Digital Commons Network^™

Mechanism Of Interferon-Beta-Mediated Inhibition Of Il-8 Gene Expression, Travis Laver

All ETDs from UAB

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a potent chemoattractant of numerous cells, particularly neutrophils, in the innate immune response. In addition to immune functions, IL-8 is known to contribute to the pathogenesis of a number of diseases, including cancer. Interferon-β (IFN-β), a Type I interferon, inhibits the expression of IL-8, but the details of this effect are not known. In this study we investigate transcriptional control of the IL- 8 gene and the mechanism by which IFN-β exerts inhibitory effects on IL-8. Herein we show that stimulation of U87-MG glioma cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) results in a rapid recruitment of NF-κB …

Air Pollution And Preterm Births In Atlanta, Georgia, Corey Masuca

All ETDs from UAB

Exposure to ambient outdoor air pollution exposure is one of the many extraneous factors associated with preterm births. Many epidemiological studies involving preterm births and ambient air pollution have repeatedly indicated positive associations. However, for many such studies, results may be statistically significant but weakly associated or inconclusive. Such results may be primarily attributable to the fact that most studies include only single or multiple criteria air pollutants but not the total air pollution mixture of criteria air pollutants and air toxic pollutants (e.g., PAHs) to which people are actually exposed. This study assessed associations between pollutant classes, including criteria …

Reading Teachers' Attitudes Toward Scripted Reading Programs: A Multiple Case Study, Holly G. Morgan

All ETDs from UAB

In the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2002), reading teachers have been faced with new challenges and pressures, including reading curricula. Many schools have scrambled to purchase materials that are labeled as being scientifically researched (Vogt & Shearer, 2007). As a result of the influx of scripted reading programs, the educational field has been flooded with primarily quantitative research that was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific program. In addition, much of this research regarding the effectiveness of scripted reading programs has been promoted by the publishing companies themselves. The reading teachers’ attitudes toward …

The Impact Of Feedback On Self-Rated Driving Ability Among Older Adults, Michelle Lynn Ackerman

All ETDs from UAB

No abstract provided.

Ex Parte Domestic Violence Orders Of Protection: How Easing Access To Judicial Process Has Eased The Possibility For Abuse Of The Process, David H. Taylor

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

This article explores how state domestic violence statutory schemes that grant temporary ex parte orders have inadvertently lead to the abuse of orders of protection. Part I introduces how domestic violence statutes came to be, and describes how the typical statutory scheme works when it comes to granting ex parte orders. Part II examines the problems that occur when ex parte relief is easily obtained. Part III looks at the factors that contribute to the ability to misuse orders of protection. Part IV discusses due process and ex parte orders of protection. Part V is a survey of the state …

Using Wheelchair Sports To Complement Disability Awareness Curriculum Among College Students, Neil R. Lundberg, Ramon Zabriskie, Kevin M. Smith, Keith W. Barney

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a campus-wide intramural wheelchair sports program on attitudes toward people with disabilities. The sample consisted of 126 participants at a large, western university. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was used. Results indicated that there was a significant decrease in discomfort in interaction with people with disabilities after participation in the program. Additional findings indicated that recreation majors who were required to have some disability awareness training in their coursework had statistically lower pre- and post-test scores than other majors and demonstrated the greatest change in attitude toward people with disabilities. …

How Are Preferences Revealed?, John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Revealed preferences are tastes that rationalize an economic agent's observed actions. Normative preferences represent the agent's actual interests. It sometimes makes sense to assume that revealed preferences are identical to normative preferences. But there are many cases where this assumption is violated. We identify five factors that increase the likelihood of a disparity between revealed preferences and normative preferences: passive choice, complexity, limited personal experience, third-party marketing, and intertemporal choice. We then discuss six approaches that jointly contribute to the identification of normative preferences: structural estimation, active decisions, asymptotic choice, aggregated revealed preferences, reported preferences, and informed preferences. Each …

Mozart Effect: Exploring The Relationship Between Classical Music And Improvement In The Spatial-Temporal Cognitive Abilities Of Elementary School Children, Michael J. Ader

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The purpose of this study was to learn if classical music stimuli can be used to enhance the thinking abilities of children as measured by a cognitive testing instrument. A comparison of classical music exposure and student achievement was conducted to specifically ascertain if music of varying types had an effect on measurable intelligences (especially spatial-temporal intelligence), as measured by the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test (NNAT). An exploration of the theoretical and empirical literature regarding the improvement of cognitive abilities of elementary school aged children was examined to identify if exposure to arts education produced measurable gains which could facilitate …

The Role Of Community-Based Programs In Addressing Health Disparities As It Relates To Breast And Cervical Cancer In African American Women: A Systematic Review Of Studies, Rashaan Anderson

All ETDs from UAB

In an effort to extrapolate the detail intricacies of how community-based programs impact public health a systematic review of the literature was performed. This research will examine ways in which community based programs reduce health disparities in breast and cervical cancer in African American women. The primary mechanism used to identify appropriate citations for systematic review and inclusion was performed using the PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CancerLit and PsychINFO online databases. Key-word searches to be included for were the terms community, community based participatory research, community-based organizations, community coalitions, non for profit organizations, action plan, action research, grassroots organizations, community …

Multiracial Tobacco, Alcohol, And Drug Use: An Investigation Of The Function Of Racial Identity In A Longitudinal Sample From Youth To Young Adulthood, Julia Katrina Crumly

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of the research is threefold. The first purpose is to determine if multiracial individuals are at a higher risk for alcohol, tobacco, and drug use. The second purpose is to determine the relationship between racial identity and risk behaviors. The third purpose is to determine how the change/no change of racial identity longitudinally contributes to one’s risk to engage in risk behaviors. A national representative longitudinal data set was obtained and analyzed for the purpose of this study. Results of the study reveal that there are differences in multiracial groups for risk behaviors, minority identification is not necessarily …

The Effects Of Maternal Prenatal Insults On The Bmi Growth Trajectory Of Children Between The Ages Of 5-12 Years, Anthony Goudie

All ETDs from UAB

The level of childhood obesity in the United States is at epidemic proportions. Most population studies looking at the factors contributing to childhood obesity focus on obesity as a dichotomous outcome. The purpose of this study is to test for the effects of maternal prenatal insult behaviors on the growth trajectory of a sample of children 5-12 years of age in the United States. This is the first known study to use a latent growth curve model and a cohort-concurrent analytical design to test the association between maternal prenatal insult behaviors and the annual longitudinal increase in body mass index …

Gender Difference In Cardiovascular Risk Indicator And Cardiovascular Disease Among Veterans With Ptsd, Elizabeth Frazier

All ETDs from UAB

Using the allostatic load model of disease processes, this study investigated gender differences on cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular disease among PTSD and MDD veterans. Cross-sectional analysis of 884 de-identified veteran's data from four VISN7 primary care clinics was completed via ANCOVAs and binary logistic regression analyses. Veterans with PTSD had significantly higher levels of SBP. Among female veterans without PTSD, MDD was associated with increased DBP. Among veterans with neither PTSD nor MDD, male veterans had higher levels of DBP. Veterans without PTSD and men had higher rates of cardiovascular disease. Study results support continued focus on gender differences in …

Growth Hormone Signaling And Action In Osteoblasts, Douglas J. Digirolamo

All ETDs from UAB

Growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) exert profound growth promoting actions during pre- and post-natal skeletal development. GH and IGF- 1 appear to cause these anabolic actions by influencing a variety of effects on osteoblast proliferation, differentiation, and survival. However, because GH stimulates the production of IGF-1 from the liver and other GH-responsive peripheral tissues, including bone, the individual contributions of these two molecules to anabolic responses in bone remains poorly defined. In this dissertation research, I sought to distinguish the direct and indirect (IGF-1 dependent) GH actions on osteoblasts. In the first section of this thesis, I …

Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On The Asthmatic Lung, Matthew M. Hewitt

All ETDs from UAB

Asthma is identified by the clinical symptoms of wheezing, chest tightness, dyspnea and cough, and by the presence of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to inhaled stimuli. We have reported previously that repeated bouts of moderate intensity aerobic exercise attenuate airway inflammatory responses in a mouse model of atopic asthma. Because the effects of exercise on physiological responses are dependent upon several variables, including total exercise duration, the hypothesis of the current work was that differing amounts of moderate intensity aerobic exercise exert dissimilar effects on AHR and airway inflammation. The aims to test this hypothesis included: 1) determine the effect of …

Molecular Regulation Of Pax5-Mediated Biological Functions, Ti He

All ETDs from UAB

B lineage cells are major players in the adaptive immune system. Pax5 is essential for B lineage cell development and function. Pax5 controls B lineage cell developmental progression by regulating expression of many B lineage specific genes and the B lineage specific VH to DJH recombination; and the meantime, Pax5 also represses the transcription of lineage- and developmental stage- inappropriate genes to restrict the B lineage developmental pathway. It is not clear how Pax5-mediated function can be regulated to fulfill its role in different biological reactions. In this dissertation, we focused on the study of the molecular regulation of Pax5-mediated …

Biogenesis, Trafficing, And Function Of Wild-Type And Mutant Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (Cftr), Asta Jurkuvenaite

All ETDs from UAB

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease resulting from mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), a cAMP-activated chloride channel that functions at the apical surface of epithelial cells and plays a critical role in mucociliary clearance. The most common mutation in the CFTR gene involves a deletion of phenylalanine at position 508 in the protein (ΔF508 CFTR). ΔF508 CFTR is recognized as misfolded in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and is degraded. In vitro manipulations such as culturing cells at 27°C can “rescue” ΔF508 CFTR to the plasma membrane (rΔF508 CFTR), but no pharmacological agent has produced comparable …

Wavelet-Based Regression And Classification For Longitudinal Diffusion Tensor Imaging Data, William R. Prucka

All ETDs from UAB

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique capable of in vivo characterization of the spatial and angular dependence of free water diffusion in tissue. By studying intra- and extra-cellular water mobility, inference can be made about the surrounding medium. The non-uniform angular dependence of diffusion, known as anisotropy, is evident in fibrous tissues, which exhibit greater diffusion parallel versus perpendicular to the fiber orientation. DTI’s sensitivity to anisotropy makes it an effective tool for measuring the integrity of fibrous myelinated white matter tracts in the brain. For demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), DTI has …

Ergonomic Analysis Of A Hair Salon, Joseph Keebler, David Schuster, Scott Ososky

Publications

Cosmetology involves a number of diverse tasks that have been implicated in cumulative trauma disorders and in other workplace injuries. This case study presents an analysis of injury risk and prevalence in a salon. Individual, occupational, and organizational factors are considered, and potential areas where risk can be reduced are presented.

The Role Of Ddx3 In Regulating Apoptosis, P53 And Snail, Mianen Sun

All ETDs from UAB

Cancer is a common disease that causes high rates of lethality. Resistance to cancer therapy is one major obstacle for producing an effective cancer treatment. Clarifying mechanisms of cancer development, such as resistance to apoptosis and metastasis, can provide important information for developing effective cancer treatment strategies. In the present study, DDX3 was demonstrated to have effects on both responses to cancer treatment and cancer development. DDX3 together with glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) was found to impede death receptor-induced apoptosis, which is important because death receptors are activated by some cancer treatments. Additionally, DDX3 was shown to regulate two proteins …

Mapks Regulate Nuclear Import Of Human Papillomavirus Type 11 Replicative Helicase E1, Jei-Hwa Yu

All ETDs from UAB

Papillomaviruses (PV) are prevalent pathogens that infect human or animal squamous epithelia. Its genome is a double strand circular DNA of approximately 7.9 kb. It contains origin of replication (ori) and encodes early viral proteins for viral DNA amplication, and late capsid proteins for packaging viron. The viral DNA replicates as extrachromosomal nuclear plasmid in the host cell. Infections by low risk virus, such as HPV-6 and -11, can result in benign papillomas, condylomata, and low grade squamous intraepithelial dysplasias (SIL), whereas infection by high risk virus, such as HPV-16 and -18, can progress to high grade SIL, carcinoma in …

Failing Students Or Failing Schools?: Holding States Accountable For The High School Dropout Crisis, Deborah N. Archer

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Stepping Over Obstacles Of Different Heights And Varied Shoe Traction Alter The Kinetic Strategies Of The Leading Limb, Jeremy J. Houser, Leslie M. Decker, Nikolaos Stergiou

Journal Articles

This study aims to investigate the effects of shoe traction and obstacle height on friction during walking to better understand the mechanisms required to avoid slippage following obstacle clearance. Ten male subjects walked at a self-selected pace during eight different conditions: four obstacle heights (0%, 10%, 20%, and 40% of limb length) while wearing two different pairs of shoes (low and high traction). Frictional forces were calculated from the ground reaction forces following obstacle clearance, which were sampled with a Kistler platform at 960 Hz. All frictional peaks increased with increases in obstacle height. Low traction shoes yielded smaller peaks …

Lsuhsc Facilities Biweekly Update: January 2008, Lsuhsc Property And Facilities Management

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates: 2008

LSUHSC Facilities Biweekly Updates from January 4 and 18, 2008.

These updates describe damage and a timeline of repairs at the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans campus due to Hurricane Katrina which made landfall August 29, 2005.

Cancer In Louisiana: 2001-2005, Volume 23, Louisiana Tumor Registry, Patricia A. Andrews, Mei-Chin Hsieh, Brent Mumphrey, Lisa Pareti, Beth A. Schmidt, Mary Namiak, Edward S. Peters, Xiao-Cheng Wu, Vivien W. Chen

Policy & Position Papers

Mission:

To collect and report complete, high-quality, and timely population-based cancer data in Louisiana to support cancer research, control, and prevention.

Vision:

To reduce suffering and death from cancer using information collected by the Louisiana Tumor Registry.

History:

Cancer registration in Louisiana began in 1947 at the Charity Hospital Tumor Registry in New Orleans. In 1974, as part of its Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, the National Cancer Institute provided funds for a population-based cancer incidence and survival registry covering Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard parishes. Five years later, the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) was transferred to the …

Multifactor Effects And Evidence Of Potential Interaction Between Complement Factor H Y402h And Loc387715 A69s In Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Sanna P. Seitsonen, Päivi Onkamo, Gang Peng, Momiao Xiong, Petri V. Tommila, Päivi H. Ranta, Juha M. Holopainen, Jukka A. Moilanen, Tapani Palosaari, Kai Kaarniranta, Seppo Meri, Ilkka R. Immonen, Irma E. Järvelä

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Variants in the complement cascade genes and the LOC387715/HTRA1, have been widely reported to associate with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of visual impairment in industrialized countries. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated the association between the LOC387715 A69S and complement component C3 R102G risk alleles in the Finnish case-control material and found a significant association with both variants (OR 2.98, p = 3.75 x 10(-9); non-AMD controls and OR 2.79, p = 2.78 x 10(-19), blood donor controls and OR 1.83, p = 0.008; non-AMD controls and OR 1.39, p = 0.039; blood donor controls), respectively. Previously, …

Faculty Publications 2007, Lsu Health Sciences Center New Orleans

Historical Faculty Publications

This Faculty bibliography contains 623 publications.

What Comes Next, Mario Podeschi

Masters Theses

A narrator named Mario Podeschi watches a character named Mario Podeschi be sent back in time from graduate school to his freshman year of high school. A twenty-four year old in a fifteen year-old body, the Mario character retains aH of his old memories leading up to Spring of2008 and tries to use them to his own benefit at his small town Illinois high school. Fifteen year-old Mario readdicts himself to cigarettes, chases high school crushes, and distances himself from his old friends. Not that his second chance at high school is a complete failure~he finds his soulmate in Saturday …

Cutting Back The Mask: Character And Coiffure In Fiction By F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, And Robert Penn Warren, Lisa Anne Powell

Masters Theses

Realistic fiction has recorded changing fashions of architecture and landscape, clothing and coiffure. For at least three centuries, writers of narrative have described the clothing and the hairstyles of their fictional women both to set them within a specific time ar place and to offer a key to their character. Hair as natural endowment and artificial adornment has served as an essential component to the character costume. Novelists have understood that women send messages, albeit sometimes unconscious ones, about themselves, their lives, and their feelings through the style, color and length of their hair. Writers have sometimes described women's hair …

Educated Mothers At Home: Motivation, Expectations, And Experiences, Adrienne Lynn Riegle

Masters Theses

This studuy explored the motivation for educated stay-at-home mothers (SAHНMs) to stay at home with their children and examined expectations and experiences regarding their decision. Twenty-two participants earned the minimum of a bachelor's degree or higher prior to staying at home with their own children for a period of at least 1 year and responded to an online survey of demographic information and open-ended questions. Qualitative data analysis led to a theoretical model of the SAHM experience. The model included 3 specific concepts: 1) individual interests as motivation; 2) commitment to and identity associated with the SAHM; and 3) the …

Applying The Theory Of Planned Behavior On Consumption Of Fruits And Vegetables Among University Students, Angie Ison

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the fruit and vegetable consumption among university students applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by examining a) university students' fruits and vegetables perceived intake b) university students' knowledge on benefits of fruits and vegetables intake; c) reason for limited intake of fruits and vegetables d) motivating factors that influence increased intake, e) who and/or what caused significant impact in decision making on eating fruit and vegetable. Three hundred fifty-six students participated in the study and completed a survey with 64 questions. The questionnaire was designed to assess knowledge on the benefits …