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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

We All Feel Feelings, Ben Ohene Aug 2020

We All Feel Feelings, Ben Ohene

Theses and Dissertations

Consisting of three illustrated books, We All Feel Feelings is designed as a vehicle for the discussion of emotional and mental health with young boys. These books will help foster a mindset of openness and acceptance through different methods of displaying and understanding emotions.


Feasibility And Preliminary Outcomes Of A Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (Bmbi) To Decrease Stress And Improve Well-Being In Secondary School Teachers, Alex M. Roberts Jul 2020

Feasibility And Preliminary Outcomes Of A Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention (Bmbi) To Decrease Stress And Improve Well-Being In Secondary School Teachers, Alex M. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers often experience symptoms of stress and burnout due to the chronicity of their occupational demands. These symptoms can negatively impact teachers’ coping abilities and have implications for their physical and psychological health. Research indicates that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have potential to help alleviate these symptoms of stress and burnout. Increasing numbers of MBIs for teachers have been implemented in the past five to ten years. However, few teacher-focused MBIs measure intervention feasibility and little data exist informing how to design and implement feasible MBIs in this context while simultaneously maximizing their potential positive effects. The current study examined the …


Peer Intervention With Suicidal Disclosures On Social Media: Does The Bystander Effect Play A Role?, Carissa M. Orlando Jul 2020

Peer Intervention With Suicidal Disclosures On Social Media: Does The Bystander Effect Play A Role?, Carissa M. Orlando

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is an increasing public health concern in adolescents and young adults, and many individuals discuss mental health concerns with friends in lieu of professional avenues. Thus, peers can serve as valuable gatekeepers for friends experiencing suicidality. The prevalence of social networking websites means that individuals are likely to encounter suicidal disclosures on the internet, but little research has investigated if young adults possess the skills and motivation to intervene in these contexts. Additionally, there have been virtually no investigations into how the presence of other online users impacts intervention behavior—in short, if there exists a bystander effect. This study …


The Moderating Effects Of Parenting Factors And Perceived Stress On African American Adolescent Weight Related Outcomes, Colby Kipp Apr 2020

The Moderating Effects Of Parenting Factors And Perceived Stress On African American Adolescent Weight Related Outcomes, Colby Kipp

Theses and Dissertations

African American adolescents experience a higher prevalence of obesity than nonminorities with approximately 40% being overweight or obese. Chronic stress, both among parents and adolescents, may be important to consider when assessing the factors that influence adolescent weight status. Baseline data were collected from one hundred forty eight African American adolescents (Mage = 12.93, SD = 1.75; MBMI% = 96.7, SD = 3.90) and their caregivers (Mage = 44.5, SD = 8.6; MBMI = 37.63, SD = 8.21) enrolled in the Families Improving Together (FIT) for Weight Loss trial. Adolescents self-reported their perceptions of …


Anger Regulation And Psychosis: Mechanisms Of Impact And Implications For Therapy, Naama Hofman Jan 2020

Anger Regulation And Psychosis: Mechanisms Of Impact And Implications For Therapy, Naama Hofman

Theses and Dissertations

Paranoia is strongly associated with anger. This relationship is found across the psychosis spectrum, including individuals at high risk of developing psychosis. The relationship is commonly addressed in the measurement of anger but is rarely addressed in clinical studies. This study explored the relationship between anger regulation and paranoid ideation as well as factors that mediate and moderate this relationship. Specifically, the study examined whether the influence of anger regulation cognitive-behavioral interventions on paranoid ideation changed as aspects of emotional awareness changed. It also examined whether interventions for anger regulation that target different phases of anger generation impacted paranoid ideation …


Associations Between Stress, Racial Discrimination, And Cytokine Levels In Black Americans, Takia Williams Jan 2020

Associations Between Stress, Racial Discrimination, And Cytokine Levels In Black Americans, Takia Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Inflammation is a common pathophysiological pathway for a number of chronic diseases and is influenced by exposure to stress. Although there are racial disparities in health outcomes, relatively little is known about factors that may influence the inflammatory response in Black American individuals. This study examined whether racial discrimination and other forms of stress are associated with the balance of pro- and anti- inflammatory cytokines in Black American adults. Data from 22 participants were drawn from a larger study of Black American children (ages 5-12) and their primary caregivers drawn from low income neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia. Caregivers reported demographics, …


Transcriptomic Profiling Of Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex And Nucleus Accumbens From Chronic Alcohol Abusers., Eric S. Vornholt Jan 2020

Transcriptomic Profiling Of Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex And Nucleus Accumbens From Chronic Alcohol Abusers., Eric S. Vornholt

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness that develops from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. While it is well documented that AUD is heritable, the shift from recreational alcohol use to abuse/dependence is poorly understood. In this dissertation, using postmortem brain tissue from individuals with alcohol dependence (AD), we profiled the genome-wide expression of circular RNA (circRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) to better understand the impact of gene expression on the development of AUD. To achieve this, we performed two independent studies that explore transcriptome differences between AD cases and controls. The first of …


Impact Of Sickle Cell Disease On Executive Functioning In An Adult Population, Christina Wade Jan 2020

Impact Of Sickle Cell Disease On Executive Functioning In An Adult Population, Christina Wade

Theses and Dissertations

Children diagnosed with sickle cell disease (SCD) struggle with executive functions (EF); however, there is a paucity of research on neuropsychological outcomes in adults with SCD. This study aimed to examine differences in EF between adults with SCD and healthy controls. Thirty- one patients with SCD and 34 healthy controls (ages 18-45) participating in an IRB-approved Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) study of cerebral blood flow underwent neuropsychological evaluation using the Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) Trail Making and Color Word Interference Tests and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) Digit Span subtest to assess various aspects …


College Students’ Perceptions Of Popular Diets And Orthorexia Nervosa, Madison W. Weinstock Jan 2020

College Students’ Perceptions Of Popular Diets And Orthorexia Nervosa, Madison W. Weinstock

Theses and Dissertations

Data suggest that individuals’ purported dietary patterns influence others’ perceptions of them. However, few studies have investigated how adherence to specific popular diets might influence these perceptions. This study investigated female undergraduates’ (n = 463) perceptions of vignette characters described as adhering to specific dietary practices perceptions of a vignette character in a sample of 463 female undergraduates. Characters described as adhering to a Clean Eating diet were viewed most positively, followed by individuals on the Ketogenic diet or nondieters. Characters following an Intermittent Fasting diet, and those with Orthorexia Nervosa were viewed most negatively. These findings support the …


Effects Of (R,S)-Ketamine And (2r,6r)-Hydroxynorketamine: A Preclinical Study, Remington Rice Jan 2020

Effects Of (R,S)-Ketamine And (2r,6r)-Hydroxynorketamine: A Preclinical Study, Remington Rice

Theses and Dissertations

In 2017, 7.1% of US adults were diagnosed with depression, and 50% of patients received medication to treat their depression. Depression can cause severe interruptions in an individual's cognitive functioning and behaviors like sleeping, eating, working, and socializing. Unfortunately, approximately 40% of patients do not respond to treatment with monoaminergic medications (e.g. Prozac) and therapeutic effects may be delayed 2-8 weeks. Due to these therapeutic shortcomings, faster acting and more efficacious treatments are needed. Recent preclinical findings indicate potential for glutamatergic drugs like (R,S)-ketamine and (2R,6R) hydroxynorketamine to produce more rapid and longer-acting therapeutic effects. The antidepressant effectiveness of (R,S)-ketamine …


Exploring The Heteromeric Interface Of The 5-Ht2a-Mglu2 Receptor Complex, Mohamed Aarif Abdul Kareem Jan 2020

Exploring The Heteromeric Interface Of The 5-Ht2a-Mglu2 Receptor Complex, Mohamed Aarif Abdul Kareem

Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder characteristic of several neurotransmitters including dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate being in imbalance. Early therapies focused solely on dopamine antagonism and second-generation antipsychotics focused on the dopamine and serotonin systems and their respective G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) proteins. Although debate for dimerization of certain classes of GPCR exist, the establishment of an mGlu2-5-HT2A heterocomplex, which is implicated in schizophrenia is of interest. Previous studies have used a mutation-based approach to identify transmembrane domain 4 (TM4) as the domain responsible in mGlu2 for mediating heteromerization before narrowing down the individual amino acids responsible for …


Signaling Mechanism Responsible For 5-Ht2a Receptor Tolerance To Psychedelic Induced Head-Twitch Behavior In Mice, Audrey R. Mcmurtrie Jan 2020

Signaling Mechanism Responsible For 5-Ht2a Receptor Tolerance To Psychedelic Induced Head-Twitch Behavior In Mice, Audrey R. Mcmurtrie

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in psychedelic compounds stemming from their promising use as therapeutic agents and research tools that can be used to treat and study several neuropsychiatric disorders. Psychedelics have proven useful in a broad range of these diseases - they serve as models for psychosis in schizophrenia but have also had promising results in treating major depressive disorder, anxiety, and other common disorders. Decreased stigmatization surrounding psychedelics has further increased their use in research and clinical settings. In light of these trends and the promising nature of their use, a thorough understanding of …