A Tilting System for Powered Wheelchairs

The objective of our project is to create a wheelchair platform that can tilt a power wheelchair and its user back into a nearhorizontal position. The purpose of this is to allow a dentist to work on the patient in the manner and position with which they are most accustomed. The device currently used by our sponsor, The Virginia Home, is the Versatilt platform. The Versatilt is capable of lifting a maximum weight of 750 lbs. and tilting patients back, up to 65 degrees. However, the platform is too small to accept the power wheelchairs used by the majority of our sponsor’s patients. This means that patients in powered wheelchairs have to be transferred from their chairs and into manual wheelchairs for their dental service. According to OSHA, these patient transfers also cause 28.3% of workplace injuries for nurses and other care staff. Because of this we have created and prototyped a new design that will allow patients to remain in their powered wheelchairs when they go to get dental work done. In order to accommodate the larger powered wheelchairs and meet our sponsor’s desires, our design incorporates three key design points. The first is the use of heavy duty linear actuators, each of which are capable of exerting 1010 pounds of thrust. The two linear actuators are able to lift the heavier weight of a powered wheelchair and its patient, as well as provide a redundancy system that will ensure that the system will not fail catastrophically. The second design point was the incorporation of a larger tilting platform. This allows the larger powered wheelchairs to be put onto our tilter. The final design consideration was creating a system that would allow the platform to tilt back 80 degrees, which allows for the dentist to work in their normal position. These 3 key design considerations create a system that meets all of the requirements of our project sponsor, while creating a unique system that is not currently on the market.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1070/thumbnail.jp

Probing for Extended Gamma-ray Emission Within and Beyond the Virial Radius from the Coma Galaxy Cluster

Galaxy Clusters (GCls) are the largest known virialized objects in the Universe. About one-third of GCls exhibit an extended radio halo associated with a population of nonthermal electrons emitting synchrotron radiation in a microgauss level magnetic field. The cooling time for the nonthermal electrons is about two orders of magnitude below the diffusion time needed to explain the radio halo, indicating that the electrons are created locally. The electrons may either be accelerated directly in the turbulent cluster medium or created as secondary products from nonthermal protons colliding with the intracluster medium. Observed gamma-ray emission can therefore resolve the contribution from these two mechanisms. Despite the empirical and theoretical motivation for the existence of gamma-ray emission from GCls, so far it remains undetected. In this talk VERITAS observations are used to analyze a 6x8 degree field of the Coma galaxy cluster and evaluate the existence of possible extended gamma-ray emission. To achieve this, a method is developed which utilizes cosmic rays as a calibration source to determine a background measurement across the full field of view. The resulting excess demonstrates a small significance of 2.7 sigma in the central 1.5 degree radius of the cluster. This observed central excess, while alone is not significant, has an angular extent in agreement with simulations and corresponds to a similar significance level seen by Fermi-LAT in the same region, and hence it is worth further investigation by VERITAS and future instruments such as CTA

Changes in Bacterial Growth Rate Govern Expression of the \u3cem\u3eBorrelia burgdorferi\u3c/em\u3e OspC and Erp Infection-Associated Surface Proteins

The Lyme disease spirochete controls production of its OspC and Erp outer surface proteins, repressing protein synthesis during colonization of vector ticks but increasing expression when those ticks feed on vertebrate hosts. Early studies found that the synthesis of OspC and Erps can be stimulated in culture by shifting the temperature from 23°C to 34°C, leading to a hypothesis that Borrelia burgdorferi senses environmental temperature to determine its location in the tick-mammal infectious cycle. However, borreliae cultured at 34°C divide several times faster than do those cultured at 23°C. We developed methods that disassociate bacterial growth rate and temperature, allowing a separate evaluation of each factor\u27s impacts on B. burgdorferi gene and protein expression. Altogether, the data support a new paradigm that B. burgdorferi actually responds to changes in its own replication rate, not temperature per se, as the impetus to increase the expression of the OspC and Erp infection-associated proteins

Idiopathic Proximal Tibiofibular Joint Laxity in a Collegiate Baseball Player: A Case Report

Objective: Present a clinical case detailing the assessment and management of a collegiate baseball player suffering from symptomatic laxity of the proximal tibiofibular joint. Background: Injuries to the proximal tibiofibular joint are rare, and generally accompanied by some form of trauma. Typically, dislocations of the proximal tibiofibular joint occur in an anterior direction, and require reduction and possible fixation as a first course of treatment. Treatment: A 20-year-old collegiate baseball player reported to the athletic training clinic complaining of idiopathic lateral right knee pain. The patient could not recall a mechanism, but recalled an insidious onset of pain that had begun two months prior to reporting to the athletic training staff. There has been some documentation of patients presenting with congenitally lax proximal tibiofibular ligaments, but at this time there is no demographic information on this patient population. Uniqueness: Most cases of proximal tibiofibular laxity occur as a result of trauma. In this patient’s case, there was no specific mechanism of injury or site morbidity to suggest an injury had occurred. Additionally, the patient was able to develop dynamic, and functional stability before regaining static stability. Conclusion: Anatomical abnormalities offer clinicians a unique opportunity to explore multiple levels of problem solving and patient assessment. Further research needs to be conducted to provide demographic data and treatment options for patients suffering from proximal tibiofibular joint laxity

Eubacterial SpoVG homologs constitute a new family of site-specific DNA-binding proteins

A site-specific DNA-binding protein was purified from Borrelia burgdorferi cytoplasmic extracts, and determined to be a member of the highly conserved SpoVG family. This is the first time a function has been attributed to any of these ubiquitous bacterial proteins. Further investigations into SpoVG orthologues indicated that the Staphylococcus aureus protein also binds DNA, but interacts preferentially with a distinct nucleic acid sequence. Site-directed mutagenesis and domain swapping between the S. aureus and B. burgdorferi proteins identified that a 6-residue stretch of the SpoVG α-helix contributes to DNA sequence specificity. Two additional, highly conserved amino acid residues on an adjacent β-sheet are essential for DNA-binding, apparently by contacts with the DNA phosphate backbone. Results of these studies thus identified a novel family of bacterial DNA-binding proteins, developed a model of SpoVG-DNA interactions, and provide direction for future functional studies on these wide-spread proteins

\u3cem\u3eBorrelia burgdorferi\u3c/em\u3e cp32 BpaB Modulates Expression of the Prophage NucP Nuclease and SsbP Single-Stranded DNA-Binding Protein

The Borrelia burgdorferi BpaB proteins of the spirochete\u27s ubiquitous cp32 prophages are DNA-binding proteins, required both for maintenance of the bacteriophage episomes and for transcriptional regulation of the cp32 erp operons. Through use of DNase I footprinting, we demonstrate that BpaB binds the erp operator initially at the sequence 5′-TTATA-3′. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays indicated that BpaB also binds with high affinity to sites located in the 5′ noncoding regions of two additional cp32 genes. Characterization of the proteins encoded by those genes indicated that they are a single-stranded DNA-binding protein and a nuclease, which we named SsbP and NucP, respectively. Chromatin immunoprecipitation indicated that BpaB binds erp, ssbP, and nucP in live B. burgdorferi. A mutant bacterium that overexpressed BpaB produced significantly higher levels of ssbP and nucP transcript than did the wild-type parent

\u3cem\u3eBorrelia burgdorferi\u3c/em\u3e SpoVG DNA- and RNA-Binding Protein Modulates the Physiology of the Lyme Disease Spirochete

The SpoVG protein of Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease spirochete, binds to specific sites of DNA and RNA. The bacterium regulates transcription of spoVG during the natural tick-mammal infectious cycle and in response to some changes in culture conditions. Bacterial levels of spoVG mRNA and SpoVG protein did not necessarily correlate, suggesting that posttranscriptional mechanisms also control protein levels. Consistent with this, SpoVG binds to its own mRNA, adjacent to the ribosome-binding site. SpoVG also binds to two DNA sites in the glpFKD operon and to two RNA sites in glpFKD mRNA; that operon encodes genes necessary for glycerol catabolism and is important for colonization in ticks. In addition, spirochetes engineered to dysregulate spoVG exhibited physiological alterations

Impact of a Professional Identity Formation Program on Student Perceptions

In response to the call for reform in professional identity formation (PIF) (O’Brien & Irby, 2013), the University of Utah pioneered a program called RealMD which utilizes coaching and group self-discovery activities to encourage purpose and community in preparation for students’ future medical careers (Cruess, Cruess, Boudreau, Snell, & Steinert, 2014). The program focuses on 15 attitudes/skills central to identity development (Tsai, Moniz, Davis, & Chang, 2017). In this study, we explored the impact of the program on student self-perceptions. We administered a retrospective, pre-post survey at the end of year to students (n=253), in which 111 (44%) rated perceived importance of each attitude/skill at the start and end of the year. The survey also allowed open-ended comments. Analyzing the mean gain in ratings across the 2 time periods, 14 of the 15 items increased (range =.01 to .37), with a significant (p<0.05) increase on 4 items (applying identity development to career, having a self-reflection process, creating a networking plan, and identifying an issue in healthcare to change). Comments corroborated the notable impact of being a student in the program on said attitudes/skills

Football: a counterpoint to the procession of pain on the Western Front, 1914-1918?

In this article, three artworks of the First World War containing images of recreational football are analysed. These three images, In the Wings of the Theatre of War, Artillery Men at Football and Gassed, span the war from its beginning to its conclusion and are discussed in relationship to the development of recreational football in the front-line area, the evolving policies of censorship and propaganda and in consideration of the national mood in Britain. The paper shows how football went from being a spontaneous and improvised pastime in the early stages of the war to a well organized entertainment by war’s end. The images demonstrate how the war was portrayed as a temporary affair by a confident nation in 1914 to a more resigned acceptance of a semi-permanent event to be endured by 1918; however, all three artworks show that the sporting spirit, and hence the fighting spirit, of the British soldier was intact

Structural and mechanistic analysis of ATPase inhibitors targeting mycobacterial DNA gyrase

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of two novel compounds against mycobacteria and determine the molecular basis of their action on DNA gyrase using structural and mechanistic approaches. Methods Redx03863 and Redx04739 were tested in antibacterial assays, and also against their target, DNA gyrase, using DNA supercoiling and ATPase assays. X-ray crystallography was used to determine the structure of the gyrase B protein ATPase sub-domain from Mycobacterium smegmatis complexed with the aminocoumarin drug novobiocin, and structures of the same domain from Mycobacterium thermoresistibile complexed with novobiocin, and also with Redx03863. Results Both compounds, Redx03863 and Redx04739, were active against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative species, with Redx03863 being the more potent, and Redx04739 showing selectivity against M. smegmatis. Both compounds were potent inhibitors of the supercoiling and ATPase reactions of DNA gyrase, but did not appreciably affect the ATP-independent relaxation reaction. The structure of Redx03863 bound to the gyrase B protein ATPase sub-domain from M. thermoresistibile shows that it binds at a site adjacent to the ATP- and novobiocin-binding sites. We found that most of the mutations that we made in the Redx03863-binding pocket, based on the structure, rendered gyrase inactive. Conclusions Redx03863 and Redx04739 inhibit gyrase by preventing the binding of ATP. The fact that the Redx03863-binding pocket is distinct from that of novobiocin, coupled with the lack of activity of resistant mutants, suggests that such compounds could have potential to be further exploited as antibiotics