Recent ulab_phhs_2021 items

Exploring the efficacy of P300 as a potential biomarker in detecting Alzheimer’s disease: A replication study

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper details a theoretical research proposal to explore the efficacy of theevent-related potential (ERP) component P300 as a potential biomarker in the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. To determine P300’s efficacy as a biomarker, an electroencephalogram test, which monitors and generates data on the electrical activity of the brain via scalp electrodes, and an auditory oddball test, which aims to assess the cognitive functioning of participants, were performed. The auditory oddball test involved playing a series of tones of two different frequencies (one is the standard tone, and the other is the target tone) for participants and having participants press a button whenever they heard a target tone. Accuracy and reaction time were recorded. The aforementioned two tests depicted a strong association between P300 and the cognitive decline of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), suggesting that this ERP component may be used for the early detection of AD, which may...

Analysis of Potential Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) in SARS-CoV-2 infections

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE) is a phenomenon in which viral particles bind to virus-specific antibodies, enhancing their uptake by host cells and resulting in increased viral replication and infection. First discovered while studying dengue virus (DENV) in primates, ADE can be explained by two general mechanisms, depending on the type of virus involved. In DENV infection, ADE manifests as largely different reactivity upon secondary infection with a cross-reactive serotype and this information provides a large implication to the authorization of DENGVAXIA vaccine use. Looking into the need of vaccines considering the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, authors are providing a review of current knowledge correlating SARS-CoV-2 and ADE phenomenon. Using SARS-CoV-1 as a model, we can hypothesize the possible ADE pathway in SAR- CoV-2. The S protein binds to the ACE2 receptor on the host cell and triggers different immune responses depending on the titer of antibodies present. Despite...

Current Limitations and Future Outlook of Nanomedicine Efficacy and Treatment of HIV/Aids

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Although the development of antiretroviral treatment has been successful in mitigating and suppressing HIV/AIDS infections globally, it has not changed the fact that 1.7 million new infections have occurred in 2019.The objective of the literature review is to determine the current treatments for HIV and their shortcomings, future approaches using nanotechnology, and the current related health disparities which may be mitigated by advances in this field. Both globally and in the United States, the main demographic of HIV/AIDs victims are from disadvantaged communities that lack access to treatment and prevention education. Despite the use of antiretroviral treatment reaching global access and its successful efforts, there are still many challenges with the containment of the virus since the treatment does not effectively suppress the virus. Future approaches using nanotechnology are quite varied in the types of particles used but are mainly used to increase delivery efficiency...

An Analysis of Environmental Factors Impacting Health

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Environmental health is becoming increasingly important in the broader context ofclimate change. This article aims to analyze the factors most impactful in determining human health, which was done by performing correlational analysis on a myriad of environmental factors. Each of these factors were evaluated by looking at counties or states as a whole and analyzing the strength of correlation between life expectancy in a county/state to a specific metric measuring environmental health, whether that be natural disasters, air quality, average temperature, exercise rate, water quality, walk score, or food security. The strength of correlation is in the form of an r-squared value, which is a metric that gives a measure of how much of a particular independent variable impacts the dependent variable, which here is life expectancy. The results show that lifestyle factors like food and exercise have a larger impact than expected, while factors such as air and water quality have a less...

The Exploration of CRISPR within Infectious and Genetic Disease Research, Diagnoses, and Treatments

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Prokaryotes, such as bacteria, have evolved defense mechanisms that protect them from foreign bodies invading and harming them.1 One of these mechanisms is the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), alongside their accompanying CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins.1 This system functions as an immune response that protects prokaryotes from viruses (and other harmful bodies) by detecting foreign genetic material invading them and disabling their functionality and ability to spread.2 Understanding the underlying mechanism of this immune response allowed scientists around the world to develop CRISPR and adapt it to various uses in gene editing, agriculture, and most recently, diagnosis of infectious and noninfectious diseases.2 The discovery of CRISPR as a biomedical disease detection tool has revolutionized modern day medicine and its accessibility.

Infectious diseases are those that are caused by microorganisms and easily passed from...

An Epidemiological Comparison of COVID-19 Waves in Malaysia

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

An Epidemiological Comparison of COVID-19 Waves in Malaysia

A Review of the Applications and Mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas9 Systems

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Several studies have introduced CRISPR-Cas9 as a prominent genome-editing technology. CRISPR was first established as a bacterial immune system and was later founded as a new genome-editing technology by Jennifer Doudna and colleagues around the turn of the decade. CRISPR is preceded by zinc-finger nucleases (ZFN) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs); however, it improves upon these previous genome-editing designs by using RNA as its binding domain and by already containing nucleases—reducing the need to intentionally engineer these domains into the technology. Complementarity between the different RNAs (tracrRNA and crRNA) and protein aspects (Cas systems) of CRISPR act in conjunction to both efficiently assemble and confer its intended purpose. After extensive use in mammalian cell cultures and various model organisms, the CRISPR-Cas system has subsequently been used to mediate several genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and some cancers in humans....

Implications of ACE-I and ARBs on COVID-19 Prognosis in Hypertensive Patients

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Implications of ACE-I and ARBs on COVID-19 Prognosis in Hypertensive Patients

Effects of SARS-CoV-2 B1.1.7 Spike Mutations on Vaccine Efficacy

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is a literature review on the effects of spike mutations in the B1.1.7 SARS-CoV-2 variant and its effect on vaccine efficacy. This paper has organized the pertinent literature on the researched effects of vaccine efficacy and explores a number of mutations in the spike protein. The search was conducted on PubMed and the criteria for inclusion was based on relevance to specifically mutations in the B1.1.7 variant, being a primary source, conducted after January of 2021, and its reproducibility and pertinence to the research topic. There are 16 fully extracted studies discussed in the results, with a brief overview of the conducted experiment in relation to the papers’ conclusions. The strengths of this paper are distilling the molecular methods of these individual papers and being able to compare and contrast diverse experiments on the same mutations. However, due to the diversity of experiments discussed in this paper, the landscape of SARS-CoV-2 mutations and vaccine efficacy...

Maternal Mortality Rates and their Correlation to Food Deserts

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Maternal mortality is defined as the number of deaths related to complications during or after childbirth. Food deserts are defined as regions that have limited access to affordable and healthy food options. This study utilized R to analyze data from the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service’s Food Access Research Atlas and maternal mortality rates from the UCSF paper “Maternal Morbidity and Outcomes Including Mortality, California 2001-2006.” to search for an association between the two variables. The research atlas maps areas in Northern California with low access to grocery stores, as well as provides information on food access throughout the United States using census tracts. The independent variable in this study is food access and the dependent variable is maternal mortality. After analyzing the data collected using R, correlation graphs were created and intercepts and R values were identified. This information was used to further understand the...

Monotherapy vs Combination Therapy for the Management of Alzheimer’s Disease

Sat, 5 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological condition resulting from the death of neural cells that causes a deprivation in cognitive functionality, communication, and motor skills in patients. The condition has an inordinate impact on older populations, with 90% of all cases affecting those 65 years or older. As the most common type of dementia, comprising approximately 70% of all dementia cases, Alzheimer’s disease affects about 5 million people in the United States. The rate of the condition’s extent among the population is increasing exponentially, with the number of people enduring Alzheimer’s estimated to triple by 2060 in the United States.

Due to the widespread impact of Alzheimer’s, developing treatments that govern the symptoms of the condition is an immense priority for researchers all over the globe. In the spirit of the venture to aid patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, also known as AD, researchers have in recent years been testing several monotherapies,...

Monotherapy vs Combination Therapy for the Management of Alzheimer’s Disease

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological condition resulting from the death of neural cells that causes a deprivation in cognitive functionality, communication, and motor skills in patients. The condition has an inordinate impact on older populations, with 90% of all cases affecting those 65 years or older1. As the most common type of dementia, comprising approximately 70% of all dementia cases, Alzheimer’s disease affects about 5 million people in the United States. The rate of the condition’s extent among the population is increasing exponentially, with the number of people enduring Alzheimer’s estimated to triple by 2060 in the United States.1

The Effect of Enteric Biochemical Modifications and Imbalances on the Progression of Parkinson’s Disease

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This paper analyzes various biochemical differences observed between patients afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease and those without the diagnosis. Such disparities explored in this work include the accumulation of alpha-synuclein in the form of Lewy Bodies along with significant changes in the bacterial populations of Akkermansia, Streptococcaceae, Prevotella, and Lactococcus. Specifically, these distinct markers are examined in the context of the enteric system as a means of synthesizing connections between nuanced changes within the gut and the progression of PD. Essentially, this study supports an alternative attempt of better understanding the disease beyond a sole, isolated focus on the brain and central nervous system. Further confounding variables that have been linked to PD are also examined in a similar context; for instance for the variable age, it was indeed found that one of the potential reasons why age is a risk factor for PD can be tied back to the gut through an...