This week, I had the opportunity to get further involved in the on-going retrospective clinical study, as well as with the rat surgery.
- Person A: Sustained a blow to the head. Left in cold for approximately 2 hours before medical personnel arrived.
- Person B: Sustained a blow to the head in the summer. Left in severe heat (over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) for 1 hour before medical personnel arrived.
- Person C: Sustained a blow to the head in a relatively thermal neutral area (ambient temperature is similar to internal temperature, meaning a person does not have to modify internal temperatures to cope with temperature of physical environment). Left for approximately 5 hours before medical personnel arrived.
Looking at Person A, B, and C, each sustained a blow to the head in different ways. However, what is variant is the temperature each person was exposed to and for how long he or she was exposed to the temperature before medical personnel arrived. These factors can educate medical personnel on how to better treat patients exposed to varying temperatures.
Surgery: After handling the rats (getting them accustomed to human touch and pokes to their stomach, where surgery will take place), we began surgery. In this surgery, we implant a "data logger" under their skin (subcutaneously). Imagine a circular object about an inch in diameter. A data logger measures temperature and can allow us to determine a rat's internal body temperature once implanted. Experimentation will happen this week, where we place the rats in the thermogradient (see "Week One" post for explanation).
Hello Rohini
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit confused by your example. I understand that you're looking at different outside temperatures to determine how they affect the outcome. But in each example, both the temperature and length of time varied as you mentioned. Shouldn't the temperatures be varied while the length of time is constant, or the length of time varies while the temperatures stay constant? Because if both variables are different, how do you determine which is having a larger effect on the outcome?
Hi Shabab! Within our study we are looking at 260 cases, each where there is a time interval (in which it takes a medical team to respond to an injury) and temperature exposure difference. Looking at the Arizona trauma registry alone, it is difficult to find cases in which temperature is the only variable, as there are only about 260 cases that meet the criteria we are looking to examine. My example was to serve as a reference to the fact that when people are injured, they are exposed to a certain temperature for a varying length of time before medical personnel are able to respond. Yes, when we compare injury outcome and patient survival, we will focus on the cases most similar. However, my example was just to describe the two factors that we are focusing on: injury exposure time and the temperature exposed to.
DeleteThanks for reading!
Rohini, I had some of the same questions as Shabab! Great question regarding the overall design of the retrospective study and the necessity for a single variable to be tested at one time. I am looking forward to seeing what you find out. I find this particularly fascinating in light of the fact that surgical rooms are always kept cold to minimize potential for infection...it will be interesting therefore to see if the temperature has any effect on their prognosis.
ReplyDelete