Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Unified Health Information System Framework For Connecting Data, People, Devices, And Systems, Wu He, Justin Zuopeng Zhang, Huanmei Wu, Wenzhuo Li, Sachin Shetty

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the necessity for pervasive data and system interoperability to manage healthcare information and knowledge. There is an urgent need to better understand the role of interoperability in improving the societal responses to the pandemic. This paper explores data and system interoperability, a very specific area that could contribute to fighting COVID-19. Specifically, the authors propose a unified health information system framework to connect data, systems, and devices to increase interoperability and manage healthcare information and knowledge. A blockchain-based solution is also provided as a recommendation for improving the data and system interoperability in healthcare.

Private And Federated Deep Learning: System, Theory, And Applications For Social Good, Han Hu

Dissertations

During the past decade, drug abuse continues to accelerate towards becoming the most severe public health problem in the United States. The ability to detect drug­abuse risk behavior at a population scale, such as among the population of Twitter users, can help to monitor the trend of drug­abuse incidents. However, traditional methods do not effectively detect drug­abuse risk behavior in tweets, mainly due to the sparsity of such tweets and the noisy nature of tweets. In the first part of this dissertation work, the task of classifying tweets as containing drug­abuse risk behavior or not, is studied. Millions of public …

Hydrophobically Modified Isosorbide Dimethacrylates As Biomaterials For Bisphenol A Free Dental Fillings, Bilal Marie

Dissertations

Amalgam and Bisphenol A glycerolate dimethacrylate (BisGMA) are the main dental filling materials in use today. Because of the negative perception of amalgam and its lower esthetic appeal, as well as the desire to replace the endocrine disruptor Bisphenol A, which is the building block of BisGMA, there has been a critical need to search for safer alternatives to these dental filling materials.

Isosorbide is a sugar-based molecule generally recognized as safe. It has been extensively studied as a replacement to the Bisphenol A core in various materials. However, isosorbide is extremely hygroscopic, and water uptake in dental fillings causes …

Hydrodynamic Characterization Of Laboratory And Production Equipment For Pharmaceutical Testing And Manufacturing Using Experimental And Computational Approaches, Chadakarn Sirasitthichoke

Dissertations

The hydrodynamics of process units used in pharmaceutical industry, i.e., the distribution of velocity profiles and shear stresses within the vessel, often controls the process performance, significantly affecting product quality. The hydrodynamics is strongly influenced by several factors such as the vessel shape, stirrer type, presence of internals and baffles, agitation intensity, and liquid properties. Most of these parameters can be varied by the process designers and the operators to achieve the desired process outcomes. The impact of the hydrodynamics on the process outcome can be profound in both large vessels (e.g., reactors) and smaller vessels (e.g., dissolution vessels), involving …

Usf Jamovi Tutorial Project: Open Education Resource, Aline Hitti, Saera Khan

USF OER Faculty Grant Projects

Jamovi is an open source free software that USF staff, faculty and student can download to carry out any statistical analyses. The current report summarizes the progress made on an Open Education Resource Grant funded project, which aimed to created Jamovi tutorials. In this report, student feedback and faculty reaction are summarized after one semester of using the tutorials created.

Mitigating The Spread Of Measles Under Constrained Health Care Resources In Tanzania Using Social Contact Network Models, Herieth Rwezaura, Seán Mcgarraghy

Tanzania Journal of Science

Tanzania revaccinates individuals during measles outbreaks, despite having scant healthcare resources. We construct epidemiological models of measles spread by employing a hybrid of existing social contact networks models to develop SEIR simulation model. Using demographic and measles surveillance data from three rural villages in Tanzania, we simulate the spread of measles and examine which vaccination strategies can effectively control outbreaks. Results strongly indicate the spread of measles largely depends on contact rates among infected individuals within a population. Findings indicate a need for targeted vaccination for children of 6 months to 15 years of age, but equally for unvaccinated older …

Evaluating Technology-Mediated Collaborative Workflows For Telehealth, Christopher Bondy Ph.D., Pengcheng Shi, Pamela Grover Md, Vicki Hanson, Linlin Chen, Rui Li

Articles

Goals: This paper discusses the need for a predictable method to evaluate gains and gaps of collaborative technology-mediated workflows and introduces an evaluation framework to address this need. Methods: The Collaborative Space Analysis Framework (CS-AF), introduced in this research, is a cross-disciplinary evaluation method designed to evaluate technology-mediated collaborative workflows. The 5-step CS-AF approach includes: (1) current-state workflow definition, (2) current-state (baseline) workflow assessment, (3) technology-mediated workflow development and deployment, (4) technology-mediated workflow assessment, (5) analysis, and conclusions. For this research, a comprehensive, empirical study of hypertension exam workflow for telehealth was conducted using the CS-AF approach. Results: The CS-AF …

Prediction Of Body Fat Percentage Based On Anthropometric Measurements Using Data Mining Approach, Hamsa Amro, Prof. Mohammed Awad

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

In recent years, heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers have been reported as some main causes of death in most countries of the world, and obesity, which is often attributed to excess body fat, is one of the most common risk factors for these diseases. To make the vast amounts of data produced by health care information systems useful to the potential, the researchers applied knowledge discovery through predictive modeling. This study used anthropometric measurements as input data to different data mining techniques to predict body fat percentage. Fisher’s Method of Scoring was used to select the most …

Development And Validation Of A New Scale To Assess Air Quality Knowledge (Aqiq), Alessandro Del Ponte, Lina Ang, Lianjun Li, Noah Lim, Wilson Wai San Tam, Wei Jie Seow

Political Science Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Methods

Application Of Competitive Intelligence For Insular Territories: Automatic Analysis Of Scientific And Technology Trends To Fight The Negative Effects Of Climate Change, Henri Dou, Pierre Fournie

International Journal of Islands Research

Islands are fragile territories because of their geographical position. As a result, climate impacts can have serious consequences, of which some are irreversible. Therefore, it is necessary to allow insular territories to benefit from the latest scientific and technological advances in combating climate effects. The current article shows how to deal with automatic analysis of scientific information on the one hand, but also its applications via patents. We will analyse the latest scientific results as well as their possible applications using patent analysis. We will also focus on experts, laboratories, and leading companies, that are active on the field. The …

Genetic Contributors Of Incident Stroke In 10,700 African Americans With Hypertension: A Meta-Analysis From The Genetics Of Hypertension Associated Treatments And Reasons For Geographic And Racial Differences In Stroke Studies, Nicole D. Armstrong, Vinodh Srinivasasainagendra, Amit Patki, Rikki M. Tanner, Bertha A. Hidalgo, Hemant K. Tiwari, Nita A. Limdi, Ethan M. Lange, Leslie A. Lange, Donna K. Arnett, Marguerite R. Irvin

Epidemiology and Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Background: African Americans (AAs) suffer a higher stroke burden due to hypertension. Identifying genetic contributors to stroke among AAs with hypertension is critical to understanding the genetic basis of the disease, as well as detecting at-risk individuals.

Methods: In a population comprising over 10,700 AAs treated for hypertension from the Genetics of Hypertension Associated Treatments (GenHAT) and Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) studies, we performed an inverse variance-weighted meta-analysis of incident stroke. Additionally, we tested the predictive accuracy of a polygenic risk score (PRS) derived from a European ancestral population in both GenHAT and REGARDS AAs …

Dysregulation Of Dna Methylation And Epigenetic Clocks In Prostate Cancer Among Puerto Rican Men, Anders Berglund, Jaime Matta, Jarline Encarnación-Medina, Carmen Ortiz-Sanchéz, Julie Dutil, Raymond Linares, Joshua Marcial, Caren Abreu-Takemura, Natasha Moreno, Ryan Putney, Ratna Chakrabarti, Hui Yi Lin, Kosj Yamoah, Carlos Diaz Osterman, Liang Wang, Jasreman Dhillon, Youngchul Kim, Seung Joon Kim, Gilberto Ruiz-Deya, Jong Y. Park

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

In 2021, approximately 248,530 new prostate cancer (PCa) cases are estimated in the United States. Hispanic/Latinos (H/L) are the second largest racial/ethnic group in the US. The objective of this study was to assess DNA methylation patterns between aggressive and indolent PCa along with ancestry proportions in 49 H/L men from Puerto Rico (PR). Prostate tumors were classified as aggressive (n = 17) and indolent (n = 32) based on the Gleason score. Genomic DNA samples were extracted by macro-dissection. DNA methylation patterns were assessed using the Illumina EPIC DNA methylation platform. We used ADMIXTURE to estimate global ancestry proportions. …

Mansouramycins E–G, Cytotoxic Isoquinolinequinones From Marine Streptomycetes, Mohamed Shaaban, Khaled A. Shaaban, Gerhard Kelter, Heinz Herbert Fiebig, Hartmut Laatsch

Center for Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation Faculty Publications

Chemical investigation of the ethyl acetate extract from the marine-derived Streptomyces sp. isolate B1848 resulted in three new isoquinolinequinone derivatives, the mansouramycins E–G (1a–3a), in addition to the previously reported mansouramycins A (5) and D (6). Their structures were elucidated by computer-assisted interpretation of 1D and 2D NMR spectra, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and by comparison with related compounds. Cytotoxicity profiling of the mansouramycins in a panel of up to 36 tumor cell lines indicated a significant cytotoxicity and good tumor selectivity for mansouramycin F (2a), while the activity profile of E ( …

Acute Pediatric Chagas Disease In Antioquia, Colombia: A Geographic Location Of Suspected Oral Transmission, Lídia Gual-Gonzalez, Catalina Aango-Ferreira, Laura Camila Lopera-Restrepo, Omar Cantillo-Barraza, Daniela Velásquez Marín, Natalia Restrepo Bustamante, Omar Triana-Chavez, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Chagas disease, Trypanosoma cruzi infection, is an insidious cause of heart failure in Latin America. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical to prevent irreversible myocardial damage that progressively accumulates over decades. Several structural barriers account for the less than 1% of cases in Colombia being treated, including poor physician knowledge, especially considering that some regions are considered non-endemic. The two cases reported here represent an emerging epidemiologic scenario associated with pediatric Chagas disease. Both cases are suspected oral transmitted parasitic infection in a geographic region of Colombia (Andean region of Antioquia) where no previous oral transmission of Chagas disease had …

2021 - The Second Annual Fall Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Fall 2021 Symposium of Student Scholars, held on November 18, 2021. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Design And Synthesis Of Small Molecular Probes For Cns And Kidney Disorders, Swagat H. Sharma

Theses & Dissertations

The G protein regulated inwardly rectifying potassium channels (GIRK) are a family of inwardly rectifying potassium channels and are key effectors in signaling pathways. GIRK 1/2 channel subunit, predominantly found in the brain, is involved pathophysiology of various neurological disorders including, but not limited to, epilepsy, anxiety, Parkinson's, pain, reward, and addiction. Previously, our laboratory had identified a series of urea containing molecules as GIRK1/2 preferring activators. Unfortunately, the urea series suffers from significant PK liabilities (solubility, brain penetration and high clearance). The chapter 1 of the dissertation describes our efforts in developing three new series of activators with improved …

Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, And Depression In Association With Incidence Of Type 2 Diabetes Among Mexican Americans In Starr County, Texas, Gabriela Rubannelsonkumar

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Previous studies on conditions like obesity, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have explored the correlations between them and various other human conditions, including aortic stiffness, left ventricular hypertrophy and sleep apnea, as they predict possibilities of developing certain diseases in Mexican Americans. This study aims to observe the correlation between lifestyle decisions that could relate to the onset of the depression in normal, prediabetic, and diabetic individuals. These include smoking habits and alcohol consumption. Many papers have previously conducted research on these lifestyle habits as they relate to obesity, hypertension, diabetes, however, have done so in a singular …

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks For Accurate Diagnosis Of Covid-19 Patients Using Chest X-Ray Image Databases From Italy, Canada, And The Usa, Amgad A. Salama, Samy H. Darwish, Samir M. Abdel-Mageed, Radwa A. Meshref, Ehab I. Mohamed

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), famously known as COVID-19, has quickly become a global pandemic. Chest X-ray (CXR) imaging has proven reliable, fast, and cost-effective for identifying COVID-19 infections, which proceeds to display atypical unilateral patchy infiltration in the lungs like typical pneumonia. We employed the deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) ResNet-34 to detect and classify CXR images from patients with COVID-19 and Viral Pneumonia and Normal Controls.

Methods: We created a single database containing 781 source CXR images from four different international sub-databases: the Società Italiana di Radiologia Medica e Interventistica (SIRM), the GitHub Database, the …

Tooth Position Determination By Automatic Cutting And Marking Of Dental Panoramic X-Ray Film In Medical Image Processing, Yen-Cheng Huang, Chiung-An Chen, Tsung-Yi Chen, He-Sheng Chou, Wei-Chi Lin, Tzu-Chien Li, Jia-Jun Yuan, Szu-Yin Lin, Chun-Wei Li, Shih-Lun Chen, Yi-Cheng Mao, Patricia Angela R. Abu, Wei-Yuan Chiang, Wen-Shen Lo

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper presents a novel method for automatic segmentation of dental X-ray images into single tooth sections and for placing every segmented tooth onto a precise corresponding position table. Moreover, the proposed method automatically determines the tooth’s position in a panoramic X-ray film. The image-processing step incorporates a variety of image-enhancement techniques, including sharpening, histogram equalization, and flat-field correction. Moreover, image processing was implemented iteratively to achieve higher pixel value contrast between the teeth and cavity. The next image-enhancement step is aimed at detecting the teeth cavity and involves determining the segment and points separating the upper and lower jaw, …

Visualizing Phytochemical-Protein Interaction Networks: Momordica Charantia And Cancer, Yumi L. Briones, Alexander T. Young, Fabian M. Dayrit, Armando Jerome De Jesus, Nina Rosario L. Rojas

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The in silico study of medicinal plants is a rapidly growing field. Techniques such as reverse screening and network pharmacology are used to study the complex cellular action of medicinal plants against disease. However, it is difficult to produce a meaningful visualization of phytochemical-protein interactions (PCPIs) in the cell. This study introduces a novel workflow combining various tools to visualize a PCPI network for a medicinal plant against a disease. The five steps are 1) phytochemical compilation, 2) reverse screening, 3) network building, 4) network visualization, and 5) evaluation. The output is a PCPI network that encodes multiple dimensions of …

Antimicrobial Activity Of Bacterial Virus Components: An Empirical Investigation Of The Killing Capacity Of Toxins From Burkholderia, Kyle Walny

Honors Projects

Given the growing issue in healthcare of antibiotic resistance, effective and safe alternative treatment methods are required. One of these possible alternative treatment methods is bacteriotoxins including bacteriocins and tailocins. The focus of this study is a bacteriotoxin from Burkholderia cenocepacia (ATCC 25608), which was induced for toxin using a modified UV light induction procedure and tested against a variety of Pseudomonas and Burkholderia for its killing capacity. Various other pathogenic strains were then induced with UV light and tested. The results showed that the toxin from ATCC 25608 was very effective against most of the Burkholderia tested and warrants …

The Efficacy Of Plant-Based Dietary Program In Patients With Diabetes: A Pilot Study, Reuben Adatorwovor, Nisha Sharma, Dakota Mccoy, Sharon Wasserstrom, Matthew Robinson, Jacquelyn Nyenhuis, Sowmya Suryanarayanan

Biostatistics Faculty Publications

Dietary choices play a key role in insulin sensitivity among diabetes patients. An 8-week pilot study was conducted to evaluate whether a mostly plant-based dietary program will lead to improvement in biochemical markers in adults with diabetes. The dietary program included educational presentations, weekly cooking demonstrations and small group discussions. A sample of thirty-two adults with diabetes (types 1 and 2) were recruited and seventeen (53%) completed the study. Matched-pair tests and Fishers exact tests were used to compare the changes in means and proportion of the participants’ responses. There were changes in HbA1c, lipids, CRP (mg/L), cholesterol (mg/dL), HDL …

How Can Stem Retention Rates At Bgsu Be Increased Both In And Out Of The Classroom?, Josalyn A. Coffee

Honors Projects

Previous research in STEM student retention rates showed a gap in knowledge regarding why this group of student experience higher rates of burnout than other groups of students. This study investigated the barriers STEM students at BGSU experienced. A survey was sent out to STEM and non-STEM students alike that asked questions regarding student’s personal history before attending BGSU, their course experiences at BGSU, and the levels of support they have outside of BGSU. The survey data showed that there was little difference in the rates that students switch majors solely based on being in the STEM field. The data …

A Multilayer Network Model Of The Coevolution Of The Spread Of A Disease And Competing Opinions, Kaiyan Peng, Zheng Lu, Vanessa Lin, Michael R. Lindstrom, Christian Parkinson, Chuntian Wang, Andrea L. Bertozzi, Mason A. Porter

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

During the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicting opinions on physical distancing swept across social media, affecting both human behavior and the spread of COVID-19. Inspired by such phenomena, we construct a two-layer multiplex network for the coupled spread of a disease and conflicting opinions. We model each process as a contagion. On one layer, we consider the concurrent evolution of two opinions — pro-physical-distancing and anti-physical-distancing — that compete with each other and have mutual immunity to each other. The disease evolves on the other layer, and individuals are less likely (respectively, more likely) to become infected when they adopt the pro-physical-distancing …

Processing Binding Data Using An Open-Source Workflow, Errol L G Samuel, Secondra L Holmes, Damian W Young

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The thermal shift assay (TSA)—also known as differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF), thermofluor, and Tm shift—is one of the most popular biophysical screening techniques used in fragment-based ligand discovery (FBLD) to detect protein–ligand interactions. By comparing the thermal stability of a target protein in the presence and absence of a ligand, potential binders can be identified. The technique is easy to set up, has low protein consumption, and can be run on most real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instruments. While data analysis is straightforward in principle, it becomes cumbersome and time-consuming when the screens involve multiple 96- or 384-well plates. There …

Clinical Diagnosis Support With Convolutional Neural Network By Transfer Learning, Spencer Fogleman, Jeremy Otsap, Sangrae Cho

SMU Data Science Review

Breast cancer is prevalent among women in the United States. Breast cancer screening is standard but requires a radiologist to review screening images to make a diagnosis. Diagnosis through the traditional screening method of mammography currently has an accuracy of about 78% for women of all ages and demographics. A more recent and precise technique called Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) has shown to be more promising but is less well studied. A machine learning model trained on DBT images has the potential to increase the success of identifying breast cancer and reduce the time it takes to diagnose a patient, …

Machine Learning Approach To Distinguish Ulcerative Colitis And Crohn’S Disease Using Smote (Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique) Methods, Kris Ghimire, Walter Lai, Yasser Omar, Thad Schwebke, Jamie Vo

SMU Data Science Review

Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) affects a sizable portion of the US population, causing symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Despite the disease’s prevalence, the precise cause is not fully understood. This study consists of endoscopic and histological data from patients diagnosed with IBD and a control population for reference. The machine learning models' focus is to classify patients into IBD types. Several models were analyzed, including decision trees, logistic regression, and k-nearest neighbors. In addition, various methods of SMOTE were applied to determine the most effective transformation and ensuring that the dataset is balanced. The best model with …

Basis For Changes In The Disease Burden Estimates Related To Vitamin A And Zinc Deficiencies In The 2017 And 2019 Global Burden Of Disease Studies, Sonja Y. Hess, Alexander C. Mclain, Haley Lescinsky, Kenneth H. Brown, Ashkan Afshin, Reed Atkin, Saskia Jm Osendarp

Faculty Publications

Background:

The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study provides estimates of death and disability from eighty-seven risk factors, including some micronutrient deficiencies. Objectives:

To review methodological changes that led to large differences in the disease burden estimates for vitamin A and Zn deficiencies between the GBD 2017 and 2019 Studies. Methods:

GBD publications were reviewed; additional information was provided by GBD researchers. Results:

Vitamin A deficiency prevalence is based on plasma retinol concentration, whereas the estimate for Zn deficiency prevalence uses dietary adequacy as a proxy. The estimated global prevalence of vitamin A deficiency for children aged 1–4 years in …

Nutrient Intake And Dietary Inflammatory Potential In Current And Recovered Anorexia Nervosa, Olivia Patsalos, Bethan Dalton, Christia Kyprianou, Joseph Firth, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James Hébert Scd, Ulrike Schmidt, Hubertus Himmerich

Faculty Publications

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterised by disrupted and restrictive eating patterns. Recent investigations and meta-analyses have found altered concentrations of inflammatory markers in people with current AN. We aimed to assess nutrient intake in participants with current or recovered AN, as compared to healthy individuals, and explore group differences in dietary inflammatory potential as a possible explanation for the observed alterations in inflammatory markers. We recruited participants with current AN (n = 51), those recovered from AN (n = 23), and healthy controls (n = 49). We used the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), to calculate a Dietary …

How Community Participation In Water And Sanitation Interventions Impacts Human Health, Wash Infrastructure And Service Longevity In Low-Income And Middle-Income Countries: A Realist Review, Sarah Nelson, Dorothy Drabarek, Aaron Jenkins, Joel Negin, Seye Abimbola

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Objective:

To understand how, and under what circumstances community participation in water and sanitation interventions impacts the availability of safe water and sanitation, a change in health status or behaviour and the longevity of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) resources and services.

Design:

Realist review.

Data sources:

PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were used to identify papers from low-income and middle-income countries from 2010 to 2020.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies:

Criteria were developed for papers to be included. The contribution of each paper was assessed based on its relevance and rigour (eg, can it contribute to context, …