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- All Subjects: Biology
- Creators: Maienschein, Jane
Description
Contraceptives are a vital part of reproductive care by preventing unwanted pregnancy, providing relief to premenstrual syndrome or PMS symptoms, and more. Birth control has been around for many centuries and has given women autonomy over their reproductive health. The Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court case in 1965 was the first ruling that made birth control accessible to the public under the law. However, this ruling only pertained only to married couples until the Eisenstadt v. Baird case in 1972. That case gave single women the ability to legally purchase contraceptives for themselves. In the decades since those rulings, many laws and policies have been put into place to give those in lower-income areas the ability to purchase contraceptives as well. With this increase in accessibility, those who use contraceptives, or are thinking of starting birth control, need to understand how to use it, when to use it, and the effects of using contraceptives. In the United States, nurses outnumber doctors by a 4:1 ratio and spend more time with patients than anyone else in a clinic or hospital environment. Nurses, being the main healthcare providers with whom a patient will interact, often are the ones patients ask questions about care and overall advice. Nurses must be able to relay valuable information about treatments or medicines, such as birth control, and give accurate information on the effects such treatments have. Nursing students need to be prepared. However, the amount of information provided, and opinions given might be affected by their nursing education, past experiences with birth control, and more. This project surveys nursing students at Arizona State University on their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs towards birth control interventions, and how their individual experiences and education influence these perceptions.
ContributorsHiggins, Ilani Elyce (Author) / Gur-Arie, Rachel (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Systems biology studies complex biological systems. It is an interdisciplinary field, with biologists working with non-biologists such as computer scientists, engineers, chemists, and mathematicians to address research problems applying systems’ perspectives. How these different researchers and their disciplines differently contributed to the advancement of this field over time is a question worth examining. Did systems biology become a systems-oriented science or a biology-oriented science from 1992 to 2013?
This project utilized computational tools to analyze large data sets and interpreted the results from historical and philosophical perspectives. Tools deployed were derived from scientometrics, corpus linguistics, text-based analysis, network analysis, and GIS analysis to analyze more than 9000 articles (metadata and text) on systems biology. The application of these tools to a HPS project represents a novel approach.
The dissertation shows that systems biology has transitioned from a more mathematical, computational, and engineering-oriented discipline focusing on modeling to a more biology-oriented discipline that uses modeling as a means to address real biological problems. Also, the results show that bioengineering and medical research has increased within systems biology. This is reflected in the increase of the centrality of biology-related concepts such as cancer, over time. The dissertation also compares the development of systems biology in China with some other parts of the world, and reveals regional differences, such as a unique trajectory of systems biology in China related to a focus on traditional Chinese medicine.
This dissertation adds to the historiography of modern biology where few studies have focused on systems biology compared with the history of molecular biology and evolutionary biology.
This project utilized computational tools to analyze large data sets and interpreted the results from historical and philosophical perspectives. Tools deployed were derived from scientometrics, corpus linguistics, text-based analysis, network analysis, and GIS analysis to analyze more than 9000 articles (metadata and text) on systems biology. The application of these tools to a HPS project represents a novel approach.
The dissertation shows that systems biology has transitioned from a more mathematical, computational, and engineering-oriented discipline focusing on modeling to a more biology-oriented discipline that uses modeling as a means to address real biological problems. Also, the results show that bioengineering and medical research has increased within systems biology. This is reflected in the increase of the centrality of biology-related concepts such as cancer, over time. The dissertation also compares the development of systems biology in China with some other parts of the world, and reveals regional differences, such as a unique trajectory of systems biology in China related to a focus on traditional Chinese medicine.
This dissertation adds to the historiography of modern biology where few studies have focused on systems biology compared with the history of molecular biology and evolutionary biology.
ContributorsZou, Yawen (Author) / Laubichler, Manfred (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Creath, Richard (Committee member) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Newfeld, Stuart (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Researchers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries identify the study of the intrinsic and external factors that influence human aging as senescence. A commonly held belief in the year 2015 is that at least some kinds of cells can replicate over long periods or even indefinitely, thereby meaning the cell does not undergo senescence (also known as replicative senescence) and is considered immortal. This study aims to provide information to answer the following question: While some scientists claim they can indefinitely culture a stem cell line in vitro, what are the consequences of those culturing practices? An analysis of a cluster of articles from the Embryo Project Encyclopedia provides information to suggest possible solutions to some potential problems in cell culturing, recognition of benefits for existing or historical culturing practices, and identification of gaps in scientific knowledge that warrant further research. Recent research suggests that hESCs, and immortalized cell lines in general, do not escape the effects of senescence. While there exists a constant change in the practices of cell culturing, a large portion of scientists still rely on practices established before modern senescence research: research that seems to suggest that cultured hESCs, among other immortal cell lines, are not truly immortal.
ContributorsBartlett, Zane (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Hurlbut, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Sexual violence, as defined by the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN), is used as an all-encompassing term to include crimes of sexual assault, rape, and sexual abuse (RAINN, 2016). There are numerous negative impacts of sexual violence on a victim. Victims of sexual violence experience negative health impacts, such as physical injuries from the result of sexual violence and unwanted reproductive consequences, such as the risk of sexually transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancy (Shahali et. al, 2016). They also suffer from long-term psychological impacts, such as long-term emotional trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Reddington & Kriesel, 2005). The long-term consequences of sexual violence on a victim can result in loss of steady employment and engaging in high-risk behaviors, like drug and alcohol abuse, as well as suicidal thoughts and feelings of hopelessness (Mulla, 2014, NAESV, 2011). The negative impacts of sexual violence indicate the various needs of a victim of sexual violence. One method to address the needs of a victim of sexual violence is to put them in contact with resources that address the physical and psychological impacts of sexual violence by providing services and care to victims. The purpose of this thesis is to determine what kinds of resources are available in Arizona and how these resources are being used to help the needs of victims of sexual violence. Through expert interviews and information collected through public online resources, I created a visual aid, a map, that organizes and categorizes the resources that are available in Arizona. I then provide separate descriptions of a list of resources. This was to determine how this set of resources are being used to provide services and care to victims of sexual violence as a means to better understand a local approach to the issues of sexual violence.
ContributorsKim, Grace (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Evolution is the foundation of biology, yet it remains controversial even among college biology students. Acceptance of evolution is important for students if we want them to incorporate evolution into their scientific thinking. However, students’ religious beliefs are a consistent barrier to their acceptance of evolution due to a perceived conflict between religion and evolution. Using pre-post instructional surveys of students in introductory college biology, Study 1 establishes instructional strategies that can be effective for reducing students' perceived conflict between religion and evolution. Through interviews and qualitative analyses, Study 2 documents how instructors teaching evolution at public universities may be resistant towards implementing strategies that can reduce students' perceived conflict, perhaps because of their own lack of religious beliefs and lack of training and awareness about students' conflict with evolution. Interviews with religious students in Study 3 reveals that religious college biology students can perceive their instructors as unfriendly towards religion which can negatively impact these students' perceived conflict between religion and evolution. Study 4 explores how instructors at Christian universities, who share the same Christian backgrounds as their students, do not struggle with implementing strategies that reduce students' perceived conflict between religion and evolution. Cumulatively, these studies reveal a need for a new instructional framework for evolution education that takes into account the religious cultural difference between instructors who are teaching evolution and students who are learning evolution. As such, a new instructional framework is then described, Religious Cultural Competence in Evolution Education (ReCCEE), that can help instructors teach evolution in a way that can reduce students' perceived conflict between religion and evolution, increase student acceptance of evolution, and create more inclusive college biology classrooms for religious students.
ContributorsBarnes, Maryann Elizabeth (Author) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Nesse, Randolph (Committee member) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Husman, Jenefer (Committee member) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Prior to the first successful allogeneic organ transplantation in 1954, virtually every attempt at transplanting organs in humans had resulted in death, and understanding the role of the immune mechanisms that induced graft rejection served as one of the biggest obstacles impeding its success. While the eventual achievement of organ transplantation is touted as one of the most important success stories in modern medicine, there still remains a physiological need for immunosuppression in order to make organ transplantation work. One such solution in the field of experimental regenerative medicine is interspecies blastocyst complementation, a means of growing patient-specific human organs within animals. To address the progression of immune-related constraints on organ transplantation, the first part of this thesis contains a historical analysis tracing early transplant motivations and the events that led to the discoveries broadly related to tolerance, rejection, and compatibility. Despite the advancement of those concepts over time, this early history shows that immunosuppression was one of the earliest limiting barriers to successful organ transplantation, and remains one of the most significant technical challenges. Then, the second part of this thesis determines the extent at which interspecies blastocyst complementation could satisfy modern technical limitations of organ transplantation. Demonstrated in 2010, this process involves using human progenitor cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to manipulate an animal blastocyst genetically modified to lack one or more functional genes responsible for the development of the intended organ. Instead of directly modulating the immune response, the use of iPSCs with interspecies blastocyst complementation could theoretically eliminate the need for immunosuppression entirely based on the establishment of tolerance and elimination of rejection, while also satisfying the logistical demands imposed by the national organ shortage. Although the technology will require some further refinement, it remains a promising solution to eliminate the requirement of immunosuppression after an organ transplant.
ContributorsDarby, Alexis Renee (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Robert, Jason (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
This thesis reviews the initial cases of fetal surgery to correct myelomeningocele, a severe form of spina bifida, and discusses the human and social dimensions of the procedure. Myelomeningocele is a fetal anomaly that forms from improper closure of the spinal cord and the tissues that surround it. Physicians perform fetal surgery on a developing fetus, while it is in the womb, to mitigate its impacts. Fetal surgery to correct this condition was first performed experimentally in the mid-1990and as of 2020, it is commonly performed. The initial cases illuminated important human and social dimensions of the technique, including physical risks, psychological dimensions, physician bias, and religious convictions, which affect decision-making concerning this fetal surgery. Enduring questions remain in 2020. The driving question for this thesis is: given those human and social dimensions that surround fetal surgery to correct myelomeningocele, whether and when is the surgery justified? This thesis shows that more research is needed to answer or clarify this question.
ContributorsEllis, Brianna (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Thesis advisor) / Robert, Jason (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The desire to start a family is something millions of people around the globe strive to achieve. However, many factors such as the societal changes in family planning due to increasing maternal age, use of birth control, and ever-changing lifestyles have increased the number of infertility cases seen in the United States each year. Infertility can manifest as a prolonged inability to conceive, or inability to carry a pregnancy full-term. Modern advancements in the field of reproductive medicine have begun to promote the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) to circumvent reduced fertility in both men and women. Implementation of techniques such as In Vitro Fertilization, Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, and Pre-Implantation Genetic Testing have allowed many couples to conceive. There is continual effort being made towards developing more effective and personalized fertility treatments. This often begins in the form of animal research—a fundamental step in biomedical research. This dissertation examines infertility as a medical condition through the characterization of normal reproductive anatomy and physiology in the introductory overview of reproduction. Specific pathologies of male and female-factor infertility are described, which necessitates the use of ARTs. The various forms of ARTs currently utilized in a clinical setting are addressed including history, preparations, and protocols for each technology. To promote continual advancement of the field, both animal studies and human trials provide fundamental stepping-stones towards the execution of new techniques and protocols. Examples of research conducted for the betterment of human reproductive medicine are explored, including an animal study conducted in mice exploring the role of tyramine in ovulation. With the development and implementation of new technologies and protocols in the field, this also unearths ethical dilemmas that further complicate the addition of new technologies in the field. Combining an extensive review in assisted reproduction, research and clinical fieldwork, this study investigates the history and development of novel research conducted in reproductive medicine and explores the broader implications of new technologies in the field.
ContributorsPeck, Shelbi Marie (Author) / Baluch, Debra P (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Sweazea, Karen (Committee member) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
In the US, menstrual education, which provides key information about menstrual hygiene and health to both young girls and boys, historically lacks biologically accurate information about the menstrual cycle and perpetuates harmful perceptions about female reproductive health. When people are unable to differentiate between normal and abnormal menstrual bleeding, based on a lack of quality menstrual education, common gynecological conditions often remain underreported. This raises a question as to how girls’ menstrual education experiences influence the ways in which they perceive normal menstrual bleeding and seek treatment for common abnormalities, such as heavy, painful, or irregular menstrual bleeding. A mixed methods approach allowed evaluation of girls’ abilities to recognize abnormal menstrual bleeding. A literature review established relevant historical and social context on the prevalence and quality of menstrual education in the US. Then, five focus groups, each including five to eight college-aged women, totaling thirty-three participants, allowed for macro-level analysis of current challenges and gaps in knowledge related to menstruation. To better examine the relationship between menstrual education and reproductive health outcomes, twelve semi-structured, one-on-one interviews allowed micro-level analysis. Those interviews consisted of women diagnosed with endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, common gynecological conditions that include abnormal menstrual bleeding. Developing a codebook of definitions and exemplars of significant text segments and applying it to the collected data revealed several themes. For example, mothers, friends, teachers, the Internet, and social media are among the most common sources of information about menstrual hygiene and health. Yet, women reported that those sources of information often echoed stigmatized ideas about menstruation, eliciting feelings of shame and fear. That poor quality of information was instrumental to women’s abilities to detect and report abnormal menstrual bleeding. Women desire and need biologically accurate information about reproductive health, including menstruation and ovulation, fertility, and methods of birth control as treatments for abnormal menstrual bleeding. Unfortunately, menstrual education often leaves girls ill-equipped to identify and seek treatment for common gynecological conditions. Those findings may influence current menstrual education, incorporating biological information and actively dismissing common misconceptions about menstruation that influence stigma.
ContributorsSantora, Emily Katherine (Author) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Hurlbut, Ben (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Emergency departments (EDs) across the country have been forced to accommodate an ever-expanding population of mental health patients. This study surveyed physicians and social workers in order to determine the most commonly treated mental illnesses in the ED, common frustrations in the care of mental health patients, limitations in the provision of treatment, and possible changes and improvements to the treatment system for the future. Attitudes toward the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1960s also were assessed, as this movement is hypothesized to have contributed to the current strain on EDs with respect to treating mental health issues. In this thesis, the deinstirutionalization movement and possible implications for mental health treatment in EDs are reviewed' In addition, questionnaires were administered to a sample of 6 ED doctors and 2 ED social workers-. Survey responses suggest that more resources, including availability of ED staff psychiatrists and dedicated facilities for mental health patients' would offer improvements to the current system. With careful evaluation of the ability of the ED to meet the needs of mental health patients, alternative resources for more effective and successful treatment strategies may be developed that offer a compromise between institutionalization and the revolving door of the ED.
ContributorsWinikates, Kristina (Author) / Roberts, Nicole (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Tinsley, Barbara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2012-05