Digital Commons Network^™

Hepatitis C And The Social Hierarchy: How Stigma Is Built In Rural Communities, Charley D. Henderson, Atsuko Kawakami

The Qualitative Report

Although Hepatitis C has profound impacts on individuals living in communities, most research has been conducted in a hospital or laboratory setting. Additionally, there is a lack of research exploring the social effects of Hepatitis C in rural communities. In this qualitative study, we focus on perceptions on Hepatitis C within a rural community, describe how the local residents perceive social hierarchy within their community, and explore the process of stigma building. Informed by a grounded theory approach, we employed a snowball sampling strategy in a southern rural area to conduct in-depth, open-ended interviews. In our findings we describe how …

A Herpesvirus Encoded Qa-1 Mimic Inhibits Natural Killer Cell Cytotoxicity Through Cd94/Nkg2a Receptor Engagement, Xiaoli Wang, Sytse J. Piersma, Christopher A. Nelson, Ya-Nan Dai, Ted Christensen, Eric Lazear, Liping Yang, Marjolein Sluijter, Thorbald Van Hall, Ted H. Hansen, Wayne M. Yokoyama, Daved H. Fremont

Open Access Publications

A recurrent theme in viral immune evasion is the sabotage of MHC-I antigen presentation, which brings virus the concomitant issue of 'missing-self' recognition by NK cells that use inhibitory receptors to detect surface MHC-I proteins. Here, we report that rodent herpesvirus Peru (RHVP) encodes a Qa-1 like protein (pQa-1) via RNA splicing to counteract NK activation. While pQa-1 surface expression is stabilized by the same canonical peptides presented by murine Qa-1, pQa-1 is GPI-anchored and resistant to the activity of RHVP pK3, a ubiquitin ligase that targets MHC-I for degradation. pQa-1 tetramer staining indicates that it recognizes CD94/NKG2A receptors. Consistently, …

Chimera Ligand For Pili And Lectin A Protein Controls Antibiotic-Promoted Biofilm Formation, Swarming Motility, Tolerance And Persister Formation By Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Hewen Zheng

Dissertations - ALL

Throughout the human history, the fight against bacterial infections had never stopped but the remedies for bacterial infections were often insufficient and for many infectious diseases, there was no treatment available. The revolution in antimicrobial infection therapy began with the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928. However, since the first introduction of antibiotics, bacteria over time have evolved sophisticated resistant strains against almost all the available antibiotics which cause selection pressure on the bacteria to evolve their genetic makeup and develop resistance against such agents. Furthermore, bacteria can form surface attached multicellular communities known as biofilms. Bacteria residing …

A Potent Lassa Virus Antiviral Targets An Arenavirus Virulence Determinant, Ikenna G. Madu, Megan Files, Dima N. Gharaibeh, Amy L. Moore, Kieh-Hoon Jung, Brian B. Gowen, Dongcheng Dai, Kevin F. Jones, Shanthakumar R. Tyavanagimatt, James R. Burgeson, Marcus J. Korth, Kristin M. Bedard, Shawn P. Iadonato, Sean M. Amberg

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Arenaviruses are a significant cause of hemorrhagic fever, an often-fatal disease for which there is no approved antiviral therapy. Lassa fever in particular generates high morbidity and mortality in West Africa, where the disease is endemic, and a recent outbreak in Nigeria was larger and more geographically diverse than usual. We are developing LHF-535, a small-molecule viral entry inhibitor that targets the arenavirus envelope glycoprotein, as a therapeutic candidate for Lassa fever and other hemorrhagic fevers of arenavirus origin. Using a lentiviral pseudotype infectivity assay, we determined that LHF-535 had sub-nanomolar potency against the viral envelope glycoproteins from all Lassa …

Efficacy Of A T Cell-Biased Adenovirus Vector As A Zika Virus Vaccine, Brianna L. Bullard, Brigette N. Corder, Matthew J. Gorman, Michael S. Diamond, Eric A. Weaver

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a major public health concern due to the risk of congenital Zika syndrome in developing fetuses and Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. Currently, there are no approved vaccines available to protect against infection. Adenoviruses are safe and highly immunogenic vaccine vectors capable of inducing lasting humoral and cellular immune responses. Here, we developed two Adenovirus (Ad) vectored Zika virus vaccines by inserting a ZIKV prM-E gene expression cassette into human Ad types 4 (Ad4-prM-E) and 5 (Ad5-prM-E). Immune correlates indicate that Ad5-prM-E vaccination induces both an anti-ZIKV antibody and T-cell responses whereas Ad4-prM-E vaccination only induces a …

Adaptations Made To Evidence-Based Public Health Programs In Low- To Middle- Income Countries: A Concept Mapping Analysis, Elizabeth Holguin

Nursing ETDs

One of the most challenging barriers to implementing successful and sustainable evidence-based programs in public health is the ability to remain faithful to original protocols grounded in scientific evidence while adapting programmatic components to reflect the reality of the communities they are meant to benefit. It is generally accepted that some degree of adaptation should occur in order to achieve positive, sustainable outcomes in public health programs. A concept mapping methodology was used to explore types of adaptation that occur during implementation of evidence-based global health programs in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs). Purposive and snowball sampling produced a sample …

Resveratrol Attenuates Allergic Asthma And Associated Inflammation In The Lungs Through Regulation Of Mirna-34a That Targets Foxp3 In Mice, Esraah Alharris, Hasan Alghetaa, Ratanesh K. Seth, Saurabh Chatterjee, Narendra P. Singh, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti

Faculty Publications

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of airways mediated by T-helper 2 (Th2) cells involving complex signaling pathways. Although resveratrol has previously been shown to attenuate allergic asthma, the role of miRNA in this process has not been studied. We investigated the effect of resveratrol on ovalbumin-induced experimental allergic asthma in mice. To that end, BALB/c mice were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) intraperitoneally followed by oral gavage of vehicle (OVA-veh) or resveratrol (100 mg/kg body) (OVA-res). On day 7, the experimental groups received intranasal challenge of OVA followed by 7 days of additional oral gavage of vehicle or resveratrol. At …

Optimization Of Pgex System To Express And Isolate Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Inclusion Body Protein In Combining With Modified Refolding Method, Andriansjah Rukmana, Burhanuddin Burhanuddin, Andi Yasmon

Makara Journal of Science

Antigen sub units for vaccine studies are typically isolated from recombinant proteins in an expression system. However, not all protein expression systems are used to express the specific protein. In this study,we optimized the pGEX system combined with the modified protein refolding to express and isolate M. tuberculosis proteins, especially proteins that are expressed as an inclusion body. Resuscitation promoting factor B (RpfB) protein is one of the Resuscitation promoting factor (Rpf) family of proteins that has been studied for its ability to induce cellular immunity in animal tests. Silico analyses demonstrate how RpfB is included in cell wall and …

Diabetic Foot Disease Research In Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Bibliometric Analysis, Ibrahim S. Al-Busaidi, Nadia N. Abdulhadi, Kirsten J.

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: Countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have some of the highest prevalence rates of diabetes mellitus (DM) in the world; however, DM-related research activity in this region is limited. This study aimed to examine trends in published diabetic foot disease (DFD) research undertaken in GCC countries. Methods: This bibliometric study was conducted in December 2016. Standardised criteria were used to search the MEDLINE® database (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, USA) for DFD-related publications authored by GCC researchers between January 1990 and December 2015. Various details such as the type of publication, journal impact factor and number of …

Obstetric And Neonatal Outcomes Of Pregnant Indian Pilgrims: A Three-Year Experience At The Indian Hajj Medical Mission, Shazia Khan, Inam D. Khan

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: The Hajj, an annual mass gathering of Muslim pilgrims, is known for its high morbidity and mortality rates. However, pregnant women sometimes participate in this pilgrimage, despite guidelines that discourage such an undertaking due to potential fetomaternal complications. This study aimed to evaluate fetomaternal outcomes among pregnant Indian Hajj pilgrims. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at two Indian Hajj Medical Mission (IHMM)-affiliated secondary care hospitals in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj periods of August–October 2015 and 2016 and July–September 2017. All female Indian pilgrims of reproductive age who underwent pregnancy screening at secondary care IHMM hospitals during …

Evaluating The Impact Of Local Vegetable Messaging On Elementary School Students’ Vegetable Choice And Nutrition Behaviors, Jesse Chiero

Doctoral Dissertations

Farm to school (FtS) initiatives within a school setting may include purchase of local foods, nutrition education, and school gardening. Previous FtS research has indicated a positive impact on child nutrition behaviors and body weight but less is known about how and what aspects of local foods within school meals impact child nutrition behaviors. The specific aims of this project were to: 1) Determine which benefit(s) of eating local vegetables are most salient to 3^rd-5^th grade students for a local vegetable message campaign intervention and compare if message preferences varied by age, gender and school district, and …

Evaluation Of Antibiotic Use Among Sepsis Patients In An Intensive Care Unit: A Cross-Sectional Study At A Referral Hospital In Indonesia, Ratna S. Dewi, Maksum Radji, Rizka

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of antibiotic use and factors associated with outcomes among sepsis patients in an ntensive care unit (ICU). Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from February to May 2017 and included all adult patients with sepsis or septic shock admitted to the ICU of Dharmais Cancer Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia. Data were collected from the patients’ medical records. Results: A total of 60 patients with sepsis or septic shock were admitted to the ICU during the study period. The most common source of infection was hospital-acquired pneumonia (61.7%) and the majority had two …

An Open-Data-Driven Agent-Based Model To Simulate Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Elizabeth Hunter, Brian Mac Namee, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Agent-based models are a tool that can be used to better understand the dynamics of an infectious disease outbreak. An infectious disease outbreak is influenced by many factors including vaccination or immunity levels, population density, and the age structure of the population. We hypothesize that these factors along with interactions of factors and the actions of individuals would lead to outbreaks of different size and severity even in two towns that appear similar on paper. Thus, it is necessary to implement a model that is able to capture these interactions and the actions of individuals. Using openly available data we …

Interference And Control Of The Nosocomial Transmission Of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Sen Pei, Flaviano Morone, Fredrik Liljeros, Hernan Makse, Jeffrey L. Shaman

Publications and Research

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a continued threat to human health in both community and healthcare settings. In hospitals, control efforts would benefit from accurate estimation of asymptomatic colonization and infection importation rates from the community. However, developing such estimates remains challenging due to limited observation of colonization and complicated transmission dynamics within hospitals and the community. Here, we develop an inference framework that can estimate these key quantities by combining statistical filtering techniques, an agent-based model, and real-world patient-to-patient contact networks, and use this framework to infer nosocomial transmission and infection importation over an outbreak spanning 6 years in …

Minimum Information About An Uncultivated Virus Genome (Miuvig), Simon Roux, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Bas E. Dutilh, Eugene V. Koonin, Andrew M. Kropinski, Mart Krupovic, Jens H. Kuhn, Rob Lavigne, J Rodney Brister, Arvind Varsani, Clara Amid, Ramy K. Aziz, Seth R. Bordenstein, Peer Bork, Mya Breitbart, Guy R. Cochrane, Rebecca A. Daly, Christelle Desnues, Melissa B. Duhaime, Joanne B. Emerson, François Enault, Jed A. Fuhrman, Pascal Hingamp, Philip Hugenholtz, Bonnie L. Hurwitz, Natalie N. Ivanova, Jessica M. Labonté, Kyung-Bum Lee, Rex R. Malmstrom, Manuel Martinez-Garcia, Ilene Karsch Mizrachi, Hiroyuki Ogata, David Páez-Espino, Marie-Agnès Petit, Catherine Putonti, Thomas Rattei, Alejandro Reyes, Francisco Rodriguez-Valera, Karyna Rosario, Lynn Schriml, Frederik Schulz, Grieg F. Steward, Matthew B. Sullivan, Shinichi Sunagawa, Curtis A. Suttle, Ben Temperton, Susannah G. Tringe, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Nicole S. Webster, Katrine L. Whiteson, Steven W. Whilhelm, K Eric Wommack, Tanja Woyke, Kelly C. Wrighton, Pelin Yilmaz, Takashi Yoshida, Mark J. Young, Natalya Yutin, Lisa Zeigler Allen, Nikos C. Kyrpides, Emiley A. Eloe-Fadrosh

Bioinformatics Faculty Publications

We present an extension of the Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence (MIxS) standard for reporting sequences of uncultivated virus genomes. Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG) standards were developed within the Genomic Standards Consortium framework and include virus origin, genome quality, genome annotation, taxonomic classification, biogeographic distribution and in silico host prediction. Community-wide adoption of MIUViG standards, which complement the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG) standards for uncultivated bacteria and archaea, will improve the reporting of uncultivated virus genomes in public databases. In turn, this should enable more robust comparative …

Fly Control To Prevent Diarrhoea In Children, Jai K. Das, Yousaf Bashir Hadi, Rehana Salam, Mehar Hoda, Zohra S. Lassi, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background:
Diarrhoeal disease accounts for millions of child deaths every year. Although the role of flies as vectors of infectious diarrhoea has been established, fly control is not often mentioned as an approach to decrease childhood diarrhoea. Theoretically, fly control for decreasing diarrhoea incidence can be achieved by intervening at four different levels: reduction or elimination of fly breeding sites; reduction of sources that attract houseflies; prevention of contact between flies and disease-causing organisms; and protection of people, food, and food utensils from contact with flies.
Objectives:
To assess the impact of various housefly control measures on the incidence of …

Rn-To-Bsn Education, Global And Population Health Project: Think Global, Act Local, Andrew Scanlon, Courtney Reinisch Reinisch, Sarah Elizabeth Kelly, Janice Smolowitz

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

US RN to BSN programs are required achieve ACCN The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice, to achieve Essential VII: Clinical Prevention and Population Health a Community Health and Population-Focused Health Promotion Activity based at the university was conducted.

Preliminary Baseline Findings From The Girls Study: Recruitment Venue And Testing Option Preferences, Ann E. Kurth, Irene Inwani, Kawango Agot, Charles M. Cleland, Nok Chhun, Mark Anam, Samwel Rao, John Kinuthia, Peter Cherutich, Ruth Nduati

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

By attending this session, participants will gain knowledge about which testing services adolescent girls and young women prefer and whether they prefer receiving services at home, in the community at a mobile clinic health event or in the health facilities.

Impact Of Technology On Improving Hiv And Tuberculosis Health Outcomes Among African Countries, Sunny Ibeneme

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

This study used health analytics approach to evaluate the association between population health outcomes and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures at a country level. This study used aggregate data obtained from the World Bank database, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) database for 53 African countries for the periods 2000 to 2016, and quantitatively explored the impact of ICT infrastructures’ diffusion on population health outcomes.

ICT data was obtained from the ITU database. Similarly, population health attributes were retrieved from the World Bank database. ICT infrastructure variables used in this study include: internet access, mobile phone use, and fixed …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R4 Journal Report 1 (Jr1) 2017-2018, Andrée Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R4 Journal Report 1 (JR1) for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2017 - June 30, 2018. Journal Report 1 is defined as "Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Journal." This report presents an annual total only.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results: 957,289 successful full-text article requests for 27,451 reported titles.

Development Of Protocol Of Urinary Catheter Bundle Care In Hospitalized Elderly Using Modified Delphi Method, Jin-Hua Pan, Chun-Yin Yeh, Fang-Wen Hu

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

The aim of this study is to establish clinical consensus for the protocol of urinary catheter bundle care in hospitalized elderly patient by using the modified Delphi method. It will help to standardize the urinary catheter bundle care in hospitalized elderly patient, and assist in clinical decision-making for all healthcare professionals.

Incentivizing Transparency: Agricultural Benefit Corporations To Improve Consumer Trust, Kathryn Smith

San Diego Law Review

In the face of inadequate, often abysmal agricultural practices and laws that enable them, producers who provide the social good of transparency should receive a benefit. Amidst the debate that all benefit corporations should qualify for special tax treatment, this Comment proposes the development of a federal benefit corporation class offering special tax treatment to worthy agricultural producers. By reallocating current agricultural subsidies, Congress can feasibly correct the agricultural industry’s failure to adequately inform consumers.

Engineering Eden: The World's Attempt To Outsmart Water Scarcity, Kaitlin A. Sullivan

Capstones

Countries around the world are running out of fresh water, 43 already live with water scarcity, requiring more water than they have. In 2015 the global water crisis took first place in The World Economic Forum’s assessment of the risks that will have the most significant impact on economies, environments and people. Water beat out 27 other long-term risks including infectious diseases and weapons of mass destruction. What happened to Crowley County on the plains of Southeastern Colorado is a cautionary tale of borrowed water. It's been called the Detroit of Colorado, decimated by the reliance of a single industry. …

Landscapes Of Illness, Politics Of Segregation And Discourse Of Empathy In The 19th Century Leprosy Narratives Of Hawaii, I-Chun Wang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

Leprosy is one of the oldest known human diseases, recognized throughout the world. Leprosy causes serious damage to the nervous system, often resulting in deformity in the absence of an effective treatment; sufferers were often left at the mercy of its natural process or were segregated from others due to the fear of contagion. The places ravaged by leprosy became lands of fear. Modern science has shown that leprosy bacilli have a high rate of infectivity but a rather low rate of pathogenicity, and above ninety percent of people are equipped with immunity to leprosy. Leper colonies as described in …

Combining Footprinting Mass Spectrometry And Molecular Dynamics Simulation For Structural Studies In Membrane Proteins, Fengbo Zhou

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Membrane proteins are essential in many cellular processes and represent ~60% of all current drug targets. Due to technical limits, membrane proteins of various types were not studied extensively in the past and the biochemistry and functionality of them remain unclear. The structural biology methodologies require pure isolated protein samples for us to resolve their structure and study their biochemical functions. For such in vitro studies, however, membrane proteins often become unstable when isolated from their native lipid bilayer environment. To overcome the challenge, I employed a novel methodology of solubilizing membrane proteins in solution without detergent. I reconstituted ferroportin, …

Mechanistic Characterization Of Resistome And Microbiome Dynamics Across Diverse Microbial Habitats, Andrew John Gasparrini

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Increasing antibiotic resistance in pathogens is a serious public health challenge, with over two million antibiotic resistant infections in the United States leading to at least 23,000 deaths and an estimated $55 billion in excess healthcare and societal costs. Antibiotic resistance has risen steadily in both pathogenic and benign bacteria since antibiotics’ introduction to agriculture and medicine 70 years ago. A dramatic reduction in the number of antibiotics approved for human use has accompanied this rise in antibiotic resistance, leading to the alarming prospect of a post-antibiotic era. Understanding the evolutionary origins, genetic contexts, and molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance …

Associations Between Opioid-Related Hospitalizations And Intravenous Drug Users, Jacklynn De Leon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The opioid epidemic has led to a chain reaction of public health concerns, including an increase in heroin usage, injection drug abuse, incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV), and HIV transmission. There have been few population-based studies investigating the clinical and socio- demographic data associated with opioid use in Nevada (Feng et al., 2016; Frank, 2000) and few studies investigating the intravenous drug user (IDU) population in Clark County. On February 2017, Clark County’s first syringe exchange program (SEP) opened its doors to the IDU population. This study provides an updated analysis of opioid-related injuries within Nevada and provides a …

Effects Of Ambient Air Pollution On Asthma-Related Emergency Department Visits Within The Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, Loiren E. Monardes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The objective of this research was to evaluate the risk for asthma-related Emergency Department visits and their association with ambient air pollution within the Las Vegas metropolitan area. All data were aggregated by date and ZIP Code. The association was analyzed by applying the distributed lag non-linear model in an attempt to identify elevated concentrations of specific air pollutants

as triggers and their delayed effects (lag days). Relative Risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals were produced, while adjusting for socioeconomic status. This ecological population-based study analyzed daily asthma counts of Emergency Department visits from January 1st, 2009 to December 31st, …

Improving Infection Management Of The Institutionalized Elderly, Jovel Angela Viloria Broqueza

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

As the elderly population rapidly grows in the United States, the burden of managing infection in long-term care facilities (LTCF) escalates. The use of evidence-based infection identification algorithms for early recognition and treatment of pneumonia, urinary tract infections (UTI) and skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) was evaluated at a Midwest suburban 110-bed long-term care facility. Focus group sessions were conducted at the facility with four nurse practitioners, the medical director, eight nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) prior to an educational in-service which was provided to all staff at the facility. As criteria of infection were reported, nurses …

December 2018, Randy Curry, Cindy Brooks

RURAL ROCKS

Rural Rocks, the Rural Health Network newsletter by the SWOSU College of Pharmacy