Dalhousie University

Technical replicates and multiple sequencing approaches reveal weak and inconsistent microbiome signals in lung tumour and blood samples from patients with lung cancer

Abstract Background Unique bacterial profiles have been described in tumours, blood, and other low biomass samples. However, recent controversy has highlighted the challenges of utilising these microbiomes for cancer diagnosis and treatment. This work aims to characterise current...

Incidence, Risk Factors and Management of Adverse Events in Contemporary Real‐World Care of Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

OBJECTIVE: We describe the frequency, risk factors, severity, and management of actionable and serious adverse events (AAE and SAE) in children with newly diagnosed Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) in Canada. METHODS: We enrolled patients within 3 months of JIA diagnosis in th...

Adaptive Sports Introduction During Inpatient Rehabilitation

OBJECTIVES: Adaptive sports (AdS) are sports which have been modified to facilitate the participation of people with disabilities. They have physical, functional, and psychosocial benefits. However, little is known about the role of introduction of AdS in the inpatient setting. T...

Predation Risk and Depth Use During Migration of Atlantic Salmon Smolts Through a Fjord Impacted by Hydropower Discharge

ABSTRACT Atlantic salmon ( Salmo must survive the transition from river to fjord in order to migrate to northern latitudes where they feed and grow at sea. In the River Suldalslågen in southern Norway, hydropower regulated water discharge determines the timing and extent of river...

Decline or Renewal? The Carney Doctrine and the Prospects for Canadian Middlepowerism

This article examines whether the emergence of the Carney government represents a genuine renewal of Canadian middlepowerism or merely its latest reformulation amid continued structural decline. Tracing the erosion of Canada's post-war middle-power role across two decades of retr...

Parrotfish demonstrate little behavioural shift during marine heatwaves

The world is experiencing notable increases in the duration, intensity and frequency of marine heatwaves (MHWs). Documented effects of MHWs on fishes encompass various population- and community-level impacts, ranging from localized mass mortalities to transient or semi-permanent...

Chronic Pain Uncouples Functional Brain Network Segregation From Cognitive Performance in Aging

Introduction Chronic pain (CP) disproportionately affects older adults, not only because it is more prevalent in later life, but also because it may exacerbate cognitive aging and is associated with increased dementia risk [1]. Recent research has implicated accelerated brain agi...

On Navigation Performance Using Haptic and Visual Feedback for Teleoperated Vehicles

Teleoperated robots, such as uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs), are deployed in complex or hazardous settings where operators must handle multiple tasks. UGVs can provide visual and haptic feedback during control. This study examined how haptic feedback affects performance and perc...

Simplicial resolutions of the quadratic power of monomial ideals

Given any monomial ideal $ I $ minimally generated by $ q $ monomials, we define a simplicial complex $\mathbb{M}_q^2$ that supports a resolution of $ I^2 $. We also define a subcomplex $\mathbb{M}^2(I)$, which depends on the monomial generators of $I$ and also supports the resol...

Colchicine for cardiovascular secondary prevention: evidence from recent trials and meta-analyses

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Residual inflammatory risk remains an important driver of recurrent vascular events despite contemporary lipid-lowering and antithrombotic therapies. Low-dose colchicine is the first widely available anti-inflammatory therapy to be incorporated into contemporar...

Emotional Reliance on Artificial Intelligence: A Scoping Review of AI Companionship and Mental Health Implications

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven conversational systems are increasingly capable of simulating empathy, adapting to individual users, and fostering emotional bonds that blur the boundary between tool and companion. This scoping review maps the extent and nature of...

The nutritional value of invertebrate aquatic foods

Abstract Aquatic invertebrates are a diverse, nutrient-dense, and socio-ecologically important food whose contribution to human nutrition is frequently overlooked. We quantify their contribution to global nutrient supplies and estimate the nutrient content of >50,000 macroinverte...

From Task Management to Self-Actualization: Enhancing Behavioral Intention in Digital Goal-Setting

Goal planning is central to personal development, yet users often struggle with self-motivation in digital environments that rely on extrinsic rewards. To explore how design can better support meaningful, self-actualizing goals, we conducted a three-part mixed-methods study: a qu...

Longest Winning Paths in Hex

We answer the question: what is the longest winning path on a Hex board of size $n\times n$?

Cognitively engaging sedentary activities are associated with better cognitive function in middle-aged adults: a cross-sectional study using the 1970 British Cohort Study

Abstract Background Prior research examining sedentary time and cognitive function has produced mixed findings with limited attention to specific types of sedentary behavior. This cross-sectional study tested the hypothesis that more cognitively active sedentary behaviors (playin...

Customer-level factors associated with discretionary food and beverage purchasing in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community stores in remote Australia: a customer intercept survey of Healthy Stores 2020

Abstract Background Healthy Stores 2020 (HS2020), a 12-week randomised controlled trial conducted in partnership with an Aboriginal-owned retail organisation, reduced retailer merchandising and store-level purchases of unhealthy foods. Evidence on the influence of customer-level...

Pattern Formation on a Periodic Rectangle and the Green’s Function Potential

Abstract. Many reaction-diffusion (RD) systems exhibit spot patterns. When the domain is a periodic rectangle, many such patterns can be constructed explicitly using regular integer lattices, and moreover numerical simulations show that they are prevalent even when starting with...

Impact of prompt engineering and workflow modifications on the performance of a Delphi-based automated abstract screening system in a psychiatric systematic review

Large language models (LLMs) can facilitate the labor-intensive screening of literature for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Ensembling multiple LLMs to reach consensus on screening may allow locally deployed LLMs to achieve acceptable performance while reducing hallucinatio...

Feasibility of Real‐Time Central Risk Assignment for Children's Oncology Group Pediatric Renal Tumor Trials

BACKGROUND: The Children's Oncology Group (COG) AREN03B2 Renal Tumor Biology and Classification Study undertook real-time central reviews to enable accurate risk stratification for enrollment on therapeutic trials. The present study assessed the feasibility of the central review...

Portable Low-Impact Surface Hardness Testing of Mineral Materials: An Integrative Review of Applications, Interpretation, and Methodological Considerations

Abstract This integrative review critically examines portable dynamic low-impact surface hardness (LISH) testing, also known as Leeb hardness. Since its adaptation for mineral materials in 1993, LISH has been increasingly adopted across geoscience, engineering, and heritage conse...