Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Alzheimer's Disease
- All Subjects: Cross National
Description
With no known cure, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common dementia, affecting more than 5.5 million Americans. Research has shown that women who undergo surgical menopause (i.e. removal of the ovaries) before the onset of natural menopause are at a greater risk for AD. It is hypothesized that this greater relative risk of developing AD is linked to ovarian hormone deprivation associated with surgical menopause. The purpose of these studies was to evaluate the behavioral changes that occur after a short-term (ST) and a long-term (LT) ovarian hormone deprivation in a mouse model of AD. Wildtype (Wt) or APP/PS1 (Tg) mutation mice underwent either a sham surgery or an ovariectomy (Ovx) surgery at three months of age. Study 1 consisted of a short-term cohort that was behaviorally tested one month following surgery on a battery of spatial memory tasks including, the Morris water maze, delayed matched-to-sample water maze, and visible platform task. Study 2 consisted of a long-term cohort that was behaviorally tested on the same cognitive battery three months following surgery. Results of Study 1 revealed that genotype interacted with surgical menopause status, such that after a short-term ovarian hormone deprivation, Ovx induced a genotype effect while Sham surgery did not. Results of Study 2 showed a similar pattern of effects, with a comparable interaction between genotypes and surgical menopause status. These findings indicate that the cognitive impact of ovarian hormone deprivation depends on AD-related genotype. Neuropathology evaluations in these mice will be done in the near future and will allow us to test relations between surgical menopause status, cognition, and AD-like neuropathology.
ContributorsPalmer, Justin M. (Author) / Bimonte-Nelson, Heather (Thesis director) / Oddo, Salvatore (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Over the past several decades, middle-aged Americans have exhibited troubling trends of declining mental and physical health over successive cohorts. Interestingly, this trend has not been observed in peer nations in Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Later-born cohorts in other countries typically report better midlife mental and physical health than their earlier-born counterparts. It is less clear the extent to which physical pain shows similar trends to what has been observed in the U.S. and comparison peer nations. The goal of the current study was to examine how self-reports of pain have historically changed during midlife and investigate whether differences emerge between the U.S. and peer nations. We used harmonized data on pain from nationally representative longitudinal panel surveys from the U.S., 13 European nations, South Korea, and Mexico to directly quantify similarities and differences in historical change in midlife pain. Our results supported the hypothesis that midlife pain is higher amongst later-born cohorts in the U.S. A similar pattern of historical increases in pain was observed in Continental and Nordic Europe. In England, Mediterranean Europe, South Korea, and Mexico, the opposite pattern was observed with historical declines in pain. Historical increases in reports of pain in the U.S. emerged more quickly for later-born cohorts at earlier stages of midlife. These results suggest there could be aspects of American midlife today that are exacerbating reports of pain, and these aspects may be shared in some European nations but absent or less influential in other peer nations. Our discussion focuses on potential explanations for this pattern, such as population level discrepancies in health, differential use of health care services, and the inter/intrapersonal costs of westernization, as well as how pain is conceptualized across nations.
ContributorsSyed, Orchee (Author) / Infurna, Frank (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor)
Created2023-12