Digital Commons Network^™

Advantages Of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Tube Placement In Patients With Head And Neck Cancer Who Receive Radiation As Part Of Their Treatment, Nevin Thul

Speech and Hearing Sciences ETDs

The use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tubes as an intervention strategy in head and neck cancer was investigated in this retrospective chart review. Twenty-five veterans met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into two groups – use of prophylactic percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and absence of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube placement. Medical charts were reviewed and data extracted included weight, swallow function, swallow exercise compliance, and physical and social quality of life for 2 years post-treatment. Month-to-month data were compared across the two groups with respect to weight, swallow function, swallow exercise compliance, and physical and social quality of life scores. …

Niemann-Pick C1, Its Connection To Obesity, And Its Impact On Human Evolution, Joseph Joshua Castillo

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Niemann-Pick type-C disease is a rare autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease that classically presents in the first decade, leading to ataxia, vertical-gaze palsy, loss of communication skills, epileptic seizures, and eventually death. The stark reality about NPC disease underlines the important role the NPC1 protein plays in whole-body lipid homeostasis. It is no surprise, then, that the NPC1 gene has been associated with other diseases as well, such as obesity, diabetes, and Ebola virus infection. In this manuscript, a connection will be made that intertwines genetics, biochemical and molecular mechanisms, physiology, and evolutionary pressures, and will explain how a gene, discovered …

Soil Properties Explain Changes In Soil Microbial Enzyme Activity With Depth In A Piñon-Juniper Woodland, Amanda B. Sacks

Biology ETDs

Semi-arid ecosystems play a major role in the global carbon cycle. These ecosystems, including piñon-juniper (PJ) woodlands, are experiencing extreme drought. As such, it is vital to characterize both above and below-ground processes in these systems in order to understand their vulnerability to future drought and other changes in climate.

Soils microbial communities play a critical role in nutrient cycles, as well as carbon storage, within PJ woodlands. More specifically, microbes aid the decomposition and mineralization of key nutrients, including carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, through the use of extracellular enzymes. Measuring microbial enzyme activity, therefore, can provide insight into how …

Dental Hygienists' Knowledge Of Medical Marijuana: A Survey, Lizbeth Hinojos

Dental Hygiene ETDs

Cannabis consumption is at an all-time high in the United States. Due to its fast growth in the medical industry and the lack of FDA approval, research is very limited. Dental hygienists’ will likely encounter a patient under the influence of this substance in the dental office. To provide the best quality of care, the dental hygienist must be aware of the oral implications, side effects and necessary modifications to treatment. Therefore, dental hygiene providers must be knowledgeable on medical marijuana to have discussions with patients when needed. Due to scarce research on the topic it makes it difficult to …

Psychological Factors And The Relation Between Neighborhood Conditions And Latino Health: A Mixed Methods Study, Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa

Psychology ETDs

Latinos, the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the US, face multiple health inequities including higher rates morbidity and mortality. Despite the importance of context and the wide range of stressors faced by this population, the majority of the literature on Latino and immigrant health concentrates on issues related to cultural adaptation processes. Using a socialdeterminants of health framework, the present convergent mixed methods study investigated the relation between neighborhood conditions and Latino health with a psychological lens. A total of 361 Latino residents of Bernalillo County, the largest county in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were recruited to complete a series of …

Understanding And Modifying Health Behaviors, Kristina N. Piorkowski

Economics ETDs

This dissertation explores two drivers behind the spread of non-communicable diseases – sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and youth tobacco use – in order to improve policies tailored to mitigate these behaviors. Chapter 2 uses primary survey data to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for a tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) in New Mexico. Traditional contingent valuation regression methods were reformulated as a three-equation system. Results indicate that respondents who have healthier eating habits have statistically significantly higher preferences for SSB taxes. The estimated individual median WTP 95% confidence interval was 0.002-0.961 pennies-per-ounce. Chapter 3 continues the exploration into SSB …

Motley Crew: Collaboration Across An Academic Library To Revive An Orphaned Collection, Amy Jankowski, Anne Schultz, Laura Soito

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

It can be difficult to find time and motivation to effectively address collection management for materials in specialized areas that fall outside the primary scope of one’s usual responsibilities. The pressure of crowded shelves in the authors’ largest library and the associated difficulties of helping users locate materials led a team of faculty librarians and staff to evaluate and consolidate an “orphaned collection” of books in health and medicine call numbers. The authors describe how a project team established a data-informed evaluation and weeding process that minimized affective decision-making and considered the nuances of collection management between disciplines.

Evaluation Of A Rolling Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention Group In A Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Setting: Short-Term Effectiveness And Processes Of Change, Corey Roos

Psychology ETDs

Background: Relapse following treatment is common among individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and effective treatments that support long-term recovery are needed. Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP; Bowen, Chawla, & Marlatt, 2011) is a promising intervention, yet there is a lack of evidence on how MBRP can be effectively disseminated and adapted for different real-world treatment settings. MBRP has most commonly been delivered as a closed-cohort group among individuals receiving aftercare treatment. It is unclear whether MBRP can be effectively delivered as a rolling admission group and among individuals at earlier stages in the recovery process. Additionally, there is a need …

Estimating Time To Esrd In Children With Ckd, Susan L. Furth, Chris Pierce, Wun Fung Hui, Colin A. White, Craig S. Wong, Franz Schaefer, Elke Wühl, Alison G. Abraham, Bradley A. Warady, Chronic Kidney Disease In Children (Ckid)

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: The KDIGO (Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes) guideline for chronic kidney disease (CKD) presented an international classification system that ranks patients' risk for CKD progression. Few data for children informed guideline development.

STUDY DESIGN: Observational cohort study.

SETTINGS & PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 1 to 18 years enrolled in the North American Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) cohort study and the European Effect of Strict Blood Pressure Control and ACE Inhibition on the Progression of CRF in Pediatric Patients (ESCAPE) trial.

PREDICTOR: Level of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and proteinuria (urine protein-creatinine ratio [UPCR]) at study …

An Immodest Proposal For Birth Registration In Donor-Assisted Reproduction, In The Interest Of Science And Human Rights, Elizabeth J. Samuels

New Mexico Law Review

Increasingly, an individual or a couple raising a newborn child may not be biologically related to the child. The child may be conceived with donated gametes -- a donated egg or sperm or both. A surrogate may gestate the child. The couple may be same-sex. Although we are aware of these developments, we are failing to collect information about them that is vital for medical, public health, and social science research as well as for protecting human rights. Information drawn from birth records is crucial for research, but it is becoming less accurate and less useful as parents who are …

The Support Needs Of First Generation Immigrant Families With Sons And Daughters With Disabilities, George Jacob

Special Education ETDs

This study examined the support needs of four first generation immigrant families with sons and daughters with disabilities from a city in the South West of the United States and gave them a voice to add to the knowledge base that can inform the development of supports and policies for families. Parents talked about their separation from extended families and being alone in an unfamiliar country without knowledge and information on how to raise a child with a disability. Spouse and children were the closest forms of support, but for a single parent, the needs multiplied. All families shared the …

Rodent Responses To Drought In The Southwestern United States: Resource Utilization Strategies And Effects To Keystone Resources, Charles L. Hayes Iv

Biology ETDs

The role of abiotic and biotic factors in regulating community and population dynamics is a central question of ecological inquiry. In the southwestern United States, the North American monsoon supplies vital pulses of moisture to Sonoran desert, arid grassland, and montane communities. I evaluated abiotic limitation in prairie and montane populations of Gunnison’s prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) using stable isotope analysis to quantify foraging niche widths. Niche widths declined under periods of drought stress. Prairie dogs in montane habitats exhibited seasonal shifts in dietary niche width during favorable growth periods for more nutritious plants using the C_{3 …}

The Effect Of Acute Aerobic Exercise And Rapamycin Treatment On Autophagy And The Heat Shock Response In Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Of Prediabetics, James Jermey Mccormick

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Objectives: Recently, a malfunction of the autophagic pathway has been implicated with impaired glucose metabolism and progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes. Further, an interconnection has been suggested between the autophagy and heat shock protein (HSP) systems. The aims of the present study were to investigate the effects of exercise and rapamycin treatment (RAPA) on the autophagic process and HSP in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from prediabetics compared to controls. Methods: Two groups matched for age and sex served as subjects and consisted of six prediabetic (42.4±11.7) and six controls (44.4±11.9). Subjects exercised at 50% of VO2max for …

Effect Of Exercise Interventions On Fatigue For Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Julien Succar

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effect of different exercise interventions on fatigue in patients with breast cancer undergoing active therapy. We found that exercise generally improves fatigue outcomes at 12 weeks after initiation of the exercise intervention. Aerobic exercise intervention improved fatigue, but anaerobic and combination regimens did not show improvement compared to controls. Moreover, no exercise intensity was found to be superior compared to controls. Our findings revealed that there is a need for standardization of exercise regimens in studies in order to identify the most effective exercise regimen.

An Analysis Of Socio-Economic Consequences Of Cancer In Nepal, Soumi Roy Chowdhury

Economics ETDs

This dissertation investigates the socio-economic burden of cancer patients using a primary survey in Nepal. Given the low uptake rate of cancer screening facilities in developing countries, my study covers three important issues: the need of information dissemination on cancer prevention among asymptomatic individuals, the emotional stress of cancer patients in relation to a control group of patients, and the severity of economic burden due to premature cancer related deaths measured at the national and individual levels. In developing countries with low level of information and awareness, it is difficult to communicate the importance of cancer preventative measures to the …

Mindfulness In The Workplace: Mindful Self-Regulation, Sophia M. Bowers

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Organizations are under pressure to perform and adapt to an ever-changing environment, creating stress on the employees, translating to direct and indirect costs to the organization. Mindfulness is recognized as an effective approach to managing stress, and has benefits on cognition, attention, and well-being, but limited research has investigated how individuals integrate mindfulness into their workplaces, which is the purpose of this study. The primary research question in this study asked how mindfulness workplace practice help individuals to self-regulate a) attention or thoughts, b) emotions, and c) both attention or thoughts and emotions and what the associated benefits are in …

Reconstructing Landscape Use Patterns Using Strontium Isotope Ratios, Marian Irene Hamilton

Anthropology ETDs

This dissertation uses modern habitats and fauna to model the variability and predictive power of strontium isotope ratios in identifying dispersal patterns in primates and habitat preference in primate and non-primate fauna. It concludes that there are significant isotopic differences between gallery forest and xeric grassland habitats in the same area and that these differences are reflected in fauna with habitat preferences for one or the other. It also identifies the most reliable methodological approaches for identifying the philopatric and dispersing sex in primate communities. Finally, it applies this methodological recommendation to strontium isotope data from South African hominins, concluding …

Intestinal Permeability And Microbial Dysbiosis In Acute Coronary Syndrome (Miacs Study), Tarik Z. Alhmoud

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Background: Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Metabolic syndrome and obesity are major risk factors for atherosclerosis and ACS. Dysbiosis plays an important role in metabolic syndrome and obesity. Studies show a markedly increased risk of heart attacks in patients with high levels of the pro-atherogenic metabolite trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO). TMAO is produced by the intestinal microbial flora through metabolism of dietary phospholipids; Gram-negative bacteria (Phylum Proteobacteria) is the major source of TMAO metabolism. Patients with obesity and metabolic syndrome have a defective intestinal tight-junctional (TJ) barrier, which allows paracellular permeation of luminal antigens such …

Seasonal Shifts In C3 And C4 Resource Use By A Small Mammal Community Under Changing Precipitation Regimes, Alaina Dianne Pershall

Biology ETDs

In light of climate change and projections of increasing temperatures and aridity in the North American southwest, it is essential to understand how consumer populations will respond to changes in the resource landscape. Rainfall varies in timing and intensity and therefore the timing, proportion, phenology, and abundance of C₃ and C₄ plant resources vary seasonally and annually. Here we examine rodent resource use in the Chihuahuan desert and focus on two distinct precipitation pulses in this system, where spring C₃ plants increase production in response to winter rains and C₄ plants respond to summer monsoons. We …

Using Δ13c, Δ15n, And Δ2h To Better Understand The Ecology Of Green Sea Turtles, Laura Pagès Barceló

Biology ETDs

Many green sea turtle populations are slowly recuperating from a recent severe decline due to anthropogenic factors including human consumption and mortality related to the fishing industry. Despite being charismatic animals that have been extensively studied, there is still a limited understanding of their feeding strategies and diet plasticity. This research explores the use of hydrogen isotopes in marine ecosystems to better understand green sea turtle ecology. This study is presented in two chapters: I first examined the trophic discrimination factor (D²H_NET) for hydrogen isotope (d²H) as a tool to correct hydrogen isotope data …

Minnesota Dentists’ Opinion Of The Dental Therapy Workforce Model, Marguerite J. Rogers 4435350

Dental Hygiene ETDs

The state of Minnesota developed the dental therapy workforce model to help alleviate the disparity in access to dental care. Despite success in other countries and acceptance by other professional organizations in the United States, some dentists continue to oppose this workforce model. The purpose of this study was to quantify Minnesota dentists’ attitudes regarding the utilization of dental therapists in that state. A survey was constructed that queried dentists’ opinion on dental therapists performing irreversible procedures and dental therapists alleviating the disparity in access to dental care. A stratified random sample of 1,000 dentists were invited to participate in …

Could Monoculture Trend In Paraguay Lead To Famine?, Andrã©S Gaudã­N

NotiSur

No abstract provided.

A Lot To Digest: Advancing Food Waste Policy In The United States, Alexandra Evans, Robin Nagele

Natural Resources Journal

An estimated thirty-one percent of the food grown, produced, and transported in the United States is wasted annually. This waste translates into ninety-six billion pounds of food and $165 billion in lost economic value. Food waste occurs at all phases of the supply chain, stretching from farm to table, and imposes substantial economic, environmental, and social costs. This Article highlights the staggering quantity of food waste in the United States and argues that certain innovative policies and market-based initiatives that strategically target the most egregious and unjustifiable types of food waste can efficiently reduce this problem. Applying a simple cost-benefit …

President Evo Morales Riding High Despite Protests By Bolivia’S Doctors, Transport Operators, Andrã©S Gaudã­N

NotiSur

No abstract provided.

Current And Future Applications Of Telemedicine To Optimize The Delivery Of Care In Chronic Liver Disease, Marina Serper, Michael L Volk

Project ECHO Bibliography

No abstract provided.

V-Atpase Roles In Prostate Cancer, Yamhilette Licon Munoz

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) is responsible for maintaining the acidic pH of the endomembrane system in eukaryotic cells. V-ATPase active transport of protons generates the differential luminal pH in lysosomes, endosomes, and the Golgi. In addition to intracellular V-ATPase, cancer cells have V-ATPase at the plasma membrane. Plasmalemmal V-ATPase acidifies the extracellular milieu and enhances cell motility and invasion, evidence that V-ATPase contributes to tumorigenic phenotypes. We studied V-ATPase cellular functions in prostate cancer (PCa), the most commonly diagnosed cancer for men in the United States. V-ATPase inhibitors decreased invasion and migration of PCa cells. In aggressive PCa cell lines, C4-2B …

Academic Program Review, Process And Procedures (Eighth Edition), Office Of Assessment And The Academic Program Review Office

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

This is the eighth edition of the APR manual, efficacious since August 2018. This comprehensively details the APR process of UNM, including documenting its Guiding Principles (p. 6), and the format for a program's "Plan of Action" (p.11).

Academic Program Review Office - Report, Office Of Assessment And The Academic Program Review Office

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

A report that “summarizes the general findings and activities of the Academic Program Review Office” (pg. 2) for the 2017 academic year (Fall 2017 to Spring 2018). This includes information on certain crucial changes to the department including the new faculty APR Oversight Committee and the incorporation of accreditation documents from the HSC.

Center For Diabetes & Nutrition Education Pamphlet, Health And Sciences Center

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

A short pamphlet that gives some information on the Center for Diabetes & Nutrition Education located within the university HSC. It details some of the services available at the center, including counseling and guidance for those with diabetes or other conditions that require modified diets.

2018-19 University Catalog, The Graduate Program, Office Of The Registrar

UNM HLC 2018-19 Assurance Argument Evidence

General information on graduate studies at the university, as it is documented in the 2018-2019 University Catalog. This page includes a list of currently available graduate degrees, information on admission policies for graduate students, both from within the United States and Internationally, an overview of financial assistance for graduate students, and other relevant documentation for graduate studies generally.