Harmonising Safety Management Systems in the European Railway Sector

The European Commission has set railway policy to encourage the liberalisation of the railway industry across all European Union member states. A single market for railway services is envisaged as a means to improve the competitiveness of the railways with other modes of transportation. A key piece of the legislation implemented in response to this policy, is the Railway Safety Directive. This legislation recognises that it is not just technical and procedural harmonisation that is required to create an effective internal market for railway services in Europe. Safety Management practices must also be harmonised. One of the elements of the directive is the requirements that all Railway Undertakings (who run train services) and Infrastructure Managers (who maintain the railway network) in European members states implement a Safety Management System which meets certain criteria and is certified by the relevant National Safety Authority. The European research projects SAMRAIL (Safety Management in Railways) and SAMNET (Safety Management and Interoperability Thematic Network for Railways) were funded by the Commission to investigate and to propose practical approaches to help implementation of the requirements in the Railway Safety Directives. As part of this research detailed guidance on how to structure and implement a Safety Management System that was suitable for and compatible with Europe's future railway environment was produced. In this paper we describe those aspects of the Railway Safety Directive relating to Safety Management Systems, including the proposed certification requirements, and outline the proposals made by SAMRAIL and SAMNET for effectively implementing safety management systemsRESEAU FERROVIAIRE;LEGISLATION;EUROPE;STANDARDISATION;SECURITE

Causal Modelling of Lower Consequence Rail Safety Incidents

Waiting for copyright information from publisherThe Safety Risk Model (SRM) is a key source of information for the GB rail industry. It is a structured representation of the 120 hazardous events that can lead to injury or death during the operation of the railway and is used to estimate the risk to passengers, workers and third parties. The SRM includes both rare but high consequence events such as train collisions and more frequent but lower consequence events such as passenger accidents at stations. In aggregate, these lower consequence events make an important contribution to the overall risk, which is measured by a weighted sum of injuries of different severity. Where possible, the SRM is derived from historical incident data, but the derivation of the model parameters still present challenges, which differ for different subsets of events. High consequence events occur rarely so it is necessary to use expert judgement in detailed models of these incidents. In comparison, the low consequence events occur more frequently, but both records of incidents and the models in the SRM are less detailed. The frequency of these low consequence events is sufficient to allow both the absolute risk and trends in the overall risk to be monitored directly. However, without explicit causal factors in the data or the model, the models are less able to support risk management directly, since this requires estimates of the risk reduction possible from particular interventions and control measures. Moreover, such estimates must be made locally, taking account of the local conditions, and at each location even the low consequence events are infrequent. In this paper we describe an approach to modelling the causes of low consequence events in a way that supports the management of risk. We show both how to extract more information from the available data and how to make use of expert judgement about contributory factors. Our approach uses Bayesian networks: we argue their advantages over fault and event trees for modelling incidents that have many contributory causes. Finally, we show how the new approach improves safety management, both by estimating the contribution of the underlying causes to this risk and by predicting how possible management interventions and control measures would reduce this risk

Reductionist and system approaches to study the role of infection in preterm labor and delivery

A substantial number of patients with preterm labor and delivery do not show clinical signs of infection, however, it is the subclinical form which is the main causative factor and often results in premature delivery. The hitherto commonly applied methods of inflammation detection are based either on potentially hazardous amniocentesis or still insufficient inflammation-related protein measurement in the serum or other biological fluids

Preterm low birthweight and the role of oral bacteria

Preterm and low birthweight (PTLBW) continues to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity across the world. In recent years, maternal periodontal disease has been implicated as a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. There is conflicting evidence to support such an outcome as illustrated by descriptive, case control and randomised controlled trials involving pregnant women from across the world, using different measurement tools to determine the level of periodontal disease. Whilst considering the literature, there is evidence for both arguments, based on the effect of periodontal inflammatory by products. Bacteria associated with periodontal disease are not dissimilar to those known to be associated with genito-urinary bacterial infections and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Several groups have demonstrated the apparent translocation of Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella nigrescens, Prevotella intermedia, Porphyromonus gingivalis, Treponema denticola to the foetal placental unit whereby a maternal or foetal response has been detected resulting in premature birth or low birthweight. The normal process of parturition involves a cascade of events including a build-up of inflammatory mediators as linked to inflammation, whereby the maternal environment becomes hostile and threatens the well-being of the infant, and the foetus expelled. The question remains therefore, is there a greater risk of delivering a PTLBW infant when the mother has detectable periodontal disease, or is the release of inflammatory mediators and their translocation via the haematogenous route sufficient to induce a poor pregnancy outcome? The data investigated would suggest that there is a positive outcome when certain oral gram-negative bacteria create a cumulative effect sufficient to trigger early delivery, which represents the final straw to result in preterm or low birthweight delivery. There is equally sufficient epidemiological evidence that does not support this outcome, but it is agreed that maintaining oral health during pregnancy is beneficial to the mother and her infant

Genome Sequence of Fusobacterium nucleatum Subspecies Polymorphum — a Genetically Tractable Fusobacterium

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a prominent member of the oral microbiota and is a common cause of human infection. F. nucleatum includes five subspecies: polymorphum, nucleatum, vincentii, fusiforme, and animalis. F. nucleatum subsp. polymorphum ATCC 10953 has been well characterized phenotypically and, in contrast to previously sequenced strains, is amenable to gene transfer. We sequenced and annotated the 2,429,698 bp genome of F. nucleatum subsp. polymorphum ATCC 10953. Plasmid pFN3 from the strain was also sequenced and analyzed. When compared to the other two available fusobacterial genomes (F. nucleatum subsp. nucleatum, and F. nucleatum subsp. vincentii) 627 open reading frames unique to F. nucleatum subsp. polymorphum ATCC 10953 were identified. A large percentage of these mapped within one of 28 regions or islands containing five or more genes. Seventeen percent of the clustered proteins that demonstrated similarity were most similar to proteins from the clostridia, with others being most similar to proteins from other gram-positive organisms such as Bacillus and Streptococcus. A ten kilobase region homologous to the Salmonella typhimurium propanediol utilization locus was identified, as was a prophage and integrated conjugal plasmid. The genome contains five composite ribozyme/transposons, similar to the CdISt IStrons described in Clostridium difficile. IStrons are not present in the other fusobacterial genomes. These findings indicate that F. nucleatum subsp. polymorphum is proficient at horizontal gene transfer and that exchange with the Firmicutes, particularly the Clostridia, is common

Effects of juvenile hormone on gene expression in the pheromone-producing midgut of the pine engraver beetle, Ips pini,” Insect Molecular Biology

Abstract Juvenile hormone III (JH III) stimulates biosynthesis of the monoterpenoid aggregation pheromone component, ipsdienol, in the anterior midgut of the male pine engraver beetle, Ips pini (Say). To understand better the hormonal regulation of pheromone biosynthesis in this forest pest, and identify JH III-responsive genes, microarrays were prepared and hybridized to cDNA from midguts of JH III-treated beetles. Expression patterns were confirmed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. JH III co-ordinately regulated mevalonate pathway genes and many other genes implicated in pheromone biosynthesis. Sex differences in basal levels of mevalonate pathway genes were consistent with their role in male-specific pheromone biosynthesis. This is the first microarray-based study of the developmental and hormonal regulation of insect pheromone biosynthesis