Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Covid-19 On Laboratory Professionals-A Descriptive Cross Sectional Survey At A Clinical Chemistry Laboratory In A Developing Country, Lena Jafri, Sibtain Ahmed, Imran Siddiqui

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Background: The lab professionals at one end are at increased risk of contracting the infection while on the other end have to deal with the various challenges during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. This survey was undertaken to analyze the lab professionals' perspectives, in terms of the challenges, financial implications, fears, motivation and satisfaction from organizational processes and policies adopted, amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Material & methods: The study utilized a cross-sectional survey design. The survey was administered online via the google docs survey tool from medical laboratory professionals (n = 64) serving at the section of Clinical Chemistry, …

Book Review: Grit, Grace, And Gratitude, Elizabeth Gingerich

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

No abstract provided.

Disseminated Varicella-Zoster Virus Infection Complicated By Encephalitis And Ramsay Hunt Syndrome In An Hiv Patient, Amro Elshereye, Burak Erdinc, Sonu Sahni

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (New York) Publications and Research

Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is a human α-herpesvirus which cause primary varicella infection (chicken pox) or herpes zoster infection (shingles) after reactivation of the dormant virus. VZV infection is usually self-limited but disseminated infection can be seen in immunocompromised individuals. It can also get complicated by central nervous system (CNS) involvement. We describe a case of a 51-year-old male with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who presented with altered mental status and deficits in his right-sided cranial nerves of VI, VII, and VIII. The patient also had disseminated vesicular-pustular rash all over his body at different stages of healing. A diagnosis of …

2020-07-17_Michiganoverview_Covidsymptoms, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Syndromic Surveillance System Data

The Syndromic Surveillance System Data report was obtained from Michigan's COVID-19 dashboard, from under the link "​Coronavirus Symptoms": https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus. Data was compiled by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The information was updated daily.

Syndromic Surveillance System data is obtained from approximately 183 facilities participating in syndromic surveillance (132 Emergency Departments (ED), 51 Urgent Cares) across the State of Michigan. The reporting is based on individuals who present at EDs and may not be representative of the overall population. The coronavirus-like symptoms query searches visit free-text (chief complaint, triage notes, and clinical impression) for fever or …

Doctor Of Education Newsletter 2020, Renee M. Lemieux, Lisa K. Brichacek, Derrick Chaison, Scott A. Fillman, Barbara Holmes, Matthew J. Leisen, Devon L. Luthens, Shauna J. Mayer, Dejuanna M. Parker, Theresa Stolpa, Danielle E. Tamke, Erica Washington, Kent Willis, Shelley M. Wolfe

Education Doctorate Newsletters

WSU Doctor of Education Cohort 2020

This newsletter was created by the second Education Doctorate graduate student cohort 2020.

Using Audio Processing To Determine Disease Spread, Ajit Narayanan

Defensive Publications Series

During epidemics and at other times, it is important for public health officials, individuals, and other entities to make health-related decisions based on sound epidemiological statistics. Such statistics are today generated only when individuals voluntarily seek medical treatment. Diseases that are contagious but initially asymptomatic can spread rapidly through vulnerable populations with little warning. Due to the initial mildness of symptoms, individuals may not realize that they have a dangerous infection and may fail to approach medical professionals for treatment or diagnosis.

This disclosure describes techniques that can leverage sensors, networks, and consumer electronic devices to determine a fine-grained estimate …

Convalescent Plasma Therapy In Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Patients: A Brief Review, Muhammad Arif Khan, Ikram Ullah

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a re-evaluation of the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT). This review was carried out to assess the usefulness of CPT in critically ill COVID-19 patients based on the published data to date. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second review of the usefulness of CPT in COVID-19 patients. PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Embase databases were searched for relevant reports up to June 21, 2020. Records of published data were analyzed according to eligibility criteria. Five different studies on CPT for critically ill COVID-19 patients were included …

Vol.47 N.52 July 16th 2020, Voice Media Ventures

Black Voice News

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 Spread In Europe: The Soccer Connection, Bibodh J. Karki, Raghava S. Ambadapoodi, Zahid Imran, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Mass gatherings, such as sports events, are potential causes of the rapid spread of COVID-19 infection. Millions of soccer fans travel across Europe every week. With the world’s most popular leagues continuing play until the second week of March 2020, we hypothesize that a correlation exists between the number of people attending the soccer league games in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and the UK and the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 in these countries during the ongoing epidemic.

Methods: We calculated the total number of attendees in the five major soccer leagues from the popular sports websites and …

2020-07-16_Michiganoverview_Covidsymptoms, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Syndromic Surveillance System Data

The Syndromic Surveillance System Data report was obtained from Michigan's COVID-19 dashboard, from under the link "​Coronavirus Symptoms": https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus. Data was compiled by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The information was updated daily.

Syndromic Surveillance System data is obtained from approximately 183 facilities participating in syndromic surveillance (132 Emergency Departments (ED), 51 Urgent Cares) across the State of Michigan. The reporting is based on individuals who present at EDs and may not be representative of the overall population. The coronavirus-like symptoms query searches visit free-text (chief complaint, triage notes, and clinical impression) for fever or …

The Moral Challenges Of Opening Up Schools During The Pandemic, Rachel Robinson-Greene

Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

As we inch ever closer to August, the question of if and how schools will open in the fall is increasingly pressing on everyone’s minds. Many decisions related to COVID-19 are presented as morally controversial when they really shouldn’t be. The issue of opening the schools, on the other hand, is complex. No matter what decision is made, some individuals and groups will experience significant hardship.

Investigating Sofa, Delta-Sofa And Mpm-Iii For Mortality Prediction Among Critically Ill Patients At A Private Tertiary Hospital Icu In Kenya: A Retrospective Cohort Study, Lillian N. Lukoko, Peter S. Kussin, Rodney Adam, James Orwa, Wangari Siika

Anaesthesiology, East Africa

Background: Outcomes in well-resourced, intensive care units (ICUs) in Kenya are thought to be comparable to those in high-income countries (HICs) but risk-adjusted mortality data is unavailable. We undertook an evaluation of the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi ICU to analyze patient clinical-demographic characteristics, compare the performance of Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), delta-SOFA at 48 hours and Mortality Prediction Model-III (MPM-III) mortality prediction systems, and identify factors associated with increased risk of mortality.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of adult patients admitted to the ICU between January 2015 and September 2017. SOFA and MPM-III scores were determined …

Discovery Of Exosomes From Tick Saliva And Salivary Glands Reveals Therapeutic Roles For Cxcl12 And Il-8 In Wound Healing At The Tick–Human Skin Interface, Wenshuo Zhou, Faizan Tahir, Joseph Che Yen Wang, Michael Woodson, Michael B. Sherman, Shahid Karim, Girish Neelakanta, Hameeda Sultana

Faculty Publications

© Copyright © 2020 Zhou, Tahir, Wang, Woodson, Sherman, Karim, Neelakanta and Sultana.Ticks secrete various anti-coagulatory, anti-vasoconstrictory, anti-inflammatory, and anti-platelet aggregation factors in their saliva at the bite site during feeding to evade host immunological surveillance and responses. For the first time, we report successful isolation of exosomes (small membrane-bound extracellular signaling vesicles) from saliva and salivary glands of partially fed or unfed ixodid ticks. Our data showed a novel role of these in vivo exosomes in the inhibition of wound healing via downregulation of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12) and upregulation of interleukin-8 (IL-8). Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) analysis …

The Data Are Inadequate To Assess Safety And Efficacy Of Mass Chemotherapy For Taenia Solium Taeniasis, A. Clinton White Jr., Seth E. O'Neal, Andrea Winkler, Annette Abraham, Hélène Carabin

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

As members of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines development group on chemotherapy strategies for the control of Taenia solium taeniasis, we are very disappointed at the systematic review by Haby and colleagues. With respect to the analysis of efficacy, the authors did not account for differences in the methods used to ascertain the outcome in the studies analyzed. There are also major concerns regarding the safety analyses. Few of the included studies used carefully designed active surveillance protocols to detect epileptic seizures and/or chronic progressive headaches. These neurologic side effects, due the inadvertent …

Chemical Investigation Of Floridian Mangrove Endophytes And Antarctic Marine Organisms, Bingjie Yang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nature creates diseases and illnesses for mankind, however, nature also provides therapeutics by making biological systems produce secondary metabolites. Although the secondary metabolites originally play roles in chemical defense or evolution, researchers have been working on them for drug discovery. Plants, fungi and marine organisms have been mostly explored by natural products chemists over the century and contributed most drugs to the market. With the increasing need of new drugs resulting from drug resistance and pathogen evolution, the natural products area has been focused on developing innovative methodologies to achieve higher efficiency of isolating new bioactive compounds.

This dissertation herein …

Refugee Health In Philadelphia, Marc Altshuler

Department of Family & Community Medicine Presentations and Grand Rounds

Objectives

1. Define the U.S. refugee resettlement process
2. Discuss the history of refugee health in Philadelphia and the creation of the Jefferson Center for Refugee Health
3. Review selected data on our patients
4. Learn how to utilize new resources to care for refugees

Insight - Summer 2020, Dugoni School Of Dentistry

Insight

Whether you are involved in clinical research, biomedical research, the scholarship of teaching and learning, improvement of the health care system, or professional partnerships that advance the field, we aim to spotlight the work of people at the Dugoni School.

2020-07-15_Michiganoverview_Covidsymptoms, Michigan Department Of Health & Human Services

Michigan COVID-19 Syndromic Surveillance System Data

The Syndromic Surveillance System Data report was obtained from Michigan's COVID-19 dashboard, from under the link "​Coronavirus Symptoms": https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus. Data was compiled by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The information was updated daily.

Syndromic Surveillance System data is obtained from approximately 183 facilities participating in syndromic surveillance (132 Emergency Departments (ED), 51 Urgent Cares) across the State of Michigan. The reporting is based on individuals who present at EDs and may not be representative of the overall population. The coronavirus-like symptoms query searches visit free-text (chief complaint, triage notes, and clinical impression) for fever or …

Holy Cross Magazine, Vol. 54, No. 3, Summer 2020, College Of The Holy Cross

Holy Cross Magazine

Community, Cura Personalis and Scholarship
How faculty and staff united and educated a scattered student body in a pandemic
By Melissa Shaw

Remembering the Swiss Army Knife of Buildings
From all-sport gymnasium to raucous concert hall, graduation stage, love-at-first-sight dance floor and more, the Field House played nearly every role over its 70-year history.
By Melissa Shaw

Mom, Dad, John Donne, Bugs Bunny: The Making of an American Poet
From a Bronx classroom and a shoebox full of rejections to his role as U.S. Poet Laureate and international renown, the environs of Billy Collins ’63 Hon. ’02 may have changed, …

Essays On Emotional Well-Being, Health Insurance Disparities And Health Insurance Markets, Disha Shende

Economics ETDs

This dissertation has three research papers. First paper looks at the effect of social networks on emotional well-being of cancer patients by studying the response of social networks on their depression symptoms. Using the data from a primary survey conducted in Nepal, the study finds that social networks significantly reduce depression symptoms among cancer patients. The results strongly advocate for the importance of the social networks in improving their emotional well-being. Second paper examines the health coverage disparities among Hispanic and non-Hispanic young adults in five southwestern states of the United States. Using the pooled data from American Community Survey …

Can A Sex Bias Be A Good Thing: Modeling Spontaneous Clearance And Sexual Susceptibility In Hcv, Tanner K. Shea

Biology ETDs

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global epidemic that has been increasing for decades, afflicting millions of people who inject drugs (PWID) and is a major cause of liver disease. With novel direct-acting antivirals, treating the virus has become possible yet elimination remains out of reach. Prior research has shown significant differences in disease progression between men and women. These differences can lead to variation in incidence or what proportion of infections progress to chronic infections. We develop a mathematical model that accounts for potential differences between the sexes to evaluate the impacts on HCV transmission. We find that susceptibility …

Sexual Dimorphism In Host Innate Response To Staphylococcus Aureus: Mechanisms Driving Sex Differences In Immune Cell Function And Host-Directed Interventions, Srijana Pokhrel

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

With the emerging antibiotic resistance, Staphylococcus aureus, primary causative agent of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) as well as other life-threatening conditions has become a global health concern. While factors contributing to host defense against S. aureus SSTIs has been well studied, impact of sex as a variable has not been reported. In Chapter 2, we uncover the sex-specific differences in host response to S. aureus SSTIs and the contribution of female sex hormone, estrogen (E2) in providing protection in females. In Chapter 3, we identify mechanisms of innate differences in neutrophils bactericidal efficacy between sexes and in …

Virus-Like Particle-Based Vaccines Induce Antibody-Mediated Neutralization Of Staphylococcus Aureus Virulence, Jason Alexander Joyner

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogenic bacterium that inflicts a large amount of human suffering using an arsenal of virulence factors to cause minor to life-threatening infections. Both the accessory gene regulator (agr) operon, a virulence regulatory pathway that controls expression of over 200 virulence factors, and alpha-hemolysin (Hla), a key pore-forming toxin, play a significant role in infection severity. Given the clinical trial failures of S. aureus vaccine candidates and the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains, novel and effective treatment options are urgently needed. Chapter 2 describes a novel virus-like particle (VLP) -based vaccine inducing agr-I-inhibiting antibodies …

Perceived Risk And Protection From Infection And Depressive Symptoms Among Healthcare Workers In Mainland China And Hong Kong During Covid-19, Simon Ching Lam, Teresa Arora, Ian Grey, Lorna Kwai Ping Suen, Emma Yun Zhi Huang, Daofan Li, Kin Bong Hubert Lam

All Works

© Copyright © 2020 Lam, Arora, Grey, Suen, Huang, Li and Lam. Psychological health among healthcare workers (HCWs) has become a major concern since the COVID-19 outbreak. HCWs perceived risks of contracting COVID-19, in relation to depression were investigated. It was hypothesized that perceived high risk of contracting COVID-19 (close contact with cases, inadequate provision of personal protective equipment, insufficient infection control training, and presence of symptoms) would be significant predictors of depression. Our cross-sectional survey was completed by HCWs across three regions (Hubei, Guangdong, Hong Kong) between March 9 to April 9 2020 using convenience sampling. Depression was assessed …

Moving Targets Of Bacterial Taxonomy Revision: What Are They And Why Should We Care?, Erik Munson

Clinical Lab Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Due to the increased widespread use of molecular diagnostics, genome sequencing, and microbiome analysis in microbiology, the field has experienced a massive influx of novel taxa and nomenclature revisions. A subset of these changes is relevant to the clinical microbiology laboratory, particularly in the context of appropriate antimicrobial susceptibility testing and epidemiology of emerging infections. However, assimilation of these changes into daily clinical microbiology laboratory operations can be challenging for a variety of reasons. Recent taxonomic revisions to Enterobacteriaceae, as well as the genera Borrelia, Mycoplasma, and Mycobacterium, are reviewed as examples that illustrate discrepancies between resources …

Disruption Of Pyoverdine Synthesis In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Through Periodic Disturbance Of Biofilm Structure, Rebecca J. Quinn

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Infections due to bacteria were once easily treated using antibiotics. However, the effective shelf life of antibiotics is diminishing due to the rise and spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Accordingly, novel approaches to treating infections are required. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a multi-drug resistant, biofilm forming opportunistic pathogen. A determinant of P. aeruginosa’s pathogenicity is pyoverdine, a siderophore that is used to sequester iron from the environment. After being produced by a bacterium, pyoverdine is secreted into the environment where it complexes with iron. The pyoverdine-iron complex is then returned to the bacteria through diffusion, where it drives the synthesis of …

New Vaccine Technologies, Adjuvants And Delivery System, C.J. Lee, M. Koizumi, T. Kosaka

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Immunization represents the most cost-effective means to achieve the prevention of infectious diseases. Vaccines successfully protected humans from serious infections resulting in worldwide eradication of smallpox and regional elimination of poliomyelitis. New technologies continue to provide many effective biological products for disease control. Various techniques including recombinant DNA approaches, peptide synthesis chemistry, and immunomodulation have been applied to the development of new vaccines and improvement of existing vaccines. These technologies have constructed avirulent and attenuated strains to be used as live vaccines, as well as provided more effective manufacturing methods to produce protein antigens. bacterial polysaccharides (PS) and PS-protein conjugate …

Lessons Learned From The Sars Epidemic In Taiwan, E.T.-T. Suen

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

[No abstract available]

Simultaneous Determination Of Quinolones In Livestock And Marine Products By High Performance Liquid Chromatography, S.-C. Su, M.-H. Chang, C.-L. Chang, P.-C. Chang, S.-S. Chou

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

A high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the simultaneous determination of nalidixic acid, flumequine, oxolinic acid, piromidic acid, danofloxacin, enrofloxacin and sarafloxacin in chicken, pork and fish. These seven quinolone antibacterials were extracted with 0.3% metaphosphoric acid: acetonitrile (1:10, v/v), followed by a Bond Elut C18 cartridge clean up procedure. The HPLC separation was achieved on a Cosmosil 5C18-AR-II column (5 μm, 4.6 mm i.d. × 250 mm) with acetonitrile: 0.05M NaH2PO4 (pH 2.5)(35:65, v/v) containing 3.5 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate as a mobile phase, and detection was performed with photodiode array and fluorescence detector (by using …

Evaluation And Validation Of Potency Testing Method For Live Rubella Virus Vaccine, D.-Y. Wang, S.-Y. Yeh, C.-P. Chou, H.-F. Cheng, J.-T. Hsieh, C.-P. Lin

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

The potency of live rubella virus vaccine is usually determined by the microtitration method using in vitro cytopathic effect (CPE) with rabbit kidney epithelial (RK-13) cell culture. However, it is difficult to identify the rubella viral CPE through microscopic examination. Therefore, developing a validated and accurate method for potency determination is important for the laboratories of the government and vaccine manufacturers to ensure the effectiveness of rubella vaccination. In this study, we evaluated different culture conditions of RK-13 cells for the potency test of live rubella virus vaccine. We found that the RK-13 cells with the initial plating number of …