Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Commons^™

Harnessing Exosomes As A Platform For Drug Delivery In Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review For In Vivo And In Vitro Studies, Abdulwahab Teflischi Gharavi, Saeed Irian, Azadeh Niknejad, Keykavous Parang, Mona Salimi

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Breast cancer remains a significant global health concern, emphasizing the critical need for effective treatment strategies, especially targeted therapies. This systematic review summarizes the findings from in vitro and in vivo studies regarding the therapeutic potential of exosomes as drug delivery platforms in the field of breast cancer treatment. A comprehensive search was conducted across bibliographic datasets, including Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus, using relevant queries from several related published articles and the Medical Subject Headings Database. Then, all morphological, biomechanical, histopathological, and cellular-molecular outcomes were systematically collected. A total of 30 studies were identified based on the Preferred …

Limonene Exerts Anti-Inflammatory Effect On Lps-Induced Jejunal Injury In Mice By Inhibiting Nf-Κb/Ap-1 Pathway, Sarmed H. Kathem, Yasameen Sh. Nasrawi, Shihab H. Mutlag, Surya M. Nauli

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The human gastrointestinal system is a complex ecosystem crucial for well-being. During sepsis-induced gut injury, the integrity of the intestinal barrier can be compromised. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an endotoxin from Gram-negative bacteria, disrupts the intestinal barrier, contributing to inflammation and various dysfunctions. The current study explores the protective effects of limonene, a natural compound with diverse biological properties, against LPS-induced jejunal injury in mice. Oral administration of limonene at dosages of 100 and 200 mg/kg was used in the LPS mouse model. The Murine Sepsis Score (MSS) was utilized to evaluate the severity of sepsis, while serum levels of urea and …

Classification Of Colorectal Cancer Using Resnet And Efficientnet Models, Abhishek Ranjan, Priyanshu Srivastva, B Prabadevi, R Sivakumar, Rahul Soangra, Shamala K. Subramaniam

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction:

Cancer is one of the most prevalent diseases from children to elderly adults. This will be deadly if not detected at an earlier stage of the cancerous cell formation, thereby increasing the mortality rate. One such cancer is colorectal cancer, caused due to abnormal growth in the rectum or colon. Early screening of colorectal cancer helps to identify these abnormal growth and can exterminate them before they turn into cancerous cells.

Aim:

Therefore, this study aims to develop a robust and efficient classification system for colorectal cancer through Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) on histological images.

Methods:

Despite challenges in …

Improving Pharmacist-Led Pediatric Patient Education On Oral Chemotherapy At Home, Anika Patel, Christopher M. Nguyen, Kristin Willins, Elsabella Y. Wang, Grace Magedman, Sun Yang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Oral chemotherapy (OC) has been increasingly used in pediatric patients diagnosed with cancer, which is primarily managed in the outpatient setting. Different from adults, pediatric patients face unique challenges in administering these hazardous medications at home. Because of the complexity of pediatric pharmaceutical care and the hazardous nature of chemotherapy agents, comprehensive patient education is imperative to mitigate the potential safety risks associated with OC administration at home. Pharmacists play a vital role in patient education and medication consultations. However, the lack of practice guidelines and limited resources supporting OC counseling are noted. Additional barriers include insufficient knowledge and training …

Targeting Breast Cancer: The Familiar, The Emerging, And The Uncharted Territories, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Arthur Manda, Riya Sidgal, Co Chung

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Breast cancer became the most diagnosed cancer in the world in 2020. Chemotherapy is still the leading clinical strategy in breast cancer treatment, followed by hormone therapy (mostly used in hormone receptor-positive types). However, with our ever-expanding knowledge of signaling pathways in cancer biology, new molecular targets are identified for potential novel molecularly targeted drugs in breast cancer treatment. While this has resulted in the approval of a few molecularly targeted drugs by the FDA (including drugs targeting immune checkpoints), a wide array of signaling pathways seem to be still underexplored. Also, while combinatorial treatments have become common practice in …

Predicting Survival Of Nsclc Patients Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Impact And Timing Of Immune-Related Adverse Events And Prior Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Therapy, Michael R. Sayer, Isa Mambetsariev, Kun-Han Lu, Chi Wah Wong, Ashley Duche, Richard Beuttler, Jeremy Fricke, Rebecca Pharaon, Leonidas Arvanitis, Zahra Eftekhari, Arya Amini, Marianna Koczywas, Erminia Massarelli, Moom Rahman Roosan, Ravi Salgia

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) produce a broad spectrum of immune-related adverse events (irAEs) affecting various organ systems. While ICIs are established as a therapeutic option in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment, most patients receiving ICI relapse. Additionally, the role of ICIs on survival in patients receiving prior targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy has not been well-defined.

Objective: To investigate the impact of irAEs, the relative time of occurrence, and prior TKI therapy to predict clinical outcomes in NSCLC patients treated with ICIs.

Methods: A single center retrospective cohort study identified 354 adult patients with NSCLC receiving ICI …

A High Precision Machine Learning-Enabled System For Predicting Idiopathic Ventricular Arrhythmia Origins, Jianwei Zheng, Guohua Fu, Daniele Struppa, Islam Abudayyeh, Tahmeed Contractor, Kyle Anderson, Huimin Chu, Cyril Rakovski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Radiofrequency catheter ablation (CA) is an efficient antiarrhythmic treatment with a class I indication for idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia (IVA), only when drugs are ineffective or have unacceptable side effects. The accurate prediction of the origins of IVA can significantly increase the operation success rate, reduce operation duration and decrease the risk of complications. The present work proposes an artificial intelligence-enabled ECG analysis algorithm to estimate possible origins of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia at a clinical-grade level accuracy.

Method: A total of 18,612 ECG recordings extracted from 545 patients who underwent successful CA to treat IVA were proportionally sampled into training, …

Evaluation Of Somatic Mutations In Solid Metastatic Pan-Cancer Patients, Moom Roosan, Isa Mambetsariev, Rebecca Pharaon, Jeremy Fricke, Angel R. Baroz, Joseph Chao, Chen Chen, Mohd W. Nasser, Ramakanth Chirravuri-Venkata, Maneesh Jain, Lynette Smith, Susan E. Yost, Karen L. Reckamp, Raju Pillai, Leonidas Arvanitis, Michelle Afkhami, Edward W. Wang, Vincent Chung, Mihaela Cristea, Marwan Fakih, Marianna Koczywas, Erminia Massarelli, Joanne Mortimer, Yuan Yuan, Surinder K. Batra, Sumanta Pal, Ravi Salgia

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Metastasis continues to be the primary cause of all cancer-related deaths despite the recent advancements in cancer treatments. To evaluate the role of mutations in overall survival (OS) and treatment outcomes, we analyzed 957 metastatic patients with seven major cancer types who had available molecular testing results with a FoundationOne CDx^® panel. The most prevalent genes with somatic mutations were TP53, KRAS, APC, and LRP1B. In this analysis, these genes had mutation frequencies higher than in publicly available datasets. We identified that the somatic mutations were seven mutually exclusive gene pairs and an additional fifty-two co-occurring gene pairs. Mutations …

Smartphone-Based Prediction Model For Postoperative Cardiac Surgery Outcomes Using Preoperative Gait And Posture Measures, Rahul Soangra, Thurmon Lockhart

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Gait speed assessment increases the predictive value of mortality and morbidity following older adults’ cardiac surgery. The purpose of this study was to improve clinical assessment and prediction of mortality and morbidity among older patients undergoing cardiac surgery through the identification of the relationships between preoperative gait and postural stability characteristics utilizing a noninvasive-wearable mobile phone device and postoperative cardiac surgical outcomes. This research was a prospective study of ambulatory patients aged over 70 years undergoing non-emergent cardiac surgery. Sixteen older adults with cardiovascular disease (Age 76.1 ± 3.6 years) scheduled for cardiac surgery within the next 24 h were …

A High-Precision Machine Learning Algorithm To Classify Left And Right Outflow Tract Ventricular Tachycardia, Jianwei Zhang, Guohua Fu, Islam Abudayyeh, Magdi Yacoub, Anthony Chang, William Feaster, Louis Ehwerhemuepha, Hesham El-Askary, Xianfeng Du, Bin He, Mingjun Feng, Yibo Yu, Binhao Wang, Jing Liu, Hai Yao, Hulmin Chu, Cyril Rakovski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Multiple algorithms based on 12-lead ECG measurements have been proposed to identify the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) locations from which ventricular tachycardia (VT) and frequent premature ventricular complex (PVC) originate. However, a clinical-grade machine learning algorithm that automatically analyzes characteristics of 12-lead ECGs and predicts RVOT or LVOT origins of VT and PVC is not currently available. The effective ablation sites of RVOT and LVOT, confirmed by a successful ablation procedure, provide evidence to create RVOT and LVOT labels for the machine learning model.

Methods: We randomly sampled training, validation, and testing …

[(Wr)8Wkβa]-Doxorubicin Conjugate: A Delivery System To Overcome Multi-Drug Resistance Against Doxorubicin, Khalid Zoghebi, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi, Rakesh Kumar Tiwari, Keykavous Parang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Doxorubicin (Dox) is an anthracycline chemotherapeutic agent used to treat breast, leukemia, and lymphoma malignancies. However, cardiotoxicity and inherent acquired resistance are major drawbacks, limiting its clinical application. We have previously shown that cyclic peptide [WR]₉ containing alternate tryptophan (W) and arginine (R) residues acts as an efficient molecular transporter. An amphiphilic cyclic peptide containing a lysine (K) residue and alternative W and R was conjugated through a free side chain amino group with Dox via a glutarate linker to afford [(WR)₈WKβA]-Dox conjugate. Antiproliferative assays were performed in different cancer cell lines using the conjugate and the …

Associations Between Daily Affect And Sleep Vary By Sleep Assessment Type: What Can Ambulatory Eeg Add To The Picture?, Brett Messman, Danica C. Slavish, Jessica R. Dietch, Brooke N. Jenkins, Maia Ten Brink, Daniel J. Taylor

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective/Background

Disrupted sleep can be a cause and a consequence of affective experiences. However, daily longitudinal studies show sleep assessed via sleep diaries is more consistently associated with positive and negative affect than sleep assessed via actigraphy. The objective of the study was to test whether sleep parameters derived from ambulatory electroencephalography (EEG) in a naturalistic setting were associated with day-to-day changes in affect.

Participants/Method

Eighty adults (mean age = 32.65 years, 63% female) completed 7 days of affect and sleep assessments. We examined bidirectional associations between morning positive affect and negative affect with sleep assessed via diary, actigraphy, and …

A Multivariable Model Of Parent Satisfaction, Pain, And Opioid Administration In A Pediatric Emergency Department, Candice D. Donaldson, Thomas W. Heyming, Louis Ehwerhemuepha, Brooke N. Jenkins, Michelle A. Fortier, William Feaster, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Children and adolescents are not impervious to the unprecedented epidemic of opioid misuse in the United States. In 2016 more than 88,000 adolescents between the ages of 12–17 reported misusing opioid medication, and evidence suggests that there has been a rise in opioid-related mortality for pediatric patients. A major source of prescribed opioids for the treatment of pain is the emergency department (ED). The current study sought to assess the complex relationship between opioid administration, pain severity, and parent satisfaction with children’s care in a pediatric ED.

Methods: We examined data from a tertiary pediatric care facility. A health …

Parent Responses To Pediatric Pain: The Differential Effects Of Ethnicity On Opioid Consumption, Candice D. Donaldson, Brooke N. Jenkins, Michelle A. Fortier, Michael T. Phan, Daniel M. Tomaszewski, Sun Yang, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

Within the context of the United States opioid epidemic, some parents often fear the use of opioids to help manage their children's postoperative pain. As a possible consequence, parents often do not dispense optimal analgesic medications to their children after surgery, putting their children at risk of suffering from postsurgical pain. The objective of this research was to assess ethnicity as a predictor of both pain and opioid consumption, and to examine how Hispanic/Latinx and Non-Hispanic White parents alter their child's opioid consumption in response to significant postsurgical pain.

Methods

Participants were 254 children undergoing outpatient tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy …

Nanoparticle-Mediated Drug Delivery For The Treatment Of Cardiovascular Diseases, Rajasekharreddy Pala, Vt Anju, Madhu Dyavaiah, Siddhardha Busi, Surya M. Nauli

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are one of the foremost causes of high morbidity and mortality globally. Preventive, diagnostic, and treatment measures available for CVDs are not very useful, which demands promising alternative methods. Nanoscience and nanotechnology open a new window in the area of CVDs with an opportunity to achieve effective treatment, better prognosis, and less adverse effects on non-target tissues. The application of nanoparticles and nanocarriers in the area of cardiology has gathered much attention due to the properties such as passive and active targeting to the cardiac tissues, improved target specificity, and sensitivity. It has reported that more than …

Demographic Predictors Of Adult Behaviors In The Pediatric Postoperative Environment, Natasha H. Hikita, Amber Osorno, Carlie Taurosa, Michelle A. Fortier, Zeev N. Kain, Brooke N. Jenkins

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Over 85% of children experience postoperative pain. If poorly treated, pediatric postoperative pain may lead to various negative health outcomes. Adult behaviors may be associated with child experiences in the postoperative environment. For example, adult behaviors such as distraction, humor, and coping advice divert a child’s attention away from their pain and thus, may significantly reduce child postoperative distress. In contrast, adult behaviors such as empathy, reassurance, and apology direct a child’s attention towards their pain which may increase a child’s overall postoperative distress. Moreover, patient demographic factors, like child ethnicity, may significantly alter the frequency of use of these …

Image Restoration Using Automatic Damaged Regions Detection And Machine Learning-Based Inpainting Technique, Chloe Martin-King

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

In this dissertation we propose two novel image restoration schemes. The first pertains to automatic detection of damaged regions in old photographs and digital images of cracked paintings. In cases when inpainting mask generation cannot be completely automatic, our detection algorithm facilitates precise mask creation, particularly useful for images containing damage that is tedious to annotate or difficult to geometrically define. The main contribution of this dissertation is the development and utilization of a new inpainting technique, region hiding, to repair a single image by training a convolutional neural network on various transformations of that image. Region hiding is also …

Wavelet-Based Analysis Of Physical Activity And Sleep Movement Data From Wearable Sensors Among Obese Adults, Rahul Soangra, Vennila Krishnan

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Decreased physical activity in obese individuals is associated with a prevalence of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. Physicians usually recommend that obese individuals change their lifestyle, specifically changes in diet, exercise, and other physical activities for obesity management. Therefore, understanding physical activity and sleep behavior is an essential aspect of obesity management. With innovations in mobile and electronic health care technologies, wearable inertial sensors have been used extensively over the past decade for monitoring human activities. Despite significant progress with the wearable inertial sensing technology, there is a knowledge gap among researchers regarding how to analyze longitudinal multi-day inertial sensor data …

Postoperative Pain: Factors And Tools To Improve Pain Management In Children, Mai M. Makhlouf, Eric Robles Garibay, Brooke N. Jenkins, Zeev N. Kain, Michelle Fortier

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Outpatient surgery has made it increasingly common for parents to manage pain in the home setting. Studies have shown that parents often under treat pain, leaving children vulnerable to the negative side effects of suboptimal pain management. Multiple factors affect pain management like child’s age and developmental stage, language, cultural values like stoicism, parental beliefs about medication, biological differences among groups, etc. Understanding all the factors involved can help healthcare providers and parents better understand pain and contribute to optimal pain management. Multiple tools and technological interventions have been created to help create a better understanding of pain and a …

Children And Their Parents’ Assessment Of Postoperative Surgical Pain: Agree Or Disagree?, Olivia Kaminsky, Michelle Fortier, Brooke N. Jenkins, Robert S. Stevenson, Jeffrey I. Gold, Jeannie Zuk, Brenda Golianu, Sherrie H. Kaplan, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective

The purpose of this study is to compare postoperative pain scores between children undergoing tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) surgery and their parents, identify potential predictors for this disagreement, and determine possible impact on analgesic administration.

Methods

This is a prospective longitudinal study conducted with children undergoing outpatient T&A in 4 major tertiary hospitals and their parents. Children and their parents were enrolled prior to surgery and completed baseline psychological instruments assessing parental anxiety (STAI), parental coping style (MBSS), child temperament (EAS) and parental medication administration attitude questionnaire (MAQ). Postoperatively, parents and children completed at-home pain severity ratings (Faces Pain …

Changing Healthcare Provider And Parent Behaviors In The Pediatric Post‐Anesthesia‐Care‐Unit To Reduce Child Pain: Nurse And Parent Training In Postoperative Stress (Np‐Tips), Brooke N. Jenkins, Michelle Fortier, Robert S. Stevenson, Mai Makhlouf, Paulina Lim, Remy Converse, Zeev N. Kain

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Children who undergo surgery experience significant pain in the post anesthesia care unit. Nurse and parent behaviors in the post anesthesia care unit directly impact child postoperative pain. Therefore, we have developed and evaluated (Phase 1) and then tested (Phase 2) the feasibility of a new intervention (Nurse and Parent Training in Postoperative Stress) to alter parent and nurse behaviors in a way consistent with reducing child postoperative pain.

Methods

In Phase 1, a multidisciplinary team of experts (physicians, nurses, and psychologists) developed an empirically‐based intervention which was then evaluated by experienced nurses (N = 8) and parents …

Efficacy And Safety Comparison Between Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid And Mitomycin C In Reducing The Risk Of Corneal Haze After Prk Treatment In Vivo, Govindaraj Anumanthan, Ajay Sharma, Michael R. Waggoner, Chuck W. Hamm, Suneel Gupta, Nathan P. Hesemann, Rajiv R. Mohan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE:

This study compared the efficacy and safety of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and mitomycin C (MMC) up to 4 months in the prevention of corneal haze induced by photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in rabbits in vivo.

METHODS:

Corneal haze in rabbits was produced with −9.00 diopter PRK. A single application of SAHA (25 μM) or MMC (0.02%) was applied topically immediately after PRK. Effects of the two drugs were analyzed by slit-lamp microscope, specular microscope, TUNEL assay, and immunofluorescence.

RESULTS:

Single topical adjunct use of SAHA (25 μM) or MMC (0.02%) after PRK attenuated more than 95% corneal …

Alzheimer’S Disease: Dawn Of A New Era?, Farideh Amirrad, Emira Bousoik, Kiumars Shamloo, Hassan Al-Shiyab, Viet-Hong Nguyen, Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease characterized by a progressive decline in cognition and memory, leading to significant impairment in daily activities and ultimately death. It is the most common cause of dementia, the prevalence of which increases with age; however, age is not the only predisposing factor. The pathology of this cognitive impairing disease is still not completely understood, which has limited the development of valid therapeutic options. Recent years have witnessed a wide range of novel approaches to combat this disease, so that they greatly increased our understanding of the disease and of the unique drug …

Efficient Synthesis Of Cn2097 Using In Situ Activation Of Sulfhydryl Group, Shaban Darwish, Keykavous Parang, John Marshall, Dennis J. Goebel, Rakesh Tiwari

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

CN2097 (R₇Cs-sCYK[KTE(β-Ala)]V) is a rationally designed peptidomimetic that shows effectiveness in preclinical models for the treatment of neurological disorders, such as Angelman syndrome, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and stroke. Because of its potential therapeutic activity for the treatment of human CNS disorders, there was an urgent need to develop an efficient strategy for large-scale synthesis of CN2097. The synthesis of CN2097 was accomplished using Fmoc/tBu solid phase chemistry in multiple steps. Two different peptide fragments (activated polyarginine peptide Npys-sCR₇ and CYK[KTE(β-Ala)]V) were synthesized, followed by solution phase coupling in water. Activation of the polyarginine (CR₇) …

The Motor Cortical Representation Of A Muscle Is Not Homogeneous In Brain Connectivity, Jo Armour Smith, Alaa Albishi, Sarine Babikian, Skulpan Asavasopon, Beth E. Fisher, Jason Kutch

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Functional connectivity patterns of the motor cortical representational area of single muscles have not been extensively mapped in humans, particularly for the axial musculature. Functional connectivity may provide a neural substrate for adaptation of muscle activity in axial muscles that have both voluntary and postural functions. The purpose of this study was to combine brain stimulation and neuroimaging to both map the cortical representation of the external oblique (EO) in primary motor cortex (M1) and supplementary motor area (SMA), and to establish the resting-state functional connectivity associated with this representation. Motor evoked potentials were elicited from the EO muscle in …

Actionable Patient Safety Solution (Apss) #3c: Improve Prevention Of Severe Hypoglycemia, Jerika Lam, Steven Barker, Michael Ramsay, Ariana Longley, Joe Kiani

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

This report presents a plan of action for introducing a "program to reduce errors in the recognition and treatment of [severe hypoglycemia]".

Surveillance, Epidemiological, And Virological Detection Of Highly Pathogenic H5n1 Avian Influenza Viruses In Duck And Poultry From Bangladesh, Wahedul Karim Ansari, Md Safiullah Parvej, Mohamed E. El Zowalaty, Sally Jackson, Stephen A. Bustin, Adel K. Ibrahim, Md Tanvir Rahman, Han Zhang, Mohammad Ferdousur Rahman Khan, Md Mostakin Ahamd, Md. Fasiur Rahman, Marzia Rahman, Khm Nazmul H. Nazir, Sultan Ahmed, Md Liakot Hossenn, Md Abdul Kafi, Mat Yamage, Nitish C. Debnath, Graba Ahmed, Hossam Ashour, Md Masoud, Ayman Noreddin, Md B. Rahman

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) continue to pose a global threat. Waterfowl are the main reservoir and are responsible for the spillover of AIVs to other hosts. This study was conducted as part of routine surveillance activities in Bangladesh and it reports on the serological and molecular detection of H5N1 AIV subtype. A total of 2169 cloacal and 2191 oropharyngeal swabs as well as 1725 sera samples were collected from live birds including duck and chicken in different locations in Bangladesh between the years of 2013 and 2014. Samples were tested using virus isolation, serological tests and molecular methods of RT-PCR. …

1st Place Research Paper: The Effectiveness Of Yoga Therapy On An Adult, Post-Stroke Population: A Systematic Review, Baylor E. Hogan

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

Objectives: The objectives of this paper are to (1) give a brief overview of stroke pathophysiology (2) outline yoga as a therapeutic strategy (3) present the current research on yoga rehabilitation for stroke (4) discuss the efficacy of yoga for chronic stroke.

Methods: Relevant terms were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Academic OneFile, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar electronic databases. Studies were excluded if they contained pediatric stroke, non-stroke neurological diseases, or subjects with comorbidities. Statistically significant data was extracted for the primary measures of nine trials.

Results: Four studies measured statistically significant outcomes (p<0.05). These included improvements in balance, independence, endurance, trait anxiety, fear of falling, self-efficacy, pain, strength, range of motion (ROM), activity, participation, and quality of life (QoL). Discussion: Lack of statistical significance in post-stroke depression (PSD) measures may be due to inadequate intervention length or a psychosocial cause of depression. Improvements in balance, flexibility, and strength from yoga participation permitted progress in disability and functionality. Finally, overall health-related quality of life (HRQL) is affected by the severity of mental disorders and physical disability. Yoga can have a positive effect in both domains and therefore, may improve HRQL.

Conclusion: …

1st Place Contest Entry: The Effectiveness Of Yoga Therapy On An Adult, Post-Stroke Population: A Systematic Review, Baylor E. Hogan

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This is Baylor Hogan's submission for the 2016 Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize, which won first place. She wrote about the effects of yoga therapy on the physical and mental wellbeing of stroke patients. You can read the final essay that came out of her research here.

Baylor is a senior at Chapman University, majoring in Kinesiology. Her faculty mentor is Dr. Elizabeth DeBaets.

Effectiveness Of Pharmacist-Led Amiodarone Monitoring Services On Improving Adherence To Amiodarone Monitoring Recommendations: A Systematic Review, Dave L. Dixon, Steven P. Dunn, Michael S. Kelly, Timothy R. Mcllarky, Roy E. Brown

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Amiodarone remains the mostly frequently used antiarrhythmic in clinical practice and is most often used to maintain normal sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation who have failed a rate control strategy. Amiodarone has superior efficacy over other antiarrhythmics, a lower risk of torsade de pointes, and a better cardiovascular safety profile in patients with structural heart disease. However, amiodarone is associated with notable noncardiac toxicities affecting the thyroid, lungs, eyes, liver, and central nervous system. Since 2000, clinicians have been advised to follow amiodarone monitoring guidelines provided by the Heart Rhythm Society. Adherence to these recommendations in clinical practice, …