Matching Items (102)
Description
While type 2 diabetes (T2D) rates have soared, the number of Americans classified as ‘prediabetic’ has also increased. Despite this, current preventative approaches are costly and often not without undue side-effects. Instead, behavioral lifestyle approaches hold promise in reducing conversion rates of T2D as the latest treatment option that could mitigate and transform disease management. However, present interventions do not possess the scope necessary for implementation in a realistic, scalable way that can target the large at-risk population.
The application (app) “BeWell24” mitigates this diabetes risk through targeting sleep, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet, and is being delivered through mHealth technology to attenuate the higher-risk of the prediabetic Veteran population. In order for full scale dissemination, this thesis examines a provider perspective of the ‘Post-intervention interview guide’, performed with a Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System (PVAHCS) provider. It then suggests revisions to the interview guide based on the provider’s interview and existing literature. This thesis also emphasizes the rationale behind these proposed changes to be organized in line with the iPARIHS framework (integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services).
Overall, the provider responded positively to BeWell24 and the ‘Post-intervention interview guide’, with constructive suggestions for each question in the interview guide. The main theme of the provider’s answers and comments were to prioritize efficiency and preserve standard clinical flow. A revised interview guide is provided, which prospectively presents as a more brief and focused interview organized by the iPARIHS framework. This revised interview guide could aid in the clarity of provider responses, specifically for the prospective interviews of the ongoing larger BeWell24 study and future studies.
The application (app) “BeWell24” mitigates this diabetes risk through targeting sleep, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and diet, and is being delivered through mHealth technology to attenuate the higher-risk of the prediabetic Veteran population. In order for full scale dissemination, this thesis examines a provider perspective of the ‘Post-intervention interview guide’, performed with a Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System (PVAHCS) provider. It then suggests revisions to the interview guide based on the provider’s interview and existing literature. This thesis also emphasizes the rationale behind these proposed changes to be organized in line with the iPARIHS framework (integrated Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services).
Overall, the provider responded positively to BeWell24 and the ‘Post-intervention interview guide’, with constructive suggestions for each question in the interview guide. The main theme of the provider’s answers and comments were to prioritize efficiency and preserve standard clinical flow. A revised interview guide is provided, which prospectively presents as a more brief and focused interview organized by the iPARIHS framework. This revised interview guide could aid in the clarity of provider responses, specifically for the prospective interviews of the ongoing larger BeWell24 study and future studies.
ContributorsWojtas, Abby Ann (Author) / Buman, Matthew (Thesis director) / Larouche, Miranda (Committee member) / Epstein, Dana (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Mobile health or "mHealth" defines a broad spectrum of medical or public health practice supported by mobile devices. The patient's perception of mobile health applications is the key point in confronting whether or not patients will utilize the tools at their disposal As such, the primary aim of this study was to examine participant feedback through quantitative and qualitative measures using the Therapy Evaluation Questionnaire and a patient interview, respectively, to further understand the patient rated acceptability of using BeWell24 and SleepWell24 for improving health outcomes. For BeWell24, it was hypothesized that patients who received the Multicomponent version would report higher acceptability scores than those randomized to the Health Education version. Furthermore, in regard to SleepWell24, it was hypothesized that the SleepWell24 patient would provide positive feedback and suggestions regarding their own experience with the SleepWell24 app. Data from this thesis was pulled from two ongoing randomized controlled trials currently being conducted at the Phoenix Veteran Affairs Health Care Service (PVACHS) and Mayo Clinic hospitals. Means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages were commuted to summarize demographics and TEQ scores. In addition, key concepts from a qualitative interview with a SleepWell24 participant were derived. The results showed a greater acceptability of the multicomponent versions of BeWell24 and SleepWell24 but a lower TEQ score of perceived usability. mHealth implementations pose a potential to become an important part of the health sector for establishing innovative approaches to delivering care, and while benefits have been highly praised, it is clear that the perceptions of mHealth must be positive if the technology is to transcend into a practical clinical setting.
ContributorsJimenez, Asael (Author) / Buman, Matthew (Thesis director) / Epstein, Dana (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Finding life beyond Earth could change our understanding of life and habitability. The best place to look for life beyond Earth is Jupiter's moon, Europa. It has been estimated Europa may have a liquid, salt-water subsurface with 2 to 3 times the volume of all Earth's oceans. Knowing that all life requires water, it is in our best interest to explore Europa. This thesis explored the plausibility of life on Europa in four of its environments: on the surface, under the ice shell, in the liquid subsurface, and at the bottom of the liquid subsurface. Each of these environments were defined from science literature and compared to known Earth analogs. Europa's surface is not likely to support life, as there is not liquid water present. There is also extremely high radiation bombardment and extremely low surface temperatures that are estimated to be well out of the range for supporting life. It is more plausible that life could be under Europa's ice shell than on the surface. Under the surface, radiation exposure dramatically reduces. Researchers have found organisms on Earth that can live in similar environments as Europa's ice as well. These organisms require some interaction with liquid water though. Uncertainties about Europa's ice shell thickness and radiation load per depth it experiences, as well as there being limited research on organisms in ice environments, hinder us from definitively assessing the plausibility of life under the surface. The best environment on Europa to look for life on Europa is the subsurface. There remain a lot of uncertainties about the subsurface, however, that make it difficult to assess the plausibility of finding life. These uncertainties include its depth, water activity, salinity, temperature, pressure, and structure. This subsurface may be suitable for life, but until we can further understand the environment of the subsurface, we cannot make definite conclusions. As for assessing the plausibility of life at the bottom of Europa's subsurface, there is not much we know about this environment either. It has been suggested there may be hydrothermal vents, but no evidence has either supported or rejected this idea. Without a clear understanding of the environment at the bottom of the subsurface, the plausibility of life here cannot be definitively answered. It is apparent we need to further study Europa. In particular, we need to focus on understanding the subsurface. When the subsurface is better defined, we can better assess the plausibility of life being present. Fortunately, both NASA and the ESA are currently planning missions to Europa that are scheduled to launch in the 2020s.
ContributorsHoward, Cheyenne Whiffen (Author) / Farmer, Jack (Thesis director) / Shock, Everett (Committee member) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Sleep diaries and actigraphy are two common methods used to assess sleep subjectively and objectively, respectively. Compared to the gold standard of sleep assessment, polysomnography, sleep diaries and actigraphic methods are more cost-effective and simpler to use. This study aimed to compare the sleep parameters derived from actigraphy and sleep diaries (total sleep time, sleep onset latency, number of awakenings, wake after sleep onset, percentage of time awake, and sleep efficiency). Based on results from previous similar studies, it was hypothesized that the sleep diaries would overestimate the total sleep time parameter and underestimate wake parameters. Twenty healthy young adults without sleep problems volunteered to participate. The participants wore an Actiwatch 2 on their wrist and filled out a sleep diary every morning for the duration of six days. A high intraclass correlation coefficient value between subjective and objective sleep was found for the parameter total sleep time, even though total sleep time was found to be slightly overestimated by the sleep diaries. Sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, number of awakenings, percentage of time awake, and sleep efficiency were underestimated by the sleep diaries and did not have high correlation values. Based off of the ICC results, there does not seem to be a strong correlation between the Actiwatch 2 and the sleep diaries, but looking at the Bland Altman plots, there seems to be agreement between the methods.
ContributorsRameshkumar, Aarthi (Author) / Buman, Matthew (Thesis director) / Petrov, Megan (Committee member) / Diaz-Piedra, Carolina (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Recent research has confirmed and revealed many physical and mental benefits of yoga. The practice of yoga has spread throughout the western world, where it is widely used for the purpose of exercise and fitness. Due to its rise in popularity, there is a need for research regarding the energy expenditure required for different types of yoga. The majority of the literature cites yoga as being an effective exercise for light intensity activity, but there are not as many studies attempting to determine if there are postures and sequences that can meet the requirements for moderate physical activity. In addition, there is a need to validate mobile devices with which to measure energy expenditure (EE) that are compatible with the dynamic movements that occur during yoga. The purpose of this study was to measure energy expenditure of twenty-two yoga practitioners of varying experience during a 30-minute Vinyasa flow yoga practice and from this data collection determine: if an ashtanga-based vinyasa yoga class meets the criteria for moderate intensity physical activity, the reliability between the Actigraph and Oxycon Mobile and the validity of an Actigraph GT3X device worn on the hip in estimating energy expenditure for ashtanga-based vinyasa flow yoga. The Actigraph GT3X and the Oxycon mobile were used to measure energy expenditure. Mean values for energy expenditure recorded by the Oxycon and Actigraph were 3.19 ± 0.42 METs and 1.16 ± 0.23 METs respectively, exhibiting a significant difference in data collection. There was no correlation between the values recorded by the two devices, indicating that the Actigraph was not consistent with the Oxycon Mobile (previously validated for measurement of EE). Results of this study indicate that this Vinyasa flow yoga sequence does satisfy the criteria for moderate intensity physical activity as defined by ACSM with an average EE of 3.19 ± 0.42 METs, and that the Actigraph GT3X is not an accurate device for measurement of EE for yoga.
ContributorsHand, Lindsay Gabrielle (Author) / Huberty, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Yellowstone National Park has a vibrant variety of flora, fauna, and hydrothermal systems all collected together in one large and complex system. Studies have been conducted for at least several decades in order to make sense of this system in ways that may be relevant to other similar geologies around the world. The latest update in this ever-ongoing study involves the collection and analysis of water samples from 2016. These samples have been analyzed for conductivity, pH, temperature, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved inorganic carbon, carbon isotopes, dissolved oxygen, ferrous iron, sulfide, silica, and more. While not many trends were found in this data in regards to dissolved organic carbon values, this is a substantial addition to a growing body of information that could yield more impressive information in times to come. In addition, factors that have yet to analyzed for this 2016 data, such as concentrations of metals and metalloids, may provide some insights when put through a chloride vs sulfate framework to separate out different reaction regions.
ContributorsDoan, Cuong Le (Author) / Shock, Everett (Thesis director) / Gould, Ian (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Meditation app usage is associated with decreases in stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms. Many meditation app subscribers, however, quickly abandon or reduce their app usage. This dissertation presents three manuscripts which 1) determined the behavioral, demographic, and socioeconomic factors associated with the abandonment of a meditation app, Calm, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2) determined which participant characteristics predicted meditation app usage in the first eight weeks after subscribing, and 3) determined if changes in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms from baseline to Week 8 predicted meditation app usage from Weeks 8-16. In Manuscript 1, a survey was distributed to Calm subscribers in March 2020 that assessed meditation app behavior and meditation habit strength, and demographic information. Cox proportional hazards regression models were estimated to assess time to app abandonment. In Manuscript 2, new Calm subscribers completed a baseline survey on participants’ demographic and baseline mental health information and app usage data were collected over 8 weeks. In Manuscript 3, new Calm subscribers completed a baseline and Week 8 survey on demographic and mental health information. App usage data were collected over 16 weeks. Regression models were used to assess app usage for Manuscripts 2 and 3. Findings from Manuscript 1 suggest meditating after an existing routine decreased risk of app abandonment for pre-pandemic subscribers and for pandemic subscribers. Additionally, meditating “whenever I can” decreased risk of abandonment among pandemic subscribers. No behavioral factors were significant predictors of app abandonment among the long-term subscribers. Findings from Manuscript 2 suggest men had more days of meditation than women. Mental health diagnosis increased average daily meditation minutes. Intrinsic motivation for meditation increased the likelihood of completing any meditation session, more days with meditation sessions, and more average daily meditation minutes. Findings from Manuscript 3 suggest improvements in stress increased average daily meditation minutes. Improvements in depressive symptoms decreased daily meditation minutes. Evidence from this three-manuscript dissertation suggests meditation cue, time of day, motivation, symptom changes, and demographic and socioeconomic variables may be used to predict meditation app usage.
ContributorsSullivan, Mariah (Author) / Stecher, Chad (Thesis advisor) / Huberty, Jennifer (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Larkey, Linda (Committee member) / Chung, Yunro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The ability to find evidence of life on early Earth and other planets is constrained by the current understanding of biosignatures and our ability to differentiate fossils from abiotic mimics. When organisms transition from the living realm to the fossil record, their morphological and chemical characteristics are modified, usually resulting in the loss of information. These modifications can happen during early and late diagenesis and differ depending on local geochemical properties. These post-depositional modifications need to be understood to better interpret the fossil record. Siliceous hot spring deposits (sinters) are of particular interest for biosignature research as they are early Earth analog environments and targets for investigating the presence of fossil life on Mars. As silica-supersaturated fluids flow from the vent to the distal apron, they precipitate non-crystalline opal-A that fossilizes microbial communities at a range in scales (μm-cm). Therefore, many studies have documented the ties between the active microbial communities and the morphological and chemical biosignatures in hot springs. However, far less attention has been placed on understanding preservation in systems with complex mineralogy or how post-depositional alteration affects the retention of biosignatures. Without this context, it can be challenging to recognize biosignatures in ancient rocks. This dissertation research aims to refine our current understanding of biosignature preservation and retention in sinters. Biosignatures of interest include organic matter, microfossils, and biofabrics. The complex nature of hot springs requires a comprehensive understanding of biosignature preservation that is representative of variable chemistries and post-depositional alterations. For this reason, this dissertation research chapters are field site-based. Chapter 2 investigates biosignature preservation in an unusual spring with mixed opal-A-calcite mineralogy at Lýsuhóll, Iceland. Chapter 3 tracks how silica diagenesis modifies microfossil morphology and associated organic matter at Puchuldiza, Chile. Chapter 4 studies the effects of acid fumarolic overprinting on biosignatures in Gunnuhver, Iceland. To accomplish this, traditional geologic methods (mapping, petrography, X-ray diffraction, bulk elemental analyses) were combined with high-spatial-resolution elemental mapping to better understand diagenetic effects in these systems. Preservation models were developed to predict the types and styles of biosignatures that can be present depending on the depositional and geochemical context. Recommendations are also made for the types of deposits that are most likely to preserve biosignatures.
ContributorsJuarez Rivera, Marisol (Author) / Farmer, Jack D (Thesis advisor) / Hartnett, Hilairy E (Committee member) / Shock, Everett (Committee member) / Garcia-Pichel, Ferran (Committee member) / Trembath-Reichert, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
I present results of field and laboratory experiments investigating the habitability of one of Earth’s driest environments: the Atacama Desert. This Desert, along the west coast of South America spanning Perú and Chile, is one of the driest places on Earth and has been exceedingly arid for millions of years. These conditions create the perfect natural laboratory for assessing life at the extremes of habitability. All known life needs water; however, the extraordinarily dry Atacama Desert is inhabited by well-adapted microorganisms capable of colonizing this hostile environment. I show field and laboratory evidence of an environmental process, water vapor adsorption, that provides a daily, sustainable input of water into the near (3 - 5 cm) subsurface through water vapor-soil particle interactions. I estimate that this water input may rival the yearly average input of rain in these soils (~2 mm).
I also demonstrate, for the first time, that water vapor adsorption is dependent on mineral composition via a series of laboratory water vapor adsorption experiments. The results of these experiments provide evidence that mineral composition, and ultimately soil composition, measurably and significantly affect the equilibrium soil water content. This suggests that soil microbial communities may be extremely heterogeneous in distribution depending on the distribution of adsorbent minerals.
Finally, I present changes in biologically relevant gasses (i.e., H2, CH4, CO, and CO2) over long-duration incubation experiments designed to assess the potential for biological activity in soils collected from a hyperarid region in the Atacama Desert. These long-duration experiments mimicked typical water availability conditions in the Atacama Desert; in other words, the incubations were performed without condensed water addition. The results suggest a potential for methane-production in the live experiments relative to the sterile controls, and thus, for biological activity in hyperarid soils. However, due to the extremely low biomass and extremely low rates of activity in these soils, the methods employed here were unable to provide robust evidence for activity. Overall, the hyperarid regions of the Atacama Desert are an important resource for researchers by providing a window into the environmental dynamics and subsequent microbial responses near the limit of habitability.
ContributorsGlaser, Donald M (Author) / Hartnett, Hilairy E (Thesis advisor) / Anbar, Ariel (Committee member) / Shock, Everett (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
This dissertation research project developed as an urgent response to physical inactivity, which has resulted in increased rates of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disease worldwide. Incorporating enough daily physical activity (PA) is challenging for most people. This research aims to modulate the brain's reward systems to increase motivation for PA and, thus, slow the rapid increase in sedentary lifestyles. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) involves brain neuromodulation by facilitating or inhibiting spontaneous neural activity. tDCS applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) increases dopamine release in the striatum, an area of the brain involved in the reward–motivation pathways. I propose that a repeated intervention, consisting of tDCS applied to the DLPFC followed by a short walking exercise stimulus, enhances motivation for PA and daily PA levels in healthy adults. Results showed that using tDCS followed by short-duration walking exercise may enhance daily PA levels in low-physically active participants but may not have similar effects on those with higher levels of daily PA. Moreover, there was a significant effect on increasing intrinsic motivation for PA in males, but there were no sex-related differences in PA. These effects were not observed during a 2-week follow-up period of the study after the intervention was discontinued. Further research is needed to confirm and continue exploring the effects of tDCS on motivation for PA in larger cohorts of sedentary populations. This novel research will lead to a cascade of new evidence-based technological applications that increase PA by employing approaches rooted in biology.
ContributorsRuiz Tejada, Anaissa (Author) / Katsanos, Christos (Thesis advisor) / Neisewander, Janet (Committee member) / Sadleir, Rosalind (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023