Equipment and Supplies Commons^™

Improving Medical Diagnostics With Vision-Language Models: Convex Hull-Based Uncertainty Analysis, Ferhat Ozgur Catak, Murat Kuzlu, Taylor Patrick, Michel Audette

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In recent years, vision-language models (VLMs) have been applied to various fields, including healthcare, education, finance, and manufacturing, with remarkable performance. However, concerns remain regarding VLMs' consistency and uncertainty, particularly in critical applications such as healthcare, which demand a high level of trust and reliability. This paper proposes a novel approach to evaluate uncertainty in VLMs' responses using a convex hull approach on a healthcare application for visual question answering (VQA). For any VLM, temperature refers to a sampling parameter used in probabilistic generation, which controls the randomness of the model's output. The LLM-CXR model is selected as the medical …

Ophthoacr (Ophthalmology Automated Chart Review): An Ai-Powered Tool For Complete Automation Of Ophthalmology Chart Reviews And Cohort Data Analysis, Karen M. Chen, Kevin W. Chen, Vlad Diaconita, Stanley Chang, Leejee H. Suh

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Purpose: Retrospective chart reviews in ophthalmology are essential for gaining clinical insights, but they remain labor-intensive and prone to error. Despite digitization through electronic health records, extracting and interpreting lengthy, unstructured patient histories remains challenging, particularly in ophthalmology, which relies heavily on both imaging and text-based reports. We introduce OphthoACR, a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool for automated chart review and cohort analyses in ophthalmology. Methods: OphthoACR was applied to extract 16 variables of increasing task difficulty from the complete chart histories of 91 patients who underwent secondary intraocular lens surgery at the Columbia University …

The Science Of Sound: Studying The Cognitive, Emotional, And Physiological Effects Of Frequency, Genre, And Music, Jett Yarborough

Senior Honors Theses

Music influences emotion, physiology, and cognition, yet little is known about how the frequency it is tuned to affects these influences. Prior research has shown that music tuned to 432 Hz can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep. My colleagues and I conducted two studies to investigate this. Our research found that music tuned to 432 Hz promotes a significant increase in memory retention and induces a state of focus and relaxation. These results suggest that shifting from the standard tuning frequency of 440 Hz to 432 Hz could have a profoundly positive impact on our daily lives. …

Enhancing Cataract Surgery Outcomes: Optimal Use Of Pre- And Post-Operative Eye Drops, Keith Skolnick M.D., Anu Valiaveedu

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Many preoperative and postoperative cataract patients struggle with comprehending the use of prescription medication as directed. Language barriers and low health literacy levels are major factors contributing to improper use of prescriptions. To increase patients comprehension, the Fort Lauderdale Eye Institute employed an educational intervention consisting of a live presentation and an instructional video. Results found that 44% of patients were hesitant to ask questions to clinical staff, 32% felt overwhelmed, and nearly 70% lacked confidence in using their prescribed eye drops. Following the intervention, 91% of patients reported increased confidence in their medications, and most indicated that the video …

Mechanistic Investigation Of Ring-Opening Polymerization Of Polycaprolactone Using Tin(Ii) Catalysts: Ligand Effects And Biomedical Applications, Eva-Larue M. Barber

Honors Scholar Theses

This research explores the mechanistic aspects of ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (CL) to produce polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polymer widely used in biomedical applications. The study investigates how light exposure and catalyst concentration influence polymerization efficiency, using tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate [Sn(Oct)₂] as the catalyst in a non-polar toluene solvent at 90 °C. Reactions were conducted under either ambient light or black light bulb (BLB) illumination, with monomer-to-catalyst ratios of 1:1 and 200:1.

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy was used to analyze conversion efficiency by tracking the disappearance of monomer signals and appearance of characteristic PCL peaks. Results revealed …

Reducing Medical Waste, George M. Jeha, Stanislav N. Tolkachjov

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Delivery Of Medical Supplies To Remote Locations Via Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Approaches, Challenges, And Solutions, Meshari Aljohani, Ravi Mukkamala, Stephanie Olariu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more important in improving healthcare logistics, in particular due to their cost effectiveness, minimized risk, and versatile operational capabilities. This study explores the deployment of autonomous UAVs to deliver medical supplies to remote areas. Advances in ledger technology, smart contracts, and machine learning have transformed tasks previously managed by human teams or manually controlled UAVs into fully autonomous missions. We present a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and initial solutions vital for the effective use of autonomous UAVs in the delivery of medical supplies. In addition, we propose a machine-learning model to optimize UAV …

Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence Models In Patient Education On Inferior Vena Cava Filters, Som Singh, Aleena Jamal, Farah Qureshi, Rohma Zaidi, Fawad Qureshi

SKMC Student Presentations and Publications

Background: Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filters have become an advantageous treatment modality for patients with venous thromboembolism. As the use of these filters continues to grow, it is imperative for providers to appropriately educate patients in a comprehensive yet understandable manner. Likewise, generative artificial intelligence models are a growing tool in patient education, but there is little understanding of the readability of these tools on IVC filters. Methods: This study aimed to determine the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE), Flesch–Kincaid, and Gunning Fog readability of IVC Filter patient educational materials generated by these artificial intelligence models. Results: The ChatGPT cohort had …

Detection Of Micrornas In Blood Samples Using Biosensors For The Detection Of Early-Stage Lung Cancer, Nicholas Bruno

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Lung cancer kills more people in the U.S. a year than any other cancer. This is largely because patients often remain asymptomatic until stage 3, by which time the tumor is usually highly malignant. High radiation-producing screenings are the current method of lung tumor detection. These typically involve machinery for tumor visualization, such as computed tomography (CT) scans, positron emission tomography (PET scan), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and X-rays. Not only does radiation exposure from this equipment pose a risk to the patient, but any tumors detected by these scanning techniques are likely to be locally advanced. This suggests that …

Algorithmic Bias: Causes And Effects On Marginalized Communities, Katrina M. Baha

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Individuals from marginalized backgrounds face different healthcare outcomes due to algorithmic bias in the technological healthcare industry. Algorithmic biases, which are the biases that arise from the set of steps used to solve or analyze a problem, are evident when people from marginalized communities use healthcare technology. For example, many pulse oximeters, which are the medical devices used to measure oxygen saturation in the blood, are not able to accurately read people who have darker skin tones. Thus, people with darker skin tones are not able to receive proper health care due to their pulse oximetry data being inaccurate. This …

Risk Assessment Framework For Evaluation Of Cybersecurity Threats And Vulnerabilities In Medical Devices, Maureen S. Van Devender

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

Medical devices are vulnerable to cybersecurity exploitation and, while they can provide improvements to clinical care, they can put healthcare organizations and their patients at risk of adverse impacts. Evidence has shown that the proliferation of devices on medical networks present cybersecurity challenges for healthcare organizations due to their lack of built-in cybersecurity controls and the inability for organizations to implement security controls on them. The negative impacts of cybersecurity exploitation in healthcare can include the loss of patient confidentiality, risk to patient safety, negative financial consequences for the organization, and loss of business reputation. Assessing the risk of vulnerabilities …

Harnessing Acoustic Streaming For Bioanalysis In Microfluidics, Xiaojun Li

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the past few decades, microfluidic technology has been developed rapidly in both fabrication methods and multifunctionality integrations, making it a powerful tool for a wider variety of biological applications. The device fabrication method has expanded from conventional polymer-based micro devices to 3D-printed micro devices, and allows multiple functions such as electric, optic, magnetic and acoustic to be integrated on a single platform. This dissertation focuses on method development of acoustic streaming-based microfluidics in bioanalysis such as immunoassay, enzyme kinetics and DNA fragmentation analysis. In this dissertation, a micromixer was developed based on acoustic streaming generated from sharp-edge structure vibration …

Seeing Eye To Eye: A Machine Learning Approach To Automated Saccade Analysis, Maigh Attre

Honors Scholar Theses

Abnormal ocular motility is a common manifestation of many underlying pathologies particularly those that are neurological. Dynamics of saccades, when the eye rapidly changes its point of fixation, have been characterized for many neurological disorders including concussions, traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and Parkinson’s disease. However, widespread saccade analysis for diagnostic and research purposes requires the recognition of certain eye movement parameters. Key information such as velocity and duration must be determined from data based on a wide set of patients’ characteristics that may range in eye shapes and iris, hair and skin pigmentation [36]. Previous work on saccade analysis has …

Healthcare Robotics: Key Factors That Impact Robot Adoption In Healthcare, Sujatha Alla, Pilar Pazos

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In the current dynamic business environment, healthcare organizations are focused on improving patient satisfaction, performance, and efficiency. The healthcare industry is considered a complex system that is highly reliant of new technologies to support clinical as well as business processes. Robotics is one of such technologies that is considered to have the potential to increase efficiency in a wide range of clinical services. Although the use of robotics in healthcare is at the early stages of adoption, some studies have shown the capacity of this technology to improve precision, accessibility through less invasive procedures, and reduction of human error during …

An Automated Syringe Pump System For Improving The Reproducibility Of Dynamic Hyperpolarized Mri Phantoms, Harlee G. Harrison

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

AN AUTOMATED SYRINGE PUMP SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING THE REPRODUCIBILITY OF DYNAMIC HYPERPOLARIZED MRI PHANTOMS

Harlee Grace Harrison, B.S.

Advisory Professor: James Bankson, Ph.D.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool in the diagnosis of cancer due to its ability to provide good soft tissue contrast and image resolution without the use of ionizing radiation. The use of hyperpolarized pyruvate as a contrast agent for tumor metabolism during MR scans has the potential to provide information about tumor metabolism in vivo that is not available from traditional imaging measurements or any other method. Hyperpolarization is achieved through dynamic nuclear polarization. …

An Empirical Investigation Of Privacy And Security Concerns On Doctors’ And Nurses’ Behavioral Intentions To Use Rfid In Hospitals, Thomas George Winston

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is a useful technology that has myriad applications in technology, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare settings. Not dependent upon line-of-sight, RFID can scan devices in their proximity and report the information to connected (wired or other wireless) information systems. Once touted as the panacea for home healthcare, RFID devices can add benefit to patients in remote settings. RFID devices have been used to optimize systems in areas such as manufacturing and healthcare to expose inefficiencies in a system or process. Unlike manufacturing, however, RFID in healthcare settings presents security and privacy concerns to the people being …

Just Beautiful Portrays Of The Mind? The Relevance Of Aesthetic Strategies On Knowledge Creation In Neuroscience, Valerie Kummer

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

We live in the age of big data. All types of data are being generated at an increasing rate but theories about the strategies and methods to visualize them is lagging. One of the main challenges we face today in research is to keep up with the massive amounts of data we produce (Allen, Elena A. et.al, 2012). Especially in the field of neuroscience and its use of imaging technologies, the vast array of data has risen to such a high number that it is impossible to grasp the inherent information without additional software tools and intelligent interfaces. Only through …

Sensitive Fluorescence Detection Using A Camera From The Gaming Industry, Brian L. Van Hoozen Jr.

Lawrence University Honors Projects

The detection limit for fluorescence imaging has been improved by more than two orders of magnitude by a modulation technique that minimizes the influence of noise. Since most noise sources have a 1/f dependence, higher modulation frequencies result in less noise in the detected signal. Typical cameras used for imaging have frame rates of 50 or 100 hertz which is too low for substantial noise reduction. However, new time-of-flight cameras developed for the gaming industry have modulation frequencies of up to 20 MHz, allowing for a substantial reduction in noise in the detected signal. In this study, the improved detection …

A Modular Framework For Home Healthcare Monitoring, Blake Puryear

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many patients with chronic health problems have multiple ailments but different patients may have different such ailments. Home monitoring systems for individual ailments exist but a patient may have multiple of these, all designed independently. There are no standard architectures so this leads to unmanageable diversity which causes problems for patients in having to learn to use a variety of monitors and for physicians in trying to monitor many patients. The purpose of this project was to design and prototype a next generation modular remote healthcare monitoring system capable of monitoring multiple ailments and extensible to new ailments in order …

Parameter Optimization For Image Denoising Based On Block Matching And 3d Collaborative Filtering, Ramu Pedada, Emin Kugu, Jiang Li, Zhanfeng Yue, Yuzhong Shen, Josien P.W. Pluim (Ed.), Benoit M. Dawant (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Clinical MRI images are generally corrupted by random noise during acquisition with blurred subtle structure features. Many denoising methods have been proposed to remove noise from corrupted images at the expense of distorted structure features. Therefore, there is always compromise between removing noise and preserving structure information for denoising methods. For a specific denoising method, it is crucial to tune it so that the best tradeoff can be obtained. In this paper, we define several cost functions to assess the quality of noise removal and that of structure information preserved in the denoised image. Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 (SPEA2) …

Reduced Acute Inflammatory Responses To Microgel Conformal Coatings, Amanda W. Bridges, Neetu Singh, Kellie L. Burns, Julia E. Babensee, L. Andrew Lyon, Andrés J. García

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Implantation of synthetic materials into the body elicits inflammatory host responses that limit medical device integration and biological performance. This inflammatory cascade involves protein adsorption, leukocyte recruitment and activation, cytokine release, and fibrous encapsulation of the implant. We present a coating strategy based on thin films of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel microparticles (i.e. microgels) cross-linked with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. These particles were grafted onto a clinically relevant polymeric material to generate conformal coatings that significantly reduced in vitro fibrinogen adsorption and primary human monocyte/macrophage adhesion and spreading. These microgel coatings also reduced leukocyte adhesion and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, …

Accessibility Of Home Blood Pressure Monitors For Blind And Visually Impaired People, Mark M. Uslan, Darren M. Burton, Thomas E. Wilson, Steven Taylor, Bruce S. Chertow, Jack E. Terry

Physics Faculty Research

Background: The prevalence of hypertension comorbid with diabetes is a significant health care issue. Use of the home blood pressure monitor (HBPM) for aiding in the control of hypertension is noteworthy because of benefits that accrue from following a home measurement regimen. To be usable by blind and visually impaired patients, HBPMs must have speech output to convey all screen information, an easily readable visual display, identifiable controls that are easy to use, and an accessible user manual.

Methods: Data on the physical aspects and the features and functions of nine Food and Drug Administration-approved HBPMs (eight of which were …

Vr Projects, P.D. Quick

SWITCH

A description of three three projects having to do with virtual reality. The first is the Nanomanipulator, developed at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Department of Computer Science in conjunction with the UCLA Department of Chemistry in 1991. It is a machine that allows the user to interact with microscopic particles previously only visible in 2D from an electron microscope. The second project, The Augmented Reality Project, also developed at the Chapel Hill Department of Computer Science. This device used ultrasound images to be placed over a body allowing the user to see inside of it. The final …

Relationship Of Ventilation Ability And Positioning In Left-Sided Congestive Heart Failure Patients, Nancy E. Carson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Proper positioning is used to relieve dyspnea, edema, and fatigue in congestive heart failure patients. According to the review of literature, improved ventilation as measured by specific lung volumes and lung mechanics occurred with upright positioning in normal persons. The effects of specific changes in lung volumes related to position change in congestive heart failure patients has not been documented in literature, although various recommendations related to positioning are made. This exploratory study was undertaken with nine congestive heart failure patients to see if a relationship existed between degree of head elevation and lung ventilation ability as measured by water-bell …

A Study To Demonstrate The Immediate Destination Of An Embolus Formed In The Lumen Of A Peripheral Venous Catheter, Rosemarie Morikone Emori

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

This study was designed to show the immediate destination of an embolus formed in the lumen of an intravenous catheter placed in a peripheral vessel. The hypothesis stated that clots injected into a peripheral vessel will lodge in the lungs. A subhypothesis was that the clot may lodge anywhere along the circulatory pathway.

Indications of need for the study as shown by the review of literature were the following: (1) the complications resulting from the frequent use of intravenous polyethylene catheters, (2) experimental studies that showed that clots were formed around intravenous catheters, (3) the evidence that intravenous catheters predispose …

Soft X-Rays, William F. Roherty

Bachelors’ Theses

Traditionally, radiation of those wavelengths produced by a potential of from 2 to 25kv. has been classified as "Grenz" or "soft" x-rays. The peculiar property of this radiation is its low penetrating power. While being transparent to more energetic radiation, animal tissue and similar materials are sufficiently opaque to Grenz rays as to be studied in detail. Since the radiation is of the continuous type, it can be made soft enough to reveal any object, providing, of course, that the tube window and object medium be not opaque. Soft x-rays are produced in exactly the same manner as others, except …