Dissertation (D.D.)--Ludwigs-Maxmilians-Universität zu München, 1934.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2001. / Title from title page screen, viewed April 13, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Paul A. Garris (chair), John E. Baur, Hou T. Cheung, Maarten E.A. Reith, David L. Williams. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-186) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-80). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2005. Graduate Programme in Kinesiology and Health Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 59-63). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss &rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR11744

Thesis (M.S.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2007. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Christopher S. Guy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-72).

Dissertation (Ed.D.)--University of Toledo, 2009. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Education Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision." Bibliography: leaves 92-99.

Master of Science / Department of Statistics / Wei-Wen Hsu / BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Alzheimer's disease is currently a neurodegenerative diseases without any effective treatments to slow or reverse the progression. To develop any potential treatments, the need of a good statistical model to assess the progression of Alzheimer's disease is becoming increasingly urgent. This study proposed a latent transition model to monitor the progression of Alzheimer's disease which can help the development of a given proposed treatment. METHOD: A latent transition model was used to assess the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The volume of Hippocampus and fluorodeoxyglucose-PET (FDG) were employed as biomarkers in this model. These two biomarkers are very sensitive to the pathological signs of the Alzheimer's disease. The proposed latent transition model was performed with real data from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), which contain 2,126 participants from 2005 to 2014. RESULTS/FINDINGS: The latent transition model suggested six states of disease progression and two different pathological profiles. One progression profile was mainly determined by the biomarker of FDG and the other by the volume of Hippocampus. CONCLUSION: The results revealed the existence of various progression profiles of Alzheimer's disease, suggesting a new way to evaluate the disease progression.

D.Ed. / HIV/AIDS presents a major challenge in South Africa. HIV/AIDS was officially diagnosed as a disease in South Africa since the early 1980’s. Initially people did not want to acknowledge the existence of HIV/AIDS. In South Africa there are many people living with HIV and some are already dying of AIDS-related diseases. This study investigated the perceptions of learners, educators, and Department of Education officials on the influence of HIV/AIDS in schools in informal settlements. The aim of this study was firstly, to establish what the perceptions were of learners, educators and Departmental officials about the influence that HIV/AIDS has on the education sector; secondly, to describe how the research would be undertaken; thirdly, to establish ways how to integrate HIV/AIDS issues in the curriculum that will provide specific skills and information to help avoid risky and immoral sexual behaviour and to reduce the spread of HIV and other STI’s; and ultimately, to strive towards achieving a tendency to promote abstinence. The naturalistic research design was used to establish what these perceptions were of the influence HIV/AIDS have on learners, educators, and Department of Education officials. Focus group interviews and discussions, observations and field notes were the data sources. The focus group discussions were tape-recorded for transcriptions. Transcriptions were studied and analysed; different colours were used for decoding and clustering of the findings, in order to identify themes and categories. The findings of this study confirm that the respondents from the education sector, more specifically the learners, the educators, and the officials in service of the Department of Education, are aware of the enormous influence that HIV/AIDS have on education in general and schools more specifically. The findings also represent the daunting challenge that South Africa as a society has. The influence stemmed from different dimensions as represented in the categories and themes that were identified, but they are all interrelated. The most serious challenge that South Africa faces in this era of HIV/AIDS however, is still poverty. South Africa is a country of widespread and persistent poverty and therefore deep inequalities exist. Poverty and HIV/AIDS are interrelated. Poverty provides the context for AIDS and AIDS exacerbates poverty. Poor households are more likely to feel the impact of AIDS resulting in an increase in the extent of poverty. Poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic are two of the most devastating diseases ever to hit South Africa. The influence thereof is now beginning to sink in among most communities. Already the influence of living with HIV/AIDS in the midst of poverty is being felt in hundred of thousands of house¬holds across the country. Education is a sector central to human development. Increasing evidence of HIV/AIDS will reduce the capacity of learners to attend school and to learn. Expansion of enrolments and improvement of teaching will be eroded by staff losses and reduced institutional efficiency. All this is experienced at the time when the Department of Education has rationalised teacher-training colleges and very few students register for a teaching degree at higher institutions of learning. Current shortages of educators in the schools as a result of HIV/AIDS compromise the quality of education in our country and undermine the fundamental objectives of ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of skilled people in the economy. The significance of this study is situated in breaking the silence, making participants talk about the subject of HIV/AIDS openly. This in itself is a major breakthrough in any research that has thus far been undertaken, and the facts that were uncovered and discussed in the interviews contribute hugely to the body of scientific knowledge on this monstrous disease. The further contribution of this thesis is to be found in the written up findings, conclusions, recommendations and the suggestions provided in Chapter 5 that will inculcate abstinence and ultimately enforce disclosure of one’s status. It is the researchers’ belief that this study will further help to mitigate the influence of HIV/AIDS within the education sector and throughout the Republic of South Africa.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important independent risk factor in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Indeed, patients with CKD are far more likely to die from CVD than reach end stage renal disease. Conventional cardiovascular risk factors and co-morbidity contribute to this increased risk of CVD. However, emerging evidence suggests other novel factors including inflammation, oxidative stress, and a shift in the balance of the vasodilator nitric oxide and vasoconstrictor endothelin system, are also important contributors. Despite increasing evidence that the endothelin system plays an important role in the development of CKD and CVD, there has been little research examining possible therapeutic benefits of its modification in patients with CKD. The overall aims of the work presented within this thesis were to examine CVD risk in patients with renal impairment and then to see what impact chronic inhibition of the endothelin system would have on risk factors for CVD and CKD progression. In the first two studies I examined markers of arterial stiffness (AS) and endothelial function in a cohort of patients with immune-mediated renal disease. I was able to show in the acute setting that improvement in renal function following treatment for these conditions leads to significant improvements in AS. Interestingly, in patients who were in remission from their renal disease, only classical cardiovascular risk factors appear to be linked to AS. In the next study I was able to prove that sitaxsentan, a selective oral ETA antagonist, did not cause functional blockade of the ETB receptor in man. This was the first study of its kind to confirm that a “selective” endothelin antagonist truly is selective in vivo: a finding that will allow more accurate mechanistic investigation of the ET system. In the final studies, I showed that in subjects with stable non-diabetic proteinuric CKD, chronic selective ETA receptor antagonism reduces blood pressure and AS, and that these systemic benefits are associated with an increase in renal blood flow and reduction in proteinuria. The reduction in proteinuria is most likely haemodynamic and linked to a fall in GFR and filtration fraction, similar to what is seen with ACE inhibitors. Importantly, these benefits were seen in patients already taking maximally tolerated renin-angiotensin aldosterone system blockade, suggesting that chronic endothelin antagonism could be an important future therapy in the management of CKD. In summary, I have shown that renal impairment can directly affect markers of arterial function and by inference increase the risk of CVD. Chronic antagonism of the endothelin system with ETA receptor blockers would appear to improve many of these biomarkers, including reductions in BP, AS and proteinuria. There were no adverse effects reported in these studies, suggesting that selective ETA antagonism may be safe enough for clinical development in CKD patients. Further larger clinical trials are warranted.

In response to the crisis created by the HIV and AIDS pandemic in this country, South African education departments are demanding that educators play a significant role in creating awareness amongst children and adults alike. This task is challenging for teachers who are already working under the pressure of demanding workloads. In order to achieve the intended outcome of AIDS awareness, training of highly efficacious teachers is required. The education module, PSED201, Issues in School and Society, offered as part of a BEd degree for in-service mathematics and science teachers at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, provides one such training opportunity. This study investigates the impact of this module on the self-efficacy of 128 teachers with respect to their role as HIV and AIDS educators. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used and data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. The results suggest that there has been an improvement in all four areas of teacher self-efficacy examined in this research. As such, it may be concluded that an important outcome of this intervention has been achieved. As highly efficacious teachers are more likely to influence the behaviour of their learners, the findings of this research should make a meaningful contribution to the debate around AIDS education in South African schools.