| dc.contributor.author | Culshaw, Rebecca Veronica. | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2014-10-21T12:38:40Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2002 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2002 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.other | AAINQ83971 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10222/54591 | |
| dc.description | The role of the natural host immunity (sometimes called the immune response) to HIV infection has received much attention in recent years. It is clear that some patients progress to AIDS much more rapidly than others, and the specific immune response to HIV has been shown to be an important determinant of the rate of disease progression (or nonprogression). In this thesis, we examine control theoretic mathematical models of HIV and its interaction with the immune system. We derive a system of ordinary differential equations that specifically incorporates patient immunity as a dynamic variable and introduce a control function to reflect the level of treatment intervention. We establish existence and continuity of an optimal control, characterise it, and show uniqueness of the optimality system. Numerical simulations of the optimality system are examined so as to determine the qualitative aspects of optimal treatment schemes, and the behaviour of the immune system under such an optimal regime. Extensions to the model are examined, and results are compared with those obtained from models not including immunity. Finally, a new model incorporating the nutritional status of the patient and its interaction with drug therapy and the immune system is considered. | en_US |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2002. | en_US |
| dc.language | eng | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Dalhousie University | en_US |
| dc.publisher | | en_US |
| dc.subject | Mathematics. | en_US |
| dc.subject | Health Sciences, Public Health. | en_US |
| dc.title | Immune response models of HIV infection and treatment. | en_US |
| dc.type | text | en_US |
| dc.contributor.degree | Ph.D. | en_US |
