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University of Tennessee, Knoxville

2017

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Articles 1 - 30 of 36

Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

The Future Of Nuclear Security: A Medical Physicist’S Perspective, Katharine E. Thomson Dec 2017

The Future Of Nuclear Security: A Medical Physicist’S Perspective, Katharine E. Thomson

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Planning for the future of nuclear security is a vital and complex task, requiring cooperation and contribution from many disciplines and industries. This diversity of expertise should include the medical sector, which faces many of the same challenges as the nuclear industry: controlling access to dangerous material, creating a strong security culture, cooperating with the wider world and engaging the public.

Medical physicists, of which the author is one, oversee all aspects of small-scale radiation use. This paper discusses three key areas increasingly important to both medical and nuclear uses of radioactive materials: public engagement, prevention of nuclear and radiological …


Investigating The Regulation Of Indole-3-Acetic Acid Production By The Plant Associated Microbe Pantoea Sp. Yr343, Kasey Noel Estenson Dec 2017

Investigating The Regulation Of Indole-3-Acetic Acid Production By The Plant Associated Microbe Pantoea Sp. Yr343, Kasey Noel Estenson

Doctoral Dissertations

The auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) plays a central role in plant growth and development and many plant-associated microbes produce IAA. Several IAA biosynthetic pathways have been identified in microbes which use the precursor tryptophan. Pantoea sp. YR343, which was isolated from the Populus deltoides rhizosphere, is a robust plant root colonizer that produces IAA. Using genomic and metabolomics analyses, we predicted that the indole-3-pyruvate (IPA) pathway is the major pathway in Pantoea sp. YR343 for IAA production. To better understand IAA biosynthesis and the effects of IAA exposure on cell physiology, we performed proteomics on Pantoea sp. YR343 grown in …


Description And Practical Application Of The Physiologic Distribution Of 3’-Deoxy-3’-[18f]Fluorothymidine In Companion Animals, Joshua Alan Rowe Dec 2017

Description And Practical Application Of The Physiologic Distribution Of 3’-Deoxy-3’-[18f]Fluorothymidine In Companion Animals, Joshua Alan Rowe

Doctoral Dissertations

Access to positron emission tomography (PET), and more recently PET combined with computed tomography (PET/CT), is increasing in veterinary medicine. This molecular imaging technology allows clinicians to map biological functions within patients based on the distribution and selective uptake of specialized positron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals. Although most clinical studies utilize 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-Dglucose (18FDG), a versatile but relatively nonspecific tracer that interrogates the energy metabolism of tissues, there is a growing need to establish reference values for alternative or adjunct tracers in veterinary species. Among these is 3’-deoxy-3’- [18F]fluorothymidine (18FLT), a thymidine analog that selectively accumulates …


The Healthcare Beliefs And Trust In Healthcare Providers Of Rural Kenyans, Charles E. Earles, Debora Baldwin Dec 2017

The Healthcare Beliefs And Trust In Healthcare Providers Of Rural Kenyans, Charles E. Earles, Debora Baldwin

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Do Personal Factors And Interpersonal Influences Affect Commitment To A Plan Of Action For Physical Activity Among African-American Women?, Bobbie W. Brown Dec 2017

Do Personal Factors And Interpersonal Influences Affect Commitment To A Plan Of Action For Physical Activity Among African-American Women?, Bobbie W. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

The lack of physical activity (PA) among African American (AA) women is a predisposition to chronic diseases associated with obesity. Women, particularly AA women, who are between 35 and 60 years of age, are particularly noted to be at highest risk for developing obesity-related chronic diseases. Few PA studies have included AA women older than 25 years of age and younger than 65 years of age (Carter-Parker, Edwards, & McCleary-Jones, 2012).

All analyses were conducted using SPSS Version 21 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corporation) and statistical significance was assumed at an alpha value of .05. The assumption of normality for continuous …


The New Parallel: Urban And Agrarian Political, Environmental, And Architectural Landscapes Of The Demilitarized Zone, Robert Vincent Truka Dec 2017

The New Parallel: Urban And Agrarian Political, Environmental, And Architectural Landscapes Of The Demilitarized Zone, Robert Vincent Truka

Masters Theses

North and South Korea share the most heavily armed military border in the world. Technically both sides are still at war dating back to 1950. The 38th parallel, also known as The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a 156-mile long by 2.5- mile wide border condition with over two million plus known landmines buried with-in its boundaries. The Juxtapositions of the financial, political, economical, and military modalities could not be more drastically different between North and South Korea. North Korea is a communist autocratic military dictatorship and has one of the worlds lowest Gross Domestic Products (GDP). South Korea is a …


Histomonas Elisa, Jessica L Martinez Nov 2017

Histomonas Elisa, Jessica L Martinez

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

Histomonas meleagridis is a protozoan parasite of avians and is the causative agent in Histomonosis, commonly known as Blackhead Disease. Current methods for diagnosing the presence of H. meleagridis are limited to parasite culture or Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to amplify target DNA. This project aims to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for faster and more sensitive diagnosis of Histomonas infections. Cultures of H. meleagridis parasites were purified, and surface antigens were extracted using a spectrum of chemical solutions. The various antigen solutions were subjected to an ELISA, with serum from birds immunized for H. meleagridis as positive controls. …


Social Status Modulates Restraint- Induced Neural Activity In Brain Regions Controlling Stress Vulnerability , Sahba Seddighi, Matthew A. Cooper Oct 2017

Social Status Modulates Restraint- Induced Neural Activity In Brain Regions Controlling Stress Vulnerability , Sahba Seddighi, Matthew A. Cooper

Haslam Scholars Projects

Understanding the cellular mechanisms that control resistance and vulnerability to stress is an important step toward identifying novel targets for the prevention and treatment of stress-related mental illness. Dominant and subordinate animals have been shown to exhibit different behavioral and physiological responses to stress, with dominants often showing stress resistance and subordinates often showing stress vulnerability. We have previously found that dominant hamsters exhibit reduced social avoidance following social defeat stress compared to subordinate hamsters, although the extent to which stress resistance in dominants generalizes to non-social stressors is unknown. In this study, dominant, subordinate, and control male Syrian hamsters …


Rural Appalachian Person And Family Decision Making At End Of Life, Mary Lou Clark Fornehed Aug 2017

Rural Appalachian Person And Family Decision Making At End Of Life, Mary Lou Clark Fornehed

Doctoral Dissertations

The dynamics of delivering care to persons at end of life (EOL) have dramatically changed in the last twenty years. Improved management of chronic illness and provision of aggressive life sustaining measures for an illness once deemed fatal are more common, significantly increasing longevity. While it is estimated that more than 40 million persons with life-limiting illness worldwide are candidates for some form of palliative or end-of-life care (EOLC), less than 14% of them will receive it.

When coping with life-limiting illness, people and their families are asked to make many complex and difficult decisions about EOL, palliative, or hospice …


Evaluation Of Increased Targeted Enforcement And Community-Based Outreach And Education Programs To Increase Nighttime Seatbelt Use In East Tennessee, Kwaku Frimpong Boakye Aug 2017

Evaluation Of Increased Targeted Enforcement And Community-Based Outreach And Education Programs To Increase Nighttime Seatbelt Use In East Tennessee, Kwaku Frimpong Boakye

Doctoral Dissertations

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among people aged 1-54 in the United Sates. In 2015, the number of motor-vehicle deaths on U.S. roadways totaled 35,092, a 7% increase from 2014 (32,744). Though lower gas prices and increased vehicle mileage combined with risky driving behaviors (e.g. speeding, driving while texting) account for the increased fatality rate, seatbelt non-use has been a significant contributory factor. It is estimated that nearly half (48%) of passenger vehicle occupants involved in fatal crashes each year are unrestrained.

In a recent 2014 report …


Using The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus As A Model System To Assess Tolerance And Withdrawal To Alcohol, Jonathan Houghton Lindsay Aug 2017

Using The Suprachiasmatic Nucleus As A Model System To Assess Tolerance And Withdrawal To Alcohol, Jonathan Houghton Lindsay

Doctoral Dissertations

Alcohol abuse induces many disorders including depression, metabolic syndrome, and sleep disturbances. The strong link between alcohol abuse and sleep problems, along with the close connection between sleep and circadian rhythms, led us to investigate ethanol’s effects on the circadian clock. Previous work has shown that acute ethanol blocks photic phase shifts in vivo and glutamatergic phase shifts in vitro. However, neural systems become tolerant to ethanol across different timeframes. Despite both ethanol tolerance and ethanol withdrawal syndrome being listed as criteria for developing alcohol use disorders, little is known about how ethanol tolerance and withdrawal induced hyperexcitability develop and …


A Grounded Theory Inquiry Into Crying In Women Dealing With The Emotional Stress Of Personal Crisis, Mary Bess Griffith Aug 2017

A Grounded Theory Inquiry Into Crying In Women Dealing With The Emotional Stress Of Personal Crisis, Mary Bess Griffith

Doctoral Dissertations

The belief that crying leads to healing is so widely held and of such longstanding that many healthcare professionals—including nurses, physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists—accept it as fact even though there is little substantiating scientific evidence. Crying is commonly believed to be an essential factor in restoring mind-body equilibrium after physical and/or emotional trauma has been experienced. If, as has been hypothesized by many scientists and healthcare practitioners, emotional crying is a biopsychosocial healing modality, then specifics of its therapeutic praxis, including limitations and ambiguities, should be incorporated into nursing education and practice. In this grounded theory study, the meaning and …


Evaluation Of The Performance Of Tn Integrated Food Safety Center Of Excellence Online Training Courses, Amal S. Humidat Aug 2017

Evaluation Of The Performance Of Tn Integrated Food Safety Center Of Excellence Online Training Courses, Amal S. Humidat

Masters Theses

Foodborne disease outbreaks are still a challenge in the United States even with the improvements that are continuously made to the food integrity system. The Center for Agriculture and Food Security and Preparedness (CAFSP), in conjunction with the Tennessee Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence, has developed two web-based courses to support investigation of foodborne illnesses. These courses are entitled as “Foodborne Outbreak Investigation and Response Team Roles and Responsibilities, Part A and B” respectively. The overall goal of this study was to evaluate each course by assessing the participants' satisfaction, learning, and perception of knowledge gained and impact on …


Ampk Activation By Zyflamend: A Novel Pathway Regulating Metabolism And Growth In Prostate Cancer, Amber Frances Macdonald Aug 2017

Ampk Activation By Zyflamend: A Novel Pathway Regulating Metabolism And Growth In Prostate Cancer, Amber Frances Macdonald

Masters Theses

Zyflamend, a select blend of 10 herbal extracts, effectively inhibits tumor growth using preclinical models of castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CR-PCa), mediated in part by activating AMPK, a master energy sensor of the cell. Currently, two predominant upstream kinases are known to phosphorylate/activate AMPK at Thr172: LKB1, a known tumor suppressor, and CaMKK2, a tumor promotor over-expressed in a number of cancers. Thus, the overall objective was to interrogate how Zyflamend activates AMPK and determine the roles of LKB1 and CaMKK2 in this activation, by targeting upstream mediators of both kinases ± Zyflamend using pharmacologic and molecular techniques in CWR22Rv1 (CR-PCa …


Effect Of Ultrasonication On The Physicochemical Properties Of Sorghum Kafirin And Evaluation Of Its Anti-Inflammatory Properties In Vitro, Andrew Cullen Sullivan Aug 2017

Effect Of Ultrasonication On The Physicochemical Properties Of Sorghum Kafirin And Evaluation Of Its Anti-Inflammatory Properties In Vitro, Andrew Cullen Sullivan

Masters Theses

Sorghum is one of the hardiest, most drought resistent cereal grains known to exist, providing the bulk of nutritional content for many semi-arid regions and developing countries throughout Africa and southwestern Asia. It contains dense nutritional value, but due to inhibition factors within the grain, much of these nutrients are indigestible. Access to these nutrients, which have shown to contain high contents of bioactive molecules linked to the decrease of prevalence of chronic disease, must then be facilitated before consumption. In sorghum, these molecules could include complex carbohydrates, proteins and polyphenols. The overall objective of this study was to determine …


Volume 13, Number 1 (Spring/Summer 2017), Ut Institute Of Agriculture Jul 2017

Volume 13, Number 1 (Spring/Summer 2017), Ut Institute Of Agriculture

Tennessee Land, Life and Science Magazine

Issue Highlights:

  • The four pillars of the Institute of Agriculture
  • Alumna forges partnership amid Waldo Canyon fire
  • Fishery biologists revive a river


Review Of Literature: The Clinical Nurses' Perception Of Their Role In Hospital Reimbursement, Mckinsey Patterson Jun 2017

Review Of Literature: The Clinical Nurses' Perception Of Their Role In Hospital Reimbursement, Mckinsey Patterson

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

Background: Nursing-sensitive indicators (NSI’s) serve to measure the impact nurses have in promotion of quality care. Existing research highlights the value-based purchasing (VBP) system implemented by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Few studies explore nurse perception.

Method: This review provides a state-of-the-science addressing NSI’s regarding delivery of quality care, hospital assessment related to value-based purchasing and the role of patient satisfaction regarding nursing care in the reimbursement of hospitals. Existing data related to nurses’ roles in VBP reimbursement efforts is described.

Results: A theme in the literature is that the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey, …


University Of Tennessee, Knoxville Undergraduate Students’ Awareness And Opinions Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (Aca), Mary Jennings Hardee May 2017

University Of Tennessee, Knoxville Undergraduate Students’ Awareness And Opinions Of The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act (Aca), Mary Jennings Hardee

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Physical Activity During Indoor And Outdoor Free Play In Toddlers, Jordan Boyd May 2017

Physical Activity During Indoor And Outdoor Free Play In Toddlers, Jordan Boyd

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Using The Electronic Patient Portal To Engage Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions, Kimberly Ryan Powell May 2017

Using The Electronic Patient Portal To Engage Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions, Kimberly Ryan Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Three in four Americans aged 65 and older is living with multiple chronic conditions. These patients have complex care needs and stand to benefit from tools facilitating engagement in their healthcare. Little is known regarding use of the electronic patient portal as a tool to support self-care in patients with multiple chronic conditions. The purpose of this multiple-methods study was to (1) explore characteristics and patterns of portal use by patients with multiple chronic conditions and (2) to understand the perceived usefulness of this tool to improve self-care. In phase 1, the quantitative phase, data from electronic health records and …


Influence Of Patient Satisfaction Of Total Knee Replacement Patients On Stair Negotiation And Walking Biomechanics, Strength, And Balance, Kevin Alan Valenzuela May 2017

Influence Of Patient Satisfaction Of Total Knee Replacement Patients On Stair Negotiation And Walking Biomechanics, Strength, And Balance, Kevin Alan Valenzuela

Doctoral Dissertations

Total knee replacement (TKR) patients have shown alterations in lower extremity biomechanics during level ground walking and stair negotiation, strength levels, and balance abilities, however, it is unknown how dissatisfied TKR patients compare to satisfied TKR patients in these activities. Study One examined the lower extremity biomechanics of dissatisfied and satisfied TKR patients during level ground walking. Study Two investigated knee biomechanics during stair ascent and descent activities. Study Three compared isokinetic strength, balance abilities, deep knee flexion abilities, and functional abilities of the dissatisfied patients to the satisfied patients. Study Four performed a logistic regression as a means of …


Care Connectors In Knox County, Tennessee, Beatriz E Satizabal May 2017

Care Connectors In Knox County, Tennessee, Beatriz E Satizabal

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Effects Of Nicotine On The Cyp6a8 Gene Promoter Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Leslie M. Stroud May 2017

Effects Of Nicotine On The Cyp6a8 Gene Promoter Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Leslie M. Stroud

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Media Coverage Of Tennessee's Amendment 1, Hayley A. Brundige May 2017

Media Coverage Of Tennessee's Amendment 1, Hayley A. Brundige

Baker Scholar Projects

In 2014, Tennesseans went to the polls to vote on a controversial abortion amendment to the state constitution that was years in the making. Two organizations – Yes on 1 and No on One – spent millions of dollars on advertising to insert their rhetoric into the public debate and sway voter opinion. To some, Amendment 1 represented a chance for Tennesseans to take back control over abortion regulations in the state and protect women and girls. To others, the measure went too far and constituted unnecessary government interference into private decisions. For many, the issue set two deeply-held values …


The Effects Of Motivational Interviewing On Heart Failure Self-Care During Transitional Care In An Appalachian Population, Jennifer Lynn Mabry May 2017

The Effects Of Motivational Interviewing On Heart Failure Self-Care During Transitional Care In An Appalachian Population, Jennifer Lynn Mabry

Doctoral Dissertations

Research has shown that patients who are successfully engaged in self-care for a chronic illness have a higher quality of life and reduced hospitalizations than those who are not. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, transitional care in the home setting has seen a 51% increase in mortality over the last 15 years (Reeder et al., 2015). This finding contrasts with the reported decline in hospital readmissions for chronic illnesses. With the lack of agreement on best practices for patient discharge education, transitional care has proven to be a weakness in chronic illness care that requires further research. …


The Success Of Crossfit And Its Implications For Businesses Of All Types, Sarah Gomillion May 2017

The Success Of Crossfit And Its Implications For Businesses Of All Types, Sarah Gomillion

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


The Chronic Disease Prevention Program, Ashley Northcutt May 2017

The Chronic Disease Prevention Program, Ashley Northcutt

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Nurse Perceptions Of Their Role In Hospital Reimbursement, Mckinsey Patterson May 2017

Nurse Perceptions Of Their Role In Hospital Reimbursement, Mckinsey Patterson

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


Development Of The Visual Acceptable Noise Level Test, Teresa Slade May 2017

Development Of The Visual Acceptable Noise Level Test, Teresa Slade

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.


How Racism Correlates With Perceptions And Attributions Of Healthcare Disparities, Arpan Chakraborty May 2017

How Racism Correlates With Perceptions And Attributions Of Healthcare Disparities, Arpan Chakraborty

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.