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Treadmill Workstations: An Obesity Intervention?, Dinesh John

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the feasibility and effectiveness of treadmill workstations as a weight loss intervention. Specific aims were (a) to determine if walking while working at a treadmill workstation affects selective attention and mental processing speed, and performance of simulated office work tasks involving fine motor movements (typing and mouse movements) and mathematical and verbal reasoning, and (b) To determine if using of a treadmill workstation favorably influences anthropometric, body composition, cardiovascular, metabolic, musculoskeletal, and mental stress variables in overweight and obese office workers.

For the first aim, 20 participants completed tests to assess selective …

Effects Of Dietary Fatty Acids On Intestinal Tumorigenesis In ApcMin/+ Mice, Melissa Hansen Petrik

Doctoral Dissertations

Dietary fat is thought to be an important environmental factor influencing colorectal cancer risk. n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been linked to a lower risk of colorectal cancer and it has been presumed that this effect is due to their ability to interfere with synthesis of 2-series prostaglandins from arachidonic acid (AA, 20:4 n-6). However, the specific mechanism has not been clearly established. Therefore, we hypothesized that select dietary fatty acids would modulate intestinal tumorigenesis through interference with AA metabolism in the Apc^Min/+ mouse, a unique model system bearing many similarities to human intestinal cancer. α-linolenic acid (ALA, …