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Dentoalveolar Heights In Skeletal Class I Normodivergent Facial Patterns, Zafar-Ul-Islam, Attiya Shaikh, Mubassar Fida

Section of Dental-Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

OBJECTIVE: To determine the dentoalveolar heights (mm) in skeletal class I normodivergent facial pattern and compare the same heights in male and female subjects.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Orthodontics Clinic, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from July to October 2009.

METHODOLOGY: Eighty one subjects were selected from the orthodontic record at the Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi. The inclusion criteria were an age range of 12 to 30 years and skeletal class I normodivergent facial pattern with exclusion criteria of prior orthodontic treatment, restored teeth and craniofacial anomalies/syndromes. The pre-treatment cephalographs of the …

Oliver Twist And Inklings Of ‘Grotesque’, Ehsan Hafezi Kermani, Roshanak Fazli

Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Oliver Twist is a novel in which the society of pilfers and felons were reconnoitered uninvited by a young boy whose name is Oliver in the Victorian period. He as an orphan faces with dissimilar circumstances that are concealed to the eyes of the conventional people. Dickens, as the narrator of the story, has logged those absurdities and clumsiness in his novel. Dickens uses the idea of grotesque to display the conditions and the scenes to alert people in forms of comic and tragic. Dearth, poverty, lives of thieves, and whatever ensued in his time are dexterously exhibited in this …

Clinical Spectrum And Severity Of Hemolytic Anemia In Glucose 6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase-Deficient Children Receiving Dapsone, Allan Pamba, Naomi D. Richardson, Nick Carter, Stephan Duparc, Zul Premji, Alfred B. Tiono, Lucio Luzzatto

Pathology, East Africa

Drug-induced acute hemolytic anemia led to the discovery of G6PD deficiency. However, most clinical data are from isolated case reports. In 2 clinical trials of antimalarial preparations containing dapsone (4,4′-diaminodiphenylsulfone; 2.5 mg/kg once daily for 3 days), 95 G6PD-deficient hemizygous boys, 24 G6PD-deficient homozygous girls, and 200 girls heterozygous for G6PD deficiency received this agent. In the first 2 groups, there was a maximum decrease in hemoglobin averaging -2.64 g/dL (range -6.70 to +0.30 g/dL), which was significantly greater than for the comparator group receiving artemether-lumefantrine (adjusted difference -1.46 g/dL; 95% confidence interval -1.76, -1.15). Hemoglobin concentrations were decreased by …

Adherence To Artemether/Lumefantrine Treatment In Children Under Real-Life Situations In Rural Tanzania, D.O. Simba, D. Kakoko, G. Tomson, Zul Premji, M. Petzold, M. Mahindi, L.L. Gustafsson

Pathology, East Africa

A follow-up study was conducted to determine the magnitude of and factors related to adherence to artemether/lumefantrine (ALu) treatment in rural settings in Tanzania. Children in five villages of Kilosa District treated at health facilities were followed-up at their homes on Day 7 after the first dose of ALu. For those found to be positive using a rapid diagnostic test for malaria and treated with ALu, their caretakers were interviewed on drug administration habits. In addition, capillary blood samples were collected on Day 7 to determine lumefantrine concentrations. The majority of children (392/444; 88.3%) were reported to have received all …

Exposure To Community Violence And Social Maladjustment Among Urban African American Youth: The Role Of Emotion Dysregulation, Devin Colleen Carey

Master's Theses

The goal of the present study was to further previous research that has focused on the detrimental outcomes of violence exposure by identifying the mechanisms that influence children's psychosocial vulnerabilities. Specifically, it examined emotion regulation as a possible mediator of community violence exposure to social adjustment. Moreover, because of the evidence that children living in inner city communities are chronically exposed to violence, this study longitudinally explored the reciprocal and perpetuating relationship between exposure to violence and child social maladjustment. Participants were 268 African American students (M age = 11.65 years, 40% males and 60% females) from six inner city …

Family In Context: (Re)Entry Narratives Of Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, Jennifer Elena Cossyleon

Master's Theses

The current study is informed by narrative accounts of 39 released prisoners, who provide day-to-day understandings of how they have experienced and continue to experience community reintegration. This study digs deeper into the intricacies of returning to free society, one that often disenfranchises and labels ex-offenders, and attempts to reveal how released prisoners themselves see family as pertinent in their reentry experiences. Respondents' stories are telling of the resources they draw upon, and in particular how their families are involved in that process. Findings suggest that families at times provide material and emotional support, but may also facilitate drug use …

Justice Efficacy And Argument Strength In Mock Juror Decision-Making In A Civil Trial, Katharina Kluwe

Master's Theses

In 2005, 48,300 state and federal civil jury trials occurred in the United States (National Center for State Courts, 2009). Approximately 15% of the verdicts juries render are inaccurate (Spencer, 2007). Therefore, it is of utmost important to increase juror accuracy. The current thesis investigated jurors' justice efficacy as it relates to persuasion. Mock jurors' levels of justice efficacy were manipulated by giving them false feedback on a moral reasoning task. Participants read a civil trial summary, and received weak or strong statements by potential other jurors. The relation between argument strength and verdict did not depend on the feedback …

Characterization Of The Clostridium Difficile Biofilm, Michelle Laning

Master's Theses

Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, spore forming bacterium and an opportunistic gastrointestinal pathogen. Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a common nosocomial infection. Upon antibiotic treatment, patients can be colonized with C. difficile from ingestion of spores. After colonization, cells produce toxins creating symptoms from diarrhea to pseudomembranous colitis, and many patients develop recurrent infections. Interactions between host epithelium and the bacteria is a critical step in infection, yet the interaction is not well understood. It is not known how C. difficile evades host immune responses. These are important mechanisms to answer in advancing CDI treatment. A biofilm could contribute to …

Deconstructing Demand For Women And Girls' Education, Linda Lu

Master's Theses

There is an increasing focus on the recognition of women and girls' education as a universal right. Many feminist scholars have questioned this rights-based approach to gender education and evaluated the challenges and solutions based on the international policy discourse. What is notably absent from this scholarship is a comprehensive look at how women and girls' demand for education is constructed though such universal declarations.

This thesis uses a postcolonial feminist framework to analyze how women and girls' demand for education is constructed through international gender education policy. Ultimately, through an analysis of policy and an assessment of the feminist …

(Women's) Archival Spaces And Trans Voices? A (Re)Search And Proposal, Jeremy Curtis Main

Master's Theses

Transgender has been silenced, exiled, forgotten, erased, ignored, maltreated, killed, and ultimately, in a major theme of this research project, excluded from histories. Yet, like women, African-Americans, and gay men and lesbians before them, transgender and their allies are working toward inclusion and independence. History, it seems, can no longer ignore them. One of the surest ways to "prove" a history is to have the original items of that history in an archives. So, what representation do we find among various United States' archives concerning transgender people? Unfortunately, like with many other marginalized groups, much work has to be investigated …

An Analysis Of Barriers To And Strategies For Improving Parent Engagement, Candice Renee Shakur

Master's Theses

Research shows that parent engagement can be a useful tool for improving student achievement. But, in many low-income urban schools, encouraging schools and parents to invest in parent engagement is a struggle. This paper explores some of the barriers that exist in low-income urban communities that work to limit parent engagement; it also identifies some of the strategies available to increase the frequency and quality of parent engagement in low-income urban communities.

Gender Differences In Depressive Symptoms: The Interaction Of Cognitive Avoidance Coping And Specific Stressor Domains During Freshmen Adaptation To College, Daniel Dickson

Master's Theses

The first year of college can be a stressful experience that can lead to depressive symptoms in emerging adults. Due to the significant impairments that are associated with depressive symptoms across the lifespan, it is important to understand the elements of the first-year college experience that contribute to depressive affect. The goals of the current prospective study are to examine sex differences in the relationship between life stressors (i.e., social and achievement stressors) and cognitive avoidance coping in the development of depressive symptoms in first-year college students. The findings suggest that although cognitive avoidance is predictive of more depression, there …

Resveratrol + Ethanol Preconditioning And Neuroprotection, Nastaran Khodaie

Master's Theses

Our lab established that moderate ethanol preconditioning (MEP) for 6 days blocked the Aâ25-35 toxicity in cerebellar mixed cell cultures and It has been shown that MEP cause the up regulation of the pre-survival enzymes such as proxiredoxin2 (PRX2), which suggests MEP can activate the cell survival pathways against upcoming toxins.

This study was performed to verify the possible combinatory effect of ethanol and resveratrol against Aâ25-35 toxicity. Both ethanol and resveratrol sub-protective concentrations were detected against Aâ25-35 in cerebellar mixed cell cultures. The combination of sub-protective levels of ethanol and resveratrol showed the significantly reduction in number of Aâ25-35 …

The Impact Of Algal Community Succession, Taxonomic Composition And Biomass Accrual, On Denitrification Potential Of Stream Periphyton, Allison Daley

Master's Theses

We investigated the relationship between algal taxonomy, community succession and biomass accrual and denitrification potential (DNP) within stream periphyton. Field research was conducted in 6 DuPage County, II forest preserve streams with diverse physical and chemical characteristics and in an experiment in the artificial stream facility at Loyola University Chicago in which 2 sets of streams were amended with nutrients and compared to an unamended set of streams. Algal communities in the field study streams were sampled over 12 weeks late spring/summer and NMDS ordination plots identified 4 distinct communities. Correlations with algal community NMDS axis scores and the relative …

Organization Of The Centromeric Satellite I Cluster And D21z1 Short Arm Junction Region Of Human Chromosome 21, Riddhi V. Patel

Master's Theses

To study chromosomal segregation errors causing Down syndrome one needs a chromosome 21 (HC21) specific centromeric marker, which presently does not exist. Alphoid DNA is the only repetitive sequence at all human centromeres. The current map of HC21 has a gap in the p-arm alphoid (D21Z1) junction region and the centromeric satellite I (satI) sequence. This satellite I cluster was shown not to be a specific centromeric marker since it is also on HC13. There are actually multiple satI families on both HC13 and HC21. This project also filled the gap in the HC21map and characterized the D21Z1 p- arm …

Gender Inequality And Countries' Responsiveness To Enforcing Human Trafficking Laws: A Cross National Study, Christina Rose Fiorito

Master's Theses

In recent years, government agencies, advocacy groups, and academics have made attempts to address and understand the problem of human trafficking through raising awareness, conducting research and implementing prevention and intervention programs. This study tested whether gender inequality measures, which capture aspects of a country's social and political operations, are related to less governmental efforts to enforce laws against human trafficking, after controlling for other possible explanations for lax enforcement such as poverty, government corruption, political instability and increase of general violence, educational achievement, net migration, and the percent of the country's population living in urban areas.

The data were …

Self-Control As A Determining Factor In Aftercare Compliance And Recidivism Of Sheridan Correctional Center Releasees, Jana R. Krepel

Master's Theses

This study looked to Self–Control Theory to explore relationships between self–control and aftercare completion and recidivism in a cohort of Sheridan Correctional Center releases (N=604). The data set was obtained by Dr. David Olson (Olson & Rozhon, 2011) of Loyola University Chicago. Utilizing an existing inmate evaluation tool, the Client Evaluation of Self and Treatment, a new index of self–control was created, and the scales of this index became the predictor variables. After logistic regression, it was determined that none of the self–control scales were significant predictors of either aftercare compliance or recidivism. In fact, when all variables were considered, …

Cristo Rey And Christ The King Jesuit High School: Two Schools, Two Demographics, Two Realities: One Model, Alfredo Astorga-Velasquez

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze two Catholic high schools that follow the same innovative private urban model called the Cristo Rey Model. In this model the students work one day per week in entry-level jobs in Chicago area firms and through this work-study program students earn money in order to pay a portion of their tuition. Both high schools are in Chicago, are run by Jesuits, and serve youths from low-income families. The model and goals are the same even though the schools serve different demographic groups and communities: one Latino and the other African American. The …

Kv7 K+ Channels In Airway Smooth Muscle Cells As Target For Asthma Therapy, Priyanka Prakash Kakad

Master's Theses

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is an important etiological feature of asthma, the molecular mechanisms of which are poorly understood, thus preventing development of specific and effective therapies. We investigate the role played by Kv7 voltage-activated potassium channels in the pathophysiology of AHR and evaluate the significance of their regulation in treatment of asthma. Our studies provide the first evidence for expression of multiple Kv7 channels in guinea pig and human airways and demonstrate that the expression of Kv7 channels is reduced in allergen-sensitized guinea pig airways. Our ex vivo functional studies reveal that clinically available Kv7 channel activators attenuate the bronchoconstrictor …

Organized Activity Involvement Across The Transition To College: Multiple Dimensions Predicting Adjustment, Nicole Arola

Master's Theses

Utilizing a sample of first semester first year college students, this study examined the relation between multiple dimensions of college organized activity (OA) involvement (i.e., intensity, breadth, identity relevance, and continuity) and measures of adjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms, optimism, positive affect, and negative affect). This study also explored whether the degree of association between the OA dimensions and the adjustment variables was moderated by gender and residential status. Additionally, this study examined whether adjustment at the start of college was associated with patterns of OA involvement in college. Participants completed measures of depressive symptoms, optimism, positive affect, negative affect, and …

Agreement And Disagreement In Parent And Child Perceptions Of Spina Bifida Medical Responsibilities During The Transition To Adolescence, Alexandra Psihogios

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of informant discrepancies by evaluating levels of parent-child agreement and disagreement over who takes responsibility for SB medical tasks in relation to family conflict and medical adherence. Participants were 140 preadolescents with SB. Data used in this study are taken from the first wave of data collection (when adolescents were between the ages of 8-15) in a larger longitudinal study. Although disagreement levels predicting family conflict and medical adherence were non-significant (p > .05), a significant main effect of agreement and two significant Agreement x Conflict interactions predicting medical adherence were …

Towards Observational Measurement Of Social Competence In Youth With Chronic Health Conditions: Development Of Peer Interaction Scales For Youth With Spina Bifida, Christina E. Holbein

Master's Theses

This study aimed to create observational scales that were then validated with comparisons to relevant self-report measures in a sample of 106 children with spina bifida and their peers. Dyads completed questionnaires, interviews, and videotaped interaction tasks, the latter of which were coded on a variety of social functioning items. Five scales (i.e., Conflict, Prosocial Skills, Positive Affect, Conflict, and Dyadic Cohesion) were rationally derived. Internal consistency and inter-rater reliability at the scale level were good-to-excellent. Interscale correlations were in the low-to-moderate range for four scales, although Dyadic Cohesion was highly correlated with two other scales and was dropped. Convergent …

Team Performance On A Computerized Intellective Task, Joseph Bihary

Master's Theses

This study examined the effects of a reflexivity manipulation on the performance of dyads and triads working on an intellective task known as letters-to-numbers. Past research has shown triads consistently outperforming dyads on this task. The current study sought to determine whether giving dyads an opportunity to reflect on strategy would close this gap in performance. Participants performed a computerized version of two letters-to-numbers problems in dyads or triads. Between problems, half of the groups performed a reflexivity task designed to facilitate strategy improvements. Experimental sessions were videotaped. It was predicted that triads would outperform dyads, reflexivity groups would outperform …

When Theory Meets Practice: Challenging Racial Inequality In A Post-Civil Rights Era, Victoria Brockett

Master's Theses

Knowledge about racial inequality is important because it can inform racially just practices. To this end, multiple scholars have shown how racial inequality operates and how it can be challenged in various facets of social life. However, what does challenging racism look like when theory meets practice? Building on racial formation theory, this thesis examines a racial justice organization's (RJO) training and consulting services through the lens of a political project that is rearticulating the meaning of race and thus, the role of race in the social structure. Evidenced by observations and interviews with RJO staff and their clients, this …

The Social Worlds Of Tattooing: Divergent Sources Of Expertise, Lorrie Kathleen Riley

Master's Theses

Since its commercialization and rise to popularity in mainstream culture, tattooing has increasingly become a profession that effectively blends medical regulation and artistic expertise. Although a non-traditional profession sociologically, tattooing is in the process of an occupational shift, moving from the realm of deviant, working-class art to a commercialized industry of consumers' artistic identity expression. While in the process of this shift, tattooing currently borders several social worlds, each of which are vying for control over its practice. Specifically, the social worlds of art, medicine, and legislation are currently colliding in the struggle to define and control of the practice …

Neither Butch Nor Barbie: Negotiating Gender In Women's Roller Derby, Kaley Marissa Mullin

Master's Theses

Using ethnographic methods, I began this project with the goal of understanding the full experience of what it means to be a derby girl. This included examining how the sport dictates performances of gender and how derby girls perform gender on and off the rink. Additionally, I paid special attention to how the women negotiate femininity and beauty. I found that roller derby girls maneuver through the world of gender dichotomies skillfully by means of their actions and words in the derby space. Unlike at the inception of derby, current derby girls engage less consciously with the feminist movement. Instead …

Midwife Or Med-Wife: Examining Emotion Work With Midwifery Students In Clinical Training, Jessica Anna Cebulak

Master's Theses

Midwives follow a holistic philosophy of care that goes beyond just medical intervention, providing support to both mother and family through the various stages of pregnancy and child birth. Yet, there is a lack of research in the US that examines how midwives invest emotion in their work, and the challenges they face when doing so. Drawing on the concept of Arlie Hochschild's (1979) emotion work as a lens for this study, I examine how midwifery students experience and manage emotion when delivering care to patients during clinical training in a large, urban hospital. Using eight qualitative, in-depth interviews with …

Ritual As Clinical Intervention In Groupwork With African American Women, Kathryn Kristin Berg

Master's Theses

This paper is an exploratory study on the subject of ritual as clinical intervention in groupwork with African American women. It is predicated on the idea that ritual has the potential to foster emotional growth in clients by creating structure and facilitating processes of transition. Ritual has largely been underexplored in the literature as a clinical intervention. However, there is a particular gap in research on ritual in groupwork with African American women. The first half of this paper provides an overview of social work scholarship covering individual branches of the subject, including spirituality in social work, spirituality in the …

Wetland And Lake Destruction, Development And Mental/Emotional Distress Among Residents Of Tampa Bay, Florida, Gina Larsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research project is to understand how local environmental destruction in Tampa Bay, Florida, including changes in water resources and development activities, affects local Tampa Bay residents mentally and emotionally. The study also examines residents' personal connections with their landscape and documents the degree of stress that may be caused by experiencing environmental destruction through the use of interviews, freelists, and two psychometric stress scales (Hopkins Symptom Checklist-10 and the Environmental Distress Scale). The topic of emotional distress and environmental change has rarely been studied in social science research, particularly in the United States and with regards …

Linear Mixed-Effects Models: Applications To The Behavioral Sciences And Adolescent Community Health, Lizmarie Gabriela Maldonado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Linear mixed-effects (LME) modeling is a widely used statistical method for analyzing repeated measures or longitudinal data. Such longitudinal studies typically aim to investigate and describe the trajectory of a desired outcome. Longitudinal data have the advantage over cross-sectional data by providing more accuracy for the model. LME models allow researchers to account for random variation among individuals and between individuals.

In this project, adolescent health was chosen as a topic of research due to the many changes that occur during this crucial time period as a precursor to overall well-being in adult life. Understanding the factors that influence how …