Health Sciences – Page 17 – UROP Spring Symposium 2021

Health Sciences

Wearable technology for evaluating asymmetries of the lower limb musculature

Asymmetries in strength and mobility can be detrimental to performance and may contribute to the development of musculoskeletal injuries. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of using surface electromyography (sEMG) to detect imbalances between muscles of the lower limb during air squats. An additional aim was to determine the effect banded hip mobility exercises may have on decreasing muscle imbalances. To begin exploring these aims, one participant was evaluated during a series of lower body movements. Muscle recruitment patterns were evaluated using a commercially available “smart garment” with embedded sEMG sensors. The sEMG sensors were used to calculate the percent difference between left and right training load of the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. Validation of the sEMG sensors to detect differences in load was conducted by performing single leg controlled movements. Air squats were performed before and after banded hip mobility exercises to observe any effect on muscle recruitment patterns. When used to calculate differences in load, sEMG sensors appear to be an effective way to evaluate asymmetries between muscle groups of the lower limb.

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The Impacts of Nuclear Radiation on DNA Repair Machinery

The field of nuclear radiation has been analyzed through time in order to further quantify the effects of nucleotide ionizing particles both in the environment and humans. The focus is often to not only understand the health impacts of radiation exposure, but to also innovate preventive measures for a heightened risk for cancer development during long-term physical exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation. To date, researchers have focused on a wide range of organisms and exposure levels for radiation-focused studies, making it difficult to quantify and summarize the status of this field to date. We aim to produce a useful review that summarizes the status of this research while focusing on the DNA repair pathways currently used to improve radiation cancer therapy. In our review, we found that the ability to optimize DNA repair mechanisms can lead to a higher chance of radioresistance in our cells and can potentially serve as a clinical treatment for ionizing radiation-induced damage in our genomic DNA. Ultimately researchers feel this should allow enough time for the DNA repair mechanisms to correct the damage in an error-free and timely manner.

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Design of cancer proteins

The goal of this research project is to develop a form of gene therapy for someone who has been diagnosed with cancer. In order to do so, it is essential that we change a protein protein interaction (PPI) between a cancerous cell and the protein it is interacting with so that the cancerous cell can cease to both mutate and produce even more cancerous proteins.

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A comparison of the Michigan Public Policy Survey and the Canadian Municipal Barometer on Fiscal Health Spring 2020

Local government officials play a key role in policymaking in communities nationwide. However, there are a few ongoing surveys of these officials. The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), conducted by University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, was designed to fill this gap in policy-making research: the survey collects opinions of officials from Michigan’s 1,856 general-purpose local governments (counties, townships, cities, and villages). Each year, the MPPS collects data from these officials on their opinions on a range of local issues, as well as basic financial and demographic information, which allows policy stakeholders to better understand the inner workings of local governments in Michigan. In this project, I look at two questions from the Spring 2020 MPPS regarding local government fiscal health trends and how they may be affected by the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic. I compare responses to these questions to very similar questions asked on the Canadian Municipal Barometer, a similar survey for officials in the municipalities across Canada. Generally, as of spring 2020, Canadian government officials tended to perceive their fiscal health trending more pessimistically compared to officials in Michigan. While there are multiple possible explanations for this difference, the research provides insights into the ways the coronavirus pandemic has affected local governments’ financial health.

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Social Support and Eating Disorders in Transgender Youth

Anorexia nervosa has the highest death rate of any mental disorder. The overall consensus is that stronger emotional connections moderate relationships between social support and eating disorder symptomology. However, the precise role that different types of social support play in the etiology of eating disorders, especially in gender minority youth, remains unclear. This study examined 50 transgender adolescent patients receiving treatment at the University of Michigan Adolescent Gender Services Clinic who completed the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire. Analysis will include descriptive statistics and t-tests to investigate the relationships between perceived support and eating disorder symptomology, and also to investigate whether the type of perceived support plays an important role in the effect of disorder eating in an individual. Potential results would demonstrate that perceived regard from others directly impact perceived regard for oneself, which, if low, would have a higher chance of manifesting as disordered eating. This study adds to a growing body of research on the association between social support and eating disorder symptomology and will contribute to future similar research.

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Whole Health Educational Resource Development and Evaluation for Veterans and VA Staff

Whole Health is a new system of care that focuses on holistic, integrative, and personalized medicine for Veterans. Current research in areas such as yoga, meditation, and other supplemental services has found some benefit in both mental health and overall well being for those who utilize these integrative health services. There may be further benefit from additional analysis of particular areas such as those noted above in the Veteran population. To examine this, an electronic survey through Qualtrics that focused on participants’ perception and utilization of various Whole Health services was distributed to Veteran patients, physicians, and other individuals associated with the VA. Once the results from survey participants were collected, they were analyzed in order to gain more of an understanding of the different experiences behind this approach to care. Obtaining this information could corroborate the effectiveness of this approach to care and lead to improvements in the Whole Health System for all individuals involved. At the time of publication of this abstract, the data has been collected and preliminary analysis is in process. Specific, detailed, and final results will be available at the time of the Symposium presentation.

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Whole Health Educational Resource Development and Evaluation for Veterans and VA Staff

Whole Health is a personalized health system run by the Veteran’s Healthcare System that focuses on care for the individual as a whole. Whole Health incorporates the individual in his or her care through a process of mindful awareness, self-care development, and connections to professional and preventive care and the community. So far, various studies have shown that modalities such as acupuncture, light therapy, yoga, mindfulness meditation, and diet are beneficial in improving a number of health problems. However, there will be a need to be further research studies as some studies are limited by sample size and lack of replication. For this reason, our research group has created a survey to assess the perceptions and effectiveness of Whole Health initiatives. The survey has been distributed to a diverse group of Veterans and staff. At the time of publication of this abstract, the data has been collected and preliminary analysis is in process. Specific, detailed, and final results will be available at the time of the Symposium presentation.

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Examining Differences in Familial Impact During and After NICU Hospitalization

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in familial impact during and after a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalization. We used the Impact on Family Scale (IFS) to assess the impact of infant illness on families in the areas of social relationships, financial burden, and personal strain, with higher scores indicating greater impact. It is important to understand how family life changes as a result of a child’s illness because the home environment and interactions can influence caregiving ability and infant growth and development. Knowing the differential effects of how family life is impacted before and after discharge may help providers prioritize support and resources at the right time. Survey data was collected from parents of NICU infants who were hospitalized after January 30, 2020. The survey included questions about demographics and the IFS measure. Our sample (n=132) includes 41 parents in the hospitalized group and 91 in the discharged group. Infant diagnosis ranged from prematurity (n=94), congenital birth defects (n=4), neurological (n=13) and other (n=20). We used Stata 15.1 to conduct our analysis, including sensitivity analysis to detect any differences between the two groups and demographics, and then used t-tests to see if there were any significant difference in the IFS scores. Significance was set at p-value of <0.05. There was a statistically significant difference between the scores from the two groups (0.0004, p-value<0.05) with the IFS total score being significantly higher (0.0002, p-value<0.05) for the hospitalized parent group. There was no statistically significant difference in the IFS financial scores between the two groups (0.55, p-value>0.05). Our findings suggest that parents may be more affected in terms of social relationships prior to NICU discharge while their financial burden did not appear to change prior to or after discharge. Based on our findings, parents may be in need of the most support while their infant is still in the hospital. Further research could help identify what types of support are most desired by parents in and out of the hospital.

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The effect of gestational age of NICU infants on parental mental health

The effect of gestational age of NICU infants on parental mental health Authors: Karen Nguyen, Research assistant & Ashlee Vance, Ph.D., MA, RN, RNC-NIC The research project focuses on parents of NICU infants either during or after hospitalization. A survey was conducted nationwide to collect information about parents’ mental health states, financial stability, and NICU characteristics to better understand the parents’ experiences with hospitalized infants. The data was reviewed using data visualization techniques in Tableau. Focusing specifically on gestational age of NICU infants and its impact on the mental health of parents (PHQ), we hypothesized that parent mental health would varied significantly between the gestational age of the infant. Parental mental health was measured on numeric scale to describe parents’ depression or anxiety symptoms. PHQ1 represented feeling nervous, anxious or on edge; PHQ2 represented not being able to stop or control worrying; PHQ3 represented feeling down, depressed or hopeless; PHQ4 represented little interest or pleasure in doing things. The highest total PHQ scores were in the 10-15 weeks after birth period, with the second highest scores between 0-5 weeks of birth. It was concluded that the analysis of gestational age does play a significant role in understanding parents’ experiences with NICU infants. This information is beneficial to healthcare providers as well health management faculty to learn how to better accommodate patients’ families.

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Availability of ICU Resources in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has increased intensive care unit admissions thereby increasing the demand for the ICU’s resources. This greater demand in the ICU has led to rapid resource depletion and an alarming lack of these needed resources such as beds and staff. This pandemic has taxed the hospitals’ resources particularly in the intensive care units as many were underprepared and were forced to adapt to the changing environment in order to treat the influx of COVID-19 patients. There are numerous studies being conducted elsewhere but this study aims to measure the effects of the pandemic on hospitals in the state of Michigan and study how these hospitals adapted to the changing environment and how they dealt with resource depletion. Surveys have been conducted of numerous hospital ICUs at three points in time (initial, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks) to collect information regarding the effects the pandemic had and changes the hospital’s ICU made to combat these effects. The responses of these studies will be analyzed to find trends and consistencies across hospitals. By collecting information at different times, it is hypothesized that hospitals will have altered in terms of policy and resource availability as these hospitals saw peaks and dips in the number of COVID-19 patients. This study will compile the results to understand how COVID-19 has affected ICUs and how they adapted to deal with the pandemic with the hope that this knowledge can be used within the healthcare field for the betterment of hospital preparedness.

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