UNG Annual Research Conference 2012

Methamphetamine (METH) is a psychostimulant drug that causes severe physical and mental effect on its users. Adolescent METH users may be prone to addiction because this is a critical window of development in the brain. METH is a dopamine (DA) agonist which causes behavioral activation and acts as a motivator for exploration and excitability. Changes in DA levels and the inhibition of DA reuptake result in increased locomotor activity, also called sensitization. Sensitization is a phenomenon that occurs when pretreatment with one stimulant leads to greater sensitivity when exposed again in the future. Given that adolescence is a period of neural development, we proposed that adolescent mice exposed to METH will show an increase in sensitization when exposed to a sub-acute challenge dose in adulthood. [POSTER]

Adolescent Exposure to Methamphetamine Leads to Sensitization of Methamphetamine in Adult Mice [Poster]

Interning at Northside Hospital- Forsyth allowed me to gain a better understanding of Cardiac Rehabilitation outside of the classroom. Although my education at North Georgia fully prepared me for the internship, it was the interaction with the staff and patients that made my experience truly unique. From the staff, I learned how to be part of the Cardiac Rehabilitation team as an Exercise Physiologist: performing evaluations, prescribing exercise routines, and monitoring physical activity. By building a relationship with my patients, I am able to give advice and educate them as a professional. I have also learned how to effectively motivate, comfort, and challenge patients with different personalities and limitations. Through this experience I have gained much more than knowledge, but I have also found my passion for a career in helping those involved in any Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. Facutly Adviser: Thomas Temples.

Mending a Broken Heart: Northside Cardiac Rehabilitation

Findings from a fitness unit implemented in a personal fitness class at Lambert High School will be presented from the framework of the Teacher Work Sample. Conclusions about the impact of contextual factors, various assessments, and lesson strategies on learning will be shared along with advice for future Health and Physical Education Teacher Education interns. Faculty Adviser: Anne Forrest Prim.

The Impact of a Fitness Unit on a High School Personal Fitness Class

It is hypothesized that running backs have an increased risk of sport related concussion due to the nature of their position in American football. A review of literature and a hypothetical methods review with expected outcomes will be presented. Faculty Adviser: Jesse Poole.

Player Position in Football Will Increase Rise of Sport Related Concussion

Personal and professional insights gained from the perspective of an assistant coach position with the organization Elite Athletics, a youth baseball program, will be presented within the context of the Health and Physical Education Leadership internship. Faculty Adviser: Melissa Layne.

Leadership Explored with Elite Athletics

Skin breakdown occurrence in patients with limited mobility increases mortality and contributes to lengthy hospital stays. It is estimated that 2.5 million pressure ulcers occur each year in the United States. The purpose of this evidence-based practice project is to identify interventions related to decreasing the incidence of skin breakdown. Literature search included CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Review, EBSCO Host, ProQuest, and Medline. Literature indicates barrier cream, turning at intervals, and using specialty beds can help decrease the incidence of skin breakdown. Eight randomized control trials, three systematic reviews of randomized control trials, two single correlational studies, one quantitative study, two systematic reviews of correlational studies, and one single descriptive study were found. While many factors have been found to decrease incidence, the rate of skin breakdown remains too high, indicating further research is needed. [Poster]

Under Pressure: Preventative Skin Measures for Patients with Limited Mobility [Poster]

Two types of potential confounds, demand characteristics and order effects, are being examined to determine which is more detrimental to the integrity of a study. 120 undergraduate psychology students will be randomly assigned to three groups: a control, one measuring demand characteristics, and one measuring order effects. Caffeine-free Coke, a survey about opinions on basic math ability, and a brief math quiz will be given to all groups. The group measuring order effects will receive the survey after the quiz to determine if their answers to the survey will be significantly different because they had already taken the math quiz. The demand characteristics group will be led to believe that they have received caffeinated Coke and that the researchers believe those with caffeine will perform better on the quiz. The control group’s results will be analyzed and compared to the other groups to determine which source of confound was more detrimental. With the information from this study, researchers can put more controls on the biases that are more detrimental. This study will also expand the research on both of these sources of bias, particularly order effects, because there is a limited amount of research on them to date. [Poster]

Sources of Biases [Poster]

In the current study, the misinformation effect will be explored. Misinformation acceptance occurs when a misleading statement is presented to a participant who subsequently incorporates the information into a memory. In this study, the tendency to accept misinformation will be compared for males/females and civilians/cadets. A convenience sample of undergraduate psychology students will view a video from youtube.com. After the video, participants will receive a questionnaire consisting of demographic questions and open-ended questions about the video. Participants will then watch the video a second time and will be randomly assigned to the control group (only video-based items on the questionnaire) or to the experimental group (both video-based and misleading questions (misinformation) on the questionnaire). It is hypothesized that females and cadets will be more likely to accept misinformation (measured by participants answering the misinformation questions) than will males and civilians. Results will be analyzed via a 2X2X2 ANOVA. [Poster]

The Truth Behind the Misinformation Effect [Poster]

Hisstories are short, historical fiction stories. Within each story, the reader may choose to be directed to primary sources. The primary sources are embedded in the stories’ text. For instance, a character may say something that is actually a direct quote/reference to a primary source. The text will be linked, and the reader only has to click the text to be taken to the source. In the stories, red italicized text is a direct quote from a primary source, and brown italicized text is a reference to a source. All stories correspond to the Georgia Performance Standards, and contain corresponding worksheets. More information and the stories may be found online at: www.hisstories.net. [Poster]

Hisstories. Interactive Historical Fiction for Classroom Use [Poster]

Studies have shown symbiotic relationships between turtles and algae. The association of green alga, Basicladia, with freshwater turtles is well documented. However, the exact nature of this relationship is not fully understood. This experimental design is aimed to conduct an investigation that will elucidate the rate of colonization and spatial distribution of Basicladia on red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) under laboratory conditions. Twelve turtles obtained commercially are equally distributed in two aquaria placed an environmental chambers at ~75°C with 12 hour light and dark cycles. Cultured green alga will be used to inoculate in one of the aquaria with turtles. The other aquarium will only have turtles while another container will only have algae to serve as control. An outline of the carapace and plastron of each turtle will be drawn in acetate. Monitoring of the area colonized by the alga will be done by marking the acetate as examined under a dissecting scope and documented with a camera. To determine if algal growth is influenced by the association, length of algal filaments will be measured for both experimental and control tanks. Data obtained will be analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures (ANOVAR) in Systat software. [Poster]