Digital Commons Network^™

Tracking Sero-Molecular Trends Of Swine Brucellosis In Hawai'i And The Central Pacific, Thi Hai Au La, Ian A. Mcmillan, Prashant Dahal, Andrew H. Burger, Mahdi Belcaid, Darrin M. Phelps, Samuel M. Goldstein, Vienna R. Brown, Michael H. Norris

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Introduction

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of mammals caused by bacterial species of the Brucella genus. The reservoir for disease is typically mammals, with species of Brucella found infecting amphibians, bats, and marine mammals. Brucella spp. can pass directly to humans through contact with infected animals or their products. Brucella spp. can cause chronic debilitating infections in mammals, including humans, and is associated with spontaneous abortions in infected animals, causing reduced fecundity. In Hawai‘i, terrestrial species that could harbor Brucella spp. include swine, cattle, horses, and axis deer among others. The numerous feral swine in Hawai‘i are known to carry …

Hist 213-002: 20th Century World, Elektra Kostopoulou

History Syllabi

No abstract provided.

A Proposed International Legal Instrument To Combat Future Zoonotic Outbreaks, Mikiela Vazquez

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Big Pandemic On The Prairie: Spanish Flu In North Dakota, Christopher Neal Price

Digital Press Books

Big Pandemic on the Prairie: The Spanish Flu in North Dakota is the first book-length account of North Dakota’s experience with one of the deadliest pandemics in history. Set against the backdrop of the waning days of World War I, Big Pandemic on the Prairie tells the story of another conflagration that began along the front lines before spreading to the farthest reaches of the globe. By late September 1918, the Spanish flu began afflicting North Dakotans. Authorities in the state instituted restrictions that affected the daily lives of citizens, including limits on public gatherings and the closing of schools …

Sheep & Goat Research Journal, Volume 39, 2024

Sheep and Goat Research Journal

Sheep & Goat Research Journal, Volume 39, 2024

The Crucial Role Of Community Medicine In Improving Public Health, Malik Maaz Ahmad, Imran Ahmed Khan, Neha Priyanka

Digital Journal of Clinical Medicine

Community medicine, also known as Social and Preventive Medicine, is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on promoting and protecting the health and well-being of communities and populations. Unlike other medical specialties that primarily focus on individual patients, community medicine takes a broader approach, addressing the health needs of entire populations. The specialty of community medicine plays a vital role in clinical practice and public health. Its focus on prevention, population health, and evidence-based medicine makes it an essential discipline in improving the health and well-being of communities. Community-based medical education is of vital relevance in the modern change …

Compliance With World Health Organization Covid19 Preventive Behaviors In Rural Counties In Western Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Study, Caleb Nyaranga, Cholo Wilberforce, Fletcher J. Njororai

Population Health Leadership and Analytics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended various measures to tackle COVID-19, and were adopted by many governments, targeting behavior change among citizens to lower the transmission. There was a paucity of data on the patterns of compliance with different measures within individuals and whether people adhere to all recommended measures or cautiously prefer few but not others. Understanding compliance behaviors and associated factors is important for developing interventions to increase compliance.

Methods: cross-sectional study was conducted among adults in the western region of Kenya. A sample of 806 participants was selected using a stratified sampling method. A structured questionnaire …

Conference Proceedings - Symposium Insights And Implications: Advancing Regional Health Governance In The Inter-American System, Uchechukwu Ngwaba, A. M. Viens, Carlos Bernal, Karline Wilson-Mitchell, Michelle Amri, Jake Okechukwu Effoduh, Lisa Forman, Roojin Habibi, Mathieu Poirier, Oghenowede Eyawo, Sarah Fixon-Owoo, Innocent Ntaganira, Aeda Salim, Aminah Haghighi, Saumya Rai, Sandeep Kaur, Samrawit Kebreab, Sekinat Owoyemi, Kateryna Fomina

The Transnational Human Rights Review

This paper presents insights and implications from a two-day research symposium organized by the Regional Health Governance Study (RHGS) in 2024. The symposium examined how a regional approach to health governance within the Inter-American System, which comprises the Commission, the Court and the Pan-American Health Organization, can support the development of an equitable pandemic management system. It also examines the limitations of WHO-led pandemic response measures, identifies regional governance mechanisms, and offers policy recommendations to strengthen pandemic preparedness in the Americas. A qualitative thematic analysis using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was employed to assess barriers, facilitators, and …

Structural Modification Of 4'-Aminochalcones As Α-Glucosidase Inhibitors, Emmanuel Sunday Idoko

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Diabetes mellitus, one of the most predominant health problems worldwide, characterized by hyperglycemia, has attracted the attention of medicinal chemists. Although several therapeutic drugs have been developed and used clinically, diabetes continues to pose a growing threat to public health. One of the promising approaches for treating type 2 diabetes involves reducing the rate of carbohydrate hydrolysis by inhibiting the action of α-glucosidase. Over the years, chalcone analogues have been reported for their vast biological properties and as a promising antidiabetic agent. In this research, two series of 4'-aminochalcone derivatives were designed and synthesized as α-glucosidase inhibitors. Twenty-five alkylated 4'-aminochalcone …

Planning For Pandemic And Epidemic-Related Scarcity Of Medicines, Sapna Kumar

Articles

This chapter proposes an ex ante approach to tackling drug scarcity. Entities funding pandemic- and epidemic-related research should contractually require recipients to produce sufficient quantities of resulting medicines. The recipient would agree in the event of a future shortage to share its technology and know-how with a qualified third-party manufacturer, in exchange for compensation. Alternatively, funding entities could more broadly utilize dormant licenses, which activate in the event of a pandemic or epidemic, and which require rights holders to license out technology and know-how to alleviate shortages. Such provisions could go even further, integrating reasonable pricing assurances and ensuring access …

Population Burden Of Rare Infectious And Inflammatory Diseases Of The Heart, Meera Marji

Theses and Dissertations--Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Rare diseases of the heart, such as infective endocarditis (IE), myocarditis, and pericarditis, have earned limited attention in cardiovascular research despite their potential for severe morbidity and mortality. Amidst the opioid crisis in the United States, there has been a notable increase in endocarditis hospitalizations among people who inject drugs. Kentucky, at the epicenter of the opioid epidemic, lacks available data on IE hospitalizations. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems, influencing hospitalizations and healthcare utilization patterns. While trends before, during, and after the pandemic have been extensively studied for common cardiovascular diseases, such as heart …

Research News, Grants, 2024, Volume 1, Soumyajit Majumdar

Grants (2015-)

Grants and contract awarded during January - March 2024

Centralizing Pharmaceutical Innovation, Sapna Kumar

Articles

The United States has a mostly decentralized system for promoting new medicine development. By offering patents and regulatory exclusivities, the government incentivizes pharmaceutical companies to invent and bring to market new medicines. Although this development model offers benefits for promoting innovation, it comes at a cost: Market-based incentives lead companies to prioritize research and development (“R&D”) for medicines that offer a safe path to profitability, as opposed to those that offer the greatest social benefit. In particular, pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to invest in R&D for critically-needed antibiotics and infectious disease vaccines—both of which are difficult to develop and provide …

Synthesis Of Cu-Cy Nanoparticles For Treating Pfas In Water, Ligang Wang

Physics Theses - Archive

This work aims to address the cumulative harm caused by perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water to human health and the ecological environment around the world. Reducing or removing PFAS pollution is an urgent need. Cu-Cy nanoparticles are photosensitizers, which were developed for photodynamic therapy of cancer in the first place. In this work, we use Cu-Cy for the catalytic degradation of PFAS. Synthesis of Cu-Cy nanoparticles in deionized water at 90 degrees Celsius is a low-cost and efficient method. We demonstrated the detailed process of synthesizing Cu-Cy nanoparticles. Under ultraviolet illumination, the synthesized Cu-Cy nanoparticles turned yellow as …

The Influence Of Intracellular Photosymbiosis On The Evolution And Function Of Cnidarian Immunity, Madison A. Emery

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Intracellular photosymbiosis with Symbiodiniaceae is facilitated by cnidarian immunity as it is required for symbiont recognition and is subsequently suppressed to maintain stable intracellular symbiosis. To date, it is unclear how the cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis influences immune gene repertoires, immune gene expression, and disease pathology across its independent evolutions. To address these knowledge gaps, my dissertation approaches studying the cnidarian-Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis through a comparative lens to determine how it shapes immune gene evolution and immune responses in divergent symbiotic cnidarian species. In chapter two I survey eight non-symbiotic and seven symbiotic cnidarians proteomes for four families of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) …

A Clabsi Guideline For Healthcare Personnel During A Pandemic, Abiodun O. Adejumobi Dr

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Objective: The purpose of the guideline is to recommend and implement the new guidelines to the standard central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) guidelines for use during a pandemic.

Method: Articles from three different databases was conducted: PubMed, Medline, and CINAHL. One hundred articles were retrieved, and 74 articles were reviewed and evaluated. The articles were categorized based on the Johns Hopkins Hospital/Johns Hopkins University (2017) hierarchy level of evidence. Four new guidelines were created and added to the ten standard guidelines. Eleven stakeholders rated the recommendations. The stakeholder rates were sent to a statistician for analysis. Most of the ratings …

Guideline For Sbhc Provider Education To Start The Hpv Vaccine At Nine Years Old, Jasmine K. Serrano

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

It is estimated that 80% of people worldwide, regardless of gender, will contract human papillomavirus (HPV) at some point in their lives. The HPV vaccine series prevents high-risk strains that are known to cause cancer and genital warts (Osaghae et al., 2022). School-based health clinics (SBHC) can increase access to and completion of the HPV vaccine series, which remains low throughout the United States (Javaid et al., 2017; Rane et al., 2021; Shah et al., 2020). This guideline was created to increase SBH provider education to start the HPV vaccine at nine years old. The project lead conducted a systematic …

Malate Dehydrogenase In Parasitic Protozoans: Roles In Metabolism And Potential Therapeutic Applications, Amy L. Springer, Swati Agrawal, Eric P. Chang

Biological Sciences Research

The role of malate dehydrogenase (MDH) in the metabolism of various medically significant protozoan parasites is reviewed. MDH is an NADH-dependent oxidoreductase that catalyzes interconversion between oxaloacetate and malate, provides metabolic intermediates for both catabolic and anabolic pathways, and can contribute to NAD+/NADH balance in multiple cellular compartments. MDH is present in nearly all organisms; isoforms of MDH from apicomplexans (Plasmodium falciparum, Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium spp.), trypanosomatids (Trypanosoma brucei, T. cruzi) and anaerobic protozoans (Trichomonas vaginalis, Giardia duodenalis) are presented here. Many parasitic species have complex life cycles and depend on the environment …

2024-2025 Halmos College Of Arts And Sciences Graduate Program Catalog, Nova Southeastern University

Halmos College of Arts and Sciences Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Doctor Or Ai? Efficient Neural Network For Response Classification In Health Consultations, Olumide E. Ojo, Olaronke O. Adebanji, Hiram Calvo, Alexander Gelbukh, Anna Feldman, Ofir Ben Shoham

School of Computing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Patients seek quality healthcare because they trust their doctors and the healthcare system. However, the use of AI models in medical consultations has undermined this trust. AI systems typically depend on accurate and large volumes of data for training, but in cases of insufficient or incorrect data, this can lead to incomplete or flawed outputs. The inaccuracies in the response generated by AI systems may result in biased outcomes, compromising patient care and further eroding the trust patients place in the healthcare system. In this paper, we describe an innovative approach to distinguishing between responses generated by AI and those …

Audiovisual Multimodal Cough Data Analysis For Tuberculosis Detection, Jyoti Yadav, Aparna S. Varde, Hao Liu, George Antoniou, Lei Xie

School of Computing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Early detection of tuberculosis (TB) remains a critical challenge. This research presents a novel approach leveraging audio information from cough recordings for predicting TB. We move beyond traditional image-based methods (such as sputum smear microscopy and chest X-rays) and explore the feasibility of leveraging cough recordings for differentiating TB cases. Two main audio processing techniques, i.e. Mel-Spectrograms and Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs), are utilized to feature encoding audio recording into deep learning models for TB classification. Our proposed methods leverage a large challenge dataset encompassing clinical data from over 1,105 participants and over 502,252 cough recordings. Notably, a simple 1D …

Genetic Tracking Of A Rabid Coyote (Canis Latrans) Detected Beyond A Rabies Enzootic Area In West Virginia, Usa, Matthew W. Hopken, Crystal Gigante, Amy T. Gilbert, Richard B. Chipman, Jordana D. Kirby, Rene Edgar Condori, Samuel Mills, Chelsea Hartley, John Forbes, Lisa Dettinger, Dongxiang Xia, Yu Li, Bridgett Vonholdt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife translocation and cross-species transmission can impede control and elimination of emerging zoonotic diseases. Tracking the geographic origin of both host and virus (i.e., translocation versus local infection) may help determine the most effective response when high-risk cases of emerging pathogens are identified in wildlife. In May 2022, a coyote (Canis latrans) infected with the raccoon (Procyon lotor) rabies virus variant (RRV) was collected in Lewis County, West Virginia, USA, an area free from RRV. We applied host population genomics and RRV phylogenetic analyses to determine the most likely geographic origin of the rabid coyote. Coyote …

Jamaican Is…Jamaican Isn’T: A Multi-Media Exploration Of The Intersection Between Gender, Sexuality And Jamaican National Identity, Aurelie Campbell

Theses & ETDs

This senior project highlights the life histories of LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) Jamaican Americans - individuals born and raised in the United States - and or those who immigrated to the United States from Jamaica. Through oral history interviews with LGBTQIA+ Jamaican Diaspora individuals, I seek to understand the impact of queerness and nationality on their sense of identity. Combing their stories with scholarly research, I move away from the traditional undergraduate thesis and instead developed a multimedia exhibit consisting of the video and aural presentation of the oral histories; photographs of participants; oral, dance and …

Revolutionizing Our Understanding Of Specific Platelet-Pathogen Interactions, Hammodah Rawhi Hammodah Alfar

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Aside from their classical role in maintaining hemostasis, platelets are considered first-line vascular guardians that influence both the innate and adaptive immune systems. This is mediated by either direct interactions with immune cells or through the release of pre-stored cytokines and chemokines upon interacting with pathogens such as viruses. While this establishes platelets as potential players in the response to pathogens, it remains unclear what platelets can do with pathogens and how important that is to immune responses, especially against viruses. Most systemic viremias, such as HIV-1, present with mild thrombocytopenia, which is mediated through several mechanisms such as a …

Web-Based Visualization Of Spatial And Spatio-Temporal Data Using Integrated Datasets, Mohammad Shaito

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Currently, spatial geographic data can be collected for many applications that involve data on the planet earth. These collected data typically have coordinates (x,y), or longitude and latitude in map space, and thus can be located and displayed on maps. Data alone represents facts and has no meaning on its own but becomes meaningful when it is associated with application knowledge, such as elections, crimes, disease, etc. For example, there is no meaning behind those numbers (1, 23, 125, 355, . . .), yet they are data that can gain meaning when correlated with the total number of cases of …

Metal-Ion Doped Borate Bioactive Glasses- A Novel Direction In Minimizing Nosocomial Infections And Antibiotic Resistance, Sarah Fakher

Masters Theses

"Nosocomial infections represent a formidable challenge and induce a substantial burden on patients and healthcare systems. These infections result from the interaction of numerous pathogenic microorganisms, particularly bacteria, and lead to increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. Extensive research has been carried out to devise innovative solutions, mainly focusing on antimicrobial natural and synthetic substances. However, the proclivity of bacterial strains to form biofilms complicates treatment and elevates antibiotic resistance, prompting research into pioneering more effective and versatile antibacterial strategies. Borate bioactive glasses (BBGs) are the latest, remarkable classes of biomaterials with a wide array of medical applications, owing to …

Design Of A Targeted Blood Transcriptional Panel For Monitoring Immunological Changes Accompanying Pregnancy., Tobias Brummaier, Darawan Rinchai, Mohammed Toufiq, Mohammed Y Karim, Tanwir Habib, Jürg Utzinger, Daniel H Paris, Rose Mcgready, Alexandra K Marr, Tomoshige Kino, Annalisa Terranegra, Souhaila Al Khodor, Damien Chaussabel, Basirudeen Syed Ahamed Kabeer

Faculty Research 2024

BACKGROUND: Immunomodulatory processes exert steering functions throughout pregnancy. Detecting diversions from this physiologic immune clock may help identify pregnant women at risk for pregnancy-associated complications. We present results from a data-driven selection process to develop a targeted panel of mRNAs that may prove effective in detecting pregnancies diverting from the norm.

METHODS: Based on a

RESULTS: We identified 176 transcripts that were complemented with eight housekeeping genes. Changes in transcript abundance were seen in the early stages of pregnancy and similar patterns were observed in both datasets. Functional gene annotation suggested significant changes in the lymphoid, prostaglandin and inflammation-associated compartments, …

Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells In Cancer: Dual Roles, Complex Interactions And Therapeutic Potential., Mesut Yigit, Omer Faruk Basoglu, Derya Unutmaz

Faculty Research 2024

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells play diverse roles in cancer, infectious diseases, and immunotherapy. This review explores their intricate involvement in cancer, from early detection to their dual functions in promoting inflammation and mediating anti-tumor responses. Within the solid tumor microenvironment (TME), MAIT cells can acquire an 'exhausted' state and secrete tumor-promoting cytokines. On the other hand, MAIT cells are highly cytotoxic, and there is evidence that they may have an anti-tumor immune response. The frequency of MAIT cells and their subsets has also been shown to have prognostic value in several cancer types. Recent innovative approaches, such as programming …

Learning From Conect4children: A Collaborative Approach Towards Standardisation Of Disease-Specific Paediatric Research Data, Anando Sen, Victoria Hedley, Eva Degraeuwe, Steven Hirschfeld, Ronald Cornet, Ramona Walls, John Owen, Peter N Robinson, Edward G. Neilan, Thomas Liener, Giovanni Nisato, Neena Modi, Simon Woodworth, Avril Palmeri, Ricarda Gaentzsch, Melissa Walsh, Teresa Berkery, Joanne Lee, Laura Persijn, Kasey Baker, Kristina An Haack, Sonia Segovia Simon, Julius O. B. Jacobsen, Giorgio Reggiardo, Melissa A. Kirwin, Jessie Trueman, Claudia Pansieri, Donato Bonifazi, Sinéad Nally, Fedele Bonifazi, Rebecca Leary, Volker Straub

Faculty Research 2024

The conect4children (c4c) initiative was established to facilitate the development of new drugs and other therapies for paediatric patients. It is widely recognised that there are not enough medicines tested for all relevant ages of the paediatric population. To overcome this, it is imperative that clinical data from different sources are interoperable and can be pooled for larger post hoc studies. c4c has collaborated with the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) to develop cross-cutting data resources that build on existing CDISC standards in an effort to standardise paediatric data. The natural next step was an extension to disease-specific data …

Independent Repeated Mutations Within The Alphaviruses Ross River Virus And Barmah Forest Virus Indicates Convergent Evolution And Past Positive Selection In Ancestral Populations Despite Ongoing Purifying Selection., Alyssa T Pyke, Daniel J Wilson, Alice Michie, John S Mackenzie, Allison Imrie, Jane Cameron, Stephen L Doggett, John Haniotis, Lara J Herrero, Leon Caly, Stacey E Lynch, Peter T Mee, Eugene T Madzokere, Ana L Ramirez, Devina Paramitha, Jody Hobson-Peters, David W Smith, Richard Weir, Mitchell Sullivan, Julian Druce, Lorna Melville, Jennifer Robson, Robert Gibb, Andrew F Van Den Hurk, Sebastian Duchene

Faculty Research 2024

Ross River virus (RRV) and Barmah Forest virus (BFV) are arthritogenic arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) that exhibit generalist host associations and share distributions in Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Using stochastic mapping and discrete-trait phylo- genetic analyses, we profiled the independent evolution of RRV and BFV signature mutations. Analysis of 186 RRV and 88 BFV genomes demonstrated their viral evolution trajectories have involved repeated selection of mutations, particularly in the nonstructural pro- tein 1 (nsP1) and envelope 3 (E3) genes suggesting convergent evolution. Convergent mutations in the nsP1 genes of RRV (residues 248 and 441) and BFV (residues 297 and …