Mount Sinai Hospital and St. Michael's Hospital
Genetics workshops:
11-4pm, open to all ages
D.I.Y. DNA
- learn all about DNA
- extract DNA from a banana
- make DNA models out of licorice and marshmallows
Genetics arcade
- test your knowledge in genetics
- take genetics quizzes
- 'pick' worms under the microscope
Solving the perfect crime
- forensics demonstrations
- learn how to determine blood type
- purify DNA and run samples in a gel
Science's next top model
- view GFP worms and fish under the microscope
- view mutant fruit flies
Body works
- learn all about your bones
- view bones from different animals
- learn about how bones break and joint replacement
- learn how your brain works
- learn about reflexes and how your brain and eyes communicate
Tours of the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute:
11-4pm, open to all ages
Lecture by Dr. Gillian Booth
12:00pm, 18th Floor, Mount Sinai
The diabetes epidemic: Impact and solutions from a population perspective
As in other areas of the world, the past two decades have seen a substantial rise in the prevalence of obesity in Canada. One in two Canadian adults is now overweight, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Canadian children has nearly quadrupled since the 1980s. Obesity is one of the most important risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes. Indeed, the current obesity epidemic has led to a parallel rise in rates of diabetes. In Ontario alone, the prevalence of diabetes rose 69 percent over the past decade. This rate of growth already exceeds the 23 percent rise in diabetes prevalence that the World Health Organization predicted would occur in Canada between 1995 and 2025.
North Americans are consuming more calories today than they were two decades ago. Increasing portion sizes and the intake of high-calorie convenience foods have been associated with weight gain and the development of type 2 diabetes. The trend towards a more sedentary lifestyle is another key factor that has contributed to the obesity epidemic. Much of this shift has been due to reductions in work-related activity and increasing time spent on sedentary activities, such as sitting at a computer or driving a car.
Reasons for these current trends are multifaceted and complex; however changes in social norms and in the physical environment in which we live have both contributed to a rapid rise in the prevalence of obesity. This presentation will review: 1) the role of urban environments in the obesity epidemic and 2) findings from a recently published research atlas on this topic, entitled "Neighbourhood environments and resources for healthy living: A focus on diabetes in Toronto" created by the Centre for Research on Inner City Health at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
Gillian Booth is a Scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of
St. Michael's Hospital, an Adjunct Scientist at the Institute for
Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and an Assistant Professor in the
Departments of Medicine and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at
the University of Toronto. Dr. Booth holds an Ontario Women*s Health
Council/Canadian Institutes of Health Research new investigator award
and a Banting and Best Diabetes Centre Reuben & Helene Dennis Scholar
Award. Dr. Boot'*s current research focuses on the relationship
between urban environments and the risk of diabetes; and she is a
co-editor and lead author of a recently published ICES research atlas on
this topic.