Chemicals and Drugs Commons^™

Vaccines: The Controversies And Effects Surrounding The Mmr Vaccine, Abigail Schley

Senior Honors Theses

The MMR vaccine serves to prevent the onset of severe illness and transmission of measles, mumps, and rubella. Vaccines benefit an individual by strengthening their immunity to a virus or bacteria through a small or weakened introduction of the disease in the body. However, in recent years, people have blamed the MMR vaccine for the development of several health risks in children, namely autism. Although multiple studies have indicated that there exists no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, some parents choose not to vaccinate their children due to misinformation or lack of education. This thesis seeks to explore …

Role Of Meibum And Tear Phospholipids In The Evaporative Water Loss Associated With Dry Eye., Samiyyah M. Sledge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is generally believed that the tear film lipid surface film inhibits the rate of evaporation (Revap) of the underlying tear aqueous. It is also generally believed that changes in the composition of the tear film lipid layer is responsible for an increase in Revap in patients with dry eye. Both of these ideas have never been proven. The purpose of the current studies was to test these ideas. Revap was measured in vitro gravimetrically. Lipid spreading was measured using Raman spectroscopy and microscopy. The influence of the following surface films on the Revap of the sub phase of physiologically …

Electronic Cigarettes’ Health Effects On Young Adults: An Honors Thesis, Miranda Yates

Senior Honors Theses

Hon Lik introduced e-cigarette use in 2003 as a “safe alternative” to smoking cigarettes. Unfortunately, this message has been misinterpreted to mean that e-cigarette use is “harmless”. Recent studies have linked e-cigarette use to adverse health effects involving injury to the heart and lungs. Cigarette smokers using e-cigarettes to quit smoking and reduce second-hand smoke are being exposed to unregulated and potentially harmful chemicals. Teens who may never have considered cigarette smoking have been led to believe that e-cigarette use is safe and non-addictive. However, most e-cigarettes contain nicotine and unsuspecting teens are becoming addicted to this “fun” behavior. This …

Development And Validation Of A Method For The Determination Of Designer Benzodiazepines In Hair By Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (Lc-Ms/Ms), Laura C. Defreitas

Student Theses

In recent years, new designer benzodiazepines have become a challenge in forensic toxicology. These substances are analogues of the classic benzodiazepines, but their pharmacology is not well known, and many of them have been associated with overdoses and deaths. As a result, there has been a surge in efforts to develop ways to accurately test for these compounds in different biological matrices. This study focused to develop and validate a method for determining 17 new designer benzodiazepines in hair by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Hair samples were decontaminated, pulverized, and 20 mg of the sample was incubated in …

Characterizing And Overcoming Resistance To Aminomethylspectinomycins In Gram-Negative Bacteria, Nisha Das

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Spectinomycin (SPC) is a broad-spectrum aminocyclitol antibiotic. Its use in agriculture has led to widespread resistance in enteric bacteria, necessitating the development of more effective analogs. Aminomethyl spectinomycins (amSPC) are modified spectinomycins with increased potency against many bacterial species. These species include Legionella pneumophila, which harbors a chromosomally encoded aminoglycoside modifying enzyme (AME). In this study, we follow up on this observation and examine the extent to which the amSPCs are substrates for AMEs through adenylation (ANTs) and phosphorylation (APH). APH(9)-Ia and ANT(3")(9) were expressed in E. coli BL21(DE3) and purified using the Ni-affinity chromatography. The ability of AMEs to …

Drug Analysis: Using Hplc To Identify Two Common Cutting Agents Often Found Illegal Within Drugs, Jed Black

Senior Honors Theses

Oftentimes, illegal drugs are cut with additional substances, known as cutting agents. These cutting agents fall into two categories: Diluents and adulterants. Diluents have no physiological effect on the user and simply allow the distributor to give the perception of “more product made.” Common examples of diluents are usually everyday household commodities (i.e., sugar or corn starch). On the other hand, adulterants are used to mimic or enhance the drug's physiological effects (i.e., caffeine in cocaine). As such, these do have drug-like properties (i.e., CNS stimulation or depression, etc.). This thesis seeks to use High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to efficiently …

Identification And Characterization Of Bisbenzimide Compounds That Inhibit Human Cytomegalovirus Replication, Nicole Falci Finardi, Hyeongjun Kim, Lee Z. Hernandez, Matthew R. G. Russell, Catherine M-K Ho, Vattipally B. Sreenu, Hannah A. Wenham, Andy Merritt, Blair L. Strang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The shortcomings of current anti-human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) drugs has stimulated a search for anti-HCMV compounds with novel targets. We screened collections of bioactive compounds and identified a range of compounds with the potential to inhibit HCMV replication. Of these compounds, we selected bisbenzimide compound RO-90-7501 for further study. We generated analogues of RO-90-7501 and found that one compound, MRT00210423, had increased anti-HCMV activity compared to RO-90-7501. Using a combination of compound analogues, microscopy and biochemical assays we found RO-90-7501 and MRT00210423 interacted with DNA. In single molecule microscopy experiments we found RO-90-7501, but not MRT00210423, was able to compact DNA, …

Eradication Of Enterococcus Faecalis In Conventional Endodontic Retreatments (A Randomized Clinical Trial), Fadl H. Khaled, Roula S. Abiad, Khaled Abd El Galil, Essam Osman

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

Enterococcus faecalis is the most common bacteria isolated in conventional endodontic retreatments. Aim: To compare the impact of three irrigation modalities on the elimination of the isolated microbial strains of Enterococcus faecalis. Materials and Methods: Thirty patients requiring conventional endodontic retreatment for one of their mandibular premolars and tested positive for E. faecalis were chosen. Patients were randomly divided into three groups (n=10) according to the irrigation modality to be used; group I: syringe irrigation (NaOCl 2.625%), group II: NaOCl 2.625%+EndoActivator and group III: NaOCl 2.625%+diode laser. Before obturation, samples S2 were collected and PCR analysis was performed to identify …

Pharmacist-Directed Vancomycin Therapeutic Drug Monitoring In Pediatric Patients: A Collaborative-Practice Model, Kashif Hussain, Rahila Ikram, Gul Ambreen, Muhammad Sohail Salat

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of Vancomycin (VCM) is required to prevent inappropriate dosage-associated bacterial resistance, therapeutic failure, and toxicities in pediatrics. Anecdotal experience and studies show that many healthcare institutions confront barriers while implementing TDM services, this study aimed to assess a pharmacist-directed VCM-TDM service for optimizing patient care in our institution.
Materials and methods: Patients aged 1 month-18 years who received intravenous VCM were included in this quasi-experimental study. The pre-implementation phase (March-June 2018) consisted of retrospective assessment of pediatric patients, the interventional phase (July 2018 to February 2020) included educational programs and the post-implementation phase (March-June 2020) …

Bay Leaf Extract‐Based Near‐Infrared Fluorescent Probe For Tissue And Cellular Imaging, Benilde Adriano, Nycol Cotto, Neeraj Chauhan, Vinitha Karumuru, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

School of Medicine Publications

The development of fluorescence dyes for near‐infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging has been a significant interest for deep tissue imaging. Among many imaging fluoroprobes, indocyanine green (ICG) and its analogues have been used in oncology and other medical applications. However, these imaging agents still experience poor imaging capabilities due to low tumor targetability, photostability, and sensitivity in the biological milieu. Thus, developing a biocompatible NIR imaging dye from natural resources holds the potential of facilitating cancer cell/tissue imaging. Chlorophyll (Chl) has been demonstrated to be a potential candidate for imaging purposes due to its natural NIR absorption qualities and its wide …

Antagonistic Role Of Aqueous Complexation In The Solvent Extraction And Separation Of Rare Earth Ions, Pan Sun, Erik A. Binter, Zhu Liang, M. Alex Brown, Artem V. Gelis, Ilan Benjamin, Mrinal K. Bera, Binhua Lin, Wei Bu, Mark L. Schlossman

Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty Research

Solvent extraction is used widely for chemical separations and environmental remediation. Although the kinetics and efficiency of this process rely upon the formation of ion-extractant complexes, it has proven challenging to identify the location of ion-extractant complexation within the solution and its impact on the separation. Here, we use tensiometry and X-ray scattering to characterize the surface of aqueous solutions of lanthanide chlorides and the water-soluble extractant bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP), in the absence of a coexisting organic solvent. These studies restrict ion-extractant interactions to the aqueous phase and its liquid-vapor interface, allowing us to explore the consequences that one …

Drug-Based Therapeutic Strategies For Covid-19-Infected Patients And Their Challenges, Khatereh Zarkesh, Elaheh Entezar-Almahdi, Parisa Ghasemiyeh, Mohsen Akbarian, Marzieh Bahmani, Shahrzad Roudaki, Rahil Fazlinejad, Soliman Mohammadi-Samani, Negar Firouzabadi, Majid Hosseini, Fatemeh Farjadian

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

Emerging epidemic-prone diseases have introduced numerous health and economic challenges in recent years. Given current knowledge of COVID-19, herd immunity through vaccines alone is unlikely. In addition, vaccination of the global population is an ongoing challenge. Besides, the questions regarding the prevalence and the timing of immunization are still under investigation. Therefore, medical treatment remains essential in the management of COVID-19. Herein, recent advances from beginning observations of COVID-19 outbreak to an understanding of the essential factors contributing to the spread and transmission of COVID-19 and its treatment are reviewed. Furthermore, an in-depth discussion on the epidemiological aspects, clinical symptoms …

Using Culture Independent Approaches To Gain Insights Into Human Urinary Tract Microbiome In Healthy Male And Female Individuals, Sarah Hussein El-Alawi

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Deconstructing Sex Differences In C-Reactive Protein Trends Over Time, Ashley W. Kranjac, Dinko Kranjac, Olivia Lounsbury

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Objectives

Heightened inflammatory state, as measured by circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, can promote inflammation-mediated disease risk. It is important to account for population fluctuation and sex variation in serum CRP concentrations on overall time trends.

Methods

Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, we specify linear and algebraic decomposition models separately by sex to identify the drivers of the changing trends in the distribution of CRP values in the population.

Results

We found a nonsignificant overall increase in CRP, but a significant decrease among women and increase among men, over a 10-year period. We then used linear …

Fragment-Based Drug Discovery Of Sars-Cov-2 Therapeutics, Hannah Johnson '22

Student Publications & Research

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the usual drug development timeline has been substantially condensed. This shortened timeline aims to allow for a safe and effective therapy to be discovered as soon as possible as the number of global COVID cases rise. Moreover, the COVID Moonshot open-sourced initiative has allowed the development of a COVID antiviral to accelerate. After the published fragment screening on the main protease (MPro) of SARS-CoV2 yielded 66 fragment hits, a fragment (x0434) was selected to build novel compounds. SeeSAR was used to gather preliminary knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of the biomolecular targeted protein and selected fragment …

Dz-Bau2021-14n As Novel Pyrazolopyridine Nanocrystals: Appraisal Of Anticancer Activity Against Hct-116 And Ht-29 Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines, Zahra Kassem, Soumaiah Abou Staiteieh, Jamal Nasr, Amina Mneimneh, Ali Youssef, Nadine Darwiche, Doaa Issa, Raghida Bou Merhi, Mohammed Mehanna

BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing

Mentioning DZ-BAU2021-14 (C₁₉H₁₇N₅O₂,347.370 g/mol) developed in BAU Labs, its promising preliminary antitumor effect nominated it to be selected as a lead antiproliferative compound against colorectal cancer cell lines owing to its proved Cyclin Dependent Kinase 2 (CDK2) inhibition (Kassem et al., 2021). Solving many problems restricting traditional cancer therapy, nanotechnology is offering safety margins and targeted delivery of poorly soluble drug. The potential effect of this compound was combined with the advantages of nanotechnology, precisely nanocrystals to achieve better antiproliferative and hopeful less cytotoxic patterns. The nanocrystals DZ-BAU2021-14N were …

Colloidal Nanomaterial Surface Chemistry And Characterization Studied By Linear And Nonlinear Spectroscopy, Asela Sampath Dikkumbura

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Recent studies have demonstrated the use of nanomaterials such as metallic nanoparticles, liposomes, and polymer microparticles for biomedical applications, encompassing the field of nanomedicine. For developing novel core-shell metallic nanoparticles with controlled surface morphology, the in situ growth dynamics of colloidal silver-gold core-shell (Ag@Au CS) nanoparticles (NPs) in water are monitored in a stepwise synthesis approach using time-dependent second harmonic generation (SHG) and extinction spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy images show that the CS NP surface morphology becomes more smooth and uniform as the reaction proceeds, corresponding to lower, stable SHG signals and narrower plasmonic spectra that are compared to finite-difference …

Colchicine, Covid-19 And Hematological Parameters: A Meta-Analysis, Musharraf Sarwar, Zahid Ali, Mahnoor Fatima, Zouina Sarfraz, Azza Sarfraz, Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Introduction: Colchicine has the potential in reducing patient morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 infection owing to its anti-inflammatory properties. This study aims to determine the efficacy of colchicine in optimizing inflammatory hematological biomarker levels among COVID-19 patients.
Methods: In accordance to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 statement guidelines, a systematic search was conducted using the following keywords: Colchicine, covid*, SARS-CoV-2, anti-inflammatory, trials, clinical, hematological, laboratory. Databases were searched from December 2019 until August 26, 2021: MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, Scopus, and EMBASE. Other sources were located through ClinicalTrials.Gov, manually searching SAGE, Science Direct, Elsevier, …

Continuous Liquid-Liquid Extraction Of Lomustine Synthesis, Devna Grover

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Physiological Roles Of Mammalian Transmembrane Adenylyl Cyclase Isoforms, Katrina F. Ostrom, Justin E. Lavigne, Tarsis F. Brust, Roland Seifert, Carmen Dessauer, Val J. Watts, Rennolds S. Ostrom

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Adenylyl cyclases (ACs) catalyze the conversion of ATP to the ubiquitous second messenger cAMP. Mammals possess nine isoforms of transmembrane ACs, dubbed AC1-9, that serve as major effector enzymes of G protein-coupled receptors. The transmembrane ACs display varying expression patterns across tissues, giving potential for them having a wide array of physiologic roles. Cells express multiple AC isoforms, implying that ACs have redundant functions. Furthermore, all transmembrane ACs are activated by Gα_s so it was long assumed that all ACs are activated by Gα_s-coupled GPCRs. AC isoforms partition to different microdomains of the plasma membrane and form …