Alternative and Complementary Medicine Commons^™

Reasons For Stigma Surrounding Emotional Support Animals And How It Can Be Addressed, Natalie Helms

Honors Theses

Multiple factors that influence how emotional support animals (ESAs) are perceived will be investigated in this study, including how the stigma surrounding mental illness has the potential to affect how a person views using ESAs as a treatment for anxiety.

Honokoil Treatment On Glioblastoma Cells, Julianne Weaver

Honors Theses

Glioblastoma is a malignant brain tumor without effective treatment options available because of its resistance to chemotherapy and radiation. This specific type of cancer is difficult to treat because the cancer stem cells that are not actively growing. These cells are dormant, which means they will not react to treatment because they are not dividing, and it is these cells that result in the high prevalence of relapse. Honokiol is a Chinese magnolia species that is known for its anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and proapoptotic effects which make it an optimal candidate for glioma cell treatment. Honokiol was used in this experiment …

The Healing Potential Of Online, Art-Dbt: Developing A Program For Rumination And Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Reduction, Lesley Howard

Honors Theses

I developed and tested the effectiveness of an online, 6-week art-DBT (combination of Art Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) program aimed at reducing rumination and, if present, non-suicidal self-injury.

Killing Breast Cancer One Porphyrin At A Time, Taylor C. Lymburner

Honors Theses

New treatments for cancer are continuously being developed and improved. One such treatment is Photodynamic Therapy, more commonly referred to as PDT. PDT is quickly becoming more popular due to its relative lack of side effects that are present in other treatments. In PDT, light-sensitive agents are required and are activated by light in the targeted cells. There are many types of PDT agents but the one focused on in this research is a four-pyrrole ring structure known as a porphyrin. The combination of H2 TPPC with 3- amino-oxetane-3-yl-methanol created the final product ofH2TPP-Oxo-MeOH. Once the porphyrin was formed, it …

Effectiveness And Mechanism Of Action Of Modified Porphyrins For Photodynamic Therapy Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Hannah Brandon

Honors Theses

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer that lacks the three molecules typically targeted for treatment. Standard treatment methods leave much to be desired--the rates of metastasis and recurrence are high and the prognosis for most patients with TNBC is poor. One potential treatment for TNBC is photodynamic therapy (PDT), which uses compounds called photosensitizers that are taken up by all tissues in the body. The tumor is exposed to light, activating the photosensitizer and creating reactive oxygen species that cause cell death. This method is relatively pain-free, effective, and does not harm cells …

The Effect Of Exercise And Diet On Insulin Resistance, Kinsey M. Nelson

Honors Theses

This paper explores the effects of diet and exercise on an insulin-resistant individual, integrating the recommendations for exercise and diet as put forth by a variety of peer-reviewed articles. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if insulin resistance is a reversible condition, and if so, whether exercise alone, nutrition alone, or some combination of the two would be the most effective treatment. The results of this twenty-week trial suggest that insulin resistance may be reversible. Exercise alone was not found to be effective in decreasing insulin levels. Changing to a low-carbohydrate diet with no exercise saw a vast …

Killing Cancer With Light, Kaitlyn Thomas

Honors Theses

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a relatively new treatment option in medicine including treating some types of cancers. PDT utilizes light to activate small molecules for treatment. Some of these molecules used as PDT agents are porphyrin derivatives. While PDT is currently being used in the fight against cancer, it has several limitations and is currently being used in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or radiation in order to be effective. This research focused on synthesizing a new zinc (II) porphyrin and incorporating a fluorescent sulfocycline and testing the compound on the MB 231 breast cancer cell line.

Once the metallated porphyrin was …

Jwh-018 And Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: Drug-Drug Interactions And Implications On Toxicity, Christopher O. Godwin

Honors Theses

Drug abuse has expanded from more well-known substances, such as cocaine and marijuana, to relatively new novel psychoactive substances. A group of these substances called synthetic cannabinoids have been increasing in usage throughout the 2000's, and these compounds carry significant and varying risks depending on the dose and composition of the synthetic cannabinoid. Patients have been observed having symptoms associated with high doses of synthetic cannabinoids when they take lower doses of the synthetic cannabinoid in addition to their antidepressant medication. In order to test the effects of co-administration of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRis) and synthetic cannabinoids, mice were …

An Assessment Of The Effects Of Medical Marijuana On The Quality Of Patient Life, Kori L. Bullard

Honors Theses

America is known as the land of opportunity. People attempting to better their lives tend to see America as an opportunity to do so. This statement remains true for the American medical field. Americans are known as advanced in treatment options for various diseases. With this being said, there are few diseases that still bring forth complete fear in the minds of the people of America. In spite of this, "You have been diagnosed with cancer" is a statement that generates this fear. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Current treatments for cancer are invasive, expensive, …

Using Light To Kill Cancer: Development Of A Novel Photodynamic Therapy, Alicia Hamilton Moore

Honors Theses

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment that uses special drugs called photosensitizing agents along with light to kill cancer cells. The specialized drugs only work after they have been activated or "turned on" by light. Photodynamic therapy may also be called photoradiation therapy, phototherapy, or photochemotherapy. In this research, I focused on the addition of four separate hydroxyl-amines to the unsubstituted porphyrin core, H₂TPPC. The hydroxyl-amines attached to the porphyrin core were 5- amino-1-pentanol, 2-amino-2-ethyl-1, 3-propanediol, 3-amino-propanediol, and 5-aminovaleric acid. The novel water soluble PDT agents, H₂TPP-A50H, H₂TPP-2ET, H₂TPP-3NH, and H_{2 …}

The Effect Of Cannabinoids On Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Haley Dahl

Honors Theses

Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is a difficult type of cancer to treat because it is negative for progesterone, estrogen, and HER-2 receptors. Because TNBC is negative for these three receptors, it does not respond to normal hormonal therapies. The purpose of my experiment is to see if different cannabinoids, compounds from the cannabis plants, could be used as alternative treatment options. These experiments employed three different cannabinoids: ajulemic acid, cannabidiol, and hemp oil. Cell viability was measured after 72 hours of treatment using a MTT assay. The results showed that the three cannabinoids could be used to effectively destroy …

Computational Studies Of Melatonin Analogues, Jessica Lynne Baima

Honors Theses

Melatonin (MLT, N-Acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine), a naturally occurring hormone produced by the pineal gland, plays a crucial role in the regulation of circadian rhythms. Melatonin supplements are utilized in treating various sleep disorders, but detrimental side effects currently discourages its use in space. Computer generated molecular models of MLT analogues were studied with the purpose of resolving the deficiencies within existing therapeutic agents by constructing an enhanced MLT analogue. The MT receptor binding data for each analogue was obtained from the literature and Sybyl 6.9 was used to perform 3-D quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies on eight data sets, using the comparative …

Massage And Self-Hypnosis: Methods For Tension Release, Robin Mcalister

Honors Theses

In order to determine the feasibility of using self-hypnosis and massage in reducing tension, a survey of modern literature was made. Massage was shown to reduce tightness and soreness in muscles while self-hypnosis served to guide the individual into a state of relaxation. Techniques and methodology were explored and a compilation was given.