Spatial Description and Analysis of Grasshopper Abundances in Colorado Rangeland

Although rangeland grasshopper populations have been studied for more than 120 years, little is known of the spatial patterns in grasshopper numbers between outbreak cycles. This information is necessary to understand how grasshopper outbreaks develop and to correctly design research, monitoring, and modeling projects. We used exploratory data analysis and geostatistics to identify the spatial patterns in grasshopper numbers for 1993 through 1997 in Colorado. The same family of models (spherical) provided the best fit to the sample data for all years, which implies that similar processes influenced grasshopper densities over these years. The parameters of the models differed among years, however, which suggest that the scale of spatial patterning changed over time. Since Colorado grasshopper densities were patterned at scales larger than those reported for other areas of the Great Plains, our results suggest that survey methods for Colorado are not adequate to identify small-scale “hot spots” of high grasshopper numbers, inhibiting prediction of potential outbreak foci in this region

Spatial Description and Analysis of Grasshopper Abundances in Colorado Rangeland

Although rangeland grasshopper populations have been studied for more than 120 years, little is known of the spatial patterns in grasshopper numbers between outbreak cycles. This information is necessary to understand how grasshopper outbreaks develop and to correctly design research, monitoring, and modeling projects. We used exploratory data analysis and geostatistics to identify the spatial patterns in grasshopper numbers for 1993 through 1997 in Colorado. The same family of models (spherical) provided the best fit to the sample data for all years, which implies that similar processes influenced grasshopper densities over these years. The parameters of the models differed among years, however, which suggest that the scale of spatial patterning changed over time. Since Colorado grasshopper densities were patterned at scales larger than those reported for other areas of the Great Plains, our results suggest that survey methods for Colorado are not adequate to identify small-scale “hot spots” of high grasshopper numbers, inhibiting prediction of potential outbreak foci in this region

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Economic Burden and Quality-of-Life Effects of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Systematic Review of the Literature

BACKGROUND Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most prevalent type of leukemia in the Western hemisphere. The disease affects quality of life (QOL) and poses an economic burden on patients, payers, and society. The objective of this review was to quantify the economic burden and quality-of-life effects and identify the gaps that should be addressed by future research. METHODS Free-text and subject heading searches in MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, the University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination Database, and the Web of Science Core Collection database were conducted to identify observational and interventional studies reporting costs and/or quality-of-life effects published up to 2 October 2015. Studies were included irrespective of whether they were conducted prospectively or retrospectively. The focus population consisted of adult patients aged 18 years or older affected by any stage of CLL. Studies were included regardless of whether the underlying population was treated at baseline or not. Risk of bias was assessed using a quality checklist developed by the Effective Public Health Practice Project for (randomized) controlled trials, cohort studies, and cross-sectional studies. Economic evaluations were rated using a checklist developed by Stuhldreher et al. (Int J Eat Disord 45:476-91, 2012). RESULTS From 2451 records identified, 27 studies were found to be eligible for inclusion. Studies were heterogeneous with respect to methodology, perspective, and data used. Annual direct costs per person ranged from US$4491 in Germany to US$43,913 in the USA. The share of costs attributable to drug treatment varied between 26.2 and 79 %. Indirect costs amounted to US$4208. Severity of disease was a predictor for quality of life, whereas differences by age and sex were mainly present in subdomains. Comparisons of treated and untreated populations resulted in an increase of quality of life in favor of treated populations in the long-term perspective. Differences between treatments were small. Consequently, cost effectiveness in decision-analytic models did not depend on whether quality of life or survival are used to describe the benefits of treatment. CONCLUSIONS Although the quantity and the quality of health economic and quality-of-life evidence have substantially increased, there is still a need for studies that take a patient or societal perspective. Factors that influence costs and the quality of life of patients seem to be well-established, while longitudinal lifetime cost studies at the population level are still scarce