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Deicing Salts Influence Ranavirus Outbreaks In Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus) Tadpoles, Sarah Jacobson

Honors Scholar Theses

Ecosystems are increasingly being exposed to anthropogenic stressors that could make animals and thus populations more susceptible to disease. For example, the application of deicing salts to roads is increasing in the northeastern United States. Chronic stress that larval amphibians experience when living in vernal pools with high salinity may alter their susceptibility to ranavirus, a pathogen responsible for mass mortality events worldwide. This project quantifies the effects of road salts and ranavirus exposure on larval wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) growth and survival. Using outdoor mesocsoms, we raised wood frog tadpoles in salt treatments and then exposed them …

Amphotercin Washout Of Fungal Peritonitis In Liver Transplant Recipient: A Novel Approach, Ann Thompson, Mara Piltin, Alyssa Imperatore, Ely Sebastian, Sandra Paluzzi

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Invasive fungal infection has a significant prevalence among organ transplant patients and is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Fungal infection is difficult to identify early and subsequently difficult to effectively treat. In this case presentation we have a 45 y/o orthotopic liver transplant recipient who was profoundly sick from fungal peritonitis and due to the appearance of her abdomen and intestines, with the help of infectious disease, decided to proceed with direct amphotercin washout of the abdomen in the operating room. The patient had complete resolution of her fungal peritonitis and is doing well.

Chronic Renal Failure, But Why? A Case Report., Palak Patel, Michael Rothberg

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Renal failure, both acute and chronic, can present from many different etiologies and if diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, it is commonly assumed to be due to diabetic nephropathy. Monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS) is a disorder that combines monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance with end stage renal disease. Monoclonal immunoglobulins are secreted by B or plasma cells leading to deposition in the kidney causing end organ damage. Several different subtypes fall under this category of renal diseases including, but not limited to, amyloidosis, C3 glomeruopathy, and light chain proximal tubulopathy, or better known as Fanconi syndrome1. Fanconi syndrome, which …

A Mathematical Investigation On Tumor-Immune Dynamics: The Impact Of Vaccines On The Immune Response, Jonathan Quinonez, Neethi Dasu, Mahboobi Qureshi

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Mathematical models analyzing tumor-immune interactions provide a framework by which to address specific scenarios in regard to tumor-immune dynamics. Important aspects of tumor-immune surveillance to consider is the elimination of tumor cells from a host’s cell-mediated immunity as well as the implications of vaccines derived from synthetic antigen. In present studies, our mathematical model examined the role of synthetic antigen to the strength of the immune system. The constructed model takes into account accepted knowledge of immune function as well as prior work done by de Pillis et al. All equations describing tumor-immune growth, antigen presentation, immune response, and interaction …

Long-Term Safety Of Secukinumab In Patients With Moderate-To-Severe Plaque Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis, And Ankylosing Spondylitis: Integrated Pooled Clinical Trial And Post-Marketing Surveillance Data., A Deodhar, Philip Mease, I B Mcinnes, X Baraliakos, K Reich, A Blauvelt, C Leonardi, B Porter, A Das Gupta, A Widmer, L Pricop, T Fox

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Secukinumab, a fully human immunoglobulin G1-kappa monoclonal antibody that directly inhibits interleukin (IL)-17A, has been shown to have robust efficacy in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) demonstrating a rapid onset of action and sustained long-term clinical responses with a consistently favorable safety profile in multiple Phase 2 and 3 trials. Here, we report longer-term pooled safety and tolerability data for secukinumab across three indications (up to 5 years of treatment in PsO and PsA; up to 4 years in AS).

METHODS: The integrated clinical trial safety dataset included data pooled from …

Perspective: Challenges In Use Of Adolescent Anthropometry For Understanding The Burden Of Malnutrition, Alison Tumilowicz, Ty Beal, Lynnette M. Neufeld, Edward A. Frongillo Jr.

Faculty Publications

Improving nutritional status during adolescence is an opportunity to improve the lives of this generation and the next. Estimating the burden of malnutrition at a population level is fundamental to targeting interventions and measuring progress over time, and for adolescents, we usually depend on survey data and the 2007 WHO Growth Reference to do so. There is substantial risk of misguided conclusions regarding adolescent prevalence estimates, however, when underlying methodological limitations of the indicators and reference are not adequately considered. We use national prevalence estimates among girls and young women 10-22 y of age from the 2014 State of Food …

Complete Genome Sequence Of A Colistin-Resistant Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli Sequence Type 131 Fimh22 Strain Harboring Mcr-1 On An Inchi2 Plasmid, Isolated In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Majed F. Alghoribi, Michel Doumith, Mathew Upton, Johani Sm Al, Maha Alzayer, Neil Woodford, Matthew J. Ellington, Hanan H. Balkhy

School of Biomedical Sciences

ABSTRACT We report the complete genome sequence of a colistin-resistant strain of uropathogenic Escherichia coli, isolated in January 2013 at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The isolate (named SA186) was sequence type 131 (ST131) and belonged to serotype O25b-H4 and clade B (fimH22).

Law, Technology, And Patient Safety, Kathryn Zeiler, Gregory Hardy

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulatory Gaps In Drug Compounding: Implications For Patient Safety, Innovation, And Fraud, Joanna Shepherd

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Black Box For Patient Safety?, Nathan Cortez

DePaul Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Activism During The Aids Epidemic, Olivia Eaton

Young Historians Conference

The paper examines the role of activism within the AIDS epidemic in the United States and the factors that influenced the various protests. It focuses on the activism that had a major impact on the epidemic and the search for a cure with a concentration on the activist group, ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The thesis is that because the activists mostly came from oppressed backgrounds of being LGBT or people of color, they were not afraid of their reputation with the public and thus went to great lengths to expose the corruption in the system and within …

An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Medicine In Nineteenth Century England Via The Development Of The Anatomical Model Per Human Dissection, Isabelle C. Freeman

Young Historians Conference

An Analysis of the Evolution of Medicine in Nineteenth Century England via The Development of the Anatomical Model per Human Dissection

The development of the human anatomical model was, through a modern lens, an incredibly inhumane process. In England, during the nineteenth century, the bodies of many common folk and criminals were used as cadavers without their consent; either sold, stolen, and/or killed. Though many medical advancements were made, such as the development of more invasive surgeries; there was a huge moral cost. The purpose of this paper is to create a timeline regarding the evolution of the human anatomical …

Down With The Sickness: The Impact Of Residential Living On The Spread Of Illness, Rachna Gupta '21, Wyatt Wren '21, Quadri Durojaiye '21

Student Leadership Exchange (SLX)

The health and wellbeing of students are extremely important, and with close quarters and prolonged contact in residential schools, we must consider the risk of contagious and infectious illnesses spreading faster and causing absences from classes. Residential living contributes to the learning environment at IMSA in multiple positive and impactful ways. However, it is important to discuss the potential health impacts that the increased exposure to other students can have on students and the absences these can cause. In this project, we will analyze the effects of residential living on the spread of illness and absences due to illness, especially …

Suboptimal Geographic Accessibility To Comprehensive Hiv Care In The Us: Regional And Urban–Rural Differences, Erika G. Martin, Steven P. Masiano, Rose S. Bono, Bassam Dahman, Linsay M. Sabik, Faye Z. Belgrave, Adaora A. Adimora, April D. Kimmel

Public Administration and Policy Faculty Scholarship

Achieving US state and municipal benchmarks to end the HIV epidemic and promote health equity requires access to comprehensive HIV care. However, this care may not be geographically accessible for all people living with HIV (PLHIV). We estimated county-level drive time and suboptimal geographic accessibility to HIV care across the contiguous US, assessing regional and urban–rural differences. We integrated publicly available data from four federal databases to identify and geocode sites providing comprehensive HIV care in 2015, defined as the co-located provision of core HIV medical care and support services. Leveraging street network, US Census and HIV surveillance data (2014), …

Leadership For Promoting Sustainable Development: A Study Of Nongovernmental Organization Leaders In Haiti, Adelin Rival

Theses & Dissertations

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have played an increasingly important role in global governance. Since the end of the Second World War, they have been involved in every aspect of social, economic, environmental, and institutional life in the whole world. The presence of NGOs has been seen as a necessity for the developing world, but much more so for low-income countries such as Haiti. The amount of scholarship dedicated to the post-2010 Haiti earthquake revitalization indicates that Haiti must heavily rely on the leadership of nongovernmental organizations so that the country can achieve its sustainable development goals by 2030. However, significant delays …

Perspective Of Pakistani Physicians Towards Hospital Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs: A Multisite Exploratory Qualitative Study, Khezar Hayat, Meagen Rosenthal, Ali Hassan Gillani, Panpan Zhai, Muhammad Majid Aziz, Wenjing Ji, Jie Chang, Hao Hu, Yu Fang

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019 Raha Orfali et al. Plicosepalus is an important genus of the Loranthaceae family, and it is a semiparasitic plant grown in Saudi Arabia, traditionally used as a cure for diabetes and cancer in human and for increasing lactation in cattle. A flavonoid quercetin (P1), (-)-catechin (P2), and a flavane gallate 2S,3R-3,3′,4′,5,7-pentahydroxyflavane-5-O-gallate (P3) were isolated from the methanol extract of the aerial parts of P. curviflorus (PCME). The PCME and the isolated compounds were subjected to pharmacological assays to estimate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors PPARα and PPARγ agonistic, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, and antimicrobial activities. Results proved for the first time the …

Analysis Of Rwandan Smallholder Poultry Farmer Needs In Production Manuals, Holly Henry

Poultry Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

As global population continues to grow improving agricultural production become even more important. Smallholder farmers make up a large portion of agricultural production in developing countries (Gueye, 2000; Upton, 2000). East Africa is one sector which has seen growth in poultry production over the pas five years. (Vernooij, Masaki, & Meiher-Willems, 2018). One major constraint to smallholder production is lack of access to educational materials and production guidelines (Mack et al., 2005).

The purpose of the study was to describe methods of production utilized by smallholder farmers in Rwanda and determine what information should be included in a production guide. …

Improving Diabetic Foot Exams And Education In A Primary Care Clinic, Haley Duff

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing DNP Capstone Projects

Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide. The persistent nature of the disease increases the risk of complications, including blindness, kidney failure, lower limb amputation, and cardiovascular disorders. In the United States, there were a total of 7.2 million hospital discharges in 2014, with diabetes as the diagnosis. It was estimated that 108,000 of those discharges were for a lower-extremity amputation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017). The American Diabetes Association recommends that all adults with diabetes should undergo a comprehensive foot evaluation at least annually, and daily foot care education should be provided. Preventive …

A Comparison Of Pharmacologic Interventions In Pregnant Women With Opioid Use Disorder, Catherine M. Bopp

Physician Assistant Scholarly Project Papers

The purpose of this research and systematic literature review is to determine which pharmacotherapeutic agent, methadone or buprenorphine, leads to better outcomes in cases of pregnant mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD). Outcomes considered are maternal compliance, neonatal abstinence syndrome severity, and neonatal length of hospital stay. In the review, PubMed, Clinical Key, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and DynaMed Plus were searched. Key terms searched were “methadone, buprenorphine, pregnancy”, “opioids, pregnancy”, “neonatal abstinence syndrome” and “medication assisted treatment, pregnancy”. Articles were narrowed with applications of filters for articles in the past fifteen years and by use of the English …

The Modeling Assessment Of World Vision’S Water, Sanitation, And Hygiene Program In Southern Africa Countries, Malawi, Mozambique, And Zambia: Analyses Using Lives Saved Tool, Chulwoo Park, Armen Martirosyan, Seble Frehywot, Erin Jones, Ashley Labat, Yvonne Tam, Emmanuel Opong

Faculty Publications

Background: Since 2010, the humanitarian aid organization World Vision has implemented a community-based water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) program in 76 area development programs (ADPs) for a total target population of 2,831,535 in three Southern Africa countries: Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia.

Methods: This study was conducted using the Lives Saved Tool (LiST) to analyze the isolated impact of World Vision WASH interventions on child morbidity and mortality during the four-year implementation period from 2010 to 2014. The combined effects of WASH interventions – improved water source, home water connection, improved sanitation, handwashing with soap, hygienic disposal of children’s stools – …

Identification Of Anaerobes In Clinical Specimens Comparison Between The Rapid Ana Ii System And The Bruker Maldi-Tof Ms System Utilized In The Clinical Laboratory, Raymond Chow

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Clinical Laboratory Sciences

Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption and Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been revealed as an invaluable platform for identifying anaerobic bacteria in the clinical laboratory over traditional methods such as the RapID ANA II System.

A qualitative comparison is made, through the analysis of methodologies and specifications, to determine whether the RapID ANA II system or Bruker MALDI-TOF MS is more suitable for identifying anaerobic organism in the clinical laboratory. Based on the data reviewed, the MALDI-TOF MS is a more intuitive platform within the clinical laboratory due to its increased specificity, cost-effectiveness, and shorten turnaround time for the identification …

Addressing The Need For Establishment Of School-Based Health Centers To Provide Reproductive Health Care In Philadelphia: A Meta-Analysis, Annam Humayun

PCOM Capstone Projects

OBJECTIVE: Currently, the communities of Philadelphia, which have predominantly African American residents, suffer from massive racial and ethnic health disparities. Children in these communities are at high risk of dropping out of school while also lacking access to reproductive health care. This myriad of unfortunate circumstances perpetuates the cycle of poverty that residents in these lowincome communities have been experiencing for decades. School-based health centers are a potential answer to this problem. The objective of this meta-analysis is to review published studies and carry out a meta-analysis to assess potential benefits and feasibility of SBHCs in the Philadelphia public …

Mining For Biological Control Agents Against B. Glumae, The Causal Agent Of Bacterial Panicle Blight Of Rice., Katherine Anne Wilkinson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Burkholderia glumae is the causal agent of the emerging disease, Bacterial Panicle Blight of rice, a serious disease that can significantly decrease yield and poses a threat to rice production worldwide. This thesis is concerned with searching for a biological control agent to control this disease. Plant associated microbes are a good source of beneficial bacteria which can be exploited for use as a biological control agent. It is possible that the microbiomes of cultivars which are known to be more resistant to plant pathogens may contain more microbes which inhibit those pathogens and therefore could be used as biological …

The Signaling Pathways Of Metallothionein-Mediated Chemotaxis In Breast Cancer, Jennifer Messina

University Scholar Projects

Metallothionein (MT) is a small, thiol rich protein released into the extracellular environment in response to stress. Elevated expression of MT has been linked to many inflammatory diseases including inflammatory bowel diseases, diabetes, and cancer. In breast cancer, high expression of MT has been associated with poor patient prognosis. Previous studies have shown that MT acts as a chemoattractant in lymphocytes, and that UC1MT, a monoclonal anti-MT antibody, can block this chemotactic response. In addition, it has been shown that both Cholera toxin and Pertussis toxin, which are known antagonists of G-protein coupled receptors, can inhibit MT-mediated chemotaxis. Here, I …

Mathematical Modeling Of Zika Virus Transmission And Multiple Pathogen Interactions, Omomayowa Olawoyin

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

The purpose of this dissertation is twofold: to deepen our understanding of the complex transmission routes of the Zika virus (ZIKV), and to study multiple pathogen interactions (specifically cocirculation of Zika and dengue and discrete-time coinfection models) through the lens of invasion reproductive numbers (IRNs) which measure the ability of a disease to invade a population endemic with another disease(s). In addition to being transmitted to humans through the bite of infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, studies show that the ZIKV can also be sexually and vertically transmitted within both populations. We develop a new mathematical model of the ZIKV …

Developing A Creative Learning Format For Street Children, Shazina Masud

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Developing a Creative Learning Format for Street Children

As the number of street children grow globally, governments and UN agencies are looking at solutions to cater to their needs of shelter, health and safety. Efforts to provide formal education to street children are not always successful. This project hypothesizes that equipping these children with essential knowledge in an informal but creative learning environment will allow them to live safe and productive lives. The prototype of the creative learning format is based on approaches and tools that have worked with children in other settings and has been modified for street children. …

Discovery Of Glycerol Phosphate Modification On Streptococcal Rhamnose Polysaccharides., Rebecca J Edgar, Vincent P Van Hensbergen, Alessandro Ruda, Andrew G Turner, Pan Deng, Yoann Le Breton, Najib M El-Sayed, Ashton T Belew, Kevin S Mciver, Alastair G Mcewan, Andrew J Morris, Gérard Lambeau, Mark J Walker, Jeffrey S. Rush, Konstantin V Korotkov, Göran Widmalm, Nina M Van Sorge, Natalia Korotkova

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Cell wall glycopolymers on the surface of Gram-positive bacteria are fundamental to bacterial physiology and infection biology. Here we identify gacH, a gene in the Streptococcus pyogenes group A carbohydrate (GAC) biosynthetic cluster, in two independent transposon library screens for its ability to confer resistance to zinc and susceptibility to the bactericidal enzyme human group IIA-secreted phospholipase A

Comparison Of The Sofa And Qsofa Scores In Predicting In-Hospital Mortality Among Adult Critical Care Patients With Suspected Infection., Mohammed Said

Master of Medicine in Internal Medicine

Background: Sepsis is global health priority and the commonest cause of death in critical care. SEPSIS 3 criteria introduced in 2016 is the latest tool in diagnosing sepsis, uses qSOFA and SOFA scores in place of the SIRS based definition for better prediction of mortality in patients with suspected infections. Their performance in predicting mortality in critical care units outside high- income countries remains largely unknown. Objective: We compared the SOFA and qSOFA scores in predicting the hospital mortality of adult critical care patients admitted with suspected infection at the Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: We did a …

Simulating Alternative Tuberculosis Diagnosis Methods In Underdeveloped Countries, Luke Turner

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease in the world; it is especially rampant in underdeveloped countries because they do not have the infrastructure, technology, or funding to properly combat the infection. However, the development of portable point-of-care diagnosis machines can reverse this epidemic as they far surpass conventional laboratory identification. The question now is where to place these machines, which is a difficult decision with a lack of data. Therefore, a flexible simulation model is created to test the implementation of these machines with different countries and configurations. The simulation tests the baseline model and three proposed implementations of the …

Characterization Of F420 Dependent Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase H260n Variant Using Steady State, Presteady State And Kinetic Isotope Effect Methods, Diana Monyancha

2019 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

F420-dependent glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (FGD) is an essential enzyme found within Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis disease (TB). FGD catalyzes the conversion of glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) to 6-phosphogluconolactone, using the unique F420 cofactor. This reaction is carried out as the first step in the pentose phosphate pathway. This current project will expand on previous work conducted on the H260N FGD variant, aimed at determining if Histidine 260 serves as an active site base. We have conducted fluorescence binding, steady-state, pH dependence profiles, and pre steady-state kinetic experiments on wild type FGD as well as the His260 FGD variant. The results …