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Porphyromonas Gingivalis, Ethanol, And Chronic Diseases., Nicholas Alan Short

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an investigation into the relationships among Porphyromonas gingivalis, ethanol, and a series of chronic diseases, focusing primarily on atherosclerosis. It uses evolutionary theory to understand clinical parameters related to chronic disease biology. The initial research question was, "If people who drink a glass of wine each day have a lower risk for atherosclerosis, could one explanation involve antibacterial effects on pathogens associated with causing atherosclerosis, namely, Porphyromonas gingivalis?". This dissertation is divided into four chapters. Chapter One provides the foundational information pertinent to the dissertation. Chapter Two describes an in- vitro experiment aimed at understanding …

Hypocretin-Receptor Mrna Expression In The Central Amygdala Of Alcohol-Dependent And Non-Dependent Rats, Gabriel Aldridge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hypocretin/Orexin (HCRT) neurotransmission facilitates drug-seeking behavior. HCRT neurotransmission at HCRT-receptors 1 and 2 (HCRT-R1 and -R2, respectively) is implicated in addiction. During the shift to alcohol-dependency, adaptations in neurotransmitter systems occur in reward- and stress-related brain regions. Specifically, neurotransmission systems in the central amygdala (CeA) are modulated by alcohol drinking/exposure. Therefore, this study investigated Hcrtr1 and Hcrtr2 mRNA expression in the CeA of alcohol-dependent rats and in non-dependent controls during acute alcohol withdrawal. Fos mRNA expression in the CeA of alcohol-dependent and non-dependent rats was also determined to assess adaptations in neuronal activation. To our knowledge, this is the first …

Histone Deacetylases In Alcohol Associated Liver Disease., Srineil Bodduluri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol abuse is endemic worldwide and there is no FDA approved treatment for Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease (ALD). Many scholars have posited that targeting Histone Deacetylases (HDAC) may be therapeutic in ALD intervention. In this study, the changes in hepatic gene expression and immune phenotyping of mice undergoing chronic plus binge alcohol exposure was examined. The characterization of relative mRNA levels for all 18 HDAC were performed. Results showed decreased expression of the genes HDAC 1,7,9,10,11 and Sirtuin enzymes (SIRT) 3,4,5,7. Other pathways related to lipid metabolism as well as systemic inflammation and hepatic injury also exhibited significant changes. These altered …

Investigating The Association Between Adolescent Polysubstance Use, Crime, And Violence In The United States, Christian Nwabueze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The lifetime prevalence of alcohol in the United States is 8% and lifetime prevalence of illicit drug use is about 2-3%. Substance use is common among adolescents and polysubstance use is becoming a public health threat.

The prevalence of adolescent physical dating violence was 8.2%, the prevalence of adolescent sexual violence was also 8.2% while the prevalence of dual adolescent physical and sexual violence was 2.6%. Compared to those who used only single substances, adolescents who did not use any substance were 60% less likely (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.24 – 0.74) to experience physical dating violence, 50% …

Std Prevention: An Educational Intervention For Exotic Dancers, Maria Delurdes Dehoyos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Centers for Disease Control and prevention reported nearly 2.3 million STD cases diagnosed in 2017, and the number is continuing to rise. San Antonio, Texas, is ranked third in the state of Texas with the highest STD rates and leading in the state with congenital syphilis. There is an increased risk for contracting STDs working in the sex industry. There are little to no studies pertaining to any educational interventions offered to exotic dancers to increase personal knowledge on STDs. This research has focused on an educational intervention offered by a nurse practitioner to exotic dancers in two adults-only …

Behavioral Economic Moderators Of The Association Between Intention And Changes In Drinking, Ulysses Carrillo Savage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intention to change predicts change in drinking following an intervention, but many people who intend to change do not follow through and little research has examined factors that might account for this intention-change disconnect. Behavioral economic research suggests that elevated alcohol demand, deficits in environmental reward, and steep discounting of delayed rewards are associated with stable heavy drinking, and the current study tests the hypothesis that these individual difference risk variables will moderate the relationship between intention and change in drinking in a sample of heavy drinking college students following a brief alcohol intervention. Moderation analyses were conducted with behavioral …

Alcohol Consumption In A Preclinical Model Of Schizophrenia, Liza Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects approximately 1% of the global population. Schizophrenia is highly comorbid with other psychiatric disorders such as Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) with a prevalence rate of 27% - 65%, which is significantly higher than AUD exhibited by the general population (6%). Research indicates that a higher rate of AUD in individuals suffering from schizophrenia may be related to the common neuronal pathways that underlie the expression of both disorders. The present study will determine whether the neonatal quinpirole (NQ) rodent model of schizophrenia will approximate the human condition and exhibit increased EtOH consumption. …

Do These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends? Social Norms, Alcohol, & Sexual Cyberbullying, Anandi C. Ehman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sexually aggressive behavior is well-documented among college students. However, little is known about the role technology may play in facilitating this behavior. Given that social norms have been established as a useful framework for understanding problematic and risky behavior in college students, the current authors sought to determine whether this theory might also provide insight into the use of technology to facilitate sexually aggressive behavior. Thus, this work sought to determine whether sexually aggressive behavior which occurs through the use of technology and social media, henceforth known as sexual cyberbullying, mediated the relationship between perceived social norms of sexually aggressive …

Reducing Hazardous Drinking Among Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using A Brief Alcohol Intervention And Avoidance-Focused Feedback, Matthew Thomas Luciano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study supplements a one-session personalized drinking feedback intervention with a one-session activity feedback intervention for veterans with symptoms of PTSD and hazardous drinking. Veterans were screened (N=129) and enrolled (N=15) in an open trial to test feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy. Veterans completed assessments at baseline and post-intervention (1-month and 3-months). Participants (13.3% women; 40% African American) were recruited through a community in the mid-South. Thirteen participants (86.6%) were retained between the baseline assessment and second intervention session. Descriptive findings from a self-report acceptability questionnaire indicate that elements of this intervention were viewed favorably by a majority of participants. …

A Noninvasive Measure Of The P300 In Rats Selectively Bred For Disparate Alcohol Preference During An Auditory Oddball Tas, Logan Michael Brewer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The utility of genetics for predicting alcoholism and alcohol-related disorders islimited given environmental variance and a finite understanding of all geneticcontributors. This has led to interest in phenotypic markers that can be used forclassifying individuals at heightened risk for developing alcoholism and alcohol-relateddisorders. One such marker is the P300, an event-related potential (ERP) observed tohave an attenuated amplitude and increased latency in both humans and animals whohave a genetic predisposition to alcohol use. To study the utility of the P300 as abiomarker for alcohol use disorders (AUDs), we examined its characteristic in alcoholpreferring (P) and non-preferring (NP) rats naïve to …

Photonic Probing Of Structural Deformation Of Brain Tissues Due To Stress And Alcohol, Shiva Bhandari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mesoscopic optical physics based Partial Wave Spectroscopy(PWS) and Inverse Participation Ratio(IPR) techniques are sensitive to nanoscale and submicron-scale changes respectively occurring in the biological cells. These changes occur due to several factors; stress and fetal alcoholism are deemed to be the major ones. The effects of chronic stress in adult brain cells and fetal alcoholism on the brain cells of fetus are studied using the respective animal models. PWS studies the effect of stress in brain tissues by measuring the optical backscattering spectra and quantifying the statistical properties of the nano-architecture of the tissues by the analysis of the fluctuating …

Identifying Pathways To Smoking And Alcohol Consumption After A Natural Disaster: Findings From Hurricane Katrina, Adam Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Survivors of disasters often experience severe psychological symptoms and disorders, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and report using psychoactive substances, such as alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes. This dissertation examined whether depression severity and PTSD were pathways to postdisaster smoking and alcohol consumption using a representative cohort of adult cigarette smokers from Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana nine and eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina (N=2004). Results from path analyses showed that disaster exposure increased depression and posttraumatic stress nine months after Hurricane Katrina, and the effect persisted across time for depression. Disaster exposure also increased the risk for …

Patterns Of Gambling And Drinking Behaviors Among Treatment-Seeking Disordered Gamblers, Matthew Thomas Suda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use and gambling frequently co-occur, though insight into the nature of the co-occurrence of these behaviors is limited. Gamblers often present to treatment with co-occurring alcohol use disorderes while less is known about the consumption of alcohol during gambling sessions. The association of these dimensions of alcohol use to the gambling behavior of disordered gamblers is unclear. Data were collected from the clinical files of 254 gamblers presenting to an outpatient clinic which included a calendar assessment of gambling behavior and clinical measures. Empirical patterns of gambling and drinking were derived using latent variable mixture modeling using dimensions of …

Examining The Impact Of Geosocial Networking On The Sexual Behaviors Of Men Who Have Sex With Men, Curtis Hooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Attentional Bias In Moderate And Heavy College Drinkers: An Eye-Tracking Study, Ansley Victoria Geno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral economic research regarding alcohol use aims to understand how substance use becomes favored over other rewarding non-substance activities (Meshesha, Dennhardt, & Murphy, 2014). The present study investigated attentional bias as an objective index of the relative valuation of substance-related rewards versus substance-free rewards among college students categorized as either heavy or moderate drinkers. The primary goal of this study was to assess the relative valuation of alcohol-related and alcohol-free rewards using multiple behavioral methods, such as attentional bias for alcohol measured via eye-tracking device, subjective ratings of the pleasantness of alcohol-related and alcohol-free stimuli, and measurement of recent activit …

Alcohol Consumption, Frailty, And The Mediating Role Of C-Reactive Protein In Older Adults, Mona Shah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Frailty is a well-established indicator of late-life decline and is accompanied by higher rates of comorbidity and disability. Meanwhile, an estimated 41% of adults over the age of 65 report consuming alcohol – an identified health risk and protective factor depending on dosage. Given that the demographic group of older Americans is projected to double by the year 2050, identification of frailty risk and protective factors is imperative. The goals of this thesis are to: (1) identify how varying levels of alcohol consumption relate to frailty, and (2) elucidate a possible mechanism that accounts for the relationship between alcohol consumption …

Stand-Alone Personalized Normative Feedback For College Student Drinkers: A Meta-Analytic Review, 2004 To 2014, Keri Dotson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Personalized normative feedback (PNF) has shown promise as a stand-alone intervention for reducing alcohol use among college students. PNF uses norms clarification to correct drinking norms misperceptions by highlighting discrepancies between personal alcohol use, perceived peer alcohol use, and actual peer alcohol use. Previous reviews of personalized feedback interventions have identified norms clarification as key a component, prompting researchers to study PNF as a single-component intervention for college drinking. As the number of publications focused on PNF effectiveness has increased in recent years, an empirical review of these studies is warranted to assess the potential impact of PNF as a …

Behavioral Economic Predictors Of Substance-Impaired Driving Among College Substance Users, Jenni B. Teeters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Substance-impaired driving among college students represents a significant public health concern yet little is known about specific theoretical risk factors for driving after substance use among heavy drinking college students. The present study evaluated the hypothesis that substance users with elevated substance demand and steeper delay discounting would be more likely to report driving after substance use. Participants were 419 college students who reported at least one day of past month alcohol or marijuana use. Participants completed two Alcohol Purchase Tasks (APT), a Marijuana Purchase Task, a Delayed Discounting task, and a series of questions regarding driving after substance use. …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Behavioral Economic Intervention For Substance Abuse In A Diverse College Sample, Allison Marie Yurasek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy drinking and drug use among college students has become a major public health concern. Approximately 45% of college students engage in heavy episodic drinking and 28% of young adults report concurrent alcohol and illegal drug use. This pattern of substance use increases risk for experiencing a variety of substance-related consequences. Brief motivational interventions (BMIs) have been found to be effective in reducing alcohol consumption among college students, yet they yield relatively small effect sizes (d = .11-.4). Only about two thirds of students show a treatment response with 5-29% continuing to drink at risky levels. Hence, there is a …

An Examination Of The Effects Of Prenatal Ethanol Exposure On Neurobehvaioral Outcomes In C57bl/6j And Dba/2j Mice, Jeanelle Sonya Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use during pregnancy results in a range of harmful physical and cognitive effects for offspring. Animal models provide a useful tool to examine this complex occurence, but most models utilize very high and aversive levels of alcohol. The goal of this study was to use the drinking in the dark model to examine the possible effects of lower levels of alcohol exposure during pregnancy on adult offspring. Anxiety, learning and memory-influenced behaviors in adult offspring were measured. Generally, males demonstrated increased impairments compared to females. Males in the exposure group also demonstrated increased impairments on a measure of learning …

Evaluation Of A Digitally-Automated Alcohol Curriculum Designed To Alter Expectancies And Alcohol Use In First Year College Students, Amy Schreiner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High-risk alcohol consumption remains a primary public health concern for students on college campuses. In response to this concern the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism created a task force to identify and recommend strategies to aid college administrators in implementing effective alcohol programming at their institutions. While most administrators report being aware of these recommendations, many have not successfully implemented empirically supported interventions on their campuses. One significant barrier is the cost and difficulty of training and hiring skilled staff to implement these interventions. Of the strategies identified as effective, challenging alcohol expectancies …

The Role Of Affective And Behavioral Economic Factors In Predicting Response To A Brief Intervention For Alcohol And Illicit Drug Use In College Students, Ashley Ann Dennhardt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Brief motivational interventions (BMIs) have been shown to be efficacious in reducing heavy drinking and drug use among college students; however, effect sizes are small and more research is needed to identify predictors of responsiveness to these interventions. Depression, distress tolerance, delay discounting, and the reinforcing efficacy of substances have been implicated in substance use and may predict problem severity. Further, preliminary evidence suggests that these factors may be important predictors of treatment outcomes, but few studies have examined these constructs in this manner. This study tested a novel intervention approach that involves a BMI plus a supplemental intervention targeting …

Evaluation Of A Digitally Enhanced Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (Ecalc) For Use With Mandated College Students, Abigail Fried

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use has been a longstanding problem on college campuses. Despite the efforts National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the commissioned Task Force on College Drinking (2002), there has been a recent rise in the number of alcohol related arrests and violations on college campuses. Within the high-risk mandated student population, the most successful programs utilize motivational enhancement strategies, such as the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS). Likely due to financial constraints, an important issue that has been raised is the limited availability of validated methods for alcohol prevention and intervention on college campuses. …

The Influence Of Gender And Alcohol Use On Depressive Symptoms Among Men And Women, Elizabeth Anne Peters

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the extent to which gender influences self-reported prototypical and masculine-specific symptoms of depression in men and women and whether or not alcohol mediates this relationship. Secondly, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the Denver Comprehensive Depression Inventory (DCDI), in measuring prototypical and masculine-specific depressive symptoms in clinical and non-clinical samples of men and women.

This paper summarizes the literature on gender differences in depression and the assessment of depression and gender, and outlines the current research on masculine-specific depression. It is argued that current assessment instruments identify prototypical symptoms of depression, as outlined in the DSM-IV-TR, but …

A Process Evaluation Of The Brief Alcohol Screening Intervention For College Students Program At The University Of Mississippi, Tiffany Bouldin Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol misuse by students is a prevalent public health problem on college campuses across the nation. Underage drinking and binge drinking are two distinct forms of alcohol misuse that are comamong college students and often result in negative consequences for the students, the universities, and the surrounding communities. As a result, there is an increasing need for universities to provide targeted intervention programs for students who misuse alcohol. Furthermore, it is important that the selected interventions are capable of successful implementation on campus. The University of Mississippi currently utilizes the brief alcohol screening intervention for college students (basics) program for …

Relations Between Alcohol Use And Migraine Among Young Adults, Rachel Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Migraine is one of the most prevalent neurological disorders diagnosed throughout the world and can be extremely disabling, with many economic, social, physical and psychological health costs. Many environmental and physiological factors have been shown to precipitate migraine, including stress, hormonal fluctuations (in women), weather events, and changes in sleep and eating habits. In retrospective studies, a sizeable proportion of migraineurs also identify alcohol as a trigger for migraine attacks, but comparatively little research has explored the nature of alcohol consumption (frequency, quantity, type, rate, time of day) in relation to other aspects of migraine. Given limited and conflicting data …

The Impact Of An Alcohol Deterrence Policy On College Students' Behavior, Matthew Douglas Defore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The university under study developed an alcohol control policy in 2006 in response to a string of tragic alcohol-related deaths. At the time of the study, the policy had been in operation for six years with a growing number of student sanctions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the university's alcohol control policy to determine its deterrence impact on students. By surveying students who have been sanctioned under the alcohol control policy, the researcher sought to gain insight on the strengths and weaknesses of the policy as well as to use these responses as an opportunity to recommend …

Integrin Inhibitor Cyclorgdfv Blunts Enhanced Lps-Induced Liver Injury Caused By Ethanol In Mice., Veronica L. Massey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. Progression of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is associated with an increase in fibrin extracellular matrix (ECM) and inflammation. Previous studies have shown that this accumulation of fibrin in ALD is mediated by impaired fibrinolysis. Additionally, it is known that fibrin(ogen) interacts with the av~3 integrin of endothelial cells. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that hepatic inflammation caused by alcohol is mediated, at least in part, by activation of integrin av~3 by fibrin(ogen). To test this hypothesis, a study was designed to determine the effect of cycloRGDN, a peptide inhibitor of integrin av~3, in a …

Behavioral Economic Measures Of The Reinforcing Efficacy Of Alcohol As Indicators Of Problem Severity In Young Adults, Jessica Skidmore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heavy episodic drinking among young adults poses an important public health concern and leaves young adults vulnerable to experiencing a variety of alcohol-related consequences. Young adults with depressive symptoms, a family history of alcohol problems, and higher levels of impulsivitiy-related traits may be at greater risk. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the utility of the behavioral economic concept of reinforcing efficacy (RE) as a measure of problem severity among young adult drinkers. RE is a construct which measures the behavior-strengthening effects of a given substance and quantifies the relative value of a substance to an individual. …

Alcohol-Cues Relate To Self-Perceptions Of Aggression, Natalie Christine Hooks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol consumption is linked to increases in aggression. Recently, alcohol-related cues alone have been shown to increase aggressive thoughts and behaviors. Furthermore, aggression is displayed differently by men and women; men are more physically aggressive, whereas women are more relationally aggressive. The current study further explored this influence of alcohol-related cues on physical and relational aggression. Furthermore, the study explored the influence of participant gender on type of aggression expressed. In this study, 126 undergraduates were primed with alcohol-related (e.g., Miller Lite) or non-alcohol related commercials (e.g., Diet Coke). Additionally, participants completed a competitive noise-blast task (physical aggression measure of …