Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Stigma Cities: Dystopian Urban Identities In The United States West And South In The Twentieth Century, Jonathan Lavon Foster

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines how historical events and representation of those events relative to the wider historical context have allowed the media, opinion setters, and the ordinary public to use the names of San Francisco, California, Birmingham, Alabama and Las Vegas, Nevada as denigrating adjectives and the effect of this usage on those cities. Exploration of Birmingham’s image as a racist city, San Francisco’s as a gay Mecca, and Las Vegas, Nevada’s as an adult playground or sinful city serves this purpose. These case studies support a central argument that the nature of place-based stigmatization’s influence depends upon ever-shifting cultural values …

An Evaluation Of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Survival On Five Environmental Surfaces Under Two Different Humidities, With And Without The Addition Of Bovine Serum Albumin, Courtney Ann Coughenour

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a major public health concern, as they result in greater healthcare costs and increased morbidity and mortality rates. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one organism of particular concern, with the number of infections increasing in epidemic proportion. Bacterial surface contamination with MRSA is significant, as it may serve as a reservoir for transmission and have negative health implications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate survival of MRSA on five environmental surface materials; glass, wood, vinyl, plastic, and cloth. The effect of relative humidity (RH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were …

Identifying Biomarkers For Resistance To Novel Cisplatin Analogues In Human Lung, Breast And Prostate Cancers, Becky Michelle Hess

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cisplatin is a common therapeutic agent used in cancer treatment. Unfortunately, resistance to cisplatin in addition to severe side effects limits its use in cancer treatment. Two novel cisplatin analogues, 4DB and 4TB were shown to have varying cytotoxicity in lung, breast and prostate cancer cells. The hypothesis for this study states that the differences in 4DB and 4TB cytotoxicity among different tissue types is due to the type and efficiency of DNA repair mechanisms involved in response to these drugs.

To test the hypothesis, proteins involved in the rate limiting step of nucleotide excision repair (NER) and mismatch repair …

Mercury Concentrations In Muscle Tissue From Sportfish In Lake Mead, Nevada, Joanna L. Kramer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir by volume in the United States and provides fishing opportunities for numerous anglers. Considerable attention has been given to the bioaccumulation of methylmercury in fish tissues, however, no formal study utilizing approved USEPA methodology has been conducted to quantify the amount of mercury present in fish tissue from Lake Mead. The purpose of this study is to determine the concentrations of mercury present in the most commonly consumed fish from Lake Mead and to identify if any of the 4 major basins contain fish with elevated concentrations of mercury. Largemouth bass (n=49), striped bass …

Advance Practice Nurses Readiness To Change Assessment Methods In Parents Of Obese Children, Carolyn Leach

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The worldwide epidemic of child and adolescent overweight and obesity continues to increase at disturbing rates. Unhealthy dietary practice is one of multiple causative behaviors leading to child and adolescent overweight and obesity. This behavior can contribute to short and long-term health consequences. Parents are modulators in the development of children's dietary behavior practices. It is recommended clinical practice that pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) assess readiness to change behavior in parents of overweight or obese children. The components of the Prochaska and DiClemente's Transtheoretical Model (TTM) in correlation with the counseling style of Rollnick, Miller and Butler's methods of Motivational …

An Evaluation Of Plastic Toys For Lead Contamination In Day Care Centers In The Las Vegas Valley, Joseph Alan Greenway

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The harmful effect of childhood exposure to environmental lead continues to be a major health concern. This study examined lead contamination within the plastic of children's toys. It was also hypothesized that the use of lead as a stabilizer would result in higher incidents of elevated lead (> 600 ppm) in polyvinyl chloride plastics (PVC) than non-PVC plastics. It was also hypothesized that, due to the use lead chromate, yellow toys would have higher incidents of elevated lead (> 600 ppm) than toys of other colors. Toy samples were limited to those found in day care centers in Las Vegas, …

Evaluation Of X-Ray Fluorescence (Xrf) Lead Detection Method For Candy, Ashley Marie Phipps

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The harmful effects of childhood exposure to environmental lead continue to be a major health concern. Due to the significance of this hazard, a Healthy People 2010 objective was set to reduce all young children's blood lead levels to less than 10 micrograms per deciliter. Identification and removal of lead-contaminated candies is an integral part of the primary prevention of lead poisoning in children.

This research examined the efficacy of a protocol to use a portable XRF to screen candies for lead contamination. Method Detection Limits (MDLs) of 5.45 ppm and 7.05 ppm were determined in the Bulk Sample and …

Molecular Epidemiology Of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (Mrsa), Ilene Bautista

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Staphylococcus aureus is a frequent cause of a myriad of infections in hospitals, healthcare facilities and community settings. It is often related to skin and soft tissue infection, but it can also cause other diseases varying from food poisoning to endocarditis and toxic shock syndrome. According to a study by Kuehnert et al. (2006) there has been a strong association between Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) carriage and risk factors for subsequent infections. Subsequent infection from S. aureus , including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infection, can be projected by looking at the presence of S. aureus nasal colonization. The purpose of …

The Effect Of Concurrent Cell Phone Use And Walking On Gait Characteristics, Jennifer Marie Aldridge

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined the effects that cell phone use has on gait and situation awareness. Subjects (n=18; 24.67±3.60 yrs) completed three five-minute treadmill walking conditions (self-selected speed): (1) CONTROL (walking only), (2) TALK (walking and talking), and (3) TEXT (walking and texting). The number of detected lights presented in the visual field was recorded, as were kinematic data of the feet. Using a one-way repeated measure ANOVA it was determined light detection (F _(2,17) =39.777, p<0.001) and TC_min (F_(2,17) =8.574, p=0.001) were different between conditions. Specifically, light detection decreased during TEXT (2.6±2.2 lights) versus TALK (5.8±0.05 lights, p<0.001) or CONTROL (5.9±0.05 lights, p<0.001); TC_min decreased …

Photochemical Delivery Of Bleomycin In Malignant Glioma Cells, Joseph William Blickenstaff Iii

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite continued efforts, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) remains an incurable form of primary brain cancer. Surgical resection followed by radiation treatment and chemotherapy have been the most effective modalities in prolonging median survival time to 14 months. This research aims to study the response of two different cell culture models to a novel drug delivery method termed photochemical internalization (PCI). PCI is a technique to improve the utilization of macromolecules (e.g. the chemotherapeutic drug bleomycin) in site-specific cancer therapy. This concept is based on the use of specially designed photosensitizers (e.g. aluminum phthalocyanine disulfonate; AlPcS _2a ) which preferentially localize in …

Women's Health And Fitness Magazines: An Accurate Portrayal?, Jennifer M. Shymansky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study is a content analysis examining the representation of health information, particularly the leading causes of death, in cover story headlines of one year of the top women's health and fitness magazines: Prevention , Shape , Fitness , Self , Health and Women's Health. The study is grounded in social responsibility theory, a normative media theory. The findings show that women's health and fitness magazines' cover story headlines predominately discuss diet and exercise for weight loss, rather than the leading causes of death facing women. This under representation of actual societal health concerns can limit the vast readerships' health …

Asthma Severity In School-Children And The Quality Of Life Of Their Parents, Noelle S. Cerdan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background . The everyday management of a child with asthma can affect the parent's quality of life. Past studies which examined the effects of asthma characteristics of the child on parental quality of life have not reached a consensus over findings. Few studies examine parent characteristics such as mental health and sociodemographics on the quality of life of parents of asthmatic children.

Purpose . To examine the effect of asthma severity of school-children and sociodemographic characteristics onthe caregiver's quality of life. It also investigates whether agreement exists between the caregiver's perception of asthma severity and physician-diagnosed asthma severity.

Methodology . …

Using Thermoluminescent Dosimeters To Measure The Dose From High And Low Energy X-Ray Sources, Wesley Leon Boyd

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This work focused on using thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) to measure the doses from two x-ray sources, a CT scanner and a linear accelerator (linac). In addition ion chambers were used to determine the isodose contours from the operation of the linac. 1mm x 1mm x 1mm TLD-100 microcubes were placed in a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) torso phantom and irradiated using a Toshiba Aquilion One 320-Slice CT Scanner. Different thicknesses of shielding composed of antimony and bismuth powder suspended in an ethylene copolymer were used to shield the phantom and the dose reduction was measured. The dose reduction ranged …

Predictors Of Hpv Knowledge And Awareness In Rural America, Melanee Dulfon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Prior research has shown that overall awareness of HPV is low among women in America. Yet limited research exists as to the awareness of HPV among rural U.S. women. The goal of this study was to determine the factors that predict women's knowledge and awareness of HPV in rural America. Secondary data was utilized from the National Cancer Institute Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) of 2005. The sample consisted of 788 adult women over the age of 18 from rural areas of the U.S. Results indicated younger age, increased education, receipt of a Pap exam in over three years, …

Investigation Of Magnetic Resonance Imaging And Spectroscopy For The Detection Of Breast Cancer, Robert Thomas Etnire

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the breast offers an alternative to screening mammography which may benefit those women at high risk for breast cancer, women under the age of 40, and those with dense breast tissue. One concern with MRI is the number of high false positives. Coupling MRI with magnetic resonance spectroscopy(MRS) may lower the number of false positives, and thus improve the diagnostic capabilities of MRI for the clinician. MRS for breast imaging focuses on the total choline containing compounds in the spectra in the suspected breast lesion to analyze areas of concern. The results of the study …

The Effectiveness And Adoption Of Market-Based State Health Care Expansion Programs, Nathan Gregory Myers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Market-based state health expansion programs are alternatives to government programs like Medicaid and SCHIP which also seek to expand access to health insurance for uninsured populations. These programs either utilize the private health insurance market or function according to market principles. The market-based policies at issue in this research are state high-risk health insurance pools, limited benefit plans, group purchasing arrangements, reinsurance programs, and Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability waivers. This research addresses two separate but related research questions: (1) Do these market-based programs provide general economic and social benefits for the citizens of a state? (2) What role does …

Protection Of Macrophages J774a.1 By Purine Nucleoside Analogues From Bacillus Anthracis Mediated Necrosis, Zadkiel R. Alvarez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Eight years after the lamentable anthrax attacks, major scientific effort continues to be done, in order to stop imminent acts of bioterrorism. Innovative ways of therapy against the anthrax disease are being investigated. B. anthracis, the etiological agent of the infection, has a dormant stage in its life cycle known as the endospore. When conditions become favorable spores germinate, transforming into vegetative bacteria. In inhalational anthrax, the most fatal manifestation of the disease, spores enter the organism through the respiratory track, and are phagocytosized by alveolar macrophages of the lungs. Spores are able to sense nutrient availability, activating their germination …

Recent High School Graduates Knowledge About Physical Activity Guidelines And Disease Related To Sedentary Lifestyle, Soojin Yoo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined recent high school graduates' knowledge about physical activity (PA) guidelines and disease related to sedentary lifestyle. Using a cross-sectional descriptive design, focus was on assessing knowledge performance and relating it to gender, ethnicity, PA behavior, and conceptualizations about high school health education (HE) and physical education (PE). Study participants were 394 recent high school graduates between the ages of 18-20 years of age. Participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure knowledge about PA guidelines and disease associated with sedentary lifestyle. In addition, the questionnaire also comprised items designed to capture demographical information and provide some information about …

The Meaning Of Being A Primary Nurse Preceptor For Newly Graduated Nurses, Jennifer Richards

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Preceptorship is a vital component of the transition experience of newly graduated nurses into clinical practice. Preceptors teach, supervise, and evaluate newly graduated nurses, and also help them socialize into their roles as registered nurses. In the presence of an ever-growing nursing shortage and evidence that many new nurses are leaving their first positions, it is of paramount importance that we make every attempt to ease the transition of newly graduated nurses into clinical practice. Additionally important is the need to understand the experience of all involved in the process.

The primary purpose of this study was to achieve a …

The Effects Of Ultrasound Transducer Velocity On Intramuscular Tissue Temperature Across A Treatment Site, Pamela Liceralde

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This purpose of this study was twofold: to determine whether ultrasound transducer velocity affected tissue temperature increase, and whether heating was uniform across the treatment site. Thermocouples were inserted 2.5cm below the skin surface at the center, edge of the ERA, and the edge of the treatment site that was the size of two times the soundhead. Each subject received three 10-minute treatments at each speed, letting tissue temperature return to baseline between treatments.

Repeated measures factorial ANOVA revealed no significant differences in the speed of application and no interaction between speed and location. However, the location of the thermocouples …

Trends In Asthma Health Care Utilization At University Medical Center (Umc) Of Southern Nevada In Las Vegas, 2000-2007, Aishia Tennille Henderson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lifetime asthma prevalence is the physician diagnosis of asthma while current asthma prevalence is the existing asthma symptoms. In Nevada, the pediatric current and lifetime asthma prevalence rates were 7.1% and 11.8% in 2006. Similarly, the adult current and lifetime asthma prevalence rates were 6.9% and 13.4% in 2007.

Characterization studies examining trends of asthma health care utilization for children and adults are not well studied for Las Vegas, Nevada. This project determined if trends in asthma admissions at UMC hospital of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas have increased longitudinally across years and characterizes which demographic subgroups are disproportionately affected …

Implications For Nursing Practice: Delivering The Folic Acid Message, Kimberly Townsend Little

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 1995, North Carolina (NC) had one of the highest prevalence rates of neural tube defects (NTDs) in the United States. Since the NC Folic Acid Council began focusing their efforts on educating women of childbearing age regarding NTDs in 1994, the prevalence of NTDs has declined overall by 40%; however, NTD prevalence among Hispanics in NC continues to be double the rate of non-Hispanics. Research has found daily consumption of a multivitamin with folic acid significantly decreases NTDs. Healthy People 2010 include in their objectives the need to increase folic acid consumption in women and reduce the NTD rates. …

From School To Practice: The Meaning Of Nurses' Holistic Comfort, Michal Goodwin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nurses entering the healthcare arena are likely to encounter a gap in preparation from school to practice. Despite well-intentioned transition programs, nurses struggle to keep up with the reality of demanding schedules, stressful work environments and non-nursing tasks, such as their own comfort. Holistic comfort, a well-known concept in patient care, offers an innovative approach to nursing education to sustain new nurses transitioning into practice. This phenomenological study explored how nurses who experienced holistic comfort in their schooling were able to use the same philosophical approach to transcend unavoidable difficulties early in their careers.

Newly practicing nurses from a program …

Biofeedback Assisted Relaxation Training Program To Decrease Test Anxiety In Nursing Students, Catherine Andrea Prato

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nursing programs have been cited as being among the most stressful undergraduate programs. Students' knowledge and skills are consistently tested and monitored, and students may fail a course or be dropped from their nursing program if scores are not above a certain standard. Anxiety reactions are common to situations perceived as threatening; however, excessive anxiety may paralyze an individual and interfere with effective learning, functioning, and testing. Numerous studies have found increased anxiety causes physiological changes including increased respirations and heart rate, and decreased peripheral skin temperature. The purpose of this study was two fold. First test anxiety was measured …

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Other Consequences Of A Picu Admission, Stephanie Ann Stowman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Currently, there is a paucity of literature regarding children's experiences in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) relative to caregivers' experiences. Children admitted to a PICU and their caregivers are at risk for various psychopathology. Disorders commonly identified in seriously ill children include depression, anxiety, acute stress disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Caregivers of seriously ill children are at increased risk of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, acute stress disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Researchers often fail to examine all relevant psychopathology and contributing factors and stressors, such as family environment, in seriously ill children and their caregivers. This study assessed …

Job Satisfaction Comparison Between Foreign Educated Nurses And U.S. Educated Nurses, Kari Zizzo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current nursing shortage has impacted the profession and resulted in desperate recruitment of immigrant nurses to work in the U.S. Low job satisfaction is a factor implicated for the high nurse turnover rates, which contributes to further shortages and recruitment. Satisfaction amongst all nurses has been assessed in past research to address these issues; however no research per se has compared job satisfaction of nurses who obtained their nursing education in the U.S. to nurses who obtained education in other countries. It was the purpose of this study to compare these groups to identify any differences in job satisfaction. …

Filipino Physician-Turned Nurses: A Phenomenological Study, Victor Rey Cui Vapor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Foreign nurses have augmented the United States nursing workforce. The Philippines has remained the world's leading exporter of nurses, including the United States. More recently, a new phenomenon has emerged involving Filipino physicians who went back to school to take up nursing in the Philippines in order to migrate to foreign countries to work as nurses. The purpose of this study was to describe and to interpret the lived experiences of Filipino physician-turned nurses in the United States. Phenomenology was used as research design, with data obtained from a purposive sample of eight (8) self-identified physician-turned nurses in Las Vegas, …

Spectral Analysis Of Pathological Acoustic Speech Waveforms, Priyanka Medida

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Biomedical engineering is the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. The design and problem solving skills of engineering are combined with medical and biological science, which improves medical disorder diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this study is to develop an automated procedure for detecting excessive jitter in speech signals, which is useful for differentiating normal from pathologic speech. The fundamental motivation for this research is that tools are needed by speech pathologists and laryngologists for use in the early detection and treatment of laryngeal disorders. Acoustical analysis of speech was performed to analyze various features …

Focus Of Attention On Movement Technique Acquisition Of A Pilates Roll-Up, Kristine M. Bragg

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Focus of attention manipulation has been shown to have an effect on learning and performance of movement tasks. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether inducing an external or internal focus of attention while learning a Pilates roll-up had an effect on movement technique acquisition. Movement form, movement time, and distance reached served as dependent variables. Participants (n=22) were assigned to either an external or internal focus group and verbally instructed through 2 sets of 6 repetitions of the roll-up per day over two practice days. A retention test on Day 3 consisting of 2 sets of 6 …

An Evaluation Of Lead Hazards In Pre-1978 Residental Housing Within Clark County, Nevada, Usa, Erika Raquel Torres

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lead poisoning remains a public health concern due to leads persistence in the environment from anthropogenic uses. Initial efforts to address the impacts of lead on vulnerable communities have included secondary prevention measures which typically occur after a child has been poisoned. However, in recent years there has been a pragmatic shift toward primary prevention efforts.

This study evaluates lead hazards identified through primary prevention activities in residential housing within Clark County, Nevada, USA. It is the first study to systematically address and evaluate pre-1978 housing in Southern Nevada. Risk assessments were conducted in 81 dwellings built prior to 1979 …