Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Relationships Between Leading And Trailing Indicators At Construction Sites In Yanbu Industrial City, Saudi Arabia, Anas H. Halloul

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Statement of Purpose: This study sought to assess the relationship between leading and lagging indicators in construction safety Management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In particular, it sought to determine whether construction sites with higher leading indicators predicted fewer incidents/accidents.Rationale for Study: Construction safety management is a critical occupational health concern globally. Scholars have researched approaches to improve safety measures and performance in construction sites. However, there is little discourse assessing the relationship between the leading indicators and the occurrence of incidents and accidents in construction sites. General Methods: A quantitative analysis was used in this study. Data were …

How Some Arboreal Salamanders (Genus Aneides) Jump, Glide, And Generate Lift, Christian E. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The jumping and subsequent aerial behaviors of arboreal lungless salamanders (genus Aneides) had never been investigated or described. The aims of this research were to (1) compare jumping performance within the family Plethodontidae with a special focus on arboreal species from genus Aneides, (2) describe the biomechanics and kinematics of aerial behaviors after a jump or extended fall, and (3) model airflow over the morphology of the most aerially adept salamanders to investigate if they are capable of generating lift. First, I recorded salamanders jumping, locomoting vertically, dropping, and flying in a vertical wind tunnel. Then, I laser-scanned and reconstructed …

Role Of Hla-Drb1 Fucosylation In Anti-Melanoma Immunity, Daniel K. Lester

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Melanoma is the one of the most lethal skin malignancies due to its ability to rapidly metastasize and evade the immune system. One factor that influences melanoma’s ability to metastasize and evade the immune system is the tumor microenvironment. The tumor microenvironment is a complex ecosystem that consists of melanoma cells interacting with different proteins and cell types such as cytokines, extra cellular matrix proteins, and various immune cells. While different immune cells can have various implications in the tumor microenvironment, some tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) have the potential to suppress these tumors. Recent therapeutic strategies aim to enhance TILs …

Diet And Salivary Microbiome On Cardiovascular Risk And Glycemic Control In Participants With And Without Type 1 Diabetes: The Cacti Study, Tiantian Pang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The prevalence of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has been increasing drastically in the United States. People with T1DM are at a higher risk of developing diabetes-related complications, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). Diet is one of the most modifiable factors and healthy eating could reduce CVD risk among individuals with T1DM. The current 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans focus on overall healthy eating patterns rather than individual foods and nutrients. A healthy dietary pattern or high-quality diet can be measured by diet quality indexes, and generally contains minimal ultra-processed foods (UPF). Although substantial evidence has linked poor diet quality …

Bioinformatic Analysis Predicts Microglial Dysfunction In Murine Aging, Amadu Idrisa Jalloh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Age-related disease is a growing concern as the global geriatric population increases. Neurodegenerative diseases scale unfavorably in prevalence with aging and inflict disastrous consequences to human health and well-being. These disorders are challenging to investigate because they arise from complex molecular origins. The neuroimmune system is a common factor among these diseases and microglia play an important role in maintaining homeostasis in the central nervous system. Aging progressively impairs microglia by decreasing their ability to adapt and respond to noxious environmental stimuli or injury. Microglial dysfunction aggravates neurodegenerative pathology when microglia are unable to regulate neuroinflammation effectively. We investigated aging …

Histone Deacetylase 8 Is A Novel Therapeutic Target For Mantle Cell Lymphoma And Preserves Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxic Function, January M. Watters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study demonstrates for the first time that HDAC8 function is critical for MCL survival, and abrogating its activity in human primary NK cells does not interfere with NK IgG antibody directed ADCC therapies ex vivo. Human NK cells, isolated from healthy donors, are highly resistant to HDAC8 inhibitor treatment with PCI-34051. Even at the highest concentration, 20uM, no toxicity was observed. Conversely, MCL cell lines representative of the aggressive MCL subtype, classical MCL, were especially sensitive to PCI-34051, an HDAC8 selective inhibitor, treatment. Blocking HDAC8 activity and/or abrogating expression through shRNA silencing induced significant DNA damage, hyperacetylation of SMC3, …

Natural Disasters And Human Capital: Empirical Evidence From Indonesia, Lei Lv

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In developing countries, natural disasters could destroy physical capital and adversely affect human capital accumulation by disrupting individual decisions. Such decisions play a critical role in determining individuals' human capital accumulation process and have a lifelong effect on their happiness and economic prosperity. To better understand how natural disasters affect human capital in developing countries, this dissertation uses the earthquakes in Indonesia as a natural experiment to study how this earthquake affects health, child marriage, and education. For the first chapter, I study how the 2006 Yogyakarta Earthquake a affects water-related acute disease symptomsin the short and long run. By …

Development And Implementation Of Telemetry Devices To Identify And Characterize Sources Of Intraocular Pressure Variability In Rats, Christina M. Nicou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eye health depends partially on intraocular pressure (IOP) as abnormal levels can lead to ocular tissue damage. Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nearly 80 million people worldwide [1]. It is associated with elevated IOP, which can lead to irreversible blindness. Relatively little is known about IOP dynamics and the physiological factors that affect it as IOP is typically monitored using tonometry. Tonometry is a common tool used by clinicians and researchers to measure IOP noninvasively. It provides a good estimate of IOP mean but not variance because data collection takes time. Readings can also be influenced by subject …

Apkcs Role In Neuroblastoma Cell Signaling Cascades And Implications Of Apkcs Inhibitors As Potential Therapeutics, Sloan Breedy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a cancer that develops in the neuroblasts. It is the most common cancer in children under the age of 1 year, accounting for approximately 6% of all cancers. The prognosis of NB is linked to both age and degree of cell differentiation. This results in a range of survival rates for patients, with outcomes ranging from recurrence and mortality to high survival rates and tumor regression. Our previous work indicated that PKC-ι promotes cell proliferation in NB cells through the PKC-ι/Cdk7/Cdk2 cascade. We report on two atypical protein kinase inhibitors as potential therapeutic candidates against BE(2)-C and …

Young Adult Cancer Patients And Survivors’ Adherence To Healthy Eating And Physical Activity Guidelines, Sandra Soca Lozano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many Adolescents and Young Adult (AYA) cancer patients/survivors do not engage in healthy eating and physical activity recommendations. The present study assessed the role of race/ethnicity, health literacy, and home environmental influences and its association with adherence to healthy eating and physical activity. AYA patients/survivors from Moffitt Cancer Center (n = 273) completed an anonymous online survey. Self-reported measures about eating habits, physical activity, health literacy, and social support were used. Black/African Americans reported worse eating habits than White and Hispanic participants. Obese participants showed a similar trend compared to all other Body Mass Index groups. Adherence to physical activity …

Using The Genetic Counseling Skills Checklist To Characterize Prenatal Genetic Counseling, David A. Cline

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Genetic Counseling relies on communication skills to help patients understand and adapt to a genetic disease or risk. However, little is known about which skills are most commonly used or the extent to which genetic counseling sessions vary. A novel process measure titled the "Genetic Counseling Skills Checklist" (GCSC) was developed in a prior pilot study and includes 8 broad categories each consisting of 5-8 skills. This study is the first to apply the final GCSC to characterize 20 mock prenatal sessions conducted by 5 genetic counselors (GCs) for 2 prenatal indications using 3 trained actors as patients. Two experienced …

Hiv Stalks Bodies Like Mine: An Autoethnography Of Self-Disclosure, Stigmatized Identity, And (In)Visibility In Queer Lived Experience, Steven Ryder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines self-disclosure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status within the context of communication between long-standing friends. For the purposes of my study, I define this type of friendship as those who have known me for at least two years and with whom I communicate regularly. These are friends who tend to know a variety of personal details about me, ranging from superficial to private and trivial to essential. I use autoethnography to ground the study in my lived experience. By doing so, I present intimate accounts of my communication with others across my lifespan to function as background …

The Invisible Victims Of Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Boys And Their Barriers To Access To Services, Amanda L. Connella

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While there has been a large body of research conducted on girl (under the age of 18) victims of commercial sexual exploitation, boy (under the age of 18) victims do not seem to receive the same attention. From the few studies that have been conducted, boys and young male victims of commercial sexual exploitation have been shown to have gender specific barriers that prevent them from getting help, yet not many papers explore this unique problem. Using survey data from key providers that work in programs that serve commercially sexually exploited boys, the present study fills this hole in the …

Does Time Equal Money? Temporal Discounting And Self-Control: Insight Into The Rationality Of Personal Financial Decision-Making, Joshua Epstein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exponential and hyperbolic intertemporal choice models have been widely investigated to measure an individual’s degree of impulsivity in behavioral economics. Hyperbolic discounting research identifies subject’s disproportionately high subjective value to immediate rewards, to the extent that it is not in their best interest. Furthermore, preference reversals have shown subjective value demonstrates an inversely relationship proportional to delay.

Investigation into whether visual representations influence conservative personal finance savings behavior was demonstrated in this study by presenting a multitude of visualizations before allocation of limited monetary resources. Evaluation of the neighbor effect was tested to determine whether comparing individuals to their peers …

A Multiple Input Multiple Output Framework For The Automatic Optical Fractionator-Based Cell Counting In Z-Stacks Using Deep Learning, Palak Dave

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quantifying cells in a defined region of biological tissue is critical for many clinical and preclinical studies, especially in pathology, toxicology, cancer, and behavior. Unbiased stereology is the state-of-art method for quantification of the total number and other morphometric parameters of stained objects in a defined region of biological tissue. As part of a program to develop accurate, precise, and more efficient automatic approaches for quantifying morphometric changes in biological tissue, our group has shown that both deep learning-based and hand-crafted algorithms can estimate the total number of histologically stained cells at their maximal profile of focus in extended depth …

Evaluating The Effect Of Public Health Governance Structure And Public Opinion On Covid-19 Disease Control Interventions, Daniel Chacreton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background

Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, the responses to the pandemic varied greatly from nation to nation. In the US, state-level variance in responses has likely contributed to the disparate COVID-19 infection-related state-level outcomes such as incidence and case fatality rates. The large variances in national and sub-national responses to COVID-19 when combined with the abundance of factors that influence disease transmission rates has created a number of important research opportunities.

Methods

In this vain, this research study aims to describe the relationship that exists between public health governance structure and public sentiment and COVID-19 control measure effectiveness …

Towards Precision Audiology: Perceptual Profiles & Their Relation To Ecologically Valid Communication Assessments, Dana Cherri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Living in a sonic world, a person with hearing loss experiences difficulty in communicating with others. One of the reasons why some people with hearing loss do not wear hearing aids (HAs) is limited perceived benefit, which may result from HAs that are not fit using “best practices” or because the best practices fail to address individual difficulties experienced by the listener. The typical audiogram provides information regarding audibility as a function of frequency and is used to establish degree, type, and configuration of hearing loss, but does not measure the ability of an individual to process various components of …

Assessment And Prevention Of Bacterial Regrowth In Stored Household Water In Eastern Coastal Madagascar, Lauren Judah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As of 2020, diarrheal diseases were the leading cause of death in Madagascar. A major cause of diarrheal illness is contaminated water, and one crucial aspect of preventing contaminated water is safe household storage. Bacterial regrowth between point-of-collection and household storage has been well established in literature. A frequently implicated source of regrowth is the storage container’s biofilm, which is a community of varying bacteria enclosed in a “slimy” extracellular polymeric substance that forms on surfaces in wet environments and anchors bacteria to those surfaces. The overall goal of this thesis was to quantify and control bacterial regrowth in household …

Impact Of Language Sampling Context On Language Productivity And Complexity, Trina J. Tolentino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Language sampling is a familiar tool in the speech-language pathologist’s (SLP’s) repertoire, used to assess a student’s language ability and inform treatment targets. The current literature has several studies comparing various dimensions of language sampling context, but with relatively small samples. The goal of this study was to identify what sampling contexts elicit the most productive and complex language, thereby contributing insight into what conditions may yield the most accurate representation of a child’s language skill, as well as the resulting intervention focus.

One-thousand thirty-seven kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade students (mean age [years; months] ≈ 7;5; range = 5;0-10;9), …

Exploring Parenthood And The Influence Of Lived Experiences On Parenting Behaviors Among Child Welfare-Involved Adults, Veronica Howell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization asserts the healthy development of children is essential. Cases of violence and maltreatment impede the development of children worldwide. Six in 10 adults in the general US population have reported at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), while vulnerable populations, including child welfare-involved adults (i.e., parents and caregivers), often report more. This history is associated with higher morbidity and mortality rates alongside higher economic costs; therefore, preventing ACEs and promoting safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between parents and children is critical. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to understand the meanings and responsibilities associated …

Accelerating Multiparametric Mri For Adaptive Radiotherapy, Shraddha Pandey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

MR guided Radiotherapy (MRgRT) marks an important paradigm shift in the field of radiotherapy. Superior tissue contrast of MRI offers better visualization of the abnormal lesions, as a result precise radiation dose delivery is possible. In case of online treatment planning, MRgRT offers better control of intratumoral motion and quick adaptation to changes in the gross tumor volume. Nonetheless, the MRgRT process flow does suffer from some challenges that limit its clinical usability. The primary aspects of MRgRT workflow are MRI acquisition, tumor delineation, dose map prediction and administering treatment. It is estimated that the acquisition of MRI takes around …

Deceptive Appeals And Cognitive Influences Used In Fraudulent Scheme Sales Pitches, Rafael J. Toledo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fraud schemes exploit the complex interplay that results from utilizing deceptive appeals to activate underlying cognitive influences. This study was designed, first, to identify the deceptive appeals present in the messaging of fraudulent schemes and, second, to identify the underlying cognitive influences being exploited by the deceptive appeals utilized. Findings reveal that effectively used deceptive appeals work to keep viewers’ mental processes in a state of cognitive ease. This state allows cognitive influences--such as heuristics, cognitive biases, and the System 1 mind--to remain in control of mental processing; however, System 1 is prone to accept deceptive beliefs. The results of …

Going Flat: Challenging Gender, Stigma, And Cure Through Lesbian Breast Cancer Experience, Beth Gaines

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the decision-making process of reconstruction surgery among lesbian breast cancer patients to better understand how identity impacts healthcare decisions. Breast cancer patients experience the disease in unique ways due to gender, sexuality, race, and class, impacting their individual decisions regarding treatment plans. Many breast cancer patients face mastectomy surgery as the first plan of treatment after diagnosis. By exploring the impact of gender, sexuality, stigma, and ideas of cure, this research aims to advance research about breast cancer by recognizing why some lesbian breast cancer patients forego reconstruction surgery and instead choose to “go flat.

A Holistic Investigation Of Acidosis In Breast Cancer, Bryce Ordway

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the early 20th century, Nobel laureate Otto Warburg made the observation that cells of a carcinoma had considerably higher glycolytic metabolism and considerably lower oxidative metabolism compared to cells of a normal tissue. He postulated that within this observation was the key to deciphering the differences between malignant and normal tissue. It is now well established that tumors of the breast are unequivocally acidic, caused by an abnormal amount of aerobic glycolysis, colloquially known as the Warburg effect. Over the last decades, our group, led by Dr. Robert J. Gillies, has set out to characterize the causes and consequences …

Hidden Struggles Within The Mental Healthcare Workplace, Tammy V. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have reported on the worldwide pervasiveness and increasing societal costs associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). A recent post on the WHO website cited recent scientific research (2022) indicating the magnitude of harmful effects attributed to ACEs, even classifying them as “violence against children.” Esaki and Larkin (2013) indicate that ACEs are prevalent among many social service professionals, including mental health clinicians.

This study uses mental health clinicians as the sample population to identify the impact of ACEs on job performance. Findings from a volunteer …

Examining The Social Validity Of Parent Training: Post-Participation Parent Perceptions And Reflections Of Group Triple P, Nycole C. Kauk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Child behavior problems are highly prevalent and impactful on the child and their family system, bringing both short-term and long-term consequences (Sanders, 2012). Many risk factors for child behavior problems are modifiable via the use of Behavioral Family Interventions, such as behavioral parent training programs (Kazdin, 1991). Behavioral Family Interventions (BFI) modify factors within the family system to minimize modifiable risk factors and engineer protective factors to produce behavior change (Kazdin, 1991). While several manualized behavioral parenting interventions exist, the Triple P parenting program is one of the most researched and effective programs used internationally, particularly the Level 4 package; …

A Convergent Approach To Aqueous Lead (Pb) Mitigation Of A Supplemental Self-Supply Shallow Groundwater Source Accessed By Handpumps In Madagascar, Adaline Marie Buerck

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The World Health Organization (WHO) has consistently listed lead (Pb) as one of the ten chemicals of major public health concern. Though the toxic nature of lead has been known since the 20th century it is still utilized in a wide variety of products due to its favorable properties. Exposure to lead still accounts for approximately 900,000 deaths annually and disproportionately impacts those in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) due to a variety of reasons such as poverty, malnutrition, and lack of knowledge on the toxic nature of lead. Lead exposure routes include air, soil, dust, diet, and water. Though …

The Integration Of Positive Psychology And Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports To Improve Minoritized Students' Social, Emotional, And Behavioral Outcomes, Jasmine L. Gray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a culturally adapted 9-session group positive psychology intervention with and without an added peer reporting intervention on student levels of social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Many studies have evaluated either school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) or positive psychology interventions (PPIs) in isolation, but very few studies have examined the extent to which combining these interventions and approaches may promote complete mental health. The Well-Being Promotion Program is a multitarget positive psychology intervention that has been evaluated in both elementary and middle school populations (Roth et al., 2017; Lenz et al., …

Promoting Subjective Well-Being In Middle School: Role Of Internalizing And Externalizing Behaviors In A Targeted Positive Psychology Intervention, Letty Langton Dileo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a dual-factor model, complete mental health entails average-to-high subjective well-being (SWB, happiness) and few internalizing and externalizing behaviors (IEB, mental illness). Although positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have been shown to increase middle school students’ SWB, more research is needed to understand how baseline IEB influences post-intervention outcomes. The current study examined the effect of baseline IEB on SWB outcomes for 122 middle school students who participated in the Well-Being Promotion Program (WBPP). The WBPP is a 10-week, small group, school-based PPI for students with low SWB, as identified from universal screening of life satisfaction. The dataset analyzed is part …

Two Essays In Applied Microeconomics: Retirement, Income Inequalities, And Other Economic Indicators Of Health And Life Satisfaction, Zahra Akbari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following proposal includes two essays in applied microeconomics. The first essay studied the relationship between income differences among siblings and the health outcomes of the individuals. Health inequalities and the factors associated with them have been a significant interest of health economists. Among those factors that can lead to health differences in adulthood, many studies have studied financial status. There are still many questions about these factors which should be answered in this area, especially about the adulthood income relative to a reference group and how it can be related to differences in adulthood health. The main goal of …