DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance & Response System (DoD-GEIS). Global Influenza Surveillance Efforts

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-08

DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance & Response System (DoD-GEIS) Global Influenza Surveillance Efforts 8 January 2007 COL (Ret.) Jose L...SUBTITLE DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance & Response System (DoD-GEIS) Global Influenza Surveillance Efforts 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT...PAGE unclassified Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18 Lab-Based Influenza Surveillance • Sentinel Surveillance • Air Force

Identifying Challenges to the Integration of Computer-Based Surveillance Information Systems in a Large City Health Department: A Case Study.

PubMed

Jennings, Jacky M; Stover, Jeffrey A; Bair-Merritt, Megan H; Fichtenberg, Caroline; Munoz, Mary Grace; Maziad, Rafiq; Ketemepi, Sherry Johnson; Zenilman, Jonathan

2009-01-01

Integrated infectious disease surveillance information systems have the potential to provide important new surveillance capacities and business efficiencies for local health departments. We conducted a case study at a large city health department of the primary computer-based infectious disease surveillance information systems during a 10-year period to identify the major challenges for information integration across the systems. The assessment included key informant interviews and evaluations of the computer-based surveillance information systems used for acute communicable diseases, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis. Assessments were conducted in 1998 with a follow-up in 2008. Assessments specifically identified and described the primary computer-based surveillance information system, any duplicative information systems, and selected variables collected. Persistent challenges to information integration across the information systems included the existence of duplicative data systems, differences in the variables used to collect similar information, and differences in basic architecture. The assessments identified a number of challenges for information integration across the infectious disease surveillance information systems at this city health department. The results suggest that local disease control programs use computer-based surveillance information systems that were not designed for data integration. To the extent that integration provides important new surveillance capacities and business efficiencies, we recommend that patient-centric information systems be designed that provide all the epidemiologic, clinical, and research needs in one system. In addition, the systems should include a standard system of elements and fields across similar surveillance systems.

Syndromic surveillance system based on near real-time cattle mortality monitoring.

PubMed

Torres, G; Ciaravino, V; Ascaso, S; Flores, V; Romero, L; Simón, F

2015-05-01

Early detection of an infectious disease incursion will minimize the impact of outbreaks in livestock. Syndromic surveillance based on the analysis of readily available data can enhance traditional surveillance systems and allow veterinary authorities to react in a timely manner. This study was based on monitoring the number of cattle carcasses sent for rendering in the veterinary unit of Talavera de la Reina (Spain). The aim was to develop a system to detect deviations from expected values which would signal unexpected health events. Historical weekly collected dead cattle (WCDC) time series stabilized by the Box-Cox transformation and adjusted by the minimum least squares method were used to build the univariate cycling regression model based on a Fourier transformation. Three different models, according to type of production system, were built to estimate the baseline expected number of WCDC. Two types of risk signals were generated: point risk signals when the observed value was greater than the upper 95% confidence interval of the expected baseline, and cumulative risk signals, generated by a modified cumulative sum algorithm, when the cumulative sums of reported deaths were above the cumulative sum of expected deaths. Data from 2011 were used to prospectively validate the model generating seven risk signals. None of them were correlated to infectious disease events but some coincided, in time, with very high climatic temperatures recorded in the region. The harvest effect was also observed during the first week of the study year. Establishing appropriate risk signal thresholds is a limiting factor of predictive models; it needs to be adjusted based on experience gained during the use of the models. To increase the sensitivity and specificity of the predictions epidemiological interpretation of non-specific risk signals should be complemented by other sources of information. The methodology developed in this study can enhance other existing early detection

Semantic-based surveillance video retrieval.

PubMed

Hu, Weiming; Xie, Dan; Fu, Zhouyu; Zeng, Wenrong; Maybank, Steve

2007-04-01

Visual surveillance produces large amounts of video data. Effective indexing and retrieval from surveillance video databases are very important. Although there are many ways to represent the content of video clips in current video retrieval algorithms, there still exists a semantic gap between users and retrieval systems. Visual surveillance systems supply a platform for investigating semantic-based video retrieval. In this paper, a semantic-based video retrieval framework for visual surveillance is proposed. A cluster-based tracking algorithm is developed to acquire motion trajectories. The trajectories are then clustered hierarchically using the spatial and temporal information, to learn activity models. A hierarchical structure of semantic indexing and retrieval of object activities, where each individual activity automatically inherits all the semantic descriptions of the activity model to which it belongs, is proposed for accessing video clips and individual objects at the semantic level. The proposed retrieval framework supports various queries including queries by keywords, multiple object queries, and queries by sketch. For multiple object queries, succession and simultaneity restrictions, together with depth and breadth first orders, are considered. For sketch-based queries, a method for matching trajectories drawn by users to spatial trajectories is proposed. The effectiveness and efficiency of our framework are tested in a crowded traffic scene.

An integrated national mortality surveillance system for death registration and mortality surveillance, China.

PubMed

Liu, Shiwei; Wu, Xiaoling; Lopez, Alan D; Wang, Lijun; Cai, Yue; Page, Andrew; Yin, Peng; Liu, Yunning; Li, Yichong; Liu, Jiangmei; You, Jinling; Zhou, Maigeng

2016-01-01

In China, sample-based mortality surveillance systems, such as the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's disease surveillance points system and the Ministry of Health's vital registration system, have been used for decades to provide nationally representative data on health status for health-care decision-making and performance evaluation. However, neither system provided representative mortality and cause-of-death data at the provincial level to inform regional health service needs and policy priorities. Moreover, the systems overlapped to a considerable extent, thereby entailing a duplication of effort. In 2013, the Chinese Government combined these two systems into an integrated national mortality surveillance system to provide a provincially representative picture of total and cause-specific mortality and to accelerate the development of a comprehensive vital registration and mortality surveillance system for the whole country. This new system increased the surveillance population from 6 to 24% of the Chinese population. The number of surveillance points, each of which covered a district or county, increased from 161 to 605. To ensure representativeness at the provincial level, the 605 surveillance points were selected to cover China's 31 provinces using an iterative method involving multistage stratification that took into account the sociodemographic characteristics of the population. This paper describes the development and operation of the new national mortality surveillance system, which is expected to yield representative provincial estimates of mortality in China for the first time.

[A review on the advancement of internet-based public health surveillance program].

PubMed

Zhao, Y Q; Ma, W J

2017-02-10

Internet data is introduced into public health arena under the features of fast updating and tremendous volume. Mining and analyzing internet data, researchers can model the internet-based surveillance system to assess the distribution of health-related events. There are two main types of internet-based surveillance systems, i.e. active and passive, which are distinguished by the sources of information. Through passive surveillance system, information is collected from search engine and social media while the active system gathers information through provision of the volunteers. Except for serving as a real-time and convenient complementary approach to traditional disease, food safety and adverse drug reaction surveillance program, Internet-based surveillance system can also play a role in health-related behavior surveillance and policy evaluation. Although several techniques have been applied to filter information, the accuracy of internet-based surveillance system is still bothered by the false positive information. In this article, we have summarized the development and application of internet-based surveillance system in public health to provide reference for a better surveillance program in China.

Design and implementation of distributed multimedia surveillance system based on object-oriented middleware

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Xuesong; Jiang, Ling; Hu, Ruimin

2006-10-01

Currently, the applications of surveillance system have been increasingly widespread. But there are few surveillance platforms that can meet the requirement of large-scale, cross-regional, and flexible surveillance business. In the paper, we present a distributed surveillance system platform to improve safety and security of the society. The system is constructed by an object-oriented middleware called as Internet Communications Engine (ICE). This middleware helps our platform to integrate a lot of surveillance resource of the society and accommodate diverse range of surveillance industry requirements. In the follow sections, we will describe in detail the design concepts of system and introduce traits of ICE.

A Vision-Based Driver Nighttime Assistance and Surveillance System Based on Intelligent Image Sensing Techniques and a Heterogamous Dual-Core Embedded System Architecture

PubMed Central

Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Yuan, Shyan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

2012-01-01

This study proposes a vision-based intelligent nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system (VIDASS system) implemented by a set of embedded software components and modules, and integrates these modules to accomplish a component-based system framework on an embedded heterogamous dual-core platform. Therefore, this study develops and implements computer vision and sensing techniques of nighttime vehicle detection, collision warning determination, and traffic event recording. The proposed system processes the road-scene frames in front of the host car captured from CCD sensors mounted on the host vehicle. These vision-based sensing and processing technologies are integrated and implemented on an ARM-DSP heterogamous dual-core embedded platform. Peripheral devices, including image grabbing devices, communication modules, and other in-vehicle control devices, are also integrated to form an in-vehicle-embedded vision-based nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system. PMID:22736956

A vision-based driver nighttime assistance and surveillance system based on intelligent image sensing techniques and a heterogamous dual-core embedded system architecture.

PubMed

Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Yuan, Shyan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

2012-01-01

This study proposes a vision-based intelligent nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system (VIDASS system) implemented by a set of embedded software components and modules, and integrates these modules to accomplish a component-based system framework on an embedded heterogamous dual-core platform. Therefore, this study develops and implements computer vision and sensing techniques of nighttime vehicle detection, collision warning determination, and traffic event recording. The proposed system processes the road-scene frames in front of the host car captured from CCD sensors mounted on the host vehicle. These vision-based sensing and processing technologies are integrated and implemented on an ARM-DSP heterogamous dual-core embedded platform. Peripheral devices, including image grabbing devices, communication modules, and other in-vehicle control devices, are also integrated to form an in-vehicle-embedded vision-based nighttime driver assistance and surveillance system.

A Smart Card-Based Electronic School Absenteeism System for Influenza-Like Illness Surveillance in Hong Kong: Design, Implementation, and Feasibility Assessment

PubMed Central

Lau, Eric HY; So, Hau Chi; Xiao, Jingyi; Lam, Chi Kin; Fang, Vicky J; Tam, Yat Hung; Leung, Gabriel M; Cowling, Benjamin J

2017-01-01

Background School-aged children have the highest incidence of respiratory virus infections each year, and transmission of respiratory viruses such as influenza virus can be a major concern in school settings. School absenteeism data have been employed as a component of influenza surveillance systems in some locations. Data timeliness and system acceptance remain as key determinants affecting the usefulness of a prospective surveillance system. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing an electronic school absenteeism surveillance system using smart card–based technology for influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance among a representative network of local primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. Methods We designed and implemented a surveillance system according to the Protocol for a Standardized information infrastructure for Pandemic and Emerging infectious disease Response (PROSPER). We employed an existing smart card–based education and school administration platform for data capture, customized the user interface, and used additional back end systems built for other downstream surveillance steps. We invited local schools to participate and collected absenteeism data by the implemented system. We compared temporal trend of the absenteeism data with data from existing community sentinel and laboratory surveillance data. Results We designed and implemented an ILI surveillance system utilizing smart card–based attendance tracking approach for data capture. We implemented the surveillance system in a total of 107 schools (including 66 primary schools and 41 secondary schools), covering a total of 75,052 children. The system successfully captured information on absences for 2 consecutive academic years (2012-2013 and 2013-2014). The absenteeism data we collected from the system reflected ILI activity in the community, with an upsurge in disease activity detected up to 1 to 2 weeks preceding other existing surveillance

System and technology considerations for space-based air traffic surveillance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vaisnys, A.

1986-01-01

This paper describes the system trade-offs examined in a recent study of space-based air traffic surveillance. Three system options, each satisfying a set of different constraints, were considered. The main difference in the technology needed to implement the three systems was determined to be the size of the spacecraft antenna aperture. It was found that essentially equivalent position location accuracy could be achieved with apertures from 50 meters down to less than a meter in diameter, depending on the choice of signal structure and on the desired user update rate.

Community-based surveillance and case management for suicide prevention: an American Indian tribally initiated system.

PubMed

Cwik, Mary F; Barlow, Allison; Goklish, Novalene; Larzelere-Hinton, Francene; Tingey, Lauren; Craig, Mariddie; Lupe, Ronnie; Walkup, John

2014-06-01

The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention highlights the importance of improving the timeliness, usefulness, and quality of national suicide surveillance systems, and expanding local capacity to collect relevant data. This article describes the background, methods, process data, and implications from the first-of-its-kind community-based surveillance system for suicidal and self-injurious behavior developed by the White Mountain Apache Tribe with assistance from Johns Hopkins University. The system enables local, detailed, and real-time data collection beyond clinical settings, with in-person follow-up to facilitate connections to care. Total reporting and the proportion of individuals seeking treatment have increased over time, suggesting that this innovative surveillance system is feasible, useful, and serves as a model for other communities and the field of suicide prevention.

A Smart Card-Based Electronic School Absenteeism System for Influenza-Like Illness Surveillance in Hong Kong: Design, Implementation, and Feasibility Assessment.

PubMed

Ip, Dennis Km; Lau, Eric Hy; So, Hau Chi; Xiao, Jingyi; Lam, Chi Kin; Fang, Vicky J; Tam, Yat Hung; Leung, Gabriel M; Cowling, Benjamin J

2017-10-06

School-aged children have the highest incidence of respiratory virus infections each year, and transmission of respiratory viruses such as influenza virus can be a major concern in school settings. School absenteeism data have been employed as a component of influenza surveillance systems in some locations. Data timeliness and system acceptance remain as key determinants affecting the usefulness of a prospective surveillance system. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing an electronic school absenteeism surveillance system using smart card-based technology for influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance among a representative network of local primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. We designed and implemented a surveillance system according to the Protocol for a Standardized information infrastructure for Pandemic and Emerging infectious disease Response (PROSPER). We employed an existing smart card-based education and school administration platform for data capture, customized the user interface, and used additional back end systems built for other downstream surveillance steps. We invited local schools to participate and collected absenteeism data by the implemented system. We compared temporal trend of the absenteeism data with data from existing community sentinel and laboratory surveillance data. We designed and implemented an ILI surveillance system utilizing smart card-based attendance tracking approach for data capture. We implemented the surveillance system in a total of 107 schools (including 66 primary schools and 41 secondary schools), covering a total of 75,052 children. The system successfully captured information on absences for 2 consecutive academic years (2012-2013 and 2013-2014). The absenteeism data we collected from the system reflected ILI activity in the community, with an upsurge in disease activity detected up to 1 to 2 weeks preceding other existing surveillance systems. We designed and implemented a novel

A novel framework for intelligent surveillance system based on abnormal human activity detection in academic environments.

PubMed

Al-Nawashi, Malek; Al-Hazaimeh, Obaida M; Saraee, Mohamad

2017-01-01

Abnormal activity detection plays a crucial role in surveillance applications, and a surveillance system that can perform robustly in an academic environment has become an urgent need. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for an automatic real-time video-based surveillance system which can simultaneously perform the tracking, semantic scene learning, and abnormality detection in an academic environment. To develop our system, we have divided the work into three phases: preprocessing phase, abnormal human activity detection phase, and content-based image retrieval phase. For motion object detection, we used the temporal-differencing algorithm and then located the motions region using the Gaussian function. Furthermore, the shape model based on OMEGA equation was used as a filter for the detected objects (i.e., human and non-human). For object activities analysis, we evaluated and analyzed the human activities of the detected objects. We classified the human activities into two groups: normal activities and abnormal activities based on the support vector machine. The machine then provides an automatic warning in case of abnormal human activities. It also embeds a method to retrieve the detected object from the database for object recognition and identification using content-based image retrieval. Finally, a software-based simulation using MATLAB was performed and the results of the conducted experiments showed an excellent surveillance system that can simultaneously perform the tracking, semantic scene learning, and abnormality detection in an academic environment with no human intervention.

A Web-Based, Hospital-Wide Health Care-Associated Bloodstream Infection Surveillance and Classification System: Development and Evaluation.

PubMed

Tseng, Yi-Ju; Wu, Jung-Hsuan; Lin, Hui-Chi; Chen, Ming-Yuan; Ping, Xiao-Ou; Sun, Chun-Chuan; Shang, Rung-Ji; Sheng, Wang-Huei; Chen, Yee-Chun; Lai, Feipei; Chang, Shan-Chwen

2015-09-21

Surveillance of health care-associated infections is an essential component of infection prevention programs, but conventional systems are labor intensive and performance dependent. To develop an automatic surveillance and classification system for health care-associated bloodstream infection (HABSI), and to evaluate its performance by comparing it with a conventional infection control personnel (ICP)-based surveillance system. We developed a Web-based system that was integrated into the medical information system of a 2200-bed teaching hospital in Taiwan. The system automatically detects and classifies HABSIs. In this study, the number of computer-detected HABSIs correlated closely with the number of HABSIs detected by ICP by department (n=20; r=.999 P<.001) and by time (n=14; r=.941; P<.001). Compared with reference standards, this system performed excellently with regard to sensitivity (98.16%), specificity (99.96%), positive predictive value (95.81%), and negative predictive value (99.98%). The system enabled decreasing the delay in confirmation of HABSI cases, on average, by 29 days. This system provides reliable and objective HABSI data for quality indicators, improving the delay caused by a conventional surveillance system.

A novel data association scheme for LEO space debris surveillance based on a double fence radar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jian; Hu, Weidong; Xin, Qin; Guo, Weiwei

2012-12-01

The increasing amount of space debris threatens to seriously deteriorate and damage space-based instruments in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) environments. Therefore, LEO space debris surveillance systems must be developed to provide situational awareness in space and issue warnings of collisions with LEO space debris. In this paper, a double fence radar system is proposed as an emerging paradigm for LEO space debris surveillance. This system exhibits several unique and promising characteristics compared with existing surveillance systems. In this paper, we also investigate the data association scheme for LEO space debris surveillance based on a double fence radar system. We also perform a theoretical analysis of the performance of our proposed scheme. The superiority and the effectiveness of our novel data association scheme is demonstrated by experimental results. The data used in our experiments is the LEO space debris catalog produced by the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) up to 2009, especially for scenarios with high densities of LEO space debris, which were primarily produced by the collisions between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251. We hope that our work will stimulate and benefit future work on LEO space debris surveillance approaches and enable construction of the double fence radar system.

Cell Phone-Based System (Chaak) for Surveillance of Immatures of Dengue Virus Mosquito Vectors

PubMed Central

LOZANO–FUENTES, SAUL; WEDYAN, FADI; HERNANDEZ–GARCIA, EDGAR; SADHU, DEVADATTA; GHOSH, SUDIPTO; BIEMAN, JAMES M.; TEP-CHEL, DIANA; GARCÍA–REJÓN, JULIÁN E.; EISEN, LARS

2014-01-01

Capture of surveillance data on mobile devices and rapid transfer of such data from these devices into an electronic database or data management and decision support systems promote timely data analyses and public health response during disease outbreaks. Mobile data capture is used increasingly for malaria surveillance and holds great promise for surveillance of other neglected tropical diseases. We focused on mosquito-borne dengue, with the primary aims of: 1) developing and field-testing a cell phone-based system (called Chaak) for capture of data relating to the surveillance of the mosquito immature stages, and 2) assessing, in the dengue endemic setting of Mérida, México, the cost-effectiveness of this new technology versus paper-based data collection. Chaak includes a desktop component, where a manager selects premises to be surveyed for mosquito immatures, and a cell phone component, where the surveyor receives the assigned tasks and captures the data. Data collected on the cell phone can be transferred to a central database through different modes of transmission, including near-real time where data are transferred immediately (e.g., over the Internet) or by first storing data on the cell phone for future transmission. Spatial data are handled in a novel, semantically driven, geographic information system. Compared with a pen-and-paper-based method, use of Chaak improved the accuracy and increased the speed of data transcription into an electronic database. The cost-effectiveness of using the Chaak system will depend largely on the up-front cost of purchasing cell phones and the recurring cost of data transfer over a cellular network. PMID:23926788

Evaluating Behavioral Health Surveillance Systems.

PubMed

Azofeifa, Alejandro; Stroup, Donna F; Lyerla, Rob; Largo, Thomas; Gabella, Barbara A; Smith, C Kay; Truman, Benedict I; Brewer, Robert D; Brener, Nancy D

2018-05-10

In 2015, more than 27 million people in the United States reported that they currently used illicit drugs or misused prescription drugs, and more than 66 million reported binge drinking during the previous month. Data from public health surveillance systems on drug and alcohol abuse are crucial for developing and evaluating interventions to prevent and control such behavior. However, public health surveillance for behavioral health in the United States has been hindered by organizational issues and other factors. For example, existing guidelines for surveillance evaluation do not distinguish between data systems that characterize behavioral health problems and those that assess other public health problems (eg, infectious diseases). To address this gap in behavioral health surveillance, we present a revised framework for evaluating behavioral health surveillance systems. This system framework builds on published frameworks and incorporates additional attributes (informatics capabilities and population coverage) that we deemed necessary for evaluating behavioral health-related surveillance. This revised surveillance evaluation framework can support ongoing improvements to behavioral health surveillance systems and ensure their continued usefulness for detecting, preventing, and managing behavioral health problems.

Evaluating Behavioral Health Surveillance Systems

PubMed Central

Azofeifa, Alejandro; Lyerla, Rob; Largo, Thomas; Gabella, Barbara A.; Smith, C. Kay; Truman, Benedict I.; Brewer, Robert D.; Brener, Nancy D.

2018-01-01

In 2015, more than 27 million people in the United States reported that they currently used illicit drugs or misused prescription drugs, and more than 66 million reported binge drinking during the previous month. Data from public health surveillance systems on drug and alcohol abuse are crucial for developing and evaluating interventions to prevent and control such behavior. However, public health surveillance for behavioral health in the United States has been hindered by organizational issues and other factors. For example, existing guidelines for surveillance evaluation do not distinguish between data systems that characterize behavioral health problems and those that assess other public health problems (eg, infectious diseases). To address this gap in behavioral health surveillance, we present a revised framework for evaluating behavioral health surveillance systems. This system framework builds on published frameworks and incorporates additional attributes (informatics capabilities and population coverage) that we deemed necessary for evaluating behavioral health–related surveillance. This revised surveillance evaluation framework can support ongoing improvements to behavioral health surveillance systems and ensure their continued usefulness for detecting, preventing, and managing behavioral health problems. PMID:29752804

Wallops Ship Surveillance System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Donna C.

2011-01-01

Approved as a Wallops control center backup system, the Wallops Ship Surveillance Software is a day-of-launch risk analysis tool for spaceport activities. The system calculates impact probabilities and displays ship locations relative to boundary lines. It enables rapid analysis of possible flight paths to preclude the need to cancel launches and allow execution of launches in a timely manner. Its design is based on low-cost, large-customer- base elements including personal computers, the Windows operating system, C/C++ object-oriented software, and network interfaces. In conformance with the NASA software safety standard, the system is designed to ensure that it does not falsely report a safe-for-launch condition. To improve the current ship surveillance method, the system is designed to prevent delay of launch under a safe-for-launch condition. A single workstation is designated the controller of the official ship information and the official risk analysis. Copies of this information are shared with other networked workstations. The program design is divided into five subsystems areas: 1. Communication Link -- threads that control the networking of workstations; 2. Contact List -- a thread that controls a list of protected item (ocean vessel) information; 3. Hazard List -- threads that control a list of hazardous item (debris) information and associated risk calculation information; 4. Display -- threads that control operator inputs and screen display outputs; and 5. Archive -- a thread that controls archive file read and write access. Currently, most of the hazard list thread and parts of other threads are being reused as part of a new ship surveillance system, under the SureTrak project.

[Post-marketing surveillance systems for psychoactive prescription drug abuse].

PubMed

Nordmann, Sandra; Frauger, Elisabeth; Pauly, Vanessa; Rouby, Frank; Mallaret, Michel; Micallef, Joëlle; Thirion, Xavier

2011-01-01

Drugs affecting the central nervous system form a unique group of products for surveillance because they could be misused, abused or diverted. Considering the characteristics of this behaviour that is often concealed, specific post-marketing surveillance systems have been developed to monitor abuse of prescription drugs in some countries. The purpose of this review is to list and to describe post-marketing surveillance systems, according their methodology, in France and in foreign countries. These programs are based on adverse effect notifications, medical or legal consequences of abuse, general or specific population-based survey, professional networks or medication databases. Some programs use simultaneously several information sources. In conclusion, the multifaceted nature, the diversity and the inventiveness of post-marketing surveillance systems reflects the complexity of the abuse issue. © 2011 Société Française de Pharmacologie et de Thérapeutique.

Expanding veterinary biosurveillance in Washington, DC: The creation and utilization of an electronic-based online veterinary surveillance system.

PubMed

Hennenfent, Andrew; DelVento, Vito; Davies-Cole, John; Johnson-Clarke, Fern

2017-03-01

To enhance the early detection of emerging infectious diseases and bioterrorism events using companion animal-based surveillance. Washington, DC, small animal veterinary facilities (n=17) were surveyed to determine interest in conducting infectious disease surveillance. Using these results, an electronic-based online reporting system was developed and launched in August 2015 to monitor rates of canine influenza, canine leptospirosis, antibiotic resistant infections, canine parvovirus, and syndromic disease trends. Nine of the 10 facilities that responded expressed interest conducting surveillance. In September 2015, 17 canine parvovirus cases were reported. In response, a campaign encouraging regular veterinary preventative care was launched and featured on local media platforms. Additionally, during the system's first year of operation it detected 5 canine leptospirosis cases and 2 antibiotic resistant infections. No canine influenza cases were reported and syndromic surveillance compliance varied, peaking during National Special Security Events. Small animal veterinarians and the general public are interested in companion animal disease surveillance. The system described can serve as a model for establishing similar systems to monitor disease trends of public health importance in pet populations and enhance biosurveillance capabilities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Systems Biology and Ratio-Based, Real-Time Disease Surveillance.

PubMed

Fair, J M; Rivas, A L

2015-08-01

Most infectious disease surveillance methods are not well fit for early detection. To address such limitation, here we evaluated a ratio- and Systems Biology-based method that does not require prior knowledge on the identity of an infective agent. Using a reference group of birds experimentally infected with West Nile virus (WNV) and a problem group of unknown health status (except that they were WNV-negative and displayed inflammation), both groups were followed over 22 days and tested with a system that analyses blood leucocyte ratios. To test the ability of the method to discriminate small data sets, both the reference group (n = 5) and the problem group (n = 4) were small. The questions of interest were as follows: (i) whether individuals presenting inflammation (disease-positive or D+) can be distinguished from non-inflamed (disease-negative or D-) birds, (ii) whether two or more D+ stages can be detected and (iii) whether sample size influences detection. Within the problem group, the ratio-based method distinguished the following: (i) three (one D- and two D+) data classes; (ii) two (early and late) inflammatory stages; (iii) fast versus regular or slow responders; and (iv) individuals that recovered from those that remained inflamed. Because ratios differed in larger magnitudes (up to 48 times larger) than percentages, it is suggested that data patterns are likely to be recognized when disease surveillance methods are designed to measure inflammation and utilize ratios. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

A web-based video annotation system for crowdsourcing surveillance videos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gadgil, Neeraj J.; Tahboub, Khalid; Kirsh, David; Delp, Edward J.

2014-03-01

Video surveillance systems are of a great value to prevent threats and identify/investigate criminal activities. Manual analysis of a huge amount of video data from several cameras over a long period of time often becomes impracticable. The use of automatic detection methods can be challenging when the video contains many objects with complex motion and occlusions. Crowdsourcing has been proposed as an effective method for utilizing human intelligence to perform several tasks. Our system provides a platform for the annotation of surveillance video in an organized and controlled way. One can monitor a surveillance system using a set of tools such as training modules, roles and labels, task management. This system can be used in a real-time streaming mode to detect any potential threats or as an investigative tool to analyze past events. Annotators can annotate video contents assigned to them for suspicious activity or criminal acts. First responders are then able to view the collective annotations and receive email alerts about a newly reported incident. They can also keep track of the annotators' training performance, manage their activities and reward their success. By providing this system, the process of video analysis is made more efficient.

Electronic integrated disease surveillance system and pathogen asset control system.

PubMed

Wahl, Tom G; Burdakov, Aleksey V; Oukharov, Andrey O; Zhilokov, Azamat K

2012-06-20

Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) has been used to strengthen and support monitoring and prevention of dangerous diseases within One Health concept by integrating veterinary and human surveillance, passive and active approaches, case-based records including disease-specific clinical data based on standardised case definitions and aggregated data, laboratory data including sample tracking linked to each case and event with test results and epidemiological investigations. Information was collected and shared in secure way by different means: through the distributed nodes which are continuously synchronised amongst each other, through the web service, through the handheld devices. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System provided near real time information flow that has been then disseminated to the appropriate organisations in a timely manner. It has been used for comprehensive analysis and visualisation capabilities including real time mapping of case events as these unfold enhancing decision making. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System facilitated countries to comply with the IHR 2005 requirements through a data transfer module reporting diseases electronically to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data center as well as establish authorised data exchange with other electronic system using Open Architecture approach. Pathogen Asset Control System (PACS) has been used for accounting, management and control of biological agent stocks. Information on samples and strains of any kind throughout their entire lifecycle has been tracked in a comprehensive and flexible solution PACS.Both systems have been used in a combination and individually. Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System and PACS are currently deployed in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan as a part of the Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) sponsored by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

Survey of Clostridium difficile infection surveillance systems in Europe, 2011.

PubMed

Kola, Axel; Wiuff, Camilla; Akerlund, Thomas; van Benthem, Birgit H; Coignard, Bruno; Lyytikäinen, Outi; Weitzel-Kage, Doris; Suetens, Carl; Wilcox, Mark H; Kuijper, Ed J; Gastmeier, Petra

2016-07-21

To develop a European surveillance protocol for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), existing national CDI surveillance systems were assessed in 2011. A web-based electronic form was provided for all national coordinators of the European CDI Surveillance Network (ECDIS-Net). Of 35 national coordinators approached, 33 from 31 European countries replied. Surveillance of CDI was in place in 14 of the 31 countries, comprising 18 different nationwide systems. Three of 14 countries with CDI surveillance used public health notification of cases as the route of reporting, and in another three, reporting was limited to public health notification of cases of severe CDI. The CDI definitions published by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) were widely used, but there were differing definitions to distinguish between community- and healthcare-associated cases. All CDI surveillance systems except one reported annual national CDI rates (calculated as number of cases per patient-days). Only four surveillance systems regularly integrated microbiological data (typing and susceptibility testing results). Surveillance methods varied considerably between countries, which emphasises the need for a harmonised European protocol to allow consistent monitoring of the CDI epidemiology at European level. The results of this survey were used to develop a harmonised EU-wide hospital-based CDI surveillance protocol. This article is copyright of The Authors, 2016.

Development of an electronic emergency department-based geo-information injury surveillance system in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Chow, C B; Leung, M; Lai, Adela; Chow, Y H; Chung, Joanne; Tong, K M; Lit, Albert

2012-06-01

To describe the experience in the development of an electronic emergency department (ED)-based injury surveillance (IS) system in Hong Kong using data-mining and geo-spatial information technology (IT) for a Safe Community setup. This paper described the phased development of an emergency department-based IS system based on World Health Organization (WHO) injury surveillance Guideline to support safety promotion and injury prevention in a Safe Community in Hong Kong starting 2002. The initial ED data-based only collected data on name, sex, age, address, eight general categories of injury types (traffic, domestic, common assault, indecent assault, batter, industrial, self-harm and sports) and disposal from ED. Phase 1--manual data collection on International Classification of External Causes of Injury pre-event data; Phase 2--manual form was converted to electronic format using web-based data mining technology with built in data quality monitoring mechanism; Phase 3--integration of injury surveillance-data with in-patient hospital information; and Phase 4--geo-spatial information and body mapping were introduced to geo-code exact place of injury in an electronic map and site of injury on body map. It was feasible to develop a geo-spatial IS system at busy ED to collect valuable information for safety promotion and injury prevention at Safe Community setting. The keys for successful development and implementation involves engagement of all stakeholders at design and implementation of the system with injury prevention as ultimate goal, detail workflow planning at front end, support from the management, building on exiting system and appropriate utilisation of modern technology. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of continuous acoustic respiratory rate monitoring as an addition to a pulse oximetry-based patient surveillance system.

PubMed

McGrath, Susan P; Pyke, Joshua; Taenzer, Andreas H

2017-06-01

Technology advances make it possible to consider continuous acoustic respiratory rate monitoring as an integral component of physiologic surveillance systems. This study explores technical and logistical aspects of augmenting pulse oximetry-based patient surveillance systems with continuous respiratory rate monitoring and offers some insight into the impact on patient deterioration detection that may result. Acoustic respiratory rate sensors were introduced to a general care pulse oximetry-based surveillance system with respiratory rate alarms deactivated. Simulation was used after 4324 patient days to determine appropriate alarm thresholds for respiratory rate, which were then activated. Data were collected for an additional 4382 patient days. Physiologic parameters, alarm data, sensor utilization and patient/staff feedback were collected throughout the study and analyzed. No notable technical or workflow issues were observed. Sensor utilization was 57 %, with patient refusal leading reasons for nonuse (22.7 %). With respiratory rate alarm thresholds set to 6 and 40 breaths/min., the majority of nurse pager clinical notifications were triggered by low oxygen saturation values (43 %), followed by low respiratory rate values (21 %) and low pulse rate values (13 %). Mean respiratory rate collected was 16.6 ± 3.8 breaths/min. The vast majority (82 %) of low oxygen saturation states coincided with normal respiration rates of 12-20 breaths/min. Continuous respiratory rate monitoring can be successfully added to a pulse oximetry-based surveillance system without significant technical, logistical or workflow issues and is moderately well-tolerated by patients. Respiratory rate sensor alarms did not significantly impact overall system alarm burden. Respiratory rate and oxygen saturation distributions suggest adding continuous respiratory rate monitoring to a pulse oximetry-based surveillance system may not significantly improve patient deterioration detection.

Neural network based system for equipment surveillance

DOEpatents

Vilim, Richard B.; Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.

1998-01-01

A method and system for performing surveillance of transient signals of an industrial device to ascertain the operating state. The method and system involves the steps of reading into a memory training data, determining neural network weighting values until achieving target outputs close to the neural network output. If the target outputs are inadequate, wavelet parameters are determined to yield neural network outputs close to the desired set of target outputs and then providing signals characteristic of an industrial process and comparing the neural network output to the industrial process signals to evaluate the operating state of the industrial process.

Infectious Disease Surveillance in the 21st Century: An Integrated Web-Based Surveillance and Case Management System

PubMed Central

Haney, Gillian; Cocoros, Noelle; Cranston, Kevin; DeMaria, Alfred

2014-01-01

The Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiologic Network (MAVEN) was deployed in 2006 by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Infectious Disease to serve as an integrated, Web-based disease surveillance and case management system. MAVEN replaced program-specific, siloed databases, which were inaccessible to local public health and unable to integrate electronic reporting. Disease events are automatically created without human intervention when a case or laboratory report is received and triaged in real time to state and local public health personnel. Events move through workflows for initial notification, case investigation, and case management. Initial development was completed within 12 months and recent state regulations mandate the use of MAVEN by all 351 jurisdictions. More than 300 local boards of health are using MAVEN, there are approximately one million events, and 70 laboratories report electronically. MAVEN has demonstrated responsiveness and flexibility to emerging diseases while also streamlining routine surveillance processes and improving timeliness of notifications and data completeness, although the long-term resource requirements are significant. PMID:24587547

Image-based systems for space surveillance: from images to collision avoidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pyanet, Marine; Martin, Bernard; Fau, Nicolas; Vial, Sophie; Chalte, Chantal; Beraud, Pascal; Fuss, Philippe; Le Goff, Roland

2011-11-01

In many spatial systems, image is a core technology to fulfil the mission requirements. Depending on the application, the needs and the constraints are different and imaging systems can offer a large variety of configurations in terms of wavelength, resolution, field-of-view, focal length or sensitivity. Adequate image processing algorithms allow the extraction of the needed information and the interpretation of images. As a prime contractor for many major civil or military projects, Astrium ST is very involved in the proposition, development and realization of new image-based techniques and systems for space-related purposes. Among the different applications, space surveillance is a major stake for the future of space transportation. Indeed, studies show that the number of debris in orbit is exponentially growing and the already existing population of small and medium debris is a concrete threat to operational satellites. This paper presents Astrium ST activities regarding space surveillance for space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM). Among other possible SSA architectures, the relevance of a ground-based optical station network is investigated. The objective is to detect and track space debris and maintain an exhaustive and accurate catalogue up-to-date in order to assess collision risk for satellites and space vehicles. The system is composed of different type of optical stations dedicated to specific functions (survey, passive tracking, active tracking), distributed around the globe. To support these investigations, two in-house operational breadboards were implemented and are operated for survey and tracking purposes. This paper focuses on Astrium ST end-to-end optical-based survey concept. For the detection of new debris, a network of wide field of view survey stations is considered: those stations are able to detect small objects and associated image processing (detection and tracking) allow a preliminary restitution of their

Affordable Options for Ground-Based, Large-Aperture Optical Space Surveillance Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackermann, M.; Beason, J. D.; Kiziah, R.; Spillar, E.; Vestrand, W. T.; Cox, D.; McGraw, J.; Zimmer, P.; Holland, C.

2013-09-01

The Space Surveillance Telescope (SST) developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - has demonstrated significant capability improvements over legacy ground-based optical space surveillance systems. To fulfill better the current and future space situational awareness (SSA) requirements, the Air Force would benefit from a global network of such telescopes, but the high cost to replicate the SST makes such an acquisition decision difficult, particularly in an era of fiscal austerity. Ideally, the Air Force needs the capabilities provided by the SST, but at a more affordable price. To address this issue, an informal study considered a total of 67 alternative optical designs, with each being evaluated for cost, complexity and SSA performance. One promising approach identified in the study uses a single mirror at prime focus with a small number of corrective lenses. This approach results in telescopes that are less complex and estimated to be less expensive than replicated SSTs. They should also be acquirable on shorter time scales. Another approach would use a modest network of smaller telescopes for space surveillance. This approach provides significant cost advantages but faces some challenges with very dim objects. In this paper, we examine the cost and SSA utility for each of the 67 designs considered.

Implementing injury surveillance systems alongside injury prevention programs: evaluation of an online surveillance system in a community setting.

PubMed

Ekegren, Christina L; Donaldson, Alex; Gabbe, Belinda J; Finch, Caroline F

Previous research aimed at improving injury surveillance standards has focused mainly on issues of data quality rather than upon the implementation of surveillance systems. There are numerous settings where injury surveillance is not mandatory and having a better understanding of the barriers to conducting injury surveillance would lead to improved implementation strategies. One such setting is community sport, where a lack of available epidemiological data has impaired efforts to reduce injury. This study aimed to i) evaluate use of an injury surveillance system following delivery of an implementation strategy; and ii) investigate factors influencing the implementation of the system in community sports clubs. A total of 78 clubs were targeted for implementation of an online injury surveillance system (approximately 4000 athletes) in five community Australian football leagues concurrently enrolled in a pragmatic trial of an injury prevention program called FootyFirst. System implementation was evaluated quantitatively, using the RE-AIM framework, and qualitatively, via semi-structured interviews with targeted-users. Across the 78 clubs, there was 69% reach, 44% adoption, 23% implementation and 9% maintenance. Reach and adoption were highest in those leagues receiving concurrent support for the delivery of FootyFirst. Targeted-users identified several barriers and facilitators to implementation including personal (e.g. belief in the importance of injury surveillance), socio-contextual (e.g. understaffing and athlete underreporting) and systems factors (e.g. the time taken to upload injury data into the online system). The injury surveillance system was implemented and maintained by a small proportion of clubs. Outcomes were best in those leagues receiving concurrent support for the delivery of FootyFirst, suggesting that engagement with personnel at all levels can enhance uptake of surveillance systems. Interview findings suggest that increased uptake could also be

[Construction of the Brazilian Sanitary Surveillance System: arguments to debate].

PubMed

De Seta, Marismary Horsth; Dain, Sulamis

2010-11-01

This paper analyzes the Brazilian Sanitary Surveillance System as an arrangement aimed at regulating and reducing health risks associated with consumption of products, use of health services and the environment. Historical, political and tax aspects were considered and their development compared with the National Health Surveillance System, which has received strong international cooperation. The comparison was based on the trajectory of their national systems and related federal agencies, as well as on criteria adopted for decentralization. The central category of analysis is federative coordination and was based on the framework of federalism and intergovernmental relations. The institutional context of health and sanitary surveillance presents strong political competition, instability in the project and probable reduction of the ability of federal coordination after the Pact for Health. The National Sanitary Surveillance System due to its nature of public good and high externality in its field of action requires federal coordination for increasing the regional and local cooperation, also because of the structural heterogeneity of Brazilian municipalities.

Accelerometer-based measures in physical activity surveillance: current practices and issues.

PubMed

Pedišić, Željko; Bauman, Adrian

2015-02-01

Self-reports of physical activity (PA) have been the mainstay of measurement in most non-communicable disease (NCD) surveillance systems. To these, other measures are added to summate to a comprehensive PA surveillance system. Recently, some national NCD surveillance systems have started using accelerometers as a measure of PA. The purpose of this paper was specifically to appraise the suitability and role of accelerometers for population-level PA surveillance. A thorough literature search was conducted to examine aspects of the generalisability, reliability, validity, comprehensiveness and between-study comparability of accelerometer estimates, and to gauge the simplicity, cost-effectiveness, adaptability and sustainability of their use in NCD surveillance. Accelerometer data collected in PA surveillance systems may not provide estimates that are generalisable to the target population. Accelerometer-based estimates have adequate reliability for PA surveillance, but there are still several issues associated with their validity. Accelerometer-based prevalence estimates are largely dependent on the investigators' choice of intensity cut-off points. Maintaining standardised accelerometer data collections in long-term PA surveillance systems is difficult, which may cause discontinuity in time-trend data. The use of accelerometers does not necessarily produce useful between-study and international comparisons due to lack of standardisation of data collection and processing methods. To conclude, it appears that accelerometers still have limitations regarding generalisability, validity, comprehensiveness, simplicity, affordability, adaptability, between-study comparability and sustainability. Therefore, given the current evidence, it seems that the widespread adoption of accelerometers specifically for large-scale PA surveillance systems may be premature. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence

Neural network based system for equipment surveillance

DOEpatents

Vilim, R.B.; Gross, K.C.; Wegerich, S.W.

1998-04-28

A method and system are disclosed for performing surveillance of transient signals of an industrial device to ascertain the operating state. The method and system involves the steps of reading into a memory training data, determining neural network weighting values until achieving target outputs close to the neural network output. If the target outputs are inadequate, wavelet parameters are determined to yield neural network outputs close to the desired set of target outputs and then providing signals characteristic of an industrial process and comparing the neural network output to the industrial process signals to evaluate the operating state of the industrial process. 33 figs.

Occupational injuries identified by an emergency department based injury surveillance system in Nicaragua

PubMed Central

Noe, R; Rocha, J; Clavel-Arcas, C; Aleman, C; Gonzales, M; Mock, C

2004-01-01

Objectives: To identify and describe the work related injuries in both the formal and informal work sectors captured in an emergency department based injury surveillance system in Managua, Nicaragua. Setting: Urban emergency department in Managua, Nicaragua serving 200–300 patients per day. Methods: Secondary analysis from the surveillance system data. All cases indicating an injury while working and seen for treatment at the emergency department between 1 August 2001 and 31 July 2002 were included. There was no exclusion based on place of occurrence (home, work, school), age, or gender. Results: There were 3801 work related injuries identified which accounted for 18.6% of the total 20 425 injures captured by the surveillance system. Twenty seven work related fatalities were recorded, compared with the 1998 International Labor Organization statistic of 25 occupational fatalities for all of Nicaragua. Injuries occurring outside of a formal work location accounted for more than 60% of the work related injuries. Almost half of these occurred at home, while 19% occurred on the street. The leading mechanisms for work related injuries were falls (30%), blunt objects (28%), and stabs/cuts (23%). Falls were by far the most severe mechanism in the study, causing 37% of the work related deaths and more than half of the fractures. Conclusions: Occupational injuries are grossly underreported in Nicaragua. This study demonstrated that an emergency department can be a data source for work related injuries in developing countries because it captures both the formal and informal workforce injuries. Fall prevention initiatives could significantly reduce the magnitude and severity of occupational injuries in Managua, Nicaragua. PMID:15314050

Sapphire: Canada's Answer to Space-Based Surveillance of Orbital Objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maskell, P.; Oram, L.

The Canadian Department of National Defence is in the process of developing the Canadian Space Surveillance System (CSSS) as the main focus of the Surveillance of Space (SofS) Project. The CSSS consists of two major elements: the Sapphire System and the Sensor System Operations Centre (SSOC). The space segment of the Sapphire System is comprised of the Sapphire Satellite - an autonomous spacecraft with an electro-optical payload which will act as a contributing sensor to the United States (US) Space Surveillance Network (SSN). It will operate in a circular, sunsynchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 750 kilometers and image a minimum of 360 space objects daily in orbits ranging from 6,000 to 40,000 kilometers in altitude. The ground segment of the Sapphire System is composed of a Spacecraft Control Center (SCC), a Satellite Processing and Scheduling Facility (SPSF), and the Sapphire Simulator. The SPSF will be responsible for data transmission, reception, and processing while the SCC will serve to control and monitor the Sapphire Satellite. Surveillance data will be received from Sapphire through two ground stations. Following processing by the SPSF, the surveillance data will then be forwarded to the SSOC. The SSOC will function as the interface between the Sapphire System and the US Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC). The JSpOC coordinates input from various sensors around the world, all of which are a part of the SSN. The SSOC will task the Sapphire System daily and provide surveillance data to the JSpOC for correlation with data from other SSN sensors. This will include orbital parameters required to predict future positions of objects to be tracked. The SSOC receives daily tasking instructions from the JSpOC to determine which objects the Sapphire spacecraft is required to observe. The advantage of this space-based sensor over ground-based telescopes is that weather and time of day are not factors affecting observation. Thus, space-based optical

Description and validation of a new automated surveillance system for Clostridium difficile in Denmark.

PubMed

Chaine, M; Gubbels, S; Voldstedlund, M; Kristensen, B; Nielsen, J; Andersen, L P; Ellermann-Eriksen, S; Engberg, J; Holm, A; Olesen, B; Schønheyder, H C; Østergaard, C; Ethelberg, S; Mølbak, K

2017-09-01

The surveillance of Clostridium difficile (CD) in Denmark consists of laboratory based data from Departments of Clinical Microbiology (DCMs) sent to the National Registry of Enteric Pathogens (NREP). We validated a new surveillance system for CD based on the Danish Microbiology Database (MiBa). MiBa automatically collects microbiological test results from all Danish DCMs. We built an algorithm to identify positive test results for CD recorded in MiBa. A CD case was defined as a person with a positive culture for CD or PCR detection of toxin A and/or B and/or binary toxin. We compared CD cases identified through the MiBa-based surveillance with those reported to NREP and locally in five DCMs representing different Danish regions. During 2010-2014, NREP reported 13 896 CD cases, and the MiBa-based surveillance 21 252 CD cases. There was a 99·9% concordance between the local datasets and the MiBa-based surveillance. Surveillance based on MiBa was superior to the current surveillance system, and the findings show that the number of CD cases in Denmark hitherto has been under-reported. There were only minor differences between local data and the MiBa-based surveillance, showing the completeness and validity of CD data in MiBa. This nationwide electronic system can greatly strengthen surveillance and research in various applications.

A Global Cancer Surveillance Framework Within Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance: Making the Case for Population-Based Cancer Registries.

PubMed

Piñeros, Marion; Znaor, Ariana; Mery, Les; Bray, Freddie

2017-01-01

The growing burden of cancer among several major noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) requires national implementation of tailored public health surveillance. For many emerging economies where emphasis has traditionally been placed on the surveillance of communicable diseases, it is critical to understand the specificities of NCD surveillance and, within it, of cancer surveillance. We propose a general framework for cancer surveillance that permits monitoring the core components of cancer control. We examine communalities in approaches to the surveillance of other major NCDs as well as communicable diseases, illustrating key differences in the function, coverage, and reporting in each system. Although risk factor surveys and vital statistics registration are the foundation of surveillance of NCDs, population-based cancer registries play a unique fundamental role specific to cancer surveillance, providing indicators of population-based incidence and survival. With an onus now placed on governments to collect these data as part of the monitoring of NCD targets, the integration of cancer registries into existing and future NCD surveillance strategies is a vital requirement in all countries worldwide. The Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development, endorsed by the World Health Organization, provides a means to enhance cancer surveillance capacity in low- and middle-income countries. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Evaluation of a national pharmacy‐based syndromic surveillance system

PubMed Central

Muchaal, PK; Parker, S; Meganath, K; Landry, L; Aramini, J

2015-01-01

Background Traditional public health surveillance provides accurate information but is typically not timely. New early warning systems leveraging timely electronic data are emerging, but the public health value of such systems is still largely unknown. Objective To assess the timeliness and accuracy of pharmacy sales data for both respiratory and gastrointestinal infections and to determine its utility in supporting the surveillance of gastrointestinal illness. Methods To assess timeliness, a prospective and retrospective analysis of data feeds was used to compare the chronological characteristics of each data stream. To assess accuracy, Ontario antiviral prescriptions were compared to confirmed cases of influenza and cases of influenza-like-illness (ILI) from August 2009 to January 2015 and Nova Scotia sales of respiratory over-the-counter products (OTC) were compared to laboratory reports of respiratory pathogen detections from January 2014 to March 2015. Enteric outbreak data (2011-2014) from Nova Scotia were compared to sales of gastrointestinal products for the same time period. To assess utility, pharmacy sales of gastrointestinal products were monitored across Canada to detect unusual increases and reports were disseminated to the provinces and territories once a week between December 2014 and March 2015 and then a follow-up evaluation survey of stakeholders was conducted. Results Ontario prescriptions of antivirals between 2009 and 2015 correlated closely with the onset dates and magnitude of confirmed influenza cases. Nova Scotia sales of respiratory OTC products correlated with increases in non-influenza respiratory pathogens in the community. There were no definitive correlations identified between the occurrence of enteric outbreaks and the sales of gastrointestinal OTCs in Nova Scotia. Evaluation of national monitoring showed no significant increases in sales of gastrointestinal products that could be linked to outbreaks that included more than one

Surveillance of traumatic firefighter fatalities: an assessment of four systems.

PubMed

Estes, Chris R; Marsh, Suzanne M; Castillo, Dawn N

2011-01-01

Firefighters regularly respond to hazardous situations that put them at risk for fatal occupational injuries. Traumatic occupational fatality surveillance is a foundation for understanding the problem and developing prevention strategies. We assessed four surveillance systems for their utility in characterizing firefighter fatalities and informing prevention measures. We examined three population-based systems (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and systems maintained by the United States Fire Administration and the National Fire Protection Association) and one case-based system (data collected through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program). From each system, we selected traumatic fatalities among firefighters for 2003-2006. Then we compared case definitions, methods for case ascertainment, variables collected, and rate calculation methods. Overall magnitude of fatalities differed among systems. The population-based systems were effective in characterizing the circumstances of traumatic firefighter fatalities. The case-based surveillance system was effective in formulating detailed prevention recommendations, which could not be made based on the population-based data alone. Methods for estimating risk were disparate and limited fatality rate comparisons between firefighters and other workers. The systems included in this study contribute toward a greater understanding of firefighter fatalities. Areas of improvement for these systems should continue to be identified as they are used to direct research and prevention efforts.

National laboratory-based surveillance system for antimicrobial resistance: a successful tool to support the control of antimicrobial resistance in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Altorf-van der Kuil, Wieke; Schoffelen, Annelot F; de Greeff, Sabine C; Thijsen, Steven Ft; Alblas, H Jeroen; Notermans, Daan W; Vlek, Anne Lm; van der Sande, Marianne Ab; Leenstra, Tjalling

2017-11-01

An important cornerstone in the control of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a well-designed quantitative system for the surveillance of spread and temporal trends in AMR. Since 2008, the Dutch national AMR surveillance system, based on routine data from medical microbiological laboratories (MMLs), has developed into a successful tool to support the control of AMR in the Netherlands. It provides background information for policy making in public health and healthcare services, supports development of empirical antibiotic therapy guidelines and facilitates in-depth research. In addition, participation of the MMLs in the national AMR surveillance network has contributed to sharing of knowledge and quality improvement. A future improvement will be the implementation of a new semantic standard together with standardised data transfer, which will reduce errors in data handling and enable a more real-time surveillance. Furthermore, the scientific impact and the possibility of detecting outbreaks may be amplified by merging the AMR surveillance database with databases from selected pathogen-based surveillance programmes containing patient data and genotypic typing data.

National laboratory-based surveillance system for antimicrobial resistance: a successful tool to support the control of antimicrobial resistance in the Netherlands

PubMed Central

Altorf-van der Kuil, Wieke; Schoffelen, Annelot F; de Greeff, Sabine C; Thijsen, Steven FT; Alblas, H Jeroen; Notermans, Daan W; Vlek, Anne LM; van der Sande, Marianne AB; Leenstra, Tjalling

2017-01-01

An important cornerstone in the control of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a well-designed quantitative system for the surveillance of spread and temporal trends in AMR. Since 2008, the Dutch national AMR surveillance system, based on routine data from medical microbiological laboratories (MMLs), has developed into a successful tool to support the control of AMR in the Netherlands. It provides background information for policy making in public health and healthcare services, supports development of empirical antibiotic therapy guidelines and facilitates in-depth research. In addition, participation of the MMLs in the national AMR surveillance network has contributed to sharing of knowledge and quality improvement. A future improvement will be the implementation of a new semantic standard together with standardised data transfer, which will reduce errors in data handling and enable a more real-time surveillance. Furthermore, the scientific impact and the possibility of detecting outbreaks may be amplified by merging the AMR surveillance database with databases from selected pathogen-based surveillance programmes containing patient data and genotypic typing data. PMID:29162208

Historical Trends in Ground-Based Optical Space Surveillance System Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shoemaker, M.; Shroyer, L.

In the spirit of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first man-made satellite, an historical overview of ground-based optical space surveillance systems is provided. Specific emphasis is given on gathering metrics to analyze design trends. The subject of space surveillance spans the history of spaceflight: from the early tracking cameras at missile ranges, the first observations of Sputnik, to the evolution towards highly capable commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems, and much in between. Whereas previous reviews in the literature have been limited in scope to specific time periods, operational programs, countries, etc., a broad overview of a wide range of sources is presented. This review is focused on systems whose primary design purpose can be classified as Space Object Identification (SOI) or Orbit Determination (OD). SOI systems are those that capture images or data to determine information about the satellite itself, such as attitude, features, and material composition. OD systems are those that produce estimates of the satellite position, usually in the form of orbital elements or a time history of tracking angles. Systems are also categorized based on the orbital regime in which their targets reside, which has been simplified in this study to either Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO). The systems are further classified depending on the industry segment (government/commercial or academic), and whether the program is foreign or domestic. In addition to gathering metrics on systems designed solely for man-made satellite observations, it is interesting to find examples of other systems being similarly used. Examples include large astronomical telescopes being used for GEO debris surveys and anomaly resolution for deep-space probes. Another interesting development is the increase in number and capability of COTS systems, some of which are specifically marketed to consumers as satellite trackers. After describing the results of the

Experiences From Developing and Upgrading a Web-Based Surveillance System for Malaria Elimination in Cambodia.

PubMed

Fu, Clementine; Lopes, Sérgio; Mellor, Steve; Aryal, Siddhi; Sovannaroth, Siv; Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa

2017-06-14

Strengthening the surveillance component is key toward achieving country-wide malaria elimination in Cambodia. A Web-based upgraded malaria information system (MIS) was deemed to essentially act as the central component for surveillance strengthening. New functionality (eg, data visualization) and operational (eg, data quality) attributes of the system received particular attention. However, building from the lessons learned in previous systems' developments, other aspects unique to Cambodia were considered to be equally important; for instance, feasibility issues, particularly at the field level (eg, user acceptability at various health levels), and sustainability needs (eg, long-term system flexibility). The Cambodian process of identifying the essential changes and critical attributes for this new information system can provide a model for other countries at various stages of the disease control and elimination continuum. Sharing these experiences not only facilitates the establishment of "best practices" but also accelerates global and regional malaria elimination efforts. In this article, Cambodia's experience in developing and upgrading its MIS to remain responsive to country-specific needs demonstrates the necessity for considering functionality, operationalization, feasibility, and sustainability of an information system in the context of malaria elimination. ©Clementine Fu, Sérgio Lopes, Steve Mellor, Siddhi Aryal, Siv Sovannaroth, Arantxa Roca-Feltrer. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 14.06.2017.

Smart sensing surveillance video system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Charles; Szu, Harold

2016-05-01

An intelligent video surveillance system is able to detect and identify abnormal and alarming situations by analyzing object movement. The Smart Sensing Surveillance Video (S3V) System is proposed to minimize video processing and transmission, thus allowing a fixed number of cameras to be connected on the system, and making it suitable for its applications in remote battlefield, tactical, and civilian applications including border surveillance, special force operations, airfield protection, perimeter and building protection, and etc. The S3V System would be more effective if equipped with visual understanding capabilities to detect, analyze, and recognize objects, track motions, and predict intentions. In addition, alarm detection is performed on the basis of parameters of the moving objects and their trajectories, and is performed using semantic reasoning and ontologies. The S3V System capabilities and technologies have great potential for both military and civilian applications, enabling highly effective security support tools for improving surveillance activities in densely crowded environments. It would be directly applicable to solutions for emergency response personnel, law enforcement, and other homeland security missions, as well as in applications requiring the interoperation of sensor networks with handheld or body-worn interface devices.

Hunters' acceptability of the surveillance system and alternative surveillance strategies for classical swine fever in wild boar - a participatory approach.

PubMed

Schulz, Katja; Calba, Clémentine; Peyre, Marisa; Staubach, Christoph; Conraths, Franz J

2016-09-06

Surveillance measures can only be effective if key players in the system accept them. Acceptability, which describes the willingness of persons to contribute, is often analyzed using participatory methods. Participatory epidemiology enables the active involvement of key players in the assessment of epidemiological issues. In the present study, we used a participatory method recently developed by CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement) to evaluate the functionality and acceptability of Classical Swine Fever (CSF) surveillance in wild boar in Germany, which is highly dependent on the participation of hunters. The acceptability of alternative surveillance strategies was also analyzed. By conducting focus group discussions, potential vulnerabilities in the system were detected and feasible alternative surveillance strategies identified. Trust in the current surveillance system is high, whereas the acceptability of the operation of the system is medium. Analysis of the acceptability of alternative surveillance strategies showed how risk-based surveillance approaches can be combined to develop strategies that have sufficient support and functionality. Furthermore, some surveillance strategies were clearly rejected by the hunters. Thus, the implementation of such strategies may be difficult. Participatory methods can be used to evaluate the functionality and acceptability of existing surveillance plans for CSF among hunters and to optimize plans regarding their chances of successful implementation.

Factors associated with good compliance and long-term sustainability in a practitioner-based livestock disease surveillance system.

PubMed

Zurbrigg, Katherine J; Van den Borre, Nicole M

2013-03-01

The Ontario Farm call Surveillance Project (OFSP) was a practitioner-based, syndromic surveillance system for livestock disease. Three data-recording methods (paper, web-based, and handheld electronic) used by participating veterinarians were compared for timeliness (when the report arrived at the OFSP office), completeness of the report, and the usage and costs of incentives offered to veterinarians as compensation for their time to record data. There were no statistically significant differences in these parameters among the 3 data-recording methods. This indicates that different data-recording methods can be used within a single veterinary surveillance program while maintaining data integrity and timely reporting. Factors such as ease of data collection and providing incentives valued by veterinarians ensured high compliance and long-term participation in the project. It also increased the diversity of the participant group, reducing the likelihood of biased data submissions.

Surveillance and reconnaissance ground system architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devambez, Francois

2001-12-01

Modern conflicts induces various modes of deployment, due to the type of conflict, the type of mission, and phase of conflict. It is then impossible to define fixed architecture systems for surveillance ground segments. Thales has developed a structure for a ground segment based on the operational functions required, and on the definition of modules and networks. Theses modules are software and hardware modules, including communications and networks. This ground segment is called MGS (Modular Ground Segment), and is intended for use in airborne reconnaissance systems, surveillance systems, and U.A.V. systems. Main parameters for the definition of a modular ground image exploitation system are : Compliance with various operational configurations, Easy adaptation to the evolution of theses configurations, Interoperability with NATO and multinational forces, Security, Multi-sensors, multi-platforms capabilities, Technical modularity, Evolutivity Reduction of life cycle cost The general performances of the MGS are presented : type of sensors, acquisition process, exploitation of images, report generation, data base management, dissemination, interface with C4I. The MGS is then described as a set of hardware and software modules, and their organization to build numerous operational configurations. Architectures are from minimal configuration intended for a mono-sensor image exploitation system, to a full image intelligence center, for a multilevel exploitation of multi-sensor.

Establishing a cost-effective national surveillance system for Bluetongue using scenario tree modelling.

PubMed

Hadorn, Daniela C; Racloz, Vanessa; Schwermer, Heinzpeter; Stärk, Katharina D C

2009-01-01

Vector-borne diseases pose a special challenge to veterinary authorities due to complex and time-consuming surveillance programs taking into account vector habitat. Using stochastic scenario tree modelling, each possible surveillance activity of a future surveillance system can be evaluated with regard to its sensitivity and the expected cost. The overall sensitivity of various potential surveillance systems, composed of different combinations of surveillance activities, is calculated and the proposed surveillance system is optimized with respect to the considered surveillance activities, the sensitivity and the cost. The objective of this project was to use stochastic scenario tree modelling in combination with a simple cost analysis in order to develop the national surveillance system for Bluetongue in Switzerland. This surveillance system was established due to the emerging outbreak of Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8) in Northern Europe in 2006. Based on the modelling results, it was decided to implement an improved passive clinical surveillance in cattle and sheep through campaigns in order to increase disease awareness alongside a targeted bulk milk testing strategy in 200 dairy cattle herds located in high-risk areas. The estimated median probability of detection of cases (i.e. sensitivity) of the surveillance system in this combined approach was 96.4%. The evaluation of the prospective national surveillance system predicted that passive clinical surveillance in cattle would provide the highest probability to detect BTV-8 infected animals, followed by passive clinical surveillance in sheep and bulk milk testing of 200 dairy cattle farms in high-risk areas. This approach is also applicable in other countries and to other epidemic diseases.

Event-Based Surveillance During EXPO Milan 2015: Rationale, Tools, Procedures, and Initial Results

PubMed Central

Manso, Martina Del; Caporali, Maria Grazia; Napoli, Christian; Linge, Jens P.; Mantica, Eleonora; Verile, Marco; Piatti, Alessandra; Pompa, Maria Grazia; Vellucci, Loredana; Costanzo, Virgilio; Bastiampillai, Anan Judina; Gabrielli, Eugenia; Gramegna, Maria; Declich, Silvia

2016-01-01

More than 21 million participants attended EXPO Milan from May to October 2015, making it one of the largest protracted mass gathering events in Europe. Given the expected national and international population movement and health security issues associated with this event, Italy fully implemented, for the first time, an event-based surveillance (EBS) system focusing on naturally occurring infectious diseases and the monitoring of biological agents with potential for intentional release. The system started its pilot phase in March 2015 and was fully operational between April and November 2015. In order to set the specific objectives of the EBS system, and its complementary role to indicator-based surveillance, we defined a list of priority diseases and conditions. This list was designed on the basis of the probability and possible public health impact of infectious disease transmission, existing statutory surveillance systems in place, and any surveillance enhancements during the mass gathering event. This article reports the methodology used to design the EBS system for EXPO Milan and the results of 8 months of surveillance. PMID:27314656

Factors associated with good compliance and long-term sustainability in a practitioner-based livestock disease surveillance system

PubMed Central

Zurbrigg, Katherine J.; Van den Borre, Nicole M.

2013-01-01

The Ontario Farm call Surveillance Project (OFSP) was a practitioner-based, syndromic surveillance system for livestock disease. Three data-recording methods (paper, web-based, and handheld electronic) used by participating veterinarians were compared for timeliness (when the report arrived at the OFSP office), completeness of the report, and the usage and costs of incentives offered to veterinarians as compensation for their time to record data. There were no statistically significant differences in these parameters among the 3 data-recording methods. This indicates that different data-recording methods can be used within a single veterinary surveillance program while maintaining data integrity and timely reporting. Factors such as ease of data collection and providing incentives valued by veterinarians ensured high compliance and long-term participation in the project. It also increased the diversity of the participant group, reducing the likelihood of biased data submissions. PMID:23997260

System For Surveillance Of Spectral Signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2004-10-12

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a Sequential Probability Ratio Test ("SPRT") methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

System For Surveillance Of Spectral Signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2003-04-22

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a Sequential Probability Ratio Test methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

System for surveillance of spectral signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2006-02-14

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a Sequential Probability Ratio Test ("SPRT") methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

System for surveillance of spectral signals

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenneth C.; Wegerich, Stephan W.; Criss-Puszkiewicz, Cynthia; Wilks, Alan D.

2001-01-01

A method and system for monitoring at least one of a system, a process and a data source. A method and system have been developed for carrying out surveillance, testing and modification of an ongoing process or other source of data, such as a spectroscopic examination. A signal from the system under surveillance is collected and compared with a reference signal, a frequency domain transformation carried out for the system signal and reference signal, a frequency domain difference function established. The process is then repeated until a full range of data is accumulated over the time domain and a SPRT sequential probability ratio test methodology applied to determine a three-dimensional surface plot characteristic of the operating state of the system under surveillance.

Developing a new syndromic surveillance system for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

PubMed

Harcourt, S E; Fletcher, J; Loveridge, P; Bains, A; Morbey, R; Yeates, A; McCloskey, B; Smyth, B; Ibbotson, S; Smith, G E; Elliot, A J

2012-12-01

Syndromic surveillance is vital for monitoring public health during mass gatherings. The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games represents a major challenge to health protection services and community surveillance. In response to this challenge the Health Protection Agency has developed a new syndromic surveillance system that monitors daily general practitioner out-of-hours and unscheduled care attendances. This new national system will fill a gap identified in the existing general practice-based syndromic surveillance systems by providing surveillance capability of general practice activity during evenings/nights, over weekends and public holidays. The system will complement and supplement the existing tele-health phone line, general practitioner and emergency department syndromic surveillance systems. This new national system will contribute to improving public health reassurance, especially to meet the challenges of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Concepts for risk-based surveillance in the field of veterinary medicine and veterinary public health: Review of current approaches

PubMed Central

Stärk, Katharina DC; Regula, Gertraud; Hernandez, Jorge; Knopf, Lea; Fuchs, Klemens; Morris, Roger S; Davies, Peter

2006-01-01

Background Emerging animal and zoonotic diseases and increasing international trade have resulted in an increased demand for veterinary surveillance systems. However, human and financial resources available to support government veterinary services are becoming more and more limited in many countries world-wide. Intuitively, issues that present higher risks merit higher priority for surveillance resources as investments will yield higher benefit-cost ratios. The rapid rate of acceptance of this core concept of risk-based surveillance has outpaced the development of its theoretical and practical bases. Discussion The principal objectives of risk-based veterinary surveillance are to identify surveillance needs to protect the health of livestock and consumers, to set priorities, and to allocate resources effectively and efficiently. An important goal is to achieve a higher benefit-cost ratio with existing or reduced resources. We propose to define risk-based surveillance systems as those that apply risk assessment methods in different steps of traditional surveillance design for early detection and management of diseases or hazards. In risk-based designs, public health, economic and trade consequences of diseases play an important role in selection of diseases or hazards. Furthermore, certain strata of the population of interest have a higher probability to be sampled for detection of diseases or hazards. Evaluation of risk-based surveillance systems shall prove that the efficacy of risk-based systems is equal or higher than traditional systems; however, the efficiency (benefit-cost ratio) shall be higher in risk-based surveillance systems. Summary Risk-based surveillance considerations are useful to support both strategic and operational decision making. This article highlights applications of risk-based surveillance systems in the veterinary field including food safety. Examples are provided for risk-based hazard selection, risk-based selection of sampling strata as

Chronic disease surveillance systems within the US Associated Pacific Island jurisdictions.

PubMed

Hosey, Gwen; Ichiho, Henry; Satterfield, Dawn; Dankwa-Mullan, Irene; Kuartei, Stevenson; Rhee, Kyu; Belyeu-Camacho, Tayna; deBrum, Ione; Demei, Yorah; Lippwe, Kipier; Luces, Patrick Solidum; Roby, Faiese

2011-07-01

In recent years, illness and death due to chronic disease in the US Associated Pacific Islands (USAPI) jurisdictions have dramatically increased. Effective chronic disease surveillance can help monitor disease trends, evaluate public policy, prioritize resource allocation, and guide program planning, evaluation, and research. Although chronic disease surveillance is being conducted in the USAPI, no recently published capacity assessments for chronic disease surveillance are available. The objective of this study was to assess the quality of existing USAPI chronic disease data sources and identify jurisdictional capacity for chronic disease surveillance. The assessment included a chronic disease data source inventory, literature review, and review of surveillance documentation available from the web or through individual jurisdictions. We used the World Health Organization's Health Metric Network Framework to assess data source quality and to identify jurisdictional capacity. Results showed that USAPI data sources are generally aligned with widely accepted chronic disease surveillance indicators and use standardized data collection methodology to measure chronic disease behavioral risks, preventive practices, illness, and death. However, all jurisdictions need to strengthen chronic disease surveillance through continued assessment and expanded support for valid and reliable data collection, analysis and reporting, dissemination, and integration among population-based and institution-based data sources. For sustained improvement, we recommend investment and technical assistance in support of a chronic disease surveillance system that integrates population-based and institution-based data sources. An integrated strategy that bridges and links USAPI data sources can support evidence-based policy and population health interventions.

[Analysis on bacillary dysentery surveillance data collected from the National Surveillance System in 2007.].

PubMed

Zhong, Hao-jie; Chang, Zhao-rui; Zhang, Jing

2010-03-01

To improve the national surveillance plan on bacillary dysentery and to increase the sensitivity of the surveillance system on the disease. Data was collected through China Disease Reporting Information System (CDRIS) and National Sentinel Surveillance Sites on bacillary dysentery. Data from the CDRIS was compared with the data from the National Sentinel Surveillance to identify the exiting problems. Data from the monitoring sites showed that the detection rate of infant cases of bacillary dysentery infection was 1%, less than that of other age groups. The highest rates were seen in children aged 3 through 9 years. Rate on misdiagnosis in all age group was 23.38%, when using the surveillance case definition of clinical cases and suspect case. The rate of misdiagnosis on infant cases of bacillary dysentery infection by clinical diagnosis was 50%. It showed that Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei were dominant with the positive rates as 57.21% and 42.41%, respectively. From the national sentinel surveillance sites, the confirmed cases taking up 43.39% which did not match the figure from the CDRIS. The diagnostic criterion for bacillary dysentery fit well on other age groups in surveillance system except on infants. Active surveillance on bacillary dysentery that combining both clinical and laboratory diagnosis seems quite necessary on CDRIS, especially for infants.

Comparing Methods for UAV-Based Autonomous Surveillance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freed, Michael; Harris, Robert; Shafto, Michael

2004-01-01

We describe an approach to evaluating algorithmic and human performance in directing UAV-based surveillance. Its key elements are a decision-theoretic framework for measuring the utility of a surveillance schedule and an evaluation testbed consisting of 243 scenarios covering a well-defined space of possible missions. We apply this approach to two example UAV-based surveillance methods, a TSP-based algorithm and a human-directed approach, then compare them to identify general strengths, and weaknesses of each method.

Evaluation of a Multivariate Syndromic Surveillance System for West Nile Virus.

PubMed

Faverjon, Céline; Andersson, M Gunnar; Decors, Anouk; Tapprest, Jackie; Tritz, Pierre; Sandoz, Alain; Kutasi, Orsolya; Sala, Carole; Leblond, Agnès

2016-06-01

Various methods are currently used for the early detection of West Nile virus (WNV) but their outputs are not quantitative and/or do not take into account all available information. Our study aimed to test a multivariate syndromic surveillance system to evaluate if the sensitivity and the specificity of detection of WNV could be improved. Weekly time series data on nervous syndromes in horses and mortality in both horses and wild birds were used. Baselines were fitted to the three time series and used to simulate 100 years of surveillance data. WNV outbreaks were simulated and inserted into the baselines based on historical data and expert opinion. Univariate and multivariate syndromic surveillance systems were tested to gauge how well they detected the outbreaks; detection was based on an empirical Bayesian approach. The systems' performances were compared using measures of sensitivity, specificity, and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). When data sources were considered separately (i.e., univariate systems), the best detection performance was obtained using the data set of nervous symptoms in horses compared to those of bird and horse mortality (AUCs equal to 0.80, 0.75, and 0.50, respectively). A multivariate outbreak detection system that used nervous symptoms in horses and bird mortality generated the best performance (AUC = 0.87). The proposed approach is suitable for performing multivariate syndromic surveillance of WNV outbreaks. This is particularly relevant, given that a multivariate surveillance system performed better than a univariate approach. Such a surveillance system could be especially useful in serving as an alert for the possibility of human viral infections. This approach can be also used for other diseases for which multiple sources of evidence are available.

PulseNet China, a model for future laboratory-based bacterial infectious disease surveillance in China.

PubMed

Li, Wei; Lu, Shan; Cui, Zhigang; Cui, Jinghua; Zhou, Haijian; Wang, Yiqing; Shao, Zhujun; Ye, Changyun; Kan, Biao; Xu, Jianguo

2012-12-01

Surveillance is critical for the prevention and control of infectious disease. China's real-time web-based infectious disease reporting system is a distinguished achievement. However, many aspects of the current China Infectious Disease Surveillance System do not yet meet the demand for timely outbreak detection and identification of emerging infectious disease. PulseNet, the national molecular typing network for foodborne disease surveillance was first established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States in 1995 and has proven valuable in the early detection of outbreaks and tracing the pathogen source. Since 2001, the China CDC laboratory for bacterial pathogen analysis has been a member of the PulseNet International family; and has been adapting the idea and methodology of PulseNet to develop a model for a future national laboratory-based surveillance system for all bacterial infectious disease.We summarized the development progress for the PulseNet China system and discussed it as a model for the future of China's national laboratory-based surveillance system.

Evaluation of the Measles Surveillance System in Kaduna State, Nigeria (2010-2012).

PubMed

Ameh, Celestine A; Sufiyan, Muawiyyah B; Jacob, Matthew; Waziri, Ndadilnasiya E; Olayinka, Adebola T

2016-01-01

To evaluate the case-based measles surveillance system in Kaduna State of Nigeria and identify gaps in its operation. In Africa, approximately 13 million cases, 650,000 deaths due to measles occur annually, with sub-Saharan Africa having the highest morbidity and mortality. Measles infection is endemic in Nigeria and has been documented to occur all year round, despite high measles routine and supplemental immunization coverage. The frequent outbreaks of measles in Kaduna State prompted the need for the evaluation of the measles case-based surveillance system. We interviewed stakeholders and conducted a retrospective record review of the measles case-based surveillance data from 2010 - 2012 and adapted the 2001 CDC guidelines on surveillance evaluation and the Framework for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems for Early Detection of Outbreaks, to assess the systems usefulness, representativeness, timeliness, stability, acceptability and data quality. We calculated the annualized detection rate of measles and non-measles febrile rash, proportion of available results, proportion of LGAs (Districts) that investigated at least one case with blood, proportion of cases that were IgM positive and the incidence of measles. We compared the results with WHO(2004) recommended performance indicators to determine the quality and effectiveness of measles surveillance system. According to the Stakeholders, the case-based surveillance system was useful and acceptable. Median interval between specimen collection and release of result was 7days (1 - 25 days) in 2010, 38 days (Range: 16 - 109 days) in 2011 and 11 days (Range: 1 - 105 days) in 2012. The annualized detection rate of measles rash in 2010 was 2.1 (target: 3 2), 1.0 (target: 3 2) in 2011 and 1.4 (target: 3 2) in 2012. The annualized detection rate of non-measles febrile rash in 2010 was 2.1 (target: 3 2), 0.6 (target: 3 2) in 2011 and 0.8 (target: 3 2) in 2012. Case definitions are simple and understood by all

Event-based surveillance in north-western Ethiopia: experience and lessons learnt in the field

PubMed Central

Ota, Masaki; Beyene, Belay Bezabih

2015-01-01

This study piloted an event-based surveillance system at the health centre (HC) level in Ethiopia. The system collects rumours in the community and registers them in rumour logbooks to record events of disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. Descriptive analysis was conducted on the events captured at the 59 study HCs in the Amhara Region in north-western Ethiopia between October 2013 and November 2014. A total of 126 rumours were registered at two thirds of the HCs during the study period. The average event reporting time was 3.8 days; response time of the HCs was 0.6 days, resulting in a total response time of 4.4 days. The most commonly reported rumours were measles-related (n = 90, 71%). These rumours followed a similar pattern of measles cases reported in the routine surveillance system. The largest proportion of rumours were reported by community members (n = 38, 36%) followed by health post workers (n = 36, 29%) who were normally informed by the community members about the rumours. This surveillance system was established along with an existing indicator-based surveillance system and was simple to implement. The implementation cost was minimal, requiring only printing and distribution of rumour logbooks to the HCs and brief orientations to focal persons. In countries where routine surveillance is still weak, an event-based surveillance system similar to this should be considered as a supplementary tool for disease monitoring. PMID:26668763

Experiences From Developing and Upgrading a Web-Based Surveillance System for Malaria Elimination in Cambodia

PubMed Central

Mellor, Steve; Aryal, Siddhi; Sovannaroth, Siv; Roca-Feltrer, Arantxa

2017-01-01

Strengthening the surveillance component is key toward achieving country-wide malaria elimination in Cambodia. A Web-based upgraded malaria information system (MIS) was deemed to essentially act as the central component for surveillance strengthening. New functionality (eg, data visualization) and operational (eg, data quality) attributes of the system received particular attention. However, building from the lessons learned in previous systems’ developments, other aspects unique to Cambodia were considered to be equally important; for instance, feasibility issues, particularly at the field level (eg, user acceptability at various health levels), and sustainability needs (eg, long-term system flexibility). The Cambodian process of identifying the essential changes and critical attributes for this new information system can provide a model for other countries at various stages of the disease control and elimination continuum. Sharing these experiences not only facilitates the establishment of “best practices” but also accelerates global and regional malaria elimination efforts. In this article, Cambodia’s experience in developing and upgrading its MIS to remain responsive to country-specific needs demonstrates the necessity for considering functionality, operationalization, feasibility, and sustainability of an information system in the context of malaria elimination. PMID:28615155

Development of a web-based epidemiological surveillance system with health system response for improving maternal and newborn health: Field-testing in Thailand.

PubMed

Liabsuetrakul, Tippawan; Prappre, Tagoon; Pairot, Pakamas; Oumudee, Nurlisa; Islam, Monir

2017-06-01

Surveillance systems are yet to be integrated with health information systems for improving the health of pregnant mothers and their newborns, particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to develop a web-based epidemiological surveillance system for maternal and newborn health with integration of action-oriented responses and automatic data analysis with results presentations and to assess the system acceptance by nurses and doctors involved in various hospitals in southern Thailand. Freeware software and scripting languages were used. The system can be run on different platforms, and it is accessible via various electronic devices. Automatic data analysis with results presentations in the forms of graphs, tables and maps was part of the system. A multi-level security system was incorporated into the program. Most doctors and nurses involved in the study felt the system was easy to use and useful. This system can be integrated into country routine reporting system for monitoring maternal and newborn health and survival.

32 CFR 637.20 - Security surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Security surveillance systems. 637.20 Section 637... ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS MILITARY POLICE INVESTIGATION Investigations § 637.20 Security surveillance systems. Closed circuit video recording systems, to include those with an audio capability, may be...

32 CFR 637.20 - Security surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Security surveillance systems. 637.20 Section 637.20 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) LAW... surveillance systems. Closed circuit video recording systems, to include those with an audio capability, may be...

32 CFR 637.20 - Security surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2012-07-01 2011-07-01 true Security surveillance systems. 637.20 Section 637.20 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) LAW... surveillance systems. Closed circuit video recording systems, to include those with an audio capability, may be...

32 CFR 637.20 - Security surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Security surveillance systems. 637.20 Section 637.20 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) LAW... surveillance systems. Closed circuit video recording systems, to include those with an audio capability, may be...

32 CFR 637.20 - Security surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Security surveillance systems. 637.20 Section 637.20 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) LAW... surveillance systems. Closed circuit video recording systems, to include those with an audio capability, may be...

Pervasive surveillance-agent system based on wireless sensor networks: design and deployment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez, José F.; Bravo, Sury; García, Ana B.; Corredor, Iván; Familiar, Miguel S.; López, Lourdes; Hernández, Vicente; Da Silva, Antonio

2010-12-01

Nowadays, proliferation of embedded systems is enhancing the possibilities of gathering information by using wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Flexibility and ease of installation make these kinds of pervasive networks suitable for security and surveillance environments. Moreover, the risk for humans to be exposed to these functions is minimized when using these networks. In this paper, a virtual perimeter surveillance agent, which has been designed to detect any person crossing an invisible barrier around a marked perimeter and send an alarm notification to the security staff, is presented. This agent works in a state of 'low power consumption' until there is a crossing on the perimeter. In our approach, the 'intelligence' of the agent has been distributed by using mobile nodes in order to discern the cause of the event of presence. This feature contributes to saving both processing resources and power consumption since the required code that detects presence is the only system installed. The research work described in this paper illustrates our experience in the development of a surveillance system using WNSs for a practical application as well as its evaluation in real-world deployments. This mechanism plays an important role in providing confidence in ensuring safety to our environment.

The development of an evaluation framework for injury surveillance systems

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Rebecca J; Williamson, Ann M; O'Connor, Rod

2009-01-01

Background Access to good quality information from injury surveillance is essential to develop and monitor injury prevention activities. To determine if information obtained from surveillance is of high quality, the limitations and strengths of a surveillance system are often examined. Guidelines have been developed to assist in evaluating certain types of surveillance systems. However, to date, no standard guidelines have been developed to specifically evaluate an injury surveillance system. The aim of this research is to develop a framework to guide the evaluation of injury surveillance systems. Methods The development of an Evaluation Framework for Injury Surveillance Systems (EFISS) involved a four stage process. First, a literature review was conducted to identify an initial set of characteristics that were recognised as important and/or had been recommended to be assessed in an evaluation of a surveillance system. Second, this set of characteristics was assessed using SMART criteria. Third, those surviving were presented to an expert panel using a two round modified-Delphi study to gain an alternative perspective on characteristic definitions, practicality of assessment, and characteristic importance. Finally, a rating system was created for the EFISS characteristics. Results The resulting EFISS consisted of 18 characteristics that assess three areas of an injury surveillance system – five characteristics assess data quality, nine characteristics assess the system's operation, and four characteristics assess the practical capability of an injury surveillance system. A rating system assesses the performance of each characteristic. Conclusion The development of the EFISS builds upon existing evaluation guidelines for surveillance systems and provides a framework tailored to evaluate an injury surveillance system. Ultimately, information obtained through an evaluation of an injury data collection using the EFISS would be useful for agencies to recommend how a

A Novel Fiber Optic Based Surveillance System for Prevention of Pipeline Integrity Threats.

PubMed

Tejedor, Javier; Macias-Guarasa, Javier; Martins, Hugo F; Piote, Daniel; Pastor-Graells, Juan; Martin-Lopez, Sonia; Corredera, Pedro; Gonzalez-Herraez, Miguel

2017-02-12

This paper presents a novel surveillance system aimed at the detection and classification of threats in the vicinity of a long gas pipeline. The sensing system is based on phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry ( ϕ -OTDR) technology for signal acquisition and pattern recognition strategies for threat identification. The proposal incorporates contextual information at the feature level and applies a system combination strategy for pattern classification. The contextual information at the feature level is based on the tandem approach (using feature representations produced by discriminatively-trained multi-layer perceptrons) by employing feature vectors that spread different temporal contexts. The system combination strategy is based on a posterior combination of likelihoods computed from different pattern classification processes. The system operates in two different modes: (1) machine + activity identification, which recognizes the activity being carried out by a certain machine, and (2) threat detection, aimed at detecting threats no matter what the real activity being conducted is. In comparison with a previous system based on the same rigorous experimental setup, the results show that the system combination from the contextual feature information improves the results for each individual class in both operational modes, as well as the overall classification accuracy, with statistically-significant improvements.

The safety helmet detection technology and its application to the surveillance system.

PubMed

Wen, Che-Yen

2004-07-01

The Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) plays an important role in the modem economy. It provides a fast and convenient way to process transactions between banks and their customers. Unfortunately, it also provides a convenient way for criminals to get illegal money or use stolen ATM cards to extract money from their victims' accounts. For safety reasons, each ATM has a surveillance system to record customer's face information. However, when criminals use an ATM to withdraw money illegally, they usually hide their faces with something (in Taiwan, criminals usually use safety helmets to block their faces) to avoid the surveillance system recording their face information, which decreases the efficiency of the surveillance system. In this paper, we propose a circle/circular arc detection method based upon the modified Hough transform, and apply it to the detection of safety helmets for the surveillance system of ATMs. Since the safety helmet location will be within the set of the obtainable circles/circular arcs (if any exist), we use geometric features to verify if any safety helmet exists in the set. The proposed method can be used to help the surveillance systems record a customer's face information more precisely. If customers wear safety helmets to block their faces, the system can send a message to remind them to take off their helmets. Besides this, the method can be applied to the surveillance systems of banks by providing an early warning safeguard when any "customer" or "intruder" uses a safety helmet to avoid his/her face information from being recorded by the surveillance system. This will make the surveillance system more useful. Real images are used to analyze the performance of the proposed method.

Descriptive review of tuberculosis surveillance systems across the circumpolar regions.

PubMed

Bourgeois, Annie-Claude; Zulz, Tammy; Soborg, Bolette; Koch, Anders

2016-01-01

tuberculosis surveillance systems. The similarity in case definitions will allow for description of the epidemiology of TB based on surveillance data in circumpolar regions, further study of tuberculosis trends across regions, and recommendation of best practices to improve surveillance activities.

Descriptive review of tuberculosis surveillance systems across the circumpolar regions

PubMed Central

Bourgeois, Annie-Claude; Zulz, Tammy; Soborg, Bolette; Koch, Anders

2016-01-01

on similarities and differences among circumpolar tuberculosis surveillance systems. The similarity in case definitions will allow for description of the epidemiology of TB based on surveillance data in circumpolar regions, further study of tuberculosis trends across regions, and recommendation of best practices to improve surveillance activities. PMID:27121178

Descriptive review of tuberculosis surveillance systems across the circumpolar regions.

PubMed

Bourgeois, Annie-Claude; Zulz, Tammy; Soborg, Bolette; Koch, Anders; On Behalf Of The International Circumpolar Surveillance-Tuberculosis Working Group

2016-01-01

similarities and differences among circumpolar tuberculosis surveillance systems. The similarity in case definitions will allow for description of the epidemiology of TB based on surveillance data in circumpolar regions, further study of tuberculosis trends across regions, and recommendation of best practices to improve surveillance activities.

Next Generation Space Surveillance System-of-Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McShane, B.

2014-09-01

International economic and military dependence on space assets is pervasive and ever-growing in an environment that is now congested, contested, and competitive. There are a number of natural and man-made risks that need to be monitored and characterized to protect and preserve the space environment and the assets within it. Unfortunately, today's space surveillance network (SSN) has gaps in coverage, is not resilient, and has a growing number of objects that get lost. Risks can be efficiently and effectively mitigated, gaps closed, resiliency improved, and performance increased within a next generation space surveillance network implemented as a system-of-systems with modern information architectures and analytic techniques. This also includes consideration for the newest SSN sensors (e.g. Space Fence) which are born Net-Centric out-of-the-box and able to seamlessly interface with the JSpOC Mission System, global information grid, and future unanticipated users. Significant opportunity exists to integrate legacy, traditional, and non-traditional sensors into a larger space system-of-systems (including command and control centers) for multiple clients through low cost sustainment, modification, and modernization efforts. Clients include operations centers (e.g. JSpOC, USSTRATCOM, CANSPOC), Intelligence centers (e.g. NASIC), space surveillance sensor sites (e.g. AMOS, GEODSS), international governments (e.g. Germany, UK), space agencies (e.g. NASA), and academic institutions. Each has differing priorities, networks, data needs, timeliness, security, accuracy requirements and formats. Enabling processes and technologies include: Standardized and type accredited methods for secure connections to multiple networks, machine-to-machine interfaces for near real-time data sharing and tip-and-queue activities, common data models for analytical processing across multiple radar and optical sensor types, an efficient way to automatically translate between differing client and

Policy-driven development of cost-effective, risk-based surveillance strategies.

PubMed

Reist, M; Jemmi, T; Stärk, K D C

2012-07-01

Animal health and residue surveillance verifies the good health status of the animal population, thereby supporting international free trade of animals and animal products. However, active surveillance is costly and time-consuming. The development of cost-effective tools for animal health and food hazard surveillance is therefore a priority for decision-makers in the field of veterinary public health. The assumption of this paper is that outcome-based formulation of standards, legislation leaving room for risk-based approaches and close collaboration and a mutual understanding and exchange between scientists and policy makers are essential for cost-effective surveillance. We illustrate this using the following examples: (i) a risk-based sample size calculation for surveys to substantiate freedom from diseases/infection, (ii) a cost-effective national surveillance system for Bluetongue using scenario tree modelling and (iii) a framework for risk-based residue monitoring. Surveys to substantiate freedom from infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and enzootic bovine leucosis between 2002 and 2009 saved over 6 million € by applying a risk-based sample size calculation approach, and by taking into account prior information from repeated surveys. An open, progressive policy making process stimulates research and science to develop risk-based and cost-efficient survey methodologies. Early involvement of policy makers in scientific developments facilitates implementation of new findings and full exploitation of benefits for producers and consumers. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of community-based systems for the surveillance of day three-positive Plasmodium falciparum cases in Western Cambodia.

PubMed

Cox, Jonathan; Dy Soley, Lek; Bunkea, Tol; Sovannaroth, Siv; Soy Ty, Kheang; Ngak, Song; Bjorge, Steven; Ringwald, Pascal; Mellor, Steven; Sintasath, David; Meek, Sylvia

2014-07-22

Delayed clearance of Plasmodium falciparum parasites is used as an operational indicator of potential artemisinin resistance. Effective community-based systems to detect P. falciparum cases remaining positive 72 hours after initiating treatment would be valuable for guiding case follow-up in areas of known resistance risk and for detecting areas of emerging resistance. Systems incorporating existing networks of village malaria workers (VMWs) to monitor day three-positive P. falciparum cases were piloted in three provinces in western Cambodia. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to evaluate the wider feasibility and sustainability of community-based surveillance of day three-positive P. falciparum cases. Of 294 day-3 blood slides obtained across all sites (from 297 day-0 positives), 63 were positive for P. falciparum, an overall day-3 positivity rate of 21%. There were significant variations in the systems implemented by different partners. Full engagement of VMWs and health centre staff is critical. VMWs are responsible for a range of individual tasks including preparing blood slides on day-0, completing forms, administering directly observed therapy (DOT) on days 0-2, obtaining follow-up slides on day-3 and transporting slides and paperwork to their supervising health centre. When suitably motivated, unsalaried VMWs are willing and able to produce good quality blood smears and achieve very high rates of DOT and day-3 follow-up. Community-based surveillance of day-3 P. falciparum cases is feasible, but highly intensive, and as such needs strong and continuous support, particularly supervision and training. The purpose and role of community-based day-3 surveillance should be assessed in the light of resource requirements; scaling-up would need to be systematic and targeted, based on clearly defined epidemiological criteria. To be truly comprehensive, the system would need to be extended beyond VMWs to other public and private health providers.

47 CFR 15.511 - Technical requirements for surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Technical requirements for surveillance systems... DEVICES Ultra-Wideband Operation § 15.511 Technical requirements for surveillance systems. (a) The UWB... surveillance systems operated by law enforcement, fire or emergency rescue organizations or by manufacturers...

47 CFR 15.511 - Technical requirements for surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Technical requirements for surveillance systems... DEVICES Ultra-Wideband Operation § 15.511 Technical requirements for surveillance systems. (a) The UWB... surveillance systems operated by law enforcement, fire or emergency rescue organizations or by manufacturers...

47 CFR 15.511 - Technical requirements for surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Technical requirements for surveillance systems... DEVICES Ultra-Wideband Operation § 15.511 Technical requirements for surveillance systems. (a) The UWB... surveillance systems operated by law enforcement, fire or emergency rescue organizations or by manufacturers...

47 CFR 15.511 - Technical requirements for surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Technical requirements for surveillance systems... DEVICES Ultra-Wideband Operation § 15.511 Technical requirements for surveillance systems. (a) The UWB... surveillance systems operated by law enforcement, fire or emergency rescue organizations or by manufacturers...

47 CFR 15.511 - Technical requirements for surveillance systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Technical requirements for surveillance systems... DEVICES Ultra-Wideband Operation § 15.511 Technical requirements for surveillance systems. (a) The UWB... surveillance systems operated by law enforcement, fire or emergency rescue organizations or by manufacturers...

Insights From Flutracking: Thirteen Tips to Growing a Web-Based Participatory Surveillance System

PubMed Central

Carlson, Sandra; Butler, Michelle; Cassano, Daniel; Clarke, Stephen; Fejsa, John; Durrheim, David

2017-01-01

Flutracking is a weekly Web-based survey of influenza-like illness (ILI) in Australia that has grown from 400 participants in 2006 to over 26,000 participants every week in 2016. Flutracking monitors both the transmission and severity of ILI across Australia by documenting symptoms (cough, fever, and sore throat), time off work or normal duties, influenza vaccination status, laboratory testing for influenza, and health seeking behavior. Recruitment of Flutrackers commenced via health department and other organizational email systems, and then gradually incorporated social media promotion and invitations from existing Flutrackers to friends to enhance participation. Invitations from existing participants typically contribute to over 1000 new participants each year. The Flutracking survey link was emailed every Monday morning in winter and took less than 10 seconds to complete. To reduce the burden on respondents, we collected only a minimal amount of demographic and weekly data. Additionally, to optimize users’ experiences, we maintained a strong focus on “obvious design” and repeated usability testing of naïve and current participants of the survey. In this paper, we share these and other insights on recruitment methods and user experience principles that have enabled Flutracking to become one of the largest online participatory surveillance systems in the world. There is still much that could be enhanced in Flutracking; however, we believe these principles could benefit others developing similar online surveillance systems. PMID:28818817

Automatic dependent surveillance broadcast via GPS-Squitter: a major upgrade to the national airspace system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Ronnie D.; Knittel, George H.; Orlando, Vincent A.

1995-06-01

GPS-Squitter is a technology for surveillance of aircraft via broadcast of their GPS-determined positions to all listeners, using the Mode S data link. It can be used to provide traffic displays, on the ground for controllers and in the cockpit for pilots, and will enhance TCAS performance. It is compatible with the existing ground-based beacon interrogator radar system and is an evolutionary way to more from ground-based-radar surveillance to satellite-based surveillance. GPS-Squitter takes advantage of the substantial investment made by the U.S. in the powerful GPS position-determining system and has the potential to free the Federal Aviation Administration from having to continue maintaining a precise position-determining capability in ground-based radar. This would permit phasing out the ground-based secondary surveillance radar system over a period of 10 to 20 years and replacing it with much simpler ground stations, resulting in cost savings of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Video coding for next-generation surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klasen, Lena M.; Fahlander, Olov

1997-02-01

Video is used as recording media in surveillance system and also more frequently by the Swedish Police Force. Methods for analyzing video using an image processing system have recently been introduced at the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science, and new methods are in focus in a research project at Linkoping University, Image Coding Group. The accuracy of the result of those forensic investigations often depends on the quality of the video recordings, and one of the major problems when analyzing videos from crime scenes is the poor quality of the recordings. Enhancing poor image quality might add manipulative or subjective effects and does not seem to be the right way of getting reliable analysis results. The surveillance system in use today is mainly based on video techniques, VHS or S-VHS, and the weakest link is the video cassette recorder, (VCR). Multiplexers for selecting one of many camera outputs for recording is another problem as it often filters the video signal, and recording is limited to only one of the available cameras connected to the VCR. A way to get around the problem of poor recording is to simultaneously record all camera outputs digitally. It is also very important to build such a system bearing in mind that image processing analysis methods becomes more important as a complement to the human eye. Using one or more cameras gives a large amount of data, and the need for data compression is more than obvious. Crime scenes often involve persons or moving objects, and the available coding techniques are more or less useful. Our goal is to propose a possible system, being the best compromise with respect to what needs to be recorded, movements in the recorded scene, loss of information and resolution etc., to secure the efficient recording of the crime and enable forensic analysis. The preventative effective of having a well functioning surveillance system and well established image analysis methods is not to be neglected. Aspects of

Proposed terms and concepts for describing and evaluating animal-health surveillance systems.

PubMed

Hoinville, L J; Alban, L; Drewe, J A; Gibbens, J C; Gustafson, L; Häsler, B; Saegerman, C; Salman, M; Stärk, K D C

2013-10-01

The information provided by animal-health surveillance helps to reduce the impact of animal diseases. The widespread movement of animals and their products around the world results in an increasing risk that disease will spread. There is, therefore, a need for exchange between countries of comparable information about disease incidence; the exchange must be based on a common understanding of surveillance approaches and how surveillance systems are designed and implemented. Establishing agreed-upon definitions of surveillance terms would be a first step in achieving this standardisation, and will enhance transparency and confidence. To this end, a workshop was held with the aim of agreeing upon key terms and concepts for animal-health surveillance. In this paper, we describe the methods used at the workshop and summarise the discussions. A complete list of all the proposed definitions including lists of characteristics that can be used to describe surveillance activities and attributes for evaluation of surveillance is available in the workshop report (available at http://www.defra.gov.uk/ahvla-en/disease-control/surveillance/icahs-workshop/). Some important issues were highlighted during these discussions; of particular note was the importance of economic efficiency as an evaluation attribute. Some remaining inconsistencies in the proposed use of terms are highlighted (including the definition of 'risk-based surveillance' and the use of the term 'event-based surveillance'). Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A review of occupational disease surveillance systems in Modernet countries.

PubMed

Carder, M; Bensefa-Colas, L; Mattioli, S; Noone, P; Stikova, E; Valenty, M; Telle-Lamberton, M

2015-11-01

To improve occupational health public policies and to facilitate coordinated research within the European Union to reduce the incidence of occupational diseases (ODs), it is important to know what OD surveillance systems exist and how they compare. Monitoring trends in occupational diseases and tracing new and emerging risks in a network (Modernet) participants are well placed to provide this information as most either contribute data to and/or are involved in the management of OD systems. To identify and describe OD surveillance systems in Modernet countries with the longer-term objective of identifying a core template to be used on a large scale. A questionnaire sent to Modernet participants, seeking structured information about the OD surveillance system(s) in their country. Overall 14 countries (70%) provided information for 33 OD systems, among them 11 compensation-based (CB) systems. Six countries provided information for non-CB systems reporting for any type of OD. The other systems reported either only ODs from a prescribed list, or specific diagnoses or diagnostic groups, with reports to most schemes being physician-based. Data collected varied but all systems collected diagnosis, age, gender, date reported and occupation (and/or industry) and most collected information on exposure. This review provides information beneficial to both policy makers and researchers by identifying data sources useable to measure OD trends in European countries and opening the way to future work, both on trend comparisons within Europe and on the definition of a core template to extend OD surveillance on a larger scale. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The All Seeing Eye: Space-Based Persistent Surveillance in 2030

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

and ORS cannot. A GEO-based system can potentially deliver the ability to continuously monitor a theater-sized area with no concern of over flight ...paper investigates a geosynchronous orbit based surveillance system . Such a system would be beyond the reach of current anti-satellite weapons. However...significant technical hurdles remain to make such a system a reality. Operating in geosynchronous orbit affords a system the ability to remain

Secure Video Surveillance System (SVSS) for unannounced safeguards inspections.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Galdoz, Erwin G.; Pinkalla, Mark

2010-09-01

The Secure Video Surveillance System (SVSS) is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC). The joint project addresses specific requirements of redundant surveillance systems installed in two South American nuclear facilities as a tool to support unannounced inspections conducted by ABACC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The surveillance covers the critical time (as much as a few hours) between the notification of an inspection and the access of inspectors to the location in facility where surveillance equipment is installed.more » ABACC and the IAEA currently use the EURATOM Multiple Optical Surveillance System (EMOSS). This outdated system is no longer available or supported by the manufacturer. The current EMOSS system has met the project objective; however, the lack of available replacement parts and system support has made this system unsustainable and has increased the risk of an inoperable system. A new system that utilizes current technology and is maintainable is required to replace the aging EMOSS system. ABACC intends to replace one of the existing ABACC EMOSS systems by the Secure Video Surveillance System. SVSS utilizes commercial off-the shelf (COTS) technologies for all individual components. Sandia National Laboratories supported the system design for SVSS to meet Safeguards requirements, i.e. tamper indication, data authentication, etc. The SVSS consists of two video surveillance cameras linked securely to a data collection unit. The collection unit is capable of retaining historical surveillance data for at least three hours with picture intervals as short as 1sec. Images in .jpg format are available to inspectors using various software review tools. SNL has delivered two SVSS systems for test and evaluation at the ABACC Safeguards Laboratory. An additional 'proto-type' system

Nation-Wide, Web-Based, Geographic Information System for the Integrated Surveillance and Control of Dengue Fever in Mexico

PubMed Central

Hernández-Ávila, Juan Eugenio; Rodríguez, Mario-Henry; Santos-Luna, René; Sánchez-Castañeda, Veronica; Román-Pérez, Susana; Ríos-Salgado, Víctor Hugo; Salas-Sarmiento, Jesús Alberto

2013-01-01

Dengue fever incidence and its geographical distribution are increasing throughout the world. Quality and timely information is essential for its prevention and control. A web based, geographically enabled, dengue integral surveillance system (Dengue-GIS) was developed for the nation-wide collection, integration, analysis and reporting of geo-referenced epidemiologic, entomologic, and control interventions data. Consensus in the design and practical operation of the system was a key factor for its acceptance. Working with information systems already implemented as a starting point facilitated its acceptance by officials and operative personnel. Dengue-GIS provides the geographical detail needed to plan, asses and evaluate the impact of control activities. The system is beginning to be adopted as a knowledge base by vector control programs. It is used to generate evidence on impact and cost-effectiveness of control activities, promoting the use of information for decision making at all levels of the vector control program. Dengue-GIS has also been used as a hypothesis generator for the academic community. This GIS-based model system for dengue surveillance and the experience gathered during its development and implementation could be useful in other dengue endemic countries and extended to other infectious or chronic diseases. PMID:23936394

Surveillance and Datalink Communication Performance Analysis for Distributed Separation Assurance System Architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chung, William W.; Linse, Dennis J.; Alaverdi, Omeed; Ifarraguerri, Carlos; Seifert, Scott C.; Salvano, Dan; Calender, Dale

2012-01-01

This study investigates the effects of two technical enablers: Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) and digital datalink communication, of the Federal Aviation Administration s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) under two separation assurance (SA) system architectures: ground-based SA and airborne SA, on overall separation assurance performance. Datalink performance such as successful reception probability in both surveillance and communication messages, and surveillance accuracy are examined in various operational conditions. Required SA performance is evaluated as a function of subsystem performance, using availability, continuity, and integrity metrics to establish overall required separation assurance performance, under normal and off-nominal conditions.

A Bibliometric Analysis of U.S.-Based Research on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

PubMed Central

Khalil, George M.; Gotway Crawford, Carol A.

2017-01-01

Background Since Alan Pritchard defined bibliometrics as “the application of statistical methods to media of communication” in 1969, bibliometric analyses have become widespread. To date, however, bibliometrics has not been used to analyze publications related to the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Purpose To determine the most frequently cited BRFSS-related topical areas, institutions, and journals. Methods A search of the Web of Knowledge database in 2013 identified U.S.-published studies related to BRFSS, from its start in 1984 through 2012. Search terms were BRFSS, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, or Behavioral Risk Survey. The resulting 1,387 articles were analyzed descriptively and produced data for VOSviewer, a computer program that plotted a relevance distance–based map and clustered keywords from text in titles and abstracts. Results Topics, journals, and publishing institutions ranged widely. Most research was clustered by content area, such as cancer screening, access to care, heart health, and quality of life. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine and American Journal of Public Health published the most BRFSS-related papers (95 and 70, respectively). Conclusions Bibliometrics can help identify the most frequently published BRFSS-related topics, publishing journals, and publishing institutions. BRFSS data are widely used, particularly by CDC and academic institutions such as the University of Washington and other universities hosting top-ranked schools of public health. Bibliometric analysis and mapping provides an innovative way of quantifying and visualizing the plethora of research conducted using BRFSS data and summarizing the contribution of this surveillance system to public health. PMID:25442231

MATSurv: multisensor air traffic surveillance system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeddanapudi, Murali; Bar-Shalom, Yaakov; Pattipati, Krishna R.; Gassner, Richard R.

1995-09-01

This paper deals with the design and implementation of MATSurv 1--an experimental Multisensor Air Traffic Surveillance system. The proposed system consists of a Kalman filter based state estimator used in conjunction with a 2D sliding window assignment algorithm. Real data from two FAA radars is used to evaluate the performance of this algorithm. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm provides a superior classification of the measurements into tracks (i.e., the most likely aircraft trajectories) when compared to the aircraft trajectories obtained using the measurement IDs (squawk or IFF code).

A Laboratory-Based Surveillance System for Wuchereria bancrofti in Togo: A Practical Model for Resource-Poor Settings

PubMed Central

Mathieu, Els; Dorkenoo, Ameyo; Otogbe, Felix K. J.; Budge, Philip J.; Sodahlon, Yao K.

2011-01-01

One goal of the Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF) is interruption of disease transmission through annual mass drug administration (MDA) in areas where LF prevalence is greater than 1%. After MDAs are completed, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a period of passive surveillance before final certification of LF elimination is achieved. Guidelines for such a surveillance system have yet to be developed. This paper describes a surveillance system launched in Togo in 2006. The system uses existing laboratories with technicians on call at night who, among other activities, prepare nocturnal thick blood smears for malaria diagnosis that can also be used for LF diagnosis. During its first 2 years (2006–2007), the system provided geographically disperse sampling nationwide, and 1 of 750 people residing in Togo was tested. Over the same period, the system detected two cases of LF, both from areas previously considered non-endemic. This system could be a cost-effective, sustainable model for WHO-mandated passive surveillance after cessation of MDA. PMID:21633038

Success Factors of European Syndromic Surveillance Systems: A Worked Example of Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis.

PubMed

Ziemann, Alexandra; Fouillet, Anne; Brand, Helmut; Krafft, Thomas

2016-01-01

Syndromic surveillance aims at augmenting traditional public health surveillance with timely information. To gain a head start, it mainly analyses existing data such as from web searches or patient records. Despite the setup of many syndromic surveillance systems, there is still much doubt about the benefit of the approach. There are diverse interactions between performance indicators such as timeliness and various system characteristics. This makes the performance assessment of syndromic surveillance systems a complex endeavour. We assessed if the comparison of several syndromic surveillance systems through Qualitative Comparative Analysis helps to evaluate performance and identify key success factors. We compiled case-based, mixed data on performance and characteristics of 19 syndromic surveillance systems in Europe from scientific and grey literature and from site visits. We identified success factors by applying crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. We focused on two main areas of syndromic surveillance application: seasonal influenza surveillance and situational awareness during different types of potentially health threatening events. We found that syndromic surveillance systems might detect the onset or peak of seasonal influenza earlier if they analyse non-clinical data sources. Timely situational awareness during different types of events is supported by an automated syndromic surveillance system capable of analysing multiple syndromes. To our surprise, the analysis of multiple data sources was no key success factor for situational awareness. We suggest to consider these key success factors when designing or further developing syndromic surveillance systems. Qualitative Comparative Analysis helped interpreting complex, mixed data on small-N cases and resulted in concrete and practically relevant findings.

[National Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (NAMRSS) external quality assessment studies: 2011-2016].

PubMed

Süzük Yıldız, Serap; Şimşek, Hüsniye; Çöplü, Nilay; Gülay, Zeynep

2017-07-01

Establishment of sustainable and evidence-based surveillance systems are recommended for prevention of microbial resistance by the World Health Organization (WHO). As a necessity of these surveillance systems, participants are recommended to implement an external quality assessment (EQA) program. In this scope, National Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (NARSS) has been established within the Public Health Institute of Turkey (PHIT) in our country since 2011. In the scope of this surveillance, NARSS EQA program has been implemented in a cycle per year and four isolates were sent to participants per cycle every year since 2011. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the six years results of the EQA programs being implemented on NARSS participants between 2011 and 2016. The surveillance system consisted of 118 laboratories. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecium/faecalis and Acinetobacter baumannii bacteria included in scope of the surveillance were sent to participants. Identification of bacteria to the species level, verification of the antibiotic susceptibility test results and existence of specified resistance of the isolates performed with valid test methods required from the participants. Identified isolates were cultured with routine microbiological methods and sent to participants in ambient temperature in triple carrying pouches inside suitable carrying media via PTT Cargo. The results were entered by means of passwords prepared by PHIT and sent to the web based system. The analysis of results were made with SPSS program. A total of twenty-three isolates were sent to participants between 2011 and 2016. It was determined that participants commonly preferred automated systems for bacterial identification and antibiotic sensitivity test results. The use of MALDI TOF MS system was determined to be raised up to 15.65% in 2016. It has been determined that

Congestion information surveillance system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1992-10-14

This document advances a proposal to implement a Congestion Information Surveillance System (CISS)for the Albuquerque metropolitan area. The CISS will offer agencies in the region responsible for transportation and air quality management a new capabi...

SCM: a practical tool to implement hospital-based syndromic surveillance.

PubMed

Ye, Chuchu; Li, Zhongjie; Fu, Yifei; Lan, Yajia; Zhu, Weiping; Zhou, Dinglun; Zhang, Honglong; Lai, Shengjie; Buckeridge, David L; Sun, Qiao; Yang, Weizhong

2016-06-18

Syndromic surveillance has been widely used for the early warning of infectious disease outbreaks, especially in mass gatherings, but the collection of electronic data on symptoms in hospitals is one of the fundamental challenges that must be overcome during operating a syndromic surveillance system. The objective of our study is to describe and evaluate the implementation of a symptom-clicking-module (SCM) as a part of the enhanced hospital-based syndromic surveillance during the 41st World Exposition in Shanghai, China, 2010. The SCM, including 25 targeted symptoms, was embedded in the sentinels' Hospital Information Systems (HIS). The clinicians used SCM to record these information of all the visiting patients, and data were collated and transmitted automatically in daily batches. The symptoms were categorized into seven targeted syndromes using pre-defined criteria, and statistical algorithms were applied to detect temporal aberrations in the data series. SCM was deployed successfully in each sentinel hospital and was operated during the 184-day surveillance period. A total of 1,730,797 patient encounters were recorded by SCM, and 6.1 % (105,352 visits) met the criteria of the seven targeted syndromes. Acute respiratory and gastrointestinal syndromes were reported most frequently, accounted for 92.1 % of reports in all syndromes, and the aggregated time-series presented an obvious day-of-week variation over the study period. In total, 191 aberration signals were triggered, and none of them were identified as outbreaks after verification and field investigation. SCM has acted as a practical tool for recording symptoms in the hospital-based enhanced syndromic surveillance system during the 41st World Exposition in Shanghai, in the context of without a preexisting electronic tool to collect syndromic data in the HIS of the sentinel hospitals.

Infectious Disease Surveillance in the Big Data Era: Towards Faster and Locally Relevant Systems

PubMed Central

Simonsen, Lone; Gog, Julia R.; Olson, Don; Viboud, Cécile

2016-01-01

While big data have proven immensely useful in fields such as marketing and earth sciences, public health is still relying on more traditional surveillance systems and awaiting the fruits of a big data revolution. A new generation of big data surveillance systems is needed to achieve rapid, flexible, and local tracking of infectious diseases, especially for emerging pathogens. In this opinion piece, we reflect on the long and distinguished history of disease surveillance and discuss recent developments related to use of big data. We start with a brief review of traditional systems relying on clinical and laboratory reports. We then examine how large-volume medical claims data can, with great spatiotemporal resolution, help elucidate local disease patterns. Finally, we review efforts to develop surveillance systems based on digital and social data streams, including the recent rise and fall of Google Flu Trends. We conclude by advocating for increased use of hybrid systems combining information from traditional surveillance and big data sources, which seems the most promising option moving forward. Throughout the article, we use influenza as an exemplar of an emerging and reemerging infection which has traditionally been considered a model system for surveillance and modeling. PMID:28830112

Evaluation of community-based systems for the surveillance of day three-positive Plasmodium falciparum cases in Western Cambodia

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Delayed clearance of Plasmodium falciparum parasites is used as an operational indicator of potential artemisinin resistance. Effective community-based systems to detect P. falciparum cases remaining positive 72 hours after initiating treatment would be valuable for guiding case follow-up in areas of known resistance risk and for detecting areas of emerging resistance. Methods Systems incorporating existing networks of village malaria workers (VMWs) to monitor day three-positive P. falciparum cases were piloted in three provinces in western Cambodia. Quantitative and qualitative data were used to evaluate the wider feasibility and sustainability of community-based surveillance of day three-positive P. falciparum cases. Results Of 294 day-3 blood slides obtained across all sites (from 297 day-0 positives), 63 were positive for P. falciparum, an overall day-3 positivity rate of 21%. There were significant variations in the systems implemented by different partners. Full engagement of VMWs and health centre staff is critical. VMWs are responsible for a range of individual tasks including preparing blood slides on day-0, completing forms, administering directly observed therapy (DOT) on days 0–2, obtaining follow-up slides on day-3 and transporting slides and paperwork to their supervising health centre. When suitably motivated, unsalaried VMWs are willing and able to produce good quality blood smears and achieve very high rates of DOT and day-3 follow-up. Conclusions Community-based surveillance of day-3 P. falciparum cases is feasible, but highly intensive, and as such needs strong and continuous support, particularly supervision and training. The purpose and role of community-based day-3 surveillance should be assessed in the light of resource requirements; scaling-up would need to be systematic and targeted, based on clearly defined epidemiological criteria. To be truly comprehensive, the system would need to be extended beyond VMWs to other public

Accuracy and Efficiency of Recording Pediatric Early Warning Scores Using an Electronic Physiological Surveillance System Compared With Traditional Paper-Based Documentation

PubMed Central

Sefton, Gerri; Lane, Steven; Killen, Roger; Black, Stuart; Lyon, Max; Ampah, Pearl; Sproule, Cathryn; Loren-Gosling, Dominic; Richards, Caitlin; Spinty, Jean; Holloway, Colette; Davies, Coral; Wilson, April; Chean, Chung Shen; Carter, Bernie; Carrol, E.D.

2017-01-01

Pediatric Early Warning Scores are advocated to assist health professionals to identify early signs of serious illness or deterioration in hospitalized children. Scores are derived from the weighting applied to recorded vital signs and clinical observations reflecting deviation from a predetermined “norm.” Higher aggregate scores trigger an escalation in care aimed at preventing critical deterioration. Process errors made while recording these data, including plotting or calculation errors, have the potential to impede the reliability of the score. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a controlled study of documentation using five clinical vignettes. We measured the accuracy of vital sign recording, score calculation, and time taken to complete documentation using a handheld electronic physiological surveillance system, VitalPAC Pediatric, compared with traditional paper-based charts. We explored the user acceptability of both methods using a Web-based survey. Twenty-three staff participated in the controlled study. The electronic physiological surveillance system improved the accuracy of vital sign recording, 98.5% versus 85.6%, P < .02, Pediatric Early Warning Score calculation, 94.6% versus 55.7%, P < .02, and saved time, 68 versus 98 seconds, compared with paper-based documentation, P < .002. Twenty-nine staff completed the Web-based survey. They perceived that the electronic physiological surveillance system offered safety benefits by reducing human error while providing instant visibility of recorded data to the entire clinical team. PMID:27832032

Accuracy and Efficiency of Recording Pediatric Early Warning Scores Using an Electronic Physiological Surveillance System Compared With Traditional Paper-Based Documentation.

PubMed

Sefton, Gerri; Lane, Steven; Killen, Roger; Black, Stuart; Lyon, Max; Ampah, Pearl; Sproule, Cathryn; Loren-Gosling, Dominic; Richards, Caitlin; Spinty, Jean; Holloway, Colette; Davies, Coral; Wilson, April; Chean, Chung Shen; Carter, Bernie; Carrol, E D

2017-05-01

Pediatric Early Warning Scores are advocated to assist health professionals to identify early signs of serious illness or deterioration in hospitalized children. Scores are derived from the weighting applied to recorded vital signs and clinical observations reflecting deviation from a predetermined "norm." Higher aggregate scores trigger an escalation in care aimed at preventing critical deterioration. Process errors made while recording these data, including plotting or calculation errors, have the potential to impede the reliability of the score. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a controlled study of documentation using five clinical vignettes. We measured the accuracy of vital sign recording, score calculation, and time taken to complete documentation using a handheld electronic physiological surveillance system, VitalPAC Pediatric, compared with traditional paper-based charts. We explored the user acceptability of both methods using a Web-based survey. Twenty-three staff participated in the controlled study. The electronic physiological surveillance system improved the accuracy of vital sign recording, 98.5% versus 85.6%, P < .02, Pediatric Early Warning Score calculation, 94.6% versus 55.7%, P < .02, and saved time, 68 versus 98 seconds, compared with paper-based documentation, P < .002. Twenty-nine staff completed the Web-based survey. They perceived that the electronic physiological surveillance system offered safety benefits by reducing human error while providing instant visibility of recorded data to the entire clinical team.

A generic flexible and robust approach for intelligent real-time video-surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Desurmont, Xavier; Delaigle, Jean-Francois; Bastide, Arnaud; Macq, Benoit

2004-05-01

In this article we present a generic, flexible and robust approach for an intelligent real-time video-surveillance system. A previous version of the system was presented in [1]. The goal of these advanced tools is to provide help to operators by detecting events of interest in visual scenes and highlighting alarms and compute statistics. The proposed system is a multi-camera platform able to handle different standards of video inputs (composite, IP, IEEE1394 ) and which can basically compress (MPEG4), store and display them. This platform also integrates advanced video analysis tools, such as motion detection, segmentation, tracking and interpretation. The design of the architecture is optimised to playback, display, and process video flows in an efficient way for video-surveillance application. The implementation is distributed on a scalable computer cluster based on Linux and IP network. It relies on POSIX threads for multitasking scheduling. Data flows are transmitted between the different modules using multicast technology and under control of a TCP-based command network (e.g. for bandwidth occupation control). We report here some results and we show the potential use of such a flexible system in third generation video surveillance system. We illustrate the interest of the system in a real case study, which is the indoor surveillance.

Suicide rates in China, 2004-2014: comparing data from two sample-based mortality surveillance systems.

PubMed

Sha, Feng; Chang, Qingsong; Law, Yik Wa; Hong, Qi; Yip, Paul S F

2018-02-13

The decreasing suicide rate in China has been regarded as a major contributor to the decline of global suicide rate in the past decade. However, previous estimations on China's suicide rates might not be accurate, since often they were based on the data from the Ministry of Health's Vital Registration ("MOH-VR") System, which is biased towards the better-off population. This study aims to compare suicide data extracted from the MOH-VR System with a more representative mortality surveillance system, namely the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Disease Surveillance Points ("CDC-DSP") System, and update China's national and subnational suicide rates in the period of 2004-2014. The CDC-DSP data are obtained from the National Cause-of-Death Surveillance Dataset (2004-2014) and the MOH-VR data are from the Chinese Health Statistics Yearbooks (2005-2012) and the China Health and Family Planning Statistics Yearbooks (2013-2015). First, a negative binomial regression model was used to test the associations between the source of data (CDC-DSP/MOH-VR) and suicide rates in 2004-2014. Joinpoint regression analyses and Kitagawa's decomposition method are then applied to analyze the trends of the crude suicide rates. Both systems indicated China's suicide rates decreased over the study period. However, before the two systems merged in 2013, the CDC-DSP System reported significantly higher national suicide rates (IRR = 1.18, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.13-1.24) and rural suicide rates (IRR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.21-1.38) than the MOH-VR System. The CDC-DSP System also showed significant reversing points in 2011 (95% CI: 2006-2012) and 2006 (95% CI: 2006-2008) on the rural and urban suicide trends. Moreover, the suicide rates in the east and central urban regions were reversed in 2011 and 2008. The biased MOH-VR System underestimated China's national and rural suicide rates. Although not widely appreciated in the field of suicide research, the CDC-DSP System

Success Factors of European Syndromic Surveillance Systems: A Worked Example of Applying Qualitative Comparative Analysis

PubMed Central

Ziemann, Alexandra; Fouillet, Anne; Brand, Helmut; Krafft, Thomas

2016-01-01

Introduction Syndromic surveillance aims at augmenting traditional public health surveillance with timely information. To gain a head start, it mainly analyses existing data such as from web searches or patient records. Despite the setup of many syndromic surveillance systems, there is still much doubt about the benefit of the approach. There are diverse interactions between performance indicators such as timeliness and various system characteristics. This makes the performance assessment of syndromic surveillance systems a complex endeavour. We assessed if the comparison of several syndromic surveillance systems through Qualitative Comparative Analysis helps to evaluate performance and identify key success factors. Materials and Methods We compiled case-based, mixed data on performance and characteristics of 19 syndromic surveillance systems in Europe from scientific and grey literature and from site visits. We identified success factors by applying crisp-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. We focused on two main areas of syndromic surveillance application: seasonal influenza surveillance and situational awareness during different types of potentially health threatening events. Results We found that syndromic surveillance systems might detect the onset or peak of seasonal influenza earlier if they analyse non-clinical data sources. Timely situational awareness during different types of events is supported by an automated syndromic surveillance system capable of analysing multiple syndromes. To our surprise, the analysis of multiple data sources was no key success factor for situational awareness. Conclusions We suggest to consider these key success factors when designing or further developing syndromic surveillance systems. Qualitative Comparative Analysis helped interpreting complex, mixed data on small-N cases and resulted in concrete and practically relevant findings. PMID:27182731

DEFENSE MEDICAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (DMSS)

EPA Science Inventory

AMSA operates the Defense Medical Surveillance System (DMSS), an executive information system whose database contains up-to-date and historical data on diseases and medical events (e.g., hospitalizations, ambulatory visits, reportable diseases, HIV tests, acute respiratory diseas...

ISS-An Electronic Syndromic Surveillance System for Infectious Disease in Rural China

PubMed Central

Yan, Weirong; Palm, Lars; Lu, Xin; Nie, Shaofa; Xu, Biao; Zhao, Qi; Tao, Tao; Cheng, Liwei; Tan, Li; Dong, Hengjin; Diwan, Vinod K.

2013-01-01

Background syndromic surveillance system has great advantages in promoting the early detection of epidemics and reducing the necessities of disease confirmation, and it is especially effective for surveillance in resource poor settings. However, most current syndromic surveillance systems are established in developed countries, and there are very few reports on the development of an electronic syndromic surveillance system in resource-constrained settings. Objective this study describes the design and pilot implementation of an electronic surveillance system (ISS) for the early detection of infectious disease epidemics in rural China, complementing the conventional case report surveillance system. Methods ISS was developed based on an existing platform ‘Crisis Information Sharing Platform’ (CRISP), combining with modern communication and GIS technology. ISS has four interconnected functions: 1) work group and communication group; 2) data source and collection; 3) data visualization; and 4) outbreak detection and alerting. Results As of Jan. 31st 2012, ISS has been installed and pilot tested for six months in four counties in rural China. 95 health facilities, 14 pharmacies and 24 primary schools participated in the pilot study, entering respectively 74256, 79701, and 2330 daily records into the central database. More than 90% of surveillance units at the study sites are able to send daily information into the system. In the paper, we also presented the pilot data from health facilities in the two counties, which showed the ISS system had the potential to identify the change of disease patterns at the community level. Conclusions The ISS platform may facilitate the early detection of infectious disease epidemic as it provides near real-time syndromic data collection, interactive visualization, and automated aberration detection. However, several constraints and challenges were encountered during the pilot implementation of ISS in rural China. PMID:23626853

ISS--an electronic syndromic surveillance system for infectious disease in rural China.

PubMed

Yan, Weirong; Palm, Lars; Lu, Xin; Nie, Shaofa; Xu, Biao; Zhao, Qi; Tao, Tao; Cheng, Liwei; Tan, Li; Dong, Hengjin; Diwan, Vinod K

2013-01-01

Syndromic surveillance system has great advantages in promoting the early detection of epidemics and reducing the necessities of disease confirmation, and it is especially effective for surveillance in resource poor settings. However, most current syndromic surveillance systems are established in developed countries, and there are very few reports on the development of an electronic syndromic surveillance system in resource-constrained settings. This study describes the design and pilot implementation of an electronic surveillance system (ISS) for the early detection of infectious disease epidemics in rural China, complementing the conventional case report surveillance system. ISS was developed based on an existing platform 'Crisis Information Sharing Platform' (CRISP), combining with modern communication and GIS technology. ISS has four interconnected functions: 1) work group and communication group; 2) data source and collection; 3) data visualization; and 4) outbreak detection and alerting. As of Jan. 31(st) 2012, ISS has been installed and pilot tested for six months in four counties in rural China. 95 health facilities, 14 pharmacies and 24 primary schools participated in the pilot study, entering respectively 74,256, 79,701, and 2330 daily records into the central database. More than 90% of surveillance units at the study sites are able to send daily information into the system. In the paper, we also presented the pilot data from health facilities in the two counties, which showed the ISS system had the potential to identify the change of disease patterns at the community level. The ISS platform may facilitate the early detection of infectious disease epidemic as it provides near real-time syndromic data collection, interactive visualization, and automated aberration detection. However, several constraints and challenges were encountered during the pilot implementation of ISS in rural China.

Use of Unstructured Event-Based Reports for Global Infectious Disease Surveillance

PubMed Central

Blench, Michael; Tolentino, Herman; Freifeld, Clark C.; Mandl, Kenneth D.; Mawudeku, Abla; Eysenbach, Gunther; Brownstein, John S.

2009-01-01

Free or low-cost sources of unstructured information, such as Internet news and online discussion sites, provide detailed local and near real-time data on disease outbreaks, even in countries that lack traditional public health surveillance. To improve public health surveillance and, ultimately, interventions, we examined 3 primary systems that process event-based outbreak information: Global Public Health Intelligence Network, HealthMap, and EpiSPIDER. Despite similarities among them, these systems are highly complementary because they monitor different data types, rely on varying levels of automation and human analysis, and distribute distinct information. Future development should focus on linking these systems more closely to public health practitioners in the field and establishing collaborative networks for alert verification and dissemination. Such development would further establish event-based monitoring as an invaluable public health resource that provides critical context and an alternative to traditional indicator-based outbreak reporting. PMID:19402953

Surveillance Systems to Track and Evaluate Obesity Prevention Efforts.

PubMed

Hoelscher, Deanna M; Ranjit, Nalini; Pérez, Adriana

2017-03-20

To address the obesity epidemic, the public health community must develop surveillance systems that capture data at levels through which obesity prevention efforts are conducted. Current systems assess body mass index (BMI), diet, and physical activity behaviors at the individual level, but environmental and policy-related data are often lacking. The goal of this review is to describe US surveillance systems that evaluate obesity prevention efforts within the context of international trends in obesity monitoring, to identify potential data gaps, and to present recommendations to improve the evaluation of population-level initiatives. Our recommendations include adding environmental and policy measures to surveillance efforts with a focus on addressing underserved populations, harmonizing existing surveillance systems, including more sensitive measures of obesity outcomes, and developing a knowledgeable workforce. In addition, the widespread use of electronic health records and new technologies that allow self-quantification of behaviors offers opportunities for innovative surveillance methods.

Information Systems to Support Surveillance for Malaria Elimination

PubMed Central

Ohrt, Colin; Roberts, Kathryn W.; Sturrock, Hugh J. W.; Wegbreit, Jennifer; Lee, Bruce Y.; Gosling, Roly D.

2015-01-01

Robust and responsive surveillance systems are critical for malaria elimination. The ideal information system that supports malaria elimination includes: rapid and complete case reporting, incorporation of related data, such as census or health survey information, central data storage and management, automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. Spatial information enhances such a system, ensuring cases are tracked and mapped over time. Data sharing and coordination across borders are vital and new technologies can improve data speed, accuracy, and quality. Parts of this ideal information system exist and are in use, but have yet to be linked together coherently. Malaria elimination programs should support the implementation and refinement of information systems to support surveillance and response and ensure political and financial commitment to maintain the systems and the human resources needed to run them. National malaria programs should strive to improve the access and utility of these information systems and establish cross-border data sharing mechanisms through the use of standard indicators for malaria surveillance. Ultimately, investment in the information technologies that support a timely and targeted surveillance and response system is essential for malaria elimination. PMID:26013378

An intelligent crowdsourcing system for forensic analysis of surveillance video

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tahboub, Khalid; Gadgil, Neeraj; Ribera, Javier; Delgado, Blanca; Delp, Edward J.

2015-03-01

Video surveillance systems are of a great value for public safety. With an exponential increase in the number of cameras, videos obtained from surveillance systems are often archived for forensic purposes. Many automatic methods have been proposed to do video analytics such as anomaly detection and human activity recognition. However, such methods face significant challenges due to object occlusions, shadows and scene illumination changes. In recent years, crowdsourcing has become an effective tool that utilizes human intelligence to perform tasks that are challenging for machines. In this paper, we present an intelligent crowdsourcing system for forensic analysis of surveillance video that includes the video recorded as a part of search and rescue missions and large-scale investigation tasks. We describe a method to enhance crowdsourcing by incorporating human detection, re-identification and tracking. At the core of our system, we use a hierarchal pyramid model to distinguish the crowd members based on their ability, experience and performance record. Our proposed system operates in an autonomous fashion and produces a final output of the crowdsourcing analysis consisting of a set of video segments detailing the events of interest as one storyline.

The evaluation of web-based data collection for enhanced surveillance of cryptosporidiosis.

PubMed

Viney, Kerri A; McAnulty, Jeremy M

2008-01-01

Following an increase in the number of people diagnosed with cryptosporidiosis in November 2005, the Communicable Diseases Branch initiated enhanced surveillance using a developmental version of NetEpi Collection, an open-source, web-based data collection tool. We evaluated the usefulness of NetEpi Collection for enhanced surveillance, using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems as a guide. Most staff (73 per cent) who used NetEpi Collection found it easy to use. Although ongoing support was thought to be adequate by 82 per cent of respondents who used NetEpi Collection, 36 per cent reported that training was limited and 27 per cent reported technical problems such as internet, server and password problems. In order to improve its usefulness in enhanced surveillance, training in NetEpi Collection should be enhanced and the stability of the system improved.

GLOBAL EMERGING INFECTIONS SURVEILLANCE AND RESPONSE SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

Department of Defense (DoD) Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP). The DoD Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (DoD-GEIS) partners with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the global surv...

Health system reform and the role of field sites based upon demographic and health surveillance.

PubMed Central

Tollman, S. M.; Zwi, A. B.

2000-01-01

Field sites for demographic and health surveillance have made well-recognized contributions to the evaluation of new or untested interventions, largely through efficacy trials involving new technologies or the delivery of selected services, e.g. vaccines, oral rehydration therapy and alternative contraceptive methods. Their role in health system reform, whether national or international, has, however, proved considerably more limited. The present article explores the characteristics and defining features of such field sites in low-income and middle-income countries and argues that many currently active sites have a largely untapped potential for contributing substantially to national and subnational health development. Since the populations covered by these sites often correspond with the boundaries of districts or subdistricts, the strategic use of information generated by demographic surveillance can inform the decentralization efforts of national and provincial health authorities. Among the areas of particular importance are the following: making population-based information available and providing an information resource; evaluating programmes and interventions; and developing applications to policy and practice. The question is posed as to whether their potential contribution to health system reform justifies arguing for adaptations to these field sites and expanded investment in them. PMID:10686747

Performance Assessment of a Communicable Disease Surveillance System in Response to the Twin Earthquakes of East Azerbaijan.

PubMed

Babaie, Javad; Ardalan, Ali; Vatandoost, Hasan; Goya, Mohammad Mehdi; Akbari Sari, Ali

2015-08-01

Following the twin earthquakes on August 11, 2012, in the East Azerbaijan province of Iran, the provincial health center set up a surveillance system to monitor communicable diseases. This study aimed to assess the performance of this surveillance system. In this quantitative-qualitative study, performance of the communicable diseases surveillance system was assessed by using the updated guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Qualitative data were collected through interviews with the surveillance system participants, and quantitative data were obtained from the surveillance system. The surveillance system was useful, simple, representative, timely, and flexible. The data quality, acceptability, and stability of the surveillance system were 65.6%, 10.63%, and 100%, respectively. The sensitivity and positive predictive value were not calculated owing to the absence of a gold standard. The surveillance system satisfactorily met the goals expected for its setup. The data obtained led to the control of communicable diseases in the affected areas. Required interventions based on the incidence of communicable disease were designed and implemented. The results also reassured health authorities and the public. However, data quality and acceptability should be taken into consideration and reviewed for implementation in future disasters.

Self tuning system for industrial surveillance

DOEpatents

Stephan, Wegerich W; Jarman, Kristin K.; Gross, Kenneth C.

2000-01-01

A method and system for automatically establishing operational parameters of a statistical surveillance system. The method and system performs a frequency domain transition on time dependent data, a first Fourier composite is formed, serial correlation is removed, a series of Gaussian whiteness tests are performed along with an autocorrelation test, Fourier coefficients are stored and a second Fourier composite is formed. Pseudorandom noise is added, a Monte Carlo simulation is performed to establish SPRT missed alarm probabilities and tested with a synthesized signal. A false alarm test is then emperically evaluated and if less than a desired target value, then SPRT probabilities are used for performing surveillance.

Laboratory-based Salmonella surveillance in Fiji, 2004-2005.

PubMed

Dunn, John; Pryor, Jan; Saketa, Salanieta; Delai, Wasale; Buadromo, Eka; Kishore, Kamal; Naidu, Shakila; Greene, Sharon; Varma, Jay; Chiller, Tom

2005-09-01

Although foodborne diseases are an important public health problem worldwide, the burden of foodborne illness is not well described in most Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Laboratory-based surveillance programs can detect trends and outbreaks, estimate burden of illness, and allow subtyping of enteric pathogens (e.g. Salmonella serotyping), which is critical for linking illness to food vehicles and animal reservoirs. To enhance public health capacity in Fiji for foodborne disease surveillance, we developed the Salmonella Surveillance Project (SSP), a collaboration to pilot laboratory-based surveillance for Salmonella. A network of national and international partners was formed including epidemiologists, microbiologists, and environmental health personnel. Ministry of Health personnel were trained in foodborne disease surveillance and outbreak investigation. Three clinical microbiology laboratories from different parts of the country functioned as sentinel sites, reporting all laboratory-confirmed Salmonella infections using a standardized case report form. Non-Typhi Salmonella isolates were collected for serotyping. In 2004-2005, 86 non-Typhi Salmonella and 275 S. Typhi laboratory-confirmed infections were reported. Salmonella enterica serotype I 3,10: r:- and Salmonella enterica serotype Weltevreden were the most commonly isolated non-Typhi serotypes. In Fiji, the SSP utilized international partnerships to facilitate training, and to enhance laboratory capacity and surveillance for salmonellosis. Incorporating laboratory-based foodborne disease reporting into national disease surveillance will enable public health officials to describe the burden of foodborne illness, identify outbreaks, conduct analytic epidemiology studies, and improve food safety.

Was the French clinical surveillance system of bovine brucellosis influenced by the occurrence and surveillance of other abortive diseases?

PubMed

Bronner, Anne; Morignat, Eric; Touratier, Anne; Gache, Kristel; Sala, Carole; Calavas, Didier

2015-03-01

The bovine brucellosis clinical surveillance system implemented in France aims to detect early any case of bovine brucellosis, a disease of which the country has been declared free since 2005. It relies on the mandatory notification of every bovine abortion. Following the spread of the Schmallenberg virus (SBV) in France in 2012 and 2013, and the implementation in 2012 of a clinical surveillance programme of Q fever based on abortion notifications in ten pilot départements, our objective was to study whether these two events influenced the brucellosis clinical surveillance system. The proportion of notifying farmers was analyzed over each semester from June 1, 2009 to June 30, 2013 according to the size and production type of herds, SBV status of départements and the implementation of the Q fever surveillance. Our analysis showed a slight increase in the proportion of notifying farmers as départements became infected by SBV, and after the implementation of Q fever surveillance (during the first semester of 2013). These variations might be explained by an increase in abortion occurrence (congenital deformities in newborns, due to SBV) and/or by an increase in farmers' and veterinarians' awareness (due to the spread of SBV and the implementation of the Q fever surveillance). These results highlight the difficulties in interpreting variations in the proportion of notifying farmers as a consequence of an increase in abortion occurrence. As bovine abortion surveillance can play an important role in the early warning for several diseases, there is a need to explore other ways to monitor abortions in cattle, such as syndromic surveillance using the dates of artificial insemination or calving data. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intelligent agents for adaptive security market surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Kun; Li, Xin; Xu, Baoxun; Yan, Jiaqi; Wang, Huaiqing

2017-05-01

Market surveillance systems have increasingly gained in usage for monitoring trading activities in stock markets to maintain market integrity. Existing systems primarily focus on the numerical analysis of market activity data and generally ignore textual information. To fulfil the requirements of information-based surveillance, a multi-agent-based architecture that uses agent intercommunication and incremental learning mechanisms is proposed to provide a flexible and adaptive inspection process. A prototype system is implemented using the techniques of text mining and rule-based reasoning, among others. Based on experiments in the scalping surveillance scenario, the system can identify target information evidence up to 87.50% of the time and automatically identify 70.59% of cases depending on the constraints on the available information sources. The results of this study indicate that the proposed information surveillance system is effective. This study thus contributes to the market surveillance literature and has significant practical implications.

Cost Analysis of Various Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza Surveillance Systems in the Dutch Egg Layer Sector

PubMed Central

Rutten, Niels; Gonzales, José L.; Elbers, Armin R. W.; Velthuis, Annet G. J.

2012-01-01

Background As low pathogenic avian influenza viruses can mutate into high pathogenic viruses the Dutch poultry sector implemented a surveillance system for low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) based on blood samples. It has been suggested that egg yolk samples could be sampled instead of blood samples to survey egg layer farms. To support future decision making about AI surveillance economic criteria are important. Therefore a cost analysis is performed on systems that use either blood or eggs as sampled material. Methodology/Principal Findings The effectiveness of surveillance using egg or blood samples was evaluated using scenario tree models. Then an economic model was developed that calculates the total costs for eight surveillance systems that have equal effectiveness. The model considers costs for sampling, sample preparation, sample transport, testing, communication of test results and for the confirmation test on false positive results. The surveillance systems varied in sampled material (eggs or blood), sampling location (farm or packing station) and location of sample preparation (laboratory or packing station). It is shown that a hypothetical system in which eggs are sampled at the packing station and samples prepared in a laboratory had the lowest total costs (i.e. € 273,393) a year. Compared to this a hypothetical system in which eggs are sampled at the farm and samples prepared at a laboratory, and the currently implemented system in which blood is sampled at the farm and samples prepared at a laboratory have 6% and 39% higher costs respectively. Conclusions/Significance This study shows that surveillance for avian influenza on egg yolk samples can be done at lower costs than surveillance based on blood samples. The model can be used in future comparison of surveillance systems for different pathogens and hazards. PMID:22523543

Information systems to support surveillance for malaria elimination.

PubMed

Ohrt, Colin; Roberts, Kathryn W; Sturrock, Hugh J W; Wegbreit, Jennifer; Lee, Bruce Y; Gosling, Roly D

2015-07-01

Robust and responsive surveillance systems are critical for malaria elimination. The ideal information system that supports malaria elimination includes: rapid and complete case reporting, incorporation of related data, such as census or health survey information, central data storage and management, automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. Spatial information enhances such a system, ensuring cases are tracked and mapped over time. Data sharing and coordination across borders are vital and new technologies can improve data speed, accuracy, and quality. Parts of this ideal information system exist and are in use, but have yet to be linked together coherently. Malaria elimination programs should support the implementation and refinement of information systems to support surveillance and response and ensure political and financial commitment to maintain the systems and the human resources needed to run them. National malaria programs should strive to improve the access and utility of these information systems and establish cross-border data sharing mechanisms through the use of standard indicators for malaria surveillance. Ultimately, investment in the information technologies that support a timely and targeted surveillance and response system is essential for malaria elimination. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Automated intelligent video surveillance system for ships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Hai; Nguyen, Hieu; Ramu, Prakash; Raju, Chaitanya; Liu, Xiaoqing; Yadegar, Jacob

2009-05-01

To protect naval and commercial ships from attack by terrorists and pirates, it is important to have automatic surveillance systems able to detect, identify, track and alert the crew on small watercrafts that might pursue malicious intentions, while ruling out non-threat entities. Radar systems have limitations on the minimum detectable range and lack high-level classification power. In this paper, we present an innovative Automated Intelligent Video Surveillance System for Ships (AIVS3) as a vision-based solution for ship security. Capitalizing on advanced computer vision algorithms and practical machine learning methodologies, the developed AIVS3 is not only capable of efficiently and robustly detecting, classifying, and tracking various maritime targets, but also able to fuse heterogeneous target information to interpret scene activities, associate targets with levels of threat, and issue the corresponding alerts/recommendations to the man-in- the-loop (MITL). AIVS3 has been tested in various maritime scenarios and shown accurate and effective threat detection performance. By reducing the reliance on human eyes to monitor cluttered scenes, AIVS3 will save the manpower while increasing the accuracy in detection and identification of asymmetric attacks for ship protection.

Health & demographic surveillance system profile: The Kombewa health and demographic surveillance system (Kombewa HDSS).

PubMed

Sifuna, Peter; Oyugi, Mary; Ogutu, Bernhards; Andagalu, Ben; Otieno, Allan; Owira, Victorine; Otsyula, Nekoye; Oyieko, Janet; Cowden, Jessica; Otieno, Lucas; Otieno, Walter

2014-08-01

The Kombewa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) grew out of the Kombewa Clinical Research Centre in 2007 and has since established itself as a platform for the conduct of regulated clinical trials, nested studies and local disease surveillance. The HDSS is located in a rural part of Kisumu County, Western Kenya, and covers an area of about 369 km(2) along the north-eastern shores of Lake Victoria. A dynamic cohort of 141 956 individuals drawn from 34 718 households forms the HDSS surveillance population. Following a baseline survey in 2011, the HDSS continues to monitor key population changes through routine biannual household surveys. The intervening period between set-up and baseline census was used for preparatory work, in particular Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping. Routine surveys capture information on individual and households including residency, household relationships, births, deaths, migrations (in and out) and causes of morbidity (syndromic incidence and prevalence) as well as causes of death (verbal autopsy). The Kombewa HDSS platform is used to support health research activities, that is clinical trials and epidemiological studies evaluating diseases of public health importance including malaria, HIV and global emerging infectious diseases such as dengue fever. © The Author 2014; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

Public Health Surveillance Systems: Recent Advances in Their Use and Evaluation.

PubMed

Groseclose, Samuel L; Buckeridge, David L

2017-03-20

Surveillance is critical for improving population health. Public health surveillance systems generate information that drives action, and the data must be of sufficient quality and with a resolution and timeliness that matches objectives. In the context of scientific advances in public health surveillance, changing health care and public health environments, and rapidly evolving technologies, the aim of this article is to review public health surveillance systems. We consider their current use to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the public health system, the role of system stakeholders, the analysis and interpretation of surveillance data, approaches to system monitoring and evaluation, and opportunities for future advances in terms of increased scientific rigor, outcomes-focused research, and health informatics.

Evaluating Hospital-Based Surveillance for Outbreak Detection in Bangladesh: Analysis of Healthcare Utilization Data

PubMed Central

Nikolay, Birgit; Salje, Henrik; Sturm-Ramirez, Katharine; Azziz-Baumgartner, Eduardo; Homaira, Nusrat; Iuliano, A. Danielle; Paul, Repon C.; Hossain, M. Jahangir; Cauchemez, Simon; Gurley, Emily S.

2017-01-01

Background The International Health Regulations outline core requirements to ensure the detection of public health threats of international concern. Assessing the capacity of surveillance systems to detect these threats is crucial for evaluating a country’s ability to meet these requirements. Methods and Findings We propose a framework to evaluate the sensitivity and representativeness of hospital-based surveillance and apply it to severe neurological infectious diseases and fatal respiratory infectious diseases in Bangladesh. We identified cases in selected communities within surveillance hospital catchment areas using key informant and house-to-house surveys and ascertained where cases had sought care. We estimated the probability of surveillance detecting different sized outbreaks by distance from the surveillance hospital and compared characteristics of cases identified in the community and cases attending surveillance hospitals. We estimated that surveillance detected 26% (95% CI 18%–33%) of severe neurological disease cases and 18% (95% CI 16%–21%) of fatal respiratory disease cases residing at 10 km distance from a surveillance hospital. Detection probabilities decreased markedly with distance. The probability of detecting small outbreaks (three cases) dropped below 50% at distances greater than 26 km for severe neurological disease and at distances greater than 7 km for fatal respiratory disease. Characteristics of cases attending surveillance hospitals were largely representative of all cases; however, neurological disease cases aged <5 y or from the lowest socioeconomic group and fatal respiratory disease cases aged ≥60 y were underrepresented. Our estimates of outbreak detection rely on suspected cases that attend a surveillance hospital receiving laboratory confirmation of disease and being reported to the surveillance system. The extent to which this occurs will depend on disease characteristics (e.g., severity and symptom specificity) and

Infectious Disease Surveillance in the Big Data Era: Towards Faster and Locally Relevant Systems.

PubMed

Simonsen, Lone; Gog, Julia R; Olson, Don; Viboud, Cécile

2016-12-01

While big data have proven immensely useful in fields such as marketing and earth sciences, public health is still relying on more traditional surveillance systems and awaiting the fruits of a big data revolution. A new generation of big data surveillance systems is needed to achieve rapid, flexible, and local tracking of infectious diseases, especially for emerging pathogens. In this opinion piece, we reflect on the long and distinguished history of disease surveillance and discuss recent developments related to use of big data. We start with a brief review of traditional systems relying on clinical and laboratory reports. We then examine how large-volume medical claims data can, with great spatiotemporal resolution, help elucidate local disease patterns. Finally, we review efforts to develop surveillance systems based on digital and social data streams, including the recent rise and fall of Google Flu Trends. We conclude by advocating for increased use of hybrid systems combining information from traditional surveillance and big data sources, which seems the most promising option moving forward. Throughout the article, we use influenza as an exemplar of an emerging and reemerging infection which has traditionally been considered a model system for surveillance and modeling. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2016. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

Accessible and inexpensive tools for global HPAI surveillance: A mobile-phone based system.

PubMed

Lin, Yibo; Heffernan, Claire

2011-02-01

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) disproportionately impacts poor livestock keepers in southern countries. Although the estimated cost of the disease in the billions, response to the epidemic remains fragmented and information channels slow. Given the continuing threat of outbreaks, and what appears to be the politicisation of outbreak reporting, new tools are needed to enforce transparency in stakeholder communication. In response to this need, we created a mobile-phone based surveillance system to aid critical information transfer among policy makers, practitioners and the poor themselves. The tool operates at the local, national and global levels and further links decision-makers to international databases. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sports Injury Surveillance Systems: A Review of Methods and Data Quality.

PubMed

Ekegren, Christina L; Gabbe, Belinda J; Finch, Caroline F

2016-01-01

Data from sports injury surveillance systems are a prerequisite to the development and evaluation of injury prevention strategies. This review aimed to identify ongoing sports injury surveillance systems and determine whether there are gaps in our understanding of injuries in certain sport settings. A secondary aim was to determine which of the included surveillance systems have evaluated the quality of their data, a key factor in determining their usefulness. A systematic search was carried out to identify (1) publications presenting methodological details of sports injury surveillance systems within clubs and organisations; and (2) publications describing quality evaluations and the quality of data from these systems. Data extracted included methodological details of the surveillance systems, methods used to evaluate data quality, and results of these evaluations. Following literature search and review, a total of 15 sports injury surveillance systems were identified. Data relevant to each aim were summarised descriptively. Most systems were found to exist within professional and elite sports. Publications concerning data quality were identified for seven (47%) systems. Validation of system data through comparison with alternate sources has been undertaken for only four systems (27%). This review identified a shortage of ongoing injury surveillance data from amateur and community sport settings and limited information about the quality of data in professional and elite settings. More surveillance systems are needed across a range of sport settings, as are standards for data quality reporting. These efforts will enable better monitoring of sports injury trends and the development of sports safety strategies.

Mission planning for space based satellite surveillance experiments with the MSX

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sridharan, R.; Fishman, T.; Robinson, E.; Viggh, H.; Wiseman, A.

1994-01-01

The Midcourse Space Experiment is a BMDO-sponsored scientific satellite set for launch within the year. The satellite will collect phenomenology data on missile targets, plumes, earth limb backgrounds and deep space backgrounds in the LWIR, visible and ultra-violet spectral bands. It will also conduct functional demonstrations for space-based space surveillance. The Space-Based Visible sensor, built by Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the primary sensor on board the MSX for demonstration of space surveillance. The SBV Processing, Operations and Control Center (SPOCC) is the mission planning and commanding center for all space surveillance experiments using the SBV and other MSX instruments. The guiding principle in the SPOCC Mission Planning System was that all routine functions be automated. Manual analyst input should be minimal. Major concepts are: (I) A high level language, called SLED, for user interface to the system; (2) A group of independent software processes which would generally be run in a pipe-line mode for experiment commanding but can be run independently for analyst assessment; (3) An integrated experiment cost computation function that permits assessment of the feasibility of the experiment. This paper will report on the design, implementation and testing of the Mission Planning System.

75 FR 81512 - Airworthiness Directives; Various Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-28

... Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Units AGENCY... & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) units during a flight test over... applies to Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance...

Evaluating a surveillance system: live-bird market surveillance for highly pathogenic avian influenza, a case study.

PubMed

Waziri, Ndadilnasiya Endie; Nguku, Patrick; Olayinka, Adebola; Ajayi, Ike; Kabir, Junaidu; Okolocha, Emmanuel; Tseggai, Tesfai; Joannis, Tony; Okewole, Phillip; Kumbish, Peterside; Ahmed, Mohammed; Lombin, Lami; Nsubuga, Peter

2014-01-01

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 was first reported in poultry in Nigeria in February 2006. The only human case that occurred was linked to contact with poultry in a live bird market (LBM). LBM surveillance was instituted to assess the degree of threat of human exposure to H5N1. The key indicator was detection of H5N1 in LBMs. We evaluated the surveillance system to assess its operations and attributes. We used the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. We reviewed and analyzed passive surveillance data for HPAI (January 2006-March 2009) from the Avian Influenza National Reference Laboratory, and live bird market surveillance data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Nigeria. We interviewed key stakeholders and reviewed reports of live bird market surveillance to obtain additional information on the operations of the system. We assessed the key system attributes. A total of 299 cases occurred in 25 (72%) states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The system detected HPAI H5N1 virus in 7 (9.5%) LBMs; 2 (29%) of which were from 2 (18.2%) states with no previous case. A total of 17,852 (91.5%) of samples arrived at the laboratory within 24 hours but laboratory analysis took over 7 days. The sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) were 15.4% and 66.7% respectively. The system is useful, flexible, complex and not timely, but appears to be meeting its objectives. The isolation of HPAI H5N1 virus in some of these markets is an indication that the markets are possible reservoirs of the virus in Nigeria. We recommend that the Federal Government of Nigeria should dedicate more funds for surveillance for HPAI as this will aid early warning and reduce the risk of a pandemic.

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

MedlinePlus

... commit" type="submit" value="Submit" /> Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share ... No Fear Act OIG 1600 Clifton Road Atlanta , GA 30329-4027 USA 800-CDC-INFO (800-232- ...

Two New Real-Time PCR-based Surveillance Systems for “Candidatus Liberibacter” Species Detection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We developed two novel surveillance systems for “Candidatus Liberibacter” (CL) species detection and identification. The first system is called “single tube dual primer Taq-Man PCR” (STDP). The procedure involves two sequential rounds of PCR using the CL asiaticus species-specific outer and inner pr...

Health & Demographic Surveillance System Profile: The Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS).

PubMed

Beguy, Donatien; Elung'ata, Patricia; Mberu, Blessing; Oduor, Clement; Wamukoya, Marylene; Nganyi, Bonface; Ezeh, Alex

2015-04-01

The Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS) was the first urban-based longitudinal health and demographic surveillance platform in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The NUHDSS was established in 2002 to provide a platform to investigate the long-term social, economic and health consequences of urban residence, and to serve as a primary research tool for intervention and impact evaluation studies focusing on the needs of the urban poor in SSA. Since its inception, the NUHDSS has successfully followed every year a population of about 65,000 individuals in 24,000 households in two slum communities--Korogocho and Viwandani--in Nairobi, Kenya. Data collected include key demographic and health information (births, deaths including verbal autopsy, in- and out-migration, immunization) and other information that characterizes living conditions in the slums (livelihood opportunities, household amenities and possessions, type of housing etc.). In addition to the routine data, it has provided a robust platform for nesting several studies examining the challenges of rapid urbanization in SSA and associated health and poverty dynamics. NUHDSS data are shared through internal and external collaborations, in accordance with the Centre's guidelines for publications, data sharing. © The Author 2015; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

An automated, broad-based, near real-time public health surveillance system using presentations to hospital Emergency Departments in New South Wales, Australia.

PubMed

Muscatello, David J; Churches, Tim; Kaldor, Jill; Zheng, Wei; Chiu, Clayton; Correll, Patricia; Jorm, Louisa

2005-12-22

In a climate of concern over bioterrorism threats and emergent diseases, public health authorities are trialling more timely surveillance systems. The 2003 Rugby World Cup (RWC) provided an opportunity to test the viability of a near real-time syndromic surveillance system in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. We describe the development and early results of this largely automated system that used data routinely collected in Emergency Departments (EDs). Twelve of 49 EDs in the Sydney metropolitan area automatically transmitted surveillance data from their existing information systems to a central database in near real-time. Information captured for each ED visit included patient demographic details, presenting problem and nursing assessment entered as free-text at triage time, physician-assigned provisional diagnosis codes, and status at departure from the ED. Both diagnoses from the EDs and triage text were used to assign syndrome categories. The text information was automatically classified into one or more of 26 syndrome categories using automated "naïve Bayes" text categorisation techniques. Automated processes were used to analyse both diagnosis and free text-based syndrome data and to produce web-based statistical summaries for daily review. An adjusted cumulative sum (cusum) was used to assess the statistical significance of trends. During the RWC the system did not identify any major public health threats associated with the tournament, mass gatherings or the influx of visitors. This was consistent with evidence from other sources, although two known outbreaks were already in progress before the tournament. Limited baseline in early monitoring prevented the system from automatically identifying these ongoing outbreaks. Data capture was invisible to clinical staff in EDs and did not add to their workload. We have demonstrated the feasibility and potential utility of syndromic surveillance using routinely collected data from ED information systems. Key features

An automated, broad-based, near real-time public health surveillance system using presentations to hospital Emergency Departments in New South Wales, Australia

PubMed Central

Muscatello, David J; Churches, Tim; Kaldor, Jill; Zheng, Wei; Chiu, Clayton; Correll, Patricia; Jorm, Louisa

2005-01-01

Background In a climate of concern over bioterrorism threats and emergent diseases, public health authorities are trialling more timely surveillance systems. The 2003 Rugby World Cup (RWC) provided an opportunity to test the viability of a near real-time syndromic surveillance system in metropolitan Sydney, Australia. We describe the development and early results of this largely automated system that used data routinely collected in Emergency Departments (EDs). Methods Twelve of 49 EDs in the Sydney metropolitan area automatically transmitted surveillance data from their existing information systems to a central database in near real-time. Information captured for each ED visit included patient demographic details, presenting problem and nursing assessment entered as free-text at triage time, physician-assigned provisional diagnosis codes, and status at departure from the ED. Both diagnoses from the EDs and triage text were used to assign syndrome categories. The text information was automatically classified into one or more of 26 syndrome categories using automated "naïve Bayes" text categorisation techniques. Automated processes were used to analyse both diagnosis and free text-based syndrome data and to produce web-based statistical summaries for daily review. An adjusted cumulative sum (cusum) was used to assess the statistical significance of trends. Results During the RWC the system did not identify any major public health threats associated with the tournament, mass gatherings or the influx of visitors. This was consistent with evidence from other sources, although two known outbreaks were already in progress before the tournament. Limited baseline in early monitoring prevented the system from automatically identifying these ongoing outbreaks. Data capture was invisible to clinical staff in EDs and did not add to their workload. Conclusion We have demonstrated the feasibility and potential utility of syndromic surveillance using routinely collected data

Protocol for hospital based-surveillance of cerebral palsy (CP) in Hanoi using the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance mechanism (PAEDS-Vietnam): a study towards developing hospital-based disease surveillance in Vietnam.

PubMed

Khandaker, Gulam; Van Bang, Nguyen; Dũng, Trịnh Quang; Giang, Nguyen Thi Huong; Chau, Cao Minh; Van Anh, Nguyen Thi; Van Thuong, Nguyen; Badawi, Nadia; Elliott, Elizabeth J

2017-11-09

The epidemiology, pathogenesis, management and outcomes of cerebral palsy (CP) in low-income and middle-income countries including Vietnam are unknown because of the lack of mechanisms for standardised collection of data. In this paper, we outline the protocol for developing a hospital-based surveillance system modelled on the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) system in Australia. Using PAEDS-Vietnam we will define the aetiology, motor function and its severity, associated impairments, and nutritional and rehabilitation status of children with CP in Hanoi, Vietnam. These essential baseline data will inform future health service planning, health professional education and training, and family support. This is a hospital-based prospective surveillance of children with CP presenting to the rehabilitation, neurology and general paediatric services at the National Children's Hospital and St Paul Hospital in Hanoi. We will use active, prospective daily case-finding for all children with CP aged <18 years who are hospitalised or present to outpatient departments. Following parental consent, data will be collected using a modified version of the Australian Cerebral Palsy Register questionnaire. The data collection form has been developed in consultation with local and international experts and translated into Vietnamese. Information collected will include demographics, maternal health and birth history, type and severity of CP, known risk factors for CP, and nutrition, immunisation, education and rehabilitation status. This study was approved by the Hanoi Medical University Institutional Review Board (decision no 1722) and The University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (approval no 2016/456). Establishment of PAEDS-Vietnam will enable hospital-based surveillance of CP for the first time in Vietnam. It will identify preventable causes of CP, patient needs and service gaps, and facilitate early diagnosis and intervention. Study findings will

Applications of a sugar-based surveillance system to track arboviruses in wild mosquito populations.

PubMed

van den Hurk, Andrew F; Hall-Mendelin, Sonja; Townsend, Michael; Kurucz, Nina; Edwards, Jim; Ehlers, Gerhard; Rodwell, Chris; Moore, Frederick A; McMahon, Jamie L; Northill, Judith A; Simmons, Russell J; Cortis, Giles; Melville, Lorna; Whelan, Peter I; Ritchie, Scott A

2014-01-01

Effective arbovirus surveillance is essential to ensure the implementation of control strategies, such as mosquito suppression, vaccination, or dissemination of public warnings. Traditional strategies employed for arbovirus surveillance, such as detection of virus or virus-specific antibodies in sentinel animals, or detection of virus in hematophagous arthropods, have limitations as an early-warning system. A system was recently developed that involves collecting mosquitoes in CO2-baited traps, where the insects expectorate virus on sugar-baited nucleic acid preservation cards. The cards are then submitted for virus detection using molecular assays. We report the application of this system for detecting flaviviruses and alphaviruses in wild mosquito populations in northern Australia. This study was the first to employ nonpowered passive box traps (PBTs) that were designed to house cards baited with honey as the sugar source. Overall, 20/144 (13.9%) of PBTs from different weeks contained at least one virus-positive card. West Nile virus Kunjin subtype (WNVKUN), Ross River virus (RRV), and Barmah Forest virus (BFV) were detected, being identified in 13/20, 5/20, and 2/20 of positive PBTs, respectively. Importantly, sentinel chickens deployed to detect flavivirus activity did not seroconvert at two Northern Territory sites where four PBTs yielded WNVKUN. Sufficient WNVKUN and RRV RNA was expectorated onto some of the honey-soaked cards to provide a template for gene sequencing, enhancing the utility of the sugar-bait surveillance system for investigating the ecology, emergence, and movement of arboviruses.

Development of a Salmonella screening tool for consumer complaint-based foodborne illness surveillance systems.

PubMed

Li, John; Maclehose, Rich; Smith, Kirk; Kaehler, Dawn; Hedberg, Craig

2011-01-01

Foodborne illness surveillance based on consumer complaints detects outbreaks by finding common exposures among callers, but this process is often difficult. Laboratory testing of ill callers could also help identify potential outbreaks. However, collection of stool samples from all callers is not feasible. Methods to help screen calls for etiology are needed to increase the efficiency of complaint surveillance systems and increase the likelihood of detecting foodborne outbreaks caused by Salmonella. Data from the Minnesota Department of Health foodborne illness surveillance database (2000 to 2008) were analyzed. Complaints with identified etiologies were examined to create a predictive model for Salmonella. Bootstrap methods were used to internally validate the model. Seventy-one percent of complaints in the foodborne illness database with known etiologies were due to norovirus. The predictive model had a good discriminatory ability to identify Salmonella calls. Three cutoffs for the predictive model were tested: one that maximized sensitivity, one that maximized specificity, and one that maximized predictive ability, providing sensitivities and specificities of 32 and 96%, 100 and 54%, and 89 and 72%, respectively. Development of a predictive model for Salmonella could help screen calls for etiology. The cutoff that provided the best predictive ability for Salmonella corresponded to a caller reporting diarrhea and fever with no vomiting, and five or fewer people ill. Screening calls for etiology would help identify complaints for further follow-up and result in identifying Salmonella cases that would otherwise go unconfirmed; in turn, this could lead to the identification of more outbreaks.

Improving general practice based epidemiologic surveillance using desktop clients: the French Sentinel Network experience.

PubMed

Turbelin, Clément; Boëlle, Pierre-Yves

2010-01-01

Web-based applications are a choice tool for general practice based epidemiological surveillance; however their use may disrupt the general practitioners (GPs) work process. In this article, we propose an alternative approach based on a desktop client application. This was developed for use in the French General Practitioners Sentinel Network. We developed a java application running as a client on the local GP computer. It allows reporting cases to a central server and provides feedback to the participating GPs. XML was used to describe surveillance protocols and questionnaires as well as instances of case descriptions. An evaluation of the users' feelings was carried out and the impact on the timeliness and completeness of surveillance data was measured. Better integration in the work process was reported, especially when the software was used at the time of consultation. Reports were received more frequently with less missing data. This study highlights the potential of allowing multiple ways of interaction with the surveillance system to increase participation of GPs and the quality of surveillance.

The integrated proactive surveillance system for prostate cancer.

PubMed

Wang, Haibin; Yatawara, Mahendra; Huang, Shao-Chi; Dudley, Kevin; Szekely, Christine; Holden, Stuart; Piantadosi, Steven

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of the integrated proactive surveillance system for prostate cancer (PASS-PC). The integrated PASS-PC is a multi-institutional web-based system aimed at collecting a variety of data on prostate cancer patients in a standardized and efficient way. The integrated PASS-PC was commissioned by the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) and built through the joint of efforts by a group of experts in medical oncology, genetics, pathology, nutrition, and cancer research informatics. Their main goal is facilitating the efficient and uniform collection of critical demographic, lifestyle, nutritional, dietary and clinical information to be used in developing new strategies in diagnosing, preventing and treating prostate cancer.The integrated PASS-PC is designed based on common industry standards - a three tiered architecture and a Service- Oriented Architecture (SOA). It utilizes open source software and programming languages such as HTML, PHP, CSS, JQuery, Drupal and MySQL. We also use a commercial database management system - Oracle 11g. The integrated PASS-PC project uses a "confederation model" that encourages participation of any interested center, irrespective of its size or location. The integrated PASS-PC utilizes a standardized approach to data collection and reporting, and uses extensive validation procedures to prevent entering erroneous data. The integrated PASS-PC controlled vocabulary is harmonized with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Thesaurus. Currently, two cancer centers in the USA are participating in the integrated PASS-PC project.THE FINAL SYSTEM HAS THREE MAIN COMPONENTS: 1. National Prostate Surveillance Network (NPSN) website; 2. NPSN myConnect portal; 3. Proactive Surveillance System for Prostate Cancer (PASS-PC). PASS-PC is a cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) compatible product. The integrated PASS-PC provides a foundation for collaborative prostate cancer research. It has been built to

A Radiation-Triggered Surveillance System for UF6 Cylinder Monitoring

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Curtis, Michael M.; Myjak, Mitchell J.

This report provides background information and representative scenarios for testing a prototype radiation-triggered surveillance system at an operating facility that handles uranium hexafluoride (UF 6) cylinders. The safeguards objective is to trigger cameras using radiation, or radiation and motion, rather than motion alone, to reduce significantly the number of image files generated by a motion-triggered system. The authors recommend the use of radiation-triggered surveillance at all facilities where cylinder paths are heavily traversed by personnel. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has begun using surveillance cameras in the feed and withdrawal areas of gas centrifuge enrichment plants (GCEPs). The camerasmore » generate imagery using elapsed time or motion, but this creates problems in areas occupied 24/7 by personnel. Either motion-or-interval-based triggering generates thousands of review files over the course of a month. Since inspectors must review the files to verify operator material-flow-declarations, a plethora of files significantly extends the review process. The primary advantage of radiation-triggered surveillance is the opportunity to obtain full-time cylinder throughput verification versus what presently amounts to part-time verification. Cost savings should be substantial, as the IAEA presently uses frequent unannounced inspections to verify cylinder-throughput declarations. The use of radiation-triggered surveillance allows the IAEA to implement less frequent unannounced inspections for the purpose of flow verification, but its principal advantage is significantly shorter and more effective inspector video reviews.« less

Surveillance for travel-related disease--GeoSentinel Surveillance System, United States, 1997-2011.

PubMed

Harvey, Kira; Esposito, Douglas H; Han, Pauline; Kozarsky, Phyllis; Freedman, David O; Plier, D Adam; Sotir, Mark J

2013-07-19

In 2012, the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide was projected to reach a new high of 1 billion arrivals, a 48% increase from 674 million arrivals in 2000. International travel also is increasing among U.S. residents. In 2009, U.S. residents made approximately 61 million trips outside the country, a 5% increase from 1999. Travel-related morbidity can occur during or after travel. Worldwide, 8% of travelers from industrialized to developing countries report becoming ill enough to seek health care during or after travel. Travelers have contributed to the global spread of infectious diseases, including novel and emerging pathogens. Therefore, surveillance of travel-related morbidity is an essential component of global public health surveillance and will be of greater importance as international travel increases worldwide. September 1997-December 2011. GeoSentinel is a clinic-based global surveillance system that tracks infectious diseases and other adverse health outcomes in returned travelers, foreign visitors, and immigrants. GeoSentinel comprises 54 travel/tropical medicine clinics worldwide that electronically submit demographic, travel, and clinical diagnosis data for all patients evaluated for an illness or other health condition that is presumed to be related to international travel. Clinical information is collected by physicians with expertise or experience in travel/tropical medicine. Data collected at all sites are entered electronically into a database, which is housed at and maintained by CDC. The GeoSentinel network membership program comprises 235 additional clinics in 40 countries on six continents. Although these network members do not report surveillance data systematically, they can report unusual or concerning diagnoses in travelers and might be asked to perform enhanced surveillance in response to specific health events or concerns. During September 1997-December 2011, data were collected on 141,789 patients with confirmed or

National animal health surveillance: Return on investment.

PubMed

Scott, Aaron E; Forsythe, Kenneth W; Johnson, Cynthia L

2012-08-01

A weighted benefit-cost analysis (BCA) supports prioritization of animal health surveillance activities to safeguard animal agriculture industries and reduce the impact of disease on the national economy. We propose to determine the value of investment in surveillance by assessing benefits from: avoiding disease incursion and expansion modified by the probability of occurrence of the disease event, the sensitivity of systems to detect it, and the degree to which we can mitigate disease impact when detected. The weighted benefit-cost ratio is the modified value of surveillance as laid out above divided by the cost of surveillance. We propose flexible, stream-based surveillance that capitalizes on combining multiple streams of information from both specific pathogen based and non-pathogen based surveillance. This stream-based type of system provides high value with lower costs and will provide a high return for the funds invested in animal health surveillance. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Evaluation of the influenza sentinel surveillance system in Madagascar, 2009–2014

PubMed Central

Rakotoarisoa, Alain; Randrianasolo, Laurence; Tempia, Stefano; Guillebaud, Julia; Razanajatovo, Norosoa; Randriamampionona, Lea; Piola, Patrice; Halm, Ariane

2017-01-01

Abstract Problem Evaluation of influenza surveillance systems is poor, especially in Africa. Approach In 2007, the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar and the Malagasy Ministry of Public Health implemented a countrywide system for the prospective syndromic and virological surveillance of influenza-like illnesses. In assessing this system’s performance, we identified gaps and ways to promote the best use of resources. We investigated acceptability, data quality, flexibility, representativeness, simplicity, stability, timeliness and usefulness and developed qualitative and/or quantitative indicators for each of these attributes. Local setting Until 2007, the influenza surveillance system in Madagascar was only operational in Antananarivo and the observations made could not be extrapolated to the entire country. Relevant changes By 2014, the system covered 34 sentinel sites across the country. At 12 sites, nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal samples were collected and tested for influenza virus. Between 2009 and 2014, 177 718 fever cases were detected, 25 809 (14.5%) of these fever cases were classified as cases of influenza-like illness. Of the 9192 samples from patients with influenza-like illness that were tested for influenza viruses, 3573 (38.9%) tested positive. Data quality for all evaluated indicators was categorized as above 90% and the system also appeared to be strong in terms of its acceptability, simplicity and stability. However, sample collection needed improvement. Lessons learnt The influenza surveillance system in Madagascar performed well and provided reliable and timely data for public health interventions. Given its flexibility and overall moderate cost, this system may become a useful platform for syndromic and laboratory-based surveillance in other low-resource settings. PMID:28479639

Identifying high risk medications causing potential drug-drug interactions in outpatients: A prescription database study based on an online surveillance system.

PubMed

Toivo, T M; Mikkola, J A V; Laine, K; Airaksinen, M

2016-01-01

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are a significant cause for adverse drug events (ADEs). DDIs are often predictable and preventable, but their prevention and management require systematic service development. Most DDI studies focus on interaction rates in hospitalized patients. Less is known of DDIs in outpatients, particularly how community pharmacists could contribute to DDI management by applying their surveillance systems for identifying high-risk medications. The study was related to the implementation of the first online DDI surveillance system in Finnish community pharmacies. The goal was to demonstrate how community pharmacies can utilize their prospective surveillance system 1) for identifying high risk medications causing potential DDIs in outpatients, 2) for collaborative service development with local physicians, and 3) for academic risk management research purposes. All DDI alerts given by the online surveillance system were collected during a one-month period in 16 out of 17 University Pharmacy outlets in Finland, covering approximately 10% of the national outpatient prescription volume. The surveillance system was based on the FASS database, which categorizes DDIs into four classes (A-D) according to their clinical significance. Potential drug-drug DDIs were analyzed for 276,891 dispensed community pharmacy prescriptions. Potential DDIs were associated with 10.8%, or 31,110 of these prescriptions. Clinically significant interaction alerts categorized as FASS classes D (most severe, should be avoided) and C (clinically significant but controllable) were associated with 0.5% and 7.0% of the prescriptions, respectively. Methotrexate and warfarin had the highest risk of causing potentially serious (class D) interactions. These interaction alerts were most frequently between methotrexate and NSAIDs and warfarin and NSAIDs. In general, NSAIDs were the most commonly interacting drugs in this study. This study demonstrates that community pharmacies can actively

A habituation based approach for detection of visual changes in surveillance camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sha'abani, M. N. A. H.; Adan, N. F.; Sabani, M. S. M.; Abdullah, F.; Nadira, J. H. S.; Yasin, M. S. M.

2017-09-01

This paper investigates a habituation based approach in detecting visual changes using video surveillance systems in a passive environment. Various techniques have been introduced for dynamic environment such as motion detection, object classification and behaviour analysis. However, in a passive environment, most of the scenes recorded by the surveillance system are normal. Therefore, implementing a complex analysis all the time in the passive environment resulting on computationally expensive, especially when using a high video resolution. Thus, a mechanism of attention is required, where the system only responds to an abnormal event. This paper proposed a novelty detection mechanism in detecting visual changes and a habituation based approach to measure the level of novelty. The objective of the paper is to investigate the feasibility of the habituation based approach in detecting visual changes. Experiment results show that the approach are able to accurately detect the presence of novelty as deviations from the learned knowledge.

Technical description of RODS: a real-time public health surveillance system.

PubMed

Tsui, Fu-Chiang; Espino, Jeremy U; Dato, Virginia M; Gesteland, Per H; Hutman, Judith; Wagner, Michael M

2003-01-01

This report describes the design and implementation of the Real-time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (RODS) system, a computer-based public health surveillance system for early detection of disease outbreaks. Hospitals send RODS data from clinical encounters over virtual private networks and leased lines using the Health Level 7 (HL7) message protocol. The data are sent in real time. RODS automatically classifies the registration chief complaint from the visit into one of seven syndrome categories using Bayesian classifiers. It stores the data in a relational database, aggregates the data for analysis using data warehousing techniques, applies univariate and multivariate statistical detection algorithms to the data, and alerts users of when the algorithms identify anomalous patterns in the syndrome counts. RODS also has a Web-based user interface that supports temporal and spatial analyses. RODS processes sales of over-the-counter health care products in a similar manner but receives such data in batch mode on a daily basis. RODS was used during the 2002 Winter Olympics and currently operates in two states-Pennsylvania and Utah. It has been and continues to be a resource for implementing, evaluating, and applying new methods of public health surveillance.

Development of the Parkland-UT Southwestern Colonoscopy Reporting System (CoRS) for evidence-based colon cancer surveillance recommendations

PubMed Central

Gupta, Samir; Halm, Ethan A; Wright, Shaun; McCallister, Katharine; Bishop, Wendy; Santini, Noel; Mayorga, Christian; Agrawal, Deepak; Moran, Brett; Sanders, Joanne M; Singal, Amit G

2016-01-01

Objective Through colonoscopy, polyps can be identified and removed to reduce colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Appropriate use of surveillance colonoscopy, post polypectomy, is a focus of healthcare reform. Materials and Methods The authors developed and implemented the first electronic medical record–based colonoscopy reporting system (CoRS) that matches endoscopic findings with guideline-consistent surveillance recommendations and generates tailored results and recommendation letters for patients and providers. Results In its first year, CoRS was used in 98.6% of indicated cases. Via a survey, colonoscopists agreed/strongly agreed it is easy to use (83%), provides guideline-based recommendations (89%), improves quality of Spanish letters (94%), they would recommend it for other institutions (78%), and it made their work easier (61%), and led to improved practice (56%). Discussion CoRS’ widespread adoption and acceptance likely resulted from stakeholder engagement throughout the development and implementation process. Conclusion CoRS is well-accepted by clinicians and provides guideline-based recommendations and results communications to patients and providers. PMID:26254481

An optimal beam alignment method for large-scale distributed space surveillance radar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Jian; Wang, Dongya; Xia, Shuangzhi

2018-06-01

Large-scale distributed space surveillance radar is a very important ground-based equipment to maintain a complete catalogue for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space debris. However, due to the thousands of kilometers distance between each sites of the distributed radar system, how to optimally implement the Transmitting/Receiving (T/R) beams alignment in a great space using the narrow beam, which proposed a special and considerable technical challenge in the space surveillance area. According to the common coordinate transformation model and the radar beam space model, we presented a two dimensional projection algorithm for T/R beam using the direction angles, which could visually describe and assess the beam alignment performance. Subsequently, the optimal mathematical models for the orientation angle of the antenna array, the site location and the T/R beam coverage are constructed, and also the beam alignment parameters are precisely solved. At last, we conducted the optimal beam alignment experiments base on the site parameters of Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS). The simulation results demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of our novel method, which can significantly stimulate the construction for the LEO space debris surveillance equipment.

Particle swarm optimization based space debris surveillance network scheduling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, Hai; Liu, Jing; Cheng, Hao-Wen; Zhang, Yao

2017-02-01

The increasing number of space debris has created an orbital debris environment that poses increasing impact risks to existing space systems and human space flights. For the safety of in-orbit spacecrafts, we should optimally schedule surveillance tasks for the existing facilities to allocate resources in a manner that most significantly improves the ability to predict and detect events involving affected spacecrafts. This paper analyzes two criteria that mainly affect the performance of a scheduling scheme and introduces an artificial intelligence algorithm into the scheduling of tasks of the space debris surveillance network. A new scheduling algorithm based on the particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed, which can be implemented in two different ways: individual optimization and joint optimization. Numerical experiments with multiple facilities and objects are conducted based on the proposed algorithm, and simulation results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Wisconsin’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network: Information Systems Design for Childhood Cancer Surveillance

PubMed Central

Hanrahan, Lawrence P.; Anderson, Henry A.; Busby, Brian; Bekkedal, Marni; Sieger, Thomas; Stephenson, Laura; Knobeloch, Lynda; Werner, Mark; Imm, Pamela; Olson, Joseph

2004-01-01

In this article we describe the development of an information system for environmental childhood cancer surveillance. The Wisconsin Cancer Registry annually receives more than 25,000 incident case reports. Approximately 269 cases per year involve children. Over time, there has been considerable community interest in understanding the role the environment plays as a cause of these cancer cases. Wisconsin’s Public Health Information Network (WI-PHIN) is a robust web portal integrating both Health Alert Network and National Electronic Disease Surveillance System components. WI-PHIN is the information technology platform for all public health surveillance programs. Functions include the secure, automated exchange of cancer case data between public health–based and hospital-based cancer registrars; web-based supplemental data entry for environmental exposure confirmation and hypothesis testing; automated data analysis, visualization, and exposure–outcome record linkage; directories of public health and clinical personnel for role-based access control of sensitive surveillance information; public health information dissemination and alerting; and information technology security and critical infrastructure protection. For hypothesis generation, cancer case data are sent electronically to WI-PHIN and populate the integrated data repository. Environmental data are linked and the exposure–disease relationships are explored using statistical tools for ecologic exposure risk assessment. For hypothesis testing, case–control interviews collect exposure histories, including parental employment and residential histories. This information technology approach can thus serve as the basis for building a comprehensive system to assess environmental cancer etiology. PMID:15471739

A Population Health Surveillance Theory

PubMed Central

Bigras-Poulin, Michel; Michel, Pascal; Ravel, André

2012-01-01

OBJECTIVES Despite its extensive use, the term "Surveillance" often takes on various meanings in the scientific literature pertinent to public health and animal health. A critical appraisal of this literature also reveals ambiguities relating to the scope and necessary structural components underpinning the surveillance process. The authors hypothesized that these inconsistencies translate to real or perceived deficiencies in the conceptual framework of population health surveillance. This paper presents a population health surveillance theory framed upon an explicit conceptual system relative to health surveillance performed in human and animal populations. METHODS The population health surveillance theory reflects the authors' system of thinking and was based on a creative process. RESULTS Population health surveillance includes two broad components: one relating to the human organization (which includes expertise and the administrative program), and one relating to the system per se (which includes elements of design and method) and which can be viewed as a process. The population health surveillance process is made of five sequential interrelated steps: 1) a trigger or need, 2) problem formulation, 3) surveillance planning, 4) surveillance implementation, and 5) information communication and audit. CONCLUSIONS The population health surveillance theory provides a systematic way of understanding, organizing and evaluating the population health surveillance process. PMID:23251837

From surveillance to action: early gains from the National Violent Death Reporting System.

PubMed

Campbell, R; Weis, M A; Millet, L; Powell, V; Hull-Jilly, D; Hackman, H

2006-12-01

Drawing from the experiences of individual state programs that currently participate in the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), this article reviews some of the practical benefits that may accrue from the introduction of violent death surveillance systems. As a state-based surveillance system that uses multiple data sources and relies upon multiple stakeholders, the NVDRS program has fostered an array of initiatives within and among individual state programs. State-based initiatives highlighted in this article were selected on the basis of a purposive sampling strategy intended to illustrate key aspects of program development. The NVDRS state programs are in Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The NVDRS has helped to build alliances and collaborative efforts between key stakeholders, facilitated the recognition of violent death as a public health problem through outreach and media attention, acted as a catalyst for new projects, enhanced surveillance of special populations and utility for evaluation, and identified key circumstances that will target interventions in state prevention planning. The NVDRS has implemented data collection efforts and is beginning to produce and analyze findings. In the process of implementing the data collection system and publicizing findings, state NVDRS programs are realizing other gains that strengthen their surveillance efforts. The use of data for prevention purposes will be the ultimate indicator of program success.

Congenital rubella syndrome surveillance in Honduras.

PubMed

Molina, Ida Berenice; Mendoza, Lourdes Otilia; Palma, María Aparicia

2011-09-01

Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) surveillance was established in Honduras to determine the scope of the problem and assess the impact of vaccination. Implementation of the surveillance system required the drafting of national CRS epidemiological surveillance guidelines, the development of a laboratory diagnostic method, and training of physicians, nurses, and microbiologists in the Honduran hospital network and social security system on CRS surveillance guidelines. Honduras' experience with the surveillance of other vaccine-preventable diseases facilitated the implementation of hospital-based CRS surveillance. The surveillance system operates in 23 of the 25 public hospitals that offer services to children and at 2 social security hospitals; the private sector has not been integrated into this system. Clinical and technical staff, including representatives from various disciplines such as pediatrics, neonatology, general medicine, epidemiology, nursing, and microbiology, participate in the hospital network, as well as follow up on cases in accordance with the standardized guidelines, depending on their areas of expertise. Implementation of the CRS surveillance system requires technical guidelines, laboratory diagnostic capacity, and trained multidisciplinary human resources for its systematization and operation.

Work-Related Injury Surveillance in Vietnam: A National Reporting System Model

PubMed Central

Marucci-Wellman, Helen; Wegman, David H.; Leamon, Tom B.; Tuyet Binh, Ta Thi; Diep, Nguyen Bich; Kriebel, David

2013-01-01

Developing nations bear a substantial portion of the global burden of injury. Public health surveillance models in developing countries should recognize injury risks for all levels of society and all causes and should incorporate various groups of workers and industries, including subsistence agriculture. However, many developing nations do not have an injury registration system; current data collection methods result in gross national undercounts of injuries, failing to distinguish injuries that occur during work. In 2006, we established an active surveillance system in Vietnam’s Xuan Tien commune and investigated potential methods for surveillance of work-related injuries. On the basis of our findings, we recommend a national model for work-related injury surveillance in Vietnam that builds on the existing health surveillance system. PMID:24028255

SBSS Demonstrator: A design for efficient demonstration of Space-based Space Surveillance end-to-end capabilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utzmann, Jens; Flohrer, Tim; Schildknecht, Thomas; Wagner, Axel; Silha, Jiri; Willemsen, Philip; Teston, Frederic

This paper presents the capabilities of a Space-Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) demonstration mission for Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) based on a micro-satellite platform. The results have been produced in the frame of ESA’s "Assessment Study for Space Based Space Surveillance Demonstration Mission" performed by the Airbus Defence and Space consortium. Space Surveillance and Tracking is part of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and covers the detection, tracking and cataloguing of space debris and satellites. Derived SST services comprise a catalogue of these man-made objects, collision warning, detection and characterisation of in-orbit fragmentations, sub-catalogue debris characterisation, etc. The assessment of SBSS in a SST system architecture has shown that both an operational SBSS and also already a well-designed space-based demonstrator can provide substantial performance in terms of surveillance and tracking of beyond-LEO objects. Especially the early deployment of a demonstrator, possible by using standard equipment, could boost initial operating capability and create a self-maintained object catalogue. Furthermore, unique statistical information about small-size LEO debris (mm size) can be collected in-situ. Unlike classical technology demonstration missions, the primary goal is the demonstration and optimisation of the functional elements in a complex end-to-end chain (mission planning, observation strategies, data acquisition, processing and fusion, etc.) until the final products can be offered to the users. Also past and current missions by the US (SBV, SBSS) and Canada (Sapphire, NEOSSat) underline the advantages of space-based space surveillance. The presented SBSS system concept takes the ESA SST System Requirements (derived within the ESA SSA Preparatory Program) into account and aims at fulfilling SST core requirements in a stand-alone manner. Additionally, requirments for detection and characterisation of small-sized LEO debris are

Cost-effectiveness evaluation of bovine tuberculosis surveillance in wildlife in France (Sylvatub system) using scenario trees.

PubMed

Rivière, Julie; Le Strat, Yann; Hendrikx, Pascal; Dufour, Barbara

2017-01-01

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a common disease in cattle and wildlife, with health, zoonotic and economic implications. Infected wild animals, and particularly reservoirs, could hinder eradication of bTB from cattle populations, which could have an important impact on international cattle trade. Therefore, surveillance of bTB in wildlife is of particular importance to better understand the epidemiological role of wild species and to adapt the control measures. In France, a bTB surveillance system for free-ranging wildlife, the Sylvatub system, has been implemented since 2011. It relies on three surveillance components (SSCs) (passive surveillance on hunted animals (EC-SSC), passive surveillance on dead or dying animals (SAGIR-SSC) and active surveillance (PSURV-SSC)). The effectiveness of the Sylvatub system was previously assessed, through the estimation of its sensitivity (i.e. the probability of detecting at least one case of bTB infection by each SSC, specie and risk-level area). However, to globally assess the performance of a surveillance system, the measure of its sensitivity is not sufficient, as other factors such as economic or socio-economic factors could influence the effectiveness. We report here an estimation of the costs of the surveillance activities of the Sylvatub system, and of the cost-effectiveness of each surveillance component, by specie and risk-level, based on scenario tree modelling with the same tree structure as used for the sensitivity evaluation. The cost-effectiveness of the Sylvatub surveillance is better in higher-risk departments, due in particular to the higher probability of detecting the infection (sensitivity). Moreover, EC-SSC, which has the highest unit cost, is more efficient than the surveillance enhanced by the SAGIR-SSC, due to its better sensitivity. The calculation of the cost-effectiveness ratio shows that PSURV-SSC remains the most cost-effective surveillance component of the Sylvatub system, despite its high cost in

Cost-effectiveness evaluation of bovine tuberculosis surveillance in wildlife in France (Sylvatub system) using scenario trees

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a common disease in cattle and wildlife, with health, zoonotic and economic implications. Infected wild animals, and particularly reservoirs, could hinder eradication of bTB from cattle populations, which could have an important impact on international cattle trade. Therefore, surveillance of bTB in wildlife is of particular importance to better understand the epidemiological role of wild species and to adapt the control measures. In France, a bTB surveillance system for free-ranging wildlife, the Sylvatub system, has been implemented since 2011. It relies on three surveillance components (SSCs) (passive surveillance on hunted animals (EC-SSC), passive surveillance on dead or dying animals (SAGIR-SSC) and active surveillance (PSURV-SSC)). The effectiveness of the Sylvatub system was previously assessed, through the estimation of its sensitivity (i.e. the probability of detecting at least one case of bTB infection by each SSC, specie and risk-level area). However, to globally assess the performance of a surveillance system, the measure of its sensitivity is not sufficient, as other factors such as economic or socio-economic factors could influence the effectiveness. We report here an estimation of the costs of the surveillance activities of the Sylvatub system, and of the cost-effectiveness of each surveillance component, by specie and risk-level, based on scenario tree modelling with the same tree structure as used for the sensitivity evaluation. The cost-effectiveness of the Sylvatub surveillance is better in higher-risk departments, due in particular to the higher probability of detecting the infection (sensitivity). Moreover, EC-SSC, which has the highest unit cost, is more efficient than the surveillance enhanced by the SAGIR-SSC, due to its better sensitivity. The calculation of the cost-effectiveness ratio shows that PSURV-SSC remains the most cost-effective surveillance component of the Sylvatub system, despite its high cost in

Surveillance System for Infectious Diseases of Pets, Santiago, Chile

PubMed Central

López, Javier; Abarca, Katia; Valenzuela, Berta; Lorca, Lilia; Olea, Andrea; Aguilera, Ximena

2009-01-01

Pet diseases may pose risks to human health but are rarely included in surveillance systems. A pilot surveillance system of pet infectious diseases in Santiago, Chile, found that 4 canine and 3 feline diseases accounted for 90.1% and 98.4% of notifications, respectively. Data also suggested association between poverty and pet diseases. PMID:19861073

A low cost Doppler system for vascular dialysis access surveillance.

PubMed

Molina, P S C; Moraes, R; Baggio, J F R; Tognon, E A

2004-01-01

The National Kidney Foundation guidelines for vascular access recommend access surveillance to avoid morbidity among patients undergoing hemodialysis. Methods to detect access failure based on CW Doppler system are being proposed to implement surveillance programs at lower cost. This work describes a low cost Doppler system implemented in a PC notebook designed to carry out this task. A Doppler board samples the blood flow velocity and delivers demodulated quadrature Doppler signals. These signals are sampled by a notebook sound card. Software for Windows OS (running at the notebook) applies CFFT to consecutive 11.6 ms intervals of Doppler signals. The sonogram is presented on the screen in real time. The software also calculates the maximum and the intensity weighted mean frequency envelopes. Since similar systems employ DSP boards to process the Doppler signals, cost reduction was achieved. The Doppler board electronic circuits and routines to process the Doppler signals are presented.

Ground Testing of Prototype Hardware and Processing Algorithms for a Wide Area Space Surveillance System (WASSS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

Ground testing of prototype hardware and processing algorithms for a Wide Area Space Surveillance System (WASSS) Neil Goldstein, Rainer A...at Magdalena Ridge Observatory using the prototype Wide Area Space Surveillance System (WASSS) camera, which has a 4 x 60 field-of-view , < 0.05...objects with larger-aperture cameras. The sensitivity of the system depends on multi-frame averaging and a Principal Component Analysis based image

Strengthening health security at the Hajj mass gatherings: characteristics of the infectious diseases surveillance systems operational during the 2015 Hajj.

PubMed

Alotaibi, Badriah M; Yezli, Saber; Bin Saeed, Abdul-Aziz A; Turkestani, Abdulhafeez; Alawam, Amnah H; Bieh, Kingsley L

2017-05-01

Hajj is one of the largest and the most ethnically and culturally diverse mass gatherings worldwide. The use of appropriate surveillance systems ensures timely information management for effective planning and response to infectious diseases threats during the pilgrimage. The literature describes infectious diseases prevention and control strategies for Hajj but with limited information on the operations and characteristics of the existing Hajj infectious diseases surveillance systems. We reviewed documents, including guidelines and reports from the Saudi Ministry of Health's database, to describe the characteristics of the infectious diseases surveillance systems that were operational during the 2015 Hajj, highlighting best practices and gaps and proposing strategies for strengthening and improvement. Using Pubmed and Embase online search engines and a combination of search terms including, 'mass gatherings' 'Olympics' 'surveillance' 'Hajj' 'health security', we explored the existing literature and highlighted some lessons learnt from other international mass gatherings. A regular indicator-based infectious disease surveillance system generates routine reports from health facilities within the Kingdom to the regional and central public health directorates all year round. During Hajj, enhanced indicator-based notifiable diseases surveillance systems complement the existing surveillance tool to ensure timely reporting of event information for appropriate action by public health officials. There is need to integrate the existing Hajj surveillance data management systems and to implement syndromic surveillance as an early warning system for infectious disease control during Hajj. International engagement is important to strengthen Hajj infectious diseases surveillance and to prevent disease transmission and globalization of infectious agents which could undermine global health security. © International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University

The usefulness of school-based syndromic surveillance for detecting malaria epidemics: experiences from a pilot project in Ethiopia.

PubMed

Ashton, Ruth A; Kefyalew, Takele; Batisso, Esey; Awano, Tessema; Kebede, Zelalem; Tesfaye, Gezahegn; Mesele, Tamiru; Chibsa, Sheleme; Reithinger, Richard; Brooker, Simon J

2016-01-09

Syndromic surveillance is a supplementary approach to routine surveillance, using pre-diagnostic and non-clinical surrogate data to identify possible infectious disease outbreaks. To date, syndromic surveillance has primarily been used in high-income countries for diseases such as influenza--however, the approach may also be relevant to resource-poor settings. This study investigated the potential for monitoring school absenteeism and febrile illness, as part of a school-based surveillance system to identify localised malaria epidemics in Ethiopia. Repeated cross-sectional school- and community-based surveys were conducted in six epidemic-prone districts in southern Ethiopia during the 2012 minor malaria transmission season to characterise prospective surrogate and syndromic indicators of malaria burden. Changes in these indicators over the transmission season were compared to standard indicators of malaria (clinical and confirmed cases) at proximal health facilities. Subsequently, two pilot surveillance systems were implemented, each at ten sites throughout the peak transmission season. Indicators piloted were school attendance recorded by teachers, or child-reported recent absenteeism from school and reported febrile illness. Lack of seasonal increase in malaria burden limited the ability to evaluate sensitivity of the piloted syndromic surveillance systems compared to existing surveillance at health facilities. Weekly absenteeism was easily calculated by school staff using existing attendance registers, while syndromic indicators were more challenging to collect weekly from schoolchildren. In this setting, enrolment of school-aged children was found to be low, at 54%. Non-enrolment was associated with low household wealth, lack of parental education, household size, and distance from school. School absenteeism is a plausible simple indicator of unusual health events within a community, such as malaria epidemics, but the sensitivity of an absenteeism-based

The Integrated Proactive Surveillance System for Prostate Cancer

PubMed Central

Wang, Haibin; Yatawara, Mahendra; Huang, Shao-Chi; Dudley, Kevin; Szekely, Christine; Holden, Stuart; Piantadosi, Steven

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of the integrated proactive surveillance system for prostate cancer (PASS-PC). The integrated PASS-PC is a multi-institutional web-based system aimed at collecting a variety of data on prostate cancer patients in a standardized and efficient way. The integrated PASS-PC was commissioned by the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) and built through the joint of efforts by a group of experts in medical oncology, genetics, pathology, nutrition, and cancer research informatics. Their main goal is facilitating the efficient and uniform collection of critical demographic, lifestyle, nutritional, dietary and clinical information to be used in developing new strategies in diagnosing, preventing and treating prostate cancer. The integrated PASS-PC is designed based on common industry standards – a three tiered architecture and a Service- Oriented Architecture (SOA). It utilizes open source software and programming languages such as HTML, PHP, CSS, JQuery, Drupal and MySQL. We also use a commercial database management system – Oracle 11g. The integrated PASS-PC project uses a “confederation model” that encourages participation of any interested center, irrespective of its size or location. The integrated PASS-PC utilizes a standardized approach to data collection and reporting, and uses extensive validation procedures to prevent entering erroneous data. The integrated PASS-PC controlled vocabulary is harmonized with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Thesaurus. Currently, two cancer centers in the USA are participating in the integrated PASS-PC project. The final system has three main components: 1. National Prostate Surveillance Network (NPSN) website; 2. NPSN myConnect portal; 3. Proactive Surveillance System for Prostate Cancer (PASS-PC). PASS-PC is a cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) compatible product. The integrated PASS-PC provides a foundation for collaborative prostate cancer research. It has been

Incidence of childhood pneumonia: facility-based surveillance estimate compared to measured incidence in a South African birth cohort study

PubMed Central

le Roux, David M; Myer, Landon; Nicol, Mark P; Zar, Heather J

2015-01-01

Background Pneumonia is the leading cause of childhood mortality and a major contributor to childhood morbidity, but accurate measurement of pneumonia incidence is challenging. We compared pneumonia incidence using a facility-based surveillance system to estimates from a cohort study conducted contemporaneously in the same community in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods A surveillance system was developed in six public sector primary care clinics and in a regional referral hospital, to detect childhood pneumonia cases. Nurses recorded all children presenting to facilities who met WHO case definitions of pneumonia, and hospital records were reviewed. Estimates of pneumonia incidence and severity were compared with incidence rates based on active surveillance in the Drakenstein Child Health Study. Results From June 2012 until September 2013, the surveillance system detected 306 pneumonia episodes in children under 1 year of age, an incidence of 0.20 episodes/child-year (e/cy) (95% CI 0.17 to 0.22 e/cy). The incidence in the cohort study from the same period was 0.27 e/cy (95% CI 0.23 to 0.32 e/cy). Pneumonia incidence in the surveillance system was almost 30% lower than in the birth cohort; incidence rate ratio 0.72 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.89). In the surveillance system, 18% were severe pneumonia cases, compared to 23% in the birth cohort, rate ratio 0.81 (95% CI 0.55 to 1.18). Conclusions In this setting, facility-based pneumonia surveillance detected fewer cases of pneumonia, and fewer severe cases, compared to the corresponding cohort study. Facility pneumonia surveillance using data collected by local healthcare workers provides a useful estimate of the epidemiology of childhood pneumonia but may underestimate incidence and severity. PMID:26685027

Trends in performance of the National Measles Case-Based Surveillance System, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Zimbabwe (1999 - 2008)

PubMed Central

Choto, Regis; Chadambuka, Addmore; Shambira, Gerald; Gombe, Notion; Tshimanga, Mufuta; Midzi, Stanley; Mberikunashe, Joseph

2012-01-01

Introduction Since adoption of the measles case-based surveillance system in Zimbabwe in 1998, data has been routinely collected at all levels of the health delivery system and sent to national level with little or no documented evidence of use to identify risky populations, monitor impact of interventions and measure progress towards achieving measles elimination. We analysed this data to determine trends in the national measles case-based surveillance system (NMCBSS). Methods A retrospective record review of the NMCBSS dataset for period 1999 –2008 was conducted, assessing trends in proportions of investigated cases; timeliness and nature of specimens received at laboratory; timeliness of feedback of serology results, proportion of cases confirmed as measles and national annualized rates of investigation. Comparisons with WHO performance indicators were done. The secondary data analysis was done in Excel and Epi-Info statistical software. Results Cumulatively 4994 suspected cases were reported and investigated between 1999 and 2008. Reported suspected and confirmed measles cases declined from 24, 5% and 5.9% respectively in 2000 to 3.9% and 1.0% respectively in 2008. Proportion of cases with blood specimens collected and proportion reaching laboratory timely increased from 83% and 65% respectively in 1999, to 100% and 82% respectively in 2008. Proportion of specimens arriving at laboratory in good condition improved from 65% in 2004 to 94% in 2008 while timeliness of feedback of serology results improved from 4% in 2004 to 65% in 2008. Sensitivity of the NMCBSS however has been weakening, declining from 9.04 cases investigated per 100 000 population per year in 2000 to 1.58 cases/100 000/year in 2008. Conclusion The NMCBSS improved in quality, timeliness and feedback of laboratory results of specimens sent for investigation, but its sensitivity declined mainly due to reduced capacity to detect and confirm measles cases. We recommend training staff on active

Autonomous mobile robotic system for supporting counterterrorist and surveillance operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamczyk, Marek; Bulandra, Kazimierz; Moczulski, Wojciech

2017-10-01

Contemporary research on mobile robots concerns applications to counterterrorist and surveillance operations. The goal is to develop systems that are capable of supporting the police and special forces by carrying out such operations. The paper deals with a dedicated robotic system for surveillance of large objects such as airports, factories, military bases, and many others. The goal is to trace unauthorised persons who try to enter to the guarded area, document the intrusion and report it to the surveillance centre, and then warn the intruder by sound messages and eventually subdue him/her by stunning through acoustic effect of great power. The system consists of several parts. An armoured four-wheeled robot assures required mobility of the system. The robot is equipped with a set of sensors including 3D mapping system, IR and video cameras, and microphones. It communicates with the central control station (CCS) by means of a wideband wireless encrypted system. A control system of the robot can operate autonomously, and under remote control. In the autonomous mode the robot follows the path planned by the CCS. Once an intruder has been detected, the robot can adopt its plan to allow tracking him/her. Furthermore, special procedures of treatment of the intruder are applied including warning about the breach of the border of the protected area, and incapacitation of an appropriately selected very loud sound until a patrol of guards arrives. Once getting stuck the robot can contact the operator who can remotely solve the problem the robot is faced with.

Situation exploration in a persistent surveillance system with multidimensional data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Habibi, Mohammad S.

2013-03-01

There is an emerging need for fusing hard and soft sensor data in an efficient surveillance system to provide accurate estimation of situation awareness. These mostly abstract, multi-dimensional and multi-sensor data pose a great challenge to the user in performing analysis of multi-threaded events efficiently and cohesively. To address this concern an interactive Visual Analytics (VA) application is developed for rapid assessment and evaluation of different hypotheses based on context-sensitive ontology spawn from taxonomies describing human/human and human/vehicle/object interactions. A methodology is described here for generating relevant ontology in a Persistent Surveillance System (PSS) and demonstrates how they can be utilized in the context of PSS to track and identify group activities pertaining to potential threats. The proposed VA system allows for visual analysis of raw data as well as metadata that have spatiotemporal representation and content-based implications. Additionally in this paper, a technique for rapid search of tagged information contingent to ranking and confidence is explained for analysis of multi-dimensional data. Lastly the issue of uncertainty associated with processing and interpretation of heterogeneous data is also addressed.

Systems pharmacology augments drug safety surveillance

PubMed Central

Lorberbaum, Tal; Nasir, Mavra; Keiser, Michael J.; Vilar, Santiago; Hripcsak, George; Tatonetti, Nicholas P.

2014-01-01

Small molecule drugs are the foundation of modern medical practice yet their use is limited by the onset of unexpected and severe adverse events (AEs). Regulatory agencies rely on post-marketing surveillance to monitor safety once drugs are approved for clinical use. Despite advances in pharmacovigilance methods that address issues of confounding bias, clinical data of AEs are inherently noisy. Systems pharmacology– the integration of systems biology and chemical genomics – can illuminate drug mechanisms of action. We hypothesize that these data can improve drug safety surveillance by highlighting drugs with a mechanistic connection to the target phenotype (enriching true positives) and filtering those that do not (depleting false positives). We present an algorithm, the modular assembly of drug safety subnetworks (MADSS), to combine systems pharmacology and pharmacovigilance data and significantly improve drug safety monitoring for four clinically relevant adverse drug reactions. PMID:25670520

MORTICIA, a statistical analysis software package for determining optical surveillance system effectiveness.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramkilowan, A.; Griffith, D. J.

2017-10-01

Surveillance modelling in terms of the standard Detect, Recognise and Identify (DRI) thresholds remains a key requirement for determining the effectiveness of surveillance sensors. With readily available computational resources it has become feasible to perform statistically representative evaluations of the effectiveness of these sensors. A new capability for performing this Monte-Carlo type analysis is demonstrated in the MORTICIA (Monte- Carlo Optical Rendering for Theatre Investigations of Capability under the Influence of the Atmosphere) software package developed at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). This first generation, python-based open-source integrated software package, currently in the alpha stage of development aims to provide all the functionality required to perform statistical investigations of the effectiveness of optical surveillance systems in specific or generic deployment theatres. This includes modelling of the mathematical and physical processes that govern amongst other components of a surveillance system; a sensor's detector and optical components, a target and its background as well as the intervening atmospheric influences. In this paper we discuss integral aspects of the bespoke framework that are critical to the longevity of all subsequent modelling efforts. Additionally, some preliminary results are presented.

AMR Surveillance in low and middle-income settings - A roadmap for participation in the Global Antimicrobial Surveillance System (GLASS)

PubMed Central

Seale, Anna C.; Gordon, N. Claire; Islam, Jasmin; Peacock, Sharon J.; Scott, J. Anthony G.

2017-01-01

Drug-resistant infections caused by bacteria with increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threaten our ability to treat life-threatening conditions. Tackling AMR requires international collaboration and partnership. An early and leading priority to do this is to strengthen AMR surveillance, particularly in low-income countries where the burden of infectious diseases is highest and where data are most limited. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Global AMR Surveillance System (GLASS) as one of a number of measures designed to tackle the problem of AMR, and WHO member states have been encouraged to produce National Action Plans for AMR by 2017. However, low-income countries are unlikely to have the resources or capacity to implement all the components in the GLASS manual. To facilitate their efforts, we developed a guideline that is aligned to the GLASS procedures, but written specifically for implementation in low-income countries. The guideline allows for flexibility across different systems, but has sufficient standardisation of core protocols to ensure that, if followed, data will be valid and comparable. This will ensure that the surveillance programme can provide health intelligence data to inform evidence-based interventions at local, national and international levels. PMID:29062918

Current French system of post-marketing drug surveillance.

PubMed

Albengres, E; Gauthier, F; Tillement, J P

1990-07-01

The French system of drug surveillance is characterized by several original features: thirty regional centres are selected to cover all of France to collect, analyze and enter the adverse drug events in the national data bank. The system is based on a bank of well documented files submitted to a decision of imputation; the report of severe events by prescribers is mandatory; cases are collected either by spontaneous reporting (routine) or by direct request (intensive validation study); the system is being involved in studies of epidemiological type as carried out by the national system of health or a few societies of medicine as well as by the centres themselves in cooperative works on defined populations.

Approaches to the Surveillance of Foodborne Disease: A Review of the Evidence.

PubMed

Ford, Laura; Miller, Megge; Cawthorne, Amy; Fearnley, Emily; Kirk, Martyn

2015-12-01

Foodborne disease surveillance aims to reduce the burden of illness due to contaminated food. There are several different types of surveillance systems, including event-based surveillance, indicator-based surveillance, and integrated food chain surveillance. These approaches are not mutually exclusive, have overlapping data sources, require distinct capacities and resources, and can be considered a hierarchy, with each level being more complex and resulting in a greater ability to detect and control foodborne disease. Event-based surveillance is generally the least resource-intensive system and makes use of informal data sources. Indicator-based surveillance is seen as traditional notifiable disease surveillance and consists of routinely collected data. Integrated food chain surveillance is viewed as the optimal practice for conducting continuous risk analysis for foodborne diseases, but also requires significant ongoing resources and greater multisectoral collaboration compared to the other systems. Each country must determine the most appropriate structure for their surveillance system for foodborne diseases based on their available resources. This review explores the evidence on the principles, minimum capabilities, and minimum requirements of each type of surveillance and discusses examples from a range of countries. This review forms the evidence base for the Strengthening the Surveillance and Response for Foodborne Diseases: A Practical Manual.

Evaluation of active mortality surveillance system data for monitoring hurricane-related deaths-Texas, 2008.

PubMed

Choudhary, Ekta; Zane, David F; Beasley, Crystal; Jones, Russell; Rey, Araceli; Noe, Rebecca S; Martin, Colleen; Wolkin, Amy F; Bayleyegn, Tesfaye M

2012-08-01

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) implemented an active mortality surveillance system to enumerate and characterize hurricane-related deaths during Hurricane Ike in 2008. This surveillance system used established guidelines and case definitions to categorize deaths as directly, indirectly, and possibly related to Hurricane Ike. The objective of this study was to evaluate Texas DSHS' active mortality surveillance system using US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) surveillance system evaluation guidelines. Using CDC's Updated Guidelines for Surveillance System Evaluation, the active mortality surveillance system of the Texas DSHS was evaluated. Data from the active mortality surveillance system were compared with Texas vital statistics data for the same time period to estimate the completeness of reported disaster-related deaths. From September 8 through October 13, 2008, medical examiners (MEs) and Justices of the Peace (JPs) in 44 affected counties reported deaths daily by using a one-page, standardized mortality form. The active mortality surveillance system identified 74 hurricane-related deaths, whereas a review of vital statistics data revealed only four deaths that were hurricane-related. The average time of reporting a death by active mortality surveillance and vital statistics was 14 days and 16 days, respectively. Texas's active mortality surveillance system successfully identified hurricane-related deaths. Evaluation of the active mortality surveillance system suggested that it is necessary to collect detailed and representative mortality data during a hurricane because vital statistics do not capture sufficient information to identify whether deaths are hurricane-related. The results from this evaluation will help improve active mortality surveillance during hurricanes which, in turn, will enhance preparedness and response plans and identify public health interventions to reduce future hurricane-related mortality rates.

An integrated comprehensive occupational surveillance system for health care workers.

PubMed

Dement, John M; Pompeii, Lisa A; Østbye, Truls; Epling, Carol; Lipscomb, Hester J; James, Tamara; Jacobs, Michael J; Jackson, George; Thomann, Wayne

2004-06-01

Workers in the health care industry may be exposed to a variety of work-related stressors including infectious, chemical, and physical agents; ergonomic hazards; psychological hazards; and workplace violence. Many of these hazards lack surveillance systems to evaluate exposures and health outcomes. The development and implementation of a comprehensive surveillance system within the Duke University Health System (DUHS) that tracks occupational exposures and stressors as well as injuries and illnesses among a defined population of health care workers (HCWs) is presented. Human resources job and work location data were used to define the DUHS population at risk. Outcomes and exposure data from existing occupational health and safety programs, health promotion programs, and employee health insurance claims, were linked with human resources data and de-identified to create the Duke Health and Safety Surveillance System (DHSSS). The surveillance system is described and four examples are presented demonstrating how the system has successfully been used to study consequences of work-related stress, hearing conservation program evaluation, risk factors for back pain and inflammation, and exposures to blood and body fluids (BBF). Utilization of existing data, often collected for other purposes, can be successfully integrated and used for occupational health surveillance monitoring of HCWs. Use of the DHSSS for etiologic studies, benchmarking, and intervention program evaluation are discussed. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Utilizing wide area maritime domain awareness (MDA) data to cue a remote surveillance system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isenor, Anthony W.; Cross, Richard; Webb, Sean; Lapinski, Anna-Liesa S.

2013-10-01

Defence Research and Development Canada - Atlantic (DRDC Atlantic) is currently involved in research on the topic of northern Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA). One project, entitled Situational Information for Enabling Development of Northern Awareness (SEDNA), includes research on the exploitation of MDA data in northern areas. One aspect of this research is to utilize wide area MDA data to provide awareness to an unattended, land-based system. Wide area MDA is attained through the use of space-based AIS (SAIS) data, a data feed used by the Canadian Department of National Defence and supplied by the commercial provider exactEarth Ltd. The land-based surveillance system used is the remote northern system constructed within the DRDC Northern Watch Technology Demonstration Project. Northern Watch is a multi-year project intended to show state-of-the-art, unattended, surveillance capabilities in the Canadian north. The link between the SAIS and Northern Watch is provided by a research infrastructure that consists of an assembly of data sources, users, applications, and product management techniques that collectively support research in areas such as information management and MDA data exploitation. High-level descriptions of the systems are provided along with elaboration on the alerting algorithm, the notifications that would be sent to the Northern Watch southern command site, and the resulting actions that could be taken by the Northern Watch surveillance system.

Surveillance and early warning systems of infectious disease in China: From 2012 to 2014.

PubMed

Zhang, Honglong; Wang, Liping; Lai, Shengjie; Li, Zhongjie; Sun, Qiao; Zhang, Peng

2017-07-01

Appropriate surveillance and early warning of infectious diseases have very useful roles in disease control and prevention. In 2004, China established the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System and the Public Health Emergency Event Surveillance System to report disease surveillance and events on the basis of data sources from the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System, China Infectious Disease Automated-alert and Response System in this country. This study provided a descriptive summary and a data analysis, from 2012 to 2014, of these 3 key surveillance and early warning systems of infectious disease in China with the intent to provide suggestions for system improvement and perfection. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Extracting foreground ensemble features to detect abnormal crowd behavior in intelligent video-surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Yi-Tung; Wang, Shuenn-Jyi; Tsai, Chung-Hsien

2017-09-01

Public safety is a matter of national security and people's livelihoods. In recent years, intelligent video-surveillance systems have become important active-protection systems. A surveillance system that provides early detection and threat assessment could protect people from crowd-related disasters and ensure public safety. Image processing is commonly used to extract features, e.g., people, from a surveillance video. However, little research has been conducted on the relationship between foreground detection and feature extraction. Most current video-surveillance research has been developed for restricted environments, in which the extracted features are limited by having information from a single foreground; they do not effectively represent the diversity of crowd behavior. This paper presents a general framework based on extracting ensemble features from the foreground of a surveillance video to analyze a crowd. The proposed method can flexibly integrate different foreground-detection technologies to adapt to various monitored environments. Furthermore, the extractable representative features depend on the heterogeneous foreground data. Finally, a classification algorithm is applied to these features to automatically model crowd behavior and distinguish an abnormal event from normal patterns. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method's performance is both comparable to that of state-of-the-art methods and satisfies the requirements of real-time applications.

A reliable user authentication and key agreement scheme for Web-based Hospital-acquired Infection Surveillance Information System.

PubMed

Wu, Zhen-Yu; Tseng, Yi-Ju; Chung, Yufang; Chen, Yee-Chun; Lai, Feipei

2012-08-01

With the rapid development of the Internet, both digitization and electronic orientation are required on various applications in the daily life. For hospital-acquired infection control, a Web-based Hospital-acquired Infection Surveillance System was implemented. Clinical data from different hospitals and systems were collected and analyzed. The hospital-acquired infection screening rules in this system utilized this information to detect different patterns of defined hospital-acquired infection. Moreover, these data were integrated into the user interface of a signal entry point to assist physicians and healthcare providers in making decisions. Based on Service-Oriented Architecture, web-service techniques which were suitable for integrating heterogeneous platforms, protocols, and applications, were used. In summary, this system simplifies the workflow of hospital infection control and improves the healthcare quality. However, it is probable for attackers to intercept the process of data transmission or access to the user interface. To tackle the illegal access and to prevent the information from being stolen during transmission over the insecure Internet, a password-based user authentication scheme is proposed for information integrity.

Smart sensing surveillance system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Charles; Chu, Kai-Dee; O'Looney, James; Blake, Michael; Rutar, Colleen

2010-04-01

An effective public safety sensor system for heavily-populated applications requires sophisticated and geographically-distributed infrastructures, centralized supervision, and deployment of large-scale security and surveillance networks. Artificial intelligence in sensor systems is a critical design to raise awareness levels, improve the performance of the system and adapt to a changing scenario and environment. In this paper, a highly-distributed, fault-tolerant, and energy-efficient Smart Sensing Surveillance System (S4) is presented to efficiently provide a 24/7 and all weather security operation in crowded environments or restricted areas. Technically, the S4 consists of a number of distributed sensor nodes integrated with specific passive sensors to rapidly collect, process, and disseminate heterogeneous sensor data from near omni-directions. These distributed sensor nodes can cooperatively work to send immediate security information when new objects appear. When the new objects are detected, the S4 will smartly select the available node with a Pan- Tilt- Zoom- (PTZ) Electro-Optics EO/IR camera to track the objects and capture associated imagery. The S4 provides applicable advanced on-board digital image processing capabilities to detect and track the specific objects. The imaging detection operations include unattended object detection, human feature and behavior detection, and configurable alert triggers, etc. Other imaging processes can be updated to meet specific requirements and operations. In the S4, all the sensor nodes are connected with a robust, reconfigurable, LPI/LPD (Low Probability of Intercept/ Low Probability of Detect) wireless mesh network using Ultra-wide band (UWB) RF technology. This UWB RF technology can provide an ad-hoc, secure mesh network and capability to relay network information, communicate and pass situational awareness and messages. The Service Oriented Architecture of S4 enables remote applications to interact with the S4

Dengue disease surveillance: an updated systematic literature review

PubMed Central

Runge-Ranzinger, S; McCall, P J; Kroeger, A; Horstick, O

2014-01-01

Objectives To review the evidence for the application of tools for dengue outbreak prediction/detection and trend monitoring in passive and active disease surveillance systems in order to develop recommendations for endemic countries and identify important research needs. Methods This systematic literature review followed the protocol of a review from 2008, extending the systematic search from January 2007 to February 2013 on PubMed, EMBASE, CDSR, WHOLIS and Lilacs. Data reporting followed the PRISMA statement. The eligibility criteria comprised (i) population at risk of dengue, (ii) dengue disease surveillance, (iii) outcome of surveillance described and (iv) empirical data evaluated. The analysis classified studies based on the purpose of the surveillance programme. The main limitation of the review was expected publication bias. Results A total of 1116 papers were identified of which 36 articles were included in the review. Four cohort-based prospective studies calculated expansion factors demonstrating remarkable levels of underreporting in the surveillance systems. Several studies demonstrated that enhancement methods such as laboratory support, sentinel-based reporting and staff motivation contributed to improvements in dengue reporting. Additional improvements for passive surveillance systems are possible by incorporating simple data forms/entry/electronic-based reporting; defining clear system objectives; performing data analysis at the lowest possible level (e.g. district); seeking regular data feedback. Six studies showed that serotype changes were positively correlated with the number of reported cases or with dengue incidence, with lag times of up to 6 months. Three studies found that data on internet searches and event-based surveillance correlated well with the epidemic curve derived from surveillance data. Conclusions Passive surveillance providing the baseline for outbreak alert should be strengthened and appropriate threshold levels for outbreak

Real-time monitoring of school absenteeism to enhance disease surveillance: a pilot study of a mobile electronic reporting system.

PubMed

Lawpoolsri, Saranath; Khamsiriwatchara, Amnat; Liulark, Wongwat; Taweeseneepitch, Komchaluch; Sangvichean, Aumnuyphan; Thongprarong, Wiraporn; Kaewkungwal, Jaranit; Singhasivanon, Pratap

2014-05-12

School absenteeism is a common source of data used in syndromic surveillance, which can eventually be used for early outbreak detection. However, the absenteeism reporting system in most schools, especially in developing countries, relies on a paper-based method that limits its use for disease surveillance or outbreak detection. The objective of this study was to develop an electronic real-time reporting system on school absenteeism for syndromic surveillance. An electronic (Web-based) school absenteeism reporting system was developed to embed it within the normal routine process of absenteeism reporting. This electronic system allowed teachers to update students' attendance status via mobile tablets. The data from all classes and schools were then automatically sent to a centralized database for further analysis and presentation, and for monitoring temporal and spatial patterns of absent students. In addition, the system also had a disease investigation module, which provided a link between absenteeism data from schools and local health centers, to investigate causes of fever among sick students. The electronic school absenteeism reporting system was implemented in 7 primary schools in Bangkok, Thailand, with total participation of approximately 5000 students. During May-October 2012 (first semester), the percentage of absentees varied between 1% and 10%. The peak of school absenteeism (sick leave) was observed between July and September 2012, which coincided with the peak of dengue cases in children aged 6-12 years being reported to the disease surveillance system. The timeliness of a reporting system is a critical function in any surveillance system. Web-based application and mobile technology can potentially enhance the use of school absenteeism data for syndromic surveillance and outbreak detection. This study presents the factors that determine the implementation success of this reporting system.

Evaluation of Active Mortality Surveillance System Data for Monitoring Hurricane-Related Deaths—Texas, 2008

PubMed Central

Choudhary, Ekta; Zane, David F.; Beasley, Crystal; Jones, Russell; Rey, Araceli; Noe, Rebecca S.; Martin, Colleen; Wolkin, Amy F.; Bayleyegn, Tesfaye M.

2015-01-01

Introduction The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) implemented an active mortality surveillance system to enumerate and characterize hurricane-related deaths during Hurricane Ike in 2008. This surveillance system used established guidelines and case definitions to categorize deaths as directly, indirectly, and possibly related to Hurricane Ike. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate Texas DSHS’ active mortality surveillance system using US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) surveillance system evaluation guidelines. Methods Using CDC’s Updated Guidelines for Surveillance System Evaluation, the active mortality surveillance system of the Texas DSHS was evaluated. Data from the active mortality surveillance system were compared with Texas vital statistics data for the same time period to estimate the completeness of reported disaster-related deaths. Results From September 8 through October 13, 2008, medical examiners (MEs) and Justices of the Peace (JPs) in 44 affected counties reported deaths daily by using a one-page, standardized mortality form. The active mortality surveillance system identified 74 hurricane-related deaths, whereas a review of vital statistics data revealed only four deaths that were hurricane-related. The average time of reporting a death by active mortality surveillance and vital statistics was 14 days and 16 days, respectively. Conclusions Texas’s active mortality surveillance system successfully identified hurricane-related deaths. Evaluation of the active mortality surveillance system suggested that it is necessary to collect detailed and representative mortality data during a hurricane because vital statistics do not capture sufficient information to identify whether deaths are hurricane-related. The results from this evaluation will help improve active mortality surveillance during hurricanes which, in turn, will enhance preparedness and response plans and identify public health

A Fast Method for Embattling Optimization of Ground-Based Radar Surveillance Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, H.; Cheng, H.; Zhang, Y.; Liu, J.

A growing number of space activities have created an orbital debris environment that poses increasing impact risks to existing space systems and human space flight. For the safety of in-orbit spacecraft, a lot of observation facilities are needed to catalog space objects, especially in low earth orbit. Surveillance of Low earth orbit objects are mainly rely on ground-based radar, due to the ability limitation of exist radar facilities, a large number of ground-based radar need to build in the next few years in order to meet the current space surveillance demands. How to optimize the embattling of ground-based radar surveillance network is a problem to need to be solved. The traditional method for embattling optimization of ground-based radar surveillance network is mainly through to the detection simulation of all possible stations with cataloged data, and makes a comprehensive comparative analysis of various simulation results with the combinational method, and then selects an optimal result as station layout scheme. This method is time consuming for single simulation and high computational complexity for the combinational analysis, when the number of stations increases, the complexity of optimization problem will be increased exponentially, and cannot be solved with traditional method. There is no better way to solve this problem till now. In this paper, target detection procedure was simplified. Firstly, the space coverage of ground-based radar was simplified, a space coverage projection model of radar facilities in different orbit altitudes was built; then a simplified objects cross the radar coverage model was established according to the characteristics of space objects orbit motion; after two steps simplification, the computational complexity of the target detection was greatly simplified, and simulation results shown the correctness of the simplified results. In addition, the detection areas of ground-based radar network can be easily computed with the

On-line surveillance of a dynamic process by a moving system based on pulsed digital holographic interferometry.

PubMed

Pedrini, Giancarlo; Alexeenko, Igor; Osten, Wolfgang; Schnars, Ulf

2006-02-10

A method based on pulsed digital holographic interferometry for the measurement of dynamic deformations of a surface by using a moving system is presented. The measuring system may move with a speed of several meters per minute and can measure deformation of the surface with an accuracy of better than 50 nm. The deformation is obtained by comparison of the wavefronts recorded at different times with different laser pulses produced by a Nd:YAG laser. The effect due to the movement of the measuring system is compensated for by digital processing of the different holograms. The system is well suited for on-line surveillance of a dynamic process such as laser welding and friction stir welding. Experimental results are presented, and the advantages of the method are discussed.

Collection, use, and protection of population-based birth defects surveillance data in the united states.

PubMed

Mai, Cara T; Law, David J; Mason, Craig A; McDowell, Bradley D; Meyer, Robert E; Musa, Debra

2007-12-01

Birth defects surveillance systems collect population-based birth defects data from multiple sources to track trends in prevalence, identify risk factors, refer affected families to services, and evaluate prevention efforts. Strong state and federal public health and legal mandates are in place to govern the collection and use of these data. Despite the prima facie appeal of "opt-in" and similar strategies to those who view data collection as a threat to privacy, the use of these strategies in lieu of population-based surveillance can severely limit the ability of public health agencies to accurately access the health status of a group within a defined geographical area. With the need for population-based data central to their mission, birth defects programs around the country take their data stewardship role seriously, recognizing both moral and legal obligations to protect the data by employing numerous safeguards. Birth defects surveillance systems are shaped by the needs of the community they are designed to serve, with the goal of preventing birth defects or alleviating the burdens associated with them. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Implementation of a sentinel surveillance system for influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in the country of Georgia, 2015-2016.

PubMed

Chakhunashvili, Giorgi; Wagner, Abram L; Machablishvili, Ann; Karseladze, Irakli; Tarkhan-Mouravi, Olgha; Zakhashvili, Khatuna; Imnadze, Paata; Boulton, Matthew L

2017-12-01

Due to reports of substandard influenza preparedness, the country of Georgia developed two influenza surveillance systems. This paper describes these surveillance systems in their capacity to detect influenza. Two surveillance systems for influenza operate in Georgia: an influenza-like illness (ILI) sentinel surveillance system for out-patient cases, based in the capital, Tbilisi, and a severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance system for in-patient cases with five sentinel sites - one in Tbilisi, and four in Kutaisi. Patients in these surveillance systems provide samples for laboratory testing, including influenza confirmation. From 2015-2016, 825 cases were surveilled in the ILI surveillance system and 1367 cases were surveilled in the SARI surveillance system, with 222 (26.9%) and 451 (33.0%) positive for influenza, respectively. Influenza positivity varied by age with adults 30-64 years having highest proportion of influenza-positive cases at 42.2%. The sensitivity of the surveillance systems to influenza was relatively high compared to neighboring countries. These findings show the importance of influenza surveillance in the country of Georgia. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Remote-Reading Safety and Safeguards Surveillance System for 3013 Containers

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lechelt, W. M.; Skorpik, J. R.; Silvers, K. L.

2002-02-26

At Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP), plutonium oxide is being loaded into stainless steel containers for long-term storage on the Hanford Site. These containers consist of two weld-sealed stainless steel cylinders nested one within the other. A third container holds the plutonium within the inner cylinder. This design meets the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) storage standard, DOE-STD- 3013-2000, which anticipates a 50-year storage lifetime. The 3013 standard also requires a container surveillance program to continuously monitor pressure and to assure safeguards are adequate. However, the configuration of the container system makes using conventional measurement and monitoring methods difficult. Tomore » better meet the 3013 monitoring requirements, a team from Fluor Hanford (who manages the PFP), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Vista Engineering Technologies, LLC, developed a safer, cost-efficient, remote PFP 3013 container surveillance system. This new surveillance system is a combination of two successfully deployed technologies: (1) a magnetically coupled pressure gauge developed by Vista Engineering and (2) a radio frequency (RF) tagging device developed by PNNL. This system provides continuous, 100% monitoring of critical parameters with the containers in place, as well as inventory controls. The 3013 container surveillance system consists of three main elements: (1) an internal magnetic pressure sensor package, (2) an instrument pod (external electronics package), and (3) a data acquisition storage and display computer. The surveillance system described in this paper has many benefits for PFP and DOE in terms of cost savings and reduced personnel exposure. In addition, continuous safety monitoring (i.e., internal container pressure and temperature) of every container is responsible nuclear material stewardship and fully meets and exceeds DOE's Integrated Surveillance Program requirements.« less

Comparing national infectious disease surveillance systems: China and the Netherlands.

PubMed

Vlieg, Willemijn L; Fanoy, Ewout B; van Asten, Liselotte; Liu, Xiaobo; Yang, Jun; Pilot, Eva; Bijkerk, Paul; van der Hoek, Wim; Krafft, Thomas; van der Sande, Marianne A; Liu, Qi-Yong

2017-05-08

Risk assessment and early warning (RAEW) are essential components of any infectious disease surveillance system. In light of the International Health Regulations (IHR)(2005), this study compares the organisation of RAEW in China and the Netherlands. The respective approaches towards surveillance of arboviral disease and unexplained pneumonia were analysed to gain a better understanding of the RAEW mode of operation. This study may be used to explore options for further strengthening of global collaboration and timely detection and surveillance of infectious disease outbreaks. A qualitative study design was used, combining data retrieved from the literature and from semi-structured interviews with Chinese (5 national-level and 6 provincial-level) and Dutch (5 national-level) experts. The results show that some differences exist such as in the use of automated electronic components of the early warning system in China ('CIDARS'), compared to a more limited automated component in the Netherlands ('barometer'). Moreover, RAEW units in the Netherlands focus exclusively on infectious diseases, while China has a broader 'all hazard' approach (including for example chemical incidents). In the Netherlands, veterinary specialists take part at the RAEW meetings, to enable a structured exchange/assessment of zoonotic signals. Despite these differences, the main conclusion is that for the two infections studied, the early warning system in China and the Netherlands are remarkably similar considering their large differences in infectious disease history, population size and geographical setting. Our main recommendations are continued emphasis on international corporation that requires insight into national infectious disease surveillance systems, the usage of a One Health approach in infectious disease surveillance, and further exploration/strengthening of a combined syndromic and laboratory surveillance system.

Common cold symptoms in children: results of an Internet-based surveillance program.

PubMed

Troullos, Emanuel; Baird, Lisa; Jayawardena, Shyamalie

2014-06-19

Conducting and analyzing clinical studies of cough and cold medications is challenging due to the rapid onset and short duration of the symptoms. The use of Internet-based surveillance tools is a new approach in clinical studies that is gradually becoming popular and may become a useful method of recruitment. As part of an initiative to assess the safety and efficacy of cough and cold ingredients in children 6-11 years of age, a surveillance program was proposed as a means to identify and recruit pediatric subjects for clinical studies. The objective of the study was to develop an Internet-based surveillance system and to assess the feasibility of using such a system to recruit children for common cold clinical studies, record the natural history of their cold symptoms, and determine the willingness of parents to have their children participate in clinical studies. Healthy potential subjects were recruited via parental contact online. During the 6-week surveillance period, parents completed daily surveys to record details of any cold symptoms in their children. If a child developed a cold, symptoms were followed via survey for 10 days. Additional questions evaluated the willingness of parents to have their children participate in a clinical study shortly after onset of symptoms. The enrollment target of 248 children was reached in approximately 1 week. Children from 4 distinct geographic regions of the United States were recruited. Parents reported cold symptoms in 163 children, and 134 went on to develop colds. The most prevalent symptoms were runny nose, stuffed-up nose, and sneezing. The most severe symptoms were runny nose, stuffed-up nose, and sore/scratchy throat. The severity of most symptoms peaked 1-2 days after onset. Up to 54% of parents expressed willingness to bring a sick child to a clinical center shortly after the onset of symptoms. Parents found the Internet-based surveys easy to complete. Internet-based surveillance and recruitment can be useful

NATIONAL NOSOCOMIAL INFECTIONS SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (NNIS)

EPA Science Inventory

The National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance (NNIS) System is a cooperative effort that began in 1970 between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and participating hospitals to create a national nosocomial infections database. The database is used to describe ...

A comparison of smartphones to paper-based questionnaires for routine influenza sentinel surveillance, Kenya, 2011-2012.

PubMed

Njuguna, Henry N; Caselton, Deborah L; Arunga, Geoffrey O; Emukule, Gideon O; Kinyanjui, Dennis K; Kalani, Rosalia M; Kinkade, Carl; Muthoka, Phillip M; Katz, Mark A; Mott, Joshua A

2014-12-24

For disease surveillance, manual data collection using paper-based questionnaires can be time consuming and prone to errors. We introduced smartphone data collection to replace paper-based data collection for an influenza sentinel surveillance system in four hospitals in Kenya. We compared the quality, cost and timeliness of data collection between the smartphone data collection system and the paper-based system. Since 2006, the Kenya Ministry of Health (MoH) with technical support from the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KEMRI/CDC) conducted hospital-based sentinel surveillance for influenza in Kenya. In May 2011, the MOH replaced paper-based collection with an electronic data collection system using Field Adapted Survey Toolkit (FAST) on HTC Touch Pro2 smartphones at four sentinel sites. We compared 880 paper-based questionnaires dated Jan 2010-Jun 2011 and 880 smartphone questionnaires dated May 2011-Jun 2012 from the four surveillance sites. For each site, we compared the quality, cost and timeliness of each data collection system. Incomplete records were more likely seen in data collected using pen-and-paper compared to data collected using smartphones (adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) 7, 95% CI: 4.4-10.3). Errors and inconsistent answers were also more likely to be seen in data collected using pen-and-paper compared to data collected using smartphones (aIRR: 25, 95% CI: 12.5-51.8). Smartphone data was uploaded into the database in a median time of 7 days while paper-based data took a median of 21 days to be entered (p < 0.01). It cost USD 1,501 (9.4%) more to establish the smartphone data collection system ($17,500) than the pen-and-paper system (USD $15,999). During two years, however, the smartphone data collection system was $3,801 (7%) less expensive to operate ($50,200) when compared to pen-and-paper system ($54,001). Compared to paper-based data collection, an electronic data collection system

Assessment of the French National Health Insurance Information System as a tool for epidemiological surveillance of malaria.

PubMed

Delon, François; Mayet, Aurélie; Thellier, Marc; Kendjo, Eric; Michel, Rémy; Ollivier, Lénaïck; Chatellier, Gilles; Desjeux, Guillaume

2017-05-01

Epidemiological surveillance of malaria in France is based on a hospital laboratory sentinel surveillance network. There is no comprehensive population surveillance. The objective of this study was to assess the ability of the French National Health Insurance Information System to support nationwide malaria surveillance in continental France. A case identification algorithm was built in a 2-step process. First, inclusion rules giving priority to sensitivity were defined. Then, based on data description, exclusion rules to increase specificity were applied. To validate our results, we compared them to data from the French National Reference Center for Malaria on case counts, distribution within subgroups, and disease onset date trends. We built a reusable automatized tool. From July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, we identified 4077 incident malaria cases that occurred in continental France. Our algorithm provided data for hospitalized patients, patients treated by private physicians, and outpatients for the entire population. Our results were similar to those of the National Reference Center for Malaria for each of the outcome criteria. We provided a reliable algorithm for implementing epidemiological surveillance of malaria based on the French National Health Insurance Information System. Our method allowed us to work on the entire population living in continental France, including subpopulations poorly covered by existing surveillance methods. Traditional epidemiological surveillance and the approach presented in this paper are complementary, but a formal validation framework for case identification algorithms is necessary. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Adolescents and Surveillance System for the Obesity Prevention Project

PubMed Central

Tabacchi, Garden; Bianco, Antonino; Alessi, Nicola; Filippi, Anna Rita; Napoli, Giuseppe; Jemni, Monèm; Censi, Laura; Breda, João; Schumann, Nathali Lehmann; Firenze, Alberto; Vitale, Francesco; Mammina, Caterina

2016-01-01

Abstract The Adolescents Surveillance System for Obesity prevention (ASSO) Project aimed at developing standardized and web-based tools for collecting data on adolescents’ obesity and its potential determinants. This has been implemented and piloted in the local area of Palermo city, Italy. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the Project's design, implementation, and evaluation, highlighting all the aspects for a potential scale-up of the surveillance system on the whole national territory and abroad, as a sustainable and effective source of data. The overall structure and management, the ASSO-toolkit, the ASSO-NutFit software, and all developed and used procedures for recruiting, training, and data collecting/analyzing are addressed. An interim evaluation has been performed through a feasibility study; a final Project evaluation has been performed reporting the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) and the attributes that a surveillance system should have. This article provides a detailed overview of the Project and highlights that ASSO can be considered a valid, logical, coherent, efficient, and sustainable surveillance system that is consistent with countries’ needs and priorities. The system developed by the ASSO Project provides high-quality data and complies with several characteristics typical of a suitable surveillance system. It has a potential of being adopted within the National Health Service and other countries’ Health Services for monitoring adolescents’ obesity and its determinants, such as food intakes, behaviors, physical activity, and fitness profiles. PMID:27015195

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of the Adolescents and Surveillance System for the Obesity Prevention Project.

PubMed

Tabacchi, Garden; Bianco, Antonino; Alessi, Nicola; Filippi, Anna Rita; Napoli, Giuseppe; Jemni, Monèm; Censi, Laura; Breda, João; Schumann, Nathali Lehmann; Firenze, Alberto; Vitale, Francesco; Mammina, Caterina

2016-03-01

The Adolescents Surveillance System for Obesity prevention (ASSO) Project aimed at developing standardized and web-based tools for collecting data on adolescents' obesity and its potential determinants. This has been implemented and piloted in the local area of Palermo city, Italy. The aim of the present study is to provide an overview of the Project's design, implementation, and evaluation, highlighting all the aspects for a potential scale-up of the surveillance system on the whole national territory and abroad, as a sustainable and effective source of data.The overall structure and management, the ASSO-toolkit, the ASSO-NutFit software, and all developed and used procedures for recruiting, training, and data collecting/analyzing are addressed. An interim evaluation has been performed through a feasibility study; a final Project evaluation has been performed reporting the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) and the attributes that a surveillance system should have.This article provides a detailed overview of the Project and highlights that ASSO can be considered a valid, logical, coherent, efficient, and sustainable surveillance system that is consistent with countries' needs and priorities.The system developed by the ASSO Project provides high-quality data and complies with several characteristics typical of a suitable surveillance system. It has a potential of being adopted within the National Health Service and other countries' Health Services for monitoring adolescents' obesity and its determinants, such as food intakes, behaviors, physical activity, and fitness profiles.

The role of diagnostic laboratories in support of animal disease surveillance systems.

PubMed

Zepeda, C

2007-01-01

Diagnostic laboratories are an essential component of animal disease surveillance systems. To understand the occurrence of disease in populations, surveillance systems rely on random or targeted surveys using three approaches: clinical, serological and virological surveillance. Clinical surveillance is the basis for early detection of disease and is usually centered on the detection of syndromes and clinical findings requiring confirmation by diagnostic laboratories. Although most of the tests applied usually perform to an acceptable standard, several have not been properly validated in terms of their diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity and specificity estimates can vary according to local conditions and, ideally, should be determined by national laboratories where the tests are to be applied. The importance of sensitivity and specificity estimates in the design and interpretation of statistically based surveys and risk analysis is fundamental to establish appropriate disease control and prevention strategies. The World Organisation for Animal Health's (OIE) network of reference laboratories acts as centers of expertise for the diagnosis of OIE listed diseases and have a role in promoting the validation of OIE prescribed tests for international trade. This paper discusses the importance of the epidemiological evaluation of diagnostic tests and the role of the OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres in this process.

NATIONAL ORAL HEALTH SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (NOHSS)

EPA Science Inventory

National Oral Health Surveillance System (NOHSS) is a collaborative effort between CDC's Division of Oral Health and The Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors (ASTDD). NOHSS is designed to help public health programs monitor the burden of oral disease, use of the ...

77 FR 6000 - Airworthiness Directives; Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-07

... Airworthiness Directives; Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and Collision... Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) units with part...

Driving towards malaria elimination in Botswana by 2018: progress on case-based surveillance, 2013-2014.

PubMed

Motlaleng, M; Edwards, J; Namboze, J; Butt, W; Moakofhi, K; Obopile, M; Manzi, M; Takarinda, K C; Zachariah, R; Owiti, P; Oumer, N; Mosweunyane, T

2018-04-25

Background: Reliable information reporting systems ensure that all malaria cases are tested, treated and tracked to avoid further transmission. Botswana aimed to eliminate malaria by 2018, and surveillance is key. This study focused on assessing the uptake of the new malaria case-based surveillance (CBS) system introduced in 2012, which captures information on malaria cases reported in the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study based on routine data focusing on Ngami, Chobe and Okavango, three high-risk districts in Botswana. Aggregated data variables were extracted from the IDSR and compared with data from the CBS. Results: The IDSR reported 456 malaria cases in 2013 and 1346 in 2014, of which respectively only 305 and 884 were reported by the CBS. The CBS reported 34% fewer cases than the IDSR system, indicating substantial differences between the two systems. The key malaria indicators with the greatest variability among the districts included in the study were case identification number and date of diagnosis. Conclusion: The IDSR and CBS systems are essential for malaria elimination, as shown by the significant gaps in reporting between the two systems. These findings highlight the need for further investigation into these discrepancies. Strengthening the CBS system will help to reach the objective of malaria elimination in Botswana.

School-Based Pediatric Asthma Surveillance in Massachusetts from 2005 to 2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Medaglia, Frances; Knorr, Robert S.; Condon, Suzanne K.; Charleston, Alicia C.

2013-01-01

Background: Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children today, yet surveillance is limited to national and state estimates which can vary over time, by location and by population types. This article describes a comprehensive statewide school-based asthma surveillance program and examines 5?years of surveillance data. Methods: After…

Application of infrared uncooled cameras in surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dulski, R.; Bareła, J.; Trzaskawka, P.; PiÄ tkowski, T.

2013-10-01

The recent necessity to protect military bases, convoys and patrols gave serious impact to the development of multisensor security systems for perimeter protection. One of the most important devices used in such systems are IR cameras. The paper discusses technical possibilities and limitations to use uncooled IR camera in a multi-sensor surveillance system for perimeter protection. Effective ranges of detection depend on the class of the sensor used and the observed scene itself. Application of IR camera increases the probability of intruder detection regardless of the time of day or weather conditions. It also simultaneously decreased the false alarm rate produced by the surveillance system. The role of IR cameras in the system was discussed as well as technical possibilities to detect human being. Comparison of commercially available IR cameras, capable to achieve desired ranges was done. The required spatial resolution for detection, recognition and identification was calculated. The simulation of detection ranges was done using a new model for predicting target acquisition performance which uses the Targeting Task Performance (TTP) metric. Like its predecessor, the Johnson criteria, the new model bounds the range performance with image quality. The scope of presented analysis is limited to the estimation of detection, recognition and identification ranges for typical thermal cameras with uncooled microbolometer focal plane arrays. This type of cameras is most widely used in security systems because of competitive price to performance ratio. Detection, recognition and identification range calculations were made, and the appropriate results for the devices with selected technical specifications were compared and discussed.

Emerging Infectious Diseases in Free-Ranging Wildlife–Australian Zoo Based Wildlife Hospitals Contribute to National Surveillance

PubMed Central

Cox-Witton, Keren; Reiss, Andrea; Woods, Rupert; Grillo, Victoria; Baker, Rupert T.; Blyde, David J.; Boardman, Wayne; Cutter, Stephen; Lacasse, Claude; McCracken, Helen; Pyne, Michael; Smith, Ian; Vitali, Simone; Vogelnest, Larry; Wedd, Dion; Phillips, Martin; Bunn, Chris; Post, Lyndel

2014-01-01

Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly originating from wildlife. Many of these diseases have significant impacts on human health, domestic animal health, and biodiversity. Surveillance is the key to early detection of emerging diseases. A zoo based wildlife disease surveillance program developed in Australia incorporates disease information from free-ranging wildlife into the existing national wildlife health information system. This program uses a collaborative approach and provides a strong model for a disease surveillance program for free-ranging wildlife that enhances the national capacity for early detection of emerging diseases. PMID:24787430

Falling-incident detection and throughput enhancement in a multi-camera video-surveillance system.

PubMed

Shieh, Wann-Yun; Huang, Ju-Chin

2012-09-01

For most elderly, unpredictable falling incidents may occur at the corner of stairs or a long corridor due to body frailty. If we delay to rescue a falling elder who is likely fainting, more serious consequent injury may occur. Traditional secure or video surveillance systems need caregivers to monitor a centralized screen continuously, or need an elder to wear sensors to detect falling incidents, which explicitly waste much human power or cause inconvenience for elders. In this paper, we propose an automatic falling-detection algorithm and implement this algorithm in a multi-camera video surveillance system. The algorithm uses each camera to fetch the images from the regions required to be monitored. It then uses a falling-pattern recognition algorithm to determine if a falling incident has occurred. If yes, system will send short messages to someone needs to be noticed. The algorithm has been implemented in a DSP-based hardware acceleration board for functionality proof. Simulation results show that the accuracy of falling detection can achieve at least 90% and the throughput of a four-camera surveillance system can be improved by about 2.1 times. Copyright © 2011 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An opportunity analysis system for space surveillance experiments with the MSX

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sridharan, Ramaswamy; Duff, Gary; Hayes, Tony; Wiseman, Andy

1994-01-01

The Mid-Course Space Experiment consists of a set of payloads on a satellite being designed and built under the sponsorship of Ballistic Missile Defense Office. The MSX satellite will conduct a series of measurements of phenomenology of backgrounds, missile targets, plumes and resident space objects (RSO's); and will engage in functional demonstrations in support of detection, acquisition and tracking for ballistic missile defense and space-based space surveillance missions. A complex satellite like the MSX has several constraints imposed on its operation by the sensors, the supporting instrumentation, power resources, data recording capability, communications and the environment in which all these operate. This paper describes the implementation of an opportunity and feasibility analysis system, developed at Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specifically to support the experiments of the Principal Investigator for space-based surveillance.

Study of moving object detecting and tracking algorithm for video surveillance system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Tao; Zhang, Rongfu

2010-10-01

This paper describes a specific process of moving target detecting and tracking in the video surveillance.Obtain high-quality background is the key to achieving differential target detecting in the video surveillance.The paper is based on a block segmentation method to build clear background,and using the method of background difference to detecing moving target,after a series of treatment we can be extracted the more comprehensive object from original image,then using the smallest bounding rectangle to locate the object.In the video surveillance system, the delay of camera and other reasons lead to tracking lag,the model of Kalman filter based on template matching was proposed,using deduced and estimated capacity of Kalman,the center of smallest bounding rectangle for predictive value,predicted the position in the next moment may appare,followed by template matching in the region as the center of this position,by calculate the cross-correlation similarity of current image and reference image,can determine the best matching center.As narrowed the scope of searching,thereby reduced the searching time,so there be achieve fast-tracking.

Risk-based methods for fish and terrestrial animal disease surveillance.

PubMed

Oidtmann, Birgit; Peeler, Edmund; Lyngstad, Trude; Brun, Edgar; Bang Jensen, Britt; Stärk, Katharina D C

2013-10-01

Over recent years there have been considerable methodological developments in the field of animal disease surveillance. The principles of risk analysis were conceptually applied to surveillance in order to further develop approaches and tools (scenario tree modelling) to design risk-based surveillance (RBS) programmes. In the terrestrial animal context, examples of risk-based surveillance have demonstrated the substantial potential for cost saving, and a similar benefit is expected also for aquatic animals. RBS approaches are currently largely absent for aquatic animal diseases. A major constraint in developing RBS designs in the aquatic context is the lack of published data to assist in the design of RBS: this applies to data on (i) the relative risk of farm sites becoming infected due to the presence or absence of a given risk factor; (ii) the sensitivity of diagnostic tests (specificity is often addressed by follow-up investigation and re-testing and therefore less of a concern); (iii) data on the variability of prevalence of infection for fish within a holding unit, between holding units and at farm level. Another constraint is that some of the most basic data for planning surveillance are missing, e.g. data on farm location and animal movements. In Europe, registration or authorisation of fish farms has only recently become a requirement under EU Directive 2006/88. Additionally, the definition of the epidemiological unit (at site or area level) in the context of aquaculture is a challenge due to the often high level of connectedness (mainly via water) of aquaculture facilities with the aquatic environment. This paper provides a review of the principles, methods and examples of RBS in terrestrial, farmed and wild animals. It discusses the special challenges associated with surveillance for aquatic animal diseases (e.g. accessibility of animals for inspection and sampling, complexity of rearing systems) and provides an overview of current developments relevant

Early detection for cases of enterovirus- and influenza-like illness through a newly established school-based syndromic surveillance system in Taipei, January 2010 ~ August 2011.

PubMed

Weng, Ting Chia; Chan, Ta Chien; Lin, Hsien Tang; Chang, Chia Kun Jasper; Wang, Wen Wen; Li, Zheng Rong Tiger; Cheng, Hao-Yuan; Chu, Yu-Roo; Chiu, Allen Wen-Hsiang; Yen, Muh-Yong; King, Chwan-Chuen

2015-01-01

School children may transmit pathogens with cluster cases occurring on campuses and in families. In response to the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, Taipei City Government officials developed a School-based Infectious Disease Syndromic Surveillance System (SID-SSS). Teachers and nurses from preschools to universities in all 12 districts within Taipei are required to daily report cases of symptomatic children or sick leave requests through the SID-SSS. The pre-diagnosis at schools is submitted firstly as common pediatric disease syndrome-groups and re-submitted after confirmation by physicians. We retrieved these data from January 2010 to August 2011 for spatio-temporal analysis and evaluated the temporal trends with cases obtained from both the Emergency Department-based Syndromic Surveillance System (ED-SSS) and the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005). Through the SID-SSS, enterovirus-like illness (EVI) and influenza-like illness (ILI) were the two most reported syndrome groups (77.6% and 15.8% among a total of 19,334 cases, respectively). The pre-diagnosis judgments made by school teachers and nurses showed high consistency with physicians' clinical diagnoses for EVI (97.8%) and ILI (98.9%). Most importantly, the SID-SSS had better timeliness with earlier peaks of EVI and ILI than those in the ED-SSS. Furthermore, both of the syndrome groups in these two surveillance systems had the best correlation reaching 0.98 and 0.95, respectively (p<0.01). Spatio-temporal analysis observed the patterns of EVI and ILI both diffuse from the northern suburban districts to central Taipei, with ILI spreading faster. This novel system can identify early suspected cases of two important pediatric infections occurring at schools, and clusters from schools/families. It was also cost-effective (95.5% of the operation cost reduced and 59.7% processing time saved). The timely surveillance of mild EVI and ILI cases integrated with spatial analysis may help public

Early Detection for Cases of Enterovirus- and Influenza-Like Illness through a Newly Established School-Based Syndromic Surveillance System in Taipei, January 2010 ~ August 2011

PubMed Central

Weng, Ting Chia; Chan, Ta Chien; Li, Zheng Rong Tiger; Cheng, Hao-Yuan; Chu, Yu-Roo; Chiu, Allen Wen-Hsiang; Yen, Muh-Yong; King, Chwan-Chuen

2015-01-01

School children may transmit pathogens with cluster cases occurring on campuses and in families. In response to the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, Taipei City Government officials developed a School-based Infectious Disease Syndromic Surveillance System (SID-SSS). Teachers and nurses from preschools to universities in all 12 districts within Taipei are required to daily report cases of symptomatic children or sick leave requests through the SID-SSS. The pre-diagnosis at schools is submitted firstly as common pediatric disease syndrome-groups and re-submitted after confirmation by physicians. We retrieved these data from January 2010 to August 2011 for spatio-temporal analysis and evaluated the temporal trends with cases obtained from both the Emergency Department-based Syndromic Surveillance System (ED-SSS) and the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005). Through the SID-SSS, enterovirus-like illness (EVI) and influenza-like illness (ILI) were the two most reported syndrome groups (77.6% and 15.8% among a total of 19,334 cases, respectively). The pre-diagnosis judgments made by school teachers and nurses showed high consistency with physicians’ clinical diagnoses for EVI (97.8%) and ILI (98.9%). Most importantly, the SID-SSS had better timeliness with earlier peaks of EVI and ILI than those in the ED-SSS. Furthermore, both of the syndrome groups in these two surveillance systems had the best correlation reaching 0.98 and 0.95, respectively (p<0.01). Spatio-temporal analysis observed the patterns of EVI and ILI both diffuse from the northern suburban districts to central Taipei, with ILI spreading faster. This novel system can identify early suspected cases of two important pediatric infections occurring at schools, and clusters from schools/families. It was also cost-effective (95.5% of the operation cost reduced and 59.7% processing time saved). The timely surveillance of mild EVI and ILI cases integrated with spatial analysis may help public

A methodological framework for the evaluation of syndromic surveillance systems: a case study of England.

PubMed

Colón-González, Felipe J; Lake, Iain R; Morbey, Roger A; Elliot, Alex J; Pebody, Richard; Smith, Gillian E

2018-04-24

Syndromic surveillance complements traditional public health surveillance by collecting and analysing health indicators in near real time. The rationale of syndromic surveillance is that it may detect health threats faster than traditional surveillance systems permitting more timely, and hence potentially more effective public health action. The effectiveness of syndromic surveillance largely relies on the methods used to detect aberrations. Very few studies have evaluated the performance of syndromic surveillance systems and consequently little is known about the types of events that such systems can and cannot detect. We introduce a framework for the evaluation of syndromic surveillance systems that can be used in any setting based upon the use of simulated scenarios. For a range of scenarios this allows the time and probability of detection to be determined and uncertainty is fully incorporated. In addition, we demonstrate how such a framework can model the benefits of increases in the number of centres reporting syndromic data and also determine the minimum size of outbreaks that can or cannot be detected. Here, we demonstrate its utility using simulations of national influenza outbreaks and localised outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis. Influenza outbreaks are consistently detected with larger outbreaks being detected in a more timely manner. Small cryptosporidiosis outbreaks (<1000 symptomatic individuals) are unlikely to be detected. We also demonstrate the advantages of having multiple syndromic data streams (e.g. emergency attendance data, telephone helpline data, general practice consultation data) as different streams are able to detect different outbreak types with different efficacy (e.g. emergency attendance data are useful for the detection of pandemic influenza but not for outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis). We also highlight that for any one disease, the utility of data streams may vary geographically, and that the detection ability of syndromic

Early detection of West Nile virus in France: quantitative assessment of syndromic surveillance system using nervous signs in horses.

PubMed

Faverjon, C; Vial, F; Andersson, M G; Lecollinet, S; Leblond, A

2017-04-01

West Nile virus (WNV) is a growing public health concern in Europe and there is a need to develop more efficient early detection systems. Nervous signs in horses are considered to be an early indicator of WNV and, using them in a syndromic surveillance system, might be relevant. In our study, we assessed whether or not data collected by the passive French surveillance system for the surveillance of equine diseases can be used routinely for the detection of WNV. We tested several pre-processing methods and detection algorithms based on regression. We evaluated system performances using simulated and authentic data and compared them to those of the surveillance system currently in place. Our results show that the current detection algorithm provided similar performances to those tested using simulated and real data. However, regression models can be easily and better adapted to surveillance objectives. The detection performances obtained were compatible with the early detection of WNV outbreaks in France (i.e. sensitivity 98%, specificity >94%, timeliness 2·5 weeks and around four false alarms per year) but further work is needed to determine the most suitable alarm threshold for WNV surveillance in France using cost-efficiency analysis.

Involving private healthcare practitioners in an urban NCD sentinel surveillance system: lessons learned from Pune, India.

PubMed

Kroll, Mareike; Phalkey, Revati; Dutta, Sayani; Shukla, Sharvari; Butsch, Carsten; Bharucha, Erach; Kraas, Frauke

2016-01-01

Despite the rising impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on public health in India, lack of quality data and routine surveillance hampers the planning process for NCD prevention and control. Current surveillance programs focus largely on communicable diseases and do not adequately include the private healthcare sector as a major source of care in cities. The objective of the study was to conceptualize, implement, and evaluate a prototype for an urban NCD sentinel surveillance system among private healthcare practitioners providing primary care in Pune, India. We mapped all private healthcare providers in three selected areas of the city, conducted a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey with regard to surveillance among 258 consenting practitioners, and assessed their willingness to participate in a routine NCD surveillance system. In total, 127 practitioners agreed and were included in a 6-month surveillance study. Data on first-time diagnoses of 10 selected NCDs alongside basic demographic and socioeconomic patient information were collected onsite on a monthly basis using a paper-based register. Descriptive and regression analyses were performed. In total, 1,532 incident cases were recorded that mainly included hypertension ( n =622, 41%) and diabetes ( n =460, 30%). Dropout rate was 10% ( n =13). The monthly reporting consistency was quite constant, with the majority ( n =63, 50%) submitting 1-10 cases in 6 months. Average number of submitted cases was highest among allopathic practitioners (17.4). A majority of the participants ( n =104, 91%) agreed that the surveillance design could be scaled up to cover the entire city. The study indicates that private primary healthcare providers (allopathic and alternate medicine practitioners) play an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of NCDs and can be involved in NCD surveillance, if certain barriers are addressed. Main barriers observed were lack of regulation of the private sector, cross

MRSA-surveillance in Germany: data from the Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance System (ARS) and the mandatory surveillance of MRSA in blood.

PubMed

Schweickert, B; Noll, I; Feig, M; Claus, H; Krause, G; Velasco, E; Eckmanns, T

2012-08-01

Data from the German Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance system (ARS) and statutory notification of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in blood cultures are presented. ARS is a voluntary laboratory-based surveillance system providing resistance data of all clinical pathogens and sample types from hospitals and ambulatory care. Statutory notification includes MRSA detected in blood and cerebrospinal fluid by microbiological laboratories. Resistance data from 2008 to 2010 and MRSA-bacteraemia incidences from 2010 are presented. From 2008 to 2010, resistance data from 70,935 Staphylococcus aureus isolates were transferred to the national health institution. MRSA proportions in hospitals and outpatient care account for 19.2% and 10.6%, respectively. In hospital care high proportions of MRSA were found in nephrological, geriatric, neurological general wards and surgical ICUs (49.4%, 45.8%, 34.2%, and 27.0%, respectively), while in community outpatient care urological practices (29.2%) account for the highest values. In both healthcare settings urinary tract samples stand out with high proportions of MRSA (hospitals, 32.9%; outpatients, 20.5%). In 2010, 3900 cases of MRSA bacteraemia were reported, accounting for an incidence of MRSA bacteraemia of 4.8/100,000 inhabitants/year. Stratification by federal states shows considerable regional differences (range, 1.0-8.3/100,000 inhabitants/year). Vulnerable areas in hospitals and outpatient care have been pointed out as subjects for further inquiries.

Multiview face detection based on position estimation over multicamera surveillance system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Ching-chun; Chou, Jay; Shiu, Jia-Hou; Wang, Sheng-Jyh

2012-02-01

In this paper, we propose a multi-view face detection system that locates head positions and indicates the direction of each face in 3-D space over a multi-camera surveillance system. To locate 3-D head positions, conventional methods relied on face detection in 2-D images and projected the face regions back to 3-D space for correspondence. However, the inevitable false face detection and rejection usually degrades the system performance. Instead, our system searches for the heads and face directions over the 3-D space using a sliding cube. Each searched 3-D cube is projected onto the 2-D camera views to determine the existence and direction of human faces. Moreover, a pre-process to estimate the locations of candidate targets is illustrated to speed-up the searching process over the 3-D space. In summary, our proposed method can efficiently fuse multi-camera information and suppress the ambiguity caused by detection errors. Our evaluation shows that the proposed approach can efficiently indicate the head position and face direction on real video sequences even under serious occlusion.

76 FR 62321 - Airworthiness Directives; Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-07

... Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Units AGENCY... certain Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS) traffic alert and collision avoidance system...) traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) units with part numbers identified in ACSS Technical...

77 FR 52742 - Public Meeting-Strengthening the National Medical Device Postmarket Surveillance System; Request...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-30

...] Public Meeting--Strengthening the National Medical Device Postmarket Surveillance System; Request for... ``Public Meeting--Strengthening the National Medical Device Postmarket Surveillance System.'' The purpose of the meeting is to solicit public feedback regarding the medical device postmarket surveillance...

Towards an electronic national injury surveillance system in Saudi Arabia.

PubMed

Alanazi, F; Hussain, S A; Mandil, A; Alamro, N

2015-04-02

Given the need for a uniform, comprehensive, electronic nationwide surveillance system for injuries in Saudi Arabia, a system was designed with the objectives of establishing an epidemiologic profile of injuries in the country; evaluating injury indicators on an ongoing basis; identifying high-risk groups requiring specific interventions; monitoring and evaluating interventions for effectiveness; and producing reports to assist in planning and resource allocation. A special form for this purpose was designed, modified from validated forms used elsewhere for injury surveillance. This initiative of the Ministry of Health is also expected to help validate data collected by other sectors, such as the Ministry of Interior. This paper reviews the milestones of building the system and aims to prompt a debate within the scientific community, especially within the Eastern Mediterranean Region, about the best way to design injury surveillance systems for the Region in order to fine-tune the proposed system before its full-scale implementation.

A visual surveillance system for person re-identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Alfy, Hazem; Muramatsu, Daigo; Teranishi, Yuuichi; Nishinaga, Nozomu; Makihara, Yasushi; Yagi, Yasushi

2017-03-01

We attempt the problem of autonomous surveillance for person re-identification. This is an active research area, where most recent work focuses on the open challenges of re-identification, independently of prerequisites of detection and tracking. In this paper, we are interested in designing a complete surveillance system, joining all the pieces of the puzzle together. We start by collecting our own dataset from multiple cameras. Then, we automate the process of detection and tracking of human subjects in the scenes, followed by performing the re-identification task. We evaluate the recognition performance of our system, report its strengths, discuss open challenges and suggest ways to address them.

Low-cost inflatable lighter-than-air surveillance system for civilian applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiddy, Jason S.; Chen, Peter C.; Niemczuk, John B.

2002-08-01

Today's society places an extremely high price on the value of human life and injury. Whenever possible, police and paramilitary actions are always directed towards saving as many lives as possible, whether it is the officer, perpetrator, or innocent civilians. Recently, the advent of robotic systems has enable law enforcement agencies to perform many of the most dangerous aspects of their jobs from relative safety. This is especially true to bomb disposal units but it is also gaining acceptance in other areas. An area where small, remotely operated machines may prove effective is in local aerial surveillance. Currently, the only aerial surveillance assets generally available to law enforcement agencies are costly helicopters. Unfortunately, most of the recently developed unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are directed towards military applications and have limited civilian use. Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) has conceived and performed a preliminary analysis of a low-cost, inflatable, lighter- than-air surveillance system that may be used in a number of military and law enforcement surveillance situations. The preliminary analysis includes the concept definition, a detailed trade study to determine the optimal configuration of the surveillance system, high-pressure inflation tests, and a control analysis. This paper will provide the details in these areas of the design and provide an insight into the feasibility of such a system.

Evaluation of the national Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System for dengue fever in Taiwan, 2010-2012.

PubMed

McKerr, Caoimhe; Lo, Yi-Chun; Edeghere, Obaghe; Bracebridge, Sam

2015-03-01

In Taiwan, around 1,500 cases of dengue fever are reported annually and incidence has been increasing over time. A national web-based Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NDSS) has been in operation since 1997 to monitor incidence and trends and support case and outbreak management. We present the findings of an evaluation of the NDSS to ascertain the extent to which dengue fever surveillance objectives are being achieved. We extracted the NDSS data on all laboratory-confirmed dengue fever cases reported during 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2012 to assess and describe key system attributes based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveillance evaluation guidelines. The system's structure and processes were delineated and operational staff interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Crude and age-adjusted incidence rates were calculated and key demographic variables were summarised to describe reporting activity. Data completeness and validity were described across several variables. Of 5,072 laboratory-confirmed dengue fever cases reported during 2010-2012, 4,740 (93%) were reported during July to December. The system was judged to be simple due to its minimal reporting steps. Data collected on key variables were correctly formatted and usable in > 90% of cases, demonstrating good data completeness and validity. The information collected was considered relevant by users with high acceptability. Adherence to guidelines for 24-hour reporting was 99%. Of 720 cases (14%) recorded as travel-related, 111 (15%) had an onset >14 days after return, highlighting the potential for misclassification. Information on hospitalization was missing for 22% of cases. The calculated PVP was 43%. The NDSS for dengue fever surveillance is a robust, well maintained and acceptable system that supports the collection of complete and valid data needed to achieve the surveillance objectives. The simplicity of the system engenders compliance leading to timely and

The use of hospital-based nurses for the surveillance of potential disease outbreaks.

PubMed Central

Durrheim, D. N.; Harris, B. N.; Speare, R.; Billinghurst, K.

2001-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To study a novel surveillance system introduced in Mpumalanga Province, a rural area in the north-east of South Africa, in an attempt to address deficiencies in the system of notification for infectious conditions that have the potential for causing outbreaks. METHODS: Hospital-based infection control nurses in all of Mpumalanga's 32 public and private hospitals were trained to recognize, report, and respond to nine clinical syndromes that require immediate action. Sustainability of the system was assured through a schedule of regular training and networking, and by providing feedback to the nurses. The system was evaluated by formal review of hospital records, evidence of the effective containment of a cholera outbreak, and assessment of the speed and appropriateness of responses to other syndromes. FINDINGS: Rapid detection, reporting and response to six imported cholera cases resulted in effective containment, with only 19 proven secondary cholera cases, during the two-year review period. No secondary cases followed detection and prompt response to 14 patients with meningococcal disease. By the end of the first year of implementation, all facilities were providing weekly zero-reports on the nine syndromes before the designated time. Formal hospital record review for cases of acute flaccid paralysis endorsed the value of the system. CONCLUSION: The primary goal of an outbreak surveillance system is to ensure timely recognition of syndromes requiring an immediate response. Infection control nurses in Mpumalanga hospitals have excelled in timely weekly zero-reporting, participation at monthly training and feedback sessions, detection of priority clinical syndromes, and prompt appropriate response. This review provides support for the role of hospital-based nurses as valuable sentinel surveillance agents providing timely data for action. PMID:11217663

An Expert System And Simulation Approach For Sensor Management & Control In A Distributed Surveillance Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leon, Barbara D.; Heller, Paul R.

1987-05-01

, driven by a forward chaining inference engine, makes decisions based on the global database. The global database contains current track and sensor information supplied by the simulation. At present, the rule base emphasizes the surveillance features with rules grouped into three main categories: maintenance and enhancing track on prioritized targets; filling coverage holes and countering jamming; and evaluating sensor status. The paper will describe the architecture used for the expert system and the reasons for selecting the chosen methods. The SM&C simulation produces a graphical representation of sensors and their associated tracks such that the benefits of the sensor management and control expert system are evident. Jammer locations are also part of the display. The paper will describe results from several scenarios that best illustrate the sensor management and control concepts.

Motion and ranging sensor system for through-the-wall surveillance system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Black, Jeffrey D.

2002-08-01

A portable Through-the-Wall Surveillance System is being developed for law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and military use. The Motion and Ranging Sensor is a radar that operates in a frequency band that allows for surveillance penetration of most non-metallic walls. Changes in the sensed radar returns are analyzed to detect the human motion that would typically be present during a hostage or barricaded suspect scenario. The system consists of a Sensor Unit, a handheld Remote Display Unit, and an optional laptop computer Command Display Console. All units are battery powered and a wireless link provides command and data communication between units. The Sensor Unit is deployed close to the wall or door through which the surveillance is to occur. After deploying the sensor the operator may move freely as required by the scenario. Up to five Sensor Units may be deployed at a single location. A software upgrade to the Command Display Console is also being developed. This software upgrade will combine the motion detected by multiple Sensor Units and determine and track the location of detected motion in two dimensions.

Driving towards malaria elimination in Botswana by 2018: progress on case-based surveillance, 2013–2014

PubMed Central

Edwards, J.; Namboze, J.; Butt, W.; Moakofhi, K.; Obopile, M.; Manzi, M.; Takarinda, K. C.; Zachariah, R.; Owiti, P.; Oumer, N.; Mosweunyane, T.

2018-01-01

Background: Reliable information reporting systems ensure that all malaria cases are tested, treated and tracked to avoid further transmission. Botswana aimed to eliminate malaria by 2018, and surveillance is key. This study focused on assessing the uptake of the new malaria case-based surveillance (CBS) system introduced in 2012, which captures information on malaria cases reported in the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study based on routine data focusing on Ngami, Chobe and Okavango, three high-risk districts in Botswana. Aggregated data variables were extracted from the IDSR and compared with data from the CBS. Results: The IDSR reported 456 malaria cases in 2013 and 1346 in 2014, of which respectively only 305 and 884 were reported by the CBS. The CBS reported 34% fewer cases than the IDSR system, indicating substantial differences between the two systems. The key malaria indicators with the greatest variability among the districts included in the study were case identification number and date of diagnosis. Conclusion: The IDSR and CBS systems are essential for malaria elimination, as shown by the significant gaps in reporting between the two systems. These findings highlight the need for further investigation into these discrepancies. Strengthening the CBS system will help to reach the objective of malaria elimination in Botswana. PMID:29713590

Effectiveness of Implementation of Electronic Malaria Information System as the National Malaria Surveillance System in Thailand

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Background In moving toward malaria elimination, one strategy is to implement an active surveillance system for effective case management. Thailand has developed and implemented the electronic Malaria Information System (eMIS) capturing individualized electronic records of suspected or confirmed malaria cases. Objective The main purpose of this study was to determine how well the eMIS improves the quality of Thailand’s malaria surveillance system. In particular, the focus of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the eMIS in terms of the system users’ perception and the system outcomes (ie, quality of data) regarding the management of malaria patients. Methods A mixed-methods technique was used with the framework based on system effectiveness attributes: data quality, timeliness, simplicity, acceptability, flexibility, stability, and usefulness. Three methods were utilized: data records review, survey of system users, and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. From the two highest endemic provinces, paper forms matching electronic records of 4455 noninfected and 784 malaria-infected cases were reviewed. Web-based anonymous questionnaires were distributed to all 129 eMIS data entry staff throughout Thailand, and semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 management-level officers. Results The eMIS is well accepted by system users at both management and operational levels. The data quality has enabled malaria personnel to perform more effective prevention and control activities. There is evidence of practices resulting in inconsistencies and logical errors in data reporting. Critical data elements were mostly completed, except for a few related to certain dates and area classifications. Timeliness in reporting a case to the system was acceptable with a delay of 3-4 days. The evaluation of quantitative and qualitative data confirmed that the eMIS has high levels of simplicity, acceptability, stability, and flexibility. Conclusions Overall, the

AEGIS: a robust and scalable real-time public health surveillance system.

PubMed

Reis, Ben Y; Kirby, Chaim; Hadden, Lucy E; Olson, Karen; McMurry, Andrew J; Daniel, James B; Mandl, Kenneth D

2007-01-01

In this report, we describe the Automated Epidemiological Geotemporal Integrated Surveillance system (AEGIS), developed for real-time population health monitoring in the state of Massachusetts. AEGIS provides public health personnel with automated near-real-time situational awareness of utilization patterns at participating healthcare institutions, supporting surveillance of bioterrorism and naturally occurring outbreaks. As real-time public health surveillance systems become integrated into regional and national surveillance initiatives, the challenges of scalability, robustness, and data security become increasingly prominent. A modular and fault tolerant design helps AEGIS achieve scalability and robustness, while a distributed storage model with local autonomy helps to minimize risk of unauthorized disclosure. The report includes a description of the evolution of the design over time in response to the challenges of a regional and national integration environment.

A pilot asthma incidence surveillance system and case definition: lessons learned.

PubMed

Trepka, Mary Jo; Martin, Pilar; Mavunda, Kunjana; Rodriguez, Diana; Zhang, Guoyan; Brown, Clive

2009-01-01

Surveillance for incident asthma in the general population could provide timely information about asthma trends and new, emerging etiologic factors. We sought to determine the feasibility of an asthma incidence surveillance system using voluntary reporting of asthma by outpatient clinics and emergency departments (EDs). Voluntary reporting occurred from July 2002 through June 2006. We classified reported asthma based on a case definition adapted from one developed by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. We validated the case definition by having pulmonologists review data from participant interviews, medical record abstractions, and pulmonary function test (PFT) results. The positive predictive value (PPV) of meeting any of the case definition criteria for asthma was 80% to 82%. The criterion of taking at least one rescue and one controller medication had the highest PPV (97% to 100%). Only 7% of people meeting the incident case definition had a PFT documented in their medical record, limiting the usefulness of PFT results for case classification. Compared with pediatric participants, adult participants were more likely to be uninsured and to obtain asthma care at EDs. The surveillance system cost $5129 per enrolled person meeting the incident case definition and was difficult to implement in participating clinics and EDs because asthma reporting was not mandatory and informed consent was necessary. The project was useful in evaluating the case definition's validity and in describing the participants' characteristics and health-care use patterns. However, without mandatory reporting laws, reporting of incident asthma in the general population by clinicians is not likely to be a feasible method for asthma surveillance.

Technological solutions for an effective health surveillance system for road traffic crashes in Burkina Faso

PubMed Central

Bonnet, Emmanuel; Nikiéma, Aude; Traoré, Zoumana; Sidbega, Salifou; Ridde, Valéry

2017-01-01

produced that identified ‘hot spots’ in the city. Nearly 80% of crashes involved two-wheeled vehicles. Crashes were more numerous at night and during rush hours. They occurred primarily at intersections with traffic lights. With regard to health impacts, half of the injured were under the age of 29 years, and 6 persons were killed. Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of developing simple surveillance systems, based on mHealth, in LICs. PMID:28574303

Surveillance of contrast-media-induced hypersensitivity reactions using signals from an electronic medical recording system.

PubMed

Kim, Min-Hye; Park, Chang-Han; Kim, Duk-In; Kim, Kyung-Mook; Kim, Hui-Kyu; Lim, Kyu-Hyoung; Song, Woo-Jung; Lee, Sang-Min; Kim, Sae-Hoon; Kwon, Hyouk-Soo; Park, Heung-Woo; Yoon, Chang-Jin; Cho, Sang-Heon; Min, Kyung-Up; Kim, You-Young; Chang, Yoon-Seok

2012-03-01

Contrast-media (CM) hypersensitivity is a well-known adverse drug reaction. Surveillance of adverse drug reactions usually depends on spontaneous reports. However, the rate of spontaneous reports is low. Recent progress in information technology enables the electronic search on signals of adverse drug reactions from electronic medical recording (EMR) systems. To analyze the incidence and clinical characteristics of CM hypersensitivity using an EMR-based surveillance system. The surveillance system used signals from standardized terms within the international classification of nursing practice terms that can indicate symptoms of CM hypersensitivity and from the order codes for procedures that used contrast media, antihistamine, and epinephrine. The search strategy was validated by allergists comparing the electronic search strategy versus manually reviewing medical charts over one month. The main study covered for one year period. Detection rate of the electronic search method was 0.9% (7/759), while that of the manual search method was 0.8% (6/759). EMR-based electronic search method was highly efficient: reduced the charts that needed to be reviewed by 96% (28/759). The sensitivity of electronic screening was 66.7%, specificity was 99.6%, and the negative predictive value was 99.7%. CM hypersensitivity reactions were noted in 266 among 12,483 cases (2.1%). Urticaria was the most frequent symptom (74.4%). CT was the most frequent procedure (3.6%) that induced CM hypersensitivity. A surveillance system using EMR may be a useful tool in the study of drug hypersensitivity epidemiology and may be used in an adverse drug reaction alarm system and as a clinical, decision making support system. Copyright © 2012 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integrated cluster- and case-based surveillance for detecting stage III zoonotic pathogens: an example of Nipah virus surveillance in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Naser, A M; Hossain, M J; Sazzad, H M S; Homaira, N; Gurley, E S; Podder, G; Afroj, S; Banu, S; Rollin, P E; Daszak, P; Ahmed, B-N; Rahman, M; Luby, S P

2015-07-01

This paper explores the utility of cluster- and case-based surveillance established in government hospitals in Bangladesh to detect Nipah virus, a stage III zoonotic pathogen. Physicians listed meningo-encephalitis cases in the 10 surveillance hospitals and identified a cluster when ⩾2 cases who lived within 30 min walking distance of one another developed symptoms within 3 weeks of each other. Physicians collected blood samples from the clustered cases. As part of case-based surveillance, blood was collected from all listed meningo-encephalitis cases in three hospitals during the Nipah season (January-March). An investigation team visited clustered cases' communities to collect epidemiological information and blood from the living cases. We tested serum using Nipah-specific IgM ELISA. Up to September 2011, in 5887 listed cases, we identified 62 clusters comprising 176 encephalitis cases. We collected blood from 127 of these cases. In 10 clusters, we identified a total of 62 Nipah cases: 18 laboratory-confirmed and 34 probable. We identified person-to-person transmission of Nipah virus in four clusters. From case-based surveillance, we identified 23 (4%) Nipah cases. Faced with thousands of encephalitis cases, integrated cluster surveillance allows targeted deployment of investigative resources to detect outbreaks by stage III zoonotic pathogens in resource-limited settings.

Community-based measles mortality surveillance in two districts of Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo.

PubMed

N'goran, Alexandra A; Ilunga, Ngoie; Coldiron, Matthew E; Grais, Rebecca F; Porten, Klaudia

2013-12-17

Mortality due to measles is often under-reported. Traditional methods of measuring mortality can be time and resource-intensive. We describe the implementation of a community-based method to monitor measles mortality. Using standardized questionnaires in the midst of a measles outbreak, a community-based network of volunteers recorded a much larger number of deaths (376) than deaths recorded in health centres (27). Deaths were predominantly (93.5%) among children aged less than 5 years; 54.5% of measles deaths reported antecedent measles vaccination. In this setting, the number of deaths due to measles reported in community-based surveillance was much higher than deaths reported in health centres. Lack of reliable population data and incomplete coverage of the surveillance system make it impossible to calculate overall attack rates and cause-specific mortality rates. Similar systems could be rapidly implemented in other difficult outbreak settings.

Automated video surveillance: teaching an old dog new tricks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLeod, Alastair

1993-12-01

The automated video surveillance market is booming with new players, new systems, new hardware and software, and an extended range of applications. This paper reviews available technology, and describes the features required for a good automated surveillance system. Both hardware and software are discussed. An overview of typical applications is also given. A shift towards PC-based hybrid systems, use of parallel processing, neural networks, and exploitation of modern telecomms are introduced, highlighting the evolution modern video surveillance systems.

Expert system for surveillance and diagnosis of breach fuel elements

DOEpatents

Gross, Kenny C.

1989-01-01

An apparatus and method are disclosed for surveillance and diagnosis of breached fuel elements in a nuclear reactor. A delayed neutron monitoring system provides output signals indicating the delayed neutron activity and age and the equivalent recoil areas of a breached fuel element. Sensors are used to provide outputs indicating the status of each component of the delayed neutron monitoring system. Detectors also generate output signals indicating the reactor power level and the primary coolant flow rate of the reactor. The outputs from the detectors and sensors are interfaced with an artificial intelligence-based knowledge system which implements predetermined logic and generates output signals indicating the operability of the reactor.

A Web-Based Multidrug-Resistant Organisms Surveillance and Outbreak Detection System with Rule-Based Classification and Clustering

PubMed Central

Tseng, Yi-Ju; Wu, Jung-Hsuan; Ping, Xiao-Ou; Lin, Hui-Chi; Chen, Ying-Yu; Shang, Rung-Ji; Chen, Ming-Yuan; Lai, Feipei

2012-01-01

Background The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) are causing a global crisis. Combating antimicrobial resistance requires prevention of transmission of resistant organisms and improved use of antimicrobials. Objectives To develop a Web-based information system for automatic integration, analysis, and interpretation of the antimicrobial susceptibility of all clinical isolates that incorporates rule-based classification and cluster analysis of MDROs and implements control chart analysis to facilitate outbreak detection. Methods Electronic microbiological data from a 2200-bed teaching hospital in Taiwan were classified according to predefined criteria of MDROs. The numbers of organisms, patients, and incident patients in each MDRO pattern were presented graphically to describe spatial and time information in a Web-based user interface. Hierarchical clustering with 7 upper control limits (UCL) was used to detect suspicious outbreaks. The system’s performance in outbreak detection was evaluated based on vancomycin-resistant enterococcal outbreaks determined by a hospital-wide prospective active surveillance database compiled by infection control personnel. Results The optimal UCL for MDRO outbreak detection was the upper 90% confidence interval (CI) using germ criterion with clustering (area under ROC curve (AUC) 0.93, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.95), upper 85% CI using patient criterion (AUC 0.87, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.93), and one standard deviation using incident patient criterion (AUC 0.84, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.92). The performance indicators of each UCL were statistically significantly higher with clustering than those without clustering in germ criterion (P < .001), patient criterion (P = .04), and incident patient criterion (P < .001). Conclusion This system automatically identifies MDROs and accurately detects suspicious outbreaks of MDROs based on the antimicrobial susceptibility of all clinical isolates. PMID:23195868

Sensitivity of the Dengue Surveillance System in Brazil for Detecting Hospitalized Cases

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

We evaluated the sensitivity of the dengue surveillance system in detecting hospitalized cases in ten capital cities in Brazil from 2008 to 2013 using a probabilistic record linkage of two independent information systems hospitalization (SIH-SUS) adopted as the gold standard and surveillance (SINAN). Sensitivity was defined as the proportion of cases reported to the surveillance system amid the suspected hospitalized cases registered in SIH-SUS. Of the 48,174 hospitalizations registered in SIH-SUS, 24,469 (50.7%) were reported and registered in SINAN, indicating an overall sensitivity of 50.8% (95%CI 50.3–51.2). The observed sensitivity for each of the municipalities included in the study ranged from 22.0% to 99.1%. The combination of the two data sources identified 71,161 hospitalizations, an increase of 97.0% over SINAN itself. Our results allowed establishing the proportion of underreported dengue hospitalizations in the public health system in Brazil, highlighting the use of probabilistic record linkage as a valuable tool for evaluating surveillance systems. PMID:27192405

Perceptions and acceptability of some stakeholders about the bovine tuberculosis surveillance system for wildlife (Sylvatub) in France

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a common disease of cattle and wildlife, with economic repercussions and implications for animal and human health. The surveillance of bTB in wildlife is particularly important, to shed light on the epidemiological role of wild species and for the adaptation of control measures. In France, a bTB surveillance system for free-ranging wildlife, the Sylvatub system, was launched in 2011 on wild boars, red deer, roe deer and badgers. It relies on active and passive surveillance activities, constrained by practical difficulties, such as the accessibility of wild animals, and regulatory rules for the trapping of badgers, for example. We report here the first assessment of stakeholders’ perceptions of the Sylvatub system and its acceptability, based on 20 individual semi-structured interviews with three types of stakeholder (collectors, coordinators, officers) in areas with different rates of bTB infection. With the caveat that these findings cannot be assumed to be representative of the national situation, we found that the Sylvatub system was considered useful by all the stakeholders interviewed. Those from the world of hunting participate in surveillance mostly to help livestock farmers, who are not systematically involved in bTB surveillance in wildlife. Many practical and regulatory constraints were raised, which could be offset by recognition of the work done by the “hunting community”, to maintain the willingness of these individuals to participate. We also identified a need for improvements in communication and information. Qualitative information, such as that collected here, is essential to improve our understanding of the reasons favoring and disfavoring participation in surveillance, and should be taken into account in the evaluation process. These results are relevant to hunters and to veterinary authorities wishing to identify the determinants of participation in the Sylvatub system. They could provide support for decision

Surveillance for human Salmonella infections in the United States.

PubMed

Swaminathan, Bala; Barrett, Timothy J; Fields, Patricia

2006-01-01

Surveillance for human Salmonella infections plays a critical role in understanding and controlling foodborne illness due to Salmonella. Along with its public health partners, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has several surveillance systems that collect information on Salmonella infections in the United States. The National Salmonella Surveillance System, begun in 1962, receives reports of laboratory-confirmed Salmonella infections through state public health laboratories. Salmonella outbreaks are reported by state and local health departments through the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Reporting System, which became a Web-based, electronic system (eFORS) in 2001. PulseNet facilitates the detection of clusters of Salmonella infections through standardized molecular subtyping (DNA "fingerprinting") of isolates and maintenance of "fingerprint" databases. The National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System for Enteric Bacteria (NARMS) monitors antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella by susceptibility testing of every 20th Salmonella isolate received by state and local public health laboratories. FootNet is an active surveillance system that monitors Salmonella infections in sentinel areas, providing population-based estimates of infection rates. Efforts are underway to electronically link all of the Salmonella surveillance systems at CDC to facilitate optimum use of available data and minimize duplication.

Public Health Practice of Population-Based Birth Defects Surveillance Programs in the United States.

PubMed

Mai, Cara T; Kirby, Russell S; Correa, Adolfo; Rosenberg, Deborah; Petros, Michael; Fagen, Michael C

2016-01-01

Birth defects remain a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States and contribute substantially to health care costs and lifelong disabilities. State population-based surveillance systems have been established to monitor birth defects, yet no recent systematic examination of their efforts in the United States has been conducted. To understand the current population-based birth defects surveillance practices in the United States. The National Birth Defects Prevention Network conducted a survey of US population-based birth defects activities that included questions about operational status, case ascertainment methodology, program infrastructure, data collection and utilization, as well as priorities and challenges for surveillance programs. Birth defects contacts in the United States, including District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, received the survey via e-mail; follow-up reminders via e-mails and telephone were used to ensure a 100% response rate. Forty-three states perform population-based surveillance for birth defects, covering approximately 80% of the live births in the United States. Seventeen primarily use an active case-finding approach and 26 use a passive case-finding approach. These programs all monitor major structural malformations; however, passive case-finding programs more often monitor a broader list of conditions, including developmental conditions and newborn screening conditions. Active case-finding programs more often use clinical reviewers, cover broader pregnancy outcomes, and collect more extensive information, such as family history. More than half of the programs (24 of 43) reported an ability to conduct follow-up studies of children with birth defects. The breadth and depth of information collected at a population level by birth defects surveillance programs in the United States serve as an important data source to guide public health action. Collaborative efforts at the state and national levels can help harmonize data

Design Science Methodology Applied to a Chemical Surveillance Tool

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Huang, Zhuanyi; Han, Kyungsik; Charles-Smith, Lauren E.

Public health surveillance systems gain significant benefits from integrating existing early incident detection systems,supported by closed data sources, with open source data.However, identifying potential alerting incidents relies on finding accurate, reliable sources and presenting the high volume of data in a way that increases analysts work efficiency; a challenge for any system that leverages open source data. In this paper, we present the design concept and the applied design science research methodology of ChemVeillance, a chemical analyst surveillance system.Our work portrays a system design and approach that translates theoretical methodology into practice creating a powerful surveillance system built for specificmore » use cases.Researchers, designers, developers, and related professionals in the health surveillance community can build upon the principles and methodology described here to enhance and broaden current surveillance systems leading to improved situational awareness based on a robust integrated early warning system.« less

Comparison of five influenza surveillance systems during the 2009 pandemic and their association with media attention

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background During the 2009 influenza pandemic period, routine surveillance of influenza-like-illness (ILI) was conducted in The Netherlands by a network of sentinel general practitioners (GPs). In addition during the pandemic period, four other ILI/influenza surveillance systems existed. For pandemic preparedness, we evaluated the performance of the sentinel system and the others to assess which of the four could be useful additions in the future. We also assessed whether performance of the five systems was influenced by media reports during the pandemic period. Methods The trends in ILI consultation rates reported by sentinel GPs from 20 April 2009 through 3 January 2010 were compared with trends in data from the other systems: ILI cases self-reported through the web-based Great Influenza Survey (GIS); influenza-related web searches through Google Flu Trends (GFT); patients admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed pandemic influenza, and detections of influenza virus by laboratories. In addition, correlations were determined between ILI consultation rates of the sentinel GPs and data from the four other systems. We also compared the trends of the five surveillance systems with trends in pandemic-related newspaper and television coverage and determined correlation coefficients with and without time lags. Results The four other systems showed similar trends and had strong correlations with the ILI consultation rates reported by sentinel GPs. The number of influenza virus detections was the only system to register a summer peak. Increases in the number of newspaper articles and television broadcasts did not precede increases in activity among the five surveillance systems. Conclusions The sentinel general practice network should remain the basis of influenza surveillance, as it integrates epidemiological and virological information and was able to maintain stability and continuity under pandemic pressure. Hospital and virological data are important during a

Participation Dynamics in Population-Based Longitudinal HIV Surveillance in Rural South Africa

PubMed Central

Larmarange, Joseph; Mossong, Joël; Bärnighausen, Till; Newell, Marie Louise

2015-01-01

Population-based HIV surveillance is crucial to inform understanding of the HIV pandemic and evaluate HIV interventions, but little is known about longitudinal participation patterns in such settings. We investigated the dynamics of longitudinal participation patterns in a high HIV prevalence surveillance setting in rural South Africa between 2003 and 2012, taking into account demographic dynamics. At any given survey round, 22,708 to 30,495 persons were eligible. Although the yearly participation rates were relatively modest (26% to 46%), cumulative rates increased substantially with multiple recruitment opportunities: 68% of eligible persons participated at least once, 48% at least twice and 31% at least three times after five survey rounds. We identified two types of study fatigue: at the individual level, contact and consent rates decreased with multiple recruitment opportunities and, at the population level, these rates also decreased over calendar time, independently of multiple recruitment opportunities. Using sequence analysis and hierarchical clustering, we identified three broad individual participation profiles: consenters (20%), switchers (43%) and refusers (37%). Men were over represented among refusers, women among consenters, and temporary non-residents among switchers. The specific subgroup of persons who were systemically not contacted or refusers constitutes a challenge for population-based surveillance and interventions. PMID:25875851

Background-Modeling-Based Adaptive Prediction for Surveillance Video Coding.

PubMed

Zhang, Xianguo; Huang, Tiejun; Tian, Yonghong; Gao, Wen

2014-02-01

The exponential growth of surveillance videos presents an unprecedented challenge for high-efficiency surveillance video coding technology. Compared with the existing coding standards that were basically developed for generic videos, surveillance video coding should be designed to make the best use of the special characteristics of surveillance videos (e.g., relative static background). To do so, this paper first conducts two analyses on how to improve the background and foreground prediction efficiencies in surveillance video coding. Following the analysis results, we propose a background-modeling-based adaptive prediction (BMAP) method. In this method, all blocks to be encoded are firstly classified into three categories. Then, according to the category of each block, two novel inter predictions are selectively utilized, namely, the background reference prediction (BRP) that uses the background modeled from the original input frames as the long-term reference and the background difference prediction (BDP) that predicts the current data in the background difference domain. For background blocks, the BRP can effectively improve the prediction efficiency using the higher quality background as the reference; whereas for foreground-background-hybrid blocks, the BDP can provide a better reference after subtracting its background pixels. Experimental results show that the BMAP can achieve at least twice the compression ratio on surveillance videos as AVC (MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding) high profile, yet with a slightly additional encoding complexity. Moreover, for the foreground coding performance, which is crucial to the subjective quality of moving objects in surveillance videos, BMAP also obtains remarkable gains over several state-of-the-art methods.

A risk-based coverage model for video surveillance camera control optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Hongzhou; Du, Zhiguo; Zhao, Xingtao; Li, Peiyue; Li, Dehua

2015-12-01

Visual surveillance system for law enforcement or police case investigation is different from traditional application, for it is designed to monitor pedestrians, vehicles or potential accidents. Visual surveillance risk is defined as uncertainty of visual information of targets and events monitored in present work and risk entropy is introduced to modeling the requirement of police surveillance task on quality and quantity of vide information. the prosed coverage model is applied to calculate the preset FoV position of PTZ camera.

The conundrum of harmonizing resistance surveillance systems on a global level

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Surveillance systems, particularly those involving complex data over time, provide unique challenges. They are as varied in design, intent, funding and function as the countries in which they exist. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define surveillance as ‘the ongoing systematic colle...

A bootstrap based space-time surveillance model with an application to crime occurrences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Youngho; O'Kelly, Morton

2008-06-01

This study proposes a bootstrap-based space-time surveillance model. Designed to find emerging hotspots in near-real time, the bootstrap based model is characterized by its use of past occurrence information and bootstrap permutations. Many existing space-time surveillance methods, using population at risk data to generate expected values, have resulting hotspots bounded by administrative area units and are of limited use for near-real time applications because of the population data needed. However, this study generates expected values for local hotspots from past occurrences rather than population at risk. Also, bootstrap permutations of previous occurrences are used for significant tests. Consequently, the bootstrap-based model, without the requirement of population at risk data, (1) is free from administrative area restriction, (2) enables more frequent surveillance for continuously updated registry database, and (3) is readily applicable to criminology and epidemiology surveillance. The bootstrap-based model performs better for space-time surveillance than the space-time scan statistic. This is shown by means of simulations and an application to residential crime occurrences in Columbus, OH, year 2000.

Surveillance system and method having an adaptive sequential probability fault detection test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Herzog, James P. (Inventor); Bickford, Randall L. (Inventor)

2005-01-01

System and method providing surveillance of an asset such as a process and/or apparatus by providing training and surveillance procedures that numerically fit a probability density function to an observed residual error signal distribution that is correlative to normal asset operation and then utilizes the fitted probability density function in a dynamic statistical hypothesis test for providing improved asset surveillance.

Surveillance system and method having an adaptive sequential probability fault detection test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bickford, Randall L. (Inventor); Herzog, James P. (Inventor)

2006-01-01

System and method providing surveillance of an asset such as a process and/or apparatus by providing training and surveillance procedures that numerically fit a probability density function to an observed residual error signal distribution that is correlative to normal asset operation and then utilizes the fitted probability density function in a dynamic statistical hypothesis test for providing improved asset surveillance.

Surveillance System and Method having an Adaptive Sequential Probability Fault Detection Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bickford, Randall L. (Inventor); Herzog, James P. (Inventor)

2008-01-01

System and method providing surveillance of an asset such as a process and/or apparatus by providing training and surveillance procedures that numerically fit a probability density function to an observed residual error signal distribution that is correlative to normal asset operation and then utilizes the fitted probability density function in a dynamic statistical hypothesis test for providing improved asset surveillance.

The National Injury Surveillance System in China: a six-year review.

PubMed

Duan, Leilei; Deng, Xiao; Wang, Yuan; Wu, Chunmei; Jiang, Wei; He, Siran; Wang, Linhong; Hyder, Adnan A

2015-04-01

This article aims to describe the National Injury Surveillance System (NISS) in China from its establishment in 2006 to the methods used and some key findings from 2006 to 2011. From 2003 to 2005, based upon specific injury case definitions, a pilot study was conducted to explore the feasibility of a National Injury Surveillance System (NISS) in China. The NISS formally started operations in January 2006, and 126 hospitals from 43 sample points (23 rural, 20 urban) were selected to participate. Doctors and nurses in participating hospitals were trained to administer standardised data collection forms. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention is in charge of analysing data and releasing findings. From 2006 to 2011, the annual recorded injury cases increased from 340,000 to 630,000, the majority being male (65%) and over 80% aged 15-64 years. Falls (32%), road traffic injuries (23%) and blunt injuries (19%) were the most common causes. More than 70% of cases were of minor severity, and over 75% of cases were discharged after treatment in the emergency department. The NISS is the first hospital-based national system in China, therefore considered an important source of injury data. It has the potential to describe injury morbidity in China and to be utilised to develop national technical and policy documents. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National Infectious Diseases Surveillance data of South Korea.

PubMed

Park, Sunhee; Cho, Eunhee

2014-01-01

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) operate infectious disease surveillance systems to monitor national disease incidence. Since 1954, Korea has collected data on various infectious diseases in accordance with the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act. All physicians (including those working in Oriental medicine) who diagnose a patient with an infectious disease or conduct a postmortem examination of an infectious disease case are obliged to report the disease to the system. These reported data are incorporated into the database of the National Infectious Disease Surveillance System, which has been providing web-based real-time surveillance data on infectious diseases since 2001. In addition, the KCDC analyzes reported data and publishes the Infectious Disease Surveillance Yearbook annually.

Cost analysis of an integrated vaccine-preventable disease surveillance system in Costa Rica✩

PubMed Central

Toscano, C.M.; Vijayaraghavan, M.; Salazar-Bolaños, H.M.; Bolaños-Acuña, H.M.; Ruiz-González, A.I.; Barrantes-Solis, T.; Fernández-Vargas, I.; Panero, M.S.; de Oliveira, L.H.; Hyde, T.B.

2015-01-01

Introduction Following World Health Organization recommendations set forth in the Global Framework for Immunization Monitoring and Surveillance, Costa Rica in 2009 became the first country to implement integrated vaccine-preventable disease (iVPD) surveillance, with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). As surveillance for diseases prevented by new vaccines is integrated into existing surveillance systems, these systems could cost more than routine surveillance for VPDs targeted by the Expanded Program on Immunization. Objectives We estimate the costs associated with establishing and subsequently operating the iVPD surveillance system at a pilot site in Costa Rica. Methods We retrospectively collected data on costs incurred by the institutions supporting iVPD surveillance during the preparatory (January 2007 through August 2009) and implementation (September 2009 through August 2010) phases of the iVPD surveillance project in Costa Rica. These data were used to estimate costs for personnel, meetings, infrastructure, office equipment and supplies, transportation, and laboratory facilities. Costs incurred by each of the collaborating institutions were also estimated. Results During the preparatory phase, the estimated total cost was 128,000 U.S. dollars (US$), including 64% for personnel costs. The preparatory phase was supported by CDC and PAHO. The estimated cost for 1 year of implementation was US$ 420,000, including 58% for personnel costs, 28% for laboratory costs, and 14% for meeting, infrastructure, office, and transportation costs combined. The national reference laboratory and the PAHO Costa Rica office incurred 64% of total costs, and other local institutions supporting iVPD surveillance incurred the remaining 36%. Conclusions Countries planning to implement iVPD surveillance will require adequate investments in human resources, laboratories, data management, reporting, and

Cost analysis of an integrated vaccine-preventable disease surveillance system in Costa Rica.

PubMed

Toscano, C M; Vijayaraghavan, M; Salazar-Bolaños, H M; Bolaños-Acuña, H M; Ruiz-González, A I; Barrantes-Solis, T; Fernández-Vargas, I; Panero, M S; de Oliveira, L H; Hyde, T B

2013-07-02

Following World Health Organization recommendations set forth in the Global Framework for Immunization Monitoring and Surveillance, Costa Rica in 2009 became the first country to implement integrated vaccine-preventable disease (iVPD) surveillance, with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). As surveillance for diseases prevented by new vaccines is integrated into existing surveillance systems, these systems could cost more than routine surveillance for VPDs targeted by the Expanded Program on Immunization. We estimate the costs associated with establishing and subsequently operating the iVPD surveillance system at a pilot site in Costa Rica. We retrospectively collected data on costs incurred by the institutions supporting iVPD surveillance during the preparatory (January 2007 through August 2009) and implementation (September 2009 through August 2010) phases of the iVPD surveillance project in Costa Rica. These data were used to estimate costs for personnel, meetings, infrastructure, office equipment and supplies, transportation, and laboratory facilities. Costs incurred by each of the collaborating institutions were also estimated. During the preparatory phase, the estimated total cost was 128,000 U.S. dollars (US$), including 64% for personnel costs. The preparatory phase was supported by CDC and PAHO. The estimated cost for 1 year of implementation was US$ 420,000, including 58% for personnel costs, 28% for laboratory costs, and 14% for meeting, infrastructure, office, and transportation costs combined. The national reference laboratory and the PAHO Costa Rica office incurred 64% of total costs, and other local institutions supporting iVPD surveillance incurred the remaining 36%. Countries planning to implement iVPD surveillance will require adequate investments in human resources, laboratories, data management, reporting, and investigation. Our findings will be valuable for

Improving the work efficiency of healthcare-associated infection surveillance using electronic medical records.

PubMed

Lo, Yu-Sheng; Lee, Wen-Sen; Chen, Guo-Bin; Liu, Chien-Tsai

2014-11-01

In this study, we developed an integrated hospital-associated urinary tract infection (HAUTI) surveillance information system (called iHAUTISIS) based on existing electronic medical records (EMR) systems for improving the work efficiency of infection control professionals (ICPs) in a 730-bed, tertiary-care teaching hospital in Taiwan. The iHAUTISIS can automatically collect data relevant to HAUTI surveillance from the different EMR systems, and provides a visualization dashboard that helps ICPs make better surveillance plans and facilitates their surveillance work. In order to measure the system performance, we also created a generic model for comparing the ICPs' work efficiency when using existing electronic culture-based surveillance information system (eCBSIS) and iHAUTISIS, respectively. This model can demonstrate a patient's state (unsuspected, suspected, and confirmed) and corresponding time spent on surveillance tasks performed by ICPs for the patient in that state. The study results showed that the iHAUTISIS performed better than the eCBSIS in terms of ICPs' time cost. It reduced the time by 73.27 s, when using iHAUTISIS (114.26 s) and eCBSIS (187.53 s), for each patient on average. With increased adoption of EMR systems, the development of the integrated HAI surveillance information systems would be more and more cost-effective. Moreover, the iHAUTISIS adopted web-based technology that enables ICPs to online access patient's surveillance information using laptops or mobile devices. Therefore, our system can further facilitate the HAI surveillance and reduce ICPs' surveillance workloads. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methodological quality of the injury surveillance system used in international athletics championships.

PubMed

Edouard, Pascal; Branco, Pedro; Alonso, Juan Manuel; Junge, Astrid

2016-12-01

Incidence and prevalence data obtained from injury surveillance studies could be biased by the response rate as well as by the completeness and quality of the reports. It therefore appears crucial to analyse the quality of the injury surveillance system itself and thereby validate the quality of the data. This study aimed to analyse the quality of and compliance with the injury surveillance system implemented during international athletics championships. Prospective, epidemiological study. The national medical teams and the local organising committee physicians daily reported all injuries on a standardised injury report form during 14 international athletics championships from 2007 to 2015. The quality of the injury surveillance system was analysed following the guidelines laid down by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. On average 41.7±17.4% (mean±standard deviation) of all registered countries participated in the injury surveillance project, accounting for a coverage of athletes of 79.5±10.2% of all registered athletes. Their medical staff returned 89.2±8.4% of the expected injury report forms (information is missing for one championship). The completeness of injury data provided by medical teams and local organising committee physicians averaged 95.8±6.5%. National medical teams reported 60.6±16.6% of all injuries, and local organising committee physicians 28.7±15.0% whereas 10.6±6.5% of injuries were reported by both. The injury surveillance system used during international athletics championships provided good national medical team participation, coverage of athletes, response rate, and completeness of reports. These parameters should be systematically reported for injury surveillance studies to show the quality of the study. Copyright © 2016 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of Syndromic Surveillance Systems in 6 US State and Local Health Departments.

PubMed

Thomas, Mathew J; Yoon, Paula W; Collins, James M; Davidson, Arthur J; Mac Kenzie, William R

Evaluating public health surveillance systems is critical to ensuring that conditions of public health importance are appropriately monitored. Our objectives were to qualitatively evaluate 6 state and local health departments that were early adopters of syndromic surveillance in order to (1) understand the characteristics and current uses, (2) identify the most and least useful syndromes to monitor, (3) gauge the utility for early warning and outbreak detection, and (4) assess how syndromic surveillance impacted their daily decision making. We adapted evaluation guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and gathered input from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention subject matter experts in public health surveillance to develop a questionnaire. We interviewed staff members from a convenience sample of 6 local and state health departments with syndromic surveillance programs that had been in operation for more than 10 years. Three of the 6 interviewees provided an example of using syndromic surveillance to identify an outbreak (ie, cluster of foodborne illness in 1 jurisdiction) or detect a surge in cases for seasonal conditions (eg, influenza in 2 jurisdictions) prior to traditional, disease-specific systems. Although all interviewees noted that syndromic surveillance has not been routinely useful or efficient for early outbreak detection or case finding in their jurisdictions, all agreed that the information can be used to improve their understanding of dynamic disease control environments and conditions (eg, situational awareness) in their communities. In the jurisdictions studied, syndromic surveillance may be useful for monitoring the spread and intensity of large outbreaks of disease, especially influenza; enhancing public health awareness of mass gatherings and natural disasters; and assessing new, otherwise unmonitored conditions when real-time alternatives are unavailable. Future studies should explore opportunities to

The design and evaluation of an antimicrobial resistance surveillance system for neonatal intensive care units in Iran.

PubMed

Rezaei-Hachesu, Peyman; Samad-Soltani, Taha; Yaghoubi, Sajad; GhaziSaeedi, Marjan; Mirnia, Kayvan; Masoumi-Asl, Hossein; Safdari, Reza

2018-07-01

Neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) have complex patients in terms of their diagnoses and required treatments. Antimicrobial treatment is a common therapy for patients in NICUs. To solve problems pertaining to empirical therapy, antimicrobial stewardship programs have recently been introduced. Despite the success of these programs in terms of data collection, there is still inefficiency in terms of analyzing and reporting the data. Thus, to successfully implement these stewardship programs, the design of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance systems is recommended as a first step. As a result, this study aimed to design an AMR surveillance system for use in the NICUs in northwestern Iranian hospitals to cover these information gaps. The recommended system is compatible with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The business intelligence (BI) requirements were extracted in an interview with a product owner (PO) using a valid and reliable checklist. Following this, an AMR surveillance system was designed and evaluated in relation to user experiences via a user experience questionnaire (UEQ). Finally, an association analysis was performed on the database, and the results were reported by identifying the important multidrug resistances in the database. A customized software development methodology was proposed. The three major modules of the AMR surveillance are the data registry, dashboard, and decision support modules. The data registry module was implemented based on a three-tier architecture, and the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) and dashboard modules were designed based on the BI requirements of the Scrum product owner (PO). The mean values of UEQ measures were in a good range. This measures showed the suitable usability of the AMR surveillance system. Applying efficient software development methodologies allows for the systems' compatibility with users' opinions and requirements. In addition, the construction of interdisciplinary

Active surveillance for influenza vaccine adverse events: the integrated vaccine surveillance system.

PubMed

Newes-Adeyi, Gabriella; Greece, Jacey; Bozeman, Sam; Walker, Deborah Klein; Lewis, Faith; Gidudu, Jane

2012-02-01

We conducted a pilot study of the Integrated Vaccine Surveillance System (IVSS), a novel active surveillance system for monitoring influenza vaccine adverse events that could be used in mass vaccination settings. We recruited 605 adult vaccinees from a convenience sample of 12 influenza vaccine clinics conducted by public health departments of two U.S. metropolitan regions. Vaccinees provided daily reports on adverse reactions following immunization (AEFI) using an interactive voice response system (IVR) or the internet for 14 consecutive days following immunization. Followup with nonrespondents was conducted through computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Data on vaccinee reports were available real-time through a dedicated secure website. 90% (545) of vaccinees made at least one daily report and 49% (299) reported consecutively for the full 14-day period. 58% (315) used internet, 20% (110) IVR, 6% (31) CATI, and 16% (89) used a combination for daily reports. Of the 545 reporters, 339 (62%) reported one or more AEFI, for a total of 594 AEFIs reported. The majority (505 or 85%) of these AEFIs were mild symptoms. It is feasible to develop a system to obtain real-time data on vaccine adverse events. Vaccinees are willing to provide daily reports for a considerable time post vaccination. Offering multiple modes of reporting encourages high response rates. Study findings on AEFIs showed that the IVSS was able to exhibit the emerging safety profile of the 2008 seasonal influenza vaccine. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Easier surveillance of climate-related health vulnerabilities through a Web-based spatial OLAP application.

PubMed

Bernier, Eveline; Gosselin, Pierre; Badard, Thierry; Bédard, Yvan

2009-04-03

Climate change has a significant impact on population health. Population vulnerabilities depend on several determinants of different types, including biological, psychological, environmental, social and economic ones. Surveillance of climate-related health vulnerabilities must take into account these different factors, their interdependence, as well as their inherent spatial and temporal aspects on several scales, for informed analyses. Currently used technology includes commercial off-the-shelf Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Database Management Systems with spatial extensions. It has been widely recognized that such OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing) systems were not designed to support complex, multi-temporal and multi-scale analysis as required above. On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is central to the field known as BI (Business Intelligence), a key field for such decision-support systems. In the last few years, we have seen a few projects that combine OLAP and GIS to improve spatio-temporal analysis and geographic knowledge discovery. This has given rise to SOLAP (Spatial OLAP) and a new research area. This paper presents how SOLAP and climate-related health vulnerability data were investigated and combined to facilitate surveillance. Based on recent spatial decision-support technologies, this paper presents a spatio-temporal web-based application that goes beyond GIS applications with regard to speed, ease of use, and interactive analysis capabilities. It supports the multi-scale exploration and analysis of integrated socio-economic, health and environmental geospatial data over several periods. This project was meant to validate the potential of recent technologies to contribute to a better understanding of the interactions between public health and climate change, and to facilitate future decision-making by public health agencies and municipalities in Canada and elsewhere. The project also aimed at integrating an initial collection of geo

A concept for routine emergency-care data-based syndromic surveillance in Europe.

PubMed

Ziemann, A; Rosenkötter, N; Garcia-Castrillo Riesgo, L; Schrell, S; Kauhl, B; Vergeiner, G; Fischer, M; Lippert, F K; Krämer, A; Brand, H; Krafft, T

2014-11-01

We developed a syndromic surveillance (SyS) concept using emergency dispatch, ambulance and emergency-department data from different European countries. Based on an inventory of sub-national emergency data availability in 12 countries, we propose framework definitions for specific syndromes and a SyS system design. We tested the concept by retrospectively applying cumulative sum and spatio-temporal cluster analyses for the detection of local gastrointestinal outbreaks in four countries and comparing the results with notifiable disease reporting. Routine emergency data was available daily and electronically in 11 regions, following a common structure. We identified two gastrointestinal outbreaks in two countries; one was confirmed as a norovirus outbreak. We detected 1/147 notified outbreaks. Emergency-care data-based SyS can supplement local surveillance with near real-time information on gastrointestinal patients, especially in special circumstances, e.g. foreign tourists. It most likely cannot detect the majority of local gastrointestinal outbreaks with few, mild or dispersed cases.

Expert system for surveillance and diagnosis of breach fuel elements

DOEpatents

Gross, K.C.

1988-01-21

An apparatus and method are disclosed for surveillance and diagnosis of breached fuel elements in a nuclear reactor. A delayed neutron monitoring system provides output signals indicating the delayed neutron activity and age and the equivalent recoil area of a breached fuel element. Sensors are used to provide outputs indicating the status of each component of the delayed neutron monitoring system. Detectors also generate output signals indicating the reactor power level and the primary coolant flow rate of the reactor. The outputs from the detectors and sensors are interfaced with an artificial intelligence-based knowledge system which implements predetermined logic and generates output signals indicating the operability of the reactor. 2 figs.

Validation of an electronic surveillance system for acute lung injury

PubMed Central

Herasevich, Vitaly; Yilmaz, Murat; Khan, Hasrat; Hubmayr, Rolf D.; Gajic, Ognjen

2009-01-01

Objective Early detection of acute lung injury (ALI) is essential for timely implementation of evidence-based therapies and enrollment into clinical trials. We aimed to determine the accuracy of computerized syndrome surveillance for detection of ALI in hospitalized patients and compare it with routine clinical assessment. Design Using a near-real time copy of the electronic medical records we developed and validated a custom ALI electronic alert (ALI “sniffer”) based on the European-American Consensus Conference Definition and compared its performance against provider derived documentation. Patients and setting Consecutive 3795 critically ill patients admitted to 9 multidisciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) of a tertiary care teaching institution. Measurements and main results ALI developed in 325 patients and was recognized by bedside clinicians in only 86 (26.5%). Under-recognition of ALI was associated with not implementing protective mechanical ventilation (median tidal volumes of 9.2 vs 8.0 mL/kg predicted body weight, p<0.001). ALI “sniffer” demonstrated excellent sensitivity, 96% (95% CI 94 to 98) and moderate specificity, 89% (95% CI 88 to 90) with a positive predictive value ranging from 24% (95% CI 13 to 40) in the heart-lung transplant ICU to 64% (95% CI 55 to 71) in the medical ICU. Conclusions Computerized surveillance system accurately identifies critically ill patients who develop ALI syndrome. Since the lack of ALI recognition is a barrier to the timely implementation of best practices and enrollment into research studies, computerized syndrome surveillance could be a useful tool to enhance patient safety and clinical research. PMID:19280175

Validation of an electronic surveillance system for acute lung injury.

PubMed

Herasevich, Vitaly; Yilmaz, Murat; Khan, Hasrat; Hubmayr, Rolf D; Gajic, Ognjen

2009-06-01

Early detection of acute lung injury (ALI) is essential for timely implementation of evidence-based therapies and enrollment into clinical trials. We aimed to determine the accuracy of computerized syndrome surveillance for detection of ALI in hospitalized patients and compare it with routine clinical assessment. Using a near-real time copy of the electronic medical records, we developed and validated a custom ALI electronic alert (ALI "sniffer") based on the European-American Consensus Conference Definition and compared its performance against provider-derived documentation. A total of 3,795 consecutive critically ill patients admitted to nine multidisciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) of a tertiary care teaching institution were included. ALI developed in 325 patients and was recognized by bedside clinicians in only 86 (26.5%). Under-recognition of ALI was associated with not implementing protective mechanical ventilation (median tidal volumes of 9.2 vs. 8.0 ml/kg predicted body weight, P < 0.001). ALI "sniffer" demonstrated excellent sensitivity of 96% (95% CI 94-98) and moderate specificity of 89% (95% CI 88-90) with a positive predictive value ranging from 24% (95% CI 13-40) in the heart-lung transplant ICU to 64% (95% CI 55-71) in the medical ICU. The computerized surveillance system accurately identifies critically ill patients who develop ALI syndrome. Since the lack of ALI recognition is a barrier to the timely implementation of best practices and enrollment into research studies, computerized syndrome surveillance could be a useful tool to enhance patient safety and clinical research.

Real Time Wide Area Radiation Surveillance System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biafore, M.

2012-04-01

We present the REWARD project, financed within the FP7 programme, theme SEC-2011.1.5-1 (Development of detection capabilities of difficult to detect radioactive sources and nuclear materials - Capability Project). Within this project, we propose a novel mobile system for real time, wide area radiation surveillance. The system is based on the integration of new miniaturized solid-state radiation sensors: a CdZnTe detector for gamma radiation and a high efficiency neutron detector based on novel silicon technologies. The sensing unit will include a wireless communication interface to send the data remotely to a monitoring base station which also uses a GPS system to calculate the position of the tag. The system will also incorporate middleware and high level software to provide web-service interfaces for the exchange of information, and that will offer top level functionalities as management of users, mobile tags and environment data and alarms, database storage and management and a web-based graphical user interface. Effort will be spent to ensure that the software is modular and re-usable across as many architectural levels as possible. Finally, an expert system will continuously analyze the information from the radiation sensor and correlate it with historical data from the tag location in order to generate an alarm when an abnormal situation is detected. The system will be useful for many different scenarios, including such lost radioactive sources and radioactive contamination. It will be possible to deploy in emergency units and in general in any type of mobile or static equipment. The sensing units will be highly portable thanks to their low size and low energy consumption. The complete system will be scalable in terms of complexity and cost and will offer very high precision on both the measurement and the location of the radiation. The modularity and flexibility of the system will allow for a realistic introduction to the market. Authorities may start with a

Development and Implementation of a Surveillance Network System for Emerging Infectious Diseases in the Caribbean (ARICABA).

PubMed

Kim, Wongyu Lewis; Anneducharme, Chelsea; Bucher, Bernard Jean-Marie Philippe

2011-01-01

Dengue fever, including dengue hemorrhagic fever, has become a re-emerging public health threat in the Caribbean in the absence of a comprehensive regional surveillance system. In this deficiency, a project entitled ARICABA, strives to implement a pilot surveillance system across three islands: Martinique, St. Lucia, and Dominica. The aim of this project is to establish a network for epidemiological surveillance of infectious diseases, utilizing information and communication technology. This paper describes the system design and development strategies of a "network of networks" surveillance system for infectious diseases in the Caribbean. Also described are benefits, challenges, and limitations of this approach across the three island nations identified through direct observation, open-ended interviews, and email communications with an on-site IT consultant, key informants, and the project director. Identified core systems design of the ARICABA data warehouse include a disease monitoring system and a syndromic surveillance system. Three components comprise the development strategy: the data warehouse server, the geographical information system, and forecasting algorithms; these are recognized technical priorities of the surveillance system. A main benefit of the ARICABA surveillance system is improving responsiveness and representativeness of existing health systems through automated data collection, process, and transmission of information from various sources. Challenges include overcoming technology gaps between countries; real-time data collection points; multiple language support; and "component-oriented" development approaches.

Normalized Metadata Generation for Human Retrieval Using Multiple Video Surveillance Cameras.

PubMed

Jung, Jaehoon; Yoon, Inhye; Lee, Seungwon; Paik, Joonki

2016-06-24

Since it is impossible for surveillance personnel to keep monitoring videos from a multiple camera-based surveillance system, an efficient technique is needed to help recognize important situations by retrieving the metadata of an object-of-interest. In a multiple camera-based surveillance system, an object detected in a camera has a different shape in another camera, which is a critical issue of wide-range, real-time surveillance systems. In order to address the problem, this paper presents an object retrieval method by extracting the normalized metadata of an object-of-interest from multiple, heterogeneous cameras. The proposed metadata generation algorithm consists of three steps: (i) generation of a three-dimensional (3D) human model; (ii) human object-based automatic scene calibration; and (iii) metadata generation. More specifically, an appropriately-generated 3D human model provides the foot-to-head direction information that is used as the input of the automatic calibration of each camera. The normalized object information is used to retrieve an object-of-interest in a wide-range, multiple-camera surveillance system in the form of metadata. Experimental results show that the 3D human model matches the ground truth, and automatic calibration-based normalization of metadata enables a successful retrieval and tracking of a human object in the multiple-camera video surveillance system.

Normalized Metadata Generation for Human Retrieval Using Multiple Video Surveillance Cameras

PubMed Central

Jung, Jaehoon; Yoon, Inhye; Lee, Seungwon; Paik, Joonki

2016-01-01

Since it is impossible for surveillance personnel to keep monitoring videos from a multiple camera-based surveillance system, an efficient technique is needed to help recognize important situations by retrieving the metadata of an object-of-interest. In a multiple camera-based surveillance system, an object detected in a camera has a different shape in another camera, which is a critical issue of wide-range, real-time surveillance systems. In order to address the problem, this paper presents an object retrieval method by extracting the normalized metadata of an object-of-interest from multiple, heterogeneous cameras. The proposed metadata generation algorithm consists of three steps: (i) generation of a three-dimensional (3D) human model; (ii) human object-based automatic scene calibration; and (iii) metadata generation. More specifically, an appropriately-generated 3D human model provides the foot-to-head direction information that is used as the input of the automatic calibration of each camera. The normalized object information is used to retrieve an object-of-interest in a wide-range, multiple-camera surveillance system in the form of metadata. Experimental results show that the 3D human model matches the ground truth, and automatic calibration-based normalization of metadata enables a successful retrieval and tracking of a human object in the multiple-camera video surveillance system. PMID:27347961

A new laboratory-based surveillance system (Respiratory DataMart System) for influenza and other respiratory viruses in England: results and experience from 2009 to 2012.

PubMed

Zhao, H; Green, H; Lackenby, A; Donati, M; Ellis, J; Thompson, C; Bermingham, A; Field, J; Sebastianpillai, P; Zambon, M; Watson, Jm; Pebody, R

2014-01-23

During the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic, a new laboratory-based virological sentinel surveillance system, the Respiratory DataMart System (RDMS), was established in a network of 14 Health Protection Agency (now Public Health England (PHE)) and National Health Service (NHS) laboratories in England. Laboratory results (both positive and negative) were systematically collected from all routinely tested clinical respiratory samples for a range of respiratory viruses including influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus, adenovirus and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). The RDMS also monitored the occurrence of antiviral resistance of influenza viruses. Data from the RDMS for the 2009–2012 period showed that the 2009 pandemic influenza virus caused three waves of activity with different intensities during the pandemic and post pandemic periods. Peaks in influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 positivity (defined as number of positive samples per total number of samples tested) were seen in summer and autumn in 2009, with slightly higher peak positivity observed in the first post-pandemic season in 2010/2011. The influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus strain almost completely disappeared in the second postpandemic season in 2011/2012. The RDMS findings are consistent with other existing community-based virological and clinical surveillance systems. With a large sample size, this new system provides a robust supplementary mechanism, through the collection of routinely available laboratory data at minimum extra cost, to monitor influenza as well as other respiratory virus activity. A near real-time, daily reporting mechanism in the RDMS was established during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Furthermore, this system can be quickly adapted and used to monitor future influenza pandemics and other major outbreaks of respiratory infectious disease, including novel pathogens.

Development of the Diabetes Technology Society Blood Glucose Monitor System Surveillance Protocol

PubMed Central

Klonoff, David C.; Lias, Courtney; Beck, Stayce; Parkes, Joan Lee; Kovatchev, Boris; Vigersky, Robert A.; Arreaza-Rubin, Guillermo; Burk, Robert D.; Kowalski, Aaron; Little, Randie; Nichols, James; Petersen, Matt; Rawlings, Kelly; Sacks, David B.; Sampson, Eric; Scott, Steve; Seley, Jane Jeffrie; Slingerland, Robbert; Vesper, Hubert W.

2015-01-01

Background: Inaccurate blood glucsoe monitoring systems (BGMSs) can lead to adverse health effects. The Diabetes Technology Society (DTS) Surveillance Program for cleared BGMSs is intended to protect people with diabetes from inaccurate, unreliable BGMS products that are currently on the market in the United States. The Surveillance Program will provide an independent assessment of the analytical performance of cleared BGMSs. Methods: The DTS BGMS Surveillance Program Steering Committee included experts in glucose monitoring, surveillance testing, and regulatory science. Over one year, the committee engaged in meetings and teleconferences aiming to describe how to conduct BGMS surveillance studies in a scientifically sound manner that is in compliance with good clinical practice and all relevant regulations. Results: A clinical surveillance protocol was created that contains performance targets and analytical accuracy-testing studies with marketed BGMS products conducted by qualified clinical and laboratory sites. This protocol entitled “Protocol for the Diabetes Technology Society Blood Glucose Monitor System Surveillance Program” is attached as supplementary material. Conclusion: This program is needed because currently once a BGMS product has been cleared for use by the FDA, no systematic postmarket Surveillance Program exists that can monitor analytical performance and detect potential problems. This protocol will allow identification of inaccurate and unreliable BGMSs currently available on the US market. The DTS Surveillance Program will provide BGMS manufacturers a benchmark to understand the postmarket analytical performance of their products. Furthermore, patients, health care professionals, payers, and regulatory agencies will be able to use the results of the study to make informed decisions to, respectively, select, prescribe, finance, and regulate BGMSs on the market. PMID:26481642

Development of the Diabetes Technology Society Blood Glucose Monitor System Surveillance Protocol.

PubMed

Klonoff, David C; Lias, Courtney; Beck, Stayce; Parkes, Joan Lee; Kovatchev, Boris; Vigersky, Robert A; Arreaza-Rubin, Guillermo; Burk, Robert D; Kowalski, Aaron; Little, Randie; Nichols, James; Petersen, Matt; Rawlings, Kelly; Sacks, David B; Sampson, Eric; Scott, Steve; Seley, Jane Jeffrie; Slingerland, Robbert; Vesper, Hubert W

2016-05-01

Inaccurate blood glucsoe monitoring systems (BGMSs) can lead to adverse health effects. The Diabetes Technology Society (DTS) Surveillance Program for cleared BGMSs is intended to protect people with diabetes from inaccurate, unreliable BGMS products that are currently on the market in the United States. The Surveillance Program will provide an independent assessment of the analytical performance of cleared BGMSs. The DTS BGMS Surveillance Program Steering Committee included experts in glucose monitoring, surveillance testing, and regulatory science. Over one year, the committee engaged in meetings and teleconferences aiming to describe how to conduct BGMS surveillance studies in a scientifically sound manner that is in compliance with good clinical practice and all relevant regulations. A clinical surveillance protocol was created that contains performance targets and analytical accuracy-testing studies with marketed BGMS products conducted by qualified clinical and laboratory sites. This protocol entitled "Protocol for the Diabetes Technology Society Blood Glucose Monitor System Surveillance Program" is attached as supplementary material. This program is needed because currently once a BGMS product has been cleared for use by the FDA, no systematic postmarket Surveillance Program exists that can monitor analytical performance and detect potential problems. This protocol will allow identification of inaccurate and unreliable BGMSs currently available on the US market. The DTS Surveillance Program will provide BGMS manufacturers a benchmark to understand the postmarket analytical performance of their products. Furthermore, patients, health care professionals, payers, and regulatory agencies will be able to use the results of the study to make informed decisions to, respectively, select, prescribe, finance, and regulate BGMSs on the market. © 2015 Diabetes Technology Society.

Ebola Surveillance - Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

PubMed

McNamara, Lucy A; Schafer, Ilana J; Nolen, Leisha D; Gorina, Yelena; Redd, John T; Lo, Terrence; Ervin, Elizabeth; Henao, Olga; Dahl, Benjamin A; Morgan, Oliver; Hersey, Sara; Knust, Barbara

2016-07-08

Developing a surveillance system during a public health emergency is always challenging but is especially so in countries with limited public health infrastructure. Surveillance for Ebola virus disease (Ebola) in the West African countries heavily affected by Ebola (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) faced numerous impediments, including insufficient numbers of trained staff, community reticence to report cases and contacts, limited information technology resources, limited telephone and Internet service, and overwhelming numbers of infected persons. Through the work of CDC and numerous partners, including the countries' ministries of health, the World Health Organization, and other government and nongovernment organizations, functional Ebola surveillance was established and maintained in these countries. CDC staff were heavily involved in implementing case-based surveillance systems, sustaining case surveillance and contact tracing, and interpreting surveillance data. In addition to helping the ministries of health and other partners understand and manage the epidemic, CDC's activities strengthened epidemiologic and data management capacity to improve routine surveillance in the countries affected, even after the Ebola epidemic ended, and enhanced local capacity to respond quickly to future public health emergencies. However, the many obstacles overcome during development of these Ebola surveillance systems highlight the need to have strong public health, surveillance, and information technology infrastructure in place before a public health emergency occurs. Intense, long-term focus on strengthening public health surveillance systems in developing countries, as described in the Global Health Security Agenda, is needed.The activities summarized in this report would not have been possible without collaboration with many U.S and international partners (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/partners.html).

NASA Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) Atlanta Demonstration: Surveillance Systems Performance Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cassell, Rick; Evers, Carl; Hicok, Dan; Lee, Derrick

1999-01-01

NASA conducted a series of flight experiments at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport as part of the Low Visibility Landing and Surface Operations (LVLASO) Program. LVLASO is one of the subelements of the NASA Terminal Area Productivity (TAP) Program, which is focused on providing technology and operating procedures for achieving clear-weather airport capacity in instrument-weather conditions, while also improving safety. LVLASO is investigating various technologies to be applied to airport surface operations, including advanced flight deck displays and surveillance systems. The purpose of this report is to document the performance of the surveillance systems tested as part of the LVLASO flight experiment. There were three surveillance sensors tested: primary radar using Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE-3) and the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), Multilateration using the Airport Surface Target Identification System (ATIDS), and Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B) operating at 1090 MHz. The performance was compared to the draft requirements of the ICAO Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS). Performance parameters evaluated included coverage, position accuracy, and update rate. Each of the sensors was evaluated as a stand alone surveillance system.

The burden of childhood injuries and evidence based strategies developed using the injury surveillance system in Pasto, Colombia.

PubMed

Espitia-Hardeman, Victoria; Borse, Nagesh N; Dellinger, Ann M; Betancourt, Carmen Elena; Villareal, Alba Nelly; Caicedo, Luz Diana; Portillo, Carlos

2011-02-01

This article characterises the burden of childhood injuries and provides examples of evidence-based injury prevention strategies developed using a citywide injury surveillance system in Pasto, Colombia. Fatal (2003-2007) and non-fatal (2006-2007) childhood injury data were analysed by age, sex, cause, intent, place of occurrence, and disposition. Boys accounted for 71.5% of fatal and 64.9% of non-fatal injuries. The overall fatality rate for all injuries was 170.8 per 100,000 and the non-fatal injury rate was 4,053 per 100,000. Unintentional injuries were the leading causes of fatal injuries for all age groups, except for those 15-19 years whose top four leading causes were violence-related. Among non-fatal injuries, falls was the leading mechanism in the group 0-14 years. Interpersonal violence with a sharp object was the most important cause for boys aged 15-19 years. Home was the most frequent place of occurrence for both fatal and non-fatal injuries for young children 0-4 years old. Home, school and public places became an important place for injuries for boys in the age group 5-15 years. The highest case-fatality rate was for self-inflicted injuries (8.9%). Although some interventions have been implemented in Pasto to reduce injuries, it is necessary to further explore risk factors to better focus prevention strategies and their evaluation. We discuss three evidence-based strategies developed to prevent firework-related injuries during festival, self-inflicted injuries, and road traffic-related injuries, designed and implemented based on the injury surveillance data.

Survey of Communicable Diseases Surveillance System in Hospitals of Iran: A Qualitative Approach

PubMed Central

Dehcheshmeh, Nayeb Fadaei; Arab, Mohammad; Foroushani, Abbas Rahimi; Farzianpour, Fereshteh

2016-01-01

Background: Communicable Disease Surveillance and reporting is one of the key elements to combat against diseases and their control. Fast and timely recognition of communicable diseases can be helpful in controlling of epidemics. One of the main sources of management of communicable diseases reporting is hospitals that collect communicable diseases’ reports and send them to health authorities. One of the focal problems and challenges in this regard is incomplete and imprecise reports from hospitals. In this study, while examining the implementation processes of the communicable diseases surveillance in hospitals, non-medical people who were related to the program have been studied by a qualitative approach. Methods: This study was conducted using qualitative content analysis method. Participants in the study included 36 informants, managers, experts associated with health and surveillance of communicable diseases that were selected using targeted sampling and with diverse backgrounds and work experience (different experiences in primary health surveillance and treatment, Ministry levels, university staff and operations (hospitals and health centers) and sampling was continued until arrive to data saturation. Results: Interviews were analyzed after the elimination of duplicate codes and integration of them. Finally, 73 codes were acquired and categorized in 6 major themes and 21 levels. The main themes included: policy making and planning, development of resources, organizing, collaboration and participation, surveillance process, and monitoring and evaluation of the surveillance system. In point of interviewees, attention to these themes is necessary to develop effective and efficient surveillance system for communicable diseases. Conclusion: Surveillance system in hospitals is important in developing proper macro - policies in health sector, adoption of health related decisions and preventive plans appropriate to the existing situation. Compilation, changing

Twitter web-service for soft agent reporting in persistent surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rababaah, Haroun; Shirkhodaie, Amir

2010-04-01

Persistent surveillance is an intricate process requiring monitoring, gathering, processing, tracking, and characterization of many spatiotemporal events occurring concurrently. Data associated with events can be readily attained by networking of hard (physical) sensors. Sensors may have homogeneous or heterogeneous (hybrid) sensing modalities with different communication bandwidth requirements. Complimentary to hard sensors are human observers or "soft sensors" that can report occurrences of evolving events via different communication devices (e.g., texting, cell phones, emails, instant messaging, etc.) to the command control center. However, networking of human observers in ad-hoc way is rather a difficult task. In this paper, we present a Twitter web-service for soft agent reporting in persistent surveillance systems (called Web-STARS). The objective of this web-service is to aggregate multi-source human observations in hybrid sensor networks rapidly. With availability of Twitter social network, such a human networking concept can not only be realized for large scale persistent surveillance systems (PSS), but also, it can be employed with proper interfaces to expedite rapid events reporting by human observers. The proposed technique is particularly suitable for large-scale persistent surveillance systems with distributed soft and hard sensor networks. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed technique is measured experimentally by conducting several simulated persistent surveillance scenarios. It is demonstrated that by fusion of information from hard and soft agents improves understanding of common operating picture and enhances situational awareness.

Estimation of the sensitivity of the surveillance system for avian influenza in the western region of Cuba.

PubMed

Ferrer, Edyniesky; Calistri, Paolo; Fonseca, Osvaldo; Ippoliti, Carla; Alfonso, Pastor; Iannetti, Simona; Abeledo, María A; Fernández, Octavio; Percedo, María I; Pérez, Antonio

2013-01-01

Although avian influenza (AI) virus of H5 and H7 subtypes has the potential to mutate to a highly pathogenic form and cause very high mortalities in some poultry species, most AI infections in poultry are due to low pathogenic AI (LPAI). Hence serological surveys, coupled with passive surveillance activities, are essential to detect sub-clinical infections by LPAI viruses, H5 and H7 subtypes. However the proper planning of an active surveillance system should be based on a careful estimation of its performance. Therefore, the sensitivity of the active surveillance system for AI in the western region of Cuba was assessed by a stochastic model quantifying the probability of revealing at least one animal infected by H5 or H7 subtype. The diagnostic sensitivity of the haemagglutination inhibition assay and different levels of within-flock prevalence (5%, 12% and 30%) were considered. The sensitivity of the surveillance system was then assessed under five different samples size scenarios: testing 20, 30, 40, 50 or 60 animals in each flock. Poultry flock sites in the western region of Cuba with a size ranging from 10,000 to 335,000 birds were included in the study.

Framework for evaluating public health surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks: recommendations from the CDC Working Group.

PubMed

Buehler, James W; Hopkins, Richard S; Overhage, J Marc; Sosin, Daniel M; Tong, Van

2004-05-07

The threat of terrorism and high-profile disease outbreaks has drawn attention to public health surveillance systems for early detection of outbreaks. State and local health departments are enhancing existing surveillance systems and developing new systems to better detect outbreaks through public health surveillance. However, information is limited about the usefulness of surveillance systems for outbreak detection or the best ways to support this function. This report supplements previous guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. Use of this framework is intended to improve decision-making regarding the implementation of surveillance for outbreak detection. Use of a standardized evaluation methodology, including description of system design and operation, also will enhance the exchange of information regarding methods to improve early detection of outbreaks. The framework directs particular attention to the measurement of timeliness and validity for outbreak detection. The evaluation framework is designed to support assessment and description of all surveillance approaches to early detection, whether through traditional disease reporting, specialized analytic routines for aberration detection, or surveillance using early indicators of disease outbreaks, such as syndromic surveillance.

Removing a barrier to computer-based outbreak and disease surveillance--the RODS Open Source Project.

PubMed

Espino, Jeremy U; Wagner, M; Szczepaniak, C; Tsui, F C; Su, H; Olszewski, R; Liu, Z; Chapman, W; Zeng, X; Ma, L; Lu, Z; Dara, J

2004-09-24

Computer-based outbreak and disease surveillance requires high-quality software that is well-supported and affordable. Developing software in an open-source framework, which entails free distribution and use of software and continuous, community-based software development, can produce software with such characteristics, and can do so rapidly. The objective of the Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance (RODS) Open Source Project is to accelerate the deployment of computer-based outbreak and disease surveillance systems by writing software and catalyzing the formation of a community of users, developers, consultants, and scientists who support its use. The University of Pittsburgh seeded the Open Source Project by releasing the RODS software under the GNU General Public License. An infrastructure was created, consisting of a website, mailing lists for developers and users, designated software developers, and shared code-development tools. These resources are intended to encourage growth of the Open Source Project community. Progress is measured by assessing website usage, number of software downloads, number of inquiries, number of system deployments, and number of new features or modules added to the code base. During September--November 2003, users generated 5,370 page views of the project website, 59 software downloads, 20 inquiries, one new deployment, and addition of four features. Thus far, health departments and companies have been more interested in using the software as is than in customizing or developing new features. The RODS laboratory anticipates that after initial installation has been completed, health departments and companies will begin to customize the software and contribute their enhancements to the public code base.

Epidemiology of measles in Southwest Nigeria: an analysis of measles case-based surveillance data from 2007 to 2012.

PubMed

Fatiregun, Akinola A; Adebowale, Ayodeji S; Fagbamigbe, Adeniyi F

2014-03-01

In Nigeria, a system of measles case-based surveillance with laboratory confirmation of suspected cases was introduced in 2005 as one of the strategies for the control of measles morbidity and mortality. In this report, we provide an epidemiological distribution of confirmed cases of measles reported from the southwest of the country between 2007 and 2012, and predict the expected number of cases for the ensuing years. A descriptive analysis of persons and place and time of confirmed measles cases (laboratory and epidemiological link) reported in the case-based surveillance data was carried out. Using an additive time series model, we predicted the expected number of cases to the year 2015, assuming that current interventional efforts were sustained. From the 10 187 suspected cases investigated during the time period, 1631 (16.0%) cases of measles were confirmed. The annual incidence rose from <1 case per million in 2007 to 23 cases per million in 2011. Cases were confirmed from all six states within the zone and most (97.4%) were in individuals aged less than 20 years. Seasonal variation existed with peaks of infection in the first and second quarters of the year. There was an increasing trend in the number of expected cases based on projections. Case-based surveillance provided an insight into understanding the epidemiology of measles infection in Southwest Nigeria. There is a need to work out alternate strategies for control of measles and to strengthen the surveillance system.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the bovine abortion surveillance system in France.

PubMed

Bronner, Anne; Gay, Emilie; Fortané, Nicolas; Palussière, Mathilde; Hendrikx, Pascal; Hénaux, Viviane; Calavas, Didier

2015-06-01

Bovine abortion is the main clinical sign of bovine brucellosis, a disease of which France has been declared officially free since 2005. To ensure the early detection of any brucellosis outbreak, event-driven surveillance relies on the mandatory notification of bovine abortions and the brucellosis testing of aborting cows. However, the under-reporting of abortions appears frequent. Our objectives were to assess the aptitude of the bovine abortion surveillance system to detect each and every bovine abortion and to identify factors influencing the system's effectiveness. We evaluated five attributes defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control with a method suited to each attribute: (1) data quality was studied quantitatively and qualitatively, as this factor considerably influences data analysis and results; (2) sensitivity and representativeness were estimated using a unilist capture-recapture approach to quantify the surveillance system's effectiveness; (3) acceptability and simplicity were studied through qualitative interviews of actors in the field, given that the surveillance system relies heavily on abortion notifications by farmers and veterinarians. Our analysis showed that (1) data quality was generally satisfactory even though some errors might be due to actors' lack of awareness of the need to collect accurate data; (2) from 2006 to 2011, the mean annual sensitivity - i.e. the proportion of farmers who reported at least one abortion out of all those who detected such events - was around 34%, but was significantly higher in dairy than beef cattle herds (highlighting a lack of representativeness); (3) overall, the system's low sensitivity was related to its low acceptability and lack of simplicity. This study showed that, in contrast to policy-makers, most farmers and veterinarians perceived the risk of a brucellosis outbreak as negligible. They did not consider sporadic abortions as a suspected case of brucellosis and usually reported abortions only to

Evaluation of a Records-Review Surveillance System Used to Determine the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avchen, Rachel Nonkin; Wiggins, Lisa D.; Devine, Owen; Van Naarden Braun, Kim; Rice, Catherine; Hobson, Nancy C.; Schendel, Diana; Yeargin-Allsopp, Marshalyn

2011-01-01

We conducted the first study that estimates the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of a population-based autism spectrum disorders (ASD) surveillance system developed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The system employs a records-review methodology that yields ASD…

The Added-Value of Using Participatory Approaches to Assess the Acceptability of Surveillance Systems: The Case of Bovine Tuberculosis in Belgium

PubMed Central

Calba, Clémentine; Goutard, Flavie Luce; Vanholme, Luc; Antoine-Moussiaux, Nicolas; Hendrikx, Pascal; Saegerman, Claude

2016-01-01

Context and Objective Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) surveillance in Belgium is essential to maintain the officially free status and to preserve animal and public health. An evaluation of the system is thus needed to ascertain the surveillance provides a precise description of the current situation in the country. The evaluation should assess stakeholders’ perceptions and expectations about the system due to the fact that the acceptability has an influence on the levels of sensitivity and timeliness of the surveillance system. The objective of the study was to assess the acceptability of the bTB surveillance in Belgium, using participatory tools and the OASIS flash tool (‘analysis tool for surveillance systems’). Methods For the participatory process, focus group discussions and individual interviews were implemented with representatives involved with the system, both from cattle and wildlife part of the surveillance. Three main tools were used: (i) relational diagrams associated with smileys, (ii) flow diagrams associated with proportional piling, and (iii) impact diagrams associated with proportional piling. A total of six criteria were assessed, among which five were scored on a scale from -1 to +1. For the OASIS flash tool, one full day meeting with representatives from stakeholders involved with the surveillance was organised. A total of 19 criteria linked to acceptability were scored on a scale from 0 to 3. Results and Conclusion Both methods highlighted a medium acceptability of the bTB surveillance. The main elements having a negative influence were the consequences of official notification of a bTB suspect case in a farm, the low remuneration paid to private veterinarians for execution of intradermal tuberculin tests and the practical difficulties about the containment of the animals. Based on the two evaluation processes, relevant recommendations to improve the surveillance were made. Based on the comparison between the two evaluation processes, the

NASA's Systems Engineering Approaches for Addressing Public Health Surveillance Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vann, Timi

2003-01-01

NASA's systems engineering has its heritage in space mission analysis and design, including the end-to-end approach to managing every facet of the extreme engineering required for successful space missions. NASA sensor technology, understanding of remote sensing, and knowledge of Earth system science, can be powerful new tools for improved disease surveillance and environmental public health tracking. NASA's systems engineering framework facilitates the match between facilitates the match between partner needs and decision support requirements in the areas of 1) Science/Data; 2) Technology; 3) Integration. Partnerships between NASA and other Federal agencies are diagrammed in this viewgraph presentation. NASA's role in these partnerships is to provide systemic and sustainable solutions that contribute to the measurable enhancement of a partner agency's disease surveillance efforts.

Development of a prototype system for statewide asthma surveillance.

PubMed

Deprez, Ronald D; Asdigian, Nancy L; Oliver, L Christine; Anderson, Norman; Caldwell, Edgar; Baggott, Lee Ann

2002-12-01

We developed and evaluated a statewide and community-level asthma surveillance system. Databases and measures included a community prevalence survey, hospital admissions data, emergency department/outpatient clinic visit records, and a physician survey of diagnosis and treatment practices. We evaluated the system in 5 Maine communities varying in population and income. Asthma hospitalizations were high in the rural/low-socioeconomic-status communities studied, although diagnosed asthma was low. Males were more likely than females to experience asthma symptoms, although they were less likely to have been diagnosed with asthma or to have used hospital-based asthma care. Databases were useful for estimating asthma burden and identifying service needs as well as high-risk groups. They were less useful in estimating severity or in identifying environmental risks.

Probabilistic, Decision-theoretic Disease Surveillance and Control

PubMed Central

Wagner, Michael; Tsui, Fuchiang; Cooper, Gregory; Espino, Jeremy U.; Harkema, Hendrik; Levander, John; Villamarin, Ricardo; Voorhees, Ronald; Millett, Nicholas; Keane, Christopher; Dey, Anind; Razdan, Manik; Hu, Yang; Tsai, Ming; Brown, Shawn; Lee, Bruce Y.; Gallagher, Anthony; Potter, Margaret

2011-01-01

The Pittsburgh Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics has developed a probabilistic, decision-theoretic system for disease surveillance and control for use in Allegheny County, PA and later in Tarrant County, TX. This paper describes the software components of the system and its knowledge bases. The paper uses influenza surveillance to illustrate how the software components transform data collected by the healthcare system into population level analyses and decision analyses of potential outbreak-control measures. PMID:23569617

Secure and Efficient Reactive Video Surveillance for Patient Monitoring.

PubMed

Braeken, An; Porambage, Pawani; Gurtov, Andrei; Ylianttila, Mika

2016-01-02

Video surveillance is widely deployed for many kinds of monitoring applications in healthcare and assisted living systems. Security and privacy are two promising factors that align the quality and validity of video surveillance systems with the caliber of patient monitoring applications. In this paper, we propose a symmetric key-based security framework for the reactive video surveillance of patients based on the inputs coming from data measured by a wireless body area network attached to the human body. Only authenticated patients are able to activate the video cameras, whereas the patient and authorized people can consult the video data. User and location privacy are at each moment guaranteed for the patient. A tradeoff between security and quality of service is defined in order to ensure that the surveillance system gets activated even in emergency situations. In addition, the solution includes resistance against tampering with the device on the patient's side.

A global survey of adverse event following immunization surveillance systems for pregnant women and their infants.

PubMed

Cassidy, Christine; MacDonald, Noni E; Steenbeek, Audrey; Ortiz, Justin R; Zuber, Patrick L F; Top, Karina A

2016-08-02

Strengthening antenatal care as a platform for maternal immunization is a priority of the World Health Organization (WHO). Systematic surveillance for adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in pregnancy is needed to identify vaccine safety events. We sought to identify active and passive AEFI surveillance systems for pregnant women and infants. Representatives from all National Pharmacovigilance Centers and a convenience sample of vaccine safety experts were invited to complete a 14-item online survey in English, French or Spanish. The survey captured maternal immunization policies, and active and passive AEFI surveillance systems for pregnant women and infants in respondents' countries. The analysis was descriptive. We received responses from 51/185 (28%) invited persons from 47/148 (32%) countries representing all WHO regions, and low, middle and high-income countries. Thirty countries had national immunization policies targeting pregnant women. Eleven countries had active surveillance systems to detect serious AEFI in pregnant women and/or their infants, including six low and middle-income countries (LMIC). Thirty-nine countries had passive surveillance systems, including 23 LMIC. These active and passive surveillance programs cover approximately 8% and 56% of the worldwide annual birth cohort, respectively. Data from one active and four passive systems have been published. We identified 50 active and passive AEFI surveillance systems for pregnant women and infants, but few have published their findings. AEFI surveillance appears to be feasible in low and high resource settings. Further expansion of AEFI surveillance for pregnant women and sharing of vaccine safety information will provide additional evidence in support of maternal immunization policies.

Development and piloting of the Fiji Injury Surveillance in Hospitals System (TRIP Project-1).

PubMed

Wainiqolo, I; Kafoa, B; McCaig, E; Kool, B; McIntyre, R; Ameratunga, S

2013-01-01

Whilst more than 90% of injury related deaths are estimated to occur in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), the epidemiology of fatal and hospitalised injuries in Pacific Island Countries has received scant attention. This study describes the development and piloting of a population-based trauma registry in Fiji to address this gap in knowledge. The Fiji Injury Surveillance in Hospitals (FISH) system was an active surveillance system designed to identify injuries resulting in death or a hospital admission in Viti Levu, Fiji. During the pilot conducted over five months in 2005, Accident and Emergency registers, admission folders and morgue registers from 8 of Viti Levu's 12 hospitals, and an additional 3 hospitals in other parts of the country were reviewed by hospital staff and medical students to identify cases and extract a minimum data set that included demographic factors; the mechanism, nature and context of injury; substance use; and discharge outcomes. The system was audited to identify and redress difficulties with data quality in a manner that also supported local capacity development and training in injury surveillance and data management. This pilot study demonstrated the potential to collect high quality data on injuries that can pose a significant threat to life in Fiji using a mechanism that also increased the capability of health professionals to recognise the significance of injury as a public health issue. The injury surveillance system piloted provides the opportunity to inform national injury control strategies in Fiji and increase the capacity for injury prevention and more focused research addressing risk factors in the local context. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development and piloting of the Fiji Injury Surveillance in Hospitals System (TRIP Project-1)

PubMed Central

Wainiqolo, I.; Kafoa, B.; McCaig, E.; Kool, B.; McIntyre, R.; Ameratunga, S.

2013-01-01

Introduction Whilst more than 90% of injury related deaths are estimated to occur in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), the epidemiology of fatal and hospitalised injuries in Pacific Island Countries has received scant attention. This study describes the development and piloting of a population-based trauma registry in Fiji to address this gap in knowledge. Methods The Fiji Injury Surveillance in Hospitals (FISH) system was an active surveillance system designed to identify injuries resulting in death or a hospital admission in Viti Levu, Fiji. During the pilot conducted over five months in 2005, Accident and Emergency registers, admission folders and morgue registers from 8 of Viti Levu's 12 hospitals, and an additional 3 hospitals in other parts of the country were reviewed by hospital staff and medical students to identify cases and extract a minimum data set that included demographic factors; the mechanism, nature and context of injury; substance use; and discharge outcomes. The system was audited to identify and redress difficulties with data quality in a manner that also supported local capacity development and training in injury surveillance and data management. Results This pilot study demonstrated the potential to collect high quality data on injuries that can pose a significant threat to life in Fiji using a mechanism that also increased the capability of health professionals to recognise the significance of injury as a public health issue. Conclusion The injury surveillance system piloted provides the opportunity to inform national injury control strategies in Fiji and increase the capacity for injury prevention and more focused research addressing risk factors in the local context. PMID:22098715

Kestrel: force protection and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) persistent surveillance on aerostats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luber, David R.; Marion, John E.; Fields, David

2012-05-01

Logos Technologies has developed and fielded the Kestrel system, an aerostat-based, wide area persistent surveillance system dedicated to force protection and ISR mission execution operating over forward operating bases. Its development included novel imaging and stabilization capability for day/night operations on military aerostat systems. The Kestrel system's contribution is a substantial enhancement to aerostat-based, force protection systems which to date have relied on narrow field of view ball gimbal sensors to identify targets of interest. This inefficient mechanism to conduct wide area field of view surveillance is greatly enhanced by Kestrel's ability to maintain a constant motion imagery stare of the entire forward operating base (FOB) area. The Kestrel airborne sensor enables 360° coverage out to extended ranges which covers a city sized area at moderate resolution, while cueing a narrow field of view sensor to provide high resolution imagery of targets of interest. The ground station exploitation system enables operators to autonomously monitor multiple regions of interest in real time, and allows for backtracking through the recorded imagery, while continuing to monitor ongoing activity. Backtracking capability allows operators to detect threat networks, their CONOPS, and locations of interest. Kestrel's unique advancement has already been utilized successfully in OEF operations.

A survey of core and support activities of communicable disease surveillance systems at operating-level CDCs in China.

PubMed

Xiong, Weiyi; Lv, Jun; Li, Liming

2010-11-17

In recent years, problems like insufficient coordination, low efficiency, and heavy working load in national communicable disease surveillance systems in China have been pointed out by many researchers. To strengthen the national communicable disease surveillance systems becomes an immediate concern. Since the World Health Organization has recommended that a structured approach to strengthen national communicable disease surveillance must include an evaluation to existing systems which usually begins with a systematic description, we conducted the first survey for communicable disease surveillance systems in China, in order to understand the situation of core and support surveillance activities at province-level and county-level centers for disease control and prevention (CDCs). A nationwide survey was conducted by mail between May and October 2006 to investigate the implementation of core and support activities of the Notifiable Disease Reporting System (NDRS) and disease-specific surveillance systems in all of the 31 province-level and selected 14 county-level CDCs in Mainland China The comments on the performance of communicable disease surveillance systems were also collected from the directors of CDCs in this survey. The core activities of NDRS such as confirmation, reporting and analysis and some support activities such as supervision and staff training were found sufficient in both province-level and county-level surveyed CDCs, but other support activities including information feedback, equipment and financial support need to be strengthened in most of the investigated CDCs. A total of 47 communicable diseases or syndromes were under surveillance at province level, and 20 diseases or syndromes at county level. The activities among different disease-specific surveillance systems varied widely. Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), measles and tuberculosis (TB) surveillance systems got relatively high recognition both at province level and county level. China has

A conceptual framework for economic optimization of single hazard surveillance in livestock production chains.

PubMed

Guo, Xuezhen; Claassen, G D H; Oude Lansink, A G J M; Saatkamp, H W

2014-06-01

Economic analysis of hazard surveillance in livestock production chains is essential for surveillance organizations (such as food safety authorities) when making scientifically based decisions on optimization of resource allocation. To enable this, quantitative decision support tools are required at two levels of analysis: (1) single-hazard surveillance system and (2) surveillance portfolio. This paper addresses the first level by presenting a conceptual approach for the economic analysis of single-hazard surveillance systems. The concept includes objective and subjective aspects of single-hazard surveillance system analysis: (1) a simulation part to derive an efficient set of surveillance setups based on the technical surveillance performance parameters (TSPPs) and the corresponding surveillance costs, i.e., objective analysis, and (2) a multi-criteria decision making model to evaluate the impacts of the hazard surveillance, i.e., subjective analysis. The conceptual approach was checked for (1) conceptual validity and (2) data validity. Issues regarding the practical use of the approach, particularly the data requirement, were discussed. We concluded that the conceptual approach is scientifically credible for economic analysis of single-hazard surveillance systems and that the practicability of the approach depends on data availability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design and Implementation of Integrated Surveillance and Modeling Systems for Climate-Sensitive Diseases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wimberly, M. C.; Merkord, C. L.; Davis, J. K.; Liu, Y.; Henebry, G. M.; Hildreth, M. B.

2016-12-01

Climatic variations have a multitude of effects on human health, ranging from the direct impacts of extreme heat events to indirect effects on the vectors and hosts that transmit infectious diseases. Disease surveillance has traditionally focused on monitoring human cases, and in some instances tracking populations sizes and infection rates of arthropod vectors and zoonotic hosts. For climate-sensitive diseases, there is a potential to strengthen surveillance and obtain early indicators of future outbreaks by monitoring environmental risk factors using broad-scale sensor networks that include earth-observing satellites as well as ground stations. We highlight the opportunities and challenges of this integration by presenting modeling results and discussing lessons learned from two projects focused on surveillance and forecasting of mosquito-borne diseases. The Epidemic Prognosis Incorporating Disease and Environmental Monitoring for Integrated Assessement (EPIDEMIA) project integrates malaria case surveillance with remotely-sensed environmental data for early detection of malaria epidemics in the Amhara region of Ethiopia and has been producing weekly forecast reports since 2015. The South Dakota Mosquito Information System (SDMIS) project similarly combines entomological surveillance with environmental monitoring to generate weekly maps for West Nile virus (WNV) in the north-central United States. We are currently implementing a new disease forecasting and risk reporting framework for the state of South Dakota during the 2016 WNV transmission season. Despite important differences in disease ecology and geographic setting, our experiences with these projects highlight several important lessons learned that can inform future efforts at disease early warning based on climatic predictors. These include the need to engage end users in system design from the outset, the critical role of automated workflows to facilitate the timely integration of multiple data streams

Multi-modal low cost mobile indoor surveillance system on the Robust Artificial Intelligence-based Defense Electro Robot (RAIDER)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nair, Binu M.; Diskin, Yakov; Asari, Vijayan K.

2012-10-01

We present an autonomous system capable of performing security check routines. The surveillance machine, the Clearpath Husky robotic platform, is equipped with three IP cameras with different orientations for the surveillance tasks of face recognition, human activity recognition, autonomous navigation and 3D reconstruction of its environment. Combining the computer vision algorithms onto a robotic machine has given birth to the Robust Artificial Intelligencebased Defense Electro-Robot (RAIDER). The end purpose of the RAIDER is to conduct a patrolling routine on a single floor of a building several times a day. As the RAIDER travels down the corridors off-line algorithms use two of the RAIDER's side mounted cameras to perform a 3D reconstruction from monocular vision technique that updates a 3D model to the most current state of the indoor environment. Using frames from the front mounted camera, positioned at the human eye level, the system performs face recognition with real time training of unknown subjects. Human activity recognition algorithm will also be implemented in which each detected person is assigned to a set of action classes picked to classify ordinary and harmful student activities in a hallway setting.The system is designed to detect changes and irregularities within an environment as well as familiarize with regular faces and actions to distinguish potentially dangerous behavior. In this paper, we present the various algorithms and their modifications which when implemented on the RAIDER serves the purpose of indoor surveillance.

[Comparing results of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) surveillance using the French DRG-based information system (PMSI)].

PubMed

Nuemi, G; Astruc, K; Aho, S; Quantin, C

2013-10-01

The surveillance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a national priority. The rate of MRSA infections is one of six indicators tracked by the Department of Health. Since 2002, the French institute for public health surveillance (InVS) has monitored MRSA infections to estimate incidence density. Today, the use of the French administrative database (PMSI) could facilitate this surveillance. The aim of this study was to compare MRSA incidence density computed at a national level using PMSI databases with the results from the InVS taken as the reference. PMSI databases for the years 2006 to 2009 were used. The reference results were those published by the InVS from 2006 to 2009. MRSA density defined as the number of MRSA infections recorded per year over 1000 hospital stays was computed. It was then compared with the MRSA incidence density measured by InVS. The time course of MRSA incidence in the PMSI records was modeled using a Poisson regression. The incidence density measured by the InVS was higher than the MRSA density computed using the PMSI, but this difference appeared to decrease over time. The PMSI density/InVS MRSA incidence density ratio was 0.8% in 2006 and about 9.2% in 2009. We observed inverted trends with a growing trend in MRSA density identified by the PMSI. Furthermore, the year of study was significantly associated with incidence density (P=0.01). Using PMSI data as an additional source of information in the hospital MRSA surveillance process makes it possible to detect and analyze patient repeats at the regional and national levels with linkage facilities. Estimation of incidence density for hospitals not participating to this surveillance system will be the next step. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

HIV surveillance in MENA: recent developments and results.

PubMed

Bozicevic, Ivana; Riedner, Gabriele; Calleja, Jesus Maria Garcia

2013-11-01

To provide an overview of the current level of development and results from the national HIV surveillance systems of the 23 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and to assess the quality of HIV surveillance systems in the period 2007-2011. A questionnaire was used to collect the information about the structure, activities and the results of HIV surveillance systems from the National AIDS Programmes. Assessment of the quality was based on four indicators: timeliness of data collection, appropriateness of populations under surveillance, consistency of the surveillance sites and groups measured over time, and coverage of the surveillance system. Only in four countries did surveillance systems enable assessment of epidemic trends in the same populations and locations over time, such as in pregnant women (Morocco, Iran), injecting drug users (Iran, Pakistan), female sex workers (Djibouti, Morocco) and male sex workers (Pakistan). There is increasing evidence of HIV infection being firmly established in at least one of the populations most at risk of HIV in nine MENA countries, while lower risk populations show elevated HIV prevalence in South Sudan, Djibouti and some parts of Somalia. The performance of HIV surveillance systems in several of the MENA countries has improved in recent years. The extent of HIV epidemics in the populations most at risk of HIV is still largely unknown in 10 countries. Multiple data sources that most of the countries still lack would enable indirectly estimation not only of the patterns of HIV epidemics but also the effectiveness of HIV responses.

HIV surveillance in MENA: recent developments and results

PubMed Central

Bozicevic, Ivana; Riedner, Gabriele; Calleja, Jesus Maria Garcia

2013-01-01

Objectives To provide an overview of the current level of development and results from the national HIV surveillance systems of the 23 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and to assess the quality of HIV surveillance systems in the period 2007–2011. Methods A questionnaire was used to collect the information about the structure, activities and the results of HIV surveillance systems from the National AIDS Programmes. Assessment of the quality was based on four indicators: timeliness of data collection, appropriateness of populations under surveillance, consistency of the surveillance sites and groups measured over time, and coverage of the surveillance system. Results Only in four countries did surveillance systems enable assessment of epidemic trends in the same populations and locations over time, such as in pregnant women (Morocco, Iran), injecting drug users (Iran, Pakistan), female sex workers (Djibouti, Morocco) and male sex workers (Pakistan). There is increasing evidence of HIV infection being firmly established in at least one of the populations most at risk of HIV in nine MENA countries, while lower risk populations show elevated HIV prevalence in South Sudan, Djibouti and some parts of Somalia. Conclusions The performance of HIV surveillance systems in several of the MENA countries has improved in recent years. The extent of HIV epidemics in the populations most at risk of HIV is still largely unknown in 10 countries. Multiple data sources that most of the countries still lack would enable indirectly estimation not only of the patterns of HIV epidemics but also the effectiveness of HIV responses. PMID:23434789

Propagation Effects in Space-Based Surveillance Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-02-01

This report describes the first year’s effort to investigate propagation effects in space - based radars. A model was developed for analyzing the...deleterious systems effects by first developing a generalized aperture distribution that ultimately can be applied to any space - based radar configuration...The propagation effects are characterized in terms of the SATCOM model striation parameters. The form of a generalized channel model for space - based radars

Laboratory-Based Surveillance and Molecular Characterization of Dengue Viruses in Taiwan, 2014

PubMed Central

Chang, Shu-Fen; Yang, Cheng-Fen; Hsu, Tung-Chieh; Su, Chien-Ling; Lin, Chien-Chou; Shu, Pei-Yun

2016-01-01

We present the results of a laboratory-based surveillance of dengue in Taiwan in 2014. A total of 240 imported dengue cases were identified. The patients had arrived from 16 countries, and Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China were the most frequent importing countries. Phylogenetic analyses showed that genotype I of dengue virus type 1 (DENV-1) and the cosmopolitan genotype of DENV-2 were the predominant DENV strains circulating in southeast Asia. The 2014 dengue epidemic was the largest ever to occur in Taiwan since World War II, and there were 15,492 laboratory-confirmed indigenous dengue cases. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the explosive dengue epidemic in southern Taiwan was caused by a DENV-1 strain of genotype I imported from Indonesia. There were several possible causes of this outbreak, including delayed notification of the outbreak, limited staff and resources for control measures, abnormal weather conditions, and a serious gas pipeline explosion in the dengue hot spot areas in Kaohsiung City. However, the results of this surveillance indicated that both active and passive surveillance systems should be strengthened so appropriate public health measures can be taken promptly to prevent large-scale dengue outbreaks. PMID:26880779

A multi-data source surveillance system to detect a bioterrorism attack during the G8 Summit in Scotland.

PubMed

Meyer, N; McMenamin, J; Robertson, C; Donaghy, M; Allardice, G; Cooper, D

2008-07-01

In 18 weeks, Health Protection Scotland (HPS) deployed a syndromic surveillance system to early-detect natural or intentional disease outbreaks during the G8 Summit 2005 at Gleneagles, Scotland. The system integrated clinical and non-clinical datasets. Clinical datasets included Accident & Emergency (A&E) syndromes, and General Practice (GPs) codes grouped into syndromes. Non-clinical data included telephone calls to a nurse helpline, laboratory test orders, and hotel staff absenteeism. A cumulative sum-based detection algorithm and a log-linear regression model identified signals in the data. The system had a fax-based track for real-time identification of unusual presentations. Ninety-five signals were triggered by the detection algorithms and four forms were faxed to HPS. Thirteen signals were investigated. The system successfully complemented a traditional surveillance system in identifying a small cluster of gastroenteritis among the police force and triggered interventions to prevent further cases.

CCTV Coverage Index Based on Surveillance Resolution and Its Evaluation Using 3D Spatial Analysis

PubMed Central

Choi, Kyoungah; Lee, Impyeong

2015-01-01

We propose a novel approach to evaluating how effectively a closed circuit television (CCTV) system can monitor a targeted area. With 3D models of the target area and the camera parameters of the CCTV system, the approach produces surveillance coverage index, which is newly defined in this study as a quantitative measure for surveillance performance. This index indicates the proportion of the space being monitored with a sufficient resolution to the entire space of the target area. It is determined by computing surveillance resolution at every position and orientation, which indicates how closely a specific object can be monitored with a CCTV system. We present full mathematical derivation for the resolution, which depends on the location and orientation of the object as well as the geometric model of a camera. With the proposed approach, we quantitatively evaluated the surveillance coverage of a CCTV system in an underground parking area. Our evaluation process provided various quantitative-analysis results, compelling us to examine the design of the CCTV system prior to its installation and understand the surveillance capability of an existing CCTV system. PMID:26389909

First experiences in the implementation of biometric technology to link data from Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems with health facility data

PubMed Central

Serwaa-Bonsu, Adwoa; Herbst, Abraham J.; Reniers, Georges; Ijaa, Wilfred; Clark, Benjamin; Kabudula, Chodziwadziwa; Sankoh, Osman

2010-01-01

Background In developing countries, Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSSs) provide a framework for tracking demographic and health dynamics over time in a defined geographical area. Many HDSSs co-exist with facility-based data sources in the form of Health Management Information Systems (HMIS). Integrating both data sources through reliable record linkage could provide both numerator and denominator populations to estimate disease prevalence and incidence rates in the population and enable determination of accurate health service coverage. Objective To measure the acceptability and performance of fingerprint biometrics to identify individuals in demographic surveillance populations and those attending health care facilities serving the surveillance populations. Methodology Two HDSS sites used fingerprint biometrics for patient and/or surveillance population participant identification. The proportion of individuals for whom a fingerprint could be successfully enrolled were characterised in terms of age and sex. Results Adult (18–65 years) fingerprint enrolment rates varied between 94.1% (95% CI 93.6–94.5) for facility-based fingerprint data collection at the Africa Centre site to 96.7% (95% CI 95.9–97.6) for population-based fingerprint data collection at the Agincourt site. Fingerprint enrolment rates in children under 1 year old (Africa Centre site) were only 55.1% (95% CI 52.7–57.4). By age 5, child fingerprint enrolment rates were comparable to those of adults. Conclusion This work demonstrates the feasibility of fingerprint-based individual identification for population-based research in developing countries. Record linkage between demographic surveillance population databases and health care facility data based on biometric identification systems would allow for a more comprehensive evaluation of population health, including the ability to study health service utilisation from a population perspective, rather than the more restrictive

First experiences in the implementation of biometric technology to link data from Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems with health facility data.

PubMed

Serwaa-Bonsu, Adwoa; Herbst, Abraham J; Reniers, Georges; Ijaa, Wilfred; Clark, Benjamin; Kabudula, Chodziwadziwa; Sankoh, Osman

2010-02-24

In developing countries, Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSSs) provide a framework for tracking demographic and health dynamics over time in a defined geographical area. Many HDSSs co-exist with facility-based data sources in the form of Health Management Information Systems (HMIS). Integrating both data sources through reliable record linkage could provide both numerator and denominator populations to estimate disease prevalence and incidence rates in the population and enable determination of accurate health service coverage. To measure the acceptability and performance of fingerprint biometrics to identify individuals in demographic surveillance populations and those attending health care facilities serving the surveillance populations. Two HDSS sites used fingerprint biometrics for patient and/or surveillance population participant identification. The proportion of individuals for whom a fingerprint could be successfully enrolled were characterised in terms of age and sex. Adult (18-65 years) fingerprint enrolment rates varied between 94.1% (95% CI 93.6-94.5) for facility-based fingerprint data collection at the Africa Centre site to 96.7% (95% CI 95.9-97.6) for population-based fingerprint data collection at the Agincourt site. Fingerprint enrolment rates in children under 1 year old (Africa Centre site) were only 55.1% (95% CI 52.7-57.4). By age 5, child fingerprint enrolment rates were comparable to those of adults. This work demonstrates the feasibility of fingerprint-based individual identification for population-based research in developing countries. Record linkage between demographic surveillance population databases and health care facility data based on biometric identification systems would allow for a more comprehensive evaluation of population health, including the ability to study health service utilisation from a population perspective, rather than the more restrictive health service perspective.

Hospital-based surveillance of congenital rubella syndrome in Indonesia.

PubMed

Herini, Elisabeth Siti; Gunadi; Triono, Agung; Mulyadi, Asal Wahyuni Erlin; Mardin, Niprida; Rusipah; Soenarto, Yati; Reef, Susan E

2017-03-01

Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) has serious consequences, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, and severe birth defects in infants, resulting from rubella virus infection during pregnancy. However, rubella vaccine has not yet been implemented in Indonesia. This study aimed (1) to estimate the incidence of CRS in Indonesia, (2) describe the clinical features of CRS at our referral hospital, and (3) pilot a CRS surveillance system to be extended to other hospitals. We conducted a 4-month prospective surveillance study of infants aged <1 year with suspected CRS in 2013 at an Indonesian hospital. Infants with suspected CRS were examined for rubella-specific IgM antibody or rubella IgG antibody levels. Of 47 suspected cases of CRS, 11/47 (23.4%), 9/47 (19.1%), and 27/47 (57.5%) were diagnosed as laboratory-confirmed, clinically compatible, and discarded CRS, respectively. The most common defects among laboratory-confirmed CRS cases were hearing impairment (100%), congenital cataracts (72.7%), microcephaly (72.7%), and congenital heart defects (45.5%). The number of laboratory-confirmed CRS cases among Indonesian infants is high. Furthermore, hearing impairment is the most common clinical feature of CRS in infants. Our findings indicate the importance of implementation of rubella vaccine in Indonesia. Conducting hospital-based surveillance of CRS in other hospitals in Indonesia may be appropriate. What is Known: •Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) has serious consequences in infants resulting from rubella virus infection during pregnancy. •The incidence of CRS in most developed countries has greatly decreased since implementation of rubella vaccination. •Rubella vaccine has not yet been implemented in many developing countries. What is New: •The number of laboratory-confirmed CRS cases among Indonesian infants was high. •Implementation of rubella vaccine into immunization programs in Indonesia is important because of the high number of CRS cases. •Our study

Case based measles surveillance in Pune: evidence to guide current and future measles control and elimination efforts in India.

PubMed

Bose, Anindya Sekhar; Jafari, Hamid; Sosler, Stephen; Narula, Arvinder Pal Singh; Kulkarni, V M; Ramamurty, Nalini; Oommen, John; Jadi, Ramesh S; Banpel, R V; Henao-Restrepo, Ana Maria

2014-01-01

According to WHO estimates, 35% of global measles deaths in 2011 occurred in India. In 2013, India committed to a goal of measles elimination by 2020. Laboratory supported case based measles surveillance is an essential component of measles elimination strategies. Results from a case-based measles surveillance system in Pune district (November 2009 through December 2011) are reported here with wider implications for measles elimination efforts in India. Standard protocols were followed for case identification, investigation and classification. Suspected measles cases were confirmed through serology (IgM) or epidemiological linkage or clinical presentation. Data regarding age, sex, vaccination status were collected and annualized incidence rates for measles and rubella cases calculated. Of the 1011 suspected measles cases reported to the surveillance system, 76% were confirmed measles, 6% were confirmed rubella, and 17% were non-measles, non-rubella cases. Of the confirmed measles cases, 95% were less than 15 years of age. Annual measles incidence rate was more than 250 per million persons and nearly half were associated with outbreaks. Thirty-nine per cent of the confirmed measles cases were vaccinated with one dose of measles vaccine (MCV1). Surveillance demonstrated high measles incidence and frequent outbreaks in Pune where MCV1 coverage in infants was above 90%. Results indicate that even high coverage with a single dose of measles vaccine was insufficient to provide population protection and prevent measles outbreaks. An effective measles and rubella surveillance system provides essential information to plan, implement and evaluate measles immunization strategies and monitor progress towards measles elimination.

Case Based Measles Surveillance in Pune: Evidence to Guide Current and Future Measles Control and Elimination Efforts in India

PubMed Central

Bose, Anindya Sekhar; Jafari, Hamid; Sosler, Stephen; Narula, Arvinder Pal Singh; Kulkarni, V. M.; Ramamurty, Nalini; Oommen, John; Jadi, Ramesh S.; Banpel, R. V.; Henao-Restrepo, Ana Maria

2014-01-01

Background According to WHO estimates, 35% of global measles deaths in 2011 occurred in India. In 2013, India committed to a goal of measles elimination by 2020. Laboratory supported case based measles surveillance is an essential component of measles elimination strategies. Results from a case-based measles surveillance system in Pune district (November 2009 through December 2011) are reported here with wider implications for measles elimination efforts in India. Methods Standard protocols were followed for case identification, investigation and classification. Suspected measles cases were confirmed through serology (IgM) or epidemiological linkage or clinical presentation. Data regarding age, sex, vaccination status were collected and annualized incidence rates for measles and rubella cases calculated. Results Of the 1011 suspected measles cases reported to the surveillance system, 76% were confirmed measles, 6% were confirmed rubella, and 17% were non-measles, non-rubella cases. Of the confirmed measles cases, 95% were less than 15 years of age. Annual measles incidence rate was more than 250 per million persons and nearly half were associated with outbreaks. Thirty-nine per cent of the confirmed measles cases were vaccinated with one dose of measles vaccine (MCV1). Conclusion Surveillance demonstrated high measles incidence and frequent outbreaks in Pune where MCV1 coverage in infants was above 90%. Results indicate that even high coverage with a single dose of measles vaccine was insufficient to provide population protection and prevent measles outbreaks. An effective measles and rubella surveillance system provides essential information to plan, implement and evaluate measles immunization strategies and monitor progress towards measles elimination. PMID:25290339

Enhancing surveillance for hepatitis C through public health informatics.

PubMed

Heisey-Grove, Dawn M; Church, Daniel R; Haney, Gillian A; Demaria, Alfred

2011-01-01

Disease surveillance for hepatitis C in the United States is limited by the occult nature of many of these infections, the large volume of cases, and limited public health resources. Through a series of discrete processes, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health modified its surveillance system in an attempt to improve timeliness and completeness of reporting and case follow-up of hepatitis C. These processes included clinician-based reporting, electronic laboratory reporting, deployment of a Web-based disease surveillance system, automated triage of pertinent data, and automated character recognition software for case-report processing. These changes have resulted in an increase in the timeliness of reporting.

PS2-23: Cardiovascular Disease Surveillance to Optimize Care: Pros and Cons of a Managed Care Research Network System

PubMed Central

Kottke, Thomas E; Peacock, James M; Milberger, Sharon; Gunter, Margaret J

2010-01-01

Background: With the goal of identifying where care process improvement could mitigate the impact of heart disease, we have developed a heart disease analysis model, The Perfect Care Model. Accounting for all individuals, all deaths, and all cardiac events in a population, this model estimates the number of deaths that might be prevented or postponed (DPP) with improved care. With data that are usually available in the electronic medical record or health assessment of a managed care organization (MCO), the model can calculate the potential impact of changing any risk factor level, risk factor intervention, or any evidence-based therapy. Methods: To assess the feasibility and benefits of basing a CVD surveillance system like the one advocated by the National Forum for Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention in an MCO research network (MCORN) or state health department (SHD), we compared the data available to an MCORN to the data available to an SHD. Results: Data available to the SHD included hospital discharges, case fatality rates by diagnosis for hospitalized patients, counts of surgical procedures, and death certificate data. The disadvantage of organizing a surveillance system through an SHD is that hospitalizations are not linked to services provided during the hospitalization or survival after discharge. Likewise, behavioral risk factor data, medication data and data on ventricular function of patients with heart disease are not available. While MCOs have these data and data linkages, the disadvantage of organizing a surveillance system through an MCORN is that, although covering a significant segment of the US population, the surveillance system would not be strictly population- based. Conclusions: The data required to identify clinical opportunities to prevent and postpone deaths are available to a greater extent through MCOs than an SHD. The large populations covered by MCORNs, their geographic range, the relatively stable populations, and the implementation of

Digital disease detection: A systematic review of event-based internet biosurveillance systems.

PubMed

O'Shea, Jesse

2017-05-01

Internet access and usage has changed how people seek and report health information. Meanwhile,infectious diseases continue to threaten humanity. The analysis of Big Data, or vast digital data, presents an opportunity to improve disease surveillance and epidemic intelligence. Epidemic intelligence contains two components: indicator based and event-based. A relatively new surveillance type has emerged called event-based Internet biosurveillance systems. These systems use information on events impacting health from Internet sources, such as social media or news aggregates. These systems circumvent the limitations of traditional reporting systems by being inexpensive, transparent, and flexible. Yet, innovations and the functionality of these systems can change rapidly. To update the current state of knowledge on event-based Internet biosurveillance systems by identifying all systems, including current functionality, with hopes to aid decision makers with whether to incorporate new methods into comprehensive programmes of surveillance. A systematic review was performed through PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases, while also including grey literature and other publication types. 50 event-based Internet systems were identified, including an extraction of 15 attributes for each system, described in 99 articles. Each system uses different innovative technology and data sources to gather data, process, and disseminate data to detect infectious disease outbreaks. The review emphasises the importance of using both formal and informal sources for timely and accurate infectious disease outbreak surveillance, cataloguing all event-based Internet biosurveillance systems. By doing so, future researchers will be able to use this review as a library for referencing systems, with hopes of learning, building, and expanding Internet-based surveillance systems. Event-based Internet biosurveillance should act as an extension of traditional systems, to be utilised as an

Secure and Efficient Reactive Video Surveillance for Patient Monitoring

PubMed Central

Braeken, An; Porambage, Pawani; Gurtov, Andrei; Ylianttila, Mika

2016-01-01

Video surveillance is widely deployed for many kinds of monitoring applications in healthcare and assisted living systems. Security and privacy are two promising factors that align the quality and validity of video surveillance systems with the caliber of patient monitoring applications. In this paper, we propose a symmetric key-based security framework for the reactive video surveillance of patients based on the inputs coming from data measured by a wireless body area network attached to the human body. Only authenticated patients are able to activate the video cameras, whereas the patient and authorized people can consult the video data. User and location privacy are at each moment guaranteed for the patient. A tradeoff between security and quality of service is defined in order to ensure that the surveillance system gets activated even in emergency situations. In addition, the solution includes resistance against tampering with the device on the patient’s side. PMID:26729130

Integrated Human Surveillance Systems of West Nile Virus Infections in Italy: The 2012 Experience

PubMed Central

Napoli, Christian; Bella, Antonino; Declich, Silvia; Grazzini, Giuliano; Lombardini, Letizia; Nanni Costa, Alessandro; Nicoletti, Loredana; Pompa, Maria Grazia; Pupella, Simonetta; Russo, Francesca; Rizzo, Caterina

2013-01-01

In Italy, a West Nile virus (WNV) surveillance plan was firstly implemented in 2008 and 2009 in two affected regions and, since 2010, according to a national plan, a WNV neuroinvasive disease (WNND) surveillance has to be carried out each year during the period 15 June–30 November, in those regions where WNV circulation has been demonstrated among humans, animals or vectors. Moreover, since WNV can be transmitted to humans even by blood transfusions and organ transplants obtained from infected donors, the national surveillance integrates the blood transfusions and organs transplant surveillances too. The paper describes the results of this integrated human surveillance in Italy in 2012. Overall, in 2012, 28 autochthonous confirmed cases of WNND were reported, 14 blood donations were found WNV positive by Nucleic Acid Amplification Test and no solid organ donors tested positive for WNV. Moreover, 17 cases of WNV fever were confirmed in Veneto region. When comparing the number of WNND cases reported to the surveillance system in previous 4 years (43 cases during the period 2008–2011), with those reported in 2012 an important increase was observed in 2012. The geographic distribution of human cases was consistent with the WNV circulation among animals and vectors. Moreover, the implementation of preventive measures for WNV transmission through blood components allowed the detection of blood donors positive for WNV, avoiding the further spread of the disease. Since surveillance strategies and preventive measures are based on the integration among human, animal and vector control activities, the Italian experience could be considered a good example of collaboration among different sectors of public health in a “one health” perspective. PMID:24351740

Privacy information management for video surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Ying; Cheung, Sen-ching S.

2013-05-01

The widespread deployment of surveillance cameras has raised serious privacy concerns. Many privacy-enhancing schemes have been proposed to automatically redact images of trusted individuals in the surveillance video. To identify these individuals for protection, the most reliable approach is to use biometric signals such as iris patterns as they are immutable and highly discriminative. In this paper, we propose a privacy data management system to be used in a privacy-aware video surveillance system. The privacy status of a subject is anonymously determined based on her iris pattern. For a trusted subject, the surveillance video is redacted and the original imagery is considered to be the privacy information. Our proposed system allows a subject to access her privacy information via the same biometric signal for privacy status determination. Two secure protocols, one for privacy information encryption and the other for privacy information retrieval are proposed. Error control coding is used to cope with the variability in iris patterns and efficient implementation is achieved using surrogate data records. Experimental results on a public iris biometric database demonstrate the validity of our framework.

Impact of a surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance program in orthopedics and traumatology.

PubMed

Mabit, C; Marcheix, P S; Mounier, M; Dijoux, P; Pestourie, N; Bonnevialle, P; Bonnomet, F

2012-10-01

Surveillance of surgical site infections (SSI) is a priority. One of the fundamental principles for the surveillance of SSI is based on receiving effective field feedback (retro-information). The aim of this study was to report the results of a program of SSI surveillance and validate the hypothesis that there is a correlation between creating a SSI surveillance program and a reduction in SSI. The protocol was based on the weekly collection of surveillance data obtained directly from the different information systems in different departments. A delay of 3 months was established before extraction and analysis of data and information from the surgical teams. The NNIS index (National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System) developed by the American surveillance system and the reduction of length of hospital stay index Journées d'hospitalisation évitées (JHE). Since the end of 2009, 7156 surgical procedures were evaluated (rate of inclusion 97.3%), and 84 SSI were registered with a significant decrease over time from 1.86% to 0.66%. A total of 418 days of hospitalization have been saved since the beginning of the surveillance system. Our surveillance system has three strong points: follow-up is continuous, specifically adapted to orthopedic traumatology and nearly exhaustive. The extraction of data directly from hospital information systems effectively improves the collection of data on surgical procedures. The implementation of a SSI surveillance protocol reduces SSI. Level III. Prospective study. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.