In this thesis we proposed and implemented the MMR, a new and open-source MapRe- duce model with MPI for parallel and distributed programing. MMR combines Pthreads, MPI and the Google's MapReduce processing model to support multi-threaded as well as dis- tributed parallelism. Experiments show that our model signi cantly outperforms the leading open-source solution, Hadoop. It demonstrates linear scaling for CPU-intensive processing and even super-linear scaling for indexing-related workloads. In addition, we designed a MMR live DVD which facilitates the automatic installation and con guration of a Linux cluster with integrated MMR library which enables the development and execution of MMR applications.

Parents' refusal to immunize their children with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has resulted in a surge of measles outbreaks in the United States. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationships between parental knowledge and trust of the MMR vaccine, and their trust in government and medical authorities. The theoretical foundation for this study was the health belief model (HBM). This study determined if there was any relationship between general trust in doctors/governments (i.e., the predictor variable) and attitudes toward MMR vaccine (i.e., the sole dependent variable), and whether gender, age group, or level of education moderated that general trust. A Survey Monkey subscriber database and researcher-developed survey was used to identify and email 2,500 parents of immunization-aged children, resulting in 237 respondents who met the required parameters. The analysis revealed a significant, positive relationship between the criterion and predictor variables, R = .32, R2 = .10, F(1, 235) = 26.39, p. < .001, regardless of gender, age, or education, suggesting an association between higher trust and greater likelihood of a parent allowing vaccination. This study offers significant insights for positive social change by providing pediatricians, primary health care providers, and vaccine educators, with information for communicating with vaccine-hesitant parents: It is not enough to address parental concerns of vaccine safety, efficacy, and necessity. It is also not enough to provide evidence-based scientific data, as doing so has been proven to be ineffective "and for some parents counter-productive" when government and medical authorities are sited as the source. What we need to do is start focusing upon the role of parental trust, including how to best establish that trust, and equally important, what steps are necessary to sustain that trust.

Autism is a childhood developmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communication and limited activities. The root cause of autism is unknown. However it has been postulated that administration of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may be causally related to the development of autism. MMR vaccination is a requirement for entry into schools, so any increase in adverse events associated with the vaccine carries widespread public health importance. The primary objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of the association between the MMR vaccination and the development of autism. The meta-analysis was limited to studies with an experimental design, unvaccinated control group, and odds ratio or relative risk as the effect measure. Both the fixed effects and random effects models were applied. A total of 29 studies were identified for possible inclusion in the meta-analysis. After applying the inclusion/exclusion criteria seven studies were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled treatment effect was weighted based on the width of the 95% confidence interval for each of the individual studies. The pooled effect measure for the seven studies was 1.052 (95% CI: 0.973, 1.138) (P=0.202). An association between the MMR vaccine and the development of autism was not found in this analysis. Public health initiatives should continue to support mandatory vaccination with MMR for entry into school and steps should be taken to eliminate any barriers to vaccination. Further epidemiological studies are needed to assess the root cause of autism

Coverage for the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) has been low since the publication of Wakefield’s 1998 study associating MMR with the onset of autism. As a part of a larger project on risk communication, this study examined the medical discourse on parental decision-making for childhood immunizations to gain insight on why risk communication efforts have not been successful at improving uptake. The Public Understanding of Science (PUS) was used as a theoretical lens to guide Critical Discourse Analysis of texts from medical, pediatric, and public health journals, from which the analytic themes of Risk and Trust emerged. MMR uptake was framed mainly in terms of risk, indicating the dominance of the Deficit Model of PUS in the discourse. Future research and risk communication need to expand beyond current notions of risk; the Contextual Model of PUS can help highlight other factors that impact parental decision-making about MMR.

Coverage for the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) has been low since the publication of Wakefield’s 1998 study associating MMR with the onset of autism. As a part of a larger project on risk communication, this study examined the medical discourse on parental decision-making for childhood immunizations to gain insight on why risk communication efforts have not been successful at improving uptake. The Public Understanding of Science (PUS) was used as a theoretical lens to guide Critical Discourse Analysis of texts from medical, pediatric, and public health journals, from which the analytic themes of Risk and Trust emerged. MMR uptake was framed mainly in terms of risk, indicating the dominance of the Deficit Model of PUS in the discourse. Future research and risk communication need to expand beyond current notions of risk; the Contextual Model of PUS can help highlight other factors that impact parental decision-making about MMR.

Since Wakefield, Murch, Anthony, Linnell, Casson, Malik, Berelowitz, Dhillon, Thomson, Harvey, Valentine, Davies and Walker-Smith’s (1998) proposed a causal link between the MMR vaccine and autism and Crohn’s disease (a form of irritable bowel disease: IBD), vaccine uptake rates gradually declined in the UK. Parents of young children began to question the safety of MMR immunisation and were required to assess the risks and benefits of MMR immunisation during their decision-making process. The studies in the present thesis aimed to investigate factors influencing parents’ risk assessment, MMR intentions and behaviour to gain an understanding of parents’ decision-making process. A mixed method approach was taken, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Four studies involving parents of young children and students were carried out in Scotland. The first study was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study which used Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and Subjective Norm (SN) to understand parents’ MMR immunisation intentions and behaviour for first dose and second dose MMR vaccine. The results suggest PMT was a useful psychometric risk model when examining first-dose and second-dose MMR immunisation and associated risks. The inclusion of SN in the model increased its overall robustness. Differences between immunising parents and non-immunising parents were identified. Immunisers perceived measles, mumps and rubella to be severe diseases and reported greater susceptibility and fear in relation to the diseases, whereas non-immunisers reported more concern about the associated risks of autism and IBD. Additionally, immunisers were more likely to follow the advice of health professionals (GP and health visitor) and reported them to be important sources of information, whereas non-immunisers were less likely to follow advice from health professionals and reported the media and internet to be important sources of information. The second study used a similar methodology to the first study but used PMT and SN to investigate MMR immunisation decision-making in a sample of 90 previously non-immunised university students during a mumps outbreak on campus. PMT and SN were found to be important constructs when understanding the students’ immunisation behaviour. In comparison with non-immunising students, immunising students reported greater fear, severity and perceived risks of the vaccine-preventable diseases. Non-immunisers perceived greater external barriers to immunisation and anxiety about immunisation to be an internal barrier. Both groups valued the information provided by health professionals and were more likely to follow the advice from these referents than any other referent group. Comparisons were made between the results of the first two studies. The findings indicate PMT, including SN, was a useful model when examining the MMR decision-making process for immunisers and non-immunisers in different population groups. Parents and students reported similar threat appraisals in relation to the vaccine-preventable diseases, but were different in their coping responses (response efficacy and self-efficacy). Many similar patterns between students and parents were illustrated, but parents reported stronger beliefs related to their parental role. The results indicate that MMR decision-making differs depending on the population under study. The third study used 5 focus groups and thematic analysis to explore the role of subjective norm (SN) and other social norms in greater depth with immunising parents. The findings indicate that social norms play a central role in the decision-making process, in addition to SN. Social normative factors which were found to contribute to the decision process included: group identification and norms, SN, descriptive norms, private self, relational self, and moral norms. The ‘private self’, i.e. own personal identity as ‘parents’, and feelings of moral obligation to their child were perceived as important social norms during the MMR decision. Parents were willing to listen to the advice of significant others but perceived their ‘private self’ as playing a more active role during the decision process. Experience of other parents’ MMR behaviour (descriptive norm) contributed to the risk assessment of the MMR vaccine and increased confidence in their own decision when congruent. The dual role of health professionals (who were also parents) as a ‘medical professional’ and as a ‘parent’ was influential during the decision process. The final study further investigated the influence of health professionals (HPs) on parents’ MMR decision-making. The role of interpersonal and generalised trust was explored using one-to-one interviews with 6 MMR immunisers, 3 non-immunisers and 8 immunisers with single vaccines. All groups of parents reported generalised mistrust in the Government based on the provision of biased information and past experiences of Government behaviour. Parents who opted for the MMR vaccines described interpersonal trust with their own HPs, where HPs were willing to openly discuss concerns relating to the MMR vaccine. Parents opting for the single vaccines or refusing all vaccines tended to report mixed experiences with their HPs, with some parents citing them as unhelpful and unwilling to discuss MMR concerns. Greater trust was illustrated by all parents, regardless of immunisation status, for their own health professionals and the NHS than for private clinics offering the single vaccines. Parents opting for the single vaccines perceived them to be safer (in terms of autism and IBD) than the MMR vaccine but questioned their credibility. The four studies illustrate that PMT facilitates understanding of parents’ MMR decision making and behaviour, and highlights the importance of including social norms (as well as important sources of information) and trust in future MMR immunisation research. Furthermore, comparisons with parents and students illustrate differences in coping appraisal between the two groups and suggest risk assessment differs depending on the saliency of the risk for the population group.

Parents' refusal to immunize their children with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine has resulted in a surge of measles outbreaks in the United States. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationships between parental knowledge and trust of the MMR vaccine, and their trust in government and medical authorities. The theoretical foundation for this study was the health belief model (HBM). This study determined if there was any relationship between general trust in doctors/governments (i.e., the predictor variable) and attitudes toward MMR vaccine (i.e., the sole dependent variable), and whether gender, age group, or level of education moderated that general trust. A Survey Monkey subscriber database and researcher-developed survey was used to identify and email 2,500 parents of immunization-aged children, resulting in 237 respondents who met the required parameters. The analysis revealed a significant, positive relationship between the criterion and predictor variables, R = .32, R2 = .10, F(1, 235) = 26.39, p. < .001, regardless of gender, age, or education, suggesting an association between higher trust and greater likelihood of a parent allowing vaccination. This study offers significant insights for positive social change by providing pediatricians, primary health care providers, and vaccine educators, with information for communicating with vaccine-hesitant parents: It is not enough to address parental concerns of vaccine safety, efficacy, and necessity. It is also not enough to provide evidence-based scientific data, as doing so has been proven to be ineffectiveâ??and for some parents counter-productiveâ??when government and medical authorities are sited as the source. What we need to do is start focusing upon the role of parental trust, including how to best establish that trust, and equally important, what steps are necessary to sustain that trust.

No description available.

Oxidative stress (OS) occurs when DNA repair mechanisms are overcome by the amount of single and double strand DNA breaks caused by an accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Genomic instability (GI) by microsatellite instability (MSI) accumulation is characterized by changes in DNA single tandem repeats (STR) as a direct result of ROS. Deregulation of DNA repair and tumor suppressor pathways have been described as causes of tumor progression and metastasis. Studies in mammals have focused on GI and the implications of increased mutation frequency due to accumulation of MSI leading to development of diseases, including infertility and cancer. Ovarian cancer is a deadly disease displaying the highest mortality rate among gynecological cancers. Hereditary ovarian cancer displays GI that can be established early in primordial germinal cells (PCGs) development and migration across the genital ridge, where PGCs are exposed to ROS damage. The hypothesis of this study was ROS-induced GI is marked by the accumulation of MSI on repetitive sequences of DNA that override DNA repair, tumor suppressor and redox homeostasis pathways. In this study, we induced ROS in human ovarian cell lines by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) exposure, as well as evaluated mouse PGCs to determine whether MSI occurs in specific regions of human and mouse genomes. Our results show that MSI was present in specific markers after ROS-induced damage in human ovarian cells and in mouse Sod1 knockout PGCs during cell migration, both of which accumulate specific mutations caused by free radical damage. Ovarian tumor cells and mouse PGCs showed an increase of MSI in 12 human and 5 mouse repetitive markers that are located near important genes related to DNA repair, tumor suppression, cell proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. This could be a signal that leads to tumor initiation, formation and progression in adult ovarian cells due to improper DNA repair and tumor suppression mechanisms or in disruption of PGC migration that determines germinal cell pool selection during early embryonic development due to absence of cell antioxidant mechanisms. Therefore, these specific unstable STRs are novel biomarkers that could be useful in early diagnostics, prognosis, and successful therapy of ovarian tumorigenesis.

No description available.