Digital Commons Network^™

Responders’ Responsibility: Liability And Immunity In Public Health Emergencies, Sharona Hoffman

Faculty Publications

Many experts predict the advent of a public health emergency resulting from a flu pandemic or bioterrorism attack in the foreseeable future. At the same time, many health care providers express significant concern about liability arising from emergency response activities, because it is unlikely that they would be able to provide optimal care in crisis conditions. They also state that this concern will likely influence their willingness to be involved in response activities. This article addresses issues that have received little attention in the legal literature: liability and immunity in public health emergencies. The article provides a first-of-its-kind comprehensive analysis …

Toxic Torts, Autism, And Bad Science: Why The Courts May Be Our Best Defense Against Scientific Relativism, Joelle A. Moreno

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cardiovascular Disease And Associated Risk Factors In Cuba: Prospects For Prevention And Control, Richard S. Cooper, Pedro Orduñez, Marcos D.Iraola Ferrer, Jose Luis Bernal Munoz, Alfredo Espinosa-Brito

Faculty Publications

Objectives. An adequate description of the trends in cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not available for most of the developing world. Cuba provides an important exception, and we sought to use available data to offer insights into the changing patterns of CVD there. Methods. We reviewed Cuban public health statistics, surveys, and reports of health services. Results. CVD has been the leading cause of death since 1970. A 45% reduction in heart disease deaths was observed from 1970 to 2002; the decline in stroke was more limited. There are moderate prevalences of all major risk factors. Conclusions. The Cuban medical care …

Avian Influenza (H5n1) And The Evolutionary And Social Ecology Of Infectious Disease Emergence, Durrell D. Kapan, Shannon N. Bennett, Brett N. Ellis, Jefferson Fox, Nancy D. Lewis, James H. Spencer, Sumeet Saksena, Bruce A. Wilcox

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Case Study: Cholera, Edward Laws

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Avian Hosts For West Nile Virus In St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, 2002, Nicholas Komar, Nicholas A. Panella, Stanley A. Langevin, Aaron C. Brault, Manuel Amador, Eric Edwards, Jennifer C. Owen

Faculty Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) infections in free-ranging birds were studied in Slidell, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, after a human encephalitis outbreak peaked there in July 2002. Seroprevalence in resident, free-ranging wild birds in one suburban site was 25% and 24% in August and October, respectively, indicating that most transmission had ceased by early August. Mortality rates, seroprevalence rates, host competence, and crude population estimates were used in mathematical models to predict actual infection rates, population impacts, and importance as amplifying hosts for several common passerine birds. Northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus) were the principal amplifying hosts, …

Weather And The Salem Witch Trials, Franklin G. Mixon

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Host-Parasitoid Spatial Ecology: A Plea For A Landscape-Level Synthesis, James T. Cronin, John D. Reeve

Faculty Publications

A growing body of literature points to a large-scale research approach as essential for understanding population and community ecology. Many of our advances regarding the spatial ecology of predators and prey can be attributed to research with insect parasitoids and their hosts. In this review, we focus on the progress that has been made in the study of the movement and population dynamics of hosts and their parasitoids in heterogeneous landscapes, and how this research approach may be beneficial to pest management programs. To date, few studies have quantified prey and predator rates and ranges of dispersal and population dynamics …

The Case For Selection At Ccr5-Δ32, Pardis C. Sabeti, Emily Walsh, Steve F. Schaffner, Patrick Varilly, Ben Fry, Holli B. Hutcheson, Mike Cullen, Tarjei S. Mikkelsen, Jessica Roy, Nick Patterson, Richard Cooper, David Reich, David Altshuler, Stephen O'Brien, Eric S. Lander

Faculty Publications

The C-C chemokine receptor 5, 32 base-pair deletion (CCR5-Δ32) allele confers strong resistance to infection by the AIDS virus HIV. Previous studies have suggested that CCR5-Δ32 arose within the past 1,000 y and rose to its present high frequency (5%-14%) in Europe as a result of strong positive selection, perhaps by such selective agents as the bubonic plague or smallpox during the Middle Ages. This hypothesis was based on several lines of evidence, including the absence of the allele outside of Europe and long-range linkage disequilibrium at the locus. We reevaluated this evidence with the benefit of much denser genetic …

A Role For Airway Remodeling During Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, David Becnel, Dahui You, Joshua Erskin, Dawn M. Dimina, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

Background: Severe respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV) during infancy has been shown to be a major risk factor for the development of subsequent wheeze. However, the reasons for this link remain unclear. The objective of this research was to determine the consequences of early exposure to RSV and allergen in the development of subsequent airway hyperreactivity (AHR) using a developmental time point in the mouse that parallels that of the human neonate. Methods: Weanling mice were sensitized and challeged with ovalbumin (Ova) and/or infected with RSV. Eight days after the last allergen challenge, various pathophysiological endpoints were examined. Results: AHR …

Should Liability Play A Role In The Social Control Of Biobanks?, Larry I. Palmer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crisis, Farming And Community, Christine Hagar, C Haythornthwaite

Faculty Publications

In 2001, the UK was hit by Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) precipitating one of the biggest crises ever to affect the UK farming system. The crisis unfolded as a series of information and communication problems, from government to farmers and from farmers to farmers, with consequences for action in a time of crisis, social support, and the maintenance of community. What happens to a farming community during such a crisis? When the countryside shuts down, and no one can enter or leave the farm, how can information be disseminated? As methods of dealing with the disease change rapidly, as …

Preserving A Precious Resource: Rationalizing The Use Of Antibiotics, Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Prevention Conference Vii - Obesity, A Worldwide Epidemic Related To Heart Disease And Stroke: Executive Summary, Robert H. Eckel, David A. York, Stephan Rössner, Van Hubbard, Ian Caterson, Sachiko T. St. Jeor, Laura L. Hayman, Rebecca M. Mullis, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Mosquito In The Ointment: Adverse Hipaa Implications For Health-Related Remote Sensing Research And A "Reasonable" Solution, Paul M. Secunda

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Jumpstarting Phylogenetic Analysis, Mark J. Clement, Keith A. Crandall, Kevin Seppi, Quinn O. Snell

Faculty Publications

When a new epidemic strikes, it is often important to determine the relationship between the current organism and others that have been successfully treated previously. The phylogenetic analysis problem generates the most likely family tree for a group of organisms based on DNA sequence data. This process can take a prohibitively long period of time with current algorithms. If trees resulting from prior searches are used to seed the search, correct trees can be found much more quickly. This jumpstarting algorithm can generate superior phylogenetic solutions much more quickly than existing algorithms.

Genetic Analysis Of The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Ul20 Protein Domains Involved In Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment And Virus-Induced Cell Fusion, Jeffrey M. Melancon, Timothy P. Foster, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

The herpes simplex virus type 1 UL20 protein (UL20p) is an important determinant for cytoplasmic virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. To delineate the functional domains of the UL20 protein, we generated a panel of single and multiple (cluster) alanine substitutions as well as UL20p carboxyl-terminal truncations. The UL20 mutant genes could be broadly categorized into four main groups: Group I UL20 mutant genes complemented for both virus production and virus-induced cell fusion; Group II UL20 mutant genes did not complement for either virus-induced cell fusion or infectious virus production; Group II UL20 mutant genes complemented for virus-induced cell fusion …

The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Ul20 Protein Modulates Membrane Fusion Events During Cytoplasmic Virion Morphogenesis And Virus-Induced Cell Fusion, Timothy P. Foster, Jeffrey M. Melancon, Joel D. Baines, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

The herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) UL20 protein is an important determinant for virion morphogenesis and virus-induced cell fusion. A precise deletion of the UL20 gene in the HSV-1 KOS strain was constructed without affecting the adjacent UL20.5 gene. The resultant KOS/UL20-null virus produced small plaques of 8 to 15 cells in Vero cells while it produced wild-type plaques on the complementing cell line G5. Electron microscopic examination of infected cells revealed that the KOS/UL20-null virions predominantly accumulated capsids in the cytoplasm while a small percentage of virions were found as enveloped virions within cytoplasmic vacuoles. Recently, it was …

Muscular Fitness And All-Cause Mortality: Prospective Observations, Shannon J. Fitzgerald, Carolyn E. Barlow, James B. Kampert, James R. Morrow Jr., Allen W. Jackson, Steven N. Blair

Faculty Publications

Background: The beneficial effects of cardiorespiratory fitness on mortality are well known; however, the relation of muscular fitness, specifically muscular strength and endurance, to mortality risk has not been thoroughly examined. The purpose of the current study is to determine if a dose-response relation exists between muscular fitness and mortality after controlling for factors such as age and cardiorespiratory fitness.

Methods: The study included 9105 men and women, 20-82 years of age, in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study who have completed at least one medical examination at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, TX between 1981 and 1989. The exam included …

Overexpression Of Gk In Gk-Transformed Cells Collapses The Golgi Apparatus Into The Endoplasmic Reticulum Inhibiting Virion Egress, Glycoprotein Transport, And Virus-Induced Cell Fusion, Timothy P. Foster, Galena V. Rybachuk, Xavier Alvarez, Olga Borkhsenious, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Intracellular transport and egress of alphaherpesviruses require the coordinate function of multiple proteins and glycoproteins. Recently, we showed that gK is expressed on infected cell surfaces and that gK cell-surface expression required the presence of the UL20 protein [J. Virol. 77 (2003), 499]. Overexpression of gK by gK-transformed cells blocked transport of enveloped virions from perinuclear spaces and inhibited virus-induced cell fusion caused by gK syncytial mutants [J. Virol. 69 (1995), 5401]. Therefore, we investigated whether altered synthesis and transport of gK was responsible for the observed gK-mediated interference phenomena. HSV-1 infection of the gK-transformed cell line Vero (gK9) caused …

The Effect Of Density-Dependent Catastrophes On Population Persistence Time, Chris Wilcox, Bret Elderd

Faculty Publications

1. There has been increasing recognition that catastrophes are an important factor in modelling threatened populations. However, density dependence has generally been omitted from models of threatened populations on the assumption that this omission yields conservative predictions. We explore the significance of including density-dependent catastrophes in models of threatened populations. 2. Using an analytical model, we show that density-dependent catastrophes have a significant effect on population persistence, decreasing mean persistence time at large population sizes and causing a relative increase at intermediate sizes. 3. We illustrate our results with empirical data from a disease outbreak in crabeater seals Lobodon carcinophagus …

Maxizyme-Mediated Specific Inhibition On Mutant-Type P53 In Vitro, Xin Juan Kong, Yu Hu Song, Ju Sheng Lin, Huan Jun Huang, Nan Xia Wang, Nan Zhi Liu, Bin Li, You Xin Jin

Faculty Publications

Aim: To evaluate the specific inhibition of maxizyme directing against mutant-type p53 gene (mtp53) at codon 249 in exon 7 (AGG→AGT) in vitro. Methods: Two different monomers of anti-mtp53 maxizyme (maxizyme right MzR, maxizyme left MzL) and control mutant maxizyme (G5→A5) were designed by computer and cloned into vector pBSKU6 (pBSKU6MzR, pBSKU6MzL). After being sequenced, the restrictive endonuclease site in pBSKU6MzR was changed by PCR and then U6MzR was inserted into pBSKU6MzL, the recombinant vector was named pU6Mz and pU6asMz (mutant maxizyme). Mtp53 and wild-type p53 (wtp53) gene fragments were cloned into pGEM-T vector under the T7 promoter control. The …

Transmission Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Associated With Failed Completion Of Treatment For Latent Tuberculosis Infection - Chickasaw County, Mississippi, June 1999-March 2002, T. Chamblee, D. Hartley, M. Holcombe, K. Parham, P. Upchurch, R. M. Webb, Alyssa G. Robillard, L. Diem, B. Metchock, N. Deluca, P. D. Mcelroy, T. Navin, W. Walton, P. K. Dewan

Faculty Publications

During June 1999-March 2002, a total of 16 tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported from Chickasaw County, Mississippi (2000 population: 19,440), corresponding to annual TB incidences of 20.5-27.6 cases per 100,000 population. In comparison, annual TB incidences for Mississippi during the same period decreased from 7.8 to 5.4 cases per 100,000 population. This report summarizes the results of an investigation of the patients and their contacts and demonstrates the need for strategies to increase the proportion of infection contacts that successfully complete treatment for latent TB infection (LTBI).

Bacillus Anthracis Virulence In Guinea Pigs Vaccinated With Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed Is Linked To Plasmid Quantities And Clonality, Pamala R. Coker, Kimothy L. Smith, Patricia F. Fellows, Galena Rybachuck, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Martin E. Hugh-Jones

Faculty Publications

Bacillus anthracis is a bacterial pathogen of great importance, both historically and in the present. This study presents data collected from several investigations and indicates that B. anthracis virulence is associated with the clonality and virulence of plasmids pXO1 and pXO2. Guinea pigs vaccinated with Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed were challenged with 20 B. anthracis isolates representative of worldwide genetic diversity. These same isolates were characterized with respect to plasmid copy number by using a novel method of quantitative PCR developed for rapid and efficient detection of B. anthracis from environmental samples. We found that the copy numbers for both pXO1 …

Plasma Membrane Topology Of Syncytial Domains Of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Glycoprotein K (Gk): The Ul20 Protein Enables Cell Surface Localization Of Gk But Not Gk-Mediated Cell-To-Cell Fusion, Timothy P. Foster, Xavier Alvarez, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

Most spontaneously occurring mutations that cause extensive herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1)-induced cell fusion are single amino acid changes within glycoprotein K (gK). Despite the strong genetic association of gK with virus-induced cell fusion, its direct involvement in cellular membrane fusion has been controversial, largely due to previously unsuccessful efforts to detect gK expression on virion and cellular surfaces. Recently, we showed that gK is expressed on HSV-1 virions and functioned in virus entry (T. P. Foster, G. V. Rybachuk, and K. G. Kousoulas, J. Virol. 75:12431-12438, 2001). To determine whether gK is expressed on cellular surfaces, as well …

Natural Bovine Lentiviral Type 1 Infection In Holstein Dairy Cattle. I. Clinical, Serological, And Pathological Observations, T. G. Snider, B. F. Jenny, P. G. Hoyt, K. S. Coats, K. F. Graves, C. R. Cooper, R. W. Storts, D. G. Luther

Faculty Publications

Clinical, serological, and pathological abnormalities observed in Holstein cows naturally infected with bovine lentivirus 1 bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV) and other infections were progressive and most commonly associated with weight loss, lymphoid system deficiency, and behavioral changes. Clinical evidence of meningoencephalitis was dullness, stupor, and occasional head or nose pressing postures. The polymerase chain reactions associated the BIV provirus with the lesions in the central nervous system and lymphoid tissues. Multiple concurrent infections developed in retrovirally infected cows undergoing normal stresses associated with parturition and lactation. A major functional correlate of the lymphoreticular alterations was the development of multiple secondary …

Latcrit Vi, Outsider Jurisprudence And Looking Beyond Imagined Borders, Ediberto Román

Faculty Publications

The Sixth Annual LatCrit Conference (LatCrit VI) titled "Latinas/os and the Americas: Centering North-South Frameworks in LatCrit Theory," was the latest installment of the leading progressive scholarly movement addressing nonwhite critical jurisprudence.3 The goals of the conference were to explore the ties that bind Latinas/os residing in the United States to their homeland's societies and cultures, and to examine the impact of globalization on critical jurisprudential discourse.4 The conference was attended predominately by straight and gay law professors of color, including Latinas/os, African Americans, Asian Americans, and indigenous persons, most of whom describe themselves as LatCrits or more whimsically, LatCritters. …

Drug Wars In Black And White, Joseph E. Kennedy

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Identification Of A Streptolysin S-Associated Gene Cluster And Its Role In The Pathogenesis Of Streptococcus Iniae Disease, Jeffrey D. Fuller, Alvin C. Camus, Carla L. Duncan, Victor Nizet, Darrin J. Bast, Ronald L. Thune, Donald E. Low, Joyce C.S. De Azavedo

Faculty Publications

Streptococcus iniae causes meningoencephalitis and death in cultured fish species and soft-tissue infection in humans. We recently reported that S. iniae is responsible for local tissue necrosis and bacteremia in a murine subcutaneous infection model. The ability to cause bacteremia in this model is associated with a genetic profile unique to strains responsible for disease in fish and humans (J. D. Fuller, D. J. Bast, V. Nizet, D. E. Low, and J. C. S. de Azavedo, Infect. Immun. 69:1994-2000, 2001). S. iniae produces a cytolysin that confers a hemolytic phenotype on blood agar media. In this study, we characterized the …

Empirical Evidence And Malpractice Litigation, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

Critics of medical malpractice litigation believe that expert testimony is often anecdotal and biased. To remedy this problem, several have recently suggested that attorneys should provide and courts should seek reliable empirical evidence of actual clinical norms. Their suggestion should be welcomed. If our expectations are realistic and the design pitfalls are avoided, greater use of use of empirical research will improve the fairness of malpractice adjudication. At least in theory, it could be useful in both the "easy" cases (where it reveals that a consensus standard of care exists) and also some of the harder cases (where clinical practices …