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Eligibility And Patient Barriers To Peritoneal Dialysis In Patients With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease, Saleem Mohamed Abdulkarim

Master of Medicine in Internal Medicine

Introduction: The burden of chronic kidney disease is on the rise in Kenya and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. While definitive treatment is renal transplantation, many patients require renal replacement therapy in the form of hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. The predominant modality utilized in Kenya is currently hemodialysis despite peritoneal dialysis having similar survival outcomes with the potential benefit of cost-effectiveness. There is need therefore to explore why peritoneal dialysis remains underutilized and whether patient factors may be contributory to barriers that limit the uptake of peritoneal dialysis. Purpose: The main objective of this study is to …

Geometric Hawkes Processes With Graph Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks, Jin Shang, Mingxuan Sun

Faculty Publications

Hawkes processes are popular for modeling correlated temporal sequences that exhibit mutual-excitation properties. Existing approaches such as feature-enriched processes or variations of Multivariate Hawkes processes either fail to describe the exact mutual influence between sequences or become computational inhibitive in most real-world applications involving large dimensions. Incorporating additional geometric structure in the form of graphs into Hawkes processes is an effective and efficient way for improving model prediction accuracy. In this paper, we propose the Geometric Hawkes Process (GHP) model to better correlate individual processes, by integrating Hawkes processes and a graph convolutional recurrent neural network. The deep network structure …

The Write Stuff - Winter 2019 (Vol.16, No.1), Research Medical Library

Write Stuff 2019

• Grant Writers' seminars return in March
• How to disagree with an NIH research grant proposal review
• Using Publons to track and show peer reviews
• Journal initiatives aim to improve transparency and reproducibility
• New NIH videos demystify the grant review process
• NIH launches new version of NIH Data Book including 2018 funding statistics
• Unusual terms used in scientific writing and publishing: Sentence case and title case

A Qualitative Case Study Exploring Hand-Hygiene Standards In An Intensive Care Unit, Lyndon Augustine, Walter Mccollum, Richard Brown, Phoenix Mourning-Star

International Journal of Applied Management and Technology

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are infections that occur in patients during their time of care in a hospital. Considerable emphasis is currently placed on reducing HAIs through improving hand-hygiene (HH) compliance among healthcare professionals because HAIs are a critical challenge to public health in the United States. By focusing on meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HH standards, the purpose of this qualitative research was to explore how noncompliance with these standards and lack of technology usage affect HAIs in the intensive care unit. Additionally, the goal of this research was to explore behavioral factors and best practices that influence …

Need For Aeromedical Evacuation High-Level Containment Transport Guidelines, Shawn G. Gibbs, Jocelyn J. Herstein, Aurora B. Le, Elizabeth L. Beam, Theodore J. Cieslak, James V. Lawler, Joshua L. Santarpia, Terry L. Stentz, Kelli R. Kopocis-Herstein, Chandran Achutan, Gary W. Carter, John J. Lowe

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Circumstances exist that call for the aeromedical evacuation high-level containment transport (AE-HLCT) of patients with highly hazardous communicable diseases. A small number of organizations maintain AE-HLCT capabilities, and little is publicly available regarding the practices. The time is ripe for the development of standards and consensus guidelines involving AE-HLCT.

Robbing The Grave: Amending The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act To Curtail Abuses Within The Whole-Body Donation Industry, Andrew Y. Schiefer

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Biology News 2019, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Biology.

Biology News

Contents:

--Greetings from the Department of Biology
--Upcoming event: Prairie Rendezvous in Celebration of Dr. Daryl Smith
--Staff and faculty news
--May 2019 Study Abroad trips
--Staff and Faculty Transitions
--The Difference He Made-Quotes on Dr. Wiens
--Outreach and Alumni
--Purple and Gold Award Recipient

The Role Of Polyamines In Enteroviral Attachment, Thomas Mckenzie Kicmal

Master's Theses

Polyamines are small polycationic molecules with flexible carbon chains that are found in all eukaryotic cells. Polyamines are involved in the regulation of many host processes and have been shown to be implicated in viral replication. Depletion of polyamine pools in cells with FDA approved drugs restricts replication of diverse RNA viruses. Viruses can exploit host polyamines to facilitate packaging, transcription, translation, and protease activity but other mechanisms remain largely unknown. Picornaviruses, including Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3), are sensitive to depletion of polyamines and remain a significant public health threat. We employed CVB3 as a model system to investigate a potential …

Dissecting A Role For Polyamines In Rift Valley Fever Virus Infection, Vincent Mastrodomenico

Master's Theses

Bunyaviruses are emerging viral pathogens that cause encephalitis, hemorrhagic fevers, and meningitis. Rift Valley fever virus is a particularly devastating bunyavirus, infecting both humans and livestock with significant morbidity and mortality. By coordinating several host and viral processes Rift Valley fever virus is able to produce infectious virions. Polyamines are small, positively-charged host-derived molecules that play diverse roles in human cells and in infection. We previously demonstrated that polyamines are crucial for RNA viruses; however, the mechanisms by which polyamines function remain unknown. Here, we investigated polyamines' role in the replication of the Rift Valley fever virus (vaccine strain MP-12). …

Assessing The Role Of A Putative Peptidase In The Processing And Transport Of Aip In The Agr Quorum Sensing System Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Chance Joseph Cosgriff

Master's Theses

Staphylococcus aureus infections are a global burden on human health. The wide rangeof infectious diseases caused by S. aureus stem from the production of myriad virulence factors that manipulate host immune responses and promote bacterial survival. These virulence traits, coupled with the rise in antibiotic resistance, demonstrate a need for novel therapeutics to control infection. Many current therapeutic initiatives focus on targeting the virulence factors produced by S. aureus or the regulatory systems that control their expression such as the Accessory gene regulatory system, Agr.Initial characterization of a putative S. aureus peptidase MroQ indicates a major role in regulation of …

Modulation Of Coxsackievirus Protease Activity By Polyamines, Courtney Noelle Dial

Master's Theses

Coxsackievirus type B (CVB3) is one of the six serotypes of the Coxsackievirus family of non-enveloped, linear, and positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses. It is a pathogenic enterovirus that belongs to the same genus as the notable pathogen poliovirus. CVB3 can cause a range of illnesses from a fever to gastrointestinal distress but is most noteworthy for the ability to cause viral myocarditis, a swelling of the heart muscle. Coxsackievirus, like all RNA viruses, tends to develop mutations rapidly due to its error prone polymerase and lack of proofreading activity. These mutations can be advantageous for the virus, allowing it to …

Longitudinal Urinary Microbiome Studies: A Need To Transition To Voided Urine, Baylie Hochstedler

Master's Theses

It is now established that the bladder is not sterile; it contains communities of microbes (microbiota). While the healthy bladder microbiota have been defined using expanded quantitative urine culture (EQUC) and urines obtained by transurethral catheterization (TUC), longitudinal and population studies have not previously been possible. These studies cannot be done using TUC urines, as it would be impractical to catheterize participants daily. Instead, we must transition to using voided urines.In order to make this switch, we have addressed three main issues raised by using voided urine. First, we showed that EQUC out performs standard urine culture on voided urines …

Exploring Hpv Knowledge, Awareness, Beliefs, Attitudes, And Vaccine Acceptability Of Latino Fathers Living In The United States: An Integrative Review, Paloma Suárez, Sherrie F. Wallington, Mary L. Greaney, Ana Cristina Lindsay

Kinesiology Faculty Publications

To conduct an integrative review to identify and synthesize studies exploring human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge, awareness, beliefs, attitudes, and acceptability of the HPV vaccine among Latino fathers living in the United States. The review methodology was informed by those developed by Whittemore and Knafl, which allow for the inclusion of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies. Using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews meta-analyses guidelines, five electronic databases (PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Science Direct) were searched for peer-reviewed, full-text studies published in English with samples that included Latino fathers and examined knowledge, awareness, beliefs, attitudes about the HPV and …

Assessment Of In-Service Training And Continuing Education (Ist/Ce) For Frontline Health Workers In Bauchi And Cross River States, Nigeria, Ekechi Okereke, Iliyasu Zubairu, Udoh Nsekpong, Godwin Unumeri, Ibrahim Suleiman, Aisha Jibril

Reproductive Health

Training contributes tremendously to the development and sustenance of health workers’ competencies for quality healthcare services. Although Nigeria has a higher stock of human resources for health compared to other African countries, the World Health Organization argues that its distribution is highly skewed toward urban areas. Building and maintaining staff capacities requires continuing professional development through in-service training (IST) and continuing education (CE). This study assesses current IST and CE for health workers in Bauchi and Cross River states to provide evidence to inform policy and planning and improve implementation of capacity-building for health workers in Nigeria.

Risk Mitigation For Travelers: Managing Endemic And Emerging Threats, Shannon M. Wood, David Brett-Major

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

International travel continues to increase in numbers and complexity. Despite the availability of pretravel health advice, travelers remain at risk for exposure to common organisms as well as emerging pathogens. With low rates of travel clinic utilization, it is important for the general practitioner to remain aware of the importance of travel health, risk factors unique to individual patients, and evolving threats. This review highlights important considerations when evaluating ill travelers, incorporating emerging infectious threats.

Administering Housing Law As Health Care: Attorneys As Healthcare Providers, Frank Griffin

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Risk Spiral Model: Systemic Factors That Feed Mass Incarceration, High Risk Behaviors, Hiv And Other Sexually Transmitted Infections For African American Males, Lauresa Washington Mccoy

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. corrections system continues to have an over representation of black males. A long legacy of practices, including convict leasing, lynchings, and police brutality, have shaped the history of African American males and the criminal justice system (Mauer, 1999). Few studies exist on the impact of mass incarceration in African American communities and its contributory impact on the degradation of the public health infrastructure within these communities. In this qualitative study, the researcher will capture and analyze the flow of African American males before, during and after incarceration and the associated prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, other Sexually Transmitted …

State Benchmark Plan Coverage Of Opioid Use Disorder Treatments And Services: Trends And Limitations, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

Professor Tovino offers a survey of state benchmark plan coverage of opioid use disorder treatments and services, and identifies trends and limitations relevant thereto. Part II of the article provides background information regarding opioid use disorder and the treatments and services available for individuals with this disorder. Part III reviews federal mental health parity law and federal mandatory mental health and substance use disorder law as applied to insurance coverage of treatments and services for opioid use disorder, with a focus on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) state benchmark health plan selection requirement and the effect on that requirement of …

Collegiate Aviation Pilots: Analyses Of Fatigue Related Decision-Making Scenarios, Julius Keller, Flavio Coimbra Mendonca Mr, Jason E. Cutter

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

According to Dawson and McCulloch (2005), indicating factors for pilot fatigue may be difficult to ascertain. However, fatigue is a probable cause in 15%-20% of all aircraft accidents (Akerstedt, 2000). It may be assumed fatigue has been important latent condition for many of the general aviation incidents and or accidents but not necessarily identified as a probable cause. Events that barely missed a detrimental situation due to fatigue, often go unnoticed and or unreported. Furthermore, fatigue can influence the quality of flight instruction and flight operations overall. The purpose of the current paper was to examine fatigue related decision-making responses …

Strengthening Public Health In Wisconsin Through The Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network, Allen C. Bateman, Erin J. Bowles, Erik Munson, Raymond P. Podzorski, Eric T. Beck, Richard Dern, Alana K. Sterkel, David M. Warshauer, Peter A. Shult

Clinical Lab Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The Wisconsin Clinical Laboratory Network (WCLN) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is a partnership of 138 clinical and public health laboratories (as of February 2019) coordinated by the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene. This article describes the WCLN, its current activities, and lessons learned through this partnership. A laboratory technical advisory group, which consists of representatives from clinical laboratories, provides clinical laboratory perspective to the WCLN and fosters communication among laboratories. Activities and resources available through the WCLN include annual regional meetings, annual technical workshops, webinars, an email listserv, laboratory informational messages, in-person visits by a WCLN coordinator to clinical …

The Role Of Sex Hormones On Monocarboxylate Transporter Expression In Tissues Related To Drug Disposition, Jieyun Cao

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Proton- and sodium-dependent monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs (SLC16A) and SMCTs (SLC5A)) transport monocarboxylates such as ketone bodies, lactate and pyruvate, as well as drugs such as gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. CD147 acts as an ancillary protein for MCT1 and MCT4, and is involved in membrane trafficking. Previously, it has been shown that MCT expression changes under different sex hormone conditions in skeletal muscle and Sertoli cells. However, it is unknown if MCTs, SMCTs or CD147 demonstrate sex differences in tissues where they play an important role in drug disposition. Monocarboxylate transporter substrates GHB and valproic acid have demonstrated sex differences in pharmacokinetic profiles. …

Training As An Intervention To Decrease Medical Record Abstraction Errors Multicenter Studies., Meredith Nahm Zozus, Leslie W. Young, Alan E. Simon, Maryam Garza, Lora Lawrence, Songthip T. Ounpraseuth, Megan Bledsoe, Sarah Newman-Norlund, J Dean Jarvis, Mary Mcnally, Kimberly R. Harris, Russell Mcculloh, Rachel Aikman, Sara Cox, Lacy Malloch, Anita Walden, Jessica Snowden, Irene Mangan Chedjieu, Chester A. Wicker, Lauren Atkins, Lori A. Devlin

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Studies often rely on medical record abstraction as a major source of data. However, data quality from medical record abstraction has long been questioned. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) potentially add variability to the abstraction process due to the complexity of navigating and locating study data within these systems. We report training for and initial quality assessment of medical record abstraction for a clinical study conducted by the IDeA States Pediatric Clinical Trials Network (ISPCTN) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Neonatal Research Network (NRN) using medical record abstraction as the primary data …

Characterizing The Cellulose-Modifying Enzyme Bcsg From Escherichia Coli, Alexander Anderson, Joel T. Weadge

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Microbial biofilms are communities of microorganisms that exhibit co-operative behaviour, producing a matrix of exopolysaccharide that enmeshes the community. The well-studied human pathogens Escherichia coli and Salmonella entericaproduce a biofilm matrix comprised chiefly of the biopolymer cellulose, along with amyloid protein fibers termed curli. This biofilm matrix confers surface adherence and acts as a protective barrier to disinfectants, antimicrobials, environmental stressors, and host immune responses. Pertaining to this research, the bcsEFG operon, conserved in the Enterobacteriaceae, encodes an inner membrane-spanning complex responsible for the addition of a phosphoethanolamine (pEtN) modification to microbial cellulose, essential for extracellular matrix assembly and …

Seroepidemiology Of Parechovirus A3 Neutralizing Antibodies, Australia, The Netherlands, And United States, Eveliina Karelehto, Lieke Brouwer, Kimberley Benschop, Jen Kok, Kerri Basile, Brendan Mcmullan, William Rawlinson, Julian Druce, Suellen Nicholson, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Christopher J. Harrison, Kamani Lankachandra, Hetty Van Eijk, Gerrit Koen, Menno De Jong, Dasja Pajkrt, Katja C. Wolthers

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

© 2018, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All rights reserved. Recent parechovirus A3 (PeV-A3) outbreaks in Australia suggest lower population immunity compared with regions that have endemic PeV-A3 circulation. A serosurvey among populations in the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia before and after the 2013 Australia outbreak showed high PeV-A3 neutralizing antibody prevalence across all regions and time periods, indicating widespread circulation.

The Effect Of Lactobacillus Genus On Weight Loss And Obesity Phenotype In Murine Species And Humans, Kelsey Zvejnieks

Health and Nutritional Sciences Graduate Students Plan B Capstone Projects

The review attempts to determine the effects of Lactobacillus genus supplementation on weight and weight related factors. A literature review produced nine studies that met selection criteria. Of the nine articles included in the review, eight of them demonstrated weight loss among the study population after supplementation with Lactobacillus species. To initiate routine supplementation of Lactobacillus species in dietetic practice additional research is need to better understand mechanisms of action, optimal dosage, impact of varied macronutrient composition, and timeframe required for supplementation.

Maternal Blood Pressure In Relation To Low Birth Weight And The Effect Of A Nutritional Supplement, Alyssa Abreu

Open Access Master's Theses

Background: Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy impact over 10% of pregnancies worldwide, while increasing the risk of low birth weight. Research is conflicting on the effect of nutrient supplementation on hypertension during pregnancy. The cutoffs to define hypertension have also recently changed to include a lower systolic blood pressure, and little research has examined the association between the newly proposed blood pressure cutoffs and low birth weight.

Objectives: Our objectives were to 1) evaluate the impact of prenatal lipid-based nutrient supplement consumption on maternal blood pressure; and 2) assess the association between maternal blood pressure during early and late …

Vitellogenin Receptor As A Target For Tick Control: A Mini-Review, Robert D. Mitchell Iii, Daniel E. Sonenshine, Adalberto A. Pérez De León

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

While much effort has been put into understanding vitellogenesis in insects and other organisms, much less is known of this process in ticks. There are several steps that facilitate yolk formation in developing oocytes of which the vitellogenin receptor (VgR) is a key component. The tick VgR binds vitellogenin (Vg) circulating in the hemolymph to initiate receptor-mediated endocytosis and its transformation into vitellin (Vn). The conversion of Vg into Vn, the final form of the yolk protein, occurs inside oocytes of the female tick ovary. Vn is critical to tick embryos since it serves as the nutritional source for their …

An Introduction To Logic: From Everyday Life To Formal Systems, Albert Mosley, Eulalio Baltazar

Open Educational Resources: Textbooks

An introduction to the discipline of logic covering subjects from the structures of arguments, classical and modern logic, categorical and inductive inferences, to informal fallacies.

• Over 30 years of development provides a sound empirical based pedagogy throughout the text.

• Examples in ordinary language using familiar examples avoids the suggestion of an alien cultural imposition.

• A focus on the basic representational techniques of classical and modern logic.

• Students introduced to basic concepts of set theory, using Venn diagrams to represent statements and evaluate arguments.

• Students introduced to basic concepts of propositional logic and the use of truth-tables.

• Students introduced to basic …

Studies On The Binding And Interaction Of Neolactotetraosylceramide And Peptides With Dengue Virus Type 2 Envelope Protein / Asfarina Amir Hassan, Amir Hassan Asfarina

Student Works (2010-2019)

Dengue fever is a common tropical infection and this acute febrile illness can be a deadly infection in cases of severe manifestation, causing dengue haemorrhagic shock syndrome. Due to the nature of the mosquito-borne infection, dengue has become a significant public health threat in many developing tropical countries. In this study, envelope (E) protein is selected as a target for drug design because it is believed to be responsible for the initial viral attachment to target cells and for mediating cellular entry of the virus. Domain III of the E-protein is found to be critical for virus adsorption to the …

New Bathynellidae (Crustacea) Taxa And Their Relationships In The Fortescue Catchment Aquifers Of The Pilbara Region, Western Australia, Giulia Perina, Ana I. Camacho, Joel Huey, Pierre Horwitz, Annette Koenders

Research Datasets

In the past 20 years, the number of subterranean taxa discovered in Australia, especially in the Pilbara bioregion, has considerably increased due to incidental environmental surveys often associated with mining development. Bathynellidae are an important component of stygofauna and they occur in most Australian aquifers, but their collection and identification are difficult due to their habitat, and small and fragile bodies with conservative morphology. The study of Pilbaranella ethelensis in the upper Fortescue catchment contributed to a better understanding of the group at local scale, but knowledge at larger catchment scale is still limited. Abundant material collected by different environmental …