Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Includes bibliographic references (p.82-85).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references.

Diabetes är en kronisk sjukdom som hittills drabbat 120-150 miljoner människor världen över. Denna siffra beräknas fördubblas till år 2025 till 300 miljoner. Ett av de största problemen i diabetesvården i dag är att mellan 1/3 och ¾ av alla personer som har diabetes brister i följsamheten. Syftet med arbetet var att undersöka vad sjuksköterskor i Sverige och Norge upplever vara orsaker till en bristande följsamhet hos personer med typ-2 diabetes upp till 65 års ålder, samt hur sjuksköterskan jobbar för att få bästa följsamheten hos sina patienter. För att få fram svaret på frågan gjordes en kvalitativ intervjustudie av tolv sjuksköterskor, sex i Sydsverige och sex i Östfold, Norge. Intervjumaterialet analyserades utifrån Dorothea Orems omvårdnadsteori. Resultatet visar att orsaken till bristande följsamhet är något väldigt mångfacetterat, alla intervjuerna visade på flera olika faktorer som kan spela in. Därför är sjuksköterskan tvungen att individanpassa vården för att få bästa följsamheten. / Diabetes is a chronic disease that so far has affected 120-150 million people all over the world. This number is calculated to be doubled until year 2025 to 300 million people. One of the biggest problem in diabetic care today is that between 1/3 and ¾ of all people with diabetes fail to comply with medical regimen. The purpose with this study was to explore what nurses in Sweden and Norway experience to be the cause of non-compliance and how they work to get the best compliance from their patients. To find the answer to the question a qualitative interview study was performed featuring twelve nurses, six in southern Sweden and six in Östfold, Norway. The interview material was analyzed according to Dorothea Orem?s nursing theory. The results show that the cause for non-compliance is something very complex, all interviews indicated on different factors that can take part. It is never only one factor that is causing the non-compliance, but several. / Mail: jacobsson_jenny@hotmail.com Mobil: 0703-715143

Diabetes är en kronisk och obotlig sjukdom och antalet diabetiker fortsätter att öka ständigt Agardh et al. (2000). Risken för att utveckla diabetes typ 2 är: stigande ålder, låg fysiskt aktivitet, fetma, högt kaloriintag och rökning. Brister i egenvård kan medföra allvarliga komplikationer för patienten och höga kostnader för sjukvården. Kylberg och Lidell (2002) fastställer vilka komplikationer som kan uppstå som resultat av en äventyrad egenvård är kärlförändringar i de stora och små blodkärl, amputation och hjärtinfarkt. För att undvika komplikationerna krävs att diabetespatienten och omgivningen engagerar sig i egenvård. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur diabetiker upplever förändrade matvanor vid diagnos diabetes typ 2. Metoden är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av 8 vetenskapliga artiklar. Dessa artiklar bearbetades enligt Malteruds (1998) analysprocess. Resultaten påvisade att de flesta typ 2 diabetiker i litteraturstudien upplevde barriärer när de skulle förändra matvanor.

Bakgrund: Diabetes typ 2 är en sjukdom som ökar kraftigt i hela världen. Diabetessjukdomen innebär omfattande livsstilsförändringar för många människor. De viktigaste livsstilsförändringarna är att ändra kostvanorna och att motionera mera. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att belysa hur personer med diabetes typ 2 upplever sin sjukdom och de livsstilsförändringar som sjukdomen medför. Metod: En litteraturstudie baserad på tio vetenskapliga artiklar, vilka är analyserade genom inspiration av Burnards (1996) innehållsanalys. Resultat: Resultaten av analysen ledde till åtta kategorier, där det beskrevs upplevelser av sjukdomen och de livsstilsförändringar som sjukdomen medför. Det framkom att diabetessjukdomen kunde ses som något positivt eller något negativt. Flera kände en ökad rädsla vad det gällde att drabbas av diabeteskomplikationer.

The 567-item MMPI-2 is the most widely used personality measure; it requires a sixth-grade reading level, takes 60-90 minutes to administer, and reports robust psychometrics. However, traumatic brain injury (TBI) sequelae can cause cognitive deficits that affect test-taking abilities and item endorsement during differential diagnoses of neurological and personality factors. Therefore, this study examined the clinical utility of the shortened 338-item MMPI-2-RF inventory with a post-acute TBI population as a practical alternative. The MMPI-2-RF requires a fifth-grade reading level and takes 35-50 minutes to administer. The MMPI-2-RF also includes revised versions of the MMPI-2 Validity Scales and new substantive scales that may better psychometrically account for personality in TBI sequelae, such the Somatic/Cognitive Scales. This study conducted an incremental validity analysis of the MMPI-2-RF with a non-litigating, post-acute care TBI population in Central Texas. The goal of the study was to explore the measure’s performance, or its ability to capture functional dimensions in a TBI sample. More specifically, the study examined the construct validity of MMPI-2 to MMPI-2-RF Validity and Restructured Clinical Scales, and criterion validity for the Somatic/Cognitive Scales with neuropsychological and neurobehavioral functioning measures. An archival neuropsychological database (N = 60) was analyzed of patients who participated in TBI rehabilitation treatment at a Central Texas hospital. MMPI-2-RF profiles were retrospectively scored with MMPI-2 archival data. Statistical analysis between MMPI-2 to MMPI-2-RF Validity and Restructured Clinical Scales was conducted. MMPI-2-RF Somatic/Cognitive Scales and criterion measures of Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th Edition (WAIS-IV), The Weschler Memory Scales, 4th Edition (WMS-IV), The Booklet Category Test, 2nd Edition (BCT), and the Neurobehavioral Functioning Inventory (NFI) were examined. Patient demographics and measurement qualities were reported with the sample. / text

This thesis introduces the infinitesimal symmetries of Dixmier-Douady gerbes over smooth manifolds. The collection of these symmetries are the counterpart for gerbes of the Lie algebra of circle invariant vector fields on principal circle bundles, and are intimately related to connective structures and curvings. We prove that these symmetries possess a Lie 2-algebra structure, and relate them to equivariant gerbes via a "differentiation functor". We also explain the relationship between the infinitesimal symmetries of gerbes and other mathematical structures including Courant algebroids and the String Lie 2-algebra. / text

The Ice, Cloud, and land Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) is planned to launch in 2016 carrying the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). ATLAS will be the first space-based photon-counting laser altimeter to be put into operation, and is tasked with observing the Earth’s ice sheets, sea ice, and vegetation. The environment in which ATLAS will be operating is expected to introduce a significant amount of noise into the received signal; this necessitates that a set of onboard Receiver Algorithms be developed to reduce the data volume and data rate to acceptable levels while still transmitting the relevant ranging data. The algorithms make use of signal processing techniques, along with three databases, the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), the Digital Relief Map (DRM), and the Surface Reference Mask (SRM), to find the signal and determine the appropriate dynamic range of vertical data surrounding the surface for downlink. The focus of this study is the development of the DEM and DRM databases. A number of elevation data sets are examined for use as inputs for the databases. No global data sets of sufficient quality and resolution are available for the development of the project, so best-available regional elevation data sets were selected instead. Software was developed in MATLAB to produce the DEM and DRM data bases from the input data sets. A method for calculating relief from a gridded elevation data set along the flight path of a satellite was developed for the generation of relief maps used to create the DRM. Global DEM and DRM databases were produced by mosaicking individual DEM and DRM tiles from each input data set into global grids. A technique was developed to determine the accuracy of the DRM by using ICESat ground elevations to evaluate the accuracy of an input elevation data set. By comparing values of DRM accuracy to values of DRM relief, estimates of DRM accuracy as a function of relief magnitude were determined and used to define values of DRM padding in the receiver algorithm. / text

The 2 micron plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae resides in the nucleus as an extra-chromosomal element with a steady state copy number of 40-60 per cell. As a benign but selfish DNA element, the plasmid utilizes a self-encoded partitioning system and an amplification system to ensure its stable, high-copy propagation. The partitioning system consists of the plasmid encoded proteins, Rep1 and Rep2 and a cis-acting partitioning locus STB. The Rep proteins, together with several host factors, assembled at STB couple plasmid segregation to chromosome segregation. A plasmid lacking an active partitioning system is subject to a ‘diffusion barrier’, which causes it to be retained in the mother cell with a strong bias (mother bias). Currently available evidence favors the hitchhiking model for plasmid segregation, in which the tethering of plasmids to chromosome provides the basis for faithful plasmid partitioning. However, direct evidence to support this hypothesis has been difficult to obtain because of the small size of the budding yeast nucleus and the poor resolution of chromosomes in live cells or in chromosome spreads. In this study, we have attempted to verify the hitchhiking model using single copy derivatives of the 2 micron plasmid as reporters. We demonstrate, using two single copy reporters present in the same nucleus, that plasmid association with chromosome spreads is authentic, and is dependent on the partitioning system. By using a strategy that forces all chromosomes to stay in either the mother or the daughter compartment, we show that plasmid segregation can be uncoupled from nuclear envelope segregation. However, plasmid segregation cannot be uncoupled from chromosome segregation under this condition. This tight coupling between plasmid and chromosome segregation is consistent with the hitchhiking model for plasmid segregation. The plasmid partitioning complex is assembled de novo at STB during each cell cycle during the G1-S window. Plasmid replication or cell cycle cues that signal cellular DNA replication appear to trigger this assembly. Furthermore, there is an apparent temporal hierarchy in the association and dissociation of protein factors at STB. When DNA replication is delayed or blocked, the dissociation of factors from STB from the previous portioning cycle and the association of factors for the new partitioning cycle are delayed or blocked, respectively. The precise role of replication in plasmid segregation has not been elucidated. We have addressed this question by blocking either plasmid replication or all cellular DNA replication. We find that replication is not required for plasmid to overcome mother bias. However, replication is critical for the equal segregation of sister plasmid copies. These results provide a refinement of the hitchhiking model by suggesting that sister plasmids tether to sister chromatids in a replication-dependent manner and hitchhike on them during chromosome segregation. Finally, we have attempted to reconstitute the 2 micron plasmid partitioning system in mammalian cells with the goal of exploiting their larger nuclear size and the considerably higher chromosome resolution they provide. In experiments completed so far, we show that Rep2 expressed in COS7 cells localizes to chromosomes, and Rep1 does so in the presence of Rep2. Furthermore, they show co-localization on sister chromatids in a symmetric fashion, implying that plasmids associated with them are likely to follow suit. These observations suggest, by extrapolation, the Rep1-Rep2 assisted association of sister plasmids with sister chromatids in yeast as well, and are consistent with the refined hitchhiking model for plasmid segregation. / text

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), the clustering of obesity, high blood pressure, and disordered glucose and lipid/lipoprotein metabolism within a single individual, is associated with poorer cognitive function and dementia in later life. It has been hypothesized that cognitive impairment in MetS occurs primarily within the context of inflammation. MetS risk factors are also associated with thinning of the cerebral cortex. However, the mechanisms by which MetS and inflammation affect the brain are poorly understood. The present study used statistical mediation to examine the relationship between MetS risk factors, cortical thickness in a priori regions of interest (ROIs) and inflammation. ROIs in the inferior frontal, superior temporal, middle frontal, supra marginal, anterior cingulate and middle occipital regions were chosen from the previous literature. Serum levels of pro-inflammatory markers (interleukin 1, interleukin 2, interleukin 6 and C-Reactive Protein) were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Forty-three adults between the ages of 40 and 60 years underwent a health screen, neuropsychological testing and structural magnetic resonance imaging. A higher number of MetS risk factors was associated with thinning in the inferior frontal ROI (β=-0.35, p = 0.019). A higher number of MetS risk factors was also associated with higher levels of serum interleukin 2 (β=0.31, p=0.04). A higher level of serum interleukin 2 was also associated with reduced thickness in the inferior frontal ROI (β=-0.41, p=0.013). After accounting for the effects of interleukin 2, the number of MetS risk factors was no longer associated with cortical thickness in the inferior frontal ROI indicating successful statistical mediation and pointing towards a potentially important role for imflammation in linking MetS to cortical thinning and cognitive vunlerability. / text