From awareness to behaviour: Testing a hierarchy of effects model on the Australian Make Healthy Normal Campaign using mediation.

The Make Healthy Normal mass media campaign was a three-year campaign launched in 2015 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia to address community norms around overweight and obesity. It was underpinned by a hierarchy of effects model; a commonly used framework in campaigns but one that has rarely been tested. The campaign evaluation included a cohort study of NSW adults, surveyed three times over 12 months (n = 939 at Wave 3). This study tested the campaign's hierarchy of effects model, which theorized that participants would move from recognition to behaviour change via understanding, knowledge, attitude, social norms, self-efficacy, and intention, using these data. We used the moderation and mediation of effects method proposed by Baron and Kenny, adjusting for age and sex, to test for progression through the hierarchy of effects for two outcomes: physical activity and fast food consumption. We found a clear progression through the theorized model, from recognition through to behaviour change, via the intermediate variables for both outcomes. We also found several effects not predicted by the theorized model, with consistently strong associations between understanding and attitude, understanding and self-efficacy, attitude and self-efficacy, and self-efficacy and behaviour change in both outcome models. Our study provides support for the hierarchy of effects as a conceptual model in campaign planning and evaluation of social marketing campaigns. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare the hierarchy between two behavioural outcomes and the consistency observed between the models adds to the potential usefulness of the hierarchy of effects

Impact of the Make Healthy Normal mass media campaign (Phase 1) on knowledge, attitudes and behaviours.

Objective: To determine the impact of the first phase of the Make Healthy Normal mass media campaign on NSW adults’ active living and healthy eating knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviour. Methods: Cohort design with NSW adults, followed up three times over 12 months, with n=939 participants completing all three waves. We used generalised linear mixed models to examine campaign awareness, knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviours over time. Results: Campaign recognition built to a reasonable level (45% at Wave 3), although unprompted recall was low (9% at Wave 3). There were significant increases in knowledge of physical activity recommendations (46% to 50%), the health effects of obesity (52% to 64%), and weight loss benefits (53% to 65%), with stronger effects in campaign recognisers. Conversely, we found declines in self-efficacy and intention to increase physical activity (39% to 31%) and decrease soft drink consumption (31% to 24%). Conclusions: Overall, there are some positives for the campaign but intentions need to be a focus of future campaign phases. Continued investment over the medium- to long-term is needed. Implications: Mass media campaigns can play a role in obesity prevention but robust evaluations are needed to identify the characteristics of effective campaigns

OpenMS – An open-source software framework for mass spectrometry

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mass spectrometry is an essential analytical technique for high-throughput analysis in proteomics and metabolomics. The development of new separation techniques, precise mass analyzers and experimental protocols is a very active field of research. This leads to more complex experimental setups yielding ever increasing amounts of data. Consequently, analysis of the data is currently often the bottleneck for experimental studies. Although software tools for many data analysis tasks are available today, they are often hard to combine with each other or not flexible enough to allow for rapid prototyping of a new analysis workflow.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present OpenMS, a software framework for rapid application development in mass spectrometry. OpenMS has been designed to be portable, easy-to-use and robust while offering a rich functionality ranging from basic data structures to sophisticated algorithms for data analysis. This has already been demonstrated in several studies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>OpenMS is available under the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL) from the project website at <url>http://www.openms.de</url>.</p

LC-MSsim – a simulation software for liquid chromatography mass spectrometry data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mass Spectrometry coupled to Liquid Chromatography (LC-MS) is commonly used to analyze the protein content of biological samples in large scale studies. The data resulting from an LC-MS experiment is huge, highly complex and noisy. Accordingly, it has sparked new developments in Bioinformatics, especially in the fields of algorithm development, statistics and software engineering. In a quantitative label-free mass spectrometry experiment, crucial steps are the detection of peptide features in the mass spectra and the alignment of samples by correcting for shifts in retention time. At the moment, it is difficult to compare the plethora of algorithms for these tasks. So far, curated benchmark data exists only for peptide identification algorithms but no data that represents a ground truth for the evaluation of feature detection, alignment and filtering algorithms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We present <it>LC-MSsim</it>, a simulation software for LC-ESI-MS experiments. It simulates ESI spectra on the MS level. It reads a list of proteins from a FASTA file and digests the protein mixture using a user-defined enzyme. The software creates an LC-MS data set using a predictor for the retention time of the peptides and a model for peak shapes and elution profiles of the mass spectral peaks. Our software also offers the possibility to add contaminants, to change the background noise level and includes a model for the detectability of peptides in mass spectra. After the simulation, <it>LC-MSsim </it>writes the simulated data to mzData, a public XML format. The software also stores the positions (monoisotopic m/z and retention time) and ion counts of the simulated ions in separate files.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>LC-MSsim </it>generates simulated LC-MS data sets and incorporates models for peak shapes and contaminations. Algorithm developers can match the results of feature detection and alignment algorithms against the simulated ion lists and meaningful error rates can be computed. We anticipate that <it>LC-MSsim </it>will be useful to the wider community to perform benchmark studies and comparisons between computational tools.</p

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk–outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk–outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk–outcome associations. Methods We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk–outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings In 2017, 34·1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33·3–35·0) deaths and 1·21 billion (1·14–1·28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61·0% (59·6–62·4) of deaths and 48·3% (46·3–50·2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10·4 million (9·39–11·5) deaths and 218 million (198–237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7·10 million [6·83–7·37] deaths and 182 million [173–193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6·53 million [5·23–8·23] deaths and 171 million [144–201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4·72 million [2·99–6·70] deaths and 148 million [98·6–202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1·43 million [1·36–1·51] deaths and 139 million [131–147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4·9% (3·3–6·5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23·5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18·6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Concrete deterioration and floor heave due to biogeochemical weathering of underlying shale

When the basement floor of a church in the New Edinburgh area of Ottawa heaved, it was discovered that the concrete under the floor had been reduced to a mushy consistency due to attack by sulfate solution formed by the oxidation of pyrite in the underlying shale. Gypsum was the main product in the weathered zone of the shale. It is shown that heaving resulted from the growth of gypsum crystals between the lamellae in the shale. Jarosite, which is formed by a series of oxidation reactions from pyrite, was also found in the weathered shale. Some oxidation reactions occur only in the presence of sulfur bacteria. The cementitious portion of the concrete was leached out by acid, leaving a weak porous material. The importance of safeguarding concrete in contact with potentially expansive shales from sulfate attack is emphasized.A la suite du soul\ue8vement d'un plancher de sous-sol dans une \ue9glise du quartier New Edinburgh \ue0 Ottawa, on a constat\ue9 que le b\ue9ton \ue0 base du plancher avait acquis une consistance spongieuse \ue0 la suite de son attaque par une solution de sulfate produite par l'oxydation de la pyrite dans le schiste argileux sous-jacent. Du gypse \ue9tait le principal \ue9l\ue9ment dans la zone alt\ue9r\ue9e du schiste argileux. On montre que le soul\ue8vement est le r\ue9sultat de la croissance de cristaux de gypse entre les lamelles du schiste argileux. On a \ue9galement trouv\ue9, dans le schiste argileux alt\ue9r\ue9, de la jarosite, r\ue9sultat d'une s\ue9rie de r\ue9actions d'oxydations dans la pyrite. Certaines r\ue9actions d'oxydation ne se produisent qu'en pr\ue9sence de bact\ue9ries de soufre. Le liant de ciment \ue0 \ue9t\ue9 extrait du b\ue9ton par lessivage par des acides, laissant un mat\ue9riau poreux peu r\ue9sistant. On souligne l'importance de prot\ue9ger le b\ue9ton contre l'attaque des sulfates lorsqu'il se trouve en contact avec des schistes argileux susceptibles d'expansion.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye