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From the organismal to biosphere levels: environmental impacts on the amphibian microbiota
Get PDFThis review summarizes the role of environmental factors on amphibian microbiotas at the organismal, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. At the organismal-level, tissue source, disease status, and experimental manipulations were the strongest predictors of variation in amphibian microbiotas. At the population-level, habitat quality, disease status, and ancestry were commonly documented as drivers of microbiota turnover. At the community-level, studies focused on how species’ niche influence microbiota structure and function. At the ecosystem-level, abiotic and biotic reservoirs were important contributors to microbiota structure. At the biosphere-level, databases, sample banks, and semi-natural experiments were commonly used to describe microbiota assembly mechanisms among temperate and tropical amphibians. Collectively, our review demonstrates that environmental factors can influence microbiotas through diverse mechanisms at all biological scales. Importantly, while environmental mechanisms occurring at each of the different scales can interact to shape microbiotas, the past ten years of research have mostly been characterized by targeted approaches at individual scales. Looking forward, efforts considering how environmental factors at multiple organizational levels interact to shape microbiota diversity and function are paramount. Generating opportunities for meaningful cross-disciplinary interactions and supporting infrastructure for research that spans biological scales are imperative to addressing this gap
Promoting Parental Comfort to Facilitate Conversations on Adolescent Sexual Health and Behaviors
Get PDFThis thesis proposal will investigate the impact of a comprehensive digital sexual health education program on the comfort levels of parents and teens when discussing sensitive topics such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The research is guided by Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory, which emphasizes the need to assess and address individuals’ self-care deficits, including the ability to engage in safe and informed sexual behaviors. The research design is a quantitative, quasi-experimental study with a one-group pre and post-test design. The sample consists of 50 parents and 50 teens from Marin County, who will participate in an online intervention using the Media Aware Parent program. The outcomes will be measured by pre and post-intervention surveys and the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale. The expected results are that the intervention will increase the knowledge, confidence, and comfort levels of parents and teens regarding sexual health issues, and improve the quality of communication between them. The findings could potentially contribute to the development of more effective sexual health education programs and communication strategies for families.https://scholar.dominican.edu/nursing-student-research-posters/1046/thumbnail.jp
Medical Cannabis in Pediatric Patients with Chronic Pain and Diseases
Get PDFPediatric chronic pain has seen a disturbing rise which ends up affecting the child’s routine and impacting their family’s lives. Medical cannabis has Food and Drug Administration-approved derivatives, yet the studies that focus on medical cannabis do not discuss targeting pain in pediatric patients. Children who experience chronic diseases and treatment-resistant pain are not normally offered medical cannabis as a treatment option which needs to change. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of medical cannabis within the pediatric population. If children experience pain that is similar to adults, withholding techniques that can help alleviate their pain should be avoided. The study will assess how pediatric patients adapt to medical cannabis. The proposed research design is a quantitative, test-retest study focused on pediatric patients who are 3-12 years old and have been diagnosed with a chronic disease, treatment-resistant pain, or both. There will be a collaboration with Bay Area pediatric outpatient offices. The study will use the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale and Likert Scale. There are many ethical considerations surrounding this study since pediatric patients are a vulnerable population due to their varying mental capacities. Post-treatment, patients and parents will re-evaluate pain and daily living. Statistical analysis will help identify areas for further research regarding different demographics. The results are anticipated to provide valuable contributions to pediatric pain management.https://scholar.dominican.edu/nursing-student-research-posters/1052/thumbnail.jp
Nuances of a First Generation Student
Get PDFZay tells all on his story of what challenges and unique opportunities he faced as a Dominican University of California student.
What led him to become a young diverse, first gen student, and socialy outgoing individual? In telling his story Zay aims to encourage and inspire future Dominican students.https://scholar.dominican.edu/heritage-and-history-podcasts/1025/thumbnail.jp
How Implicit Bias Leads to Racial Disparities in Maternal Care and Experiences
No full textBackground: Maternal mortality rates have decreased all over the world. However, in the United States, the maternal mortality rate has been steadily increasing. Women of color reportedly are forced to accept the burden of an unequal association between race and morbidity & mortality due to implicit discriminatory attitudes of healthcare professionals. Objective: To better understand the relationship between implicit bias and maternal care in the San Francisco Bay Area between non-Hispanic White & Black women and to explore racial disparities in their maternal narratives. A literature review was performed and a study is proposed. Future Directions: To Identify the differences in maternal care among women of color so that possible interventions can be researched and implemented to improve patient-centered maternal care to all women and to reduce discriminatory practice in the San Francisco Bay Area.https://scholar.dominican.edu/nursing-student-research-posters/1018/thumbnail.jp
The Effects of School-Based Art Therapy on Depressed Adolescents
Get PDFDepression in adolescents is associated with deficient behavioral and health outcomes (Fletcher, 2019). Art therapy has been shown to be effective in treating mental health condition such as depression. A student’s academic success heavily depends on treating their depression. Community health nurses can play a vital role in advocating for adequate mental health support to improve a student’s overall well-being and academic success. The literature review contains six articles on the prevalence and impact of depression among adolescents, art therapy as an intervention for improving psychological outcomes and resilience among adolescents, and experiences of adolescent clients in art therapy within school settings. In school settings, depressive symptoms are often linked to lower test scores and poor relationships among peers. Art therapy in schools offers a wide range of support for the youth. The environment of a school has a direct impact on a student’s personal, emotional, and behavioral aspect of themselves (Fisher & Brown, 2018). Schools are important environments for identifying risk in certain students. Therefore, schools can be an appropriate setting for providing treatment (Dunne et al., 2017).https://scholar.dominican.edu/nursing-student-research-posters/1023/thumbnail.jp
The Effect of Delivery Method on Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration
Get PDFThere is a plethora of research focusing on the physical effects of each delivery method on a mother’s ability to initiate and sustain breastfeeding, however, there may be more psychosocial factors that influence a mothers decision to start and continue breastfeeding once they deliver. It is very common to be educated about breastfeeding after the baby has already been delivered, but it is often missed that education before may improve breastfeeding rates and increase mothers\u27 breastfeeding self-efficacy rates. The primary purpose of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of breastfeeding support groups that provide information, guidance, and social support from other breastfeeding mothers prenatally and postpartum. The goal of this is study is to examine how support groups address psychosocial factors that influence a mothers decision to initiate and continue breastfeeding, such as self-efficacy. A single group, pretest/posttest design will be utilized for the study. Participants will include nulliparous pregnant women over the age of 18 from an outpatient obstetrics clinic in San Rafael. They will attend a support group led by other breastfeeding mothers twice, at 35 weeks and 37 weeks. The participants will complete a demographic survey before going into the support group as well as the Prenatal Breast-feeding Self-efficacy Scale. Two weeks after delivery, the mother will complete the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale Short-Form to evaluate their feelings toward breastfeeding postpartum. Statistical analysis will be completed on the tools utilized in the study. The results of this study will demonstrate that attending the support groups will have a positive effect on the self-efficacy of mothers while breastfeeding. Therefore, pregnant women will benefit from support groups led by other breastfeeding mothers as it will increase their individual self-efficacy.https://scholar.dominican.edu/nursing-student-research-posters/1032/thumbnail.jp
New York Expressionism
No full textThis work of docupoetics demonstrates the use of ‘linguistic deviation’ to build tension. The primary instrument here is a ‘temporal anomaly’. The question of ‘confused narrator’ is ever present. Within the category of ‘unreliable narrator’, ‘confused narrator’ is the author\u27s unique observation and demonstration within this work. Actual events are represented one way or another and may or may not conform to established and \u27agreed upon\u27 historical narrations of ‘reality’ as captured by historiography. This excerpt of a longer poem tells the story of various historical characters and events from New York, the city. It is rendered in a rather fragmented and often unsequenced fashion. It reveals some, perhaps less considered and unexpected connections to historical characters and events in California
Identification and Characterization of Novel Senescent Cell Biomarker and Age-Dependent Functional Decline Innate Immune Cells in Mice
No full textAging is the most significant risk factor for nearly all major chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases of aging, primarily due to the disruption to the homeostasis of our immune system. These chronic inflammatory signals influencing the aging pathology predominantly originate from senescent cells, making them a promising target for therapeutic investigation. However, treatments have remained limited due to the heterogeneity among senescent cells, caused by the vast array of induction events. This project aims 1) investigate differences between senescent and non senescent cells and 2) to gain a better understanding of changes to the innate immune systems ability to clear senescent cells with age.
Utilizing multiple rounds of Peptide Phage Display, an alternative screening method to traditional proteomics approaches that were previously attempted unsuccessfully, we have identified 28 potential peptides that may interact selectively with the surface of senescent cells and through validation have identified five peptides that can specifically interact with the surface of senescent cells, potentially functioning as a novel biomarker for quantifying senescence in vitro and in vivo.
Concurrently, we investigated the age-related impairment to Natural Killer (NK) cells, innate immune cells which function as the primary cells responsible for the immunosurveillance of senescent cells. We utilized a mouse model to characterize the age-related changes to two common NK cell activation markers in mice (NK1.1 and CD49b). We then demonstrate the decreased efficacy of aged NK cells to clear senescent cells via co-culture with senescent fibroblast cells
Maternal Postnatal Depressive Symptoms and Its Effects on Infant Bonding
Get PDFThe objective of this thesis is to gain insight on precipitating factors that increase postpartum mother’s depressive symptoms, including stress and anxiety, and how attachment is influenced. Maternal-infant bonding is defined as the emotional relationship and interaction between mother and infant. Postnatal depressive symptoms typically are under-diagnosed due to a lack of education and the stigma of believing that the effects are “normal” consequences of motherhood. Those affected may not seek professional help. Unrealistic expectations about bonding with their infants can have a negative mental health impact on mothers and influence infants’ behaviors. High expectations of needing to be a perfect mother or not meeting certain goals for their child’s care can make mothers feel unaccomplished, increase stress and frustration, lead to parental burnout, and in severe cases, resentment towards their infant. Many factors impact maternal experiences in the postpartum phase, including economic stressors and marital differences, but most importantly infant behaviors. Mothers who struggle to meet their infant’s needs, such as feeding, diaper changes, or sleeping arrangements may encounter negative infant reactivity emotions, which only deepens their depression.
To investigate, primary research articles about mother-infant attachment and bonding and causes of ineffective attachment were examined. A plan for future study will include the Maternal Role Attainment Theory by Ramona Mercer. The study will use a prospective longitudinal mixed methods design. Two hundred pregnant women will be followed until one-year postpartum. Quantitative data collection will include surveys asking about mother’s anxiety on a rating scale. Qualitative data will be gathered on infants’ emotional reactivity when stressed and interventions used by mothers to console them. This research may offer insights that aids nurses in providing effective care for mothers with postpartum depression and their newborns