Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of Dietary Behaviors Of College Students Participating In The Health Promotion Program Bucs: Live Well, Courtney E. Mckinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rates of adult obesity in the United States continue to rise, especially among the college-age population who typically practice poor dietary choices, contributing to weight gain. College-age students experience a transitional phase called ‘emerging adulthood’ where they learn autonomy in many areas that influence long-term health status. The purpose of the online health promotion program BUCS: Live Well was to promote self-efficacy in ability to incorporate positive dietary changes, assess incidences of positive dietary habits after completing the program, and determine if weight status, residence, and health perceptions influence dietary behaviors. BUCS: Live Well was successful in assessing current dietary …

Academic Achievement Of Elementary Students: A Comparison Study Of Student Athletes Versus Nonathletes, Kimberly R. Dyke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The place of sports in academic institutions has been analyzed at length for several years. However most studies focus on the participation of high school and university students in school sports. Very little research exists to suggest a positive or negative correlation between academic achievement and participation in interscholastic sports at the elementary level. As a result the relationship between academic performance and participation in school sports among elementary students in grades 4 and 5 was investigated in this study. Through an independent-samples t test analysis of 1,605 fourth and fifth grade boys and girls, it was determined that students …

The Relationship Between Vitamin D Status Of Adult Women And Diet, Sun Exposure, Skin Reflectance, Body Composition, And Insulin Sensitivity, Marisa M. Mcadler

Master's Theses

As the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency continues to grow, mounting evidence supporting its link with chronic disease strengthens suggesting vitamin D’s candidacy in the prevention and treatment of multiple disease states and their complications. Dietary guidelines, however, do not take sun exposure into account. The present study sought to explore the impact of sun exposure on vitamin D status (serum 25(OH)D), and identify other significant determinants of serum levels which may have the greatest effects on overall health. Participants (n = 34) were pre-menopausal women aged 18 to 50 years (mean age 39 ± 6 years), who had their …

Knox1 Genes Regulate Lignin Deposition And Composition In Monocots And Dicots, Brad T. Townsley, Neelima R. Sinha, Julie Kang

Faculty Work

Plant secondary cell walls are deposited mostly in vascular tissues such as xylem vessels, tracheids, and fibers. These cell walls are composed of a complex matrix of compounds including cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Lignin functions primarily to maintain the structural and mechanical integrity of both the transport vessel and the entire plant itself. Since lignin has been identified as a major source of biomass for biofuels, regulation of secondary cell wall biosynthesis has been a topic of much recent investigation. Biosynthesis and patterning of lignin involves many developmental and environmental cues including evolutionarily conserved transcriptional regulatory modules and hormonal signals. …

Changes In Plasma Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone, Acth, Prolactin, Gh, Lh, Fsh, And Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone In Response To Injection Of Sulpiride, Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone, Or Vehicle In Insulin-Sensitive And -Insensitive Mares, N. Arana Valencia, D. L. Thompson, P. B. Mitcham

Faculty Publications

Six insulin-sensitive and 6 insulin-insensitive mares were used in a replicated 3 by 3 Latin square design to determine the pituitary hormonal responses (compared with vehicle) to sulpiride and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), 2 compounds commonly used to diagnose pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) in horses. Mares were classified as insulin sensitive or insensitive by their previous glucose responses to direct injection of human recombinant insulin. Treatment days were February 25, 2012, and March 10 and 24, 2012. Treatments were sulpiride (racemic mixture, 0.01 mg/kg BW), TRH (0.002 mg/kg BW), and vehicle (saline, 0.01 mL/kg BW) administered intravenously. Blood samples were …

Habitat Preference Of Western Diamond-Backed Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Atrox) At Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico: An Analysis At Multiple Scales, Theresa Lorraine Mcinnes

Biology ETDs

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is located in central New Mexico in the Chihuahuan desert. Approximately 25% of the refuge spans the Rio Grande floodplain and consists of managed riparian and agriculture areas. The upland areas are dominated by creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), honey mesquite (Prosopis sp.), and four-wing saltbush (Atriplex canescens). Western diamond-backed rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) are habitat generalists of dry lowland areas and commonly use dry washes, Larrea and Prosopis desert, rocky slopes, scrub/grassland, man-made structures, and less commonly hydric habitats. A high diversity of vegetation types span the refuge and hydric and upland habitats are often …

Correlation Of Physicochemical Properties Of Chondroitin Sulfate To Its In-Vitro Absorption And Anti-Inflammatory Activity, Lahari Surapaneni

All Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate if the molecular weight and degree of sulfation of chondroitin sulfate (CS) has an impact on its in vitro absorption and anti-inflammatory activity.
For absorption studies, Caco-2 cells were incubated with eight CS samples of differing molecular weights (7 kDa - 35 kDa). The amount of CS transported into the basolateral side of the Caco-2 monolayer was quantitatively determined to calculate the permeability coefficients (Peff). The permeability coefficients of the eight different CS samples across Caco-2 cell monolayers were assessed. For anti-inflammatory studies, RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells were pre incubated with …

Biomarkers Of Fatigue: Metabolomics Profiles Predictive Of Cognitive Performance, Nicholas J. Delraso, Deirdre A. Mahle, John J. Schlager, Donald L. Harville, Scott R. Chaiken, Danelle K. Roddy, Mari Chamberlain, Paul E. Anderson, Nicholas V. Reo, Michael L. Raymer, Isaie Sibomana

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Cognitive performance and fatigue are well known to be inversely related. Continuous and sustained actions in operational environments typically lead to reduced sleep normally required to perform optimally. These operational environments subject the warfighter to intense physical and mental exertion. Because fatigue continues to be an occupational hazard, leading to cognitive defects in performance, there has been a recognized need for real-time detection technologies that minimize fatigue-induced mishaps. I the current study, 23 subjects were subjected to 36h of sleep deprivation and cognitive psychomotor vigilance and automated neuropsychological assessment metric tests were conducted over the last 24 h of sleep …

Odor Sensitivity And The Presence Of P-Cresol, Jessica Mi Mckinney

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Olfactory function declines throughout the different stages of kidney disease. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have experienced improved olfactory function after dialysis, leading some researchers to suspect uremic toxins as the cause of olfactory decline (Raff et al., 2008; Bomback & Raff, 2011). It is thought that p-cresol is the specific uremic toxin to cause a decline in olfactory function because it is not easily filtered out of the blood during dialysis (Meijers et al., 2010). The study sought to set up a control group for future studies by demonstrating p-cresol is not in the blood of healthy participants and …

Climate Change, Shifts In Tropical Storm Regimes And Triadica Sebifera Invasion In Coastal Mississippi, United States, Shishir Paudel

Dissertations

Global climate change is predicted to affect timing and severity of disturbance events (e.g., fire, drought, hurricanes, wind storms, and inundation), but the extent of these disturbance events and their impacts on natural ecosystems may vary regionally. Rising sea level, increased frequency and intensity of tropical storms, and altered inundation regimes are likely to create changing environmental conditions in low-lying coastal ecosystems. These large scale disturbances may increase resource availability and regeneration spaces, reduce competition, and possibly increase community vulnerability to invasion. Shifting disturbance regimes and invasion together are predicted to drive long-term shifts in coastal plant community structure and …

New Seminary Dean Named, Keri Suarez

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

The Right To Refuse Life Sustaining Treatment And Competency: Potential Solutions To Protect And Promote Patient Autonomy, Andrew Joseph Lavigne

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Transforming Evidence-Based Clinical Obesity Guidelines Into Practice: A Literature Review, Kristin Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

Evidence-based clinical obesity guidelines have been published in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National 1-lemt Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), and the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI), and in the United Kingdom by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). The first federal clinical obesity guidelines were published by the NI-ILBI in 1998 (Schuster, Tasosa, & Terwoord, 2008). Unfortunately America's health care system seems to have distanced itself from addressing, let alone implementing evidence-based guidelines related …

The Effects Of Participation In Marching Band On Physical Activity And Physical Fitness In College Aged Men And Women, Joseph Vallee, Kristen Leander

Senior Honors Projects

Purpose: Regular physical activity is essential in preventing many chronic diseases and conditions including heart disease, obesity, type two diabetes and some forms of cancer. The majority of the population does not meet recommended guidelines for daily physical activity. Barriers to participation in regular physical activity include boredom and a lack of enjoyment for traditional exercises such as running. Novel forms of exercise that improve cardiorespiratory fitness and increase the number people meeting recommended guidelines has the potential to promote good health and prevent chronic disease. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to measure the effects of participating …

The Relationship Between Snacking Habits And Impulsivity Levels In Adolescents, Bayley E. Clarke

Scripps Senior Theses

Adolescent obesity is an important public health issue, and one important factor that contributes to the problem is overeating, eating more than required for homeostasis. Appetitive behaviors such as overeating may in part be the result of poor control of impulsive behavior. This study investigated the relationship between impulsivity factors and snacking habits. The Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire (YAQ) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) were completed by 198 Southern California high school students (56% female; age M=15.8, SD=0.9). Four subscales were calculated from responses on the YAQ and included the frequency of consuming sweetened drinks, sweet snacks, salty snacks, …

What Men?: The Essentialist Error Of The End Of Men, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

Many aspects of The End of Men are debatable. Among them is the critical issue of essentialism: do Rosin's claims about women withstand scrutiny when we ask, “Is this representative of all women?” While women as a group may have progressed in some domains, they have remained the same or worse in others, and some women have not progressed at all.

An even more significant shortcoming of The End of Men, however, is its essentialism about men. Rosin assumes a beginning, namely, men's prior place of power and privilege in the domains she addresses. To assume that is true of …

A Study Of Latino Parent Involvement Practices In The United States, Marcia Lawrence

Education Doctoral

Historically, parental involvement has been viewed as a vehicle for academic success, especially in addressing the ever-widening achievement gap of Latino students. Despite this, minority parents frequently remain reluctant to engage in school programs. The reluctance to be involved can be attributed to several factors such as language barriers, lack of child care, low levels of education, and low English proficiency. The purpose of the dissertation was to explore the reasons for Latino parents’ reluctance to engage in their children’s school. Ecological Theory and Integrative Model of Family Involvement influenced the direction of this study. The research methodology was qualitative. …

Selected Writings, Ian Goldstein

Journalism Program

These writings make up the different forms of journalism that put together my thesis/portfolio. These selections illustrate the expansive reach of the journalism major. My thesis includes articles covering various issues. The research and writing that went into each piece was an important step in my journalism career. Inside are two narrative pieces, the first one short and simple and the second a lengthier, more extensive piece on religion on college campuses. The piece after that is one called Senseless, a story on a product that seems be marketing false claims to users. My most personal essay succeeds those—it is …

Effectiveness Of The Dangerous Decibels Program In Children When Delivered With Parental Involvement, Amanda D. Clark

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Hearing loss prevention programs targeting children have been implemented in an effort to prevent noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus in this age group. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of parental involvement in the Dangerous Decibels hearing loss prevention program taught to children as well as the parents in the study group. Through the use of pre, post and follow-up questionnaires, the effectiveness of the Dangerous Decibels program for children with parental involvement was compared to the effectiveness of the Dangerous Decibels program for children without parental involvement in the training session. A total of 23 …

Foodways, Families, And Festivities: Ethnobiology And Cultural Conservation In A Rural Missouri Community, Ian Carter Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food customs and traditions bind human groups together in many ways--Socially, geographically, temporally, and emotionally. This thesis describes the intricate relationships between food, ritual, and cultural identity in a rural German-Catholic community in Missouri. By drawing on the anthropological, cultural geographical and folkloric literature surrounding rural Missouri, a portrait of foodways emerges, which in turn illuminates valuable, often understated regional cultural traditions. Religion and ritual are understood as crucial to the continuity of regional identity--it is reinforced and made resilient through shared Social action. The dispersal of ritual feasts and fasts throughout the calendar year regulates collective behavior, interactions, conversations, …

Ccaat-Binding Factor As A Transcriptional Regulator Of Cyc1 In Candida Albicans, Carmen S. Padilla-Marcia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Candida albicans is a normal commensal of the human flora; however, under appropriate circumstances this organism can become pathogenic to the host and cause life threatening conditions. In fact, Candida species are the fourth most common nosocomial infection in the Unites States with a mortality rate of over 30%

The CCAAT binding factor is a multi-protein transcription factor highly conserved in eukaryotes. It binds specifically to the consensus sequence 5'-CCAAT-3' in promoters and it is one of the most common cisacting elements in eukaryotes promoters. This transcription factor is composed of three DNA binding subunits; Hap2p, Hap3p and Hap5. In …

Nebline, May 2013

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Moving Toward a Healthier You

Farm Views

Urban Agriculture

Food & Fitness

Home & Family Living

Horticulture

Environmental Focus

4-H & Youth

Community Focus

Extension Calendar

Nutrition Education Program

Family and Community Education (FCE) Clubs

and other extension news and events

Dogs, Pine Trees, And Carbs, Neil P.J. Price, Marcia Wood

Agricultural Research Magazine

Carbohydrates from a perhaps surprising source—pine trees—may have beneficial effects on dogs’ digestive-system health, according to collaborative studies by Agricultural Research Service, university, and corporate scientists.

The carbs, predominantly a group known as “GGMOs”—short for galactoglucomannan oligosaccharides—are a key ingredient in Previda, an all-natural dietary ingredient marketed to makers of pet food, aquaculture feed, and other animal-nutrition products.

ARS chemist Neil P.J. Price began his studies of these fiber-rich carbs in 2007, working under the auspices of a cooperative agreement with Temple-Inland, a Texas-based producer of lumber, fiberboard, and other wood products made from loblolly, longleaf, and other kinds of …

Nourishing America’S Preemies Scientists Confront The Challenges Of Iv Feeding, Douglas G. Burrin, Marcia Wood

Agricultural Research Magazine

Each year, more than a half-million infants are born prematurely in the United States. Many of these preemies, particularly those whose tiny digestive systems are simply too underdeveloped to handle mother’s milk or infant formula, may need to be nourished exclusively via intravenous feeding, known as “total parenteral nutrition,” or TPN.

TPN solutions, usually administered at the hospital for anywhere from a few days to a month or more, provide essential nutrients broken down into a very basic form. This liquid is gently and continuously infused into the infant’s bloodstream, completely bypassing the digestive tract.

“TPN helps save the lives …

Restoring Effort-Related Functions In Models Of Depression Symptoms: Reversing Fatigue Symptoms Induced By Catecholamine Depleting Agent Tetrabenazine With The Adenosine A2a Antagonist Msx-3, Charlotte Freeland

Honors Scholar Theses

Motivational symptoms related to effort expenditure have been associated with major depression and other disorders that afflict millions of individuals worldwide. In an effort to identify potential therapeutic agents and characterize the underlying biochemical mechanisms related to these behaviors, recent research has utilized animal models to study and characterize such behavior. Previous work in the Salamone lab produced evidence that rats with impaired dopamine (DA) transmission show changes in response allocation in tasks that measure effort-related choice behavior, which are characterized by a decrease in selection of the high-effort choice but increased selection of the low-effort alternative. The present work …

Resistant Starch From High Amylose Maize (Ham-Rs2) Reduces Body Fat And Increases Gut Bacteria In Ovariectomized (Ovx) Rats, Michael J. Keenan, Marlene Janes, Julina Robert, Roy J. Martin, Anne M. Raggio, Kathleen L. Mccutcheon, Christine Pelkman, Richard Tulley, M'Famara Goita, Holiday A. Durham, June Zhou, Reshani N. Senevirathne

Faculty Publications

Objective: Obesity after menopause is a health concern for older females. Changes in the microbiota are likely to occur with this condition. Modifying the microbiota with a prebiotic is a plausible strategy for improving the health of menopausal females. Design and Methods: Resistant starch type 2 from high-amylose maize (HAM-RS2) was used as a prebiotic in rats in a 2 × 2 factorial study with two levels of HAM-RS2 (0 or 29.7% of weight of diet) referred to as energy control (EC) and HAM-RS2 diets, respectively; and two levels of surgery, ovariectomized (OVX) and sham. Results: In a 6-week, postsurgery …

Retrospective Evaluation Of Factors That Influence The Implementation Of C.A.T.C.H. In Southern Illinois Schools, Matthew Ryan Bice

Dissertations

This study is a retrospective evaluation of the Coordinated Approach To Child Health (CATCH) coordinated school health program. An abundant amount of research has been conducted concerning CATCH, but no data exist that represents the characteristics and attitudes of individuals implementing the program. This study looked to examine organizational readiness, commitment to change, leadership, implementation barriers, innovation perceptions and their influence on the diffusion of CATCH. The primary purpose of this study is to describe and explain why schools in the same area that receive the same CATCH training result in different implementation practices. This study included a retrospective evaluation …

Western Australian Farmer Survey 2011, Mandy Curnow, Andrew Van Burgel, Jackie Bucat, Anne Jones

Animal production and livestock published reports

DAFWA commissioned this WA sheep producer survey as an additional data set to the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Innovation (Sheep CRC) national producer survey. The data was collected by telephone survey in February and March 2011 for the purposes of gathering benchmark information on a range of sheep management practices. The data collected mostly relates to flock management during the 2010 season. The same survey will be run again in 2014 and a comparison of the information collected will be used to measure how producers have changed their practices during that time.

Producers were phoned and invited to contribute …

Seed Ecology Of Federally Threatened Pinguicula Ionantha (Godfrey's Butterwort), Jenna Annis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pinguicula ionantha G. (Lentibulariaceae) is a carnivorous plant occurring in historically fire-dependent bog habitats of longleaf pine savannas. The species is limited to 6 counties within the Florida Panhandle. The species is currently listed as federally threatened due largely to habitat loss. The objective of this research is to provide the appropriate Pinguicula ionantha germination and seed bank information that would aid in the deli sting of the species. Eleven collections of Pinguicula ionantha seeds were made from natural populations. All germination trials took place in a seed germination chamber. Treatments included stratification, liquid smoke solutions, plant growth regulators (PGR), …

Tailored Breastfeeding Intervention For Hispanic Mothers, Helen Mashie

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

A retrospective chart review was done using a sample of breastfeeding Hispanic mothers recruited from a large pediatric clinic in Northwest Arkansas in order to examine the impact of a tailored breastfeeding intervention and to identify factors associated with discontinuation of breastfeeding before four months of age. It was hypothesized that Hispanic women who participated in the study would increase their breastfeeding rates compared to Hispanic women who received no intervention. Breastfeeding rates at four months were assessed via self-report in the electronic medical record. Variables within the sample population that were measured include maternal age, maternal education, primary language …