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International Conference On Food Science, University For Business And Technology - Ubt

UBT International Conference

UBT Annual International Conference is the 11th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make them be aware of the recent …

A Membrane Transporter Required For Quorum Sensing And Virulence Of The Rice Pathogen Burkholderia Glumae, Asif Iqbal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Burkholderia glumae is a Gram-negative bacterium causing bacterial panicle blight (BPB) in rice. BPB can cause severe damage to rice and reduce rice yield up to 75%, while no effective treatment has been developed to control the disease. B. glumae produces and secretes an essential virulence factor, toxoflavin, which is mainly responsible for the symptoms of BPB. Synthesis and transport of toxoflavin are regulated in a quorum-sensing dependent manner. Members of the DedA superfamily are putative membrane transporters and found in nearly all species. Mutation of dedA in Burkholderia species results in sensitivity to colistin, an antibiotic belonging to the …

Gendered Geographies Of Care: Women As Health Workers In An Indigenous Health Project In The Peruvian Amazon, Daniela Peluso

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article examines how women as primary gatekeepers for well being became involved as health promoters in a local indigenous health care project in the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios, Peru. Here, I provide a case study of the processes and transitions that the project underwent from its inception to its eventual inclusion of indigenous women health promoters into its programs among indigenous communities from the mid 1980’s through the early 1990’s, at a time when western primary health care was even less accessible then it is today. The article begins with an overview of Madre de Dios and …

The Effects Of Covid-19 On Residential Municipal Waste Streams, Anne Kluthe

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Through interviews, this exploratory analytive study researched how COVID-19, and especially the first lockdown of 2020, changed residential municipal waste streams, specifically in terms of items, tonnage, and workplace practices. The most common items were an influx in PPE, specifically face masks, and an increase in cardboard. There was also some evidence of paper from “deep cleaning” projects and construction debris from backyard pool installation and bathroom renovation. The total change in waste varied from area to area. Norfolk and the surrounding area had a stagnant amount of waste during the pandemic, Omaha and the rest of Douglas County saw …

Use Of Equity-Informed Social Media Covid-19 Risk Communication Tools: A Scoping Review Protocol, Anita Kothari, Nedra Peter, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan

Publications

INTRODUCTION: Health agencies and community organisations play a crucial role in disseminating information to the public about COVID-19 risks and events, providing instructions on how to change behaviour to mitigate those risks, motivating compliance with health directives and addressing false information. Social media platforms are a critical tool in risk communication, providing a medium for rapid transmission of messages as well as providing the opportunity for engagement and immediate feedback. Access to health information, services and support are especially important for marginalised and underserved ('equity-deserving') populations who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. This scoping review aims to review the breadth …

Establishing A Small-Scale Pastured Poultry Operation In Kentucky, Frederick N. Bebe

Professional Agricultural Workers Journal

Pastured poultry is poultry rotationally raised on pasture, as opposed to large-scale confinement operations. There has been a growing demand for pastured poultry as a result of the adverse effects of the use of antibiotics in large-scale caged systems and pastured poultry’s attributable nutritional and economic benefits to consumers. As a result, an increasing number of small-scale farmers in Kentucky have begun raising birds both for personal consumption and for supplemental income, in conjunction with other farm enterprises. Poultry is the number one agricultural commodity in Kentucky. Thus, knowledge of how to establish small-scale pastured poultry operations as an alternate …

The Detection Of Periodic Reemergence Events Of Sars-Cov-2 Delta Strain In Communities Dominated By Omicron., Claire E. Westcott, Kevin J. Sokoloski, Eric C. Rouchka, Julia H. Chariker, Rochelle H. Holm, Ray A. Yeager, Joseph B. Moore Iv, Erin M. Elliott, Daymond Talley, Aruni Bhatnagar

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Despite entering an endemic phase, SARS-CoV-2 remains a significant burden to public health across the global community. Wastewater sampling has consistently proven utility to understanding SARS-CoV-2 prevalence trends and genetic variation as it represents a less biased assessment of the corresponding communities. Here, we report that ongoing monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 genetic variation in samples obtained from the wastewatersheds of the city of Louisville in Jefferson county Kentucky has revealed the periodic reemergence of the Delta strain in the presence of the presumed dominant Omicron strain. Unlike previous SARS-CoV-2 waves/emergence events, the Delta reemergence events were geographically restricted in the community …

The George-Anne Daily, Georgia Southern University

George-Anne Media Group: Newsletters & Magazines

No abstract provided.

Fake News And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Susan Drucker, Russell Chun, Mario A. Murillo

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

As the world continues to tackle the raging COVID-19 pandemic, this panel explores critical issues in fake news, its implications, and evolving approaches to combat it with media literacy. Panelists will discuss themes developed dealing with international approaches to fake news explored in the newly published edited volume, Fake News: Real Issues in Modern Communication. The session will focus on the impact of misinformation and disinformation in a time of public health crises.

Intracellular Monitoring By Dendritic Cells - A New Way To Stay Informed - From A Simple Scavenger To An Active Gatherer, Christopher Herbst, Larry A Harshyne, Botond Z Igyártó

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Dendritic cells (DCs) are required for the initiation of the adaptive immune response. Their ability to acquire antigens in the periphery is a critical step in this process. DCs express a wide variety of adhesion molecules and possess an extremely fluid plasma membrane that facilitates scavenging the extracellular environment and capturing material like exosomes, apoptotic bodies, and pathogens. Besides these standard routes, the acquisition of antigens by DCs can be further facilitated by tunneling nanotubes, trogocytosis, and gap junctions. However, in this article, we will argue that this is an incomplete picture, as certain observations in the literature cannot be …

The Phytoremediation Of Escherichia Coli In Contaminated Water By Lemna Minor, Salvinia Minima, And Azolla Caroliniana, Madison Han

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

The 3p Framework: A Comprehensive Approach To Coping With The Emerging Infectious Disease Crisis, Orsolya Molnár, Eric Hoberg, Valeria Trivellone, Gábor Földvári, Daniel R. Brooks

MANTER: Journal of Parasite Biodiversity

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest example of the profound socioeconomic impact of the emerging infectious disease (EID) crisis. Current health security measures are based on a failed evolutionary paradigm that presumes EID is rare and cannot be predicted because emergence requires the prior evolution of novel genetic capacities for colonizing a new host. Consequently, crisis response through preparation for previously emerged diseases and palliation following outbreaks have been the only health security options, which have become unsustainably expensive and unsuccessful. The Stockholm paradigm (SP) is an alternative evolutionary framework that suggests host changes are the result of changing conditions …

Antibody Prevalence And Risk Factors Associated With Rickettsia Spp. In A Pediatric Cohort: Sfgr Remains Underdiagnosed And Underreported In El Salvador, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Marvin Stanley Rodríguez Aquino, Kia Zellars, Hanna Waltz, Madeleine Meyer, Lídua Gual-Gonzalez, Stella C.W. Self, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Spotted fever group rickettsioses (SFGR) are caused by a group of tick-borne pathogens that are increasing in incidence globally. These diseases are typically underreported and undiagnosed in low- and middle-income countries, and thus, have been classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. Countries with high poverty, low human development index score, and limited health infrastructure—like El Salvador in Central America—lack necessary surveillance for SFGR and other tick-borne pathogens. This paucity of baseline SFGR infection prevalence leaves vulnerable populations at risk of misdiagnosis. Further, tick-borne disease burdens in El Salvador are severely limited. To lay the foundation for tick-borne disease epidemiology in El …

Sers-Based Rapid Vertical Flow Immunoassay For Enhanced Point Of Care Diagnostics, Eunice Ama Ebbah

Theses and Dissertations

Many diagnostic tools for the accurate detection of diseases are time consuming and require multiple complex steps. Thus, there is a critical need to develop an alternative point of care test that provides rapid, reliable, and affordable results. Recently, surface-enhance Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been developed as an analytical technique that enables low levels of detection and quantitative chemical analysis. Here, we exploit SERS in the development of a rapid diagnostic test, using human IgG as a model diagnostic biomarker. The vertical flow immunoassay system designed, utilizes filter paper embedded with gold nanoparticles (AuNP) to form a plasmonic paper. Capture …

Health Communications Trial With A Resistant Population To Increase Public Health Compliance During A Pandemic, Alison Amoroso, Carlos A. O. Pavao, Russel E. Luke, Jennifer Mccoy, Sean Richey, Shenandoah Evans

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Georgia has among the worst rates of COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates in the nation. Many identifying as politically conservative resist public health mitigation measures, similar to populations in other politically conservative geographical areas. There are limited peer-reviewed public health communications designed for this population. We aimed to determine if an intervention using a fear appeal approach with efficacy during a pandemic can positively affect knowledge, attitude, perception, and/or behavior (KAP) in Georgia with this population.

Methods: We delivered online video stimuli tailored to the geocultural characteristics of the target population. designed to stimulate fear, encourage efficacy, and counter …

Covid-19-Impacted Research And Education In Global Healthcare And Stem: Evaluation Of Case Studies, Yumna Indorewala, Santanu De

Trick to the Treat of Internships and Research

The zoonotic novel coronavirus has posed major challenges to the world’s economy, social development, and public health. Effects in the education and research in the field of healthcare and STEM are accentuated in lower-developed countries or communities where the access to technology and a reliable internet connection are luxuries making it difficult to attain education virtually. The Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has also disrupted research and training in STEM and healthcare. With significant increases in infection rates there is an urge to redirect projects towards virology research and vaccine development. This comprehensive literature review includes case studies highlighting the …

Global Research In Anatomy And Physiology During Covid-19: Lessons Learnt And Future Recommendations, Harsh Chheda, Jeet Patel, Santanu De

Trick to the Treat of Internships and Research

The ongoing Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a significant disruption in several areas of research within the fields of Anatomy and Physiology. With the whole world coming to a standstill, research of any kind was difficult to pursue, especially in these disciplines requiring kinesthetic/tactile application of concepts or testing hypotheses through hands-on engagement, as the new social guidelines and risks to certain groups of people hindered up-to-date research-data collection. However, with new technology and protocols created or adopted, there has been an effort to better help students and scientists to conduct research remotely; such alternatives cannot effectively …

Global Education In Anatomy And Physiology During Covid-19: Lessons Learnt And Future Recommendations, Sean Mahajan, Sneh Patel, Santanu De

Trick to the Treat of Internships and Research

The Coronavirus Infectious Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted several essential aspects of anatomy and physiology education worldwide. With this pandemic, dynamic instructional and technological interventions have been taking place rapidly in an effort to minimize the adverse repercussions of moving away from the traditional means of education in these critical scientific disciplines. COVID-19 has necessitated higher educational administrations, faculty, and students to pursue teaching, learning, and assessment of anatomy and physiology courses/curricula through innovative strategies without compromising on the quality or rigor of education. Our study encapsulates, for the first time, globally published reports on the key implications of …

October 26, 2022 Greenmail, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

GreenMail (student newsletter through 2024)

No abstract provided.

The Slow Violence Of Racism On Asian Americans During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Gloria Wong-Padoongpatt, Aldo Barrita, Anthony King, Michelle Strong

Psychology Faculty Research

Racism against people of Asian descent increased by over 300% after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in the United States, with one in five Asian Americans reporting direct experiences with overt discrimination. Large-scale eorts and resources initially, and quite understandably, prioritized investigating the physiological impact of the coronavirus, which has partially delayed research studies targeting the psychological eects of the pandemic. Currently, two studies tracked the unique relationships between psychosocial factors, such as experiencing everyday racism, and the self-reported wellbeing of Asian Americans in the United States and compared these associations with Latinx Americans. Study 1 (April 2020–April 2021) examined how …

Cftr Deletion In Mouse Epithelial And Immune Cells Differentially Influence The Intestinal Microbiota, Callie E. Scull, Meng Luo, Scott Jennings, Christopher M. Taylor, Guoshun Wang

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-threatening genetic disorder, caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane-conductance regulator gene (cftr) that encodes CFTR, a cAMP-activated chloride and bicarbonate channel. Clinically, CF lung disease dominates the adult patient population. However, its gastrointestinal illness claims the early morbidity and mortality, manifesting as intestinal dysbiosis, inflammation and obstruction. As CF is widely accepted as a disease of epithelial dysfunction, it is unknown whether CFTR loss-of-function in immune cells contributes to these clinical outcomes. Using cftr genetic knockout and bone marrow transplantation mouse models, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the intestinal microbes. Here we …

Systematic Analysis Of Mobile Genetic Elements Mediating Β-Lactamase Gene Amplification In Noncarbapenemase-Producing Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales Bloodstream Infections, W C Shropshire, A Konovalova, P Mcdaneld, M Gohel, B Strope, P Sahasrabhojane, C N Tran, D Greenberg, J Kim, X Zhan, S Aitken, M Bhatti, T C Savidge, T J Treangen, B M Hanson, C A Arias, S A Shelburne

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Noncarbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (non-CP-CRE) are increasingly recognized as important contributors to prevalent carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) infections. However, there is limited understanding of mechanisms underlying non-CP-CRE causing invasive disease. Long- and short-read whole-genome sequencing was used to elucidate carbapenem nonsusceptibility determinants in Enterobacterales bloodstream isolates at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. We investigated carbapenem nonsusceptible Enterobacterales (CNSE) mechanisms (i.e., isolates with carbapenem intermediate resistance phenotypes or greater) through a combination of phylogenetic analysis, antimicrobial resistance gene detection/copy number quantification, porin assessment, and mobile genetic element (MGE) characterization. Most CNSE isolates sequenced were non-CP-CRE (41/79; 51.9%), whereas 25.3% (20/79) were …

Epidemiology Of Plasmid Lineages Mediating The Spread Of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases Among Clinical Escherichia Coli, Bejan Mahmud, Meghan A Wallace, Kimberly A Reske, Kelly Alvarado, Carol E Muenks, David A Rasmussen, Carey-Ann D Burnham, Cristina Lanzas, Erik R Dubberke, Gautam Dantas

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) among clinical isolates of Escherichia coli has been increasing, with this spread driven by ESBL-encoding plasmids. However, the epidemiology of ESBL-disseminating plasmids remains understudied, obscuring the roles of individual plasmid lineages in ESBL spread. To address this, we performed an in-depth genomic investigation of 149 clinical ESBL-like E. coli isolates from a tertiary care hospital. We obtained high-quality assemblies for 446 plasmids, revealing an extensive map of plasmid sharing that crosses time, space, and bacterial sequence type boundaries. Through a sequence-based network, we identified specific plasmid lineages that are responsible for the dissemination of …

Comparison Of Metagenomic Sequencing And The Nanostring Ncounter Analysis System For The Characterization Of Bacterial And Viral Communities In Vaginal Samples, Todd N Wylie, Jane Schrimpf, Haley Gula, Brandi N Herter, Kristine M Wylie

2020-Current year OA Pubs

DNA sequencing assays have been used to characterize the vaginal microbiome and to identify associations with clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of the NanoString nCounter platform, a more efficient assay compared to sequencing, for the characterization of vaginal microbial communities. A panel of NanoString nCounter probes was designed to detect common vaginal bacteria and viruses with relevance to reproductive health. A defined synthetic community of microbes and 43 clinical samples were interrogated with NanoString nCounter assays and compared to known compositions or metagenomic shotgun sequencing (MSS) results. The NanoString nCounter platform and MSS …

Enteric Pathogen Testing Importance For Children With Acute Gastroenteritis: A Modified Delphi Study, Gillian A M Tarr, Drew J Persson, Phillip I Tarr, Stephen B Freedman

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The application of clinical diagnostics for gastroenteritis in children has implications for a broad collection of stakeholders, impacting clinical care, communicable disease control, and laboratory utilization. To support diagnostic stewardship as gastroenteritis testing options continue to advance, it is critical to understand which enteropathogens constitute priorities for testing across stakeholder groups. Using a modified Delphi technique, we elicited opinions of subject matter experts to determine clinical and public health testing priorities. There was a high level of overall agreement (≥80%) among stakeholders (final round

Emergence Of Compensatory Mutations Reveals The Importance Of Electrostatic Interactions Between Hiv-1 Integrase And Genomic Rna, Christian Shema Mugisha, Tung Dinh, Abhishek Kumar, Kasyap Tenneti, Jenna E Eschbach, Keanu Davis, Robert Gifford, Mamuka Kvaratskhelia, Sebla B Kutluay

2020-Current year OA Pubs

HIV-1 integrase (IN) has a noncatalytic function in virion maturation through its binding to the viral RNA genome (gRNA). Class II IN substitutions inhibit IN-gRNA binding and result in the formation of virions with aberrant morphologies marked by mislocalization of the gRNA between the capsid lattice and the lipid envelope. These viruses are noninfectious due to a block at an early reverse transcription stage in target cells. HIV-1 IN utilizes basic residues within its C-terminal domain (CTD) to bind to the gRNA; however, the molecular nature of how these residues mediate gRNA binding and whether other regions of IN are …

Using The Embl-Ebi Clustal Omega Tool To Calculate Diversity Of Heavy Chain Phage-Display Libraries, Michael Bodri, Shane A. Webb

Georgia Journal of Science

Here we show that traditional Sanger sequencing combined with analysis tools available from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), specifically EMBOSS Transeq and Clustal Omega, is extremely effective in the analysis of naïve phage display antibody libraries for the determination of library size and diversity. The free tools are easy to use and require little manipulation of reads by hand, allowing analysis to be performed on a standard personal computer. Utilization of this technique has applicability to researchers with limited access to deep sequencing. The primary drawback to this analysis methodology is that antibodies with particular molecular or …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Employment Characteristics, Eliana Shatkin

Theses and Dissertations

The following study examines ways in which COVID-19 has disrupted the United States labor market. My findings present disproportionately negative effects of COVID-19 on employment, labor force participation, worker absence, and weekly working hours for the female population in my sample, as well as veterans, disabled persons, and racial minorities.

October 25, 2022 Ereporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Production Of Functional Proteins In Plant Cell Culture Through Cellular Engineering And Rational Protein Design, Uddhab Karki

Student Theses and Dissertations

Plant cell culture is emerging as a promising alternative bioproduction platform for valuable proteins due to its low cost of production, safety (free from animal pathogen contamination) and ease of scale-up. However, there are common challenges for commercialization, including low protein yields, difficulty in cryopreservation, and non-human glycosylation, etc. This research project addresses the overarching research hypothesis that strategically modifying the plant cell genome using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and rationally designing protein molecules by fusing with a functional module enhance the production of protein in plant cell culture and improve protein function. There are two specific aims addressed in this project: …