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Investigating The Influence Of Periodontal Disease On The Association Between Complex Multimorbidity And Health: A Cross-Sectional Study, Hussam M. Alqahtani, Siran M. Koroukian, Kurt C. Stange, Nicholas K. Schiltz, Nabil F. Bissada

Faculty Scholarship

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether periodontal disease (PD) moderates the association between complex multimorbidity (MM) and fair/poor general health in a US representative sample of older individuals. Materials and Methods: This study identified 937 participants who were at least 60 years of age from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between complex MM (including chronic conditions, functional limitations, and geriatric syndromes) and self-reported fair/poor general health. Subsequently, we specified interactions between complex MM and PD to determine whether PD moderates …

Nutritional Ecology Of The Western Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon Piscivorus Leucostoma), Jason Ortega

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutritional ecology aims to understand the factors that shape the diets of animals, how these ingested meals are processed, and how the assimilated nutrients are used to shape an organism’s interactions with its environment. As environmental parameters are altered due to anthropogenic changes, the availability and quality of prey may be altered. The alteration of the nutritional landscape can be devastating to nutritional specialists, yet generalist predators may be able to cope with these changes. The western cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) is a unique semiaquatic pitviper that can both forage along the land-water interface and in upland habitat when faced …

Effects Of Land Use On Soil Microbial Communities In Tropical Montane Forests Of Malaysian Borneo, Yang Kai Tang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Land use, such as logging and forest conversion to agriculture, can modify soil physicochemical and biological properties, and affect soil health. To understand how land use change can impact soil properties and canopy structure, we used a land use gradient in Malaysian Borneo consisting of six sites, including old growth forests, mixed forests, and agriculture fields. Specifically, we aimed to answer the following questions: (1) How do soil physicochemical properties vary across land use types? (2) Does bacterial diversity and composition vary across different land use types? (3) Does fungal diversity and composition vary across different land use types? We …

Moving To Digitized Health Care: Why Hipaa Coverage Needs To Be Expanded

Connecticut Law Review

The rapid development of personal technology over the past few years has thrust health care online. Most people have used some form of health tracking apps, nutrition apps, or exercise and fitness apps. The expansion of telehealth services and apps during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward online health care. Digitized health care, whether accessed through a mobile app, a web site, or a telehealth service, provides a convenient and efficient means for people to access health care services. But this new access comes with a hidden cost: a risk of unauthorized use of private health information. This Comment …

The Utah Statesman, May 1, 2023, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Acute Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis, Annette Bellar, Nicole Welch, Jaividhya Dasarathy, Amy Attaway, Ryan Musich, Avinash Kumar, Jinendiran Sekar, Saurabh Mishra, Yana I. Sandlers, Et. Al

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Background: Patients with acute alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) have immune dysfunction. Mitochondrial function is critical for immune cell responses and regulates senescence. Clinical translational studies using complementary bioinformatics-experimental validation of mitochondrial responses were performed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with AH, healthy controls (HC), and heavy drinkers without evidence of liver disease (HD).
Methods: Feature extraction for differentially expressed genes (DEG) in mitochondrial components and telomere regulatory pathways from single-cell RNAseq (scRNAseq) and integrated 'pseudobulk' transcriptomics from PBMC from AH and HC (n = 4 each) were performed. After optimising isolation and processing protocols for functional studies in …

Trading Nonenforcement, Ryan Snyder

Georgia State University Law Review

In recent years, federal agencies have increasingly used nonenforcement as a bargaining chip—promising not to enforce a legal requirement in exchange for a regulated party’s promise to do something else that the law doesn't require. This Article takes an in-depth look at how these nonenforcement trades work, why agencies and regulated parties make them, and the effects they have on social policy. The Article argues that these trades pose serious risks: Agencies often use trading to evade procedural and substantive limits on their power. The trades themselves present fairness problems, both because they tend to reward large, well-connected firms and …

Early Childhood Support Specialist Evaluation Report, Emilie Swenson Msw, Rachel Gallo Mph

Children, Youth, & Families

The Early Childhood Support Specialist (ECSS) at MaineHealth builds relationships with families who have children aged birth to three, a timeframe when infants and toddlers are rapidly developing, learning, and benefiting from family and community connections. The ECSS assesses a family’s strengths and needs to understand how that family can be supported and connected. The ECSS connects families to resources, provides referrals, coaches families on children’s social and emotional development, and generally serves as a point of contact to assist families with social, emotional, and medical needs. Ultimately, the intended outcome of this model is to increase family connections, decrease …

Exploration Of The Relationship Between The Mean Power Spectral Density Of Electrogastrography And Gestational Maturation Of Preterm Infants, Elizabeth Ann Rhodes

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Feeding preterm infants can be a challenge due to gastrointestinal (GI) immaturity which can lead to feeding intolerance, malnutrition, and poor neurodevelopment. Currently there is no non-invasive and quantitative method to determine GI maturity in infants. Electrogastrography (EGG) provides a non-invasive method of measuring gastric myoelectrical activity and has been used on adults to determine gastric abnormalities. EGG was explored as an option for determining GI maturity in preterm infants by quantifying the power spectral density (PSD) of EGG data and its spectral means. The power spectral density and spectral means were calculated during three gastric rhythm (GR) bands (mPSDgr) …

Examining Maternal Health Disparities Through Global Comparison And Stakeholder Perspectives, Madison Mitchel

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Maternal mortality is a pressing global public health problem that disproportionately affects Black women and birthing people. In part one of this mixed- methods study, Black maternal health stakeholders (ages 18+) in North Texas were recruited to complete a 25-item survey to understand their perspectives on community- based approaches to health equity. Survey participants (N=16) reported inadequate financial, human, and social resources for addressing Black maternal health (75%) and that they rarely see local efforts focused on policy, systems, and structural changes (70%). In part two, a systematic document review was performed to identify and analyze national maternal health policies …

Symptom Patterns And Their Association With Influencing Factors In Adults With Long Covid - A Secondary Analysis, Maaham Chaudhry

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Currently available information on the risk factors, manifestation, treatments, and long-term effects of the long COVID is inconclusive, requiring further research to identify timely interventions that may help treat long COVID patients, reduce symptom burden and restore functional abilities. This research aims to analyze symptom patterns and their association with influencing factors in adults with long COVID by examining intercorrelations among symptoms, identifying influencing factors of symptoms, and examining the associations of symptoms with disability and quality of life over time in long COVID patients. The Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms developed by Lenz et al. (1997) is applied as the …

Endophytic Bacteria Isolated From Aeschynomene Indica Plants And Their Role In Nod-Factor Independent Nodule Formation And Nitrogen Fixation, Meaghan Alyssa Rose

Biology Dissertations - Archive

The formation of specialized root organs known as nodules is the most defining characteristic of leguminous plants due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen to bioavailable forms enabled by rhizobial endosymbionts. This relationship has played an integral role in the agricultural practice of using such crop plants as biofertilizers to reduce the use of and dependency on synthetic chemical fertilizers. Tropical legumes, such as members of the genus Aeschynomene, are particularly recognized for their ability to form stem nodules through an unknown mechanism independently of the canonical Nod Factor signaling pathway used in standard root nodulation. The works in this …

Effects Of Prebiotics, Probiotics, And Antibiotics On The Human Gut Microbiome, Ai-Vy Dinh

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The human gut microbiome is a community of microbes that are found in the gastrointestinal tract and serves many purposes to the human host, such as immune system regulation and food digestion. In adults, thousands of bacterial species may develop over time based on changes in diet, environment, and other factors. A dietary category of interest is that of prebiotics and probiotics, both of which are necessary for a healthy microbiome. Prebiotics aid microorganisms by acting as “food,” while probiotics are microorganisms themselves. A dataset was extracted from the National Center for Biotechnology Information that included abundant bacterial genera in …

Contents, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Special Issue: Hunger, Nutrition, And Health, Susan Rice

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Everyday millions of Americans face barriers to accessing food, housing, and other supports–––making the impossible decision of whether to put food on the table or cover other essential needs. Food insecurity and diet-related diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, affect people of all ages and in all communities. It was for this reason that the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. As the President said at the Conference, “No child should go to bed hungry. No parent should die of a disease that can be prevented.” It will require all …

Va’S Work To Ensure Veterans’ Food Security, Christine Going

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is uniquely positioned as the nation’s largest integrated health care system, serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year, to successfully embrace the power of an interdisciplinary team designed to meet the needs of Veterans challenged by food insecurity. In collaboration with the whole of government approach to ending hunger, VA is addressing food and nutrition security. The Food Security Office within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was established and has representation from nutrition, social work, and nursing focusing on the causes of food insecurity among Veterans. VA’s Food Security Office and the Nutrition and …

Healthy School Meals For All: The Role Of Food Law And Policy, Thomas J. Vilsack

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The first Conference held more than 50 years ago by President Nixon in 1969 had significant impacts on our Department and the prevalence of food insecurity in our country. Most notably, the Conference sparked significant expansions to Food Stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), from 2 million in 1968 to 11 million by 1971. The Conference also increased the reach of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which served 2.9 million low-income children at the time of the Conference and expanded to serving nearly 8 million low-income children by 1971. Permanent authorization of the School Breakfast …

Putting The Dietary Guidelines For Americans Into Action Through The National Strategy On Hunger, Nutrition, And Health, Rachel Fischer, Katrina L. Piercy, Janet M. De Jesus, Paul Reed, Rachel L. Levine

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The United States is facing a crisis of widespread food insecurity and exceedingly high rates of diet-related diseases like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. To address this challenge and set a course for improved nutrition and food access nationwide, the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years on September 28, 2022. In the National Strategy, released in conjunction with the Conference, the Administration identified a set of actions that the federal government will take to help achieve its goal of ending hunger and increasing healthy eating and physical activity by 2030, …

Climate Change, Food Security, And The Myth Of Unlimited Abundance, Susan A. Schneider

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The Biden-Harris White House can be commended for convening the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health highlighting the critical connections between access to healthy food and sustaining a healthy population. This article explores the impact of climate change and seeks to fill a critical gap in the national discussion. It argues that dramatic changes are needed in the way we think about domestic food security and that meaningful change will be required to assure an adequate supply of healthy food, as envisioned by the White House Conference. It explores the impact of the changes to the climate …

Leveraging Housing Programs: Ensuring That Food Access Investments Do Not Displace People, Heather Latino

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In September 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration convened a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health (“conference”). Among the specific strategies outlined by the Administration is a directive that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) “increase access to neighborhood markets, grocery stores, farmers’ markets, urban gardens, food incubators, and/or the conversion of vacant buildings into food hubs. . . .” While some may celebrate the Administration’s commitment to investing in low-income and underserved communities, others fear that these forms of intervention and reinvestment may worsen current disparities. Incentives for renovating or constructing local grocery stores have been criticized …

Protein Nutrition And Immunity In Male Bumblebees (Bombus Impatiens), Carson Stoker

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Male bumble bees play a vital but understudied role in their colonies. They are essential to colony reproduction and success, despite not emerging until the end of the colony's life cycle. Even so, the biology of male bumble bees is not well understood, which leaves our understanding of colony health incomplete. This knowledge gap is important because bumblebee populations are declining, which threatens the ecosystems and industries which rely on them for pollination. This study aimed to understand how two understudied factors of bumble bee health—diet and immunity—are related in males. Pollen, a bee’s main source of protein, has been …

Working Like A Dog: Literary Analysis Of Multifactorial Service Dog Outcomes., Sarah Brinck

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

What makes a service dog successful? Whether it is genetics or the environment they are raised in, the definition of a successful service dog is complicated. Organizations that set out to train service dogs depend on successful outcomes to continue operating. That makes it particularly important to determine and understand the primary factors that impact the success or failure of dogs bred and/or trained for service dog programs. Given the complexity of the requirements for effective service dogs, it can be costly for an individual or an organization to neglect any factors that contribute to success. Individual components of what …

Our Story, Our Song: Assessing And Addressing Black Women's Healthcare Experiences., Jason Deakings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite advancements in medicine and health sciences, health disparities and declining life expectancy persists among Black women in the United States. Researchers and non-traditional healthcare providers suggest alternative healing (e.g., music and Sister Circles) and research methodologies to achieve a culturally conscious, traumainformed, quality, and holistic care and practice. The intersecting identities and cultural responsibility of Black women highly influences the barriers and facilitators on the uptake of healthcare services. Utilizing a community engaged research approach, this qualitative study assessed the healthcare experiences, as well as the role of music in the lived and retold experiences of Black women navigating …

Using Genome Analysis Methods To Screen Lactococcus Starter Cultures For Bitter‐Related Genes And Establish A Differentiation Method Using Qpcr For Lactococcus Lactis And Lactococcus Cremoris Species In Cheddar Cheese, Brantzen R. Wood

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Consumers of Cheddar cheese expect consistent flavor and texture in the cheese they eat. Cheese flavor and texture is highly influenced by the bacteria cheese makers add during cheese production. These bacteria are generally responsible for the flavors and textures consumers associate with Cheddar cheese and are referred to as starters.

Sometimes during cheese manufacture off-flavors and textures can arise that make the cheese unappealing to eat. One such flavor that is off putting is bitterness. The bitter taste in cheese arises while the cheese is aging and is largely due to the same flavor producing starters added to the …

Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibition: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy For Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease., Jeffrey Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a common chronic liver disease and healthcare burden, and a spectrum of pathologies ranging from steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH). Despite its prevalence, there are limited effective therapeutic options for the treatment of ALD/AH. Previous evidence suggested that inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), a lipid metabolism enzyme which degrades beneficial metabolites of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids, may be a beneficial strategy. The central hypothesis of the current dissertation is that sEH inhibition will ameliorate alcohol-associated liver injury and inflammation in mouse models of ALD. Methods To determine the efficacy of …

The Impact Of Kentucky’S Medicaid Expansion On Adult Coverage And Diagnosis Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus And Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy, The Use Of Antihyperglycemics And The Role Of Social Determinants Of Health 2011-2018., Brian Mcroberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: This study analyzed the impact of Medicaid expansion in Kentucky on coverage of adults aged 19-64 and the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and the use of antidiabetic medications or insulin (antihyperglycemics) for T2DM, controlling for Social Determinants of Health (SDOH). Method: This study assembled ICD-based claims and prescription drug NDC claims from all adult residents of Kentucky enrolled in Medicaid from 2011 to 2018. Three-digit zip code (Zip-3) data was appended to each case from the American Community Survey to provide SDOH variables. Tests performed included ANOVA, decision trees, varimax rotated …

Hsp90 And Triglyceride Levels In Partially Migratory Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) Populations, Audra Cote

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) is a partial migrant species, which means that some individuals migrate between breeding and nonbreeding grounds, while others remain in one location throughout the year. Eastern Virginia contains both permanent residents and overwintering migrants which breed in Canada's James Bay region. The metabolic demands of migration predict physiological differences between migrants and more sedentary residents, but they have been little studied in Canada Goose. Understanding such differences may help predict the resiliency of migratory birds to rapid climate change. We compared triglyceride and HSP90 (heat shock protein) in liver tissue extracted from resident and migrant …

The Public Stakes Of Consumer Law: The Environment, The Economy, Health, Disinformation, And Beyond, Rory Van Loo

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

Consumer law has a conflicted and narrow identity. It is most immediately a form of business law, governing market transactions between people and companies. Accordingly, the microeconomic analysis of markets is the dominant influence on consumer law. But consumer law is often described as, and assumed to be about, protecting the consumer, which implicates small instances of individual injustice. Both of these lenses are valuable but reflect limited awareness of the field’s importance among lawmakers, scholars, and the public. We are all consumers. Exchanges between consumers and corporations contribute to global warming when people buy energy-inefficient household appliances; drive public …

Analyzing The Overturning Of Roe Vs Wade On Twitter Using Natural Language Processing Techniques, Gabriela Pinto

Computational and Data Sciences (MS) Theses

In 1973, the historic U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) case of Roe vs. Wade provided the constitutional right
to abortion. However, on May 2, 2022, Politico magazine leaked the draft opinion on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The leak generated a surge of users to post their opinion on the case that would eliminate abortion as a constitutional right. Then, on June 24, 2022, SCOTUS overturned Roe vs. Wade. In this thesis, we aim to investigate the public opinion and reaction towards the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. We collected 20,640,166 tweets using Twitter API for Academic Research and …

Single-Laboratory Validation For The Detection Of Salmonella Enterica In Meat Analog Products, Amanda Tabb

Food Science (MS) Theses

Meat analogs are becoming increasingly popular for health, environmental, and ethical reasons. However, these products are at risk for contamination with Salmonella enterica. Therefore, it is important to ensure that detection methods for S. enterica in meat analog products are effective. Currently, the Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) chapter on Salmonella detection calls for pre-enrichment of meat analogs using lactose broth (LB) with added surfactants, Tergitol Anionic 7 or Triton X-100. However, it remains to be determined whether surfactants are necessary for pre-enrichment of meat analogs. Following pre-enrichment, screening with VIDAS is typically performed. While VIDAS is an effective screening method, …