Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Statement And Action Agenda From The Girls In Emergencies Collaborative, Omar Robles, Judith Bruce, Holly G. Atkinson, Dale Buscher, Karen Scriven, Kristin Kim Bart, Shelby French, Judithe Registre, Audrey Anderson

Publications and Research

Many adolescent girls—the poorest girls in the poorest communities—already live in an “emergency.” Humanitarian crises only amplify the call on their coping and caring capacities, while exacerbating their vulnerabilities. The frequency and intensity of emergencies, including natural disasters, conflicts, and infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola, appear to be growing. These emergencies threaten entire communities and whole countries, often with global implications. Many become virtually permanent.

Frontal Lobe And Psychopathy, Shawna Germain

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This research paper presents an analysis of the functions of the frontal lobe and how damage to the frontal lobe correlates to psychopathy. Initially, it will look at how damage to the frontal lobe obstructs frontal lobe functions. The decrease in executive function, due to a reduction of blood flow to the frontal lobe following a subarachnoid hemorrhage, is explored. The correlation between cortical thickness and impulsiveness in adolescence is examined. Subsequently, the issue is then examined through the observation of groups with psychopathy and how the diagnosis relates to their frontal lobes. One study compares individuals with psychopathy to …

The Potential For Greek Housing To Shape Diet And Exercise Patterns: An Exploratory Intra-Greek Comparison, Anna Rose Riverso

Dissertations - ALL

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the differences in diet and exercise patterns in sorority women from campuses with different Greek Life structures. The goal was to determine if the centralization of the sorority through the presence of a chapter sorority house altered these health behaviors for any of the women.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used to gather data from sorority members at two northeastern universities during October of 2014. Women created a one-week food and exercise record through the MyFitnessPal application for smartphones. They were also asked to complete a survey with questions regarding …

Evaluation Of Bde-47 And -99 Lipid Modulating Effects In Hepg2 Human Carcinoma Cells, Eileen A. Holovac

Senior Honors Projects

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming a significantly more common problem in today’s society, affecting up to 25% of people in the United States as reported by the American Liver Foundation. According to the American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases, NAFLD is the buildup of fat in the liver that is not caused by secondary factors such as alcohol consumption, hereditary disorders, or the use of steatogenic medication such as amioderone. A liver is considered fatty when 5-10% of the liver’s weight is fat. The progression of NAFLD can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver failure. …

Cultural Humility: A Lifelong Process For Professional Nurses, Jenny Adelstein

Senior Honors Projects

Cultural humility is necessary for all nurses in order to provide the best quality patient care. It is a life-long process of self-reflection and self-critique, which allows nurses to examine differences and similarities between their own beliefs, values, and health care goals with those of their patients (Schuessler et al., 2012). Cultural humility helps nurses to recognize potential differences in the meaning of health and wellness among their patients, and to begin to understand the many challenges to accessing quality health care. Cultural immersion programs is one educational strategy to allow nursing students to develop cultural humility through acquiring critical …

Intraprofessional Nursing Communication And Collaboration: Apn-Rn-Patient Bedside Rounding, Rita M. Herm-Barabasz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Executive Summary

Leading advisory agencies have long advocated that health care must be safe and effective (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2001). In order for health care to be safe and effective, good communication and collaboration are essential. Research has found that in health care, poor communication and teamwork failures are the major contributors to adverse events (Cornell, Townsend-Gervis, Vardaman, & Yates, 2014; The Joint Commission, 2011; O’Leary, 2012). Such communication-related adverse events can cause avoidable injury, loss of life, and financial devastation. In light of advanced practice nurses’ (APN) increasing contribution in care management, and in order to ensure delivery …

A Comparison Of The Effects Of Different Doses Of Gabab Receptor Ligands On Spatial Learning And Memory And Memory Flexibility, Chelcie Heaney

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The principal inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA), mediates several types of learning and memory. Of the two main receptor subtypes for GABA, the in vivo role of GABAB receptor in learning and memory is less well characterized and the current data often conflict. Based on the current literature, it is unclear, for instance, whether enhancing GABAergic activity via the GABAB receptor could be beneficial for or detrimental to learning and memory. Hippocampally-dependent learning and memory tasks are of particular interest due to their clinical relevance to patients with schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease, who exhibit impaired performance …

The Impacts Of A Smoking Ban On Gaming Volume And Customers' Satisfaction In The Casino Industry In South Korea, Sojeong Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A growing number of countries have legislated smoke-free policies in enclosed public areas and have extended the policies to hospitality facilities. However, some states and countries exempt gaming areas from the smoking law fully or partially. Anti-smoking policy is controversial for a number of reasons, such as smokers’ strong opposition, government ordinance, public health, and economic anxiety. Casino management may worry that a smoking ban policy will result in a significant decline of casino revenue because the break for smoking may interfere with continuing play.

This thesis examined a smoking ban impacts on gaming volume and customers’ satisfaction in the …

The Skinny On Eating Attitudes, Body Image, And The Thin-Ideal In College Women, Lyndsay N. Greene

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

There is evidence of a link between body image and disordered eating among females, and some research that suggests exposure to the media exacerbates both body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. Despite these claims, little research has been done on the effects that exposure to photo-shopped images specifically has on body dissatisfaction and eating pathology. The present study sought to further understand the relationship between cognitive distortions of body image and eating attitudes and to examine the effects that exposure to the thin-ideal found in the media has on body dissatisfaction among college aged women. Eighty female college students answered questions …

Get Some Skin In The Game: Best Practices For Pediatric Skin Care, Elizabeth Kiss, Christine Cahill

Nursing Faculty/Staff Publications

Care of patients’ skin is a nurse-sensitive outcome measure established by the American Nurses Association (Young & Clark, 2009). Maintaining skin integrity in the critical-care environment is difficult because of patient acuity and the highly invasive interventions and therapies they receive (Galvin & Curley, 2012). The prevalence, prevention, and treatment of skin breakdown have been studied in adults, but research is lacking for children (Groeneveld et al., 2003). Pediatric patients have different anatomic, physiologic and developmental factors that alter their risk of obtaining and presentation of hospital acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs), (Noonan, Quigley & Curley, 2013). Medical devices monitoring has …

Local Modulation And Measurement Of Macrophage-Derived Bioactive Proteins From Implanted Biomaterials In Rat, Geetika Bajpai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fibrosis around the implanted medical devices is a severe problem that can plague long-term device reliability. Activation of macrophage phenotype (macrophage polarization) has emerged as a new and possible means for reducing fibrosis in the fields of biomaterials and regenerative medicine. Macrophages are phagocytic cells that respond to microenvironmental cues that direct their phenotype. Macrophage activation has been widely studied in mouse and human in the context of tumor biology, yet little information is available regarding how macrophage activation could be used in a biomaterials context. Further, rats rather than mice are the common subjects in biomaterials experiments. A significant …

Killer Cell Activation By A Novel Multifunctional Protein: An Immuno/Gene Therapy For Cancer, Ashlee Tietje

All Dissertations

One of the characteristics of advanced tumors is the evasion of the immune system. There are multiple methods that tumor cells employ to achieve this including reducing the expression of activating ligands on the cell surface and a shift in the tumor microenvironment toward pro-tumor cytokines. The purpose of this research is to develop a novel bifunctional fusion protein that will target these two deficiencies in the tumor microenvironment and activate killer cells that are already present. The proposed protein combines the extracellular domain of a ligand for the killer cell activating receptor NKG2D and Interleukin-12 (IL-12). It is hypothesized …

Optimizing Care Through Rd Checks, Suzanne Ickes Rd, Ldn, Melissa Faura Rd, Ldn, Ann Flickinger Ms, Rd, Ldn, Kristin Titus Rd, Ldn

Clinical Nutrition Service

No abstract provided.

Patients' Perception Of Feeling Known By Their Nurses And The Nurse Practice Environment, Deene' L. Mollon

Dissertations

Healthcare leaders have a responsibility to understand the connection between healthy practice environments and patients’ perceptions of care. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between the nurses’ perception of the practice environment and the patients’ perception of feeling known by their nurses.

This descriptive, correlational study used quantitative and qualitative methodology. A convenience sample of 123 patients, on six patient care units, completed the Patients’ Perception of Feeling Known by their Nurses Scale and a supplemental survey designed to determine the content validity of the Patients’ Perception of Feeling Known by their Nurses Scale. To …

Evaluation Of Tulane Virus As A Surrogate For The Study Of Human Norovirus, Sabastine Eugene Arthur

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Among all known causes of acute gastroenteritis, human noroviruses (HuNoV) are the primary cause (68%) of outbreaks and are associated with 78% of illnesses, 46% of hospitalizations, and 86% of deaths. The main obstacle to studying the pathogenesis of HuNoV is the lack of cell culture system and small animal model. Murine norovirus (MNV) and feline calicivirus (FCV) have been utilized as model surrogate viruses to study HuNoV. In this research, a more recent surrogate virus, Tulane virus (TV), was evaluated for physicochemical stability and environmental persistence. The primary goal was to determine the suitability of TV as a surrogate …

Exploration Of Linguistic And Extra-Linguistic Factors In Stroke Knowledge And Emergency Response: Studies Of Input, Output, And Outcome, Laura L. O. Froeschke

Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three studies centered on addressing factors that influence stroke knowledge and decision-making during the acute stroke emergency in both general and Hispanic populations. The first study provided data on patterns of explicit stroke knowledge in a sample of 94 Hispanic subjects. This study assessed relationships between stroke knowledge (Stroke Action Test; STAT; Billings-Gagliardi & Mazor, 2005) and subjects’ typical language use (Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics; Marín, Sabogal, VanOss Marín, Otero-Sabogal, Pérez-Stable, 1987). No relationship was found between language use (Spanish/English) and stroke symptom knowledge. Contrastingly, STAT scores were found to …

An Examination Of Psychoeducation And Its Potential Modifying Influence On Alcohol Use Patterns Among Adults Reporting Co-Occurring Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms And Hazardous Alcohol Consumption, Sarah Jo Bujarski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has suggested that consumption of alcohol in the presence of elevated posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) may serve an avoidant function to cope with negative emotions. These coping-related motives for use are theorized to both maintain PTSS and relate to poorer prognoses in treatment for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Treatments utilizing coping skills training, which typically also involves educating clients about the negative consequences of drinking alcohol to cope, suggest the utility of targeting coping behaviors to reduce alcohol use. These studies, however, have not attempted to isolate the effects of psychoeducation on alcohol-related factors. The current study investigated the …

Emr Training Tactics: A Case Study Of Clinical Staff Training Experiences, Needs And Perceptions, Victoria Leaann Miller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electronic medical record systems have become essential for giving patient care at health care institutions. The purpose of this study was to explore the training provided to staff at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Family Medical Center in an effort to identify participant training experiences, needs, and perceptions. This study included qualitative, case study research. There were fourteen participants in the study. A focus group interview was conducted with eight administrative and training participants. Interviews and observations were conducted with six staff members.

The literature review of this study discussed educational theories including andragogy and training techniques. …

Effect Of Sensory Cues On Hand Hygiene Habits Among A Diverse Workforce In Food Service, Robert Pellegrino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poor hand hygiene is a leading cause of foodborne illnesses in the foodservice industry. A series of complex motivational interventions must be employed to permanently change the behavior of workers, to increase their compliance and sustain appropriate levels of proper hand hygiene. Unlike the healthcare industry, which uses large, costly multi-modal behavior modification strategies, the foodservice industry must deploy rapid, cost-efficient strategies that are focus on accommodating these goals with the constraints of high employee turnover rates and diverse demographics. This research was twofold, 1) examining differences in emotions and hand hygiene behavior among participants of two cultures when handling …

Effects Of Mild Hypohydration And Hyperthermia On Cognition And Mood In Obese And Non-Obese Females, Jenna Marie Burchfield

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Information regarding effects of hypohydration (HY) and hyperthermia (HT) on cognition, mood and development of symptoms is conflicting since the two conditions often confound each other. Further, although obese individuals may have physiological impairments during heat stress, whether psychological impairments occur with HY and HT is unknown. PURPOSE: To assess the independent and combined effects of mild HY and HT on cognition, mood, and the development of symptoms in obese and non-obese females. METHODS: Twenty-two healthy females (11 non-obese, 22±2y, 61±6kg, 25±4% body fat; 11 obese, 22±2y, 80±18kg, 44±5% body fat) volunteered in two randomized, repeated-measures trials, involving passive …

College Of Public Health News, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

• Students Receive Research Award

Use Of N-Acetylcysteine In Children With Fulminant Hepatic Failure Caused By Acute Viral Hepatitis, Ali Faisal Saleem, Qalab Abbas, Anwarul Haque

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Objective: To determine the efficacy of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in children aged > 1 month to 16 years admitted with Fulminant Hepatic Failure (FHF) secondary to Acute Viral Hepatitis (AVH) in a tertiary care center of a developing country.

Study Design: Analytical study.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Paediatrics, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, from January 2007 to December 2011.

Methodology: Medical records of children (> 1 month - 16 years) with FHF admitted with AVH of known etiology who received NAC were reviewed retrospectively. Liver function tests (mean ± SD) at baseline, 24 hours after NAC and …

Characterization And Investigation Of Fungi Inhabiting The Gastrointestinal Tract Of Healthy And Diseased Humans, Mallory J. Suhr

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Gastrointestinal microbiome studies have failed to include fungi in total community analyses. As a result, their diversity and function in the gut is poorly understood. Recent work has begun to uncover the role intestinal fungi play in diet, immune system development, interactions with other microorganisms in the gut, and pathogenesis of diseases. Advances in sequencing technologies allow for the ability to profile the fungal gut microbiome (“mycobiome”) in healthy and diseased states. This thesis explores the mycobiome in 1) healthy humans with a vegetarian diet and 2) pediatric small bowel transplant recipients that develop fungal bloodstream infections.

The gut mycobiome …

Puerto Rican Mother-Child Communication About Sexuality And Sexual Health: Results From An Ethnographic Community Survey In Springfield, Ma, María Idalí Torres, Phillip Granberry, Sarah Rustan

Gastón Institute Publications

This bilingual report presents data from an ethnographic survey on the experiences of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican mothers communicating with children ages 10 to 19 regarding sexuality and sexual health. Results of this survey will be used as baseline data to evaluate a media campaign promoting Puerto Rican mother-child communication. This Spanish media campaign was implemented from March to May, 2015 using public service announcements in television, radio, and newspapers and on public transportation.

In this report, we use three main concepts with specific definitions: mother, sexuality, and sexual health protection, defined as follows. Mother is defined as the female adult …

Getting Started With Debriefing For Meaningful Learning, Kristina Dreifuerst

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Debriefing for Meaningful Learning© (DML) is a method of debriefing that can be used in simulation environments and other clinical settings to foster student's reflective thinking and learning. It has been used successfully with prelicensure nursing students, graduate nursing students, and interdisciplinary health care students throughout the nursing curriculum with positive learning outcomes. This method can be challenging to learn because it uses Socratic questioning and principles of active learning to uncover thinking associated with actions, but once learned, DML can be a model for reflective thinking that students can use to develop clinical reasoning and become reflective practitioners. Moreover, …

The Multifaceted Interaction Of Pain Perception In Collegiate Athletes, Kristen Leigh Bartiss

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Deepening the present understanding of the multidimensional nature of athlete perceptions of pain requires attention to three specific gaps. First, the field currently lacks fundamental knowledge regarding the relationship between an individual’s athletic identity and the role of the brain in deciphering and responding to painful stimuli. Because athletes view injury as a potential loss of identity and thus a significant part of themselves (International Olympic Committee, n.d.), the severity they ascribe to pain is both conceptually and practically relevant. Second, the field has yet to fully explore the specific areas of the brain associated with subsequent functional connectivity as …

Validity And Reliability Of A-Mode Ultrasound For Body Composition Assessment Of Lean, Division I Athletes, Dustin L. Cain

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Athletes strive for a competitive advantage, and for some athletes building a lean body with a low body fat percentage (%BF) can help them achieve a higher level of performance. This is particularly the case in gravitational sports in which a high body mass hinders performance, in aesthetic sports in which there is a perceived ideal shape, and in weight class sports in which competition is organized into categories of body mass (20). However, some athletes put themselves at risk of health problems through extreme dieting, disordered eating, and fluid restriction in an effort to achieve a particular weight or …

Comparison Of Propulsive Power During Loaded Countermovement Jumps Performed In Water Versus Land In College Aged Males, Clint R. Nardoni

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

As use of an aquatic environment increases as a training and rehabilitative tool, the purpose of this study was to assess peak propulsive power in loaded countermovement jumps (CMJ) in water and compare them to loaded CMJ on land. 20 college aged (24.6±3.6 years) recreationally active males performed 4 randomized countermovement jumps on a force plate with increasing loads (bodyweight [BW], BW+10%, BW+20%, BW+30%) in two environments: immersed in water at the xiphoid process and on land. Peak power (PP) and mean power (MP) normalized to apparent mass were assessed for all jumps. A 2 (environment) by 4 (load) repeated …

Urinary Phthalate Metabolite Concentrations And Blood Glucose Levels During Pregnancy, Candace A. Robledo, Jennifer D. Peck, Julie A. Stoner, Antonia M. Calafat, Hélène Carabin, Linda Cowan, Jean R. Goodman

School of Medicine Publications

Purpose: To examine associations between phthalate metabolite urinary concentrations during early pregnancy and blood glucose levels obtained at the time of screening for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods: Upon initiation of prenatal care, women with a mean gestational age of 12.8 weeks were recruited for a study of environmental chemical exposures (n = 110) and provided a spot urinary specimen. Blood glucose concentrations (mg/dl) were obtained from the electronic medical record for those patients who did not experience a pregnancy loss and did not transfer care to another facility prior to glucose screening (n = 72). Urinary concentrations of nine …

Investigating The Theory Of Ambiguous Loss: The Role Of Ambiguity Tolerance In Pre-Death Grief For Caregivers Of Individuals With Dementia, Megan Kale-Cheever

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis sought to investigate the relationship between ambiguity tolerance and caregiver grief within the framework of ambiguous loss theory. Thirty-one family caregivers completed a quantitative survey comprising two pre-existing scales and several demographic questions designed to assess level of ambiguity tolerance, level of grief, caregiver age and gender, type of relationship to the care recipient, living situation, length of caregiving career, level of Social support and frequency of difficult behaviors. Quantitative data analysis revealed that while no relationship existed between total ambiguity tolerance and total caregiver grief, a modest, inverse relationship exists between tolerance toward general-type ambiguity and burden, …