Library: Health Sciences

The carotid body initiates reflexes aimed principally at the homeostatic maintenance of blood gas tensions. This thesis tested the hypothesis that the carotid body is also a physiological glucosensor, with a role in mediating exercise hyperpnoea. In anaesthetised rats, insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (from ca. 6.5 to 2.8 mmol L-1) caused an ca. two-fold increase of oxygen consumption that was associated with a significant, carotid body-dependent increase in ventilation (from ca. 420 to 640 ml min-1 kg-1) without change in blood gas tensions. This hypoglycaemic hyperpnoea was associated with hypo...

Women experience sexual and domestic violence at alarmingly high rates. Recovery from this type of trauma can be a complex and extensive process, that in best cases, involves a broad network for support. This dissertation examined the experiences of women over the age of 21 who have received massage therapy during their healing process from sexual or domestic violence. For the purposes of this study, the women who participated were often referred to as “survivors of abuse.” Current research examined in the literature review indicates that the effects of this type of trauma are ...

This thesis describes a telemedicine approach to a computer-aided healthcare system. NEMESIS is the Spanish acronym of New Electrocardiographic Medical Station with Information Systems. The application is a comprehensive tool set, structured around a main navigation bar, which leads to every sub-application. Those sub-applications are window based, user-friendly tools, comprising specific health tools for physicians, telemedicine/telematics tools and general-purpose tools. The whole application is built in a highly structured and modular way, which allows adding or excluding mod...

The impetus for this study was the need to gain a better understanding of what interaction activities in the virtual classroom affect student outcomes. The purpose was to determine which perceptions of interactions contributed to predicting student outcomes of satisfaction and future enrollment in Web-based courses, while controlling for student characteristics. The problem is that the interaction that occurs in the Web-based classroom is markedly different than what occurs in the traditional classroom setting. The study was a secondary analysis using data from 388 student evaluations of Web...

Facilitating the transition of elderly patients from the hospital setting to their pre-hospital environment is a major challenge for health care providers. Adequate discharge planning has been mandated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization (JCAHO) and the American Hospital Association (AHA). However, reports from the literature indicate that some elderly patients on Medicare may be discharged "quicker and sicker" than in the past and that care-giving family members are often not included in the discharge planning process.The problem is that elderly patients may...

Truth-telling about life-threatening cancer illness is a controversial matter. Few studies have explored attitudes towards truth-telling among people from migrant communities living in cultures different to their own. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the perceptions of white British and British south Asian community workers within the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall as to the factors that influence truth-telling. In-depth, focused interviews were carried out with a sample of 20 key informants. A theoretical model was developed which describes the factors that lead to an...

The effects of attention deficit disorders seem to touch many people's lives today, and the questions surrounding this disorder are many. There is more information regarding this disorder than at any time in its history. Unfortunately, there is just as much misinformation surrounding the facts of this disorder as ever. It is the intention of this book to, in some way, unveil a few misconceptions surrounding Attention Deficit Disorders; logically, medically, and more important scientifically. By exploring the history, etiology, comorbidity and neurological diagnostic perspectives, those in ...

Polyclonal lymphocyte activation and hypergammaglobulinemia characterize the acute phase of Chagas' disease, a debilitating condition caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. Such pathogenic hyper-reactivities not only compromise specific host defense against the pathogen, but may also contribute to infection-induced chronic autoimmune responses. Characterizing parasite-derived factors driving non-specific immune responses will provide insights for parasite evasion of host specific immunity. This study shows that T. cruzi trans-sialidase (TS) is one such polyclonal activator for normal murine lymphoid and...

Genetically modified foods present numerous ethical, environmental, health and legal challenges. This report synthesizes information from many websites, scientific journals, newspapers and books that discuss the controversy surrounding genetically modified foods. The author has attempted to show that although the future applications of agrobiotechnology appear promising, the ways in which it is currently being used and regulated should be evaluated with a healthy degree of skepticism.

The complementary and alternative (CAM) health movement is a burgeoning phenomenon in contemporary American culture. Types of healing alternatives to conventional medicine became increasingly popular in the latter quarter of the 20th century and some physicians, hospitals, and government entities have began to acknowledge the fields with validity. While alternatives to conventional medicine have always existed, contemporary interest in CAM may trigger an interest in unconventional forms of energy healing such as Reiki. The purpose of this research study was to investigate if Reiki could red...