A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. / Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition characterized by upper airway obstruction during sleep causing intermittent hypoxia and nighttime awakening. It is a common condition in the United States that is often undiagnosed. It is a significant risk factor for decreased daytime productivity, quality of life, cardiovascular disease, and death. The current gold standard for diagnosis of OSA is laboratory‐based polysomnography (PSG). While PSG is necessary for the diagnosis and monitoring of OSA, many patients have limited access to PSG due to wait times at PSG laboratories or economic or geographic limitations. Portable sleep monitoring has been studied as a possible solution for patients who do not have access to timely PSG. This study aimed to use the Zephyr BioHarness 3, a chest‐worn physical activity monitor that records movement and physiologic data in real‐time, to detect apnea events in patients with suspected OSA undergoing single‐night laboratory PSG. Twenty patients underwent single‐night laboratory‐based PSG while simultaneously wearing the Zephyr BioHarness 3. The Zephyr BioHarness 3 data was analyzed using three methods. First, apnea events were identified in 10‐second windows of Zephyr data via support vector machine, logistic regression, and neural network (sensitivity = 76.0 ± 0.3%, specificity = 62.7 ± 0.2%, accuracy = 63.7 ± 0.1%). Second, apnea events were identified using the mean, median, and variance of the 10‐second windows (sensitivity = 72.3 ± 0.3%, specificity = 69.4 ± 0.1%), accuracy 69.6 ± 0.1%). Third, apnea events were identified using phase‐space transformation of the Zephyr BioHarness 3 data (sensitivity = 76.9 ± 0.3%, specificity = 77.9 ± 0.1 %, accuracy = 77.9 ± 0.1%). The Zephyr BioHarness shows initial promise as a possible OSA screening tool for patients suspected of OSA but who lack access to timely laboratory‐based PSG.

Master of Science / Food Science / Edgar Chambers IV / Palatability of pet foods is judged by the use of animals in colonies. Pet food manufacturers would like to understand how palatable a food is compared to another food. This generally is accomplished by a two pan test where a pet has the opportunity to freely choose between two foods. Preference is evaluated through the use of an intake ratio, the ratio of the amount of test food consumed divided by the total amount of the foods consumed. Although this is easy to do in laboratories, another option would be to do such studies with animals in more ‘real-life’ home environments. The purpose of this study was to develop, and test a method to capture feeding information from a study of canines in the home environment and analyze the results of the palatability tests. Individual dog owners were screened for information on the household and pets. Twenty-five dogs of different ages, breeds and sizes were selected to participate on the in-home panel. Seven different palatability tests were performed using the in-home panel with four of those tests being replicated; a total of 11 comparative tests. These dogs were tested using a proprietary computer-based technology that collected information about intake of each food for each individual dog for a duration of seven days for each of the 11 comparative studies. Data was analyzed and resulted in showing that differences between foods can be found. Statistical analyses compared initial day one data to subsequent day data collected during each study to determine whether a full seven day test was needed. In addition, comparisons were made to compare the impact of prior foods eaten to subsequent preferences of the dogs. Results of the in-home panel were the same on day one as for all seven days of testing. Also, previous exposure to a food did not alter subsequent preference for that food. Such data has implications for pet food manufacturers related to timing and cost of testing.

No description available.

No description available.

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

Because many individuals with developmental disabilities prefer to be as independent as possible, strategies need to be developed to teach them functional skills. Video prompting is a fairly new technology, in which a person learns to engage in a complex behavior by viewing steps of a task analysis on video. The steps are broken down so that the task is more manageable for the individual. The present study evaluated how many steps needed to be presented in the video model for the learner to acquire a functional skill. Three individuals between the ages of 17 and 29 and diagnosed with mental retardation were selected as participants. The target behaviors were to complete a 10 component laundry skill in a group home setting. Starting with viewing the entire task on video, the task was broken down into halves, then thirds, and so on until the individual performed all steps to criterion. A multiple baseline design was used to show the results of the video prompting procedure. The results showed that one individual learned the task with 5 steps in each video segment, another learned the task with the video broken into 4, 3, and 3 segments, and the final participant did not learn from video. For this participant, a least to most prompting procedure was effective.

Bakgrund: Cancersmärta är ett växande problem för både vårdpersonal och patienter, eftersom cancer drabbar allt fler människor. Tidigare forskning visar att sjuksköterskor uttrycker en brist på kunskap och insikt i cancersmärta och patienters erfarenheter av cancersmärta, särskilt i eget hem. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att beskriva patienters upplevelser av cancersmärta i hemmet. Metod: En kvalitativ litteraturstudie, som inkluderar 13 artiklar analyserade utifrån Evans beskrivande syntes med en berättande sammanfattning. Resultat: Resultatet från den här studien består av tre huvudteman och sex subteman. Huvudteman inkluderar Upplevelser av att förlora kontroll, Upplevelser av oförståelse och Upplevelser av självstyre av smärtvården. Slutsats: Patienterna upplevde att cancersmärtan resulterade i en förlust av kontroll eftersom de upplevde att smärtan begränsade deras liv samt att vara hjälplös. De upplevde en oförståelse vilket omfattade att ha svårt att tala om och förstå smärtan. De uttryckte upplevelser av självstyre i smärtvården både genom att på egna sätt hantera och uthärda smärtan och att vara den som kontrollerar smärtbehandlingen. / Background: Cancer pain is a growing problem for both our personal and patients, where cancer affects more and more people. Previous research shows that nurses express a lack of knowledge and insight into cancer pain and patients' experiences of cancer pain, especially in their own homes. Aim: The aim of this study is to describe patients' experiences of cancer pain at home. Method: A qualitative literature study, using 13 articles analyzed based on Evans' description, appeared with a narrative summary. Results: The results of this study consist of three main themes and six sub-themes. Main themes include experiences of losing control, experiences of lack of understanding and experiences of autonomy in pain-care. Conclusion: The patients experienced that the cancer pain resulted in a loss of control when they experienced limitations of their lives, as well as a life of helplessness. They experienced a lack of understanding of their pain which included having difficulties in talking about and understanding the pain. They expressed experiences of autonomy in their pain-care by managing and enduring their pain in their own ways as well as being in control of their pain treatment.