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Science & Technology

Rare Disease Day at McGill is a rare celebration

by Stephanie Deng on

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Held on the last day of February every year, Rare Disease Day recognizes the impact of over 6,000 rare diseases worldwide. Started in 2008, its advocates celebrate Rare Diseases Day in over 90 countries by raising awareness among health practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and the general public.

Diseases or disorders are considered rare if they affect fewer than one in 2,000 individuals in Europe or fewer than 200,000 individuals at a given time in the USA. One of the challenges healthcare professionals face when diagnosing rare diseases is the fact that different diseases can display similar symptoms. Healthcare professionals start by treating the disease the patient is most likely to have, but that can lead to misdiagnosis and a delay in treatment. As such, Rare Disease Day serves as an intersection between health and social care and promotes the common goal of developing new diagnostic procedures.

“Rare diseases are not spoken about that much in [the McGill Medicine] curriculum,” Cyril Boulila, second-year medical student and cofounder of the rare disease interest group rareDIG, said. “I think it’s a shame because [we need to take the rare disease community] into consideration [….] I have a rare disease. I have severe hemophilia and it really saddened me that we didn’t talk about it during our circulation block in medicine, so it really pushed me even more to being a patient advocate as well as a medical student who has a voice for [the rare disease community].”

In recognition of Rare Disease Day, rareDIG McGill hosted a gathering for rare disease patients as well as those advocating for and treating them. Guest speakers included individuals with uniquely different perspectives and experiences in the realm of rare diseases. Among them were Ian Stedman, a rare disease patient and advocate, and Nada Jabado, a professor in McGill’s Department of Pediatrics and a pediatric hemato-oncologist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

“There’s just this massive gap that [rare disease patients] fall into and then they just fall out of the system,” Stedman said.

Diagnosed at age 32 with Muckle-Wells Syndrome, Stedman described his first-hand experience with the difficulties of obtaining a diagnosis. He critiqued the healthcare system for failing to integrate patient data between provinces, which would make it easier to identify rare diseases. Focusing on the importance of data in rare disease diagnostics, Stedman highlighted the promise for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to be used for online healthcare, as both have the ability to aid scientists in identifying diseases and tracking trends in hospital reports. Large data sets can then be cross-referenced with individual patient symptoms, showcasing the promising role of AI in the future of personal medicine.  

Jabado, known for her work on pediatric brain tumours, presented a physician’s point of view. Her research concentrates on epigenomes—the chemical compounds that turn genes on and off—and led to the discovery of a mutation that is associated with brain development and tumour growth. Her talk illustrated targeted therapies for patients as well as the considerable financial challenges involved.

“It’s true that, oftentimes, we are taught about the most common diseases and we get very little teaching about rare illnesses,” Amanda Try, third-year medical student, said. “I like how [rareDIG is] trying to reach [out to the] community and [recognize how rare disease patients’] experiences can be affected by the way we treat them.”

Science & Technology

Real phones have curves

by Margaret Wdowiak on

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Imagine never having to worry about small pockets again, instead you can just fold your phone over and over until it is a quarter of its original size. New technological advances and insights into graphene could make that future a reality.

Recently, tech giant Samsung unveiled its new foldable phone, the Samsung Galaxy Fold. It features two modes: A folded phone mode with a 4.6-inch screen and an unfolded mode where the device is laid out into a larger 7.3-inch tablet screen. This innovative design will cost consumers $1,980 USD ($2,607 CAD). Meanwhile, the Chinese tech leviathan Huawei, following Samsung’s lead, recently unveiled the Huawei Mate X, which features a 6.6-inch screen on the front as well as a 6.38-inch screen on the back; when unfolded, the two screens form an eight-inch tablet display. This phone has an even more exorbitant price of $2,600 USD ($3,469 CAD).

These new devices have many advantages; most significantly, their flexibility enables customers to double their screen size on a whim and makes the phones less prone to breaking because they are able to bend. The fact that these cellphones double as tablets also increases multitasking and productivity. Unfortunately, there are also many potential limitations associated with this new generation of cellphones.

“Longevity and reliability are among the biggest challenges: how many times can a phone be folded before it begins to fail?” Thomas Szkopek, a professor in McGill’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “It is a difficult engineering challenge to create a reliable device.”

As a standard rule, first generation devices and foldable devices are particularly unreliable because they incorporate new, untested software and hardware. Manufacturing is another issue with these products, as mass productions of bendable phones requires new supply chains and manufacturing techniques.

However, if these associated challenges can be overcome, bendable screens have the potential to transform the entire tech industry. A whole new breed of products will be available thanks to this flexible technology, like foldable TVs.

Another new innovation with the same revolutionary potential as bendable phones are graphene phones. Discovered in 2004, graphene is a carbon material constructed by laying out graphite, the same compound used in pencils, into sheets with a thickness of one atom.

Graphene has several advantages over any metal currently used in the phone industry: It conducts electricity better than copper, it is stronger than steel, and it is incredibly elastic. Graphene touch screens printed on plastic could replace screens made of indium tin oxide, making cell phones extremely thin and foldable. Graphene could also make the lithium-ion batteries currently in use longer-lasting, faster-charging, and more bendable. Furthermore, graphene could serve to create cheaper and more sensitive photo sensors.

Unfortunately, despite the incredible potential of the material, graphene also has several important defects, such as susceptibility to oxidative environments. Also, it exhibits some toxic qualities and its electrical conductivity cannot be switched off.

Nonetheless, various fields continue to conduct a great amount of research on this versatile material.

“This invention is now being applied in headphones and mobile electronics’ micro speakers [since] they are more energy efficient and give improved acoustic fidelity,” Szkopek wrote. “Beyond providing us with better acoustics, graphene could also deliver us faster internet, smaller as well as faster transistors, new types of solar panels, and even thinner and stronger condoms.”

Both foldable and graphene phones, despite their great potential, remain relatively untested technologies with an uncertain market base.

Student Life

Five most anxiety-inducing places on campus

by Grace Bahler on

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Although being a student at McGill is already horrifying enough, there are a few places on campus that really exacerbate the feeling of impending doom. For students seeking a thrill after university life has left them emotionally numb, here are some of the scariest spots on campus.

The doorway to the stairs from Redpath to Première Moisson

Not only is this stairwell perpetually grimy, but it is also leads to Première Moisson. There is no way to know who is lurking behind this door or if they are carrying a full cup of hot coffee sans lid. The architect who designed this trap probably did so on purpose.

The stairs between Trottier and Rutherford at Prince Arthur and University

They seem like the proper way to ascend to campus from afar, but, up close, these stairs are a death trap. Not only are they deceivingly short and uneven, as if they came straight from a 2003 video game, but students don’t even get the dignity of falling down these stairs—they fall during their ascent, and that may be the scariest part.

The door to the women’s locker room in the McGill gym  

Swinging doors might be cute in kitchens, but less so when they cause two sweaty people to collide and someone’s nose starts bleeding. Props to McGill for putting a small window in the doors, though, so students at least know when they are about to get whacked.

The basement of the Arts building

First, there’s a Subway—terrifying. Second, there are occasionally amateur improv comedians performing down there—petrifying. Beyond those chilling sights, there are tunnels that go entirely unoccupied and unseen. That screams of a horror movie in the making.  Finally, the ceilings are so inexplicably low that McGill must have constructed them as part of some sort of social experiment determined to uncover what it takes for students to cave into claustrophobia.

The doors in between the Arts building and Dawson Hall  

There is no rational reason to construct such a big, thick piece of wood with absolutely no way of knowing who’s behind it. Political science majors burst through these doors and out of Arts advising appointments like the ‘school is out’ scene in every high school movie.

Hockey, Sports

How the NHL playoff system fails its top teams

by Owen Gibbs on

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Temperatures are rising, and the snow is finally melting, which means two things: Spring is coming, and it is time for the NHL playoffs. Starting in mid-April, the hockey world will direct its attention to North American ice for the next month and a half as 16 teams vie for the Stanley Cup. As always, and perhaps this year more than ever, much of the NHL fan base will complain about how the champion earns its crown.

The NHL playoff structure has been a point of contention for years. The league introduced the current format in 2014 following an over-complicated divisional realignment. Under the current system, the top three teams in each of the NHL’s four divisions make the playoffs along with two wild card teams per division, which are awarded to the two next-best teams in the conference. The top team in each division plays one of its conference’s wildcards while each division’s second and third-seeded teams face each other in the opening round. Barring an upset by one of the wildcards, the top team in each division plays the winner of the two-versus-three series in the second round.

As it stands, the flaw with this system is that it does not account for the strength of the teams within each conference in any given season. As a result, matchups between top teams can take place earlier than they reasonably should, sending strong contenders home before less-deserving teams. The object of a championship should be for the two best teams in a league to meet in the final battle of the season and prove that the winner, alone, constitutes the best team. If one of the top teams is eliminated before the final round because of the current playoff format, the championship series does not truly feature the NHL’s best teams.

The flaw in the playoff format was evident as recently as last year, when the top two teams in the NHL, the Nashville Predators and the Winnipeg Jets, met in the second round. After the Jets won a lopsided two-versus-three matchup against the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg defeated division rival Nashville in a highly entertaining seven-game series. However, they lost to the expansion franchise Vegas Golden Knights in the Conference Finals due, in part, to exhaustion from the second round. Both the Predators and the Jets were knocked out before the Stanley Cup Final even took place. As of Mar. 15, three of the league’s top six teams are in a position to be eliminated by the end of the second round due to their divisional placement.

Out of fear of history repeating itself, fans, journalists, and players alike have called louder than ever this year to change the format. The most sensible option would be to return to the previous one-versus-eight system. In this scenario, the top team from each conference plays the eighth seed, the second-best plays the seventh, and so on. After each round, the teams matched up anew in their conference based on the same top-versus-bottom principle. Gradually, teams were eliminated until only the best in each conference remained. The NHL used this system with great success from 1993 until 2014, and they would be wise to bring it back.

Unfortunately, the league remains unfazed by widespread calls for change. The NHL introduced the current system to force divisional rivals to face each other early on, year after year. This setup increases the tension among teams and among their fan bases as well, supposedly translating into more profits from ticket sales and television ratings. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly echoed this vision when asked about the absence of the playoff structure from the General Managers’ Meeting agenda.

“The current system has done what it was intended to do,” Daly told TSN’s Frank Seravalli. “[It has] emphasized and featured rivalries in early round matchups, and that has generated interest and better ratings.”

There is no sign that anything will change in the short term. However, if the NHL decides otherwise, a better system that has already received widespread support is available.

grade inflation
Editorial, Opinion

Unfair admissions practices go beyond Hollywood scandals

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Every spring, prospective McGill students begin to receive their offers of admission. These students will have among the highest grades of their graduating class: The mean grade 12 academic average for an accepted non-Quebec Canadian student was 93.7 per cent in fall 2017. However, McGill’s extremely competitive admissions cutoffs make the university susceptible to certain problems: For example, grade inflation is pervasive, particularly in private schools accessible only to the upper class. McGill must ensure that its admissions process does not give the children of affluent families an unfair advantage.

Grade inflation, by its nature, worsens over time: Schools that market their students’ sky-high post-secondary acceptance rates have to boost their students’ grades each year to keep up with competitors. Some students even go outside of their regular high-schools in search of a better GPA, opting to ‘buy grades’ by taking more difficult classes at ‘credit mills’ outside of their schools. In 2011, a Toronto Star investigation found that the Toronto Collegiate Institute, one such credit mill, was giving its students final grades that were mathematically impossible given their test results. These courses provide an unfair advantage to students who can afford to access these outside classes: A representative from TCI told the Tribune a in phone call that they charge $450 for a grade 12 biology course.

The admissions process for the University of Waterloo’s (UoW) Faculty of Engineering provides a template for how McGill and other universities can address this problem. Beginning in the 1990s, the UoW faculty began to measure grade inflation across Ontario high schools and adjust for it in their admissions process. After determining the difference between students’ grade 12 and first-year university marks, UoW determined the overall average for each school: If students from a particular high school have significantly lower grades when they arrive at university, Waterloo infers that their high school was padding their grades. Future applicants’ marks are adjusted accordingly during the admissions process. McGill should follow UoW’s lead and launch their own internal investigation on grade inflation statistics.

Still, Canadian admissions processes are fairer than their American counterparts: For example, admissions essays and extracurricular activities, common considerations in the US, are typically reserved for the most competitive programs in Canada. Including these non-academic factors stacks the deck in favour of students whose families have the means to support these often expensive pursuits. Legacy admissions, a concept relatively unseen in Canada, still gives US students an advantage if their family are alumni. Furthermore, the consideration of non-merit-based factors in university admissions has historically been used to bar entry to students from particular ethnic backgrounds: McGill maintained an unofficial cap on the number of Jewish students it would admit until after World War II, and Harvard University is currently being sued for allegedly discriminating against Asian-Americans in its admissions practices.

McGill’s grades-only approach offers a more level playing field. For most undergraduate students, the only non-academic factor included in applications is an optional letter in which applicants can explain why their transcripts may not accurately reflect their potential. Exceptions at McGill are the Faculty of Education, whose prospective students are required to submit a letter of intent, and the Faculty of Music, which also requires an audition and music reference letter. However, this relatively equitable system is also more vulnerable to the effects of grade inflation: McGill’s mean acceptance average has climbed by approximately 0.45 per cent every year since 2006 with the exception of 2013. 

Wealth will always provide advantages within a university and beyond. However, universities have a responsibility to minimize any unfair advantages. An equitable environment for students is not just an intrinsic good; fostering a meritocratic system, where any student’s talent can flourish, enhances McGill’s academic climate. McGill must take steps to address the threat that grade inflation poses to equity—for its applicants’ benefit and its own.

McGill, Montreal, News

Students worldwide march for climate justice

by Laura Oprescu on

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Over 150,000 protesters, including university, CEGEP, and primary school students, joined the Montreal march for climate justice on March 15. The march, organized by the student movement La planète s’invite à l’Université, was one of more than 2,000 of its kind in 125 countries. Around 1,500 McGill students attended the McGill Walkout for Climate Justice demonstration held in front of the Arts Building, later joining a coalition of delegations from other universities and CEGEPs for the main demonstration at Jeanne-Mance Park.

The McGill Walkout’s organizers made three demands of McGill University: That it publicly acknowledge that fossil fuel companies cause grave injurious impacts on humans and the natural environment, that it immediately divest from fossil fuel companies, and that it urge the federal and provincial governments to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which states that Indigenous peoples have the right to conserve and protect the environment. Further, the organizers called on the provincial and federal governments to implement an emergency climate action plan.

Jacqueline Lee-Tam, U1 Environment and Economics and one of the organizers of the McGill walkout, sees no excuse for McGill to postpone divestment.

“[Divestment] is a first step, and it is not radical,” Lee-Tam said. “Entire cities, states, and countries have divested. It is more than possible, and higher returns are being seen in fossil-free investments.”

Lee-Tam believes that declaring a climate emergency is the only way to prevent further irreversible climate destruction and that youth voices are essential to bringing about policy change at the international level.

“What would be radical would be to be complacent on this issue, to not act,” Lee-Tam said. “It’s our future, that’s the whole point of the youth [movement]. We’re taking the power back to have a say in what our future will look like.”

Alex Allard-Gray, member of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation and outreach administrator for the Indigenous Health Professional Program at McGill, explained that students need to collectively mobilize to amplify their voices.

“Students are very future-minded,” Allard-Gray said. “They’re not only learning about [climate change], but they’re experiencing a lot of these changes first-hand. A lot of us are not in decision-making roles, and it feels out of our hands. That can feel like a very hopeless environment, but, by coming together in these large groups and showing solidarity for [wanting] to change how we are [treating] the environment, it makes our voices heard.”

Allard-Gray pointed out that Indigenous communities often shoulder the most serious consequences of climate destruction.

“There have been constant promises of things to come, and it feels like lip service,” Allard-Gray said. “When [Trudeau’s government is] working with Indigenous peoples, we want to feel included. We want to feel as if we have a say when it comes to what is being done in our territories [….] Governments are going to have to start respecting Indigenous access to land. Consultation should not be a chore.”

Mostafa Henaway, a community worker at the Immigrant Workers’ Centre, explained that climate change disproportionately harms the global south, driving mass displacement and migration.

“This is the natural outcome of a system where profit exceeds everything else,” Henaway said. “[Of a system where] where profit exceeds our democracy, our humanity, Indigenous peoples’ rights […] to self-determine, the right for people to have decent and living jobs, […and] for people to not be displaced on their lands. It’s a crisis for all of us, but we’re going to make it a crisis for them.”

Many elementary and high school students were present at the Montreal March. Zoe Desharbes, a student at Villa-Maria elementary school, explained that it is important for children to make their voices heard because climate change will impact their futures the most.

“We’re here today because [the] climate is changing [and] the planet is dying,” Desharbes said. “It was really nice to see how many people came today. It’s a shame that they didn’t cancel school so that we could all come out.”

Montreal, News

Protesters riot during annual anti-police brutality demonstration

by Helen Wu on

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Protestors took to the streets in downtown Montreal on March 15 for the 23rd annual anti-police brutality demonstration. The event was initially peaceful, beginning in the evening with a gathering at Norman Bethune Square. Food Against Fascists provided meals to the crowd and community members took turns delivering speeches highlighting the history of police brutality continuing in Montreal.

Jeremy Thomas, Welding and Fitting student at Laurier Macdonald Vocational Centre, described how intense police surveillance has affected his career. Although he does not believe his situation will change, he came out in support of his fellow residents.

“The police have actually completely destroyed my life,” Thomas said. “I started in Calgary. I was involved with gangs and crime, [and] when that was going on, I had lots of run-ins with the police and justice system. The police became very emotionally attached to me due to the fact that they can’t get me through the justice system. They got me fired from my jobs and constantly bombarded my house with drones, airplanes [and] helicopters.”

From May 2016 to April 2017, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) launched a pilot project to evaluate the feasibility of deploying body cameras. 78 patrol members wore the cameras during the project, but the decision to deploy them was rejected by Montreal’s public security committee due to their cost and ineffectiveness. Member of Mouvement Action Justice Robin Edgar claimed that the police’s abusive power extends beyond physical brutality and includes misconduct like false arrests and repression of speech. Edgar believes that body cameras promote better behaviour by police and suggested that officers of the SPVM begin to employ them.

“I think the SPVM has too much influence over politics,” Edgar said. “They have too much power making excuses like, ‘it’s too expensive.’ I do a lot of videoing of police myself and they behave better when they know they are being filmed.”

Event organizer and member of the Industrial Workers of the World Tessa Mascia denounced the SPVM for the shooting of Nicholas Gibbs, an unarmed 23-year-old father from Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood, in August 2018. Mascia went on to provide more vivid accusations of how he believes the SPVM have abused their power.

“We have the displeasure today of being surrounded by Montreal’s supposed finest, the SPVM,” Masica said. “Whereas as firefighters have a specific mandate to save people, the state agents of the SPVM do nothing but further tax the already burdened working class with more state fines. They’re the goons of the condo developers when they push out homeless people, and their hands are dirty with the neocolonial genocide of natives in precarious social conditions here on the island [of Montreal] itself.”

Mascia believes that police brutality is a serious problem in Montreal, rife with both physical violence and discriminatory behaviours. She claims that the SPVM targets marginalized groups to reach their ticket quota and she does not believe that policing has any place in today’s society.  

“We need to make policing obsolete, not just by talking about this [issue], but by gathering together and building those better communities [and] those better services,” Mascia said. “There’s absolutely nothing [the police] can do to better train or protect its citizens. The only [solution] is if we as a people dismantle the institution of policing.”

Immediately after the speeches, the group of a few hundred protestors stormed north. They marched down Sherbrooke, setting off fireworks, throwing flares, and chanting ‘No justice, no peace, f*ck the police.” Some individuals began to smash the windows of stores and parked cars, uttering threats and breaking out into fights. The demonstration quickly began to resemble a riot and police were on standby in riot gear.

As a smoke bomb was set off, the SPVM ordered the protestors to disperse due to illegal behaviour that was ‘endangering safety and public order.’ The SPVM has reported on Twitter that two arrests were made for mischief and uttering threats.

 

A previous version of this article originally stated that the demonstration was hosted by the organization It’s Going Down. In fact, It’s Going Down only publicized the event. The Tribune regrets this error.

Creative

An interview with Leslie Copeland

by Tristan Surman & Beatrice Dimaculangan & Elli Slavitch on

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Leslie Copeland has been First-Year Coordinator at Campus Life and Engagement for more than 20 years. She has seen her role, the school, and the world change around her – but the one thing that has kept her inspired all of these years: the generosity and kindness of McGill’s students.

Video by Beatrice Dimaculangan, Elli Slavitch, and Tristan Surman

Creative

Word on the Y | Where is McGill in the rankings?

by Sofia Mikton & Aidan Martin & Thyaga Dahayanake on

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The McGill Tribune went to the Y to ask students where they thought McGill fell on the 2018 QS university rankings. Has McGill gone up or down in the rankings? Stick around to find out!

Video by Sofia Mikton, Aidan Martin, Thyaga Dahanayake.

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