University of British Columbia

Encampment sweeps and persistent homelessness among unhoused people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada: A prospective cohort study

Background Housing is a key determinant of health. In response to increasingly visible homelessness amid a growing housing crisis, many jurisdictions in North America forcibly displace unhoused people from public spaces, routinely confiscating their personal belongings. While pri...

Enhance food plant diversity conservation and use through greater coordination between genebanks and botanic gardens

Societal Impact Statement Food plants are vital to human and planetary health, but their diversity is threatened, making food security, nutrition, and environmental goals more difficult to achieve. Food plant diversity conservation, research, and education can be enhanced through...

Tailoring Wood Shrinkage via Solvent-Driven Interfacial Engineering for On-Demand Applications

Abstract Modulating wood cell shrinkage offers a promising yet underexplored route to advanced timber-based materials. Here, we combine chemical softening with solvent evaporation-induced assembly for programmable shrinkage control. Solvent prewetting facilitates penetration of a...

Clinical Improvement, No Improvement, and Worsening at 24 Hours Following Reperfusion in Patients With Stroke due to Large-Vessel Occlusion

BACKGROUND: Restoring blood flow to ischemic tissue is the cornerstone of acute stroke therapy and is usually beneficial. However, when reperfusion is achieved for severely injured tissue, it is often futile and may occasionally cause harm. We aim to determine the prevalence and...

“Whatever time they show up is the right time”: a Canada-wide qualitative analysis of client, provider, and administrator perspectives on person-centered and equitable substance use disorder care

Canada’s unregulated drug supply continues to impose severe harms on people living with opioid use disorder (OUD). While opioid agonist therapy (OAT) is an effective intervention, fewer than 30% of people with OUD initiate treatment and fewer than half remain engaged beyond six m...

One-Pot Fabrication of Hydrophobic Cellulose-Based Foams via Organocatalytic Modification in Aqueous Media

Abstract Biobased lightweight foams are increasingly investigated as sustainable alternatives to fossil-derived materials; however, many existing approaches rely on organic solvents, multistep processing, or post-functionalization to impart hydrophobicity and water resistance. He...

"I Don't Have Faith in The Developers to Use My Feedback": Understanding Player Values and Expectancy for Reporting Systems in Video Games

Reporting systems in multiplayer video games allow players to express their dissatisfaction with others and combat in-game toxicity. In this work, we examined the act of reporting through the lens of expectancy-value theory. Using a distributed survey (n = 98) and follow-up inter...

ChatGPT Sensemaking and Appropriation in Everyday Life

ChatGPT has been adopted at an unprecedented pace, yet the processes through which people explore, adapt, and integrate it into everyday lives remain underexplored. We analyzed 300 Reddit comments and conducted 20 interviews, synthesizing insights from both collective sensemaking...

Quantum Information Harvesting with the Parallel Quantum Flow Algorithm

Abstract The quantum flow (QFlow) algorithm provides a resource-efficient framework for describing correlated many-body systems on hybrid quantum-classical architectures. By enabling the parallel utilization of quantum and classical resources, QFlow offers a scalable pathway towa...

Scars, scripts and service: rituals of belonging

Purpose Belonging is a fundamental psychological need. The symbolic practices that shape belonging in hospitality work remain underexplored. The objective of this review is to examine how hospitality workers describe the ritualized practices that facilitate their sense of occupat...

Ancient inversion polymorphisms associate with sexually selected traits across natural guppy populations

Understanding the distribution, frequency, and long-term persistence of chromosomal inversions in natural populations is key to understanding population evolution and adaptive processes. Inversions often span multiple genes, are subject to strong selective pressures and can affec...

The elongation of Mest transcript into MestXL sustains, but does not initiate, the maternal allele bias of its convergent gene Copg2 during neurogenesis

Abstract Precise gene dosage control is critical for cellular identity and development, particularly for imprinted genes, where dosage imbalances are linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. The Mest/Copg2 imprinted locus exemplifies this fine-tuned regulation: while Mest is const...

The multifaceted role of the potassium channel KCNK1 in the early detection and prognostication of high-grade serous cancer

Abstract Background The sixth most common cancer in females in the UK, ovarian cancer remains a significant health burden due to its aggressive nature and stagnant mortality trends. The current gold standard biomarker, CA-125, has notable limitations, including low sensitivity in...

Perspectives of patients and families impacted by developmental dysplasia of the hip

Purpose Knowledge translation (KT) ensures that the appropriate stakeholders, including patients and care providers are aware of and utilize research evidence to inform health decision-making. This is significant for those affected by developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), as...

Pulp oxygen saturation and clinical outcomes after direct pulp capping with MTA or 45S5 bioactive glass in mature permanent teeth: a pragmatic randomized clinical trial

Abstract To evaluate pulp oxygen saturation and clinical outcomes after direct pulp capping with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) or 45S5 bioactive glass in mature permanent teeth with carious pulp exposure. This pragmatic randomized clinical trial included 44 mature permanent te...

USING GENETICS TO IMPROVE PSYCHIATRIC HEALTH

Overall Abstract The field of psychiatric genetics has experienced drastic advances over the past decade. Despite this progress, comparatively few studies have addressed how we will use these discoveries to improve human health. In this symposium, we bring together leaders from a...

Exercise-only interventions and exercise-based multidomain lifestyle interventions to promote cognitive function in older adults without dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To assess the effect of exercise training as a single intervention (ie, Exercise-Only ) and exercise combined with other lifestyle interventions (ie, Exercise-Plus ) on executive functions, memory and processing speed of older adults living without dementia. Design We p...

New discretised polynomial expander and incidence estimates

Abstract We present two applications of recent developments in incidence geometry. One is a ‐discretised version of a particular ‘Elekes–Rónyai’ expander problem. The second is an incidence estimate addressing the scenario in which both tubes, squares and their shadings satisfy n...

Inequalities in life expectancy at birth: descriptive trends by urbanicity and deprivation in British Columbia, Canada, 2001–2023

Life Expectancy at birth (LE) in British Columbia (BC) has been increasing but disparities exist among various populations. This study describes trends in LE inequalities by urbanicity and by material and social deprivation among females and males in BC from 2001 to 2023. Additio...

Closeness and Well-Being in Older Adulthood: A Dyadic Daily Diary Study

Relationships are central to well-being. Relationship closeness, which measures interdependence, remains underexplored in older adult couples managing chronic health conditions. In a sample of 146 distinguishable dyads consisting of individuals with chronic back pain (ICBPs) and...