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This thesis explored how young sibling carers living in Ontario, Canada make sense of their caregiving experiences. Data was obtained from an interview-style podcast titled, Hidden: The Voices of Young Carers, published by The Change Foundation. A total of seven podcasts were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Eight themes were identified. Results suggest that young carers experience a sense of obligation and responsibility to fulfill this role among the other roles they hold in their lives. A feeling of normalcy due to the age at which participants began taking on this role was evident across podcast interview responses. While young sibling carers described an enhanced level of resourcefulness resulting from their role when compared to their peers, they also noted the unique challenges that emanate from being a young sibling caregiver. Limitations and implications of the analysis are discussed. Future directions for research are also explored.

Supplemental material, supplemental_materials for Changes in sleep predict changes in depressive symptoms in depressed subjects receiving vortioxetine: An open-label clinical trial by Bing Cao, Caroline Park, Joshua D. Rosenblat, Yan Chen, Michelle Iacobucci, Mehala Subramaniapillai, Rodrigo B. Mansur, Hannah Zuckerman, Yena Lee and Roger S. McIntyre in Journal of Psychopharmacology

Umbilical cord blood (UCB) stem cells from related and unrelated allogeneic donors have emerged as novel treatment for patients with hematologic malignancies. The incidence and severity of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after UCB transplantation compares favorably with that observed in recipients of matched unrelated donor allogeneic grafts, but remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality. It has been shown that stimulated lymphocytes from UCB have reduced production of cytokines including interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-), which play a role in GVHD pathophysiology. We investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying this reduced cytokine production by analyzing expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells-1 (NFAT1) in UCB T cells. We detected no constitutive expression of NFAT1 protein in unstimulated UCB T cells compared with adult T cells. Moreover, although NFAT1 expression in UCB T cells was upregulated after prolonged (40 hours) T-cell stimulation, it was only partially upregulated when compared with adult controls. Our observation of minimal NFAT1 expression after stimulation correlated with reduced cytoplasmic IFN-γ and TNF- production in UCB T cells studied simultaneously. Reduced NFAT1 expression may blunt amplification of donor UCB T-cell alloresponsiveness against recipient antigens, thereby potentially limiting GVHD incidence and severity after allogeneic UCB transplantation.