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Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering-Based Multiplexing Detection Of Proteins In Solutions, Hallie Feldman

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Influenza virus infected over 36 million people in 2019, whereas the COVID-19
virus caused a deadly pandemic that has infected over 700 million people to date. Both viruses share a magnitude of similar symptoms, which presents a key challenge for the need of a highly sensitive and selective biosensors that can simultaneously detect the specific biomarkers for each of these viruses. This work focuses on developing a Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) based biosensor for detecting protein biomarkers related to the two viruses such as H1N1 and S- protein. Gold nanoparticles are used for SERS signal amplification. The objective of …

Telehealth Monitoring For Non-Hospitalized Covid-19 Positive Patients In A Rural Setting, Rebekah Leann French

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Purpose

This quality improvement project evaluates the efficacy of an outpatient COVID-19 telehealth monitoring program intended to increase access to care, decrease emergency room/urgent care visits, and hospital admissions among telehealth observed adult patients in a rural area while providing safe home monitoring during acute illness.

Rationale/Background

Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare systems within the United States encountered several challenges including healthcare inequality and decreased healthcare access, particularly in rural communities. These gaps became more apparent when a novel COVID-19 pandemic emerged straining healthcare systems in the United States and throughout the world. Challenges ranged from overwhelmed emergency room (ER) …

Infection Of Neonatal Mice With The Murine Norovirus Strain Wu23 Is A Robust Model To Study Norovirus Pathogenesis, Amy M Peiper, Emily W Helm, Quyen Nguyen, Matthew Phillips, Caroline G Williams, Dhairya Shah, Sarah Tatum, Neha Iyer, Marco Grodzki, Laura B Eurell, Aqsa Nasir, Megan T Baldridge, Stephanie M Karst

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, very little is known about the pathogenic mechanisms underlying norovirus diarrhea, principally because of the lack of tractable small animal models. The development of the murine norovirus (MNV) model nearly two decades ago has facilitated progress in understanding host-norovirus interactions and norovirus strain …

Atraumatic Hamstring Tendon Rupture Causes Massive Lower Extremity Pyomyositis; Initially Read As Neoplasm, Anthony Cappellino, David Sevitski

Research Day

INTRODUCTION: Pyomyositis is a rare bacterial infection of skeletal muscle resulting in pain, tenderness, fever, and abscess formation, most commonly caused by staphylococcus aureus. Risks factors of pyomyositis include muscle trauma, skin infection, injections, and diabetes. Pyomyositis arises from hematogenous seeding predominately affecting immunocompromised patients in moderate climates.

CASE DESCRIPTION: A 53 year old female with a past medical history of HTN, HLD, OSA, and obesity initially presented to her PCP with atraumatic right sided lower back pain. The PCP referred the patient for x-ray imaging at L5-S1 that came back negative for fracture. Two weeks after the patient’s initial …

Synthetic Or Not: Implications Of Hormonal Birth Control On Women's Hormones And The Cortisol Stress Response, Madeline Perry '23

Senior Scholarly and Creative Symposium

Women’s bodies are the subject of decision-making and control, yet women’s lives are dismally ignored. The field of women’s health is highly understudied, and the demand for that adequate research must be granted to the women’s health field. This interdisciplinary research study investigated stress response differences between hormonal birth control users and non-users. Hormonal birth control (HBC) is one of the greatest technologies afforded to women and further research is necessary to ensure women are guaranteed bodily autonomy and women’s health education. Due to altered hormonal signaling, HBC has been linked to behavioral and decision-making differences in women. Building off …

An Overview Of Viruses And The Infamous Sars-Cov-2, Jake Sun

The Confluence

Background information on viruses is first presented which include topics like evolution, ecology, history, identification, structure, and application. The novel SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, pandemic originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Millions of people were infected with the virus in a short time period causing urgent concern worldwide. The purpose of this review is to provide a brief and general understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 to increase awareness and actions toward preventive measures. COVID-19 is a (+) ssRNA spherical enveloped virion that causes primarily respiratory illnesses. The S protein interacts with ACE-2 receptors on the host cell to gain entry …

Power, Pleasure, And Privilege: Defining Depauw’S Hookup Culture And Its Mental Health Implications, Reanna Stiehler '23

Senior Scholarly and Creative Symposium

Hookup culture is not primarily about sex, pleasure, connection, or freedom. Hookup culture is about power—how power is used, distributed, and desired. Previous work in hookup culture discusses a discourse of desire; however, the root and nature of this desire are unclear. I posit that hookup culture, as it currently exists, is strongly related to rape culture. In this thesis, I will explicate my anecdotal, qualitative, and quantitative evidence supporting this hypothesis.

This thesis provides an overview of what hookup culture is at a broad level. It then focuses more specifically on defining it at DePauw and considering the impact …

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms In Plasmodium Falciparum Genes: Their Roles In Antimalarial Drugs Resistance And Recent Detection Strategies, Raihanny Andrea Zahra, Ananda Maulana Fanshur, Aurelia Maria Prajna Saraswati, Nurul Inayah Rahmani

Indonesian Journal of Medical Chemistry and Bioinformatics

Introduction: Malaria is a serious tropical disease with Plasmodium falciparum as its most well-known causative parasite for producing higher levels of late stage parasites that leads to sequestration in vital organs which could lead to death. There is a growing trend of antimalarial drugs resistance against Plasmodium falciparum. Molecular assessment using polymerase chain reaction could trace the presence of mutation and also determine single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in Plasmodium falciparum genes. This SNP can determine the particular population’s response to antimalarial drugs. Objectives: This study aims to examine the relationship between SNP in Plasmodium falciparum genes and antimalarial drugs resistance. …

Clinical Outcomes Of Immunotherapy Continued Beyond Radiographic Disease Progression In Older Adult Patients With Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Eric K Singhi, Frank Mott, Michelle Worst, Cheuk Hong Leung, J Jack Lee, Brett Carter, Carolyn J Presley, John V Heymach, Mehmet Altan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immunotherapy is an effective and generally well-tolerated treatment strategy for older adult patients (aged ≥70 years) with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Unfortunately, most patients who receive immunotherapy eventually exhibit disease progression during treatment. The present study reports on a subset of older adult patients with advanced NSCLC who could effectively continue immunotherapy beyond radiographic disease progression due to perceived clinical benefit. Local consolidative radiotherapy may be used in select older adult patients to prolong the duration of immunotherapy they receive, with a particular consideration of their preexisting co-morbidities, performance status and tolerance of potential toxicities associated with combined …

Relationships Between Vector Mosquitoes And Climate Change Derived From Long Term Ecological Data In The United States, Nicholas Scott

Honors Program Theses and Projects

Climate change has significant ecological and societal consequences as evident from the past few decades. It has had a large impact on many species, including vector mosquitoes. Although how climate change impacts mosquitoes of the tropical world has been explored, temperate areas remain inadequately studied. Therefore, the medical and healthcare sectors are underprepared for treating mosquito-borne diseases (EEE and Western Nile virus). Based on a long-term ecological dataset covering the past ~10 years across 45 sites, we streamlined, processed, and subsequently analyzed data by building statistical models to understand changes among mosquito populations in the US in response to climate …

Functionalized Nanoprobes For Multiplexed Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopic Detection Of Cancer Biomarkers, Sydney D. Hakimi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cancer has a huge impact on people across the world. In 2020, there were about 19.3 million cancer cases and approximately 10 million deaths globally. Early detection and diagnosis of cancer results in a higher rate of survival of the disease. A key challenge is the need for a highly sensitive technique for early cancer detection. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and scattering (SERS) is a technique that can address the challenge by detecting biomarkers such as Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and Neuron-specific enolase (NSE), which provide diagnostic information for assessing cancer detection. This work focuses on the use of gold nanoprobes conjugated …

Introduction Of Hiv Point-Of-Care Testing In Adolescent Primary Care: A Quality Improvement Project, Jennifer Quinn Belfry

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

BACKGROUND: HIV, first identified in 1981, remains a persistent public health problem affecting 1.1 million Americans today. Detection is a critical first step to ending the HIV epidemic and the CDC recommends universal HIV screening for all patients 13-64 years of age regardless of risk factors. HIV screening rates are suboptimal especially in adolescent and young adult populations who face unique barriers to screening. The aim of this project was to improve HIV screening rates in adolescent and young adult patients at a large, urban FQHC.

LOCAL PROBLEM: In the state of Rhode Island, 1 in 10 persons living with …

Household Heroes: An Examination Of Domestic Workers' Rights In The United States And Mexico, Kaitlyn Sutton

Honors College Theses

Since 2018, worker's rights have become a forefront in the battle to developing a more equitable nation in Mexico, specifically regarding domestic employees. In my honors thesis I compare the rights of domestic workers in both the United States and Mexico using elements set forth in the SA8000 Standard formed by the Social Accountability International Organization in order to analyze which country grants more access to these liberties. I then examine different cross-cultural management styles in the countries as a method for explaining the differences in right. I also discuss advocacy groups still fighting for more freedom as well as …

Best Practice For Post-Operative Surgical Site Infection Prevention, Scott Cavinder

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

It is estimated that 300 million surgical procedures take place annually throughout the globe (Gillespie et al., 2021). However, the incidence of surgical site infections (SSI) developing in surgical patients within 30 days of surgery have been estimated to be upwards of 11% (Gillespie et al., 2021). The purpose of this evidence-based practice project was to address the PICOT question: In patients who have undergone cardiothoracic or vascular surgery (P) does implementation of an evidence based post-operative care bundle (I) as compared to current clinical agency practice standards (C) result in a decrease of SSI (O) over a 12-week period …

Higher Risk Of Short Term Covid-19 Vaccine Adverse Events In Myositis Patients With Autoimmune Comorbidities: Results From The Covad Study, Mrinalini Dey, Naveen R, Elena Nikiphorou, Parikshit Sen, Sreoshy Saha, James B Lilleker, Vishwesh Agarwal, Sinan Kardes, Jessica Day, Marcin Milchert, Mrudula Joshi, Tamer Gheita, Babur Salim, Tsvetelina Velikova, Abraham Edgar Gracia-Ramos, Ioannis Parodis, Albert Selva O'Callaghan, Minchul Kim, Tulika Chatterjee, Ai Lyn Tan, Ashima Makol, Arvind Nune, Lorenzo Cavagna, Miguel A Saavedra, Samuel Katsuyuki Shinjo, Nelly Ziade, Johannes Knitza, Masataka Kuwana, Oliver Distler, Bhupen Barman, Yogesh Preet Singh, Rajiv Ranjan, Avinash Jain, Sapan C Pandya, Rakesh Kumar Pilania, Aman Sharma, Manesh M Manoj, Vikas Gupta, Chengappa G Kavadichanda, Pradeepta Sekhar Patro, Sajal Ajmani, Sanat Phatak, Rudra Prosad Goswami, Abhra Chandra Chowdhury, Ashish Jacob Mathew, Padnamabha Shenoy, Ajay Asranna, Keerthi Talari Bommakanti, Anuj Shukla, Arunkumar R Pande, Kunal Chandwar, John D Pauling, Chris Wincup, Döndü Üsküdar Cansu, Erick Adrian Zamora Tehozol, Jorge Rojas Serrano, Ignacio García-De La Torre, Nicoletta Del Papa, Gianluca Sambataro, Atzeni Fabiola, Marcello Govoni, Simone Parisi, Elena Bartoloni Bocci, Gian Domenico Sebastiani, Enrico Fusaro, Marco Sebastiani, Luca Quartuccio, Franco Franceschini, Pier Paolo Sainaghi, Giovanni Orsolini, Rossella De Angelis, Maria Giovanna Danielli, Vincenzo Venerito, Lisa S Traboco, Leonardo Santos Hoff, Suryo Anggoro Kusumo Wibowo, Stylianos Tomaras, Daman Langguth, Vidya Limaye, Merrilee Needham, Nilesh Srivastav, Akira Yoshida, Ran Nakashima, Shinji Sato, Naoki Kimura, Yuko Kaneko, Jesús Loarce-Martos, Sergio Prieto-González, Albert Gil-Vila, Raquel Arànega Gonzalez, Hector Chinoy, Vikas Agarwal, Rohit Aggarwal, Latika Gupta

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

No abstract provided.

A Geospatial Approach To Identify Patterns Of Antibiotic Susceptibility At A Neighborhood Level In Wisconsin, United States, Laurel Legenza, Kyle Mcnair, Song Gao, James P Lacy, Brooke J Olson, Thomas R Fritsche, Lucas T Schulz, Samantha Lamuro, Frances Spray-Larson, Tahmeena Siddiqui, Warren E Rose

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) varies regionally. This study explores whether geospatial analysis and data visualization methods detect both clinically and statistically significant variations in antibiotic susceptibility rates at a neighborhood level. This observational multicenter geospatial study collected 10 years of patient-level antibiotic susceptibility data and patient addresses from three regionally distinct Wisconsin health systems (UW Health, Fort HealthCare, Marshfield Clinic Health System [MCHS]). We included the initial Escherichia coli isolate per patient per year per sample source with a patient address in Wisconsin (N = 100,176). Isolates from U.S. Census Block Groups with less than 30 isolates …

Engaging The Vulnerable: Health Literacy For Children Combating Non Communicable Diseases In Sub Saharan Africa, A Review, Madireng Monyela

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Background: Instilling health literacy in children could reduce the chances of poor health behaviours and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Good childhood health literacy has been associated with routinely having a healthier diet, as well as a better understanding and use of nutritional information on foods and drinks. Building resilience in childhood through health literacy programmes can also have a positive impact on psychological health and well-being across the life course, and reducing the severity of depression experienced in adulthood among other diseases.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to find out how health literacy is offered to children in sub-Saharan …

Covid-19, Pemenjaraan Berlebihan, Dan Potensi Katastrofe Kemanusiaan, Iqrak Sulhin

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

On March 2, 2020 Indonesia recorded the Covid-19 case for the first time. Since then the trend in the number of infections has continued to increase. Likewise, the number of deaths. To anticipate the spread within the Penitentiary (Lapas), the Ministry of Law and Human Rights is releasing prisoners, through accelerating assimilation and parole. Similar policies have also been carried out by other countries in the world and are recommended by international institutions, such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes. However, the main problem behind this policy is the overcrowding condition in …

An Integer Garch Model For A Poisson Process With Time-Varying Zero-Inflation, Isuru Panduka Ratnayake, V. A. Samaranayake

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Research & Creative Works

A serially dependent Poisson process with time-varying zero-inflation is proposed. Such formulations have the potential to model count data time series arising from phenomena such as infectious diseases that ebb and flow over time. The model assumes that the intensity of the Poisson process evolves according to a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) formulation and allows the zero-inflation parameter to vary over time and be governed by a deterministic function or by an exogenous variable. Both the expectation maximization (EM) and the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) approaches are presented as possible estimation methods. A simulation study shows that both parameter …

Early Milk Feeding Impacts Health And Immunity In Later Life, Rebecca Mclennan, Eric S. Geanes, Angela Dickerson, Todd Bradley

Research at Children's Mercy Month 2023

Infants born premature have increased susceptibility to infection and other immune complications. Human milk feeding has been associated with fewer infections and reduced intestinal inflammation leading to improved health outcomes. The composition of milk is variable between mothers and changes over the course of lactation to meet the needs of the growing infant. There is an urgent need to define the components of milk that are critical for protecting against infection and improving infant health. Premature infants often receive combinations of feeding that includes donor milk that is derived from mature milk. Thus, premature infants could receive milk that lacks …

Relationship Between Illicit Drug Users And Bandits In A Population: Mathematical Modelling Approach, John O. Akanni, Afeez Abidemi

Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences

Among the major global health and social problems facing the world today is the use of illicit drugs and the act of banditry. The two problems have resulted in the loss of precious lives and possessions and even devastating effects on the economy of some countries where such acts were being practised. Of interest in this work is to study the global stability of illicit drug use spread dynamics with banditry compartments using a dynamical system theory approach. Illicit drug use and banditry reproduction number, which measures the potential spread of illicit drug use and banditry in the population, is …

Respiratory Viral Infections In School Kids, Sydnie Petty, Amanda Hayes, Anjana Sasidharan, Dithi Banerjee, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Jennifer Goldman, Jennifer E. Schuster

Research at Children's Mercy Month 2023

Background: The epidemiology of medically attended respiratory viral infections (RVI) is well described, however, the epidemiology of RVI in schools is poorly understood. The goal of our School KIDS study, an ongoing surveillance program, is to understand the epidemiology of respiratory viral pathogens in asymptomatic and symptomatic students/staff and to understand the vaccine effectiveness for COVID-19 and influenza in K-12 schools in order to inform public health.

Methods: School KIDS is being conducted in the North Kansas City School District (NKC) and is underway; open to all students and staff, with enrollment starting from October 31, 2022. Participants with respiratory …

Temporal, Phenotypic, And Quantitative Characterization Of Thyroid Infiltrating Mononuclear Cells During Development Of Spontaneous Autoimmune Thyroiditis In Obese Strain Chickens, Katelyn M. Clark

Poultry Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Obese strain (OS) of chickens spontaneously develops autoimmune thyroiditis and is a well-established biomedical model for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis in humans. Both conditions are characterized by the infiltration of the thyroid glands with mononuclear cells resulting in destruction of the thyroid tissue and impairment of the thyroid’s endocrinological functions. Past studies have described mononuclear cell infiltration in thyroids of the OS chickens, but the time-course, cell composition, and relative amounts of the various mononuclear cells infiltrating the thyroids has not been well defined. In this project, the mononuclear cell infiltrate was characterized phenotypically and quantitatively in OS chickens over the …

An Analysis Of Trends Of Generic Drugs And Biologic Prices In The U.S., Mohammed Jamjoom

Pharmaceutical Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

Introduction: Drug prices are a significant problem for the US healthcare system. Generic and biosimilar market competition reduces drug and biologic prices, results in substantial savings, and improves patient access and outcomes. As the costs of healthcare and prescription drugs continue to rise, the discussion about drug prices has taken a prominent place at the forefront of national discourse. This study assessed impacting trends in prices of generic, biosimilar, and reference products in the US. We also evaluated the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 on biologic prices.

Methods: We extracted a list of the new generic …

Making The Revolution: The Young Lords And The Creation Of A New Puerto Rican Identity, Jaylynn M. Rodriguez

Sociology Honors Projects

In this paper, I provide a critique of the Young Lords by dissecting how the Young Lords shifted Puerto Rican identity from an assimilationist perspective to a politicized and decolonial one. Through understanding Puerto Rico (and consequently, Puerto Ricans) as an extension of what Anibal Quijano calls the 'coloniality of power’, I argue that the Young Lord’s develop a dichotomy between good vs. bad Puerto Ricans, where good Puerto Ricans are affirmed and legitimized as genuine Puerto Ricans, while bad Puerto Ricans are discredited and excluded from the movement. I identify four archetypes to show how the Young Lords divided …

Canine Heartworm Infection And Prophylaxis Use Among Pet Caretakers From The Cumberland Gap Region Of Tennessee, Usa, Charles T. Faulkner

Faculty Other Scholarly Content

The prevalence of infection with canine heartworm (CHW), Dirofilaria immitis, continues to increase across the United States, regardless of the availability of effective and affordable prophylactic products. Current reports of CHW prevalence as estimated by the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) are thought to under-represent the true magnitude of the issue because pet dogs that do not receive regular veterinary care are often excluded. This study estimated the prevalence of CHW in pet dogs and associated prophylaxis use in pet dogs in the Cumberland Gap Region with a combined doorstep diagnostic testing approach and caretaker survey. Dogs tested (n = …

Implementation Of Methods For Cell Therapy Research And Assessment Of The Impact Of Cryopreservation, Samantha Lynes

Master's Theses

Cell therapy is the administration of living cells into a patient to prevent or treat a variety of diseases and illnesses. The cell therapy industry is rapidly expanding, and continued research is necessary for manufacturing safe and effective therapies. Although cell therapy manufacturing generally involves cryopreservation processes for storage, there are limited standards for cryopreservation processes and assays required to evaluate cell therapies post-thaw, and limited understanding exists about how a recovery period post-thaw could impact cell health. The overall goal of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of cryopreservation and potential subsequent recovery time on cell viability.

Because …

Immunomodulatory Effects Of Resolvin D2 In A Model Of Infection, Prem Yugandhar Kadiyam Sundarasivarao

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Dysregulated hyperinflammatory host immune response to underlying bacterial infections is a characteristic of sepsis. In sepsis, bacteria often trigger abnormal hyperinflammatory responses which can cause multiple organ failure and if sustained can lead to an immunosuppressive phase where the host is susceptible to secondary infections caused by opportunistic bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). In our studies, we used a 2-hit model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) followed by P. aeruginosa secondary lung infection to investigate cellular and molecular mechanisms in the beneficial action of resolvin D2 (RvD2). Resolvins of the D-series are a group of fatty acids known …

The Effect Of Weight Bias On The Prevalence Of Cardiovascular Disease, Manuela Paki Amouzou

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

The condition of obesity has been recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA) as a multi-faceted chronic disease. Previous studies have shown an associational relationship between recorded weight bias in healthcare providers, in society at large, andtowards oneself and negative health outcomes. In addition, the increased rate of recorded obesity is often tied to the increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in the population. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss the causes of this relationship and an updated course of treatment. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the attitudes and beliefs of healthcare providers towards people who are …

Ms And Epstein Barr, Sheetal Tallada

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.