Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Factors Influencing Intent To Take A Covid-19 Test In The United States, Sheila Rutto

Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, COVID-19 became the first pandemic in the world’s history that brought the entire world to an abrupt and unexpected halt. Since the first reported case of the disease to date, the novel coronavirus has been able to wreak havoc in literary every corner of the globe and left an ever-growing number of unprecedented fatalities. The normal way of life has been disrupted, and the level of uncertainty about the end of this pandemic continues to manifest to many. Due to the urgency to bring this pandemic under control, medical officers have been able to recommend actions that people …

A Statistical Comparison Of Covid-19 In The United States Across Political Affiliations And Census Regions, Margarito Torres

Theses and Dissertations

In mid-January 2020, the United States reported their first cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a passenger returning from Wuhan, China. Initially, the situation wasn’t very alarming as in China and European countries, but the situation began to worsen in March 2020 when the number of cases began to multiply. Then, in a matter of a few months, the United States became the number one country in terms of total cases and total deaths from COVID-19. We have been closely observing the United States and the world since July 2020. Our study aims to compare the political affiliations and …

Comparison Of Statistical Methods For Modeling Count Data With An Application To Length Of Hospital Stay, Gustavo A. Fernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Hospital length of stay (LOS) is a key indicator of hospital care management efficiency, cost of care, and hospital planning. Therefore, understanding hospital LOS variability is always an important healthcare focus. Hospital LOS data are count data, with discrete and nonnegative values, typically right-skewed, and often exhibiting excessive zeros. Numerous studies have been conducted to model hospital LOS to identify significant predictors contributing to its variability. Many researchers have used linear regression with or without logarithmic transformation of the outcome variable LOS, or logistic regression on a dichotomized LOS. These regression methods usually violate models’ assumptions and are subject …

Mass Spectrometry Directed Pre-Clinical Studies Of Asthma Candidate Midd0301 And Its Analogs, Md Shadiqur Rashid Roni

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACTMASS SPECTROMETRY DIRECTED PRE-CLINICAL STUDIES OF ASTHMA CANDIDATE MIDD0301 AND ITS ANALOGS by Md Shadiqur Rashid Roni The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2021 Under the Supervision of Professor Alexander (Leggy) Arnold

Asthma is one of the most prevalent global health problems. More than 25 million Americans are suffering from asthma and their symptoms especially in children are not well controlled with current medications. The current therapeutic options to control symptoms are limited and are commonly based on inhaled corticosteroids. There are several reasons for uncontrolled asthma symptoms that includes steroid resistance, improper use of inhalers and very few orally available medications. …

Evaluating The Biological Activities Of Novel Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors (Hdaci) In Adherent And Nonadherent Tumor Cell Lines, Samer Alanani

Theses and Dissertations

Epigenetic dysregulations are linked to many human diseases including neurodegenerative disorders, immunodeficiencies, cardiac disease, and most notably cancer. Changes in the mechanisms of histone modifications have been recognized as hallmarks of carcinogenesis. One of these modifications is histone acetylation which is regulated by the activities of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs). The reversible actions of these enzymes govern the acetylome and maintain its balance allowing for activation and repression of gene transcription. However, aberrant overexpression of HDACs in certain tumors is associated with decreased levels of transcription leading to tumor progression and survival. Hence, small-molecule histone deacetylase inhibitors …

Advancing Proper Dataset Partitioning And Classification Of Visual Search And The Vigilance Decrement Using Eeg Deep Learning Algorithms, Alexander J. Kamrud

Theses and Dissertations

Electroencephalography (EEG) classification of visual search and vigilance tasks has vast potential in its benefits. In future human-machine teaming systems, EEG could act as the tool for operator state assessment, enabling AI teammates to know when to assist the operator in these tasks, with the potential to lead to increased safety of operations, better training systems for our operators, and improved operational effectiveness. This research investigates deep learning methods which utilize EEG signals to classify the efficiency of an operator's search and to classify whether an operator is in a decrement during a vigilance type task, and investigates performing these …

Blood Flow Through An Artery In The Presence Of A Stenosis, Martin Carrillo

Theses and Dissertations

We consider blood flow through an artery in the form of a cylindrical pipe in the presence of a stenosis. Here blood is treated as an incompressible, viscous and non-Newtonian Bingham plastic fluid. We derive the equation of continuity and the momentum equation which are obtained using mass conservation law and momentum conservation law, respectively. Assuming that the flow is due to the pressure drop and wall shear stress, we derive the expressions for the velocity component in the axial direction and the volumetric flow rate in an artery. Computational results for the axial velocity and flow rate are obtained …

Two Essays On Leveraging Analytics To Improve Healthcare, Deepika Gopukumar

Theses and Dissertations

The healthcare cost has continued to increase over the past few years despite various policies, efforts, and initiatives taken by the government. It is still projected to grow over the next few years by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Readmissions have been a major contributor to the increase in costs and have always been a contributing factor. To get a perspective, considering the fact that at least 9% of individuals who had COVID-19 were likely to get readmitted shortly, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 response team, along with …

Synthesis And Cytotoxicity Of Trisubstituted Imidazoles, Venkata Agasthya Kasibotla

Theses and Dissertations

Aza heterocyclic compounds are an important class of organic compounds that play a major role in medicinal chemistry. Majority of the heterocyclic motifs such as imidazoles, triazoles, piperazines etc. act as building blocks for synthesizing active pharmaceutical ingredients. Several pharmaceutical drugs include these motifs due to their varying physicochemical properties, which enable them to exhibit wide range of pharmacological activities ranging from anti-fungal, anti-neoplastic, anti-helmintic, anti-microbial etc. Owing to their electron rich ring system, imidazole and piperazine based motifs have become an attractive target for design and development of novel chemical structures as new drugs. In the current study, we …

Design And Synthesis Of Non-Xanthone Structural Analogs Of Α-Mangostin, Maryam Foroozmehr

Theses and Dissertations

α-Mangostin belongs to a class of polyphenolic compounds called xanthones. The potential pharmacological effects such as anti-bacterial and anti-cancer effects of α-mangostin have made it an important natural product for medicinal chemistry evaluation. During this thesis research, we have designed and synthesized a series of non-xanthone analogs of α-mangostin for medicinal chemistry evaluation. A commercially available starting material, methyl-4-methoxysalicylate was used to synthesize these non-xanthone analogs. The analogs were designed as more flexible derivatives compared to the tricyclic motif within α-mangostin yet retain the hydroxybenzoate scaffold. Through a one-pot chemical synthesis, with relatively high yield (70%), we prepared eight different …

Nebulizer-Based Systems To Improve Pharmaceutical Aerosol Delivery To The Lungs, Benjamin M. Spence

Theses and Dissertations

Combining vibrating mesh nebulizers with additional new technologies leads to substantial improvements in pharmaceutical aerosol delivery to the lungs across therapeutic administration methods. In this dissertation, streamlined components, aerosol administration synchronization, and/or Excipient Enhanced Growth (EEG) technologies were utilized to develop and test several novel devices and aerosol delivery systems. The first focus of this work was to improve the poor delivery efficiency, e.g., 3.6% of nominal dose (Dugernier et al. 2017), of aerosolized medication administration to adult human subjects concurrent with high flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy, a form of continuous-flow non-invasive ventilation (NIV). The developed Low-Volume Mixer-Heater (LVMH) …

A Deep Learning U-Net For Detecting And Segmenting Liver Tumors, Vidhya Cardozo

Theses and Dissertations

Visualization of liver tumors on simulation CT scans is challenging even with contrast-enhancement, due to the sensitivity of the contrast enhancement to the timing of the CT acquisition. Image registration to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be helpful for delineation, but differences in patient position, liver shape and volume, and the lack of anatomical landmarks between the two image sets makes the task difficult. This study develops a U-Net based neural network for automated liver and tumor segmentation for purposes of radiotherapy treatment planning. Non-contrast simulation based abdominal CT axial scans of 52 patients with primary liver tumors were utilized. …

Live Cell Biomass Tracking For Basic, Translational, And Clinical Research, Graeme Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Single cell mass is tightly regulated throughout generations and the cell cycle, making it an important marker of cell health. Abnormal changes in cell size can be the first indication of dysfunction in response to environmental stimuli such as cytotoxic drugs. Described here is the further development of high-speed live cell interferometry (HSLCI) to concurrently measure the changes in single cell mass of thousands of cells over time. Critically, the high-throughput nature of HSLCI provides realistic pictures of tumor heterogeneity. This throughput enabled HSLCI to correctly predict in vivo carboplatin sensitivity of three triple negative breast cancer patient derived xenografts, …

Bisphosohoglycertae Mutase: A Potential Target For Sickle Cell Disease, Anfal S. Aljahdali

Theses and Dissertations

Bisphosphoglycerate mutase (BPGM) is a part of the erythrocyte glycolysis system. Specifically, it is a central enzyme in the Rapoport-Leubering pathway, a side glycolytic pathway involved in the regulation of the concentration of the natural allosteric effector of hemoglobin (Hb), 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate (2,3-BPG). BPGM catalyses the synthesis and hydrolysis of 2,3-BPG through its synthase and phosphatase activities. The synthase activity is the main role of BPGM, while the phosphatase activity is low and is activated by the physiological effector, 2-phosphoglycolate (2-PG) with the latter mechanism poorly understood.

BPGM activity and 2,3-BPG levels in red blood cells (RBCs) have a significant role …