Cadmium (Cd) is a chemical element present in the soil. At high concentrations Cd can cause physiological and morphological damages to plants and it is highly toxic to human beings. Minimizing the intake of Cd and other heavy metals from food consumption is an important health issue. Efforts have been made to identify genetic elements that are involved in Cd detoxification in plants. Heavy metal transporter 3 (HMA3) plays a role in sequestration of Cd into vacuoles in soybean (Glycine max). Inheritance studies revealed that low Cd accumulation in soybean seed is controlled by a major gene (Cda1) with the allele for low accumulation being dominant. Major QTL for seed Cd accumulation, Cda1 and cd1, have been identified independently for low Cd accumulation and both mapped to the same location as on LG-K (Chromosome 9) with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A single nucleotide substitution causing a loss of function of the ATPase was found. The SSR markers linked to the Cda1 and Cd1gene(s)/or QTLs and the SNP marker in the P1B-ATPase metal ion transporter gene in soybean can be utilized in marker assisted selection (MAS) for developing food grade soybean varieties.

Health literacy is the ability to obtain and utilize health information in order to advocate for one's health. It is paramount to a recent immigrant's successful integration into the Canadian healthcare system and their maintenance of health in the long term. Despite its importance, 60% of nativeborn Canadians and an even higher proportion of immigrants indicate that they are not health literate. In this article, we focus on the importance of health literacy in an immigrant population and current barriers they may face in accessing health care. We discuss current shortcomings within the healthcare system in terms of improving health literacy for newcomers and explore strategies currently used in the United States and Canada. Based on our review of the literature, it is clear that promoting health literacy is a multi-dimensional challenge which requires the synthesis of many strategies, including clear written and oral communication, use of multimedia tools, cultural sensitivity, participatory teaching, community resources, and availability of diverse care providers who can relate to newcomers linguistically and culturally.

Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is more common in females and although the cause of RA is unknown, it is characterized by the production of autoantibodies. The aim of this study is to determine whether RA-associated autoantibodies are more often found in females than males and identify factors that influence the relationship between sex and seropositivity. Methods Databases were searched and studies of RA (N ≥100) were included if they reported proportion of seropositive RA patients by sex. Meta-analyses and meta-regression were conducted using the random effects model. Covariates regressed were smoking, age, body mass index (BMI), the Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index (HAQ) and the Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28). Results Eighty-four studies with a total of 141,381 subjects for RF seropositivity and 95,749 subjects for ACPA seropositivity met inclusion criteria. The mean age of participants ranged from 37-68 years and the proportion of female subjects ranged from 9-92%. Results indicated that females were less likely than men to be seropositive: OR=0.84[95%CI 0.77, 0.91] for RF and 0.88[95%CI 0.81, 0.95] for ACPA. BMI, smoking, mean age, DAS-28, and HAQ did not affect the relationship between sex and seropositivity. Conclusion Although studies report that females have higher RA disease activity than males and that seropositivity predicts worse outcomes, females were less likely to be seropositive than males.

Big data is an emerging technological field that encompasses massive datasets. Its role in the healthcare field is currently being explored and has the potential to greatly improve healthcare and disease surveillance through pattern analysis of health data. Concerns had by the general public focus primarily on potential breaches of privacy and confidentiality of patient medical health records in the context of research. These concerns relate to the innate characteristics of big data, such as large size and fast data acquisition speed, which increases the risk of breaching confidentiality. Therefore, it is important for physicians to be mindful of privacy concerns and maintain trust as big data becomes more prominent. Doing so is a key factor in building public trust in the use. Understanding strategies and limitations of current practice standards will allow physicians to build on existing guidelines to incorporate the rise of big data. This means prioritizing privacy when handling big data through anonymization, creating safe havens and promoting dynamic informed consent practice standards.

Objective Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a rare large-vessel vasculitis that puts patients at high risk of developing severe ischemic events (SIE). Outcomes for TA patients with SIE are poorly understood. We aim to describe the characteristics of TA patients experiencing SIE. Methods All TA patients with at least 1 followup visit seen between 1988 and 2015 were included from 3 academic centers in Ontario, Canada. Diagnosis was based on American College of Rheumatology criteria, physician opinion, and vascular imaging. SIE were defined as cerebrovascular accident (CVA), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), ischemic cardiomyopathy, ischemic blindness, and/or ischemic bowel or limb requiring surgery. Results Of the 52 patients with TA included in the study, 51 (98%) were female and 22 (42%) were of European descent. The mean age was 31 (SD 12) at the time of diagnosis and the followup time was 6 years (SD 5). Fifteen (29%) experienced an SIE: 5 CVA, 5 ACS, 1 ischemic cardiomyopathy, and 4 limb ischemia. Thirteen out of 15 SIE (87%) occurred at or before diagnosis. Patients with SIE were more likely than those without SIE to be started on corticosteroids combined with immunosuppressants (p = 0.04) and antiplatelet agents (p = 0.004). Outcomes including disease activity and damage scores were similar between patients with and without SIE. Conclusion SIE are common in patients with TA and occur early in the disease. With aggressive treatment, patients with SIE had a favorable prognosis.