dashboard prototype. Round 1 consisted of 3 separate FG sessions (paramedics, ED physicians, and cardiologists) who reviewed the prototype. Feedback was used to derive a modified version of the dashboard. Round 2 combined FGs with all available clinicians who participated in Round 1 to further refine the dashboard. All FGs were recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were coded by 3 research team members to identify recurrent patterns until thematic saturation was reached. After resolution of coding discrepancies, codes coalesced into emerging themes resulting in clinician-recommended dashboard changes. Twelve clinicians participated (mean age = 40 years, 25% female, mean clinical experience = 14 years). Five themes emerged: interpretation and clinical context, trust and explainability, AI recommendations and labels, risk stratification and AI scoring, and workflow and dashboard design. Dashboard design changes included, simplified color coding, improved OMI risk score display, enhanced AI prediction explainability and functionality, access to historical 12-lead ECGs, and revision of clinical action recommendation language. Figure 1 details the dashboard evolution. Engaging multidisciplinary clinicians in the design and refinement of an intelligent AI-ECG dashboard bridges the gap between AI developers and target end-users, improving clinical utility and acceptability for widespread clinical implementation.

As the number of older autistic adults and adults with intellectual disabilities grows, expanding capacity to meet their needs is crucial. On November 23-25, 2023, a Think Tank on aging in autism and/or intellectual disabilities was convened, with national and international delegates within this field. The Think Tank consisted of presentations focusing on key issues as well as a series of panel presentations addressing first-person lived experience, family caregiving, service provision in the community, and physical and mental health-based care. Discussion reflected lived experiences and care needs in this population, with an ultimate aim of advancing healthcare and community support. Delegates, who represent perspectives as self-advocates, family caregivers, service providers, clinicians and researchers, ranked guidelines and areas of focus identified in the literature in terms of the most important priorities for the near-term development of capacity building resources.

Soil micro-organisms like arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can provide beneficial symbiosis to their host plant and have been adopted to recover metal-polluted soils. This study investigates the removal of heavy metals from soil using phytoremediation in the presence of fungi. The results indicate that the sunflower plant illustrates the highest copper accumulation, with 18.55 mg/kg. In contrast, sunflower and sorghum controls (non-microorganisms) showed weak capability to transfer copper through plant biomass with 0.91 and 0.97 mg/kg, respectively. Both plants showed that phytoremediation can be a promising approach to providing sustainable solutions for soil heavy metal contamination in the presence of fungi.

This mini review examines the potential efficacy of applying electromagnetic field therapy for purposes of reducing osteoarthritis pain and other related disease features such as frailty, muscle sarcopenia, obesity, bone loss and fragility, and cartilage derangements and degradation in the older adult.Based on selected English language literature published largely on PUBMED between January 2000 and October 2025, papers describing the impact and potential synthetic and disease modifying impact of electromagnetic stimuli are explored.These data reveal a high degree of promise in fostering joint tissue reparative efficacy trends post electromagnetic stimulation.Its usage may allay the extent of the disease and its degree of disablement, while facilitating function.

Sedentary lifestyles, poor nutritional choices, inadequate sleep, risky substance use, limited social connections, and high stress contribute to the growing prevalence of chronic diseases. Lifestyle medicine, emphasizing therapeutic lifestyle changes for prevention and treatment, has demonstrated effectiveness but remains underutilized in clinical settings. The Complete Lifestyle Medicine Intervention Program-Ontario (CLIP-ON) was developed to educate the rural population of Northern Ontario in lifestyle medicine to improve health outcomes and engagement. This study evaluates the implementation and effectiveness of the CLIP-ON program for patients with chronic diseases in the Parry Sound area, focusing on lifestyle behaviors, health outcomes, enrollment, retention rates, and interdisciplinary team engagement. This observational cohort study guided by the RE-AIM framework (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) includes pre- and postintervention assessments from participants and health care providers. A hybrid type II mixed methods design evaluates the intervention's effectiveness and implementation process in real-world settings through quantitative and qualitative data collection. CLIP-ON is tailored to the residents of the Parry Sound catchment area in Northern Ontario. Participants (≥18 years old) with chronic conditions such as prediabetes, type II diabetes, systemic hypertension, cardiovascular vascular disease, dyslipidemia, or high BMI (≥25) will be recruited through self-referral or provider referral. Approximately 10 participants per cohort will be enrolled in the CLIP-ON program, consisting of 22 weeks of weekly group sessions and monthly individual consultations with physicians, health coaches, kinesiologists, and registered dieticians either in person or through a web-based platform. CLIP-ON will cover the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine through 14 group sessions followed by an 8-week supervised exercise program. Anthropometric and cardiometabolic variables will be measured before and after the program. Participants will be surveyed on lifestyle habits, wellness, perceived barriers, and program satisfaction at 3 and 6 months. Focus groups and dropout interviews with participants (n=10 per cohort) and providers (n=6 per cohort) will guide program adaptations. Quantitative and qualitative data collected at baseline and follow-up will assess the program's implementation and identify barriers and opportunities for improvement. This study was approved by the Laurentian University Research Ethics Board (6021397) on July 6, 2023. The first cohort was enrolled in late 2023 and is still under evaluation. The second cohort began in mid-2024, and data collection is currently underway. A mixed methods analysis will be used at enrollment, program completion (22 weeks), and follow-up (6 months after program completion). Focus groups assessing the program's effectiveness and implementation will take place after the 22-week intervention. Data will be analyzed in early 2025. This protocol provides insights into the implementation of this lifestyle medicine program and its impact on participants' health. The findings will guide future advancements and establish a scalable model for other communities. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06192251; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06192251. DERR1-10.2196/59179.

The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life from the preoperative time to six months after surgery of patients who underwent a Shouldice Repair for primary inguinal hernia. After ethical approval, consent was obtained, and data collected from surveys and chart review. The study population was composed of male and female patients aged 16-90years of age, who had a Shouldice Repair of a primary unilateral inguinal hernia. The EQ-5D-3L, a questionnaire applied to hernia surgery in Canada, was used to determine quality of life at the preoperative and 1week, 1- and 6-month postoperative time. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, as well as inferential analysis. From January 2023 to February 2024, 532 participants met the criteria, completed and returned the preoperative survey, and underwent primary inguinal hernia repair. The participants were mostly male (94%) with an average age of 62.18years and BMI of 24.93kg/m2. The EQ-5D-3L health index scores and EQ-VAS health status at preoperative were 0.83 ± 0.13 and 79.5 ± 12.59. At the 1-month postoperative time, health index scores and health status had significantly increased from preoperative (score:0.91 ± 0.12, p = .001; status 83.56 ± 12.93, p = .001), and continued to significantly increase from baseline at the 6-month postoperative time (score:0.95 ± 0.10, p = .001; status:85.25 ± 12.17, p < .001). Quality of life, as measured by the ED-5D-3L health index score, significantly improved for patients that underwent a Shouldice Repair for an inguinal hernia.

In 1966, drilling at Camp Century, Greenland, recovered 3.44 meters of sub-glacial material from beneath 1350 meters of ice. Although prior analysis of this material showed that the core includes glacial sediment, ice, and sediment deposited during an interglacial, the sub-glacial material had never been thoroughly studied. To better characterize this material, we analyzed 26 of the 30 core samples remaining in the archive. We performed a multi-scale analysis including Xray diffraction, micro-computed tomography, and scanning electron microscopy to delineate stratigraphic units and assign facies based on inferred depositional processes. At the macro-scale, quantitative X-ray diffraction revealed that quartz and feldspar dominated the sediment and that there was insignificant variation in relative mineral abundance between samples. Meso-scale evaluation of the frozen material using micro-computed tomography scans showed clear variations in the stratigraphy of the core characterized by the presence of bedding, grading, and sorting. Micro-scale grain size and shape analysis, conducted using scanning electron microscopy, showed an abundance of fine-grained materials in the lower part of the core and no correspondence between grain shape parameters and sedimentary structures. These multiscale data define 5 distinct stratigraphic units within the core based on sedimentary process; K-means clustering analysis supports this proposed unit delineation. Our observations suggest that ice retreat uncovered the Camp Century region exposing basal till, covered with a remnant of basal ice or firn (Units 1 and 2). Continued ice-free conditions led to till disruption by liquid water causing a slump deposit (Unit 3) and the development of a small fluvial system of increasing energy up core (Units 4-5). Analysis of the Camp Century sub-glacial material indicates a diverse stratigraphy preserved below the ice that recorded episodes of glaciated and deglaciated conditions in northwestern Greenland. Our physical, geochemical, and mineralogic analyses reveal a history of deposition, weathering, and sediment transport preserved under the ice and show the promise of sub-glacial materials to increase our knowledge of past ice sheet behavior over time.