By: Wishva Kosgoda

Unfortunately, there does not exist a cure for diabetes today. A healthy diet and exercise are a couple of ways that have been studied and are known to help maintain healthy blood glucose levels in the body to a certain extent. Use of any medication for a prolonged period could cause stress on the organs of the human body due to side effects or systemic action. For this reason, some patients with diabetes may opt to try some natural food supplements to help better control their blood sugar levels and reduce resistance to insulin. Currently, there is limited scientific evidence to show that these supplements have any impact on the blood glucose levels in the body.

By: Andrea Kucek, Katie Klein, Tuaha Liaquat, Aliza Hussain and Justina Wong

3rd place, Youreka Canada National Competition

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) occurs when arterial pressure is 25 mmHg or higher at rest and is a rare pediatric condition with only 63.7 cases per 1 million children. Due to this small number, pediatric research for this disease faces many barriers. These challenges may lead to pediatric underrepresentation in clinical trials. In this study, we aimed to quantify pediatric underrepresentation in PH clinical trials by comparing the characteristics between pediatric and adult studies.

By: Ritchie Yu

Tinnitus is the perception of sounds, including ringing, chirping, among others, in the absence of a physical source inside or outside the body. Gap-prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex (GPIAS) is the screening method investigated here. However, GPIAS is controversial because whether weaker suppression is caused by tinnitus or hearing loss is unclear. This investigation emulated the covering effect with no-gap startle responses and aimed to clarify this confusion.

By: Elsa George, Faraneh Moayyed, Monica Figueroa, Will Taylor and Kieran Maheden

1st place, Youreka Canada National Competition

Influenza is a viral, highly transmittable respiratory pathogen that creates annual health and economic burdens. Flu vaccines are updated bi-annually due to drifting of the genes encoding influenza surface proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Current influenza vaccines target two fluA subtypes (H1N1 and H3N2) and two fluB lineages. The large genetic diversity of H3N2 means vaccines targeted at one genetic clade may have little effect on other H3N2 clades. Using the Francis Crick Institute’s Influenza Reports, we normalized the proportion of circulating H3N2 clades and compared them to other flu seasons through a two-tailed Fisher’s Exact Test.

By: Sona Regonda, Linda Nguyen, Fadilah Khan and Sekne Amine

2nd place, Youreka Canada National Competition

A company’s efforts to be ethical help their reputation as well as the environment and people. It may also influence consumers to buy products from companies that are socially responsible over others because they know a portion of the company’s profits will go towards helping the community. This study aims to understand and identify a possible correlation between the spending on CSR and annual revenue of a company.