Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Using Artificial Intelligence To Decipher Epigenetic Code Of Drug Resistance In The Deadliest Human Malaria Parasite, Samira Jahangiri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Malaria remains one of the immense global public health challenges, with an estimated ~200 million cases worldwide in 2019 despite the remarkable gains in reducing this deadly disease over the past decade. The recent emergence and spread of artemisinin resistance (ART-R) in Plasmodium falciparum will increasingly impede global efforts to control and eliminate malaria. Previous studies have observed broad transcriptional changes and identified several noncoding genetic variants strongly associated with ART-R. The broad transcriptional variations suggest that the malaria parasite uses sophisticated epigenetic regulation to survive under drug pressure. Therefore, evaluating the regulatory effects of noncoding-variants in malaria parasites is …

Moving In Fluid: Exploring How Fishes Manipulate Water To Swim Efficiently, Nils B. Tack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Moving through a dense fluid such as water presents some unique challenges to minimizing energy use and maximizing performance (i.e., speed). Due to animal-fluid interactions during swimming (drag and thrust production) fish have evolved a variety of morphological structures and locomotor mechanisms. For instance, fish rely on body bending and/or fins to interact with the surrounding water such that energy can be transferred to generate thrust. Typically, this synergy promotes morphologies and behaviors aimed at enhancing propulsive efficiency and/or minimizing metabolic activity to lessen the cost of transport (COT). This work focuses on quantifying the energetic and hydromechanical benefits of …

Exercise Prescription Practices In University Counseling Centers: Testing The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model, A'Naja M. Newsome

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The co-occurence of physical inactivity and poor mental health in the college student population can lead to chronic health issues that have negative short-term (e.g., academic success and weight gain) and long-term (e.g., obesity, serious mental illness, and premature mortality) impacts. Integrating exercise prescription into the mental health treatment plan of college students could enhance the holistic care model described by The American College Health Association (ACHA) and Healthy Campus task force. Understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that mental health professionals (MHPs) hold regarding exercise prescription is important for policy formation and program development for college student health. The …

Synthesis Of A Multimodal Ecological Model For Scalable, High-Resolution Arboviral Risk Prediction In Florida, Sean P. Beeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) represent the two greatest endemic arboviral risks to the state of Florida. Currently, no approved human vaccine exists for the prevention of either virus. In the absence of a vaccine, effective disease surveillance is paramount for public health. In Florida, WNV and EEEV sentinel chicken surveillance is conducted by mosquito control programs operated at the county, municipality, or special taxing district level. This program was implemented in 1978 following human outbreaks of St. Louis Encephalitis virus (SLEV) that occurred between 1959 and 1977, with initial sentinel coops placed in proximity …

Evolution Of Targeted Therapy Resistance In Eml4-Alk Positive Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Robert Vander Velde

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Targeted therapies have emerged as potent treatments that lead to the remission of many tumors. However, they rarely cure cancers in advanced, metastatic settings. This is due to the evolution of resistance, which in turn can be ascribed to the survival of small subpopulations of tolerant and/or resistant cells. Here we investigated the evolution of resistance to EML4-ALK inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and demonstrated that resistance evolves gradually, from unique pre-treatment sub-populations, as multiple resistance mechanisms accumulate in a Darwinian fashion. Despite accumulating multiple changes, cells evolved, in parallel, toward similar inhibitor specific phenotypes. Evolving cells have …

Development And Validation Of An Isothermal Amplification Assay For Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, Mikayla D. Maddison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a neurotrophic alphavirus for which there is no effective treatment or vaccine for humans. Periodic outbreaks in the Eastern United States represent an ongoing public health problem; Florida serves as the reservoir for EEEV for the rest of the country. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the current gold standard for molecular diagnostic testing of the presence of EEEV in vectors. However, RT-PCR is technically complex and can be difficult for mosquito control districts to utilize. In order to provide a simple, cost-effective alternative for mosquito surveillance and control, a novel one step reverse …

Mechanisms And Mitigation: Effects Of Light Pollution On West Nile Virus Dynamics, Meredith E. Kernbach

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Light pollution, or the presence of unnatural light at night, is a pervasive and growing problem across the globe. While often pictured in urban centers, light pollution is far reaching and can affect seemingly safe and minimally developed environments. For example, agricultural communities with artificial lighting near facilities can generate such light pollution in rural areas. Further, streetlights and illuminated billboards along roads and highways can generate light pollution far from cities. Given how pervasive this anthropogenic stressor is, it is surprising that not much is known about how artificial light at night, or ALAN, affects humans or wildlife, especially …

Defining Codes Based On The Consolidated Framework For Implementation Research In The Context Of The Implementing Universal Lynch Syndrome Screening, Jasmine A. Burton-Akright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common hereditary cause of both colorectal cancer (CRC) and endometrial cancer (EC). Universal tumor screening (UTS) of newly diagnosed EC and CRC patients has been shown to be both an effective and economical approach to identify patients with LS and subsequently reduce future cancer s for patients and their family members. Despite its efficacy, LS UTS has not been consistently adopted across hospital systems and existing programs vary widely in their structure and execution. The Implementing Universal Lynch Syndrome Screening (IMPULSS) study aims to determine the critical factors necessary for successful implementation of LS …

The Distribution In Native Populations From Mexico And Central America Of The C677t Variant In The Mthfr Gene, Lucio A. Reyes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: To explore evolutionary hypotheses for the high frequencies of a substitution in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene, in Mexican and Central American Indigenous populations.

Materials and methods: We obtained allele frequencies for the C677T variant in the MTHFR gene and ecological information for 37 indigenous samples from Mexico and Central America. We calculated Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium and computed Fst statistics. We computed correlations between the samples' allele frequencies and ecological and geochemical variables.

Results: Many of the samples have extremely high frequencies of the T allele (q̄ = 0.62, median = 0.66). In this region, the frequency of the T …

Bone Microenvironmental Control Of Skeletal Malignancy, Chen Hao Lo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bone is a common site of metastasis for many solid malignancies. Bone-metastatic cancers pose a significant clinical problem worldwide and is among the main causes for cancer patient morbidity and mortality. Patients with advanced bone-metastatic diseases often present with either osteolytic or osteogenic bone diseases as their cancers progress. These bone pathologies are products of the cancer co-opting the local bone remodeling stroma to yield important growth nutrients and factors. Unfortunately, skeletal metastases remain incurable and are fatal. Identifying and understanding the causal multicellular and molecular interactions underlying skeletal malignancies can yield crucial ideas for targeting and inhibiting disease progression. …