Investigative Techniques Commons^™

Effectiveness Of Ehr-Depression Screening Among Adult Diabetics In An Urban Primary Care Clinic, Filipina C. Schnabel Md, Mph, Msn, Fnp-Bc, Danielle Aldridge Msn, Fnp-C, Laura Reed Dnp, Fnp-Bc

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) and depression are important comorbid conditions that can lead to more serious health outcomes. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) supports routine screening for depression as part of standard diabetes management. The PHQ2 and PHQ9 questionnaires are good diagnostic screening tools used for major depressive disorders in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). This quality improvement study aims to compare the rate of depression screening, treatment, and referral to behavioral health in adult patients with DM2 pre and post-integration of depression screening tools into the electronic health record (EHR).

Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review on patients …

C37: Evaluation Of The Diagnostic Efficacy Of Saliva For Detection Of Dengue Antibodies- An Elisa Study, Vidya Gurram Shankar

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Best Practices For Clinical Evaluation Of Sacroiliac Joint Pain: An Evidence-To-Practice Review, Nicolette A. Harris, Adriana Peña, Sofia Núñez Rivera

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain serves as an under-recognized source of chronic low back pain. Improvement in the accuracy of a clinical SIJ pain diagnosis lends a higher likelihood of appropriate treatment measures, better patient outcomes and decreased out-of-pocket costs. Therefore, the overall purpose of this evidence to practice review was to highlight the main points of a systematic review on the clinical diagnosis of SIJ pain. Searches of five electronic databases revealed 758 studies, nonetheless only six studies met final inclusion criteria. Studies included were assessed by the authors for methodological quality using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies …

An Exploratory Analysis Of A Treatment Based Classification Algorithm To Treat Patellar Tendinopathy, Monica Matocha, Patti Syvertson, Janet Mcmurray, Emily R. Dietz, Russell T. Baker, Alan Nasypany, Don Reordan, Darcy Downey

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

The general and athletic populations commonly experience patellar tendon pain, which is frequently treated with a gold standard 12-week eccentric exercise protocol. The present research study was designed to determine the effects of a treatment based classification (TBC) algorithm utilizing indirect treatment techniques in patellar tendinopathy participants. Ten participants (seven females, three males, mean age = 19.6 ± 1.07, mean symptom duration = 2.14 years with a range of one week to six years) with patellar tendinopathy were evaluated and included in this study. Each participant underwent a thorough evaluation process to aid in determining inclusion: participant medical history, range …

Tri-Molybdenum Phosphide (Mo3P) And Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Junctions For Volatile Organic Compounds (Vocs) Detection, Baleeswaraiah Muchharla, Praveen Malali, Brenna Daniel, Alireza Kondori, Mohammad Asadi, Wei Cao, Hani E. Elsayed-Ali, Mickaël Castro, Mehran Elahi, Adetayo Adedeji, Kishor Kumar Sadasivuni, Muni Raj Mauya, Kapil Kumar, Abdennaceur Karoui, Bijandra Kumar

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Detection and analysis of volatile organic compounds’ (VOCs) biomarkers lead to improvement in healthcare diagnosis and other applications such as chemical threat detection and food quality control. Here, we report on tri-molybdenum phosphide (Mo₃P) and multi- walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) junction-based vapor quantum resistive sensors (vQRSs), which exhibit more than one order of magni- tude higher sensitivity and superior selectivity for biomarkers in comparison to pristine MWCNT junctions based vQRSs. Transmission electron microscope/scanning tunneling electron microscope with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and x-ray photo- electron spectroscopy studies reveal the crystallinity and the presence of Mo and …

The Enlightening Role Of Explainable Artificial Intelligence In Chronic Wound Classification, Salih Sarp, Murat Kuzlu, Emmanuel Wilson, Umit Cali, Ozgur Guler

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been among the most emerging research and industrial application fields, especially in the healthcare domain, but operated as a black-box model with a limited understanding of its inner working over the past decades. AI algorithms are, in large part, built on weights calculated as a result of large matrix multiplications. It is typically hard to interpret and debug the computationally intensive processes. Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) aims to solve black-box and hard-to-debug approaches through the use of various techniques and tools. In this study, XAI techniques are applied to chronic wound classification. The proposed model classifies …

Treatment And Management Of Complex Knee Injury: A Case Report, K Braunreiter, S Kerwin

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

Background: The “unhappy triad” injury includes tears of the anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and medial meniscus. There is limited research on the prevalence and outcome of this injury. The unique surgical repair consisting of lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET) was utilized to reinforce the anterior cruciate ligament repair (ACLR) and to prevent rerupture. Due to this extensive surgery, the patient struggled to regain full range of motion and quadriceps activation. This case is a Level 2 case study that explores the different interventions used to address the aforementioned objective deficits and return him safely to play. Patient: The patient …

Diagnostic Accuracy Of Mcmurry’S Test In The Diagnosis Of Meniscal Tears, Jessica Smyth, Hartwell Rainey

Physician Assistant Capstones, 2020-current

No abstract provided.

Does A Diagnostic Algorithm Reduce The Overuse Of Chest Ct Angiography In Suspected Pulmonary Embolism? : A Pre- And Post-Intervention Retrospective Study In A Critical Access Hospital, Rattanaporn Mahatanan, Brianna Philbrick, William J. Hirschfeld, Gina Gomez

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common and potentially fatal disease. Although CTA is a gold standard for diagnosis, it carries risks for patients. We sought to minimize the overutilization of chest CTA by implementing a diagnostic algorithm in the hospital to evaluate the likelihood of PE and determine the need for imaging with CTA.

Methods: A retrospective medical chart review was performed for all patients suspicious of PE at Redington-Fairview General Hospital 3 months before and after diagnostic algorithm implementation. Patients who underwent either D-dimer testing or chest CTA were included. Patients were excluded if d-dimer testing was …

Tick-Borne Infections In New Hampshire: An Evaluation Of The Diagnostic Process In A Local Patient Population, Katherine Anderson

Honors Theses and Capstones

Overall, approximately 95 percent of reported cases of vector-borne disease were associated with ticks, making these the most medically important group of arthropods in the United States.¹ Despite the prevalence of tick-borne infections, the process for the diagnosis of this condition is not well studied. This study aims to analyze data from a pool of 100 patients who underwent testing for tick-borne disease in the same institution in Dover, New Hampshire during the most recent peak tick season of 2019. Information utilized in this study included: patient age, sex, location of testing (inpatient versus outpatient), diagnostic testing methods used …

Diagnostic Accuracy Of Imaging Techniques For Rotator Cuff Pathology: An Evidence-To-Practice Review, Hayley O’Connell, Brittany Decamp, Zachary Winkelmann

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

When comparing imaging techniques for rotator cuff pathologies, clinicians tend to consider musculoskeletal ultrasonography (MSK US), magnetic renaissance imaging (MRI), and magnetic renaissance imaging with arthrogram (MRA) as diagnostic imaging techniques. Since the most recent systematic review on imaging conducted in 2003, imaging technology has improved, indicating the need for a meta-analysis to evaluate the accuracy of new diagnostic techniques (MSK US) for evaluating rotator cuff pathologies. The accuracy of MSK US readings between radiologists and non-radiologists was also analyzed. Data were extracted from three different databases and included articles exploring diagnostic imaging and the accuracy of technique at the …

Point-Of-Care Ultrasound (Pocus) Workshop For Internal Medicine Residents: A Pre/Post-Training Assessment Of Confidence And Knowledge, Abraham Lee, Cesar Gutierrez, Michelle Lopez

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Across the country, internal medicine residency training programs are having difficulty figuring out how to optimally implement an effective point-of-care ultrasound training into their respective curricula. This study aimed to assess whether a week-long training course of didactics, followed by hands-on practice, improved both the confidence and knowledge skills of internal medicine residents using point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). The trainees were asked to complete pre/post-training surveys, which tested their ability to interpret POCUS images and also asked them to score their confidence in using POCUS. Results showed a statistically significant improvement in not only their confidence in using POCUS, but also …

Spectrographic Analysis Of The Lombard Effect, Julia Saxon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In my honors project I will study the feasibility of using spectrographic analysis to measure the Lombard effect. The Lombard effect is a well-known phenomenon in which talkers reflexively increase the intensity of their voices in the presence of background noise. We hypothesize that other measurable features of speech will also change with vocal intensity consistent with what is shown in literature. However, the current authors will discuss findings in terms of its potential value as a test of pseudohypoacusis, also known as nonorganic or functional hearing loss. The author and a licensed audiologist will examine the /i/ and /u/ …

Single-Molecule Analysis Of Subtelomeres And Telomeres In Alternative Lengthening Of Telomeres (Alt) Cells, Heba Z. Abid, Jennifer Mccaffrey, Kaitlin Raseley, Eleanor Young, Katy Lassahn, Dharma Varapula, Harold Riethman, Ming Xiao

School of Medical Diagnostics & Translational Sciences Publications

BACKGROUND: Telomeric DNA is typically comprised of G-rich tandem repeat motifs and maintained by telomerase (Greider CW, Blackburn EH; Cell 51:887-898; 1987). In eukaryotes lacking telomerase, a variety of DNA repair and DNA recombination based pathways for telomere maintenance have evolved in organisms normally dependent upon telomerase for telomere elongation (Webb CJ, Wu Y, Zakian VA; Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 5:a012666; 2013); collectively called Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) pathways. By measuring (TTAGGG) n tract lengths from the same large DNA molecules that were optically mapped, we simultaneously analyzed telomere length dynamics and subtelomere-linked structural changes at a large …

Tunable Multiphase Dynamics Of Arginine And Lysine Liquid Condensates, Rachel S. Fisher, Shana Elbaum-Garfinkle

Advanced Science Research Center

Liquid phase separation into two or more coexisting phases has emerged as a new paradigm for understanding subcellular organization, prebiotic life, and the origins of disease. The design principles underlying biomolecular phase separation have the potential to drive the development of novel liquid-based organelles and therapeutics, however, an understanding of how individual molecules contribute to emergent material properties, and approaches to directly manipulate phase dynamics are lacking. Here, using microrheology, we demonstrate that droplets of poly-arginine coassembled with mono/polynucleotides have approximately 100 fold greater viscosity than comparable lysine droplets, both of which can be finer tuned by polymer length. We …

Visual Estimates Of Blood Loss By Medical Laypeople: Effects Of Blood Loss Volume, Victim Gender, And Perspective, Rachel Phillips, Marc Friberg, Mattias Lantz Cronqvist, Carl-Oscar Jonson, Erik Prytz

Psychology Faculty Publications

A severe hemorrhage can result in death within minutes, before professional first responders have time to arrive. Thus, intervention by bystanders, who may lack medical training, may be necessary to save a victim's life in situations with bleeding injuries. Proper intervention requires that bystanders accurately assess the severity of the injury and respond appropriately. As many bystanders lack tools and training, they are limited in terms of the information they can use in their evaluative process. In hemorrhage situations, visible blood loss may serve as a dominant cue to action. Therefore, understanding how medically untrained bystanders (i.e., laypeople) perceive hemorrhage …

Using Simple Ct Perfusion To Help Identify Ictal Vs. Interictal Lateralized Periodic Discharges (Lpds): A Case Report, Michelle Nunes, Aqsa Ullah, Amna Imran, Enrique Serrano

Neurology

No abstract provided.

Sarcoidosis Presenting With Massive Splenomegaly And Severe Epistaxis, Austen Stoelting Md, Shawn B. Esperti Do, Andrew Mangano Do, Nino Balanchivadze Md

Internal Medicine

No abstract provided.

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D Mediated Hypercalcemia As An Initial Presentation In A Patient With Undiagnosed B-Cell Non-Hodgkin’S Lymphoma, Ranjit Banwait Md, Jawad Noor Md, Jing He Md, Xiaolong Liu Md, Liang Sun Md

Internal Medicine

In non-Hodgkin's lymphoma the findings of hypercalcemia as an initial presentation is extremely rare (<3% of cases). Here we report a 67 year-old man who presented with ST changes secondary to hypercalcemia in the setting of B-cell lymphoma.

Predicting Premature Birth Risk With Cfrna, Jason Lin, Jonathan Marin, John Santerre

SMU Data Science Review

Identifying which genes are early indicators for preterm births using cell-free ribonucleic acid (cfRNA) from non-invasive blood tests provided by pregnant women can improve prenatal care. Currently, there are no medical tests for early detection of preterm birth risk in routine checkups for pregnant women. Recent studies have shown potential genes that can predict preterm birth. Machine learning techniques are utilized to see if the Area Under the Curve (AUC) can be improved upon when evaluating the prediction accuracy for chosen genes sequences and concentrations. Using cell-free RNA data from non-invasive blood tests in conjunction with machine learning, we improve …

Crystal Structure Of Zymonic Acid And A Redetermination Of Its Precursor, Pyruvic Acid, Dominik Heger, Alexis J. Eugene, Sean R. Parkin, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The structure of zymonic acid (systematic name: 4-hy­droxy-2-methyl-5-oxo-2,5-di­hydro­furan-2-carb­oxy­lic acid), C₆H₆O₅, which had previously eluded crystallographic determination, is presented here for the first time. It forms by intra­molecular condensation of parapyruvic acid, which is the product of aldol condensation of pyruvic acid. A redetermination of the crystal structure of pyruvic acid (systematic name: 2-oxo­propanoic acid), C₃H₄O₃, at low temperature (90 K) and with increased precision, is also presented [for the previous structure, see: Harata et al. (1977). Acta Cryst. B33, 210–212]. In zymonic acid, the hy­droxy­lactone ring …

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 …

Aortoduodenal Fistula Forms From Primary Aortic Stump Graft In A Two-Time Multi-Visceral Transplant Patient With Presentation Of Gastrointestinal Bleed And Bowel Perforation: A Case Report, Brielle Corrente

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Usually not diagnosed until open laparotomy, aortoduodenalfistulas (ADF) are one of the rarest complications of intestinal transplant surgery. With an incidence rate of only 0.04% at autopsy and only 250 documented cases since the early 1800’s, aortoduodenal fistulas are the most deadly complications of intestinal transplantation with a mortality rate of 100% without surgical intervention. A 39 year old, two-time multi-visceral transplant African American female patient suffered from a primary aortoduodenal fistula formation in a primary modified multi-visceral transplant aortic stump graft site. With emergency open laparotomy repair, revascularization of the secondary multi-visceral transplant was performed, saving the life of …

Extracellular Vesicles From Thyroid Carcinoma: The New Frontier Of Liquid Biopsy, Germana Rappa, Caterina Puglisi, Mark F. Santos, Stefano Forte, Lorenzo Memeo, Aurelio Lorico

College of Osteopathic Medicine (TUN) Publications and Research

The diagnostic approach to thyroid cancer is one of the most challenging issues in oncology of the endocrine system because of its high incidence (3.8% of all new cancer cases in the US) and the difficulty to distinguish benign from malignant non-functional thyroid nodules and establish the cervical lymph node involvement during staging. Routine diagnosis of thyroid nodules usually relies on a fine-needle aspirate biopsy, which is invasive and often inaccurate. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify novel, accurate, and non-invasive diagnostic procedures. Liquid biopsy, as a non-invasive approach for the detection of diagnostic biomarkers for early tumor …

Development Of A Novel Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Method To Detect Guiana Extended-Spectrum (Ges) Β-Lactamase Genes In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Chika Takano, Mitsuko Seki, Dong Wook Kim, Humphrey Gardner, Robert E. Mclaughlin, Paul E. Kilgore, Kazunari Kumasaka, Satoshi Hayakawa

Department of Pharmacy Practice

Infections caused by multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in hospitalized patients are often fatal, and nosocomial infections caused by Guiana extended-spectrum (GES) β-lactamase-producing strains are of growing concern. Several genotypes of the GES β-lactamase gene (bla_GES) include a single missense mutation, a change from G to A at nucleotide position 493 (G_493A) that changes glycine to serine; the mutant enzyme exhibits carbapenemase activity. Rapid and reliable identification of drug-resistance is important in clinical settings; however, culture methods remain the gold standard. Conventional and real-time PCR cannot identify carbapenemase-producing genotypes, and direct DNA sequencing is essential. We established …

Can Nanotechnology Be The Leading Method In Detecting And Treating Cerebral Tumors?, Daniel D. Singh, Zuri Jules-Culver

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation or design of materials and structures with desired features in the 1nm–1000 nm size range. The blood brain barrier (BBB) is a major obstacle that drugs must overcome in order to reach tumor cells. The role of this barrier is to transport essential nutrients while protecting and regulating the internal environment. Nanoparticles have been shown to transport drugs through this barrier and accumulate in tumor cells. This is significant since nanoparticles are drug carriers allowing chemotherapeutic drugs to accumulate in target areas (Sun et al., 2017). This is possible because they are able to be …

Exercise Induced Laryngeal Obstruction In A Collegiate Runner: A Case Report Of A Novel Therapy, Cody Inskeep, Todd Olin, Robert Arthur

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training

A 23-year-old male Division I distance runner presented with several years of exertional stridor (high-pitched inspiratory noise caused by airflow obstruction), previously diagnosed as exercised-induced laryngeal obstruction (EILO), a condition formerly known as vocal cord dysfunction and exercised-induced paradoxical vocal fold motion. Over the course of roughly 3 years, the patient had previously failed conventional and invasive respiratory therapies for EILO including respiratory retraining, inspiratory muscle training, reflux suppression, allergy suppression, amitriptyline, performance psychology, and injection of botulinum toxin to the larynx. At a referral center that specializes in the treatment of EILO, the patient's diagnosis was confirmed through the …

Illumination Of The Golgi Apparatus Of Pathogenic And Nonpathogenic Naegleria Species, Tyler M. Poe

Theses and Dissertations

In this study, Naegleria fowleri, a pathogenic amoeba and the causative agent of Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), was utilized to determine the presence or absence of classically conserved Golgi molecules featured in the expression of a Golgi apparatus. Previous studies concluded no Golgi expression via light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, but a recent report on Naegleria gruberi indicated the presence of dispersed Golgi tubules. Non-pathogenic species of the Naegleria genus such as Naegleria gruberi 30540 and Naegleria lovaniensis 30569 were utilized in Western immunoblot analysis compared to reduced whole-cell lysate proteins of two strains of N. fowleri and …

Community-Acquired Pneumonia In Adults: Diagnostic Reliability Of Physical Examination Techniques And Their Teaching In Academia, Amber Tordoff, Lauren A. Williams

Physician Assistant Capstones, 2016 to 2019

Background: Chest physical examination techniques are taught in academia, but their usefulness in the evaluation and diagnosis of patients in the clinical setting is controversial. Objective: To investigate the accuracy of physical examination techniques and their reliability in diagnosing community acquired pneumonia (CAP) and suggest a modified teaching approach to be used in academia. Design: Systematic Literature Review. Methods: Database search of PubMed and Google Scholar using the search terms “prediction of pneumonia in adults” and “prediction rule for pulmonary infiltrates.” Filters were implemented to include articles that only dealt with human subjects and were full text. Articles …

The Chapman Bone Algorithm: A Diagnostic Alternative For The Evaluation Of Osteoporosis, Elise Levesque, Anton Ketterer, Wajiha Memon, Cameron James, Noah Barrett, Cyril Rakovski, Frank Frisch

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease and goes largely undiagnosed throughout the world, due to the inaccessibility of DXA machines. Multivariate analyses of serum bone turnover markers were evaluated in 226 Orange County, California, residents with the intent to determine if serum osteocalcin and serum pyridinoline cross-links could be used to detect the onset of osteoporosis as effectively as a DXA scan. Descriptive analyses of the demographic and lab characteristics of the participants were performed through frequency, means and standard deviation estimations. We implemented logistic regression modeling to find the best classification algorithm for osteoporosis. All calculations and …