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Give Me A Choice: Perceptions Of Freedom And The Anti-Vax Movement In Maine, Louisa Goldman

Honors Theses

While vaccination has proven to be an incredibly effective method of disease prevention, the growing ‘anti-vax’ movement threatens the population-level benefits conferred by widespread immunization. Recent findings indicate that anti-vax beliefs are not, as had been previously assumed, necessarily the result of scientific illiteracy but rather, are likely produced by intertwining social and situational contexts. With these considerations in mind, the goal of this study was to identify potential motivations underlying anti-vax behavior by performing a deep examination of anti-vax rhetoric, coupled with demographic and situational analyses. I focused specifically on the anti-vax community in Maine, with a special interest …

Naloxone Access And Opioid Use: A Theoretical Analysis, Caroline Dunsby

Honors Theses

Naloxone, commonly known by the brand name Narcan, is a medication that reverses the potentially fatal effects of an opioid overdose. Amidst the opioid epidemic that has taken tens of thousands of lives each year, many policies have been enacted to increase the public's access to naloxone, allowing non-medical personnel to save lives. There have been two distinct reactions to these policies. Those that support the policies state that harm reduction measures are necessary to save lives. Those that oppose the policies claim that by providing naloxone, states may be increasing risky opioid use - suggesting that naloxone leads to …

Factors Influencing The Acceptance For Adoption Of Innovative Medical Self-Test, Sumontida Sayachak

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

There are multiple barriers of health self-care. Self-testing and information technology would empower self-care and medical industry. In addition, it may reduce the country’s public health burden cost. However, there is very limited research on IT related to health care and customer belief in Thailand. This study, alternate innovative mixed models in software was developed to understand individual’s characteristics and influencing factors for the adoption of medical self-testing. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using self-administrated questionnaires that constructed based on Health belief model (HBM), Extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) including related significant psychological determinants. …

Forecasting The Thailand Housing Price Indexa Case Study On Condo Hpi During The Covid-19, Pengfei Chen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

HPI (house price index) measures the price development of houses sold to households. And it measures the price as a percentage change from some specific start date, which is treated as the benchmark with the index at 100. In another word, HPI reflects the housing market fluctuation in some respects. Moreover, real estate is a good type of investment for people for avoiding various risks. Hence, under the global rampant of COVID-19, forecasting the possible short-term floating of HPI would offer some foresight to the residential market both on individual and policy sides. In this paper, five kinds of models …

Characterizing A20 Function In Periodontal Tissue Homeostasis, Erin Mooney

Theses and Dissertations

The regulation of inflammatory signaling pathways is critical for proper innate immune responses to pathogens as well as the prevention of chronic inflammation. Ubiquitination, a covalent posttranslational modification, has been identified as a key regulator of multiple signaling cascades, including nuclear factor (NF)-κB. A20 (also known as TNF alpha induced protein 3 or TNFAIP3) has emerged as critical ubiquitin-editing enzyme that functions as an endogenous regulator of inflammation through termination of NF-κB activation as part of a negative feedback loop. Through its function in a plethora of biological processes, aberrant expression and/or function of A20 has been implicated in gastrointestinal, …

Transcriptomic Profiling Of Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex And Nucleus Accumbens From Chronic Alcohol Abusers., Eric S. Vornholt

Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness that develops from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. While it is well documented that AUD is heritable, the shift from recreational alcohol use to abuse/dependence is poorly understood. In this dissertation, using postmortem brain tissue from individuals with alcohol dependence (AD), we profiled the genome-wide expression of circular RNA (circRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) to better understand the impact of gene expression on the development of AUD. To achieve this, we performed two independent studies that explore transcriptome differences between AD cases and controls. The first of …

Culturally-Relevant Factors That Influence Healthy Eating Among African American College Students, Danyel Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a national epidemic in the US, disproportionately affecting African Americans, such that the obesity prevalence in African Americans (49.6%) surpassed the national prevalence (42.4%) in 2018. Those same disparities exist at the collegiate level, such that 27.4% of a sample of African Americans college students had obesity, surpassing the national prevalence of obesity (12.1%) in 2018. Diet, an important driver of obesity, is influenced by several psychological, social, and environmental factors. However, cultural factors influencing diet are understudied among African American college students. The overarching goal of the current study was to identify culturally-relevant factors that promote healthy …

I Hope My Black Skin Don't Dirt This White Tuxedo, Luis A. Vasquez La Roche

Theses and Dissertations

I Hope My Black Skin Don't Dirt This White Tuxedo is a series of works--sculpture, installations, and performances--that explore themes of shame, failure, commodity, ephemerality, ritual, resilience, erasure, race, and death. The research and interest in these themes stem from a page of the Trinidad and Tobago Slave Registry. I use the research that surrounds this document to highlight different moments in history, in my personal life, and to imagine near futures.

The Heat Is On: Comparison Of Thermoregulatory Behavior In Parasitised Versus Unparasitized Caterpillars Of The Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca Sexta (L.) [Lepidoptera: Sphingidae], Jessica M. Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

Insect thermoregulatory research has demonstrated evidence of variation occurring within and among species with respect to infection, pathogens, and parasitism, but few studies have examined differences in thermoregulatory behavior in a host-parasite system with a coevolved symbiotic virus. I investigated the role of parasitism by Cotesia congregata (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on the thermoregulatory behavior of Manduca sexta (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) using an experimental design in a thermal gradient chamber and a complementary observational field study on wild M. sexta collected from tobacco farms. Parasitism and larval age were not found to have a significant effect on the preferred body temperature …

Anti-Tumor Functions Of Sphingosine Kinase 1 And Sphingosine Kinase 2 In Breast Cancer Development, Melissa A. Maczis

Theses and Dissertations

Bioactive sphingolipid metabolite sphingosine-1‐phosphate (S1P) circulating levels have been implicated in breast cancer (BC) progression. BCs usually respond to 17β-Estradiol (E2) through canonical receptor ERα66 for genomic effects, however, E2 also triggers rapid, non-genomic responses. E2 has been shown to activate sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1), increasing S1P for S1P receptors signaling important for BC. The E2 receptor activating SphK1 has not been identified. We demonstrate triple negative BC cells, expressing only novel ERα splice variant ERα36, E2-induced SphK1 activation for S1P secretion. Tamoxifen, first-line BC endocrine therapy, an ERα66 antagonist but ERα36 agonist, activates SphK1 and increases S1P secretion in …

The Nagoya Protocol And The Legal Structure Of Global Biogenomic Research, Sam F. Halabi, Michelle Rourke, Gian Luca Burci, Rebecca Katz

Faculty Publications

As life sciences technologies have advanced, so too has the potential for these international collaborations to lead to breakthrough medicines, enhance food security, and protect ecological systems. The linchpin of this progress is the development of high throughput genetic sequencing technologies. Researchers are now able to generate and compare large stretches of DNA - 1 million bases or more - from different sources quickly and inexpensively. Such comparisons can yield massive amounts of information about the role of inheritance in susceptibility to infection and illness as well as responses to environmental influences. In addition, the ability to sequence genomes more …

Early Access To Unapproved Medicines In The United States And France, Erika Lietzan

Faculty Publications

In 2018, President Trump signed a federal "right to try" law, claiming that it would give desperately ill patients earlier access to unapproved medicines, by allowing the patient, doctor, and drug company to arrange for access without federal oversight. Critics of the law argued that it would not meaningfully increase access to experimental medicines, because federal oversight was not the obstacle in the first place. And they were correct. U.S. law already permitted companies to provide terminally ill patients with early access to unapproved medicines. The problem was instead that companies did not take advantage of this option. This Article …

A Discrete Age Structured Model Of Hantavirus In A Rodent Reservoir In Paraguay, Megan A. Rúa

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Many rodent-borne hantaviruses are zoonotic pathogens that can cause disease in humans through inhalation of aerosolized rodent excreta. To evaluate the prevalence of Jaborâ virus (JABV) over time within its rodent reservoir, Akodon montensis, we formulated a mathematical model with multiple rodent age classes and unique infection class progression features. We then parameterized the model with data collected from a survey of JABV harbored by Akodon montensis in the Mbaracayú Reserve in Paraguay. Our model incorporates three types of infection over the lifetime of the rodent as well as a recovered class. A new feature of the model allows transition …

Evaluating Appropriateness And Diagnostic Stewardship Opportunities Of Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction Gastrointestinal Testing Within A Hospital System, Melissa O'Neal, Hanna Murray, Sangita Dash, Majdi N. Al-Hasan, Julie Ann Justo, P Brandon Bookstaver

Faculty Publications

Objective: This single-center, retrospective, observational cohort study evaluates the appropriateness of the BioFire® FilmArray® Gastrointestinal (GI) multiplex PCR panel testing at a community-teaching hospital. Methods: All adult, hospitalized patients at Prisma Health Richland Hospital with a documented GI multiplex PCR panel from 1 April 2015 through 28 February 2018 were included in the analysis. Inappropriate use of the GI panel was defined as a test obtained without documented diarrhea, greater than 2 days of hospitalization, redundant use with other diagnostic tests (e.g. PCR), or laxative use in the preceding 48 h. Antibiotic use and host variables were compared between groups …

Online Availability Of Fish Antibiotics And Documented Intent For Self-Medication, Weiwei Zhang, Austin Williams, Nicole Griffith, Jessica Gaskins, P Brandon Bookstaver

Faculty Publications

Self-medication and antibiotic utilization without healthcare oversight may lead to delayed appropriate treatment, transmission of communicable infections, untoward adverse events, and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. Previous data suggest people obtain over-the-counter (OTC) animal antibiotics for their personal use. This study examined the availability of OTC fish antibiotics online and the documented intent for self-medication. The authors conducted a web-based cross-sectional study using Google search engine to identify vendor websites selling fish antibiotics in the United States. Vendor websites were included if product information, consumer reviews, and comments were publicly available. Nine fish antibiotics were chosen due to their possibility of …

Covid–19 กับการตีตราทางสังคม: บทบาทพยาบาลควบคุมโรคติดเชื้อ, อำพวรรณ์ ยวนใจ

Journal of Nursing Research, Innovation, and Health

โรคโควิด 19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019 หรือ COVID-19) เป็นโรคติดต่ออันตรายที่กำลังแพร่ระบาดทั่วโลก สามารถแพร่เชื้อผ่านทางลมหายใจ ละอองฝอย และจากการสัมผัสโดยตรงบริเวณเยื่อบุของตา จมูกหรือช่องปาก ทำให้เกิดการแพร่กระจายเชื้อได้ง่ายและรวดเร็ว เมื่อมีการติดเชื้อจากคนใดคนหนึ่งมักมีการกล่าวโทษว่าเกิดจากคน ๆ นั้น ทำให้ผู้ที่ถูกกล่าวโทษถูกมองว่าเป็นต้นเหตุของการแพร่เชื้อ ถูกสังคมรอบข้างรังเกียจ เกิดความวิตกกังวลและไม่กล้าเผชิญชีวิตในสังคมได้ เหมือนเป็นตราบาปในใจว่าตนเป็นต้นเหตุของการแพร่กระจายเชื้อในสังคม พยาบาลควบคุมโรคติดเชื้อมีบทบาทสำคัญในการให้ข้อมูลที่ถูกต้องเกี่ยวกับโรคติดต่ออันตราย และช่วยเหลือบุคคลที่ถูกตราบาปในสังคมให้สามารถดำรงชีวิตได้อย่างปกติ โดยการประสานงานกับผู้นำชุมชนในเขตพื้นที่รับผิดชอบเพื่อร่วมกันวางแผนและดูแลช่วยเหลือผู้ที่ถูกตราบาปทางสังคม

Analysis Of Genetic Structure And Pathogen Dynamics Of Ixodes Scapularis In Southwestern Virginia, Leemu Jackson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Ixodes scapularis, or the blacklegged tick, is the primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi. This pathogen is the causative agent of Lyme disease, the most common vector-transmitted disease in the United States. Although I. scapularis is distributed throughout the eastern U.S., Lyme disease is only considered endemic in the northeastern region of the country. Prior to 2007, Lyme disease was uncommon in Virginia, but since then cases of Lyme disease have increased dramatically with a hotspot forming in the Roanoke-Blacksburg area. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether B. burgdorferi prevalence and the genetic structure of I. …

Shift Work: Gut Health And Metabolic Disease, Hailey Lane

Senior Honors Theses

The number of people engaged in shift work continues to rise, and with it the research linking shift work to various diseases and conditions. Shift work changes the body’s sleeping patterns and circadian rhythms which has an effect on all parts of the body including the heart, immunity, cancer development, and inflammatory processes. Altered sleeping patterns and circadian rhythms change the composition and anatomy of the gut and microbiome, which in turn affects the development of metabolic diseases. Shift work also changes one’s eating patterns and habits. Altered eating habits similarly changes the composition and anatomy of the gut and …

Covid-19: Prevention And Control Measures In Community, Hati̇ce Rahmet Güner, İmran Hasanoğlu, Fi̇rdevs Aktaş

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

On January 30, 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern and, in March 2020, began to characterize it as a pandemic in order to emphasize the gravity of the situation and urge all countries to take action in detecting infection and preventing spread. Unfortunately, there is no medication that has been approved by the FDA, gone through controlled studies and demonstrated an effect on the virus for this global pandemic. Although there are cures for illnesses and developments made by leaps and bounds in our day, the strongest and most effective weapon that …

Buck V. Bell, American Eugenics, And The Bad Man Test: Putting Limits On Newgenics In The 21st Century, Alessandra Suuberg

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Environmental Interventions In Eliminating Trachoma Infection In Africa: The Case Of Gashoho Health District, Burundi, Desire Ndisabiye

Theses

Gashoho Health District, Burundi, has not achieved the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of elimination of the blinding infectious disease, trachoma, by 2020. The work in this thesis addresses this problem using three different approaches.

Firstly, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to establish the current trachoma prevalence in Gashoho and whether poor sanitation was a risk factor for infection. 468 individuals from 117 households across four villages were clinically examined for signs of trachoma infection, and completed a questionnaire about environmental risk factors. The current prevalence of trachoma in Gashoho was 7.9% (95 % CI 5.0 - 10.6%). Children under …

Host-Parasite Interactions: Comparative Analyses Of Population Genomics, Disease-Associated Genomic Regions, And Host Use, Sara Rose Seibert

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Birds are major vectors and reservoir hosts of pathogens across our globe. Pathogens can be spread through the dispersal and seasonal movements of migratory and resident wild birds. Although biogeographic barriers have the potential to restrict completely or in part gene flow in wild birds, variation in ecological drivers of dispersal likely influences the effectiveness of these barriers amongst different species. This dissertation seeks to enhance our knowledge of Southern Hemisphere waterfowl species’ dispersal, population genomics, and disease ecology using population genomic techniques (double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq)) and multi-variate statistics. First, we investigated the roles of dispersal behavior …

Pre-Treatment Hiv-Drug Resistance Associated With Virologic Outcome Of First-Line Nnrti-Antiretroviral Therapy: A Cohort Study In Kenya, Ingrid A. Beck, Molly Levine, Christine J. Mcgrath, Steve Bii, Ross S. Milne, James M. Kingoo, Isaac So, Nina Andersen, Sandra Dross, Michael Chung

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: Pre-treatment HIV-drug-resistance (PDR) to WHO-recommended 1st-line non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI)-based antiretroviral treatment (ART) is increasing in low-resource communities. We evaluated the risk of PDR on treatment failure if detected at single or multiple codons, at minority (2–9%) or higher (≥10%) frequencies during efavirenz- vs. nevirapine-ART.

Methods: We conducted a pooled analysis across three cohorts of Kenyans initiating 1st-line NNRTI-ART between 2006 and 2014. Mutations K103N, Y181C, G190A, M184V and K65R were detected by an oligonucleotide ligation assay (OLA) and confirmed by Sanger and next-generation sequencing (NGS). PDR was defined as detection of any mutation by OLA when confirmed …

Effect Of Patient-Level Characteristics On Fluoroquinolone Susceptibility, Jeffrey Alan Franks

All ETDs from UAB

Antimicrobial stewardship programs are becoming more widespread to combat antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of patient-level characteristics on fluoroquinolone susceptibly among five gram-negative isolates to help better their implementation. We performed a retrospective analysis of patients over the age of 18 for five gram-negative isolates (Acinetobacter species, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). We utilized Cox proportional hazards to determine the risk of patient-level characteristics, for both hospital and community-acquired infections, on fluoroquinolone resistance between 2016 and 2019. The population sample consisted of 8,285 patients receiving fluoroquinolones for at least one of the …

Impact Of Different Human Coronaviruses (Hcovs) On Pediatric Patients At A Tertiary Pediatric Hospital – Retrospective Study, Abdulsalam Alsulami

All ETDs from UAB

Background: Human Coronaviruses (HCoV) are important pathogens associated with respiratory disease in humans and animals. The majority of HCoVs are emerging human pathogens with 7 known types causing human disease and 5 being identified in the last 2 decades. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all encounters with known HCoV at a tertiary pediatric hospital from January 2015 until January 2018. Electronic medical records (EMRs) were reviewed for demographic data, HCoV type, viral copathogens, time to testing, admission, need for increased intensity of care (HLC), requirement for supplemental oxygen, radiographic findings suggestive lower respiratory tract disease (LRT) when available …

Cd8 T-Cell Responses To A Diverse Virus: Adaptation And Cross-Reactivity In Hiv Vaccination, Sushma Boppana

All ETDs from UAB

In the four decades since human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was discovered, significant progress has been made in treating HIV infection and in understanding the viral and immune dynamics underlying disease pathogenesis. However, in spite of scientific advances, HIV remains a significant global health issue, and an effective preventative vaccine has yet to be created. Many groups have demonstrated the importance of CD8 T cells in viral control during natural HIV infection and believe that CD8 T cells could contribute to vaccine efficacy by alleviating disease course in individuals who became infected despite vaccination. One major obstacle to inducing potent CD8 …

Early Childhood Quality Of Education And Late-Life Cognitive Function In A Population-Based Sample From Puerto Rico, Cheyanne Celine Barba

All ETDs from UAB

In general, greater years of education is associated with reduced risk of cognitive impairment in older adulthood, but the strength of this association has been found to differ by study population. Additionally, quality of education is understudied, despite evidence that quality of education and, in turn, literacy, may be additional indicators of cognitive reserve. This thesis examined years of education, literacy, and childhood quality of education indicators in relation to late-life cognitive outcomes in an older Puerto Rican population. We hypothesized that greater years of education, literacy, and quality of childhood education would be positively associated with each other, as …

Prediction Of Chronic Disease-Related Inpatient Prolonged Length Of Stay Using Machine Learning Algorithms, Hasan Symum, José Zayas-Castro

Industrial and Management Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Objectives: The study aimed to develop and compare predictive models based on supervised machine learning algorithms for predicting the prolonged length of stay (LOS) of hospitalized patients diagnosed with five different chronic conditions. Methods: An administrative claim dataset (2008–2012) of a regional network of nine hospitals in the Tampa Bay area, Florida, USA, was used to develop the prediction models. Features were extracted from the dataset using the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. Five learning algorithms, namely, decision tree C5.0, linear support vector machine (LSVM), k-nearest neighbors, random forest, and multi-layered artificial neural networks, were …

Etiologies Of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections Among Adult Patients Presenting To A Tertiary Institution In Nairobi, Mary Achakolong

Master of Medicine in Anatomic Pathology

Background: Lower respiratory tract infections continue to contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality across all age groups globally. Viral pathogens in isolation or as co-infections are an important cause of pneumonia and associated with several life threatening syndromes that warrant appropriate and timely lifesaving diagnosis. Many viral respiratory infections demonstrate substantial regional and seasonal variations which are poorly understood. In addition, there are very few studies in sub-Saharan Africa that have examined the role of viruses as causes of community acquired pneumonia. The availability of molecular techniques such as multiplex PCR that are much more sensitive than traditional methods and …

Susceptibility Of Swine Cells And Domestic Pigs To Sars-Cov-2, David A. Meekins, Igor Morozov, Jessie D. Trujillo, Natasha N. Gaudreault, Dashzeveg Bold, Mariano Carossino, Bianca L. Artiaga, Sabarish V. Indran, Taeyong Kwon, Velmurugan Balaraman, Daniel W. Madden, Heinz Feldmann, Jamie Henningson, Wenjun Ma, Udeni B. R. Balasuriya, Juergen A. Richt

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.