Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Preclinical Behavioral Assessments Of Mitraginyne, The Main Psychoactive Alkaloid In Kratom, Rachel Burroughs

Dissertations

Mitragyna speciosa (kratom) is a medicinal plant indigenous to Southeast Asia and Africa with a long history of use for a variety of ailments, including diarrhea, pain relief, cough suppression, and amelioration of opiate withdrawal symptoms. Despite its status as an herbal remedy, kratom is banned in some countries due to a myriad of negative health risks. Preclinical psychopharmacology studies of mitragynine (MG), the main alkaloid of kratom, indicate it has opioid-like effects at higher doses and psychostimulant-like effects at lower doses. The current study utilized three rodent behavioral paradigms to evaluate the putative psychostimulant effects of MG. The specific …

Pharmacogenomics Translation In A Community Medical Context Using A Diffusion Of Innovations Framework: Provider Perspectives And Evaluation Implications, Sabrina Ewald Holley

Dissertations

Translation, in the context of medical research, is a process that describes how knowledge and innovation move and change into real world applications and outcomes. This study explores the translation of a medical innovation, pharmacogenomics (PGx), from research into clinical practice using the perspectives of medical providers in a community setting. PGx is the influence of a person’s genetics on drug response. Despite being available for over a decade, PGx testing is not widely adopted. Prior research primarily examined PGx translation in large academic medical centers, but not much is known about it in community practice settings. A better understanding …

Determining The Effectiveness Of Virtually-Delivered Written Exposure Therapy For Treatment Of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Stephanie M. Haft

Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted individuals with mental health issues (Swendsen, 2020). Although the peak destruction of the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, the psychological fallout remains. Social isolation, home confinement, and travel restrictions have exacerbated mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to negative psychological distress (Smith et al., 2020). Survivors of trauma have higher vulnerability to prolonged psychological distress than the general population and others with non-trauma-related mental health conditions, which has been exacerbated during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. For these reasons, survivors of trauma may particularly benefit from virtual-delivery of trauma-focused treatments. Mental health providers …

The Influence Of Demographic, Social, And Economic Factors On Referral For Heart Failure Services, Catherine Elaine Kelty

Dissertations

Patients with end-stage advanced heart failure must go through an extensive evaluation process before being selected for either heart transplantation or left ventricular assist device (LVAD). This evaluation not only assesses a patient’s medical need for advanced heart failure treatments but also includes an assessment of psychosocial and economic factors that may affect a patient’s success post-treatment. While it is important to allocate scarce resources, such as donated organs, to the patients who will benefit the most, there is also a need for equity in the allocation of and access to healthcare services. This raises the question of whether patients …

From Young To Old: The Effects Of Sedentary-Aging And Exercise Interventions On Structural Plasticity Of Lumbar Motor Neurons, Nmj, And Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Expression, Alberto Felipe Cintron-Colon

Dissertations

Neuromuscular weakness has been associated with age progression. A possible reason is a disconnection between muscle and neuron, causing components from both the central and peripheral nervous systems to deteriorate. Exercise, however, has beneficial effects for both muscle and nervous tissue, inducing neuroprotection. Neurotrophic factors are powerful regulators of neuronal maintenance and synaptic strength. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a neurotrophic factor that has been shown to be a potent survival factor for somatic motor neurons that innervate skeletal muscle.

This study aims to evaluate changes in structural plasticity of motor neurons in the lumbar spinal cord and …

Evaluating Hospital Community Benefit And Community Health Improvement Requirements, Shelly Johnson

Dissertations

The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) hospital community benefit standard aims to improve the community's health, it is a test the IRS uses to determine whether a hospital is organized and operated for the charitable purpose of promoting health. Participation in this program is required of all not-for-profit hospitals in the US, who spend billions of dollars annually in community benefit in place of taxes. Hospitals must annually submit IRS form 990 Schedule H and are required to report costs associated with their provision of community benefit spending. In addition, a hospital must conduct community health needs assessment (CHNA) and implementation …

The Influence Of Integrated Behavioral Health Primary Care Setting On The Utilization Of Mental Health Services And Depression Treatment Response Among Men, Tendai Masiriri

Dissertations

The 2010-2013 National Health Interview Survey showed that nearly 9% of men had daily feelings of anxiety or depression, yet less than 41% sought help for their symptoms (Blumberg et al., 2016). Men are more reluctant than women to seek help (Angst et al., 2002; Brownhill et al., 2005). The failure to seek help among men is associated with multiple factors related to stigma and gender, yet male suicide rates are approximately 3-5 times higher than their female counterparts. However, they have a higher likelihood of seeking help from a medical provider rather than a mental health provider. If men …

Generation Status, Ethnic Identity, Colonial Mentality, And Enculturation In Filipino Americans, Kamille Patricia Urmaza La Rosa

Dissertations

Filipino Americans’ psychological experiences pertaining to their generation status, ethnic identity, enculturation, and colonial mentality are rarely studied in counseling psychology due to inconsistent disaggregation of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA&PI) data (Agbayani-Siewert, 2004; Espiritu, 2003; Nadal et al., 2010; Okamura, 2013). Literature suggests that the study of these constructs related to their mental health can guide more culturally informed care for this historically excluded population (David & Nadal, 2013; Nadal, 2020). The current study used an exploratory design to test six research hypotheses and accomplish the following: examine relationships between the constructs, investigate intergenerational differences, validate a measure …