Browsing by Author "Tran, Olivia"
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Item CHW-Community Partnered Health Fairs to Increase Healthcare Access for Residents of 77031 ZIP Code(2023-04-13) Ba, Lucinda; Kazim, Mariyah; Ukachi-Nwata, Nmesomachukwu; Tran, OliviaWithin the 77031 ZIP code, the community members are disproportionately affected by lack of access to healthcare due to barriers such as no health insurance (45.2% of adults and 18.0% of children), high unemployment rates (8.1% of residents ages 16 and older), low socioeconomic status (21.4% residents living <100% below the federal poverty level; 39.8% living <200% below FPL), and language barriers (50.7% of households are non-English-speaking). As a result, 36.3% of residents lack access to a primary care provider and have a higher prevalence of chronic illness and mental distress. Community members should be aware of their options regarding methods of care and health care services available to them, and they should be able to discern information given to them to make the best decision for their well being. This project aims to gather bilingual CHWs and partner with local community centers to hand out translated brochures and CHW contact information, raise awareness on free and low-cost clinics and hospitals, and help community members with registration for existing resources and programs (i.e. Medicaid and Medicare).Item Evaluating Cytotoxic Activity of KRAS-Targeted Peptoids(2022-04-14) Tran, OliviaThe KRAS mutation is common in many types of cancer but is especially relevant to non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), appearing in 25% of adenocarcinomas. KRAS causes exaggerated signaling, which results in excessive cell growth and tumor formation. It is currently considered “undruggableâ€� because the KRAS proteins’ binding site surface is shallow and wide in shape, rendering it difficult for traditional small molecular organic drugs to bind and block its activity, thus destroying the cancer cells. Peptoids are capable of binding to such sites but must be designed to contain optimal residues. Peptoids OP1 and OP2 have been synthesized to bind to the KRAS in multiple target sites, and cytotoxicity assays were used to evaluate these two compounds for their potential as drug-leads. MTS results showed that OP1 has greater cytotoxic activity than OP2, though only at concentrations greater than 50 μM, and that both compounds have cytotoxic effects at high concentrations (approximately 100 μM). Both OP1 and OP2 require further optimization and are candidates for future studies in compound optimization, binding validation, biological activity validation, and mechanistic studies.Item Improving Healthcare Access via Community Ties in Houston’s Third Ward(2021-04-01) Boriek, Zaina; Tran, Olivia; Mehta, Ayush; Harris, KristenMany inner-city residents in large U.S. metropolitan areas are socioeconomically disadvantaged, which leads to higher rates of chronic illness and lower rates of healthcare access. This demographic may struggle to benefit from telehealth services due to lack of access to technology, private transportation, and/or health and digital literacy. Our goal is to leverage Houston’s Third Ward’s strong sense of community to determine if a targeted community telehealth program will improve healthcare access in the Third Ward during periods of isolation, either due to a pandemic lockdown or a general lack of access to healthcare. Our proposed efforts include partnering with a local electronics donation nonprofit organization to allow community health workers (CHWs) to facilitate the televisit process for fellow Third Ward residents with gently used tablets. This study will quantify the number of primary health provider visits in the twelve months before and after our program is implemented. A successful telehealth program should motivate Third Ward residents to schedule virtual visits more frequently. Increased participation will facilitate an open line of communication between patients and their primary healthcare providers, thereby providing an effective alternative to in-person care. This project is one component of improving the equity of the U.S. healthcare system, especially for underserved inner-city populations like Houston’s Third Ward.Item Optimizing Dimer Linker Length of an Anti-Cancer Peptoid Drug-Lead(2020-09-29) Tran, OliviaMany recurrent tumors are caused by small subset of cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs), the especially aggressive portion of the tumor. Because CSCs self-renew and metastasize easily, drugs that are designed to kill cancer cells often miss them, causing cancer relapse due to CSC drug resistance. H358 is a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line that contains CSCs with the cell surface protein plectin. In previous studies, plectin has been shown to be an effective drug target for the peptoid PCS2, a compound that has since been modified to create the peptoid dimer PCS2D1. In this study, we used MTS assays to compare the effect of PCS2D1 to that of ten of its linker variations on the viability of H358 cells in hopes of finding some correlation between the peptoid activity and the length of the linker that connects the two monomers in the peptoid dimer. We studied linker lengths that ranged from two to eighty-five carbon atoms and found that PCS2D1’s linker length of four carbons allowed it to show optimal activity, while the modified compounds with shorter or longer linkers had less of an effect on the cells. With increased knowledge of how linker length affects cell killing activity, we have a better understanding of the characteristics required in a compound that targets plectin on H358 cells.Item Optimizing Dimer Linker Length of an Anti-Cancer Peptoid Drug-Lead(2021-04-01) Tran, Olivia; Shukla, SatyaMany recurrent tumors are caused by small subset of cells called cancer stem cells (CSCs), the especially aggressive portion of the tumor. Because CSCs self-renew and metastasize easily, drugs that are designed to kill cancer cells often miss them, causing cancer relapse due to CSC drug resistance. H358 is a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line that contains CSCs with the cell surface protein plectin. In previous studies, plectin has been shown to be an effective drug target for the peptoid PCS2, a compound that has since been modified to create the peptoid dimer PCS2D1. In this study, we used MTS assays to compare the effect of PCS2D1 to that of ten of its linker variations on the viability of H358 cells in hopes of finding some correlation between the peptoid activity and the length of the linker that connects the two monomers in the peptoid dimer. We studied linker lengths that ranged from two to eighty-five carbon atoms and found that PCS2D1’s linker length of four carbons allowed it to show optimal activity, while the modified compounds with shorter or longer linkers had less of an effect on the cells. With increased knowledge of how linker length affects cell killing activity, we have a better understanding of the characteristics required in a compound that targets plectin on H358 cells.Item The Effects of Language and Economic Status on Healthcare Access and Care Partnership in Families of Children with Special Health Needs(2023-04-13) Tran, OliviaLanguage barriers and low family income are known to have negative impacts on healthcare. Families of children with special health needs often require multiple health services and frequent interactions with health providers, leading to many potentially difficult situations in which linguistic and economic differences between the patientï¾’s family and the healthcare team impede positive health outcomes. This project used measures from the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionï¾’s 2009-2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs to visualize lack of access to various health services and their causes, as well as care partnership, or the level of involvement and empowerment these families felt in the healthcare setting. Respondents' answers were separated according to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) status, use of English in the home, and need for language interpreters in everyday and medical situations. Sankey diagrams depicting healthcare access were created and refined for the different respondent groups, and substantial lack of access areas for each group were identified. Statistically significant care partnership disparities between groups were assessed with bar charts, indexed means, and chi-squared tests. Results revealed that non-English, SSI families exhibited different healthcare access patterns compared to the other three groups, that dental care was the area of greatest need for all four groups, and that care partnership was more affected by language status than SSI status.