Other Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

4dct Analysis Of In-Vivo Carpal Kinematics During Fem, Manisha R. Mistry

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A consensus, detailed understanding of carpal kinematics remains elusive. 4-dimensional CT (4DCT) is a validated modality capable of accurately studying in-vivokinematic motion. The objective of this work is to quantify normal, in-vivo kinematic motion of the carpus through a flexion-extension arc of motion using 4DCT. Ten healthy, un-injured volunteers underwent a 4DCT scanning protocol through a complete arc of flexion-extension motion. Kinematic changes in motion were quantified using helical axis motion data for each carpal bone. Helical axes were compared between bones and statistical analysis performed using repeated-measures ANOVA to identify difference in kinematic motion between bones (p<0.05). The carpus can be divided into four main kinematic blocks: the distal carpal block, the proximal carpal block and individual scaphoid and trapezial blocks. This work supports an additional segmentation of the trapezium from the distal carpal row, which suggests some modulation between the scaphoid and distal carpal row.

Segmentation And Statistical Analysis Of Imaged And Simulated 3d Chromosome Territories, Hannah Varney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

With advances in microscopy in the 21st century, more accurate measurements of the morphology and position of chromosome territories (CTs) during interphase within the cell nucleus can be obtained. These measurements have determined that CTs are non-randomly positioned, and their position and shape can change during diseases like breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and Huntington’s Disease. The 2.5D Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima segmentation method uses multi-scale edge detection to accurately segment objects in 3D images to find variables such as surface area, volume, and diameter without assuming a spherical or ellipsoidal shape. Measurements of centroid distance, shell distance and radial distance …

Dimensionality Reduction For Classification Of Object Weight From Electromyography, Elnaz Lashgari, Uri Maoz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Electromyography (EMG) is a simple, non-invasive, and cost-effective technology for measuring muscle activity. However, multi-muscle EMG is also a noisy, complex, and high-dimensional signal. It has nevertheless been widely used in a host of human-machine-interface applications (electrical wheelchairs, virtual computer mice, prosthesis, robotic fingers, etc.) and, in particular, to measure the reach-and-grasp motions of the human hand. Here, we developed an automated pipeline to predict object weight in a reach-grasp-lift task from an open dataset, relying only on EMG data. In doing so, we shifted the focus from manual feature-engineering to automated feature-extraction by using pre-processed EMG signals and thus …

Conversion Of Multicellds Digital Snapshots To Isa-Tab Format., Corey P. Chitwood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The MultiCellular Data Standard (MultiCellDS) is an interdisciplinary effort to create a data standard for sharing multicellular experimental, simulation, and clinical data. The ultimate goal of the overall project is to allow for data sharing that will lead to better analyses and simulations for multicellular biology and predictive medicine in association with the PhysiCell, a software that allows for simulations of large numbers of cells in 3D tissues. Digital cell lines are files that contain a standardized representation of a biological cell line and include phenotypic parameters as well as microenvironmental conditions for use in simulations. A Digital Cell Line …

Noninvasive Measurement Of Arterial Compliance With A Blood Pressure Cuff Using A Surrogate Arm Bench Top Model For Oscillometric Use, Shane Wilsey

Master's Theses

A surrogate arm model was created that is capable of being used for oscillometry. This model is capable of being used as a bench top model for blood pressure cuff devices. The arm consists of endplates and internal supports that are 3D printed with ABS, a silicone rubber outer sleeve, and interchangeable arteries made from two silicone rubber strips glued together at the edges. The interchangeable arteries have varying compliances that can be used as different inputs for oscillometric testing. A process was established to measure the artery compliances with a curve fit correlation of 0.95. However, testing revealed that …

Development And Evaluation Of A Body Weight Support Treadmill For Use With Locomotor Training On Pediatric Spinal Cord Injury Patients., Winston T Rauch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI) are devastating regardless of the age of a patient. When the injury occurs in children five years old or younger, however, the impact is magnified due to the inevitable development of scoliosis (96%) and hip dysplasia (57%) (Schottler et al., 2012). To reduce occurrence of these complications and improve the quality of life for these patients, specialized activity-based therapies such as locomotor training (LT) are being increasingly used to improve overall trunk control and muscle activity in the lower extremities (Harkema et al., 2012; Howland et al., 2014). The aim of this therapy …

Development Of A Wireless Telemetry Load And Displacement Sensor For Orthopaedic Applications, William Anderson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Due to sensor size and supporting circuitry, in vivo load and deformation measurements are currently restricted to applications within larger orthopaedic implants. The objective of this thesis is to repurpose a commercially available low-power, miniature, wireless, telemetric, tire-pressure sensor (FXTH87) to measure load and deformation for future use in biomechanical applications. The capacitive transducer membrane of the FXTH87 was modified, and a relationship was reported between applied compressive deformation and sensor signal value. The sensor package was embedded within a deformable enclosure to illustrate potential applications of the sensor for monitoring load. Finite element analysis was an effective tool to …

Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (Sers) As An Approach For The Emerging Liquid Biopsy Diagnostics, Nariman Banaei

Doctoral Dissertations

Large Molecule bioanalysis and biosensor development are essential techniques that are required in many applications, including biotherapeutic development, in vitro diagnostic, biomarker detection, and early detection. These techniques should be highly specific and sensitive enough to identify and quantify an analyte of interest with minimum sample pretreatment requirements. This work explores the development and application of chip-scale bioassays based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). It introduces sensing techniques to quantify various disease biomarkers, specifically pancreatic cancer. Blood is the best source of information about our body's function. There are many biomarkers in the blood, and each biomarker's high expression level …

Modeling Action Potential Propagation During Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Through A Three-Dimensional Computational Model, Julia Elizabeth Kelley

Master's Theses

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common monogenic disorder and the leading cause of sudden arrhythmic death in children and young adults. It is typically asymptomatic and first manifests itself during cardiac arrest, making it a challenge to diagnose in advance. Computational models can explore and reveal underlying molecular mechanisms in cardiac electrophysiology by allowing researchers to alter various parameters such as tissue size or ionic current amplitudes. The goal of this thesis is to develop a computational model in MATLAB and to determine if this model can accurately indicate cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This goal is achieved by combining …

The Impact Of Myoblast Transplantation On Collateral Capillary Arteriogenesis And Macrophage Phenotype, Christine Hue Do

Biomedical Engineering

Gangrene, pain, loss of limb function, amputation, and death are only few of the grievous consequences associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a vascular disease caused by an obstruction that narrows the blood vessels. Since some patients have collateral vessels that can re-route blood to its downstream destination, much focus has been spotlighted upon discovering the mechanism of this process, termed arteriogenesis, as well as cell therapies to increase arterial diameter of collateral vessels. Since some patients do not have native pre-existing collateral vessels, another method to re-route blood is through arterialized collateral capillaries (ACC), which is the conversion of …

Hand Strength And Dexterity Enhancer, Julia Ann Denison, Autumn B. Rexford, Melissa A. Kurani, Christina K. Fong

Biomedical Engineering

Good Grips created the hand strength and dexterity enhancer project to meet the challenge presented by Bill Phelps. He has Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM), an inflammatory muscle disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. Bill has limited strength in both hands and lost the ability to bend his fingers, making it difficult to grip anything. He needed a device that would help with everyday tasks such as writing, lifting, and holding various objects.

Our team consists of four engineering students attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. We researched, designed, manufactured, and tested a device that would fulfill the problem …

K-Wire Differentiation, Oluwadamilola Oluwadara, Lillian Maresco, Eunjung Lee, Michelle De Leon

Honors Theses

Kirschner Pins, known as K-wires, are smooth sharp stainless steel pins used in the field of orthopedics to stabilize bone fracture fragments in their correct position until they have fully healed. K-wires are most commonly used for comminuted metaphyseal fractures of the long bones, and fractures of smaller bones such as the phalanges. The wires are inserted into bone via a drill and the ends of the wire are bent and left outside of the body for easy removal once the bone has healed. The surgeon uses x-ray images to guide K-wire insertion, ensure proper internal alignment, and determine if …

4dct To Examine Carpal Motion, Sydney M. Robinson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) is a novel imaging modality initially used in cardiac imaging but recently applied to the musculoskeletal system; although its methodology has been developed, it is still in its infancy as a powerful clinical tool. Currently, scapholunate interosseous ligament (SLIL) tears, whose early symptoms are elucidated through dynamic movement, are diagnosed with static techniques that cannot visualize dynamic motion; hence, a tool is needed that is responsive and dynamic to visualize subtle abnormal carpal movements indicative of SLIL tears. It is hypothesized that 4DCT can visualize subtle dynamic carpal movements to define uninjured motion as well as …

Machine Learning Applied To Colloidal Properties Of Perfluorocarbon Nanoemulsions For Imaging In Ards/Ali, Marco Hosfeld

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Acute Respiratory distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Acute Lung Injury (ALI) are inflammatory lung pathologies consisting of non-hydrostatic pulmonary edema leading to hypoxia and impaired gas exchange in the lungs. ARDS/ALI is both difficult to study and treat as it is not in itself a specific pathology but rather a syndrome consisting of many pathologies that vary case by case. It is, however, consistently characterized by an explosive acute inflammatory response in the lung parenchyma leading to hypoxia. Although time has seen to an increase in the understanding of ARDS/ALI, the mortality rate remains in the range of 30-50%. For these …

Growth Of Perkinus Marinus By Bioreactor Fermentation, Caitlin Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perkinsus marinus is a marine protozoan responsible for “Dermo” disease in the eastern oyster species, Crassostrea virginica. P. marinus has been detected along the Atlantic Coast of the United States and Mexico. In laboratory studies, many parasites need to be maintained in vivo, which complicates the study of the organism. However, In vitro cell culture for P. marinus at a scale of 1 mL was established in 1993 by several groups with the 1995 optimization (Gauthier & Vasta, 1993, 1995) considered the gold standard for small scale growth of this species. In addition to its importance as a …

Isomotive Dielectrophoresis For Enhanced Analyses Of Cell Subpopulations., Mohamed Zakarya Rashed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the relentless dream of creating a true lab-on-a-chip device is closer to realization than ever before, which will be enabled through efficient and reliable sample characterization systems. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a term used to describe the motion of dielectric particles/ cells, by means of a non-uniform electric field (AC or DC). Cells of different dielectric properties (i.e., size, interior properties, and membrane properties) will act differently under the influence of dielectrophoretic force. Therefore, DEP can be used as a powerful, robust, and flexible tool for cellular manipulation, separation, characterization, and patterning. However, most recent DEP applications focus on …

Scientific Knowledge Shaping Perceptions Of Bioengineered Food Among Undergraduate Students, Kathleen Tims

Honors College

While commonplace in our grocery stores, GMO-foods have persevered through years of controversy. As the availability of bioengineered(BE) commodities grows and biotechnical industries make strides, studies have shown that the average consumers’ knowledge concerning biotechnology has not. In addition to widely held misconceptions and the general lack of knowledge regarding bioengineered commodities reported by young adults, especially students, the recent United States Department of Agriculture mandate for BE product labeling prompts further research into the consumer perspective on bioengineered products. This research looked to expand upon prior work regarding students’ individual perspective towards topics such as GMOs, knowledge of BE …

Expanding Image Datasets For Deep Learning By Evaluating Independence Through Coefficient Correlation And Mean-Squared Error, Ayman Yousef

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

With deep learning being leveraged more regularly in the field of image classification, particularly in medical imaging, network optimizations have become a field in and of itself. With open source, comprehensive medical image datasets few and far, computational dataset expansion has become a useful tool for researchers without the ability to further manually collect data. However, with the rich amount of data that imaging modalities like multi-photon microscopy collect at a time, there is potential to expand datasets through proper utilization of this data that often time goes unused. Previous deep learning studies have shown that improper expansion can conflate …

Nanocellulose Conduits For Enhanced Regeneration Of Peripheral Nerve Injuries, Nicklaus R. Carter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peripheral neuropathy is estimated to afflict 20 million people in the United States. Most cases of neuropathy result from physical injuries and trauma arising from automobile accidents and war. Peripheral nerves have the intrinsic ability to regenerate over time, bridging the injury gap. However native regeneration is limited to a distance of only a few millimeters. Current methods utilized to assist in the regeneration of peripheral nerves over distances exceeding those amenable to native repair include nerve autografts and allografts, and implantation of conduits. Nerve autografts are regarded as the most effective method but require a second surgical site to …

Automated Conversion Of Multicellds Digital Cell Lines And Isa-Tab Filesets., Connor Joseph Burns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biological simulation tools are a valuable asset to bridge the gap between biological experimentation and biological theory. As systems thinking has become more regularly applied to biological materials and processes, these materials and processes have been characterized in multi-disciplinary, computational manners. This characterization has yielded an ability to create more realistic simulation tools that can provide in silico experiments for a wider range of scenarios. One prominent simulation tool is PhysiCell, an open-source physics-based multicellular simulation program which utilizes input Digital Cell Lines or Digital Snapshots from the MultiCellular Data Standard (MCDS) project.

This project aims to allow data exchange …