Diagnosis Commons^™

The Identification Of Diagnostic Serological Autoantibodies For Cutaneous Melanoma, Pauline Zaenker

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Abstract not available.

Rapid Detection Of Streptococcus Mutans In Saliva, Catherine E. Holtman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Documentation exists that mothers can pass the cariogenic bacteria Streptococcus mutans to their infants. The newest technology to identify Streptococcus mutans is a rapid detection saliva test. Two hundred patients above the age of 18 were targeted using random selection in a Louisville, Kentucky dental office. Patients signed an informed consent form and were given a qualifying questionnaire. Patients received 2 bitewing x-rays and a charted DMFT index and were administered the saliva test. While the null hypothesis was rejected using the chi square test, the results were inconclusive due to expected values. However, other chi square results revealed that …

A Digital X-Ray Tomosynthesis Coupled Near Infrared Spectral Tomography System For Dual-Modality Breast Imaging, Venkataramanan Krishnaswamy, Kelly E. Michaelsen, Brian W. Pogue, Steven P. Poplack, Ian Shaw, Ken Defrietas, Ken Brooks, Keith D. Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

A Near Infrared Spectral Tomography (NIRST) system has been developed and integrated into a commercial Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) scanner to allow structural and functional imaging of breast in vivo. The NIRST instrument uses an 8-wavelength continuous wave (CW) laser-based scanning source assembly and a 75-element silicon photodiode solid-state detector panel to produce dense spectral and spatial projection data from which spectrally constrained 3D tomographic images of tissue chromophores are produced. Integration of the optical imaging system into the DBT scanner allows direct co-registration of the optical and DBT images, while also facilitating the synergistic use of x-ray contrast as …

Diagnostic Potential Of The Nmda Receptor Peptide Assay For Acute Ischemic Stroke, Svetlana A. Dambinova, Kerstin Bettermann, Theodore Glynn, Matthew Tews, David Olsen, Joseph D. Weissman, Richard K. Sowell

Faculty Articles

Background

The acute assessment of patients with suspected ischemic stroke remains challenging. The use of brain biomarker assays may improve the early diagnosis of ischemic stroke. The main goal of the study was to evaluate whether the NR2 peptide, a product of the proteolytic degradation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, can differentiate acute ischemic stroke (IS) from stroke mimics and persons with vascular risk factors/healthy controls. A possible correlation between biomarker values and lesion sizes was investigated as the secondary objective.

Methods and Findings

A total of 192 patients with suspected stroke who presented within 72 h of symptom onset …

Racial Inequality In The Valuation Of Health Outcomes Expressed By The 1992 Acs Guidelines For Prostate Cancer Screening, C. A. Beam

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

In 1992, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommended annual screening for prostate cancer for men 50 and older using PSA. In this article, I introduce a method to use race and age-specific PSA accuracy data to evaluate differences in the valuation of outcomes by race and age that were expressed by the ACS guidelines. Using this new method, it can be concluded that the guidelines implied a 4-fold greater valuation was assigned to screening young white males with prostate cancer than the value that was assigned to young black males with cancer. Future implementation of guidelines for screening and testing …

A Knowledge-Based Clinical Toxicology Consultant For Diagnosing Single Exposures, Joel D. Schipper, Douglas D. Dankel Ii, A. Antonio Arroyo, Jay L. Schauben

Publications

Objective: Every year, toxic exposures kill twelve hundred Americans. To aid in the timely diagnosis and treatment of such exposures, this research investigates the feasibility of a knowledge-based system capable of generating differential diagnoses for human exposures involving unknown toxins.

Methods: Data mining techniques automatically extract prior probabilities and likelihood ratios from a database managed by the Florida Poison Information Center. Using observed clinical effects, the trained system produces a ranked list of plausible toxic exposures. The resulting system was evaluated using 30,152 single exposure cases. In addition, the effects of two filters for refining diagnosis based on …

The Effect Of Progesterone Only Contraception On The Accuracy Of Cervical Cytologic Interpretation, Michelle Reneé Collins

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Abstract Introduction: Papanicolaou screening is the standard of care for the detection of abnormal cervical cells. Early detection and treatment of cervical neoplasia depends on the accurate interpretation of the cytologic sample. Diagnosis of dysplasia is made by histology interpretation to confirm the results of cytology screening. Cervical cells are susceptible to change as a result of hormonal exposure, and this has the potential to affect cytologic interpretation. Cervical cells may be exposed to exogenous progesterone if the woman uses injectable depot medroxyprogesterone acetate or a progesterone intrauterine device. Previous study results have been inconsistent regarding the effect of progesterone …

A Social Controversy: Autism Spectrum Disorder's Correlation To The Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccination, Lindsay A. Frye

Senior Honors Theses

A 1998 research study lead by Dr. Andrew Wakefield linked the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination as a probable cause to autism spectrum disorder. This publication has started a significant debate among healthcare professionals and instigated an anti-vaccination movement within the general population. This vaccination controversy was started by parents who readily accepted Wakefield’s findings as truth and frequently would choose to withdrawal the administration of vaccinations from their children’s care plans. There has also been disapproval by healthcare professionals over Wakefield’s study since numerous research teams have been unable to replicate his findings. This disagreement surrounding the MMR vaccination is likely …

T-Scores In African American Women, Catherine Meyer, Brooke L. Griffin, Kathy Komperda, Jill Borchert

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Many older bone densitometer (DXA) machines are programmed to calculate T-scores for African- American patients using peak African-American bone mass as reference standard.

This presents a problem because most data regarding fracture risk has been derived using Caucasian data (Binkley 2002). If the T-score for an African-American woman is calculated using a race-adjusted reference, the same absolute bone density will yield a lower T-score for an African- American than for a Caucasian woman. For this reason, the International Society for Clinical Densitometry has recommended that T-scores for all women, regardless of ethnicity, be calculated from Caucasian reference standards (ISCD 2007).

Potential For False Positive Hiv Test Results With The Serial Rapid Hiv Testing Algorithm, Steven Baveewo, Moses R. Kamya, Harriet Mayanja-Kizza, Robin Fatch, David Bangsberg, Thomas J. Coates, Judith A. Hahn, Rhoda K. Wanyenze

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Rapid HIV tests provide same-day results and are widely used in HIV testing programs in areas with limited personnel and laboratory infrastructure. The Uganda Ministry of Health currently recommends the serial rapid testing algorithm with Determine, STAT-PAK, and Uni-Gold for diagnosis of HIV infection. Using this algorithm, individuals who test positive on Determine, negative to STAT-PAK and positive to Uni-Gold are reported as HIV positive. We conducted further testing on this subgroup of samples using qualitative DNA PCR to assess the potential for false positive tests in this situation.

Results: Of the 3388 individuals who were tested, 984 were …

Durand Et Al 2012 Supplemental Figures, M. Durand, Svetlana V. Komarova, Ajay Bhargava, Keying Li, Cara Fiorino, Osama Maria, Noushin Nabavi, Morris Manolson, Rene Harrison, S. Jeffrey Dixon, Stephen Sims, Marcin Mizianty, Lukasz Kurgan, Sonia Haroun, Gilles Boire, Maria Lucena-Fernandes, Artur De Brum-Fernandes

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

Objective. Our objective was to compare the osteoclastogenic capacity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) to that of PBMCs from self-reported normal individuals.

Methods. PBMCs from 140 patients with OA and 45 healthy donors were assayed for CD14⁺ expression and induced to differentiate into osteoclasts (OCs) over 3 weeks in vitro. We assessed the number of the OCs, their resorptive activity, OC apoptosis, and expression of the following cytokine receptors: receptor activator of nuclear factor κB (RANK), interleukin-1 receptor type I (IL-1R1) and IL-1R2. A ridge logistic regression classifier was developed …

Development And Implementation Of Acoustic Feedback Control For Scanning Probe Microscopy, Rodolfo Fernandez Rodriguez

Dissertations and Theses

A remote-sensing acoustic method for implementing position control feedback in Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is presented. The capabilities of this feedback control using the new Whispering Gallery Acoustic Sensing (WGAS) method is demonstrated in a Shear-force Scanning Probe Microscope that uses a sharp probe attached to a piezoelectric Quartz Tuning Fork (QTF) firmly mounted on the microscope's frame. As the QTF is electrically driven its mechanical response reaches the SPM frame which then acts as a resonant cavity producing acoustic modes measured with an acoustic sensor strategically placed on the SPM head. The novelty of the WGAS resides in using …

Analysis Of Human Skin Tissue By Raman Microspectroscopy: Dealing With The Background, Franck Bonnier, Syed Mehmood Ali, Peter Knief, Helen Lambkin, Kathleen Flynn, Vincent Mcdonagh, Claragh Healy, Thomas Lee, Fiona Lyng, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Raman microspectroscopy is widely used for molecular characterisation of tissue samples. Nevertheless, when working in vitro on tissue sections, the presence of a broad background to the spectra remains problematic and its removal requires advanced methods for pre-processing of the data. To date, research efforts have been primarily devoted to development of techniques of statistical analysis to extract the relevant information contained in the spectra. However, few attempts have been made to understand the origin of the background and to improve the protocols used for the collection of Raman spectra that could lead to the reduction or elimination of the …

Novel Amino Acid Transporter-Targeted Radiotracers For Breast Cancer Imaging, Fanlin Kong

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women in the world. Its 5-year survival rate ranges from 23.4% in patients with stage IV to 98% in stage I disease, highlighting the importance of early detection and diagnosis. ¹⁸F-2-Fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG), using positron emission tomography (PET), is the most common functional imaging tool for breast cancer diagnosis currently. Unfortunately, ¹⁸F-FDG-PET has several limitations such as poorly differentiating tumor tissues from inflammatory and normal brain tissues. Therefore, ¹⁸F-labeled amino acid-based radiotracers have been reported as an alternative, which is based on the fact that tumor cells uptake …

Molecular Methods And Platforms For Infectious Diseases Testing: A Review Of Fda-Approved And Cleared Assays, Rajyasree Emmadi, Jerry B. Boonyaratanakornkit, Rangaraj Selvarangan, Venkatakrishna Shyamala, Barbara L. Zimmer, Laurina Williams, Bonita Bryant, Ted Schutzbank, Michele M. Schoonmaker, Jean A. Amos Wilson, Leslie Hall, Preeti Pancholi, Kathryn Bernard

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The superior sensitivity and specificity associated with the use of molecular assays has greatly improved the field of infectious disease diagnostics by providing clinicians with results that are both accurate and rapidly obtained. Herein, we review molecularly based infectious disease diagnostic tests that are Food and Drug Administration approved or cleared and commercially available in the United States as of December 31, 2010. We describe specific assays and their performance, as stated in the Food and Drug Administration's Summary of Safety and Effectiveness Data or the Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device Evaluation and Safety's decision summaries, product inserts, or …

Identifying And Co-Managing The Hiv-Infected Adult: A Guidebook For Primary Care Clinicians, Jason Leider, Susan F. Lelacheur, Julie G. Stewart Dnp, Mph

Nursing Faculty Publications

This guidebook was designed to help primary care clinicians improve their performance in terms of HIV identification and co-management. Surmounting barriers to opt-out screening, making an HIV diagnosis, and preventing transmission and opportunistic infections will be discussed, as will selection of initial therapy and considerations for patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART).

In-Vivo Ct Dosimetry During Virtual Colonoscopy, Jonathon W. Mueller

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Virtual colonoscopy (VC) is a minimally invasive means for identifying colorectal polyps and colorectal lesions by insufflating a patient’s bowel, applying contrast agent via rectal catheter, and performing multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) scans. The technique is recommended for colonic health screening by the American Cancer Society but not funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) partially because of potential risks from radiation exposure. To date, no in‐vivo organ dose measurements have been performed for MDCT scans; thus, the accuracy of any current dose estimates is currently unknown.

In this study, two TLDs were affixed to the inner …

Investigation Of Emergency Medical Technicians Practice And Beliefs Regarding The Recognition And Treatment Of Exertional Heat Stroke, Kristin Applegate

Master's Theses

Context: Current Evidence Based Practice (EBP) supports the use of rectal thermometry (T_re) for an accurate diagnosis and cold water-immersion (CWI) for the treatment of Exertional Heat Stroke (EHS) for an optimal outcome. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) play a critical role for the diagnosis and treatment of EHS as they may be the first to arrive on scene, however there is limited data regarding their implementation of EBP. Objective: Investigate current practice regarding EHS by EMS professionals and explore the relationship that exists between EMS and Athletic Trainers (ATs). Design: A basic qualitative design using in-person focus groups. …

The Use Of Motion Analysis Technology As An Alternative Means Of Assessing Spinal Deformity In Patients With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis, Matthew J. Solomito

Master's Theses

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is a three dimensional deformity of the spine that causes abnormal curvatures in the coronal and sagittal planes and abnormal vertebral rotations. The gold standard for diagnosing and tracking the progression of the deformity is through the use of repeated radiography and a patient can receive upwards of fifteen radiographic series over the course of treatment, which exposes this population to an increased risk of radiation-dependent complications.

This thesis presents the necessary calculations and the marker set required to make the motion capture technology a viable alternative to radiographs, in an effort to reduce the patient’s …

Application Of A High‑Resolution Computed Radiography System In Detecting An Iodinated X‑Ray Contrast Agent: Small Animal Phantom Study, Anobel Maghsoodpour

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Tumor angiogenesis, the creation of new blood vessels, is the characteristic of solid tumors and crucial for their development. Iodinated contrast agents are used to increase the X‑ray detectability of zone of angiogenesis, and thus providing a means for tracking tumor growth.

The overall objective of this project was to evaluate the performance of Kodak CR 7400, a high‑resolution compact computed radiography (CR) system in detection of Omnipaque‑240, an iodinated contrast agent, in a phantom mimicking small animal tumor model.

The first phase of the project was dedicated to a comprehensive assessment of CR image quality by measuring presampled Modulation …