Following a rigorous peer-review process, we're incredibly excited to announce that we were able to fund 3 innovative research teams and 2 project renewals in this recent call. This was made possible by seed funding from the uOBMRI and matching funds from various partners that together will support these critical basic and clinical research developments. The uOBMRI's mission is to reduce barriers in research and encourage collaboration. As a result, we're proud to share the following research projects that will be implemented, thanks to our researchers and partners.
"Enhancing Primary Care Practice and Equity for Patients with Dementia through eConsult"
Principal Applicant
Clare Liddy, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Bruyère Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH)
Co-Applicants
- Sathya Karunananthan, University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI)
- Arya Rahgozar, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa
- Doug Archibald, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Bruyère Research Institute
- Amy Hsu, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Bruyère Research Institute, Carleton University
- Celeste Fung, St Patrick's Home
- Frank Knoefel, Bruyère Research Institute, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Carleton University
- Mwali Mury, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Stefan de LaPlante, Hôpital Montfort
- Hélène O’Connor, Hôpital Montfort
- Mohamed Gazarin, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Winchester District Memorial Hospital
- Deanne Houghton, Care partner
Description
Dementia affects nearly half a million Canadians. Primary care providers (PCPs) such as family doctors and nurse practitioners are the first point of contact for most patients with dementia, which makes them the group best suited to detect and manage the condition in its early stages. However, many PCPs struggle to provide optimal care for patients with dementia and their care partners due to a lack of training and knowledge of resources. One solution is electronic consultation, or eConsult: a secure online platform that allows PCPs to send clinical questions to specialists across a range of fields. With the support of this innovative tool, many PCPs gain the information they need to treat patients without sending them for a face-to-face specialist visit — something that can be especially challenging for patients with dementia. In this project, we aim to learn how PCPs and specialists use eConsult to provide care for patients with dementia, and what aspects of the service can be improved to better support this group. We will pay particular attention to rural, minority Francophone, and long-term care populations, to better understand the unique challenges these groups face accessing care. Additionally, we will use the latest machine learning methods to identify gaps in PCP knowledge related to dementia care and create central resources supporting dementia education for PCPs.
"Development of a Neurocognitive Testing Service: Expanding uOBMRI Capacity for Incorporating Innovative and Cross-theme Research Using Cognitive and Patient Reported Outcomes”
Principal Applicant
Lisa Walker, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH), Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI), University of Ottawa, Carleton University
Co-Applicants
- Jason Berard, OHRI, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Dar Dowlatshahi, TOH, OHRI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
- Mark Freedman, TOH, OHRI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
- Jodi Warman, TOH, OHRI, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), University of Ottawa
- Michael Schlossmacher, TOH, OHRI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
- Simon Beaudry, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Nafissa Ismail, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Andra Smith, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Frank Knoefel, Bruyère Research Institute, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Carleton University
- Amy Hsu, Department of Family Medicine, University of Ottawa, Bruyère Research Institute, Carleton University
- Shawn Marshall, The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre
Description
The aim is to develop a neurocognitive testing service (NCTS) to support uOBMRI researchers in including cognitive/mental health outcomes in their studies given their impact on the quality of life in those with neurological conditions. This service meets a need in that dedicated neuropsychological expertise is not currently available for our research community outside of clinical practice. The service will provide expertise in research design, consultation, and psychometric test administration, as well as data analysis/interpretation. The NCTS will support research across all 4 uOBMRI scientific priority themes and will advance the institute’s capacity to serve as leaders in cognitive and patient-reported outcomes research in Canada.
"Pragmatic Measures to Evaluate Physical Activity as Therapy in Non-Sport Concussed Adults”
Principal Applicants
Roger Zemek, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute (CHEORI), University of Ottawa
Co-Applicants
- Andrée-Anne Ledoux, CHEORI, University of Ottawa, Carleton University
- Andra Smith, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Richard Webster, CHEORI
- Achelle Cortel-Leblanc, University of Ottawa
- Jacquie van Ierssel, CHEORI
- Veronik Sicard, CHEORI
- Lindsay Bradley, Carleton University
- Nick Reed, University of Toronto
- Tom Schweizer, University of Toronto
- Kim Connelly, University of Toronto
- Lawrence Richer, University of Alberta
- Charlotte Anderson, 360 Concussion Care
- Cathy Pakenham, 360 Concussion Care
- John Leddy, University at Buffalo
- Barry Willer, University at Buffalo
Description
Concussion impacts a wide spectrum of people across age, sex, gender, and mechanism of injury. In addition to symptom burden, concussion can result in significant missed work, missed school, increased anxiety and depression, and lower quality of life. Following concussion, the autonomic nervous system can become impaired: heart rate and blood pressure instability can increase symptoms. When physical activity worsens symptoms, a negative feedback cycle occurs – people become disengaged in activities, leading to social withdrawal, fears of the condition, increased stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic disability. Our team invented a structured physiology-based treatment in a controlled setting for autonomic dysfunction, known as the Buffalo Concussion Protocol. The Buffalo protocol has been studied primarily in youth athletes (mostly males) to return them to competitive sport, but it has not been studied in non-athlete adults. We do not know whether impairments in the autonomic system are as common in adults as in youth. Our team also discovered that 90% of concussed youth met criteria for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), an autonomic disorder. We hypothesize that autonomic dysfunction (AD) is highly common in the general population post-concussion. Further, we hypothesize that the Buffalo Concussion Protocol is a feasible therapy for adult non-athletes. We believe that targeting the autonomic dysfunction will improve the heart and the circulatory system as well as the brain and mind. If we can demonstrate the effectiveness of this treatment in a controlled setting, we can treat all patients early after injury through interdisciplinary care to prevent persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS), which impact hundreds of thousands of Canadians a year. This “exercise as medicine” has the potential to facilitate earlier return to school, work, and life, and may prevent some of the significant long-term sequelae of concussion, including depression, anxiety, drug abuse, and suicide.
"Mindfulness-Based Intervention/Training Post-Concussion"
Principal Applicant
Andrée-Anne Ledoux, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute (CHEORI), University of Ottawa, Carleton University
Co-Applicants
- Roger Zemek, CHEORI, University of Ottawa
- Andra Smith, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Gary Goldfield, CHEORI, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa
- Lisa Walker, TOH, OHRI, University of Ottawa, Carleton University
- Natalia Jaworska, IMHR, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Carleton University
- Veronik Sicard, CHEORI
- Martin Osmond, CHEORI, Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa
- Clare Gray, CHEO, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa
- Kristian Goulet, CHEO, Department of Pediatrics, University of Ottawa
- Nick Reed, University of Toronto
- Peter Anderson, CHEO, University of Ottawa
- Molly Cairncross, Simon Fraser University
- Noah Silverberg, The University of British Columbia
- Erin McCarthy (collaborator)
- Valérie Béland (collaborator)
- Bechara Saab (collaborator)
- Nick Barrowman, CHEO (collaborator)
Description
Concussion in youth is a public health concern. Physical symptoms (such as headache or dizziness), concentration problems, and emotional changes (such as sadness and anxiety) are common following concussions. One third of children with concussion continue to experience symptoms for more than a month. Concussion can affect youth’s confidence in their abilities to manage stressful events, lower children’s quality of life and may prevent or curtail participation in activities such as schoolwork, socializing, and sports. The ability to adapt to the injury and regulate emotions and stress is important to reduce the risk of prolonged symptoms. Early psychological intervention may improve one’s ability to adapt post-injury, resulting in greater acceptance of change, reduced stress, and recovery of emotional and cognitive symptoms. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) have been shown to improve coping skills, depression, anxiety and attentional focus. Rather than solely relying on patient self-report to determine recovery, studies that also include objective measures of recovery are urgently needed. Our proposed study will combine state-of-the-art, advanced MRI scans with patient self-report to determine if MBI delivered via a smart-phone application (‘app’) results in increased quality of life, brain function and lowers the risk of symptom burden compared to usual care. We believe that using the app will foster adaptive skills with the goal of regulating brain function and emotions thus reducing post-concussive symptoms. Our results will validate the app-based MBI which promises an innovative preventive and accessible concussion treatment for youth, thus increasing access to cutting-edge therapies.
“From Global to Local – Global Signal Topography as Novel Diagnostic Markers in Psychiatric Disorders”
Principal Applicant
Georg Northoff, The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR), University of Ottawa and Carleton University
Co-Applicants
- Natalia Jaworska, IMHR, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Carleton University
- Naista Zhand, IMHR, Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa
- Annemarie Wolff, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
- André Longtin, Department of Physics, University of Ottawa
- Mustafa Yagoub, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa
Description
The overall activity of the brain (global activity) has been shown to change in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety disorders. How these changes contribute to the presentation of symptoms and how this activity can be used to help diagnose patients remains to be determined. Dr. Northoff and colleagues will combine state of the art brain imaging with computer science to analyze the changes that occur in the global activity of the brain to help diagnose various psychiatric disorders. They will also begin to explore a therapeutic study using magnetic stimulation which alters this global activity.
