Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Does D-Cycloserine Augmentation Of Cbt Improve Therapeutic Homework Compliance For Pediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?, Jennifer M. Park

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist that acts on the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor of the glutamatergic receptor complex, may enhance fear extinction learning during exposure-based therapy. Clinical studies in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and non-OCD anxiety disorders - and a recent trial in pediatric OCD - have shown that DCS can improve treatment response to exposure therapy relative to placebo and exposure therapy. Some have hypothesized that improved treatment response is a function of increased compliance and engagement in therapeutic homework tasks, a core component of behavioral treatment. The present study examined the relationship between DCS and homework compliance in …

Modeling And Surveillance Of Pandemic Influenza Outbreaks, Diana Prieto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pandemic outbreaks are unpredictable as to their virus strain, transmissibility, and impact on our quality of life. Hence, the decision support models for mitigation of pandemic outbreaks must be user-friendly and operational, and also incorporate valid estimates of disease transmissibility and severity. This dissertation research is aimed at 1) reviewing the existing pandemic simulation models to identify their implementation gaps with regard to usability and operability, and suggesting research remedies, 2) increasing operability of simulation models by calibrating them via an epidemiological model that estimates infection probabilities using viral shedding profiles of concurrent pandemic and seasonal influenza, and 3) developing …

The Effects Of Pre-Exercise Carbohydrate Supplementation On Resistance Training Performance During An Acute Resistance Training Session, Kelly Raposo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It appears that "carbohydrate loading" may enhance the performance of resistance training, but studies on CHO supplementation prior to a resistance-training bout are limited and have resulted in conflicting findings. PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of pre-exercise CHO supplementation on high-intensity (>75% 1RM) resistance training performance for resistance-trained women during an acute bout of resistance exercise. METHODS: Thirteen resistance trained female participants (21.9 ± 4.8 yrs; 64.5 ± 3.0 in; 137.0 ± 14.8 lbs) came to the Exercise and Performance Nutrition Laboratory on three separate occasions; the day of the Familiarization Trial (FT) and the two Exercise Testing sessions …

Disciplinary Outcomes By Race And Gender In Schools Implementing Positive Behavior Support: Does Fidelity Of Implementation Reduce Disproportionality?, Therese Sandomierski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disparities in behavioral outcomes for minority students are a decades-old problem. Recently, the systems-level approach of school-wide positive behavior support (SW-PBS) and its growing research base have garnered attention as a possible remedy. Although SW-PBS has been shown to be effective in reducing a school's overall level of office discipline referrals (ODRs) and suspensions (OSS), and its success has been replicated in schools with large populations of minority students, effective outcomes across all groups of students within a school are not guaranteed. Some reports document increases in the magnitude of disproportionality even when ODRs and OSS decrease for the school …

Decision Aid Models For Resource Sharing Strategies During Global Influenza Pandemics, Alfredo Santana Reynoso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pandemic influenza outbreaks have historically entailed significant societal and economic disruptions. Today, our quality of life is threatened by our inadequate preparedness for the imminent pandemic. The key challenges we are facing stem from a significant uncertainty in virus epidemiology, limited response resources, inadequate international collaboration, and the lack of appropriate science-based decision support tools. The existing literature falls short of comprehensive models for global pandemic spread and mitigation which incorporate the heterogeneity of the world regions and realistic travel networks. In addition, there exist virtually no studies which quantify the impact of resource sharing strategies among multiple countries. This …

Perspective Shifting In Relative Clauses By Elementary-Aged Spanish-English Bilinguals: A Cross-Linguistic Study, Xigrid Tayri Soto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language-specific theories of sentence processing suggest that individuals interpret sentences based on the characteristics of their native language (e.g., Bates & MacWhinney, 1989). As such, competing linguistic cues are taken into account (including word order, morphology, and animacy) and the cue selected is most likely to yield a correct interpretation in the native language. However, research in this area has produced conflicting results. MacWhinney (2005) has proposed that examining the role of perspective shifting in sentence comprehension may demonstrate how cognitive and syntactic factors work together to facilitate sentence comprehension. The aim of the current study is to investigate the …

Tarnished Golden Years: Older Offenders With Mental Health Problems And Late Life First Time Offenders, Brianne Stanback

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Older offenders (offenders 50 years and older) are a distinct groups within the U.S. correctional system. Studies 1 and 2 were intended to investigate mental health and stressors among jailed older offenders.

Study 1 examined the prevalence rates of mental health disorders and explored the relationship between mental health disorders and stressors. Participants 50 years and older (N=330) from the 2002 wave of the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ) were studied via descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and a logistic regression to determine which variables were related to the probability of having a mental health problem. 65.8% of participants …

Food Deserts' And 'Food Swamps' In Hillsborough County, Florida: Unequal Access To Supermarkets And Fast-Food Restaurants, Dana Beth Stein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that the suburbanization of supermarkets has created `food deserts', defined as areas where socially disadvantaged individuals lack access to nutritious food outlets. Additionally, the growing presence of fast-food restaurants has created `food swamps', or areas where socially disadvantaged individuals encounter an overabundance of unhealthy food outlets. While previous studies have analyzed either `food deserts' or `food swamps' using conventional statistical techniques, a more comprehensive approach that includes samples of both healthy and unhealthy entities and considers the variety of available food options is necessary to improve our understanding of the local food environment and related disparities.

This …

The Role Of Contextual Associations In The Selection Of Objects, Noah Patrick Sulman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a sequence of experiments addressing basic questions about the control of visual attention and the relationship between attention and object recognition. This work reviews compelling findings addressing attentional control on the basis of high-level perceptual properties. In five experiments observers were presented with a rapid sequence of object photographs and instructed to either detect or selectively encode a verbally cued object category. When these object categories (e.g. "baseball") were preceded by contextual images associated with a given object category (e.g. "baseball diamond"), observers were less likely to accurately report information about the target item. This effect obtained …

Growing Up With Hiv: Disease Management Among Perinatally Infected Adolescents, Barbara J. Szelag

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children born with HIV in the 1980s and 1990s are surviving into adolescence and adulthood, due to the availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Growing up with a chronic and stigmatized disease presents considerable challenges as young people explore their sexuality, develop relationships, and take steps to become independent and productive adults. Adherence to HAART is an essential and life-long practice for the maintenance of health and longevity. For adolescents born with HIV, a daily medication schedule is one aspect of disease management that also includes medical visits, HIV status acceptance, bouts of illness, and disclosure of HIV status …

A Comparison Of Latina Women In Centeringpregnancy And Individual Prenatal Care, Tara E. Trudnak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CenteringPregnancy is a model of group prenatal care that replaces routine, individual prenatal care. The program brings women together into small groups to receive their care and prenatal education, and is based on three components: risk assessment, education, and support. The model is client-centered, designed to empower pregnant women and support persons, and involves the woman in small group discussions of 8-10 other women of similar gestational age. The group discussions provide support, help women educate each other, and invoke self-monitoring. Currently, there have been few publications that closely examined maternal weight and obesity and associated outcomes in women involved …

Parent Response To Adolescent Self-Injurious Behavior: A Collective Case Study, Kylee Sue Tuls

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research in the area of self-injurious behaviors and the family context is still emerging. The majority of research available is quantitative in nature. The limited qualitative research available in this area has been conducted outside of the United States. A collective case study was conducted with four parents with an adolescent that had been admitted to an inpatient psychiatric residential facility with a presenting problem of self-injurious behavior. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth, qualitative understanding of the parent perspective and comprehension of adolescent self-injurious behavior including the parents' ideas on how the parent-child relationship or …

Celestial Bodies, Jared Calvin White

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following is a collection of original poetry written over a span of three years while attending the University of South Florida. The poetry is divided into five numbered sections, marking the major thematic divisions. Preceding the poetry is a critical introduction to the work that outlines the author's developing thematic ideology.

Sharps Injuries In Medical Training: Higher Risk For Residents Than For Medical Students, Rachel Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Because of their relative inexperience in performing procedures and handling sharps devices, medical students and resident physicians are considered to be at high risk for sharps injuries. A higher rate of sharps injuries for medical trainees implies a higher risk for occupationally-acquired infection with bloodborne pathogens and may have financial and legal implications for training institutions. This study examines the prevalence of sharps injuries among US medical students and resident physicians. A systematic review of the literature yielded 10 studies that gave data on sharps injuries for US medical students or residents, and those data were combined with data from …

A Mixed Method Study On The Peripartum Experience And Postpartum Effects Of Emergency Hysterectomy Due To Postpartum Hemorrhage, Cara De La Cruz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Little is known about the experience and psychological outcomes for women who experience emergency peripartum hysterectomy (EPH). The objective of this study was to explore women's experiences of EPH and to determine if women who experience EPH were more likely to experience mental health sequelae.

Methods: This mixed method design involved a quantitative and a qualitative phase. The quantitative phase used a retrospective cohort design. Women were sampled through on-line communities, including an EPH support group, and a larger website for mothers. Women completed on-line surveys covering sociodemographic, obstetric/gynecological/ and psychiatric information, including screens for depression and Post-Traumatic Stress …

Multivariate Anti-Inflammatory Approaches To Rescue Neurogenesis And Cognitive Function In Aged Animals, Sandra Antonieta Acosta

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Aging is considered the number one risk factor to develop neuropathologies such as memory loss, senile dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease. Neurodegenerative diseases tend to start during adulthood, and aggravate over time, making them difficult to prevent and to treat. In the Unites States, demographic studies by U.S. Bureau of the Census have determined that our aging population of >65 years is expected to increase from the present 35 million to 78 million in 2030. This would result, not only to an increase of …

Literacy And Hazard Communication Comprehension Of Employees Presenting To An Occupational Health Clinic, Christine Bouchard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

More than 100 million American workers, 7 million workplaces, and 945,000 hazardous chemical products are covered under the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS), regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. There were a total of 1,183,500 recordable non-fatal illnesses and injuries in private industry workplaces in 2006 resulting in days away from work. Of these, 19,480 were due to chemicals and chemical products. In addition, there were a total of 5,703 work-related fatalities in 2006. In 191 of these, chemicals and chemical products were listed as the primary source of injury and as the secondary source of injury in 104 …

Navigating The Child Welfare System: An Exploratory Study Of Families' Experiences, Lianne Fuino Estefan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growing up in a family environment that includes child maltreatment can result in an array of negative consequences for children, including health, behavioral, developmental, and social difficulties, and these consequences can persist over the lifetime. Families who have come to the attention of child welfare services for child maltreatment are at particularly high risk for experiencing multiple concurrent problems, including intimate partner violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues, as well as other family challenges. It is essential to intervene effectively with this population. However, there are few qualitative studies of parent experiences in the child welfare system through which …

The Impact Of Managed Care On The Utilization And Distribution Of Inpatient Surgical Procedures With Demonstrated Volume And Outcome Endogeneity, Linda Stephens Gipson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose

This study is designed to determine whether managed care has had an influence on the number and distribution of procedures with demonstrated volume and outcome endogeneity in Florida healthcare markets; in addition, methods are developed to determine which measures of managed care activity best predict the impact of managed care in health care markets.

Rationale

A retrospective population based cohort design is used capitalizing on the variability among Florida markets between 1995 and 1999, a period which captured the full business life cycle of managed care plans statistical areas and competing hospitals (market share) over time. Multiple regression models …

The Mediating Role Of Social Support And Fulfillment Of Spiritual Needs In End Of Life Care, Kimberley A. Gryglewicz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

End of life (EOL) caregiving can be a daunting and challenging endeavor as caregivers adjust to the ever-changing care demands associated with dying. Increased personal care, assisting with symptom and medication management, and attending to the emotional and spiritual needs of the dying person require caregivers to learn new tasks and to assume new roles such as social worker, nurse, and chaplain. As families continue to play an essential role in meeting the health care needs of their dying loved ones, it is imperative for social workers to understand the complexities of the end of life caregiving experience in order …

An Evaluation Of The Early Steps Referral Process In Hillsborough County To Detect Delays In Access To Early Intervention Services, Jessica Fry Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early intervention services are important in obtaining better outcomes for infants with a developmental delay or a condition that may result in a delay. In Florida, a primary resource for providing these services is the Early Steps Program. This study analyzed the Early Steps referral process to identify barriers to prompt access. The guiding hypothesis was if differences exist in key outcomes of the referral process, then these differences may reveal where improvements can be made. Improving access to early intervention should produce better outcomes and reduce the costs of services required later by addressing developmental concerns earlier.

The dataset …

Assessing The Relationship Of Monocytes With Primary And Secondary Dengue Infection Among Hospitalized Dengue Patients In Malaysia, 2010: A Cross-Sectional Study, Benjamin Glenn Klekamp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dengue, a group of four similar viruses transmitted through the bite of a mosquito, is estimated to infect upwards of 100 million annually in over 100 nations throughout the global equatorial belt. Distribution of global dengue is highly skewed as Southeast Asian and Western Pacific regions endure 75% of the global dengue burden. Similar to other regional countries, Malaysia has been rapidly urbanizing, which has supported a hyperendemic dengue state.

The biological pathway by which dengue infection causes a wide range of clinical manifestations, spanning asymptomatic to life-threatening severe complications, is not comprehensively understood. Historically, severe dengue complications have primarily …

Associate Degrees In Health Related Occupations As Predictors Of Success In Physician Assistant Programs, David E. Kotun

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if applicants who had an associate degree in the health sciences prior to acceptance to a physician assistant program would do better than those applicants without an associate degree in the health sciences on three measures of success of physician assistant education. The three measures of success used were graduation rates, scores on the Physician Assistant Knowledge Rating and Assessment Tool (PACKRAT), and performance on the national certifying exam, the Physician Assistant National Certification Examination (PANCE). Data used for this dissertation were taken from original source documents and raw data sent …

Assessment Of The Dependence Of Ventilation Image Calculation From 4d-Ct On Deformation And Ventilation Algorithms, Kujtim Latifi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ventilation imaging using 4D-CT is a convenient and cost effective functional imaging methodology which might be of value in radiotherapy treatment planning to spare functional lung volumes. To calculate ventilation imaging from 4D-CT we must use deformable image registration (DIR). This study validates the DIR methods and investigates the dependence of calculated ventilation on DIR methods and ventilation algorithms.

The first hypothesis is if ventilation algorithms are robust then they will be insensitive to the precise DIR used provided the DIR is accurate. The second hypothesis is that the change in Houndsfield Unit (HU) method is less dependent on the …

Bone Marrow Transplant Nurses' Attitudes About Caring For Patients Who Are Near The End Of Life: A Quality Improvement Project, Leslie Lauersdorf

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In oncology setting, there is a range of emotions felt by patients and nurses alike such as helplessness, anger, sadness and anxiety; and this is especially the case as patients near the end of life. The literature shows there is an interest in nurses' attitudes toward caring for patients who are near the end of life. This project examines the overall attitude of Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) nurses' attitudes toward caring for patients who are near the end of life using the Frommelt Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD) and a Demographic Data Sheet. This project investigated the …

Repeated Binge Pattern Ethanol Administration During Adolescence Or Adulthood: Long-Term Changes In Voluntary Ethanol Intake And Mesolimbic Dopamine Functionality In Male Rats, Antoniette Michelle Maldonado-Devincci

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Binge alcohol consumption is a rising concern in the United States, especially among adolescents as during this developmental period alcohol use is usually initiated and has been shown to cause detrimental effects on brain structure and function. These findings have been established through the use of binge models in animals, where animals are repeatedly administered high doses of ethanol typically over a period of three or four days. While such work has examined the effects of a four-day and repeated three-day binge, there has been almost no work conducted aimed at investigating the long-term behavioral and neurochemical and/or functional consequences …

Understanding The Psychosocial Aspects Of Waterpipe Smoking Among College Students, Mary Pautler Martinasek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waterpipe tobacco smoking has migrated from being a custom of some cultures to becoming a staple around college campuses. The social nature and flavored tobacco encourage initiation in this tobacco naïve age group.

The study was a sequential mixed method design, employing primary data collection and analysis of a random sample of university students who live on campus at a single university. The study involved observations (N=6), intercept interviews with smokers and nonsmokers (N=63), three focus groups (N=31), and an online survey (N=288).

Findings were centered on the constructs of the Theory of Reasoned Action by Ajzen and Fishbein (1975), …

Visual Search For Smoking Stimuli: Detection And Distraction, Jason A. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has shown that the attentional systems of addicted individuals are biased towards drug-related stimuli, but despite several decades of effort these results have frequently been inconsistent. Though commonly believed to result from addiction and dependence, cognitive research would suggest that frequent exposure to drug-related stimuli could affect the attentional processing of drug-related cues even if no actual drug use occurs. The present investigation examined attentional bias for smoking cues using a novel visual search paradigm amongst smokers currently in nicotine withdrawal and fully satiated smokers, as well as a non-smoker control group. Variables related to smoking behavior, as …

Analytical Methods To Support Risk Identification And Analysis In Healthcare Systems, Laila Nadime Cure Vellojin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare systems require continuous monitoring of risk to prevent adverse events. Risk analysis is a time consuming activity that depends on the background of analysts and available data. Patient safety data is often incomplete and biased. This research proposes systematic approaches to monitor risk in healthcare using available patient safety data. The methodologies combine traditional healthcare risk analysis methods with safety theory concepts, in an innovative manner, to allocate available evidence to potential risk sources throughout the system. We propose the use of data mining to analyze near-miss reports and guide the identification of risk sources. In addition, we propose …

Adolescence Is An Ocean: A Biocultural Investigation Of Youth Food Consumption In Tanzania, Elizabeth J. Danforth

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates adolescents' relationships with food and other community and household members' perceptions of youth and their food consumption to understand the multifactorial dynamic processes which create nutritional outcomes among urban and rural youth in central Tanzania. Youth are an important and demographically large population in developing countries. The identities created during this distinct stage of cultural production can be reflected in youths' food consumption and relationships with food. Nutrition likely affects how youth transition through a variety of states, including their growth and development stages, primary to secondary to higher education, child to parent, or unemployed to employed. …