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Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterium Correlation With Geochemical Characteristics Of Soil And Basalt In Hawaii, Leeza Marie Wells

Theses and Dissertations

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cause opportunistic lung disease though environmental exposure pathways. Among the United States, Hawaii has a significantly higher infection rate. Preliminary studies have shown certain environmental factors, such as phosphorus and other select soil geochemical characteristics, to be statistically significant to NTM occurrence. However, a model to predict NTM occurrence based on soil geochemistry had yet to be attempted. A selection of 40 NTM positive and 40 NTM negative soils from Oahu were selected for a geochemical analysis to search for possible correlations to mineralogy and elemental abundances that may promote, or inhibit, NTM growth in the environment. …

Democratic Erosion Predicts Rising Deaths From Drug Poisoning And Infectious Disease, Jennifer Karas Montez, Kent Jason G. Cheng, Jacob M. Grumbach

Population Health Research Brief Series

Strong democratic functioning is good for population health. However, democratic functioning eroded in many U.S. states in recent decades. The erosion was especially pronounced for one aspect of democratic functioning—electoral democracy, which refers to free and fair elections. This brief summarizes findings from a study examining how changes in electoral democracy in the 50 states predicted changes in the risk of death among adults ages 25-64 during 2000-2019. Findings demonstrate that democratic erosion strongly predicts rising deaths from drug poisoning, infectious disease, suicide, and homicide.

Acute Suppurative Thyroiditis Secondary To Gemella With Extensive Complications, Amber Champion

Department of Internal Medicine Faculty Research

A young woman developed thyroid storm secondary to acute suppurative thyroiditis, with Gemella morbillorum bacteremia. Her case was complicated by neck abscess, Lemierre syndrome (septic thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein), mediastinitis, and pleural effusion. She was treated for thyroid storm including steroids and antibiotics. The infectious complications required several surgical procedures and interventions and a prolonged hospital stay, but she ultimately made a full recovery. Complications from suppurative thyroiditis can be rapid and widespread; swift recognition and treatment by a multidisciplinary team can help to prevent complications.

Humanity In Trauma, Alyssa K. Thompson

University Honors Theses

The main objective of the literature review is to use the trauma-informed care paradigm to argue that the current implementation of trauma-informed care reinforces hierarchies of harm, leading to feelings of moral obligation and moral injury while perpetuating othering. This literature review criticizes trauma-informed care, emphasizing lived experiences against the characteristics trauma-informed care aspires to reflect. The review centers on the broad themes of understanding, universality, and acceptance of the present trauma-informed care paradigm. The critique comes from the silently excluded group of healthcare workers, with a personal perspective from a professional who worked in an urban hospital emergency department …

Brain Abscess And Stroke In Children And Adults With Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia: Analysis Of A Large National Claims Database, Andrew J. White, Itay Marmor, Kate M. Peacock, Katelin B. Nickel, Jessica Zavadil, Margaret A. Olsen

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an inherited disease associated with pathogenic variants in transforming growth factor-β signaling pathway-related genes, resulting in abnormal vascular development in various organs. Brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) may lead to intracranial hemorrhage, and brain abscess or ischemic stroke may result from right to left shunting via pulmonary AVMs. We aimed to investigate the risk for these severe complications in both adults and children with HHT.

METHODS: We conducted a case-control study among participants aged 1-64 years in the MarketScan Commercial (2006-2019) and Multistate Medicaid Databases (2011-2019). We identified cases with HHT using

RESULTS: …

Lutheran General Hospital: An Institution Intent On A Moral Purpose, 1980, Advocate Aurora Health

Historical Documents - Combined

Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, IL: This report, compiled in 1980, is about LGH Memory, Challenges, and Prospects. It is part of a consultative service provided by Dr. Kenneth Vaux to the formative project at Lutheran General Hospital entitled “Human Values Forum.” The report deals with vital issues, set against a background of the values which informed the founders of LGH and culminating in guidelines for future directions when confronting these issues.

Christine Ro, Oral History Interview, 2023, You Li

Collective Memory of Women Journalists in COVID-19

Christine Ro, a freelance journalist based in London, the United Kingdom, covers subjects on international development, social justice, environmentalism, and pop culture. Her work has appeared in Nature, BBC, Forbes, and The New York Times, among others.

In this interview, Ro recalled her experiences reporting COVID. She used a solution-based and data-driven approach that relied heavily on scientific research findings to inform the public of policymaking and the impact of COVID-19. She shared the strategies and challenges of reporting subjects and contacting on-the-ground sources remotely in other countries during the pandemic. She also noted gender disparity in family care and …

Broad Host Susceptibility Of North American Amphibian Species To Batrachochytrium Salamandrivorans Suggests High Invasion Potential And Biodiversity Risk, Matthew J. Gray, Edward Davis Carter, Jonah Piovia-Scott, J. Patrick W. Cusaac, Anna C. Peterson, Ross D. Whetstone, Andreas Hertz, Aura Y. Muniz-Torres, Molly C. Bletz, Douglas C. Woodhams, John M. Romansic, William B. Sutton, Wesley Sheley, Allan Pessier, Catherine D. Mccusker, Mark Q. Wilber, Debra L. Miller

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) is a fungal pathogen of amphibians that is emerging in Europe and could be introduced to North America through international trade or other pathways. To evaluate the risk of Bsal invasion to amphibian biodiversity, we performed dose-response experiments on 35 North American species from 10 families, including larvae from five species. We discovered that Bsal caused infection in 74% and mortality in 35% of species tested. Both salamanders and frogs became infected and developed Bsal chytridiomycosis. Based on our host susceptibility results, environmental suitability conditions for Bsal, and geographic ranges of salamanders in the …

Implementation Of A Virtual Interprofessional Icu Learning Collaborative: Successes, Challenges, And Initial Reactions From The Structured Team- Based Optimal Patient-Centered Care For Virus Covid-19 Collaborators, Simon Zec, Nika Zorko Garbajs, Yue Dong, Ognjen Gajic, Christina Kordik, Lori Harmon, Marija Bogojevic, Romil Singh, Yuqiang Sun, Vikas Bansal, Linh Vu, Kelly Cawcutt, John M. Litell, Sarah Redmond, Elly Fitzpatrick, Kirstin J. Kooda, Michelle Biehl, Neha S. Dangayach, Viren Kaul, June M. Chae, Aaron Leppin, Mathew Siuba, Rahul Kashyap, Allan J. Walkey, Alexander S. Niven

Jefferson Hospital Staff Papers and Presentations

IMPORTANCE: Initial Society of Critical Care Medicine Discovery Viral Infection and Respiratory illness Universal Study (VIRUS) Registry analysis suggested that improvements in critical care processes offered the greatest modifiable opportunity to improve critically ill COVID-19 patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The Structured Team-based Optimal Patient-Centered Care for Virus COVID-19 ICU Collaborative was created to identify and speed implementation of best evidence based COVID-19 practices. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This 6-month project included volunteer interprofessional teams from VIRUS Registry sites, who received online training on the Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and iNjury approach, a structured and systematic method …

A Swift Kick In The Pandemics: Identifying Spillover Dynamics, Andrew N. Rowan

WellBeing News

The spillover of viruses from wild animals to cause human disease is a complex ecological process. A recent paper connects the dots.

Design, Construction, And Testing Of Recombinant Dna-Based Vaccines For Protection Against Salmonella Enterica Subspecies Enterica Serovar Javiana, Ashley Edwards

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the United States, Salmonella Javiana is among the top 5 most common nontyphoidal Salmonella serotypes, with a 325% increase in infection rate since 1970. Globally, nontyphoidal Salmonella leads to approximately 93.8 million illnesses and 155,000 deaths annually, with disproportionate impacts in developing countries. In the United States alone, these infections lead to over $4 billion in costs, the majority of which are attributed to those expenses incurred from mortalities. The zoonotic nature of nontyphoidal Salmonellae and their ability to survive on and within vegetation mean huge economic burden potential for various agricultural industries as well, especially since some of …

Using Infectious Disease Simulations To Model, Quantify, And Predict The Impact Of Self-Quarantine And Vaccination On Mpox Spread Across The United States, Amar Johanna Scherzer

Quantitative Social Science Undergraduate Senior Theses

In this paper, I build a data-driven theoretical model that reproduces the epidemiological (epi) curve of the mpox outbreak in the United States. The general framework presented in this paper considers the susceptible (S), infected (I), and recovered (R) stages of an mpox infection through an SIR model of disease spread. I use vaccination, transmissibility, recovery, and self isolation rates as parameters in my SIR model as well as a lag-time to account for the delay in vaccination roll-out. By using real-world data to inform estimates of the susceptible population and mpox transmission characteristics, I am able to simulate an …

Temporary Urbanism-Spatial Democracy In The Temporary City, Shijie Li

Masters Theses

This thesis is committed to exploring and discussing the way people behave in the temporary urbanism, perceive and deploy their space arrangement rights and how this nourishes relationships between people, between people and society, and brings a greater sense of spiritual identity and belonging to people.

The modern city is the result of the spatial distribution of material production, urban space is political and oriented to the distribution of power, and citizens are deprived of the subjective qualification and right to participate in the creation o f urban cultural space. Many factors have led to the monopolization of human participation …

Nurturing Haven: A Safe Place For Single Mothers, Meng Su

Masters Theses

Single mothers may turn to substance use as a coping mechanism due to the overwhelming responsibility of caring for children on their own. Raising children without the support of a partner can be emotionally, physically, and financially demanding, leaving single mothers feeling stressed, anxious, and exhausted. These feelings of burden and pressure can lead to depression, and substance use may sw to maintain their responsibilities and provide the care their children need. This thesis proposes the integration of two typologies: a harm reduction center and a daycare center, with the aim to de-stigmatize single mother substance users and create a …

Improving Microbiome Research Through Enhanced Reporting And Modeling The Effects Of Antibiotic Usage, Chloe A. Mirzayi

Dissertations and Theses

I consider two key areas in the growing field of human microbiome research: improving the quality of study reporting and the impact of antibiotics on participants in human gut microbiome research studies. In the first chapter, a team of evaluators used the Strengthening the Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies (STORMS) checklist to assess recently published microbiome literature. I found moderate agreement and reliability between evaluators, identified several items in STORMS that could be improved, and confirmed that the STORMS checklist can serve as a tool for assessing the reporting quality of published microbiome study. The next chapter considers pre-exposure …

Pressures To Comply Or Defy: How Social Values Influence Perceptions Of Healthcare Workers As Villains, James K. Beggan, Scott T. Allison

Heroism Science

During the Covid-19 pandemic, politicians, the media, and the public labeled frontline workers as heroes. The goal of this article is to examine how certain aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic—such as the nature of the Covid-19 virus, coupled with insufficient governmental and institutional responses—created a situation where it became possible for people to characterize healthcare workers as villains. This approach to medical professionals is rather novel in heroism studies and social sciences. A qualitative review of available data sources provided evidence that frontline healthcare workers were perceived negatively. Experiencing a lack of cooperation from patients and their families, healthcare personnel …

An Epidemic Model With Time Delays Determined By The Infectivity And Disease Durations, Masoud Saade, Samiran Ghosh, Malay Banerjee, Vitaly Volpert

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

We propose an epidemiological model with distributed recovery and death rates. It represents an integrodifferential system of equations for susceptible, exposed, infectious, recovered and dead compartments. This model can be reduced to the conventional ODE model under the assumption that recovery and death rates are uniformly distributed in time during disease duration. Another limiting case, where recovery and death rates are given by the delta-function, leads to a new point-wise delay model with two time delays corresponding to the infectivity period and disease duration. Existence and positiveness of solutions for the distributed delay model and point-wise delay model are proved. …

Late-Onset Isolated Myositis Following Transobturator Mid-Urethral Sling: A Case Report, Bruce Lee, Mohamad Mahmoud

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

Late onset of isolated myositis following a Transobturator (TOT) mid-urethral sling (MUS) is a rare post-operative complication.

A 38-year-old gravida 3 para 3003 with a long standing history of mixed urinary incontinence, Stage 2 anterior prolapse, dysmenorrhea, and abnormal uterine bleeding underwent a hysteroscopy with dilation and curettage, levonorgestrel intrauterine device insertion, anterior colporrhaphy, MUS insertion using the TOT approach and cystoscopy. Eight weeks post-op, she presented to the emergency room with right inguinal and low back pain, difficulty ambulating, and fevers. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the right hip revealed inflammatory fluid collection within the adductor brevis with posterior …

Quality Improvement Project To Increase Pneumococcal Vaccination Rates In Adults With Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (Ibd) Being Treated With Immunosuppressants., Le Yu Naing, Sheza Malik, Jay Bapaye, Nagesh Jadhav

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

Abstract

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are at an increased risk of pneumonia, and using immunosuppressive medications further increases this risk. Hospitalized patients with IBD have a significantly higher mortality rate from infections with pneumonia being one of them. The American College of Gastroenterology recommends pneumococcal vaccination for all IBD patients as a part of preventative care for IBD patients. However, compliance rates of pneumococcal vaccination in IBD patients have been very low. Quality improvement projects in this regard have been successful at demonstrating increased immunization rates. Our quality improvement project was aimed at increasing pneumococcal vaccination rates in …

(R1954) Fractional Order On Modeling The Transmission Of Devastative Covid-19 Infection: Efficacy Of Vaccination, Ashutosh Rajput, Tanvi ., Rajiv Aggarwal, Arpana Sharma, Shiv Kumar Sahdev, Manoj Kumar, Jaimala .

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The second wave of COVID-19 is an unprecedented condition in India and began in mid February 2021. Individuals who were already suffering from other comorbidities were found with lung infection, and hence, the number of disease induced deaths were rising faster during the second wave in relation to the first wave. This paper has proposed a mathematical model with fractional order derivatives by correlating the model based number of infectives with the real number of infectives in India. For the system of fractional differential equations, a disease-free state has been computed and proved to be locally asymptotically stable with certain …

A Seven-Year Review Of Hospital- Onset Clostridioides Difficile Infection Reduction And The Case For A Multidisciplinary Taskforce Approach, Peggy Brown Mph, Cic, Michelle Charles Msn, Rn-Bc, Brittany S. Thorp Mph, Kristin Sims Mph Cic Cpps Fapic, R. Scott Stienecker Md

Infection Control

Presented at the 2023 APIC Annual Conference

Background: Hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection is a life-threatening disease that can prolong and complicate a patient's hospitalization. To reduce HO-CDIs and ensure positive health outcomes with reduced cost, utilization of a multi-disciplinary taskforce (MDT) is key to identify gaps, develop action plans, and implement and review interventions in the most efficient and effective manner.

Methods: Over the course of seven years, two rounds of interventions were executed consecutively across a nine-hospital healthcare system to reduce HO-CDI events. The first round (Round 1) driven solely by the Infection Prevention (IP) department spanned four years …

Candida Auris Screening In The Acute Care Setting: An Infection Control Partnership Between Hospitals And Skilled Nursing Facilities, Brittany S. Thorp Mph, Peggy Brown Mph, Cic, R. Scott Stienecker Md

Infection Control

Presented at 2023 APIC Annual Conference

Background: Candida auris (C. auris) is a drug-resistant fungus that can spread easily between hospitalized patients and nursing home residents. To mitigate risk of C. auris spread, a nine-hospital healthcare system developed a C. auris screening tool in January 2020. Infection Preventionists (IPs) use the screening tool to determine which patients qualify for C. auris screening, looking specifically at the facility type where the patient came from. The IP then initiates the isolation and testing protocol with the bedside nurse and provider.

Methods: Over the course of three years, the hospital epidemiologist collected data …

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Screening Of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Staff In An Outbreak Setting, R. Scott Stienecker Md, Fidsa, Fshea, Cic, Brittany S. Thorp Mph

Infection Control

Presented at 2023 APIC Annual Conference

In December 2020, our infection prevention (IP) department noted an increase in Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates over baseline in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Our hospital sees a steady influx of parents colonized with MRSA and our weekly screening process regularly discovers neonates that subsequently become colonized with MRSA. A doubling of the number of cases per month led to deeper investigation. Epidemiologic data were collected on the neonates and matched to their mother’s screening cultures (when obtained). Sensitivity patterns were matched, and staff noted that a single sensitivity pattern predominated

Playing The Policy Game: Basic Knowledge And Skills For Effective Policy Process Participation, Marcus D. Mauldin

Open Textbooks

Many of us have likely heard the expression “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Yet, it is the people who are often excluded from the public policy process. Citizen engagement is typically reactive rather than proactive and passive as opposed to active. Voting and protesting are not the only ways that governments hear the voices of the people. Voting allows citizens to choose individuals who represent their interests, yet their interests are not always represented in ways they desire. Protesting brings attention to issues but doesn’t always lead to problems being solved. This book aims to …

Simultaneous Evaluation Of Treatment Efficacy And Toxicity For Bispecific T-Cell Engager Therapeutics In A Humanized Mouse Model., Jiwon Yang, Jing Jiao, Kyle Draheim, Guoxiang Yang, Hongyuan Yang, Li-Chin Yao, Leonard D. Shultz, Dale L Greiner, Deepa Rajagopal, Sandrine Vessillier, Curtis C Maier, Sunish Mohanan, Danying Cai, Mingshan Cheng, Michael A Brehm, James G. Keck

Faculty Research 2023

Immuno-oncology (IO)-based therapies such as checkpoint inhibitors, bi-specific antibodies, and CAR-T-cell therapies have shown significant success in the treat- ment of several cancer indications. However, these therapies can result in the de- velopment of severe adverse events, including cytokine release syndrome (CRS). Currently, there is a paucity of in vivo models that can evaluate dose-response relationships for both tumor control and CRS-related safety issues. We tested an in vivo PBMC humanized mouse model to assess both treatment efficacy against specific tumors and the concurrent cytokine release profiles for individual human donors after treatment with a CD19xCD3 bispecific T-cell engager (BiTE). …

Variation In Histone Configurations Correlates With Gene Expression Across Nine Inbred Strains Of Mice., Anna L. Tyler, Catrina Spruce, Romy Kursawe, Annat Haber, Robyn L Ball, Wendy A Pitman, Alexander D Fine, Narayanan Raghupathy, Michael Walker, Vivek M. Philip, Christopher L. Baker, J Matthew Mahoney, Gary Churchill, Jennifer J. Trowbridge, Michael L. Stitzel, Kenneth Paigen, Petko M. Petkov, Gregory W. Carter

Faculty Research 2023

The diversity outbred (DO) mice and their inbred founders are widely used models of human disease. However, although the genetic diversity of these mice has been well documented, their epigenetic diversity has not. Epigenetic modifications, such as histone modifications and DNA methylation, are important regulators of gene expression, and as such are a critical mechanistic link between genotype and phenotype. Therefore, creating a map of epigenetic modifications in the DO mice and their founders is an important step toward understanding mechanisms of gene regulation and the link to disease in this widely used resource. To this end, we performed a …

Evaluation Of Breakthrough Action-Nigeria’S Social And Behavior Change Public Sector Capacity Strengthening Approach, Adetayo Adetunji, Dele Abegunde, Augustine Ankomah, Nrupa Jani, Pooja Sripad, Bright Addo

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

No abstract provided.

Nursing News & Views - June 2023, Joanne Miller Rn

Nursing Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Representing And Utilizing Clinical Textual Data For Real World Studies: An Ohdsi Approach, Vipina K Keloth, Juan M Banda, Michael Gurley, Paul M Heider, Georgina Kennedy, Hongfang Liu, Feifan Liu, Timothy Miller, Karthik Natarajan, Olga V Patterson, Yifan Peng, Kalpana Raja, Ruth M Reeves, Masoud Rouhizadeh, Jianlin Shi, Xiaoyan Wang, Yanshan Wang, Wei-Qi Wei, Andrew E Williams, Rui Zhang, Rimma Belenkaya, Christian Reich, Clair Blacketer, Patrick Ryan, George Hripcsak, Noémie Elhadad, Hua Xu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Clinical documentation in electronic health records contains crucial narratives and details about patients and their care. Natural language processing (NLP) can unlock the information conveyed in clinical notes and reports, and thus plays a critical role in real-world studies. The NLP Working Group at the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) consortium was established to develop methods and tools to promote the use of textual data and NLP in real-world observational studies. In this paper, we describe a framework for representing and utilizing textual data in real-world evidence generation, including representations of information from clinical text in the Observational …

Predicting The Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease And Related Dementia In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Using A Semi-Competing Risk Approach, Zhaoyi Chen, Yuchen Yang, Dazheng Zhang, Jingchuan Guo, Yi Guo, Xia Hu, Yong Chen, Jiang Bian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (AD/ADRD) are a group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases. The progression of AD can be conceptualized as a continuum in which patients progress from normal cognition to preclinical AD (i.e., no symptoms but biological changes in the brain) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD (i.e., mild symptoms but not interfere with daily activities), followed by increasing severity of dementia due to AD. Early detection and prediction models for the transition of MCI to AD/ADRD are needed, and efforts have been made to build predictions of MCI conversion to AD/ADRD. However, most existing studies …