Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Gender Differences And Depression In Self-Disclosure On The Therapeutic Relationship, Nicole Rubio

Theses and Dissertations

The counseling relationship is a major factor in promoting change from the client in the therapeutic relationship. Additional factors contributing to or hindering this relationship including gender, depressive symptomology, and disclosure tendency, collectively require further attention to facilitate improved treatment outcomes in counseling. Male and female college students (N = 212) completed measures that assessed depression symptomology and disclosure tendency. It was hypothesized that female college students would engage in greater levels of self-disclosure than male students and that greater depressive symptomology would equate to a lesser degree of disclosure tendency. The employed ANOVA model found no interaction between gender, …

Six1 Overexpression Promotes Epithelial– Mesenchymal Transition And Malignant Progression In Models Of Cervical And Colon Cancer, Hanwen Xu

Theses and Dissertations

Inappropriate expression of embryonic genes, particularly homeodomain transcription factors, contributes to tumorigenesis and tumor progression. The overexpression of Six1, a member of the Six family of homeodomain transcription factors, has been found in various human cancers, and is associated with tumor progression and metastasis. We have previously determined that the expression of SIX1 mRNA increased during in vitro progression of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16)- immortalized human keratinocytes (HKc/HPV16) toward a differentiation-resistant (HKc/DR) phenotype. However, the mechanism(s) of how Six1 promotes HPV16- mediated transformation remain unknown. In this study, we explored the role of Six1 at early stages and late …

Investigation Of The Response And Repair Of Replication, Kathryn Brady

Theses and Dissertations

When a mammalian cell suffers DNA damage, DNA damage signaling responses and repair pathways are invoked. The phosphorylation of histone variant H2AX (γH2AX) and of replication protein A (pRPA) are two well-documented damage signals, marking double strand breaks and stalled replication forks, respectively. Inhibitors of thymidylate synthase (TS) and ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) are chemotherapeutics that act by depriving cells of the deoxynucleotides necessary for DNA synthesis, which causes damage. The response and repair pathways activated by these chemotherapeutics have been studied for a number of years but there remain unanswered questions as to how cancer cells perceive this damage, the …

Role Of Allergic Sensitization, Filaggrin Variants, And Dna, Ali H. Ziyab

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Allergic disorders, including eczema, asthma, and rhinitis, have emerged as a global public health concern due to their elevated prevalence and the associated clinical morbidity. Environmental, immunologic, and genetic factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of allergic disorders. Allergic sensitization (representing deviated immune responses) and filaggrin gene (FLG) variants (leading to dysfunctional epidermal barrier) have shown to be common predisposing factors in the development of allergic disorders. However, there is a lack of knowledge on their joint effects on the development of single and multiple (coexistence) allergic disorders. More recently, epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, have emerged …

Role Of Chronic Inflammation On Liver Function During Cachexia Progression In The ApcMin/+ Mouse Model, Aditi Narsale

Theses and Dissertations

Cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome that manifests during the advanced stage of chronic diseases and is characterized by a progressive loss of body mass sustained by underlying inflammation. The ApcMin/+ mouse is an established model of cachexia that exhibits a gradual loss of body mass correlating with increasing tumor burden and plasma IL – 6 levels. Moreover it also mimics other secondary characteristics observed in cachectic patients like splenomegaly, elevated plasma endotoxin levels, gut barrier dysfunction, hypogonadism and an overall hypermetabolic state. Liver controls the energy metabolism in the body by regulating glucose and lipid metabolism, glycogen storage, filtration of …

Status Epilepticus Induced Alterations In Hippocampal Anatomy And Neurotransmission, Denise K. Grosenbaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Status epilepticus (SE) is a life-threatening neurologic emergency occurring when the brain is in an unrelenting state of seizure activity. Approximately 40% of people who encounter a single event of SE go on to develop epilepsy, characterized by spontaneously occurring seizures. While the exact mechanisms underlying seizure origin are not understood, at a fundamental level seizures initiate due to an imbalance between inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmission. We explored the impact of SE and the development of epilepsy on GABAA receptor mediated inhibitory neurotransmission and kainate receptor (KAR) mediated excitatory neurotransmission.

Stiripentol (STP), a positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor, …

Understanding The Relationship Between Health Locus Of Control And God Locus Of Health Control And Health Behaviors In College Students Through Mediation Analysis, Joni Deann Marr

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Similar to the general population, college students have high rates of overweight/obesity and low rates of physical activity (PA) and healthy nutrition habits. Internal health locus of control (LOC) and religiosity/spirituality have been associated with positive health behaviors in various populations, but the mechanisms explaining these associations are still unclear. Purpose: The goals of this study were to understand the relationship between both health LOC and God locus of health control (independent variables) and PA, fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) and dietary fat intake (dependent variables) of college students through mediation analysis. Self-efficacy, social support, congregational social support and …

The Development, Implementation, And Testing Of An Interactive Sexual Health Web-Based Application Intervention To Reduce Sexual Risk Behaviors Among College Students, Dawnyéa Dominique Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

College life is often regarded as a time for exploration and growth. One major area of exploration and growth for college students is sex and sexuality. Growth and exploration involves not only learning how to master these life situations, but also experiencing some negative consequences. Negative consequences for college students engaging in sexual risk-taking behaviors often lead to a high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), unintended pregnancies, emotional distress, and large healthcare costs. Given the high prevalence of risky sexual behavior among young adults and the highly negative consequences of risky sexual behavior for this population, it is critical …

Effects Of Hiv-1 Tat Protein On Structure, Function And Trafficking Of The Dopamine Transporter, Narasimha Murty Midde

Theses and Dissertations

The alarming rise in HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is, at least in part, associated with HIV-1 viral proteins shed from infected macrophages, including transactivator of transcription (Tat) despite the success of anti-retroviral therapies. The dopamine (DA) system is greatly involved in the progression of HAND and is influenced by psychostimulants like cocaine. The DA transporter (DAT), a key regulator of neurocognitive functions, is a major molecular target for both Tat and cocaine. Our lab previously reported that exposure to Tat decreases DA uptake through allosteric regulation and alters cocaine binding sites in DAT.

In this research project the hypothesis …

A Multiple Imputation Approach For Semiparametric Cure Model With Interval Censored Data, Jie Zhou

Theses and Dissertations

Interval censored survival data, where the exact event time is only known to lie in an observed time interval, is commonly encountered in practice. Such data analysis may be conducted under the setting where a fraction of patients can be considered as fully recovered and will not experience the event of interest in the future; while the other patients who did not recover totally will have the outcome of interest. We proposed a semiparametric estimation method for the proportional hazard mixture cure model, which is easy to implement and computationally efficient. A multiple imputation approach based on the asymptotic normal …

Longitudinal Evaluations Of Objectively Measured Physical Activity: Capturing The Full Spectrum Of Duration And Intensity, Amanda E. Paluch

Theses and Dissertations

Most physical activity research to date narrows its focus toward intensities and durations only encompassed in the Physical Activity Guidelines of moderate to vigorous intensity in at least 10 minute bouts (MVPA-10). Examining activity in this manner excludes light activity and shorter bouts, sometimes referred to as baseline physical activity (BPA) as it consists of the activity accumulated during daily life at durations and/or intensities below what is recommended. This dissertation provides an evaluation of the entire spectrum of physical activity (PA). Physical activity was studied in a unique way by looking at MVPA-10, then adding shorter bouts and light …

Association Of Serum Immunoglobulin G (Igg) Antibodies Against Periodontal Bacteria In Type 2 Diabetes And Pre-Diabetes And Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Deepika Shrestha

Theses and Dissertations

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease caused by polybacterial infection and inflammation plays key role that associates periodontal disease with different systemic diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The main objective of this study is to evaluate and explore the association of serum IgG antibodies in four distinct clusters that were formed empirically from species specific 19 periodontal antibody titers with T2DM and pre-diabetes adjusting for known confounders such as age, sex, race-ethnicity, income to poverty ratio, education, smoking and drinking alcohol, BMI, WC, physical activity, missing teeth, dentist visits and other nutritional factors.

From the first aim, we formed …

Enhancing Peripheral Opioid Analgesia: Development Of Viral Vector And Small Peptide Therapies, Sherika Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic neuropathic pain often decreases quality of life, incurs high medical costs and is difficult to treat. Neuropathic pain can develop as a result of nerve damage induced by trauma or diseases such as diabetes and cancer. This type of pain is often resistant to standard treatments for chronic pain. Effective and safe treatments for persistent neuropathic pain remain an unmet therapeutic need. The primary objective of this work was to test the hypotheses that peripheral opioid analgesia can be enhanced using a herpes simplex virus vector gene therapy approach and peripheral opioid tolerance can be prevented by blocking opioid …

Women’S Hiv Prevention Study (Whips): A Proposal To Pilot Test An Hiv Intervention For Older African American Women Living With Hiv, Charsey Cherry

Theses and Dissertations

Despite improvements in treatments over the past 30 years, HIV /AIDS continues to be a major public health threat, particularly among sub-populations such as African American women. Midlife and older adults (those aged 40 years and over) are fast becoming a growing concern for HIV/AIDS infections, particularly older African American women. There has been limited research targeting midlife and older African American women living with HIV that aimed to reduce their transmission of HIV and promote them becoming prevention advocates. In response to this gap in the literature, a culturally tailored intervention guided by the IMB Model of behavior change …

Prediction Of Coronary Heart Disease Within The Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study Population, Jennifer Carol Gander

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a compilation of three studies that were conducted to better 1) Further validate a thoroughly tested Framingham Risk Score (FRS) on a unique cohort with comprehensive measures available, 2) Update and improve the predictability of the FRS through the addition of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) while resolving limitations in previous studies, and 3) Assess the predictability of non-exercise estimated CRF (e-CRF) and FRS on CHD. A manuscript was generated for each study utilizing data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study.

To validate the FRS, a multivariable Cox Proportional Hazard Model was used to determine the association between FRS …

Effects Of Language Predictability And Speech Rate On Speech Entrainment Performance In Healthy Individuals, Honey Isabel Hubbard

Theses and Dissertations

Speech entrainment, a paradigm in which a participant shadows the speech of an audiovisual model in real time, has been show to benefit individuals with non-fluent aphasia. A study examining the effects of language predictability and speech rate was conducted to understand factors that influence speech entrainment performance.

A recent study by Fridriksson and colleagues (2012) demonstrated that training with speech entrainment significantly increased the number of words participants with non-fluent aphasia were able to produce. Perhaps even more remarkably, these effects showed generalization. As a result, speech entrainment could be used to rehabilitate speech impairment in stroke. However, there …

A Study Of An Uncharacterized Penicillium Species Isolated From A Hypersaline Pond In San Salvador, Bahamas, Virginia Elizabeth Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

A large number of facultative marine fungi are unexplored (Lai et al., 2007). They exist in the hypersaline environment with reduced growth and metabolism for an indeterminable period of time and are believed to have no ecological role. Here we report the discovery of one novel facultative Penicillium species that we named Penicillium virginium. We show that when transferred from its native ecosystem, a salt pond in San Salvador, Bahamas, to a laboratory fungal growth medium, Penicillium virginium demonstrates a higher growth rate in absence of salt than in presence of salt confirming that it is a facultative marine fungus. …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Its Relationship With Inflammation, Metabolic Biomarkers And Mortality, Nitin Shivappa

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Diet and its components are known to play an important factor in the process of inflammation and in turn on the health effects that are related to inflammation like cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Previous research so far has mainly looked at the effect of specific food or nutrients on inflammation and health outcomes. In this regard a new literature derived and population based dietary index called Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) was developed after carefully screening around 6000 articles that looked at the association between 45 food parameters and 6 commonly studied inflammatory markers. The list of food parameters includes …

Longitudinal Changes In The Inflammatory Potential Of Diet And Risk Of Cancer In Women, Fred Kinyuytabung

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: The dietary inflammatory index (DII) assesses an individual’s overall diet quality with regards to its inflammatory potential on a continuum from maximally anti-inflammatory (lower or healthier DII scores) to maximally pro-inflammatory (higher or unhealthy DII scores). The DII measured at one point in time has been associated with cancer risk in previous studies; however, data are lacking regarding the change in DII over time and how these changes impact cancer risk. We assessed changes in the DII, and evaluated associations between cumulative history, and changes over time in dietary inflammatory potential, and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and breast …

Two Studies Of Family-Centered Care Family-Centered Care And Shared Decision Making: Are They The Same Construct? And The Association Of Family-Centered Care And Shared Decision Making With Receipt Of All Needed Prescription Drugs And Emergency Department Visits In Children With Asthma, Barbara Lee Brumbaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Family-Centered Care (FCC) is considered the standard of care in pediatrics, being affirmed in 2003 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Family centered practices center around five specific provider actions: (1) did the provider spend enough time; (2) did the provider listen carefully; (3) was the provider sensitive to the needs of the family, including their values and customs; (4) did the provider provide information as needed; (5) did the provider make the caregiver feel like a partner in the care of the child. In addition to FCC practices, shared decision making (SDM) has been indicated as important in …

Best Practices In High Fidelity Patient Simulation To Enhance Higher Order Thinking Skills, Kathryn S. Mock

Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate nursing education has begun to use very expensive and time intensive high fidelity simulation activities without making full use of the ability to build higher order thinking skills in students. Current research in high fidelity patient simulation has tended to be subjective and focus on critical thinking. However, reflective thinking habits of mind must be in place before full use can be made of critical thinking skills. A comprehensive search of all reflective thinking literature used in conjunction with simulated patient experiences by healthcare students was undertaken. A guideline

was created for nurse faculty to use that outlined current …

Father Influence On Adolescent Sexual Debut, Daniel Joseph Blocker

Theses and Dissertations

Guided by the limited previous literature of adolescent sexual debut and father behaviors, this study examined the influence of father warmth, involvement, and monitoring on adolescent age of sexual debut and likelihood of sexual debut before age 16. Participants and measures were drawn from the Flourishing Families Project and included 346 families and variables from measures completed by adolescents and their parents. A zero-inflated Poisson model was used to test the relationship between father variables and adolescent sexual debut. Gender differences were also analyzed. The findings indicate that an increase in father warmth correlates with a decreased age of sexual …

The Effects Of Community Support On Posttraumatic Growth Outcomes For Parents Of Children With Chronic Illness, Colleen Gannon

Theses and Dissertations

Parents of children with chronic illnesses face many stressors on multiple fronts as a result of their child's care needs. Posttraumatic growth is positive psychological outcomes of stress for those who have experienced a traumatic event, such as the diagnosis of a child with a chronic illness. While much is known about the challenges of caring for a child with a chronic condition, there is little research on these parent's growth outcomes. Of the research that does exist, much focuses on internal predictors of posttraumatic growth, such as personality characteristics. The purpose of this study is to begin to investigate …

Comparing Speech Movements In Different Types Of Noise, Sarah Jane Scott

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the impact of several noise conditions on speech articulator movements during a sentence repetition task. Sixty participants in three age groups ranging from 20 to 70 repeated a sentence under five noise conditions. Lower lip movements during production of a target sentence were used to compute the spatiotemporal index (STI). It was hypothesized that STI would be lower (indicating greater stability) in the silent baseline condition. There were changes in speech production under several of the noise conditions. The duration for the 1-talker condition was significantly shorter when compared to the silent condition, which could be due …

The Spanish Language Proficiency Of Sequential Bilingual Children And The Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale, Jessica Maribel Tavizón

Theses and Dissertations

The challenge facing children learning language bilingually has led to efforts to improve the assessment and treatment of language learning difficulties. One of these efforts is the development and validation of the Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale (SELPS). Previous research has been performed to validate the scale for English language proficiency but not for Spanish language proficiency. Twenty-four sequential bilingual children produced spontaneous narrative language samples that were rated using the SELPS and coded for language sample variables using the Systemic Analysis of Language Transcripts software. Several language sample variables, most notably the Subordination Index, the number of omitted bound morphemes, …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Treating Oppositional Defiant Disorder: A Comparison By Treatment Modality And Mental Health Provider Type, Julie Denise Malloy

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the treatment outcomes for Oppositional Defiant Disorder by provider license type and therapy modality. Administrative data from Cigna Insurance Company for 9,904 ODD cases were analyzed to determine the cost, number of sessions, dropout rates, and recidivism rates for treatment of ODD. Descriptive statistics indicate that the mean cost of treatment for ODD across all professions is $389.83. Analyses revealed significant differences in total cost by profession, as well as cost per session for different license types with counselors providing therapy for the lowest average total cost, followed by MFTs, MSWs, Psychologists and then MDs. Chi square …

Story Generation Ability In Four Children With Language Impairment, Monica Leroy Chamberlain

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project focused on the complexity of story generations produced by four children with language impairment across treatment sessions. Specifically, the participants' utterances were analyzed to determine if the children produced simple story elements and/or more complex cause/effect story elements. The children's utterances were also analyzed to identify emotion words in order to consider the children's awareness of the emotions experienced by characters in the stories. All participants approached the story generation task by describing characters and actions based on pictures from the book. Two participants did not express any causal relationships and two participants expressed some awareness of …

A Model Of Grammatical Category Acquisition In The Spanish Language Using Adaptation And Selection, Camille Lorraine Judd

Theses and Dissertations

Most typically developing children have achieved a knowledge of the grammatical categories of the words in their native language by school age. To model this achievement, researchers have developed a variety of explicit, testable models or algorithms which have had partial but promising success in extracting the grammatical word categories from the transcriptions of caregiver input to children. Additional insight into children's learning of the grammatical categories of words might be obtained from an application of evolutionary computing algorithms, which simulate principles of evolutionary biology such as variation, adaptive change, self-regulation, and inheritance. Thus far, however, this approach has only …

Me, You, And Porn: A Common-Fate Analysis Of Pornography Use And Sexual Satisfaction Among Married Couples, Cameron C. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Guided by recent literature and theory addressing pornography use, the current study examined the associations between pornography use and acceptance of pornography and whether they predict sexual satisfaction as reported by both husbands and wives. Using data from the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire (RELATE) (N=335 couples), a common-fate approach was used to examine both common and unique attributes of husbands and wives among pornography use, acceptance of pornography, and sexual satisfaction. Results indicate that pornography use was positively associated with pornography acceptance, but that pornography acceptance did not mediate the relationship between pornography use and sexual satisfaction. Husbands’ pornography use was …

A Model Of Children's Acquisition Of Grammatical Word Categories Using An Adaptation And Selection Algorithm, Teresa Young

Theses and Dissertations

Most children who follow a typical developmental timeline learn the grammatical categories of words in their native language by the time they enter school. Researchers have worked to provide a number of explicit, testable models or algorithms in an attempt to model this language development. These models or algorithms have met with some varying success in terms of determining grammatical word categories from the transcripts of adult input to children. A new model of grammatical category acquisition involving an application of evolutionary computing algorithms may provide further understanding in this area. This model implements aspects of evolutionary biology, such as …