Date of Award

12-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biomedical Engineering and Sciences

First Advisor

Kunal Mitra

Second Advisor

Manolis Tomadakis

Third Advisor

Peshala Priyadarshana Thibbotuwawa Gamage

Fourth Advisor

Linxia Gu

Abstract

Introduction Early monitoring of the etiology of stress in the ocular region has potential use for identification of radiation damage to aviators and pilots who spend a large amount of time at high altitudes. The cost for health care due to these occupational hazards account for circa is 1.2 – 4.5 B per year. An early prognosis tool of this type could be a solution for the above issue. Observations by researchers indicate that the aqueous fluid surrounding the eyes (tears) contain electrolytes, proteins, enzymes associated with neurotransmitters, glycogen, lactate, ascorbate, oxidoreductase, and dopamine. In addition, several researchers [1], found that basal tears are produced at an average rate of 1.35 microliters per minute. Secondly, reflex fluids are released at a rate of 15 microliters per minute when the eye [2] is irritated by an external event (radiation).

Purpose Increased activity in environments where vapors, dust, exposure to sunlight elevate levels of creatinine s experiment tests the hypothesis that after exposure.

Methodology An IRB approved protocol was presented to the center to Florida Institute of Technology, the U.S Army Medical Research Center, and the National University of Singapore. The breakdown for the seven test subjects for each cohort were 3 females and 4 males. All individuals were tested for seven metabolites, contained in tear samples for each individual were obtained for Gas Chromatography and Photo spectroscopic Analysis. Resulting data from spectroscopic instruments were directly tabulated in excel spreadsheets for ANOVA statistical analysis. A statistical test was used to evaluate subjects that were evaluated to date. For the analysis, an alpha of 0.05, and a p value between 0 ≤ p= 0.05 ≤ 1.0 were used for the test criteria.

Conclusions Generally, all of the metabolites increased during the respective activity and declined to near-initial conditions after one week of the test activity. What distinguishes these two groups are the associated changes in Creatinine within the Exercise Group, but not the Scuba Dive Group. The following generalizations can be made with regard to the results of the study. One, there are correlating associations between increases in Cortisol, Retinene and Dopamine for the Scuba Group and Flight Group. Two, there are correlating associations between increases in Creatinine, Norepinephrine and Cortisol in the Exercise Group. Three, there are correlating associations between increases in Retinene, Dopamine, and Cortisol within the Scuba Dive Group. With exclusion of various outliers whose cause were experimental and analysis error, there is a strong possibility that the data supports the Null Hypothesis. Variations in concentration within each cohort were very high, and there were marked statistical differences between the levels of biomarker concentration within and between each activity. There were significant differences between the average means of each activity for various combinations and concentrations of metabolite biomarker. The data suggests that each test group have characteristic patterns of biomarkers associated with them. In addition, these patterns generally involve participation of a differing array of biomarkers. Further investigation, particularly a biochemical analysis, should be done in order to determine “why” each biomarker is affected by the particular activity.

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