Award Data

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): HIV continues to be a major public health problem in the United States, but there has been limited penetration of HIV prevention services in many healthcare settings. Novel methods for seamlessly integrating HIV prevention into medical practice are needed. The proposed Phase 1 STTR project seeks to establish the feasibility of designing key components of an inn ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Over 7.5 million high school students participate in high school sports programs and an additional 2 million students join these athletic teams each year. Adolescent athletes are at risk for using performance enhancing drugs, such as anabolic steroids, unregulated sport supplements, and illicit drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, few evidence-based substance abus ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Bacterial biofilm formation on medical implants is a serious clinical problem. Biofilms can turn a simple implant into a serious complication. Recently we showed that the covalent attachment of micrograms of organo-selenium to the surface of an orthodontic device will inhibit the formation of a biofilm without harmful side-effects. This has recently (2009) led ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The most common artificial voice source for post-laryngectomy speech rehabilitation is the hand-held buzzer or electrolarynx (EL). This device is relatively easy to use and enables most laryngectomees to verbally communicate, but with reduced intelligibility and markedly degraded naturalness. In addition, EL speech is often described as robotic and monotone, at ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II, Hunter syndrome) is an X-linked recessive inherited disorder caused by absence of iduronate-2-sulfatase, resulting in systemic accumulation of glycosaminoglycans heparan sulphate and dermatan sulphate. Affected individuals suffer from skeletal abnormalities, organomegaly, life- threatening obstructive airway disease, and, ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently classified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a new chemical substance. Consequently, CNTs are now subject to regulatory controls that require inventory control, quantification of CNT amounts, and possibly toxicity tests. However, rapidly and inexpensively quantifying the CNTs in commercially available material and ass ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are common flame retardants used to reduce the risk of fire in a wide variety of products, such as mattresses, furniture, home electronics, textiles, upholstery fabrics, carpet, and children's toys. As a consequence, wide spread occurrence in the environment and bioaccumulation through various exposure routes have been rev ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Since its first use in the retina in 1961, fluorescein angiography (FA) has been the gold standard for objective characterization of retinovascular disease (e.g. diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusions, and choroidal neovascularization associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD)). Despite its widespread use, FA is costly, invasive, and time con ...

Emerald Education Systems has developed an online continuing professional education learning system that targets low vision rehabilitation service providers. This CE learning system has three components: 1) a set of coordinated in depth online courses that provide a broad and deep foundation of knowledge on low vision rehabilitation that is delivered using a didactic approach at a learner-controll ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Therapy to Improve Wound Healing with DNA Expression Vector for HIF 11 and Electroporation Impaired wound healing is a tremendous problem for individuals with diabetes. Patients with diabetes are at risk for developing foot ulcers. These non-healing ulcerations on the foot are disabling, and their progression leads to amputation of the lower extremity. Diabetes ...