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Wagon Tracks. Volume 22, Issue 2 (February, 2008), Santa Fe Trail Association

Wagon Tracks

No abstract provided.

Progress Notes, Lehigh Valley Health Network

Progress Notes

No abstract provided.

Featured Bookshelf: 2017 Back To School, Megan M. Haught

Featured Bookshelf

It’s August already and the summer is almost over. I can’t believe how time has flown. I’m not sure where June and July went. It feels like just last week that spring classes were ending and summer classes beginning.

School will be starting up again in a few short weeks. We’ll have a full cohort of students back on campus. The lines for coffee will be never ending and parking will be nowhere to be found. Life will definitely get more exciting.

Here are the suggestions from UCF Libraries faculty and staff to help you get back in the mindset …

A Deeper Look Into Herpes Zoster, Jennifer Perkins

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Herpes zoster, otherwise known as shingles, is a prevalent condition in the United States, as close to 95% of the population are seropositive for the varicella zoster virus (VZV). The primary VZV infection is commonly known as chickenpox and typically occurs in childhood. After the initial VZV infection resolves, the VZV virus lies dormant in the affected individual’s dorsal ganglia until it is reactivated and manifests as shingles. The pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, complications, treatment, vaccination and nursing implications related to herpes zoster are thoroughly examined further.

Taxonomy And Systematics Of Plagioporus (Trematoda), With Descriptions Of 10 New Species From Freshwater Fishes Of The Nearctic, Thomas John Fayton

Dissertations

The Opecoelidae Ozaki, 1925 is one of the largest families of digenetic trematodes of fishes. While the family is mostly marine/estuarine, invasion of freshwater hosts has occurred at least two times. The only representative freshwater plagioporine sequenced to date is Plagiocirrus loboides Curran, Overstreet, & Tkach, 2007, which previous phylogenetic analyses resolved as being related to deep water marine opecoelids. The taxonomy of the freshwater plagioporines, particularly Plagioporus, has long been confused; homoplasy is rife within the family and has complicated the delineation of species and genera, and the freshwater species from marine forms. Here, I hypothesize that the …

General Catalog 2017-2018, Utah State University

University Catalogs

This catalog contains information on the Academic Departments and Programs as well as Course Descriptions for the above school year at Utah State University. To avoid large file downloads, the Academic Departments and Programs information is located in this file. The Course Description information is located in the secondary file.

A Short History Of Biological Warfare: From Pre-History To The 21st Century, W. Seth Carus

WMD Occasional Papers

This short monograph reviews the history of biological warfare (BW) from prehistory to the present. It covers what we know about the practice of BW and briefly describes the programs that developed BW weapons based on the best available research. To the extent possible, it primarily draws on the work of historians who used primary sources, relying where possible on studies specifically focused on BW. By broadening our knowledge of BW, such studies have enabled us to write about the topic with more accuracy and detail than could have been done even a few years ago.

Colonizing Opportunistic Pathogens (Cops): The Beasts In All Of Us., Lance B Price, Bruce A Hungate, Benjamin J Koch, Gregg S Davis, Cindy M Liu

Environmental and Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Colonizing opportunistic pathogens (COPs) are microbes that asymptomatically colonize the human body and, when the conditions are right, can cause infections. Their ability to persist indefinitely and to be transmitted without detection [1] gives COPs a unique epidemiology that warrants special consideration. There are examples of COPs among bacteria, fungi (e.g., Candida albicans [2]), protozoa (e.g., Blastocystis [3, 4]), and viruses (e.g., Rhinovirus [5]), but bacterial COPs are of particular relevance because of their major contribution to today’s antibiotic resistance crisis. The COPs include a long list of notorious bacteria that …

Colonizing Opportunistic Pathogens (Cops): The Beasts In All Of Us., Lance B Price, Bruce A Hungate, Benjamin J Koch, Gregg S Davis, Cindy M Liu

Environmental and Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Colonizing opportunistic pathogens (COPs) are microbes that asymptomatically colonize the human body and, when the conditions are right, can cause infections. Their ability to persist indefinitely and to be transmitted without detection [1] gives COPs a unique epidemiology that warrants special consideration. There are examples of COPs among bacteria, fungi (e.g., Candida albicans [2]), protozoa (e.g., Blastocystis [3, 4]), and viruses (e.g., Rhinovirus [5]), but bacterial COPs are of particular relevance because of their major contribution to today’s antibiotic resistance crisis. The COPs include a long list of notorious bacteria that …

Opioid And Naloxone Prescribing Practices In Mississippi, Rebecca Brown, Brittany Clayton, Alissa Damiens, Natalie Keyes, Gary A. Mcpherson, Anna E. Wiygul

MSN Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine whether primary care providers (PCPs) in Mississippi are following the selected Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines published in March 2016 for prescribing opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain. The study also sought to determine if the selected providers prescribed naloxone for opioid overdose reversal. Drug overdoses have increased exponentially in the last 3 decades in the United States (Doyon, Aks, & Schaeffer, 2014) — leading to opioid overdose becoming the most frequent cause of accidental death. Opioid overdose death rates are so high the CDC declared it a problem of …

Providers' Use Of Standards Of Care For Methicillin Resistant Staphlyococcus Aureus Abcesses, Victoria Ashley Ford, Suzanne Cox, Lisa Gatwood, Jeff Moffett

MSN Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to review the treatment prescribed by providers and evaluate the return rate for each treatment.

Influenza Vaccination Of The Older Adult Patient And Documentation By The Healthcare Provider, Victoria Ashley Ford, Suzanne Cox, Lisa Gatwood, Jeff Moffett

MSN Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to review the treatment prescribed by providers and evaluate the return rate for each treatment.

Diabetes In Sub-Saharan Africa: From Clinical Care To Health Policy., Rifat Atun, Justine I. Davies, Edwin A.M. Gal, Till Bärnighausen, David Beran, Andre Pascal Kengne, Naomi S. Levitt, Florence Mangugu, Moffat J. Nyirenda, Graham D. Ogle, Kaushik Ramaiya

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Rapid demographic, sociocultural, and economic transitions are driving increases in the risk and prevalence of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in sub-Saharan Africa. The impacts of these transitions and their health and economic consequences are evident. Whereas, in 1990, the leading causes of death in sub-Saharan Africa were HIV/AIDS, lower respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria, and vaccine-preventable diseases in children, in more recent years, cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors are replacing infectious diseases as the leading causes of death in this region, and rates of increase of cardiovascular risk factors are predicted to be greater in sub-Saharan Africa …

A Qualitative Study Investigating Facility Managers’ Perceptions Of The Classroom Learning Environment, Eric Shannon Parr

Dissertations

Facility managers have the challenge of adhering to community college policies and procedures while fulfilling requirements of administration, students, and teachers concerning specific needs of classroom aesthetics. The role of facility manager and how specific entities affect perceptions of the design and implementation of classroom aesthetics were presented in this study in an attempt to further clarify present classroom design practices and future aesthetic possibilities. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare a facility manager’s perceptions of classroom learning environments, and a student’s learning environment aesthetic needs. A qualitative research design was utilized within the theoretical framework …

Substance Use Disorders, Violence, Mental Health, And Hiv: Differentiating A Syndemic Factor By Gender And Sexuality, Kiyomi Tsuyuki, Eileen V. Pitpitan, Maria A. Levi-Minzi, Lianne A. Urada, Steven P. Kurtz, Jamila K. Stockman, Hilary L. Surratt

Center for Health Services Research Faculty Publications

This paper measures syndemic substance use disorder, violence, and mental health and compares the syndemic among HIV-infected heterosexual men, heterosexual women, and men who have sex with men (MSM). Data were from a sample of high needs substance-using, HIV-infected people in South Florida between 2010 and 2012 (n = 481). We used confirmatory factor analysis to measure a syndemic latent variable and applied measurement invariance models to identify group differences in the data structure of syndemic co-morbidities among heterosexual men, heterosexual women, and MSM. We found that variables used to measure the syndemic fit each sub-group, supporting that substance use …

Risk Factors For 30-Day Mortality In Patients With Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Bloodstream Infections, Pedro Ayau, Ana C. Bardossy, Guillermo Sanchez, Ricardo Ortiz, Daniela Moreno, Pamela Hartman, Khulood Rizvi, Tyler Prentiss, Mary B. Perri, Meredith Mahan, Vanthida Huang, Katherine Reyes, Marcus J. Zervos

Global Health Initiative Articles

OBJECTIVES: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections (BSI) are a major health care problem accounting for a large percentage of nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors associated with 30-day mortality in patients with MRSA BSI.

METHODS: This was a retrospective study performed in Southeast Michigan. Over a 9- year period, a total of 1,168 patients were identified with MRSA BSI. Patient demographics and clinical data were retrieved and evaluated using electronic medical health records.

RESULTS: 30-day mortality during the 9-year study period was 16%. Significant risk factors for 30-day mortality were age, cancer, …

Impact Of Inpatient Care In Emergency Department On Outcomes: A Quasi-Experimental Cohort Study, Aisha Lateef, Soo-Hoon Lee, Dale Andrew Fisher, Wei-Ping Goh, Hui Fen Han, Uma Chandra Segara, Tiong Beng Sim, Malcolm Mahadehvan, Khean Teik Goh, Noel Cheah, Aymeric Yt Lim, Phillip H. Phan, Reshma A. Merchant

Management Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Hospitals around the world are faced with the issue of boarders in emergency department (ED), patients marked for admission but with no available inpatient bed. Boarder status is known to be associated with delayed inpatient care and suboptimal outcomes. A new care delivery system was developed in our institution where boarders received full inpatient care from a designated medical team, acute medical team (AMT), while still residing at ED. The current study examines the impact of this AMT intervention on patient outcomes.

METHODS: We conducted a retrospective quasi-experimental cohort study to analyze outcomes between the AMT intervention and conventional …

Estimated Costs Of Contact In College And High School Male Sports, Ray C. Fair, Christopher Champa

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

Injury rates in twelve U.S. men’s college sports and five U.S. boys’ high school sports are examined in this paper. The sports are categorized as “contact” or “non-contact,” and differences in injury rates between the two are examined. Injury rates in the contact sports are considerably higher than those in the non-contact sports and they are on average more severe. Estimates are presented of the injury savings that would result if the contact sports were changed to have injury rates similar to those in the non-contact sports. The estimated college savings are 49,600 fewer injuries per year and 6,000 fewer …

Impact Of Awareness Programs On Cholera Dynamics: Two Modeling Approaches, Chayu Yang

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

We propose two differential equation-based models to investigate the impact of awareness programs on cholera dynamics. The first model represents the disease transmission rates as decreasing functions of the number of awareness programs, whereas the second model divides the susceptible individuals into two distinct classes depending on their awareness/unawareness of the risk of infection. We study the essential dynamical properties of each model, using both analytical and numerical approaches. We find that the two models, though closely related, exhibit significantly different dynamical behaviors. Namely, the first model follows regular threshold dynamics while rich dynamical behaviors such as backward bifurcation may …

Risk Factors For 30-Day Mortality In Patients With Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Bloodstream Infections, Pedro Ayau, Ana C. Bardossy, Guillermo Sanchez, Ricardo Ortiz, Daniela Moreno, Pamela Hartman, Khulood Rizvi, Tyler Prentiss, Mary Perri, Meredith Mahan, Vanthida Huang, Kate Reyes, Marcus J. Zervos

Infectious Diseases Articles

OBJECTIVES: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) blood stream infections (BSI) are a major health care problem accounting for a large percentage of nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to identify risk factors associated with 30-day mortality in patients with MRSA BSI.

METHODS: This was a retrospective study performed in Southeast Michigan. Over a 9- year period, a total of 1,168 patients were identified with MRSA BSI. Patient demographics and clinical data were retrieved and evaluated using electronic medical health records.

RESULTS: 30-day mortality during the 9-year study period was 16%. Significant risk factors for 30-day mortality were age, cancer, …

A Small Molecule Egcg-S, A Modified Green Tea Polyphenol, As A Synergistic Agent To Enhance Antibacterial Activity Of Antibiotics On Bacterial Biofilms, Shrameeta Shinde

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The rapidly emerging phenomenon of antibiotic resistance is continually becoming uncontrollable. Over recent years there have been an alarming increase in untreatable multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections that need earnest attention. The mechanisms by which antibiotic resistance is achieved in pathogenic bacteria have been extensively researched and various alternate treatment or intervention strategies have been designed. However, a recently established means of antibiotic resistance observed in bacteria is the formation of a physiological state known as Biofilm. Biofilm are complex adhesive microbial communities known to habitat animate and fomite surfaces. High mortality clinically infectious cases have been associated to the biofilms …

In Vitro Antiviral Activity Of Black Tea Polyphenols On Sindbis Virus In Vero Cells, Jose Villagomez

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Black tea, derived from the Camellia sinensis plant, is a natural product that is rich in polyphenols. The major polyphenols found in black tea are known as theaflavins. Previous research demonstrated that theaflavins contain antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus 1 & 2 (HSV-1 & HSV-2), both enveloped DNA viruses. The goal of this research was to investigate the antiviral activity of theaflavins on the Sindbis virus (SINV). SINV is an enveloped RNA virus, and the prototype species of alphaviruses. SINV was treated with various concentrations of a theaflavin rich Black Tea Extract (BTE) before infection of Vero Cells. Antiviral …

Crispr/Cas9 In Leishmania Genome Editing : Towards A Proof Of Concept, Zein Kasbo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) that affects mostly poor countries of the third word due to their limited access to clean water and health care. The disease is transmitted through the bite of a sand fly of the genus Phlebotomus in the Old World, and of the genus Lutzomyia in the New World. Historically, NTDs have not been given adequate attention or research funding and finding curative treatments has been slow. However, the fact that the insect vector and the parasite can live and thrive in any ecological system in the world, and under the current circumstances …

Hepatitis C Screening In Primary Care, Elizabeth Leigh Cirbo

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Primary care clinics are often the first stop when a patient has a question regarding health, needs screening for health conditions, and/or needs to complete maintenance healthcare items such as mammograms or colonoscopies. As such, primary care providers are in prime position to screen for possible diseases that could poorly affect health for their patients. These screenings are usually directed by guidelines and policies published through the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; 2013). One such guideline is entitled Screening for hepatitis C virus infection in adults: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (2013) …

Gamma Power In Pakistani Children: Links To Executive Function And Verbal Ability, Amanda R. Tarullo, Jelena Obradovic, Brandon Keehn, Muneera Rasheed, Saima Siyal, Charles A. Nelson, Aisha K. Yousafzai

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Children in low- and middle-income countries are at high risk of cognitive deficits due to environmental deprivation that compromises brain development. Despite the high prevalence of unrealized cognitive potential, very little is known about neural correlates of cognition in this population. We assessed resting EEG power and cognitive ability in 105 highly disadvantaged 48-month-old children in rural Pakistan. An increase in EEG power in gamma frequency bands (21-30Hz and 31-45Hz) was associated with better executive function. For girls, EEG gamma power also related to higher verbal IQ. This study identifies EEG gamma power as a neural marker of cognitive function …

Peptide Inhibitors Targeting The Neisseria Gonorrhoeae Pivotal Anaerobic Respiration Factor Ania, Aleksandra E. Sikora, Robert H. Mills, Jacob V. Weber, Adel Hamza, Bryan W. Passow, Andrew Romaine, Zachary A. Williamson, Robert W. Reed, Ryszard A. Zielke, Konstantin V. Korotkov

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea, which is highly prevalent worldwide and has a major impact on reproductive and neonatal health. The superbug status of N. gonorrhoeae necessitates the development of drugs with different mechanisms of action. Here, we focused on targeting the nitrite reductase AniA, which is a pivotal component of N. gonorrhoeae anaerobic respiration and biofilm formation. Our studies showed that gonococci expressing AniA containing the altered catalytic residues D137A and H280A failed to grow under anaerobic conditions, demonstrating that the nitrite reductase function is essential. To facilitate the pharmacological targeting of AniA, new crystal structures …

Content Analysis Of Spanish-Language Materials Targeting Consumers With Information About Human Norovirus, Ana Romero Vega

All Theses

Background and Rationale: Worldwide, human norovirus is a significant public health problem. One way to reduce the burden of illness attributed to norovirus is to educate consumers about prevention and control strategies. A common vehicle to do so is the Internet. Unfortunately, the accuracy of information posted to the Internet is not well known as no universal review system is in place. Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine if web-based Spanish-language norovirus educational materials targeting consumers were clearly written and accurate (aligned with evidence-based prevention and control strategies). The objectives were: (1) determine if the …

Fit Or Fitting In: Deciding Against Normal When Reproducing The Future, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Isabel Karpin

Articles & Book Chapters

‘Normal’ is a contentious term. Descriptively, ‘normal’ represents ‘what is’ as a statistical average. However, the term also represents normative or prescriptive content about what is ‘right’ or ‘what should be’. Correspondingly, abnormality is a deviation from the norm. It is both a factual exception to the average and a value judgement about what is a ‘wrong’ state of being. Pursuing ‘normal’ or deciding against it can be a defining moment in the high technology environment of assisted reproduction. Here, we explore notions of normalcy articulated through legal and policy regimes around screening and testing of gamete and embryo donors. …

Validation Of Extrusion Processing For The Safety Of Low-Moisture Foods, Tushar Verma

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Salmonella in low-moisture foods is an emerging challenge due to numerous food product recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks. The new Food Safety Modernization Act requires the food processors to validate their process controls that indeed kills the desired number of bacteria. This research had two major objectives: 1) Develop a response surface model for Salmonella inactivation during the extrusion of low-moisture food 2) Evaluate the use of Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 as an adequate surrogate for Salmonella during the extrusion of low-moisture food. Oat flour was selected as a low-moisture food model. For inoculation, cocktail of five different strains of …

Effects Of Allergen Sensitization On Response To Therapy In Children With Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Robert D. Pesek, Mallikarjuna Rettiganti, Erin O'Brien, Sarah Beckwith, Caroline Daniel, Chunqiao Luo, Amy M. Scurlock, Peggy Chandler, Rebecca A Levy, Tamara T. Perry, Joshua L. Kennedy, Sheva Chervinskiy, Maryelle Vonlanthen, Helen Casteel, Stephen C. Fiedorek, Troy Gibbons, Stacie M. Jones

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Background: In children with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) foods are the most common disease triggers, but environmental allergens are also suspected culprits.

Objective: To determine the effects of environmental allergen sensitization on response to treatment in children with EoE in the southeastern United States.

Methods: Patients 2 to 18 years old who were referred to the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders Clinic from January 2012 to January 2016 were enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal cohort study with collection of demographics, clinical symptoms, medical history, allergy sensitization profiles, and response to treatment over time. Comparisons were made between complete responders (peak …