Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Seeing The Invisible: Revealing Atrial Ablation Lesions Using Hyperspectral Imaging Approach, Narine Muselimyan, Luther Swift, Huda Asfour, Tigran Chahbazian, Ramesh Mazhari, Marco Mercader, Narine Sarvazyan

Pharmacology and Physiology Faculty Publications

Background

Currently, there are limited means for high-resolution monitoring of tissue injury during radiofrequency ablation procedures.

Objective

To develop the next generation of visualization catheters that can reveal irreversible atrial muscle damage caused by ablation and identify viability gaps between the lesions.

Methods

Radiofrequency lesions were placed on the endocardial surfaces of excised human and bovine atria and left ventricles of blood perfused rat hearts. Tissue was illuminated with 365nm light and a series of images were acquired from individual spectral bands within 420-720nm range. By extracting spectral profiles of individual pixels and spectral unmixing, the relative contribution of ablated …

Transforming Body, Angelina Prendergast

The STEAM Journal

This is a reflection about the use of balls for body therapy.

The Role Of Osteocyte Estrogen Receptor Beta (Erβ) In Regulating The Skeletal Response To Mechanical Loading, Julia P. Townsend, Russell P. Main

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Estrogen’s biological functions are mediated by estrogen binding to estrogen receptors (ER). Understanding what role both ERα and ERβ have in bone maintenance and formation can contribute to possible treatment of osteoporosis. This study examined osteocyte specific deletion of ERβ in mice. The cross of ERβ-floxed mice with DMP1-8kb-Cre mice provided both experimental knockout mice as well as littermate control mice. At 24 weeks of age the left tibiae of all mice were mechanically loaded five days per week for two weeks to induce bone formation. Analysis of cortical bone was conducted using microcomputed tomography (microCT) to measure load-induced changes …

Unravelling The Subfields Of The Hippocampal Head Using 7-Tesla Structural Mri, Jordan M. K. Dekraker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Probing the functions of human hippocampal subfields is a promising area of research in cognitive neuroscience. However, defining subfield borders in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is challenging. Here, we present a user-guided, semi-automated protocol for segmenting hippocampal subfields on T2-weighted images obtained with 7-Tesla MRI. The protocol takes advantage of extant knowledge about regularities in hippocampal morphology and ontogeny that have not been systematically considered in prior related work. An image feature known as the hippocampal ‘dark band’ facilitates tracking of subfield continuities, allowing for unfolding and segmentation of convoluted hippocampal tissue. Initial results suggest that this protocol offers sufficient …

Angioedema: Adverse Reaction From Ace-Inhibitors, Jennifer L. Hawkins

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) medications are one of the leading causes of angioedema in the United States, also known as ACEI-RA (Chan & Soliman, 2015). ACEI medications are frequently prescribed to help manage diseases, such as hypertension and congestive heart failure, and include, but are not limited to lisinopril and enalapril, with lisinopril being the most commonly prescribed at this time (Chan & Soliman, 2015). In addition, ACEIs are used to help prevent myocardial infarction, diabetic neuropathy, and a cerebrovascular accident (Chua, Ignaszewski, & Schwenger, 2011). There are several risk factors for developing ACEI-RA, with African-American females being the greatest …

The Presence Of Pressure Ulcer Documentation On Admission, Kelsey Horton, Savannah Peterman, Whitney Walters, Charles Rogers

Celebration of Student Scholarship Poster Sessions Archive

No abstract provided.

Spectral Changes Caused By Radiofrequency Ablation Of Cardiac Tissue, Mohammed Aljishi, Huda Asfour, Luther Swift, Narine Muselimyan, Marco A. Mercader, Narine Sarvazyan

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

New diagnostic catheters can be developed by delivering and acquiring light through a small fiberoptic bundle. This can provide a useful real time feedback guidance to observe tissue damage caused by thermal injury used to treat cardiac arrhythmias. Yet, little is known about the exact spectral changes caused by radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in different types of cardiac tissue. We hypothesized that the most sensitive optical ranges for characterizing thermal injury can be revealed by comparing spectral information from different areas of the heart before and after RF ablation. Freshly excised porcine hearts were used to acquire and analyze excitation emission …

Bilayered, Non-Cross-Linked Collagen Matrix For Regeneration Of Facial Defects After Skin Cancer Removal: A New Perspective For Biomaterial-Based Tissue Reconstruction, Shahram Ghanaat, Adorjan Kovacs, Mike Barbeck, Jonas Lorenz, Anna Teiler, Nader Sadeghi, Charles Kirkpatrick, Robert Sader

Surgery Faculty Publications

Classically skin defects are covered by split thickness skin grafts or by means of local or regional skin flaps. In the presented case series for the first time a bilayered, non-crossed-linked collagen matrix has been used in an off-label fashion in order to reconstruct facial skin defects following different types of skin cancer resection. The material is of porcine origin and consists of a spongy and a compact layer. The ratio of the two layers is 1:3 in favour of the spongy layer. The aim of the study was to investigate the potential of this matrix for skin regeneration as …

Effects On Muscle Tissue Remodeling And Lipid Metabolism In Muscle Tissue From Adult Patients With Polymyositis Or Dermatomyositis Treated With Immunosuppressive Agents., Ingela Loell, Joan Raouf, Yi-Wen Chen, Rongye Shi, Inger Nennesmo, Helene Alexanderson, Maryam Dastmalchi, Kanneboyina Nagaraju, Marina Korotkova, Ingrid E Lundberg

Genomics and Precision Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) are autoimmune muscle diseases, conventionally treated with high doses of glucocorticoids in combination with immunosuppressive drugs. Treatment is often dissatisfying, with persisting muscle impairment. We aimed to investigate molecular mechanisms that might contribute to the persisting muscle impairment despite immunosuppressive treatment in adult patients with PM or DM using gene expression profiling of repeated muscle biopsies.

METHODS: Paired skeletal muscle biopsies from six newly diagnosed adult patients with DM or PM taken before and after conventional immunosuppressive treatment were examined by gene expression microarray analysis. Selected genes that displayed changes in expression were analyzed …

Deep Tissue Pressure Injury (Dtpi): Predictors And Risk Factors During Hospitalization. A Literature Review, Tricia Foley

Interprofessional Research and Innovations Council

Deep Tissue Pressure Injury (DTPI): Predictors and Risk Factors During Hospitalization. A Literature Review

Tricia Foley, RN, BSN, CWOCN, MMC

Background: Deep tissue pressure injuries (DTPI) at Maine Medical Center (MMC) have increased from 2014 to 2016. DTPI initially appear as purple or maroon discoloration and either resolve or evolve into a deeper wound. When a DTPI evolves into an eschar, this is called an unstageable pressure injury by the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel. Patients with an unstageable, stage 3 or 4 pressure injury are reported to the State of Maine according to Maine Law. This is considered a …