Matching Items (444)
Description
As the need for whole heart transplantation to treat heart failure grows faster than the supply,
alternative methods are in increasing demand. Transplantation of cardiomyocytes to replace
injured myocardium after MI has shown promise. Myocardium is notoriously ineffective at
proliferating after switching from hyperplastic to hypertrophic growth. FOXM1 has been
established as having a strong role in cell cycle regulation in cancerous tumors and
cardiomyocytes, and these experiments show the relationship between FOXM1 and
iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte proliferation and attempt to improve a treatment option for heart
failure through manipulation of this gene. Our experiment concludes that FOXM1 knockout
increases iPSC-CM cell proliferation, and can be further explored to better increase
cardiomyocyte proliferation.
ContributorsKresin, Zachary (Author) / Hatfield, Jax (Co-author) / Weaver, Jessica (Thesis director) / Tang, Ling (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Stroke survivors must overcome motor deficits that greatly impede their balancing ability, thus stunting their independence and overall quality of life. Robot-aided rehabilitation is a new approach to balance therapy presenting notable advantages in efficiency, precision, and consistency. Prior studies have demonstrated the success of visual feedback, force plates, surface perturbations, and compliant surfaces in improving balance control for people with neuromuscular disorders. However, this study is the first to investigate the effect of incorporating each aspect into a stroke balance training program. The side-specific robotic platforms used could generate perturbations while also simulating compliant surfaces. During the 6-week study, 2 subjects each completed 9, 2-hour long training sessions, along with a clinical pre- and post-assessment. Subjects utilized visual feedback of center of pressure and weight distribution to strive for successful balance, and the platforms perturbed if balance was maintained for a sufficient time period. To increase training difficulty, platform stiffness decreased with increased performance. Improvements in functional postural balance for both subjects were demonstrated by the Berg Balance Scale, Mini-BESTest, Timed 10-Meter Walk Test, and 5 Times Sit-to-Stand Test. Decreases in Time to Perturb and Time to Stabilize were suggestive of improved dynamic postural balance. Decreased platform stiffness indicated sustained improvements in increasingly challenging environments, and a 3-month follow up revealed retained functional balance improvements. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of patient-adaptive perturbation-based robotic training on compliant surfaces in improving postural balance for chronic stroke patients.
ContributorsOleen, Ellory (Author) / Lee, Hyunglae (Thesis director) / Hwang, Seunghoon (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Industrial, Systems & Operations Engineering Prgm (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This thesis project was inspired by healthcare disparities between rural and urban communities. This topic was operationalized in this paper through a comparison of dental care access in rural and urban areas of both Panama and Arizona. The significance and origin of the research were first introduced, followed by a literature review to establish baseline care access information in each of the locations. The methods of the research conducted include on-site observational data collection as well as patient interviews and conversations summarized by thematic analysis. Data showed different primary barriers to care in each location with an emphasis on geographic and policy variables. The results were discussed in terms of the factors identified as contributing to the disparities in access between the rural and urban communities in each location, and further, through a comparison of these disparities and their root causes, between Panama and Arizona. Recommendations were detailed for steps to continue this study and expand its scope, as well as suggested measures to minimize the access disparities faced by rural communities.
ContributorsMartinez, Jacob (Author) / Kizer, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Maupin, Jonathan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
This thesis investigates the impact of extended use of exoskeletal boots on fatigue levels during physical activity. The study examines the effects of exoskeletal boots on physiological responses, including heart rate, R-R intervals, VO2 levels, and walking durations, compared to conditions without the boots. Participants underwent walking tasks while wearing the boots and performed physiological assessments. Results indicate that exoskeletal boots may mitigate fatigue and enhance endurance, as evidenced by longer walking durations and potentially reduced metabolic demand compared to conditions without the boots. Furthermore, analysis of heart rate and R-R interval data suggests modulation of autonomic nervous system activity with the use of exoskeletal boots. These findings offer insights into the potential benefits of exoskeletal boots in reducing fatigue and improving performance during prolonged physical activity, with implications for various domains including sports, rehabilitation, and military applications. Further research is warranted to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and optimize the utilization of exoskeletal boots for enhancing human performance and well-being.
ContributorsByrne, Emily (Author) / Lockhart, Thurmon (Thesis director) / Arquiza, J.M.R. Apollo (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
For the last two decades, a consistent statistic in the United States is that one out of every six people report experiencing at least one migraine every three months. The Neural Microsystems Laboratory at Arizona State University has developed a wireless implantable neurostimulator (WINS), which they believe can be used to treat these widespread, episodic attacks. This device is about the size of a grain of rice and contains micro circuitry that generates an electric current when exposed to ultrasound. One problem facing the lab is that there is no process to place the WINS inside of the human body. For this Honors Thesis/Creative Project, I invented a tool that can be used to inject the WINS into the body, while addressing key issues of positioning, repositioning, and orientation. After testing was conducted on an artificial skin model and imaged with an optical microscope, the implantation tool proved to be successful. The tool made it easy to inject the WINS perpendicular to an artificial occipital nerve for every trial of the testing, also maintaining a proper alignment of the device so that it could receive maximum exposure to external ultrasound. Successful testing of this prototype shows that it is ready to be redesigned for mass production so that it can deliver the WINS to as many victims of migraine attacks as possible.
ContributorsVoeller, Oscar (Author) / Muthuswamy, Jitendran (Thesis director) / Towe, Bruce (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
In the study of brain development, culturing cells at atmospheric oxygen levels is the norm despite oxygen levels being much lower in the developing brain. Instead of culturing cells at 1-8% oxygen, the concentration of oxygen in tissues throughout the body, cell culture models are typically modeled at 20% atmospheric oxygen. My research evaluates metabolic changes in organoids cultured at 20% O2, 8% O2, and the influence of a reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitor, N-Acetyl-L-cysteine.
ContributorsNguyen, Tran (Author) / Andrews, Madeline (Thesis director) / Beeman, Scott (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
How humans coordinate digit forces to perform dexterous manipulation is not well understood. This gap is due to the use of tasks devoid of dexterity requirements and/or the use of analytical techniques that cannot isolate the roles that digit forces play in preventing object slip and controlling object position and orientation (pose). In our recent work, we used a dexterous manipulation task and decomposed digit forces into FG, the internal force that prevents object slip, and FM, the force responsible for object pose control. Unlike FG, FM was modulated from object lift onset to hold, suggesting their different sensitivity to sensory feedback acquired during object lift. However, the extent to which FG and FM can be controlled independently remains to be determined. To address this gap, we systematically changed either object mass or external torque. The FM normal component responsible for object orientation control was modulated to changes in object torque but not mass. In contrast, FG was distinctly modulated to changes in object mass and torque. These findings point to a differential sensitivity of FG and FM to task requirements and provide novel insights into the neural control of dexterous manipulation. Importantly, our results indicate that the proposed digit force decomposition has the potential to capture important differences in how sensory inputs are processed and integrated to simultaneously ensure grasp stability and dexterous object pose control.
ContributorsNoll, William (Author) / Santello, Marco (Thesis director) / Wu, Yen-Hsun (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating neurological disease that affects millions of individuals across the world. There is no current cure for the disease, so much of the patient treatment is focused on management of the disease. One of the potential effects of having MS is having a decrease in balance which leads to a greater risk in sustaining a fall. It has been found in previous studies that MS patients have slower reaction times compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, electromyography (EMG) is an effective way to measure a subject's reaction to a perturbation. This study aims to see if MS subjects can improve their reaction times through a series of perturbation-based training visits. 18 MS patients and 11 healthy controls were recruited for this study. Each subject went through two baseline visits, six training visits, and two post-assessment visits. During each visit, subjects went through a series of forward and backward perturbations from a stand to react position administered by a dual-belt perturbation treadmill. The subjects' reaction times were measured by taking the difference between the onset of the treadmill movement and the onset of the muscle activation. This muscle activation was measured by placing EMG sensors on the tibialis anterior muscle and medial gastrocnemius muscle on each leg. After running a repeated measures ANOVA test, it was found that there were no significant differences in the reaction times between MS participants and healthy controls. However, the overall trend in the data was promising, as MS patients did improve their performance in backward-stepping slightly. Adding more participants to the study could strengthen this trend. It was also found that males across both groups significantly improved their reaction times compared to females. However, it is unknown why this occurred. Future goals would be to add more participants to the study and follow-up with MS patients to see if they have a decrease in falls post-training.
ContributorsSalek, Aydin (Author) / Peterson, Daniel (Thesis director) / Lee, Hyunglae (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Patients with Parkinson's disease have been seen to be prone to falling. Balance problems and postural instability have been seen to affect their quality of life. This project aims to understand the relationship between the presence of cognitive loads and reactive stepping performance in Parkinson’s patients. Additionally, it also tests the feasibility of the experimental framework to evaluate reactive stepping performance. This experiment tested Parkinson’s patients performing tasks of varying difficulty levels while having to regain their balance. Acceleration perturbations on a treadmill were used to elicit an intrinsic response in the subjects. This compared gait parameters of the subjects that performed single and dual tasks. The results showed that the presence of a cognitive task had a negative effect on the reactive stepping performance, specifically on the margin of stability and step length. Additionally, there was no effect of changing the difficulty level of the task on reactive stepping performance.
ContributorsDesai, Mugdhasrija (Author) / Lee, Hyunglae (Thesis director) / Peterson, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects millions of individuals in the United States alone. Common symptoms of the disease are forgetfulness and memory loss. However, these AD symptoms typically appear later in life despite potential early and hidden biological changes in the brain. This preclinical stage can began years before the onset of the typical symptoms of AD marking the need for earlier detection methods for developing therapies to slow symptom progression. Here, I have developed an initial susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) method, a subset of magnetic resonance imaging, for the purpose of longitudinal study of AD.
ContributorsKuppravalli, Akash (Author) / Beeman, Scott (Thesis director) / Schaefer, Sydney (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2024-05