Hispanics in Hood River County, Oregon account for roughly 25% of the population, with many employed in agriculture. A community health survey was carried out in Hood River County during the winter months of 2001 with the purpose of evaluating the health conditions, needs, and barriers to access of needed...
Mangroves are becoming increasingly recognized as important nursery habitats for many juvenile fish and macroinvertebrate species, however little is known about their importance for zooplankton communities. The complex structure of mangrove environments may provide zooplankton populations with shelter, substrate, food, and protection from depredation. These factors could impact zooplankton survival,...
America’s rural Hispanic population is growing at an unprecedented rate. Many of the Hispanic people that are settling in rural communities are immigrants or first generation Americans. If changes to current healthcare systems are required to accommodate the health needs of this growing, low-income rural population they have not been...
This thesis explores a three month period that I spent abroad working in medical clinics and hospitals in Ecuador. My work was conducted in three distinct areas: the urban landscape of Quito, Ecuador’s capital; Puyo, a small town bordering the Amazonian rainforest; and a small community located in the heart...
This study sought to conduct an in depth analysis of women’s first sexual experiences looking for factors contributing to the experience and the emotional outcomes of first intercourse. Fourteen heterosexual, female, college students were interviewed about their first sexual experience and sexual background using a semi-structured interview format. The narratives...
The debate over GM crops is one of the most controversial issues of recent decades. The debate has many dimensions, including environmental impacts, benefits and risks to human health, intellectual property rights, adequacy of biosafety regulations, and fundamental ethical acceptability. The potential benefits of GM crops are numerous, including improved...
Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), commonly known as type 2 or
delayed onset diabetes, is a recognized growing global epidemic, which is connected to cultural and behavioral factors, such as diet, exercise, obesity, and genetics. In a recent survey of both men and women in Mexico City, the prevalence of...
The Harderian gland (HG) of the red-sided garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis, is a secretory structure that plays a role in the vomeronasal system by solubilizing semiochemicals such as prey chemoattractants and the female sexual attractiveness pheromone. The HG produces secretions containing pheromone-binding proteins that form a complex with pheromone...
Collaboration is crucial when advancing in scientific research. One person cannot
study all aspects of a system. That is why it is important for the scientific community to
communicate with each other and stay updated on research being conducted in other labs
around the world. In my research, I was...
The free-radical theory of aging proposes that intracellular accumulation of oxidative damage caused by
reactive oxygen species (ROS) is responsible for the process of senescence. ROS are produced during
normal aerobic metabolism and have been shown to cause numerous cellular and sub-cellular defects
that lead to termination of the cell...
The coastal regions of Chile and Oregon are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world. The intertidal communities of both areas have been well studied, but much remains to be learned about how those communities are structured over large scales. Here, I explore the upwelling regimes and the...
Objective: To explore patient perspectives on the role of personal growth-related risk taking in
the recovery process, and to identify social stigma’s role when consumers approach and evaluate
new endeavors. Methods: 177 Kaiser Permanente Health Plan members participated in a mixedmethods
study of recovery among individuals with serious mental illness...
The rocky intertidal is a diverse ecosystem with a variety of species and ecological interactions. Many biotic and abiotic interactions act together to restrict the abundance and distribution of species. Anthropogenic effects can have an important impact on species abundance and distribution as well. This study looks at how human...
Variability in the depth and duration of anesthesia in individuals within a species is
frequently observed, yet few studies have investigated its causes in reptiles. To evaluate
the potential causes of variability in reptile anesthesia, I conducted experiments to test for
effects of body temperature, body composition and time post-feeding...
Marine reserves are known to directly replenish overfished species. However, the
community-wide effects of reserves are less clear. I examined the community of coralreef
fishes in a large, fully protected marine reserve in The Bahamas: the Exuma Cays
Land and Sea Park. Visual-transect surveys provided estimates and comparisons of the...
The doctor-patient relationship is one of the most unique and privileged relations a person can have with another human being, and having access to a well-developed and effective association is important for the experienced and objective quality of health care. Yet, over the past few decades a number of cultural...
Previous studies have revealed distinctive ecotypic differences between garter snakes living in the meadow and lakeshore environments around Eagle Lake in California. Snakes from these contrasting environments have significantly different growth rates, litter sizes, adult body size, annual survival, and coloration. To try and explain these differences, bird predation was...
The doctor-patient relationship is one of the most unique and privileged relations
a person can have with another human being, and having access to a well-developed and
effective association is important for the experienced and objective quality of health care.
Yet, over the past few decades a number of cultural...
Inner shelf hypoxia has occurred along the Oregon coast between the latitudes 44ºN
and 45ºN since 2002 with increasing duration and intensity, posing a threat to marine
life. The objective of this research was to determine whether variation in respiration
rate explains spatial and temporal variation in hypoxia. Dissolved oxygen...
Sperm competition is the post-copulatory analog of male-male combat, wherein sperm
from more than one male coincide in a female’s reproductive tract and compete with one
another for fertilization of a limited number of ova. Post-copulatory sexual selection,
such as sperm competition, can be a powerful driving force for the...
Pesticides can often be toxic and for this reason their methods and quantities of application are extremely regulated. Pesticide applicators are at risk of permanently damaging their health from exposure to pesticides. In order to ensure that these employees have the proper information to protect themselves, they are required to...
Studying human’s ability to estimate temporal durations could lead to a greater
understanding of our cognitive abilities as well as the processes that underlie temporal
estimation. It has been shown through previous research that time and number may be
interconnected cognitively and that the magnitude of one may alter the...
The health care system of post-Apartheid South Africa suffers from an epidemic of
HIV/AIDS and TB with a number of mitigating factors that have caused these diseases to spread.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the causes of the epidemics and to provide a macro and
micro perspective...
As an observer shadowing a physician in the Emergency Department, I witnessed many patients coming to the hospital with various diseases, conditions, mental and emotional states, and background. At the moment I am watching the scene happening right in front of my eyes, I tell myself I will never forget...
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading cause of bronchopneumonia in infants and elderly. Knowledge of viral and host protein interactions is important for better understanding of the viral pathogenesis and may lead to development of novel therapeutic drugs. Here, we show that RSV Matrix (M) protein interacts with cellular...
The Oregon Department of Education requires children to receive vision screening before entering elementary school, but does not require follow-up with an eye care professional after a failed screening. Whether such preventative vision care is effective at detecting children with vision problems was investigated through research from the American Optometric...
The healthcare system of India can be categorized into three different sectors. The public sector can be characterized by lower cost and is financed through tax subsidies. The private sector can be characterized by diversity of techniques and niches. Costs associated with the private sector are generally larger than public...