Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Exploring Psychosocial And Situational Factors That Influence Female College Students' Participation In Oral Sex, Margaret Bergeron

All ETDs from UAB

Although sexually transmitted infections (STI) are not officially reported via the route of transmission, the CDC (2016) reports that individuals who provide fellatio have the highest risk of oral transmission of a STI. Therefore, females who engage in fellatio are at risk for acquiring a STI. The majority of research studies on young adult heterosexual female sexual activities primarily focus on vaginal sex and the associated risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Limited research exists on the oral sex behaviors of female college students and their understanding of the risk for contracting an STI through fellatio. The purpose of …

Extrasynaptic Signaling To Interneuron Networks, Angela Nietz

All ETDs from UAB

In recent years, a form of extrasynaptic signaling through fast neurotransmitters, termed spillover, has been shown in multiple brain regions. This discovery suggests that spillover is more ubiquitous than previously thought. The circuitry within the cerebellar cortex has been well mapped. However, glutamate from cerebellar climbing fibers (CF) has been shown to spill over to nearby interneurons and alter their tonic activity. Cerebellar Golgi cells are spontaneously active interneurons at the input stage to the cerebellar cortex re-sponsible for regulating influx of cortical information. Previous research has shown an in vivo connection between CFs and Golgi cells (GoC), with CF …

Hospital Purchasing Alliance: Contextual Factors And Financial Performance, William Opoku-Agyeman Opoku-Agyeman

All ETDs from UAB

Collectively, the purpose of the three papers included in this dissertation was to provide empirical evidence on the contextual factors that influence hospital utilization of services of group purchasing organizations and how utilization of group purchasing organizations impacts hospitals’ financial performance. The findings of these studies are important both to researchers and to managers as it sheds light on the relationship between hospitals and group purchasing organizations. The results of this dissertation suggest that better financial performance is associated with hospital utilization of group purchasing organizations. Additionally, some measures of environmental munificence and dynamism are associated with hospital utilization of …

Lipid Biomarkers And Pathway Identification For Contact Lens Related Discomfort, Shyam Panthi

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this investigation was to identify possible lipid biomarkers that are associated with contact lens related discomfort and determine whether inflammation as a result of lipid peroxidation or enzymatic arachidonic acid metabolism is associated with such discomfort. Ten microliters of tears were collected from each eye of fifteen subjects (11 non-contact lens wearers, 2 contact lens wearers with discomfort and 2 contact lens wearers without discomfort) and assayed using various chemical extraction methods and mass spectrometry based analytical approaches. This was done to determine whether lipid mediators of inflammation could be identified in low volume (10 l) of …

The Eye As A Window To The Alzheimer’S Disease Brain, Fred Souza

All ETDs from UAB

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a debilitating, and the most prevalent, type of dementia that is manifested by cognitive deficits, anomalous protein metabolism, cell loss, and pathological alterations in several neurotransmitter systems, particularly the cholinergic and glutamatergic systems. Moreover, AD is associated with visual deficits that have been reported to occur even in the early stages of the disease and may precede conspicuous cognitive impairment. To date, the underlying causes of the visual deficits and whether they stem from retinal or cortical abnormalities remain poorly understood. The following studies aimed at establishing whether the pathological changes observed in the cerebrum are …

The Dietary Context Of Nut Intake Among Overweight And Obese African-American Women Living In The Rural South: An Exploratory Study, Samara Sterling

All ETDs from UAB

Obesity has become a national epidemic over the last few decades, and lays its heaviest burden on certain populations (eg, rural residents, African-Americans, and African-American women in the Southeast). Obesity increases medical costs substantially, and is a significant risk factor for various chronic conditions, including certain cancers. There is a need to identify specific dietary behaviors that may contribute to obesity and obesity-related cancers among African-American women in the rural South, and to recommend dietary modifications that may alleviate those risks. Previous research has shown that nuts offer numerous health benefits, including weight loss and cancer protection. More research is …

A Novel Role For T-Bet And Ifng In Directing B Cell Differentiation, Sara Stone Stone

All ETDs from UAB

The transcription factor T-bet regulates the epigenetic programming and differentiation of cytotoxic and helper T (Th) cells. Several studies recently identified T-bet expression in B cells after stimulation with TLR7 or interferon alpha or gamma. T-bet controls isotype switching to IgG2a in B cells; however, the mechanism by which T-bet exerts this effect and whether T-bet regulates fate decision beyond isotype choice is not clear. When activated by interferon gamma-producing Th cells, B cells rapidly upregulate T-bet and undergo T-bet dependent changes in chromatin accessibility and wide-scale transcriptional reprogramming. T-bet controls expression of the core transcription factors required for antibody …

The Military Nursing Practice Environment's Association With Patient Outcomes, Pauline Arminda Swiger

All ETDs from UAB

In the United States, preventable medical errors account for many avoidable patient deaths per year. A favorable nursing practice environment, characterized by factors that improve or enhance a nurse’s ability to practice professional nursing, is a potential mechanism for promoting a culture of safety and enhancing the quality of care in hospitals. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI) is the national standard for measuring the nursing practice environment, and its importance has been validated repeatedly in civilian nurse populations around the world. For the last several years, the scores on the PES-NWI in military facilities have …

Modeling Depression Treatment Strategies For Human Immunodeficiency Virus (Hiv) Positive Patients, Rongbing Xie

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation empirically examines the associations between depression and HIV-related outcomes, simulates both care and outcomes under different depression care strategies, and compares the cost effectiveness of various depression care strategies to the current care strategy. The empirical investigations reveal the negative associations between depression and HIV-related outcomes using two longitudinal patient-level databases. Furthermore, the patterns and outcomes of depression care are identified and simulated using agent-based modeling. Finally, simulated costs and effectiveness are used to evaluate different depression care strategies for reducing new HIV infections and improving quality of life. The current standard of care for depression among patients …

Statistical Methods In Cancer Survival Prediction And Microbiome Data Analysis, Xinyan Zhang

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation focused on developing statistical methods in two areas, cancer survival prediction and microbiome data analysis. Heterogeneity in terms of tumor characteristics, prognosis, and survival has been a persistent problem in cancer prediction and prognosis for many decades. One of the main shortcomings of past studies is the failure to incorporate prior biological information into the predictive model, given strong evidence of pathway-based genetic nature of cancer. In paper 1, to address this problem, we propose a two-stage approach to incorporate pathway information into the prognostic modeling using large-scale gene expression data. In the first stage, we fit all …

Quality Of Care And Racial Disparities In Head And Neck Cancer Treatment, Siddharth Jain

All ETDs from UAB

PURPOSE: Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) is a development of conventional radiotherapy in the treatment for most Head and Neck Cancers (HNC). There is no sufficient evidence to suggest that some physicians are associated with better outcomes in HNC patients. Also, there is limited data that showed that African Americans have poor outcomes compared to other races among HNC patients. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the effect of radiation oncologist characteristics on outcomes in HNC patients treated with IMRT, and factors associated with racial disparities in the treatment outcomes. METHODS: The study used Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked …

Comparative Performance And Clinical Utility Of Indirect Treatment Comparison Estimators, William Hillegass

All ETDs from UAB

In the clinical decision between two or more discrete competing diagnostic or therapeutic patient care strategies, the main consideration is typically the expected difference in the primary outcome of interest. When head-to-head randomized trial results are unavailable or insufficient, this expected difference in outcome can be estimated with an indirect comparison in some settings. Publication of formalized indirect comparisons and proposed statistical methods in the medical literature began in 1993. Despite growing acceptance of indirect treatment comparisons as credible evidence, the statistical underpinnings, properties, and performance of these methods both individually and comparatively remain incompletely explored and defined. This dissertation …

Motor Abilities And Social Participation In Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jamie M. Holloway

All ETDs from UAB

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that primarily affects social communication and behavior, however, a number of motor impairments have been identified in children with ASD. In children who are typically developing, the development of social, communication, and cognitive skills is thought to be influenced by motor development. However, the impact of these motor skill deficits on overall development in children with ASD is not yet known. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the relationship between gross motor ability and social function and participation in young children with ASD. The first study described changes in peer …

The Effect Of Repetitive Text Messages On The Retention Of Knowledge Among Clinical Staff, Judy Bowling

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Oxygen Permeability (Dk) Of Silicone-Hydrogel Materials: Relationship With Water, Silicon, And Fluorine Contents, Terin E. Dupre

All ETDs from UAB

To more precisely determine the fundamental relationships between oxygen permeability (Dk), water content (WC), silicon (Si) content, and fluorine (F) content of clinically prescribed silicone-hydrogel (SiHy) materials, identical methodologies for 16 commercially available brands of SiHy materials were performed. Dk and WC were determined according to the ANSI and ISO standards and, with Si and F contents, on the same lot numbers of samples across a common range of available refractive powers. A negative linear relationship was found between Si content and water content. Lotrafilcon A, Lotrafilcon B, and the bulk polymer of Delefilcon A initially deviated from this relationship. …

Faculty Publications 2016, Lsu Health Sciences Center New Orleans

Historical Faculty Publications

This Faculty bibliography contains 791 publications.

Effects Of 17Β Estradiol In The Metabolism And Morphology Of Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus), Neeta Parajulee Karki

Masters Theses

Fish natural habitats are increasingly contaminated with various estrogenic compounds, including 17β estradiol (E2). This compound causes adverse effects on the reproductive system of male fish; however, the effects of E2 on other aspects of fish metabolism, morphology and histopathological changes in internal organs are not well known. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of E2 exposure on the basal and stressed metabolic rate, morphological changes in body shapes, and histological changes in the liver tissues of sunfish species. Fish were held individually in ten gallon tanks under two treatments of 40 and 80 ng/L and …

Construct Validity Of The Teate Depression Inventory With A Black African American Sample, Samantha Rushworth

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess the construct validity of a new measure of depression, the Teate Depression Inventory (TDI), with primary focus on the Black/African American participants. Research has demonstrated that Black/African Americans experience disparity in receiving mental health care for internalizing disorders, partially due to under-detection of symptoms. Detection of internalizing disorders is an important step in receiving appropriate treatment. This research is essential to benefit mental health practices, addressing the need for professionals to be culturally competent and aware of the appropriate assessment tools available. In order to best serve ethnic minorities, validity of measurements …

Targeting Apoptotic Pathways To Overcome Drug Resistance In Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Rongqing Pan

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Evasion of apoptosis is integral to tumorigenesis and drug resistance. BCL-2 and p53 proteins represent two focal nodes in convergent apoptosis signaling. Upregulation of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family members and inactivation of p53 functions are two canonical approaches exploited by cancer cells to escape apoptosis. In the current study, we find that BCL-2 protein is highly expressed in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells. BCL-2–specific inhibitor ABT-199 potently induces mitochondrial apoptosis in AML cells and effectively kills AML stem/progenitor cells. Our biomarker studies demonstrate that both BH3 profiling and the expression profiling of BCL-2 proteins may serve as predictive biomarkers for the …

The Influence Of Different Pre-Exercise Routines On Sprint Performance, Rok Mravljak

Masters Theses

Sprint performance can be enhanced by interventions for short-term (acute) purposes and/or long-term purposes. Acute neuromuscular responses are usually achieved by using different pre-exercise routines at the end of the warm-up period. Recently, there have been several studies examining the effects of various pre-exercise routines on sprint performance, yet there has not been a research study designed that compared the three most commonly used pre-exercise routines in professional and recreational sports (static stretching, dynamic stretching and foam-rolling). Therefore, this study investigated and compared the results of static stretching, dynamic stretching, self-myofascial release and the control group, in order to provide …

Exercise Is Medicine: The Exercise Habits And Attitudes Towards Exercise Counseling Of Medical Practitioners, Zoë Roberts

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to examine the exercise habits of practicing physicians, physician assistants (PA), and nurse practitioners (NP) in Illinois to better understand their attitudes towards counseling their patients on exercise, and to analyze the frequency that these health care providers incorporate exercise counseling into their practices. Current data has revealed the exercise habits of physicians and how it has influenced the physicians' exercise counseling behaviors. But PAs and NPs have not been included in research collectively as a medical team on the topic using exercise counseling and prescription for patient care and treatment. The research was …

Your Teaching Strategy Matters: How Engagement Impacts Application In Health Information Literacy Instruction, Heather A. Johnson, Laura C. Barrett

Dartmouth Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to compare two pedagogical methods, active learning and passive instruction, to determine which is more useful in helping students to achieve the learning outcomes in a one-hour research skills instructional session.

Factors Influencing Hypoglycemia Care Utilization And Outcomes Among Adult Diabetic Patients Admitted To Hospitals: A Predictive Model, Waleed Kattan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diabetes Miletus (DM) is one of the major health problems in the United States. Despite all efforts made to combat this disease, its incidence and prevalence are steadily increasing. One of the common and serious side effects of treatment among people with diabetes is hypoglycemia (HG), where the level of blood glucose falls below the optimum level. Episodes of HG vary in their severity. Nevertheless, many require medical assistance and are usually associated with higher utilization of healthcare resources such as frequent emergency department visits and physician visits. Additionally, patients who experience HG frequently have poor outcomes such as higher …

Implication Of Alpha-Synuclein Transcriptional Regulation And Mutagenesis In The Pathogenesis Of Sporadic Parkinson's Disease, Sambuddha Basu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by selective loss of dopaminergic neurons (DA neurons) from the substantia nigra (SN) of the mid-brain. PD is classically associated with cytoplasmic inclusion of aggregated proteins called Lewy bodies. alpha-synuclein (α-SYN) coded by the gene SNCA, is one of the major components of Lewy body and neurite along with several other proteins like ubiquitin, neurofilament to name a few. PD is broadly categorized into two groups based on their incidence of occurrence. First is the familial form that occurs due to known genetic aberrations like mutation, gene duplication/triplication in important PD …

Effects Of Symbol Type On Naming And Identification Of Graphic Symbols By Typically Developing Three, Four, Five And Six-Year Olds Children., Pamela Resnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Speech-language pathologists and educators face unique challenges in assessing the language skills of children with complex communication needs due to the wide array of impairments with which these individuals present. For example, most receptive language assessment tools require that children either point to or label line drawings to determine whether or not they comprehend the depicted concepts; task demands such as these preclude administering such assessment tools with children who are unable to physically point to or verbally label presented stimuli. In light of these challenges, the use of eye tracking technologies has become particularly appealing since this alternate response …

Targeted Therapy Development For Neurofibromatosis Type 2, Marisa Fuse

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is a debilitating disease characterized by the formation of bilateral vestibular schwannomas, which compress the vestibulocochlear nerve and cause deafness. Additional peripheral schwannomas, meningiomas and ependymomas may also form. NF2 is caused by mutations in the NF2 gene, resulting in the loss of function of the merlin tumor suppressor. Merlin functions in multiple signaling pathways and its absence in Schwann cells yields increased cell survival and proliferation, thereby causing schwannoma formation. First line treatment for NF2 is watchful waiting and surgical removal of tumors, potentially resulting in facial paralysis and deafness. To date, there are no …

New Horizons In Spine Research: Intervertebral Disc Repair And Regeneration., James C Iatridis, James Kang, Rita Kandel, Makarand V. Risbud

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Monitoring Player Fitness, Fatigue Status And Running Performance During An In-Season Training Camp In Elite Gaelic Football, Shane Malone, Brian Hughes, Mark Roe, Kieran Collins, Martin Buchheit

Articles

Objectives: To examine selected perceptual and physiological measures to monitor fitness, fatigue and running performance during an in-season training camp in elite Gaelic football. Methods: Twenty-two elite Gaelic football players were monitored for training load, perceived ratings of wellness, heart rate variability (HRV; LnSD1), heart rate recovery (HRR), exercise heart rate (HRex), lower limb muscular power (CMJ) and global positioning system (GPS) variables. The Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test level 1 (Yo-YoIR1) was assessed pre and post the training camp. With specific small-sided games (SSG) used as a measure of running performance. Results: During the camp, HRex decreased (−12.2%), HRR increased …

Are Small-Sided Games An Effective Training Methodology For Improving Fitness In Hurling Players? A Comparative Study Of Training Methodologies, Shane Malone, Brian Hughes, Kieran Collins

Articles

The current investigation compared the effects of specific small-sided games training versus generic continuous aerobic training on team sport related exercise performances. Forty-eight hurling players (age: 25 ± 6.4 years; height: 180.2 ± 20.4 cm; mass: 80.5 ± 3.2 kg; V·O2max" role="presentation" style="display: inline; line-height: normal; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; position: relative;">V⋅O2maxV·O2max: 58.78 ± 3.05 ml·kg·min⁻¹) completed either traditional continuous aerobic training (n = 24) or team sport-specific small-sided game training (n = 24), consisting …

Text Messaging In The Patient-Centered Medical Home To Improve Glucose Control And Retinopathy Screening., Janice M Miller, Ann G. Phalen, Albert Crawford, Anthony Frisby, Barry S. Ziring

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of a text messaging program (TMP) to improve glucose control, retinopathy screening (RS) rates, and self-care behaviors in patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes.

Methods: A single-group design with a quasi-systematic random sample (n=20) received educational/exhortational text messages on their cellular phones for 3 months. Subjects, 12 of whom identified as a minority ethnicity, were mostly male, aged 27-73 years.

Results: Glucose control and RS rates improved significantly. Subjects (>70%) reported changes in self-care behaviors.

Conclusion: Leveraging ubiquitous technology, a TMP for patients with limited access to healthcare education, holds promise