Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Increased Glutathione Metabolic Defense Capabilities In Cultured Alzheimer's Diseased Lymphoblast Cell Lines, Collin M. Shaw

Dissertations and Theses

The hypothesis to be tested states that the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) involves elevated levels of oxidative stress, resulting in elevated levels of cellular oxidative defense mechanisms. If the premise is true, than AD pathologically afflicted cells should have a higher demand for glutathione (GSH) as an innate oxidative defense mechanism hence; greater GSH concentrations, increased GSH resynthesis capabilities, and increased levels of cystathionine gamma-lyase (CNase). Alzheimer diseased and age matched control lymphoblast cells, obtained from OHSU's Oregon Brain Aging Study, were cultured, and GSH biochemistry was subsequently evaluated. GSH was depleted by exposing cells to the GSH depleting …

Patient-Guided Investigation Of The Restoration Of Health Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Nancy Ann Carney

Dissertations and Theses

The development of emergency department medical interventions and the implementation of fast-transport trauma systems has decreased the rate of death resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Without corresponding methods for long-term treatment and recovery, the prevalence of people disabled by TBI has increased, creating a growing public health problem. Investigations generated by physicians, rehabilitation programs, and social scientists, which attempt to associate standard measures of injury severity with outcome, leave unexplained variance in long-term functional status for persons with TBI.

The purpose of this investigation was to use persons with brain injury and their family members, to guide an analysis …

The Effectiveness Of Hypermedia Training Vs. Traditional Classroom Instruction In Stuttering, Micheal Dean Baran

Dissertations and Theses

A study by Henri (1994) showed that fluency is one of two areas where speech-language pathology clinicians feel least prepared and Sommers and Caruso (1995) advocated improved training in fluency. The use of computer technology to train students in the field of stuttering has been proven effective in previous studies (Strang, Meyers & Hall, 1989; Tetnowski & Martin, 1996).

The purpose of this study was to further develop a hypermedia training module for stuttering identification and to determine whether this hypermedia training module was as effective as traditional classroom teaching methods.

Subjects in this study were undergraduate students in speech …

The Effect Of Diastema Closure On The Remediation Of Lateral /S/: A Case Study, Reta Price

Dissertations and Theses

An important morphological-marker and one of the most frequently occurring speech sounds in English, the /s/ phoneme is also one of the sounds most often in need of remediation. Often, air emission during /s/ production, a particularly stubborn, often residual production error, is not remediated through traditional treatment methods, and yet the negative effect /s/ distortions have on listeners has been well-documented.

The subject of this investigation was a forty-eightyear-old male who received treatment for a lateralized /s/ during grade-school. It was hypothesized that his exerting high anterior pressure to prevent air from escaping from a diastema between his two …

The Female Adolescent Knee, Patti J. Seely

Dissertations and Theses

Many lower extremity anomalies are linked to an increased incidence of knee pain. A relationship between increased sports participation and knee pain has also been hypothesized. This study examined the relationship between lower extremity anomalies and the level of sports participation to knee pain. Fifty middle and high school female students completed a questionnaire to determine level of sports participation and the presence of knee pain/pathology. Measurements were made of Q angle, iliotibial band flexibility, knee hyperextension, hamstring flexibility, patella alta and calcaneal position. All variables were quantified and correlation coefficients were calculated. Stepwise multiple regression was used to evaluate …

Speech Production Patterns Following Management Of Velopharyngeal Inadequacy, Debra Lynn Childs

Dissertations and Theses

This descriptive study investigated the pattern of speech sound production before and after surgical management of velopharyngeal inadequacy in two subjects. The research questions asked were: (a) What type of speech patterns do subjects referred for surgical management of velopharyngeal incompetence demonstrate presurgically? (b) What changes in the speech patterns of the subjects are observed in the immediate month following surgery for velopharyngeal incompetence? (c) Do these changes settle into a stabilized pattern of speech production by 4 months postsurgery?

The subjects' speech productions were audio recorded for analysis using the Broen CVC Probe to obtain imitated single word elicitations …

Career Orientation Levels In Adolescents : A Comparison Of Cleft And Noncleft Subgroups, Tara Darice Gaddis

Dissertations and Theses

The current research studied career orientation levels during adolescence utilizing previously collected cross-sectional data on 80 subjects. The subjects had participated in a study focusing on the ways in which clefting, gender, self-concept, mental ability, and socioeconomic status impact career development. Preliminary analysis of the data found that self-concept, mental ability, self-ratings of facial appearance, and desired level of future educational status were the factors most predictive of level of career development. In the initial analysis of the data, subjects, cleft and noncleft, who demonstrated high self-esteem, high mental ability, reported a more advanced level of desired higher education, and …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Career Maturity Patterns Of Individuals With Clefts, Joyce Johnson Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

This longitudinal study sought to examine career maturity, and the variables thought to influence career maturity, in a sample of individuals with the congenital craniofacial anomaly of clefting by following them from adolescence (ages 14 to 18) into young adulthood (ages 22 to 26).

Sixteen subjects (6 males, 10 females) during adolescence and in young adulthood completed (a) a biographical questionnaire which provided educational and occupational information, (b) the Career Development Inventory, (c) the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, (d) the Shipley Institute of Living Scale, and (e) self-ratings of speech and facial appearance acceptability to provide information concerning career maturity, mental …

Concurrent Validity Of Mental Ability Screening Tools : A Comparison Of Normal Students’ Performance On The Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test And The Shipley Institute Of Living Scale-Revised, D. Melanie Peters

Dissertations and Theses

This study compared the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT), a verbal and nonverbal mental ability screening tool, to the Shipley Institute Living Scale (SILS), a nonverbal screening tool of mental ability, as part of a larger, ongoing study which is examining the effects of orofacial clefts on early career maturity. In terms of general intellectual ability, the K-BIT and the SILS provide descriptive categories, percentile ranks, raw scores, standard error of measurement, standard scores, standardization and norms, subtest scores, and total scores. The K-BIT provides normative curve equivalents and stanines, which the SILS does not. The SILS provides abstract and …