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Scholarship & History
The UMB Digital Archive is a service of the Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) that collects, preserves, and distributes the academic works of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. It is a place that digitally captures the historical record of the campus.
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Functional Electrical Stimulation of the Lateral Knee Muscles Can Reduce Peak Knee Adduction Moment during Stepping: A Pilot StudyKnee osteoarthritis (KOA) is an age-dependent disease dominantly affected by mechanical loading. Balancing the forces acting on the medial knee compartment has been the focus of KOA interventions. This pilot study investigated the effects of functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the biceps femoris and lateral gastrocnemius on reducing peak knee adduction moment (pKAM) in healthy adults and individuals with medial KOA while stepping on an instrumented elliptical system. Sixteen healthy individuals and five individuals with medial KOA stepped on the robotic stepping system, which measured footplate-reaction forces/torques and ankle kinematics and calcu- lated 3-D knee moments in real time using inverse dynamics. Participants performed four different tasks: regular stepping without FES as the baseline condition, stepping with continuous FES of the lateral gastrocnemius (FESLG), biceps femoris (FESBF), and simultaneous FES of both lateral gastrocnemius and biceps femoris (FESLGBF), throughout the elliptical cycle. The 3-D knee moments, tibia kinematics, and footplate-reaction forces were compared between the baseline and the three FES stepping conditions. Healthy participants demonstrated lower pKAM during each of the three FES conditions compared to baseline (FESLG (p = 0.041), FESBF (p = 0.049), FESLGBF (p = 0.048)). Partici- pants with KOA showed a trend of lower pKAM during FES, which was not statistically significant given the small sample available. Incorporating elliptical + FES as a training strategy is feasible and may help to enhance selective force generation of the targeted muscles and reduce the medial knee compartment loading.
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Assessment of psychosocial parameters in adolescents seeking orthodontic treatmentAim The aim of this study was to investigate the psychosocial impact of malocclusion and the motivation for seeking orthodontic treatment among adolescents. Methods A cross-sectional study included 102 adolescents (ages 11–18) whose malocclusion was rated using 3 occlusal indices: IOTN, DAI, and PAR. The participants answered three structured questionnaires selected to measure Oral Health Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) through the short form of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile (COHIP), the patient’s perceived impact related to orthodontics through the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Ques- tionnaire (PIDAQ), and self-esteem through the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Independent two-tailed t-tests, one-way mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Spearman’s correlations were used to test various associations. Results Patients with higher malocclusion scores displayed increased psychosocial impact with weak to moderate correlations (0.2 < r < 0.3; p < 0.05), but 98% wished their teeth looked better, and 70% were unhappy about their smile esthetics. The IOTN esthetic component AC was better associated with psychosocial implications of malocclusion (p < 0.01). Self-motivated patients (over 80%) had higher impactful psychosocial scores than patients whose parents were motivated for treatment. Sex did not influence the findings. Older adolescents and bullied individuals were more affected by the psychological burden of malocclusion. Conclusion The results indicate the prevalence of psychosocial and esthetic impacts of malocclusion over oral and functional problems. PIDAQ discriminated better than COHIP between varying degrees of dental aesthetics. The results suggest that the orthodontist should explore patients’ expectations of treatment outcomes, not only the chief complaint.
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SpeciateIT and vSpeciateDB: novel, fast, and accurate per sequence 16S rRNA gene taxonomic classification of vaginal microbiotaBackground: Clustering of sequences into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) and denoising methods are a mainstream stopgap to taxonomically classifying large numbers of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Environment-specific reference databases gen- erally yield optimal taxonomic assignment. Results: We developed SpeciateIT, a novel taxonomic classification tool which rapidly and accurately classifies individual amplicon sequences (https:// github. com/ Ravel- Labor atory/ speci ateIT). We also present vSpeciateDB, a custom reference database for the taxonomic classification of 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences from vaginal microbiota. We show that SpeciateIT requires minimal computational resources relative to other algorithms and, when combined with vSpeciateDB, affords accurate species level classification in an environment-specific manner. Conclusions: Herein, two resources with new and practical importance are described. The novel classification algorithm, SpeciateIT, is based on 7th order Markov chain models and allows for fast and accurate per-sequence taxonomic assignments (as little as 10 min for 107 sequences). vSpeciateDB, a meticulously tailored reference database, stands as a vital and pragmatic contribution. Its significance lies in the superiority of this environment-specific database to provide more species-resolution over its universal counterparts..
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Contributions of Medical Greenhouse Gases to Climate Change and Their Possible AlternativesConsiderable attention has recently been given to the contribution of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the healthcare sector to climate change. GHGs used in medical practice are regularly released into the atmosphere and contribute to elevations in global temperatures that produce detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Consequently, a comprehensive assessment of their global warming potential over 100 years (GWP) characteristics, and clinical uses, many of which have evaded scrutiny from policy makers due to their medical necessity, is needed. Of major interest are volatile anesthetics, analgesics, and inhalers, as well as fluorinated gases used as tamponades in retinal detachment surgery. In this review, we conducted a literature search from July to September 2024 on medical greenhouse gases and calculated estimates of these gases’ GHG emissions in metric tons CO2 equivalent (MTCO2e) and their relative GWP. Notably, the anesthetics desflurane and nitrous oxide contribute the most emissions out of the major medical GHGs, equivalent to driving 12 million gasoline-powered cars annually in the US. Retinal tamponade gases have markedly high GWP up to 23,500 times compared to CO2 and long atmospheric lifetimes up to 10,000 years, thus bearing the potential to contribute to climate change in the long term. This review provides the basis for discussions on examining the environmental impacts of medical gases with high GWP, determining whether alternatives may be available, and reducing emissions while maintaining or even improving patient care.
