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Atopy In Us-Mexico Border Elementary School Children: A Pilot Study, Julia Laura Alvarez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background and Significance. Atopy is a hypersensitivity disorder that mainly affects the mucous membranes and the skin. It is reported to be the most prevalent type of clinical allergy syndrome. Persons who have atopy suffer from various combinations of asthma, rhino-conjunctivitis and/or eczema. Atopy is defined as an inherited predisposition to generate IgE against common environmental allergens. Atopy is a type I hypersensitivity condition mediated by IgE immune response, while allergy is any excessive immune response to a foreign antigen. Thus, all atopic disorders are allergic response but some allergic conditions are not atopic per se.

The etiology of pediatric …

Experimental Study Of The Effects Of Green Tea, Alejandra Avila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background. Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by an intracellular parasite belonging to the genus Leishmania. The cutaneous form of the disease causes often significant disfigurement, accelerates progression to clinical AIDS and tuberculosis, and is associated with a number of adverse economic, psychosocial, and nutritional consequences. An estimated 350 million persons are at risk for this globally distributed disease and 1.5-2 million new cases occur annually. Leishmaniasis is endemic in 88 countries on five continents. It is distributed throughout most of the Americas ranging from southern Texas to northern Argentina. It is also regarded as a threat to the readiness …

Breaking The Silence: A Health Narratives Approach To Understanding Tuberculosis In El Paso, Texas, Angelica Forero-Quintana

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Tuberculosis is a chronic illness affecting people in El Paso, Texas. TB continues to be a disease of great concern along the US-México border. The TB rates in El Paso for 2008 and 2009 were 5.4 and 8.9 per 100,000 and 13.5 and 13.3 per 100,000 in Ciudad Juárez. The number of new TB cases in 2008 and 2009 for El Paso were 40 and 67 cases and in Ciudad Juárez, they were 311 and 306 cases (Moya, 2010). This study relied on interviews with fifteen people undergoing treatment for TB (and three of their children) using a health narratives …

Identification Of A Novel Cytokine Inducible Stat5 Phosphoserine Site (Ps193) That Positively Regulates Its Transcriptional Activity And Is Found Constitutively Activated In Certain Hematopoietic Cancers, Abhisek Mitra

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Hematological malignancies such as leukemia and lymphoma, can develop from aberrant changes in the cell signaling molecules to drive their uncontrolled cellular proliferation and differentiation. Activation, maturation, expansion and differentiation of T cells are critically regulated by the dynamics of various transcription factors activated by a variety of cytokines. Additionally, multiple effector molecules that mediate these T cells dependent signals include the JAK (Janus Kinase)-STAT (Signal transducer and activator of transcription) cascade. These signaling proteins are activated in response to a broad array of cytokines. Constitutively activated JAKs and STATs have been described in several T cell malignancies. A growing …

A Deadline-Driven Epidemic Data Collection Protocol Suitable For Tracking Interpersonnel Rendezvous, Avranil Tah

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis describes a peer-to-peer wireless data collection algorithm that uses epidemic communication to propagate time-sensitive sequentially sampled data records from sensors toward infrastructure connected upload stations via mobile data mules. These records are labeled with sequence numbers and delivery deadlines, and are transmitted in sequential order. Delivery deadlines enable transmission prioritization and trigger alarms warning of violations.

The sequential ordering of records simplifies the protocols transmission-control and garbage collection mechanisms: only two monotonically increasing scalar sequence indices associated with a particular sensor must be exchanged between peers prior to selecting which records need to be communicated. One of these …

Systematics Of The Genus Ptychadena Boulenger, 1917 (Anura: Ptychadenidae) From Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Katrina Marie Weber

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis increases the scope of previous phylogenetic analyses that revealed high levels of genetic differentiation within the anuran genus Ptychadena. Herein, I increase sampling of Central African populations of Ptychadena by over six times to examine their relationships to other African populations and to search for cryptic species. This study represents the most comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Ptychadena to date. A total of three mitochondrial (12S, 16S, and cyt b) and two nuclear (RAG1 and rhodopsin) genes were sequenced for 67 specimens of Ptychadena. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analyses were conducted. These analyses revealed …

Observer-Dependent Model For Analyzing Subjective Parameters In Epidemiology, Milad Zarei

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Although medical technologies for preventing the contagion and spread of infectious diseases have improved steadily throughout the last century, new infectious diseases are still emerging and spreading swiftly. The modeling of infectious disease spread is crucial in addressing the lack of predictive ability in epidemiology. Managing the spread of infectious diseases requires processing quantitative epidemiological data and the ability to capture the dynamics of the infectious disease in order to provide a measure of control.

In this thesis, I have introducing cognitive biases in diseases spread modeling. For the first time, to the author's knowledge, the human subjective experience has …

Tuberculosis And Stigma: Impacts On Health-Seeking Behaviors And Access In Ciudad Juarez, Mexico And El Paso, Texas., Eva Margarita Moya

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This exploratory research is a study of tuberculosis (TB) and health-related stigma which examines the experiences and perspectives on the disease from the vantage point of the Persons Affected by Tuberculosis (PATB). Research on the causes and sustainability of stigma will be useful to guide health and social interventions that reduce its effects. Also of importance is research that focuses on the behavioral and psychological as well as in the social context and dimensions of TB-related stigma. The personal experience of tuberculosis illustrates that an infectious disease entails much more than treatment involving medications, microbes and risk categories. Stigma associated …

The Interplay Between Host Cells And The Human Pathogen Trypanosoma Cruzi: Role Of Toll-Like Receptors, Lilian Lie Nohara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi is the etiologic agent of Chagas disease, a neglected infectious disease that is becoming a world health concern. This obligate intracellular parasite employs a diversity of molecules and strategies to successfully invade a wide variety of mammalian cells and modulate host immune responses, which are essential features for completion of its life cycle in the host. The major plasma membrane antigens of T. cruzi infective trypomastigote forms are glycosylphosphatidylinositol (tGPI)-anchored mucin-like glycoproteins. Although previous studies demonstrated that the proinflammatory responses induced by tGPIs are mediated by Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, the involvement of other TLRs …

Interactions Of The Cellular Sumoylation System With Influenza A Virus And Its Non-Structural Protein Ns1a (Ns1a), Sangita Pal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The most important current anti-influenza weapons, vaccination and antiviral drugs, can be rapidly rendered fully ineffective thanks to the virus's high mutational rate, which produces viruses exhibiting new antigenic properties and structural proteins insensitive to the drug's mechanism of action. One attractive alternative is to develop drugs that modulate the activity of cellular systems either required for viral growth or able to neutralize viral growth. Here we demonstrate that the cellular SUMOylation system, a post-translational modification involving the conjugation of the Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier (SUMO) to specific protein targets using a Ubiquitin-like enzymatic cascade, interacts closely with influenza virus during …

Health Risk And Health-Seeking Behaviors Of Migrant And Seasonal Farmworkers On The Us-Mexico Border, Claudia Delilah Saenz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background and Significance

The estimated 1–3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) employed in the U.S. play a crucial role in assuring the success of the multi-billion dollar agricultural industry and the nation's access to a safe and nutritious food supply. This predominantly Mexican immigrant occupational group is documented to be at–risk for chronic and infectious disease morbidity and premature mortality but published studies are limited which describe their reproductive/sexual health, mental health, substance abuse, and workplace violence situation. Prior studies are especially scant regarding U.S.–Mexico border MSFW.

Objectives and Hypothesis

The major objective of the pilot study was to …

Comparative Efficacy Of Seven Brands Of Albendazole Against Naturally Acquired Gastrointestinal Nematodes In Sheep In Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia, Bersissa Kumsa, Adugna Tolera, Ajebu Nurfeta

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of 7 brands of albendazole against gastrointestinal nematodes in naturally infected sheep in southern Ethiopia. The study included 120 local breed male sheep purchased in Hawassa. The sheep were divided into 8 groups of 15 animals each. Group 1 served as the untreated control, whereas groups 2-8 were treated with ABZ1, ABZ2, ABZ3, ABZ4, ABZ5, ABZ6, and ABZ7, respectively. Fecal samples were collected before treatment on day 0, and again on post-treatment day 12. The efficacy of all 7 brands of albendazole was determined on post-treatment day 12 based on the fecal egg …

Phospholipase D Signaling In T Cells, Uma Chandrasekaran

Dissertations

Antigen stimulation of T lymphocytes induces the activation of phospholipase D (PLD) signaling. Phospholipase D (PLD) is a phosphodiesterase that catalyzes the conversion of phosphatidyl choline (PC) to phosphatidic acid (PA). PA is an important lipid second messenger and is known to mediate a variety of cellular functions. However, the specific role of PA in T lymphocytes has not been established. Previous studies indicated differential requirement for TCR induced PLD signaling in regulatory and non-regulatory T cells. Inhibition of TCR induced PLD signal preferentially suppressed the growth of non-regulatory T cells while allowing the proliferation of regulatory T cells in …

B Lymphocyte Development In Galt, Venkata Arunachalam Yeramilli

Dissertations

In rabbits, the primary antibody repertoire is generated in the gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT), where bone marrow (BM)-derived B cells undergo a proliferative expansion and somatically diversify the immunoglobulin genes. Unlike in other species, B lymphopoiesis in rabbit arrests a few months after birth, and it is unclear how the peripheral B cell compartment is maintained when there is no influx of newly-made B cells from the BM.

For my dissertation, I investigated how B cells develop in the GALT of rabbits, and how they are maintained in adults after the arrest of lymphopoiesis. To identify cellular signals that promote …

Ethanol Impairs Mechanisms Of Macrophage Phagocytosis And Cytokine Production, John Karavitis

Dissertations

Extensive evidence indicates that alcohol (ethanol) consumption affects human health by altering normal physiological functions of the immune system. This study investigated the effect of a single in vivo exposure of macrophages to clinically relevant levels of ethanol (1.2 and 2.2 g/kg). Following 3 hour exposure, both doses of ethanol decreased ex vivo TNFα production by splenic and alveolar macrophages (AMs). Interestingly, the higher dose of ethanol resulted in sustained suppression of LPS-induced TNFα production at 3 and 6 hours post ethanol administration, as well as decreased IL-6 and IL-12 production after 6 hours, compared control treated groups. LPS or …

Characterization Of Tram, A Required Bacteroides Fragilis Conjugal Apparatus Protein That Interacts With The B. Fragilis Putative Coupling Protein Bcta And The B. Fragilis Relaxase Protein Bmph, Mai Thi Thanh Nguyen

Dissertations

Bacteroides spp. organisms, the most prominent bacteria of the human colon, are reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes which promiscuously transfer within and from the genus via conjugation. The B. fragilis clinical isolate LV23 harbors a 37kb conjugative transposon, BTF-37. Two important conjugal apparatus proteins encoded by BTF-37 are BctA, a predicted coupling protein (CP) that powers DNA translocation, and ORF7 (TraM). In this study, we demonstrated that TraM exhibits characteristics of a required conjugal apparatus protein including 1) upregulated expression under conjugation conditions; 2) localization to the bacterial inner membrane; 3) interaction with the putative coupling protein BctA and the …

Quality Of Life And Health Outcomes In Overweight And Non-Overweight Children With Asthma., Amy Becker Manion

Dissertations

Over the last two decades the number of children and adolescents who are overweight has more than doubled. Currently, an estimated 18 percent of children and adolescents ages 6-19 years are overweight. Following this trend in childhood overweight, there has been an alarming increase in the number of children with asthma who are overweight. The increasing trend in both asthma and overweight has led to the suggestion of a causal relationship between the two. Childhood overweight has been found to have a profound negative impact on quality of life (QOL), yet there is a dearth of research regarding the impact …

Improved Detection Of Bartonella Dna In Mammalian Hosts And Arthropod Vectors By Real-Time Pcr Using The Nadh Dehydrogenase Gamma Subunit (Nuog), James M. Colborn, Michael Y. Kosoy, Vladimir L. Motin, Maxim V. Telepnev, Gustavo Valbuena, Khin S. Myint, Yuri Fofanov, Catherine Putonti, Chen Feng, Leonard Peruski

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

We used a whole-genome scanning technique to identify the NADH dehydrogenase gamma subunit (nuoG) primer set that is sensitive and specific enough to detect a diverse number of Bartonella species in a wide range of environmental samples yet maintains minimal cross-reactivity to mammalian host and arthropod vector organisms.

Redressing The Unconscionable Health Gap: A Global Plan For Justice, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Consider two children—one born in sub-Saharan Africa and the other in the United States. The African child is twenty-five times more likely to die in the first five years of life; if she lives to child-bearing age, she is a two hundred times more likely to die in labor; and overall, she will die thirty years earlier than the American child. The international community is deeply resistant to taking bold remedial action—more concerned with their geostrategic interests than the health of the poor. The scale of foreign aid is both insufficient and unsustainable and fails to address the key determinants …

Population Pharmacokinetics And Pharmacodynamics Of Artemether And Lumefantrine During Combination Treatment In Children With Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria In Tanzania, S.F. Hietala, A. Martensson, B. Ngasala, S. Dahlstrom, N. Lindegardh, A. Annerberg, Zul Premji, A. Farnert, P. Gil, A. Bjorkman, M. Ashton

Pathology, East Africa

The combination of artemether (ARM) and lumefantrine is currently the first-line treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in mainland Tanzania. While the exposure to lumefantrine has been associated with the probability of adequate clinical and parasitological cure, increasing exposure to artemether and the active metabolite dihydroartemisinin (DHA) has been shown to decrease the parasite clearance time. The aim of this analysis was to describe the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of artemether, dihydroartemisinin, and lumefantrine in African children with uncomplicated malaria. In addition to drug concentrations and parasitemias from 50 Tanzanian children with falciparum malaria, peripheral parasite densities from 11 asymptomatic children were …

Structure-Function Relationship Studies Of The Udp-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase From Escherichia Coli, Agnieszka Maria Orlof

Master's Theses

UDP-Glucose Pyrophosphorylase (UDP-Glc PPase) is a key enzyme of the carbohydrate metabolic pathway widely used among prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In plants, UDP-Glc PPase is necessary for sucrose synthesis while mammals utilize this enzyme for the production of glycogen. A bacterium such as Escherichia coli uses UDP-Glc PPase for biosynthesis of the lipopolysscharide core which forms a cell wall.

This study focused on UDP-Glc PPase from Escherichia coli which is encoded by both galU and galF genes. The first part of this project investigated amino acids that could play an important role in the function of UDP Glc PPase (GalU). Based …

Functional And Phenotypical Analysis Of The Effects Of Aging On B Cells And Their Bone Marrow Microenvironment, Nicole May Ziegler

Master's Theses

Aging impacts multiple organ systems, and specifically causes the immune system to lose its ability to efficiently fight off infections. Regarding immunity, aging research predominantly focuses on the adaptive immune system. B cells, which mediate the humoral arm of the adaptive immune system, develop throughout life in the bone marrow where microenvironmental `niches' are important. The bone marrow does not exactly `atrophy' with age; however, studies comparing young and old mice demonstrate an age-related change in the bone marrow B cell subpopulations.

The overall goal was to determine if femoral and sternum bone marrow have different plasma cell composition and …

Hepatic Failure, Neonatal Hemochromatosis And Porto-Pulmonary Hypertension In A Newborn With Trisomy 21 - A Case Report, Erin Neil, Josef Cortez, Aparna Joshi, Erawati V. Bawle, Janet Poulik, Mark Zilberman, Mohammad F. El-Baba, Beena G. Sood

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Liver failure in neonates is a rare but often fatal disease. Trisomy 21 is not usually associated with significant infantile liver disease. If present, hepatic dysfunction in an infant with Trisomy 21 is likely to be attributed to transient myeloproliferative disorder with hepatic infiltration by hematopoietic elements and may be associated with secondary hemosiderosis. A less commonly recognized cause of liver failure in neonates with Trisomy 21 is neonatal hemochromatosis (NH); this association has been reported in nine cases of Trisomy 21 in literature. NH is a rare, severe liver disease of intra-uterine onset that is characterized by neonatal …

From The Bottle To The Grave: Realizing A Human Right To Breastfeeding Through Global Health Policy, Benjamin Mason Meier, Miriam Labbok

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Maternal Age At Birth And Childhood Type 1 Diabetes: A Pooled Analysis Of 30 Observational Studies, Chris R. Cardwell, Lars C. Stene, Geir Joner, Max K. Bulsara, Ondrej Cinek, Joachim Rosenbauer, Johnny Ludvigsson, Mireia Jané, Jannet Svensson, Michael J. Goldacre, Thomas Waldhoer, Przamyslawa Jarosz-Chobot, Suely Ga Gimeno, Lee-Ming Chuang, Roger C. Parslow, Emma Jk Wadsworth, Amanda Chetwynd, Paolo Pozzilli, Girts Brigis, Brone Urbonaitė, Sandra Sipetic, Edith Schober, Gabriele Devoti, Constantin Ionescu-Tirgoviste, Carine E. De Beaufort, Denka Stoyanov, Karsten Buschard, Chris C. Patterson

Medical Papers and Journal Articles

Objective: To investigate whether children born to older mothers have an increased risk of type 1 diabetes by performing a meta-analysis using individual patient data to adjust for recognised confounders.

Research design and methods: Relevant studies published before June 2009 were identified from MEDLINE, Web of Science and EMBASE. Authors of studies were contacted and asked to provide individual patient data or conduct pre-specified analyses. Risk estimates of type 1 diabetes by category of maternal age were calculated for each included study, before and after adjustment for potential confounders. Meta-analysis techniques were used to derive combined odds ratios, and investigate …

A Case Study Of Universal Design For Learning Applied In The College Classroom, Marie E. Leichliter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the landscape of education and the demographics of the postsecondary classroom continue to evolve, so too must the teaching practices at our nation's institutions of higher education. This study follows an instructor who has evolved to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) techniques into her classroom, even though prior to participation in this research study, she had not heard of UDL. UDL is a flexible framework used to design curricula that enable all learners to acquire knowledge, skills, and motivation to learn. This qualitative, descriptive case study addressed how and to what extent UDL techniques are being implemented in …

Psychosocial Correlates Of Adherence To Antiretroviral Therapy (Art) In People Living With Hiv In Kenya, Thomas M. Kamau

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of A Professional Development Program On Teacher Knowledge And Practice To Address Adolescent Health Issues, Narima Aliya Shahabudeen

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Knowledge, Attitudes And Practices Of Medical Students Regarding Needle Stick Injuries, Taimur Saleem, Umair Khalid, Sidra Ishaque, Afia Zafar

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Objective: To ascertain knowledge, attitude and practices of medical students regarding needle stick injuries.
Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among the consenting medical students of 3rd, 4th and 5th years at a teaching hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. Convenience sampling was used. Pre-tested questionnaires were administered to approximately 70% of each class. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. Associations were assessed using chi-square test and Fisher's exact test. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as significant.
Results: The response rate of the survey was 85.7%. Sixty one students (33.9%) were from 3rd and 4th year each while 58 students (32.2%) were …

Reporting Hiv In Papua New Guinea: Trends And Omissions From 2000 To 2010, Trevor A. Cullen

Research outputs pre 2011

This article presents the findings from a longitudinal content analysis on the reporting of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) in Papua New Guinea’s two national newspapers—The National and Post-Courier—in 2000, 2005 and 2010. The authors tried to answer two key questions: Did press coverage of the disease increase and did the topics change or remain the same? Data from the content analysis showed that coverage of the disease increased significantly during the ten-year study period, and that the framing of the disease moved beyond representing HIV as purely a health story to one that was linked to socio-economic conditions and cultural …