Humans have evolved under a field of low level radiation, and continue to be exposed to ubiquitous levels from natural and man-made sources including diagnostic radiology. The computerized tomography scan, in particular, plays an important role in the investigation of disease and its use increased dramatically over the years. This raises the concern that elevation in radiation exposure from x-ray modalities may increase an individual's risk for cancer. The purpose of this study is to help address this issue by measuring biological changes in lymphocytes before and after a CT scan. Venous blood was collected from eight prostate cancer patient:> before and after their scan and delivered to McMaster University at room temperature. For the dicentric assay, 0.5 ml whole blood/tube was irradiated with 3 Gy gamma rays using a 0 ;137 source and then incubated at 37°C for 46 hours. Metaphases were scored by microscopy. For apoptosis and y-H2AX, lymphocytes in media were irradiated on ice with 8 Gy and analyzed by flow cytometry. Biological effects in vivo from the CT scan were minimal for all endpoints when averaged between all donors. Overall, there was a high degree of inter-individual variation for each effect, although no correlation was found between dose (dose length product) from CT and apoptosis as well as the induction of yH2AX foci. The adaptive response also showed patient variation, and the frequency of dicentrics was the only endpoint that was lower overall following CT + 3Gy in comparison to 3 Gy alone. This research presents a challenge to current linear models of radiation associated genetic risk, and shows that individuals respond to radiation differently depending on biological factors. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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<p>Canadian hospitals continue to adopt private sector strategies in an attempt to improve efficiency, accountability and quality. One such mandated efficiency is a computerized psychosocial assessment for mental health patients known as the Resident Assessment Instrument–Mental Health (RAI-MH). This thesis uses the RAI-MH as the gateway into exploring how neoliberal or private sector strategies are used to penetrate hospital care work resulting in the regulation and restructuring of work practices. The RAI-MH requires professionals to input specified, closed ended data about patients simplifying and narrowing their practice in an attempt to govern, measure and fund what is “value added” in the patient/professional encounter. This qualitative study uses interviews with social workers and nurses to examine the competing tensions experienced by professionals as they strive to provide client-centred care in a culture that promotes computer-centred care.</p> <p>My research findings reveal that the idealized portrayal of the 21^st century knowledge worker is in sharp contrast to the realities faced by many increasingly standardized and “leaned-out” health care professionals. Social workers and nurses report that standardization leads to increasing surveillance. A few professionals comply with the increasing standardization or regulation but most found ways to resist while striving to maintain professional autonomy. As certain areas of work become standardized some professionals find ways to increase autonomy in other areas of their work. The findings reveal differences between those who engaged in work tasks outside of paid work hours (boundary crossings) and those who did not (boundary refusals). <strong></strong></p> <p>Theoretically, this thesis contributes to the literature by illuminating the processes involved within the rapidly changing organization of hospital service delivery. Substantively, it adds to the literature on understanding the work of service providers and how they continue to find creative ways to resist the standardization process.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A variety of tools have been developed to assist in the quantification and analysis of naturalistic language samples. In recent years, computer technology has been employed in language sample analysis. This study compares a new automated index, Scoring Sentences Developmentally (SSD), to two existing measures. Eighty samples from three corpora were manually analyzed using DSS and MLU and the processed by the automated software. Results show all three indices to be highly correlated, with correlations ranging from .62 to .98. The high correlations among scores support further investigation of the psychometric characteristics of the SSD software to determine its clinical validity and reliability. Results of this study suggest that SSD has the potential to compliment other analysis procedures in assessing the language development of young children.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2008. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

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