Effect of a new motorway on social-spatial patterning of road traffic accidents: a retrospective longitudinal natural experimental study

Background: The World Health Organisation reports that road traffic accidents (accidents) could become the seventh leading cause of death globally by 2030. Accidents often occur in spatial clusters and, generally, there are more accidents in less advantaged areas. Infrastructure changes, such as new roads, can affect the locations and magnitude of accident clusters but evidence of impact is lacking. A new 5-mile motorway extension was opened in 2011 in Glasgow, Scotland. Previous research found no impact on the number of accidents but did not consider their spatial location or socio-economic setting. We evaluated impacts on these, both locally and city-wide. Methods: We used STATS19 data covering the period 2008 to 2014 and describing the location and details of all reported accidents involving a personal injury. Poisson-based continuous scan statistics were used to detect spatial clusters of accidents and any change in these over time. Change in the socio-economic distribution of accident cluster locations during the study period was also assessed. Results: In each year accidents were strongly clustered, with statistically significant clusters more likely to occur in socio-economically deprived areas. There was no significant shift in the magnitude or location of accident clusters during motorway construction or following opening, either locally or city-wide. There was also no impact on the socio-economic patterning of accident cluster locations. Conclusions: Although urban infrastructure changes occur constantly, all around the world, this is the first study to evaluate the impact of such changes on road accident clusters. Despite expectations to the contrary from both proponents and opponents of the M74 extension, we found no beneficial or adverse change in the socio-spatial distribution of accidents associated with its construction, opening or operation. Our approach and findings can help inform urban planning internationallyThis study was funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme (project number 11/3005/07: see http://www.nets.nihr.ac. uk/projects/phr/11300507). This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR PHR programme or the Department of Health. The researchers were independent of the funders; the funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript. JO, RM and DO are also funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) as part of the Neighbourhoods and Communities Programme (MC_UU_12017/8) of the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Research Unit and the Physical Activity and Public Health Programme (MC_UU_12015/6) of the MRC Epidemiology Unit

The Open-Source Neuroimaging Research Enterprise

While brain imaging in the clinical setting is largely a practice of looking at images, research neuroimaging is a quantitative and integrative enterprise. Images are run through complex batteries of processing and analysis routines to generate numeric measures of brain characteristics. Other measures potentially related to brain function – demographics, genetics, behavioral tests, neuropsychological tests – are key components of most research studies. The canonical scanner – PACS – viewing station axis used in clinical practice is therefore inadequate for supporting neuroimaging research. Here, we model the neuroimaging research enterprise as a workflow. The principal components of the workflow include data acquisition, data archiving, data processing and analysis, and data utilization. We also describe a set of open-source applications to support each step of the workflow and the transitions between these steps. These applications include DIGITAL IMAGING AND COMMUNICATIONS IN MEDICINE viewing and storage tools, the EXTENSIBLE NEUROIMAGING ARCHIVE TOOLKIT data archiving and exploration platform, and an engine for running processing/analysis pipelines. The overall picture presented is aimed to motivate open-source developers to identify key integration and communication points for interoperating with complimentary applications

Transcriptome pathways unique to dehydration tolerant relatives of modern wheat

Among abiotic stressors, drought is a major factor responsible for dramatic yield loss in agriculture. In order to reveal differences in global expression profiles of drought tolerant and sensitive wild emmer wheat genotypes, a previously deployed shock-like dehydration process was utilized to compare transcriptomes at two time points in root and leaf tissues using the Affymetrix GeneChip(R) Wheat Genome Array hybridization. The comparison of transcriptomes reveal several unique genes or expression patterns such as differential usage of IP(3)-dependent signal transduction pathways, ethylene- and abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent signaling, and preferential or faster induction of ABA-dependent transcription factors by the tolerant genotype that distinguish contrasting genotypes indicative of distinctive stress response pathways. The data also show that wild emmer wheat is capable of engaging known drought stress responsive mechanisms. The global comparison of transcriptomes in the absence of and after dehydration underlined the gene networks especially in root tissues that may have been lost in the selection processes generating modern bread wheats

Dynamic Locomotor Capabilities Revealed by Early Dinosaur Trackmakers from Southern Africa

BACKGROUND: A new investigation of the sedimentology and ichnology of the Early Jurassic Moyeni tracksite in Lesotho, southern Africa has yielded new insights into the behavior and locomotor dynamics of early dinosaurs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The tracksite is an ancient point bar preserving a heterogeneous substrate of varied consistency and inclination that includes a ripple-marked riverbed, a bar slope, and a stable algal-matted bar top surface. Several basal ornithischian dinosaurs and a single theropod dinosaur crossed its surface within days or perhaps weeks of one another, but responded to substrate heterogeneity differently. Whereas the theropod trackmaker accommodated sloping and slippery surfaces by gripping the substrate with its pedal claws, the basal ornithischian trackmakers adjusted to the terrain by changing between quadrupedal and bipedal stance, wide and narrow gauge limb support (abduction range = 31 degrees ), and plantigrade and digitigrade foot posture. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The locomotor adjustments coincide with changes in substrate consistency along the trackway and appear to reflect 'real time' responses to a complex terrain. It is proposed that these responses foreshadow important locomotor transformations characterizing the later evolution of the two main dinosaur lineages. Ornithischians, which shifted from bipedal to quadrupedal posture at least three times in their evolutionary history, are shown to have been capable of adopting both postures early in their evolutionary history. The substrate-gripping behavior demonstrated by the early theropod, in turn, is consistent with the hypothesized function of pedal claws in bird ancestors

Dental practice satisfaction with preferred provider organizations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite their increasing share of the dental insurance market, little is known about dental practices' satisfaction with preferred provider organizations (PPOs). This analysis examined practice satisfaction with dental PPOs and the extent to which satisfaction was a function of communications from the plan, claims handling and compensation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data were collected through telephone surveys with dental practices affiliated with MetLife between January 2002 and December 2004. Each respondent was asked a series of questions related to their satisfaction with a systematically selected PPO with which they were affiliated. Six different PPO plans had sufficient observations to allow for comparative analysis (total n = 4582). Multiple imputation procedures were used to adjust for item non-response.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>While the average level of overall satisfaction with the target plan fell between "very satisfied" and "satisfied," regression models revealed substantial differences in overall satisfaction across the 6 PPOs (p < .05). Statistically significant differences between plans in overall satisfaction were largely explained by differences in the perceived adequacy of compensation. However, differences in overall satisfaction involving two of the PPOs were also driven by satisfaction with claims handling.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Results demonstrate the importance of compensation to dental practice satisfaction with PPOs. However, these results also highlight the critical role of service-related factors in differentiating plans and suggest that there are important non-monetary dimensions of PPO performance that can be used to recruit and retain practices.</p

Scalar and vector Slepian functions, spherical signal estimation and spectral analysis

It is a well-known fact that mathematical functions that are timelimited (or spacelimited) cannot be simultaneously bandlimited (in frequency). Yet the finite precision of measurement and computation unavoidably bandlimits our observation and modeling scientific data, and we often only have access to, or are only interested in, a study area that is temporally or spatially bounded. In the geosciences we may be interested in spectrally modeling a time series defined only on a certain interval, or we may want to characterize a specific geographical area observed using an effectively bandlimited measurement device. It is clear that analyzing and representing scientific data of this kind will be facilitated if a basis of functions can be found that are "spatiospectrally" concentrated, i.e. "localized" in both domains at the same time. Here, we give a theoretical overview of one particular approach to this "concentration" problem, as originally proposed for time series by Slepian and coworkers, in the 1960s. We show how this framework leads to practical algorithms and statistically performant methods for the analysis of signals and their power spectra in one and two dimensions, and, particularly for applications in the geosciences, for scalar and vectorial signals defined on the surface of a unit sphere.Comment: Submitted to the 2nd Edition of the Handbook of Geomathematics, edited by Willi Freeden, Zuhair M. Nashed and Thomas Sonar, and to be published by Springer Verlag. This is a slightly modified but expanded version of the paper arxiv:0909.5368 that appeared in the 1st Edition of the Handbook, when it was called: Slepian functions and their use in signal estimation and spectral analysi

A probit- log- skew-normal mixture model for repeated measures data with excess zeros, with application to a cohort study of paediatric respiratory symptoms

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A zero-inflated continuous outcome is characterized by occurrence of "excess" zeros that more than a single distribution can explain, with the positive observations forming a skewed distribution. Mixture models are employed for regression analysis of zero-inflated data. Moreover, for repeated measures zero-inflated data the clustering structure should also be modeled for an adequate analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Diary of Asthma and Viral Infections Study (DAVIS) was a one year (2004) cohort study conducted at McMaster University to monitor viral infection and respiratory symptoms in children aged 5-11 years with and without asthma. Respiratory symptoms were recorded daily using either an Internet or paper-based diary. Changes in symptoms were assessed by study staff and led to collection of nasal fluid specimens for virological testing. The study objectives included investigating the response of respiratory symptoms to respiratory viral infection in children with and without asthma over a one year period. Due to sparse data daily respiratory symptom scores were aggregated into weekly average scores. More than 70% of the weekly average scores were zero, with the positive scores forming a skewed distribution. We propose a random effects probit/log-skew-normal mixture model to analyze the DAVIS data. The model parameters were estimated using a maximum marginal likelihood approach. A simulation study was conducted to assess the performance of the proposed mixture model if the underlying distribution of the positive response is different from log-skew normal.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Viral infection status was highly significant in both probit and log-skew normal model components respectively. The probability of being symptom free was much lower for the week a child was viral positive relative to the week she/he was viral negative. The severity of the symptoms was also greater for the week a child was viral positive. The probability of being symptom free was smaller for asthmatics relative to non-asthmatics throughout the year, whereas there was no difference in the <it>severity </it>of the symptoms between the two groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A positive association was observed between viral infection status and both the probability of experiencing any respiratory symptoms, and their severity during the year. For DAVIS data the random effects probit -log skew normal model fits significantly better than the random effects probit -log normal model, endorsing our parametric choice for the model. The simulation study indicates that our proposed model seems to be robust to misspecification of the distribution of the positive skewed response.</p

Long-acting formulations for the treatment of latent tuberculous infection: opportunities and challenges

Long-acting/extended-release drug formulations have proved very successful in diverse areas of medicine, including contraception, psychiatry and, most recently, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. Though challenging, application of this technology to anti-tuberculosis treatment could have substantial impact. The duration of treatment required for all forms of tuberculosis (TB) put existing regimens at risk of failure because of early discontinuations and treatment loss to follow-up. Long-acting injections, for example, administered every month, could improve patient adherence and treatment outcomes. We review the state of the science for potential long-acting formulations of existing tuberculosis drugs, and propose a target product profile for new formulations to treat latent tuberculous infection (LTBI). The physicochemical properties of some anti-tuberculosis drugs make them unsuitable for long-acting formulation, but there are promising candidates that have been identified through modeling and simulation, as well as other novel agents and formulations in preclinical testing. An efficacious long-acting treatment for LTBI, particularly for those co-infected with HIV, and if coupled with a biomarker to target those at highest risk for disease progression, would be an important tool to accelerate progress towards TB elimination