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Immunization Reminder For Caregivers Of Young Children, Jessica Scritchfield Wooten

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background: Vaccines are one of the most successful and easily accessible prevention tools available to clinical practitioners in the United States. Falling levels of immunity in the entire population amplify concern for increases in preventable childhood diseases, making improving vaccination rates an important goal for current clinical practitioners (Omer et al., 2009).;Purpose: The purpose of this intervention was to increase the percentage of vaccinated children 0-6 years of age by sending a reminder letter to parent/guardians of children who are unvaccinated and under-vaccinated per the CDC's current immunization recommendations at a rural health center in West Virginia.;Project: The project plan …

Community Based Interventions For The Prevention And Control Of Non-Helmintic Ntd, Jai K. Das, Rehana A. Salam, Ahmed Arshad, Hasina Maredia, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

In this paper, we aim to systematically analyze the effectiveness of community based interventions (CBI) for the prevention and control of non-helminthic diseases including dengue, trypanosomiasis, chagas, leishmaniasis, buruli ulcer, leprosy and trachoma. We systematically reviewed literature published up to May 2013 and included 62 studies in this review. Findings from our review suggest that CBI including insecticide spraying; insecticide treated bednets and curtains; community education and cleanliness campaigns; chemoprophylaxis through mass drug administration; and treatment have the potential to reduce the incidence and burden of non-helminthic diseases. Lack of data limited the subgroup analysis for integrated and non-integrated delivery …

Pneumococcal Serotypes And Serogroups Causing Invasive Disease In Pakistan, 2005-2013, Sadia Shakoor, Furqan Kabir, Asif R. Khowaja, Shahida M. Qureshi, Fyezah Jehan, Farah Qamar, Cynthia G. Whitney, Anita K M Zaidi

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

While pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have been implemented in most countries worldwide, use in Asia has lagged in part because of a lack of data on the amount of disease that is vaccine preventable in the region. We describe pneumococcal serotypes elicited from 111 episodes of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) from 2005 to 2013 among children and adults in Pakistan. Seventy-three percent (n = 81) of 111 IPD episodes were cases of meningitis (n = 76 in children 0-15 years and n = 5 among adults). Serotypes were determined by target amplification of DNA extracted from pneumococcal isolates (n = 52) …

January 2014 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Raising Soviets On Imported Goods. Socialist Realism In Estonian Secondary Education, Helen Saask

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis examines how the political leadership of the Soviet Union tried to cultivate its desired values and principles among the people of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. It illuminates one aspect of all the ideologically charged activities, and looks at Soviet Estonian schools through the lens of compulsory reading --- how were socialist realist cultural goods used to promote Sovietization in Estonian secondary schools? Moreover, the study tries to evaluate to what degree the propagandistic intention was realized in literature lessons. Emphasis lies on exploring traces of the so-called 'double-thinking,' the notion that Estonians had the tendency to separate …

Assessment Of West Virginia Public Healthcare Professionals' Knowledge, Attitudes And Behaviors Regarding Of The Oral Implications Of Hpv Following An Educational Presentation, Renee Cooper-Frantz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, was firmly linked to a new subset of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC's) in late 2007. With growing rates of West Virginians affected by HPV-related oral cancers it becomes pertinent to verify that public healthcare professionals of all disciplines are aware of this causal relationship and educating their patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge level, attitudes and behaviors of a convenience sample of West Virginia's public healthcare professionals regarding the oral implications of HPV before and after and educational presentation. A pre- …

The Burden Of Avian Influenza Viruses In Community Ponds In California, Zin Htway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emerging influenza viruses continue to challenge public health. The problem is public health science professionals have been battling emerging human influenza diseases with tactile and reactionary methods because there is a lack of knowledge and data at the human-animal interface. This research was a baseline study of the proportion of influenza A virus (IAV) in urban and rural communities in California. The population was artificial recirculating water ponds in the geographic locations of rural and urban Californian communities. Surface water samples [N = 182] were collected from artificial recirculating ponds in California. Positivity for IAV was verified by real time …

Activity Of Plant Essential Oils And Extracts Against Pathogenic Fungi, Venkatasai Chaitanya Surapuram

Theses

Despite the recent advances in antifungal development, fungi remain a highly destructive threat to human health and compromise food viability. Though chemical fungicides today provide the primary means of postharvest pathogenic fungal control, their continuous use is faced with two major complications - increasing concern regarding their bioaccumulation in the human system and increasing resistance among the pathogen populations. There is a need for alternative strategies for fungal control. Recently, the use of natural product plant extracts and essential oils for postharvest cure and protection is an increasing trend. In this study, antifungal properties of various Costa Rican, Australian, and …

Culturable Aerobic And Facultative Anaerobic Intestinal Bacterial Flora Of Black Cobra (Naja Naja Karachiensis) In Southern Pakistan, Junaid Iqbal, Mehwish Sagheer, Nazneen Tabassum, Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui, Naveed Ahmed Khan

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Using morphological analysis and biochemical testing, here for the first time, we determined the culturable gut bacterial flora (aerobes and facultative anaerobes) in the venomous Black Cobra (Naja naja karachiensis) from South Asia. The findings revealed that these snakes inhabit potentially pathogenic bacteria including Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shewanella putrefaciens, Aeromonas hydrophila, Salmonella sp., Moraxella sp., Bacillus sp., Ochrobactrum anthropi, and Providencia rettgeri. These findings are of concern, as injury from snake bite can result in wound infections and tissue necrosis leading to sepsis/necrotizing fasciitis and/or expose consumers of snake meat/medicine in the community to infections.

Jiann-Ping Hsu College Of Public Health Magazine, Georgia Southern University

College of Public Health: News & Publications

• Sustainability
• Milestones

Community Based Interventions For The Prevention And Control Of Tuberculosis, Ahmed Arshad, Rehana A. Salam, Zohra S. Lassi, Jai K. Das, Imama Naqvi, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

In 2012, an estimated 8.6 million people developed tuberculosis (TB) and 1.3 million died from the disease. With its recent resurgence with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); TB prevention and management has become further challenging. We systematically evaluated the effectiveness of community based interventions (CBI) for the prevention and treatment of TB and a total of 41 studies were identified for inclusion. Findings suggest that CBI for TB prevention and case detection showed significant increase in TB detection rates (RR: 3.1, 95% CI: 2.92, 3.28) with non-significant impact on TB incidence. CBI for treating patients with active TB showed an …

Community-Based Interventions For The Prevention And Control Of Helmintic Neglected Tropical Diseases, Rehana A. Salam, Hasina Maredia, Jai K. Das, Zohra S. Lassi, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

In this paper, we aim to systematically analyze the effectiveness of community-based interventions (CBIs) for the prevention and control of helminthiasis including soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) (ascariasis, hookworms, and trichuriasis), lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, dracunculiasis, and schistosomiasis. We systematically reviewed literature published before May 2013 and included 32 studies in this review. Findings from the meta-analysis suggest that CBIs are effective in reducing the prevalence of STH (RR: 0.45, 95% CI: 0.38, 0.54), schistosomiasis (RR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.50), and STH intensity (SMD: -3.16, 95 CI: -4.28, -2.04). They are also effective in improving mean hemoglobin (SMD: 0.34, 95% CI: 0.20, …

Impact Of Community-Based Interventions For The Prevention And Control Of Malaria On Intervention Coverage And Health Outcomes For The Prevention And Control Of Malaria, Rehana A. Salam, Jai K. Das, Zohra S. Lassi, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of community-based interventions (CBIs) for the prevention and management of malaria. We conducted a systematic review and identified 42 studies for inclusion. Twenty-five of the included studies evaluated the impact of the community-based distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying (IRS), or impregnated bed sheets; 14 studies evaluated intermittent preventive therapy (IPT) delivered in community settings; two studies focused on community-based education for malaria prevention; and one study evaluated environmental management through drain cleaning. Our analysis suggests that, overall, the community-based delivery of interventions to prevent and control malaria resulted …

Hiv Infrastructure Study Baton Rouge, Susan S. Reif, Elena Wilson, Carolyn Mcallaster, Casteel Scherger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Phenology Of A Relict Population Of The Pitcher Plant Mosquito, Wyeomyia Smithii (Diptera: Culicidae), In Tattnall Co., Ga, Rachel L. Morreale

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Wyeomyia smithii Coquillett lives only within the pitchers of the purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea L. An isolated population of Wy. smithii occurs in Tattnall Co., GA isolated from other populations by over 300 km in all directions. In order to monitor the stability, phenology, and behavior of this population, fluctuations of the larval and pupal abundances (number/pitcher) were monitored over time. The density (number/mL) of Wy. smithii larvae present within pitchers was recorded from June 2012 until April 2014. Fluid volume contained in pitchers had a strong positive effect on larval abundance within the pitcher (r² = 0.624). …

The Growth Of Incarceration In The United States: Exploring Causes And Consequences, Jeremy Travis, Bruce Western, F. Stevens Redburn

Publications and Research

After decades of stability from the 1920s to the early 1970s, the rate of incarceration in the United States more than quadrupled in the past four decades. The Committee on the Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration in the United States was established under the auspices of the National Research Council, supported by the National Institute of Justice and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to review evidence on the causes and consequences of these high incarceration rates and the implications of this evidence for public policy.

Our work encompassed research on, and analyses of, the …

Investigating The Persistence And "Naturalization" Potential Of Salmonella In Non-Host Environments Using Culture-Based And Molecular-Based Fingerprinting Techniques, Robyn L. Morrison

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Recent studies suggest the potential exists for enteric microorganisms to become “naturalized” to the complex natural environment through maintenance of their populations via replication and adaptation to the stress imposed by their external surroundings. The aim of this research was to better understand the potential for antimicrobial resistant (AMR) Salmonella to become “naturalized” and the physiological adaptations that allow for non-host survivability as reflected by AMR and community profiling. To better elucidate the prominent factors leading to a “naturalized” condition, two approaches were taken: 1) survey-based field research to gain perspective on the prevalence of AMR Salmonella isolated from variously …

Fight The Dead, Fear The Living: Post-Apocalyptic Narratives Of Fear, Governance And Social Control, Samantha Lynn Kolpin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Post-apocalyptic narratives and themes have become increasingly popular in film, television and graphic novels. By imagining a society without the state, post-apocalyptic narratives are able to explore concerns about current forms of governance and social control. The post-apocalyptic narrative is particularly relevant in a post-9/11 society where public concerns about security and governance are prominent. In this study, I examined the potential allegorical function of the zombie narrative found in Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. Specifically, this project involves an ethnographic content analysis of issues 1-100 of The Walking Dead graphic novel series. Analysis focused on the allegorical purposes of …

Speleomycological Research In Underground Osówka Complex In Sowie Mountains (Lower Silesia, Poland), Wojciech Pusz, Rafał Ogórek, Cecylia Miłowana Uklańska-Pusz, Paweł Zagożdżon

International Journal of Speleology

Osówka (Germ. Säuferhöhen), is one of the elements of the unfinished Nazi military complex called “Riese”. The total length of corridors of Osówka complex is about 1,700 m and its capacity amounts to 30,000 m³. As described geologically, Osówka is situated within the Sowie Mts. Massif which consists mostly of various gneisses with different structural characteristics, but with a constant mineral composition. The rock-forming minerals are feldspar (oligoclase), quartz, biotite and light micas, accesory minerals are garnet, sillimanite and dysten. Fine-grained shallow-sea deposits were probably a protolith of these rocks. The study aimed at first mycological evaluation of …

Prison Health Care After The Affordable Care Act: Envisioning An End To The Policy Of Neglect, Evelyn Malave

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Inadequate prison health care has created a health crisis for reentering prisoners and their communities--a crisis that is exacerbated by barriers to employment and other collateral consequences of release. This Note will first examine how current Eighth Amendment doctrine has failed to sufficiently regulate prison health care so as to have any significant effect on the crisis. Next, it will argue that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) alters the Eighth Amendment analysis by triggering a change in the "evolving standards of decency" that guide the doctrine. Specifically, this Note will argue that, after the passage of the ACA, releasing sick, …

Mycoplasma Genitalium Promotes Epithelial Crossing And Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Infection By Hiv-1, Kishore Das, Georgina De La Garza, Edward B. Siwak, Virginia L. Scofield, Subramanian Dhandayuthapani

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Mycoplasma genitalium co-infection in HIV-infected individuals has been reported to increase the shedding of HIV in the urogenital region of females. To better understand this relationship, we investigated the influence of M. genitalium on the transmission and replication of HIV using an in vitro model.

Methods

The Transwell co-culture system was employed to assess the crossing of an endocervical cell barrier by HIV-1. Immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy were used to assess the distribution of the nectin-1 molecule on M. genitalium -infected epithelial cells of the End1/E6E7 endocervical cell line, grown as monolayers in the insert wells. Peripheral blood mononuclear …

Leukocyte Recruitment To The Peritoneum Of Cultured Summer Flounder (Paralichthys Dentatus) During Bacterial, Pilar Juliet Nelson

Open Access Master's Theses

Summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) constitutes a major fishery in the coastal northeastern United States. Spurred by population declines, cultivation of summer flounder began in 1996, but expansion of culture efforts has been constrained by disease outbreaks. Flounder Infectious Necrotizing Enteritis (FINE) causes significant mortality of juvenile flounder. The disease is characterized by ascites, intestinal prolapse, and severe inflammation of the mesentery and posterior intestinal serosa, often resulting in intestinal rupture. FINE is caused by Vibrio harveyi, a bacterial pathogen of cultured marine fish and invertebrates. To better understand the immune response to FINE, recruitment and fluctuation of …

Risk Factors Of Cvd Mortality Among The Elderly In Beijing, 1992 - 2009: An 18-Year Cohort Study, Tao Zhou, Xia Li, Zhe Tang, Changchun Xie, Lixin Tao, Lei Pan, Da Huo, Fei Sun, Yanxia Luo, Wei Wang, Aoshuang Yan, Xiuhua Guo

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Few researchers have examined the effects of multiple risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality simultaneously. This study was to determine the associations of combined lifestyle and other factors with CVD mortality among the elderly (n = 3,257), in Beijing, China, through data mining of the Beijing Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA). BLSA is a representative cohort study from 1992 to 2009, hosted by Xuan Wu Hospital. Competing risk survival analysis was conducted to explore the association between risk factors and CVD mortality. The factors focused mainly on lifestyle, physical condition, and the model was adjusted for age and gender. …

Development Of A Prototype Lateral Flow Immunoassay (Lfi) For The Rapid Diagnosis Of Melioidosis., Raymond L. Houghton, Dana E. Reed, Mark A. Hubbard, Michael J. Dillon, Hongjing Chen, Bart J. Currie, Mark Mayo, Derek S. Sarovich, Vanessa Theobald, Direk Limmathurotsakul, Gumphol Wongsuvan, Narisara Chantratita, Sharon J. Peacock, Alex R. Hoffmaster, Brea Duval, Paul J. Brett, Mary N. Burtnick, David P. Aucoin

Peninsula Medical School

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a soil-dwelling bacterium and the causative agent of melioidosis. Isolation of B. pseudomallei from clinical samples is the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of melioidosis; results can take 3-7 days to produce. Alternatively, antibody-based tests have low specificity due to a high percentage of seropositive individuals in endemic areas. There is a clear need to develop a rapid point-of-care antigen detection assay for the diagnosis of melioidosis. Previously, we employed In vivo Microbial Antigen Discovery (InMAD) to identify potential B. pseudomallei diagnostic biomarkers. The B. pseudomallei capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and numerous protein antigens were identified as potential …

Galleria Mellonella Infection Model Demonstrates High Lethality Of St69 And St127 Uropathogenic E. Coli., Majed F. Alghoribi, Tarek M. Gibreel, Andrew R. Dodgson, Scott A. Beatson, Mathew Upton

School of Biomedical Sciences

Galleria mellonella larvae are an alternative in vivo model for investigating bacterial pathogenicity. Here, we examined the pathogenicity of 71 isolates from five leading uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) lineages using G. mellonella larvae. Larvae were challenged with a range of inoculum doses to determine the 50% lethal dose (LD50) and for analysis of survival outcome using Kaplan-Meier plots. Virulence was correlated with carriage of a panel of 29 virulence factors (VF). Larvae inoculated with ST69 and ST127 isolates (10(4) colony-forming units/larvae) showed significantly higher mortality rates than those infected with ST73, ST95 and ST131 isolates, killing 50% of the larvae …

The Complete Genome Sequence Of Escherichia Coli Ec958: A High Quality Reference Sequence For The Globally Disseminated Multidrug Resistant E. Coli O25b:H4-St131 Clone., Brian M. Forde, Zakour Nl Ben, Mitchell Stanton-Cook, Minh Duy Phan, Makrina Totsika, Kate M. Peters, Kok Gan Chan, Mark A. Schembri, Mathew Upton, Scott A. Beatson

School of Biomedical Sciences

Escherichia coli ST131 is now recognised as a leading contributor to urinary tract and bloodstream infections in both community and clinical settings. Here we present the complete, annotated genome of E. coli EC958, which was isolated from the urine of a patient presenting with a urinary tract infection in the Northwest region of England and represents the most well characterised ST131 strain. Sequencing was carried out using the Pacific Biosciences platform, which provided sufficient depth and read-length to produce a complete genome without the need for other technologies. The discovery of spurious contigs within the assembly that correspond to site-specific …

Dielectric Barrier Discharge Atmospheric Cold Plasma For Inactivation Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Biofilms, Dana Ziuzina, Sonal Patil, Patrick J. Cullen, Daniela Boehm, Paula Bourke

Articles

In recent years, atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) has been widely investigated for potential application as an alternative decontamination technology in biomedical and healthcare sectors. In this study, the antimicrobial efficacy of ACP against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms was investigated. The 48-h biofilms were treated inside sealed polypropylene containers with a high-voltage dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) ACP (80 kVRMS) and subsequently stored for 24 h at room temperature. Treatment for 60 s by either the direct or indirect mode of ACP exposure (inside or outside plasma discharge, respectively) reduced bacterial populations by an average of 5.4 log cycles from an initial 6.6 …

Traditional Chinese Medicine And New Concepts Of Predictive, Preventive And Personalized Medicine In Diagnosis And Treatment Of Suboptimal Health, Wei Wang, Alyce C. Russell, Yuxiang Yan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The premise of disease-related phenotypes is the definition of the counterpart normality in medical sciences. Contrary to clinical practices that can be carefully planned according to clinical needs, heterogeneity and uncontrollability is the essence of humans in carrying out health studies. Full characterization of consistent phenotypes that define the general population is the basis to individual difference normalization in personalized medicine. Self-claimed normal status may not represent health because asymptomatic subjects may carry chronic diseases at their early stage, such as cancer, diabetes mellitus and atherosclerosis. Currently, treatments for non-communicable chronic diseases (NCD) are implemented after disease onset, which is …

Disease Interpretations And Response Among Hiv-Positive Mothers, Johanna Debora Imelda

Antropologi Indonesia

Despite the growing number of new cases of HIV and AIDS in Indonesia, the progress of prevention programs has been slow. Low prevelance is always stated as a reason for delaying HIV prevention programs and to justify slow progress in implementation. Prevention programs are moreover based on a high-risk group paradigm. They focus on female sex workers as responsible for the spread of HIV, leading to its stigmatization as a hooker's disease. This article describes how seropositive mothers interpret and respond to HIV and AIDS as women, in light of the fact that most of them have not experienced full-blown …

Mapreduce-Based Restmd: Enabling Large-Scale Sampling Tasks With Distributed Hpc Systems, Praveenkumar Kondikoppa, Richard Platania, Seung Jong Park, Tom Keyes, Jaegil Kim, Nayong Kim, Joohyun Kim, Shuju Bai

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel implementation of Replica Exchange Statistical Temperature Molecular Dynamics (RESTMD), belonging to a generalized ensemble method and also known as parallel tempering, is presented. Our implementation employs the MapReduce (MR)-based iterative framework for launching RESTMD over high performance computing (HPC) clusters including our test bed system, Cyber-infrastructure for Reconfigurable Optical Networks (CRON) simulating a network-connected distributed system. Our main contribution is a new implementation of STMD plugged into the well-known CHARMM molecular dynamics package as well as the RESTMD implementation powered by the Hadoop that scales out in a cluster and across distributed systems effectively. To address challenges for …