The first large-scale study of its kind has revealed that Canadian men generally lack knowledge about the risk factors contributing to male infertility. Research led by Dr. Phyllis Zelkowitz, head of psychosocial research at the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital, found that men could only identify about 50% of the potential risks and medical conditions that are detrimental to their sperm count and, thus, their prospects to father children.
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Published on: 22 Nov 2016
The winner of the 2016 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill was announced tonight at a gala awards dinner held in Toronto. Now in its ninth year, the Cundill Prize is one of the world’s most lucrative international awards for a nonfiction book. The Work of the Dead/ The Invention of Science/ The Invention of Nature took home the top prize of US$75,000.
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Published on: 18 Nov 2016
One of the great mysteries in biology is how the many different cell types that make up our bodies are derived from a single cell and from one DNA sequence, or genome. We have learned a lot from studying the human genome, but have only partially unveiled the processes underlying cell determination. The identity of each cell type is largely defined by an instructive layer of molecular annotations on top of the genome – the epigenome – which acts as a blueprint unique to each cell type and developmental stage.
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Published on: 17 Nov 2016
Montreal, November 15, 2016 – The Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Concordia University, McGill University, Université de Montréal and ÉTS (École de technologie supérieure) will host the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE) in Montreal from October 11 to 13, 2017.
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Published on: 15 Nov 2016
The transition from being sea creatures to living on land, even if it happened over 300 million years ago, seems to have left its traces on the way we keep our balance today.
“It’s a discovery that is likely to be controversial,” says Kathy Cullen, the senior researcher on a paper on the subject that was published recently in Nature Communications. She has been working on this problem for over a decade with her colleague Maurice Chacron who also teaches in McGill’s Department of Physiology.
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Published on: 11 Nov 2016
To what extent are the world’s rivers protected?
In 2010, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, set a 17% target for the protection of ‘inland waters,’ including rivers. But there was a problem: there was no good way to measure progress toward that target.
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Published on: 10 Nov 2016
By Katherine Gombay
Some potentially good news for aging Baby Boomers: researchers believe that they have developed a hip replacement that will last longer and create fewer problems for the people who receive them than those currently in use. The secret? An implant that “tricks” the host bone into remaining alive by mimicking the varying porosity of real bones.
Interestingly, the key factor that distinguishes the new implant is that is LESS rather than more solid than those in current use, while still being just as strong.
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Published on: 2 Nov 2016
Institut nordique du Québec (INQ)’s founding partners have unveiled the first foundational elements of the Institute’s scientific program by simultaneously announcing three northern research chairs and introducing its newly recruited director of science and innovation, Louis Fortier.
Representatives from INQ’s three founding universities made a joint announcement of funding for three research chairs supported by INQ, allocated to INRS, McGill University, and Université Laval—a historic first for northern research.
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Published on: 1 Nov 2016
Scientists have identified a gene in the French-Canadian population that predisposes them to the development of intracranial aneurysm (IA), a potentially life threatening neurological condition that is responsible for approximately 500,000 deaths worldwide per year, half of which occur in people less than 50 years of age.
Using genetic analysis, the team of researchers found rare variations of one gene, RNF213, that appeared more frequently in IA patients than in the control group. Both patients and the control group came from French-Canadian families.
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Published on: 31 Oct 2016
To the naked eye, ancient rocks may look completely inhospitable, but in reality, they can sustain an entire ecosystem of microbial communities in their fracture waters isolated from sunlight for millions, if not billions, of years. New scientific findings discovered the essential energy source to sustain the life kilometres below Earth’s surface with implications for life not only on our planet but also on Mars.
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Published on: 27 Oct 2016
McGill once again ranked first in the “medical-doctoral” category in scholarships and bursaries for students, as well as in social sciences and humanities grants relative to faculty size. Maclean’s published the results online Wednesday evening.
“Our leading position in scholarships and bursaries in this ranking underscores our commitment to ensuring accessibility to education for all talented students, regardless of their financial means,” said Principal Suzanne Fortier.
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Published on: 26 Oct 2016
Each year, about 500,000 North Americans get dental implants. If you are one of them, and are preparing to have an implant, it might be a good idea to start taking beta blockers, medication that controls high blood pressure, for a while. And to stop taking heartburn pills.
A body of research from McGill led-teams indicates that in order to raise the odds that dental implants will attach properly, there are clear benefits to taking certain common medications and avoiding others.
Bone cell growth, healing and death
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Published on: 25 Oct 2016
A study conducted at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) suggests screening breast cancer patients for the prolactin receptor could improve the prognosis for patients and may help them avoid unnecessary and invasive treatments. Using a database of 580 women with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the researchers found that survival was prolonged in patients who expressed the prolactin receptor and that prolactin hormone was able to reduce the aggressive behavior of cancerous cells. It does so by decreasing their ability to divide and form new tumors.
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Published on: 25 Oct 2016
You probably know someone who has it. It is the most common movement disorder, yet most people don’t even know its name.
Essential tremor affects nearly one per cent of the world’s population, increasing to four per cent of those over 40. The involuntary shaking of hands is the most common symptom, but symptoms can also include shaking of the head and legs.
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Published on: 25 Oct 2016
Who are the key players and actors on the issue of sexual violence on university campuses across Canada and internationally?
Shaheen Shariff, Associate Professor with the Faculty of Education, Director of Define the Line Projects at McGill University has been awarded a $2.5 million Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant to address sexual violence on university campuses across Canada and internationally.
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Published on: 21 Oct 2016
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