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"Basically Intelligent:" The Blind, Intelligence, And Gender In Argentina, 1880-1939, Rebecca Ann Ellis

History ETDs

My dissertation examines the links between disability, intellectuality, labor and gender in Argentina between 1887 and 1939. It demonstrates how intellectual capacity and education created distinctions between the blind and other disabled populations. Those distinctions helped organizations for the blind acquire private and public resources for projects designed to make the blind independent through occupational training. However, the same arguments that aided organizations drove debates over the definition of independence for the blind. Sighted activists believed education would diminish the dependency of the blind on their families and social services through the sale of small crafts. Blind leaders believed that …

Oral Care In New Mexico's Nursing Homes: A Survey For The Directors Of Nursing Homes, Nicole Gonzales

Dental Hygiene ETDs

Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify the Director of Nursing Homes (DONs) perception of oral care in New Mexico's Medicaid/ Medicare certified facilities on training, assessment and utilization of a dental hygienists as an adjunct nursing home staff member. Methods: Via convenience sample,73 DONs were sent an e-mailed survey. Results: With a 23% return rate, statistical analysis indicates a mean of .063, confidence interval (CI) of -.164 to .257, with an average p-value of .32. These findings indicate an indifference of opinions towards or against specific dental care and fail to reject the null hypothesis. 88.24% of …

An Ultrasensitive Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence-Based Immunoassay For Specific Detection Of Zika Virus, Dhiraj Acharya, Pradip Bastola, Linda Le, Amber M. Paul, Estefania Fernandez, Michael S. Diamond, Wujian Miao, Fengwei Bai

Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a globally emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that can cause severe fetal abnormalities, including microcephaly. As such, highly sensitive, specific, and cost-effective diagnostic methods are urgently needed. Here, we report a novel electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL)-based immunoassay for ultrasensitive and specific detection of ZIKV in human biological fluids. We loaded polystyrene beads (PSB) with a large number of ECL labels and conjugated them with anti-ZIKV monoclonal antibodies to generate anti-ZIKV-PSBs. These anti-ZIKV-PSBs efficiently captured ZIKV in solution forming ZIKV-anti-ZIKV-PSB complexes, which were subjected to measurement of ECL intensity after further magnetic beads separation. Our results show that the anti-ZIKV-PSBs …

An Ultrasensitive Electrogenerated Chemiluminescence-Based Immunoassay For Specific Detection Of Zika Virus, Amber M. Paul, Dhiraj Acharya, Pradip Bastola, Linda Le, Estenfani Fernandez, Michael S. Diamond, Wujian Miao, Fengwei Bai

Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a globally emerging mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that can cause severe fetal abnormalities, including microcephaly. As such, highly sensitive, specific, and cost-effective diagnostic methods are urgently needed. Here, we report a novel electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL)-based immunoassay for ultrasensitive and specific detection of ZIKV in human biological fluids. We loaded polystyrene beads (PSB) with a large number of ECL labels and conjugated them with anti-ZIKV monoclonal antibodies to generate anti-ZIKV-PSBs. These anti-ZIKV-PSBs efficiently captured ZIKV in solution forming ZIKV-anti-ZIKV-PSB complexes, which were subjected to measurement of ECL intensity after further magnetic beads separation. Our results show that the anti-ZIKV-PSBs …

Expert Elicitation On The Uncertainties Associated With Chronic Wasting Disease, Michael G. Tyshenko, Tamer Oraby, Shalu Darshan, Margit Westphal, Maxine C. Croteau, Willy Aspinall, Susie Elsaadany, Daniel Krewski, Neil Cashman

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

A high degree of uncertainty exists for chronic wasting disease (CWD) transmission factors in farmed and wild cervids. Evaluating the factors is important as it helps to inform future risk management strategies. Expert opinion is often used to assist decision making in a number of health, science, and technology domains where data may be sparse or missing. Using the "Classical Model" of elicitation, a group of experts was asked to estimate the most likely values for several risk factors affecting CWD transmission. The formalized expert elicitation helped structure the issues and hence provide a rational basis for estimating some transmission …

Willig Named New Assistant Dean For Clinical Education, Kendra Carter

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Crystal Structure Of Carboxyltransferase From Staphylococcus Aureus Bound To The Antibacterial Agent Moiramide B, Molly A. Silvers, Svetlana Pakhomova, David B. Neau, William C. Silvers, Nicholas Anzalone, Carol M. Taylor, Grover L. Waldrop

Faculty Publications

© 2016 American Chemical Society. The dramatic increase in the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has necessitated a search for new antibacterial agents against novel targets. Moiramide B is a natural product, broad-spectrum antibiotic that inhibits the carboxyltransferase component of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, which catalyzes the first committed step in fatty acid synthesis. Herein, we report the 2.6 Å resolution crystal structure of moiramide B bound to carboxyltransferase. An unanticipated but significant finding was that moiramide B bound as the enol/enolate. Crystallographic studies demonstrate that the (4S)-methyl succinimide moiety interacts with the oxyanion holes of the enzyme, supporting the notion that an …

Preventive Health Care Among Immigrant Sudanese Women In The Greater Hartford Area Of Connecticut, Fawatih Y. Mohamed-Abouh

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A New Trend For Knowledge-Based Decision Support Systems Design, Pascale Zaraté, Shaofeng Liu

Plymouth Business School

Knowledge-based decision support systems (KBDSS) have evolved greatly over the last few decades. The key technologies underpinning the development of KBDSS can be classified into three categories: Technologies for knowledge modelling and representation, technologies for reasoning and inference and web-based technologies. In the meantime, service systems have emerged and become increasingly important to value adding activities in the current knowledge economy. This paper provides a review on the recent advances in the three types of technologies, as well as the main application domains of KBDSS as service systems. Based on the examination of literature, future research directions are recommended for …

Thy-1 Cell Surface Protein And Human Cytomegalovirus Infection, Carson Peters, Dr. Qingxue Li, Dr. Jeffery Cohen

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

This research project is to investigate the role of a cell surface protein, THY-1, as an entry mediator for Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. Previous research suggested that HCMV attaches to THY-1 on the host cell surface through virus encoded glycoprotein gB. The glycoproteins are located on the surface of virus particles thus initiating entry and infection. The specific question is to determine if the presence of a soluble form of THY-1 protein (sTHY-1) during the onset of infection would impair HCMV infectivity, based on the hypothesis that sTHY-1 would interrupt the interaction between the infectious virion and the target cells …

West Nile Virus And Pattern Recognition Receptors, Jordan Boswell, Verma Saguna, Phd, Chih-Yun Lai

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

West Nile Virus (WNV), RNA virus is a member of the flaviviridae family that causes flu like symptoms in infected individuals, however in 1-2% cases, it causes severe neurological diseases such as encephalitis. There is no antiviral or vaccine approved so far to prevent WNV disease, therefore research to understand immune pathology is very important.

Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRR) are proteins that are expressed by cells to detect virus infection and play an important role in the innate immune system. When a PRR such as Toll-Like Receptors (TLR) and Nod-Like Receptors (NLR) detects a replicating virus, signals are sent out …

Potential Cost Savings Of Not Doing Cd4 Counts In Hiv Positive People In Rhode Island With An Undetectable Viral Load, Ruth Dele-Oni, Ferdinand Schumacher, Zachary Markus, Timothy Flanigan, Md

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

CD4 cells fight infections in the body. When someone contacts Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), their CD4 cells are taken over by HIV which turns them into manufacturers of many copies of the virus. The Viral Load (VL) measures the amount of virus in the blood. When HIV takes over the CD4 cells, the VL increases while the number of necessary CD4 cells decreases. When patients maintain stable treatment, their CD4 counts rise, and VLs may become undetectable, indicating the virus is too little to be detected in their blood. Knowing this, is frequent CD4 counts necessary for those with undetectable …

Preparing Underrepresented High School Students To Increase Diversity In The Research And Health Professions, Dolores E. Caffey-Fleming, Ms, Mph, Christopher Reid, Md, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

This article introduces the work that was done through the Coordinating Center at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

Does A Physician's Decision Making Process Effect Patient Participation In The Treatment Choices Of Primary Immunodeficiency?, Chris Lamb

Student Scholarship

Increased patient participation in the treatment of chronic diseases is thought to result in improved patient health. Increased participation should lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment. However, the role of the physician in facilitating patient participation has not been extensively studied. Dual process theory and shared decision making theory were used to create a predictive model. Then a quantitative study was then performed on 330 physicians in the US treating a chronic disorder: Primary Immunodeficiency. The results suggest that a physician's decision making style (rational vs. heuristic) and orientation (patient-centric) has an effect on the level of patient participation. …

Re-Discovery Of Health Self-Care Among Homeless Men And Women After An Incarceration Experience, Theresa Kapetanovic

Journal for Evidence-based Practice in Correctional Health

Abstract

Approximately 10 % of all homeless men and women in the United States have a history of incarceration. Men and women who are homeless and have a history of incarceration are burdened with chronic health conditions that include infectious disease, chronic medical conditions, mental health disorders and a history of drug/substance use or addiction. Personal health self – care is a challenge as many are without health insurance, healthcare access, and without financial resources.

Interviews were conducted with twenty-six homeless men and women released from a county detention center to explore health self-care among this population. Approval to conduct …

“Mind The Gap”: The Standardization Of Master-Level Education Competencies Among Humanitarian And International Development Professionals, Polina Kadatska

Dissertations

Quality education of international development/humanitarian professionals is of high importance due to increased donor demands for projects’ transparency, accountability, and efficiency. However, there is a lack of standardization of learning outcomes among the educational institutions that train the workforce for the non-profit sector. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to describe how humanitarian professional alumni think their Master’s program aligned with the Core Humanitarian Competencies Framework (CHCF) and how these competencies assisted them in their current work. Additionally, the study explored what NGO employers think of applicability of the Framework’s competencies in their organizations and the preparedness of …

2016-August-19-2016 Distinguished Faculty Awards, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Long-Acting Antiretroviral Nanoformulation Development And Subcellular Trafficking, Dongwei Guo

Theses & Dissertations

The introduction of nanoformulated antiretroviral therapeutic regimens is a promising alternative to standard once a day oral treatment of HIV infection. Our lab has pioneered this effort and was successful in harnessing mononuclear phagocytes (monocytes, dendritic cells and macrophages) as nanoformulated drug carriers. The approach was developed as Trojan horses for drug transport, delivery and distribution to sites of viral replication in order to facilitate microbial elimination in HIV sanctuaries. However, the remaining challenges for current antiretroviral nanoformulations include to formulate a broad range of hydrophilic short-acting drugs, and to elucidate the mechanism of sequestered nanoparticles in macrophages at the …

Assessment And Mechanisms Of Autonomic Function In Health And Disease, Peter Ricci Pellegrino

Theses & Dissertations

The autonomic nervous system is a master regulator of homeostasis, and the conviction that autonomic outflow is important on a patient-by-patient, minute-to-minute basis in both health and disease is the motivation for this thesis. The dissertation explores three aims that advance our understanding of the autonomic nervous system by elucidating the molecular mechanisms of autonomic regulation, validating widely used techniques for autonomic assessment, and developing and applying a new method to assess sympathetic vascular control.

The first aim of the dissertation was to investigate the role of the Rho kinase pathway as a mediator of the autonomic effects of central …

Aldehyde Adducts And Lung Injury, Muna Sapkota

Theses & Dissertations

From the time of discovery, people have used both alcohol and tobacco in various forms all around the world. Alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking causes thousands of preventable deaths in the US each year. Several lung diseases such as COPD, asthma, respiratory infections, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, cancer of neck, throat, mouth and lung are associated with smoking and drinking. Even though some studies have examined the role of alcohol and cigarette smoke in lung diseases, only a few studies have focused on the role of reactive aldehydes generated in the lungs of those who abuse alcohol and smoke …

Using Scientific Inquiry To Increase Knowledge Of Vaccine Theory And Infectious Diseases, Zachary Walls, John B. Bossaer, David Cluck

ETSU Faculty Works

Background: The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a laboratory activity based on scientific inquiry to educate first-year pharmacy students in the U.S. about vaccination theory and the attributes of common pathogens. Methods: The laboratory activity had two principal sections. The first consisted of an interactive game during which students rolled a die to determine outcomes based on a set of pre-determined criteria. In the second section, students generated and tested hypotheses about vaccine theory using a computer simulation that modeled disease transmission within a large population. In each section students were asked to evaluate epidemiological data …

Polycations. 23. Antimicrobial Surfaces For Prevention Of Pathogen Transmission, Robert Engel, Karin Melkonian, Jay Ho, Jaime Lee Iolani Rizzo

Publications and Research

The continued evolution of bacterial and fungal species poses a significant difficulty for the treatment of disease of microbial origin. Given this situation, the prevention of transmission of such microbial diseases becomes of increasing importance. Efforts of this laboratory have been directed toward the destruction of microbial species on environmental surfaces as a prophylaxis toward infection, and we herein report on the efficacy of a system that demonstrates activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungi. We report specifically herein on the use of fabric materials so activated for the destruction of these microbial species, useful for …

Health Education In Saudi Arabia : Historical Overview, Anwar Al-Hashem

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

This article provides a historical overview of the evolution of health education in Saudi Arabia. It outlines milestones in the development of the health education profession and traces the roles of various health sectors and their achievements in the health education field. Additionally, this review seeks to describe the status of health education professionals in Saudi Arabia.

The Role Of Glutaminase And Extracellular Vesicles In Macrophages And Microglia, Beiqing Wu

Theses & Dissertations

Glutamate serves as a crucial excitatory neurotransmitter that is essential for the proper functioning of the brain. However, excess levels of glutamate are neurotoxic and contribute to the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative diseases, inducing HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Glutaminase 1 (GLS1) is an important mitochondrial enzyme responsible for producing glutamate from glutamine. GLS1 is upregulated during HAND and released from mitochondria to cytosol and extracellular space. However, why and how GLS1 is released remains unknown. In chapter II, we demonstrated that extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry GLS1 as cargos from cytosol to extracellular space during HIV infection and innate immune …

Ehd1 As A Positive Regulator Of Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor-1 Receptor, Luke R. Cypher

Theses & Dissertations

The master regulator of the macrophage development, differentiation, proliferation, survival, phagocytosis, cytokine secretion, motility, adhesion, migration, and spreading is the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R). Aberrant CSF-1R signaling is present amongst a variety of highly prevalent and devastating human diseases in the United States such as atherosclerosis, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis, and neuro-demyelination/neuro-degeneration. A better understanding of basic mechanisms that govern macrophage development and function is of vital importance in treating patients afflicted with these conditions/diseases. CSF-1R presentation on the macrophage cell surface is a required precursor for CSF1- induced RTK dimerization (activation) and downstream …

Clostridium Difficile (C. Diff) And Personal Protective Equipment, Jacquelin J. Mcnamara Bsn, Rn, Alisha A. Wilcox Bsn, Rn, Meghan E. Carr Bsn, Rn, Alicia D. Palmentera Bsn, Rn

Patient Care Services / Nursing

No abstract provided.

Anomaly Detection In Host Signaling Pathways For The Early Prognosis Of Acute Infection, Kun Wang, Stanley Langevin, Corey S. O'Hern, Mark D. Shattuck, Serenity Ogle, Adriana Forero, Juliet Morrison, Richard Slayden, Michael G. Katze, Michael Kirby

Publications and Research

Clinical diagnosis of acute infectious diseases during the early stages of infection is critical to administering the appropriate treatment to improve the disease outcome. We present a data driven analysis of the human cellular response to respiratory viruses including influenza, respiratory syncytia virus, and human rhinovirus, and compared this with the response to the bacterial endotoxin, Lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Using an anomaly detection framework we identified pathways that clearly distinguish between asymptomatic and symptomatic patients infected with the four different respiratory viruses and that accurately diagnosed patients exposed to a bacterial infection. Connectivity pathway analysis comparing the viral and bacterial diagnostic …

Developing A Patient-Driven, Substantive Definition Of Office-Based Opioid Treatment Success, Valerie Marie Hewell

Psychology

Patients in office-based opioid treatments’ definitions of treatment success and recovery are not well understood. This is important because traditional ways of defining and measuring success focus on consumption, and usually abstinence. This definition does not encompass medication-assisted treatment, such as office-based opioid treatment, which do not necessitate abstinence. Moreover, there is evidence to support the efficacy of office-based opioid treatment in reducing the harm associated with opioid misuse, which is important as opioid misuse has increased and leads to serious consequences for individuals, families, and society. To address this gap in the literature, using a qualitative design, this dissertation …

Socioecological Factors Influencing Women’S Hiv Risk In The United States: Qualitative Findings From The Women’S Hiv Seroincidence Study (Hptn 064), Paula M. Frew, Kimberly Parker, Linda Vo, Danielle Haley, Ann O'Leary, Dazon Dixon Diallo, Carol E. Golin, Irene Kuo, Lydia Soto-Torres, Jing Wang, Adaora A. Adimora, Laura A. Randall, Carlos Del Rio, Sally Hodder

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Understanding the current status of parents’ vaccine decision making is crucial to inform public policy. We sought to assess changes in vaccine decisions among parents of young children. … See full text for complete abstract.

Water Security In The Rural North: Responding To Change, Engineering Perspectives, And Community Focused Solutions, Henry J. Penn

Engineering

This project explores the capacity of rural communities to manage their water resources in a changing climate, environment and society. Using water resources as a lens through which to evaluate the effects of social and environmental changes on Alaska’s rural communities, and working from conversations with key community members including city planners and infrastructure operators, this research develops theoretical frameworks for increasing community capacity. The prospect of developing community capacity, and more specifically water resources management capacity, in order to respond to societal and climatic change is a present concern for rural communities, and is becoming increasingly so in today’s …