Practical lessons for winning support for radical transport projects

This paper proposes that while many plans and solutions to the transport problems of the 21st Century have been mooted, very few have succeeded in significantly improving the situation within Europe. It is suggested that many schemes face problems at the project implementation stage due to adverse public and/or political reaction. This paper incorporates a series of vignettes, several of which are based on indepth interviews with practitioners directly involved in the implementation of 'radical'transport schemes from around the world in an attempt to draw lessons as to how they overcame this, not least in terms of how the implementation of alternative strategies by European policy-makers could be shaped and adopted world-wide

The transferability of the low-cost model to long-haul airline operations

Since their emergence in the US in the mid 1970's there has been significant growth in the low-cost airline sector but with a few notable exceptions low-cost airlines have operated on short-haul routes. This paper examines the extent to which the low-cost model is, or could be, applicable to long-haul operations and whether the recent emergence of long-haul low-cost carriers is a sustainable phenomenon. The authors explore the extent to which elements of the so-called low-cost model might be transferable to long-haul operations. The paper seeks to quantify the potential cost differentials that might be achievable on a long-haul service. The paper also speculates as to the development and sustainability of the low-cost long-haul operations

Testing for sexually transmitted infections in a population-based sexual health survey: development of an acceptable ethical approach

Population-based research is enhanced by biological measures, but biological sampling raises complex ethical issues. The third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) will estimate the population prevalence of five sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, human papillomavirus (HPV), HIV and Mycoplasma genitalium) in a probability sample aged 16e44 years. The present work describes the development of an ethical approach to urine testing for STIs, including the process of reaching consensus on whether to return results. The following issues were considered: (1) testing for some STIs that are treatable and for which appropriate settings to obtain free testing and advice are widely available (Natsal-3 provides all respondents with STI and healthcare access information), (2) limits on test accuracy and timeliness imposed by survey conditions and sample type, (3) testing for some STIs with unknown clinical and public health implications, (4) how a uniform approach is easier to explain and understand, (5) practical difficulties in returning results and cost efficiency, such as enabling wider STI testing by not returning results. The agreed approach, to perform voluntary anonymous testing with specific consent for five STIs without returning results, was approved by stakeholders and a research ethics committee. Overall, this was acceptable to respondents in developmental piloting; 61% (68 of 111) of respondents agreed to provide a sample. The experiences reported here may inform the ethical decision making of researchers, research ethics committees and funders considering population-based biological sampling

Automatic annotation of bioinformatics workflows with biomedical ontologies

Legacy scientific workflows, and the services within them, often present scarce and unstructured (i.e. textual) descriptions. This makes it difficult to find, share and reuse them, thus dramatically reducing their value to the community. This paper presents an approach to annotating workflows and their subcomponents with ontology terms, in an attempt to describe these artifacts in a structured way. Despite a dearth of even textual descriptions, we automatically annotated 530 myExperiment bioinformatics-related workflows, including more than 2600 workflow-associated services, with relevant ontological terms. Quantitative evaluation of the Information Content of these terms suggests that, in cases where annotation was possible at all, the annotation quality was comparable to manually curated bioinformatics resources.Comment: 6th International Symposium on Leveraging Applications (ISoLA 2014 conference), 15 pages, 4 figure

Home sampling for sexually transmitted infections and HIV in men who have sex with men: A prospective observational study

To determine uptake of home sampling kit (HSK) for STI/HIV compared to clinic-based testing, whether the availability of HSK would increase STI testing rates amongst HIV infected MSM, and those attending a community-based HIV testing clinic compared to historical control. Prospective observational study in three facilities providing STI/HIV testing services in Brighton, UK was conducted. Adult MSM attending/contacting a GUM clinic requesting an STI screen (group 1), HIV infectedMSM attending routine outpatient clinic (group 2), and MSM attending a community-based rapid HIV testing service (group 3) were eligible. Participants were required to have no symptomatology consistent with STI and known to be immune to hepatitis A and B (group 1). Eligiblemen were offered a HSK to obtain self-collected specimens as an alternative to routine testing. HSK uptake compared to conventional clinicbased STI/HIV testing in group 1, increase in STI testing rates due to availability of HSK compared to historical controls in group 2 and 3, and HSK return rates in all settings were calculated. Among the 128 eligible men in group 1, HSK acceptance was higher (62.5% (95%CI: 53.5-70.9)) compared to GUM clinic-based testing (37.5% (95% CI: 29.1-46.5)), (p = 0.0004). Two thirds of eligibleMSM offered an HSK in all three groups accepted it, but HSK return rates varied (highest in group 1, 77.5%, lowest in group 3, 16%). HSK for HIV testing was acceptable to 81%of men in group 1. Compared to historical controls, availability of HSK increased the proportion ofMSM testing for STIs in group 2 but not in group 3. HSK for STI/ HIV offers an alternative to conventional clinic-based testing for MSM seeking STI screening. It significantly increases STI testing uptake in HIV infected MSM. HSK could be considered as an adjunct to clinic-based services to further improve STI/HIV testing in MSM

Prevalence and characteristics of gastrointestinal infections in men who have sex with men diagnosed with rectal chlamydia infection in the UK: an 'unlinked anonymous' cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Gastrointestinal infections (GII) can cause serious ill health and morbidity. Although primarily transmitted through faecal contamination of food or water, transmission through sexual activity is well described, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). METHODS: We investigated the prevalence of GIIs among a convenience sample of MSM who were consecutively diagnosed with rectal Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) at 12 UK genitourinary medicine clinics during 10 weeks in 2012. Residual rectal swabs were coded, anonymised and tested for Shigella, Campylobacter, Salmonella, shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) using a real-time PCR. Results were linked to respective coded and anonymised clinical and demographic data. Associations were investigated using Fisher's exact tests. RESULTS: Of 444 specimens tested, overall GII prevalence was 8.6% (95% CI 6.3% to 11.6%): 1.8% (0.9% to 3.6%) tested positive for Shigella, 1.8% (0.9% to 3.6%) for Campylobacter and 5.2% (3.5% to 7.7%) for EAEC. No specimens tested positive for Salmonella or other diarrhoeagenic E. coli pathotypes. Among those with any GII, 14/30 were asymptomatic (2/7 with Shigella, 3/6 with Campylobacter and 9/17 with EAEC). Shigella prevalence was higher in MSM who were HIV-positive (4.7% (2.1% to 10.2%) vs 0.5%(0.1% to 3.2%) in HIV-negative MSM; p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In this small feasibility study, MSM with rectal CT appeared to be at appreciable risk of GII. Asymptomatic carriage may play a role in sexual transmission of GII