Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Novel Fluconazole Derivatives With Promising Antifungal Activity, Nishad Thamban Chandrika, Sanjib K. Shrestha, Huy X. Ngo, Kaitlind C. Howard, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The fungistatic nature and toxicity concern associated with the azole drugs currently on the market have resulted in an increased demand for new azole antifungal agents for which these problematic characteristics do not exist. The extensive use of azoles has resulted in fungal strains capable of resisting the action of these drugs. Herein, we report the synthesis and antifungal activities of novel fluconazole (FLC) analogues with alkyl-, aryl-, cycloalkyl-, and dialkyl-amino substituents. We evaluated their antifungal activity by MIC determination and time-kill assay as well as their safety profile by hemolytic activity against murine erythrocytes as well as cytotoxicity against …

Neurotensin Receptor 3/Sortilin Contributes To Tumorigenesis Of Neuroendocrine Tumors Through Augmentation Of Cell Adhesion And Migration, Ji Tae Kim, Dana L. Napier, Heidi L. Weiss, Eun Y. Lee, Courtney M. Townsend, B. Mark Evers

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Neurotensin (NTS), a 13–amino acid peptide which is distributed predominantly along gastrointestinal tract, has multiple physiologic and pathologic functions, and its effects are mediated by three distinct NTS receptors (NTSRs). Overexpression and activation of NTS signaling components, especially NTS and/or NTSR1, are closely linked with cancer progression and metastasis in various types of cancers including neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). Although deregulation of NTSR3/sortilin has been implicated in a variety of human diseases, the expression and role of NTSR3/sortilin in NETs have not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the expression and oncogenic effect of NTSR3/sortilin in NETs. Increased protein levels …

Parp Pet Imaging Agents, Brandon Carney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The poly (adenosine-diphosphate (ADP) ribose) polymerase (PARP) family of enzymes has been of interest to researchers and clinicians for over fifty years, especially the first member of the family, PARP1. This enzyme has become a target for cancer therapeutics due the reliance of highly proliferating cells on PARP1 for genomic maintenance. In the coming age of individualized medicine, however, highly specific therapeutic agents like PARP inhibitors are in need of similarly highly specific companion diagnostic agents. These kind of agents have been made possible with the quickly progressing field of molecular imaging. Specifically, positron emission tomography (PET) has enabled the …

Dispatch Guided Allocation Optimization For Effective Emergency Response, Supriyo Ghosh, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Effective emergency (medical, fire or criminal) response iscrucial for improving safety and security in urban environments. Recent research in improving effectiveness of emergency management systems (EMSs) has utilized data-drivenoptimization models for efficient allocation of emergency response vehicles (ERVs) to base locations. However, thesedata-driven optimization models either ignore the dispatchstrategy of ERVs (typically the nearest available ERV is dispatched to serve an incident) or employ myopic approaches(e.g., greedy approach based on marginal gain). This resultsin allocations that are not synchronised with the real evolution dynamics on the ground or can be improved significantly.To bridge this gap, we make the following contributions: …

Inactivation Of Myeloma Cancer Cells By Helium And Argon Plasma Jets: The Effect Comparison And The Key Reactive Species, Zeyu Chen, Qingjie Cui, Chen Chen, Dehui Xu, Dingxin Liu, H. L. Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

In plasma cancer therapy, the inactivation of cancer cells under plasma treatment is closely related to the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) induced by plasmas. Quantitative study on the plasma-induced RONS that related to cancer cells apoptosis is critical for advancing the research of plasma cancer therapy. In this paper, the effects of several reactive species on the inactivation of LP-1 myeloma cancer cells are comparatively studied with variable working gas composition, surrounding gas composition, and discharge power. The results show that helium plasma jet has a higher cell inactivation efficiency than argon plasma jet under the same discharge …

The Santa Clara, 2018-01-25, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Informing Efforts To Develop Nitroreductase For Amine Production, Anne-Frances Miller, Jonathan T. Park, Kyle L. Ferguson, Warintra Pitsawong, Andreas S. Bommarius

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Nitroreductases (NRs) hold promise for converting nitroaromatics to aromatic amines. Nitroaromatic reduction rate increases with Hammett substituent constant for NRs from two different subgroups, confirming substrate identity as a key determinant of reactivity. Amine yields were low, but compounds yielding amines tend to have a large π system and electron withdrawing substituents. Therefore, we also assessed the prospects of varying the enzyme. Several different subgroups of NRs include members able to produce aromatic amines. Comparison of four NR subgroups shows that they provide contrasting substrate binding cavities with distinct constraints on substrate position relative to the flavin. The unique architecture …

Treatment And Outcomes Of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients With High Comorbidity, Jorge Rios, Rahul Gosain, Bernardo H. L. Goulart, Bin Huang, Margaret N. Oechsli, Jaclyn K. Mcdowell, Quan Chen, Thomas Tucker, Goetz H. Kloecker

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Background: The life expectancy of untreated non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is dismal, while treatment for NSCLC improves survival. The presence of comorbidities is thought to play a significant role in the decision to treat or not treat a given patient. We aim to evaluate the association of comorbidities with the survival of patients treated for NSCLC.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of patients aged ≥66 years with invasive NSCLC between the years 2007 and 2011 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Kentucky Cancer Registry. Comorbidity was measured using the Klabunde Comorbidity Index (KCI), and univariate and multivariate logistic …

Burden Of Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Us Medicare Population: Co-Morbidities, Health-Care Resource Utilization And Costs, Chieh-I Chen, Li Wang, Wenhui Wei, Huseyin Yuce, Kristine Phillips

Publications and Research

Objectives. The study aimed to assess the burden of RA among the US Medicare population (aged 65 years) by comparing co-morbidities, health-care resource utilization (HCRU) and costs against matched non-RA Medicare patients.

Methods. Data were obtained from the Medicare fee-for-service claims database from 2010 to 2013. RA Medicare patients were identically matched with Medicare patients without RA (controls) based on demographics. Bivariate analyses were conducted to examine differences between cohorts for comorbidities, HCRU and costs. A generalized linear model was used to test relationships between patient-level characteristics, HCRU and costs.

Results. The study population included 115 867 RA patients and …

The Santa Clara, 2018-01-18, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

The Santa Clara, 2018-01-11, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Sphingomyelin And Gm1 Influence Huntingtin Binding To, Disruption Of, And Aggregation On Lipid Membranes, Maxmore Chaibva, Xiang Gao, Pranav Jain, Warren A. Campbell, Shelli L. Frey, Justin Legleiter

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Huntington disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disease caused by the expansion beyond a critical threshold of a polyglutamine (polyQ) tract near the N-terminus of the huntingtin (htt) protein. Expanded polyQ promotes the formation of a variety of oligomeric and fibrillar aggregates of htt that accumulate into the hallmark proteinaceous inclusion bodies associated with HD. htt is also highly associated with numerous cellular and subcellular membranes that contain a variety of lipids. As lipid homeostasis and metabolism abnormalities are observed in HD patients, we investigated how varying both the sphingomyelin (SM) and ganglioside (GM1) contents modifies the interactions between htt …

Benefit Of Intensity Modulated Bolus Electron Conformal Therapy For Post Mastectomy Chest Wall Irradiation, John Doiron

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: The delivery of post-mastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) with bolus electron conformal therapy (BECT) for patients with left-sided breast cancer can reduce second cancer complication probability (SCCP) compared to modern rotational intensity modulated x-ray (IMXT) techniques such as volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) or Tomotherapy. However, rotational IMXT yields superior levels of dose homogeneity compared to BECT. This study investigates the use of intensity modulated (IM) BECT (IM-BECT) to improve dose homogeneity in the chest wall (CW) region of the PMRT planning target volume (PTV) abutted to parallel opposed IMXT tangents for the remaining PTV for a clinically-representative set of patients, …

Component Tree Analysis Of Cystovirus Φ6 Nucleocapsid Cryo-Em Single Particle Reconstructions, Lucas Oliveira, Ze Ye, Al Katz, Alexandra Alimova, Hui Wei, Gabor T. Herman, Paul Gottlieb

Publications and Research

The 3-dimensional structure of the nucleocapsid (NC) of bacteriophage φ6 is described utilizing component tree analysis, a topological and geometric image descriptor. The component trees are derived from density maps of cryo-electron microscopy single particle reconstructions. Analysis determines position and occupancy of structure elements responsible for RNA packaging and transcription. Occupancy of the hexameric nucleotide triphosphorylase (P4) and RNA polymerase (P2) are found to be essentially complete in the NC. The P8 protein lattice likely fixes P4 and P2 in place during maturation. We propose that the viral procapsid (PC) is a dynamic structural intermediate where the P4 and P2 …

Oxidation Of Ferrocene Derivatives With Dibenzoyl Peroxide And Meta-Chloroperoxybenzoic Acid, Jos M. Halstead

ETD Archive

The chemical oxidation of ferrocene and related derivatives (RFc) via organic peroxides solvated in acetonitrile was studied spectrophotometrically by varying concentration and temperature to determine kinetics and activation parameters. The reaction rate of ferrocene with dibenzoyl peroxide depends strongly on whether electron withdrawing or donating substituents are present. Products were analyzed and the effect of different solvents on reactivity were studied. The rate law was first order in both oxidant and reductant, and steric and solvent effects are consistent with outer sphere electron transfer (ET) as the rate-controlling step. B3YLP calculations were conducted to determine reorganization energies using Marcus theory …

Chikungunya: India, Allison Harvey

Global Issues in Public Health

A communicable disease is an infectious disease, transmissible by direct contact with an affected individual or the individual’s discharges, or by indirect means. The more direct contact people have, the more disease spreads explaining why larger populations have more outbreaks of communicable diseases. India, in particular, has one of the biggest population sizes and makes them susceptible to those diseases. Many can be fatal. However, other diseases, such as chikungunya, are also dangerous viruses that put specific populations at risk for health problems if infected. With chikungunya symptoms such as fever or rashes may develop. Some symptoms such as joint …

Cholera: Uganda, Emilie Verran

Global Issues in Public Health

The bacterium Vibrio cholerae, when ingested, infects the intestines and causes a communicable diarrhea disease called cholera. Outbreaks of cholera occur in areas with poor sanitation and sewage treatments where fecal material of an infected person contaminates the water. These areas include Southeast Asia, Haiti, and sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda. From 2011-2016, an analysis of Ugandan cholera data showed ‘hot spots’ of cholera cases in fishing communities with incidence rates as high as 120-998 cases per 100,000 people. An analysis of these same districts from 2011-2015 showed an average Case-Fatality Ratio of 2.4%, with the worst district as high …

Low Vaccination Rates: Africa, Karen Ruiz

Global Issues in Public Health

Vaccination is a treatment that produces immunity, protecting individuals and general populations from infectious and often deadly diseases. Low vaccination rates have for a long time been a pervasive issue in the continent of Africa. There are many extenuating circumstances that become contributory causes for low rates of populations being vaccinated. These circumstances can be in relation to the health professionals and facilities that distributes vaccinations, lack of resources in health facilities, false determiners for children’s eligibility, etc. Other contributory causes concern the general environments in which people live. These contributory causes can present barriers for accessing health services and …

Outdoor Air Quality, Taylor Curley

Global Issues in Public Health

Outdoor air quality is a significant issue for the entire world. It affects any and all people, but is more of an issue in low-income countries and among people that are more susceptible to respiratory issues such as young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people who already suffer from respiratory problems like asthma. Poor air quality is caused by the burning of fossil fuels which releases particles and chemicals into the air like carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen to name a few. It can cause multiple health issues such as respiratory problems to people who are exposed to …

Climate Change: Antarctica, Marika Vi

Global Issues in Public Health

Climate change is a public health issue that affects the entire globe. These effects include the rising in sea levels, shrinking of mountain glaciers, accelerating ice melt, and shifts in flower and plant blooming. The cause of climate change is due to what is known as the “greenhouse effect.” This is where certain gases block heat from getting out of the atmosphere. The cause of this effect is due to many factors like the overuse of fossil fuels and overpopulation. The impact of climate change on the Antarctic, to be specific, is that it has been seen to affect the …

Dengue, Edward Ramos

Global Issues in Public Health

The dengue virus puts one third of the world’s population at risk. Humans carry the virus and mosquitoes pick it up and are able to spread to more people. As long as there are mosquitoes near you there is the possibility that you could become infected with the dengue virus. However, people living in tropical areas that are poverty stricken are much more likely to bit by these mosquitoes and developed dengue fever. Things like mosquito netting and proper plumbing help lower the amount of these mosquitoes from biting people. There are very few treatments for when a person gets …

Malaria: Sub-Saharan Africa, Caroline Morris

Global Issues in Public Health

Sub-Saharan Africa is the large area situated south of the Saharan desert. It is considered one of the poorest regions in the world; the territory faces many challenges in respect to public health. One of the most important issues that sub-Saharan Africa faces is malaria. It is spread through the female Anopheles mosquito. Environmental factors of sub-Saharan Africa heavily influence the rates of incidence in the region due to high populations of mosquitoes. Social determinants of health affect risk in the sub-Saharan populations. Little access to healthcare, built environment, and education all impact incidence of malaria in the region. Children …

Indoor Air Quality: The United States, Paola Solano

Global Issues in Public Health

Indoor air quality is one of today’s most prevalent public health concerns. It is quite shocking to learn that almost all populations in the world can be affected. We oftentimes expect to be home and be safe, but our indoor environment can also be harming to our health. In certain regions, there is more pollution indoors than outdoors due to the surrounding environment. There exist numerous factors that can cause poor air quality. Some of the most common causes include mold, carbon dioxide, moisture damage, and other indoor air contaminants. Although alarming, there are many practices that can better the …

Water Scarcity: Sudan, Catherine Priebe

Global Issues in Public Health

Water scarcity is an environmental global problem that will only become more pressing as time goes on. It is a public health issue that affects every continent, although certain areas of the world are facing more serious water scarcity than others such as Sudan. Populations that are more vulnerable to the effects of water scarcity are the poor, women, children, and those living in areas of political unrest. For example, South Sudan’s urban water systems have been damaged during recent warfare. Water scarcity is also an issue that disproportionately affects women who are forced from a young age to travel …

Low Sucrose, Omega-3 Enriched Diet Has Region-Specific Effects On Neuroinflammation And Synaptic Function Markers In A Mouse Model Of Doxorubicin-Based Chemotherapy, Tonya S. Orchard, Monica M. Gaudier-Diaz, Panchita Phuwamongkolwiwat-Chu, Rebecca Andridge, Maryam B. Lustberg, Joshua Bomser, Rachel M. Cole, Martha A. Belury, Courtney A. Devries

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Chemotherapeutic agents such as doxorubicin may negatively affect long-term brain functioning in cancer survivors; neuroinflammation may play a causal role. Dietary approaches that reduce inflammation, such as lowering sucrose and increasing eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid (EPA + DHA), may attenuate chemotherapy-induced neuroinflammation and synaptic damage, thereby improving quality of life. Ovariectomized, C57BL/6 mice were assigned to a chemotherapy (9 mg/kg doxorubicin + 90 mg/kg cyclophosphamide) or vehicle two-injection regimen, with injections two and four weeks after starting diets. In Study 1, mice received low sucrose diets with EPA + DHA or No EPA + DHA for four to six …

Waking Up Every Day In A Body That Is Not Yours: A Qualitative Research Inquiry Into The Intersection Between Eating Disorders And Pregnancy, Elizabeth A. Claydon, Danielle M. Davidov, Keith J. Zullig, Christa L. Lilly, Lesley Cattrell, Stephanie C. Zerwas

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Women with eating disorders are more likely to negatively react to finding out they are pregnant, although this difference in attitudes between women with eating disorders and controls disappears at 18-weeks’ gestation. Those with anorexia also are twice as likely to have an unplanned pregnancy and those with bulimia have a 30-fold increased chance compared with healthy controls. Therefore, due to these considerations, pregnancy and the transition to motherhood can be an extremely challenging time for these women both psychologically and physically. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand the intersection between eating disorders and pregnancy …

Rubella Immunity And Serum Perfluoroalkyl Substances: Sex And Analytic Strategy, Courtney S. Pilkerton, Gerald R. Hobbs, Christa Lilly, Sarah S. Knox

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been associated with decreased immunity to child- hood tetanus and diphtheria immunizations. If these vaccinations are vulnerable to influence from PFASs, questions arise about associations with other common inoculations.

Objective

To examine whether serum PFASs were associated with reduced immunity to rubella immu- nization, and whether interactions with sex or ethnicity warranted analytic stratification. Usually, toxicology analyses are calculated controlling for race and sex. However, sex differ- ences in immune function have been reported and a reduction of immunity to rubella in women could pose risks such miscarriage.

Methods

We analyzed a nationally representative sample …

Food Choice Priorities Change Over Time And Predict Dietary Intake At The End Of The First Year Of College Among Students In The U.S., Melissa J. Vilaro, Sarah E. Colby, Kristin Riggsbee, Wenjun Zhou, Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, Melissa D. Olfert, Tracey E. Barnett, Tanya Horacek, Morgan Sowers, Anne E. Matthews

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This study assessed food choice priorities (FCP) and associations with consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV), fiber, added sugars from non-beverage sources, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) among college students. Freshmen from eight U.S. universities (N = 1149) completed the Food Choice Priorities Survey, designed for college students to provide a way to determine the factors of greatest importance regarding food choices, and the NCI Dietary Screener Questionnaire. Changes in FCP and dietary intake from fall 2015 to spring 2016 were assessed. Multiple regression models examined associations between FCP and log-transformed dietary intake, controlling for sex, age, race, and BMI. Participant …

Adverse Event Detection By Integrating Twitter Data And Vaers, Junxiang Wang, Liang Zhao, Yanfang Ye, Yuji Zhang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Vaccinehasbeenoneofthemostsuccessfulpublichealthinterventionstodate.However,vaccines are pharmaceutical products that carry risks so that many adverse events (AEs) are reported after receiving vaccines. Traditional adverse event reporting systems suffer from several crucial challenges including poor timeliness. This motivates increasing social media-based detection systems, which demonstrate successful capability to capture timely and prevalent disease information. Despite these advantages, social media-based AE detection suffers from serious challenges such as labor-intensive labeling and class imbalance of the training data.

Results: Totacklebothchallengesfromtraditionalreportingsystemsandsocialmedia,weexploittheircomplementary strength and develop a combinatorial classification approach by integrating Twitter data and the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) information aiming to identify potential AEs after …

Method Overtness, Forensic Autopsy, And The Evidentiary Suicide Note: A Multilevel National Violent Death Reporting System Analysis, Ian R. H. Rockett, Eric D. Caine, Steven Stack, Hilary S. Connery, Kurt B. Nolte, Christa L. Lilly, Ted R. Miller, Lewis S. Nelson, Sandra L. Putnam, Paul S. Nestadt, Haomiao Jia

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Objective

Higher prevalence of suicide notes could signify more conservatism in accounting and greater proneness to undercounting of suicide by method. We tested two hypotheses: (1) an evidentiary suicide note is more likely to accompany suicides by drug-intoxication and by other poisoning, as less violent and less forensically overt methods, than suicides by firearm and hanging/suffocation; and (2) performance of a forensic autopsy attenuates any observed association between overtness of method and the reported presence of a note.

Methods

This multilevel (individual/county), multivariable analysis employed a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). Representing the 17 states participating in the United States …