Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Implementation And Evaluation Of An Analytical Method For A Novel Derivatizing Agent To Measure 4,4'-Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate Atmospheres, Silvia Puscasu, Simon Aubin, Mark Spence, Sébastien Gagné

Études primaires

Accurate measurement of 4,4'-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) atmospheres is a challenge since the molecule is both chemically reactive and likely to be present in aerosol form when heated and sprayed because of its low vapor pressure. Meeting this challenge requires optimizing both the sampling device used and the derivatization agent employed to stabilize the isocyanate functional group. This study describes the use of a novel derivatization reagent for isocyanate sampling to address the challenge of MDI aerosol exposure sampling. Like most conventional derivatizing agents for isocyanates, 1,8-diaminonapthalene (DAN) reacts with isocyanate functional groups to form a urea. However, unlike other …

The Effect Of Ignoring Statistical Interactions In Regression Analyses Conducted In Epidemiologic Studies: An Example With Survival Analysis Using Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Model, Kristina Vatcheva, Joseph B. Mccormick, Mohammad H. Rahbar

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

Objective: To demonstrate the adverse impact of ignoring statistical interactions in regression models used in epidemiologic studies.

Study design and setting: Based on different scenarios that involved known values for coefficient of the interaction term in Cox regression models we generated 1000 samples of size 600 each. The simulated samples and a real life data set from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort were used to evaluate the effect of ignoring statistical interactions in these models.

Results: Compared to correctly specified Cox regression models with interaction terms, misspecified models without interaction terms resulted in up to 8.95 fold bias in estimated …

Density Functional Theory Calculations On The Doping Sequence Of Mnxfen(1-X)Ge, Jordan C. Ball

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Few Notes On Nabokov's Childhood Entomology, Victor Fet

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Nabokov's lepidoptery long posed a question: Was he an amateur or a professional entomologist? Today, it has been amply demonstrated that he was a professional. Kurt Johnson says, "For Nabokov, as with many, fascination with the big picture books of butterflies as a young child grew to concerted collecting as a youngster. As with many scientists, these impressions of youth become a driving life force."³ Nabokov started collecting butterflies in 1906, at age seven, and never ceased; he published his first book of poems ten years later, at age seventeen; his first research paper on butterflies, at age twenty; …

Continuous Stationary Phase Gradients For Planar And Column Chromatography, Veeren Dewoolkar

Theses and Dissertations

Surfaces that exhibit a gradual change in their chemical and/or physical properties are termed as surface gradients. Based on the changes in properties they are classified either as physical or chemical gradients. Chemical gradients show variations in properties like polarity, charge, functionality concentration and have found potential applications in fields of biology, physics, biosensing, catalysis and separation science. In this dissertation, surface gradients have been prepared using controlled rate infusion (CRI).

CRI is a simple method in which a surface gradient is formed by carrying out the infusion of organoalkoxysilane in a time-dependent fashion using a set infusion rate. Depending …

Perceptions Of Emergency Preparedness Among Immigrant Hispanics Living In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Rebekah Doyle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Tornadoes are occurring with increased frequency in Oklahoma. Emergency preparedness planning is essential to decreasing individuals' risks of injury or death from a tornado. Research on immigrant Hispanics' knowledge and perceptions of emergency preparedness is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of immigrant Hispanics who had experienced a tornado or other crisis weather conditions in Oklahoma during spring of 2013. The research questions explored their perceived risk for injury and knowledge of tornado preparedness planning. The health belief model provided the theoretical underpinnings for this qualitative phenomenological study. Semi structured interviews were …

Early Sex Work Initiation And Condom Use Among Alcohol-Using Female Sex Workers In Mombasa, Kenya: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, A. M. Parcesepe, Kelly L'Engle, S. L. Martin, S. Green, C. Suchindran, P. Mwarogo

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives Early initiation of sex work is prevalent among female sex workers (FSWs) worldwide. The objectives of this study were to investigate if early initiation of sex work was associated with: (1) consistent condom use, (2) condom negotiation self-efficacy or (3) condom use norms among alcohol-using FSWs in Mombasa, Kenya.

Methods In-person interviews were conducted with 816 FSWs in Mombasa, Kenya. Sample participants were: recruited from HIV prevention drop-in centres, 18 years or older and moderate risk drinkers. Early initiation was defined as first engaging in sex work at 17 years or younger. Logistic regression modelled outcomes as a function …

Umls::Association - Measuring The Association Between Biomedical Terms, Keith B. Herbert

UROP Posters

UMLS::Association - A Semantic Association Framework for Biomedical Texts

Keith Herbert

Natural Language Processing Lab, Department of Computer Science

Introduction

We present UMLS::Association, a software package to explore the semantic association of biomedical terms with applications for literature-based discovery. Literature-based discovery is an endeavour to ”connect the dots” for scientists between the topics of their research and those of unexpected relevance. However, many approaches rely on the exact wording for the ideas in the research papers being analyzed. The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) provides a way to map natural language phrases in these papers to sequences of abstract yet …

The Relationship Between Exercise And Depression And Anxiety In College Students, Joshua Frank, Dr. Amy Adkins, Nathan Thomas, Dr. Danielle Dick

UROP Posters

The literature shows an inverse association between exercise and mental disorders. The aim of this study is to further elaborate on this association with regards to exercise and its relationship with anxiety and depression in a college sample. The subject group focused on seniors in the Spit for Science data set which incorporated a total of 821 students. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to estimate the overall metabolic equivalents (MET’s) each student spent in walking, moderate, or vigorous activity levels in the previous week. Sum scores were used to measure depression and anxiety. Overall,the …

Identification Of Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate Thermal Degradation Products In A Generation Chamber By Liquid Chromatography Coupled With Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Sébastien Gagné, Yves Cloutier

Études primaires

Isocyanate thermal degradation characterization by liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry has been performed to elucidate the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) thermal degradation structure emitted in a generation chamber using a temperature between 50°C and 180°C to produce MDI vapors. [M+H]⁺ ions containing an isocyanate functional group were studied by tandem mass spectrometry. The [M+H]⁺ ion analyses based on the combination of full scans and precursor ion scans were useful for identifying all structures. The compounds emitted were identified and validated as a mixture of compounds containing amine and isocyanate functions. Residual MDI, methylene diphenyl amino-isocyanate, …

Effect Of Spatial Inhomogeneities On The Membrane Surface On Receptor Dimerization And Signal Initiation, Romica Kerketta, Adam M. Halasz, Mara P. Steinkamp, Bridget S. Wilson, Jeremy S. Edwards

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Important signal transduction pathways originate on the plasma membrane, where microdomains may transiently entrap diffusing receptors. This results in a non-random distribution of receptors even in the resting state, which can be visualized as “clusters” by high resolution imaging methods. Here, we explore how spatial in-homogeneities in the plasma membrane might influence the dimerization and phosphorylation status of ErbB2 and ErbB3, two receptor tyrosine kinases that preferentially heterodimerize and are often co-expressed in cancer. This theoretical study is based upon spatial stochastic simulations of the two-dimensional membrane landscape, where variables include differential distributions and overlap of transient confinement zones (“domains”) …

Drinking Water And Autism: Using Spatial Cluster Detection To Explore Patterns Of Autism Cases In Lane County, Oregon, Sherry Sandreth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a complex array of neurological disorders with a diverse presentation, multiple etiologies, and long-term ramifications. Prevalence of ASD in the United States is about 1 in 50 children as of 2013, making it a significant public health problem. The etiology is not understood, and it is widely accepted that it is multicausal, with genetic and environmental influences. Prior research suggests an association between water source and ASD. Contaminants such as lead, arsenic, mercury, pharmaceuticals and pesticides found in water are associated with developmental disorders suggesting that a systematic review focused on water source was warranted. …

Falls And Related Injuries Based On Surveillance Data: U.S. Hospital Emergency Departments, George K. Quarranttey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Falls can lead to unintentional injuries and possibly death, making falls an important public health problem in terms of related health care cost, incurred disabilities, and years of life lost. Approximately 1 in every 3 Americans ages 65 years and older is at risk of falling at least once every year. Children, young adults, and middle-aged adults are also vulnerable to falls. The purpose of this study was to examine the epidemiology of falls and fall-related injuries using surveillance data from nationally representative samples of hospital emergency departments in United States. The study was guided by a social-ecological model on …

The Association Between Osteoporosis And Early Menopause Following Hysterectomy, Mia Meeyaong-Won Botkin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Osteoporosis is considered to be the most adverse public health disease associated with substantial mortality among postmenopausal women. Hysterectomy, surgically induced menopause, contributes to the early onset of menopause. However, there was no evidence of an association between early menopause following hysterectomy and osteoporosis among postmenopausal women. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the association between demographic and behavioral factors and the prevalence of osteoporosis among hysterectomized postmenopausal women. The integrated theory of health behavior change theoretical framework guided study. Cross-sectional secondary data from the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used. Multiple logistic regression …

Pro-Fit: Exercise With Friends, Saumil Dharia, Vijesh Jain, Jvalant Patel, Jainikkumar Vora, Rizen Yamauchi, Magdalini Eirinaki, Iraklis Varlamis

Faculty Publications

The advancements in wearable technology, where embedded accelerometers, gyroscopes and other sensors enable the users to actively monitor their activity have made it easier for individuals to pursue a healthy lifestyle. However, most of the existing applications expect continuous commitment from the end users, who need to proactively interact with the application in order to connect with friends and attain their goals. These applications fail to engage and motivate users who have busy schedules, or are not as committed and self-motivated. In this work, we present PRO-Fit, a personalized fitness assistant application that employs machine learning and recommendation algorithms in …

Spatio-Temporal Analysis Of The Occupational Fatal Victimization Of Law Enforcement Officers In The Us, Xueyi Xing

Theses and Dissertations

The models with constant coefficients of the covariates across space and time are commonly used in spatio-temporal analyses. However, the associations between risk factors and the outcome could have locally differential temporal trends in many cases. In this study, a Bayesian latent cluster modeling strategy is employed to identify potential spatial clusters in which locally specific sets of temporally varying coefficients of covariates are allowed. A state-level panel data of police officers occupational fatal victimization for the years 1979-2010 is used. To accommodate overdisperson and excess zeros, a negative binomial model and zero-inflated Poisson/negative binomial models are also utilized. A …

Probing Allosteric, Partial Inhibition Of Thrombin Using Novel Anticoagulants, Stephen S. Verespy Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Thrombin is the key protease that regulates hemostasis; the delicate balance between procoagulation and anticoagulation of blood. In clotting disorders, like deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, procoagulation is up-regulated, but propagation of clotting can be inhibited with drugs targeting the proteases involved, like thrombin. Such drugs however, have serious side effects (e.g., excessive bleeding) and some require monitoring during the course of treatment. The reason for these side effects is the mechanism by which the drugs’ act. The two major mechanisms are direct orthosteric and indirect allosteric inhibition, which will completely abolish the protease’s activity. Herein we sought an …

Provision Of Hospital-Based Palliative Care And The Impact On Organizational And Patient Outcomes, Marisa L. Roczen

Theses and Dissertations

Hospital-based palliative care services aim to streamline medical care for patients with chronic and potentially life-limiting illnesses by focusing on individual patient needs, efficient use of hospital resources, and providing guidance for patients, patients’ families and clinical providers toward making optimal decisions concerning a patient’s care. This study examined the nature of palliative care provision in U.S. hospitals and its impact on selected organizational and patient outcomes, including hospital costs, length of stay, in-hospital mortality, and transfer to hospice. Hospital costs and length of stay are viewed as important economic indicators. Specifically, lower hospital costs may increase a hospital’s profit …

In-Shoe Plantar Pressure System To Investigate Ground Reaction Force Using Android Platform, Ahmed A. Mostfa

Theses and Dissertations

Human footwear is not yet designed to optimally relieve pressure on the heel of the foot. Proper foot pressure assessment requires personal training and measurements by specialized machinery. This research aims to investigate and hypothesize about Preferred Transition Speed (PTS) and to classify the gait phase of explicit variances in walking patterns between different subjects. An in-shoe wearable pressure system using Android application was developed to investigate walking patterns and collect data on Activities of Daily Living (ADL). In-shoe circuitry used Flexi-Force A201 sensors placed at three major areas: heel contact, 1st metatarsal, and 5th metatarsal with a PIC16F688 microcontroller …

Eeg Interictal Spike Detection Using Artificial Neural Networks, Howard J. Carey Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Epilepsy is a neurological disease causing seizures in its victims and affects approximately 50 million people worldwide. Successful treatment is dependent upon correct identification of the origin of the seizures within the brain. To achieve this, electroencephalograms (EEGs) are used to measure a patient’s brainwaves. This EEG data must be manually analyzed to identify interictal spikes that emanate from the afflicted region of the brain. This process can take a neurologist more than a week and a half per patient. This thesis presents a method to extract and process the interictal spikes in a patient, and use them to reduce …

Near Real-Time Early Cancer Detection Using A Graphics Processing Unit, Jason Helms

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"Automatically detecting early cancer using medical images is challenging, yet very crucial to help save millions of lives in the early stages of cancer. In this work, we improved a method that was originally developed by Yamaguchi et al. from the Saga University in Saga Japan. The original method would first decompose the endoscopic image into four color elements: red, green, blue and luminance (RGBL). Next each component is again decomposed to non-overlapping blocks of smaller images. Each smaller image undergoes two phases of DWT(s) and finally the Fractal Dimension (FD) is calculated per smaller image and abnormal regions are …

Hepatitis C Virus In Mexican Americans: A Population-Based Study Reveals Relatively High Prevalence And Negative Association With Diabetes, Gordon P. Watt, Kristina Vatcheva, Laura Beretta, Jen-Jung Pan, Michael Fallon, Joseph B. Mccormick, Susan P. Fisher-Hoch

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

This study aimed to estimate the prevalence and risk factors for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Mexican Americans living in South Texas. We tested plasma for the presence of HCV antibody from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC), a randomized, population-based cohort in an economically disadvantaged Mexican American community on the United States/Mexico border with high rates of chronic disease. A weighted prevalence of HCV antibody of 2·3% [n = 1131, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·2-3·4] was found. Participants with diabetes had low rates of HCV antibody (0·4%, 95% CI 0·0-0·9) and logistic regression revealed a statistically significant negative …

Characterization Of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Atmospheric Air Plasma Treated Chitosan Films, Shashi Pankaj, Carmen Bueno-Ferrer, Luke O'Neill, B.K. Tiwari, Paula Bourke, Patrick J. Cullen

Articles

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is a novel non-thermal food decontamination technology. The effects of DBD plasma on the surface topography, chemical composition and crystal structure, film hydrophilicity, water vapor permeability and oxygen permeability of chitosan films have been examined. DBD plasma treatment increased the surface roughness of chitosan films with emergence of sharp protuberances. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra confirm a significant increase in the oxygen containing groups in the chitosan film after plasma treatment. Significant increase in the film hydrophilicity was observed after plasma treatment. X-ray diffraction results showed that DBD plasma treatment do …

Regional Effects Of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes On Shortening And Calcium Transport In Epicardial And Endocardial Myocytes From Rat Left Ventricle, Manal M.A. Smaill, Muhammad A. Qureshi, Anatoliy Shmygol, Murat Oz, Jaipaul Singh, Vadym Sydorenko, Alya Arabi, Frank C. Howarth, Lina Al Kury

All Works

© 2016 The Authors. In the heart, the left ventricle pumps blood at higher pressure than the right ventricle. Within the left ventricle, the electromechanical properties of ventricular cardiac myocytes vary transmurally and this may be related to the gradients of stress and strain experienced in vivo across the ventricular wall. Diabetes is also associated with alterations in hemodynamic function. The aim of this study was to investigate shortening and Ca2+ transport in epicardial (EPI) and endocardial (ENDO) left ventricular myocytes in the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat. Shortening, intracellular Ca2+ and L-type Ca2+ current (ICa,L) were measured by video detection, …

Screening For Peripheral Arterial Disease And Carotid Artery Disease In Patients With Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Cleona Gray, Patrick J. Goodman, Paul Cullen, Stephen Badger, Kevin O'Malley, Martin K. O'Donohoe, Ciarán O. Mcdonnell

Articles

Screening for concomitant atherosclerotic disease is important in cardiovascular risk reduction. This study assessed the prevalence of carotid artery disease (CAD) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in patients with known abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). All patients with AAA attending the vascular laboratory between the January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2009, were eligible for a carotid ultrasound and measurement of ankle brachial indices. A total of 389 (305 males) patients were identified on the AAA surveillance program with a mean (±standard deviation) age of 76 (±8) years. The mean age of the males was 75.4 (±7.8) years, and the mean …

Endovascular Aneurysm Repair Increases Aortic Arterial Stiffness When Compared To Open Repair Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, Cleona Gray, Patrick J. Goodman, Stephen Badger, M. Kevin O'Malley, Martin K. O'Donohoe, Ciarán O. Mcdonnell

Articles

Objectives: The initial survival advantage seen with endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) over open repair does not persist in the long term. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a measure of arterial stiffness, and increased PWV is an independent risk factor for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This prospective comparative pilot study examined the effect of implantation of an aortic graft on PWV in patients undergoing open or endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. Patients and Methods: Thirty-four patients (15 open and 19 EVAR) were recruited. Patient demographics were similar in both the groups. Pulse wave velocity was calculated for all patients …

Suppressed Intuitions, Large Number Coincidences, And A Mathematical Foundation For Life And Consciousness, Maurice Goodman

Articles

A brief examination of the natural sciences reveals that we are still under the influence of pre Copernican intuitions. These have only been suppresses and not supplanted. This is why we appeal to such things as large number coincidences in the hope that the mathematics, which unlike us does not suffer from naive beliefs, will lead us in the right direction. However, we need to be extremely careful as it is easy to create these coincidences and over interpret their significance. In the 1980’s work on these coincidences did lead to a mathematical formulism which seems to have relevance in …

An Efficient Method For Optimizing Segmentation Parameters, Jacob D' Avy, Wei-Wen Hsu, Chung-Hao Chen, Andreas F. Koschan, Mongi Abidi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Segmenting an image into meaningful regions is an important step in many computer vision applications such as facial recognition, target tracking and medical image analysis. Because image segmentation is an ill-posed problem, parameters are needed to constrain the solution to one that is suitable for a given application. For a user, setting parameter values is often unintuitive. We present a method for automating segmentation parameter selection using an efficient search method to optimize a segmentation objective function. Efficiency is improved by utilizing prior knowledge about the relationship between a segmentation parameter and the objective function terms. An adaptive sampling of …

Metabolic Health Has Greater Impact On Diabetes Than Simple Overweight/Obesity In Mexican Americans, Shenghui Wu, Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, Belinda M. Reininger, Kristina Vatcheva, Joseph B. Mccormick

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

To compare the risk for diabetes in each of 4 categories of metabolic health and BMI. Methods. Participants were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, a randomly selected Mexican American cohort in Texas on the US-Mexico border. Subjects were divided into 4 phenotypes according to metabolic health and BMI: metabolically healthy normal weight, metabolically healthy overweight/obese, metabolically unhealthy normal weight, and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese. Metabolic health was defined as having less than 2 metabolic abnormalities. Overweight/obese status was assessed by BMI higher than 25 kg/m2. Diabetes was defined by the 2010 ADA definition or by being on a diabetic …

Demo: Towards Immersive And Interactive Gym Exercises, Fazlay Rabbi, Taiwoo Park, Biyi Fang, Mi Zhang, Youngki Lee, Rajiv Ranganathan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We demonstrate JARVIS, a novel virtual coaching system based on virtual reality (VR) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. It creates a truly immersive gym exercising experience for machine-based strength training and guides users in a highly interactive manner. With these unique advantages, we believe that JARVIS has a potential to revolutionize personal fitness experiences.