Research stories

Layered over the pandemic in 2021 was an epidemic. Toxic drug overdoses in Canada spiked that year, with almost 8,000 reported deaths from opioid overdoses alone. In British Columbia, 2,264 people died that year of toxic drug overdoses.

Researchers found that factors such as the location and design of the facility, the formal agreements between operating groups and the breadth of sport and recreation programming offered at the facility all contributed to promoting a legacy of participation post-event.

A University of Waterloo teaching lab is helping the medtech community in southwestern Ontario make great strides in their medical research. The Faculty of Health’s Human Anatomy Laboratory, which is housed in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, offers the perfect location for surgeons to test procedures on cadaver donors.

Oluwakemi (Kemi) Amodu is dedicated to advancing the reproductive and sexual health of the Hausa women in displaced persons camps in northern Nigeria. After devoting her doctoral research to revealing the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among this population, she has now built on that research as an inaugural recipient of the AMTD Waterloo Global Talent Postdoctoral Fellowship.

The University of Waterloo is finishing their participation in an exciting new collaborative program, Climate Connect, which involved 60+ students and over 20 researchers from across the world to gather and discuss climate change.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

CBD might help prime cells against COVID

Synthetic cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive compound also found in the cannabis plant, appears to prime the innate immune system of cells, potentially offering protection against pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2.

The University of Waterloo is one of the lead institutions in a five-year, $10 million (U.S.) international study funded by the United States’ National Cancer Institute. The multi-centre study will evaluate the behavioural and long-term health impact of different regulatory approaches to e-cigarettes and other new nicotine products among youth and adults in seven countries.

Often, when a person is diagnosed with dementia, available supports are not enough. Most people feel overwhelmed, and they don't get the support, resources and help they need. A new five-country collaboration has developed Forward with Dementia to fill in those gaps and provide the individuals and their families the tools they need to move forward with their lives.

Jack P. Callaghan, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, has been elected as a 2021 Fellow in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). The Academy brings together and recognizes top-ranked health and biomedical scientists and scholars across Canada to create positive change on the urgent health concerns of Canadians.

What options do cancer survivors have during a pandemic when there are limited in-person training options and reduced access to exercise facilities? With National Cancer Survivors Day on June 6, Marina Mourtzakis, a Kinesiology professor who leads Waterloo’s Centre for Community, Clinical and Applied Research Excellence, examines how to exercise safely as a cancer survivor during or after treatment.

Protecting long-term care residents from outbreaks requires different infrastructure, proper staffing conditions and a culture of quality assurance, researchers have found.

The experts further determined that designing smaller, more homelike spaces would minimize the spread of viruses while promoting better health and quality of life for residents.