Tidal stress triggering of earthquakes in Southern California

We analyse the influence of the solid Earth tides and ocean loading on the occurrence time of Southern California earthquakes. For each earthquake, we calculate tidal Coulomb failure stress and stress rate on a fault plane that is assumed to be controlled by the orientation of the adjacent fault. To reduce bias when selecting data for testing the tide-earthquake relationship, we create four earthquake catalogues containing events within 1, 1.5, 2.5 and 5 km of nearest faults. We investigate the difference in seismicity rates at times of positive and negative tidal stresses/stress rates given three different cases. We consider seismicity rates during times of positive versus negative stress and stress rate, as well as 2 and 3 hr surrounding the local tidal stress extremes. We find that tidal influence on earthquake occurrence is found to be statistically non-random only in close proximity to tidal extremes meaning that magnitude of tidal stress plays an important role in tidal triggering. A non-random tidal signal is observed for the reverse events. Along with a significant increase in earthquake rates around tidal Coulomb stress maxima, the strength of tidal correlation is found to be closely related to the amplitude of the peak tidal Coulomb stress (τp). The most effective tidal triggering is found for τp ≥ 1 kPa, which is much smaller than thresholds suggested for static and dynamic triggering of aftershocks.Magda Bucholc and Sandy Steac

Trends, Variation, and Factors Influencing Antibiotic Prescribing: A Longitudinal Study in Primary Care Using a Multilevel Modelling Approach

Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the greatest threats to global health. Over 80% of antibiotics are prescribed in primary care, with many prescriptions considered to be issued inappropriately. The aim of this study was to examine the association between prescribing rates and demographic, practice, geographic, and socioeconomic characteristics using a multilevel modelling approach. Antibiotic prescribing data by 320 GP surgeries in Northern Ireland were obtained from Business Services Organisation for the years 2014–2020. A linear mixed-effects model was used to identify factors influencing antibiotic prescribing rates. Overall, the number of antibacterial prescriptions decreased by 26.2%, from 1,564,707 items in 2014 to 1,155,323 items in 2020. Lower levels of antibiotic prescribing were associated with urban practices (p < 0.001) and practices in less deprived areas (p = 0.005). The overall decrease in antibacterial drug prescriptions over time was larger in less deprived areas (p = 0.03). Higher prescribing rates were linked to GP practices located in areas with a higher percentage of the population aged ≥65 (p < 0.001) and <15 years (p < 0.001). There were also significant regional differences in antibiotic prescribing. We advocate that any future antibiotic prescribing targets should account for local factors

The Potential of a Stratified Approach to Drug Repurposing in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a complex neurodegenerative condition that is characterized by the build-up of amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. While multiple theories explaining the aetiology of the disease have been suggested, the underlying cause of the disease is still unknown. Despite this, several modifiable and non-modifiable factors that increase the risk of developing AD have been identified. To date, only eight AD drugs have ever gained regulatory approval, including six symptomatic and two disease-modifying drugs. However, not all are available in all countries and high costs associated with new disease-modifying biologics prevent large proportions of the patient population from accessing them. With the current patient population expected to triple by 2050, it is imperative that new, effective, and affordable drugs become available to patients. Traditional drug development strategies have a 99% failure rate in AD, which is far higher than in other disease areas. Even when a drug does reach the market, additional barriers such as high cost and lack of accessibility prevent patients from benefiting from them. In this review, we discuss how a stratified medicine drug repurposing approach may address some of the limitations and barriers that traditional strategies face in relation to drug development in AD. We believe that novel, stratified drug repurposing studies may expedite the discovery of alternative, effective, and more affordable treatment options for a rapidly expanding patient population in comparison with traditional drug development methods

Primary Care Antibiotic Prescribing and Infection-Related Hospitalisation

Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics has been widely recognised as a leading cause of antimicrobial resistance, which in turn has become one of the most significant threats to global health. Given that most antibiotic prescriptions are issued in primary care settings, investigating the associations between primary care prescribing of antibiotics and subsequent infection-related hospitalisations affords a valuable opportunity to understand the long-term health implications of primary care antibiotic intervention. A narrative review of the scientific literature studying associations between primary care antibiotic prescribing and subsequent infection-related hospitalisation was conducted. The Web of Science database was used to retrieve 252 potentially relevant studies, with 23 of these studies included in this review (stratified by patient age and infection type). The majority of studies (n = 18) were published in the United Kingdom, while the remainder were conducted in Germany, Spain, Denmark, New Zealand, and the United States. While some of the reviewed studies demonstrated that appropriate and timely antibiotic prescribing in primary care could help reduce the need for hospitalisation, excessive antibiotic prescribing can lead to antimicrobial resistance, subsequently increasing the risk of infection-related hospitalisation. Few studies reported no association between primary care antibiotic prescriptions and subsequent infection-related hospitalisation. Overall, the disparate results in the extant literature attest to the conflicting factors influencing the decision-making regarding antibiotic prescribing and highlight the necessity of adopting a more patient-focussed perspective in stewardship programmes and the need for increased use of rapid diagnostic testing in primary care

The impact of hearing impairment and hearing aid use on progression to mild cognitive impairment in cognitively healthy adults: An observational cohort study

INTRODUCTION: We assessed the association of self‐reported hearing impairment and hearing aid use with cognitive decline and progression to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). METHODS: We used a large referral‐based cohort of 4358 participants obtained from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. The standard covariate‐adjusted Cox proportional hazards model, the marginal structural Cox model with inverse probability weighting, standardized Kaplan‐Meier curves, and linear mixed‐effects models were applied to test the hypotheses. RESULTS: Hearing impairment was associated with increased risk of MCI (standardized hazard ratio [HR] 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI: 1.73 to 3.84], P = .004) and an accelerated rate of cognitive decline (P < .001). Hearing aid users were less likely to develop MCI than hearing‐impaired individuals who did not use a hearing aid (HR 0.47, 95% CI [0.29 to 0.74], P = .001). No difference in risk of MCI was observed between individuals with normal hearing and hearing‐impaired adults using hearing aids (HR 0.86, 95% CI [0.56 to 1.34], P = .51). DISCUSSION: Use of hearing aids may help mitigate cognitive decline associated with hearing loss