REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a disorder where a person "acts out their dreams" while sleeping. RBD is often associated with developing diseases like Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. Normally, the only way to diagnose RBD is with an overnight sleep study in a sleep lab. This is expensive and often not easily available, leaving many people with RBD undiagnosed. Actigraphy is a simple way of monitoring daily activity using a device similar to a watch. We want to see if actigraphy can diagnose RBD with similar accuracy to an overnight study in a sleep lab. We also will see how actigraphy is related to general markers of neurologic health measured using clinical and memory tests.

Parents of children with congenital heart disease are invited to participate in discussions with the researchers. The researchers will provide some 3D models of different heart conditions for participants and will ask questions to help understand how 3d models are perceived, and if they feel models are helpful to understand a diagnosis.The parents will be able interact with the models and ask questions about them during the focus group. The researchers will use what they have learned to create a survey for other doctors to assess their knowledge and attitudes towards using 3D models to help educate their patients about congenital heart disease.

Porphyrias are a group of rare disorders caused by dysfunction in heme synthesis. This dysfunction causes a build-up of molecules called porphyrins or their precursors leading to serious consequences. The rarity of porphyrias means patient perspectives are lacking. Our investigation seeks to remedy this by having porphyria patients fill out questionnaires. Genetic testing will also be conducted to identify risk factors in porphyria incidence/severity. To supplement, we will be drawing on data from the International Porphyria Network (IPNet) to corroborate our findings. Our findings combined with IPNet data will lead to more comprehensive porphyria treatment/management plans and uncover risk factors in porphyria incidence/severity.

We are studying the effect of a mind-body treatment for people with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) after COVID-19 infection. We will compare to people who got ME/CFS another way. ME/CFS affects things like the nervous system, immune system, and metabolism. We think central sensitization might make the symptoms worse. Central sensitization is when nerves get too excited. Our team is studying a treatment to improve things like quality of life, fatigue, pain, and brain function. We will also study some outcomes related to body chemistry. Our team recognizes that ME/CFS and Long COVID are serious, debilitating, biomedical conditions.

Atogepant has been approved to treat episodic migraine in adults by Health Canada but has not been studied or approved in children. The purpose of this study is to see if atogepant is effective and safe for the treatment of episodic migraine in children. This research study plans to include 450 participants with episodic migraine. Participants will receive one of 3 treatments: low dose atogepant, high dose atogepant, or placebo. The study medication is given as a pill that is taken daily. Participants and the study doctor will not know whether they are receiving atogepant or placebo. Participants will track their headaches in an eDiary. There will be 7 visits in total and these will include questionnaires, bloodwork, and ECG.

Patients with severe respiratory failure who are placed on ECMO (extracorporeal life support) will be followed to determine survival and neurologic outcome at one year later, and whether these outcomes are different from a matched group of children not placed on ECMO.

Small gaps in the intestinal wall ("tight junctions") allow water and nutrients to pass through, while blocking the passage of harmful substances. When these gaps become loose, the gut becomes permeable ("leaky gut"). This may allow bacteria or toxins to pass into the bloodstream leading to inflammation. We do not know yet what triggers Crohn’s disease; however we know that environmental factors (as diet) may change the gut microbes (“dysbiosis”) and when combined with “leaky gut” this can initiate chronic inflammation in susceptible people. During this study we will assess if prebiotics (dietary fibers like oligofructose-enriched inulin) and “Low n-6 PUFA diet” can effectively reduce "leaky gut" and thus lower the risk for Crohn’s.

This trial will test whether adding in tovinontrine (a medication) to standard of care medications for heart failure will reduce the chances of being hospitalized for heart failure or dying from heart disease.

Strategies and treatments to decrease the risks faced by older people with frailty having surgery are urgently needed but have not been widely developed or studied. The strongest findings suggest that exercise before surgery may improve older people’s ability to walk and stand after surgery and lower rates of complications. We propose to study a home-based exercise program compared to usual care. Using a randomized trial design performed across fourteen different hospitals, we will evaluate whether participating in this home-based exercise program, which we already know can be performed by older people with frailty, leads to lower levels of patient-reported disability and complication rates after surgery.

ALS is a disabling, rapidly progressive, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that is heterogeneous meaning that each person’s disease is different. Not only is this variability in symptoms poorly understood, but it can make diagnosis and treatment difficult. The Comprehensive Analysis Platform To Understand, Remedy and Eliminate ALS (CAPTURE ALS) is a national platform that will collect, store, analyze and disseminate large amounts of data (e.g. clinical and MRI data) and biosamples from patients with ALS and healthy controls. These data and biosamples will be securely shared with researchers across the world to help understand the causes of ALS, the variability that exists between patients and help identify new treatments.