Digital Commons Network^™

Immune Activation And Suppression By Group B Streptococcus In A Murine Model Of Urinary Tract Infection, Kimberly A. Kline, Drew J. Schwartz, Warren G. Lewis, Scott J. Hultgren, Amanda L. Lewis

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Population Dynamics And Niche Distribution Of Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli During Acute And Chronic Urinary Tract Infection, Drew J. Schwartz, Swaine L. Chen, Scott J. Hultgren, Patrick C. Seed

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Faculty Masthead, Mjlst Editorial Board

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

West Nile Virus Infection In Killer Whale, Texas, Usa, 2007, Judy St. Leger, Guang Wu, Mark Anderson, Les Dalton, Erika Nilson, David Wang

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Human Parvovirus 4 As Potential Cause Of Encephalitis In Children, India, Laura A. Benjamin, Penny Lewthwaite, Ravi Vasanthapuram, Guoyan Zhao, Colin Sharp, Peter Simmonds, David Wang, Tom Solomon

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Viral Protein Pul21a In Human Cytomegalovirus Infection, Anthony Fehr

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The double-stranded DNA virus human cytomegalovirus: HCMV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen that causes severe disease in immunocompromised individuals and neonates. The biology of HCMV remains largely undefined and functions of many of the roughly 200 putative HCMV genes are still unknown. One of these genes, UL21a, was shown to be critical for efficient viral replication in two large-scale mutagenesis studies. UL21a encodes for a putative protein that is 123 amino acids and has no homology to any known proteins. The gene products of UL21a, its role during infection, and its function(s) remain undefined. Here, we characterized UL21a and demonstrated …

Is3 Profiling Identifies The Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia Coli O-Island 62 In A Distinct Enteroaggregative E. Coli Lineage, Iruka N. Okeke, Louissa R. Macfarlane-Smith, Jonathan N. Fletcher, Anna M. Snelling

Biology Faculty Scholarship

We identify a marker for potentially pathogenic enteroaggregative Escherichia coli using a method that we devised that could be applied to similar problems in other organisms. --author-supplied description

Quinolone Resistance In Escherichia Coli From Accra, Ghana, Sreela S. Namboodiri '08, Japheth A. Opintan, Rebeccah S. Lijek '07, Iruka N. Okeke

Biology Faculty Scholarship

We documented for the first time the molecular basis for quinolone resistance in Ghana and the presence of horizontally disseminated genes conferring resistance to these drugs. --author-supplied description

Rapid Evolution Of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia Coli In Nigeria Is Temporally Associated With Fluoroquinolone Use, Adebayo Lamikanra, Jennifer L. Crowe, Rebeccah S. Lijek '07, Iruka N. Okeke

Biology Faculty Scholarship

The genetic basis for antimicrobial resistance was studied in fecal Escherichia coli isolates in a Nigerian community in parallel with antimicrobial use. The results showed that fluoroquinolones, and not chloroquine as has been hypothesized elsewhere, appear to be the selective force for fluoroquinolone-resistant fecal E. coli in this setting. Jennie Crowe and Rebeccah Lijek are student co-authors. --author-supplied description

Development Of An Elisa For Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus That Can Differentiate Infected From Vaccinated Horses, Andrea Bingham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) causes a fatal mosquito-borne virus that is vaccine preventable for horses. The conventional serological tests measure antibodies to the structural proteins of EEEV which are also found in the vaccine. This makes it difficult to differentiate infected and vaccinated animals (DIVA). Detection of antibodies to non-structural proteins (NSPs) is a theoretical strategy that would allow you to survey natural infections among vaccinated populations. This test would also allow for more accurate representations of the natural infection rate, vaccination rate, and help identify vaccine failures. The potential uses of the NSPs of Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus …

Natural Product Drug Discovery Against Tropical Diseases, Wai Sheung Ma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the isolation of secondary metabolites from natural origins through a series of chromatographic techniques and spectrometric characterization in the effort of drug discovery. The isolated compounds obtained were used as drug leads against tropical diseases, namely malaria and leishmaniasis. While first chapter offers an introduction on the use of a natural product by itself as an effective therapeutic and its role on inspiring the discovery of new drugs, the later chapters will concentrate on isolation and characterization of bioactive natural products from an Antarctic sponge and mangrove endophytic fungi during the dissertation work.

The second chapter describes …

Understanding The Psychosocial Aspects Of Waterpipe Smoking Among College Students, Mary Pautler Martinasek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waterpipe tobacco smoking has migrated from being a custom of some cultures to becoming a staple around college campuses. The social nature and flavored tobacco encourage initiation in this tobacco naïve age group.

The study was a sequential mixed method design, employing primary data collection and analysis of a random sample of university students who live on campus at a single university. The study involved observations (N=6), intercept interviews with smokers and nonsmokers (N=63), three focus groups (N=31), and an online survey (N=288).

Findings were centered on the constructs of the Theory of Reasoned Action by Ajzen and Fishbein (1975), …

A Medical Malpractice Model For Developing Countries?, Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article, written for the symposium "Reforming Medical Liability: Global Perspectives," evaluates the unique plight of developing countries in crafting medical liability regimes. Many developing countries struggle to maintain workable systems for adjudicating physician negligence. This is due to a variety of factors, such as widespread poverty, more pressing public health priorities that demand attention, a scarcity of physicians, immature health care systems, large informal health sectors, regulatory deficits, and weak civil societies, among others. Patients in these countries are also less able than their counterparts in well-developed countries to evaluate and challenge the care they receive and thus serve …

Molecular Phylogeny Of The Oestroidea, Baneshwar Singh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The superfamily Oestroidea includes approximately 9% (≈14,000 spp.) of the order Diptera. Many members of the superfamily are of medical, veterinary, agricultural, and forensic importance. Although Oestroidea has been the subject of much scientific scrutiny, the exact patterns of phylogenetic relationships among the key groups of the superfamily are unresolved and controversial. For a better understanding of oestroid evolutionary hypotheses, phylogenies of Oestroidea were reconstructed at several taxonomic levels using DNA sequence data. The specific aims were to determine the phylogeny of the 1) genus Chrysomya (Chrysomyinae); 2) subfamily Chrysomyinae (Calliphoridae); 3) family Oestridae (Oestroidea); and 4) family Calliphoridae (Oestroidea). …

The Relationship Between Overweight And Obesity And Acculturation Of 12- To 19-Year-Old Mexican American Children, Elsa Ramirez-Brisson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mexican Americans, one of the fastest growing segments of the population, have been identified as having above-average rates of obesity. Yet, among this group, obesity rates seem to differ by immigrant status: recent immigrants, immigrants who have lived in the United States more than 15 years, and U.S.-born Mexican Americans. Guided by the acculturation phenomenon and the social ecological model, the current study assessed all 1,732 Mexican American children 12-19 years old who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2008 to determine the association between body mass index (BMI) and language, years living in …

Synthesis And Antimicrobial Activities Of Some Bridged Bis-Benzimidazole Derivatives, Hasan Küçükbay, Ülkü Yilmaz, Ni̇hat Şi̇reci̇, Ayşe Ni̇lay Güvenç

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Some bis-benzimidazoles derivatives bearing allyl, crotyl, cinammyl, furfuryl, and thenyl groups were synthesized and their in vitro antimicrobial activity determined against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and fungi by disk-diffusion method. The structures of all new compounds were identified by ^1H-NMR, ^{13}C-NMR, and FT-IR spectroscopic techniques and elemental analysis. All the compounds synthesized in this work were examined for their in vitro antimicrobial activities against gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus megaterium) and gram-negative bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli), and the yeasts like fungi (Candida globrata and Candida tropicalis). Compared to the reference substances, Cefozine and nystatin, most of the compounds …

“All Must Combine In The Struggle Against The Microbes” Global Biopolitics And Twentieth-Century Health Organizations, Patrick Kothe

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The following paper explores the rise of global biopolitics by focusing on the League of Nations Health Organization (LNHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as pivot points around which an international system transitioned into a global system. The central thesis of the paper is that the LNHO served as the first true site of deployment for global discourses on health and hygiene, not as recent scholarship has suggested, the WHO. The purpose of the paper, however, is to provide an overview of the larger transformation of public health in the twentieth century, beginning with the proliferation of nineteenth-­‐century international …

Effect Of Stress, Emotional Lability And Depression On The Development Of Pregnancy Complications, Servitje, Estibalitz Laresgoiti Servitje

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Chronic stress and other emotional factors may have relevant impacts on pregnancy outcomes because they are related to neuroendocrine changes that lead to alterations in immunomodulation during pregnancy. In this quantitative prospective cross-sectional study, the relationship of emotional lability, depression, and stress during pregnancy and the development of preterm labor, preeclampsia, placental abruption, and low birth weight for gestational age babies was examined. Additionally, social support scores were compared to levels of stress/anxiety, depression, and emotional lability in pregnant women. Two hundred and forty two pregnant women who received prenatal services at the National Institute of Perinatology in Mexico City …

Structures, Roles And Relationships Within Public Health’S Response To The 2009-2010 H1n1 Outbreak: The Ties That Bind Public Information Officers And Emergency Risk Communication Efforts, Kathleen G. Vidoloff

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Little is known about the role of public health public information officers (PIOs) during public health emergencies. This study uses interpretative methods to learn about the organizational structures that facilitate and constrain emergency risk communication efforts during public health emergencies. Interpretive thematic comparative analysis of PIOs experiences and reflections about their involvement in the 2009-2010 H1N1 response will be used to illustrate how social interactions between and among PIOs, public health staff, and representatives from other agencies create implicit and explicit structures that facilitate and constrain emergency risk communication. The application of three specific concepts from structuration theory, namely, agent, …

Role Of Pi3k-Akt Pathway In The Age Associated Decline In Tlr Mediated Activation Of Innate And Adaptive Immune Responses, Mosoka Papa Fallah

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Immunosenescence results in reduced immune response to infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae as well as to pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines. The antibody response to the capsular polysaccharide (CPS) provides protection against S. pneumoniae infection. CPS immunoresponse is T cell independent and needs the macrophage-derived cytokines such as IL-12, IL-6 and IL-1β to elicit an antibody response. We showed a cytokine dysregulation, i.e. a decrease in IL-12, IL-6 and TNF-α but an increase in IL-10, in the aged (18-24 months old comparable to >65 years in human) compared to young adult mouse (8-12 weeks less than 65 years old) splenic macrophages (SM) or …

Evaluation Of Natural Antimicrobial Phenolic Compounds Against Foodborne Pathogens, Hayriye Cetin-Karaca

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Raw and processed foods are vulnerable to contamination during their production, distribution and sale. Thus, a wide variety of chemical preservatives are used in the food industry to prevent the growth of food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. However, health and economic concerns have led to an intensive search for natural alternatives, such as plant extracts, that can safely be used as substitutes for synthetic antimicrobials and preservatives to partially or completely inhibit the growth of bacteria.

This study evaluated the antimicrobial effects of natural phenolic compounds extracted from vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. The main objective was to determine the …

Differential Innate Immune Responses Correlate With The Contrasting Pathogenicity Of The Equine H7n7 Influenza Virus Demonstrated In Horses And Balb/C Mice, Liang Zhang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Equine influenza virus causes a mild, self-limiting upper respiratory disease in its natural host. In stark contrast, equine influenza viruses of the H7N7 subtype produce lethal infection in BALB/c mice. This dissertation explored the mechanism underlying the differential pathogenicity of the equine H7N7 influenza virus observed in horses and BALB/c mice. Initially, a comparative study of the pathogenesis was conducted in BALB/c mice inoculated intranasally with a representative isolate of either H7N7 or H3N8 subtype equine influenza virus. All H3N8 virus-infected mice survived the infection whereas 100% mortality was documented for the mice receiving the H7N7 virus by day 8 …

Constituents Of Plantago Major Subsp. Intermedia With Antioxidant And Anticholinesterase Capacities, Ufuk Kolak, Mehmet Boğa, Emi̇ne Akalin Uruşak, Ayhan Ulubelen

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The methanol extract of Plantago major subsp. intermedia (Gilib.) Lange afforded 4 known compounds, namely isomartynoside (1), 10-hydroxymajoroside (2), \beta -sitosterol (3), and ursolic acid (4). Their structures were established by spectroscopic methods. After determination of the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the methanol extract, the antioxidant potentials of the crude extract and isolated compounds 1-4 were determined by \beta -carotene bleaching, DPPH free radical and ABTS cation radical scavenging, and cupric reducing antioxidant capacity methods. The methanol extract, rich in phenolic contents, indicated the same DPPH free radical scavenging activity (72\% inhibition) as a standard compound, butylated hydroxytoluene, …

The Impact Of Infectious Disease On Chronic Disease: A Review Of Contemporary Findings, Wendy Berke

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Infectious diseases are among the top causes of death in adults and children. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer are among the top causes of death in adults. Associations between bacterial and viral infectious agents and subsequent development of chronic disease have been made in the past but are currently being reexamined with more rigor and specificity. This review examines infectious disease agent causes and associations with cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and neurodegenerative disease. These associations will impact future research, surveillance, treatment, and prevention of both infectious and chronic diseases.

Not Giving Back: The Social Exchange Concern Hypothesis Of Physical Disability Stigma, Thomas P. Dirth

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The phenomenon of physical disability stigma has been examined from many different perspectives, but a comprehensive theory of its functionality has yet to be tested. The evolutionary theory of stigma provides two compelling hypotheses, for stigma in general, and physical disability stigma in particular. The pathogen avoidance hypothesis maintains that stigma is an evolved response for protection against infectious diseases, whereas the social exchange concern hypothesis proposes that stigma serves to maximize fitness by cueing which interaction partners will contribute or detract most from one's well-being. The social exchange concern hypothesis frames physical disability stigma, especially, in a way that …

Towards A Cleaner Singapore: Sociological Study On Littering In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan, Narayanan Ganapathy, Daniel Goh, Everold Hosein

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Keeping Singapore clean has always been the priority of the National Environment Agency (NEA). We have made much progress over the years, but as Singapore's population grows amid changing demographics, littering remains a concern.

Advance (Fall 2011), Georgia Southern Division Of Continuing And Professional Education

Division of Continuing & Professional Education

No abstract provided.

Anaplasmataceae As Human Pathogens : Biology, Ecology And Epidemiology, Marina E. Eremeeva, Gregory A. Dasch

Environmental Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

This review describes the biology, ecology, and epidemiology of known human pathogens in the family Anaplasmataceae that are transmitted by ticks and belong to the genus Anaplasma and genus Ehrlichia. We discuss the current status of diagnosis and surveillance of the diseases they cause, and address the challenges and new perspectives raised due to continuous recognition of new emerging human pathogens in the family Anaplasmataceae.

Pakistan National Nutrition Survey, 2011, Zulfiqar A Bhutta, Sajid Bashir Soofi, S. Shujaat H Zaidi, Atif Habib, Imtiaz Hussain

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

No abstract provided.

Perception And Practices Of Breastfeeding Of Infants 0-6 Months In An Urban And A Semi-Urban Community In Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study, Sumera Ali, Syed Faizan Ali, Ayesha Mallick Imam, Samia Ayub, Abdul Gaffar Billoo

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

OBJECTIVE: To investigate mother's perception and practices about breastfeeding and their socio-demographic correlate in infants equal to or less than 6 months.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 200 mother-infant pairs who visited the health care centers, Bilal Colony (semi-urban) and the Aga Khan University (urban), for their well baby follow-ups and vaccination using convenient sampling. Frequencies and percentages were computed and Chi-square was used to find associations between socio-demographics of mothers and their perception and practices about breastfeeding.

RESULTS: Exclusive breastfeeding was reported by about 54% of the mothers. Thirty-five percent of the mothers gave prelacteal feed, …