Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons^™

Sars-Cov-2: Tale Of A Microscopic Murderer, Josiah P. Garner

Quest

Independent Study

Research in progress for BIOL1406: Biology for Science Majors I

Faculty Mentor: Amina Tassa, Ph.D.

I am delighted to introduce Josiah Garner’s “SARS-CoV-2: Tale of a Microscopic Murderer.” This independent study assignment explores the impact of a novel, deadly, and worldwide virus. The assignment also examines the fast development of vaccines to control the spread and reduce the symptoms of the virus.

Josiah’s paper focuses on the early history of the emergence of COVID-19, the world response, and vaccine development. He demonstrates critical thinking skills and effectively utilizes various research methods to obtain and communicate his information. Josiah …

The Future Of Pandemics: Land Use Controls As Means Of Preventing Zoonotic Disease, Bailey Andree

Pace International Law Review

Zoonotic diseases are increasing in frequency as climate change worsens around the world, with the recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighting the inadequate mechanisms in place to counteract disease spread. This article reviews various zoonotic diseases and their patterns of spread, highlighting land use change as the key driver of disease to demonstrate the need for legal intervention. International land use law is a little-developed subsect of environmental law that holds the key to combating this disease spread, and this article proposes solutions through this legal lens. Land use techniques which may be used to combat disease spread include conservation laws, setback …

Implementation Of A Drive-Through Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site: Experiences From Louvax–Broadbent In Louisville, Kentucky, Ruth Carrico, Sarah Beth Hartlage, Valenchia Brown Msn, Aprn, Fnp-C, Sarah M. Bishop, Luanne Didelot, William Hayden, Beverly Williams Coleman, Sarah Tan, Delanor Manson, Kellie Kane, Dawn Balcom, Paul Kern

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Response to the COVID-19 pandemic has required innovative approaches to vaccination, including methods to rapidly and safely immunize communities. A major challenge to such a response involved access to untapped healthcare worker resources. The Louisville, Kentucky, response involved the use of a large volunteer workforce to supplement local public health employees in planning and implementing a large-scale drive-through vaccination event. The objective of this manuscript was to outline processes involved in training a mass immunization workforce and implementating a large-scale COVID-19 community vaccination.

Approach: Competency-based and standardized training was provided for every volunteer before working their shift. Volunteers worked …

A Comparison Of The Evolution, Structure, And Function Of Sars-Cov And Sars-Cov-2 Spike Proteins, Tai Michaels

The Yale Undergraduate Research Journal

As the COVID-19 pandemic has developed into the largest pandemic of the twenty-first century, it has become apparent that this disease, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is unlike anything the modern world has faced before. Not only has the disease infected more than 16 million people worldwide, but its rapid spread has drawn global attention to the gaps in our understanding of its pathogenesis and the development of vaccines and treatments. One of the most important topics of research in the disease is the viral spike (S) protein which facilitates binding and entering host cells and plays a key role …

Full Issue: The International Undergraduate Journal Of Health Sciences, Volume 1, Issue 1, June 2021

International Undergraduate Journal of Health Sciences

The full June 2021 issue (Volume 1, Issue 1) of the International Undergraduate Journal of Health Sciences

Spring 2021

Scientia

From the Dean: A Decade of Purpose and Progress; Lab Notes: Alumna Wins Gordon Bell Special Prize, New Scholarships, Vaccination Site Volunteers; Women in Science Lecture, National Institutes of Health Grants, "Unequal Cities" Research; All Hands on Deck: Inspired pandemic approaches showcase interdisciplinary acumen in action; Unlocking Potential: Christopher Beasley thinks psychology is key to academic transformation for the formerly incarcerated; Puzzle Master: Bridget Tenner goes to pieces solving problems in cutting-edge mathematics

Flattening The Curve: The Effects Of Intervention Strategies During Covid-19, Kelly A. Reagan, Rachel J. Pryor, Gonzalo M. Bearman, David M. Chan

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

COVID-19 has plagued countries worldwide due to its infectious nature. Social distancing and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) are two main strategies employed to prevent its spread. A SIR model with a time-dependent transmission rate is implemented to examine the effect of social distancing and PPE use in hospitals. These strategies’ effect on the size and timing of the peak number of infectious individuals are examined as well as the total number of individuals infected by the epidemic. The effect on the epidemic of when social distancing is relaxed is also examined. Overall, social distancing was shown to …

Computing For Numeracy: How Safe Is Your Covid-19 Social Bubble?, Charles Connor

Numeracy

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to form social bubbles. These social bubbles are small groups of people who interact with one another but restrict interactions with the outside world. The assumption in forming social bubbles is that risk of infection and severe outcomes, like hospitalization, are reduced. How effective are social bubbles? A Bayesian event tree is developed to calculate the probabilities of specific outcomes, like hospitalization, using example rates of infection in the greater community and example prior functions describing the effectiveness of isolation by members of the social bubble. The probabilities are solved for two contrasting …

Heeding The Call Of Covid-19, David Wiebers, Valery Feigin

Animal Sentience

We are grateful to all of our commentators. They have provided a wide range of valuable perspectives and insights from many fields, revealing a broad interest in the subject matter. Nearly all the commentaries have helped to affirm, refine, expand, amplify, deepen, interpret, elaborate, or apply the messages in the target article. Some have offered critiques and suggestions that help us address certain issues in greater detail, including several points concerning industrialized farming and the wildlife trade. Overall, there is great awareness and strong consensus among commentators that any solution for preventing future pandemics and other related health crises must …

Covid-19 And The Unseen Benefits Of Dexamethasone, Muhammad Arif Khan, Ikram Ullah, Dawood Ahmed

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

According to current World Health Organization (WHO) updates, the COVID-19 pandemic has spread all over the globe, affecting 216 countries, and has caused 8,860,331 confirmed cases and 465,740 deaths as of June 24, 2020. Many countries cannot afford nucleic acid tests to confirm COVID-19 infection; as a result, people cannot know the COVID-19 status of the people living around them. The use of dexamethasone in COVID-19 hospitalized patients for up to 10 days lowered 28-day mortality compared to patients receiving standard of care plus mechanical ventilation at randomization (by 12.3 age-adjusted percentage points, approximately one-third of proportional reduction) and patients …

‘Coronated’ Consumption In The Viral Market, Soonkwan Hong

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

The universal exposure to the virus has disrupted institutions, redefined values, and reshaped systems, including the market. Idling, uncertainty, and liquidity encapsulate the ever-precarious individual lives and the reflexive socio-politico-cultural changes. These conditions and consequences nonetheless create paradoxical opportunities in the viral market. The new meaning of connectivity that promotes high-viscosity relationships and high-visibility identities will transform the market to better acknowledge and support humans and the new sociality.

Convalescent Plasma Therapy In Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) Patients: A Brief Review, Muhammad Arif Khan, Ikram Ullah

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a re-evaluation of the effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy (CPT). This review was carried out to assess the usefulness of CPT in critically ill COVID-19 patients based on the published data to date. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second review of the usefulness of CPT in COVID-19 patients. PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Embase databases were searched for relevant reports up to June 21, 2020. Records of published data were analyzed according to eligibility criteria. Five different studies on CPT for critically ill COVID-19 patients were included …

Can We Handle The Truth Of What Covid-19 Is Telling Us?, James A. Marcum

Animal Sentience

Wiebers & Feigin (W&F) are right that what COVID-19 is telling us is that to prevent future zoonotic pandemics we need to put an end to our exploitation of wild and farmed animals. To implement W&F’s recommendations we need to overcome at least three obstacles: (1) the way we have responded historically to zoonoses, (2) our insatiable appetite for meat (wild or farmed) and (3) our speciesist attitude toward nonhuman animals.