Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Art Of Aging – A Portraiture Study, Alaina Mann

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The process of aging can be viewed through different lenses within our society. In the past, scientists and medical professionals performed various studies to better understand and analyze different facets of aging, medicine, and health in general. Historically the arts have reflected multiple aspects of medicine and treatments while more recently, the arts have been used in a research capacity to provide different ways to represent illness, suffering, and care. This study used art-based research methods and portraiture to gather qualitative observations on the older populations within our community. Data collected included drawings, a field journal, and interviews. This study …

Older Women’S Stories Of Covid-19 Loss: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making Through Photography, Anne Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diverse array of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic make it difficult to assess the full impact of this global health crisis. More than 300,000 older Americans died, leaving a nation of grieving survivors in their absence. This profound loss of life will undoubtedly inform the field’s understanding of grief and grieving for many years to come. Pre-pandemic, older women in the United States understood grief to be part of their life stage; COVID-19 amplified the grief experience through both cumulative losses and the isolation particular to the novel coronavirus response. However, few qualitative studies explore older women’s grief, …

Aging An Ancient Maya Population From Actuncan, Belize Using Dental X-Rays, Kaitlyn Nicole Cash

Honors Theses

My goal is to determine an accurate age at death estimation of an ancient Maya population from the archaeological site of Actuncan, Belize. This was done by measuring the lengths of the coronal pulp cavities in the individuals’ teeth. I used X-Ray images to measure the coronal pulp cavities of the teeth and estimated age using multiple regression formulae for premolars, molars, and incisors to make age estimations. The formulae came from two studies, Ikeda et al. (1985) and Drusini (2008), that form the basis of my research. Ikeda et al. (1985) was the first to use this aging method, …

Dementia And The Fragility Of Self: Navigating Ethical Considerations In Medical Decision-Making, Grace Sauers

Scripps Senior Theses

As the global population ages, the incidence of degenerative memory disorders such as Alzheimer's and dementia is expected to rise. The frequency of complex medical decision-making challenges for these patients will subsequently increase. It is now common practice for patients to provide advance directives outlining the care they wish to receive; in the case they are deemed incompetent to perform adequate decision making. However, patients with dementia occasionally express wishes contrary to those stated in their advance directives. This divergence creates ambiguity about which wishes should be honored and for who those wishes are being honored for. I aim to …

Resilience And Health Outcomes Of Sexual Minority Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Christi L. Nelson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While research on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (hereafter referred to as sexual minority) middle-aged and older adults has increased over the past decade, there is still a critical need for more research on the health and resilience in this growing subpopulation. Research has provided evidence that sexual minority adults have an increased risk of negative health outcomes when compared to heterosexual adults. Research has also demonstrated possible resilience in sexual minority middle-aged and older adults; however, few studies have measured resilience in middle-aged and older adults. Gaining a better understanding of resilience in sexual minority adults may help identify modifiable …

The Effects Of Sociodemographic Characteristics, Caregiving Practice Patterns, Coping Mechanisms, And Social Support On The Health Of Asian American Ethnic Groups And Asian American Caregivers, Suryadewi Edi Nugraheni

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Asian American family caregivers came from various ethnic groups with different sociodemographic characteristics and culturally specific values. However, cultural practices were often overlooked because researchers often combined all Asian Americans under one umbrella. Objective: The purpose of the study was two-fold. First, the study investigated the study sample of Asian Americans participating in the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2009 comprised of multiple Asian American ethnic groups. By utilizing the study sample, the research aimed to investigate 1) the associations between caregiving and self-rated health (SRH) and hypertension and 2) the associations between heterogeneity of Asian American ethnic groups …

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Covid-19 Assignment Submission Email, Jennifer Crittenden

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

Email from Jennifer Crittenden, Director of UMaine Center on Aging to Jonathan Jue-Wong, Provost Office regarding an alternative COVID-19 related assignment for GRN501 for the 2020 spring semester and a newsletter write-up about the assignment and the number of older adults the class were able to reach through this assignment.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Umaine Center On Aging Silverwire Newsletter, Jennifer Crittenden

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

May 2020 Newsletter of the UMaine Center on Aging which features a story on a collaboration between Center on Aging and University of Maine students supporting connection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Center On Aging_Umaine Health Connection Chats, University Of Maine Center On Aging

UMaine Center on Aging

Screenshot of UMaine Center on Aging's UMaine Health Connection Chats webpage containing details of the various chats that the Center organized starting in April 2020. The chats provided practical information and tips for staying healthy for Maine’s 60+ citizens and other high risk residents during COVID-19. The chats were held by Zoom.

College Of Natural Sciences, Forestry, And Agriculture_Grn 501 Week 9 Module Activity-Reaching Out To Senior Companions, Jennifer Crittenden

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

GRN 501 Week 9 Module Sending Messages of Encouragement and Positivity to Homebound assignment given by Jennifer Crittenden in her class.

Empathy In Aging, Morgan Kranz, James Charles Arendt

Honors Theses

Empathy in Agingis a project exploring how to show compassion for the inevitable aging process. This form of care is physical and mental. The concept for this work comes from my time working as a nursing assistantin a nursing home. Through my experiences, this project explores what I took away through observation and interaction

Experience As Counterpoint: A Qualitative Study Of Home, Happiness & Aging Amongst First-Generation South Asian Migrants In The U.S., Angela Singh

Theses and Dissertations

Susan Stanford Friedman writes that “Home comes into being most powerfully when it is gone, lost, left behind, desired and imagined” (202). My dissertation addresses notions of home, nostalgia, happiness and aging often found in South Asian diasporic fiction, and from the results of a qualitative study I conducted in which I interviewed five migrant couples who moved to the US from India for educational and professional purposes in the 1960s and 1970s. This project draws on and contributes toward the fields of Migration and Diaspora Studies, Transnational Studies and South Asian Studies. My research aims to explore more uncommonly …

Dancing Through Life: Dance As Physical Therapy To Prevent Falls, Salon Gegel

Honors Projects

The basis of this project was to create a series of dance-based exercise activities to be used as part of an exercise class for elderly people who are classified as fall risks. The idea was to approach exercise through a medium that was convenient and versatile for the class leader, while being comfortable and fun for participants. The activities were developed and presented over the course of the six-week P.L.A.C.E. Program, held at the Montessori School of Bowling Green. Participants met four times to take part in a guided exercise class, and enjoy other activities. At these sessions, participants were …

Long Term Recall Of Memory Cd8 T Cells In Mice To First And Third Generation Smallpox Vaccines, Sharone Green, Francis Ennis, Anuja Mathew

Sharone Green

Since long-term immunity is a critical component of any effective vaccine, we compared over a 15-month period, the strength, durability and specificity of immunity of an attenuated smallpox vaccine Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) to the New York City Board of Health (NYCBH) vaccine. The frequencies of CD8(+) T cells to an immunodominant CD8 T cell epitope B8R(20-27) remained remarkably stable in mice given either MVA or NYCBH. Both groups were also protected from a lethal intranasal challenge with Western Reserve strain of vaccinia virus (VACV-WR). Cytokine responses to virus-specific peptides were detectable with significant boosting upon challenge. Expression of most …

Memory, Cognition, And The Effect Of A Music Intervention On Healthy Older Adults, Shannon L. Bowles

Theses and Dissertations--Gerontology

Music is a powerful modality that can bring about changes in individuals of all ages. This research employed both an experimental and quasi-experimental design to identify the effects of music as it influenced psychological well-being, memory, and cognition among older adults. Specifically, it addressed three aims: (a) To determine to what extent learning to play a music instrument later in life influenced psychological well-being and cognitive function of non-institutionalized healthy seniors, (b) To determine the effects of the amount of music involvement on psychological well-being and cognitive function (c) To determine the benefit of music for those with limited/no music …

The Challenges Of Nutrition And Aging, Linda C. Tapsell

L. C. Tapsell

From the time of birth and throughout the lifecycle, the human organism depends on food and nutrients to sustain its growth, development and functionality. With increasing knowledge of biological processes within the human body, the term ‘you are what you eat’, takes on more and more meaning. One of the new levels of understanding relates to the interaction of food components with genes to set off cascades of events that affect health and disease (1). This new understanding provides a detailed view of the dynamic relationship between genes and the environment, represented through food. Our health, our lifespan, can be …

Sugar Consumption And Cognitive Aging In The Swedish Adoption/Twin Study Of Aging, Shyam Seetharaman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Consumption of foods high in sugar content has been linked with the development of metabolic abnormalities such as cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, major sources of global health concerns. Although the detrimental consequences of high intake of sugar on abnormal metabolic processes are established, it is not known how this association affects (or accelerates) cognitive aging.

The current project was based on data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) to test the hypothesis that high refined sugar intake contributes to accelerated trajectories of cognitive decline assessed longitudinally. Trajectories of cognitive change were assessed as a function …

The Challenges Of Nutrition And Aging, Linda C. Tapsell

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

From the time of birth and throughout the lifecycle, the human organism depends on food and nutrients to sustain its growth, development and functionality. With increasing knowledge of biological processes within the human body, the term ‘you are what you eat’, takes on more and more meaning. One of the new levels of understanding relates to the interaction of food components with genes to set off cascades of events that affect health and disease (1). This new understanding provides a detailed view of the dynamic relationship between genes and the environment, represented through food. Our health, our lifespan, can be …

Ariel - Volume 8 Number 5, R. S. Moberg, George Greasy, Neeraj Kanwal, Nicholas Tepe, Patrick Sokas, Jim Spigel, Jim Sechler, Martin Trichtinger, Shahab Minassian, Doug Jenkins

Ariel

Executive Editor

James W. Lockard. Jr.

Business Manager

Neeraj K. Kanwal

University News

Martin Trichtinger

World News

Doug Hiller

Opinions

Elizabeth A. McGuire

Features

Patrick P. Sokas

Sports Desk

Shahab S. Minassian

Managing Editor

Edward H. Jasper

Managing Associate

Brenda Peterson

Photography Editor

Robert D. Lehman, Jr.

Graphics

Christine M. Kuhnle