Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Emergency Department Registered Nurses’ Perceptions Of Substance Use Disorders And Supervised Consumption Sites, Aleksandra Ilievska

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Canada is facing increased drug-related harms; thus, a stronger emphasis has been placed on harm reduction strategies such as supervised consumption sites (SCSs). There is a lack of literature on emergency department (ED) registered nurses’ (RNs) perceptions of SCSs and substance use disorders (SUDs), especially in small to mid-sized Canadian cities. Purpose: This study aimed to determine ED RNs’ perceptions of SUDs and SCSs in Southwestern Ontario hospitals. Methods: A 27-question survey was sent to RNs currently working in EDs in Southwestern Ontario using an online Qualtrics® link. The research explored ED RNs’ perception of SCSs and SUDs. Results: …

Emergency Department Registered Nurses’ Perceptions Of Substance Use Disorders And Supervised Consumption Sites, Aleksandra Ilievska

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Canada is facing increased drug-related harms; thus, a stronger emphasis has been placed on harm reduction strategies such as supervised consumption sites (SCSs). There is a lack of literature on emergency department (ED) registered nurses’ (RNs) perceptions of SCSs and substance use disorders (SUDs), especially in small to mid-sized Canadian cities.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine ED RNs’ perceptions of SUDs and SCSs in Southwestern Ontario hospitals.

Methods: A 27-question survey was sent to RNs currently working in EDs in Southwestern Ontario using an online Qualtrics® link. The research explored ED RNs’ perception of SCSs and SUDs.

Results: …

Examining The Relationship Of Transformational Leadership And New Graduate Nurse Turnover Intention During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Becky Louise Goens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The nursing shortage in the Canadian healthcare system presents challenges in meeting the healthcare needs of the population and addressing the growing demand for health services. There is strong evidence emphasizing the pivotal role leaders play in fostering retention through positive practices. As new graduate nurses are crucial to the healthcare team, targeted strategies by nursing leaders and managers are needed to enhance nurse retention. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and new graduate nurses’ turnover intention, and organizational commitment. Methods: The study included 106 registered nurses who passed the NCLEX-RN …

Loneliness, Risk-Taking, And Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rebecca Nurgitz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, commonly associated with impulsivity, risk-taking, and greater reported loneliness. Risk-taking can manifest in various ways, including reduced regard for health-conscious practices. Recent research indicates that individuals with ADHD may be less likely to follow pandemic safety instruction. (e.g., not following social distancing recommendations). Given that individuals with ADHD tend to discount the value of delayed reward in favour of immediate gratification, it can be presumed that individuals with greater ADHD symptomology may be more likely to not follow social distancing guidelines in an attempt to relieve acute feelings of loneliness. The …

Temporospatial Characteristics Of The Effect Of A Sound On The Response To Another Sound In Neurons In The Rat Auditory Midbrain, Olivia Elizabeth Sauvé

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The soundscape of a natural environment can often contain multiple complex sounds, which are perceived binaurally, i.e., by both ears. Under such conditions, the perception of one sound can be affected by another sound. This study was conducted to find the neural basis of such a perceptual phenomenon. The rat is used as an animal model. Action potentials were recorded from individual neurons within the rat inferior colliculus in response to acoustic stimulation. The inferior colliculus is an auditory midbrain structure which receives converging inputs from many other structures along the auditory pathway. It plays a significant role in the …

Registered Nurse Retention In Long Term Care: A Qualitative Exploration, Brandi Lynne Livingstone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Registered Nurse (RN) retention continues to be an issue within long-term care (LTC). RNs play a vital role in the overall wellbeing of the aging Ontario population. In 2020, COVID-19 swept the world in a pandemic and the Ontario LTC sector was left with many changing restrictions and regulations that had a large effect on not only the RNs who work there but also the residents who resided in. This study was conducted to identify what factors contribute to satisfaction and dissatisfaction for RNs in LTC. Also, it aimed to look at factors related to a RN continuing to work …

Nurses’ Experience Of Family-Centered Rounds In The Intensive Care Unit, Kaitlyn Sheehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A paradigm shift in the Canadian healthcare system has transitioned the patient and family from care recipients to integral and valued members of the multidisciplinary team. Implementation of family-centered care within the context of the adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) remains slow to adopt in Canada despite evidence that open visitation and family presence offer many benefits to improve the delivery of quality care, and satisfaction with the overall patient experience. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the ability of the healthcare team to effectively include patients and families into their daily multidisciplinary rounds. Restricted visitation policies, infection control and …

The Influence Of Administrative Timing In Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Treatments, Emily Mailloux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer accounts for 25% of all cancers in Canadian women, and 15-20% of these are triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC), which have a poorer prognosis than other breast cancer subtypes. TNBC lacks expression of the estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), which are common therapeutic targets in breast cancer. Due to the lack of target therapy, generalized chemotherapy treatments are used instead. The standard of care for treatment of TNBC instead consists of doxorubicin (A), cyclophosphamide (C) paclitaxel (T), and carboplatin (Carbo), that target various aspects of the cell cycle to induce cell …

The Impact Of Sexual Violence On Student’S Academic And University Experiences: A Qualitative Study, Shelby Lacey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of sexual violence is an ongoing public health concern within university communities. Students who experience sexual violence may be at risk for negative academic impacts including declines in grade point average (GPA), increased absenteeism, and withdrawal from school. Less information is known regarding if students who have experienced sexual violence report changes in their academic and university experiences, such as participation in class, social groups or clubs. Help-seeking through formal or informal sources may alleviate the negative consequences of sexual violence. Due to the unique environment of universities which may influence a student’s personal, social, and cultural life, …

Optimization In Mri Experiment Design And Image Reconstruction, Mark Armstrong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive imaging modality with numerous applications due to its flexible contrast and high resolution. Recent improvements in computation power have enabled optimizations which were previously out of reach. This has led to improvements in image reconstruction and experiment design.

Compressed sensing (CS) allows for images to be reconstructed using less data than is normally required leading to faster image acquisitions. In this thesis, CS is applied to experiments tracking individual cells in time lapse MRI. The faster image acquisition with CS reduces blurring from cell motion, improving the Contrast-to-Noise ratio (CNR) of moving cells …

The Broncos: A Social Support Approach To Team Tragedy, Shaun Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the last decade there has been a widespread effort to collectively acknowledge mental health challenges faced by individuals within society and to improve their outcomes through social support. While much of this discussion has included sport, sport organizations remain resistant to change at every level from the professional level to school sports. Accordingly, individuals have continually faced mental health challenges that originated or were compounded by their participation in sport. This study attempted to identify the social supports and barriers to those supports that resulted in athletes having poor outcomes, while also identifying the strategies and social supports used …

Nurses’ Experience Of Family-Centered Rounds In The Intensive Care U, Kaitlyn Sheehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A paradigm shift in the Canadian healthcare system has transitioned the patient and family from care recipients to integral and valued members of the multidisciplinary team. Implementation of family-centered care within the context of the adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) remains slow to adopt in Canada despite evidence that open visitation and family presence offer many benefits to improve the delivery of quality care, and satisfaction with the overall patient experience. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the ability of the healthcare team to effectively include patients and families into their daily multidisciplinary rounds. Restricted visitation policies, infection control and …

35ci Solid-State Nmr Characterization Of Polymorphs And Cocrystals Of Xylazine Hci, Louae M. Abdulla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Xylazine HCl (X), a common veterinary analgesic, has four reported polymorphs that are stable under ambient conditions, Form A (Xa), Form X (Xx), Form Z (Xz), and Form M (Xm), and one monohydrate (Xh). A commercial sample of X was found to contain mixtures of polymorphs and previous synthetic approaches proved unreliable and/or unsuccessful for the production of pure phases in high yields. Herein, we report methods for the reliable preparation and interconversion of polymorphs of X (including mechanochemical synthetic pathways), the discovery of a novel polymorph (Xy), and synthesis of three novel cocrystals with coformers containing amide and carboxylic …

Studies Of Chemosensory Responses In The Pharynx Of The Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus), Hasan Huseyin Polat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The sea lamprey is a basal vertebrate, and the oldest extant species with taste buds. The objective of this thesis was to study the chemosensory responses from the sea lamprey’s pharynx, which is located caudal to oral cavity and medial to seven lateral brachiopores. The pharynx contains taste buds that detect and respond to tastants to inform lampreys about gustatory factors in the environment. The location of these taste buds along the lateral surface of the pharynx was first determined using scanning electron microscopy. Then using electrophysiology, our recordings from these pharyngeal regions containing taste buds picked up responses from …

A Kinematic Analysis Of Joint Angle And Center Of Mass Kinematics In Automotive Manufacturing Tasks, Jarrod Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aimed to determine if participants of varying anthropometrics (i.e., height) would perform automotive manufacturing tasks significantly differently based on joint angle and center of mass (COM) data. Twenty-four participants between the ages of 18 and 65 (¯x = 24.1 years, SD = 7.3) completed 14 manufacturing tasks, and their motions were recorded using two inertial motion capture (IMC) systems. Participants were chosen based on their measured height, including the 5th percentile female (Group 1-5F), 50th percentile female (Group 2-50F), or 95th percentile male (Group 3-95M) (Fryar, Gu, Ogden & Flegal, 2016). The tasks used for this study were …

Exploring Bscn Recent Graduates’ Perceived Readiness To Practice, Robyn Marie Lapuz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Assessing BScN recent graduates and their readiness to practice is of vital importance in the climate of high nursing turnover and nursing migration. The literature confirms that readiness to practice is a longstanding issue in nursing and the practice-education gap remains an issue to date. The purpose of this research was to explore BScN recent graduates’ perceived readiness to practice in nursing and make recommendations for nursing practice, education, and future research. A cross-sectional descriptive correlational mixed-methods research design was used for this research. The results confirm that the majority of BScN recent graduates from this study reported feeling ready …

The Experience Of Transitioning For The Transgender Person: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach To Advance Gender Affirming Care, Shelley Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. The process of transitioning has a significant impact on improving quality of life among transgender and nonbinary people (Johansson et al., 2010). Transitioning is the act of moving towards a gender identity that feels more aligned with internal identity (Rankin & Beemyn, 2012). However, despite promising research that supports the benefits of medical, social and/or legal transitioning, the understanding of the experience has not been fully explored (Evans et al., 2021), and it is a barrier to advancing the delivery of gender affirming care among nurses, other health care providers, and health care organizations. There is a need to …

The Role Of The Circadian Clock In The Intestinal Epithelium During Health, Regeneration, And Tumourigenesis, Kyle Stokes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Earth’s axial rotation subjects its surface to constant periods of light and dark, this is known as photoperiod. Many organisms have adapted their physiology in accordance with this environmental constant by generating 24h rhythms in their physiological functions; these are known as circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are controlled by an endogenous time-keeping mechanism known as the circadian clock. Over 40% of the genome in mice and over 80% of the genome in primates has been shown to have 24h rhythms in transcription. The disruption of circadian rhythms through shiftwork, jetlag, or exposure to light at night is associated with …

The Role Of The Nkr-P1b:Clr-B Inhibitory Axis In Nk Cell-Mediated Tumour Immunosurveillance, Abd El Aziz Hendy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes of the innate immune system which do not require prior priming to target infected or altered-self cells, such as tumour cells. The basic functions of NK cells include cytotoxicity and cytokine production. These cells possess numerous activating and inhibitory receptors which regulate their function based on a signalling balance. In mice, NK cells possess NKR-P1B inhibitory receptors which recognize the C-type lectin-related protein-b (Clr-b) ligand. This ligand is present on healthy self cells and may be used by cancer cells to evade NK cell effector functions. The disruption of the NKR-P1B:Clr-b axis has been …

The Effects Of Acute Hyperthermia On The Neurovascular Unit, Brooke Renee Shepley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With growing use for hyperthermia as a cardiovascular therapeutic, there is surprisingly little information regarding the acute effects it may have on the integrity of the neurovascular unit (NVU). Indeed, relying on animal data would suggest hyperthermia comparable to levels attained in thermal therapy will disrupt the blood- brain barrier (BBB) and damage the cerebral parenchymal cells. We sought to address the hypothesis that controlled passive hyperthermia is not sufficient to damage the NVU in healthy adults. Eleven young men (age 23 ± 3 years) underwent acute passive heating until +2°C or absolute esophageal temperature of 39.5°C. The presence of …

An Enhancement To Cnn Approach With Synthesized Image Data For Disease Subtype Classification, Narider Pal Singh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The introduction of genetic testing has profoundly enhanced the prospects of early detection of diseases and techniques to suggest precision medicines. The subtyping of critical diseases has proven to be an essential part of the development of individualized therapies and has led to deeper insights into the heterogeneity of the disease. Studies suggest that variants in particular genes have significant effects on certain types of immune system cells and are also involved in the risk of certain critical illnesses like cancer. By analyzing the genetic sequence of a patient, disease types and subtypes can be predicted. Recent research work has …

A Program Evaluation Of Nutrition-Based Educational Modules Designed For The University Of Windsor Lancers Varsity Athletics, Justine Van Herk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this program evaluation was to develop nutrition-based educational modules for the coaches and student-athletes at the University of Windsor and to investigate their effectiveness, usefulness, and applicability. The nutrition-based educational modules were a collaborative effort between the Community Health, Environment, and Wellness (CHEW) lab and the Centre for Human Performance and Health (CHPH). Eight teams voluntarily participated in the 6-week implementation period with the nutrition-based educational modules. Following this implementation period, nine participants (n = 2 coaches, n = 7 student-athletes) volunteered to provide feedback during one-on-one semi-structured virtual interviews. The interview guide was divided into …

Exploring The Role Of Nkr-P1b:Clr-B Interaction In Mouse Mammary Tumour Immunosurveillance, Raghd Al Olabi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Natural killer (NK) cells are large, granular, and cytotoxic innate lymphocytes which do not require prior antigenic exposure to target cancerous and virally infected cells. NK cells possess activating and inhibitory receptors which may activate or inhibit NK cell activity, respectively. In mice, the inhibitory NKR-P1B receptor on NK cells recognizes the C-type lectin-related protein-b (Clr-b) ligand expressed on most autologous cells but downregulated on many tumour cell lines. In B cell lymphoma models, the disruption of NKR-P1B:Clr-b interaction results in delayed tumour development and progression, suggesting that blockage of inhibitory signals from NKR-P1B augments NK cell activity against lymphoma …

Physiological State Determinants Of Maternal Cortisol Signaling And Its Impact On Offspring Quality And Fitness, Sydney Currier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Assessing the intergenerational effects of maternal stress is important for predicting how offspring will respond to changing environments. The overall aim of my thesis was to quantify the effects of maternal state on maternally derived egg cortisol and determine whether this variation in egg cortisol impacts Chinook salmon offspring performance and fitness in a sex-specific way. I quantified within-female changes in maternal energetics and reproductive metrics that I linked to egg quality and ultimately embryo survival. I found egg cortisol increases with increasing maternal plasma cortisol, and increases further as plasma cortisol levels rise with each day that eggs are …

Nurse Practitioner Opioid Prescribing And Safety Measure Utilization Patterns In Ontario: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Study, Gina Pittman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. There has been a rise in opioid-related hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and mortality due to opioid poisoning across Canada. There is a gap in research related to Nurse practitioner (NP) opioid prescribing and safety measure utilization patterns and sparse literature related to physician opioid prescribing (Pittman et al., 2020). Purpose. A mixed methods approach, specifically an explanatory sequential three-phase study, was undertaken to explore this topic. The initial phase was development of the quantitative survey, followed by collection and analysis of the quantitative data. A final qualitative phase added insight into the quantitative results. There were four objectives for …

A Network-Based Approach For Computational Drug Repurposing On Cancer Data, Ann Reba Thomas Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we are interested in finding the best drugs that can be repurposed for the disease and able to find the adverse effects such drugs that are FDA-Approved. Developing an effective drug can be a time-consuming and expensive crucible method. Network-based machine learning methods are used for predicting a given drug for A that can be used for B. It aims at finding new indications for already existing drugs and therefore increases the available therapeutic choices at a fraction of the cost of new drug development. The perturbation gene expression data corresponding to the MCF7 cell line was …

Social Support, Nursing Home Applicants And Their Family Caregivers, Beth Anne Sproat Ternovan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative-descriptive study was to evaluate overall social support to elderly applicants and their family caregivers awaiting placement into Windsor-Essex County area nursing homes. The study was executed by means of an exploratory-descriptive interview of the applicants; primary family caregivers. The study focuses on respondents' perceptions regarding three main questions: 1) what the specific needs of the respondents were during the interim waiting period; 2) whether these needs were being met; 3) whether the interface of the formal and informal service systems was adequate in terms of overall social support. Results indicated several common primary needs were …