Biomedical Commons^™

Plasma-Treated Solutions (Pts) In Cancer Therapy, Hiromasa Tanaka, Sander Bekeschus, Dayun Yan, Masaru Hori, Michael Keidar, Mounir Laroussi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Cold physical plasma is a partially ionized gas generating various reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) simultaneously. ROS/RNS have therapeutic effects when applied to cells and tissues either directly from the plasma or via exposure to solutions that have been treated beforehand using plasma processes. This review addresses the challenges and opportunities of plasma-treated solutions (PTSs) for cancer treatment. These PTSs include plasma-treated cell culture media in experimental research as well as clinically approved solutions such as saline and Ringer’s lactate, which, in principle, already qualify for testing in therapeutic settings. Several types of cancers were found to succumb to …

Comprehensive Collagen Crosslinking Comparison Of Microfluidic Wet-Extruded Microfibers For Bioactive Surgical Suture Development, Amrita Dasgupta, Nardos Sori, Stella Petrova, Yas Maghdouri-White, Nick Thayer, Nathan Kemper, Seth Polk, Delaney Leathers, Kelly Coughenour, Jake Dascoli, Riya Palikonda, Connor Donahue, Anna A. Bulysheva, Michael P. Francis

Bioelectrics Publications

Collagen microfiber-based constructs have garnered considerable attention for ligament, tendon, and other soft tissue repairs, yet with limited clinical translation due to strength, biocompatibility, scalable manufacturing, and other challenges. Crosslinking collagen fibers improves mechanical properties; however, questions remain regarding optimal crosslinking chemistries, biocompatibility, biodegradation, long-term stability, and potential for biotextile assemble at scale, limiting their clinical usefulness. Here, we assessed over 50 different crosslinking chemistries on microfluidic wet-extruded collagen microfibers made with clinically relevant collagen to optimize collagen fibers as a biotextile yarn for suture or other medical device manufacture. The endogenous collagen crosslinker, glyoxal, provides extraordinary fiber ultimate tensile …

Monopolar Gene Electrotransfer Enhances Plasmid Dna Delivery To Skin, Anna Bulysheva, Loree Heller, Michael Francis, Frency Varghese, Carly Boye, Richard Heller

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A novel monopolar electroporation system and methodologies were developed for in vivo electroporation intended for potential clinical applications such as gene therapy. We hypothesized that an asymmetric anode/cathode electrode applicator geometry could produce favorable electric fields for electroporation, without the typical drawback associated with traditional needle and parallel plate geometries. Three monopolar electrode applicator prototypes were built and tested for gene delivery of reporter genes to the skin in a guinea pig model. Gene expression was evaluated in terms of kinetics over time and expression distribution within the treatment site. Different pulsing parameters, including pulse amplitude, pulse duration, and pulse …

The Application Of Leaky Wave Antennas For Medical Hyperthermia Treatment And Beamformer In Fmcw Automotive Radar Systems, Masoud Sarabi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Thousands of years ago human discovered that if a slice of amber is rubbed against fur, it would absorb light-weight objects. Hundreds of years after that the ancient people figured out that there are actually two different characteristics of attraction and repulsion. Another 2000 years passed when human discovered that these two wonders of nature, magnetism and electricity are actually linked together like the two sides of the same coin. Since then, in the early 19th century great huge achievements were made in antennas and propagation by scientists such as Hans Christen Oersted, Heinrich Hertz, Alexander Popov and Marconi. Since …

Evaluation Of Supervised Deep-Learning For Improved Pneumonia Diagnosis, Andrew Kalaani

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of infections in the lung area and deaths worldwide. The mortality rate is 24.8% for patients over 70 years of age due to other health complications present along with it. In least fortunate countries, pneumonia can often times go untreated because of how cost extensive it is to diagnose, especially severe cases that cannot be seen by a plain X-ray. Other scanning methods can find the lung abnormality but are time-extensive and not cost effective. An autonomous approach however can help aid diagnosing pneumonia with a plain X-ray scan due to the structural …

Recent Advances And Machine Learning Techniques On Sickle Cell Disease, Noorh H. Alharbi, Rana O. Bameer, Shahad S. Geddan, Hajar M. Alharbi

Future Computing and Informatics Journal

Sickle cell disease is a severe hereditary disease caused by an abnormality of the red blood cells. The current therapeutic decision-making process applied to sickle cell disease includes monitoring a patient’s symptoms and complications and then adjusting the treatment accordingly. This process is time-consuming, which might result in serious consequences for patients’ lives and could lead to irreversible disease complications. Artificial intelligence, specifically machine learning, is a powerful technique that has been used to support medical decisions. This paper aims to review the recently developed machine learning models designed to interpret medical data regarding sickle cell disease. To propose an …

Smart Motor Syringe System, Conard Chan, Jenny Chiao

Electrical Engineering

Syringe pumps are widely used in many research applications especially in the applications that need precise control. Today most medical research utilizes syringes to control the fluid being pumped to the experiment objects. In most cases microscopic or nano-scopic motion control is required to acquire optimal results, such application includes purification of DNA/RNA from contaminants[1]. The high precision required to control the syringe pump makes it difficult to perform manually. This paper focuses on the design of an intelligent syringe pump motor control system to achieve reliable and precise control for biomedical experiments. This project improves medical research quality with …

Fly-In Visualization Of Tubular Objects: Theory And Application In Virtual Colonoscopy., Mostafa Mohamed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, visualization for tubular objects, i.e., projecting 2D images from 3D inner surfaces of tubular objects, is investigated. Given surface points on 3D objects, an approach that most accurately and effectively projects 2D images from the 3D surface with minimal loss of information is desired. A new visualization method for tubular surfaces is proposed, denoted by "Fly-In". The approach uses a virtual camera ring that moves along the inner surface's centerline, obtaining projections of the surrounding views, forming small 3D topological rings within the tube rendered as a 2D rectangular image. A new visualization loss measure is also …

Spatially Directed Functionalization By Co-Electropolymerization Of Two 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene Derivatives On Microelectrodes Within An Array, Benjamin J. Jones, Carol Korzeniewski, Jefferson H. Franco, Shelley D. Minteer, Ingrid Fritsch

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Electrodeposited conductive copolymer films with predictable relative properties (quantities of functional groups for further modification and capacitance) are of interest in sensors, organic electronic materials and energy applications. Potentiodynamic copolymerization of films in aqueous solutions of two different thiophene derivatives, (2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b]dioxin-2-yl) methanol (1) and 4-((2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b][1,4]dioxin-2-yl)-methoxy)-4-oxobutanoic acid (2), containing 0.02 M total monomer (0, 25, 34, 50, 66, 75, 100 mol% 2), 0.05 M sodium dodecyl sulfate, and 0.1 M LiClO4, on gold microelectrodes in an array was investigated. Decreasing monomer deposited (m) from 0 to 100 mol% 2 is attributed to a decreasing pH that inhibits electropolymerization. Molar ratios of …

A Centralised Multi-Objective Model Predictive Control For Biventricular Assist Devices, Vivian Koh Ci Ai

Student Works (2020-2029)

Heart failure is defined as failure of heart to deliver adequate blood flow rate to support tissue perfusion. Heart failure can be treated by implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for left heart failure patients, or a biventricular assist device (BiVAD) for bi-heart failure patients. Since left heart failure predominates right heart failure, all commercial ventricular assist devices are LVADs. Therefore, two LVADs are frequently used as BiVAD for bi-heart failure patients. Clinically, the constant speed (CS) control of BiVAD fails to adapt pump flow rate according to physiological changes, thus putting patients at risk of ventricular suction …

Supporting Coordination Of Children With Asd Using Neurological Music Therapy: A Pilot Randomized Control Trial Comparing An Elastic Touch-Display With Tambourines, Franceli L. Cibrian, Melisa Madrigal, Marina Avelais, Monica Tentori

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Aim

To evaluate the efficacy of Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) using a traditional and a technological intervention (elastic touch-display) in improving the coordination of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as a primary outcome, and the timing and strength control of their movements as secondary outcomes.

Methods

Twenty-two children with ASD completed 8 NMT sessions, as a part of a 2-month intervention. Participants were randomly assigned to either use an elastic touch-display (experimental group) or tambourines (control group). We conducted pre- and post- assessment evaluations, including the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ) and motor assessments related to the control of …

An Affordable And Portable Palpable System For Sensing Breast Tissue Abnormalities, Cody J. Clarke

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

Due to the high cost of equipment and lack of trained personnel, manual palpation is a preferred alternative breast examination technique over mammography. The process involves a thorough search pattern using trained fingers and applying adequate pressure, with the objective of identifying solid masses from the surrounding breast tissue. However, palpation requires skills that must be obtained through adequate training in order to ensure proper diagnosis. Consequently, palpation performance and reporting techniques have been inconsistent. Automating the palpation technique would optimize the performance of self-breast examination, optimize clinical breast examinations (CBE), and enable the visualization of breast abnormalities as well …

Microglia Induced Neuroinflammation Through The Nlrp3 Inflammasome Following Blast Traumatic Brain Injury, Daniel Younger

Dissertations

The incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among military personnel have been steadily increasing with modern conflicts. A recent RAND report estimated 320,000 service members, totaling 20% of deployed forces, suffer from TBI. However, of this population roughly 60% have not seen a medical professional specifically for TBI. Unlike the civilian population, the primary cause of TBI for active-duty military personnel is blast exposure. Blasts now account for over 70% of all US military casualties in operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation enduring freedom (OEF) and are the major cause of TBI. Among many pathological mechanisms associated with blast TBI, …

Admittance Method For Estimating Local Field Potentials Generated In A Multi-Scale Neuron Model Of The Hippocampus, Clayton S. Bingham, Javad Paknahad, Christopher Bc Girard, Kyle Loizos, Jean-Marie C. Bouteiller, Dong Song, Gianluca Lazzi, Theodore W. Berger

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Significant progress has been made toward model-based prediction of neral tissue activation in response to extracellular electrical stimulation, but challenges remain in the accurate and efficient estimation of distributed local field potentials (LFP). Analytical methods of estimating electric fields are a first-order approximation that may be suitable for model validation, but they are computationally expensive and cannot accurately capture boundary conditions in heterogeneous tissue. While there are many appropriate numerical methods of solving electric fields in neural tissue models, there isn't an established standard for mesh geometry nor a well-known rule for handling any mismatch in spatial resolution. Moreover, the …

Model-Based Approach For Diffuse Glioma Classification, Grading, And Patient Survival Prediction, Zeina A. Shboul

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The work in this dissertation proposes model-based approaches for molecular mutations classification of gliomas, grading based on radiomics features and genomics, and prediction of diffuse gliomas clinical outcome in overall patient survival. Diffuse gliomas are types of Central Nervous System (CNS) brain tumors that account for 25.5% of primary brain and CNS tumors and originate from the supportive glial cells. In the 2016 World Health Organization’s (WHO) criteria for CNS brain tumor, a major reclassification of the diffuse gliomas is presented based on gliomas molecular mutations and the growth behavior. Currently, the status of molecular mutations is determined by obtaining …

Validation Of Nanosecond Pulse Cancellation Using A Quadrupole Exposure System, Hollie A. Ryan

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs) offer a plethora of opportunities for developing integrative technologies as complements or alternatives to traditional medicine. Studies on the biological effects of nsPEFs in vitro and in vivo have revealed unique characteristics that suggest the potential for minimized risk of complications in patients, such as the ability of unipolar nsEPs to create permanent or transient pores in cell membranes that trigger localized lethal or non-lethal outcomes without consequential heating. A more recent finding was that such responses could be diminished by applying a bipolar pulse instead, a phenomenon dubbed bipolar cancellation, paving the way …

Design And Characterization Of Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Arrays For Killing And Removing Bacterial Biofilms, Adam Croteau

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Present research at Boise State University (BSU) has demonstrated the ability of low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) devices to remove bacterial biofilms on steel substrates. Although bacteria may easily be inactivated by plasma treatment, the remains of the organism are still present on the substrate. It is shown that single element DBD CAP discharge devices operating at 2100 Vrms with 5 LPM of hydrated argon gas etched P. fluorescens biofilm within a few minutes of exposure. Similarly, using an 8 element array of linear plasma discharges, etch removal of biofilm was …

Developing And Comparing Sensor For Movement Analysis And Biofeedback, Umaiyaal Vasudevaraja

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Recent advances in the field of wearable technology are now at a peak in the sports field and the medical field. The validity, reliability, and application of such systems are still under research and yet to be revealed.

Purpose: This study aims to design and constructing the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) hardware with the required software to collect accelerometer data for potential use in human movement studies and test the efficacy of the collected IMU accelerometer data by comparing it with the motion capture data.

Methods: In this study, the IMU sensor is coupled with the Arduino, loaded with …

17 Β-Estradiol And Phytoestrogens Attenuate Apoptotic Cell Death In Hiv-1 Tat Exposed Primary Cortical Cultures, Sheila Marie Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), neurological disorders develop in most people infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The poor CNS delivery of anti-retrovirals allows continued virus production and renders neurons susceptible to the toxic effects of released viral proteins. The neurotoxic potential of HIV-1 viral protein Tat has been shown to include excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction leading to subsequent cell death. Thus, Tat is thought to have a key role in the pathogenesis of HIV-associated neurodegeneration. Estrogens are universally considered to be neuroprotective, as such; estrogens have positive implications in the treatment …

Expansion Microscopy: A New Approach To Microscopic Evaluation, Ashley Ferri

Theses and Dissertations

Optical microscopy resolution is limited by the wavelengths of light and the series of microscope lenses and other optical components used to create a magnified image of cell structures in a sample. Often the cell structures are smaller or closer together than the resolution limits of a light microscope. In 2015 the Boyden group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created a sample preparation technique, expansion microscopy which involves embedding biological samples in a crosslinked, swellable, hydrogel polymer that allows for uniform physical separation of cell components so that they can subsequently be resolved by light microscopy. Using the …