Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): World-wide public health surveys point to an increasing global health burden resulting from serious brain disorders, particularly mood-related disorders such as depression. The economic burden of depression alone is immense. Of the $83.1 billion spent in 2000 on the treatment of depression and related expenses, $26.1 billion (31 percent) were direct medical cos ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current HIV-1 therapy suffers from inadequate viral load suppression due to poor compliance, resistance, and interactions with other drugs and can lead to spread of drug-resistant strains. The current drug cocktails need to include inhibitors of viral components that are likely to slow resistance development. One such target is the HIV-1 capsid, an essential vi ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current nicotine delivery patches rely on the passive diffusion of nicotine through the skin and into the fluid that surrounds the cells beneath the skin (interstitial fluid). From there, the nicotine diffuses into the capillary network, enters the blood stream, and is delivered to the brain. The nicotine is contained in a textile fiber material within the p ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The main objective of this project is to design, fabricate and experimentally research the application of capillary x-ray optics as a means of elevating the dose rate of the radiation produced by a needle-based x-ray system. The goal is to reach the dose rate of 10 Gy/hour at a distance 5 mm from the pseudo-target. The other objective is to apply capillary ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The complement component C5 is common to all three pathways of complement activation. Its involvement in the pathogenesis of asthma is controversial. We have recently shown that the intrapulmonary activation of C5 is critical in animal models of asthma (manuscript, submitted). Our data demonstrated that C5 inhibition has profound effects at all the critical poi ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current interbody fusion devices for lumbar fusion need improvement owing to lower than desireable success in fusion and difficulty in postoperative assessment effusion. A promising and novel approach for intervertebral fusion is to provide a cortico-cancellous structure that can withstand spine load adequately and provide a bioactive bony ingrowth surface to e ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall objective of this proposal is to investigate the feasibility of the ruminant salivary gland as a system for the production of therapeutic human proteins. Protein therapeutics is currently in increased demand for the treatment of disease. Existing production systems have limitations such as low capacity, high cost and lack of appropriate post-tran ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Applied Medical Visualizations has developed a real-time graphical display showing model-based predictions of drug pharmacology (pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics), intended for use by anesthesiologists in the operating room. The administration of intravenous drugs improves when anesthesiologists are able to visualize model-predicted concentrations, effe ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): When general anesthesia is administered, anesthetics in the form of vapors are delivered to a patient in 1% to 5% concentrations. Once the surgical procedure has been completed and anesthesia is no longer administered, blood carries the inhaled anesthetic from the brain to the lungs where it is exhaled from the body. The higher the brain blood flow and the ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Skeletal muscle atrophy and weakness affects nearly all of the nation's elderly and often leads to frailty, immobility, falls, fractures, and institutionalization. Numerous studies have shown that weight training involving Shortening Contraction Training (SCT) protocols can slow or even reverse this decline. Unfortunately, traditional SCT protocols commonly hav ...