Browsing by Author "Brantly, Nataliya D."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Automating Health: The Promises and Perils of Biomedical Technologies for Diabetes Management
    Brantly, Nataliya D. (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-15)
    Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is an irreversible chronic autoimmune disease that affects millions in the United States. Individuals with T1D rely on biomedical technologies to manage their disability and to stay alive. The increased use of and reliance on automated technologies creates complex entanglements between human bodies, technologies and external factors including digital infrastructures creating what I term as "biotechnological organism." This U.S.-based study focuses on the most advanced biomedical technology used to manage T1D today, the Artificial Pancreas System (APS), to demonstrate how seemingly liberating automated biomedical technologies can entangle, subjugate, and confine those they aim to free. This study features the analysis of two distinct social groups by focusing on their risk discourses and risk reduction efforts. The first group is a community of regulatory experts represented by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). It provides an important perspective grounded in evidence-based science, established norms, and professional standards of medicine, healthcare, and research. The second group is the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) biological community represented by DIY innovators, patients, caregivers, and advocates. It provides a different but equally important perspective shaped by affective dimensions that reflect a phenomenological experience with biomedical technologies. The combination of these two perspectives along with the improved understanding of this disability, the complexity of entanglements between humans and machines, differing approaches to health automation and knowledge production practices elucidates important social, economic, and political issues. The significance of this work lies in its examination of how the improved understanding of health automation efforts can help inform policy and healthcare decisions.
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    Biopolitics: Power, Pandemics and War
    Brantly, Aaron F.; Brantly, Nataliya D. (Elsevier, 2023-01-26)
    COVID-19 and the subsequent global response have had a profound impact on the public health, economic health, and political health in nearly every country. This article examines the biopolitics of power and pandemics in war. Three case studies are presented: the Spanish influenza outbreak of 1918–1920 and responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in both Syria and in eastern Ukraine. The pandemic's impact has been particularly acute in active warzones, undermining the ability of governments and organizations to enforce public health recommendations, provide for the care of patients, secure supplies, and transmit information.
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    Biopolitics: Power, Pandemics and War
    Brantly, Aaron F.; Brantly, Nataliya D. (2022-03-24)
    COVID-19 and the subsequent global response has had a profound impact on the public health, economic health, and political health in nearly every country. The impact of the pandemic has been particularly acute in active warzones where the ability to enforce public health recommendations, to provide for the care of patients, to secure supplies, and transmit information are all undermined. This paper examines the biopolitics of power and pandemics in war. The paper is rooted in three case studies, the Spanish Influenza Outbreak of 1918-1920 and the COVID-19 outbreak and response in Syria, and Eastern Ukraine. The central question posed is how does war influence the biopolitics of public health in active warzones?
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    Homefront to Battlefront: Why the U.S. Military Should Care About Biomedical Cybersecurity
    Brantly, Nataliya D. (Army Cyber Institute, 2021-04-01)
    Immunity to the cybersecurity risks and potential hazards presented using biomedical devices. US Military and civilian personnel use these devices on the Homefront and battlefield. As the use of biomedical devices increases with time and blurs the lines between private and professional, more attention is required of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to understand the strategic importance of securing biomedical devices. This work provides a better understanding of biomedical devices and analyzes current use of biomedical devices within DoD. It also provides recommendations on actions DoD can undertake to safeguard its workforce today and in the near future. This article examines the significance of cybersecurity for biomedical devices within the context of US national security and demonstrates the important role biomedical cybersecurity plays for DoD.