This study tested portions of a social-cognitive model that explained the mechanisms involved in the parent decision-making process that ultimately drive and maintain children's health care use. Eighty-seven primary caretakers of children ages 4 to 9 years completed measures of child health and behavior, parental stress and functioning, and social cognitive measures related to parenting and health care use. Primary care use data over the two-years prior to recruitment were collected from primary care providers. Regression analysis showed that social cognitive measures were significant predictors of pediatric primary care services. Specifically, parental stress interacted with general parenting self-efficacy; parents with high stress and high parenting self-efficacy were more likely to use pediatric primary care services. Self-efficacy for accessing physician assistance and parental outcome expectations for pediatric physician visits were positively related to pediatric primary care use. These social cognitive variables accounted for more variance than variables traditionally included in health care use research (i.e., child behavior, parental distress, and parent health care use). Best Subsets analysis resulted in an overall best predictive model that accounted for 29.8% of the variance in pediatric primary care use. In this model, the interaction between parental stress and general parenting self-efficacy was the best predictor of use, accounting for 11.5% of the variance in physician use. High internalizing behavior scores, higher self-efficacy for accessing physician assistance, use of medication, and more parent health care visits were associated with higher pediatric primary care use in this overall model. While acknowledging the role of child health and behavior, this study extends the literature by demonstrating the importance of considering parental perceptions of burden, confidence, and ability to help themselves and their family. Implications for health care professionals and directions for future research are discussed in light of these finding. / Ph. D.

Carnosine and methionylglycine (using ³⁵S-methionylglycine as a representative marker) absorption and transfer across ruminal and omasal epithelia collected from four (carnosine) and seven (methionylglycine) sheep were studied using parabiotic chambers that were repeatedly sampled over a 240-min incubation. The quantity of dipeptide absorbed or transferred was linearly (P < .01) dependent on substrate concentration. Carnosine was transferred intact across both tissues. More carnosine was absorbed (P < .02) and transferred (P < .01) by the omasal epithelia. Methionylglycine was transferred intact across both tissues, but less (P < .01) remained intact in serosal buffer after 240 min incubation with omasal epithelium than with ruminal epithelium. The amount of methionylglycine that accumulated in each tissue was similar. Methionylglycine accumulation in tissues plus transfer after 240 min was greater (P < .01) for omasal tissue. The ability of sheep ruminal and omasal epithelia to absorb and transfer carnosine and methionylglycine in parabiotic units was demonstrated. Dipeptide translocation across forestomach epithelial tissues, which has not been reported previously, may be an important route for supplying dietary amino acids to the ruminant. / Master of Science

Fifteen abomasally cannulated, growing wether lambs were used in two metabolism studies to evaluate the utilization of RNA and DNA. Wethers were blocked by weight and breeding and randomly assigned within block to one of five treatments with the restriction that no animal receive the same treatment in both trials. All animals were fed 350 g, twice daily, of a basal ration supplying 7.1 g nitrogen. In addition, the lambs received twice daily infusions of either soy protein, RNA, DNA, or a 1:1 combination of RNA and DNA or a sham infusion. Tris buffer was used as the solvent for RNA and DNA, the carrier for soy protein and the sham infusion. Infusions, except for the sham, were calculated to be isonitrogenous supplying 2.5 g nitrogen per day. Following a 10-day preliminary period, all urine and feces were collected during a 10-day collection period. Jugular blood was obtained at 6 and 12 hr post feeding on the last day of each trial. Crude protein digestibility was significantly elevated for the nucleic acid infusions over that for the sham. The RNA value, though not different from DNA or the combination, was comparable to that for the soy. Calculated by difference, the absorption values of RNA, DNA, and the combination of RNA and DNA were 97, 77, and 72%, respectively. Nitrogen retention, expressed in g/day, tended to be higher for the nucleic acids than for the sham. The combination of RNA and DNA was not different from the soy treatment which had the highest (P< .05) nitrogen retention. Urinary urea, allantoin, and ammonia levels were elevated (P <.05) for the nucleic acid treatments over the sham. Urinary creatinine and “other” nitrogen (nitrogen unaccounted for) were not affected by treatment. Blood urea.nitrogen tended to be higher for the combination of RNA and DNA than the sham, while RNA, DNA, and the soy treatments were higher (P <.05) than the sham. Serum protein concentrations were unaffected by treatment. The amino acid concentrations either tended to be higher or were higher for the nucleic acids, especially the RNA and combination of RNA and DNA, than for the sham. Concentrations for the nucleic acid treatments compared well with those for the soy treatment and in some cases were higher than the soy. From these data, the following conclusions were made: 1) nucleic acids are well digested and absorbed; 2) retention and utilization of nitrogen from nucleic acids appears to be minimal; 3) the majority of the absorbed nucleic acids are excreted as urea and allantoin; and 4) essential and non-·essential plasma free amino acids are increased by exogenous nucleic acids. The effect may be influenced by urea recycling to the rumen as the result of nucleic acid degradation. Urea recycling would stimulate microbial growth with consequent increases in microbial amino acid synthesis. Amino acids associated with the urea cycle were noted to be affected. / Master of Science

The U.S. health care system is one of the most expensive health care systems in the world, yet it is not as efficient as it is expected. Studies have shown that the use of expensive imaging procedures, such as CT scans, was significantly increasing for the past few years. However, the increased number of CT scans may not help to improve quality of care. No studies are conducted on investigate geographic variation on CT scan usage rate. This research is the first one to examine CT scan usage rate among counties and to examine variation caused by patient and hospital characteristics. We used the 2007 HCUP-SID database provided data for the research. GIS graph was used to illustrate geographic variation on CT scan usage in New York State. Contingency tables were developed to evaluate to what extent patient and hospital characteristics contribute to the variation. A logistic regression model was built to control the variation caused by patient and hospital characteristics in order to find variation contributed by other potential factors such as availability of CT scanners and radiologists. Significant geographic variation of CT scan usage rate in the county level of New York State was found. Patient demographics, insurance status and medical conditions as well as hospital bed size and teaching status were contributing factors to the variation. After controlling these factors, significant geographic variation was still found. It indicates that other potential reasons would influence the technology use. / Master of Science

Data collected on weight, feed consumption, and daily gain of 66 steers and 121 bulls were studied by analyses of variance, covariance, correlation, and partial regression. The bulls were of Hereford, Angus, and Shorthorn breeds, and the steers were the offspring of fast and slow gaining bulls that were progeny tested. The feeding tests for the bulls were from 112 to 170 days, and for the steers, approximately 200 days. The bulls and steers were on full feed for the test period, and all animals were fed individually. The first four groups were hand fed and the remaining groups were self fed. / Master of Science

Regulatory fit (Higgins 2000) has, thus far, only been tested using regulatory focus theory (Cesario, Higgins, & Scholer, 2008); this study contributes to the current literature by testing the generality of the fit principle using goal orientation. I will test the effect of fit on corrective feedback utilization. I predict that experiencing regulatory fit between goal orientation and goal pursuit strategies will lead to: 1) higher behavioral utilization of feedback, and 2) feedback recall. Self-monitoring will be included as an exploratory variable to assess whether level of self-monitoring will affect the aforementioned outcomes. Results indicated that individuals experiencing regulatory fit between goal orientation and feedback framing exhibited greater variety and frequency of feedback recommended behaviors overall. No fit effects were found for feedback recall. Self-monitoring was not impacted by goal orientation or feedback framing. / Master of Science

Brush border and basolateral membrane vesicles were isolated by subjecting homogenized mucosal cells from bovine small intestine to a divalent cation aggregation followed by a series of differential and density gradient centrifugations. Membrane marker enzyme assays were used to monitor the effectiveness of the fractionation procedure. Enrichments were determined by comparing the enzyme specific activities of the membrane fractions to the homogenate. Sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase and alkaline phosphatase served as the enzyme markers for the basolateral and brush border membranes, respectively. Basolateral membrane vesicles enriched 11.1 fold were isolated from the interface of the 31 and 34% sucrose bands of a discontinuous sucrose gradient. Brush border membranes enriched 10.1 fold were isolated from the surface of the 28% sucrose band of a discontinuous sucrose gradient. The use of frozen rather than fresh mucosal tissue in the isolation procedures was found to enhance the purification of basolateral and brush border membrane fractions. The transport capabilities of vesicles were demonstrated by incubating vesicles with radiolabeled substrate, then separating the vesicles and transported substrate from the incubation buffer by filtration. Substrate uptakes were quantified by liquid scintillation counting. Basolateral membrane vesicles were observed to accumulate substrate into an osmotically active space and to have Na⁺-dependent alanine transport capabilities. The use of basolateral and brush border membrane vesicles as tools to investigate nutrient uptake allows the investigator to manipulate both the extravesicular and intravesicular environments, thus making possible the evaluation of the complex interactions which are involved in nutrient transport mechanisms. / M.S.

Although there is abundant research on the underutilization of mental health services by Asian Americans, there is limited research on the utilization patterns of family counseling services by the Chinese American population. Moreover, there is even less research that examined the perception of Chinese Americans toward family counseling and how that perception affects their utilization of family counseling services. With the intention to explore Chinese Americans' sentiments toward the field of family counseling, this qualitative study investigated what knowledge they had about the profession and how they would feel about seeking counseling services for their relationship problems. Using the guiding theoretical framework of phenomenology, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight individuals and were coded for themes. Findings indicated that Chinese Americans had a need for family counseling but cultural inhibitions about seeking counseling services and concerns such as financial burden and lack of convincing results served as utilization barriers. Implications for clinical practice, including barrier-removal ideas, and suggestions for future research are included. / Master of Science

Recent reports indicate that the incidence of the leading causes of death in the United States (specifically, cancer and heart and cardiovascular disease) is related to health habits or lifestyle. In an attempt to promote better health habits, adult patients attending a family physician's practice were asked to complete a brief health habit questionnaire (HHQ) and then advised by their physician to seek self-help information on how to improve specific health-related habits. The dependent measure was the percentage of persons requesting self-help information from a display in the physician's office. 55.81% of persons receiving physician advice (n=43) requested information as opposed to 4.54% in a control group (n=44) which completed the HHQ but, did not receive physician advice and 4.25% (n=47) of a control group that did not complete an HHQ or receive physician advice. Follow-up interviews indicated that a majority of persons requesting self-help information read that information. Follow-up interviews also indicate that a higher percentage of persons who had requested information were currently attempting to change health habits than those who had not requested information. Furthermore, a majority of persons who had requested self-help information and were attempting to change health habits reported following one or more of the suggestions in the self-help information. / M.S.

The purpose of this research was to study university students' perceptions of how their parents reared them in relationship to the students' usage of drugs. The Chi-square Test was used to reflect drug user-non-user differences. Four hypotheses were examined. They were concerned with whether availability of parental models for behavior, parental behavior and actions, child-rearing practices, and evaluations and attitudes toward their progeny will have a definite effect upon the subjects' usage of drugs. The first two, as mentioned above, had no significant effect upon the subjects' usage of drugs, the second two showed significant effects. The results also indicated that drug users have a more negative self concept than do non-users and LSD and "speed" users have a more negative outlook on life than do marijuana users. Also revealed was that the drug users have a large majority of their friends using drugs and approving of their usage while the majority of non-users have fewer friends using drugs and these friends do not approve of drug usage. / M. S.