Matching Items (263)
Description
This is the study of Acute Impact of Ujjayi Yogic Pranayama vs Aerobic Exercise on Cognitive Performance and Short Term Memory. The purpose of this research was to compare two forms of exercise and their effects on someone's cognitive performance and short term memory. The research was performed in an acute setting were both exercises was conducted in under 15 minutes of active participation. The research question was; will aerobic exercise or the Pranayama breathing exercise provide better results and demonstrate a more effective way to increase the cognitive performance and short term memory for a college student aged 18-30. This was accomplished by using an aerobic exercise on an elliptical machine and then participating in the breathing exercise for 10 minutes in both scenarios. This study had two scenarios. Each scenario had a preliminary cognitive performance and short-term memory, post-Ujjayi exercise had a cognitive performance and short-term memory and a post-aerobic exercise had a cognitive performance and short-term memory. There was an hour break between Ujjayi exercise and aerobic exercise in both scenarios to prevent any type of bias. Scenario 1 had these three settings but the students were not given a breakfast supplement. In Scenario 2 the students were given a break supplement and followed the same procedures as scenario 1. There were 25 students for scenario 1 and 25 students for scenario 2. The students were allowed to participate in scenario 1 and 2 but it had to be a week after their first participation. All participants were originally signed up for scenario 1 and they could come back to perform scenario 2 a week later. The first scenario was completing the tests in the absence of food. Scenario two was completing the tests after having been given a Clif Bar to consume. The results of both of these scenarios showed that for cognitive performance and short term memory aerobic exercise had a beneficial impact on their performance. However, students who had a breakfast performed better on the preliminary tests and scored better after the yogic Ujjayi Pranayama exercise on their cognitive performance and short term memory tests. There was also a negligible difference between the test results after the preliminary tests and yogic Ujjayi Pranayama. However, in scenario one the overall tests scores for preliminary and yogic Ujjayi Pranayama were less than those in scenario two. Students who recorded that they were more actively engaging in regular physical exercise 3-7 days a week also did worse in scenario 1, but when presented with scenario 2 they scored equal with those who did not perform regular exercise. The overall purpose for this research was to find out how to increase cognitive performance and short term memory ability in college age students 18-30 in a short amount of time. The results of this study will be impactful for the future studies that will be focused on when comparing aerobic exercise and yogic pranayama.
ContributorsKopecky, Zachary (Co-author) / Enright, Roan (Co-author) / McILwraith, Heide (Thesis director) / Lee, Rebecca (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Type-two diabetes represents a pathological state of insulin resistance due to systemic, complex interactions between numerous identified and linked metabolic genes. According to current medical literature, the genetic predisposition to type-two diabetes, coupled with environmental risk-factors, such as poverty and poor dietary habits, further exacerbate the risk of developing the disease. My research investigated the hypothesis that government poverty programs are associated with the surge in type-two diabetes among people of low socioeconomic status. My research suggests that government subsidies for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, Women Infants and Children, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, National School Lunch Program, and corn production influence individual dietary choices that lead to consumption of excessive amounts of refined sugars and fats and a surge in the prevalence of obesity, known risk-factors for developing type-two diabetes. These policies and programs may directly or indirectly promote and incentivize diets with excessive refined sugars and fats. As such, current programs paradoxically contradict current medical literature and direct individual choices that have increased the known risk-factors for developing type-two diabetes. Future efforts should reassess poverty and agricultural subsidy programs in relation to medical recommendations for diabetes prevention. The enormous societal and economic burden associated with type-two diabetes calls for further research to assess the efficacy of current public policy and the allocation of government funds.
ContributorsCarabajal, Christian James (Author) / Orchinik, Miles (Thesis director) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Opat, Melissa (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Engineers spend several years studying intense technical details of the processes that shape our world, yet few are exposed to classes addressing social behaviors or issues. Engineering culture creates specific barriers to addressing social science issues, such as unconscious bias, within engineering classrooms. I developed a curriculum that uses optical illusions, Legos, and the instructor's vulnerability to tackle unconscious bias in a way that addresses the barriers in engineering culture that prevent engineers from learning social science issues. Unconscious bias has documented long-term negative impacts on success and personal development, even in engineering environments. Creating a module in engineering education that addresses unconscious bias with the aim of reducing the negative effects of bias would benefit developing engineers by improving product development and team diversity. Engineering culture fosters disengagement with social issues through three pillars: depoliticization, technical/social dualism, and meritocracy. The developed curriculum uses optical illusions and Legos as proxies to start discussions about unconscious bias. The proxies allow engineers to explore their own biases without running into one of the pillars of disengagement that limits the engineer's willingness to discuss social issues. The curriculum was implemented in the Fall of 2017 in an upper-division engineering classroom as a professional communication module. The module received qualitatively positive feedback from fellow instructors and students. The curriculum was only implemented once by the author, but future implementations should be done with a different instructor and using quantitative data to measure if the learning objectives were achieved. Appendix A of the paper contains a lesson plan of the module that could be implemented by other instructors.
ContributorsLauber, Emily Anne (Author) / Wernimont, Jacqueline (Thesis director) / Mertz, Benjamin (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Obesity and related health disparities including type 2 diabetes disproportionately impact Latino youth. These health disparities may be the result of gene-environment interactions, but limited research has examined these interactions in the pediatric age group. Lifestyle intervention is the cornerstone for preventing diabetes among high-risk populations and epigenetic and genetic factors may help explain the biological mechanisms underlying diabetes risk reduction following lifestyle changes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNA’s that regulate gene expression and have emerged as potential biomarkers for predicting type 2 diabetes risk in adults but have yet to be applied to youth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify changes in miRNA expression among Latino youth with prediabetes (4 female/2 male, ages 14-16, BMI percentile 99 ±.2) who participated in a 12-week lifestyle intervention focused on increasing physical activity and improving nutrition-related behaviors.
ContributorsKarch, Jamie (Co-author) / Day, Samantha (Co-author) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Thesis director) / Coletta, Dawn (Committee member) / Arizona State University. College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) is a plant lectin commonly used to stimulate and test responses of the immune system and is known to induce T cell proliferation, agglutinate human leukocytes, and yield adjustments in lymphocyte populations. What is not well know is how responses to PHA correlate with a host's ability to resist or recover from pathogen invasion. This study uses information from previously published studies to determine whether or not PHA can be a good indicator of disease severity or disease resistance in a host. With PHA having the abilities that it does, immune responses to PHA may correlate with responses important for pathogen resistance and clearance. Such a relationship could only be uncovered if in vivo or in vitro responses to PHA are measured and, independent from the PHA challenge, symptoms and/or mortality rates of hosts are documented after pathogen exposure. An in vitro response can be detected by measuring cellular proliferation in response to PHA followed by separate cell cultures exposed to a pathogen. While an in vivo response can be detected by measuring variation in swelling in response to an injection of PHA. In reviewing a broad range of articles that meet my criteria, the majority of articles failed to show a strong relationship between PHA and disease severity or disease resistance. Therefore, immunologists must consider the usefulness of the PHA tests as a measure of immunocompetence, which is a host's ability to predict response to a pathogen. According to the literature, using PHA does not predict responses to pathogen invasion. However, it is possible that with carefully designed experiments, it could be determined that PHA does provide an indication of pathogen resistance in certain host species exposed to specific pathogen.
ContributorsMackey, Tracy Michelle (Author) / Moore, Marianne (Thesis director) / Penton, Ryan (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has current guidelines in place for product labeling of commercial pet food products. Unfortunately, the guidelines prove to be rather lenient in terms of ingredient transparency. In turn, this leniency allows pet food and treat conglomerates to label products with marketing buzzwords like "Natural" and "Organic" without any merit or certification. The disconnect lies within the consumer's perspective of what is considered a "Natural" product and what the AAFCO requires for a product to be labeled as such. My creative project focused on surveying current dog owners about their purchasing behaviors of commercial dog treats and gaining insight to what influences their decision to buy a certain type or brand of dog treat for their pet. I analyzed the results of the survey and examined the ingredients of the most popular brands of treats for nutritional benefit. My focus on this analysis was to find discrepancies between the product label, the perception of the consumer purchasing the products, and the ingredients listed on the back of the package. The next part of my project was to create a dog treat recipe using only ingredients that provided a nutritional benefit. The recipes I crafted excluded artificial preservatives, fillers, coloring, etc. The last part of my creative project was to package and label the finished dog treat in accordance to AAFCO guidelines, complete with labeling requirements and guaranteed analysis. My product labeling provides transparency in the ingredients used and omits marketing slogans that are misleading. The goal of my thesis was to create a dog treat that was not only palatable to our canine companions, but, also preserved a nutritional benefit to them. Keywords: dog treats, animal nutrition, product labeling
ContributorsEguchi, Lillian (Author) / Murphree, Julie (Thesis director) / Mayer, Julie (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and chlamydia, standardly treated with antibiotics, produce over 1.2 million cases annually in the emergency department (Jenkins et al., 2013). To determine a need for antibiotics, hospital labs utilize bacterial cultures to isolate and identify possible pathogens. Unfortunately, this technique can take up to 72 hours, leading to several physicians presumptively treating patients based solely on history and physical presentation. With vague standards for diagnosis and a high percentage of asymptomatic carriers, several patients undergo two scenarios; over- or under-treatment. These two scenarios can lead to consequences like unnecessary exposure to antibiotics and development of secondary conditions (for example: pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, etc.). This presents a need for a laboratory technique that can provide reliable results in an efficient matter. The viability of DNA-based chip targeted for C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, and other pathogens of interest were evaluated. The DNA-based chip presented several advantages as it can be easily integrated as a routine test given the process is already well-known, is customizable and able to target multiple pathogens within a single test and has the potential to return results within a few hours as opposed to days. As such, implementation of a DNA-based chip as a diagnostic tool is a timely and potentially impactful investigation.
ContributorsCharoenmins, Patherica (Author) / Penton, Christopher (Thesis director) / Moore, Marianne (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
"Going back as far as the time of Hippocrates, ancient Egyptians, tribal African nations, and many other early civilizations, humans used herbal remedies to treat their ailments. One such remedy was willow bark, used in tea form, to treat rheumatism and fevers. This remedy was around for many thousands of years, along with other treatments containing salicylates, although this was not understood at the time. As time has gone on, the willow bark tea has been transformed into aspirin as we know it today. In addition to its medicinal uses, aspirin has become versatile in its uses, including use in homemade facial treatments and in the garden. As beneficial as aspirin has been, there are negative consequences to its use, particularly in young children, and it may have strange effects on gender when used by pregnant women. From such humble beginnings, aspirin has been shown to be more than a simple painkiller." Topics discussed in this paper include: the origins of aspirin and its use as a medical treatment, the beginnings of aspirin as it is known today, how aspirin interacts with the body, the specific chemical reactions that occur when aspirin is taken, aspirin as part of a heart health regimen, the possible uses of aspirin in treating cancer, general information about dosages and typical aspirin use, some side effects of aspirin use, and novel uses of aspirin that are not necessarily medical in nature. The beneficial nature of aspirin and the possibilities it presents are discussed alongside information about its potential limitations and negative effects.
ContributorsMontes, Ariana (Author) / Huffman, Holly (Thesis director) / Garg, Vikas (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The degree to which adolescents describe themselves as gender typical, as defined by their interests, activities, personal qualities, and other characteristics, is related to a broad range of adjustment indices. The goal of this thesis was to review studies conducted between 2000 and 2017 to provide a summary and critique of this research. A total of 18 studies were reviewed. The majority of findings indicate a positive association between gender typicality and beneficial adjustment outcomes, and a negative association between gender typicality and poor adjustment outcomes. Suggestions for future research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
ContributorsCohen, Alexandra Danielle (Author) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Miller, Cindy (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Vitamin supplements have beneficial and adverse effects depending on the dosage given and the age and sex of the recipient. Vitamin supplements have been extremely profitable in the health industry, but there is limited scientific data supporting vitamin supplement benefits. Many studies over the last decade have shown that vitamin supplements provide few health benefits and can lead to adverse effects, such as abnormal bone growth, birth defects, or an increased risk of cancer. Some researchers state that people with a specific vitamin deficiency should take vitamin supplements because the supplement can alleviate this deficiency. Many healthy people take vitamin supplements to prevent disease or have better health, but some researchers argue this is a misconception. Most health organizations indicate that consuming vitamins should be through diet, not supplements. The value of dietary supplements, most of which are consumed in developed countries, has been a controversial topic, because the beneficial effects of taking vitamin supplements is hotly contested. Many experts in the field of nutritional physiology suggest that Americans adequately receive enough vitamins in their diet and do not need to take vitamin supplements. Researchers at John Hopkins announced that the United States should stop spending money on vitamin supplements. Their research has found no benefits to taking vitamin supplements, because most people in industrialized areas are well-nourished. In this study, I have gathered that vitamin supplements are not beneficial when one has a sufficiently nutrient-rich diet; whereas, one who has a vitamin deficient diet can benefit from taking vitamin supplements. Furthermore, I have gathered that people older than 65-years-old should take vitamin B12 because vitamin B12 levels decrease with age. There is not enough evidence to prove or disprove that vitamin supplements are generally beneficial. In fact, I gathered that vitamin supplements may even be harmful. I propose that further studies should be conducted to discover the truth about the possible benefits of vitamin supplementation for healthy individuals and among people with different health conditions, activity levels, and nutrient requirements.
ContributorsMcDowell, Alexandra Catherine Jo (Author) / Moore, Marianne (Thesis director) / Huffman, Holly (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05