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Biomedical subjects

T Miles

Publications and source records attributed to T Miles.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2026

Invisible Threats, Relentless Hunters: Biosurveillance of Airborne Plant Pathogens.

Airborne dispersal enables plant pathogens to travel across fields, regions, and continents, fueling rapid epidemics and emerging disease threats. Biosurveillance, the systematic monitoring of airborne inoculum, offers the opportunity to detect pathogens before symptoms appear and informs timely, risk-based management. Recent advances in air sampling, molecular diagnostics, metagenomics, and imaging technologies have expanded the scale and resolution of pathogen monitoring, from single-species qPCR assays to community-level aerobiome surveys. Integration of biosurveillance data with decision-support systems, remote sensing, and artificial intelligence is transforming early-warning capabilities and providing novel insights into pathogen ecology, evolution, and fungicide resistance. Yet major challenges remain, including assay standardization, data interpretation, and translation into actionable tools for growers. This review synthesizes current approaches, highlights case studies in which biosurveillance has advanced disease management, and outlines future directions toward coordinated surveillance networks and precision agriculture applications.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed2001

Composition and functional characterization of yeast 66S ribosome assembly intermediates.

The pathway and complete collection of factors that orchestrate ribosome assembly are not clear. To address these problems, we affinity purified yeast preribosomal particles containing the nucleolar protein Nop7p and developed means to separate their components. Nop7p is associated primarily with 66S preribosomes containing either 27SB or 25.5S plus 7S pre-rRNAs. Copurifying proteins identified by mass spectrometry include ribosomal proteins, nonribosomal proteins previously implicated in 60S ribosome biogenesis, and proteins not known to be involved in ribosome production. Analysis of strains mutant for eight of these proteins not previously implicated in ribosome biogenesis showed that they do participate in this pathway. These results demonstrate that proteomic approaches in concert with genetic tools provide powerful means to purify and characterize ribosome assembly intermediates.

Cell Fractionation↗
PubMed2001

Body mass index in mid-life women: relative influence of menopause, hormone use, and ethnicity.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relative influence of menopausal status and hormone use on body mass index (BMI) among a multiethnic sample of mid-life women. DESIGN: Cross-sectional telephone survey conducted at seven sites where each site targeted an ethnic minority group and Caucasians as part of Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN). SUBJECTS: A total of 7181 Caucasians, 3949 African-Americans, 1660 Hispanics, 562 Chinese Americans, and 803 Japanese Americans between ages of 40 and 55 y residing in or near Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Newark, NJ, Oakland, CA, and Pittsburgh, PA. MEASUREMENTS: Self-reported BMI based on weight in kg divided by height in m(2) menopausal status, physical inactivity, postmenopausal hormone use, ethnicity, and age in years. RESULTS: Compared to premenopausal women (covariate adjusted M=27.3), women reporting a surgical menopause (M=28.2) or being in the perimenopausal transition (M=27.7 for early and 27.9 for late perimenopause) had higher BMI. Women reporting a natural menopause (M=27.4) did not have a higher BMI than premenopausal women, after adjusting for chronological age and other covariates. Hormone use was associated with lower BMI (M=26.5 vs 27.3). A comparison of effect sizes showed that menopausal status (F=13.1), followed by chronological age (F=24.0), were the least powerful predictors of BMI, whereas the more powerful predictors were physical activity level (F=1377.1) and ethnicity (F=400.5). CONCLUSIONS: The menopausal transition affects body mass index in mid-life, but the effect is small relative to other influences. Interventions to increase physical activity are highly recommended to prevent increases in adiposity common in mid-life.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

An introduction to geriatrics for first-year medical students.

OBJECTIVE: To prepare medical students to better serve their older patients while raising awareness of geriatrics as a career choice. DESIGN: To determine the impact of a new educational program, attitudinal assessments were administered to the group before and after participation in the program and to a comparison group of nonintervention students. SETTING: University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and three first-year medical students. MEASUREMENTS: Student response on a scale of one to six regarding four constructs: attitudes and beliefs about providing medical care for older people, knowledge and beliefs about aging, interest in pursuing clinical geriatrics, and interest in pursuing aging research. RESULTS: Four factors were consistently formed in the analysis process: beliefs about physical decline; comfort with older people; beliefs about career opportunities; and interest in geriatric research. The intervention group made significant gains in two areas: comfort with older people and understanding of physical decline in aging. Two new factors emerged in post-test data. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the program was mixed. Although awareness of geriatrics and comfort with older people was increased, there was little change in career aspirations. Students in the program increased their awareness of physical decline in old age, setting the stage for teaching them about the physician's role with regard to function, and learned that geriatrics is a low-status specialty.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Animal bite epidemiology and surveillance for rabies postexposure prophylaxis.

OBJECTIVES: To understand the epidemiology of animal bites and exposure, evaluate the animal exposure reporting system for surveillance of rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), and identify opportunities to reduce PEP. DESIGN: Period prevalence survey. STUDY POPULATION: Pennsylvania residents in 1995. PROCEDURE: Data from animal bite reports from Pennsylvania county health offices were summarized for 1995. Animal bite incidences for the state, counties, various age groups, and various population densities were calculated. Animal species, treatment, location of wounds, and PEP recommendations were evaluated for exposures. RESULTS: More than 16,000 animal-related potential rabies exposures were reported from 65 of 67 counties in Pennsylvania. The highest incidence was in children less than 5 years old (324/100,000). Of the 75% of victims requiring wound treatment, 50% received antimicrobials, 29% received a tetanus toxoid, and 19% had wounds sutured, were admitted to hospitals, or were referred for plastic surgery. Although 75% of exposures were to dogs, victims exposed to cats were 6 times as likely to receive PEP (relative risk, 6.1; 95% confidence interval, 5.1 to 7.4). Thirty percent of 556 PEP were given for exposures to dogs, 44% for cats, 7% for raccoons, 4% for bats, 2.5% for squirrels, 2.1% for groundhogs, 2% for foxes, and 8% for exposures to other species. Fifty-nine percent of owned dogs were up-to-date on rabies vaccinations compared with 41% of owned cats. CONCLUSION: Interventions, such as dog bite prevention education, vaccination of pets against rabies, appropriate use of PEP, and reduction of feral cat populations, should be instituted, enhanced, or better enforced in communities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Scintimammography: an adjunctive test for the detection of breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the diagnostic utility of scintimammography in patients with a breast mass, including patients who have undergone previous breast surgery or radiotherapy. DESIGN: Descriptive outcome study. SETTING: A university teaching hospital and a private hospital breast clinic in New South Wales. SUBJECTS: 115 consecutively referred women investigated by x-ray mammography and scintimammography before surgical excision biopsy of a breast mass. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity and specificity of x-ray mammography and scintimammography in the detection of breast cancer overall, and in women who had or had not undergone previous breast surgery. RESULTS: 44 (38%) patients had undergone previous breast surgery or external beam radiotherapy, including nine with bilateral silicone breast implants. The overall (n = 115) sensitivity for the detection of breast cancer with scintimammography was 84%, compared with 66% for x-ray mammography (P = 0.004), and the respective specificities were 84% and 67% (P = 0.194). For patients who had a history of previous breast surgery, the respective sensitivities of the two tests were 83% and 50% (P = 0.006), compared with 85% and 73% (P = 0.087) for patients who had had no previous surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Scintimammography offers additional diagnostic advantage in the detection of breast cancer in patients who have had previous breast surgery or local radiotherapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Cultural correlates of self perceived health status among Chinese elderly.

This study examines self-perceived physical and mental health among 213 Chinese elderly who visited the Geriatric Outpatient Clinic of Beijing Hospital, the People's Republic of China. The study hypothesizes that cultural factors, specified by family relations, along with demographic factors, number of diseases, economic well-being, and living conditions have a significant impact on subjects self-perceived health status. Pearson correlation, linear and logistic regression analyses are performed. Results indicate that age, number of diseases, perceived family respect, neighborhood relations, and percentage of income spent on rent are significant predictors of self-perceived physical health. These same factors plus preference to live with a son and personal monthly income are significant predictors of self-perceived mental health. Socio-cultural implications of these findings are examined.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1996

Subjective assessment of fever by parents: comparison with measurement by noncontact tympanic thermometer and calibrated rectal glass mercury thermometer.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To assess the ability of parents to subjectively evaluate their children for fever and to compare their assessments with temperature measurements made with the use of a noncontact tympanic (NCT) or rectal glass mercury thermometer. A secondary goal was to assess how well a recently developed definition of fever for NCT thermometers, when used in the ear-equivalent mode (temperature of 37.7 degrees C or more), performed in a clinical situation. METHODS: This 6-month prospective observational study employed a convenience sample of 180 children, aged birth to 4 years, who presented to the emergency department of a tertiary care children's hospital. Parents were asked to subjectively assess whether their child had a fever. The child's temperature was then measured with an NCT thermometer (three times in the rectal-equivalent mode and three times in the actual-ear mode). Both the subjective assessment and the NCT temperatures were compared with the rectal temperature measured by a rectal glass mercury thermometer. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 14.6 +/- 11.8 months (range, 2 days to 48 months); 56% were boys. The sensitivity of parental detection of fever by subjective means was 81.8% and the specificity 76.5%. The parent and the rectal glass thermometer agreed 79% of the time (95% confidence interval [CI], 73% to 85%). The sensitivity of the first temperature reading obtained with the NCT thermometer in rectal-equivalent mode was 74.7%, and the specificity was 96.3%. The NCT thermometer and the rectal glass thermometer agreed 84% of the time (95% CI, 78% to 89%). Use of the proposed definition of fever for NCT thermometers, when used in the ear-equivalent mode, caused sensitivity of a single measurement for fever to drop to 53.5%. CONCLUSION: Parental subjective assessment of fever agreed with the presence of fever as measured by rectal glass thermometer in 79% of cases. Specificity was improved with the use of the NCT thermometer. The recently proposed definition for fever for NCT thermometers, when they are used in the ear-equivalent mode, does not appear to be validated by the current data.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1996

The health-wealth connection: racial differences.

This article examines the theoretical connection between health capital and financial capital in an economic life-cycle model, exploring possible explanations for racial differences in capital accumulation behavior. Using data from the Health and Retirement Survey, detailed descriptive analysis and a comparison of regression models for health and financial capital are presented. The results, although preliminary and based on cross-section data, suggest possible racial differences in the connection between health and wealth and deserve further study.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1994

Biomechanical aspects of occupation and osteoarthritis of the hip: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: Our study was designed to examine the association between biomechanical aspects of occupation and hip osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Ninety-nine cases of primary hip OA and 233 controls were recruited from the outpatient clinics of a Department of Veterans Affairs Hospital. Subjects were mailed a questionnaire which asked about lifetime participation in various occupational and recreational activities, body mass, medical conditions and demographic information. Occupational work load was defined based on the joint compression forces produced by an occupational activity. Activities which produced joint compression forces at least twice body weight were considered heavy. Activities which produced joint compression forces less than body weight were considered light. All others were considered intermediate. Based on responses to the questionnaire, subjects were classified as exposed to heavy, intermediate or light work. RESULTS: Using light work as the reference category, subjects in the intermediate work category had 2.0 times and those in the heavy work category had 2.4 times the odds of having hip OA. Logistic regression was used to control for possible confounding. After adjusting for cancer, football and obesity at age 40, subjects who performed heavy work for at least 15 years had 2.4 times the odds of having hip OA compared to subjects who had performed light work. A test for trend in the odds of hip OA with increasing levels of exposure to heavy work was significant. CONCLUSION: The biomechanical aspects of occupation may contribute to the risk of hip OA.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Preliminary observations concerning treatment of visual discomfort and associated perceptual distortion.

A system for therapeutic precision tinting is described. Some individuals who are subject to perceptual distortion of text no longer perceive the distortion when the text has a particular colour. A simple colorimeter enables an observer to illuminate text with light of a particular chromaticity, varying first CIE 1976 hue angle (huv), then saturation (suv), and then luminance, to obtain a setting that maximizes visual comfort and reduces any perceptual distortion. The colorimeter setting is then matched by a combination of tinted trial lenses. The combination uses only two dyes at a time from a selection of seven, unless a dark lens is required, when a third neutral (grey) dye is added. The subject observes both text and a normal scene when wearing tinted trial lenses. A variety of trial lenses are compared including those that match the colorimeter setting and others with similar hue angle. Spectacle lenses are then tinted so as to have a spectral transmission identical to that of the chosen combination of trial lenses. Certain patients with reading disorders, eye-strain, headaches or photosensitivity epilepsy report benefit when wearing spectacles tinted according to the above techniques. The physiological basis for the therapeutic effects is uncertain, but may involve a selective impairment of luminance or colour-difference channels.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Vascular dementia: a clinical and death certificate study.

We compared the extent of documentation of the diagnoses, vascular dementia and stroke, on inpatient (hospital) medical records and death certificates among 23 multi-infarct dementia index cases and 14 multi-infarct controls without cognitive dysfunction who were enrolled in a hospital-based case-control study and were followed longitudinally. Both the inpatient medical records and the death certificates markedly under-diagnosed vascular dementia when compared to the case-control study diagnosis. Furthermore, the diagnosis of stroke was grossly underdiagnosed on the death certificates. In lieu of the lack of medical record and death certificate documentation of vascular dementia, studies that utilize such information may be in considerable error. Clarification of the criteria for the diagnosis of vascular dementia and greater physician and public awareness of vascular dementia are needed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1987

Establishing a dedicated AIDS unit.

In November 1985, St. Clare's Hospital in New York City became the first hospital on the East Coast (the second in the country) to open a separate dedicated unit for AIDS patients. Staff succeeded despite some seemingly impossible contradictions: John Cardinal O'Connor of the Archdiocese of New York, who has been opposed to the life-styles of most of the people who would use the unit (gays and IV abusers) urged the creation of the unit; St. Clare's had been bankrupt and virtually dismantled just a few years earlier; and the hospital did not have the financial resources, facilities, or AIDS patient caseload of the larger, well-known New York medical institutions. Through the perseverance of many individuals, stumbling blocks were overcome. The lessons learned at St. Clare's can be applied anywhere.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1977

Bone cement and antibiotics.

Antibiotics of various kinds were added to the powdered polymer of methylmethacrylate in a concentration of 1 g antibiotic/40 g cement, prior to the addition of the liquid monomer. Specimens were subjected to mechanical testing by loading them in direct compression on a 20-ton Instron Universal Testing Machine, and load deflection curves were recorded. It was found that the addition of antibiotics does have an effect on the mechanical strength of the cement--the loss was small, less than 10% for both the compressive strength and the elastic modulus, provided the antibiotic was in powder form. Liquid antibiotics resulted in a greater loss of the compressive strength of the mixtures, but specimens tended to be less porous. In vitro studies of the antibiotic properties of the mixtures demonstrated potent antibacterial activity in all the antibiotics tested, except chloramphenicol. Possible clinical applications are discussed. Further in vivo studies are needed before widespread clinical use can be advocated.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗