Award Data

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Polycystic kidney diseases (PKD) are a group of inherited disorders characterized by progressive cyst development in the kidney resulting in bilateral renal enlargement and often end stage renal disease (ESRD). The most common form of PKD, autosomal dominant PKD occurs at a frequency of 1:400 to 1:1000. Currently, there is no treatment that can slow or re ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While it has been demonstrated that gene mutations are associated with an increasing number of neurodegenerative syndromes, environmental neurotoxicants remain a key factor in the etiology of many such diseases. For example, exposure to pesticides such as maneb and paraquat increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately, there is no opt ...

Project Summary Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is a major complication of retinal detachments and is responsible for most of the failures in retinal reattachment surgeries. About 10% of retinal detachment patients suffer from PVR. These patients often have poor visual outcome despite multiple surgeries. Our previous work on inhibition of PVR has focused on pharmacological intervention concu ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop and evaluate the utility of a thermal imaging system as an input modality to a retinal prosthetic. Retinal prostheses restore partial vision to people blinded by outer retinal degenerative diseasessuch as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) or Macular Degeneration. The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System is intended to provide electrical stimulation ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Swine models of human disease will become increasingly important for the development of relevant, preclinical therapeutics. However, the creation of swine congenital disease models is plagued by inefficiencies related to animal development and reproduction. The contemporary method for development relies on somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) of genetically mod ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Abstract Spinal deformities occur in the young (adolescents) and the elderly. In childhood scoliosis and Scheuermann's kyphosis are two relatively common conditions that progress with growth. Current treatment paradigmsfor these deformities include observation, brace treatment and surgery. Observation involves serial clinical follow- up typically requiring ...

Project Summary/Abstract Minnesota HealthSolutions (MHS) proposes to develop an active harness pretensioning system for motor vehicle child safety seats. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children in the United States. Child safety seats are the most effective way to prevent death and serious injury to children in crashes. Many serious child injuries from motor vehicle crash ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Koronis Biomedical Technologies (KBT) proposes to develop an inhaler training system for respiratory educators with the goal of improving patients' use of dry powder inhalers (DPIs) and pressurized metered dose inhalers(pMDIs) appropriately. Studies have repeatedly observed that a significant proportion of inhaler users are not using their inhalers correct ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support allows the neonate with congenital heart disease or cardiomyopathy to grow to a larger body weight that is more feasible for complex surgical correction or heart transplant.A paracorporeal LVAD, the Berlin heart ExCor, is FDA-approved for pediatric application. Although this device is outside the body, the outflow g ...

Abstract On average, gt90% of patients who suffer from a cardiac arrest die. Nearly all die unexpectedly from this leading cause of death, in part, because the essential components of standard CPR (S-CPR): manual chest compressions at a rate of 100/min, 1to 1.5 inches in depth and positive pressure ventilations, are an inherently inefficient process, providing less than 25% of normal blood flow to ...