Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Protecting Crops From Abiotic Stress: Copper Oxide Nanoparticle Effects On Wheat And A Beneficial Rhizobacterium, Matthew Potter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Nanoparticles (NPs) are defined as particles less than 100 nm in at least one dimension. CuO NPs have possible applications in agriculture as micronutrient sources, pesticides, and enhancers of crop stress tolerance. Here, three aspects of CuO NP agricultural applications are studied: 1) the potential of CuO NPs to prevent wheat lodging-when crops irreversibly fall over; 2) CuO NP-induced drought tolerance in wheat seedlings; and 3) the effects of CuO NPs on outer membrane vesicle (OMV) production by Pseudomonas chlororaphis O6 (PcO6), a plant-health promoting bacterium.

Wheat grown 7 d exposed to CuO NPs in the growth matrix …

Visually Evoked Responses Are Enhanced When Engaging In A Video Game, Jason J. Ki, Lucas C. Parra, Jacek P. Dmochowski

Publications and Research

While it is well known that vision guides movement, less appreciated is that the motor cortex also provides input to the visual system. Here, we asked whether neural processing of visual stimuli is acutely modulated during motor activity, hypothesizing that visual evoked responses are enhanced when engaged in a motor task that depends on the visual stimulus. To test this, we told participants that their brain activity was controlling a video game that was in fact the playback of a prerecorded game. The deception, which was effective in half of participants, aimed to engage the motor system while avoiding evoked …

Machine Learning Approaches For Fracture Risk Assessment: A Comparative Analysis Of Genomic And Phenotypic Data In 5130 Older Men, Qing Wu, Fatma Nasoz, Jongyun Jung, Bibek Bhattarai, Mira V. Han

School of Public Health Faculty Research

The study aims were to develop fracture prediction models by using machine learning approaches and genomic data, as well as to identify the best modeling approach for fracture prediction. The genomic data of Osteoporotic Fractures in Men, cohort Study (n = 5130), were analyzed. After a comprehensive genotype imputation, genetic risk score (GRS) was calculated from 1103 associated Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms for each participant. Data were normalized and split into a training set (80%) and a validation set (20%) for analysis. Random forest, gradient boosting, neural network, and logistic regression were used to develop prediction models for major osteoporotic fractures …

Alternate Warfare: The Unseen Weapons Of Mass Destruction, Elyse Keener

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Biological warfare is a national security concern that transcends centuries. In the current international climate, biowarfare is of particular interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article seeks to follow historical cases of biological warfare and international response to these cases in order to understand the implications of COVID-19, if it were to be weaponized. Also covered is the current capabilities that Russia, China, and Iran are assessed to possess.

Research Of Features And Compositions Of Vermiculite For Use As Suspension Fire Retardant For Textile Materials, I.N. Khaidarov, R.I. Ismailov

Technical science and innovation

This article presents studies of fire resistance in the treatment of expanded vermiculite, which depends on the size of the dispersed particles and the orientation of the granules, their moisture and temperature. It has been studied that one of the interesting and important in practice properties of vermiculite is its ability to swell and turn into a lightweight effective material for imparting fire resistance. The properties and compositions of vermiculite from the Tebinbulak deposit are studied, from which a flame-retardant suspension is prepared for processing textile materials based on vermiculite dissolved in orthophosphoric acid and alkali in an aqueous medium. …

The Effect Of Discrete Visual Perturbations On Balance Control During Gait, Lara I. Riem, Brian D. Schmit, Scott A. Beardsley

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Immersive virtual reality provides a safe and costeffective approach to administrating balance disruption during ambulation. Previous research has explored the effects of applying continuous perturbations in a virtual environment to challenge balance. This pilot study investigates the ability to disrupt balance with discrete visual perturbations during ambulation in healthy young adults. During the study participants walked on a treadmill within a virtual environment. As they walked the entire visual scene was intermittently shifted to the left or right 1 meter over 1 second. The results demonstrate a significant decrease in step length (𝑝 <; 0.05) and change in center of mass excursion (𝑝 <; 0.05) across participants (𝑁=13). Changes in gait lasted up to three steps after application, suggesting a consistent challenge to dynamic balance control as a result of the discrete visual perturbation. Further, participants did not demonstrate a reduction in response to the discrete visual perturbation with repeated exposure. The results indicate that discrete visual perturbations of a virtual scene can be used to challenge gait and modulate center of mass sway. The use of visual perturbations within a virtual environment to challenge dynamic balance could provide a safer and more affordable avenue for balance rehabilitation by reducing the need for systems that physically perturb balance.

Changes In Lumbo-Pelvic Coordination Of Individuals With And Without Low Back Pain When Wearing A Hip Orthosis, Matthew T. Ballard, Colin Drury, Babak Bazrgari

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Individuals with low back pain demonstrate an abnormal lumbo-pelvic coordination compared to back-healthy individuals. This abnormal coordination presents itself as a reduction in lumbar contributions and an increase in pelvic rotations during a trunk forward bending and backward return task. This study investigated the ability of a hip orthosis in correcting such an abnormal lumbo-pelvic coordination by restricting pelvic rotation and, hence increasing lumbar contributions. The effects of the hip orthosis on the lumbo-pelvic coordination were investigated in 20 low back pain patients and 20 asymptomatic controls. The orthosis reduced pelvic rotation by 12.7° and increased lumbar contributions by 11%. …

Photo-Characterization Of Selective Luminescent Protein Aggregate Sensors - Oligo-P-Phenylene Ethynylene (Opes), Florencia A. Monge

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease,

and related tauopathies, are a global health care challenge due to the lack of early

treatment and diagnostic options. These diseases take an emotional and physical

toll on patients, caretakers, and a rather large economic toll on taxpayer-based

health care systems. The pathologies of these diseases are characterized by the

aggregation of misfolded proteins, amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau, into β-sheet rich

structures called amyloids. Research has found that the presence of protein

aggregates predates cognitive symptoms by years. Current diagnostic tools are

based on the detection of these amyloid aggregates, historically by …

Polymeric Nanoparticles As An Antioxidant Delivery System For Age-Related Eye Disease, Sean M. Swetledge

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Advantages of polymeric nanoparticles as ocular drug delivery systems include controlled release, enhanced drug stability and bioavailability, and specific tissue targeting. Nanoparticle properties such as hydrophobicity, size, and charge, mucoadhesion, as well as administration route and suspension media affect their ability to overcome ocular barriers and distribute in the eye, and must be carefully designed for specific target tissues and ocular diseases. A review was conducted to serve as a guide to optimizing polymeric nanoparticle delivery systems for ocular drug delivery by discussing the effects of nanoparticle composition and administration method on their ocular penetration, distribution, elimination, toxicity, and efficacy, …

Olfaction Modulates Inter-Subject Correlation Of Neural Responses, Paul Deguzman, Anshul Jain, Matthias H. Tabert, Lucas C. Parra

Publications and Research

Odors can be powerful stimulants. It is well-established that odors provide strong cues for recall of locations, people and events. The effects of specific scents on other cognitive functions are less well-established. We hypothesized that scents with different odor qualities will have a different effect on attention. To assess attention, we used Inter-Subject Correlation of the EEG because this metric is strongly modulated by attentional engagement with natural audiovisual stimuli.We predicted that scents known to be “energizing” would increase Inter-Subject Correlation during watching of videos as compared to “calming” scents. In a first experiment, we confirmed this for eucalyptol and …

Discovery Of A Novel Analogue Of Fr901533 And The Corresponding Biosynthetic Gene Cluster From Streptosporangium Roseum No. 79089, Fuchao Xu, Yonghong Liang, Jie Ren, Siyuan Wang, Jixun Zhan

Biological Engineering Faculty Publications

FR901533 (1, also known as WS79089B), WS79089A (2), and WS79089C (3) are polycyclic aromatic natural products with promising inhibitory activity to endothelin-converting enzymes. In this work, we isolated five tridecaketide products from Streptosporangium roseum No. 79089, including 1-3, benaphthamycin (4) and a novel FR901533 analogue (5). The structure of 5 was characterized based on spectroscopic data. Compared to the major product 2, the new compound 5 has an additional hydroxyl group at C-12 and an extra methyl group at the 13-OH. The configuration of C-19 of these compounds …

Β-Amyloid And Tau Drive Early Alzheimer's Disease Decline While Glucose Hypometabolism Drives Late Decline, Tyler C. Hammond, Xin Xing, Chris Wang, David Ma, Kwangsik Nho, Paul K. Crane, Fanny Elahi, David A. Ziegler, Gongbo Liang, Qiang Cheng, Lucille M. Yanckello, Nathan Jacobs, Ai-Ling Lin

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Clinical trials focusing on therapeutic candidates that modify β-amyloid (Aβ) have repeatedly failed to treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), suggesting that Aβ may not be the optimal target for treating AD. The evaluation of Aβ, tau, and neurodegenerative (A/T/N) biomarkers has been proposed for classifying AD. However, it remains unclear whether disturbances in each arm of the A/T/N framework contribute equally throughout the progression of AD. Here, using the random forest machine learning method to analyze participants in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset, we show that A/T/N biomarkers show varying importance in predicting AD development, with elevated biomarkers of Aβ …

Automatic Detection Of Dynamic And Static Activities Of The Older Adults Using A Wearable Sensor And Support Vector Machines, Jian Zhang, Rahul Soangra, Thurmon E. Lockhart

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Although Support Vector Machines (SVM) are widely used for classifying human motion patterns, their application in the automatic recognition of dynamic and static activities of daily life in the healthy older adults is limited. Using a body mounted wireless inertial measurement unit (IMU), this paper explores the use of an SVM approach for classifying dynamic (walking) and static (sitting, standing and lying) activities of the older adults. Specifically, data formatting and feature extraction methods associated with IMU signals are discussed. To evaluate the performance of the SVM algorithm, the effects of two parameters involved in SVM algorithm—the soft margin constant …

Analysis Of Information Security Methods In Biosystems And Application Of Intelligent Tools In Information Security Systems, Sherzod Sayfullaev

Chemical Technology, Control and Management

In this paper, the methods of information protection in bio systems are studied. The paper considers the use of intelligent tools in information security systems and the use of adaptive information security systems. Several articles on the field of information protection in bio systems are analyzed. Disadvantages and advantages of neural network technologies in modern information security systems are described. The characteristics of bio systems and the specificity of DNA, the main features of the DNA code that provide information security and functional stability of bio systems data protection structure. Application of intelligent tools to create a comprehensive adaptive protection …

Thermoresponsive Nanogels Based On Different Polymeric Moieties For Biomedical Applications, Sobhan Ghaeini-Hesaroeiye, Hossein Razmi Bagtash, Soheil Boddohi, Ebrahim Vasheghani-Farahani, Esmaiel Jabbari

Faculty Publications

Nanogels, or nanostructured hydrogels, are one of the most interesting materials in biomedical engineering. Nanogels are widely used in medical applications, such as in cancer therapy, targeted delivery of proteins, genes and DNAs, and scaffolds in tissue regeneration. One salient feature of nanogels is their tunable responsiveness to external stimuli. In this review, thermosensitive nanogels are discussed, with a focus on moieties in their chemical structure which are responsible for thermosensitivity. These thermosensitive moieties can be classified into four groups, namely, polymers bearing amide groups, ether groups, vinyl ether groups and hydrophilic polymers bearing hydrophobic groups. These novel thermoresponsive nanogels …

A Comparative Study Of Sleep And Diurnal Patterns In House Mouse (Mus Musculus) And Spiny Mouse (Acomys Cahirinus), Chanung Wang, Lauren E. Guerriero, Dillon M. Huffman, Asma'a A. Ajwad, Trae C. Brooks, Sridhar Sunderam, Ashley W. Seifert, Bruce F. O'Hara

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Most published sleep studies use three species: human, house mouse, or Norway rat. The degree to which data from these species captures variability in mammalian sleep remains unclear. To gain insight into mammalian sleep diversity, we examined sleep architecture in the spiny basal murid rodent Acomys cahirinus. First, we used a piezoelectric system validated for Mus musculus to monitor sleep in both species. We also included wild M. musculus to control for alterations generated by laboratory-reared conditions for M. musculus. Using this comparative framework, we found that A. cahirinus, lab M. musculus, and wild M. musculus were …

Secretion Of Proteins And Antibody Fragments From Transiently Transfected Endothelial Progenitor Cells, Loree Heller, Reynald Thinard, Melanie Chevalier, Sezgi Arpag, Yu Jing, Ruth Greferath, Richard Heller, Claude Nicolau

Bioelectrics Publications

In neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, neuroinflammation can lead to blood-brain barrier (BBB) breakdown. After intravenous or intra-arterial injection into mice, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) home to the damaged BBB to promote neurovascular repair. Autologous EPCs transfected to express specific therapeutic proteins offer an innovative therapeutic option. Here, we demonstrate that EPC transfection by electroporation with plasmids encoding the reporter protein GFP or an anti-beta-amyloid antibody fragment (Fab) leads to secretion of each protein. We also demonstrate the secreted anti-beta-amyloid Fab protein functions in beta-amyloid aggregate solubilization.

How Does Robotic Surgery Influence Communication, Leadership, And Team Outcomes? A Multimethod Examination., Jordan E. Rogers

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The practice of delivering surgical care has evolved to be less invasive to the patients undergoing surgery. Minimally-invasive surgery can be practiced through traditional laparoscopic methods as well as with robotic technology that displaces the surgeon from the operating table. Robotic surgery has been cited to be safer and more effective than traditional laparoscopic surgery; however, little research has endeavored to investigate the role of surgical modality upon aspects of teamwork. This dissertation contributes to the human factors and teamwork literature by evaluating how surgical modality may influence communication, shared leadership, and team outcomes. Multiple methods were employed to study …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Flexible Three-Phase Zno-Graphene-Epoxy Electro-Active Thin-Film Nanocomposites: Towards Applications In Wearable Biomedical Devices, Mandeep Singh, Sanjeev Kumar, Shervin Zoghi, Debaki Sarcar, Saquib Ahmed, Shaestagir Chowdhury, Sankha Banerjee

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Perovskite oxides have been used as sensors, actuators, transducers, for sound generation and detection, and also in optical instruments and microscopes. Perovskite halides are currently considered as optoelectronic devices such as solar cells, photodetectors, and radiation detection, but there are major issues with stability, interfacial recombination, and electron/hole mobility. The following work looks into the fabrication of non-toxic ZnO-based lead-free alternatives to perovskite oxides for use as secondary sensors or electron transport layers along with perovskite halides for application in stacked biomedical wearable devices. Three-phase, lead-free, Zinc Oxide-Graphene-Epoxy electroactive nanocomposite thin films were fabricated. The volume fraction of the Graphene …

Cis-Resveratrol Upregulates Tyrosyl-Trna Synthetase And Inhibits The Proliferation Of Select Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Marion Cone Hope Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is one of the most commonly occurring cancers in women. 70% of breast cancer patients express ERα and are treated with tamoxifen (Tam), a drug that is used to directly target ERα. However, 20-30% of cancer patients develop a resistance to Tam. This resistance leads to a worse prognosis and other treatments such as DNA damaging drugs or radiation to eliminate these cells. Resveratrol (RSV) is a polyphenolic- compound found in plants such as grapes and hellebore and is known to evoke anti-cancer effects. While natural resveratrol exists as a mixture of both cis- and trans- isomers, so …