Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Towards The Development Of A Wearable Tremor Suppression Glove, Yue Zhou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) often associate with tremor. Among other symptoms of PD, tremor is the most aggressive symptom and it is difficult to control with traditional treatments. This thesis presents the assessment of Parkinsonian hand tremor in both the time domain and the frequency domain, the performance of a tremor estimator using different tremor models, and the development of a novel mechatronic transmission system for a wearable tremor suppression device. This transmission system functions as a mechatronic splitter that allows a single power source to support multiple independent applications. Unique features of this transmission system include low …

Development Of A Wearable Mechatronic Elbow Brace For Postoperative Motion Rehabilitation, Anastasiia Kyrylova

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis describes the development of a wearable mechatronic brace for upper limb rehabilitation that can be used at any stage of motion training after surgical reconstruction of brachial plexus nerves. The results of the mechanical design and the work completed towards finding the best torque transmission system are presented herein. As part of this mechatronic system, a customized control system was designed, tested and modified. The control strategy was improved by replacing a PID controller with a cascade controller. Although the experiments have shown that the proposed device can be successfully used for muscle training, further assessment of the …

Response Of Endothelial Cells To Quantified Hemodynamic Shear Stress, Hamed Avari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally. Arterial endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction plays a key role in many of these CVDs, such as atherosclerosis. Blood flow-induced wall shear stress (WSS), among many other pathophysiological factors, is shown to significantly contribute to EC dysfunction.

The present dissertation is an in vitro investigation of quantified WSS on ECs to quantitatively analyze the EC morphometric parameters, as well as cytoskeletal remodeling.

A hemodynamic facility based on the parallel plate flow chamber (PPFC) concept. The Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) method with a custom set-up was implemented to suit the needs …

Dynamic Simulation And Neuromuscular Control Of Movement: Applications For Predictive Simulations Of Balance Recovery, Misagh Mansouri Boroujeni

Doctoral Dissertations

Balance is among the most challenging tasks for patients with movement disorders. Study and treatment of these disorders could greatly benefit from combined software tools that offer better insights into neuromuscular biomechanics, and predictive capabilities for optimal surgical and rehabilitation treatment planning. A platform was created to combine musculoskeletal modeling, closed-loop forward dynamic simulation, optimization techniques, and neuromuscular control system design. Spinal (stretch-reflex) and supraspinal (operational space task-based) controllers were developed to test simulation-based hypotheses related to balance recovery and movement control. A corrective procedure (rectus femoris transfer surgery) was targeted for children experiencing stiff-knee gait and how this procedure …

Fiber Optic Bandage, Logan Mcneil

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Design, Build, And Validation Of A Hybrid Tower Used To Conduct Helmet Impact Tests, Darren Benn

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) was established to enlist research directed towards the reduction of head injuries in organized sports. The function of the test methods developed by NOCSAE is to provide the blueprint for reliable and repeatable procedures to measure the evaluation of various types of protective sports headgear and projectiles. In addition, the methods also govern hardware such as testing apparatus and data acquisition instrumentation. In helmet testing, the method dictates whether the impact is induced by a projectile system or by a drop tower system with an anvil at the base. Altogether, …

Transient Cardiovascular Hemodynamics In A Patient-Specific Arterial System, Jr Rodward Hewlin

Dissertations

The ultimate goal of the present study is to aid in the development of tools to assist in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Gaining an understanding of hemodynamic parameters for medical implants allow clinicians to have some patient-specific proposals for intervention planning. In the present study a full cardiovascular experimental phantom and digital phantom (CFD model) was fabricated to study: (1) the effects of local hemodynamics on global hemodynamics, (2) the effects of transition from bed-rest to upright position, and (3) transport of dye (drug delivery) in the arterial system. Computational three dimensional (3-D) models (designs A, B, and C) …

Computational Modeling To Assess Surgical Procedures For The Treatment Of Adult Acquired Flatfoot Deformity, Brian A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Several surgically corrective procedures are considered to treat Adult Acquired Flatfoot Deformity (AAFD) patients, relieve pain, and restore function. Procedure selection is based on best practices and surgeon preference. Recent research created patient specific models of Adult Acquired Flatfoot Deformity (AAFD) to explore their predictive capabilities and examine effectiveness of the surgical procedure used to treat the deformity. The models’ behavior was governed solely by patient bodyweight, soft tissue constraints, and joint contact without the assumption of idealized joints. The current work expanded those models to determine if an alternate procedure would be more effective for the individual. These procedures …

Generation And Delivery Of Charged Aerosols To Infant Airways, Landon T. Holbrook

Theses and Dissertations

The administration of pharmaceutical aerosols to infants on mechanical ventilation needs to be improved by increasing the efficiency of delivery devices and creating better ways of evaluating potential therapies. Aerosolized medicines such as surfactants have been administered to ventilated infants with mixed results, but studies have shown improvement in respiratory function with a much lower dose than with liquid instillation through an endotracheal tube (ETT). An aerosolized medicine must be transported through the ventilation tubing and deposit in the lungs to have the desired therapeutic response.

This work has taken a systematic approach to (i) develop new devices for the …