THE ALBERTA POPULATION-BASED PROSPECTIVE EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OUTCOMES AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BARIATRIC SURGERY (APPLES) STUDY: BACKGROUND, DESIGN AND RATIONALE

Abstract Background Extreme obesity affects nearly 8% of Canadians, and is debilitating, costly and ultimately lethal.Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective treatment available; is associated with reductions in morbidity/mortality, improvements in quality of life; and appears cost-effective.However, current demand for surgery in Canada o

Abstract Background Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic neuromuscular disease caused by mutations of the SMN1 gene.Deficient SMN protein causes irreversible degeneration of alpha motor neurons characterized by progressive muscle weakness and atrophy.Considering that SMA is a multi-systemic disorder and SMN protein Forks was found to be expre

This study was conducted in an effort to understand the effects of spatial variations in pollinator assemblage due to habitat isolation on the reproductive performance of perennial plant species.Variations in pollinator assemblage structure (abundance, diversity and Shannon-Wiener index) were studied at three widely isolated (100 to 200 km apart) n

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) is a widely used viral vector for gene therapy.However, these vectors have limited availability due to manufacturing challenges with productivity and quality.These challenges can be addressed by better understanding the mechanisms that influence cellular responses during rAAV production.In this study, we ai

In recent years, advancements in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) have impacted several areas of research and application.Besides more prominent examples like self-driving cars or media consumption algorithms, AI-based systems have further started to gain more and more popularity in the health care sector, however whilst being restrained b