Control of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia: knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices in Narok district of Kenya

CBPP is an important transboundary disease in sub-Saharan Africa whose control is urgent. Participatory data collection involving 52 focus group discussions in 37 village clusters and key informant interviews, a cross-sectional study involving 232 households and a post-vaccination follow up involving 203 households was carried out in 2006–2007 in Narok South district of Kenya. This was to investigate knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices (KAPP) associated with control of CBPP as well as the adverse post-vaccination reactions in animals in order to advice the control policy. The community perceived trans-boundary CBPP threat to their cattle. They had traditional disease coping mechanisms and were conversant with CBPP prevention and control with 49.8% (95%CI: 42.8–56.7%) giving priority to CBPP control. However, 12.9% (95%CI: 9.0–18.1%) of pastoralists had no knowledge of any prevention method and 10.0% (95%CI: 6.5–14.7%) would not know what to do or would do nothing in the event of an outbreak. Although 43.5% (95%CI: 37.1–50.2%) of pastoralists were treating CBPP cases with antimicrobials, 62.5% (95%CI: 52.1–71.7%) of them doubted the effectiveness of the treatments. Pastoralists perceived vaccination to be the solution to CBPP but vaccination was irregular due to unavailability of the vaccine. Vaccination was mainly to control outbreaks rather than preventive and exhibited adverse post-vaccination reactions among 70.4% (95%CI: 63.6–76.5%) of herds and 3.8% (95%CI: 3.5–4.2%) of animals. Consequently, nearly 25.2% (95%CI: 18.5–33.2%) of pastoralists may resist subsequent vaccinations against CBPP. Pastoralists preferred CBPP vaccination at certain times of the year and that it is combined with other vaccinations. In conclusion, pastoralists were not fully aware of the preventive measures and interventions and post-vaccination reactions may discourage subsequent CBPP vaccinations. Consequently there is need for monitoring and management of post vaccination reactions and awareness creation on CBPP prevention and interventions and their merits and demerits. CBPP vaccine was largely unavailable to the pastoralists and the preference of the pastoralists was for vaccination at specified times and vaccine combinations which makes it necessary to avail the vaccine in conformity with the pastoralists preferences. In addition, planning vaccinations should involve pastoralists and neighbouring countries. As the results cannot be generalized, further studies on CBPP control methods and their effectiveness are recommended

Evaluation of school absenteeism data for early outbreak detection, New York City

BACKGROUND: School absenteeism data may have utility as an early indicator of disease outbreaks, however their value should be critically examined. This paper describes an evaluation of the utility of school absenteeism data for early outbreak detection in New York City (NYC). METHODS: To assess citywide temporal trends in absenteeism, we downloaded three years (2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04) of daily school attendance data from the NYC Department of Education (DOE) website. We applied the CuSum method to identify aberrations in the adjusted daily percent absent. A spatial scan statistic was used to assess geographic clustering in absenteeism for the 2001–02 academic year. RESULTS: Moderate increases in absenteeism were observed among children during peak influenza season. Spatial analysis detected 790 significant clusters of absenteeism among elementary school children (p < 0.01), two of which occurred during a previously reported outbreak. CONCLUSION: Monitoring school absenteeism may be moderately useful for detecting large citywide epidemics, however, school-level data were noisy and we were unable to demonstrate any practical value in using cluster analysis to detect localized outbreaks. Based on these results, we will not implement prospective monitoring of school absenteeism data, but are evaluating the utility of more specific school-based data for outbreak detection

Understanding the power of the prime minister : structure and agency in models of prime ministerial power

Understanding the power of the prime minister is important because of the centrality of the prime minister within the core executive of British government, but existing models of prime ministerial power are unsatisfactory for various reasons. This article makes an original contribution by providing an overview and critique of the dominant models of prime ministerial power, highlighting their largely positivist bent and the related problem of the prevalence of overly parsimonious conceptions of the structural contexts prime ministers face. The central argument the paper makes is that much of the existing literature on prime ministerial power is premised on flawed understandings of the relationship between structure and agency, that this leads to misunderstandings of the real scope of prime ministerial agency, as well as its determinants, and that this can be rectified by adopting a strategic-relational view of structure and agency

Fordism: a review essay

Fordism is a central concept in American labour history. This essay, the first survey of the range of historiographical and sociological approaches deployed to understand Fordism, suggests that Fordism and Americanism are inseparably intertwined. Previous scholarship has emphasised that the technological and managerial efficiency of Fordist practice were a hallmark of twentieth century Americanism. Historians of labour have demonstrated that these aspects manifested as a relentless system of control in the workplace that paradoxically helped to unify worker resistance. Historians of capitalism have tended to used Fordism to refer to an ethos underpinning mid-twentieth century capitalist development marked by a balance between mass production and mass consumption. They identify increased social provisions and class compromise between labour and management as features that made Fordism attractive to states rebuilding their economies following the Second World War. New transnational histories of Fordism have begun to bridge the gap between these two main interpretations to show how Fordist practice and ethos were exported together internationally as part of an ideological project to modernise nations in America's image. This essay concludes by assessing the usefulness of Fordism to historians and suggesting avenues for future research

Success Factors of European Syndromic Surveillance Systems: A Worked Example of Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Introduction: Syndromic surveillance aims at augmenting traditional public health surveillance with timely information. To gain a head start, it mainly analyses existing data such as from web searches or patient records. Despite the setup of many syndromic surveillance systems, there is still much doubt about the benefit of the approach. There are diverse interactions between performance indicators such as timeliness and various system characteristics. This makes the performance assessment of syndromic surveillance systems a complex endeavour. We assessed if the comparison of several syndromic surveillance systems through Qualitative Comparative Analysis helps to evaluate performance and identify key success factors. Materials and Methods: We compiled case-based, mixed data on performance and characteristics of 19 syndromic surveillance systems in Europe from scientific and grey literature and from site visits. We identified success factors by applying crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. We focused on two main areas of syndromic surveillance application: seasonal influenza surveillance and situational awareness during different types of potentially health threatening events. Results: We found that syndromic surveillance systems might detect the onset or peak of seasonal influenza earlier if they analyse non-clinical data sources. Timely situational awareness during different types of events is supported by an automated syndromic surveillance system capable of analysing multiple syndromes. To our surprise, the analysis of multiple data sources was no key success factor for situational awareness. Conclusions: We suggest to consider these key success factors when designing or further developing syndromic surveillance systems. Qualitative Comparative Analysis helped interpreting complex, mixed data on small-N cases and resulted in concrete and practically relevant findings

Search for the h_c meson in B^+- ->h_c K^+-

We report a search for the $h_c$ meson via the decay chain $B^{\pm}\to h_c K^{\pm}$, \etac \gamma with $\eta_c \to K_S^0 K^{\pm} \pi^{\mp}$ and $p\bar{p}$. No significant signals are observed. We obtain upper limits on the branching fractions for $B^{\pm} \to \eta_c\gamma K^{\pm}$ in bins of the $\eta_c\gamma$ invariant mass. The results are based on an analysis of 253 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+e^-$ collider.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Concussion-associated gene variants and history of concussion in elite male rugby athletes

Occurrence of and outcomes following a concussion are probably affected by the interaction of multiple genes in a polygenic manner [1,2]. This study investigated whether suspected concussion-associated polygenic profiles of elite rugby athletes with a history of previous concussion (RAC) differed from rugby athletes with no history of previous concussion (RANC). We hypothesised that concussion-associated risk genotypes would be underrepresented in RANC compared to RAC. Participants were from the RugbyGene project, comprising elite male rugby athletes (RA) (185 white males; mean (standard deviation) height 1.86 (0.07) m, mass 102 (12.6) kg, age 26.4 (5.1) yr) competing at an elite level in rugby union (n = 165) and league (n = 20) in the UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. Concussion history was collected using a self-reported concussion history questionnaire. PCR of genomic DNA was used to determine genotypes using TaqMan probes, and total genotype scores (TGS) were calculated, then groups were compared using χ2 and odds ratio (OR) statistics. In addition, multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) was used to identify genetic interactions. Seventy-eight percent of RA reported a history of sustaining at least one concussion and 54% of RA reported sustaining multiple (≥2) concussions from rugby. For BDNF-AS rs6265, the GG genotype was more common in RAC compared to RANC (69.7% vs 61.0%, P = 0.006, OR = 9.90, 95% CI = 01.81-54.06) (Fig. 1). The GG genotype of BDNF-AS rs6265 was more common in RAC compared to RANC (70.7% vs. 61.0%, P = 0.041, OR 4.44, 95% CI = 1.04-120.97) (Fig. 1). However, TGS did not differ between RANC and RAC (Fig. 2A) recovery duration and family history of neurological conditions (P > 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) analysis confirmed the TGS algorithm could not identify concussion history (AUC = 0.436; 95% CI = 0.338-0.534; P = 0.218; Fig. 2B). MDR could not identify a model to predict concussion history, recovery duration and family history of neurological conditions with a sufficiently powerful cross-validation statistic (P ≤ 0.05). These findings support the growing evidence that incidence and recovery from concussion could be influenced by an athlete’s genetic predisposition. Such knowledge could be used in the future and when additional relevant variants have been identified, to inform individualised management strategies for athletes in possession of risk genotypes.Peer reviewe

Tendon and ligament-associated gene variants and history of soft tissue injury in elite male rugby athletes

There is a genetic component to tendon and ligament injuries which is highly likely to be polygenic in nature (1). Elite rugby has one of the highest reported injury incidences of any professional sport with some of the most severe injuries affecting tendons and ligaments (1). Thus, this study investigated if suspected tendon and ligament injury-associated polygenic profiles of elite rugby athletes (RA) with a history of prior tendon and ligament injury differed from RA with no history of injury. We hypothesised that tendon and ligament injury-associated genotypes and polygenic profiles would be overrepresented in RA with a history of soft tissue injury compared to RA with no history of injury. Participants were from the RugbyGene project, comprising elite male RA (185 white males; mean (standard deviation) height 1.86 (0.07) m, mass 102 (12.6) kg, age 26.4 (5.1) yr) competing at an elite level in rugby union (n = 165) and league (n = 20) in the UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa. Soft-tissue injury history was collected using a self-reported injury history questionnaire. PCR of genomic DNA was used to determine genotypes using TaqMan probes, and total genotype scores (TGS) from 13 polymorphisms were calculated, then groups were compared using χ2 and odds ratio (OR) statistics. In addition, multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) and inferred haplotype analysis were used to identify genetic interactions. For MMP3 rs679620, the C allele was more common in the tendinopathy group (TD) compared to the non-injured tendon group (NIT) (63.5% vs 50.0%, P = 0.02, OR = 1.62, 95% CI = 01.00-2.60). However, the C allele was more common in the non-injured ligament group (NIL) compared to the ligament rupture (LR) group (63.7% v 47.9%, P = 0.02, OR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.09-3.35). For COL5A1 rs12722 the TT genotype was more common in NIT compared to the tendon rupture group (TR) (25.0% vs. 3.8%, P = 0.006, OR 4.35, 95% CI = 0.49-37.01). TGS differed between NIL and the ligament sprain group (LS) (U=1868.50;P = 0.02). Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) and area under the curve (AUC) analysis confirmed the TGS algorithm could identify LS (AUC = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.52-0.72; P = 0.02) . The T-C inferred haplotype frequency of COL5A1 rs12722 and COL5A1 rs3196378 respectively, was higher in TR, LS and the all-injured athlete groups compared to NIT, NIL and the all-non-injured group (P < 0.01) (Fig. 3). MDR could not identify a model to predict any of the injury groups with a sufficiently powerful cross-validation statistic. The current data suggests musculoskeletal soft-tissue injury could be influenced by an athlete’s genetic predisposition. This study provides further insight into the detailed aetiology of musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries within elite rugby and may, in future, be worthy of consideration for managing the interindividual variability of injury risk in rugbyPeer reviewe

Evidence for CP Violation in B0 -> D+D- Decays

We report measurements of the branching fraction and CP violation parameters in B0 -> D+D- decays. The results are based on a data sample that contains 535 x 10^6 BBbar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance, with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. We obtain [1.97 +- 0.20 (stat) +- 0.20 (syst)] x 10^(-4) for the branching fraction of B0 -> D+D-. The measured values of the CP violation parameters are: S = -1.13 +- 0.37 +- 0.09, A = 0.91 +- 0.23 +- 0.06, where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. We find evidence of CP violation in B0 -> D+D- at the 4.1 sigma confidence level. While the value of S is consistent with expectations from other measurements, the value of the parameter A favors large direct CP violation at the 3.2 sigma confidence level, in contradiction to Standard Model expectations.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR

Ensembling predictions of student post-test scores for an intelligent tutoring system.

________________________________________________________________________ Over the last few decades, there have been a rich variety of approaches towards modeling student knowledge and skill within interactive learning environments. There have recently been several empirical comparisons as to which types of student models are better at predicting future performance, both within and outside of the interactive learning environment. A recent paper (Baker et al., in press) considers whether ensembling can produce better prediction than individual models, when ensembling is performed at the level of predictions of performance within the tutor. However, better performance was not achieved for predicting the post-test. In this paper, we investigate ensembling at the post-test level, to see if this approach can produce better prediction of post-test scores within the context of a Cognitive Tutor for Genetics. We find no improvement for ensembling over the best individual models and we consider possible explanations for this finding, including the limited size of the data set