EPIDEMIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT OF BACTERIAL KERATITIS

该申请提供了研究生教育的五年计划， 调查，将允许申请人，眼科医生参与 眼部感染性和炎症性疾病的临床实践， 在眼部微生物学的实验室研究中， 流行病学和生物统计学指导。 计划的培训 申请人的计划包括以下学科的课程 公共卫生导致的精神分裂症德克萨斯大学的学位 公共卫生学院，一个卓越的运营机构， 将与一位有经验的科学导师进行互动， 在协调眼科疾病的多中心临床试验。 的 培训期间将涉及一个研究论文，将形成基础 进行一项有关细菌性角膜炎的临床研究， 一种常见的眼部感染，影响约1/8，500的美国人 每年。 细菌性角膜炎的最佳治疗方法尚未确定。 该培训和研究计划的毕业论文将提供 计算样本量和选择适当 研究实验室作用的临床试验的测量 测试，初始抗生素选择，和促皮质激素 细菌性角膜炎研究计划的具体目标是 对专门从事眼部感染的眼科医生进行调查 确定治疗细菌性角膜炎的实践模式; 开发一种数据收集仪器，用于记录临床参数 及细菌性角膜炎病人的化验结果;以及 评估裂隙灯照片的数字图像分析方法 可用作细菌性角膜炎结局的辅助终点。 该提案是申请人以前工作的产物， 职业发展计划的延伸，重点是以病人为导向 research.

This application provides a five-year plan of postgraduate education and inquiry that will permit the applicant, an ophthalmologist involved in the clinical practice of ocular infectious and inflammatory diseases and in the laboratory research of ocular microbiology, to obtain formal instruction in epidemiology and biostatistics. The planned training program for the applicant comprises coursework in the disciplines of public health leading to an M.P.H. degree at the University of Texas School of Public Health, an institution of operational excellence where there will be interaction with a scientific mentor who has experience in coordinating multicenter clinical trials in eye disease. The training period will involve a research thesis that will form the basis for developing a clinical research study on bacterial keratitis, a common ocular infection that affects approximately 1 in 8,500 Americans annually. The optimal management of bacterial keratitis has not been established. The graduate thesis of this training and research program will provide information necessary to calculate sample size and to select appropriate measurements for a clinical trial studying the role of laboratory testing, initial antibiotic selection, and adjunctive corticosteroids in bacterial keratitis. Specific aims of the research plan are to conduct a survey of ophthalmologists specializing in ocular infection to determine practice patterns of treating bacterial keratitis; to develop a data-collection instrument for recording clinical parameters and laboratory results on patients with bacterial keratitis; and to evaluate whether digital image-analysis methods of slit-lamp photographs could be used as an ancillary endpoint of bacterial keratitis outcome. This proposal is an outgrowth of the applicant's previous work and is an extension of a career development program focused on patient-oriented research.