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Effects Of Probiotic Lactobacilli On Streptococcus Mutans: Implications For Early Childhood Caries, Walaa Al-Turki Sep 2025

Effects Of Probiotic Lactobacilli On Streptococcus Mutans: Implications For Early Childhood Caries, Walaa Al-Turki

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Effects of Probiotic Lactobacilli on Streptococcus mutans: Implications for Early Childhood Caries WALAA MOHIEDEN AL TURKI DENTISTRY ABSTRACT Purpose: Probiotic Lactobacillus species have been shown to have beneficial effects against early childhood caries (ECC) by inhibiting the growth of cariogenic bacteria. However, the acidogenicity of Lactobacillus spp. could have potential carcinogenic effect. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of probiotic lactobacilli and cariogenic lactobacilli on the growth, biofilm formation, and acid production of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans). Methods: Growth competition between probiotic L. rhamnosus GG (L-GG) or caries-associated L. rhamnosus M72-26 (L-M72) and S. mutans UA159 …

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Impact Of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation On Corticostriatal Synaptic Function And Morphology, Charlotte Franziska Brzozowski Sep 2025

Impact Of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation On Corticostriatal Synaptic Function And Morphology, Charlotte Franziska Brzozowski

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Lewy Body Dementias (LBDs), including Parkinson’s Disease Dementia (PDD) and Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), are defined by α-synuclein (α-syn) accumulation in Lewy Pathology (LP). LP is abundant in cortical layer V intratelencephalic (IT) neurons, a subset of neurons that also degenerate in the pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) in humans, which is homologous to the secondary motor cortex (M2) in mice, as observed in PD postmortem tissue. IT neuron projections to the striatum are an intrinsic part of the motor basal ganglia circuitry, believed to modulate cognitive aspects of executive motor control, such as updating motor plans. M2 projections to …

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Characterizing The Role Of Pneumococcal Surface Protein A And Humoral Immunity To Biofilm Antigens During Streptococcus Pneumoniae Colonization, Jessica Lane Sep 2025

Characterizing The Role Of Pneumococcal Surface Protein A And Humoral Immunity To Biofilm Antigens During Streptococcus Pneumoniae Colonization, Jessica Lane

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Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn), or “the pneumococcus”, is a Gram-positive bacterium that colonizes the upper respiratory tract as a pathobiont. Spn is a deadly human pathogen, and one of the leading etiological agents of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). One virulence factor of Spn is pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA), a choline-binding protein (CBP) at the surface of the bacteria that interacts with the host environment. Here, we demonstrated a novel role for PspA involving adhesion to dying host nasal epithelial cells via a multimeric complex with host lactoferrin (LF) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). We found that the PspA-GAPDH complex aggregated the bacteria …

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"Organizational Characteristics And Market Factors Associated With The Adoption Of Hospital At Home", Vincent Turner Sep 2025

"Organizational Characteristics And Market Factors Associated With The Adoption Of Hospital At Home", Vincent Turner

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ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MARKET FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE ADOPTION OF HOSPITAL AT HOME VINCENT TURNER, JR. HEALHTCARE LEADERSHIP ABSTRACT The healthcare environment has continued to be reshaped and forced to evolve over the last several decades and even more so in recent years. This evolution and reshaping have been forced by both internal and external factors withing the healthcare landscape. This has tasked hospital leaders with exploring new ways of delivering care. The COVID-19 pandemic was an external circumstance the forced hospital leaders to look at alternate ways of providing care, more specifically in the home setting. Hospitals were introduced …

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Understanding Clinical Tool Adoption In Primary Care: A Case Study Of The Cmds Care Pathway, Khushbu Khatri Park Sep 2025

Understanding Clinical Tool Adoption In Primary Care: A Case Study Of The Cmds Care Pathway, Khushbu Khatri Park

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The rising prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) places increasing strain on healthcare systems and primary care providers (PCPs). In response, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) adapted the Cardiometabolic Disease Staging System (CMDS), a validated clinical decision support tool, designed to stratify patient risk and guide evidence-based treatment. Embedded within the electronic health record (EHR) as a Care Pathway, the CMDS was designed for real-time use during primary care visits. This dissertation examines utilization of the CMDS in a two-phase case study, guided by the Adult Learning Theory, Group Dynamics Theory, Force Field Theory and Change …

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Controlling Properties Of Pmaa Multilayer Hydrogel Microparticles Through Network Structure, Daniel Inman Sep 2025

Controlling Properties Of Pmaa Multilayer Hydrogel Microparticles Through Network Structure, Daniel Inman

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Advancements in the fabrication of “smart” stimuli responsive hydrogel microparti-cles have been pivotal in their optimization for applications. The responsiveness of hydro-gel networks to external stimuli enhances the intrinsic properties of hydrogels to increase functionality. Through layer-by-layer assembly, the internal composition, network struc-ture, and surface chemistry of multilayer hydrogels can be directly controlled to introduce new and unique properties. Applicable to a wide variety of shapes and sizes; hydrogel mi-croparticles are versatile for biological interactions, such as, cellular internalization, tissue regeneration, biosensors, and more. Thus, this dissertation will discuss the synthesis of shaped pH-responsive hydrogel microparticles and the investigation of …

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Bridging The Gap: Exploring The Facilitators And Barriers In The Self-Management Of Diabetes And Pain In Rural Southern Communities, Kennedy Nicole Butler Sep 2025

Bridging The Gap: Exploring The Facilitators And Barriers In The Self-Management Of Diabetes And Pain In Rural Southern Communities, Kennedy Nicole Butler

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Southern rural communities experience a higher prevalence of Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and associated comorbidities, which increases rates of premature mortality due to socio-environmental factors, pre-existing health conditions, and economic burden in comparison to their urban counterparts. Fifty percent of individuals with T2D experience pain or chronic pain (CP); however, individuals in rural communities disproportionately experience symptoms of CP. CP is a physically debilitating condition that can inhibit mobility and reduce quality of life. T2D and the co-occurrence of CP can limit an individual's ability to engage in self-managing behaviors. While diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) programs, along with …

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Effect Of Fiber Structure Heterogeneity On The Estimation Of Material Parameters For Cardiac Scar Tissue Mechanics, Desmond Maximilian Flanagan Sep 2025

Effect Of Fiber Structure Heterogeneity On The Estimation Of Material Parameters For Cardiac Scar Tissue Mechanics, Desmond Maximilian Flanagan

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Over one million Americans suffer from myocardial infarction (MI) per year. After MI, the heart muscle is replaced by scar, whose mechanical properties play a critical role in outcomes for surviving patients. Previously, Caggiano et al. induced MI in rats, and ex-tracted the scar tissue samples for microscopy and mechanical testing. Building on this, we investigate the effect of incorporating microscopy-derived fiber heterogeneity on the estimation of stress and material parameters. We studied the effect of fiber orientation heterogeneity on the mechanical characteriza-tion of scar tissues using finite element models (FEM) that replicated biaxial tests. We used three constitutive models—Mooney-Rivlin, …

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The Association Of Resilience Factors With Mental Health Outcomes Among Middle-Aged And Older People Living With Hiv, Jeremy Delgadillo Sep 2025

The Association Of Resilience Factors With Mental Health Outcomes Among Middle-Aged And Older People Living With Hiv, Jeremy Delgadillo

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Research suggests that people living with HIV (PLWH), an aging chronic health population, have higher prevalence rates and severity of mental health and substance use disorders compared to people living without HIV (PLWoH). Cross-sectional and longitu-dinal studies have suggested intrapersonal resilience factors may serve a protective function in reducing the prevalence and severity of mental health and substance use outcomes among PLWH. The purpose of the current study was two-fold. The first aim was to systematically review the current state of the literature from 2000 to present that examined the associations between intrapersonal resilience factors and mental health outcomes among …

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Turn On, Tune In, Drop Shame: Exploring The Unique Therapeutic Potential Of Psychedelics For Sexual And Gender Minority Populations, Nicholas Carlisle Sep 2025

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Shame: Exploring The Unique Therapeutic Potential Of Psychedelics For Sexual And Gender Minority Populations, Nicholas Carlisle

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Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals face significant disparities in mental and physical health compared to their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts, due in part to chronic exposure to distal and proximal minority stressors. Shame – a self-focused characterized by a global sense of personal deficiency or unworthiness – has emerged as a key intrapersonal mechanism linking minority stressors to adverse health outcomes. This dissertation explores the role of shame in SGM health inequities and investigates the emerging potential of psychedelics to reduce shame and improve health and wellbeing in these populations. This three-paper dissertation begins with a scoping review (Paper …

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Influenza A Virus Increases Susceptibility To Streptococcus Pneumoniae By Damaging The Airway Epithelium, Erin Yepsen Earnhardt Sep 2025

Influenza A Virus Increases Susceptibility To Streptococcus Pneumoniae By Damaging The Airway Epithelium, Erin Yepsen Earnhardt

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Influenza A Virus (IAV) is commonly complicated by secondary bacterial infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn), leading to increased morbidity and mortality. Recent work from our lab demonstrates that an IAV-induced loss of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) in the airway disrupts the rheostatic properties of the airway surface liquid (ASL). In cystic fibrosis, caused by mutations in the CFTR gene, there is an increase in the bacterial burden of the airway. However, the underlying mechanisms and damage caused by IAV-induced CFTR dysfunction in the airway remains unknown. Using a primary differentiated human bronchial airway epithelial cell culture (HBEC) system, …

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The Role Of The Glycerol Metabolism Regulator Glpr On Pseudomonas Aeruginosa’S Physiology, Nicholas Jordan Evans Sep 2025

The Role Of The Glycerol Metabolism Regulator Glpr On Pseudomonas Aeruginosa’S Physiology, Nicholas Jordan Evans

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Chronic infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in people with cystic fibrosis. P. aeruginosa persists in the CF lung through adaptations, including altering the expression of metabolic genes to acquire nutrients that are abundant in the CF airway. Glycerol in the airway is imported and metabolized by proteins encoded in the glp regulon, which is regulated in part by GlpR. The loss of GlpR was previously shown to increase biofilm development in a P. aeruginosa CF isolate compared to a wound isolate. In the first half of this work, we investigated the influence that …

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Investigating The Role Of Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling In The Cystic Fibrosis Airways, Meghan June Hirsch Sep 2025

Investigating The Role Of Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling In The Cystic Fibrosis Airways, Meghan June Hirsch

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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene which results in complications in organs such as the lung, pancreas, liver, and intestines. In the lung, defective CFTR results in thick, sticky mucus that causes susceptibility to colonization of opportunistic pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), progressive lung damage, and ultimately a decrease in life expectancy in affected individuals depending on severity of disease. Additionally, one of the characteristics of this disease, with and without PA infection, is chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation has also been associated with accelerated aging …

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A Short Trip: A Mixed Methods Investigation Of The Perceived Effects Of Vaporized Dmt Vs Vaporized 5-Meo-Dmt, Cynthia Estrella Ortiz Sep 2025

A Short Trip: A Mixed Methods Investigation Of The Perceived Effects Of Vaporized Dmt Vs Vaporized 5-Meo-Dmt, Cynthia Estrella Ortiz

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The rise in psychedelic use has been accompanied by increased interest in alternative routes of administration, including vaporization. However, little is known about the characteristics and outcomes associated with vaporized forms of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT). This mixed-methods study examined the subjective experiences and mental health correlates of individuals who reported using vaporized DMT, vaporized 5-MeO-DMT, or psilocybin mushrooms in the past six months. A total of 209 adults completed an online survey assessing demographic variables, substance use, and psychological functioning, including measures of global health (PROMIS), subjective happiness, magical ideation, spiritual connection, psychosis-like experiences (CAPE-42), and hypomanic symptoms. …

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Mcl1 And Hexokinase 2 Form A Glucose Metabolic Regulatory Axis, Robert Lee Sep 2025

Mcl1 And Hexokinase 2 Form A Glucose Metabolic Regulatory Axis, Robert Lee

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Hexokinase 2 (HK2) initiates glucose metabolism by catalyzing the conversion of glucose to glucose-6-phosphate providing the starting substrate for a vast array of metabolic pathways such as glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), amino acid biosynthesis and others. While HK2’s metabolic role in normal physiologic function (such as in cardiomyocytes) and cancers (through driving the Warburg Effect) are well established, there is emerging evidence that supports HK2 is also a critical mediator of protein-protein interactions that regulate cell survival. Through comprehensive review, we explore how HK2 contributes to cell survival through metabolic and protein scaffolding roles. We also investigate a novel …

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The Eco-Evolutionary Consequences Of Spatial Patterning Of Macroalgal Life Cycle Stages And Reproductive Mode Variation, Alexis Oetterer Sep 2025

The Eco-Evolutionary Consequences Of Spatial Patterning Of Macroalgal Life Cycle Stages And Reproductive Mode Variation, Alexis Oetterer

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Haploid-diploid life cycles offer valuable insight into the evolution of sex and ploidy cycling, but empirical research has largely focused on diploid-dominant taxa, such as angiosperms. Expanding empirical studies to include a broader range of eukaryotic diversity is critical to ultimately understand responses to climate change. This dissertation addresses gaps in our understanding of macroalgal reproductive modes by examining macroalgae Gracilaria vermiculophylla and Ulva spp. along the Delmarva Peninsula. To understand how hard and soft bottom habitats have structured genetic diversity and reproductive modes in Gracilaria vermiculophylla and how these habitats have shaped colonization of this area, we used nine …

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Lineage-Associated Zinc Metalloprotease B And Its Impact On Cardiac Damage Elicited During Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, Jennifer Nichelle Luck Sep 2025

Lineage-Associated Zinc Metalloprotease B And Its Impact On Cardiac Damage Elicited During Invasive Pneumococcal Disease, Jennifer Nichelle Luck

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During invasive disease, certain strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) can invade the myocardium, damaging cardiomyocytes and predisposing patients to life-threatening cardiac complications. To identify genetic loci involved in pneumococcal cardio-virulence, we performed a bacterial genome-wide association study using 825 genomes corresponding to 17 distinct Spn lineages associated with varying rates of cardiac complications during hospitalization for pneumonia. This led to the identification of an allele of zmpB, the gene encoding Zinc metalloprotease B (ZmpB). Infection of mice with a ZmpB deficient mutant, i.e., TIGR4ΔzmpB, found that ZmpB was required to form foci of infection in the heart, i.e., cardiac microlesions. …

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Modeling The Basal Ganglia Network Using Leaky Integrate-And-Fire Neurons To Explore Its Role In Facilitating Purposive Saccades, Saarth Anjali Chitale Sep 2025

Modeling The Basal Ganglia Network Using Leaky Integrate-And-Fire Neurons To Explore Its Role In Facilitating Purposive Saccades, Saarth Anjali Chitale

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Saccadic eye movements provide a well-defined behavioral readout for investigating how the basal ganglia (BG) contribute to action selection. While saccades are controlled by multiple brain regions, including direct excitatory inputs from various cortices, the BG exerts a key inhibitory influence. Decades of experimental work using saccadic behavioral paradigms in non-human primates have yielded important insights into the activity of BG populations. These include the caudate nucleus, subthalamic nucleus, globus pallidus externus, and substantia nigra pars reticulata, as well as dopaminergic afferents from the substantia nigra pars compacta and efferent projections to the superior colliculus, which controls eye movements. Despite …

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Virulence Factors And Their Binding Partners: A Biochemical Study, Morgan E. Blake Sep 2025

Virulence Factors And Their Binding Partners: A Biochemical Study, Morgan E. Blake

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Virulence factors are an important mechanism by which viruses combat the host immune system, therefore a thorough understanding of the workings of these proteins will be of significant value in prevention of disease associated with viral infections. In this dissertation we investigate the main virulence factors of two viruses, the Influenza A Virus (IAV) and SARS-CoV-2, and their interactions with host proteins, providing critical information for structure-based drug design. In chapter one we studied the nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) of IAV and its interaction with the 30-kda subunit of the cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF30) to inhibit host cell …

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Amygdala Npy+ Interneurons Are Activated By Aversive Stim-Uli, Patric Perez Sep 2025

Amygdala Npy+ Interneurons Are Activated By Aversive Stim-Uli, Patric Perez

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Neuropeptide Y (NPY) serves as a critical endogenous anxiolytic and stress-buffering molecule, yet the temporal and spatial dynamics of NPY+ cells during fear learning re-main unknown. Temporal dynamics can be measured with in vivo calcium imaging tech-niques, which enable real-time monitoring of cell-type-specific neural activity in freely behaving animals. Snapshots of neuronal activation can be measured using c-Fos im-munohistochemistry, thereby providing excellent spatial resolution. Here, I employ cut-ting-edge approaches to characterize the temporal and spatial activation patterns of NPY+ cells in amygdala, a key fear-regulating brain region negatively impacted by aversive events. I first used in vivo fiber photometry, together …

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Bridging Fact And Fiction: Lawrence Alma-Tadema’S And Georg Ebers’ Visions Of Ancient Egypt, Elizabeth Casement Sep 2025

Bridging Fact And Fiction: Lawrence Alma-Tadema’S And Georg Ebers’ Visions Of Ancient Egypt, Elizabeth Casement

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Existing research on the methodology behind the production of ancient Egyptian-themed paintings of Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912) has centered on his use of an extensive cache of reference materials. This thesis suggests that Alma-Tadema’s sources of historical information and creative influence far exceeded his private reference library, also hinging on his vast personal network and specifically examining the collaborative friendship he maintained with German author and professor of Egyptian studies Georg Ebers (1837-1898). A thorough reading of letters from Alma-Tadema to Ebers elucidates the impact of the German author on the artist’s understanding of Egypt from the Pharaonic to the Roman …

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Understanding Psychotic Disorders Using Normative Modeling-Derived Individual-Level Brain Structural Abnormalities, Natalie Remiszewski Sep 2025

Understanding Psychotic Disorders Using Normative Modeling-Derived Individual-Level Brain Structural Abnormalities, Natalie Remiszewski

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Psychosis is an heterogenous condition that occurs in many psychiatric disorders. It has a variable symptom presentation and recent initiatives have suggested that investigating the underlying neurobiology of psychiatric disorders rather than their symptomatology would provide a more accurate picture for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Grey matter has been implicated in the pathophysiology of psychosis and psychotic disorders, though significant natural variation due to age and sex have impeded the distinction of pathologically relevant grey matter abnormalities in psychosis. Additionally, case-control approaches to exploring grey matter abnormalities in psychotic disorders often obscure subtle variation in individuals. Here, we utilize a …

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Standardizing Sea Urchin Husbandry: Tank Effects, Gamete Production, And Co-Culture, Raven Amber Edwards Sep 2025

Standardizing Sea Urchin Husbandry: Tank Effects, Gamete Production, And Co-Culture, Raven Amber Edwards

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This dissertation seeks to further knowledge of sea urchin husbandry in three major areas that have so far not been investigated substantially: optimal conditions for housing sea urchins in a lab-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS), impacts of repetitive spawning regimens on reproductive output, and co-culture utilizing juvenile oysters. All studies utilize a commercial recirculating aquaculture system that is relatively novel for culturing sea urchins. The first chapter investigated the influence of housing conditions on sea urchin growth outcomes. Under the conditions of this study, the size of the tank showed limited influence on growth; however, stocking density was found to …

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Structural And Functional Investigation Of The Influenza Nuclear Export Protein, Andrew James Staup Sep 2025

Structural And Functional Investigation Of The Influenza Nuclear Export Protein, Andrew James Staup

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The influenza A nuclear export protein (NEP) is a multi-functional protein that mediates the export of progeny viral ribonucleoprotein (vRNP) complexes from the host nucleus, regulates the activity of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), and is implicated in zoonosis. It is therefore critical to understand the mechanisms of NEP’s functions at the molecular level to inform its roles in the viral lifecycle and influenza zoonosis. In this dissertation, we report the structure of NEP in complex with the host nuclear export holo-complex as well as investigate the biophysical effects of the adaptive M16I mutation on NEP. We solved the cryo-electron …

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Pao Induces Er Stress In Endothelial Cells Leading To Barrier Function Dysfunction And Inhibition Of Brd4 Prevents Lewisite-Induced Peribronchial Fibrosis, Huaxiu Zeng Sep 2025

Pao Induces Er Stress In Endothelial Cells Leading To Barrier Function Dysfunction And Inhibition Of Brd4 Prevents Lewisite-Induced Peribronchial Fibrosis, Huaxiu Zeng

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Arsenicals are members of one of the most important global environmental vesicants and are a persistent bio accumulative carcinogen. One of the vesicants and chemical warfare agents is lewisite, which causes lung injury with pulmonary edema, hemorrhage, and respiratory failure. A single cutaneous exposure to lewisite in mice induces systemic lung injury through arsenical-mediated mechanisms. Some subjects develop Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS) where there is evidence of airway dysfunction and pathologic narrowing of the airways with extracellular protein deposition and fibroblast invasion. In vitro for human lung endothelial cells, Phenyl arsine Oxide (PAO) exposure, as surrogate of lewisite, leads to …

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Proteasome Augmentation Is Protective Against Alzheimer’S Disease And Agerelated Cognitive Decline, Kanisa Davidson Sep 2025

Proteasome Augmentation Is Protective Against Alzheimer’S Disease And Agerelated Cognitive Decline, Kanisa Davidson

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Proteostasis is essential for the degradation of oxidized, misfolded proteins and proper function of neuronal plasticity. Proteasome inhibition has been shown to exacerbate cognitive and behavioral deficits in aging and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) models. Proteasomal activity is decreased across human and animal models of AD. We hypothesize that aging and AD markers, β-amyloid and/or hyperphosphorylated tau, impair proteasome function, thereby preventing the proteasome’s capacity to degrade critical synaptic proteins essential for memory formation. We investigated the role of pharmacological and genetic augmentation on proteasomal function, to rescue aging and AD-like cognitive deficits in cell culture, Drosophila, and mice. We demonstrate …

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Promoting Mental Health And Social-Emotional Development In Underserved Families, Brianna Paquette Sep 2025

Promoting Mental Health And Social-Emotional Development In Underserved Families, Brianna Paquette

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The overarching goal of this dissertation was to investigate interventions that aimed to support mental health and child development in underserved families. Individuals from low-income households often experience mental health difficulties, such as higher rates of caregiver depression. Additionally, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to face difficulties with social and emotional development. This dissertation is comprised of three papers exploring interventions to facilitate child development and well-being in low-income families. The first paper is a systematic review and meta-analysis on home visiting interventions aimed at supporting the social-emotional development of children from birth to five years of age. …

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Imaging A Digital Stock Exchange, Mrigank Mrigank Sep 2025

Imaging A Digital Stock Exchange, Mrigank Mrigank

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In 2021, Rama Cont and Marvin M¨uller proposed a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) that models the density of orders in the limit order book at a given distance from the mid-price. In this thesis, we begin with a generalized version of the Cont–M¨uller SPDE and formulate an associated inverse problem. We present two alternative approaches to framing this inverse problem and establish, under appropriate assumptions, that it is conditionally well-posed. To solve the inverse problem, specifically, to recover the coefficients in the generalized Cont–M¨uller model, we adapt a variational approach involving the minimization of convex functionals. The recovered coefficients …

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Identifying Functional Regional Changes In Patients With Parkinson’S Disease And Freezing Of Gait, Taylor Robin Davis Sep 2025

Identifying Functional Regional Changes In Patients With Parkinson’S Disease And Freezing Of Gait, Taylor Robin Davis

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Freezing of gait (FOG) affects anywhere from 20-80% of those with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) with the prevalence increasing with disease severity and length. This detrimental symptom is unpredictable and poorly characterized, which adds to the negative experience of FOG as it is difficult to treat. Using resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), we set out to determine the functional changes in those with PD-FOG and map onto regions of the brain where signal power, measured using fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), synchronicity, as measured by regional homogeneity (ReHo), and strength and direction of intra-network connections as measured by static effective connectivity, are …

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Understanding Visual Memory Encoding And The Effects Of Endurance Exercise In Healthy Adults And People With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Brandon Steve Mitchell Sep 2025

Understanding Visual Memory Encoding And The Effects Of Endurance Exercise In Healthy Adults And People With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Brandon Steve Mitchell

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The visual memory encoding (VME) of indoor and outdoor scenes is a complex cognitive process that primarily utilizes the bilateral hippocampi and medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures along the parahippocampal gyrus. Alpha and theta frequency band oscillations are important in the processing of visual information and memory formation, respectively. We completed hree studies investigating the cognitive process of VME in healthy adults and people with temporal lobe epilepsy (pwTLE). The first study was cross-sectional and utilized a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-constrained magnetoencephalography (MEG) analysis in healthy adults to explore VME. The fMRI results were used as spatial priors to …

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