Face to Face 9:45 – 11:00 AM CT: Poster Session
Title of presentation: Sound the Alarms: Examining Prescription Opioid Abuse in U.S. Older Adults
Presenter: Julia Choy and Jayden Lopez
Advisor: Dr. Bre Minniefield
Abstract:
Pain management is a critical aspect of modern healthcare that works to alleviate severe or chronic discomfort and improve patient life quality. Encompassing an array of approaches, prescription drugs are a standard method of treatment to effectively manage severe pain, especially prevailing opioids. However, as seen through the recent opioid epidemic, adult patients have exhibited a concerning trend of prescription drug-related abuse. Hence, the cause of concern for the use of opioid medications for pain management, especially within older adult (65+) populations. For example, since 2013, rates of opioid use disorder among older adults have increased by >3-fold within the United States (U.S.). One of the hypotheses for this increase is the overprescribing of opioid medication to older adult patients. Here, we examine prescription opioid abuse among older adults from Florida Health and the “Fatal Overdosese” dataset recently released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This discussion presents the trends in opioid presciptions and opioiod deaths in 55+ adults in efforts to bring attention to this adult population before rising trends become detrimental.
Title of presentation: Multimedia Intervention to Increase Health Literacy and Treatment Adherence: A Meta-Analysis
Presenter: Gage Proctor
Advisor: Dr. Bre Minniefield
Abstract: Healthcare can often be complex and foreign to those who are not trained nor work within the field. This is especially true when understanding disease and terminology. In 2022 92% of United States (U.S.) citizens utilized healthcare services. However, research states 88% of adults living in the U.S. are deemed having inadequate health literacy to promote their well-being. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines personal health literacy as the degree to which an individual can find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions. Unfortunately, this low rate of health literacy is seen within various U.S. patient demographics. As a result, the average patient can often misunderstand the information received during a medical appointment. Research has shown that this low rate of health literacy can have negative impacts on a patient’s ability to adhere to treatment or understand their disease diagnosis. During a patient’s visit, most physicians spend ~17 to 24 minutes with their patients, assessing and treating their health; hence, 30 minutes is not enough time for a physician to both address the patient’s health and administer a healthcare education. With the age of social media and cell phones increasing in accessibility and technology researchers have developed tools to combat the health literacy issues within the U.S. Here, we aim to conduct a meta-analysis to determine the use and overall effectiveness of multimedia tools to help increase patient’s health literacy
Title of presentation: Exploring the Pitfalls: Patient Satisfaction Surveys in the United States
Presenters: Gage Procter & Emileigh Parda
Advisor: Bré Minniefield, PhD
Healthcare in the United States (U.S.) aims to improve upon the quality of care given. In many cases, post- -surgery or -medical appointment, patients receive a survey that measures the patient’s self-reported assessment of care and perceived quality of health. These patient satisfaction surveys (PSAs) are a common metric used within healthcare world-wide to assess how patients perceive healthcare services (i.e. treatment) post care. For example, PSAs usually include questions such as: “How would you rate your wait time to see the provider?” or “How was the overall care you received during your visit?” Now, in the U.S. it is common for various healthcare institutions to utilize PSAs unfortunately, there is little implementation after gathering assessments. Currently, the U.S. imposes no standard model for administering PSAs, gathering assessments, and finally implementing change due to patient reports to increase quality of care. According to preliminary research, some providers do not see the value in subjective patient surveys, concluding PSAs result in biased results, and worse health outcomes for patients. While other healthcare research (mostly outside the U.S.) presents PSAs as a useful tool for an unbiased assessment of quality of care provided. With PSAs also benefiting the patient, giving them a platform to express their gratitude or grievances about their healthcare provider. Here, we attempt to peel back the vail on healthcare quality in the U.S. by discussing the practice of using PSAs in healthcare, the history of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research (AHRQ), and the AHRQ healthcare quality reports. Conducting this research we hope to gain concrete understanding, define the gaps, and discover a model that implements PSAs resulting in positive change.
Title of presentation: Shoreline Armoring Influence on Erosion and Coastal Biodiversity
Presenter: Lin Ai Liao
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Wofford-Mares
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of shoreline armoring on erosion and coastal biodiversity. The study was conducted at St. Andrew’s Bay behind Florida State University in Panama City, Florida. Shoreline armoring is the globally used strategy of constructing physical structures, such as seawalls, to attempt to protect the shoreline from coastal erosion. However, the use of natural shorelines is becoming recognized as more beneficial to the environment. Natural shorelines use natural materials such as rocks, plants, and sand to protect the shoreline from coastal erosion. This study compared natural and armored shorelines to analyze if there were significant differences. Specifically, the focus was to compare natural and armored beach profiles, wave energy, and coastal biodiversity. It was determined that shoreline armoring influences erosion and coastal biodiversity negatively and natural shorelines are advantageous to protecting shorelines. The beach profiles created from this study illustrate that shoreline armoring had a direct correlation with significantly more rapid erosion than natural shorelines. The wave energy data illustrated armored shorelines faced increased turbulence compared to natural shorelines. Biodiversity in natural shorelines was noticeably richer than in armored shorelines; natural shorelines had more diversity and quantity of species. Overall, the natural shoreline faced less deterioration and erosion, provided a healthier habitat, and promoted coastal diversity.
Title of presentation: eDNA Analysis of Florida Plants in Honey Sample from Bay County, FL
Presenter(s): Bria Halley, Hugo Goicochea, Logan Clampitt, Kutler Morgan
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Wofford-Mares
Abstract:
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an important conservation tool that can tell scientists about the presence of certain genes in the environment. These techniques can be used to identify antibiotic resistance or to build a profile of the local organismal diversity. A new area of eDNA research includes trying to quantify the diversity of flowering plants used when honeybees (Apis mellifera) make honey for their hive. Honey is produced and stored as a winter-time food source when nectar and pollen are not readily available. When honey is stored, pollen grains from the plants visited are also left behind. Consequently, raw honey can be processed using eDNA techniques to figure out what flowering plants are found near the sampled hive. This project was performed in BSC 1005L (Non-Majors General Biology Lab) using a honey provided by a local beekeeper from their hive in Springfield (Bay County, FL). Students collected honey samples in sterile, 50 mL tubes. Samples were then shipped to Jonah Ventures for eDNA analysis. Jonah Ventures used next generation sequencing to perform metabarcoding to gauge the relative abundance of different flowering plant species in the sample. Students used the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) library to assign sequences to angiosperm species found in the sample. Analysis revealed that the Springfield sample had high diversity of plants as the max contributor was only 20% of the sample. Notable plant species include Virginia Creeper, Mexican clover, and plantain. These data can be used to inform local plant biodiversity and help local beekeepers monitor their hives.
Title of presentation: Pollen genetics in honey samples from Bay County, FL
Presenter(s): Charlotte Schwoerer, Madison Moss, Tara Dockery, Kevin Wang
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Wofford-Mares
Abstract:
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an important conservation tool that can tell scientists about the presence of certain genes in the environment. These techniques can be used to identify antibiotic resistance or to build a profile of the local organismal diversity. A new area of eDNA research includes trying to quantify the diversity of flowering plants used when honeybees (Apis mellifera) make honey for their hive. Honey is produced and stored as a winter-time food source when nectar and pollen are not readily available. When honey is stored, pollen grains from the plants visited are also left behind. Consequently, raw honey can be processed using eDNA techniques to figure out what flowering plants are found near the sampled hive. This project was performed in BSC 1005L (Non-Majors General Biology Lab) using a honey provided by a local beekeeper from their hive at Zoo World in Panama City, FL. Students collected honey samples in sterile, 50 mL tubes. Samples were then shipped to Jonah Ventures for eDNA analysis. Jonah Ventures used next generation sequencing to perform metabarcoding to gauge the relative abundance of different flowering plant species in the sample. Students used the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) library to assign sequences to angiosperm species found in the sample. Analysis revealed that the Zoo World sample had moderate diversity of plants as the max contributor was approximately 45% of the sample. Notable plant species include Crepe Myrtle, beach clovers, and the aquatic plant Ludwigia. These data can be used to inform local plant biodiversity and help local beekeepers monitor their hives.
Title of presentation: Analysis of north Florida angiosperm diversity using honey eDNA from local beekeepers
Presenter(s): Skyla Lawrence, Lola Clark, Jordan Seamster, Agata Tomczyk
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Wofford-Mares
Abstract:
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an important conservation tool that can tell scientists about the presence of certain genes in the environment. These techniques can be used to identify antibiotic resistance or to build a profile of the local organismal diversity. A new area of eDNA research includes trying to quantify the diversity of flowering plants used when honeybees (Apis mellifera) make honey for their hive. Honey is produced and stored as a winter-time food source when nectar and pollen are not readily available. When honey is stored, pollen grains from the plants visited are also left behind. Consequently, raw honey can be processed using eDNA techniques to figure out what flowering plants are found near the sampled hive. This project was performed in BSC 1005L (Non-Majors General Biology Lab) using a honey provided by a local beekeeper from their hive in Panama City, FL. Students collected honey samples in sterile, 50 mL tubes. Samples were then shipped to Jonah Ventures for eDNA analysis. Jonah Ventures used next generation sequencing to perform metabarcoding to gauge the relative abundance of different flowering plant species in the sample. Students used the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) library to assign sequences to angiosperm species found in the sample. Analysis revealed that the Panama City sample had low diversity of plants as the max contributor was approximately 80% of the sample. Notable plant species include maple trees, roses, and viburnum. These data can be used to inform local plant biodiversity and help local beekeepers monitor their hives.
Title of presentation: A Comparative Analysis of the Floral Profile of Honey Samples from Bay County, FL
Presenter(s): Joakim Croteau, Jordan Destifino, Renee Haire, Bryson Lepage, Siena Siciliano
Advisor: Dr. Sarah Wofford-Mares
Abstract:
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an important conservation tool that can tell scientists about the presence of certain genes in the environment. These techniques can be used to identify antibiotic resistance or to build a profile of the local organismal diversity. A new area of eDNA research includes trying to quantify the diversity of flowering plants used when honeybees (Apis mellifera) make honey for their hive. Honey is produced and stored as a winter-time food source when nectar and pollen are not readily available. When honey is stored, pollen grains from the plants visited are also left behind. Consequently, raw honey can be processed using eDNA techniques to figure out what flowering plants are found near the sampled hive. This project was performed in BSC 1005L (Non-Majors General Biology Lab) using a honey sample provided from local beekeepers in the Tupelo Beekeepers Association. Honey samples were taken from Springfield, Panama City Beach, and Panama City, all of which were located in southern Bay County, FL. Students collected honey samples in sterile, 50 mL tubes. Samples were then shipped to Jonah Ventures for eDNA analysis. Jonah Ventures used next generation sequencing to perform metabarcoding to gauge the relative abundance of different flowering plant species in the sample. Students used the BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) library to assign sequences to angiosperm species found in the sample. Analysis revealed that the Springfield sample was most diverse with the main contributor only accounting for ~20% of the total plant diversity. The Panama City Beach sample was moderately diverse with the main contributor accounting for ~45% of the total plant diversity. The Panama City sample had the lowest diversity with the main contributor accounting for approximately 80% of the sample. These data can be used to inform local plant biodiversity and help local beekeepers monitor their hives.