BKG/DGFI Combination Center Annual Report 2012

This report summarizes the activities of the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (Bundesamt fuer Kartographie und Geodaesie, BKG) and the German Geodetic Research Institute (Deutsches Geodaetisches Forschungsinstitut, DGFI)BKG/DGFI Combination Center in 2011 and outlines the planned activities for the year 2012. The main focus was to stabilize outlier detection and to update the Web presentation of the combined products

Enhancing continuous online microdialysis using dexamethasone: measurement of dynamic neurometabolic changes during spreading depolarization

Microdialysis is well established in chemical neuroscience as a mainstay technology for real time intracranial chemical monitoring in both animal models and human patients. Evidence shows that microdialysis can be enhanced by mitigating the penetration injury caused during the insertion of microdialysis probes into brain tissue. Herein, we show that retrodialysis of dexamethasone in the rat cortex enhances the microdialysis detection of K(+) and glucose transients induced by spreading depolarization. Without dexamethasone, quantification of glucose transients was unreliable by 5 days after probe insertion. With dexamethasone, robust K(+) and glucose transients were readily quantified at 2 h, 5 days, and 10 days after probe insertion. The amplitudes of the K(+) transients declined day-to-day following probe insertion, and the amplitudes of the glucose transients exhibited a decreasing trend that did not reach statistical significance. Immunohistochemistry and fluorescence microscopy confirm that dexamethasone is highly effective at preserving a healthy probe-brain interface for at least 10 days even though retrodialysis of dexamethasone ceased after 5 days

A Study Protocol for Safeguards Child and Adolescent Mental Health Rapid Response Teams (‘;Safeguards Teams’) Service

Introduction: As the number of children and young people (CYP) presenting to Emergency Departments (ED) with acute mental health (MH) presentations has been steadily increasing over the years and further accelerated by the pandemic, there is an urgent need to develop and evaluate innovative solutions to respond to this growing challenge. Description: The evaluation of the Safeguards Teams Program (STP) aims to ascertain the impact, implementation and economic analysis of this acute rapid response recovery-focused, trauma-informed assessment and brief intervention for CYP (aged 0–17 years) presenting in acute MH crisis and their families/caregivers. The STP will support consumers (patients) and their families/caregivers to navigate the complex and often fragmented child and adolescent MH services (CAMHS) landscape, thereby avoiding unnecessary ED presentations or hospitalisations, and facilitating comprehensive assessment and appropriate care pathways for those who present in crisis. Discussion: The STP is expected to provide CYP in MH crisis and their support networks with early access to evidence-based specialist care at the right place and time. Conclusion: Implementation of the STP will assist with identifying and addressing gaps in acute care for CYP and provide the necessary evidence for service redesign in collaboration with consumers, service providers and other stakeholders

Modellierung der praktischen Rolle in Verhandlungen mit einem erweiterten Verfahren des fallbasierten Schließens

Der vorliegende Text beruht auf einem Vortrag, der auf dem Treffen des Schwerpunktprogramms "Sozionik" (SP1077) der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft vom 20.-23. Juni 2002 in Seeon gehalten wurde. Die Autoren stellen die Bedeutung von Verhandlungen in Organisationen und deren Modellierung in einem Multiagentensystem dar, wobei exemplarisch die Organisation Krankenhaus betrachtet wird. Nach soziologischen Überlegungen zu einem Multiagentensystem in Bezug auf Verhandlungen wird die Modellierung und Berechnung von Verhandlung vorgestellt. Anschließend wird der Vorschlag, das Verfahren des fallbasierten Schließens (FBS) zu erweitern, erläutert. Dabei wird in einzelnen Unterkapiteln zuerst ein kurzer Überblick über das FBS gegeben und anschließend die konkrete Anwendung im interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekt "Integration kooperationsfähiger Agenten in komplexen Organisationen" (INKA) aufgezeigt. (ICI

The importance of highly-accurate and consistent geodetic products for reliable Earth system monitoring

The Bureau of Products and Standards (BPS) supports IAG’s Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) in its goal to provide highly-accurate, consistent and long-term stable geodetic products needed to monitor, map, and understand changes in the Earth’s shape, rotation and gravity field. A key objective of the BPS is to keep track and to foster homogenization of adopted geodetic standards and conventions across all IAG components for the generation of geodetic products. This involves the interaction with IAG and other entities involved in standards and conventions, such as the IERS Conventions Center, the IAU Commission A3 "Fundamental Standards", ISO/TC 211 and the Working Group "Data Sharing and Development of Geodetic Standards" of the UN-GGIM Subcommittee on Geodesy. This contribution presents the role of the BPS, and it highlights some of the recent activities, which are focused on the updating of the BPS inventory of standards and conventions used for the generation of IAG products, the revision of the IERS Conventions, mainly related to Chapter 1 "General definitions and numerical standards" and the compilation of user-friendly product descriptions published at the GGOS website. The BPS also contributes to the generation of GGOS films to make other disciplines and society aware of Geodesy and its beneficial products

The GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards: Description and Promotion of Geodetic Products

The Bureau of Products and Standards (BPS) is a key component of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). It supports GGOS in its goal to provide consistent geodetic products needed to monitor, map, and understand changes in the Earth’s shape, rotation, and gravity field. In addition to the operational structure, the Committees “Earth System Modeling” and “Essential Geodetic Variables” as well as the Working Group “Towards a consistent set of parameters for the definition of a new Geodetic Reference System (GRS)” are associated to the BPS. This contribution presents the structure and role of the BPS. It highlights some of the recent activities, which are focused on the classification of geodetic products and on the generation of user-friendly product descriptions to support the establishment of a comprehensive Internet portal for Geodesy under the responsibility of GGOS. The GGOS website www.ggos.org serves as an “entrance door” and information platform to geodetic data and products, and should become an essential tool to make these data and products easier findable and accessible. With this, GGOS is contributing to address different user needs (e.g., geodesists, geophysicists, other geoscientists and further customers) and to make other disciplines and society aware of Geodesy and the importance of its products

Accuracy of Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Community Studies and their Impact on Treatment of Malaria in an Area with Declining Malaria Burden in North-Eastern Tanzania.

Despite some problems related to accuracy and applicability of malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), they are currently the best option in areas with limited laboratory services for improving case management through parasitological diagnosis and reducing over-treatment. This study was conducted in areas with declining malaria burden to assess; 1) the accuracy of RDTs when used at different community settings, 2) the impact of using RDTs on anti-malarial dispensing by community-owned resource persons (CORPs) and 3) adherence of CORPs to treatment guidelines by providing treatment based on RDT results. Data were obtained from: 1) a longitudinal study of passive case detection of fevers using CORPs in six villages in Korogwe; and 2) cross-sectional surveys (CSS) in six villages of Korogwe and Muheza districts, north-eastern, Tanzania. Performance of RDTs was compared with microscopy as a gold standard, and factors affecting their accuracy were explored using a multivariate logistic regression model. Overall sensitivity and specificity of RDTs in the longitudinal study (of 23,793 febrile cases; 18,154 with microscopy and RDTs results) were 88.6% and 88.2%, respectively. In the CSS, the sensitivity was significantly lower (63.4%; χ2=367.7, p<0.001), while the specificity was significantly higher (94.3%; χ2=143.1, p<0.001) when compared to the longitudinal study. As determinants of sensitivity of RDTs in both studies, parasite density of<200 asexual parasites/μl was significantly associated with high risk of false negative RDTs (OR≥16.60, p<0.001), while the risk of false negative test was significantly lower among cases with fever (axillary temperature ≥37.5 °C) (OR≤0.63, p≤0.027). The risk of false positive RDT (as a determinant of specificity) was significantly higher in cases with fever compared to afebrile cases (OR≥2.40, p<0.001). Using RDTs reduced anti-malarials dispensing from 98.9% to 32.1% in cases aged ≥5 years. Although RDTs had low sensitivity and specificity, which varied widely depending on fever and parasite density, using RDTs reduced over-treatment with anti-malarials significantly. Thus, with declining malaria prevalence, RDTs will potentially identify majority of febrile cases with parasites and lead to improved management of malaria and non-malaria fevers

Reliability of Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Diagnosing Pregnancy-Associated Malaria in North-Eastern Tanzania.

Accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment of pregnancy-associated malaria (PAM) are key aspects in averting adverse pregnancy outcomes. Microscopy is the gold standard in malaria diagnosis, but it has limited detection and availability. When used appropriately, rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) could be an ideal diagnostic complement to microscopy, due to their ease of use and adequate sensitivity in detecting even sub-microscopic infections. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is even more sensitive, but it is mainly used for research purposes. The accuracy and reliability of RDTs in diagnosing PAM was evaluated using microscopy and PCR. A cohort of pregnant women in north-eastern Tanzania was followed throughout pregnancy for detection of plasmodial infection using venous and placental blood samples evaluated by histidine rich protein 2 (HRP-2) and parasite lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) based RDTs (Parascreen™) or HRP-2 only (Paracheck Pf® and ParaHIT®f), microscopy and nested Plasmodium species diagnostic PCR. From a cohort of 924 pregnant women who completed the follow up, complete RDT and microscopy data was available for 5,555 blood samples and of these 442 samples were analysed by PCR. Of the 5,555 blood samples, 49 ((proportion and 95% confidence interval) 0.9% [0.7 -1.1]) samples were positive by microscopy and 91 (1.6% [1.3-2.0]) by RDT. Forty-six (50.5% [40.5 - 60.6]) and 45 (49.5% [39.4 - 59.5]) of the RDT positive samples were positive and negative by microscopy, respectively, whereas nineteen (42.2% [29.0 - 56.7]) of the microscopy negative, but RDT positive, samples were positive by PCR. Three (0.05% [0.02 - 0.2]) samples were positive by microscopy but negative by RDT. 351 of the 5,461 samples negative by both RDT and microscopy were tested by PCR and found negative. There was no statistically significant difference between the performances of the different RDTs. Microscopy underestimated the real burden of malaria during pregnancy and RDTs performed better than microscopy in diagnosing PAM. In areas where intermittent preventive treatment during pregnancy may be abandoned due to low and decreasing malaria risk and instead replaced with active case management, screening with RDT is likely to identify most infections in pregnant women and out-performs microscopy as a diagnostic tool

GGOS Bureau of Products and Standards: Description and Promotion of Geodetic Products

The Bureau of Products and Standards (BPS) is a key component of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). It supports GGOS in its goal to provide consistent geodetic products needed to monitor, map, and understand changes in the Earth’s shape, rotation, and gravity field. In its present structure, the two Committees "Earth System Modeling" and "Essential Geodetic Variables" as well as the Working Group "Towards a consistent set of parameters for the definition of a new Geodetic Reference System (GRS)" are associated to the BPS. This paper presents the structure and role of the BPS and it highlights some of the recent activities. A major focus is on the classification and description of geodetic products and their representation at the renewed GGOS website (www.ggos.org). This website serves as an "entrance door" to geodetic products to satisfy different user needs and communities (e.g., geodesists, geophysicists, other geosciences and further customers) in order to make geodesy more visible to other disciplines and to society