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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Survey Of Airflow Around A Heated Manikin As A Simulated Aeromedical Evacuation Patient On A Litter With Computational Fluid Dynamics Models, George P. Lemmer Sep 2020

Survey Of Airflow Around A Heated Manikin As A Simulated Aeromedical Evacuation Patient On A Litter With Computational Fluid Dynamics Models, George P. Lemmer

Theses and Dissertations

Aeromedical Evacuations remain the predominant method used to transport patients from forward deployed areas of operations to secure locations with more robust medical infrastructure. Transportation of chemical warfare casualties and infectious patients require additional attention to prevent cross contamination. Specific airflow characteristics paired with environmental control system settings are a gap in scholarly literature. Based on the available literature computational fluid dynamics models were created to simulate the airflow around a patient represented by human geometry using commercially available software. In order to compare simulated and experimental results a heated manikin was placed in the MURPHEE aerosol exposure chamber and …


Toward Precision Medicine With Nanopore Technology, Trang Andrea Vu Jun 2020

Toward Precision Medicine With Nanopore Technology, Trang Andrea Vu

Theses and Dissertations

Currently, when patients are diagnosed with cancer, they often receive a treatment based on the type and stage of the tumor. However, different patients may respond to the same treatment differently, due to the variation in their genomic alteration profile. Thus, it is essential to understand the effect of genomic alterations on cancer drug efficiency and engineer devices to monitor these changes for therapeutic response prediction. Nanopore-based detection technology features devices containing a nanometer-scale pore embedded in a thin membrane that can be utilized for DNA sequencing, biosensing, and detection of biological or chemical modifications on single molecules. Overall, this …


Patients’ Needs And Preferences Regarding Radiology Test Results On Patient Portals, Mansour Abdulaziz Almanaa May 2020

Patients’ Needs And Preferences Regarding Radiology Test Results On Patient Portals, Mansour Abdulaziz Almanaa

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction and significance: Radiology exams are an important part of health care. To enhance the quality of health care, health care services need to be delivered in ways that meet patients’ needs and preferences. Patients were found to be interested in the timely receipt of radiology test results. One of the easiest and fastest ways to deliver radiology test results to patients is via online patient portals. It seems, however, that the method of providing radiology test results through patient portals has not reached its full maturity; it still needs a great deal of improvement. Therefore, participation of the end-readers …


Preferred Treatment Methods For Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, James L. Deitschel Mar 2020

Preferred Treatment Methods For Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, James L. Deitschel

Theses and Dissertations

Shared decision making is the concept of physicians involving patients in the treatment planning process. The University of Maryland Medical Center is interested in applying shared decision making to the treatment of patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The two treatment methods analyzed in this study were medical management and surgery. To explore patient preferences between these two alternatives, a discrete choice experiment (DCE) was employed. The responses for the DCE were binary, so logistic regression models were explored. The conditional logistic regression model was determined to be the most appropriate for this analysis. After step-wise regression was performed, a …


Examining Healthy Community Design Characteristics And Its Influence On Physical Health, Alvin T. Yip Mar 2020

Examining Healthy Community Design Characteristics And Its Influence On Physical Health, Alvin T. Yip

Theses and Dissertations

Current trends in obesity rates associated with the community layout constitutes research towards understanding the interaction between the two in order to improve the public's physical health. Successes in healthy community planning studies for the public can be harnessed and implemented within the microcosm of military bases to yield similar results. Four factors were recognized through an in-depth academic literature review that showed positive influence on physical health and physical activity. They are access to green space, highly connected pedestrian and bicycle networks, access to public transportation, and integrated mixed land use. The four healthy planning strategies formed the necessary …


Development Of A Torque-Based Device For The Quantification Of Arm Rigidity In Patients With Parkinson’S Disease, Georgina O. Miller Jan 2020

Development Of A Torque-Based Device For The Quantification Of Arm Rigidity In Patients With Parkinson’S Disease, Georgina O. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Parkinsonian rigidity is caused by the inability of the muscles to relax and extend properly, due to reduced dopamine levels and often begins on one side of the body before spreading contralaterally. The current standard for determining joint rigidity in a clinical setting is a test completed by the clinician based on the feel of the relaxed wrist and elbow joints as they are passively flexed and extended and a series of ordinal rating scales, the Movement Disorder Society’s – Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), Hoehn and Yahr Scale (H&Y), and Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39). These methods are used …


Data Science Methods For Standardization, Safety, And Quality Assurance In Radiation Oncology, Khajamoinuddin Syed Jan 2020

Data Science Methods For Standardization, Safety, And Quality Assurance In Radiation Oncology, Khajamoinuddin Syed

Theses and Dissertations

Radiation oncology is the field of medicine that deals with treating cancer patients through ionizing radiation. The clinical modality or technique used to treat the cancer patients in the radiation oncology domain is referred to as radiation therapy. Radiation therapy aims to deliver precisely measured dose irradiation to a defined tumor volume (target) with as minimal damage as possible to surrounding healthy tissue (organs-at-risk), resulting in eradication of the tumor, high quality of life, and prolongation of survival. A typical radiotherapy process requires the use of different clinical systems at various stages of the workflow. The data generated in these …


The Effect Of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation On Biceps Corticomotor Excitability In Non-Impaired Individuals And Individuals With Tetraplegia, Blaize Majdic Jan 2020

The Effect Of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation On Biceps Corticomotor Excitability In Non-Impaired Individuals And Individuals With Tetraplegia, Blaize Majdic

Theses and Dissertations

Neuromodulation of the primary motor cortex (M1) in pair with physical therapy may be a promising method for improving motor outcomes after spinal cord injury (SCI). Increased excitability of the corticospinal motor pathways (i.e. corticomotor excitability) has shown to be associated with improved motor learning and skill acquisition. Intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation which can increase corticomotor excitability, as measured by an increase in the amplitude of motor evoked potentials (MEPs). However, the ability for iTBS to increase the corticomotor excitability of proximal muscles such as the biceps, and muscles affected by spinal …


Strategies And Devices For Improving Respiratory Drug Delivery To Infants And Children With Cystic Fibrosis, Karl Bass Jan 2020

Strategies And Devices For Improving Respiratory Drug Delivery To Infants And Children With Cystic Fibrosis, Karl Bass

Theses and Dissertations

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a degenerative disease, which causes thickening of the airway surface liquid and reduced mucociliary clearance, which provides an ideal habitat for bacterial infections. Early treatment of CF in children can prevent chronic infection, improve quality of life, and increase life expectancy. The most predominant bacteria found in CF-diseased lungs is Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa), which can be treated with inhaled tobramycin. Excipient enhanced growth (EEG) powder formulations are well suited for administering tobramycin to children, as the EEG approach provides minimal upper airway loss and targeted drug delivery. This method uses an initially small aerosol for high …


Formulation And Validation Of Nanoparticle Controlled Delivery For Chemotherapeutic Drug Products, Shani L. Levit Jan 2020

Formulation And Validation Of Nanoparticle Controlled Delivery For Chemotherapeutic Drug Products, Shani L. Levit

Theses and Dissertations

Taxol, a formulation of paclitaxel (PTX), is one of the most widely used anticancer drugs, particularly for treating recurring ovarian carcinomas following surgery. Clinically, PTX is used in combination with other drugs such as lapatinib (LAP) to increase treatment efficacy. Delivering drug combinations with nanoparticles has the potential to improve chemotherapy outcomes. In this study, we use Flash NanoPrecipitation, a rapid, scalable process to encapsulate weakly hydrophobic drugs (logP in vitro. Encapsulating either PTX or LAP into nanoparticles increases drug potency. When PTX and LAP are co-loaded in the same nanoparticle, they have a synergistic effect that is greater than …


The Impact Of Aging And Mechanical Injury On Alveolar Epithelial And Macrophage Responses In Acute Lung Injury And Inflammation, Michael S. Valentine Jan 2020

The Impact Of Aging And Mechanical Injury On Alveolar Epithelial And Macrophage Responses In Acute Lung Injury And Inflammation, Michael S. Valentine

Theses and Dissertations

Patients with severe lung pathologies, such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), often require mechanical ventilation as a clinical intervention; however, this procedure frequently exacerbates the original pulmonary issue and produces an exaggerated inflammatory response that potentially leads to sepsis, multisystem organ failure, and mortality. This acute lung injury (ALI) condition has been termed Ventilator-Induced Lung Injury (VILI). Alveolar overdistension, cyclic atelectasis, and biotrauma are the primary injury mechanisms in VILI that lead to the loss of alveolar barrier integrity and pulmonary inflammation. Stress and strains during mechanical ventilation are believed to initiate alveolar epithelial mechanotransduction signaling mechanisms that contribute …