Comparing administrative and survey data for ascertaining cases of irritable bowel syndrome: a population-based investigation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Administrative and survey data are two key data sources for population-based research about chronic disease. The objectives of this methodological paper are to: (1) estimate agreement between the two data sources for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and compare the results to those for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); (2) compare the frequency of IBS-related diagnoses in administrative data for survey respondents with and without self-reported IBS, and (3) estimate IBS prevalence from both sources.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This retrospective cohort study used linked administrative and health survey data for 5,134 adults from the province of Manitoba, Canada. Diagnoses in hospital and physician administrative data were investigated for respondents with self-reported IBS, IBD, and no bowel disorder. Agreement between survey and administrative data was estimated using the κ statistic. The χ²statistic tested the association between the frequency of IBS-related diagnoses and self-reported IBS. Crude, sex-specific, and age-specific IBS prevalence estimates were calculated from both sources.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 3.0% of the cohort had self-reported IBS, 0.8% had self-reported IBD, and 95.3% reported no bowel disorder. Agreement was poor to fair for IBS and substantially higher for IBD. The most frequent IBS-related diagnoses among the cohort were anxiety disorders (34.4%), symptoms of the abdomen and pelvis (26.9%), and diverticulitis of the intestine (10.6%). Crude IBS prevalence estimates from both sources were lower than those reported previously.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Poor agreement between administrative and survey data for IBS may account for differences in the results of health services and outcomes research using these sources. Further research is needed to identify the optimal method(s) to ascertain IBS cases in both data sources.</p

Factors that could explain the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes among adults in a Canadian province: a critical review and analysis

Abstract: Background: The prevalence of diabetes has increased since the last decade in New Brunswick. Identifying factors contributing to the increase in diabetes prevalence will help inform an action plan to manage the condition. The objective was to describe factors that could explain the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in New Brunswick since 2001. Methods: A critical literature review was conducted to identify factors potentially responsible for an increase in prevalence of diabetes. Data from various sources were obtained to draw a repeated cross-sectional (2001–2014) description of these factors concurrently with changes in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in New Brunswick. Linear regressions, Poisson regressions and Cochran Armitage analysis were used to describe relationships between these factors and time. Results: Factors identified in the review were summarized in five categories: individual-level risk factors, environmental risk factors, evolution of the disease, detection effect and global changes. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has increased by 120% between 2001 and 2014. The prevalence of obesity, hypertension, prediabetes, alcohol consumption, immigration and urbanization increased during the study period and the consumption of fruits and vegetables decreased which could represent potential factors of the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Physical activity, smoking, socioeconomic status and education did not present trends that could explain the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes. During the study period, the mortality rate and the conversion rate from prediabetes to diabetes decreased and the incidence rate increased. Suggestion of a detection effect was also present as the number of people tested increased while the HbA1c and the age at detection decreased. Period and birth cohort effect were also noted through a rise in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes across all age groups, but greater increases were observed among the younger cohorts. Conclusions: This study presents a comprehensive overview of factors potentially responsible for population level changes in prevalence of type 2 diabetes. Recent increases in type 2 diabetes in New Brunswick may be attributable to a combination of some individual-level and environmental risk factors, the detection effect, the evolution of the disease and global changes

Intense paramagnon excitations in a large family of high-temperature superconductors

In the search for the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, intense research has been focused on the evolution of the spin excitation spectrum upon doping from the antiferromagnetic insulating to the superconducting states of the cuprates. Because of technical limitations, the experimental investigation of doped cuprates has been largely focused on low-energy excitations in a small range of momentum space. Here we use resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to show that a large family of superconductors, encompassing underdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_4$O$_8$ and overdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7}$, exhibits damped spin excitations (paramagnons) with dispersions and spectral weights closely similar to those of magnons in undoped cuprates. %The results are in excellent agreement with the spin excitations obtained by exact diagonalization of the $\bf t-J$ Hamiltonian on finite-sized clusters. The comprehensive experimental description of this surprisingly simple spectrum permits quantitative tests of magnetic Cooper pairing models. A numerical solution of the Eliashberg equations for the magnetic spectrum of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7}$ reproduces its superconducting transition temperature within a factor of two, a level of agreement comparable to Eliashberg theories of conventional superconductors.Comment: Main text (11 pages, 4 figures) + supplementary information (4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table). An updated version will appear in Nature Physic

Variant G57E of Mannose Binding Lectin Associated with Protection against Tuberculosis Caused by Mycobacterium africanum but not by M. tuberculosis

Structural variants of the Mannose Binding Lectin (MBL) cause quantitative and qualitative functional deficiencies, which are associated with various patterns of susceptibility to infectious diseases and other disorders. We determined genetic MBL variants in 2010 Ghanaian patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and 2346 controls and characterized the mycobacterial isolates of the patients. Assuming a recessive mode of inheritance, we found a protective association between TB and the MBL2 G57E variant (odds ratio 0.60, confidence interval 0.4–0.9, P 0.008) and the corresponding LYQC haplotype (Pcorrected 0.007) which applied, however, only to TB caused by M. africanum but not to TB caused by M. tuberculosis. In vitro, M. africanum isolates bound recombinant human MBL more efficiently than did isolates of M. tuberculosis. We conclude that MBL binding may facilitate the uptake of M. africanum by macrophages, thereby promoting infection and that selection by TB may have favoured the spread of functional MBL deficiencies in regions endemic for M. africanum

The calcium channel β2 (CACNB2) subunit repertoire in teleosts

© 2008 Ebert et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

This is the final version. Available on open access from the American Association for the Advancement of Science via the DOI in this recordData and materials availability: Processed data and code used in the analysis are accessible from the Zenodo Repository: 10.5281/zenodo.6885455Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements.Bertarelli FoundationResearch EnglandMoore FoundationPackard FoundationInstituto Politecnico NacionalDarwin InitiativeGeorgia AquariumRolex Awards for EnterpriseWhitley Fund for Natur