Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Early Detection Of Atypical Motor And Neurobehavior Of Infants At Risk Secondary To Opioid Exposure: A Prospective Study, Kara Boynewicz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prenatal opioid exposure has been studied in relation to infants' medical outcomes. However, large gaps exist in the literature supporting early identification of atypical neurobehavior and motor development of infants with prenatal opioid exposure. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether prenatal opioid exposure has a negative influence on a newborn infant’s neurobehavior and motor development to aid in the early identification of potential delays. Using a prospective quasi experimental design, infants motor development using the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP) and neurobehavior using the NICU Neonatal Network Scale (NNNS) was assessed on 58 infants in a …

Non-Viral Transfection Efficiencies For The Advancement Of Car-T Therapy., Emily M Murphy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leukemias are the most common form of childhood cancer making up 30% of total pediatric oncological cases, and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) makes up a significant portion (12%) of the total pediatric cancer diagnoses. In 2017, the FDA approved a successful immunotherapy called CAR-T therapy for the treatment of pediatric B-cell ALL. This therapy includes a CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) that is loaded into the T-cell and expressed. Currently, the loading of the CAR utilizes viral transduction, but consistency issues lead to adverse symptoms in the patients. Better methods of transduction/transfection are being studied in order to improve these consistency …

The Efficacy Of Equine Assisted Therapy In The Treatment Of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Amy Hofmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of equine-assisted psychotherapies in children with an autism spectrum disorder. The CARS-2 and Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire parent-report questionnaires were used for evaluation, as well open-ended questions. A single researcher contacted and visited many PATH-certified centers in the United States. Facilities that participated were all located in the Mid-Atlantic to Northeast region. There were 16 participants, from 11 different farms, that completed both the initial and follow-up questionnaires which were given 7 weeks apart. A $25 Amazon gift card was used as an incentive to increase participation. Participating facilities also completed a questionnaire.

Overall, results …

Precision Gene Therapy For Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease: From Identifying Genetic Modifiers To Developing Allele-Specific Therapies, Kathryn H. Morelli Ph.D.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous collection of inherited peripheral neuropathies generally characterized by progressive muscle atrophy, weakness, and loss of sensation in the distal extremities. This inherited disorder, for which there is currently no curative treatment, is the most common inherited disease of the peripheral nervous system, affecting 1:2,500 individuals worldwide.

Clinically, CMT is broadly divided into demyelinating (type 1) and axonal (type 2) forms. Although the clinical presentation can vary greatly in severity and progression within individual patients. Genetically, over 1,000 mutations in over 80 loci in the human genome have been linked to specific …

Maturation Of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Engineered Cardiac Tissues Using Chief Transfection And Chronic Optical Pacing., Marc M. Dwenger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The immaturity of engineered cardiac tissues (ECTs) limits their ability to regenerate damaged myocardium and to serve as in vitro disease models and surrogates for drug toxicity testing. Several chronic biomimetic conditioning protocols, including mechanical stretch, perfusion, and electrical stimulation promote ECT maturation but have significant technical limitations. Non-contacting chronic light stimulation using heterologously expressed light-sensitive ChIEF ion channels, termed optogenetics, may be an advantageous alternative to chronic electrical stimulation. As a proof of principle, we transfected ECTs using an AAV packaged ChIEF and then verified acute optical pacing (OP) by patch clamp. We then chronically OP ECTs for 7 …

Biomechanical Testing Of An Exercise For Strengthening The Proximal Femur., Alyssa Osbourne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Based on the principles of cutting edge bone remodeling research, a unique therapeutic exercise device was designed specifically to improve bone quality at the most critical location of the proximal femur prone to fracture: the superior-lateral femoral neck where the fracture first initiates during a fall. The exercise/device is intended to work by inducing enough strain in the bone to stimulate the body’s natural bone remodeling mechanisms to increase bone density in the proximal femur and consequently prevent a fracture from arising if a fall to the side does occur.

In order to test the proposed exercise, experiments simulating the …

The Regulation Of Rotavirus–Infected Ht29.F8 And Ma104 Cells Treated With Arachidin 1 Or Arachidin 3, Caleb M. Witcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rotavirus (RV) infections cause severe life threatening diarrhea in young children and immunocompromised individuals. Several effective vaccines have been developed for young children but are not protective against all strains of RV, and there are no anti-RV therapeutics. Our laboratory has discovered a decrease in the number of infectious simian RV particles (SA114f) in human intestinal cell line, HT29.f8 cells with the addition of either of two stilbenoids, arachidin-1 (A1) or arachidin-3 (A3). This suggests effects on the host cell and RV replication. We examined the cellular effects of human RV strain (Wa) on a human intestinal cell line (HT29.f8) …

Development Of A Thin-Film Porous-Microelectrode Array (P-Mea) For Electrical Stimulation Of Engineered Cardiac Tissue., Hiren Vrajlal Trada 1977-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electrical stimulation has been increasingly used by research groups to enhance and increase maturation of cells in an engineered cardiac tissue (ECT). Current methods are based on using off-the-shelf wires or electrodes to deliver a stimulus voltage to the in-vitro tissue in culture medium. A major issue with this approach is the generation of byproducts in the medium due to the voltage levels required, which are typically in the range of 5V-10V. No solution currently exists that can accomplish electrical stimulation of cells in an ECT at a low voltage level. Therefore, in this study a novel, porous, thinfilm, microelectrode …

Light Image Therapy In The Health Care Environment., Anna Rae Dutro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Use of positive distraction in the built healthcare environment to assist in alleviating stress in a patient was investigated. A backlit light image was mounted in the ceiling of an examination room to create a positive distraction for patients in the ETSU Pediatric Clinic in Johnson City, TN. Survey instruments were used to collect sample data from patients and physicians in a randomized, balanced controlled study designed to determine if patients experienced less stress in the room with the backlit image as compared to other rooms (treatments). Although a statistical difference was not determined between the room with the backlit …