Award Data

The goal of the proposed project is to develop and commercialize a purely mechanical, ratcheting prosthetic finger – the Point Digit – which 1) has an industry leading strength to weight ratio, 2) can be operated unilaterally (one-handed), 3) offers anatomical rotation and flexion around the patient’s metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint, and 4) can be custom-made for each patient using advanced ...

The US population at large, and particularly military personnel and first responders, are at risk of radiation exposure due to the explosion of a nuclear device, a nuclear reactor accident, and the threat of radiation terror- ism. There is no radiation medical countermeasure (RCM) drug approved by the FDA that meets the criterion of a gastrointestinal (GI) radiomitigator – an agent which mitigat ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Vaccinations for adolescents in the U S tetanus diphtheria and acellular pertussis Tdap meningococcal conjugate vaccine MCV Human Papillomavirus HPV vaccines Gardasil and Cervarex remain well below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC goals and especially so for the HPV vaccines These vaccine deficits are pronounced among minor ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Intake of added sweeteners high fructose corn syrup and sucrose independently predicts the development of obesity metabolic syndrome and diabetes Despite recommendations by WHO and the AHA to reduce sugar intake to to percent of total energy intake the mean intake of added sugars remains percent of the diet and percent of the population ingest ...

PROJECT SUMMARY We propose to develop a novel non-contact, label-free multimodality imager that provides real-time intraoperative identification of nerves within the surgical field-of-view to facilitate the prevention of unintended nerve damage (termed iatrogenic nerve injury) during surgical procedures, as they are a major source of postsurgical complications, e.g., chronic pain. In the United St ...

Obstetricians measure fetal heartrate (FHR) and uterine contractions to evaluate fetal health during pregnancy and labor. This monitoring is performed to decrease the development of complications while minimizing the need for unnecessary obstetric interventions and is especially important for women with high-risk pregnancies. However, many women, especially in rural areas, do not have the time or ...

In resource limited settings, rapid and accurate diagnosis of infections is critical for managing potential exposures to highly virulent pathogens, whether occurring from an act of bioterrorism or a natural event. This is especially important for hard to detect intracellular bacterial and alphavirus infections, that overlap symptomatically and often treated empirically due to a lack of reliable an ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Bipolar disorder BD is a complex chronic illness characterized by recurrent often dramatic mood changes Self management of BD is an important component of treatment but is likewise complex and can be fraught with difficulties including misunderstanding of the condition and a lack of self awareness Combined with the nationwide shortage of mental healthcare ...

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Crystallization followed by subsequent structure determination is a major step in understanding the structure function relationship of macromolecules Understanding macromolecule structure has become a key part in the development of new pharmaceuticals and is a major area of NIH research Crystallization however is also the rate limiting step despite techno ...

Project Summary Immunoregulation, i.e., balanced expression of regulatory and effector T cells, is thought to be compromised in modern high-income settings due in part to reduced contact with commensal and environmentally derived bacteria, also known as “old friends”. Failed immunoregulation is thought to be one factor contributing to recent increases in stress-related and chronic inflammatory ...