This study addressed the social determinants of health with a specific focus on three factors in the social environment that either individually or collectively have an influence on health status: gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and people's social relationships. The purpose of the study was to examine whether people's social relationships mediate the effects of SES on self-rated health status and to assess whether these effects differ for women and men. The research questions were examined by formulating a theoretical model and evaluating the hypothesized relationships through the use of structural equation modelling. The analyses were conducted using LISREL on data from 1,239 non-First Nations Yukon residents who participated in the Territory's 1993 Health Promotion Survey. The results of this study suggest that household income significantly affected women's and men's health by influencing aspects of their social relationships. A higher overall rating of the quality of one's social relationships was associated with positive health ratings for both women and men while the perception that support would be available if needed significantly affected only women's self-ratings of their health. Received social support was negatively associated with women's health, but not men's, suggesting that the context in which support is received has an important influence on women's health. Relationship strain, as measured by care provided to several sources, was not significantly related to women's or men's health-ratings. The analyses also identify important interrelationships among the dimensions of social relationships studied as well as some gender differences among these relationships. For both women and men, positive evaluations of the importance of social relationships for their health and a greater number of social ties significantly influenced ratings of the overall quality of their social relationships. Having more social ties also positively influenced the perception of availability of social support for both women and men. The quality of their social relationships influenced the perceived availability of social support only for women. Given the focus of provincial and federal governments in seeking reform of their health-care systems, attention to modifiable determinants of health presents an opportunity to contribute to this reform process. The findings of this study contribute to our understanding of the effects of SES on health by providing support for gender interactions in a set of relationships where aspects of people's social relationships mediate the effects of income on health status. These findings provide support for gender-specific mechanisms by which income level influences perceived health status by shaping people's social relationships, the quality of those relationships and the support they offer. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

No description available.

No description available.

<p>Phosphorus is a macronutrient required for plant growth and reproduction. Insufficient supplies of phosphate will adversely impact plant growth. In an effort to supply adequate phosphate to crops, large quantities of phosphate-rich fertilizer are applied to fields but much of the phosphate can leach from the soil as run-off, impacting water systems. Therefore, proper management of phosphate and the development of phosphate efficient genotypes of plants are strategies needed for a sustainable agriculture industry.</p> <p>This thesis project focused on the development of biomarkers of phosphate stress in <em>Thellungiella salsuginea, </em>a plant highly tolerant to salt, cold and water deficit. Biomass determinations and real-time quantitative PCR were used to determine the gene expression of several genes selected as known phosphate-responsive genes from studies of phosphate starvation of the related genetic model plant <em>Arabidopsis thaliana.</em></p> <p><em> Thellungiella </em>seedlings were grown on 5 and 500 µM phosphate media. The expression of several genes (<em>RNS1, At4, Pht1;1, Pht1;4, Pht1;5, Siz1, PHR1, WRKY75, </em>and<em> Pht2;1</em>) were assayed for their response to media phosphate content. <em>RNS1</em> and <em>At4 </em>expression was estimated from cDNA prepared from shoot tissues while <em>At4, Pht1;1</em> and <em>Pht1;5</em> expression was determined from root tissues. In all tissue sources, significantly increased expression of <em>RNS1</em>, <em>At4</em>,<em> Pht1;1</em> and <em>Pht1;5</em> was observed under 5 µM phosphate exposure.</p> <p><em> </em>Two natural accessions of <em>Thellungiella</em> were used in this study with one originating from the Yukon Territory, Canada and the second from Shandong Province, China. Seedlings of both ecotypes were grown on defined media plates containing various concentrations of phosphate (0, 25, 125, 250, 500, and 2000 µM). For both accessions, the addition of as little as 25 µM phosphate led to significant increases in root and shoot biomass. Gene expression levels corresponding to <em>RNS1, At4</em> and <em>Pht1;1</em> were the highest in Yukon and Shandong <em>Thellungiella </em>grown on 0 µM phosphate media. The addition of 25 µM phosphate to the media was enough to significantly decrease transcript abundance of <em>RNS1, At4 </em>and <em>Pht1;1. </em>In a test using the transfer of Yukon <em>Thellungiella </em>seedlings from high (500 µM) to low (5 µM) phosphate the expression of <em>At4</em> in roots and shoots increased 30-fold over a five-day period and only <em>Pht1;1</em> expression increased in the roots over the same time period.</p> <p><em>RNS1</em> and <em>At4</em> share attributes that make them suitable biomarkers for phosphate stress in plants. Both genes are expressed in the shoots making it easier to remove tissue for monitoring gene expression, and both genes show readily discernible increases in transcript levels for determination by qPCR. At present, however, the role for their products in phosphate assimilation by plants is uncertain. This lack of knowledge is a deterrent to adopting these genes for widespread use as biomarkers. In particular, more work needs to be done to characterize factors that elicit their expression to test the specificity of their response to phosphate stress in <em>Thellungiella</em>.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>Ancient DNA has the power to elucidate ecological and evolutionary relationships that were previously only quantifiable by proxy. This work details both a metagenetic and a targeted metagenomic study of ancient sedimentary DNA. By using DNA to investigate the plants and animals present in twelve different time points, we describe the nature of the ecological change over the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. We show that as the stability of the habitat degraded due to climate change, the dominant plant communities exhibited a shift from functional groups such as forbs to shrubs and trees. As this cascading change consequently affected the animal communities, we demonstrate the decline, extinction, and replacement of a variety of megafaunal species and mammoths. As well, we provide a proof-ofconcept for the targeted oligonucleotide enrichment for ancient sedimentary DNA. By processing the same DNA extracts with targeted enrichment, we show that metagenomic soil DNA can provide the same taxonomic fingerprint unique to each time period even using different genetic loci. This unique pattern can be used as a reference in future studies. Although the oligonucleotide baits did not yield the composition of taxa that we expected, the oligonucleotide baits did increase the eukaryotic fraction of DNA extracts by up to 50%. Overall, this technique is open to further study and has fantastic potential to redefine the metagenomic work of ancient DNA soil cores.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

No description available.

No description available.

Mesidotea entomon inhabiting Pauline Cove, YT, is larger in total body length at sexual maturity than M. entomon inhabiting Dolomite Lake, NWT. The sex ratio, diet, habitat distributions, size frequency distributions, and fecundity in the two populations are compared. Total carbohydrate, protein, lipid, chitin, and ash contents of both isopods' life stages are compared. Isopods in the cove show reduced carbohydrate and elevated lipid levels. In the 1975, 1978, and 1979 summers, isopods in the cove were internally infected with an extracellular protozoan parasite; those in the lake were uninfected. The infection is systemic. The prevalence of the protozoan infection increases with increasing host size. The host response involved phagocytosis and encapsulation. Transmission may be transovarially and/or by ingestion of the infective stage. The protozoan also infected Mesidotea sibirica. The infection is related to growth, abundance, habitat, reproduction, and biochemical variables.

This thesis examines the changing role of Indian women, particularly in northern Canadian communities where the pace of directed change has been compressed during the past twenty-five years. In the area now designated 'Yukon Territory' live descendents of Athapaskan, Inland Tlingit and Tagish speaking peoples. It is suggested here that the woman's role is potentially very important in determining the direction of change within Indian communities. Despite radical alterations in the Indian way of life, discontinuity is less abrupt for the women because the role of mother links them both with the past and with the future. In a situation of change, links are necessary to bridge the gap between the past and the future if cultural identity is to be maintained. Cross-cultural data suggests that women's potential in this role is being recognized in many areas of the world. In Canada, this is frequently ignored. Indian men and women are often lumped as an undifferentiated group without recognition of individual needs and capabilities. Since the building of the Alaska highway and the opening up of mines, an industrial economy has displaced the former hunting and trapping economy in the Yukon. Many Indian men are abandoning traditional economic pursuits and are expected to compete with non-Indians in activities for which they are often not technically or psychologically prepared. In the new cultural environment Indian women are presented with opportunities for independent activity which were traditionally not available to them. With new opportunities come new and often conflicting expectations, held both by Indians and by non-Indians, about ways in which an Indian woman should behave. A variety of government agencies claim a vested interest in, and a responsibility for, an Indian family. Each agency places independent demands on the mother, often with very little comprehension of her aims, goals and values. Indian women have access to sources of information which are less available to Indian men. They use this information to reformulate their own ideas about their place in the changing environment. Practical possibilities for greater involvement of women in change do exist; however, this involvement trust occur on the women's own terms rather than solely on the terms of individuals who deal with women in an administrative capacity. / Arts, Faculty of / Sociology, Department of / Graduate

Devonian and Early Carboniferous marine clastic rocks of the Earn Group host several economically important stratiform massive sulphide and bedded barite deposits. Due to the chaotic sedimentation, considerable regional metamorphic overprint and, relative inaccessibility, little was known about the stratigraphy, the Late Devonian conodont fauna, or the age of the stratiform mineral deposits within the Earn Group. Conodont microfossils, however, are an excellent fauna for an Earn Group biostratigraphy program because of their ability to withstand both temperatures in excess of 400° C, and significant physical stress. With standard laboratory techniques conodonts were readily extracted from fine grain calcareous elastics and carbonate lenses within the Earn Group. The conodonts are described from three specific areas where the Earn Group is known to host stratiform barite and barite-lead-zinc mineral deposits: Macmillan Pass, Midway, and Gataga. As the majority of conodonts were diverse and well preserved platform elements of the genus Palmatolepis, the taxonomic studies focused on this genus; other genera including Ancyrodella, Icriodus, Klapperina, Mesotaxis, and Polygnathus were examined as part of the biostratigraphic/taxonomic studies. Previous to this study the widespread stratiform mineralization was dated as only Late Devonian. The conodont taxonomy and biostratigraphy in the Earn Group provide age constraints for duration and formation of the stratiform mineralization. The ability to tightly constrain the age of the stratiform mineralization adds to the knowledge of Earn Group deposition, the paleogeography of the Selwyn and Kechika Basins, and has implications for stratiform mineral exploration strategies in the Earn Group. On the basis of conodont faunal ages barite mineralization at MACMILLAN PASS apparently occurs as three different levels: 1) CATHY property - Eifelian to early Frasnian; 2) PETE, JEFF, GARY, and GHMS properties - middle to late Frasnian; 3) TEA property -Early Carboniferous. In addition, barite-lead-zinc mineralization at TOM and JASON properties likely occurs during middle to late Frasnian. In the GATAGA area barite and barite-lead-zinc mineralization have been recognized at several temporally distinct levels in the early to middle Famennian: 1) Lower rhomboidea Zone; 2) Lower marginifera Zone; 3) Upper marginifera Zone. Several other mineralized horizons are loosely constrained within the same interval. Within the MIDWAY area the stratiform barite mineralization at the EWEN and PERRY properties is of Early Carboniferous, Tournaisian age, and correlates broadly with the TEA barite in the Macmillan Pass area. In summary, events that produced stratiform barite-lead-zinc and barite mineralization in the Selwyn and Kechika Basins were not coeval. The Late Givetian and early Frasnian barite mineralization took place in the Macmillan Pass and southernmost Gataga areas. During the middle Frasnian barite and barite-lead zinc mineralization events occurred at Macmillan Pass. Several episodes of barite and/or barite-lead-zinc mineralization occurred in the Gataga area during the middle Famennian. The youngest barite mineralization events in the Earn Group took place in the Early Carboniferous, Tournaisian time at Macmillan Pass and Midway. / Science, Faculty of / Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of / Graduate