Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Investigating The Mammillary Bodies As An Early Target Of Alzheimer's Disease, Cole Martinson

University Honors Theses

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. With minimal treatment options and no cure, developing a deeper understanding of the pathology of the disease is crucial. For nearly four decades, the accumulation of beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaques has been correlated with the disease and its progression. Previous studies mapping this accumulation show that the mammillary bodies (MB) are an early target of the disease. Glutamatergic neurons are of key interest due to their prevalence in the central nervous system, specifically the MB. To understand the effects of AD on the glutamatergic system, we used vesicular glutamate transporter 2 …

Incidence And Risk Factors For Clinically Confirmed Secondary Bacterial Infections In Patients Hospitalized For Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), Hiromichi S. Park, Caitlin M. Mccracken, Noah Lininger, Cara D. Varley, Multiple Additional Authors

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: The true incidence and risk factors for secondary bacterial infections in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains poorly understood. Knowledge of risk factors for secondary infections in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is necessary to optimally guide selective use of empiric antimicrobial therapy. Design: Single-center retrospective cohort study of symptomatic inpatients admitted for COVID-19 from April 15, 2020, through June 30, 2021. Setting: Academic quaternary-care referral center in Portland, Oregon. Patients: The study included patients who were 18 years or older with a positive severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) PCR test up to 10 days prior to admission. Methods: …

Exploring The Plausibility Of Human Ecosystem Disruption Being The Cause For Increased Viral Prevalence, Andrew Ventura

University Honors Theses

Viral diseases and their prevalence--including both the number of cases and the appearance of new viruses--has increased in the last century, and these diseases have become an increasing threat to human health and well-being. The influenza and COVID-19 pandemics served both as introductions and reminders respectively to the power these viruses have to destroy and disrupt human life. As such, it intimates a necessity to investigate possible causes for the increase in these deadly diseases. Among these plausible causes is the dilution effect hypothesis, which states that decreasing the biodiversity of an ecosystem increases a pathogen's ability to infect, both …

Metabolism And Oncology: The Role Of Nutrition In Improving Cancer Outcomes, Michael A. Chapek

University Honors Theses

Despite significant advances in oncologic treatment, underlying cancer-associated metabolic derangements and nutritional needs remain largely neglected in cancer care. Cancer cachexia and protective metabolic changes exhibited by cancerous cells continue to pose formidable barriers to improving therapeutic outcomes and quality of life for patients. Cancer has traditionally been viewed as a proliferative disease caused by genetic mutations, but newer perspectives suggest that it is primarily a metabolic disease. The present paper discusses the etiology of cachexia and sarcopenia, and nutritional interventions that can be offered to patients suffering from these wasting disorders. The role of inflammation in cancer and the …

Expression And Function Of Transcription Factors Foxa1, Hoxb13 And Cdx2 In Prostate Cancer, Hamsat B. Anwar

University Honors Theses

Prostate cancer (PC) is the second leading cause of death in men, affecting around 190 thousand patients in 2020 alone (National Institute of Cancer, 2020). Much of the current research focuses on treatments for advanced PC, which is problematic due to the rapid evolution of tumors and development of treatment resistance. Cancer early detection presents a better approach to control and treat patients before they acquire an incurable disease. Earlier diagnosis of patients leads to better prognosis and a more comfortable treatment process (Etzioni et al., 2003). However, we currently lack molecular markers to stratify PC during its early stages. …

“It Really Proves To Us That We Are Still Valuable”: Qualitative Research To Inform A Safer Conception Intervention For Men Living With Hiv In South Africa, Lynn T. Matthews, Letitia Greener, Hazar Khidir, Christina Psaros, Abigail Harrison, F. Nzwakie Mosery, Mxolisi Mathenjwa, Kasey O'Neil, Cecilia Milford, Steven A. Safren, David R. Bangsberg, Jennifer A. Smit

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Many men living with HIV want to have children. Opportunities to reduce periconception HIV transmission include antiretroviral therapy as prevention, pre-exposure prophylaxis, limiting condomless sex to peak fertility, and sperm processing. Whether men have knowledge of or want to adopt these strategies remains unknown.

Methods: We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with men accessing HIV care in South Africa in 2014 to inform a safer conception intervention for men. Eligible men were 25–45 years old, living with HIV, not yet accessing treatment, and wanting to have a child with an HIV-negative or unknown serostatus female partner (referred …

Distribution And Antibiotic Resistance Profiles Of Salmonella Enterica In Rural Areas Of North Carolina After Hurricane Florence In 2018, Yuqing Mao, Mohamed Zeineldin, Moiz Usmani, Sital Uprety, Joanna Shisler, Antarpreet Jutla, Avinash Unnikrishnan, Thanh H. Nguyen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The frequency and magnitude of extreme events are increasing globally (Arnell & Gosling, 2016). Inundation, as a result of massive flooding, has the potential to change environmental conditions abruptly, and as a result, add pressure to the metabolism and proliferation of microorganisms (Furtak et al., 2020). The resulting overland flows and additional burden from domestic sewer and septic tank systems during an extreme flood event can introduce pathogens into ecologically unstable water bodies. For example, Yu et al. (2018) reported elevated levels of Escherichia coli and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in river water samples 6 months after flooding in Houston, …

Effect Of Bout Length On Gait Measures In People With And Without Parkinson’S Disease During Daily Life, Vrutangkumar Shah, James Mcnames, Graham Harker, Martina Mancini, Patricia Carlson-Kuhta, John G. Nutt, Mahmoud El-Gohary, Carolin Curtze, Fay Horak

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although the use of wearable technology to characterize gait disorders in daily life is increasing, there is no consensus on which specific gait bout length should be used to characterize gait. Clinical trialists using daily life gait quality as study outcomes need to understand how gait bout length affects the sensitivity and specificity of measures to discriminate pathological gait as well as the reliability of gait measures across gait bout lengths. We investigated whether Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects how gait characteristics change as bout length changes, and how gait bout length affects the reliability and discriminative ability of gait measures …

Adherence To Hiv Antiretroviral Therapy Among Pregnant And Postpartum Women During The Option B+ Era: 12-Month Cohort Study In Urban South Africa And Rural Uganda, Lynn T. Matthews, Catherine Orrell, Mwebesa B. Bwana, Alexander C. Tsai, Christina A. Psaros, Stephen Asiimwe, Gideon Amanyire, Nicholas Musinguzi, Kathleen Bell, David Bangsberg, Jessica E. Haberer

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: We conducted a cohort study to understand patterns of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) adherence during pregnancy, postpartum and non-pregnancy follow-up among women initiating ART in public clinics offering Option B+ in rural Uganda and urban South Africa. Methods: We collected survey data, continuously monitored ART adherence (Wisepill), HIV-RNA and pregnancy tests at zero, six and twelve months from women initiating ART in Uganda and South Africa, 2015 to 2017. The primary predictor of interest was follow-up time categorized as pregnant (pregnancy diagnosis to pregnancy end), postpartum (pregnancy end to study exit) or non-pregnancy-related (neither pregnant nor postpartum). Fractional regression …

Combating Covid On College Campuses: The Impact Of Structural Changes On Viral Transmissions, Jared Knofczynski, Aria Killebrew Bruehl, Ben Warner, Ryne Shelton

altREU Projects

One of the most significant issues in the COVID-19 pandemic is the reopening of schools while minimizing the transmission of coronavirus. Opportunities for evaluating the effectiveness of policies that might be utilized at such institutions are limited, as the necessary empirical data has not been gathered yet. Agent-based modeling, where various entities within an environment are simulated as agents, offers an opportunity to examine the effectiveness of various policies in a way that drastically minimizes the health and economic risks involved. Agent-based modeling is common within biology, ecology and other fields; and has seen some use within the coronavirus literature. …

Understanding Transmission And Control Of The Pork Tapeworm With Cystiagent: A Spatially Explicit Agent‑Based Model, Ian W. Pray, Wayne Wakeland, William Pan, William E. Lambert, Hector H. Garcia, Armando E. Gonzalez, Seth E. O'Neal, Cysticercosis Working Group Peru

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, is a serious public health problem in rural low-resource areas of Latin America, Africa and Asia, where the associated conditions of nuerocysticercosis (NCC) and porcine cysticercosis cause substantial health and economic harms. An accurate and validated transmission model for T. solium would serve as an important new tool for control and elimination, as it would allow for comparison of available intervention strategies, and prioritization of the most effective strategies for control and elimination efforts.

Methods: We developed a spatially-explicit agent-based model (ABM) for T. solium (“CystiAgent”) that differs from prior T. solium models by …

Reviewing The Potential Link Between Grain-Free Diets And Dilated Cardiomyopathy In Canines, Larissa J. Webster

University Honors Theses

Grain-free diets for dogs are becoming increasingly popular, but concerns are emerging following the FDA's recent investigation that there might be a link between grain-free diets and Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs with no known genetic predisposition. Contrary to the majority of the public thought, dogs do nutritionally require grains, and there is rarely a medical reason to switch to a grain-free diet. Not all cases of DCM are linked to diet, and many dogs who are fed grain-free diets do not develop the disease; the extent of this issue therefore is not entirely known. This review aims to explore …

Variability In State Regulations Pertaining To Infection Control And Pandemic Response In Us Assisted Living Communities, Taylor Bucy, Lindsey Smith, Paula C. Carder, Jaclyn Winfree, Kali Thomas

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

At the end of 2019, international attention was drawn to an outbreak of zoonotic coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, formally named COVID-19, in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization officially declared the outbreak a global pandemic on March 11, 2020, with the United States recording >1600 confirmed and presumptive travel-related and community-acquired cases at that time. As of April 10, 2020, all 50 US states and the District of Columbia, have reported cases, with the total number of US cases now totaling >400,000.2 Seattle, WA, is the US epicenter, with nursing facilities experiencing the greatest number of fatalities. Because of the communal living …

Potency And Breadth Of Human Primary Zikv Immune Sera Shows That Zika Viruses Cluster Antigenically As A Single Serotype, Chad M. Nix, Jonathan Salberg, Felicity J. Coulter, Bettie W. Kareko, Zoe L. Lyski, Brian L. Booty, William B. Messer

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The recent emergence of Zika virus as an important human pathogen has raised questions about the durability and breadth of Zika virus immunity following natural infection in humans. While global epidemic patterns suggest that Zika infection elicits a protective immune response that is likely to offer long-term protection against repeat infection by other Zika viruses, only one study to date has formally examined the ability of human Zika immune sera to neutralize different Zika viruses. That study was limited because it evaluated human immune sera no more than 13 weeks after Zika virus infection and tested a relatively small number …

Ethnic Enclaves And Pregnancy And Behavior Outcomes Among Asian/Pacific Islanders In The Usa, Andrew D. Williams, Lynne C. Messer, Jenna Kanner, Sandie Ha, Katherine L. Grantz, Pauline Mendola

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives—Ethnic enclaves are ethnically, spatially, and socially distinct communities that may promote health through access to culturally appropriate resources and reduced exposure to discrimination. This study examined ethnic enclave residence and pregnancy outcomes among Asian/Pacific Islander (API) women in the USA.

Design—We examined 9206 API births in the Consortium on Safe Labor (2002–2008). Ethnic enclaves were defined as hospital regions with high percentage of API residents (> 4%), high dissimilarity index (> 0.41; distribution of API and white residents within a geographic area), and high isolation index (> 0.03; interaction between API and white residents in an area). …

Screening For Hepatitis C Virus Infection In Adolescents And Adults: Updated Evidence Report And Systematic Review For The Us Preventive Services Task Force, Roger Chou, Tracy Dana, Rongwei Fu, Bernadette Zahker, Jesse Wagner, Shaun Ramirez, Sara Grusing, Janice H. Jou

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

IMPORTANCE: A 2013 review for the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening found interferon-based antiviral therapy associated with increased likelihood of sustained virologic response (SVR) and an association between achieving an SVR and improved clinical outcomes. New direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimens are available.

OBJECTIVE: To update the 2013 review on HCV screening to inform the USPSTF.

DATA SOURCES: Ovid MEDLINE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews through February 2019, with surveillance through September 2019.

STUDY SELECTION: Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and nonrandomized treatment studies of HCV …

Prevalence And Correlates Of Transactional Sex Among Women Of Low Socioeconomic Status In Portland, Or, Timothy Menza, Lauren Lipira, Amisha Bhattarai, Victoria Cali-De Leon, E. Roberto Orellana

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Women who report transactional sex are at increased risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, in the United States, social, behavioral, and trauma-related vulnerabilities associated with transactional sex are understudied and data on access to biomedical HIV prevention among women who report transactional sex are limited.

Methods: In 2016, we conducted a population-based, cross-sectional survey of women of low socioeconomic status recruited via respondent-driven sampling in Portland, Oregon. We calculated the prevalence and, assessed the correlates of, transactional sex using generalized linear models accounting for sampling design. We also compared health outcomes, HIV screening, and knowledge …

Boron Trifluoride Etherate Promoted Microwave Assisted Synthesis Of Antimalarial Acridones, Papireddy Kancharla, Rozalia A. Dodean, Yuexin Li, Jane X. Kelly

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A microwave-assisted, rapid and efficient method using boron trifluoride etherate (BF3.Et2O) for the synthesis of acridones, via an intramolecular acylation of N-phenylanthranilic acid derivatives, has been developed. The reaction proceeds under solvent-free conditions, tolerates a wide range of functional groups, and provides rapid access to a range of acridones in good to excellent yields. Several of the synthesized acridones exhibited potent antimalarial activities against CQ sensitive and multi-drug resistant (MDR) parasites.

Hiv Care Continuum Characteristics Among People With Opioid Use Disorder And Hiv In Vietnam: Baseline Results From The Bravo Study, Caroline King, Le Minh Giang, Gavin Bart, Lynn Elizabeth Kunkel, P. Todd Korthuis

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Little is known about patient characteristics that contribute to initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) and achieving viral suppression among HIV people with opioid use disorder in Vietnam. The primary objective of this analysis was to evaluate associations between participant characteristics and the critical steps in the HIV care continuum of ART initiation and HIV viral suppression among people with opioid use disorder and HIV in Vietnam.

Methods

We assessed baseline participant characteristics, ART status, and HIV viral suppression (HIV RNA PCR < 200 copies/mL) enrolled in a clinical trial of HIV clinic-based buprenorphine versus referral for methadone among people with opioid use disorder in Vietnam. We developed logistic regression models to identify characteristics associated with ART status and HIV viral suppression.

Results

Among 283 study participants, 191 (67.5%) were prescribed ART at baseline, and 168 of those on ART (90%) …

Super Learner Analysis Of Real-Time Electronically Monitored Adherence To Antiretroviral Therapy Under Constrained Optimization And Comparison To Non-Differentiated Care Approaches For Persons Living With Hiv In Rural Uganda, Alejandra E. Benitez, Nicholas Musinguzi, David Bangsberg, Mwebesa B. Bwana, Conrad Muzoora, Peter Hunt, Jeffrey N. Martin, Jessica E. Haberer, Maya L. Petersen

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction

Real‐time electronic adherence monitoring (EAM) systems could inform on‐going risk assessment for HIV viraemia and be used to personalize viral load testing schedules. We evaluated the potential of real‐time EAM (transferred via cellular signal) and standard EAM (downloaded via USB cable) in rural Uganda to inform individually differentiated viral load testing strategies by applying machine learning approaches.

Methods

We evaluated an observational cohort of persons living with HIV and treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) who were monitored longitudinally with standard EAM from 2005 to 2011 and real‐time EAM from 2011 to 2015. Super learner, an ensemble machine learning method, …

Rapid Deployment Of A Statewide Covid-19 Echo Program For Frontline Clinicians: Early Results And Lessons Learned, Anna Louise Steeves-Reece, Nancy Elder, Tuesday A. Graham, Miriam L. Wolf, Isabel Stock, Melinda M. Davis, Robert D. Stock

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

In a pattern repeated around the country, Oregon reported its first coronavirus patient on February 28, 2020.1 A week later, the governor declared a state of emergency.2 While the media initially focused on efforts to address COVID-19 in large cities, many rural communities were working in parallel to prepare. In these rural areas, there was an increasing concern that the burden of COVID-19 may be particularly dire due to factors such as older populations, higher prevalence of chronic diseases and poverty, and less health care access.3-6 Rural clinicians, especially those working in outpatient settings, are caring for patients during the …

Molecular Analysis Of Lymphoid Tissue From Rhesus Macaque Rhadinovirus-Infected Monkeys Identifies Alterations In Host Genes Associated With Oncogenesis, Ryan D. Estep, Aparna N. Govindan, Minsha Manoharan, He Li, Suzanne S. Fei, Byung S. Park, Michael K. Axthelm, Scott Wong

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rhesus macaque (RM) rhadinovirus (RRV) is a simian gamma-2 herpesvirus closely related to human Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). RRV is associated with the development of diseases in simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) co-infected RM that resemble KSHV-associated pathologies observed in HIV-infected humans, including B cell lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) and lymphoma. Importantly, how de novo KSHV infection affects the expression of host genes in humans, and how these alterations in gene expression affect viral replication, latency, and disease is unknown. The utility of the RRV/RM infection model provides a novel approach to address these questions in vivo, and utilizing the RRV …

Analysis Of Covid-19 Transmission: Low Risk Of Presymptomatic Spread?, Mark K. Slifka, William B. Messer, Ian J. Amanna

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

More than 6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) have been identified worldwide and a number of case reports1-5 have indicated that COVID-19 has the potential to be transmitted prior to disease onset. Studies have also shown that infectious virus can be isolated from presymptomatic COVID-19 cases6 and although it is unknown what level of infectious virus is needed to confer efficient transmission potential, detection of infectious virus in the upper respiratory tract indicates that presymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is plausible. Fear of asymptomatic and presymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 has led to considerable concern among public health policy …

From Clinical Phenotype To Genotypic Modelling: Incidence And Prevalence Of Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (Rdeb), Shaundra Eichstadt, Jean Y. Tang, Daniel C. Solis, M. Peter Marinkovich, Nedra Whitehead, Fang Fang, Stephen W. Erickson, Mary E. Ritchey, Max Colao, Kaye Spratt, Amir Shaygan, Mark Ahn, Kavita Y. Sarin

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB) is an inherited genetic disorder characterized by recurrent and chronic open wounds with significant morbidity, impaired quality of life, and early mortality. RDEB patients demonstrate reduction or structural alteration type VII collagen (C7) owing to mutations in the gene COL7A1, the main component of anchoring fibrils (AF) necessary to maintain epidermal-dermal cohesion. While over 700 alterations in COL7A1 have been reported to cause dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB), which may be inherited in an autosomal dominant (DDEB) or autosomal recessive pattern (RDEB), the incidence and prevalence of RDEB is not well defined. To date, the …

The Validity Of Medicare Claims-Based Codes To Identify Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infection In Patients With Bronchiectasis, Jennifer Ku

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Background: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is a disease of increasing incidence, causing permanent airway damage leading to destructive pulmonary disease. Medicare claims-based codes have been used to identify NTM infection and to evaluate trends in diagnosis and disease outcomes. However, claims-based codes to identify NTM infection have not been validated.

Methods: We linked patients with a bronchiectasis diagnosis (ICD-9-CM 494.0 or 494.1) excluding cystic fibrosis from the national 2006-2014 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (Medicare) data to the U.S. Bronchiectasis Research Registry (BRR). The BRR is a national prospective cohort of patients with bronchiectasis, that collects detailed clinical, laboratory, microbiology and …

Validity Of An Atopic Dermatitis Outcome Measure For Real-World Clinical Practice, Christina Topham, Dylan Haynes, Molly Brazil, Eric Simpson

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common chronic inflammatory skin disease in the United States. AD is associated with reduced quality of life and substantial financial costs, making it burdensome at an individual and population level. Disease severity outcome measures are validated tools to assess severity and therapeutic response. Recent consensus statements have identified gold-standard outcome measures for AD in clinical trials, but further work is needed evaluating outcome measures feasible for clinical practice.

Objective: To investigate the validity and feasibility of the product of investigator global assessment and body surface area (IGA x BSA) as an outcome measure …

Preventing Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis In Salmonid Fish Along The Columbia River Basin, Whitney L. Wright

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Annual Conference

Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is a member of the Rhabdoviridae family and causes infectious hematopoietic necrosis (IHN) disease in many salmonid species during the juvenile or “fry” stage of life. IHNV is endemic to Western North America and occurs in the Columbia River Basin, where Steelhead and Chinook salmon are the most abundant IHNV-vulnerable species. IHNV can cause an epidemic in wild or farmed stocks, killing 90-95 percent of the fish it infects. Transmission is currently understood to occur by direct exposure through the gills, and the virus is shed typically from asymptomatic or clinically ill carrier adults at …

Art Adherence And Viral Suppression Are High Among Most Non-Pregnant Individuals With Early-Stage, Asymptomatic Hiv Infection: An Observational Study From Uganda And South Africa, Jessica E. Haberer, Bosco M. Bwana, Catherine Orrell, Stephen Asiimwe, Gideon Amanyire, Nicholas Musinguzi, Mark J. Siedner, Lynn T. Matthews, Alexander Tsai, Ingrid T. Katz, Kathleen Bell, Annet Kembabazi, Stephen Mugisha, Victoria Kibirige, Anna Cross, Nicola Kelly, Bethany Hedt-Gauthie, David R. Bangsberg

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction

The success of universal antiretroviral therapy (ART) access and aspirations for an AIDS‐free generation depend on high adherence in individuals initiating ART during early‐stage HIV infection; however, adherence may be difficult in the absence of illness and associated support.

Methods

From March 2015 to October 2017, we prospectively observed three groups initiating ART in routine care in Uganda and South Africa: men and non‐pregnant women with early‐stage HIV infection (CD4 > 350 cells/μL), pregnant women with early‐stage HIV infection and men and non‐pregnant women with late‐stage HIV infection (CD4 < 200 cells/μL). Socio‐behavioural questionnaires were administered and viral loads were performed at 0, 6 and 12 months. Adherence was monitored electronically.

Results

Adherence data were available for 869 participants: 322 (37%) early/non‐pregnant, …

Evaluation Of Cross-Reactivity To Taenia Hydatigena And Echinococcus Granulosus In The Enzyme-Linked Immunoelectrotransfer Blot Assay For The Diagnosis Of Porcine Cysticercosis, Lucho Gomez-Puerta, Ana Vargas-Calla, Yesenia Castillo, Maria Teresa Lopez-Urbina, Pierre Dorny, Hector H. Garcia, Armando E. Gonzalez, Seth E. O'Neal

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background:

Taenia solium is an important zoonotic parasite that infects humans as definitive host (taeniasis) and pigs as intermediate host (cysticercosis). Serological diagnosis of porcine cysticercosis is limited to antigen detection using ELISA, which is known to cross-react with other Taenia species, and antibody detection using the lentil-lectin glycoprotein enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (LLGP EITB), which has not been adequately evaluated for cross-reactivity to other parasites. Field studies suggest that the GP50 diagnostic band of the LLGP EITB may crossreact to Taenia hydatigena, a common non-zoonotic parasitic infection of pigs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the specificity of …

Comparative Assessment Of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Diagnostic Assays For Use In Resource-Limited Settings, A. Ayebare, Lisa M. Bebell, Joel Bazira, S. Ttendo, V. Katawera, David Bangsberg, Mark J. Siedner, Multiple Additional Authors

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The rise of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) is a global health concern. Paucity of data on MRSA carriage prevalence and diagnostic methods in resource-limited settings hampers efforts to define the problem and plan an appropriate response. Additionally, high variability in cost and logistical characteristics of MRSA screening methods may impede infection control efforts. We compared the performance of locally-available chromogenic agar BD CHROMagar MRSA II and two PCR-based assays (Hain GenoQuick MRSA and Cepheid Xpert SA Complete) for the detection of asymptomatic MRSA carriage in nasal swabs.

Results: During 2015, we enrolled 500 patients from five hospital …