Heather Villarreal Introduction. Zika virus (ZIKV) is a growing epidemic affecting several countries, whose effects include severe neurological damage such as Guillain-Barre syndrome and microcephaly. The virus infects peripheral dendritic tissue and transports axonally to neurons, especially neuroprogenitor cells, where […]
Danfeng Lisa Wang Introduction. Obesity is a major risk factor contributing to the worldwide burden of disease1. Recent studies show gut microbial composition differs between lean and obese phenotypes in mice and humans. Lean phenotypes tend to have a greater […]
Alice Tran Introduction: Human ZIKV infection, historically known as a mild, self-limiting arboviral illness circulating in Africa and Southeast Asia via Aedes mosquito bites, has emerged as a cause of severe neurological damage as it has spread to the Americas […]
Kendall Turner Introduction Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram negative bacterium and opportunistic human pathogen with intrinsic antibiotic resistance capabilities and adaptive mechanisms.1 The organism has the third highest incident rate of nosocomial infections in burn patients, composing 9.00 to 18.30% […]
Kevin M. Claunch Introduction. The Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) is a critical homeostatic pathway in mammalian cells that is triggered by ER dysfunction and subsequent accumulation of misfolded and damaged proteins[1,7]. Activation of the UPR is achieved through three transmembrane […]
Hadley Young Introduction. Zika Virus (ZIKV) is a flavivirus spread by Aedes mosquitoes and transmitted sexually and trans-placentally.3 First discovered in 1947 in Uganda, the recent ZIKV epidemic began in Brazil in 2015.3 Beyond flu-like symptoms, ZIKV has been linked […]
Callan Young Introduction. Obesity is known as being caused by an imbalance between energy consumption and expenditure. Many scientists, researchers and physicians note that obesity is also linked to genetics, environmental factors, gender, age and socioeconomic status, among others. Recently, […]
Christine Wilson Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of complex neurobiological disorders that are characterized by social and communication impairment, and fixed, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests, and activities1. There is a prominent subgroup of individuals […]
John Williams Introduction: Study of the outbreak of Zika in Brazil in 2015 showed that the prevalence of microcephaly increased from 0.6 per 10,000 live births in states without confirmed Zika cases to 2.8 per 10,000 live births in states […]
Emma Welch Introduction: HIV continues to be a major public health issue in the United States. In 2015, there were 39,513 new case of HIV diagnosed in the US, with African American MSM being disproportionately affected.[1] HIV, which infects and […]