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Full-Text Articles in Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

Nebulizer-Based Systems To Improve Pharmaceutical Aerosol Delivery To The Lungs, Benjamin M. Spence Jan 2021

Nebulizer-Based Systems To Improve Pharmaceutical Aerosol Delivery To The Lungs, Benjamin M. Spence

Theses and Dissertations

Combining vibrating mesh nebulizers with additional new technologies leads to substantial improvements in pharmaceutical aerosol delivery to the lungs across therapeutic administration methods. In this dissertation, streamlined components, aerosol administration synchronization, and/or Excipient Enhanced Growth (EEG) technologies were utilized to develop and test several novel devices and aerosol delivery systems. The first focus of this work was to improve the poor delivery efficiency, e.g., 3.6% of nominal dose (Dugernier et al. 2017), of aerosolized medication administration to adult human subjects concurrent with high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy, a form of continuous-flow non-invasive ventilation (NIV). The developed Low-Volume Mixer-Heater (LVMH) …


Quickcough: An Instrumentational Proximal Airway Clearance Technique (Act) For Select Patients With Neuromuscular Disease (Nmd), Sean X. Sullivan, Russell K. Catania, Madison K. Plaster, Sydney E. Kandray, Mariah Costa Jan 2019

Quickcough: An Instrumentational Proximal Airway Clearance Technique (Act) For Select Patients With Neuromuscular Disease (Nmd), Sean X. Sullivan, Russell K. Catania, Madison K. Plaster, Sydney E. Kandray, Mariah Costa

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Patients with neuromuscular disease (NMD) requiring tracheostomy and mechanical ventilation secondary to respiratory failure encounter increased difficulty in removing pulmonary secretions from the airways. To combat issues associated with current treatment modalities for insufficient cough efficacy (cost, poor mobility, discomfort, lack of evidence), we have developed an instrumentational proximal airway clearance technique (ACT) which augments a manual proximal ACT developed by a client with NMD. QuickCough is a 3D-printed PLA attachment to the tracheostomy apparatus which has demonstrated its ability to facilitate pressure changes necessary to increase patient’s peak cough flow (PCF) by providing a stronger exsufflation for the patient. …


Investigation Of Reactive Oxygen Species Production In The Rat Lung Using Optical Imaging, Nina Friedly Apr 2018

Investigation Of Reactive Oxygen Species Production In The Rat Lung Using Optical Imaging, Nina Friedly

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Oxidative stress, the imbalance between production of oxidants or reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant activity, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic lung diseases. The objective of this thesis was to develop a robust protocol for measuring the rate of H2O2 production in isolated perfused rat lungs and to determine the cellular sources of that rate using Amplex Red (AR). For a given lung, AR (25 mM) along with horseradish peroxidase (5 U/ml) and ascorbate oxidase (1U/ml) were added to a perfusate reservoir that was recirculated through the lungs and sampled at 5 minute intervals …