Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Ionic Liquid-Solvated Chitosan Nanoparticles As A Novel Method Of Treating Atopic Dermatitis, Leslie Bell

Honors Theses

Atopic dermatitis, or eczema, is an inflammatory skin disease resulting in dry, red, and itchy skin that affects almost 20% of the population of the Western world. This disease creates a physical, emotional, as well as financial burden on those affected, as well as their families. Current treatment options are only somewhat effective, and do not have a long duration of release and therefore efficiency. Furthermore, treatment plans involving corticosteroids need to be closely regulated to monitor side effects such as skin thinning. Other options include topical tacrolimus, emollients, and oral antihistamines, each with varied side effects. This project is …

Pragmatic Deficits In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Paige Kessler

Honors Theses

Background: Most studies have found pragmatic language skills to be poorer in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) populations, but there is no conclusive evidence.

Aim: Our aim was to conduct a meta-analysis of pragmatic language abilities in ADHD populations to more definitively demonstrate the extent of pragmatic language deficits in these populations as compared to typically developing (TD) populations.

Methods and procedures: Journal articles were identified using the search terms ((attention deficit) OR (adhd)) AND (pragmatics). Identified studies were screened and reviewed for inclusion criteria, descriptive information, and outcome variables. A meta-analysis was conducted, and individual effect sizes and overall effect size …

Test Transferability Of 3d-Mot Training On Soccer Specific Parameters, Micaela Dusseault

Honors Theses

Objective: The benefits of perceptual-cognitive training in elite level athletes has recently been investigated in multiple sports such as basketball, soccer, and archery, but conclusive evidence proving test transferability of 3D-MOT training is lacking. The purpose of this research is to examine the transferability of perceptual-cognitive training to on-field soccer performance parameters. Participants: NCAA Division I women’s soccer players (n=22) between the ages of 18-25 who were placed into either the experimental group (n=10) or control group (n=12). After baseline testing for both groups to determine visual tracking speed (VTS), the experimental group completed 10 3D-MOT training sessions with NeuroTracker …

Analysis Of Multigenerational Behavioral Effects Of Dietary Benzo[A]Pyrene Exposure In Adult Zebrafish, Mary Beth Gillespie

Honors Theses

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that is linked to negative reproductive and developmental effects in humans and animals. Because BaP is carcinogenic, and its continued presence in the environment allows it to be inhaled and ingested, better understanding of the effects of BaP is needed. To determine the behavioral effects of BaP exposure, zebrafish were used as a model. Wild-type zebrafish (5D) underwent two separate 21-day dietary exposures to 2.5 and 25 μg BaP/g fish to compare how BaP exposure affects locomotor activity. Following the dietary exposure, fish were mated to obtain and raise the F1 generation to …

Parental And Peer Influences On College Students' Relationships With Food, Body Image, And Intuitive Eating Behaviors, Ann Mcqueen Whatley

Honors Theses

Society is flooded with beliefs and knowledge concerning health, diet, and beauty, which all significantly impact people’s relationships with food, eating, body image, and parental and peer relationships. The present study sought to investigate parental and peer influences on college students’ relationships with food, body image, and intuitive eating behaviors by distributing a self-report survey to a sample of 197 undergraduate students at the University of Mississippi. The survey consisted of six demographic questions regarding age/undergraduate classification, gender, geographical region of hometown, relationship status, childhood living arrangements, and current living arrangement to serve as the independent variables. In addition, the …

Functional Connectivity Of The Inferior Frontal Gyrus In Autism Spectrum Disorders, Emma Miller

Honors Theses

ABSTRACT

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association defines Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as a “neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and social interaction” which is heavily impacts language abilities. There is an abundance of research on the neurological aspects of the disorder, which appear to have major differences of activation and functionality when compared to typically developing peers. Specifically, in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), a key language region of the brain, functional connectivity levels tend to be significantly less in ASD groups. This study recognizes these trends and aims to expand the research by locating specific functional connections …

The Effects Of Disclosure On Perceptions Of Different Overt Stuttering Severity Levels, Katelyn Geringswald

Honors Theses

This study measured perceptions of a 17-year-old adolescent male who stutters, relative to select speech skills and personality characteristics, as a function of self-disclosure at various overt severity levels. 983 participants were assigned one of the four conditions, including (1) a no-disclosure control group, (2) mild stuttering severity self-disclosure, (3) moderate stuttering severity self-disclosure, and (4) severe stuttering severity self-disclosure. Participants assigned to the control condition viewed only a primary video stimulus of a 17-year-old adolescent who stutters. Participants assigned to one of the three experimental conditions (mild, moderate, or severe severity disclosure) watched a brief self-disclosure statement, followed by …

Investigations Involving Mononuclear And Dinuclear Transition Metal Catalysts For Photochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction, Ansu Edwards

Honors Theses

There is currently a global energy crisis, which is in desperate need of solutions. New energy sources are required that will not pollute as much as our longstanding reliance on nonrenewable fossil fuels as an energy source. This pollution involves large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, predominantly carbon dioxide (CO₂), that contribute to environmental problems such as climate change. In this context, a fairly recent research direction to address this problem is the development of transition metal catalysts that can convert CO₂ into reduced carbon products that can serve as chemical fuels. This work focuses on the …

The Functional Connectivity Of The Auditory Cortex In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Katherine Wilson

Honors Theses

Disturbance of the auditory cortex in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is well known as well as its influence on hearing. Functional connectivity within the brain is also known to be affected by ASD. However, functional connectivity of the auditory cortex in ASD has yet to be studied. In this study, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE), functional connectivity of the auditory cortex was examined by comparing 68 individuals with ASD and 75 individuals with ASD. Four brain regions showed smaller functional connectivity to and from the auditory cortex; the occipital cortex, …

The Effect Of Advocate Disclosure On The Perceptions Of A Young Adult Who Stutters, Madeline Simpson

Honors Theses

This between-group study designed weighed the effects of stuttering disclosure on the perceptions of a 17-year-old male who stutters, relative to perceived speech skills and personality characteristics. 1225 participants were included in the dataset analysis with a balanced distribution across all ranges. The conditions used in this study include (1) control condition (no disclosure), as well as experimental conditions including: (2) father disclosure, (3) male coach disclosure, (4) female teacher disclosure, (5) girlfriend disclosure, and (6) female speech-language pathologist. Participants in the control group only viewed the primary video stimulus, while participants in the experimental groups viewed one of the …

Chronic Exercise And Memory Interference, Lisa Vogelgesang

Honors Theses

This online study examined whether chronic exercise is associated with attenuated memory interference. Sixty-three healthy, young adults completed an interference task (AB/AC-paradigm) and self-reported the number of days and minutes a day they engaged in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. We found that proactive interference (PI), but not retroactive interference (RI), occurred but none of the exercise modalities significantly impacted PI. Future studies should evaluate whether different interference tasks display diverse sensitivities to exercise-induced changes in memory interference. Moreover, other potential modulating factors, such as the duration and intensity of the exercise should be controlled for.

The Relationship Of Rehabilitation Therapy Clients And Grit: A Pilot Study, Kamilla Kisch

Honors Theses

Client experience is an important consideration in physical and occupational therapy (known as rehabilitation therapy.) The personality trait of grit has been studied in many different settings and populations and could have an impact on rehabilitation therapy clients’ perceptions and experiences. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between scores on Dr. Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale (that identifies the presence and strength of grit) and perceptions of experiences by rehabilitation therapy clients. Seven males and twelve females (age: 56.78 ± 15.83) participated in this study. The Grit Scale was used to assess participants’ grit. Multiple-choice questions were …

Beliefs Of Translators About Medical Spanish Pamphlets, Margaret Coulter

Honors Theses

This paper addresses the beliefs of professional Spanish medical translators regarding the use of dialect variation in medical Spanish translation and the resulting effects on the level of healthcare attained by Spanish speaking patients in the United States. The health gap between English-speaking and non-English patients is explored as it relates to inadequate translation of medical information and instructions leading to poorer health outcomes and higher readmission rates among Spanish speakers.

Light And Heavy Verb Usage By People With Non-Fluent Aphasia, Chase Sophia Kozak

Honors Theses

The purpose of the study was to investigate the discourse elicitation task effect and whether it affects the production of verbs with different semantic weight (light verbs with vague semantic representations, e.g., ‘do’, or heavy verbs with specific semantic representations, e.g., ‘deliver’). Thirty people with non-fluent aphasia and twenty people without aphasia were included. The light and heavy verb ratios over the total number of verbs were calculated for two discourse elicitation tasks: sequential picture description and storytelling. The results for the healthy control group showed that they produced a significant higher heavy verb ratio in sequential picture description than …

Early Intervention Service Delivery Models In Mississippi: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Claire Harper

Honors Theses

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to compare two models of service delivery for early intervention in Mississippi from a health care sector perspective: (1) face-to-face therapy in the home environment and (2) a hybrid model (i.e., telepractice and face-to-face therapy in the home environment), in order to compare costs and determine the most cost-effective service delivery of early intervention.

Methods: Children (n = 10) were recruited and determined to qualify for early intervention services through the Mississippi First Steps Early Intervention program. One early intervention provider, a certified SLP, from the northern health region provided early intervention …

The Rates Of Caries Prevalence By Sex And Age From Individuals In St. Mary Graces And East Smithfield Cemeteries, Elizabeth Houston, Joseph Upton

Honors Theses

Caries are a common pathology in past and current populations, and because of the close interaction of dentition with diet, archaeologists are able to infer components of a population’s culture from pathology like caries (Lanfranco & Eggers, 2010). Most literature implies that women have higher rates of caries than men because of cultural practices and natural physiological differences which are thought to put women at an increased risk (Lukacs, 2008). Another established trend throughout literature is that caries prevalence tends to increase with age, regardless of sex (Hillson, 2008). We evaluated data from the East Smithfield (1348-1350 AD) and Saint …

Simian Varicella Virus Antibody Response In Recombinant Svv-Siv Immunized Primates, Kiser Horne

Honors Theses

Since its emergence in the early 1980’s HIV has killed approximately 32 million people, and continues to kill over half a million people every year. Significant research into potential vaccines and cures for HIV has been ongoing for decades but has been largely unsuccessful. One of the more promising technologies that is being investigated to develop an HIV vaccine is recombinant vaccine technology. The study presented in this thesis aims to use simian varicella virus (SVV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) to act as a model for recombinant vaccine development. If a recombinant SVV-SIV vaccine can be proven safe and …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Physical Activity And Health Influences Among College Students, Rachael Larkin

Honors Theses

Objective: To assess the associations between physical activity, subjective well-being (SWB), and social media influences before, during, and after the 2020 COVID-19 period among college-aged students. Participants: Male and female students from the University of Mississippi who were between the ages of 18-25 volunteered to participate in this study. Out of 10,000 invitation emails distributed, a total of 290 individuals responded and were used for the subsequent analysis. Results: Almost half of the respondents (46.1%) noted a decrease in physical activity from before March-May (M-M) 2020 to during M-M 2020. In addition, 41% of the respondents reported an increase in …

Coronary Artery Disease: An Analysis Of Its Biochemical, Physiological, And Sociological Causes And Effects, Alexander Velazquez

Honors Theses

Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is a serious condition caused by a buildup of plaque in your coronary arteries, the blood vessels that bring oxygen-rich blood to your heart. It disproportionately affects millions of Americans and thousands of Mississippians. This study presents the results of an evaluation of causation factors of CAD, the physiological impact on the body, and the contributing determinants of CAD on Mississippi populations. Data on Mississippi populations were collected using the Center for Population Studies at the University of Mississippi. A multitude of individuals were evaluated when examining the causes and effects of CAD including men, women, …

The Interhemispheric Connectivity Of The Auditory Cortices, Taylor Stansberry

Honors Theses

Objectives: The corpus callosum of the brain is an important and complex structure that allows communication between the two cerebral hemispheres. In the absence of knowledge about the relationship between the corpus callosum and the auditory cortices, this study aimed to investigate how the structure changes. Specifically, we explored the age associated changes of interhemispheric connectivity between left and right cortices through the corpus callosum.Methods: Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) data from enhanced Nathan Kline Institute- Rockland Sample (NKI-RS), we isolated the auditory corpus callosum, or the section of the corpus callosum that transfers auditory information, in each individual subject …

Clinical Effectiveness Of Early Intervention Via A Hybrid Teletherapy Model: Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Rylan Ponthier

Honors Theses

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of Early Intervention (EI) provided via a hybrid model of teletherapy and traditional face-to-face therapy for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) compared to children without ASD.

Methods: In total, 10 children were evaluated receiving early intervention via a hybrid model of teletherapy and traditional face-to-face therapy. The children were divided up into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 5 children with ASD and Group 2 consisted of children without ASD. All children were assessed using the Rossetti Infant-Toddler Language Scale (RITLS).

Results: After 20 early intervention sessions, …

Fine Particulate Matter And Low Weight Births In Mexico City, Mexico, Kennedy Cohn

Honors Theses

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure has been associated with several negative health consequences, and recent studies suggest a potential relationship between PM2.5 exposure and adverse birth outcomes, including low birth weight (LBW). This thesis investigated a potential relationship between fine particulate matter concentration and low birth weight in Mexico City, Mexico between 2008-2016. Maternal pollution exposure was estimated at the city-wide level by averaging PM2.5 measurements from various monitoring stations. Birth weight was collected from the SINAC database. Logistic regression models were run for different temporal scales (by trimester, and 10-month periods); however, there were no significant relationships found between …

Proficiency Of Mississippi Pharmacy Staff In Communicating With Spanish-Speaking Patients, Caroline Kreh

Honors Theses

Pharmacists play a crucial role in patient care; they must be able to communicate effectively with patients to convey health information. Given the linguistic diversity of Mississippi, pharmacists will likely encounter Spanish-speaking patients in the course of their practice. Previous studies have investigated various indicators of pharmacists’ ability to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients; however, no existing studies regarding Mississippi pharmacy staff members’ ability to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients were found. The objectives of this study were to measure Mississippi pharmacists’ confidence, satisfaction, proficiency, use of resources, and level of education related to communicating with Spanish-speaking patients. The sample was composed …

Effectiveness Of Visual Representations In Undergraduate Human Anatomy And Physiology I & Ii, Mary Agnes Mestayer

Honors Theses

The objective of this project was to explore intersections between student preferences and student performance on anatomical visual representations in Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II. Visual representations are a critical resource for the formation of relationships between function and structure furthermore; students interpret these representations uniquely based on specific factors (learning objective, prior knowledge, the diagram studied, etc.). Phase I of this project gathered undergraduate responses to ten Likert-style questions on their opinions on diagrams and their use in the A&P classroom. Phase II of this project presented participants with twelve manipulated diagrams sourced from three diagram with …

The Role Of Cannabinoid Receptor 2 In Zebrafish Toxicities Following Developmental Exposure To Thc Or Cbd, Haley Watts

Honors Theses

As the laws concerning the regulation of Cannabis Sativa change across the globe, maternal use of cannabinoid-containing products during pregnancy is a greater concern than ever before. Little research has been conducted on the consequences of maternal use and developmental exposure to ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD. In this study, larval zebrafish (Danio rerio) were used to measure CBD and THC-mediated adverse outcomes including effects on larval length, eye area, and behavior in the cnr^+/+ and cnr2^-/- zebrafish strains where we discovered that cannabinoid exposure results in a decrease in each of these endpoints. Adult …

A Comprehensive Examination Of Pharmacy Technician Requirements And Pharmacists’ Perceptions Of The Role Of Technicians, Courtney Hahs

Honors Theses

Pharmacy technicians play a crucial role in assisting pharmacists and allowing a pharmacy to function properly and provide care to patients. While technicians take on many tasks in a pharmacy, their role has started to evolve and expand. The first purpose of this study was to determine how states differ regarding the following pharmacy technician roles and requirements: whether or not technicians are licensed and/or certified, mandated technician-to-pharmacist ratio, whether or not technicians are allowed to take or give verbal prescriptions, verify filled prescriptions, and provide immunizations. The second purpose was to analyze how pharmacists across the United States viewed …

Headache-Related Disability Among Individuals With And Without Migraine Aura, Delora Denney

Honors Theses

Migraine is a neurological disease marked by recurrent headache and migraine attacks. Migraine is one of the most common diseases in the world, and as a result of high prevalence and symptoms, migraine is also quite disabling. One-third of people who have migraine experience aura, and these individuals have a greater risk for stroke, psychiatric comorbidities, and suicide attempts. The present study aimed to evaluate if there was a difference in headache-related disability between those who have migraine with and without aura, and any headache or psychiatric factors that may account for observed difference in disability.

The present study is …

College Students' Knowledge Of The Relationship Between Diet And Facial Acne, Caroline Moulton

Honors Theses

A common struggle for many young adults is the infamous acne vulgaris. Americans spend millions of dollars on acne medication, treatments, and dermatology and cosmetic visits each year. One area that is greatly lacking in research is the relation of nutrition and facial skin appearance. In clinical settings this topic is not commonly discussed, but evidence shows diet changes could greatly benefit those struggling with acne. The present study sought to investigate the knowledge of college students regarding various food and beverage items and facial skin appearance by electronically distributing a self-report survey to a sample of 385 college students …

Hippocampal Connectivity In Parkinson's Disease, Landis Llewelyn

Honors Theses

Background: This thesis was conducted in order to investigate possible connections between functional connectivity of the hippocampus in individuals who have Parkinson’s disease.

Methods: The MRI images, the clinical data, and the demographic data of 93 individuals with PD and 18 individuals without PD were obtained from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative. Resting-state fMRI data from a group of PD patients was compared to a control group of non-PD patients by using previously published methods with FMRIB Software Library (FSL) as well as Analysis of Functional Neuroimages (AFNI).

Results: Compared to the control (non-PD) group, results bilaterally showed lesser connectivity …

Using Deep Learning To Automate The Diagnosis Of Skin Melanoma, Akhil Reddy Alasandagutti

Honors Theses

Machine learning and image processing techniques have been widely implemented in the field of medicine to help accurately diagnose a multitude of medical conditions. The automated diagnosis of skin melanoma is one such instance. However, a majority of the successful machine learning models that have been implemented in the past have used deep learning approaches where only raw image data has been utilized to train machine learning models, such as neural networks. While they have been quite effective at predicting the condition of these lesions, they lack key information about the images, such as clinical data, and features that medical …