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Data Management Report April 2023, Tennessee. Department Of Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities

Compliance & System Data/Reports

This monthly report provides data on various aspects of the department's activities and programs.

Healthcare Inequities In The United States And Beyond Are Taking Black Women’S Lives, Alichia Mcintosh

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Black women have been dying at devastating rates due to health complications at the hands of the United States’ healthcare and legal systems. This Note explores these distressing rates and how they compare to White women while analyzing the fatalities and diagnoses among several health complications and diseases. These fatalities persist due to the United States’ history of racism—such as the institution of slavery and over 100 years of Black bodies experiencing Jim Crow laws—and the socioeconomic disadvantages Black women disproportionally face. This Note emphasizes that these disparities continue because the United States has failed to implement treaties—which it is …

The Impact Of Esg News On Healthcare Firms’ Financial Returns, Michelle Lai

Gabelli School of Business Honors Thesis Collection

This research paper analyzes the effect of positive and negative CSR news on healthcare firms’ financial performance, and particularly during a global event such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper seeks to further the research on the impact of CSR news on different ESG ranked healthcare firms within the U.S., providing a more narrowed focus on an industry that has significant Social CSR importance and relevance. The main research questions of this paper are: How do healthcare companies’ ESG scores affect the volatility of their stock price during the pandemic? Is there a causal relationship associated with positive and negative …

Effect Of Kinesiophobia On Return To Play Of Athletes At Bridgewater College, Jenna Mccaffrey

Honors Projects

Kinesiophobia is known as the fear of movement, injury, or re-injury. It is the primary psychological construct of the Fear Avoidance Model of Chronic Pain under the biopsychosocial model's umbrella. This study tested the effects of kinesiophobia on return to play of athletes at Bridgewater College. Results found that kinesiophobia had no impact on return to play of female athletes at Bridgewater College. Male athletes have a positive correlation between Return Concerns and kinesiophobia.

Determining The Role Of Propionate And Sigb On Benzalkonium Chloride Resistance In Listeria Monocytogenes, Emma C. Schaefer

Honors Theses

Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is a deadly food borne pathogen that causes listeriosis infection in humans with a high mortality rate. L. monocytogenes can form biofilms in food processing environments and become resistant to antimicrobial agents such as benzalkonium chloride (BC) and other quaternary ammonium chlorides (QACs). BC is used for cleaning and disinfection of food processing areas and is known to disrupt cell membranes of L. monocytogenes, causing cytosol leakage and the degradation of proteins and nucleic acids. Previous research shows that QAC resistance is associated with the upregulation of certain efflux pump genes (mdrL, brcABC, …

Impact Of An Evidence-Based Order Set On Pneumonia Length Of Stay, Troy Wayne Spires

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Among adult patients admitted with pneumonia, what is the effect of Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) sets for pneumonia, as compared to usual practice, on the length of stay over three months.

Purpose: The project aimed to determine if inpatient LOS related to pneumonia could be impacted by utilizing appropriately completed computerized physician order entry (CPOE). The current pneumonia order set was evaluated and updated to reflect the latest evidence-based standards of care. Pneumonia order sets with evidence-based practice treatment algorithms was the intervention focus as they have been shown to impact the length of stays …

Reducing Falls Among Adult Psychiatric Inpatients Using K-Cards With The Epi, Epfrat Factors, And Nursing Judgment, Katelyn Dunn

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

In the United States, the highest rates of falls are in the psychiatric inpatient population. Fall reduction was as an organizational goal of the project site, a 352-bed hospital in the Southeastern United States. The Epic Predictive Index (EPI), an automated fall risk assessment tool, had recently been adopted. This project evaluated the impact of an enhanced fall reduction strategy involving the use of Kamishibai Cards (K-Cards), which are a compliance reminder for healthcare staff, to support additional evidence-based identification of fall risk among adults receiving inpatient psychiatric care at the facility. The use of K-Cards with each patient’s current …

Droughtscape, Spring 2023, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

DroughtScape, Spring 2023

High-Protein Rice Flour In The Development Of Gluten-Free Pasta, Ana I.Serrano Marana, Anita Morris, Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, Zhimin Xu, Joan M. King

Faculty Publications

Abstract: Cahokia Rice, a new biofortified high-protein (10%–12%) variety of rice, was used to develop and analyze a gluten-free pasta. Different pastas were made with high-protein white rice flour (HPWRP), high-protein brown rice flour (HPBRP), commercial white rice flour (CWRP), commercial brown rice flour (CBRP), and wheat flour (WP). Cooking quality of the pasta was evaluated by measuring pasting properties, cooking time, water absorption capacity, and cooking loss. Proximate analysis, color, and texture were done on dry and cooked pasta. Sensory testing was done to determine consumer acceptability and purchase intent of HPWRP and HPBRP in comparison to WP. HPWRP …

Oral Health In Relation To The Covid-19 Pandemic, Anika L. Gram

Honors Thesis

Oral health has seen significant changes through the Covid-19 pandemic. Many people experienced the lifestyle alteration of wearing a mask for a major portion of their day-to-day life, and some went to the dentist significantly less than they did pre-pandemic. The literature review explores dental practices during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also examines mask-wearing behaviors both before and during the pandemic and the research that has been conducted previously regarding the potential effects of mask-wearing. Despite the decrease in use of masks post-pandemic, many healthcare professionals continue to wear masks daily. Additionally, in the event of future disease outbreak, it …

Horizontal Transmission Of Salmonella Typhimurium Among German Cockroaches And Possible Mechanisms, Madison Anne Mond

Honors Thesis

Cockroaches, including the German cockroach (Blattella germanica), are common urban pests that have been linked epidemiologically and experimentally to the transmission of bacteria that cause enteric disease in humans and animals, such as the widespread pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. While recent strides have been made in understanding the mechanisms and dynamics of Salmonella infection of the cockroach gut, much about this vector-pathogen relationship remains unknown. A particular knowledge gap is understanding the ecology of how S. Typhimurium is acquired, maintained, and spread by cockroaches. The behavioral ecology of German cockroaches is unique among insect vectors. They closely share shelter …

Sunscreen Is Not Just For White People: Church-Based Sunscreen Education For Black Women, Lauren Mitchell

DNP Projects

Significance and Background: African American women are an undeserved population in healthcare, particularly regarding skin cancer prevention. The lack of education and misinformation surrounding skin cancer has resulted in general mistrust of the healthcare system amongst African Americans. Proper education on sunscreen use and skin cancer screening is essential to prevent late diagnosis of skin cancer and to promote prevention efforts.

Purpose: This quality improvement project utilized evidence-based practice to provide education on the proper use of sunscreen and skin cancer screening to African American women in a faith-based setting in Southern Connecticut.

Methods: A pre-survey was conducted to assess …

A Core Outcome Set For Childhood Epilepsy Treated With Ketogenic Diet Therapy ( Core‐Kdt Study): International Parent And Health Professional Consensus: International Parent And Health Professional Consensus, Jennifer H. Carroll, J. Helen Cross, Mary Hickson, Emma Williams, Val Aldridge, Avril Collinson

School of Health Professions

OBJECTIVE: Ketogenic diet therapy (KDT) can result in benefits (seizure and non-seizure related) for children with drug resistant epilepsy. However, clinical trials report a wide range of outcomes making synthesis of evidence difficult, and do not adequately reflect parent views on important outcomes for their child. To address this, we established the first international parent, health professional and researcher consensus to develop a core outcome set, guided by the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials (COMET) Initiative (COMET registration #1116). METHODS: Ethical approval was granted (London-Surrey REC19/LO/1680). A scoping review and interviews with parents identified a comprehensive list of potentially …

Volume Change Measurements Of Cancer Cells In A Microfluidics Platform, Yukuan Yu

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the function of aquaporins in transcellular transport is vital for homeostasis, pathophysiology, and translational potential in AQP-based diagnostics and therapeutics. Microfluidics device has the potential to evaluate the function of aquaporins with precise control and manipulate micro-scale fluid due to good optical quality and short processing distance. This work has two parts: cell culture in a microfluidic chip to characterize aquaporins’ function and visualization of single cell volume change under osmotic pressure shock in a homemade imaging dish. For the first part, we established a microfluidics platform for future modification and measurement of the dynamic volume change of biological …

A Holistic View Of Integrated Care Within Counselor Education: A Multi-Manuscript Dissertation, Alexander Mcclain Fields

Theses and Dissertations

The integration of behavioral health into primary care settings, otherwise known as integrated care (IC), is a movement growing in momentum and continues to challenge traditional healthcare occurring in silos. Through an IC modality, healthcare consumers receive all their care through a “one stop shop” approach and previous outcomes have suggested an overall benefit for an individual’s holistic health, as well as savings for healthcare settings. Counselors are in a prime position to join IC teams and contribute to consumer healthcare outcomes through a unique professional identity. The aim of this dissertation study, which consisted of three completed manuscripts, was …

Food Insecurity In Youth And Young Adults With Diabetes: Prevalence And Association With Health Behaviors, Lauren Helene Martini

Theses and Dissertations

Given the life-long impact of diabetes(1-5), it is important to engage in behaviors that promote health and wellness to delay or prevent negative health outcomes(3, 6-10). Despite this, youth and young adults with diabetes generally do not adhere to nutritional(11-17) or physical activity(18, 19) recommendations. In households experiencing financial difficulties, especially those who are having difficulty providing sufficient food to all of its members, adhering to recommendations may be even more difficult.

The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand and contextualize food insecurity among youth and young adults (YYA) with youth-onset T1DM and T2DM. The first aim addresses …

Association Between Classes And Subclasses Of Polyphenol Intake And 5-Year Body Weight Changes In The Epic-Panacea Study, Jazmin Castañeda, Mercedes Gil-Lespinard, Enrique Almanza-Aguilera, Fjorida Llaha, Jesús-Humberto Gómez, Nicola Bondonno, Anne Tjønneland, Kim Overvad, Verena Katzke, Matthias B. Schulze, Giovanna Masala, Claudia Agnoli, Maria Santucci De Magistris, Rosario Tumino, Carlotta Sacerdote, Guri Skeie, Magritt Brustad, Cristina Lasheras, Esther Molina-Montes, María-Dolores Chirlaque, Aurelio Barricarte, Emily Sonestedt, Marisa Da Silva, Ingegerd Johansson, Johan Hultdin, Anne M. May

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations among the intake of total polyphenols, polyphenol classes, and polyphenol subclasses and body weight change over 5 years. Methods: A total of 349,165 men and women aged 25 to 70 years were recruited in the Physical Activity, Nutrition, Alcohol, Cessation of Smoking, Eating Out of Home and Obesity (PANACEA) project of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort from nine European countries. Body weight was measured at baseline and at follow-up after a median time of 5 years. Polyphenol intake, including four main polyphenol classes and …

Free Money: The Feasibility Of Implementing A Universal Basic Income In The United States, Chase H. Dorn

Senior Theses

The objective of this thesis is to explore whether a universal basic income paid to all United States citizens is both economically possible and advantageous. A recent surge in popularity of the idea has led to a plethora of universal basic income experiments that have been or are being performed across the world, however there has yet to be a UBI implemented on a national level. Using data from these experiments and existing academic research into the policy, the first part of the thesis details the necessary components of a UBI, documents the history of the idea, notes the justifications …

The Associations Of Built Environments On College Students' Physical Activity Levels, Catherine M. Neel

Senior Theses

The issues with American physical activity infrastructure have been causing The United States to have lower levels of physical activity compared to other developed countries. The social and physical built environments of college students typically provide more access for students to be able to be active; however most students still do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to determine what in their physical and social environment that students utilize in order to participate in physical activity and what aspects of their environment discourage physical activity or limit access to being active. This …

Using Multiple Imputation Of Real-World Data To Estimate Clinical Remission In Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Nanhua Zhang, Chunyan Liu, Steven J. Steiner, Richard B. Colletti, Robert Baldassano, Shiran Chen, Stanley Cohen, Michael D. Kappelman, Shehzad Saeed, Laurie S. Conklin, Richard Strauss, Sheri Volger, Eileen King, Kim Hung Lo

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Aim: To evaluate the performance of the multiple imputation (MI) method for estimating clinical effectiveness in pediatric Crohn's disease in the ImproveCareNow registry; to address the analytical challenge of missing data. Materials & methods: Simulation studies were performed by creating missing datasets based on fully observed data from patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease treated with non-ustekinumab biologics. MI was used to impute sPCDAI remission statuses in each simulated dataset. Results: The true remission rate (75.1% [95% CI: 72.6%, 77.5%]) was underestimated without imputation (72.6% [71.8%, 73.3%]). With MI, the estimate was 74.8% (74.4%, 75.2%). Conclusion: MI reduced nonresponse bias and …

The Role Of Intraoperative Esmolol Vs Ketamine In Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Rebekah Bitar

Nurse Anesthesia MSNA Student Capstones

As the understanding of opioid dependence mechanisms and origins in the adult population continues to evolve in the United States, so does the pursuit of alternative avenues for analgesia. Many opioid substance-use disorder patients can trace the origins of their dependence to routine prescription and administration of opioids during surgical procedures (Bohringer et al., 2020). One such procedure where opioids are frequently utilized for intraoperative and postoperative analgesia is laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Incidence of gall bladder disease is closely related to obesity (Hines & Marschall, 2018). Gallstone disease continues to be a common and costly health problem affecting 10 to 20% …

The Effect Of Post War Limited Resources In Management Of Anorectal Malformations In Mosul City, Obay Edan, Bassam Al-Hajjar, Awss Yehya

Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Abstract :Background: Anorectal malformations (ARMs) include a wide spectrum of diseases affecting male and female neonates and involve the rectum, anal canal, and genitourinary tract.Objective: To know the actual incidence of anorectal malformations in Mosul city, upgrade clinical knowledge about ARMs between health workers and midwives who look after newborn babies, and assess the related mortality in the limited resources zone.Method: A closed cohort study was conducted on patients with ARMs admitted to the pediatric surgery centre between January 2018 and January 2019. Patients included in this study are those with ARMs in the neonatal period, those admitted for pull-through …

Rhythms Of The Earth—Editorial Introduction, Karim-Aly S. Kassam, Morgan Ruelle, Christopher P. Dunn, Raj Pandya, Felice Wyndham

Sustainability and Social Justice

This special issue of GeoHealth, entitled Rhythms of the Earth: Ecological Calendars and Anticipating the Anthropogenic Climate Crisis, is a transdisciplinary articulation of a methodology of hope to confront the multiple injustices of the Anthropocene. One of the greatest challenges of the climate crisis is the lack of predictability at the scale of communities where impacts are most immediate. Indigenous and rural societies face an ever shifting “new normal” through increasing inconsistency in the seasonality of temperature and precipitation, as well as greater frequency of extreme weather events. With global food systems dependent on local and small producers, climatic variability …

Food Insecurity And Bmi Impact In Us And African Children, Josef Kleitch, Dayna Borregard

Honors Projects

Food insecurity is the lack of access to consistent food to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. It is not fully understood how one's childhood habits may impact their likelihood of having obesity. Through research, we examined food insecurity in the United States and Africa and how it relates to an altered BMI in children.

The Association Between College Age Students' Nutrition Intake And Depression, Mackenzie Allen

Honors Projects

The research performed was to determine a correlation between depression and nutrient intake in college age students. This study used NHANES publicily available data and IBM's SPSS statistical software to analyze a correlation between depression and nutrition/lifestyle variables: vitamin D, vitamin B12, saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids, fiber, and exercise. The study found that fiber and unsaturated fatty acid intake had a negative correlation with depression, meaning that as the intake of these nutrients increased, depression decreased. This research reveals key factors to improve the nutritional status of college age students, along with their emotional wellbeing.

The Freshman 15: The Who, What, And How It Harms Us, Eva Vanwyck

Honors Projects

The Freshman 15: The Who, What, and How it Harms Us is a publicly posted podcast on the harms of the phrase "The Freshman 15" to student health. This project consists of three episodes, each with a different main focus. The first episode covers what "The Freshman 15" is, the history of its origins, and the reality of the term. It also covers why this term affects freshmen specifically and the unique stressors of the transition from high school to college. The second episode covers the stigma around weight and food in the US. It delves into the fatphobia embedded …

Effect Of Exercise Training Intensity On Cognition, Jaclyn Voyt

Honors Projects

A literature review examining the effects of exercise intensity and modality on cognitive performance.

Understanding Equine-Assisted Therapy And Its Impact On The Counseling Field, Christian N. Brown

Theology Undergraduate Work

The usage of horses in the physical healing process of humans (hippotherapy) has been carried out since the second century; however, the usage of horses in the mental and emotional healing process has been less common. In recent years, more research has surfaced addressing this phenomenon, supporting the theory that horses can also assist in the mental and emotional healing of humans. Emotional support animals have been increasingly popularized, but horses’ abilities to mirror human emotions and sense those in pain are extraordinary. The mental-emotional benefits of horses have not yet been universally recognized as a valid and effective form …

Building A Better Community: Public Service Jobs For Stray Dog Shelters, Divya Sharma

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Stray dogs are a common sight in India, and their population is increasing at an alarming rate. India has an estimated 30 million stray dogs, which is one of the highest numbers in the world. These stray dogs pose a significant threat to public health and safety, with an estimated 20,000 people dying every year from rabies transmitted by stray dogs. In addition, stray dogs are often malnourished, injured, and exposed to harsh weather conditions. Building sheds for stray dogs can help address this problem, as it provides a safe and comfortable place for the dogs to sleep and helps …

Agriculture: A Feminist Commodity Chain Analysis, Shriraksha Mohan

Student Papers in Local and Global Regional Economies

Feminist Commodity Chain analysis enables economists to situate women within the framework of the global commodity chains, and recognize their roles in creating values in various stages of the commodity chain. Unlike in the “realist” commodity chain, when feminist commodity chain concepts are applied to agriculture, there is emphasis on women as the agents in various nodes of agriculture commodity chain, from the beginning of farming, with sowing of seeds, to the end as consumers of agricultural products. This approach allows researchers to understand how gender ideologies shape the social and structural hierarchies within commodity chains, and account for how …