Browsing by Subject "Treatment"

Now showing 1 - 19 of 19
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    About Pink Eye (Conjunctivitis)
    (2008-12-02) Jepsen, Susanne
    Pink eye is often caused by an infection of the protective layer covering the eyeball. While it is often caused by bacteria, using antibiotics does not make the infection go away faster. People should return to work or school when their pink eye is no longer making extra tears or pus. To prevent the spread of pink eye, don't touch your eyes and wash your hands often.
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    Clinical Efficacy of Local Delivery Minocycline Gel for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Periodontitis
    (2019-05) Shalev, Alon
    Background: Local delivery of antimicrobial agents has been used for many years as an adjunct to treat periodontal disease. The gel form of minocycline local delivery application has an advantage in that it allows multiple sites to be treated with the same syringe loaded with minocycline gel when compared to other modalities on the market. However, the use of this gel form of minocycline has not been clinically proven effective or approved for clinical use in the United States. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the clinical efficacy of a 2.1% minocycline gel as an adjunct to scaling and root planning (SRP) for treating patients with moderate to severe periodontitis. The hypothesis for this study is that patients with moderate to severe periodontitis would have a statistically significant greater increase in clinical attachment (CAL) gain, reduced pocket depth (PD), and reduced bleeding on probing (BOP) when SRP with adjunctive minocycline gel were used when compared to patients treated with sham (SRP alone) and vehicle control (SRP+ vehicle without active ingredient). Material and Methods: Eligible patients (n=59) had at least ten remaining teeth and each subject had at least four teeth with pocket depths ≥5 - ≤9 mm with BOP at baseline. In addition to baseline, patients were evaluated at three, six and nine months. Enrolled subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) root planing therapy only-sham; 2) root planing therapy and the vehicle control; 3) root planing and minocycline gel. The minocycline gel as well as the vehicle control were administered at 2 weeks and at the one, three and six-month visits. No mechanical debridement as supportive periodontal therapy was performed during this study. Results: It was found that in the overall study population the minocycline study group, when compared to the sham group, resulted in a greater significant decrease BOP (p=0.035) at 3-month, but not when compared to the vehicle control group (p=0.64). In sites presenting with the severe form of periodontitis (≥8 mm), there was a statistically significant difference between the minocycline gel group and the sham group with respect to % BOP reduction at 9-months (p=0.014). On the other hand, results failed to show any other statistically significant difference between the minocycline gel group and the sham group with respect to other clinical variables including PD and CAL (p>0.05). However, minocycline gel did present with statistically significant differences compared to the vehicle control group with respect to the clinical variables. Conclusion: The minocycline gel as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal therapy provided a significant favorable clinical effect in decreasing BOP for all moderate to severe periodontitis sites following SRP at the 3-month evaluation. In the severe forms of periodontitis, minocycline gel had an adjunctive favorable effect at 9-months after SRP with respect to %BOP reduction. This study was supported in part by Sunstar Americas, Inc. and the clinical research center at the University of Minnesota.
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    A comparison between nonlinguistic cognitive processing treatment and traditional language treatment for bilingual children with primary language impairment
    (2011-07) Ebert, Kerry Danahy
    Background: Children with Primary Language Impairment (PLI) show subtle weaknesses in nonlinguistic cognitive processing (NCP) skills such as attention, memory, and speed of processing. It is possible that these weaknesses contribute causally to the language delays that characterize PLI. For bilingual children with PLI, NCP weaknesses would underlie language learning ability for both languages. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between NCP skills and language skills in bilingual children with PLI by treating processing speed and attention. Methods: A total of 24 participants in three groups (NCP treatment, English language treatment, and delayed treatment control) completed the study protocol. All participants were Spanish-English bilingual children with PLI between the ages of 6 and 10 years. All participants completed an extensive battery of assessments indexing NCP, English language, and Spanish language skills both before and after a treatment cycle. Analyses examined change for individuals, for each group separately, and for the three groups in comparison to one another. Results: Children who completed the NCP treatment showed significant change in processing speed and in overall English language skills. However, children who completed the English language treatment tended to make greater gains, both in English and in NCP skills. Few comparisons between the three groups reached significance, in part because the delayed treatment control group tended to make positive change and in part because of the small sample size. Individual variability was apparent across all three groups, but particularly pronounced for Spanish. Conclusions: The results support a connection between NCP and language skills in children with PLI. Language-based treatment programs may effectively alter NCP skills, and NCP treatment programs may alter language skills.
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    Comparison of Biofiltration Media in Treating Industrial Stormwater Runoff
    (2019-07) Isaacson, Kristofer
    Biofiltration systems have become one of the most commonly used best management practices in dealing with stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff is inherently variable, with the contaminants present depending greatly on the land use of the catchment basin. This study characterized the stormwater collected from an industrial site in northeastern Minnesota. It was determined the pollutants of concern for this site are dissolved heavy metals (Aluminum, Copper, Iron) and bacteria. Different media exhibit different strengths and weaknesses in the removal of pollutants in these biofiltration systems. As a result, there is not a universal combination of media that can adequately treat all stormwater. 18 bio-based media were tested in batch experiments to determine if they possessed any capacity for heavy metal removal. Eight media (APTsorb, bioAPT, biochar, marble, sand, vermiculite, and zeolite) that showed good removal were studied further in downward flowing column experiments. These column experiments determined that all materials demonstrated some capacity for dissolved metal removal with the exception of sand. However, marble performed the best by a significant margin, removing over 10 mg/cm3 of iron, 4 mg/cm3 of aluminum, and 2 mg/cm3 of copper. The four materials that were determined to have the largest removal capacity for heavy metals (APTsorb, compost, marble, zeolite) were tested in an additional column experiment in which the synthetic stormwater was inoculated with E. coli. Marble again performed the best removing 100% of E. coli throughout the duration of a 56-hour continuous flow column experiment. This characterization process provides valuable information on the effectivity and longevity of a variety of media in the design of future biofiltration systems.
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    Decision making gone awry: Dorsal striatum, decision-making, and addiction
    (2015-02) Regier, Paul
    Millions of people use addictive substances, such as alcohol and cocaine, however only a subset of individuals become dependent on these types of substances. Addiction can be thought of as a maladaptive decision-making process, driven by distinct neural regions. As behavior shifts from goal-directed to habit-based behavior, control of this behavior by corticostriatal circuits shifts from the associative circuit, which includes the dorsomedial striatum, to the sensorimotor circuit, which includes dorsolateral striatum. Once behavior becomes more habit-based, and control shifts to the sensorimotor corticostriatal circuit, actions become difficult to devalue. Thus, behavior becomes difficult to change. In this dissertation, I explore a behavioral shift to habit-based behavior as one potential way addiction can occur. I focus on the dorsomedial and the dorsolateral striatum and the role of these two regions in goal-directed and habit-based behavior, respectively, and the role of these two regions in drug-seeking behavior. In addition, I discuss the dorsomedial and dorsolateral striatum in relation to animal models of drug addiction that differentially seek drugs, and I discuss these two regions as potential biomarkers of addiction treatment. Finally, I relate previous research as well as my own research, presented throughout the dissertation, to human drug use and consider how analogues of dorsal striatum in the human brain might play a role in human addiction and addiction treatment. In all, consideration of addiction as a maladaptive decision-making process as well as understanding the neural correlates of this process may help to generate new ways of perceiving, studying, and treating addiction.
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    Efficacy of on-farm programs for the diagnosis and selective treatment of clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle.
    (2009-08) Lago Vázquez, José Alfonso
    The research reported in this dissertation includes two multi-state multi-herd clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of on-farm programs for the diagnosis and selective treatment of clinical and subclinical mastitis in dairy cattle. The use of an OFC system for the selective treatment of clinical mastitis during lactation reduced intramammary antibiotic use by half and tended to reduce withholding time by one day, without significant differences in days to clinical cure, bacteriological cure risk, new infection risk and ICR risk (where the ICR risk represented the presence of infection risk, clinical mastitis risk, or removal from herd risk) within 21 days after the clinical mastitis event. Similarly, there were no differences between both treatment programs in long-term outcomes such as recurrence of clinical mastitis in the same quarter, somatic cell count, milk production, and cow survival for the rest of the lactation after the clinical mastitis event. The treatment with intramammary Cephapirin Sodium of cows and quarters based on CMT results alone, or sequential testing using OFC to diagnose Gram-positives in CMT-positive quarters resulted in a higher bacteriological cure risk and reduced the ICR risk within 21 days after enrollment (significantly and only numerically, respectively for treatment each program). The implementation of both treatment programs required the administration of intramammary treatment and extended the time that milk is withhold from the market. Both programs resulted in a significantly lower clinical mastitis risk and lower milk SCC during lactation (significantly and only numerically, respectively for each treatment program). However, the implementation of both treatment programs did not result in higher milk production, improved reproductive performance or lower risk for removal from the herd. A secondary objective of both clinical trials was to validate the use of the Minnesota Easy Culture Bi-Plate System. This OFC system is a useful cow-side test to correctly identify bacterial growth, Gram-positive bacterial growth, or Gram-negative bacterial growth in quarter secretion samples from clinical mastitis cases and in CMT-positive quarter milk samples collected after parturition. Treatment decisions based on identification of bacterial growth, or Gram-positive bacterial growth specifically, were correct over 73% of the time.
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    Efficacy of Prescription Medications for Diabetic Neuropathic Pain
    (2010-10-29) Jochman, John
    Because it has been shown that there is no clear advantage of any one drug used to treat diabetic neuropathic pain, medication decisions can be made based upon patient preference, side effect profile, and with consideration of other diseases the patient may have (e.g. heart disease, depression). Physicians and patients alike can be confident that whatever drug chosen should help the patient’s condition.
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    Environmental Risks and Children’s Mental Health Treatment Outcomes: A Person-Centered Analysis
    (2017-10) Witham, Matthew
    Treatment outcomes for children receiving mental health services at community-based clinics have been inconsistent. There is an urgent need to study treatment effectiveness and to identify factors that influence symptom changes. Previous research has demonstrated the impact of environmental risks on children’s functioning, and research is needed to understand the effects of risks on mental health treatment outcomes. In partnership with a community-based mental health clinic, this study aimed to (a) determine whether a racially-diverse sample of children (N = 1176; 59.4% male; ages 4-17 years) demonstrated post-treatment symptom reduction, (b) identify environmental risk subgroups of children through latent class analysis, and (c) assess for subgroup differences on outcome change scores. Paired sample t-tests were used to test for significant change over time between pre- and post- treatment symptoms levels and between high- and post- treatment symptoms levels. Significant symptom reduction was observed over time, as assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Latent class analysis was used to identify and define environmental risk subgroups. Fit indices and theoretical constructs conjointly endorsed four parsimonious latent classes: Low-Risk, High-Poverty, High-Risk, and Low-Poverty with Maltreatment. An ANCOVA was used to test whether the four classes differed on their respective change scores; no significant differences were found. Findings indicate meaningful symptom reduction after treatment and the existence of meaningful subgroups of children based upon risks. However, there is inadequate evidence that symptom changes vary based upon environmental risk classes. Implications of findings for clinical practice and future research are discussed.
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    Evaluation of Methods, Means, and Adaptations for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders with Learning Disabilities
    (2012) Klancher, Brian; Rauschenfels, Diane
    Treatment programs utilized to provide therapy to sexual offenders, especially those with learning disabilities, have rarely been evaluated in research. This field of research has been around such a short time that there are no methods or practices that have consistently shown to be the most effective in treating this population. In the present study, 30 treatment staff members were asked to complete a survey regarding treatment methods for sexual offenders with learning disabilities. The responses were varied, though the main focus was on individualized treatment. The results and implications for future research will be discussed.
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    The mental health sequelae and treatment of massive community violence in West Africa
    (2008-12) Hess, Daniel Burton
    Sierra Leone is one of several countries in sub-Saharan Africa in which great deposits of diamonds have been exploited to fund regional wars. These wars have resulted in 3.7 million deaths (Amnesty International, 2007a), and massive and systematic human rights atrocities in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Although many international agencies overcame innumerable challenges during this period to provide in-camp relief services for refugees, conventional wisdom in this field suggested that ongoing data collection could not be done in the politically unstable, critically underfunded, and frequently unsafe conditions of a refugee camp. This paper explores the mental health sequelae of the massive violence perpetrated against the people of Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the relations between post-trauma symptomology, daily functioning, social support, and counseling while following survivors living in United Nations' refugee camps, internally-displaced-persons camps, and back to their home communities in West Africa. A secondary, cross-sectional analysis of data initially collected from 2001 to 2006 for program evaluation and the clinical assessment of 4010 adult clients attending a counseling program showed that reported exposure to violence was related to psychosocial symptomology and problematic functioning; worse symptoms were related to worse functioning; refugees who reported exposure to torture had worse symptoms, but no difference in functioning than refugees who reported no torture; females had worse symptoms and worse functioning than males; younger age was related to greater exposure to violence and worse symptoms; greater substance use was related to greater exposure to violence, worse symptoms, and male sex; and access to informal social support was related to better symptoms and better functioning. From the original dataset of 4010 completed intake assessments, a subset of data from 1186 clients who had been successfully tracked for two subsequent assessments was examined. Substantial improvement in symptoms, functioning, and social connectedness was found one month into an 8-to-10-week counseling program and at three-months. Also of significance, this study demonstrates that data can be effectively collected over an extended period under difficult and dangerous conditions, and that ongoing program evaluation and clinical assessment can be reasonably included as a regular component of refugee relief field-programs.
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    Salmonella enterica Typhimurium as a tumor-targeting immunotherapy vector
    (2015-08) Drees, Jeremy
    Interest in cancer immunotherapy has grown in recent years due to its potential for significant and durable therapeutic responses. Immune checkpoint blockade has emerged as an immunotherapy as a single agent but has even greater appeal when it is used in combination with other immunostimulatory approaches. However, the dosing of checkpoint blockade and its combinatorial use with other immunotherapies has been limited by systemic immune-related adverse side effects. One way to overcome these adverse effects is to deliver the therapeutic agents specifically to the tumor microenvironment. Salmonella enterica Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) has been studied for cancer therapy due to its genetic manipulability and tumor-targeting propensity, and in this thesis, the potential of S. Typhimurium as a tumor-targeting immunotherapy vector was investigated. Functional antagonistic single chain antibodies (scFvs) against the immune checkpoints CTLA-4 and PD-L1 were isolated from an immunized chicken library and engineered for secretion from S. Typhimurium. The inherent anti-tumor properties and tumor-targeting capability of S. Typhimurium were then tested in transplanted primary and metastatic tumor models as well as a genetically engineered autochthonous BALB-neuT breast cancer model. In each of these models, S. Typhimurium demonstrated native anti-tumor efficacy; however the bacteria did not adequately colonize the autochthonous tumors of the BALB-neuT model. Disruption of tumor vasculature by treating BALB-neuT mice with a vasculature disrupting agent (VDA) improved the colonization of autochthonous tumors over 1000-fold to levels similar to those observed for transplanted tumors. Subsequent comparison of the tumor targeting capability and efficacy of S. Typhimurium engineered to secrete the antagonistic ?PD-L1 (scFv) versus a control strain showed that secretion of the scFv may further improve the colonization of autochthonous tumors, leading to a greater reduction in tumor burden of treated mice. These findings provide a proof of principle for the expression and delivery of functional immunotherapeutic single chain antibodies using S. Typhimurium, demonstrate S. Typhimurium's native tumoricidal activity independent of tumor-targeting, illustrate the importance of clinically representative tumor models when studying bacterial cancer therapy, and demonstrate the potential of VDA treatment to improve bacterial tumor-targeting. Collectively, this work illustrates S. Typhimurium's promise as a tumor-targeting immunotherapy vector.
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    Shelter for good?: examining the ethical issues of housing first for homeless substance abusers
    (2013-08) Barrett, Tyler Dane
    In the past fifteen years, the guiding philosophies used in addressing chronic homelessness have undergone a radical shift in approach. Whereas nearly all shelters once stipulated substance addicted or mentally ill residents must undergo treatment for chemical dependency and mental illness prior to admittance, in recent years many cities across the United States and abroad have adopted a "housing first" model. This approach treats housing as a basic human right and allows homeless individuals immediate and indefinite access to shelter and related resources without requirements of treatment, sobriety, or abstinence. This paper examines the establishment, proliferation, and evolution of housing first programs, their efficacy and the empirical research that has been collected in recent years, and the persisting ethical dilemmas and considerations that need to be addressed.
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    A Theoretical Model Of Breast Tumor Metastases In The Context Of Tumor Dormancy
    (2016-09) Iskandar, Rowan
    Metastasis is responsible for most breast cancer deaths and currently considered as a late event in the primary tumor process. Recent evidence suggests that tumor cells dissemination may occur when the tumor is at a size that does not normally warrant a systemic treatment. Current breast cancer models developed as part of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) consortium assume that metastasis is a late event when estimating the benefits of cancer control strategies in the U.S. I develop a breast cancer decision-analytic model that integrates a clinical model and a tumor progression model which incorporates primary tumor growth, dissemination of tumor cells into the circulatory system, tumor cell dormancy period at the distant site, and metastasis growth. The flexible model structure allows for the quantification of adjuvant treatment benefits based on the heterogeneity of metastasis process. To solve the problem of modeling two interdependent processes that evolve at different time scales, theoretical distributions of time to key clinical events are derived based only on the biological parameters that govern the dissemination and tumor dormancy processes. Master equations underlying both clinical and biological processes are derived and solved. I use the model that integrates the natural history data and the epidemiological data to estimate the benefits of adjuvant treatment under the hypothesis of tumor dormancy. The consequence of the tumor dormancy hypothesis is a reduction in the benefit of mammography and potentially an increase in the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy among women who are diagnosed with small tumors and have disseminating or circulating tumor cells in their circulatory system.
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    Treatment of Chronic Low Back Pain
    (2012-04-10) Mairose, Kyle
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    Treatment of Depression
    (2010-07-21) LaBounty, Abby
    General information for patients on depression and treatment options. Treating adult patients with moderate to severe depression with antidepressant medications is an effective option in the primary care setting.
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    Treatment of Hypertension in patients 80 years of age and older maintains its benefit in terms of both morbidity and mortality.
    (2010-07-22) Yarke, Cory
    Hypertensive patients 80 years of age or older were randomized into treatment with Indapamide with or without Perindopril or placebo control to obtain a blood pressure goal of at least 150/80. Active treatment group showed a statistically significant reduction in several measured parameters, including: the rate of death from any cause, the rate of death from stroke, and the rate of developing heart failure. There was not a measured increase in the rate of significant adverse side effects with active treatment group versus placebo control.
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    Treatments for PTSD
    (2009-05-04) Krohn, Kristina
    This brochure is an easy to read pamphlet for patients about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The pamphlet includes a definition of PTSD and various treatment options. One section outlines the treatments your physician can provide, or help provide, including medications and psychotherapy. The next section provides a list of complementary therapies, including meditation, yoga and guided imagery.
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    Vibro tactile stimulation as a treatment for the voice disorder spasmodic dysphonia
    (2021-03) Mahnan, Arash
    Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is rare focal dystonia affecting the laryngeal musculature. Patients with SD typically experience a strained or choked speech and report that it takes an exhausting effort for them to speak. The disorder develops spontaneously during midlife. Its progression is gradual in the first year and then becomes chronic for life. At present, there is no cure for SD and it is unresponsive to behavioral speech therapy. It is treated primarily with Botulinum toxin (Botox) injections for temporary symptom relief. Proprioceptive deficits are an underlying feature of SD - a finding that opens an avenue for a missing behavioral treatment for the disease. Specifically, vibro-tactile stimulation (VTS) could be the suitable tool, given that it alters afferent signals from the mechanoreceptors in the vibrated muscles and skin.This cumulative dissertation concerns a non-invasive neuromodulation approach using VTS for treating the voice symptoms in people with SD. It consists of three separate projects. The first project examined the short-term effect of vibro-tactile stimulation (VTS) on speech quality and cortical activity of 12 participants with adductor SD and one with abductor SD. The results showed that 9 participants (69%) exhibited a reduction of voice breaks and/or a meaningful increase in smoothed cepstral peak prominence, an acoustic measure of voice/speech quality. Symptom improvements persisted for 20 minutes past VTS. In addition, VTS induced a significant suppression of theta band power over the left somatosensory-motor cortex and a significant rise of gamma rhythm over the right somatosensory-motor cortex. Our results show convincingly that VTS represents a non-invasive form of neuromodulation that induces measurable short-term improvements in patients' speech with adductor SD. The second project represents a logical step to expand on the previous work to improve VTS technology and make it wearable. To that effect, I have designed and developed a wearable non-invasive collar-like device that applies VTS to the laryngeal muscles. The device provides two operational modes, continuous VTS and real-time VTS, using a developed speech detection technology. The speech detection algorithm allows for individualized system calibration providing flexibility in adjusting the device for users with different anatomy and/or disease severity. For the final project, I used the device that was developed in project 2 to examine the efficacy of VTS for treating voice symptoms in people with abductor SD. The results showed an improvement in at least one marker of voice quality for 3 out of 4 participants. The improvement lasted for 20 and 60 minutes after cessation of VTS for one participant. However, we require a larger sample to have a confident response rate to the laryngeal VTS in AB SD. The current analysis of electrocortical responses to VTS in people with AB SD did not closely mimic the event -elated cortical activity patterns seen in AD SD. More data are needed to delineate consistent patterns of cortical responses induced by laryngeal VTS in AB SD.