Digital Commons Network^™

Flow And Heat Transfer Characteristics Of Turbulent Swirling Impinging Jets [Thesis], Muhammad Ikhlaq

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Numerous industrial applications rely on impinging jets to impart convective heat and mass transfer in processes ranging from the cooling of electronic devices and gas turbine blades to drying of paper and food products. Conventionally, non-swirling impinging jets have been employed, but some studies have shown that inducing swirl allows better control of uniformity and improved convective fluxes. A better understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms that lead to such behaviour warrants deeper insights into the flow and heat transfer characteristics of impinging jets, both swirling and non-swirling. Whilst important to achieve, the flow field of an impinging jet is …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Aphasia Therapy, Depression And Quality Of Life In Post-Stroke Patients After Rehabilitation At 12 And 26 Weeks After Stroke: A Verse Sub-Study, Alia Rashid Khan

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background: Depression is a common consequence of stroke, and people with aphasia (PWA) post-stroke have a higher risk of developing depression compared to stroke survivors without aphasia. However, current stroke interventions featuring aphasia therapy tend to neglect the effect of the treatment on mood. There is also a lack of evidence on the impact of stroke education and counselling on PWA in early stroke recovery. Additionally, the research on post-stroke depression often excludes or insufficiently describes PWA in study populations. The influence of direct aphasia therapy on depression in PWA is undetermined. This sub-study investigated: i) the effect of …

Pore-Forming Transmembrane Domains Control Ion Selectivity And Selectivity Filter Conformation In The Kirbac1.1 Potassium Channel, Marcos Matamoros, Colin G. Nichols

Open Access Publications

Potassium (K+) channels are membrane proteins with the remarkable ability to very selectively conduct K+ ions across the membrane. High-resolution structures have revealed that dehydrated K+ ions permeate through the narrowest region of the pore, formed by the backbone carbonyls of the signature selectivity filter (SF) sequence TxGYG. However, the existence of nonselective channels with similar SF sequences, as well as effects of mutations in other regions on selectivity, suggest that the SF is not the sole determinant of selectivity. We changed the selectivity of the KirBac1.1 channel by introducing mutations at residue I131 in transmembrane helix 2 (TM2). These …

Task-Generic And Task-Specific Connectivity Modulations In The Adhd Brain: An Integrated Analysis Across Multiple Tasks, Roselyne J. Chauvin, Jan K. Buitelaar, Emma Sprooten, Marianne Oldehinkel, Barbara Franke, Catharina Hartman, Dirk J. Heslenfeld, Pieter J. Hoekstra, Jaap Oosterlaan, Christian F. Beckmann, Maarten Mennes

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Trem2 Sustains Macrophage-Hepatocyte Metabolic Coordination In Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease And Sepsis, Jinchao Hou, Yingyue Zhou, Marco Colonna, Et Al

Open Access Publications

Sepsis is a leading cause of death in critical illness, and its pathophysiology varies depending on preexisting medical conditions. Here we identified nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as an independent risk factor for sepsis in a large clinical cohort and showed a link between mortality in NAFLD-associated sepsis and hepatic mitochondrial and energetic metabolism dysfunction. Using in vivo and in vitro models of liver lipid overload, we discovered a metabolic coordination between hepatocyte mitochondria and liver macrophages that express triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-2 (TREM2). Trem2-deficient macrophages released exosomes that impaired hepatocytic mitochondrial structure and energy supply because of …

Cost-Effectiveness Of Exercise Medicine For Prostate Cancer, Kim Edmunds

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is associated with numerous adverse effects that impact on quality of life and contribute further to the cost burden of prostate cancer (PCa) via treatment and supportive care. Exercise medicine is effective in slowing PCa progression, reversing treatment adverse effects and improving quality of life and survival of patients, however, no economic analyses have been conducted to determine whether exercise is cost-effective in this population.

Objectives

Firstly, to examine the adverse effects of ADT for PCa and the evidence supporting the use of exercise medicine in their management. Secondly, to conduct the first economic evaluations …

Assessment Of The Clinical Validity Of Ctdna Analysis For Melanoma Management, Anda-Gabriela Marsavela

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Metastatic melanoma is responsible for almost 80% of all skin cancer-related deaths and the incidence of people affected continues to rise worldwide. The emergence of targeted therapy and immune-checkpoint inhibitors has improved the clinical management of melanoma, but durable survival benefit is only seen in a minority of patients. The use of these very expensive systemic therapies on all appropriate patients also poses a high economic burden on health systems across numerous countries. Currently, surveillance for treatment failure is not optimal. Thus, reliable and accurate biomarkers of patient disease status are urgently required.

Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) analysis has emerged …

Digital Representation For Assessment Of Spoken Efl At University Level: A Case Study In Vietnam, Thi Bich Hiep Vu

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Assessing the speaking performance of students who are studying English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has mainly been conducted with face-to-face speaking tests. While such tests are undoubtedly interactive and authentic, they have been criticised for subjective scoring, as well as lacking an effective test delivery method and recordings for later review.

Technology has increasingly been integrated into speaking tests over the last decade and become known as computer-assisted or computer-based assessment of speaking. Although this method is widely acknowledged to measure certain aspects of language speaking effectively, such as pronunciation and grammar, it has not yet proved to be …

Cerebral Expression Of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 5 In Idiopathic Autism Spectrum Disorder And Fragile X Syndrome: A Pilot Study, James Robert Brašić, Ayon Nandi, David S Russell, Danna Jennings, Olivier Barret, Samuel D Martin, Keith Slifer, Thomas Sedlak, John P Seibyl, Dean F Wong, Dejan B Budimirovic

Open Access Publications

Multiple lines of evidence suggest that dysfunction of the metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR

Partitioning Of Gene Expression Among Zebrafsh Photoreceptor Subtypes, Yohey Ogawa, Joseph C. Corbo

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

White Matter Integrity Of Contralesional And Transcallosal Tracts May Predict Response To Upper Limb Task-Specific Training In Chronic Stroke, Daniela J S Mattos, Jerrel Rutlin, Xin Hong, Kristina Zinn, Joshua S Shimony, Alexandre R Carter

Open Access Publications

OBJECTIVE: To investigate white matter (WM) plasticity induced by intensive upper limb (UL) task specific training (TST) in chronic stroke.

METHODS: Diffusion tensor imaging data and UL function measured by the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT) were collected in 30 individuals with chronic stroke prior to and after intensive TST. ANOVAs tested the effects of training on the entire sample and on the Responders [ΔARAT ≥ 5.8, N = 13] and Non-Responders [ΔARAT < 5.8, N = 17] groups. Baseline fractional anisotropy (FA) values were correlated with ARATpost TST controlling for baseline ARAT and age to identify voxels predictive of response to TST.

RESULTS: While ARAT scores increased following training (p < 0.0001), FA changes within major WM tracts were not significant at p < 0.05. In the Responder group, larger baseline FA of both contralesional (CL) and transcallosal tracts predicted larger ARAT scores post-TST. Subcortical lesions and more severe damage to transcallosal tracts were more pronounced in the Non-Responder than in the Responder group.

CONCLUSIONS: The motor improvements post-TST in the Responder group may reflect the engagement of interhemispheric processes not available to …

A Ligand-Insensitive Unc5b Splicing Isoform Regulates Angiogenesis By Promoting Apoptosis, David Pradella, William Vermi, Et Al

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Disordered Eating, Food Insecurity, And Weight Status Among Transgender And Gender Nonbinary Youth And Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study Using A Nutrition Screening Protocol, Whitney R. Linsenmeyer, Ian M. Katz, Jamie L. Reed, Andrea M. Giedinghagen, Christopher B. Lewis, Sarah K. Garwood

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Emerging Genotype-Phenotype Relationships In Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia, Steven K Brennan, Thomas W Ferkol, Stephanie D Davis

Open Access Publications

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare inherited condition affecting motile cilia and leading to organ laterality defects, recurrent sino-pulmonary infections, bronchiectasis, and severe lung disease. Research over the past twenty years has revealed variability in clinical presentations, ranging from mild to more severe phenotypes. Genotype and phenotype relationships have emerged. The increasing availability of genetic panels for PCD continue to redefine these genotype-phenotype relationships and reveal milder forms of disease that had previously gone unrecognized.

Deep Learning Segmentation Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (Tnbc) Patient Derived Tumor Xenograft (Pdx) And Sensitivity Of Radiomic Pipeline To Tumor Probability Boundary, Kaushik Dutta, Sudipta Roy, Timothy Daniel Whitehead, Jingqin Luo, Abhinav Kumar Jha, Shunqiang Li, James Dennis Quirk, Kooresh Isaac Shoghi

Open Access Publications

Preclinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a critical component in a co-clinical research pipeline. Importantly, segmentation of tumors in MRI is a necessary step in tumor phenotyping and assessment of response to therapy. However, manual segmentation is time-intensive and suffers from inter- and intra- observer variability and lack of reproducibility. This study aimed to develop an automated pipeline for accurate localization and delineation of TNBC PDX tumors from preclinical T1w and T2w MR images using a deep learning (DL) algorithm and to assess the sensitivity of radiomic features to tumor boundaries. We tested five network architectures including U-Net, dense U-Net, …

Advances In Genetic And Molecular Understanding Of Alzheimer's Disease, Laura Ibanez, Carlos Cruchaga, Maria Victoria Fernández

Open Access Publications

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become a common disease of the elderly for which no cure currently exists. After over 30 years of intensive research, we have gained extensive knowledge of the genetic and molecular factors involved and their interplay in disease. These findings suggest that different subgroups of AD may exist. Not only are we starting to treat autosomal dominant cases differently from sporadic cases, but we could be observing different underlying pathological mechanisms related to the amyloid cascade hypothesis, immune dysfunction, and a tau-dependent pathology. Genetic, molecular, and, more recently, multi-omic evidence support each of these scenarios, which are …

Optical Emission-Based Phantom To Verify Coincidence Of Radiotherapy And Imaging Isocenters On An Mr-Linac, Jacqueline M Andreozzi, Petr Brůža, Jochen Cammin, Daniel A Alexander, Brian W Pogue, Olga Green, David J Gladstone

Open Access Publications

PURPOSE: Demonstrate a novel phantom design using a remote camera imaging method capable of concurrently measuring the position of the x-ray isocenter and the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) isocenter on an MR-linac.

METHODS: A conical frustum with distinct geometric features was machined out of plastic. The phantom was submerged in a small water tank, and aligned using room lasers on a MRIdian MR-linac (ViewRay Inc., Cleveland, OH). The phantom physical isocenter was visualized in the MR images and related to the DICOM coordinate isocenter. To view the x-ray isocenter, an intensified CMOS camera system (DoseOptics LLC., Hanover, NH) was placed …

Extracorporeal Life Support For Cardiogenic Shock With Either A Percutaneous Ventricular Assist Device Or An Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump, Tomohiro Nakajima, Yuki Tanaka, Irene Fischer, Kunal Kotkar, Ralph J Damiano Jr, Marc R Moon, Muhammad F Masood, Akinobu Itoh

Open Access Publications

Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) can result in complications due to increased left ventricular (LV) afterload. The percutaneous ventricular assist device (PVAD) and intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) are both considered to be effective means of LV unloading. This study describes the efficacy of LV unloading and related outcomes with PVAD or IABP during ECLS. From January 2010 to April 2018, all cardiogenic shock patients who underwent ECLS plus simultaneous PVAD or IABP were analyzed. Forty-nine patients received ECLS + PVAD, while 91 received ECLS + IABP. At 48 hours, mean pulmonary artery pressure was significantly reduced in both groups [34 mm …

Does Brief Focused Attention And Open Monitoring Meditation Affect The Attentional Blink?, Paul Sharpe, Ben Whalley, Chris J. Mitchell

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Contributors

Wraparound South (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Wraparound South (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Cardio-Pulmonary Sequelae In Recovered Covid-19 Patients: Considerations For Primary Care, Zouina Sarfraz, Azza Sarfraz, Alanna Barrios, Radhika Garimella, Asimina Dominari, Manish Kc, Krunal Pandav, Juan C. Pantoja, Varadha Retnakumar, Ivan Cherrez-Ojeda

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Current literature lacks characterization of the post-recovery sequelae among COVID-19 patients. This review characterizes the course of clinical, laboratory, radiological findings during the primary infection period, and the complications post-recovery. Primary care findings are presented for long-COVID care.
Methods: Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, 4 databases were searched (PubMed, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Scopus) through December 5, 2020, using the keywords "COVID-19 and/or recovered and/or cardiovascular and/or long-term and/or sequelae and/or sub-acute and/or complication." We included published peer-reviewed case reports, case series, and cross-sectional studies providing the clinical course of COVID-19 infection, and cardiopulmonary complications of patients who recovered from COVID-19, …

Covid-19 Vaccine-Associated Thrombosis With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (Tts): A Systematic Review And Post Hoc Analysis, Muhammad Usman Hafeez, Maha Ikram, Zunaira Shafiq, Azza Sarfraz, Zouina Sarfraz, Vikash Jaiswal, Muzna Sarfraz, Ivan Chérrez-Ojeda

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: A new clinical syndrome has been recognized following the COVID-19 vaccine, termed thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). The following systematic review focuses on extrapolating thrombotic risk factors, clinical manifestations, and outcomes of patients diagnosed with TTS following the COVID-19 vaccine.
Methods: We utilized the World Health Organization's criteria for a confirmed and probable case of TTS following COVID-19 vaccination and conducted a systematic review and posthoc analysis using the PRISMA 2020 statement. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS V25 for factors associated with mortality, including age, gender, anti-PF4/heparin antibodies, platelet nadir, D-dimer peak, time to event diagnosis, arterial or …

Design, Fabrication And Analysis Of Novel Dragonfly-Bioinspired, Flapping Wing System For A Micro Air Vehicle, Erfan Salami

Student Works (2020-2029)

In the recent decades, the design and development of biomimetic micro air vehicles (BMAV) have gained increased interest from the global scientific and engineering communities. This has given greater motivation to study and understand the aerodynamics involved with winged insects. Dragonflies demonstrate unique and superior flight performance than most of the other insect species and birds. They are capable of sustained gliding flight as well as hovering and are able to change direction very rapidly. Pairs of independently controlled forewings and hindwings give them an agile flying ability. There are still many technological challenges involved with designing the BMAV. One …

Vocabulary Builder Model For Autistic Children, Maryam Rastikazerooni

Student Works (2020-2029)

Most children with autism suffer from impairments in specific cognitive processing styles, social skills, and communication skills, which affect the academic performance of those children in pre-school. The difficulties in language comprehension and communication skills result in the lack of motivation, attention, satisfaction, and interaction in this population, thus causing the children to encounter deficits in learning and especially learning vocabulary. Many Mobile-Based interventions (MBI) have been developed to address the deficits in this population. However, there are very few vocabulary builders’ software which focus on improving the vocabulary learning skills as well as providing consistent motivation for autistic children. …

Health Systems Approach To Ensure Quality And Safety Amid Covid-19 Pandemic In Pakistan, Nousheen Pradhan, Anam Shahil Feroz, Syed Mairajuddin Shah

Community Health Sciences

Ensuring quality and safe care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic offers a challenge to already strained health systems in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), such as Pakistan with less shock-absorbing capacities. There is a dearth of evidence on mechanisms to provide optimum quality care to COVID-19 patients in the resource-constrained healthcare environment. The lessons learned from the Ebola virus outbreak for the deficient health systems and quality improvement are considered to propose strengthening the health systems response to deliver quality-assured care to patients during the current pandemic. In this regard, the World Health Organization (WHO) health systems framework …

A Comparison Of Prediction Approaches For Identifying Prodromal Parkinson Disease, Mark N. Warden, Susan Searles Nielsen, Alejandra Camacho-Soto, Roman Garnett, Brad A. Racette

Open Access Publications

Identifying people with Parkinson disease during the prodromal period, including via algorithms in administrative claims data, is an important research and clinical priority. We sought to improve upon an existing penalized logistic regression model, based on diagnosis and procedure codes, by adding prescription medication data or using machine learning. Using Medicare Part D beneficiaries age 66-90 from a population-based case-control study of incident Parkinson disease, we fit a penalized logistic regression both with and without Part D data. We also built a predictive algorithm using a random forest classifier for comparison. In a combined approach, we introduced the probability of …

Pathways To Care And Preferences For Improving Tuberculosis Services Among Tuberculosis Patients In Zambia: A Discrete Choice Experiment, Andrew D. Kerkhoff, Mary Kagujje, Sarah Nyangu, Kondwelani Mateyo, Nsala Sanjase, Lophina Chilukutu, Ingrid Eshun-Wilson, Elvin H. Geng, Diane V. Havlir, Monde Muyoyeta

Open Access Publications

BACKGROUND: Delays in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) contribute to a substantial proportion of TB-related mortality, especially among people living with HIV (PLHIV). We sought to characterize the diagnostic journey for HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients with a new TB diagnosis in Zambia, to understand drivers of delay, and characterize their preferences for service characteristics to inform improvements in TB services.

METHODS: We assessed consecutive adults with newly microbiologically-confirmed TB at two public health treatment facilities in Lusaka, Zambia. We administered a survey to document critical intervals in the TB care pathway (time to initial care-seeking, diagnosis and treatment initiation), identify …

Analysis Of Ureteral Diameter And Peristalsis In Response To Irrigant Fluid Temperature Changes In An In Vivo Porcine Model, Roshan M. Patel, Pengbo Jiang, Rajiv Karani, Tarik Phillips, Raphael B. Arada, Lillian Xie, Hyder Said, Shlomi Tapiero, Jaime Landman, Ted Farzaneh, Ramakrishna Venkatesh, Ralph V. Clayman

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Fluvoxamine: A Review Of Its Mechanism Of Action And Its Role In Covid-19, Vikas P Sukhatme, Angela M Reiersen, Sharat J Vayttaden, Vidula V Sukhatme

Open Access Publications

Fluvoxamine is a well-tolerated, widely available, inexpensive selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that has been shown in a small, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study to prevent clinical deterioration of patients with mild coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Fluvoxamine is also an agonist for the sigma-1 receptor, through which it controls inflammation. We review here a body of literature that shows important mechanisms of action of fluvoxamine and other SSRIs that could play a role in COVID-19 treatment. These effects include: reduction in platelet aggregation, decreased mast cell degranulation, interference with endolysosomal viral trafficking, regulation of inositol-requiring enzyme 1α-driven inflammation and increased melatonin levels, …