Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Mimicking The Arterial Microenvironment With Peg-Pc To Investigate The Roles Of Physicochemical Stimuli In Smc Phenotype And Behavior, William G. Herrick

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation was to parse the roles of physical, mechanical and chemical cues in the phenotype plasticity of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in atherosclerosis. We first developed and characterized a novel synthetic hydrogel with desirable traits for studying mechanotransduction in vitro. This hydrogel, PEG-PC, is a co-polymer of poly(ethylene glycol) and phosphorylcholine with an incredible range of Young’s moduli (~1 kPa - 9 MPa) that enables reproduction of nearly any tissue stiffness, exceptional optical and anti-fouling properties, and support for covalent attachment of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. To our knowledge, this combination of mechanical range, low …

Viewing The Extracellular Matrix: An Imaging Method For Tissue Engineering, Michael Drakopoulos, Sarah Calve

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The field of regenerative medicine seeks to create replacement tissues and organs, both to repair deficiencies in biological function and to treat structural damage caused by injury. Scaffoldings mimicking extracellular matrix (ECM), the structure to which cells attach to form tissues, have been developed from synthetic polymers and also been prepared by decellularizing adult tissue. However, the structure of ECM undergoes significant remodeling during natural tissue repair, suggesting that ECM-replacement constructs that mirror developing tissues may promote better regeneration than those modeled on adult tissues. This work investigated the effectiveness of a method of viewing the extracellular matrix of developing …

Pathological Effects Of Repeated Concussive Tbi In Mouse Models: Periventricular Damage And Ventriculomegaly, Richard H. Wolferz Jr.

Honors Scholar Theses

Repeated concussive traumatic brain injury (rcTBI) is the most prominent form of head injury affecting the brain, with an estimated 1.7 million Americans affected each year (Kuhn 2012). Neurologists have been concerned about the danger of repeated head impacts since the 1920’s, but researchers have only begun to understand the long-term effects of rcTBI (McKee 2009). Although symptoms can be as mild as dizziness, current research suggests that multiple concussions can lead to a progressive degenerative brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) (Luo 2008, McKee 2009, Kane 2013). Research on the brain is just beginning to scratch the …

Medical Students In Microscopic Anatomy And Pathology Laboratories: Design Of An E-Learning Histology And Histopathology Atlas As An Evolving Response To Interdisciplinary Pre-Clinical Curricular Needs, Michelle S. Davis, Alexandra Mills, Gisela Butera, Donald S. Karcher, Patricia S. Latham, Janette Krum, Rosalyn A. Jurjus

Anatomy and Regenerative Biology Faculty Publications

E-learning, also known as computer-assisted learning, successfully bridges anatomical knowledge and transferrable skills, such as critical analysis, teamwork, leadership and communication. Several institutions have already integrated histology and physiology in team based laboratory approaches, but integration of histology and pathology instruction has been done to a lesser extent. Our aim was to develop an e-learning atlas that integrates microanatomy and pathology laboratory for an interdisciplinary pre-clinical medical curriculum.

A multidisciplinary team of teaching faculty and students developed an online atlas (microanatomyatlas.com) that includes a library of histology and histopathology images. Traditional laboratory manual instructions and study objectives were added onto …

Is Avotermin Safe And Effective Treatment For Scar Improvement In Healthy Males And Females?, Maria Vera Leon

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not avotermin is a safe and effective treatment for scar improvement in healthy males and females.

STUDY DESIGN: Systemic review of three primary research studies published in the English language, one published in 2010 and the other two in 2011.

DATA SOURCES: Two randomized placebo controlled phase II trials and one double blind within patient placebo controlled phase II clinical trial, analyzed and compared the effectiveness in the administration of avotermin against a placebo in the improvement and diminution of scars. All articles were found using Pubmed …

Is Ablative Fractional Co2 Lasering Effective At Reducing The Appearance Of Moderate To Severe Atrophic Acne Scars As Per Patient Reports?, Katie N. Moses

PCOM Physician Assistant Studies Student Scholarship

Objective: Is ablative fractional CO2 lasering effective at reducing the appearance of moderate to severe atrophic acne scars?

Study Design: Review of published articles including one randomized controlled trial with blinded response evaluation, one randomized split-faced clinical study and one clinical trial were used for this review and were selected based on their relevance to the clinical question.

Data Source: The most recent trials examining ablative fractional CO2 lasering for the treatment of moderate to severe atrophic acne scars were found using PubMed.

Outcome Measured: Patient reported reduction in the appearance of atrophic acne scars was the outcome measured.

Results: …