Oesophageal atresia: prevalence, prenatal diagnosis and associated anomalies in 23 European regions

Objective To describe prevalence, prenatal diagnosis and epidemiological data on oesophageal atresia from 23 well-defined European regions and compare the prevalence between these regions. Design Population-based study using data from a large European database for surveillance of congenital anomalies (EUROCAT) for two decades (1987-2006). Settings Twenty-three participating registries based on multiple sources of information including information about live births, fetal deaths with gestational age &#8805;20 weeks and terminations of pregnancy. Patients 1222 cases of oesophageal atresia in a population of 5 019 804 births. Results The overall prevalence was 2.43 cases per 10 000 births (95% CI 2.30 to 2.57). There were regional differences in prevalence ranging from 1.27 to 4.55. Prenatal detection rates varied by registry from >50% of cases to <10% of cases. A total of 546 cases (44.7%) had an isolated oesophageal anomaly, 386 (31.6%) were multiple malformed and 290 (23.7%) had an association or a syndrome. There were 1084 live born cases (88.7%), 43 cases were fetal deaths and 95 cases were terminations of pregnancy. One-week survival for live births was 86.9% and 99.2% if the gestational age was &#8805;38 weeks and isolated oesophageal atresia was present. Males accounted for 57.3% of all cases and 38.5% of live born cases were born with gestational age <37 weeks. Conclusion There were regional differences in prevalence of oesophageal atresia in Europe. Half of all cases had associated anomalies. Prenatal detection rate increased from 26% to 36.5% over the two decades. Survival in infants with isolated oesophageal atresia born at term is hig

Major Congenital Anomalies in Babies Born With Down Syndrome: A EUROCAT Population-Based Registry Study

Previous studies have shown that over 40% of babies with Down syndrome have a major cardiac anomaly and are more likely to have other major congenital anomalies. Since 2000, many countries in Europe have introduced national antenatal screening programs for Down syndrome. This study aimed to determine if the introduction of these screening programs and the subsequent termination of prenatally detected pregnancies were associated with any decline in the prevalence of additional anomalies in babies born with Down syndrome. The study sample consisted of 7,044 live births and fetal deaths with Down syndrome registered in 28 European population-based congenital anomaly registries covering seven million births during 2000-2010. Overall, 43.6% (95% CI: 42.4-44.7%) of births with Down syndrome had a cardiac anomaly and 15.0% (14.2-15.8%) had a non-cardiac anomaly. Female babies with Down syndrome were significantly more likely to have a cardiac anomaly compared to male babies (47.6% compared with 40.4%, P&#8201;<&#8201;0.001) and significantly less likely to have a non-cardiac anomaly (12.9% compared with 16.7%, P&#8201;<&#8201;0.001). The prevalence of cardiac and non-cardiac congenital anomalies in babies with Down syndrome has remained constant, suggesting that population screening for Down syndrome and subsequent terminations has not influenced the prevalence of specific congenital anomalies in these babies.

Travel to work in Dublin. The potential impacts of electric vehicles on climate change and urban air quality

The Irish government has outlined plans for 10% of the national road fleet to be powered by electricity by 2020. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential reduction in road traffic related emissions due to commuting in the Greater Dublin Area under different electric vehicle market penetration scenarios. The results indicate that the introduction of electric vehicles offers the potential for reductions in all road traffic related emissions. However, the time required for electric vehicles to acquire a significant share of the fleet, suggests that they will have a limited impact on climate change and urban air quality for at least the next decade

European Transport Conference: 2007: Leeuwenhorst, The Netherlands

peer-reviewedRural single carriageways in Ireland tend to fall below current design standards and have higher accidents rates (per vehicle kilometre) than roads designed to modern standards. Resources are not available to improve all rural single carriageways; therfore sections need to be identified as priority sections for improvement. Geometric design consistency studies can be used to identify inconsistent sections on highways, which can then be targeted for improvement. No geometric data exists for rural single carriageways in Ireland. A method of estimating geometric data from digital maps was implemented on some 70km of highways. 19 curves and 19 tangents were then selected to represent the overall geometric makeup of the highway. Numerous geometric indices were measured on site. A spot speed survey was conducted at the midpoint of each tangent and curve and operating speed was calculated for each site. The spot speed survey is used to estimate the operating speed on straights (tangents). An operating speed model is used to estimate the operating speed on curves. Using these estimated operating speeds a sample geometric design consistency evaluation is carried out. Elements were classified as good, fair or poor using a design evaluation criterion. An accident database for the N52 was obtained. Accidents that occurred on the N52 and were possibly caused by the road alignment were extracted from the database. 53 accidents at 40 locations were observed. 19 of these accidents occurred in locations that were classified good, 8 accidents occurred in locations classified fair and 13 accidents occurred in locations classified as poor. A relationship exists between geometric design consistency and safety. Of the 40 locations which had accidents over the 8 year period from 1999 ? 2005, 13 of these locations were detected as needing realignment by the geometric design consistency evaluation. A geometric design evaluation can be used to pin point locations on highways where accidents could conceivable be higher. Improvement works and resources can therefore be concentrated on these sections and hence rural single carriageways can be made safer

Procs of 87th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board

Public transport systems are at risk from attacks as they are open, dynamic systems carrying large numbers of people. Although attacks have been carried out on public transport since the 1920?s, the nature of attacks has changed in recent years and the objective of many terrorist attacks is to cause large number of casualties and create major disruptions on the network. The research examines the risk from such an attack on the bus network in Dublin. As part of the research, a framework was developed which can be used to calculate risk using a number of factors which were chosen to take into account the attractiveness of the target, the overall threat and the level of disruption caused. The factors were grouped into static factors (factors that remain largely unchanged) and dynamic factors (factors which change due to further factors such as time). These factors were weighted using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Eleven bus routes throughout Dublin were chosen and were analysed under five different scenarios. The research concluded that rush hour and when the buses are operating at high load factors are particularly high risk situations but in off-peak hours the number of possible targets on a route may still mean the risk is relatively high during those times. Limited options are available to mitigate those risks although rerouting during periods of medium to high alert offers some possibility of offsetting the risks of attack

Examining the Factors that Impact upon Public Transport Commuting Stress

The first objective of this research was to examine the level of stress caused by commuting into Dublin city centre. The second objective was to determine the value placed on the comfort and reliability of public transport services. An on-line survey of workers who commute daily into Dublin city centre was conducted, which collected data on the respondents? typical commute, commute-related stress, and socio-economic background. Commute satisfaction levels among public transport users were found to decrease for those who travel on crowded or unreliable services and those who have long wait-times. Stated preference scenarios relating to crowding and reliability were analysed using a multinomial logit model. The model showed that utility derived increases as crowding decreases and as reliability increases

Annual Meeting of theTransportation Research Board: 84th: Washington, D.C.: 2005

peer-reviewedOver the past number of years infrastructural development has been a major concern in Ireland. The economic upturn of the country has required significant developments in this area in order to maintain the financial position the country now finds itself in. The Irish Government has acknowledged that the lack of infrastructure, particularly public transport, is creating a serious congestion problem. At an urban level, two lines of a Light Rail Transit (LRT) System have been introduced into Dublin this year. They were funded from the European Union (EU) and government funds. An extension of one of the LRT lines is currently at procurement stage and the paper uses the Tsamboulos method to assess if it is likely to be attractive to private finance. It was found that investors are likely to be very averse to planning risk but are less worried about financial and construction risks

88th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board

This paper presents the results of a survey which was conducted on an Irish Rail service to ascertain how the value of travel time may change if individuals could partake in another activity while travelling. The survey included a stated preference section which uses a multinomial logit (MNL) model to estimate the benefits individuals would derive from having access to the internet while they travel on public transport. In the survey, respondents were asked would they rather have wi-fi internet access throughout the train or in segregated wi-fi carriage. The results from this study show that multi-tasking while travelling by rail is extremely common, with the majority of respondents participating in two or more activities. The most frequent form of multi-tasking was the use of a mobile phone. This study examined the potential for wi-fi internet access while travelling by public transport. The results found that approximately two thirds of respondents said if wi-fi internet access was available they would use it once or more every week

Travel behaviour and transportation needs of the disabled: case study of some categories of disability in Dublin, Ireland

peer-reviewedThe arguments in defence of poor attention to those with disabilities in terms of offering equal opportunities to transportation options tend to centre on the high cost of provision or improvement in facilities. The paper examines the current quality of service on a variety of modes and mode ancillaries such as stations and stops as determined by individuals with disabilities. This is followed by an examination of the measures required by the disabled to improve the quality of service. The evaluations are done with 4 types of disability groups and although the samples of individuals involved are small, the findings are incisive and clear. The improvement measures discussed fall into two categories; those that are costly and those that are more to do with a little more consideration being given on the part of the transportation operator when locating, for example, timetables at a lower level at bus stops to facilitate wheel chair users or announcing stops as buses approach them. Low cost solutions it would seem, in a lot of cases, could be considered marginal changes to work practices or decision making but the impact they could have on quality of service indicators for the disabled, such as accessibility, would be considerable