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Biomedical subjects

Jeffrey Arnold

Publications and source records attributed to Jeffrey Arnold.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

A comparison of the clinical utility of p16(INK4a) immunolocalization with the presence of human papillomavirus by hybrid capture 2 for the detection of cervical dysplasia/neoplasia.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that overexpression of p16(INK4a) protein indicates infection and genomic integration of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR HPV) and predicts progression to cervical high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs) and carcinoma. The authors compared the ability of p16(INK4a) and HR HPV detection by Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) to detect the presence of significant cervical disease. METHODS.: Four hundred ThinPrep specimens (100 each in 4 categories: 100 specimens that were negative for intraepithelial lesions, 100 specimens of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance [ASC-US], 100 specimens of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions [LSILs], and 100 specimens of HSILs) were analyzed. p16(INK4a) protein was immunolocalized using a specific monoclonal antibody, and the detection of HR HPV in all 400 specimens was determined using HC2. RESULTS: p16(INK4a) was found to be positive in 78% of HSIL specimens, 42% of LSIL specimens, and 36% of ASC-US specimens; whereas HC2 was positive in 92% of HSIL specimens, 81% of LSIL specimens, and 45% of ASC-US specimens. In the HSIL category, the sensitivity, which was calculated using Grade 2 or greater cervical intraepithelial neoplasia as the endpoint, was 78% (50 of 66 specimens) for p16(INK4a) and 91% (60 of 66 specimens) for HC2. For LSIL, the sensitivity was 75% (3 of 4 specimens) for p16(INK4a) and 100% (4 of 4 specimens) for HC2. In the ASC-US category, the sensitivity was 89% (8 of 9 specimens) for p16(INK4a) and 100% (9 of 9 specimens) for HC2. Overall, the sensitivity for HSIL was 92% for HC2 and 78% for p16(INK4a). The specificity for HC2 was 8.3% for HSIL, 16.9% for LSIL, and 48.7% for ASC-US; whereas the specificity for p16(INK4a) was 25% in HSIL, 59.1% in LSIL, and 68.4% in ASC-US. The overall specificity was 25% for HC2 and 56% for p16(INK4a). CONCLUSIONS: Although both p16(INK4a) and HC2 may aid in the clinical management of patients with clinically significant lesions, HC2 was found to have greater sensitivity, and p16(INK4a) greater specificity. The labeling of normal cells and bacteria may preclude the use of p16(INK4a) in automated screening or nonmorphologic assays.

Adolescent↗

A survey of international urban search-and-rescue teams following the Ji Ji earthquake.

On 21 September 1999, the Ji Ji earthquake killed 2,347 people. In the immediate aftermath the international community, mobilised rapidly and sent urban search-and-rescue (US&R) teams to the scene. This paper will present an annotated survey of the expertise and standard of equipment of international US&R teams following that earthquake which could serve as a blueprint for the establishment of US&R teams elsewhere at risk from earthquakes.

Altruism↗

Terrorism in Taiwan, Republic of China.

The Republic of China on the island of Taiwan has experienced at least 20 terrorist events since 1979, including 13 aircraft hijackings and five bombings. Factors responsible for the relatively small burden of terrorism on Taiwan in the past include tight military control over political dissent until 1987, a warming relationship with the People's Republic of China in the 1990s, political inclusion of major internal cultural groups, geographic isolation, and a lack of other significant international enemies. Nevertheless, today Taiwan faces a new prospect of terrorism by adversaries of the United States and its allies and by an international paradigm shift in the types of weapons used by terrorists. National emergency management has been enhanced significantly since the Ji Ji earthquake in 1999, including the assignment of lead government agencies to the planning and preparedness for specific types of terrorist events involving nuclear, biological, and/or chemical releases. Other significant improvements at the operations level, include the establishment of two national disaster medical assistance teams, four urban search and rescue teams, 13 local disaster medical assistance teams, and eight chemical emergency response hospitals. Future challenges include improving the coordination of inter-agency response at the national level and the quantity and quality of local disaster response assets.

Biological Warfare↗

Terrorism in South Korea.

South Korea has experienced > 30 suspected terrorism-related events since 1958, including attacks against South Korean citizens in foreign countries. The most common types of terrorism used have included bombings, shootings, hijackings, and kidnappings. Prior to 1990, North Korea was responsible for almost all terrorism-related events inside of South Korea, including multiple assassination attempts on its presidents, regular kidnappings of South Korean fisherman, and several high-profile bombings. Since 1990, most of the terrorist attacks against South Korean citizens have occurred abroad and have been related to the emerging worldwide pattern of terrorism by international terrorist organizations or deranged individuals. The 1988 Seoul Olympic Games provided a major stimulus for South Korea to develop a national emergency response system for terrorism-related events based on the participation of multiple ministries. The 11 September 2001 World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks and the 2001 United States of America (US) anthrax letter attacks prompted South Korea to organize a new national system of emergency response for terrorism-related events. The system is based on five divisions for the response to specific types of terrorist events, involving conventional terrorism, bioterrorism, chemical terrorism, radiological terrorism, and cyber-terrorism. No terrorism-related events occurred during the 2002 World Cup and Asian Games held in South Korea. The emergency management of terrorism-related events in South Korea is adapting to the changing risk of terrorism in the new century.

Disaster Planning↗

Terrorism in Turkey.

Over the past two decades, terrorism has exacted an enormous toll on the Republic of Turkey, a secular democracy with a 99.8% Muslim population. From 1984 to 2000, an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 Turkish citizens were killed by a nearly continuous stream of terrorism-related events. During this period, the Partiya Karekerren Kurdistan (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group (re-named KADEK in 2002), was responsible for the vast majority of terrorism-related events (and casualties), which disproportionately affected the eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey, in which the PKK has focused its activities. Most terrorist attacks over the past two decades have been bombings or shootings that produced < 10 casualties per event. From 1984 to 2003, 15 terrorist attacks produced > or = 30 casualties (eight shootings, five bombings, and two arsons). The maximum number of casualties produced by any of these events was 93 in the Hotel Madimak arson attack by the Turkish Islamic Movement in 1993. This pattern suggests that terrorist attacks in Turkey rarely required more than local systems of emergency medical response, except in rural areas where Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are routinely provided by regional military resources. The last decade has seen the development of several key systems of local emergency response in Turkey, including the establishment of the medical specialty of Emergency Medicine, the establishment of training programs for EMS providers, the spread of a generic, Turkish hospital emergency plan based on the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System, and the spread of advanced training in trauma care modeled after Advanced Trauma Life Support.

Civil Defense↗

Ethical considerations in emergency planning, preparedness, and response to acts of terrorism.

Throughout the globe, healthcare providers are increasingly challenged with the specter of terrorism and the fallout from weapons of mass destruction. Preparing for and responding to such manmade emergencies, however, threatens the ethical underpinnings of routine, individualized, patient-centered, emergency healthcare. The exigency of a critical incident can instantly transform resource rich environs, to those of austerity. Healthcare workers, who only moments earlier may have been seeing two to three patients per hour, are instantly thrust into a sea of casualties and more basic lifeboat issues of quarantine, system overload and the thornier determinations of who will be given every chance to live and who will be allowed to die. Beyond the tribulations of triage, surge capacity, and the allocation of scarce resources, terrorism creates a parallel need for a host of virtues not commonly required in daily medical practice, including prudence, courage, justice, stewardship, vigilance, resilience, and charity. As a polyvalent counterpoint to the vices of apathy, cowardice, profligacy, recklessness, inflexibility, and narcissism, the virtues empower providers at all levels to vertically integrate principles of safety, public health, utility, and medical ethics at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Over time, virtuous behavior can be modeled, mentored, practiced, and institutionalized to become one of our more useful vaccines against the threat of terrorism in the new millennium.

Disaster Planning↗