Digital Commons Network^™

Methods To Increase The Rate Of Childhood Vaccinating, Mary Beth Tillman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Vaccinations such as polio, diphtheria, varicella, and meningitis help to protect a child from life-threatening illnesses which have previously been contained by routine vaccinations. However, misinformation, negative press, and other contributing factors, have influenced caregivers to refuse to vaccinate their children placing the children at risk for contracting the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends regular vaccinations for children beginning as newborns, yet the vaccination rate remains below acceptable levels. This project was developed to provide an educational program guided by Orem’s self-care theory and intended to increase nurses’ knowledge of vaccination and ultimately vaccination rates. A …

Sociopolitical Determinants Of Parental Acceptance Of Childhood Vaccination In Abuja, Nigeria, Lawrence Madu Ohammah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the efficacy of vaccines, some parents still reject vaccination of their children, resulting in low vaccination coverage, a greater burden of vaccine-preventable diseases, and high infant mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sociopolitical determinants of vaccination status among children, aged 0-24 months, and identify the factors that drive vaccine hesitancy. The social ecological model served as the theoretical framework. The study research design was a quantitative cross-sectional survey. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect primary data from parents and caregivers in 384 randomly selected households from 48 settlements in the Abuja Municipal Area Council. …

Hiv Positive African American Women’S Lived Experiences And Clinical Outcomes, Christie Olejemeh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American (AA) women are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. The infection rate for AA women continues to increase, and literature lacks information specifically on education for AA women regarding viral suppression at diagnosis. The purpose of the study was to understand the lived experiences of AA women living with HIV in the District of Columbia, particularly how they acquired knowledge of viral suppression. To understand their experiences with antiretroviral medications, viral suppression, discrimination, and stigma, this qualitative study applied a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The theories of resilience and empowerment were applied. Ten HIV positive AA women living in the District …

Measuring Knowledge Of Chronic Kidney Disease (Ckd) Among Community College Students, Jacquelyn Caldwell Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) once detected is easily treated; however, it has become a major health problem associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates, creating an economic burden worldwide. While approximately 24 million Americans over the age of 20 suffer from CKD, there is a lack of awareness among the general population. Using a pre/post assessment, this quantitative study measured the impact of a 75-minute workshop on 126 community college students' knowledge of kidney disease, perception of its severity, and perceived susceptibility. The theoretical framework for the study was the health belief model, which suggests that individuals will make positive …

Evaluating The Hospitals General Service Readiness Index In Guinea For Enhancing Their Performances, Mohamed Elmahady Camara

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The healthcare system of Guinea has reported low scores on service availability and readiness assessment (SARA); the scores indicated the low availability of quality drugs, vaccines, medical equipment, and other technologies and involves a continuous history of poor quality-performance metrics. Thus the operational health problems in Guinea could be summarized as health problems (high rate of maternal, neonatal, and infant mortality, high prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases) and health system problems (lack of appropriate governance). Therefore, amelioration of the quality of health care and patient safety is needed. The objective of this study was to consider Guinea hospital performance …

Interferon Beta Activity Is Modulated Via Binding Of Specific S100 Proteins, Alexei S. Kazakov, Alexander D. Sofin, Nadezhda V. Avkhacheva, Alexander I. Denesyuk, Eugenia I. Deryusheva, Victoria A. Rastrygina, Andrey S. Sokolov, Maria E. Permyakova, Ekaterina A. Litus, Vladimir N. Uversky, Eugene A. Permyakov, Sergei E. Permyakov

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Interferon-β (IFN-β) is a pleiotropic cytokine used for therapy of multiple sclerosis, which is also effective in suppression of viral and bacterial infections and cancer. Recently, we reported a highly specific interaction between IFN-β and S100P lowering IFN-β cytotoxicity to cancer cells (Int J Biol Macromol. 2020; 143: 633–639). S100P is a member of large family of multifunctional Ca2+-binding proteins with cytokine-like activities. To probe selectivity of IFN-β—S100 interaction with respect to S100 proteins, we used surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, chemical crosslinking, and crystal violet assay. Among the thirteen S100 proteins studied S100A1, S100A4, and S100A6 proteins exhibit strictly Ca2+-dependent …

Why Covid-19 Transmission Is More Efficient And Aggressive Than Viral Transmission In Previous Coronavirus Epidemics?, Fatma Elrashdy, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Vladimir N. Uversky

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The worldwide transmission of COVID-19 from human to human is spreading like wildfire, affecting almost every country in the world. In the past 100 years, the globe did not face a microbial pandemic similar in scale to COVID-19. Taken together, both previous outbreaks of other members of the coronavirus family (severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV)) did not produce even 1% of the global harm already inflicted by COVID-19. There are also four other CoVs capable of infecting humans …

Why Covid-19 Transmission Is More Efficient And Aggressive Than Viral Transmission In Previous Coronavirus Epidemics?, Fatma Elrashdy, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Vladimir N. Uversky

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The worldwide transmission of COVID-19 from human to human is spreading like wildfire, affecting almost every country in the world. In the past 100 years, the globe did not face a microbial pandemic similar in scale to COVID-19. Taken together, both previous outbreaks of other members of the coronavirus family (severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV) and middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV)) did not produce even 1% of the global harm already inflicted by COVID-19. There are also four other CoVs capable of infecting humans …

Aging Induces B Cell Defects And Decreased Antibody Responses To Influenza Infection And Vaccination, Daniela Frasca, Bonnie B. Blomberg

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Background: Aging is characterized by a progressive decline in the capacity of the immune system to fight influenza virus infection and to respond to vaccination. Among the several factors involved, in addition to increased frailty and high-risk conditions, the age-associated decrease in cellular and humoral immune responses plays a relevant role. This is in large part due to inflammaging, the chronic low-grade inflammatory status of the elderly, associated with intrinsic inflammation of the immune cells and decreased immune function.

Results: Aging is usually associated with reduced influenza virus-specific and influenza vaccine-specific antibody responses but some elderly individuals with higher pre-exposure …

Prevalence Of Asymptomatic Gonorrhea And Chlamydia Infections Among Ryan White Hiv Population Visiting A Center City Hiv Clinic, Sarah Stuccio, Rakhshanda Akram, Lisa A. Spacek

Phase 1

Introduction: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a major public health problem. Two factors make their diagnosis challenging: frequent asymptomatic presentation and lack of screening, especially at extragenital sites. Additionally, STIs including gonorrhea (GC) and chlamydia (CT) have been shown to increase the risk of sexual HIV transmission. Information about the prevalence, as well as predictors of test positivity, of GC and CT infections can stress the importance of universal screening.

Methods: We carried out a retrospective analysis of the STI screening of patients who attended the Ryan White HIV clinic at Jefferson between 2016 and 2018. The primary …

Effect Of Contrast-Enhanced Echocardiograms On The Prognosis Of Infective Endocarditis, D. Arias, E. Halpern, F. Forsberg, J. R. Eisenbrey

Phase 1

Objective - Infective endocarditis (IE) is an infectious disease of the cardiac valves where bacteria colonize the valves; typically, via the formation of vegetations. Recent research has shown that the microbubbles in a contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) examination can move and dislodge bacterial vegetations in vitro. This study investigated whether CEUS resulted in faster resolution of IE in vivo by dislodging the vegetations.

Methods - This IRB approved retrospective study reviewed 36 patients who were diagnosed with IE via echocardiography. Data was sourced from patients within the Jefferson University Hospital’s Cardiology EMR system by searching for contrast and vegetation from …

Making Sense Of Public Scientific Controversy: A Case Study Examining Science Communication And Public Engagement Surrounding Genetically Modified Mosquitoes In The Florida Keys, Cynthia Taylor

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents a discursive case study of a recent public scientific controversy surrounding proposed field trials of Oxitec’s genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Despite endorsements by the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, starting in 2011, and the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2016, field trial releases in the region have been stalled by intense public opposition. The research presented here attempts to better understand the nature of this controversy through a close examination of science communication and public engagement efforts. Avoiding the assumption that resistance to scientific and technological interventions is reducible to a …

Simulation Based Inference In Epidemic Models, Tejitha Dharmagadda

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

From ancient times to the modern day, public health has been an area of great interest. Studies on the nature of disease epidemics began around 400 BC and has been a continuous area of study for the well-being of individuals around the world. For over 100 years, epidemiologists and mathematicians have developed numerous mathematical models to improve our understanding of infectious disease dynamics with an eye on controlling and preventing disease outbreak and spread. In this thesis, we discuss several types of mathematical compartmental models such as the SIR, and SIS models. To capture the noise inherent in the real-world, …

Regulating Cleanups Of Homeless Encampments, Stephen J. Schnably

Articles

No abstract provided.

Adaptation Of Vibrio Cholerae O1 To Protective, Lipopolysaccharide-Specific Antibodies In The Intestinal Lumen, Danielle Elizabeth Baranova

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative enteric pathogens like Vibrio cholerae is a barrier against host defense factors, as well as a sensor of physical and chemical stimuli that the bacteria encounter in the gastrointestinal tract. The OM is also the primary target of the mucosal immune response, which consists of secretory antibodies primarily directed against lipopolysaccharide (LPS). ZAC-3 is a monoclonal antibody (MAb) that targets the conserved core/lipid A region of LPS of the pandemic V. cholerae O1 serotype. In a neonatal mouse model, passively administered ZAC-3 IgG has been shown to reduce the ability of V. cholerae to …

Molecular Mechanisms Shaping Host Range Of A Vector-Borne Pathogen, Thomas Macgregor Hart

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Vector-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl), have narrow host ranges and are apt models to study host-microparasite coevolution. Some species and strains of Lyme borreliae (LB) are specialists, infecting only mammalian or only avian hosts (ex. Borrelia afzelii and B. garinii, respectively), while others are generalists and infect both hosts (ex. B. burgdorferi). Such host tropisms are hypothesized to be partially shaped by the ability of these pathogens evade host immune defenses, such as complement. Complement is a first line host defense against invading pathogens that kills LB in vitro and inhibits spirochete …

Vertiginous Space And Blank Topographies : The Narrative Landscapes Of Possession And Annihilation In J. M. Coetzee's Early Novels, Leah Slocum

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis examines the first three novels published by the South African author J.M Coetzee: Dusklands (1974), In the Heart of the Country (1977), and Waiting for the Barbarians (1980). My analyses is structured around how the narrators engage with a vast and threatening landscape in ways that seek to validate an illusion of spatial control and mastery and uphold the colonial metaphor of emptied landscapes. Although only Jacobus in Dusklands embodies the archetypal explorer that “penetrates” the heart of darkness, his counterparts in the next two novels uphold the same kind of self-mythologizing process in which their desire to …

The Impact Of The Residency Area On Risk Factors For Tuberculosis Among People Living In Three Different Regions Of Kazakhstan, Assel Bukharbayeva

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background and introduction:

A Comparative Spatial And Climate Analysis Of Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis And Human Babesiosis In New York State (2013-2018), Collin J. O'Connor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) and human babesiosis are tick-borne diseases spread by Ixodes scapularis (the blacklegged or deer tick) and are the result of infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Babesia microti, respectively. In New York State (NYS), incidence rates of these diseases increased concordantly until around 2013, when rates of HGA began to increase more rapidly than human babesiosis, and the spatial extent of the diseases diverged. Surveillance data of tick-borne pathogens (2007 to 2018) and reported human cases of HGA (n=4,297) and human babesiosis (n=2,986) (2013 to 2018) from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) showed a …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices Of Healthcare Professionals Working In Schools Regarding Tickborne Disease Prevention And Lyme Disease In New York State And Maryland, Kristen Howard

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Ticks, Lyme disease, and other tickborne diseases are a concern of public health entities in Maryland and New York State. Children are at an increased risk of contracting a tickborne disease. Healthcare professionals working in schools (HPWS) are often front-line providers and health educators for school-aged children. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of HPWS regarding ticks and tickborne disease is currently unknown. While there are educational materials available, uptake and use of these programs is also unknown.

Utilizing Raman Spectroscopy And Chemometrics For Novel Medical Diagnostic Purposes, Nicole M. Ralbovsky

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Many problems exist within the myriad of currently employed diagnostic techniques. Further, an incredibly wide variety of procedures are used to identify an even greater number of diseases which exist in the world. There is a definite unmet clinical need to improve the diagnostic capabilities of these methods, including improving test sensitivity and specificity, objectivity and definitiveness, and reducing cost and how invasive a test is, with an interest in replacing multiple diagnostic methods with one powerful tool. That is, the development of a singular technique which can accurately and objectively diagnose a wide variety of diseases in a cost-effective …

Development Of Small Molecule Antibiotics Against A Conserved Rna Gene Regulatory Element In Gram-Positive Bacteria, Ville Yrjö Petteri Väre

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Bacterial infections and the rise of antibiotic resistance, especially multidrug resistant strains, have generated a clear need for discovery of novel therapeutics. Most antibiotics in use today are derivatives of previous antibiotics to which resistance mechanisms already exist, and traditionally they have a single target: either a protein or rRNA. Gram-positive bacteria regulate the expression of several essential genes or operons using a mechanism called the T-box. The T-box is a structurally conserved riboswitch-like gene regulator in the 5’-untranslated region (UTR) of numerous essential genes of Gram-positive bacteria. T-boxes are stabilized by cognate, unacylated tRNA ligands, allowing the formation of …

Haemoparasite Infection And Immunogenetic Diversity In A Clade Of North American Songbirds, Naima Starkloff

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The persistence of an organism in a particular habitat is mediated by a complex interplay of abiotic and biotic interactions. These interactions become especially complicated for a vector-transmitted parasite as its persistence relies on its ability to colonize both ectothermic and endothermic host organisms. Host factors, rather than environmental factors, have been highlighted as key predictors of the diversity and prevalence of avian haemosporidians (malaria parasites and relatives) globally. The range of a parasite is limited by its host specificity as well as the community of hosts present. In addition, as haemosporidian infections typically have negative fitness consequences on hosts, …

Social Media Use For Crisis And Emergency Risk Communications During The Zika Health Crisis, Loni Hagen, Stephen Neely, Thomas E. Keller, Ryan Scharf

School of Information Faculty Publications

Many public officials and government agencies are facing increased pressure to utilize social media as a crisis communications tool. However, significant questions remain unanswered regarding how social media can be best leveraged to facilitate effective communication efforts under crisis conditions. These questions are often more challenging for local government agencies, where unsupportive culture and a lack of resources tend to discourage the active use of social media in governing. In an effort to better inform these discussions, this article examines the use of Twitter by federal, state, and local government actors during the 2015–2016 Zika virus outbreak in the United …

The Problems With Decision-Making, Joanna K. Sax

Faculty Scholarship

Our society faces major challenges in numerous areas, including climate change and healthcare. Addressing these problems with technological advances are of great importance. Increasingly, however, consumers are resisting or rejecting such technological interventions based on inappropriate assignment of risk. In other words, the consumer assessment of risk is not in line with evidence-based assessment of risk. This article focuses on two controversial areas, vaccines and genetically engineered food, as examples in which consumers assign a high risk despite an evidence-based assessment of low risk. This article describes how empirically tested decision-making theories explain why consumers inappropriately assign risk. While these …

Metabolic Changes Associated With Adaptive Resistance To Daptomycin In Streptococcus Mitis-Oralis, Allison Parrett, Joseph M. Reed, Stewart G. Gardner, Nagendra N. Mishra, Arnold S. Bayer, Robert Powers, Greg A. Somerville

Department of Chemistry: Faculty Publications

Background: Viridans group streptococci of the Streptococcus mitis-oralis subgroup are important endovascular pathogens. They can rapidly develop high-level and durable non-susceptibility to daptomycin both in vitro and in vivo upon exposure to daptomycin. Two consistent genetic adaptations associated with this phenotype (i.e., mutations in cdsA and pgsA) lead to the depletion of the phospholipids, phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin, from the bacterial membrane. Such alterations in phospholipid biosynthesis will modify carbon flow and change the bacterial metabolic status. To determine the metabolic differences between daptomycin-susceptible and non- susceptible bacteria, the physiology and metabolomes of S. mitis-oralis strains 351 (daptomycin-susceptible) and 351-D10 (daptomycin …

Intention From God: Midwives And Professional Physicians In Late Nineteenth-Century Alabama, Sheila Blair

Vulcan Historical Review

pp. 63-71

Be Covid Safe, Opeyemi Akinrinsola, Abigail Corkum, Karyn Furcolo, Christina Gareis, Dorothy Tang

Foundations of Public Health - Infographics

No abstract provided.

Guide To Mask Wearing 101, Laiquannah Hason, Jeremiah Kinsey, Kevin O'Connor

Foundations of Public Health - Infographics

No abstract provided.

"I Don't Like Wearing A Mask", Priyanka Bhatt, Devesh Dajee, Neha Jha, Ruhi Shah

Foundations of Public Health - Infographics

No abstract provided.