Systems and Integrative Physiology Commons^™

The Science Of Sound: Studying The Cognitive, Emotional, And Physiological Effects Of Frequency, Genre, And Music, Jett Yarborough

Senior Honors Theses

Music influences emotion, physiology, and cognition, yet little is known about how the frequency it is tuned to affects these influences. Prior research has shown that music tuned to 432 Hz can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep. My colleagues and I conducted two studies to investigate this. Our research found that music tuned to 432 Hz promotes a significant increase in memory retention and induces a state of focus and relaxation. These results suggest that shifting from the standard tuning frequency of 440 Hz to 432 Hz could have a profoundly positive impact on our daily lives. …

Enhancing Cataract Surgery Outcomes: Optimal Use Of Pre- And Post-Operative Eye Drops, Keith Skolnick M.D., Anu Valiaveedu

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Many preoperative and postoperative cataract patients struggle with comprehending the use of prescription medication as directed. Language barriers and low health literacy levels are major factors contributing to improper use of prescriptions. To increase patients comprehension, the Fort Lauderdale Eye Institute employed an educational intervention consisting of a live presentation and an instructional video. Results found that 44% of patients were hesitant to ask questions to clinical staff, 32% felt overwhelmed, and nearly 70% lacked confidence in using their prescribed eye drops. Following the intervention, 91% of patients reported increased confidence in their medications, and most indicated that the video …

Use Of Electrical Bone Growth Stimulators In High-Risk Patients Following Spinal Fusion, Soumya Malhotra, Khavir Sharieff

HCA-NSU MD Research Day

Title: Use of Electrical Bone Growth Stimulators in High-Risk Patients Following Spinal Fusion Authors: Soumya Malhotra, BA., MS1 & Khavir Sharieff, DO, MBA2 1Class of 2027, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Fort Lauderdale, FL 2Assistant Professor of Surgery, Nova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, Tampa Bay, FLNova Southeastern University Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the advantages of EBGSs following high-risk spinal fusions. Background: Pseudarthrosis is a condition where bones fail to fuse after an injury or surgery. It causes significant …

A Proof Of Concept For Detection Of Palato-Lingual Contact Without Intraoral Electrodes In A Human Participant, Amitava Biswas

Master's Theses

The author of this thesis conceived and investigated an unexpected electrical signal that may not be noticed during regular electroglottography (EGG) when electrodes are conventionally placed on the anterior surface of the throat. It appears that there is a measurable electrical signal from the EGG equipment when electrodes are placed over the frontal cheek (belly of zygomatic muscle), and the tongue is elevated to contact the hard palate, or the tongue is lowered to break the contact. Therefore, this phenomenon is designated as unconventional electroglottography (UEGG, Dr. Steven Cloud, private communication, July 17, 2022).

Two distinctive patterns of waveforms were …

Biomarkers Of Sepsis: A Retrospective Approach, Jose M. Roberts

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Background: Biomarkers are taking the spotlight in becoming the norm for early diagnoses. Sepsis is an inflammatory disease that increases metabolic rate in children. The first biomarker is hyponatremia. Hyponatremia is a frequent electrolyte imbalance in clinical practice, often observed in children with inflammatory disease and infection. Presence of hyponatremia is associated with electrical signaling imbalances, inflammation and renal dysfunction. The clinical value of hyponatremia in pediatric patients is unknown. The C-reactive protein is a second biomarker. Its presence signifies that necrotic cells and inflammation are present.

Objectives: To evaluate the use of biomarkers in children seen in the Emergency …

Effect Of Taste Stimuli On Swallowing Function In Persons With Traumatic Injuries, Megan Asselin, Angela M. Dietsch

UCARE: Research Products

Background

Swallowing disorders are prevalent and costly. As of now, there are limited therapeutic options available to treat them. Extant research in limited populations has suggested that swallowing mechanics can be improved by extremely sour liquids, but this has not been tested in traumatically injured populations. However, sour tastants are unpleasant, and more palatable taste mixtures have not been tested.

Methods

The quantitative data were extracted from an existing pool of de-identified video fluoroscopic swallowing studies (moving radiographs) obtained from traumatically injured young adults under another research protocol. Each participant completed swallows of custom-mixed plain, sour, and sweet-sour boluses. Positions …

A New Method For Shear Wave Speed Estimation In Shear Wave Elastography, Aaron J. Engel, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Visualization of mechanical properties of tissue can aid in noninvasive pathology diagnosis. Shear wave elastography (SWE) measures the elastic properties of soft tissues by estimation of local shear wave propagation speed. In this paper, a new robust method for estimation of shear wave speed is introduced which has the potential for simplifying continuous filtering and real-time elasticity processing. Shear waves were generated by external mechanical excitation and imaged at a high frame rate. Three homogeneous phantoms of varying elastic moduli and one inclusion phantom were imaged. Waves propagating in separate directions were filtered and shear wave speed was estimated by …

Enabling Real-Time Ultrasound Imaging Of Soft Tissue Mechanical Properties By Simplification Of The Shear Wave Motion Equation, Aaron J. Engel, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Ultrasound based shear wave elastography (SWE) is a technique used for non-invasive characterization and imaging of soft tissue mechanical properties. Robust estimation of shear wave propagation speed is essential for imaging of soft tissue mechanical properties. In this study we propose to estimate shear wave speed by inversion of the firstorder wave equation following directional filtering. This approach relies on estimation of first-order derivatives which allows for accurate estimations using smaller smoothing filters than when estimating second-order derivatives. The performance was compared to three current methods used to estimate shear wave propagation speed: direct inversion of the wave equation (DIWE), …

Functional Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound For High Temporal Resolution Measurement Of Lateralization In Visual Memory And Visual Search Cognitive Tasks, B. Hage, M. Alwatban, E. Barney, M. Mills, M. Dodd, E. Truemper, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD) is a noninvasive sensing modality that measures blood flow velocities in cerebral arteries (CBFV) with high temporal resolution. Few studies have examined the relationship of CBFV change during visual search and visual memory cognitive tasks. Here a protocol to compare lateralization between these two similar tasks using fTCD is demonstrated. Thirteen healthy volunteers were shown visual scenes on a computer and performed visual search and visual memory tasks while CBFV in the bilateral middle cerebral arteries was monitored with fTCD. Each subject completed 40 trials, consisting of baseline, calibration, instruction, and task periods. Lateralization was …

Digital And Clinical Refractometers Are Valid Instruments For The Measure Of Hydration Status, A. J. Niemann, S. W. Yeargin, L. E. Eberman, H. M. Mata, H. A. Adams, D. J. Dziedzicki

Symposium 2012

Although some instruments have been validated for clinical measure of hydration status, new and currently invalid instruments are available for purchase and clinical use. Athletic trainers commonly use these instruments to assess hydration status for weight checks and body mass loss charts due to their ease of use. However, the validity of these popular instruments has not yet been established.

Flowcell Systems For Single Molecule Detection, John G. K. Williams, Gregory R. Bashford, Jiyan Chen, Dan Draney, Nara Narayanan, Bambi L. Reynolds, Pamela Sheaff

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

The present invention provides compounds, methods and systems for sequencing nucleic acid using single molecule detection. Using labeled NPs that exhibit charge-switching behavior, single-molecule DNA sequencing in a microchannel sorting system is realized. In operation, sequencing products are detected enabling real-time sequencing as successive detectable moieties flow through a detection channel. By electrically sorting charged molecules, the cleaved product molecules are detected in isolation without interference from unincorporated NPs and without illuminating the polymerase-DNA complex.

Two-Dimensional Blood Flow Velocity Estimation Using Apparent Speckle Pattern Angle Dependence On Scan Velocity, Tiantian Xu, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

An algorithm which measures the lateral component of blood flow velocity was developed in our previous studies based on the increase in speckle size due to relative motion between moving scatterers and spatial rate of scanner A-line acquisition (scan velocity). In this paper, the apparent dominant angle of the speckle pattern in a straight vessel was investigated and a new method of two-dimensional blood flow velocity estimation is introduced. Different scan velocities were used for data acquisition from blood flow traveling at an angle relative to the ultrasound beam. The apparent angle of the speckle pattern changes with different scan …

Monitoring Cerebral Hemodynamics With Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound During Cognitive And Exercise Testing In Adults Following Unilateral Stroke, Brian P. Watt, Judith M. Burnfield, Edward J. Truemper, Thad W. Buster, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

An observational study was performed as a preliminary investigation into the use of transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) for recording cerebral hemodynamic changes during multiple tasks. TCD is a method of measuring cerebral blood flow (CBF) using ultrasound transducers in contact with the surface of the head. Using the maximum flow envelope of the Doppler spectrum returning from the middle cerebral artery (MCA), standard clinical flow indices can be calculated and displayed in real time providing information concerning perturbations in CBF and their potential cause. These indices as well as flow velocity measurements have been recognized as useful in measuring changes …

Lateral Blood Flow Velocity Estimation Based On Ultrasound Speckle Size Change With Scan Velocity, Tiantian Xu, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Conventional (Doppler-based) blood flow velocity measurement methods using ultrasound are capable of resolving the axial component (i.e., that aligned with the ultrasound propagation direction) of the blood flow velocity vector. However, these methods are incapable of detecting blood flow in the direction normal to the ultrasound beam. In addition, these methods require repeated pulse-echo interrogation at the same spatial location. A new method has been introduced which estimates the lateral component of blood flow within a single image frame using the observation that the speckle pattern corresponding to blood reflectors (typically red blood cells) stretches (i.e., is smeared) if the …

Charge Switch Nucleotides, John G. K. Williams, Gregory R. Bashford, Jiyan Chen, Dan Draney, Nara Narayanan, Bambi L. Reynolds, Pamela Sheaff

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

The present invention provides compounds, methods and systems for sequencing nucleic acid using single molecule detection. Using labeled NPs that exhibit charge-switching behavior, single-molecule DNA sequencing in a microchannel sorting system is realized. In operation, sequencing products are detected enabling real-time sequencing as successive detectable moieties flow through a detection channel. By electrically sorting charged molecules, the cleaved product molecules are detected in isolation Without interference from unincorporated NPs and Without illuminating the polymerase-DNA complex.

Charge Switch Nucleotides, John G. K. Williams, Gregory R. Bashford, Jiyan Chen, Dan Draney, Nara Narayanan, Bambi Reynolds, Pamela Sheaff

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

The present invention provides compounds, methods and systems for sequencing nucleic acid using single molecule detection. Using labeled NPs that exhibit charged-switching behavior, single-molecule DNA sequencing in a microchannel sorting system is realized. In operation, sequencing products are detected enabling real-time sequencing as successive detectable moieties flow through a detection channel. By electrically sorting charged molecules, the cleaved product molecules are detected in isolation Without interference from unincorporated NPs and Without illuminating the polymerase-DNA complex.

Resolving The Lateral Component Of Blood Flow Velocity Based On Ultrasound Speckle Size Change With Scan Direction And Speed, Tiantian Xu, Greg R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Conventional blood flow velocity measurement using ultrasound is capable of resolving the axial component (i.e., that aligned with the ultrasound propagation direction) of the blood flow velocity vector. However, these Doppler-based methods are incapable of detecting blood flow in the direction normal to the ultrasound beam. In addition, these methods require repeated pulse-echo interrogation at the same spatial location. In this paper, we introduce a method which estimates the lateral component of blood flow within a single image frame using the observation that the speckle pattern corresponding to the blood reflectors (typically red blood cells) stretches (i.e., is “smeared”) if …

Further Progress On Lateral Flow Estimation Using Speckle Size Variation With Scan Direction, Tiantian Xu, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Conventional blood flow velocity measurement using ultrasound is capable of resolving the axial component (i.e., that aligned with the ultrasound propagation direction) of the blood flow velocity vector. However, these Doppler-based methods are incapable of detecting blood flow in the direction normal to the ultrasound beam. In addition, these methods require repeated pulse-echo interrogation at the same spatial location. In this paper, we report additional data on a new method recently introduced. This method estimates the lateral component of blood flow within a single image frame using the observation that the speckle pattern corresponding to the blood reflectors (typically red …

Single Molecule Diffusion Coefficient Estimation By Image Analysis Of Simulated Ccd Images To Aid High-Throughput Screening, Pengfei Song, Lloyd M. Davis, Greg Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Extension of one-dimensional signal analysis to two-dimensional image analysis could accelerate conventional methods of high-throughput screening in the discovery of new pharmaceutical agents. This work describes a first step taken towards this goal – the evaluation of image-analysis based estimation strategies of the diffusion coefficient of a single molecule transported within a microfabricated flowcell. A computer simulation of single-molecule imaging by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera is used to determine if it is possible to distinguish three different types of molecules with different diffusion coefficients. The Gaussian fitting algorithm finds the variance of the transverse trajectory, which increases linearly with …

Optimal Thresholds Of Feature Tracking For Blood Velocity And Tissue Motion Estimation, Tiantian Xu, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Feature tracking is an algorithm for estimating blood flow velocity and tissue motion using pulse-echo ultrasound. In contrast to cross-correlation speckle-tracking techniques, feature tracking identifies features at discrete locations and corresponds them from frame to frame. Prior studies have demonstrated that feature-tracking estimates exhibit lower variance than those obtained by the conventional autocorrelation method and require less computational complexity than either speckle tracking or autocorrelation. To date, not much attention has been paid to the process by which trackable features (normally local maxima) are selected from the set of all available features. In the selection process, it is desired to …

Tendinopathy Discrimination By Use Of Spatial Frequency Parameters In Ultrasound B-Mode Images, Gregory R. Bashford, Nicholas Tomsen, Shruti Arya, Judith M. Burnfield, Kornelia Kulig

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

The structural characteristics of a healthy tendon are related to the anisotropic speckle patterns observed in ultrasonic images. This speckle orientation is disrupted upon damage to the tendon structure as observed in patients with tendinopathy. Quantification of the structural appearance of tendon shows promise in creating a tool for diagnosing, prognosing, or measuring changes in tendon organization over time. The current work describes a first step taken towards this goal—classification of Achilles tendon images into tendinopathy and control categories. Eight spatial frequency parameters were extracted from regions of interest on tendon images, filtered and classified using linear discriminant analysis. Resulting …

Direct Comparison Of Feature Tracking And Autocorrelation For Velocity Estimation, Gregory R. Bashford, Derek J. Robinson

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Feature tracking is an algorithm for estimating tissue motion and blood flow using pulse-echo ultrasound. It was proposed as a computationally simpler alternative to other techniques such as autocorrelation and time-domain cross correlation. The advantage of feature tracking is that it selectively extracts easily identifiable parts of the speckle signal (e.g., the local maxima), reducing the amount of information being processed. Studies on feature tracking to date have used stationary, specklegenerating targets to simulate blood flow. Also, feature tracking has not been compared with accepted commercial methods. This study directly compares feature tracking performance with the complex autocorrelation method, which …

Single Molecule Detection Systems And Methods, John G. K. Williams, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

A micofluidic system is provided that includes a substrate, a first microchannel disposed in the substrate for providing a reactant to a reaction zone, a second microchannel disposed in the substrate, the third microchannel providing fluid communication between the first and second microchannels. The system also typically includes first and second electrodes, positioned at opposite ends of the second microchannel, for providing an electric field within the second microchannel. In operation, when the reactant is in the reaction zone, a reaction product is produced having a net electric charge different from the electric of the reactant.

Charge-Switch Nucleotides, John G. K. Williams, Gregory R. Bashford, Jiyan Chen, Dan Draney, Nara Narayanan, Bambi L. Reynolds, Pamela Sheaff

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

The present invention provides compounds, methods and systems for sequencing nucleic acid using single molecule detection. Using labeled NPs that exhibit charge-switching behavior, single-molecule DNA sequencing in a microchannel sorting system is realized. In operation, sequencing products are detected enabling real-time sequencing as successive detectable moieties flow through a detection channel. By electrically sorting charged molecules, the cleaved product molecules are detected in isolation Without interference from unincorporated NPs and Without illuminating the polymerase-DNA complex.

Nucleic Acid Sequencing Using Charge-Switch Nucleotides, John G. K. Williams, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

The present invention provides compounds, methods and systems for sequencing nucleic acid using single molecule detection. Using labeled NPs that exhibit charge-switching behavior, single-molecule DNA sequencing in a microchannel sorting system is realized. In operation, sequencing products are detected enabling real-time sequencing as successive detectable moieties flow through a detection channel. By electrically sorting charged molecules, the cleaved product molecules are detected in isolation without interference from unincorporated NPs and without illuminating the polymerase-DNA complex.

Imposed Constraints On The Smith-Waterman Alignment Algorithm For Enhanced Modeling Of A Single-Molecule Dna Sequencer, Patrick G. Humphrey, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

An effort has been underway to develop a system for de novo sequencing of single DNA molecules with very long reads. The system operates by optically detecting the passage of fluorescently tagged DNA bases through a detection zone. A successful system would be revolutionary with respect to speed, read length, cost and minimized laboratory infrastructure. An important part of system development is modeling of the detection process. In particular, predicting the expected error from a set of sequencing parameters is helpful in system design. This paper describes variations on the Smith-Waterman algorithm for subsequence alignment used in a single-molecule detection …

Flash Artifact Suppression In Two-Dimensional Ultrasound Imaging, Richard Yung Chiao, Gregory Ray Bashford, Mark Peter Feilen, Cynthia Andrews Owen

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

Flash artifacts in ultrasound flow images are suppressed to achieve enhanced flow discrimination. Flash artifacts typically occur as region of elevated signal strength (brightness or equivalent color) within an image. A flash suppression algorithm included the steps of estimating the flash within an image and then suppressing the estimated flash. The mechanism for flash suppression is spatial filtering. An extension of this basic method used information from adjacent frames to estimate the flash and/or to smooth the resulting image sequence. Temporal information from adjacent frames is used as an adjunct to improve performance.

Ultrasound Based Quantitative Motion Measurement Using Speckle Size Estimation, James D. Hamilton, Larry Y. L. Mo, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

An ultrasound system determines the relative movement in a first direction (F1) of first matter, such as blood flow, and second matter, such as an artery wall, in a subject under study (S). A beam (B1) of ultrasound waves defining a plurality of beam positions (BP1 and BP2) and beam axes (A1 and A2) are moved in scan direction having components parallel to direction F1. First and second blocks of data representing the first and second matter, respectively, are generated. A processor (20) performs an estimation of speckle size on first data to obtain a first result, and performs analysis …

Method And Apparatus For Adaptive Filtering By Counting Acoustic Sample Zeroes In Ultrasound Imaging, Gregory R. Bashford, Edward D. Nonnweiler, David D. Becker, David John Muzilla

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

An ultrasound imaging system having an adaptive spatial filter the filter coefficients of which, for particular image parameter sample, are determined by counting the number of neighboring image parameter samples having zero or near-zero values. If the number of zero or near-zero values in a data window is greater than a predetermined threshold, the data in the window is passed, not filtered. This filter has two advantages over other spatial filters. First, image parameter data samples having only zero or near-zero neighboring values (i.e., isolated "point noise") are not smeared. Second, boundaries such as the edge of color in a …

Method And Apparatus For Controlling Acoustic Signal Bandwidth In An Ultrasonic Diagnostic Imaging System, Jeffrey R. Resnick, Gregory R. Bashford

Biomedical Imaging and Biosignal Analysis Laboratory

An ultrasonic imaging system includes a receive beamformer that generates analog receive signals and a scan converter. A receive signal processing path interconnects the receive beamformer and the scan converter, and this processing path included both an A/D converter characterized by a selectable sampling rate and at least one filter characterized by at least one filter parameter. The filter parameter is selected as a function of the sampling rate to provide enhanced image quality.