Medical Interventions Review Flashcards

Overview of Medical Interventions

  • Medical Intervention: Any action used to improve health or change the course of a disease.

  • Intervention Categories and Examples:

    • Vaccine: Prevention

    • X-ray / MRI: Diagnosis

    • Cast: Treatment

  • Order of Application: Prevention → Treatment → Diagnosis

Disease Transmission and Outbreaks

  • Outbreak: A sudden increase in cases of a disease.

  • Sue Smith Meningitis Case:

    • Contracted meningitis during an off-campus visit.

    • Spread the infection by sharing food and drinks with friends, teammates, and classmates.

ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay)

  • Definition: Test used to detect an antigen or antibody.

  • Detection Sequence: Antigen → Primary Antibody → Secondary Antibody + Enzyme → Substrate → Color

  • Assay Steps:

    • Patient sample contains antigen from the pathogen.

    • Primary antibody attaches to the antigen.

    • Secondary antibody (with attached enzyme) attaches to the primary antibody.

    • Substrate is added.

    • Enzyme acts on substrate to produce a color change.

  • Test Results:

    • Color change = Positive

    • No color change = Negative

  • Types of Analysis:

    • Qualitative: Determines if a substance is present (e.g., color change = positive).

    • Quantitative: Determines how much of a substance is present (e.g., comparing results to serial dilutions to estimate antigen concentration).

Serial Dilution

  • Definition: Repeatedly diluting a substance step-by-step.

  • Concentration Relationship: More dilution leads to a lower concentration.

Bioinformatics and BLAST

  • Bioinformatics: Using computers to analyze biological information.

  • BLAST: Compares DNA sequences with sequences in a database.

  • Diagnostic Process: Pathogen DNA → BLAST → DNA sequence comparison → Identify pathogen → Diagnosis

Core Vocabulary and Lab Skills

  • Key Terminology:

    • Antibody: Protein that binds to a specific antigen.

    • Antigen: Substance that triggers an immune response.

    • Concentration: Amount of a substance in a certain amount of solution.

    • Enzyme: Protein that speeds up a chemical reaction.

    • Genome: All of an organism's genetic material.

    • Pathogen: Disease-causing organism.

    • Primer: Short DNA/RNA sequence needed to start copying DNA.

    • Solute: Substance being dissolved.

    • Solution: Mixture of substances.

    • Solvent: Substance that dissolves another substance.

    • Substrate: Substance an enzyme acts on.

  • Essential Lab Skills:

    • Pipetting

    • Serial dilutions

    • Calculating concentrations

    • Running an ELISA

    • Analyzing results

    • Using BLAST