Musculoskeletal, Neural, and Ocular Physiology Commons^™

Mitochondria As Causes Of And Therapeutic Targets In Chronic Post-Sepsis Skeletal Muscle Weakness, Meagan Scott Kingren

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences

Sepsis, or the organ damage that ensues after the body fails to properly contain a local infection, is the leading cause of in-patient hospitalization in the United States. Advances in critical care medicine over the last 20 years have enabled most sepsis patients to survive the life-threatening dysregulated immune response. However, a majority of survivors report chronic weakness and fatigue years after sepsis, and the cause of this weakness remains largely unknown. This dissertation work focused first on elucidating the major causes of post-sepsis muscle weakness (Aim 1). This aim involved a time-course study to determine when muscle weakness was …

Impaired Efferocytosis In Knee Osteoarthritis, Luigi M. Del Sordo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Non-resolving synovial inflammation is present in both human and animal models and plays a key role in the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, it is not known how inflammation affects synovial macrophage function and if this contributes to the loss of tissue homeostasis. The purpose of this thesis was to understand the role of efferocytosis in knee OA. There is an increased apoptotic cell burden within the synovium of patients with late-stage knee OA. Synovial-derived macrophages from these patients exhibited impaired efferocytosis. Healthy blood-derived macrophages exposed to synovial fluid from patients with knee OA recapitulated the defective efferocytosis. Impaired …

A Neurophysiological Investigation Of Listening Effort In Normal Hearing Adults Using Fnirs And Pupillometry, Jessica Defenderfer

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Real-world conversations are often accompanied by some sort of interference that challenges the clarity of the speaker’s message, causing listeners to exert more effort to understand speech. Previous research has demonstrated that when listening to speech becomes difficult, various regions of the brain are recruited beyond those which engage during optimal listening conditions. However, the neural correlates that underly listening effort are not fully understood. Importantly, the pupillary response can be used to index listening effort, such that pupil size increases with increasing cognitive demand. I proposed that pupillometry can be used to characterize the cortical response, such that changes …

The Impact Of High Intensity Interval Training On Neurogenesis And Angiogenesis In The Dentate Gyrus, Darrin Lenhart

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

BACKGROUND: Exercise is associated with improved neuronal health and longevity, synaptic plasticity, cerebral blood volume, overall brain volume, and neurogenesis which collectively may have the power to forestall neurodegenerative disease.

PURPOSE: This study aims to explore the impact of high intensity interval training on individuals with mild cognitive impairment using a range of cognitive, physiological, and biomechanical measures. Specifically, this study seeks to assess the impact of high intensity interval training on neurogenesis and angiogenesis in the dentate gyrus of individuals with mild cognitive impairment versus healthy age-matched controls, as assessed by urinalysis of BDNF levels, performance on the Rey …

Investigating Pathways Associated With Intervertebral Disc Degeneration And Back Pain., Geoffrey J. Kerr

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Lower back pain (LBP) is one of the most common conditions worldwide, yet, current therapeutics are limited to symptomatic relief and do not directly treat the underlying cause of pain. This is largely due to an incomplete understanding of the biological pathways and tissues involved in LBP. While many tissues appear to be involved, intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is believed to be a major contributor.

The main aim of this thesis was to characterize the role of two environmental risk factors, mechanical loading and obesity, in the initiation of IVD degeneration and associated pain using the mouse as a preclinical …

Effects Of Heat Stress And Exercise On Shooting Performance, Patrick R. Lindecker

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of exercise and acute heat stress on marksmanship performance measures of accuracy, precision, aim time, and distance travelled by the point of aim in trained US military veterans. Methods: Subjects (N=8) (height 184.1 ± 10.9 cm (SD), weight 92.1 ± 10.6 kg, 21.1 ± 8.9% body fat, VO_2max 47.25 ± 7.36 mL/kg/min, age 26.8 ± 4.3 yrs.) completed one-hour of walking at 50% VO_2max in a hot (35˚C, 30% maximal relative humidity) or cool (22˚C, 30% maximal relative humidity) environment. Core temperature, heart …