Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Epidemiology
- Creators: Blattman, Joseph
Description
Although research has documented robust prospective relationships between externalizing symptomatology and subsequent binge drinking among adolescents, the extent to which internalizing symptoms increase risk for drinking remains controversial. In particular, the role of anxiety as a predictor of binge drinking remains unclear. Recent evidence suggests that one possible reason for these mixed findings is that separate dimensions of anxiety may differentially confer risk for alcohol use. The present study tested two dimensions of anxiety - worry and physiological anxiety -- as predictors of binge drinking in a longitudinal study of juvenile delinquents. Overall, results indicate that worry and physiological anxiety showed differential relations with drinking behavior. In general, worry was protective against alcohol use, whereas physiological anxiety conferred risk for binge drinking, but both effects were conditional on levels of offending. Implications for future research examining the role of anxiety in predicting drinking behavior among youth are discussed.
ContributorsNichter, Brandon (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Barrera, Manuel (Committee member) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This purpose of this thesis study was to examine variables of the "War on Cancer" frame, loss-gain prime, and patient gender on treatment decision for advanced cancer patients. A total of 291 participants (141 females) participated in an online survey experiment and were randomly assigned to one of eight possible conditions, each of which were comprised of a combination of one of two levels for three total independent variables: war frame ("War on Cancer" frame or neutral frame), loss-gain prime (loss prime or gain prime), and patient gender (female or male). Each of the three variables were operationalized to determine whether or not the exposure to the war on cancer paradigm, loss-frame language, or male patient gender would increase the likelihood of a participant choosing a more aggressive cancer treatment. Participants read a patient scenario and were asked to respond to questions related to motivating factors. Participants were then asked to report preference for one of two treatment decisions. Participants were then asked to provide brief demographic information in addition to responding to questions about military history, war attitudes, and cancer history. The aforementioned manipulations sought to determine whether exposure to various factors would make a substantive difference in final treatment decision. Contrary to the predicted results, participants in the war frame condition (M = 3.85, SD = 1.48) were more likely to choose the pursuit of palliative care (as opposed to aggressive treatment) than participants in the neutral frame condition (M = 3.54, SD = 1.23). Ultimately, these significant findings suggest that there is practical information to be gained from treatment presentation manipulations. By arming healthcare providers with a more pointed understanding of the nuances of treatment presentation, we can hope to empower patients, their loved ones, and healthcare providers entrenched in the world of cancer treatment.
ContributorsKnowles, Madelyn Ann (Author) / Kwan, Virginia S. Y. (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Salamone, Damien (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Memory CD8+ T-cells can persist in the absence of antigen, primed for immediate activation and proliferation if later exposed to the same antigen. These cytotoxic lymphocytes provide long-term immunity following an acute infection. Studies have observed that intermediate levels of general T cell transfer prior to infection may cause an inappropriate response resulting in increased pathology rather than prevention. Therefore, our study focused on a memory CD8 T-cell therapy using lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) specific splenocytes, which activate and proliferate at an accelerated pace compared to that of naive T-cells. LCMV is a natural murine pathogen which also poses a zoonotic infection threat to humans, and the effect of immune cell vaccination therapies for LCMV is not fully understood. We observed the effect of multiple memory CD8 T cell dosage levels on overall disease and memory CD8 T-cell response to the virus. Infection by exposure to a carrier was shown to have a reduced impact on mice receiving higher doses of memory T cells prior to infection compared to mice receiving less or no memory cells. Higher presence of activated memory cells were shown to correlate with less disease-related weight loss and accelerated recovery times. Survival rate after exposure to carriers was not shown to be affected by dosage level, warranting further research regarding the prevalence of the immunopathology observed in other studies in natural murine transmission models.
ContributorsMiller, Charles (Author) / Blattman, Joseph (Thesis director) / Holechek, Susan (Committee member) / Carmen, Joshua (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Among wild rodent populations, vertical transmission is believed to constitute the primary route of infection for Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus (LCMV), a non-lytic arenavirus with both acute and chronic forms. When carrier mice infected at birth with the acute Armstrong strain reproduce, they generate congenital carrier offspring containing a quasispecies of LCMV that includes Armstrong as well as its chronic Clone-13 variant. This study examined the genetic trends in the vertical transmission of LCMV from mothers infected perinatally with Clone-13. Viral isolates obtained from the serum of congenital carrier offspring were partially sequenced to reveal residue 260 in the glycoprotein-encoding region of their S segment, the site of a major amino acid change differentiating the chronic and acute strains. It was found that the phenylalanine-to-leucine mutation associated with Clone-13 was present in 100% of the isolates, strongly indicating that the offspring of Clone-13 carriers contain exclusively the chronic variant. This research has broad implications for the epidemiology of the virus, and, given the predominance of Armstrong in the wild, suggests that there must be a biological cost associated with Clone-13 infection in non-carriers.
ContributorsFrear, Cody Christian (Author) / Blattman, Joseph (Thesis director) / Hogue, Brenda (Committee member) / Holechek, Susan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Adaptive therapy utilizes competitive interactions between resistant and sensitive cells by keeping some sensitive cells to control tumor burden with the aim of increasing overall survival and time to progression. The use of adaptive therapy to treat breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer in preclinical models has shown significant results in controlling tumor growth. The purpose of this thesis is to draft a protocol to study adaptive therapy in a preclinical model of breast cancer on MCF7, estrogen receptor-positive, cells that have evolved resistance to fulvestrant and palbociclib (MCF7 R). In this study, we used two protocols: drug dose adjustment and intermittent therapy. The MCF7 R cell lines were injected into the mammary fat pads of 11-month-old NOD/SCID gamma (NSG) mice (18 mice) which were then treated with gemcitabine.<br/>The results of this experiment did not provide complete information because of the short-term treatments. In addition, we saw an increase in the tumor size of a few of the treated mice, which could be due to the metabolism of the drug at that age, or because of the difference in injection times. Therefore, these adaptive therapy protocols on hormone-refractory breast cancer cell lines will be repeated on young, 6-week old mice by injecting the cell lines at the same time for all mice, which helps the results to be more consistent and accurate.
ContributorsConti, Aviona (Author) / Maley, Carlo (Thesis director) / Blattman, Joseph (Committee member) / Seyedi, Sareh (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05