Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Evaluation Of Stratified Antibiograms For Use In Laboratory And Antimicrobial Stewardship, Linsey Donner

Theses & Dissertations

Antibiograms are critical for choosing empiric antimicrobial therapy. Cumulative antibiograms, which aggregate susceptibility data, can mask differences within specific patient subsets or clinical syndromes. This dissertation was done to determine if antibiotic susceptibilities showed substantial differences when comparing stratified antibiograms to cumulative antibiograms.

Antibiotic susceptibility data was retrospectively obtained from Nebraska Medicine January 1, 2017 – December 31, 2019 for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis. The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s web antibiogram clinical decision support tool was used to export the data. Bacteria-antibiotic susceptibility rates of stratified antibiograms …

Biomedical Porcine Models For The Study Of Surgical Hemostasis, Hindlimb Ischemia, And Pancreatic Cancer, Shruthishree Aravind

Theses & Dissertations

Murine models have dominated the world of biomedical research and comparative medicine since their development in the early 1900s. [1] While they may be suitable models to study proteomics and genomics, they may not serve as effective translational models. [2-4] Murine models do not accurately model the pathophysiology of human disease and are limited by their size, application of medical imaging and intervention, which reduces their overall preclinical predictive value. [2-4]

Porcine models on the other hand, are slowly and steadily bridging the gap between murine models and human patients. [5] Pigs …

Health-Related Perception And Responsibility Behavior Among Individuals With And Without Chronic Illness, Danielle Dohrmann

Theses & Dissertations

Few studies have examined perceptions of responsibility attribution and well-being, and health responsibility behaviors in individuals with none, one, and multiple chronic illnesses. Adults (N = 421) in medical clinics completed questionnaires for this cross-sectional descriptive study. The Revised Causal Dimensional Scale measured responsibility attribution whereas sub-sections of the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program evaluation measured well-being perception and the health responsibility behavior of communication associated with a clinic visit. Chi-square, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallace tests were used to examine demographic characteristics and group differences. Individuals with multiple morbidities and of advanced age perceived their illnesses as more stable and rated …

The Roles Of Ecdysoneless In Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress And Oncogenesis, Appolinaire A. Olou

Theses & Dissertations

Tumor cells are well known to exhibit ER stress as a result of their altered environment characterized by redox and calcium imbalance, deregulation of protein synthesis to meet their oncogenic demands, and decreased vascularization associated with nutrient limitation and hypoxia, all of which are conducive of ER stress. Accordingly, markers of ER stress signaling response are up-regulated in various cancers. The outcome of ER stress signaling response varies from survival and adaption to apoptosis. Although pro-apoptotic ER stress signaling molecules are up-regulated in cancer, the mechanisms by which cancer cells seem refractory to, or evade, their apoptotic signaling are not …

Comparison Of Cardiometabolic Risk Profile Between Hiv Patients On Art And Those Who Are Art Naïve, Erick Kimani Njenga

Theses & Dissertations

Background: Metabolic syndrome comprises of a set of aggregated risk factors that include: hypertension, central obesity, impaired fasting glucose, hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL-C (1)The is a noted increase in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome cardiovascular risk factors in the HIV population.

Methods: The study is a cross-sectional survey that enrolled 157 HIV positive patients over a 4 month period that were either newly diagnosed (HIV ART naïve) or were on ART from both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Data of their anthropometric, cardiovascular risk factors and clinical characteristics were collected with the aid of a standardized questionnaire and serum …

Prevalence And Clinical Characteristics Of Venous Thromboembolism At The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi, Felix Mutuma Riunga

Theses & Dissertations

Aim: To determine the prevalence of venous thromboembolism in patients presenting to the Aga Khan University Hospital, Radiology Department for lower limb compression ultrasonography with doppler and CT pulmonary angiography. In those found to have venous thromboembolism, the distribution of risk factors as described by Wells, the pattern of clinical presentation, the pattern of initial therapy, the length of hospital stay, major bleeding episodes and in hospital mortality were described.

Design: Prospective survey

Background: Venous Thromboembolism is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and its occurrence locally, as well as its clinical characteristics needs to be described in …

Incidence And Risk Factors For Acute Myocardial Injury After Non-Cardiac Surgery At The Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi, Salim Said Ahmed

Theses & Dissertations

Aim: To determine the incidence and risk factors for acute myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery at Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi.

Design: Prospective cohort study

Background: Myocardial injury is the most common major cardiovascular complication in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. Large numbers of intermediate-risk and high-risk cardiac patients will be undergoing surgery as the population grows older, and thus myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery could be a rising problem.

Patients and Setting: Adult participants undergoing intermediate and high risk non-cardiac surgery at the Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi were evaluated for incidence and risk factors for myocardial injury after non-cardiac …