Other Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons^™

The Influence Of Political Party Affiliation And Park Accessibility On Covid-19 Case Incidence, Sascha Wolf-Sorokin

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines the joint effect of political party affiliation and the urban landscape, as measured by access to parks, on case rates during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The 2016 and 2020 U.S. Presidential Election returns are used as a proxy for a county’s political party affiliation prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A county population’s spatial relationship to its parks encapsulates the green open space within an urban environment. The data set controls for features of the built environment, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics (race, gender, income, education), COVID-19 government regulations, and presidential election returns. Using …

How Within-Host Priority Effects Between Specialist And Generalist Pathogens Affect Disease Risk, Jing Jiao, Michael H. Cortez

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Research In Mathematical Modeling, Glenn Ledder

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Roles Of A Bradykinin Storm And A Cytokine Storm In Covid-19 Cases, Nouha H. Odeh

Honors College Theses

In the light of recent events, it is imperative to understand the key inflammatory response elements that appear to be the source of more severe ailments resulting from a SARS-CoV-2 viral infection known as Covid-19 The more severe cases of Covid-19 are characterized by a severe inflammatory response resulting in tissue damage. My research proposal aims to investigate the two possible culprits of this response: a bradykinin (BK) storm and an interleukin-6 (IL-6) mediated cytokine storm. In both systems respectively, the excess release of these signals subsequently signals the production of even more of the same response element, resulting in …

Conserved Non-Pocket Interactions Drive The Diversity Of Peptide Presentation By Mhc Class I Molecules, Kyle Jackson

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) can lyse infected or transformed cells through recognition of peptides presented on human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules. A thorough understanding of peptide-HLA interactions is needed for improvement of CTL-based immunotherapies. We observed that aspartic acid (D) and glutamic acid (E) at peptide position 4 are highly prevalent in HLA-I peptide ligands, and discovered that they interact with arginine (R) in position 65 and lysine (L) in position 66 of the α1 helix of the binding groove in HLA-A*0201 and HLA-A*2402. Since this interaction differed from well-characterized peptide-HLA anchor interactions mediated by peptide position 2 and the C-terminus, …

Covid-19: A One Health Issue, Karen Gruszynski

Cumberland Mountain Naturalist

COVID-19 has very rapidly become part of modern societal lexicon as the disease highlights the importance understanding zoonotic diseases and the impact they can have on human life. With a 177million human cases and 3.82million deaths globally at the time of this publication, the "One Health" nature of the disease has had a lasting impact across the planet. As the disease spread rapidly, it highlighted the dissemination of information through social media and other sources. With this in mind, Dr. Gary Vroegindewey, Director for One Health at LMU-CVM, put forth the idea to have students collect and summarize information about …

Formulation Of Coffee Extract As Polymeric Nanoparticles And Studying Their Potential Biological Activities, Nouran Sharaf

Theses and Dissertations

Coffee extract was prepared and optimized (by solvent extraction) and subsequently entrapped into PLGA nanoparticles using single emulsion-solvent evaporation method (using Design Expert software). Dynamic Light Scattering, Scanning Electron Microscope, Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy and Folin Ciocalteau assay were used to characterize the NPs and to aid in selecting the optimum formulation conditions. The optimized NPs were in-vitro evaluated for their antimicrobial (by agar-well diffusion method), antioxidant (by DPPH assay) and anticancer (by MTT assay) activities. Finally, the release rate study was conducted for the NP sample showing the highly promising results.

The succeeded NP sample, in terms of the most …

Allergy And Anaphylaxis From The Prehospital Perspective, Anthony E. Conrardy

Dissertations and Theses

Anaphylaxis is considered a severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction that occurs suddenly after contact with an allergy causing substance. It is estimated that up to 5% of the population has experienced anaphylaxis, with 1% of hospitalizations and 0.1% of emergency department patients having fatal outcomes. We characterized the population of patients encountered by the EMS agency (786 patients) that had a provider impression of “allergic reaction” and then utilized logistic regression models to estimate associations with the administration of epinephrine in the prehospital setting. Additionally, we used incident location data for all patient encounters of the EMS agency …

Constructing The Panama Canal: A Brief History, Ian E. Phillips

The Downtown Review

Seeking to commemorate the construction of the Panama Canal, an engineering marvel widely considered a contender for the eighth wonder of the world, this article attempts to retell the story of the Canal's construction by synthesizing a narrative centered on the Canal under French and American leadership, worker segregation, and labor conditions at the Isthmus.

The Role Of Pag1 In The Activated B-Cell Subtype Of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Jared Henderson

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common aggressive hematologic malignancy in adults, but despite recent advances in treatment, many patients today still face poor outcomes. Of the two types of DLBCL, activated B-cell (ABC) and germinal center B-cell (GCB), patients diagnosed with the ABC subtype especially face a lack of effective treatment options. Unlike GCB-DLBCL, ABC-DLBCL is characterized by chronic antigen-driven signaling by the B-cell receptor (BCR), indicating an escape from immunologic tolerance mechanisms that normally regulate self-reactive B cells. While recent therapies have focused on inhibiting the kinases that propagate BCR signaling with mixed success, we …

Temperature-Dependent Macrophage Activity In Rainbow Trout, Danica Mcgrevey

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fever is an essential component of the immune response. Fever enhances immune responses as well as creates an environment in which the body has advantages over pathogens. Macrophages are often the first cells that come in contact with pathogens, as they reside in tissues. They are important for their engulfment of pathogens that results in the digestion of the pathogen, but they also produce nitric oxide and cytokines that contribute to immune response in a variety of ways, including initiating adaptive immunity and directing the production and activity of other immune cells. We were curious about macrophages from other temperature …

Media Analysis Of Coverage Of Environmental Issues In The Midst Of A Pandemic, Alexandria N. Miller, Lucia A. Bolles

Thinking Matters Symposium

This research aimed to answer the question “has the coronavirus impacted the print media’s coverage of important environmental issues?” The research analyzed 2 different print newspapers - The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal - to determine if there was a change in coverage of environmental news as the coronavirus spread in the US. Data for stories published in the first four days of every month from March through September was compiled for 2019 and 2020. Our findings showed a 78.85% decrease in coverage of environmental issues between 2019 and 2020 when stories related to the coronavirus pandemic …

Developing A Multiplex Pcr To Amplify Borrelia Burgdorferi Dna In The Presence Of Ixodes Scapularis Dna, Mckenzie Henkelman, Kimberly Bates

Ramaley Celebration

Lyme Disease is caused by a spirochete bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi). It is transmitted by ticks of the genus Ixodes. Ixodes scapularis, more commonly known as the black-legged tick or deer tick is capable of carrying and transmitting the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi to humans and other mammals and is the species of ticks found in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Lyme Disease is a complex disease that causes a multitude of side effects both acute and chronic. It can affect multiple systems in the human body, including the cardiovascular and nervous systems. The prevalence of Lyme Disease in the Midwest …

B20: Role Of The Cd5 T Cell Coreceptor In T Cell Activation In Periodontal Disease, Kimble Mahler

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

P14: Emerging Role Of Pharmacists In Treatment And Vaccination For Covid-19, Dwaynie Bacon Jr, Man Ha, Dr. Mandal

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

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 …

H1n1 Influenza Virus (Swine Flu): A Comprehensive Insight Into Escalating Catch-22 Scenarios, Muhammad Shahzaib, Ehsan Ul Haq

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Viruses have always been a major cause of various disastrous pandemics in mankind’s history. H1N1 became a threat when its original strain was first discovered back in the swine flu pandemic of 2009. It became highly catastrophic on a large scale because none of the therapeutic interventions and methodologies that were already present at the time were effective against the virus.

Methods: A vast amount of literature and research is available regarding H1N1 influenza from different reputable sources online. The data were gathered with the contrasting and relative situations of 1918 and 2009 pandemics in mind. The overall extracted …

Impulse Vaccination Model For The Control Of Devil Facial Tumor Disease, Zachary Bobbitt, Timothy Comar, Megan O. Powell, Catherine Roberts, Nicholas Schneider, Teagen Smith

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) is a cancer that affects Tasmanian devils and that has caused the devil population to grossly decline since 1996. We present an SEIVR model to explore if recent advances in DFTD vaccines can help the wild population recover. Considering both and bi-annual impulse of vaccinating wild devils through food drops and introducing vaccinated captive-bred devils into the population, we explore the vaccine efficacy, percent of healthy devils receiving the vaccine, and years of campaign necessary for the devil population to have a long-term recovery. Based on our initial parameter estimations, we find a stable population …

Development And Maintenance Of The Thymic Epithelial Microenvironment, Shami Chakrabarti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The thymus plays a critical role in adaptive immunity by providing a suitable microenvironment for developing and selecting the functional self-tolerant T-cell population. Thymic epithelial cells play an essential role in the development of a naïve, self-tolerant T-cell population. Paradoxically thymus undergoes acute age-related involution, which in turn causes loss of functional T-cell populations. Involution reduces the functionality of the thymus markedly, but the thymus can still develop self-tolerant naïve T-cells. It is crucial to understand how the thymic microenvironment is maintained to provide a suitable T-cell population for life. It has been previously demonstrated that the thymic epithelial homeostasis …

Il-36g Cytokine Induction In Oral Epithelial Cells Triggered By Treponema Denticola And Their Role In Chronic Periodontitis, Christopher Blake

Theses and Dissertations

Periodontal disease is a polymicrobial disease affecting 10-15% of the population. Periodontal disease affects the quality of life by reducing mastication and potentially causing tooth loss. Periodontal disease is also linked to more severe, systemic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Development of the diseased state occurs when the plaque biofilm shifts from healthy to dysbiotic. The shift to a dysbiotic biome brings with it a shift in bacterial presence, specifically an increase in gram-negative bacteria, such as T. denticola. T. denticola is a gram-negative, anaerobic spirochete whose relationship with oral epithelial cells is poorly understood. Preliminary data …