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Measles And Migration In Colombia And Brazil: Determinants Of Differential Disease Impact Resulting From The Venezuelan Crisis, Kaylen Hisle

Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the 2018 measles outbreaks that occurred in Colombia and Brazil as a result of importation from Venezuela, seeking to uncover underlying factors contributing to significantly greater case numbers in Brazil than in Colombia. It analyzes vaccination coverage, migrant integration, and migration policy, using a mixed-methods approach to compare the two countries. Qualitative analysis of the border zones, migration policies, health systems, and progression of the outbreaks in each country reveals that geographical and socioeconomic differences at the borders, heterogeneity of vaccination coverage, timeliness of policy responses, and disease tracing capabilities could all be possible contributors to greater …

Psychological Trauma Alters T-Lymphocyte Inflammation And Redox Through Sympathetic Mechanisms, Safwan K. Elkhatib

Theses & Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a devastating psychiatric disorder characterized by distinctive symptom clusters, including intrusive memories (i.e., flashbacks), avoidance of related stimuli, affective changes, and hyperarousal. Strikingly, patients with PTSD face a significantly increased risk for a number of inflammation-driven pathologies, ranging from cardiovascular to autoimmune disease. Yet, the exact etiology of this increased risk remains unknown. The immune system is known to be strongly influenced by the sympathetic nervous system, and sympathetic overactivity is a hallmark of PTSD. Lymphoid organs, such as the spleen, are richly innervated by sympathetic nerve fibers which terminate near adaptive immune …

The Understanding Of Mycorrhizae Networks: A Historical Approach, Jake Sun

The Confluence

The growth of mycorrhizal fungi into plant roots used to be viewed as a parasitic relationship between plants and fungi, where the fungal symbiont benefits and the plant host is harmed. Current research elucidates a mutualistic relationship. The mycorrhizae network assists the plants by increasing the capabilities for nutrient absorption in the soil. In exchange, the fungi receive carbon supply from the photosynthetic plants for growth. Our scientific understanding of other topics like species specificity, seed germination, and co-evolutionary influence of mycorrhizae and plants has also progressed. Additionally, we now understand that the mycorrhizal mutualism is not limited to the …

Planning The Opportunity Metropolis: An Agenda For An Era Of Intensifying Technology, Climate And Health Challenges, George Galster

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

Urban planners focus on the spatial arrangements of residences, businesses, institutions, infrastructure and human-built amenities, and the market- and government-driven processes that shape these arrangements. They start with the basic supposition that these arrangements strongly affect individuals’ health, prosperity, and happiness as well as the overall level of opportunity, solidarity, and satisfaction in society. Their recommendations about changing the built environment should be guided by the norms of efficiency and equity, with the latter being framed as creating disproportionate benefits to those who are least advantaged.

This essay begins with an overview of the metropolitan opportunity structure theory to frame …

Envisioning Health, Safety, And Welfare For All: Retrospect And Prospect, Frederick Steiner

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

This essay is a reflection on my academic career in community and regional planning as well as landscape architecture. That look back over five decades provides the basis about speculation for the future of planning and design. It addresses the major challenges of our time, including social justice and climate change, through the lens of design, ecology, and landscape.

The Boldness Of Healthy Cities: A Tricky Challenge, Ann Forsyth

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

How can planning use health more fully to build more visibility, better alliances, and more substantial public support while focusing on important and meaningful change? Unfortunately, healthy cities and communities’ approaches are often on the margins of the planning field, not the center. While most people support making places that can promote health, this can be complicated at times of crisis or constraint when, for example, some may perceive economic health to be in tension with human health. At its best, however, the idea of making healthier places can meld together individual and collective goals. To make health more central, …

Land-Use Planning And Urban Governance: Lessons From The Pandemic, Malcolm Grant

Journal of Comparative Urban Law and Policy

It is a privilege to have been invited to contribute to this festschrift for a scholar whose work I have known and admired for decades. We have explored and debated together many aspects of land-use planning in our respective jurisdictions over that time, including a protracted effort in the 1990s to develop a model for impact fees for the UK planning system. Several other contributors to this festschrift were also part of that team, from which all of us learned a great deal. One is that complex systems of government develop deep resistance to change, and that it often takes …

Wilms Tumor Presenting With Spontaneous Necrosis And Clostridium Perfringens Co-Infection, Ronald Palmen, Abbey Elsbernd, Kristin Palmen

Research Days

Background: Wilm’s Tumor (WT) is the most common renal malignancy of childhood. The initial presentation of WT may mimic infection or other malignancies with nonspecific symptoms including fever, abdominal/flank pain, or hematuria. This poses a diagnostic challenge for providers, particularly when both infection and malignancy are observed. We describe a case of WT with spontaneous necrosis initially obscured by overlying Clostridium perfringens infection, making diagnosis of the cancer difficult.

Case Description: A previously healthy 5-year-old girl presented to the emergency department with a two-day history of left flank pain and fevers. In the emergency department, she was tachycardic (130 bpm), …

Behavioral Intervention To Increase Condom Use Among Men Who Take Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis And Have Sex With Men, Marek J. Piszczatowski

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

In the absence of an effective vaccine, the introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in 2012 offered a promising new approach to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention. However, the introduction of a single-pill regimen which helps to prevent HIV transmission created, in men who have sex with men (MSM) population, a phenomenon referred to as risk compensation resulting in PrEP replacing consistent condom use as a preventive measure (Freeborn & Portillo, 2018; Kumar et al., 2020; Montaño et al., 2018; Ramchandani & Golden, 2019; Traeger et al., 2018). The purpose of the evidence-based practice project was to implement a single, one-on-one …

Nsaids And Their Interactions With Bacterial Growth, Matthew Majeski, Nikolas Erickson, Rilee Schmidt

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are common medications that are frequently used to suppress symptoms of viral and bacterial infections. The increase in concern of antibiotic resistance has led researchers to study the effects of NSAIDs on bacterial growth or on common antibiotics. This study aims to determine whether commonly used NSAIDs, ibuprofen and acetaminophen, have any antibacterial properties that might help suppress bacterial growth. In conjunction, this study also looks to see whether the combination of NSAIDs and an antibiotic can further reduce bacterial growth than if an antibiotic is used alone. Our procedure consisted of lab-grown Escherichia coli (E. …

A Rapid And Accurate Pcr Test For Constitutionality Of Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates: The Appropriate Standard Of Review Adopted By Klaassen V. Trustees Of Indiana University, Natalie Anderson

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Food Insecurity In Collegiate Athletes During Covid-19, Elizabeth Swindell

Honors Theses

A study done by Georgetown University in 2019 found that one-fourth of NCAA, D1 collegiate athletes experience food insecurity. The study purpose was to examine food security levels in student athletes at a southern university and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security in these students. A survey was completed by student athletes to determine their food security levels during the 2020 academic year at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey included questions relating to food security based on the USDA’s food insecurity module as well as questions specifically related to the impact of food security …

The Coronavirus Pandemic And Participation In The Influencer Economy, Emma Grace Richbourg

Honors Theses

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic, also referred to as the COVID-19 pandemic, altered day-to-day life and has effected the economy quite notably. The aim of this paper is to determine to what extent the COVID-19 pandemic altered consumer behavior and whether these alterations encouraged participation in the influencer economy, which represents social media influencers who create and monetize online content. In order to do so, I administered a survey to 250 respondents to evaluate the reach of influencers during the pandemic and whether social media users felt the presence of influencers was an effective marketing technique. I also conducted an analysis …

How Chinese Media Reports On Infectious Disease Emergence And Human Environmental Interactions, Kai-Shin Newman

Honors Theses

Human activity and behavior, animal consumption and exploitation, and environmental degradation all impact the planet and those living on it. Each can contribute to the creation of favorable conditions in which pathogenic transmission can easily occur, resulting in an increase in infectious disease emergence. Through the One Health concept, an understanding of how human, animal, and environmental health are connected can help reduce these conditions in which infectious diseases can emerge and spread. However, despite being an established concept, the One Health is not widely known or implemented. Even in a country, such as China, that has a large population, …

Establishing Guidelines To Promote Best Practice For Common Ailments In School-Based Health Clinics, Kaitlin Sweeney, Rachael Schaefer

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the gap in access to medical care of school-age children and identified a need for community-based health clinics to aid in its minimization. Evidence shows the creation of school-based health clinics (SBHCs) in public school districts provides a pathway for students to receive high-quality care in an easily accessible manner. Therefore, patient care guidelines for common ailments seen in SBHCs for a local federally qualified healthcare center (FQHC) were developed in conjunction with the FQHC goal to build and operate a SBHC located in southern Illinois. Eight guidelines were created to analyze the most common chief …

An Application Of Differential Mathematical Modeling Techniques To Study The Ongoing Rabies Epizootic In China, Christopher Turner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rabies remains a global public health issue with a wide variety of neurological symptoms such as confusion, slight paralysis, hypersalivation, and hydrophobia. Rabies is usually fatal once symptoms appear. Many species are reservoirs for rabies, such as foxes, racoons, and wild dogs, which in turn can transmit the disease to humans, leading to complex transmission chains. There is a long latent period of rabies, between 1 to 3 months after infection, which further complicates control efforts. Mathematical modeling is a valuable tool in the study of infectious disease outbreaks and there have been many models applied to rabies outbreaks. However, …

Implementation Of Prep Protocol In Primary Care, Myia Harper, Catalina West

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an incurable condition that continues to be a public health threat. Approximately 38 million people live with the disease worldwide, and one out of seven are unaware they have the disease. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a medication that can be prescribed to individuals at risk of acquiring HIV. PrEP can be prescribed by any healthcare provider who deems a patient at risk for HIV. However, a primary care practice in central Illinois previously had no protocol for initiation of PrEP. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to implement a PrEP protocol in the department of …

A Rat Experimental Model For Investigation Of The Effect Of Diabetes On Submandibular Salivary Glands Treated With Epidermal Growth Factor, Mahmoud Bakr, Mohamed Shamel, Sara Abdelwahed, Mahmoud Al Ankily

Dentistry

BACKGROUND: Despite the plethora of research around the negative effects of diabetes on different body organs, this topic still attracts a lot of attention to find potential remedies that could counteract or reverse the damaging effect of diabetes.AIM: In this study, we developed a reliable experimental rat model that can be used for the investigation of the ability of epidermal growth factor (EFG) in restoring the normal architecture of oral tissues after being damaged by diabetes.METHODS: Eighty adult male albino rats (average weight ±220 gm) were used in the current study. Twenty rats served as control and received no treatment. …

Conference Abtracts, Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation

Research and Management of High-Elevation Five-Needle Pines in Western North America

No abstract provided.

Telemedicine Across Borders: Entrenched Issues Exposed By Covid-19, Richmond B. Wrinkle

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Throwing The Explorer Out With The Fountain: American History Textbooks And Juan Ponce De Leon, Roger Chapman

Florida Historical Quarterly

Someone once critically categorized American history textbooks, perhaps unfairly, as "fat, dull boring books that mention everything but explain practically nothing."1 A cursory survey of US history textbooks on the treatment of Juan Ponce de Leon and the "discovery" of Florida would suggest historical content is like an ice cube melting in the sun.2

Camp Blanding Station Hospital In The War Years, George E. Cressman, Jr.

Florida Historical Quarterly

Preparation for and entry into World War II required significant changes in the United States, especially for the U.S. Army. Mobilization of manufacturing facilities created noteworthy opportunities for women to work in jobs traditionally considered the domain of men. Construction at camps and forts drove substantial improvement for local economics still suffering from the aftershocks of the great depression. And millions of men-and a large number of women-entered military service.

The Historical Archaeology Of Seventeeth-Century La Florida, Bonnie G. Mcewan

Florida Historical Quarterly

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, St. Augustine was still recovering from Francis Drake's 1586 raid during which the town and fields were ravaged.1 Officials were also evaluating the fallout from the 1597 Guale Rebellion during which four of the five friars working among the native peoples were killed, and rebuilding the town following a devastating fire in 1599. If not for St. Augustine's strategic location and perceived progress in the religious conversion of natives, Florida might well have been abandoned at the turn of the century. As it turned out, the next century would be the period of …

Early Jail And Prison Conditions Litigation In The Middle District Court, William J. Sheppard

Florida Historical Quarterly

Today, jails and prisons throughout the Middle District of Florida (Middle District) are hardly places a person would want to spend the night. However, those currently incarcerated in the Middle District have had many rights secured for them which did not exist prior to the existence of that Court. The story of prison reform in the Middle District illustrates the power hardworking, courageous pro se plaintiffs, attorneys, and judges can wield to ensure all inmates receive the constitutional liberties and protections to which they are entitled.

Otherwise Qualified: The Rehabilitation Act Of 1973 And The Origin Of The Direct Threat Defense, Patrick D. Flamming

Florida Historical Quarterly

In an effort to integrate individuals with disabilities into society and abate employment discrimination, Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Act). While the Act more clearly applied to certain individuals with disabilities, the Act's construction seemingly left undefined whether individuals with contagious diseases were afforded the same coverage. The case giving rise to the Supreme Court's landmark employment law decision resolving the matter was the unreported, oral opinion of Arline v. School Board of Nassau County, which was decided in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. This Comment examines the district court's opinion, comparing …

Sixteenth-Century Florida In The European Imagination, John Mcgrath

Florida Historical Quarterly

What we call Florida today is the nearest part of the American mainland to the spot where Columbus landed in 1492, while North America's east coast is also the closest part of the New World to Europe's Atlantic ports. Despite the proximity, Florida remained a mysterious, perplexing land throughout the sixteenth century. For over a century, rumors and legends of various kinds of riches promised rewards to those who could find them, yet successive attempts to explore and settle were frustrating or even disastrous. By 1600, the only lasting European footprint in Florida was St. Augustine, a small outpost that …

Factors Affecting Time To Recovery: A Covid-19 Survival Analysis, Fernanda Montoya

Honors Capstones

This project is focused on the recovery rates of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 after different clinical trial drug treatments. Data for the clinical trial studied was obtained from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the primary purpose of a survival analysis on patient time to recovery under a placebo and therapeutic drug treatment. Specifically, patients in this clinical trial were randomly selected to receive remdesivir, an antiviral drug, in combination with a placebo or baricitinib, a janus kinase inhibitor drug. Cox PH models were used to identify how the different treatment drugs affect time to recovery and …

A Fatal Case Of Covid-19 Pneumonia In A Fully Vaccinated Heart Transplant Recipient, Agastya D. Belur, Diana Otero, Christina Dunbar Matos

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

The development and administration of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are seeing lower numbers of COVID-19 cases and fatalities among fully vaccinated, immunocompetent adults. We present a case of fatal COVID-19 pneumonia in a heart transplant recipient who had received two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended additional doses.

Safety And Efficacy Of Silver-Coated Biomaterials In Vivo, Megan Klem, Darien L. Seidman, Rahyan Mahmoud, Manuella Adu, Lei Yu, Jeffrey Hettinger, Renee M Demarest

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Overtreatment and overuse of antibiotics in healthcare and agricultural settings have contributed to the selective pressure on bacterial strains to develop resistance. Resistance can develop as a result of mutations and subsequent resistance genes that allow bacteria to survive against antibiotics. Novel silver-oxide coatings were developed and were previously demonstrated to prevent adhesion of gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia Coli and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa) to the disc, but did not prevent gram-positive bacterial adherence (Streptococcus Aureus). In order to determine whether the silver-oxide coatings are bacterial static and may be preventing progression to biofilm formation, in vivo analysis of S. Aureus attached to …

Covid-19, Vaccination, And Heart Transplantation, Forest W. Arnold

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.