Public Health Commons^™

Exploration Of Antagonist Efficacy For Lpra2 Like Peptide, Ayobami Loye, Ruben R. Gonzalez-Perez, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Leptin is a small protein hormone that controls satiety and is produced by adipocytes. Obese people have increased levels of circulating leptin. Excessive leptin levels cause a break down in the control of leptin signaling pathways leading to increased angiogenesis, proliferation, cell migration, invasion, and anti-apoptotic events. Obesity and leptin signaling have been linked to cancer progression. Literature shows that LPrA2 is an effective leptin antagonist as it decreases proliferation of breast cancer cells in vitro.

This project compares the effectiveness of LPrA2 like compounds in breast cancer cell-line MDA-MB-468 (M-468 BCs). We hypothesize that the new peptide antagonists have …

Design And Optimization Of A Mycoplasma Detection Assay, Carlos J. León-Rodríguez, Richard J. Noel, Jr., Phd, Tirtsa Porrata-Doria, Ms

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Mycoplasma are among the smallest free living microorganisms. These bacteria grow slowly, lack a rigid cell wall and are not eliminated by filter sterilization methods used in tissue culture. Mycoplasma infection affects biochemical and genetic aspects of cultured cells, resulting in experimental inconsistency. Therefore, it is necessary to establish routine testing for mycoplasma contamination in tissue culture laboratories.

Our goal is to develop a reliable and cost-effective test for mycoplasma in cell culture based on established methods found in literature. We first cloned and sequenced a PCR product from a commercial mycoplasma detection kit. Sequencing revealed the 16s rRNA as …

Role Of Hiv-1 Nef Lysine Residues 4 And 7 In The Interaction With Calnexin And Inhibition Of Abca1 Activity, Valeria Kaufman, Michael Burkinsky, Md, Phd, Ruth Hunegnaw, Msc, Phd Candidate

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Patients infected with HIV are at increased risk of developing atherosclerosis, a result due partly to the functional impairment of cellular cholesterol transporter, ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1). This transporter mediates efflux of cholesterol from cells to high density lipoprotein, thus allowing cells to maintain normal levels of cholesterol. When ABCA1 function is inhibited, cells, and in particular macrophages, accumulate cholesterol, resulting in formation of atherosclerotic plaques. The HIV-1 protein, Nef downregulates ABCA1 and inhibits the activity of this protein, thereby reducing cholesterol efflux and promoting atherosclerosis, but the molecular mechanism by which Nef inhibits ABCA1 is unknown.

Previous studies …

Collagen Iv Assembly: Production Of A Recombinant Construct For Mechanistic Studies, Kennedy Harris, Billy Hudson, Phd, Isi Ero-Tolliver, Phd, Kyle Brown, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Basement membranes, specialized extracellular matrix, provide mechanical support for epithelial cells and shape cell behavior by interacting with cell receptors. Collagen IV, the predominant component of basement membrane, comprises six genetically distinct alpha chains (α1 to α6) that assemble to form protomers, which associate to form hexamers, in the scaffold. Non-assembly due to mutations within alpha chains give rise to kidney diseases. Yet, the mechanism of assembly is poorly understood.

Preliminary data in our lab indicated that amino acid 78 of collagen IV α2 NC1 (non-collagenous) domains may play a role in a chloride-dependent switch that supports hexamer formation. We …

Sex Differences In The Sex Differences In The Effects Of Environmental Enrichment After An Early Life Stressor, Alfredo Gutierrez, Annelyn Torres-Reverón, Phd, Raura Doreste-Méndez

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Studies have shown that environmental enrichment can compensate for the effects of an early life stressor such as maternal separation. Behavioral responses and immunohistochemical markers in rats are affected by environmental enrichment after maternal separation. In this study we seek to investigate whether sex influences the behavioral responses of environmental enrichment after maternal separation.

Prior scientific evidence suggests that there are behavioral sex differences in: 1) neural processes underlying successful or failed fear extinction (Gruene et al, 2014); (2) prenatal stress exposure and response to behavioral anxiety tests (Said et al, 2015); and (3) glutamate receptor expression in response to …

Cox2 Plays An Important Role In Maintenance Of Mammary Cancer Stem Cell Population In Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Mayra Garcia, Shehla Pervin, Phd, Easter Thames, Meher Parveen, Phd, Melanie Baker

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Breast cancer is a malignant growth in the adipose-rich mammary gland. Initiation and progression of breast tumors involve multiple cell types, among which mammary cancer stem cells play an important role. There are two main types of adipocytes; white adipocytes have previously been found to influence the disease while brown adipocytes, which uniquely express uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), were recently detected in breast tumors.

We have detected Myf5, a transcription factor, which is expressed in the progenitor population of brown adipocytes, in breast cancer cell lines. We also found an association between expression of Myf5 and COX2 (or Ptgs2), which …

The Role Of Integrin-Associated Protein “Pinch” In Kidney Development, Tyrone Gamble Jr, Roy Zent, Phd, Bertha C. Elias, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

PINCH (a particularly interesting new cysteine-histidine-rich protein) is a protein that binds with Integrin-linked kinase and Parvin, to form an IPP complex. This complex is formed only when integrin molecules are activated upon interaction with the basement membrane. The IPP complex then acts as a platform for other proteins to come together and regulate cell signaling to and from the extracellular matrix (ECM). This allows for various cellular activities to progress like cell adhesion, migration, proliferation, etc. There are two types of PINCH proteins, PINCH-1 and PINCH-2. Studies from our group have shown that the lack of PINCH-1 in the …

Nitric Oxide And Cyclic Gmp Signaling In Cancer Therapy, Armond Dorsey, Ferid Murad, Md, Phd, Ka Bian, Md, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The nitric oxide-3’,5’-cyclic guanosine monophosphate signaling pathway (NO-cGMP signaling pathway) is a well-known signal transduction pathway which elicits several physiological processes including: cell proliferation, vasodilation, cardiac protection, etc. In this pathway, NO binds to the ferrous heme of histidine-105 on the prosthetic heme of the β₁ subunit of soluble guanylyl cyclase, resulting in the production of cGMP. This pathway, however, is inhibited in certain cancer cells—as observed in glioma cell lines. As a result, the production of cGMP is reduced. This mechanism may facilitate uncontrolled tumor cell growth.

The cancers under research—lung carcinoma, glioma, and pancreatic carcinoma—are all highly …

Potential Cost Savings Of Not Doing Cd4 Counts In Hiv Positive People In Rhode Island With An Undetectable Viral Load, Ruth Dele-Oni, Ferdinand Schumacher, Zachary Markus, Timothy Flanigan, Md

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

CD4 cells fight infections in the body. When someone contacts Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), their CD4 cells are taken over by HIV which turns them into manufacturers of many copies of the virus. The Viral Load (VL) measures the amount of virus in the blood. When HIV takes over the CD4 cells, the VL increases while the number of necessary CD4 cells decreases. When patients maintain stable treatment, their CD4 counts rise, and VLs may become undetectable, indicating the virus is too little to be detected in their blood. Knowing this, is frequent CD4 counts necessary for those with undetectable …

Defining The Role For Zbp-89 In Atm-Mediated Dna Damage Response To Irradiation In The Intestine, Christine Carethers, Juanita L. Merchant, Md, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

ZBP-89 (ZNF148, Zfp148) is a zinc-finger transcription factor that inhibits cellular proliferation when overexpressed in cell lines. ZBP-89 forms a protein-protein interaction with p53 and Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM). However, it is unclear how the interaction modulates the function of these two proteins in vivo.

Double strand DNA breakage induced by -irradiation induces ATM phosphoinositol kinase activity, which initiates a cascade of events culminating in cell cycle arrest, DNA repair or apoptosis. Elevated levels of ZBP-89 induce growth arrest and apoptosis in gastrointestinal cell lines. Therefore, we hypothesize that ZBP-89 facilitates cell growth arrest and activation of the DNA repair pathway …

Induction Of Dusp9 In Xenografts From Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines Increases Mammary Cancer Stem Cells, Albert Barrios, Meher Parveen, Phd, Easter Thames, Melanie Baker, Shelha Pervin, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Breast cancer remains a complex disease that kills 40,000 women every year. Initiation and progression of breast cancer is influenced by heterogeneous groups of cells, including mammary cancer stem cells (MCSCs). Progression of this dreadful disease is driven by many signaling pathways among which MAPK pathway is highly prominent. Since targeting prominent kinases in MAPK pathway has been unsuccessful to control breast cancer, it is important to examine the phosphatases that regulate the activity of these kinases.

Using xenograft model from breast cancer cell lines, our lab has found that during the initial stages of xenograft development (week 1-4, 100-200mg …

Preparing Underrepresented High School Students To Increase Diversity In The Research And Health Professions, Dolores E. Caffey-Fleming, Ms, Mph, Christopher Reid, Md, Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

This article introduces the work that was done through the Coordinating Center at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

The Step Up Program, Lawrence Agodoa, Md

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

The Short-Term Research Experience Program for Underrepresented Persons (STEP-UP) was established as part of the NIDDK Strategic Plan on Minority Health Disparities. This article provides an overview and introduction of this program. All of the articles that are included in this special issue reflect the work of our coordinating centers, the mentors and their staff, as well as the students.

The Impact Of Nutrition And Physical Activity Education On The Knowledge, Attitude, And Behavior Of Muslim Youth From Various Ethnic Backgrounds, Hana L. Jaber, Zainab Rida

UCARE: Research Products

The Islamic Foundation of Lincoln is a growing population within Lincoln including many different racial backgrounds, ethnic identities, and languages. Due to these various backgrounds communication may impair the education of families as well as their attitudes and behaviors. Although there are programs developed for many other minority groups, the Muslim (population comprising the Islamic Foundation of Lincoln) population does not have any data obtained from the community in terms of nutrition and physical activity behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge. This study seeks to understand if there are barriers to communication and if the intervention enhanced nutrition knowledge. This poster reflects …

Let’S Build Together: Expanding Comprehensive Sex Education In The United States, Olivia Cecchi

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper seeks to critique the current state of sex education in the United States by examining the history of funding and the perceived effectiveness of some programs. In the past the American government has overwhelmingly supported abstinence-only methods of sex education through several federal funding streams. Yet there is little evidence to show that abstinence-only programs even work, thus there has been efforts to shift support to comprehensive sex education programs. This paper analyzes the results of several studies, which compare and evaluate the effectiveness of different types of sexuality education programs. Although these studies provide measurable evidence in …

Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion, Rodney Richmond

Faculty Research ​and Publications

No abstract provided.

Health Literacy As A Moderator In The Relationship Between Diabetes Knowledge And Diabetes Outcomes, Jameshyia Ballard Thompson

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine if health literacy was a moderator in the relationship between diabetes knowledge and diabetes outcomes, and explore the relationship between diabetes knowledge and health literacy. The target population included adults living in Mississippi with a diagnosis of diabetes at any point in life. A pilot study was performed to determine if the Functional Communicative Critical Health Literacy scales (FCCHL) and the Spoken Knowledge in Low Literacy in Diabetes scale (SKILLD) were appropriate for use in a population of adults in Mississippi with a diagnosis of diabetes. Participants for the pilot study were …

Have You Counted The Ingredients On Your Child's Lunch Tray?: An Economic Analysis Of Sustainability Initiatives Within The School Lunch Program, Vanessa R. Scalora

Business and Economics Summer Fellows

In 2010, President Obama signed the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, establishing a monetary incentive for schools that served meals following a more rigorous nutritional requirement than standard guidelines. This act is a step in the right direction towards placing more importance on school lunches, however America’s lunchroom practices continue to be environmentally unsustainable, and students absorb this message. The production and transportation of processed cafeteria food contributes to climate change, its packaging is polluting, and its consumption contributes to obesity. The use of premade foods and sales from vending machines increase as lunch times grow ever shorter. In addition, …

Analysis In Lead Contaminants Residential Households In A Midwestern City Using Statistical Process Control, Andre Assad Williams Talley

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Business and Technology Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Science by Andre Assad Williams Talley July 15, 2016

Self-Care And Mobility Disability At Mid-Life In Lucky Few, Early-, And Late-Baby Boom Birth-Cohorts, Carlos Siordia

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Disability is related in definite ways with makers of social stratum, as it can be influenced by and has the potential to contribute to the production and reproduction of social stratification. Intersectional markers of social stratification processes are ignored determinants of health. The Class, Race, Sex (CRS) hypothesis presented here argues that a low-education, racial-minority, and female disadvantage will compound to affect the prevalence and risks of disability. The evidence presented validates the CRS hypothesis by showing that disability prevalence and risk clusters first by class, race, and then sex. The cross-sectional study of community-dwelling adults in the Unites States, …

Can Children’S Museums Deliver Effective Health Outreach?: Evaluation Results Of The Healthworks! Be A Food Groupie Program For Elementary Students, Kathleen Ragsdale, Ginger Cross

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Objectives: We evaluated the Be A Food Groupie (BAFG) program’s impact on health/nutrition knowledge among elementary students who received BAFG at HealthWorks! children’s museum.

Methods: In 2012-2013, we conducted a matched comparison evaluation using pre-/post-tests among 446 intervention and 524 comparison students (N = 970) in Grades 3-5 recruited from 11 Mississippi schools to determine whether BAFG improved health/nutrition knowledge across three domains: 1) comprehending food labels, 2) understanding serving sizes, 3) understanding food groups.

Results: After controlling for pre-test scores, ANCOVA results indicate that intervention students scored significantly higher on the post-test across all three domains and across all …

Physical Activity Among Older American Indians And Alaska Natives, David Hodgins, Linda Larkey, Barbara E. Ainsworth, Colleen Keller

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Introduction: Life style behaviors contribute to poor health among older Americans Indians/Alaska Native (AI/AN) in the United States, with low levels of physical activity (PA) particularly tied to the chronic disease profile of this population. Searched reviews of physical activity among AI/ANs are limited in assessing prevalence and correlates to PA among older adults > 40 years.

Methods: A literature search of reported physical activity studies among older AI/AN was assessed for prevalence and predictive factors associated with levels of physical activity.

Results: Fourteen studies were included in this review that either specifically quantified the amount of physical activity among older …

Hispanic Representation In A Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study, Julie Postma, Lisa R. Younglove, Kerry Brooks, Tamara Odom-Maryon, Shirley Beresford, Thomas Burbacher, Phillip Butterfield, Patricia Butterfield, Nicole Cederblom, Kimberly Grant, Elaine M. Faustman

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Background: The purpose of this paper is to report: 1) strategies used to engage Hispanic women and their families in a longitudinal birth cohort study, and 2) comparisons of Hispanic and non-Hispanic groups that received those strategies. This paper augments the current literature by reporting methods and results specific to a subpopulation of Hispanic women, that of self-identified Mexican women. Comparisons between Hispanic and non-Hispanic groups that received those strategies will build the evidence base that supports effective outreach and engagement strategies.

Methods: Cultural responsiveness theory was used to structure outreach and engagement, including: 1) assembling a culturally competent team; …

The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model: An Examination Of Obesity Prevention Behavioral Change In Children Who Participated In The Afterschool Program Virginia Beach Let’S Move, Marilyn Miroshlava Bartholmae

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model (IMB) as a foundation to design childhood obesity prevention afterschool programs. This study employed a secondary analysis of pre (n=172), post (n=170), and 1-year follow-up (n=32) evaluations of the obesity prevention afterschool program Virginia Beach Let’s Move for children ages 5-11 years. Independent variables included demographic characteristics for the participating children and their parents. Dependent variables used in this study were the IMB constructs information and motivation. Motivation was measured by the attitudes of the children and information was measured by the children’s knowledge.

The …

Development And Validation Of A Remote Sensing Model To Identify Anthropogenic Boreholes That Provide Dry Season, Refuge Habitat For Anopheles Vector Mosquitoes In Sub-Saharan Africa, James Pkemoi Kukat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A lack of surveillance systems is an impediment to public health intervention for perennial vector-borne disease transmission in northern tropical savanna region of Kenya. The population in this area are mostly poor nomadic pastoralists with little acquired functional immunity to Plasmodium falciparum, due to infrequent challenges with the parasite. A common characteristic in tropical savanna climatic zone is the availability of riverbeds that have anthropogenic boreholes that provide malaria vector mosquitoes, such as Anopheles gambiae s.l and Anopheles funestus, with aquatic refuge habitats for proliferation and endemic transmission to proximity human households during the dry-season. Unfortunately, currently there …

Summer Dehydration, Rodney Richmond

Faculty Research ​and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Rises And Falls Of Serving The Plhiv Population Of South Bangalore, Jessica Christian

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

No abstract provided.

A Collaborative Approach To Addressing Health Information Literacy Among High School Students, Sharon A. Weiner, Lalatendu Acharya, Kathryn Dilworth, Laura Henzl, Lisa Kirkham, Clare Lutgen, Bethany Mcgowan, David R. Walker

Purdue P-12 Networking Summit & Poster Session

No abstract provided.

Increasing Access To Primary Care Using Np’S: The Framework For An Academic Based Nurse-Managed Center In California, Prabjot (Jodie) Sandhu

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

The dynamics of health care delivery and the role of health care providers is a changing canvas in the United States. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), sets a goal to increase access to health care. The systems that support the ACA are constantly under scrutiny as failing to provide key answers to provider shortage and health care access issues. Nurse Practitioners (NPs) who are recognized by the ACA as a comprehensive part of this revolution are in a unique place to find opportunities to promote increased access to health and primary care services. While NPs in California …

Stigma Is The Origin Of Bullying, Mike Huggins

Journal of Catholic Education

Bullying in schools has escalated far beyond childhood teasing. In recent years, torture, murder, and suicide have been associated with bullying (van der Kolk et al., 2007). While bullying is unacceptable behavior in any school, it is particularly problematic in Catholic schools, which must embody Gospel values. Catholic education rests upon essential foundations, three of which include a Christian understanding of what constitutes humanity, finds expression in community formed through communion and essential relationship, and which is itself exemplified and sustained by a Gospel witness (Miller, 2006). This article draws from national news stories about court cases related to bullying …