Getting podiatry research off the ground

Few studies have investigated the outcomes of chiropody treatment, especially in a large community sample. There is an increasing need for research in this field. Podiatrists and other professionals allied to medicine need the evidence from research to back up their opinions within health care. Collaboration between clinicians and higher education is critical for success

Improving epidemiologic data analyses through multivariate regression modelling

Regression modelling is one of the most widely utilized approaches in epidemiological analyses. It provides a method of identifying statistical associations, from which potential causal associations relevant to disease control may then be investigated. Multivariable regression – a single dependent variable (outcome, usually disease) with multiple independent variables (predictors) – has long been the standard model. Generalizing multivariable regression to multivariate regression – all variables potentially statistically dependent – offers a far richer modelling framework. Through a series of simple illustrative examples we compare and contrast these approaches. The technical methodology used to implement multivariate regression is well established – Bayesian network structure discovery – and while a relative newcomer to the epidemiological literature has a long history in computing science. Applications of multivariate analysis in epidemiological studies can provide a greater understanding of disease processes at the population level, leading to the design of better disease control and prevention programs

Suetonius and Vespasian's humour

Suetonius, in his Vita of Vespasian, gives considerable prominence to Vespasian's wit and humour as a part of that emperor's character and method of dealing with people. The picture that emerges is of an educated man, well versed in the Greek language and literature and capable of witty improvisation in that language. At the same time, his penchant for clever but coarse jokes and his use of down-to-earth humour in his 'unseemly' money-making activities are indicative of his nonaristocratic, bourgeois origins. His idealised Republican prototype and model might well be the Elder Cato