Digital Commons Network^™

Materials And Methods For Prevention And Treatment Of Rna Viral Diseases, Shyam S. Mohapatra, Aruna K. Behera

USF Patents

The subject invention concerns a method of inhibiting an RNA virus infection within a patient by increasing the amount of 2-5 oligoadenylate synthetase (2-5 AS) activity within the patient. Preferably, the preventative and therapeutic methods of the present invention involve administering a nucleotide encoding 2-5 AS, or at least one catalytically active fragment thereof, such as the p40, p69, p100 subunits, to a patient in need thereof. The present inventors have determined that overexpression of 2-5AS causes a reduction in epithelial cell damage, reduction in infiltration of mononuclear cells in the peribronchiolar and perivascular regions, and reduction in thickening of …

Promote Gender Equality And Empower Women: The Big Picture, Delylah Rasugu

Capstone Collection

This Capstone investigates the effectiveness of promoting gender and women’s empowerment policy. The Millennium Declaration adopted in the year 2000 by the United Nations member states lists the fundamental goals and objectives agreed in various international forums and summits. From this Declaration eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were born. The mandate was to provide standards to gauge the advancement towards global poverty and to achieve them by the year 2015. The third MDG aims to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment through political representation, employment and education. My capstone will use a macro perspective to analyse the impact of the …

“Building Bridges At ‘The People’S University’: Supporting Faculty Pursuits To Develop Service-Learning Research”, Hillary A H Richardson, April Heiselt, Noelle Avenmarg

The Colloquium on Libraries & Service Learning

In an effort to provide faculty at a 4-year, land-grant research institution with resources to research and publish their service-learning pedagogy, Mississippi State Libraries formed a partnership with the Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence (CASLE). This presentation highlights the methods for beginning a partnership, including ideas like the creation of a service-learning liaison, a LibGuide, developing a service-learning collection, and connecting faculty to service-learning research in their specific fields. Additionally, the presentation includes a guide on forming and sustaining partnerships between academic libraries and service-learning entities.

What's Happening: August 11, 2014, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Reducing Confusion About Grounded Theory And Qualitative Content Analysis: Similarities And Differences, Ji Young Cho, Eun-Hee Lee

The Qualitative Report

Although grounded theory and qualitative content analysis are similar in some respects, they differ as well; yet the differences between the two have rarely been made clear in the literature. The purpose of this article was to clarify ambiguities and reduce confusion about grounded theory and qualitative content analysis by identifying similarities and differences in the two based on a literature review and critical reflection on the authors’ own research. Six areas of difference emerged: (a) background and philosophical base, (b) unique characteristics of each method, (c) goals and rationale of each method, (d) data analysis process, (e) outcomes of …

The Prevalence Rate And Neurocognitive Morbidity Associated With Obstructive Sleep Apnea In Children With Sickle Cell Disease, Tal Katz

Theses and Dissertations

Sickle-cell disease (SCD) refers to a group of genetic blood disorders resulting from the inheritance of genes for S-type hemoglobin. The disease is life-long and is associated with multiple complications including pain episodes, organ damage, and neurological morbidities such as stroke, and silent cerebral infarcts which often lead to cognitive dysfunction. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a serious medical condition characterized by intermittent hypoxemia (reduction in blood oxygen levels), hypoxia, and fragmented sleep that can lead patients to suffer from daytime behavioral and cognitive dysfunction and reduced quality of life. Children with SCD are at high risk for developing OSA, …

Mechanical Properties Of Diet And Its Effect On Oral Health, Varsha Kapoor

Theses and Dissertations

The predominant diet fed to captive carnivores consists of ground meat formulated to provide full nutritional requirements. However, this ground meat diet completely lacks the mechanical properties such as toughness, hardness and stiffness of the foods the animals would eat in the wild. The goal of this research was to evaluate the effect of mechanical properties of diet on oral health by comparing prevalence of periodontal disease and calculus accumulation in wild and captive felids. One-way ANOVA analysis of variance indicated that these differences are statistically significant (P

The Development, Implementation, And Testing Of An Interactive Sexual Health Web-Based Application Intervention To Reduce Sexual Risk Behaviors Among College Students, Dawnyéa Dominique Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

College life is often regarded as a time for exploration and growth. One major area of exploration and growth for college students is sex and sexuality. Growth and exploration involves not only learning how to master these life situations, but also experiencing some negative consequences. Negative consequences for college students engaging in sexual risk-taking behaviors often lead to a high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, emotional distress, and large healthcare costs. Given the high prevalence of risky sexual behavior among young adults and the highly negative consequences of risky sexual behavior for this population, it is critical …

Role Of Chronic Inflammation On Liver Function During Cachexia Progression In The ApcMin/+ Mouse Model, Aditi Narsale

Theses and Dissertations

Cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome that manifests during the advanced stage of chronic diseases and is characterized by a progressive loss of body mass sustained by underlying inflammation. The ApcMin/+ mouse is an established model of cachexia that exhibits a gradual loss of body mass correlating with increasing tumor burden and plasma IL – 6 levels. Moreover it also mimics other secondary characteristics observed in cachectic patients like splenomegaly, elevated plasma endotoxin levels, gut barrier dysfunction, hypogonadism and an overall hypermetabolic state. Liver controls the energy metabolism in the body by regulating glucose and lipid metabolism, glycogen storage, filtration of …

Genetic Background Influences Behavior And Responses To Epigenetic Changes Induced By A Methyl-Donor Diet, Kimberly R. Shorter

Theses and Dissertations

With recent strides in epigenetics, mainstream media informs the public that we can “beat our genes” by, for instance, changing our diet. Genetics, however, still plays a role in phenotype. Folate and other methyl-donor pathway components are widely supplemented due to their ability to prevent neural tube defects during prenatal development. In addition to vitamins, these compounds are also added to commercial flour, energy drinks, and other supplements. Several lines of evidence suggest that these supplements act through epigenetic mechanisms, including altering DNA methylation. Increasing evidence suggests potential deleterious effects of excessive folate. Given the benefits of these compounds, risk …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Its Relationship With Inflammation, Metabolic Biomarkers And Mortality, Nitin Shivappa

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Diet and its components are known to play an important factor in the process of inflammation and in turn on the health effects that are related to inflammation like cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Previous research so far has mainly looked at the effect of specific food or nutrients on inflammation and health outcomes. In this regard a new literature derived and population based dietary index called Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) was developed after carefully screening around 6000 articles that looked at the association between 45 food parameters and 6 commonly studied inflammatory markers. The list of food parameters includes …

Longitudinal Changes In The Inflammatory Potential Of Diet And Risk Of Cancer In Women, Fred Kinyuytabung

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The dietary inflammatory index (DII) assesses an individual’s overall diet quality with regards to its inflammatory potential on a continuum from maximally anti-inflammatory (lower or healthier DII scores) to maximally pro-inflammatory (higher or unhealthy DII scores). The DII measured at one point in time has been associated with cancer risk in previous studies; however, data are lacking regarding the change in DII over time and how these changes impact cancer risk. We assessed changes in the DII, and evaluated associations between cumulative history, and changes over time in dietary inflammatory potential, and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and breast …

A Bioecological Approach To Understanding The Interaction Of Environmental Stress And Genetic Susceptibility In Influencing Cortisol And Blood Pressure In African American Adults, Sandra Marie Coulon

Theses and Dissertations

African Americans are disproportionately affected by high blood pressure, a precursor to cardiovascular disease. Bioecological, biomedical, and gene-environment interaction theories were integrated to test the impact of environmental stress and genetic susceptibility on stress-related outcomes, including waking cortisol, perceived stress, and blood pressure in African-American adults. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), neighborhood satisfaction, and neighborhood collective efficacy on waking cortisol, perceived stress, and blood pressure and to determine whether genetic risk for increased glucocorticoid receptor sensitivity moderated those relations in a gene-by-environment (GxE) interaction. A secondary aim was to …

An Examination Of Relationship Factors Contributing To Student Persistence In Ing Run For Something Better, Brice Leon Sampson Cockfield

Theses and Dissertations

There is sufficient empirical evidence that children are more unfit now than ever before in the history of the United States. Defeating childhood obesity is a critical agenda issue for the First Lady Michelle Obama as the medical community and the United States at large continually cite research that obesity, poor nutrition, and low physical activity may affect children’s cognitive and physical outcomes. Much of the research in this area is quantifiable and measurable through body mass index, the number of repetitions of certain exercises, and physical stamina. As schools search for solutions to address this epidemic, school nutrition and …

Investigating Differences In Risk Behaviors Among Rural, Suburban, And Urban Adolescents, Heather Dubendris

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization, one-third of the disease morbidity and two-thirds of premature deaths among adults are associated with behaviors that can be traced back to adolescence. These include behaviors resulting in unintentional injury, violent behaviors, alcohol, drug, and tobacco use. The purpose of this research was to explore how differing levels of urbanicity affect youth’s engagement in risk behaviors.

Methods: Analysis was done using a nationally representative sample of 9th-12th graders in the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), the most recent year for which urbanicity is available. The main exposure was urbanicity (classified as urban, …

Prediction Of Coronary Heart Disease Within The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study Population, Jennifer Carol Gander

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a compilation of three studies that were conducted to better 1) Further validate a thoroughly tested Framingham Risk Score (FRS) on a unique cohort with comprehensive measures available, 2) Update and improve the predictability of the FRS through the addition of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) while resolving limitations in previous studies, and 3) Assess the predictability of non-exercise estimated CRF (e-CRF) and FRS on CHD. A manuscript was generated for each study utilizing data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study.

To validate the FRS, a multivariable Cox Proportional Hazard Model was used to determine the association between FRS …

The Impact Of Waist Circumference On Function And Physical Activity In Older Adults: Longitudinal Observational Data From The Osteoarthritis Initiative, John A. Batsis, Alicia J. Zbehlik, Laura K. Barre, Todd A. Mackenzie, Stephen J. Bartels

Dartmouth Scholarship

Background: We previously demonstrated that BMI is associated with functional decline and reduced quality of life. While BMI in older adults is fraught with challenges, waist circumference (WC) is a marker of visceral adiposity that can also predict mortality. However, its association with function and quality of life in older adults is not well understood and hence we sought to examine the impact of WC on six-year outcomes.

Methods: We identified adults aged ≥60 years from the longitudinal Osteoarthritis Initiative and stratified the cohort into quartiles based on WC. Our primary outcome measures of function at six year follow-up included: …

Understanding The Relationship Between Health Locus Of Control And God Locus Of Health Control And Health Behaviors In College Students Through Mediation Analysis, Joni Deann Marr

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Similar to the general population, college students have high rates of overweight/obesity and low rates of physical activity (PA) and healthy nutrition habits. Internal health locus of control (LOC) and religiosity/spirituality have been associated with positive health behaviors in various populations, but the mechanisms explaining these associations are still unclear. Purpose: The goals of this study were to understand the relationship between both health LOC and God locus of health control (independent variables) and PA, fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) and dietary fat intake (dependent variables) of college students through mediation analysis. Self-efficacy, social support, congregational social support and …

Association Of Serum Immunoglobulin G (Igg) Antibodies Against Periodontal Bacteria In Type 2 Diabetes And Pre-Diabetes And Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Deepika Shrestha

Theses and Dissertations

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease caused by polybacterial infection and inflammation plays key role that associates periodontal disease with different systemic diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The main objective of this study is to evaluate and explore the association of serum IgG antibodies in four distinct clusters that were formed empirically from species specific 19 periodontal antibody titers with T2DM and pre-diabetes adjusting for known confounders such as age, sex, race-ethnicity, income to poverty ratio, education, smoking and drinking alcohol, BMI, WC, physical activity, missing teeth, dentist visits and other nutritional factors.

From the first aim, we formed …

A Study Of An Uncharacterized Penicillium Species Isolated From A Hypersaline Pond In San Salvador, Bahamas, Virginia Elizabeth Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

A large number of facultative marine fungi are unexplored (Lai et al., 2007). They exist in the hypersaline environment with reduced growth and metabolism for an indeterminable period of time and are believed to have no ecological role. Here we report the discovery of one novel facultative Penicillium species that we named Penicillium virginium. We show that when transferred from its native ecosystem, a salt pond in San Salvador, Bahamas, to a laboratory fungal growth medium, Penicillium virginium demonstrates a higher growth rate in absence of salt than in presence of salt confirming that it is a facultative marine fungus. …

Maternal Education, Linkages And Child Nutrition In The Long And Short-Run: Evidence From The Ethiopia Demographic And Health Surveys, Ambel Alemayehu Azeze, Wei-Chiao Huang

International Journal of African Development

We used the 2000 and 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys to analyze the effect of maternal education and its pathways on chronic (long-run) and acute (short-run) malnutrition inEthiopia. The pathways examined in this study are socioeconomic status, maternal health-seeking behavior, maternal knowledge of health and family planning and reproductive behavior. We find that maternal education works through all except health-seeking behavior. We also find that maternal education and its pathways are more relevant and robust in explaining chronic than acute malnutrition. Socioeconomic status is the most important factor linking maternal education and child nutritional status. Although girls’ education is …

Editor's Note, Sisay Asefa

International Journal of African Development

No abstract provided.

International Journal Of African Development, Vol. 1, Issue 2

International Journal of African Development

Complete issue of International Journal of African Development, Volume 1, Issue 2.

Clemson Commencement Program, August 2014, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Increasing Patients’ Knowledge In Transmission Of Bacterial Vaginosis And Its Treatment Regimens, Debra Garner

Dissertations

Research has shown bacterial vaginosis to be one of the most common vaginal disorders in women of child bearing age (Chen, Tian, & Beigi, 2009; Centers for Disease Control, 2012; Menard, 2011). Each year many women are seen by their gynecologist, sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics, and emergency rooms (ER) for complaints of having malodorous discharge (Bradshaw, et al., 2005). Several STI’s and adverse pregnancy outcomes have been attributed to women having bacterial vaginosis (Bradshaw, et al, 2005; Chen, et al.2009; Elkins, & Mayeaux, 2010). Women are predisposed to bacterial vaginosis by the use of wearing non cotton underwear, douching, …

Risk And Resilience In An Urban School: How A Psychosocial Intervention Promotes The Educational Resilience Of Latino Youth, Kip Van Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

According to the Pew Hispanic Forum, the dropout rates for Latino youth (15%) are higher than all other youth in the United States (White youth = 8%; Black youth = 12%). Many Latino youth have difficulty identifying with the school environment due to a lack of cultural connection to the context. Youth Program (YP) program is a peer-led, school-based program driven by the theoretical foundations of Positive Youth Development and Self-Determination theory and is distinguished by its emphasis on building social and academic skills that ease the transition into high school for ninth grade students. The current study examines the …

Summer Commencement: August 8, 2014, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Summer Commencement program from August 8, 2014.

Fieldwork Summary Report-World Health Organization, Anna Cross

Master's Projects and Capstones

My fieldwork experience took place at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, where I completed over 420 hours of practical experience. My fieldwork focused in the field of mental health, working on disorders management (psychosis, depression and suicide) and evidence-based research, but more specifically focusing on schizophrenia, premature death in severe mental disorders, and maternal mental health. Although my fieldwork focused within these areas, for the purpose of this final report, I have opted to focus on my contributions to the research around schizophrenia and premature death within severe mental disorders. Specifically, I contributed to multiple fact/information sheets for …

“Valuing Aboriginal Cultural Activity” - Presented By Ms Kaely Woods, Phd Candidate At Caepr At Anu And Cdu As A Northern Research Futures Collaborative Research Network Scholar, Kaely Woods

Talking Heads Seminar Series

Ms Kaely Woods will outline her doctoral research which explores the economic valuation of the non-market Indigenous cultural economy in Jon Altman’s hybrid economy model. How do Aboriginal people choose, and what do their choices reveal about the value of the customary economy and cultural production? By exploring these questions we can better understand the motivating forces at play in Aboriginal participation in economic development in remote Australia.

Heart Disease: Causes, Prevention, And Current Research, Deeanna Kelley

JCCC Honors Journal

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The causes and prevention of heart disease have been studied for years, and new information is emerging. For the last several decades, saturated fat and cholesterol have been thought to be major contributors to coronary artery disease, and therefore people are typically advised to strictly limit these in their diet. However, recent studies are indicating that it may not be wise to strictly limit the intake of dietary saturated fatty acids or replace them with polyunsaturated fatty acids when taking other health conditions into consideration. Depending on a …