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Sacred Heart University Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 2, Sacred Heart University

Sacred Heart University Magazine

Highlights: Act II, SHU Community Theatre -- SHU's Tribal Land Acknowledgement raises the bar on facing the past -- Five puppies are being raised and trained as service dogs by Sacred Heart students -- SHU in Dingle brings nursing students like Sydney Varone '24 face to face with a different culture and a different method of nursing -- In Word and Deed: Sr. Pat Daly was a friend of the Earth, and everyone on it -- Protecting What's Yours: SHU provides a free estate planning service to alumni -- Social media is us ... and that's the problem, by Bill …

Leaving Home With Broken Bones: A Case Reflection, Aniqa Rahman, Sarah Kohl, Kyra Smith, Haley Gagne

CECE Spring Showcase 2023

An inter-professional team approach to a case of chronic illness in the backdrop of housing instability in rural Maine. This case was designed with the collaborative efforts of students from the Undergraduate, Osteopathic Medicine, and Physical Therapy schools.

A Metabolic, Mechanical, Multi-Organ Masterpiece: Dural Device Support Bridge To En-Bloc Heart-Liver Transplantation In Propionic Acidemia, Rebecca Juhl, Brian Birnbaum, Aliessa P. Barnes, William Gibson, Bhargava Mullapudi, Beth Lang, Megan Faseler, Daniel E. Heble, Victoria Urban, Ryan T. Fischer, Jennifer L. Gannon, David Sutcliffe

Posters

Introduction: Propionic Acidemia (PA) is a disorder related to abnormal protein and lipid metabolism resulting in progressive neurological injury and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Interventions for PA and secondary disease manifestations can require multi-organ transplantation. Herein we report the case of a child with PA and end-stage DCM requiring left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support with eventual heart-liver transplant. Case Report: A 17 year old male diagnosed in childhood with PA developed chronically progressive DCM culminating in end stage heart failure with acute decompensations. In a recurrent admission, he progressed to require dual inotropic support and systemic anticoagulation for new LV …

Health Consequences Of Low Energy Availability In Females And Their Underlying Physiological Mechanisms, Grace Parry

Senior Honors Theses

Low energy availability (LEA) is a state in which energy intake is insufficient to support energy expenditure while maintaining energy balance, which has been shown to result in gastrointestinal distress, immunosuppression, reduced metabolic rate, menstrual dysfunction, diminished bone health, and impaired cardiovascular function in females. Alterations to the microbiome and mucosal lining may propagate gastrointestinal complaints and compromised immune function associated with LEA. The pathophysiology of LEA is otherwise largely driven by hormonal adaptations. Diminished production of thyroid hormones is known to contribute to reduced metabolic rate. Decreases in leptin and insulin and increases in ghrelin disrupt reproductive function through …

A Training Program That Connects Seasonal Garden Staff And Volunteers To The Mission Of Gale Woods Farm To Promote Land Stewardship Through Agriculture Education, Lindsay Bolstad

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

An educational farm has an opportunity to support staff with the skills needed to make pro-environmental food consumption choices, such as participating in a Community Supported Agriculture program and producing food using regenerative or sustainable practices. Research concludes that best practices for a staff training program considers environmental literacy, skill-building, andragogical principles, and consistent workplace values. This capstone uses a combination of literature review and personal communication to answer the question, what are the elements and considerations of creating a training program that connects seasonal garden staff and volunteers to the mission of land stewardship through food production and agriculture …

Ensuring Food Security, Converting Urban Industrial Buildings For Indoor Agriculture: The Call For Urban Indoor Agriculture, Christopher Quinn Whittaker

Theses

Outdated food production models result in the continued disconnect between communities and vital nutrition. Poverty and a lack of food awareness perpetuate the effects of food insecurity within communities. These effects are most evident in urban areas where fresh produce is out of reach for large swaths of the population. Connecting communities back to the food they eat will benefit cities and residents economically, socially, and environmentally. Farming with the community in the community will empower a broad urban population. Urban areas pose several challenges to food production, such as a lack of open space and a high volume of …

The Influence Of The Digitization Method On The Assessment Of Accuracy And Reliability Of Implant Placements, Ajitesh Singh

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Purpose: Studies investigating the accuracy of implant placement are utilizing different methods to digitize the post-operative implant position to compare it with the planned reference position. This study aimed to compare the influence on radiographic and digital methods in the accuracy of static computer-assisted and free hand implant placement.Methods: In total, n=40 implants were placed either fully guided (n=20) or free-handed (n=20) in standardized mandible replicas. A static surgical guide was planned for the fully guided surgery group (FG) for an implant at the lower right first molar site and 3D printed. In the free-hand group (FH) the implant surgery …

An Examination Of The Current Knowledge Of Contaminants In Mangroves: Hawaii And Globally, Geoffrey Szafranski

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The geographic range of mangrove forests is shifting quickly as they expand poleward in response to climate change while simultaneously being removed from their native extent to clear space for anthropogenic land-uses. Mangrove forests are also known to be sinks for anthropogenic contamination. Yet contamination research is under-researched in mangrove ecosystems, specifically the environmental fate, effect on biodiversity, and risk to human populations from contamination in the context of these changing conditions requires further research. The goal of this thesis is to address this data gap through analysis of contamination in the literature and through an investigational survey of mangrove …

Young Adult Attrition In The American Church: The Suspected Causes And Suggested Cures, Randall M. Morrow

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Young adults in America today are deciding that the Church is no longer relevant, so they are choosing to drop out in increasing numbers. Their disaffiliation from communities of faith is also harming their personal faith. This observation is irrespective of Church denominations; their exodus occurs in most faith groups, including Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal/Charismatic denominations. Consequently, the future vitality of the Church is threatened. Why does this problem exist, and what can be done to intervene and change the downward trajectory? What should Christian parents and ministry leaders do differently to achieve a higher retention rate of …

Rural America As A Commons, Ann M. Eisenberg

University of Richmond Law Review

With many ready to dismiss non-urban life as a relic of history, rural America’s place in the future is in question. The rural role in the American past is understandably more apparent. As the story of urbanization goes in the United States and elsewhere, the majority of the population used to live in rural places, including small towns and sparsely populated counties. A substantial proportion of those people worked in agriculture, manufacturing, or extractive industries. But trends associated with modernity—mechanization, automation, globalization, and environmental conservation, for instance—have reduced the perceived need for a rural workforce. Roughly since the industrial revolution …

Trading Nonenforcement, Ryan Snyder

Faculty Publications

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 …

Humans Of Nyls: Spring 2023 Collection, Student Bar Association

NYLS Community News

No abstract provided.

Describing Parents' Beliefs About The Causes Of Mental Health Problems In Youth: Implications For Service Utilization, Madeline Buchanan

Dissertations (1934 -)

Parents have an important role in accessing mental health services for youth. Understanding what factors might enhance or impede this process is critical to engaging more children and adolescents in treatment. Evidence suggests parents’ beliefs about the causes of youth mental health problems likely influence mental health service utilization, though existing research is limited. The current study examined parents’ causal beliefs about youth mental health problems and their impact on factors related to help-seeking and service utilization. A diverse group of parents (N = 417; 36.9% non-Hispanic White; 33.3% Black/African American; 29.7% Hispanic/Latino) completed a series of questionnaires via an …

Investigation Of Clinically Relevant Fluconazole Resistance Mechanisms In The Fungal Pathogen Candida Parapsilosis, Laura Anne Doorley

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Invasive candidiasis is a severe fungal infection associated with significant morbidity and mortality, particularly among the critically ill and immunocompromised. Candida parapsilosis is the most common non-albicans species causing invasive Candida infections in pediatric and neonatal populations worldwide and is particularly common in the countries of South America, Western Asia, Mediterranean Europe, and Southern Africa. For many of these countries, fluconazole and other triazoles are the first line antifungal agents used for effective treatment of invasive Candida infection. Until recently, rates of fluconazole resistance among C. parapsilosis isolates were relatively low, therefore the determination of clinically relevant resistance mechanisms in …

Multimorbidity In Diverse Populations: Stratified Analysis Of Race/Ethnicity, Age, Obesity, And Healthcare Costs, Manal Alshakhs

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

This research aims to fill an essential gap in understanding how Body Mass Index (BMI) cutoffs relate to multimorbidity across races in the United States (US). Given the significant and growing rates of obesity and multimorbidity, as well as the known differences in healthy fat distribution among different races, this is an important area of research. BMI is a widely used but imperfect measure of obesity, as it does not account for differences in body composition. However, it is still used as a diagnostic tool. It is vital to ensure that the cutoffs used to define obesity are appropriate for …

It’S What Our Grandmas Did: Decoding Black Wellness, Joy, And Liberation In Contemporary Digital Hoodoo Practice Through A Cooperative Healing Literacies Framework, Patrick Li , '23

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork refer to the constellation of African American traditions of spiritual and physical healing, ancestral devotion, retaliation, and protection created in response to chattel slavery. The current study investigates the multimodal potentials of Hoodoo for holistic healing in the contemporary digital age. Expanding on Erika Gault’s definition of digital Black religion studies as “the study of Black folks’ digital pathways to healing and wholeness (freedom) and their religious contribution to the development of digital technology,” I triangulate a framework of Hoodoo Healing Literacies (HHLs) using practices of Rootwork, Conjure, and CyberHoodoo. These practices correlate to bio-psycho, psycho-spiritual, …

Far From Home: The Role Of Travel Distance And Care Fragmentation In Surgical Outcomes For Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Alexander Booth, Henry Colorado, Gayenell Magwood Phd, Rn, Faha, Faan, Erin Forster, Robert N. Axon, Thomas Curran

Publications

BACKGROUND: Fragmented care for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is known to correlate negatively with outcomes, but it is unclear which aspects of care fragmentation are relevant and potentially modifiable. Furthermore, there is little data on the relationship between travel distance and the benefits of integrated care models. Hypothesizing care coordination in the preoperative period may have a significant impact on surgical outcomes, we explored associations between integrated care, travel distance, and surgical outcomes. METHODS: A single-center retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing index abdominal surgery was done to compare the rate of surgical complications with and without long travel distance …

Landscape Transcriptomics As A Tool For Addressing Global Change Effects Across Diverse Species, Jason Keagy, Chloe P. Drummond, Kadeem J. Gilbert, Christina M. Grozinger, Jill Hamilton, Heather M. Hines, Jesse Lasky, Cheryl A. Logan, Ruairidh Sawers, Tyler Wagner

Marine Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Landscape transcriptomics is an emerging field studying how genome-wide expression patterns reflect dynamic landscape-scale environmental drivers, including habitat, weather, climate, and contaminants, and the subsequent effects on organismal function. This field is benefitting from advancing and increasingly accessible molecular technologies, which in turn are allowing the necessary characterization of transcriptomes from wild individuals distributed across natural landscapes. This research is especially important given the rapid pace of anthropogenic environmental change and potential impacts that span levels of biological organization. We discuss three major themes in landscape transcriptomic research: connecting transcriptome variation across landscapes to environmental variation, generating and testing hypotheses …

Optimizing Cybersecurity Risk In Medical Cyber-Physical Devices, Christopher S. Yoo, Bethany C. Lee

William & Mary Law Review

Medical devices are increasingly connected, both to cyber networks and to sensors collecting data from physical stimuli. These cyber-physical systems pose a new host of deadly security risks that traditional notions of cybersecurity struggle to take into account. Previously, we could predict how algorithms would function as they drew on defined inputs. But cyber-physical systems draw on unbounded inputs from the real world. Moreover, with wide networks of cyber-physical medical devices, a single cybersecurity breach could pose lethal dangers to masses of patients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is tasked with regulating medical devices to ensure safety and …

Dnp Final Report: Preventing Critical Care Nurse Burnout: An Evidence Based Approach To Raising Awareness, Trendalyn S. King

DNP Final Reports

Burnout has affected nurses nationally and globally for decades. Burnout in nurses is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of feelings of personal accomplishment. Consequences of burnout include physical and emotional suffering in nurses, poorer patient outcomes, and lost revenue and increased cost in healthcare organizations. Burnout is prevalent in many healthcare settings, but 81% of critical care nurses have reported severe symptoms of burnout, Because of the high risk of burnout in critical care nurses, raising awareness about burnout and its prevention in those nurses was imperative. The following PICOT question guided the search for evidence to support …

Immediate Postoperative Dimensional Changes Following Implant Placement, Juan Felipe Valencia Rincon

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Objective: Hard tissue outcomes after implant placement have been well documented. However, there is scarce evidence on immediate soft tissue and patient-centered outcomes. The aim of this prospective study is to quantify post-implant placement edema and to correlate it with oral health-related quality of life. Methods: Patients undergoing a standardized two-stage implant placement at a single tooth-bound site were recruited (n=26; 54.13.3 years, 14 males). Soft tissue edema was recorded by using intraoral scans immediately pre- (PS) and post-operatively (IP), at 2 (2D), 7 (7D) and 14 days (14D) and 2 months (2M). After scan registration, ridge width, maximum height, …

Identification Of A Nacc1-Regulated Gene Signature Implicated In The Features Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, Chrispus Ngule, Hami Hemati, Xingcong Ren, Oluwafunminiyi Obaleye, Amos O. Akinyemi, Felix Oyelami, Xiaofang Xiong, Jianxun Song, Xia Liu, Jin-Ming Yang

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), characterized by a deficiency in estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor2 (HER2), is among the most lethal subtypes of breast cancer (BC). Nevertheless, the molecular determinants that contribute to its malignant phenotypes such as tumor heterogeneity and therapy resistance, remain elusive. In this study, we sought to identify the stemness-associated genes involved in TNBC progression. Using bioinformatics approaches, we found 55 up- and 9 downregulated genes in TNBC. Out of the 55 upregulated genes, a 5 gene-signature (CDK1, EZH2, CCNB1, CCNA2, and AURKA) involved in cell regeneration was positively correlated …

Leukocyte Tyrosine Kinase (Ltk) Is The Mendelian Determinant Of The Axolotl Melanoid Color Variant, Mirindi Kabangu, Raissa Cecil, Lloyd Strohl Ii, Nataliya Y. Timoshevskaya, Jeramiah James Smith, Stephen Randal Voss

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

The great diversity of color patterns observed among amphibians is largely explained by the differentiation of relatively few pigment cell types during development. Mexican axolotls present a variety of color phenotypes that span the continuum from leucistic to highly melanistic. The melanoid axolotl is a Mendelian variant characterized by large numbers of melanophores, proportionally fewer xanthophores, and no iridophores. Early studies of melanoid were influential in developing the single-origin hypothesis of pigment cell development, wherein it has been proposed that all three pigment cell types derive from a common progenitor cell, with pigment metabolites playing potential roles in directing the …

An Exploration Of Perinatal Stress And Associated Mental Health Of Transitioning First-Time Fathers, Timothy Reed Burkhalter

Theses and Dissertations

Becoming a first-time parent is a stage in life that can be full of excitement but also trepidation. Much common knowledge and research focus on the maternal experience. To add to this established knowledge, this phenomenological study will explore the perinatal stress experiences of transitioning first-time fathers in the U.S.

An Examination Of Inter-Limb Functional Asymmetry After A Fatiguing Bout Of Exercise In High Level Soccer Players, Nestor Urrea

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Inter-limb functional asymmetries greater than 15% have been linked to a greater incidence of injury. Moreover, asymmetries greater than 10% have shown greater risk of injury and worsened sport performance, especially for strength and power capabilities, in athletes of multiple sports. Fatigue and sex are factors that seem to influence injury rates as well as greater asymmetries between limbs. This research project aims to investigate the effects of a fatiguing bout of exercise in strength and power inter-limb functional asymmetries in male and female soccer players. It was hypothesized that strength and power asymmetries are negatively affected after a …

Borderplex Business Barometer, Volume 7, Number 4, Thomas M. Fullerton Jr., Steven L. Fullerton

Border Region Modeling Project

No abstract provided.

April 2023, Swosu Bulldog Wellness Committee

SWOSU BULLDOG WELLNESS

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The Effect Of A Pharmaceutical Ghrelin Agonist On Lifespan In C57bl/6j Male Mice: A Controlled Experiment, Kathryn A Kaiser, Inga Kadish, Thomas Van Groen, Daniel L Smith, Stephanie Dickinson, Beate Henschel, Erik S Parker, Andrew W Brown, David B Allison

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Interventions for animal lifespan extension like caloric restriction (CR) have identified physiologic and biochemical pathways related to hunger and energy-sensing status as possible contributors, but mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Prior studies using ghrelin agonists show greater food intake but no effect on lifespan in rodent models. This experiment in male C57BL/6J mice tested the influence of ghrelin agonism for perceived hunger, in the absence of CR, on longevity. Mice aged 4 weeks were allowed to acclimate for 2 weeks prior to being assigned (N = 60/group). Prior to lights off daily (12:12 cycle), animals were fed a ghrelin …

Reflection Spectroscopy-Assessed Skin Carotenoids Are Sensitive To Change In Carotenoid Intake In A 6-Week Randomized Controlled Feeding Trial In A Racially/Ethnically Diverse Sample, Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Nancy E Moran, Melissa N Laska, Qiang Wu, Lisa Harnack, Stacey Moe, Pamela Carr-Manthe, Elizabeth Gates, Jocelyn Chang, Yusuf Zaidi, Abigail Gelineau, Lauren Berg, Neal E Craft

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Background: Reflection spectroscopy, utilized by the Veggie Meter, is a less-expensive, noninvasive method to quantify skin carotenoids and is a valid approximation of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. However, it is unknown to what degree Veggie Meter-assessed skin carotenoid score change is responsive to changes in carotenoid intake.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate Veggie Meter-assessed skin carotenoid score response in a 6-wk randomized controlled trial of a carotenoid-containing juice to determine whether the Veggie Meter can be used to detect nutritionally relevant changes in carotenoid intake; and to compare skin and plasma carotenoid responses with the 6-wk trial.

Methods: …

Use Of High-Flow Cannula In Pediatric Patients With Respiratory Failure: A Prospective Cohort Study In Three High-Altitude Hospitals, Natalia Ante-Ardila, Camilo Novoa Garnica, Paola Mora Umaña, Olga Lucía Baquero Castañeda, Alexandra Jiménez Cháves, Melisa Sofía Naranjo, Juan G Piñeros, Carolina Bonilla, Luz M Mejía, María L Mesa-Rubio, Sonia Restrepo-Gualteros, Pedro Barrera, Sergio Moreno-Lopez, Paola Rueda-Guevara, Andrea Ramírez Varela

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is a common cause of morbimortality, and a frequent reason for admission to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). It requires a high-flow oxygen device as treatment. Our aim is to determine the frequency and main indications for the use of high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC), and the prevalence of HFNC failure and its main causes, in three hospitals.

METHODS: It is a multicenter prospective cohort study, developed in three hospitals in Bogota. Eligible patients were children older than 1 month and younger than 18 years who presented ARF and required management with an …