Digital Commons Network^™

One Vaccine To Counter Many Diseases? Modeling The Economics Of Oral Polio Vaccine Against Child Mortality And Covid-19, Angela Y Chang, Peter Aaby, Michael S Avidan, Christine S Benn, Stefano M Bertozzi, Lawrence Blatt, Konstantin Chumakov, Shabaana A Khader, Shyam Kottilil, Madhav Nekkar, Mihai G Netea, Annie Sparrow, Dean T Jamison

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Recent reviews summarize evidence that some vaccines have heterologous or non-specific effects (NSE), potentially offering protection against multiple pathogens. Numerous economic evaluations examine vaccines' pathogen-specific effects, but less than a handful focus on NSE. This paper addresses that gap by reporting economic evaluations of the NSE of oral polio vaccine (OPV) against under-five mortality and COVID-19.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied two settings: (1) reducing child mortality in a high-mortality setting (Guinea-Bissau) and (2) preventing COVID-19 in India. In the former, the intervention involves three annual campaigns in which children receive OPV incremental to routine immunization. In the latter, …

Intraocular Human Cytomegaloviruses Of Ocular Diseases Are Distinct From Those Of Viremia And Are Capable Of Escaping From Innate And Adaptive Immunity By Exploiting Hla-E-Mediated Peripheral And Central Tolerance, Mariko Shirane, Michael Paley, Wayne M Yokoyama, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections develop into CMV diseases that result in various forms of manifestations in local organs. CMV-retinitis is a form of CMV disease that develops in immunocompromised hosts with CMV-viremia after viruses in the peripheral circulation have entered the eye. In the HCMV genome, extensive diversification of the UL40 gene has produced peptide sequences that modulate NK cell effector functions when loaded onto HLA-E and are subsequently recognized by the NKG2A and NKG2C receptors. Notably, some HCMV strains carry UL40 genes that encode peptide sequences identical to the signal peptide sequences of specific HLA-A and HLA-C allotypes, which …

Environmentally-Triggered Contraction Of The Norovirus Virion Determines Diarrheagenic Potential, Emily W Helm, Elizabeth A Kennedy, Megan T Baldridge, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Noroviruses are the leading cause of severe childhood diarrhea and foodborne disease worldwide. While they are a major cause of disease in all age groups, infections in the very young can be quite severe with annual estimates of 50,000-200,000 fatalities in children under 5 years old. In spite of the remarkable disease burden associated with norovirus infections in people, very little is known about the pathogenic mechanisms underlying norovirus diarrhea, principally because of the lack of tractable small animal models. We recently demonstrated that wild-type neonatal mice are susceptible to murine norovirus (MNV)-induced acute self-resolving diarrhea in a time course …

Control Of Aging By The Renin-Angiotensin System: A Review Of C. Elegans, Drosophila, And Mammals, Brian M Egan, Andrea Scharf, Franziska Pohl, Kerry Kornfeld

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The free-living, non-parasitic nematode

Modifications To Student Quarantine Policies In K-12 Schools Implementing Multiple Covid-19 Prevention Strategies Restores In-Person Education Without Increasing Sars-Cov-2 Transmission Risk, January-March 2021, Patrick Dawson, Sara Malone, Stephanie A. Fritz, Brock K. Montgomery, Mary Boyle, Brett Maricque, Albert M. Lai, Julie A. Neidich, Rachel C. Orscheln, Jason G Newland, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether modified K-12 student quarantine policies that allow some students to continue in-person education during their quarantine period increase schoolwide SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk following the increase in cases in winter 2020-2021.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study of COVID-19 cases and close contacts among students and staff (n = 65,621) in 103 Missouri public schools. Participants were offered free, saliva-based RT-PCR testing. The projected number of school-based transmission events among untested close contacts was extrapolated from the percentage of events detected among tested asymptomatic close contacts and summed with the number of detected events for a …

Child Dietary Patterns In Homo Sapiens Evolution: A Systematic Review, Lora L Iannotti, Emmanuel A Gyimah, Miranda Reid, Melissa Chapnick, Mary Kate Cartmill, Chessa K Lutter, Charles Hilton, Theresa E Gildner, Elizabeth A Quinn

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Dietary patterns spanning millennia could inform contemporary public health nutrition. Children are largely absent from evidence describing diets throughout human evolution, despite prevalent malnutrition today signaling a potential genome-environment divergence. This systematic review aimed to identify dietary patterns of children ages 6 months to 10 years consumed before the widespread adoption of agriculture. Metrics of mention frequency (counts of food types reported) and food groups (globally standardized categories) were applied to: compare diets across subsistence modes [gatherer-hunter-fisher (GHF), early agriculture (EA) groups]; examine diet quality and diversity; and characterize differences by life course phase and environmental context defined using Köppen-Geiger …

Characteristics Of Antifungal Utilization For Hospitalized Children In The United States, Lourdes Eguiguren, Brian R Lee, Jason G Newland, Matthew P Kronman, Adam L Hersh, Jeffrey S Gerber, Grace M Lee, Hayden T Schwenk

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: To characterize antifungal prescribing patterns, including the indication for antifungal use, in hospitalized children across the United States.

DESIGN: We analyzed antifungal prescribing data from 32 hospitals that participated in the SHARPS Antibiotic Resistance, Prescribing, and Efficacy among Children (SHARPEC) study, a cross-sectional point-prevalence survey conducted between June 2016 and December 2017.

METHODS: Inpatients aged <18 years with an active systemic antifungal order were included in the analysis. We classified antifungal prescribing by indication (ie, prophylaxis, empiric, targeted), and we compared the proportion of patients in each category based on patient and antifungal characteristics.

RESULTS: Among 34,927 surveyed patients, 2,095 (6%) received at least 1 systemic antifungal and there were 2,207 antifungal prescriptions. Most patients had an underlying oncology or bone marrow transplant diagnosis (57%) or were premature (13%). The most prescribed antifungal was fluconazole (48%) and the …

Variation In Ampicillin Dosing For Lower Respiratory Tract Infections And Neonatal Bacterial Infections In Us Children's Hospitals, Elizabeth A Daniels, Christopher C Mcpherson, Jason G Newland, Brian R Lee

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: We examined ampicillin dosing in pediatric patients across 3 conditions: (1) bacterial lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in infants and children >3 months, (2) neonates with suspected or proven sepsis, and (3) neonates with suspected central nervous system (CNS) infections. We compared our findings to dosing guidance for these specific indications.

DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING: The study included data from 32 children's hospitals in the United States.

METHODS: We reviewed prescriptions from the SHARPS study of antimicrobials, a survey of antibiotic prescribing from July 2016 to December 2017. Prescriptions were analyzed for indication, total daily dose per kilogram, …

Antibodies In Healthcare Personnel Following Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Virus 2 (Sars-Cov-2) Infection, Rachel E Bosserman, Christopher W Farnsworth, Caroline A O'Neil, Candice Cass, Daniel Park, Claire Ballman, Meghan A Wallace, Emily Struttmann, Henry Stewart, Olivia Arter, Kate Peacock, Victoria J Fraser, Philip J Budge, Margaret A Olsen, Carey-Ann D Burnham, Hilary M Babcock, Jennie H Kwon, Cdc Prevention Epicenters

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In a prospective cohort of healthcare personnel (HCP), we measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid IgG antibodies after SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among 79 HCP, 68 (86%) were seropositive 14-28 days after their positive PCR test, and 54 (77%) of 70 were seropositive at the 70-180-day follow-up. Many seropositive HCP (95%) experienced an antibody decline by the second visit.

Semi-Quantitative Assay To Measure Urease Activity By Urinary Catheter-Associated Uropathogens, Jesus M Duran Ramirez, Jana Gomez, Chloe L P Obernuefemann, Nathaniel C Gualberto, Jennifer N Walker

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are one of the most common healthcare-associated infections in the US, accounting for over 1 million cases annually and totaling 450 million USD. CAUTIs have high morbidity and mortality rates and can be caused by a wide range of pathogens, making empiric treatment difficult. Furthermore, when urease-producing uropathogens cause symptomatic CAUTI or asymptomatic catheter colonization, the risk of catheter failure due to blockage increases. The enzyme urease promotes catheter blockage by hydrolyzing urea in urine into ammonia and carbon dioxide, which results in the formation of crystals that coat the catheter surface. If CAUTI is …

Virtual Adaptation Of An International Exchange Program In Medical Education, Celia Fung, Nicholas Maxwell, Stephen Powell, Michelle Benassai, Natalia Chunga, Jennifer Corcoran, William Barbosa, Marisabel Lopez, Betsy Hanampa, Melissa Llaiqui-Condori, Victor Delgado-Lazo, Karina Mendoza, Yanet Astete, Martin Flor, Sheyla Palacios, Blanca Valdovinos, Jorge Risco, Isabel Camargo, Ralph Jozefowicz, Karlo J Lizárraga

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Medical education has drastically transformed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Measures such as adopting telemedicine visits, minimizing the number of trainees on service, discontinuing external rotations, and converting in-person to online didactics have been broadly and swiftly implemented. While these innovations have promoted greater interconnectivity amongst institutions and made continuing medical education possible, international exchange programs in medical education are still largely disrupted. In response to the changing guidelines and restrictions necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors used Kern's six-step approach to design and implement a virtual curriculum to replace the in-person activities of the 2020-2021 Neurology Peru-Rochester exchange program …

Challenges And Progress In Research, Diagnostics, And Therapeutics In Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementias, Nikolay V Dokholyan, Richard C Mohs, Randall J Bateman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The health, well-being, and financial security of Americans are greatly impacted by Alzheimer's disease. The forecast paints an upward trajectory with the number of Americans suffering from Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. To discuss the Alzheimer's crisis, The Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on Health Care, held a hearing titled, "The Alzheimer's Crisis: Examining, Testing, and Treatment Pipelines and Fiscal Implications," on December 16, 2020. Here, we summarize and expand on the discussion of the panel and its review of recent progress, ongoing challenges associated with Alzheimer's disease, and potential initiatives that promise to speed progress in developing treatments and …

Efficient T Cell Migration And Activation Require L-Plastin, Hemant Joshi, Sharon Celeste Morley

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Rapid re-organization of the actin cytoskeleton supports T-cell trafficking towards immune sites and interaction with antigen presenting cells (APCs). F-actin rearrangement enables T-cell trafficking by stabilizing adhesion to vascular endothelial cells and promoting transendothelial migration. T-cell/APC immune synapse (IS) maturation also relies upon f-actin-anchored LFA-1:ICAM-1 ligation. Therefore, efficient T-cell responses require tight regulation of f-actin dynamics. In this review, we summarize how the actin-bundling protein L-plastin (LPL) regulates T-cell activation and migration. LPL enhances f-actin polymerization and also directly binds to the β2 chain of the integrin LFA-1 to support intercellular adhesion and IS formation in human and murine T …

Where Do T Cell Subsets Stand In Sars-Cov-2 Infection: An Update, Mohammad Tarique, Mohd Suhail, Huma Naz, Naoshad Muhammad, Shams Tabrez, Torki A Zughaibi, Adel M Abuzenadah, Anwar M Hashem, Hari Shankar, Chaman Saini, Alpana Sharma

2020-Current year OA Pubs

An outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in China in December 2019 and spread so rapidly all around the globe. It's continued and spreading more dangerously in India and Brazil with higher mortality rate. Understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 depends on unraveling of interactional mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 and human immune response. The immune response is a complex process, which can be better understood by understanding the immunological response and pathological mechanisms of COVID-19, which will provide new treatments, increase treatment efficacy, and decrease mortality associated with the disease. In this review we present a amalgamate viewpoint based on …

Advances In Understanding Interferon-Mediated Immune Responses To Enteric Viruses In Intestinal Organoids, Lila S Nolan, Megan T Baldridge

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Interferons (IFN) are antiviral cytokines with critical roles in regulating pathogens at epithelial barriers, but their capacity to restrict human enteric viruses has been incompletely characterized in part due to challenges in cultivating some viruses

A Recombinant Murine-Like Rotavirus With Nano-Luciferase Expression Reveals Tissue Tropism, Replication Dynamics, And Virus Transmission, Yinxing Zhu, Liliana Sánchez-Tacuba, Gaopeng Hou, Takahiro Kawagishi, Ningguo Feng, Harry B Greenberg, Siyuan Ding

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Rotaviruses (RVs) are one of the main causes of severe gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and death in children and young animals. While suckling mice prove to be highly useful small animal models of RV infection and pathogenesis, direct visualization tools are lacking to track the temporal dynamics of RV replication and transmissibility

Bsl2-Compliant Lethal Mouse Model Of Sars-Cov-2 And Variants Of Concern To Evaluate Therapeutics Targeting The Spike Protein, Mohanraj Manangeeswaran, Derek D C Ireland, Seth G Thacker, Ha-Na Lee, Logan Kelley-Baker, Aaron P Lewkowicz, Paul W Rothlauf, Marjorie Cornejo Pontelli, Louis-Marie Bloyet, Michael A Eckhaus, Mirian I Mendoza, Sean Whelan, Daniela Verthelyi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Since first reported in 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is rapidly acquiring mutations, particularly in the spike protein, that can modulate pathogenicity, transmission and antibody evasion leading to successive waves of COVID19 infections despite an unprecedented mass vaccination necessitating continuous adaptation of therapeutics. Small animal models can facilitate understanding host-pathogen interactions, target selection for therapeutic drugs, and vaccine development, but availability and cost of studies in BSL3 facilities hinder progress. To generate a BSL2-compatible

At-Home Blood Collection And Stabilization In High Temperature Climates Using Home Rna, Lauren G Brown, Amanda J Haack, Dakota S Kennedy, Karen N Adams, Jennifer E Stolarczuk, Meg G Takezawa, Erwin Berthier, Sanitta Thongpang, Fang Yun Lim, Damien Chaussabel, Mathieu Garand, Ashleigh B Theberge

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Expanding whole blood sample collection for transcriptome analysis beyond traditional phlebotomy clinics will open new frontiers for remote immune research and telemedicine. Determining the stability of RNA in blood samples exposed to high ambient temperatures (>30°C) is necessary for deploying home-sampling in settings with elevated temperatures (e.g., studying physiological response to natural disasters that occur in warm locations or in the summer). Recently, we have developed

Egg-Derived Anti-Sars-Cov-2 Immunoglobulin Y (Igy) With Broad Variant Activity As Intranasal Prophylaxis Against Covid-19, Lyn R Frumkin, Traci L Bricker, Astha Joshi, Adrianus C M Boon, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

UNLABELLED: COVID-19 emergency use authorizations and approvals for vaccines were achieved in record time. However, there remains a need to develop additional safe, effective, easy-to-produce, and inexpensive prevention to reduce the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection. This need is due to difficulties in vaccine manufacturing and distribution, vaccine hesitancy, and, critically, the increased prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with greater contagiousness or reduced sensitivity to immunity. Antibodies from eggs of hens (immunoglobulin Y; IgY) that were administered the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were developed for use as nasal drops to capture the virus on the nasal mucosa. …

Gardnerella Exposures Alter Bladder Gene Expression And Augment Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli Urinary Tract Infection In Mice, Nicole M Gilbert, Valerie P O'Brien, Chevaughn Waller, Ekatherina Batourina, Cathy Lee Mendelsohn, Amanda L Lewis

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The anaerobic actinobacterium

What Covid-19 Laid Bare: Adventures In Workers’ Compensation Causation, Michael C. Duff

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay performs a close analysis of workers’ compensation coverage of COVID-19 and arrives at the conclusion that it should not be “impossible” to prove in a legal sense that an employee’s COVID-19 was caused by work. Scientific proof is not the same as legal proof: workers’ compensation law has never required that claims must be supported by irrefutable scientific proof of workplace causation. Yet repeatedly one heard this suggestion during public discussion on workers’ compensation coverage of employees.

Still, there is good evidence that even when workers’ compensation undisputedly covers work-related disease employers seldom pay benefits (and states do …

Lending A Paw: Does The Presence Of A Dog Increase Donations Given To Homeless Individuals?, Katherine Link

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Prosocial behavior can be defined as any behavior that results in the benefit of another individual (Coyne et al., 2018). This study sought to investigate potential influences on the prosocial behavior of donating to the homeless. With a rise in both homelessness and dog ownership, this project sought to investigate how the presence of a dog may impact both the willingness to donate and monetary amount donated to a homeless individual. Results indicated a significant three-way interaction between the sex of the homeless individual, the sex of the participant, and the presence of a dog. Overall, the presence of a …

Barriers To Mental Health Service Use And Preferred Treatment Format Among Racial And Ethnic Minorities, Jasmine Maxwell

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

One of the most pressing concerns in mental healthcare is the limited use of mental health services across the country. Research has indicated that individuals from racial/ethnic minority groups are significantly less likely to seek mental health services, which has led many to examine specific barriers to treatment-seeking. Given research that has suggested that barriers to treatment-seeking may be structural, attitudinal, or cultural in nature, this study aimed to gain a better understanding of the relationship between these barriers and willingness to seek psychological help. Another goal of the current study was to examine the role of online therapy in …

Do The Expert Recommendations For Implementing Change (Eric) Strategies Adequately Address Sustainment?, Nicole Nathan, Byron J Powell, Rachel C Shelton, Celia V Laur, Luke Wolfenden, Maji Hailemariam, Sze Lin Yoong, Rachel Sutherland, Melanie Kingsland, Thomas J Waltz, Alix Hall

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Sustainability science is an emerging area within implementation science. There is limited evidence regarding strategies to best support the continued delivery and sustained impact of evidence-based interventions (EBIs). To build such evidence, clear definitions, and ways to operationalize strategies specific and/or relevant to sustainment are required. Taxonomies and compilations such as the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) were developed to describe and organize implementation strategies. This study aimed to adapt, refine, and extend the ERIC compilation to incorporate an explicit focus on sustainment. We also sought to classify the specific phase(s) of implementation when the ERIC strategies could …

"Provider Discretionary Power Practices To Support Implementation Of Patient-Centered Hiv Care In Lusaka, Zambia", Chanda Mwamba, Njekwa Mukamba, Anjali Sharma, Kasapo Lumbo, Marksman Foloko, Herbert Nyirenda, Sandra Simbeza, Kombatende Sikombe, Charles B Holmes, Izukanji Sikazwe, Carolyn Bolton Moore, Aaloke Mody, Elvin Geng, Laura K Beres

2020-Current year OA Pubs

INTRODUCTION: Traditional patient-provider relationships privilege the providers, as they possess the formal authority and clinical knowledge applied to address illness, but providers also have discretion over how they exercise their power to influence patients' services, benefits, and sanctions. In this study, we assessed providers' exercise of discretionary power in implementing patient-centered care (PCC) practices in Lusaka, Zambia.

METHODS: HIV clinical encounters between patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and providers across 24 public health facilities in Lusaka Province were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Using qualitative content analysis, we identified practices of discretionary power (DP) employed in the implementation of PCC …

A Perspective On Implementation Outcomes And Strategies To Promote The Uptake Of Covid-19 Vaccines, Meagan Pilar, A Rani Elwy, Larissa Lushniak, Grace Huang, Gabriella M Mcloughlin, Cole Hooley, Nisha Nadesan-Reddy, Brittney Sandler, Mosa Moshabela, Olakunle Alonge, Elvin Geng, Enola Proctor

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Recent articles have highlighted the importance of incorporating implementation science concepts into pandemic-related research. However, limited research has been documented to date regarding implementation outcomes that may be unique to COVID-19 vaccinations and how to utilize implementation strategies to address vaccine program-related implementation challenges. To address these gaps, we formed a global COVID-19 implementation workgroup of implementation scientists who met weekly for over a year to review the available literature and learn about ongoing research during the pandemic. We developed a hierarchy to prioritize the applicability of "lessons learned" from the vaccination-related implementation literature. We identified applications of existing implementation …

Animal Source Foods, Rich In Essential Amino Acids, Are Important For Linear Growth And Development Of Young Children In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Panam Parikh, Richard Semba, Mark Manary, Sumathi Swaminathan, Emorn Udomkesmalee, Rolf Bos, Bee Koon Poh, Nipa Rojroongwasinkul, Jan Geurts, Rini Sekartini, Tran Thuy Nga

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Growth faltering under 5 years of age is unacceptably high worldwide, and even more children, while not stunted, fail to reach their growth potential. The time between conception and 2 years of age is critical for development. The period from 6 to 23 months, when complementary foods are introduced, coincides with a time when growth faltering and delayed neurocognitive developments are most common. Fortunately, this is also the period when diet exercises its greatest influence. Growing up in an adverse environment, with a deficient diet, as typically seen in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), hampers growth and development of children …

Understanding The Contribution Of Metabolism To Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Drug Tolerance, Amanda N Samuels, Erin R Wang, Gregory A Harrison, Joy C Valenta, Christina L Stallings

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Treatment of

Sustainability Of Breastfeeding Interventions To Reduce Child Mortality Rates In Low, Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review Of Randomized Controlled Trials, Alexis Engelhart, Stacey Mason, Ucheoma Nwaozuru, Chisom Obiezu-Umeh, Victoria Carter, Thembekile Shato, Titilola Gbaja-Biamila, David Oladele, Juliet Iwelunmor

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Child mortality is the lowest it has ever been, but the burden of death in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is still prevalent, and the numbers average above the global mean. Breastfeeding contributes to the reduction of child mortality by improving chance of survival beyond childhood. Therefore, it is essential to examine how evidence-based breastfeeding interventions are being maintained in resource-constrained settings. Guided by Scheirer and Dearing's sustainability framework, the aim of this systematic review was to explore how evidence-based breastfeeding interventions implemented to address child mortality in LMICs are sustained. The literature search included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of …

Conceptual Tensions And Practical Trade-Offs In Tailoring Implementation Interventions, Sheena M Mchugh, Fiona Riordan, Geoff M Curran, Cara C Lewis, Luke Wolfenden, Justin Presseau, Rebecca Lengnick-Hall, Byron J Powell

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Tailored interventions have been shown to be effective and tailoring is a popular process with intuitive appeal for researchers and practitioners. However, the concept and process are ill-defined in implementation science. Descriptions of how tailoring has been applied in practice are often absent or insufficient in detail. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to synthesize and replicate efforts. It also hides the trade-offs for researchers and practitioners that are inherent in the process. In this article we juxtapose the growing prominence of tailoring with four key questions surrounding the process. Specifically, we ask: (1) what constitutes tailoring and when …