Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Use Of Near Infrared And Microwave Sensing For On-Line Real Time Monitoring Of Moisture Content And Composition Of Powder Blend, Ryan V. Mcdonnell, Anshu Gupta, John Austin, Michael T. Harris, Gintaras V. Reklaitis

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Online process analytics has been a topic of interest by pharmaceutical companies as a method of determining how operating parameters affect the final quality of their products. One form of online process analytics that has been found to be effective is microwave sensing. While it has been found that microwave resonance sensing can be used to measure parameters such as moisture content and density, it has yet to be discovered if such sensors have the ability to measure changes in content uniformity of raw materials pharmaceutical companies use. Data was collected using a spin riffler fitted with a microwave sensor …

Cellular Uptake Mechanism Of Paclitaxel Nanocrystals, Iris K. Archer, Zhaohui Wang, Tonglei Li

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Therapeutic options for metastasized human cancer in current practice remain limited and, sadly, there is no cure for metastatic cancer. The typical approach, chemotherapy, has both low efficacy due to poor drug solubility, and cytotoxic side effects to healthy tissue when delivered indiscriminately. To address both of these issues, we are pursuing the use of nanocrystal formulations of current chemotherapeutic agents as delivery platforms. Herein, we have studied cellular uptake mechanisms in cancer cells of nanocrystals of a chemotherapeutic agent, paclitaxel. Our goal in this study is to determine whether the nanocrystals can be taken up via endocytosis, especially when …

Investigating Intermolecular Interactions In Crystalline Aspirin Using Cdft, Nicholas Turner, Tonglei Li, Mingtao Zhang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Drugs today are widely administered in their crystalline form, namely via tablets and capsules. The crystal structure of a drug molecule affects important drug qualities such as solubility, bioavailability, shelf life, and compaction properties. In order to form a basis for crystal structure prediction, it is necessary to first understand how intermolecular interactions cause molecules to pack in certain ways. Being able to predict and perhaps even control a drug molecule’s crystal structure will lead to the development of higher quality drugs that perform more consistently. Scientists and engineers do not fully understand the reasons for a molecule assuming a …

Investigation Of Major Intermolecular Interactions In 7,8-Dihydrobenzo(K)Phenanthridin-6(5h)-One Crystal Using Quantum Calculations And Crystallographic Visualization Programs, Zhiwei Liao, Tonglei Li, Mingtao Zhang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Currently, tablets and capsules are the most common ways of delivering drugs. The active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients used to make those tablets and capsules are in their crystalline form generally. However, a single molecule can form multiple different crystal structures because of different packing arrangements of the molecules. These different crystal structures have identical chemical composition but different properties such as solubility, density, stability, etc. This phenomenon is called polymorphism. Occurrence of polymorphism could be a disaster for both patients and pharmaceutical companies, as the drug could lose its efficacy due to changes in properties. Studying intermolecular interactions in …

Non-Mass Transfer Limited Crystal Growth, Ryan J. Smyth, Caitlin Schram, Stephen P. Beaudoin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

There are many different active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that have been discovered in research labs all around the world that can be used to treat and cure patients with a variety of different ailments. The challenge with these APIs in treatments is that they are not soluble in water, thus they low absorption into the blood stream (bio-availability). The key to making these APIs more bio-available is to understand how they grow as crystals and drop out of the aqueous solutions. One of the ways these APIs were made more bio-available is to render them amorphous and suspend them in …

Direct Quantitative Analysis Of Biomarkers Using Mass Spectrometry, Morgan N. Mcluckey, Zheng Ouyang

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics describes a step in the medical treatment process where drugs can be monitored in a patient’s body on-site and in a timely fashion. Mass spectrometry (MS) can provide a quick, efficient, and highly accurate method of analysis of patient biofluids and tissues. Developing methods to bring this diagnostic mechanism to hospitals and clinics has the potential to improve patient care through, for example, personalized medicine. Our goal was to develop a way to effectively introduce internal standard (IS), a necessary chemical for the analytical process, to low-volume biofluid samples. Additionally, the effective direct quantitation of biomarkers with …

Effects Of Hearing Aid Amplification On Robust Neural Coding Of Speech, Jonathan Daniel Boley

Open Access Dissertations

Hearing aids are able to restore some hearing abilities for people with auditory impairments, but background noise remains a significant problem. Unfortunately, we know very little about how speech is encoded in the auditory system, particularly in impaired systems with prosthetic amplifiers. There is growing evidence that relative timing in the neural signals (known as spatiotemporal coding) is important for speech perception, but there is little research that relates spatiotemporal coding and hearing aid amplification.

This research uses a combination of computational modeling and physiological experiments to characterize how hearing aids affect vowel coding in noise at the level of …

An Epidemic Model Structured By The Time Since Last Infection, Jorge Alturo Alfaro Murillo

Open Access Dissertations

Epidemiological models structured by time since infection have their origin in the seminal work of 1927 by Kermack and McKendrick. Compared to ordinary differential equations (ODE) models, they are able to capture differences in infectivity of the individuals in a more suitable manner. Their use declined in the second half of the 20th century, probably because the theory for ODE models is more robust, complete and has proved successful in providing insights and predictions for many epidemiological problems. Nevertheless, it is important to understand in what occasions the inclusion of time since infection may alter the outcomes in a significant …

Developing A Drug Delivery System For Treatment Of Vocal Fold Scarring, Aaron Michael Kosinski

Open Access Dissertations

Vocal fold scarring is an affliction that results in the formation of a disorganized and stiff extracellular matrix (ECM) with abnormal ECM component densities & structures including a significant increase in collagen deposition. It is caused by improper healing post injury and results in profound changes in the biomechanical properties of the vocal folds impairing their ability to generate a normal mucosal wave during phonation.

Finding an effective treatment for vocal fold scarring has been elusive. Currently, treatments seek temporary solutions that correct glottal incompetence and reduce stiffness caused by the scar through the augmentation of the vocal folds using …

Assessing The Preparedness Of The Veterinary Profession To Communicate With Limited English Proficient Spanish-Speaking Pet Owners, Ruth Ellen Landau

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to assess the preparedness of the veterinary profession to communicate with limited English proficient Spanish-speaking pet owners (LEP SSPOs). Results of surveys with 393 Latino pet owners, 383 small animal veterinarians and staff, and over 2000 veterinary students indicate that interaction between veterinary professionals and LEP SSPOs is not a rare occurrence: Veterinarians in states with large established or fast-growing Latino communities are seeing LEP SSPOs and their pets on a regular basis: 89% of veterinarians have LEP Spanish-speaking clients, over half of these practitioners are seeing LEP SSPOs weekly, and over half …

Patients' Perceptions Of Provider Communication, Provider Knowledge And Provider Competence And Associations With Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use Among Medicare Part D Beneficiaries, Engels Nnamdi Obi

Open Access Dissertations

The objectives for this study were to determine prevalence and incidence of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use among community-dwelling Medicare Part D beneficiaries, and to assess associations between patients' perceptions of provider communication, provider knowledge, and provider competence with PIM use. A retrospective observational analysis was conducted using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. Individuals were included in the prevalence sample if they were aged 65 years or older in 2008, continuously enrolled in Medicare Part D from October 2007 through December 2008, and living in the community from October 2007 through December 2008. Individuals were included in the …

Predicting Language Impairment Status: A Risk Factor Model, Johanna Maria Rudolph

Open Access Dissertations

The etiology of specific language impairment (SLI) is multifactorial. Research has shown that genetic, environmental, and developmental factors may influence the course of its development. Because many of these factors are present even before a child is born, it is possible that a child's risk of developing the disorder can be identified long before grammatical deficits are observed. The goal of this study was to develop and validate a screening tool to discriminate between children with SLI and typically developing (TD) children using risk factor information including gender, family history of communication or reading disorders, socioeconomic status, maternal and paternal …

Patient Perceptions Of Physicians And Medication Adherence Among Medicare Part D Beneficiaries, Lori Marquinne Ward

Open Access Dissertations

Ward, Lori Marquinne. Ph.D., Purdue University, December, 2013. Patient Perceptions of Physicians and Medication Adherence Among Medicare Part D Beneficiaries. Major Professor: Joseph Thomas III.

An observational database analysis using Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data was conducted to examine patient perceptions of physicians and associations with adherence to antihypertensive medication among Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part D. The study sample included beneficiaries if they were 65 years or older, dwelling in the community, had a diagnosis of hypertension in 2007, were enrolled in Medicare Part D all 12 months in 2008, and had Medicare Part D claims for antihypertensive …

Altered Cholesterol Metabolism In Human Cancers Unraveled By Label-Free Spectroscopic Imaging, Shuhua Yue

Open Access Dissertations

Despite tremendous scientific achievements, cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. Metabolic reprogramming has been increasingly recognized as a core hallmark of cancer. My dissertation work identified novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for human cancers through the study of cholesterol in cancer cells.

Enabled by label-free Raman spectromicroscopy, we performed the first quantitative analysis of lipogenesis at single cell level in human patient cancerous tissues. Our imaging data revealed an unexpected, aberrant accumulation of esterified cholesterol in lipid droplets of high-grade prostate cancer and metastases, but not in normal prostate, benign prostatic hyperplasia, or …

Health Care Resource Utilization And Expenditures In Persons With Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease, Neeraj Neelakantan Iyer

Open Access Dissertations

The objectives of this study were to determine prevalence of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), to determine all-cause health care resource utilization and all-cause health care expenditures, to determine incremental health care resource utilization, and to determine incremental health care expenditures associated with ADPKD. An observational database analysis of a privately insured population was conducted using information from a large administrative claims database. Individuals 18 years of age or older and enrolled in a tracked health plan anytime during the period from April 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012, were eligible for inclusion in the sample for determination of …

Neural Encoding Of Complex Signals In The Healthy And Impaired Auditory Systems, Saradha Ananthakrishnan

Open Access Dissertations

Individuals with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) typically experience difficulty in understanding speech. Our current knowledge of deficits in speech perception and encoding consequent to SNHL is restricted to psychophysical studies in humans and single-unit experiments in animals. However, the nature of degradation in neural encoding of speech following hearing impairment in humans has not been extensively researched. The objective of this dissertation is to provide a systematic evaluation of neurobiological signature of hearing loss at the subcortical level using an objective electrophysiological non-invasive neural index, the frequency following response (FFR). Subcortical neural encoding of speech signals is explored by quantifying …

The Obesity Epidemic, Lenka Kollar, Evienne Epifano, Molly Mckneight, Jeff Miskovich, Heather Moore

Student Papers in Public Policy

The incidence of chronic, noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease, is increasing at an alarming rate on the global scale. The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity have led to an upsurge in cases of diabetes and other obesity-related diseases. About 18 million people die every year from heart disease, of which diabetes and obesity are major predisposing factors. Worldwide, more than 1.1 billion adults are overweight, 312 million of which are obese. The number of children that are overweight or obese is also growing (Hossain, Parvez et al.). Obesity, and the associated diseases, has become a worldwide epidemic and …

Maximizing The Delivery Performance Of Point-Of-Care Cd4+ T-Cell Counting Tests In Resource-Limited Settings - A Policy Brief, Nan Kong, J. Paul Robinson, Fenggang Yang

Purdue Policy Research Institute (PPRI) Policy Briefs

Managing HIV/AIDS presents challenges to public health policymakers, frontline workers, and researchers worldwide. A key strategy in the disease management is early diagnosis and rapid treatment initiation. While the technological field of point‐of‐care HIV/AIDS diagnostics has advanced significantly in the past two decades, several critical issues remain that hinder the deployment of point‐of‐care testing devices in resource‐deprived settings. In this policy brief, we discuss these issues, including technological specifics of point‐of‐care CD4⁺ T‐cell counting approaches and requirements of deploying them. We also discuss cultural and religious concerns on the deployment. At the end of the brief, we propose a …

Differential Relationships Of Internal And External Networking Behaviors With Turnover, Caitlin M. Porter

Open Access Theses

Although networking behaviors are proven to be beneficial for career success, less is known about how networking influences organizational outcomes such as turnover. Using a professional and an academic sample of "stayers" and "leavers", the present study addresses how two types of networking behaviors, networking focused either internal or external to the organization, differentially influence the voluntary turnover process. Data gathered from "stayers" suggested that internal networking behaviors were positively associated with perceived desirability of movement (i.e., job satisfaction), whereas external networking behaviors were associated with perceived (i.e., perceived employment opportunity) and actual (i.e., job offers) ease of movement. For …

Drugs, Devices, And Desires: A Problem-Based Learning Course In The History Of Medicine, Sarah Levitt, Anne Mckeage, P. K. Rangachari

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is well suited for courses in the history of medicine, where multiple perspectives exist and information has to be gleaned from different sources. A student, an archivist, and a teacher offer three perspectives about a senior level course where students explored the antecedents and consequences of medical technology. Two active learning strategies were used: (a) PBL to explore the historical basis of procedures used to diagnose, prevent and treat a single disease, tuberculosis, and (b) a concurrent inquiry-based component that permitted individual exploration of other medical technologies and demonstration of learning through diverse options (book reviews, conversations, …

Commentary For The Special Issue: Pbl Scholarship: Building On The Educational Vision Of Howard Barrows, Peggy A. Ertmer

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

In this commentary, I discuss each of the seven articles included in this special issue, which, as a collection, honor the impact of Howard Barrows’ vision on the scholarship and practice of problem-based learning (PBL). Collectively, these articles represent a variety of contexts, content areas, delivery formats, and structures in PBL implementations and research. Each article is examined and evaluated for specific information that practitioners and researchers may use in their future PBL efforts.

Creating A Learning Space In Problem-Based Learning, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

An important aspect of PBL problems is the affordances that they hold for engaging students in discussion of important content knowledge. In this paper, I argue that one can analyze a problem in terms of a deep problem space and a broader learning space to identify the conceptual ideas for potential engagement. The problem space refers to the specific ideas and concepts that are part of the goals of the problem at hand. The learning space includes those aspects of the problem space and also includes the broader space of related conceptual ideas such as the anatomy and physiology related …

Navigating Diversity And Inclusion In Veterinary Medicine, Lisa M. Greenhill, Kauline Cipriani Davis, Patricia M. Lowrie, Sandra F. Amass

New Directions in the Human-Animal Bond

This book addresses the continued lack of the diversity in veterinary medicine, the least inclusive of all medical professions. Effective navigation of the complexity of diversity and inclusion in veterinary medicine requires clear enumeration, recognition, and understanding of key issues, challenges, and opportunities. In a nation with rapidly changing demographics, public needs and expectations of the veterinary profession will continue to evolve. A more diverse scientific workforce is required to feed the veterinary profession, not just for the purposed of equity, but as necessity for its sustainability and relevance.The book lays out the history of diversity in the veterinary profession, …

Relation Between Corticosterone And Fear-Related Behavior In Mice Selectively Bred For High Or Low Alcohol Preference, Julia Chester, Aaron M. Kirchhoff, Gustavo D. Barrenha

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

Blunted cortisol responses to stress or trauma have been linked with genetic (familial) risk for both alcoholism and post-traumatic stress-disorder (PTSD). Mouse lines selectively bred for high (HAP) or low (LAP) alcohol preference may be a relevant model of genetic risk for co-morbid alcoholism and PTSD in humans. HAP mice show greater fear-potentiated startle (FPS), a model used to study PTSD, than LAP mice. The relation between corticosterone (CORT) and FPS behavior was explored in four experiments. Naïve male and female HAP2 and LAP2 mice received fear-conditioning or control treatments and CORT levels were measured before and immediately after fear-conditioning …

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Containing Α6 Subunits Contribute To Alcohol Reward-Related Behaviors, Matthew S. Powers, H. J. Broderick, Ryan M. Drenan, Julia Chester

Department of Psychological Sciences Faculty Publications

Evidence is emerging that neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system are involved in mediating the reinforcing effects of alcohol. Midbrain DA neurons express high levels of α6 subunit-containing nAChRs that modulate DA transmission, implicating their involvement in reward-related behaviors. The present study assessed the role of α6-containing nAChRs in modulating alcohol reward using transgenic mice expressing mutant, hypersensitive α6 nAChR subunits (α6L9′S mice). α6L9′S mice and littermate controls were tested in three well-established models of alcohol reward: 24-hr two-bottle choice drinking, drinking in the dark (DID), and conditioned place preference (CPP). Confocal microscopy and patch-clamp …

The Impact Of Nursing Students’ Use Of An Electronic Health Record In The Home Setting, Carmen Jones, Elizabeth Richards

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of senior undergraduate nursing students and perceptions of home care clients regarding the use of a new electronic health record and its impact on client care and communication. Findings indicate that providing students with the opportunity and time to become familiar with the use of computers during client care in the educational environment allows them to move more comfortably from a computer focused visit to client focused nursing care.

Psychosocial And Environmental Factors Associated With Dog, Elizabeth Richards, Megan H. Mcdonough, Nancy E. Edwards, Rm Lyle, Philip J. Troped

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Dog walking is associated with higher levels of physical activity (PA). However, not all dog owners walk their dog(s) at a level sufficient for health benefits. Therefore, identifying correlates of dog walking may help to inform the design of more effective interventions to promote this specific form of PA. The purpose of this study was to examine psychosocial and environmental correlates of dog walking and relationships of dog walking with overall PA. In 2010, 391 dog owners (M_age= 43.6±12.3 years) completed a survey. Multiple logistic regression and structural equation modeling were used to examine psychosocial and environmental …

Development And Psychometric Testing Of The Dogs And Walking Survey (Dawgs), Elizabeth Richards, Meghan H. Mcdonough, Nancy E. Edwards, Roseann M. Lyle, Philip J. Troped

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Purpose: Dog owners represent 40% of the population, a promising audience to increase population levels of physical activity. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of a new instrument to assess social cognitive theory (SCT) constructs related to dog walking. Methods: Dog owners (N=431) completed the Dogs and WalkinG Survey (DAWGS). Survey items assessed dog walking behaviors, and self-efficacy, social support, outcome expectations, and outcome expectancies for dog walking. Test-retest reliability was assessed among 252 (58%) survey respondents who completed the survey twice. Factorial validity and factorial invariance by age and walking …

Dog Ownership And Physical Activity: A Review Of The Evidence., Hayley E. Christian, Carri Westgarth, Adrian Bauman, Elizabeth Richards, Ryan E. Rhodes, Kelly R. Evenson, Joni A. Mayer, Roland J. Thorpe Jr

School of Nursing Faculty Publications

Background:

Dog walking is a strategy for increasing population levels of physical activity (PA). Numerous cross-sectional studies of the relationship between dog ownership and PA have been conducted. The purpose was to review studies comparing PA of dog owners (DO) to non-dog owners (NDO), summarize the prevalence of dog walking, and provide recommendations for research.

Methods:

A review of published studies (1990-2010) examining DO and NDO PA and the prevalence of dog walking was conducted (N=29). Studies estimating the relationship between dog ownership and PA were grouped to create a point-estimate using meta-analysis.

Results:

Most studies were conducted in the …

The Palm-Tree Index: Indexing With The Crowd, Aamer Mahmood, Walid G. Aref, Eduard Dragut, Saleh Basalamah

Cyber Center Publications

Crowdsourcing services allow employing human intelligence in tasks that are difficult to accomplish with computers such as image tagging and data collection. At a relatively low monetary cost and through web interfaces such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (AMT), humans can act as a computational operator in large systems. Recent work has been conducted to build database management systems that can harness the crowd power in database operators, such as sort, join, count, etc. The fundamental problem of indexing within crowdsourced databases has not been studied. In this paper, we study the problem of tree-based indexing within crowd-nabled databases. We investigate …