Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Harmonious Healing: A Review Of Music Therapy, A Humanities-Based Approach To Alzheimer’S Disease Treatment, Rohan K. Desai

Kentucky Undergraduate Journal for the Health Humanities

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease often characterized by memory loss, confusion, and overall cognitive decline. The aging global population has, in recent years, highlighted the fundamental lack of pharmacological treatments for individuals facing an AD diagnosis. In response, a growing body of research has shifted focus to non-pharmacological humanities-based interventions. One such intervention has been music therapy (MT). Music-focused measures have shown great promise as a method of slowing cognitive decline, but mixed results in the literature warrant the need for further investigation. Often, socioeconomic barriers can limit an individual’s access to drug-related treatments, but the affordable …

Improving Nutrition Screening Practice In The Hospitalized Heart Failure Patient Population, Amanda J. Bourgeois

DNP Projects

Background: Heart Failure is a disease known to affect nearly 6.5 million adults in the United States. Characterized by recurrent hospitalizations, heart failure significantly contributes to morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs in the United States and worldwide. Because malnutrition is prevalent in the heart failure population, healthcare providers must perform nutritional assessments on admission to intervene in the case of malnutrition, prevent deterioration, and improve patient prognosis. Without intervention and early identification of malnutrition, heart failure hospitalizations will remain a significant problem.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of an evidence-based educational program for cardiac …

Tricritical Point As A Crossover Between Type-Is And Type-Iis Bifurcations, Prabakaran Rajamanickam, Joel Daou

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

A tricritical point as a crossover between (stationary finite-wavelength) type-I_s and (stationary longwave) type-II_s bifurcations is identified in the study of diffusive-thermal (Turing) instability of flames propagating in a Hele-Shaw channel in a direction transverse to a shear flow. Three regimes exhibiting different scaling laws are identified in the neighbourhood of the tricritical point. For these three regimes, sixth-order partial differential equations are obtained governing the weakly nonlinear evolution of unstable solutions near the onset of instability. These sixth-order PDES may be regarded as the substitute for the classical fourth-order Kuramoto­­­­­­–­­Sivashinsky equation which is not applicable near the …

Self-Reported Consumption Of Bottled Water V. Tap Water In Appalachian And Non-Appalachian Kentucky, Jason W. Marion

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Quantitative studies on drinking water perceptions in Appalachia are limited. High-profile water infrastructure failures in the U.S. and Eastern Kentucky, coupled with human-made and natural disasters in the Appalachian Region, have likely impacted opinions regarding tap water.

Purpose: To use existing unexplored data to describe baseline tap water v. bottled water consumption in Kentucky.

Methods: Telephone-based cross-sectional data were obtained from the 2013 Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP) directed by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. Among many items in KHIP, self-reported consumption of bottled water over tap water, reasons for bottled water use, and demographic data were obtained. …

Scale Model Experiments Of Toxic Gas Production From The Combustion Of Polymers When Applied With Different Droplet Sizes Of Water Mist, Nicharee Thinnakornsutubutr, Masayuki Mizuno, Kazunori Kuwana

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

This research experimentally investigated the combustion of polymeric materials with water mist application in an enclosure, with an emphasis on the production of toxic gases. Two different diameters, ~100 and ~260 μm, were tested. The experimental conditions were determined based on Froude similarity laws for low drop Reynolds number conditions. Droplets and polymers’ physical and chemical properties influence the burning/extinguishing behavior and toxic-gas evolution. In general, larger droplets can extinguish a fire in a shorter time, and toxic gas concentrations in a test chamber decreased more rapidly. However, the large droplets tended to cause the flame expansion phenomenon for thermoplastics …

The Last Of Us In Therapy: How Mind-Controlling Fungi And Gut Bacteria Affect Your Mental Health, Anastasia Lyon

Journal of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences

The "psilocybiome" represents the mutually beneficial relationship between ourselves, our bacteria, and psychedelic drugs. This short review briefly discusses the benefits and limitations surrounding the potential for psychedelic therapy to synergize with gut bacteria to help regulate and maintain proper balance in the immune system, diet, and stress levels. Psychedelic therapy is a novel treatment strategy that has the potential to improve patient mental health, and, by identifying the types of gut bacteria present in patients, it can aid in personalizing medicine by determining how well their "psilocybiome" may respond.

Impact Of Community-Driven Interventions On Dietary And Physical Activity Outcomes Among A Cohort Of Adults In A Rural Appalachian County In Eastern Kentucky, 2019–2022, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Emily M. Dewitt, Rachel Gillespie, Kathryn Cardarelli, Stacey Slone, Alison Gustafson

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

Several environmental level factors exacerbate poor health outcomes in rural populations in the United States, such as lack of access to healthy food and locations to be physically active, which support healthy choices at the individual level. Thus, utilizing innovative place-based approaches in rural locations is essential to improve health outcomes. Leveraging community assets, like Cooperative Extension, is a novel strategy for implementing community-driven interventions. This prospective cohort study (n = 152), recruited in 2019 and surveyed again in 2020 and 2021, examined individual level changes in diet and physical activity in one rural Appalachian county. During this time, multiple …

The Effects Of Extended Fructose Access On Relative Value And Demand For Fructose, Saccharin, And Ventral Tegmental Stimulation, Megan Halloran

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Globally, food addiction (FA) is a growing area of research and is largely attributed to the availability of foods that are both energy dense and high in fats and sugars. Further, it has been suggested, that sugar and fat, when consumed frequently, have properties similar to drugs of abuse. While the validity of FA is questioned, researchers have drawn parallels between substance use disorder (SUD) and FA. For example, sugar binge models emphasize craving, withdrawal and binging as primary components of FA, which are also hallmarks of SUD. Additionally, both natural rewards, like sugars, and drug rewards act on the …

Effects Of Traumatic Brain Injury On The Intestinal Tract And Gut Microbiome, Anthony Desana

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) initiates not only complex neurovascular and glial changes within the brain but also pathophysiological responses that extend beyond the central nervous system. The peripheral response to TBI has become an intensive area of research, as these systemic perturbations can induce dysfunction in multiple organ systems. As there are no approved therapeutics for TBI, it is imperative that we investigate the peripheral response to TBI to identify targets for future intervention. Of particular interest is the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Even in the absence of polytrauma, brain-injured individuals are at increased risk of suffering from GI-related morbidity and …

Characterization Of The Function And Regulation Of The Hmpv Phosphoprotein, Rachel Thompson

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is a non-segmented, negative strand RNA virus (NNSV) that frequently causes respiratory tract infections in infants, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. Despite the initial identification of HMPV in 2001, there are currently no FDA approved antivirals or vaccines available. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of HMPV replication is critical for the identification of novel therapeutic targets. A key feature in the replication cycle of HMPV and other NNSVs is the formation of membrane-less, liquid-like replication and transcription centers in the cytosol termed inclusion bodies (IBs). Recent work on NNSV IBs suggests they display characteristics of biomolecular condensates formed …

The Development And Characterization Of Nanobodies Specific To Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4a3 (Ptp4a3/Prl-3) To Dissect And Target Its Role In Cancer., Caroline Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 4A3 (PTP4A3 or PRL-3) is an oncogenic dual-specificity phosphatase that drives tumor metastasis, promotes cancer cell survival, and is correlated with poor patient prognosis in a variety of solid tumors and leukemias. The mechanisms that drive PRL-3’s oncogenic functions are not well understood, in part due to a lack of research tools available to study this protein. The development of such tools has proven difficult, as the PRL family is ~80% homologous and the PRL catalytic binding pocket is shallow and hydrophobic. Currently available small molecules do not exhibit binding specificity for PRL-3 over PRL family members, …

Examining The Effects Of Hyperglycemia On Retinal Regeneration, Emmanuella Ec Kyllians

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body processes glucose, leading to a cascade of other complications, one of which is diabetic retinopathy (DR). DR is a neurovascular disease that affects the retina and research has revealed the role of retinal neurodegeneration in its development. Animal models like zebrafish have emerged as important tools for studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying DR. On the other hand, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a degenerative disease that involves the progressive degeneration of rods and cones, and hyperglycemia has been found to impair regeneration. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects …

The Role Of Renal-Derived Human Soluble Prorenin Receptor In Blood Pressure Regulation And Kidney Function, Gertrude Arthur

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences

The soluble prorenin receptor (sPRR) is a cleaved form of the full-length prorenin receptor (PRR). It has been demonstrated to activate the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) independent of its full-length receptor and mediate similar physiological and pathophysiological processes, albeit via different mechanisms.

The sPRR hormone, a component of RAS, has been identified as a plasma biomarker for hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in humans. In mice, sPRR infusion has been shown to mediate blood pressure elevation through competitive AT1R binding and activation. However, the biological contribution of renal-derived human sPRR to blood pressure regulation and kidney function remains unknown. Therefore, this study …

Bioinformatic Analysis Of Proteomic And Genomic Data From Nsclc Tumors On Prognostic And Predictive Factors Of Immunotherapy Treatment, Mark Wuenschel

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Recent lung cancer research has led to advancements in molecular immunology, resulting in development of small molecule inhibitors, or immune checkpoint inhibitors, that propagate an anti-tumor T cell response. Despite increased overall and progression-free survival with reduced adverse effects compared to traditional chemotherapy, treating advanced stage lung adenocarcinoma patients remains non-curative, and evidence of non-responders or tumor recurrence to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy is growing. Also, compared to traditional chemotherapy, there is a lower percentage of patients who respond to small molecule inhibitors. In this analysis of proteomic and genomic data from The Cancer Proteome Atlas and Global Data Commons …

Developing A Biocatalytic Toolbox To Aid In Understanding Nucleoside Antibiotics, Jasmine Brianna Woods

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

Antibiotic resistance happens when bacteria develop the ability to survive medications that normally terminate them. Instead, these super germs are able to survive in the body and produce a community of antibiotic resistance germs which can cause human fatalities. It is important to discover and develop new compounds and molecules that will improve this clinical obstacle. This research focused on analyzing the biosynthesis that incorporates distinctive chemical characteristic of various nucleoside antibiotics, ß-hydroxy amino acids and α-methyl-amino acids. ß-hydroxy amino acids and α-methyl-amino acids are considered an important class of industrially useful compounds, particularly for pharmaceutical development, and are found …

Alzheimer’S Disease Genetics And Short-Chain Fatty Acid Treatment In Studies Of The Murine Gut Microbiome, Diana Zajac

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Elucidating the relationship of the gut microbiome in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) risk and pathogenesis is an area of intense interest. Since 60 to 80% of AD risk is related to genetics and APOE alleles represent the most impactful genetic risk factors for AD, their mechanism(s) of action are under intense scrutiny.

First, I conducted a study on APOE targeted replacement mice to investigate the impact of APOE alleles on the murine gut microbiome. The relative abundance of bacteria from the family Ruminococacceae and related genera increased with APOE2 status. The relative abundance of the class Erysipelotrichia increased with APOE4 status, …

Clinical And Biological Factors Determine Spinal Cord Injury Outcomes: Liquor To Lipids, Ethan Glaser

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are debilitating and life altering events that can lead to permanent motor and sensory loss. SCI outcomes are impacted by both clinical factors such as blood alcohol content (BAC) at the time of injury as well as biological factors like the lipid-rich myelin debris that accumulates in the injury site. Both clinical and biological factors contribute to SCI recovery, impacting neuroinflammation, locomotor recovery, and histopathology. The purpose of the studies described here is to investigate the role of acute alcohol intoxication and intracellular lipid processing pathways on SCI outcomes in a rodent model.

An elevated BAC …

Effects Of High-Speed Training On Messenger Rna Expression In Two-Year-Old Thoroughbred Racehorses, Mackenzie Grace Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Veterinary Science

Accumulating high-speed exercise has been identified as a significant risk factor for catastrophic injuries in racing Thoroughbreds. Injuries, regardless of severity, are a main cause of withdrawal from the racing industry, raising animal welfare concerns and resulting in significant economic losses. While most of the current literature focuses on catastrophic injuries incurred during racing rather than training, the present study aims to help fill this gap as well as discuss the associated risk factors. The evaluation of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression changes provides an efficient and straightforward approach to identifying horses at risk for catastrophic injury. While alternative injury risk …

Surveillance For Ticks And Tick-Borne Pathogens In Kentucky, Anna Rosalee Pasternak

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Tick-borne diseases are an emerging threat to human and animal health. In Kentucky, tick-borne disease surveillance has identified rising incidences of spotted fever rickettsiosis, ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. Since these diseases occur through the bites of infected ticks, effective prevention efforts are reliant upon knowing where the risk of exposure to tick bites exists. Historical data on tick distribution in Kentucky is variable, with very little reported on a statewide scale, leaving vector control workers, public health personnel, physicians, veterinarians, and others to rely on outdated, intermittent, or out-of-state information. In my dissertation, I surveyed ticks and select tick-borne pathogens …

Calcium Imaging Of Central Amygdala Activity After Fentanyl Escalation, Samantha Malone

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Evidence suggests that rats given long access (LgA) sessions to self-administer (SA) opioids escalate their intake, while also showing greater withdrawal severity and drug-induced reinstatement compared to rats maintained on short access (ShA) daily SA sessions. Little is known about the neural changes that occur during opioid escalation that may impact withdrawal and relapse. Past work examining opioid SA using ShA sessions in rodents has identified the central amygdala (CeA) as an area of interest that becomes hyperactive in acute withdrawal and may be involved in the incubation of craving that occurs after protracted withdrawal. However, these studies have not …

A Simplified Model For The Intermediate Structure Of Strong Fire Whirls, Forman A. Williams

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

A model is described for the overall structure of intense fire whirls, based on a spatially evolving vortex, with circulation enhancement driven by the axial acceleration of low-density gas in the core through the axial pressure gradient. The axial acceleration increases the entrainment rate into the core which, through mass conservation, increases the circulation if the angle between the tangential and radial velocity components remains fixed. The two-zone model employs general balance equations for regions inside and outside a cylinder of fixed radius, each inviscid, the inside region being presumed to have a constant density small compared with the (constant) …

Reduced-Scale Experiments And Numerical Simulations Of Informal Settlement Dwelling Fires, Vigneshwaran Narayanan, Antonio Cicicone, Ayden D. Botha, Richard Shaun Walls

Progress in Scale Modeling, an International Journal

Informal settlement dwellings (ISDs) house approximately one billion people in the developing world and this number is expected to double by the year 2030. Contemporary research on ISD fires has focused on understanding the fire dynamics within individual dwellings (micro-scale) and fire spread in settlements consisting of multiple dwellings (macro-scale). This paper aims to do two primary things: investigate if scaling methods that were derived for compartments with thermally thick boundaries can be applied to ISDs (compartments with thermally thin boundaries), and if they can adequately represent the most important phenomena associated with full-scale ISD fires; and demonstrate Fire Dynamics …

Examining The Perspectives And Experiences Of Nutrition Educators Working With Clients In Substance Use Recovery Settings, Cora Teets, Paula Plonski, Omolola Adedokun, Heather Norman-Burgdolf

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

Substance use disorder (SUD) is one of the most detrimental health, social, and economic problems in the United States. Limited studies suggest providing tailored nutrition education during SUD treatment correlates with positive recovery outcomes. The University of Kentucky Nutrition Education Program conducted two focus group sessions to explore and determine educators’ instructional and programmatic needs who deliver nutrition education to clients in substance use recovery throughout Kentucky. The study team identified four emerging themes and several subthemes related to Nutrition Education Program educators working with clientele in recovery. The four emerging themes included: (1) current experiences working with the audience, …

Unifying Multi-State Efforts Through A Nationally Coordinated Extension Diabetes Program, Laura Balis, Shari Gallup, Heather Norman-Burgdolf, Julie Buck, Pam Daniels, Dan Remley, Lisa Graves, Margaret Jenkins, Gayle Price

Dietetics and Human Nutrition Faculty Publications

The Cooperative Extension System translates research to practice and “brings the University to the people” throughout the U.S. However, the system suffers from program duplication and is challenged to scale-out effective programs. One program, Dining with Diabetes (DWD), stands out for its dissemination to multiple states. DWD is a community-based program aimed at improving diabetes management, nutrition, and physical activity behaviors. DWD was coordinated through a national working group and implemented by state Extension systems. A pragmatic, quasi-experimental study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the national coordination model and the overall impact of DWD. Four states reported data …

What Have We Learnt From Quantitative Case Reports Of Acute Lateral Ankle Sprains Injuries And Episodes Of 'Giving-Way' Of The Ankle Joint, And What Shall We Further Investigate?, Filip Gertz Lysdal, Yuehang Wang, Eamonn Delahunt, Dominic Gehring, Kyle B. Kosik, Tron Krosshaug, Yumeng Li, Kam-Ming Mok, Kati Pasanen, Alexandria Remus, Masafumi Terada, Daniel T. P. Fong

Athletic Training and Clinical Nutrition Faculty Publications

Lateral ankle sprains are a commonly incurred injury in sports. They have a high recurrence rate and can lead to the development of persistent injury associated symptoms. We performed a quantitative synthesis of published case reports documenting the kinematics of acute lateral ankle sprains and episodes of ‘giving-way’ of the ankle joint to provide a comprehensive description of the mechanisms. A systematic literature search was conducted to screen records within MEDLINE® and EMBASE®. Additional strategies included manual search of specific journals, as well as contacting researchers in relevant communities to retrieve unpublished data. Twenty-four cases were included in the quantitative …

Rare Coding Variants In Rcn3 Are Associated With Blood Pressure, Karen Y. He, Tanika N. Kelly, Heming Wang, Jingjing Liang, Luke Zhu, Brian E. Cade, Themistocles L. Assimes, Lewis C. Becker, Amber L. Beitelshees, Lawrence F. Bielak, Adam P. Bress, Jennifer A. Brody, Yen-Pei Christy Chang, Yi-Cheng Chang, Paul S. De Vries, Ravindranath Duggirala, Ervin R. Fox, Nora Franceschini, Anna L. Furniss, Yan Gao, Donna K. Arnett

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: While large genome-wide association studies have identified nearly one thousand loci associated with variation in blood pressure, rare variant identification is still a challenge. In family-based cohorts, genome-wide linkage scans have been successful in identifying rare genetic variants for blood pressure. This study aims to identify low frequency and rare genetic variants within previously reported linkage regions on chromosomes 1 and 19 in African American families from the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. Genetic association analyses weighted by linkage evidence were completed with whole genome sequencing data within and across TOPMed ancestral groups consisting of 60,388 individuals of …

The Low Abundance Of Cpg In The Sars-Cov-2 Genome Is Not An Evolutionarily Signature Of Zap, Ali Afrasiabi, Hamid Alinejad-Rokny, Azad Khosh, Mostafa Rahnama, Nigel Lovell, Zhenming Xu, Diako Ebrahimi

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is known to restrict viral replication by binding to the CpG rich regions of viral RNA, and subsequently inducing viral RNA degradation. This enzyme has recently been shown to be capable of restricting SARS-CoV-2. These data have led to the hypothesis that the low abundance of CpG in the SARS-CoV-2 genome is due to an evolutionary pressure exerted by the host ZAP. To investigate this hypothesis, we performed a detailed analysis of many coronavirus sequences and ZAP RNA binding preference data. Our analyses showed neither evidence for an evolutionary pressure acting specifically on CpG …

Prostacyclin Promotes Degenerative Pathology In A Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Tasha R. Womack, Craig T. Vollert, Odochi Ohia-Nwoko, Monika Schmitt, Saghi Montazari, Tina L. Beckett, David Mayerich, M. Paul Murphy, Jason L. Eriksen

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is the most common form of dementia in aged populations. A substantial amount of data demonstrates that chronic neuroinflammation can accelerate neurodegenerative pathologies. In AD, chronic neuroinflammation results in the upregulation of cyclooxygenase and increased production of prostaglandin H2, a precursor for many vasoactive prostanoids. While it is well-established that many prostaglandins can modulate the progression of neurodegenerative disorders, the role of prostacyclin (PGI2) in the brain is poorly understood. We have conducted studies to assess the effect of elevated prostacyclin biosynthesis in a mouse model of AD. Upregulated prostacyclin expression …

Long-Lasting Impairments In Quadriceps Mitochondrial Health, Muscle Size, And Phenotypic Composition Are Present After Non-Invasive Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury, Steven M. Davi, Ahram Ahn, Mckenzie S. White, Timothy A. Butterfield, Kate Kosmac, Oh Sung Kwon, Lindsey K. Lepley

Center for Muscle Biology Faculty Publications

Introduction: Despite rigorous rehabilitation aimed at restoring muscle health, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is often hallmarked by significant long-term quadriceps muscle weakness. Derangements in mitochondrial function are a common feature of various atrophying conditions, yet it is unclear to what extent mitochondria are involved in the detrimental sequela of quadriceps dysfunction after ACL injury. Using a preclinical, non-invasive ACL injury rodent model, our objective was to explore the direct effect of an isolated ACL injury on mitochondrial function, muscle atrophy, and muscle phenotypic transitions.

Methods: A total of 40 male and female, Long Evans rats (16-week-old) were exposed to …

Therapeutic Treatment With The Anti-Inflammatory Drug Candidate Mw151 May Partially Reduce Memory Impairment And Normalizes Hippocampal Metabolic Markers In A Mouse Model Of Comorbid Amyloid And Vascular Pathology, David J. Braun, David K. Powell, Christopher J. Mclouth, Saktimayee M. Roy, D. Martin Watterson, Linda J. Van Eldik

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly, but therapeutic options are lacking. Despite long being able to effectively treat the ill-effects of pathology present in various rodent models of AD, translation of these strategies to the clinic has so far been disappointing. One potential contributor to this situation is the fact that the vast majority of AD patients have other dementia-contributing comorbid pathologies, the most common of which are vascular in nature. This situation is modeled relatively infrequently in basic AD research, and almost never in preclinical studies. As part of our efforts to develop …