My Loss is Your Gain : Examining the Role of Message Frame, Perceived Risk, and Ambivalence in the Decision to Become an Organ Donor.

The decision to become an organ donor involves considering both self-relevant risks and the needs of others. This study applied prospect theory to examine how message frames that focus on the possible survival or death of a potential organ transplant recipient affect participants\u27 willingness to become organ donors. Perceived personal risk and ambivalence were examined as moderating variables. Results indicate that risk, rather than ambivalence, played an instrumental role in participants\u27 decisions to donate. Although no main effects or interactions related to message frame emerged in initial analyses, a supplemental analysis revealed a modest persuasive advantage for the loss-framed message among low-risk participants. Additional analyses revealed that for low-risk participants, perceived benefits of organ donation were higher for the loss frame than the gain frame, whereas the opposite pattern was found for high-risk participants. Findings suggest that decisions about organ donation may be associated with unique responses to message frames

The effect of war on art: the work of Mark Rothko

My goal for this thesis was to adequately illustrate the effect war can have on art and artists. I chose to single out one particular artist who lived and worked during a time of war and explore his life and work. My choice of artist was not random: I chose an individual who was particularly concerned about his external environment, and was active in the political and social issues of the time. My subject is Mark Rothko, a Russian-Jewish artist who immigrated from Russia as a boy and spent his life in the hotspot of artistic inspiration, New York City. Rothko was sensitive to socio-political matters and his involvement with politics affected his work. In order to fully comprehend the artist and his creations, I did a thorough investigation into the artist’s life; studying his influences, exploring his philosophies, and examining his works. It is difficult to trace the evolution of the style and themes Rothko employed at certain stages in his life because the artist rarely dated his paintings. Only years later, when he made an inventory of his work, did he date them, but without records and entirely relying on his memory. Even so, I was able to assess his work and came to the conclusion that Rothko was heavily influenced by the war going on around him, as well as the aftermath of the First World War and the instability of the Great Depression. From this research, I can deduce that Mark Rothko was a product of his war-torn environment, of which his work was a true reflection

Evaluation of the host immune response to Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in naturally infected periparturient dairy cows

Infections caused by the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis have a devastating impact on the dairy industry. Dairy cows generally are infected as neonates through the ingestion of water or feed contaminated with the bacteria. Animals will remain in the subclinical, or asymptomatic state, of the disease until a period of extreme stress, such as parturition. The clinical stage of the disease is characterized by severe weight loss, intermittent diarrhea, and fecal shedding of the bacteria. Currently, limited data exist on the effect of periparturient immunosuppression on the progression of Johne\u27s disease to the clinical stages. Furthermore, a better understanding of the host immune response during this critical time period is essential for management of this and other diseases. The experiments described in this dissertation are guided by the hypothesis that the host immune response to MAP infection is altered during the periparturient period

The Psychological Factors and Neural Substrates Associated with Metacognition among Community-Dwelling and Neurologic Cohorts of Older Adults

This project consists of three distinct, but sequential studies that explore the psychological factors and neuropathological substrates of metacognition or self-awareness among older adults. Study 1 examines the premorbid, psychological characteristics associated with metamemory—the mainstay of metacognitive research—in a healthy, community-dwelling cohort of older adults. Study 2 builds on these analyses, and examines the psychological characteristics associated with metacognition, more broadly, in a neurologic cohort of older adults with Essential Tremor (ET). Study 3, which utilizes post-mortem evaluations of participants from Study 2, goes beyond premorbid characteristics and examines whether distortions in metacognition are in part attributable to an underlying disease process. Findings demonstrated that psychological characteristics were associated with metacognitive accuracy in a healthy, community-dwelling cohort of older adults, but not among individuals with ET; further, distortions in metacognition among individuals with ET were better attributable to non-ET specific pathologies, such as amyloid β, neurofibrillary tangles, and regional-specific atrophy. This project underscores the importance of employing a biopsychosocial approach to understanding the factors that influence metacognition. Ultimately, by understanding and working effectively with awareness phenomena, there is a strong potential to reduce disability and enhance well-being

Hepatitis C Screening in Primary Care

Primary care clinics are often the first stop when a patient has a question regarding health, needs screening for health conditions, and/or needs to complete maintenance healthcare items such as mammograms or colonoscopies. As such, primary care providers are in prime position to screen for possible diseases that could poorly affect health for their patients. These screenings are usually directed by guidelines and policies published through the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; 2013). One such guideline is entitled Screening for hepatitis C virus infection in adults: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (2013) recommendation statement. This guideline recommends that all persons born between 1945 to 1965 be screened once in a lifetime for the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The recommendation is because chronic HCV infection can lead to decreased quality of life and high cost of care for the individual and the healthcare system if left untreated. Untreated HCV can lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A person who screens positive for infection with HCV can be appropriately treated and, in most cases, have complete disease eradication. From the researcher’s clinical experiences, the screening processes in many primary care clinics in northern Colorado were lacking in numbers of patients screened iv and provider knowledge of when to screen their patients. The researcher developed a capstone project to implement at a primary care clinic through the use of three objectives: 1. Increase screening rates for HCV at a primary care clinic 2. Identify a barrier preventing providers from screening patients for HCV 3. Overcome the barrier preventing screening for HCV Objective 1 was met through the use of an electronic medical record (EMR) review of patients who completed well-visits at the clinic before and after an educational seminar with the providers and staff at the clinic. Objectives 2 and 3 were met through an educational seminar to identify and overcome barriers through the use of surveys and handouts, respectively. The educational seminar allowed the researcher to offer screening coding tips to help with insurance coverage (as this was the barrier identified that prevented screening) and also to refresh providers and staff on the importance of HCV screening per the guideline for the birth cohort born from 1945 to 1965. The EMR reviews of well-visits showed a 30% increase in screening rates for HCV at this clinic- the pre-seminar rate was 37.8% and the post-seminar rate was 68.89%. This shows the capstone project was a success to increase screening rates, identify a barrier preventing screening, and overcome this barrier. Success of this capstone will have effects into the future as hopefully, the providers and staff continue to increase HCV screening rates for patients at the clinic. The continued increase in screening rates could insure proper offering of treatment to patients identified as having positive HCV status to increase quality of life by preventing worse negative sequalae associated with chronic HCV infection

Going Beyond Contemporary Leader Development Practices: Assessing Leader Readiness Using Cognitive Stage Development and Experiential Learning Theories

Consider the employee who is highly engaged and self-directed in her work, manages ambiguity well, genuinely engages in the journey of becoming an agent of change, seeks ways to understand herself as a leader, and relishes the possibilities of ideas. On the other hand, there is the employee who looks to others for direction and answers, finds the lack of clarity and ambiguity unbearable, resists new ideas, has difficulty making decisions, or jumps right into the decision-making process without careful reflection. These disparate behaviors in employees seem to occur unrelated to age, gender, and socioeconomic level. As teachers, managers, and consultants, we have engaged in our own leader development practices and observed those of others in an attempt to explain these differences

Poverty and Education: An Educator\u27s Perspective

This study was developed to increase awareness on educators’ perspectives at a Title I middle school in Lancaster, SC. The purpose was to determine which educational barriers, according to the teachers’ perspectives, have the highest impact on students. Using the survey results, it was determined which school initiatives play the largest role in mitigating the educational barriers. Data was collected through an anonymous online survey distributed in February of 2020. The results indicated which poverty related educational barriers were noteworthy. Having an effective meal program was determined to be the most effective way to combat poverty. Clubs, sports, and parental involvement were also ranked high was ways to combat poverty. Students in high poverty (Title I) schools need to have extra supports and initiatives in place to help students succeed

Alterations in genomic organization and gene expression in colorectal carcinogenesis

This study has examined some of the features that characterize the changing pattern of genomic organization and gene expression in colorectal carcinogenesis. The transition from normal colonic mucosa, to adenoma, to carcinoma is accompanied by the progressive accumulation of genetic defects. DNAs from a panel of premalignant adenomas, predominantly from familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients, and carcinomas mostly from non-FAP patients, were screened for the presence of somatic mutations. RNA was extracted from a similar panel of samples for use in gene expression studies. Allele losses were detected in tumour DNA samples with polymorphic markers from chromosomes 1, 5q, 7 and 11p. Such loss of genetic material may indicate the presence of tumour suppressor genes at affected loci. As the adenomatous polyposis coli gene has been assigned to 5q21, allele loss in this region was expected in carcinomas, however loss of chromosome 5q markers had not previously been reported in premalignant adenomas. The absence of allele loss on chromosome 3p, suggests that the small cell lung cancer tumour suppressor gene, was not involved in colorectal carcinogenesis. Genetic instability was manifest in some carcinoma samples by the generation of novel alleles at various hypervariable loci. The retinoblastoma susceptibility gene was over-represented in two carcinomas and elevated levels of expression were detected in RNA from 90% of adenomas and 50% of carcinomas. Such uncharacteristic findings may indicate that unknown factors are interacting with this tumour suppressor gene in colorectal tumours. Expression of the p53 tumour suppressor gene declined from high levels in adenomas to low levels in carcinomas. Comparison of these findings with published data, suggests that an inverse relationship may exist between gene expression and mutation at this locus. The most striking and consistent change observed in this study, was the loss of carbonic anhydrase 1 gene expression associated with epithelial de-differentiation. Expression of the mucin genes also declined with the progression of colorectal carcinogenesis. In mucinous tumours however, although mucin transcript levels were high in some cases, the pattern of mucin gene expression varied between individual samples. Construction of a normal colonic mucosal cDNA library, allowed a cross hybridization strategy to be employed, in an attempt to isolate clones from human chromosome five that contained sequences expressed in the colon. Six clones were isolated and their preliminary characterization undertaken