Examining Biological and Psychological Variables in Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy

Despite advances in obstetric care, hypertensive disorders continue to complicate pregnancies at a high rate. Worldwide, hypertensive disorders affect up to 10% of pregnancies. The United States has seen a 25% increase in the incidence of hypertensive disorders over the last two decades (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2017). These complications constitute one of the greatest causes of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality with an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 deaths per year across the world (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2017). Although the etiology of hypertensive disorders remains unclear, there may be an association with both maternal biological and psychological distress in the development of the disorder. Although both distress and biomarkers have been identified in association with a hypertensive disorder, little data exist examining the components of distress and the alterations in biomarkers in women developing these disorders. Due to the limited evidence, a critical need exists to examine the relationship of perceived maternal distress and biomarker measures in the development of a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy in order to better understand this phenomenon. The purposes of this dissertation were to: 1) understand the experience of having a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy; 2) to investigate the association of perceived stress and changes in immune response via biomarker measures in women who develop a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy; 3) to review, summarize, and evaluate the literature examining the relationship between perceived maternal distress (stress, anxiety, and depression) and the development of a hypertensive disorder; and 4) to investigate the association of perceived distress in the development of a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy. Data obtained from a qualitative study of women with a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy placed on bed rest reported several stressors associated with the experience. These stressors related to differing and often conflicting management plans by different providers and not feeling providers heard their concerns. The evidence supports these women experience stress during this pregnancy complication. Analysis of data obtained at each trimester of pregnancy did identify differences in biomarker levels based on perceived stress and women with a hypertensive disorder and those without a hypertensive disorder. Evidence from a systematic review of literature supporting maternal distress in the development of a hypertensive disorder was mixed. However, few studies existed and of those reviewed, most lacked rigor. Analysis of data obtained early and late in pregnancy did not indicate a relationship between psychological distress and the development of a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy. Women with a higher BMI were 12% more likely to develop a hypertensive disorder. The factors associated with the development of a hypertensive disorder are complex. Maternal perceived stress and inflammatory responses differ between women with a hypertensive disorder and those without a hypertensive disorder in pregnancy; however maternal distress did not differ between groups. Body mass index was associated with the development of hypertension in pregnancy. Clinicians need to include assessment of maternal BMI as a modifiable risk factor in the development of a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy. In addition, although psychological distress was not associated with the development of a hypertensive disorder, women still suffer with components of distress. Clinicians could identify and support women experiencing distress thereby promoting a healthier pregnancy

KSU Wind Ensemble with special guest, Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony

KSU School of Music presents KSU Wind Ensemble with special guests, Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1092/thumbnail.jp

Comparison of the crevice corrosion resistance of Alloys 625 and 22 in concentrated chloride solution from 60 to 95 degrees C

The effects of electrolyte composition and oxide film age on the crevice corrosion properties of alloys 625 and 22 were studied at temperatures ranging from 60 to 95 C in concentrated chloride electrolytes. Critical potentials were determined using conventional current density thresholds and comparisons were made between 625 and 22 on the basis of these critical potentials. Air aged 22 specimens exhibited the highest resistance to crevice corrosion at 95 C in terms of critical crevice potentials, while freshly polished 22 exhibited the lowest resistance. Studies over the entire, temperature range showed that air aged 22 is more resistant to crevice corrosion than air aged 625 as evidenced by higher critical crevice potentials. As the temperature was lowered from 95 to 8O C, critical crevice potentials for 22 either approached or exceeded experimentally determined Cr (Mo, Ni) transpassive potentials

A survey of phytoestrogenic activity in Kansas flint hills pastures

The botanical composition and basal cover of three Kansas Flint Hills pastures located in Butler and Chase counties was surveyed to estimate the incidence of plant species that contain appreciable levels of estrogenic activity. Many-flowered scurfpea and Ladino clover were the only plant species classified as high in estrogenic activity. Although significant estrogenic activity existed in specific species, the willingness of livestock to consume those species is unclear

Endogenous Retrovirus Insertion in the KIT Oncogene Determines White and White spotting in Domestic Cats

The Dominant White locus (W) in the domestic cat demonstrates pleiotropic effects exhibiting complete penetrance for absence of coat pigmentation and incomplete penetrance for deafness and iris hypopigmentation. We performed linkage analysis using a pedigree segregating White to identify KIT (Chr. B1) as the feline W locus. Segregation and sequence analysis of the KIT gene in two pedigrees (P1 and P2) revealed the remarkable retrotransposition and evolution of a feline endogenous retrovirus (FERV1) as responsible for two distinct phenotypes of the W locus, Dominant White, and white spotting. A full-length (7125 bp) FERV1 element is associated with white spotting, whereas a FERV1 long terminal repeat (LTR) is associated with all Dominant White individuals. For purposes of statistical analysis, the alternatives of wild-type sequence, FERV1 element, and LTR-only define a triallelic marker. Taking into account pedigree relationships, deafness is genetically linked and associated with this marker; estimated P values for association are in the range of 0.007 to 0.10. The retrotransposition interrupts a DNAase I hypersensitive site in KIT intron 1 that is highly conserved across mammals and was previously demonstrated to regulate temporal and tissue-specific expression of KIT in murine hematopoietic and melanocytic cells. A large-population genetic survey of cats (n = 270), representing 30 cat breeds, supports our findings and demonstrates statistical significance of the FERV1 LTR and full-length element with Dominant White/blue iris (P \u3c 0.0001) and white spotting (P \u3c 0.0001), respectively

Evaluation of Ralgro® on pasture and subsequent feedlot performance and carcass merit of mexican crossbred steers

A pasture/feedlot field study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a single Ralgro® implant during the stocker phase on steer grazing performance and subsequent feedlot performance and carcass merit. A total of 2,764 steers of Mexican origin averaging 449 lb were assembled in Texas and shipped to Kansas, where they grazed on three intensively-early-stocked Flint Hills pastures. At initial processing, the steers were individually weighed and randomly assigned to either a non-implanted control group or a Ralgro implant group. Ralgro steers gained more (23 lb; P<0.01) than controls during the 82- to 93-day grazing phase. Following the grazing phase, all steers were shipped to a commercial feedlot in southwestern Kansas where steers from each pasture were individually weighed and given a single Component E-S® implant. Immediately after processing, steers from each pasture were sorted into either a light- or heavy-weight pen, regardless of pasture implant treatment, resulting in six feedlot pens. Days on feed ranged from 127 to 197. Control steers gained faster (P<0.01) during the feedlot phase; however, Ralgro steers had higher cumulative weight gains across the combined pasture and feedlot phases (P<0.01) and averaged three fewer days on feed (P<0.05). There were no significant differences for marbling, fat thickness, ribeye area, KPH fat, or yield grade. Ralgro steers had lower (P<0.05) quality grades because of a higher incidence (P<0.001) of steers with B and C carcass maturities

Anticipating explanations in relative clause processing

We show that comprehenders’ expectations about upcoming discourse coherence relations influence the resolution of local structural ambiguity. We employ cases in which two clauses share both a syntactic relationship and a discourse relationship, and hence in which syntactic and discourse processing might be expected to interact. An off-line sentence-completion study and an on-line self-paced reading study examined readers’ expectations for high/low relative clause attachments following implicit-causality and non-implicit-causality verbs (John detests/babysits the children of the musician who…). In the off-line study, the widely reported low-attachment preference for English is observed in the non-implicit causality condition, but this preference gives way to more high attachments in the implicit causality condition in cases in which (i) the verb’s causally implicated referent occupies the high-attachment position and (ii) the relative clause provides an explanation for the event described by the matrix clause (e.g., …who are arrogant and rude). In the on-line study, a similar preference for high attachment emerges in the implicit causality context—crucially, before the occurrence of any linguistic evidence that the RC does in fact provide an explanation—whereas the low-attachment preference is consistent elsewhere. These findings constitute the first demonstration that expectations about ensuing discourse coherence relationships can elicit full reversals in syntactic attachment preferences, and that these discourse-level expectations can affect on-line disambiguation as rapidly as lexical and morphosyntactic cues

Contrastive prosody and the subsequent mention of alternatives during discourse processing

Linguistic research has long viewed prosody as an important indicator of information structure in intonationally rich languages like English. Correspondingly, numerous psycholinguistic studies have shown significant effects of prosody, particularly with respect to the immediate processing of a prosodically prominent phrase. Although co-reference resolution is known to be influenced by information structure, it has been less clear whether prosodic prominence can affect decisions about next mention in a discourse, and if so, how. We present results from an open-ended story continuation task, conducted as part of a series of experiments that examine how prosody influences the anticipation and resolution of co-reference. Overall results from the project suggest that prosodic prominence can increase or decrease reference to a saliently pitch-accented phrase, depending on additional circumstances of the referential decision. We argue that an adequate account of prosody’s role in co-reference requires consideration of how the processing system interfaces with multiple levels of linguistic representation