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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

A Reliable Diabetic Retinopathy Grading Via Transfer Learning And Ensemble Learning With Quadratic Weighted Kappa Metric, Sai Venkatesh Chilukoti, Liqun Shan, Vijay Srinivas Tida, Anthony S. Maida, Xiali Hei Feb 2024

A Reliable Diabetic Retinopathy Grading Via Transfer Learning And Ensemble Learning With Quadratic Weighted Kappa Metric, Sai Venkatesh Chilukoti, Liqun Shan, Vijay Srinivas Tida, Anthony S. Maida, Xiali Hei

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The most common eye infection in people with diabetes is diabetic retinopathy (DR). It might cause blurred vision or even total blindness. Therefore, it is essential to promote early detection to prevent or alleviate the impact of DR. However, due to the possibility that symptoms may not be noticeable in the early stages of DR, it is difficult for doctors to identify them. Therefore, numerous predictive models based on machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) have been developed to determine all stages of DR. However, existing DR classification models cannot classify every DR stage or use a computationally heavy …


Interdisciplinary And Innovative: A Nursing And Computer Science Collaboration To Create A Barcode Medication Administration System, Jodi Lisbeth Berndt, Peter Ohmann, Imad Rahal, Lindsey Hoeschen, Andrew Rothstein May 2023

Interdisciplinary And Innovative: A Nursing And Computer Science Collaboration To Create A Barcode Medication Administration System, Jodi Lisbeth Berndt, Peter Ohmann, Imad Rahal, Lindsey Hoeschen, Andrew Rothstein

Nursing Faculty Publications

Preventing medication errors remains a priority in nursing education. The implementation of Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) systems is one strategy that has been used to reduce medication errors. Practice using BCMA in simulated settings may enhance the transfer of these skills to the clinical practice setting. However, the purchase of BCMA educational products available for nursing students can be cost prohibitive for many nursing programs. To overcome the barrier of cost, an interdisciplinary and innovative collaborative approach was used to create a fully functional low-cost BCMA system.


The Development Of Inhibitors For Sars-Cov-2 Orf8, My Thanh Thao Nguyen Apr 2022

The Development Of Inhibitors For Sars-Cov-2 Orf8, My Thanh Thao Nguyen

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

An unexpected outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 caused a worldwide pandemic in 2020. Many repurposed drugs were tested, but there are currently only three FDA approved antivirals (Merck’s antiviral Molnupiravir, Pfizer’s antiviral Paxlovid, and Remdisivir).1 Most of the antiviral drugs tested SARS-CoV-2 main protease and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. However, it is important to explore different drug targets of SARS-CoV-2 to prepare for the virus mutations of the future. This research looks at an alternative approach in which SARSCoV- 2 Open Reading Frame 8 (ORF8), which has been shown to be a rapidly evolving hypervariable gene, was chosen to be the protein of …


Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease Inhibitors Repurposed For Hiv-1 Protease Binding, Jacob Minkkinen Apr 2022

Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease Inhibitors Repurposed For Hiv-1 Protease Binding, Jacob Minkkinen

CSB and SJU Distinguished Thesis

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) led to the COVID-19 global pandemic, with over 460 million cases of infection and over 6 million deaths since the start of the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 is a retrovirus that utilizes a main protease (Mpro). Mpro is a catalytic cys/his protease. Several treatments were proposed to stop the pandemic including repurposing drugs to inhibit the Mpro. Another retrovirus that uses a protease is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) which has been a global epidemic for 40 years and is a devastating disease that attacks the immune system. HIV-1 has infected 79.5 million people and has killed an …


Quantification Of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound, Joseph Pathoulas Apr 2019

Quantification Of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound, Joseph Pathoulas

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of manipulating ultrasound scanner settings on time-intensity curve parameters in a tube perfusion phantom system using contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging. Imaging was performed using a Philips LOGIQ E9 ultrasound scanner equipped with a C1-6VN transducer and utilized two different microbubble contrast agents: Definity and Lumason. The ultrasound scanner settings manipulated included: gain, dynamic range, and frequency. Additionally, relative microbubble concentration, microbubble type, and perfusion flow rate were manipulated. Four time-intensity curve parameters (time to peak, area under curve, gradient, peak intensity) were measured from linearized pixel data. Time to peak was …


Effects Of Oxidation On Protein-Nanoparticle Interactions, Valdez R. Rahming, Md. Abul Fazal Jan 2014

Effects Of Oxidation On Protein-Nanoparticle Interactions, Valdez R. Rahming, Md. Abul Fazal

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Aims: Upon entrance into the blood stream most nanoparticles bind to an array of proteins forming a “protein corona”. Fibrinogen is the second most abundant blood protein and has been reported to bind to a variety of nanoparticles including metal oxides, polymeric nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes.
Study Design: Study the effects of oxidation on the binding interactions between human serum fibrinogen and magnetic iron (III) oxide nanoparticles.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Chemistry, College of St. Benedict, 37 South College Avenue, St. Joseph, MN 56374, U.S.A., between June 2011 and May 2012.
Methodology: Spectroscopic techniques (UV-Vis, IR, fluorescence, …


Residential Radon Exposure And Lung Cancer: Variation In Risk Estimates Using Alternative Exposure Scenarios, R. William Field, Brian J. Smith, Daniel J. Steck, Charles F. Lynch May 2002

Residential Radon Exposure And Lung Cancer: Variation In Risk Estimates Using Alternative Exposure Scenarios, R. William Field, Brian J. Smith, Daniel J. Steck, Charles F. Lynch

Physics Faculty Publications

The most direct way to derive risk estimates for residential radon progeny exposure is through epidemiologic studies that examine the association between residential radon exposure and lung cancer. However, the National Research Council concluded that the inconsistency among prior residential radon case-control studies was largely a consequence of errors in radon dosimetry. This paper examines the impact of applying various epidemiologic dosimetry models for radon exposure assessment using a common data set from the Iowa Radon Lung Cancer Study (IRLCS). The IRLCS uniquely combined enhanced dosimetric techniques, individual mobility assessment, and expert histologic review to examine the relationship between cumulative …


Intercomparison Of Retrospective Radon Detectors, R. William Field, Daniel J. Steck, Mary Ann Parkhurst, Judy A. Mahaffey, Michael C.R. Alavanja Nov 1999

Intercomparison Of Retrospective Radon Detectors, R. William Field, Daniel J. Steck, Mary Ann Parkhurst, Judy A. Mahaffey, Michael C.R. Alavanja

Physics Faculty Publications

We performed both a laboratory and a field intercomparison of two novel glass-based retrospective radon detectors previously used in major radon case-control studies performed in Missouri and Iowa. The new detectors estimate retrospective residential radon exposure from the accumulation of a long-lived radon decay product, 210Pb, in glass. The detectors use track registration material in direct contact with glass surfaces to measure the α-emission of a 210Pb-decay product, 210Po. The detector's track density generation rate (tracks per square centimeter per hour) is proportional to the surface α-activity. In the absence of other strong sources of α-emission in …


Exposure To Atmospheric Radon, Daniel J. Steck, R. William Field, Charles F. Lynch Feb 1999

Exposure To Atmospheric Radon, Daniel J. Steck, R. William Field, Charles F. Lynch

Physics Faculty Publications

We measured radon (222Rn) concentrations in Iowa and Minnesota and found that unusually high annual average radon concentrations occur outdoors in portions of central North America. In some areas, outdoor concentrations exceed the national average indoor radon concentration. The general spatial patterns of outdoor radon and indoor radon are similar to the spatial distribution of radon progeny in the soil. Outdoor radon exposure in this region can be a substantial fraction of an individual's total radon exposure and is highly variable across the population. Estimated lifetime effective dose equivalents for the women participants in a radon-related lung cancer …


An Endophytic Fungus As A Source Of New Antifungal Compounds, Lisa Marie Jungbauer Jan 1999

An Endophytic Fungus As A Source Of New Antifungal Compounds, Lisa Marie Jungbauer

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Medical advances in society such as organ transplants, prolonged chemotherapy, and those that lengthen the lives of AIDS patients and the elderly increase the number of immunocompromised individuals(1). When the immune system is compromised, opportunistic fungi can flourish and become fatal. Current antifungal treatments are limited and often toxic(2,3). In addition, strains of fungi resistant to available antifungals are emerging(4,5). Fungi were selected as the source of potential new antifungal agents because fungal antagonism has been reported in most fungal ecosystems(6). Endophytic fungi, which inhabit the spaces between plant cells, are known producers of natural products and that assist plants …


Residential Radon-222 Exposure And Lung Cancer: Exposure Assessment Methodology, R. William Field, Daniel J. Steck, Charles F. Lynch, Christine P. Brus, John S. Neuberger, Burton C. Kross Jan 1996

Residential Radon-222 Exposure And Lung Cancer: Exposure Assessment Methodology, R. William Field, Daniel J. Steck, Charles F. Lynch, Christine P. Brus, John S. Neuberger, Burton C. Kross

Physics Faculty Publications

Although occupational epidemiological studies and animal experimentation provide strong evidence that radon-222 (222Rn) progeny exposure causes lung cancer, residential epidemiological studies have not confirmed this association. Past residential epidemiological studies have yielded contradictory findings. Exposure misclassification has seriously compromised the ability of these studies to detect whether an association exists between 222Rn exposure and lung cancer. Misclassification of 222Rn exposure has arisen primarily from: 1) detector measurement error; 2) failure to consider temporal and spatial 222Rn variations within a home; 3) missing data from previously occupied homes that currently are inaccessible; 4) failure to link …


Measuring Airborne Alpha Radioactivity, Greg Taft Jan 1992

Measuring Airborne Alpha Radioactivity, Greg Taft

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

This project develops alpha spectroscopy to measure the airborne concentrations of attached and unattached radon progeny. The system is designed and constructed to be used in homes, thus is portable, fast, and easy to use.