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- Creators: College of Health Solutions
Description
The aim of this paper is to investigate the B-casein fractions in Scandinavian and Icelandic milk for evidence to either support or refute the claim that the A1 variant of B-casein is diabetogenic in adolescent populations. Based on the theory that differences in milk protein composition explain a lower incidence of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in Iceland when compared to surrounding Nordic countries, an informative poster was created so that a more educated decision can be made by those wishing to take preventative measures against the incidence of the disease. This paper includes a basic background behind the epidemiology of T1D and the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations. Next, comparison between milk protein composition and consumption in Iceland against the other Nordic countries is performed through an in-depth literature review. The review was conducted using PubMed databases until December of 2018. Key findings of this investigation raise concerns regarding the decision between optimizing milk producing rates or breeding for milk devoid of diabetogenic proteins. The current literature on the impact of cattle genetics on the protein composition of milk sheds light on the safety of Icelandic dairy and the resulting health of their population. Icelandic dairy has been evidenced to contain lower levels of A1 b-casein and is considered less diabetogenic. For these reasons, this author would recommend the consumption of Icelandic dairy products over those from other regions.
ContributorsThunberg, Carly Marie (Author) / Morse, Lisa (Thesis director) / Grgich, Traci (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Objectives: To explore the feasibility and effects of using a meditation mobile app 10-minutes a day for 4-weeks to reduce burnout (primary outcome), improve mindfulness, reduce stress, and depression in physician assistant (PA) students compared to a wait-list control.
Methods: This study was a randomized, wait-list, control trial with assessments at baseline and post-intervention (week 4). Participants were asked to meditate using Calm for 10 minutes per day. A p value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The majority of participants (n=19) stated using Calm helped them cope with the stress of PA school. The intervention group participated in meditation for an average of 76 minutes/week. There were significant differences in all outcomes for the intervention group (all p ≤0.06). There was a significant interaction between group and time factors in emotional exhaustion (p=.016) and depersonalization (p=.025).
Conclusions: Calm is a feasible way to reduce burnout in PA students. Our findings provide information that can be applied to the design of future studies.
Methods: This study was a randomized, wait-list, control trial with assessments at baseline and post-intervention (week 4). Participants were asked to meditate using Calm for 10 minutes per day. A p value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The majority of participants (n=19) stated using Calm helped them cope with the stress of PA school. The intervention group participated in meditation for an average of 76 minutes/week. There were significant differences in all outcomes for the intervention group (all p ≤0.06). There was a significant interaction between group and time factors in emotional exhaustion (p=.016) and depersonalization (p=.025).
Conclusions: Calm is a feasible way to reduce burnout in PA students. Our findings provide information that can be applied to the design of future studies.
ContributorsWorth, Taylor Nicole (Author) / Huberty, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Will, Kristen (Committee member) / Puzia, Megan (Committee member) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The story of graphene truly began in what was simply a stub in the journal Physical Review not two years after the end of World War II. In 1947, McGill University physicist P.R. Wallace authored “The Band Theory of Graphite” and attempted to develop a foundation on which the structure-property relationship of graphite could be explored; he calculates the number of free electrons and conductivity of what he describes as “a single hexagonal layer” and “suppos[es] that conduction takes place only in layers” in bulk graphite to predict wave functions, energies at specific atomic sites in the hexagonal lattice, and energy contours using a tight binding approximation for a hypothesized version of what we now call ‘armchair-style’ graphene. While Wallace was the first to explore the band structure and Brillouin Zones of single-layer graphite, the concept of two-dimensional materials was not new. In fact, for years, it was dismissed as a thermodynamic impossibility.
Everything seemed poised against any proposed physical and experimental stability of a structure like graphene. “Thermodynamically impossible”– a not uncommon shutdown to proposed novel physical or chemical concepts– was once used to describe the entire field of proposed two-dimensional crystals functioning separately from a three-dimensional base or crystalline structure. Rudolf Peierls and Lev Davoidovich Landau, both very accomplished physicists respectively known for the Manhattan Project and for developing a mathematical theory of helium superfluidity, rejected the possibility of isolated monolayer to few-layered crystal lattices. Their reasoning was that diverging thermodynamic-based crystal lattice fluctuations would render the material unstable regardless of controlled temperature. This logic is flawed, but not necessarily inaccurate– diamond, for instance, is thermodynamically metastable at room temperature and pressure in that there exists a slow (i.e. slow on the scale of millions of years) but continuous transformation to graphite. However, this logic was used to support an explanation of thermodynamic impossibility that was provided for graphene’s lack of isolation as late as 1979 by Cornell solid-state physicist Nathaniel David Mermin. These physicists’ claims had clear and consistent grounding in experimental data: as thin films become thinner, there exists a trend of a decreasing melting temperature and increasing instability that renders the films into islands at somewhere around ten to twenty atomic layers. This is driven by the thermodynamically-favorable minimization of surface energy.
Everything seemed poised against any proposed physical and experimental stability of a structure like graphene. “Thermodynamically impossible”– a not uncommon shutdown to proposed novel physical or chemical concepts– was once used to describe the entire field of proposed two-dimensional crystals functioning separately from a three-dimensional base or crystalline structure. Rudolf Peierls and Lev Davoidovich Landau, both very accomplished physicists respectively known for the Manhattan Project and for developing a mathematical theory of helium superfluidity, rejected the possibility of isolated monolayer to few-layered crystal lattices. Their reasoning was that diverging thermodynamic-based crystal lattice fluctuations would render the material unstable regardless of controlled temperature. This logic is flawed, but not necessarily inaccurate– diamond, for instance, is thermodynamically metastable at room temperature and pressure in that there exists a slow (i.e. slow on the scale of millions of years) but continuous transformation to graphite. However, this logic was used to support an explanation of thermodynamic impossibility that was provided for graphene’s lack of isolation as late as 1979 by Cornell solid-state physicist Nathaniel David Mermin. These physicists’ claims had clear and consistent grounding in experimental data: as thin films become thinner, there exists a trend of a decreasing melting temperature and increasing instability that renders the films into islands at somewhere around ten to twenty atomic layers. This is driven by the thermodynamically-favorable minimization of surface energy.
ContributorsShulman, Neal Arthur (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Islam, Rafiqul (Committee member) / Materials Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Many high school students demonstrate an overall lack of interest in science. Traditional teaching methodologies seem to be unsuccessful at engaging students \u2014 one explanation is that students often interpret what they learn in school as irrelevant to their personal lives. Active learning and case based learning methodologies seem to be more effective at promoting interest and understanding of scientific principles. The purpose of our research was to implement a lab with updated teaching methodologies that included an active learning and case based curriculum. The lab was implemented in two high school honors biology classes with the specific goals of: significantly increasing students' interest in science and its related fields; increasing students' self-efficacy in their ability to understand and interpret the traditional process of the scientific method; and increasing this traditional process of objectively understanding the scientific method. Our results indicated that interest in science and its related fields (p = .011), students' self-efficacy in understanding the scientific method (p = .000), and students' objective understanding of the scientific method (p = .000) statistically significantly increased after the lab was administered; however, our results may not be as meaningful as the p-values imply due to the scale of our assessment.
ContributorsCotten, Kathryn (Author) / Hoffner, Kristin (Thesis director) / Stout, Valerie (Committee member) / Lynskey, Jim (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2012-12
Description
Introduction: This research examined the prevalence of Chinese older adults’ risk factors (perceived racial discrimination, fear of COVID-19), protective factors (resilience, community support), and mental health status (depression, PTSD) in Chinese older adults aged 65 years and above during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the relationships between risk and protective factors and their mental health outcomes were explored.
Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis using the anonymous survey data collected by a research team. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the distributions of the variables; and hierarchical multiple regression models were conducted to examine their relationships.
Results: The sample included 90 Chinese older adults in the United States. The participants demonstrated a moderate level of fear of COVID-19 (M= 21.55, SD = 4.75; range 10-33). The participants scored on the lower end of the perceived discrimination scale (M = .40, SD = 1.44 before COVID-19; M = .77, SD = 1.54 during COVID-19; range 0-7). Resilience (M = 29.02, SD = 5.78 on a scale of 0-40) demonstrated a moderate to moderately high level of resilience. As for community support, 40.3% of participants reported receiving assistance or information regarding COVID-19 from local Asian organizations, indicating a moderate level of community support. The participants reported a relatively low score for PTSD (M = 0.75 SD = 1.17 on a scale from 0 to 5) or depression (M = 2.76 SD = 2.72 on a scale from 0 to 27). Consistent with hypotheses, findings of hierarchical regression models suggested that the risk factors fear of COVID-19 and perceived racial discrimination were positively associated with PTSD symptoms while resilience was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms. Differently, none of the risk factors were significantly associated with depression symptoms while resilience showed a negative relationship with depression symptoms.
Conclusion: The findings of this research will help public health officials better understand the needs of minority and aging communities to best support them during crises similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ContributorsMang, David (Author) / Chia-Chen Chen, Angela (Thesis director) / Li, Wei (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Braille Retail is a student-led effort to promote awareness and inclusivity for visually
impaired and blind individuals through legible braille designs on fabric. Our mission is to bring awareness to the visually impaired and blind community and increase braille literacy. We plan to reach our mission by placing legible braille and its translation on our sweatshirts. Furthermore, we want to support the visually impaired and blind community by donating 5% of our profits to local blind charities.
ContributorsO'Shea, Hannah (Author) / Shereck, Kennedy (Co-author) / Pearson, Morgan (Co-author) / Soto, Tatum (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Giles, Bret (Committee member) / Thomasson, Anna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
The mission of EZ-Sit is to alleviate pain and increase comfort by creating a product that allows users to put their feet up when sitting for long periods of time. This product will connect to any single stem office chair with ease and will provide users with the ability to put their feet up whenever and wherever they work. Our goal is to empower individuals to pursue their goals without the hindrance of discomfort that comes with sitting for extended periods of time. At EZ-Sit we believe that no one’s productivity should be impeded due to the pain caused by a sedentary work life. We hope that this product will bring about physical well being in the workplace so individuals can focus on the day ahead of them. At EZ-Sit, our values include personal health, affordability, and productivity. Personal health is one of our core principles because we believe that people should not have to endure pain while sitting in order to get their work done. We value the integrity of the hard work that many people show while trying to pursue their dreams. We believe this strong drive for personal or professional growth should not have the consequences of pain. We also believe that our solution should be accessible to all regardless of financial situations. Our Vision at EZ-Sit is to create awareness around healthy sitting practices in addition to how these practices can boost productivity and can prevent burnout. We want to encourage people to take a stand about their sitting habits. Our analysis of the foot rest industry shows that this is not the first product of its kind, but the EZ-Sit is certainly the most accessible. Footrests exist all over the internet and in stores, but all of them are independent of the actual chair. These foot rests are one size-fits all and provide no physiological benefits to users who are either too short or too tall. In addition there are chairs on the market that have a built-in footrest. These chairs, however, are very expensive. This effectively excludes a whole portion of the market who do not have the means to invest in the product. We plan on marketing to young professionals who fall into the age range of eighteen to twenty-eight years old. We want to emphasize that taking care of your body while pursuing your goals is not something to be taken lightly. When we have a working model we plan on using social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to show how the product works as well as educate individuals around the health benefits of this product. Because this product is new to the market it is important for users to understand why it is different from other footrests in the market. Social media will also help to differentiate our product from the others by showing comparisons. We also plan on utilizing slogans that resonate without demographics such as “EZ-Sit, That’s It!” in order to grab the attention of our target audience.
ContributorsAmavizca Aldama, Jesus (Author) / Kozub, Isabella (Co-author) / Choi, Enoch (Co-author) / Heraty, Gabe (Co-author) / Ventura, Jedriq (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Thompson, Anna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
As patients sustain injuries that hinder their independence, occupational therapists help them regain their independence by improving overall health and happiness. However, it is common for patients to face issues throughout their rehabilitation experiences. In this thesis, I interviewed Caroline Jasper, a pediatric occupational therapist, and Colette Brogan, an adult occupational therapist. Questions included common patient barriers, potential solutions, and advice to provide insight into their respective populations.
ContributorsLowenthal, Rachel (Author) / Kingsbury, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Miossi, Lindsey (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition characterized by a wide range of symptoms and severities, affecting communication, behavior, and social interactions. With the prevalence of ASD rising to affect nearly 1 in 36 children in the United States, understanding and addressing the multifaceted needs of those with ASD is increasingly critical. This review explores the interplay between genetic, environmental, and immune factors in the onset of ASD, focusing on metabolic dysfunctions and the role of the gut-brain axis. Emerging research highlights the significance of abnormal metabolites and gut microbiota imbalances in contributing to the pathophysiology of ASD, suggesting that these factors may influence neurological function and behavior through modulating immune responses.
Recent analyses have uncovered metabolic disturbances in ASD, affecting amino acid metabolism, glutathione metabolism, glycolysis and the TCA cycle, homocysteine metabolism, ketone body synthesis, and lipid metabolism. These disturbances offer insights into how metabolic dysfunctions may contribute to the neurological and behavioral features of ASD. Furthermore, the gut microbiota's role in immune responses and the controversial impact of antibiotic use on gut flora composition is important to the complexity of ASD and the need for a nuanced understanding of treatment effects.
This review delves into the current understanding of metabolic dysfunctions in children with ASD, emphasizing the critical role of gut microbiota and the impact of antibiotic use. Specifically, this review discusses SCFAs, para-cresol, amino acid metabolites, and glutathione and their respective specific treatments. It also explores the potential of vitamin/mineral supplementation as a therapeutic strategy, highlighting significant improvements in metabolic markers and behavioral symptoms associated with ASD. The findings from key studies, including those by Adams et al., suggest that targeted nutritional interventions and careful management of gut health could offer promising avenues for improving the quality of life for individuals with ASD. The review also acknowledges the need for further research to confirm the long-term effects of these interventions and to develop personalized treatment approaches that consider the unique needs in individuals with ASD.
ContributorsNandakumar, Keshav (Author) / Adams, James (Thesis director) / Flynn, Christina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This project is a policy analysis of Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLP). There is a serious lack of civil legal help for low income individuals in America. One way to address this issue is incorporating legal care into medical care through an MLP, which provides free legal help to address patients’ Social Determinants of Health. This thesis advocates for the incorporation of MLPs into healthcare, as well as more research into the health benefits if an MLP.
ContributorsBrock, Riley (Author) / Kizer, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Helitzer, Deborah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2024-05