Building an archives in a medical library.
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In 1979 the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey established an archives to collect, preserve, and retrieve important documentation related to its history. This paper examines various steps in building an archives and the development of a coherent collection policy, including potential sources for archival material. Problems and possible solutions concerning what to preserve from the vast quantities of material generated by an institution are considered. The relationship between the archives and the medical library and the requirements of the physical plant are discussed, including the storage and preservation of materials. (+info)
Development and evaluation of PCR assay for detection of low levels of Cowdria ruminantium infection in Amblyomma ticks not detected by DNA probe.
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The sensitivities of a PCR assay and a DNA probe assay were compared for the detection of Cowdria ruminantium in Amblyomma ticks that were fed on C. ruminantium-infected, clinically reacting, and recovered carrier animals. The PCR assay and DNA probe detected infection in 86.0 and 37.0%, respectively, of 100 ticks fed on a febrile animal. In 75 ticks fed on carrier animals, PCR and the DNA probe detected infection in 28.0 and 1.33% of ticks, respectively. This demonstrates that the DNA probe has poor sensitivity for the detection of low levels of infection in ticks and that PCR is necessary for this purpose. The PCR assay had a detection limit of between 1 and 10 C. ruminantium organisms and did not amplify DNA from Ehrlichia canis, which is phylogenetically closely related to C. ruminantium, Theileria parva, or uninfected Amblyomma hebraeum or A. variegatum. PCR detected infection in A. hebraeum and A. variegatum adult ticks infected with one of six geographically different C. ruminantium strains. Amplification was also possible from desiccated ticks and ticks fixed in 70% ethanol, 10% buffered formalin, or 2% glutaraldehyde. The PCR assay supersedes the DNA probe and older detection methods for the detection of C. ruminantium in ticks, particularly those fed on carrier animals, and is suitable for both prospective and retrospective studies which require accurate detection of C. ruminantium in individual ticks. Application of the PCR assay should significantly improve the understanding of heartwater epidemiology, particularly through the determination of field tick infection rates. (+info)
Application of PCR to a clinical and environmental investigation of a case of equine botulism.
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PCR for the detection of botulinum neurotoxin gene types A to E was used in the investigation of a case of equine botulism. Samples from a foal diagnosed with toxicoinfectious botulism in 1985 were reanalyzed by PCR and the mouse bioassay in conjunction with an environmental survey. Neurotoxin B was detected by mouse bioassay in culture enrichments of serum, spleen, feces, and intestinal contents. PCR results compared well with mouse bioassay results, detecting type B neurotoxin genes in these samples and also in a liver sample. Other neurotoxin types were not detected by either test. Clostridium botulinum type B was shown to be prevalent in soils collected from the area in which the foal was raised. Four methods were used to test for the presence of botulinum neurotoxin-producing organisms in 66 soil samples taken within a 5-km radius: PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis (types A to E), PCR and an enzyme-linked assay (type B), hybridization of crude alkaline cell lysates with a type B-specific probe, and the mouse bioassay (all types). Fewer soil samples were positive for C. botulinum type B by the mouse bioassay (15%) than by any of the DNA-based detection systems. Hybridization of a type B-specific probe to DNA dot blots (26% of the samples were positive) and PCR-enzyme-linked assay (77% of the samples were positive) were used for the rapid analysis of large numbers of samples, with sensitivity limits of 3 x 10(6) and 3,000 cells, respectively. Conventional detection of PCR products by gel electrophoresis was the most sensitive method (300-cell limit), and in the present environmental survey, neurotoxin B genes only were detected in 94% of the samples. (+info)
Documenting nursing and health care history in the mid-Atlantic region.
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The records of health care institutions can be of great value to library patrons. Yet, librarians rarely provide these unique resources because records must be collected, arranged, and described before they can be useful to patrons. The University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Study of the History of Nursing conducted a survey of health care agencies in the mid-Atlantic region to locate records created by area health care institutions. The goals of this project were to develop a database of primary source materials, to place organizational records with enduring value at suitable repositories, and to assist in the development of in-house archival programs at agencies keeping records. In-house programs provide health care institutions with a systematic way to preserve their records for administrative, legal, fiscal, and research use. Such programs also facilitate access to information, reduce cost through records management, and promote an institution through preservation and use of its historical records. The survey demonstrated that record keeping is not coordinated in most institutions, and that institutional awareness of the organization or content of records is minimal. (+info)
Characteristics of Lyme disease spirochetes in archived European ticks.
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To determine whether the characteristics of the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) in Europe may have changed during the past century, DNA was amplified from archived Ixodes ricinus ticks. Tick DNA could be amplified, even when ticks had been stored under museum conditions for nearly a century. Spirochetal DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction in 6 ticks preserved for as long as a century; the oldest was collected in 1884. Borrelia garinii, which predominates in modern ticks in the region, infected 3 of these older ticks, and the presently infrequent B. burgdorferi sensu stricto infected 2. These data indicate that residents of Europe have been exposed to diverse Lyme disease spirochetes at least since 1884, concurrent with the oldest record of apparent human infection. (+info)
A cryptologic based trust center for medical images.
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OBJECTIVE: To investigate practical solutions that can integrate cryptographic techniques and picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) to improve the security of medical images. DESIGN: The PACS at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center consolidate images and associated data from various scanners into a centralized data archive and transmit them to remote display stations for review and consultation purposes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the model of a digital trust center that integrates cryptographic algorithms and protocols seamlessly into such a digital radiology environment to improve the security of medical images. MEASUREMENTS: The timing performance of encryption, decryption, and transmission of the cryptographic protocols over 81 volumetric PACS datasets has been measured. Lossless data compression is also applied before the encryption. The transmission performance is measured against three types of networks of different bandwidths: narrow-band Integrated Services Digital Network, Ethernet, and OC-3c Asynchronous Transfer Mode. RESULTS: The proposed digital trust center provides a cryptosystem solution to protect the confidentiality and to determine the authenticity of digital images in hospitals. The results of this study indicate that diagnostic images such as x-rays and magnetic resonance images could be routinely encrypted in PACS. However, applying encryption in teleradiology and PACS is a tradeoff between communications performance and security measures. CONCLUSION: Many people are uncertain about how to integrate cryptographic algorithms coherently into existing operations of the clinical enterprise. This paper describes a centralized cryptosystem architecture to ensure image data authenticity in a digital radiology department. The system performance has been evaluated in a hospital-integrated PACS environment. (+info)
Anticipation or ascertainment bias in schizophrenia? Penrose's familial mental illness sample.
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Several studies have observed anticipation (earlier age at onset [AAO] in successive generations) in familial schizophrenia. However, whether true anticipation or ascertainment bias is the principal originating mechanism remains unclear. In 1944 L. S. Penrose collected AAO data on a large, representative sample of familial mental illness, using a broad ascertainment strategy. These data allowed examination of anticipation and ascertainment biases in five two-generation samples of affected relative pairs. The median intergenerational difference (MID) in AAO was used to assess anticipation. Results showed significant anticipation in parent-offspring pairs with schizophrenia (n = 137 pairs; MID 15 years; P = .0001) and in a positive control sample with Huntington disease (n = 11; P = .01). Broadening the diagnosis of the schizophrenia sample suggested anticipation of severity of illness. However, other analyses provided evidence for ascertainment bias, especially in later-AAO parents, in parent-offspring pairs. Aunt/uncle-niece/nephew schizophrenia pairs showed anticipation (n = 111; P = .0001), but the MID was 8 years and aunts/uncles had earlier median AAO than parents. Anticipation effects were greatest in pairs with late-AAO parents but remained significant in a subgroup of schizophrenia pairs with early parental AAO (n = 31; P = .03). A small control sample of other diseases had MID of 5 years but no significant anticipation (n = 9; P = .38). These results suggest that, although ascertainment-bias effects were observed in parent-offspring pairs, true anticipation appears to be inherent in the transmission of familial schizophrenia. The findings support investigations of unstable mutations and other mechanisms that may contribute to true anticipation in schizophrenia. (+info)
Conversion of a traditional image archive into an image resource on compact disc.
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The conversion of a traditional archive of pathology images was organised on 35 mm slides into a database of images stored on compact disc (CD-ROM), and textual descriptions were added to each image record. Students on a didactic pathology course found this resource useful as an aid to revision, despite relative computer illiteracy, and it is anticipated that students on a new problem based learning course, which incorporates experience with information technology, will benefit even more readily when they use the database as an educational resource. A text and image database on CD-ROM can be updated repeatedly, and the content manipulated to reflect the content and style of the courses it supports. (+info)