Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Protein Synthesis Attenuation And Eif2-Alpha Phosphorylation In Retinal Degeneration, Christopher Ryan Starr

All ETDs from UAB

Inherited retinal degeneration is a class of diseases in which there is no cure and very few treatment options available. An activated unfolded protein response has been detected in various animal models of retinal degenerative diseases. Several groups have found heightened activation of one pathway of the unfolded protein response in particular, the protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase signaling cascade, which converges on and phosphorylates the alpha subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 to transiently halt protein synthesis and allow the cell to reestablish homeostasis. Although it is widely accepted that this signaling is inherently protective, hyperactivity or …

Dysregulation In The Central Nervous System Upon Mcmv Infection In Newborn Mice, Cathy Yea Won Sung

All ETDs from UAB

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is a major cause of morbidity in infants and children throughout the world. Between 0.2-1.2% of all live births is infected with HCMV in the United States. Approximately 5-15% of these newborn babies will develop long-term neurological damage resulting in motor disorders, mental retardation, and sensorineural hearing loss. Although the neurological sequelae associated with congenital HCMV infections are well characterized, little is known about the pathogenesis of the damage to the central nervous system (CNS). To study the pathogenesis of congenital HCMV infection, we have developed a mouse model in which newborn mice are infected intraperitoneally …

Therapeutic Mechanisms In Sickle Cell Nephropathy, Crystal Taylor

All ETDs from UAB

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a commonly inherited genetic blood disorder that causes hypoxia-induced polymerization of mutant hemoglobin resulting in erythrocyte sickling, transient microvascular occlusion, ischemic injury, and end-organ damage. Systemic endothelial dysfunction and vaso-occlusive episodes observed in SCD are particularly deleterious to the kidney, where the hypoxic, hyperosmotic environment of the medulla makes it particularly susceptible to ischemic injury. Over recent decades, chronic kidney disease has emerged as a significant contributor to mortality and morbidity in SCD patients. Despite a growing interest in the importance of sickle cell nephropathy (SCN), therapeutic options are limited and much remains undiscovered regarding …

The Role Of Protein O-Glcnacylation In Regulating Mitochondrial Function, Jalessa Nicole Wright

All ETDs from UAB

The attachment of O-linked-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to the serine/threonine residues of proteins has emerged as an important regulatory mechanism in transcriptional regulation, protein activation as well as cell survival. Several studies have reported that elevated O-GlcNAc levels have adverse effects on mitochondrial function. These negative effects have been linked to O-GlcNAc modification of mitochondrial proteins that are integral across multiple metabolic cell processes i.e. VDAC, NDUFA9 and DRP-1. Mitochondrial complexes I, III and IV all contain subunit proteins that are O-GlcNAc modified and increased O-GlcNAcylation of these proteins is associated with deficits in oxidative phosphorylation in these models. Conversely, it has …

Hpv And Hsv Associated Clinical Conditions Among People Living With Hiv-1 Infection, Yuanfan Ye

All ETDs from UAB

This dissertation research focuses on investigating health burdens of HPV- and HSV- associated clinical conditions (CC) in people living with HIV-1 infection (PLWH) in the Southeastern United States. I designed a retrospective study using the UAB 1917 HIV Clinic Cohort. Electronic health records of PLWH attending the clinic for HIV-care between January 2006 and March 2019 were obtained and reviewed. I first examined incidence rates and trends of anogenital HPV- and HSV-associated CC. Then I adopted a new algorithm to group longitudinal CD4 cell counts based on their trajectories. I compared it with nadir and median CD4 cell counts in …

Exploring The Link Between Dietary Fiber, The Gut Microbiota And Estrogen Metabolism Among Women With Breast Cancer, Ayse G. Zengul

All ETDs from UAB

Breast cancer continues to be a very prevalent disease and impacts over 260,000 new patients per year in the United States. The gut microbiota composition may affect breast cancer risk by modulating various hormonal metabolites including endogenous estrogens. Dietary factors impact gut microbial ecology and influence the regulation of estrogen metabolism. Current evidence supports the potential role of dietary fiber in breast cancer prevention and its possible modulating influence on serum estrogen levels through the gut microbiota associated with β-glucuronidase activity. However, this mechanism is not clearly understood. In this study, we aimed to explore the associations between dietary fiber, …

Work Engagement Of Hospital Nurses And Patients’ Ratings Of Nurse Communication, Overall Hospital Rating And Likelihood To Recommend The Hospital To Others, Apryl S. Lewis

All ETDs from UAB

Significance/Background: Work engagement may play a key role in quality patient outcomes. The inpatient hospital experience is a U.S. healthcare system priority with one component of the patients’ hospital experience focused on hospital staff-to-patient communication. Nurses are the main communicators of vital information about inpatient care and recovery and, therefore, play a critical role in achieving high scores on patient experience measures. Past studies show a relationship between high levels of nurse work engagement and positive patient outcomes, such as quality of health services, but it is unknown if hospital nurses’ work engagement is associated with patients’ hospital experience ratings. …

The Mechanism Of Glucose-Induced Trib3 Expression In Myoblasts And Myotubes, Xiaobing Liu

All ETDs from UAB

Our previous data indicates that glucose-toxicity is dependent upon upregulation of TRIB3 expression in muscle. TRIB3 is a glucose-responsive gene and, as a pseudokinase, it blocks phosphorylation of AKT resulting in insulin resistance. The purpose of the current study was to identify the role of the differentiation process and the minimal functional sequence of TRIB3 promoter region in modulating glucose-induced TRIB3 gene expression in C2C12 myocytes. First, C2C12 myocytes were collected every 48 hours during the whole differentiation, totally 4 intervals. Before collection, cells were treated with either 5mmol glucose or 25mmol glucose for 24 hours. Under 5mmol glucose, the …

Sustainability And Impact Of Lung Health Outpatient Resource Center, Maureen Lintner, Jose Morales, Rosario Dominguez, Margarita Pallares, Maribel Matos, Robert Ramirez, Tina Hyman, Cristiana Rivas

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of Stroke Pathways To Reduce Length Of Stay, Cost, Readmissions, And Mortality, Jayme Strauss, Daniel Hartnett, Jenny Ductant, Peter De Armas, Albert Fernandez, Andrew Waisbrot, Amy Starosciak, Felipe De Los Rios La Rosa

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Addressing Stroke Patient And Family Reasons For Not Calling 911, Maygret Ramirez, Rodney Bedgio, Virginia Ramos, Ivis Gonzalez, Yaima Miro Gonzalez, Amy Starosciak, Daniel D'Amour, Jayme Strauss, Felipe De Los Rios La Rosa

All Publications

No abstract provided.

Comparative Effectiveness Of Dimethyl Fumarate Versus Fingolimod And Teriflunomide Among Ms Patients Switching From First-Generation Platform Therapies In The Us., Daniel Ontaneda, Jacqueline Nicholas, Matthew Carraro, Jia Zhou, Qiang Hou, Jaanai Babb, Katherine Riester, Jason P Mendoza, Terrie Livingston, Mehul Jhaveri

Neuroscience Articles

BACKGROUND: Previous real-world comparative research of MS disease modifying therapies (DMTs) in the overall population has suggested dimethyl fumarate (DMF) to be comparable to fingolimod (FTY) and more efficacious than teriflunomide (TERI) in reducing relapses. However, there is limited comparative evidence in patients switching from platform DMTs in the US. The objective of the study was to compare the annualized relapse rate (ARR) and risk of relapse in MS patients who have switched from a platform therapy to DMF, FTY, or TERI.

METHODS: MS patients (18-65 years old) initiating an oral DMT from June 2013 to March 2015 were identified …

Keeping Healthy “Chorio” Babies Out Of The Nicu, Laura Senn

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

The Orphan Drug Act At 35: Observations And An Outlook For The Twenty-First Century, Nicholas Bagley, Benjamin Berger, Amitabh Chandra, Craig Garthwaite

Articles

On the thirty-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Orphan Drug Act (ODA), we describe the enormous changes in the markets for therapies for rare diseases that have emerged over recent decades. The most prominent example is the fact that the profit-maximizing price of new orphan drugs appears to be greater today than it was in 1983. All else equal, this should reduce the threshold for research and development (R&D) investment in an economically viable product. Further, the small size of patient populations for orphan drugs, together with the increasing prevalence of biologics among orphan drugs, have created a set …

2019 Impact Report, Evidence To Practice, Cep Annual Reports, Stephen Phillippi, Sonita Singh, Lindsay Simpson, Kaylin Beiter

Policy & Position Papers

No abstract provided.

Faculty Publications 2018, Lsu Health Sciences Center New Orleans

Historical Faculty Publications

This Faculty bibliography contains 810 publications.

Patient Care In High-Level Containment Care Units: In A Resourced Setting, Angela M. Vasa, Kate C. Boulter, Jolene M. Horihan, David S. Cates, Craig A. Piquette, James N. Sullivan, Daniel W. Johnson, Angela L. Hewlett

Books and Book Chapters: Nebraska Medicine

Vasa, A., Boulter, K., Horihan, Cates, D., Piquette, C., Sullivan, J., Johnson, D, & Hewlett, A. (2019). Patient Care in High-Level Containment Care Units. In T. Cieslak, M. Kortepeter, C. Kratochvil, & J. Lawler (Eds.), Nebraska Isolation and Quarantine Manual (pp. 87-101). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Coaches' Preparedness For Sudden Death Conditions In Secondary School Athletics In West Virginia, Jillian Mary Sarm

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Context: Coaches in the secondary school setting may encounter and be expected to provide emergency medical care for student athletes in the absence of a healthcare professional such as athletic trainers. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) categorized ten sudden death conditions which are common in athletics and may warrant a medical emergency. Since the coaches may not be cognizant of these common sudden death conditions, they may not be prepared to handle a medical emergency which threatens the life of student athletes. Objective: Determine if West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) coaches are aware and prepared to provide …

Pokemon Go And Mental Health, Nathaniel Ed

Masters Theses

Pokémon GO is a new type of game that emphasizes physical activity and social interaction. In the literature, both physical activity and social interactions have been shown to be positively correlated with mental health. Much research has been conducted on the effects of gaming on mental health, but to date no research has been done on the possible correlations of the game Pokémon GO and mental health. The present study was conducted to determine whether Pokémon GO players scored significantly lower than a control group of traditional garners on scales of depression, anxiety, and pathological gaming, and if they reported …

Teachers' Perception Of Mental Health In The School System, Nicholas Caldwell

Masters Theses

The study examined teachers' perceptions of their school's mental health system. Specifically, teachers were asked about their role in the identification process, how effective their school's system is at identifying and treating mental health problems, and their suggestions for improvement. Mental health problems affect a significant portion of today's youth (Merikangas et al., 2010). Mental health problems can negatively impact an adolescent's academic achievement, social relationships, and behavioral functioning (Woodward & Fergusson, 2001). Six teachers from a southeastern, rural Illinois high school participated in the study. Each teacher participated in a single interview and discussed their perceptions of the school's …

Gwas Of Qrs Duration Identifies New Loci Specific To Hispanic/Latino Populations, Brenton R Swenson, Tin Louie, Henry J Lin, Raúl Méndez-Giráldez, Jennifer E Below, Cathy C Laurie, Kathleen F Kerr, Heather Highland, Timothy A Thornton, Kelli K Ryckman, Charles Kooperberg, Elsayed Z Soliman, Amanda A Seyerle, Xiuqing Guo, Kent D Taylor, Jie Yao, Susan R Heckbert, Dawood Darbar, Lauren E Petty, Barbara Mcknight, Susan Cheng, Natalie A Bello, Eric A Whitsel, Craig L Hanis, Mike A Nalls, Daniel S Evans, Jerome I Rotter, Tamar Sofer, Christy L Avery, Nona Sotoodehnia

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The electrocardiographically quantified QRS duration measures ventricular depolarization and conduction. QRS prolongation has been associated with poor heart failure prognosis and cardiovascular mortality, including sudden death. While previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 32 QRS SNPs across 26 loci among European, African, and Asian-descent populations, the genetics of QRS among Hispanics/Latinos has not been previously explored.

METHODS: We performed a GWAS of QRS duration among Hispanic/Latino ancestry populations (n = 15,124) from four studies using 1000 Genomes imputed genotype data (adjusted for age, sex, global ancestry, clinical and study-specific covariates). Study-specific results were combined using fixed-effects, inverse variance-weighted …

Free Water In White Matter Differentiates Mci And Ad From Control Subjects, Matthieu Dumont, Maggie Roy, Pierre-Marc Jodoin, Felix C Morency, Jean-Christophe Houde, Zhiyong Xie, Cici Bauer, Tarek A Samad, Koene R A Van Dijk, James A Goodman, Maxime Descoteaux

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Recent evidence shows that neuroinflammation plays a role in many neurological diseases including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), and that free water (FW) modeling from clinically acquired diffusion MRI (DTI-like acquisitions) can be sensitive to this phenomenon. This FW index measures the fraction of the diffusion signal explained by isotropically unconstrained water, as estimated from a bi-tensor model. In this study, we developed a simple but powerful whole-brain FW measure designed for easy translation to clinical settings and potential use as a priori outcome measure in clinical trials. These simple FW measures use a "safe" white matter …

Multistate Outbreaks Of Foodborne Illness In The United States Associated With Fresh Produce From 2010 To 2017, Christina K Carstens, Joelle K Salazar, Charles Darkoh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

In the United States, the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has increased during recent years as consumers seek to make healthier lifestyle choices. However, the number of outbreaks associated with fresh produce that involve cases in more than one state (multistate) has increased concomitantly. As the distance along the farm-to-fork continuum has lengthened over time, there are also more opportunities for fresh produce contamination with bacterial pathogens before it reaches the consumer. This review provides an overview of the three bacterial pathogens (i.e., pathogenic

Learn First, Practice Second Approach To Increase Health Professionals’ Nutrition-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, And Self-Efficacy., Madison E. Santella

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a “learn first, practice second” intervention on the nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy of multidisciplinary health professionals in West Virginia, specifically highlighting the Mediterranean Diet. Data was captured via online surveys at four time points (Baseline, Post-education, Post-immersion, Follow Up). All information was self-reported. This approach consisted of 16 weeks of online education, 2 weeks of cultural immersion in Tuscany, Italy, and a 7 month return to practice period. Data were analyzed using JMP Version Pro 12.2 and SAS Version 9.3 for Windows. Repeated measures ANOVA with irregular spacing …

Evaluating The Impact Of An Intervention To Promote Empathy For Patients With Substance Use Disorder In A Rural Emergency Department, Theresa Poling

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background

Negative attitudes of health professionals towards patients with SUD are common and contribute to suboptimal health care for this marginalized group of patients (Van-Boekel, Brouwers, Van-Weeghel & Garretson, 2013).

Objectives

Promoting empathy in the Emergency Department (ED) has the potential to increase nursing staff’s awareness of their attitudes and perceptions toward patients with SUD, thereby decreasing the stigma associated with addiction and improving patient care and patient outcomes. The rationale for implementing this project was to evaluate a tool to promote empathy. This tool was developed by the student researcher based on a literature search and analysis.

Design

This …

Characteristics And Patterns Of Opioid-Related Overdoses Among Veterans, Sara Catherine Warfield

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose crisis and is now considered a public health emergency. Given the alarming rise in opioid overdose deaths, there is an urgent need to understand the characteristics and risks associated with opioid overdoses. The objectives of this study were 1) to compare factors associated with different type of opioid overdose, 2) to determine the conditional probability of repeat overdose among veterans with a prior overdose event and corresponding probability of mortality for each overdose event and, 3) to identify cause-specific mortality rate of those who experienced a …

Macrolinguistic Analysis Of Discourse Production In People With Aphasia, Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment, And Survivors Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Stephanie Eaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the macrolinguistic features of three genres (single picture description, sequential picture description, and story retell) of discourse samples collected from participants with acquired communication disorders (including two speakers with aphasia, two with mild cognitive impairment, and two with traumatic brain injury) and unimpaired controls (n=6). Comparisons were made to investigate group and genre differences. Standardized assessment scores of cognitive and linguistic evaluations were collected and correlated to features of macrolinguistic discourse analysis. Participants with acquired communication disorders performed best on the story retell discourse task compared to single picture description and sequential picture description. Significant measures for …

Partnering With Paraprofessionals: Expanding Preschool Children's Responses Through Dialogic Reading, Juliana Hirn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shared interactive reading is an evidence-based practice where professionals can collaborate to promote literacy and language skills in young children. Providing children with developmental disabilities (DD) the opportunity to gain language and preliteracy skills in early intervention is critical for their development as they are at a higher risk for falling behind in academics compared to their age-matched peers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of dialogic reading (DR) for children with DD. DR has been shown to be an effective strategy to teach typically developing preschool-aged children vocabulary, language, and literacy skills, however research in children with DD is limited. …

Mapping Addiction: A Digital Psychogeographic Approach To America's Addiction Epidemic, Clayton Benjamin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Focusing on policy consultation, my dissertation consults on the current US addiction epidemic and aims to answer, "What is our disposition to addiction?" Borrowing and clarifying Ulmer's MEmorial method, as established in his text Electronic Monuments, the dissertation combines the ancient Greek practice of theoria, Deleuzian theory, and psychogeographic counter-mapping methods to trace ways in which ideological apparatuses construct addiction. The aim of the dissertation is to reveal an abject value by constructing MEmorials which provide space for individuals to mourn loss and see their relation to that loss. Through mourning, individuals strengthen their ties to other community members and …

Synthesis And Bioevaluation Of Methionine Depletion Agents, Houssine Ikhlef

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The native polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are low molecular weight amines that exist as polycations at physiological pH. These polycations interact with DNA, RNA, and influence many cellular processes. Intracellular polyamine levels are maintained via a balance of polyamine biosynthesis, catabolism, and transport. Ornithine, an amino acid obtained from L-arginine, is decarboxylated by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) to form putrescine. The biosynthesis of the higher polyamines, spermidine and spermine, requires the addition of an amino-propyl group donated by decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine (dc-SAM), which itself is derived from the amino acid L-methionine (Met). Tumor cells are heavily reliant on methionine because it …