Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring Legal And Policy Responses To Opioids: America's Worst Public Health Emergency, James G. Hodge Jr., Chelsea Gulinson, Leila F. S. Barraza, Walter G. Johnson, Drew Hensley, Haley R. Augur

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Model-Based Methods To Translate Adolescent Medicine Trials Network For Hiv/Aids Interventions Findings Into Policy Recommendations: Rationale And Protocol For A Modeling Core (Atn 161), Anne M. Neilan, Kunjal Patel, Allison L. Agwu, Ingrid V. Bassett, K. Rivet Amico, Catherine M. Crespi, Aditya H. Gaur, Keith J. Horvath, Kimberly A. Powers, H. Jonathon Rendina, Lisa B. Hightow-Weidman, Xiaoming Li, Sylvie Naar, Sharon Nachman, Jeffrey T. Parsons, Kit N. Simpson, Bonita F. Stanton, Kenneth A. Freedberg, Audrey C. Bangs, Michael G. Hudgens, Andrea L. Ciaranello

Publications and Research

BACKGROUND: The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 60,000 US youth are living with HIV. US youth living with HIV (YLWH) have poorer outcomes compared with adults, including lower rates of diagnosis, engagement, retention, and virologic suppression. With Adolescent Medicine Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) support, new trials of youth-centered interventions to improve retention in care and medication adherence among YLWH are underway.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to use a computer simulation model, the Cost-Effectiveness of Preventing AIDS Complications (CEPAC)-Adolescent Model, to evaluate selected ongoing and forthcoming ATN interventions to improve viral load suppression …

Dominin And Segon Form Multiprotein Particles In The Plasma Of Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica) And Are Likely Involved In Shell Formation, Qinggang Xue, Jean Philipe Beguel, Jerome La Peyre

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2019 Xue, Beguel and La Peyre. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Dominin and segon are two proteins purified and characterized from the plasma of eastern oysters Crassostrea virginica, making up about 70% of the total plasma …

Youth Homelessness, Katricia Stewart

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Youth experiencing homelessness face numerous challenges to maintaining their health while homeless and as they exit homelessness. This includes their physical health, mental health, and well-being. Further, research on the efficacy of various interventions that aim to positively impact the health of homeless youth is limited. The following paper summarizes what is currently understood about the health and well-being of youth experiencing homelessness and concludes with recommendations for interventions, prevention programs, and future research.

Longitudinal Survey Of Swine Influenza Virus Infection In A Pig Farm In Thailand, 2017-2018, Chanakarn Nasamran

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Swine influenza cause by influenza A virus, is the one of the most important zoonotic disease of pigs. Swine influenza virus (SIV) infection in pigs causes both economic loss in pig production and public health problem. SIVs subtypes H1N1, H1N2 and H3N2 cause respiratory disease in pigs worldwide. The objectives of this thesis were to determine the dynamic of swine influenza virus subtypes circulation in a pig farm in 2017-2018 and to monitor genetic diversity of swine influenza virus in a pig farm. During January 2017 to November 2018, the nasal swab samples (n=436) and blood samples (n=436) were collected …

Surveillance Of Economic And Public Health Important Respiratory And Enteric Viruses In Dogs And Pigs In Yangon, Myanmar, Pont Pont Mon

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Canine infectious respiratory disease complex (CIRD) and Canine gastroenteritis (CGE) are major important diseases of dogs. Porcine Respiratory Disease complex (PRDC) and Porcine Enteric Disease complex (PEDC) are major economic and public health important diseases of pigs. The objectives of this study were 1) to detect and 2) to genetically characterize the economical and public health important respiratory and enteric viruses of dogs and pigs in Yangon, Myanmar during January, 2018 to October, 2019. In this thesis, 143 nasal swabs and 143 rectal swabs from 2 small animal clinics and 2 dog shelters were tested for canine respiratory viruses including …

White Grub In Bluegill In The Sangamon River: Impact Of Sewage Effluent And Flow Regime On Infection Parameters, Miranda White

Masters Theses

White grub (Posthodiplostomum minimum) is a digenetic trematode that uses a piscivorous bird, a pulmonate snail, and a centrarchid fish to complete its life cycle. To assess the impact of impoundment and sewage effluent on white grub infection parameters, infections in bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) were monitored in 3 reaches of the Sangamon River near Decatur, Illinois: Reach 1- free-flowing river upstream of Lake Decatur Dam, unimpacted by sewage effluent, Reach 2- impounded flow below Lake Decatur Dam, unimpacted by sewage effluent, and Reach 3- free-flowing river downstream of Sanitary District of Decatur, impacted by sewage effluent. Liver and kidney abundances …

Development Of Bivalent Ligands Targeting The Putative Mu Opioid Receptor And Chemokine Receptor Cxcr4 Heterodimer, Bethany A. Reinecke

Theses and Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and opioid abuse have been described as synergistic epidemics. Pharmacologically, it has been found that opioids have the capacity to enhance HIV infection and replication. Research has shown that activation of the mu-opioid receptor (MOR) elevates the expression of the HIV-1 entry co-receptor CXCR4 on T-lymphocytes in the peripheral nervous system, thus allowing for enhanced viral entry and invasion. Although the exact mechanism for opioid modulation of CXCR4 expression and subsequent exacerbation of HIV is unknown, several hypotheses exist. One hypothesis is that MOR and CXCR4 are functionally interacting through the formation of a heterodimer. This …

Evaluating Predixcan’S Ability To Predict Differential Expression Between Alcoholics And Non-Alcoholics, John E. Drake Jr

Theses and Dissertations

PrediXcan is a recent software for the imputation of gene expression from genotype data alone. Using an overlapping set of transcriptome datasets from postmortem brain tissues of donors with alcohol use disorder and neurotypical controls, which were generated by two different platforms (e.g., Arraystar and Affymetrix), and an additional unrelated transcriptome dataset from lung tissue, we sought to evaluate PrediXcan’s ability to impute gene expression and identify differentially expressed genes. From the Arraystar platform, 1.3% of matched genes between the measured and imputed expression had a Pearson correlation ≥ 0.5. Our attempt to replicate this finding using the expression data …

High-Resolution Trophic Models Reveal Structure And Function Of A Northeast Pacific Ecosystem, Szymon Surma, Villy Christensen, Rajeev Kumar, Cameron H. Ainsworth, Tony J. Pitcher

Marine Science Faculty Publications

This paper examines the structure and dynamics of the marine ecosystem surrounding Haida Gwaii (an archipelago in the southeastern Gulf of Alaska). Based on previous research, a set of improved mass-balanced models was constructed in Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) to represent ecosystem states existing circa 1900, 1950, and currently. These models feature increased taxonomic and ecological resolution relative to their predecessors across trophic levels and size classes from zooplankton to whales. A more detailed representation of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii), including its age structure, predators, and prey, was introduced to permit modeling of the ecosystem role of herring …

A Sustainable Future In The Implementation Of Clinical Pharmacogenomics, Nicholas Keeling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The sustainability of clinical pharmacogenomics requires further study of clinical education on the topic, its effects on clinical workflow, and the responsibilities of different providers for its delivery. Tools from the discipline of implementation science were utilized herein to help achieve the purposes of the three studies. The broad purpose of this dissertation is to advance the work of clinical pharmacogenomic implementation through a more rigorous convergence with implementation science.

Methods: Three studies constitute the whole of this dissertation. The first is a scoping review that provides a broad characterization of the methods utilized in available peer-revieliterature focusing on …

Developing Zebrafish As An In Vivo Model To Screen Compounds For Anti-Cancer Activity In Human Breast Cancer, Trisha Dhawan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Breast Cancer (BC) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer; 1:8 women are at risk of developing BC in her lifetime. Cancer metastasis causes the majority of deaths in BC patients. Moreover, side effects of traditional chemotherapeutic drugs (TCD) impair the quality of life of these patients. Discovery and development of safe and effective new therapies is imperative for the treatment of BC and targeting metastasis. The goal herein is to further expand the applicability of in vivo xenotransplantation of human BC cells in transgenic zebrafish to screen potential chemotherapeutics for toxicity and efficacy. For xenotransplantation, MCF-7, BT-474, and MDA-MB-231 BC …

Explication Of Moral Disgust: Assessing Physiological And Behavioral Responses To Disgust Eliciting Videos, Sarah Michelle Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Results indicate a significant self-reported disgust response among core animal reminder and contamination domains whereas the moral domains elicited both anger and disgust. Physiologically no change was measured in skin conductance; heart rate decrease in response to animal reminder contamination community and autonomy video clips. Significant behavioral avoidance was demonstrated when presented with the core and animal reminder video clips. Further when measuring facial muscle activation the levator labii was significantly activated in response to the core video clip but no others. The current study highlights the difficulty in establishing characteristic responses to disgust stimuli especially within the moral domain. …

The Role Of Glucose Level On The Performance Of The Framingham Risk Score, Uohna June Thiessen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are responsible for more deaths than any other disease, continue to threaten the quality of life for many, and is a major burden to the health care system. The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) identified the major CVD risk factors that became essential to effective CVD screening strategies and the Framingham Risk Score (FRS), is used to assess CVD risk. Based on the concepts of the health behavior model and CVD as a cardiometabolic disorder, multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels and a CHD event, and to determine …

Development Of Nursing Staff Education For Central Line Maintenance, Doreen Lynn Farley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patients with cancer who receive bone marrow transplants (BMT) are at increased risk for central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI), a serious complication leading to increased costs, length of stay, and even death. Recognition of an increased CLABSI rate at one BMT unit in the southwestern United States prompted development of an evidence-based staff development education program to improve nurses’ knowledge of central line maintenance and CLABSI prevention practices. Guided by Lewin change theory, the program was developed based on a nurse-led analysis and synthesis of the evidence, and a formative evaluation of the educational program conducted by a 3-member …

Improving Disaster Preparedness And Planning For Chronic Disease Populations, Gladys N. Gichomo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The significant rise of both chronic diseases and disasters in the last 20 years and the healthcare outcomes of individuals with chronic diseases during and in the aftermath of disasters have raised concerns among public health practitioners, healthcare providers, the U.S government, and the general public. Researchers have indicated that during disasters, the health outcomes of individuals with chronic diseases are significantly unfavorable compared to the general public. However, there is inadequate information on the management of chronic diseases, quality of care, and resource identification and allocation by disaster responders. This qualitative, grounded theory study, explored how the study participants …

A Conflictive Triuvirate Consruct Of Epidemiologic Systems Failure, Ngozi Lois Ulinwa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Epidemiologic systems failure (ESF) is a major hurdle in minimizing the spread of infectious diseases during outbreaks. The reasons for ESF include the technical limitation of personnel handling epidemic crises, strictly defined health policies that limit the actions of epidemiologists, and personal perspective's reservations towards the intentions of health agencies. The purpose of this triumvirate mixed-methods case study was to examine factors of infectious disease control mechanisms useful for determining ESF. Three juxtaposed pre-emptive factors (technical [T], organizational [O], and personal [P] perspectives were used to determine how the multiple perspectives inquiring systems and fuzzy logic revealed factors causing ESF …

Factors That Influence The Prevalence Of Type 2 Diabetes Among Aboriginals In Canada, Olayinka Awoyemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The focus of this study was on potential social determinants of health factors that influence the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the general population of Canada, with emphasis on the disproportion in rates of the disease between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations of Canada. This study also examined the risk factors that are peculiar to the general, Aboriginal, and non-Aboriginal population of Canada. A total number of 101,080 individuals who were 18 years and above provided data for this study. The data and information obtained from these participants were used to answer the major research questions regarding if there was …

Improving Nurses' Knowledge Of Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection, Misty Cooper

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) are usually attributable to suboptimal line insertion, care, or maintenance and are associated with poor patient outcomes. Nursing plays a pivotal role in preventing CLABSI, because nurses are generally responsible for the routine care and maintenance of central lines. The purpose of this project was to determine if CLABSI nursing education and demonstration-based competency could improve nurses' knowledge on a neurology unit as compared to current practice of an annual e-learning module as the sole source of nurse education. This project was informed by Lewin's planned change theory and involved changing behaviors, attitudes, and practices …

The Impact Of Congressional Attention And Policy Mood On Public Health Funding, Evelyn Denise Dunn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Congressional appropriations for federal public health agencies are subjected to external factors throughout the congressional appropriations process, resulting in fluctuations in funding. Recent literature has focused on externals factors, such as political attention and public attitudes, that could influence government funding levels; however, the impact of these factors on federal public health funding was not addressed. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between these external factors and federal public health appropriations. A quantitative study was used to examine congressional attention, policy mood, and the influence on the change in the level of federal public …

Optimizing A Disease Severity Scale For Evaluating Travelers' Diarrhea In Adults, Nicole Maier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Primary efficacy endpoints for interventional products targeting travelers’ diarrhea (TD) prevention have been predominately based on stool frequency. However, reliance on stool-based endpoints alone may obscure potentially meaningful differences in illness profiles. A single, standardized scoring system optimized for use in adult travelers is needed to accurately measure TD severity and enable more robust estimates of treatment or intervention effectiveness. The purpose of this quantitative secondary data analysis was to describe the variability in TD signs and symptoms across traditional severity metrics such as stool output, identify which symptoms were significantly associated with a negative impact on activity, and determine …

Hand Hygiene And Compliance Rates In An Acute Care Setting, Ilona Lungui

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a significant problem faced by healthcare organizations globally. The Centers for Disease Control reported that in 2014, 722,000 patients acquired an HAI, and of those, 75,000 died as a result. This project focused on reeducating healthcare staff on hand hygiene practices to prevent HAIs. Preintervention hand hygiene compliance rates were compared to postintervention hand hygiene compliance rates on 2 units in an acute care setting to evaluate if reeducation of healthcare staff on hand hygiene protocols and practices would increase hand hygiene compliance rates. The evidence-based practice model used for this project was Nightingale's environmental theory. …

The Relationship Between Parents' And Caregivers' Demographics And Their Knowledge About Congenital Heart Disease, Adeola Barakat Animasahun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The lack of knowledge regarding congenital heart disease (CHD) among the Lagos populace is leading to late presentation, late diagnosis and poor outcomes. The purpose of the research was to document the level of knowledge of parents and caregivers regarding CHD using the Leuven questionnaire for assessing knowledge of parents on CHD (LKQCHD). A quantitative correlational cross-sectional study, with purposeful convenience sampling strategy, was used. Health belief model was the theoretical framework used. Primary data of demographic information such as gender, age, the level of education, and the number of years of accessing care were obtained using a survey. The …

Social Support, Health Status, And Personality Factors In Coping Styles Of Gay Men, Mary Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Personality factors and coping styles may affect how individuals will respond to the lack of social support. The purpose of this descriptive design was to examine the relationship between social support and health risk implications in gay men, which is a population that is under-represented in the research literature in regard to this topic. The theoretical framework guiding this study was the social stress model, which posits that stress and support are related to mental health outcomes. A sample of 76 gay men were recruited from Craigslist ad to participate in this study. They completed self -report questionnaires anonymously online, …

Public Health Implications Of Retailer Resale Of Returned Textile Clothing Merchandise, Antonette M. A. Francis-Shearer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, 18th century anecdotal accounts of the decimation of several tribes of U.S. of the Native American population by trading of infected textile blankets alludes to the role of retail in the transmission of infectious disease. This study explores implications of the modern day retail organization practice of reselling returned clothing textiles from a public health infectious disease perspective. A qualitative multi-case study, utilized responses from 20 open-ended, unstructured interviews of retail employees assigned to the returns process. Additionally, several informal observations of select U.S.based, top-ranked clothing retail organizations, identified by the National Retail Federation were completed. Select federal, state, …

Hiv Testing And Black Men Who Have Sex With Men, Stephaun Elite Wallace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

HIV incidence among Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) is extremely high in contrast to their estimated population size and compared to other racial groups. Researchers have established that a significant proportion of these new cases annually originate from HIV transmission by BMSM who are unaware of their HIV status. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between age, sexual behavior, social support, substance use, internalized homophobia, depression, and HIV test history in BMSM. Guided by the social ecological model (SEM) as the conceptual framework, a quantitative cross-sectional study was designed to analyze secondary data …

Lead Us Not Into Temptation: A Response To Barbara Fedders's Opioid Policing, Anna Roberts

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Experimental Flooding On Microbial Communities And Methane Fluxes In An Urban Meadow, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gary M. King, Katherine Henry

Faculty Publications

© 2019 King and Henry. The impacts of extended flooding on microbial communities and their activities in natural and agricultural wetlands have been well-documented, but there is little basis for predicting the responses of urban soil microbial communities to infrequent, short-term flooding. To assess these responses, surface soil samples (0–1 cm) and intact soil cores (10 cm depth) were collected from an urban meadow in Baton Rouge, LA subsequent to an unprecedented flood during August 2016. During the flood, a topographically low region of the meadow (LM) was inundated for at least several days, while an elevated area (upper meadow …

Children’S Environmental Health In South And Southeast Asia: Networking For Better Child Health Outcomes, Peter D. Sly, Brittany Trottier, David Carpenter, Ubon Cha’On, Stephania Cormier, Betsy Galluzzo, Samayita Ghosh, Fiona Goldizen, Michelle Heacock, Paul Jagals, Hari Datt Joshi, Prachi Kathuria, Le Thai Ha, Melina S. Magsumbol, Panida Navasumrit, Poornima Prabhakaran, Banalata Sen, Chris Skelly, Inoka Suraweera, Sathiarany Vong, Chador Wangdi, William A. Suk

Faculty Publications

© 2019 The Author(s). Children are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards because they receive higher doses of pollutants in any given environment and often do not have equitable access to social protection mechanisms such as environmental and health care services. The World Health Organization established a global network of collaborating centres that address children’s environmental health (CEH). The network developed a focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and is broadening its reach by conducting regional workshops for CEH. Objective: This paper reports on the outcomes of a workshop held in conjunction with the 17th International Conference (November 2017) of …

Role Of Type I Interferon (Ifn) In The Respiratory Syncytial Virus (Rsv) Immune Response And Disease Severity, Diego R. Hijano, Luan D. Vu, Lawrence M. Kauvar, Ralph A. Tripp, Fernando P. Polack, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

© 2019 Hijano, Vu, Kauvar, Tripp, Polack and Cormier. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract disease in children patients, such as premature infants, patients with cardiac …