EPIDEMIOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT OF BACTERIAL KERATITIS

该申请提供了研究生教育的五年计划和 允许申请人，一名参与调查的眼科医生 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，要获得正规的 流行病学和生物统计学课程。计划中的培训 申请人的课程包括以下学科的课程 公共健康导致在德克萨斯大学获得公共卫生硕士学位 公共卫生学院，一所卓越的运营机构 将与一位有经验的科学导师进行互动 协调眼科疾病的多中心临床试验。这个 培训期间将包括一篇研究论文，这将构成基础 为开展细菌性角膜炎的临床研究， 常见的眼部感染，大约每8500名美国人中就有一人受到影响 每年一次。 细菌性角膜炎的最佳治疗方案尚未确定。 该培训和研究项目的毕业论文将提供 计算样本量和选择合适样本量所需的信息 研究实验室作用的临床试验的测量 检测、初始抗生素选择和辅助皮质类固醇 细菌性角膜炎。研究计划的具体目标是 对专门研究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； 临床参数记录数据采集仪的研制 和细菌性角膜炎患者的化验结果；以及 评价裂隙灯照片的数字图像分析方法 可作为细菌性角膜炎转归的辅助终点。 这份提案是申请人以前工作的成果， 以病人为中心的职业发展计划的延伸 研究。

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.