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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

A Delphi Study Assessing Long-Term Access To Electronic Medical Records (Emr), Byron D. Nicholson Mar 2008

A Delphi Study Assessing Long-Term Access To Electronic Medical Records (Emr), Byron D. Nicholson

Theses and Dissertations

This research effort addressed the issue of long-term access to electronic medical records as technological generations become obsolete, thereby preventing the access to patient health information. Using the Delphi methodology, experts with experience in electronic medical records and applicable systems provided insight based on their years of hands-on experience managing and/or using records and these systems. The end result of this research was a collection of ideas that medical institutions and medical informaticians must consider to ensure that patients and hospitals do not lose long-term access to electronic medical records as electronic medical records and technology continually evolves. Results of …


Micro-Etched Platforms For Thermal Inactivation Of Bacillus Anthracis And Bacillus Thuringiensis Spores, Leslie S. Hawkins Mar 2008

Micro-Etched Platforms For Thermal Inactivation Of Bacillus Anthracis And Bacillus Thuringiensis Spores, Leslie S. Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations

This research developed and applied microlithography techniques to etch microscope slide platforms in order to measure thermal inactivation of Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus anthracis spores, two closely related Bacillus species. B.t. is widely used as a surrogate for B.a. in response studies and in some field studies. This work addressed the previously identified problem of measuring both spore growth and spore thermal kill threshold using the traditional method of spreading a diluted spore solution on a plate. The micro-etched platforms forced spore separation thereby preventing neighbor growth from obscuring germination and initial vegetative growth measurements using a microscope. The technique …


Three Models Of Anthrax Toxin Effects On The Map-Kinase Pathway And Macrophage Survival, Daniel J. Schneider Mar 2008

Three Models Of Anthrax Toxin Effects On The Map-Kinase Pathway And Macrophage Survival, Daniel J. Schneider

Theses and Dissertations

Lethal factor (LF), a component of anthrax toxin, is the primary virulence factor that allows Bacillus anthracis to evade the immune response by blocking the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) enzymes. This research modifies three published MAPK models to reflect this signal inhibition and to estimate a first-order reaction rate by fitting the models to published viability data for two macrophage cell lines cultured with the LF-producing Bacillus anthracis-Vollum1B strain. One model appears to be ill-suited for this purpose because not all relevant MAPK components could be integrated into the inhibition equations. Despite different underlying parameters and values, the …


In Vitro Toxicity Of Aluminum Nanoparticles In Human Keratinocytes, Stephanie Mccormack-Brown Mar 2008

In Vitro Toxicity Of Aluminum Nanoparticles In Human Keratinocytes, Stephanie Mccormack-Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Nanotechnology promises to be the defining technology of the 21st century. At an annual investment of $1B, it provides significant contributions to manufacturing, medicine, energy conservation, and the environment. Nanoparticles are structures with at least one dimension in the 1 to 100 nanometer (nm) range. DoD and US Air Force interest in aluminum nanoparticles (AL NPs) stems from its ability to enhance combustion jet fuel, thus increasing fuel efficiency. The addition of AL NPs to JP-8 may pose a unique dermal hazard to aircraft maintenance workers. There is no published data on AL NP toxicity effects on human skin. This …