Digital Commons Network^™

Minimally Invasive Postmortem Intestinal Tissue Sampling In Malnourished And Acutely Ill Children Is Feasible And Informative, Erika Feutz, Wieger Voskuijl, Peter J Finch, Ta-Chiang Liu, Robert H J Bandsma, Phillip I Tarr, Christopher Alan Moxon, Kelley Vanbuskirk, Sarah Lawrence, Grace Umutesi, Kirkby D Tickell, James A Berkley, Judd L Walson, Steve Kamiza, Donna M Denno

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Intestinal disorders such as environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and important contributors to childhood undernutrition and mortality. Autopsies are rarely performed in LMICs but minimally invasive tissue sampling is increasingly deployed as a more feasible and acceptable procedure, although protocols have been devoid of intestinal sampling to date. We sought to determine (1) the feasibility of postmortem intestinal sampling, (2) whether autolysis precludes enteric biopsies' utility, and (3) histopathologic features among children who died during hospitalization with acute illness or undernutrition.

METHODS: Transabdominal needle and endoscopic forceps upper and lower intestinal sampling …

The Extent To Which E-Learning Is Employed By The Professors Of The College Of Education At The University Of Anbar In Light Of The Corona Pandemic., Qbas Nouri

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

This study aimed to find out the extent of employing teachers of the College of Education for e-learning in light of the spread of the Coronavirus. The study sample consisted of (50) faculty members at Anbar University who taught during the period of the Coronavirus spread through the e-learning system. The necessary data using a questionnaire whose reliability factor was (0,804) and was applied to the study sample. The results of the study revealed that the study sample's evaluation of the effectiveness of e-learning in light of the spread of the Coronavirus from their point of view was average, and …

The Binary Oppositions In Joseph Conrad's Novel Heart Of Darkness, Huda Kadhim Alwan

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

The novel Heart of Darkness is regarded as one of Joseph Conrad's highly skilled works and seen as an important tale written between the years of 1898 - 1899, and also viewed as an assault on imperialism and unethical behaviors of the European colonizers in Africa in the nineteenth century. The novel displays the author's humanity towards the crimes of the colonists and imperialists throughout the world. In Heart of Darkness, Conrad shows the cruelty of colonialism in Africa through his major character, Charlie Marlow, who realizes the cruel manners of Belgian colonialism during his journey to the Congo …

A Study Of The Impact Of Digital Learning: Learning Motivation And Learning Outcomes, Saad Jumaa Farhan, Sanaa Rusly Rajab, Mayadah Abdusalam

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

In today’s society when smart mobile devices have become popular, the Internet is breaking barriers in time and space and has become a complete learning tool. Designing tutorials for digital education and the rapid use of technology tools, is a key topic for current information technology education. In this study, students are screened and asked questionnaires to understand the concept of digital learning. To successfully fulfill; the research objectives and to test the findings, in-depth studies are included in this study. A total of 116 students in four classes were selected as test subjects for teaching assessments. The findings of …

Informetrics Of Webinars Through Video Conferencing Platforms For Teaching And Learning By Different Lis Professional During Covid-19 Period: An Evaluative Study, Laltu Aich, Ankit Das

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Now-a-days education and educational resources are open to all but we are facing a terrible epidemic situation due to Corona virus (COVID-19), so we need different electronic learning platforms for e-learning. In this present study, authors have explained, how many webinars are organized by Library and Information Science (LIS) professional during this period April 2020 to June 2021, distribution of webinars based on month capacity, how many web conferencing platforms used in LIS related webinars, distribution of types of organizers of webinars, distribution of webinars based on the respective region, distribution of webinars by time duration and time schedule. The …

The Five Ds Of Outpatient Antibiotic Stewardship For Urinary Tract Infections, Melanie C Goebel, Barbara W Trautner, Larissa Grigoryan

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most common indications for antibiotic prescriptions in the outpatient setting. Given rising rates of antibiotic resistance among uropathogens, antibiotic stewardship is critically needed to improve outpatient antibiotic use, including in outpatient clinics (primary care and specialty clinics) and emergency departments. Outpatient clinics are in general a neglected practice area in antibiotic stewardship programs, yet most antibiotic use in the United States is in the outpatient setting. This article provides a comprehensive review of antibiotic stewardship strategies for outpatient UTI in the adult population, with a focus on the "five Ds" of stewardship …

An Investigation Of Sensory Percepts Elicited By Macro-Sieve Electrode Stimulation Of The Rat Sciatic Nerve, Nikhil Shiva Chandra

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Intuitive control of conventional prostheses is hampered by their inability to replicate the rich tactile and proprioceptive feedback afforded by natural sensory pathways. Electrical stimulation of residual nerve tissue is a promising means of reintroducing sensory feedback to the central nervous system. The macro-sieve electrode (MSE) is a candidate interface to amputees’ truncated peripheral nerves whose unique geometry enables selective control of the complete nerve cross-section. Unlike previously studied interfaces, the MSE’s implantation entails transection and subsequent regeneration of the target nerve. Therefore, a key determinant of the MSE’s suitability for this task is whether it can elicit sensations at …

Mapping Neural Responses Onto Innate And Acquired Behavior: From Insect Olfaction To Realizing A Bio-Hybrid Chemical Recognition System, Rishabh Chandak

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In many organisms, the sense of smell, driven by the olfactory system, serves as the primary sensory modality that guides a plethora of behaviors such as foraging for food, finding mates, and evading predators. Using an array of biological sensors, the olfactory system converts volatile chemical inputs from an organism’s environment into well-patterned neural responses that inform downstream motor neurons to drive appropriate behaviors (e.g., moving towards food or away from danger). For many external cues, the elicited neural responses are often determined by the genetic makeup of the organism, which assigns an innate preference, or valence, for these different …

Photoacoustic Imaging Of Colorectal Cancer And Ovarian Cancer, Xiandong Leng

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is an emerging hybrid imaging technology that uses a short-pulsed laser to excite tissue. The resulting photoacoustic waves are used to image the optical absorption distribution of the tissue, which is directly related to micro-vessel networks and thus to tumor angiogenesis, a key process in tumor growth and metastasis. In this thesis, the acoustic-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) was first investigated on its role in human colorectal tissue imaging, and the optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) was investigated on its role in human ovarian tissue imaging.Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. …

Identifying Structures For Ion Channel Kinetic Models, Kathryn Mangold

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Voltage-gated ion channels carry transmembrane current and underlie the voltages changes seen during the action potential. The ion channels open and close precisely, or gate, in response to voltage to create the specific cellular action potential waveform. The first models of voltage-gated ion channels gating dynamics were described by Hodgkin and Huxley when studying the neuronal action potential in the squid giant axon. While the probabilistic gating variables cleverly imagined by Hodgkin and Huxley to describe channel gating are still used today to describe cardiac ionic currents, Markov (or state-dependent) models provide a more accurate representation of channel dynamics. As …

Deep Learning For Automatic Microscopy Image Analysis, Shenghua He

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Microscopy imaging techniques allow for the creation of detailed images of cells (or nuclei) and have been widely employed for cell studies in biological research and disease diagnosis in clinic practices.Microscopy image analysis (MIA), with tasks of cell detection, cell classification, and cell counting, etc., can assist with the quantitative analysis of cells and provide useful information for a cellular-level understanding of biological activities and pathology. Manual MIA is tedious, time-consuming, prone to subject errors, and are not feasible for the high-throughput cell analysis process. Thus, automatic MIA methods can facilitate all kinds of biological studies and clinical tasks. Conventional …

Identification Of Candidate Microbial Biomarkers Of Disease And Design Of Engineered Microbial Therapeutics For The Gut Microbiome, Aura Lucia Ferreiro

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The human gut microbiome is a compositionally and functionally diverse community of microorganisms that profoundly influences the health of the host. Deep characterization of gut microbiomes via high-throughput sequencing has identified associations between the gut microbiome and disease states, and spurred development of engineered microbial therapeutics. Successful translation of these research efforts to the clinic will involve i) consideration of how engineered microbes behave and adapt in the gut, towards the implementation of biosafety mechanisms, and ii) identification and validation of microbial biomarkers of disease. This dissertation describes both investigative (Chapter 2) and engineering (Chapters 3 and 4) approaches to …

Quantifying Components Of Protein Translation And Metabolite Heterogeneity In Isogenic Microbial Populations, Alexander Schmitz

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Cell-to-cell variation in gene expression and metabolite levels have a significant impact on ensemble productivity of microbial bioproduction. New metabolic engineering tools and approaches are needed that consider cell cultures as an amalgam of uniquely behaving individuals to improve the slow commercialization of metabolically engineered systems. Stochastic cellular process including gene expression, metabolism, and growth lead to phenotypic variation between genetically identical cells. Understanding and the ability to control microbial phenotypic variation is key to improving microbial bioproduction metrics. During protein translation, codon usage strongly influences ensemble gene expression but the effect on the variation of gene expression was not …

Hyperlocal Air Quality Exposure Assessment To Support Health Studies, Pradeep Prathibha

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Hyperlocal air pollution exposure is driven by local emission sources, meteorology, and the built environment, with traffic-related emissions modulating primary and secondary pollutant concentrations against a variable background of similar contaminants from other sources. Recent studies show that intra-urban air quality has temporally persistent patterns that sharply vary 5-8 times within a city block; currently, regulatory ambient air quality monitoring (2-5 fixed-site monitors per 1000 km2 in U.S. census urban areas) cannot capture exposure at this spatial resolution. This dissertation aims to advance methods relying on fixed-site and mobile measurements using high-time resolution aerosol instruments as well as low-cost sensors …

Laser Stimulated Dynamic Thermal Imaging System For Tumor Detection, Hongyu Meng

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Laser stimulated dynamic thermal imaging system for tumor detectionby Hongyu Meng Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering Washington University in St. Louis, 2021 Professor Samuel Achilefu, Chair Recent advances in infrared sensor technology have enabled the rapid application of thermal imaging in materials science, security and medicine. Relying on the infrared characteristics of living systems, thermal imaging has been used to generate individual heat maps, detect inflammation and tumor. As an imaging system, thermal imaging has the advantages of portability, real-time, non-invasive, and non-contact. But the low specificity of thermal imaging hinders its wide clinical application.

Unfortunately, label-free DTI is …

Predicting Patient Outcomes With Machine Learning For Diverse Health Data, Dingwen Li

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

As digitized clinical and health data become ubiquitous, machine learning techniques have shown promise in predicting various clinical outcomes. In this thesis research, we exploit three types of data including (1) data collected through wearables outside hospitals, (2) electronic health records (EHR) data of inpatient in general hospital wards, (3) intraoperative data collected during surgery. This thesis work investigates machine learning approaches for the diverse clinical and health data with distinctive characteristics and challenges in the context of real-world clinical applications. Specifically, this thesis makes the following contributions to the state of the art of clinical machine learning.

Extracting informative …

Macrophage-Based Immunotherapies For The Treatment Of Multiple Myeloma, Jennifer Sun

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM) and represents the second most common hematologic malignancy in the world. Despite an array of novel therapy approvals, MM remains to be incurable. Most patients ultimately relapse and become refractory to previous treatments, which lowers the median survival to only 5–15 months. Recently, cancer immunotherapy has gained attention as a promising approach to enhance the body’s natural immune responses to fight cancer. Currently, immunotherapies in MM have largely focused on engaging the T cells; however, many are challenged by insufficient responses, high cost, and/or extensive adverse …

On The Study Of Age-Related Physiological Decline In C. Elegans, Drew Benjamin Sinha

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Aging decline is a universal and unescapable phenomenon; as organisms reach maturity and continue living, physiological function inevitably declines, resulting in mortality. While the study of mortality has been long studied, technical and practical challenges have limited the equally important study of how/when individuals deteriorate and what types of factors affect that deterioration. This gap in knowledge is not only evident in a relative lack of empirical data on physiological decline, but considerable debate around the analysis and conceptual interpretations of the little data that is available.

In this dissertation, I use quantitative reasoning and analysis of longitudinal data to …

The Effects Of Swamping On Nurses And The Implications For Professional Development, Barbara Ann Hocking

Dissertations

Nursing is a profession that is essential to the successful functioning of the health care system. The problems that compromise essential nursing practice within the work environment result in a costly health care quality crisis with three detrimental outcomes: (1) medical errors, (2) fragmentation of the care continuum, and (3) inefficiencies in health care processes.

This study aimed to investigate, through interviews and researcher observations, how nurses are affected by their environment in order to inform a plan for professional development.

Winter Grazing And Feeding Systems In Western Canada, Duane H. Mccartney, V. Baron, J. Basarab, E. Okine, G. Lastiwka, A. Depalme, D. Young

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Beef cow calf producers in Western Canada are looking for methods of extending the grazing season into the winter in order to lower winter feed costs. Dry beef cows were early or late weaned and grazed during the early months of winter on late seeded barley swaths (Hardlum vulgare L.) and compared to cows fed barley silage and free choice barley straw in a feeding yard. The swath grazed barley was late seeded in June and swathed in the silage stage in mid September. Cows successfully swath grazed for three winters from mid November until mid to late February …

Acknowledgment Of Reviewers

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

No abstract provided.

Molecular Cartography Of Residue Pesticides On Grape Surface In 3d By Ambient Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Hung Su, Tiao-Lai Huang, Cheng-Ting Chi, Yi-Tzu Cho, Chi-Wei Lee, Jingyueh Jeng, Jentaie Shiea

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Thermal desorption-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (TD-ESI/MS/MS) was used to characterize the residual pesticides that were collected from the surface of a grape with metallic sampling probes. Fungicides, insecticides, and miticides were detected, where results were validated by simple solvent extraction followed by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analyses. To explore the distribution of pesticide residues on grape surfaces, 149 locations of a grape surface were collected and followed by TD-ESI/MS/MS analysis. The molecular cartography was then generated from analysis of residual pesticides on the grape surface in 3D.

Variations In Bovine Milk Oligosaccharides After Calving Using P-Aminobenzoic Ethyl Ester Closed-Ring Labeling And Negative Ion Electrospray Lc/Ms/Ms, Han-Ju Chien, Yi-Chun Ma, Yi-Feng Zheng, Cheng-Yu Kuo, Wei-Chen Wang, Guor-Rong Her, Chien-Chen Lai

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

A strategy was proposed to analyze bovine milk oligosaccharides using p-aminobenzoic ethyl ester (ABEE) closed-ring labeling and C18 capillary liquid chromatography negative ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. Linkage specific fragment ions were used to identify oligosaccharide isomers. By constructing the mass chromatograms using linkage specific fragment ions, isomers were differentiated based on m/z values as well as temporal separation provided by liquid chromatography. In addition to disialyllactose and the single isomer lacto-N-neohexaose, four pairs of linkage isomers including 3’/6’-sialyllactose (3’/6’-SL), 3’/6’-sialyllactosamine (3’/6’-SLN), 3’/6’-sialylgalactosyl-lactose (3’/6’-SGL), and lacto-N-tetraose/lacto-N-neotetraose (LNT/LNnT) in bovine milk were investigated. Variations of bovine milk oligosaccharides in a …

Analysis Of Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines Using Selective Extraction By Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Coupled With Liquid Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry, Shih-Ci Jhu, Jing-Ying Wang, Hsueh-Ting Wang, Sung-Fang Chen

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) are highly carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals. This study reports on the development of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) for the purification and quantification of HCAs. A novel magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer was successfully prepared using a surface molecular imprinting method using functionalized Fe particles as the magnetic cores. 2-Amino-3-methylimidazo[4,5-f]quinoline (IQ) was used as a molecular template; methacrylic acid (MAA), ethylene glycol dimethyl acrylate (EGDMA), 2, 2′-Azobis (2-methylpropionitrile) were used as the functional monomer, crosslinker, and initiator, respectively. The use of the template/functional monomer/crosslinking agent at a ratio of 1:4:20 resulted in a product with better adsorption …

The Impact Of The Rare Disease And Orphan Drug Act In Taiwan, Ning-Chun Hsiang, Weng-Foung Huang, Churn-Shiouh Gau, Teng-Wen Tsai, Lin-Chau Chang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

The Rare Disease and Orphan Drug Act (the Act) was enacted in 2000 in Taiwan for the facilitation of the research, development, and accessibility of orphan drugs and special nutritional foods; for the prevention and early diagnosis of rare diseases; and for providing intensive care for patients with rare diseases. The aim was to investigate the impact of the Act on the availability and use of orphan drugs in Taiwan in the hope of identifying the remaining challenges and possible solutions to assist future policy making, which may be applicable in other countries as well. The information and statistics for …

Determination Of Quetiapine And Its Metabolites In Plasma By Field-Enhanced Sample Stacking, Tai-Ling Liu, Li-Shan Fang, Jing-Ru Liou, Jia-Shan Dai, Yen-Ling Chen

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug that can be used to treat mental disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and Alzheimer's disease. Quetiapine is mainly converted into the active metabolites of norquetiapine and 7-hydroxyquetiapine by the liver enzymes CYP3A4 and CYP2D6. In this study, liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was used as a sample pretreatment method to eliminate interferences in plasma. tert-Butyl methyl ether was chosen as the extraction solvent. Field-enhanced sample injection (FESS), an online preconcentration technique, was used to analyze quetiapine and its metabolites norquetiapine and 7-hydroxyquetiapine in plasma. The optimal separation condition was 120 mM phosphate (pH 4.0) containing …

Quantitative Analysis Of Fragrance Allergens In Various Matrixes Of Cosmetics By Liquid-Liquid Extraction And Gc-Ms, Chia-Hui Lu, Ming-Chih Fang, Yu-Zi Chen, Shou-Chieh Huang, Der-Yuan Wang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Fragrances are the most common chemicals in cosmetics to which people expose every day. However, the unwanted allergic reactions such as contact dermatitis caused by direct contact with fragrances may happen. In Directive 2003/15/EC of the EU, cosmetic product containing one or more of 26 fragrance allergens must be declared on the package label. In addition, commission regulation (EU) 2017/1410 amending Annexes II and III of cosmetic regulation 1223/2009 restricted fragrance chemical of methyl eugenol, and prohibited Lyral, atranol, chloroatranol to be used in cosmetic. In this study, an efficient and sensitive GC-MS method for 3 banned fragrances, 26 fragrance …

Diagnostic Ions Guided 2d-Locating Strategy For Characterization Of Chemical Analogues In Complex Herbal Medicines Using Liquid Chromatography-Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry, Meng-Ning Li, Zi-Xuan Zhang, Hui-Ying Wang, Wen Gao, Ping Li, Hua Yang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Rapid characterization of chemical analogues in potentially toxic complex matrix was essential for prevention of accidental poisoning. On the basis of the fragment ions possessed not only the same retention times (RT) but the same drift times (DT) on liquid chromatography-ion mobility-mass spectrometry (LC-IM-MS), an alternating frames (AF)-data independent acquisition (DIA) was utilized for simultaneous detection and rapid match of precursor/product ions with a fast switch of low/high collision energy (CE). A diagnostic ions guided 2D-locating strategy was developed for identification of chemical analogues in potentially toxic herbal medicines using LC-IM-MS. Firstly, the 2D-locations (RT, DT) of diagnostic ions were …

Pharmacokinetics Of Panduratin A Following Oral Administration Of A Boesenbergia Pandurata Extract To Rats, Jihyun Won, Keumhan Noh, Jae-Kwan Hwang, Beom Soo Shin, Wonku Kang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Boesenbergia pandurata and its major active ingredient, panduratin A (PAN), exhibit antibacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-obesity effects. We explored the time course of the plasma and tissue (in the major organs, gums and skin) concentrations of PAN after oral administration of a B. pandurata extract to rats. Model-dependent analysis was used to quantify the skin distribution of PAN after systemic exposure. The PAN level peaked at 1.12 ± 0.22 μg/mL after 3 h, and then biexponentially decayed with a terminal half-life of 9 h. The mean clearance (Cl/F) was 2.33 ± 0.68 L/h/kg. The PAN levels in organs were in …

Identification Of Oxytocin Receptor Activating Chemical Components From Traditional Japanese Medicines, Yuko Maejima, Shoichiro Horita, Shoko Yokota, Tomoyuki Ono, Peter Proks, Hiromi Yoshida-Komiya, Yoichi Ueta, Katsuhiko Nishimori, Shingen Misaka, Kenju Shimomura

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Oxytocin (Oxt) is known to regulate social communication, stress and body weight. The activation of Oxt receptors (OTR) has clinical potential to abate stress disorders and metabolic syndrome. Kamikihito (KKT) is a traditional Japanese medicine used to treat psychological stress-related disorders. We investigated the effects of KKT, its ingredients and chemical components on Oxt neurons and OTR. C-Fos expression was examined after oral and peripheral administration of KKT in rats. Electrophysiological change of Oxt neurons and Oxt release upon application of KKT were measured in rat brain slice. The direct effect of KKT, its ingredients and its chemical components were …