13th Annual RCAW (2019)
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Item Open Access THE ACUTE EFFECTS OF COMMON PHYSICAL THERAPY INTERVENTIONS ON PASSIVE HAMSTRING STIFFNESS: A BLINDED RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL(2019-04-01) Baker, Kellie; Hall, Ashlee; Norris, Nathan; Durland, A.; Thorp, J.; Willson, J.; Johnson, S.Purpose/Hypothesis : The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of common physical therapy techniques on acute hamstring muscle passive stiffness. The hypothesis is that dry needling, stretching, and foam rolling will improve hamstring passive stiffness, and that eccentric exercise may have the reverse effect of increasing passive muscle stiffness.Number of Subjects : 100 subjects.Materials/Methods : Subjects who met inclusion criteria had their initial passive hamstring length of the right leg measured using the “90-90 test” and a bubble inclinometer by a researcher blinded to the treatment. The measurement was taken when the subject perceived a “strong but tolerable stretch”. They were randomized to one of 5 groups, dry needling (DN), foam rolling, stretching, eccentric exercise, or control. The DN group received pistoning technique to 3 to 5 trigger points. The foam roller group performed self-guided myofascial release using a 6 inch diameter foam roller in a long sitting position with knees extended and feet relaxed. . Subjects rolled for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest for 3 sets. The stretching group preformed an active self-stretch in supine held for 30 seconds with 30 seconds rest for 3 sets. The exercise group performed an eccentric hamstring exercise commonly known as the Nordic exercise for 10 repetitions with 30 seconds rest for 3 sets. At completion of treatment the subject had their hamstring rangeItem Open Access Big Data Analytics for Historical Document Processing(2019-04-01) Philips, JamesHistorical Document Processing is the process of digitizing written material from the past for future use by historians and other scholars. It incorporates algorithms and software tools from various subfields of computer science, including computer vision, document analysis and recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning, to convert images of ancient manuscripts, letters, diaries, and early printed texts automatically into a digital format usable in information retrieval systems. Within the past twenty years, as libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions have scanned an increasing volume of their historical document archives, the need to transcribe the full text from these collections has become acute. Big Data Analytics and infrastructure will be essential tools in this field. This study compares performance analysis of two OCR systems, discusses an Historical Document Processing (HDP) workflow, and highlights the role of OCR software in a RESTful API for an HDPaaS (HDP as a Service) system.Item Open Access The Human T-cell Leukemia Virus type I basic leucine zipper factor upregulates the expression of the antioxidant Heme Oxygenase I,(2019-04-01) Rushing, Amanda W.; Rushing, Blake; Hoang, Kimson; Péloponèse, Jean Marie; Polakowski, Nicholas; Lemasson, IsabelleAdult T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma (ATLL) is a resilient lymphoproliferative disease of CD4+ T-cells infected by the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus type I (HTLV-1), for which there are no effective treatments. Mounting evidence supports that the overexpression of antioxidants contributes to drug resistance in many types of cancer. One such antioxidant is the iron-recycling enzyme Heme Oxygenase (HMOX-1), which has been shown to enhance cancer cell survival upon exposure to stress-inducing agents. HMOX-1 expression is regulated by the small Maf AP1 proteins, which control transcription from promoter antioxidant response elements (AREs). A previous report, confirmed by our laboratory, shows that the HTLV-1 antisense-encoded basic leucine zipper factor, HBZ, interacts with small Mafs for recruitment to AREs in vitro. We questioned whether HBZ and small Mafs regulate the expression of antioxidants like HMOX-1 as a pro-survival strategy in ATLL cells. Our results show that HMOX-1 is overexpressed in ATLL cells in a manner dependent upon both HBZ and the small Mafs. These proteins were found to be present at an ARE in the promoter of HMOX-1 in vivo, and HBZ expression was observed to promote ARE transactivation in a small Maf-dependent manner. HMOX-1 is thought to be the main mediator of iron metabolism and functions in a cytoprotective capacity during oxidative stress. We observed that ATLL cells, as well as HBZ-expressing cells, exhibited resistance to iron-induced cytotoxicity, which was attenuated upon inhibition of HMOX-1 enzyme activity. Furthermore, HBZ expression was found to be important for maintaining ATLL cell redox state, as well as for maintaining cell viability in response to iron exposure. These findings support the possibility that HBZ and small Mafs may upregulate transcription at AREs to positively regulate some antioxidant response genes in ATLL cells, wherein these gene products may have cytoprotective effects in response to oxidative stress and may contribute to anti-cancer drug resistance.Item Open Access The cation diffusion facilitator family protein EmfA confers resistance to manganese toxicity in Brucella abortus 2308 and is an essential virulence determinant in mice(2019-04-01) Johnsrude, Matthew; Pitzer, Joshua E.; Martin, Daniel W.; Roop, R. MartinBrucella abortus is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes abortion and infertility in food animals and a chronic debilitating febrile disease in humans known as brucellosis. As with all pathogenic bacteria, the Brucella spp. require sufficient metal nutrition during the course of an infection. Host-mediated ‘metal withdrawal’ defenses actively restrict the bioavailability of metals which requires invading bacteria to employ high affinity metal acquisition systems to overcome these metal-limiting conditions. While obtaining sufficient metals during host infection is critical to the survival of these bacteria, avoiding metal toxicity is equally important. Excess accumulation of one metal relative to others can lead to protein mis-metallation when surplus metal ions outcompete other metal species for their native binding sites. To prevent metal toxicity, bacteria respond to high intracellular metal concentrations by means of metal-responsive transcriptional regulators that downregulate metal import systems, and exporters that remove excess intracellular metal. Manganese (Mn) is an essential micronutrient for Brucella strains, and the purpose of this study was to better define the cellular components that maintain Mn homeostasis and prevent Mn toxicity in these bacteria. The Mn-responsive repressor Mur downregulates the expression of mntH, the gene encoding the sole high affinity Mn importer in Brucella in response to increased intracellular levels of Mn. But phenotypic analysis of a B. abortus mur mutant suggests that Mur plays a minimal role in preventing Mn toxicity. Instead, an ortholog of the cation diffusion facilitator (CDF) type metal exporter EmfA, which prevents Mn toxicity in the close phylogenetic relative Rhizobium etli, is critical for preventing Mn toxicity in Brucella. The experimental findings of this study indicate that EmfA-mediated resistance to Mn toxicity plays a critical role in the virulence of Brucella strains, and suggests that the primary function of EmfA may be to maintain the proper intracellular balance of Mn in these bacteria during the course of infection.Item Open Access Scripting an Automated Score and Message Board; Cyber Security Competitive Labs as a Service (CLaaS),(2019-04-01) Hempenius, Nicholas; Chou, Te-Shun, 1964-There is a growing skills gap in the cybersecurity industry, to compound the skills gap, there is also a growing manpower gap. Every year the need for skilled cybersecurity professionals grows and every year the skills deemed important change. This has created a dire situation for academic and organizational training. The situation has sparked a wealth of research and development in Serious Cyber Security games-based learning systems. However, significant research of design in game-based learning systems is independent of actual curriculum or does not set a standard for which systems and designs should follow. The Cybersecurity CLaaS learning system provides participants with a competitive environment to apply hands on knowledge and skills gained in related courses. Participants defend their system while also attacking others, creating a fun and competitive experience. Developed using primary open source technology’s, such as Linux and VirtualBox, the CLaaS platform is deployable with minimal configuration and little to no cost. Utilizing embedded virtualization, and current cloud technology, the platforms lab pods can be made accessible over the internet or restricted to participants on a secure local network. Materials and instruction are presented on a graphical user interface (GUI) via a web browser. The GUI also contains a Score and Message Board, that updates participants’ scores in to real time. The CLaaS learning system is designed to allow for customization of both the GUI and the environment itself. Changing, adding or removing learning objectives are as easy as spinning up new Virtual Machines.Item Open Access Using Heart Rate Variability to Assess Resident Stress During Central Venous Catheter Simulation(2019-04-03) Robbins, Adelaide; March, Juan; Russoniello, Carmen; Robey, Walter; Brewer, Kori L.INTRODUCTION: Simulation based central venous catheter (CVC) training has been shown to result in fewer needle passes and complications. Heart rate variability (HRV) has been shown to be effective in identifying stress and self-confidence in surgeons, but there is no data examining HRV during simulation based CVC training. The purpose of this study was to use heart rate variability to identify stress during CVC simulation training. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study with a convenience sample of resident physicians who enrolled in a CVC simulation-training course. Participants were attached to an HRV monitoring device that measures heart rate variability. A 12 step procedural standardized skills check list was used to measure psychomotor skill performance. Stress was analyzed in five-minute intervals using a software program that analyzes heart rate variability in terms of stress index (SI), standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN), and square root of the mean normal-to-normal interval (RMS-SD) during each CVC simulation. Data was analyzed using IBM SPSS with a logistic regression model to determine the association between an individual’s stress and each of the 12 procedural steps over time. RESULTS: Sixteen participants were enrolled in the study. Stress as determined by SI, SDNN, and RMS-SD was not significantly different across participants prior to beginning the simulation. Stress as determined by SI, SDNN, and RMS-SD did not change significantly between any one of the 12 individual procedural steps. Within each of the individual 12 procedural steps, stress did not statistically decrease over time as determined by SI, SDNN, and RMS-SD. 3 of the 16 (18%) participants appeared to have increased stress during the final examination portion, with an average stress index of 51.9 (range 31.4-58.5) at baseline compared to an average of 280 (range 160-360) during the final exam. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that stress, as measured by HRV, during simulated CVC training did not change throughout any procedural step, and did not decrease over time. Due to the small participant size in this study, future studies with larger participants are warranted, and may provide different results. Further studies examining HRV during real life CVC placement is warranted.