Life Sciences Commons^™

Genomic Epidemiology Of Clostridium Difficile Colonization And Transmission In An Intensive Care Unit Cohort, Brianne Ciferri

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Genomic epidemiology of Clostridium difficile colonization and transmission in an intensive care unit cohort

by Brianne Ciferri, MPH

Advisor: C. Mary Schooling, PhD

Introduction: Clostridiodes difficile (C. difficile) is a leading cause of healthcare associated infections (HAI) in the United States and responsible for an estimated incidence of 223,900 cases and 12,800 deaths per year^1,2. C. difficile can cause gastrointestinal illness with symptoms ranging from mild diarrheal illness to a life-threatening condition. C. difficile is an opportunistic pathogen in which spores can live in an undisturbed dormant state within the intestinal tract and become …

Development And Validation Of A Method For The Determination Of Designer Benzodiazepines In Hair By Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (Lc-Ms/Ms), Laura C. Defreitas

Student Theses

In recent years, new designer benzodiazepines have become a challenge in forensic toxicology. These substances are analogues of the classic benzodiazepines, but their pharmacology is not well known, and many of them have been associated with overdoses and deaths. As a result, there has been a surge in efforts to develop ways to accurately test for these compounds in different biological matrices. This study focused to develop and validate a method for determining 17 new designer benzodiazepines in hair by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Hair samples were decontaminated, pulverized, and 20 mg of the sample was incubated in …

Synthesis, Characterization And Applications Of Peptide-Coated Nanoparticles, Mina Sadat Poursharifi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ovarian Cancer (OC) is the most lethal female malignancy worldwide, mainly due to its high recurrence rate and poor diagnosis. Most patients present with late stage of the disease, and less than 25% of patients survive the five years mark. Nanotherapy provides significant and unique benefits for drug efficacy, as nanoparticles (NPs) can increase the solubility, bioavailability, and permeability of many potent drugs. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) is one of the most successful biodegradable polymers used in NPs formulations, mainly due to its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is one of the most commonly used moieties to prolong the NPs …

Apathy And Brain Atrophy During The First Year Of Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Longitudinal Study, Gulnaz Kudoiarova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Apathy, defined as disinterest and loss of motivation, is a common complication after moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (msTBI). The existing body of research in various neurological and neurodegenerative disorders suggests that apathetic symptoms may be associated with variation in the volume of the brain regions such as dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and ventral striatum. However, the longitudinal pattern of TBI-induced atrophy in these key regions and its relationship with apathy symptoms remain to be demonstrated. The current study aimed to describe the atrophy pattern in the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc; part of ventral striatum) after …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Self-Assemblies In Nature And Nanotechnology, Phu Khanh Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nature usually divides complex systems into smaller building blocks specializing in a few tasks since one entity cannot achieve everything. Therefore, self-assembly is a robust tool exploited by Nature to build hierarchical systems that accomplish unique functions. The cell membrane distinguishes itself as an example of Nature’s self-assembly, defining and protecting the cell. By mimicking Nature’s designs using synthetically designed self-assemblies, researchers with advanced nanotechnological comprehension can manipulate these synthetic self-assemblies to improve many aspects of modern medicine and materials science. Understanding the competing underlying molecular interactions in self-assembly is always of interest to the academic scientific community and industry. …

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of Psychological Outcomes Of Mobile Guided Resonant Frequency Breathing In Young Adults With Elevated Stress During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Al Amira Safa Shehab

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Deep breathing practices have shown promise in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression in different populations, including young adults. Specifically, resonant frequency breathing can exert an impact on stress response systems through the vagus nerve and the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This may induce reductions in stress and improvement in emotion regulation. Young adults, including college students, tend to be at a higher risk for psychological distress, as they face several psychosocial challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed new and unique stressors that resulted in higher levels of stress and emotional symptoms and it has been shown that this may have placed …

Informed Consent: Foundations And Applications, Joanna Smolenski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since its advent in the 20th century, informed consent has become a cornerstone of ethical healthcare, and obtaining it a core obligation in medical contexts. In my dissertation, I aim to examine the theoretical underpinnings of informed consent and identify what values it is taken to protect. I will suggest that the fundamental motivation behind informed consent rests in something I’ll call bodily self-sovereignty, which I argue involves a coupling of two groups of values: autonomy and non-domination on the one hand, and self-ownership and personal integrity on the other. I will then go on to consider two 'case …

The Structural And Functional Role Of Photosensing In Rgs-Lov Proteins, Zaynab Jaber

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Light provides organisms with energy and spatiotemporal information. To survive and adapt, organisms have developed the ability to sense light to drive biochemical effects that underlie vision, entrainment of circadian rhythm, stress response, virulence, and many other important molecularly driven responses. Blue-light sensing Light-Oxygen-Voltage (LOV) domains are ubiquitous across multiple kingdoms of life and modulate various physiological events via diverse effector domains. Using a small molecule flavin chromophore, the LOV domain undergoes light-dependent structural changes leading to activation or repression of these catalytic and non-catalytic effectors. In silico analyses of high-throughput genomic sequencing data has led to the marked expansion …

Allergy And Anaphylaxis From The Prehospital Perspective, Anthony E. Conrardy

Dissertations and Theses

Anaphylaxis is considered a severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction that occurs suddenly after contact with an allergy causing substance. It is estimated that up to 5% of the population has experienced anaphylaxis, with 1% of hospitalizations and 0.1% of emergency department patients having fatal outcomes. We characterized the population of patients encountered by the EMS agency (786 patients) that had a provider impression of “allergic reaction” and then utilized logistic regression models to estimate associations with the administration of epinephrine in the prehospital setting. Additionally, we used incident location data for all patient encounters of the EMS agency …

Exposure Characterization And Assessment Of Airborne Chemicals And Sars-Cov-2 Transmission In New York City Nail Salons, Amelia P. H. Watkins

Dissertations and Theses

Background: Currently, there are 156,000 people employed as manicurists or pedicurists in the United States. Employment in this sector is expected to grow by 10% over the next decade. Exposure assessments have revealed that salon workers are chronically exposed to a variety of substances that cause respiratory sensitization, developmental problems, contact dermatitis, blood, liver, and kidney issues, as well as nervous system impacts. Most recently, the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has raised the issue of the vulnerability of nail salon workers to airborne infectious diseases as well. This dissertation aims to characterize and assess the chemical exposures that nail salon workers …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of C-10 Nitrogenated Aporphine Alkaloids At Serotonin And Dopamine Receptors, Anupam Karki

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Aporphine alkaloids, belonging to the isoquinoline class of compounds, have been investigated as a potential source of ligands for Central Nervous System (CNS) receptors. Previous research indicates that the aporphine scaffold may be manipulated to synthesize selective ligands for serotonin and dopamine receptors. Novel aporphine alkaloids containing C10 nitrogen substitutions were synthesized, and their affinities were evaluated at serotonin (5-HT1A, 5-HT1B, 5-HT2A, 5-HT7A) receptors and dopamine (D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5) receptors. Two series of racemic aporphine compounds with C10 nitrogenous functionalities were synthesized and analyzed at the aforementioned receptors. The first series of aporphine alkaloids contain C10 nitro, …

The Effect Of Anticipatory Anxiety On Fear Extinction Learning, Daniela C. Echeverria

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adaptive regulation of fear is dependent on successful fear extinction learning; therefore, investigating factors that both enhance and diminish fear extinction learning is a critical line of research. In the present study, we induce mild anticipatory anxiety during fear extinction learning in an attempt to modulate how participants extinguish fear memory. In the experiment, we apply a classic three-day fear learning protocol to both control participants (N = 20) and an experimental group (N = 20) with fear acquisition, fear extinction, and fear recovery phases; each phase is separated by a period of 24 hours and we use a skin …

Design, Synthesis And Evaluation Of Molecules With Selective And Poly-Pharmacological Actions At D1r, D3r And Sigma Receptors, Pierpaolo Cordone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dopamine D3 receptor (D3R) is one of the most studied receptors involved in drug addiction. One of the most common strategies to treat substance use disorders is via D3R antagonism. The majority of the D3R antagonists synthesized so far have poor pharmacokinetic properties and/or lack selectivity toward D3R. In this thesis, the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel molecules that target the dopamine D1 receptor (D1R), D3R and the serendipitous discovery of molecules that target s receptors will be described.

Chapter 1 presents a survey of the fundamental pharmacology of D1R, D3R and s receptors and the therapeutic …

Neuroplasticity Of The Corticospinal System: Applications Of Neuromodulation-Based Therapies, Alzahraa M. Amer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The motor cortex and corticospinal tract are necessary for producing skilled movements. I use intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), a high-frequency stimulation protocol known to promote neural plasticity, as a tool to characterize short- and long-term plasticity of the CS system.

Although it is well known that activity-dependent motor cortex (MCX) plasticity produces long-term potentiation (LTP) of local cortical circuits, leading to enhanced motor evoked potentials (MEPs), the effects produced by the corticospinal (CS) projection on spinal cord neurons have not yet been thoroughly studied. In Chapter 2, I determined if the CS tract (CST) is capable of producing LTP …

Mitochondrial Distribution Of Glycine Receptors In Motor Neuron Cell Lines, Katsiaryna Milashevich

Student Theses and Dissertations

Although non-essential, glycine plays an important role in major metabolic reactions and is most known for its anti-inflammatory effects. An accumulation of contemporary research has shown that glycine is able to stabilize membrane potential using glycine receptors at the cellular level and to protect mitochondrial function directly, whether it is from inflammation, heavy metal poisoning, or ischemia-induced neuroinflammation. In this research, the existence of a hypothetical mitochondrial glycine receptor is examined. Immunofluorescence imaging was used to examine the presence of the glycine receptor subunits alpha 1 and alpha 2 in both non- differentiated and differentiated neuroblastoma cell lines. The preliminary …

Cell Cycle Progression Effects Of Albumin, Sharmeen Uddin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Progression through G₁ phase of the cell cycle is controlled largely by growth factors in early G₁ and by nutrients in late G₁ indicating sufficient raw material for cell division. We previously mapped a late G₁ cell cycle checkpoint for lipids upstream from a mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1)-mediated checkpoint and downstream from a mid-G₁ checkpoint known as the Restriction point. We therefore investigated a role for lipids in progression through late G₁ into S-phase. Quiescent BJ-hTERT human fibroblasts primed back into G1 with FBS treatment, were treated with a mixture of …

Development Of Light Actuated Chemical Delivery Platform On A 2-D Array Of Micropore Structure, Hojjat Rostami Azmand, Hojjat Rostami Azmand

Dissertations and Theses

Localized chemical delivery plays an essential role in the fundamental information transfers within biological systems. Thus, the ability to mimic the natural chemical signal modulation would provide significant contributions to understand the functional signaling pathway of biological cells and develop new prosthetic devices for neurological disorders. In this paper, we demonstrate a light-controlled hydrogel platform that can be used for localized chemical delivery in a high spatial resolution. By utilizing the photothermal behavior of graphene-hydrogel composites confined within micron-sized fluidic channels, patterned light illumination creates the parallel and independent actuation of chemical release in a group of fluidic ports. The …