Use of Transition Probabilities to Estimate the Effect of Smoking on the Duration of Episodes of Respiratory Symptoms in Diary Data: The Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA)

Incompletely documented symptom episodes pose methodological problems in the analysis of diary data. The aim of this study was to develop a method of estimating the average durations of symptomatic and nonsymptomatic episodes, respectively, coping with the problem of bias due to undocumented days and censored episodes that is found in most diary studies. The authors derived their outcome variables from a Markov model using transition probabilities. To evaluate this method, the authors assessed the impact of active smoking on the duration of episodes of bronchitis symptoms and the corresponding nonsymptomatic periods, respectively, using diary data (1992-1993) obtained from 801 participants in the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults. Covariate-adjusted distribution curves for the mean durations of individual episodes were estimated by Cox regression. Median values for light smokers (<10 cigarettes/day) were 60.0 sympton-free days (95% confidence interval (CI) 42.0-78.5) and 4.0 symptomatic days (95% CI 3.0-6.0), respectively, compared with medians of only 21.0 days 95% CI 16.2-29.8) for periods without bronchitis symptoms and 6.0 days (95% CI 4.9-9.0) for episodes of bronchitis symptoms in heavy smokers(≥30 cigarettes/day). The authors suggest that the Markov method is a feasible approach to the assessment of long term effects of smoking and environmental risk factors on the average duration of symptomatic and nonsymptomatic respiratory episodes. Am J Epidemiol 1998;148:600-

Verkehrsmodell-Fallstudien-Editor

Das Unternehmen Senozon AG ist immer wieder mit Fragestellungen wie „Was passiert, wenn diese Strasse gesperrt wird?“ oder „Was wäre, wenn diese Strasse eine andere Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkung hätte?“ konfrontiert. Um diese Fragestellungen zu beantworten, unterhält die Senozon AG ein Modell, das sowohl das Strassennetz als auch privater und öffentlicher Verkehr beinhaltet. Mit Hilfe des Open Source Simulations Framework MATSim kann dieses Modell simuliert werden. Die Arbeit „Verkehrsmodell-Fallstudien-Editor“ behandelt die Entwicklung und Implementation einer Web Applikation, die das interaktive Bearbeiten von Daten eines solchen Verkehrsmodells innerhalb einer Karte ermöglicht. Die grosse Herausforderung dabei ist vor allem der effiziente Umgang mit der grossen Datenmenge. Dafür wird der QuadTile Algorithmus von OpenStreetMap [Ope16b] eingesetzt. Weitere Optimierungen auf Software- wie auch Datenbankseite sind ein wichtiger Teil dieser Arbeit. Die vollendete Implementation stellt eine performante Web Applikation dar, die im Design der Senozon AG erscheint. Änderungen an Strassen können vorgenommen und in einer Datenbank persistiert werden. Dazu wurde ein Konzept entwickelt, welches ermöglicht, die Änderungen abzuspeichern ohne das Stammnetzwerk der Senozon AG anzupassen

Conventional NK cells and tissue-resident ILC1s join forces to control liver metastasis

The liver is a major metastatic target organ, and little is known about the role of immunity in controlling hepatic metastases. Here, we discovered that the concerted and nonredundant action of two innate lymphocyte subpopulations, conventional natural killer cells (cNKs) and tissue-resident type I innate lymphoid cells (trILC1s), is essential for antimetastatic defense. Using different preclinical models for liver metastasis, we found that trILC1 controls metastatic seeding, whereas cNKs restrain outgrowth. Whereas the killing capacity of trILC1s was not affected by the metastatic microenvironment, the phenotype and function of cNK cells were affected in a cancer type-specific fashion. Thus, individual cancer cell lines orchestrate the emergence of unique cNK subsets, which respond differently to tumor-derived factors. Our findings will contribute to the development of therapies for liver metastasis involving hepatic innate cells. Keywords: conventional NK cells; innate lymphocytes; metastatic surveillance; tissue-resident ILC1s