Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development Of Periapical Lesions In Immunosuppressed Rats, Phillip A. Waterman Jr.

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The pathogenesis of periapical lesions is the interaction of the oral flora with the existing host defenses. The role of bacteria has been established in endodontic disease but the contribution of the host defenses in periapical lesion formation is less clear. The purpose of this study was to compare periapical lesion development in immunosuppressed rats with that in normal rats. Thirty-five, eight-week old Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into seven groups. Groups 1, 2, and 3 were given weekly injections of Cytoxan, an immunosuppressive agent. Groups 4, 5, and 6 received no immunosuppressive therapy. Group 7 served as a control, …

Shared Responsibility For Medication Use : An Experiment, Marjorie Tessner

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Medication adherence is an important part of effective therapy for gastrointestinal disease. Theory has suggested that the more involved the individual is in their care the more adherent they will be to their medication regime. However, such management is often complicated by patient psychological factors, health beliefs, self-efficacy, and lack of knowledge about medication.

In this experimental study of the impact of shared responsibility for medication use: an experiment, 60 patients from four ethnic groups were randomly assigned to three groups of 20 each: 1) routine discharge medication group, 2) formal education group, and 3) self medication and shared responsibility …

Cortisol In The Ovine Fetus : Its Regulation And Role In Parturition, Ede Marie Apostolakis

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In fetal sheep, circulating cortisol increase during late gestation to abruptly rise 72 hours preceding birth. Although the surge in cortisol is thought to initiate the endocrine cascade which triggers parturition, it is not known what drives the prepartum rise in fetal cortisol. The first study tested the hypothesis that basal cortisol secretion is regulated by adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) which in turn, is controlled by arginine vasopressin (AVP). The fetus challenged with AVP increased plasma ACTH and cortisol concentrations. Pretreatment with an AVP V₁ receptor antagonist blocked AVP-induced plasma ACTH cortisol but failed to alter basal ACTH or cortisol. To …

Soft Tissue Changes Of The Upper Lip Following Isolated Le Fort I Osteotomies, Kendall E. James

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Pre-operative (T-1) and post-operative (T-3) radiographs were obtained and traced for fifty-one non-growing patients who had undergone isolated Le Fort I osteotomies. These tracings were then digitized with the results arranged in a data file and subjected to statistical analysis. The purpose of this study was to establish ratios for certain hard to soft tissue movements that could be used to aid the clinician in post-surgical soft tissue profile prediction. The results showed that even though a large sample was used, individual patient variability remained high particularly in the horizontal directions. Most ratios found in this study were consistent with …

Condylar Angulations As Related To Submental-Vertex Radiographs, Jady L. Chiakowsky

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Pretreatment submental-vertex radiographs were obtained for 637 adolescent patients (307 males, 330 females) who had presented themselves for orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine the relationship between condylar angulations and depth of cut with the variables: age, sex, and race, and (2) establish normative values for the categories studied. The results indicated that no significant differences existed between the condylar angulations for the variables measured. However, significant differences did exist between the depth of cut for the variables measured and there was significant interaction between age and race with respect to the depth of cut. …

The Effect Of Electrical Stimulation Of The Dorsal Raphe Nucleus On Local Cerebral Glucose Metabolism And Epileptogenesis In The Rat, Clifford C. Douglas

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Anatomic connections between the dorsal raphé and the hippocampus have been described in the literature; however, the understanding of the functional importance of these connections is not complete. In these studies the "functional" raphé-hippocampal pathway was elucidated first by the 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) method, and second by the effect of dorsal raphé electrical stimulation on kindled seizure in the rat. In the 2-DG study, differences in local rates of cerebral glucose metabolism were quantified. The pattern of 2-DG uptake differed significantly from controls (animals with electrodes placed and not receiving an electrical stimulus) and subjects stimulated in the pontine oral reticular …