Diseases Commons^™

A Comparative Analysis Of Hiv/Aids In France And The United States: Historical Context And Preventative Actions, Rebecca A. Liebsack

Honors Theses

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is the result of transmission of a zoonotic disease known as simian immunodeficiency virus. The pandemic has had profound social and economic consequences and continues to be present today. France and the United States’ response to the discovery of HIV will be compared and the impact that HIV/AIDS had on their countries and future responses. They had rather similar responses, however, the United States had a slower initial response compared to France. Both had similar takeaways such as aiming at improving prevention and utilizing tactics developed during the start of the pandemic like frequent testing and vaccines.

Paradigm Shift: A Meta-Narrative Review Of The Intricacies And Complications That Led To Changes In Standard Protocols For Primary Human Papillomavirus Screenings, Hillary L. Campbell, Sara N. Fernandez, Elysse S. Hodges, Jonathan J. Del Real, Mary Coolbaugh-Murphy Phd, Denise M. Juroske Short Phd

Research Methods Poster Session 2024

Objective:

To evaluate cervical cancer screening modalities and assess the reasoning that has led to primary HPV being the preferred target for screening.

Background:

History of HPV infection has been found to be correlated with cervical cancer precursor cells. Early detection of the infection is advantageous in decreasing the risk for women of reproductive age acquiring cervical cancer. The general consensus places an emphasis on implementing HPV testing in accordance with cervical cancer protocol.

Methods:

Six methodical reviews of cervical cancer screenings were done through PubMed and the M.D. Anderson Research library. Each article was evaluated to include recently published …

Ensemble-Based Mutational Profiling And Network Analysis Of The Sars-Cov-2 Spike Omicron Xbb Lineages For Interactions With The Ace2 Receptor And Antibodies: Cooperation Of Binding Hotspots In Mediating Epistatic Couplings Underlies Binding Mechanism And Immune Escape, Nishank Raisinghani, Mohammed Alshahrani, Grace Gupta, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

In this study, we performed a computational study of binding mechanisms for the SARS-CoV-2 spike Omicron XBB lineages with the host cell receptor ACE2 and a panel of diverse class one antibodies. The central objective of this investigation was to examine the molecular factors underlying epistatic couplings among convergent evolution hotspots that enable optimal balancing of ACE2 binding and antibody evasion for Omicron variants BA.1, BA2, BA.3, BA.4/BA.5, BQ.1.1, XBB.1, XBB.1.5, and XBB.1.5 + L455F/F456L. By combining evolutionary analysis, molecular dynamics simulations, and ensemble-based mutational scanning of spike protein residues in complexes with ACE2, we identified structural stability and binding …

Exploring Disparities In Prep Prescriptions For High-Risk Hiv Patients Using Real-World Data, Andrew Murdock, Farah Pathan, Sibyl Munson, Fabian D'Souza

Tower Health Research Day

No abstract provided.

Development Of Solitary Keratoacanthoma From A Cutaneous Wart, Joshua M. Ninan, Veronica Salazar

Research Symposium

Background: Common cutaneous warts, referred to in medicine as verrucae vulgaris, are proliferative lesions caused by human papillomavirus. These lesions are mostly benign and usually resolve without incident, except in the case of the patient mentioned in this report. Our patient developed a solitary keratoacanthoma, currently accepted as a clinical variant of squamous cell carcinoma, as a result of several risk factors and traumatic exposure. The current literature does not have an established association of HPV with solitary keratoacanthomas. This case report explores the presentation and pathogenesis of solitary keratoacanthomas within the setting of HPV.

Case Presentation: 48-year-old Caucasian female …

Overview Of The Zoonotic Potential And Coinfection Of Sars-Cov-2 In Indonesia, Muhammad Khaliim Jati Kusala, Ni Luh Putu Indi Dharmayanti

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

In the ASEAN region, Indonesia has the highest overall COVID-19 infection score. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic first emerged in China and then transmitted sporadically throughout the world. Animals and humans can be infected with the corona virus, so this disease is classified as a zoonotic disease. This review aims to gather information regarding the potential of SARS-CoV-2 as a zoonotic disease and coinfections with several other pathogens in Indonesia. This study collected data demonstrating the potential for COVID-19 to be transmitted from humans to animals, as an evidenced by positive test results for the Bat Coronavirus Antigen in bats. Cats have …

Uncommon Presentation Of Kaposi Sarcoma In An Hiv-Negative Patient: A Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Hope Daskalakis, Nina M. Ventura, Joy Anne Lowry, Mara Weinstein Velez

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) is a multifocal systemic disease first identified in 1872. It most commonly involves the skin, mucous membranes, lymph nodes, and gastrointestinal tract. There are four clinically distinct subtypes of KS that have been identified: Chronic or classic KS, African endemic KS, KS due to iatrogenic immunosuppression, and AIDS-related epidemic KS. The human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) has been implicated in all subtypes of KS. We present a unique case of KS in a 79-year-old male with a widespread distribution of skin lesions on his palms, soles, chest, and back. This case report highlights a novel presentation of classical …

Acute Neutrophilic Vasculitis (Leukocytoclasia) In 36 Covid-19 Autopsy Brains, Roy H. Rhodes, Gordon L. Love, Fernanda Da Silva Lameira, Maryam Sadough Shahmirzadi, Sharon E. Fox, Richard S. Vander Heide

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Hypercytokinemia, the renin-angiotensin system, hypoxia, immune dysregulation, and vasculopathy with evidence of immune-related damage are implicated in brain morbidity in COVID-19 along with a wide variety of genomic and environmental influences. There is relatively little evidence of direct SARS-CoV-2 brain infection in COVID-19 patients. Methods: Brain histopathology of 36 consecutive autopsies of patients who were RT-PCR positive for SARS-CoV-2 was studied along with findings from contemporary and pre-pandemic historical control groups. Immunostaining for serum and blood cell proteins and for complement components was employed. Microcirculatory wall complement deposition in the COVID-19 cohort was compared to historical control cases. Comparisons …

Covid-19 Hospital Mortality Among Patients With Invasive Mechanical Ventilation: A Comparison Between Public And Private Healthcare Services In San Luis Potosí 2020–2022, María E. Torres-Acosta, Rocío M. Cubos-Moncada, Alan Y. Martínez-Castellanos

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: During 2019, México’s total public spending on health was 5.43% of the national gross domestic product, making it one of the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that invested the least in developing public health systems. This study analyzes hospital mortality among intubated patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 according to type of institution in San Luis Potosí, México, from March 18, 2020, to April 7, 2022.

Methods: This is a secondary data analysis of publicly available information about mortality among intubated patients with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 with respect to the type of hospitalization institution.

Results: …

My Covid Experience, Anonymous

Community Reflections

In 2020, our world was shaken by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Everyday life ceased to be what it once was. When Covid-19 began spreading throughout my area I was halfway through my freshman year of high school. I was in school every day from 7:30-2:45 and followed school with going dance. I was still getting comfortable with the change in my life that was being a high school student. Each day was an adjustment, but I was finally beginning to feel the ease of my routine when I received the email from my school that we would have two weeks off …

My Teenage Covid Experience, Anonymous

Community Reflections

It was March 2020 and COVID 19 headlines took over the news. This new disease had the world so frightened. It was quickly becoming a pandemic, which is something I had never seen in my lifetime. In fact, it was sometime that neither had my parents nor grandparents experienced. The funeral home in my town had a huge amount of body bags in anticipation of a massive death toll.

My Life Was Altered, Anonymous

Community Reflections

My life was altered in March of 2020. This pandemic created an unimaginable world. The cause of the COVID-19 pandemic still remains a mystery. My experience began on March 12, 2020, when my school gave us two weeks off to allow time for this illness to pass.

Pennsylvannia Football Player Tackles Covid-19, Anonymous

Community Reflections

My content reflects my high school experience with the pandemic and trying to juggle continuing football training with keeping in touch with friends while abiding current spatial rules.

Covid Reflection, Anonymous

Community Reflections

The first couple of weeks of quarantine from the Covid-19 virus were not that bad. It was nice to spend more time with my parents and be able to just stay at home and do nothing. School was online for the first time and zoom was new to everyone. Teachers were very relaxed with the schoolwork and the zoom meetings. This lead to a lot of free time. I would mostly just play video games or spend time with my family since I couldn’t leave the house, and everyone was on edge about this virus. We would take precautions such …

My Covid-19 Experience, Anonymous

Community Reflections

In this writing I talked about my personal feelings during covid-19 and experiences I went through being a highschool student during a global pandemic.

Remembering Covid-19, Anonymous

Community Reflections

The COVID-19 pandemic changed many aspects of my life, and personally it felt like it was for the better. During this extended period of time when I was at home doing school online, and not able to attend my extracurricular activities, I found out who I really was as a person. The whole quarantine time was like one long therapy session where you could sit and reflect about your past and future, and what you wanted to make of it. One main thing that everyone seemed to go through was finding new hobbies.

Covid-19 Impact, Anonymous

Community Reflections

In March 2020, I was a freshman in high school living one of the most exciting years of my life. Making new friends and quickly adapting to an exciting environment was amazing until it ended. At first I was confused but mostly ecstatic to have two workless weeks at home. Covid-19 was a blessing at first until I realized the fatal threat this pandemic proposed.

We Lost Ourselves, Anonymous

Community Reflections

My content reflects how I struggled during the covid pandemic in 2020 on Long Island.

Quarantine Ups And Downs, Anonymous

Community Reflections

The traumatic outbreak of Covid-19 had started March 13, 2020 as I was sitting in health class as a freshman in highschool. There were rumors spreading that school was getting shut down because of this Covid-19. No one knew what this disease really was. However, everyone around me was jumping with joy because we had the rest of our school week off. When I arrived home that day, the news channel was already on and it was all about this outbreak. After that first week of staying home from school, the number of people with this disease kept increasing.

My Old Self Vanished, Olivia Anonymous

Community Reflections

Being an adolescent during the COVID 19 pandemic was something that I would never wish upon my greatest enemy. Growing up during a time of isolation was incredibly lonely and confusing. Instead of making connections and living a normal life, we were forced to hide behind masks and remain away from each other. In a time where I was supposed to be developing and gathering life experience, life was taken away from me.

Covid Memory, Anonymous

Community Reflections

This document describes my experiences and reactions to the initial and outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nobody Knew, Anonymous

Community Reflections

Nobody ever knew what was coming in March of 2020, as a sophomore in highschool I never knew that life was going to change drastically. A few weeks prior to the announcement of school closing I remember some people talking about this new sickness that was running rampant through China. By the beginning of March everyone was talking about Covid. There were some cases throughout the United States. Finally on Friday March 13th my school took to facebook to announce they would be closing the school for two weeks.

Prevalence And Factors Associated With Frailty Among Older Adults Living With Hiv Compared To Their Uninfected Peers From The Kenyan Coast, Patrick Nzivo Mwangala, Carophine Nasambu, Ryan G. Wagner, Charles R. Newton, Amina Abubakar

Institute for Human Development

Objectives: a) To document the prevalence and correlates of frailty among older adults living with HIV (OALWH) and their uninfected peers, and b) Investigate HIV status as an independent predictor of frailty.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2020 and 2021 at the Kenyan coast among 440 older adults aged ≥50 years (257 OALWH). Frailty was assessed using the Reported Edmonton Frail Scale. Logistic regression was used to examine the correlates of frailty.

Results: The prevalence of frailty was significantly higher among OALWH (24%) than their uninfected peers (13%). HIV seropositivity was not independently associated with frailty. Sleeping difficulties, …

Ikaros Expression Drives The Aberrant Metabolic Phenotype Of Macrophages In Chronic Hiv Infection, Cecilia Vittori, Celeste Faia, Dorota Wyczechowska, Amber Trauth, Karlie Plaisance-Bonstaff, Mary Meyaski-Schluter, Krzysztof Reiss, Francesca Peruzzi

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

The increased risk for acquiring secondary illnesses in people living with HIV (PLWH) has been associated with immune dysfunction. We have previously found that circulating monocytes from PLWH display a trained phenotype. Here, we evaluated the metabolic profile of these cells and found increased mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) from PLWH. We additionally found that cART shifted the energy metabolism of MDMs from controls toward increased utilization of mitochondrial respiration. Importantly, both downregulation of IKAROS expression and inhibition of the mTOR pathway reversed the metabolic profile of MDMs from PLWH and cART-treated control-MDMs. Altogether, this study reveals …

A Tale Of Two Viruses: Why Smallpox Was Eradicated And Polio Persists, Katherine G. Mcgough, Erin N. Bodine

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

The smallpox and poliomyelitis (polio) viruses were, at a time, one of the largest threats to global public health killing millions until global eradication campaigns were put into effect. Vaccination led to the eradication of smallpox and the elimination of polio for most of the world. However, polio continues to persist at endemic levels in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We developed ODE models of smallpox and polio to explore differences in transmission dynamics and determine if the underlying biology has made poliomyelitis more difficult to eradicate. Our model analysis shows there are multiple factors which should allow polio to have a …

Building Research Capacity In Low- And Middle-Income Countries And Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned And Future Directions, Peter H. Kilmarx, Karen A. Goralesk, Erum Khan, John F. Lindo, Nancy Gore Saravia

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Research capacity is a critical component of pandemic preparedness, as highlighted by the challenges faced during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Recent global initiatives, such as the Research & Development Task Force of the Global Health Security Agenda and the World Health Assembly's resolution on strengthening clinical trials, emphasize the need for robust research capabilities. This Perspective discusses the experiences of leaders in infectious disease research and capacity building in low- and middle-income countries, focusing on Colombia, Jamaica, and Pakistan. These case studies underscore the importance of collaborative efforts, interdisciplinary training, and global partnerships in pandemic response. The experiences …

Long-Term Open-Label Vebicorvir For Chronic Hbv Infection: Safety And Off-Treatment Responses, Man-Fung Yuen, Scott Fung, Xiaoli Ma, Tuan Nguyen, Tarek Hassanein, Hie-Won Hann, Magdy Elkhashab, Ronald Nahass, James Park, Ira Jacobson, Walid Ayoub, Steven-Huy Han, Edward Gane, Katie Zomorodi, Ran Yan, Julie Ma, Steven Knox, Luisa Stamm, Maurizio Bonacini, Frank Weilert, Alnoor Ramji, Michael Bennett, Natarajan Ravendhran, Sing Chan, Douglas Dieterich, Paul Yien Kwo, Eugene Schiff, Ho Bae, Jacob Lalezari, Kosh Agarwal, Mark Sulkowski

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND & AIMS: The investigational first-generation core inhibitor vebicorvir (VBR) demonstrated safety and antiviral activity over 24 weeks in two phase IIa studies in patients with chronic HBV infection. In this long-term extension study, patients received open-label VBR with nucleos(t)ide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NrtIs).

METHODS: Patients in this study (NCT03780543) previously received VBR + NrtI or placebo + NrtI in parent studies 201 (NCT03576066) or 202 (NCT03577171). After receiving VBR + NrtI for ≥52 weeks, stopping criteria (based on the treatment history and hepatitis B e antigen status in the parent studies) were applied, and patients either discontinued both VBR …

Coronavirus Update Spring 2024, The Coronavirus Planning Team

University Briefings & Virtual Events

We are looking forward to welcoming our students back for the spring semester. As we prepare for a rewarding and fun few months, we want to remind you of our COVID protocols.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), levels of the virus are currently higher than they have been since the first Omicron wave. That said, severe outcomes are lower than in previous winters.

Emerging Stroke Risk Factors: A Focus On Infectious And Environmental Determinants, Sajid Hameed, Nurose Karim, Mohammad Wasay, Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian

Section of Neurology

This review focuses on emerging risk factors for stroke, including air pollution and climate change, gut microbiota, high altitude, and systemic infection. Up to 14% of all stroke-associated mortality is attributed to air pollution and is more pronounced in developing countries. Fine particulate matter and other air pollutants contribute to an increased stroke risk, and this risk appears to increase with higher levels and duration of exposure. Short term air pollution exposure has also been reported to increase the stroke risk. The gut microbiota is a complex ecosystem of bacteria and other microorganisms that reside in the digestive system and …

Cook, John Loy, 1838-1878 (Sc 3709), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3709. Biographical data on John L. Cook, a physician of Henderson, Kentucky. Includes an 1878 article on yellow fever by Cook, published in the Louisville Medical News just prior to his death from the disease; a memorial address read before the McDowell Medical Society at Hopkinsville, Kentucky after his death; and information on his wife Annie.