Digital Commons Network^™

Ecological And Evolutionary Relationships Between Feather Mites And Parulid Warblers, Alix Elizabeth Matthews

Student Theses and Dissertations

Host-symbiont relationships are ubiquitous in nature, yet the evolutionary and ecological processes that have shaped these intricate associations are not well understood. Here, I explored the complex symbiosis between feather mites and their warbler hosts. I first considered how ecological context may influence feather mite abundance on two ecologically dissimilar warbler species, and how feather mite abundance may in turn influence the current reproduction and annual survival of hosts. Ecological context of hosts does play a role in feather mite abundance, and even though current reproduction may not be influenced by feather mite abundance, annual survival may be at a …

Influencing College Influenza Vaccination Through A Multi-Component Campaign, Heather Strickler

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Multiple influenza strains exist and college aged students are the most affected population from the H1N1 strain. The H1N1 influenza pandemic had high attack rates reported on campuses from 25% to 73% (Benjamin et. al., 2016; Uddin et. al., 2009). Only 8% to 40% of college students are vaccinated against influenza despite a target goal of 50% set by the American Healthy Campus 2020 (Benjamin et. al., 2016; Poehling, et. al., 2012). The purpose of this evidence based project was after implementing a multi-component influenza vaccination campaign to determine changes in intent to receive the vaccine among college students. To …

Recurrence Of Shingles In The Older Adult Population, Leeann Yang

Nursing Capstones

No abstract provided.

Capture-Recapture Methodology To Study Rare Conditions Using Surveillance Data For Fragile X Syndrome And Muscular Dystrophy, Michael G. Smith, Julie Royer, Joshua Mann, Suzanne Mcdermott, Rodolfo Valdez

ETSU Faculty Works

Rare conditions can be catastrophic for families and the implications for public health can be substantial. Our study compared basic surveillance through active medical record review with a linked administrative data file to assess the number of cases of two rare conditions, fragile X syndrome (FXS) and muscular dystrophy (MD) in a population. Methods: Two methods of data collection were used to collect information from five counties comprising two standard metropolitan statistical areas of South Carolina. The passive system relied mostly on health claims data using ICD-9 CM diagnostic codes. The active system relied on a nurse abstracting records from …

The Tsimane Health And Life History Project: Integrating Anthropology And Biomedicine, Michael Gurven, Jonathan Stieglitz, Benjamin C. Trumble, Aaron D. Blackwell, Bret Beheim, Helen Davis, Hillard Kaplan, Paul L. Hooper

ESI Publications

The Tsimane Health and Life History Project, an integrated bio-behavioral study of the human life course, is designed to test competing hypotheses of human life-history evolution. One aim is to understand the bidirectional connections between life history and social behavior in a highfertility, kin-based context lacking amenities of modern urban life (e.g. sanitation, banks, electricity). Another aim is to understand how a high pathogen burden influences health and well-being during development and adulthood. A third aim addresses how modernization shapes human life histories and sociality. Here we outline the project’s goals, history, and main findings since its inception in 2002. …

Priority Hypertension Management Strategies For At-Risk African Americans As Perceived By Medical Clinicians And Academic Scholars, Shirley M. Timmons, Lu Shi, Amin Khademi

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

African American adults, in the United States (US), bear the greatest burden of high blood pressure (HBP)--a primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. Current research does not adequately inform the design of multi-level interventions that work to control HBP in this at-risk population. The purpose of this study was to uncover information about priority strategies recommended for HBP control in African American adults. Research questions are 1) what are factors that reduce or manage HBP in at-risk African Americans and 2) what factors are important to the design and implementation of successful HBP interventions in at-risk African …

Hiv-1 Protease Inhibitors From Marine Brown Alga: A Literature Review, Eric Nunez Aguilar

McNair Research Journal SJSU

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) causes an infectious disease that if left untreated can progress to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and be fatal. Finding a cure and more treatments for HIV has become a top priority in medical research, and due to the cost of synthetic HIV medication, finding a low-cost alternative is essential. Marine pharmacology has provided a possible solution to costly HIV medication through compounds derived from marine brown algae that inhibit the HIV-1 protease (PR). The objective of this study is to emphasize the necessity for further research in HIV-1 protease inhibition using marine wildlife-derived …

Full Issue

McNair Research Journal SJSU

No abstract provided.

The Inhibitory Effects Demonstrated By Manuka Honey On Biofilms: How Manuka Honey May Soon Replace Conventional Antibiotic Therapy, Laura Pavelik, Cundell, Phd

CSHLA Scholar Day

Introduction:

The surge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has raised substantial concerns over how to effectively and efficiently control antibiotic-resistant bacteria capable of secreting biofilms. A biofilm can be defined as a self-producing extracellular matrix (Carter, et, al., 2016). Manuka honey, an alternative to conventional antibiotics, has proven successful in inhibiting planktonic cells and killing bacteria living under the protection of biofilms (Brudzynski & Sjaarda, 2015)

April 20, 2017, James Madison University

The Breeze, 2010-2019

The Breeze is the student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Epidemiology Of Microorganisms In Intraabdominal Infection/Complicated Intraabdominal Infections In Six Centers Of Surgical Care In Indonesia: A Preliminary Study, Yefta Moenadjat, Toar Jm. Lalisang, Rofy S. Saunar, Nurhayat Usman, Adeodatus Y. Handaya, J. Iswanto, Safruddin Nasution, Anis Karuniawati, Tony Loho, Indah S. Widyahening

The New Ropanasuri Journal of Surgery

Introduction. Data of complicated intraabdominal infections (cIAI) and the epidemiology of causative microorganisms which is Indonesian characteristics is required to develop a guideline. Thus, a preliminary study run to find out such characteristics. Method. Data of subjects with cIAI managed in six centers of teaching hospital in Indonesia in period of 2015–2016 were collected. Those data of source of infection, the epidemiology of microorganism and susceptibility of antibiotics were descriptively provided. Results. Source of infection were perforated appendicitis (26.64%), perforated gastric and duodenal ulcer (22.70%), small bowel perforation (11.84%), large bowel perforation (13.16%), postoperative (9.54%), and others (16.2%). Escherichia coli …

Chytrid Fungus Infection In Zebrafish Demonstrates That The Pathogen Can Parasitize Non-Amphibian Vertebrate Hosts, Nicole Liew, Moya Mj Mazon, Claudia J. Wierzbicki, Michael Hollinshead, Michael J. Dillon, Christopher R. Thornton, Amy Ellison, Jo Cable, Matthew C. Fisher, Serge Mostowy

Peninsula Medical School

AbstractAquatic chytrid fungi threaten amphibian biodiversity worldwide owing to their ability to rapidly expand their geographical distributions and to infect a wide range of hosts. Combating this risk requires an understanding of chytrid host range to identify potential reservoirs of infection and to safeguard uninfected regions through enhanced biosecurity. Here we extend our knowledge on the host range of the chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis by demonstrating infection of a non-amphibian vertebrate host, the zebrafish. We observe dose-dependent mortality and show that chytrid can infect and proliferate on zebrafish tissue. We also show that infection phenotypes (fin erosion, cell apoptosis and muscle …

Estimating Autoantibody Signatures To Detect Autoimmune Disease Patient Subsets, Zhenke Wu, Livia Casciola-Rosen, Ami A. Shah, Antony Rosen, Scott L. Zeger

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Autoimmune diseases are characterized by highly specific immune responses against molecules in self-tissues. Different autoimmune diseases are characterized by distinct immune responses, making autoantibodies useful for diagnosis and prediction. In many diseases, the targets of autoantibodies are incompletely defined. Although the technologies for autoantibody discovery have advanced dramatically over the past decade, each of these techniques generates hundreds of possibilities, which are onerous and expensive to validate. We set out to establish a method to greatly simplify autoantibody discovery, using a pre-filtering step to define subgroups with similar specificities based on migration of labeled, immunoprecipitated proteins on sodium dodecyl sulfate …

Undergraduate Students Gain Research Experience In Drug Discovery Lab, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Proton Pump Inhibitors: An Overview Of Their Risks And Adverse Effects, Emily Westover

Nursing Capstones

No abstract provided.

Improving Access To Communication For Adults With Aphasia Using "Aphasia-Friendly" Accommodations, Chandler Hodgkin

Honors Theses

Accessing written health information is vital to any health visit (Blackstone, Beukelman, & Yorkston, 2015). People who have difficulty comprehending written text have difficulty understanding health-related information because it is usually written at a complex levels (Kanj & Mitic, 2009). If health information contains complicated content and is not easily accessible, people may not receive the health care needed (Blackstone et al., 2015). Many populations are considered communication vulnerable relative to health care which means they may not have access to understanding health information documents (Hallowell, 2016). These populations include people who are blind or visually impaired; people who are …

Epidemiology Of 45,616 Suspect Cases Of Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease In Chongqing, China, 2011–2015, Jian Tao, Xiao-Yan He, Yu Shi, Guohun Zhu, Shan Liu, Zhenzhen Zhang, Shi Tang, Rong Zhang, Bin Peng, Zhidai Liu, Junjie Tan, Qian Chen, Xingbin Wang, Liming Bao, Lin Zou, Penghui Zhang

Dartmouth Scholarship

Epidemiology and etiology of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) based on large sample size or evaluation of detection for more enterovirus serotypes are not well investigated in Chongqing of China. 45,616 suspect HFMD patients were prospectively enrolled among whom 21,615 were laboratory confirmed HFMD cases over a 5-year period (January 2011 to December 2015). Their epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory data were extracted and stratified by month, age, sex, disease severity, and enterovirus serotype. Subsequently 292 non-EV-A71/CV-A16 HFMD confirmed cases were randomly selected in three consecutive outbreaks to detect CV-A6 and CV-A10, using RT-PCR. Results showed that the HFMD epidemic …

Filamentous Fungal Carbon Catabolite Repression Supports Metabolic Plasticity And Stress Responses Essential For Disease Progression, Sarah R. Beattie, Kenneth Mark, Arsa Thammahong, Laure Nicolas Annick Ries, Sourabh Dhingra, Alayna Caffrey-Carr, Chao Cheng

Dartmouth Scholarship

Aspergillus fumigatus is responsible for a disproportionate number of invasive mycosis cases relative to other common filamentous fungi. While many fungal factors critical for infection establishment are known, genes essential for disease persistence and progression are ill defined. We propose that fungal factors that promote navigation of the rapidly changing nutrient and structural landscape characteristic of disease progression represent untapped clinically relevant therapeutic targets. To this end, we find that A. fumigatus requires a carbon catabolite repression (CCR) mediated genetic network to support in vivo fungal fitness and disease progression. While CCR as mediated by the transcriptional repressor CreA is …

The Methods Used For Eradication Of Polio Versus The Defense Efforts That Are Being Conducted For Global Defense Against Ebola, Kalyn Johnson

Undergraduate Research Conference

Poliovirus eradication has been a long-lasting and difficult process that has become a global issue. The World Health Organization and the European Union have been trying to end the terrible reign of this abhorrent disease since the 1980s and are continually fighting the virus today. Poliomyelitis is an Old World disease, much like smallpox. It has been easily, through a twenty year process, eradicable through mass vaccination and circle vaccination.

However, as poliovirus is coming to the end of its reign, a more recent danger lurks nearby. Ebola virus is considered a non-traditional disease in that it requires more developed …

Child Abuse: Tomorrow's Problems Begin Today, Vincent J. Fontana

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Disease Introduction By Aboriginal Humans In North America And The Pleistocene Extinction, Zachary D. Nickell, Matthew D. Moran

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

While overhunting and climate change have been the major hypotheses to explain the late-Pleistocene New World megafaunal extinctions, the role of introduced disease has only received brief attention. Here, we review pre-Columbian diseases endemic to aboriginal Americans and evaluate their potential to cause large-scale mortality in Pleistocene mammals. Of the probable communicable diseases present in pre-Columbian times, we regard anthrax and tuberculosis as viable candidates. These two diseases demonstrate characteristics that could have made them deadly to immunologically naïve populations. Introduced disease, as a primary cause or interacting with overhunting and climate change, could have contributed to the decline and …

Som Faculty Recognized For Exceptional Mentorship By Uab Graduate School, Uab Heersink School Of Medicine News

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Spread Of The Zika Virus At The 2016 Olympics, Triona S. Matheson, Brian Satterthwaite, Hannah Callender Highlander

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

The Zika Virus is an arbovirus that is spread by mosquitoes of the \emph{Aedes} genus and causes mild fever-like symptoms. It is strongly associated with microcephaly, a condition that affects development of fetal brains. With the recent emergence of Zika in Brazil, we develop an agent-based model to track mosquitoes and humans throughout the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to investigate how the Olympics might affect the spread of the virus. There are many unknowns regarding the spread and prevalence of Zika, with approximately 80\% of infected individuals unaware of their infectious status. We therefore discuss results of experiments …

Implementation Of A Daily Checklist To Improve Patient Safety And Quality Of Care In A Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Catherine Reese

Dissertations

Background

Multiple industries have demonstrated checklists to be of great value in reducing errors of omission and improving communication. In healthcare, checklists have been shown to ensure patients receive evidence-based, safe care. In a fast paced environment of a critical care unit, adverse events are common and can have significant consequences on patient outcome. Safety guardrails are necessary to minimize naturally occurring human error. Safety checklists help support best practices to standardize care and support processes to improve outcome.

Objectives

To develop and implement a daily safety checklist in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) to enhance clinical care and …

The State Of Climate Change In Ak: Agency And Networking Of The Governmental Kind, Mindy L. O'Neall

Communication

Alaska coastal villages are faced with relocating their communities' due to erosion, flooding, permafrost thaw and other slow-moving natural hazards that risk their safety. State and federal efforts to relocate, specifically, indigenous communities are thwarted by insufficient policy and restrictive agency missions, and coordination of actors, authority, responsibility, accountability, access and funding is lacking between levels of government, further complicating action. Networks are created to view mission statements from tribal, state, and federal agencies, nonprofits and private industry were coded to analyze coordination between key actors involved in climate governance and planned relocation. State and federal climate and disaster response …

Worldwide Use Of Triclosan: Can Dentistry Do Without This Antimicrobial?, Diana V. Macri

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Glucocorticoids Induce Molecular And Phenotypical Changes In Visceral Adipose Tissue When Consuming A High Fat Diet, Jessica Lynn Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) physiology is negatively affected by chronic glucocorticoid (GC) usage, and is exacerbated by a "Western" diet. However, the impact of omega-3 supplimentation into a "Western" diet, during chronic GC usage, remains unknown. Therefore, we determined the impact of both diets ("Western" vs omega-3 supplimented) in conjunction with chronic GCs, on VAT physiology. Sixty-four male C57BL/6 mice (n=8-16/group) were subjected to 4-weeks of dietary intervention (high fat lard [HFL] vs. high fat fish oil [HFO], with or without prednisolone [40mg/kg/m2] daily). We hypothesized that omega-3 supplimentation would protect VAT physiology from chronic GC-induced negative effects. Overall, both …

Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - April 16, 2017, Lindsey Lyle

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the April 16, 2017 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine's Newsletter - Watercooler.

Contents Include:

USA Health to Offer Free Skin Cancer Screenings

Inaugural Resident and Fellow Expo Set for May 23

Anatomy Outreach Provides Interactive Experience for High School Students

Dr. William Gerthoffer Receives Joseph R. Rodarte Award for Scientific Distinction

Pediatrics Hosting Grand Rounds This Week

Parasitism Of Free-Ranging Neotropical Primates: Examining Parasite-Host And Parasite-Parasite Relationships, Gideon A. Erkenswick

Dissertations

Parasites are infectious agents that require resources from host organisms to complete all or part of their lifecycles. It is customary for wild animals to acquire and maintain multiple parasitic infections during their lifetime. The effects of parasites on hosts vary across demographic and environmental variables, and in relation to each other. Moreover, the propensity for a host animal to acquire an infection can be influenced by other host species in the area that are susceptible to the same parasites. This dissertation describes and explores the natural parasite assemblage of a free-ranging community of nonhuman primates in the Peruvian Amazon …

Predictors Of Hpv Vaccination Series Completion In Philadelphia Adolescents, Karie Youngdahl, Mph, Ami S. Patel, Phd, Mph, Amy E. Leader, Drph, Mph

JCPH Alumni

Research Aim:

This study analyzed data from the Philadelphia KidsPlus Immunization information System (IIS) to look at factors associated with HPV vaccine series completion.

Note:

Student capstone presentation also available at: http://jdc.jefferson.edu/mphcapstone_presentation/190/