Direct Examination of Subjects for Research Paper

Instruments

Instrumentation needed for the research study will be relatively minimal and straightforward; necessary equipment for a standard checkup to determine cardiovascular health and other basic signs of chronic disease as well as scrapers, swabs, and vials for the collection of bacterial samples will be needed. It is possible that culturing of the bacterial samples will be desired, in which case additional instruments and controlled environment equipment will also be needed for the full completion of the study. In order to assess the exclusionary criteria related to weight, a standard scale and height ruler will need to be utilized along with caliper measurements to determine body mass index. Other than this and the instruments necessary for recording and analyzing the data collected using these instruments, it is not expected that any other resources will be necessary for this research study.

Procedure

Following initial measurements to determine suitability for inclusion in the study, the procedure for this research will take place as follows: participants will be divided into groups based on their cardiovascular health. Standard physical examinations of each participant will be made, and this basic data recorded. More extensive examinations of cardiovascular health using standard general practice equipment and procedures (i.e. non-invasive methods) will also be conducted. Anyone discovered to be suffering from a cardiovascular ailment not previously identified and diagnosed will be excluded from the study.

Following these general examinations and the more extensive examinations of cardiovascular health, specifically identified areas in participants' mouths will be variously swabbed or scraped to obtain bacteria samples, and levels of bacteria in these areas and in the mouth as a whole will be measured using a variety of techniques.If necessary, the bacteria collected through this direct methodology will be cultured in an appropriate lab setting using standard equipment, with twenty-four hours being sufficient time for the culture to grow to be identifiable in most instances. Examination of bacteria types, growth patterns in the mouth, and correlation with cardiovascular disease will be identifiable with the data collected via these methods, enabling appropriate analysis and a determination of correlation.

Data Analysis

The latest available version of SPSS software operated by an experienced statistician, under the observation and supervision of the lead researcher, will be utilized to analyze the raw data collected in this study. Specifically, regression analyses will be utilized in order to determine the correlation, if any, that exists between the existence of certain types or levels of bacteria in the mouth or in certain areas of the mouth and cardiovascular disease. The Mann-Whitney test will also be used to determine which if any variables are statistically different between the participant group with cardiovascular disease and those without. Again, this is in keeping with similarly designed studies already….....