Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Adapting The Standard Sir Disease Model In Order To Track And Predict The Spreading Of The Ebola Virus Using Twitter Data, Armin Smailhodzic

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A method has been developed to track infectious diseases by using data mining of active Twitter accounts and its efficacy was demonstrated during the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014. Using a meme based n-gram semantic usage model to search the Twitter database for indications of illness, flight and death from the spread of Ebola in Africa, principally from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Memes of interest relate disease to location and severity and are coupled to the density of Tweets and re-Tweets. The meme spreads through the community of social users in a fashion similar to nonlinear wave propagation- …

The Effect Of Orally Administered Butylated Hydroxytoluene On Herpes Simplex Keratitis, Donald Carson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Some studies have reported in vitro inactivation of membrane enveloped viruses by Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). This study investigates the effect of orally administered BHT on primary infections of Herpes simplex virus (HSV) using rabbit corneas as the assay system.

Assigned levels of BHT were incorporated into the diet of New Zealand White rabbits with HSV-1 McKrae strain on the corneal surface of the eyes. The degree of infection was measured by a subjective assay. Rabbits receiving BHT in their diet consistently experienced lower levels of infection. The interpretation of this data is that orally administered BHT can be an effective …

The Wavelength Dependence Of Ultraviolet Enhanced Reactivation In A Mammalian Cell-Virus System, Leslie C. James

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the wavelength region 230 nm to 302 nm on the ability of an irradiated mammalian cell to reactivate UV-irradiated mammalian virus was tests. An action spectrum for radiation enhanced reactivation (RER) Is presented. The shape of the action spectrum points to a combined nucleic acid protein target for UV radiation effects on this cellular parameter. An analysis of the results of others involving the biochemical and photobiological events involved in the RER does not allow the identification of the macromolecule which is the major contributor to this effect. Studies involving an analogous phenomenon …