35989 research outputs found
Sort by
Using the Reverse Testing Algorithm to Detect a Case of Ocular Syphilis
No full textAccording to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), incidence rates of syphilis have been steadily increasing in the United States over the last 5 years, despite well-established treatment and prevention precautions. Importantly, ocular syphilis can be the only presenting symptom in up to 40% of patients diagnosed with syphilis. This case report aims to identify symptoms, investigative factors, and ethical considerations involved in ocular syphilis to better recognize and manage future cases. An IRB-approved descriptive study and thorough chart review was conducted to examine the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and medical management course of a male in his mid-50s with ocular syphilis. The patient presented to the optometry clinic in spring 2024 with unilateral anterior uveitis refractive to treatment with topical steroids, systemic steroids, and trial of valacyclovir. He was referred to the ophthalmology clinic 3 weeks after initial presentation, and lab work-up was positive for treponemal antibodies. Using the CDC reverse sequence algorithm for syphilis screening, a confirmatory RPR test was ordered and found reactive. Infectious Disease (ID) recommended a 2-week course of IV Penicillin G every four hours and Prednisone Acetate drops for affected eye. At the time of diagnosis, this patient stated that he has not been sexually active with his wife for two years. Infectious disease reported the diagnosis to Washington County Health Department as mandated by the CDC. While patient autonomy should always be upheld, ethical considerations include valuing the health of other individuals and the general population to avoid the risks associated with syphilis infection. Follow-up testing revealed residual positive RPR at month 7 after treatment, and the patient will continue to be treated with recommendations from ID and ophthalmology
Addressing Solubility and Analytical Challenges in Transdermal Nystatin Microneedle Formulation
No full textFungal infections, particularly those caused by Candida albicans, present a significant therapeutic challenge due to the need for frequent topical applications of antifungal agents like nystatin. Microneedles (MNs) offer a novel transdermal delivery system that could enhance therapeutic efficacy by enabling controlled and sustained drug release. This study focuses on the preformulation aspects of nystatin MNs, including solubility enhancement, analytical method development, and drug release evaluation. Nystatin MNs were fabricated using MeltPrep vacuum compression molding (VCM), a novel technique that employs heat and vacuum for precise formulation. To enable in vitro skin permeation studies via Franz Diffusion Cells, an HPLC-based analytical method was developed to detect nystatin with high sensitivity while avoiding interference from skin components. Given nystatin’s poor water solubility, various solubility enhancers were screened using citrate-phosphate buffer (CPB) combined with polyethylene glycol (PEG 400) or Transcutol at varying ratios. Solubility studies involved saturation and centrifugation steps, followed by HPLC analysis of the supernatant. The optimized HPLC method achieved a detection sensitivity of 0.1 µg/mL, with a linearity range of 0.1–50 µg/mL (R² = 0.9958). The mobile phase consisted of methanol:DMF:water (55:15:30) with a C18 column, a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min, and a retention time of ~7.5 min. Among the tested solubility enhancers, CPB:Transcutol (1:1) provided the highest solubility (290.44 ± 12.10 µg/mL) and was selected as the receptor medium for skin permeation studies. MN drug release studies demonstrated complete dissolution of 2 mg nystatin within 2 hours in CPB:Transcutol (1:1). This study successfully optimized solubility conditions and established a robust HPLC method for nystatin quantification in MN formulations. Future work will investigate transdermal permeation across pig ear skin using Franz cells to evaluate MN-mediated nystatin delivery
Mitochondrial function is depressed acutely following traumatic brain injury
No full textFollowing a traumatic brain injury (TBI), the risk for seizure development increases. Post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) is defined as continual seizures in the weeks-months following injury and are correlated with the extent of neurodegeneration. A full understanding of the pathways that lead to development and progression of PTE remains a priority, as TBI induced epileptogenesis may account for up to 20% of the epileptic population. Mitochondria function is known to be compromised following TBI and lead to increased tissue damage and cognitive deficits. The goal of this project is to determine if mitochondrial energetics are altered during the epileptogenic process following TBI in both the acute and chronic phases. Mice underwent controlled cortical impact injury (or sham) surgery to induce TBI and mitochondrial function was analyzed across three acute timepoints (2h, 24h, and 72h). Mitochondria was isolated from both ipsilateral and contralateral cerebral and hippocampus. The mitochondria were then put through the O2k-Fluorespirometer and stimulated with various substrates to analyze the electron transport chain. TBI mitochondria generally showed impaired respiration and decreased ADP phosphorylation. This is indicative of impaired ATP production. This result was particularly marked at 2h post injury. Respiration through both mitochondrial Complex I (glutamate/malate) and Complex II (succinate) tended to decrease, especially in the ipsilateral hemisphere, suggested that during the acute phase mitochondrial function is depressed. As a result, it can be inferred that the TBI decreased mitochondrial efficiency overall, but 2h post-TBI mice could be the most susceptible to seizures due to the severity of the injury. This marked decrease at 2h suggests that early intervention strategies targeting mitochondrial function may have the best efficacy. Further work is ongoing to investigate the cell signaling involved in this acute phase as well as determining if there are mitochondrial deficits chronically that increase seizure susceptibility
Assessing Self-Efficacy in Families of Children with Hearing Concerns through an Audiological Early Intervention Training
No full textTo participate in listening and spoken language, one must have an intact auditory system. When the auditory system is damaged, listening and spoken language becomes difficult. Children with damaged auditory systems, may display a delay in listening and language development. If a family chooses the listening and spoken language modality it is important to have their children fit with proper amplification. This supports their listening and language development, by providing the children language access. The “Little Ears Enormous Purpose” (LEEP) Project was created five years ago to help families better understand and navigate their children’s hearing difficulties. The goal of LEEP is to help build families’ self-efficacy and advocacy skills regarding their children’s hearing difficulties and devices. LEEP is intended to build families’ confidence and knowledge with regard to their children’s hearing difficulties, hearing devices, and listening and spoken language development. The first year of LEEP consisted of one intervention session with a pre- and post-survey. The project now consists of four intervention sessions, with each session designed to address each family’s specific needs. The family’s self-efficacy skills and knowledge are assessed through a pre- and post-survey, using the Scale of Parent Involvement and Self-Efficacy-Revised (SPISE-R). The SPISE-R asks families questions about their perceptions of their child’s device use, beliefs, knowledge, confidence, and actions to support their children’s auditory access and spoken language development. Use of the survey and development of intervention sessions were modeled after Ambrose et al. (2020), who developed SPISE-R. Participants were recruited through flyers at the ETSU Audiology Clinic and Tennessee 0-5 Parent Outreach. In the past two years, 4 total families have participated. Data collection is still underway; however, it is hypothesized that there will be an increase in parent reported self-efficacy between the pre- and post-survey
Exploring Young Adults’ Implicit Theories of Emotion and Emotion Dysregulation on Parental Emotion Socialization and Internalizing Symptomology
No full textResearch regarding emotion socialization suggests parents’ responses towards their children’s negative emotions, which may be characterized as either emotion dismissive or emotion coaching behaviors, are associated with children’s well-being into adulthood. A heuristic model of emotion socialization suggests that child-level factors related to emotion processing may moderate this association (Eisenberg, 1998), which warrants further examination when considering relevant risk factors for mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression. This dissertation explored how parent emotion socialization responses interact with young adults’ beliefs about the controllability of emotions and their difficulties with emotion regulation with regard to their impact on young adult internalizing symptoms. In addition to moderation models, this study expanded upon a limited literature base by examining the relation between young adults’ implicit theories of emotion and emotion dysregulation. Findings did not support the proposed moderation but revealed the direct effects of individual-level factors on internalizing symptomology. Studying these constructs in a young adult population contributes to a research field that primarily focuses on child and adolescent populations and supports implicit theories of emotion as a potential treatment target
Rituximab Molecular Pharming: Designing a vector that yields high monoclonal antibody Rituximab levels through plant transformation
No full textPlant transformation for protein expression is a rapidly expanding method in biomedical sciences, providing a means of replicating therapeutic proteins that hold limits in their reproducibility. One category of these proteins is monoclonal antibodies, known for their capabilities in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers and autoimmune diseases, but holding limits in their replicability given they exist as clones from one original, lab-synthesized protein. The importance of these antibodies and the expensive nature of their formulation creates demand for a measure of reproducibility. Rituximab, used in the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma, is an example of this and is used in this experiment. The objective of this project is to design a protein expression vector with a high yield of Rituximab in Nicotiana tabacum using an agrobacterium-mediated molecular cloning system. The first step is engineering the plant expression vector (pCNHP) for the agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation process. An optimized promoter for maximal transcription and an effective terminator, as well as an experimental 2A peptide linker to ensure that the heavy and light chains are expressed in tandem with high expression, were used. The co-expression of P19 and the vector inhibits gene silencing. Gibson Assembly merged DNA constructs and assembles them within a single vector without the use of restriction enzymes. Electroporation was used to introduce the plasmid to GV3101 agrobacterium electro-competent cells. We infiltrated hydroponically-raised Nicotiana tabacum plants with the agrobacterium. To purify the protein, we will utilize Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC) to calculate our total soluble protein. The anticipated outcomes for this experiment are implementing a strategy to express as much of Rituximab (used in treatment of lymphoma and leukemia) in a transformed plant as possible. Rituximab is synthetic, so expressing this antibody maximally through plants is a convenient and cost-efficient way to produce the therapeutic antibody wide-scale
