Effects of Time-Varying Magnetic Fields in the Frequency Range 1 kHz to 100 kHz upon the Human Body : Numerical Studies and Stimulation Experiment

In this work, the physiological effects of time-varying magnetic fields up to 100 kHz have been investigated, namely magnetic stimulation and body warming. Simulation studies were based on numerical calculations on sophisticated cell and body models. In addition, magnetic stimulation thresholds have been determined experimentally. The project was carried out within the scope of the development of Magnetic Particle Imaging, a new imaging technology for medical diagnostics

Thematic analysis of sexual and gender minority enrollment in the all of us Pennsylvania project: implications for public health research

To date, large-scale population studies have failed to fully assess the health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations. With the implementation of individualized healthcare, comprehensive patient information—including gender identity and sexual orientation (GI/SO)—are gaining recognition as critically important to designing holistic treatment plans and engaging patients. Historically, SGMs have been described in the context of existing health disparities, most commonly substance abuse and HIV/AIDS. The All of Us National Precision Medicine research project is a historic effort to gather health information from one million Americans and has emphasized engaging with populations historically underserved and underrepresented in biomedical research, including SGM populations. To increase SGM representation, better understanding of the barriers and facilitators to enrollment in public health research is necessary. This study explored the attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs of 23 self-identified SGMs regarding public health research across six focus groups in Pittsburgh, PA. Participants who had previously enrolled in All of Us were also asked specifically about their enrollment experience. Discussions were audio-recorded and evaluated using thematic analysis. Five themes were identified: (1) explicit invitations and clear messaging, (2) factors that tip the scales, (3) variation of SGM research accessibility, (4) barriers and facilitators to disclosing identity, and (5) personalization of the research experience. Participants acknowledged numerous social ecological factors that may influence their decision to enroll in a study, including SGM-specific advertising, well-trained staff who create a comfortable atmosphere, inclusive demographic questionnaires that allow for complete identity disclosure, and the ability to opt out of uncomfortable study components when possible. Based on participant recommendations, All of Us could consider adding same sex couples and gender non-binary individuals to advertising campaigns, clarifying the use of psychiatric records in medical records sharing, and engaging SGM community leaders in recruitment efforts. Beyond program-specific suggestions, the public health significance of this work is the reinforcement of the need for SGM-specific considerations in the design and implementation of research. Researchers can better engage SGMs through explicit invitations to participate, inclusive demographic questionnaires, and a trained staff who can engage with participants with a range of gender identities and sexual orientations

Youth Sports in a Pandemic Age

Abstract Problem: Youth sporting events is a public health concern as infected youth with coronavirus disease 2019 may unknowingly spread the virus, as many show little to no symptoms (Zimmerman & Nigel, 2020). This project aimed to identify level of adherence to posted Youth Sports Guidelines, which were designed to mitigate the spread of virus at youth sporting events. Methods: An observational descriptive design was utilized. Two observers tallied guideline violations by participants and spectators at six high-contact (basketball) and six low-contact (swimming) public high school youth sporting events. Results: A total of 726 youth sport participants and 139 spectators were observed. Mean total number of violations were higher at high-contact events (145.33 ± 68.86) compared to low-contact events (87.50 ± 35.42). The majority of violations involved social distancing and mask violations. Low-contact sporting events had more social distancing violations compared to high-contact events, 391 and 253, respectively. High-contact sporting events had a significant higher number of mask violations compared to low-contact events, 414 and 120, respectively (alpha value of 0.05, p = .032). No significant correlations were identified between violations to the guidelines at the observed youth sporting events and concurrent virus case rates. Implications for practice: Results can guide future decision making related to youth sports, and by implication, other school-sponsored activities. Opportunities for educating the public by advanced practice nurses can improve adherence to health policies and thereby improve health outcomes

Thermal Characterization of a Hall Effect Thruster

The thermal characteristics of a Hall thruster directly influence thruster and spacecraft design. High temperatures affect the magnetic coil capabilities and cause higher insulator erosion rates, influencing both thruster performance and lifetime. The Hall thruster transfers heat through both radiation and conduction, and the spacecraft must handle this additional thermal energy. An infrared camera provides a non-intrusive method to analyze the thermal characteristics of an operational Hall thruster. This thesis contains the thermal analysis of a Busek Co. Inc. 200 W Hall thruster, using a FLIR ThermaCAM SC640 infrared camera. The Space Propulsion Analysis and System Simulator Laboratory at the Air Force Institute of Technology on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base provided the location for thruster set up and operation. The infrared camera furnishes the surface temperatures for the entire thruster, and approximates the transient heating behavior during start up, steady state, and shut down. Thermocouples verify and correct the camera data. Experimentally determined emissivities characterize the materials of the thruster. In addition, a view factor analysis between the camera pixels and the alumina sprayed portion of the cathode determines the exchange of radiation between the pixels and cathode surface. This process develops a technique to map surface temperatures of complex geometries with confidence in the actual values. Accurately mapping the surface temperatures of a Hall Effect thruster will improve both thruster efficiency and lifetime, and predict the thruster\u27s thermal load on a satellite

A COMPLETE KINEMATIC, KINETIC, AND ELECTROMYOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FOOTBALL THROW IN COLLEGIATE QUARTERBACKS

The biomechanics of the overhead throw has been extensively studied in regards to baseball pitching. However, an understanding of the proper mechanics needed to successfully throw a football has not previously been investigated. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the kinematics, kinetics, and electromyography of the football throws in elite quarterbacks. Three collegiate quarterbacks were evaluated using a multi-camera motion capture system and electromyography electrodes. The results of this study are able to give a breakdown in the types of mechanics needed in each of the phases of the throw. This study demonstrated that during the early cocking phase, most of the movement seen in the upper body occurs in the frontal plane to abduct the shoulder. During the late cocking phase, the shoulder holds a constant abduction angle and begins to externally rotate. The shoulder reaches a value of 117° of external rotation, much less than has previously been reported. During the acceleration phase, the shoulder rapidly internally rotates as well as horizontally adducts. Once the ball is released, the shoulder has to produce large forces and muscle activity to slow down the rotation. These results will be able to give coaches and players a tool for what to look for when evaluating the mechanics of an individual

Statistical Tests for Detecting Differential RNA-Transcript Expression from Read Counts

As a fruit of the current revolution in sequencing technology, transcriptomes can now be analyzed at an unprecedented level of detail. These advances have been exploited for detecting differential expressed genes across biological samples and for quantifying the abundances of various RNA transcripts within one gene. However, explicit strategies for detecting the hidden differential abundances of RNA transcripts in biological samples have not been defined. In this work, we present two novel statistical tests to address this issue: a 'gene structure sensitive' Poisson test for detecting differential expression when the transcript structure of the gene is known, and a kernel-based test called Maximum Mean Discrepancy when it is unknown. We analyzed the proposed approaches on simulated read data for two artificial samples as well as on factual reads generated by the Illumina Genome Analyzer for two _C. elegans_ samples. Our analysis shows that the Poisson test identifies genes with differential transcript expression considerably better that previously proposed RNA transcript quantification approaches for this task. The MMD test is able to detect a large fraction (75%) of such differential cases without the knowledge of the annotated transcripts. It is therefore well-suited to analyze RNA-Seq experiments when the genome annotations are incomplete or not available, where other approaches have to fail

What makes desiccation tolerable?

A comparison of drought tolerance in plants at extreme ends of the evolutionary spectrum is beginning to show the mechanisms involved

Unfolded protein response pathways in skeletal muscle homeostasis.

Skeletal muscle mass, contractile properties, and metabolic function are regulated through the coordinated activation of multiple intracellular signaling pathways and genetic reprogramming. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays a pivotal role in protein folding and calcium homeostasis in many cell types, including skeletal muscle. Disruption of calcium levels or accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER lumen leads to stress, which results in the activation of a signaling network called the unfolded protein response (UPR). Further, recent studies have suggested that in certain conditions, UPR pathways can be activated independent of ER stress. However, the role of ER stress and the UPR in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass and function had not been previously investigated. This dissertation demonstrates that the markers of ER stress are increased in skeletal muscle of mouse models of cancer cachexia. Chronic administration of 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA), a molecular chaperon and an inhibitor of ER stress, leads to the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function in naïve conditions and in Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) tumor-bearing mice. 4-PBA also causes atrophy in cultured primary myotubes. Further, our results demonstrate that the targeted deletion of X-box binding protein (XBP1), a downstream target of the inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) arm of the UPR, attenuates the loss of skeletal muscle mass in LLC tumor-bearing mice. Overexpression of a spliced form of XBP1 causes atrophy and induces the gene expression of several proinflammatory cytokines and the components of ubiquitin proteasome system and autophagy in cultured myotubes. Our results also demonstrate that toll-like receptors-mediated signaling is responsible, at least in part, for the activation of the UPR in skeletal muscle of LLC tumor-bearing mice. Finally, the role of the XBP1 in skeletal muscle growth and regeneration was also investigated. Results showed XBP1 mediates overload-induced myofiber hypertrophy and skeletal muscle regeneration potentially through augmenting the proliferation of satellite cells in a non-cell-autonomous manner. Altogether, this dissertation provides initial evidence that while basal levels of ER stress/UPR is essential for the maintenance of skeletal muscle mass and strength, supra-physiological activation of the UPR, especially the IRE1/XBP1 arm, causes skeletal muscle wasting

The influence of British literature upon pre-Raphaelite painting

It has been the object of the writer, in preparing this thesis, to emphasize the influence of British literature upon the Pre-Rapheelite Brotherhood of painters who lived and worked during the reign of Queen Victoria. It is the hope of the writer to show, in treating these artists who revived the truthfulness of nature as applied to painting, that those who were realists were also idealists, and that those who were romanticists were yet realists in the broader sense of the term, for realism may interpret the larger elements of imagination. With due recognition of her limited ability, the author desires to dispel what to her seem several narrowly critical edicts pronounced against the Brotherhood by various students of art, thereby freeing the Brotherhood from a maze of confusing isms and placing them on a humanized plane of appreciation as highly inspirational artists. Perhaps the most important contribution of the Pre- Raphaelites lies in the fact that they nationalized British art and at the same time gave it individuality by introducing into it for the first time subjects from British literature. It is furthermore the desire of the writer to emphasize the position of William Morris not as an adjunct of the Pre-Raphaelite group, but as a conciliatory figure who united the two factions of the Brotherhood, the realistic and the romantic, into a harmonious group of individualists. Lastly, as interesting sidelights upon the Pre-Raphaelites, the author wishes to present in the final chapter of this paper, a brief discussion of two themes relative to the main topic: the interrelationship of the Pre-Raphaelite painters and writers who formed a larger brotherhood, and the contribution which the Pre-Raphaelites have made to British art from foreign sources, As such material is not strictly in keeping with the subject of the work, it was thought advisable to reserve such digressive discourse for the final pages

The oxime HI-6 : Determination of the pharmacokinetics and the effect of atropine co-administration in guinea pigs and domestic swine

Chemical warfare agents including organophosphorus nerve agents (NA) continue to be a significant threat to both military and civilian populations. The current Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) treatment of NA poisoning includes administration of the oxime HI-6 (used to reactivate inhibited acetylcholinesterase) in combination with atropine contained in an autoinjector, with a benzodiazepine also being administered. Two salts of HI-6 are currently available: HI-6 2Cl (1-[[[4-(Aminocarbonyl)pyridinio]methoxy]methyl]-2-[(hydroxyiminio)methyl] pyridinium dichloride (MW 376.22 g/mol) and HI-6 DMS (1-[[[4-(Aminocarbonyl)pyridinio]methoxy]methyl]-2-[(hydroxyiminio)methyl] pyridinium dimethanesulfonate (MW 477.49 g/mol). Currently HI-6 is available to the Canadian Armed Forces under a special access program. In order to attain licensure of HI-6 numerous studies must be carried out in animal models to ensure its safety (tolerability and toxicity), efficacy and pharmacokinetics prior to human clinical trials. The present experiment aimed to determine and compare the pharmacokinetic parameters of HI-6 in two animal models under various conditions including: direct comparison of salts (HI-6 2Cl compared to HI-6 DMS), comparison of routes of administration (intramuscular compared to intravenous), comparison of effect of anaesthetic, comparison of different concentrations of HI-6, determination of the effect of atropine sulphate co-administration and evaluation of calculated pharmacokinetic parameters when infusing HI-6. Serial plasma samples were collected and HI-6 levels were quantified using a HPLC method. In all studies a significant difference was reported for absorption/distribution parameters when comparing salts. Additionally the absorption/distribution parameters when comparing routes of administration were significantly different however all other parameters were similar. Significant differences in calculated parameters were reported when examining the effect of anaesthetic on the pharmacokinetics of HI-6. Similar to previous ascending dose studies, differences were reported for the absorption/distribution kinetics. Co-administration of HI-6 with atropine sulphate did not have significant effect on the pharmacokinetics of HI-6. The determined pharmacokinetic values for both salts were accurate for the determination of an infusion rate to reach and maintain a target plasma concentration. Finally the calculated animal model pharmacokinetic data was compared to previously published human clinical trial data and the calculated pharmacokinetic values were found to be similar