Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Response Elaboration Training On Sentence Production Of Persons With Chronic Agrammatic Aphasia, Ryan S. Husak

Theses and Dissertations--Rehabilitation Sciences

Purpose: Response Elaboration Training (RET) is a treatment program for increasing the amount of information contained in the speech of individuals with aphasia. This study employed a sentence production task (SPT) to examine whether RET will (1) generalize to a task not worked on in treatment and (2) affect syntactic performance.

Methods and Procedures: Three adults with chronic non-fluent Broca’s aphasia received RET in this prospective, repeated case study. The dependent variable was a SPT requiring the participant to put a verb in a sentence. Changes in the syntactic performance of the participant’s sentence productions were classified across …

Correlation Of Cough Frequency With Treatment Efficacy In Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients In Lima, Peru, Jesus Gutierrez

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Perinatal Palliative Care: Assessment Of Practice Barriers, Clinician Perspectives And Confidence, Charlotte Wool

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Perinatal palliative care (PPC) is an emerging model of care that provides supportive services to families anticipating fetal or neonatal demise. Clinician reported practice barriers, their perspectives of PPC and confidence in caring for patients requiring PPC are unknown. The aim of this research is to fill a gap in understanding clinician perspectives, perceived practice barriers and reported confidence to providing PPC. A cross sectional survey design using the Perinatal Palliative Care Perceptions and Barriers Scale© was administered using a Web-based tool. Recruitment was completed via email invitation and list serves. Participants included physicians (n = 66) and advance practice …

The Influence Of Time Perspective On Physical Activity Intentions And Behaviors Among Adolescents Residing In Central Appalachia., Tauna Gulley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity and inactivity are prevalent among central Appalachian adolescents. Appalachian residents have been labeled "fatalistic," a time perspective unsupportive of health-promoting behaviors such as regular participation in physical activity. The theory of planned behavior has been used extensively to explain the physical activity behaviors of adolescents. Constructs within the theory of planned behavior include attitudes toward the behavior, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intention to perform the behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine the time perspective of central Appalachian adolescents and examine the relationship between time perspective and the constructs within the theory of planned behavior. …

Nicotine Sensitization And Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Content In Adolescent Rats Neonatally Treated With Quinpirole., Addie Roberts

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Neonatal treatment of quinpirole in rats increases dopamine D2-like receptor sensitivity over the animal’s lifetime, a phenomenon referred to as D2 priming. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were given quinpirole (1mg/kg, i.p.) or saline on postnatal days (P)1-21. After habituation to a locomotor arena on P29-31, beginning P33, animals were administered nicotine (0.3 mg/kg, 0.5 mg/kg, or 0.7 mg/kg, i.p.) or saline and placed into a locomotor arena for behavioral testing every second day for a total of 9 treatments. The results showed that adolescents neonatally treated with quinpirole produced more enhanced sensitization to nicotine than controls. Brains tissues were …

An Exploration Of Swallowing Stimulation In The Infant, Sarah Elizabeth Hegyi

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this study was twofold: to determine the effects of two types of non-invasive, peripheral sensory stimulation on the frequency of infant swallowing and to explore the cortical activation patterns in response to stimulation in the somatosensory and motor regions of the brain during infancy, between 2-4 months and 7-9 months of age. The two different forms of mechanical stimulation investigated include pacifier stimulation to the lips and oral cavity and vibrotactile stimulation via the external throat area to the laryngeal tissues. The study represents a prospective, repeated experimental research design. Investigators utilized an accelerometer and an inductive …

Horizontal Violence In The Nursing Work Environment: Beyond Oppressed Group Behavior, Therese M. Mendez

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The United States has been experiencing a nursing shortage since the mid-1990s. The shortage is expected to deepen as the provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are enacted. Horizontal violence is a negative phenomenon in the nursing workplace that contributes to difficulty in recruiting and retaining nurses in hospitals. Horizontal violence has been described as a form of mistreatment, spoken or unspoken, that is threatening, humiliating, disrespectful or accusatory towards a peer. The effects of this nurse on nurse aggression can be devastating for the nurse involved and also for the patients under the nurse's care. …

Genome-Wide Association Analysis Of Major Depressive Disorder And Its Related Phenotypes., Nagesh Ramarao Aragam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a complex and chronic disease that ranks fourth as cause of disability worldwide. Thirteen to 14 million adults in the U.S. are believed to have MDD and an estimated 75% attempt suicide making MDD a major public health problem. Recently several genome-wide association (GWA) studies of MDD have been reported; however, few GWA studies focus on the analysis for MDD related phenotypes such as neuroticism and age at onset of MDD. The purpose of this study is to determine risk factors for MDD, identify genome-wide genetic variants affecting neuroticism and age at onset as quantitative …

Knowledge Of The Effects Of Alcohol On Fetal Development Among Women Of Childbearing Age., Mary Bales

Undergraduate Honors Theses

While Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder is a recognized problem with alcohol ingestion during the formation of facial features, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are not as widely recognized. These disorders result from exposure to alcohol throughout pregnancy when the brain and nervous system are developing. The resulting disorders include attention deficit disorders, social disorders, inappropriate behaviors, learning disorders, and intellectual disability. The incidence of children with alcohol-related disorders is increasing as evidenced by children needing special services in the educational systems. It is unknown how much alcohol ingestion is safe during pregnancy or how genetic factors are involved in the development …

7,8-Dihydroxyflavone, A Selective Tyrosine Kinase Receptor B Agonist And Bdnf Mimic, Promotes Angiogenesis., Jeremy Williams

Undergraduate Honors Theses

7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF), which is a member of the flavonoid family, is a selective tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) agonist that has neurotrophic effects in various neurological diseases such as ischemic stroke and Parkinson’s disease [3]. In this study, we assessed the angiogeneic effect of 7,8-DHF in endothelial cells derived from resistance vessel of the brain. Angiogenesis by 7,8-DHF is an important factor that helps prevent and treat various ischemic diseases. In this study, we found that rat RV cells used in the experiment possess the TrkB receptor. Our data also demonstrates that 7,8-DHF is able to stimulate cell proliferation in …

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels In D2 Receptor Primed Adolescent Rats Given Twice Daily Nicotine Administrations., Josie Minnigh

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Nicotine use is very prevalent in the schizophrenic population, which is a 2.5 fold greater than the general population. In the present study, the drug quinpirole (dopamine D2/D3 agonist) or saline was given neonatally to 25 Sprague-Dawley male and female rats. Rats were randomly assigned to condition. Beginning postnatal day 33 animals were given twice daily administrations of nicotine (0.5 mg/kg free base). After the first of the daily injections they were placed in a locomotor arena every other day for behavioral testing. One day after behavioral testing, the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens were removed for brain-derived neurotrophic factor …

Rn Transition To Practice Program In The Primary Care And School Settings: Development, Implementation, And Evaluation, Maria-Idalia O. Lens

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

New graduate registered nurses (RN) are facing a difficult time finding jobs since the economy of the United States has declined. Since then the California Institute of Nursing and Health Care, along with funding from the Betty Moore Foundation, have developed RN transition programs. These programs were developed to increase skills, confidence, and experience among new RN graduates to promote their transition into the nursing workforce. The programs also were designed to retain newly licensed nurses in the nursing profession while engaging competencies that could be transferred to both acute and outpatient care settings. In addition, the programs are intended …

Asthma Prevalence: Focus On Prevention Management In Community Settings, Augustine M. Amenyah

Public Health Theses

Asthma prevalence continues to increase across the United States of America, affecting more than 43.1 million people and projected to affect over 50 million people by 2025. Asthma prevalence differs by demographic characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, education, age and gender. Poor quality of life is common among people who suffer from asthma, in addition to school and work absenteeism. In 2008, children 5-17 years old with at least one reported asthma attack missed 10.5 million school days in the past year (CDC, 2010). Healthcare use for asthma is high and disparities remain in asthma healthcare use and …

Motherhood And Childbirth Experiences Among Newcomer Women In Canada: A Critical Ethnographic Study, Fatmeh Ahmad Alzoubi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Statement of the Problem: Motherhood and childbirth are very sensitive experiences and have a strong impact on family functioning, social identity, and cohesiveness. Although motherhood and childbirth have been discussed extensively in the scholarly and popular literature, much of this work has been conducted from a North American perspective, with little attention to how motherhood and childbirth are experienced by newcomer women from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds.

Methodology and Theoretical Orientation: A critical ethnographic study using in-depth interviews with 16 newcomer women was utilized to explore newcomer women’s experiences and understandings of motherhood and childbirth in the aftermath of …

Age Predicted Heart Rate Max Equations In College-Aged Students, Jessica Benchley

Honors Theses

Many clinicians use heart rate to tell how fit an individual is and how healthy they are. They can prescribe exercise based on heart rate and other medical conditions to help clients get better through exercise. Instead of running a client through a graded exercise test each time there is a problem, it would be much more effective to find an accurate equation to predict a max heart rate value and prescribe exercise using that value. The purpose of this experiment is to see which equation tends to predict the most accurate max heart after.

Nutrition Knowledge Of Division I Tennis And Cross-Country Collegiate Athletes At Coastal Carolina University, Kate Dowling

Honors Theses

As competition increases, athletes continue to look for ways to gain a competitive edge. A review of the sources reveals that athletes lack nutritional knowledge; this could impair their performance. If athletes were more educated in nutritional knowledge, they would understand the importance of food in fueling one's body. This may dissuade athletes from using unnecessary supplements or ergogenic aids. The purpose of this study is to add to the existing research to determine if Division I collegiate athletes lack nutritional knowledge. To determine this, a dietary behavior and nutritional knowledge questionnaire was conducted with 28 Division I collegiate athletes …

An Analysis Of The Dietary Behaviors Of Coastal Carolina University's Ncaa Division I Student-Athletes, Alyssa Markowitz

Honors Theses

It is common knowledge that practice is the key to becoming better at something. This theory holds true with almost anything, from tying shoelaces to becoming a professional athlete. Elite athletes say that what has made them reach the top in their sports today is an incredible amount of dedication to repeatedly practicing their skills. As competition in sports becomes fiercer and starts at an increasingly younger age, practicing gains emphasis, but this is not the only aspect of achieving optimal performance that is extremely important. There is another factor that plays into how well one performs that is not …

Risk Factor Clustering Among Adolescents Infected With Or At-Risk For Chlamydia: A Descriptive Study, Elizabeth R. Wilson

Public Health Theses

STDs are a major public health epidemic in the United States with an estimated 19 million new cases occurring annually. Associated direct medical costs are estimated at $17 billion annually (CDC, 2010). Chlamydia is the most prevalent of all STDs and is also the most reported notifiable disease in the United States. While adolescents only account for an estimated 25% of the sexually active population, they account for nearly half of the 19 million cases. The higher prevalence of STDs among adolescents is most likely a reflection of multiple issues within a national socio-economic context. Additionally, the burden is even …

The Effects Of Leg Length Discrepancy On Gait And Balance, Colin E. Dombroski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Leg length discrepancy is a condition shown to affect 25-70% of the general population. The ubiquitous nature of leg length discrepancy can prove frustrating to many clinicians, particularly due to lack of consensus surrounding the amount of discrepancy that necessitates treatment.

The present research is intended to address the uncertainty surrounding diagnostic and treatment thresholds, through three related studies. In the first study, leg length discrepancy was manipulated in a sample of 15 healthy young adults, using a novel heel-to-toe lift (creating discrepancies of 5mm, 20mm, and 30mm), and the effects of this new discrepancy was observed on the spatial-temporal …

Steps To Evaluate The Emory Breast Center Cancer Education Class, Jillian B. Ogden

Public Health Theses

Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) data estimates that 207,090 women will be diagnosed with and 39,840 women will die of cancer of the breast in 2011. Cancer can be a very intimidating illness and cause a great deal of anxiety. This anxiety can sometimes progress into a very serious medical problem. Interpersonal relationships, such as that between a patient and provider can influence health behavior. Communication functions of patient-provider communication such as, information exchange, uncertainty management, can improve health outcomes both directly and indirectly. For example, cancer education can help ease anxiety by familiarizing the patient with their particular …

Impact Of Multiple Children On Parental Supervision Practices, Parental Developmental Competence, And Unintentional Injury Risk, Jennifer L. Taylor

Dissertations

Unintentional injury is the leading cause of childhood mortality and morbidity in the United States. The effects of injury on children, families and society encompass physical, mental, emotional, and financial consequences. The highest injury rates are among preschool age children, especially preschool children who have siblings. Child injury prevention strategies can reduce the rates of childhood unintentional injuries and minimize the burdens to children, families, and society created by these injuries. To design and implement effective child injury prevention strategies, further investigation is needed to understand the relationship between the variables influencing the occurrence of child injuries. The specific aim …

Chest Tube Dressings: A Comparison Of Different Methods, Susan Kathleen Blackburn Jones

Dissertations

This study is an experimental design with randomization comparing the use of standard gauze dressings (SGD) to transparent adhesive dressings (TAD) to cover chest tube insertion sites in post-operative patients who have undergone cardio-thoracic surgery. The study was conducted in a 400 bed, tertiary non-academic teaching hospital in the Midwestern United States. Seventy-nine patients were enrolled in the study; 39 received TAD and 40 received SGD. The non-inferiority margin was set at 15% in keeping with current recommendations (Kaul & Diamond, 2006). The TAD was found to be not inferior to the SGD with regards to the proportional differences in …

Sleep Loss And Its Health Impact Among Family Caregivers Of Persons With A Primary Malignant Brain Tumor, Jean Pawl

Nursing Dissertations (PhD)

Sleep impairments for caregivers are multifactorial. Assumptions are that caregivers of those with primary malignant brain tumors (PMBT) are similar to caregivers of persons with dementia as cognitive impairments are present at diagnosis. The shorter trajectory of PMBTs and rapid deterioration of recipients’ health may influence sleep in caregivers of persons with a PMBT. The purposes of this study were to use a sleep impairment model to characterize caregiver sleep using objective and subjective measures, and to examine sleep loss effects on psychosocial and physiologic health outcomes.

A secondary data analysis using baseline data from a larger study of mind-body …

Identifying Data Needs To Support The Public Health Program Of First Care, Rachele D. Ulysse

Public Health Theses

Abstract

Identifying Data Needs to Support the Public Health Program of First Care

Background:

First Care (FC) is a Georgia (GA) public health (PH) program funded by Title V Block Grant, whose main purpose is to provide collaborative skilled PH services for infants with LBW and VLBW (low and very low birth weight) as well as those considered at high risk for illness and disabilities.

Purpose:

1. Describe current health outcomes of GA infants less than one years of age.

* Current baselines of IMR (infant mortality rate), preterm, very low birth weight (VLBW) and low birth weight (LBW) births …

Development Of Dual-Pathway Inhibitors Of Raf/Mek/Erk And Pi3k/Akt Signaling Pathways., Sasha Fraser

Theses and Dissertations

In the present study, we designed a new chemical template that contains an oxindole moiety as potential dual-pathway inhibitors of the Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. The design hypothesis is to evaluate whether the oxindole ring system will approximately orient functional groups in a similar manner to the thiazolidinedione moiety, and thus maintain biological activity as dual-pathway inhibitors of the Raf/MEK/ERK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Furthermore, the oxindole ring will provide the flexibility to allow the introduction of various substituents on the oxindole moiety, thereby facilitating comprehensive SAR studies to further explore the biological activity.

Understanding The Roles Of Physiotherapists Within Ontario Primary Health Care Teams: A Mixed Methods Inquiry, Sinead P. Dufour

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A mixed methods program of research was undertaken in order to better understand the roles of physiotherapists within Ontario primary health care (PHC) teams. A profile of Ontario PHC teams (Family Health Teams and Community Health Centres) was generated to determine the complement of providers and provision of health programming within each PHC team. This first study provided an important contextual backdrop as well as a means to purposefully sample participants for the two following studies. The second study used qualitative descriptive method to explore the perceptions of family physicians and nurse practitioners related to the inclusion of physiotherapists (PTs) …

Age Dependent Spatial Characteristics Of Epileptiform Activity In Malformed Cortex, L. Andrew Bell

Theses and Dissertations

Developmental cortical malformations are a major cause of intractable seizures. Determining the location and timing of susceptibility for epileptiform activity is critical to identifying what mechanisms contribute to epileptogenesis in any model. Using the freeze lesion rat model of polymicrogyria, we have identified, in lesioned cortex, these two aspects of epileptogenesis. Previous studies have demonstrated that epileptiform activity cannot be evoked prior to postnatal day (P) 12, but the malformed cortex is more susceptible to seizures as early as P10. An increase in excitatory afferents to the epileptogenic zone occurs before the onset of network epileptiform activity. Whether or not …

Framework To Secure Cloud-Based Medical Image Storage And Management System Communications, Timothy James Rostrom

Theses and Dissertations

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) have been traditionally constrained to the premises of the healthcare provider. This has limited the availability of these systems in many parts of the world and mandated major costs in infrastructure for those who employ them. Public cloud services could be a solution that eases the cost of ownership and provides greater flexibility for PACS implementations. This could make it possible to bring medical imaging services to places where it was previously unavailable and reduce the costs associated with these services for those who utilize them. Moving these systems to public cloud infrastructure requires …

Planning, Implementation, And Formative Evaluation Of A Food Literacy Program, Heather M. Thomas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The overall purpose of this dissertation was to examine the planning, implementation, and formative evaluation of a community-based food literacy program for youth. Article 1 provided a summary of the community-based cooking program for at-risk youth. Objectives included the provision of applied food literacy and cooking skills education augmented with fieldtrips to local farms. Eight at-risk youth (five girls and three boys, mean age = 14.6) completed the intervention. Post intervention, five of eight participants completed in-depth interviews about their experiences.

Article 2 was a formative evaluation of the cooking program focused on gaining an understanding of participants’ (i.e., at-risk …

The Development And Initial Validation Of The Glassboro Inventory For Twelve-Step (Gifts), Andrew Assini

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present research was to collect qualitative data regarding twelve-step programs which was then used to inform the creation of a new measure of twelve-step engagement. Focus groups were conducted, consisting of twelve-step members, to ascertain an insider perspective on the twelve-step experience. Results showed that "successful recovery" was considered more than just time abstinent by these insiders. These findings were then used to guide the creation of the Glassboro Inventory For Twelve-Step (GIFTS), a new measure of twelve-step engagement which improves upon previous twelve-step measures. The GIFTS was validated against the Alcoholics Anonymous Involvement (AAI; Tonigan, …