Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Commons^™

Transmission Competence Of B. Burgdorferi Infected Ixodes Ticks And Development Of An Ospc-Based Lyme Disease Vaccine, Samanta Kamalika

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Introduction. Lyme disease, otherwise called Lyme borreliosis, is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). Studying the increase in overall Lyme disease incidence requires understanding the role of the vector Ixodes scapularis (I. scapularis) as the agent that carries the spirochete which is important to limit the occurrence of Lyme disease. Once we understand the vector-pathogen response, it also becomes important to determine the remedies for Lyme disease. Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics if detected early, but the major obstacle lies in the early detection process. Therefore, it is important to investigate alternative preventive …

Hrmobile: A Lightweight, Local Architecture For Heart Rate Measurement, Sam Morton, Sam Morton

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) are important metrics in the study of numerous physical and psychiatric conditions. Previously, measurement of heart rate was relegated to clinical settings, and was neither convenient nor captured a patient’s typical resting state. In effect, this made gathering heart rate data costly and introduced noise. The current prevalence of mobile phone technology and Internet access has increased the viability of remote health monitoring, thus presenting an opportunity to substantially improve the speed, convenience, and reliability of heart rate readings. Recent attention has focused on different methods for remote, non-contact heart rate measurement. Of …

Using Data And Evidence To Improve Quality Of Life For Patients With Alzheimer’S Disease, Ying Wang

2023

As an irreversible, progressive brain disorder, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) imposes a severe burden upon patients and their caregivers, as well as the healthcare system. Of the ten leading causes of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s disease is the only one without a pharmacological intervention that has been proven to cure or delay the onset of the disease. Aging is the primary risk factor contributing to Alzheimer’s disease in the elderly. With an aging population that continues to grow, the challenges for the healthcare system surrounding AD become more and more serious. My dissertation aims to contribute to a better …

Mitochondria As Causes Of And Therapeutic Targets In Chronic Post-Sepsis Skeletal Muscle Weakness, Meagan Scott Kingren

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences

Sepsis, or the organ damage that ensues after the body fails to properly contain a local infection, is the leading cause of in-patient hospitalization in the United States. Advances in critical care medicine over the last 20 years have enabled most sepsis patients to survive the life-threatening dysregulated immune response. However, a majority of survivors report chronic weakness and fatigue years after sepsis, and the cause of this weakness remains largely unknown. This dissertation work focused first on elucidating the major causes of post-sepsis muscle weakness (Aim 1). This aim involved a time-course study to determine when muscle weakness was …

Standard Deviations Of Mr Signal Intensities Show A Consistent Trend During Imaging Follow-Ups For Glioblastoma Patients When Corrected For Non-Biological Heterogeneity Due To Hardware And Software Variation, Subhendra N. Sarkar, Rafael Rojas, Evans Lespinasse, Xiangfu Zhang, Ruth Zeron

Publications and Research

Introduction

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has a poor prognosis in spite of advanced MRI guided treatments today. Routine MRI using conventional T₁ or advanced permeability based MRI of GBM often does not adequately represent changing tumor phases or overall survival. In this work, region of interest (ROI) based tissue MR standard deviation (SD) is demonstrated as an important MRI variable that could be a potential biomarker of GBM heterogeneity and radioresistance.

Materials and methods

MRI characterization is often qualitative and lacks reproducibility. Using standardized MRI phantoms we have normalized retrospective records of 12 radioresistant GBM patients that underwent radiation therapy …

Investigating Visinin-Like Protein 1 And Ubiquitinated Visinin-Like Protein 1 As Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers, Yueming Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite significant progress in understanding the complex pathophysiology of TBI, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. The primary brain damage is acute and irreversible. However, secondary brain injuries often develop gradually over months to years, creating an opportunity for critical therapeutic interventions. In the past decade, research on TBI biomarkers has seen significant progress. This progress has been driven by the diverse nature of TBI pathologies and the challenges they present for evaluation, management, and prognosis. TBI biomarker proteins resulting from axonal, neuronal, or glial …

Social Determinants Of Mental Health Considerations For Counseling Children And Adolescents, Kaprea F. Johnson, Patrick D. Cunningham, Camila Tirado, Oswaldo Moreno, Nancy N. Gillespie, Bisola Duyile, Dequindre C. Hughes, Emily Goodman Scott, Dana Brookover

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Childhood is a crucial period for developing a strong social and emotional foundation critical for mental well-being. Given that the childhood developmental period is vital for mental health, it is essential to address social determinants that can disrupt development and have lasting adverse effects on psychological and physical health. Therefore, professional counselors specializing in children and adolescent mental health care can benefit from understanding and utilizing the social determinants of mental health (SDOMH) framework in practice. This article details the SDOMH framework and considerations for SDOMH-informed treatments for professional counselors working in settings with children and adolescents.

The Telltale Of Left Atrial Thrombus Formation In Mitral Stenosis: Revisiting The Virchow’S Triad, Bayushi Eka Putra, Rina Ariani, Anwar Santoso, Prima Almazini, Estu Rudiktyo, Amiliana Mardiani Soesanto

Journal of the Hong Kong College of Cardiology

Aims: This study was conducted to assess the relationship of simple hematological parameters with the incidence of left atrial thrombus in rheumatic mitral stenosis in addition to conventional contributing factors. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in patients with significant rheumatic stenosis from 1 January 2018 to 31 July 2021. Thrombus evaluation was confirmed by transthoracic or transesophageal echocardiography. Lab tests were performed within 10 days prior to the echocardiographic evaluation. Subjects with significant mitral regurgitation will be excluded. Logistic regression analysis was done to evaluate the relationship between each variable to the presence of a thrombus. Results: Of …

Dermatoses Of The Breast During Lactation, Divya Shan, Sindhuja Koppu, Valerie Coleman, Gauri Gulati, Kimberly Salkey

Open and Affordable Course Content at VCU

No abstract provided.

Dermatologic Manifestations Of Rheumatic Disease: Malignant Cutaneous Tumors, Divya Shan, Julianna S. Kang, Allison Cinats, Julia R. Nunley, Beth Rubinstein

Open and Affordable Course Content at VCU

No abstract provided.

An Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Drug Development Collaboration Stimulated By The Virginia Drug Discovery Consortium, John S. Lazo, Ruben M.L. Colunga-Biancatelli, Pavel A. Solopov, John D. Catravas

Bioelectrics Publications

The genesis of most older medicinal agents has generally been empirical. During the past one and a half centuries, at least in the Western countries, discovering and developing drugs has been primarily the domain of pharmaceutical companies largely built upon concepts emerging from organic chemistry. Public sector funding for the discovery of new therapeutics has more recently stimulated local, national, and international groups to band together and focus on new human disease targets and novel treatment approaches. This Perspective describes one contemporary example of a newly formed collaboration that was simulated by a regional drug discovery consortium. University of Virginia, …

Heart Disease Prediction Using Stacking Model With Balancing Techniques And Dimensionality Reduction, Ayesha Noor, Nadeem Javaid, Nabil Alrajeh, Babar Mansoor, Ali Khaqan, Safdar Hussain Bouk

School of Cybersecurity Faculty Publications

Heart disease is a serious worldwide health issue with wide-reaching effects. Since heart disease is one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, early detection is crucial. Emerging technologies like Machine Learning (ML) are currently being actively used by the biomedical, healthcare, and health prediction industries. PaRSEL, a new stacking model is proposed in this research, that combines four classifiers, Passive Aggressive Classifier (PAC), Ridge Classifier (RC), Stochastic Gradient Descent Classifier (SGDC), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), at the base layer, and LogitBoost is deployed for the final predictions at the meta layer. The imbalanced and irrelevant features in the …

Medical Diagnosis Via Refined Neutrosophic Fuzzy Logic: Detection Of Illness Using Neutrosophic Sets, K. Hemabala, B. Srinivasa Kumar, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The objective of the paper is to implement and validate diagnosis in the medical field via refined neutrosophic fuzzy logic (RNFL). As such, we have proposed a Max-Min composition (MMC) method in RNFL. This method deals with the diagnosis under certain constraints like uncertainty and indeterminacy. Further, we have considered the diagnosis problems to validate the sensitivity analysis of the novel multi attribute decision-making technique. Finally, we gave the graphical representations and compared the obtained results with other existing measures in refined neutrosophic fuzzy sets.

Molecular Detection Of Entamoeba Histolytica In Diarrheic Fecal Samples From Patients Attending National Hepatology And Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Azza Hasan Abbas, El Shahat Ahmed Elshahat, Heba Mohamed Abdelglil

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background: Amoebiasis is a worldwide disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica infection. The true prevalence is unknown due to the difficulty in distinguishing Entamoeba histolytica from non-pathogenic amoebas especially when microscopic diagnosis is performed, to overcome microscopy misidentification. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay is necessary as a highly sensitive and specific technique. Objective: To determine the value of Real-Time PCR (RT.PCR) in the diagnosis of Entamoeba histolytica in the stool samples of diarrheic patients attending NHTMI versus microscopy, copro- antigen, and serum antibodies detection techniques. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 diarrheic patients. Their stool samples were …

Integrating Feminist Approaches In Counseling Work With Adult Women, Kristen M. Toole

Adultspan Journal

The scope of ‘women’s issues’ in counseling is an ever-evolving landscape. Recent events such as the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women serve as powerful reminders of the necessity of this focus while underscoring a deep-rooted history of oppressive patriarchal structures. Therefore, counselors must remain informed of the unique considerations surrounding adult women in counseling and acquire proficiency in versatile techniques to meet this population’s nuanced needs. This article examines the complexity of contemporary womanhood and explores the fundamentals of Feminist Counseling Theory (FCT), a holistic, multiculturally conscious, social justice theory in counseling. …

Recognizing Ableism And Practicing Disability Humility: Conceptualizing Disability Across The Lifespan, Katherine M. Atkins, Tamekia Bell, Tilottama Roy-White, Maria Page

Adultspan Journal

Disability culture is often misunderstood by counselors who lack extensive training in working with individuals with disabilities (IWDs) (Stuntzner & Hartley, 2014). This quantitative study used the Counseling Clients with Disability Survey (CCDS) to explore the beliefs and perceived knowledge of counselors-in-training (CITs), counselors, and counselor educators regarding preparation to counsel IWDs, which is particularly important as disability status can change across the lifespan, and given that the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards Review Committee provided a guide to the draft standards incorporating the infusion of disability concepts. Results indicate that counselors were competent …

Diagnosis And Management Of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, Sara Read

Capstone Showcase

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is a chronic and debilitating condition that can be encountered in a multitude of clinical settings. It is classified as a functional gastrointestinal disorder and is often misdiagnosed. Proper identification and management of this condition are crucial to patient care and quality of life. This article reviews the hypothesized etiologies, clinical presentation, and diagnosis of CVS as well as recommendations for management in a variety of settings. As an understudied and underdiagnosed condition, it is important that clinicians have a basic understanding of this disorder.

Cme: Vitamins, Antidepressants, And The Placebo Effect - How To Help Your Patients, Nicko Inocencio

Capstone Showcase

Depression affects roughly 280 million people globally. The disease puts patients at increased risk for stroke, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes. The psychosocial causes of depression are well-known, but the biochemical causes are multifactorial. Theories range from homocysteine excess, calcium modulation at the neuron, inflammation, cortisol elevation, and disruption of the HPA axis. At the center, however, is serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Pharmacologic treatment directly aims at modulation of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. First-line treatment is a combination of SSRIs/SNRIs with cognitive behavioral therapy. If patients do not see improvement with the above therapy other agents such as bupropion, mirtazapine, …

One In Every Twenty-Six, Rey'na Riggans

Capstone Showcase

There is a disorder that is rather common within the world and yet is not well known. It is a something that affects one in every twenty-six individuals. It is called epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which a person to experience bursts of random electrical activity within their brains, these bursts being called "seizures." This article discusses this disorder and goes into detail about the forms of it, procedures that are done to try and help those living with epilepsy, and artwork that is inspired by this disorder.

Deciphering The Salivary Microbiome In Crohn’S Disease Patients With Different Factors Contributing To Dysbiosis, Hala Elzayat

Theses

Crohn’s Disease (CD) is a chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), common in the UAE. Microbiota is necessary to maintain a balanced gut environment which is essential for good health. Dysbiosis can predispose to many diseases including CD. The oral cavity has the second largest and most diverse microbiota after the gut harboring over 700 species of bacteria. This study aims to investigate the alterations in the salivary microbiome in patients with CD compared to Healthy controls (HC). It also aims to compare CD patients for salivary microbiome complexity and diversity according to different factors that can contribute to dysbiosis, including …

Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic (Pbpk) Modeling For The Preclinical Development Of Spectinamide Antibiotics, Keyur R. Parmar

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Despite being an ancient disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and after decades of research, tuberculosis (TB) still affects millions of people every year worldwide. In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 10 million people developed tuberculosis and 1.5 million died of the disease. With the increase in the multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) cases, the treatment for TB with the standard first and second-line therapy is becoming increasingly difficult. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find new anti-TB drugs as combination partners of existing and experimental classes of antimicrobial agents to shorten and simplify the …

Diagnostic Dilemma: Schwannoma Or Ganglion Cyst, Karthik Ks, Prakash M, Gurumurthy B, Sujanatheja Js, Pramod Bm, Punith N

Digital Journal of Clinical Medicine

Schwannomas are rare, slow growing benign tumors of peripheral nerve sheath originating from Schwann cells surrounding the nerve associated with delayed presentation of pain and paresthesia. Their incidence being 5% of all upper extremity tumors. They may be a part of neurofibromatosis called schwannomatosis with multiple peripheral schwannomas. We present a case of solitary schwannomas from the peripheral nerves probably superficial branch of median nerve mistaken initially for ganglion cyst.

Brain Activity Associated With Taste Stimulation: A Mechanism For Neuroplastic Change?, Angela M. Dietsch, Ross M. Westemeyer, Douglas H. Schultz

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Purpose: Neuroplasticity may be enhanced by increasing brain activation and bloodflow in neural regions relevant to the target behavior.We administered precisely formulated and dosed taste stimuli to determine whether the associated brain activity patterns included areas that underlie swallowing control.

Methods: Five taste stimuli (unflavored, sour, sweet-sour, lemon, and orange suspensions) were administered in timing-regulated and temperature-controlled 3 mL doses via a customized pump/tubing system to 21 healthy adults during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Whole-brain analyses of fMRI data assessed main effects of taste stimulation as well as differential effects of taste profile.

Results: Differences in …

Use Of Bioheat Modeling To Characterize And Optimize Implantable Medical Devices And Neuromodulation Technologies, Adantchede Louis Zannou

Dissertations and Theses

Medical device development includes prototyping, benchtop characterization, preclinical studies, and clinical trials. Understanding the limitations and potential adverse effects of medical devices prior to their administration in humans is a crucial first step. Optimizing medical devices is essential to employing technology and improving patients care. Computational modeling is widely adopted as a powerful tool to predict stimulation/recording parameter optimization, rapid electrode/device prototyping, investigating novel mechanism of action, and testing working principles of any medical devices. Many implantable neuromodulation technologies including Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), which provide substantial therapeutic benefit for patient population with lower back pain, produces heat via the …

Analysis Of Biologically Effective Dose For Retroactive Yttrium-90 Trans-Arterial Radioembolization Treatment Optimization, Mj Lindsey

CMC Senior Theses

Trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) is a protracted modality of radiation therapy where radionuclides labeled with Yttrium-90 (⁹⁰Y) are inserted inside a patient's hepatic artery to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While TARE has been shown to be a clinically effective and safe treatment, there is little understanding of the radiobiological relationship between absorbed dose and tissue response, and thus there is no dosimetric standard for treatment planning. The Biologically Effective Dose (BED) formalism, derived from the Linear-Quadratic model of radiobiology, is used to weigh the absorbed dose by the time pattern of delivery. BED is a virtual dose that can …

Investigating The Physiological Use Of An Organ-On-A-Chip Device Through The Design And Fabrication Of A Micro-Electrical Blood-Brain Barrier (Μe-Bbb) System, Amrita Srinivasan, Kiana Aran, Jonalyn Herce, Noor Chaudhry, Allexa Ortiz

CMC Senior Theses

Aging is considered the main risk factor for various neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Aging is associated with an increase in neuroinflammation, which is a significant contributor to cognitive impairment observed in these age-related neurodegenerative diseases. However, studying brain behavior remains a challenge due to the complex nature of isolating brain tissue from an organism. Modeling the brain allows for further study of these neurodegenerative diseases. Organ-on-a- chip (OoC), a system containing engineered or natural tissues grown within microfluidic chips, has emerged as a promising tool for mimicking human physiology in a controlled microenvironment. A …

Investigation Into The Potential For Acquired Cross Tolerances Of Amphetamines, Benjamin Weldon

CMC Senior Theses

In the United States, the treatment of ADHD through use of psychostimulants in adolescents is a growing reality that many people know today and many more will know in the coming years. Although the effectiveness of psychostimulants is a known asset, the benefits of these medications may not be a permanent solution, suggesting not only the presence of a tolerance build up, but as many stimulants are prescribed in a joint effort to combat ADHD, a possible cross tolerance between two prescribed medications. There are minimal studies published that have addressed the topic of cross stimulation tolerance buildup between prescription …

An Explainable Deep Learning Prediction Model For Severity Of Alzheimer's Disease From Brain Images, Godwin O. Ekuma

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have become the go-to method for medical imaging classification on various imaging modalities for binary and multiclass problems. Deep CNNs extract spatial features from image data hierarchically, with deeper layers learning more relevant features for the classification application. The effectiveness of deep learning models are hampered by limited data sets, skewed class distributions, and the undesirable "black box" of neural networks, which decreases their understandability and usability in precision medicine applications. This thesis addresses the challenge of building an explainable deep learning model for a clinical application: predicting the severity of Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD …

Research Model Applications In The Investigation Of Vascular Disease Treatments, Alex Anthony Dangler

Dissertations and Theses

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a pressing global health issue with significant socioeconomic consequences. Within the spectrum of CVDs, peripheral artery disease (PAD) and aortic disease necessitate the development of effective and safe treatments. To achieve this, various research models are employed to investigate molecular mechanisms of cells, understand cellular interactions in vascular diseases, assess biocompatibility, and test and evaluate medical devices. This dissertation examines research models and their applications in the advancement of treatments for vascular diseases. For the evaluation of liposome delivery systems in PAD, an ApoE-/- cellular mouse model was employed to investigate the cellular uptake of liposomes …

Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry Quantitation Of O-Cresol In Hydrolyzed Human Urine To Assess Toluene Exposure, Eric Langlois, Sébastien Gagné

Études primaires

Rationale

Toluene is a volatile organic compound used in domestic and industrial applications. The main routes of workplace exposure to toluene are inhalation and dermal contact. As toluene exposure can cause severe nervous system damage, its quantification is crucial to prevent occupational illness. Toluene is metabolized mainly as hippuric acid, S-benzylmercapturic acid and epoxides. These are rapidly converted to o-/p-cresol, which is then excreted in the urine as conjugated glucuronides and sulfates. o-Cresol and its conjugates can be chemically hydrolyzed to form free o-cresol, which can then serve as a urinary biomarker of toluene exposure. Current …