Tissues Commons^™

Postmortem Minimally Invasive Tissue Sampling In Communities: Exploring Perceptions Of Families, Funeral Workers, Religious And Community Leaders And Healthcare Providers From Pakistan, Nazia Ahsan, Fauzia Aman Malik, Waliyah Mughis, Rawshan Jabeen, Shaheen Mehboob, Raheel Allana, Syeda Quratulain, Saima Jamal Saima Jamal, Christina R. Paganelli, Abdul Momin Kazi

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) has increasingly been used to improve the diagnosis of disease and identification of the cause of death, particularly in underserved areas. However, there are multiple barriers to accessing those who die within the community, our study aimed to explore the perceptions and insights of community members and healthcare providers regarding the feasibility of implementing MITS in community settings.
Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted. A total of twenty one in-depth interviews were conducted with deceased infants' parents, elders of the family, religious leaders, community leaders, and funeral workers. Focus group discussions were conducted …

Osteoarthritis Disease Severity In The Temporomandibular Joint And The Knee Joint: A Comparative Cadaveric Study, Jessica A Immonen, Jason Ciccotelli, Linh M Nguyen, Lesley Gilmer, Landen Broadhead, Mackenzie Kitchen, Conner Paul, Jeremy James

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the level of disease severity in a pilot cohort of temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and compare them to the pathology findings previously characterized in cadaveric knee joints.

DESIGN: Thirty-one intact TMJs from 17 cadaveric donors were harvested and arthritic lesioning seen in the knee joint was investigated on the condyle and the fossa of the TMJ. Prevalence of gross alterations was equated and disease severity was determined for sex- and age-based donor pools using a validated, osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity scale (DSS). Knee joint DSS scores were also compared to the TMJ …

Control Of The Electroporation Efficiency Of Nanosecond Pulses By Swinging The Electric Field Vector Direction, Vitalii Kim, Iurii Semenov, Allen S. Kiester, Mark A. Keppler, Bennett L. Ibey, Joel N. Bixler, Ruben M. L. Colunga Biancatelli, Andrei G. Pakhomov

Bioelectrics Publications

Reversing the pulse polarity, i.e., changing the electric field direction by 180°, inhibits electroporation and electrostimulation by nanosecond electric pulses (nsEPs). This feature, known as “bipolar cancellation,” enables selective remote targeting with nsEPs and reduces the neuromuscular side effects of ablation therapies. We analyzed the biophysical mechanisms and measured how cancellation weakens and is replaced by facilitation when nsEPs are applied from different directions at angles from 0 to 180°. Monolayers of endothelial cells were electroporated by a train of five pulses (600 ns) or five paired pulses (600 + 600 ns) applied at 1 Hz or 833 kHz. Reversing …

The Effect Of Running On The Onset And Development Of Osteoarthritis, Jordan Hekman

Senior Honors Theses

Osteoarthritis is a prominent and debilitating form of joint disease characterized by pain and deterioration of the articular cartilage and other tissues in the affected joint. Research has identified a variety of risk factors for osteoarthritis, including age, obesity, gender, previous injury, and occupation. The relationship between running and osteoarthritis is a topic of particular interest because of the prevalence of running as a simple and physiologically beneficial form of exercise. Increasing evidence suggests that recreational running has at worst no effect and at best a protective effect on joint and articular cartilage health in contrast to high-intensity professional/elite-level running …

Effects Of Diet On Lcn2 Expression And Onset Of Neuroinflammation In An Alzheimer’S Disease Mice Model, Abdirahman A. Hayir

Neuroscience Honors Projects

This project covers the findings regarding the impact of diet on lipocalin 2 (LCN2) and the effects it has on neuroinflammation Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). LCN2 is a protein that is critical to the functionality of mitochondria and inflammatory responses. Evidence has shown that mitochondrial dysfunction is a potential central event in driving AD pathogenesis and contributing to formation of pathological hallmarks such as chronic inflammation. Furthermore, studies have shown that LCN2 can be deficient under metabolic conditions such as high-fat-diet (HFD). This study investigates if HFD induces LCN2 deficiency and increased neuroinflammation in an AD mice model.

The Effects Of Demographics And Risk Factors On The Morphological Characteristics Of Human Femoropopliteal Arteries, Sayed Ahmadreza Razian, Majid Jadidi, Alexey Kamenskiy

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Background: Disease of the lower extremity arteries (Peripheral Arterial Disease, PAD) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. During disease development, the arteries adapt by changing their diameter, wall thickness, and residual deformations, but the effects of demographics and risk factors on this process are not clear.

Methods: Superficial femoral arteries from 736 subjects (505 male, 231 female, 12 to 99 years old, average age 51±17.8 years) and the associated demographic and risk factor variables were used to construct machine learning (ML) regression models that predicted morphological characteristics (diameter, wall thickness, and longitudinal opening angle resulting from the …

Comparison Of Dna Extraction Methods For Soft Tissue Samples, Steve Guzman, Nathaniel E. Hill, Mujtaba Shah, Jonathon Reynolds, Cole Farnsworth, Molly Henley, Alfred Amendolara, Laura Minor, John Dougherty Jr., John A. Kriak, Kyle B. Bills, David W. Sant

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Testing Extraction Of Dna From Lipid-Rich Tissues Using Various Reagents And Commercially Available Kits, Ryan V. Powers, Walker C. Kay, Jonathon C. Reynolds, Nathaniel E. Hill, Cole J. Farnsworth, Molly E. Henley, Alfred B. Amendolara, Noah D. Boekweg, John A. Kriak, Kyle B. Bills, David W. Sant

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

H2s, Sg-1002, Protects Against Myocardial Oxidative Damage And Hypertrophy In Vitro Via Induction Of Cystathionine Β-Synthase And Antioxidant Proteins, Rahib K. Islam, Erinn Donnelly, Erminia Donnarumma, Fokhrul Hossain, Jason D. Gardner, Kazi N. Islam

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Endogenously produced hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is critical for cardiovascular homeostasis. Therapeutic strategies aimed at increasing H2S levels have proven cardioprotective in models of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure (HF). The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of a novel H2S prodrug, SG-1002, on stress induced hypertrophic signaling in murine HL-1 cardiac muscle cells. Treatment of HL-1 cells with SG-1002 under serum starvation without or with H2O2 increased the levels of H2S, H2S producing enzyme, and cystathionine β-synthase (CBS), as well as antioxidant protein levels, such as super oxide dismutase1 (SOD1) and catalase, and additionally decreased oxidative …

Frequency Of Von Willebrand Disease And Its Types: Data From A Tertiary Care Hospital Of Karachi, Pakistan, Jyoti Mohan Lal, Anila Rashid, Natasha Ali

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Introduction: von Willebrand disease is the most common inherited bleeding disorder. It is classified into 3 main types, type I and III are quantitative defects whereas type II is qualitative defect which is further sub-classified in to II-A, II-B, II-M, II-N. The aim of the present study is to see frequency and types of von Willebrand disease in a tertiary care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan.
Materials and methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the section of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the Aga Khan University hospital, Karachi, from May 2020 to April 2021 …

Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Derived Microvascular Perfusion Modeling To Assess Peripheral Artery Disease, Olga A. Gimnich, Tatiana Belousova, Christina M. Short, Addison A. Taylor, Vijay Nambi, Joel D. Morrisett, Christie M. Ballantyne, Jean Bismuth, Dipan J. Shah, Gerd Brunner

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Computational fluid dynamics has shown good agreement with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging measurements in cardiovascular disease applications. We have developed a biomechanical model of microvascular perfusion using contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging signal intensities derived from skeletal calf muscles to study peripheral artery disease (PAD). METHODS AND RESULTS: The computational microvascular model was used to study skeletal calf muscle perfusion in 56 in-dividuals (36 patients with PAD, 20 matched controls). The recruited participants underwent contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and ankle-brachial index testing at rest and after 6-minute treadmill walking. We have determined associations of microvascular model parameters including the transfer …

Relationship Of Abdominal Circumference And Trunk Length With Spinal Anesthesia Block Height In Geriatric Patients Undergoing Transurethral Resection Of Prostate, Muhammad Yahya, Aliya Ahmed, Iayla Fatima, Muhammad Nasir

Department of Anaesthesia

Introduction: Spinal anesthesia is commonly used for various surgical procedures. Prediction of spinal anesthesia block height is always a challenging task for anesthetists. Higher than desired levels of spinal anesthesia blocks are associated with serious side effects, while inadequate block height does not provide satisfactory surgical anesthesia. In this study, we observed the relationship between the ratio of trunk length (TL) and square of the abdominal circumference (AC²) and spinal anesthesia sensory block height in geriatric patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP).
Material & Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at the Aga Khan University …

Testicular Choriocarcinoma With Small Bowel Metastasis And Active Gastrointestinal Bleeding, Asad Saulat Fatimi, Khizer Masroor Anns, Faheemullah Khan, Wasim Ahmed Memon, Junaid Iqbal, Muhammad Aman, Izaz Ahmad, Sahar Fatima

Medical College Documents

Testicular choriocarcinomas make up less than 1% of all germ-cell tumors and are highly malignant, attributable to hematogenous spread. While the most common sites of metastasis are the lungs and liver, metastatic spread to the gastrointestinal tract is rare wherein patients may present with GI distress or even an upper GI bleed. In this report, we present a case of known testicular choriocarcinoma in a 40-year-old male who presented to the emergency room with severe anemia and a suspected upper GI bleed.

Integrating Shear Flow And Trypsin Treatment To Assess Cell Adhesion Strength, Antra Patel, Bhavana Bhavanam, Trevor Keenan, Venkat Maruthamuthu

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Cell adhesion is of fundamental importance in cell and tissue organization and for designing cell-laden constructs for tissue engineering. Prior methods to assess cell adhesion strength for strongly adherent cells using hydrodynamic shear flow either involved the use of specialized flow devices to generate high shear stress or used simpler implementations like larger height parallel plate chambers that enable multihour cell culture but generate low wall shear stress and are, hence, more applicable for weakly adherent cells. Here, we propose a shear flow assay for adhesion strength assessment of strongly adherent cells that employs off-the-shelf parallel plate chambers for shear …

TCf21 Marks Visceral Adipose Mesenchymal Progenitors And Functions As A Rate-Limiting Factor During Visceral Adipose Tissue Development, Qianglin Liu, Chaoyang Li, Buhao Deng, Peidong Gao, Leshan Wang, Yuxia Li, Mohammad Shiri, Fozi Alkaifi, Junxing Zhao, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Constantine A. Simintiras, Joseph Francis, Jiangwen Sun, Xing Fu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Distinct locations of different white adipose depots suggest anatomy-specific developmental regulation, a relatively understudied concept. Here, we report a population of Tcf21 lineage cells (Tcf21 LCs) present exclusively in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) that dynamically contributes to VAT development and expansion. During development, the Tcf21 lineage gives rise to adipocytes. In adult mice, Tcf21 LCs transform into a fibrotic or quiescent state. Multiomics analyses show consistent gene expression and chromatin accessibility changes in Tcf21 LC, based on which we constructed a gene-regulatory network governing Tcf21 LC activities. Furthermore, …

A Single-Cell Atlas Of Bovine Skeletal Muscle Reveals Mechanisms Regulating Intramuscular Adipogenesis And Fibrogenesis, Leshan Wang, Peidong Gao, Chaoyag Li, Qianglin Liu, Zeyang Yao, Yuxia Li, Xujia Zhang, Jiangwen Sun, Constantine Simintiras, Matthew Welborn, Kenneth Mcmillin, Stephanie Oprescu, Shihuan Kuang, Xing Fu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Background: Intramuscular fat (IMF) and intramuscular connective tissue (IMC) are often seen in human myopathies and are central to beef quality. The mechanisms regulating their accumulation remain poorly understood. Here, we explored the possibility of using beef cattle as a novel model for mechanistic studies of intramuscular adipogenesis and fibrogenesis.

Methods: Skeletal muscle single-cell RNAseq was performed on three cattle breeds, including Wagyu (high IMF), Brahman (abundant IMC but scarce IMF), and Wagyu/Brahman cross. Sophisticated bioinformatics analyses, including clustering analysis, gene set enrichment analyses, gene regulatory network construction, RNA velocity, pseudotime analysis, and cell-cell communication analysis, were performed to elucidate …