Digital Commons Network^™

Three-Year Change In The Wellbeing Of Orphaned And Separated Children In Institutional And Family-Based Care Settings In Five Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Kathryn Whetten, Jan Ostermann, Brian W. Pence, Rachel A. Whetten, Lynne C. Messer, Sumedha Ariely, Karen O'Donnell, Augustine I. Wasonga, Vanroth Vann, Dafrosa Itemba, Misganaw Eticha, Ira Madan, Nathan M. Thielman, The Positive Outcomes For Orphans (Pofo) Research Team

Faculty Publications

Background With more than 2 million children living in group homes, or “institutions”, worldwide, the extent to which institution-based caregiving negatively affects development and wellbeing is a central question for international policymakers.

Methods A two-stage random sampling methodology identified community representative samples of 1,357 institution-dwelling orphaned and separated children (OSC) and 1,480 family-dwelling OSC aged 6–12 from 5 low and middle income countries. Data were collected from children and their primary caregivers. Survey-analytic techniques and linear mixed effects models describe child wellbeing collected at baseline and at 36 months, including physical and emotional health, growth, cognitive development and memory, and …

Getting Into The Meat Of The Word Of Wisdom, A. Jane Birch

Faculty Publications

Doctrine & Covenants Section 89 is known as the "health code" for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In verse 13 of this scripture, the Lord states, “it is pleasing unto me that they [flesh of beasts and fowls of the air] should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine” (D&C 89:13). Judging from the variety of interpretations this single verse has inspired, it would appear to be deeply enigmatic. Interestingly, most interpretations have been put forward with little supporting evidence. This article is the first comprehensive analysis of the …

Multipolarity, Intellectual Property And The Internationalization Of Public Health Law, Sam F. Halabi

Faculty Publications

This Article critically examines the proliferation of international legal agreements addressing global health threats like the outbreak of infectious diseases, tobacco use and lack of access to affordable medicines. The conventional wisdom behind this trend is that a global normative shift has occurred which has caused states to regard health as “special” and less subject to the normal rules of international law making because health threats endanger all of humanity. This Article challenges that thesis, arguing that at the same time the number and scope of international health law treaties has grown, developed states have subordinated health law to intellectual …

A Cluster-Randomized Trial Of Task Shifting And Blood Pressure Control In Ghana: Study Protocol, Gbenga Ogedegbe, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Joyce Gyamfi, William Chaplin, Michael Ntim, Kingsley Apusiga, Kiran Khurshid, Richard Cooper

Faculty Publications

Background: Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are experiencing an epidemic of cardiovascular disease (CVD) propelled by rapidly increasing rates of hypertension. Barriers to hypertension control in SSA include poor access to care and high out-of-pocket costs. Although SSA bears 24% of the global disease burden, it has only 3% of the global health workforce. Given such limited resources, cost-effective strategies, such as task shifting, are needed to mitigate the rising CVD epidemic in SSA. Ghana, a country in SSA with an established community health worker program integrated within a national health insurance scheme provides an ideal platform to evaluate implementation …

Identification And Characterization Of An Operon, Msaabcr, That Controls Virulence And Biofilm Development In Staphlococcus Aureus, Gyan S. Sahukhal, Mohamed O. Elasri

Faculty Publications

Background

Community-acquired, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains often cause localized infections in immunocompromised hosts, but some strains show enhanced virulence leading to severe infections even among healthy individuals with no predisposing risk factors. The genetic basis for this enhanced virulence has yet to be determined. S. aureus possesses a wide variety of virulence factors, the expression of which is carefully coordinated by a variety of regulators. Several virulence regulators have been well characterized, but others have yet to be thoroughly investigated. Previously, we identified the msa gene as a regulator of several virulence genes, biofilm development, and antibiotic resistance. We also …

Vaccination Perceptions Of School Employees In A Rural School District, Janelle L. B. Macintosh

Faculty Publications

Background: There continues to be a need for increases in adult vaccination rates, especially among those working in environments which may easily become communicable disease outbreak centers, such as school employees in the school environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate why rural Utah school employees were non-compliant with the influenza and measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines, as well as to identify their view on mandatory vaccination policies.

Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to all school employees in a rural Utah school district. Data analysis included frequencies and measures of central tendency and dispersion for quantitative items …

Time-Varying, Serotype-Specific Force Of Infection Of Dengue Virus, Kanya C. Long, Robert C. Reiner, Steven T. Stoddard, Brett M. Froshey, Aaron A. King, Alicia M. Ellis, Alun L. Lloyd, Claudio Rocha, Stalin Vilcarromero, Helvio Astete, Isabel Bazan, Audrey Lenhart, Gonzalo M. Vazquez-Prokopec, Valerie A. Paz-Soldan, Phlip J. Mccall, Uriel Kitron, John P. Elder, Eric S. Halsey, Amy C. Morrison, Tadeusz J. Kochel, Thomas W. Scott

Faculty Publications

Infectious disease models play a key role in public health planning. These models rely on accurate estimates of key transmission parameters such as the force of infection (FoI), which is the percapita risk of a susceptible person being infected. The FoI captures the fundamental dynamics of transmission and is crucial for gauging control efforts, such as identifying vaccination targets. Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne, multiserotype pathogen that currently infects ∼390 million people a year. Existing estimates of the DENV FoI are inaccurate because they rely on the unrealistic assumption that risk is constant over time. Dengue models are thus …

Mortality Risk And Survival In The Aftermath Of The Medieval Black Death, Sharon Dewitte

Faculty Publications

The medieval Black Death (c. 1347-1351) was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. It killed tens of millions of Europeans, and recent analyses have shown that the disease targeted elderly adults and individuals who had been previously exposed to physiological stressors. Following the epidemic, there were improvements in standards of living, particularly in dietary quality for all socioeconomic strata. This study investigates whether the combination of the selective mortality of the Black Death and post-epidemic improvements in standards of living had detectable effects on survival and mortality in London. Samples are drawn from several pre- and post-Black …

A Mixed Ecologic-Cohort Comparison Of Physical Activity & Weight Among Young Adults From Five Populations Of African Origin, Amy Luke, Pascal Bovet, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Terrence E. Forrester, Estelle V. Lambert, Dale A. Schoeller, Lara R. Dugas, Ramon A. Durazo-Arvizu, David A. Shoham, Guichan Cao, Soren Brage, Ulf Ekelund, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Background: Examination of patterns and intensity of physical activity (PA) across cultures where obesity prevalence varies widely provides insight into one aspect of the ongoing epidemiologic transition. The primary hypothesis being addressed is whether low levels of PA are associated with excess weight and adiposity. Methods. We recruited young adults from five countries (500 per country, 2500 total, ages 25-45 years), spanning the range of obesity prevalence. Men and women were recruited from a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, USA; urban Jamaica; rural Ghana; peri-urban South Africa; and the Seychelles. PA was measured using accelerometry and expressed as minutes per day …

Ancient Pathogen Dna In Archaeological Samples Detected With A Microbial Detection Array, Alison M. Devault, Kevin Mcloughlin, Crystal Jaing, Shea Gardner, Teresita M. Porter, Jacob M. Enk, James Thissen, Jonathan Allen, Monica Borucki, Sharon Dewitte, Anna N. Dhody, Hendrik N. Poinar

Faculty Publications

Ancient human remains of paleopathological interest typically contain highly degraded DNA in which pathogenic taxa are often minority components, making sequence-based metagenomic characterization costly. Microarrays may hold a potential solution to these challenges, offering a rapid, affordable and highly informative snapshot of microbial diversity in complex samples without the lengthy analysis and/or high cost associated with high-throughput sequencing. Their versatility is well established for modern clinical specimens, but they have yet to be applied to ancient remains. Here we report bacterial profiles of archaeological and historical human remains using the Lawrence Livermore Microbial Detection Array (LLMDA). The array successfully identified …

A Conceptual Framework For Analyzing Social-Ecological Models Of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Melissa L. Finucane, Jefferson Fox, Sumeet Saksena, James H. Spencer

Faculty Publications

Unraveling mechanisms that underlie new and reemerging infectious diseases (EID) requires exploring complex interactions within and among coupled natural and human (CNH) systems. This scientifi c problem poses one of the most diffi cult challenges for society today (Wilcox and Colwell 2005 ). EID are diseases that have recently increased in incidence or in geographic or host range (e.g., tuberculosis, cholera, malaria, dengue fever), and diseases caused by new pathogens and new variants assigned to known pathogens (e.g., HIV, SARS, Nipah virus, and avian infl uenza) (Morse 2005 ). Wilcox and Gubler ( 2005 ) and Wilcox and Colwell ( …

Capillary Electrophoresis-Based Assay Of Phosphofructokinase-1, Andrew Malina, Sherrisse K. Bryant, Simon H. Chang, Grover L. Waldrop, S. Douglass Gilman

Faculty Publications

An assay was developed for phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1) using capillary electrophoresis (CE). In the glycolytic pathway, this enzyme catalyzes the rate-limiting step from fructose-6-phosphate and magnesium-bound adenosine triphosphate (Mg-ATP) to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate and magnesium-bound adenosine diphosphate (Mg-ADP). This enzyme has recently become a research target because of the importance of glycolysis in cancer and obesity. The CE assay for PFK-1 is based on the separation and detection by ultraviolet (UV) absorbance at 260 nm of Mg-ATP and Mg-ADP. The separation was enhanced by the addition of Mg 2+ to the separation buffer. Inhibition studies of PFK-1 by aurintricarboxylic acid and palmitoyl coenzyme …

Effects Of Biological Control On Long-Term Population Dynamics: Identifying Unexpected Outcomes, James R. Reilly, Bret D. Elderd

Faculty Publications

Attempts to control natural systems through management have often met with success but have also led to unexpected and often undesirable outcomes. Unfortunately, the ultimate result of such management programmes may not be apparent until long after the control efforts have begun. This is particularly true for forest-defoliating species that exhibit long-period cycles such as the invasive gypsy moth Lymantria dispar, which causes widespread damage in some years but is rare in other years. We studied the effects of two commonly employed biocontrol agents on gypsy moth dynamics using a series of field-tested and empirically parameterized mathematical models, which allowed …

Cloning, Expression, Sequence Analysis And Homology Modeling Of The Prolyl Endoprotease From Eurygaster Integriceps Puton, Ravi Chandra Yandamuri, Ranjeeta Gautam, Charles Darkoh, Vanitha Dareddy, Mustapha El-Bouhssini, Beatrice A. Clack

Faculty Publications

Eurygaster integriceps Puton, commonly known as sunn pest, is a major pest of wheat in Northern Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. This insect injects a prolyl endoprotease into the wheat, destroying the gluten. The purpose of this study was to clone the full length cDNA of the sunn pest prolyl endoprotease (spPEP) for expression in E. coli and to compare the amino acid sequence of the enzyme to other known PEPs in both phylogeny and potential tertiary structure. Sequence analysis shows that the 5ꞌ UTR contains several putative transcription factor binding sites for transcription factors known to be …

The Anthropology Of Plague: Insights From Bioarcheological Analyses Of Epidemic Cemeteries, Sharon Dewitte

Faculty Publications

Most research on historic plague has relied on documentary evidence, but recently researchers have examined the remains of plague victims to produce a deeper understanding of the disease. Bioarcheological analysis allows the skeletal remains of epidemic victims to bear witness to the contexts of their deaths. This is important for our understanding of the experiences of the vast majority of people who lived in the past, who are not typically included in the historical record. This paper summarizes bioarcheological research on plague, primarily investigations of the Black Death in London (1349–50), emphasizing what anthropology uniquely contributes to plague studies.

Relative Importance Of Host Environment, Transmission Potential And Host Phylogeny To The Structure Of Parasite Metacommunities, Tad Dallas, Steven J. Presley

Faculty Publications

Identification of mechanisms that shape parasite community and metacommunity structures have important implications to host health, disease transmission, and the understanding of community assembly in general. Using a long-term dataset on parasites from desert rodents, we examined the relative contributions of host traits that represent important aspects of parasite environment, transmission probability between host species, and host phylogeny to the structure of a parasite metacommunity as well as for taxonomically restricted parasite metacommunities (coccidians, ectoparasites and helminths). This was done using a combination of metacommunity analysis and variance partitioning based on canonical correspondence analysis. Coccidian and ectoparasite metacommunities did not …

Nitrate Enrichment Alters A Daphnia-Microparasite Interaction Through Multiple Pathways, Tad Dallas, John M. Drake

Faculty Publications

© 2013 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Nutrient pollution has the potential to alter many ecological interactions, including host-parasite relationships. One of the largest sources of nutrient pollution comes from anthropogenic alteration of the nitrogen (N) cycle, specifically the increased rate of nitrate (NO3 -N) deposition to aquatic environments, potentially altering host-parasite relationships. This study aimed to assess the mechanisms through which nitrate may impact host-pathogen relationships using a fungal pathogen (Metschnikowia bicuspidata) parasitic to crustacean zooplankton (Daphnia dentifera) as a tractable model system. First, the influence of nitrate on host population dynamics …

Ruminant Self-Medication Against Gastrointestinal Nematodes: Evidence, Mechanism, And Origins Ẫ†, Juan J. Villalba, James Miller, Eugene D. Ungar, Serge Y. Landau, John Glendinning

Faculty Publications

Gastrointestinal helminths challenge ruminants in ways that reduce their fitness. In turn, ruminants have evolved physiological and behavioral adaptations that counteract this challenge. Ruminants display anorexia and avoidance behaviors, which tend to reduce the incidence of parasitism. In addition, ruminants appear to learn to self-medicate against gastrointestinal parasites by increasing consumption of plant secondary compounds with antiparasitic actions. This selective feeding improves health and fitness. Here, we review the evidence for self-medication in ruminants, propose a hypothesis to explain self-medicative behaviors (based on post-ingestive consequences), and discuss mechanisms (e.g., enhanced neophilia, social transmission) that may underlie the ontogeny and spread …

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Protein Ul37 Interacts With Viral Glycoprotein Gk And Membrane Protein Ul20 And Functions In Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, Nithya Jambunathan, Dmitry Chouljenko, Prashant Desai, Anu Susan Charles, Ramesh Subramanian, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

We have shown that glycoprotein K (gK) and its interacting partner, the UL20 protein, play crucial roles in virion envelopment. Specifically, virions lacking either gK or UL20 fail to acquire an envelope, thus causing accumulation of capsids in the cytoplasm of infected cells. The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) UL37 protein has also been implicated in cytoplasmic virion envelopment. To further investigate the role of UL37 in virion envelopment, the recombinant virus DC480 was constructed by insertion of a 12-amino-acid protein C (protC) epitope tag within the UL37 amino acid sequence immediately after amino acid 480. The DC480 mutant virus …

Computational Redesign Of Bacterial Biotin Carboxylase Inhibitors Using Structure-Based Virtual Screening Of Combinatorial Libraries, Michal Brylinski, Grover L. Waldrop

Faculty Publications

As the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria steadily increases, there is an urgent need for new antibacterial agents. Because fatty acid synthesis is only used for membrane biogenesis in bacteria, the enzymes in this pathway are attractive targets for antibacterial agent development. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase catalyzes the committed and regulated step in fatty acid synthesis. In bacteria, the enzyme is composed of three distinct protein components: biotin carboxylase, biotin carboxyl carrier protein, and carboxyltransferase. Fragment-based screening revealed that amino-oxazole inhibits biotin carboxylase activity and also exhibits antibacterial activity against Gram-negative organisms. In this report, we redesigned previously identified lead inhibitors to …

Antibiotic Lock Therapy: Review Of Technique And Logistical Challenges, Julie Ann Justo, P Brandon Bookstaver

Faculty Publications

Antibiotic lock therapy (ALT) for the prevention and treatment of catheter-related bloodstream infections is a simple strategy in theory, yet its real-world application may be delayed or avoided due to technical questions and/or logistical challenges. This review focuses on these latter aspects of ALT, including preparation information for a variety of antibiotic lock solutions (ie, aminoglycosides, beta-lactams, fluoroquinolones, folate antagonists, glycopeptides, glycylcyclines, lipopeptides, oxazolidinones, polymyxins, and tetracyclines) and common clinical issues surrounding ALT administration. Detailed data regarding concentrations, additives, stability/compatibility, and dwell times are summarized. Logistical challenges such as lock preparation procedures, use of additives (eg, heparin, citrate, or ethylenediaminetetraacetic …

Specimen Collection: An Essential Tool, L. A. Rocha, A. Aleixo, G. Allen, F. Almeda, C. C. Baldwin, M. V.L. Barclay, J. M. Bates, A. M. Bauer, F. Benzoni, C. M. Berns, M. L. Berumen, D. C. Blackburn, S. Blum, F. Bolaños, R. C.K. Bowie, R. Britz, R. M. Brown, C. D. Cadena, K. Carpenter, L. M. Ceríaco, P. Chakrabarty, G. Chaves, J. H. Choat, K. D. Clements, B. B. Collette, A. Collins, J. Coyne, J. Cracraft, T. Daniel, M. R. De Carvalho, K. De Queiroz, F. Di Dario, R. Drewes

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hepatitis E Antibodies In Laboratory Rabbits From 2 Us Vendors, Leslie Birke, Stephania A. Cormier, Dahui You, Rhett W. Stout, Christian Clement, Merlin Johnson, Hilary Thompson

Faculty Publications

We tested laboratory rabbits from 2 US vendors for antibodies against hepatitis E virus (HEV); Seroprevalences were 40% and 50%. Retrospective analysis of an ocular herpes simplex 1 experiment demonstrated that HEV seropositivity had no effect on experiment outcome. HEV probably is widespread in research rabbits, but effects on research remain unknown.

Developing Ethread Pipeline Using Saga-Pilot Abstraction For Large-Scale Structural Bioinformatics, Anjani Ragothaman, Sairam Chowdary Boddu, Nayong Kim, Wei Feinstein, Michal Brylinski, Shantenu Jha, Joohyun Kim

Faculty Publications

While most of computational annotation approaches are sequence-based, threading methods are becoming increasingly attractive because of predicted structural information that could uncover the underlying function. However, threading tools are generally compute-intensive and the number of protein sequences from even small genomes such as prokaryotes is large typically containing many thousands, prohibiting their application as a genome-wide structural systems biology tool. To leverage its utility, we have developed a pipeline for eThread - a meta-threading protein structure modeling tool, that can use computational resources efficiently and effectively. We employ a pilot-based approach that supports seamless data and task-level parallelism and manages …

Vitamin D Levels Are Low In Adult Patients With Sickle Cell Disease In Jamaica And West Africa, Bamidele O. Tayo, Titilola S. Akingbola, Babatunde L. Salako, Colin A. Mckenzie, Marvin Reid, Jennifer Layden, Ifeyinwa Osunkwo, Jacob Plange-Rhule, Amy Luke, Ramon Durazo-Arvizu, Richard S. Cooper

Faculty Publications

Background: Patients with sickle cell disease in the USA have been noted to have lower levels of vitamin D – measured as 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) – compared to controls. Average serum 25(OH)D levels are also substantially lower in African Americans than whites, while population distributions of 25(OH)D among Jamaicans of African descent and West Africans are the same as among USA whites. The purpose of this study was to examine whether adult patients with sickle cell disease living in tropical regions had reduced 25(OH)D relative to the general population. Methods: We analyzed serum 25(OH)D in stored samples collected from studies …

Comparison Of Patients From Nigeria And The Usa Highlights Modifiable Risk Factors For Sickle Cell Anemia Complications, Titilola S. Akingbola, Bamidele O. Tayo, Babatunde Salako, Jennifer E. Layden, Lewis L. Hsu, Richard S. Cooper, Victor R. Gordeuk, Santosh L. Saraf

Faculty Publications

To identify factors that affect manifestations of sickle cell anemia we compared patients 11-30 years of age from University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria (n = 214) and University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA (n = 209). Paralleling findings in the general populations of the two countries, the Chicago patients were more often overweight or obese as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA) guidelines, and more often had elevated blood pressure (BP) as defined by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Bethesda, MD, USA guidelines. The Ibadan patients did not …

Research Capacity. Enabling The Genomic Revolution In Africa, Charles Rotimi, Akin Abayomi, Alash'le Abimiku, Victoria May Adabayeri, Clement Adebamowo, Ezekiel Adebiyi, Adebowale D. Ademola, Adebowale Adeyemo, Dwomoa Adu, Dissou Affolabi, Godfred Agongo, Samuel Ajayi, Sally Akarolo-Anthony, Rufus Akinyemi, Albert Akpalu, Marianne Alberts, Orlando Alonso Betancourt, Ahmed Mansour Alzohairy, Gobena Ameni, Olukemi Amodu, Gabriel Anabwani, Kristian G. Andersen, Fatiu Arogundade, Oyedunni Arulogun, Danny A. Asogun, Rasheed Bakare, Naby Balde, Mary Lynn Baniecki, Christine Beiswanger, Alia Benkahla, Lara Bethke, Micheal Boehnke, Vincent Boima

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sampling Locality Is More Detectable Than Taxonomy Or Ecology In The Gut Microbiota Of The Brood-Parasitic Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus Ater), Sarah M. Hird, Bryan C. Carstens, Steven W. Cardiff, Donna L. Dittmann, Robb T. Brumfield

Faculty Publications

Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) are the most widespread avian brood parasite in North America, laying their eggs in the nests of approximately 250 host species that raise the cowbird nestlings as their own. It is currently unknown how these heterospecific hosts influence the cowbird gut microbiota relative to other factors, such as the local environment and genetics. We test a Nature Hypothesis (positing the importance of cowbird genetics) and a Nurture Hypothesis (where the host parents are most influential to cowbird gut microbiota) using the V6 region of 16S rRNA as a microbial fingerprint of the gut from 32 cowbird …

Presumed Imminence: Judicial Risk Assessment In The Post-9/11 World, Avidan Y. Cover

Faculty Publications

Court opinions in the terrorism context are often distinguished by fact-finding that relates to risk assessment. These risk assessments — inherently policy decisions — are influenced by cultural cognition and by cognitive errors common to probability determinations, particularly those made regarding highly dangerous and emotional events. In a post-9/11 world, in which prevention and intelligence are prioritized over prosecution, courts are more likely to overstate the potential harm, neglect the probability, and presume the imminence of terrorist attacks. As a result, courts are apt to defer to the government and require less evidence in support of measures that curtail civil …

Warmer Temperatures Increase Disease Transmission And Outbreak Intensity In A Host-Pathogen System, Bret D. Elderd, James R. Reilly

Faculty Publications

Summary: While rising global temperatures are increasingly affecting both species and their biotic interactions, the debate about whether global warming will increase or decrease disease transmission between individuals remains far from resolved. This may stem from the lack of empirical data. Using a tractable and easily manipulated insect host-pathogen system, we conducted a series of field and laboratory experiments to examine how increased temperatures affect disease transmission using the crop-defoliating pest, the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) and its species-specific baculovirus, which causes a fatal infection. To examine the effects of temperature on disease transmission in the field, we manipulated baculovirus …