This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Oral potentially malignant disorders refer to oral mucosal disorders with increased risk for malignant transformation, primarily to oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Leukoplakia and erythroplakia are the most common of these disorders, but others have been identified. Transformation rates to oral cancer vary based on multiple factors. Healthcare providers should be aware of risk factors and clinical manifestations of these disorders and should intervene early to monitor and/or treat them to reduce the potential for malignant transformation.

No abstract

With support from the Government of Canadas Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF), the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) has initiated community case studies in which infrastructure sensitivity to the impacts of permafrost degradation under climate warming are examined. Much of the infrastructure in northern communities relies on the properties of frozen materials for stability. As the Mackenzie valley and adjacent delta region has undergone the most warming (+1.7°C) over the last century in Canada (Environment Canada, 1995) and continued significant warming is expected, warming of the ground could degrade the performance of many existing and future structures including roads, foundations, utilities, and embankments. This report is a summary of present permafrost, surficial geology, and infrastructure conditions in Tuktoyaktuk, selected as a second pilot community for the project. The first selected pilot community was Norman Wells (Robinson et al., 2001). The material in the present report includes compilation of data and reviews of the community (history, population, services, economic activities), climatic conditions (current air temperature and precipitation, general trends, and climate change), terrain conditions (surficial deposits as well as their geotechnical and geothermal properties), permafrost (distribution, temperature profiles, ground ice distribution), and infrastructure, including buildings, transportation, communication, municipal service facility (past and present, associated foundation, maintenance history and performance). A brief discussion is presented on the effect of climate change on the infrastructure in Tuktoyaktuk and includes the possible costs associated with the development of adaptation strategies.