Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling The Zoonotic Transmission Dynamics Of Nipah Virus: Implications For Outbreak Control And Model-Guided Fieldwork, Natasha Wenzel

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Nipah virus is considered a biosafety level-4 pathogen that is endemic to bats of the genus Pteropus. Infection in humans presents clinically as febrile encephalitis with an extremely high case-fatality rate (78.2%). Outbreaks of Nipah virus infection have occurred in Bangladesh and India almost annually since 2001, most recently in January 2013.

Methods: To elucidate Nipah virus persistence at the endemic host and human population level we developed a Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered dynamic model and parameterized it from published epidemiological case data and serological bats surveys on the Nipah Virus-Bangladesh variant. We conducted a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation to estimate …

Epidemiology, Risk Factors, And Effectiveness Of Treatment Of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever In Turkey, 2007-2012, Eda Akyar

Public Health Theses

Objective: Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is caused by a Nairovirus of the Bunyaviridae family. It was first reported in Turkey in 2002. Infections commonly result from bites from ticks of Hyalomma marginatum marginatum or Rhipicephalus bursa species. Nosocomial infections also occur. CCHF infection occurs in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. No vaccine exists and the effectiveness of ribavirin treatment remains controversial. This study's objective was to identify significant epidemiological, environmental, and clinical risk factors associated with disease and death caused by CCHF in Turkey. This study also evaluated the effectiveness of ribavirin as treatment for patients …

Risk Factors For Q Fever Seroconversion In A Cohort Of Veterinary Students: A Comparative Analysis, Jessica Bonthius

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) is an extremely infectious, environmentally persistent intracellular bacterium and the causative agent of the zoonosis Q fever. An unprecedented epidemic in the Netherlands between 2007 and 2010 revealed its public health importance. Recent investigations have focused on C. burnetii seroprevalence among livestock workers. The burden of disease in veterinary students, a group with arguably similar exposures, has been insufficiently characterized.

Methods: Students beginning veterinary study at Utrecht University's Veterinary Medical School in 2006 were invited to participate. Questionnaires and serum samples for the detection of IgM and IgG antibodies against C. burnetii were collected at …

Choosing Number And Scheduling Priority Of Warm-Hand Offs: A Des Model, Evelyn Cumberbatch

Public Health Theses

Background: The integration of behavioral health care into primary care is being promoted as a means to treat more people with behavioral health problems where they are most likely to be seen. Clinics with traditional behavioral health services may open slots among scheduled appointments to see these "warm-hand off" (WHO) patients identified by primary care providers (PCPs). The effects of giving priority for behavioral health appointments to either scheduled or WHO patients and of the number of appointments left open for WHO patients are investigated in this project.

Methods: A discrete event simulation model was built of a moderately integrated …

Area-Based Poverty And Community Associated Clostridium Difficile Infection In New Haven County, 2011-2013, Ranjit Dhaliwal

Public Health Theses

BACKGROUND: The relationship between socioeconomic status and CA-CDI incidence has not been examined. I hypothesize that there will be higher incidence rates of CA-CDI in areas of higher socioeconomic status, where individuals are more likely to have health insurance, better access to care and are more educated.

METHODS: Community onset (CO) cases from Emerging Infections program surveillance were defined as those with a CDI positive specimen sample less than four days after admission to a health care facility. Community associated CO cases were defined as those that did not have a healthcare exposure in the prior three months. Unadjusted CA-CDI …

Dengue Epidemiology In An Urban Slum Community In Salvador, Brazil, Kristine Gauthier

Public Health Theses

Brazil has experienced a major increase in the incidence of dengue fever and severe dengue since the mid-1990s. Due to incomplete vector-control and transmission prevention efforts, all four serotypes of the dengue virus now circulate in Brazil. Communities such as Pau da Lima, an urban slum in the city of Salvador, Brazil, face a high burden of disease. Beginning in 2009 enhanced surveillance for dengue fever and other acute febrile illnesses has been conducted at the São Marcos Emergency Center (CESM), the only public urgent care health center in Pau da Lima. This sentinel surveillance site serves as a model …

Analysis Of The Gut-Specific Microbiome Of Field-Captured Tsetse Flies, And Its Potential Relevance To Host Trypanosome Vector Competence, Bridget Catherine Hamilton Griffith

Public Health Theses

The tsetse fly (Glossinasp.) gut is colonized by maternally transmitted and environmentally acquired bacteria. Maternally transmitted symbionts are well characterized, but little is known about the origin and function of environmentally acquired bacteria inhabiting the tsetse midgut. To address this shortcoming, culture dependent and independent methods were used to characterize and quantify bacterial communities that reside within the midgut of tsetse flies collected at five geographically isolated locations in Kenya and Uganda. Bacteria were isolated from 83.33% of flies using culture dependent methods. In total, 38 strains were isolated. To increase the depth of this analysis, Illumina-based deep-sequencing of the …

Fluid Flow Shear Stress Over Podocytes Is Increased In The Solitary Kidney., Tarak Srivastava, Gianni E. Celsi, Mukut Sharma, Hongying Dai, Ellen T. Mccarthy, Melanie Ruiz, Patricia A. Cudmore, Uri S. Alon, Ram Sharma, Virginia A. Savin

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Glomerular hyperfiltration is emerging as the key risk factor for progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Podocytes are exposed to fluid flow shear stress (FFSS) caused by the flow of ultrafiltrate within Bowman's space. The mechanism of hyperfiltration-induced podocyte injury is not clear. We postulated that glomerular hyperfiltration in solitary kidney increases FFSS over podocytes.

METHODS: Infant Sprague-Dawley rats at 5 days of age and C57BL/6J 14-week-old adult mice underwent unilateral nephrectomy. Micropuncture and morphological studies were then performed on 20- and 60-day-old rats. FFSS over podocytes in uninephrectomized rats and mice was calculated using the recently published equation …

Color Vision Variation As Evidenced By Hybrid L/M Opsin Genes In Wild Populations Of Trichromatic Alouatta New World Monkeys, Barbara Welker, Yuka Matsushita, Hiroki Oota, Mary S. Pavelka, Shoji Kawamura

Anthropology

Platyrrhine (New World) monkeys possess highly polymorphic color vision owing to allelic variation of the single-locus L/M opsin gene on the X chromosome. Most species consist of female trichromats and female and male dichromats. Howlers (genus Alouatta) are an exception; they are considered to be routinely trichromatic with L and M opsin genes juxtaposed on the X chromosome, as seen in catarrhine primates (Old World monkeys, apes, and humans). Yet it is not known whether trichromacy is invariable in howlers. We examined L/M opsin variation in wild howler populations in Costa Rica and Nicaragua (Alouatta palliata) and …

Marine Fish May Be Biochemically Constrained From Inhabiting The Deepest Ocean Depths, Paul H. Yancey, Mackenzie E. Gerringer, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Ashley A. Rowden, Alan Jamieson

Biology

No fish have been found in the deepest 25% of the ocean (8,400-11,000 m). This apparent absence has been attributed to hydrostatic pressure, although direct evidence is wanting because of the lack of deepest-living species to study. The common osmolyte trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) stabilizes proteins against pressure and increases with depth, going from 40 to 261 mmol/kg in teleost fishes from 0 to 4,850 m. TMAO accumulation with depth results in increasing internal osmolality (typically 350 mOsmol/kg in shallow species compared with seawater's 1,100 mOsmol/kg). Preliminary extrapolation of osmolalities of predicted isosmotic state at 8,000-8,500 m may indicate a possible …

The Earliest Colubroid-Dominated Snake Fauna From Africa: Perspectives From The Late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation Of Southwestern Tanzania, Jacob A. Mccartney, Nancy J. Stevens, Patrick M. O'Connor

Biology

The extant snake fauna has its roots in faunal upheaval occurring across the Paleogene - Neogene transition. On northern continents, this turnover is well established by the late early Miocene. However, this transition is poorly documented on southern landmasses, particularly on continental Africa, where no late Paleogene terrestrial snake assemblages are documented south of the equator. Here we describe a newly discovered snake fauna from the Late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania. The fauna is small but diverse with eight identifiable morphotypes, comprised of three booids and five colubroids. This fauna includes Rukwanyoka holmani gen. …

Meiotic Drive Impacts Expression And Evolution Of X-Linked Genes In Stalk-Eyed Flies, Josephine A. Reinhardt, Cara L. Brand, Kimberly A. Paczolt, Philip M. Johns, Richard H. Baker, Gerald S. Wilkinson

Biology

Although sex chromosome meiotic drive has been observed in a variety of species for over 50 years, the genes causing drive are only known in a few cases, and none of these cases cause distorted sex-ratios in nature. In stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni), driving X chromosomes are commonly found at frequencies approaching 30% in the wild, but the genetic basis of drive has remained elusive due to reduced recombination between driving and non-driving X chromosomes. Here, we used RNAseq to identify transcripts that are differentially expressed between males carrying either a driving X (X SR ) or a standard X …

Sporulation In Bacteria: Beyond The Standard Model, Elizabeth Hutchison

Biology

Endospore formation follows a complex, highly regulated developmental pathway that occurs in a broad range of Firmicutes. Although Bacillus subtilis has served as a powerful model system to study the morphological, biochemical, and genetic determinants of sporulation, fundamental aspects of the program remain mysterious for other genera. For example, it is entirely unknown how most lineages within the Firmicutes regulate entry into sporulation. Additionally, little is known about how the sporulation pathway has evolved novel spore forms and reproductive schemes. Here, we describe endospore and internal offspring development in diverse Firmicutes and outline progress in characterizing these programs. Moreover, …

The Oncogenic Role Of Piwi Proteins In Breast Carcinogenesis, Donghai Liang

Public Health Theses

As the leading source of cancer death among women worldwide, breast cancer has experienced a steady increase in prevalence in recently years, a trend that is most evident in industrialized nations. One possible explanation for this epidemic phenomenon is the exposure to light at night through shiftwork, which has been linked to both aberrant DNA methylation and increased risk of breast cancer development. Based on a whole-genome methylation analysis on a selected sample of the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health prospective cohort, we observed statistically significant hypomethylation in the PIWIL1 gene, a member of the PIWI protein family, among night …

Building Responsive Library Collections With The Getting It System Toolkit, Tim Bowersox, Cyril Oberlander, Kate Pitcher, Mark Sullivan

IDS Project Press

The Getting It System Toolkit (GIST), a suite of free and open source tools & software, leverages systems to optimize library acquisitions and deselection workflow, reducing the staff time necessary to make informed decisions and process materials. The Toolkit is divided into two functions:

GIST for ILLiad consists of three components that enhance the ILLiad® interlibrary loan request management software: addons, webpage customizations, and the acquisitions manager. All three components may be selectively utilized in ILLiad, for instance, ILLiad web pages may be applied to enhance the end-user request interface to add full-text discovery, or an ILLiad Addon can help …

Foundations Of Academic Success: Words Of Wisdom, Thomas C. Priester

Milne Open Textbooks

Foundations of Academic Success: Words of Wisdom (FAS: WoW) introduces you to the various aspects of student and academic life on campus and prepares you to thrive as a successful college student (since there is a difference between a college student and a successful college student). Each section of FAS: WoW is framed by self-authored, true-to-life short stories from actual State University of New York (SUNY) students, employees, and alumni. The advice they share includes a variety of techniques to help you cope with the demands of college. The lessons learned are meant to enlarge your awareness of …

Literature, The Humanities, And Humanity, Theodore L. Steinberg

Milne Open Textbooks

Literature, the Humanities, and Humanity attempts to make the study of literature more than simply another school subject that students have to take. At a time when all subjects seem to be valued only for their testability, this book tries to show the value of reading and studying literature, even earlier literature. It shows students, some of whom will themselves become teachers, that literature actually has something to say to them. Furthermore, it shows that literature is meant to be enjoyed, that, as the Roman poet Horace (and his Renaissance disciple Sir Philip Sidney) said, the functions of literature are …

Still More Studies In Rio Grande Valley History, Milo Kearney, Anthony K. Knopp, Antonio Zavaleta

Studies in Rio Grande Valley Regional History Series

Resaca, a poem / Josie Mixon -- Matamoros before the Texas Revolution : becoming Mexico’s pivitol port city on the northern frontier / Craig H. Roell -- The Great Sequoyah Mystery : a cover-up that stretched from the Cumberland Mountains to the Rio Grande Delta (and into Mexico) / Don Clifford -- Immigration to South Texas, 1850-1900 / Thomas Daniel Knight -- Cattle barons and the creation of an empire : a case study of the expansion of the Kennedy Ranch of South Texas / Elmer Sierra, William Yaworsky, and Amy Frazier -- A history of the Brownsville Police Department …

A Comprehensive View Of Electrosleep: The History, Finite Element Models And Future Directions, Berkan Guleyupoglu

Dissertations and Theses

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) encompasses all methods of non-invasive current application to the brain used in research and clinical practice. We present the first comprehensive and technical review, explaining the evolution of tES in both terminology and dosage over the past 100 years of research to present day. Current transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation (tPCS) approaches such as Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) descended from Electrosleep (ES) through Cranial Electro-stimulation Therapy (CET), Transcerebral Electrotherapy (TCET), and NeuroElectric Therapy (NET) while others like Transcutaneous Cranial Electrical Stimulation (TCES) descended from Electroanesthesia (EA) through Limoge, and Interferential Stimulation. Prior …

Tableaux Vivant For Suffrage; An Evening Of Art And Politics At The Maxine Elliot Theatre, Shannon Murphy

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Synaptic Physiology Of Glutamate Clearance In The Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans, Jenny (Chan Ying) Wong

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Caffeine's Attenuation Of Cocaine-Induced Deficiency In Acoustic Startle Response By Inhibition Of Adenosine In A Sex And Dose Dependent Manner, Lauren B. Malave

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Kos Modulation Of Mitochondrial Fission And Fusion, Herman Kucharavy

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Struggles Within A Society Where Black Women Suffer Racism, Sexism, And Violence, Karen D. Emmanuel

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Dogs Of Dickens; The Canine Presence In The Author's Works, Christopher Koestner

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Aspects Of Allegory In Medieval Literature: Monstrous Punishments And Monstrous Women As Symptoms Of A Decaying Society / Social Structure In Tristan, Beowulf, And Piers Plowman, Samantha M. Valcarcel

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Tradition And Transformation In The Work Of Erica Hunt, Harryette Mullen, And Akilah Oliver, Janine D. Thornton

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Women In Space: Feminist Pulp Science Fiction From 1927-1948, Matthew Martin

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Dissidence Is Bliss: The Ecstasy Of Rebellion In The Works Of Jean Genet, Shane Fallon

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Beloved Ophelia Or "Love Too Thick" Woman's Language In Shakespeare And Morrison, Asja Karapandza

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.