The Use Of "Big Data" To Evaluate Accessibility Measures For Wheelchair And Mobility Scooter Users: The Case Of London Bus Network

As recognized by the Social Exclusion Unit poor transport access can contribute to the causes of social exclusion. People who require the use of a powered wheelchair or a mobility scooter in order to be able to carry out their daily activities are most likely to experience transport disadvantage, primarily due to architectural barriers present within the network that limit accessibility. Formulation of new policies is of primary importance to increase the transport network accessibility. Policy-making and evaluation are often based mainly on qualitative approaches. Although this can give a good appreciation of the users prospective, it fails to consider the more global impact that new and existing policies can have. The use of big datasets from automated fare collection systems could improve this aspect, allowing for a more quantitative approach to measuring accessibility measures. Furthermore these datasets could benefit from a more disaggregated classification to help categorise travel patterns and behaviour specific to wheelchairs and mobility scooter users

Arteriovenous malformation of the spermatic cord as the cause of acute scrotal pain: a case report

Arteriovenous malformations of the lower urinary tract are uncommon lesions, usually presenting as scrotal masses. A case of recurrent acute scrotal pain mimicking testicular torsion that was attributed to the presence of an arteriovenous malformation of the spermatic cord is described. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of an arteriovenous malformation of the spermatic cord presenting with acute scrotal pain

Bayesian Bootstrap Inference for the ROC Surface

Accurate diagnosis of disease is of great importance in clinical practice and medical research. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) surface is a popular tool for evaluating the discriminatory ability of continuous diagnostic test outcomes when there exist three ordered disease classes (e.g., no disease, mild disease, advanced disease). We propose the Bayesian bootstrap, a fully nonparametric method, for conducting inference about the ROC surface and its functionals, such as the volume under the surface. The proposed method is based on a simple, yet interesting, representation of the ROC surface in terms of placement variables. Results from a simulation study demonstrate the ability of our method to successfully recover the true ROC surface and to produce valid inferences in a variety of complex scenarios. An application to data from the Trail Making Test to assess cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease patients is provided

Cancer Biomarker Discovery: The Entropic Hallmark

Background: It is a commonly accepted belief that cancer cells modify their transcriptional state during the progression of the disease. We propose that the progression of cancer cells towards malignant phenotypes can be efficiently tracked using high-throughput technologies that follow the gradual changes observed in the gene expression profiles by employing Shannon's mathematical theory of communication. Methods based on Information Theory can then quantify the divergence of cancer cells' transcriptional profiles from those of normally appearing cells of the originating tissues. The relevance of the proposed methods can be evaluated using microarray datasets available in the public domain but the method is in principle applicable to other high-throughput methods. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using melanoma and prostate cancer datasets we illustrate how it is possible to employ Shannon Entropy and the Jensen-Shannon divergence to trace the transcriptional changes progression of the disease. We establish how the variations of these two measures correlate with established biomarkers of cancer progression. The Information Theory measures allow us to identify novel biomarkers for both progressive and relatively more sudden transcriptional changes leading to malignant phenotypes. At the same time, the methodology was able to validate a large number of genes and processes that seem to be implicated in the progression of melanoma and prostate cancer. Conclusions/Significance: We thus present a quantitative guiding rule, a new unifying hallmark of cancer: the cancer cell's transcriptome changes lead to measurable observed transitions of Normalized Shannon Entropy values (as measured by high-throughput technologies). At the same time, tumor cells increment their divergence from the normal tissue profile increasing their disorder via creation of states that we might not directly measure. This unifying hallmark allows, via the the Jensen-Shannon divergence, to identify the arrow of time of the processes from the gene expression profiles, and helps to map the phenotypical and molecular hallmarks of specific cancer subtypes. The deep mathematical basis of the approach allows us to suggest that this principle is, hopefully, of general applicability for other diseases

Mapping spatiotemporal patterns of disabled people: The case of the St. Jude’s storm emergency

Emergency management can greatly benefit from an understanding of the spatiotemporal distribution of individual population groups because it optimizes the allocation of resources and personnel needed in case of an emergency caused by a disaster. In practice, however, vulnerable population groups, such as people with disability, tend to be overlooked by emergency officials. Tasks such as identifying people who are vulnerable in an emergency generally are approached statically using census data, without taking into account the spatiotemporal dynamics of disabled people’s concentrations as observed in large metropolitan areas such as London, United Kingdom. Transport data gathered by automatic fare collection methods combined with accessibility covariates have the potential of being a good source for describing the distribution of this concentration. As a case study, data from the peak of the St. Jude’s Day storm in London on October 28, 2013, were used to model the within-day fluctuation of disabled people, employing discrete spatiotemporal variation methods. Specifically, Poisson spatiotemporal generalized linear models were built within a hierarchical framework, ranging from simple to more complex ones, taking into account spatiotemporal interactions that emerge between space-time units. The performance of the resulting models in terms of their ability to explain the effects of the covariates, as well as predict future disabled peoples counts, were compared relative to each other using the deviance information criterion and posterior predictive check criterion. Analysis of results revealed a distinct spatiotemporal pattern of disabled transport users that potentially could be used by emergency planners to inform their decisions

Radiological findings and the clinical importance of megacalycosis

Christos Kalaitzis,1 Emmanuel Patris,1 Evangelia Deligeorgiou,1 Petros Sountoulides,2 Athanasios Bantis,3 Stilianos Giannakopoulos,1 Stavros Touloupidis1 1Department of Urology, Democritus University of Thrace, Dragana, Alexandroupolis, 2Department of Urology, General Hospital of Veria, Thessaloniki, 3Department of Urology, General Hospital of Evros, Alexandroupolis, Greece Objective: To describe the radiological findings and the clinical importance of megacalycosis. Materials and methods: On the basis of a case report and literature review, diagnostic criteria and clinical significance of megacalycosis are presented. Result: Megacalycosis is mostly asymptomatic and is usually discovered either accidentally or as a result of its complications, such as stone formation, flank pain, hematuria, infection, and fever. The renal pelvis, infundibulum, and ureter are not dilated. Calyces have a semilunar configuration rather than the conventional triangular or conical form. The tip of each pyramid is flat, and the calyces possess neither fornix nor papillae impressions. The number of calyces is increased compared to the healthy condition, typically from 20–25. The renal parenchyma has a normal width but with a slight narrowing of the renal medulla. The kidney exhibits normal function, in particular with respect to its ability to concentrate the urine. Conclusion: Megacalycosis is a rare, usually unilateral dilatation of the kidney calyces in the presence of a normal, undilated renal pelvis and ureter. Its pathological significance lies in the occurrence of complications. Keywords: megacalycosis, megacalycose, calyx dilatation, stone formatio