2 research outputs found
A simple method to assess walkability around metro stations
The ability to walk or ride a bike safely to and from metro stations is essential to the success of any metro service, especially for car users switching to the service. The main purpose of this study is to develop and apply a simple method to assess, compare, and rank walkability around different metro stations, with a priority order and specific recommendations for improvements. The proposed method depends on extracting different walkability variables in the catchment areas around metro stations. Three catchment areas around three proposed metro stations in the emerging city of Doha, Qatar were investigated using the proposed method to demonstrate its usefulness. The method was successful in comparing and ranking the different catchment areas, in addition to identifying priority areas for walkability enhancements in each area. This method is simple and can benefit professionals, practitioners, and policy makers to make swift decisions for future corrective measures, and can also be used to evaluate changes over time. 2018 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.Scopu
2003-729.aug
P e r s o n a l n o n -c o m m e r c i a l u s e o n l y . T h e J o u r n a l o f R h e u m a t o l o g y . C o p y r i g h t © 2 0 0 4 . A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d The Dr. L.M. Pachman, Children's Memorial Medical Center, Box 212, 2300 Children's Plaza, Chicago, IL 60614. E-mail: [email protected] Submitted September 17, 2003 revision accepted February 13, 2004. Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a rare childhood illness with an estimated incidence of 3.1/million/year 1 . JDM is a systemic vasculopathy with the primary clinical disease occurring in the muscles and skin. The manifestations of JDM appear to be associated in part with genetic factors that regulate the production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), a proinflammatory cytokine, fostering an unrelenting chronic course that may include pathological calcifications 2 . Early aggressive treatment with immunosuppressants greatly improves the outcome for these children 3,4 . However, some of the consequences of prescribed immunosuppressants warrant use that is as brief as clinically feasible 5 . The physician employs both clinical findings and laboratory tests to guide therapy, but routine laboratory data, such as serum concentrations of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), serum glutamic oxalic transaminase (SGPT), aldolase, and creatinine phosphokinase (CPK), often normalize rapidly, despite clinical evidence of continued disease; thus it is imperative to establish more sensitive indicators of continuing tissue damage 6 . Evidence of muscle inflammation is often used as the basis for determining disease activity in children with JDM. Typical methods of evaluating myositis include clinical estimation of muscle weakness and laboratory tests for serum muscle enzymes. The JDM rash is requisite to meet the Bohan and Peter criteria for diagnosis 7 , but the relationship between the rash and systemic vascular damage in JDM is relatively unexplored. One indicator of the vascular aspects of JDM is the nailfold capillary 8 , which reveals a distinct pattern of capillary loss (capillary dropout), capillary dilation, and branching arboreal capillary loops (bushy loops)