Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Senate Bill (Sb) 172: Governance Of Nutrition In Kentucky Public Schools: Implementation Analysis Final Report, Bill Brumbach

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This report is intended to evaluate the implementation of Senate Bill (SB) 172 in Kentucky's public schools. This law requires that all schools in Kentucky implement strict nutrition standards that apply to all foods sold during the school day. This report highlights the different methods used by selected schools in implementing the requirements in SB 172. In performing my analysis, I traveled to different schools in central and southeastern Kentucky to assess how these select schools were meeting the requirements of the law. Site visits allowed me to discuss implementation strategies with school administrators and aided in my understanding of …

Expanding A General Surgery Practice: Privileges, Ambulatory Care Centers And Hospital Interactions, Julia Snow

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The objective of this case study is to document the interactions between a general surgery practice group and a university medical center as the physician group establishes and seeks to expand its revenue base. The group proposes to lease or purchase a practice location where they can consult with patients and perform procedures. The practice location is near a competitive hospital, Saint Jose East. The surgeons currently have privileges at Saint Jose Hospital and request to continue the privileges.

The case study's design and methods include benchmarking and financial analysis. The results of the study are :

• Benchmarking of operating …

The Prevalence Of High Risk Sexually Transmitted Disease Behaviors Among Homosexual College Students, Teofanes Q. Natavio

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Competencies And Physical Agent Modalities: An Investigation Of Clinical And Ethical Implications, Casey A. Lambert

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Occupational therapy has evolved from its early inception in diversional therapy to incorporate technologically advanced modalities into the professional domain. Over the last thirty years the profession has increasingly incorporated physical agent modalities (PAMs) into the treatment process. Throughout this process there has been both opposition and support for the inclusion of PAMs in occupational therapy. There are concerns from both sides regarding the proper training of therapists in the use of PAMs, how competency should be assessed, who is responsible for ensuring competency, and the ethical concerns with the use of these modalities.

This phenomenological study analyzed six therapists’ …

Serum Gamma-Glutamyltransferase And The Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes In A Population-Based Cohort Study Of Older Mexican Americans, Lynn Blythe

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that increased GGT predicts an increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in elderly Mexican Americans.

Data from a population-based cohort study of 1789 community-dwelling Mexican American men and women, aged 60-101, in the SALSA study were used. Data for 1,203 participants without diabetes at baseline were evaluated for incident diabetes. Proportional hazard models were used to predict the probability of incident T2D by GGT level.

After adjustment for age, gender, smoking, alcohol use, and BMI, the risk of developing T2D associated with GGT was significant at 1.4 (95% CI 1.2 -1.7). However, …

Evaluating If The Built Environment Has A Substantial Effect On Obesity In Fayette County, Kentucky, Will Warren

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Background:

Obesity is a major health issue in the United States and Fayette County. As Fayette County has become increasingly obese, it too has had an issue of sprawl within its urban service area and beyond. Relationships between obesity and aspects of the built environment are continuing to be studied.

Objective:

To evaluate the impact certain factors may have on the body mass index of Fayette County residents, in particular whether urban sprawl has an overriding impact on the weight of residents.

Methods:

The study area used was Fayette County, which was broken down into its fourteen zip code areas …

The Clinical Utility Of Mlu And Ipsyn For Aae-Speaking Children, Emily Lee Jones

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the clinical utility of two assessment measures for one group of nonstandard English dialect speakers, that of African-American English- (AAE) speaking children. The measures were mean length of utterance (MLU) and Index of Productive Syntax (IPSyn). The clinical utility of these measures was examined by comparing MLU and IPSyn values of three different groups of AAE speakers to determine if these measures are influenced by a child’s socio-economic status, dialect status, and/or clinical language status. An item analysis was also completed for IPSyn to determine if the items on this tool are …

Evaluating The Effect Of Two Commercial Antimicrobial Products On Salmonella Spp. In The Aquatic Habitat Of The Red-Eared Slider Turtle (Trachemys Scripta Elegans), Trevor Theadore Zachariah

LSU Master's Theses

Turtle-associated salmonellosis was recognized as a public health concern in the 1960’s, particularly due to an increase in the incidence of disease among children. In response to the public health threat, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented regulations in 1975 restricting the sale of turtle eggs and turtles with a carapace length less than 10.2 cm. Since that time, attempts to eliminate Salmonella from turtles using antibiotics have been unsuccessful and lead to antibiotic resistant strains of Salmonella on turtle farms. Recent work has focused on identifying non-antibiotic products to suppress or eliminate Salmonella and reverse the …

Visualizing The Function And Migration Of T Cells, Kari J. Dugger

All ETDs from UAB

Lymphocytes are highly mobile cells that can travel throughout the body in response to a multitude of stimuli. Identifying lymphocyte trafficking patterns in vivo is essential for a complete understanding of immune function. Cell-cell and cell-tissue interactions in immune development and in lymphocyte response to stimuli can be comprehended with these investigations. Although the location of cell populations in various tissues at any given point in time may be investigated by techniques such as flow cytometry and immunofluorescence, these methods are not easily used in the assessment of dynamic cell migration patterns in vivo. In the past years, technologies for …

The Role Of Chloride In The Volume Regulation Of Human Glioma Cells, Nola Jean Ernest

All ETDs from UAB

According to the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, the most common primary brain tumors are gliomas, tumors composed of cells of glial origin, most commonly astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The most aggressive of these tumors are characterized by hyperproliferation, marked cellular and nuclear atypia, extensive infiltration into surrounding normal brain tissue, and large areas of cell and tissue death. Previous data published by our lab and others suggest that these biological processes may involve regulated cell volume changes. Using cell volume regulation in the presence of an anisosmotic challenge as a model for cell swelling and shrinkage, cell …

Importance Of Trnalys,3 Structure And Use In Gag Translation For Primer Selection Required For Replication Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type I, Wanfeng Yu

All ETDs from UAB

The features of tRNALys,3 that dictate why human immunodeficiency virus exclu-sively selects this tRNA as the primer for initiation of reverse transcription is unknown. The post-transcriptional modification at nucleotide 58 in the TΨC stem-loop could play a role during plus-strand synthesis to stop reverse transcriptase from re-copying the tRNA primer. Nucleotides 53 and 54 within the TΨC stem loop of the tRNA have been shown to be important to form the complex between tRNA and the HIV-1 viral genome during initiation of reverse transcription. To further delineate the features of the TΨC stem loop in tRNALys,3 in reverse transcription, we …

A Comparison Of Flexural Fracture Of Three Different Nickel-Titanium Rotary File Systems, Matthew Warren Lloyd

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the number of rotations to failure of three different rotary file systems. ProFile, Sequence, and Liberator files in sizes 25 and 40 with 0.04 taper were divided into groups of five and rotated against a grooved metal block mounted to a Universal testing machine at 31 and 34 degrees. Each file was rotated at 300 rpm until fracture occurred. The number of rotations to fracture were calculated. Use of a three-way ANOVA and Tukey's HSD multiple comparison tests revealed significant differences for the angle of deflection, size, and type of file. An …

The Utility Of Depression Screening Measures After Traumatic Brain Injury, Amy H. Riddick

Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: Identifying reliable, practical and easy to use tools to assess depression in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), is a necessary first step to addressing a high incidence problem. The intention of this study is to validate depression screening measures with a criterion-based structured interview among people with TBI. The final outcome will identify which measure is the best indicator of depression diagnosis in this population. Methods: 112 participants with TBI were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Neurobehavioral Functioning Inventory (NFI), The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D), and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV TR Axis I …

The Substituted Pyrrole Jb-03-14 Induces Autophagic Cell Death And Growth Arrest In Breast Tumor Cells, Christopher Ryan Arthur

Theses and Dissertations

The use of chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer has stimulated the demand for better chemotherapeutic agents that are more potent at destroying tumor cell populations and more selective for the specific tumor versus normal host tissues. This project is directed at discovering new anti-tumor agents that are effective against breast cancer based on structures derived from marine organisms, specifically brominated pyrroles. We utilized an in vitro breast cancer model to study the effects of pyrroles on tumor proliferation and survival, as well as growth arrest and cell death. Our findings indicate that the substituted pyrrole JG-03-14 induces time dependent …

Overbite Correction And Smile Esthetics, Kevin Erick Kelleher

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this prospective clinical study was to investigate differences in outcomes from two common treatment modalities used to reduce deep overbite: maxillary incisor intrusion using an intrusion arch and posterior tooth eruption using an anterior bite plate. Pre-treatment, post-overbite correction and post-treatment records were gathered from 32 patients who presented with deep overbite malocclusions to the Virginia Commonwealth University orthodontic clinic. Both groups of patients experienced reductions in overbite and maxillary incisor display as well as maxillary and mandibular incisor proclination and mandibular incisor occlusal movement during treatment. In the intrusion arch group, the center of resistance of …

Obesity As A Risk Factor For Preeclampsia: Role Of Inflammation And The Innate Immune System, Tanvi Jayendra Shah

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a known risk factor for preeclampsia, but the reason for this risk is unknown. We sought to demonstrate how obese individuals are predisposed to preeclampsia by mechanisms involving inflammation and the innate immune system. First, we used immunohistochemical studies to identify neutrophil infiltration, NF-κB activation and COX-2 expression in vascular tissue of obese women. We then demonstrated similar neutrophil infiltration and vascular inflammation in preeclamptic women.We used in vitro experiments to test if neutrophils and their products, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) can activate NF-κB and cause expression of its inflammatory products, COX-2, thromboxane …

A Survey On The Usage Of Articaine Among General And Pediatric Dentists, Robert Louis Hollowell Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the impact that the introduction of articaine has had on local anesthetic selection by general and pediatric dentists for use in three different age groups of children.Methods: Using a cross sectional survey design, a questionnaire regarding the use of local anesthetics in children was mailed to a random sample of 500 general dentists from North Carolina, 500 general dentists from Virginia, and all 230 pediatric dentists from North Carolina and Virginia. The 16-item questionnaire included questions regarding the preferred local anesthetic to use in three different age groups, 2-3 years of …

The Effect Of A Nominal Fee On Treatment Choices For Children Needing Dental Rehabilitation, D'Audra M. Cole

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine if a co-payment resulted in a differential preference for general anesthesia (GA) or oral sedation (OS) and, if so, to examine whether age, the number of appointments, perceived risks of treatment, child's awareness during treatment, or insurance type appeared to play a role in this preference.Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaires were distributed to caregivers of patients in the waiting room of the Virginia Commonwealth University Pediatric Dental Clinic. Two different questionnaires were distributed randomly. Both surveys described a scenario with the need for dental treatment under general anesthesia (GA) …

The Quantitative Genetics Of Neurodevelopment: A Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Of Childhood And Adolescence, James Eric Schmitt

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the causes of individual differences in brain structure may give clues about the etiology of cognition, personality, and psychopathology, and also may identify endophenotypes for molecular genetic studies on brain development. We performed a comprehensive statistical genetic study of anatomic neuroimaging data from a large pediatric sample (N=600+) of twins and family members from the Child Psychiatry Branch at the NIMH. These analyses included variance decomposition of structural volumetric endophenotypes at several levels of resolution, voxel-level analysis of cortical thickness, assessment of gene by age interaction, several multivariate genetic analyses, and a search for genetically-mediated brain-behavioral relationships. These analyses …

Development Of A Blood Test For The Detection Of Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma, Rebecca Slattery

Theses : Honours

Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma is a highly aggressive form of skin cancer that has a tendency to metastasise. In its early stages, the 5-year survival rate of patients is greater than 90% following surgical excision of an in situ tumour. However, following metastasis of the tumour, the 5-year survival rate declines to 5-35%. Due to the correlation between metastasis and declining survival, studies have attempted to identify potential metastasis as early as possible. Molecular markers of melanoma cells in the peripheral blood of CMM patients have been investigated, as the invasion of tumour cells into the blood is one of the …

Identification And Characterization Of Helper Phage Gene Products Involved In Mobilization Of Staphylococcal Pathogenicity Island Sapi1, Sandra Mckenzie Tallent

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcal pathogenicity island SaPI1 is excised from genomic DNA and extrachromosomal copies are amplified during the vegetative growth of staphylococcal phage 80α. The amplified genetic element is subsequently encapsidated and transduced at very high frequency. Previous studies have demonstrated that the transducing particles have virions with tails that appear identical to those of helper phage 80α but have smaller capsids, commensurate with the smaller genome of the SaPI (Lindsay et.al., 1998). The morphology of the transducing particles, coupled with the observation that the genomic sequence of SaPIl (GenBank U93688) does not reveal any obvious phage structural proteins, has led to …

Depletion Of 32-Kbp Circular Plasmids From Borrelia Burgdorferi, Amanda Paige Derouen Polito

LSU Master's Theses

The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi has a very unusual genome composed of one linear chromosome and up to 21 linear and circular plasmids. Several plasmids are known to be important either for mammalian infection or tick colonization. A single spirochete harbors up to 7 different cp32 plasmids; however, nothing is known about their role in mammalian infection. The plasmids in this family are well maintained during in vitro cultivation, making it difficult to study their functions. To effectively deplete the plasmids, an 8kbp fragment containing essential elements for replication and partitioning in B. burgdorferi was amplified from one of …

The Role Of Toll-Like Receptor 7 In The Neuropathogenesis Of Retrovirus Infection In Neonates, Stephanie Diane Lewis

LSU Master's Theses

Viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS) in infants are rare; however, they are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. These virus infections often induce strong innate immune responses in the brain including: the production of cytokines and chemokines, the activation of astrocytes and microglia and the recruitment of macrophages. Innate immune responses are often initiated by toll-like receptors (TLR). Several studies have demonstrated that toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) can be stimulated by single-stranded RNA from multiple viruses. In the current study, we examined the mechanism by which TLR7 contributes to neuroinflammation in the neonatal brain using a …

A Study Of Auxiliary Be In African American English: A Comparison Of Children With And Without Specific Language Impairment, April W. Garrity

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study’s purpose was to examine the use of auxiliary BE forms in African American English (AAE)-speaking children with and without language impairment. The impetus for this work was a lack of information in the literature about BE use in AAE as a function of form, language status, and tasks, and the relevance of this type of data for testing one theoretical model of childhood language impairment, the Extended Optional Infinitive account (EOI; Rice, Wexler, & Cleave, 1995). Thirty African Americans participated: 10 six-year-olds with specific language impairment (SLI); 10 age controls (AM); and, 10 language controls (LM). All of …

Frameworks For Patient Safety In The Nursing Curriculum, Theresa Maria Chenot

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patient safety (i.e., the degree to which patients are free from accidental injury) has received a great deal of media coverage during the past few years. Professional and regulatory agencies have indicated that patient safety education should be provided to healthcare workers to improve health outcomes. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to gain a better understanding of the current status of patient safety awareness among pre-licensure nursing students. To this end, six research questions guided the study:

1. Will interpretable item constructs be identified when responses to the Healthcare Professional Patient Safety Assessment Curriculum Survey (HPPSACS) are …

Pediatric Oncology: Parent Education Handbook, Lindsey Anderson, Lacey Harrington

Occupational Therapy Capstones

In America, approximately 12,400 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer each year (Harris, 2004). The number of newly diagnosed children is on a steady increase. With this steady increase it is important to ensure that parents of the child diagnosed with cancer have resources about cancer and the treatment process as well as support. A review of current literature, research, and resources was conducted in order to locate the gaps within pediatric oncology. The literature helped identify areas of concern related to pediatric oncology. The areas identified consist of the parents having minimal knowledge while under emotional stress when …

Occupational Therapy Feeding And Eating Manual For Parents Of Children With Oral Motor Deficits, Jessica Kovacevich, Genevieve Ziegler

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Having a child with feeding and eating difficulties can be a very stressful event for parents, and the process of occupational therapy assessment and treatment may also be stressful and confusing for the parents. Most parents are not familiar with feeding and eating difficulties in children, and many parents do not know where to find the information that they need to learn about their child’s diagnosis. After an initial review of literature, it was found that parents of children with special needs have few resources for eating and feeding strategies and approaches for oral motor deficits. It was also found …

Tendon Injury Rehabilitation: A Manual Of Algorithm Protocols For Therapists, Joni Armstrong

Occupational Therapy Capstones

In the field of hand therapy there are a variety of protocols for treatment of patients with tendon injury. Review other literature indicates that most of these protocols have a good anatomical and physiological basis, which then requires the application of clinical experience to decide which protocols to use when treating patients with hand injury. Experienced hand therapists tend to make observations and adapt protocols accordingly to provide patients with good therapy treatment and therefore achieve excellent treatment outcomes. However, therapists that do not see hand patients on a regular basis and do not have a consult base will tend …

The Wings Of Change: Occupational Therapy Activities For Women Of Domestic Violence, Lainie Donahue, Dianna Steen

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Literature indicates that the current services provided to women of domestic violence typically include emergency housing, crisis counseling, and short-term legal and financial assistance (Gorde, Helfrich, & Finlayson, 2004). While these resources provide necessary immediate support to the victim, she may often feel powerless to make long-term changes. If adequate long-term resources and support are not available to the victim, the victim is more likely to return to an abusive situation.

The review of literature focuses on obtaining a deeper understanding of the needs that exist for women subsequent to leaving an abusive relationship, and how to prevent the risk …

An Occupational Therapy Parent Education Handbook: Parenting In The Nicu, Olivia Donald, Angie Laakso

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Parents often feel overwhelmed by their premature infant's fragile medical state and intimidated by the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) environment. The birth of a premature infant is a stressful event for parents because they are coping with their newborn facing life threatening immaturity and its possible consequences, such as handicap or even death. Due to the premature infant's fragile medical state parents often feel their infant does not belong to them but rather to the healthcare staff.

A parent's lack of involvement in their infant's care is a major source of stress, feelings of dis empowerment and a lack …