Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Domestic Violence Upon Default From Colposcopy Services, Rachael R. Collier

Theses

This thesis explores a possible mechanism by which the presence of domestic violence may lead to poorer health outcomes in women. Whilst the cost and impact of domestic violence in the literature has been well documented, it is less clear exactly ‘how’ domestic violence leads to the reported variety of adverse health outcomes. The key hypothesis in this thesis is that the health impact of domestic violence is partly mediated through failure of affected women to attend for treatment and follow up. This then results in their poorer health outcomes.

The Interaction Between Hedgehog And Tgf-Β Signalling Pathways In Malignant Mesothelioma, Keyuri Koriya

Theses

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is an aggressive cancer, the consequence of which is neoplastic transformation of mesothelial cells and is strongly associated with previous asbestos exposure. The disease is associated with poor patient survival due to difficulties in diagnosis and treatment options currently available. Therefore, it is essential to identify novel molecular targets that can be used to develop new treatment opportunities. Hedgehog (Hh) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signalling pathways are involved in numerous overlapping developmental processes as well as tissue repair and tumorigenesis. Recently, TGF-β has been shown to induce the expression of Hh signalling effector molecules, the Gli …

The Art Of Clinical Supervision Program For Registered Nurses, Kylie P. Russell

Theses

Nursing students’ clinical placements should provide an environment in which they can apply their nursing education in the fast-paced world of health care and develop a framework for practice. Students rely on effective teaching and supportive clinical supervisors to provide a placement in which they are not only encouraged to practice, but also to learn from this practice. This is achieved through welcoming students into the health care team by valuing their input and contributions, and consolidating their clinical practice through activities such as critical thinking and reflection.

The role of the clinical supervisor is therefore complex and often constrained …

Knowledge Translation Intervention To Improve Evidence-Based Practice Behaviour Of Allied Health Professionals: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial And 2-Year Follow-Up Study, Lanie Campbell

Theses

Background:

It is difficult to foster the use of research findings among allied health professionals (AHPs). Tailored, multifaceted knowledge translation (KT) strategies are now recommended but are resource intensive to implement. Employers need effective KT solutions, but little is known about: (a) the impact and viability of multifaceted KT strategies using an online KT tool, (b) their immediate and longer-term effectiveness with AHPs, and (c) their effect on evidence-based practice (EBP) decision-making behaviour. The aim of this project was to measure the effectiveness of a multifaceted KT intervention including a customised KT tool, to change EBP behaviour, knowledge and attitudes …

An Exploration Of The Past, Present And Future Of Nursing In Early Parenting Services In Australia, Elaine Bennett

Theses

Nursing has a long history of providing services to families and children over the past century and more within Early Parenting Services (EPS) in Australia. Much has been written on issues regarding the general nursing workforce and requirements for the future, but little is known about the role of nursing within the EPS area around Australia in the context of an interdisciplinary team.

The aim of this study was to describe how nursing has responded to the changing needs of EPS in Australia and to investigate nurses’ and allied professionals’ perceptions of the nursing role within an interdisciplinary team. This …

Impedance Changes In Biceps Brachii Due To Isometric Contractions And Muscle Fatigue Using Electrical Impedance Myography (Eim), Travis Orth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electrical impedance myography (EIM) is a non-invasive technique used to evaluate neuromuscular conditions by using a quantitative parameter called impedance (Z). It relies upon the application and measurement of high-frequency, low-intensity electrical current imbedded over a localized muscle to determine its opposition to current flow. In brevity, impedance determines the resistance of muscle fibers due to changes in muscle composition. The objective of this thesis was to establish a relationship between muscles at rest and during isometric contractions at various force levels(25%, 50%, and 100% of maximum voluntary contraction) of the biceps brachii over a multifrequency spectrum. Impedance measurements due …

Effects Of Antidepressant Metabolites On The Fresh Water Algae, Pseudokirchneriella Subcapitata, Adam Curlin

Honors Theses

Quantities of antidepressant metabolites are known to be released through our wastewater facilities into the environment. The effects of many of these metabolites on the environment are unknown. To understand more fully the effect of these metabolites, an assay was conducted using the green alga, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata. Antidepressants are the number one prescribed pharmaceutical in the United States. For this work, Zoloft was utilized as representative antidepressant in the aquatic environment. It was found that Zoloft significantly impacted the growth of the algae in controlled laboratory experiments.

Novel Therapy For Nicotine Addiction In Alcohol Dependent Rats, Bethany Ann Stennett

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The co-dependence of nicotine and alcohol addiction occurs at high rates, complicates treatment, and is often associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Treatment options of alcohol and tobacco co-dependence are limited. Currently, there are drugs available for nicotine dependence or alcohol dependence. However, there are no therapeutic drugs available on the market for the co-dependence of nicotine and alcohol. Therefore, and important opportunity of new therapeutic options and drug development has presented itself. NT69L, a non-selective neurotensin (NT) agonist, provides a potential novel therapy for nicotine addiction in alcoholics by interacting with the common neurotransmitter circuits supporting the rewarding process …

The Correlation Of Repeat Sprint Measures To Predicted Vo2 In Recreationally Active Males, Matthew R. Miltenberger

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

.

Finding Similarities Between Photographs And The Stroke And Aphasia Quality Of Life Scale - 39 (Saqol-39) Items, Ashley Renee Brouwer

LSU Master's Theses

Background: The Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39 (SAQOL-39) is a valid, reliable quality of life (QoL) assessment for PWA (Hilari, 2003; Hilari, Byng, Lamping, & Smith, 2003). However, individuals with severe aphasia are unable to use it because their ability to comprehend the text is too severely impaired for accurate self-report (Hilari & Byng, 2009; Hilari et al., 2003; Hilari, Owen, & Farrelly, 2007). Proxy respondents often report on QoL measures for these individuals; however, studies suggest differences between proxy-reported and self-reported scores in less severe populations (e.g., Cruice, Worrall, Hickson, & Murison, 2005; Engell, Hütter, Willmes, & …

Perfil De Morbilidad Visual Y Ocular En Los Departamentos De Cauca Y Valle Del Cauca 2009-2010, José Francisco Fuentes Alfaro, Zulay Alexandra Barreto Reyes

Optometría

“La limitación visual y ceguera son problemas prioritarios de salud pública que ocasionan las principales cargas socioeconómicas e interfieren con el progreso de los países en vías de desarrollo. En Colombia como en la mayoría de Latinoamérica no hay información sobre la prevalencia de alteraciones visuales y oculares consideradas como prioridades por Visión 2020 en la prevención de ceguera, errores refractivos, catarata, glaucoma, retinopatía, ceguera infantil, degeneración macular, entre otras” (REISVO, Perfil de morbilidad visual y ocular en Latino América 2009- 2010-2011, http://www.reisvo.org/2011.pdf )

Hypertension Knowledge, Expectation Of Care, Social Support, And Adherence To Prescribed Medications Of African Americans With Hypertension Framed By The Roy Adaptation Model, Andrea Maria Grant

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hypertension (HTN) prevalence in African Americans contribute to higher rates of disabilities and deaths from stroke, myocardial infarction, and end stage renal disease than all other racial groups in the United States. The major reason documented for these poor health outcomes is related to lower HTN control rates among African Americans compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Though overall HTN awareness, pharmacological treatments and control have significantly improved for all populations, studies found that rates of HTN control and adherence with anti-hypertensive medications are lower for African Americans compared to other subgroups.

Study Aims

The primary aim was to determine whether …

Reconciling Life Balance: A Grounded Theory Study Of Overcoming Failure, Kathleen Karsten

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Academic failure has been described as endemic in nursing education. Although, associate degree nursing programs graduate the largest number of nurses each year, the on-time graduation rate is 59%. Every semester students fail nursing courses and are required to successfully repeat the course before they can progress in the nursing program. Students who re-take a failed course are often called "repeaters." This qualitative Grounded Theory research explored the process of overcoming failure and becoming a successful student repeater. This emergent mode grounded theory study applied qualitative analysis techniques to prospectively verify and refine this emergent concept by delineating dimensions embedded …

Neurophysiological Indices Of The Effect Of Cognates On Vowel Perception In Late Spanish-English Bilinguals, Carol A. Tessel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of research in bilingualism and second language (L2) acquisition has yielded overwhelming evidence that acquiring a second language later in life will result in less accurate production and perception of consonants and vowels in the second language. These effects, in part, are a result of interference from the already formed phonetic categories shaped by early exposure to the L1 (Iverson, 2007). Phonetic categories from the L2 will, at least initially, be mapped onto phonetic categories from the L1 (Flege, 1995). Shared storage of similar lexical items from L1 and L2 may also take place resulting in differences in …

Assessment Of The Effectiveness Of An Innovative Screening Colonoscopy Protocol In Producing High Quality Performance And Outcomes By Trained Primary Care Physicians, Yi Jhen Li

Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the 3rd most prevalent cancer and 2nd leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. Colonoscopies have been recommended as the preferred screening method to prevent cancer by removing polyps before they transform into cancer. Although colonoscopy every 10 years is considered to be the preferred screening method, it is not perfect mainly owing to the variable quality of screening colonoscopy under community-based practice conditions. Although the effectiveness of colonoscopy in preventing CRC is documented, screening colonoscopy coverage in the US population remains low. This is partly due to low colonoscopy capacity due to a shortage …

Emergency Department Triage Acuity Ratings: Embedding Esi Into The Electronic Medical Record, Candace Whitfield

Theses and Dissertations

A need for improvement in the triage process was identified in the ED of a southeastern healthcare facility. Lewin's Change Theory guided the implementation of an evidence-based quality improvement project (QIP) to improve the efficiency of the triage process using and embedded Emergency Severity Index (ESI) triage acuity-level assistant template in the electronic medical record (EMR). The target interventions were ED throughput times, the number of patients left without being seen (LWOT), and RN satisfaction.

Methods included the implementation of education interventions for all ED RNs that included a presentation, use of ESI algorithm badges for each nurse, and weekly …

The Effect Of Radiation On Myofiber Properties In Mouse Skeletal Muscle, Dennis K. Fix

Theses and Dissertations

Radiotherapy has been proven as an effective and necessary treatment for cancer. The dose given is dependent on cancer type and location. It has been previously established that skeletal muscle is the most radiation tolerant tissue in the body. With that being said there is a current gap in the literature that is missing the effect of radiation doses on the histological properties of skeletal muscle. The overall purpose of this study is to determine the effect that a single unfractionated dose of 16Gy radiation has on histological properties of myofibers when compared to 4 fractionated doses of 4Gy . …

Narrative Discourse In Aphasia: Main Concept And Core Lexicon Analyses Of The Cinderella Story, Emily Patricia Dillow

Theses and Dissertations

Discourse is a highly individualized and complex speech act essential for effective communication in daily life. Individuals with language disorders demonstrate impaired narrative ability and a resultant decline in functional communication (Webster, Franklin, & Howard, 2007). Discourse analysis is often time-consuming and impractical for everyday clinical use. Most informative discourse measures require specialized training to perform and are time-consuming. A clinically practical measurement is lacking. Standardized core lexicon and main concept lists for discourse tasks could allow clinicians to efficiently assess discourse skills and predict activity and participation limitations. This study presents the development and application of a core lexicon …

A Novel Approach To The Design Of Selective Inhibitors For Cell Cycle Cyclin Dependent Kinases, Tracy Perkins

Theses and Dissertations

CDK2/cyclin A and CDK4/cyclin D1 are proven targets for cancer drug discovery. The development of novel CDK inhibitors, with high selectivity, are being investigated by targeting the cyclin binding groove (CBG) located on the cyclin, the regulatory subunit of CDK. The CBG is a shallow area that is involved in signaling and the inhibition of cell cycle CDKs via endogenous tumor suppressors. Currently, non-peptidic inhibitors are being developed based on the recognition amino acid sequence, HAKRRLIF, of the C-terminal peptide sequence of the CDK inhibitor p21WAF1. Computational design and the utilization of non-natural amino acids are being proposed to identify …

Geographical Proximity To Health Facilities And Breast Cancer Morbidity And Mortality Among Women In South Carolina's Best Chance Network, Leepao Khang

Theses and Dissertations

Death rates for breast cancer have steadily decreased in women due to early detection, such as mammography, and improved treatments. Despite the benefit of mammography, many women are not up-to-date on screening and do not receive timely follow-up after abnormal mammogram finding. Breast cancer is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality among women in South Carolina. To reduce the disproportionate burden of breast cancer and cervical cancer among women in South Carolina, the South Carolina Best Chance Network (BCN) was established to provide service delivery and ensures timely and complete diagnostic follow-up and treatment initiation for underserved women.

The …

The Influence Of A Coiled-Coil Isoleucine Zipper On The Trimerization And Endosomolytic Activity Of The E5-Tat-Mcherry Protein, Valerie Nickel

Honors Theses

The E5-TAT-mCherry protein is designed to initiate cellular uptake through endocytosis and react to the acidification of the endosomes by causing membrane lysis and cytosolic delivery. The cell penetrating peptide TAT from the HIV transcription activator binds to the cellular membrane and transports attached or coincubated cargo into the cell through endocytosis. E5 is a derivative of the fusogenic peptide HA2 from the influenza hemagglutinin protein and reacts to the acidification of the endosomal lumen by inserting into the membrane and increasing membrane permeability. The attached red fluorescent protein mCherry serves as a convenient biological probe for cell based assays. …

Approach-Iron Play In High Performance Golf: From Testing To Tournament Play, Samuel John Robertson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The capability of a golfer to record a low score depends upon well-developed abilities in each of the recognised on-course skill components (driving the ball off the tee, hitting approach-iron shots, hitting short-iron shots and putting). Despite approach-iron play being considered perhaps the most important and definitely the most practiced skill in the game, the ability to quantify the golfer’s ability to hit approach-iron shots in a controlled, off-course environment (eg. training) cannot yet be undertaken due to the lack of appropriate assessments. Such tools have considerable potential for use in both the field and in research for implementation in …

Characterising The Deformation Behaviour Of Human Tooth Enamel At The Microscale, Simona O'Brien

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Enamel plays an important role in tooth function. Optimal combinations of composition and structure endow enamel with unique mechanical properties that remain largely unexplored. Specifically, more detailed understanding of the loadbearing ability of enamel is needed to mimic it synthetically and to design next generation biocomposite materials. This research investigates the variables that influence deformation behaviour of tooth enamel in relation to its hierarchical structure. Initially, a new method was developed for preparing flat, finely polished tooth samples that were maintained in their normal hydrated state for nanoindentation testing. In contrast to conventional methods, which commonly utilise either inappropriate or …

Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress : The Impact On Children, Parents And Staff, Sarah Mcgarry

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Burns are one of the most painful and traumatising injuries an individual can sustain and constitute a serious global health threat to children. Despite the magnitude of this public health problem, little research has examined the psychological burden of these injuries. This study used a mixed-methods approach to investigate the effect of paediatric medical trauma on children who have sustained a burn, their parents and the healthcare professionals caring for these patients. The paediatric medical traumatic stress model provided a theoretical framework for this study.

Firstly, this study aimed to gain an understanding of the lived experience of children who …

Neuromuscular Fatigue And Biomechanical Alterations During High-Intensity, Constant-Load Cycling, Amanda Julie Overton

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Neuromuscular fatigue is an inevitable process at play during prolonged exercise, and may be caused by multiple alterations within the central nervous system and peripheral musculature. As fatigue develops, the neuromuscular system must adapt to these changes by making compensatory movement pattern adjustments so as to use motor pathways that are less fatigued in an effort to maintain task performance; motor variability is thus increased. The primary purpose of the four studies contained within this doctoral thesis was to detail the progression of exercise-induced neuromuscular fatigue, and to improve our understanding of the muscle activation and joint kinematic alterations that …

The Governance Schema Of Regional And Rural Public Hospital Nurses: How Relevant Are The Dimensions Of Stewardship Governance And Trust In Management?, Kim Clark

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study broadly pertained to the issue of public health sector governance. The field of healthcare governance had been characterised as having challenges of greater intricacy and sensitivity than those found in any other sector (Philippon & Braithwaite, 2008). While increasingly regarded as important to health system performance, governance had, however, been evaluated as poorly understood in conceptual and practical terms and subject to competing ideas regarding its role and challenges (Brinkerhoff & Bossert, 2013). Specifically, the thesis elucidated frontline regional and rural hospital nurses’ cognitive schema of strategic aspects of governance practice of managers in the Western Australian Country …

Exercise As Medicine : Reversing Treatment Toxicities In Prostate Cancer Patients, Bradley A. Wall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A common treatment for prostate cancer, which is the most common form of cancer after skin cancer in Australian males, is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). However, ADT is associated with an array of adverse effects including reduced bone and lean mass, loss of muscle strength, negative change in lipid profile, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as diabetes, all of which can compromise physical function and quality of life. Physical exercise has been suggested as a key lifestyle intervention for this group of cancer patients as it has enormous potential to limit and even reverse the effects …

Muscle Damage And Metabolic Profiles Of Eccentric Cycling, Luis Penailillo

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Eccentric cycling, in which the knee extensor muscles perform eccentric contractions while trying to brake the backward rotational movements of the cranks of a cycle ergometer, has been shown to effectively increase muscle function and volume with a low metabolic cost. However, acute responses to repeated eccentric cycling bouts have not been well documented. Thus, the primary purposes of this PhD project were to investigate muscle damage and metabolic profiles of eccentric cycling in comparison to concentric cycling (Studies 1-3), and muscle-tendon behaviour (Study 4) during eccentric cycling in relation to muscle damage.

Study 1 compared muscle damage and metabolic …

Factors Influencing The Incidence Rates Of Injuries And Accidents Among Seafarers And Rig Workers Providing Support To The Wa Offshore Oil And Gas Industry, Tony Martinovich

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of this study was to identify, discuss and make recommendations regarding causal factors associated with injuries and accidents among seafarers and rig workers providing support to the WA offshore oil and gas industry. These incidents cause significant personal and economic burdens for employees, employers and the community in general.

A sample of 484 participants were recruited from a workforce of 9800 employees (approximately 5%). Participants were stratified into 2 cohorts; those who had suffered injury (286 – study group) and those who had not (198 - controls).

Data from the study group were stratified into oilrig workers and …

The Development And Evaluation Of A Testing Protocol To Assess Upper Body Pressing Strength Qualities In High Performance Athletes, Kieran Young

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability of an isometric force assessment (isometric bench press) across 4 standardised angles and an isoinertial force and velocity assessment (ballistic bench throw) utilising a relative load based on a percentage of one repetition maximum (1RM) in the bench press; and to evaluate whether the use of the dynamic strength deficit (DSD) ratio can guide training and detect changes induced by training over a 5 week period.

METHODS: Twenty four elite male athletes (age = 19.9 ± 2.7yrs; mass = 79.1 ± 13.0kg) performed the isometric bench press and a …