Committee Chair

Ozbek, Irene Nichols, 1947-

Committee Member

Warren, Amye; Whitson, Stefanie R.

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Olfactory function declines throughout the different stages of kidney disease. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients have experienced improved olfactory function after dialysis, leading some researchers to suspect uremic toxins as the cause of olfactory decline (Raff et al., 2008; Bomback & Raff, 2011). It is thought that p-cresol is the specific uremic toxin to cause a decline in olfactory function because it is not easily filtered out of the blood during dialysis (Meijers et al., 2010). The study sought to set up a control group for future studies by demonstrating p-cresol is not in the blood of healthy participants and to collect normative values for an olfactory threshold test. Results supported the hypothesis that p-cresol is not present in the blood of healthy participants, which strengthens the idea that p-cresol may be the cause of olfactory dysfunction in ESRD patients.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

5-2013

Subject

Smell -- Threshold; Odors -- Psychological aspects

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

xi, 53 leaves

Language

English

Rights

https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

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Psychology Commons

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