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Robust Determinants Of Reservation Wages In Colombia, Thiago Andrade Moellmann Ferro

Theses and Dissertations

First prong of this work analyzes effects of an early-shock, the 1999 Colombia Earthquake on the development of cognitive skills. Second prong analyzes the effects of professional skills on reservation wages.

The Effects Of Caffeine Supplementation On Vertical Jump Performance, Lucas Paul Bloms

Theses and Dissertations

The Effects of Caffeine Supplementation on Vertical Jump Performance. Introduction: Caffeine enhances performance of many types of exercise, but its effects on vertical jump are unclear. Purpose: To investigate the effects of caffeine on vertical jump tests on a force platform. Methods: The study was a single-blind, randomized, crossover design. Participants consumed either caffeine (5 mg/kg body weight) or placebo. After a sixty-minute waiting period participants performed three squat jumps and three countermovement jumps separated by 30 seconds each while standing on a force platform. There were two minutes of rest between the two different types of jumps. Results: In …

Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Wing Color Pattern Development In Vanessa Cardui And Evolution Of The Polycomb Repressive Complex 2, Heidi Connahs

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I present four papers. Three explore different aspects of wing color pattern development in the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui; while the fourth examines the evolution of an epigenetic silencer complex across invertebrate animals. In the first paper, I used transcriptomics to identify patterning genes from the Drosophila wing gene regulatory network (GRN) in larval and pupal wings of V. cardui and to examine how temporal expression dynamics of this gene network correspond to expression of ommochrome and melanin pigment genes. This study identified key developmental periods of gene upregulation and highlights the temporal separation between peak …

Comparisons Of Muskrat (Ondatra Zibethicus) Trapping Efficiency And Incidental Take Of Non-Target Water Birds Using Covered And Uncovered Float Sets, Rodney Allen Gross Jr

Theses and Dissertations

Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) have been a highly sought after furbearer species in North Dakota because of recent pelt prices. In 2011, regulation changes allowed trappers to use float sets to trap muskrats during the spring season. The current regulations require float sets used during the spring trapping season to have a covering made of either wire mesh, wood, or plastic and must not have an opening exceeding 20.32 cm (8 in) to attempt to minimize the incidental take of non-target species. The primary goals of this project were to determine if muskrat float set covers are effective in eliminating incidental …

Voices From The Frontier: Stories Of Nurse Practitioners Working In Remote Areas, Lynn Marie Jakobs

Theses and Dissertations

Frontier communities are the most sparsely populated and geographically remote areas in the United States. Residents of these communities often lack access to healthcare resources of any kind. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) are more likely than physicians to practice in these areas and provide a vital link in the frontier healthcare safety net.

This narrative inquiry into the practice experiences of frontier NPs informs the discipline of nursing regarding the significant contribution frontier NP practice makes to the delivery of frontier healthcare. This inquiry creates a repository of stories upon which nurse leaders, health care policy makers, and nurse educators interested …

Needs Assessment Of A Neighbors Helping Neighbors Program In The Near Southside Neighborhood In Grand Forks, Nd, Derrick Lapoint

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the needs of a Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) Program to help the elderly successfully age-in-place in the Near Southside Neighborhood (NSS) in Grand Forks, North Dakota. As aging becomes increasingly an issue of concern, establishing a NHN Program in the NSS would help the elderly remain independent in their own home and community. The NHN Program is a specialized program designed to provide aging services to those who are in need through community engagement. Through surveys, data was collected in the Grand Forks Area and the NSS. The first survey was conducted …

Does Sleep Affect Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (Doms) In Olympic Hockey Players?, Monique Edith Lamoureux

Theses and Dissertations

A quantitative study was conducted on the 2014 USA Women’s Olympic Hockey Team. Data was collected from the participants asking for the hours of sleep they got the previous night and how sore they were from the training on the previous day. These numbers were then analyzed to see if athletes who got less sleep reported higher soreness ratings. Results showed that two days in Training Cycle 1 had two significant p-values that coincided with the two strongest negative correlations. Training Cycle 3 had one significant p-value trending in the opposite direction of the proposed hypothesis. The hours of sleep …

Risk Factors For Cholelithiasis (Gallstones) Among Female Veterans, Mila Pak

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Purpose: Gallstones affect up to 15% of the U.S. adult population. Women are at greater risk for cholelithiasis, especially if they are overweight, over forty years of age, or have had children. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) performed 114,653 cholecystectomy surgeries with 107,975 patients diagnosed with cholelithiasis from 2008 to 2013. Female veterans may be at even greater risk for cholelithiasis. However, research with this vulnerable population is sparse. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine physiological and environmental risk factors that may be associated with cholelithiasis among female veterans.

Study Design and Theoretical Framework: This …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2015-2016, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2015-2016 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

Community Assessment Of African Maternal Health In The Portland Region: Drivers For Community, Health Services And Institutional Change, Marie-Elena Reyes, Ann Curry-Stevens

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

This community needs assessment surfaces a range of health priorities faced by the African community. While the scope of the study is limited by time and resources, and strategically focused on maternal health, there are a wider set of upstream and downstream health challenges that impede the community’s wellbeing. We encourage policy makers to remember these whenever health policies, and in fact all manner of policies and programs tied to the social determinants of health, are being considered.

The main body of this report contains the insights of the 56 African women who participated in six focus groups. Their voices …

Exploring The Underlying Mechanisms Of Comorbid Adhd And Eating Disorders, Jennifer Rebecca Bleck

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Evidence suggests comorbidity of ADHD and eating disorders (EDs) among females. Capitalizing on the comorbidity of ADHD and EDs and subsequent obesity could lead to improved prevention and treatment of all three conditions. However, additional information regarding the comorbidity is necessary to develop such interventions, as little is known about how or why this co-occurrence exists. A comprehensive model of the underlying mechanisms associated with comorbid ADHD and EDs is needed to improve understanding of the development of the comorbidity. Moreover, while there are gender differences within each disorder, literature is limited regarding to the comorbidity among males, leading to …

The Relation Between Adiposity And Anxiety In Youth: Analysis Of Peer Victimization, Teasing, Sociocultural Influences, And Internalization Of Appearance Ideals As Explanatory Variables, Natasha L. Burke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to examine putative mediators and moderators in the association between adiposity and anxiety in a sample of overweight and obese youth. In addition, anxiety was examined as a potential moderator between adiposity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Participants were youth (N = 137) between 8 and 17 years old (M = 13.09, SD = 2.61) and their legal caregivers recruited from four medical clinics affiliated with the University of South Florida. Youth were primarily overweight (28.5%) or obese (64.2%) and ethnically diverse. Data were analyzed by path analysis. Weight-related teasing significantly mediated …

Latino Immigrant Workers’ Search For Justice After Occupational Injury, Carla Gabriela Castillo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Latino immigrants encounter an entanglement of rights and policies after occupational injury or illness. In collaboration with an immigrant worker center, ethnographic research and a survey are used to analyze injured workers’ experiences. The center uses survey results to identify common threads and systematic problems, and to explore potential direct action. Through interviews with workers and medical and legal professionals, I investigate the barriers Latino immigrants face following occupational injury or illness, how their lived experiences relate to the greater medicolegal frameworks that demarcate most formal processes of compensation and treatment, and the experiences of professionals who mediate these structures. …

High-Throughput Screening Of Age-Related Changes In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Neil Copes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project was developed to identify novel methods for high-throughput culturing and screening of C. elegans to investigate age-related metabolic changes and to survey the proteomic and metabolomic factors associated with age-related changes. To accomplish these goals we developed a novel way to grow C. elegans in liquid culture in 96-well microplates for several weeks without suffering significant fluid loss due to evaporation and without needing to shake or unseal the plates for aeration. We also developed methods for assaying the total volume of live C. elegans in microplate cultures using a fluorescence microplate reader and for performing RNAi experiments …

Strategies For Preventing Age And Neurodegenerative Disease-Associated Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Vedad Delic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a pivotal role in the development of aging phenotypes and aging-associated neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Strategies that restore mitochondrial dysfunction may rescue the deficits of central metabolism in these disorders and improve cell survival. For example, we found that modulating the mTOR signaling pathway in a tissue culture model of aging-induced mitochondrial DNA mutation enhanced mitochondrial function as evidenced by increased oxygen consumption. Our previous melatonin studies also led us to hypothesize that caloric restriction and the hormone melatonin would reverse brain mitochondrial dysfunction in animal …

Maternal Stress, Breastmilk Igf-1, And Offspring Growth Among Breastfeeding Mothers-Infant Pairs In The Tampa Bay Area, Lauren Michelle Gottfredson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Maternal stress during utero has been shown to have negative health consequences on the offspring, including low birth weight and increased risk of adult disease. Variation in breastmilk may act as an environmental cue of maternal stress and continue to program the infant during early life. This research aimed to explore the role of breastmilk on developmental programming of the infant. Specifically, to examine how breastmilk may act as a medium for the exposure of stress between the mother and the offspring, and see if variation in insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) a potential mechanism for the relationship.

Methods: …

Theoretically Guided Examination Of Caregiver Strain And Its Relationship With School-Based Mental Health Services Utilization And Parent Engagement In Services, Amy Lynn Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Broadly, the purpose of this study was to address the gaps in the knowledge base of caregiver strain through an examination of this and other theoretically related constructs in a sample of parents of high-risk youth. In the last two decades, a growing body of research has pointed to the significance of strain that can result from this caregiving experience, particularly as it relates to patterns of mental health services utilization. Despite the fact that the majority of children who receive mental health receive them from the school, few studies have examined caregiver strain in the context of school-based mental …

Neuroinflammatory Alterations Via Cd-36 In Traumatic Brain Injury, Diana G. Hernandez-Ontiveros

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become an increasingly unmet clinical need due to intense military conflicts worldwide. Directly impacted brain cells suffer massive death, with neighboring cells succumbing to progressive neurodegeneration accompanied by inflammatory and other secondary cell death events. Subsequent neurodegenerative events may extend to normal areas beyond the core of injury, thereby exacerbating the central nervous system’s inflammatory response to TBI. Recently CD-36 (cluster of differentiation 36/fatty acid translocase (FAT), a class B scavenger receptor of modified low-density lipoproteins (mLDLs) in macrophages, has been implicated in lipid metabolism, atherosclerosis, oxidative stress, and tissue injury in cerebral ischemia, and …

Multiple Stain Histology Of Skeletal Fractures: Healing And Microtaphonomy, John Wellington Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The forensic examination of wounds is one of the key elements of analysis performed by forensic anthropologists and forensic pathologists. Gross examination and histological analysis can be used to determine the timing of the wound and its cause. While forensic pathologists are trained to analyze hard and soft tissue wounds, forensic anthropologists, bioarchaeologists, and paleopathologists, focus on hard tissue. Forensic anthropologists have the added benefit of potentially working with residual soft tissue and would benefit from the incorporation of microscopy techniques that take advantage of the soft tissue to better understand perimortem events. Little research has been published that examines …

Ecological Sanitation In Uganda: Promotion Through Demonstration Facilities And Potential For Ascaris Reduction By Free Ammonia Inactivation Using Stored Urine, John Thomas Trimmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As Uganda works to transform itself into an industrialized, middle-income country in the coming decades, the country is faced with a number of problematic trends that could hinder this transition. High population growth and urbanization are quickly forcing small towns to deal with issues of limited space and the aesthetic conditions within sanitation systems, while declining soil fertility in surrounding rural areas calls into question the future nutritional security of the growing population. Ecological Sanitation (Eco-San) systems, which are designed to recover nutrients from human excreta, may help to address these trends.

Improved sanitation coverage in Uganda is currently estimated …

Exploring The Role Of Intracellular Aminopeptidases In Staphylococcus Aureus Pathogenesis, Devon Nicole Marking

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a remarkably pathogenic bacterium that is widely prevalent among the human population. It is the leading agent of skin and soft tissue infections, and is also responsible for causing an array of severe and life threatening diseases. The invasiveness of the pathogen, coupled with increasing antibiotic resistance seen for S. aureus infections, makes this bacterium a prominent public health concern. The extended pathogenicity of S. aureus is largely due to its repertoire of virulence factors, which are typically characterized by being bound to the cell wall, or secreted into the extracellular environment. Previously, our lab identified a …

Diversity And Pollination Activity Of Flower Visiting Insects Associated With Avocado Along The Slopes Of Taita Hills In Kenya, Eric Bushuru Luvonga

All Master’s Theses

Avocado is a horticultural crop of increasing economic importance in Kenya and around the world. Avocado production has been declining partly due to inadequate pollination. This decline in avocado pollination is currently linked to habitat fragmentation and climate change that negatively affects insect pollinators, especially in high altitude areas such as Taita Hills in coastal Kenya. However, there is scarcity of information on avocado flower visiting insects in Taita Hills. The main objective of this study was to assess the diversity and pollination activity of flower visiting insects associated with avocado along the slopes of Taita Hills. The research was …

Growing Inequality And Children, Naomi Cahn, June Carbone

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Trial Of Short-Course Antimicrobial Therapy For Intraabdominal Infection, J E. Mazuski, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Α,Β-Unsaturated Ketones As Antileishmanial Agents, Miguel A. Vasquez, Eva Iniguez, Umashankar Das, Stephen M. Beverley, Linda J. Herrera, Jonathan R. Dimmock, Rosa A. Maldonado

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Genetic Variants Modify The Effect Of Age On Apoe Methylation In The Genetics Of Lipid Lowering Drugs And Diet Network Study, Ingrid B. Borecki, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Identification Of Protein Disulfide Isomerase 1 As A Key Isomerase For Disulfide Bond Formation In Apolipoprotein B100, Shiyu Wang, Shuin Park, Vamsi K. Kodali, Jaeseok Han, Theresa Yip, Zhouji Chen, Nicholas O. Davidson, Randal J. Kaufman

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Pre-Radiotherapy Feeding Tube Identifies A Poor Prognostic Subset Of Postoperative P16 Positive Oropharyngeal Carcinoma Patients, Vivek Verma, Jingxia Liu, Laura Eschen, Jonathan Danieley, Christopher Spencer, James S. Lewis, Jason Diaz, Jay F. Piccirillo, Douglas R. Adkins, Brian Nussenbaum, Wade L. Thorstad, Hiram A. Gay

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Secreted Clca1 Modulates Tmem16a To Activate Ca2+-Dependent Chloride Currents In Human Cells, Monica Sala-Rabanal, Zeynep Yurtsever, Colin G. Nichols, Tom J. Brett

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

The Nutrition Transition In Colombia Over A Decade: A Novel Household Classification System Of Anthropometric Measures, Diana C. Parra, Lora Iannotti, Luis F. Gomez, Helena Pachon, Debra Haire-Joshu, Olga L. Sarmiento, Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, Ross C. Brownson

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.