 The world’s first bedside genetic test is drawing international attention to two Ottawa Heart Institute physicians and will likely save lives.
In an online advance report yesterday, the prominent medical journal The Lancet published a study by co-authors Drs. Derek So and Jason Roberts, showing that a simple cheek swab can quickly determine how a patient will react to medication after surgery to open their clogged arteries with a stent.
“We’re excited about it, just in terms of what it means for what medicine will look like in the future,” said Dr. Roberts from the Heart Institute’s University of Ottawa lab.
“We’re on the cusp of personalized medicine. Right now, during treatment we give the same drugs to everyone, but that’s not necessarily going to work for each patient.”
Every year, the Ottawa Heart Institute alone treats 500 emergency heart attacks with cardiac stents and many more patients with chest pain from exertion, said Dr. Roberts.
To maintain the stent, these patients take a standard drug treatment called Plavix. However, thousands of people with a genetic variation have reactions that lead to another heart attack or death.
Developed in partnership with Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience over seven months, the cheek swab test returns results within minutes rather than the weeks required for most genetic tests, said Roberts.
“Spartan simplified the procedure and made it useful in a clinical setting,” he said. “We recognized the need for this kind of technology and they had the technical expertise to develop it.”
Roberts says he has been buoyed by the response from medical professionals and is enthusiastic that The Lancet ran an editorial alongside the study.
“There are a variety of diseases where there are genetic markers that influence risk and response to treatment,” Roberts said. “We’re in the very early stages of what this technology means for tailoring medical treatment for each patient.”
 The world’s first bedside genetic test is drawing international attention to two Ottawa Heart Institute physicians and will likely save lives.
In an online advance report yesterday, the prominent medical journal The Lancet published a study by co-authors Drs. Derek So and Jason Roberts, showing that a simple cheek swab can quickly determine how a patient will react to medication after surgery to open their clogged arteries with a stent.
“We’re excited about it, just in terms of what it means for what medicine will look like in the future,” said Dr. Roberts from the Heart Institute’s University of Ottawa lab.
“We’re on the cusp of personalized medicine. Right now, during treatment we give the same drugs to everyone, but that’s not necessarily going to work for each patient.”
Every year, the Ottawa Heart Institute alone treats 500 emergency heart attacks with cardiac stents and many more patients with chest pain from exertion, said Dr. Roberts.
To maintain the stent, these patients take a standard drug treatment called Plavix. However, thousands of people with a genetic variation have reactions that lead to another heart attack or death.
Developed in partnership with Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience over seven months, the cheek swab test returns results within minutes rather than the weeks required for most genetic tests, said Roberts.
“Spartan simplified the procedure and made it useful in a clinical setting,” he said. “We recognized the need for this kind of technology and they had the technical expertise to develop it.”
Roberts says he has been buoyed by the response from medical professionals and is enthusiastic that The Lancet ran an editorial alongside the study.
“There are a variety of diseases where there are genetic markers that influence risk and response to treatment,” Roberts said. “We’re in the very early stages of what this technology means for tailoring medical treatment for each patient.”
When the Harper government revealed its budget Thursday, many observers in this government town wondered how many bureaucrats would be sacked. The answer: 19,200.
“It’s not as many cuts as we expected, which is a good thing,” said Mayor Jim Watson, “but obviously thousands of jobs lost have an impact not only on the individuals and their families, but also a ripple effect on the local economy.”
Watson estimates 5,000 to 6,000 jobs will be lost here, but NDP MP Paul Dewar expects the capital will absorb the majority of the Conservatives’ cuts.
“They ran on strengthening the economy, creating jobs, and instead what they’re doing is they’re cutting jobs when it comes to this region,” he said. “So I’m calling on (John) Baird and the other (area) Conservative MPs to stand up for our region, stand up for our local economy.”
Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre preferred to concentrate on the bigger picture.
“The only way for us to provide job security to public servants is to ensure that the cost of the bureaucracy is affordable,” he said.
Invest Ottawa CEO Bruce Lazenby believes the actual number of cuts may be smaller.
“My experience has been that those numbers often don’t play out, and so my suspicion is three years from now we won’t see that net decrease,” he said.
Larry Rousseau of the Public Service Alliance of Canada had the opposite suspicion, worrying more local job losses might be lurking in the budget’s fine print.
“I think that Mr. Flaherty’s putting a nice face on it. It’s like when they tell you they’re going to hit you with a baseball bat 10 times and then they only hit you five times,” he said.
“I’m going to just wait and see if the other five hits are not somewhere buried in the budget itself.”
 The Ottawa police major crime unit is investigating a suspicious death after a body was discovered Thursday outside the Asia Garden restaurant on Dynes Road.
A witness said the man may have been shot in the chest, but police at the scene wouldn’t confirm any details.
A call came in at 4:42 p.m. and police responded to the intersection of Prince of Wales Drive and Dynes Road. Police tape cordoned off a large perimeter around the Chinese restaurant and the adjacent Petro Canada.
At around 6 p.m. the police’s direct-action response team entered an adjacent apartment at 900 Dynes Road.
Pamela Yates lives across from the gas station and said she could see a man lying on the ground, motionless.
“Within seconds the ambulance arrived,” said Yates.
She saw the ambulance take the man’s body away shortly after. Police started interviewing people at the scene, she said.
Yates said she has never seen anything suspicious in the area.
“It’s a very quiet neighbourhood,” she said. “People greet each other in the morning.”
Speaking at the scene Thursday night, police Sgt. Art Wong did not release any further details of the ongoing investigation.
 When 100 rooms at the Chateau Laurier go up for grabs at $19.12 a night next week, the hotel is asking those looking to nab a spot not to camp out in front of the Ottawa landmark.
“We’re asking that no one set up tents,” said hotel spokeswoman Deneen Perrin.
“It’s supposed to be fun. We’re hoping people will be respectful and take it in the vein it was meant to be.”
On April 5, rooms will go to the first 100 people in line. So far, Perrin said the response to the offer has been incredible.
“One person called from outside the city and asked if their mother could stand in line for them.”
Perrin said her team thought up the idea for the low rate when looking for a way to tie the hotel’s connection to the sinking of the Titanic to celebrations of the hotel’s centennial this spring.
“We wanted to commemorate Charles Melville, the hotel’s founder, who was on the Titanic when it sank,” said Perrin.
When the ship went down, Melville was enroute to the opening of the Chateau, which was pushed back to June 1, 1912, following the disaster.
To commemorate the fateful voyage, the hotel’s restaurant will also offer dishes from the ship’s menu, such as Oyster à la Russe and beef tenderloin, starting April 5.
“The original menu was 11 courses, so we’ve done an adaptation of that,” said Perrin.
Until November, the hotel’s executive chef, Daniel Buss, is digging into the restaurant’s archives and featuring dishes from different eras.
“Our hotel memorabilia search is also going well,” said Perrin, who put out a call of people to return items taken from the hotel over the years in February.
“We’ve been getting some great items back. We had someone whisk by and dropped off a door handle with the ‘CL’ emblem on it.”
On June 1, Perrin said the hotel is offering tours by guides in period costume and will be lending out iPads to guests loaded with an interactive self-guided tour of the hotel’s history.
 Perseverance and determination finally paid off for Fleurette Tharat Thursday after the city handed her a limousine licence.
The early-childhood educator was beset with legal hurdles after she started a taxi service for kids in January. She would charge parents $20 to $40 per ride to drive kids from one location to another.
Following a bylaw complaint, Tharat suspended her service because the city said she wasn’t complying with taxi rules.
In March, she applied for a limo licence as a workaround. She also had to fulfil other limousine requirements such as tinting her windows.
The city inspected her vehicle Thursday, and moments later she was handed a limousine licence. Her business is now called Fleurette Kids Transpo.
“It feels so great,” Tharat said on Thursday. “It wasn’t easy, it was so hard and I’m glad everything worked.”
Tharat had to rebrand her website, business cards and promotional materials. She also had to change her business name with the bank, which she said cost her a lot of money.
Her business also took a hit after it was suspended for several weeks, but she said she will resume her service as early as Friday.
“I’m just glad I can do what I want to do,” she said.
 The opposition called it a work of fiction, but the governing NDP called it The Future Starts Here.
Lt.-Gov. Mayann Francis delivered her last throne speech to open the fourth session of the 61st general assembly on Thursday.
Employment and economic growth is booming in Nova Scotia, she said.
“Nova Scotia is heading into an era of what promises to be great prosperity,” she said.
Most of the speech revolved around upcoming plans and strategies like the Welcome Home to Nova Scotia, the province’s new immigration strategy, and the Cape Breton Strategic Framework Advancement project.
The province will establish a special operating agency to involve tourism operators and experts to create a long-term tourism strategy. There will also be strategies on improving mental-health and addictions care, fisheries and a mineral incentive program providing financial assistance to prospectors.
In terms of legislation, Status of the Artist legislation will be introduced this spring session to “reflect the importance of art and culture to Nova Scotians.” There’s also a new cleaner-energy framework and a Fish Harvesters Registration and Certification Act on the way.
At best lacking and at worst “fiction,” Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil and Tory Leader Jamie Baillie were not at all impressed with this direction of government.
“Nova Scotians will be disappointed from what they heard today,” McNeil said. “There’s nothing in this throne speech that addresses rising power costs in the province of Nova Scotia. Nothing in this helps Nova Scotians with the rising cost of gasoline.”
Baillie said the promises within the speech are misleading.
“To tell all Nova Scotians they’re putting more money back in their pockets when they’ve taken out $743 from each of us in extra HST is a work of fiction.”
 All the stars coming to town for the Juno Awards may get more attention, but the arrival of four musicians from Venezuela might be just as big an event for some local music students.
The Simon Bolivar String Quartet has toured all over the world, but they started out as students in a free music-education program for Venezuelan children known as El Sistema, which inspired similar programs globally, including Ottawa’s own OrKidstra.
“The program basically provides singing opportunities and free music lessons and free instruments and the opportunity to sing or play in an ensemble,” explained Craig MacDonald of the Leading Note Foundation, which runs OrKidstra with the help of charitable donations.
Many students, he added, can’t afford private lessons.
Kids from OrKidstra are scheduled to perform with the Simon Bolivar String Quartet at several of their appearances this weekend. They got their first chance to jam Thursday at Carleton University, where El Sistema’s founder, José Antonio Abreu, was granted an honorary degree.
“It’s amazing how they take in their stride, you know,” MacDonald said.
 When the Harper government revealed its budget Thursday, many observers in this government town wondered how many bureaucrats would be sacked.
The answer: 19,200.
“It’s not as many cuts as we expected, which is a good thing,” said Mayor Jim Watson, “but obviously thousands of jobs lost have an impact not only on the individuals and their families, but also a ripple effect on the local economy.”
Watson estimates 5,000 to 6,000 jobs will be lost here, but NDP MP Paul Dewar expects the capital will absorb the majority of the Conservatives’ cuts.
“They ran on strengthening the economy, creating jobs, and instead what they’re doing is they’re cutting jobs when it comes to this region,” he said. “So I’m calling on (John) Baird and the other (area) Conservative MPs to stand up for our region, stand up for our local economy.”
Nepean-Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre preferred to concentrate on the bigger picture.
“The only way for us to provide job security to public servants is to ensure that the cost of the bureaucracy is affordable,” he said.
Invest Ottawa CEO Bruce Lazenby believes the actual number of cuts may be smaller.
“My experience has been that those numbers often don’t play out, and so my suspicion is three years from now we won’t see that net decrease,” he said.
Larry Rousseau of the Public Service Alliance of Canada had the opposite suspicion, worrying more local job losses might be lurking in the budget’s fine print.
“I think that Mr. Flaherty’s putting a nice face on it. It’s like when they tell you they’re going to hit you with a baseball bat 10 times and then they only hit you five times,” he said.
“I’m going to just wait and see if the other five hits are not somewhere buried in the budget itself.”
 After trying to conceive a baby for more than five years, Natasha and Ryan Derouchie of Ottawa never thought a radio contest would have helped them make their dream come true.
But it did, and they couldn't be happier.
The Hot 89.9 radio station announced on the air Thursday morning that the finalist couple in the controversial -- and award-winning -- Win A Baby contest is expecting a child.
The Derouchies and four other couples won up to three fertility treatments valued at $35,000 in October. Natasha only ended up using one in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment before doctors told her she was pregnant.
“I just started shaking when I got the phone call,” said Natasha.
They were at Ryan’s parents house at the time and as soon as he heard Natasha repeat “oh my God” on the phone, Ryan hugged her and then “powerslid” across the floor towards his family with a triumphant fist in the air.
“None of us were expecting a phone call that early,” said Ryan.
Natasha is just now getting used to the typical exhaustion and nausea that comes with pregnancy.
“There are still days that it feels surreal,” she said.
“It’s hard to accept something so positive when you’ve gone through struggling for so long.”
They said they heard from critics who said if they couldn’t conceive naturally, then it’s God’s way of saying they don’t deserve a baby.
“You can’t make everybody happy,” said Ryan. “For five years we tried and tried and got tested as far as our will or hope, and in the end, we could also say that the contest and the way it came was meant to be.
“Maybe that was the plan for us.”
Natasha said the contest has opened up a discussion on fertility treatments and OHIP coverage. She has been blogging about the fertility experience since the beginning.
She is about eight weeks pregnant and is her due date is Nov. 10.
“We knew what we were getting into, we knew what this was going to be and we got the greatest gift we could ever get, so I don’t know how anybody could think that’s bad.”
 Joana Alhegagi’s research on Ottawa traffic lights has green-lighted her way to this year’s Canada-Wide Science Fair in Charlottetown.
“I’m actually really excited to go because I haven’t been anywhere in that part of Canada,” said Alhegagi, a Grade 8 student at Henry Munro Middle School.
She was among some 250 area students who displayed their projects at Carleton University Saturday for the 51st annual Ottawa Regional Science Fair, and one of 11 finalists selected to progress to the national event in May.
“It was a lot of fun because I liked talking to the judges,” she said. “They were really nice and they gave you a lot of pointers and they seemed really interested in my project.”
For that project, Alhegagi did a study of local traffic lights.
“I was testing to see if the amount of time that we have for yellow traffic lights is enough for drivers to make safe decisions,” she said.
In the intersections she studied the yellow light typically lasted 3.6 seconds, and according to physics formulas she used that’s not enough time to safely decide whether to brake or go ahead.
She recommends extending yellow lights by another couple of seconds.
Updated 119 minutes ago.
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