Descriptive epidemiology of somatising tendency: findings from the CUPID study.

Somatising tendency, defined as a predisposition to worry about common somatic symptoms, is importantly associated with various aspects of health and health-related behaviour, including musculoskeletal pain and associated disability. To explore its epidemiological characteristics, and how it can be specified most efficiently, we analysed data from an international longitudinal study. A baseline questionnaire, which included questions from the Brief Symptom Inventory about seven common symptoms, was completed by 12,072 participants aged 20-59 from 46 occupational groups in 18 countries (response rate 70%). The seven symptoms were all mutually associated (odds ratios for pairwise associations 3.4 to 9.3), and each contributed to a measure of somatising tendency that exhibited an exposure-response relationship both with multi-site pain (prevalence rate ratios up to six), and also with sickness absence for non-musculoskeletal reasons. In most participants, the level of somatising tendency was little changed when reassessed after a mean interval of 14 months (75% having a change of 0 or 1 in their symptom count), although the specific symptoms reported at follow-up often differed from those at baseline. Somatising tendency was more common in women than men, especially at older ages, and varied markedly across the 46 occupational groups studied, with higher rates in South and Central America. It was weakly associated with smoking, but not with level of education. Our study supports the use of questions from the Brief Symptom Inventory as a method for measuring somatising tendency, and suggests that in adults of working age, it is a fairly stable trait

OWL 2 learn profile : an ontology sublanguage for the learning domain

Many experimental ontologies have been developed for the learning domain for use at different institutions. These ontologies include different OWL/OWL 2 (Web Ontology Language) constructors. However, it is not clear which OWL 2 constructors are the most appropriate ones for designing ontologies for the learning domain. It is possible that the constructors used in these learning domain ontologies match one of the three standard OWL 2 profiles (sublanguages). To investigate whether this is the case, we have analysed a corpus of 14 ontologies designed for the learning domain. We have also compared the constructors used in these ontologies with those of the OWL 2 RL profile, one of the OWL 2 standard profiles. The results of our analysis suggest that the OWL 2 constructors used in these ontologies do not exactly match the standard OWL 2 RL profile, but form a subset of that profile which we call OWL 2 Learn.24 page(s

Towards an OWL 2 profile for defining learning ontologies

Many OWL ontologies for the learning and education domain have been reported in the literature. The preliminary analysis of those ontologies shows that they use similar constructors and axioms but they do not seem to be following a particular or common fragment (profile) of the OWL language. We analyzed a corpus of 10 representative learning and educational ontologies in order to identify the usage patterns of OWL constructors in those ontologies. Based on our findings and considering the fact that OWL is superseded by OWL 2, we propose OWL 2 Learn, a profile of OWL 2 that is expressive enough for specifying all those ontologies in our corpus with minor modifications. This profile can offer guidance on selecting appropriate constructors for developing an OWL 2 ontology for the learning and education domain.3 page(s

An Adaptive learning system using plug and play ontologies

The terminology used by a particular educational institution is usually specific to that institution. Therefore, it is not possible to directly deploy a learning system that has been developed for one institution at another institution. Semantic interoperability among learning systems has been proposed as a solution to overcome terminological and structural differences. However, semantic interoperability is difficult to achieve in an educational environment since it requires a common ontology that is based on a shared understanding of the learning domain. To circumvent this problem, we introduce an adaptive learning system that relies on a domain-specific ontology that can be plugged into the learning system. In order to demonstrate the plug and play architecture of our system and its reasoning services, we compare two instances of the learning system we have created: one for Macquarie University and one for Charles Sturt University. We show how user queries can be answered over the domain-specific ontology at each institution using a description logic reasoner.6 page(s

First Evidence from Sri Lanka for Subphenotypic Diversity within L. donovani-Induced Classical Cutaneous Leishmaniasis

Sri Lanka reports a large focus of Leishmania donovani-induced cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) with CL as the main clinical entity. Two independent, long existed, and clinicoepidemiologically different transmission foci in the northern region (NR) and southern region (SR) were recently reported. Current project is an extension to this previous study. Clinical diversity within a profile of classical cutaneous leishmaniasis (CCL) in a focus of L. donovani-induced CL is described for the first time. Patients with laboratory confirmed CCL (n=550) from NF and SF were evaluated. Lesions in both foci were found to have all classical developmental stages (small and large nodules, ulcerating nodules, and ulcers) and other identified changes (multiplication, ulceration, and enlargement). Main difference was in the proportions of lesions progressing in to each different stages, proportions of lesion undergoing the main changes, and in timing of these changes during the course of a lesion. Northern focus reported a smaller proportion of lesions showing enlargement and ulceration, and a longer period of time was also required for these changes when compared to same in southern focus. In northern focus, most lesions remained small and nonulcerating and showed a higher tendency to multiply while most lesions reported in southern focus enlarged and ulcerated rapidly and remained single. Current study also evidenced a wider spectrum in the rate and pattern of progression of a skin lesion and high individual variation which could mask these region-based differences. Parasitic, vector-related, or a host etiology is suggested. Slow progressing nonulcerating infections in North may be the result of a well-adopted parasite strain that coevolved with its host for a long period while inducing only a minimal host response. This could be one among many reasons for previously observed silent expansion in northern focus while southern focus remained more confined and stable over time. Small nonprogressive, nondisturbing lesions can play a major role as silent parasite reservoirs in a community. In addition, the laboratory detection rate declined significantly when lesions multiplied and enlarged indicating the need for early laboratory confirmation. Usefulness of identified features in clinical screening and management needs to be considered

The response to Typhi Vi vaccination is compromised in individuals with primary immunodeficiency

Measurement of an individuals ability to respond to polysaccharide antigens is a crucial test to determine adaptive immunity. Currently the response to Pneumovax® is utilized but with the success of Prevnar®, measurement of the response to Pneumovax may be challenging. The aim of the study was to assess the response to Typhi Vi vaccination in both children and adult control groups and patients with primary immunodeficiency (PID). In the control groups, >95% of the individuals had pre Typhi Vi vaccination concentrations 94% achieving ≥3 fold increase in concentration (FI). The response to Typhi Vi vaccination was significantly lower in both children (p = 0.006) and adult (p = 0.002) PID groups when compared to their control groups. 11% and 55% of the children and adult PID groups respectively did not obtain a response >3FI. There were no significant differences between the responses obtained in the children and adult PID groups. When all individuals with PID were separated into those with either hypogammaglobulinemia (HYPO) or common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), both groups had a significantly lower median FI than the control group (19, 95%CI 5–56 vs 59, 95%CI 7–237; p = 0.01 and 1, 95%CI 1–56 vs 32, 95%CI 5–136; p = 0.005). Further, a >3FI differentiated the antibody responses between both the CVID and HYPO groups and their control groups (AUC: 0.83, 95%CI: 0.65–1.00, p = 0.005 and 0.81, 95% CI: 0.65–0.97, p = 0.01). The data suggests that measurement of the response to Typhi Vi vaccination could represent a complementary assay for the assessment of the response to a polysaccharide vaccine