No description available.

Resilience is a phenomenon that refers to the ability to overcome risk factors that increase the likelihood of academic or social failure. Considerable research has been conducted to determine what may enhance or hinder the ability of individuals to overcome adversity. Unfortunately, much of the research has focused primarily on factors that place individuals at greater risk of failure. Today in the United States, a number of students experience academic failure due to multiple risk factors. However, the research is clear that there are individuals referred to as resilient who are able to achieve at high levels in spite of many of the same risk factors. This heuristic phenomenological study provides insight, based on interviews with high risk, African-American, young adults, into those factors that enabled them to exhibit behaviors consistent with resilience in spite of risk factors in the home, school or community. The study helps to illuminate their challenges and the reasons for their success. / Ed. D.

Researchers and clinicians report that they think the client is the most influential component in determining the outcome of therapy. Although a variety of studies have examined the impact of various client factors on the outcome of couple therapy, this research is not cohesive and produces inconsistent results. The purpose of this multi-method study is to present a sense of the range and depth of client factors that influence the outcome of couple therapy. The use of qualitative and quantitative methods allowed the data to build on existing research while expanding the range of client factors considered. Data were gathered using a dynamic, web-based survey which assigned participants to discuss a case of successful or unsuccessful couple therapy. Participants provided their own descriptions of influential client characteristics. Participants also rated how important they thought several literature-based client factors were. Quantitative data analysis utilized descriptive statistics, principal components analysis, and logistic regression. Qualitative data were analyzed in two stages, using content analysis. Results indicated that couples can be conceptualized by five arenas of couple focus; these arenas accurately predicted whether participants were discussing a successful or unsuccessful case of couple therapy 85.9% of the time. Regarding individual client characteristics, in general, clients whose couple therapy was successful tended to be open to each other and committed to the relationship and to therapy. Unsuccessful couple therapy tended to focus on a greater number of individual issues. Couple dynamics characteristics differed according to outcome groups; participants described four types of couple dynamics that influenced couple therapy to be unsuccessful. Data showed that many client factors influenced the outcome of couple therapy, and that uncommon client characteristics could be vital to the outcome of some cases. Participants described a client's life events as impacting the outcome of couple therapy by increasing one person's vulnerability to his or her partner. If the partner acted in a way that created a sense of connection or support, this contributed to successful couple therapy. The results are presented in connection to previous research, when possible. Finally, implications for theory, research, and clinical work with couples are discussed. / Ph. D.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Biochemistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Biochemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Ovarian carcinoma is the most lethal gynecological malignancy. The high relapse and mortality rates are attributable to late diagnosis and development of drug resistance. Identifying novel prognostic and therapeutic targets for ovarian carcinoma is crucial for improving patients' long-term survival rate. Forkhead box protein M1 (FOXM1), which is a widely studied member of the FOX superfamily of proteins, participates in cell proliferation and apoptosis affecting the developmental function of many organs. Recently, there has been emerging evidence supporting the biological significance of FOXM1 in carcinogenesis. Overexpression of FOXM1 has been reported in multiple human malignancies including primary breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, etc. However, whether FOXM1 participates in the development of ovarian cancer, with emphasis on the association with clinicopathological parameters and chemoresistance, remains unknown. This study aims at elucidating the functional role of FOXM1 in the tumorigenesis of ovarian cancer. Immunohistochemical study showed higher nuclear FOXM1 expression was significantly associated with advanced stages of ovarian cancer (P=0.035). Though not reaching statistical significance, FOXM1 overexpression displayed association with serous histologic subtype, high grade cancers (poor differentiation) and chemoresistance. Patients with a low FOXM1 level had a significantly longer overall (P=0.019) and disease-free survival (P=0.014) than those with high FOXM1 expression. Multivariate progression analysis established high expression of FOXM1, advanced cancer stages and poor histological differentiation (high grade) as independent prognostic factors for short overall and disease-free survival. Consistently, in vitro Transwell assays demonstrated transient knockdown of FOXM1 was capable of reducing SKOV-3 migration and invasion. Furthermore, paclitaxel treatment down-regulated FOXM1 expression in the sensitive cell line but not the resistant one. Immunofluorescence and flow cytometric analyses demonstrated FOXM1 knockdown could enhance paclitaxel-mediated mitotic catastrophe in ovarian cancer cells. Recent attention has been drawn to the oncogenic roles of kinesin-like protein KIF2C and p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) in human cancers. Interestingly, the expressions of KIF2C and PAK4 altered in a similar pattern to FOXM1 expression upon paclitaxel treatment by displaying down-regulation only in the paclitaxel sensitive cell line but not the resistant one. FOXM1 silencing, qPCR, luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed KIF2C and PAK4 to be novel transcriptional targets of FOXM1. Clonogenic assay showed KIF2C knockdown could re-sensitize resistant cell line to paclitaxel treatment. Flow cytometry demonstrated KIF2C silencing was able to increase the number of cells blocked at G2/M cell cycle phase in sensitive cell line and raise the number of apoptotic cells in resistant cell line. Up-regulations of miR-590 and miR-370 were also observed in a panel of drug resistant ovarian and breast cancer cell lines. While ectopic expression of miR-590 reduced FOXM1 expression, FOXM1 also seemed to be able to regulate the expression of miR-590. In summary, this study showed overexpression of FOXM1 in ovarian cancer correlated with poor survival of patients and paclitaxel resistance. KIF2C and PAK4 were identified as novel transcriptional targets of FOXM1 implicated in chemoresistance. / published_or_final_version / Pathology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

No description available.