Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Developing A Lifestyle Intervention Program For Overweight Or Obese Preconception, Pregnant And Postpartum Women Using Qualitative Methods, Chee Wai Ku, Shu Hui Leow, Lay See Ong, Christina Erwin, Isabella Ong, Xiang Wen Ng, Jacinth Jia Xin Tan, Fabian Yap, Jerry K. Y. Chan, See Ling Loy

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The time period before, during and after pregnancy represents a unique opportunity for interventions to cultivate sustained healthy lifestyle behaviors to improve the metabolic health of mothers and their offspring. However, the success of a lifestyle intervention is dependent on uptake and continued compliance. To identify enablers and barriers towards engagement with a lifestyle intervention, thematic analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with overweight or obese women in the preconception, pregnancy or postpartum periods was undertaken, using the integrated-Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework as a guide to systematically chart factors influencing adoption of a novel lifestyle intervention. …

Dimensionality Of Natural Auditory Scene Perception: A Factor Analysis Study, Margaret A. Mcmullin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Theories of auditory and visual scene analysis suggest the perception of scenes relies on the identification and segregation of objects within it, resembling a detail-oriented processing style, but it is possible that a global-oriented process also occurs while evaluating auditory scenes. There is evidence for global properties that enable rapid recognition of visual scenes, even without recognizing the individual objects comprising the scene. It is our understanding that a similar line of research has not been explored in the auditory domain; therefore, we evaluated the contributions of high-level global and low-level acoustic information to auditory scene perception. A secondary aim …

The Impact Of Alzheimer Disease On Semantic Knowledge, Maileen G. Ulep

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The research furthers the understanding of the impact of Alzheimer disease (AD) on cognition and the organization of semantic knowledge in the brain, which might contribute to the development of diagnostic and staging tools, and interventions to palliate cognitive deficits. The disruption of semantic knowledge in AD is well documented in the literature. Much of the existing research focuses on the general impact AD has on semantic knowledge. This study explores the impact of AD on specific domains of knowledge, chiefly, living kinds and artifacts, critical to ordinary functioning. The content, organization and structure of the investigated domains of knowledge …

Lifestyle Choices Related To Food Consumption And Their Relationship To Depression, Steven L. Jennings Jr.

Dissertations

Dieting, or the act of restricting oneself to small amounts or particular kinds of foods on the basis of health, spirituality, lifestyle, and moral decisions, is a practice that dates to 1066 A.D. However, with social media being as influential as it is, one might believe dieting is a new obsession or at least an obsession to which popular culture is returning. Despite this, it is only in recent years that researchers have begun to focus on the health benefits of such behaviors. The present study was designed to take this focus a step further by exploring the potential risks …

Distress In The Workplace: Characterizing The Relationship Of Burnout Measures To The Occupational Depression Inventory, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Renzo Bianchi

Publications and Research

Burnout has been found to problematically overlap with depression. However, the generalizability of this finding remains disputed. This study examined burnout–depression overlap using the recently developed Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI) and two burnout measures, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI). The study involved two teacher samples employed in France (N = 1,450) and New Zealand (N = 492). We found the correlations of the ODI with (a) the MBI’s emotional exhaustion (EE) subscale and (b) the CBI to reach .80. An explanation of these high correlations based on content overlap in fatigue-related items was ruled …

Dysregulation Of Complement System In Neuropsychiatric Disorders: A Mini Review, Danny Perez Sierra, Ashutosh Tripathi, Anilkumar Pillai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Complement system is one of the most important defense mechanisms of the innate immune system. In addition to their roles in immune regulation, complement proteins are also involved in neurodevelopment and adult brain plasticity. Complement dysregulation has been shown in neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder as well as in mood disorders. A number of clinical as well as genetic studies suggest the role of complement proteins in the cortical thinning and excessive synaptic pruning frequently associated with schizophrenia. The changes in complement proteins are also associated with the pathophysiology of autism spectrum disorder, major depressive disorder and …

A Pilot Survey: Retention In Pain Medicine Among Fellowship Trained Anesthesiologists, Sarang S Koushik, Kelly Leap, Kenneth Seier, Kay See Tan, Naum Shaparin, Alan D Kaye, Omar Viswanath, Grant H Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: We aim to explore the factors related to job satisfaction among pain physicians and identify the reasons why individuals minimize or stop practicing outpatient pain medicine.

OBJECTIVES/STUDY DESIGN: This is a survey-based study with the primary goal to identify factors determining job satisfaction and dissatisfaction among pain medicine fellowship graduates who continue to practice and those who are no longer practicing interventional pain. A secondary goal is to elucidate reasons for anesthesiologists trained in pain medicine to leave pain medicine, despite an additional year of training, and to work as general anesthesiologists.

METHODS: In this study, all 114 pain …

Cook's "The Asperkid’S Secret Book Of Social Rules:The Handbook Of (Not-So-Obvious) Neurotypical Social Guidelines For Autistic Teens (10th Anniversary Edition)" (Book Review), Amber C. Wessies

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

When Intelligence Hurts And Ignorance Is Bliss: Global Pandemic As An Evolutionarily Novel Threat To Happiness, Satoshi Kanazawa, Norman P. Li, Jose C. Yong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Introduction: The savanna theory of happiness posits that it is not only the current consequences of a given situation that affect happiness but also its ancestral consequences, and that the effect of ancestral consequences on happiness is stronger among less intelligent individuals. But what about situations that did not exist in the ancestral environment and thus have no ancestral consequences? Global pandemic is one such situation that has no ancestral analog, and the theory predicts such evolutionarily novel threats to have a negative effect disproportionately on the life satisfaction of more intelligent individuals.Methods: We analyzed prospectively longitudinal data from population …

Further Validation Of The Realness Scale: Are Celebrity Worshipers Unreal?, Lynn E. Mccutcheon, Lillian Donahue, Joshua L. Williams, Sarah K. Nielson, Scott Peterson, Terry F. Pettijohn Ii

Psychology: Faculty Publications

We administered the Realness Scale (RS), Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), and the modified Authentic Living Subscale (ALS) from the Authenticity Scale (AS) to undergraduate students from four American institutions of higher learning. We sought to further validate the RS by showing that it correlated positively with the ALS and negatively with the CAS. We also hypothesized that African Americans would score lower than Whites on the RS. Our results supported the first hypothesis, but we found only weak or non-existent support for the other two hypotheses. Discussion focused on reasons why our latter two hypotheses yielded mostly negative results and …

The Impact Of Video-Taped Social Modeling On Alcohol Outcome Expectancies Of Young Adults And The Role Of Social Anxiety, Kyle Kevin Jackson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol outcome expectancies (AOEs) represent people’s ideas about the effects of alcohol (Fromme, 1993). Positive AOEs particularly have been identified as a potential risk factor for hazardous drinking (e.g., Brown et al., 1985). The exact mechanisms that modify AOEs are not fully understood. Further, people higher in social anxiety may be especially receptive to social modeling due to attentional bias shift towards others in social contexts (Rapee & Heimberg, 1997). The current study examined how social anxiety and social modeling associate with AOEs. It was hypothesized that 1) those in the social modeling treatment condition would have higher social anxiety-adjacent …

Hdac2 In Primary Sensory Neurons Constitutively Restrains Chronic Pain By Repressing Α2Δ-1 Expression And Associated Nmda Receptor Activity, Jixiang Zhang, Shao-Rui Chen, Meng-Hua Zhou, Daozhong Jin, Hong Chen, Li Wang, Ronald A Depinho, Hui-Lin Pan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

α2δ-1 (encoded by the Cacna2d1 gene) is a newly discovered NMDA receptor-interacting protein and is the therapeutic target of gabapentinoids (e.g., gabapentin and pregabalin) frequently used for treating patients with neuropathic pain. Nerve injury causes sustained α2δ-1 upregulation in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG), which promotes NMDA receptor synaptic trafficking and activation in the spinal dorsal horn, a hallmark of chronic neuropathic pain. However, little is known about how nerve injury initiates and maintains the high expression level of α2δ-1 to sustain chronic pain. Here, we show that nerve injury caused histone hyperacetylation and diminished enrichment of histone deacetylase-2 (HDAC2), …

Professional Perspectives On Bilingualism In Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study, Rosa N. Benavidez Saldivar, Jessica R. Stewart, Ruth Crutchfield, Roy K. Chen, Lily Puente

Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice

Purpose: The present study examined the perspectives of professionals regarding bilingualism and ASD. Methods: A total of 27 professionals participated in this study. Data was collected via an online survey. The survey was designed based on a literature review and consultation with a team of experts in the field of ASD. Information relating to demographic information, professional practice information, and perspectives of bilingualism and ASD was collected. Results: Professionals participating in the present study were most likely to agree with the statement, “A child with ASD from a bilingual household is able to understand both languages” and least likely to …

Hiv And Early Life Stress On Neuroimaging And Risky Behavior, Paola Garcia Egan

Dissertations

This study examined the interactive effects of early life stress (ELS) and HIV on brain morphometry, diffusion-basis-spectrum-imaging (DBSI), risky decision-making, and sex-risk behavior. 122 people with HIV (PWH) and 113 people without HIV (PWoH), free of major psychiatric illness and neurological confounds, were stratified into high (≥ 3 events) vs. low (< 3 events) ELS [PWoH/low ELS (n = 57), PWoH/high ELS (n =56), PWH/low ELS (n = 43), PWH/high ELS (n = 79)] and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, DBSI, neuropsychological, and risky-behavior assessment; all PWH were virologically controlled. Compared to PWoH, PWH had smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), parietal lobes, insula, caudate and anterior cingulate. No ELS effects were detected in volumetric measures. Significant interactions were found between HIV serostatus and ELS on the OFC and on cellularity of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus after multiple comparisons adjustment. Specifically, PWH/high ELS exhibited significantly smaller OFC and PWoH/high ELS show significantly larger OFC than the other groups. PWoH/high ELS exhibited higher DBSI cellularity (neuroinflammation proxy) of the inferior-occipital-fasciculus compared to PWoH/high ELS. Regardless of HIV status, executive function moderated the relationship between the OFC and sex-risk behavior such that individuals within the sample who performed above average on a measure of executive function and had a larger OFC reported fewer sex partners in past six months than individuals with smaller volumes. No interaction was found between HIV serostatus and ELS on risky behavior measures. Clustering analyses defined ELS subgroups in PWH that were determined by demographic characteristics, duration of infection, recent CD4+ T-cell count, nadir CD4+ T-cell count and high/low ELS.Even in PWH that are virologically controlled, without major current psychiatric comorbidities, there is evidence of a synergistic impact of ELS and HIV on OFC volumes. Higher volumes in the OFC were detrimental when associated with lower executive function scores or advantageous when associated with higher executive function. Findings suggest that ELS is associated with different brain signatures among PWoH and virally suppressed PWH. However, ELS was not directly associated with risky behaviors, and subgroups in PWH were characterized by demographic variables, past substance use and HIV clinical variables.

Fear And Trembling While Working In A Pandemic: An Exploratory Meta-Analysis Of Workers’ Covid-19 Distress, William P. Jimenez, Ian M. Katz, Elissa A. Liguori

Psychology Faculty Publications

The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of workers and taken its toll on health and well-being. In line with recent calls for more inductive and abductive occupational health science research, we exploratorily meta-analyzed workers’ COVID-19 distress, defined as psychological and psychosomatic strain contextualized to experiencing the virus and pandemic broadly. We identified many existing COVID-19 distress measures (e.g., Fear of COVID-19 Scale by Ahorsu et al., 2020; Coronavirus Anxiety Scale by Lee, 2020a) and correlates, including demographic variables (viz., gender, marital status, whether worker has children), positive well-being (e.g., quality of life, perceived social support, resilience), negative well-being …

Genome-Transcriptome-Functional Connectivity-Cognition Link Differentiates Schizophrenia From Bipolar Disorder, Jiayu Chen, Zening Fu, Juan R Bustillo, Nora I Perrone-Bizzozero, Dongdong Lin, Jose Canive, Godfrey D Pearlson, Julia M Stephen, Andrew R Mayer, Steven G Potkin, Theo G M Van Erp, Peter Kochunov, L Elliot Hong, Bhim M Adhikari, Ole A Andreassen, Ingrid Agartz, Lars T Westlye, Jing Sui, Yuhui Du, Fabio Macciardi, Faith M Hanlon, Rex E Jung, Jessica A Turner, Jingyu Liu, Vince D Calhoun

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) share genetic risk factors, yet patients display differential levels of cognitive impairment. We hypothesized a genome-transcriptome-functional connectivity (frontoparietal)-cognition pathway linked to SZ-versus-BD differences, and conducted a multiscale study to delineate this pathway.

STUDY DESIGNS: Large genome-wide studies provided single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) conferring more risk for SZ than BD, and we identified their regulated genes, namely SZ-biased SNPs and genes. We then (a) computed the polygenic risk score for SZ (PRSSZ) of SZ-biased SNPs and examined its associations with imaging-based frontoparietal functional connectivity (FC) and cognitive performances; (b) examined the spatial …

Psychometric Properties Of The Sindhi Version Of The Mood And Feelings Questionnaire (Mfq) In A Sample Of Early Adolescents Living In Rural Pakistan, Janavi Shetty, Florence Perquier, Susan C. Campisi, Yaqub Wasan, Madison Aitken, Daphne J. Korczak, Suneeta Monga, Sajid Bashir Soofi, Peter Szatmari, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health

There is a need for reliable and valid screening tools that assess depressive symptoms in adolescents in Pakistan. To address this need, the present study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of a Sindhi-translated and adapted version of the child-report Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ-C) and the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-C) in a community sample of adolescents living in Matiari, Pakistan. Questionnaires were translated into Sindhi and administered by study psychologists to 1350 participants (52.3% female) 9.0 to 15.9 years old. Measurement structure was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency was estimated, and convergent and divergent …

Nurse-Initiated Treatment Reduces Costs For Acute Asthma In A Pediatric Emergency Department, Michael D. Johnson Md, Ms, Minkyoung Yoo Phd, Richard E. Nelson Phd, Amanda K. Nielson Md, Lauren Allen Mas, Nanette Dudley Md, Brandon Andersen Rrt, Amanda Orme Dnp, Cpnp-Ac, Cameron Mcfarland Np-C, Michael Mundorff Mba, Mhsa

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

Standardized emergency department (ED) pathways can improve care delivery to children with acute asthma, though their impact on hospitalization and costs is unclear. An Acute Asthma Care Pathway (AACP) that facilitates nurse initiation of treatment was implemented at a tertiary care pediatric ED using standard quality improvement methodology. The impact of implementation was assessed using process control methodology and multivariable time series analyses between pre- and post-implementation periods. Provision of a steroid within 30 minutes and 60 minutes of arrival increased by 21 and 22 percentage points respectively, IV magnesium sulfate administration increased by 30 percentage points, the proportion hospitalized …

Outcomes Of Asthma Quality Improvement In Pediatric Patients, Kathryn M. Murray Md, Faap

Journal of Nursing & Interprofessional Leadership in Quality & Safety

Introduction. The Utah Pediatric Partnership to Improve Healthcare Quality (UPIQ) and Utah Department of Health (UDOH) Asthma Program Learning Collaborative is a quality improvement initiative designed to standardize asthma care in pediatric patients and improve the overall assessment and patient education process for both healthcare providers and patients. The aim of the Asthma QI Project was to improve the diagnosis and management of asthma for patients in the state of Utah by implementing a standardized approach to the identification and treatment of patients with asthma.

Methods. Patients scheduled to see a healthcare provider at our pediatric clinic were screened for …

Cerebral Blood Flow And Cardiovascular Risk Effects On Resting Brain Regional Homogeneity, Bhim M Adhikari, L Elliot Hong, Zhiwei Zhao, Danny J J Wang, Paul M Thompson, Neda Jahanshad, Alyssa H Zhu, Stefan Holiga, Jessica A Turner, Theo G M Van Erp, Vince D Calhoun, Kathryn S Hatch, Heather Bruce, Stephanie M Hare, Joshua Chiappelli, Eric L Goldwaser, Mark D Kvarta, Yizhou Ma, Xiaoming Du, Thomas E Nichols, Alan R Shuldiner, Braxton D Mitchell, Juergen Dukart, Shuo Chen, Peter Kochunov

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Regional homogeneity (ReHo) is a measure of local functional brain connectivity that has been reported to be altered in a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders. Computed from brain resting-state functional MRI time series, ReHo is also sensitive to fluctuations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) that in turn may be influenced by cerebrovascular health. We accessed cerebrovascular health with Framingham cardiovascular risk score (FCVRS). We hypothesize that ReHo signal may be influenced by regional CBF; and that these associations can be summarized as FCVRS→CBF→ReHo. We used three independent samples to test this hypothesis. A test-retest sample of N = 30 healthy …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Self-Guided Smartphone Application To Manage Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Trial, Chao Hsing Yeh, Jennifer Kawi, Lauren Grant, Xinran Huang, Hulin Wu, Robin L Hardwicke, Paul J Christo

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of an auricular point acupressure smartphone app (mAPA) to self-manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. Methods: A prospective, longitudinal, randomized, controlled pilot trial was conducted using a three-group design (self-guided mAPA (n = 14); in-person mAPA (n = 12); and control (n = 11)). The primary outcomes included physical function and pain intensity. Results: After a 4-week APA intervention, participants in the in-person mAPA group had improved physical function of 32% immediately post-intervention and 29% at the 1M follow-up. Participants in the self-guided mAPA group had …

Exposure To Unpredictability And Mental Health: Validation Of The Brief Version Of The Questionnaire Of Unpredictability In Childhood (Quic-5) In English And Spanish, Natasha G. Lindert, Megan Y. Maxwell, Sabrina R. Liu, Hal S. Stern, Tallie Z. Baram, Elysia Poggi Davis, Victoria B. Risbrough, Dewleen G. Baker, Caroline M. Nievergelt, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Unpredictability is increasingly recognized as a primary dimension of early life adversity affecting lifespan mental health trajectories; screening for these experiences is therefore vital. The Questionnaire of Unpredictability in Childhood (QUIC) is a 38-item tool that measures unpredictability in childhood in social, emotional and physical domains. The available evidence indicates that exposure to unpredictable experiences measured with the QUIC predicts internalizing symptoms including depression and anxiety. The purpose of the present study was to validate English and Spanish brief versions (QUIC-5) suitable for administration in time-limited settings (e.g., clinical care settings, large-scale epidemiological studies). Five representative items were identified from …

Towards Precision Audiology: Perceptual Profiles & Their Relation To Ecologically Valid Communication Assessments, Dana Cherri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Living in a sonic world, a person with hearing loss experiences difficulty in communicating with others. One of the reasons why some people with hearing loss do not wear hearing aids (HAs) is limited perceived benefit, which may result from HAs that are not fit using “best practices” or because the best practices fail to address individual difficulties experienced by the listener. The typical audiogram provides information regarding audibility as a function of frequency and is used to establish degree, type, and configuration of hearing loss, but does not measure the ability of an individual to process various components of …

Understanding The Mental Health Impact And Needs Of Public Healthcare Professionals During Covid-19 In Pakistan : A Qualitative Study, Waqas Hameed, Anam Shahil Feroz, Bilal Iqbal Avan, Bushra Khan, Zafar Fatmi, Noreen Afzal, Hussain Jafri, Mansoor Ali Wassan, Sameen Siddiqi

Community Health Sciences

Objectives: A dearth of qualitative studies constrains in-depth understanding of health service providers' perspectives and experiences regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health. This study explored the mental health impact and needs of of public sector healthcare workers during COVID-19 who working in secondary-level and tertiary-level healthcare settings of Pakistan.
Design: An exploratory qualitative study.
Setting: Twenty-five secondary-level and eight tertiary-level public hospitals of Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan.
Participants: In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 health service providers and 40 administrative personnel. Study data were analysed on NVivo V.11 using the conventional content analysis technique.
Results: …

Fertility Counseling For Couples, Brennan Peterson, Kristy Koser

Marriage and Family Therapy Faculty Books and Book Chapters

This chapter addresses the role, and importance, of individual counseling and psychotherapy in providing psychological assistance and support to patients who are struggling with infertility and loss. Depression and anxiety are the two most frequent emotional sequelae of the infertility experience. The chapter therefore speaks not only to what factors contribute to making fertility counselors effective in their work, but also addresses specific treatment approaches that can yield positive outcomes in working with this unique population. These approaches include psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive–behavioral therapy (including dialectical behavior therapy and trauma-focused therapy), and supportive counseling. A brief history and description of each …

Exploring Graduate Student Mental Health And Service Utilization By Gender, Race, And Year In School, Mikhila N. Wildey, Meghan E. Fox, Kelly A. Machnik, Deborah Ronk

Peer Reviewed Articles

Objective: The current study explored differences in mental health problems, services utilization, and support of graduate students by gender, race/ethnicity, and year in school.

Participants: Participants consisted of 734 graduate students from a large, Midwestern university.

Methods: Graduate students answered a series of questionnaires in fall 2021 assessing their mental health, services utilization, and perception of services.

Results: Women (vs men) and participants in their second year and beyond (vs first year) reported greater mental health problems, negative impact of the pandemic, and more services utilization. White (vs non-White) participants reported greater negative impact of the pandemic, greater services utilization, …

Individual Costs And Community Benefits: Collectivism And Individuals’ Compliance With Public Health Interventions, Suyi Leong, Kimin Eom, Keiko Ishii, Marion C. Aichberger, Karolina Fetz, Tim S. Müller, Heejung S. Kim, David K. Sherman

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Differences in national responses to COVID-19 have been associated with the cultural value of collectivism. The present research builds on these findings by examining the relationship between collectivism at the individual level and adherence to public health recommendations to combat COVID-19 during the pre-vaccination stage of the pandemic, and examines different characteristics of collectivism (i.e., concern for community, trust in institutions, perceived social norms) as potential psychological mechanisms that could explain greater compliance. A study with a cross-section of American participants (N = 530) examined the relationship between collectivism and opting-in to digital contact tracing (DCT) and wearing face coverings …

The Effect Of Experiential Avoidance And Committed Action On The Relationship Between Anxiety And Quality Of Life In Chronically Ill And Healthy Students, Rufaida Mohammed N Alkhanji

Theses

Chronic illness and anxiety are two factors that have been shown to negatively impact quality of life. In order to better understand the impact of chronic illness on quality of life, researchers have been interested in studying the effects of experiential avoidance and committed action. This thesis aims to examine the roles of experiential avoidance and committed action as potential mediators in the relationship between anxiety and quality of life. It also aims to compare the occurrence of the studied relationships in students with and without chronic illness. 547 participants from two Arab universities completed self-report measures assessing their levels …

Brain-Wide Versus Genome-Wide Vulnerability Biomarkers For Severe Mental Illnesses, Peter Kochunov, Yizhou Ma, Kathryn S Hatch, Si Gao, Neda Jahanshad, Paul M Thompson, Bhim M Adhikari, Heather Bruce, Andrew Van Der Vaart, Eric L Goldwaser, Aris Sotiras, Mark D Kvarta, Tianzhou Ma, Shuo Chen, Thomas E Nichols, L Elliot Hong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Severe mental illnesses (SMI), including major depressive (MDD), bipolar (BD), and schizophrenia spectrum (SSD) disorders have multifactorial risk factors and capturing their complex etiopathophysiology in an individual remains challenging. Regional vulnerability index (RVI) was used to measure individual's brain‐wide similarity to the expected SMI patterns derived from meta‐analytical studies. It is analogous to polygenic risk scores (PRS) that measure individual's similarity to genome‐wide patterns in SMI. We hypothesized that RVI is an intermediary phenotype between genome and symptoms and is sensitive to both genetic and environmental risks for SMI. UK Biobank sample of N = 17,053/19,265 M/F (age = 64.8 …