Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Risks And Benefits Of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors And The Effect Of Parent-Child Compliance On Medication Teaching In Pediatric Anxiety Disorders, Sabiha Nizam

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Pediatric anxiety disorders characterized as Generalized, Separation, and Social Anxiety Disorders, are chronic debilitating conditions that leave children feeling tense and isolated, both physically and emotionally. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a classification of antidepressants that can be prescribed to children diagnosed with these disorders. SSRIs have been shown to be effective in treating anxiety disorders in children. The purpose of this literature review was to examine and determine if there are more risks or benefits associated with SSRIs, as well as evaluate teaching and education regarding anxiety disorder medication compliance in both children and parents. A secondary purpose …

Pelvic Floor Muscle Training In Management Of Postpartum Pelvic Floor Dysfunctions: A Literature Review, Rebecca S. Tanner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Women can face a wide range of pelvic floor dysfunctions following pregnancy, ranging from urinary incontinence to pelvic pain. Unfortunately, these problems are not routinely checked for in postpartum check-ups and women do not always bring it to the physician’s attention. Strengthening of the pelvic floor muscles may be able to help women prevent these disorders and improve these women’s lifestyles.

The purpose of this thesis was to review and analyze different trials to determine if different pelvic floor dysfunctions (urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, and pelvic girdle pain) can be treated using pelvic floor muscle training in the postpartum. After …

The Effects Of Resistance Training Frequency On Muscle Hypertrophy And Strength In Healthy Trained Individuals: Literature Review, Alexander C. Boivin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of increased resistance training frequency on strength and hypertrophy in trained individuals. Six Studies were deemed eligible based on the inclusion exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria for this review were healthy trained individuals. “Trained” refers to over one year of resistance training experience. Exclusion Criteria were study’s that examined either untrained or obese individuals as participants. The evidence indicates a dose-response trend in frequency. Resistance training each muscle group twice a week may be superior compared to once per week. Further more, resistance training each muscle group three times a …

Benefits Of The Affordable Care Act: How America Is Stepping In The Right Direction, Huy Q. Gip

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), sometimes referred to as Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has been vital as far as health matters go in the United States of America. Regardless of reports that brand the legislation as unfair, it has to a great extent improved the healthcare sector in the country. It is also important to note that the act has faced numerous social, political or economic challenges (D’Elia, & Norpoth, 2014).

The ACA was signed into law by president Barack Obama on March, 23, 2010, and then supported by the Supreme Court on June, …

The Relationship Between Faculty Characteristics And The Use Of Norm- And Criteria-Based Grading, John Robst, Jennifer Vangilder, Caroline Elliott

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

Norm-based grading has been associated with a reduction in student incentives to learn. Thus, it is important to understand faculty incentives for using norm-based grading. This paper used two waves of the National Study of Postsecondary Faculty to examine faculty characteristics related to the use of norm-based grading. Results suggest that norm-based grading is more likely when faculty and departments are more research oriented. Faculty who are at lower rank, male, younger, in science and social science departments are more likely to use norm-based grading, while faculty who feel that teaching should be the primary promotion criterion use criteria-based grading.

Prevalence And Predictors Of Substance-Related Emergency Psychiatry Admissions, M. Scott Young, Kathleen A. Moore

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

Background: Individuals commonly present for emergency psychiatry services for reasons related to their use of alcohol or illicit drugs. This study assessed the prevalence of these phenomena and explored characteristics distinguishing emergency psychiatry admissions with versus without presenting problems related to substance use. Methods: Data included standardized emergency psychiatry intake interviews from 2,161 consecutive admissions to three hospital-based emergency psychiatry departments in Florida’s Tampa Bay area. Admissions were classified as substanceinvolved if substance use was ascertained to be related to the presenting problem(s). Cases with only substance-related presenting problems were classified as substance-only admissions. Descriptive statistics compared substance-involved admissions to …

Young Adults’ Attitudes And Perceptions On Health Insurance And Their Health Insurance Literacy Levels, Law Yang

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine health insurance literacy levels and assess attitudes and perceptions about health insurance among young adults aged 18 – 24 years. Data for this quantitative descriptive research was collected using the Health Insurance Literacy Measurement (HILM) tool in addition to 15 developed survey items. The survey was distributed to 233 student Minnesota State University, Mankato students. Overall findings of this research indicated that among sample young adults, most of the participants had positive attitudes and perceptions towards health insurance, such viewing health insurance as something important to them and important to their health. …

An Analysis Of Reinforcers Maintaining Caregiving Behaviors Of Long-Term Care Facility Staff, Sandra Garcia

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Traditionally, the medical model has been the standard level of care in long-term care facilities. However, many facilities are transitioning from the medical model to a person-centered approach. The core of person-centered care is the relationship between frontline staff and residents. Empirical research has found person-centered care to reduce depressive and behavioral symptoms, levels of loneliness, and increase quality of care in residents; person-centered care has increased job satisfaction in nursing staff. Unfortunately, little is known about what motivates caregiving behavior in nursing staff and whether these motivators are consistent with principles of person-centered care. The current study attempted to …

Impact Of Stigma On Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help For Depression, Anna Marie Dierks

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Depression is the most common mental illness, affecting almost seven percent of Americans each year. Although mental illness treatment through professional psychological services has been proven to be effective, underutilization of these services is high. Underutilization of seeking help could lead to serious consequences, such as suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 15-34 years old and in 2013 the highest rates of suicide were among adults aged 45-64 years old. Stigma has been viewed as a barrier to seeking professional psychological help.

Two age groups were chosen for this research due …

Enhancing Collegiate Women’S Soccer Psychosocial And Performance Outcomes By Promoting Intrinsic Sources Of Sport Enjoyment, Scott Barnicle, Damon Burton

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study examined the effectiveness of an applied mental skills training (MST) intervention utilizing mental skills to enhance intrinsic sources of enjoyment (ISOEs) as a means of promoting self-confidence, motivational style, and athletic performance, while also decreasing trait anxiety. The interven-tion project was designed to increase intrinsic SOE using a systematic and individualized mental training protocol, and then examine its relationships to mental skills and soccer perfor-mance. A Division 1 collegiate women’s soccer team was ran-domly assigned to treatment (n = 8) and control (n = 11) groups, equally distributed by academic year, position, and pre-season coach-evaluated starters and non-starts. …

Synthesis, Characterization, And In Vitro Anti-Tumor Studies Of Bis Imidazolium Salts With Alkyl Chain Linkers And Naphthylmethyl Substituents, Steven R. Crabtree

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Bis imidazolium salts, with alkyl chain linkers ranging from methylene to dodecyl, were synthesized with naphthylmethyl substituents at the N¹ and N^1’ positions for a structure-activity relationship (SAR) study. All compounds were characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The cationic portion of 2 as the PF₆ salt, 3, 4, and 5 were also characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Compounds 1-8, 10, and 12 were tested for their in vitro anti-cancer activity against four NSCLC cell lines via the MTT assay (NCI–H460, NCI–H1975, HCC827, and A549). Compounds 10 and 12 which …

Walking-Induced Fatigue Leads To Increased Risk In Older Adults, S. Morrison, S. R. Colberg, H. K. Parson, S. Neumann, R. Handel, E. J. Vinik, J. Paulson, A. I. Vinik

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Background- For older adults, falls are a serious health problem, with more than 30% of people older than 65 suffering a fall at least once a year. One element often overlooked in the assessment of falls is whether a person's balance, walking ability, and overall falls risk is affected by performing activities of daily living such as walking.

Objective- This study assessed the immediate impact of incline walking at a moderate pace on falls risk, leg strength, reaction time, gait, and balance in 75 healthy adults from 30 to 79 years of age. Subjects were subdivided into 5 equal groups …

High Prevalence Of Liver Fibrosis In Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Monoinfection And Human Immunodeficiency Virus Hepatitis-B Co-Infection As Assessed By Shear Wave Elastography: Study At A Teaching Hospital In Kenya, Samuel Gitau, Sudhir Vinayak, Micah Ominde, Rodney Adam, Reena Shah

Imaging & Diagnostic Radiology, East Africa

Objectives:The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of liver fibrosis in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) monoinfection versus those with HIV hepatitis-B virus (HBV) co-infection as assessed with shear wave elastography (SWE) in a tertiary sub-Saharan Africa hospital.

Materials and Methods:A total of 105 consecutive patients, 70 with HIV monoinfection and 35 with HIV-HBV co-infection, had liver elastography obtained using SWE to assess for the presence of liver fibrosis the cutoff of which was 5.6 kPa. Assessment of aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) score (a noninvasive serum biomarker of liver fibrosis) in these patients …

An Exploration Of Home-Based Therapists’ Supervisory Experiences: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Cherre Camper

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

In-home family therapy has become one of the most common options of treatment for providing services to families who do not typically utilize a private clinic (Lawson, 2005; Reiter, 2000; Yorgason, McWey, & Felts, 2005). Researchers have given some attention to the topic of home-based therapy and to general supervision, but little attention has focused on the actual supervision experiences of home-based therapy providers. This phenomenological study explored the supervision experiences of seven past and current in-home therapists: marriage and family therapists (MFTs) and social workers (MSWs). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants, and data was analyzed to develop …

The Art Of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy: Experiential Training For Novice Therapists In Creative Collaborative Language, Lori Ann Pantaleao

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Novice solution-focused brief therapists often have difficulty delivering scaling questions within the languaging of their clients. To help beginning Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) trainees, this researcher has created the metaphorically enhanced scaling question (MESQ) training program. By incorporating a meaning making system such as the metaphor, the scaling question becomes expressive and symbolic to the client and his or her own story. The MESQ objective is to assist novice therapists in facilitating the SFBT scaling question creatively through the use of metaphor. A metaphor is a created meaning isomorphic to its original meaning or experience. The metaphor will be co-constructed …

Social Grief: A Grounded Theory Of Utilizing Status Updates On Facebook As A Contemporary Ritual, Celese Catania-Opris

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The popular Social Networking Site, Facebook, offers its users the ability tocommunicate with others from all over the globe. Individuals can create a virtual identity for themselves enabling members to call, message, and locate others in a matter of seconds. The number of Facebook users appears to increase; yet, the number of members who die daily is not normally accounted. Facebook now permits the memorialization ofthe deceased’s profile. This allows members to continue commenting, sharing photos and videos, and visiting the deceased’s Facebook page. This trend led to the central question of this study, “What benefits, if any, are individuals …

Enhancing The Couple Alliance And Developing A Dyadic Orientation In Discursive Couples Therapy: A Conversation Analysis Of Therapists', Samira Y. Garcia

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The purpose of this study is to develop an interpretative understanding of how discursive therapists’ linguistic actions enhance the couple alliance. Additionally, this study includes an exploration of whether these models hold up to a common factors conversation in the practice of couples therapy. The couple alliance is the central relationship in couples therapy. Previous research suggests that therapists’ actions might have an effect on enhancing this alliance by creating a dyadic orientation. In postmodern/discursive models of practice, therapists’ actions have gone mostly unexplored, leaving therapists with little understanding of what is done in the process of couples therapy that …

What Works For Successful In-Home Family Therapists Working At Community-Based Agencies, Aleyah R. Yasin

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Resiliency is an important characteristic of successful therapists (Aponte, 1991; Aponte & Carlsen, 2009; Aponte & Winter, 2000; Clark, 2009; Hamel & Laraway, 2004; Kuiper, 2012; Protinsky & Coward, 2001; Rosenburg & Pace, 2006; Wolgien & Coady, 1997), especially those in entry-level positions that tend to involve high stress and turnover (Acker, 2004; Clark, 2009; Davis, 2013; Greenson, Guo, Barth, Harley, & Sission, 2009; Grosch & Olsen, 1994; Gupta, Peterson, Lysaght, & Zweck, 2012; Horan, 2002; Maslach & Leiter, 1997; Negash & Sahin, 2011; Rosenburg &Pace, 2006; Skovolt &Trotter Mathison, 2011). This study explored the perspectives of six therapists providing …

My Dance With Cancer: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of The Journey, Vardine K. Simeus

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

Sometimes when a person who has been diagnosed with cancer finds out that his or her cancer returned and continuously has to go for surgeries, treatments, regular follow-ups, and continued overtime to deal with the same life-threatening illness, he or she can actually feel frozen due to feeling depressed and anxious in not knowing how to move forward with life. Dance is a metaphor used in this study to move forward. Psychotherapy can offer major benefits to help cancer patients cope with the depression, anxiety, stress, and other emotional reactions that often accompany a cancer diagnosis (Stuyck, 2008). Many studies …

Handoffs, Safety Culture, And Practices: Evidence From The Hospital Survey On Patient Safety Culture, Soo-Hoon Lee, Phillip H. Phan, Todd Dorman, Sallie J. Weaver, Peter J. Pronovost

Management Faculty Publications

Background: The context of the study is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC). The purpose of the study is to analyze how different elements of patient safety culture are associated with clinical handoffs and perceptions of patient safety.

Methods: The study was performed with hierarchical multiple linear regression on data from the 2010 Survey. We examine the statistical relationships between perceptions of handoffs and transitions practices, patient safety culture, and patient safety. We statistically controlled for the systematic effects of hospital size, type, ownership, and staffing levels on perceptions of patient safety. …

A Mixed Methods Assessment Of The Implementation Of Electronic Health Records In Local Health Departments, Karmen S. Williams

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Background: Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation has seen great advances in health care, but the movement is leaving public health agencies behind. EHRs have shown improvement in operational and societal outcomes when implemented. Scarce allocation of resources, lack of trained staff, and security are limiters to implementation, despite the varied benefits of EHRs. The objective of this research is to establish a comprehensive view of EHR implementation in local health departments (LHDs) through assessing the status of implementation, benefits, barriers, and strategies to overcome challenges. Methods: This research uses a mixed methods approach to assess 49 key-informant interviews and 324 …

Improving The Inference Of Some Experiemtal Studies By Using Ranked Auxiliary Covariates, Rajai Jabrah

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In many studies, the measurement of sampling units according to the response variable is costly or time consuming, however, it is possible to rank sampling units according to baseline auxiliary covariates, which are available, easily obtainable, and cost efficient. In these cases, when estimating the population mean, Ranked Set Sampling (RSS) can be a more efficient sampling method than the Simple Random Sampling (SRS) method. In this dissertation, we propose a modified approach of the RSS method to allocate units into an experimental study, aimed to compare two or more groups.

Ranked auxiliary covariates, which are typically correlated with the …

Using Semiphysiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic (Semi-Pbpk) Modeling To Explore The Impact Of Differences Between The Intravenous (Iv) And Oral (Po) Route Of Administration On The Magnitude And Time Course Of Cyp3a-Mediated Metabolic Drug-Drug Interactions (Ddi) Using Midazolam (Mdz) As Prototypical Substrate And Fluconazole (Flz) And Erythromycin (Ery) As Prototypical Inhibitors, Mengyao Li

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the project was to investigate the impact of IV and PO routes difference for MDZ, a prototypical CYP3A substrate, and two CYP3A inhibitors (CYP3AI) -FLZ and ERY-, on the magnitude and time course of their inhibitory metabolic DDI.

Individual semi-PBPK models for MDZ, FLZ and ERY were developed and validated separately, using pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters from clinical/in-vitro studies and published physiological parameters. Subsequently, DDI sub-models between MDZ and CYP3AIs incorporated non-competitive and mechanism-based inhibition (MBI) for FLZ and ERY, respectively, on hepatic and gut wall (GW) CYP3A metabolism of MDZ, using available in-vitro/in-vivo information. Model-simulated MDZ …

A Mechanistic Study Of An Ipsc Model For Leigh’S Disease Caused By Mtdna Mutataion (8993 T>G), John P. Galdun

Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondrial diseases encompass a broad range of devastating disorders that typically affect tissues with high-energy requirements. These disorders have been difficult to diagnose and research because of the complexity of mitochondrial genetics, and the large variability seen among patient populations. We have devised and carried out a mechanistic study to generate a cell based model for Leigh’s disease caused by mitochondrial DNA mutation 8993 T>G. Leigh’s disease is a multi-organ system disorder that depends heavily on the mutation burden seen within various tissues. Using new reprogramming and sequencing technologies, we were able to show that Leigh’s disease patient fibroblasts …

Potential Treatments For Malformation Associated Epilepsy, Olivia M. Bowles

Theses and Dissertations

Epilepsy has been previously attributed to either increased excitation or decreased inhibition. With this closed frame of mind, modern medicine has been unable to develop a permanent treatment against the mechanisms of epilepsy. In order to treat patients with intractable seizures, especially those caused by developmental malformations, it is essential to understand the entirety of mechanisms that could possibly play a role in the abnormal cortical function. One such developmental malformation is known as polymicrogyria. Epileptogenesis occurs in an area laterally adjacent to this malformation known as the paramicrogyral region (PMR). Past studies have narrowed down the potential cause of …

Understanding And Targeting The C-Terminal Binding Protein (Ctbp) Substrate-Binding Domain For Cancer Therapeutic Development, Benjamin L. Morris

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer involves the dysregulated proliferation and growth of cells throughout the body. C-terminal binding proteins (CtBP) 1 and 2 are transcriptional co-regulators upregulated in several cancers, including breast, colorectal, and ovarian tumors. CtBPs drive oncogenic properties, including migration, invasion, proliferation, and survival, in part through repression of tumor suppressor genes. CtBPs encode an intrinsic dehydrogenase activity, utilizing intracellular NADH concentrations and the substrate 4-methylthio-2-oxobutyric acid (MTOB), to regulate the recruitment of transcriptional regulatory complexes. High levels of MTOB inhibit CtBP dehydrogenase function and induce cytotoxicity among cancer cells in a CtBP-dependent manner. While encouraging, a good therapeutic would utilize >100-fold …

Testing A Low-Intensity And Accessible Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Insomnia (Cbt-I) Intervention In Individuals Newly Diagnosed With Cancer, Amma Agyemang

Theses and Dissertations

Insomnia is defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep that lasts for at least one month and is accompanied by significant impairment in daytime functioning including fatigue, irritability, and/or difficulty concentrating. It is one of the most common complaints reported by individuals with cancer, especially around the time of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Yet it is often unrecognized and untreated, leading to adverse health consequences and increased healthcare costs. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) has been recommended as the gold standard for treating insomnia among individuals with cancer. Multiple studies have tested and proven the efficacy …

Stains Induce Apoptosis And Autophagy In Primary And Transformed Mast Cells, Patrick A. Paez

Theses and Dissertations

Statin drugs are widely employed in the clinic to reduce serum low density lipoproteins (LDLs) in patients with hypocholesteremia. In addition to their cholesterol-lowering effects through HMG CoA reductase antagonism, isoprenyl lipids necessary for membrane anchorage and signaling of small G-proteins are abrogated. We previously found that statins suppress mast cell activation in murine and human cells, suggesting these drugs might be useful in treating allergic disease. While mast cell function is critical to allergic inflammation, mast cell hyperplasia and survival also impact these diseases, and were not studied in our previous work. In this study, we describe Fluvastatin-mediated apoptosis …

Power Analysis In Applied Linear Regression For Cell Type-Specific Differential Expression Detection, Edmund Glass

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of many human disease-oriented studies is to detect molecular mechanisms different between healthy controls and patients. Yet, commonly used gene expression measurements from any tissues suffer from variability of cell composition. This variability hinders the detection of differentially expressed genes and is often ignored. However, this variability may actually be advantageous, as heterogeneous gene expression measurements coupled with cell counts may provide deeper insights into the gene expression differences on the cell type-specific level. Published computational methods use linear regression to estimate cell type-specific differential expression. Yet, they do not consider many artifacts hidden in high-dimensional gene expression …

Remission Of Psychosis In Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia Following A Seizure: A Case Report, Hena Jawaid, Sana Younus, Hanif Mesiya

Department of Psychiatry

The authors report a case of treatment-resistant schizophrenia in a 22-year-old woman, who, despite multiple trials of antipsychotics, did not respond to treatment. Clozapine treatment was initiated, but the patient's symptoms did not remit until after she had a clozapine-induced seizure. The authors discuss the importance in considering that electroconvulsive therapy may be effective in reducing positive and negative symptoms in patients suffering from treatment-resistant schizophrenia.