Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Pulsatility Is A Predictive Marker Of Improved Cardiac Function In Patients With Liquid Matrix-Treated Left Ventricular Assist Devices, Philemon Mikail, Rinku Skaria, Marvin Slepian, Janny Garcia, Richard Smith, Zain Khalpey

The VAD Journal

Objective: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are utilized as a bridge to transplant or as destination therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure. Although cardiac offloading from these devices rarely leads to complete remodeling and functional recovery, the use of mesenchymal cells to modulate heart failure has been explored in recent years due to its intrinsic regenerative properties. Current methods of evaluating cardiac function have too much variability, difficulty of access, or require too frequent follow up to create universal weaning protocols. We hypothesized that the administration of amniotic allograft liquid matrix (LM) containing amnion-derived mesenchymal stem cells (aMSCs) in …

A Review Of Mobile Apps For Chronic Kidney Disease Patients, Clarisse Zigan, Carl Russell Iii, Kirsten Wozniak, Kshaunish Soni

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

What Internal Variables Affect Sensorimotor Rhythm Brain-Computer Interface (Smr-Bci) Performance?, Alex J. Horowitz, Christoph Guger, Milena Korostenskaja

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

In this review article, we aimed to create a summary of the effects of internal variables on the performance of sensorimotor rhythm-based brain computer interfaces (SMR-BCIs). SMR-BCIs can be potentially used for interfacing between the brain and devices, bypassing usual central nervous system output, such as muscle activity. The careful consideration of internal factors, affecting SMR-BCI performance, can maximize BCI application in both healthy and disabled people. Internal variables may be generalized as descriptors of the processes mainly dependent on the BCI user and/or originating within the user. The current review aimed to critically evaluate and summarize the currently accumulated …

What External Variables Affect Sensorimotor Rhythm Brain-Computer Interface (Smr-Bci) Performance?, Alex J. Horowitz, Christoph Guger, Milena Korostenskaja

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Sensorimotor rhythm-based brain-computer interfaces (SMR-BCIs) are used for the acquisition and translation of motor imagery-related brain signals into machine control commands, bypassing the usual central nervous system output. The selection of optimal external variable configuration can maximize SMR-BCI performance in both healthy and disabled people. This performance is especially important now when the BCI is targeted for everyday use in the environment beyond strictly regulated laboratory settings. In this review article, we summarize and critically evaluate the current body of knowledge pertaining to the effect of the external variables on SMR-BCI performance. When assessing the relationship between SMR-BCI performance and …

Brain Image Clustering By Wavelet Energy And Cbsso Optimization Algorithm, Hasan Hosseinzadeh, Mohammad Sedaghat

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Previously, the diagnosis of brain abnormality was significantly important in the saving of social and hospital resources. Wavelet energy is known as an effective feature detection which has great efficiency in different utilities. This paper suggests a new method based on wavelet energy to automatically classify magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain images into two groups (normal and abnormal), utilizing support vector machine (SVM) classification based on chaotic binary shark smell optimization (CBSSO) to optimize the SVM weights.

The results of the suggested CBSSO-based KSVM are compared favorably to several other methods in terms of better sensitivity and authenticity. The proposed …

Telesurgery: Surgery In The Digital Age, Dylan J. Cahill

Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science

The dawn of the digital age has transformed the way we now receive and provide healthcare. Today, providers have instant access to all of their patients’ information, just as patients can connect with their providers on their smartphones in minutes from nearly anywhere in the world.

Validation Of Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry As A Method To Standardize Backscattered Electron Images Of Bone, E. G. Vajda, R. D. Bloebaum, J. G. Skedros

Cells and Materials

The use of backscattered electron (BSE) imaging as a tool for the qualitative measurement of mineral content in bone has been well documented. The challenge still remains to develop BSE imaging as a tool for quantitative mineral content analysis in bone. The limiting factor has been the ability to standardize the BSE signal within and between laboratories. Energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDX) has been proposed as a method to standardize the BSE operating environment. The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between EDX-determined wt.% Ca measurements and BSE graylevels. A comparison with traditional ash content measurements will …

Time Course Of Recruitment, Pit Formation And Apoptosis Of Osteoclast Populations On Dentin In Vitro, Jihyun Kang, Rigoberto Cornejo, Kevin J. Hirokawa, Susan M. Digiorgio, Darlene F. Howard, Susan F. Silverton

Cells and Materials

The resorptive capacity of osteoclasts in vitro has been used as an indicator of bone resorption. However, the kinetics of osteoclast development and senescence is not well understood. It has been noted that mononuclear precursors migrate to calcified substrate and after multi-nucleation become competent bone resorbing cells. Osteoclasts, once finished a wave of resorption, become senescent. In order to determine the survival characteristics of osteoclast populations involved in calcified tissue destruction, we have investigated the time course of the recruitment to dentin and apoptosis of osteoclasts. We have established the linkage between these measurements and the time course of the …

Biofilm Mediated Calculus Formation In The Urinary Tract, Robert J. C. Mclean, David J. Stickler, J. Curtis Nickel

Cells and Materials

Mineralization and subsequent calculus formation is a common complication of biofilm infections. In the urinary tract, these infected calculi often arise from infections by urease-producing bacteria. Ammonia, liberated by bacterial urease activity, increases urine pH, resulting in the precipitation of Ca and Mg as carbonateapatite {Ca₁₀(PO₄,CO₃)₆(OH,CO₃)₂} and struvite (NH₄MgP0₄·6H₂O). These minerals become entrapped in the organic matrix which surrounds the infecting organisms and ultimately grow into mature calculi. When the causative organisms grow on urinary catheters and stents, the resulting mineralization can …

Perturbations Of Periosteel Bone During Healing: Effect Of Non-Weight Bearing, Helen E. Gruber, Mary E. Kirchen, John R. Sweeney, William E. Anderson, G. June Marshall

Cells and Materials

Weight bearing (WB) is an important factor influencing bone remodelling. The present study evaluates the effects of weight bearing and non-weight bearing (S) (achieved by tail suspension and hindlimb elevation) on the healing of a fibular osteotomy in adult male rats. After 9, 18 or 36 days under WB or S conditions, periosteum near the callus formed at the osteotomy site was compared to periosteum of the contralateral fibula (which did not receive an osteotomy) or to periosteum of fibula of control animals which did not receive an osteotomy. Data show that periosteal bone healing is sensitive to alterations in …

Bone Absorptiometry In Metabolic Bone Disease: Baseline Values And Long-Term Treatment With Calcitriol (Post-Menopausal Osteoporosis Versus Osteomalacia), A. Caniggia, B. Frediani

Cells and Materials

Total body bone absorptiometry reveals low mineral density in both postmenopausal osteoporosis and osteomalacia patients. The method was used to investigate the effect of calcitriol administration on patients suffering from one of these conditions. In osteomalacia, the administration of calcitriol resulted in a dramatic improvement in bone mineral density (sometimes up to 50% in 12 months), indicating the rapid mineralization of previously uncalcified bone tissue as a result of the normalization of the Ca x P product. In osteoporosis a similar treatment was seen to halt the progressive decrease in bone mineral levels and sometimes resulted in minor increases in …

Some Observations On The Structure Of Encrusting Biofilms Of Proteus Mirabilis On Urethral Catheters, C. Winters, D. J. Stickler, N. S. Howe, T. J. Williams, N. Wilkinson, C. J. Buckley

Cells and Materials

A physical model of the bladder has been used to study the process of urinary catheter encrustation. Techniques have been devised for the preparation of sections through these encrustations in situ on the luminal surfaces of catheters and for mapping the distribution of calcium and magnesium in the biofilms. Transmission electron microscopy on these sections showed struvite-like crystals lying in the matrix and in direct contact with the catheter surface. Calcium phosphate ("bioapatite") was distributed throughout the film and many of these amorphous particles appear to have cells at their cores. Freeze-substituted sections of biofilms also showed electron dense materials …

Optical Bone Chambers As Tools For Studying The Bone-Implant Interface: A Review, Howard Winet

Cells and Materials

Bone chamber intravital microscopy combines the control volume of in vitro models and the chemical complexity of in vivo models to optimize the study of bone physiology in situ. As an optical tool it provides a window to dynamic events at the tissue level of magnification. In particular, it allows measures of microvascular events: (1) in space by magnifying local perfused vasculature and microcirculation at any instant, and (2) in time by providing the same volume of tissue for weekly viewing of an evolving process such as bone healing. This quartz-bearing titanium screw has revealed a consistent order for …