Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Weed And Mexico, Eddy Martinez

Capstones

An American biotech firm named Phylos Bioscience is interested in entering the Mexican marijuana market once it legalizes. Before it can do that, it must deal with the Mexican government and a conservative society.

https://eddymartinezcunyedu.atavist.com/figuring-out-the-mysteries-of-weed-and-mexico

Addicted To The Answer, Charumathi Raman

Capstones

Hypochondria, which is now broadly known as health anxiety, is the fear of a serious illness that continues despite evidence to the contrary from laboratory tests and the reassurance of physicians. In the past people with this disorder would go from doctor to doctor seeking an answer, but now many people rely solely upon online information.

For people with health anxiety, the Internet provides a lot of fodder. Researchers have recently coined the term "cyberchondria" to describe the phenomenon of increased health anxiety due to online health searches.

Entering questions like “Who started World War Two?” or “Who was the …

Surviving A Death Sentence, Amy K. Mackinnon

Capstones

Diagnosed with HIV at the peak of the AIDS epidemic, Sean McKenna had planned to die. Now, decades after life-saving drugs were first released, he and other long-term survivors are still figuring out how to live.
https://amykmackinnon.wordpress.com/capstone/

Women Are Being Cut During Childbirth Without Need Or Consent, Molly Cora Enking

Capstones

An episiotomy, a surgical cut used to enlarge the vaginal opening during childbirth, can be extremely painful, hard to recover from and can increase the risk of severe complications. In 2018, episiotomies are rarely necessary, but at some U.S. hospitals they happen much more than they should. And in the course reporting this story, New York City News Service found that it is common for doctors to cut women without the mother’s consent.

https://medium.com/@mollyenking/women-are-being-cut-during-childbirth-without-need-or-consent-7677de7eddae

Burden Of Proof: Insurance Companies Are Refusing To Pay For Mental Healthcare And Regulators Are Letting Them. Patients Are Left To Fend For Themselves., Graison Dangor

Capstones

When their mental health claims are denied, patients who are supposed to be protected by state and federal law have a choice: Don’t get care or pay for the care themselves, then fight to get paid back.

Link to capstone: https://graisondangor.github.io/mental-healthcare-equality/

The Invisible Brain Injury Crisis, Michael E. Rosenthal

Capstones

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2013 data, over 282,000 hospitalizations and 2.5 million emergency department visits were at least in part attributable to TBI. In the same year, about 56,000 people died.

Emergency departments in 2012 treated about 329,290 kids under 20 for TBI following an injury taking place during physical activity.

This project explores the rise in traumatic brain injuries and examines the difficult path that some of the survivors have to go through during recovery. By telling the story through my own personal experiences, I guide the reader through what the initial trauma and …

The Art Of Fortune-Taking, Allison Weintraub

Capstones

People suffering grief or emotional distress turn to many places for comfort, which can make them a target of psychic scam artists. Stigma about falling for scams might prevent victims from seeking help. https://medium.com/@allison.weintraub/the-art-of-fortune-taking-5cdedb6718d0

The New World Of Pet Prosthetics, Anna Brooks

Capstones

When an abandoned dog was found in Brooklyn with his paw gnawed off, the animal shelter had two options: amputate the leg, or put the dog down. But neither seemed like a solution. So they decided to do something different, and fit the dog for a prosthetic leg. Prosthetics for people have been around for millennia, and now these devices are moving into the animal kingdom. This story explores the new world of animal prosthetics, and how these devices have changed the lives of animals like Mr. Stubbs — the first alligator with a prosthetic tail — and saved the …

A Modern-Day Affliction: Did Wifi Make Joel Dean Sick?, Dominic Mckenzie

Capstones

Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity is one of many disorders that exist in a strange border zone between recognized syndromes and discredited ones. One young man, a computer engineer by trade, had his life turned upside down by the disorder that has doctors and scientists across the world confused on how to treat it. Here's his story:

https://medium.com/@dominic.mckenzie/capstone-1dd7ff866a29

Cannabis Caught Between Smoke And Mirrors, Laura M. Olivieri Robles

Capstones

Cannabis legalization advances across the country and social attitudes are changing. Public health experts see parallels with the tobacco industry-- and are concerned about kids exposed to cannabis advertisement.

Island Of Harm Reduction, Trevor T. Boyer

Capstones

New York City's Rikers Island has a medically assisted treatment (MAT) program for detainees who are addicted to opioids, providing buprenorphine or methadone. For many locked up there, though, Rikers is only a way station before a trip upstate to prison. Even now, over 30 years after its treatment program began, only six other correctional facilities in New York offer pilot opioid treatment programs, which are available only to limited segments of their respective populations.

So for those taking medication in the form or methadone or buprenorphine on Rikers Island pretrial and awaiting sentencing, they're tapered off their doses to …

Sleep Paralysis: Dreams, Demons And Rem-Atonia, Joshua G. Christensen

Capstones

Have you ever woken up from a dream only to find you can’t move? You’re paralyzed and, sometimes, you are even having vivid hallucinations. It’s terrifying, but harmless and very common. Regardless of it being so innocuous, Sleep Paralysis has inspired fear for centuries and many still believe it to be a supernatural phenomenon. This is, most likely, because most people who get Sleep Paralysis, don’t really know what it is. People just like me.

https://medium.com/@joshua.christensen/sleep-paralysis-dreams-demons-and-rem-atonia-27f46c2748cf

Art That Heals, Christina Cardona

Capstones

Beryl Brenner was a creative arts therapist for 40 years, and helped veterans heal from war traumas through art all across the city. For the past 11 years, she was at the Brooklyn Campus of the VA NY Harbor Healthcare system in Bay Ridge, where she developed the art therapy program. https://christinacardona1.wordpress.com

Climate Grief Hits The Self-Care Generation, Avichai Scher

Capstones

As the effects of climate change intensify, emotional anguish over the future of the planet is emerging. This piece looks at a 10-step program to deal with climate grief "Good Grief."

At Uplift Climate, a conference on climate change for people under 30 held annually, the creators of Good Grief presented their program. The conference focused on climate justice for Native Americans, who have been dealing with climate grief for a long time.

The setting highlighted the class divide of who is affected by climate change. The effects of climate change are now so strong, that climate grief is hitting …

Transgressed Bodies, Estephani Cano Martinez

Capstones

In 2005, desperate to feminize her figure, Paola Gil, a 43-year-old trans woman from Guatemala, decided to get silicone injections in her hips for $1,000. Two hours after the illegal procedure, she started vomiting and defecating blood. She ended up in a coma in the hospital for a month.

The medical record shows that Paola received a silicone injection mixed with mineral and castor oil. She still suffers serious consequences, including difficulty walking, kidney and liver failure, and depression, after seeing her body disfigured.

Because of discrimination, lack of economic resources, and misinformation, many trans women like Paola see liquid …

Dios, Drogas, Dinero: ¿QuiéN Gana Con El Traslado De Adictos De Puerto Rico A Ee.Uu.?, Claudia E. Irizarry Aponte, Eliana Y. Perez

Capstones

For the last 25 years, evangelical leaders have been shipping off opioid addicts in Puerto Rico to cities in the mainland US, mainly New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia--under the promise they’ll receive state-of-the-art rehabilitation treatment, only to end up in unregulated transitional homes and flophouses where they don’t receive proper medical care or psychotherapy. In turn, many of these unregulated transitional homes, also run by evangelical leaders, may charge Medicaid kickbacks from their “patients.”

While this so-called “air bridge” from Puerto Rico to the U.S. goes back decades, it gained momentum from 2005 to 2014, when evangelical leaders joined …

Resting-State Functional Connectivity In Youth With Gender Dysphoria, Felix L. Garcia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Current developmental models of gender identity and gender dysphoria (GD) lack sex-specific profiles of brain function that differentiate between typically-developing and cross-gender identified youth, as postulated by models like the unified theory of the origins of sex differences (Arnold, 2009) and the neurobiological theory of the origins of transsexuality (Swaab & Garcia-Falgueras, 2009). Previously, investigators have used brain imaging modalities such as Resting-State functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (R-fMRI) to demonstrate differences in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between typically-developing male and female youth, and between typically-developing and GID-diagnosed youth. In the present pilot study, I used R-fMRI to investigate differences in …

Demystifying The Placebo Effect, Phoebe Friesen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation offers a philosophical analysis of the placebo effect. After offering an overview of recent evidence concerning the phenomenon, I consider several prominent accounts of the placebo effect that have been put forward and argue that none of them are able to adequately account for the diverse instantiations of the phenomenon. I then offer a novel account, which suggests that we ought to think of the placebo effect as encompassing three distinct responses: conditioned placebo responses, cognitive placebo responses, and network placebo responses. Next, I consider implications of the placebo effect’s role in complementary and alternative medicine for discussions …

Casualties Of Racism: Racial And Ethnic Discrimination And Suicidal Thoughts And Behaviors Among Racial And Ethnic Minority Emerging Adults, Lillian Anais Polanco

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The evidence demonstrating that experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination is detrimental to the mental health of racial/ethnic minority youth is unequivocal. What remains unclear, however, is whether racial/ethnic discrimination increases vulnerability for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in particular, and if so, what are the underlying mechanisms to explain this relation. Drawing upon the Race-based Traumatic Stress Theory (Carter, 2007), which suggests that some individuals may experience racial/ethnic discrimination as a traumatic stressor, and thus, eliciting a traumatic stress response, the present study examined posttraumatic stress reactions (i.e., posttraumatic stress, depression, dissociation, stress sensitivity) as mediators in the relation between racial/ethnic discrimination …

Diagnosing The Will To Suffer: Lovesickness In The Medical And Literary Traditions, Jane Shmidt

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Throughout Western medical history, unconsummated, unreturned, or otherwise failed love was believed to generate a disorder of the mind and body that manifested in physiological and psychological symptoms. This study traces the medical and literary history of lovesickness from antiquity through the 19^th century, emphasizing significant moments in the development of the medical discourse on love. The project is part of the recent academic focus on the intersection between the humanities and the medical sciences, and it situates literary texts in concurrent medical and philosophical debates on afflictions of the psyche. By contextualizing the fictional works within the scientific …

Burden Of Lipohypertrophy Among Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus Patients In China: An Analysis Of Outcomes And Impact Of Pen Needle Reimbursement Policy, Arthi Chandran

Dissertations and Theses

Background

Diabetes is a global epidemic and with an aging population accompanied by rapid urbanization China ranks highest in disease prevalence and associated burden. Independent of diabetes type, insulin is an eventual and costly requirement for disease management. The consequences of insulin administration however are poorly understood. Lipohypertrophy (LH) is one such consequence. It is hypothesized that method of insulin delivery and poor delivery technique are significant risk factors for this condition which is believed to alter insulin pharmacodynamics. Subsequently, insulin pen needles are a critical component of care however access to pen needles varies across China.

Objective

The objective …

The Effect Of A Voice Treatment On Facial Expression In Parkinson’S Disease: Clinical And Demographic Predictors, Amanda D. Bono

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease associated with a wide range of motoric, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms. Impairments in facial mobility and emotional expressivity are common and can impair communication, in turn, affecting daily functioning and quality of life. Previous research suggests that the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment © (LSVT LOUD; Ramig et al., 2001, 2011) increases vocal loudness and facial expressivity in individuals with PD compared to PD and healthy controls. This study extends the literature by examining the effects of LSVT and an articulation-based control treatment (i.e., ARTIC) on multiple aspects of facial expressivity (i.e., emotional frequency …

Increasing Access To Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (Prep) Among Transgender Women And Trans Feminine Non-Binary Individuals In New York City, Augustus Klein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the United States transgender women (i.e., individuals born male whose gender identity is on the feminine spectrum) are a highly vulnerable and marginalized population at high risk for HIV. Substance use, survival sex work, depression, unstable housing, and high levels of victimization and violence are commonly reported by transgender women and trans feminine individuals, indicating the potential for multiple concurrent HIV risks and underlying vulnerabilities. Structural forms of discrimination may contribute to these risk factors, possibly leading to poor outcomes such as unemployment or underemployment, homelessness, and lack of access to gender-affirming health care. Given this context, a biomedical …

Strategies Involving The Food-Derived Agent Curcumin To Eliminate Brain Cancer, Sumit Mukherjee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most deadly forms of cancer with a mean 5-year survival rate of ≤5%. We have used the non-invasive strategy of long-term intranasal (IN) delivery of a glioblastoma-directed adduct of curcumin (CC), CC-CD68Ab, into the brain of murine GBM cell line GL261-implanted mice to study the therapeutic effect of CC on GBM remission. The treatment caused GBM tumor remission in 50% of GL261-implanted GBM mice. A similar rescue rate (60%) was also achieved through long-term intraperitoneal (i.p) infusion of a highly bioavailable phosphotidylcholine (PC)-encapsulated formulation of CC, Curcumin Phytosome Meriva (CCP), into the GL261-implanted GBM …

The Lived Experience Of Traumatic Amputation For Haitian Adults, Margarett Alexandre

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Amputation of a limb is a traumatic and disabling condition that impacts the lives of people worldwide. Trauma remains the leading cause of major limb amputation, second only to Diabetes Mellitus and dysvascular complications (Ziegler-Graham, MacKenzie, Ephraim, Travison, & Bookmeyer, 2008). Little is known about the experience of traumatic amputation for Haitian Adults, therefore this study was to understand the lived experience of traumatic amputation in Haiti. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experience of traumatic amputations as talked about by adults who suffered an amputation because of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Eight …

Vowel Production In Down Syndrome: An Ultrasound Study, Micalle Carl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study investigated the articulatory and acoustic characteristics of vowel production in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). Speech production deficits and reduced intelligibility are consistently noted in this population, attributed to any combination of phonological, structural, and/or motor control deficits. Speakers with DS have demonstrated impaired vowel production, as indicated by perceptual, acoustic, and articulatory data, with emerging evidence of vowel centralization. Participants in the study included eight young adults with DS, as well as eight age- and gender-matched controls. Ultrasound imaging was utilized to obtain midsagittal tongue contours during single-word productions, specifically targeting the corner vowels /ɑ/, /æ/, …

Linking Hostile/Helpless Maternal Representations In Pregnancy And Later Child Protection Involvement: A Pilot Study, Madeleine Terry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present pilot study examined whether there are reliable indices in the narratives of pregnant women that can be used to identify child abuse and neglect potential before the birth of the child. The Hostile/Helpless (HH) Classification system (Lyons-Ruth et al., 1995-2005), which detects mental states associated with trauma, disturbances in early attachment, and severe pathology, was adapted for use with the Pregnancy Interview (PI), a semi-structured clinical interview (Slade, 2003) that assesses a woman's emotional experience of pregnancy, and quality of her developing relationship with her baby. The study sample was drawn from a replication study of the Minding …

Underlying Contribution Of Executive Functioning To Cognition And Academic Achievement In Individuals With Dystrophinopathy, Robert Fee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dystrophinopathy is a genetic disorder that results in the lack of or abnormal expression of the protein dystrophin. It is a disorder that alters cell structure and function, impacts the developing brain and brain function, presents with multi-domain cognitive deficits, and influences both mood and behavior. Cognitive impairments appear to be more localized to specific areas of functioning rather than a global deficit; however, deficits have been identified across multiple cognitive domains including language and aspects of executive functioning. A careful examination of the cognitive phenotype and its association to mutations affecting CNS isoforms is necessary to clarify the neuropsychological …

What’S Your Story? Assessing Childhood Maltreatment Using The Thematic Apperception Test In An Adult Inpatient Population., Thachell C. Tanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a robust evidence that childhood maltreatment contributes to the development of adult psychopathology (Brown & Anderson, 1991; Johnson, Cohen, Brown, Smailes, & Bernstein 1999; Johnson, Smailes, Cohen, Brown, & Bernstein, 2000; Ruggiero et al., 1999). However, the identification of childhood maltreatment remains a methodological problem that results in inconsistencies in the reported incidence and psychological sequelae of maltreatment. A primary method for identifying histories of childhood maltreatment among adults is retrospective self-report measures which are susceptible to multiple biases (Briere, 1992; Cicchetti & Rizley, 1981; Shaffer, Huston, & Egeland, 2008). This present study suggests that childhood maltreatment can …

Mechanisms Adopted By Dengue-2 Viruses To Induce Autophagy In Mammalian Cells, Sounak Ghosh Roy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dengue, the most rapidly spreading flavivirus, threatens to affect almost half of the human global population. We previously showed that dengue-2 protects canine kidney cells (MDCK) from cytotoxic chemicals. We showed, independently, that cell protection, as well as viral replication and maturation, are positively regulated by PI3K-dependent autophagy. However, we had not identified the specific pathway that induces autophagy in infected cells. The current study explores the role of a specific branch of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), the PERK/eIF2α/ATF4 pathway in the induction of autophagy by …