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The Effect Of Postural Perturbations On Cardiovascular And Skeletal Muscle Function In Healthy Adults, Patrick Siedlecki

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Maintenance of standing balance is vital to daily living. Traditionally, perspectives on maintaining balance are achieved through the study of visual, vestibular and somatosensory inputs on motor outputs. While evidence suggests cardiovascular regulation also functions to assist postural control during orthostatic stress, how the cardiovascular system responds to postural perturbations is not well established. This dissertation includes four studies that investigated the effects of postural perturbations on the cardiovascular system and skeletal muscle responses in healthy adults. All of the studies involved exposing standing participants to surface-translation perturbations at different velocities, with known or unknown timing, and occurred while spontaneously …

Atrial Fibrillation In Aging: Mechanisms And Potential Therapeutics, Mengmeng Chang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias seen in the clinics, and currently available antiarrhythmic pharmacotherapies in AF are not very effective. Although AF has been recognized as an aging-mediated disease, our understanding of the electrophysiological pathways that link aging and AF remain incomplete, which limits breakthroughs in the development of novel antiarrhythmic treatments for this disease. Studies have shown that aging increases the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the heart, and high levels of ROS have been associated with development of AF in animals and patients. Additionally, in some forms of AF, the …

Are Changes In Muscle Blood Flow Associated With The Age-Related Decrease In Critical Power?, Abigail Dorff

Theses and Dissertations

Aging results in lower exercise tolerance, manifested as decreased Critical Power (PCRIT). Aging is also associated with reduced physical activity, decreased muscle mass, and altered muscle blood flow, all of which may contribute to the age-related decrease in PCRIT. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if the age-related decrease in PCRIT occurs independently of changes in physical activity and muscle mass and if it is related to impaired muscle blood flow. Methods: 10 Old (63.1 ± 2.5 years, 5 female and 5 male) and 10 Young (24.4 ± 4.0 years, 5 female and 5 male) physically active …

Fundamental Investigation Of Interaction Between Moisture And Asphalt-Aggregate Systems, Rui Xiao

Doctoral Dissertations

Moisture-induced damage is one of the most common forms of flexible pavement distress which directly causes or exacerbates pavement failure. The intrusion of moisture into the asphalt pavements reduces the overall mechanical properties of the locking structures and gives rise to one or more of the visible forms of distress such as raveling, stripping, permanent deformation and fatigue cracking. This doctoral study is aimed at understanding the detrimental action of water on the asphalt-aggregate systems and the damage mechanism by multi-technique investigation. A thermodynamics framework was considered to characterize the properties of asphalt mix ingredients as well as the engineering …

Changing Public Perception Of Dementia: The Effect And Credibility Of Three Informational Models., Diana Hedrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Since the 1970s, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia have been portrayed in a medicalized, symptom-focused manner to help spread awareness, improve diagnosis, and push for treatment research. In recent decades, there has been movement towards a biopsychosocial, person-centered approach that considers social and psychological factors that interact with biological diseases processes. Common biopsychosocial approaches retain an emphasis on deficits and symptoms. New research has integrated positive psychology constructs and dementia. This integration of positive psychology principles and dementia care and research has the potential to more accurately capture the experience of having dementia. Objectives: This dissertation tested how the portrayal …

The Role Of Leisure Engagement In Fostering Cognition In Aging, Karen Wenzel

All Dissertations

Leisure activities are a major component of healthy aging, associated with reduced risk of cognitive decline and enhanced cognitive function. However, there is wide variation in the conceptualization and measurement of leisure. Specific leisure activities or domains have been studied in association with cognition in aging. More recently, researchers have noted that attributes of the activity, rather than the activity itself, may be significant. This study explored the current state of knowledge regarding attributes of leisure activities that foster cognition in aging. A literature review using PRISMA Scoping Review guidelines identified objectively and subjectively measured attributes of leisure engagement in …

The Impact Of Critical Illness Insurance Among Older Adults In China, Jiaosi Li

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although China has made considerable progress towards universal health insurance coverage, high out-of-pocket medical expenditures due to catastrophic illnesses (e.g., cancer, heart attack, or stroke) remain a concern. To address this concern, the Critical Illness Insurance (CII) program providing additional coverage for high medical expenditures was introduced in 2012. We combine data on the timing of CII implementation across prefecture cities in China with the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to examine its impact on medical expenditures, inpatient utilization, health outcomes, household consumption and savings. To account for the staggered implementation across regions, we employ the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) …

The Role Of Autobiographical Memory Recall In Reappraisal Efficacy And Effort Across Age, Irina Orlovsky

Masters Theses

Socioemotional theories posit that the experience of overcoming unique life challenges over a lifetime enhances self-efficacy and emotional resilience among older adults. Older adults demonstrate greater emotional well-being and motivation to regulate emotions than younger adults, but specific regulatory mechanisms supporting late-life emotional resilience remain unclear. Cognitive reappraisal is an effective but cognitively demanding emotion regulation strategy and shows mixed efficacy in later-life. While a growing repertoire of autobiographical memories may be a resource with age, the role of autobiographical recall in momentary reappraisal has never been tested empirically. In this online study, older and younger adults were trained to …

Predicting Reappraisal Success With Innate Neural Connectivity Across The Adult Lifespan, Parker Longwell

Masters Theses

Reappraisal — reinterpreting a situation to change emotional response — is an effective emotion regulation strategy that relies on cognitive control network activity, including engagement of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), to attenuate amygdala activity. Greater dlPFC-Amygdala functional connectivity predicts instructed reappraisal task success, and daily use of reappraisal for younger adults (Pico-Perez et al.., 2018) but not older adults (Opitz et al., 2012), while the connectivity of the vmPFC is predictive of physiological markers of ER success for all ages (Sakaki et al., 2016 & Urry et al., 2006). However, the relationship between Resting-State Functional Connectivity (RSFC) and reappraisal …

The Role Of The Hippocampus In Pattern Separation And Statistical Learning, Helena Shizhe Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It has been theorized that pattern separation and statistical learning implicate two separate circuitries within the hippocampus, one that involves the dentate gyrus subregion and one that does not, respectively. Here, we tested whether the two processes are dissociable computations that rely on separate neural pathways by examining the effect of healthy aging (Chapter 2) and dentate gyrus lesion (Chapter 3) on participants’ ability to differentiate similar trisyllabic words and extract trisyllabic words from a continuous speech stream. Neither healthy aging nor dentate gyrus damage affected the implicit expression of statistical learning, but they both impaired pattern separation and the …

Correlates Of Psychological Well-Being In Older Adults With Treatment-Resistant Depression, Selmi Kallmi

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that are associated with psychological well-being in older adults with late-life depression and determine if social participation moderates and/or mediates these relationships. This dissertation study utilized secondary pre-treatment data collected from the “Optimum: Optimizing Depression Treatment in Older Adults” study (Cristancho et al. (2019). Community dwelling older adults (N = 369) were included if they currently met criteria for MDD, had failed at least two prior trials of MDD medication treatment, and were able to visit the study site to participate in cognitive and physical functioning assessments. Hierarchical multiple regressions …

Aging On Parole: An Empirical Analysis Of Reentry, Reintegration, And Life Satisfaction, Angela Silletti Murolo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the prison population grays, so too does the people leaving prison. In New Jersey and New York, 35% and 26% of people on parole are over the age of 50 respectively. While older persons have lower recidivism rates compared to younger persons, there are physical, mental, and societal challenges that come with advancing age that can make reentry and reintegration a particularly difficult experience compared to younger persons. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the experiences of older adults on parole and the parole officers that assist them in their reentry and reintegration.

This study is unique …

Neuroanatomy In Mild Cognitive Impairment: Relationship To Functional Skills, Treatment Expectancy, And Comorbid Depression, Sara Rushia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a neurocognitive disorder defined by cognitive decline in older adults. Although MCI has been studied for decades, there remain important areas to be explored in order to adequately characterize aspects of this disorder that provide information valuable for possible interventions and disease progression to dementia, including a better understanding of the neuroanatomical variables relevant to this disorder. Such neuroanatomical variables include cortical thickness, hippocampal volume, and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs). This dissertation consists of three separate studies aimed at addressing gaps in the literature on MCI in relation to brain morphometrics and under-studied characteristics involved …

The Intersectionality Of Stuttering And Aging, Mary Elizabeth Herring

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore relationships between stuttering and aging so that speech-language pathologists can be informed about the intersectionality of these identities.

Three adult men who stutter, all over the age of 65, were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. Interview transcripts were analyzed with in-vivo coding to find codes and themes between participants. From the interviews, 20 categories were identified. These categories were then funneled into four overarching themes: 1) Personal factors impacted by stuttering, 2) Stuttering perspectives across the lifespan, 3) Stuttering therapy experiences, and 4) Covert stuttering.

This study shows that attitudes, perspectives, and experiences …

The Impact Of Advanced Age On Morphine Anti-Hyperalgesia And The Role Of Mu Opioid Receptor Signaling In The Periaqueductal Gray Of Male And Female Rats, Evan Fullerton

Neuroscience Institute Dissertations

Opioids are among the most potent and widely used drugs for the management of chronic pain. Chronic pain is exceedingly prevalent in individuals over 65 years of age but is under-managed in this population, due in part to a lack of knowledge regarding the suitable dosing of opioids for chronic pain management. The present experiments first seek to characterize the impact of advanced age on opioid potency in male and female rats using intraplantar Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), a clinically relevant model of inflammatory pain. We report that advanced age and sex alter morphine modulation of persistent inflammatory pain, specifically, …

Does Anxiety Sensitivity Mediate Age-Related Differences In Anxiety In Middle-Aged And Older Adults?, Katherine F. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is a mental illness that can have significant deleterious impacts on an individual’s functioning. Although anxiety has been studied in older adults, there is conflicting evidence on differences in anxiety as a function of age. Anxiety sensitivity is a construct that is positively related to anxiety but has limited research in older adults. Extant literature suggests that older adults experience less anxiety sensitivity than do younger adults. According to Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, this may be due to older adults letting go of the things that make them anxious. The current study proposed that age impacts self-rated anxiety such that …

The Coping Strategies Of Older Adults With Age Related Vision Loss (Arvl) – A Narrative Account, Zakara J. Stampp

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of this study was to share the stories of older adults with age-related vision loss (ARVL) and how they have coped to maintain meaningful occupational engagement. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm, data collection and analysis were guided by the narrative inquiry methodology. The participants consisted of six older adults aged 60 or older, diagnosed with one of the following ARVL conditions: macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and/or glaucoma. Participants were recruited from vision loss non-profit organizations such as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and the Alliance for Equity of Blind Canadians (AEBC). One older adult was …

Imaging, Cognitive, And Functional Correlates Of Vascular Depression In Older Black Adults, Hannah Bogoian

Psychology Dissertations

Black older adults have a higher prevalence of vascular conditions (e.g., heart disease) and greater cerebrovascular disease burden compared to Whites. Decreased brain white matter integrity as a result of vascular burden is associated with a form of late-life depression, known as vascular depression (VaDep), which is marked by chronic vascular risk, executive dysfunction, poor treatment response, and high levels of functional disability. Older Black adults may be particularly vulnerable to developing VaDep; however, the literature examining VaDep in Black older adults is sparse. The present study used publicly available data from the Healthy Brain Project, a substudy of the …

The Role Of Intimate Partnership Among Older Adults On Pain Severity And The Engagement In Preventative Health Behaviors, Lauren Fox

Doctoral Dissertations

Bodily pain is a frequently disabling condition among older adults, which has broad biopsychosocial implications on health and wellbeing. As adults age, diminishing support systems can result in poor health outcomes and the presence of an intimate partner relationship can positively impact physical health, including influencing pain severity. The number of adults in the United States over 65 is expected to double by 2030, meaning that a significant portion of the population will be entering a stage of increased healthcare utilization. Therefore, behaviors which improve physical health will only become increasingly important over time. While previous research has pointed to …

Effects Of Aging On Patellofemoral Joint Stress During Stair Negotiation On Challenging Surfaces, Nicholas Lynn Hunt

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Patellofemoral pain is an incessant lower limb musculoskeletal disorder that may be underreported in older adults. During common locomotor activities, such as when negotiating stairs, older adults (over the age of 65 years) adopt knee biomechanics reported to increase patellofemoral pain. Negotiating stairs with a challenging surface, such as uneven or slick, may place greater demand on the knee and further exacerbate joint biomechanics related to PFJ stress. Yet, it is unknown if older adults exhibit increases in patellofemoral joint (PFJ) stress when negotiating stairs with challenging surfaces. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect …

Quality Of Life And End-Of-Life Plans: The Inclusion Of Sexual Health., Jacinta Dickens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sex and intimacy are important components of quality of life (Syme, 2014). Previous research found a positive relation between quality of life and sexual satisfaction (Chao et al., 2011), but how this relation may or may not impact end-of-life plans was unexplored. This study explored if the relation between quality of life and sexual satisfaction determined if community-dwelling middle-aged or older adults in the US have or was willing to incorporate sexual health within their formal or informal end-oflife plan. Correlation analyses examined cross-sectional survey data. Findings revealed a statistically significant correlation between quality of life and sexual satisfaction, no …

Stromal Vascular Fraction Restores Vasodilatory Function By Reversing Mitochondrial Dysfunction And Oxidative Stress In Aging-Induced Coronary Microvascular Disease., Evan Paul Tracy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Coronary Microvascular Disease (CMD) presents in aging post-menopausal women with chronic angina due to microvascular hyperconstriction. The objective was to identify mechanisms of adipose stromal vascular fraction’s (SVF) restorative effects on vasodilation. We hypothesize aging-induced CMD is caused by a) abrogated flow-mediated dilation (FMD) due to loss of nitric oxide signaling and b) ROS-dependent βADR desensitization & internalization, reversible by ameliorating mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress with SVF. Methods: Coronary microvessels were isolated from female rats either young, old, or old with SVF tail-vein injection (OSVF). Pressure myography, RNA-sequencing, immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and morphological analysis were performed to …

Does Well-Being Moderate The Association Of Harm Avoidance With Cognitive Decline, Christopher Reed

LSU Master's Theses

The Dual-Factor Model of mental health highlights the need to consider both constructs associated with psychopathology and subjective well-being in relation to clinical outcomes. Harm avoidance, which is associated with behavioral inhibition, has been negatively associated with cognitive change. While subjective well-being has been positively associated with cognition. The current study aimed to examine both constructs in a single model to examine well-being as a moderator of the association of harm avoidance with cognitive decline. A sample of 728 older adults from the Rush University Memory and Aging Project was used. Participants completed batteries of questionnaires and neuropsychological tests at …

Regulation Of The Heat Shock Response Via Lysine Acetyltransferase Cbp-1 And In Neurodegenerative Disease In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Lindsey N. Barrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The decline of proteostasis is a hallmark of aging that is, in part, affected by the dysregulation of the heat shock response (HSR), a highly conserved cellular response to proteotoxic stress in the cell. The heat shock transcription factor HSF-1 is well-studied as a key regulator of proteostasis, but mechanisms that could be used to modulate HSF-1 function to enhance proteostasis during aging are largely unknown. In this study, we examined lysine acetyltransferase regulation of the HSR and HSF-1 in C. elegans. We performed an RNA interference screen of lysine acetyltransferases and examined mRNA expression of the heat-shock inducible gene …

Staging Retro-Perspectives: Performing Age, Memory/Loss, And Queer Desire In The Later Works Of Split Britches (2009–2020), Benjamin Gillespie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project investigates the later works of the celebrated New York–based lesbian-feminist performance troupe Split Britches made up of founding members Peggy Shaw (b. 1944) and Lois Weaver (b. 1949). Revealing how the duo consciously interlaces aspects of aging and age-based identity into the very fabric of their later performances in both form and content, this project analyzes how Shaw and Weaver integrate an explicitly anti-ageist and overtly queer representation of aging on the experimental stage. Their later performances serve to challenge narratives of decline and debilitation that come with (hetero)normative representations of old age and the life course in …

Cvemp Frequency Tuning In Adults Aged 60 And Above: A Systematic Review, Kiersten P. Dudman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: This systematic review aims to evaluate if there is a significant difference in the frequency specificity of cVEMP amplitude responses in the older adult population, and if so how clinical protocols should reflect age related changes in the vestibular system to properly assess for vestibular pathology.

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted using various databases through the Mina Rees Library of the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. This search identified articles relevant to this systematic review. Inclusion criteria encompassed quantified studies that utilized various frequency tone bursts to elicit VEMP responses among several age groups.

Results: Three …

"Queering" Age-Friendly New York City, Austin G. Oswald

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background and aims: The global population is aging and becoming more culturally diverse. As such, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers are expected to think critically about strategies to improve the quality of life of people as they age. In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Age-Friendly Cities movement to improve the well-being and meaningful engagement of older adults living in the community. New York City (NYC) was the first city in the world to be designated “age-friendly” by the WHO, and is possibly viewed as a model for other cities to emulate. Few empirical studies have examined the age-friendly …

The Role Of Physical Activity And Gender As Moderators For The Relationship Between Insomnia And Depression, Claire E. Wickersham

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between insomnia and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults and to investigate whether gender or physical activity moderates this relationship. Method: This study used nationally representative data from the 2016 and 2018 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and binomial logistic regression was used to estimate models. Regression models for risk of depressive symptoms (2018) were based on a longitudinal model with time-lagged indicators of insomnia, levels of physical activity, and covariates (2016). Results: Analyses showed that participants who reported having insomnia in 2016 were more …

The Effects Of Aging On Wound Healing And Limb Regeneration In The Axolotl, Hande Sahin

Graduate Masters Theses

The Mexican axolotl is capable of regenerating various parts of its body and maintains this capacity throughout its entire life. Although this ability is sustained through adulthood, multiple regenerative processes appear to be negatively affected by aging. Here, we focus on evaluating the effect of aging on the rate of wound healing and limb regeneration. We have developed new in vivo, and ex vivo assays to characterize wound healing and identify differences between young and aged animals during this process. We have also characterized morphological features of mature skin from both groups of animals and although there are no obvious …

Population Aging And Healthcare Costs In China And Japan, Sean Brown

Honors Theses

This study focuses on the natural demographic phenomenon known as population aging and its intersection with healthcare expenditures. Healthcare spending can be a major burden on a country’s economy, so it is important to accurately assess the connection between these two factors. Population aging occurs when countries reach a point in their demographic transitions characterized by declining total fertility rates and high life expectancy. This natural but undesirable position has implications for virtually all aspects of society, and all countries are trending towards aging. This study examines the cases of China and Japan in an effort to assess the validity …