Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Atherosclerotic Plaque Adhesion Strength And Its Role In Plaque Rupture, Bilal Merei

Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular diseases are disorders affecting the blood vessels and the heart. According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. They are responsible for over 17.1 million deaths per year worldwide, representing 31.5% of deaths 1, 2. Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disorder affecting large arteries, is the underlying cause of many cardiovascular diseases. Plaque rupture is a serious complication of advanced atherosclerosis, often leading to life-threatening clinical consequences such as myocardial infarction (heart attack) or stroke. 75% of newly developed myocardial infarction cases are caused by atherosclerotic plaque rupture. It affects approximately …

Advancing Automated Methods For Microrna Profiling, Kia N. Zellars

Theses and Dissertations

The widespread influence of miRNAs in many biological processes and characteristic changes in expression profiles make them potential biomarkers for a range of diseases. With recent discoveries highlighting the enrichment of particular circulating miRNAs in plasma under pathological conditions, there has been a push for technological advances in miRNA profiling studies as a diagnostic tool. A standardized, automated, high-throughput method for miRNA isolation from human plasma samples was developed in this study. Samples were subject to full miRNome profiling utilizing RT-qPCR. These unique findings demonstrate that developing a distinct miRNA biomarker profile for heart failure patients is feasible and holds …

Lessons Learned From A 10-Year Collaboration Between Biomedical Engineering And Industrial Design Students In Capstone Design Projects, Jay R. Goldberg, Pascal Malassigné

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Engineers and industrial designers have different approaches to problem solving. Both place heavy emphasis on identification of customer needs, manufacturing methods, and prototyping. Industrial designers focus on aesthetics, ergonomics, ease of use, manufacturing methods, and the user’s experience. They tend to be more visual and more concerned with the interaction between users and products. Engineers focus on functionality, performance requirements, analytical modeling, and design verification and validation. They tend to be more analytical and more concerned with the design of internal components and product performance. Engineers and industrial designers often work together on project teams in industry. Collaboration between the …

Segmental Movement Compensations In Patients With Transtibial Amputation Identified Using Angular Momentum Separation, Brecca M. M. Gaffney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Patients with unilateral dysvascular transtibial amputation (TTA) adopt movement compensations that are required to maintain balance and achieve ambulation in the absence of ankle plantar flexion, and result in increased and asymmetric joint loading patterns. As a result, this population is at an increased risk of overuse injuries, such as low back pain (LBP). Clinical gait analysis is used to guide diagnostics in movement retraining following amputation, and is performed using instrumented (research based) or observational analyses (clinically based). However, instrumented analyses are currently impractical in most clinical settings due to expense and computational limitations. This dissertation presents the use …

Six Degrees Of Freedom: Kinematics Of The Healthy Ankle Syndesmosis Joint, Veronica A. Hogg-Cornejo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Syndesmotic injury, more commonly known as a "high ankle sprain", accounts for over 12% of all ankle sprain incidents in the US; of which, over 25% occur during a sporting activity. Typically, harm to the syndesmosis occurs in sports such as football, soccer, lacrosse, and hockey where it is common for an athlete to experience rapid and extreme dorsiflexion-external rotations of the foot. Severe syndesmotic sprains have been noted by clinicians as the most difficult ankle injury to accurately diagnose and treat, require the most recuperation time, and often results in life-long dysfunction. Even more problematic, 40% of patients suffering …

Specimen-Specific Natural, Pathological, And Implanted Knee Mechanics Using Finite Element Modeling, Azhar Akber Ali

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an increasing incidence of knee pain and injury among the population, and increasing demand for higher knee function in total knee replacement designs. As a result, clinicians and implant manufacturers are interested in improving patient outcomes, and evaluation of knee mechanics is essential for better diagnosis and repair of knee pathologies. Common knee pathologies include osteoarthritis (degradation of the articulating surfaces), patellofemoral pain, and cruciate ligament injury and/or rupture. The complex behavior of knee motion presents unique challenges in the diagnosis of knee pathology and restoration of healthy knee function. Quantifying knee mechanics is essential for developing successful …

Statistical Shape And Intensity Modeling Of The Shoulder, Irene Sintini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anatomical variability in the shoulder is inherently present and can influence healthy and pathologic biomechanics and ultimately clinical decision-making. Characterizing variation in bony morphology and material properties in the population can support treatment and specifically the design, via shape and sizing, of shoulder implants. Total Shoulder Arthroplasty (TSA) is the treatment of choice for glenohumeral osteoarthritis as well as bone fracture. Complications and poor outcomes in TSA are generally influenced by the inability of the implant to replicate the natural joint biomechanics and by the bone quality around the fixation features. For this reason, knowledge of bony morphology and mechanical …

Influence Of Fibroblasts On Metastatic Cancer Cell Drug Resistance In A 3d Microfluidic Cell Array, Elizabeth C. Benoy

Dissertations and Theses

Modeling an accurate depiction of the tumor microenvironment, (TME), is essential to observe the effect external factors might have on the tumor in vivo. In cancer therapy specifically, the outcomes of clinical treatments are heavily dependent on drug testing methods despite the cytotoxic effects these methods might have on the patient. Our lab has previously developed a three layered microfluidic cell array (3D μFCA) to reconstruct the relevantly spatial configuration of tumor and microvasculature found in vivo in order to develop a more efficient tool of high throughput drug discovery and screening. In this study, we optimized this device to …

Design Development And Performance Study Of A Novel Assistive Device For Mobility Of Toddlers And Children With Visual Impairments, Joowon Jun

Dissertations and Theses

Being able to see allows mankind tremendous access to learn about the world, and because so much learning comes visually, children with visual impairments are delayed in developing range of skills: learning own languages, doing activities, socializing with peers, and etc. While children with vision can do virtually all the activities and tasks for granted, children with visual impairment require different types of tools or materials to do same tasks most of time. Amongst all the disadvantages that children with visual impairment have, one of the most critical disadvantageous area that visual impairment brings to toddler is learning to walk. …

Automatic Optimum Atlas Selection For Multi-Atlas Image Segmentation Using Joint Label Fusion, Kofi Agyeman

Dissertations and Theses

Multi-atlas image segmentation using label fusion is one of the most accurate state of the art image segmentation techniques available for biomedical imaging applications. Motivated to achieve higher image segmentation accuracy, reduce computational costs and a continuously increasing atlas data size, a robust framework for optimum selection of atlases for label fusion is vital. Although believed not to be critical for weighted label fusion techniques by some works (Sabuncu, M. R. et al., 2010, [1]), others have shown that appropriate atlas selection has several merits and can improve multi-atlas image segmentation accuracy (Aljabar et al., 2009, [2], Van de Velde …

Mri Methods For Imaging The Feto-Placental Vasculature And Blood, Uday Krishnamurthy

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in recent times has become a well-established adjunct to ultrasound (US) in routine clinical prenatal care and diagnostics. The majority of fetal MRI is restricted to T2-weighted scans, where the diagnosis is based on the appearance of normal and abnormal tissue. Although there have been many advancements in MRI and a plethora of sequences, that probe different anatomical and different physiological process, the adaptation of these in fetal imaging has been rather slow. Many of these can extract quantitative parameters that can throw light on the underlying tissue’s normal/patho-physiology. But the use of such quantitative …

Biomaterials Approaches For Utilizing The Regenerative Potential Of The Peripheral Nerve Injury Microenvironment, Melissa Renee Wrobel

Wayne State University Dissertations

Clinically available treatments are insufficient to achieve full functional recovery in large (>3cm) peripheral nerve injuries (PNI). The objectives in this thesis were 1) to study often overlooked elements of intrinsic PNI repair including release of inhibitory CSPGs and post-injury responses of inflammatory macrophages and dedifferentiated Schwann cells; 2) to create biomaterial scaf-folds featuring topographical and adhesive cues to enhance neurite outgrowth; and 3) to test the ability of those cues to direct macrophages and Schwann cells towards a pro-regenerative phe-notype. It is hypothesized that recapitulating the positive and negative cues of the PNI microenvi-ronment can better improve regeneration. …

Utility Of Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Imaging For Accurate Catheter Tracking And Temperature Monitoring During Endovenous Laser Ablation, Ayushi Jharia, Keerthana Palani, Yan Yan

Research Opportunities for Engineering Undergraduates (ROEU) Program 2016-17

Laser ablation is a treatment method that uses light energy through a catheter inserted into a vein to induce localized heat to close the diseased blood vessels. Ultrasound (US) imaging has been used for catheter visualization and tracking. US has limitations for tracking the accurate location of the fiber tip inside small perforating veins such as angular dependency and comet tail artifacts. We propose a robust and accurate method for fiber tip tracking using combined US and Photoacoustic (PA) imaging to overcome the existing limitations.

3d Bioprinting A Pcl/13-93b3 Glass Composite And Its Potential Use As A Bio-Ink, Caroline Blair Murphy

Masters Theses

"A major limitation of using synthetic scaffolds in tissue engineering is little growth of incorporated cells in the interior of the scaffold, resulting in insufficient angiogenesis in the scaffold interior. Recently, cells have been 3D bioprinted concurrently with biomaterials to produce a cellularized, bioactive, angiogenic 3D environment. This thesis describes a novel solvent-extrusion method for printing polycaprolactone (PCL)/bioactive borate glass composite as a biomaterial for a cell-laden scaffold.

Bioactive borate glass was added to a mixture of PCL and organic solvent to make an extrudable paste, creating scaffolds measuring 10×10×1 mm³ in overall dimensions with pore sizes ranging from …

The Effect Of Twist On The Mechanical Properties Of The Intervertebral Disc, Maxine Harvey-Burgess

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Introduction: Intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation is a common injury to the IVD and a frequent source of low back pain. IVD herniation occurs when the nucleus pulposus migrates through both the inter- and intralamellar matrices of the annulus fibrosus (AF). There are a number of mechanical risk factors associated with herniation, including repetitive flexion and twist. In vivo, twist combined with repetitive flexion has been associated with increased experience of low back pain and herniation. Additionally, in vitro, when repetitive flexion is combined with twist, IVD herniation occurs more easily than repetitive flexion alone. However, the mechanisms behind …

The Viability Of Advantg Deterministic Method For Synthetic Radiography Generation, Andrew Albert Bingham

Masters Theses

"Time sensitive and high resolution image simulations are needed for synthetic radiography generation. The standard stochastic approach requires lengthy run times with poor statistics at higher resolutions. The investigation of the viability of a deterministic approach to synthetic radiography image generation was explored. The aim was to analyze a computational time decrease over the stochastic method. ADVANTG was compared to MCNP in multiple scenarios including a Benchtop CT prototype, to simulate high resolution radiography images. By using ADVANTG deterministic code to simulate radiography images the computational time was found to decrease over 10 times compared to the MCNP stochastic approach"--Abstract, …

A Structural And Functional Analysis Of Human Brain Mri With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Arjun A. Watane

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects 5-10% of children worldwide. Its effects are mainly behavioral, manifesting in symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. If not monitored and treated, ADHD may adversely affect a child's health, education, and social life. Furthermore, the neurological disorder is currently diagnosed through interviews and opinions of teachers, parents, and physicians. Because this is a subjective method of identifying ADHD, it is easily prone to error and misdiagnosis. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop an objective diagnostic method for ADHD.

The focus of this study is to explore the use of machine language …

Quantifying The Effects Of Hydrostatic Pressure On Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Binding By The Human Endothelium, Taylor R. Mckenty

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Fluid pressures regulate endothelial cell (EC) tubulogenic activity involving fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) and its receptor, FGF receptor 2 (FGFR2). Our lab has recently shown that sustained 20 mmHg hydrostatic pressure (HP) upregulates EC sprout formation in a FGF2-dependent fashion. This upregulation of sprout formation may be due to enhanced FGF-2 / FGFR2 interactions in the presence of 20 mmHg HP. We hypothesize that exposure of ECs to 20 mmHg sustained HP enhances FGF-2 binding kinetics. We used a custom hydrostatic pressure system, immunofluorescence, and FACS to quantify FGF-2 binding by ECs in the absence or presence of a …

Age-Related Differences In The Lumbopelvic Kinematics During The Trunk Motions In The Anatomical Planes, Milad Vazirian

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Management and control of the low back pain as an important health problem in the industrial societies necessitates to investigate how the risk of this disease is affected by aging. Since the abnormalities of the lumbopelvic kinematics are related to the existence or risk of low back injuries, the objective of this dissertation was set to find the age-related differences in lumbopelvic kinematics when performing basic trunk motions reaching to range of motion in different anatomical planes.

A cross-sectional study was designed where sixty asymptomatic individuals between 20–70 years old with no confounding health condition, no current or previous highly …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Poly(Simvastatin) - Incorporated Copolymers And Blends For Bone Regeneration, Theodora Asafo-Adjei

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Common biodegradable polyesters such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) are used as drug delivery vehicles for tissue regenerative applications. However, they are typically bioinert, with drug loading limitations. Polymerizing the active agent or precursor into its respective biodegradable polymer would control drug loading via molar ratios of drug to initiator used for synthesis. Simvastatin was chosen due to its favorable anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, and osteogenic properties. In addition, its lactone ring lends itself to ring-opening polymerization and, consequently, the synthesis of poly(simvastatin) with controlled simvastatin release.

Simvastatin was first polymerized with a 5kDa methyl-terminated poly(ethylene glycol) …