The Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors has announced the departure of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alison Dantes, which became effective on July 19, 2012. Alison has accepted an offer for a CEO position with another federal professional association in the healthcare sector. The OAND notes that Alison made a tremendous contribution to this association and the profession over the past six years and states that she will surely be missed. Alison successfully led the OAND through many impressive accomplishments and in years to come, these new directions led by Alison will be viewed as a turning point for naturopathic doctors in Ontario. The Board and staff of the OAND wishes Alison all the very best. With a strong OAND staff team and an interim operational leadership structure in place reporting directly to the Board, the Board is now actively engaged with an executive recruitment firm and ensures OAND members that the right competency and capabilities are brought back into the CEO position for the next phase of growth and advancement.

The Wait Time Alliance (WTA) warns that the absence of a concerted national effort toreducewaittimesisunderminingprogressonaddressingthetimelagsendured by Canadians needing medical care. The 2012 WTA report card, entitled “Shedding Light on Canadians’ Total Wait for Care,” gives Canadians a picture of how long they have to wait to access a broad range of medical procedures and services. In a reversal from past years, the 2012 Report Card shows a decline in performance for patients receiving care in the five areas identified as priorities by federal, provincial, and territorial governments under the 2004 Health Accord. Most efforts to date in Canada have been directed at improving the wait between the specialist consultation and the start of treatment but many Canadians are also waiting to see their family physician, obtain medical tests, and be seen by a specialist.

Nordic Naturals®, the leading manufacturer of omega-3 supplements, has introduced Algae OmegaTM, a vegetarian alternative to marine omega-3s. Made from sustainably sourced microalgae and available in both soft gels and liquid, the product offers an algae- based source of beneficial marine omega-3 essential fatty acids without the use of fish. “In order to support our mission of correcting the global omega-3 deficiency, we are committed to bringing innovative new products to market in order to meet the individual needs of our customers,” said Joar Opheim, founder and CEO of Nordic Naturals. “We formulated Algae Omega with vegetarians in mind, and for anyone wanting a readily available, high-quality source of EPA and DHA from a non-fish source.” While algae oil is typically rich in DHA, Algae OmegaTM is uniquely formulated to contain significant amounts of EPA as well. The product delivers 500 mg of combined EPA and DHA, offeringcompletenutritionalsupportfornormalvision,hearthealth,positivemood, immunity, and the body’s natural anti-inflammatory response.

Researchers at the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) have developed a new and easy-to-manufacture treatment for Ebola infection. Up to 90% of infections result in death within days of exposure. Given that no approved Ebola vaccine prevents infection, there is an urgent need for a treatment to improve survival rates after exposure. This new treatment can be effective when administered up to 48 hours after infection. “Our researchers have seenfirsthandtheterribleeffectsoftheEbolavirusonpopulationsinAfrica,”said Dr. Frank Plummer, Chief Science Officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada. “This discovery should pave the way for the development of a new drug that has the potential to save many lives.”

Researchers at Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University have identified a novel way that the common adenovirus causes disease; this discovery has provided important information on one of the body’s key immune responses and may have implications for infectious diseases and cancer. One key component of antiviral immunity is interferon but adenovirus is completely resistant to interferon and the mechanism relies on changes in epigenetic regulation. The researchers have discoveredthatinterferon-regulatedgenesrequireaspecificepigeneticmodification calledmonoubiquitinationofhistone2B(H2B)towork.Adenovirusessentiallyblocks the formation of the complex that performs the monubiquitination of H2B, thereby blockingitsfunction.Theresearchersbelievethatmanyofthetricksadenovirususes may be similar to those used by other viruses and cancer cells.

For years researchers and scientists have concluded that bed bugs could not transfer dangerous pathogens, but recently published reports have determined that bed bugs have the ability to transfer live staphylococcus aureus (staph). One recent report describes a Tennessee man’s luxurious getaway to a premium rental cabin, which turned into a trip to the emergency room after he received multiple bed bug bites causing a severe bacterial staph infection. Fortunately, the man fully recovered from the infection approximately two weeks later. Magical Pest Control offers a method for eliminating bed bugs through their ThermaPureHeat treatment, which is eco-friendly and pesticide-free. This treatment method penetrates deep into a structure’s cracks and crevices to kill bed bugs and their eggs where they are hiding.

Gamma-Dynacare Medical Laboratories now offers two advanced screening tests for colorectal cancer. Gamma- Dynacare’s fecal immunochemical test (FIT) is a non-invasive test that checks for occult blood in stool using advanced immunochemical technology. Polyps or tumors in the colon have blood vessels on their surface that can release a small amount of blood into the stool. FIT helps identify benign polyps early before they become cancerous. With this technology, FIT has a higher sensitivity than the traditional fecal occult blood test, has no dietary or medicinal restrictions, and requires only one stool sample. Gamma- Dynacare’s other colorectal screening test, Septin9, detects the presence of methylated Septin9 DNA in blood, which has been strongly correlated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. The test is very convenient since it is performed on a blood sample and has no dietary or medicinal restrictions. For more information on these tests, visit www.gamma-dynacare.com.

The Ontario Tumour Bank (OTB), a province-wide biorepository and data bank led by the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research (OICR), has banked samples from more than 10,000 donors, which is an important milestone for the OTB. Samples collected by the OTB help cancer researchers to analyze cancer at the genetic and molecular level and they are essential to help map the genomic changes present in many forms of cancer. This will help to build the next generation of diagnostic tools and treatments for cancer, including more personalized medicine. For more information, please visit www.ontariotumourbank.ca.

Gout Study has exceeded 50,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook, making it the largest worldwide online gout community. Through this Facebook community, people from around the world are coming together to converse with others about living with this painful condition. Established in March 2011, Gout Study provides news, health, and wellness information, as well as information about clinical research opportunities. Gout Study statistics show how well-received and helpful the various tips and resources are to the community but it is the direct feedback from the community that drives the cause. To learn more about the Gout Study community, “like” the page at www.Facebook.com/GoutStudy.

A recent study revealed that Influenza vaccine coverage among children aged 6 to 23 months in Ontario is low, despite a universal vaccination program and high primary care visit rates. By using hospital records, all infants born alive in Ontario hospitals from April 2002 through March 2008 were identified. Immunization status was ascertained by linkage to physician billing data and children were categorized as fully, partially, or not immunized depending on the number and timing of vaccines administered. Influenza immunization was low for the first influenza season of the study period (1% fully immunized during the 2002-2003 season), increased for the following three seasons (7% to 9%), but then declined (4% to 6% fully immunized during the 2006-2007 to 2008-2009 seasons). Maternal influenza immunization, having a pediatrician as the primary care practitioner, high visit rates, and better continuity of care were all significantly associated with full immunization. The authors concluded that interventions to improve coverage should target both physicians and families. Pediatrics. 2012 Jun;129(6):e1421-30. PMID: 22585770