Canada Research Regulations and Research Code of Conduct

Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – TCPS 2 (2018) (ethics.gc.ca) has been mandated by the government of Canada and explains the policy outlining the ethical code of conduct for research involving humans. It explains the core principles, the general principles regarding consent and decision making as well as the ethical duty of the researching team involved

Ethics Resources - CIHR (cihr-irsc.gc.ca) is another Government of Canada website that provides ethic guidelines, policies, regulatory documents, and websites for health researchers.

Clinical Research Regulation For Canada | ClinRegs (nih.gov) is affiliated with the national institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases for Canada and explores the following categories: regulatory authority, clinical trial life cycle, sponsorship and informed consent, investigative products, specimens etc. A really good website for the beginning researcher in terms of familiarizing themselves with national regulations in the clinical research field.

Guidance Document: Part C, Division 5 of the Food and Drug Regulations “Drugs for Clinical Trials Involving Human Subjects” (GUI-0100) - Summary - Canada.ca - this is a government of Canada guidance document for researchers who are conducting clinical trials involving pharmaceutical intervention of some kind. It is expected that such research personal adhere and comply with the guidelines listed in this document.

FOIP/Personal Records – Alberta/Health Information Privacy Canada

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) - Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada - this link is from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada exploring privacy around the collection of personal information as well as stating the right of the people to access their personal information that has been gathered and held by a particular organization. It explores the application of this act to the private sector as well as defining what personal information is. 

FOIP - Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy: (servicealberta.ca) - this provincial website for Alberta is aimed towards public agencies that handle public information in that they comply to the act. So, in terms of a clinical researcher who was employed by a government health agency performing research, they would be expected to adhere to this Act.

myhealthrecords (alberta.ca) – this is a website for any person in the province of Alberta to sign up so they can access their own medical results and history. It’s an online repository that stores provincial data information. This could be helpful for patients who are approaching participation to a clinical trial in that they can have access to all of their information to help assist in making an informed decision of whether or not to participate.

Canada Health Act and Alberta Research Act

Canada Health Act - Canada.ca this act explains the provincial/territorial health insurance plans as they pertain to each province and their compliance with what is outlined in this act in order to receive federal funding. It defines what is considered financially responsible by the respective province as well and what is not considered financially responsible by the province.

Alberta Research and Innovation Act - Open Government - this website explains how the Alberta Research and Innovation Act and the Alberta Research and Innovation Regulation combine to oversee the management of funding for research.

Scientific Research Funding in Alberta/Clinical Research Accreditation

Research funding and awards - Canada.ca - this Government of Canada website explores how the government supports clinical research funding and has a listing for graduate scholarships and grants and prizes.

Funding Opportunities | Alberta Health Services – this website is an Alberta Health Services website that explores potential funding options for clinical research. Alberta Health Services is a provincially funded public health care agency.

SOCRA The Society of Clinical Research Associates, Inc. Society of Clinical Research Associates – this is a worldwide recognized clinical research associate licensing agency. It provides licensing through accreditation upon passing their exam.

Nuclear Medicine Technologists Best Practices

Regulatory documents - Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca) the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is the national agency that establishes radiation limits in terms of procurement, handling, administration, and waste removal. On their website you can find the limits pertaining to the activity in question. Should I ever handle radiation again in a lab setting for a potential research opportunity I would need to be familiar with such limits.

Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists (camrt.ca) – this is the Canadian Association of Medical Technologists website to which any kind of Radiological Technologist must obtain national accreditation for with passing the national exam. Upon passing this exam any technologist can work anywhere in Canada. This certification ensures that the individual can then be licensed by their provincial radiological technologist licensing body. I had to obtain this when I had completed my Nuclear Medicine Technologist program.

ALARA Training – ALARA Training - Radiation Safety Institute of Canada As Low As Reasonably Achievable is the best practice rule that any radiological technologist must adhere to. This site is a training site to provide anyone heading in the direction of handling radiation on a regular basis, formal training to achieve this best practice.

ACMDTT – Alberta College of Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologists – Is the Alberta College of Medical Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologists licensing body. An Albertan technologist must be registered with them to be insured and to practice within the province.

Defining Health

Data tables and definitions (statcan.gc.ca)

as per the website, 'health status can be measured in a variety of ways, including well-being, health conditions, disability or death'.

Mental Health Performance Measures | psychiatry.org

This website lists different ways for clinibans to measure the mental health of individuals.

What is Social Health? Definitions, Examples and Tips on Improving Your Social Wellness (hif.com.au)

This website explores how social health can be defined and helpful information for improving overall individual social health. 

Health indicators | CIHI

This website describes what a health indicator is and it's purpose.

Regulation of the Transcription of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Genes | Request PDF (researchgate.net)

The last link is of personal interest in terms of how cellular homeostasis can be compromised affecting health on a cellular level in that signal transduction messaging could shift to up-regulate or down-regulate specific secondary messaging and nuclear transcription of specific genes. This change in balance within the cell can have dire effects in that due to disruption of homeostasis, specific pathologies such as cancer, can result.

Diabetes

Alberta Statistics - Alberta Diabetes Link - Provides statistics on Diabetes in Alberta

Diabetes Canada – Diabetes in Manitoba - Provides statistical information for diabetes in Canada and each unique province (this hyperlink created was specifically for Manitoba and derived from the Diabetes Canada website)

Diabetes Program - Patient Education | Alberta Health Services - Provides information to the Alberta public regarding disease management (online resources)

Alberta Budget Omits Support To Albertans With Diabetes - Diabetes Canada - Again from the Diabetes Canada website but this hyperlink specifically for Alberta and in particular reduction in funding for diabetic strips

Palliative care health benefits | Alberta.ca - an online application for diabetes who are eligible for diabetic supply funding

Chronic Disease Management | Alberta Health Services - a generalized and minimal glance at chronic disease management in Alberta provided by Alberta Health Services (provincially funded healthcare agency)

International Comparisons: A Focus on Diabetes - A comparison of the OECD countries in terms of the prevalence of diabetes between the countries

Neighborhood Prices of Healthier and Unhealthier Foods and Associations

with Diet Quality: Evidence from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (nih.gov)

A journal article exploring the affect of the cost of food and its correlation with diet.

Type 2 diabetes - The Lancet

A journal article exploring T2DM.

Type 2 diabetes - PubMed (nih.gov)

A journal article exploring T2DM.

Chronic Disease Prevention and Management - Canada.ca

Exploration of Canada’s current health care systematic: Primary Health Care and the need for fluidity and modification based on the current changes such as increased rates of chronic diseases as well as the aging population. The implantation of the team model has shown to improve efficiency of health care delivery. Discussion revolving around the lack of knowledge and implementation via government of change revolving around chronic disease prevention and chronic disease management are also discussed.

Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis | NHLBI, NIH

National Institute of health webpage for atherosclerosis. Explains the disease, causes, risk factors and screen and prevention.

Cardiac Health Foundation Of Canada

This is a national website used to help assist affected individuals of the disease with support methodology revolving around their condition.

Epigenetics in atherosclerosis and inflammation - PubMed (nih.gov)

Atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disease. This journal article explores the possibility of reversibility of epigenetic processes that are naturally involved in the remodeling mechanisms of blood vessels affected by this disease.

Aboriginal Vulnerability To Disease and Care

Chronic Diseases in Canada Vol 31 n1

This article was written to highlight the importance of understanding how social determinants of health play a key role in understanding this demographic's unique health challenge.

Creating conditions for Canadian aboriginal health equity: the promise of healthy public policy | Public Health Reviews | Full Text (biomedcentral.com)

This article speaks of the fact that Canada's failure to implement a national public policy for Aboriginal health is racism and the need for a change in federal policy.

Diseases that may affect First Nations and Inuit communities (sac-isc.gc.ca)

Is an Alberta Health Services website that provides information to the aboriginal demographic regarding diseases that his population may encounter.

Traditional Aboriginal diets and health (ccnsa-nccah.ca)

Article drawing focus on the aboriginal diet and the associations with increased chronic diseases and the need for promotion of healthier intake to help reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases in this demographic.

Healing racism in Canadian health care (nih.gov)

Gene Therapy

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS): A Revolutionary Technology in Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine in Cancer | SpringerLink

This website looks at the new revolutionary technology called "Next Generation Sequencing" for the application in personalized medicine.

Inflammasomes and autoimmune and rheumatic diseases: A comprehensive review - ScienceDirect

This article examines the role of the inflammasome for it's unique role in disease and it's potential for a role in personalized medicine.

The telomere syndromes | Nature Reviews Genetics

This article explains how the telomerase enzyme and gene components when mutated can manifest in variance in terms of disease as well as severity.

CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in the control of autoimmunity: in vivo veritas - PubMed (nih.gov)

This article examines how a single gene can (FoxP3) can affect the population of Treg cells of the immune system. This single gene defect is currently under investigation for gene therapy with CRISPR.

CRISPR/Cas9 for genome editing: progress, implications and challenges | Human Molecular Genetics | Oxford Academic (oup.com)

CRISPR is a revolutionary gene editing tool which is applied in gene therapy applications. This article examines specific challenges this application faces.

History of gene therapy - ScienceDirect

This article examines the evolution of gene therapy through it's timeline in history.

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