Latest news with #StJosephsHealthCare
CTV News
3 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Lawson's vice president of research no longer with organization, dogs remain under care of Lawson Research Institute
An internal email obtained by CTV News outlined that Lawson's vice president of research and scientific director, Lisa Porter, is no longer with the organization. Lawson also released a news release, outlining that dogs remain under the care of St. Joseph's Health Care's Lawson Research Institute, despite animal testing no longer taking place. Roy Butler, president and CEO of St. Joseph's Health Care, said in the email that Andrey Andreits, the interim director of research operations, will take on the responsibility of day-to-day operations. In regards to the dogs in the organization's care, Lawson said the Canadian Council on Animal Care and the Western Animal Care Committee are offering their oversight to ensure ethical research. 'As part of the studies, dogs were included in an enrichment program created by registered veterinary technologists to ensure they were socialized with each other and humans daily,' a news release read. 'They also had access to outdoor spaces and nutritious food. Although the research studies involving dogs have stopped, the care continues to be delivered for the dogs currently in our care.' Officials said research officials were overseen and 'careful management of pain was a top priority.' Lawson ensures all procedures were done under anaesthetic. More to come.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
Advocates celebrate end to testing on dogs at London hospital
London Watch Reaction continues to pour in after a controversial shift in medical research at St. Joseph's Health Care. CTV's Reta Ismail reports.
CBC
6 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Premier Doug Ford warns Ontario scientists doing medical tests on dogs to 'stop before I catch you'
Premier Doug Ford warned Ontario scientists who use cats and dogs in research experiments that he would be "hunting" them down to end such work. Ford said it was unacceptable for beagles to be used in cardiac testing that had been approved by London's Lawson Research Institute and St. Joseph's Health Care London, and promised to introduce legislation to ban testing on certain animals. "I understand the mice, the rats, you know, maybe a rabbit, but these poor little beagles — you just look at their faces," Ford told a news conference in Windsor on Tuesday. The comments relate to an article released last week by the Investigative Journalism Bureau at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health that revealed dogs had been used for years in the heart study. According to the article, published in partnership with Postmedia, researchers were inducing three-hour heart attacks in dogs and puppies before euthanizing them and removing those organs for further study. "I have now directed our team to start hunting down anyone else doing research on dogs or cats," Ford said Tuesday. "It's just unacceptable. Imagine your little dog being there and they try to put him into a heart attack. The poor thing. That's terrible and inhumane." Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday in Windsor that he's looking at legislating the end to medical testing of certain animals. (Justin Escoto/ CBC News) The research had been kept under wraps, but once the story was published, hospital CEO Roy Butler wrote to staff promising more transparency. He said the work had been approved by the internal animal ethics committee that follows Canadian animal welfare guidelines. "Animal research at Lawson is highly regulated and undertaken only when scientifically necessary and after all other alternatives have been considered," Butler's statement said. On Monday, St. Joseph's Health Care London said that it would "immediately cease" research involving dogs. CBC News has made multiple requests for an interview but the hospital has declined. Ford's office has not responded to questions about whether it directly ordered the cardiac testing to end, but the premier's comments Tuesday suggest as much. "And just a message: If you're doing this with dogs or cats, you gotta stop before I catch you. Simple as that. We're going to legislate this ... You aren't gonna be going after animals like that," Ford said. Almost 17,000 dogs used for science in 2023 According to the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), which develops standards for the ethical use and care of animals in science, 16,151 dogs were used in research in 2023, the most recent statistics available. The council, which also participates on ethics review panels for research approval, said decisions on animal experimentation are guided by the "Three Rs": Replacement, reduction and refinement. "Is there an alternative method? If yes, you shouldn't use an animal. Reduction is, 'Do you need to use that amount of animals to conduct research?" said Pierre Verreault, CCAC's executive director. The refinement principle aims to minimize pain and distress by using pain medication if possible and giving the animal comfort. Charu Chandrasekera, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, previously worked in a lab that studied heart failure using animals. Chandrasekera said she's thrilled Ford is speaking out. St. Joseph's Hospital said Monday that it would 'immediately cease' research involving dogs. (St. Joseph's Healthcare London) She's been advocating for legislation that guides medical research using animals and believes scientists have become complacent when seeking out alternatives. "We don't have federal legislation defending animals in science. We do not have a federal animal welfare act. We don't have a lot of things that other countries do, and people always ask me, 'Why don't Canadians care?'" said Chandrasekera. "This is a defining moment for science in our country, and hopefully we can show the world that Canadians care by making a plan to phase out animal testing and adopting more and more animal-free methods." After Ford made comments on legislating an end to using dogs in research, CBC reached out to one of the largest medical research organizations in Canada for comment. The University Health Network (UHN), a public research and teaching network in Toronto, said it doesn't conduct studies on dogs or cats. "We are committed to the highest ethical standards of animal care and use for the purpose of continued progress in the field of human medicine," a UHN spokesperson said in an email. "The use of animals in research has been essential for advances in life sciences, medicine and agriculture, and has resulted in enormous benefits for human and animal health. We also continue to explore alternative approaches to reduce and replace animals where possible. "Any research involving animal models is conducted under a rigorous ethical and regulatory framework with protocols that align with national and international regulatory bodies," the release added.
Gizmodo
07-07-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
This Cough Syrup Ingredient Might Actually Slow Dementia
Today's cough syrup could turn into tomorrow's treatment for Parkinson's disease. Recent research in the U.K. is the latest to suggest that a common ingredient in cough syrup, ambroxol, might be able to slow down the progression of Parkinson's. Scientists at St. Joseph's Health Care London conducted the year-long small study, which involved 55 patients with Parkinson's-related dementia. The drug was safely tolerated and may have stabilized people's symptoms, particularly people more genetically vulnerable to the neurodegenerative disease. Researchers elsewhere have already begun to test ambroxol for Parkinson's and related dementias in larger trials. 'These findings suggest Ambroxol may protect brain function, especially in those genetically at risk. It offers a promising new treatment avenue where few currently exist,' said study author Stephen Pasternak, a cognitive neuroscientist at Lawson Research Institute, the research arm of St. Joseph's Health Care London, in a statement from the university. The Surprising Connection Between Living Near Golf Courses and Parkinson's Disease Ambroxol is commonly used as an expectorant in cough syrup, helping thin out mucus so people with respiratory illnesses can clear phlegm from their airways and breathe easier. But recently, scientists have speculated that it can also target a key driver of Parkinson's, the accumulation of abnormal alpha-synuclein in the brain. Studies have found that ambroxol can raise people's levels of glucocerebrosidase (GCase), another protein that helps regulate the brain's waste clearance system. In people with Parkinson's, levels of GCase tend to decline as levels of abnormal alpha-synuclein rise. It's also known that people with certain genetic mutations affecting GCase function are at higher risk for Parkinson's. Scientists have hoped that ambroxol can indirectly lower people's alpha-synuclein by increasing GCase, reversing or at least slowing down the progression of Parkinson's. The researchers randomized people with Parkinson's-related dementia to either receive a placebo or a high dose of ambroxol (taken via pills daily) over a 12-month span. There were no severe symptoms linked to the drug's use, the researchers found, and common adverse effects were typically gastrointestinal. People on placebo also experienced worsening psychiatric symptoms of their Parkinson's and an increase in levels of GFAP (a blood marker of brain damage), whereas those on ambroxol appeared to stay about the same. 'This early trial offers hope and provides a strong foundation for larger studies,' Pasternak said. The team's results, published late last month in JAMA Neurology, were not a clear home run, however. There was overall no difference in cognition between the placebo and treatment groups, for instance. People with GCase-related genetic mutations taking the drug may have experienced improved cognition, though the sample sizes were too small to know for sure. Scientists Are Testing an Old Cough Medicine as a Parkinson's Disease Treatment That said, enough evidence has built up that other scientists are taking a chance on ambroxol. There are at least three clinical trials of the drug for Parkinson's and similar conditions linked to GCase underway right now. The largest of these trials is testing ambroxol in over 300 people with Parkinson's over a two-year span. It will take years for these studies to wrap up, but if successful, ambroxol could very well become the first treatment able to slow down the destruction caused by Parkinson's.
CBC
29-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Trauma, violence-informed primary care key to London hospital's planned clinic
A new clinic set to open later this year aims to fill a longtime healthcare gap faced by survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in London. St. Joseph's Health Care London (SJHCL) announced that a primary health care clinic specializing in trauma and violence-informed care will open at St. Joseph's Hospital, with a focus on women and children affected by intimate partner violence and sexual crimes. The Trauma and Violence Specialized Primary Care Clinic will be located on the hospital's fourth floor and open in the coming months, SJHCL unveiled on Wednesday. St. Joseph's officials are heralding it as a first-of-its-kind in Canada. The clinic is more than a decade in the making and will connect survivors to the kind of primary health care many may not have access to. It will also "fill a significant gap in the community, particularly for racialized individuals, those with disabilities, immigrants and refugees, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people," SJHCL said in a statement. More than half of the people visiting St. Joseph's Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Program have no primary care physician, said Dr. Susan McNair, the program's medical director. "It's unique in that we are looking at trauma as an entity here, where often the outcome of difficult, traumatic events play out in different health ways," McNair said. Instead of focusing on an individual outcome of that trauma, such as addiction, "this program is identifying individuals with trauma and responding then to the unique needs of trauma survivors," she said. That includes helping them understand how that trauma is linked to their current health situation. People who experience significant early-life trauma come with a significantly higher risk of addiction and chronic health conditions later in life. "One of the things we'll study is, when we help people to understand that link and reduce some of that self-blame, does it lead to better outcomes?" she said. Such clinics can help in rebuilding trust While many healthcare professionals use a trauma-informed approach, having a clinic dedicated to and named for trauma and violence-informed care is an opportunity to connect with those reluctant to seek healthcare, said Chuck Lazenby, executive director of Unity Project. The agency provides emergency shelter, housing stability, and supportive housing services to those experiencing homelessness, among them domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. "Certainly folks who access our services, or you know, who are experiencing homelessness or are street-involved, have a significant distrust of the medical system," said Lazenby. "Programs like this can help rebuild that trust, especially when it's a recognition of a person's experience of trauma and violence and coming from that trauma-informed approach. It's really necessary for folks that we see to be able to access supports like that." The new clinic is being launched with the help of $3.82 million in provincial funding from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, announced in the last several weeks, which will cover the next two-and-a-half years. Staffed with at least four physicians and two social workers, it's anticipated the clinic will serve around 600 people in its first two years, with patients initially referred from within the hospital. Patients considered for referral would be those with no family doctor who have a history of "significant adverse childhood experiences, or significant adult events of trauma," McNair said. Along with its role as a primary care clinic, it will also serve as a source of research regarding trauma survivors and their primary care needs — research that can be used to teach future healthcare staff and inform treatment decisions elsewhere at the hospital.
