TIFF-Korpus-Analyse

TIFF ist ein flexibles, anpassungsfähiges Dateiformat, das über die Jahre eine Vielzahl von Erweiterungen und Ergänzungen erfahren hat. Daneben bietet es die Möglichkeit, Metadaten in andern Standards (wie IPTC, EXIF oder ICC) einzubetten. Durch diese Flexibilität und Ausprägungen ist TIFF eigentlich als ein komplexes Dateiformat zu betrachten. TIFF ist zurzeit eine offene Spezifikation von Adobe, jedoch kein ISO-Standard. Diese Umstände, die aus archivischer Sicht nicht unbedenklich sind, haben die KOST 2014 bewogen, basierend auf der Baseline-TIFF-Spezifikation eine Empfehlung zu verfassen. Damit eine solche Empfehlung nicht nur auf theoretischen Überlegungen beruht, sondern sich auf eine fundierte Analyse echter archivischer Daten stützen kann, haben es die KOST und das DHLab Basel unternommen, mehrere Millionen Dateien aus drei Archiven systematisch zu untersuchen. Parallel dazu wurden an diesem Korpus auch etliche bekannte und in der Archivwelt verbreitete Analysetools getestet

Structure of the French farm-to-table surveillance system for Salmonella

The French surveillance system for Salmonella is based on a national system which can be traced back to 1947 for human cases and to the late 1980s for the main animal reservoirs. This system has evolved with regard to both European regulations and changes in the observed prevalence of Salmonella. European regulations establish a solid foundation on which to build an active harmonised surveillance system at the production level and for integrating data from the whole food chain. There are also passive surveillance networks in the agri-food and veterinary sectors and these allow complementary information to be obtained from other sectors or sources. The main strengths and weaknesses of these systems are described and a comparison of the different approaches is presented using a grid analysis. The results show that passive systems are very useful for detecting emerging or unusual events and for early warning of outbreaks. They also produce time series of cases or can determine the number of strains that should be used to assess the impact of interventions. Active surveillance data, due to their representativeness and reliability, are key elements in the application of risk analysis tools such as quantitative risk assessment or attribution. Thus, although data is collected and analysed by various organisations, these organisations all collaborate at a national level. Furthermore, their implication in European and international projects is effective and the main objectives of a surveillance system can be met

Lawsuit and Traumatic Brain Injury: The Relationship Between Long-Lasting Sequelae and Financial Compensation in Litigants. Results From the PariS-TBI Study

Purpose: People with traumatic brain injury are frequently involved in a litigation because another person was at fault for causing the accident. A compensation amount will often be settled to compensate the victim for the past, present, future damages and losses suffered. We report descriptive data about the full and final personal compensation amount and investigated its association with patient's outcomes.Methods: We used a longitudinal prospective study of severe TBI patients injured in 2005–2007 (PariS-TBI). Questions regarding involvement in a litigation were asked concurrently with 4 and 8-year outcomes.Results: Among 160 participants assessed 4 and/or 8 years post-injury, a total of 67 persons declared being involved in a litigation, among which 38 people reported a compensation amount of a mean €292,653 (standard deviation = 436,334; interquartile 25–50–75 = 37,000–100,000–500,000; minimum = 1,500-maximum = 2,000,000). A higher compensation amount was associated with more severe disability and cognitive impairment in patients, and with more informal care time provided by caregivers. However, no significant association related to patient's gender, age, years of education, motor/balance impairment, return to work status, mood and related to caregiver's subjective burden was found.Conclusion: Financial compensation was related to victims' long-term severity of impairment, although some extreme cases with severe disability were granted very poor compensation

Comparison of Patient and Surgeon Expectations of Total Hip Arthroplasty

OBJECTIVES: Analysis of discrepancies between patient and surgeon expectations before total hip arthroplasty (THA) should enable a better understanding of motives of dissatisfaction about surgery, but this question has been seldom studied. Our objectives were to compare surgeons' and patients' expectations before THA, and to study factors which affected surgeon-patient agreement. METHODS: 132 adults (mean age 62.8+/-13.7 years, 52% men) on waiting list for THA in three tertiary care centres and their 16 surgeons were interviewed to assess their expectations using the Hospital for Special Surgery Total Hip Replacement Expectations Survey (range 0-100). Patients' and surgeons' answers were compared, for the total score and for the score of each item. Univariate analyses tested the effect of patients' characteristics on surgeons' and patients' expectations separately, and on surgeon-patient differences. RESULTS: Surgeon and patient expectations' mean scores were high (respectively 90.9+/-11.1 and 90.0+/-11.6 over 100). Surgeons' and patients' expectations showed no systematic difference, but there was little agreement on Bland and Altman graph and correlation coefficient was low. Patients had higher expectations than surgeons for sports. Patients rated their expectations according to trust in physician and mental quality of life, surgeons considered disability. More disabled patients and patients from a low-income professional category were often "more optimistic" than their surgeons. CONCLUSION: Surgeons and patients often do not agree on what to expect from THA. More disabled patients expect better outcomes than their surgeons

Troublesome Heterotopic Ossification after Central Nervous System Damage: A Survey of 570 Surgeries

BACKGROUND: Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a frequent complication after central nervous system (CNS) damage but has seldom been studied. We aimed to investigate features of HO for the first time in a large sample and the rate of early recurrence of HO in terms of the time of surgery. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We retrospectively analyzed data from an anonymous prospective survey of patients undergoing surgery between May 1993 and November 2009 in our institution for troublesome HO related to acquired neurological disease. Demographic and HO characteristics and neurological etiologies were recorded. For 357 consecutive patients, we collected data on 539 first surgeries for HO (129 surgeries for multiple sites). During the follow-up, recurrences requiring another surgery appeared in 31 cases (5.8% [31/539]; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.8%-7.8%; 27 patients). Most HO requiring surgery occurred after traumatic brain injury (199 patients [55.7%]), then spinal cord injury (86 [24.0%]), stroke (42 [11.8%]) and cerebral anoxia (30 [8.6%]). The hip was the primary site of HO (328 [60.9%]), then the elbow (115 [21.3%]), knee (77 [14.3%]) and shoulder (19 [3.5%]). For all patients, 181 of the surgeries were performed within the first year after the CNS damage, without recurrence of HO. Recurrence was not associated with etiology (p = 0.46), sex (p = 1.00), age at CNS damage (p = 0.2), multisite localization (p = 0.34), or delay to surgery (p = 0.7). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In patients with CNS damage, troublesome HO and recurrence occurs most frequently after traumatic brain injury and appears frequently in the hip and elbow. Early surgery for HO is not a factor of recurrence