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- All Subjects: art
- Creators: Department of Psychology
- Status: Published
2D fetal echocardiography (ECHO) can be used for monitoring heart development in utero. This study’s purpose is to empirically model normal fetal heart growth and function changes during development by ECHO and compare these to fetuses diagnosed with and without cardiomyopathy with diabetic mothers. There are existing mathematical models describing fetal heart development but they warrant revalidation and adjustment. 377 normal fetuses with healthy mothers, 98 normal fetuses with diabetic mothers, and 37 fetuses with cardiomyopathy and diabetic mothers had their cardiac structural dimensions, cardiothoracic ratio, valve flow velocities, and heart rates measured by fetal ECHO in a retrospective chart review. Cardiac features were fitted to linear functions, with respect to gestational age, femur length, head circumference, and biparietal diameter and z-scores were created to model normal fetal growth for all parameters. These z-scores were used to assess what metrics had no difference in means between the normal fetuses of both healthy and diabetic mothers, but differed from those diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. It was found that functional metrics like mitral and tricuspid E wave and pulmonary velocity could be important predictors for cardiomyopathy when fitted by gestational age, femur length, head circumference, and biparietal diameter. Additionally, aortic and tricuspid annulus diameters when fitted to estimated gestational age showed potential to be predictors for fetal cardiomyopathy. While the metrics overlapped over their full range, combining them together may have the potential for predicting cardiomyopathy in utero. Future directions of this study will explore creating a classifier model that can predict cardiomyopathy using the metrics assessed in this study.
I decided to combine my passion for music production/performance with my studies in Psychology to create this EP for my thesis project. I was able to write, record, and produce the project from my home using in-home recording equipment and software. The EP is comprised of five songs, each representing its own psychological disorder. The purpose of the project was to make conversations about mental health more accessible and to encourage the art community to address taboo topics through artistic mediums. Attached is the written portion of my thesis, the EP cover, and MP3's of the songs. The EP "Rocky" can be streamed on all streaming platforms under my artist name "Sydney Cramer". The track list is below: 1. Illusion- PTSD 2. Thunder- Bipolar I Disorder 3. Castle- Generalized Anxiety Disorder 4. Baby Blue- Postpartum Depression 5. Pity Party- Major Depressive Disorder