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Household food insecurity (HFI), stress, isolation, and discrimination are major determinants of health that disproportionately affect 2SLGBTQ + people. The COVID-19 pandemic potentially exacerbated these inequities. This study investigates HFI rates among 2SLGBTQ + adults living in diverse household conditions during the pandemic and explores the idea that heteronormative conceptions of the "household" may affect measurement of HFI. Cross-sectional survey responses were collected from 437 self-identified 2SLGBTQ + people from Toronto, Canada between March and July 2021. The survey measured HFI, sexual/gender identities, socio-demographic factors, household composition, and psycho-social stress/distress. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess variation in odds of marginal, moderate, and severe HFI in relation to sexual/gender identities, household composition, psycho-social distress, and socio-demographic covariates. Forty-two percent of respondents reported some level of HFI, with severe HFI higher among respondents who were bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, and/or assigned-female-at-birth. Living alone was associated with decreased odds of reporting marginal HFI but increased odds of moderate or severe HFI compared to living with a partner, family, or roommates; living with children was associated with decreased odds of both marginal and severe HFI. One indicator of psycho-social distress (perceived discrimination) was associated with higher odds of all levels of HFI, while the other (isolation) was associated with decreased odds of marginal HFI. These findings highlight the high prevalence of HFI linked with discrimination among 2SLGBTQ + individuals during the pandemic. The complicated results regarding household composition and social isolation may suggest a need to revise definitions of the household when measuring, monitoring, and seeking to mitigate HFI in 2SLGBTQ + communities. • 2SLGBTQ+ in Toronto face higher risk of food insecurity. • Transgender and bisexuals particularly affected. • Discrimination linked to increased food insecurity. • Structural inequities impact 2SLGBTQ + health access. • Impact evident during and outside pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volcanic rocks erupted within glacial environments offer powerful paleoenvironmental insights. These glaciovolcanoes and their deposits serve as proxies that inform on the paleo-presence, distribution and thickness of past glaciers. We investigate the paleoenvironmental implications of three Mid to Late Pleistocene volcanic deposits in the Garibaldi volcanic belt of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. We use these data to inform a simple geometric model that constrains paleo-glacier distributions in the southern Canadian Cordillera. The three volcanoes are used to recover: i) a coalesced mountain ice sheet in late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4, and possibly into MIS 3 (up to ∼49.1 ± 5.5 ka), ii) major and rapid degradation of glaciers during the late, MIS 6 to 5e transition (by 141 ± 12.9 ka), and, iii) a coalesced mountain ice sheet, or continental ice sheet that existed during MIS 15 (598 ± 7.5 ka). • Glaciovolcanoes inform on the distribution of terrestrial paleo-glaciers in space and time. • Paleo-glacier distributions for southwestern British Columbia, Canada are modelled geometrically. • Three glaciovolcanoes constrain paleo-glacier distributions at 49, 141 and 598 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A detailed study of apatite and biotite compositions in multiple intrusive phases from five composite plutons in the northern Canadian Cordillera was undertaken with the aim of determining the composition of magmatic fluids relative to F:Cl:OH for several plutons―both barren and mineralizing―and for specific intrusive phases from each pluton that may be related to nearby tungsten skarns. Magmatic apatite and biotite compositions are consistent with a crustal source of magma, either derived from predominantly supracrustal rocks, and (or) derived from predominantly infracrustal rocks and fractionated to felsic compositions. Increasing MnO (±FeO and XF:XCl) with decreasing CaO in apatite broadly correlates with an increasing degree of magmatic differentiation, although Fe# vs. total aluminum in biotite is a better indicator of inter- and intra-plutonic differentiation. Anomalously iron-rich biotites occur in highly fractionated and (or) wallrock-contaminated phases of plutons associated with tungsten skarns. Estimates of magmatic fluid composition―calculated as the activity ratios log[a HCl / a HF] and log[a HOH / a HF] from apatite and biotite compositions―show several trends with respect to magmatic differentiation. Two barren plutons demonstrate that fluids in silicic magmas become HF enriched relative to HCl with increasing differentiation, although re-equilibration with late-stage sub-solidus or hydrothermal fluids may obscure this trend. The three intrusions with associated tungsten skarn mineralization, including the world-class Cantung deposit, also become HF-enriched with magmatic evolution. However, magmatic apatite and biotite in individual intrusive phases that are the most closely associated with mineralization have equilibrated with compositionally distinct fluids. In these particular intrusive phases, apatite appears to have equilibrated with an earlier HCl- and H2O-rich magmatic fluid, and biotite appears to have equilibrated with a later HCl- and (a particularly) H2O-rich magmatic fluid. The fluid in these magmas apparently evolved to a H2O-rich (or less saline) composition as the temperature of the magma decreased. None of the other intrusive phases, from either the barren or tungsten-associated plutons, have apatite and biotite activity ratios that are suggestive of equilibration with such an HCl/HF- and H2O/HF-rich fluid. Instead, the activity ratios calculated from apatite and biotite in intrusive phases that are not as closely associated with mineralization are well-coupled and unremarkable (although small variations are common), which would suggest that both minerals equilibrated with similar fluids. These intrusive phases do not appear to have produced a large quantity of saline hydrous fluid capable of seggregating and transporting tungsten. The identification of intrusive phases that did produce magmatic fluids that were anomalously enriched in HCl and H2O could, therefore, be a predictor of nearby tungsten skarn mineralization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: In response to its domestic methamphetamine problems and an emerging international consensus that methamphetamine precursor and essential chemicals should be controlled, Canada regulated its import/export of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine (precursor chemicals) in January 2003, its domestic distribution of those chemicals in July 2003, and its import/export and manufacturing of essential chemicals (e.g., toluene) in January 2004. This study examines the regulations’ impact on the problem of methamphetamine-related hospital admissions in Canada. Methods: ARIMA-based intervention time-series analysis was used to assess impacts on monthly counts of Canada''s methamphetamine-related acute-care hospital admissions (04/1996 to 03/2005). Cocaine-, heroin/opioid-, and alcohol-related hospital admissions were examined as quasi-control time-series. Results: No impact was found for the January 2003 regulation. The July 2003 and January 2004 regulations were associated with 20% and 21% increases, respectively, in methamphetamine-related admissions. No impacts on the quasi-control time-series were found. Conclusions: This study indicates that Canada''s regulations were not associated with reductions in methamphetamine-related hospital admissions. The January 2003 regulation''s focus on imports/exports rather than domestic distribution may help explain its lack of impact. In contrast, the two other regulations had salient domestic foci – domestic precursor sales (July 2003) and domestic essential chemical manufacturing (January 2004). Both regulations, however, were associated with increases in admissions, rather than declines. Government reports indicate that a shift in methamphetamine production, from smaller-scale operators to more sophisticated crime organizations (groups better able to circumvent the regulations), occurred around the times of the regulations. Such a shift could increase supply and possibly admissions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Social factors like race and insurance affect transplant outcomes. However, little is known in pediatric heart transplantation. We hypothesized that race and insurance coverage impact listing and waitlist outcomes across eras. Data from the Pediatric Heart Transplant Society multi-center registry prospectively collected between January 1, 2000-December 31, 2019 were analyzed. Patients were divided by race as Black, White and other and by insurance coverage at listing (US governmental, US private and non-US single payer systems (UK, Canada). Clinical condition at listing and waitlist outcomes were compared across races and insurance coverages. Categorical variables were compared using a chi-square test and continuous variables using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Risk factors for waitlist mortality were examined using multiphase parametric hazard modeling. A sensitivity analysis using parametric hazard explored the interaction between race and insurance. At listing, compared to Whites (n = 5391) and others (n = 1167), Black patients (n = 1428) were older, more likely on US governmental insurance and had cardiomyopathy as the predominant diagnosis (p < 0.0001). Black patients were more likely to be higher status at listing, in hospital, on inotropes or a ventricular assist device (p < 0.0001). Black patients had significantly shorter time on the waitlist compared to other races (p < 0.0001) but had higher waitlist mortality (p = 0.0091), driven by the earlier era (2000-2009) (p = 0.0005), most prominently within the US private insurance cohort (p = 0.015). Outcomes were not different in other insurance cohorts or in the recent era (2010-2019). Black children are older and sicker at the time of listing, deteriorate more often and face a higher wait list mortality, despite a shorter waitlist period and favorable clinical factors, with improvement in the recent era associated with the recent US healthcare reforms. The social construct of race appears to disadvantage Black children by limiting referral, consideration or access to pediatric cardiac transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1.27 Ga Mackenzie dyke swarm, the largest on Earth, radiates from a point in the western Canadian Arctic and extends across much of the Canadian Shield. Possible western extensions of the swarm are largely obscured by younger sedimentary cover. Paleoproterozoic inliers in northern Yukon host the Bear River dykes (BRD), herein dated by U–Pb baddeleyite and zircon methods at 1268.5 ± 1.5 Ma and 1264.6 ± 1.2 Ma. The BRD share similar geochemical and Nd-isotopic characteristics with the Mackenzie dykes and the coeval Coppermine River basalts, and are regarded as products of the same plume. Hydrothermal activity at ∼1270 Ma in breccia of the Nor mineral occurrence, northwest of the BRD, was probably generated by BRD at depth. The BRD generally strike northwest, approximately 90° to the orientation predicted by the radiating dyke model. This difference may be explained by an anomalous local stress field at the time of BRD emplacement, or reorientation of BRD during subsequent events of Cordilleran deformation. Using the Nor mineral occurrence as the westernmost locale of Mackenzie dyking, and assuming a model of uniform dyke radiation, the arc of the Mackenzie swarm is at least 50° greater than previously recognized, bringing the total arc of dyke radiation to >150°. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]