CIHR Projects
Browse 1999 CIHR-funded research projects
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Showing 1951-1999 of 1999 projects
Both kidney stone formation and osteoporosis are diseases characterized by increased urinary excretion of calcium. Unfortunately, to date, why certain individuals waste calcium is not known. These st…
PI: Smyth, David C
The barrier function performed by the epithelial cells that line the gut is important for the maintenance of an individual's health. This barrier is regulated to prevent the entry of the vast array o…
The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a frequent disorder characterized by increased male hormone levels (hyperandrogenemia). We have shown that insulin contributes to hyperandrogenemia even in PCO…
In the face of an increased prevalence of obesity and chronic diseases in Canada, much effort has been invested to educate the population about healthy eating. Although Canadians are now aware of the…
PI: Aukema, Harold M
With more than half of the Canadian population being overweight, the incentive to use high protein diets for weight loss is substantial. However, although the dietary recommendations for Canadians ap…
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasingly prevalent and approximately 10,000 new cases are diagnosed in Canada every year. While the underlying mechanisms causing IBD are unknown, recent advan…
PI: Wang, Charlie S
It is estimated that up to 29% of patients with advanced colorectal cancer will present with bowel obstruction. Treatment involves either surgery or insertion of metal stents to resolve the obstructi…
PI: Liu, Julia
Changes in the inherent leakiness of the wall of the intestine (i.e., in the intestinal permeability) are thought to play a significant role in the development of inflammatory bowel diseases such as …
PI: Pinto, Mario
Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), or Type-2 diabetes, is the major type, representing 90% of all diabetes cases. It is a chronic disease, characterized by hyperglycemia and results in …
PI: Fraser, Paul E
Amyloidoses involve the abnormal deposition of protein fibrils or plaques within tissues leading to extensive cellular damage. Amyloid plaques are associated with a number of disorders including Alzh…
Epithelial mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT) is a ubiquitous biological process seen in development, metastatic transformation of cancer, and fibrosis. I hypothesize that EMT consists of a serie…
PI: Kruit, Janine K
Type 2 diabetes affects more than 2 million Canadians, and is a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in Canada. Type 2 diabetes results from a relative insufficien…
PI: Rudkowska, Iwona
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk is the result of complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Nutrition is the most important environmental factor interacting with ge…
Activation of stellate cells, a key issue in the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis, is mediated by factors released from damaged hepatocytes and activated Kupffer cells. Understanding the mechanisms w…
PI: Su, Qiaozhu
In individuals with diabetes, up to 80% of deaths are attributed to heart disease resulting from elevated cholesterol and triglyceride (TG) in the blood. Apolipoprotein B (apoB) is a protein that is …
PI: Sapieha, Przemyslaw (Mike) S
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common complication of diabetes, afflicting over 90% of persons with this disease and ultimately leads to blindness. Characterized by an initial phase of vascula…
PI: Yu, Catherine; Zahn, Catherine
Diabetes is becoming increasingly common, and persons with diabetes unfortunately frequently develop heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and other serious complications. Although these complicatio…
PI: Faraj, May
Background: Type 2 diabetes results in the yearly death of ~ 40,000 Canadians. Some obese subjects have higher risk to develop diabetes and my research will examine why. The risk for type 2 diabetes …
PI: Taubert, Stefan
Like all organisms, humans must adapt to changing conditions. Failure to do so can cause health problems; for example, inappropriate responses to food intake can cause diabetes and obesity, which are…
Many people with type 2 diabetes must take insulin by injection because of the loss of insulin-producing cells, called islet beta cells, in their pancreas. It is thought that this loss of islet beta …
PI: Veugelers, Paul J; Kirk, Sara F
Childhood obesity is a major public health concern in Canada. The Children's Lifestyle and School Performance Study (CLASS) was conducted in 2003 and demonstrated the extent of this concern in Nova S…
PI: Sun, Guang
Eating more than one needs is a major cause of human obesity. The gut produces chemicals called hormones that tell the brain how much we need to eat. If the level of these hormones is abnormal, one m…
PI: Barbier, Olivier
Glucuronidation is an enzymatic reaction very well studied for the role its plays in drug elimination. However, this reaction also affects a wide variety of endogenous substance. The aim of our resea…
In diabetes, kidney disease can result when highly specialized cells, known as podocytes become injured. Once damaged, these podocytes can no longer help filter the blood since they allow proteins in…
PI: Prakash, Satya
Recent changes in human diet and lifestyle have resulted in a dramatic increase in number of diabetics worldwide. The continuous use of currently available synthetic drugs has associated limitations.…
PI: Marliss, Errol B
Muscle is the principle tissue with high protein content in the body, so it plays a central role in the whole body's protein balance. Insulin is the main anabolic (tissue-building) hormone, and it af…
PI: Jones, Peter J
Lowering serum cholesterol levels plays an important role in prevention of cardiovascular disease. Dietary functional food ingredients plant sterols and plant stanols, have been shown almost unequivo…
PI: Green, Tim
Pregnant and breastfeeding women need to have adequate vitamin D levels because low vitamin D in the mother's blood can be bad for the health of the mother and baby. Scientists have observed that Can…
PI: Sairam, M. R
As obesity accounts for nearly 80% of type II diabetes, a disease that particularly affects an aging population it is important to understand mechanisms that lead to expansion of the bursting bulge. …
One in four Canadian children is overweight or obese. Over the past 25 years, the level of overweight and obesity has doubled. This is worrying because it has long term health consequences. Childhood…
PI: Lear, Scott A
With nearly a quarter obese and over half overweight in Canada, the prevalence of obesity is a growing concern. The rapid rise in obesity in recent years suggests a strong environmental influence. Wh…
Lipids play important roles in all cells. They are different than many other biological molecules in that they are like oils and do not mix in the aqueous environment of cells. In this way they can f…
PI: Madsen, Karen L
The human gut is densely colonized with microbes. We have evolved over time with these microbes, and it appears that we not only tolerate these organisms, but our immune system and gut requires them …
Overweight and obesity are characteristics of over one-half of the adult population in Canada and of 20-25% of children. The origins of the problem are many and complex. However the focus of this res…
PI: Woo, Minna N
The worldwide increase in type 2 diabetes from 30 million to 171 million between 1985 and 2000 have far surpassed the estimated forecast. Type 2 diabetes is the leading cause of heart and kidney fail…
PI: Sweeney, Gary
The current obesity epidemic is responsible for an increased incidence and decreased age of onset of type 2 (insulin-resistant) diabetes. It is therefore imperative to understand the mechanisms respo…
PI: Zhang, Dawei
Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death in Western societies. It is the most important cause of various heart diseases, strokes, myocardial infarctions, and even high blood pressure. Accumulati…
Pancreatic beta cells make insulin, which is secreted into the blood to control the levels of blood sugar/glucose. In type 2 diabetes, insulin secretion is impaired, leading to high blood glucose, a …
PI: Riggs, Wayne K; Grigliatti, Thomas A; Reid, Ronald E
The reductases are metabolic enzymes responsible for the regulation/control of various hormone pathways in the body. One of these is the regulation of testosterone and dihydrotestosterone concentrati…
Several studies have studied vitamin D status and functional decline in the elderly, but the results have been very inconclusive. In people (usually institutionalized sick elderly who have very low l…
PI: Kim, Young-In J
Folate, a B vitamin is generally regarded as safe and has long been presumed to be purely beneficial, and is in fact promoted as the ultimate functional food component for disease prevention. In Cana…
PI: Vance, Dennis E
Lay Abstract Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is the major lipid found in the membranes of mammalian cells. All cells with a nucleus must make PC or the cell will die. Hence, PC is required for life. PC is a…
PI: Murphy, Paul R
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) is a potent signaling molecule which promotes the growth of many kinds of cells. The expression of FGF is under tight regulatory control, and loss of this regulation ca…
Mechanisms by which Diabetes Mellitus promotes the development and progression of atherosclerosis
Over 75% of people with diabetes will die prematurely of heart attack or stroke. The goal of our research is to; i) determine why, and ii) to find ways to prevent this from happening. We have identif…
The aim of this study is to test the feasability of a multi center trial on the effects of glutamine on mortality and infectious morbidity in adult burn patient. This will include recruitment rate, c…
Canada is experiencing an epidemic of obesity that is contributing to diabetes, heart disease, and premature death. This proposal investigates why being obese causes the metabolic syndrome with a spe…
Protein metabolism and insulin resistance in cancer cachexia: a potential anabolic role of leucine
Protein loss, mostly from muscle, is very common in lung cancer and this affects the patients' physical function, response to treatment and quality of life. We propose that cancer patients are losing…
PI: Ross, Robert M
The worldwide prevalence of abdominal obesity and associated disease and death among adults is increasing at alarming rates and requires immediate attention. Physical inactivity is a major determinan…
Glucagon is a hormone secreted from the pancreas that together with insulin, controls levels of blood sugar through actions on the liver. Excess glucagon action in diabetic subjects underlies the ina…