Biomedical Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Telemedicine: An Iot Based Remote Healthcare System., Mohammad Abdellatif, Walaa Mohamed

Electrical Engineering

This paper proposes a remote healthcare system which is referred to as Telemedicine. Telemedicine is a platform that establishes a connection be-tween the patient and the doctor. This platform belongs to the internet of medical things (IoMT) by enabling multiple medical sensors to connect to a server either using multiple communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or GSM technologies. The system collects data from several sensors and sends them using one of the aforementioned technologies using an Arduino Board, while the inter-face is made with matlab and C#. Additionally, a comparative study between the three communications technologies used to connect …

Electrocardiographic (Ecg) Biometric Identification, Ryan Morosa, Charbel Ghantous

Electrical Engineering

Electrocardiography (ECG) is being used a lot more in biometrics for applications where protection of privacy is important. Other methods like facial recognition can be falsified by using different colored contacts to manipulate identification. For this reason, ECG is a viable option for biometric identification since it relies solely on the heartbeat to classify characteristics of an individual. The Pan-Tompkins method was used for feature extraction, and both ELM and correlation were used for classification. ELM through MATLAB achieved an average accuracy of 85%. Correlation achieved an average accuracy of 89.2%.

Eeg Midi Controller, Jack Ellison, Eric Bettencourt

Electrical Engineering

One of the greatest challenges for aspiring musicians is the amount of practice and commitment required to become fluent in a traditional instrument. Taken a step further, individuals who have impaired motor skills may be incapable of even executing the physical demands required to practice one. While this device does not create notes directly from a user's brain waves, exploring and designing EEG based musical hardware capable of using a person’s thoughts to control musical devices could pave the way for greater advances. It can also open many doors into psycho-acoustic research, treating the mind's response to hearing music and …

Ml-Medic: A Preliminary Study Of An Interactive Visual Analysis Tool Facilitating Clinical Applications Of Machine Learning For Precision Medicine, Laura Stevens, David Kao, Jennifer Hall, Carsten Görg, Kaitlyn Abdo, Erik Linstead

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Accessible interactive tools that integrate machine learning methods with clinical research and reduce the programming experience required are needed to move science forward. Here, we present Machine Learning for Medical Exploration and Data-Inspired Care (ML-MEDIC), a point-and-click, interactive tool with a visual interface for facilitating machine learning and statistical analyses in clinical research. We deployed ML-MEDIC in the American Heart Association (AHA) Precision Medicine Platform to provide secure internet access and facilitate collaboration. ML-MEDIC’s efficacy for facilitating the adoption of machine learning was evaluated through two case studies in collaboration with clinical domain experts. A domain expert review was also …

3d Parametric Hand To Improve Prosthetic Hand Functionality, Maria C. Gerardi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The use of prosthetics can significantly enhance an individual’s standard of living, not only offering functional advantages but psychological advantages as well. Unfortunately for children with upper limb reduction, options are limited and rejection rates are high due to a multitude of reasons including discomfort and poor functionality. This study proposes a new parametric 3D design model (Parametric Hand) with an adjustable thumb that can be easily manipulated to the uniqueness of an individual. The Parametric Hand was evaluated, both qualitatively and quantitatively, against the Flexy-Hand 2, a commonly used prosthetic hand. The results showed insignificant differences in all testing …

3-D Silk Fibroin Porous Particles Created By The Ouzo Effect For Biomedical Applications, Ashley Nicole Lamb

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Due to its high biocompatibility and biodegradability, silk fibroin – produced from

Bombyx mori (B. mori) cocoons – has been at the forefront of research for many

biomedical application formats: hydrogels, films, microspheres, and porous

sponges/scaffolding, to name a few. For drug delivery, in particular, porous particles are

desirable for their large surface area, uniform and tunable pore structure, and high

porosity. This thesis focuses on the fabrication of porous particles from silk fibroin by the

very interesting Ouzo effect. The Ouzo effect, so named because of the Greek

beverage ouzo, describes the phenomenon of an ethanol + anethole oil …

Helicobacter’S Effects On Colitis/Colon Cancer And The Response To Indole 3-Carbinol, Rasha Raheem Abdulhamza Alkarkoushi

Theses and Dissertations

Enterohepatic Helicobacter (EHH) species are gram-negative bacteria, which are poorly studied. Several studies suggest that EHH species contribute to inflammatory bowel disease IBD in humans. IBD and colorectal cancer (CRC) has emerged as a public health challenge worldwide. Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is one of the natural dietary indoles abundant in Brassica (cruciferous) vegetables. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) plays an essential role as a regulator by controlling the balance between Tregs and Th17 cells. The activation of AhR by ligands derived from food or intestinal microbiota is an essential control mechanism in that balance. Moreover, many studies showed indoles achieving chemo-preventive …

Neural Network Pruning For Ecg Arrhythmia Classification, Isaac E. Labarge

Master's Theses

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are a widely accepted means of solving complex classification and detection problems in imaging and speech. However, problem complexity often leads to considerable increases in computation and parameter storage costs. Many successful attempts have been made in effectively reducing these overheads by pruning and compressing large CNNs with only a slight decline in model accuracy. In this study, two pruning methods are implemented and compared on the CIFAR-10 database and an ECG arrhythmia classification task. Each pruning method employs a pruning phase interleaved with a finetuning phase. It is shown that when performing the scale-factor pruning …

Design Of An Affordable Rotating Drum Electrospinner For Classroom Education, Peder Solberg

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Electrospinning is a technology used to generate small fibers down to nano-scale size. This method of fiber creation has been around for many years. However, in recent years electrospinning has found increased applications, especially in the area of tissue engineering due to its ability to create fibers with properties similar to the extracellular matrix in tissue. An electrospinning platform can illustrate concepts of engineering, electro-mechanical system design, manufacturing, and biomedical applications in one single package. Hence, it provides an excellent opportunity to integrate into secondary (middle and high school) and post-secondary (undergraduate) technology education.

Furthermore, just as integration of 3D …

Pulsed Electrical Field Ablation Modulation, Camille Lousie Dozois, Jason Tyler Arias, Courtnee Lin Madsen

Biomedical Engineering

This document comprises the steps taken by the senior project team to create a Proof-of-Concept Review for a Variable Pulsed Electric Field Ablation Catheter. First, the team did a significant amount of background research on related literature to better understand the current status of the project topic. After sufficient background information was obtained, project objectives and deliverables were finalized. Once customer requirements and the indications for use were completed, engineering specifications for the product and project were documented. All key customer requirements and engineering specs were related to the variable pulse functionality, maneuverability, as well as overall dimensioning of the …

In-Situ Gold-Ceria Nanoparticles: Superior Optical Fluorescence Quenching Sensor For Dissolved Oxygen, Nader Shehata, Ishac Kandas, Effat Samir

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Cerium oxide (ceria) nanoparticles (NPs) have been proved to be an efficient optical fluorescent material through generating visible emission (~530 nm) under violet excitation. This feature allowed ceria NPs to be used as an optical sensor via the fluorescence quenching Technique. In this paper, the impact of in-situ embedded gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) inside ceria nanoparticles was studied. Then, gold–ceria NPs were used for sensing dissolved oxygen (DO) in aqueous media. It was observed that both fluorescence intensity and lifetime were changed due to increased concentration of DO. Added gold was found to enhance the sensitivity of ceria to DO …

Eyecom: An Innovative Approach For Computer Interaction, Anam Mazhar

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The world is innovating rapidly, and there is a need for continuous interaction with the technology. Sadly, there do not exist promising options for paralyzed people to interact with the machines i.e., laptops, smartphones, and tabs. A few commercial solutions such as Google Glasses are costly and cannot be afforded by every paralyzed person for such interaction. Towards this end, the thesis proposes a retina-controlled device called EYECOM. The proposed device is constructed from off-the-shelf cost-effective yet robust IoT devices (i.e., Arduino microcontrollers, Xbee wireless sensors, IR diodes, and accelerometer). The device can easily be mounted on to the glasses; …

Characterization Of Left Ventricular Volumes And Ejection Fraction In Patients With A Left Ventricular Assist Device, Viswajith Siruvallur Vasudevan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In the treatment of heart patients, as a bridge to recovery, the challenge currently in using a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD), is to provide a method to monitor the recovery of the heart. This dissertation addresses the hypothesis that continuous monitoring of the ejection fraction of a patient implanted with an LVAD should be to examine the progress of the patient without the need for excessive in vivo measurements. Also, the ejection fraction can be used to provide a control mechanism for the pump depending on the requirements of each patient. In this dissertation, the left ventricle, in …

Novel Computational Approaches For Multidimensional Brain Image Analysis, Harish Raviprakash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The overall goal of this dissertation is focused on addressing challenging problems in 1D, 2D/3D and 4D neuroimaging by developing novel algorithms that combine signal processing and machine learning techniques. One of these challenging tasks is the accurate localization of the eloquent language cortex in brain resection pre-surgery patients. This is especially important since inaccurate localization can lead to diminshed functionalities and thus, a poor quality of life for the patient. The first part of this dissertation addresses this problem in the case of drug-resistant epileptic patients. We propose a novel machine learning based algorithm to establish an alternate electrical …

Effects Of Plasma-Activated Water On Skin Wound Healing In Mice, Dehui Xu, Shuai Wang, Bing Li, Miao Qi, Rui Feng, Qiaosong Li, Hao Zhang, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) has been widely used in biomedicine during the last two decades. While direct plasma treatment has been reported to promote wound healing, its application can be uneven and inconvenient. In this study, we first activated water with a portable dielectric barrier discharge plasma device and evaluated the inactivation effect of plasma-activated water (PAW) on several kinds of bacteria that commonly infect wounds. The results show that PAW can effectively inactivate these bacteria. Then, we activated tap water and examined the efficacy of PAW on wound healing in a mouse model of full-thickness skin wounds. We found …