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Description
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder in the central nervous system that affects a host of daily activities and involves a variety of symptoms; these include tremors, slurred speech, and rigid muscles. It is the second most common movement disorder globally. In Stage 3 of Parkinson's, afflicted individuals begin to

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder in the central nervous system that affects a host of daily activities and involves a variety of symptoms; these include tremors, slurred speech, and rigid muscles. It is the second most common movement disorder globally. In Stage 3 of Parkinson's, afflicted individuals begin to develop an abnormal gait pattern known as freezing of gait (FoG), which is characterized by decreased step length, shuffling, and eventually complete loss of movement; they are unable to move, and often results in a fall. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a diagnostic tool to measure electrical activity in the muscles to assess overall muscle function. Most conventional EMG systems, however, are bulky, tethered to a single location, expensive, and primarily used in a lab or clinical setting. This project explores an affordable, open-source, and portable platform called Open Brain-Computer Interface (OpenBCI). The purpose of the proposed device is to detect gait patterns by leveraging the surface electromyography (EMG) signals from the OpenBCI and to help a patient overcome an episode using haptic feedback mechanisms. Previously designed devices with similar intended purposes utilize accelerometry as a method of detection as well as audio and visual feedback mechanisms in their design.
ContributorsAnantuni, Lekha (Author) / McDaniel, Troy (Thesis director) / Tadayon, Arash (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
This thesis discusses the experiences of starting and building a support group for teenagers who have a loved one with Parkinson's Disease. One of the goals of this thesis was to share our experiences with the staff at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center, and the teenagers who will be taking

This thesis discusses the experiences of starting and building a support group for teenagers who have a loved one with Parkinson's Disease. One of the goals of this thesis was to share our experiences with the staff at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson's Center, and the teenagers who will be taking over this group in the future. We discuss why we wanted to start the group, how it's foundation was built, and the challenges we faced and overcame. This is done by highlighting three significant group meetings, and various implications. Transportation, funding, and other issues are discussed.
ContributorsVilla, Roberto (Co-author) / Kisana, Haroon (Co-author) / Montesano, Mark (Thesis director) / Abbaszadegan, Hamed (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
Misfolding and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (a-syn) has been strongly correlated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Reagents such as single chain antibody fragments (scFv) that can interact with specific aggregate forms of a-syn can be very useful to study how different aggregate forms affect cells. Here we utilize two

Misfolding and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (a-syn) has been strongly correlated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Reagents such as single chain antibody fragments (scFv) that can interact with specific aggregate forms of a-syn can be very useful to study how different aggregate forms affect cells. Here we utilize two scFvs, D5 and 10H, that recognize two distinct oligomeric forms of a-syn to characterize the presence of different a-syn aggregates in animal models of PD.
ContributorsAlam, Now Bahar (Author) / Sierks, Michael (Thesis director) / Pauken, Christine (Committee member) / Williams, Stephanie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by involuntary tremors, muscle rigidity, slowed movement, and cognitive impairments. Some people with PD experience “Freezing of Gait” (FOG), which is an acute inability to release effective stepping. The severity of Freezing of Gait can be influenced by disease duration, disease severity, and medication. Freezing

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by involuntary tremors, muscle rigidity, slowed movement, and cognitive impairments. Some people with PD experience “Freezing of Gait” (FOG), which is an acute inability to release effective stepping. The severity of Freezing of Gait can be influenced by disease duration, disease severity, and medication. Freezing of Gait can lead to an increased risk of falls, mood disorders, reduced quality of life, poorer cognition, and executive function impairments (Morris et. al.). It is important to understand how Freezing of Gait can affect cognition, as this can alter the plan of cognitive rehabilitation that the patient receives in order to improve their cognition. Within each of these domains, are a variety of tests that all claim to measure the same cognition the same way and achieve similar results. A recent meta analysis assessed this hypothesized effect. However, to best understand this relationship, it is important to assess whether the effects of FOG status on cognition are similar across cognitive tests of the same domain. This research was performed by using a previously completed meta analysis on PD tests and the domains that tests fall into. Each of the domains were analyzed individually, and the most common tests used within each domain were compared to determine their effect sizes. The effect sizes were then compared to determine which tests have a greater influence on cognition, and if the effect sizes of each test within the same domain are similar, showing that FOG affects cognition to a similar degree.

ContributorsMcCormack, Téa (Author) / Peterson, Daniel (Thesis director) / Ofori, Edward (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a stimulating therapy currently used to treat the motor disabilities that occur as a result of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous literature has proven the DBS to be an effective treatment in the effects of PD but the mechanism to validating this phenomenon is poorly understood.

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a stimulating therapy currently used to treat the motor disabilities that occur as a result of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Previous literature has proven the DBS to be an effective treatment in the effects of PD but the mechanism to validating this phenomenon is poorly understood. In this study, an evaluation of the DBS mechanism was analyzed in patients who received both contralateral and ipsilateral stimulation by the DBS electrode in relation to the recording microelectrode. I hypothesize that the data recorded from the neural tissue of the Parkinson’s patients will exhibit increased electromagnetic field (EMF) fall-off as spatial distance increases among the DBS lead and the microelectrode within the subthalamic nucleus (STN) as a result of the interaction between the EMF exuded by DBS and the neural tissue. Results depicted that EMF fall-off values increased with distance, observable upon comparing ipsilateral and contralateral patient data. The resulting analysis supported this phenomenon evidenced by the production of greater peak voltage amplitudes in ipsilateral patient stimulation with respect to time when compared to contralateral patient stimulation. The understanding of EMF strength and the associated trends among this data are vital to the progression and continued development of the DBS field relative to future research.
ContributorsKiraly, Alexis B (Author) / Greger, Bradley (Thesis director) / Muthuswamy, Jitendran (Committee member) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12
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Description
The current gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s Disease is levodopa, which is an orally ingested central nervous system agent that gains therapeutic efficacy after being converted into dopamine in the brain. While current methods exist to evaluate treatment efficacy and prescribe targeted therapies to prevent its premature metabolism, they do

The current gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s Disease is levodopa, which is an orally ingested central nervous system agent that gains therapeutic efficacy after being converted into dopamine in the brain. While current methods exist to evaluate treatment efficacy and prescribe targeted therapies to prevent its premature metabolism, they do not consider the presence of drug-metabolizing enzymes encoded by bacteria in our microbiome. An interspecies bacterial pathway has recently been identified that prematurely converts L-dopa to dopamine in the gut and reduces the available concentration to carry out the target effect. In this work, an untargeted, metabolomic approach was used to detect and quantify volatile metabolites produced during levodopa metabolism in E. faecalis OG1RF cultures. The compounds produced during this process serve as the direct products of bacterial drug modifications by E. faecalis that solely occur in the presence of levodopa. By employing GC-MS techniques to quantify these products, potential confirmative biomarkers can be identified that evaluate treatment efficacy across patients. The unique metabolites identified in this study hold the potential to eventually serve as biomarkers for Parkinson’s treatment efficacy and provide insight to the functional characteristics of E. faecalis levodopa metabolism across the 10 million patients of Parkinson’s Disease. In future efforts, the identity of these metabolites will be verified along with their significant association to L-dopa metabolism.
ContributorsPennington, Taylor (Author) / Smith, Barbara (Thesis director) / Eshima, Jarrett (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05