Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Incidence Of Early Upper Extremity Disability After Axillary Surgery In Patients With Early Breast Cancer, Karen Mbaabu

Master of Medicine in General Surgery

Background: The treatment of early breast cancer includes surgical removal of the tumor as well as evaluation of the axillary lymph node status. Axillary lymph node surgery, both sentinel lymph node biopsy and axillary lymph node dissection, is associated with upper arm morbidity that has been relatively understudied. The impact of this upper arm limitation has a direct effect on the patients’ quality of life. Determining the degree to which our patients experience this disability will enable the breast cancer unit to develop a prospective surveillance rehabilitative program. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the occurrence of …

Adolescent Girls Empowerment Programme: Research And Evaluation Baseline Technical Report, Paul C. Hewett, Karen Austrian, Erica Soler-Hampejsek, Jere R. Behrman, Christine A. Kelly, Dela Kusi-Appouh, Fiammetta Bozzani, Barbara Mensch, Minyoi Maimbolwa

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The theory of change behind the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Program (AGEP) posits that adolescent girls are empowered by acquiring social, health, and economic assets. Girls can draw on these assets to reduce vulnerabilities and expand opportunities, thereby increasing their likelihood of completing school, delaying sexual debut, and reducing the risk of early marriage, unintended pregnancy, acquisition of HIV, and so on. AGEP serves vulnerable adolescent girls in Zambia aged 10–19 in two age cohorts: 10–14-year-olds and 15–19-year-olds. AGEP operates in ten “master sites,” five urban and five rural, in four provinces of Zambia. The three core components of AGEP in …

Evaluation Of Health And Education Impacts Of A Girls’ Safe Spaces Program In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Annabel Erulkar, Girmay Medhin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Approximately one in eight of the world’s population is a girl or young woman aged 10–24 and attention is increasingly focusing on the central role of adolescent girls in achieving global health and development goals. Areas of focus by the development field include girls’ education, health, child marriage, and the experience of violence. This study analyzes the educational and health impacts of a program for slum-dwelling girls, including child domestic workers and rural-urban migrants. Established in 2006, Biruh Tesfa (Bright Future) aimed to increase social networks and support for the most marginalized girls in the poorest urban areas of Ethiopia. …

Building The Assets To Thrive: Addressing The Hiv-Related Vulnerabilities Of Adolescent Girls In Ethiopia—Policy Brief, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In Eastern and Southern Africa, HIV is the leading cause of death among girls aged 15–19. Despite decades of investment and substantial progress against HIV, adolescent girls remain at disproportionate risk of infection. Few programs have sought to take a “whole girl” approach to addressing the multiple vulnerabilities to HIV infection experienced by the most marginalized adolescent girls in the poorest communities in Africa. “Building the Assets to Thrive: Addressing the HIV-related Vulnerabilities of Adolescent Girls in Ethiopia” is a comprehensive review of three programs implemented and evaluated by the Population Council and the Ethiopian government beginning in 2007: Biruh …

From Evidence To Action: Results From The 2013 Baseline Survey For The Balika Project, Sajeda Amin, Sigma Ainul, Farhana Akter, Mohammad Masudul Alam, Md. Irfan Hossain, Johana Ahmed, Ubaidur Rob

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Population Council and partners are working on a program to generate evidence on what works to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh. This report is an integral part of the program and presents evidence from a baseline study conducted in three districts in southern Bangladesh. The study documents data from a survey conducted in 96 villages on education, livelihoods, sexual and reproductive health, and social life. The program, which offers skills development for girls who are at highest risk and live in impoverished areas of the country with the highest child marriage prevalence, explores the potential benefits of investing in …

Promoting Parent-Child Interaction And Communication For Healthy Development Of Adolescents: Lessons From A Pilot Project In Rural Bihar, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, K.G. Santhya, Santosh Kumar Singh, Rajib Acharya, Aparajita Gogoi, Vinita Nathani

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

There is a recognition in India’s policies and programs of the need to actively engage parents in enabling their adolescent children to make safe and healthy transitions to adulthood. The Population Council, in partnership with CEDPA India, initiated an intervention project for parents of adolescents aimed at developing and testing a program to foster closer relationships between parents and their adolescent children. The project was formulated on the hypothesis that a program intended to build parenting skills would enable parents to develop closer relationships with their adolescent children and communicate more effectively with them on various concerns, particularly those related …

Balika Fact Sheet: Highlight On Girls' Social Lives, Population Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In Bangladesh, in addition to schooling, work opportunities, and family-building patterns, social networks, mobility, and civic participation are important dimensions of young people’s lives. Previous studies have suggested ways in which the seclusion of Bangladeshi women by purdah exerts a strong influence on girls’ lives. This Bangladeshi Association for Life Skills, Income, and Knowledge for Adolescents (BALIKA) fact sheet, “Highlight on Girls’ Social Lives,” concludes that school enrollment plays a positive role by affording girls greater mobility and access to clubs and institutions, and by promoting social interactions. Adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh are usually socially isolated, and have restricted …

Exercise Behavior Patterns In Emerging Adulthood: An Exploration Of Predictor Variables From Self-Determination Theory And Transtheoretical Model, Chad R. Johnson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

During the transition from childhood to adulthood, young people establish patterns of behavior and make lifestyle choices that affect both their current and future health (NCHS, 2010). Emerging adulthood – a new conception of development for the period from the late teens through the twenties – focuses on individuals ages 18-25 who did not have a child, own a home, or have sufficient income to be fully independent (Arnett, 2000). Very little is known about social influence, motivational mediators, and motivation on exercise behavior within this developmental period. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the influence of …

An Examination Of Behavioral And Temporal Consistency Of Pre-Performance Routines In Ncaa Division I Basketball Free Throw Shooting – A Naturalist Observational Investigation, Jacob Blumberg

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Research has shown that pre-performance routines positively influence performance of closed and self-paced skills (Boutcher & Crews, 1987; Cohn, 1990; Otto et al., 2011). Boutcher and Crews (1987) suggested that pre-performance routines improve performance by helping reduce anxiety along with helping athletes’ retain mental sharpness and focus. Furthermore, several quantitative studies have examined the influence of both behavioral and temporal consistency of pre-performance routines on the success of a skill, yielding inconsistent results (Boutcher & Crews, 1987; Lobmeyer & Wasserman, 1986; Lonsdale & Tam, 2008; Jackson, 2003). However, research examining this phenomenon from a qualitative and naturalistic observational perspective is …

Β-Lactam Estrogen Receptor Antagonists And A Dual-Targeting Estrogen Receptor/Tubulin Ligand, Niamh O'Boyle, Jade K. Pollock, Miriam Carr, Andrew Js Knox, Seema M. Nathwani, Shu Wang, Laura Caboni, Daniela M. Zisterer, Mary Meegan

Articles

Twelve novel β-lactams were synthesised and their antiproliferative effects and binding affinity for the predominant isoforms of the estrogen receptor (ER), ERα and ERβ, were determined. β-Lactams 23 and 26 had the strongest binding affinities for ERα (IC₅₀ values: 40 and 8 nM respectively) and ERβ (IC₅₀ values: 19 and 15 nM). β-Lactam 26 was the most potent in antiproliferative assays using MCF-7 breast cancer cells, and further biochemical analysis showed that it caused accumulation of cells in G₂/M phase (mitotic blockade) and depolymerisation of tubulin in MCF-7 cells. Compound 26 also induced apoptosis and downregulation …

Noongar Women's Birth Experience, Judith Pamela Wilson

Theses

This qualitative study used a descriptive interpretive approach that drew heavily on the methodological underpinnings of interpretive phenomenology in order to explore the lived experience of Noongar women in childbirth. The aim of the study was to give voice to Noongar women, who despite having poorer outcomes than the wider population, remain marginalised and mute in childbirth reform. The purpose of the study was to acknowledge as authoritative, Noongar women’s wisdom and understanding of their childbirth experience.

This study was conducted at the cultural interface, by a non-Indigenous researcher who implemented a collaborative and power sharing model of enquiry. Ten …

Detection Of Scardovia Genus From Oral Samples In Children Using Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction, Jungyi Alexis Liu

All ETDs from UAB

Streptococcus mutans (Sm) and Streptococcus sobrinus (Ss) , are considered the major bacterium associated with dental caries. However, recent findings identify Scardovia species (Sc) is associated with early childhood caries, with or without the presence of Sm or Ss. This IRB approved study quantified the presence of Sm and Sc in saliva by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) in relation to caries. Saliva samples were collected from 72 preschool children in a high-caries risk community in rural Alabama. SYBR Green-based qPCR using extracted DNA and primers specific for Sm, Ss, Sc and total bacteria determined the copy number (CN/ml). Twenty two …

Iowa Conference On Communicative Disorders [Program, 2014], Iowa Conference On Communicative Disorders

Iowa Conference on Communicative Disorders Programs

The Iowa Conference on Communicative Disorders provides continuing education activities in speech- language pathology that are acceptable to the State of Iowa and the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association. Areas of emphasis include adults and pediatrics.

The Role Of Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 In Innate Immunity Against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Pneumonia, Mary Katherine Leissinger

LSU Master's Theses

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 is critical for monocyte recruitment to the lungs in response to bacterial infection. MCP-1 is also essential for protective neutrophil recruitment to the lungs during Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia, specifically strain USA300, carries a high morbidity and mortality rate and is an important pathogen in hospital/ventilator and community acquired pneumonia. In the current study, we investigated the role of MCP-1 in pulmonary innate immunity to S. aureus in C57Bl/6, MCP-1-/- and MCP-1 AB blocked mice. As compared to C57Bl/6, MCP-1-/- mice showed increased concentrations of neutrophils in the airways and lung parenchyma …

Cardiovascular Tolerance And Safety Of Intravenous Lidocaine In The Broiler Chicken (Gallus Gallus Domesticus), Joao Manuel Lemos Brandao

LSU Master's Theses

Lidocaine, an amide local anesthetic agent, is commonly used in mammals, including humans. There is a general assumption that birds are more sensitive to lidocaine than mammals. Relatively low doses of lidocaine have been suggested to cause toxic effects in birds. While this information appears to be anecdotal, it has been perpetuated in the literature. The overall objective of this thesis research was to determine the tolerance and safety of intravenous lidocaine in broiler chickens. To assess the cardiovascular effects of lidocaine, relative changes on heart rate and mean blood pressure were calculated. Clinically significant cardiovascular effects were defined as …

Autologous Adipose Derived Adult Multipotent Stromal Cells Alter The Porcine Systemic Immune And Bone Biomarkers Response To Cancellous Bone Xenografts, Jonathan Francis Bova

LSU Master's Theses

The use of a porcine model in assessing bone grafts in vivo is common when a large animal model is necessary. In this thesis we aimed to improve the porcine model of facial reconstruction through the use of a local anesthesia and novel methods of assessing the immune response to and bone forming ability of adult adipose derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ASC). The goals of the research were: 1) evaluate the effect of a bupivacaine mandibular nerve block on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in response to surgical stimulation and the need for systemic analgesics postoperatively, 2) quantify …

Growing Up With Hiv In Kisumu, Kenya: Participatory Action Research With Young People Living With Hiv, Zoe Alexis Hobbs Marinkovich

Doctoral Dissertations

Forty-one percent of new HIV infections are in young people between the ages of 15-24 (Masquillier, et al., 2012). In addition to new infections, advances in medications are now making it possible for children born with HIV to survive into adolescence and adulthood (Bland, 2011; Gray, 2010). Due to the growing population of youth living with HIV, there is an increased need for adolescent-appropriate care and intervention. While many studies have examined the role of education in preventing HIV transmission for HIV-negative youth in the Sub-Saharan context, few have focused on the education and experiences of young people living with …

Combinatorial Effects Of Corexit 9500a And Temperature Stressors On Embryo Development In The Zebrafish Danio Rerio, Erica Davis Anderson

All ETDs from UAB

the Kemp’s Ridley Recovery Program during the 2005-2008 nesting seasons. This

The Involvement Of The Ca2+-Independent Phospholipase A2ss In The Pathogenesis Of Type 1 Diabetes, Robert N. Bone

All ETDs from UAB

chapters test the role of non-steady moisture or temperature on sex ratios produced by the

Mitochondrial Genetics Modify Body Composition, Metabolic Efficiency And Myocardial Metabolism, Kimberly Joanne Dunham-Snary

All ETDs from UAB

Obesity and cardiometabolic pathologies have reached epidemic levels worldwide over the last 30 years. Currently, the majority of research investigating possible genetic causes of obesity is focused on nuclear DNA (nDNA). While this has lead to the development of numerous animal models, it is apparent the etiology of obesity is more complex than single gene mutations. Recently it has also been suggested that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations sustained during evolution as a consequence of our prehistoric environment may influence individual propensity and risk of disease. Contemporary human populations are no longer faced with the challenges of our ancestors such as …

Urbanization And Land-Use Change In Puerto Maldonado, Peru: Categorizing The Landscape Using High-Resolution Satellite Imagery For Potential Use In Public Health Research, Laura Brianna Gast

All ETDs from UAB

Environmental change, especially rapid urbanization, has measurable effects on human health. Over 70 percent of the global population is expected to live in urban areas by 2025, and at least 1 in 3 of these individuals will live in extreme poverty. Living in a slum or shantytown exposes individuals to health and safety risks including inadequate sanitation, lack of access to clean water, air pollution, violence, over-crowding and risk of infectious disease. Remote sensing technologies are an effective tool for detection and prediction of areas with significant land use change, which enables identification of populations with the highest risk of …

A Spatiotemporal Model For Repeated Imaging Data, Brandon George

All ETDs from UAB

Longitudinal imaging studies have increased in popularity as clinical researchers seek to investigate how phenomena within the body change over time. Analysis of data from these studies is complicated by correlation between repeated measures over time and different locations in the body. To address this problem we propose the use of a linear model with a separable parametric correlation structure. This model considers spatial and temporal correlation independently and incorporates the correlation using parametric functions that have the potential to be much more efficient than an unstructured approach. Our model also has the ability to control for time- and space-varying …

Synaptic And Circuit Mechanisms Of Glutamate Spillover Signaling, Luke Teichert Coddington

All ETDs from UAB

Glutamate is the most prominent fast excitatory neurotransmitter released at mammalian central synapses, where point-to-point activation of receptors in postsynaptic densities is accepted to be the primary pathway for information flow through neural circuits. More controversial are the activities of synaptically-released glutamate outside the synaptic cleft of origin, as "spillover" glutamate may signal through neighboring synapses or through extrasynaptic receptors. The role of such extrasynaptic signaling in physiological neuronal communication is unproven and its inappropriate occurrence has been proposed to underlie a range of neurodegenerative conditions. Elucidation of spillover signaling mechanisms thus benefits our understanding of the brain in both …

The Effects Of Using Morphophonic Faces As A Method For Teaching Sight Words To Low-Performing Kindergartners, Ashley Alexandra Brown

LSU Master's Theses

Five kindergarten subjects who had no known disabilities, but were identified as low beginning readers received intervention using both Plain Word Cards (PWC) and pictured word cards, termed MorphoPhonic Faces (MPF). A group of eight words were presented as printed word cards and a comparable group of eight words were presented as MPF. Results revealed that MPF did not hold an advantage for learning and retaining sight words compared to the plain print words. Improvements in sight word training corresponded in time with improved skills underlying the alphabetic principle, including phonological awareness skills and letter-sound learning, as well as emerging …

Improving The Reliability Of Caregivers' Responses On The Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scales (It-Mais) Via Video, Chelsi Meagan Gibbons

LSU Master's Theses

The IT-MAIS is a caregiver-report tool used to assess a child’s functional auditory development pre- and post-implantation (Zimmerman-Phillips, et al., 2001) and as a measure of functional auditory behaviors in studies exploring cochlear implant (CI) candidacy (Barker, Kenworthy, & Walker, 2011; Franz 2002; Osberger, Zimmerman-Phillips, & Koch, 2002). However it lacks psychometric analysis of its overall reliability and validity, which are essential in determining the strength of the IT-MAIS’ conclusions in determining the direction of a child’s clinical intervention outcomes. Barker, Donovan, Schubert, and Walker (2013) showed in their longitudinal study that caregivers did not predictably respond to items from …

Stroke And Aphasia Quality Of Life Scale-39: Investigating Preliminary Content Validity Of Picture Representations By People With Mild To Moderate Aphasia, Lea Jane Heise-Jensen

LSU Master's Theses

Speech-language pathologists must consider the clients’ quality of life (QoL) to provide effective and meaningful evidence-based treatment (ASHA, 2005). Quality of life assessment goes beyond language impairments and is often a key part of planning intervention. However, few QoL measures exist for people with aphasia (PWA). The Stroke and Aphasia Quality of Life Scale-39 (SAQOL-39; Hilari, 2003) is one of the few valid and reliable measures used to assess QoL in people with mild to moderate aphasia. However, the validity and reliability of the SAQOL-39 has not been established for individuals with severe aphasia who are unable to read and …

Development And Testing Of The Primary Care Homeless Organizational Assessment Tool (Pc-Hoat) To Evaluate Primary Care Services For The Homeless, Jocelyn Louise Steward

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop and test an organizational assessment tool that can used to evaluate primary care services for the homeless. The research evaluates the importance, feasibility, reliability, and validity of organizational processes and structures of primary care services for the homeless. The final product is the validated Primary Care Homeless Organizational Assessment Tool (PC-HOAT). This tool provides stakeholders with information regarding the organizational structures and processes associated with greater quality of primary care for the homeless. This tool will help managers better understand their organization's strengths and weaknesses, guide discussions regarding operations, and provide information …

Two-Method Planned Missing Designs For Longitudinal Research, Mauricio Garnier-Villarreal, Mijke Rhemtulla, Todd D. Little

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

We examine longitudinal extensions of the two-method measurement design, which uses planned missingness to optimize cost-efficiency and validity of hard-to-measure constructs. These designs use a combination of two measures: a “gold standard” that is highly valid but expensive to administer, and an inexpensive (e.g., survey-based) measure that contains systematic measurement bias (e.g., response bias). Using simulated data on four measurement occasions, we compared the cost-efficiency and validity of longitudinal designs where the gold standard is measured at one or more measurement occasions. We manipulated the nature of the response bias over time (constant, increasing, fluctuating), the factorial structure of the …

First-Year Male Students' Adherence To Traditional Male Gender Roles And Their Attitudes Toward Bystander Approach Behaviors To Stop Sexual Assault, Kamal M. Harb

Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual assault on university campuses may affect any person at any time. However, university-aged women are disproportionally affected by it, with 25% of women reporting being assaulted on campus, and 84% to 97.8% of them perpetrated by young, heterosexual men known to the victim. To curb sexual assault on the university campus, research studies have advocated for the bystander approach. It encourages bystanders (observers) to intervene and ultimately stop a potentially dangerous situation in which a friend or stranger may experience a sexual assault. Despite its popularity, research studies evaluating the bystander approach have reported, at best, modest success with …

A Pilot Study On Nurse-Led Rounds: Preliminary Data On Patient Contact Time, Soo-Hoon Lee, Alice Lee, Siang-Ngim Lim, Mei-Jiao Koh, Benjamin Tan, Phillip H. Phan, Reshma A. Merchant, Aisha Lateef, Dale A. Fisher

Management Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY. Ward rounding has been a historical clinical method of inter-professional collaboration to support inpatient care through the sharing of mental models by exchanging information and discussing plans of care, treatment goals, and discharge plans for the patient. The extant literature reports that rounds are frequently led by doctors with infrequent nurse-physician collaboration and patients’ interactions with doctors during ward rounds tend to be brief.

OBJECTIVE. To explore the effects of nurse-led morning ward rounds on patient contact time.

DESIGN. An ethnographic prospective observational study comparing nurse-led and physician-led rounds. SETTING. A General Medicine ward at the …