Shape Memory Alloy Capsule Micropump For Drug Delivery Applications, 2024 American University in Cairo
Shape Memory Alloy Capsule Micropump For Drug Delivery Applications, Youssef Mohamed Kotb
Theses and Dissertations
Implantable drug delivery devices have many benefits over traditional drug administration techniques and have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. By delivering the medication directly to the tissue, they enable the use of larger localized concentrations, enhancing the efficacy of the treatment. Passive-release drug delivery systems, one of the various ways to provide medication, are great inventions. However, they cannot dispense the medication on demand since they are nonprogrammable. Therefore, active actuators are more advantageous in delivery applications. Smart material actuators, however, have greatly increased in popularity for manufacturing wearable and implantable micropumps due to their high energy …
Interpatient Differences In Neural Recruitment Patterns During Pudendal Nerve Stimulation – A Computational Investigation, 2024 Wayne State University
Interpatient Differences In Neural Recruitment Patterns During Pudendal Nerve Stimulation – A Computational Investigation, Amolak S. Jhand, Luis C. Ruiz, Nystha Baishya, Ehsan Mirzakhalili, Gaurang Shah, Priyanka Gupta, Tim M. Bruns, Scott F. Lempka
Medical Student Research Symposium
Bladder dysfunction impairs the quality of life for millions of individuals around the world. Common causes of bladder dysfunction include aging, trauma, and neurological disorders. Due to inadequacies in conventional treatments, neuromodulation therapies to address bladder dysfunction, such as sacral nerve stimulation, have emerged. However, patient needs still remain unmet. Pudendal nerve stimulation (PNS) has recently gained clinical interest as a promising treatment for bladder dysfunction. While PNS has been extensively investigated in preclinical settings, there is a gap in our understanding of the mechanisms of action and efficacy of PNS as limited studies of PNS have been performed on …
Synergistic Effects Of Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma And Electric Field On Inactivation Of Pancreatic Cancer Cells In Vitro, 2024 Old Dominion University
Synergistic Effects Of Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma And Electric Field On Inactivation Of Pancreatic Cancer Cells In Vitro, Edwin A. Oshin, Zobia Minhas, Ruben M. L. Colunga Biancatelli, John D. Catravas, Richard Heller, Siqi Guo, Chunqi Jiang
Bioelectrics Publications
Nanosecond pulsed atmospheric pressure plasma jets (ns-APPJs) produce reactive plasma species, including charged particles and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), which can induce oxidative stress in biological cells. Nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) has also been found to cause permeabilization of cell membranes and induce apoptosis or cell death. Combining the treatment of ns-APPJ and nsPEF may enhance the effectiveness of cancer cell inactivation with only moderate doses of both treatments. Employing ns-APPJ powered by 9 kV, 200 ns pulses at 2 kHz and 60-nsPEF of 50 kV/cm at 1 Hz, the synergistic effects on pancreatic cancer cells (Pan02) …
Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields Increase Antibiotic Susceptibility In Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, 2024 Old Dominion University
Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields Increase Antibiotic Susceptibility In Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Alexandra E. Chittams-Miles, Areej Malik, Erin B. Purcell, Claudia Muratori
Bioelectrics Publications
Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs). SSTIs caused by bacteria resistant to antimicrobials, such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), are increasing in incidence and have led to higher rates of hospitalization. In this study, we measured MRSA inactivation by nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF), a promising new cell ablation technology. Our results show that treatment with 120 pulses of 600 ns duration (28 kV/cm, 1 Hz), caused modest inactivation, indicating cellular damage. We anticipated that the perturbation created by nsPEF could increase antibiotic efficacy if nsPEF were applied as a co-treatment. To test this …
Controlled Radiation Capsule For Precision And Rapid Cancer Treatment, 2023 Kennesaw State University
Controlled Radiation Capsule For Precision And Rapid Cancer Treatment, Hoseon Lee, Zsolt Kollar, Bailey R. White, Junia Nguyen, David Roque, Sowjanya Palagani
Symposium of Student Scholars
This research aims to transform cancer treatment through the optimization of brachytherapy, with a focus on reducing treatment duration, setup complexities, and financial burdens, all while emphasizing patient safety. Patients living at a distance from radiation clinics, particularly those undergoing extended Low Dose Radiation brachytherapy, often struggle with the formidable financial challenges associated with securing nearby accommodations. In response to these issues, the research introduces a radiation capsule designed to condense the conventional six-month treatment period to approximately just one week, thereby significantly reducing the duration of required accommodations. This capsule is especially relevant considering the construction cost of $40 …
A Novel Brain Computer Interface Design, 2023 Liberty University
A Novel Brain Computer Interface Design, Steven Vogan
Senior Honors Theses
A brain computer interface (BCI) is a system which connects neural signals to a computer system. They have been used for controlling systems including robotics, on-screen computer control such as mouse movement, typing, and synthesizing audio signals. Invasive, or implanted, systems are often long-term medical solutions, or used for research where very clear signal is required. Non-invasive systems usually rely on exterior signals gathered through a headset using one or more electrode sensors. These signals are composed of sums of neuron activation potentials from brain activity and can be used to determine particular aspects of brain function. All BCIs rely …
Control Of The Electroporation Efficiency Of Nanosecond Pulses By Swinging The Electric Field Vector Direction, 2023 Old Dominion University
Control Of The Electroporation Efficiency Of Nanosecond Pulses By Swinging The Electric Field Vector Direction, Vitalii Kim, Iurii Semenov, Allen S. Kiester, Mark A. Keppler, Bennett L. Ibey, Joel N. Bixler, Ruben M. L. Colunga Biancatelli, Andrei G. Pakhomov
Bioelectrics Publications
Reversing the pulse polarity, i.e., changing the electric field direction by 180°, inhibits electroporation and electrostimulation by nanosecond electric pulses (nsEPs). This feature, known as “bipolar cancellation,” enables selective remote targeting with nsEPs and reduces the neuromuscular side effects of ablation therapies. We analyzed the biophysical mechanisms and measured how cancellation weakens and is replaced by facilitation when nsEPs are applied from different directions at angles from 0 to 180°. Monolayers of endothelial cells were electroporated by a train of five pulses (600 ns) or five paired pulses (600 + 600 ns) applied at 1 Hz or 833 kHz. Reversing …
The Effect Of Spinal Cord Stimulation And Video Games Training On Body-Machine Interface Control, 2023 Washington University in St. Louis
The Effect Of Spinal Cord Stimulation And Video Games Training On Body-Machine Interface Control, Jie Fei
McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations
Damage to the spinal cord causes long-lasting loss of motor and sensory function, and currently, there is no ‘cure’ for paralysis. However, even people with severe spinal cord injuries (SCI) have some residual mobility. Studies have shown that transcutaneous electrical spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) combined with functional training targeting residual mobility can further improve the motor function of individuals with SCI. In this study, we present a technical framework that aims to enhance rehabilitation outcomes by targeting residual mobility through a motor training-based approach. Our technical framework centers around a non-invasive body-machine interface (BoMI) that relies on the use of …
Cerebral Blood Flow Measured By Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy For Monitoring Depth Of Anesthesia In Piglets, 2023 Drexel University
Cerebral Blood Flow Measured By Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy For Monitoring Depth Of Anesthesia In Piglets, Mert Deniz Polat, Kurtulus Izzetoglu, Randolph Sinahon, Meltem Izzetoglu, Shadi Malaeb
St. Chris Research Day
No abstract provided.
Preparing Non-Human Primates To Study Hand-Eye Coordination In Frontal Eye Fields (Fef) During Delayed Movement Task, 2023 Washington University in St. Louis
Preparing Non-Human Primates To Study Hand-Eye Coordination In Frontal Eye Fields (Fef) During Delayed Movement Task, Juliusz Cydzik
McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations
ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Preparing Non-Human Primates to Study Hand-Eye Coordination in Frontal Eye Fields (FEF) During Delayed Movement Task by Juliusz Cydzik Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, 2023 Professor Lawrence Snyder, Chair Hand-eye coordination enables humans and non-human primates to use their hands and eyes to perform various tasks. We are interested in coordination at the systems level, where saccades and reaches are encoded. The parietal reach region (PRR), situated at the posterior end of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) and overlapping portions of the medial intraparietal area (MIP) and V6a, is commonly attributed …
Metabolomic Differentiation Of Tumor Core And Edge In Glioma., 2023 University of Louisville
Metabolomic Differentiation Of Tumor Core And Edge In Glioma., Mary E. Baxter
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Glioma is one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. It has been shown that the microenvironments differ significantly between the core and edge regions of glioma tumors. This study obtained metabolomic profiles of glioma core and edge regions using paired glioma core and edge tissue samples from 27 human patients. Data was acquired by performing liquid-liquid metabolite extraction and 2DLC-MS/MS on the tissue samples. In addition, a boosted generalized linear machine learning model was employed to predict the metabolomic profiles associated with O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation.
A panel of 66 metabolites was found to be statistically significant …
Characterization And Decoding Of Speech Activity From Intracranial Signals, 2023 Virginia Commonwealth University
Characterization And Decoding Of Speech Activity From Intracranial Signals, Pedram Zanganeh Soroush
Theses and Dissertations
Speech is the first and foremost means of human communication. Millions of people worldwide suffer from severe speech disorders due to neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain stem stroke, and severe paralysis. A speech neuroprosthesis that decodes speech directly from neural signals could dramatically improve life for these individuals. Recent studies have demonstrated that it is possible to decode and synthesize various aspects of acoustic speech directly from intracranial measurements of electrophysiological brain activity. For those who have completely lost the ability to speak, the objective is to synthesize acoustic speech directly from brain activity during imagined …
Pulsed Electric Field Ablation Of Esophageal Malignancies And Mitigating Damage To Smooth Muscle: An In Vitro Study, 2023 Old Dominion University
Pulsed Electric Field Ablation Of Esophageal Malignancies And Mitigating Damage To Smooth Muscle: An In Vitro Study, Emily Gudvangen, Uma Mangalanathan, Iurii Semenov, Allen S. Kiester, Mark A. Keppler, Bennett L. Ibey, Joel N. Bixler, Andrei G. Pakhomov
Bioelectrics Publications
Cancer ablation therapies aim to be efficient while minimizing damage to healthy tissues. Nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) is a promising ablation modality because of its selectivity against certain cell types and reduced neuromuscular effects. We compared cell killing efficiency by PEF (100 pulses, 200 ns–10 µs duration, 10 Hz) in a panel of human esophageal cells (normal and pre-malignant epithelial and smooth muscle). Normal epithelial cells were less sensitive than the pre-malignant ones to unipolar PEF (15–20% higher LD50, p < 0.05). Smooth muscle cells (SMC) oriented randomly in the electric field were more sensitive, with 30–40% lower LD50 (p < 0.01). Trains of ten, 300-ns pulses at 10 kV/cm caused twofold weaker electroporative uptake of YO-PRO-1 dye in normal epithelial cells than in either pre-malignant cells or in SMC oriented perpendicularly to the field. Aligning SMC with the field reduced the dye uptake fourfold, along with a twofold reduction in Ca2+ transients. A 300-ns pulse induced a twofold smaller transmembrane potential in cells aligned with the field, making them …
Identification Of Proteins Involved In Cell Membrane Permeabilization By Nanosecond Electric Pulses (Nsep), 2023 Old Dominion University
Identification Of Proteins Involved In Cell Membrane Permeabilization By Nanosecond Electric Pulses (Nsep), Giedre Silkuniene, Uma Mangalanathan, Alessandra Rossi, Peter A. Mollica, Andrei G. Pakhomov, Olga N. Pakhomova
Bioelectrics Publications
The study was aimed at identifying endogenous proteins which assist or impede the permeabilized state in the cell membrane disrupted by nsEP (20 or 40 pulses, 300 ns width, 7 kV/cm). We employed a LentiArray CRISPR library to generate knockouts (KOs) of 316 genes encoding for membrane proteins in U937 human monocytes stably expressing Cas9 nuclease. The extent of membrane permeabilization by nsEP was measured by the uptake of Yo-Pro-1 (YP) dye and compared to sham-exposed KOs and control cells transduced with a non-targeting (scrambled) gRNA. Only two KOs, for SCNN1A and CLCA1 genes, showed a statistically significant reduction in …
Evaluation Of Cold Atmospheric Plasma For The Decontamination Of Flexible Endoscopes, 2023 Old Dominion University
Evaluation Of Cold Atmospheric Plasma For The Decontamination Of Flexible Endoscopes, R. C. Hervé, Michael G. Kong, Sudhir Bhatt, Hai-Lan Chen, E. E. Comoy, J-P. Deslys, T. J. Secker, C. W. Keevil
Bioelectrics Publications
Background: Despite adherence to standard protocols, residues including live microorganisms may remain on the various surfaces of reprocessed flexible endoscopes. Prions are infectious proteins notoriously difficult to eliminate.
Aim: We tested the potential of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) for the decontamination of flexible endoscope various surfaces, measuring total proteins and prion-residual infectivity as an indicator of efficacy.
Methods: New PTFE endoscope channels and metal test surfaces spiked with test soil or prion-infected tissues were treated using different CAP-generating prototypes. Surfaces were then examined for the presence of residues using very sensitive fluorescence epi-microscopy. Prion residual infectivity was determined using the …
Editorial: Pulsed Electric Field Based Technologies For Oncology Applications, 2023 Old Dominion University
Editorial: Pulsed Electric Field Based Technologies For Oncology Applications, Siqi Guo, Gregor Sersa, Richard Heller
Bioelectrics Publications
No abstract provided.
Computational Modeling Of Temporal Eeg Responses To Cyclic Binary Visual Stimulus Patterns, 2023 Virginia Commonwealth University
Computational Modeling Of Temporal Eeg Responses To Cyclic Binary Visual Stimulus Patterns, Connor M. Delaney
Theses and Dissertations
The human visual system serves as the basis for many modern computer vision and machine learning approaches. While detailed biophysical models of certain aspects of the visual system exist, little work has been done to develop an end-to-end model from the visual stimulus to the signals generated at the visual cortex measured via the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). The creation of such a model would not only provide a better understanding of the visual processing pathways but would also facilitate the design and evaluation of more robust visual stimuli for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). A novel experiment was designed and conducted where …
Measurement Of Fluid Movement Throughout The Brain Via Multiple Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques During High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, 2023 CUNY City College
Measurement Of Fluid Movement Throughout The Brain Via Multiple Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques During High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Jack W. Beaty Mr
Dissertations and Theses
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive method of neuromodulation with applications in neuroscience, clinical care, and biomedical engineering. tDCS has been well established as a safe method of applying low amplitude current between two or more electrodes to alter excitation thresholds and neuroplasticity. Recently, in-vitro and clinical studies have suggested that DC stimulation can induce a transient, polarity-specific, effect of increased water exchange across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The electroosmotic effect, the proposed phenomenon driving water exchange, is a biophysical response of charged ions moving across an oppositely-charged surface, i.e., the tight junction, when subjected to an electric …
An Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Drug Development Collaboration Stimulated By The Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium, 2023 University of Virginia
An Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Drug Development Collaboration Stimulated By The Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium, John S. Lazo, Ruben M.L. Colunga-Biancatelli, Pavel A. Solopov, John D. Catravas
Bioelectrics Publications
The genesis of most older medicinal agents has generally been empirical. During the past one and a half centuries, at least in the Western countries, discovering and developing drugs has been primarily the domain of pharmaceutical companies largely built upon concepts emerging from organic chemistry. Public sector funding for the discovery of new therapeutics has more recently stimulated local, national, and international groups to band together and focus on new human disease targets and novel treatment approaches. This Perspective describes one contemporary example of a newly formed collaboration that was simulated by a regional drug discovery consortium. University of Virginia, …
Extracellular Vesticles In Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Understanding Protective And Harmful Signaling For The Development Of New Therapeutics, 2023 Eastern Virginia Medical School
Extracellular Vesticles In Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Understanding Protective And Harmful Signaling For The Development Of New Therapeutics, Matthew Bavuso, Noel Miller, Joshua M. Sill, Anca Dobrian, Ruben M. L. Colunga Biancatelli
Bioelectrics Publications
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe respiratory condition characterized by increased lung permeability, hyper-inflammatory state, and fluid leak into the alveolar spaces. ARDS is a heterogeneous disease, with multiple direct and indirect causes that result in a mortality of up to 40%. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, its incidence has increased up to ten-fold. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small liposome-like particles that mediate intercellular communication and play a major role in ARDS pathophysiology. Indeed, they participate in endothelial barrier dysfunction and permeability, neutrophil, and macrophage activation, and also in the development of a hypercoagulable state. A more …