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2019

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Efficient Algorithms For Mining Healthcare Data :, Yan Hu Jan 2019

Efficient Algorithms For Mining Healthcare Data :, Yan Hu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Data-Driven Healthcare (DDH) is defined as the usage of available medical big data to provide the best and most personalized care, which is believed to be one of the most promising directions for transforming healthcare. The healthcare data includes claims and cost data, clinical data, pharmaceutical R&D data, patient behavior and sentiment data, and health data on the web. There has been a remarkable upsurge in the adoption of healthcare data over the past several years. In particular, it has been used for medical concept extraction, patient trajectory modeling, disease inference, etc.


Protein Ligation : Selenocysteine, Komal Shah Jan 2019

Protein Ligation : Selenocysteine, Komal Shah

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Selenium is present in human and animal body in the form of selenocysteine and


Assessing Novel Expectancies About Ayahuasca : A Preliminary Report, Brianna Rose Altman Jan 2019

Assessing Novel Expectancies About Ayahuasca : A Preliminary Report, Brianna Rose Altman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Given the growing popularity of Ayahuasca, we sought to identify why people might use this psychoactive brew rather than classic hallucinogens like LSD or psilocybin. Experienced users (N=139) completed an online survey about their use of hallucinogens, including ayahuasca, how their ayahuasca experiences differed from those with other hallucinogens, and their willingness to use ayahuasca over other hallucinogens in the future. Participants reported meaningful differences between ayahuasca and other hallucinogens, which apparently related to positive connections to nature and other people, dramatic or terrifying negative thoughts, and aversive physical reactions. Multiple measures of self-reported likelihood of using ayahuasca again increased …


Pregnant Women's Knowledge And Use Of Evidence-Based Practices During Labor And Childbirth After Participating In A Health Education Intervention : Senses Of Birth, Luisa Da Matta Machado Fernandes Jan 2019

Pregnant Women's Knowledge And Use Of Evidence-Based Practices During Labor And Childbirth After Participating In A Health Education Intervention : Senses Of Birth, Luisa Da Matta Machado Fernandes

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Senses of Birth (SoB) is a health education intervention in Brazil that addresses reproductive rights, the benefits and risks of normal birth and cesarean, and use of evidence-based practices (EBP) during labor and childbirth, aiming to reduce unnecessary cesareans in the country. This mixed-method study had three objectives: 1) evaluate the impact of the SoB intervention on pregnant women’s perceived knowledge about normal birth, cesarean, and use of EBP in childbirth; 2) identify socio-demographic factors, obstetric characteristics, and aspects of women’s perceived knowledge that influence women’s use of EBP; and 3) analyze the outcomes, barriers and facilitators/strategies to use …


Post-Translational Modifications And Functional Studies Of Dksa In Escherichia Coli, Andrew Charles Isidoridy Jan 2019

Post-Translational Modifications And Functional Studies Of Dksa In Escherichia Coli, Andrew Charles Isidoridy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

DksA is a bacterial gene regulator that functions synergistically with the stress alarmone ppGpp to mediate the stringent response. DksA also functions independently of ppGpp to regulate transcription of a number of genes. DksA function is dependent on its binding affinity to RNA polymerase and requires specific interactions between RNAP and catalytic amino acids located on the coiled coil tip, D74 and A76. While much of the previous work on DksA has focused on understanding the mechanisms of action and the numerous gene targets for transcriptional regulation, little is known about the mechanisms by which DksA expression and function may …


The Effect Of Social Support On Physiological Stress Reactivity In Youth Exposed To Community Violence, Rachel Clegg Jan 2019

The Effect Of Social Support On Physiological Stress Reactivity In Youth Exposed To Community Violence, Rachel Clegg

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Research indicates that asymmetry between biological stress response systems is associated with psychological and physiological problems, which negatively affect child development. Asymmetry between these systems is common following childhood exposure to adversity. Furthermore, research shows that social support may act as a buffer against negative effects of stress, specifically for girls. The present study examines the role of social support in the relationship between biological systems among a sample of 49 youth (ages 9-12) with high levels of exposure to community violence. We measured perceived social support within the youth and exposed them to an in-lab psychosocial stressor. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis …


Examining The Association Between Toxocara Infection And Lung Function In A Nationally Representative Sample Of U.S. Adults Aged 18-79 Years, Tejaswini Chakravarthy Jan 2019

Examining The Association Between Toxocara Infection And Lung Function In A Nationally Representative Sample Of U.S. Adults Aged 18-79 Years, Tejaswini Chakravarthy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Introduction:


Inteins From Pathogenic Microbes As Regulatory Elements And Potential Drug Targets, Cathleen Maria Schiraldi Jan 2019

Inteins From Pathogenic Microbes As Regulatory Elements And Potential Drug Targets, Cathleen Maria Schiraldi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Inteins are self-splicing elements that orchestrate the autocatalytic process of protein splicing, during which the intein excises itself from a host polypeptide. This multistep reaction involves a series of coordinated nucleophilic attacks and peptide bond rearrangements that remove the intein and reassemble the flanking halves, called exteins, to form the mature host protein. Some inteins are also mobile elements, and can spread to the same or ectopic sites using an internal homing endonuclease domain.


Descriptive And Risk Factor Analysis Of Infantile Cataracts, Marine Nalbandyan Jan 2019

Descriptive And Risk Factor Analysis Of Infantile Cataracts, Marine Nalbandyan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Infantile cataract is a lens opacity diagnosed by 12 months of age. It is a major cause of childhood blindness, with about 200,000 children worldwide being blind because of bilateral cataracts. Blindness has a negative impact on the quality of a child’s life and is associated with increased healthcare costs. While reduction/elimination of childhood blindness is a priority issue in public health, risk factors remain unknown for about two-thirds of infantile cataract cases. The primary aims of this dissertation were to (1) identify, evaluate, and summarize observational studies investigating non-genetic risk factors for infantile cataracts, (2) estimate birth prevalence and …


A Missed Opportunity: Post-Revolutionary Mexican Murals And Incomplete Historical Narratives, Jesus Gandara Ortega Jan 2019

A Missed Opportunity: Post-Revolutionary Mexican Murals And Incomplete Historical Narratives, Jesus Gandara Ortega

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Honors Program

This research project investigates the sociopolitical factors that contributed to the lack of Afro-Mexican representation in post-revolutionary murals and how the erasure of Afro-Mexicans in government-commissioned propaganda has affected Afro-descendant communities today in Mexico. The post-revolutionary struggles for power to unite the country have all but erased the representation of Afro-descendants in murals, historical records, and among its citizens. The absence of Afro-descendants in post-revolutionary murals contributes to continued stigma and discrimination against Afro-descendants in Mexico.


Phenotypic And Genetic Variation Of The Brazilian Malaria Vector Nyssorhynchus Darlingi At Regional And Local Scales, Virginia Mildred Chu Jan 2019

Phenotypic And Genetic Variation Of The Brazilian Malaria Vector Nyssorhynchus Darlingi At Regional And Local Scales, Virginia Mildred Chu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There have been major successes in the fight to eliminate malaria in the Americas, with 11


Evaluation Of Fingerprint Content For Forensic Crime Scene Analysis And Drug Metabolite Detection, Erica Kathryn Brunelle Jan 2019

Evaluation Of Fingerprint Content For Forensic Crime Scene Analysis And Drug Metabolite Detection, Erica Kathryn Brunelle

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

With respect to criminal investigations, one key piece of evidence that often gets overlooked are fingerprints. For years, fingerprint samples have been believed to be useful only for matching purposes using their unique ridges, shapes, and sizes. With the rapid growth of forensic science, it has become evident that the development of fingerprint analysis has been stagnant. The traditional approach has been advantageous for the identification of many individuals; however, many fingerprint samples have been labeled “unusable” due to smudging, smearing, or any one of a myriad of reasons that could cause inconclusive matches. These samples can, however, still be …


"We Get Nothing" : An Ethnography Of Participatory Development And Gender Mainstreaming In A Water Project For The Bhil Of Central India, Indrakshi Tandon Jan 2019

"We Get Nothing" : An Ethnography Of Participatory Development And Gender Mainstreaming In A Water Project For The Bhil Of Central India, Indrakshi Tandon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Through the close examination of a state-sponsored watershed project being implemented by Association for Integrated Social Development (AISD) in the district of Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, this dissertation project explores how current development approaches in water projects impact its intended targets, in this case the Bhil tribal community. A key aspect of this research is to analyze in detail how development narratives such as participatory or bottom-up approaches and gender mainstreaming often result in unintended consequences. With a focus on the gendered nature of participatory policies, I argue that popular development practices in India often lead to governing and managing target …


Bayesian Analysis In Adult Skeletal Age-At-Death Estimation, With Additional Consideration Of Pathological Variables, Jessica L. Campbell Jan 2019

Bayesian Analysis In Adult Skeletal Age-At-Death Estimation, With Additional Consideration Of Pathological Variables, Jessica L. Campbell

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A common task bioarchaeologists face is to estimate age-at-death in populations that have no corresponding documentation. This poses many challenges, the first of which is that age-at-death is highly variable within and among populations and can be further confounded by genetic and environmental influences, as well as other components of the biological profile. Estimating age-at-death in a historic sample can be even more challenging due to missing age indicators or taphonomic changes that obscure the features. Bayesian Analysis offers the potential to mitigate these challenges and to estimate age-at-death with lower degrees of uncertainty and higher probabilities of increased accuracy …


An Expansion Of A Model Of Depression In Multiple Sclerosis : Emotion Regulation And Coping As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Functional Disability And Adjustment To Disease, Elizabeth W. Raffanello Jan 2019

An Expansion Of A Model Of Depression In Multiple Sclerosis : Emotion Regulation And Coping As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Functional Disability And Adjustment To Disease, Elizabeth W. Raffanello

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediate disease affecting the central nervous system (CNS), producing a range of physical and emotional symptoms. Psychological disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, are common in MS, but only partially accounted for by MS symptoms. The associations between common MS sequelae (e.g., fatigue, pain, disability) and mental health indicators are weak and inconsistent, suggesting the presence of moderators. This research study examined two possible moderators of the association between MS sequelae and adjustment to disease: emotion regulation and coping. Emotion regulation refers to the processes used to modulate emotional experiences. It is closely related to coping, …


Adorno's Concept Of The Good : Peaceful Tensions And The Precipice Of Paradise, Sean Mckeever Jan 2019

Adorno's Concept Of The Good : Peaceful Tensions And The Precipice Of Paradise, Sean Mckeever

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Interpretations of Adorno have been dominated by the puzzle of his own theory. The dominant questions center on the internal consistency of his project. Detractors claim that thinking in general and Adorno’s project in particular relies on the same foundations—concepts like instrumental reasoning—that his theory itself seeks to criticize. This means that Adorno himself becomes implicated in his own critique and his entire project is neutered. Many interpreters have sought to come to Adorno’s aid to show that his project is consistent and potent, in part, because it shows us another way of thinking. Proponents of both sides, though, often …


The Impact Of Thoreau's Racial Privilege On His Complicated Views Of Slavery And Abolition, Cassandra Carpenter Jan 2019

The Impact Of Thoreau's Racial Privilege On His Complicated Views Of Slavery And Abolition, Cassandra Carpenter

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Throughout Henry David Thoreau’s life and writing, he pioneers the Nineteenth Century Transcendental movement as a defender of political morality and individual refinement, while simultaneously stressing the importance of maintaining intimacy with nature. The presumed static nature of Thoreau’s movement, however, does not fully encompass the tumultuous time in American history with which Thoreau exists. Living after the Revolutionary war, during the Mexican war, and before the height of the Civil-War, his thought inhabits a period of changes, sometimes positive and yet mostly negative.


Association Of Serum Pcsk9 With Carotid Artery Thickness And Carotid Lesions In Women With Hiv And Hepatitis C Virus, Michael Patrick Searles Jan 2019

Association Of Serum Pcsk9 With Carotid Artery Thickness And Carotid Lesions In Women With Hiv And Hepatitis C Virus, Michael Patrick Searles

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Increase in risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) is a well-documented for HIV-infected (HIV+) populations. A precursor of cardiovascular events in HIV+ populations are non-calcified plaque (lesion) formations and can be associated with arterial inflammation, monocyte aggregation and dendritic cell activation. PCSK9 a known modulator of LDL cholesterol, has also been shown to contribute to inflammation, dendritic cell activation, monocyte aggregation and potentially plaque formations.


Epitranscriptomic Writer Systems And Codon Bias Regulate The Response To Environmental Stress, Andrea Leonardi Jan 2019

Epitranscriptomic Writer Systems And Codon Bias Regulate The Response To Environmental Stress, Andrea Leonardi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Epitranscriptomic marks in the form of enzyme-catalyzed modifications to RNA nucleosides can be important regulators of translation and play integral roles in the response to stress. Dynamic changes in tRNA modification status can regulate the translation of stress response proteins whose transcripts have distinct codon biases. The epitranscriptomic writer Alkylation repair homolog 8 (ALKBH8) plays a crucial part in the translation of codon biased transcripts, as it regulates stop codon recoding, which is a specialized form of translation used to generate selenoproteins. ALKBH8 modifies the wobble uridine of selenocysteine tRNA (tRNASec) to promote the decoding of an internal UGA codon …


Transcriptional Regulation Of Dksa In E. Coli, Daniel Thomas Woods Jan 2019

Transcriptional Regulation Of Dksa In E. Coli, Daniel Thomas Woods

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

DksA is a global transcription factor that binds RNAP directly to regulate the expression of many genes and operons, including ribosomal RNA, in a ppGpp-dependent or ppGpp–independent manner. It is also involved in facilitating the process of DNA replication by removing stalled transcription elongation complexes that could block the progress of the replication fork. In addition, DksA is important for colonization, establishment of biofilms, and pathogenesis. In order to sustain these various functions, an adequate level of cellular DksA is required. This work tested the hypothesis that the E. coli dksA is substantially regulated at the level of transcription. Using …


Legislation To Reduce Microplastic Pollution : Understanding The Factors That Facilitated Passage Of The Federal Microbead-Free Waters Act Of 2015, Alyson Kelly Northrup Jan 2019

Legislation To Reduce Microplastic Pollution : Understanding The Factors That Facilitated Passage Of The Federal Microbead-Free Waters Act Of 2015, Alyson Kelly Northrup

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The full environmental impacts of microplastic pollution in aquatic environments remain uncertain, but several detrimental effects have been documented, including adverse health effects in multiple species and the susceptibility of microplastics to adsorb toxins and leach plastic additives. Plastic microbeads from rinse-off personal care products are a source of microplastic pollution that is introduced directly into the environment through runoff, including wastewater treatment plant effluent. In December 2015, the federal Microbead-free Waters Act of 2015 banned the manufacture and sale of all rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads in the United States.


Stem Education : A Programmatic And Economic Analysis, Rebecca Kate Laforest Jan 2019

Stem Education : A Programmatic And Economic Analysis, Rebecca Kate Laforest

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Innovations of the 21st century have created a need for a highly skilled and adaptable workforce. In this search, industry representatives are having a difficult time finding highly qualified US candidates. From private firms to public officials and economic analysts to educators, many acknowledge the need to update training and education to better prepare our future workforce. This work will examine the performance of students in the United States, the current employment landscape, the evolution of education in the US, and trends in education to support college and career preparation. This work will then analyze specific facets of new educational …


The Clinical Laboratory Workforce In New York State : A Study Of Supply And Demand, Stephanie H. Shulman Jan 2019

The Clinical Laboratory Workforce In New York State : A Study Of Supply And Demand, Stephanie H. Shulman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT


Mapping Collective Action Structures And Activities In A Rural Age-Friendly Communities Initiative, Althea R. Pestine-Stevens Jan 2019

Mapping Collective Action Structures And Activities In A Rural Age-Friendly Communities Initiative, Althea R. Pestine-Stevens

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) initiatives convene stakeholders across sectors and service areas throughout a community to work together to improve the social and built environments for older persons living in the community. While the AFC movement has been active internationally for thirteen years, little is known about the mechanisms that drive this work and its successes. This study aims to uncover some of the key collective action processes and structures that comprise AFC work in a rural county in New York State, through a collaboration theory framework and a social network analysis design.


The Effect Of Anthropogenic Environmental Modifications On Malaria Vectors In Amazonian Peru And Brazil, Catharine Prussing Jan 2019

The Effect Of Anthropogenic Environmental Modifications On Malaria Vectors In Amazonian Peru And Brazil, Catharine Prussing

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Malaria is the most deadly vector borne disease, causing substantial morbidity and hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide each year. In the Americas, the incidence of malaria has increased steadily since 2014. The factors driving continued malaria transmission are complex and highly variable across endemic areas. These factors include inadequate access and financial commitment to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and a failure to target interventions to heterogeneous malaria transmission patterns and vector populations. Nyssorhynchus darlingi (formerly Anopheles darlingi), the predominant malaria vector in Latin America, is known for behavioral, phenotypic, and genetic variability across its range, which allow it to …


Using A Complementarity Mixed-Method Design To Assess The Relationship Of A Hierarchical Stem Mentoring Model, Jessica Lamendola Jan 2019

Using A Complementarity Mixed-Method Design To Assess The Relationship Of A Hierarchical Stem Mentoring Model, Jessica Lamendola

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT


The Effect Of Maternal Dietary Habits During Pregnancy On Neonate Leptin Methylation Patterns And Gestational Age, Sean Fitzpatrick Jan 2019

The Effect Of Maternal Dietary Habits During Pregnancy On Neonate Leptin Methylation Patterns And Gestational Age, Sean Fitzpatrick

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The health of a newborn baby is inextricably linked to the health status of its mother and in turn the mother’s diet during pregnancy. Leptin (LEP) is an adipokine hormone involved in metabolism regulation and has been linked fetal development through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). Prior work suggests that gestational epigenetic alterations the LEP gene may be sensitive to adverse exposures during pregnancy, which in turn could explain variation in neonate outcomes. However, no prior work has examined this possibility explicitly. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between dietary patterns of mothers during pregnancy and their …


Sers For Protein Detection At A Single Molecule Level For Developing A New Medical Diagnostics Platform, Lamyaa Almehmadi Jan 2019

Sers For Protein Detection At A Single Molecule Level For Developing A New Medical Diagnostics Platform, Lamyaa Almehmadi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A two-step process of protein detection at a single molecule level using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) was developed as a new platform for medical diagnostics in this proof-of-concept study. First, a protein molecule was bound to a linker in the bulk solution and then this adduct was chemically reacted with the SERS substrate. Traut’s Reagent (TR) was used to thiolate Bovine serum albumin (BSA) in solution followed by chemical cross linking to a gold surface through a sulfhydryl group. A Glycine-TR adduct was used as a control sample to identify the protein contribution to the SER spectra. Gold SERS …


United States V. Dennett:The Battle For Sex Education In The Early 1900s, Hannah Breda Jan 2019

United States V. Dennett:The Battle For Sex Education In The Early 1900s, Hannah Breda

History Honors Program

The 1873 Comstock Act outlawed the production and distribution of any materials that were deemed to be obscene or capable of arousing adolescents. Mary Ware Dennett, a women's rights activist and pioneer in birth control and sex education, was one of the many who fell victim to this law. Dennett was arrested in 1929 for distributing her sex education pamphlet, The Sex Side of Life, written for her teenage sons after finding the sex education materials produced by the government to be insufficient. This paper argues that Dennett's pamphlet was scrutinized in United States v. Dennett because it …


Prospective Observational Study In Patients With Obstructive Lung Disease: Novelty Design, Helen K. Reddel, Maria Gerhardsson De Verdier, Alvar Agustí, Gary Anderson, Richard Beasley, Elisabeth H. Bel, Christer Janson, Barry Make, Richard J. Martin, Ian Pavord, David Price, Christina Keen, Asparuh Gardev, Stephen I. Rennard, Alecka Sveréus, Aruna T. Bansal, Lance Brannman, Niklas Karlsson, Javier Nuevo, Fredrik Nyberg, Simon S. Young, Jørgen Vestbo Jan 2019

Prospective Observational Study In Patients With Obstructive Lung Disease: Novelty Design, Helen K. Reddel, Maria Gerhardsson De Verdier, Alvar Agustí, Gary Anderson, Richard Beasley, Elisabeth H. Bel, Christer Janson, Barry Make, Richard J. Martin, Ian Pavord, David Price, Christina Keen, Asparuh Gardev, Stephen I. Rennard, Alecka Sveréus, Aruna T. Bansal, Lance Brannman, Niklas Karlsson, Javier Nuevo, Fredrik Nyberg, Simon S. Young, Jørgen Vestbo

Journal Articles: Pulmonary & Critical Care Med

Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have overlapping clinical features and share pathobiological mechanisms but are often considered distinct disorders. Prospective, observational studies across asthma, COPD and asthma-COPD overlap are limited. NOVELTY is a global, prospective observational 3-year study enrolling ∼12 000 patients ≥12 years of age from primary and specialist clinical practices in 19 countries (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02760329). NOVELTY's primary objectives are to describe patient characteristics, treatment patterns and disease burden over time, and to identify phenotypes and molecular endotypes associated with differential outcomes over time in patients with a diagnosis/suspected diagnosis of asthma and/or COPD. NOVELTY …