Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2021, School Psychology

Children born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) and In Utero Drug Exposure (IUDE) may experience delays that can impact cognition, motor skills, speech and language, attention and behavior development. Furthermore, children born with NAS are more likely to be referred for evaluation and subsequently qualify for special education when compared with non-exposed peers. This quantitative study involved an evaluation of existing visual motor and receptive/expressive language data from birth to 24 months for 106 children born with NAS and IUDE. Results indicated that these children had significant deficits in visual motor scores and receptive and expressive language scores. Significant differences in visual motor and language scores were found between the NAS & IUDE and IUDE only groups. Children in the IUDE only groups had lower scores on visual motor and language assessments; the IUDE only group demonstrated a significant positive rate of change.

Committee: Susan Davies (Committee Chair); Sawyer Hunley (Committee Member); Emily Boone (Committee Member) Subjects: Developmental Psychology; Preschool Education; Psychobiology; Psychology; School Counseling

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Biomedical Sciences

It is estimated that greater than 40,000 women in the United States will die from breast cancer this year and over 250,000 will be newly diagnosed. Greater than 70% of these cases are attributable to environmental factors, some of which are suspected to be a consequence of extensive human exposure to estrogenic compounds, collectively known as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). Significant evidence from animal models suggests that chronic and/ or early-life exposure to known EDCs, such as bisphenol A (BPA) and genistein (GEN) are linked to increased risk and mediators of epithelial transformation to impart later-life development of breast cancer. However, the consequences of vast human exposures are largely unknown, immeasurable and the molecular mechanisms are largely undefined. Herein, we have utilized two distinct models to address undefined facets of the EDC mechanism. We address molecular mechanisms of chronic exposures that are representative of observed human exposures and examine windows of differential in utero BPA exposure to narrow possible developmental mechanisms at time of exposure that may propagate EDC-mediated alterations to later-life. We emphasize the importance of understanding the transcriptional alterations and epigenetic landscape of adult mammary component cell types, given the primary focus of current work to be on embryonic manifestation of disease and susceptibility. Our analyses demonstrate sustained reprogramming of the estrogen response beyond cessation of chronic exposures. Further we attribute the well-characterized BPA in utero phenotype to iii a period in mammary gland development corresponding to discrete tissue compartment interactions, corroborating the vital paracrine signaling that occurs at this in utero time of exposure. Our analyses are the first of its kind to map transcriptional and epigenetic alterations following in utero BPA exposure in the adult mammary gland. Taken together, our findings can inform analysis of h (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Craig Burd (Advisor); Helen Chamberlin (Committee Member); Ruth Keri (Committee Member); Thomas Ludwig (Committee Member); Mark Parthun (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Biomedical Research; Developmental Biology; Endocrinology; Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Experiments; Food Science; Health; Histology; Molecular Biology; Morphology; Plastics; Public Health; Toxicology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Public Health

This dissertation examines the role of traffic-related air pollutants (TRAP) on the incidence of adverse maternal and birth outcomes in a population of Central Ohio women, and leverages electronic health records (EHR) and personal health records (PHR) as recruitment tools. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), early births, and small births all represent public health concerns due to the direct morbidity of the conditions and the increased risk of morbidities later in life, especially obesity-related comorbidities. In addition to examination of the association between TRAP and these adverse conditions, this dissertation explores physical activity in pregnancy and the role of the built environment in its promotion. Aim one of this dissertation was to determine if publicly available and self-reported data on proxies of exposure to TRAP are significant predictors of GDM risk in a population of women with no history of diabetes. Overall, there were no significant associations found between proxy measures of exposure and GDM. Similarly, no significant associations were found between many of the traditional risk factors for GDM, such as high pre-pregnancy BMI, advanced maternal age, or parity. Conception during cold months of the year (November – April) was associated with 3.54 times the odds of GDM compared to conception during warmer months (May – October). The second aim of this dissertation focused on births occurring “too soon” and babies born “too small.” Contrary to the associations observed by others, this analysis found that higher area levels of some TRAP were inversely associated with births occurring “too soon”. No statistically significant associations were found between proxies of TRAP levels and odds of infants born “too small.” In the third aim, this dissertation examines which, if any, aspects of the built environment are supportive of physical activity before and during pregnancy, along with predictors that women do not decrease their physical (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Darryl Hood PhD (Advisor); Julie Bower PhD (Advisor); Michael Bisesi PhD (Committee Member); Michael Pennell PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Health; Epidemiology; Public Health

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Veterinary Biosciences

Retrovirus-derived vectors provide efficient means of gene-transfer and are potential tools for therapeutic intervention against congenital or inherited disorders by in-utero gene therapy and for gene-transfer into dividing cells both in vitro and in vivo. To improve biodistribution of retroviral gene-transfer vectors and to obtain efficient gene-transfer towards hematopoietic stem cells via pre-natal administration, we performed in-utero administration of retroviral vectors pseudotyped with different envelope glycoproteins. Relatively high gene-transfer was obtained with significant differences in biodistribution and gene-transfer efficiency using various pseudotypes. There was significant reduction in the percentage of colonies containing transgene, 3 months postnatally. Next, we used HIV-derived lentiviral vectors to investigate the role of human T-lymphotropic virus type-1 (HTLV-1) accessory protein p12(I) in viral pathogenesis. HTLV-1, a deltaretrovirus cause adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, and other lymphocyte-mediated disorders. HTLV-1 provirus encodes various regulatory and accessory genes, including ORF-I encoded p12(I). We have demonstrated that this endoplasmic reticulum-localizing protein, increases intracellular calcium, activates NFAT-mediated transcription and is critical for infectivity in vivo and in vitro. Herein, using microarrays, we tested the role of p12(I) in regulating cellular gene expression in T-lymphocytes and found that p12(I) altered the expression of several calcium-regulated genes and genes associated with T-cell signaling, cell-proliferation and apoptosis. Furthermore, p12(I) upregulated the levels of p300 to transcriptionally significant levels, in T-lymphocytes. Next, we further characterized the mechanism of p300 upregulation by p12(I) and demonstrate that it is calcium-dependent, but calcineurin-independent. Sustained low-magnitude calcium release results in increased p300 RNA, protein and p300-mediated transcriptional activity i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michael Lairmore (Advisor) Subjects: Biology, Molecular