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Suicide Ideation And Risk Factors Among Correctional Officers, Logan Lavender Jan 2023

Suicide Ideation And Risk Factors Among Correctional Officers, Logan Lavender

All ETDs from UAB

The correctional work environment is detrimental to correctional officers’ (COs) health and wellness. While research shows that COs experience high rates of stress, PTSD, and other mental and physical health problems, relatively little research has examined the issue of CO suicide. The current study addresses this knowledge gap by drawing on a survey of COs from Washington state (N=420). Utilizing a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) framework, this study examines the prevalence of critical incidents (CIs), work stress, PTSD, and suicide ideation, estimates the degree to which exposure to CIs predicts suicide ideation, and assesses how work stress and PTSD moderate …


Parenting Through A Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Covid-19’S Impact On Stress, Coping, Resiliency, And Mental Health Among University Student-Parents, Jordin Ann Lane Jan 2023

Parenting Through A Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Covid-19’S Impact On Stress, Coping, Resiliency, And Mental Health Among University Student-Parents, Jordin Ann Lane

All ETDs from UAB

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the mental health of university students and continues to have a profound impact to this day. The transition from in-person traditional courses to online courses and campus closures, coupled with feelings of isolation, fear of contracting COVID-19, and uncertainty of the future has further intensified the mental health of college students. The effects of federal and state regulations, such as stay-at-home orders, influenced the mental health and general well-being of many Americans, specifically those who take on a dual role as a student and a parent. Unfortunately, literature pertaining to the effects …


A Gastrointestinal-Specific Antibiotic As An Experimental Treatment For Anxio-Depressive Disorders, Yuang-Tai Huang Jan 2022

A Gastrointestinal-Specific Antibiotic As An Experimental Treatment For Anxio-Depressive Disorders, Yuang-Tai Huang

All ETDs from UAB

Chronic stress is a predisposing factor for various disease states, including neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety [1]. Stress-related disorders have complicated multifactorial etiologies [2]. Advances in psychotherapeutic and psychotropic treatments have occurred, but anxiety and depressive disorders are still prevalent and remain a burden to our societies [3]. More than 30% of major depressive disorder patients fail to remission despite an FDAapproved medication [4]. Meanwhile, the contribution of microbiota-gut-brain axis signaling in both etiologies and treatment of stress-related disorders is increasingly being recognized [5]. More evidence has shown that the gut microbiota has the potential to alter the …


A Stress Process Approach To Assessing Caregiver Burden, Depressive Symptoms, And Quality Of Life: The Role Of Attachment In Adult Relationships, Ghislaine Celine Atkins Jan 2021

A Stress Process Approach To Assessing Caregiver Burden, Depressive Symptoms, And Quality Of Life: The Role Of Attachment In Adult Relationships, Ghislaine Celine Atkins

All ETDs from UAB

Aging adults (65 years and older) are projected to be the largest age group in the United States by around the year 2030. Importantly, the population of aging adults is expected to outnumber their adult children for the first time by the year 2033. The extant literature posits that the majority of carer-care-recipient relationships are between adult children/in law and their aging parent or a spouse/partner. Familial carers dealing with these multiple stressors are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms, have higher appraisals of stress and have worse quality of life. This dissertation project utilized sociologist Pearlin’s Stress Process Model …


Examining The Pathophysiology Through Which Violence Exposure Varies With Functional Brain Connectivity And The Psychophysiological Response To Stress, Heather Elizabeth Dark Jan 2021

Examining The Pathophysiology Through Which Violence Exposure Varies With Functional Brain Connectivity And The Psychophysiological Response To Stress, Heather Elizabeth Dark

All ETDs from UAB

Violence exposure during childhood and adolescence is associated with susceptibility to internalizing disorders such as depression and anxiety. The relationship between childhood violence exposure and internalizing disorders may be explained by changes in brain function. For example, childhood maltreatment, including violence exposure, is associated with changes in brain regions that are important for emotion regulation. Reciprocal connections among these brain regions are important for healthy responses to stress. Thus, examining how childhood violence exposure varies with acute stress-induced changes in functional brain connectivity and psychophysiological stress responses may elucidate how childhood violence exposure may contribute to susceptibility to internalizing disorders. …


Stress, Inflammation, And Mood: A Role For Leptin?, Kathleen Hodgin Jan 2021

Stress, Inflammation, And Mood: A Role For Leptin?, Kathleen Hodgin

All ETDs from UAB

Prior research has suggested a possible role for the proinflammatory adipokine leptin in depression. Leptin has also been associated with stress, a known predictor of depression. The purpose of this project was to investigate associations between stress, leptin, and depressed mood. We used data from a larger observational study that collected daily levels of plasma leptin and self-reported stress and depressed mood from 55 women over 25 days. Women with and without chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) were included. We hypothesized the following: increased stress would be associated with both worsened mood and higher leptin, and that leptin would be positively …


Significance Of Acculturation, Assimilation, And Allostatic Load As Risk Factors For Obesity Among Hispanics, Yenni Elvia Cedillo Jan 2019

Significance Of Acculturation, Assimilation, And Allostatic Load As Risk Factors For Obesity Among Hispanics, Yenni Elvia Cedillo

All ETDs from UAB

Obesity has increased during the last two decades in the United States (U.S.) and is considered a major risk factor for chronic diseases within the Hispanic community. The burden of obesity in Hispanics is associated with higher rates of morbidity and mortality and an increase in healthcare costs. Hispanics’ challenges after migration extend to subsequent generations, putting the population at risk for disease development. Specifically, migration can lead to the adoption of health behaviors, beliefs, values, and language of the host country, a process known as acculturation, which has been associated with changes in health behaviors. Among the Hispanic population, …


Examining The Role Of The Unfolded Protein Response In Depression, Matthew Timberlake Jan 2019

Examining The Role Of The Unfolded Protein Response In Depression, Matthew Timberlake

All ETDs from UAB

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and impacts nearly 350 million people with a disproportionate representation in women with a 1:1.7 ratio of occurrence compared to men. This disorder is characterized by shifts in mood to include feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and lethargy as well as changes in diet, motivation, and sleep patterns. Further, over 50% of patients who struggle with depression also have suicidal ideation and as many as 10% of those commit suicide. At present, treatment plans include behavioral therapy (often) in conjunction with antidepressant medications which act on monoamines and their circuits in the central …


Effect Of Occupational Demands On Driving Safety In Surgical Residents, Benjamin Mcmanus Jan 2018

Effect Of Occupational Demands On Driving Safety In Surgical Residents, Benjamin Mcmanus

All ETDs from UAB

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Examination recently revised and implemented duty hour standards that increased maximum duty hours for first year medical residents and reduced the minimal amount of time off between duty periods for all medical residents. The new standards were introduced largely without consideration of empirical research on objectively measured occupational health and safety factors for medical residents, particularly in contexts where their safety may be at-risk such as driving. Little work has examined driving performance in medical residents at multiple periods surrounding duty, including in reference to off-duty driving performance as a baseline. Certain work-related factors …


The Effects Of Perceived Stress, Sleep, And Stress Response On Cancer Related Fatigue In 8- To 12-Year-Old Central Nervous System Cancer Survivors, Ann Johnson Jan 2016

The Effects Of Perceived Stress, Sleep, And Stress Response On Cancer Related Fatigue In 8- To 12-Year-Old Central Nervous System Cancer Survivors, Ann Johnson

All ETDs from UAB

Survivors of childhood cancer are a growing population, and knowledge of persistent cancer related fatigue (CRF) is integral to survivorship. CRF in central nervous system (CNS) cancer is multifactorial and may be unique based on treatment and stage of survival. There is a gap in evidence for school-age survivors, especially during early survivorship. Aims: The aim of this study was to examine factors that influence CRF in child CNS cancer survivors at least 6 months and less than 6 years post treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between select factors and CRF and to determine effect …


Neural Network Associated With The Psychobiological Response To Stress, Muriah Wheelock Jan 2016

Neural Network Associated With The Psychobiological Response To Stress, Muriah Wheelock

All ETDs from UAB

The biobehavioral response to acute stress is an allostatic process. Dysregulation of the stress response has been implicated in allostatic load and the pathophysiology of a wide range of physical and psychological disorders. There have been considerable advances within the last two decades in the field’s understanding of allostatic load and a consistent finding across studies has been that individual differences are the norm rather than the exception. That is, exposure to stress seems to have minimal negative consequences for some, but substantial negative consequences for others. Determining the neural processes associated with individual differences in stress reactivity may advance …


The Effect Of Applied Stress On Knowledge Retention In A Multiwall Virtual Environment, David Wayne Brown Jan 2015

The Effect Of Applied Stress On Knowledge Retention In A Multiwall Virtual Environment, David Wayne Brown

All ETDs from UAB

While the science of medicine continues to grow as new discoveries in the treatment of disease are made, the education of existing procedures has not evolved with the growth of new technology. The training of doctors and nurses is still, primarily, one of classrooms and presentations. In addition, this training is predominately focused on treating the patient once they have reached the hospital, with limited thought given to out of hospital emergencies. Simulation labs are present at most schools, but these are limited in their ability to deliver identical scenarios across the entire student population due to variances in personnel …


Norepinephrine Circuits In Mediating Stress-Elicited Behavior, Hyungwoo Nam Jan 2015

Norepinephrine Circuits In Mediating Stress-Elicited Behavior, Hyungwoo Nam

All ETDs from UAB

Norepinephrine in the central nervous system (CNS) is a key mediator of stress-elicited behavioral and physiological adaptations. However, our understanding of central noradrenergic circuitry that regulates specific stress-elicited adaptations is incomplete. The working model for the studies described in this dissertation is that disruptions of specific noradrenergic circuits are responsible for the manifestation of distinct stress-elicited behaviors. Initially the organization of descending noradrenergic neurons with poly-synaptic collaterals to the adrenal gland and skeletal muscle was defined. These noradrenergic presympathetic-premotor neurons (PSPMNs) were distributed within the ventral locus coeruleus (LC), nucleus subcoeruleus (SubC), and the A7 cell group. Then behavioral characterization …


The Role Of Spinal Serotonergic Receptors 5-Ht1a And 5-Ht3 In Stress-Induced Urinary Bladder Hypersensitivity, Chelsea L. Crawford Jan 2014

The Role Of Spinal Serotonergic Receptors 5-Ht1a And 5-Ht3 In Stress-Induced Urinary Bladder Hypersensitivity, Chelsea L. Crawford

All ETDs from UAB

Disorders in which pain originates from the urinary bladder such as interstitial cystitis (IC) are steadily increasing in prevalence. A common finding among patients with IC is the comorbidity with stress or anxiety disorders. In rats, footshock stress alone is sufficient to elicit bladder hypersensitivity. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) has been established as a mediator in anxiety and pain separately, but little is known about the role of 5-HT in stress-induced visceral hypersensitivity. The current set of studies addresses three main concerns: (1) the impact of spinal 5-HT1A and 5-HT3 receptor blockade with WAY-100635 (10 µg) and ondansetron (10 µg), respectively, …


Stress And Myostatin In Salmoninae, Nicholas Galt Jan 2014

Stress And Myostatin In Salmoninae, Nicholas Galt

All ETDs from UAB

The relationship between the muscle growth inhibitor, myostatin, and the stress response has been extensively studied in mammals, and myostatin is now known to partially mediate the degradative effects of stress in skeletal muscle. In fish, this relationship has not yet been clearly described. Herein, the effects of two stress mimetics, cortisol treatment and crowding, on myostatin-1a, -1b, and -2a expression in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki), Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are described. In study I, no clear effects on myostatin mRNA expression were detected in rainbow trout …


Hard On Your Heart: A Qualitative Description Of Adolescent Prenatal Stress, Candace Clayton Knight Jan 2013

Hard On Your Heart: A Qualitative Description Of Adolescent Prenatal Stress, Candace Clayton Knight

All ETDs from UAB

Introduction: Pregnancy during adolescence is potentially stressful due to the concurrent tasks of navigating the typically tumultuous adolescent stage of development and the life altering experience of pregnancy (Kaye, 2008). There is a growing body of research linking prenatal stress to poor birth and developmental outcomes such as premature birth and low birth weight infants (K. Keenan, Sheffield, & Boeldt, 2007; Mulder et al., 2002), which makes describing the relatively unexplored perceptions and experience of stress during adolescent pregnancy important. The life course framework, with its emphasis on social, environmental, and family risk factors, has implications for reducing disparities among …


The Effect Of The Release Of A Thermal Stressor On Bluegill (Lepomis Macrochirus) Morphology And Physiology, Jessica Eagar Jan 2011

The Effect Of The Release Of A Thermal Stressor On Bluegill (Lepomis Macrochirus) Morphology And Physiology, Jessica Eagar

All ETDs from UAB

Temperature is considered a very important abiotic factor in fish communities. An increase in water temperature, as is found with the use of nuclear production reactors, can act as a stressor in aquatic systems. The P-reactor, operational from 1954-1988, on the Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, utilized the Par Pond Reservoir System as part of its cooling mechanisms. During reactor operation, heated effluents were displaced into Pond C, causing the water to be heated to around 45° C. Fischer (1994) found that the bluegill population had adapted with changes to their morphology and physiology. The bluegill from the …


Ultrasound Elasticity Measurements As A Predictor For Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation, Anna Sorace Jan 2011

Ultrasound Elasticity Measurements As A Predictor For Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation, Anna Sorace

All ETDs from UAB

This research thesis examines the applicability of using ultrasound imaging to quantify arterial elasticity and assess potential of arteriovenous fistula maturation in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. Tissue-specific abnormalities have proven useful for identifying disease states within oncology, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal system. Using ultrasound-based imaging to evaluate arterial elasticity is a noninvasive and novel technique. It has the potential to contribute further insight into chronic kidney disease fistula failure and become a noninvasive prognostic indicator. Reliable vascular access is critical for delivery of adequate hemodialysis treatment to CKD patients and to maintain long-term connections for dialysis. An arteriovenous fistula is …


The Impact Of Stressful Neighborhoods On The Mental Health Of Emerging Adolescents, Vicki P. Winstead Jan 2011

The Impact Of Stressful Neighborhoods On The Mental Health Of Emerging Adolescents, Vicki P. Winstead

All ETDs from UAB

Life within the ecological context of a disadvantaged and disordered neighborhood is characterized by daily exposure to chronic stressors which are often outside the realm of control of the individual and have negative consequences for the mental health of its residents and in particular, adolescents Using data from Healthy Passages, a multilevel, multi-method longitudinal study which examines health trajectories of adolescents over a ten year period, this paper examines whether daily exposure to a threatening environment in disadvantaged and disordered neighborhoods lead to depression in young people who are on the verge of adolescence. The current study tested the relationships …


Estrogen Increases Stress Resilience And Hippocampal Synaptic Physiology In The Learned Helplessness Model Of Depression In Female Rats, Teruko Michelle Bredemann Jan 2011

Estrogen Increases Stress Resilience And Hippocampal Synaptic Physiology In The Learned Helplessness Model Of Depression In Female Rats, Teruko Michelle Bredemann

All ETDs from UAB

A recent focus of psychiatric research is estrogen related mood disorders such as postpartum depression and major depressive disorder in women. It is now clear that women are more susceptible to depression in response to stress during reproductive events when ovarian hormones are low or fluctuating. Depressive episodes are characterized by feelings of helplessness and despair as well as learning and memory impairments that have been linked to the hippocampus. Thus, decreased functioning of hippocampal circuits likely contributes to the cognitive symptoms associated with depression. Preclinical research shows that stress, which triggers depressive episodes, decreases the ability of excitatory synapses …


Parental Well-Being And Child Outcomes Among School-Aged, Prematurely-Born Children., Desiree Maria De Jong Jan 2010

Parental Well-Being And Child Outcomes Among School-Aged, Prematurely-Born Children., Desiree Maria De Jong

All ETDs from UAB

Children born prematurely are at a significantly higher risk than their full-term peers for developing cognitive, behavioral, attention, and executive functioning difficulties by the time they reach school-age. Parents of children born prematurely are also at greater risk for developing symptoms of depression and stress compared to parents of full-term children. However, the literature is conflicting with respect to whether or not parental well-being remains compromised by the time the preterm child reaches school-age. Additionally, much of the research examining this relationship is conducted prior to school-age, with little research beyond these years. A primary purpose of the current study …


Study Of The Role Of The Amygdala In The Effects Of Stress On Sensory Processing Of The Urinary Bladder, Jennifer De Berry Jan 2010

Study Of The Role Of The Amygdala In The Effects Of Stress On Sensory Processing Of The Urinary Bladder, Jennifer De Berry

All ETDs from UAB

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a chronic visceral condition of the urinary bladder characterized by pelvic/suprapubic pain, and urinary frequency and urgency. There is no documented cause for IC, but a prominent role for stress in its pathophysiology and presentation are well-documented. In the clinical setting, IC pain-related symptomatology is exacerbated during periods of stress. Numerous laboratory studies of humans and animals have similarly demonstrated stress-induced visceral hypersensitivity. The amygdala is highly connected with physiological stress response systems and pain modulatory pathways, and its connectivity with these systems places it in a unique anatomical position for mediating the reciprocal relationship between …