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Patent Coloring Books: 1 Year in Review
Full text linkAlabama Library Association Conference (ALLACON) 2025 Guntersville, AL, April 9-12, 202
The Association Of Social Determinants Of Health And Type Ii Diabetes Self-Management Among Persons Living With Physical Disability (Mobility & Visual Impairments)
No full textType II Diabetes (T2D) management yield positive outcomes in glycemic control, lifestyle behaviors, knowledge enhancement, and self-care. Persons with disability (PWDs) - regardless of disability type - are faced with additional challenges in diabetes self- management. Moreover, PWDs exhibit adverse outcomes across various measures of social determinants of health (SDOH) compared to individuals without disabilities. This dissertation explored four research aims to examine the impact of adverse SDOH experiences on T2D self- management among persons with physical disability utilizing a preprint/reprint format - with each aim leading to a manuscript. Secondary data analysis using the 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) was conducted for three of the aims and a qualitative study was utilized for the fourth aim. The first aim examined the association between SDOH experiences and disability status. Findings from the first aim indicated that PWDs and T2D are more likely to be socially isolated, stress, unable to pay their bills and more likely to lack reliable transportation. The second aim investigated the relationship between A1c check and experiences of adverse conditions of SDOH. Findings from the second aim indicated that persons with vision impairments and T2D who lack health insurance or have lost their employment or have reduced work hours are less likely to get their A1c checked by a healthcare professional at least twice a year. The third aim examined the association between getting an annual diabetes-related eye exam and experiences of adverse conditions of SDOH. Findings from the third aim indicated that persons with mobility impairments and T2D who experience loss of employment or reduced work hours have a decreased likelihood of getting an annual diabetes-related eye exam. The fourth aim was a qualitative study that explored the perceptions of persons with mobility disability and T2DM on the impact of SDOH on their self-diabetes management. Findings indicated that adverse SDOH experiences like lack of reliable transportation hindered effective diabetes self-management while non-adverse SDOH experiences like access to health insurance promoted diabetes self-management. Subsequently, our findings suggest that effective diabetes self-management for persons with vision and mobility impairments requires addressing related environmental and sociocultural barriers
Platal expansion using the Invisalign Palatal Expander IPE
Full text linkPalatal expansion has been used in orthodontics to treat a narrow maxilla and to primarily correct posterior dental crossbites. In younger patients, palatal expansion can readily be achieved through opening of the mid-palatal suture, as it is not fused at that age. As the mid-palatal suture matures, expansion will gradually be difficult to achieve, and more dental expansion is obtained rather than skeletal. In addition, there is a tendency to get more dental tipping. Palatal expansion has been recommended not only to correct crossbites but also to improve breathing in patients with sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The ratio skeletal/dental expansion decreases as the patient grows older and the mid-palatal suture fuses. Mini-implant supported RPE (Marpe) or Surgically assisted RPE (Sarpe) are considered when palatal expansion is needed for patients with fused mid-palatal suture. Recently ALIGN technologies introduced the Invisalignâ Palatal Expander (IPE)1 which consists of a series of removable palatal expanders. This study aimed at evaluating palatal expansion using the Invisalignâ palatal expander “IPE”. Intraoral scans with Iteroâ scanners from a total of 41 patients were used and evaluated for expansion. The inclusion criteria for the study were patients primarily age between 9 and 10, with the presence of maxillary first permanent molar. These patients were sub-divided into 2 groups; Group 1 included 41 patients with pre and post expansion intra-oral scans. Intermolar width before and after expansion with the IPE was measured on the scans from palatal cusp tip, mesial-palatal cusp at CEJ, Buccal cusp at CEJ, and from central fossa. Group 2 included 14 patients who had both pre and post expansion CBCTs, in addition to pre and post expansion intra oral scans. The exact same measurements were carried out on scans in both groups to evaluate the intermolar width at different levels. To quantify the effect of the palatal expansion in group 2, intermolar width measurements were also taken on the CBCTs (molar palatal cusp tip to cusp tip and central fossa to central fossa). Additional skeletal measurements included: nasal floor width at the 6 level, nasal width, hard palate width, palatal alveolar molar width, buccal alveolar molar width. The angle formed by the two lines passing through the palatal roots of the 1st molars was measured in an attempt to evaluate amount of tipping of the molars. The results showed a total expansion between 4.5 mm and 8.1mm. Increases in dental measurements on the intra-oral scans measured between 2.7mm to 9.8mm from fossa to fossa and 2.8mm to 11.3mm from palatal cusp tip to palatal cusp tip. Skeletal expansion as depicted by the mid-palatal suture expansion was under 3 mm both in the molar and the premolar region. The average mid-palatal opening occurred at 1.49 mm and 1.5 mm at the molar level and the premolar level respectively. Conclusions: IPE resulted in both dental and skeletal expansion as seen on intra-oral scans and verified on patients CBC
Electrophysiological Integration Of Engineered Tissue Graft With The Host Swine Myocardium
No full textThe adult mammalian heart lacks regenerative capacity to replenish cardiomyocytes (CMs) lost due to myocardial infarction (MI). Instead, the damaged heart undergoes extensive remodeling that significantly impairs normal cardiac function and may eventually lead to heart failure. Recent therapies that implant engineered tissues fabricated from human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have shown promising results with improved cardiac function and structural integration. However, the extent of electrophysiological coupling between engineered and host tissue remains unclear. This is a critical factor for functional integration of the implant as well as for arrhythmia risk arising from the implant. Our study aims to investigate electrophysiological coupling between implanted tissue grafts and the host myocardium using an in-vivo pig model. We implanted engineered hiPSC-CMs spheroids into the pig’s heart and allowed them to integrate for 1 week. We then imaged organotypic cardiac tissue slices harvested from the implant zone to assess electrical coupling. We demonstrated for the first time that the engineered cardiac spheroids we implanted into swine hearts electrically coupled, enabling the host myocardium to drive the graft at a high heart rate up to 240 beats per minute (4 Hz). Further, we demonstrated the potential for mechanisms involving re-entry and graft automaticity to cause graft-associated arrhythmogenicity during transplantation. We also developed a novel “all-optical” system incorporating optogenetics and cardiac optical mapping that is particularly well-suited for studying bidirectional electrical coupling in engineered tissue transplantation. This study may have significant implications for cell transplantation therapies
Occupational Exposure To Cooking Emissions And Evaluation Of Ventilation System In Restaurant Kitchens
Full text linkBackground: In the restaurant environment, there are many harmful contaminants generated during the cooking process that kitchen workers are potentially exposed to. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the potential exposure to aldehydes and respirable particles among restaurant kitchen workers and to examine the ventilation performance of the kitchen exhaust hoods. Methods: There were three restaurants recruited for this study and they cooked seafood/poultry (Restaurant 1), farm style foods (Restaurant 2), and finger foods (Restaurant 3). The three restaurants had wall-mounted canopy hoods. Restaurant 1 had two hoods, Restaurant 2 had two hoods, and Restaurant 3 had one hood. Area sampling was conducted at the height of breathing zone for respirable particles using an optical particle counter and aldehydes using a passive sampler. One particle counter was placed either between or in front of the hood(s) and two aldehyde monitors were attached to the left and right (side) hoods. The sampling was performed for an entire work shift and repeated three times at each restaurant. 11 aldehydes were analyzed according to the relevant standard methods. A thermo-anemometer was used to measure the air velocity at the exhaust hoods and a flow rate was determined. Findings: The three-day average respirable particle concentration range was 0.011-0.018 for Restaurant 1, 0.020 to 0.150 for Restaurant 2, and 0.010 to 0.470 mg/m³ for Restaurant 3. Butyraldehyde had the highest average concentrations in all three restaurants and the concentration of right/left samplers was 277.35±16.32 / 329.62±40.09 for Restaurant 1, 176.65±49.90 / 308.96±18.16 for Restaurant 2, and 409.32±31.60 / 381.34±30.35 µg/m³ for Restaurant 3. The average flow rate per linear meter was 327 and 244 for the left and right hoods, respectively, in Restaurant 1, 236 and 408 for the left and right hoods, respectively, in Restaurant 2, 280 L/s in Restaurant 3. Conclusion: The respirable particle concentrations were below the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limit (OSHA PEL) of 5 mg/m³. All aldehydes were below the respective occupational exposure limits. 3 out of 5 restaurant exhaust hoods were below the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air- Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommendations
Parsing Clinical And Neurobiological Heterogeneity In First-Episode Psychosis Patients With And Without Features Of The Deficit Syndrome Of Schizophrenia
Full text linkSchizophrenia is highly heterogeneous in its neurobiological and clinical presentations, which hinders attempts to understand its pathophysiology, limits efforts to identify biomarkers, and deters optimal patient care. A way to parse clinical heterogeneity is to subtype patients based on clinical presentations. The deficit syndrome (DS) is a possible subtype, characterized by primary and enduring negative symptoms. Evidence for neurobiological abnormalities dissociating DS from other forms of schizophrenia is inconsistent as most studies do not account for heterogeneity within patient groups due to limitations of group-level comparisons. The question remains whether DS presents a unique and less heterogeneous neurobiological phenotype. The goals of this work are to (1) systematically review the literature on magnetic resonance imaging studies of DS, (2) to test deficit/non-deficit (NDS) distinctions in the functional connectome, and (3) to parse clinical and neurobiological heterogeneity among first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients with and without features of DS. Therefore, we used graph theory to characterize group-level differences in the functional connectome. We hypothesized that functional network segregation would be lower in clinical subgroups compared to healthy controls (HCs), and that functional network integration, would be higher in FEP-DS compared to FEP-NDS, and HCs. Furthermore, we used normative modeling to assess individual-level abnormalities, enabling us to capture inter-individual variability and to dissect neurobiological heterogeneity. We hypothesized that FEP-DS patients would be less heterogeneous in individual-level structural and functional abnormalities, compared to FEP-NDS. Graph theory group-level analyses revealed that only FEP-DS patients had lower integration and segregation in the functional connectome, compared to HCs. Normative modeling analyses showed that, at the individual level, FEP-DS and FEP-NDS patients were not different in abnormalities of cortical thickness and resting-state functional connectivity. Importantly, FEP-DS patients showed similar neurobiological heterogeneity compared to FEP-NDS. This challenges the idea that DS is a more homogeneous subtype of schizophrenia which, so far, has only been tested in group-level comparisons. Normative models are useful for capturing inter-individual variability in schizophrenia, which can help to determine whether clinical subgroups differ in neurobiological heterogeneity. Defining neurobiologically more homogeneous subgroups may lead to clinically useful applications, such as tailored treatments with better treatment responses