Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Biomechanical Effects Of A Hip Orthosis On Lumbo-Pelvic Coordination, Matthew Ballard

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Abnormal lumbar movement has been observed in individuals who have a history of low back pain (LBP). Affected individuals display a reduction in lumbar spine rotation during trunk movement tasks, while pelvic rotation increases to compensate. Reduced lumbar contribution to forward bending is associated with increased compressive forces and increased shearing demand of the task on the lower back. This abnormal lumbo-pelvic coordination (LPC) can persist beyond LBP symptom alleviation and may contribute to further occurrences or more severe cases of LBP. This study serves as a first step in investigating if abnormal LPC can be corrected with a hip …

Noninvasive Multimodal Diffuse Optical Imaging Of Vulnerable Tissue Hemodynamics, Mingjun Zhao

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Measurement of tissue hemodynamics provides vital information for the assessment of tissue viability. This thesis reports three noninvasive near-infrared diffuse optical systems for spectroscopic measurements and tomographic imaging of tissue hemodynamics in vulnerable tissues with the goal of disease diagnosis and treatment monitoring. A hybrid near-infrared spectroscopy/diffuse correlation spectroscopy (NIRS/DCS) instrument with a contact fiber-optic probe was developed and utilized for simultaneous and continuous monitoring of blood flow (BF), blood oxygenation, and oxidative metabolism in exercising gastrocnemius. Results measured by the hybrid NIRS/DCS instrument in 37 subjects (mean age: 67 ± 6) indicated that vitamin D supplement plus aerobic training …

Investigating The Feasibility Of Using Mesoporous Silica Particles To Deliver Glucose During Anaerobic Fermentation, Megan E. Walz

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

The study presented herein investigated a potential low-energy method to separate and concentrate glucose from a lignocellulosic hydrolysate. The motivation for this method was twofold: 1) to provide the fermentation microorganism an optimal glucose concentration and 2) to supply a fermentation media free of inhibitory compounds. Two sizes of porous silica particles (with 7 nm and 2.3 nm pores) were synthesized and their ability to adsorb glucose from solution confirmed. Next, the ability of two different microorganisms, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Streptococcus bovis, to utilize sugars adsorbed to the porous silica particles was investigated.

Both the 7 nm and 2.3 …

Quantification Of Myocardial Mechanics In Left Ventricles Under Inotropic Stimulation And In Healthy Right Ventricles Using 3d Dense Cmr, Zhan-Qiu Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Statistical data from clinical studies indicate that the death rate caused by heart disease has decreased due to an increased use of evidence-based medical therapies. This includes the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is one of the most common non-invasive approaches in evidence-based health care research. In the current work, I present 3D Lagrangian strains and torsion in the left ventricle of healthy and isoproterenol-stimulated rats, which were investigated using Displacement ENcoding with Stimulated Echoes (DENSE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. With the implementation of the 12-segment model, a detailed profile of regional cardiac mechanics was reconstructed for …

Estimation Of Multi-Directional Ankle Impedance As A Function Of Lower Extremity Muscle Activation, Lauren Knop

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the mechanical impedance of the human ankle and the corresponding lower extremity muscle activity. Three experimental studies were performed to measure the ankle impedance about multiple degrees of freedom (DOF), while the ankle was subjected to different loading conditions and different levels of muscle activity. The first study determined the non-loaded ankle impedance in the sagittal, frontal, and transverse anatomical planes while the ankle was suspended above the ground. The subjects actively co-contracted their agonist and antagonistic muscles to various levels, measured using electromyography (EMG). An Artificial Neural Network …

Experimentally Linking Head Kinematics To Brain Deformation, Imouline Algharbi

Theses

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) research is used to study the effects of brain injuries and the rehabilitations for them. TBI contributes to major cause of disability and deaths quantifying up to 30% of all the head injuries. To mimic real world impact to understand the mechanism of injury head-surrogate models are used. This thesis describes a method to record head kinematics from acceleration and angular rate sensors of head-brain surrogate model for blast and blunt injury. This methodology is validated through experimental testing. To get a better insight of the head kinematics experienced by a real skull a drop tower …

Testing And Validation Framework For Closed-Loop Physiology Management Systems For Critical And Perioperative Care, Farooq M. Gessa

Master’s Theses

The research aims at developing a framework for testing systems such as closed-loop physiology management systems to ensure that they are safe and effective for use with patients. Building medical devices that are both robust and safe is a challenge. There has been a tremendous increase in modernization and innovation of various medical systems but many of these systems either fail trials or are recalled due to safety issues.

Medical operation rooms require care teams responsible for monitoring the patients and other technical surgical devices. The care process requires a balancing administration that takes care of the drugs and fluids …

A Seed Dormancy Gene-Mediated Biotechnology To Mitigate Transgene Flow Into Weedy Rice, Luai Nahar Muhammad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transgene flows into wild/weedy relatives may cause ecological and economic problems. Seed dormancy is an adaptive trait that distributes germination over time and promotes persistence of weeds in agroecosystems. Silencing natural genes controlling seed dormancy (SD) could promote germination and reduce weed adaptability. The goal of this project was to develop a transgenic mitigation (TM) technology by linking to a primary transgene with an SD gene-silencing structure, as a tandem construct for transformation, to reduce the risk of gene flow into weed populations. In this research, the Bar (Bialaphos) gene for resistance to the glufosinate herbicide was used as a …

Upright Sleep Device For Patients Required To Sleep Upright Post Surgery/Medical Procedure, Kristin J. Abele, Madeleine H. Hummel, Tayler R. Kastlunger

Biomedical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Surf Leg, Samantha Campbell, Oyundari Altansukh, Caroline Swanson, Kurtis Barth

Mechanical Engineering

The Surf Leg Prosthetic project team in conjunction with QL+ and Operation Surf designed a transtibial prosthetic to be used for surfing. The senior project team focused on the missions of QL+ and Operation Surf as they went through the design process during the 2018-2019 academic year. The problem solved was that a standard prosthetic for a transtibial amputee does not provide the flexibility in enough degrees of freedom for a user to squat and balance on a surfboard. The goal of this project was to create a device specifically designed to improve the user’s balance and control while surfing. …

Modification Of Lipid Microenvironments On Solid Support Structures For Use In Transmembrane Protein Assays, William J. Houlihan

Dissertations and Theses

Gamma-Secretase (γ-secretase) is a transmembrane protease of increasing interest, which has been shown to have significant connections to both cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. γ-secretase cleaves both Notch-1, a transmembrane signaling protein, and Amyloid precursor protein (APP), a transmembrane protein whose cleavage may result in the formation of β-amyloid plaques in the brain. Notch-1 and APP are widely studied proteins that have substantial impacts on the development and proliferation of cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, respectively. Notch-1 partakes in the signaling of apoptosis in damaged and mutated cells, thus its cleavage by γ-secretase within the plasma membrane has ramifications on cell growth …

Spatial Fingerprinting Of Biogenic And Anthropogenic Volatile Organic Compounds In An Arid Unsaturated Zone, Christopher T. Green, Wentai Luo, Christopher H. Conaway, Karl B. Haase, Ronald J. Baker

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Subsurface volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can pose risks to human and environmental health and mediate biological processes. Volatile organic compounds have both anthropogenic and biogenic origins, but the relative importance of these sources has not been explored in subsurface environments. This study synthesized 17 yr of VOC data from the Amargosa Desert Research Site in Nevada with the goal of improving understanding of spatial and temporal variations that distinguish sources of VOCs from a landfill and from ambient sources including biogenic VOCs (bVOCs). Gas samples were collected from 1999 to 2016 from an array of shallow sample points (0.5- and …

Nanostructured Materials For Food Applications: Spectroscopy, Microscopy And Physical Properties, Shubham Sharma, Swana Jaiswal, Brendan Duffy, Amit Jaiswal

Articles

Nanotechnology deals with the matter of atomic or molecular scale. Other factors that define the character of a nanoparticle are its physical and chemical properties, such as surface area, surface charge, hydrophobicity of the surface, the thermal stability of the nanoparticle, and its antimicrobial activity. A nanoparticle is usually characterized by using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Microscopic techniques are used to characterize the size, shape, and location of the nanoparticle by producing an image of the individual nanoparticle. Several techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy/high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM/HRTEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning …

Phospholipid- And Gold-Induced Gelation Of Thai Silk Fibroin And Its Applications For Cell And Drug Delivery, Chavee Laomeephol

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Recently, an in situ gelation, which is a rapid sol-to-gel transition under mild conditions, has been employed, allowing an entrapment of cells or substances in 3D structures as well as tailorable geometries and point-of-care uses. Silk fibroin (SF), a natural polymer from Bombyx mori silkworm cocoons, was chosen in this study as a substrate for the in situ hydrogel fabrication, due to self-assembly characteristic and a presence of modifiable functional groups. However, regenerated SF solution poses a slow gelation (several days or weeks) which is impractical for an in situ application. Therefore, a phospholipid, dimyristoyl glycerophosphoglycerol (DMPG), and a gold …

A Hybrid-Powered Wireless System For Multiple Biopotential Monitoring, Shawn Li

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Chronic diseases are the top cause of human death in the United States and worldwide. A huge amount of healthcare costs is spent on chronic diseases every year. The high medical cost on these chronic diseases facilitates the transformation from in-hospital to out-of-hospital healthcare. The out-of-hospital scenarios require comfortability and mobility along with quality healthcare. Wearable electronics for well-being management provide good solutions for out-of-hospital healthcare. Long-term health monitoring is a practical and effective way in healthcare to prevent and diagnose chronic diseases. Wearable devices for long-term biopotential monitoring are impressive trends for out-of-hospital health monitoring. The biopotential signals in …

Estimation And Prediction Of The Human Gait Dynamics For The Control Of An Ankle-Foot Prosthesis, Guilherme Aramizo Ribeiro

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With the growing population of amputees, powered prostheses can be a solution to improve the quality of life for many people. Powered ankle-foot prostheses can be made to behave similar to the lost limb via controllers that emulate the mechanical impedance of the human ankle. Therefore, the understanding of human ankle dynamics is of major significance. First, this work reports the modulation of the mechanical impedance via two mechanisms: the co-contraction of the calf muscles and a change of mean ankle torque and angle. Then, the mechanical impedance of the ankle was determined, for the first time, as a multivariable …

An Elastic-Net Logistic Regression Approach To Generate Classifiers And Gene Signatures For Types Of Immune Cells And T Helper Cell Subsets, Arezo Torang, Paraag Gupta, David J. Klinke Ii

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Background: Host immune response is coordinated by a variety of different specialized cell types that vary in time and location. While host immune response can be studied using conventional low-dimensional approaches, advances in transcriptomics analysis may provide a less biased view. Yet, leveraging transcriptomics data to identify immune cell subtypes presents challenges for extracting informative gene signatures hidden within a high dimensional transcriptomics space characterized by low sample numbers with noisy and missing values. To address these challenges, we explore using machine learning methods to select gene subsets and estimate gene coefficients simultaneously. Results: Elastic-net logistic regression, a type of …

A Fully-Flexible Solution-Processed Autonomous Glucose Indicator, Jonathan D. Yuen, Ankit Baingane, Qumrul Hasan, Lisa C. Shriver-Lake, Scott A. Walper, Daniel Zabetakis, Joyce C. Breger, David A. Stenger, Gymama Slaughter

Bioelectrics Publications

We present the first demonstration of a fully-flexible, self-powered glucose indicator system that synergizes two flexible electronic technologies: a flexible self-powering unit in the form of a biofuel cell, with a flexible electronic device - a circuit-board decal fabricated with biocompatible microbial nanocellulose. Our proof-of-concept device, comprising an enzymatic glucose fuel cell, glucose sensor and a LED indicator, does not require additional electronic equipment for detection or verification; and the entire structure collapses into a microns-thin, self-adhering, single-centimeter-square decal, weighing less than 40 mg. The flexible glucose indicator system continuously operates a light emitting diode (LED) through a capacitive charge/discharge …

Effect Of Cold Atmospheric Plasma Treatment On The Metabolites Of Human Leukemia Cells, Dehui Xu, Ning Ning, Yujing Xu, Bingchuan Wang, Qingjie Cui, Zhijie Liu, Xiaohua Wang, Dingxin Liu, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

Background

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a typically fatal malignancy and new drug and treatment need to be developed for a better survival outcome. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is a novel technology, which has been widely applied in biomedicine, especially in various of cancer treatment. However, the changes in cell metabolism after CAP treatment of leukemia cells have been rarely studied.

Methods

In this study, we investigated the metabolite profiling of plasma treatment on leukemia cells based on Gas Chromatography Tandem Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (GC-TOFMS). Simultaneously, we conducted a series of bioinformatics analysis of metabolites and metabolic pathways with significant …

Effects Of Micro-Features On Cell Detachment From Poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) Coated Polydimethylsiloxane Membranes, Luke Webel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The tested hypothesis was that features on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces coated with a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)/aminopropyltriethoxysilane or pNIPAAM/APTES thin film would accelerate cell detachment than the film coated on a unfeatured surface. This project tested samples with features generated by molds, wrinkling, and sandpaper roughened substrates. Surface feature generation methods were limited to mechanical means, and characterized by microscopy and strain rates. 50/50 mixtures of 1.5 wt.% pNIPAAM/ APTES were used to coat thin films (30-40 nm) on PDMS membranes by spin-coating, and the coated membranes were thermally annealed to chemically graft pNIPAAm/APTES on the membrane and their thermo-responsive property was assessed …