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Beyond Access: Predictors Of Unmet Need For Health Care From Adolescence To Young Adulthood, Sarah B. Rutland
Beyond Access: Predictors Of Unmet Need For Health Care From Adolescence To Young Adulthood, Sarah B. Rutland
All ETDs from UAB
Background: Unmet need (UN) can be characterized as a person not getting care even when they think they need it. Younger populations are understudied for UN, even though UN can emerge as early as adolescence. The aim of this dissertation is to use the national Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine whether adolescent socioeconomic status (SES) or health factors better predict UN over time, and how UN differs by race/ethnicity. Life course perspective, cumulative advantage and disadvantage hypothesis, and fundamental cause theory inform my hypotheses. Primary hypotheses: 1) The likelihood of UN will increase over …
A Crisis In Care: Evaluating The Causes And Consequences Of Burnout Among Emergency Physicians, Michael Allyn Wiechart
A Crisis In Care: Evaluating The Causes And Consequences Of Burnout Among Emergency Physicians, Michael Allyn Wiechart
All ETDs from UAB
For many physicians, the growing list of mandates and the unrelenting pace of change in today’s health care have taken a toll, leading to burnout. The consequences of burnout extend well beyond the impact on the individual provider, with physician burnout linked to a decrease in patient satisfaction, an increase in preventable medical errors, and increased levels of staff turnover. Consequently, the high rates of burnout reported among U.S. physicians might be considered not only as a symptom of dysfunction in the health care delivery system but also as a factor contributing to the dysfunction. While burnout exists to a …
Reported Clinical And Financial Performance Of Hospitals With Physician Ceos Compared To Those With Nonphysician Ceos, Leon Moores
Reported Clinical And Financial Performance Of Hospitals With Physician Ceos Compared To Those With Nonphysician Ceos, Leon Moores
All ETDs from UAB
Leaders impact organizational behavior and performance, and CEOs may have greater impact via numerous proposed mechanisms. Because of this, organizations expend considerable resources recruiting and selecting CEOs and may benefit from information suggesting a positive impact on organizational performance based upon measurable CEO characteristics. Little work has been done comparing the performance of hospitals with physician CEOs versus non-physician CEOs, in spite of the ease of identification of this characteristic and extant leadership theories suggesting a relationship between technical expertise and success in leading highly technical organizations. We compared multiple measures of reported clinical and financial performance and our linear …
Examining The Impact Of Couple Relationship Factors On Male Engagement Pregnancy Health And Communal Coping, Pamela Musoke
Examining The Impact Of Couple Relationship Factors On Male Engagement Pregnancy Health And Communal Coping, Pamela Musoke
All ETDs from UAB
Focusing on male partner engagement in HIV prevention is an important aspect of intervention and policy development and implementation within the sub-Saharan African context. However, engaging male partners safely and effectively to improve the impact and sustainability of HIV prevention modalities remains challenging due to continued impact of traditional gender roles that may affect the willingness and confidence to engage in pregnancy health. Additionally, the lack of knowledge of how best to engage in pregnancy health beyond financial support makes it difficult for male partners to engage. This dissertation’s overall aim is to explore aspects of male partner engagement's influences …
Ribosomal Rna Synthesis Is Regulated By Pathways That Respond To Environmental And Stress Conditions, Saman Najmi
Ribosomal Rna Synthesis Is Regulated By Pathways That Respond To Environmental And Stress Conditions, Saman Najmi
All ETDs from UAB
Ribosome biogenesis is one of the most central processes to cellular growth and metabolism. The synthesis of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) by RNA polymerase I (Pol I) is thought to be rate limiting for ribosome biogenesis, and is therefore subject to extensive regulation. The work presented in this dissertation characterizes two previously undiscovered pathways regulating rRNA synthesis. Due to the direct connection between ribosome biogenesis (and rRNA synthesis) and cellular proliferative potential, Pol I activity is upregulated in cancers. Cancer cells are hypersensitive to inhibition of Pol I, a quality that makes Pol I an attractive target for anticancer therapeutics. The …
The Real-Time Extractiion Of Neural Spikes For Brain-Machine Interface Application Using Deep Learning Algorithm, Sahaj Anilbhai Patel
The Real-Time Extractiion Of Neural Spikes For Brain-Machine Interface Application Using Deep Learning Algorithm, Sahaj Anilbhai Patel
All ETDs from UAB
The detection of neural spikes in real-time and accurately has become the center of interest for the researchers in the field of brain-machine/computer interface (BMI/BCI). The primary challenge in the Brain-Machine interface is to translate raw neuronal response signals into the control of electrical actuators. Only accurate and rapid classification of neural response can help efficiently and conveniently to disable peoples, particularly those suffering from spinal cord injury, stocks, etc., Recording from neurons and analyzing them with many different methods are not new. However, the primary challenge here is the real-time recording and classifying the spikes with higher accuracy. In …
Metal Complexation In Hydrogen-Bonded Microcapsules Of Poly(N-Vinylpyrrolidone) And Tannic Acid For Medical Imaging And Controlled Drug Delivery, Patrick Aaron Alford
Metal Complexation In Hydrogen-Bonded Microcapsules Of Poly(N-Vinylpyrrolidone) And Tannic Acid For Medical Imaging And Controlled Drug Delivery, Patrick Aaron Alford
All ETDs from UAB
Even the most effective and widely used drugs in modern disease treatment can be compromised by low bioavailability and off-target damage which leads to detrimental side effects. Polymeric drug carriers have been developing in recent times with the aim of rendering the therapeutic cargo inert and protecting it from the body’s natural defense mechanisms until arrival at the target site, upon which a specific stimulus will cause the drug to release from the carrier locally. To this end, antioxidant capability in drug carriers can help mediate the cascade of reactive oxygen species that meet injected materials and, in doing so, …
Spun Prestressed Concrete Pole Options As An Alternative To Wood Utility Distribution Poles, Paula Alvarez Alvarez Pino
Spun Prestressed Concrete Pole Options As An Alternative To Wood Utility Distribution Poles, Paula Alvarez Alvarez Pino
All ETDs from UAB
The purpose of this research project is to analyze the current state-of-the-art, including use and design practices, of utility distribution poles and to evaluate the performance of spun prestressed concrete poles with different reinforcement schemes as a viable alternative to wood utility poles. There are an estimated 185 million utility distribution poles in place in the United States, and over 130 million are made out of wood. Most of the existing distribution poles are now approaching or have surpassed their useful lives since they were designed with a life expectancy of 50 years and were installed in the 1950s and …
Modeling Stock Prices With Differential Equations, Jessica Barnett
Modeling Stock Prices With Differential Equations, Jessica Barnett
All ETDs from UAB
Forecasting the stock market has long been subject to speculation, especially after the global financial crisis in 2008. In this thesis, we formulate a predictive model of the trend of a chosen stock that is derived from verifiable economic tendencies (absent appropriate economic laws) that interact through a system of nonlinear delay differential equations. The system is populated inversely from current economic data and solved numerically using MATLAB. As a result, we are able to use the forecasted trend to estimate a stock’s drift in order to also incorporate the randomness of the stock market. Lastly, we compare the predictions …
Tensor Decompositions And Rank Approximation Of Tensors With Applications, Ramin Goudarzi Karim
Tensor Decompositions And Rank Approximation Of Tensors With Applications, Ramin Goudarzi Karim
All ETDs from UAB
Tensor decompositions are higher-order analogues of matrix decompositions which have applications in data analysis, signal processing, machine learning and data mining. One of the most challenging problems in the tensor decomposition area is to approximate the rank of a given tensor. Unlike the matrix case there is no simple formula to bound the rank of a tensor. In fact, finding the exact rank of a tensor is an NP hard problem. In this thesis we formulate the tensor rank estimation of a tensor as an optimization problem and estimate the rank via $\ell_1$ minimization. We propose a numerical iterative method …
Effects Of Protein Timing And Energy Balance On Body Composition In Collegiate Athletes, Ashley Licata
Effects Of Protein Timing And Energy Balance On Body Composition In Collegiate Athletes, Ashley Licata
All ETDs from UAB
The current literature indicates that energy balance and protein consumption influence body composition. However, the effects of protein intake, timed protein supplementation, and energy balance on body composition have not yet been fully investigated in collegiate athletes. The purpose of this research was to assess collegiate athletes using hourly food and exercise data to examine how protein timing and energy balance relate to body composition. Aims 1 and 2 focus on collegiate female soccer athletes and further our understanding of the potential roles that protein amount and frequency and hourly energy balance play in optimizing fat mass and fat-free mass. …
Discovering The Genetic Architecture Underlying Exercise Response Using Drosophila Melanogaster, Louis P. Watanabe
Discovering The Genetic Architecture Underlying Exercise Response Using Drosophila Melanogaster, Louis P. Watanabe
All ETDs from UAB
The growth of modern jobs, technology, and transportation has coincided with increased sedentary behavior in many developed nations. In the United States, this increase has contributed partially to rising rates of obesity, leading to more than 78 million obese individuals. The annual medical costs associated with obesity are thought to range from 147 to 210 billion dollars. The initial treatment recommendations for individuals with obesity are increased exercise and changes in diet. Despite the strong narrative pushing exercise as a health benefit, individual responses can vary widely, and little is known regarding the genetic networks modulating exercise response. In order …
Identification And Application Of Gingival Mesenchymal Stem Cells For Dental Tissue Regenration, Yousuf Al-Aboosi
Identification And Application Of Gingival Mesenchymal Stem Cells For Dental Tissue Regenration, Yousuf Al-Aboosi
All ETDs from UAB
Mesenchymal stem cells have been very attractive treatment modality in regenerative medicine, but not so much in regenerative dentistry. This can be attributed to the difficulty in obtaining dental origin stem cells without extracting a tooth or other invasive procedures. Autogenous gingival graft harvested from palatal tissue is used as the gold standard for treating single tooth recession. The healing of the gingival graft has been shown to be mostly depended on the recipient side more than the graft itself. This study is aiming to find if the palatal tissue has cells with mesenchymal characteristics that are helping in the …
Exploring The Link Between Dietary Fiber, The Gut Microbiota And Estrogen Metabolism Among Women With Breast Cancer, Ayse G. Zengul
Exploring The Link Between Dietary Fiber, The Gut Microbiota And Estrogen Metabolism Among Women With Breast Cancer, Ayse G. Zengul
All ETDs from UAB
Breast cancer continues to be a very prevalent disease and impacts over 260,000 new patients per year in the United States. The gut microbiota composition may affect breast cancer risk by modulating various hormonal metabolites including endogenous estrogens. Dietary factors impact gut microbial ecology and influence the regulation of estrogen metabolism. Current evidence supports the potential role of dietary fiber in breast cancer prevention and its possible modulating influence on serum estrogen levels through the gut microbiota associated with β-glucuronidase activity. However, this mechanism is not clearly understood. In this study, we aimed to explore the associations between dietary fiber, …
A Deep Learning Framework For Medical Image Segmentation, Zheng Zhang
A Deep Learning Framework For Medical Image Segmentation, Zheng Zhang
All ETDs from UAB
Deep Learning (DL) has rapidly become a methodology of choice for analyzing medical images and increasingly attracts researcher’s attention in the medical research community. The brain is one of the most important organs in the human body. Within the context of human brain disease, research and care, accurately detecting, evaluating and segmenting human brain abnormalities play an important role in brain disease diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning. A significant challenge in developing good brain abnormalities segmentation methods is the high variation of brain abnormalities such as differences in shape, size, location, appearance, and regularity. Deep Learning approach ad-dresses this challenge …
Rapid Melting Of Aluminum Alloys By Induction Melting, Carlos Alfonso Larrazabal Colina
Rapid Melting Of Aluminum Alloys By Induction Melting, Carlos Alfonso Larrazabal Colina
All ETDs from UAB
RAPID MELTING OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS BY INDUCTION MELTING CARLOS ALFONSO LARRAZABAL COLINA MATERIAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ABSTRACT Die-casting and high-pressure die-casting are manufacturing processes meant to produce high volumes of parts. However, the die-casting industry suffers when the market is low or when short quantities of a part are needed, because this process may not be as flexible in small quantities. In such situations, one piece of the operation that is inflexible is running excess melting and holding furnace capacity. Rapid induction melting systems are proposed here as an alternative to big furnaces to provide amounts of molten metal in …
A Structure Based Approach For Defining Ligand Interaction Requirements With Atp-Binding Cassette Proteins, Christina A. Le
A Structure Based Approach For Defining Ligand Interaction Requirements With Atp-Binding Cassette Proteins, Christina A. Le
All ETDs from UAB
Membrane proteins belonging to the ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) superfamily are responsible for transporting substrates into or out of cells. ABC transporters, such as P-glycoprotein (Pgp/ABCB1) defend cells by the active efflux of many chemically diverse cytotoxic compounds. The ABC protein, CFTR/ABCC7, is a passive chloride ion channel that provides fluid homeostasis. Pgp and CFTR of are high clinical interest since mutations in CFTR can result in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and upregulation of Pgp in tumor cells can result in multidrug resistance (MDR). There has been a major effort to develop clinical drugs to treat CF by either repairing defects in …
Kidney Resident Macrophages Utilize Developmental Programming During Healing From Acute Kidney Injury, Jeremie Matthew Peabody Lever
Kidney Resident Macrophages Utilize Developmental Programming During Healing From Acute Kidney Injury, Jeremie Matthew Peabody Lever
All ETDs from UAB
Acute kidney injury (AKI) can be a devastating condition, affecting up to sixty percent of critically ill patients in the United States. Despite the fact that AKI is associated with an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and mortality, there are no targeted therapies available to treat it. Kidney resident macrophages (KRM) are likely necessary for healing and resolution of animal models of AKI. However, there remains a gap in knowledge regarding how KRM effect this function. The purpose of my thesis was to elucidate lineage relationships and functionally relevant adaptations of KRM and monocyte-derived mononuclear phagocytes (infiltrative MP) …
The Effects Of Saha And Egcg On Metastatic Potential In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Kayla Lewis Steed
The Effects Of Saha And Egcg On Metastatic Potential In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Kayla Lewis Steed
All ETDs from UAB
About 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some time in their lives, and more than 40,000 women will die due to breast cancer this year. Women do not die from localized breast cancer cases but from metastatic, or Stage IV, breast cancer (MBC). Over 150,000 women are currently living with MBC, and treatments focus on length and quality of life considering there is no cure. Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) do not respond to targeted therapies as they are lacking estrogen receptor alpha (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). They …
The Mechanism Of Glucose-Induced Trib3 Expression In Myoblasts And Myotubes, Xiaobing Liu
The Mechanism Of Glucose-Induced Trib3 Expression In Myoblasts And Myotubes, Xiaobing Liu
All ETDs from UAB
Our previous data indicates that glucose-toxicity is dependent upon upregulation of TRIB3 expression in muscle. TRIB3 is a glucose-responsive gene and, as a pseudokinase, it blocks phosphorylation of AKT resulting in insulin resistance. The purpose of the current study was to identify the role of the differentiation process and the minimal functional sequence of TRIB3 promoter region in modulating glucose-induced TRIB3 gene expression in C2C12 myocytes. First, C2C12 myocytes were collected every 48 hours during the whole differentiation, totally 4 intervals. Before collection, cells were treated with either 5mmol glucose or 25mmol glucose for 24 hours. Under 5mmol glucose, the …
Design, Develop And Manufacture A Low-Cost 32-Channel Biosignal Amplifier And D/A Converter Device For Multi- Electrode Neural Recording, Yen-Tze Liu
All ETDs from UAB
In the current market, there are many multichannel neural recording devices are available. However, they are either very expensive or physically big so that it cannot be used too close to the specimen because of the space limitations due to experimental setting such as Faraday cage, microscope, and other stimuli apparatus. In addition to that, the large electronic devices in the cell recording area are susceptible to create electrical noise, especially if they are not battery operated. This thesis work will try to deliver solutions following three main problems. The first problem we address is the device cost per recording …
Smile Outcome Comparison Of Orthodontic Cases Treated With Different Extraction Patterns, Gregory Long
Smile Outcome Comparison Of Orthodontic Cases Treated With Different Extraction Patterns, Gregory Long
All ETDs from UAB
Extraction of premolar teeth for orthodontic purposes is a common treatment approach. The effects of premolar extraction on the occlusion and the face have been studied extensively in the past. To date, however, the effects of premolar extractions on the smile have not been comprehensively quantified in the literature. The purpose of this study was to compare the smile outcome of patients treated with premolar extractions. Methods: This retrospective case-control study established 4 groups of 33 patients each for comparison. Three groups of patients with the same malocclusion were treated with different premolar extraction patterns. The remaining group of patients …
A Study Of Approximation Error In Eulerian Hydrocodes, Parth Yogeshbhai Patel
A Study Of Approximation Error In Eulerian Hydrocodes, Parth Yogeshbhai Patel
All ETDs from UAB
In this study, we examine a number of approximations in the formulation of hydrocodes. These approximations were borne out of an original requirement for the code to run as fast as possible i.e. with accuracy being secondary to speed. Many of these approximations originated from the 1970’s when computers were slow and memory was at a premium. Although speed and memory are not as much of an issue today, these approximations are still used to formulate the hydrocodes. In this study, the effect of these approximations is examined systematically. The lumped mass approximation is a simplification to the consistent mass …
Enhanced Proangiogenic Activity Of Endothelial Cells In Response To Polyglutamate Domain-Modified Qk Peptides Delivered On Bone Grafting Materials, Nicholas Weldon Pensa
Enhanced Proangiogenic Activity Of Endothelial Cells In Response To Polyglutamate Domain-Modified Qk Peptides Delivered On Bone Grafting Materials, Nicholas Weldon Pensa
All ETDs from UAB
Over 2 million bone grafting procedures are performed annually. To meet the high demand for these surgeries, commercial grafting materials sourced from allograft, xenograft, and synthetic calcium phosphate have become widely popular clinically. One limitation of these grafts, however, is their lack of growth factors that drive angiogenesis during bone tissue regeneration. Insufficient revascularization of the injured bone tissue leads to poor fracture healing. However, reincorporating angiogenic factors on grafting materials has proven challenging due to limited surface interactions between the protein and mineral graft surface. To address this challenge, we have synthesized a polyglutamate domain to the VEGF mimetic …
Genetic And Epigenetic Underpinnings Of End-Stage Human Heart Failure, Mark Emile Pepin
Genetic And Epigenetic Underpinnings Of End-Stage Human Heart Failure, Mark Emile Pepin
All ETDs from UAB
Heart failure (HF) is the clinical endpoint of numerous diseases that negatively impact the heart’s capacity to pump and/or fill with blood. A variety of genetic and environmental factors have been identified as critical determinants of HF susceptibility; however, these factors cannot independently explain the phenotypic diversity of human HF. Instead, a complex interplay has been theorized to exist between genetics and the environment, although the molecular underpinnings of this synergy remain poorly understood. Of the possible mechanisms, epigenetic influences are uniquely capable of explaining how acute stressors of the cardiac microenvironment trigger the stable – yet reversible – reprogramming …
Organizational Characteristics And Environmental Factors Associated With Hospitals Identified As Consolidation Targets, Christi Pierce
Organizational Characteristics And Environmental Factors Associated With Hospitals Identified As Consolidation Targets, Christi Pierce
All ETDs from UAB
In today’s dynamic healthcare landscape, hospitals face uncertainty and pressure from changing reimbursement schemas, intense government regulation, technological advances, consumer demand and workforce scarcity. These increased pressures have led to an acceleration of consolidation activities as hospitals position themselves to cope with a dynamic and complex external environment by maximizing resources, creating economies of scale and expanding access to care. Despite increased hospital consolidation activity, little is known about what makes a hospital attractive as a consolidation target to an acquiring hospital, particularly post-ACA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the organizational characteristics and environmental factors associated with …
The Closed Eye As A Model For Dry Eye Disease, Cameron Kenneth Postnikoff
The Closed Eye As A Model For Dry Eye Disease, Cameron Kenneth Postnikoff
All ETDs from UAB
Every night, during sleep, the tears of the closed eye become significantly more inflammatory, with a notable influx of neutrophils. Preliminary studies suggested that these neutrophils were significantly different than blood-isolated neutrophils, with an increased concentration, upregulated surface expression of inflammatory membrane receptors, but inability to respond to inflammatory stimuli. The purpose of this dissertation was to better understand the contribution of this neutrophil population to ocular surface homeostasis and dry eye disease. Chapter One presents an introduction to the tear film and ocular surface, along with an introduction to dry eye disease and neutrophil biology. Chapter One also discusses …
Determination Of The Role Of Smu_833 In The Fitness And Virulence Of Cariogenic Streptococcus Mutans, Katherine Lynn Rainey
Determination Of The Role Of Smu_833 In The Fitness And Virulence Of Cariogenic Streptococcus Mutans, Katherine Lynn Rainey
All ETDs from UAB
Dental caries, commonly known as tooth decay, is the most common infectious disease worldwide. The main etiological agent of dental caries is Streptococcus mutans which can readily form a biofilm on the surface of teeth and produce acids through the metabolism of dietary sugars, which is largely responsible for the demineralization and subsequent destruction of tooth enamel. In addition, S. mutans synthesizes extracellular glucosyltransferases (Gtfs) capable of breaking apart dietary sucrose and polymerizing the glucose subunits into the sticky glucan matrix of the biofilm, imperative for the formation of robust, three-dimensional biofilms. Currently used caries therapies are not species-specific and …
Impact Of Environmental Exposures On Respiratory Health, Lawrence Rasmussen
Impact Of Environmental Exposures On Respiratory Health, Lawrence Rasmussen
All ETDs from UAB
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality around the world. Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of COPD; similarly, individuals exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS) are also vulnerable to COPD and other airway diseases; however, distinct molecular mechanisms involved in SHS-induced lung effects that result in COPD are poorly understood. Mucociliary clearance (MCC) is a primary lung defense against inhaled particulate matter and pathogens. Thus, understanding how inhaled irritants such as SHS disrupt MCC will promote improved scientific understanding and better public health initiatives to prevent respiratory illnesses. Using a variety of in vitro …
Designing And Implementing Inclusive Community-Based Health Promotion Intiatives, Cassandra Herman
Designing And Implementing Inclusive Community-Based Health Promotion Intiatives, Cassandra Herman
All ETDs from UAB
Background: People with disabilities (PWDs) have poorer health outcomes, yet are they are underserved by public health initiatives. PWDs face numerous barriers to participation in community-based health programs despite mounting evidence about these barriers along with recommendations and guidelines to become more inclusive of disability. Policy, system, and environmental (PSE) changes that are inclusive of PWDs can help create access to health promotion programs for PWDs. Systematically implementing inclusive PSE changes using implementation science principles can support effective and sustainable changes are implemented for each unique community context. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the experiences of public …