Introduktion: Det perifera nervsystemet består av det autonoma nervsystemet och de perifera nervtrådarna som förmedlar afferenta och efferenta impulser mellan det centrala nervsystemet och perifera delen av kroppen. Från plexus brachialis förgrenar nervus ulnaris sig och fortsätter längst armen till handens ulnara del. Den vanligaste perifera nervskadan i övre extremiteter är ulnarisnervskada. Syftet: Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det förekommer någon signifikant skillnad i motorisk ledningshastighet (MCV) mellan underarm och över armbåge på nervus ulnaris bilateralt. Även att jämföra MCV och proximal latenstid mellan höger och vänster underarm och över armbåge. Metod: För att besvara syftet utfördes en tvärsnittsstudie på 31 friska deltagare i åldrarna 20– 40 år. Nervus ulnaris undersöktes med elektroneurografi bilateralt. Resultat: Resultatet visade att det förekommer en signifikant skillnad i MCV mellan underarm och över armbågen bilateralt på nervus ulnaris. Det påvisades en signifikant skillnad i MCV mellan höger och vänster sida över armbågen, men inte på underarm. Ingen signifikant skillnad förekommer i proximala latenstiden mellan höger och vänster underarm och över armbågen. Slutsats: De signifikanta skillnaderna som erhölls i MCV mellan underarm och över armbåge samt mellan höger och vänster sida över armbågen kan bero på stimuleringstekniken. Såsom armspositionen vid stimuleringen och att överarmar är generellt svårare att undersöka. Detta medför större risk för felkällor som kan påverka resultatet. / Introduction: The peripheral nervous system consists of the autonomic nervous system and the peripheral nerve fibers that mediate afferent and efferent impulses between the central nervous system and the peripheral part of the body. From the brachial plexus, the ulnar nerve branches and continues along the arm to the ulnar part of the hand. The most common and largest peripheral nerve injury in the upper extremities is ulnar nerve injury. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate whether there is any significant difference in motor conduction velocity (MCV) between the forearm and above the elbow on the ulnar nerve bilaterally. Also, to compare MCV and proximal latency between right and left forearm and above elbow. Method: To answer the purpose, a cross-sectional study was performed on 30 healthy participants aged 20–40 years. The ulnar nerve was examined with electroneurography bilaterally. Results: The result showed that there is a significant difference in MCV between the forearm and above the elbow bilaterally on the ulnar nerve. A significant difference in MCV was demonstrated between the right and left sides over the elbow, but not on the forearm. There was no significant difference in the proximal latency between the right and left forearm and above the elbow. Conclusion: The significant differences obtained in MCV between forearm and above elbow and between right and left side above elbow may be due to the simulation technique. Such as the arm position during the stimulation and that upper arms are generally more difficult to examine. This entails a greater risk of error sources that can affect the result.

La ménopause est associée à des modifications de la composition corporelle.La déficience en µstrogène est aussi associée à une altération du profil lipidique et du risque de diabète de type II. Dans l'ensemble, ces changements favorisent l'augmentation des risques de développer une maladie cardiovasculaire (MCV). Le traitement hormonal de substitution (THS) est reconnu pour diminuer les gains de masse grasse, le profil lipidique et la sensibilité à l'insuline chez les femmes ménopausées. D'autre part, le rôle de l'activité physique, dans le maintien de la composition corporelle après la ménopause, est connu. Par ailleurs il a été démontré que le THS, combiné à l'activité physique, permettait des pertes de masse grasse plus importantes que l'une des deux interventions seules. Toutefois, Rossouw et al. ont récemment démontré que la composante progestérone du THS pourrait être associée à une hausse du risque de MCV sans que l'on en connaisse les mécanismes. Ainsi, plusieurs femmes canadiennes ont depuis abandonné le THS. Ainsi, la mise en lumière d'une thérapie alternative pourrait s'avérer intéressante pour cette population. À cet effet, plusieurs études ont démontré que 6 mois de supplémentation en phytoestrogènes (hormones naturelles) pouvaient avoir des effets similaires au THS sur le profil lipidique, la masse osseuse et sur divers symptômes de la ménopause. Toutefois, l'effet des phytoestrogènes seuls ou en combinaison avec l'exercice sur d'autres prédicteurs des MCV n'a toujours pas été vérifié chez la femme ménopausée obèse. L'objet de cette thèse est donc de vérifier si la composition corporelle et diverses interventions ont des impacts sur les facteurs de risque des MCV chez des femmes ménopausées obèses. Nos hypothèses sont que les facteurs de risque des MCV sont moins importants chez des femmes ménopausées sarcopéniques-obèses, ou chez des femmes ménopausées obèses ayant suivi une supplémentation en phytoestrogènes combinée à un programme d'exercice. Pour cela 50 femmes (50-70 ans, francophones ou comprenant le français, BMI[supérieur à] 27kg/m[indice supérieur 2], sans incapacité physique, sans médication influençant le métabolisme, non fumeuse, buveuse modérée, poids stable, ne participant à aucun programme d'activité physique, sans hormonothérapie et sans menstruation depuis 12 mois) ont été recrutées et réparties aléatoirement en 2 groupes: (1) sous phytoestrogènes + activité physique; (2) sous placebos + activité physique. Elles ont ensuite été invitées au Centre de recherche sur le vieillissement pour une session de tests métaboliques et de questionnaires et ce, au début, au milieu et à la fin de l'intervention. Les mesures suivantes ont été colligées: la composition corporelle, la circonférence de la taille, le profil lipidique, l'indice de sensibilité à l'insuline, le métabolisme énergétique et l'apport alimentaire. À la lumière de nos résultats, nous pouvons donc conclure que les phytoestrogènes semblent avoir un effet sur la composition corporelle. En effet, nos études démontrent un effet positif des phytoestrogènes sur la masse maigre à 6 mois et sur la masse grasse à 12 mois lorsque ces derniers sont combinés à un programme d'exercices. Par ailleurs, nous avons observé que la sarcopénie diminue les risques de MCV chez les femmes ménopausées obèses. Par contre, aucun effet n'a été trouvé durant toute notre intervention sur les paramètres biochimiques. L'ensemble de ces résultats a engendré de nouvelles perspectives en ce qui concerne la recherche sur les facteurs de risque des MCV chez les femmes ménopausées obèses et de futures recherches dans ce domaine devront être conduites afin de confirmer nos hypothèses et nos résultats.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The main goal of this thesis is to explore how interior spaces in hotel designs can provide a less stressful environment and promote health and harmony by using Feng Shui Principles. It will first discuss the principles of Feng Shui and general hotel design, and then move on to demonstrate how the application of Feng Shui principles can be used to create a hotel environment that encourages health and harmony in its occupants. This project will demonstrate principles that not only can be applied to hotel space, but also can be practiced in any other interior space. This thesis, therefore, demonstrates new possibilities for how "care of the self" is delivered and received through design.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a worldwide problem representing one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases in the world. Despite the commonness of the disea- se, its pathogenesis has not been fully described. Immune cells ranging from antigen- presenting cells to T, B and NK cells playing various roles participate in the rheumatic process. In this work we concentrated on NK cells expressing a repertoire of activating and inhibitory receptors which influence their function in health and disease. We focused on the analysis of NK cell function and described its possible modulation by rheumatic autoantigens and multivalent glycodendrimers bearing 4 (GN4C) or 8 (GN8P) N-acetyl glucosamine moieties. The effect on NK cells and the glycosylation pathways was further studied in vitro. Finally, an in vivo study was performed on an animal model of RA - col- lagen-induced arthritis (CIA) to assess the effect of the compounds on clinical develop- ment of the disease and selected immune parameters. Comparison of NK cell cytotoxicity in patients suffering from RA, other inflam- matory diseases and healthy donors showed its impairment particularly in RA patients. Peripheral blood NK cells reacted to GN8P glycoconjugate by inhibition of their effector function in CD161 high-expressing samples. The MGAT5...

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a highly aggressive skin cancer with rising global incidence. Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) was discovered in 2008 in 80% of MCC samples and since then a causal link between MCV and the majority of MCC cases has been established. microRNAs (miRNA, miR) are a family of small non-coding RNAs which play a key role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and are considered significant players in disease and development in many species. Whilst the focus of MCV research has thus far been on the oncogenic MCV early proteins, large tumour (LT) and small tumour (sT) antigens, there is a knowledge gap regarding MCV miRNA and its functional significance in MCV pathogenesis. Given the emerging importance of viral miRNAs in virus-host interaction and pathogenesis, the aim of this doctoral research project was to investigate alterations in host cell transcripts induced by MCV miRNA and determine any functional significance these might have on virus-host cell interaction. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) in the presence and absence of MCV miRNA uncovered a multitude of downregulated cellular transcripts. Gene ontology analysis revealed that MCV miRNA targets transcripts associated with multiple cellular processes, however, regulation of immune response was overrepresented in our datasets. Validation of RNA-Seq data using MCV miRNA mimics and a synthetic, fully replicative MCV genome (MCVSyn) confirmed RNA-Seq data at mRNA and protein expression level for several targets, including the cytokine stimulating gene, SP100, and the neutrophil stimulator chemokine, CXCL8. Moreover, dual luciferase assays revealed that SP100 and MAPK10 (a member of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) family which is involved in regulation of CXCL8 expression) are directly and specifically targeted and downregulated by MCV miRNA. The MCV miRNA-dependent dysregulation of CXCL8 secretion is associated with impaired neutrophil migration, suggesting that the virus miRNA may be implicated in evasion of the host immune response.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

The project aims to develop a web-based interface for managing an advertisingsystem, development of a mobile application, more specifically an Android application,whose main task is to present advertising. The Android application issupposed to run on an Android device which is connected to a TV or monitorfor viewing slides, consisting of the advertises. The web interface is developedin PHP, HTML, and CSS while the Android application is developed in a Javabasedlanguage. The project aims to develop an easy to use and cost effectivealternative to the existing systems available in the market today. The project isdeveloped as a "proof of concept" and is delimited to the creation of an Androidapplication with features to launch the application automatically, set up the device, and viewing slideshows with advertises. The web-based system is delimitedto manage business/customers , users, devices , slides , and slides. The projectalso focused on security, primarily in the form of licenses (number of units)and unauthorized access to other customers. The objectives of the project areconsidered to be fulfilled in that a functioning Android application has been developed,as well as a completion of the web-based interface with previouslysaid features.

Erythroid terminal differentiation couples sequential cell divisions with progressive reductions in cell size. The erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) is essential for erythroblast survival, but its other functions are not well characterized. I used Epor−/− mouse erythroblasts endowed with survival signaling to identify novel non-redundant EpoR functions. I found that, paradoxically, EpoR signaling increases red cell size while also increasing the number and speed of erythroblast cell cycles. Specifically, I found that high levels of EpoR signaling increase the size and shorten the cycle of early erythroblasts, which are amongst the fastest cycling somatic cells. I confirmed the effect of erythropoietin (Epo) on red cell size in human volunteers, whose mean corpuscular volume (MCV) increases following Epo administration. Our work shows that EpoR signaling alters the expected inverse relationship between cell cycle length and cell size. Further, diagnostic interpretations of increased MCV should now include high Epo levels and hypoxic stress. The ability of EpoR signaling to increase cell size in rapidly cycling early erythroblasts suggests that these cells have exceptionally efficient EpoR-driven mechanisms for growth. I found evidence for this in ongoing work, where Epor−/− and Stat5−/− single-cell transcriptomes show dysregulated expression of ribosomal proteins and rRNA transcription and processing genes. Global rates of ribosomal rRNA transcription and protein synthesis increase in an EpoR dependent manner during a narrow developmental window in early ETD, coincident with the time of cell cycle shortening. Our work therefore suggests EpoR-driven regulation of ribosome biogenesis and translation orchestrating rapid cycling and cell growth during early ETD.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a highly aggressive skin cancer with rising global incidence. Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) was discovered in 2008 in 80% of MCC samples and since then a causal link between MCV and the majority of MCC cases has been established. microRNAs (miRNA, miR) are a family of small non-coding RNAs which play a key role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and are considered significant players in disease and development in many species. Whilst the focus of MCV research has thus far been on the oncogenic MCV early proteins, large tumour (LT) and small tumour (sT) antigens, there is a knowledge gap regarding MCV miRNA and its functional significance in MCV pathogenesis. Given the emerging importance of viral miRNAs in virus-host interaction and pathogenesis, the aim of this doctoral research project was to investigate alterations in host cell transcripts induced by MCV miRNA and determine any functional significance these might have on virus-host cell interaction. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) in the presence and absence of MCV miRNA uncovered a multitude of downregulated cellular transcripts. Gene ontology analysis revealed that MCV miRNA targets transcripts associated with multiple cellular processes, however, regulation of immune response was overrepresented in our datasets. Validation of RNA-Seq data using MCV miRNA mimics and a synthetic, fully replicative MCV genome (MCVSyn) confirmed RNA-Seq data at mRNA and protein expression level for several targets, including the cytokine stimulating gene, SP100, and the neutrophil stimulator chemokine, CXCL8. Moreover, dual luciferase assays revealed that SP100 and MAPK10 (a member of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) family which is involved in regulation of CXCL8 expression) are directly and specifically targeted and downregulated by MCV miRNA. The MCV miRNA-dependent dysregulation of CXCL8 secretion is associated with impaired neutrophil migration, suggesting that the virus miRNA may be implicated in evasion of the host immune response.