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Characterization Of Di-Aryl Urea Compounds Against Acute And Chronic Toxoplasma Gondii, Austin Sanford

Theses & Dissertations

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that has infected nearly 60 million individuals in the United States alone. Acute infection causes ill effects to the fetus in utero when mothers are primarily infected, and to immunocompromised individuals. Chronic infection consists of quiescent tissue cysts located primarily in brain tissue and is capable of reverting back to the acute stage causing severe toxoplasma encephalitis in immunocompromised individuals. Current treatments for acute infection are lacking while there are no approved treatments for the clearance of chronic infection. The aim of this research was to evaluate a family of di-aryl urea compounds …

Time Series Forecasting Of Covid-19 Deaths In Massachusetts, Andrew Disher

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The aim of this study was to use data provided by the Department of Public Health in the state of Massachusetts on its online dashboard to produce a time series model to accurately forecast the number of new confirmed deaths that have resulted from the spread of CoViD-19. Multiple different time series models were created, which can be classified as either an Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model or a Regression Model with ARIMA Errors. Two ARIMA models were created to provide a baseline forecasting performance for comparison with the Regression Model with ARIMA Errors, which used the number of …

Rheumatoid Nodule Mimicker Mycobacterium Haemophilum: A Case Presentation, Elisa Griswold

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Mycobacterium haemophilum is a rare infection that can present in humans as subcutaneous nodules and cutaneous lesions. With a growing number of immunocompromised patients, M. haemophilum infections are becoming more common. Rheumatoid nodules in comparison are very common and can occur in approximately 25% of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Here we discuss a case in a patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis who developed subcutaneous nodules that mimicked rheumatoid nodules, but were later determined to be infectious nodules from Mycobacterium haemophilum.

Retinal Vasculitis: A Case Study, Peter Maduka, Sarah G. Bonaffini, Naman Shah, Deepika Malik

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Purpose: To describe a case of idiopathic retinal vasculitis.

Methods: Case report and literature review.

Case: A healthy 25-year-old female presented with a one-week history of a large floater in her right eye. Patient’s subjective complaint of floaters, including the scotoma on VF and the FA findings were most consistent with retinal vasculitis displaying predominant venous involvement. However, findings for acute macular neuroretinopathy and multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS) were present as well. Autoimmune and infectious disease panels were negative. Neuro consult and brain MRI showed nonspecific, non contributory findings. Several weeks later, following Medrol dose pack, patient reported …

Case Report: Covid-19 Associated Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Matthew Aharonov, Neelesh Parikh, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

We report a case of a 72-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with a complaint of generalized weakness. The patient was found to have ascending muscle weakness and subsequently diagnosed with Covid-19 related Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Our patient was negative for Campylobacter jejuni. It is noteworthy that the patient did not have fever, respiratory symptoms or loss of the sensation of taste.

Cushing’S Reflex And Bradycardic Arrest In Cryptococcal Meningitis, Scott Briggs, Trent Malcolm

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Cushing’s reflex is a physiologic response to maintain cerebral perfusion pressure with elevated systolic blood pressure, widened pulse pressure, and bradycardia occurring in the setting of elevated intracranial pressure (ICP). The proposed mechanisms for reflexive bradycardia include ischemia to medullary brain tissue and compression of the intracranial segment of the vagus nerve leading to parasympathetic activation. (1) In acutely elevated ICP, bradycardia is a late finding of worsening intracranial pathology suggestive of impending herniation and cardiovascular collapse.

Cryptococcal meningitis has been identified by Infectious Disease Society of America for its association with elevated ICP. (2) Variety of pathogenic mechanisms occurring …

Case Of New Onset Alice In Wonderland Syndrome In Adolescent After Prolonged Hospitalization, Michaela Margolis, Timothy Wong, Richard Hadi

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Alice in wonderland syndrome (AIWS) has been described as body image illusions involving distortions of the size, mass, or shape of the patient’s own body or its position in space, often occurring with depersonalization and derealization. Most cases typically affect young children.

Common distortions are micropsia, macropsia, metamorphopsia, and pelopsia.

The term was adopted from the book by Lewis Carroll, wherein the main character perceived her size and shape to change in different scenarios.

These distortions are often expressed as sensory perceptions rather than illusions or hallucinations, and are often distressing to the patient.

AIWS onset has been found to …

Flexor Tenosynovitis After Bite By Sugar Glider, Dominick Siconolfi, James Espinosa, Alan Lucerna, Russell Mordecai

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Flexor tenosynovitis is one of the few orthopedic emergencies, often first identified in the emergency department. Pyogenic flexor tenosynovitis is an infection of the flexor tendon sheath of a finger causing local inflammation and tissue destruction. The pathognomonic symptoms of flexor tenosynovitis are known as Kanavel’s signs, a constellation of symptoms that include: pain with passive extension of the finger, tenderness over the flexor tendon sheath, fusiform swelling of the affected finger, and the finger held in passive flexion. The most common cause of flexor tenosynovitis is penetrating trauma into the flexion tendon sheath. Our case involves a 59-year-old male …

Covid-19 Newsletter (Vol. 70), Center For Disaster Medicine, New York Medical College

COVID-19 Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Simian Varicella Virus Antibody Response In Recombinant Svv-Siv Immunized Primates, Kiser Horne

Honors Theses

Since its emergence in the early 1980’s HIV has killed approximately 32 million people, and continues to kill over half a million people every year. Significant research into potential vaccines and cures for HIV has been ongoing for decades but has been largely unsuccessful. One of the more promising technologies that is being investigated to develop an HIV vaccine is recombinant vaccine technology. The study presented in this thesis aims to use simian varicella virus (SVV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) to act as a model for recombinant vaccine development. If a recombinant SVV-SIV vaccine can be proven safe and …

Pathogenesis Of Dry Eye In Graft Versus Host Disease (Gvhd): Role Of Ocular Mucins And Conjunctival Fibrosis, Kiumars Shamloo

Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a procedure that offers a possible cure for hematologic cancers and other hematologic disorders. Unfortunately, despite the increasing survival rate of patients, the quality of their life is adversely affected by the allogeneic bone marrow transplantation’s major side effect i.e Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD). GVHD is a complex, multi-organ disease resulting from an immunological attack by donor engrafted immune cells to host organs, including the eye surface. Mostly based on the time of disease onset after transplantation, GVHD is divided into the acute and chronic phase. The eyes may be involved in both …

Mathematical Models Of Covid-19, Kate Faria

Honors Program Theses and Projects

For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major public health issue, affecting the lives of most people around the world. With both people’s health and the economy at great risks, governments rushed to control the spread of the virus. Containment measures were heavily enforced worldwide until a vaccine was developed and distributed. Although researchers today know more about the characteristics of the virus, a lot of work still needs to be done in order to completely remove the disease from the population. However, this is true for most of the infectious diseases in existence, including Influenza, …

Survey Of Ticks And Tick-Borne Pathogens Associated With Feral Swine (Sus Scrofa) In Arkansas, Haylee Campbell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Feral hogs (Sus scrofa L.) are an invasive species throughout the southeast United States and found in every Arkansas county. As feral hogs invade new habitat, they can disrupt ecosystems, damage agriculture systems, and bring ticks and tick-borne pathogens with them. There are no surveys of the tick species parasitizing the Arkansas feral hog populations or the pathogens they carry. This is a public health concern because feral hogs occupy often same geographical regions as humans and livestock and can harbor over 45 animal diseases and parasites. The ticks carried by feral hogs can carry tick-borne pathogens that can cause …

Determination Of Ownership Practices And Cytauxzoon Felis Prevalence In Domestic Felines Of Northwest Arkansas, Daniella M. Duran

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cytauxzoon felis is a protozoan pathogen that causes the infectious disease, cytauxzoonosis in wild and domestic felines. The natural host of this pathogen is the bobcat (Lynx rufus), which is why this disease is also commonly referred to as “bobcat fever”. The C. felis pathogen infects wild and domestic cats upon transmission by infected ticks. Amblyomma americanum, also known as the Lone Star tick, the primary transmission vector for C. felis. This tick species is largely populated throughout the state of Arkansas, making C. felis a large threat to wild and domestic felines in these areas. Cytauxzoonosis is commonly thought …

Sodium Pyruvate Ameliorates Influenza A Virus Infection In Vitro And In Vivo, Jessica M. Reel

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Pyruvate is produced in duplicate at the end of glycolysis in addition to ATP and NADH. Pyruvate is the metabolite of choice in most cells, whether obtained exogenously or endogenously. Recently we found that the addition of pyruvate’s conjugate base, sodium pyruvate, to cell culture media dampened the immune response to influenza A virus (IAV) infection in cultured innate immune cells. Thus, I decided to investigate the mechanism and potential for treatment of IAV. In vitro using bone marrow derived macrophages that were infected with IAV we found that adding sodium pyruvate to the media decreased immune signaling pathways through …

Child Maltreatment And Neglect In The United Arab Emirates And Relationship With Low Self-Esteem And Symptoms Of Depression, Syed M. Shah, Gul Nowshad, Fatima Al Dhaheri, Mariam H. Al-Shamsi, Alfan M. Al-Ketbi, Alaa Galadari, Priyam Joshi, Heba Bendak, Michal Grivna, Danilo Arnone

Department of Family Medicine

Objectives: To our knowledge, this study is the first in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to investigate the prevalence of child maltreatment in relation to depressive symptoms and self-esteem.
Study design: Exposure to physical maltreatment, emotional abuse and neglect was evaluated in 518 adolescents (86% response rate) randomly selected from schools in Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Beck Depression Inventory were used to measure self-esteem and depressive symptoms by using multivariate logistic regression analyses.
Results: The mean age of study participants was 14.3 years. Emotional abuse was the most frequent form …

Impact Of Proton Pump Inhibitor Use On Effectiveness Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors In Advanced Cancer Patients, Ken Chen

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background: Gut microbiome plays a critical role in modulating therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may affect the gut microbiome by altering gut pH.

Objective: To evaluate if concurrent use of PPI 0-30 days before or after initiation of ICIs (nivolumab or pembrolizumab) is associated with poorer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma compared with no PPI use.

Methods: This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of advanced cancer patients …

Covid-19: Exploring The Probability Of Disease Extinction - A Modeling And Simulation Study, Donald Porchia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

There are two distinct topics considered in this dissertation. The first is the formulation of a compartmental model using reactive social distancing in which disease transmission changes as a function of the state variables of the model; in this case, the cumulative incidence. The model assumes a single strain epidemic of Covid-19 in the United States and is used to estimate the cumulative number of deaths due to the epidemic where incidence data is used to calibrate and validate the model. The second topic concerns the use of the stochastic threshold to determine disease persistence or extinction. The Covid-19 pandemic …

On The Front Line: Uri's Response To Covid-19 And The Role Of The Student-Run Emergency Medical Services, Michael C. Brennan

Senior Honors Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all aspects of society, including universities, and we are just beginning to understand its impacts. This project looks at how universities have responded to the pandemic by focusing on the University of Rhode Island, the largest university in the state of Rhode Island. A key aspect of this project is a timeline that documents the policies implemented by URI leadership and relevant policies adopted by the State of Rhode Island. The timeline also includes data about the number of cases at URI and state-wide, as well as figures for the number of students in isolation …

Climate Change And Vaccines: Distrust Of Science In Politics And The Media, Natalie Montalbano

Senior Honors Projects

Distrust in science and the scientific process has increased significantly over the last fifty years, and this distrust is particularly apparent in the fields of climate change and vaccination. Climate change, a relatively new scientific issue, has become one of the hottest topics discussed in both U.S and world politics. The existence and real threat of anthropogenic global warming was publicly declared by National Geographic in 2004, but climate scientists had acknowledged that humans were causing the warming of our Earth as early as the 1980’s. Vaccines, despite being safe and effective in curbing the spread of infectious diseases, have …

Harnessing The Power Of Trained Immunity In The Setting Of Pancreatic Cancer: A Novel Mechanism Of Immune Trafficking And Tumor Control., Anne Elena Geller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the success of immunotherapy in many types of cancer, pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has yet to benefit. Innate immune cells are critical to antitumor immunosurveillance and recent studies have revealed that these populations possess a form of memory, termed trained innate immunity, which occurs through transcriptomic, epigenetic, and metabolic reprograming. Though trained innate immunity has mostly been investigated in the context of infection, the induction of trained innate immunity could also protect against tumors, and specifically pancreatic tumors. Here, we demonstrate that yeast-derived particulate β-glucan, a known inducer of trained immunity, traffics to the pancreas following IP administration. This causes …

Vaccine Hesitancy, The Covid 19 Pandemic, And Christian Fundamentalism, Nicole Drew

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over the past few decades, religion has continued to move to the forefront of American politics, with many viewing fundamental Christianity as synonymous with the Republican Party. Donald Trump's presidency has increased this tenfold, with significant figures within American Christianity voicing their support for him and tying him into Biblical prophecies. In the media, this appears to have affected how this demographic views the COVID 19 pandemic. The literature in this area focuses heavily on American Christians' response to mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and other attempts to mitigate the spread of the CoronaVirus; however, research on how this same demographic …

Exploring Equity In Health And Poverty Impacts Of Control Measures For Sars-Cov-2 In Six Countries, Sedona Sweeney, Theo Prudencio Juhani Capeding, Rosalind Eggo, Maryam Huda, Mark Jit, Don Mudzengi, Nichola R. Naylor, Simon Procter, Matthew Quaife, Lela Serebryakova

Community Health Sciences

Background: Policy makers need to be rapidly informed about the potential equity consequences of different COVID-19 strategies, alongside their broader health and economic impacts. While there are complex models to inform both potential health and macro-economic impact, there are few tools available to rapidly assess potential equity impacts of interventions.
Methods: We created an economic model to simulate the impact of lockdown measures in Pakistan, Georgia, Chile, UK, the Philippines and South Africa. We consider impact of lockdown in terms of ability to socially distance, and income loss during lockdown, and tested the impact of assumptions on social protection coverage …

The Effects Of Differences In Vaccination Rates Across Socioeconomic Groups On The Size Of Measles Outbreaks, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Conference papers

Vaccination rates are often presented at the level of a country or region. However, within those areas there might be geographic or demographic pockets that have higher or lower vaccination rates. We use an agent-based model designed to simulate the spread of measles in Irish towns to examine if the effectiveness of vaccination rates to reduce disease at a population level is sensitive to the uniformity of vaccinations across socioeconomic groups. We find that when vaccinations are not applied evenly across socioeconomic groups we see more outbreaks and outbreaks with larger magnitudes.

How Covid-19 Has Fundamentally Changed Clinical Research In Global Health, Jay J H. Park, Robin Mogg, Gerald E. Smith, Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu, Fyezah Jehan, Craig R. Rayner, Jeanine Condo, Eric H. Decloedt, Jean B. Nachega, Gilmar Reis, Edward J. Mills

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

COVID-19 has had negative repercussions on the entire global population. Despite there being a common goal that should have unified resources and efforts, there have been an overwhelmingly large number of clinical trials that have been registered that are of questionable methodological quality. As the final paper of this Series, we discuss how the medical research community has responded to COVID-19. We recognise the incredible pressure that this pandemic has put on researchers, regulators, and policy makers, all of whom were doing their best to move quickly but safely in a time of tremendous uncertainty. However, the research community's response …

Tuberculoid Leprosy Masquerading As Erythema Induratum, Manuel Britto, Danish M. Siddiq, Michael Morgan, Anthony Dedea, Utpal Patel

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Introduction

Erythema Induratum (EI) is a relatively rare dermatologic disorder affecting subcutaneous fat tissue, which is often associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This report details the presentation, diagnosis and management in a 70-year-old female who presented with a painful erythematous annular rash at the clinic. The rash was later diagnosed as EI associated with Mycobacterium leprae, one rarely seen in literature.

Discussion

EI is a rare form of panniculitis that typically presents as a recurrent grouping of tender nodules and plaques on the posterior aspect of the lower legs. Although EI is considered idiopathic in most cases, it can be associated …

Covid-19: The Vaccine Race Continues, L. Hayley Burgess, Carley Castelein, Andrew Rubio, Mandelin K. Cooper

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Over a year has passed since the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic. As mitigation efforts continue, COVID-19 has claimed over half a million lives in the United States and 3.1 million lives globally. The development and availability of vaccines delivering immunity to prevent COVID-19 offers hope to end the pandemic.

Emergency use authorizations from the Food and Drug Administration have been issued in the United States for three vaccines, one each from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen/J&J. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are both mRNA vaccines with efficacy of 95% and 94.1% respectively, while the vector-based vaccine from Janssen/J&J has …

Clinical Characteristics And Outcomes Of Covid-19: Experience At A Major Tertiary Care Center In Pakistan, Nosheen Nasir, Kiren Habib, Iffat Khanum, Naveera Khan, Zehra Abdul Muhammad, Syed Faisal Mahmood

Section of Internal Medicine

Introduction: Limited data exist on clinical characteristics and outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in low-middle income countries. We aimed to describe the clinical spectrum and outcomes of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at a tertiary-care center in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methodology: We conducted an observational study of adult COVID-19 patients hospitalized between February-June 2020. Patients with a discharge diagnosis of COVID-19 and PCR positivity were included. We created logistic regression models to understand association of clinical characteristics with illness severity and in-hospital mortality.
Results: The study population comprised 445 patients [67% males, median age 53 (IQR 40-64) years]. Majority of patients (N = …

Food Insecurity Associated With Double-Burden Of Malnutrition Among Women In Reproductive Age In Ciampea Sub-District, Bogor, West Java, Seala Septiani, Ismi Irfiyanti, Tran Thi Hai, Luh Ade Wiradnyani, Aria Kekalih, Paulus Daniel Sahanggamu

Indonesian Journal of Public Health Nutrition (IJPHN)

Double burdens of malnutrition among women have occurred across most developing countries including Indonesia. This study compared the associated factors among overweight and underweight of women in reproductive age (WRA) in rural Ciampea Sub-district, Bogor, West Java. This cross-sectional study surveyed the nutritional status of 575 mothers (16-49 years old) who have under two-years-old children. Nutritional status was assessed by body-mass-index (BMI) and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), food security status by US-Food Security Survey Module (US-FSSM), dietary intake by a single 24-H dietary recall. The prevalence of underweight, overweight, and obese among this group were 10%, 15.8%, and 34.2%. Food …

Fulfilment Of Minimum Acceptable Diet As Dominant Factor In Wasting In Children Aged 6–23 Months In Central Jakarta, Indonesia, 2019, Ervida Andina, Madinar Madinar, Endang Laksminingsih Achadi

Indonesian Journal of Public Health Nutrition (IJPHN)

Wasting is a form of acute malnutrition characterized by significant and rapid weight loss resulting from inadequate food intake and infectious diseases. This study was to investigate the factors associated with wasting in children aged 6–23 months and the dominant factor among these. The study followed a cross-sectional study design. A total sample of 261 children was selected using multistage random sampling from 13 integrated healthcare centres in six administrative villages located in three sub-districts of Central Jakarta. Data was collected by measuring body weight and height and questionnaires completed through interviews carried out by trained data collectors. This study …