Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Commons^™

Feasibility And Acceptability Of Using Mobile Health Apps In Underserved Patients With Diabetes, Jieyu Luo

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. Diabetes mellitus is a condition with a growing morbidity and mortality burden. An estimated 30 million adults currently live with diabetes, with each individual spending over $9500 annually on medical care. The successful management of diabetes is a lifelong endeavor. This involves balancing a variety of factors including diet, medications, and glucose monitoring. It has been well established that successful control of diabetes depends largely upon patients’ daily lifestyle habits and activities. Not all patients, however, have the resources necessary for effective diabetes management. Health disparities lead to a higher rate of diabetes development in minority and poor populations. …

Iatrogenic Electrocautery Damage And Cellular-Based Corrosion Of Total Joint Arthroplasty Biomaterials, Kirsten Carol Miller

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. The number of patients undergoing a Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty (PTKA) has been increasing steadily each year. Of those PTKA patients, 20% report long-term pain and/or some functional deficit. Cobalt-Chromium-Molybdenum (CoCrMo) alloy is one of the most used materials in Total Joint Arthroplasty (TJA) implants due the material’s high strength, high corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. The release of metal ions and potential occurrence of metallosis in TJA has been shown to be detrimental to the longevity of the implant. The mechanisms leading to this increase in metal ion concentrations have been up for debate, with some believing it is …

Near-Field Electrospinning And Characterization Of Biodegradable Small Diameter Vascular Grafts, William E. King Iii

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The ideal “off the shelf” tissue engineering, small-diameter (< 6 mm inner diameter (ID)) vascular graft hinges on designing a template that facilitates transmural ingrowth of capillaries to regenerate an endothelized neointimal surface. Previous traditionally electrospun (TES) approaches to create bioresorbable vascular grafts lack the pore sizes required to facilitate transmural capillary ingrowth required for successful in situ neovascular regeneration. Therefore, the ability to create scaffolds with program-specific architectures independent of fiber diameter via the relatively recent sub-technique of near-field electrospinning (NFES) represents a promising solution to create tissue engineering vascular grafts. These programmed large pore sizes are anticipated to promote in situ regeneration and improve the outcomes as well as the quality of life of patients with arterial disease.

In this dissertation, we manufactured via NFES as well as characterized biodegradable polydioxanone (PDO) small-diameter vascular grafts. Chapter 1 introduces the need for off-the-shelf, small-diameter vascular grafts to facilitate in situ regeneration, the process and pore size limitations of TES vascular grafts, and the promising use of NFES to develop precisely tailored PDO vascular grafts. Chapter 2 describes the process of NFES and details the current progress in NFES of biomedical polymers as well as the major limitations that exist in the field. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 contain primary research …

Unsupervised Machine Learning For Identifying Challenging Behavior Profiles To Explore Cluster-Based Treatment Efficacy In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Retrospective Data Analysis Study, Julie Gardner-Hoag, Marlena N. Novack, Chelsea Parlett-Pelleriti, Elizabeth Stevens, Dennis Dixon, Erik Linstead

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Challenging behaviors are prevalent among individuals with autism spectrum disorder; however, research exploring the impact of challenging behaviors on treatment response is lacking.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify types of autism spectrum disorder based on engagement in different challenging behaviors and evaluate differences in treatment response between groups.

Methods: Retrospective data on challenging behaviors and treatment progress for 854 children with autism spectrum disorder were analyzed. Participants were clustered based on 8 observed challenging behaviors using k means, and multiple linear regression was performed to test interactions between skill mastery and treatment …

Characterization, Implementation, And Impact Of Low Stimulation Precautions In Acute Neurological Injury, Alexis Kurek

Dissertations

Recommendations provided by clinical and professional organizations that encourage providing patients with a low stimulation environment following acquired brain injury are prevalent but supported by expert opinion only. Such recommendations are based on extrapolation of what is known about physiological response to environmental stimuli, however such findings are not specific to the patients with acquired brain injury. Recommendations for low stimulation environments lack guidance for their application and implementation of precautions, and there have been no studies investigating their effectiveness at improving clinical outcomes.

The objective of this study is to determine what patient characteristics are associated with prescription of …

Encephalitis Associated With Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis Secondary To Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: An Unfamiliar Spin-Off., Ghulam Ghous, Hafiz Muhammad Hassan Shoukat, Muhammad Usman Zafar, Joseph W Mcgreevy, Zahid Ijaz Tara

Department of Emergency Medicine

Checkpoint inhibitors (CPI) have become mainstream in standard therapy in various tumors, especially in malignant melanoma. Despite their widespread beneficial effects, these inhibitors are also notorious for immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an aggressive and life-threatening syndrome of excessive immune activation. We report a case of a 33-year-old male having a history of metastatic melanoma on immunotherapy (status post two cycles of ipilimumab/nivolumab) admitted for persistent fever and elevated liver enzymes. Additional work showed anemia, thrombocytopenia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hyperferritinemia which meet the diagnostic criteria of histiocyte society HLH-2004. The patient was effectively treated with oral prednisone. Moreover, …

Machine Learning Classification Of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Versus Healthy Controls Using Arterial Spin Labeled Perfusion Mri, Vanessa I. Grass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of death and disability worldwide, yet accurate in vivo detection of TBI neuropathology remains challenging due to complexities in the structural and functional changes observed post-injury as well as limitations in conventional neuroimaging modalities. Although advanced neuroimaging techniques such as arterial spin labeling (ASL) can noninvasively assess cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes observed post-injury, this technique is underutilized in TBI research partly due to the low signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) inherent in ASL imaging. The aim of the current study is to examine the use of machine learning, specifically a Support …

Maintaining Root Canal Curvatures After Preparation With Different Nickel-Titanium Rotary Systems (A Comparative In Vitro Study), Wael Betbout, Mohammad Al Shammaa, Roula S. Abiad

BAU Journal - Creative Sustainable Development

The ongoing advancement of materials and methods for root canal instrumentation is resulting in improved techniques with minimal variations to the canal morphology. One standard for assessment of the shaping quality of curved root canals is preparation-induced straightening of the canal. The aim of the study: To compare the effects of 2 Nickel-Titanium rotary systems, 2Shape (Micro-Mega, Besançon, France) and ProTaper Next (Dentsply,Sirona, Ballaigues, Switzerland), on maintaining the distobuccal canals curvature of extracted human maxillary molar teeth using periapical radiographs. Materials and methods: In this study a total of 26 distobuccal roots of upper maxillary molars were used and divided …

Utility Of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy To Reduce Pain In Children With Sickle Cell Disease, Abigail Radomsky

Clinical Research in Practice: The Journal of Team Hippocrates

A clinical decision report appraising:

Schatz J, Schlenz AM, McClellan CB, et al. Changes in coping, pain, and activity after cognitive-behavioral training. The Clinical Journal of Pain 2015;31(6):536-47 https://doi.org/10.1097/ajp.0000000000000183

for a child with sickle cell disease.

Microrna-26a-5p As A Potential Predictive Factor For Determining The Effectiveness Of Trastuzumab Therapy In Her-2 Positive Breast Cancer Patients, Sadra Samavarchi Tehrani, Ehsan Zaboli, Farzin Sadeghi, Soraya Khafri, Ansar Karimian, Mahnoosh Rafie, Hadi Parsian

BioMedicine

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is known as the most prevalence type of cancer among women. Trastuzumab, as a cancer drug, has been used broadly in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) positive BC patients. On the other hand, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that microRNAs involved in pathogenesis BC. Hence, we aimed to investigate the effect of trastuzumab on the expression levels of microRNA-26a in HER-2positiveBC patients.

Methods: This study was conducted on HER-2 positive BC patients and HER-2 Negative BC patients. Serum expression of microRNA-26a were detected by real-time PCR. Then, we assessed the correlation of microRNA-26a level with …

Tanden Art-Making As Contemplative Practice, Rumi Ito

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The art-based study, focused on painting with black ink on paper and video documentation, explores the relationship between artistic expression and contemplative breathing with a particular focus on tanden, a unique concept of such Asian cultures as Chinese, Korean and Japanese. There were three research questions: “How can tanden influence one’s physical movements in the art-making process?” and “Can contemplative breathing with a focus on tanden influence the quality of expression in one’s art-making? If so, what are the influences and implications for art therapy?”

The research suggested five bodily sensations common to all participants: inhaling and exhaling, relaxing, …

Exploring The Usefulness Of Mindfulness Practices Through Zoom Meetings In Reducing Anxiety And/Or Stress Of Adults With Learning And Developmental Disabilities During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Thatiane Abra

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explored which mindfulness meditations or mindfulness practices could be beneficial in the online sessions, the extent to which adults with learning and developmental disabilities could learn the practices remotely, and how stress and anxiety disorders could be reduced through online mindfulness interventions. Furthermore, it was also necessary to address the online sessions as the only mental health treatment possibility during the Coronavirus pandemic for the clients observed and the benefits and limitations of these interventions. Additionally, the importance of structure and routine for this population, the multi-modal structure of the interventions, and how attunement plays an important role …

Making Room: Addressing The Counter-Therapeutic Nature Of Psychiatric Hospitalization Through Containment- Based Group Expressive Therapy, Max Sandor Copans

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The process of hospitalization and the environment of a typical psychiatric hospital is often counter-therapeutic. To challenge this problem, clinicians may introduce the concept of psychological containment. To elaborate, being hospitalized anywhere can be disorienting, frightening and even traumatic. This problem is only further exacerbated in psychiatric hospitals where patients may be disorganized, manic, or struggling with psychosis. Furthermore, psychological containment is essentially the ability for psychiatric patients to prevent their intense emotions from effecting others negatively, and to act with resiliency when other patients are unable to contain their own disruptive behaviors. This paper utilizes both an initial literature …

Reiki For Recovery: Incorporating Japanese Health Practices To Increase Contemporary Resiliency In American Health, Leif Peterson

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Japanese health practice of Reiki attempts to maximize the latent ability of the human system to heal itself. The Reiki system, established over a century ago, combines multiple Asian health traditions, experimenting with practices that maximize the natural processes of the body to perform its own repairs. Reiki encourages healthy behaviors that balance the mind and body, return the human system to a lowered stress level, and allow for an optimal recovery state for the patient. This paper illustrates how this Japanese health-affirming method can be integrated and utilized within existing health and medical practices. An area that is …

Validation Of A Respiratory Gating System For Automated Delivery Of The Deep Inspiration Breath-Hold Technique, Michael G. Stock

LSU Master's Theses

Purpose: To validate the performance of a respiratory gating system for the automated delivery of the deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) technique.

Methods: The gating system utilized an automatic gating interface (Elekta Response) which connected a marker-based respiratory motion monitoring system to the linear accelerator control system. The gating system was characterized dosimetrically and temporally using two distinct approaches. Central-axis output and energy constancy were evaluated across 8 beam-matched linear accelerators. Additionally, a representative set of 5 treatment plans were delivered both non-gated and gated to a 2D diode array (MapCHECK). The respiratory motion monitoring system optically tracked a reflective marker …

Financial Outcomes Of High Flow Nasal Cannula Use For Bronchiolitis On The General Pediatric Floor Across Children's Hospitals, Jonathan Hartley

Research Days

Background: Bronchiolitis is a leading cause of hospitalization for infants and results in over 1.7 billion dollars in yearly hospital charges (Hasegawa). The use of high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) on a general pediatrics floor may reduce hospital costs and length of stay (LOS, Kalburgi). However, the financial impact of HFNC use is not welldescribed.

Objective: The primary objective are the financial outcomes of HFNC utilization on the general pediatric floor. The secondary objective included financial outcomes stratified by All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (APRDRG) severity of illness (SOI) and payor type. We hypothesize that costs outweigh reimbursement for …

Infliximab As Rescue Therapy In Pediatric Severe Colitis, Kayla B. Briggs

Research Days

Background: Infliximab has been shown to be effective in achieving clinical remission in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) refractory to conventional therapy. However, there is conflicting data in the literature regarding its effectiveness as rescue therapy in acute severe colitis. Furthermore, most studies were conducted in adults, and pediatric onset of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with more severe disease that may be less amenable to rescue therapy.

Objectives/Goal: We reviewed our experience with pediatric severe colitis and report outcomes following attempted rescue therapy with infliximab.

Methods/Design: A retrospective review was conducted of patients with UC or indeterminate colitis …

Impact Of High Flow Nasal Cannula On Resource Utilization In Bronchiolitis, Scott Biggerstaff

Research Days

Background: Bronchiolitis is one of the most common diseases requiring hospitalization in children 1-24 months of age, but presently treatment is primarily supportive. High flow nasal cannula is a newer method of oxygen delivery pediatric hospitals have been rapidly adopting to treat respiratory insufficiency caused by viral bronchiolitis.

Objectives/Goal: We sought to compare resource utilization, including cost, length of stay (LOS), and readmission among children who were treated with HFNC versus those who were not.

Methods/Design: In this cross-sectional, multicenter study, we obtained clinical and resource utilization data from the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database for otherwise healthy children …

Outcomes Of Infants With Severe Rop At Risk Of Treatment With Avastin Compared To Laser Surgery, Stephen Doxey

Research Days

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a well-known complication occurring in the most premature infants leading to visual impairment and in the most severe cases associated with retinal detachment and childhood blindness. Factors contributing the development of ROP include chronic hypoxia and disordered vascular genesis primarily through the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathway. Infants at risk of developing ROP are screened with serial eye exam and treated with either laser surgery or intraocular injects of bevacizumab (Avastin) to prevent progression of ROP and preserve vision. Bevacizumab, an inhibitor of VEGF signaling, may have positive effects on preventing ROP …

Reconsidering Perioperative Antibiotic Use In Elective Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Kayla B. Briggs

Research Days

Background: As rates of antimicrobial resistance increase, the use of prophylactic perioperative antibiotics (PPA) has been questioned in cases with a low risk of surgical site infection (SSI). In laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed for biliary dyskinesia, hyperkinetic gallbladder, and gallbladder polyps, the use of PPA varies with no widely accepted practice pattern.

Objectives/Goal: We examined institutional PPA usage and SSI rates for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy to determine if PPAs are indicated.

Methods/Design: Following IRB approval, children/2010 and 8/2020 for symptomatic cholelithiasis, biliary dyskinesia, hyperkinetic gallbladder, and/or gallbladder polyps were included. Several surgeons changed practice to selective PPA use in 2016, decreasing …