Experimental epidemiological study can also be referred to as clinical trials. It is an analytical epidemiological study that examines the role of some specific agents in the treatment or prevention of a particular disease in a population. An experimental epidemiological study usually involves two phases of study in terms of their design: experimental study for […]
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Epidemiology
SOURCES OF CASES IN AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY Cases in an epidemiological study can be sourced in any of the following ways: SOURCES OF CONTROLS IN AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY Controls in an epidemiological study can be sourced in any of the following ways: References Aschengrau A and Seage G.R (2013). Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health.
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Epidemiology
Ecological epidemiological studies are observational descriptive studies that investigate the rate of a disease in relation to a disease factor demonstrated on a population level rather than at individual levels. This type of study can also be called correlational epidemiological study or cluster investigations, and it examines a disease using a group of people or
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Epidemiology
Cross-sectional studies are descriptive observational epidemiological studies which investigates the prevalence or occurrence of a disease in a given community/population. It is the most straightforward type of observational epidemiological study in the sense that it examines a cross-section of a community at one particular point in time and, extrapolates the results of the study to
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Epidemiology
Prospective or cohort studies are an observational analytic epidemiological study in which the starting point is the selection of a study population known as cohort. In this type of study, the investigator selects participants exclusively on the basis of their exposure status which is in contrast to retrospective studies where participants are selected on the
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Epidemiology
Retrospective study which can also be called case control study is an observational analytic epidemiologic study that makes use of information or data from a sample of the study population (i.e. the exposed individuals of the population) rather than looking at the full members of the population. In case control studies, the epidemiologist or researcher
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Epidemiology
Case reports are epidemiological studies that consist of the careful and thorough or comprehensive description of a patient’s health or disease summary which is usually given by the physician in charge of that patient. It is the most fundamental type of descriptive epidemiological study obtained from an individual in the investigation of a disease outbreak.
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Epidemiology
Analytical epidemiological study is a more detailed and all-encompassing epidemiological study than the descriptive epidemiological study. An analytical study describes the association between exposure and outcome (disease). It is meant to test the hypothesis of a descriptive epidemiology. Analytical study investigates the cause of a disease by studying how exposure of individuals relate to the
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Epidemiology
Sputum culture is often recommended in the diagnoses of lower respiratory tract infection (e.g. bacterial pneumonia and pulmonary tuberculosis). Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are infections/diseases that occur below the voice box (larynx) i.e. in the bronchi and trachea. In this case, an induced or expectorated sputum specimen and not saliva is requested and obtained
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Microbe Lab, Techniques in Microbiology Lab
Urine culture is performed in order to specifically identify organisms that may be causing a urinary tract infection (UTI). Urine in the bladder is often sterile as it is free from microorganisms. It becomes inundated with microorganisms (especially those of the normal micro-flora) when it leaves the bladder. UTI is very common in patients that
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Microbe Lab, Techniques in Microbiology Lab