Barriers to the use of a diagnostic oral microbiology laboratory by general dental practitioners

OBJECTIVE: To identify barriers on the use of diagnostic microbiology facilities in general dental practice. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey using a postal questionnaire. SETTING: Primary/secondary care interface between the diagnostic oral microbiology laboratory, University of Glasgow Dental Hospital and School, Glasgow and dental practitioners within the surrounding health boards, 1998. SUBJECTS: All GDPs (797) within Argyll and Clyde, Ayrshire and Arran, Lanarkshire and Greater Glasgow Health Boards. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The responses were expressed as both absolute and relative frequencies. RESULTS: Responses were received from 430 (55%). The most frequent reason for failure to use the service was lack of information, with more than half of the respondents claiming to be unaware of the facility. Lack of request forms and sampling equipment were also viewed as barriers to using the service. CONCLUSIONS: The laboratory is failing to successfully communicate its role in addressing the growing burden of antibiotic resistance in the community and must be more proactive in encouraging appropriate use and increasing accessibility of the service to GDPs

Sparse image reconstruction on the sphere: implications of a new sampling theorem

We study the impact of sampling theorems on the fidelity of sparse image reconstruction on the sphere. We discuss how a reduction in the number of samples required to represent all information content of a band-limited signal acts to improve the fidelity of sparse image reconstruction, through both the dimensionality and sparsity of signals. To demonstrate this result we consider a simple inpainting problem on the sphere and consider images sparse in the magnitude of their gradient. We develop a framework for total variation (TV) inpainting on the sphere, including fast methods to render the inpainting problem computationally feasible at high-resolution. Recently a new sampling theorem on the sphere was developed, reducing the required number of samples by a factor of two for equiangular sampling schemes. Through numerical simulations we verify the enhanced fidelity of sparse image reconstruction due to the more efficient sampling of the sphere provided by the new sampling theorem.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Implications for compressed sensing of a new sampling theorem on the sphere

A sampling theorem on the sphere has been developed recently, requiring half as many samples as alternative equiangular sampling theorems on the sphere. A reduction by a factor of two in the number of samples required to represent a band-limited signal on the sphere exactly has important implications for compressed sensing, both in terms of the dimensionality and sparsity of signals. We illustrate the impact of this property with an inpainting problem on the sphere, where we show the superior reconstruction performance when adopting the new sampling theorem compared to the alternative.Comment: 1 page, 2 figures, Signal Processing with Adaptive Sparse Structured Representations (SPARS) 201

Strength in diversity: enhancing learning in vocationally-orientated, master's level courses

Postgraduate education in geography, especially at the Master’s level, is undergoing significant changes in the developed world. There is an expansion of vocationally-oriented degree programmes, increasing recruitment of international students, integration of work place skills, and the engagement of non-traditional postgraduate students as departments respond to policies for a more ‘inclusive’ higher education. This paper sets the context by outlining some programmatic changes in selected countries (Australia, the UK, and the USA). We briefly reflect on how postgraduate ‘bars’ or ‘levels’ are defined and explore in detail what ‘diversity’ or ‘heterogeneity’ means in these new postgraduate settings. The paper then explores some examples of practice drawn from our own experiences, whilst recognising that relevance will vary in other contexts. Finally we consider how diversity can be harnessed as a strength that has potential to enhance taught elements of contemporary postgraduate education in and beyond the discipline

Metabolite changes in blood predict the onset of tuberculosis

Immunogenetics and cellular immunology of bacterial infectious disease

Temporal trends in recording of diabetes on death certificates: results from Translating Research Into Action for Diabetes (TRIAD)

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency that diabetes is reported on death certificates of decedents with known diabetes and describe trends in reporting over 8 years. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were obtained from 11,927 participants with diabetes who were enrolled in Translating Research into Action for Diabetes, a multicenter prospective observational study of diabetes care in managed care. Data on decedents (N=2,261) were obtained from the National Death Index from 1 January 2000 through 31 December 2007. The primary dependent variables were the presence of the ICD-10 codes for diabetes listed anywhere on the death certificate or as the underlying cause of death. RESULTS: Diabetes was recorded on 41% of death certificates and as the underlying cause of death for 13% of decedents with diabetes. Diabetes was significantly more likely to be reported on the death certificate of decedents dying of cardiovascular disease than all other causes. There was a statistically significant trend of increased reporting of diabetes as the underlying cause of death over time (P<0.001), which persisted after controlling for duration of diabetes at death. The increase in reporting of diabetes as the underlying cause of death was associated with a decrease in the reporting of cardiovascular disease as the underlying cause of death (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Death certificates continue to underestimate the prevalence of diabetes among decedents. The increase in reporting of diabetes as the underlying cause of death over the past 8 years will likely impact estimates of the burden of diabetes in the U.S

Instability of reconstruction of the low CMB multipoles

We discuss the problem of the bias of the Internal Linear Combination (ILC) CMB map and show that it is closely related to the coefficient of cross-correlation K(l) of the true CMB and the foreground for each multipole l. We present analysis of the cross-correlation for the WMAP ILC quadrupole and octupole from the first (ILC(I)) and the third (ILC(III)) year data releases and show that these correlations are about -0.52-0.6. Analysing 10^4 Monte Carlo simulations of the random Gaussian CMB signals, we show that the distribution function for the corresponding coefficient of the cross-correlation has a polynomial shape P(K,l)\propto(1-K^2)^(l-1). We show that the most probable value of the cross-correlation coefficient of the ILC and foreground quadrupole has two extrema at K ~= +/-0.58$. Thus, the ILC(III) quadrupole represents the most probable value of the coefficient K. We analyze the problem of debiasing of the ILC CMB and pointed out that reconstruction of the bias seems to be very problematic due to statistical uncertainties. In addition, instability of the debiasing illuminates itself for the quadrupole and octupole components through the flip-effect, when the even (l+m) modes can be reconstructed with significant error. This error manifests itself as opposite, in respect to the true sign of even low multipole modes, and leads to significant changes of the coefficient of cross-correlation with the foreground. We show that the CMB realizations, whose the sign of quadrupole (2,0) component is negative (and the same, as for all the foregrounds), the corresponding probability to get the positive sign after implementation of the ILC method is about 40%.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Position-Dependent Correlation Function of Weak Lensing Convergence

We provide a systematic study of the position-dependent correlation function in weak lensing convergence maps and its relation to the squeezed limit of the three-point correlation function (3PCF) using state-of-the-art numerical simulations. We relate the position-dependent correlation function to its harmonic counterpart, i.e., the position-dependent power spectrum or equivalently the integrated bispectrum. We use a recently proposed improved fitting function, BiHalofit, for the bispectrum to compute the theoretical predictions as a function of source redshifts. In addition to low redshift results ($z_s=1.0-2.0$) we also provide results for maps inferred from lensing of the cosmic microwave background, i.e., $z_s=1100$. We include a {\em Euclid}-type realistic survey mask and noise. In agreement with the recent studies on the position-dependent power spectrum, we find that the results from simulations are consistent with the theoretical expectations when appropriate corrections are included.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure