Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Master of Biomedical Science'
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Easterly, Anita. "Does the Program of Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences in Medical Sciences atThe University of Toledo Enhance Training for Medical School? A Quantitative Study ofPre-Clinical Medical Students’ Academic Preparation and Perceptions." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1575384107073827.
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Liu, Xiao. "The role of monocytes in gouty arthritis : a thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biomedical Science /." ResearchArchive@Victoria e-thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10063/984.
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Rahner, Nils. "Inorganic polymers (geopolymers) as potential bioactive materials : a thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry /." ResearchArchive@Victoria e-thesis, 2009. http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/952.
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Hanna, Reem. "Finding the binding site of peloruside A and its secondary effects in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using a chemical genetics approach : a thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Biomedical Science /." ResearchArchive@Victoria e-thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10063/1264.
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Rodriguez-Velez, Ayshka Elise. "Power Mobility Sensor Data Collection Verified through Standardized Pediatric Assessments." UNF Digital Commons, 2018. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/828.
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The collaboration between the School of Engineering and the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of North Florida has introduced the possibility of creating a new environment for pediatric physical therapy assessments. There are currently no methods for remotely monitoring children with impairments. However, with embedded sensor technology in the form of power mobility and accepted therapy assessment tools, remote monitoring can become a possibility. As a part of this work, a ride-on toy car was developed as a remote monitoring device and a case study with a child with a mobility impairment was used as a proof of concept. In this thesis, the background information on the project, the case study diagnosis and history, and the model used to develop this project are detailed.
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Potter, Charles Michael. "Constraint based master scheduling problem." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape7/PQDD_0003/MQ45247.pdf.
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Goode, Jess. "Master Frames and Opinion Change." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1470077336.
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Carey, Heather A. "Transcriptional Control of Osteoclast Differentiation by Myeloid Master Regulator PU.1 and Its Co-partners MITF and EOMES." The Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500654539784644.
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Bozkurt, Suat Bahar Çiftçioğlu Muhsin. "The Densification And Sintering Behaviour Of Molten Salt Synthesized Ha Whisker/Ha Composites/." [s.l.]: [s.n.], 2005. http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/malzemebilimivemuh/T000345.pdf.
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Child, Hannah. "Nanoparticles for biomedical applications." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2012. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3583/.
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Modern day medicine is on the brink of a new age of therapy, which aims to harness the natural power of molecular biology for disease treatment. This therapy could include replacement of dysfunctional genes that cause disorders such as cystic fibrosis (Lommatzsch and Aris, 2009), or silencing the overexpression of genes that cause disorders such as cancer (Pelengaris and Khan, 2003). In both examples, the treatment of these genetic diseases lies in the delivery of synthetic nucleic acids into diseased cells, the former being called gene replacement therapy (Dobson, 2006a), and the latter being called RNA interference (RNAi) therapy (Whitehead et al., 2009). While these techniques have long been in use as genetic research tools for gene transfection or silencing in vitro, their translation for use in clinical disease treatment has yet to be achieved. The main problem facing the development of these novel therapies is the specific delivery of nucleic acids into diseased cells within the body. It is hoped that nanoparticles (NPs) can be used to overcome this problem, by acting as vehicles to transport nucleic acids through the body for specific delivery into diseased cells. This feat can be aided by the attachment of additional functional molecules such as cell penetrating peptides (CPPs), targeting peptides, additional drug types and molecules for imaging during treatment. Many different NP design strategies are currently under development. It is essential for new designs to be extensively tested for toxicity and efficiency in human cells before they can be successfully released into the clinic. As part of this effort, this PhD project has investigated two different NP design strategies for drug delivery: 1) the use of a magnetic field (MF) and a CPP to increase the delivery of iron oxide magnetic NPs (mNPs) to cells grown in tissueequivalent 3D collagen gels, and 2) gold NPs (AuNPs) for the delivery of siRNA to silence the c-myc oncogene for cancer treatment. In the first investigation, a MF and the CPP penetratin were found to increase mNP delivery to cells grown in 3D. In the second investigation, AuNPs were assessed in a range of different cell types (grown in 2D) for their performance in 4 main areas; cellular toxicity, cellular uptake, c-myc knockdown and effect on the cell cycle.
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Anand, Gaurish. "Automatic Identification of Interestingness in Biomedical Literature." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1410962490.
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Çelik, Emrah Güden Mustafa Thesis advisor. "Preparation and characterization of sintered Ti-6A1-4V powder compacts/." [s.l.]: [s.n.], 2004. http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/malzemebilimivemuh/T000472.doc.
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Altındiş, Mustafa Güden Mustafa. "CaP coating of porous sintered Ti6Al4V powder compacts using biomimetic and sol-gel methods." [s.l.]: [s.n.], 2006. http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/malzemebilimivemuh/T000544.pdf.
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Cutting, Bruce A., University of Western Sydney, College of Law and Business, and School of Management. "Refounding governance : transforming the science to master the art." THESIS_CLAB_MAN_Cutting_B.xml, 2002. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/79.
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Since Montesquie's incisive differentiation of the principal forms of governance and their components, the rate at which theories of governance have been proposed has exponenetially grown now when we have a plethora of different theories on the best way to govern, lead and /or manage. Anyone interested in this topic is confronted with many conflicting schools of thought, from Weber's theory of the 'iron cage' to Wheatley's new-age concept of leadership. This seeming maze of different theories can be seen merely as different perspectives on the overall embracing concept of governance which is essentially the holistic conception and explanation of differentiated purposive human systems - about paradigms and systems that have their inception in and are limited by, human mind. The core challenge, then, is to put some order and rationale into the understanding of this 'many-headed ' concept of governance. This thesis meets this challenge by mapping out a cognitive framework that is capable of embracing and ordering all the multitudinous differentiated conceptions of human governance experienced at the different levels of society. In essence, this thesis reformulates the concept of organizational governance in terms of the metaphor of the human mind. The cognitive model of governance are embraced by the different organizations in different circumstances and why this is appropriate and necessary, how and why governance changes over time, and how it is important to institute processes of inquiry, dialogue and reflection in order to know and choose more consciously. As a consequence of using the mind metaphor to analyse governance in Western society, the key conclusion is that there has been a substantial shift or evolution in thinking from a mangerialist mindset to the more abstract politicist mindset. This fundamental shift in mindset is pervasive and influences the perspectives taken at many levels in the human governance systems.Doctor of Philosophy (Management)
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Cutting, Bruce A. "Refounding governance : transforming the science to master the art /." View thesis, 2002. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030729.112516/index.html.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2002."A thesis ... for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Management) at the University of Western Sydney, Australia" Bibliography : leaves 550-564.
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Reeve, Lawrence H. Han Hyoil. "Semantic annotation and summarization of biomedical text /." Philadelphia, Pa. : Drexel University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1860/1779.
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Navoraphan, Kanyamas. "Argument Generation for a Biomedical Domain." NCSU, 2008. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-01282008-150847/.
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Discourse generation is a critical task of natural language generation. In this thesis, we introduce an approach to discourse generation for qualitative causal probabilistic domains that incorporates argumentation into the generation process. The discourse generation process uses three modules: a qualitative causal probabilistic domain model, a genre-specific discourse grammar, and a normative argument generator. The model of discourse generation has been implemented for the domain of clinical genetics. In conjunction with GenIE, a prototype intelligent system for generating the first draft of a patient letter on behalf of a genetic counselor, the discourse grammar exploits general information about clinical genetics as well as documentation about a specific patient's case provided by a genetic counselor, to create discourse plans. The argument generator generates arguments for the claims passed to it from the discourse grammar using domain-independent argument strategies. An important contribution of the thesis is a modification of the argument generator to support interactive argument exploration.
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Christiansen, Michael G. (Michael Gary). "Magnetothermal multiplexing for biomedical applications." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111248.
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Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 2017.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 170-176).
Research on biomedical applications of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) has increasingly sought to demonstrate noninvasive actuation of cellular processes and material responses using heat dissipated in the presence of an alternating magnetic field (AMF). By modeling the dependence of hysteresis losses on AMF amplitude and constraining AMF conditions to be physiologically suitable, it can be shown that MNPs exhibit uniquely optimal driving conditions that depend on controllable material properties such as magnetic anisotropy, magnetization, and particle volume. "Magnetothermal multiplexing," which relies on selecting materials with substantially distinct optimal AMF conditions, enables the selective heating of different kinds of collocated MNPs by applying different AMF parameters. This effect has the potential to extend the functionality of a variety of emerging techniques with mechanisms that rely on bulk or nanoscale heating of MNPs. Experimental investigations on methods for actuating deep brain stimulation, drug release, and shape memory polymer response are summarized, with discussion of the feasibility and utility of applying magnetothermal multiplexing to similar systems. The possibility of selective heating is motivated by a discussion of various models for heat dissipation by MNPs in AMFs, and then corroborated with experimental calorimetry measurements. A heuristic method for identifying materials and AMF conditions suitable for multiplexing is demonstrated on a set of iron oxide nanoparticles doped with various concentrations of cobalt. Design principles for producing AMFs with high amplitude and ranging in frequency from 15kHz to 2.5MHz are explained in detail, accompanied by a discussion of the outlook for scalability to clinically relevant dimensions. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the state of the field and the broader lessons that can be drawn from the work it describes.
by Michael G. Christiansen.
Ph. D.
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Hope, Kearns Ellen. "A model for international clinical/biomedical science programs." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2004. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/7767/.
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This project sought expert consensus regarding the feasibility and substance of international certification and mutual credentialing systems for laboratory professionals. It also examined a potential transatlantic student exchange program for laboratory sciences students. The study addressed key problems confronting the laboratory profession, such as workforce shortages, mobility issues, and the limited number of international study opportunities for clinical/biomedical science students, through an international survey of laboratory program directors. This lead to the development of a transatlantic exchange program between four European and four American partner institutions. The survey sampled 234 undergraduate clinical laboratory science/medical technology programs accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) in the United States and 46 BSc degree biomedical science courses accredited by the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) across the United Kingdom and Australia, with a response rate of 37.1%. Among other findings, the results indicated that only 10% of programs were currently engaged in international student exchanges but 47% of the respondents expressed an interest in starting student exchange programs and the majority considered international professional certification important and that American and British credentialing agencies should consider mutual credentialing for their program graduates. Based on these findings, a Globalization Task Force was created to explore the feasibility of internationalizing the credentialing process and examine the possibilities for mutual recognition agreements between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. Following this, a model international clinical/biomedical science student exchange program was designed to expand students' technical skills, foster cross-cultural competencies, and promote a global citizenry. A course has been chartered for laboratory regulatory and credentialing agencies to bridge the gaps on international harmonization of credentialing standards and credentialing systems for laboratory personnel. By accepting the findings of this project, laboratory stakeholders have many options by which to develop international practice standards and ensure consistency in the quality of laboratory personnel, globally.
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Wong, Maria Wan-Yin. "Evaluation of a biomedical science clinical training curriculum." Thesis, Durham University, 2004. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2832/.
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The thesis is concerned with quality in clinical education. It explores issues pertaining to the effectiveness of a biomedical science clinical training program through an evaluation. The aim is to gather and analyze program data for the improvement of student learning. Mixed methods including self-completion questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to explore students' and clinical teachers' perceptions in the domains of clinical teaching, student learning, organization of the program and personal gain. Two questionnaires were developed for data collection on two consecutive cohorts of students of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and clinical teachers from various training hospitals. Interviews with laboratory managers were used to support quantitative data of the questionnaires. Analyses of data from the first cohort revealed some deficiencies in the program including communication of goals to students, practice opportunities, shortage of clinical teaching staff, lack of initiatives from students, and inadequate communication between academics and laboratory teaching staff in the first phase of the study. The findings were reported to both academic and clinical teachers. Measures were taken to resolve these issues such as a comprehensive pre placement briefing for the students, to encourage clinical teachers to adopt different teaching strategies to foster student learning. Post training perceptions between the two cohorts were not significantly different in the second phase of the study except a slightly higher rating in the category of practice opportunities. It appeared that the intervention had not produced large effects. However, the results with implications were presented to the university, hospitals and students for further enhancement of student learning. It is through this continuous feedback mechanism that effectiveness of the program can be sustained.
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Services, UA News. "Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology Becomes BIO5." College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ), 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/622188.
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Yıldırım, Oktay Çiftçioğlu Muhsin. "Preparation and characterization of chitosan/calcium phosphate based composite biomaterials/Oktay Yıldırım;thesis advisor Muhsin Çiftçioğlu." [s.l.]: [s.n.], 2004. http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/malzemebilimivemuh/T000452.pdf.
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Tan, He. "Aligning Biomedical Ontologies." Doctoral thesis, Linköping : Univ, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-9487.
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Kwong, Joyce Y. S. (Joyce Yui Si). "Low-voltage embedded biomedical processor design." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61587.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-190).
Advances in mobile electronics are fueling new possibilities in a variety of applications, one of which is ambulatory medical monitoring with body-worn or implanted sensors. Digital processors on such sensors serve to analyze signals in real-time and extract key features for transmission or storage. To support diverse and evolving applications, the processor should be flexible, and to extend sensor operating lifetime, the processor should be energy-efficient. This thesis focuses on architectures and circuits for low power biomedical signal processing. A general-purpose processor is extended with custom hardware accelerators to reduce the cycle count and energy for common tasks, including FIR and median filtering as well as computing FFTs and mathematical functions. Improvements to classic architectures are proposed to reduce power and improve versatility: an FFT accelerator demonstrates a new control scheme to reduce datapath switching activity, and a modified CORDIC engine features increased input range and decreased quantization error over conventional designs. At the system level, the addition of accelerators increases leakage power and bus loading; strategies to mitigate these costs are analyzed in this thesis. A key strategy for improving energy efficiency is to aggressively scale the power supply voltage according to application performance demands. However, increased sensitivity to variation at low voltages must be mitigated in logic and SRAM design. For logic circuits, a design flow and a hold time verification methodology addressing local variation are proposed and demonstrated in a 65nm microcontroller functioning at 0.3V. For SRAMs, a model for the weak-cell read current is presented for near-V supply voltages, and a self-timed scheme for reducing internal bus glitches is employed with low leakage overhead. The above techniques are demonstrated in a 0.5-1.OV biomedical signal processing platform in 0.13p-Lm CMOS. The use of accelerators for key signal processing enabled greater than 10x energy reduction in two complete EEG and EKG analysis applications, as compared to implementations on a conventional processor.
by Joyce Y. S. Kwong.
Ph.D.
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Toth, Kalman. "(Endo)fullerene functionalization : from material science to biomedical applications." Thesis, Strasbourg, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012STRAE021/document.
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Nous avons synthétisé différentes dyades donneurs-accepteurs (D-A) π-conjuguées à base de fullerène pour des applications photovoltaïques dans lesquelles les unités D étaient soit des oligophenylenevinylenes (OPV) soit des oligophenyleneethynylene (OPE) et les unités A étaient le C60 ou un endofullerène du type Y3N@C80. Il y avait une exigence supplémentaire pour nos matériaux, à savoir qu’ils devaient s’auto-organiser en phases liquides-cristallines. Pour ce faire, toutes les unités D contenaient un promoteur mésogène afin d'induire le mésomorphisme de la dyade D- et donc de contrôler la morphologie des couches minces nécessaires à l’élaboraiton des cellules photovoltaïques grâce à une organisation supramoléculaire. En dehors de cela, nous avons étudié l’influence de la nature chimique du donneur (par exemple lyophile ou amphiphile), de la longueur des oligomères et de la multiaddition sur les propriétés photophysiques et sur l'auto-assemblage. Nous avons synthétisé une dyade OPE-Y3N@C80 qui est le premier dérive mésomorphe et photosensible de ce type de métallofullerène endohédralWe have synthesized different π-conjugated system-fullerene dyads for photovoltaic applications, where the donor units were either oligophenylenevinylene (OPV) or oligophenyleneethynylene (OPE) derivatives and for the acceptor, C60 or Y3N@C80 was used. There was an additional requirement for our materials: liquid crystallinity. All the donor units contained a mesogenic promoter in order to induce mesomorphism in the D-A dyad and to control the morphology of the prepared film through supramolecular organization. Apart from that, we investigated the effect of the chemical nature of the donor moiety (ie. lyophilic or amphiphilic), the oligomeric length and multiaddition on the photophysical properties and on the self-assembly. We have synthesized an OPE-Y3N@C80 dyad which is the first trimetallic nitride template endohedral metallofullerene derivative with mesomorphic and photoactive properties
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Olariu, Cristina. "Multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2012. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/8279/.
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The objective of this thesis was to develop and prepare multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles with targeting and bimodal imaging capabilities for cancer diagnostic applications. Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were the key component in the multifunctional nanoparticles prepared. In a first approach, alkoxysilane ligands were used to introduce functional groups such as amino, bromo, iodo, nitrile, and vinyl on the surface of SPIONs. Physicochemical analyses showed that each silane ligand formed a dense silane monolayer covalently attached to the nanoparticle surface. The amino-functionalised SPIONs were successfully modified yielding amino and carboxylic acid-bifunctionalised SPIONs using a succinylation reaction. This nanoparticle system showed no cytotoxicity during cell viability evaluations. Further conjugation with fluorescent dye and antibodies produced targeted bimodal optical/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) agents, confirmed by good contrast enhancement capabilities. The conjugated antibody successfully enabled the targeted delivery of SPIONs to pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. The targeting efficiency and the nanoparticle cellular uptake were monitored using fluorescence and confocal microscopy. In a second approach, hydrophobic and monodisperse SPIONs were coated with amphiphilic polyoxazoline to produce colloidally stable magneto-micelles. This magneto-micellar system showed high colloidal stability in water, phosphate buffered saline as well as at different pH values. Fluorescent dyes were successfully co-assembled into the magneto-micelles providing for the localisation of the nanoparticles in the cells by confocal microscopy. Antibodies conjugated to nontoxic magneto-micelles allowed for binding to specific receptors present on pancreatic cancer cells. The targeting efficiency and accumulation of the antibody labelled magneto-micelles into pancreatic cancer cells was evaluated using live cell confocal microscopy. Their performance as MRI contrast agents was evaluated using relaxivity measurements and it was shown that the clustering effect of the SPIONs within the core of the micelle is particularly favourable for enhancing the contrast on MRI images. Both approaches provided efficient routes of preparation of multifunctional platforms to achieve the desired targeting and bimodal imaging capabilities.
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Chouk, Mabrouk. "Master-slave replication, failover and distributed recovery in PostgreSQL database." Thesis, McGill University, 2003. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=19689.
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The subject of this thesis is synchronous master-slave database replication, failover and distributed recovery for a cluster of database servers. Our replication solution allows updates on the master, and queries on ail sites. Updates of transactions are sent to ail sites before they are committed on the master. To do this, we take advantage of the semantics of group communication Systems. With failover, there is always a master in the group. Distributed recovery ensures that a site that has been introduced in the System brings its own copy of the database to be consistent with the rest of the other databases. It does this by getting all the transactions it missed from another site while it was not in the group. It is only after having successfully carried out failover and recovery mechanisms that a new site is ready to share in the load of the system.
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Doucette, Wendy C. "Master Your Time and Project Management." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/5368.
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Would you like to change the way you manage your time and your work with free, easy, non-technical methods? If your desktop is covered with icons, you have multiple flash drives, you never back up anything or you re-do work you're pretty sure you've already done because you can't find it or aren't sure which is the latest version, this is for you! The secret to never procrastinating again will also be revealed.
Learning outcomes: Choose from three organizational systems to combat procrastination Utilize multiple, overnight, and cloud backups to safeguard your files Apply automation and synchronization to simplify your life
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Yoo, Illhoi Hu Xiaohua. "Semantic text mining and its application in biomedical domain /." Philadelphia, Pa. : Drexel University, 2006. http://dspace.library.drexel.edu/handle/1860%20/899.
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Voldman, Joel. "A microfabricated liquid mixer for biomedical applications." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10461.
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Şahin, Erdem Çiftçioğlu Muhsin. "Synthesis and characterization of hydroxyapatite-alumina-zirconia biocomposites/." [s.l.]: [s.n.], 2006. http://library.iyte.edu.tr/tezler/master/malzemebilimivemuh/T000548.pdf.
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Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute Of Technology, İzmir, 2006.Keywords: Hydroxiapatites, alumina ceramic, zirconium oxide, urea, precipitations. Includes bibliographical references (leaves. 73-75).
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Garrard, Clare. "Refining the HIV-1 glycan shield model: dynamics of a heterogeneous envelope trimer and empirical prediction of glycan processing." Master's thesis, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31085.
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The HIV-1 surface protein, Envelope (Env), is covered in asparagine-linked glycans, which interact with the human immune system and are thus important as potential vaccine targets. Laboratory studies have shown that the glycan type and form can differ substantially at each glycan site on Env clones. However, these studies are limited by time and cost and rely on biosynthetic assumptions to elucidate the structure of branched glycans. Furthermore, glycan heterogeneity creates challenges when determining the three-dimensional structure of Env, which has resulted in the use of methods that restrict glycan processing to produce uniform glycans for these studies. Computational methods are used to complement the laboratory studies; however, due to the limitations of modelling software, even computational studies have focussed on uniformly glycosylated Env models using a limited set of high-mannose glycans, rather than a mix of glycan types. To bridge this gap, this study set out to examine the structural differences of two computationally glycosylated HIV-1 Env trimers, one uniformly glycosylated, and the other based on the heterogeneous glycosylation of a laboratory determined gp160 strain. A secondary aim was to estimate whether the type of glycan is predictable using computational techniques, since these are less expensive and time consuming than laboratory studies. Using 500 ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, it was found that the heterogeneously glycosylated trimer had 64% greater stability, likely due to the presence of 25% more hydrogen bonds, as well as stabilising bonds which appeared to prevent asymmetrical movements. Furthermore, by focussing on the heterogeneously glycosylated trimer, a computational method based on surface area was explored to estimate the accessibility to enzymes involved in glycan processing, and to use this measure as a predictor of the glycan type. The results of this study highlight the differences between a uniformly, and a heterogeneously, glycosylated trimer, and suggest that previous MD studies, which used uniformly glycosylated trimers, may not sufficiently describe the structural dynamics of HIV-1 Env. Notably, complex glycans appear to stabilise the trimer to a greater extent than the high-mannose glycans used in previous studies. Thus, it is evident that research on Env models should incorporate a more diverse set of glycans in order to deepen our understanding of the dynamics of Env, which will, in turn, further our understanding of its interactions with antibodies and anti-HIV compounds.
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Botha, Winifred Edna. "Anthropometric variability, equipment usability and musculoskeletal pain in a group of nurses in the Western Cape." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26532.
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This study examined the anthropometry and anthropometric fit of a group of ward and theatre nurses in Western Cape private hospitals. Anthropometric variables were measured using a sample of nurses and a correlation matrix generated. All nurses were given a questionnaire concerned with operational problems in the work environment and musculoskeletal pain. The questionnaire was also completed by a group of sedentary nurses. The ward and theatre nurses reported numerous problems in the working environment, including lumbar backache, inadequate space and equipment that caused bodily discomfort. There were consistent, statistically significant associations between the frequency of occurrence of these problems and the anthropometric data indicating that the problems were caused or amplified by body size variability and were not simply general usability problems which would affect all nurses irrespective of their body dimensions. Further studies testing specifically for the consequences of mismatches and body size variability are recommended.
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Subramanian, Nivedita. "Cerebral Palsy and Rhizotomy: A ten year follow-up study with Gait Analysis." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/26365.
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In 1985, a cohort of 14 children with cerebral palsy underwent a neurosurgical procedure - selective posterior rhizotomy - in an effort to reduce their spasticity. They were part of a prospective study in which their gait was analysed before surgery and at one and three years' post-operatively. In 1995, ten years after surgery, there were important questions that needed to be addressed: would their gait be different from the findings before surgery and three years after surgery and how would they compare with age-matched normal subjects? Three of the original subjects were lost to follow-up and 11 were invited to participate in this long-term study. Their ages ranged from 12 to 24 years at this time of evaluation. Their gait was studied in the sagittal plane by taping retro-reflective markers onto the greater trochanter, lateral femoral epicondyle and lateral malleolus and having the subjects walk in a direction perpendicular to a video camera recording their gait. The data were digitised and analysed making use of custom written software and all relevant gait parameters were calculated. The parameters evaluated were the ranges of motion and midrange values of the knee and thigh, and the spatial-temporal parameters, namely cadence, stride length and velocity. Data were also obtained from twelve age-matched normal control subjects. The ten-year results were compared to the pre-operative data, the data obtained from the three-year study and the normal controls. A statistical analysis was performed on these parameters by using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) and post hoc comparisons were performed with a Scheffe test and a significance level set at p < 0.05. Results indicated that after ten years, the joint ranges of motion and mid-range values did not differ significantly from the normal values. The values also did not vary significantly from the values obtained in the three-year follow-up study, suggesting that functional changes acquired due to rhizotomy were of long term duration. The spatial-temporal parameters, however, did differ significantly from the normal range. Although this finding may have been influenced by the environment and subject motivation, the reduced cadence and stride length meant that the cerebral palsy subjects walked slower than their normal counterparts. This project, while confirming the results of the previous subjective studies, provides the first long-term objective data that establishes the effectiveness of selective posterior rhizotomy in improving and maintaining locomotor function for children with spastic cerebral palsy.
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Yang, Xin. "Fabrication, properties and applications of PEGDA hydrogels in biomedical science." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2021. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/213746/1/Xin_Yang_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis focuses on realising better understanding of properties of PEGDA hydrogels, improving fabrication methods for PEGDA hydrogels and finally applying PEGDA hydrogels for biomedical applications. The finding of this thesis includes development of a Type II photoinitiator system for visible light lithography of PEGDA hydrogels, investigation of swelling and other inherent properties, the mechanism of interaction between water and PEGDA polymer, and development of a shape-morphing of PEGDA hydrogel via PCL fibrous network for potential biomedical applications.
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Lee, Lawrence Chet-Lun. "Text mining of point mutation information from biomedical literature." Diss., Search in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. UC Only, 2008. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3339194.
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Szajda, Kenneth S. (Kenneth Stanley). "A high resolution integrated circuit biomedical temperature sensing system." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/11846.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1995.Vita.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 226-235).
by Kenneth S. Szajda.
Ph.D.
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Avestruz, Al-Thaddeus. "Energy management in biomedical applications : wireless power and biosensing." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/107100.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-283).
Wireless health and fitness devices as well as traditional medical devices such as cardiac and neurological implants, skin patch sensors, and automatic drug delivery pumps extend and improve life by providing therapy, monitoring, and diagnostics. They ensure health and safety while promoting prevention and wellness. These devices are found in chronic and acute settings that range from emergency and critical care to personalized health and telemedicine; they accelerate medical research and support data-driven medicine. The push towards the ubiquity of ever smaller devices with more functionality compels power-centric strategies in every aspect of design. Long-term implantables such as neural implants for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and epilepsy traditionally rely on primary cell batteries, which occupy a large portion of the implant volume and when exhausted require a new surgery for replacement. The motivation of the thesis is to reduce the size (weight and volume) and increase the lifetime of neural implants through the use of a smaller rechargeable battery. The two strategies chosen in this thesis are: 1) using a new spread-spectrum wireless power transfer to recharge and ultimately, eliminate the battery through direct powering; 2) reducing power consumption through the use of closed-loop decision and parameterization of electrical stimulation using feedback from neural sensing. The first part of this thesis is the development of spread-spectrum wireless power transfer to deliver power over many frequencies over a uniform single-sided magnetic field, which enables better design of systems with various physical dimensions, lower tissue loss, and less sensitivity to component tolerances, while remaining within the regulatory limits for electromagnetic interference. The investigation encompasses the design of a spread-spectrum transmitter and modulation method that resolves the ostensible paradox of "resonant, yet spread-spectrum", a passive power receiver, and power transfer using a uniform single-sided magnetic field. The second part of this thesis involves the design of a system to amplify and extract the spectral power of neural electrical signals from the brain. From the spectral power, "biomarkers" are extracted to titrate deep brain electrical stimulation to improve therapy and better utilize this functionality that dominates the implant power consumption.
by Al-Thaddeus Avestruz.
Ph. D.
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Tian, Natasha. "The role of Foxg1 in retinal axon divergence at the optic chiasm." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/2682.
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During murine development, retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons are presented with multiple navigational choices as they exit the eyes and follow a complex path to targets in the thalamus and superior colliculus of the brain. The optic chiasm is a major choice point, positioned at the ventral midline of the hypothalamus, where the majority of retinal axons cross to the contralateral side of the brain whilst only 3% remain uncrossed and project ipsilaterally. Identifying the cellular and molecular processes involved in retinal axon divergence at the chiasm is an intense area of study and knockout mice have proved useful tools. Foxg1 is a winged helix transcription factor that is expressed in the nasal retina, nasal optic stalk and anterior ventral hypothalamus, which are all structures that retinal axons encounter as they project out of the RGC layer towards the chiasm. The coincidence between the expression pattern of Foxg1 and the route followed by retinal axons led to the hypothesis that Foxg1 plays a role in guiding retinal axons at the optic chiasm. Previous experiments in this laboratory lent support to this idea by revealing an increase in the number of ipsilateral projections in Foxg1-/- mouse embryos from both nasal and temporal retina. Since Foxg1 is expressed in both the nasal retina and at the optic chiasm midline, the main hypotheses for this thesis are that Foxg1 influences retinal axon divergence by transcriptionally regulating the expression of cell surface molecules on (1) growth cones from the nasal retina or (2) guidance molecules on chiasm cells. In order to address these possibilities, the key aims of this thesis were (i) to investigate whether Foxg1 is primarily required in the nasal retina or at the chiasm for retinal axon divergence, (ii) to determine whether the Foxg1 null retina and chiasm are patterned differently from those of wild types and (iii) to investigate the expression of candidate molecules in the retina or chiasm known to influence retinal axon navigation.
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Coetzé, Lisa Jane. "Investigation of blunt injuries and the force associated with a skull fracture due to impact with a Hopkinson pressure bar : an animal model." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15575.
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Homicide is one of the leading causes of death in South Africa. Homicides as a result of a firearm, sharp instrument or blunt object, may all potentially inflict severe cranial trauma. Often the lateral aspect of the cranium is fractured in homicidal assaults, however, the focus of head injury biomechanics has been the frontal bone. This is due to automotive-related incidents. Thus it is important for researchers to broaden their knowledge on lateral head impacts. This data could ultimately act as a tool in making cranial bone trauma analysis less subjective in nature. This minor dissertation discusses human cranial bones and explores different types of cranial fractures. It further provides an in depth discussion on the different types of experimental tests and specimens used in biomechanical testing. A current review on the literature surrounding head impacts is also provided. The research conducted for this minor dissertation uses the Cape (Chacma) Baboon as a model to attempt to simulate cranial blunt trauma observed in human bone. Fifteen Cape (Chacma) Baboon head specimens were subjected to a single temporo-parietal impact. These specimens were impacted with an aluminium striker bar that resembles the dimensions of a hammer (length: 23cm, circumference: 40cm and weight: 200g). The aim of these hammer tests were to characterise soft and hard tissue wound morphology as a result of blunt cranial impacts. Resulting data was analysed to determine if a significant correlation existed between impact velocity or energy and the extent of trauma observed. The remaining twelve Cape (Chacma) Baboon specimens were all subjected to a single impact in the temporo-parietal region. These specimens were impacted with a Hopkinson pressure bar, which is manufactured from the same material as the striker bar. The aim of the Hopkinson pressure bar tests was to attempt to determine the force of impact. The use of the Hopkinson pressure bar to determine fracture forces in baboon head specimens is novel. The fracture forces obtained in the current study compare well with literature investigating lateral impacts. Furthermore, the fracture patterns obtained in the current study realistically simulate cranial trauma seen in humans. It would therefore be beneficial to advance research using the baboon model and Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus.
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Natha, Khilona. "Molecular Forensic Investigations into Animal Sexual Abuse." Master's thesis, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32938.
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Animal sexual abuse (ASA) involves the sexual molestation of animals by humans. The identification of semen provides a legally-accepted indicator that sexual activity occurred, while forensic DNA analysis provides a lead to a potential suspect. After conducting a systematic literature review, no previous research investigating semen and/or DNA recovery from animals over time was found. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to assess the recovery of human semen and DNA from animal fur over a two-week period to establish baseline data pertaining to evidence retention in the ASA context. This pioneer study also attempted to contribute towards the development of a suitable animal fur model on which to perform experiments. Daily swabbing and testing of semen from three fur models (unpreserved baboon fur, preserved nyala hides and faux fur) showed that semen could still be detected at 14 days using standard presumptive and confirmatory tests. Although DNA degradation showed a statistically significant increase over time, forensically usable DNA profiles (≥ 12 fully typed short tandem repeat loci) were consistently obtained. There was significantly higher DNA degradation in samples from the baboon fur compared to the others, while DNA concentrations were significantly different between each fur model. These differences highlight that future research must consider the choice of fur model to best represent the animal of interest; e.g. dissected fur from a recently deceased animal would best mimic a fatal ASA case. The insight regarding the choice of animal model hopes to be of benefit for future research, which should focus on the influence of more realistic variables (e.g. movement and body heat) on semen and DNA retention on animal fur. Overall, this study successfully generated baseline data, and provides a foundation for additional research, which hopes to eventually assist in the interpretation of forensic evidence in the global burden of ASA.
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Viljoen, Rabia. "Optimisation of sample preparation for DNA extraction from formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues of unresolved sudden unexpected death cases." Master's thesis, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33072.
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A retrospective case review revealed an increase in sudden unexpected death (SUD) admittance at Salt River Mortuary (SRM) between 2014 and 2018, and that 40 % of SUD occurred in young individuals between the ages of 1 and 40 years old (SUDY). Despite extensive investigations, the cause of death remained undetermined in 26 % of SUDY cases. These dormant cases may benefit from retrospective post-mortem molecular autopsies for investigation into genetic causes of death. Often, formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues (FFPETs) are the only archival sources of DNA available for retrospective analyses. This study aimed to optimise DNA recovery from FFPETs for potential use in molecular autopsies of unresolved SUDY cases. To this end, DNA was extracted from FFPET sections using the QIAamp® DNA FFPE tissue kit; the thickness and number of sections were varied. DNA was assessed using spectrophotometry, real-time PCR and digital capillary electrophoresis. Results showed that finer sectioning (1-µm thick as compared to 3-µm and 5-µm thick), improved DNA concentrations, purities and DNA fragment lengths. Increasing the number of 1-µm thick sections from 30 to 100, significantly improved DNA yield. DNA was not significantly more degraded for FFPETs stored for up to three years, which holds promise in the effectiveness of the technique for aged samples. The DNA extraction method developed in this study yielded a median of 320 ng (287 ng - 698 ng) of DNA with 55 % of DNA fragments being at least 400 bp in size. These results are especially informative for downstream molecular analyses, indicating that genotyping or sequencing assays need to be designed to target amplicons less than 400 bp in size. The degraded nature of the FFPET samples also suggests that massively parallel sequencing might be suited for downstream molecular analysis for determining cause of death in unresolved SUDY cases.
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Pharo, Gavin. "Assessment of 13 Forensic Molecular Markers for skin colour in South Africa." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29463.
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Molecular phenotyping is the use of informative genetic variation to estimate appearance. This concept can be applied in a forensic context to predict the appearance of suspects or decayed deceased individuals, which would otherwise remain unidentifiable. This concept has importance in a local context, as approximately 300 individuals remain unidentified, after conventional identification techniques, at Salt River Mortuary, every year. Ancestry Informative Markers (AIMs) are genetic variants with DNA which have been commonly associated with pigmentation phenotypes, and thus has value in predicting skin tone, hair colour and eye colour. This research study aimed to design and optimise an assay to genotype 13 AIMs associated with pigmentation, and then demonstrate the value of this assay by applying it to a case example and qualitatively predicting appearance. Primers were designed and PCR assays optimised to amplify each region, followed by Sanger sequencing on a case example. The case was that of an abandoned neonate, with unknown sex and ancestry. A comparison of the obtained genotypes to previous literature was performed to qualitatively estimate the skin tone, eye colour and hair colour of the decedent, which was not only in agreement with the forensic pathologist’s interpretation of sex and ethnicity, but provided richer detail with regards to ancestry, skin tone, eye colour and hair colour. The PCR assays were then further optimised into four multiplex assays with the intention of genotyping these AIMs by two SNaPshot® PCR assays (Applied Biosystems) in a larger control cohort to model the relationship between these AIMs and melanin index more objectively. Unfortunately, the scope of this research project did not allow for the completion of this additional aspect. Overall, these results indicate that these 13 AIMs have potential to predict pigmentation phenotypes of South African individuals. However, genotyping and modelling of the effects of these AIMs should be performed on a large cohort to further strengthen this conclusion.
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Cupido, Danielle. "The assessment of the utility and impact of sexual assault evidence collection kits (SAECKS) as DNA evidence in suspected cases of rape." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15457.
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The results from this study show the value of good basic medical practices in documentation of injuries, rather than more costly DNA evidence, in assisting courts in rape cases. However, the researchers do argue that in South Africa, as a middle-income country with a high percentage of non-intimate partner rapes, there would be an advantage in improving the system to collect and analyse DNA evidence rather than abandoning it completely. These results taken together suggest that DNA evidence can assist in signifying that sexual act has transpired however it is more likely that convictions will occur if evidence of physical injury is available, as DNA evidence cannot reveal if consent was obtained or not. As stated above South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape worldwide.
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Makasa, Innocent. "Evaluating the role of DNA evidence in sexual offence cases in Zambia between 2007 and 2014." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24477.
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Zambia has reported high incidences of sexual abuse against women and children in recent years. Zambian law categorises sexual offences into; rape, defilement, incest and others, with defilement constituting the majority of the cases (>89%). Between 2010 and 2012, only <39% of defilement cases were taken to court, and convictions were achieved in only 13% of the cases reported to the police. Literature was reviewed to determine factors which contributed towards the resolution of criminal cases, and it was found that DNA evidence was prominent in resolving crimes, specifically as an identification tool in sexual offences. Currently there is no empirical evidence describing how DNA evidence has been used in resolving sexual crimes in Zambia. The causes of low prosecution and conviction rates have also not been investigated. A retrospective study was therefore conducted to evaluate the role of DNA evidence in sexual offence cases in Zambia, reported to eight major police stations in Lusaka between 2007 to 2014 (n=1154). Sexual offence cases comprised rape (n=74, 6.4%), defilement of a child under the age of sixteen years (n=1028; 89.1%), incest (n=7; 0.6%) and others (n=45; 3.9%). Only 14 (0.1%) of the cases had forensic samples collected in the form of a vaginal swab for the sole purpose of determining the presence of semen. In all cases where a suspect was identified (60%), identification was based on the witness/victim testimonies, and in no case was forensic DNA evidence used to assist in identification or corroborate the testimonies. Overall, 28.1% cases were taken to court and the conviction rate was 12.4%. If no injuries were observed on a victim aged between 0 - 5 years, the case was not taken to court. It was also observed that the younger the victim, the more likely the accused was not identified (p < 0.001), victims did not know the date of occurrence (p < 0.001), and the case was closed due to insufficient evidence. These findings support the use of employing forensic DNA evidence in sexual offence cases to aid the identification of suspects, either in the absence of witness/victim testimonies or alongside as corroborative evidence, which is hypothesised to increase the number of cases prosecuted in Zambia. At the time of this study there was no standardised protocol for the forensic investigations of sexual offences in Zambia, which to some extent, led to numerous missing data. Development and use of the national protocol and use of a validated sexual assault evidence collection kit may help mitigate the deficiencies and inconsistencies witnessed during this study.
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Nel, Lorraine. "Constructing a DNA profile frequency database for South Africa using the Qiagen Investigator 24plex GO! Kit." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/28054.
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DNA profiling is routinely used in the forensic setting to identify individuals during criminal and medico-legal investigations. Its principle is based on the molecular analysis of DNA to produce a string of alpha-numeric characters which can be matched to a known reference sample. The use of allele frequencies from the background population aids the statistical interpretation of a match and can be used to calculate the random match probability. In South Africa, allele frequency data for the background population is currently limited, which can hinder the discriminatory value of DNA evidence, particularly when only a partial profile is obtained. Therefore, the aim of this study was to generate DNA allele frequency data for four South African population groups using the QIAGEN Investigator® 24PLEX GO! Kit, which has six markers for which data does not yet exist for the South African population. Full forensic DNA profiles were generated from 655 unrelated individuals from four population groups in South Africa: Black African (n = 172), Coloured (n = 195), Indian/Asian (n = 88) and White (n = 200). A 98% first time success rate was observed using the direct PCR approach. Allele frequencies were significantly different between all four population groups at three markers (D8S1179, D2S1338 and D2S441) after a Bonferroni correction (ρ < 0.001) and sixteen novel alleles were observed. Two genetic anomalies were observed, namely triallelic patterns at the TPOX marker (n = 9) and a null allele at amelogenin (n = 1). While the sample size for the Indian/Asian population group was limited in this study, the data generated here nevertheless prospects to contribute towards the data currently published for South Africa. This, in turn, will allow for more DNA markers to be analysed during forensic casework in South Africa, as the data for its statistical interpretation is now available.
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Wichers, Ansie. "Firearm fatalities examined at Salt River Medico-Legal Laboratory in 2009 and their investigative outcome by 2014." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21373.
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South Africa has a very long history of gun violence, particularly politically motivated. The politically motivated gun violence did subside after 1994, however there was an increase in criminal gun violence. In 2004 Dr Liebenberg from the University of Cape Town conducted a study on the victimology and investigative outcomes of firearm deaths of 1999 in the Salt River Medico - Legal Laboratory drainage area. There were some compelling results, including a remarkably low conviction rate of 7.21%. In 2000 new legislation was enacted, which is the Firearms Control Act (1) of 2000 and from 2001 to 2005 there was a 13.6% decrease in firearm homicides which was consistent after the introduction of the new act, likely due to the decrease in the number of firearms in circulation. Because of the changes in firearm legislation and reported crime rates, it was decided to conduct a follow - up study one decade later, looking at the investigative outcomes of firearm deaths to see whether the decreased contribution of firearms in homicides and crime made an impact on the investigative and judicial process of the Salt River Medico - Legal Laboratory cases. In 2009 there were 281 firearm deaths investigated at Salt River Medico - Legal Laboratory as opposed to 532 in 1999. In 1999, 89.29% of firearm deaths were due to homicide as opposed to 86.12% in 2009. In 1999 the majority of firearm homicide victims were Black and Coloured males between the ages of 21 and 30 years, this is similar to what is seen in 2009, however there were fewer Coloured victims in 2009. In both years homicides occurred more often on weekends, at night time. In 1999 there were peaks in May and then from October through to December. In 2009 however, the peaks were in March, May and August. One might thin k that with such a large decrease in the number of firearm deaths (not considering other crime trends), the criminal justice system might have fewer cases to investigate and prosecute and that the investigative outcomes (particularly conviction rate) of th ese cases might improve. Even though there was a significant drop in the number of firearm deaths in 2009, there has been no improvement in the conviction rate, with 2009 having a rate of 5.69%. The number of cases still being investigated was also similar at 104 cases (37.01%) for 2009 versus 182 cases (34.54%) for 1999. In 2009 only 58 (20.64%) cases completed the judicial process by 2014, which includes the 16 cases (5.69%) that ended in a guilty verdict, 18 (6.41%) cases where a suspect was acquitted (not guilty) and also 24 (8.54%) cases that were withdrawn in court. Of the 281 cases for 2009, 10 (3.56%) were still in court, which was significantly less than the 59 (11.20%) cases in 1999. From 2009 there were 87 cases that reached an impasse (30.96%) by 2014, as opposed to the 114 (21.63%) cases from 1999 by 2004, which is a statistically significant difference.
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Kasu, Mohaimin. "The validation of forensic DNA extraction systems to utilize soil contaminated biological evidence." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5921.
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Sanyanga, Taremekedzwa. "Entomological examination of the relationship between ante-mortem and post-mortem amitriptyline concentrations in insects." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/21372.
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When the death of an individual has occurred, the body of the deceased is not always discovered immediately and at times the body may be discovered after a long period of time. The consequence of discovering a body after a long period of time is that the body maybe found severely decomposed or skeletonized. As a result no viable blood, urine or tissue samples may exist that can be collected and utilized in toxicological analyses. Entomotoxicology offers a supplementary method to detect and analyse the presence of drugs post-mortem, especially in cases where viable toxicological specimens such as human tissue cannot be obtained. In South Africa and globally, standardised methodology is required to perform entomological examinations accurately, however due to the large variation of experimental set-up no such standardised methods yet exist. The main aim of the research was to analyse the effect of Amitriptyline on the development and growth rate of forensically important blow flies, and to investigate the potential in using blow fly larvae of the Western Cape, South Africa in forensic entomotoxicological analyses and future implementation. To achieve this blow fly species C. chloropyga and L. sericata were reared on homogenised pig liver containing 1000 mg/kg Amitriptyline until emergence of imago. The duration of time taken by the blow fly larvae species to reach 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , pupae and imago growth stages in the presence and absence of Amitriptyline was noted. The presence of drugs in larvae was investigated using high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with dual mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS-MS). Amitriptyline was detected in all experimental larvae samples and was found to delay pupation by at least 26 hours and imago emergence by at least 72 hours. Amitriptyline however showed no distinct effect on C. chloropyga length and mass but was associated with a smaller length and mass in L. sericata compared to controls. Results indicate that entomotoxicology can be of use for qualitative analysis for the presence of Amitriptyline in forensic cases. Results also highlight the unpredictability of research using biological specimens.
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Kruger, Maria Magdalena. "The prevalence of infection related death at Salt River Mortuary for the years 2013 and 2014." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/24476.
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Infection related death is of major concern world-wide. This is especially true in developing countries where there is a high burden of disease. In some cases infections may present atypically and death occurs without a diagnosis in life. Many countries, including South Africa, classify these deaths as sudden unexpected or unexplained, which, under the Inquests Acts, necessitates a medico-legal autopsy. In order to understand the mechanisms underlying such deaths, a systematic review of the literature was undertaken on sudden death due to infection. Data from published research and reports identified many pathogens associated with sudden or unexplained death in infants and older individuals. However it remains important to understand locally relevant pathogens. In addition, many risk factors have been identified in different age groups but it is not known what risk factors are prevalent in a local setting and if these correspond to international trends. In order to contribute to local data a case file review was undertaken of infection related deaths at Salt River Mortuary between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2014 (n=809). Deaths due to respiratory infections were the leading cause of death across all ages and in both sexes. It is not known to what degree this is a true reflection of the cause of death as the extent of autopsy, ancillary investigations and availability of ante-mortem clinical information varied widely. There has been a call for standardised protocols for the post-mortem investigation of these deaths and the data analysed reiterated this need. Many of the modifiable risk factors for infant death identified in the literature review were also identified in the Western Cape Metropole area, with the exception of sleeping position: side sleeping, as opposed to prone sleeping, was identified as the distinctive risk factor. In older individuals tuberculosis was identified as either the cause of death or a major contributor to comorbid conditions, which highlights the importance of further surveillance of vulnerable individuals. These data have provided insight into the extent of infection related death and associated risk factors in a local context. A standardised protocol for the investigation of these deaths across mortuaries would enable more accurate data to be collected which in turn could be fed back into the healthcare system.