Doctors around the world who don’t have access to PCR tests need a way to rapidly screen patients for COVID-19. UBCO-developed CORONA-Net is a deep learning neural network that can quickly detect COVID-19 infections using X-ray images.

As COVID-19 continues to make headlines across the globe, many North Americans have gotten used to the idea of rapid testing to determine if they have been infected.

But UBC Okanagan researchers, who say rapid tests can be limited and expensive in many countries, are testing another testing method. And they believe, thanks to artificial intelligence, they have found one.

“There are two types of tests for COVID-19, namely viral and antibody tests,” explains Dr. Mohamed S. Shehata, an associate professor of computer science in UBCO’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. “The viral test checks samples from the respiratory system for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. This type of test can be performed in an hour or two, but in some cases, it can take up to one or two days to obtain results if the test has to be sent to a laboratory.”

The viral test only indicates if a current infection exists, but not if there was previous infection, he explains.

The alternative antibody test uses a blood sample and can detect if there was a previous infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, even if there are no current symptoms. However, the molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, common in North America, can be rare in other countries and usually costs several hundred dollars each time.

Doctors around the world need a way to rapidly test patients for COVID-19 so that they can begin immediate treatment for patients with the virus, he adds.

“The PCR method has some drawbacks, including longer detection time and lower detection rate of the virus,” says Dr. Shehata. “According to recommendations by the World Health Organization provided in October 2020, chest imaging examination is an effective method for detecting clinical symptoms of people who have been affected by and recovered from the virus.”

Dr. Shehata, along with his postdoctoral research fellow Dr. Mohamed Abdelpakey and graduate student Sherif Elbishlawi, have developed CORONA-Net, a deep learning neural network that can quickly detect COVID-19 infections using X-ray images.

“X-ray imaging has played a great role in many medical and epidemiological cases due to its wider availability, especially in countries that do not have wide PCR test deployment,” says Dr. Abdelpakey. “The use of a chest X-ray is promising for emergency cases and treatment due to its operational speed, cost and simplicity for the radiologists.”

Dr. Shehata explains that in many countries, people opt for the chest X-ray because of the cost of a PCR test or its unavailability. However, sometimes it is difficult to get the X-ray looked at by a specialist and accurately detecting the infection can take time. But by using CORONA-NET, the artificial intelligence system can flag suspicious cases to be fast-tracked and looked at quickly.

“COVID-19 typically causes pneumonia in human lungs, which can be detected in X-ray images. These datasets of X-rays—of people with pneumonia inflicted by COVID-19, of people with pneumonia inflicted by other diseases, as well as X-rays of healthy people—allow the possibility to create deep learning networks that can differentiate between images of people with COVID-19 and people who do not have the disease,” Elbishlawi adds.

Elbishlawi, who completed this work as part of his master’s in computer science thesis, says the developed CORONA-Net was able to produce results with an accuracy of more than 95 per cent in classifying COVID-19 cases from digital chest X-ray images.

The accuracy of detecting COVID-19 by CORONA-Net will continue to increase as the dataset grows. CORONA-Net, says Elbishlawi, can automatically improve itself over time and self-learn to be more accurate.

“The results on the testing set were obtained and can be seen in 100 per cent sensitivity to the COVID-19 class. There was a 95 per cent sensitivity in the classification of the pneumonia class and a 95 per cent sensitivity in the classification of the normal class,” he explains. “These results show that CORONA-Net gives a highly accurate prediction with the most sensitivity to the COVID-19 class.”

The developed CORONA-Net architecture substantially increases the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of predictions, making CORONA-Net a valuable tool when it comes to using chest X-rays to diagnose COVID-19.

“CORONA-Net can have a significant and positive impact on health-care systems as testing every person suspected of having the disease is difficult. CORONA-Net can provide accurate and promising results in terms of sensitivity, PPV and overall accuracy,” says Dr. Abdelpakey. “We hope our work can be used to more easily test for COVID-19 and help bring this pandemic to an end.”

The paper was published in the Journal of Imaging this spring and has already received several citations.

UBCO School of Engineering researchers Mohammad Arjmand, Jian Liu and Amir Ahmadian examine a conductive polymer nanocomposite sample, created from non-recyclable plastic and rubber waste, that can be used for electrical applications.

The life cycle of bright, bouncy tennis balls isn’t long. Depending on the level of play, a tennis ball might be used for three to four hours or even less in professional circuits. And while the ball is only used on a court for a short time, it can sit in a landfill for decades.

Now, researchers at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering are collaborating to develop an innovative use for non-recyclable plastic and rubber waste. In fact, these materials, mostly from cars and sporting goods, are emerging as key components in batteries and other energy storage solutions.

“Reusing plastics and rubber waste not only means diverting these products from landfills, but it also creates value-added nanocomposites at a lower cost,” explains Amir Ahmadian, a doctoral student in the Nanomaterials and Polymer Nanocomposites Laboratory at UBC Okanagan.

Tires and many sporting goods are some of the most challenging sources of waste on the planet because not only are they cumbersome, but they take more than 50 to 80 years to decompose.

While researchers at UBC and other universities around the world have been investigating extracting components like carbon from tires, Arjmand and Liu are turning their attention to breaking the materials down into crumbs and developing conductive polymer nanocomposites for electrical applications.

These microscopic materials serve as a filler in polymers that have the added benefit of building a structure that could respond well within energy storage solutions like batteries.

Arjmand, a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Advanced Materials and Polymer Engineering, says the reused waste creates a more efficient product as the crumbled material can be used for the development of electromagnetic shields.

“Even when working at the nanoscale, we still require bonding agents and filler to complete the composite configuration, and these vulcanized crumbs provide a multi-functional foundation,” he says. “Due to the improved conductivity of these materials, they have applications both in batteries and electromagnetic shields.”

From an energy storage perspective, Liu explains, these recycled materials might find potential applications in lithium-ion batteries.

“Previous research has shown that composite filler materials in batteries, specifically lithium-ion batteries, can greatly improve power output,” says Liu, a Principal’s Research Chair in Energy Storage Technologies. “Finding just the right filler attributes has long been the hurdle, and these new recycled nanocomposites offer so many possibilities because their composition can be easily manipulated.”

By using the plastic waste material, Liu says not only are the researchers turning a waste into a value-added product but they can also decrease the amount of polymeric matrix needed to obtain a specific level of electrical conductivity, which has a huge impact on the final cost of the nanocomposite.

“Looking to the future, we may one day see an affordable, reusable, recyclable battery that uses plastic waste material as a value-added product empowering the concept of circular economics,” he adds.

The research was funded through a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant and published in the journal Polymers.

While there is a reluctance to incorporate positive COVID-19 messaging because of potentially creating perceptions of false security, new research suggests that by not providing positive outlooks, there is a risk of alienating and disengaging people aged 18 to 40 years.

COVID-19 has become a story of numbers. How many people fell ill, how many have died, the rates of infection, and the percentage of vaccinated—and unvaccinated—people.

But a new study published in the Public Library of Science journal says public health messages about COVID-19 don’t resonate with a large segment of the population. The study was conducted by UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Lesley Lutes and Simon Fraser University’s Dr. Scott Lear.

Dr. Lutes, who teaches psychology in UBCO’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, says their study looks at the disconnect between public health messaging and adults aged 18 to 40. The research determined that young adults feel highly responsible for protecting themselves and others against the spread of COVID-19. But they also face confusion when trying to comply with public health orders due to what Lutes calls inconsistent messaging and ineffective outreach strategies.

Why do you think people aged 18 to 40 years old are particularly worried about COVID-19?

Contrary to mass media coverage, participants in our study were highly concerned about the spread of COVID-19. They perceive it as their responsibility to protect themselves and their loved ones. Similarly, recent research found younger adults have a higher perception of risk vulnerability with respect to COVID-19, as many of them faced unique challenges due to working in high-risk, low-paying essential service occupations, as well as having higher levels of financial insecurity, unpaid sick days and mental burden. Many simply didn’t have the option of working from home and they have been out working in our communities this entire pandemic.

Study participants say public health messaging has missed its mark with this group of adults. How so?

Our participants expressed concerns and confusion around current public health messaging. Most existing public health messaging focuses on the collective good using inclusive language, providing ideas for social safety or emphasizing the risk of contracting COVID-19, which may elicit fear.

There is a reluctance to incorporate positive messaging because of potentially creating perceptions of false security, though available evidence does not support this concern and suggests compensation is not discernible at a population level. Our research suggests by not providing positive outlooks, there is a risk of alienating and disengaging this age group, especially when we’re looking at a long-term pandemic response success.

You talk about hope and positive words when discussing public health messaging. Why?

We strongly believe hopeful ideas, besides mathematical modelling, should acknowledge what the public has sacrificed. This was especially true at the start of the pandemic when the goal was to flatten the curve. The participants in our study said they were looking for active and ongoing exposure to positive messaging in order to generate positive attitudes and emotions.

While our participants agree it is often difficult to change behaviours of those who hold on tightly to their beliefs, positively framed messaging may bring people together to facilitate collective change.

Your study talks about how the public health information outreach methods for their group were ineffective, confusing and often negative. What would you suggest?

Our findings suggest messages for young adults should not only be positively framed, but also reflect the lived experiences of this demographic. As well, they should be delivered on an accessible platform—a platform we know this demographic uses. Respectfully, we urge stakeholders including government officials and media outlets to report and create messaging that answers young adults’ concerns. Tailored messaging is needed, desperately.

Does your team have a plan on how to support young adults dealing with vaccine hesitancy?

Many people believe that implementing vaccine passports and mandates would solve the problem of hesitancy, concerns and misinformation. But it does not. We are not living in the 1970s when seatbelt laws came into place and indoor smoking was banned in commercial areas. There was no internet back then. There was no social media that gave everyone a voice to communicate–for better and worse.

The concerns of young adults are real. Women being worried about whether they could have children if they take this vaccine is real. We need to meet them where they are at, talk about their worries, clarify the science and the data, then help them reach a decision based on the information provided.

We need to have these conversations right where they are getting their information—online—and then use science, compassion and engagement to help support everyone in the decision-making process.

Lives depend on us helping everyone feel heard, valued and empowered to make informed decisions.

A UBCO researcher has created a framework that will enable cities to reduce energy consumption while keeping homes cool during hot summer months.

The summer of 2021 in Western Canada was one of the hottest on record. In BC alone, 59 weather stations registered their hottest temperatures ever on June 27.

For those lucky enough to have air conditioners, keeping their homes cool during the heat dome was relatively easy. However, the comfort lasted only until the utility bills arrived. As a result of heatwaves around the world, global electricity demand increased by five per cent so far in 2021 and it is expected to continue to increase annually, says UBCO researcher Dr. Mohammad Al Hashmi.

“Rapid population growth has led to significant demand for residential buildings around the world. At the same time, there is a growing energy demand associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions,” he says. “Buildings in hot and arid climatic conditions demand high energy for creating habitable indoor environments. Enormous amounts of energy are required to maintain a cool temperature in hot regions.”

Using data from Saudi Arabia, Dr. Al Hashmi developed a framework for reducing energy consumption related to residential buildings. The operational framework looks at methods to keep homes cool with minimum adverse environmental impacts.

He used Saudi Arabia as a basis of this research, since residential building energy demand attributes for 52 per cent of the entire country’s electricity consumption.

Dr. Al Hashmi and his colleagues at UBC Okanagan’s Lifecycle Management Lab analyzed forecasted energy consumption for the next 30 years and examined potential energy interventions. They selected six different renewable power generation systems—including solar, wind and photovoltaic array panels—and some hybrid combinations. The researchers also examined energy storage systems such as a battery bank, fuel cells and hydrogen tank storage. All together they conducted more than 180 simulations, enabling a full scenario analysis to calculate the savings based on each system.

The residential building energy demand in arid countries such as Saudi Arabia is supplied with fossil fuel.  Dr. Al Hashmi says the existing consumption pattern of fossil fuels in Saudi Arabia is not sustainable due to the depletion of these resources. This has far-reaching environmental impacts.

“Our research focused on Saudi Arabia, but the findings can easily be applied to other countries and geographical areas such as the Okanagan,” says Dr. Al Hashmi who graduated with his PhD this spring.

According to Dr. Al Hashmi, embracing renewable energy could have a substantial impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to cooling residential buildings. His research shows the need for a community-government partnership framework that would combine building interventions and clean energy approaches.

“It will take a holistic approach to reduce energy consumption for homes, including building retrofits, renewable energy solutions and government sustainability policies,” he says. “This framework enables us to reach greater efficiency for these multi-unit residential buildings while downsizing residential energy demands.”

In the Canadian context, Dr. Al Hashmi acknowledges that the challenge is two-fold with buildings requiring retrofits that address extremes of both hot and cold.

“A certain level of co-operation is required between the community and the government in terms of financial investments and the best combinations of retrofits and clean energy measures, but our analysis indicates that reducing carbon emissions is reachable.”

The research was recently published in the journal Energies.

Using forecasted energy consumption for the next 30 years, UBCO researcher Dr. Mohammad Al Hashmi is looking at environmentally friendly ways to cool homes.

Most previous research on maternal depression has seen health outcomes include higher rates of psychopathology, behavioural problems and the increased risk of physical conditions such as asthma or unhealthy weight throughout childhood. But new research has determined that isn’t always the case.

While there have been many studies conducted on the negative impacts of maternal depression on both the mother and child, new research is examining why some children have different health outcomes than others.

UBC Okanagan researcher Dr. Sarah Dow-Fleisner, along with colleagues at Boston College, recently published a paper examining the health and wellbeing of school-aged children growing up alongside maternal depression. The study notes while the onset of depression often occurs during the postpartum period, it can continue or emerge throughout childhood.

Most previous research has focused on postpartum depression, when the children are infants, and the ways it can lead to poor health outcomes in children. Those health outcomes include higher rates of psychopathology, behavioural problems and the increased risk of physical conditions such as asthma or unhealthy weight throughout childhood.

But Dow-Fleisner’s research has determined that isn’t always the case. Her paper looks at the occurrence of maternal depression later in childhood and looks at the different patterns of wellbeing that emerged for many.

“Early childhood represents a sensitive developmental period, yet middle childhood is also marked by age-specific developmental milestones and vulnerabilities,” says Dr. Dow-Fleisner, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work and 2021 Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award recipient. “Among children with early experiences of adversity, there is a great potential for resilience that needed further exploration.”

The study, looking at the resilience of children who grow up alongside maternal depression, fills a notable gap in the current research, she says.

For her paper, data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a multi-year study of more than 4,800 children born in 75 hospitals in 20 American cities, was used. Data included maternal health, the child’s physical health, and psychosocial wellbeing outcomes from mothers and children from when the child was one, three, five and nine years old.

Dr. Dow-Fleisner and her colleagues looked for patterns of wellbeing across 10 indicators of child physical health, including asthma, obesity and psychosocial factors such as internalizing disorders and perseverance. The researchers identified five groups with distinct patterns of child health and then examined each group’s link with maternal depression.

“As expected, we found a thriving group that included children with positive outcomes across all 10 indicators of health and wellbeing. Admittedly there were a small number of children who fell into the poor health group, a group that had negative outcomes across all health indicators. And three groups where children showed a mixture of both positive and negative health and wellbeing occurring simultaneously.” says Dr. Dow-Fleisner. “This highlights how important it is to look at child health and wellbeing in a holistic way—if we look for resilience we may just find it.”

What was more interesting, she says, is that while some children experiencing maternal depression had a higher risk of poor outcomes, most were in the thriving group, suggesting there are likely important protective factors that help mitigate the risk associated with maternal depression.

This paper, she says, is an important first step toward developing clinically tailored services that support child development and address maternal depression. This would include further exploration of protective factors that help children and families thrive in the context of adversity.

She also suggests that because maternal depression can and does occur later in childhood, policy should support continued depression screening in primary care settings and ongoing treatment for maternal depression throughout childhood.

“Children experiencing maternal depression have varied outcomes, with most children in our sample emerging in the thriving group,” she says. “However, children experiencing maternal depression later in childhood were more likely to be in one of four groups with elements of poor health outcomes.

“Early identification and treatment for mothers experiencing depression can lessen the impact and potentially prevent problems across the life course of those children.”

The research was published recently in the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research.

UBCO research determines simple acts of kindness among university students help them believe they can improve the lives of others.

A small act of kindness can go a long way, especially say UBC Okanagan researchers, towards bolstering student health and wellness.

Dr. John-Tyler Binfet, associate professor in the School of Education and Dr. Sally Stewart, associate professor of teaching in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences recently published a study that explores how the inclusion of a kindness assignment in an undergraduate course impacted student perceptions of themselves, their peers and their campus.

While there have been several studies that have assessed the effects of kindness on wellbeing, there has been limited research into how university-aged students understand and enact kindness, says Dr. Binfet.

Thousands of university students returned to class across Canada in September, and Dr. Binfet notes that while living in the times of COVID-19 every act of kindness goes a long way.

“We know being kind yields a number of wellbeing benefits, such as stress reduction, happiness and peer acceptance, and we know mental health impacts learning,” says Dr. Binfet. “The post-secondary environment is often the last training ground to prepare students for life so we want to understand how we can prepare students for optimal mental health as adults.”

For the study, volunteer students provided self-reports to determine the extent they see themselves as kind in online and face-to-face interactions, and how connected they felt to their peers and the campus. The students were then asked to plan and complete five kind acts for one week.

The participants completed 353 kind acts with the main themes of helping others, giving, demonstrating appreciation and communicating. Students that completed at least three of the five planned acts of kindness self-reported significantly higher scores of in-person kindness and peer connectedness.

“This research can help students realize that there is evidence behind how and why people are kind, and that kindness does impact health and wellbeing,” says Dr. Stewart. “It also has an incredible impact for teaching in higher education as it provides insight into where students are at with their practice and understanding of kindness in order to build the groundwork for inclusion of this topic within educational practices and course content areas.”

While there are on-campus wellbeing resources available to students at most post-secondary schools, this research demonstrates that by including wellbeing initiatives into coursework, it’s easier for more students to engage in those activities and receive benefits without added effort. The study also demonstrated that a curriculum-based kindness intervention would be well received by students.

“We found that the students loved the assignment,” says Dr. Stewart. “For some, it helped them realize that kindness is a skill that they can learn to do better and that there are many ways to be kind. For others, it helped them realize that they already do kind things. It reinforced their desire and intention of doing more kind acts.”

For years, Dr. Binfet’s research has focused on elevating the discussion of kindness, and he has previously completed studies on how children and adolescents perceive and enact kindness.

“With this research, we now see alignment in how university students and school-age participants define kindness—to them it means actions that can improve the lives of others. Often, it’s simple things such as being polite and helping others,” says Dr. Binfet.

The research was published in the Journal of Further and Higher Education and supported by a humanities and social sciences research grant.

UBCO’s new bachelor of sustainability degree will equip students with the breadth and compassion to find solutions to sustainability issues such as climate change, land and water use, energy transition, and social and economic inequality.

UBC Okanagan will soon be home to Canada’s first undergraduate degree dedicated exclusively to sustainability.

The Bachelor of Sustainability (BSust) is a four-year direct-entry program dedicated to inspiring students to address complex environmental challenges by integrating knowledge from different academic subjects, with hands-on and community-based learning.

The program combines a broad, interdisciplinary approach, with focused concentrations that develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students who want to become good citizens of the Earth.

“This is the type of learning opportunity that prepares students to become the innovators and leaders needed to meet the environmental challenges that we face now, and in the future,” says the program’s inaugural director and associate professor of earth sciences Dr. Kevin Hanna.

“Heat waves, record-breaking wildfire seasons, drought—these are major threats to life as we know it, and though a lot of people define sustainability in ways that seem clear, obvious and needed, it can be tough to put sustainability into action. The BSust is about building the skills to go from hopeful to operational.”

Students will choose from one of four concentrations: environmental analytics, environmental conservation and management, environmental humanities or green chemistry.

Program graduates will be well-positioned to seek employment in numerous sectors including natural resources management, environmental impact assessment, project management and education, or to continue their studies in a graduate-level program.

Dr. Lesley Cormack, deputy vice-chancellor and principal of UBC Okanagan, is proud UBCO is leading the way in sustainability education.

“UBC has a long track record of innovative practices and programs, and I’m thrilled that we’re adding to this record by establishing the BSust program,” says Dr. Cormack.

“The creation of this program is a bold step towards realizing UBC’s vision of inspiring people, ideas and actions for a better world and fulfilling its commitment to advance sustainability across teaching, learning and research.”

The program also aligns with UBC’s commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

All students are required to take an Indigenous Studies course that introduces concepts of Indigenous knowledge, which will contribute to advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

The new credential will strengthen UBC Okanagan’s leadership in sustainability and promote a greener future for British Columbia and the planet.

“Sustainability education enlarges our understanding of the world we inhabit and seeks solutions to put us on a path towards a cleaner, brighter future,” says Anne Kang, BC’s Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Training.

“Training students with the necessary tools to actively contribute towards initiatives like our CleanBC plan creates opportunities to reduce pollution and protect our climate for future generations.”

The new program will accept its first intake of students in September 2022.

For more information about the BSust, visit: sustainability.ok.ubc.ca

UBCO student Michael Friedland cycles along the dirt-covered Dempster Highway as he journeys to Tuktoyaktuk.

If you ask UBC Okanagan student Mikey Friedland what he did this summer, make sure you have lots of time. He has a long story. But it’s worth every minute.

Friedland, a fourth-year international relations student, cycled from the 49^th parallel (the Canada-US border at Osoyoos) to Tuktoyaktuk (the Inuvialuit town nestled on the Arctic Ocean) by himself.

His goal was to raise awareness and money for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s (CMHA) Ride Don’t Hide initiative. So far, he has raised more than $27,000, more than twice doubling his fundraising goal.

Friedland, who has dreams of being a documentary filmmaker, left Osoyoos on May 21 with a secondhand touring bike, panniers stuffed to the limit, his camera, a drone and absolutely no long-distance cycling experience.

“When I started, I took a photo of myself at the Welcome to BC sign in Osoyoos. When I saw the same sign from the opposite side, crossing into the Yukon, it was absolutely the coolest thing in my entire life.”

Before the pandemic hit, Friedland was scheduled to go on an educational exchange with UBCO’s Go Global program. When that was cancelled, he took a year off school and moved to Revelstoke to spend the winter skiing. This spring, even though surrounded by friends, he found himself feeling lonely and perhaps dealing with a bout of seasonal depression. He was at a loss. Unhappy for no apparent reason and with little motivation.

“Having a goal is very important to me,” he says. “When I’m working toward something, that’s when I’m at my happiest and best. So, I found a goal, riding my bike as far north as I physically can before going back to school.”

Friedland grew up in Toronto and entered university with an undeclared major four years ago, but the more he learned during his time in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the more his eyes opened to the vast opportunities his education could provide.

“I took a ton of different courses — philosophy, political science, psychology, gender and women’s studies. The interdisciplinary nature of the international relations program drew me in. I love learning about the world, and this program really gives you the opportunity to keep learning.”

Friedland used the summer to hone his documentary-making skills, creating a film series chronicling his journey. So far, three episodes are available to watch on his YouTube channel. Two more episodes — showing his travels through northern BC, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories — will be released in September. All told, his route surpassed 4,000 kilometres, including nearly 25,000 metres of vertical climbs.

“This hasn’t been an easy journey, but it has certainly been an amazing experience,” he says, describing riding sometimes until midnight and then setting up camp. “Every day I’m in a new area, and every few hours, a new ecosystem.”

During his journey, Friedland was invited to a barbeque dinner by a Tlingit elder, eating alongside Indigenous people taking part in the Warriors Walk from Whitehorse to Kamloops. He was invited to the community fish camp in Fort McPherson, and shown the process of cleaning and drying Koni and Whitefish. He’s been offered places to sleep, showers, food, water, friendships and of course money.

But what he’s really realized, at the age of 23 and through daily mental health checks, is that he’s ok. He’s alone. And he’s doing just fine.

“I’m realizing more and more that mental health is a part of my life and something I need to personally think about every day,” he says. “I am committed to making more of a conscious effort to check in with myself and be honest. Because everybody has times when they are doing well and times when they are not.”

There is a lot of time to think while cycling long distances on a bike that weighs, when fully loaded, about 90 pounds. Time that Friedland has used to commit to continuing the conversations about mental health while raising funds for the CMHA.

All contributions will be divided between three CMHA branches: Shuswap/Revelstoke, Northern BC, and the Yukon. This local approach allows the funds to be allocated to the programs that are most needed in each community.

“I’m really hoping my ride helps bring mental health out in the open. It’s been important to me because mental health has been tucked away for so long — and that has real consequences. Since I started this journey, the number of messages and feedback from people has been inspiring and heartwarming. It has let me know I’m on the right path.”

According to the CHMA, one in five Canadians will have a mental health crisis this year. But Friedland reminds everyone that five out of five Canadians have mental health. The CMHA’s mission is to make sure every Canadian has access to mental health care.

“Mental health is something to protect, something we can strengthen. When people receive the right services and support, mental illness doesn’t take hold. But every year, 1.6 million Canadians don’t get the mental health care they need. If I can change that one little bit, then I’ll consider every mile, every flat tire, bear scare or moment of isolation totally worth it.”

Contributions to his campaign can be made at: cmha.donordrive.com/participant/mikeyfriedland

Michael Friedland chose the journey of Osoyoos to the Arctic Ocean and raised more than $27,000 for mental health awareness.

New UBC research shows that Type 2 diabetes can be treated, and sometimes reversed, with a specialized diet managed by local pharmacists.

A change in diet is proving to be a key tool in the reversal of Type 2 diabetes.

A team of researchers from the University of British Columbia and England’s Teesside University have published a study showing that people can effectively control their Type 2 diabetes through diet and pharmacists are well-positioned to supervise the transition.

The research, published this week in Nature Communications, was part of a 12-week study involving a specialized diet that was managed by local pharmacists. Study participants, all living with Type 2 diabetes, were given a meal plan of low calorie, low carbohydrate, higher protein foods and they checked in regularly with their pharmacist who could monitor their medications.

“Type 2 diabetes can be treated, and sometimes reversed, with dietary interventions,” says study co-author Dr. Jonathan Little. “However, we needed a strategy to help people implement these interventions while keeping an eye on their medication changes.”

Pharmacists are generally more accessible than a family doctor, says Little, noting that people with Type 2 diabetes often make more visits a year to their pharmacist than their doctor. This is especially true in rural areas.

“Community pharmacists have expertise in medication management and can serve an important role in overall diabetes care,” says Dr. Little, an associate professor in UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences. “When Type 2 diabetes patients follow a very low-carbohydrate or low-calorie diet, there is a need to reduce or eliminate glucose-lowering medications. Community pharmacists are ideally positioned to safely and effectively deliver interventions targeted at reducing diabetes medications while promoting Type 2 diabetes remission.”

Half of the participants in the study followed the low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, higher-protein diet, checking regularly with their pharmacist. After 12 weeks, more than one-third of participants with Type 2 diabetes were off all diabetes medications, versus none in the control group. Dr. Little also says the first group also noted substantial improvements to their glucose control, average body weight, systolic blood pressure and overall health.

Co-investigator Dr. Alan Batterham, professor in the School of Health and Life Sciences at Teesside University, says the key was a targeted nutritional approach, supervised by a community pharmacist who can monitor prescribed medications.

“The intervention was effective in reducing the need for glucose-lowering medications for many in our study,” says Dr. Batterham. “This indicates that community pharmacists are a viable and innovative option for implementing short-term nutritional interventions for people with Type 2 diabetes, particularly when medication management is a safety concern.”

The research was a collaboration with Pharmasave, the not-for-profit Institute for Personalized Therapeutic Nutrition, Teesside University, along with UBC’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Life Sciences Institute and Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences. Food products were provided in-kind to pharmacies by Ideal Protein. The study was partially funded by Mitacs with salary support provided to Dr. Little from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Michael V. Smith’s Soundtrack: a queer oral history project airs every Tuesday evening starting September 7.

What: Soundtrack: a queer oral history project and open mic writing prompt
Who: UBCO’s Michael V. Smith with guests Ivan Coyote, Zoe Whittall, Suzette Mayr, Brianna Ferguson, Hasan Namir and Nicola Harwood
When: Every Tuesday until November 9
Where: Live via Zoom

With funding from the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office, UBC Okanagan Creative Writing Associate Professor Michael V. Smith has created, Soundtrack: a queer oral history project and open mic writing prompt.

Soundtrack, with an inaugural airing September 7, is a weekly live broadcast hosted by Smith. He will use albums as a spark to ignite a conversation between queer artists about “where were you when.” It’s effectively a queer oral history project, with music as a mnemonic touchstone, he explains.

“Do you remember hearing Thriller for the first time? What about Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual? Purple Rain? Beastie Boys’ breakout Licensed to Ill?” asks Smith. “Or Madonna. Any album, you name it, what was going on in your life then?”

Every week over Zoom, Smith and a special guest will each share a story or a poem about their respective memories for what was going on in their lives when they first heard the featured weekly album. Together they will unpack the positionality of those memories. Each episode features two queer moments from two different geographies and backgrounds, but in the same timeline and with the same cultural prompt.

This is also a community project to help writers generate material, Smith explains. Viewers can participate by sharing their own short story or poem inspired by the album, in an open mic style format.

Each episode will be an hour long, the first 20 minutes with Smith and that week’s guest, and 40 minutes for viewer participation. Viewers can share their memories of that album, asking questions such as: Maybe you’ve heard it for the first time this week? Write about that experience. Where were you then, or where are you now?

The open mic session will not be recorded — it’s an open, free-exchange, community-building space, hosted by UBCO Master of Fine Arts student Shimshon Obadia. The weekly album to be featured is announced at the end of each episode, so viewers will have a week to prepare.

This week, Canadian performer Ivan Coyote joined Smith. The pair shared stories of seeing Boy George on television for the first time, and how Culture Club changed the social landscape around them. Tuesday’s podcast can be heard at youtu.be/OotDPlToeFA.

Soundtrack will continue to be broadcast live on Zoom each Tuesday until November 9. Confirmed guests include Zoe Whittall, Suzette Mayr, Brianna Ferguson, Hasan Namir and Nicola Harwood. The broadcasts start at 5 pm PST.

To register for the series, visit: ubc.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5Aqf-2srzkvG9LWQE8c3Iez2SeaDH0NSAyX

All archived podcasts can be viewed at: youtube.com/c/michaelvsmith71

This project is supported by the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office, and promoted by the Inspired Word Café and UBCO’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.