Digital Commons Network^™

Placental Sampling For Understanding Viral Infections - A Simplified Protocol For The Covid-19 Pandemic, Guilherme De Moraes Nobrega, José Paulo Siqueira Guida, Rodolfo Rosa Japecanga, Arthur Antolini-Tavares, Indira Mysorekar, Maria Laura Costa

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVE:  The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic viral disease, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The impact of the disease among the obstetric population remains unclear, and the study of the placenta can provide valuable information. Adequate sampling of the placental tissue can help characterize the pathways of viral infections.

METHODS:  A protocol of placental sampling is proposed, aiming at guaranteeing representativity of the placenta and describing the adequate conservation of samples and their integrity for future analysis. The protocol is presented in its complete and simplified versions, allowing its implementation in different complexity settings. …

Case Study Of Nursing Home Residents: The Association Between Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae (Cpe) And Covid-19, Jordan Ranta

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

None

The Effect Of Fiber And Omega-6:Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio On Asthma And Asthma-Related Symptoms In An Adult U.S. Population, Korie As Nelson

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Asthma is one of the most common diseases in the world affecting more than 10% of adults in many westernized countries and 339 million globally. Studies have shown a positive association between increased dietary fiber and improvement in asthma-related inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids have also been shown to help mitigate inflammation in general. No identified studies have looked at the synergistic effect of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids alone and as a ratio with fiber on asthma, lung function, and respiratory morbidities. A positive association could mean that dietary interventions of fiber and fatty acids could significantly improve asthma and …

Efficacy Of Vaccine Candidates Against Zika Infection And Congenital Zika Syndrome: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Hannah Lund

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

There have been previous reviews looking into the efficacy of vaccine candidates against Zika infection in non-humans primates, but there hasn’t been a review looking into the efficacy against Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS).The aim of this project was to systematically review literature on efficacy of vaccine candidates against Zika infection and CZS. A protocol was developed following PRISMA guidelines. English articles published since 2015 were included. Clinical trials (CCTs) that compared the efficacy of four Zika virus vaccine candidates' (PIV, DNA, mRNA, and Adenovirus) against zika infection and CZS in human and non-human primate models were included. Grey literature and …

The Epidemiology Of Clostridioides Difficile In Nebraska - A Descriptive Study Between 2018-2020, Storm Keffer

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Objectives: Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) is a common but challenging infection both financially and medically. Due to these difficulties, Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) caused by C. diff is a mandatory reportable disease in Nebraska and as such has been a priority disease targeted by various disease control practices across many hospitals. All CDI laboratory results are reported electronically through the Nebraska Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS). However, capturing and conceptualizing the true burden of CDIs in Nebraska has not been adequately accomplished since monitoring of CDIs began. The objective of this study is to examine the trends of …

Impact Of Proton Pump Inhibitor Use On Effectiveness Of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors In Advanced Cancer Patients, Ken Chen

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Background: Gut microbiome plays a critical role in modulating therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may affect the gut microbiome by altering gut pH.

Objective: To evaluate if concurrent use of PPI 0-30 days before or after initiation of ICIs (nivolumab or pembrolizumab) is associated with poorer overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) for patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma or head and neck squamous cell carcinoma compared with no PPI use.

Methods: This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of advanced cancer patients …

A Deeper Look: The Impacts Of Covid-19 Among Latinos In Omaha, Diana Molina

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

The COVID-19 pandemic has manifested worldwide distress, affecting the lives of all population groups. Racial disparities are evident as minority populations are being disproportionately affected by the impacts of COVID-19. Data indicate that the Latino population may experience more severe cases of COVID-19 and have a higher mortality rate. However, little is known about the effects that the pandemic is having on day-to-day life. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate COVID-19's impact on life aspects including employment situation, finances, mental health, and experiences of discrimination among the Omaha Latino community. A survey collected data from 311 participants …

The Impact Of Data Smog On Editorial Processes: An Assessment Of Journalists’ Coverage Of Covid-19 Pandemic In Kenya, Anita Chepkoech Tesot

Master of Arts in Digital Journalism

This study examined the impact of data smog on editorial processes with a focus on how journalists’ coverage of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19 pandemic in Kenya was impacted by the avalanche of data against the backdrop of misinformation and disinformation. The study was guided by three objectives: (1) to assess the impact of data smog on the sourcing of Covid-9 stories, (2) to examine how journalists covering Covid-19 cope with data smog, and (3) to assess the extent to which data smog impacted the quality of Covid-19 coverage in Kenyan media. The study used two related theoretical frameworks: The …

Locating Drone Battery Supply Stations To Facilitate The Delivery Of Medical Supplies In Low And Middle-Income Countries, Madeline Suellentrop

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the sub-Saharan region of Africa, the inability to perform emergency blood transfusions due to an inadequate blood supply has led to high fatality rates, especially among women and children. The prevalence of disease in this region limits the supply of local blood donations and, if blood is imported, then the region’s poor infrastructure inhibits fast distribution. There is a need for a technological update in the current process that overcomes the limitations of regional transportation, and drones present one promising solution for delivering small, lightweight items such as blood units. The current focus of this new delivery method is …

Simulation Based Clinical Systems Testing Of A Pediatric Ed To Improve Staff And Process Readiness For Pediatric Hypoglycemia, Kevin Meilak Md, Christopher S. Kennedy

Posters

Background: Hypoglycemia is the most common metabolic disorder in children in pediatric emergency department (ED) settings 1. Children may present with nonspecific symptoms, or asymptomatically2. So identification/treatment is very challenging. Delayed recognition and under treatment can lead to poor patient outcomes including seizure, coma, and death. Simulation-based clinical systems tests (SbCSTs) are useful to detect gaps/latent safety threats (LSTs) in system design.3-5


Objective: Our aim was to use SbCSTs combined with rapid cycle training to test system function for ED treatment of hypoglycemia.3-5. The research questions were in 2 frames: 1. Can SbCSTs identify gaps/LSTs and recommendations for improvement and …

Covid-19: Exploring The Probability Of Disease Extinction - A Modeling And Simulation Study, Donald Porchia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

There are two distinct topics considered in this dissertation. The first is the formulation of a compartmental model using reactive social distancing in which disease transmission changes as a function of the state variables of the model; in this case, the cumulative incidence. The model assumes a single strain epidemic of Covid-19 in the United States and is used to estimate the cumulative number of deaths due to the epidemic where incidence data is used to calibrate and validate the model. The second topic concerns the use of the stochastic threshold to determine disease persistence or extinction. The Covid-19 pandemic …

Vaccine Hesitancy, The Covid 19 Pandemic, And Christian Fundamentalism, Nicole Drew

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over the past few decades, religion has continued to move to the forefront of American politics, with many viewing fundamental Christianity as synonymous with the Republican Party. Donald Trump's presidency has increased this tenfold, with significant figures within American Christianity voicing their support for him and tying him into Biblical prophecies. In the media, this appears to have affected how this demographic views the COVID 19 pandemic. The literature in this area focuses heavily on American Christians' response to mask mandates, stay-at-home orders, and other attempts to mitigate the spread of the CoronaVirus; however, research on how this same demographic …

Mathematical Models Of Covid-19, Kate Faria

Honors Program Theses and Projects

For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major public health issue, affecting the lives of most people around the world. With both people’s health and the economy at great risks, governments rushed to control the spread of the virus. Containment measures were heavily enforced worldwide until a vaccine was developed and distributed. Although researchers today know more about the characteristics of the virus, a lot of work still needs to be done in order to completely remove the disease from the population. However, this is true for most of the infectious diseases in existence, including Influenza, …

Parasite Of The Month. Hepatocystis, Imran Ejotre, Deeann Reeder, Kai Matuschewski, Juliane Schaer

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

What Makes A Country Environmentally Friendly?, Sophie Plantamura

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Covid 19 On The Selected Turkish Financial Indicators: Empirical Evidence From Toda Yamamoto Causality Test, Sabri Burak Arzova, Bertaç Şakir Şahin

Topics in Middle Eastern and North African Economies

Humanity has suffered from COVID 19 since December 2019. A global pandemic was declared by World Health Organization on 11 March 2021 (WHO, 2019). Pandemics such as bleeding fever, cholera, SARS, MERS, and swine flu have affected humanity throughout history. During pandemic periods, the measures, panic, decline in labor power, and consumption cause economic crises. Like other pandemics, COVID 19 has negative effects on countries, businesses, and households economically (Eichenbaum, Rebelo, and Trabandt, 2020: 1). Many studies have found a statistically significant relationship between public health variables (life expectancy, maternal mortality, etc.) and the economy (Bloom and Sachs, 1998; Robalino …

Evaluation Of Provider Adherence To Antibiotic Selection Following The Implementation Of Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee Recommendations For The Empiric Treatment Of Hospitalized Adults With Urinary Tract Infections, James E. Watkins, Alyssa B Christensen, Brent Footer

Providence Pharmacy PGY1 Program at Providence Portland and Providence St. Vincent Medical Centers 2021

Background

• Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common indications for prescribing antibiotics in the inpatient setting. • Recent literature suggests that not all patients are prescribed empiric antibiotics that are adherent to Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) guidelines. • Arguably the most positive, predictable impact on provider adherence to guideline-based treatment regimens is achieved when evidence-based recommendations are made easily accessible. • The causative organism at the time of diagnosis and initiation of antibiotic therapy for a UTI is generally unknown: patients are often prescribed broad-spectrum therapy that may be unnecessary. • Inappropriate treatment of …

Comparative Analysis Of The Intestinal Bacterial Communities In Mud Crab Scylla Serrata In South India, Elina Apine, Praveen Rai, Madhu K. Mani, Vikram Subramanian, Indrani Karunasagar, Anna Godhe, Lucy M. Turner

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of The Impact Of Awareness Programs On The Transmission Dynamics Of Covid-19, Maame Korsah

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

COVID-19, since its discovery in 2019, has posed a major health problem in the world. It is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and transmitted via infected respiratory droplets and contaminated surfaces. There is an urgent need to understand the transmission characteristics of the virus in response to social interventions. This is important to evaluate the overall impact of such programs in the management of the disease. We seek to develop a mathematical model that characterizes the transmission dynamics of COVID-19. The model analyzes the impact of preventive practices on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 by incorporating human behavior in modeling disease …

Sars-Cov-2 Infection’S Link To Behavior: A Review Of Coronaviruses And The Potential For Sars-Cov-2 To Damage The Brain’S Structure And Function, Grace Anne Wilgucki

PCOM Capstone Projects

Human Coronaviruses were discovered in the 1960s and were found to be a cause of the common cold, inducing mild symptoms on those infected (Santacroce et al., 2020). However, due to adaptation and co-evolution, more dangerous variations of Coronaviruses emerged in the early 2000s, causing severe infection of the respiratory tract (Ye et al., 2020). Notably, the outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) were devastating, as these HCoVs could inflict respiratory disease that can be fatal (Wong et al., 2016). Most recently, the emergence of a new strain of Human Coronavirus has taken …

Addressing And Remedying Racism In Medical Education, Sana Khalid

PCOM Capstone Projects

There is no denying the prevalence of racial inequity in medicine. For decades, various studies have shown us that racial and ethnic disparities exist, and many have made concerted efforts to promote health equity. However, we continue to see these disparities persist. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the emerging driver of this continued inequity is racism. The insidious nature of racism allows it to seamlessly manifest itself at all levels of healthcare, including medical education. However, medical education is where we may find the most success at mediating racism in healthcare due to our ability to mitigate the biases …

Equitable Distribution Of Covid-19 Vaccines: Can Data Visualization And Optimization Help?, Zhennan Wang

Honors College Theses

Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) is known as an infectious disease that has a bigger impact on urban areas with high-density populations. In New York City, however, there are huge differences in the impacts of Covid-19 at the neighborhood level. In addition, there is a negative correlation between the Covid Case Rate and the Vaccination Rate, and areas that are affected the most have poor socio-economic conditions. To better address the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, I collected social and economic data from Community Health Profiles as well as Covid-19 data from NYC Health. Using this data I created visualizations in Tableau …

Elevated Incidences Of Antimicrobial Resistance And Multidrug Resistance In The Maumee River (Ohio, Usa), A Major Tributary Of Lake Erie, Maitreyee Mukherjee, Leah Marie, Cheyenne Liles, Nadia Mustafa, George Bullerjahn, Terry J. Gentry, John P. Brooks

Faculty Publications

Maumee River, the major tributary in the western basin of Lake Erie, serves as one of major sources of freshwater in the area, supplying potable, recreational, and industrial water. In this study we collected water samples from four sites in the Maumee River Bay between 2016–2017 and E. coli was isolated, enumerated, and analyzed for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and multidrug resistance (MDR). Strikingly, 95% of the total isolates were found to be resistant to at least one antibiotic. A very high resistance to the drugs cephalothin (95.3%), ampicillin (38.3%), tetracycline (8.8%), gentamicin (8.2%), ciprofloxacin (4.2%), cefoperazone (4%), and sulfamethoxazole (1.5%) …

Labrad : Vol 46, Issue 3 - May 2021, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi

LABRAD - Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Radiology Archives

• Laboratory Diagnostic Tools for HIV in Neonates and Infants
• Intussusception in Pediatric Patients: Role of Radiology in Diagnosis and Management
• Fecal Calprotectin as an Inflammatory Marker in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Spectrum of Tools for the Detection of Enteric Pathogens in A Clinical Laboratory
• Pleuropulmonary Blastoma Type III with Rhabdomyosarcomatous and Chondrsarcomatous Differentiation in a Five year old Child, A rare case
• Radiology Pathology Correlation: Orthopedic Pathology
• Updates in Reporting Wilms Tumor (nephrectomy) Specimen
• Biotinidase Deficiency- a Rare but Easily Treatable Disorder
• Renal Tubular Disorders and Biochemical Diagnostics
• TSH Receptor Antibodies (TRAb) in Neonatal Hyperthyroidism: What We Need to Know
• The …

Senegal’S Global Health Example In The Fight To Achieve The Sustainable Development Goals, Annika Skogg

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

In a time when the entire world is experiencing the importance of global health, Senegal has been highly praised for the effectiveness of its COVID-19 response despite being a low-resource country in West Africa. Senegal’s COVID-19 response displays the central pillars of the country’s community-based public health programming that has made it so successful in decreasing malaria transmission and improving maternal health. This study combines qualitative data with personal experiences during a faculty-led study abroad program to Senegal to examine Senegalese public health campaigns, evaluate the reasons for their success, and ultimately learn from a leader in the global fight …

Production Of Monoclonal And Polyclonal Antibodies Against Prrsv Mlvd23-S Tag Peptide Sequence, Katelyn Bettin

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an RNA virus which belongs to the family Arteriviridae. Since its emergence in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, PRRSV has had a major economic effect on the swine industry. The most notable effects of this disease are respiratory distress in piglets and late-term pregnancy failures in sows. To track and control spread of this disease, the industry must be able determine which animals have been naturally infected with PRRSV as this contributes to major disease outbreaks and localized pandemics. While vaccines help control the spread of a disease, they also …

Effects Of Community-Based Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Models On Hiv Treatment Outcomes: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Ingrid Eshun-Wilson, Ajibola A. Awotiwon, Ashley Germann, Sophia A. Amankwaa, Nathan Ford, Sheree Schwartz, Stefan Baral, Elvin H. Geng

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation in the community and outside of a traditional health facility has the potential to improve linkage to ART, decongest health facilities, and minimize structural barriers to attending HIV services among people living with HIV (PLWH). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effect of offering ART initiation in the community on HIV treatment outcomes.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We searched databases between 1 January 2013 and 22 February 2021 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies that compared offering ART initiation in a community setting to offering ART initiation in a …

Extinction Of Species Due To Deterministic And Stochastic Interactions In Food Webs, Claire M. Burke

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Previous research on the extinctions that occur in niche model food webs with deterministic and stochastic dynamics has shown that the structure of the food web can play an important role in extinction cascades. In this thesis, other types of synthetic food web models are considered, namely the cascade and generalized cascade models, and the extinction cascades of these food webs are compared with previous findings on the extinction cascades from the niche model. It was found that there are many similarities in the results for all three models, which prompted a closer analysis using food webs with deterministic dynamics. …

Barriers To Hiv Testing Among Cameroonian Men : The Role Of Stigma And The Impact Of Covid-19, Heidi Iyok

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

Assessing The Durability Of The Immune Response Induced By Rivax®, A Ricin Subunit Vaccine, Hayley Lynn Novak

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Assessing the performance and durability of the antibody response in animal models can assist in the development of biodefense vaccines. Ricin is one of the most toxic biological agents known and has been a public health issue for years. Since ricin is easily manufactured and a deadly toxin, rational vaccine design and immunotherapeutic optimization have been explored. RiVax® is a candidate subunit vaccine with a modified A-chain of ricin toxin that was formulated to remove ricin's biological activity. It is thought that RiVax® could serve as a prophylactic that would induce humoral- and cell-mediated immunological responses that elicit protective antigens …