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Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering

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Articles 3391 - 3420 of 11472

Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Cold Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Caused Protein Damage In Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Cells In Biofilms, Li Guo, Lu Yang, Yu Qi, Gulimire Niyazi, Lingling Huang, Lu Gou, Zifeng Wang, Lei Zhang, Dingxin Liu, Xiaohua Wang, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong Jan 2021

Cold Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Caused Protein Damage In Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Cells In Biofilms, Li Guo, Lu Yang, Yu Qi, Gulimire Niyazi, Lingling Huang, Lu Gou, Zifeng Wang, Lei Zhang, Dingxin Liu, Xiaohua Wang, Hailan Chen, Michael G. Kong

Bioelectrics Publications

Biofilms formed by multidrug-resistant bacteria are a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP) is attractive for sterilization, especially to disrupt biofilms formed by multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not clear. In this study, CAP effectively reduced the living cells in the biofilms formed by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and 6 min treatment with CAP reduced the S. aureus cells in biofilms by 3.5 log10. The treatment with CAP caused the polymerization of SaFtsZ and SaClpP proteins in the S. aureus cells of the biofilms. In vitro analysis demonstrated that recombinant SaFtsZ lost …

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Connexin Hemichannel Activation By S-Nitrosoglutathione Synergizes Strongly With Photodynamic Therapy Potentiating Anti-Tumor Bystander Killing, Chiara Nardin, Chiara Peres, Sabrina Putti, Tiziana Orsini, Claudia Colussi, Flavia Mazzarda, Marcello Raspa, Ferdinando Scavizzi, Anna Maria Salvatore, Francesco Chiani, Abraham Tettey-Matey, Yuanyuan Kuang, Guang Yang, Mauricio A. Retamal, Fabio Mammano Jan 2021

Connexin Hemichannel Activation By S-Nitrosoglutathione Synergizes Strongly With Photodynamic Therapy Potentiating Anti-Tumor Bystander Killing, Chiara Nardin, Chiara Peres, Sabrina Putti, Tiziana Orsini, Claudia Colussi, Flavia Mazzarda, Marcello Raspa, Ferdinando Scavizzi, Anna Maria Salvatore, Francesco Chiani, Abraham Tettey-Matey, Yuanyuan Kuang, Guang Yang, Mauricio A. Retamal, Fabio Mammano

Bioelectrics Publications

In this study, we used B16-F10 cells grown in the dorsal skinfold chamber (DSC) preparation that allowed us to gain optical access to the processes triggered by photodynamic therapy (PDT). Partial irradiation of a photosensitized melanoma triggered cell death in non-irradiated tumor cells. Multiphoton intravital microscopy with genetically encoded fluorescence indicators revealed that bystander cell death was mediated by paracrine signaling due to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) release from connexin (Cx) hemichannels (HCs). Intercellular calcium (Ca2+) waves propagated from irradiated to bystander cells promoting intracellular Ca2+ transfer from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to mitochondria and rapid activation of …

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Bio-Inspired Materials For Electrochemical Sensors, Matthew Joseph Hummel Jan 2021

Bio-Inspired Materials For Electrochemical Sensors, Matthew Joseph Hummel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Electrochemical biosensors are a rapidly growing research area that has greatly improved its specificity, accuracy, and precision in the detection of biomolecules in contemporary literature and industry alike. Typically, these systems exist in a three-electrode conformation with a working electrode functioning as the anode, a counter electrode functioning as the cathode, and a reference electrode allowing for the control of potential in the system. The method by which these sensors work is through the sharing of electrons via redox reactions with the target molecule and the working electrode or modifications on its surface. By exploiting the function of biomaterials that …

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Impact Of Hemodynamic Vortex Spatial And Temporal Characteristics On Analysis Of Intracranial Aneurysms, Kevin W. Sunderland Jan 2021

Impact Of Hemodynamic Vortex Spatial And Temporal Characteristics On Analysis Of Intracranial Aneurysms, Kevin W. Sunderland

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Subarachnoid hemorrhage is a potentially devastating pathological condition in which bleeding occurs into the space surrounding the brain. One of the prominent sources of subarachnoid hemorrhage are intracranial aneurysms (IA): degenerative, irregular expansions of area(s) of the cerebral vasculature. In the event of IA rupture, the resultant subarachnoid hemorrhage ends in patient mortality occurring in ~50% of cases, with survivors enduring significant neurological damage with physical or cognitive impairment. The seriousness of IA rupture drives a degree of clinical interest in understanding these conditions that promote both the development and possible rupture of the vascular malformations. Current metrics for the …

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Sensing Methods For Two-Target And Four-Target Detection In Time-Constrained Vector Poisson And Gaussian Channels, Muhammad Fahad Jan 2021

Sensing Methods For Two-Target And Four-Target Detection In Time-Constrained Vector Poisson And Gaussian Channels, Muhammad Fahad

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation we consider a sensor scheduling or resource management problem for a vector Poisson and Gaussian channels. The input is a binary random vector and the output is a set of conditionally independent Poisson or Gaussian random variables. The objective is to design a scaling matrix, which is a linear transformation whose purpose is to entangle the different inputs, under a total given energy/time constraint. The two metrics are adopted to quantify the performance of the designed scaling matrix: mutual information and Bayesian inference. In other words, it is an experimental design problem where the objective is to …

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Comparative Analysis Of Computationally Accelerated Ngs Alignment, Ada Chaeli Van Der Zijp-Tan Jan 2021

Comparative Analysis Of Computationally Accelerated Ngs Alignment, Ada Chaeli Van Der Zijp-Tan

Honors Theses

The Smith-Waterman algorithm is the basis of most current sequence alignment technology, which can be used to identify similarities between sequences for cancer detection and treatment because it provides researchers with potential targets for early diagnosis and personalized treatment. The growing number of DNA and RNA sequences available to analyze necessitates faster alignment processes than are possible with current iterations of the Smith-Waterman (S-W) algorithm. This project aimed to identify the most effective and efficient methods for accelerating the S-W algorithm by investigating recent advances in sequence alignment. Out of a total of 22 articles considered in this project, 17 …

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Ogt Glycosylation Of Histones In T Cells May Participate In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Jared Luke Ridgeway Jan 2021

Ogt Glycosylation Of Histones In T Cells May Participate In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Jared Luke Ridgeway

Honors Theses

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that primarily affects women. The etiology is not known yet, but genetics and environmental factors trigger the disease. These epigenetic changes modify gene expression and contribute to the development of the disease. It is known that T cells from patients with lupus overexpress genes that may contribute to the onset and progression of the disease. Dr. Gorelik has shown that OGT (O-linked N-acetyl-Glucosamine Transferase), which is an X-linked gene, is overexpressed in women with SLE. OGT adds b-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to serine and threonine residues of proteins. …

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Sensitray: An Integrated Measuring Device For Monitoring Children’S Mealtime Dietary Intake, Hunter S. Guru, Anthony D. Weng, Santosh Pitla, Dipti Dev Jan 2021

Sensitray: An Integrated Measuring Device For Monitoring Children’S Mealtime Dietary Intake, Hunter S. Guru, Anthony D. Weng, Santosh Pitla, Dipti Dev

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Childhood nutrition establishes consumption norms that affect an individual’s health over the course of their lives. However, early nutrition interventions to establish such norms are uncommon owing to the various inefficiencies associated with current methods of measuring childhood nutrition. Here, we present an IoT measuring device, called the SensiTray, which accurately tracks mealtime intake in a child-friendly and cost-effective fashion. Principal technologies underlying the SensiTray (including mass-sensing technologies, microcontrollers) are identified and analyzed, along with other design choices. Operation of the SensiTray is explained with special attention given to SensiTray software peripherals and algorithms. Preliminary testing consisted of static and …

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Toward An Interactive, Patient-Specific, Vr-Based Obstetrics Simulator, Michel A. Audette, Marco Parente, Dulce Oliveira, Sreekanth Arikatla, Alfred Abuhamad, Rumit Singh Kakar, Mark Scerbo, Lucia Tabacu, John Conery, Christopher Macgowan, Renato Natal Jorge Jan 2021

Toward An Interactive, Patient-Specific, Vr-Based Obstetrics Simulator, Michel A. Audette, Marco Parente, Dulce Oliveira, Sreekanth Arikatla, Alfred Abuhamad, Rumit Singh Kakar, Mark Scerbo, Lucia Tabacu, John Conery, Christopher Macgowan, Renato Natal Jorge

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper presents a nascent collaborative effort to achieve a Virtual Reality (VR)-based, real-time, haptics-driven patient-specific obstetrics simulator. The high-level architecture and preliminary results are presented here; the latter are based on offline birthing simulation developed by team in conjunction with open-source visualization tools. The cornerstones of this simulator will be high-fidelity generic offline birthing simulation, an anatomy-to-image nonrigid registration pipeline exploiting fetal MRI, the open-source interactive medical simulation toolkit IMSTK augmented by high-throughput deep learning-based soft tissue deformation, open-source musculoskeletal dynamics simulation platform SimTk for representing fetal motion. The initial emphasis will be on shoulder dystocia. The two main …

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Activity Recognition Based On Thermopile Imaging Array Sensors, Qingshan Liang Jan 2021

Activity Recognition Based On Thermopile Imaging Array Sensors, Qingshan Liang

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

With aging population, the importance of caring for elderly people is getting more and more attention. In this paper, a low resolution thermopile array sensor is used to develop an activity recognition system for elderly people. The sensor is composed of a 32x32 thermopile array with the corresponding 33° × 33° field of view. The outputs of the sensor are sequential images in which each pixel contains a temperature value. According to the thermopile images, the activity recognition system first determines whether the target is within the tracking area; if the target is within the tracking area, the location of …

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A Deep Learning Approach To Lncrna Subcellular Localization Using Inexact Q-Mer, Weijun Yi Jan 2021

A Deep Learning Approach To Lncrna Subcellular Localization Using Inexact Q-Mer, Weijun Yi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Long non coding Ribonucleic Acids (lncRNAs) can be localized to different cellular components, such as the nucleus, exosome, cytoplasm, ribosome, etc. Their biological functions can be influenced by the region of the cell they are located. Many of these lncRNAs are associated with different challenging diseases. Thus, it is crucial to study their subcellular localization. However, compared to the vast number of lncRNAs, only relatively few have annotations in terms of their subcellular localization. Conventional computational methods use q-mer profiles from lncRNA sequences and then train machine learning models, such as support vector machines and logistic regression with the profiles. …

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Perceptually Improved Medical Image Translations Using Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks, Anurag Vaidya Jan 2021

Perceptually Improved Medical Image Translations Using Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks, Anurag Vaidya

Honors Theses

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help visualize various brain regions. Typical MRI sequences consist of T1-weighted sequence (favorable for observing large brain structures), T2-weighted sequence (useful for pathology), and T2-FLAIR scan (useful for pathology with suppression of signal from water). While these different scans provide complementary information, acquiring them leads to acquisition times of ~1 hour and an average cost of $2,600, presenting significant barriers. To reduce these costs associated with brain MRIs, we present pTransGAN, a generative adversarial network capable of translating both healthy and unhealthy T1 scans into T2 scans. We show that the addition of non-adversarial …

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In Vitro And In Vivo Response To A Novel Borophosphate Bioactive Glass, Nada Abokefa Jan 2021

In Vitro And In Vivo Response To A Novel Borophosphate Bioactive Glass, Nada Abokefa

Masters Theses

"Bioactive glasses have been widely used in several biomedical and tissue engineering applications since the late 1960s. Numerous families of bioactive glasses have emerged over the years, with each having its own advantage and disadvantage. One concern common to all families is that most bioactive glasses create a basic or acidic environment when degraded and, therefore, are toxic for cells. Recently, there has been an increased interest in borophosphate bioactive glass (BPBGs) because of their neutral pH, release of therapeutic ions, and biodegradable properties. Despite the growing interest, there is little reported on the bioactivity of BPBGs. The biological effects …

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Sex-Related Differences In Murine Models Of Chemically Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis, Pavel Solopov, Ruben Manuel Luciano Colunga Biancatelli, Christiana Dimitropoulou, John D. Catravas Jan 2021

Sex-Related Differences In Murine Models Of Chemically Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis, Pavel Solopov, Ruben Manuel Luciano Colunga Biancatelli, Christiana Dimitropoulou, John D. Catravas

Bioelectrics Publications

We developed two models of chemically induced chronic lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis in mice (intratracheally administered hydrochloric acid (HCl) and intratracheally administered nitrogen mustard (NM)) and investigated male-female differences. Female mice exhibited higher 30-day survival and less weight loss than male mice. Thirty days after the instillation of either HCl or NM, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid displayed a persistent, mild inflammatory response, but with higher white blood cell numbers and total protein content in males vs. females. Furthermore, females exhibited less collagen deposition, milder pulmonary fibrosis, and lower Ashcroft scores. After instillation of either HCl or NM, all animals displayed …

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Age-Dependent Chronic Lung Injury And Pulmonary Fibrosis Following Single Exposure To Hydrochloric Acid, Ruben M.L. Colunga Biancatelli, Pavel Solopov, Christiana Dimitropoulou, John D. Catravas Jan 2021

Age-Dependent Chronic Lung Injury And Pulmonary Fibrosis Following Single Exposure To Hydrochloric Acid, Ruben M.L. Colunga Biancatelli, Pavel Solopov, Christiana Dimitropoulou, John D. Catravas

Bioelectrics Publications

Exposure to hydrochloric acid (HCl) represents a threat to public health. Children may inhale higher doses and develop greater injury because of their smaller airways and faster respiratory rate. We have developed a mouse model of pediatric exposure to HCl by intratracheally instilling p24 mice (mice 24 days old; 8–10 g) with 2 µL/g 0.1 N HCl, and compared the profile of lung injury to that in HCl-instilled adults (10 weeks old; 25–30 g) and their age-matched saline controls. After 30 days, alveolar inflammation was observed with increased proteinosis and mononuclear cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) in both …

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Electrospinning Of Formic Acid/Acetic Acid And Nylon-6 Solutions For Wearable Hydration Sensors, Nichole Cooper, Jonathan Doak Jan 2021

Electrospinning Of Formic Acid/Acetic Acid And Nylon-6 Solutions For Wearable Hydration Sensors, Nichole Cooper, Jonathan Doak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Students have been working on the development of wearable hydration sensors at the startup company RooSense. The goal of the company is to develop a lightweight wearable sensor that enables the user to know their hydration level, thus elevating their performance goals. To measure the hydration of the wearer, the sodium and other salt ions are collected from the user’s sweat as they exercise. This sweat is analyzed as it is collected to give the user an exact level of hydration, so they know how much fluids they need. The production of this ion sensor requires numerous steps and iteration …

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Ecg Monitoring In Athletes, Jalal Jwayyed, Kelly Purgason, Joseph Linder, Annamarie Alfery, Silvia Furman Jan 2021

Ecg Monitoring In Athletes, Jalal Jwayyed, Kelly Purgason, Joseph Linder, Annamarie Alfery, Silvia Furman

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Athletes and medical personnel need reliable methods to monitor vital signs and detect potentially life-threatening issues before they occur. Electrocardiograph (ECG) monitors are currently the best method of detecting heart-related health issues. Current ECG monitors worn by athletes are difficult to use and lack the ability to track ECGs in real time. Through research and interviews with various clinicians, further problems have been identified that include poor electrode adhesion, and a lack of compatibility with the equipment worn by athletes. Our team proposes to develop solutions that will improve performance and comfort associated with ECG monitors for athletic applications. This …

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Improving The Monitoring Of Post-Operative Patient Mobility, Owen T. Lacey, Alexandria Magyar-Averin, Elena Ewing, Samuel Elliott, Cameron Lazor Jan 2021

Improving The Monitoring Of Post-Operative Patient Mobility, Owen T. Lacey, Alexandria Magyar-Averin, Elena Ewing, Samuel Elliott, Cameron Lazor

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Patient post-operative care is essential in attaining positive patient outcomes. To ensure proper blood circulation for recovery and healing is achieved, a patient's mobility is monitored. However, medical professionals aren't always available to continuously monitor patient progress. The clinical need for a medical device to monitor and quantify patient movement automatically is derived and addressed here. By designing a novel device and associated code, an engineering solution to this clinical need can be developed to monitor and improve patient post-operative outcomes in the absence of a medical professional. After completing research on the clinical need and gathering information from stakeholders …

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Pandemic Healthcare: Face Shield Modification, Nathan Giunto, Sefra Manos, Brandon Ross, Catherine Seno, Catherine Howell Jan 2021

Pandemic Healthcare: Face Shield Modification, Nathan Giunto, Sefra Manos, Brandon Ross, Catherine Seno, Catherine Howell

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Current face shields used in home and institutional healthcare settings create hardships for their wearers, which makes normal work routines more difficult. Recent mandates require healthcare workers to wear both surgical masks as well as plastic face shields when tending to patients. Unfortunately, the majority of face shields have been designed for hospital settings, which does not address the specific requirements for in-home therapist use. Some of the issues include their restrictive size, tendency to fog, susceptibility to glare, and sterilization and re-use issues. Our team proposes to design a face shield for homecare occupational therapists that addresses their unique …

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Augmenting Structure/Function Relationship Analysis With Deep Learning For The Classification Of Psychoactive Drug Activity At Class A G Protein-Coupled Receptors, Hannah Willow Shows Jan 2021

Augmenting Structure/Function Relationship Analysis With Deep Learning For The Classification Of Psychoactive Drug Activity At Class A G Protein-Coupled Receptors, Hannah Willow Shows

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) initiate intracellular signaling pathways via interaction with external stimuli. [1-5] Despite sharing similar structure and cellular mechanism, GPCRs participate in a uniquely broad range of physiological functions. [6] Due to the size and functional diversity of the GPCR family, these receptors are a major focus for pharmacological applications. [1,7] Current state-of-the-art pharmacology and toxicology research strategies rely on computational methods to efficiently design highly selective, low toxicity compounds. [9], [10] GPCR-targeting therapeutics are associated with low selectivity resulting in increased risk of adverse effects and toxicity. Psychoactive drugs that are active at Class A GPCRs used …

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The Regulation Of Small Gtpase Rac1 Phosphorylation, Activation And Subcellular Localization By Δnp63Α, Amjad Ahmed Aljagthmi Jan 2021

The Regulation Of Small Gtpase Rac1 Phosphorylation, Activation And Subcellular Localization By Δnp63Α, Amjad Ahmed Aljagthmi

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

ΔNp63α, a member of the p53 family of transcription factors, plays a critical role in normal development and human disease. Loss of ΔNp63α expression is associated with increased cancer invasiveness and metastasis. The small GTPase Rac1 is a master regulator of cell motility, and increased Rac1 activity upregulates cell invasion in multiple human cancers. Increased cancer cell invasion associated with ΔNp63α knockdown and Rac1 activation suggests a novel mechanism by which ΔNp63α regulates tumor invasiveness through Rac1. Accordingly, we sought to delineate the effects of ΔNp63α on Rac1 phosphorylation, activation and subcellular localization. We identified a novel ΔNp63α/miR-320a/PKCᵧ signaling pathway …

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Minimally Invasive Repair Of Elongated Chordae Tendineae In The Mitral Valve, Walid Abuhashim, Diana Albaba, Austin Ghiates, Rebecca Leiter, Mary Robakowski Jan 2021

Minimally Invasive Repair Of Elongated Chordae Tendineae In The Mitral Valve, Walid Abuhashim, Diana Albaba, Austin Ghiates, Rebecca Leiter, Mary Robakowski

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In the United States, about 4 million people have been estimated to suffer from severe mitral valve regurgitation [5]. Due to the high risks involved, about half of those patients are ineligible for surgery to repair the valve, because of their poor health [6]. Elongation of the chordae tendineae has been found to be one of the significant causes of regurgitation. To address this, the team has developed a device called “Chord Fastener”, which will restore proper function to the valve via shortening of the chordae tendineae [1]. Via this shortening mechanism, the device will reduce mitral valve regurgitation and …

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Modeling Of Excitation In Skeletal Muscle, Sabrina Kinzie Metzger Jan 2021

Modeling Of Excitation In Skeletal Muscle, Sabrina Kinzie Metzger

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Recent experimental findings in the Rich lab suggest there are important gaps in our understanding of muscle excitability in various disease states. To generate and test hypotheses as well as to determine whether our current understanding of various aspects of muscle excitation can fully explain experimental findings, an accurate model of muscle excitation was needed. Previous studies have modeled excitation of muscle, but in each case, important aspects were omitted. One reason for this is that little effort has been made to accurately simulate muscle action potentials. In this thesis I present progress made towards generation of a model of …

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Quantifying Mafenide Release From 3d Printed Phenylalanine-Coumarin Copolyester Scaffolds, Jacob Seeh Jan 2021

Quantifying Mafenide Release From 3d Printed Phenylalanine-Coumarin Copolyester Scaffolds, Jacob Seeh

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project addressed burn wound healing through controlled release of the antibacterial drug mafenide encapsulated by a copolyster into 3D printed scaffolds. Scaffolds were printed at 25oC and 0.77-1 bar in a cross-hatch pattern with uniform thickness, distance between parallel layers, and diameter then photo-crosslinked. The number of scaffolds available for testing was limited by the amount of polymer that could be synthesized. A high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed specifically for this experiment and used to determine daily release of mafenide from the scaffold into a 2-mL phosphate buffer solution. During the first 24 hours a large …

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Tubing/Lines Entanglement Reduction In Healthcare Settings, Abigail Kraft, Amy Beskitt, Grace Elerick, Zachery Steck Jan 2021

Tubing/Lines Entanglement Reduction In Healthcare Settings, Abigail Kraft, Amy Beskitt, Grace Elerick, Zachery Steck

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Intravenous (IV) lines used in various healthcare settings pose a risk to patients and their caretakers. A few common risks include IV lines becoming torn out and coming into contact with open wounds. We propose to solve this problem by designing a device that prevents IV and wire entanglement without obstructing patient care. Our objectives in identifying a solution include increasing patient comfort, mobility, and ease of transfer. By solving this issue, other potential benefits include reducing time spent on non-essential tasks and reducing number of personnel needed to transport patients. We intend to validate our product with healthcare employees …

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Feasibility Study To Measure The Impact Of A Specialized Core Exercise On Metabolic Efficiency And Stability During Walking For Above Knee Amputees, Shaye M. Tiell, Sabrina R. Segretario, Serena M. Myers, Emily G. Tully Jan 2021

Feasibility Study To Measure The Impact Of A Specialized Core Exercise On Metabolic Efficiency And Stability During Walking For Above Knee Amputees, Shaye M. Tiell, Sabrina R. Segretario, Serena M. Myers, Emily G. Tully

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of improving the gait of above-knee (AK) amputees by performing daily core exercises aimed to provide an efficient and stable walking pattern. The goal of the exercise is to strengthen core muscles and form temporary neural connections in the brain aimed at improving metabolic efficiency and stability. We will be implementing the Wright Balance Core 360 Exercise Technique for completion by our subjects. Motion capture technology will be utilized in conjunction with a metabolic oxygen consumption analyzer to collect stability and metabolic efficiency data while amputees walk on a treadmill. …

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Regulation Of Osseous Healing By Macrophage-Derived Wnt Ligands, Jefferson Overlin Abaricia Jan 2021

Regulation Of Osseous Healing By Macrophage-Derived Wnt Ligands, Jefferson Overlin Abaricia

Theses and Dissertations

Osseous healing is regulated by various classes of cells and signaling mechanisms. Of these, Wnt signaling has long been known to be critically important in directing the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into osteoblasts during bone healing. However, the source of these Wnt ligands is not known. Recently, a body of literature has arisen finding both beneficial and detrimental effects of macrophage-derived Wnt ligands on the regeneration of other tissues (liver, kidney, heart, and intestine), often by regulating inflammatory activation and stem cell behavior. As macrophages have been well-characterized as orchestrators of healing, their use of Wnt signaling to …

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Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation: Application To Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation And Computational Modeling, Neil Mittal Jan 2021

Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation: Application To Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation And Computational Modeling, Neil Mittal

Theses and Dissertations

Loss of motor function from spinal cord injuries (SCI) results in loss of independence. Rehabilitation efforts are targeted to enhance the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs), but outcomes from physical therapy alone are often insufficient. Neuromodulation techniques that induce neuroplasticity may push the limits on recovery. Neuromodulation by intermittent theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (iTBS) induces neuroplasticity by increasing corticomotor excitability, though this has most frequently been studied with motor targets and on individuals not in need of rehabilitation. Increased corticomotor excitability is associated with motor learning. The response to iTBS, however, is highly variable and unpredictable, …

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Silk Hydrogels Incorporated With Melanin, Anne Lutz Jan 2021

Silk Hydrogels Incorporated With Melanin, Anne Lutz

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Melanin is a naturally produced pigment found within the human body. Melanin is known for its ability to protect against Ultra Violet light, but also its ability to allow for mechanical protection. Making melanin a good addition to biomedical devices such as hydrogels. Silk hydrogels are weak in their load bearing capabilities but are known for their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and porosity. This makes the silk hydrogel a good material to incorporate melanin into in order to improve the mechanical properties. For the silk solution to form a solid, there must be a presence of both a catalyst and an oxidizer …

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Alterations In Cardiac Motions Of The Failing Heart During Direct Mechanical Ventricular Actuation, Benjamin Allyn Schmitt Jan 2021

Alterations In Cardiac Motions Of The Failing Heart During Direct Mechanical Ventricular Actuation, Benjamin Allyn Schmitt

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Objectives: Heart failure (HF) refractory to medical management can be effectively treated with mechanical support. However, available devices are frequently associated with complications due to blood contact. Direct cardiac compression (DCC) devices augment LV systolic pump function by externally compressing the heart surface. Direct Mechanical Ventricular Actuation (DMVA) is a unique DCC method providing not only systolic but, importantly, diastolic support. However, DCC in general remains a relatively poorly understood modality. The purpose of this study was to examine DMVA’s effect on restoration of physiologic function in the failing heart. Methods: Global ischemic HF was induced with 5 mins of …

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