Digital Commons Network^™

Oversight Of Dual-Use Biological Research: The National Science Advisory Board For Biosecurity, Dana A. Shea

Congressional Research Service Reports

Policymakers have addressed the threat of biological weapons and biosecurity issues for many years. An issue garnering increased attention is the potential for life sciences research intended to enhance scientific understanding and public health to generate results that could be misused to advance biological weapon effectiveness. Such research has been called “dual-use” research because of its applicability to both biological countermeasures and biological weapons.

The federal government is a major source of life sciences research funding. Tension over the need to maintain homeland security and support scientific endeavor has led to renewed consideration of federal policies of scientific oversight. Balancing …

The Effect Of Job Strain In The Hospital Environment: Applying Orem's Theory Of Self Care, Diane Andrews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the causal relationships between job strain, the practice environment and the use of coping skills in order to assist in the prediction of nurses who are at risk for voluntary turnover. It was conducted at the level of the individual nurse employee in order to better understand the health consequences associated with job strain, the factors in the professional practice environment which may contribute to the propensity to leave and the influence of coping behaviors in response to workplace stressors. It was undertaken with the intention of identifying intervention strategies which will …

On Modeling Hiv Infection Of Cd4+ T Cells, Amy Comerford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We examine an early model for the interaction of HIV with CD4+ T cells in vivo and define possible parameters and effects of said parameters on the model. We then examine a newer, more simplified model for the interaction of HIV with CD4+ T cells that also considers four populations: uninfected T cells, latently infected T cells, actively infected T cells, and free virus. The stability of both the disease free steady state and the endemically infected steady state are examined utilizing standard methods and the Routh-Hurwitz criteria. We show that if N, the number of infectious virions produced per …

“River Of Life, Rapids Of Change”: Understanding Hiv Vulnerability Among Two-Spirit Youth Who Migrate To Toronto, Doris O'Brien Teengs, Robb Travers

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Like most large urban centres in Canada, Toronto is a magnet for two-spirit youth who leave reserve communities and smaller cities and towns seeking safety and a sense of community. The Youth Migration Project was a community-based research project that was formed out of increasing community concern for these youth as well as other lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people. Despite increasing HIV incidence among two-spirit youth, little is understood about how their migration experiences might heighten their risk for HIV infection. We interviewed thirteen two-spirit youth to better understand how migrating to a large urban centre like Toronto …

International And Industry Partnerships Building Nursing Capacity In Thailand, Marita Sealey, Cobie Rudd, Christopher Churchouse

EDU-COM International Conference

A newly formed partnership between Edith Cowan University, the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand, a College of Nursing and two major hospitals in Bangkok is building capacity within Thai Nurses to manage mental health problems and HIV/AIDS. The partnership, funded through the AusAID Public Sector Linkages Program is developing and delivering these training programs in three phases. The first two phases support the development of the curriculum and planning for the course delivery, with Phase 3 being the delivery of a four month certificate course in each of the specialist areas, mental health and HIV/AIDS, to local Thai Nurses. …

Reservoir Competency Of Goats For The Ap-Variant 1 Strain Of Anaplasma Phagocytophilum, Robert F. Massung, Thomas N. Mather, Michael L. Levin

Past Departments Faculty Publications (CELS)

Field-collected ticks were used to infect goats with either Ap-ha, a strain associated with human disease, or a variant strain, Ap-Variant 1, of Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Goats were shown to be competent as a reservoir for Ap-Variant 1, and challenge and immunosuppression studies were used to further examine infection in the goat model.

Comparison Of Severity Of Illness Scoring Systems For Patients With Nosocomial Bloodstream Infection Due To Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Alexandre R. Marra, Gonzalo M. L. Bearman, Richard P. Wenzel, Michael B. Edmond

Internal Medicine Publications

Background

Several acute illness severity scores have been proposed for evaluating patients on admission to intensive care units but these have not been compared for patients with nosocomial bloodstream infection (nBSI). We compared three severity of illness scoring systems for predicting mortality in patients with nBSI due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Methods

We performed a historical cohort study on 63 adults in intensive care units with P. aeruginosamonomicrobial nBSI.

Results

The Acute Physiology, Age, Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), and Simplified Acute Physiologic Score (SAPS II), were calculated daily from 2 days prior …

Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome In Adult Patients With Nosocomial Bloodstream Infections Due To Enterococci, Katharine Bar, Hilmar Wisplinghoff, Richard P. Wenzel, Gonzalo M. L. Bearman, Michael B. Edmond

Internal Medicine Publications

Background Enterococci are the third leading cause of nosocomial bloodstream infection (BSI). Vancomycin resistant enterococci are common and provide treatment challenges; however questions remain about VRE's pathogenicity and its direct clinical impact. This study analyzed the inflammatory response of Enterococcal BSI, contrasting infections from vancomycin-resistant and vancomycin-susceptible isolates.

Methods We performed a historical cohort study on 50 adults with enterococcal BSI to evaluate the associated systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and mortality. We examined SIRS scores 2 days prior through 14 days after the first positive blood culture. Vancomycin resistant (n = 17) and susceptible infections (n = 33) were …

Nosocomial Bloodstream Infections Caused By Klebsiella Pneumoniae: Impact Of Extended-Spectrum Β-Lactamase (Esbl) Production On Clinical Outcome In A Hospital With High Esbl Prevalence, Alexandre R. Marra, Sérgio B. Wey, Adauto Castelo, Ana Cristina Gales, Guilherme R. Cal, José R. Do Carmo Filho, Michael B. Edmond, Carlos Alberto Pires Pereira

Internal Medicine Publications

Background The frequency of ESBL producing Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infections (BSI) is high in Brazilian hospitals, however little is known regarding what role, if any, resistance plays in the expected outcome in hospitals with a high prevalence of these pathogens.

Methods From 1996 to 2001, hospital acquired K. pneumoniae BSI were evaluated retrospectively. Each patient was included only once at the time of BSI. ESBL producing strains were identified using the E-test method. The association of variables with the mortality related to bacteremia was included in a stepwise logistic regression model.

Results One hundred and eight hospital acquired K. pneumoniae …

Nectin-2-Mediated Entry Of A Syncytial Strain Of Herpes Simplex Virus Via Ph-Independent Fusion With The Plasma Membrane Of Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells, Mark G. Delboy, Jennifer L. Patterson, Aimee M. Hollander, Anthony V. Nicola

Microbiology and Immunology Publications

Background

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) can utilize multiple pathways to enter host cells. The factors that determine which route is taken are not clear. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells that express glycoprotein D (gD)-binding receptors are model cells that support a pH-dependent, endocytic entry pathway for all HSV strains tested to date. Fusion-from-without (FFWO) is the induction of target cell fusion by addition of intact virions to cell monolayers in the absence of viral protein expression. The receptor requirements for HSV-induced FFWO are not known. We used the syncytial HSV-1 strain ANG path as a tool to evaluate the complex …

Surgical Infection Society Guidelines For Vaccination After Traumatic Injury, Thomas R. Howdieshell, Daithi Heffernan, Joseph T. Dipiro

Publications from the Office of the Dean

Background: Recommendations for vaccination of injured patients against infection are evolving. Newly-recognized infections, safety considerations, changing epidemiology, and redefinition of patient groups at risk are factors that may influence vaccine development priorities and recommendations for immunization. However, recommendations must often be formulated based on incomplete data, forcing reliance on expert opinion to address some crucial questions. These guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for the prevention or treatment of infectious morbidity and mortality after traumatic injury, such as soft tissue wounds, human or animal bites, or after splenectomy.

Methods: A panel of experts conducted a thorough review of published literature, …

Antigen Targeting To Dendritic Cells Elicits Long-Lived T Cell Help For Antibody Responses, Silvia B. Boscardin, Julius C.R. Hafalla, Revati F. Masilamani

Publications

Resistance to several prevalent infectious diseases requires both cellular and humoral immune responses. T cell immunity is initiated by mature dendritic cells (DCs) in lymphoid organs, whereas humoral responses to most antigens require further collaboration between primed, antigen-specific helper T cells and naive or memory B cells. To determine whether antigens delivered to DCs in lymphoid organs induce T cell help for antibody responses, we targeted a carrier protein, ovalbumin (OVA), to DCs in the presence of a maturation stimulus and assayed for antibodies to a hapten, (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl) acetyl (NP), after boosting with OVA-NP. A single DC-targeted immunization elicited long-lived …

Immunogenicity And Efficacy Of Immunodeficiency Virus-Like Particles Pseudotyped With The G Protein Of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus, Seraphin Kuate, Christiane P. Stahl-Hennig, Heribert Stoiber

Publications

Vaccination with exogenous antigens such as recombinant viral proteins, immunodeficiency virus-derived whole inactivated virus particles, or virus-like particles (VLP) has generally failed to provide sufficient protection in animal models for AIDS. Pseudotyping VLPs with the vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSV-G), which is known to mediate entry into dendritic cells, might allow more efficient stimulation of immune responses. Therefore, we pseudotyped noninfectious immunodeficiency virus-like particles with VSV-G and carried out a preliminary screen of their immunogenicity and vaccination efficacy. Incorporation of VSV-G into HIV-1 VLPs led to hundred-fold higher antibody titers to HIV-1 Gag and enhancement of T cell responses …

Dendritic Cell Targeting Of Survivin Protein In A Xenogeneic Form Elicits Strong Cd4+ T Cell Immunity To Mouse Survivin, Anna Charalambous, Margarita Oks, Godwin W. Nchinda

Publications

To determine whether strong CD4⁺ T cell immunity could be induced to a nonmutated self protein that is important for tumorigenesis, we selectively targeted the xenogencic form of survivin, a survival protein overexpressed in tumors, to maturing dendritic cells in lymphoid tissues. Dendritic cell targeting via the DEC205 receptor in the presence of anti-CD40 and poly(I:C) as maturation stimuli, induced strong human and mouse survivin-specific CD4⁺ T cell responses, as determined by IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-2 production, as well as the development of lytic MHC class II-restricted T cells and memory. Immunity was enhanced further by depletion of …

Boosting Science Learning - What Will It Take?, Russell Tytler, David Symington

2006 - Boosting Science Learning - What will it take?

In this session Russell Tytler and David Symington will present some data they have gathered from three sources: scientists working in some of Australia’s Research Priority Areas, science graduates working in positions outside their discipline specialisation, and students studying sciences at Year 11. The presenters will explain why they chose to interview these quite different groups of people and give some indication of why they believe the data is relevant to the question driving the conference: Boosting science learning – what will it take? There will then be group discussion drawing on the views and experiences of the group members …

Exploring The Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence And Hiv Risk Propensity In African American Women, Lauren Lois Josephs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Risk-Propensity in African-American women. Current literature on HIV reveals that one of the groups most seriously impacted by the continued scourge of HIV is African-American heterosexual women. An anonymous questionnaire was completed by a community based sample of 200 African American women with a varied history of intimate partner violence to (1) explore whether a relationship exists between Intimate Partner Violence and sexual coercion in African-American women (2) determine whether a relationship exists between sexual coercion and HIV Risk in African-American women (3) determine if the frequency of intimate …

Idcr: Infectious Diseases In Corrections Report, Vol. 9 No. 1, Infectious Diseases In Corrections

Infectious Diseases in Corrections Report (IDCR)

No abstract provided.

College Of Osteopathic Medicine Program Overview, Nova Southeastern University

Health Professions Divisions Course Catalogs and Course Descriptions

No abstract provided.

“Major Sponsored Program And Faculty Awards For Research And Creative Activity For 2005

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

I am pleased to present the fourth annual “Major Sponsored Program and Faculty Awards for Research and Creative Activity” report. This booklet highlights the successes of University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty during 2005. The funding sources, projects and investigators on major sponsored program awards received during the year are listed, as well as patents issued, published books and scholarship, fellowships and other recognitions. New this year are intellectual property licenses and performances and exhibitions in the fine and performing arts. The list is impressive and continues to grow each year—further evidence the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is on the move! We work …

Visiting Nurse Association Marketing Plan : Meningitis Disease Awareness Program Targeting Adolescents And Young Adults, Kristen Yahn

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This project is a marketing plan designed for the Visiting Nurse Association's meningitis outreach program. The purpose of this resource is to improve outreach to adolescents, young adults, and their parents. Resources include: a list of contacts, sample letters to parents and schools, newspaper articles regarding meningitis, a power point presentation designed for the community, sample surveys, 2006 survey results, a timeline for the project to follow, and recommendations for the future.

Distributions Of Exotic Plants In Eastern Asia And North America, Qinfeng Guo, Hong Qian, Robert E. Ricklefs, Weimin Xi

United States Geological Survey, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Publications

Although some plant traits have been linked to invasion success, the possible effects of regional factors, such as diversity, habitat suitability, and human activity are not well understood. Each of these mechanisms predicts a different pattern of distribution at the regional scale. Thus, where climate and soils are similar, predictions based on regional hypotheses for invasion success can be tested by comparisons of distributions in the source and receiving regions. Here, we analyse the native and alien geographic ranges of all 1567 plant species that have been introduced between eastern Asia and North America or have been introduced to both …

Primaquine: Report From Cdc Expert Meeting On Malaria Chemoprophylaxis I, David R. Hill, J. Kevin Baird, Monica E. Parise, Linda S. Lewis, Edward T. Ryan, Alan J. Magill

United States Navy: Publications

Primaquine phosphate has been used for preventing relapse of Plasmodium vivax and P. ovale malaria since the early 1950s, based on its ability to kill latent (hypnozoite) and developing liver stages of these parasites. There are three uses for primaquine in malaria: radical cure of established infection with P. vivax or P. ovale malaria; presumptive anti-relapse therapy (PART; terminal prophylaxis) in persons with extensive exposure to these parasites; and primary prophylaxis against all malaria species. All persons for whom primaquine is being considered must have a glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) enzyme level checked before use, and persons who have a deficiency …

On Hastening Death Without Violating Legal And Moral Prohibitions, Norman L. Cantor

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

In Love With Life: An American Dream Of A Luxembourger, Edmond Israel, Raymond Flammant, Center For Christian Jewish Understanding

Sacred Heart University Press Books

Based on the author's La vie, passionnément. French edition published in 2004 by Editions Saint Paul, Luxembourg.

On cover and title page: Pampered child, Refugee, Factory Worker, International Banker: New Thinking.

The unprecedented problems that challenge most of our major institutions and our traditional ways of doing things are so new that few of us have the courage or even the capacity to consider them. Yet Edmond Israel enthusiastically relishes the opportunity to think differently and boldly about how to hold our problems together in creative tension and wrestle with them until moral and efficient solutions can be found. …

Besafe - American Indian, Alaska Native, And Native Hawaiian Model Book, Nmaetc Staff

National Minority AIDS Education and Training Center Publications

Softback cultural competency book detailing the BESAFE model for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian populations, 6.75 inches by 9.5 inches.

Critique Of Pure Risk Assessment Or, Kant Meets Tarasoff, Douglas Mossman Md

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This Article takes a "critical" approach to the assumptions underlying current practices of violence risk assessment. The Article first explicates a fundamental difference between how mental health researchers now interpret the phrase "violence prediction" and how they understood that phrase in the 1970s. Applying a "critical" approach, the Article then shows that courts and mental health professionals may need to abandon the hope that more accurate methods of predicting violence will help clinicians make better decisions about potential violence. Although this result may seem disappointing, it can liberate mental health professionals from regarding patients as statistical sources of risk and …

Identification And Characterization Of A Hemolysin Gene Cluster In Vibrio Anguillarum, Jessica L. Rock, David R. Nelson

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Vibrio anguillarum is a causative agent of vibriosis in fish. Hemolytic activity has been suggested as a virulence factor by contributing to hemorrhagic septicemia and diarrhea. In order to identify and characterize the hemolysin genes and examine the role of hemolytic activity in virulence, a mini-Tn10Kan mutagenesis clone bank of V. anguillarum was screened. While no hemolysin-negative strains were observed, several mutants with two- to threefold-increased hemolytic activity were found. The region containing the insertion mutation was cloned, sequenced, and found to contain the V. anguillarum hemolysin (vah1) and two other open reading frames, coding for …

Complications Of Brucella Infection Among Adults: An 18-Year Retrospective Evaluation, Mustafa Ertek, Hali̇l Yazgi, Ayten Kadanali, Kemaletti̇n Özden, Mehmet Akin Taşyaran

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Aim: Brucellosis is a systemic infection in which any organ or system of the body can be involved. We evaluate here complications and involvement of Brucella infection in Erzurum, Turkey. Materials and Methods: We analyzed retrospectively 216 adult (89 female and 127 male) cases of brucellosis who were diagnosed and treated in the Infectious Disease Clinic of Atatürk University Research Hospital from 1985 to 2002. The diagnosis was based on clinical findings and serologic results and/or blood culture confirmations. Results: All isolates from cultures were identified as Brucella melitensis biotype 1. Skeletal complications were the most frequent, found in 147 …

2006 Celebration Of Inquiry Program, Coastal Carolina University

Celebration of Inquiry

5th Celebration of Inquiry, February 15-17, 2006. Theme: Living the Questions: Creating, Connecting, Changing

Profiling Helper T Cell Subset Gene Expression In Deer Mice, Lauren Oko, Bethany Aduddell-Swope, Derall Willis, Robyn Hamor, Teresa A. Coons, Brian Hjelle

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) are the most common mammals in North America and are reservoirs for several zoonotic agents, including Sin Nombre virus (SNV), the principal etiologic agent of hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) in North America. Unlike human HCPS patients, SNV-infected deer mice show no overt pathological symptoms, despite the presence of virus in the lungs. A neutralizing IgG antibody response occurs, but the virus establishes a persistent infection. Limitations of detailed analysis of deer mouse immune responses to SNV are the lack of reagents and methods for evaluating such responses.

RESULTS: We developed real-time PCR-based detection assays for …