dissertationNA22598A1 is a unique carbamoylated cyclic guanidine with a diol skipped diamine dipeptide. It was shown to have antimetastatic activity against DLD-1 colon cancer cells with an IC50 of 0.32 µM, but the absolute stereochemistry has yet to be confirmed. Guadinomine B is also a carbamoylated cyclic guanidine with a diol skipped diamine dipeptide. It was shown to inhibit the T3SS virulence system of Gram-negative bacteria with an IC50 of 0.014 µM. We endeavored to synthesize NA22598A1 and determine if it was mischaracterized at isolation. In addition, we investigated a potential mechanism of action that could produce both of the phenotypes exhibited by NA22598A1 and guadinomine B

Edwards, Anne Victoria

English

dissertationOver the past 50 years, there has been a gradual upward trend in overweight and obesity prevalence, such that current epidemiological estimates indicate that over one-third of U.S. adults are obese and another third are overweight. Cancer prevalence has risen in tandem with excess adiposity in a dose response relationship that may grow stronger with age, suggesting a number of U.S. adults may be at risk. However, prevailing weight loss interventions aimed at disrupting and reversing this alarming trend are predominantly based on an overly simplistic model of energy balance, and consequently have failed to achieve any meaningful long-term results. This may be due in part to interventive focus on the symptomatic expression of excess weight rather than the underlying mechanisms of obesity onset and maintenance. Conversely, identifying malleable traits that promote healthier body composition profiles, as well as their potential mechanistic and behavioral means of conferring clinical benefits, may facilitate the development of the next generation of targeted psychosocial interventions for obesity. Herein is presented an integrated biopsychosocial framework that elucidates cybernetic feedback circuits between stress, reward, homeostatic mechanisms, and both bottom-up and top-down self-regulatory processes that interact to govern obesogenic behaviors. A portion of this conceptual framework was then tested in a correlational study of a sample of overweight and obese female cancer survivors, which revealed that higher dispositional mindfulness was indirectly associated with reduced adiposity via enhanced capacity to savor nonfood rewards and improved autonomic regulation during attention to food cues. Finally, findings from an early stage pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) are presented. This RCT investigated the preliminary feasibility and efficacy of Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), a multimodal intervention designed to target mechanisms underpinning appetitive dysregulation, as an added component to exercise and nutrition counseling to treat excess adiposity among the same sample. Findings revealed that MORE may be an efficacious means of effectively targeting underlying mechanisms explicated by the proposed conceptual framework, in that MORE was associated with significantly enhanced interoceptive awareness, savoring, and responsiveness to natural rewards, and reduced food attentional biases and maladaptive eating behaviors

Thomas, Elizabeth A.

The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe current study evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of an adaptation of the Mindful Schools Curriculum for Adolescents in an after school setting. This study is the first to evaluate feasibility and effectiveness of the Mindful Schools curriculum for a nonclinical, community-referred adolescent population. Recruitment was done in a local school district and surrounding community between December 2015 and March 2016. The current adaptation, Just Breathe: Teens Learning to Live Mindfully with Stress and Drama (R.O. Levitt, personal communication, November 10, 2015) was delivered in a group format for two groups over a six-week period where 3 of the 18 Mindful Schools lessons were combined each week. Feasibility data were collected to examine demand, acceptability, and treatment adherence. Overall there was a 64% treatment completion rate. Treatment adherence (i.e., the components actually completed each week by the group leaders) was 100% for both groups. Following completion of all lessons and study components, treatment acceptability was evaluated. Sixty-four percent of participants reported that they would recommend the adaptation to other teens dealing with stress. Pre- and posttest measures of stress and depression were administered. Data demonstrated a significant decrease in participants' stress from the time preintervention measures were given and postintervention measures completed [t(20) = 2.79, p .05]. Weekly iv measures were analyzed for pre- to posttreatment effects as well as with repeated measures. Results indicated a significant increase in participants' well-being from pre- to posttreatment [t(19) = -2.82, p < .05] and significant changes over the course of the intervention on weekly well-being scores [F(5,40) = 3.83, p <.05]. Weekly ratings of participants' mindfulness also showed significant change from pre- to posttreatment [t(19) = -3.68, p < .05] and significant changes over the course of the intervention [F(5,40) = 4.428, p < .05]. There was no significant change in practice quality. Potential reasons for this finding are discussed. Further research is needed in order to draw firmer conclusions, including research that includes more participants and takes into account group factors, specifically intragroup correlation (IGC)

Haygeman, Emily Anne

dissertationThe main goal of this dissertation is to identify major characteristics of French colonial education in Soudan Francais (present day Mali) before discussing ways in which, despite major education reforms, legacies that relate to those characteristics continue to, either consciously or unconsciously, be reproduced, altered, or challenged in two current higher education teacher-training programs in postcolonial Mali. The discussions offer insights with regard to how issues of reproduction, hybridity, and resistance play out in various data sources before examining ways in which they affect the subjectivities of preservice teachers graduating from the two teacher training programs investigated.  Data were collected from a wide range of sources, which include colonial and postcolonial legislations and documents, textbooks, retired and preservice teachers' responses to questionnaires, and Skype interviews of a focus group of preservice teachers. Methods of content analysis and narrative analysis were used to make sense of data collected while simultaneously calling in major concepts from postcolonial theory for a broader analysis and discussion.  The analysis and discussion of data collected revealed multiple instances of reproduction, resistance, and hybridity within the two departments, thereby positioning graduating preservice teachers to be likely to engage in similar practices potentially resulting in similar instances in their own future classrooms. Whether related to current, retired, or preservice teachers, it appeared that instances of reproduction, resistance, and hybridity sometimes occurred deliberately, though often times not deliberately. The concluding section of this dissertation offers some possible pathways for Malian stakeholders to examine in order to address major educational issues that were revealed throughout this study

Abdoulaye, Talatou

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/dl_files/b9/b1/b9b112428b2018e21c73c2bbdb0ea9c199bf133b.pdf

Doctor of Philosophy

Abstract

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The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library

The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library

The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library

The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library