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An autoimmune disease is a health condition in which the immune system attacks your body due to the inability to differentiate between foreign cells and your own cells. There are over 80 autoimmune diseases that affect the human body, but we specifically want to focus on three diseases: crohn’s disease,

An autoimmune disease is a health condition in which the immune system attacks your body due to the inability to differentiate between foreign cells and your own cells. There are over 80 autoimmune diseases that affect the human body, but we specifically want to focus on three diseases: crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and multiple sclerosis (MS). These three autoimmune diseases affect young adults the most and impact three integral parts of the body – the GI tract, musculoskeletal system, and the central nervous system, respectively. We would like to further research how nutrition and diet can affect individuals with these autoimmune disorders. We want to better understand the role diet plays in maintaining both the physical and mental health condition of an individual with an autoimmune disease. Stress has been hypothesized to be a factor in the triggering of an autoimmune disease and we have noticed how stress can be a major factor on a person’s daily food choices and intake, specifically in college students. This is the main reason why we want the focus of the participants in our study to be college students. We are also interested in how we can incorporate this knowledge of the benefits of nutrition into routine patient care. Within the healthcare setting, we have both witnessed first-hand how patients were able to improve as well as maintain their physical health condition via their diet. For example, through an appropriate diet, patients were able to show improvements in their lab work and/or maintain and prevent health conditions such as autoimmune disorders. Therefore, we would like to better understand how diet can control and/or manage autoimmune disorders.

ContributorsPalakodaty, Srikari (Author) / Cheng, Elizabeth (Co-author) / Don, Rachael (Thesis director) / Martinelli, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2023-05
ContributorsPerkins, Caitlin (Author) / Jacobs, Bertram (Thesis director) / Gile, Gillian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2023-05
ContributorsPerkins, Caitlin (Author) / Jacobs, Bertram (Thesis director) / Gile, Gillian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2023-05
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Description
With an ever-increasing diagnosis rate and no universal cure, eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) lacks conclusive data regarding the onset of its autoimmune response and its preferred relation to assigned sex males. This thesis seeks to analyze the effects that assigned sex and determinants of health have on EoE diagnosis through previous

With an ever-increasing diagnosis rate and no universal cure, eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) lacks conclusive data regarding the onset of its autoimmune response and its preferred relation to assigned sex males. This thesis seeks to analyze the effects that assigned sex and determinants of health have on EoE diagnosis through previous research and survey development. Upon constructing a Qualtrics survey to collect data patterns and trends of subjects diagnosed with this autoimmune disorder, COVID-19 created a halt in its distribution and data collection. This unexpected event led to the collection and compilation of pre-existing research to be implemented into this thesis as a substitute. The key results of this thesis revealed that in twenty research studies regarding sex differences in EoE, at least 70% of patients diagnosed with EoE were male (Liacouras, 2005). With inconclusive results as to why males are diagnosed at a higher rate, results have not confirmed if this percentage ratio is due to social or genetic factors. To conclude, males are predominately diagnosed with EoE in comparison to the female and intersex population, however, with no data currently available on the effects that EoE has on intersex humans, it cannot be determined what factors create this recurring pattern.
ContributorsHolmes, Katherine Elizabeth (Co-author) / Serrano, Osvin (Co-author) / Borah, Priyah (Co-author) / Spackman, Christy (Thesis director) / Schroeder, Shauna (Committee member) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
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Description
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder where the body mistakenly attacks healthy joints. This in turn causes inflammation resulting in pain and swelling. It is very important to get RA accurately diagnosed and treated as early as possible. Similarly, with any disease: the longer it is left untreated, the

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder where the body mistakenly attacks healthy joints. This in turn causes inflammation resulting in pain and swelling. It is very important to get RA accurately diagnosed and treated as early as possible. Similarly, with any disease: the longer it is left untreated, the more damage it can cause. RA can cause irreversible joint damage leading to disability. The purpose of this study is to determine if oral microbiome can be used as an additional criterion to aid in diagnosing RA. Several oral microbes have already been identified as biomarkers for RA in saliva. In this study, 10 participants were recruited: 6 diagnosed with RA and 4 Healthy as a control. Two subgroups of RA were done within this study; those diagnose with a positive Rheumatoid Factor (RF) and those diagnose with a negative RF. These subgroups were then compared in order to determine the validity of using certain microbes as biomarkers for RA even when different diagnostic criteria were met. The microbe Parahaemolyticus had the largest measure of effect, showing the greatest potential for statistically significant results with a larger sample size. If we can work narrow to down specific microbes to be undoubtedly higher in abundance with already diagnosed RA patients when comparing to healthy participants, this will be a gamechanger. Not only could we give a higher sense of confidence with the diagnosis of RA, but this could streamline RA diagnosis.
ContributorsNunez, Celeste (Author) / Marshall, Pamela (Thesis director) / Hackney Price, Jennifer (Committee member) / Kizer, Elizabeth (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12