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Friday, April 30, 2021

Holographic histopathology enables fast, precise diagnostics - EurekAlert

IMAGE

IMAGE: Schematic of the imaging of pathological tissue 3D structure by combining optical diffraction tomography and automated stitching. Image credit: Hugonnet et al., doi 10.1117/1.AP.3.2.026004 view more 

Credit: Hugonnet et al.

Histology is the study of biological tissues at a microscopic level. Also called microscopic anatomy, histology is widely used to provide diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. For example, tissue samples obtained during surgery might help to determine whether further surgical action is needed, and further surgery may be avoided if a diagnosis can be rapidly obtained during an operation.

Traditional methods in histopathology are generally limited to thin specimens and require chemical processing of the tissue to provide sufficiently high contrast for imaging, which slows the process. A recent advance in histopathology eliminates the need for chemical staining and enables high-resolution imaging of thick tissue sections. As reported in Advanced Photonics, an international research team recently demonstrated a 3D label-free quantitative phase imaging technique that uses optical diffraction tomography to obtain volumetric imaging information. Automated stitching simplifies the image acquisition and analysis.

Optical diffraction tomography

Optical diffraction tomography is a microscopy technique for reconstructing the refractive index of a tissue sample from its scattered field images obtained with various illumination angles. It enables label-free high contrast visualization of transparent samples. The complex scattered field transmitted through the sample is first retrieved using off-axis holography, then the scattered fields obtained with various angle of illuminations are mapped in the Fourier space enabling the reconstruction of the sample refractive index.

A recognized limitation of optical diffraction tomography is due to the complex distribution of refractive indexes, which results in significant optical aberration in the imaging of thick tissue. To overcome this limitation, the team used digital refocusing and automated stitching, enabling volumetric imaging of 100-m-thick tissues over a lateral field of view of 2 mm 1.75 mm while maintaining a high resolution of 170 nm 170 nm 1400 nm. They demonstrated that simultaneous visualization of subcellular and mesoscopic structures in different tissues is enabled by high resolution combined with a wide field of view.

Fast, accurate histopathology

The researchers demonstrated the capacity of their novel method by imaging a variety of different cancer pathologies: pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, intraepithelial neoplasia, and intraductal papillary neoplasm of bile duct. They imaged millimeter-scale, unstained, 100-μm-thick tissues at a subcellular 3D resolution, which enabled the visualization of individual cells and multicellular tissue architectures, comparable to images obtained with traditional chemically processed tissues. According to YongKuen Park, researcher at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and senior author on the study, "The images obtained with the proposed method enabled clear visualization of different morphological features in the various tissues allowing for recognition and diagnosis of precursor lesions and pathologies."

Volumetric histopathology of unlabeled 100-μm-thick pancreas tissue sample from a patient with intraductal papillary neoplasm of bile duct in the liver. For the purpose of comparison, adjacent tissues were prepared in thin tissue slides with conventional H&E staining method. (the fifth row, 400x magnification). Image credit: Hugonnet et al., doi 10.1117/1.AP.3.2.026004.

Park notes that further research is needed, but the results suggest great potential for fast, accurate histopathology during surgery: "More research is needed on sample preparation, reconstruction speed, and mitigation of multiple scattering. We expect optical diffraction tomography to provide faster and more precise diagnostics in histopathology and intraoperative pathology consultations."

Read the open access article by Herve Hugonnet et al., "Multiscale label-free volumetric holographic histopathology of thick-tissue slides with subcellular resolution," Adv. Photon. 3(2), 026004 (2021), doi 10.1117/1.AP.3.2.026004

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Holographic histopathology enables fast, precise diagnostics - EurekAlert
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Tee Times Go Fast As Temperature Rises - Discoverestevan.com - DiscoverEstevan.com

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Tee Times Go Fast As Temperature Rises - Discoverestevan.com  DiscoverEstevan.com
Tee Times Go Fast As Temperature Rises - Discoverestevan.com - DiscoverEstevan.com
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U.S. fast-food chains cash in, seize market share during pandemic - Reuters

People walk by Taco Bell's first digital-only U.S. cantina location at Times Square in New York City, U.S., April 14, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

McDonald's Corp, Taco Bell, Chipotle and other fast-food chains stand to gain yet more market share from sit-down restaurants as consumers stick with the mobile ordering habits they picked up during the pandemic.

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) said on Thursday its first-quarter U.S. comparable sales soared 13.6% and that it had 40 million active app users in its six largest markets – half of them in the United States – as it seeks to attract even more customers through a loyalty program it expects to launch nationally this year.

Taco Bell and KFC parent Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N) plans to use tech acquisitions in the last quarter to drive both ordering via social media platforms and marketing with artificial intelligence. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (CMG.N) said last week that it still anticipates opening 200 new restaurants this year, 70% of which will have digital drive-thru lanes.

For the 12 months ending in March, fast-food chains dominated the restaurant market – taking in 70.2% of dollars spent eating out and 82.9% of all restaurant traffic, according to data from The NPD Group that has not previously been made public.

Drive-thrus, new crispy chicken sandwiches and "family meal" deals helped draw customers that other restaurants lost. During the year ending in March, Americans spent nearly $281.6 billion on fast food – which gained the 7.1% of market share by dollars that full-service restaurants shed, the NPD data show.

Fast food "is going to be the bright spot in the restaurant space for a long time to come," NPD analyst David Portalatin said, noting that fast food was gaining market share even before the pandemic.

To be sure, Bloomin' Brands Inc, which said Thursday that it plans to expand 750 sit-down Outback Steakhouse locations to 1,000, grew its digital ordering 147% over last year.

But many independent restaurants could not ramp up digital operations as quickly. The National Restaurant Association estimates that 110,000 restaurants closed permanently in 2020.

At many fast food outlets, seating areas remain shuttered.

"With 90%-plus of our business being through the drive-thru, if we can sustain that and return our dining rooms and takeaway to the levels that they were pre-pandemic, we've set ourselves up for a very good run here," said Joe Erlinger, head of McDonald's U.S. operations, on a call with analysts Thursday.

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U.S. fast-food chains cash in, seize market share during pandemic - Reuters
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COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for April 30, 2021 - CTV Edmonton

OTTAWA -- style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Good morning. Here is the latest news on COVID-19 and its impact on Ottawa.

Fast Facts:

  • Ontario anticipates all adults over 18 will be eligible to book a vaccine appointment by the end of May
  • Ottawa recorded 118 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the fewest since early April
  • Ottawa released 80,000 new vaccine appointments with the anticipated supply ramp-up.
  • Ontario officially approved a new paid sick leave program, which the opposition slammed as inadequate

COVID-19 by the numbers in Ottawa (Ottawa Public Health data):

  • New COVID-19 cases: 118 cases on Thursday
  • Total COVID-19 cases: 23,982
  • COVID-19 cases per 100,000 (previous seven days): 131
  • Positivity rate in Ottawa: 9.9 per cent (April 21 to April 27)
  • Reproduction Number: 0.84 (seven day average)

Testing:

Who should get a test?

Ottawa Public Health says you can get a COVID-19 test at an assessment centre, care clinic, or community testing site if any of the following apply to you:

  • You are showing COVID-19 symptoms;
  • You have been exposed to a confirmed case of the virus, as informed by Ottawa Public Health or exposure notification through the COVID Alert app;
  • You are a resident or work in a setting that has a COVID-19 outbreak, as identified and informed by Ottawa Public Health;
  • You are a resident, a worker or a visitor to long-term care, retirement homes, homeless shelters or other congregate settings (for example: group homes, community supported living, disability-specific communities or congregate settings, short-term rehab, hospices and other shelters);
  • You are a person who identifies as First Nations, Inuit or Métis;
  • You are a person travelling to work in a remote First Nations, Inuit or Métis community;
  • You received a preliminary positive result through rapid testing;
  • You require testing 72 hours before a scheduled (non-urgent or emergent) surgery (as recommended by your health care provider);
  • You are a patient and/or their 1 accompanying escort tra­velling out of country for medical treatment;
  • You are an international student that has passed their 14-day quarantine period;
  • You are a farm worker;
  • You are an educator who cannot access pharmacy-testing; or
  • You are in a targeted testing group as outlined in guidance from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Ottawa:

There are several sites for COVID-19 testing in Ottawa. To book an appointment, visit https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/shared-content/assessment-centres.aspx

  • The Brewer Ottawa Hospital/CHEO Assessment Centre: Open Monday to Sunday, 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
  • COVID-19 Drive-Thru Assessment Centre at 300 Coventry Road: Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
  • The Moodie Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Open Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (testing only)
  • The Heron Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • The Ray Friel Care and Testing Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (testing only)
  • COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Howard Darwin Centennial Arena: Open daily 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
  • Southwest Ottawa COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Richmond Memorial Community Centre: Open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Centretown Community Health Centre: Open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Sandy Hill Community Health Centre: Open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 pm.
  • Somerset West Community Health Centre: Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Wednesday

Vaccine eligibility screening tool:

To check and see if you are eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Ottawa, click here

COVID-19 screening tool:

The COVID-19 screening tool for students heading back to in-person classes can be found here.

Symptoms:

Classic Symptoms: fever, new or worsening cough, shortness of breath

Other symptoms: sore throat, difficulty swallowing, new loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, pneumonia, new or unexplained runny nose or nasal congestion

Less common symptoms: unexplained fatigue, muscle aches, headache, delirium, chills, red/inflamed eyes

The Ontario government will be allowing anyone aged 55 and over to get a COVID-19 vaccine through the provincial portal starting Friday and hopes to start booking vaccine appointments for all adults over the age of 18 by the end of May.

As of 8 a.m. on April 30, individuals aged 55 and up will be able to book a vaccination appointment at a mass immunization clinic.

The province says they expect to see an increase in vaccine supply, which will allow them to ramp up the rollout and reduce the age threshold at mass immunization clinics on a weekly basis. Officials anticipate moving the age threshold to 50 during the week of May 3, followed by an age threshold of 40 on the week of May 10.

covid-19 vaccine

Ottawa Public Health reported some good news and some bad news in its daily release of new COVID-19 case data on Thursday.

The good news: the health unit is reporting 118 new cases of COVID-19 in Ottawa, the fewest since the beginning of April.

However, the city also hit a new high mark of critical care patients, with 35 Ottawa residents in intensive care units in local hospitals.

 

The city of Ottawa is preparing to ramp-up the COVID-19 vaccine rollout as Ontario anticipates all adults over 18 will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 by the end of May.

People 55 and older will be eligible to book appointments starting Friday morning at 8 a.m.

COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Ottawa

The Ontario legislature has officially approved new legislation that will give employees three days of paid emergency leave during COVID-19. 

The bill was tabled by Labour Minister Monte McNaughton this morning and quickly passed through the legislative process with the support of opposition politicians at Queen's Park.

The legislation will give employees three paid days of emergency leave, which McNaughton said could be claimed for a variety of reasons related to COVID-19, including signs of illness, to receive a test, to case for an ill child or to receive a vaccine. 

Monte

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COVID-19 in Ottawa: Fast Facts for April 30, 2021 - CTV Edmonton
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Life, fast-forwarded - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

I’ve always been proud of my ability to take notes in class. Weird flex, I know, but it took years of practice to be able to keep up with dense powerpoints and lectures all while discerning what I need to write down and have my handwriting remain — relatively — legible. So as lectures moved online and it became ever more difficult to pay attention, watching lectures at 2x speed became a new challenge to my note-taking prowess. I adapted surprisingly well and took to watching the majority of my lectures at faster-than-normal speed, content with my new “life hack.” Why wouldn’t I be? I was saving time and still receiving all the information necessary for my classes. 

However, when I began taking MDST 2000, “Introduction to Media Studies,” something felt off. Learning about the pitfalls of the digital age while listening to my professor talk at inhuman speeds seemed a little too ironic for my taste. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with speeding up lectures. If anything, it’s become the norm in the age of online classes. My roommate and I often joke that our professors sound as if they’re talking in slow motion during our in-person classes — she’s even taken to watching YouTube videos faster. My friends and I debate our preferred speeds for lectures — double speed is the usual, but if someone speaks particularly fast or if there’s a lot of content on the slides, we prefer 1.5x the usual speed. It’s incredibly rare that we stumble upon someone who watches their lectures at the intended speed. But as sped-up content becomes more widespread, I can’t help but wonder if the increased amount of control we now have over educational content has affected life outside of our laptops. 

In the class, we discussed media theorist Neil Postman’s talk, “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change.” Postman observes that all new technology involves a so-called “Faustian Bargain,” stating that “culture always pays a price for technology.” The idea that human attention spans are decreasing over time is largely contested — however, when I find myself scrolling past 15-second TikToks that I don’t have the patience to sit through, it’s difficult not to believe that all this time online is changing my brain at least a little bit. The involvement of COVID-19 further complicates this concept — can we really be bargaining with new technology if it’s been forced upon us by extraneous circumstances? The ambiguousness of the idea of choosing to use new technology is perhaps not limited to the pandemic. Having grown up during the transition between the television and digital ages, the majority of our generation had no choice but to immerse themselves in technology in order to keep up with our peers, our education and society as a whole.

But if we’ve spent our whole lives, especially the past 13 months, living in a semi-digital existence, what does this mean for our experiences in real life? If my experience — both in media studies and in the pandemic — has taught me anything, it’s that absence makes the heart grow fonder. One of our first big assignments in media studies was to spend a day without screens. Through this assignment, I was able to take a step back and realize that the majority of students don’t use their phones to escape real life but to engage with it. We pass our phones around the dining hall tables to laugh together, texting gives us the ability to hang out with only a moment’s notice and we take pictures to preserve memories. My professors have remarked that students engage exponentially more when we’re able to have classes in-person. The limitations on physical connections have made us even more eager to make the most of the time we spend together. 

So what does this have to do with sped-up lectures? Not much. When I began thinking about this concept for a column, I expected to come to the conclusion that online education was ruining our brains and that we had become the stereotypes “Wall-E” was warning us about. Despite the hours upon hours the world has spent on our laptops in Zoom meetings and watching lectures, we haven’t forgotten how to live our lives in physical spaces. Humans weren’t made to experience our lives through a screen, but while we had to do just that, we didn’t let it change us. Instead, we used technology to make our time together count. So, U.Va., keep on watching your professors at 2x speed. Because the less time we can spend online, the more time we have to spend together. 

Caitlyn Kelley is a Life Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at life@cavalierdaily.com.

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Life, fast-forwarded - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily
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Thursday, April 29, 2021

‘How tragic, how fast, how indiscriminate’: Healthy B.C. father, 46, dies of COVID-19 at home - Global News

Melissa Hance’s last memory of her husband is saying goodnight as she put him to bed on the family couch with a tray of medicine as he grappled with COVID-19.

“I look at him, and I say, ‘Do you have everything?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Do you need anything else?’ He said, ‘No.’ So I just said, ‘OK, goodnight,'” she said.

“That’s the only night that I didn’t say I love you. I said I love you every night prior to that. It’s the only night I didn’t say I love you because I thought I would have the very next day.”

Now the mother of two from Tsawwassen, B.C. is speaking out with a warning: it’s not just the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions at risk of death from COVID-19.

Click to play video: 'B.C. man dies from COVID-19 while self-isolating alone in bedroom' B.C. man dies from COVID-19 while self-isolating alone in bedroom
B.C. man dies from COVID-19 while self-isolating alone in bedroom – Apr 8, 2020

“Even though my husband had COVID (he was a) perfectly healthy 46-year-old, no underlying health conditions, non-smoker, worked out,” Melissa Hance told Global News.

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“This is how tragic, how fast, how indiscriminate this is.”

Hance and her eight- and 10-year-old sons all tested positive for COVID-19 at the end of spring break, after being notified they’d been exposed by a close contact.

She and the boys only developed mild symptoms, while her husband Reid initially tested negative. After developing a cough, he was tested again — this time coming back positive.

Read more: Rise in sudden COVID-19 deaths at home still a mystery, Ontario chief coroner says

It wasn’t long before Reid’s symptoms became more serious than those of his wife and children: he developed a fever and chills and was completely sapped of energy.

“About three days in they started getting worse, his cough was getting rougher, deeper, it took everything out of him and his whole body shook,” she said.

Click to play video: 'Health officials not confirming B.C. dentist died of COVID-19' Health officials not confirming B.C. dentist died of COVID-19
Health officials not confirming B.C. dentist died of COVID-19 – Mar 24, 2020

Reid wasn’t having serious trouble breathing or a tightening in his chest, she said, and didn’t feel like he needed to go to the hospital.

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But after he developed sinus congestion and the symptoms persisted, the couple booked him a doctor’s appointment and reached out to a public health nurse at 811.

The nurse suggested sleeping with a humidifier, but when she asked if he felt he needed medical help right away, he said no.

“Before we hung up, she says one more time, ‘So Reid, you’re OK?’ and he says ‘I don’t have tightening of the chest.’ Because that just seemed to be the recurring (symptom they asked about),” Hance said.

Read more: 13-year-old girl in Brampton dies after testing positive for COVID-19

That was the last night Hance saw her husband alive.

The next morning, April 14, Hance said her husband appeared to be peacefully asleep when she came downstairs.

“And I was like OK, I’m so happy, he got some rest, he slept through the night,” she said.

“I went over, just to say good morning and I put my hand on his arm, and he was cold.”

In disbelief that COVID-19 could take someone in her husband’s condition with little warning, Hance sought to have an autopsy but said she was rebuffed by health officials.

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She was eventually able to secure a post-mortem chest X-ray which confirmed Reid had died of complications of the virus.

“My husband did die of COVID,” she said.

“Due to COVID, he contracted, or it led to, him dying of bilateral pneumonia.”

Click to play video: 'Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee on presumptive case of COVID-19' Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee on presumptive case of COVID-19
Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee on presumptive case of COVID-19 – Mar 20, 2020

About 85 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in B.C. have been among people over the age of 70, according to data from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.

But age isn’t a universal predictor. The province marked its first death of a person in their 20s last week, while 14 people in their 30s and 19 people in their 40s have also lost their lives to the virus.

Ontario’s chief coroner recently raised concerns about an increase in COVID-19 patients dying at home, calling for more investigation of why patients who don’t seem seriously ill are taking sudden turns for the worse.

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Read more: Rise in sudden COVID-19 deaths at home still a mystery, Ontario chief coroner says

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Monday that over the first year of the pandemic, 38 people had died of COVID-19 at home.

She said it was an issue the BC Coroners Service was monitoring, but did not appear to be a growing concern.

“We have seen a spike in cases in the last few weeks,” she said.

“We have been working closely with the coroner’s office and we have not seen an increase in sudden, unexpected deaths related to covid or even to be investigated as possibly related to COVID in the last few weeks.”

Click to play video: 'Young British Columbians bear the brunt of rising COVID-19 case numbers' Young British Columbians bear the brunt of rising COVID-19 case numbers
Young British Columbians bear the brunt of rising COVID-19 case numbers – Mar 31, 2021

Despite that, Hance said that the province should be updating its list of COVID-19 symptoms, which she believes allowed her husband’s severe case to slip through the cracks.

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She also wants to see a full lockdown of B.C. to get the virus under control.

And she has a message to anyone who thinks they might catch COVID and be fine.

“COVID does not discriminate. It’s not just the elderly, the sick and the weak,” she said.

“So everybody out there, you think you’re invincible? You’re not.”

© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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‘How tragic, how fast, how indiscriminate’: Healthy B.C. father, 46, dies of COVID-19 at home - Global News
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De Grasse aims to carry over fast start to season in latest 100-metre race - CBC.ca

Andre De Grasse would be the first to say an explosive start in the 100 metres hasn't been his greatest strength in a successful sprint career, and hours spent poring over race footage during the pandemic showed as much.

But the Canadian was encouraged by his first 30 metres in a 9.99-second performance and second-place finish behind rival Justin Gatlin (9.98) in a potential Tokyo Olympic final preview at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational on April 17 in Gainesville, Fla.

"I usually don't open the season that fast. That's a sign things are going well in training," De Grasse told CBC Sports last weekend from nearby Jacksonville, where he lives. "I knew I was going against good competition and guys that get out of the blocks fast.

"That first 30, 40 metres I felt confident. When I got upright, I knew I had to work on my technique, stay upright, relaxed, pump the arms and lift my knees. I'm improving and feel like I'm ready for the season."

The 26-year-old has continued to work on his speed endurance and technique with coach Rana Reider ahead of his next race on Friday at 4 p.m. ET at the University of North Florida.

"I look at my [race] footage and I'm always a foot or two behind in the beginning of the race. If I can close the gap a little, it will help me work toward the finish to my race so I can be in contention to win.

"It's about repetitions. That's what's going to get me to the [medal] podium."

Coleman suspended through Olympics

De Grasse ran an "incredible" 100 final at the 2019 world championships in Doha, Qatar, according to 1996 Olympic 100 champion-turned CBC Sports analyst Donovan Bailey.

De Grasse ran a personal best 9.90 for a bronze medal, finishing behind Christian Coleman (9.76 PB) and fellow American Gatlin (9.89) in his fastest race since winning bronze in 9.91 at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where the 26-year-old became the first Canadian athlete to win Olympic medals in the 100, 200 (silver) and 4x100 relay (bronze).

WATCH | De Grasse earns bronze medal in 2019 world 100m final:

Christian Coleman of the United States wins 100m with personal best 9.76 seconds, Andre De Grasse finishes 3rd while fellow Canadian Aaron Brown places 8th. 8:37

"Andre is probably going to be [trailing] at the 30-metre mark [in his races]," Bailey said after the world 100 final, "but his strengths are maintaining his acceleration and relaxing at the end of the race, and that's what he did today."

World 200 champion Noah Lyles, who placed fourth on that April day in Gainesville, is also expected to be a threat to De Grasse on the track this season but not Coleman — the world's fastest man in 2017, 2018 and 2019 — who is suspended through October for missing three drug tests in 2019.

De Grasse believed he was ready to compete at an Olympic level shortly before the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports in March 2020 and forced the postponement of the Games to 2021. Suddenly, he was left without weight room access and a track on which to train, relying on Reider to "find a park or grass fields" to help maintain fitness.

However, a year to spend more time with family and friends, "live a normal life" and prepare mentally and physically for 2021 has been helpful.

WATCH | De Grasse wants to set Canadian record, personal-best time in Tokyo:

CBC Sports' Scott Russell spoke to Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse about the upcoming Olympics and his three events, the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay. 4:42

De Grasse's race schedule remained light last summer with two 100s in July and a 200 in July and August, all in Florida.

"I couldn't spend all the time working on my start [in the 100 so] I'm still figuring it out," he said. "It takes a lot of focus and execution. I'm still young in the sport and have a ways to go before I can say I've mastered it and feel good about it."

Standout comeback season

Looking ahead to Tokyo, he has followed the recent news about fans outside of Japan being barred from attending events along with a state of emergency being declared for a third time, aimed at stemming surging cases of the coronavirus three months from the scheduled start to the Games.

Earlier this week, Athletics Canada CEO David Bedford told CBC Sports it's in the "national interest" of the country to have all athletes and support staff fully vaccinated before the Olympics.

"I just want to go there with an open mind," De Grasse said. "As athletes, we don't want to put negativity in our mind. I got a bit of a taste of it last year competing [in front of] no fans. Hopefully they'll have a light show, music or anything to get us pumped up.

"It's still going to be a dream [realized] for people who haven't been to the Olympics, and I get an opportunity to go for a second time. Every Olympic experience is different, and I've never been to Tokyo. I'm looking forward to being there and I want to win a gold medal."

De Grasse has launched his Race With Me! initiative to get Canadian children active in a pandemic while July 6 marks the release of his motivational picture book for kids by the same title.

WATCH | How much will COVID-19 affect the Olympics?:

Morgan Campbell, Meghan McPeak and Dave Zirin discuss what precautions should be taken for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to stay on track. 6:35

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De Grasse aims to carry over fast start to season in latest 100-metre race - CBC.ca
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Bitcoin’s time to shine is fast approaching - Fortune

Bitcoin's time to shine is fast approaching | Fortune

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Bitcoin’s time to shine is fast approaching - Fortune
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Armed man threatens to kill fast food employees during robbery: police - CTV News Winnipeg

[unable to retrieve full-text content] Armed man threatens to kill fast food employees during robbery: police    CTV News Winnipeg Armed m...