Digital Commons Network^™

Vital Signs, Winter 2021, Boonshoft School Of Medicine

Vital Signs

A newsletter created by the Boonshoft School of Medicine to document the current affairs of the school. This issue includes a variety of feature articles, alumni profiles, class notes, and more.

A Review Of Sars-Cov-2, Responsible For Covid-19: History, Biology, Infection Mechanism, Antigenic Vaccines, Their Risks And How An Alternate Rbd Vaccine Is Safer?, Zmg Sarwar Jahangir, Arleta Helena Marnik

Publications and Research

The SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)-CoV (Coronavirus)-2 S(spike)-protein mRNA/cDNA currently being used as vaccines are antigenic but not antigens against SARS-CoV-2, that causes COVID (Coronavirus Disease) -19. Furthermore, the mRNA and cDNA antigenic vaccines also have potentials for homologous as well as heterologous recombination, primarily into the somatic cell DNA of the vaccine recipients. On the contrary, a SARS-CoV-2 RBD-protein antigen, a part of the S-protein, will directly stimulate antibody production against SARS-CoV-2. Hence, a vaccine composed of SARS-CoV-2 RBD-protein as a safer, fast acting, and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 and thus against COVID-19. This is also useful for some …

The Future Of Zoonotic Risk Prediction, Colin J. Carlson, Maxwell J. Farrell, Zoe Grange, Barbara A. Han, Nardus Mollentze, Alexandra L. Phelan, Angela L. Rasmussen, Gregory F. Albery, Bernard Bett, David Brett-Major, Lily E. Cohen, Tad Dallas, Evan A. Eskew, Anna C. Fagre, Kristian M. Forbes, Rory Gibb, Sam Halabi, Charlotte C. Hammer, Rebecca Katz, Jason Kindrachuk, Renata L. Muylaert, Felicia B. Nutter, Joseph Ogola, Kevin J. Olival, Michelle Rourke, Sadie J. Ryan, Noam Ross, Stephanie N. Seifert, Tarja Sironen, Claire J. Standley, Kishana Taylor, Marietjie Venter, Paul W. Webala

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

In the light of the urgency raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, global investment in wildlife virology is likely to increase, and new surveillance programmes will identify hundreds of novel viruses that might someday pose a threat to humans. To support the extensive task of laboratory characterization, scientists may increasingly rely on data-driven rubrics or machine learning models that learn from known zoonoses to identify which animal pathogens could someday pose a threat to global health. We synthesize the findings of an interdisciplinary workshop on zoonotic risk technologies to answer the following questions. What are the prerequisites, in terms of open …

The Size And Culturability Of Patient-Generated Sars-Cov-2 Aerosol, Joshua L. Santarpia, Vicki L. Herrera, Danielle N. Rivera, Shanna Ratnesar-Shumate, St. Patrick Reid, Daniel N. Ackerman, Paul W. Denton, Jacob W. S. Martens, Ying Fang, Nicholas Conoan, Michael V. Callahan, James V. Lawler, David Brett-Major, John Lowe

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: Aerosol transmission of COVID-19 is the subject of ongoing policy debate. Characterizing aerosol produced by people with COVID-19 is critical to understanding the role of aerosols in transmission.

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the presence of virus in size-fractioned aerosols from six COVID-19 patients admitted into mixed acuity wards in April of 2020.

METHODS: Size-fractionated aerosol samples and aerosol size distributions were collected from COVID-19 positive patients. Aerosol samples were analyzed for viral RNA, positive samples were cultured in Vero E6 cells. Serial RT-PCR of cells indicated samples where viral replication was likely occurring. Viral presence was also investigated by western …

Recommended Reporting Items For Epidemic Forecasting And Prediction Research: The Epiforge 2020 Guidelines, Simon Pollett, Michael A. Johansson, Nicholas G. Reich, David Brett-Major, Sara Y. Del Valle, Srinivasan Venkatramanan, Rachel Lowe, Travis Porco, Irina Maljkovic Berry, Alina Deshpande, Moritz U. G. Kraemer, David L. Blazes, Wirichada Pan-Ngum, Alessandro Vespigiani, Suzanne E. Mate, Sheetal P. Silal, Sasikiran Kandula, Rachel Sippy, Talia M. Quandelacy, Jeffrey J. Morgan, Jacob Ball, Lindsay C. Morton, Benjamin M. Althouse, Julie Pavlin, Wilbert Van Panhuis, Steven Riley, Matthew Biggerstaff, Cecile Viboud, Oliver Brady, Caitlin Rivers

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

BACKGROUND: The importance of infectious disease epidemic forecasting and prediction research is underscored by decades of communicable disease outbreaks, including COVID-19. Unlike other fields of medical research, such as clinical trials and systematic reviews, no reporting guidelines exist for reporting epidemic forecasting and prediction research despite their utility. We therefore developed the EPIFORGE checklist, a guideline for standardized reporting of epidemic forecasting research.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We developed this checklist using a best-practice process for development of reporting guidelines, involving a Delphi process and broad consultation with an international panel of infectious disease modelers and model end users. The objectives …

Mapping Heat Vulnerability Index Based On Different Urbanization Levels In Nebraska, Usa, Babak Jalalzadeh Fard, Rezaul Mahmood, Michael Hayes, Clinton Rowe, Azar M. Abadi, Martha Shulski, Sharon J. Medcalf, Rachel Lookadoo, Jesse E. Bell

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Heatwaves cause excess mortality and physiological impacts on humans throughout the world, and climate change will intensify and increase the frequency of heat events. Many adaptation and mitigation studies use spatial distribution of highly vulnerable local populations to inform heat reduction and response plans. However, most available heat vulnerability studies focus on urban areas with high heat intensification by Urban Heat Islands (UHIs). Rural areas encompass different environmental and socioeconomic issues that require alternate analyses of vulnerability. We categorized Nebraska census tracts into four urbanization levels, then conducted factor analyses on each group and captured different patterns of socioeconomic vulnerabilities …

Viral Dynamics Of Acute Sars-Cov-2 Infection And Applications To Diagnostic And Public Health Strategies, Stephen M. Kissler, Joseph R. Fauver, Christina Mack, Scott W. Olesen, Caroline Tai, Kristin Y. Shiue, Chaney C. Kalinich, Sarah Jednak, Isabel M. Ott, Chantal B. F. Vogels, Jay Wohlgemuth, James Weisberger, John Difiori, Deverick J. Anderson, Jimmie Mancell, David D. Ho, Nathan D. Grubaugh, Yonatan H. Grad

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

SARS-CoV-2 infections are characterized by viral proliferation and clearance phases and can be followed by low-level persistent viral RNA shedding. The dynamics of viral RNA concentration, particularly in the early stages of infection, can inform clinical measures and interventions such as test-based screening. We used prospective longitudinal quantitative reverse transcription PCR testing to measure the viral RNA trajectories for 68 individuals during the resumption of the 2019-2020 National Basketball Association season. For 46 individuals with acute infections, we inferred the peak viral concentration and the duration of the viral proliferation and clearance phases. According to our mathematical model, we found …

Exploring The Relationship Between Personality And Moral Reasoning During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Niti Contractor

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Morality has been a subject of study for centuries, though there is still much that is not understood about the factors that dictate moral decision making and moral identity. This study examines the relationship between the Big Five Personality traits (agreeableness, openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and extraversion) as well as empathy and moral decision making. However, we use a slightly different methodology than previous studies on morality and personality by incorporating more relevant moral dilemmas related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in addition to the purely hypothetical dilemmas used in previous research (referred to as standard dilemmas). Additionally, rather than considering …

The Waters Of West Virginia, Bridge Initiative For Science And Technology Policy, Leadership, And Communications

Bridge Initiative for Science and Technology Policy, Leadership, and Communications

The waters of West Virginia are essential to the state’s economy. From the water we drink to the rivers where we play to businesses and industries that provide our income, clean water is an essential element for West Virginia’s future economic success. West Virginia’s water resources are also precious to the nation. The headwaters of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, which eventually reach 9% of the U.S. population, include waters that originate in West Virginia. These resources provide for quality of life, community development and resiliency, and economic opportunity

Social Media Use And Safe Sex Practices Among Chinese Gay Men, Hang Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With the number of Chinese gay men affected by HIV rising annually and social media serving as popular information sources, this study aims to examine the information channels used by Chinese gay men to acquire safer sex knowledge and to test the effect of safer sex knowledge, information channel use, safe-sex communication with sexual partners on Chinese gay men's safer sex practices. Due to the sensitive topic and hard-to-reach population, a snowball sampling method was used to recruit eligible participants. Specifically, an online survey was designed and distributed to three LGBT-NGO-related WeChat groups. A total of 191 valid data points …

Emergent Medical Data: Health Information Inferred By Artificial Intelligence, Mason Marks

Scholarly Publications

Artificial intelligence (AI) can infer health data from people's behavior even when their behavior has no apparent connection to their health. Al can monitor one's location to track the spread of infectious disease, scrutinize retail purchases to identify pregnant customers, and analyze social media to predict who might attempt suicide. These feats are possible because, in modern societies, people continuously interact with internet-enabled software and devices. Smartphones, wearables, and online platforms monitor people's actions and produce digital traces, the electronic remnants of their behavior. In their raw form, digital traces might not be vey interesting or useful; one's location, retail …

Development Of Elisa For Detecting Antibody Against Bartonella Spp. Specific Protein In Cats And Its Application In Natural Infection, Krissda Boonaramrueng

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study aims to evaluate the risk factor and an association between Bartonella spp. infection and immune status by using retroviral-infected cats as an immunocompromised model and to develop the recombinant B. henselae specific antigen protein (17kDa and GroEL)-based ELISA test for antibody detection against Bartonella spp. infection in cats. From 2017 to 2020, 161 client-owned clinical healthy cats at veterinary clinics and hospitals in the Bangkok metropolitan area were recruited and tested for Bartonella spp. infection statuses (PCR and IFA serology), blood profiles, feline retroviral statuses (FIV and FeLV), and T lymphocyte subsets (CD4+, CD8+, and CD4+ to CD8+ …

The Role Of Environmental Temperature In Immunocompetence And Disease Susceptibility In Bivalves, George Mason

School of Biological and Marine Sciences Theses

Disease outbreaks and mass mortality events affecting marine species and ecosystems during periods of high temperature have increased in frequency and intensity over the past several decades. Accordingly, understanding the causes of such thermally-induced outbreaks is increasingly important, particularly in the context of global climate change and predictions of increased pathogen prevalence and disease incidence. Whilst our understanding of immune functions and their adequate energetic provisioning for disease resistance is well developed, little is known on how temperature affects immunological and energetic status in bivalves. Furthermore, even less is known on the potential combined effects between thermal and pathogenic stressors …

Dirofilaria Immitis Prevalence In Canis Latrans In Kentucky, Melanie Ann Brandon

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Dirofilaria immitis (canine heartworm) was found in forty-two (42) of the two hundred seventy-five (275) Canis latrans (coyote) necropsied in the state of Kentucky from November 27, 2019 through March 3, 2021. Thirty-five (35) of the positive cases were from western Kentucky region with the other seven spread across the state. With this group of coyotes, one hundred fifty-eight (158) were male and the other one hundred six-teen (116) were female. The estimated age ranged from a pup to senior dogs. A little over forty percent of the dogs were obtained through coyote/predator tournaments; the remaining were acquired from pest …

Assessing Dairy Farm Employees Health, Leyby Stephany Guifarro Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Master thesis evaluates the impact of general health care and eating habits (Study 1), vision care (Study 2), and mental health status (Study 3) on Latino dairy farmworkers lifestyle and work performance in South Dakota. We hypothesized that the health status of dairy workers has a negative impact on the workers’ job performance. In study 1, data from a total of 70 participants were collected, using a face-to-face survey in Spanish, which allowed us to assess various topics and details related to employees’ daily routine tasks, eating habits, and general health status. Furthermore, recommendations to improve general health care …

Gene Network And Pathway Analysis Of Transcriptional Signatures Characterizing Sole Ulcer And Digital Dermatitis In Dairy Cows, Roshin Anie Mohan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to evaluate the transcriptomic profile of both corium tissue from lactating dairy cows experiencing sole ulcers and skin lesions from lactating dairy cows diagnosed with digital dermatitis (DD). Hoof biopsies were performed in multiparous Holstein dairy cows selected based on their condition as clinically healthy or diagnosed with sole ulcers (n=7/group). Similarly, skin biopsies were taken from the center of active (M2/M4.1) DD lesions or non-active (M0/M4/M1) from multiparous Holstein dairy cows (n = 7/group) to assess the impact of DD on the skin transcriptome via RNA-seq analysis. All RNA samples were sequenced using Illumina, NovaSeq S4 …

An Evaluation Of The Bighorn Sheep Population In Badlands National Park, Austin J. Wieseler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the last century, bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in the badlands ecosystem of western South Dakota have been subjected to complete extirpation, reintroduction, disease die-offs, genetic bottlenecking, and population augmentation. Subsequently, the population in Badlands National Park (BNP) appears to have recovered, but it was unknown to what degree past events had influenced the population. From 2017-2019, we conducted research on 5 subherds within 2 management units in BNP to 1) survey for the presence of respiratory pathogens and estimate the prevalence of other potentially infectious diseases; 2) assess adult and lamb survival and cause-specific mortality; 3) estimate population size …

At A Covid Crossroads : Public Health, Patient Privacy, And Health Information Confidentiality, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

This essay summarizes and assesses the various bulletins, guidance documents, and notices of enforcement discretion released by the federal Department of Health and Human Services regarding the application of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other topics and actions, these authorities address the application of the HIPAA Privacy Rule to the use and disclosure of protected health information for public health activities, waive the application of certain HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, and announce enforcement discretion regarding certain covered entities’ non-compliance with particular provisions within the HIPAA Privacy Rule. These authorities overwhelmingly, and appropriately, …

Essential Businesses And Shareholder Value, Aneil Kovvali

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that Americans rely on certain for-profit corporations to supply the essentials of everyday life. Even though the government had assumed extraordinary responsibilities for the wellbeing of its citizens for the duration of the crisis, for-profit companies were deemed so essential to social functioning that workers were sent to keep them running despite the risk of infection with a deadly disease. If our society’s capacity to meet basic needs in a crisis is entirely dependent on the capacity of private corporations, it is necessary to critically evaluate the performance of the directors and officers who lead …

Association Of Helicobacter Pylori Caga And Vaca Genotypes With Gastric Adenocarcinoma In Kenya, Priscilla Waithira Njenga

Master of Medicine in Anatomic Pathology

Background: Helicobacter pylori infects approximately half of the world’s population. The main virulence factors, CagA and VacA, are associated with chronic gastritis and cancer. Notable geographic and temporal variations in the prevalence and genotypes of H. pylori in relation to gastric pathologies have been observed, however, their significance and trends in African populations is scantly described. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of H. pylori and its respective CagA and VacA genotypes with gastric adenocarcinoma and to describe the trends of H. pylori genotypes over the last 8 years (2012-2019). Materials and Methods: A total of …

The World Health Organization: A Weak Defender Against Pandemics, Chenglin Liu

Faculty Articles

Why did the World Health Organization (WHO) not act in a timely fashion to declare the coronavirus outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)? If it had done so, could the United States have heeded the warning and controlled the spread of the virus? Is the WHO's delay a factual cause of the calamities that the United States has suffered? This article addresses these questions. Part I examines the development of the WHO and its governance mechanism, major powers and limits, and past achievements and failures. It also explores how the WHO responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and …

Reassessing The Transcriptional Regulation Of Protective Cd4 T Cell Responses Against Influenza A Virus, Kunal Dhume

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

An attractive strategy to improve efficacy of current Influenza A Virus (IAV) vaccines is to promote protective CD4 T cell responses. Antiviral CD4 T cell responses are predominantly classified as strong IFN-gamma producing T helper type 1 (Th1) cells. Yet, the role of IFN-gamma in protection against IAV is still unclear, suggesting absolute Th1 polarization may be expendable for effective IAV immunity. Here we test this hypothesis using models that restrict the deficiency of known transcriptional regulators of Th1 immunity in only CD4 T cells, avoiding indirect impact on other immune cell responses. We find the 'master regulator' of Th1 …

Understanding The Dietary Behavior Of A 7th - 8th Century Avar Community From Jagodnjak, Croatia Using Stable Isotope Analysis Of Bone Collagen, Marlon Koci

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The dietary behavior of past communities is influenced by several factors such as environmental sources, social and economic organization, individual preferences, and physiological needs. Every society has its characteristics and understanding the dietary choices of its individuals expands the knowledge about its lifestyle. Applying biochemical tracers, we can explore the food choices of an Early Medieval Avar community. The Jagodnjak cemetery (n=35) in Croatia is dated to the 7–8th century. Historical and archaeological records are currently limited for Avar populations. Jagodnjak is a transitory community from a period where different historical events shaped the community's way of life. The research …

Birth Rights And Birth Wrongs Through A Common Law Lens: Why The No Liability Regime Is Likely To Endure, Richard A. Epstein

Faculty Articles

A saga in four parts: Dov Fox’s recent book, the aptly named Birth Rights and Wrongs, is, as its title suggests, a study of the stark conflicts that arise in the highly contested area of reproductive rights. Fox makes the powerful case that the legal protection of reproductive rights, in all their protean forms, is systematically under-protected relative to two key benchmarks: the standards of ordinary decency, and social expectations. In my view, he has an acute awareness of these failures. But his greatest strength is also his greatest weakness, as he systematically ignores the great successes wrought through the …

Assessing The Rights To Water And Sanitation: Between Institutionalization And Radicalization, Margaret L. Satterthwaite

Faculty Articles

In the past two decades, the human rights to water and sanitation have emerged, matured, and taken their place at the center of discussions about rights, sustainable development, global health, and climate change. While there was early hope that these rights—especially the right to water—would provide a strong basis for rejecting the commodification of essential services spurred by neoliberalism, as they were institutionalized, the rights to water and sanitation have in many places been tamed, if not neutralized. However, while the human rights framework concerning water and sanitation has accommodated powerful economic imperatives, it still holds promise as a vehicle …

Racism, Health Equity, And Crisis Standards Of Care In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Charlene Galarneau, Ruqaiijah Yearby

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Long-standing and deeply embedded institutional racism, notably anti-Black racism in U.S. health care, has provided a solid footing for the health inequities by race evident in the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequities in susceptibility, exposure, infection, hospitalization, and treatment reflect and reinforce this racism and cause incalculable and preventable suffering in and loss of Black lives. This Article identifies multiple expressions of racism evident in the crisis standards of care (CSC) created by states and health care institutions to guide the ethical allocation of scarce critical care resources including ventilators. Contextualized within the broad landscape of health inequities pre-COVID-19 as well as …

Disability, Access, And Other Considerations: A Title Ii Framework For A Pandemic Crisis Response (Covid-19), George M. Powers, Lex Frieden, Vinh Nguyen

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

This Article examines how plans for emergency medical rationing during the COVID-19 pandemic may discriminate against those with disabilities. More specifically, this Article lays out the obligation of state and local governments under Title II of the ADA in creating and enforcing equitable and fair rationing plans during this COVID-19 crisis. For example, ventilator shortages are a common occurrence. The ADA, similar to other civil rights laws, operates so that a person with a disability is not denied a ventilator or other resources because of his/her disability. One reason that a person with a disability may be denied limited medical …

Covid-19, Doctors, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part I: The Realities Of A Subject Matter Expert, Fred Rottnek

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

COVID-19 is still novel. As scientists continue racing to characterize the virus and its mutations, promote behavioral change, and optimize treatment and vaccination strategies, public policy makers shift their attention from one high priority population to the next. These spotlights have converged on one truism of the pandemic: COVID-19 infection, and all its sequelae, have magnified long-established social and structural inequities in U.S. institutions—including practices in jails, prisons, and detention facilities. While these facilities were recognized as early incubators of the virus, the response of the facility administrators and local leaders were at best uneven and at worst nonexistent. When …

Covid-19, Courts, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part Ii: The Realities Of Litigation, Chad Flanders

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Lawsuits challenging prisons and jails for not doing enough to stop the spread of COVID-19 among inmates have faced mixed results in the courts: wins at the district court level are almost always followed by losses (in the form of stays of any orders to improve conditions) at the appeals court level or at the Supreme Court. This short Article tries to explain why this is happening and makes three comparisons between how district courts and appeals courts have analyzed these lawsuits. First, district courts and appeals courts tend to emphasize different facts in their decisions. District courts focus more …

The Urban Trauma Drama: The Intersecting Path Of Criminal Justice And Public Health Revealed During The Covid-19 Pandemic, José Felipé Anderson

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Our society often operates under the delusion that more incarceration in urban areas will make us safer. Crowded cities and the problems for its inhabitants are not new. Those problems often fall more heavily on minority groups. Failed education, healthcare unavailability, and a lack of decent housing have made it difficult for cities to cope with addiction and crime. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the issues in the criminal system harder to ignore. Decline of major manufacturing jobs in cities like the steel and auto industries removed key opportunities for those seeking to overcome poverty and raise families. Debilitating riots …