Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development Of A Mammographic Image Processing Environment Using Matlab, John L. Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is a disease that accounts for a disturbingly large number of deaths in females each year. Its prevalence is a topic of concern to all of us since it can affect our families, friends, and coworkers. Although mammographic screening is the most effective method currently available for the early detection of breast cancer, it is far from being an infallible procedure. Mammographic reading is error prone, partly because of the complexity of the task and partly because of the variability in human performance. Computers offer high reproducibility, and when used as an adjunct by the radiologist, may improve …

Psychosocial Determinants Of Age-Appropriate Immunizations Of Infants In Norfolk, Virginia, Hoda Youssef Atta

Health Services Research Dissertations

This study represents an investigation of psychosocial factors affecting age-appropriate immunizations of infants in Norfolk, Virginia. A household survey was conducted in Norfolk, Virginia, from 4/93-8/93, to assess immunization coverage of children 12-30 months of age. This survey included a total of 389 children in the target age range. A subset of 201 mothers were randomly selected and reinterviewed to assess their knowledge and attitudes and the relationships of these factors to age-appropriate immunizations at 12 months of age. Sixty-two percent of children were not age-appropriately immunized at 12 months of age. Almost all mothers (99%) considered vaccines to be …

Stab Wounds To Rat Brains : Demyelination, Remyelination And The Cellular Response, Particularly Of Oligodendrocytes, Xie Dangci

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

The present body of knowledge concerning the results of central nervous system injury is incomplete and controversial. The role of oligodendrocytes, the cells involved in phagocytosis, the stages of demyelination, and the evidence for remyelination are of interest. Following stab wounds to rat brain cortex, corpus callosum and hippocampus, the animals were examined at 4,7,11,18,23,29,45,60 and 70 days postoperation (dpo). To help in the identification of cells immunocytochemical markers for astrocytes and immature oligodendrocytes were used. These were labels for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and myelin/oligodendrocyte specific protein (MOSP) respectively. Light and electron microscopy were correlated using conventionally prepared …

Short And Long Term Effects Of Proton Microbeam Irradiation : In The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus Of Felis Domesticus, Chad Sherwood Reder

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Little is known of the effects of proton irradiation on neural tissue. A 1.0 mm microbeam was used on the cat lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) to quantify the short term (< 3 months) and long term (< 9 months) effects of radiation damage. The LGN is a large structure with well defined afferent, efferent, and receptive field properties.

Electrophysiological and histological techniques were used to examine the effects of the microbeam at 60, 40, and 16 Gy, administered as a single bolus. Recordings of light evoked responses in the LGN were obtained using microelectrodes in nine animals within 12 weeks of irradiation, and 6 animals within 36 weeks of irradiation. Receptive fields were mapped onto a tangent screen using standard receptive field techniques. Histological measures included afferent …

An Assessment Of Personal Characteristics, Job Satisfaction And Semantic Descriptors Of Virginia Acute And Tertiary Care Hospitals' Chief Executive Officers, Justin C. Matus

Health Services Research Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to identify the determinants of job satisfaction of Virginia Hospital CEO's and to identify those descriptors that best characterize the role of the hospital CEO as defined by the CEO's themselves. The study sample consisted of all hospital CEO's in Virginia as listed by the Virginia Hospital Association. The study employed a four part survey instrument that investigated four major areas: (1) personal and hospital demographics; (2) self rated performance; (3) a semantic scale measuring the concept of Hospital CEO; and (4) The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. A survey was mailed to 119 CEO's. The …

An Assessment Of Management Practices Among Virginia Acute Care Hospitals, Ogbonnia Godfrey Ochonma

Health Services Research Dissertations

The 1990's will see dramatic changes for the health care industry. At no previous time have both public and private health care institutions faced a more turbulent, confusing and threatening environment. Changes in health care arena will come from Federal, State and local governments; international as well as domestic economic and market forces; demographic shifts and life style changes; and structural evolution of the health care industry including mergers, integrations and competition.

The health care industry faces increasing financial pressures due to fundamentally new forces that affect the very viability of many health care organizations. Such pressures include prospective payment, …

Immunologic Evaluation Of Ectopic Gestation, Tawfig Amin Nasser

Health Services Research Dissertations

Ectopic gestation is an error in the implantation site of the blastocyst. Extrauterine implantation presents a unique environment since the protective features of the uterus are absent. This study is an investigation into the immunoregulatory differences that may develop as a result of a change in the feto-maternal junction.

The effects of female plasma on one-way mixed lymphocyte cultures and mitogen-stimulated cultures, anti-paternal lymphocytotoxicity, and lymphocyte phenotypes were determined on normal, ectopic and non-pregnant females. The results indicated that pregnant female plasma enhanced the response of autologous lymphocytes to spouse and male control lymphocytes. Enhancement was not seen in the …

Gatekeeping Access To Emergency Departments: A Survey Of Hmo Policies, Regina Conway Phillips

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Integrative Theories Of Medicine: A (W)Holistic Vision, Kathryn B. Forestal

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Clients' Perceptions Of Preparedness For Discharge Home Following Total Hip Or Knee Replacement Surgery, Cindy H. Nicholson

Masters Theses

This study used a descriptive design to evaluate discharge planning by examining the clients' perception of preparedness for discharge home following total hip or knee replacement surgery. The conceptual framework was based upon the Betty Neuman Systems Model.; This study used Lawton's (1991) "Discharge Preparation Questionairre" to ascertain the clients' perceptions of preparedness in 10 discharge categories. Perceived preparation was measured using a 5 point summated rating scale. The study site was a 42-bed orthopedic unit in a 119 bed acute care hospital in Southeast Michigan. The convenience sample, of 46 adult clients, were interviewed by phone 3 days following …

Investigations Into Cataract Formation In Sciaenid Fish Species From The Elizabeth River, Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, Christopher D. Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Cataract formation in the Elizabeth River (ER) has been reported since 1986. Previous studies have concentrated on describing cataract as a function of exposure to polluted sediments, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). These studies, however, have not examined what processes might be involved in fish cataractogenesis. The overall objective of this research was to identify important processes associated with the early development of cataract in feral fish populations. Field studies were used to systematically examine cataract development. Cataract in sciaenids was not associated with previously described cataractogenic factors, but could be linked to contaminated sediments of the ER. Cataract was …

The Prevalence Of Behavioural Risk Factors Associated With Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Ann M. Callaghan

Theses : Honours

Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS) is a major cause of death in the first year of life. In Western Australia (WA), two infants in every thousand live births die from SIDS each year. The aim of this study was to ascertain the prevalence in WA of three risk factors which have been associated with SIDS, namely prone lying, maternal smoking and lack of breast feeding. In addition the study sought to determine the significant influences that encourage change in infant care practices by parents. The study obtained information from child health nurses and midwives regarding the advice they provide on …

An Analysis Of Mitochondrial Dna In Rett Syndrome And Other Neurodegenerative Disorders, Catherine Erickson Burgess

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Mitochondrial dysfunction resulting from mutations on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is being recognized in a growing spectrum of diseases. These diseases, resulting from single base mutations, large deletions, or insertions, have been largely neuromuscular in origin. However, as an understanding of the effects of mtDNA mutations progresses, attention is now focusing on neurodegenerative diseases. Rett Syndrome (RS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease with predominantly female cases, demonstrates morphologic mitochondrial changes, mitochondrial enzyme deficiencies and maternal inheritance (characteristic of mtDNA diseases). No investigation of mtDNA involvement has been previously conducted and, to date, no biological marker exists for this disorder.

Our preliminary studies …