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This study was conducted to examine the potential effects of exercise training on partial spinal cord injury on locomotor recovery in juvenile rats. Three groups were tested, where three female Long-Evans rats 10-12 weeks of age were studied for their locomotion. All animals underwent a T8-T9 laminectomy and two of the three in each group received a dorsal, partial spinal cord injury. Locomotion was then analyzed every week, over 8-10 weeks. One of the two injured animals was given open access to a wheel after 2 weeks for voluntary exercise training. The results of this study suggested that injured animals displayed more irregular stepping patterns, larger hindlimb bases of support, greater and more variable interpaw distances, slower hindlimb speed, and increased dependency of swing-phase duty cycle on hindlimb speed. Trained animals displayed quicker recovery of stepping patterns, stepping of the hindpaw in relation to the preceding ipsilateral forepaw, and higher swing-duty cycle dependency on hindlimb speed in comparison to injured animals that did not receive exercise training. Due to a small sample size, there was a large amount of variation between individual animals in most parameters. These results are considered to be potential effects that may be seen in further study with a larger sample size. The research team will continue the research project to examine changes in neural pathways in the spinal cord and the effects of exercise on recovery after injury.
ContributorsSleem, Tamara Hatem (Author) / Abbas, James (Thesis director) / Hamm, Thomas (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The anthracycline drug Doxorubicin (DOX) is a highly effective treatment for breast cancer, but its clinical utility is limited by dose-dependent cardiovascular toxicity. The toxic effects are partly attributed to DOX-induced generation of reactive oxygen species, which may impair nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation. Exercise training activates antioxidant defense mechanisms and is thus hypothesized to counteract oxidative stress when initiated prior to DOX administration. Adult 8-week old, ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups: sedentary + vehicle (Sed+Veh); Sed+DOX; exercise + veh (Ex+Veh); and Ex+DOX. Rats in the exercise groups were preconditioned with high intensity interval training consisting of 4x4 minute bouts of exercise at 85-95% of VO2peak separated by 2 minutes of active recovery performed 5 days per week. Exercise was implemented one week prior to the first injection and continued throughout the study. Animals received either DOX (4mg/kg) or veh (saline) intraperitoneal injections bi-weekly for a cumulative dose of 12 mg/kg per animal. Five days following the final injection, animals were anesthetized with isoflurane, decapitated and aortas and perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) were removed for western blot analyses. No significant differences in aortic protein expression were detected for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) or the upstream activator of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), Akt, across groups (p>0.05), whereas eNOS protein expression was significantly downregulated in Sed+DOX (p=0.003). In contrast, eNOS expression was not altered in Ex+DOX treated animals. Protein expression of iNOS in PVAT was upregulated with exercise in the DOX-treated groups (p=0.039). These findings suggest that exercise preconditioning may help mitigate vascular effects of DOX by preventing downregulation of eNOS in the aorta.
ContributorsO'Neill, Liam Martin (Author) / Sweazea, Karen (Thesis director) / Angadi, Siddhartha (Committee member) / Dickinson, Jared (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Although many studies have looked into the relationship between home food availability and dietary intake, few have assessed actual change in the home food environment as a result of an intervention program. This secondary data analysis of the Athletes for Life 3 (AFL3) program investigated the efficacy of a randomized controlled 12-week community-based, family-focused exercise and dietary behavior intervention program in improving the home food environment of families with children between the ages of 6 and 11 years old. A total of twenty-six adults from Phoenix, Arizona allowed research staff into their homes to assess variety of food availability, using a modified version of the Home Food Inventory and were randomized to either the AFL3 program or wait-list control group. The main outcomes of interest were change in availability of vegetables, fruits, sugar-sweetened beverages and desserts and WIC-approved breakfast cereal. There was a significant increase in the number of vegetable items (3.88 ± 0.85; p=0.006) and WIC-approved cereal items (1.16 ± 0.31; p=0.003) in the homes of the intervention participants, relative to the wait-list control group. Additionally, there was a significant decrease in the number of sugar-sweetened beverage items (1.18 ± 0.31; p=0.014) available in wait-list control participant homes. There were no other significant findings related to home food availability. Furthermore, dietary intake among adult participants did not significantly change as a result of change in home availability. In conclusion, the AFL3 intervention program was successful in eliciting small but significant changes at a household level related to vegetable and WIC-approved breakfast cereal availability.
ContributorsGhan, Emily (Author) / Vega-Lopez, Sonia (Thesis advisor) / Bruening, Meg (Committee member) / Crespo, Noe (Committee member) / Todd, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This body of research sought to explore relationships between parenting practices, physical activity resources, and Hispanic children’s physical activity. Guided by the Family Ecological Model (FEM) and the Ecological Model of Physical Activity (EMPA) this study examined the influence of parents on children’s physical activity through an integrative review. A cross sectional study was conducted to investigate potential relationships between parental perception safety at school, gender, and children’s physical activity. A cross sectional study was also utilized to examine potential correlations between parenting practices, physical activity resources, and children’s physical activity. Parental role modeling of physical activity and parental support for physical activity emerged as parenting practices that have considerable potential to impact children’s physical activity. Gender differences among children’s physical activity were also a key finding of this study with boys participating in more physical activity than boys. While quality of physical activity resources did not have significant associations with parenting practices or children’s physical activity, more research is needed to determine how resources for physical activity may impact parenting practices, and children’s physical activity.
ContributorsHutchens, Amy (Author) / Lee, Rebecca E (Thesis advisor) / Todd, Michael (Committee member) / Lyles, Ann Marie (Committee member) / Holtzclaw, Barbara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This dissertation was guided by the Ecological Model of Physical Activity and Ecological Model of Obesity and sought to determine the relationship between active transportation (AT), physical activity, and cardiometabolic health among adults and ethnic minority women. Chapter 2 presents an investigation into the relationship between walking for AT and cardiometabolic health among adults through systematic review. Chapter 3 presents an exploration of the cross-sectional relationships of AT and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with cardiometabolic health among African American (AA) and Hispanic/Latina (HL) women from Texas. Chapter 4 presents an investigation into the cross-sectional relationship of AT on cardiometabolic health and physical activity among primarily HL women.
In Chapter 2, walking for AT was found to be related to smaller waist circumference, lower blood pressure, and lower prevalence of abdominal obesity and hypertension, and that differences may exist based on sex. Walking for AT was not clearly defined, and criteria used to determine the presence of cardiometabolic outcomes were inconsistent. No significant relationships between AT and cardiometabolic health were found in Chapter 3 or 4; however, AT users had slightly better cardiometabolic health. AT users had significantly higher levels of self-reported total physical activity compared to those who did not use AT in Chapter 3. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between MVPA and diastolic blood pressure. Associations differed by ethnicity, with MVPA being inversely related to body fat in both AA and HL women, but to body mass index only in AA women. AT users were found to be seven times more likely to meet 2018 national MVPA recommendations than non-AT users in Chapter 4. Across all studies, measures of AT were subjective and of low quality, potentially limiting the ability to detect significant findings.
High quality randomized controlled studies should be conducted using clearly defined, objective measures of AT, and analyzed based on sex and race/ethnicity. Clinicians should recommend AT use to promote meeting MVPA recommendations where appropriate, potentially resulting in improved cardiometabolic health. Policymakers should advocate for changes to the built environment to encourage AT use and MVPA to improve public health.
In Chapter 2, walking for AT was found to be related to smaller waist circumference, lower blood pressure, and lower prevalence of abdominal obesity and hypertension, and that differences may exist based on sex. Walking for AT was not clearly defined, and criteria used to determine the presence of cardiometabolic outcomes were inconsistent. No significant relationships between AT and cardiometabolic health were found in Chapter 3 or 4; however, AT users had slightly better cardiometabolic health. AT users had significantly higher levels of self-reported total physical activity compared to those who did not use AT in Chapter 3. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between MVPA and diastolic blood pressure. Associations differed by ethnicity, with MVPA being inversely related to body fat in both AA and HL women, but to body mass index only in AA women. AT users were found to be seven times more likely to meet 2018 national MVPA recommendations than non-AT users in Chapter 4. Across all studies, measures of AT were subjective and of low quality, potentially limiting the ability to detect significant findings.
High quality randomized controlled studies should be conducted using clearly defined, objective measures of AT, and analyzed based on sex and race/ethnicity. Clinicians should recommend AT use to promote meeting MVPA recommendations where appropriate, potentially resulting in improved cardiometabolic health. Policymakers should advocate for changes to the built environment to encourage AT use and MVPA to improve public health.
ContributorsLorenzo, Elizabeth (Author) / Lee, Rebecca E (Thesis advisor) / Todd, Michael (Committee member) / Shin, Cha-Nam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019