University of British Columbia

Many older adults end up taking multiple medications. Over time, it is important to reassess whether all medications continued to be necessary, effective, and safe. When a medication is no longer necessary, or is doing more harm than good, healthcare providers and patients/care partners can consider stopping the medication or reducing its dose. This is termed “deprescribing.” Deprescribing involves conducting a thorough medication history; gathering and interpreting relevant patient information and goals of care; identifying medications which are no longer necessary, effective, or safe; deciding on and prioritizing which medications to stop or reduce; designing and implementing a care plan; and monitoring progress. All of these steps should be conducted in collaboration with patients/care partners. There is a growing evidence base, and set of resources, to support these various steps but gaps still exist. In this chapter, we review the process and evidence behind deprescribing in the context of a patient case.

Anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEM-WE) have been identified as a promising solution to deliver green hydrogen at a lower cost than alkaline water electrolyzers (AWEs) and proton-exchange membrane water electrolyzers (PEM-WEs). However, scaling AEM-WE is limited by high voltage degradation rates which can become amplified and more complicated during operation as components within the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) evolve and interact with one another. These phenomena necessitate testing protocols that capture the degradation of individual MEA components in situ. Herein, an edge-type reference electrode and a novel flow plate design enabled decoupling of anode and cathode degradation over stability tests >200 h. A critical assessment of the overpotential measurements is provided, utilizing half-cell impedance measurements to highlight the effects of electrode misalignment. 3-electrode cyclic voltammetry is presented as an effective in situ tool to evaluate electrode degradation. These findings demonstrate the utility of edge-type reference electrode configurations in stability tests for the development of commercial scale AEM-WE.

Hummingbirds use their extreme maneuverability to defend territories and win competitions. In theory, a bird can tap into its muscular power reserves to perform complex maneuvers, with the size of the power reserves dictating the maximum maneuvering performance. To test the link between power reserves and maximum maneuvering performance, we used load‐lifting trials to measure the power reserves of Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna). Based on these estimates, we calculated the theoretical maximum arcing turn performance. Finally, we used thousands of arcing turns measured with an automated tracking system to evaluate whether maximum turning ability aligned with the theoretical predictions. The maximum turning performance of the hummingbirds closely matched the maximum predicted by their power reserves, even though individual performance maximums were not correlated with individual power reserves. Therefore, our evidence that power reserves underlie maximum performance is mixed: it is in the aggregated turns across all individuals that the large‐scale patterns of maximal performance begin to emerge. Because they limited turning performance, power reserves also created a trade‐off between radius and velocity. As large free‐flight datasets continue to be explored, it is likely that we will continue to find associations between burst power and maximal maneuvering performance.

Climate significantly influences the distribution, composition, and diversity of fungal communities, impacting the growth, spread, and virulence of fungal forest pathogens. This study employs advanced landscape genomics methods to explore the genomic adaptations of three major fungal pathogens: those responsible for Dutch elm disease, dothistroma needle blight, and Swiss needle cast. Our findings reveal that precipitation and humidity are primary drivers of adaptation in these species. We use these insights to forecast potential adaptations under future climate scenarios (genomic offset) and identify specific genes and pathways associated with climate responses in each pathogen. Notably, we detect a convergence in moisture adaptation across these distantly related species, particularly in genes related to the cytoskeleton and transporters. This study enhances our understanding of fungal pathogen evolution in response to climate change, offering crucial insights for forest disease management.

DNA‐based molecular tension probes have revolutionized the localization of mechanical events in live cells with super‐resolution. However, imaging the magnitude of these forces at super‐resolution has been challenging. Here, qtPAINT (quantitative tension points accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography) is introduced as a strategy to image the magnitude of molecular tension with super‐resolution accuracy. By leveraging the force‐dependent dissociation kinetics of short DNA oligonucleotides on their complementary strands, tension is encoded on individual molecules through their binding kinetics. This method allowed for a quantitative analysis of these kinetics, providing a detailed reconstruction of the force magnitudes acting on each tension probe. The technique integrates a molecular‐beacon PAINT imager with a hairpin molecular tension probe, achieving a force quantification range of 9–30 pN and maintaining a spatial resolution of 30–120 nm in low and high‐density regions. Additionally, qtPAINT offers a temporal resolution on the order of a minute, enhancing its applicability for studying dynamic cellular processes.

Understanding species-habitat associations is fundamental to ecological sciences and for species conservation. Consequently, various statistical approaches have been designed to infer species-habitat associations. Due to their conceptual and mathematical differences, these methods can yield contrasting results. In this paper, we describe and compare commonly used statistical models that relate animal movement data to environmental data. Specifically, we examined selection functions which include resource selection function (RSF) and step-selection function (SSF), as well as hidden Markov models (HMMs) and related methods such as state-space models. We demonstrate differences in assumptions while highlighting advantages and limitations of each method. Additionally, we provide guidance on selecting the most appropriate statistical method based on the scale of the data and intended inference. To illustrate the varying ecological insights derived from each statistical model, we apply them to the movement track of a single ringed seal (Pusa hispida) in a case study. Through our case study, we demonstrate that each model yields varying ecological insights. For example, while the selection coefficient values from RSFs appear to show a stronger positive relationship with prey diversity than those of the SSFs, when we accounted for the autocorrelation in the data none of these relationships with prey diversity were statistically significant. Furthermore, the HMM reveals variable associations with prey diversity across different behaviors, for example, a positive relationship between prey diversity and a slow-movement behaviour. Notably, the three models identified different “important” areas. This case study highlights the critical significance of selecting the appropriate model as an essential step in the process of identifying species-habitat relationships and specific areas of importance. Our comprehensive review provides the foundational information required for making informed decisions when choosing the most suitable statistical methods to address specific questions, such as identifying expansive corridors or protected zones, understanding movement patterns, or studying behaviours. In addition, this study informs researchers with the necessary tools to apply these methods effectively.

Empathic accuracy—the ability to accurately infer one’s partner’s emotions—has important implications for couples’ relational well-being. Although distinct emotions convey various needs and elicit different responses between romantic partners, research on empathic accuracy—its patterns, underlying processes and relational consequences—across a spectrum of discrete emotions directed towards the partner or the relationship remains sparse. This study employed a 35-day dyadic daily diary design to examine empathic accuracy in couples, focusing on seven emotions (joy, feeling loved, anger, contempt, sadness, fear, and guilt) while also investigating the reliance on bias of assumed similarity, the moderating role of the target’s social sharing, and the links between empathic accuracy and perceived partner responsiveness (PPR). The sample included 327 couples who reported on their own emotions, their perceptions of their partner’s emotions, their perceptions of their own social sharing and their perception of their partner’s responsiveness. Results showed that partners tend to hold a slight negativity bias when inferring each other’s emotions. However, most are adept at tracking changes in their partner’s emotions, especially when partners verbalize how they are feeling, and they strongly rely on their own emotions to make such inferences. In addition, the intensity of felt or perceived emotions—rather than empathic accuracy—were associated with PPR, though some distinct patterns emerged across emotions. These results provide partial support for error-management theory and highlight the importance of examining emotions beyond valence, as both similarities and distinctions emerge in patterns of empathic accuracy and their links to relational outcomes.

Chiral scaffolds are essential to the advancement of asymmetric synthesis, yet the development of privileged motifs that more effectively communicate asymmetry constitutes a grand challenge for chemists. Here we describe a method using a confined chiral Brønsted acid catalyst to combine two inexpensive and widely available materials—indole and acetone—into a class of C₂-symmetric, spirocyclic compounds called SPINDOLE. SPINDOLEs extend the versatility of established frameworks by offering greater flexibility and ease of synthesis. The resulting chiral compounds can be readily modified to create diverse structures that excel in promoting highly selective reactions such as hydrogenation, allylic alkylation, hydroboration, and Michael addition. This work introduces a powerful strategy for advancing asymmetric catalysis, enabling the creation of versatile chiral frameworks with broad synthetic potential.

Research suggests that the degree of democracy in countries is correlated with certain characteristics of its citizens. A question is whether different types of government (e.g., autocratic vs. democratic) are associated with specific personality dispositions and the well-being of citizens. We addressed this question with a sample of over 200,000 persons from 75 countries. Using structural equation modeling and a strong measurement invariance approach we tested the association between national government type (autocratic, hybrid, flawed democracy, full democracy) and citizens report of socially aversive (malevolent) versus affiliative (benevolent) traits. As governments varied from autocratic to full democracy there were lower malevolent traits and higher benevolent traits. Further, established quantitative democracy indices predicted higher benevolent and lower malevolent traits in the total sample, while only benevolent traits were strongly associated with well-being. The findings highlight associations between governments and personality traits and how democratic practices might influence the well-being of its citizens.

Past research has focused on emotion regulation (ER) as an intrapersonal endeavor (managing one’s own emotions), leaving many questions unanswered about interpersonal emotion regulation (IER; receiving support from another person to regulate one’s emotions). This study sought to understand the effects of two common IER strategies (corumination, codistraction) by comparing them with each other and their intrapersonal counterparts (rumination, distraction) on negative and positive affect, relationship quality and closeness, and biological stress responses (i.e., cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase [sAA]). Participants completed the Fast Friends paradigm and then privately recalled a stressful event. Participants were then randomized into one of four ER groups: rumination, distraction, corumination, or codistraction. Affect, relationship quality, closeness, cortisol, and sAA were measured throughout the study session and during a 40-min post-ER recovery period. Interestingly, the ER groups differed in affect and biological recovery from stress, but not in relationship quality or closeness. Specifically, distraction facilitated the greatest decline in negative affect during the ER induction, but negative affect decline was greater in rumination and corumination than in distraction during the recovery period. Additionally, both IER groups showed increased sAA levels during the ER induction, but sAA levels showed a greater decline in the IER than in intrapersonal ER groups during the recovery period. This study highlights the nuanced effects of intrapersonal versus IER strategies and thus informs approaches to modulate negative affect and biological markers of stress when facing stressful events.

Serverless computing has become a mainstream cloud computing paradigm due to its high scalability, ease of server management, and cost-effectiveness. With cloud data centers' carbon footprint rising sharply, understanding and minimizing the carbon impact of serverless functions becomes crucial. The unique characteristics of serverless functions, such as event-driven invocation, pay-as-you-go billing model, short execution duration, ephemeral runtime, and opaque underlying infrastructure, pose challenges in effective carbon metering. In this paper, we argue that the current carbon estimation methodologies should be expanded for more accurate carbon accounting in serverless settings, and propose a usage and allocation-based carbon model that aligns with the context of serverless computing. We also articulate how current serverless systems and billing models do not make it financially attractive to prioritize sustainability for a broad class of users and developers. To solve this, we propose a new carbon-aware pricing model and evaluate its ability to incentivize sustainable practices for developers through better alignment of billing and carbon efficiency.

Review of: Clothing Alterations and Repairs: Maintaining a Sustainable Wardrobe , Chelsey Byrd Lewallen (2024) London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 240 pp., ISBN 978-1-35016-355-3, p/bk, $63.45

We investigated the effect of age, cigarette smoke and COPD severity on epithelial barrier function. Primary bronchial epithelial cells (PBECs) were obtained from bronchial brushings in 8 younger and 8 older never-smokers; 7 older ex-smokers without COPD 8 COPD GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) I-III and 6 COPD GOLD IV patients, and cultured in the absence/presence of cigarette smoke extract (CSE). Epithelial barrier function was assessed by electric resistance sensing and expression of junctional and antioxidant genes/proteins quantified by qPCR/immunodetection. Epithelial barrier function was comparable between PBECs from younger and older never-smokers. PBECs from ex-smokers had significantly lower barrier function compared to never-smokers, with a further decrease in COPD GOLD IV. CSE decreased epithelial barrier function from which PBECs from never-smokers, but not ex-smokers with and without COPD, recovered. Restoration of barrier function was accompanied by increased expression of barrier and antioxidant genes. At baseline, PBECs from ex-smokers with and without COPD had higher expression of junctional and antioxidant genes compared to never smokers. However, exposure to CSE increased antioxidant ( SOD1-3, CAT) gene expression only in PBECs from never-smokers and ex-smokers without COPD. In conclusion, our data indicate that cigarette smoking and COPD severity are associated with reduced epithelial barrier function, which is potentially driven by an imbalance in the antioxidant response.