Self-reported Effects of Water on Health in First Nations Communities in Saskatchewan, Canada: Results From Community-Based Participatory Research.

Water-related health challenges on First Nations reserves in Canada have been previously documented. Our objective was to describe factors associated with self-reported health effects from tap water in 8 First Nations reserve communities in Saskatchewan, Canada. Community-based participatory approaches were used in designing and implementing cross-sectional household surveys. Individual, household, community, and contextual effects were considered in multilevel analysis. Negative health effects from tap water were reported by 28% of households (n = 579). Concerns about environmental factors affecting water quality (odds ratio [OR] = 3.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.8-6.7), rarely or never drinking tap water (OR = 2.9, 95% CI = 1.3-6.6), insufficient tap water (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.4-6.3), paying for bottled water (OR = 3.2, 95% CI = 1.2-8.7), and dissatisfaction with tap water were associated with self-reported health effects (n = 393); however, the effect of dissatisfaction was modified by respondent age (P = .03). Quality and availability were associated with perceptions of health effects from drinking water, providing additional information on how ongoing concerns about drinking water influence self-reported health in some First Nations.

Drinking water quality in Indigenous communities in Canada and health outcomes: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Many Indigenous communities in Canada live with high-risk drinking water systems and drinking water advisories and experience health status and water quality below that of the general population. A scoping review of research examining drinking water quality and its relationship to Indigenous health was conducted. OBJECTIVE: The study was undertaken to identify the extent of the literature, summarize current reports and identify research needs. DESIGN: A scoping review was designed to identify peer-reviewed literature that examined challenges related to drinking water and health in Indigenous communities in Canada. Key search terms were developed and mapped on five bibliographic databases (MEDLINE/PubMED, Web of Knowledge, SciVerse Scopus, Taylor and Francis online journal and Google Scholar). Online searches for grey literature using relevant government websites were completed. RESULTS: Sixteen articles (of 518; 156 bibliographic search engines, 362 grey literature) met criteria for inclusion (contained keywords; publication year 2000-2015; peer-reviewed and from Canada). Studies were quantitative (8), qualitative (5) or mixed (3) and included case, cohort, cross-sectional and participatory designs. In most articles, no definition of "health" was given (14/16), and the primary health issue described was gastrointestinal illness (12/16). Challenges to the study of health and well-being with respect to drinking water in Indigenous communities included irregular funding, remote locations, ethical approval processes, small sample sizes and missing data. CONCLUSIONS: Research on drinking water and health outcomes in Indigenous communities in Canada is limited and occurs on an opportunistic basis. There is a need for more research funding, and inquiry to inform policy decisions for improvements of water quality and health-related outcomes in Indigenous communities. A coordinated network looking at First Nations water and health outcomes, a database to store and create access to research findings, increased funding and time frames for funding, and more decolonizing and community-based participatory research aimed at understanding the relationship between drinking water quality and health outcomes in First Nations communities in Canada are needed.

Whiteboard animation for knowledge mobilization: a test case from the Slave River and Delta, Canada.

OBJECTIVE: To present the co-creation of a whiteboard animation video, an enhanced e-storytelling technique for relaying traditional knowledge interview results as narratives. DESIGN: We present a design for translating interview results into a script and accompanying series of figures, followed by technical steps to create a whiteboard animation product. METHOD: Our project used content analysis and researcher triangulation, followed by a collaborative process to develop an animated video to disseminate research findings. A 13-minute long whiteboard animation video was produced from a research study about changing environments in northern Canadian communities and was distributed to local people. Three challenging issues in the video creation process including communication issues, technical difficulties and contextual debate were resolved among the supporting agencies and researchers. CONCLUSIONS: Dissemination of findings is a crucial step in the research process. Whiteboard animation video products may be a viable and culturally-appropriate form of relaying research results back to Indigenous communities in a storytelling format.

Troglitazone reduces heat shock protein 70 content in primary rat hepatocytes by a ubiquitin proteasome independent mechanism.

Troglitazone (TRG) is an antidiabetic agent that increases the insulin sensitivity of target tissues in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Therapy with troglitazone has been associated with severe hepatic injury in a small percentage of patients and the mechanism of TRG-induced hepatotoxicity remains unclear. A family of highly conserved stress proteins identified as heat shock proteins (Hsps), are well-known to protect cells against a wide variety of toxic conditions such as extreme temperature changes, oxidative stress and toxic drugs. The stress-inducible Hsp 70 protein is one of the best-known endogenous factors protecting cells from injury under various stress conditions. Here we examined the effects of TRG on Hsp 70 mRNA and protein expression in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. We also investigated the effects of TRG in an in vivo model by examining Hsp 70 protein levels in livers prepared from C57 mice fed a 0.2% dietary admixture of TRG. Levels of Hsp 70 mRNA increased in a concentration-dependent manner in rat hepatocytes treated for 8h with increasing concentrations of TRG. However, Hsp 70 protein levels decreased significantly in cells treated with increasing concentrations of TRG. C57 mice fed a 0.2% admixture of TRG for 10 days, also demonstrated decreased liver Hsp 70 protein levels. To investigate whether TRG decreased Hsp 70 protein levels by activating the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, cells were pretreated with 10 microM lactacystin, a potent and specific inhibitor of this pathway. Lactacystin pretreatment failed to prevent TRG-induced decrease in Hsp 70 protein. The data suggests that TRG-induced effects may be mediated through another system of regulated proteolysis or may involve a post-transcriptional regulator mechanism. The mechanism of TRG-induced hepatotoxicity remains unclear, however, the effects induced by TRG on Hsp 70 may, in part, play a role.

l-carnosine and verapamil inhibit hypoxia-induced expression of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1 alpha) in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts.

Contractile failure of myocardial cells is a common cause of mortality in ischemic heart disease. In response to hypoxic conditions, cells upregulate the activity of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) and express a number of genes encoding proteins that either enhance O (2)delivery or increase cellular ATP levels. HIF-1 is a heterodimer of bHLH-PAS proteins, HIF-1 alpha and HIF-1 beta. Both subunits are constitutively expressed under normoxic conditions, but HIF-1 alpha levels are kept low by proteolytic degradation, then stabilized under conditions of low O (2)by a mechanism that is poorly understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that expression of HIF-1 alpha in cardiac cells may be affected by two known cardioprotective agents. We tested l-carnosine, a naturally occurring dipeptide which has been shown to improve myocardial contractility during hypoxia, and verapamil, a calcium channel blocker frequently prescribed for the treatment of heart disease. The levels of HIF-1 alphamRNA remained relatively stable during time course hypoxia (1% O (2)) in H9c2 cardiomyoblasts, then increased slightly after 24 h. In cells pretreated with 1 microM carnosine, the levels of mRNA were transiently reduced, but then increased after 24 h similar to the controls. The levels of HIF-1 alpha protein increased rapidly in H9c2 cells within 30 min of hypoxia, but this induction was significantly reduced in cells treated with either carnosine or verapamil. In addition, treatment of cells with these agents further reduced the low levels of HIF-1 under normoxic conditions. These results suggest that l-carnosine and verapamil may affect the regulated proteolytic degradation of HIF-1 alpha in heart cells during hypoxia.