Life Sciences Commons^™

Improving Chinese Mothers’ Health Literacy: A Wechat Intervention, Qiong Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

The health literacy and eHealth literacy of women during the reproductive age is crucial, as it can affect their health and the health of their children. Promoting health literacy is essential to achieve mothers’ empowerment by improving access to and capacity of using health information effectively. However, functional, interactive, and critical health literacy and eHealth literacy have never been assessed among Chinese women. The first study during this dissertation assessed functional, interactive, and critical health literacy and eHealth literacy among 421 of Chinese mothers with children under 3 years old. The results revealed overall less than optimal level of health …

Multi-Level Barriers To Art Adherence Among Hiv-Infected Women In Rural Eswatini: A Mixed Methods Approach, Nozipho Becker

Doctoral Dissertations

Eswatini has the highest global prevalence of HIV despite universal access to free treatment. Lack of compliance continues to be a significant challenge for HIV care and management programs throughout the country. Studies investigating barriers to antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence, particularly in women, who are the most vulnerable to HIV infections, are limited. The disproportionate impact of HIV on women can be attributed to multiple risk factors at the individual, household, and community/structural levels. Women living in rural settings are particularly at risk as a result of socio-cultural and environmental vulnerabilities such as oppressive traditional practices, intimate partner violence, and …

The Prevention Of Obesity-Associated Colorectal Cancer Via Dietary Suppression Of Inflammation-Driven Wnt-Signaling, Jinchao Li

Doctoral Dissertations

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. A number of population studies have established that modifiable lifestyle factors such as obesity plays an important role in colorectal carcinogenesis. In the United States, more than one-third of adults are obese and obesity prevalence rates have no sign of decrease. Therefore, the development of effective strategies to prevent obesity-induced CRC is a public health priority. This study aimed to investigate whether genetic or dietary strategies can prevent obesity-induced CRC and determine the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the prevention effects of these strategies. We used …

The Efficacy Of Nanoemulsion-Based Delivery Systems To Improve Vitamin D3 Bioaccessibility And Bioavailability, Alagu Selvi Kadappan

Masters Theses

Vitamin D deficiency is an epidemic issue in all age groups in Western countries and that affects both skeletal and non-skeletal functions. Even with the wide application of food fortification, vitamin D deficiency tends to increase continuously. Being hydrophobic in nature, vitamin D has poor solubility; thereby it negatively affects its absorption and bioavailability when compared to other hydrophilic dietary compounds. The need to develop a novel strategy is of greater importance to enhance its bioavailability and thereby improving vitamin D level in the body.

In this study, lipid-based delivery of oil-in-water nanoemulsion (diameter < 200nm) was utilized to improve the bioaccessibility and oral bioavailability of vitamin D₃. First, we examined the …