Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Implantable Device For Wireless Regulation Of The Bladder Through Pelvic Nerve Stimulation, Kelsey C. Bayer, Chris Quinkert, Pedro Irazoqui

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Urinary incontinence (UI) is the involuntarily urination that usually effects older people or is the result of an injury. UI affects more than eleven million people and the cost of incontinence management in the United States in 2000 was $19.5 billion. Where conventional physical therapies have failed, pelvic nerve stimulation is a promising form of regulating the bladder long term. Piezoresistive pressure sensors consist of two variable resistance values and two known resistance values that are represented on a daughterboard. This unknown resistance represents the change in pressure. The filling and voiding of the bladder was characterized through acute surgeries. …

A Non-Invasive Method Of Measuring Respiration While Providing Wireless Power For Rodents With Implantable Devices, Jynx O. Boyne, Daniel J. Pederson, Zhi Wang, Pedro Irazoqui Dr.

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Respiratory measurements can be used as diagnostic and research tools. Spirometry is the gold standard for gaining these measurements, but is difficult to use in rodents as it requires an invasive procedure. Total Body Plethysmograpy (TBP) is a non-invasive way to measure respiration rates that does not cause stress to the rodent. In this system, the subject is encased in a solid, constant volume chamber with measurements determining the subject’s respiration. When using TBP in medical or research settings, challenges occur in powering devices within the TBP chamber as wires and other recording equipment compromise the airtightness of the chamber. …

Bio-Inspired Composite Hydrogels For Osteochondral Regenerative Engineering, Grant N. Gellert, Liangju Kuang, Chunhui Jiang, Nur P. Damayanti, Joseph Irudayaraj, Meng Deng

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Treatment of osteochondral defects encompassing injury or degeneration to both the articular cartilage as well as the underlying subchondral bone presents a significant medical challenge. Current treatment options including autografts and allografts suffer from limited availability and risk of immunogenicity, respectively. The long term goal of this work is to develop an integrated scaffold system for treatment of osteochondral defects via in situ regeneration of bone, cartilage and the bone-cartilage interface. Hydrogels composed of polymer networks swollen in water provide an attractive biomaterial platform for regeneration of cartilage. In the present study, we have developed a novel composite hydrogel consisting …

Quantification Of Analyte Concentration From A Paper-Based Lateral Flow Assay Device Using Reflective Sensors, Megan Z. Chiu, Jacqueline Linnes

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Paper-based point-of-care (POC) diagnostics is a growing field in global health due to the extreme portability, accuracy, affordability, and ease of use of these tests. Advancements in recent years have led to more accurate detection and improved functionality using multistep molecular diagnostics. Many such assays utilize lateral flow detection strips for visualization of diagnostic results by eye, which limits the results to qualitative Yes/No readouts. This project focused on combining recent developments in paper-based POC diagnostics to develop and optimize an in-house built quantitative paper-based diagnostic reader for lateral flow detection in low-resource settings. Initially different sensors, including photocell sensors, …

Meta-Analysis Of Dna Methylation And Expression In Liver Cancer Patients, Daniele Todorov, Barbara Stefanska, Katarzyna Lubecka-Pietruszewska

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common liver cancer, is the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. HCC is often diagnosed at late stages, for which there are no effective chemotherapies. Biomarkers unique to HCC patients could be used to detect HCC early and improve treatment. In the present project, we have performed a meta-analysis to compare the gene-specific DNA methylation and gene expression patterns of HCC patients as reported by four independent studies. Our goal was to discover the strongest changes that distinguish HCC from normal tissue. The relationship between methylation and expression in HCC was examined and genes …

Viewing The Extracellular Matrix: An Imaging Method For Tissue Engineering, Michael Drakopoulos, Sarah Calve

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The field of regenerative medicine seeks to create replacement tissues and organs, both to repair deficiencies in biological function and to treat structural damage caused by injury. Scaffoldings mimicking extracellular matrix (ECM), the structure to which cells attach to form tissues, have been developed from synthetic polymers and also been prepared by decellularizing adult tissue. However, the structure of ECM undergoes significant remodeling during natural tissue repair, suggesting that ECM-replacement constructs that mirror developing tissues may promote better regeneration than those modeled on adult tissues. This work investigated the effectiveness of a method of viewing the extracellular matrix of developing …

Development Of A Scalable Synthesis Of Hp-Β-Cd Pluronic Polyrotaxanes, Joseph L. Skulsky, Elizabeth A. Slepko, Bradley P. Loren, David H. Thompson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Polyrotaxanes are polymers that have macrocycles threaded onto them, analogous to beads threaded onto a string. These materials are used for a variety of different biomedical applications.^1-3 The Thompson group has been developing 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) polyrotaxanes as therapeutics for the treatment of Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease. NPC is a debilitating genetic disorder where cholesterol accumulates in the lysosomes of cells.⁴ Developing a scalable process is crucial for the advancement of these materials as NPC therapeutics. The goal of this project is to optimize the only protocol for the synthesis of HP-β-CD/Pluronic polyrotaxanes in order to develop a …

Changes In Vessel Properties During Early Progression Of Murine Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms From In Vivo Ultrasound, Luis R. Avila Murati, Evan H. Phillips, Craig J. Goergen

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are a common and frequently fatal disease characterized by the weakening and dilation of the aorta. The larger the aneurysm, the higher the chances are of rupturing and life-threatening hemorrhage. The aim of this study is to apply the angiotensin II (AngII) model of AAAs in male apolipoprotein-E-deficient mice (apoE^-/- C57Bl/6J), in order to analyze, quantify, and understand the pathologies and characteristics associated with early AAA development. To date, many studies focusing on the evaluation of AAA characteristics have been performed ex vivo. Therefore, we focused on in vivo assessment, through the use of …

Behavioral Outputs Of Fragile-X Autistic Mice Exposed To Open-Field, Randomized, Short-Term Visual Stimuli, Nicholas M. Dicola, Alexander A. Chubykin

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Animal models of different neurological disorders are required for studying the pathophysiology of these diseases, and for potential development of pharmacological and behavioral treatments. The scientific community often uses mouse models for behavior studies due to their powerful genetic tools and low cost. However, subjective measurement techniques are often used when analyzing mice for behavioral traits which often results in discrepancies in results. An automated tracking software would aim to eliminate these discrepancies and subjective analysis. This lab has developed a software program which offered an ability to automatically collect open-field behavioral data with simultaneous on-line analysis. Python, an open …

Paramedicine And Social Work: Case Studies In Authentic Student Recruitment, Nathalie Collins, Lynelle Watts, Renee Strauss, David Hodgson

eCULTURE

Selling the course experience to future students has been corporatised across the Higher Education sector. At many universities marketing and sales specialists, such as ECU’s Student Recruitment Team, rather than academic staff, field prospective student enquiries. Representing courses authentically is crucial to matching future students with an appropriate course experience and career, as well is managing future students’ expectations. A challenge for academics is communicating the course/career experience to university sales agents (recruiters). A challenge for recruiters is conveying an authentic course experience to future students when they have not taken a course themselves. This paper selects two ECU courses, …

Australian Midwifery Students' Views About Profession-Specific Peer Mentoring, Sara J. Bayes, Doreen Collyer, Kirsten Dobbs, Laura Walsh

eCULTURE

Midwifery is one of the most demanding professions there is, and midwifery students can find coping with the practice aspect of their course difficult. Mentoring is one way of supporting health clinicians’ emotional wellbeing; to date however, there is little research on mentoring for midwifery students. In this study, the aim of which was to discover midwifery students’ views of profession-related peer mentoring, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 21 midwifery students at one Australian university. Analysis of the data revealed that most participants felt they would benefit from and would like to know more about mentoring. The qualitative …

Clinical Placement Before Or After Simulated Learning Environments? A Naturalistic Study Of Clinical Skills Acquisition Amongst Early-Stage Paramedicine Students, Brennen W. Mills Mr, Owen Carter A/Prof, Cobie Rudd Prof, Nathan Ross Mr, Louise Claxton Mrs

eCULTURE

Background

There is conflicting evidence surrounding the merit of clinical placements (CP) for early-stage health-profession students. Some contend early-stage CPs facilitate contextualisation of subsequently learned theory. Others argue attending CP before attaining skills competency is problematic and should only occur after training in simulated-learning environments (SLE). The evidentiary basis surrounding the extent to which either is true remains limited.

Methods

First-year paramedicine students (n=85) undertook three days of CP and SLEs as part of course requirements. Students undertook CP either before or after participation in SLEs creating two groups (Clin→Sim/Sim→Clin). Clinical skills acquisition was measured via objectively-structured clinical examinations (OSCE) …

Using Eye Tracking, Time-To-Action, Heart-Rate And Perceived Task Difficulty To Assess Level Of Distraction And Performance Of Entry-Level Paramedicine Students In Low- Versus High-Fidelity Simulation, Owen Carter, Brennen W. Mills, Cobie Rudd, Natalie Strobel, Louise Claxton, Nathan Ross

eCULTURE

Introduction

There is limited research investigating the usefulness of high-fidelity simulations (HFS) for early-stage students. Some argue the additional expense of HFS over low-fidelity simulation (LFS) is unnecessary as early-stage students are too easily distracted by non-relevant stimuli inhibiting student’s ability to focus on the core task. However, the extent to which this is true is yet to be empirically tested.

Methods

First-year paramedicine students were randomly assigned to complete either a LFS or HFS involving a collapsed patient with an obstructed airway. Level of distraction was measured via eye-tracking, arousal via heart-rate (HR), task difficulty via the NASA TLX, …

Characteristics Of Successful Nursing Students, Sergey G. Pugachov, David Maxwell, Jacob Youmans, Kurt Wahnschaff

Phi Kappa Phi Research Symposium (Archived)

In an attempt to look into ways to reduce attrition rates in nursing programs, we did a study to look into what non-academic factors can be looked at in addition to the current standard admission data. The research question of interest was “What non-academic characteristics of students can lead to best chance of success in nursing school?” Our sample included 115 students at Georgia Southern University School of Nursing, who have already completed at least one semester of nursing school. Instrument of collection was an IRB approved 20-item self-reported questionnaire with anonymous and passive content. Data was analyzed using SPSS …

Md Vs. Np: A Study On Nurse Practitioner Roles And Responsibilities And Their Acceptance In Our Generation, Celia A. Price, Neysa Hobbs, Lauren Stokes, Anquanett Scott

Phi Kappa Phi Research Symposium (Archived)

The purpose of this research was to compare the roles of physicians versus nurse practitioners in our community and raise awareness for nurse practitioners amongst our generation. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference in preference among the population to see a nurse practitioner or medical doctor as his/her routine provider. The null hypothesis was supported as evidenced by a p-value of 0.610. Results show that majority of the population understood the definition of a nurse practitioner. However, the surveyed population was unsure of the scope of practice of nurse practitioners. More than 90% of the studied population …

17th Annual Pacific Research Day Abstracts, University Of The Pacific

Excellence Day

No abstract provided.

The Advances In Prosthetics, Jose Garcia

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Throughout time, many people have been able to build, create, and do amazing things with their arms and legs. However, those who have lost limbs at birth or through an event in their life sometimes have a harder time being as accomplished as others. While some people without limbs have had a harder life, some have been able to accomplish what others with a normal physiology can by the use of prosthetics. This presentation will focus on the advances of prosthetics, the benefits for the user, and their future development. The main focus will be on prosthetic arms and their …

Migrant Health Education At Broetje Orchards, Megan Baker

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Although it is recognized that there is a gap in health education in migrant and other under-served populations, very few programs have been established to address this problem. This research is important because it highlights areas in which health education is lacking and provides suggestions on how to address these issues. The purpose of the research was to assess the health education program present in the migrant community living in the Vista Hermosa community at the Broetje Orchards in Prescott, Washington, and to compare it to other migrant and agricultural communities. The Vista Hermosa Community is a unique case study …

Family Planning And Reproductive Health Experiences Of Latina Women In A United States Border City, Erika Ojeda, Margarita Manzo-Casio

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Family planning and reproductive health services are essential protective factors against unwanted, unintended, or mistimed pregnancies. However, underserved women such as those who are low-income, uninsured, or geographically or linguistically isolated may not have optimal access to these essential services. This study explores the experiences of Latina women in a United States’ border city in accessing family planning care through focus group discussions. We conducted two focus groups with Latina women of reproductive age in a border town in the United States, n=16. Focus groups were conducted in Spanish and audio recorded for transcription. Two independent bilingual student researchers transcribed …

Central Washington University Campus Community Garden: A Mural Project, Angie Love, Blanca Soto, Catherine Leger, Alex Johnson

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

This service-learning project represents the first phase of constructing a mural for the campus community garden at Central Washington University. The purpose of the mural is to bring awareness to the garden by creating a welcoming space that empowers the community to learn from, work with, and teach others. As a group, we became involved with the Campus Community Garden through a Health Education (HED) course, Community Organization and Coalition Development (HED 450). The purpose of this course is to provide public health students the knowledge, practices, and skills necessary to be successful while working with community organizations. We started …

Trends In Youth Drug Behavior In Guam, Jennifer Mccutchen

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

As a United States territory, the island of Guam is home to 159,358 individuals, including adolescents and young adults. Drug activity among Guamanian youth has increased considerably over the last 20 years. The purpose of this study is to examine trends in drug-related activities and behaviors among adolescents on the island of Guam, using the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) public data set. Participating in drug use, sale, or other distribution during adolescence has been associated with declining grades, dropping out of high school, patterns of criminal activity, and both physical and mental health conditions, making it a concerning …

Pilot Study Of Symptom Burden And Quality Of Life Among Families Of Children In Palliative Care Or Hospice, Marci Z. Fults, Samantha Manring, Sarah Snyder, Mary Jo Gilmer, Michelle Walsh, Janine Winters, Cynthia A. Gerhardt

Research Day

Purpose: Despite calls for improvement in pediatric palliative care, children may have significant suffering at end-of-life (EOL). Research is limited and relies heavily on retrospective reports from mothers or nurses. We prospectively assessed symptom burden and quality of life (QOL) among children with life limiting conditions to examine concordance across multiple informants (i.e., mother, father, child, nurse). Method: Families were recruited shortly after their child (ages 5-18) was enrolled in palliative care or hospice. Of 36 eligible families, 8 children died before recruitment. Of the remaining 28, 25 (89%) participated. Participants included 25 mothers, 14 fathers, 12 children (Mage = …

Comparing Two Different Intravenous Regimens Of Tranexamic Acid In Total Hip Arthroplasty, Total Knee Arthroplasty, And Total Shoulder Arthroplasty, Mark Church, Myron Szczukowski Jr., Richard Mason, Laura Hanlon, Thomas Sisca

Research Day

One significant intraoperative outcome of concern to anesthesiologists and orthopedic surgeons is controlling the amount of blood loss both intraoperatively and postoperatively. The use of the antifibrinolytic, tranexamic acid (TXA), is an innovative strategy that has been shown to decrease postoperative bleeding as well as decrease the need for blood transfusions. Currently, there are multiple intravenous tranexamic acid dose regimens that are being employed for orthopedic surgeries. In this study, the aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 2 dose regimen (1000 mg within 30 minutes pre-op and 1000 mg 4-6 hrs post-op) compared to a single 1000 mg …

The Effects Of Modulating Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (Enos) Activity And Coupling In Coronary, Hindlimb, Renal, And Mesenteric Vascular Inflammation Models, Alexandra Lopez, Kerry-Anne Perkins, Amber Koon, Amelie Bottex, Qian Chen, Robert Barsotti, Lindon Young

Research Day

Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is initiated in part by vascular endothelial dysfunction, which is characterized by reduced endothelial-derived nitric oxide (NO) and/or increased oxidative stress, followed by inflammation. When the tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) to dihydrobiopterin (BH2, oxidized form of BH4) ratio is reduced, eNOS can become uncoupled shifting production of NO to superoxide (SO). Protein kinase C epsilon activator (PKCε+) enhances eNOS activity while PKCε inhibitor (PKCε-) reduces eNOS activity. The effects of PKCε+ or PKCε- combined with BH4 or BH2 were studied in rat myocardial and hindlimb I/R, rat renal lithotripsy, and rat mesenteric inflammation models. Promoting eNOS coupling using PKCε+ …

Chikungunya Occurrence Among A Religious Missions Trip To Haiti In The Summer Of 2014 And Implications For Community Health, Veronica Williams, Jared Rutledge, Heather Brewer

Research Day

As global travel becomes more common, the risk of spreading infectious diseases is increasing. Vectors too are spreading and becoming invasive species in environmental niches where they had previously been absent. The potential continues to grow for people to bring back diseases and infect local naive insect populations, which over time will increase the likelihood of the disease transmission occurring locally. This article evaluates the impact of a mission’s trip to Haiti and the return to a region of the United States that just recently became invaded by Aedes aegypti. The attack rate among the missionaries was approximately 20% (n=2), …

Astrocytes Infected With Chlamydia Pneumonia Alter Amyloid Processing Implicated In Alzheimer’S Disease, Zein Al-Atrache, Ahmad Cader, Susan Hingley, Denah Appelt

Research Day

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease whose pathogenesis centers around the abnormal processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by proteases, resulting in the formation of neuritic plaques composed of toxic, insoluble fragments of amyloid protein (Aβ), including Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42. Previously, our laboratory identified Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn) in autopsied sporadic AD brains. Additionally, an infection based animal model was developed using BALB/c mice that were intranasally inoculated with Cpn, in which the deposition of amyloid was consistent with that observed in the human AD brain. These studies have led to the pathogen hypothesis of AD that implicates …

Get The Right Fit: Strategies For Making Your Work More Visible, Stephanie Ferretti, Richard James, Skye Bickett

Research Day

Supporting research is one of the core missions of the PCOM Library, and “publish or perish” is still a central concern for faculty even with the fundamental transformation underway in the scholarly publishing industry. The PCOM Library wants to help you understand how these changes impact your research work.Here are some resources and ideas that can assist faculty, staff, and students with communicating your research and expanding its audience .Learn more about Selected Works faculty pages and how the library can enhance your scholarly works.

Blood Pressure Vs Altitude In Hypertensive And Non-Hypertensive Himalayan Trekkers, T. Douglas Sallade, Jennifer Starling, David Young, David Twillman, Nirakan Regmi, Benoit Phelan, Purshotam Paudel, Sushil Pant, Matthew Mcelwee, Theodore Mcconnell, Luke Mather, Charles Duke

Research Day

Introduction: Determine blood pressure (BP) response to changes in altitude in Himalayan trekkers with and without hypertension (HTN). Methods: BP was measured in Lukla (2800m), Namche (3400m), and either Pheriche or Dingboche (4400m) on ascent and descent. Hypertensive subjects were defined by self-reported diagnosis of HTN. Results: Trekkers had HTN (H, n=60) or no HTN (NH, n=604). Of those with HTN, 50 (83%) took one or more BP medications including ACEIs/ARBs (n=35, 48%), Ca++ channel blockers (n=15, 22%), beta-blockers (n=9, 13%), thiazide diuretics (n=7, 10%), and others (n=5, 7%). At 2800m, systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were greater …

Dust-Off The Ecmo, My Patient Just Inhaled 1,1-Difluoroethane, Robert A. Bassett, Michael Kowalski, William J. Borough, Steven J. Walsh

Research Day

Dust-Off® computer cleaner containing 1,1-difluoroethane (DFE) is frequently cited in cases of inhalation abuse. Malignant cardiac dysrhythmias are a well-recognized complication of DFE toxicity. We describe a patient with prolonged ventricular irritability following DFE inhalation, who was successfully treated with a central α-2 agonist and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

The Sto2 Non-Invasive Tissue Hypoperfusion Monitor As A Screening Tool For Early Sepsis Detection In The Emergency Department, Zachary Kopelman, James Zhou, Alexandra Dattilo, Sandra Schneider, Mary Frances Ward, John D'Angelo, Jason D'Amore

Research Day

Background: Early Recognition of patients with sepsis induced tissue hypoperfusion (SITH) Remains a significant clinical challenge. Non--‐invasive Tissue oxygenation saturation (StO2) Monitors have been developed to provide rapid, low--‐cost, and non--‐invasive bedside assessments of tissue oxygen extraction; they have not been well validated as an initial screening tool for sepsis in the ED. Objectives: To Assess the efficacy of initial bedside StO2 Readings in the early identification of patients with SITH And to compare StO2 Readings with lactate levels. Methods: IRB approved, prospective, observational pilot study of a convenience sample of ED Patients presenting with a sepsis continuum diagnosis. Setting: …