Efficacy of Multivitamin-Mineral Supplementation on Measures of Anxiety, Depression, Self-Esteem, Dysregulation, and Perceived Stress in Young Adults

Mental health in the United States is at an all-time low with 21% of adults 18+ suffering from depression or anxiety. When compared with other categories, emerging adults (18-25 years old) have the highest prevalence of mental health disorders at 30%. Young adults face an inordinate amount of stress given the COVID-19 pandemic, being in a unique developmental stage, experiencing new relationships, and transitioning from high school to their professional lives. Vitamins and minerals have roles in neurobiochemistry and have been investigated for effects on mental health with mixed results. Few studies factor in the unique emerging adult developmental stage or the potential influence of excessive body weight, which is associated with poor psychosocial measures. The purpose of this project is to investigate whether multivitamin-mineral (MVM) supplementation lowers measures of negative psychosocial functioning. To explore this, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial was done to compare the effects of MVM supplementation on mental health measures to those with no supplementation. One hundred and thirty-six young adults recruited by body mass index (BMI) completed the study after being randomly assigned to take a MVM supplement or placebo for 30 days. Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Single Item for Self-Esteem (SISE), the Abbreviated Dysregulation Inventory (ADI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) at baseline and again at the completion of the study. Data was analyzed using Independent Samples T-Test of change scores to determine if MVM supplementation improved psychological function in young adults compared with placebo, and whether the effect was more likely in those with overweight/obese BMI. Mean change score for the BAI (anxiety) was 5.42 (SD = 8.05) for the MVM group versus 2.05 (SD=6.79) for the placebo group, indicating that the MVM improved scores more so than placebo (P = 0.003). MVM supplementation did not have an effect on measures of depression, dysregulation, self-esteem, or perceived stress. Likewise, there was no difference in response based on BMI. MVM supplementation may be a simple, practical, and cost-effective strategy to lower symptoms of anxiety in young adults

Impact of disease in dairy cows on ceftiofur pharmacokinetics, withdrawal times and emergence of antimicrobial resistance

Producing safe and wholesome food is a priority of animal agriculture in order to maintain consumer confidence in the products produced by the animal agriculture industries. Antimicrobial residues and antimicrobial resistant organisms are two of the most important concerns of consumers regarding food safety. Withholding periods are in place to minimize the risk of antimicrobial residues being present in food. However, these withholding periods are established on healthy animals, not clinically ill animals. Additionally, there is no such withholding period in place to minimize the risk of transporting antimicrobial resistant organisms through food following treatment, although it has been proposed. The first objective of this dissertation was to investigate the impact of clinical disease on the pharmacokinetics of ceftiofur. The second objective was to investigate changes in the fecal microbiota following drug therapy. The results of this work demonstrate the volume of distribution is increased in diseased animals and area under the concentration curve is decreased. Additionally, the mean elimination half-life can be significantly different. In both studies involving clinical disease, at least one animal in each group had an elimination half-life that was nearly twice as long as the mean of the control group. No animals were found to have violative drug residues present in tissues following observation of the labeled withholding time. Fecal Escherichia coli populations transiently decreased following therapy with ceftiofur and ceftiofur resistant populations were significantly different than untreated controls. There was a tendency towards a significantly higher ceftiofur resistant E. coli population in diseased animals treated with ceftiofur versus healthy animals treated controls. By 14 days following therapy, total and resistant E. coli populations returned to pre-treatment levels. E. coli isolates that were resistant to ceftiofur were also cross-resistant to ampicillin and ceftriaxone. Additionally, 64.3% of the resistant isolates were also resistant to tetracycline. The ÃÂ-lactamase gene blaCTX-M was most commonly found in ceftiofur resistant isolates but mechanism for ceftiofur resistance was not identified in 55.8% of the ceftiofur resistant isolates. Isolates that were determined to be phenotypically ceftiofur cross-resistant were resistant to 4.72 while isolates that were ceftiofur sensitive were cross-resistant to 1.1 antimicrobials. The current study suggests that changes in bacterial populations following clinical disease are not different from those of healthy cows treated with ceftiofur. Observation of the established drug withholding period following treatment with ceftiofur crystalline free acid minimizes the risk of transferring fecal isolates harboring antimicrobial resistance to the public

Disabled Sexual Assault Victims: Perceptions of Sexual Assault Professionals on Barriers to Providing Services to Disabled Sexual Assault Victims

Inspired by Dick Sobsey ‘s early work with disabled victims of abuse and the integrative ecological model, the current study addresses the barriers that sexual assault professionals encounter when working with developmentally disabled victims. The participants of this study are made up of 3 sexual assault female professionals, one being an advocate and two being Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. This study is qualitative in nature and the data was obtained by using a semi-standardized interview. Using phenomenology as a research design, the investigator used qualitative questions to gain understanding of being a sexual assault professional. The data was analyzed by utilizing content analysis and themes were chosen that related to service barriers for the developmentally disabled victim and the perceptions of the sexual assault professional regarding what further training they felt they needed when working with the developmentally disabled. The implications of this study indicate that barriers to providing services to the developmentally disabled victim can be communication, vulnerability as well as others. Further training was suggested for not only sexual assault professionals, but for all professionals that touch the lives of developmentally disabled

Disabled Sexual Assault Victims: Perceptions of Sexual Assault Professionals on Barriers to Providing Services to Disabled Sexual Assault Victims

Inspired by Dick Sobsey ‘s early work with disabled victims of abuse and the integrative ecological model, the current study addresses the barriers that sexual assault professionals encounter when working with developmentally disabled victims. The participants of this study are made up of 3 sexual assault female professionals, one being an advocate and two being Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. This study is qualitative in nature and the data was obtained by using a semi-standardized interview. Using phenomenology as a research design, the investigator used qualitative questions to gain understanding of being a sexual assault professional. The data was analyzed by utilizing content analysis and themes were chosen that related to service barriers for the developmentally disabled victim and the perceptions of the sexual assault professional regarding what further training they felt they needed when working with the developmentally disabled. The implications of this study indicate that barriers to providing services to the developmentally disabled victim can be communication, vulnerability as well as others. Further training was suggested for not only sexual assault professionals, but for all professionals that touch the lives of developmentally disabled