78 FR 17930 - National Rivers and Streams Assessment 2008-009 Draft Report

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-25

... Using a statistical survey design, sites were selected at random to represent the condition of the... describes the results of the nationwide probabilistic survey that was conducted in the summers of 2008 and... conterminous United States. The draft NRSA 2008-2009 report includes information on how the survey was...

Family Meals among New Zealand Young People: Relationships with Eating Behaviors and Body Mass Index

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Utter, Jennifer; Denny, Simon; Robinson, Elizabeth; Fleming, Terry; Ameratunga, Shanthi; Grant, Sue

2013-01-01

Objective: To examine the relationship between family meals and nutrition behaviors of adolescents. Design: Secondary analysis of Youth'07, a nationally representative survey. Setting: Secondary schools in New Zealand. Participants: Randomly selected adolescents (aged 13-17 years, n = 9,107) completed a multimedia and anonymous survey about their…

Job Demand in the Cosmetology Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rudner, Lawrence M.; Deutermann, William V., Jr.

In order to determine job demand in the cosmetology industry, a survey was made of a nationally representative stratified random sample of 1,454 beauty salons, barber shops, and unisex salons in July 1991. Salon owners were asked about 1990 and their plans for the future. Survey results were supplemented with information about the industry…

The Role of Advanced High School Coursework in Increasing STEM Career Interest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sadler, Philip M.; Sonnert, Gerhard; Hazari, Zahra; Tai, Robert

2014-01-01

Several avenues are open to students who wish to study advanced science or mathematics in high school, which include Advanced Placement courses and teacher-designed courses unaffiliated with organized programs. We employ a retrospective cohort study of 4,691 nationally representative college students at 34 randomly selected, colleges and…

Anemia, micronutrient deficiencies, and malaria in children and women in Sierra Leone prior to the Ebola outbreak

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

To identify the factors associated with anemia and to document the severity of micronutrient deficiencies, malaria and inflammation, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey was conducted. A three-stage sampling procedure was used to randomly select children <5 years of age and adult women...

Improvement of the Work Environment and Work-Related Stress: A Cross-Sectional Multilevel Study of a Nationally Representative Sample of Japanese Workers.

PubMed

Watanabe, Kazuhiro; Tabuchi, Takahiro; Kawakami, Norito

2017-03-01

This cross-sectional multilevel study aimed to investigate the relationship between improvement of the work environment and work-related stress in a nationally representative sample in Japan. The study was based on a national survey that randomly sampled 1745 worksites and 17,500 nested employees. The survey asked the worksites whether improvements of the work environment were conducted; and it asked the employees to report the number of work-related stresses they experienced. Multilevel multinominal logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted. Improvement of the work environment was not significantly associated with any level of work-related stress. Among men, it was significantly and negatively associated with the severe level of work-related stress. The association was not significant among women. Improvements to work environments may be associated with reduced work-related stress among men nationwide in Japan.

Cell Phones in American High Schools: A National Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Obringer, S. John; Coffey, Kent

2007-01-01

A survey instrument to determine school policy and practice regarding cell phone use by teachers and students was developed using a literature review, a panel of experts, and then a pilot study with typical respondents. The survey was mailed out randomly to 200 high school principals representing all 50 states. The return rate was 56 percent with…

A Nationwide Epidemiologic Modeling Study of LD: Risk, Protection, and Unintended Impact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDermott, Paul A.; Goldberg, Michelle M.; Watkins, Marley W.; Stanley, Jeanne L.; Glutting, Joseph J.

2006-01-01

Through multiple logistic regression modeling, this article explores the relative importance of risk and protective factors associated with learning disabilities (LD). A representative national sample of 6- to 17-year-old students (N = 1,268) was drawn by random stratification and classified by the presence versus absence of LD in reading,…

A Provocative Look at Young People's Perceptions of Animals.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westervelt, Miriam O.

1983-01-01

A small but representative group of 267 children ranging from 6 to 18 years of age participated in a study to determine their perceptions of animals. The group included 63 second, 68 fifth, 67 eighth, and 69 eleventh graders randomly selected from public schools across Connecticut. This study was conducted in conjunction with a national survey of…

Randomized Trial Testing a Worksite Sun Protection Program in an Outdoor Recreation Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buller, David B.; Andersen, Peter A.; Walkosz, Barbara J.; Scott, Michael D.; Cutter, Gary R.; Dignan, Mark B.; Zarlengo, Elizabeth M.; Voeks, Jenifer H.; Giese, Aimee J.

2005-01-01

Health communication campaigns intended to reduce chronic and severe exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight and prevent skin cancer are a national priority. Outdoor workers represent an unaddressed, high-risk population. Go Sun Smart (GSS), a worksite sun safety program largely based on the diffusion-of-innovations theory, was evaluated in…

School Readiness in Children Living in Non-Parental Care: Impacts of Head Start

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lipscomb, Shannon T.; Pratt, Megan E.; Schmitt, Sara A.; Pears, Katherine C.; Kim, Hyoun K.

2013-01-01

The current study examines the effects of Head Start on the development of school readiness outcomes for children living in non-parental care. Data were obtained from the Head Start Impact Study, a randomized controlled trial of Head Start conducted with a nationally representative sample of Head Start programs and families. The sample included…

Use of Nutritional Information in Canada: National Trends between 2004 and 2008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Samantha; Hammond, David; Pillo-Blocka, Francy; Glanville, Theresa; Jenkins, Richard

2011-01-01

Objective: To examine longitudinal trends in use of nutrition information among Canadians. Design: Population-based telephone and Internet surveys. Setting and Participants: Representative samples of Canadian adults recruited with random-digit dialing sampling in 2004 (n = 2,405) and 2006 (n = 2,014) and an online commercial panel in 2008 (n =…

Ownership and ecosystem as sources of spatial heterogeneity in a forested landscape, Wisconsin, USA

Treesearch

Thomas R. Crow; George E. Host; David J. Mladenoff

1999-01-01

The interaction between physical environment and land ownership in creating spatial heterogeneity was studied in largely forested landscapes of northern Wisconsin, USA. A stratified random approach was used in which 2500-ha plots representing two ownerships (National Forest and private non-industrial) were located within two regional ecosystems (extremely well-drained...

What Affects People's Willingness to Participate in Qualitative Research? An Experimental Comparison of Five Incentives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Bridget; Margolis, Marjorie; McCormack, Lauren; LeBaron, Patricia A.; Chowdhury, Dhuly

2017-01-01

The literature on factors that influence participation in qualitative research is lacking. We conducted an experiment with a nationally representative sample to test the impact of different incentive types and amounts on willingness to participate in a hypothetical qualitative interview. We randomized participants from an online panel to one of…

Modelling the role of national system of innovation in economical differentiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruiz, Ricardo M.; Albuquerque, Eduardo; Ribeiro, Leonardo C.; Bernardes, Américo T.

2005-07-01

Nowadays it is well accepted that science and technology has a fundamental role in the economic development (GNP per capita) of any country. Aiming to study this role, we introduce a model that creates an artificial world economy that is a network of countries. Each country has its own national system of innovation (represented by a technological parameter). The interactions among the countries are given by functions that connect their prices, demands and incomes. Starting from random values, the artificial world economy self-organize itself and create hierarchies of countries.

Trending toward Reform: Teachers Speak on Unions and the Future of the Profession. Education Sector Reports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, Sarah; Silva, Elena

2012-01-01

Over the past decade, teachers have seen changes in both their conditions of employment--from pay to retirement benefits--and their practice. Far too often, these policies have been made by people who talk "about" teachers, rather than talking "to" them. Last fall, Education Sector surveyed a nationally representative random sample of more than…

Elephant (Loxodonta africana) home ranges in Sabi Sand Reserve and Kruger National Park: a five-year satellite tracking study.

PubMed

Thomas, Bindi; Holland, John D; Minot, Edward O

2008-01-01

During a five-year GPS satellite tracking study in Sabi Sand Reserve (SSR) and Kruger National Park (KNP) we monitored the daily movements of an elephant cow (Loxodonta africana) from September 2003 to August 2008. The study animal was confirmed to be part of a group of seven elephants therefore her position is representative of the matriarchal group. We found that the study animal did not use habitat randomly and confirmed strong seasonal fidelity to its summer and winter five-year home ranges. The cow's summer home range was in KNP in an area more than four times that of her SSR winter home range. She exhibited clear park habitation with up to three visits per year travelling via a well-defined northern or southern corridor. There was a positive correlation between the daily distance the elephant walked and minimum daily temperature and the elephant was significantly closer to rivers and artificial waterholes than would be expected if it were moving randomly in KNP and SSR. Transect lines established through the home ranges were surveyed to further understand the fine scale of the landscape and vegetation representative of the home ranges.

Using Maximum Entropy to Find Patterns in Genomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Sophia; Hockenberry, Adam; Lancichinetti, Andrea; Jewett, Michael; Amaral, Luis

The existence of over- and under-represented sequence motifs in genomes provides evidence of selective evolutionary pressures on biological mechanisms such as transcription, translation, ligand-substrate binding, and host immunity. To accurately identify motifs and other genome-scale patterns of interest, it is essential to be able to generate accurate null models that are appropriate for the sequences under study. There are currently no tools available that allow users to create random coding sequences with specified amino acid composition and GC content. Using the principle of maximum entropy, we developed a method that generates unbiased random sequences with pre-specified amino acid and GC content. Our method is the simplest way to obtain maximally unbiased random sequences that are subject to GC usage and primary amino acid sequence constraints. This approach can also be easily be expanded to create unbiased random sequences that incorporate more complicated constraints such as individual nucleotide usage or even di-nucleotide frequencies. The ability to generate correctly specified null models will allow researchers to accurately identify sequence motifs which will lead to a better understanding of biological processes. National Institute of General Medical Science, Northwestern University Presidential Fellowship, National Science Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Camille Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award.

Lessons learned and insights from the implementation of a food and physical activity policy to prevent obesity in Mexican schools: An analysis of nationally representative survey results.

PubMed

Théodore, Florence L; Moreno-Saracho, Jessica E; Bonvecchio, Anabelle; Morales-Ruán, María Del Carmen; Tolentino-Mayo, Lizbeth; López-Olmedo, Nancy; Shamah-Levy, Teresa; Rivera, Juan A

2018-01-01

Obesity is a serious problem among children in Mexico. In 2010, the government implemented a national food and physical activity policy in elementary schools, to prevent obesity. The goal of this study is to assess the implementation of this policy, using the logic model from a descriptive survey with national representativeness at the elementary school level and based on a stratified cluster design. We used a systematic random sampling of schools (n = 122), stratified into public and private. We administered questionnaires to 116 principals, 165 members of the Food and Physical Activity Committees, 132 food school food vendors, 119 teachers, 348 parents. This study evidences a significant deviation in implementation from what had been planned. Our lessons learned are the importance to: base the design/implementation of the policy on a theoretical framework, make programs appealing to stakeholders, select concrete and measurable objective or goals, and support stakeholders during the implementation process.

Data of a willingness to pay survey for national climate change mitigation policies in Germany.

PubMed

Uehleke, Reinhard

2016-06-01

The dataset includes responses from a contingent valuation study about the national climate change mitigation policies in Germany. The online survey was carried out in the spring of 2014. It assesses the willingness to pay for an increase of the national CO2 reduction target by 10 percentage points, which closely represents Germany׳s climate change mitigation strategy. Respondents were randomly allocated to one of the following three question formats: The dichotomous choice referendum, the dissonance minimizing referendum and the two-sided payment ladder. The data can be used to investigate the influence of alternative statistical approaches on the willingness to pay measures and their comparison across question formats.

Evaluation of Child Health Matters: A Web-Based Tutorial to Enhance School Nurses' Communications with Families about Weight-Related Health

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Ric G.; Wu, Yelena P.; Cushing, Christopher C.; Jensen, Chad D.

2013-01-01

The goal of the current study was to assess the efficacy and acceptability of a web-based tutorial (Child Health Matters, CHM) designed to improve school nurses' communications with families about pediatric weight-related health issues. Using a randomized wait-list control design, a nationally representative sample of school nurses was assigned to…

The Social Environment of Schools and Adolescent Nutrition: Associations between the School Nutrition Climate and Adolescents' Eating Behaviors and Body Mass Index

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cvjetan, Branko; Utter, Jennifer; Robinson, Elizabeth; Denny, Simon

2014-01-01

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the association between the school nutrition climate and students' eating behaviors and body mass index (BMI). Methods: Data were collected as part of Youth'07, a nationally representative health survey of high school students in New Zealand. Overall, 9107 randomly selected students from 96…

Pollen and mold exposure impairs the work performance of employees with allergic rhinitis.

PubMed

Kessler, R C; Almeida, D M; Berglund, P; Stang, P

2001-10-01

Although quality of life studies suggest that allergic rhinitis has a substantial impact on work impairment, national survey estimates of the magnitude of this impairment have varied widely. Retrospective recall bias is likely to be a major cause of this variability. This study used a nationally representative daily diary sample to obtain prospective data that improve on previous estimates of the work impairment because of allergic rhinitis. The MacArthur Foundation National Survey of Daily Experience is a daily diary survey that included a nationally representative subsample of 739 employed people, each of whom provided daily reports on work performance for 1 randomly assigned week of the calendar year. National Allergy Bureau monitoring station data were merged with the survey data to study the association of time-space variation in pollen/mold exposure with impaired daily work quality and quantity. National Allergy Bureau pollen/mold counts are significantly related to work impairments only among respondents with self-reported allergic rhinitis. The average estimated monthly salary-equivalent work impairment costs associated with pollen/mold exposure for each allergy sufferer is between $109 and $156, with an annualized national projection of between $5.4 billion and $7.7 billion. The extent to which these costs can be recovered by increasing the proportion of allergy sufferers who are successfully treated remains unknown and can only be evaluated definitively in effectiveness trials.

Rigidity of the far-right? Motivated social cognition in a nationally representative sample of Hungarians on the eve of the far-right breakthrough in the 2010 elections.

PubMed

Lönnqvist, Jan-Erik; Szabó, Zsolt Péter; Kelemen, Laszlo

2018-04-26

We investigated the "rigidity of the right" hypothesis in the context of the far-right breakthrough in the 2010 Hungarian parliamentary elections. This hypothesis suggests that psychological characteristics having to do with need for security and certainty attract people to a broad-based right-wing ideology. A nationally representative sample (N = 1000) in terms of age, gender and place of residence was collected by means of the random walking method and face-to-face interviews. Voters of JOBBIK (n = 124), the radically nationalist conservative far-right party, scored lower on System Justifying Belief, Belief in a Just World (Global) and higher on Need for Cognition than other voters. Our results contradict the "rigidity of the right" hypothesis: JOBBIK voters scored, on many measures, opposite to what the hypothesis would predict. © 2018 International Union of Psychological Science.

Making the business case for enhanced depression care: the National Institute of Mental Health-harvard Work Outcomes Research and Cost-effectiveness Study.

PubMed

Wang, Philip S; Simon, Gregory E; Kessler, Ronald C

2008-04-01

Explore the business case for enhanced depression care and establish a return on investment rationale for increased organizational involvement by employer-purchasers. Literature review, focused on the National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored Work Outcomes Research and Cost-effectiveness Study. This randomized controlled trial compared telephone outreach, care management, and optional psychotherapy to usual care among depressed workers in large national corporations. By 12 months, the intervention significantly improved depression outcomes, work retention, and hours worked among the employed. Results of the Work Outcomes Research and Cost-effectiveness Study trial and other studies suggest that enhanced depression care programs represent a human capital investment opportunity for employers.

Improving the Representativeness of Behavioral and Clinical Surveillance for Persons with HIV in the United States: The Rationale for Developing a Population-Based Approach

PubMed Central

McNaghten, A. D.; Wolfe, Mitchell I.; Onorato, Ida; Nakashima, Allyn K.; Valdiserri, Ronald O.; Mokotoff, Eve; Romaguera, Raul A.; Kroliczak, Alice; Janssen, Robert S.; Sullivan, Patrick S.

2007-01-01

The need for a new surveillance approach to understand the clinical outcomes and behaviors of people in care for HIV evolved from the new challenges for monitoring clinical outcomes in the HAART era, the impact of the epidemic on an increasing number of areas in the US, and the need for representative data to describe the epidemic and related resource utilization and needs. The Institute of Medicine recommended that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Heath Resources and Services Administration coordinate efforts to survey a random sample of HIV-infected persons in care, in order to more accurately measure the need for prevention and care services. The Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) was created to meet these needs. This manuscript describes the evolution and design of MMP, a new nationally representative clinical outcomes and behavioral surveillance system, and describes how MMP data will be used locally and nationally to identify care and treatment utilization needs, and to plan for prevention interventions and services. PMID:17579722

High School Physics Availability: Results from the 2012-13 Nationwide Survey of High School Physics Teachers. Focus On

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Susan; Tesfaye, Casey Langer

2014-01-01

In this report, the authors share their analysis of the data from over 3,500 high schools in the U.S. beginning with an examination of the availability of physics in U.S. high schools. The schools in their sample are a nationally-representative random sample of the almost 25,000 high schools in forty-nine of the fifty states. Table 1 shows the…

Determination of reference values for elevated fasting and random insulin levels and their associations with metabolic risk factors among rural Pakistanis from Sindh Province.

PubMed

Ahmadani, Muhammad Yakoob; Hakeem, Rubina; Fawwad, Asher; Basit, Abdul; Shera, A Samad

2008-06-01

To assess insulin levels and their association with metabolic risk factors (family history of diabetes, abnormal glucose tolerance, hypertension, overweight and android obesity) among a representative group of Pakistan. The study data was taken from the database of a population-based survey conducted in Sindh Province, Pakistan, in 1994 to assess the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Through stratified random sampling; oral glucose tolerance tests were performed in 967 adults; every fifth sample was estimated for fasting and random (2-hour post-75 gm glucose load) insulin levels. The total number of metabolic risk factors was counted for each subject, and their association with insulin levels studied. Of the 130 subjects, 56.1% were females and 95.4% were Sindhi. The mean age of males and females was 43.84 and 40.61 years, respectively. Family history for diabetes and frequency of overweight had significant positive associations with both fasting and random insulin levels (P < 0.05). Association between hypertension and insulin levels was significant only for random insulin levels, and between android obesity, abnormal glucose tolerance, or male gender and insulin levels only for fasting insulin levels (P < 0.05). Metabolic risk factors had significant positive associations with both fasting (r = 0.351 P = 0.000) as well as random insulin levels (r = 0.364 P = 0.000). This paper provides baseline pioneering information applicable to the Pakistani population. Furthermore, the observations made in this study about differences in association of fasting or random insulin levels with various metabolic risk factors highlight the possibility of using either of them for risk assessment. This finding needs to be assessed in a larger and nationally representative sample.

Prevalence and correlates of bullying victimisation and perpetration in a nationally representative sample of Australian youth.

PubMed

Thomas, Hannah J; Connor, Jason P; Lawrence, David M; Hafekost, Jennifer M; Zubrick, Stephen R; Scott, James G

2017-09-01

Bullying prevalence studies are limited by varied measurement methods and a lack of representative samples. This study estimated the national prevalence of bullying victimisation, perpetration and combined victim-perpetration experiences in a representative population-based sample of Australian youth. The relationships between the three types of bullying involvement with a range of mental health symptoms and diagnoses were also examined. A randomly selected nationally representative sample aged 11-17 years ( N = 2967, M age = 14.6 years; 51.6% male) completed the youth component of the Second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (Young Minds Matter). Parents or carers also completed a structured face-to-face interview that asked questions about a single randomly selected child in the household. The youth survey comprised self-reported bullying victimisation and perpetration (Olweus Bully-Victim Questionnaire-adapted), psychological distress (K10), emotional and behavioural problems (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), as well as self-harm, suicide attempts and substance use. Modules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV were administered to all youth and parents to assess for mental disorder diagnoses (major depressive disorder, any anxiety disorder and any externalising disorder [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder]). The 12-month prevalence of bullying victimisation was 13.3%, perpetration 1.6% and victim-perpetration 1.9%. Logistic regression models showed all forms of involvement in bullying were associated with increased risk of psychological distress, emotional and behavioural problems, substance use, self-harm and attempted suicide. Victimisation and victim-perpetration were associated with youth-reported major depressive disorder. There were also significant associations between bullying involvement and parent-reported diagnoses of major depressive disorder, any anxiety disorder and any externalising disorder. Bullying continues to be frequently experienced by Australian adolescents. The current findings showed that involvement in any bullying behaviour was associated with increased risk of concurrent mental health problems. This evidence can be used to inform decisions concerning the allocation of resources to address this important health issue.

Elevated incidence rates of diabetes in Peru: report from PERUDIAB, a national urban population-based longitudinal study

PubMed Central

Seclen, Segundo Nicolas; Rosas, Moises Ernesto; Arias, Arturo Jaime; Medina, Cecilia Alexandra

2017-01-01

Objective A recent report from a non-nationally representative, geographically diverse sample in four separate communities in Peru suggests an unusually high diabetes incidence. We aimed to estimate the national diabetes incidence rate using PERUDIAB, a probabilistic, national urban population-based longitudinal study. Research design and methods 662 subjects without diabetes, selected by multistage, cluster, random sampling of households, representing the 24 administrative and the 3 (coast, highlands and jungle) natural regions across the country, from both sexes, aged 25+ years at baseline, enrolled in 2010–2012, were followed for 3.8 years. New diabetes cases were defined as fasting blood glucose ≥126 mg/dL or on medical diabetes treatment. Results There were 49 cases of diabetes in 2408 person-years follow-up. The weighted cumulative incidence of diabetes was 7.2% while the weighted incidence rate was estimated at 19.5 (95% CI 13.9 to 28.3) new cases per 1000 person-years. Older age, obesity and technical or higher education were statistically associated with the incidence of diabetes. Conclusion Our results confirm that the incidence of diabetes in Peru is among the highest reported globally. The fast economic growth in the last 20 years, high overweight and obesity rates may have triggered this phenomenon. PMID:28878935

Elevated incidence rates of diabetes in Peru: report from PERUDIAB, a national urban population-based longitudinal study.

PubMed

Seclen, Segundo Nicolas; Rosas, Moises Ernesto; Arias, Arturo Jaime; Medina, Cecilia Alexandra

2017-01-01

A recent report from a non-nationally representative, geographically diverse sample in four separate communities in Peru suggests an unusually high diabetes incidence. We aimed to estimate the national diabetes incidence rate using PERUDIAB, a probabilistic, national urban population-based longitudinal study. 662 subjects without diabetes, selected by multistage, cluster, random sampling of households, representing the 24 administrative and the 3 (coast, highlands and jungle) natural regions across the country, from both sexes, aged 25+ years at baseline, enrolled in 2010-2012, were followed for 3.8 years. New diabetes cases were defined as fasting blood glucose ≥126 mg/dL or on medical diabetes treatment. There were 49 cases of diabetes in 2408 person-years follow-up. The weighted cumulative incidence of diabetes was 7.2% while the weighted incidence rate was estimated at 19.5 (95% CI 13.9 to 28.3) new cases per 1000 person-years. Older age, obesity and technical or higher education were statistically associated with the incidence of diabetes. Our results confirm that the incidence of diabetes in Peru is among the highest reported globally. The fast economic growth in the last 20 years, high overweight and obesity rates may have triggered this phenomenon.

Assessment of the National Park network of mainland Spain by the Insecurity Index of vertebrate species.

PubMed

Estrada, Alba; Real, Raimundo

2018-01-01

The evaluation of protected area networks on their capacity to preserve species distributions is a key topic in conservation biology. There are different types of protected areas, with National Parks those with highest level of protection. National Parks can be declared attending to many ecological features that include the presence of certain animal species. Here, we selected 37 vertebrate species that were highlighted as having relevant natural value for at least one of the 10 National Parks of mainland Spain. We modelled species distributions with the favourability function, and applied the Insecurity Index to detect the degree of protection of favourable areas for each species. Two metrics of Insecurity Index were defined for each species: the Insecurity Index in each of the cells, and the Overall Insecurity Index of a species. The former allows the identification of insecure areas for each species that can be used to establish spatial conservation priorities. The latter gives a value of Insecurity for each species, which we used to calculate the Representativeness of favourable areas for the species in the network. As expected, due to the limited extension of the National Park network, all species have high values of Insecurity; i.e., just a narrow proportion of their favourable areas are covered by a National Park. However, the majority of species favourable areas are well represented in the network, i.e., the percentage of favourable areas covered by the National Park network is higher than the percentage of mainland Spain covered by the network (result also supported by a randomization approach). Even if a reserve network only covers a low percentage of a country, the Overall Insecurity Index allows an objective assessment of its capacity to represent species. Beyond the results presented here, the Insecurity Index has the potential to be extrapolated to other areas and to cover a wide range of species.

The Danish National Health Survey 2010. Study design and respondent characteristics.

PubMed

Christensen, Anne Illemann; Ekholm, Ola; Glümer, Charlotte; Andreasen, Anne Helms; Hvidberg, Michael Falk; Kristensen, Peter Lund; Larsen, Finn Breinholt; Ortiz, Britta; Juel, Knud

2012-06-01

In 2010 the five Danish regions and the National Institute of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark conducted a national representative health survey among the adult population in Denmark. This paper describes the study design and the sample and study population as well as the content of the questionnaire. The survey was based on five regional stratified random samples and one national random sample. The samples were mutually exclusive. A total of 298,550 individuals (16 years or older) were invited to participate. Information was collected using a mixed mode approach (paper and web questionnaires). A questionnaire with a minimum of 52 core questions was used in all six subsamples. Calibrated weights were computed in order to take account of the complex survey design and reduce non-response bias. In all, 177,639 individuals completed the questionnaire (59.5%). The response rate varied from 52.3% in the Capital Region of Denmark sample to 65.5% in the North Denmark Region sample. The response rate was particularly low among young men, unmarried people and among individuals with a different ethnic background than Danish. The survey was a result of extensive national cooperation across sectors, which makes it unique in its field of application, e.g. health surveillance, planning and prioritizing public health initiatives and research. However, the low response rate in some subgroups of the study population can pose problems in generalizing data, and efforts to increase the response rate will be important in the forthcoming surveys.

Attitudes and beliefs on the establishment of a national food safety authority in Cyprus. A population-based survey.

PubMed

Hadjigeorgiou, Andreas; Talias, Michael A; Soteriades, Elpidoforos S; Philalithis, Anastasios; Psaroulaki, Anna; Gikas, Achilleas; Tselentis, Yiannis

2014-04-01

Cyprus does not have a National Food Safety Authority (NFSA), but a multi-level, fragmented system with responsibilities divided among different ministries and governmental agencies, frequently impeding efforts to effectively manage food risks by duplication and overlapping of responsibilities. A population-based survey was carried out to determine the beliefs and attitudes of interested parties concerning the establishment of a NFSA in Cyprus. Information was collected using a random stratified sampling design and a structured questionnaire. A total of 868 questionnaires were collected (704 from regular consumers, 154 from food businesses' representatives, and 10 from public services' directors or acting head officers). About 11% of food businesses' representatives and 45% of consumers reported that they did not know which public authorities are responsible for food control. Moreover, 2 out of 10 (17%) of responders from public agencies, 70% from food businesses and 91% from consumers, although not aware of ongoing efforts to establish a food safety authority in Cyprus (currently under consideration), were supportive of the idea [8 out of 10 (83%) of responders from public services, 93% from food businesses, and 89% of consumers]. Finally, 7 out of 10 (67%) from the public agencies and 84% of representatives from food businesses agreed with the separation of risk assessment from risk management activities. Public opinion in Cyprus as well as public agencies and food businesses' representatives support the establishment of a single independent national food safety authority in Cyprus based on the European paradigm including the division of risk activities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

No independent association between insufficient sleep and childhood obesity in the National Survey of Children's Health.

PubMed

Hassan, Fauziya; Davis, Matthew M; Chervin, Ronald D

2011-04-15

Prior studies have supported an association between insufficient sleep and childhood obesity, but most have not examined nationally representative samples or considered potential sociodemographic confounders. The main objective of this study was to use a large, nationally representative dataset to examine the possibility that insufficient sleep is associated with obesity in children, independent of sociodemographic factors. The National Survey of Children's Health is a national survey of U.S. households contacted by random digit dialing. In 2003, caregivers of 102,353 US children were surveyed. Age- and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) based on parental report of child height and weight, was available for 81,390 children aged 6-17 years. Caregivers were asked, "How many nights of sufficient sleep did your child have in the past week?" The odds of obesity (BMI ≥ 95th percentile) versus healthy weight (BMI 5th-84th percentile) was regressed on reported nights of sufficient sleep per week (categorized as 0-2, 3-5, or 6-7). Sociodemographic variables included gender, race, household education, and family income. Analyses incorporated sampling weights to derive nationally representative estimates for a 2003 population of 34 million youth. Unadjusted bivariate analyses indicated that children aged 6-11 years with 0-2 nights of sufficient sleep, in comparison to those with 6-7 nights, were more likely to be obese (OR = 1.7, 95% CI [1.2-2.3]). Among children aged 12-17 years, odds of obesity were lower among children with 3-5 nights of sufficient sleep in comparison to those with 6-7 nights (0.8, 95% CI: 0.7-0.9). However, in both age groups, adjustment for race/ethnicity, gender, family income, and household education left no remaining statistical significance for the association between sufficient nights of sleep and BMI. In this national sample, insufficient sleep, as judged by parents, is inconsistently associated with obesity in bivariate analyses, and not associated with obesity after adjustment for sociodemographic variables. These findings from a nationally representative sample are necessarily subject to parental perceptions, but nonetheless serve as an important reminder that the role of insufficient sleep in the childhood obesity epidemic remains unproven.

Feasibility of collecting 24-h urine to monitor sodium intake in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey123

PubMed Central

Terry, Ana L; Cogswell, Mary E; Wang, Chia-Yih; Chen, Te-Ching; Loria, Catherine M; Wright, Jacqueline D; Zhang, Xinli; Lacher, David A; Merritt, Robert K; Bowman, Barbara A

2016-01-01

Background: Twenty-four–hour urine sodium excretion is recommended for monitoring population sodium intake. Because of concerns about participation and completion, sodium excretion has not been collected previously in US nationally representative surveys. Objective: We assessed the feasibility of implementing 24-h urine collections as part of a nationally representative survey. Design: We selected a random half sample of nonpregnant US adults aged 20–69 y in 3 geographic locations of the 2013 NHANES. Participants received explicit instructions, started and ended the urine collection in a urine study mobile examination center, and answered questions about their collection. Among those with a complete 24-h urine collection, a random one-half were asked to collect a second 24-h urine sample. Sodium, potassium, chloride, and creatinine excretion were analyzed. Results: The final NHANES examination response rate for adults aged 20–69 y in these 3 study locations was 71%. Of those examined (n = 476), 282 (59%) were randomly selected to participate in the 24-h urine collection. Of these, 212 persons [75% of those selected for 24-h urine collection; 53% (equal to 71% × 75% of those selected for the NHANES)] collected a complete initial 24-h specimen and 92 persons (85% of 108 selected) collected a second complete 24-h urine sample. More men than women completed an initial collection (P = 0.04); otherwise, completion did not vary by sociodemographic characteristics, body mass index, education, or employment status for either collection. Mean 24-h urine volume and sodium excretion were 1964 ± 1228 mL and 3657 ± 2003 mg, respectively, for the first 24-h urine sample, and 2048 ± 1288 mL and 3773 ± 1891 mg, respectively, for the second collection. Conclusion: Given the 53% final component response rate and 75% completion rate, 24-h urine collections were deemed feasible and implemented in the NHANES 2014 on a subsample of adults aged 20–69 y to assess population sodium intake. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02723682. PMID:27413136

Survey of Recipients of WAP Services Assessment of Household Budget and Energy Behaviors Pre to Post Weatherization DOE

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

Tonn, Bruce Edward; Rose, Erin M.; Hawkins, Beth A.

This report presents results from the national survey of weatherization recipients. This research was one component of the retrospective and Recovery Act evaluations of the U.S. Department of Energy s Weatherization Assistance Program. Survey respondents were randomly selected from a nationally representative sample of weatherization recipients. The respondents and a comparison group were surveyed just prior to receiving their energy audits and then again approximately 18 months post-weatherization. This report focuses on budget issues faced by WAP households pre- and post-weatherization, whether household energy behaviors changed from pre- to post, the effectiveness of approaches to client energy education, and usemore » and knowledge about thermostats.« less

Measles deaths in Nepal: estimating the national case-fatality ratio.

PubMed

Joshi, Anand B; Luman, Elizabeth T; Nandy, Robin; Subedi, Bal K; Liyanage, Jayantha B L; Wierzba, Thomas F

2009-06-01

To estimate the case-fatality ratio (CFR) for measles in Nepal, determine the role of risk factors, such as political instability, for measles mortality, and compare the use of a nationally representative sample of outbreaks versus routine surveillance or a localized study to establish the national CFR (nCFR). This was a retrospective study of measles cases and deaths in Nepal. Through two-stage random sampling, we selected 37 districts with selection probability proportional to the number of districts in each region, and then randomly selected within each district one outbreak among all those that had occurred between 1 March and 1 September 2004. Cases were identified by interviewing a member of each and every household and tracing contacts. Bivariate analyses were performed to assess the risk factors for a high CFR and determine the time from rash onset until death. Each factor's contribution to the CFR was determined through multivariate logistic regression. From the number of measles cases and deaths found in the study we calculated the total number of measles cases and deaths for all of Nepal during the study period and in 2004. We identified 4657 measles cases and 64 deaths in the study period and area. This yielded a total of about 82 000 cases and 900 deaths for all outbreaks in 2004 and a national CFR of 1.1% (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.5-2.3). CFR ranged from 0.1% in the eastern region to 3.4% in the mid-western region and was highest in politically insecure areas, in the Ganges plains and among cases < 5 years of age. Vitamin A treatment and measles immunization were protective. Most deaths occurred during the first week of illness. To our knowledge, this is the first CFR study based on a nationally representative sample of measles outbreaks. Routine surveillance and studies of a single outbreak may not yield an accurate nCFR. Increased fatalities associated with political insecurity are a challenge for health-care service delivery. The short period from disease onset to death and reduced mortality from treatment with vitamin A suggest the need for rapid, field-based treatment early in the outbreak.

The saving and empowering young lives in Europe (SEYLE) randomized controlled trial (RCT): methodological issues and participant characteristics.

PubMed

Carli, Vladimir; Wasserman, Camilla; Wasserman, Danuta; Sarchiapone, Marco; Apter, Alan; Balazs, Judit; Bobes, Julio; Brunner, Romuald; Corcoran, Paul; Cosman, Doina; Guillemin, Francis; Haring, Christian; Kaess, Michael; Kahn, Jean Pierre; Keeley, Helen; Keresztény, Agnes; Iosue, Miriam; Mars, Ursa; Musa, George; Nemes, Bogdan; Postuvan, Vita; Reiter-Theil, Stella; Saiz, Pilar; Varnik, Peeter; Varnik, Airi; Hoven, Christina W

2013-05-16

Mental health problems and risk behaviours among young people are of great public health concern. Consequently, within the VII Framework Programme, the European Commission funded the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) project. This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted in eleven European countries, with Sweden as the coordinating centre, and was designed to identify an effective way to promote mental health and reduce suicidality and risk taking behaviours among adolescents. To describe the methodological and field procedures in the SEYLE RCT among adolescents, as well as to present the main characteristics of the recruited sample. Analyses were conducted to determine: 1) representativeness of study sites compared to respective national data; 2) response rate of schools and pupils, drop-out rates from baseline to 3 and 12 month follow-up, 3) comparability of samples among the four Intervention Arms; 4) properties of the standard scales employed: Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Z-SAS), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), World Health Organization Well-Being Scale (WHO-5). Participants at baseline comprised 12,395 adolescents (M/F: 5,529/6,799; mean age=14.9±0.9) from Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. At the 3 and 12 months follow up, participation rates were 87.3% and 79.4%, respectively. Demographic characteristics of participating sites were found to be reasonably representative of their respective national population. Overall response rate of schools was 67.8%. All scales utilised in the study had good to very good internal reliability, as measured by Cronbach's alpha (BDI-II: 0.864; Z-SAS: 0.805; SDQ: 0.740; WHO-5: 0.799). SEYLE achieved its objective of recruiting a large representative sample of adolescents within participating European countries. Analysis of SEYLE data will shed light on the effectiveness of important interventions aimed at improving adolescent mental health and well-being, reducing risk-taking and self-destructive behaviour and preventing suicidality. US National Institute of Health (NIH) clinical trial registry (NCT00906620) and the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00000214).

Probability Distributions for Random Quantum Operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schultz, Kevin

Motivated by uncertainty quantification and inference of quantum information systems, in this work we draw connections between the notions of random quantum states and operations in quantum information with probability distributions commonly encountered in the field of orientation statistics. This approach identifies natural sample spaces and probability distributions upon these spaces that can be used in the analysis, simulation, and inference of quantum information systems. The theory of exponential families on Stiefel manifolds provides the appropriate generalization to the classical case. Furthermore, this viewpoint motivates a number of additional questions into the convex geometry of quantum operations relative to both the differential geometry of Stiefel manifolds as well as the information geometry of exponential families defined upon them. In particular, we draw on results from convex geometry to characterize which quantum operations can be represented as the average of a random quantum operation. This project was supported by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity via Department of Interior National Business Center Contract Number 2012-12050800010.

A random spatial sampling method in a rural developing nation

Treesearch

Michelle C. Kondo; Kent D.W. Bream; Frances K. Barg; Charles C. Branas

2014-01-01

Nonrandom sampling of populations in developing nations has limitations and can inaccurately estimate health phenomena, especially among hard-to-reach populations such as rural residents. However, random sampling of rural populations in developing nations can be challenged by incomplete enumeration of the base population. We describe a stratified random sampling method...

Baseline Characteristics and Generalizability of Participants in an Internet Smoking Cessation Randomized Trial

PubMed Central

Cha, Sarah; Erar, Bahar; Niaura, Raymond S.; Graham, Amanda L.

2016-01-01

Background The potential for sampling bias in Internet smoking cessation studies is widely recognized. However, few studies have explicitly addressed the issue of sample representativeness in the context of an Internet smoking cessation treatment trial. Purpose To examine the generalizability of participants enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of an Internet smoking cessation intervention using weighted data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Methods A total of 5,290 new users on a smoking cessation website enrolled in the trial between March 2012–January 2015. Descriptive statistics summarized baseline characteristics of screened and enrolled participants and multivariate analysis examined predictors of enrollment. Generalizability analyses compared demographic and smoking characteristics of trial participants to current smokers in the 2012–2014 waves of NHIS (n=19,043), and to an NHIS subgroup based on Internet use and cessation behavior (n=3,664). Effect sizes were obtained to evaluate the magnitude of differences across variables. Results Predictors of study enrollment were age, gender, race, education, and motivation to quit. Compared to NHIS smokers, trial participants were more likely to be female, college educated, daily smokers, and to have made a quit attempt in the past year (all effect sizes 0.25–0.60). In comparisons with the NHIS subgroup, differences in gender and education were attenuated while differences in daily smoking and smoking rate were amplified. Conclusions Few differences emerged between Internet trial participants and nationally representative samples of smokers, and all were in expected directions. This study highlights the importance of assessing generalizability in a focused and specific manner. PMID:27283295

Baseline Characteristics and Generalizability of Participants in an Internet Smoking Cessation Randomized Trial.

PubMed

Cha, Sarah; Erar, Bahar; Niaura, Raymond S; Graham, Amanda L

2016-10-01

The potential for sampling bias in Internet smoking cessation studies is widely recognized. However, few studies have explicitly addressed the issue of sample representativeness in the context of an Internet smoking cessation treatment trial. The purpose of the present study is to examine the generalizability of participants enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of an Internet smoking cessation intervention using weighted data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). A total of 5290 new users on a smoking cessation website enrolled in the trial between March 2012 and January 2015. Descriptive statistics summarized baseline characteristics of screened and enrolled participants, and multivariate analysis examined predictors of enrollment. Generalizability analyses compared demographic and smoking characteristics of trial participants to current smokers in the 2012-2014 waves of NHIS (n = 19,043) and to an NHIS subgroup based on Internet use and cessation behavior (n = 3664). Effect sizes were obtained to evaluate the magnitude of differences across variables. Predictors of study enrollment were age, gender, race, education, and motivation to quit. Compared to NHIS smokers, trial participants were more likely to be female, college educated, and daily smokers and to have made a quit attempt in the past year (all effect sizes 0.25-0.60). In comparisons with the NHIS subgroup, differences in gender and education were attenuated, while differences in daily smoking and smoking rate were amplified. Few differences emerged between Internet trial participants and nationally representative samples of smokers, and all were in expected directions. This study highlights the importance of assessing generalizability in a focused and specific manner. CLINICALTRIALS.GOV: #NCT01544153.

The effects of race and racial priming on self-report of contamination anxiety

PubMed Central

Williams, Monnica T.; Turkheimer, Eric; Magee, Emily; Guterbock, Thomas

2011-01-01

African Americans show unusually high endorsement rates on self-report measures of contamination anxiety. The purpose of this study was to replicate this finding in a nationally representative sample and conduct a randomized experiment to determine the effect of salience of race as a causal factor. Black and White participants were given contamination items from two popular measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder, half prior to being primed about ethnic identity and half after being primed, via the administration of an ethnic identity measure. The experiment took the form of a 2 (Black and White participant) X 2 (ethnicity salient and ethnicity non-salient) double-blind design, with ethnic saliency assigned at random by computer. Participants consisted of a geographically representative US sample of African Americans supplemented with a similar sample of European Americans (N=258). Black participants scored significantly higher than White participants on contamination scales. Participants from Southern states scored higher than those from other regions. Over-endorsements by Black participants were greater when awareness of ethnic and racial identification was increased. Clinical and research implications were discussed; these measures should be used with caution in African Americans. PMID:22163374

Randomized controlled trial of a health plan-level mood disorders psychosocial intervention for solo or small practices.

PubMed

Kilbourne, Amy M; Nord, Kristina M; Kyle, Julia; Van Poppelen, Celeste; Goodrich, David E; Kim, Hyungjin Myra; Eisenberg, Daniel; Un, Hyong; Bauer, Mark S

2014-01-01

Mood disorders represent the most expensive mental disorders for employer-based commercial health plans. Collaborative care models are effective in treating chronic physical and mental illnesses at little to no net healthcare cost, but to date have primarily been implemented by larger healthcare organizations in facility-based models. The majority of practices providing commercially insured care are far too small to implement such models. Health plan-level collaborative care treatment can address this unmet need. The goal of this study is to implement at the national commercial health plan level a collaborative care model to improve outcomes for persons with mood disorders. A randomized controlled trial of a collaborative care model versus usual care will be conducted among beneficiaries of a large national health plan from across the country seen by primary care or behavioral health practices. At discharge 344 patients identified by health plan claims as hospitalized for unipolar depression or bipolar disorder will be randomized to receive collaborative care (patient phone-based self-management support, care management, and guideline dissemination to practices delivered by a plan-level care manager) or usual care from their provider. Primary outcomes are changes in mood symptoms and mental health-related quality of life at 12 months. Secondary outcomes include rehospitalization, receipt of guideline-concordant care, and work productivity. This study will determine whether a collaborative care model for mood disorders delivered at the national health plan level improves outcomes compared to usual care, and will inform a business case for collaborative care models for these settings that can reach patients wherever they receive treatment. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02041962; registered January 3, 2014.

Simulation study on characteristics of long-range interaction in randomly asymmetric exclusion process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Shi-Bo; Liu, Ming-Zhe; Yang, Lan-Ying

2015-04-01

In this paper we investigate the dynamics of an asymmetric exclusion process on a one-dimensional lattice with long-range hopping and random update via Monte Carlo simulations theoretically. Particles in the model will firstly try to hop over successive unoccupied sites with a probability q, which is different from previous exclusion process models. The probability q may represent the random access of particles. Numerical simulations for stationary particle currents, density profiles, and phase diagrams are obtained. There are three possible stationary phases: the low density (LD) phase, high density (HD) phase, and maximal current (MC) in the system, respectively. Interestingly, bulk density in the LD phase tends to zero, while the MC phase is governed by α, β, and q. The HD phase is nearly the same as the normal TASEP, determined by exit rate β. Theoretical analysis is in good agreement with simulation results. The proposed model may provide a better understanding of random interaction dynamics in complex systems. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41274109 and 11104022), the Fund for Sichuan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Research Team (Grant No. 2011JTD0013), and the Creative Team Program of Chengdu University of Technology.

Alcohol, illegal drugs, violent crime, and traffic-related and other unintended injuries in U.S. local and national news.

PubMed

Slater, Michael D; Long, Marilee; Ford, Valerie L

2006-11-01

The present study seeks to establish the extent to which media coverage acknowledges alcohol's contribution to violent crime as well as to motor vehicle injuries and other injury incidents. The study content-analyzes a unique sample, closely approximating national representativeness, of local and national television news, local newspapers, and national magazines randomly sampled during a 2-year period. Alcohol's role in violent crime and, to a lesser extent, in motor vehicle and other injury incidents is underreported relative to available estimates regarding alcohol-attributable fractions. Relative frequency of various news frames for coverage of alcohol and illegal drugs and differences in coverage of alcohol and illegal drugs as a function of the type of story and news medium are described. The underreporting in the United States of alcohol's contribution to serious and fatal injury from these causes may reduce public perceptions of alcohol-related risks, potentially influencing behavior, including public support of alcohol-control policies. This provides an opportunity for media-advocacy approaches to improve public health content of news coverage.

Pragmatic Randomized Trials Without Standard Informed Consent?: A National Survey.

PubMed

Nayak, Rahul K; Wendler, David; Miller, Franklin G; Kim, Scott Y H

2015-09-01

Significant debate surrounds the issue of whether written consent is necessary for pragmatic randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) with low risk. To assess the U.S. public's views on alternatives to written consent for low-risk pragmatic RCTs. National experimental survey (2 × 2 factorial design) examining support for written consent versus general notification or verbal consent in 2 research scenarios. Web-based survey conducted in December 2014. 2130 U.S. adults sampled from a nationally representative, probability-based online panel (response rate, 64.0%). Respondent's recommendation to an ethics review board and personal preference as a potential participant on how to obtain consent or notification in the 2 research scenarios. Most respondents in each of the 4 groups (range, 60.3% to 71.5%) recommended written informed consent, and personal preferences were generally in accord with that advice. Most (78.9%) believed that the pragmatic RCTs did not pose additional risks, but 62.5% of these respondents would still recommend written consent. In contrast, a substantial minority in all groups (28.5% to 39.7%) recommended the alternative option (general notification or verbal consent) over written consent. Framing effects could have affected respondents' attitudes, and nonrespondents may have differed in levels of trust toward research or health care institutions. Most of the public favored written informed consent over the most widely advocated alternatives for low-risk pragmatic RCTs; however, a substantial minority favored general notification or verbal consent. Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences and Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.

Representation of Time-Relevant Common Data Elements in the Cancer Data Standards Repository: Statistical Evaluation of an Ontological Approach

PubMed Central

Chen, Henry W; Du, Jingcheng; Song, Hsing-Yi; Liu, Xiangyu; Jiang, Guoqian

2018-01-01

Background Today, there is an increasing need to centralize and standardize electronic health data within clinical research as the volume of data continues to balloon. Domain-specific common data elements (CDEs) are emerging as a standard approach to clinical research data capturing and reporting. Recent efforts to standardize clinical study CDEs have been of great benefit in facilitating data integration and data sharing. The importance of the temporal dimension of clinical research studies has been well recognized; however, very few studies have focused on the formal representation of temporal constraints and temporal relationships within clinical research data in the biomedical research community. In particular, temporal information can be extremely powerful to enable high-quality cancer research. Objective The objective of the study was to develop and evaluate an ontological approach to represent the temporal aspects of cancer study CDEs. Methods We used CDEs recorded in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR) and created a CDE parser to extract time-relevant CDEs from the caDSR. Using the Web Ontology Language (OWL)–based Time Event Ontology (TEO), we manually derived representative patterns to semantically model the temporal components of the CDEs using an observing set of randomly selected time-related CDEs (n=600) to create a set of TEO ontological representation patterns. In evaluating TEO’s ability to represent the temporal components of the CDEs, this set of representation patterns was tested against two test sets of randomly selected time-related CDEs (n=425). Results It was found that 94.2% (801/850) of the CDEs in the test sets could be represented by the TEO representation patterns. Conclusions In conclusion, TEO is a good ontological model for representing the temporal components of the CDEs recorded in caDSR. Our representative model can harness the Semantic Web reasoning and inferencing functionalities and present a means for temporal CDEs to be machine-readable, streamlining meaningful searches. PMID:29472179

Baseline Characteristics of Participants in the Randomized National Lung Screening Trial

PubMed Central

Aberle, Denise R.; Adams, Amanda M.; Berg, Christine D.; Clapp, Jonathan D.; Clingan, Kathy L.; Gareen, Ilana F.; Marcus, Pamela M.; Pinsky, Paul F.

2010-01-01

Background The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), a randomized study conducted at 33 US sites, is comparing lung cancer mortality among persons screened with reduced dose helical computerized tomography and among persons screened with chest radiograph. In this article, we present characteristics of the study population. Methods Eligible participants were aged 55–74 years and were current or former smokers with a cigarette smoking history of at least 30 pack-years. Randomization was stratified by site, sex, and age. To assess representativeness of the study population, demographic characteristics of individuals from the general population who met NLST age and smoking history inclusion criteria were obtained from the Tobacco Use Supplement of the US Census Bureau Current Population Surveys. Results The NLST enrolled 53 456 persons, with 26 733 randomly assigned to chest radiograph screening and 26 723 to computerized tomography screening. Characteristics of the participants were as follows: 31 533 (59%) were men, 39 234 (73%) were younger than 65 years, 25 779 (48%) were current smokers, and 16 839 (32%) had a college or higher degree. Median cigarette exposure was 48 pack-years. Among Tobacco Use Supplement respondents who met NLST age and smoking history criteria, 59% were men, 65% were younger than 65 years, and 57% were current smokers. Median cigarette exposure among this group was 47 pack-years, and 14% had a college degree or higher. Conclusion The NLST cohort has a distribution of sex and pack-year history that is similar to the component of the general US population that meets the major NLST eligibility criteria; however, NLST participants are younger, better educated, and less likely to be current smokers. PMID:21119104

The Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT): methodological issues and participant characteristics

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Mental health problems and risk behaviours among young people are of great public health concern. Consequently, within the VII Framework Programme, the European Commission funded the Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE) project. This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was conducted in eleven European countries, with Sweden as the coordinating centre, and was designed to identify an effective way to promote mental health and reduce suicidality and risk taking behaviours among adolescents. Objective To describe the methodological and field procedures in the SEYLE RCT among adolescents, as well as to present the main characteristics of the recruited sample. Methods Analyses were conducted to determine: 1) representativeness of study sites compared to respective national data; 2) response rate of schools and pupils, drop-out rates from baseline to 3 and 12 month follow-up, 3) comparability of samples among the four Intervention Arms; 4) properties of the standard scales employed: Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (Z-SAS), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), World Health Organization Well-Being Scale (WHO-5). Results Participants at baseline comprised 12,395 adolescents (M/F: 5,529/6,799; mean age=14.9±0.9) from Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. At the 3 and 12 months follow up, participation rates were 87.3% and 79.4%, respectively. Demographic characteristics of participating sites were found to be reasonably representative of their respective national population. Overall response rate of schools was 67.8%. All scales utilised in the study had good to very good internal reliability, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha (BDI-II: 0.864; Z-SAS: 0.805; SDQ: 0.740; WHO-5: 0.799). Conclusions SEYLE achieved its objective of recruiting a large representative sample of adolescents within participating European countries. Analysis of SEYLE data will shed light on the effectiveness of important interventions aimed at improving adolescent mental health and well-being, reducing risk-taking and self-destructive behaviour and preventing suicidality. Trial registration US National Institute of Health (NIH) clinical trial registry (NCT00906620) and the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00000214). PMID:23679917

Pattern analysis of total item score and item response of the Kessler Screening Scale for Psychological Distress (K6) in a nationally representative sample of US adults

PubMed Central

Kawasaki, Yohei; Ide, Kazuki; Akutagawa, Maiko; Yamada, Hiroshi; Yutaka, Ono; Furukawa, Toshiaki A.

2017-01-01

Background Several recent studies have shown that total scores on depressive symptom measures in a general population approximate an exponential pattern except for the lower end of the distribution. Furthermore, we confirmed that the exponential pattern is present for the individual item responses on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). To confirm the reproducibility of such findings, we investigated the total score distribution and item responses of the Kessler Screening Scale for Psychological Distress (K6) in a nationally representative study. Methods Data were drawn from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), which comprises four subsamples: (1) a national random digit dialing (RDD) sample, (2) oversamples from five metropolitan areas, (3) siblings of individuals from the RDD sample, and (4) a national RDD sample of twin pairs. K6 items are scored using a 5-point scale: “none of the time,” “a little of the time,” “some of the time,” “most of the time,” and “all of the time.” The pattern of total score distribution and item responses were analyzed using graphical analysis and exponential regression model. Results The total score distributions of the four subsamples exhibited an exponential pattern with similar rate parameters. The item responses of the K6 approximated a linear pattern from “a little of the time” to “all of the time” on log-normal scales, while “none of the time” response was not related to this exponential pattern. Discussion The total score distribution and item responses of the K6 showed exponential patterns, consistent with other depressive symptom scales. PMID:28289560

The male-taller norm: Lack of evidence from a developing country.

PubMed

Sohn, K

2015-08-01

In general, women prefer men taller than themselves; this is referred to as the male-taller norm. However, since women are shorter than men on average, it is difficult to determine whether the fact that married women are on average shorter than their husbands results from the norm or is a simple artifact generated by the shorter stature of women. This study addresses the question by comparing the rate of adherence to the male-taller norm between actual mating and hypothetical random mating. A total of 7954 actually married couples are drawn from the last follow-up of the Indonesian Family Life Survey, a nationally representative survey. Their heights were measured by trained nurses. About 10,000 individuals are randomly sampled from the actual couples and randomly matched. An alternative random mating of about 100,000 couples is also performed, taking into account an age difference of 5 years within a couple. The rate of adherence to the male-taller norm is 93.4% for actual couples and 88.8% for random couples. The difference between the two figures is statistically significant, but it is emphasized that it is very small. The alternative random mating produces a rate of 91.4%. The male-taller norm exists in Indonesia, but only in a statistical sense. The small difference suggests that the norm is mostly explained by the fact that women are shorter than men on average. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus among US adolescents: results from the continuous NHANES, 1999-2010.

PubMed

Demmer, Ryan T; Zuk, Aleksandra M; Rosenbaum, Michael; Desvarieux, Moïse

2013-10-01

Although prevalence and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are reportedly increasing among adolescents, national data are lacking, particularly in regard to undiagnosed T2DM. To estimate the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed T2DM among US adolescents, we analyzed a nationally representative cross-section of 11,888 adolescents aged 12-19 years who received a diabetes interview in the Continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey during 1999-2010. Among them, a random subsample of 4,661 adolescents also had fasting blood samples collected. Persons who reported a previous diabetes diagnosis and were either taking no medication or taking an oral hypoglycemic agent (with or without insulin) were classified as having T2DM; persons who reported using insulin alone were classified as having type 1 diabetes. Undiagnosed diabetes was defined as a fasting plasma glucose concentration of ≥126 mg/dL and was assumed to be type 2. In the fasting subsample, 31 diabetes cases (types 1 and 2) were identified, representing a prevalence of 0.84% (weighted 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51, 1.40) (276,638 cases; 95% CI: 134,255, 419,020). Estimates of the prevalences of type 1 and type 2 diabetes were 0.48% (95% CI: 0.23, 1.02) and 0.36% (95% CI: 0.20, 0.67), respectively, indicating that T2DM accounted for 43% of all cases. Further, undiagnosed T2DM prevalence was 0.12% (95% CI: 0.05, 0.31), representing 34% of T2DM cases (40,611 cases; 95% CI: 2,850, 78,373). T2DM accounts for approximately half of adolescent diabetes in the United States, and one-third of these cases are undiagnosed.

Development of new demi-span equations from a nationally representative sample of adults to estimate maximal adult height.

PubMed

Hirani, Vasant; Tabassum, Faiza; Aresu, Maria; Mindell, Jennifer

2010-08-01

Various measures have been used to estimate height when assessing nutritional status. Current equations to obtain demi-span equivalent height (DEH(Bassey)) are based on a small sample from a single study. The objectives of this study were to develop more robust DEH equations from a large number of men (n = 591) and women (n = 830) aged 25-45 y from a nationally representative cross-sectional sample (Health Survey for England 2007). Sex-specific regression equations were produced from young adults' (aged 25-45 y) measured height and demi-span to estimate new DEH equations (DEH(new)). DEH in people aged >or= 65 y was calculated using DEH(new). DEH(new) estimated current height in people aged 25-45 y with a mean difference of 0.04 in men (P = 0.80) and -0.29 in women (P = 0.05). Height, demi-span, DEH(new), and DEH(Bassey) declined by age group in both sexes aged >or=65 y (P < 0.05); DEH were larger than the measured height for all age groups (mean difference between DEH(new) and current height was -2.64 in men and -3.16 in women; both P < 0.001). Comparisons of DEH estimates showed good agreement, but DEH(new) was significantly higher than DEH(Bassey) in each age and sex group in older people. The new equations that are based on a large, randomly selected, nationally representative sample of young adults are more robust for predicting current height in young adults when height measurements are unavailable and can be used in the future to predict maximal adult height more accurately in currently young adults as they age.

The relationship between qualified personnel and self-reported implementation of recommended physical education practices and programs in U.S. schools.

PubMed

Davis, Kristen S; Burgeson, Charlene R; Brener, Nancy D; McManus, Tim; Wechsler, Howell

2005-06-01

The authors analyzed data from the School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000 to assess the associations between the presence of a district physical education coordinator and district-level physical education policies and practices recommended by federal government agencies and national organizations. The authors also examined the relationship between teacher qualifications and staff development related to physical education and self-reported implementation of recommended teachingpractices. District-level data were collected by self-administered mail questionnaires from a nationally representative sample of school districts. Classroom-level data were collected by computer-assisted personal interviews with teachers of randomly selected classes in elementary schools and randomly selected required physical education courses in middle/junior high and senior high schools. Nearly two thirds (62.2%) of districts had a physical education coordinator, and those were generally more likely than other districts to report having policies and practices that corresponded with national recommendations for high-quality physical education programs. More than two thirds of teachers (66.9%) met the criteria for teacher qualifications based on their education and certification. These teachers were more likely than others to report use of certain recommended physical education teaching practices. Teachers who participated in staff development also were more likely to use recommended teaching practices in their classrooms. Using a district physical education coordinator and teachers with appropriate qualifications as well as offering staff development opportunities on physical education may enhance school physical education programs.

Random Sampling of Squamate Reptiles in Spanish Natural Reserves Reveals the Presence of Novel Adenoviruses in Lacertids (Family Lacertidae) and Worm Lizards (Amphisbaenia)

PubMed Central

Szirovicza, Leonóra; López, Pilar; Kopena, Renáta; Benkő, Mária; Martín, José; Pénzes, Judit J.

2016-01-01

Here, we report the results of a large-scale PCR survey on the prevalence and diversity of adenoviruses (AdVs) in samples collected randomly from free-living reptiles. On the territories of the Guadarrama Mountains National Park in Central Spain and of the Chafarinas Islands in North Africa, cloacal swabs were taken from 318 specimens of eight native species representing five squamate reptilian families. The healthy-looking animals had been captured temporarily for physiological and ethological examinations, after which they were released. We found 22 AdV-positive samples in representatives of three species, all from Central Spain. Sequence analysis of the PCR products revealed the existence of three hitherto unknown AdVs in 11 Carpetane rock lizards (Iberolacerta cyreni), nine Iberian worm lizards (Blanus cinereus), and two Iberian green lizards (Lacerta schreiberi), respectively. Phylogeny inference showed every novel putative virus to be a member of the genus Atadenovirus. This is the very first description of the occurrence of AdVs in amphisbaenian and lacertid hosts. Unlike all squamate atadenoviruses examined previously, two of the novel putative AdVs had A+T rich DNA, a feature generally deemed to mirror previous host switch events. Our results shed new light on the diversity and evolution of atadenoviruses. PMID:27399970

Random Sampling of Squamate Reptiles in Spanish Natural Reserves Reveals the Presence of Novel Adenoviruses in Lacertids (Family Lacertidae) and Worm Lizards (Amphisbaenia).

PubMed

Szirovicza, Leonóra; López, Pilar; Kopena, Renáta; Benkő, Mária; Martín, José; Pénzes, Judit J

2016-01-01

Here, we report the results of a large-scale PCR survey on the prevalence and diversity of adenoviruses (AdVs) in samples collected randomly from free-living reptiles. On the territories of the Guadarrama Mountains National Park in Central Spain and of the Chafarinas Islands in North Africa, cloacal swabs were taken from 318 specimens of eight native species representing five squamate reptilian families. The healthy-looking animals had been captured temporarily for physiological and ethological examinations, after which they were released. We found 22 AdV-positive samples in representatives of three species, all from Central Spain. Sequence analysis of the PCR products revealed the existence of three hitherto unknown AdVs in 11 Carpetane rock lizards (Iberolacerta cyreni), nine Iberian worm lizards (Blanus cinereus), and two Iberian green lizards (Lacerta schreiberi), respectively. Phylogeny inference showed every novel putative virus to be a member of the genus Atadenovirus. This is the very first description of the occurrence of AdVs in amphisbaenian and lacertid hosts. Unlike all squamate atadenoviruses examined previously, two of the novel putative AdVs had A+T rich DNA, a feature generally deemed to mirror previous host switch events. Our results shed new light on the diversity and evolution of atadenoviruses.

Comparing decision making between cancer patients and the general population: thoughts, emotions, or social influence?

PubMed

Yang, Z Janet; McComas, Katherine A; Gay, Geri K; Leonard, John P; Dannenberg, Andrew J; Dillon, Hildy

2012-01-01

This study extends a risk information seeking and processing model to explore the relative effect of cognitive processing strategies, positive and negative emotions, and normative beliefs on individuals' decision making about potential health risks. Most previous research based on this theoretical framework has examined environmental risks. Applying this risk communication model to study health decision making presents an opportunity to explore theoretical boundaries of the model, while also bringing this research to bear on a pressing medical issue: low enrollment in clinical trials. Comparative analysis of data gathered from 2 telephone surveys of a representative national sample (n = 500) and a random sample of cancer patients (n = 411) indicated that emotions played a more substantive role in cancer patients' decisions to enroll in a potential trial, whereas cognitive processing strategies and normative beliefs had greater influences on the decisions of respondents from the national sample.

Organizational characteristics influencing nursing home social service directors' qualifications: a national study.

PubMed

Simons, Kelsey V

2006-11-01

This research sought to identify organizational characteristics associated with the amount of professional qualifications among a nationally representative sample of nursing home social service directors. A self-administered survey was sent to directors in 675 facilities randomly sampled from a federal database, excluding facilities with fewer than 120 beds that are not required to staff a full-time social worker. The response rate was 45 percent (N = 299). Univariate results showed that most respondents possessed a social work degree, most lacked licensure, and few were clinically supervised. A multiple regression analysis found that nonprofit, independently owned facilities in rural areas staffed social service directors who were significantly more qualified than directors in for-profit, chain-affiliated facilities in urban and suburban areas. Facilities with fewer psychosocial deficiencies and higher occupancy rates employed social service directors with greater qualifications. The implications of these findings for social work education, practice, policy, and research are discussed.

Communicating about Mental Illness and Violence: Balancing Increased Support for Services and Stigma

PubMed Central

Goldman, Howard H.; Pescosolido, Bernice A.; Barry, Colleen L.

2017-01-01

In the ongoing national policy debate about how to best address serious mental illness (SMI), a major controversy among mental health advocates is whether drawing public attention to an apparent link between SMI and violence, shown to elevate stigma, is the optimal strategy for increasing public support for investing in mental health services or whether non-stigmatizing messages can be equally effective. We conducted a randomized experiment to examine this question. Participants in a nationally representative online panel (N=1,326) were randomized to read one of three brief narratives about SMI emphasizing violence, systemic barriers to treatment, or successful treatment and recovery or to a control arm. Narratives, or stories about individuals, are a common communication strategy used by policymakers, advocates, and the news media. Study results showed that narratives emphasizing violence and barriers to treatment were equally effective in increasing the public’s willingness to pay additional taxes to improve the mental health system (55% and 52% versus 42% in the control arm). Only the narrative emphasizing the link between SMI and violence increased stigma. For the mental health advocates dedicated to improving the public mental health system, findings offer an alternative to stigmatizing messages linking mental illness and violence. PMID:29630706

Communicating about Mental Illness and Violence: Balancing Stigma and Increased Support for Services.

PubMed

McGinty, Emma E; Goldman, Howard H; Pescosolido, Bernice A; Barry, Colleen L

2018-04-01

In the ongoing national policy debate about how to best address serious mental illness (SMI), a major controversy among mental health advocates is whether drawing public attention to an apparent link between SMI and violence, shown to elevate stigma, is the optimal strategy for increasing public support for investing in mental health services or whether nonstigmatizing messages can be equally effective. We conducted a randomized experiment to examine this question. Participants in a nationally representative online panel (N = 1,326) were randomized to a control arm or to read one of three brief narratives about SMI emphasizing violence, systemic barriers to treatment, or successful treatment and recovery. Narratives, or stories about individuals, are a common communication strategy used by policy makers, advocates, and the news media. Study results showed that narratives emphasizing violence or barriers to treatment were equally effective in increasing the public's willingness to pay additional taxes to improve the mental health system (55 percent and 52 percent, vs. 42 percent in the control arm). Only the narrative emphasizing the link between SMI and violence increased stigma. For mental health advocates dedicated to improving the public mental health system, these findings offer an alternative to stigmatizing messages linking mental illness and violence. Copyright © 2018 by Duke University Press.

Precepting nurse practitioner students: A new view-Results of two national surveys of nurse practitioner preceptors.

PubMed

Roberts, Mary Ellen; Wheeler, Kathy J; Tyler, Diane O; Padden, Diane L

2017-08-01

The aim of two national studies was to identify characteristics of nurse practitioners (NPs) who precept and the benefits, incentives, and barriers associated with the NP preceptor role. Stratified randomized sampling was used to invite a representative number of NPs from each state to participate in a 2015 survey and a follow-up survey in 2016. These descriptive, exploratory studies distributed electronic questionnaires to 5000 randomly selected NPs in the 2015 survey and 40,000 NPs in the 2016 survey. Responses from 10.9% (n = 548) and 9.9% (n = 3970), respectively, were analyzed. The findings show strong support among our NP colleagues to assist with educating future NPs. Several benefits, barriers, and motivators among stakeholders were identified that need to be considered when working with preceptors. This study provides a basis for understanding the current climate in education when working with clinical preceptors. Many areas become apparent where NP education could enhance the experience for both the student and the preceptor. Educational settings need to consider preceptor time, issues with online learning, and the rise of specialty practices. Offering incentives linked to the most valued, positive aspects of the role and methods to overcome barriers should be explored. ©2017 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

Methodological considerations in using complex survey data: an applied example with the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey.

PubMed

Hahs-Vaughn, Debbie L; McWayne, Christine M; Bulotsky-Shearer, Rebecca J; Wen, Xiaoli; Faria, Ann-Marie

2011-06-01

Complex survey data are collected by means other than simple random samples. This creates two analytical issues: nonindependence and unequal selection probability. Failing to address these issues results in underestimated standard errors and biased parameter estimates. Using data from the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES; 1997 and 2000 cohorts), three diverse multilevel models are presented that illustrate differences in results depending on addressing or ignoring the complex sampling issues. Limitations of using complex survey data are reported, along with recommendations for reporting complex sample results. © The Author(s) 2011

Non-urban mobile radio market demand forecast

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castruccio, P. A.; Cooper, J.

1982-01-01

A national nonmetropolitan land mobile traffic model for 1990-2000 addresses user classes, density classes, traffic mix statistics, distance distribution, geographic distribution, price elasticity, and service quality elasticity. Traffic demands for business, special industrial, and police were determined on the basis of surveys in 73 randomly selected nonurban counties. The selected services represent 69% of total demand. The results were extrapolated to all services in the non-SMSA areas of the contiguous United States. Radiotelephone services were considered separately. Total non-SMSA mobile radio demand (one way) estimates are given. General functional requirements include: hand portability, privacy, reduction of blind spots, two way data transmission, position location, slow scan imagery.

Effect of Medicaid coverage of tobacco-dependence treatments on smoking cessation.

PubMed

Liu, Feng

2009-12-01

Smoking cessation aids (nicotine replacement products and anti-depressant medication) have been proven to double quitting rates compared to placebo in several randomized controlled trials. But the high initial cost of cessation aids might create a financial barrier to cessation for low-income smokers. In the U.S., Medicaid provides health insurance coverage to low-income people, and in some states covers smoking cessation products. This paper uses nationally representative data of the U.S. to examine how the Medicaid coverage of cessation aids affect smoking behavior. The results indicate the Medicaid coverage of cessation products is positively associated with successful quitting among women aged 18-44.

Generalizability of findings from randomized controlled trials: application to the National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network.

PubMed

Susukida, Ryoko; Crum, Rosa M; Ebnesajjad, Cyrus; Stuart, Elizabeth A; Mojtabai, Ramin

2017-07-01

To compare randomized controlled trial (RCT) sample treatment effects with the population effects of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. Statistical weighting was used to re-compute the effects from 10 RCTs such that the participants in the trials had characteristics that resembled those of patients in the target populations. Multi-site RCTs and usual SUD treatment settings in the United States. A total of 3592 patients in 10 RCTs and 1 602 226 patients from usual SUD treatment settings between 2001 and 2009. Three outcomes of SUD treatment were examined: retention, urine toxicology and abstinence. We weighted the RCT sample treatment effects using propensity scores representing the conditional probability of participating in RCTs. Weighting the samples changed the significance of estimated sample treatment effects. Most commonly, positive effects of trials became statistically non-significant after weighting (three trials for retention and urine toxicology and one trial for abstinence); also, non-significant effects became significantly positive (one trial for abstinence) and significantly negative effects became non-significant (two trials for abstinence). There was suggestive evidence of treatment effect heterogeneity in subgroups that are under- or over-represented in the trials, some of which were consistent with the differences in average treatment effects between weighted and unweighted results. The findings of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for substance use disorder treatment do not appear to be directly generalizable to target populations when the RCT samples do not reflect adequately the target populations and there is treatment effect heterogeneity across patient subgroups. © 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Refined sugar intake in Australian children.

PubMed

Somerset, Shawn M

2003-12-01

To estimate the intake of refined sugar in Australian children and adolescents, aged 2-18 years. Foods contributing to total sugar intake were identified using data from the National Nutrition Survey 1995 (NNS95), the most recent national dietary survey of the Australian population. The top 100 foods represented means of 85% (range 79-91%) and 82% (range 78-85%) of total sugar intake for boys and girls, respectively. Using published Australian food composition data (NUTTAB95), the proportion of total sugar being refined sugar was estimated for each food. Where published food composition data were not available, calculations from ingredients and manufacturer's information were used. The NNS95 assessed the dietary intake of a random sample of the Australian population, aged 2-18 years (n=3007). Mean daily intakes of refined sugar ranged from 26.9 to 78.3 g for 2-18-year-old girls, representing 6.6-14.8% of total energy intake. Corresponding figures for boys were 27.0 to 81.6 g and 8.0-14.0%, respectively. Of the 10 highest sources of refined sugar for each age group, sweetened beverages, especially cola-type beverages, were the most prominent. Refined sugar is an important contributor to dietary energy in Australian children. Sweetened beverages such as soft drinks and cordials were substantial sources of refined sugar and represent a potential target for campaigns to reduce refined sugar intake. Better access to information on the amounts of sugar added to processed food is essential for appropriate monitoring of this important energy source.

Estimated Prevalence of People with Cognitive Impairment: Results from Nationally Representative Community and Institutional Surveys

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernstein, Amy B.; Remsburg, Robin E.

2007-01-01

Purpose: We address how the national prevalence of cognitive impairment can be estimated from two nationally representative surveys. Design and Methods: Data are from the 1999-2001 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 1999 National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS). The NHIS represents all community-dwelling people living in the United States,…

Assessing sample representativeness in randomized controlled trials: application to the National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network.

PubMed

Susukida, Ryoko; Crum, Rosa M; Stuart, Elizabeth A; Ebnesajjad, Cyrus; Mojtabai, Ramin

2016-07-01

To compare the characteristics of individuals participating in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of treatments of substance use disorder (SUD) with individuals receiving treatment in usual care settings, and to provide a summary quantitative measure of differences between characteristics of these two groups of individuals using propensity score methods. Design Analyses using data from RCT samples from the National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network (CTN) and target populations of patients drawn from the Treatment Episodes Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A). Settings Multiple clinical trial sites and nation-wide usual SUD treatment settings in the United States. A total of 3592 individuals from 10 CTN samples and 1 602 226 individuals selected from TEDS-A between 2001 and 2009. Measurements The propensity scores for enrolling in the RCTs were computed based on the following nine observable characteristics: sex, race/ethnicity, age, education, employment status, marital status, admission to treatment through criminal justice, intravenous drug use and the number of prior treatments. Findings The proportion of those with ≥ 12 years of education and the proportion of those who had full-time jobs were significantly higher among RCT samples than among target populations (in seven and nine trials, respectively, at P < 0.001). The pooled difference in the mean propensity scores between the RCTs and the target population was 1.54 standard deviations and was statistically significant at P < 0.001. In the United States, individuals recruited into randomized controlled trials of substance use disorder treatments appear to be very different from individuals receiving treatment in usual care settings. Notably, RCT participants tend to have more years of education and a greater likelihood of full-time work compared with people receiving care in usual care settings. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Does higher education protect against obesity? Evidence using Mendelian randomization.

PubMed

Böckerman, Petri; Viinikainen, Jutta; Pulkki-Råback, Laura; Hakulinen, Christian; Pitkänen, Niina; Lehtimäki, Terho; Pehkonen, Jaakko; Raitakari, Olli T

2017-08-01

The aim of this explorative study was to examine the effect of education on obesity using Mendelian randomization. Participants (N=2011) were from the on-going nationally representative Young Finns Study (YFS) that began in 1980 when six cohorts (aged 30, 33, 36, 39, 42 and 45 in 2007) were recruited. The average value of BMI (kg/m 2 ) measurements in 2007 and 2011 and genetic information were linked to comprehensive register-based information on the years of education in 2007. We first used a linear regression (Ordinary Least Squares, OLS) to estimate the relationship between education and BMI. To identify a causal relationship, we exploited Mendelian randomization and used a genetic score as an instrument for education. The genetic score was based on 74 genetic variants that genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have found to be associated with the years of education. Because the genotypes are randomly assigned at conception, the instrument causes exogenous variation in the years of education and thus enables identification of causal effects. The years of education in 2007 were associated with lower BMI in 2007/2011 (regression coefficient (b)=-0.22; 95% Confidence Intervals [CI]=-0.29, -0.14) according to the linear regression results. The results based on Mendelian randomization suggests that there may be a negative causal effect of education on BMI (b=-0.84; 95% CI=-1.77, 0.09). The findings indicate that education could be a protective factor against obesity in advanced countries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An Overview of Research and Evaluation Designs for Dissemination and Implementation

PubMed Central

Brown, C. Hendricks; Curran, Geoffrey; Palinkas, Lawrence A.; Aarons, Gregory A.; Wells, Kenneth B.; Jones, Loretta; Collins, Linda M.; Duan, Naihua; Mittman, Brian S.; Wallace, Andrea; Tabak, Rachel G.; Ducharme, Lori; Chambers, David; Neta, Gila; Wiley, Tisha; Landsverk, John; Cheung, Ken; Cruden, Gracelyn

2016-01-01

Background The wide variety of dissemination and implementation designs now being used to evaluate and improve health systems and outcomes warrants review of the scope, features, and limitations of these designs. Methods This paper is one product of a design workgroup formed in 2013 by the National Institutes of Health to address dissemination and implementation research, and whose members represented diverse methodologic backgrounds, content focus areas, and health sectors. These experts integrated their collective knowledge on dissemination and implementation designs with searches of published evaluations strategies. Results This paper emphasizes randomized and non-randomized designs for the traditional translational research continuum or pipeline, which builds on existing efficacy and effectiveness trials to examine how one or more evidence-based clinical/prevention interventions are adopted, scaled up, and sustained in community or service delivery systems. We also mention other designs, including hybrid designs that combine effectiveness and implementation research, quality improvement designs for local knowledge, and designs that use simulation modeling. PMID:28384085

Report for Colorado: Background & Visuals, Math 2005. The Nation's Report Card

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandoval, Pam A.

2005-01-01

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2005 assessment was administered to a stratified random sample of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-graders at the national level and to a stratified random sample of fourth- and eighth-graders at the state level. The Mathematics Framework for NAEP was revised in 1996 and again in 2005. The new…

Characteristics of incident female breast cancer in Lebanon, 1990-2013: Descriptive study of 612 cases from a hospital tumor registry.

PubMed

Chahine, Georges; El Rassy, Elie; Khazzaka, Aline; Saleh, Khalil; Rassy, Nathalie; Khalife, Nadine; Atallah, David

2015-06-01

Despite the fact that breast cancer is a major health issue, very few studies describe its characteristics in the Arab world or the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon. We report in this article a retrospective pilot study of the characteristics of breast cancer in Lebanon. The pathological characteristics of 624 patients diagnosed between 1990 and 2013 randomly chosen from the archives of an oncology clinic affiliated to Hotel Dieu de France Hospital are analyzed. The mean age at diagnosis is 54.6±13.4 years with 43% diagnosed before the age of 50 years. The infiltrative ductal carcinoma represents the major pathological subtype. One third of the tumors had a size of more than 2 cm at diagnosis. Estrogen-receptors are positive in more than 50% of our patients and Her2-neu is overexpresssed in 30%. Luminal A represents 45.5% and the triple negative subgroup constitutes only 8.3%. Breast cancer in Lebanon is evolving to a more indolent disease. Therefore, public awareness and institution of screening programs are required. These programs should be based on national epidemiological data and necessitate the activation of the national cancer registry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease and its Trends in the Aged 2010 (NIPPON DATA2010): Objectives, Design, and Population Characteristics

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background The structure and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Japan may change because lifestyle, particularly nutrition, socioeconomic status, and medical care, which affect CVD, may markedly change over time. Therefore, a new prospective cohort study on a representative general Japanese population based on national surveys is required. Methods In November 2010, the baseline survey of the National Integrated Project for Prospective Observation of Non-communicable Disease and its Trends in the Aged 2010 (NIPPON DATA2010) was performed with the National Health and Nutrition Survey of Japan (NHNS2010) in 300 randomly selected districts throughout Japan. The survey included a questionnaire, electrocardiogram, urinalysis, and blood biomarkers added to the NHNS2010 examinations. Physical measurements, blood biomarkers, and dietary data were also obtained in NHNS2010. Socioeconomic factors were obtained by merging with the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions 2010 (CSLC2010) dataset. Participants are followed annually for the incidence of diabetes mellitus, CVD events (acute coronary events, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and stroke), and cause-specific mortality. The activities of daily living are followed every 5 years. Results A total of 2,898 individuals aged 20 years or older agreed to participate in the baseline survey of NIPPON DATA2010. The participation rate was 74.6%. Of these, data from NHNS2010 was merged for 2,891 participants (1,236 men and 1,655 women). The data of 2,807 participants were also merged with CSLC2010 data. Conclusions We established NIPPON DATA2010 as a cohort study on a representative general Japanese population that covers all of Japan. PMID:29503381

Inception of a national multidisciplinary registry for stereotactic radiosurgery.

PubMed

Sheehan, Jason P; Kavanagh, Brian D; Asher, Anthony; Harbaugh, Robert E

2016-01-01

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) represents a multidisciplinary approach to the delivery of ionizing high-dose radiation to treat a wide variety of disorders. Much of the radiosurgical literature is based upon retrospective single-center studies along with a few randomized controlled clinical trials. More timely and effective evidence is needed to enhance the consistency and quality of and clinical outcomes achieved with SRS. The authors summarize the creation and implementation of a national SRS registry. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) through NeuroPoint Alliance, Inc., started a successful registry effort with its lumbar spine initiative. Following a similar approach, the AANS and NeuroPoint Alliance collaborated with corporate partners and the American Society for Radiation Oncology to devise a data dictionary for an SRS registry. Through administrative and financial support from professional societies and corporate partners, a framework for implementation of the registry was created. Initial plans were devised for a 3-year effort encompassing 30 high-volume SRS centers across the country. Device-specific web-based data-extraction platforms were built by the corporate partners. Data uploaders were then used to port the data to a common repository managed by Quintiles, a national and international health care trials company. Audits of the data for completeness and veracity will be undertaken by Quintiles to ensure data fidelity. Data governance and analysis are overseen by an SRS board comprising equal numbers of representatives from the AANS and NeuroPoint Alliance. Over time, quality outcome assessments and post hoc research can be performed to advance the field of SRS. Stereotactic radiosurgery offers a high-technology approach to treating complex intracranial disorders. Improvements in the consistency and quality of care delivered to patients who undergo SRS should be afforded by the national registry effort that is underway.

The Prostate Cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial: VA/NCI/AHRQ Cooperative Studies Program #407 (PIVOT): design and baseline results of a randomized controlled trial comparing radical prostatectomy with watchful waiting for men with clinically localized prostate cancer.

PubMed

Wilt, Timothy J

2012-12-01

Prostate cancer is the most common noncutaneous malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. In the United States, 90% of men with prostate cancer are more than age 60 years, diagnosed by early detection with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test, and have disease believed confined to the prostate gland (clinically localized). Common treatments for clinically localized prostate cancer include watchful waiting (WW), surgery to remove the prostate gland (radical prostatectomy), external-beam radiation therapy and interstitial radiation therapy (brachytherapy), and androgen deprivation. Little is known about the relative effectiveness and harms of treatments because of the paucity of randomized controlled trials. The Department of Veterans Affairs/National Cancer Institute/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Cooperative Studies Program Study #407:Prostate Cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial (PIVOT), initiated in 1994, is a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing radical prostatectomy with WW in men with clinically localized prostate cancer. We describe the study rationale, design, recruitment methods, and baseline characteristics of PIVOT enrollees. We provide comparisons with eligible men declining enrollment and men participating in another recently reported randomized trial of radical prostatectomy vs WW conducted in Scandinavia. We screened 13 022 men with prostate cancer at 52 US medical centers for potential enrollment. From these, 5023 met initial age, comorbidity, and disease eligibility criteria, and a total of 731 men agreed to participate and were randomized. The mean age of enrollees was 67 years. Nearly one-third were African American. Approximately 85% reported that they were fully active. The median PSA was 7.8ng/mL (mean 10.2ng/mL). In three-fourths of men, the primary reason for biopsy leading to a diagnosis of prostate cancer was a PSA elevation or rise. Using previously developed tumor risk categorizations incorporating PSA levels, Gleason histologic grade, and tumor stage, it was found that approximately 40% had low-risk, 34% had medium-risk, and 21% had high-risk prostate cancer based on local histopathology. Comparison to our national sample of eligible men declining PIVOT participation as well as to men enrolled in the Scandinavian trial indicated that PIVOT enrollees are representative of men being diagnosed and treated in the United States and quite different from men in the Scandinavian trial. PIVOT enrolled an ethnically diverse population representative of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States. Results will yield important information regarding the relative effectiveness and harms of surgery compared with WW for men with predominately PSA-detected clinically localized prostate cancer.

Resource Input, Service Process and Resident Activity Indicators in a Welsh National Random Sample of Staffed Housing Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Felce, David; Perry, Jonathan

2004-01-01

Background: The aims were to: (i) explore the association between age and size of setting and staffing per resident; and (ii) report resident and setting characteristics, and indicators of service process and resident activity for a national random sample of staffed housing provision. Methods: Sixty settings were selected randomly from those…

Studies in astronomical time series analysis: Modeling random processes in the time domain

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scargle, J. D.

1979-01-01

Random process models phased in the time domain are used to analyze astrophysical time series data produced by random processes. A moving average (MA) model represents the data as a sequence of pulses occurring randomly in time, with random amplitudes. An autoregressive (AR) model represents the correlations in the process in terms of a linear function of past values. The best AR model is determined from sampled data and transformed to an MA for interpretation. The randomness of the pulse amplitudes is maximized by a FORTRAN algorithm which is relatively stable numerically. Results of test cases are given to study the effects of adding noise and of different distributions for the pulse amplitudes. A preliminary analysis of the optical light curve of the quasar 3C 273 is given.

The Impact of Combined Music and Tai Chi on Depressive Symptoms Among Community-Dwelling Older Persons: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Liao, S J; Tan, M P; Chong, M C; Chua, Y P

2018-05-01

The effectiveness of pharmacological treatment may be limited in older persons. Several studies using Tai Chi or music therapy separately confirmed positive effects in the reduction of depressive symptoms. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial to evaluate the possible synergistic effect of combined music and Tai Chi on depressive symptoms. One hundred and seven older adults with mild to moderate depressive symptoms were recruited from Ya'an city. Fifty-five participants were cluster randomized to combined music and Tai Chi group for three months, while the other fifty-two individuals were randomized to the control group that entailed routine health education delivered monthly by community nurses. The primary outcome of depressive symptoms was measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) at baseline and monthly for three months. At three-month follow-up, a statistically significant improvement in depressive symptoms was found in the intervention group compared with control group (F(3,315) = 69.661, P < 0.001). Following adjustments for socio-demographic data, the true effect of intervention on depressive symptoms was significant (F = 41.725, P < 0.01, η p 2 = 0.574). Combined music and Tai Chi reduced depressive symptoms among community-dwelling older persons. This represents an economically viable solution to the management of depression in highly populous developing nations.

THE SELECTION OF A NATIONAL RANDOM SAMPLE OF TEACHERS FOR EXPERIMENTAL CURRICULUM EVALUATION.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

WELCH, WAYNE W.; AND OTHERS

MEMBERS OF THE EVALUATION SECTION OF HARVARD PROJECT PHYSICS, DESCRIBING WHAT IS SAID TO BE THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO SELECT A NATIONAL RANDOM SAMPLE OF (HIGH SCHOOL PHYSICS) TEACHERS, LIST THE STEPS AS (1) PURCHASE OF A LIST OF PHYSICS TEACHERS FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION (MOST COMPLETE AVAILABLE), (2) SELECTION OF 136 NAMES BY A…

Preference for Boys, Family Size, and Educational Attainment in India.

PubMed

Kugler, Adriana D; Kumar, Santosh

2017-06-01

Using data from nationally representative household surveys, we test whether Indian parents make trade-offs between the number of children and investments in education. To address the endogeneity due to the joint determination of quantity and quality of children, we instrument family size with the gender of the first child, which is plausibly random. Given a strong son preference in India, parents tend to have more children if the firstborn is a girl. Our instrumental variable results show that children from larger families have lower educational attainment and are less likely to be enrolled in school, with larger effects for rural, poorer, and low-caste families as well as for families with illiterate mothers.

Fatal school shootings and the epidemiological context of firearm mortality in the United States.

PubMed

Shultz, James M; Cohen, Alyssa M; Muschert, Glenn W; Flores de Apodaca, Roberto

2013-01-01

Background The December 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, USA, vaulted concerns regarding gun violence to the forefront of public attention. This high-visibility incident occurred within the epidemiological context of U.S. firearm mortality that claims more than 88 lives daily. Methods National epidemiologic data on firearm deaths over two decades were analyzed along with data registries on school shootings in order to place the tragedy at Sandy Hook in perspective. School shootings were classified as random or targeted. Results The U.S. has the highest rates of firearm deaths, suicides, and homicides among the world's 34 "advanced economies." Seventy percent of U.S. homicides and more than 50% of U.S. suicides are committed using a firearm. U.S. firearm homicide rates first declined, and then stabilized, during the past 23 years, 1990-2012. "Shooting massacres" in school settings, a new phenomenon within the past 50 years, are extremely rare events. Over 23 years, 1990-2012, 215 fatal school shooting incidents resulted in 363 deaths, equivalent to 0.12% of national firearm homicides during that time period. Most episodes were "targeted" shootings in which the perpetrator intentionally killed a specific individual in a school setting. Only 25 of these 215 events (11.6%) were "random" or "rampage" shootings, resulting in 135 deaths (0.04% of national firearm homicides). Among these, just three shooting rampages - Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, and Sandy hook Elementary School - accounted for 72 (53.3%) of these 135 deaths. The frequency of random/rampage shooting incidents in schools has remained within the narrow range of 0 to 3 episodes per year. Conclusions Each year, more than 32,000 Americans die by firearms and more than 70,000 are wounded, representing a volume of preventable deaths and injuries that the U.S. government describes as a "public health crisis." School massacres, such as Sandy Hook, occur periodically, galvanizing public reaction and bringing forth a collective call for intervention. Epidemiological analyses position these rare, but uniquely compelling, incidents within the broader national patterns of gun violence. The intention is to inform the selection of a balanced, comprehensive set of effective remedies to address the daily death toll from firearm suicides and "targeted" firearm homicides that account for more than 99% of firearm fatalities; as well as the rare, random, and sporadic rampage shootings in school or community settings.

INTAKE OF SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES, MILK AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH BODY MASS INDEX IN ADOLESCENCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

PubMed Central

Café, Ana Carolina Corrêa; Lopes, Carlos Alexandre de Oliveira; Novais, Rommel Larcher Rachid; Bila, Wendell Costa; da Silva, Daniely Karoline; Romano, Márcia Christina Caetano; Lamounier, Joel Alves

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: To systematize literature references addressing the association of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and milk intake with body mass index (BMI) in adolescents. Data source: A search was carried out in PubMed (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health) and BVS (Virtual Library in Health). The descriptors used were: adolescents, young adult, beverages, drinking, obesity, overweight, BMI, and nutritional status. The following filters were applied: age ranging from 10 to 19 years, studies published in Portuguese or English language between 2011-2015. Data synthesis: Thirty studies were selected (22 cross-sectional studies, 4 cohort studies, 1 randomized clinical trial, 1 case-control study, and 1 quasi-experimental study). There was association between the intake of these beverages and increase in BMI in 55% of all 20 studies that dealt with sugary drinks. When it came to soft drinks, 100% of studies reported association with increase in BMI. As to milk intake, only one article showed association with increased BMI. Three articles reported milk as a protection factor against increase in BMI; three studies found no association between this intake and BMI. Nineteen studies had representative samples and 20 surveys reported random samples. Among papers using questionnaires, 84% had been validated. Conclusions: There is no consensus in the literature about the association between SSB or milk intake and BMI in adolescents. PMID:29513855

Evaluating the importance of policy amenable factors in explaining influenza vaccination: a cross-sectional multinational study

PubMed Central

Wheelock, Ana; Miraldo, Marisa; Thomson, Angus; Vincent, Charles; Sevdalis, Nick

2017-01-01

Objectives Despite continuous efforts to improve influenza vaccination coverage, uptake among high-risk groups remains suboptimal. We aimed to identify policy amenable factors associated with vaccination and to measure their importance in order to assist in the monitoring of vaccination sentiment and the design of communication strategies and interventions to improve vaccination rates. Setting The USA, the UK and France. Participants A total of 2412 participants were surveyed across the three countries. Outcome measures Self-reported influenza vaccination. Methods Between March and April 2014, a stratified random sampling strategy was employed with the aim of obtaining nationally representative samples in the USA, the UK and France through online databases and random-digit dialling. Participants were asked about vaccination practices, perceptions and feelings. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with past influenza vaccination. Results The models were able to explain 64%–80% of the variance in vaccination behaviour. Overall, sociopsychological variables, which are inherently amenable to policy, were better at explaining past vaccination behaviour than demographic, socioeconomic and health variables. Explanatory variables included social influence (physician), influenza and vaccine risk perceptions and traumatic childhood experiences. Conclusions Our results indicate that evidence-based sociopsychological items should be considered for inclusion into national immunisation surveys to gauge the public’s views, identify emerging concerns and thus proactively and opportunely address potential barriers and harness vaccination drivers. PMID:28706088

INTAKE OF SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES, MILK AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH BODY MASS INDEX IN ADOLESCENCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.

PubMed

Café, Ana Carolina Corrêa; Lopes, Carlos Alexandre de Oliveira; Novais, Rommel Larcher Rachid; Bila, Wendell Costa; Silva, Daniely Karoline da; Romano, Márcia Christina Caetano; Lamounier, Joel Alves

2018-01-01

To systematize literature references addressing the association of sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) and milk intake with body mass index (BMI) in adolescents. A search was carried out in PubMed (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health) and BVS (Virtual Library in Health). The descriptors used were: adolescents, young adult, beverages, drinking, obesity, overweight, BMI, and nutritional status. The following filters were applied: age ranging from 10 to 19 years, studies published in Portuguese or English language between 2011-2015. Thirty studies were selected (22 cross-sectional studies, 4 cohort studies, 1 randomized clinical trial, 1 case-control study, and 1 quasi-experimental study). There was association between the intake of these beverages and increase in BMI in 55% of all 20 studies that dealt with sugary drinks. When it came to soft drinks, 100% of studies reported association with increase in BMI. As to milk intake, only one article showed association with increased BMI. Three articles reported milk as a protection factor against increase in BMI; three studies found no association between this intake and BMI. Nineteen studies had representative samples and 20 surveys reported random samples. Among papers using questionnaires, 84% had been validated. There is no consensus in the literature about the association between SSB or milk intake and BMI in adolescents.

Evaluation of the NCPDP Structured and Codified Sig Format for e-prescriptions.

PubMed

Liu, Hangsheng; Burkhart, Q; Bell, Douglas S

2011-01-01

To evaluate the ability of the structure and code sets specified in the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Structured and Codified Sig Format to represent ambulatory electronic prescriptions. We parsed the Sig strings from a sample of 20,161 de-identified ambulatory e-prescriptions into variables representing the fields of the Structured and Codified Sig Format. A stratified random sample of these representations was then reviewed by a group of experts. For codified Sig fields, we attempted to map the actual words used by prescribers to the equivalent terms in the designated terminology. Proportion of prescriptions that the Format could fully represent; proportion of terms used that could be mapped to the designated terminology. The fields defined in the Format could fully represent 95% of Sigs (95% CI 93% to 97%), but ambiguities were identified, particularly in representing multiple-step instructions. The terms used by prescribers could be codified for only 60% of dose delivery methods, 84% of dose forms, 82% of vehicles, 95% of routes, 70% of sites, 33% of administration timings, and 93% of indications. The findings are based on a retrospective sample of ambulatory prescriptions derived mostly from primary care physicians. The fields defined in the Format could represent most of the patient instructions in a large prescription sample, but prior to its mandatory adoption, further work is needed to ensure that potential ambiguities are addressed and that a complete set of terms is available for the codified fields.

Novel viruses in salivary glands of mosquitoes from sylvatic Cerrado, Midwestern Brazil

PubMed Central

de Lara Pinto, Andressa Zelenski; Santos de Carvalho, Michellen; de Melo, Fernando Lucas; Ribeiro, Ana Lúcia Maria; Morais Ribeiro, Bergmann

2017-01-01

Viruses may represent the most diverse microorganisms on Earth. Novel viruses and variants continue to emerge. Mosquitoes are the most dangerous animals to humankind. This study aimed at identifying viral RNA diversity in salivary glands of mosquitoes captured in a sylvatic area of Cerrado at the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park, Mato Grosso, Brazil. In total, 66 Culicinae mosquitoes belonging to 16 species comprised 9 pools, subjected to viral RNA extraction, double-strand cDNA synthesis, random amplification and high-throughput sequencing, revealing the presence of seven insect-specific viruses, six of which represent new species of Rhabdoviridae (Lobeira virus), Chuviridae (Cumbaru and Croada viruses), Totiviridae (Murici virus) and Partitiviridae (Araticum and Angico viruses). In addition, two mosquito pools presented Kaiowa virus sequences that had already been reported in South Pantanal, Brazil. These findings amplify the understanding of viral diversity in wild-type Culicinae. Insect-specific viruses may present a broader diversity than previously imagined and future studies may address their possible role in mosquito vector competence. PMID:29117239

Clutch sizes and nests of tailed frogs from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bury, R. Bruce; Loafman, P.; Rofkar, D.; Mike, K.

2001-01-01

In the summers 1995-1998, we sampled 168 streams (1,714 in of randomly selected 1-m bands) to determine distribution and abundance of stream amphibians in Olympic National Park, Washington. We found six nests (two in one stream) of the tailed frog, compared to only two nests with clutch sizes reported earlier for coastal regions. This represents only one nest per 286 in searched and one nest per 34 streams sampled. Tailed frogs occurred only in 94 (60%) of the streams and, for these waters, we found one nest per 171 in searched or one nest per 20 streams sampled. The numbers of eggs for four masses ((x) over bar = 48.3, range 40-55) were low but one single strand in a fifth nest had 96 eggs. One nest with 185 eggs likely represented communal egg deposition. Current evidence indicates a geographic trend with yearly clutches of relatively few eggs in coastal tailed frogs compared to biennial nesting with larger clutches for inland populations in the Rocky Mountains.

German health interview and examination survey for adults (DEGS) - design, objectives and implementation of the first data collection wave

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (DEGS) is part of the recently established national health monitoring conducted by the Robert Koch Institute. DEGS combines a nationally representative periodic health survey and a longitudinal study based on follow-up of survey participants. Funding is provided by the German Ministry of Health and supplemented for specific research topics from other sources. Methods/design The first DEGS wave of data collection (DEGS1) extended from November 2008 to December 2011. Overall, 8152 men and women participated. Of these, 3959 persons already participated in the German National Health Interview and Examination Survey 1998 (GNHIES98) at which time they were 18–79 years of age. Another 4193 persons 18–79 years of age were recruited for DEGS1 in 2008–2011 based on two-stage stratified random sampling from local population registries. Health data and context variables were collected using standardized computer assisted personal interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and standardized measurements and tests. In order to keep survey results representative for the population aged 18–79 years, results will be weighted by survey-specific weighting factors considering sampling and drop-out probabilities as well as deviations between the design-weighted net sample and German population statistics 2010. Discussion DEGS aims to establish a nationally representative data base on health of adults in Germany. This health data platform will be used for continuous health reporting and health care research. The results will help to support health policy planning and evaluation. Repeated cross-sectional surveys will permit analyses of time trends in morbidity, functional capacity levels, disability, and health risks and resources. Follow-up of study participants will provide the opportunity to study trajectories of health and disability. A special focus lies on chronic diseases including asthma, allergies, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes mellitus, and musculoskeletal diseases. Other core topics include vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization status, nutritional deficiencies, health in older age, and the association between health-related behavior and mental health. PMID:22938722

Methodology of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), Malaysia, 2011

PubMed Central

Omar, Azahadi; Yusoff, Muhammad Fadhli Mohd; Hiong, Tee Guat; Aris, Tahir; Morton, Jeremy; Pujari, Sameer

2015-01-01

Introduction Malaysia participated in the second phase of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) in 2011. GATS, a new component of the Global Tobacco Surveillance System, is a nationally representative household survey of adults 15 years old or above. The objectives of GATS Malaysia were to (i) systematically monitor tobacco use among adults and track key indicators of tobacco control and (ii) track the implementation of some of the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC)-recommended demand related policies. Methods GATS Malaysia 2011 was a nationwide cross-sectional survey using multistage stratified sampling to select 5112 nationally representative households. One individual aged 15 years or older was randomly chosen from each selected household and interviewed using handheld device. GATS Core Questionnaire with optional questions was pre-tested and uploaded into handheld devices after repeated quality control processes. Data collectors were trained through a centralized training. Manuals and picture book were prepared to aid in the training of data collectors and during data collection. Field-level data were aggregated on a daily basis and analysed twice a week. Quality controls were instituted to ensure collection of high quality data. Sample weighting and analysis were conducted with the assistance of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA Results GATS Malaysia received a total response rate of 85.3% from 5112 adults surveyed. Majority of the respondents were 25–44 years old and Malays. Conclusions The robust methodology used in the GATS Malaysia provides national estimates for tobacco used classified by socio-demographic characteristics and reliable data on various dimensions of tobacco control. PMID:26451348

National women's knowledge of stroke warning signs, overall and by race/ethnic group.

PubMed

Mochari-Greenberger, Heidi; Towfighi, Amytis; Mosca, Lori

2014-04-01

Recognition of stroke warning signs may reduce treatment delays. The purpose of this study was to evaluate contemporary knowledge of stroke warning signs and knowledge to call 9-1-1, among a nationally representative sample of women, overall and by race/ethnic group. A study of cardiovascular disease awareness was conducted by the American Heart Association in 2012 among English-speaking US women ≥25 years identified through random-digit dialing (n=1205; 54% white, 17% black, 17% Hispanic, and 12% other). Knowledge of stroke warning signs, and what to do first if experiencing stroke warning signs, was assessed by standardized open-ended questions. Half of women surveyed (51%) identified sudden weakness/numbness of face/limb on one side as a stroke warning sign; this did not vary by race/ethnic group. Loss of/trouble talking/understanding speech was identified by 44% of women, more frequently among white versus Hispanic women (48% versus 36%; P<0.05). Fewer than 1 in 4 women identified sudden severe headache (23%), unexplained dizziness (20%), or sudden dimness/loss of vision (18%) as warning signs, and 1 in 5 (20%) did not know 1 stroke warning sign. The majority of women said that they would call 9-1-1 first if they thought they were experiencing signs of a stroke (84%), and this did not vary among black (86%), Hispanic (79%), or white/other (85%) women. Knowledge of stroke warning signs was low among a nationally representative sample of women, especially among Hispanics. In contrast, knowledge to call 9-1-1 when experiencing signs of stroke was high.

Evaluation of Safe Kids Week 2004: age 4 to 9? It's booster seat time!

PubMed

Howard, A; Beben, N; Rothman, L; Fiissel, D; MacArthur, C

2006-10-01

To assess the effectiveness of a national one week media campaign promoting booster seat use. Pre-test, post-test design based on nationally representative random digit dialing telephone survey, with control for exposure to campaign. Canada. Parents of children aged 4-9 years. During a one week campaign in May 2004, information on booster seat use was distributed via a national media campaign, retail stores, medical clinics, and community events. Information included pamphlets with guidelines for booster seat use, as well as a growth chart (designed by Safe Kids Canada) to assist parents in determining if their child should be using a booster seat. Assessing seat belt fit was described in detail on the growth chart. Knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported behaviors regarding booster seat use. Respondents in the group exposed to the campaign were twice as likely to report using a booster seat with lap and shoulder belt for their child (47%), compared to those in the pre-test (24%) and the unexposed (23%) groups (p<0.001). However, only small differences in general knowledge regarding booster seat use were found between the groups. A one week national media campaign substantially increased self-reported use of booster seats. Parents did not remember details of the campaign content, but did remember implications for their own child.

Smoking Cessation Awareness and Utilization Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults: An Analysis of the 2009–2010 National Adult Tobacco Survey

PubMed Central

Lee, Youn Ok; Bennett, Keisa; Goodin, Amie

2016-01-01

Introduction: Each year, there are more than 480 000 deaths in the United States attributed to smoking. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults are a vulnerable population that smokes at higher rates than heterosexuals. Methods: We used data collected from the National Adult Tobacco Survey 2009–2010, a large, nationally representative study using a randomized, national sample of US landline and cellular telephone listings, (N = 118 590). We compared LGBT adults to their heterosexual counterparts with regard to exposure to advertisements promoting smoking cessation, and awareness and use of tobacco treatment services, including quitlines, smoking cessation classes, health professional counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, and medications. Results: Fewer GBT men, compared to heterosexual men, were aware of the quitline. However, LGBT individuals have similar exposure to tobacco cessation advertising, as well as similar awareness of and use of evidence based cessation methods as compared to heterosexual peers. Conclusions: The similarly of awareness and use of cessation support indicates a need for LGBT-specific efforts to reduce smoking disparities. Potential interventions would include: improving awareness of, access to and acceptability of current cessation methods for LGBT patients, developing tailored cessation interventions, and denormalizing smoking in LGBT community spaces. PMID:26014455

Problematic Social Media Use and Depressive Symptoms among U.S. Young Adults: A Nationally-Representative Study

PubMed Central

Shensa, Ariel; Escobar-Viera, César G.; Sidani, Jaime E.; Bowman, Nicholas D.; Marshal, Michael P.; Primack, Brian A.

2017-01-01

Rationale Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. The suggested association between social media use (SMU) and depression may be explained by the emerging maladaptive use pattern known as problematic social media use (PSMU), characterized by addictive components. Objective We aimed to assess the association between PSMU and depressive symptoms—controlling for overall time and frequency of SMU—among a large sample of U.S. young adults. Methods In October 2014, participants aged 19–32 (N = 1749) were randomly selected from a nationally-representative U.S. probability-based panel and subsequently invited to participate in an online survey. We assessed depressive symptoms using the validated Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) brief depression scale. We measured PSMU using an adapted version of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale to encompass broader SMU. Using logistic regression models, we tested the association between PSMU and depressive symptoms, controlling for time and frequency of SMU as well as a comprehensive set of socio-demographic covariates. Results In the multivariable model, PSMU was significantly associated with a 9% increase in odds of depressive symptoms (AOR [adjusted odds ratio] = 1.09; 95% CI [confidence interval]: 1.05, 1.13; p < .001.) Increased frequency of SMU was also significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms, whereas SMU time was not (AOR = 1.01; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.01; p = .001 and AOR = 1.00; 95% CI: 0.999–1.001; p = .43, respectively). Conclusion PSMU was strongly and independently associated with increased depressive symptoms in this nationally-representative sample of young adults. PSMU largely explained the association between SMU and depressive symptom, suggesting that it may be how we use social media, not how much, that poses a risk. Intervention efforts aimed at reducing depressive symptoms, such as screenings for maladaptive SMU, may be most successful if they address addictive components and frequency—rather than time—of SMU. PMID:28446367

Prevalence and mental health correlates of harassment and discrimination in the workplace: results from a national study.

PubMed

Rospenda, Kathleen M; Richman, Judith A; Shannon, Candice A

2009-05-01

This study describes past-year prevalence and effects on mental health and drinking outcomes for harassment and discrimination in the workplace (HDW) in a nationally representative random digit dial phone survey conducted in 2003-2004 (n = 2,151). HDW measures included experiences and perceptions of sexual harassment (SH) and generalized workplace harassment (GWH), and perceived harassment or discrimination because of race or ethnicity. Prevalence was examined by sex, race, age, occupation, marital status, and education. Effects of HDW were assessed controlling for demo-graphics and job and life stressors. Experiencing multiple types of HDW was common. SH was more prevalent among women, and Blacks and those of other or mixed race or ethnicity experienced the highest levels of HDW overall. HDW variables explained additional variance in problem drinking and mental health beyond life and job stressors, particularly for women. This study demonstrates that HDW is a prevalent problem associated with poor mental health and problem drinking in the U.S. workforce.

Prevalence and Mental Health Correlates of Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace: Results from a National Study

PubMed Central

Rospenda, Kathleen M.; Richman, Judith A.; Shannon, Candice A.

2014-01-01

This study describes past-year prevalence and effects on mental health and drinking outcomes for harassment and discrimination in the workplace (HDW) in a nationally-representative random-digit dial phone survey conducted in 2003–2004 (n=2,151). HDW measures included experiences and perceptions of sexual harassment and generalized workplace harassment, and perceived harassment or discrimination due to race/ethnicity. Prevalence was examined by sex, race, age, occupation, marital status, and education. Effects of HDW were assessed controlling for demographics and job and life stressors. Experiencing multiple types of HDW was common. Sexual harassment was more prevalent among women, and Blacks and those of other or mixed race/ethnicity experienced the highest levels of HDW overall. HDW variables explained additional variance in problem drinking and mental health beyond life and job stressors, particularly for women. This study demonstrates that HDW is a prevalent problem associated with poor mental health and problem drinking in the U.S. workforce. PMID:18463311

Suboptimal maternal and paternal mental health are associated with child bullying perpetration.

PubMed

Shetgiri, Rashmi; Lin, Hua; Flores, Glenn

2015-06-01

This study examines associations between maternal and paternal mental health and child bullying perpetration among school-age children, and whether having one or both parents with suboptimal mental health is associated with bullying. The 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, a nationally-representative, random-digit-dial survey, was analyzed, using a parent-reported bullying measure. Suboptimal mental health was defined as fair/poor (vs. good/very good/excellent) parental self-reported mental and emotional health. Of the 61,613 parents surveyed, more than half were parents of boys and were white, 20% were Latino, 15% African American, and 7% other race/ethnicity. Suboptimal maternal (OR 1.4; 95% CI 1.1-1.8) and paternal (OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.1-2.2) mental health are associated with bullying. Compared with children with no parents with suboptimal mental health, children with only one or both parents with suboptimal mental health have higher bullying odds. Addressing the mental health of both parents may prove beneficial in preventing bullying.

The Role of Ethnicity in Father Absence and Children’s School Enrollment in Guatemala

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Despite the historical prevalence of single motherhood in Latin America and its rise in recent years, there is limited knowledge on the magnitude and consequences of father absence as experienced by children. Using a nationally representative sample from the 2002 Guatemalan Reproductive Health Survey, this study provides unprecedented documentation on the national prevalence of children’s separate living arrangements from their biological fathers and nonresident fathers’ paternity establishment and child support payments. Using random-intercept models, this study further demonstrates that father absence has a negative effect on the school enrollment of indigenous children of both sexes and Ladino male children. Increased poverty in father-absent households explains a smaller proportion of this adverse effect on indigenous children, suggesting that their fathers, when present, play a stronger social, rather than economic, role compared to their Ladino counterparts. Finally, child support payments attenuate the negative effects of father absence, particularly among Ladino male children. PMID:20694028

Development of a sampling strategy and sample size calculation to estimate the distribution of mammographic breast density in Korean women.

PubMed

Jun, Jae Kwan; Kim, Mi Jin; Choi, Kui Son; Suh, Mina; Jung, Kyu-Won

2012-01-01

Mammographic breast density is a known risk factor for breast cancer. To conduct a survey to estimate the distribution of mammographic breast density in Korean women, appropriate sampling strategies for representative and efficient sampling design were evaluated through simulation. Using the target population from the National Cancer Screening Programme (NCSP) for breast cancer in 2009, we verified the distribution estimate by repeating the simulation 1,000 times using stratified random sampling to investigate the distribution of breast density of 1,340,362 women. According to the simulation results, using a sampling design stratifying the nation into three groups (metropolitan, urban, and rural), with a total sample size of 4,000, we estimated the distribution of breast density in Korean women at a level of 0.01% tolerance. Based on the results of our study, a nationwide survey for estimating the distribution of mammographic breast density among Korean women can be conducted efficiently.

Marked antigiardial activity of Yucca baccata extracts: a potential natural alternative for treating protozoan infections.

PubMed

Quihui-Cota, Luis; León-Trujillo, Rocio; Astiazarán-García, Humberto; Esparza-Romero, Julián; del Refugio Robles, María; Robles-Zepeda, Ramón E; Canett, Rafael; Sánchez-Escalante, Jesús

2014-01-01

Human giardiosis is a public health problem in Mexico, where the national prevalence was estimated to be up to 68%. Misuse of antiprotozoal drugs may result in low effectiveness and undesirable side effects. Research on natural products is a good strategy for discovering more effective antiparasitic compounds. This study evaluated the antigiardial activity of extracts of Yucca baccata, which is native to northwestern Mexico. Forty-two gerbils (females) were weighed and orally inoculated with 5 × 10(6) Giardia trophozoites. Two gerbils were selected at random to confirm infection. Forty living gerbils were randomly allocated into 5 treatment groups (8 per group). Gerbils were randomly assigned to be treated with 24.4 mg/mL, 12.2 mg/mL, and 6.1 mg/mL of extracts, metronidazole (2 mg/mL) or PBS, which were intragastrically administered once per day for 3 days. Nine gerbils died during the study course. On day 10 postinfection, gerbils were euthanized and trophozoites were quantified. Yucca extracts reduced, albeit not significantly, the trophozoite counts in the duodenum segment. Only the high-extract concentration significantly reduced the trophozoite counts in the proximal segment and it was similar to that of metronidazole. Extracts of Y. baccata may represent an effective and natural therapeutic alternative for human giardiosis.

Handling Correlations between Covariates and Random Slopes in Multilevel Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bates, Michael David; Castellano, Katherine E.; Rabe-Hesketh, Sophia; Skrondal, Anders

2014-01-01

This article discusses estimation of multilevel/hierarchical linear models that include cluster-level random intercepts and random slopes. Viewing the models as structural, the random intercepts and slopes represent the effects of omitted cluster-level covariates that may be correlated with included covariates. The resulting correlations between…

Describing Typical Capstone Course Experiences from a National Random Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grahe, Jon E.; Hauhart, Robert C.

2013-01-01

The pedagogical value of capstones has been regularly discussed within psychology. This study presents results from an examination of a national random sample of department webpages and an online survey that characterized the typical capstone course in terms of classroom activities and course administration. The department webpages provide an…

Multivariate causal attribution and cost-effectiveness of a national mass media campaign in the Philippines.

PubMed

Kincaid, D Lawrence; Do, Mai Phuong

2006-01-01

Cost-effectiveness analysis is based on a simple formula. A dollar estimate of the total cost to conduct a program is divided by the number of people estimated to have been affected by it in terms of some intended outcome. The direct, total costs of most communication campaigns are usually available. Estimating the amount of effect that can be attributed to the communication alone, however is problematical in full-coverage, mass media campaigns where the randomized control group design is not feasible. Single-equation, multiple regression analysis controls for confounding variables but does not adequately address the issue of causal attribution. In this article, multivariate causal attribution (MCA) methods are applied to data from a sample survey of 1,516 married women in the Philippines to obtain a valid measure of the number of new adopters of modern contraceptives that can be causally attributed to a national mass media campaign and to calculate its cost-effectiveness. The MCA analysis uses structural equation modeling to test the causal pathways and to test for endogeneity, biprobit analysis to test for direct effects of the campaign and endogeneity, and propensity score matching to create a statistically equivalent, matched control group that approximates the results that would have been obtained from a randomized control group design. The MCA results support the conclusion that the observed, 6.4 percentage point increase in modern contraceptive use can be attributed to the national mass media campaign and to its indirect effects on attitudes toward contraceptives. This net increase represented 348,695 new adopters in the population of married women at a cost of U.S. $1.57 per new adopter.

Economic hardships in adulthood and mental health in Sweden. The Swedish National Public Health Survey 2009.

PubMed

Ahnquist, Johanna; Wamala, Sarah P

2011-10-11

Possible accumulative effects of a combined economic hardship's measure, including both income and non-income related economic hardships measures, on mental health has not been well investigated. The aim of this paper was to investigate; (i) independent associations between multiple measures of economic hardships and mental health problems, and (ii) associations between a combined economic hardships measure and mental health problems. We analysed data from the 2009 Swedish National Survey of Public Health comprising a randomly selected representative national sample combined with a randomly selected supplementary sample from four county councils and three municipalities consisting of 23,153 men and 28,261 women aged 16-84 years. Mental health problems included; psychological distress (GHQ-12), severe anxiety and use of antidepressant medication. Economic hardship was measured by a combined economic hardships measure including low household income, inability to meet expenses and lacking cash reserves. The results from multivariate adjusted (age, country of birth, educational level, occupational status, employment status, family status and long term illness) logistic regression analysis indicate that self-reported current economic difficulties (inability to pay for ordinary bills and lack of cash reserves), were significantly associated with both women's and men's mental health problems (all indicators), while low income was not. In addition, we found a statistically significant graded association between mental health problems and levels of economic hardships. The findings indicate that indicators of self-reported current economic difficulties seem to be more strongly associated with poor mental health outcomes than the more conventional measure low income. Furthermore, the likelihood of mental health problems differed significantly in a graded fashion in relation to levels of economic hardships.

The association between disability and intimate partner violence in the United States.

PubMed

Breiding, Matthew J; Armour, Brian S

2015-06-01

Prior research has shown that people with disabilities are at greater risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. This study seeks to examine the link between disability and IPV in a nationally representative sample of U.S. women and men. Also, by establishing that disability preceded recent IPV victimization, this study allows for a more thorough understanding of whether people with disabilities are at greater risk of victimization subsequent to having a disability. Data were analyzed from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, an ongoing, national random digit dial telephone survey of U.S. adults. Estimates of age-adjusted 12-month IPV prevalence by disability status were calculated. Compared to women without a disability, women with a disability were significantly more likely to report experiencing each form of IPV measured, which includes rape, sexual violence other than rape, physical violence, stalking, psychological aggression, and control of reproductive or sexual health. For men, significant associations were found with respect to stalking and psychological aggression by an intimate partner. The results suggest that people with a disability are at greater risk of victimization and that primary and secondary prevention efforts might be targeted to those with a disability. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The health system cost of post-abortion care in Rwanda

PubMed Central

Vlassoff, Michael; Musange, Sabine F; Kalisa, Ina R; Ngabo, Fidele; Sayinzoga, Felix; Singh, Susheela; Bankole, Akinrinola

2015-01-01

Based on research conducted in 2012, we estimate the cost to the Rwandan health-care system of providing post-abortion care (PAC) due to unsafe abortions, a subject of policy importance not studied before at the national level. Thirty-nine public and private health facilities representing three levels of health care were randomly selected for data collection from key care providers and administrators for all five regions. Using an ingredients approach to costing, data were gathered on drugs, supplies, material, personnel time and hospitalization. Additionally, direct non-medical costs such as overhead and capital costs were also measured. We found that the average annual PAC cost per client, across five types of abortion complications, was $93. The total cost of PAC nationally was estimated to be $1.7 million per year, 49% of which was expended on direct non-medical costs. Satisfying all demands for PAC would raise the national cost to $2.5 million per year. PAC comprises a significant share of total expenditure in reproductive health in Rwanda. Investing more resources in provision of contraceptive services to prevent unwanted or mistimed pregnancies would likely reduce health systems costs. PMID:24548846

Adequacy of anti-tuberculosis drug prescriptions in Viet Nam.

PubMed

Hoa, N B; Lauritsen, J M; Rieder, H L

2012-03-21

National Tuberculosis Program, Viet Nam, 2008. To determine drug prescription adherence to national guidelines, to examine factors associated with an erroneous dosage of rifampin (RMP) and to evaluate the impact of an insufficient RMP dosage on treatment outcome. A representative sample of 30 treatment units was randomly selected. All patient treatment cards enrolled in these units were obtained, and data were double-entered and validated before calculating the adequacy of the individual drug prescriptions. Of 3412 tuberculosis treatment cards, 3225 (94.5%) had information on treatment regimen and the patient's weight. Treatment was successful in 89.4%. Prescriptions of tablets/vials conforming to recommendations were found for respectively 91.2%, 89.9%, 92.3% and 94.6% of the patients for RMP/isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol and streptomycin. Patients in the 25-39 kg weight bracket received insufficient dosages. This was almost entirely attributable to patients at the end of the weight bracket. Nevertheless, no significant association was found between treatment failure and death, body weight and insufficient RMP dosage. Adherence to national recommendations was high. RMP was given in insufficient dosage for patients at the end of a weight range bracket, but the under-dosage was small and did not measurably affect treatment outcome.

Injury-related mortality in South Africa: a retrospective descriptive study of postmortem investigations.

PubMed

Matzopoulos, Richard; Prinsloo, Megan; Pillay-van Wyk, Victoria; Gwebushe, Nomonde; Mathews, Shanaaz; Martin, Lorna J; Laubscher, Ria; Abrahams, Naeemah; Msemburi, William; Lombard, Carl; Bradshaw, Debbie

2015-05-01

To investigate injury-related mortality in South Africa using a nationally representative sample and compare the results with previous estimates. We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of medico-legal postmortem investigation data from mortuaries using a multistage random sample, stratified by urban and non-urban areas and mortuary size. We calculated age-specific and age-standardized mortality rates for external causes of death. Postmortem reports revealed 52,493 injury-related deaths in 2009 (95% confidence interval, CI: 46,930-58,057). Almost half (25,499) were intentionally inflicted. Age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 population were as follows: all injuries: 109.0 (95% CI: 97.1-121.0); homicide 38.4 (95% CI: 33.8-43.0; suicide 13.4 (95% CI: 11.6-15.2) and road-traffic injury 36.1 (95% CI: 30.9-41.3). Using postmortem reports, we found more than three times as many deaths from homicide and road-traffic injury than had been recorded by vital registration for this period. The homicide rate was similar to the estimate for South Africa from a global analysis, but road-traffic and suicide rates were almost fourfold higher. This is the first nationally representative sample of injury-related mortality in South Africa. It provides more accurate estimates and cause-specific profiles that are not available from other sources.

Update of Ireland's national average indoor radon concentration - Application of a new survey protocol.

PubMed

Dowdall, A; Murphy, P; Pollard, D; Fenton, D

2017-04-01

In 2002, a National Radon Survey (NRS) in Ireland established that the geographically weighted national average indoor radon concentration was 89 Bq m -3 . Since then a number of developments have taken place which are likely to have impacted on the national average radon level. Key among these was the introduction of amending Building Regulations in 1998 requiring radon preventive measures in new buildings in High Radon Areas (HRAs). In 2014, the Irish Government adopted the National Radon Control Strategy (NRCS) for Ireland. A knowledge gap identified in the NRCS was to update the national average for Ireland given the developments since 2002. The updated national average would also be used as a baseline metric to assess the effectiveness of the NRCS over time. A new national survey protocol was required that would measure radon in a sample of homes representative of radon risk and geographical location. The design of the survey protocol took into account that it is not feasible to repeat the 11,319 measurements carried out for the 2002 NRS due to time and resource constraints. However, the existence of that comprehensive survey allowed for a new protocol to be developed, involving measurements carried out in unbiased randomly selected volunteer homes. This paper sets out the development and application of that survey protocol. The results of the 2015 survey showed that the current national average indoor radon concentration for homes in Ireland is 77 Bq m -3 , a decrease from the 89 Bq m -3 reported in the 2002 NRS. Analysis of the results by build date demonstrate that the introduction of the amending Building Regulations in 1998 have led to a reduction in the average indoor radon level in Ireland. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Jello Shot Consumption among Older Adolescents: A Pilot Study of a Newly Identified Public Health Problem

PubMed Central

Binakonsky, Jane; Giga, Noreen; Ross, Craig; Siegel, Michael

2011-01-01

We investigated the extent of jello shot consumption among underage youth. We conducted a pilot study among a non-random national sample of 108 drinkers, ages 16-20 years, recruited from the Knowledge Networks internet panel in 2010 using consecutive sampling. The prevalence of past 30-day jello shot consumption among the 108 16-20 year-old drinkers in our sample was 21.4% and among those who consumed jello shots, the percentage of alcohol consumption attributable to jello shots averaged 14.5%. We conclude that jello shot use is prevalent among youth, representing a substantial proportion of their alcohol intake. Surveillance of youth alcohol use should include jello shot consumption. PMID:21174500

Gene–Environment Correlation: Difficulties and a Natural Experiment–Based Strategy

PubMed Central

Li, Jiang; Liu, Hexuan; Guo, Guang

2013-01-01

Objectives. We explored how gene–environment correlations can result in endogenous models, how natural experiments can protect against this threat, and if unbiased estimates from natural experiments are generalizable to other contexts. Methods. We compared a natural experiment, the College Roommate Study, which measured genes and behaviors of college students and their randomly assigned roommates in a southern public university, with observational data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in 2008. We predicted exposure to exercising peers using genetic markers and estimated environmental effects on alcohol consumption. A mixed-linear model estimated an alcohol consumption variance that was attributable to genetic markers and across peer environments. Results. Peer exercise environment was associated with respondent genotype in observational data, but not in the natural experiment. The effects of peer drinking and presence of a general gene–environment interaction were similar between data sets. Conclusions. Natural experiments, like random roommate assignment, could protect against potential bias introduced by gene–environment correlations. When combined with representative observational data, unbiased and generalizable causal effects could be estimated. PMID:23927502

Acknowledging individual responsibility while emphasizing social determinants in narratives to promote obesity-reducing public policy: a randomized experiment.

PubMed

Niederdeppe, Jeff; Roh, Sungjong; Shapiro, Michael A

2015-01-01

This study tests whether policy narratives designed to increase support for obesity-reducing public policies should explicitly acknowledge individual responsibility while emphasizing social, physical, and economic (social) determinants of obesity. We use a web-based, randomized experiment with a nationally representative sample of American adults (n = 718) to test hypotheses derived from theory and research on narrative persuasion. Respondents exposed to narratives that acknowledged individual responsibility while emphasizing obesity's social determinants were less likely to engage in counterargument and felt more empathy for the story's main character than those exposed to a message that did not acknowledge individual responsibility. Counterarguing and affective empathy fully mediated the relationship between message condition and support for policies to reduce rates of obesity. Failure to acknowledge individual responsibility in narratives emphasizing social determinants of obesity may undermine the persuasiveness of policy narratives. Omitting information about individual responsibility, a strongly-held American value, invites the public to engage in counterargument about the narratives and reduces feelings of empathy for a character that experiences the challenges and benefits of social determinants of obesity.

Acknowledging Individual Responsibility while Emphasizing Social Determinants in Narratives to Promote Obesity-Reducing Public Policy: A Randomized Experiment

PubMed Central

Niederdeppe, Jeff; Roh, Sungjong; Shapiro, Michael A.

2015-01-01

This study tests whether policy narratives designed to increase support for obesity-reducing public policies should explicitly acknowledge individual responsibility while emphasizing social, physical, and economic (social) determinants of obesity. We use a web-based, randomized experiment with a nationally representative sample of American adults (n = 718) to test hypotheses derived from theory and research on narrative persuasion. Respondents exposed to narratives that acknowledged individual responsibility while emphasizing obesity’s social determinants were less likely to engage in counterargument and felt more empathy for the story’s main character than those exposed to a message that did not acknowledge individual responsibility. Counterarguing and affective empathy fully mediated the relationship between message condition and support for policies to reduce rates of obesity. Failure to acknowledge individual responsibility in narratives emphasizing social determinants of obesity may undermine the persuasiveness of policy narratives. Omitting information about individual responsibility, a strongly-held American value, invites the public to engage in counterargument about the narratives and reduces feelings of empathy for a character that experiences the challenges and benefits of social determinants of obesity. PMID:25706743

Evaluation of the NCPDP Structured and Codified Sig Format for e-prescriptions

PubMed Central

Burkhart, Q; Bell, Douglas S

2011-01-01

Objective To evaluate the ability of the structure and code sets specified in the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs Structured and Codified Sig Format to represent ambulatory electronic prescriptions. Design We parsed the Sig strings from a sample of 20 161 de-identified ambulatory e-prescriptions into variables representing the fields of the Structured and Codified Sig Format. A stratified random sample of these representations was then reviewed by a group of experts. For codified Sig fields, we attempted to map the actual words used by prescribers to the equivalent terms in the designated terminology. Measurements Proportion of prescriptions that the Format could fully represent; proportion of terms used that could be mapped to the designated terminology. Results The fields defined in the Format could fully represent 95% of Sigs (95% CI 93% to 97%), but ambiguities were identified, particularly in representing multiple-step instructions. The terms used by prescribers could be codified for only 60% of dose delivery methods, 84% of dose forms, 82% of vehicles, 95% of routes, 70% of sites, 33% of administration timings, and 93% of indications. Limitations The findings are based on a retrospective sample of ambulatory prescriptions derived mostly from primary care physicians. Conclusion The fields defined in the Format could represent most of the patient instructions in a large prescription sample, but prior to its mandatory adoption, further work is needed to ensure that potential ambiguities are addressed and that a complete set of terms is available for the codified fields. PMID:21613642

Designing a national soil erosion monitoring network for England and Wales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lark, Murray; Rawlins, Barry; Anderson, Karen; Evans, Martin; Farrow, Luke; Glendell, Miriam; James, Mike; Rickson, Jane; Quine, Timothy; Quinton, John; Brazier, Richard

2014-05-01

Although soil erosion is recognised as a significant threat to sustainable land use and may be a priority for action in any forthcoming EU Soil Framework Directive, those responsible for setting national policy with respect to erosion are constrained by a lack of robust, representative, data at large spatial scales. This reflects the process-orientated nature of much soil erosion research. Recognising this limitation, The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) established a project to pilot a cost-effective framework for monitoring of soil erosion in England and Wales (E&W). The pilot will compare different soil erosion monitoring methods at a site scale and provide statistical information for the final design of the full national monitoring network that will: provide unbiased estimates of the spatial mean of soil erosion rate across E&W (tonnes ha-1 yr-1) for each of three land-use classes - arable and horticultural grassland upland and semi-natural habitats quantify the uncertainty of these estimates with confidence intervals. Probability (design-based) sampling provides most efficient unbiased estimates of spatial means. In this study, a 16 hectare area (a square of 400 x 400 m) positioned at the centre of a 1-km grid cell, selected at random from mapped land use across E&W, provided the sampling support for measurement of erosion rates, with at least 94% of the support area corresponding to the target land use classes. Very small or zero erosion rates likely to be encountered at many sites reduce the sampling efficiency and make it difficult to compare different methods of soil erosion monitoring. Therefore, to increase the proportion of samples with larger erosion rates without biasing our estimates, we increased the inclusion probability density in areas where the erosion rate is likely to be large by using stratified random sampling. First, each sampling domain (land use class in E&W) was divided into strata; e.g. two sub-domains within which, respectively, small or no erosion rates, and moderate or larger erosion rates are expected. Each stratum was then sampled independently and at random. The sample density need not be equal in the two strata, but is known and is accounted for in the estimation of the mean and its standard error. To divide the domains into strata we used information on slope angle, previous interpretation of erosion susceptibility of the soil associations that correspond to the soil map of E&W at 1:250 000 (Soil Survey of England and Wales, 1983), and visual interpretation of evidence of erosion from aerial photography. While each domain could be stratified on the basis of the first two criteria, air photo interpretation across the whole country was not feasible. For this reason we used a two-phase random sampling for stratification (TPRS) design (de Gruijter et al., 2006). First, we formed an initial random sample of 1-km grid cells from the target domain. Second, each cell was then allocated to a stratum on the basis of the three criteria. A subset of the selected cells from each stratum were then selected for field survey at random, with a specified sampling density for each stratum so as to increase the proportion of cells where moderate or larger erosion rates were expected. Once measurements of erosion have been made, an estimate of the spatial mean of the erosion rate over the target domain, its standard error and associated uncertainty can be calculated by an expression which accounts for the estimated proportions of the two strata within the initial random sample. de Gruijter, J.J., Brus, D.J., Biekens, M.F.P. & Knotters, M. 2006. Sampling for Natural Resource Monitoring. Springer, Berlin. Soil Survey of England and Wales. 1983 National Soil Map NATMAP Vector 1:250,000. National Soil Research Institute, Cranfield University.

Measuring human rights violations in a conflict-affected country: results from a nationwide cluster survey in Central African Republic.

PubMed

Potts, Alina; Myer, Kathleen; Roberts, Les

2011-03-07

Measuring human rights violations is particularly challenging during or after armed conflict. A recent nationwide survey in the Central African Republic produced estimates of rates of grave violations against children and adults affected by armed conflict, using an approach known as the "Neighborhood Method". In June and July, 2009, a random household survey was conducted based on population estimates from the 2003 national census. Clusters were assigned systematically proportional to population size. Respondents in randomly selected households were interviewed regarding incidents of killing, intentional injury, recruitment into armed groups, abduction, sexual abuse and rape between January 1, 2008 and the date of interview, occurring in their homes' and those of their three closest neighbors. Sixty of the selected 69 clusters were surveyed. In total, 599 women were interviewed about events in 2,370 households representing 13,669 persons. Estimates of annual rates of each violation occurring per 1000 people in each of two strata are provided for children between the ages of five and 17, adults 18 years of age and older and the entire population five years and older, along with a combined and weighted national rate. The national rates for children age five to 17 were estimated to be 0.98/1000/year (95% CI: 0.18 - 1.78) for recruitment, 2.56/1000/year (95% CI: 1.50 - 3.62) for abduction, 1.13/1000/year (95% CI: 0.33 - 1.93) for intentional injury, 10.72/1000 girls/year (95% CI: 7.40 - 14.04) for rape, and 4.80/1000 girls/year (95% CI: 2.61 - 6.00) for sexual abuse. No reports of any violation against a person under the age of five were recorded and there were no reports of rape or sexual abuse of males. No children were reported to have been killed during the recall period. Rape and abduction were the most frequently reported events. The population-based figures greatly augment existing information on human rights violations in CAR, and represent a step forward in quantifying the protection needs of Central Africans. Government, donors, and international organizations should make use of this data to better inform advocacy, prevention, and response programs, to assist in fundraising, and to develop surveillance activities to monitor child protection concerns.

A nationwide population-based study on incidence and cost of non-fatal injuries in Iran.

PubMed

Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Rahimi-Movaghar, Afarin; Motevalian, Abbas; Amin-Esmaeili, Masoumeh; Sharifi, Vandad; Hajebi, Ahmad; Radgoodarzi, Reza; Hefazi, Mitra; Eslami, Vahid; Saadat, Soheil; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa

2014-10-01

Elucidating the epidemiological status of injuries is a critical component of preventive strategies in countries with high incidence of injuries, like Iran. Population-based surveys are able to estimate all types of non-fatal injuries. This study protocol is the core unit in describing Iran's national cost and epidemiology of non-fatal injuries, and also as a guide for other studies. In a cross-sectional study, 1525 primary sampling units are randomly selected with probability proportional to size regarding the number of households in each enumeration area based on Iran's 2006 national census. Six of the households are randomly selected. One member of each household is chosen using Kish Grid tables. In all, 9150 subjects are selected. Data on demographics are collected. For each injury during the past three months, activity, place, mechanism, site, type and the place of treatment are coded to match the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision 2012 (ICD10-2012) classifications. Subjects are contacted via telephone to obtain data on cost of injury. Finally, sampling weights are calculated so that data for each respondent can be inflated to represent other individuals in Iran. Quality control and quality assurance issues are discussed. Our objectives will describe the present impact and the future priorities of injury prevention in Iran. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Quality of life and visual function in Nigeria: findings from the National Survey of Blindness and Visual Impairment.

PubMed

Tran, Hang My; Mahdi, Abdull M; Sivasubramaniam, Selvaraj; Gudlavalleti, Murthy V S; Gilbert, Clare E; Shah, Shaheen P; Ezelum, C C; Abubakar, Tafida; Bankole, Olufunmilayo O

2011-12-01

To assess associations of visual function (VF) and quality of life (QOL) by visual acuity (VA), causes of blindness and types of cataract procedures in Nigeria. Multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling was used to identify a nationally representative sample of persons aged ≥ 40 years. VF/QOL questionnaires were administered to participants with VA <6/60 in one or both eyes and/or Mehra-Minassian cataract grade 2B or 3 in one or both eyes and a random sample of those with bilateral VA ≥ 6/12. VF/QOL questionnaires were administered to 2076 participants. Spearman's rank correlation showed a strong correlation between decreasing VA and VF/QOL scores (p<0.0001) with greatest impact on social (p<0.0001) and mobility-related activities (p<0.0001). People who were blind due to glaucoma had lower VF and QOL scores than those who were blind due to cataract. Mean VF and QOL scores were lower after couching compared with conventional cataract surgery (mean VF score=51.0 vs 63.0 and mean QOL score=71.3 vs 79.3). Finally, VF and QOL scores were lower among populations with specific characteristics. Populations with the following characteristics should be targeted to improve VF and QOL: people who are blind, older people, women, manual labourers, people living in rural areas, those living in the northern geopolitical zones, those practising Islamic and Traditionalism faith, those not currently married and those who have undergone couching.

Evaluating the importance of policy amenable factors in explaining influenza vaccination: a cross-sectional multinational study.

PubMed

Wheelock, Ana; Miraldo, Marisa; Thomson, Angus; Vincent, Charles; Sevdalis, Nick

2017-07-12

Despite continuous efforts to improve influenza vaccination coverage, uptake among high-risk groups remains suboptimal. We aimed to identify policy amenable factors associated with vaccination and to measure their importance in order to assist in the monitoring of vaccination sentiment and the design of communication strategies and interventions to improve vaccination rates. The USA, the UK and France. A total of 2412 participants were surveyed across the three countries. Self-reported influenza vaccination. Between March and April 2014, a stratified random sampling strategy was employed with the aim of obtaining nationally representative samples in the USA, the UK and France through online databases and random-digit dialling. Participants were asked about vaccination practices, perceptions and feelings. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with past influenza vaccination. The models were able to explain 64%-80% of the variance in vaccination behaviour. Overall, sociopsychological variables, which are inherently amenable to policy, were better at explaining past vaccination behaviour than demographic, socioeconomic and health variables. Explanatory variables included social influence (physician), influenza and vaccine risk perceptions and traumatic childhood experiences. Our results indicate that evidence-based sociopsychological items should be considered for inclusion into national immunisation surveys to gauge the public's views, identify emerging concerns and thus proactively and opportunely address potential barriers and harness vaccination drivers. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

The NHLBI REVIVE-IT study: Understanding its discontinuation in the context of current left ventricular assist device therapy.

PubMed

Pagani, Francis D; Aaronson, Keith D; Kormos, Robert; Mann, Douglas L; Spino, Cathie; Jeffries, Neal; Taddei-Peters, Wendy C; Mancini, Donna M; McNamara, Dennis M; Grady, Kathleen L; Gorcsan, John; Petrucci, Ralph; Anderson, Allen S; Glick, Henry A; Acker, Michael A; Eduardo Rame, J; Goldstein, Daniel J; Pamboukian, Salpy V; Miller, Marissa A; Timothy Baldwin, J

2016-11-01

The National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a working group in March 2008 to discuss how therapies for heart failure (HF) might be best advanced using clinical trials involving left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). This group opined that the field was ready for a trial to assess the use of long-term ventricular assist device therapy in patients who are less ill than patients currently eligible for destination therapy, which resulted in the Randomized Evaluation of VAD InterVEntion before Inotropic Therapy (REVIVE-IT) pilot study. The specific objective of REVIVE-IT was to compare LVAD therapy with optimal medical management in patients with less advanced HF than current LVAD indications to determine if wider application of permanent LVAD use to less ill patients would be associated with improved survival, quality of life, or functional capacity. REVIVE-IT represented an extraordinary effort to provide data from a randomized clinical trial to inform clinicians, scientists, industry, and regulatory agencies about the efficacy and safety of LVAD therapy in a population with less advanced HF. Despite significant support from the medical community, industry, and governmental agencies, REVIVE-IT failed to accomplish its goal. The reasons for its failure are instructive, and the lessons learned from the REVIVE-IT experience are likely to be relevant to any future study of LVAD therapy in a population with less advanced HF. Copyright © 2016 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. All rights reserved.

50 CFR 221.10 - Who may represent a party, and what requirements apply to a representative?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 10 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Who may represent a party, and what requirements apply to a representative? 221.10 Section 221.10 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS...

50 CFR 221.10 - Who may represent a party, and what requirements apply to a representative?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 9 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Who may represent a party, and what requirements apply to a representative? 221.10 Section 221.10 Wildlife and Fisheries NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE MARINE MAMMALS...

Emergency contraception in a public health emergency: exploring pharmacy availability in Brazil.

PubMed

Tavares, Marilia P; Foster, Angel M

2016-08-01

Dedicated progestin-only emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) have been available with a prescription in Brazil since 1999. However, utilization of emergency contraception has been limited. We conducted a mystery client study at retail pharmacies in three regions to assess current availability. Using a predetermined client profile, we approached a random sample of chain and independent pharmacies in urban areas in the southeastern, northeastern and central-west regions. We documented product availability, price and the client-pharmacy representative interaction at each site. We analyzed these data with descriptive statistics and for content and themes. We visited 122 pharmacies in early 2016. All but three pharmacies (97.5%) had ECPs in stock at the time of the interaction and offered our client the medication without a prescription. In general, pharmacy representatives did not ask questions or provide our client with information about emergency contraception. When prompted, over one third of the pharmacy representatives (37.7%) inaccurately reported that levonorgestrel ECPs could only be used immediately or within 12, 24 or 48h from the time of intercourse. Despite the current regulatory status, our findings suggest that progestin-only ECPs are widely available without a prescription. Additional efforts to ensure that women have up-to-date and medically accurate information about progestin-only ECPs appear warranted. Our findings suggest that more work needs to be done to align national regulatory policies with international standards and evidence-based practices. The Zika virus epidemic has shined a spotlight on the importance of providing timely access to emergency contraception in Latin America. This public health emergency offers a window of opportunity to advance national policies and practices to ensure that Brazilian women have access to a full range of reproductive health services. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trends and college-level characteristics associated with the non-medical use of prescription drugs among US college students from 1993 to 2001

PubMed Central

McCabe, Sean Esteban; West, Brady T.; Wechsler, Henry

2007-01-01

Aims The present study examines the prevalence trends and college-level characteristics associated with the non-medical use of prescription drugs (i.e. amphetamines, opioids, sedatives, tranquilizers) and illicit drug use among US college students between 1993 and 2001. Design Data were collected from self-administered mail surveys, sent to independent cross-sectional samples of college students from a nationally representative sample of 119 colleges in 4 years between 1993 and 2001. Setting Nationally representative 4-year US colleges and universities in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2001. Participants Representative samples of 15 282, 14 428, 13 953 and 10 904 randomly selected college students at these colleges in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2001, respectively. Findings The results indicate that life-time and 12-month prevalence rates of non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMPD) increased between 1993 and 2001. Specific college-level characteristics were found to be correlated positively (marijuana use) and negatively (historically black college status and commuter status) with NMPD, consistently across the four cross-sectional samples. Significant between-college variation in terms of trajectories in the prevalence of NMPD over time was found in hierarchical linear models, and selected college-level characteristics were not found to explain all of the variation in the trajectories, suggesting the need for further investigation of what determines between-college variance in the prevalence trends. Conclusions The findings of the present study suggest that continued monitoring of NMPD and illicit drug use among college students is needed and collegiate substance prevention programs should include efforts to reduce these drug use behaviors. PMID:17298654

A National Survey of Chief Student Personnel Officers at Randomly Selected Institutions of Postsecondary Education in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Henry B.; Kaplan, E. Joseph

A national survey was conducted of randomly selected chief student personnel officers as listed in the 1979 "Education Directory of Colleges and Universities." The survey addressed specific institutional demographics, policy-making authority, reporting structure, and areas of responsibility of the administrators. Over 93 percent of the respondents…

Frequent Users of Hospital Emergency Departments in Korea Characterized by Claims Data from the National Health Insurance: A Cross Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Woo, Jung Hoon; Grinspan, Zachary; Shapiro, Jason; Rhee, Sang Youl

2016-01-01

The Korean National Health Insurance, which provides universal coverage for the entire Korean population, is now facing financial instability. Frequent emergency department (ED) users may represent a medically vulnerable population who could benefit from interventions that both improve care and lower costs. To understand the nature of frequent ED users in Korea, we analyzed claims data from a population-based national representative sample. We performed both bivariate and multivariable analyses to investigate the association between patient characteristics and frequent ED use (4+ ED visits in a year) using claims data of a 1% random sample of the Korean population, collected in 2009. Among 156,246 total ED users, 4,835 (3.1%) were frequent ED users. These patients accounted for 14% of 209,326 total ED visits and 17.2% of $76,253,784 total medical expenses generated from all ED visits in the 1% data sample. Frequent ED users tended to be older, male, and of lower socio-economic status compared with occasional ED users (p < 0.001 for each). Moreover, frequent ED users had longer stays in the hospital when admitted, higher probability of undergoing an operative procedure, and increased mortality. Among 8,425 primary diagnoses, alcohol-related complaints and schizophrenia showed the strongest positive correlation with the number of ED visits. Among the frequent ED users, mortality and annual outpatient department visits were significantly lower in the alcohol-related patient subgroup compared with other frequent ED users; furthermore, the rate was even lower than that for non-frequent ED users. Our findings suggest that expanding mental health and alcohol treatment programs may be a reasonable strategy to decrease the dependence of these patients on the ED. PMID:26809051

Genital Chlamydia Prevalence in Europe and Non-European High Income Countries: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Redmond, Shelagh M.; Alexander-Kisslig, Karin; Woodhall, Sarah C.; van den Broek, Ingrid V. F.; van Bergen, Jan; Ward, Helen; Uusküla, Anneli; Herrmann, Björn; Andersen, Berit; Götz, Hannelore M.; Sfetcu, Otilia; Low, Nicola

2015-01-01

Background Accurate information about the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis is needed to assess national prevention and control measures. Methods We systematically reviewed population-based cross-sectional studies that estimated chlamydia prevalence in European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) Member States and non-European high income countries from January 1990 to August 2012. We examined results in forest plots, explored heterogeneity using the I2 statistic, and conducted random effects meta-analysis if appropriate. Meta-regression was used to examine the relationship between study characteristics and chlamydia prevalence estimates. Results We included 25 population-based studies from 11 EU/EEA countries and 14 studies from five other high income countries. Four EU/EEA Member States reported on nationally representative surveys of sexually experienced adults aged 18–26 years (response rates 52–71%). In women, chlamydia point prevalence estimates ranged from 3.0–5.3%; the pooled average of these estimates was 3.6% (95% CI 2.4, 4.8, I2 0%). In men, estimates ranged from 2.4–7.3% (pooled average 3.5%; 95% CI 1.9, 5.2, I2 27%). Estimates in EU/EEA Member States were statistically consistent with those in other high income countries (I2 0% for women, 6% for men). There was statistical evidence of an association between survey response rate and estimated chlamydia prevalence; estimates were higher in surveys with lower response rates, (p = 0.003 in women, 0.018 in men). Conclusions Population-based surveys that estimate chlamydia prevalence are at risk of participation bias owing to low response rates. Estimates obtained in nationally representative samples of the general population of EU/EEA Member States are similar to estimates from other high income countries. PMID:25615574

Reducing patient delay in Acute Coronary Syndrome (RAPiD): research protocol for a web-based randomized controlled trial examining the effect of a behaviour change intervention.

PubMed

Farquharson, Barbara; Johnston, Marie; Smith, Karen; Williams, Brian; Treweek, Shaun; Dombrowski, Stephan U; Dougall, Nadine; Abhyankar, Purva; Grindle, Mark

2017-05-01

To evaluate the efficacy of a behaviour change technique-based intervention and compare two possible modes of delivery (text + visual and text-only) with usual care. Patient delay prevents many people from achieving optimal benefit of time-dependent treatments for acute coronary syndrome. Reducing delay would reduce mortality and morbidity, but interventions to change behaviour have had mixed results. Systematic inclusion of behaviour change techniques or a visual mode of delivery might improve the efficacy of interventions. A three-arm web-based, parallel randomized controlled trial of a theory-based intervention. The intervention comprises 12 behaviour change techniques systematically identified following systematic review and a consensus exercise undertaken with behaviour change experts. We aim to recruit n = 177 participants who have experienced acute coronary syndrome in the previous 6 months from a National Health Service Hospital. Consenting participants will be randomly allocated in equal numbers to one of three study groups: i) usual care, ii) usual care plus text-only behaviour change technique-based intervention or iii) usual care plus text + visual behaviour change technique-based intervention. The primary outcome will be the change in intention to phone an ambulance immediately with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome ≥15-minute duration, assessed using two randomized series of eight scenarios representing varied symptoms before and after delivery of the interventions or control condition (usual care). Funding granted January 2014. Positive results changing intentions would lead to a randomized controlled trial of the behaviour change intervention in clinical practice, assessing patient delay in the event of actual symptoms. Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02820103. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A comparative study: classification vs. user-based collaborative filtering for clinical prediction.

PubMed

Hao, Fang; Blair, Rachael Hageman

2016-12-08

Recommender systems have shown tremendous value for the prediction of personalized item recommendations for individuals in a variety of settings (e.g., marketing, e-commerce, etc.). User-based collaborative filtering is a popular recommender system, which leverages an individuals' prior satisfaction with items, as well as the satisfaction of individuals that are "similar". Recently, there have been applications of collaborative filtering based recommender systems for clinical risk prediction. In these applications, individuals represent patients, and items represent clinical data, which includes an outcome. Application of recommender systems to a problem of this type requires the recasting a supervised learning problem as unsupervised. The rationale is that patients with similar clinical features carry a similar disease risk. As the "Big Data" era progresses, it is likely that approaches of this type will be reached for as biomedical data continues to grow in both size and complexity (e.g., electronic health records). In the present study, we set out to understand and assess the performance of recommender systems in a controlled yet realistic setting. User-based collaborative filtering recommender systems are compared to logistic regression and random forests with different types of imputation and varying amounts of missingness on four different publicly available medical data sets: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 2011-2012 on Obesity), Study to Understand Prognoses Preferences Outcomes and Risks of Treatment (SUPPORT), chronic kidney disease, and dermatology data. We also examined performance using simulated data with observations that are Missing At Random (MAR) or Missing Completely At Random (MCAR) under various degrees of missingness and levels of class imbalance in the response variable. Our results demonstrate that user-based collaborative filtering is consistently inferior to logistic regression and random forests with different imputations on real and simulated data. The results warrant caution for the collaborative filtering for the purpose of clinical risk prediction when traditional classification is feasible and practical. CF may not be desirable in datasets where classification is an acceptable alternative. We describe some natural applications related to "Big Data" where CF would be preferred and conclude with some insights as to why caution may be warranted in this context.

Compositions, Random Sums and Continued Random Fractions of Poisson and Fractional Poisson Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orsingher, Enzo; Polito, Federico

2012-08-01

In this paper we consider the relation between random sums and compositions of different processes. In particular, for independent Poisson processes N α ( t), N β ( t), t>0, we have that N_{α}(N_{β}(t)) stackrel{d}{=} sum_{j=1}^{N_{β}(t)} Xj, where the X j s are Poisson random variables. We present a series of similar cases, where the outer process is Poisson with different inner processes. We highlight generalisations of these results where the external process is infinitely divisible. A section of the paper concerns compositions of the form N_{α}(tauk^{ν}), ν∈(0,1], where tauk^{ν} is the inverse of the fractional Poisson process, and we show how these compositions can be represented as random sums. Furthermore we study compositions of the form Θ( N( t)), t>0, which can be represented as random products. The last section is devoted to studying continued fractions of Cauchy random variables with a Poisson number of levels. We evaluate the exact distribution and derive the scale parameter in terms of ratios of Fibonacci numbers.

Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dzhafarov, Ehtibar N.; Cervantes, Víctor H.; Kujala, Janne V.

2017-10-01

Random variables representing measurements, broadly understood to include any responses to any inputs, form a system in which each of them is uniquely identified by its content (that which it measures) and its context (the conditions under which it is recorded). Two random variables are jointly distributed if and only if they share a context. In a canonical representation of a system, all random variables are binary, and every content-sharing pair of random variables has a unique maximal coupling (the joint distribution imposed on them so that they coincide with maximal possible probability). The system is contextual if these maximal couplings are incompatible with the joint distributions of the context-sharing random variables. We propose to represent any system of measurements in a canonical form and to consider the system contextual if and only if its canonical representation is contextual. As an illustration, we establish a criterion for contextuality of the canonical system consisting of all dichotomizations of a single pair of content-sharing categorical random variables. This article is part of the themed issue `Second quantum revolution: foundational questions'.

A prospective cohort and extended comprehensive-cohort design provided insights about the generalizability of a pragmatic trial: the ProtecT prostate cancer trial.

PubMed

Donovan, Jenny L; Young, Grace J; Walsh, Eleanor I; Metcalfe, Chris; Lane, J Athene; Martin, Richard M; Tazewell, Marta K; Davis, Michael; Peters, Tim J; Turner, Emma L; Mills, Nicola; Khazragui, Hanan; Khera, Tarnjit K; Neal, David E; Hamdy, Freddie C

2018-04-01

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) deliver robust internally valid evidence but generalizability is often neglected. Design features built into the Prostate testing for cancer and Treatment (ProtecT) RCT of treatments for localized prostate cancer (PCa) provided insights into its generalizability. Population-based cluster randomization created a prospective study of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and a comprehensive-cohort study including groups choosing treatment or excluded from the RCT, as well as those randomized. Baseline information assessed selection and response during RCT conduct. The prospective study (82,430 PSA-tested men) represented healthy men likely to respond to a screening invitation. The extended comprehensive cohort comprised 1,643 randomized, 997 choosing treatment, and 557 excluded with advanced cancer/comorbidities. Men choosing treatment were very similar to randomized men except for having more professional/managerial occupations. Excluded men were similar to the randomized socio-demographically but different clinically, representing less healthy men with more advanced PCa. The design features of the ProtecT RCT provided data to assess the representativeness of the prospective cohort and generalizability of the findings of the RCT. Greater attention to collecting data at the design stage of pragmatic trials would better support later judgments by clinicians/policy-makers about the generalizability of RCT findings in clinical practice. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Commission on the National Guard and Reserves: Transforming the National Guard and Reserves into a 21st-Century Operational Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-31

13DecForesmanCNGRTestimonyFINAL%5B1%5D.pdf), p. 3. Representatives Skelton and Taylor at March 2006 hearing. COMMISSION ON THE NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVES 57 CREATING...Anniversary,” CMH Pub 72-32 (U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1995), available at www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/mobpam.htm. 8 Abbott A. Brayton ...Services Committee Representative Gene Taylor , Co-Chair, House National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus Representative Steve Buyer, Co-Chair, House

Evaluation of Safe Kids Week 2004: Age 4 to 9? It's Booster Seat Time!

PubMed Central

Howard, A; Beben, N; Rothman, L; Fiissel, D; MacArthur, C

2006-01-01

Objective To assess the effectiveness of a national one week media campaign promoting booster seat use. Design Pre‐test, post‐test design based on nationally representative random digit dialing telephone survey, with control for exposure to campaign. Setting Canada. Subjects Parents of children aged 4–9 years. Interventions During a one week campaign in May 2004, information on booster seat use was distributed via a national media campaign, retail stores, medical clinics, and community events. Information included pamphlets with guidelines for booster seat use, as well as a growth chart (designed by Safe Kids Canada) to assist parents in determining if their child should be using a booster seat. Assessing seat belt fit was described in detail on the growth chart. Main outcome measures Knowledge, attitudes, and self‐reported behaviors regarding booster seat use. Results Respondents in the group exposed to the campaign were twice as likely to report using a booster seat with lap and shoulder belt for their child (47%), compared to those in the pre‐test (24%) and the unexposed (23%) groups (p<0.001). However, only small differences in general knowledge regarding booster seat use were found between the groups. Conclusions A one week national media campaign substantially increased self‐reported use of booster seats. Parents did not remember details of the campaign content, but did remember implications for their own child. PMID:17018673

A study on the equality and benefit of China's national health care system.

PubMed

Zhai, Shaoguo; Wang, Pei; Dong, Quanfang; Ren, Xing; Cai, Jiaoli; Coyte, Peter C

2017-08-29

This study is designed to evaluate whether the benefit which the residents received from the national health care system is equal in China. The perceived equality and benefit are used to measure the personal status of health care system, health status. This study examines variations in perceived equality and benefit of the national health care system between urban and rural residents from five cities of China and assessed their determinants. One thousand one hundred ninty eight residents were selected from a random survey among five nationally representative cities. The research characterizes perceptions into four population groupings based on a binary assessment of survey scores: high equality & high benefit; low equality & low benefit; high equality & low benefit; and low equality & high benefit. The distribution of the four groups above is 30.4%, 43.0%, 4.6% and 22.0%, respectively. Meanwhile, the type of health insurance, educational background, occupation, geographic regions, changes in health status and other factors have significant impacts on perceived equality and benefit derived from the health care system. The findings demonstrate wide variations in perceptions of equality and benefit between urban and rural residents and across population characteristics, leading to a perceived lack of fairness in benefits and accessibility. Opportunities exist for policy interventions that are targeted to eliminate perceived differences and promote greater equality in access to health care.

Perfluorinated Compounds in Fish from US Urban Rivers and ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have recently received scientific and regulatory attention due to their broad environmental distribution, persistence, bioaccumulative potential, and toxicity. Some studies suggest that the consumption of fish from contaminated waters may be a major source of human exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) or other long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids. Much of the existing PFC fish tissue literature focuses on marine fish species and on fish collected outside of the continental U.S. To broaden the assessment of PFCs in U.S. fish, a comprehensive characterization of PFC contamination in freshwater fish was initiated on a national scale during the U.S. EPA 2008-2009 National Rivers and Streams Assessment and during the Great Lakes Human Health Fish Tissue Study component of the 2010 EPA National Coastal Condition Assessment (NCCA/GL). National estimates were developed for PFCs in fish from urban rivers and regional estimates for fish in the U.S. Great Lakes using an unequal probability design. Fish were collected from a statistically representative set of 164 urban river sites and from 157 randomly selected nearshore sites in the U.S. throughout the five Great Lakes. The probability design allowed extrapolation to the sampled population of 17,059 km in urban rivers and a nearshore area of 11,091 km2 in the Great Lakes. Fish fillet tissue was analyzed for 13 PFCs using high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spec

Alcohol- and Drug-Involved Driving in the United States: Methodology for the 2007 National Roadside Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lacey, John H.; Kelley-Baker, Tara; Voas, Robert B.; Romano, Eduardo; Furr-Holden, C. Debra; Torres, Pedro; Berning, Amy

2011-01-01

This article describes the methodology used in the 2007 U.S. National Roadside Survey to estimate the prevalence of alcohol- and drug-impaired driving and alcohol- and drug-involved driving. This study involved randomly stopping drivers at 300 locations across the 48 continental U.S. states at sites selected through a stratified random sampling…

A Short History of Randomized Experiments in Criminology: A Meager Feast.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrington, David P.

2003-01-01

Discusses advantages of randomized experiments and key issues raised in this special issue. Focuses on growth and decrease in the use of randomized experiments by the California Youth Authority, the U.S. National Institute of Justice, and the British Home Office. Calls for increased recognition of the importance of randomized experiments. (SLD)

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Panic Disorder in Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pincus, Donna B.; May, Jill Ehrenreich; Whitton, Sarah W.; Mattis, Sara G.; Barlow, David H.

2010-01-01

This investigation represents the first randomized controlled trial to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of Panic Control Treatment for Adolescents (PCT-A). Thirteen adolescents, ages 14 to 17, were randomized to 11 weekly sessions of PCT-A treatment, whereas 13 were randomized to a self-monitoring control group. Results indicate that…

Marked Antigiardial Activity of Yucca baccata Extracts: A Potential Natural Alternative for Treating Protozoan Infections

PubMed Central

Quihui-Cota, Luis; León-Trujillo, Rocio; Astiazarán-García, Humberto; Esparza-Romero, Julián; Robles, María del Refugio; Robles-Zepeda, Ramón E.; Canett, Rafael; Sánchez-Escalante, Jesús

2014-01-01

Human Giardiosis is a public health problem in Mexico, where the national prevalence was estimated to be up to 68%. Misuse of antiprotozoal drugs may result in low effectiveness and undesirable side effects. Research on natural products is a good strategy for discovering more effective antiparasitic compounds. This study evaluated the antigiardial activity of extracts of Yucca baccata, which is native to northwestern Mexico. Forty-two gerbils (females) were weighed and orally inoculated with 5 × 106 Giardia trophozoites. Two gerbils were selected at random to confirm infection. Forty living gerbils were randomly allocated into 5 treatment groups (8 per group). Gerbils were randomly assigned to be treated with 24.4 mg/mL, 12.2 mg/mL, and 6.1 mg/mL of extracts, metronidazole (2 mg/mL) or PBS, which were intragastrically administered once per day for 3 days. Nine gerbils died during the study course. On day 10 postinfection, gerbils were euthanized and trophozoites were quantified. Yucca extracts reduced, albeit not significantly, the trophozoite counts in the duodenum segment. Only the high-extract concentration significantly reduced the trophozoite counts in the proximal segment and it was similar to that of metronidazole. Extracts of Y. baccata may represent an effective and natural therapeutic alternative for human giardiosis. PMID:25250335

7 CFR 1221.100 - Establishment and representation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... allow representation from a broad geographical area. The Board shall initially be composed of 13... 4 sorghum producers to serve as at-large national representatives with at least two representatives... State, there shall be one importer to serve as a representative plus an additional at-large national...

7 CFR 1221.100 - Establishment and representation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... allow representation from a broad geographical area. The Board shall initially be composed of 13... 4 sorghum producers to serve as at-large national representatives with at least two representatives... State, there shall be one importer to serve as a representative plus an additional at-large national...

7 CFR 1221.100 - Establishment and representation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... allow representation from a broad geographical area. The Board shall initially be composed of 13... 4 sorghum producers to serve as at-large national representatives with at least two representatives... State, there shall be one importer to serve as a representative plus an additional at-large national...

7 CFR 1221.100 - Establishment and representation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... allow representation from a broad geographical area. The Board shall initially be composed of 13... 4 sorghum producers to serve as at-large national representatives with at least two representatives... State, there shall be one importer to serve as a representative plus an additional at-large national...

National Space Council Meeting

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-05

Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot, center, along with Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States Michael Kratsios, left, and Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats, right, listen to remarks by panelists during the National Space Council's first meeting, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017 at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. The National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence heard testimony from representatives from civil space, commercial space, and national security space industry representatives. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

A citywide breeding bird survey for Washington, DC

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hadidian, J.; Sauer, J.R.; Swarth, C.; Handly, P.; Droege, S.; Williams, C.; Huff, J.; Didden, G.

1997-01-01

`DC Birdscape' was initiated in 1993 to systematically count the birds occurring throughout Washington D.C. during the breeding season. It involved a coordinated planning effort and partnership between the Audubon Naturalist Society, the National Park Service, and the National Biological Survey, and engaged the participation of more than 100 volunteers. A method for rapidly assessing the status of bird populations over a large area was developed and incorporated into a Geographic Information System to allow a multidimensional analysis of species presence and abundance across a variety of urban land use areas. A total of 91 species were observed, with an estimated total number of 115, making Washington D.C. almost as `bird rich' as nearby suburban counties. Data from the study clearly indicate that avian species are not randomly distributed throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, and show affinity, at least in part, to some of the most broadly recognized land use patterns that are commonly used to zone and classify urban areas under development schemes. This study represents a prototype that will allow efficient and economical monitoring of urban bird populations.

Prevalence and Predictors of Video Game Addiction: A Study Based on a National Representative Sample of Gamers.

PubMed

Wittek, Charlotte Thoresen; Finserås, Turi Reiten; Pallesen, Ståle; Mentzoni, Rune Aune; Hanss, Daniel; Griffiths, Mark D; Molde, Helge

Video gaming has become a popular leisure activity in many parts of the world, and an increasing number of empirical studies examine the small minority that appears to develop problems as a result of excessive gaming. This study investigated prevalence rates and predictors of video game addiction in a sample of gamers, randomly selected from the National Population Registry of Norway ( N  = 3389). Results showed there were 1.4 % addicted gamers, 7.3 % problem gamers, 3.9 % engaged gamers, and 87.4 % normal gamers. Gender (being male) and age group (being young) were positively associated with addicted-, problem-, and engaged gamers. Place of birth (Africa, Asia, South- and Middle America) were positively associated with addicted- and problem gamers. Video game addiction was negatively associated with conscientiousness and positively associated with neuroticism. Poor psychosomatic health was positively associated with problem- and engaged gaming. These factors provide insight into the field of video game addiction, and may help to provide guidance as to how individuals that are at risk of becoming addicted gamers can be identified.

Prevalence of tobacco smoking in Vietnam: findings from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2015.

PubMed

Van Minh, Hoang; Giang, Kim Bao; Ngoc, Nguyen Bao; Hai, Phan Thi; Huyen, Doan Thi Thu; Khue, Luong Ngoc; Lam, Nguyen Tuan; Nga, Pham Thi Quynh; Quan, Nguyen The; Xuyen, Nguyen Thi

2017-02-01

We report the prevalence of tobacco smoking among adult populations in Vietnam, 2015. The Vietnam GATS 2015 was a nationally representative survey. 9513 households were selected using two-stage random systematic sampling method. Handheld computers were used for capturing data. Data collection was carried-out by National Statistics Office of Vietnam in 2015. Weight was used in all estimates. The Vietnam GATS 2015 found that the prevalence of smoking in Vietnam was 22.5% overall, 45.3% among men, and 1.1% among women. The overall 2015-2010 reduction in prevalence of any tobacco product was 5.3%. However, the reduction was not statistically significant. The significant reduction in prevalence of tobacco smoking was found for any type of cigarette (-8.4%), and especially for hand-rolled cigarettes (-38.3%). The use of cigarettes significantly decreased in urban areas (-14.7%). The reduction in the prevalence of tobacco smoking in Vietnam during the last 5 years (2010-2015) has not been as high as expected, especially in rural areas. Further efforts are needed to continue to reduce the harms caused by tobacco smoking.

Water system unreliability and diarrhea incidence among children in Guatemala.

PubMed

Trudeau, Jennifer; Aksan, Anna-Maria; Vásquez, William F

2018-03-01

This article examines the effect of water system unreliability on diarrhea incidence among children aged 0-5 in Guatemala. We use secondary data from a nationally representative sample of 7579 children to estimate the effects of uninterrupted and interrupted water services on diarrhea incidence. The national scope of this study imposes some methodological challenges due to unobserved geographical heterogeneity. To address this issue, we estimate mixed-effects logit models that control for unobserved heterogeneity by estimating random effects of selected covariates that can vary across geographical areas (i.e. water system reliability). Compared to children without access to piped water, children with uninterrupted water services have a lower probability of diarrhea incidence by approximately 33 percentage points. Conversely, there is no differential effect between children without access and those with at least one day of service interruptions in the previous month. Results also confirm negative effects of age, female gender, spanish language, and garbage disposal on diarrhea incidence. Public health benefits of piped water are realized through uninterrupted provision of service, not merely access. Policy implications are discussed.

Uncertainty quantification applied to the radiological characterization of radioactive waste.

PubMed

Zaffora, B; Magistris, M; Saporta, G; Chevalier, J-P

2017-09-01

This paper describes the process adopted at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to quantify uncertainties affecting the characterization of very-low-level radioactive waste. Radioactive waste is a by-product of the operation of high-energy particle accelerators. Radioactive waste must be characterized to ensure its safe disposal in final repositories. Characterizing radioactive waste means establishing the list of radionuclides together with their activities. The estimated activity levels are compared to the limits given by the national authority of the waste disposal. The quantification of the uncertainty affecting the concentration of the radionuclides is therefore essential to estimate the acceptability of the waste in the final repository but also to control the sorting, volume reduction and packaging phases of the characterization process. The characterization method consists of estimating the activity of produced radionuclides either by experimental methods or statistical approaches. The uncertainties are estimated using classical statistical methods and uncertainty propagation. A mixed multivariate random vector is built to generate random input parameters for the activity calculations. The random vector is a robust tool to account for the unknown radiological history of legacy waste. This analytical technique is also particularly useful to generate random chemical compositions of materials when the trace element concentrations are not available or cannot be measured. The methodology was validated using a waste population of legacy copper activated at CERN. The methodology introduced here represents a first approach for the uncertainty quantification (UQ) of the characterization process of waste produced at particle accelerators. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Injury-related mortality in South Africa: a retrospective descriptive study of postmortem investigations

PubMed Central

Prinsloo, Megan; Pillay-van Wyk, Victoria; Gwebushe, Nomonde; Mathews, Shanaaz; Martin, Lorna J; Laubscher, Ria; Abrahams, Naeemah; Msemburi, William; Lombard, Carl; Bradshaw, Debbie

2015-01-01

Abstract Objective To investigate injury-related mortality in South Africa using a nationally representative sample and compare the results with previous estimates. Methods We conducted a retrospective descriptive study of medico-legal postmortem investigation data from mortuaries using a multistage random sample, stratified by urban and non-urban areas and mortuary size. We calculated age-specific and age-standardized mortality rates for external causes of death. Findings Postmortem reports revealed 52 493 injury-related deaths in 2009 (95% confidence interval, CI: 46 930–58 057). Almost half (25 499) were intentionally inflicted. Age-standardized mortality rates per 100 000 population were as follows: all injuries: 109.0 (95% CI: 97.1–121.0); homicide 38.4 (95% CI: 33.8–43.0; suicide 13.4 (95% CI: 11.6–15.2) and road-traffic injury 36.1 (95% CI: 30.9–41.3). Using postmortem reports, we found more than three times as many deaths from homicide and road-traffic injury than had been recorded by vital registration for this period. The homicide rate was similar to the estimate for South Africa from a global analysis, but road-traffic and suicide rates were almost fourfold higher. Conclusion This is the first nationally representative sample of injury-related mortality in South Africa. It provides more accurate estimates and cause-specific profiles that are not available from other sources. PMID:26229201

How does beneficiary knowledge of the Medicare program vary by type of insurance?

PubMed

McCormack, Lauren A; Uhrig, Jennifer D

2003-08-01

Prior research found that Medicare beneficiaries' knowledge of the Medicare program varied by the type of supplemental insurance they had. However, none of these studies used both multivariate methods and nationally representative data to examine the issue. OBJECTIVES To measure beneficiary knowledge of the Medicare program and to evaluate how knowledge varies by type of supplemental insurance. A mail survey with telephone follow-up to a nationally representative random sample of Medicare beneficiaries, which had a 76% response rate. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of providing the Medicare & You handbook on beneficiary knowledge, information needs, and health plan decision making. A total of 3738 Medicare beneficiaries who completed the survey. A psychometrically validated 22-item index that reflects Medicare-related knowledge in seven different content areas. RESULTS Overall, beneficiaries with a Medicare HMO or non-employer-sponsored supplemental insurance were more knowledgeable about Medicare than those who had Medicare only. In general, beneficiaries tended to be more knowledgeable about issues related to the type of insurance they had (fee-for-service or managed care) than other types of insurance. Higher levels of knowledge about one's own type of insurance may suggest that beneficiaries learn by experience or they learn more about that type of insurance before enrollment. Further research is needed to better understand how and when beneficiaries learn about insurance and what educational strategies are more effective at increasing knowledge.

Early maternal depressive symptoms and child growth trajectories: a longitudinal analysis of a nationally representative US birth cohort

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Maternal depressive symptoms are negatively associated with early child growth in developing countries; however, few studies have examined this relation in developed countries or used a longitudinal design with data past the second year of the child’s life. We investigated if and when early maternal depressive symptoms affect average growth in young children up to age 6 in a nationally representative sample of US children. Methods Using data from 6,550 singleton births from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), we fit growth trajectory models with random effects to examine the relation between maternal depressive symptoms at 9 months based on the twelve-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and child height and body mass index (BMI) to age 6 years. Results Mothers with moderate/severe depressive symptoms at 9 months postpartum had children with shorter stature at this same point in time [average 0.26 cm shorter; 95% CI: 5 cm, 48 cm] than mothers without depressive symptoms; children whose mothers reported postpartum depressive symptoms remained significantly shorter throughout the child’s first 6 years. Conclusions Results suggest that the first year postpartum is a critical window for addressing maternal depressive symptoms in order to optimize child growth. Future studies should investigate the role of caregiving and feeding practices as potential mechanisms linking maternal depressive symptoms and child growth trajectories. PMID:25047367

Family meals and body weight in US adults.

PubMed

Sobal, Jeffery; Hanson, Karla

2011-09-01

Family meals are an important ritual in contemporary societies and many studies have reported associations of family meals with several biopsychosocial outcomes among children and adolescents. However, few representative analyses of family meals have been conducted in samples of adults, and adults may differ from young people in predictors and outcomes of family meal consumption. We examined the prevalence and predictors of adult family meals and body weight outcomes. The cross-sectional 2009 Cornell National Social Survey (CNSS) included questions about the frequency of family meals, body weight as BMI and sociodemographic characteristics. The CNSS telephone survey used random digit dialling to sample individuals. We analysed data from 882 adults living with family members in a nationally representative US sample. Prevalence of family meals among these adults revealed that 53 % reported eating family meals seven or more times per week. Predictive results revealed that adults who more frequently ate family meals were more likely to be married and less likely to be employed full-time, year-round. Outcome results revealed that the overall frequency of family meals among adults was not significantly associated with any measure of body weight. However, interaction term analysis suggested an inverse association between frequency of family meals and BMI for adults with children in the household, and no association among adults without children. These findings suggest that family meals among adults are commonplace, associated with marital and work roles, and marginally associated with body weight only in households with children.

Association of occupation, employment contract, and company size with mental health in a national representative sample of employees in Japan.

PubMed

Inoue, Akiomi; Kawakami, Norito; Tsuchiya, Masao; Sakurai, Keiko; Hashimoto, Hideki

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-sectional association of employment contract, company size, and occupation with psychological distress using a nationally representative sample of the Japanese population. From June through July 2007, a total of 9,461 male and 7,717 female employees living in the community were randomly selected and surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire and interview including questions about occupational class variables, psychological distress (K6 scale), treatment for mental disorders, and other covariates. Among males, part-time workers had a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress than permanent workers. Among females, temporary/contract workers had a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress than permanent workers. Among males, those who worked at companies with 300-999 employees had a significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress than those who worked at the smallest companies (with 1-29 employees). Company size was not significantly associated with psychological distress among females. Additionally, occupation was not significantly associated with psychological distress among males or females. Similar patterns were observed when the analyses were conducted for those who had psychological distress and/or received treatment for mental disorders. Working as part-time workers, for males, and as temporary/contract workers, for females, may be associated with poor mental health in Japan. No clear gradient in mental health along company size or occupation was observed in Japan.

Intentions to donate to a biobank in a national sample of African Americans.

PubMed

McDonald, Jasmine A; Vadaparampil, Susan; Bowen, Deborah; Magwood, Gayenell; Obeid, Jihad S; Jefferson, Melanie; Drake, Richard; Gebregziabher, Mulugeta; Hughes Halbert, Chanita

2014-01-01

Despite the investments being made to develop biobanks, African Americans are under-represented in genomic studies. We identified factors having significant independent associations with intentions to donate personal health information and blood and/or tissue samples to a biobank in a national random sample of African Americans (n = 1,033). We conducted a national survey from October 2010 through February 2011. Twenty-three percent of respondents reported that it was not at all likely that they would donate to a biobank, 18% reported it was a little likely, 36% reported it was somewhat likely, and 23% reported it was very likely. Respondents who were likely to donate to a biobank had greater positive expectations about participating in cancer genetics research and reported more participation facilitators relative to barriers. Respondents who were distrustful of researchers had a significantly lower likelihood of being willing to donate to a biobank compared to those who were less distrustful. African Americans have diverse attitudes about participating in genetics research, and many are likely to donate to a biobank based on expectations of positive outcomes. It may be important to address attitudes about genetics research as part of recruitment to enhance the quality of informed consent for participation in biobanks among African Americans. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Intentions to Donate to a Biobank in a National Sample of African Americans

PubMed Central

McDonald, Jasmine A.; Vadaparampil, Susan; Bowen, Deborah; Magwood, Gayenell; Obeid, Jihad S.; Jefferson, Melanie; Drake, Richard; Gebregziabher, Mulugeta; Halbert, Chanita Hughes

2015-01-01

Background/Aims Despite the investments being made to develop biobanks, African Americans are under-represented in genomic studies. We identified factors having significant independent associations with intentions to donate personal health information and blood and/or tissue samples to a biobank in a national, random sample of African Americans (n=1,033). Methods National survey conducted from October 2010 through February 2011. Results 23% of respondents reported that it was not at all likely that they would donate to a biobank, 18% reported a little likely, 36% reported somewhat likely, and 23% reported very likely. Respondents who were likely to donate to a biobank had greater positive expectations about participating in cancer genetics research and reported more participation facilitators relative to barriers. Respondents who were distrustful of researchers had a significantly lower likelihood of being willing to donate to a biobank compared to those who were less distrustful. Conclusions African Americans have diverse attitudes about participating in genetics research and many are likely to donate to a biobank based on expectations of positive outcomes. It may be important to address attitudes about genetics research as part of recruitment to enhance the quality of informed consent for participation in biobanks among African Americans. PMID:24942180

The association between disability and intimate partner violence in the United States

PubMed Central

Breiding, Matthew J.; Armour, Brian S.

2015-01-01

Purpose Prior research has shown that people with disabilities are at greater risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization. This study seeks to examine the link between disability and IPV in a nationally representative sample of U.S. women and men. Also, by establishing that disability preceded recent IPV victimization, this study allows for a more thorough understanding of whether people with disabilities are at greater risk of victimization subsequent to having a disability. Methods Data were analyzed from the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, an ongoing, national random digit dial telephone survey of U.S. adults. Estimates of age-adjusted 12-month IPV prevalence by disability status were calculated. Results Compared to women without a disability, women with a disability were significantly more likely to report experiencing each form of IPV measured, which includes rape, sexual violence other than rape, physical violence, stalking, psychological aggression, and control of reproductive or sexual health. For men, significant associations were found with respect to stalking and psychological aggression by an intimate partner. Conclusions The results suggest that people with a disability are at greater risk of victimization and that primary and secondary prevention efforts might be targeted to those with a disability. PMID:25976023

National Study of Changes in Community Access to School Physical Activity Facilities: The School Health Policies and Programs Study

PubMed Central

Evenson, Kelly R.; Wen, Fang; Lee, Sarah M.; Heinrich, Katie M.; Eyler, Amy

2016-01-01

Background A Healthy People 2010 developmental objective (22-12) was set to increase the proportion of the nation’s public and private schools that provide access to their physical activity spaces and facilities for all persons outside of normal school hours. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of indoor and outdoor facilities at schools and the availability of those facilities to the public in 2000 and 2006. Methods In 2000 and 2006, the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) was conducted in each state and in randomly selected districts, schools, and classrooms. This analysis focused on the school level questionnaire from a nationally representative sample of public and nonpublic elementary, middle, and high schools (n = 921 in 2000 and n = 984 in 2006). Results No meaningful changes in the prevalence of access to school physical activity facilities were found from 2000 to 2006, for youth or adult community sports teams, classes, or open gym. Conclusions These national data indicate a lack of progress from 2000 and 2006 toward increasing the proportion of the nation’s public and private schools that provide access to their physical activity facilities for all persons outside of normal school hours. PMID:20440007

The health system cost of post-abortion care in Rwanda.

PubMed

Vlassoff, Michael; Musange, Sabine F; Kalisa, Ina R; Ngabo, Fidele; Sayinzoga, Felix; Singh, Susheela; Bankole, Akinrinola

2015-03-01

Based on research conducted in 2012, we estimate the cost to the Rwandan health-care system of providing post-abortion care (PAC) due to unsafe abortions, a subject of policy importance not studied before at the national level. Thirty-nine public and private health facilities representing three levels of health care were randomly selected for data collection from key care providers and administrators for all five regions. Using an ingredients approach to costing, data were gathered on drugs, supplies, material, personnel time and hospitalization. Additionally, direct non-medical costs such as overhead and capital costs were also measured. We found that the average annual PAC cost per client, across five types of abortion complications, was $93. The total cost of PAC nationally was estimated to be $1.7 million per year, 49% of which was expended on direct non-medical costs. Satisfying all demands for PAC would raise the national cost to $2.5 million per year. PAC comprises a significant share of total expenditure in reproductive health in Rwanda. Investing more resources in provision of contraceptive services to prevent unwanted or mistimed pregnancies would likely reduce health systems costs. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014.

Landsat-derived cropland mask for Tanzania using 2010-2013 time series and decision tree classifier methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Justice, C. J.

2015-12-01

80% of Tanzania's population is involved in the agriculture sector. Despite this national dependence, agricultural reporting is minimal and monitoring efforts are in their infancy. The cropland mask developed through this study provides the framework for agricultural monitoring through informing analysis of crop conditions, dispersion, and intensity at a national scale. Tanzania is dominated by smallholder agricultural systems with an average field size of less than one hectare (Sarris et al, 2006). At this field scale, previous classifications of agricultural land in Tanzania using MODIS course resolution data are insufficient to inform a working monitoring system. The nation-wide cropland mask in this study was developed using composited Landsat tiles from a 2010-2013 time series. Decision tree classifiers methods were used in the study with representative training areas collected for agriculture and no agriculture using appropriate indices to separate these classes (Hansen et al, 2013). Validation was done using random sample and high resolution satellite images to compare Agriculture and No agriculture samples from the study area. The techniques used in this study were successful and have the potential to be adapted for other countries, allowing targeted monitoring efforts to improve food security, market price, and inform agricultural policy.

Complementary Public Service Announcements as a Strategy for Enhancing the Impact of Health-Promoting Messages in Fictional Television Programs.

PubMed

Bavin, Lynda M; Owens, R Glynn

2018-05-01

Research suggests that health-promoting storylines in developed nations' fictional television programs can have a beneficial impact on viewers' beliefs, attitudes, intentions, or behaviors. The sizes of the effects are generally modest; however, the audience reach is substantial. Given that many fictional programs may hold the prolonged attention of millions of viewers, it is of value to examine potential strategies for enhancing the persuasive impact of their health-promoting storylines. Complementary public service announcements may be a promising strategy. This randomized experimental study (N = 310) examined the effects of viewing a complementary public service announcement after an organ donation story in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. Results indicated that the public service announcement enhanced the beneficial impact of the story on viewers' discussion behavior (about one's organ donor wishes), discussion intention, and perceived learning. This experimental study is the first to examine the effects of viewing a non-character public service announcement after a health-related storyline in a developed nation's fictional program compared to viewing the same episode of the program on its own. It is important for future research to examine whether these findings replicate for different health issues and with a nationally representative sample.

Experimental effects of climate messages vary geographically

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Baobao; van der Linden, Sander; Mildenberger, Matto; Marlon, Jennifer R.; Howe, Peter D.; Leiserowitz, Anthony

2018-05-01

Social science scholars routinely evaluate the efficacy of diverse climate frames using local convenience or nationally representative samples1-5. For example, previous research has focused on communicating the scientific consensus on climate change, which has been identified as a `gateway' cognition to other key beliefs about the issue6-9. Importantly, although these efforts reveal average public responsiveness to particular climate frames, they do not describe variation in message effectiveness at the spatial and political scales relevant for climate policymaking. Here we use a small-area estimation method to map geographical variation in public responsiveness to information about the scientific consensus as part of a large-scale randomized national experiment (n = 6,301). Our survey experiment finds that, on average, public perception of the consensus increases by 16 percentage points after message exposure. However, substantial spatial variation exists across the United States at state and local scales. Crucially, responsiveness is highest in more conservative parts of the country, leading to national convergence in perceptions of the climate science consensus across diverse political geographies. These findings not only advance a geographical understanding of how the public engages with information about scientific agreement, but will also prove useful for policymakers, practitioners and scientists engaged in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Adequacy of anti-tuberculosis drug prescriptions in Viet Nam

PubMed Central

Lauritsen, J. M.; Rieder, H. L.

2012-01-01

Setting: National Tuberculosis Program, Viet Nam, 2008. Objectives: To determine drug prescription adherence to national guidelines, to examine factors associated with an erroneous dosage of rifampin (RMP) and to evaluate the impact of an insufficient RMP dosage on treatment outcome. Methods: A representative sample of 30 treatment units was randomly selected. All patient treatment cards enrolled in these units were obtained, and data were double-entered and validated before calculating the adequacy of the individual drug prescriptions. Results: Of 3412 tuberculosis treatment cards, 3225 (94.5%) had information on treatment regimen and the patient’s weight. Treatment was successful in 89.4%. Prescriptions of tablets/vials conforming to recommendations were found for respectively 91.2%, 89.9%, 92.3% and 94.6% of the patients for RMP/isoniazid, pyrazinamide, ethambutol and streptomycin. Patients in the 25–39 kg weight bracket received insufficient dosages. This was almost entirely attributable to patients at the end of the weight bracket. Nevertheless, no significant association was found between treatment failure and death, body weight and insufficient RMP dosage. Conclusions: Adherence to national recommendations was high. RMP was given in insufficient dosage for patients at the end of a weight range bracket, but the under-dosage was small and did not measurably affect treatment outcome. PMID:26392937

Comparison of non-landslide sampling strategies to counteract inventory-based biases within national-scale statistical landslide susceptibility models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lima, Pedro; Steger, Stefan; Glade, Thomas

2017-04-01

Landslides can represent a significant threat for people and infrastructure in hilly and mountainous landscapes worldwide. The understanding and prediction of those geomorphic processes is crucial to avoid economic loses or even casualties to people and their properties. Statistical based landslide susceptibility models are well known for being highly reliant on the quality, representativeness and availability of input data. In this context, several studies indicate that the landslide inventory represents the most important input data. However each landslide mapping technique or data collection has its drawbacks. Consequently, biased landslide inventories may be commonly introduced into statistical models, especially at regional or even national scale. It remains to the researcher to be aware of potential limitations and design strategies to avoid or reduce the potential propagation of input data errors and biases influences on the modelling outcomes. Previous studies have proven that such erroneous landslide inventories may lead to unrealistic landslide susceptibility maps. We assume that one possibility to tackle systematic landslide inventory-based biases might be a concentration on sampling strategies that focus on the distribution of non-landslide locations. For this purpose, we test an approach for the Austrian territory that concentrates on a modified non-landslide sampling strategy, instead the traditional applied random sampling. It is expected that the way non-landslide locations are represented (e.g. equally over the area or within those areas where mapping campaigns have been conducted) is important to reduce a potential over- or underestimation of landslide susceptibility within specific areas caused by bias. As presumably each landslide inventory is known to be systematically incomplete, especially in those areas where no mapping campaign was previously conducted. This is also applicable to the one currently available for the Austrian territory, composed by 14,519 shallow landslides. Within this study, we introduce the following explanatory variables to test the effect of different non-landslide strategies: Lithological units, grouped by their geotechnical properties and topographic parameters such as aspect, elevation, slope gradient and the topographic position. Landslide susceptibility maps will be derived by applying logistic regression, while systematic comparisons will be carried out based on models created by different non-landslide sampling strategies. Models generated by the conventional random sampling are presented against models based on stratified and clustered sampling strategies. The modelling results will be compared in terms of their prediction performance measured by the AUROC (Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve) obtained by means of a k-fold cross-validation and also by the spatial pattern of the maps. The outcomes of this study are intended to contribute to the understanding on how landslide-inventory based biases may be counteracted.

78 FR 58383 - Renewal of National Grain Car Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-23

... of National Grain Car Council AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board, DOT. ACTION: Notice of intent to... of the National Grain Car Council (NGCC). ADDRESSES: A copy of the charter is available at the... railroads (one marketing and one car management representative from each Class I), 7 representatives from...

Under-Representation in Nationally Representative Secondary Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frederick, Karen; Barnard-Brak, Lucy; Sulak, Tracey

2012-01-01

There has been a significant increase in the use of secondary data sets. Many such data sets purport to be nationally representative. Secondary data sets include research commissioned by the National Center for Education Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control, and other public entities. Research increasingly utilizes these secondary data in…

Disentangling the Relationship between Child Maltreatment and Violent Delinquency: Using a Nationally Representative Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yun, Ilhong; Ball, Jeremy D.; Lim, Hyeyoung

2011-01-01

This study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents (Add Health) data, a nationally representative sample of adolescents, to disentangle the relationship between child maltreatment and violent delinquency. Also examined are potential moderating effects of gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and religiosity on the association between…

Literacy Program. National Issues Forums Special Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Issues Forums, Dayton, OH.

In the spring of 1988, 33 representatives from 20 institutions or organizations sponsoring National Issues Forum (NIF) literacy programs attended a national conference in Washington, D.C. Throughout the conference, representatives from the organizations sponsoring NIF literacy programs made statements on the importance of NIF as a tool for…

Changing interactions between physician trainees and the pharmaceutical industry: a national survey.

PubMed

Austad, Kirsten E; Avorn, Jerry; Franklin, Jessica M; Kowal, Mary K; Campbell, Eric G; Kesselheim, Aaron S

2013-08-01

Increasingly, medical school policies limit pharmaceutical representatives' access to students and gifts from drugmakers, but little is known about how these policies affect student attitudes toward industry. To assess interactions between trainees and the pharmaceutical industry, and to determine whether learning environment characteristics influence students' practices and attitudes. We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a nationally-representative sample of first- and fourth-year medical students and third-year residents, stratified by medical school, including ≥ 14 randomly selected trainees at each level per school. We measured frequency of industry interactions and attitudes regarding how such interactions affect medical training and the profession. Chi-squared tests assessed bivariate linear trend, and hierarchical logistic regression models were fitted to assess associations between trainees' attitudes and their schools' National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding levels and American Medical Student Association (AMSA) PharmFree Scorecard grades reflecting industry-related conflict of interest policies. Among 1,610 student (49.3 % response rate) and 739 resident (43.1 %) respondents, industry-sponsored gifts were common, rising from 33.0 % (first-year students) to 56.8 % (fourth-year students) and 54 % (residents) (p < 0.001). These gifts included meals outside the hospital (reported by 5 % first-year students, 13.4 % fourth-year students, 27.5 % residents (p < 0.001)) and free drug samples (reported by 7.4 % first-year students, 14.1 % fourth-year students, 14.3 % residents (p < 0.001)). The perception that industry interactions lead to bias was prevalent, but the belief that physicians receive valuable education through these interactions increased (64.1 % to 67.5 % to 79.8 %, p < 0.001). Students in schools receiving more NIH funding reported industry gifts less often (OR = 0.51, 95 % CI: 0.38-0.68, p < 0.001), but the strength of institutional conflict of interest policies was not associated with this variable. Despite recent policy changes, a substantial number of trainees continue to receive gifts from pharmaceutical representatives. We found no relation between these outcomes and a school's policies concerning interactions with industry.

Problematic social media use and depressive symptoms among U.S. young adults: A nationally-representative study.

PubMed

Shensa, Ariel; Escobar-Viera, César G; Sidani, Jaime E; Bowman, Nicholas D; Marshal, Michael P; Primack, Brian A

2017-06-01

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. The suggested association between social media use (SMU) and depression may be explained by the emerging maladaptive use pattern known as problematic social media use (PSMU), characterized by addictive components. We aimed to assess the association between PSMU and depressive symptoms-controlling for overall time and frequency of SMU-among a large sample of U.S. young adults. In October 2014, participants aged 19-32 (N = 1749) were randomly selected from a nationally-representative U.S. probability-based panel and subsequently invited to participate in an online survey. We assessed depressive symptoms using the validated Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) brief depression scale. We measured PSMU using an adapted version of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale to encompass broader SMU. Using logistic regression models, we tested the association between PSMU and depressive symptoms, controlling for time and frequency of SMU as well as a comprehensive set of socio-demographic covariates. In the multivariable model, PSMU was significantly associated with a 9% increase in odds of depressive symptoms (AOR [adjusted odds ratio] = 1.09; 95% CI [confidence interval]: 1.05, 1.13; p < 0.001.) Increased frequency of SMU was also significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms, whereas SMU time was not (AOR = 1.01; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.01; p = 0.001 and AOR = 1.00; 95% CI: 0.999-1.001; p = 0.43, respectively). PSMU was strongly and independently associated with increased depressive symptoms in this nationally-representative sample of young adults. PSMU largely explained the association between SMU and depressive symptom, suggesting that it may be how we use social media, not how much, that poses a risk. Intervention efforts aimed at reducing depressive symptoms, such as screenings for maladaptive SMU, may be most successful if they address addictive components and frequency-rather than time-of SMU. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

After-School Multifamily Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial Involving Low-Income, Urban, Latino Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McDonald, Lynn; Moberg, D. Paul; Brown, Roger; Rodriguez-Espiricueta, Ismael; Flores, Nydia I.; Burke, Melissa P.; Coover, Gail

2006-01-01

This randomized controlled trial evaluated a culturally representative parent engagement strategy with Latino parents of elementary school children. Ten urban schools serving low-income children from mixed cultural backgrounds participated in a large study. Classrooms were randomly assigned either either to an after-school, multifamily support…

Variation in Death Rate After Abdominal Aortic Aneurysmectomy in the United States

PubMed Central

Dimick, Justin B.; Stanley, James C.; Axelrod, David A.; Kazmers, Andris; Henke, Peter K.; Jacobs, Lloyd A.; Wakefield, Thomas W.; Greenfield, Lazar J.; Upchurch, Gilbert R.

2002-01-01

Objective To determine whether high-volume hospitals (HVHs) have lower in-hospital death rates after abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair compared with low-volume hospitals (LVHs). Summary Background Data Select statewide studies have shown that HVHs have superior outcomes compared with LVHs for AAA repair, but they may not be representative of the true volume–outcome relationship for the entire United States. Methods Patients undergoing repair of intact or ruptured AAAs in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) for 1996 and 1997 were included (n = 13,887) for study. The NIS represents a 20% stratified random sample representative of all U.S. hospitals. Unadjusted and case mix-adjusted analyses were performed. Results The overall death rate was 3.8% for intact AAA repair and 47% for ruptured AAA repair. For repair of intact AAAs, HVHs had a lower death rate than LVHs. The death rate after repair of ruptured AAA was also slightly lower at HVHs. In a multivariate analysis adjusting for case mix, having surgery at an LVH was associated with a 56% increased risk of in-hospital death. Other independent risk factors for in-hospital death included female gender, age older than 65 years, aneurysm rupture, urgent or emergent admission, and comorbid disease. Conclusions This study from a representative national database documents that HVHs have a significantly lower death rate than LVHs for repair of both intact and ruptured AAA. These data support the regionalization of patients to HVHs for AAA repair. PMID:11923615

Fatal school shootings and the epidemiological context of firearm mortality in the United States

PubMed Central

Shultz, James M; Cohen, Alyssa M; Muschert, Glenn W; Flores de Apodaca, Roberto

2013-01-01

Background The December 14, 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, USA, vaulted concerns regarding gun violence to the forefront of public attention. This high-visibility incident occurred within the epidemiological context of U.S. firearm mortality that claims more than 88 lives daily. Methods National epidemiologic data on firearm deaths over two decades were analyzed along with data registries on school shootings in order to place the tragedy at Sandy Hook in perspective. School shootings were classified as random or targeted. Results The U.S. has the highest rates of firearm deaths, suicides, and homicides among the world’s 34 “advanced economies.” Seventy percent of U.S. homicides and more than 50% of U.S. suicides are committed using a firearm. U.S. firearm homicide rates first declined, and then stabilized, during the past 23 years, 1990-2012. “Shooting massacres” in school settings, a new phenomenon within the past 50 years, are extremely rare events. Over 23 years, 1990-2012, 215 fatal school shooting incidents resulted in 363 deaths, equivalent to 0.12% of national firearm homicides during that time period. Most episodes were “targeted” shootings in which the perpetrator intentionally killed a specific individual in a school setting. Only 25 of these 215 events (11.6%) were “random” or “rampage” shootings, resulting in 135 deaths (0.04% of national firearm homicides). Among these, just three shooting rampages – Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, and Sandy hook Elementary School – accounted for 72 (53.3%) of these 135 deaths. The frequency of random/rampage shooting incidents in schools has remained within the narrow range of 0 to 3 episodes per year. Conclusions Each year, more than 32,000 Americans die by firearms and more than 70,000 are wounded, representing a volume of preventable deaths and injuries that the U.S. government describes as a “public health crisis.” School massacres, such as Sandy Hook, occur periodically, galvanizing public reaction and bringing forth a collective call for intervention. Epidemiological analyses position these rare, but uniquely compelling, incidents within the broader national patterns of gun violence. The intention is to inform the selection of a balanced, comprehensive set of effective remedies to address the daily death toll from firearm suicides and “targeted” firearm homicides that account for more than 99% of firearm fatalities; as well as the rare, random, and sporadic rampage shootings in school or community settings. PMID:28228991

Quality assurance of research protocols conducted in the community: the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network experience.

PubMed

Rosa, Carmen; Campbell, Aimee; Kleppinger, Cynthia; Sampson, Royce; Tyson, Clare; Mamay-Gentilin, Stephanie

2009-04-01

Quality assurance (QA) of clinical trials is essential to protect the welfare of trial participants and the integrity of the data collected. However, there is little detailed information available on specific procedures and outcomes of QA monitoring for clinical trials. This article describes the experience of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) in devising and implementing a three-tiered QA model for rigorous multi-site randomized clinical trials implemented in community-based substance abuse treatment programs. The CTN QA model combined local and national resources and was developed to address the unique needs of clinical trial sites with limited research experience. The authors reviewed internal records maintained by the sponsor, a coordinating site (Lead Nodes), and a local site detailing procedural development, training sessions, protocol violation monitoring, and site visit reporting. Between January 2001 and September 2005, the CTN implemented 21 protocols, of which 18 were randomized clinical trials, one was a quality improvement study and two were surveys. Approximately 160 community-based treatment programs participated in the 19 studies that were monitored, with a total of 6560 participants randomized across the sites. During this time 1937 QA site visits were reported across the three tiers of monitoring and the cost depended on the location of the sites and the salaries of the staff involved. One study reported 109 protocol violations (M = 15.6). Examples are presented to highlight training, protocol violation monitoring, site visit frequency and intensity and cost considerations. : QA data from the entire network were not easily available for review as much of the data were not electronically accessible. The authors reviewed and discussed a representative sample of internal data from the studies and participating sites. The lessons learned from the CTN's experience include the need for balancing thoroughness with efficiency, monitoring early, assessing research staff abilities in order to judge the need for proactive, focused attention, providing targeted training sessions, and developing flexible tools. The CTN model can work for sponsors overseeing studies at sites with limited research experience that require more frequent, in-depth monitoring. We recommend that sponsors not develop a rigid monitoring approach, but work with the study principal investigators to determine the intensity of monitoring needed depending on trial complexity, the risks of the intervention(s), and the experience of the staff with clinical research. After careful evaluation, sponsors should then determine the best approach to site monitoring and what resources will be needed.

Quality assurance of research protocols conducted in the community: The National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network Experience

PubMed Central

Rosa, Carmen; Campbell, Aimee; Kleppinger, Cynthia; Sampson, Royce; Tyson, Clare; Mamay-Gentilin, Stephanie

2009-01-01

Background: Quality assurance (QA) of clinical trials is essential to protect the welfare of trial participants and the integrity of the data collected. However, there is little detailed information available on specific procedures and outcomes of QA monitoring for clinical trials. Purpose: This article describes the experience of the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) in devising and implementing a three-tiered QA model for rigorous multi-site randomized clinical trials implemented in community-based substance abuse treatment programs. The CTN QA model combined local and national resources and was developed to address the unique needs of clinical trial sites with limited research experience. Methods: The authors reviewed internal records maintained by the sponsor, a coordinating site (Lead Nodes), and a local site detailing procedural development, training sessions, protocol violation monitoring, and site visit reporting. Results: Between January 2001 and September 2005, the CTN implemented 21 protocols, of which 18 were randomized clinical trials, one was a quality improvement study and two were surveys. Approximately 160 community-based treatment programs participated in the 19 studies that were monitored, with a total of 6560 participants randomized across the sites. During this time 1937 QA site visits were reported across the three tiers of monitoring and the cost depended on the location of the sites and the salaries of the staff involved. One study reported 109 protocol violations (M = 15.6). Examples are presented to highlight training, protocol violation monitoring, site visit frequency and intensity and cost considerations. Limitations: QA data from the entire network were not easily available for review as much of the data were not electronically accessible. The authors reviewed and discussed a representative sample of internal data from the studies and participating sites. Conclusions: The lessons learned from the CTN's experience include the need for balancing thoroughness with efficiency, monitoring early, assessing research staff abilities in order to judge the need for proactive, focused attention, providing targeted training sessions, and developing flexible tools. The CTN model can work for sponsors overseeing studies at sites with limited research experience that require more frequent, in-depth monitoring. We recommend that sponsors not develop a rigid monitoring approach, but work with the study principal investigators to determine the intensity of monitoring needed depending on trial complexity, the risks of the intervention(s), and the experience of the staff with clinical research. After careful evaluation, sponsors should then determine the best approach to site monitoring and what resources will be needed. PMID:19342468

Mass media influence spreading in social networks with community structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Candia, Julián; Mazzitello, Karina I.

2008-07-01

We study an extension of Axelrod's model for social influence, in which cultural drift is represented as random perturbations, while mass media are introduced by means of an external field. In this scenario, we investigate how the modular structure of social networks affects the propagation of mass media messages across a society. The community structure of social networks is represented by coupled random networks, in which two random graphs are connected by intercommunity links. Considering inhomogeneous mass media fields, we study the conditions for successful message spreading and find a novel phase diagram in the multidimensional parameter space. These findings show that social modularity effects are of paramount importance for designing successful, cost-effective advertising campaigns.

Prevalence and correlates of physical fitness testing in U.S. schools--2000.

PubMed

Morrow, James R; Fulton, Janet E; Brener, Nancy D; Kohl, Harold W

2008-06-01

Because of the perceived lack of youth physical fitness and/or concerns for increased obesity, physical education teachers are interested in youth fitness and physical activity levels. Statewide mandates are being developed that require school-based teachers to complete physical fitness testing. Data from the nationally representative School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000 were analyzed to investigate the prevalence of fitness testing and the professional characteristics of fitness test users. Data were collected with teachers of either randomly selected classes in elementary schools and randomly selected required physical education courses in middle/junior high and senior high schools (N = 1,564). The prevalence of fitness test use is 65% across all school levels. Variables associated with physical fitness test usage were professionally oriented. Results showed that teachers in secondary schools (odds ratio [OR] = 2.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] = I.18-4.27), those with degrees in physical education/kinesiology-related disciplines (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.11-3.63), and those who had completed staff development on physical fitness testing (OR = 3.22, 95% CI = 1.86-5.60) were more likely than respondents without these characteristics to engage in physical fitness testing. Results changed little when separate analyses were conducted for classes/courses in districts requiring versus not requiring fitness testing. Financial variables, including fitness-oriented facilities available, metropolitan location, and discretionary expenditures per student, were not associated with fitness test use. Results provided national prevalence of school-based physical fitness testing use in the U. S. and conveyed information about those who currently use physical fitness tests.

Design innovations and baseline findings in a long-term Parkinson's trial: the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease Long-Term Study-1.

PubMed

Elm, Jordan J

2012-10-01

Based on the preclinical data and the results of a phase II futility study, creatine was selected for an efficacy trial in Parkinson's disease (PD). We present the design rationale and a description of the study cohort at baseline. A randomized, multicenter, double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled phase III study of creatine (10 g daily) in participants with early, treated PD, the Long-term Study-1 (LS-1), is being conducted by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease network. The study utilizes a global statistical test (GST) encompassing five clinical rating scales to provide a multidimensional assessment of disease progression. A total of 1,741 PD participants from 45 sites in the United States and Canada were randomized 1:1 to either 10 g of creatine/day or matching placebo. Participants are being evaluated for a minimum of 5 years. The LS-1 baseline cohort includes participants treated with dopaminergic therapy and generally mild PD. LS-1 represents the largest cohort of patients with early treated PD ever enrolled in a clinical trial. The GST approach should provide high power to test the hypothesis that daily administration of creatine (10 g/day) is more effective than placebo in slowing clinical decline in PD between baseline and the 5-year follow-up visit against the background of dopaminergic therapy and best PD care. Copyright © 2012 Movement Disorder Society.

Clinical vs. structured interview on anxiety and affective disorders by primary care physicians. understanding diagnostic discordance.

PubMed

Balestrieri, Matteo; Baldacci, Sandra; Bellomo, Antonello; Bellantuono, Cesario; Conti, Luciano; Perugi, Giulio; Nardini, Marcello; Borbotti, Marco; Viegi, Giovanni

2007-01-01

To assess in a national sample the ability of GPs to detect psychiatric disorders using a clinical vs. a standardized interview and to characterize the patients that were falsely diagnosed with an anxiety or affective disorder. This is a national, cross-sectional, epidemiological survey, carried out by GPs on a random sample of their patients. The GPs were randomly divided into two groups. Apart from the routine clinical interview, the experimental group (group A) had to administer the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Data was collected by 143 GPs. 17.2% of all patients had a clinical diagnosis of an affective disorder, and 25.4% a clinical diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. In group A, the number of clinical diagnoses was about twice that of MINI diagnoses for affective disorders and one and a half times that for anxiety disorders. The majority of clinical diagnoses were represented by MINI subsyndromal cases (52.3%). Females showed a higher OR of being over-detected by GPs with anxiety disorders or of not being diagnosed with an affective disorder. Being divorced/separated/widowed increased the OR of over-detection of affective and anxiety disorders. The OR of over-detection of an affective or an anxiety disorder was higher for individuals with a moderate to poor quality of life. In the primary care a gap exists between clinical and standardized interviews in the detection of affective and anxiety disorders. Some experiential and social factors can increase this tendency. The use of a psycho.

Sociodemographic Differences in Depressed Mood: Results from a Nationally Representative Sample of High School Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paxton, Raheem J.; Valois, Robert F.; Watkins, Ken W.; Huebner, E. Scott; Drane, J. Wanzer

2007-01-01

Background: Research on adolescent mental health suggests that prevalence rates for depressed mood are not uniformly distributed across all populations. This study examined demographic difference in depressed mood among a nationally representative sample of high school adolescents. Methods: The 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey was utilized…

The State of Our Nation's Youth, 1999-2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., Alexandria, VA.

This report details findings of a national questionnaire survey of the attitudes and plans of American adolescents. Participating were 1,327 students between 14 and 18 years of age in a nationally representative sample. To permit regional comparisons, the questionnaires were mailed to representative households within each of the nine United States…

Translating the link between social identity and health behavior into effective health communication strategies: An experimental application using antismoking advertisements.

PubMed

Moran, Meghan Bridgid; Sussman, Steve

2014-01-01

Social identity is a construct that has been linked to health behavior. Yet, limited research has attempted to translate this relationship into health communication strategies. The current study addresses this gap by examining the efficacy of social identity targeting (constructing ads so that they target a specific group with which an individual identifies) to increase anti-cigarette smoking beliefs among adolescents. Two hundred and fifty one adolescents aged 12-15, randomly selected from a nationally representative sample, completed an online survey. Participants indicated which of 11 peer groups (determined in pre-testing) they most identified with. Each participant was then randomly assigned to view an ad that either did or did not target that group. One week later participants reported level of agreement with two key antismoking beliefs presented in the ad. Multiple regression analyses indicated that if an individual identified with the group targeted by the ad, antismoking beliefs were more strongly endorsed. Based on these findings, we conclude that social identity targeting has the potential to increase the effectiveness of antismoking messages and should be considered when designing antismoking campaigns.

Extrapolating Survival from Randomized Trials Using External Data: A Review of Methods

PubMed Central

Jackson, Christopher; Stevens, John; Ren, Shijie; Latimer, Nick; Bojke, Laura; Manca, Andrea; Sharples, Linda

2016-01-01

This article describes methods used to estimate parameters governing long-term survival, or times to other events, for health economic models. Specifically, the focus is on methods that combine shorter-term individual-level survival data from randomized trials with longer-term external data, thus using the longer-term data to aid extrapolation of the short-term data. This requires assumptions about how trends in survival for each treatment arm will continue after the follow-up period of the trial. Furthermore, using external data requires assumptions about how survival differs between the populations represented by the trial and external data. Study reports from a national health technology assessment program in the United Kingdom were searched, and the findings were combined with “pearl-growing” searches of the academic literature. We categorized the methods that have been used according to the assumptions they made about how the hazards of death vary between the external and internal data and through time, and we discuss the appropriateness of the assumptions in different circumstances. Modeling choices, parameter estimation, and characterization of uncertainty are discussed, and some suggestions for future research priorities in this area are given. PMID:27005519

Moderating effect of intrinsic religiosity on the relationship between depression and cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults.

PubMed

Foong, Hui Foh; Hamid, Tengku Aizan; Ibrahim, Rahimah; Haron, Sharifah Azizah

2018-04-01

Research has found that depression in later life is associated with cognitive impairment. Thus, the mechanism to reduce the effect of depression on cognitive function is warranted. In this paper, we intend to examine whether intrinsic religiosity mediates the association between depression and cognitive function. The study included 2322 nationally representative community-dwelling elderly in Malaysia, randomly selected through a multi-stage proportional cluster random sampling from Peninsular Malaysia. The elderly were surveyed on socio-demographic information, cognitive function, depression and intrinsic religiosity. A four-step moderated hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test the moderating effect. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (version 15.0). Bivariate analyses showed that both depression and intrinsic religiosity had significant relationships with cognitive function. In addition, four-step moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the intrinsic religiosity moderated the association between depression and cognitive function, after controlling for selected socio-demographic characteristics. Intrinsic religiosity might reduce the negative effect of depression on cognitive function. Professionals who are working with depressed older adults should seek ways to improve their intrinsic religiosity as one of the strategies to prevent cognitive impairment.

The social environment of schools and adolescent nutrition: associations between the school nutrition climate and adolescents' eating behaviors and body mass index.

PubMed

Cvjetan, Branko; Utter, Jennifer; Robinson, Elizabeth; Denny, Simon

2014-10-01

The aim of this study was to determine the association between the school nutrition climate and students' eating behaviors and body mass index (BMI). Data were collected as part of Youth'07, a nationally representative health survey of high school students in New Zealand. Overall, 9107 randomly selected students from 96 randomly selected schools participated. School-level measures were created by aggregating students' reports within schools. Analyses were conducted using multilevel modeling, accounting for student-level characteristics. There was a positive association between the school nutrition climate and students' consumption of fruits and vegetables. This relationship was statistically significant after controlling for the background characteristics of students. There were no associations between the school nutrition climate and students' junk food consumption or BMI. The school nutrition climate appears to have a positive influence on adolescents' healthy eating behaviors (fruit and vegetable intake), but a limited effect on unhealthy eating behaviors and ultimately body weight. This may reflect the pervasiveness of junk food in the environments of adolescents outside of school and the difficulty in limiting its consumption. © 2014, American School Health Association.

Strategies for Success: Achieving the National Urban Education Goals. Proceedings from Meetings with Representatives from 70 National Education, Business and Philanthropic Organizations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Council of the Great City Schools, Washington, DC.

This document outlines 44 strategies for meeting the educational needs of urban areas by the year 2000. The strategies are based on six goals for urban education adapted from the national education goals issued by President George Bush and the National Governors' Association. The strategies were proposed by representatives from more than 70…

Assessing the Nation's Coastal Waters....Better

EPA Science Inventory

The USEPA has been assessing estuarine and coastal condition in the United States since 1999 via the National Coastal Assessment (NCA) and National Aquatic Resources Surveys (NARS) programs. Approximately 1500 randomly selected coastal sites were surveyed annually during summers ...

Inventory of montane-nesting birds in the Arctic Network of National Parks, Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Tibbitts, T.L.; Ruthrauff, D.R.; Gill, Robert E.; Handel, Colleen M.

2006-01-01

The Alaska Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey conducted an inventory of birds in montane areas of the four northern parks in the Arctic Network of National Parks, Alaska. This effort represents the first comprehensive assessment of breeding range and habitat associations for the majority of avian species in the Arctic Network. Ultimately, these data provide a framework upon which to design future monitoring programs.A stratified random sampling design was used to select sample plots (n = 73 plots) that were allocated in proportion to the availability of ecological subsections. Point counts (n = 1,652) were conducted to quantify abundance, distribution, and habitat associations of birds. Field work occurred over three years (2001 to 2003) during two-week-long sessions in late May through early June that coincided with peak courtship activity of breeding birds.Totals of 53 species were recorded in Cape Krusenstern National Monument, 91 in Noatak National Preserve, 57 in Kobuk Valley National Park, and 96 in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Substantial proportions of species in individual parks are considered species of conservation concern (18 to 26%) or species of stewardship responsibility of the land managers in the region (8 to 18%). The most commonly detected passerines on point counts included Redpoll spp. (Carduelis flammea and C. hornemanni), Savannah Sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis), and American Tree Sparrow (Spizella arborea). The most numerous shorebirds were American Golden-Plover (Pluvialis dominica), Wilson’s Snipe (Gallinago delicata), and Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus). Most species were detected at low rates, reflecting the low breeding densities (and/or low detectabilities) of birds in the montane Arctic. Suites of species were associated with particular ranges of elevation and showed strong associations with particular habitat types.

19 CFR 148.88 - Certain representatives to and officers of the United Nations and the Organization of American...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... members of their families; (2) Such resident members of their staffs as may be agreed upon between the... United Nations member concerned and members of their families; (3) Every person designated by a United... and members of their families; (4) Such other principal resident representatives of United Nations...

19 CFR 148.88 - Certain representatives to and officers of the United Nations and the Organization of American...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... members of their families; (2) Such resident members of their staffs as may be agreed upon between the... United Nations member concerned and members of their families; (3) Every person designated by a United... and members of their families; (4) Such other principal resident representatives of United Nations...

Worry as a Predictor of Nutrition Behaviors: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrer, Rebecca A.; Bergman, Hannah E.; Klein, William M. P.

2013-01-01

Worry has been shown to predict a variety of health behaviors, such as cancer screening, yet there are few studies linking worry and nutrition. This study used nationally representative data from National Cancer Institute's Food Attitudes and Behavior Survey ("n" = 3,397) to examine the association between health-related worry and a variety of…

European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network Representatives' Conceptions of the Role of Information and Communication Technologies Related to National Guidance Policies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kettunen, Jaana; Vuorinen, Raimo; Ruusuvirta, Outi

2016-01-01

This article reports findings from a phenomenographic investigation into European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network representatives' conceptions of the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) related to national lifelong guidance policies. The role of ICT in relation to national lifelong guidance policies was conceived as (1)…

Public understanding of One Health messages: The role of temporal framing.

PubMed

Roh, Sungjong; Rickard, Laura N; McComas, Katherine A; Decker, Daniel J

2018-02-01

Building on research in motivated reasoning and framing in science communication, we examine how messages that vary attribution of responsibility (human vs animal) and temporal orientation (now vs in the next 10 years) for wildlife disease risk influence individuals' conservation intentions. We conducted a randomized experiment with a nationally representative sample of US adults ( N = 355), which revealed that for people low in biospheric concern, messages that highlighted both human responsibility for and the imminent nature of the risk failed to enhance conservation intentions compared with messages highlighting animal responsibility. However, when messages highlighting human responsibility placed the risk in a temporally distal frame, conservation intentions increased among people low in biospheric concern. We assess the underlying mechanism of this effect and discuss the value of temporal framing in overcoming motivated skepticism to improve science communication.

A new fundamental model of moving particle for reinterpreting Schroedinger equation

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

Umar, Muhamad Darwis

2012-06-20

The study of Schroedinger equation based on a hypothesis that every particle must move randomly in a quantum-sized volume has been done. In addition to random motion, every particle can do relative motion through the movement of its quantum-sized volume. On the other way these motions can coincide. In this proposed model, the random motion is one kind of intrinsic properties of the particle. The every change of both speed of randomly intrinsic motion and or the velocity of translational motion of a quantum-sized volume will represent a transition between two states, and the change of speed of randomly intrinsicmore » motion will generate diffusion process or Brownian motion perspectives. Diffusion process can take place in backward and forward processes and will represent a dissipative system. To derive Schroedinger equation from our hypothesis we use time operator introduced by Nelson. From a fundamental analysis, we find out that, naturally, we should view the means of Newton's Law F(vector sign) = ma(vector sign) as no an external force, but it is just to describe both the presence of intrinsic random motion and the change of the particle energy.« less

Attitudes towards smoking restrictions and tobacco advertisement bans in Georgia.

PubMed

Bakhturidze, George D; Mittelmark, Maurice B; Aarø, Leif E; Peikrishvili, Nana T

2013-11-25

This study aims to provide data on a public level of support for restricting smoking in public places and banning tobacco advertisements. A nationally representative multistage sampling design, with sampling strata defined by region (sampling quotas proportional to size) and substrata defined by urban/rural and mountainous/lowland settlement, within which census enumeration districts were randomly sampled, within which households were randomly sampled, within which a randomly selected respondent was interviewed. The country of Georgia, population 4.7 million, located in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. One household member aged between 13 and 70 was selected as interviewee. In households with more than one age-eligible person, selection was carried out at random. Of 1588 persons selected, 14 refused to participate and interviews were conducted with 915 women and 659 men. Respondents were interviewed about their level of agreement with eight possible smoking restrictions/bans, used to calculate a single dichotomous (agree/do not agree) opinion indicator. The level of agreement with restrictions was analysed in bivariate and multivariate analyses by age, gender, education, income and tobacco use status. Overall, 84.9% of respondents indicated support for smoking restrictions and tobacco advertisement bans. In all demographic segments, including tobacco users, the majority of respondents indicated agreement with restrictions, ranging from a low of 51% in the 13-25 age group to a high of 98% in the 56-70 age group. Logistic regression with all demographic variables entered showed that agreement with restrictions was higher with age, and was significantly higher among never smokers as compared to daily smokers. Georgian public opinion is normatively supportive of more stringent tobacco-control measures in the form of smoking restrictions and tobacco advertisement bans.

Baseline characteristics of patients with diabetes and coronary artery disease enrolled in the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial.

PubMed

2008-09-01

The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial was undertaken to determine whether early revascularization intervention is superior to deferred intervention in the presence of aggressive medical therapy and whether antidiabetes regimens targeting insulin sensitivity are more or less effective than regimens targeting insulin provision in reducing cardiovascular events among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and stable coronary artery disease (CAD). The BARI 2D trial is a National Institutes of Health-sponsored randomized clinical trial with a 2 x 2 factorial design. Between 2001 and 2005, 49 clinical sites in North America, South America, and Europe randomized 2,368 patients. At baseline, the trial collected data on clinical history, symptoms, and medications along with centralized evaluations of angiograms, electrocardiograms, and blood and urine specimens. Most of the BARI 2D patients were referred from the cardiac catheterization laboratory (54%) or cardiology clinic (27%). Of the randomized participants, 30% were women, 34% were minorities, 61% had angina, and 67% had multiregion CAD. Moreover, 29% had been treated with insulin, 58% had hemoglobin A(1c) >7.0%, 41% had low-density lipoprotein cholesterol >or=100 mg/dL, 52% had blood pressure >130/80 mm Hg, and 56% had body mass index >or=30 kg/m(2). Baseline characteristics in BARI 2D are well balanced between the randomized treatment groups, and the clinical profile of the study cohort is representative of the target population. As a result, the BARI 2D clinical trial is in an excellent position to evaluate alternative treatment approaches for diabetes and CAD.

Omitted data in randomized controlled trials for anxiety and depression: A systematic review of the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity.

PubMed

Heck, Nicholas C; Mirabito, Lucas A; LeMaire, Kelly; Livingston, Nicholas A; Flentje, Annesa

2017-01-01

The current study examined the frequency with which randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of behavioral and psychological interventions for anxiety and depression include data pertaining to participant sexual orientation and nonbinary gender identities. Using systematic review methodology, the databases PubMed and PsycINFO were searched to identify RCTs published in 2004, 2009, and 2014. Random selections of 400 articles per database per year (2,400 articles in total) were considered for inclusion in the review. Articles meeting inclusion criteria were read and coded by the research team to identify whether the trial reported data pertaining to participant sexual orientation and nonbinary gender identities. Additional trial characteristics were also identified and indexed in our database (e.g., sample size, funding source). Of the 232 articles meeting inclusion criteria, only 1 reported participants' sexual orientation, and zero articles included nonbinary gender identities. A total of 52,769 participants were represented in the trials, 93 of which were conducted in the United States, and 43 acknowledged the National Institutes of Health as a source of funding. Despite known mental health disparities on the basis of sexual orientation and nonbinary gender identification, researchers evaluating interventions for anxiety and depression are not reporting on these important demographic characteristics. Reporting practices must change to ensure that our interventions generalize to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

The Overlap of Witnessing Partner Violence with Child Maltreatment and Other Victimizations in a Nationally Representative Survey of Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamby, Sherry; Finkelhor, David; Turner, Heather; Ormrod, Richard

2010-01-01

Objective: To examine the co-occurrence of witnessing partner violence with child maltreatment and other forms of victimization. Method: Data are from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), a nationally representative telephone survey of the victimization experiences of 4,549 youth aged 0-17. Results: Witnessing partner…

The Relationship between Child Abuse, Parental Divorce, and Lifetime Mental Disorders and Suicidality in a Nationally Representative Adult Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afifi, Tracie O.; Boman, Jonathan; Fleisher, William; Sareen, Jitender

2009-01-01

Objectives: To determine how the experiences of child abuse and parental divorce are related to long-term mental health outcomes using a nationally representative adult sample after adjusting for sociodemographic variables and parental psychopathology. Methods: Data were drawn from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS, n=5,877; age 15-54 years;…

Queuing Theory and Reference Transactions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terbille, Charles

1995-01-01

Examines the implications of applying the queuing theory to three different reference situations: (1) random patron arrivals; (2) random durations of transactions; and (3) use of two librarians. Tables and figures represent results from spreadsheet calculations of queues for each reference situation. (JMV)

"Congratulations, you have been randomized into the control group!(?)": issues to consider when recruiting schools for matched-pair randomized control trials of prevention programs.

PubMed

Ji, Peter; DuBois, David L; Flay, Brian R; Brechling, Vanessa

2008-03-01

Recruiting schools into a matched-pair randomized control trial (MP-RCT) to evaluate the efficacy of a school-level prevention program presents challenges for researchers. We considered which of 2 procedures would be most effective for recruiting schools into the study and assigning them to conditions. In 1 procedure (recruit and match/randomize), we would recruit schools and match them prior to randomization, and in the other (match/randomize and recruitment), we would match schools and randomize them prior to recruitment. We considered how each procedure impacted the randomization process and our ability to recruit schools into the study. After implementing the selected procedure, the equivalence of both treatment and control group schools and the participating and nonparticipating schools on school demographic variables was evaluated. We decided on the recruit and match/randomize procedure because we thought it would provide the opportunity to build rapport with the schools and prepare them for the randomization process, thereby increasing the likelihood that they would accept their randomly assigned conditions. Neither the treatment and control group schools nor the participating and nonparticipating schools exhibited statistically significant differences from each other on any of the school demographic variables. Recruitment of schools prior to matching and randomization in an MP-RCT may facilitate the recruitment of schools and thus enhance both the statistical power and the representativeness of study findings. Future research would benefit from the consideration of a broader range of variables (eg, readiness to implement a comprehensive prevention program) both in matching schools and in evaluating their representativeness to nonparticipating schools.

A Practical Methodology for Quantifying Random and Systematic Components of Unexplained Variance in a Wind Tunnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deloach, Richard; Obara, Clifford J.; Goodman, Wesley L.

2012-01-01

This paper documents a check standard wind tunnel test conducted in the Langley 0.3-Meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel (0.3M TCT) that was designed and analyzed using the Modern Design of Experiments (MDOE). The test designed to partition the unexplained variance of typical wind tunnel data samples into two constituent components, one attributable to ordinary random error, and one attributable to systematic error induced by covariate effects. Covariate effects in wind tunnel testing are discussed, with examples. The impact of systematic (non-random) unexplained variance on the statistical independence of sequential measurements is reviewed. The corresponding correlation among experimental errors is discussed, as is the impact of such correlation on experimental results generally. The specific experiment documented herein was organized as a formal test for the presence of unexplained variance in representative samples of wind tunnel data, in order to quantify the frequency with which such systematic error was detected, and its magnitude relative to ordinary random error. Levels of systematic and random error reported here are representative of those quantified in other facilities, as cited in the references.

Reweighting of the primary sampling units in the National Automotive Sampling System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-09-01

The original design of hte National Automotive Sampling System - formerly the National Accident Sampling System - called for 75 PSUs randomly selected from PSUs which were grouped into various strata across the U.S. The implementation of the PSU samp...

Prevalence of pretreatment HIV drug resistance in Cameroon following a nationally representative WHO survey.

PubMed

Tchouwa, Gaëlle F; Eymard-Duvernay, Sabrina; Cournil, Amandine; Lamare, Nadine; Serrano, Laetitia; Butel, Christelle; Bertagnolio, Silvia; Mpoudi-Ngole, Eitel; Raizes, Elliot; Aghokeng, Avelin F

2018-06-19

Pretreatment HIV drug resistance (PDR) has the potential to affect treatment outcome and mortality. We present here the first nationally representative PDR study conducted in Cameroon. From February to July 2015, HIV-infected ART initiators were recruited from 24 randomly selected clinics situated in both urban and rural regions. Dried blood spot specimens were collected from study participants at these clinics and centralized in a reference laboratory in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for drug resistance testing. HIV drug resistance mutations were identified using the Stanford algorithm. Overall, from the 379 participants recruited, 321 pol sequences were successfully interpreted. Two hundred and five sequences were from patients attending urban ART clinics and 116 from patients seen at rural facilities. Nine percent of sequences (29/321) were from participants reporting previous exposure to antiretrovirals. PDR prevalence among all initiators was 10.4% (95% CI 5.4%-19.1%), with 14.2% (95% CI 6.6%-27.9%) reported in urban areas and 4.3% (95% CI 1.2%-14.3%) in rural areas. Among participants with no prior exposure to antiretrovirals, PDR prevalence was 10.4% (95% CI 4.7%-21.5%) overall, with 13.5% (95% CI 5.1%-31.5%) and 5.3% (95% CI 1.4%-17.5%) reported in urban and rural areas, respectively. Our findings indicate that at least 10% of patients initiating ART in Cameroon carry viruses with PDR and may be at risk of premature ART failure. The high level of NNRTI-associated resistance is of particular concern and supports introduction of drugs with a higher genetic barrier to resistance.

Extended-hours hemodialysis is associated with lower mortality risk in patients with end-stage renal disease

PubMed Central

Rivara, Matthew B.; Adams, Scott V.; Kuttykrishnan, Sooraj; Kalantar-Zadeh, Kamyar; Arah, Onyebuchi A.; Cheung, Alfred K.; Katz, Ronit; Molnar, Miklos Z.; Ravel, Vanessa; Soohoo, Melissa; Streja, Elani; Himmelfarb, Jonathan; Mehrotra, Rajnish

2016-01-01

Extended-hours hemodialysis offers substantially longer treatment time compared to conventional hemodialysis schedules and is associated with improved fluid and electrolyte control and favorable cardiac remodeling. However, whether extended-hours hemodialysis improves survival remains unclear. Therefore, we determined the association between extended-hours compared to conventional hemodialysis and the risk of all-cause mortality in a nationally representative cohort of patients initiating maintenance dialysis in the United States from 2007 to 2011. Survival analyses using causal inference modeling with marginal structural models were performed to compare mortality risk among 1,206 individuals undergoing thrice weekly extended-hours hemodialysis or 111,707 patients receiving conventional hemodialysis treatments. The average treatment time per session for extended-hours hemodialysis was 399 minutes compared to 211 minutes for conventional therapy. The crude mortality rate with extended-hours hemodialysis was 6.4 deaths per 100 patient-years compared with 14.7 deaths per 100 patient-years for conventional hemodialysis. In the primary analysis, patients treated with extended-hours hemodialysis had a 33% lower adjusted risk of death compared to those who were treated with a conventional regimen (95% confidence interval: 7% to 51%). Additional analyses accounting for analytical assumptions regarding exposure and outcome, facility-level confounders, and prior modality history were similar. Thus, in this large nationally representative cohort, treatment with extended-hours hemodialysis was associated with a lower risk for mortality compared to treatment with conventional in-center therapy. Adequately powered randomized clinical trials comparing extended-hours to conventional hemodialysis are required to confirm these findings. PMID:27555118

Inadequate Progress for Women in Academic Medicine: Findings from the National Faculty Study

PubMed Central

Gunn, Christine M.; Kaplan, Samantha A.; Raj, Anita; Freund, Karen M.

2015-01-01

Abstract Background: Women have entered academic medicine in significant numbers for 4 decades and now comprise 20% of full-time faculty. Despite this, women have not reached senior positions in parity with men. We sought to explore the gender climate in academic medicine as perceived by representatives to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) and Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI). Methods: We conducted a qualitative analysis of semistructured telephone interviews with GWIMS and GDI representatives and other senior leaders at 24 randomly selected medical schools of the 1995 National Faculty Study. All were in the continental United States, balanced for public/private status and AAMC geographic region. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and organized into content areas before an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Themes that were expressed by multiple informants were studied for patterns of association. Results: Five themes were identified: (1) a perceived wide spectrum in gender climate; (2) lack of parity in rank and leadership by gender; (3) lack of retention of women in academic medicine (the “leaky pipeline”); (4) lack of gender equity in compensation; and (5) a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities and work-life balance on women's career progression. Conclusions: Key informants described improvements in the climate of academic medicine for women as modest. Medical schools were noted to vary by department in the gender experience of women, often with no institutional oversight. Our findings speak to the need for systematic review by medical schools and by accrediting organizations to achieve gender equity in academic medicine. PMID:25658907

[Analysis of the patient safety culture in hospitals of the Spanish National Health System].

PubMed

Saturno, P J; Da Silva Gama, Z A; de Oliveira-Sousa, S L; Fonseca, Y A; de Souza-Oliveira, A C; Castillo, Carmen; López, M José; Ramón, Teresa; Carrillo, Andrés; Iranzo, M Dolores; Soria, Victor; Saturno, Pedro J; Parra, Pedro; Gomis, Rafael; Gascón, Juan José; Martinez, José; Arellano, Carmen; Gama, Zenewton A Da Silva; de Oliveira-Sousa, Silvana L; de Souza-Oliveira, Adriana C; Fonseca, Yadira A; Ferreira, Marta Sobral

2008-12-01

A safety culture is essential to minimize errors and adverse events. Its measurement is needed to design activities in order to improve it. This paper describes the methods and main results of a study on safety climate in a nation-wide representative sample of public hospitals of the Spanish NHS. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of health professionals in a representative sample of 24 hospitals, proportionally stratified by hospital size. Results are analyzed to provide a description of safety climate, its strengths and weaknesses. Differences by hospital size, type of health professional and service are analyzed using ANOVA. A total of 2503 responses are analyzed (response rate: 40%, (93% from professionals with direct patient contact). A total of 50% gave patient safety a score from 6 to 8 (on a 10-point scale); 95% reported < 2 events last year. Dimensions "Teamwork within hospital units" (71.8 [1.8]) and "Supervisor/Manager expectations and actions promoting safety" (61.8 [1.7]) have the highest percentage of positive answers. "Staffing", "Teamwork across hospital units", "Overall perceptions of safety" and "Hospital management support for patient safety" could be identified as weaknesses. Significant differences by hospital size, type of professional and service suggest a generally more positive attitude in small hospitals and Pharmacy services, and a more negative one in physicians. Strengths and weaknesses of the safety climate in the hospitals of the Spanish NHS have been identified and they are used to design appropriate strategies for improvement.

Inadequate progress for women in academic medicine: findings from the National Faculty Study.

PubMed

Carr, Phyllis L; Gunn, Christine M; Kaplan, Samantha A; Raj, Anita; Freund, Karen M

2015-03-01

Women have entered academic medicine in significant numbers for 4 decades and now comprise 20% of full-time faculty. Despite this, women have not reached senior positions in parity with men. We sought to explore the gender climate in academic medicine as perceived by representatives to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) and Group on Diversity and Inclusion (GDI). We conducted a qualitative analysis of semistructured telephone interviews with GWIMS and GDI representatives and other senior leaders at 24 randomly selected medical schools of the 1995 National Faculty Study. All were in the continental United States, balanced for public/private status and AAMC geographic region. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and organized into content areas before an inductive thematic analysis was conducted. Themes that were expressed by multiple informants were studied for patterns of association. Five themes were identified: (1) a perceived wide spectrum in gender climate; (2) lack of parity in rank and leadership by gender; (3) lack of retention of women in academic medicine (the "leaky pipeline"); (4) lack of gender equity in compensation; and (5) a disproportionate burden of family responsibilities and work-life balance on women's career progression. Key informants described improvements in the climate of academic medicine for women as modest. Medical schools were noted to vary by department in the gender experience of women, often with no institutional oversight. Our findings speak to the need for systematic review by medical schools and by accrediting organizations to achieve gender equity in academic medicine.

Public attitudes toward larger cigarette pack warnings: Results from a nationally representative U.S. sample

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

A large body of evidence supports the effectiveness of larger health warnings on cigarette packages. However, there is limited research examining attitudes toward such warning labels, which has potential implications for implementation of larger warning labels. The purpose of the current study was to examine attitudes toward larger warning sizes on cigarette packages and examine variables associated with more favorable attitudes. In a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults (N = 5,014), participants were randomized to different warning size conditions, assessing attitude toward “a health warning that covered (25, 50, 75) % of a cigarette pack.” SAS logistic regression survey procedures were used to account for the complex survey design and sampling weights. Across experimental groups, nearly three-quarters (72%) of adults had attitudes supportive of larger warning labels on cigarette packs. Among the full sample and smokers only (N = 1,511), most adults had favorable attitudes toward labels that covered 25% (78.2% and 75.2%, respectively), 50% (70% and 58.4%, respectively), and 75% (67.9% and 61%, respectively) of a cigarette pack. Young adults, females, racial/ethnic minorities, and non-smokers were more likely to have favorable attitudes toward larger warning sizes. Among smokers only, females and those with higher quit intentions held more favorable attitudes toward larger warning sizes. Widespread support exists for larger warning labels on cigarette packages among U.S. adults, including among smokers. Our findings support the implementation of larger health warnings on cigarette packs in the U.S. as required by the 2009 Tobacco Control Act. PMID:28253257

Representation of Reserves Through a Brownian Motion Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andrade, M.; Ferreira, M. A. M.; Filipe, J. A.

2012-11-01

The Brownian Motion is commonly used as an approximation for some Random Walks and also for the Classic Risk Process. As the Random Walks and the Classic Risk Process are used frequently as stochastic models to represent reserves, it is natural to consider the Brownian Motion with the same purpose. In this study a model, based on the Brownian Motion, is presented to represent reserves. The Brownian Motion is used in this study to estimate the ruin probability of a fund. This kind of models is considered often in the study of pensions funds.

Text Messaging as a Tool for Behavior Change in Disease Prevention and Management

PubMed Central

Cole-Lewis, Heather; Kershaw, Trace

2011-01-01

Mobile phone text messaging is a potentially powerful tool for behavior change because it is widely available, inexpensive, and instant. This systematic review provides an overview of behavior change interventions for disease management and prevention delivered through text messaging. Evidence on behavior change and clinical outcomes was compiled from randomized or quasi-experimental controlled trials of text message interventions published in peer-reviewed journals by June 2009. Only those interventions using text message as the primary mode of communication were included. Study quality was assessed by using a standardized measure. Seventeen articles representing 12 studies (5 disease prevention and 7 disease management) were included. Intervention length ranged from 3 months to 12 months, none had long-term follow-up, and message frequency varied. Of 9 sufficiently powered studies, 8 found evidence to support text messaging as a tool for behavior change. Effects exist across age, minority status, and nationality. Nine countries are represented in this review, but it is problematic that only one is a developing country, given potential benefits of such a widely accessible, relatively inexpensive tool for health behavior change. Methodological issues and gaps in the literature are highlighted, and recommendations for future studies are provided. PMID:20354039

Text messaging as a tool for behavior change in disease prevention and management.

PubMed

Cole-Lewis, Heather; Kershaw, Trace

2010-01-01

Mobile phone text messaging is a potentially powerful tool for behavior change because it is widely available, inexpensive, and instant. This systematic review provides an overview of behavior change interventions for disease management and prevention delivered through text messaging. Evidence on behavior change and clinical outcomes was compiled from randomized or quasi-experimental controlled trials of text message interventions published in peer-reviewed journals by June 2009. Only those interventions using text message as the primary mode of communication were included. Study quality was assessed by using a standardized measure. Seventeen articles representing 12 studies (5 disease prevention and 7 disease management) were included. Intervention length ranged from 3 months to 12 months, none had long-term follow-up, and message frequency varied. Of 9 sufficiently powered studies, 8 found evidence to support text messaging as a tool for behavior change. Effects exist across age, minority status, and nationality. Nine countries are represented in this review, but it is problematic that only one is a developing country, given potential benefits of such a widely accessible, relatively inexpensive tool for health behavior change. Methodological issues and gaps in the literature are highlighted, and recommendations for future studies are provided.

The Effects of Schema-Broadening Instruction on Second Graders’ Word-Problem Performance and Their Ability to Represent Word Problems with Algebraic Equations: A Randomized Control Study

PubMed Central

Fuchs, Lynn S.; Zumeta, Rebecca O.; Schumacher, Robin Finelli; Powell, Sarah R.; Seethaler, Pamela M.; Hamlett, Carol L.; Fuchs, Douglas

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of schema-broadening instruction (SBI) on second graders’ word-problem-solving skills and their ability to represent the structure of word problems using algebraic equations. Teachers (n = 18) were randomly assigned to conventional word-problem instruction or SBI word-problem instruction, which taught students to represent the structural, defining features of word problems with overarching equations. Intervention lasted 16 weeks. We pretested and posttested 270 students on measures of word-problem skill; analyses that accounted for the nested structure of the data indicated superior word-problem learning for SBI students. Descriptive analyses of students’ word-problem work indicated that SBI helped students represent the structure of word problems with algebraic equations, suggesting that SBI promoted this aspect of students’ emerging algebraic reasoning. PMID:20539822

National Health Expenditures, 1979

PubMed Central

Gibson, Robert M

1980-01-01

Outlays for health care in the nation reached $212.2 billion in calendar year 1979—12.5 percent higher than in 1978, according to preliminary figures compiled by the Health Care Financing Administration. This estimate represented $943 per person in the United States and was equal to 9.0 percent of the Gross National Product. This latest report in the annual series representing national health expenditures provides detailed estimates of health care spending by type of service and method of financing. PMID:10309255

Measurement of Sexual Health in the U.S.: An Inventory of Nationally Representative Surveys and Surveillance Systems

PubMed Central

Ivankovich, Megan B.; Leichliter, Jami S.; Douglas, John M.

2013-01-01

Objectives To identify opportunities within nationally representative surveys and surveillance systems to measure indicators of sexual health, we reviewed and inventoried existing data systems that include variables relevant to sexual health. Methods We searched for U.S. nationally representative surveys and surveillance systems that provided individual-level sexual health data. We assessed the methods of each data system and catalogued them by their measurement of the following domains of sexual health: knowledge, communication, attitudes, service access and utilization, sexual behaviors, relationships, and adverse health outcomes. Results We identified 18 U.S.-focused, nationally representative data systems: six assessing the general population, seven focused on special populations, and five addressing health outcomes. While these data systems provide a rich repository of information from which to assess national measures of sexual health, they present several limitations. Most importantly, apart from data on service utilization, routinely gathered, national data are currently focused primarily on negative aspects of sexual health (e.g., risk behaviors and adverse health outcomes) rather than more positive attributes (e.g., healthy communication and attitudes, and relationship quality). Conclusion Nationally representative data systems provide opportunities to measure a broad array of domains of sexual health. However, current measurement gaps indicate the need to modify existing surveys, where feasible and appropriate, and develop new tools to include additional indicators that address positive domains of sexual health of the U.S. population across the life span. Such data can inform the development of effective policy actions, services, prevention programs, and resource allocation to advance sexual health. PMID:23450886

Contaminants in fish tissue from US lakes and reservoirs: a national probabilistic study.

PubMed

Stahl, Leanne L; Snyder, Blaine D; Olsen, Anthony R; Pitt, Jennifer L

2009-03-01

An unequal probability design was used to develop national estimates for 268 persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals in fish tissue from lakes and reservoirs of the conterminous United States (excluding the Laurentian Great Lakes and Great Salt Lake). Predator (fillet) and bottom-dweller (whole body) composites were collected from 500 lakes selected randomly from the target population of 147,343 lakes in the lower 48 states. Each of these composite types comprised nationally representative samples whose results were extrapolated to the sampled population of an estimated 76,559 lakes for predators and 46,190 lakes for bottom dwellers. Mercury and PCBs were detected in all fish samples. Dioxins and furans were detected in 81% and 99% of predator and bottom-dweller samples, respectively. Cumulative frequency distributions showed that mercury concentrations exceeded the EPA 300 ppb mercury fish tissue criterion at nearly half of the lakes in the sampled population. Total PCB concentrations exceeded a 12 ppb human health risk-based consumption limit at nearly 17% of lakes, and dioxins and furans exceeded a 0.15 ppt (toxic equivalent or TEQ) risk-based threshold at nearly 8% of lakes in the sampled population. In contrast, 43 target chemicals were not detected in any samples. No detections were reported for nine organophosphate pesticides, one PCB congener, 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or 17 other semivolatile organic chemicals.

Random bits, true and unbiased, from atmospheric turbulence

PubMed Central

Marangon, Davide G.; Vallone, Giuseppe; Villoresi, Paolo

2014-01-01

Random numbers represent a fundamental ingredient for secure communications and numerical simulation as well as to games and in general to Information Science. Physical processes with intrinsic unpredictability may be exploited to generate genuine random numbers. The optical propagation in strong atmospheric turbulence is here taken to this purpose, by observing a laser beam after a 143 km free-space path. In addition, we developed an algorithm to extract the randomness of the beam images at the receiver without post-processing. The numbers passed very selective randomness tests for qualification as genuine random numbers. The extracting algorithm can be easily generalized to random images generated by different physical processes. PMID:24976499

A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Web-Based OurRelationship Program: Effects on Relationship and Individual Functioning

PubMed Central

Doss, Brian D.; Cicila, Larisa N.; Georgia, Emily J.; Roddy, McKenzie K.; Nowlan, Kathryn M.; Benson, Lisa A.; Christensen, Andrew

2016-01-01

Objective Within the United States, one-third of married couples are distressed and almost half of first marriages (and more than half of unmarried cohabiting relationships) end in divorce/separation. Additionally, relationship distress has been linked to mental and physical health problems in partners and their children. Although couple therapy is effective in reducing relationship distress, it is utilized by less than one third of divorcing couples. Therefore, more accessible interventions for relationship distress are needed. Method This study tests the efficacy of the OurRelationship (OR) program, an eight-hour online program adapted from an empirically-based, in-person couple therapy. In the program, couples complete online activities and have four, 15-minute calls with project staff. Nationwide, 300 heterosexual couples (N = 600 participants) participated; couples were generally representative of the US in terms of race, ethnicity, and education. Couples were randomly assigned to begin the program immediately or to a two month waitlist control group. Results Compared to the waitlist group, intervention couples reported significant improvements in relationship satisfaction (Cohen’s d=0.69), relationship confidence (d=0.47), and negative relationship quality (d=0.57). Additionally, couples reported significant improvements in multiple domains of individual functioning, especially when individuals began the program with difficulties in that domain: depressive (d=0.71) and anxious symptoms (d=0.94), perceived health (d=0.51), work functioning (d=0.57), and quality of life (d=0.44). Conclusions In a nationally-representative sample of couples, the OR program was effective in significantly improving both relationship and individual functioning, suggesting it can substantially increase the reach of current interventions through its low-cost, web-based format. PMID:26999504

Incentive and Reminder Strategies to Improve Response Rate for Internet-Based Physician Surveys: A Randomized Experiment

PubMed Central

Wittich, Christopher M; Daniels, Wendlyn L; West, Colin P; Harris, Ann M; Beebe, Timothy J

2016-01-01

Background Most research on how to enhance response rates in physician surveys has been done using paper surveys. Uncertainties remain regarding how to enhance response rates in Internet-based surveys. Objective To evaluate the impact of a low-cost nonmonetary incentive and paper mail reminders (formal letter and postcard) on response rates in Internet-based physician surveys. Methods We executed a factorial-design randomized experiment while conducting a nationally representative Internet-based physician survey. We invited 3966 physicians (randomly selected from a commercial database of all licensed US physicians) via email to complete an Internet-based survey. We used 2 randomly assigned email messages: one message offered a book upon survey completion, whereas the other did not mention the book but was otherwise identical. All nonrespondents received several email reminders. Some physicians were further assigned at random to receive 1 reminder via paper mail (either a postcard or a letter) or no paper reminder. The primary outcome of this study was the survey response rate. Results Of the 3966 physicians who were invited, 451 (11.4%) responded to at least one survey question and 336 (8.5%) completed the entire survey. Of those who were offered a book, 345/2973 (11.6%) responded compared with 106/993 (10.7%) who were not offered a book (odds ratio 1.10, 95% CI 0.87-1.38, P=.42). Regarding the paper mail reminder, 168/1572 (10.7%) letter recipients, 148/1561 (9.5%) postcard recipients, and 69/767 (9.0%) email-only recipients responded (P=.35). The response rate for those receiving letters or postcards was similar (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 0.91-1.44, P=.26). Conclusions Offering a modest nonmonetary incentive and sending a paper reminder did not improve survey response rate. Further research on how to enhance response rates in Internet-based physician surveys is needed. PMID:27637296

Incentive and Reminder Strategies to Improve Response Rate for Internet-Based Physician Surveys: A Randomized Experiment.

PubMed

Cook, David A; Wittich, Christopher M; Daniels, Wendlyn L; West, Colin P; Harris, Ann M; Beebe, Timothy J

2016-09-16

Most research on how to enhance response rates in physician surveys has been done using paper surveys. Uncertainties remain regarding how to enhance response rates in Internet-based surveys. To evaluate the impact of a low-cost nonmonetary incentive and paper mail reminders (formal letter and postcard) on response rates in Internet-based physician surveys. We executed a factorial-design randomized experiment while conducting a nationally representative Internet-based physician survey. We invited 3966 physicians (randomly selected from a commercial database of all licensed US physicians) via email to complete an Internet-based survey. We used 2 randomly assigned email messages: one message offered a book upon survey completion, whereas the other did not mention the book but was otherwise identical. All nonrespondents received several email reminders. Some physicians were further assigned at random to receive 1 reminder via paper mail (either a postcard or a letter) or no paper reminder. The primary outcome of this study was the survey response rate. Of the 3966 physicians who were invited, 451 (11.4%) responded to at least one survey question and 336 (8.5%) completed the entire survey. Of those who were offered a book, 345/2973 (11.6%) responded compared with 106/993 (10.7%) who were not offered a book (odds ratio 1.10, 95% CI 0.87-1.38, P=.42). Regarding the paper mail reminder, 168/1572 (10.7%) letter recipients, 148/1561 (9.5%) postcard recipients, and 69/767 (9.0%) email-only recipients responded (P=.35). The response rate for those receiving letters or postcards was similar (odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 0.91-1.44, P=.26). Offering a modest nonmonetary incentive and sending a paper reminder did not improve survey response rate. Further research on how to enhance response rates in Internet-based physician surveys is needed.

U.S. Metric Study Interim Report: Testimony of Nationally Representative Groups.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Bureau of Standards (DOC), Washington, DC.

This is the twelfth in a series of reports from the U. S. Metric Study, conducted by the National Bureau of Standards, focusing on the inputs from nationally representative groups on the costs and problems of the conversion to the metric system. Only 15 of the over 230 groups opposed the change, although many did feel they would be unaffected by…

In the Year 2020. Secretary Speakout '87.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Professional Secretaries International, Kansas City, MO.

In preparation for Secretary Speakout '87, a 50-statement questionnaire was sent to 2,000 randomly selected members of Professional Secretaries International, the National Association of Legal Secretaries, the National Association of Educational Office Personnel, and the National Association of Rehabilitation Secretaries. Respondents were asked to…

Investigating the topological structure of quenched lattice QCD with overlap fermions using a multi-probing approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, You-Hao; Zhang, Jian-Bo; Xiong, Guang-Yi; Chen, Ying; Liu, Chuan; Liu, Yu-Bin; Ma, Jian-Ping

2017-10-01

The topological charge density and topological susceptibility are determined by a multi-probing approximation using overlap fermions in quenched SU(3) gauge theory. Then we investigate the topological structure of the quenched QCD vacuum, and compare it with results from the all-scale topological density. The results are consistent. Random permuted topological charge density is used to check whether these structures represent underlying ordered properties. The pseudoscalar glueball mass is extracted from the two-point correlation function of the topological charge density. We study 3 ensembles of different lattice spacing a with the same lattice volume 163×32. The results are compatible with the results of all-scale topological charge density, and the topological structures revealed by multi-probing are much closer to all-scale topological charge density than those from eigenmode expansion. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (11335001, 11275169, 11075167), It is also supported in part by the DFG and the NSFC (11261130311) through funds provided to the Sino-German CRC 110 "Symmetries and the Emergence of Structure in QCD". This work was also funded in part by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2015CB856700)

Implications of HIV PrEP Trials Results

PubMed Central

Anton, Peter; Fletcher, Courtney V.; DeGruttola, Victor; McGowan, Ian; Becker, Stephen; Zwerski, Sheryl; Burns, David

2011-01-01

Abstract Six randomized clinical trials have been implemented to examine the efficacy of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and/or TDF/emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) as preexposure prophylaxis for HIV-1 infection (PrEP). Although largely complementary, the six trials have many similar features. As the earliest results become available, an urgent question may arise regarding whether changes should be made in the conduct of the other trials. To consider this in advance, a Consultation on the Implications of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Trials Results sponsored by the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) was held on January 29, 2010, at the Natcher Conference Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD. Participants included basic scientists, clinical researchers (including investigators performing the current PrEP trials), and representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the agencies sponsoring the trials: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the BMGF, and the U.S. NIH. We report here a summary of the presentations and highlights of salient discussion topics from this workshop. PMID:20969483

Socioeconomic differences in attitudes and beliefs about healthy lifestyles.

PubMed

Wardle, J; Steptoe, A

2003-06-01

s: The factors underlying socioeconomic status differences in smoking, leisure time physical activity, and dietary choice are poorly understood. This study investigated attitudes and beliefs that might underlie behavioural choices, including health locus of control, future salience, subjective life expectancy, and health consciousness, in a nationally representative sample. Data were collected as part of the monthly Omnibus survey of the Office of National Statistics in Britain. A stratified, probability sample of 2728 households was selected by random sampling of addresses. One adult from each household was interviewed. Higher SES respondents were less likely to smoke and more likely to exercise and eat fruit and vegetables daily. Lower SES was associated with less health consciousness (thinking about things to do to keep healthy), stronger beliefs in the influence of chance on health, less thinking about the future, and lower life expectancies. These attitudinal factors were in turn associated with unhealthy behavioural choices, independently of age, sex, and self rated health. Socioeconomic differences in healthy lifestyles are associated with differences in attitudes to health that may themselves arise through variations in life opportunities and exposure to material hardship and ill health over the life course.

From higher order thinking to higher order behavior: exploring the relationship between early cognitive skills and social competence in black boys.

PubMed

Scott, Kristin M; Barbarin, Oscar A; Brown, Jeffrey M

2013-01-01

This study examines the relations of higher order (i.e., abstract) thinking (HOT) skills to specific domains of social competence in Black boys (n = 108) attending publicly sponsored prekindergarten (pre-K) programs. Data for the study were collected as part of the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) Multi-State Study, a national, longitudinal study examining the quality and outcomes in a representative sample of publicly sponsored pre-K programs in six states (N = 240). Pre-K and kindergarten teachers rated randomly selected children on measures of abstract thinking, self-regulation, and social functioning at the beginning and end of each school year. Applying structural equation modeling, compared with earlier time points, HOT measured in the fall of kindergarten significantly predicted each of the domains of social competence in the spring of kindergarten, with the exception of peer social skills, while controlling for general cognitive ability. Results suggest that early intervention to improve HOT may be an effective and more focused approach to address concerns about Black boys' early social competencies in specific domains and potentially reduce the risk of later social difficulties. © 2013 American Orthopsychiatric Association.

Is higher population-level use of ICS/LABA combination associated with better asthma outcomes? Cross-sectional surveys of nationally representative populations in New Zealand and Australia.

PubMed

Reddel, Helen K; Beckert, Lutz; Moran, Angela; Ingham, Tristram; Ampon, Rosario D; Peters, Matthew J; Sawyer, Susan M

2017-11-01

New Zealand (NZ) and Australia (AU) have similarly high asthma prevalence; both have universal public health systems, but different criteria for subsidized medicines. We explored differences in asthma management and asthma-related outcomes between these countries. A web-based survey was administered in AU (2012) and NZ (2013) to individuals aged ≥16 years with current asthma, drawn randomly from web-based panels, stratified by national population proportions. Symptom control was assessed with the Asthma Control Test (ACT). Healthcare utilization was assessed from reported urgent doctor/hospital visits in the previous year. NZ (n = 537) and Australian (n = 2686) participants had similar age and gender distribution. More NZ than Australian participants used inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)-containing medication (68.8% vs 60.9%; P = 0.006) but ICS/long-acting β 2 -agonist (LABA) constituted 44.4% of NZ and 81.5% of Australian total ICS use (P < 0.0001). Adherence was higher with ICS/LABA than ICS-alone (P < 0.0001), and higher in NZ than in AU (P < 0.0001). ACT scores were similar (P = 0.41), with symptoms well controlled in 58.6% and 54.4% participants, respectively. More NZ participants reported non-urgent asthma reviews (56.6% vs 50.4%; P = 0.009). Similar proportions had urgent asthma visits (27.9% and 28.6%, respectively, P = 0.75). This comparison, which included the first nationally representative data for asthma control in NZ, showed that poorly controlled asthma is common in both NZ and AU, despite subsidized ICS-containing medications. The greater use of ICS-alone in NZ relative to ICS/LABA does not appear to have compromised population-level asthma outcomes, perhaps due to better adherence in NZ. Different ICS/LABA subsidy criteria and different patient copayments may also have contributed to these findings. © 2017 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

The Association between Social Media Use and Eating Concerns among US Young Adults.

PubMed

Sidani, Jaime E; Shensa, Ariel; Hoffman, Beth; Hanmer, Janel; Primack, Brian A

2016-09-01

The etiology of eating concerns is multifactorial, and exposure to media messages is considered to be a contributor. Although traditional media, such as television and magazines, have been examined extensively in relation to eating concerns risk, the influence of social media has received relatively less attention. To examine the association between social media use and eating concerns in a large, nationally representative sample of young adults. Cross-sectional survey. Participants were 1,765 young adults aged 19 to 32 years who were randomly selected from a national probability-based online nonvolunteer panel. An eating concerns scale was adapted from two validated measures: the SCOFF Questionnaire and the Eating Disorder Screen for Primary Care. Social media use (including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, Snapchat, and Reddit) was assessed using both volume (time per day) and frequency (visits per week). To examine associations between eating concerns and social media use, ordered logistic regression was used, controlling for all covariates. Compared with those in the lowest quartile, participants in the highest quartiles for social media volume and frequency had significantly greater odds of having eating concerns (adjusted odds ratio 2.18, 95% CI 1.50 to 3.17 and adjusted odds ratio 2.55, 95% CI 1.72 to 3.78, respectively). There were significant positive overall linear associations between the social media use variables and eating concerns (P<0.001). The results from this study indicate a strong and consistent association between social media use and eating concerns in a nationally representative sample of young adults aged 19 to 32 years. This association was apparent whether social media use was measured as volume or frequency. Further research should assess the temporality of these associations. It would also be useful to examine more closely the influence of specific characteristics of social media use, including content-related and contextual features. Copyright © 2016 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multivitamin-mineral use is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among women in the United States.

PubMed

Bailey, Regan L; Fakhouri, Tala H; Park, Yikyung; Dwyer, Johanna T; Thomas, Paul R; Gahche, Jaime J; Miller, Paige E; Dodd, Kevin W; Sempos, Christopher T; Murray, David M

2015-03-01

Multivitamin-mineral (MVM) products are the most commonly used supplements in the United States, followed by multivitamin (MV) products. Two randomized clinical trials (RCTs) did not show an effect of MVMs or MVs on cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality; however, no clinical trial data are available for women with MVM supplement use and CVD mortality. The objective of this research was to examine the association between MVM and MV use and CVD-specific mortality among US adults without CVD. A nationally representative sample of adults from the restricted data NHANES III (1988-1994; n = 8678; age ≥40 y) were matched with mortality data reported by the National Death Index through 2011 to examine associations between MVM and MV use and CVD mortality by using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for multiple potential confounders. We observed no significant association between CVD mortality and users of MVMs or MVs compared with nonusers; however, when users were classified by the reported length of time products were used, a significant association was found with MVM use of >3 y compared with nonusers (HR: 0.65; 95% CI: 0.49, 0.85). This finding was largely driven by the significant association among women (HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.37, 0.85) but not men (HR: 0.79; 95% CI: 0.44, 1.42). No significant association was observed for MV products and CVD mortality in fully adjusted models. In this nationally representative data set with detailed information on supplement use and CVD mortality data ∼20 y later, we found an association between MVM use of >3 y and reduced CVD mortality risk for women when models controlled for age, race, education, body mass index, alcohol, aspirin use, serum lipids, blood pressure, and blood glucose/glycated hemoglobin. Our results are consistent with the 1 available RCT in men, indicating no relation with MVM use and CVD mortality. © 2015 American Society for Nutrition.

The Association between Social Media Use and Eating Concerns among U.S. Young Adults

PubMed Central

Sidani, Jaime E.; Shensa, Ariel; Hoffman, Beth; Hanmer, Janel; Primack, Brian A.

2016-01-01

Background Although the etiology of eating concerns is multi-factorial, exposure to media messages is considered to be a contributor. While traditional media, such as television and magazines, have been examined extensively in relation to eating concerns risk, the influence of social media has received relatively less attention. Objective To examine the association between social media use and eating concerns in a large, nationally representative sample of young adults. Design Cross-sectional survey. Participants/setting Participants were 1765 young adults ages 19-32 years, who were randomly selected from a national probability-based online non-volunteer panel. Outcome measures An eating concerns scale was adapted from two validated measures: the SCOFF Questionnaire and the Eating Disorder Screen for Primary Care (ESP). Social media use (including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Vine, Snapchat, and Reddit) was assessed using both volume (time per day) and frequency (visits per week). Statistical analyses To examine associations between eating concerns and social media use, ordered logistic regression was used, controlling for all covariates. Results Compared to those in the lowest quartile, participants in the highest quartiles for social media volume and frequency had significantly greater odds of having eating concerns (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.18, 95% CI = 1.50 - 3.17 and AOR = 2.55, 95% CI = 1.72 - 3.78, respectively). There were significant positive overall linear associations between the social media use variables and eating concerns (P < 0.001). Conclusions The results from this study indicate a strong and consistent association between social media use and eating concerns in a nationally-representative sample of young adults ages 19 to 32 years. This association was apparent whether social media use was measured as volume or frequency. Further research should assess the temporality of these associations. It would also be useful to examine more closely the influence of specific characteristics of social media use—including content-related and contextual features. PMID:27161027

19 CFR 148.88 - Certain representatives to and officers of the United Nations and the Organization of American...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... rank of ambassador or minister plenipotentiary at the headquarters of such agency in the United States...) Representatives of members to the principal and subsidiary organs of the United Nations and to conferences...

Planning the Safety of Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Registry Initiative (SAFARI) as a Collaborative Pan-Stakeholder Critical Path Registry Model: a Cardiac Safety Research Consortium "Incubator" Think Tank.

PubMed

Al-Khatib, Sana M; Calkins, Hugh; Eloff, Benjamin C; Packer, Douglas L; Ellenbogen, Kenneth A; Hammill, Stephen C; Natale, Andrea; Page, Richard L; Prystowsky, Eric; Jackman, Warren M; Stevenson, William G; Waldo, Albert L; Wilber, David; Kowey, Peter; Yaross, Marcia S; Mark, Daniel B; Reiffel, James; Finkle, John K; Marinac-Dabic, Danica; Pinnow, Ellen; Sager, Phillip; Sedrakyan, Art; Canos, Daniel; Gross, Thomas; Berliner, Elise; Krucoff, Mitchell W

2010-01-01

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major public health problem in the United States that is associated with increased mortality and morbidity. Of the therapeutic modalities available to treat AF, the use of percutaneous catheter ablation of AF is expanding rapidly. Randomized clinical trials examining the efficacy and safety of AF ablation are currently underway; however, such trials can only partially determine the safety and durability of the effect of the procedure in routine clinical practice, in more complex patients, and over a broader range of techniques and operator experience. These limitations of randomized trials of AF ablation, particularly with regard to safety issues, could be addressed using a synergistically structured national registry, which is the intention of the SAFARI. To facilitate discussions about objectives, challenges, and steps for such a registry, the Cardiac Safety Research Consortium and the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC, in collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society, organized a Think Tank meeting of experts in the field. Other participants included the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the AdvaMed AF working group, and additional industry representatives. The meeting took place on April 27 to 28, 2009, at the US Food and Drug Administration headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. This article summarizes the issues and directions presented and discussed at the meeting. Copyright 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Do Countries Consistently Engage in Misinforming the International Community about Their Efforts to Combat Money Laundering? Evidence Using Benford’s Law

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Indicators of compliance and efficiency in combatting money laundering, collected by EUROSTAT, are plagued with shortcomings. In this paper, I have carried out a forensic analysis on a 2003–2010 dataset of indicators of compliance and efficiency in combatting money laundering, that European Union member states self-reported to EUROSTAT, and on the basis of which, their efforts were evaluated. I used Benford’s law to detect any anomalous statistical patterns and found that statistical anomalies were also consistent with strategic manipulation. According to Benford’s law, if we pick a random sample of numbers representing natural processes, and look at the distribution of the first digits of these numbers, we see that, contrary to popular belief, digit 1 occurs most often, then digit 2, and so on, with digit 9 occurring in less than 5% of the sample. Without prior knowledge of Benford’s law, since people are not intuitively good at creating truly random numbers, deviations thereof can capture strategic alterations. In order to eliminate other sources of deviation, I have compared deviations in situations where incentives and opportunities for manipulation existed and in situations where they did not. While my results are not a conclusive proof of strategic manipulation, they signal that countries that faced incentives and opportunities to misinform the international community about their efforts to combat money laundering may have manipulated these indicators. Finally, my analysis points to the high potential for disruption that the manipulation of national statistics has, and calls for the acknowledgment that strategic manipulation can be an unintended consequence of the international community’s pressure on countries to put combatting money laundering on the top of their national agenda. PMID:28122058

Do Countries Consistently Engage in Misinforming the International Community about Their Efforts to Combat Money Laundering? Evidence Using Benford's Law.

PubMed

Deleanu, Ioana Sorina

2017-01-01

Indicators of compliance and efficiency in combatting money laundering, collected by EUROSTAT, are plagued with shortcomings. In this paper, I have carried out a forensic analysis on a 2003-2010 dataset of indicators of compliance and efficiency in combatting money laundering, that European Union member states self-reported to EUROSTAT, and on the basis of which, their efforts were evaluated. I used Benford's law to detect any anomalous statistical patterns and found that statistical anomalies were also consistent with strategic manipulation. According to Benford's law, if we pick a random sample of numbers representing natural processes, and look at the distribution of the first digits of these numbers, we see that, contrary to popular belief, digit 1 occurs most often, then digit 2, and so on, with digit 9 occurring in less than 5% of the sample. Without prior knowledge of Benford's law, since people are not intuitively good at creating truly random numbers, deviations thereof can capture strategic alterations. In order to eliminate other sources of deviation, I have compared deviations in situations where incentives and opportunities for manipulation existed and in situations where they did not. While my results are not a conclusive proof of strategic manipulation, they signal that countries that faced incentives and opportunities to misinform the international community about their efforts to combat money laundering may have manipulated these indicators. Finally, my analysis points to the high potential for disruption that the manipulation of national statistics has, and calls for the acknowledgment that strategic manipulation can be an unintended consequence of the international community's pressure on countries to put combatting money laundering on the top of their national agenda.

A national survey on health department capacity for community engagement in emergency preparedness.

PubMed

Schoch-Spana, Monica; Selck, Frederic W; Goldberg, Lisa A

2015-01-01

Limited systematic knowledge exists about how public health practitioners and policy makers can best strengthen community engagement in public health emergency preparedness ("CE-PHEP"), a top priority for US national health security. To investigate local health department (LHD) adoption of federally recommended participatory approaches to PHEP and to identify LHD organizational characteristics associated with more intense CE-PHEP. National survey in 2012 of LHDs using a self-administered Web-based questionnaire regarding LHD practices and resources for CE-PHEP ("The Community Engagement for Public Health Emergency Preparedness Survey"). Differences in survey responses were examined, and a multivariate analysis was used to test whether LHD organizational characteristics were associated with differences in CE-PHEP intensity. A randomized sample of 754 LHDs drawn from the 2565 LHDs that had been invited to participate in the 2010 National Profile of LHDs. Sample selection was stratified by the size of population served and geographic location. Emergency preparedness coordinators reporting on their respective LHDs. CE-PHEP intensity as measured with a scoring system that rated specific CE-PHEP practices by LHD according to the relative degrees of public participation and community capacity they represented. Survey response rate was 61%. The most common reported CE-PHEP activity was disseminating personal preparedness materials (90%); the least common was convening public forums on PHEP planning (22%). LHD characteristics most strongly associated with more intense CE-PHEP were having a formal CE-PHEP policy, allocating funds for CE-PHEP, having strong support from community-based organizations, and employing a coordinator with prior CE experience. Promising ways to engage community partners more fully in the PHEP enterprise are institutionalizing CE-PHEP objectives, employing sufficient and skilled staff, leveraging current community-based organization support, and aligning budgets with the value of CE-PHEP to US national health security.

A national report of nursing home information technology: year 1 results.

PubMed

Alexander, Gregory L; Madsen, Richard W; Miller, Erin L; Schaumberg, Melissa K; Holm, Allison E; Alexander, Rachel L; Wise, Keely K; Dougherty, Michelle L; Gugerty, Brian

2017-01-01

To provide a report on year 1 results of a national study investigating nursing home information technology (IT) adoption, called IT sophistication. A reliable and valid survey was used to measure IT sophistication. The target goal was 10% from each state in the United States, 1570 nursing homes. A random sample of homes from each state was recruited from Nursing Home Compare. The team reached 2627 nursing home administrators, among whom 1799 administrators agreed to participate and were sent a survey. A total of 815 surveys were completed (45.3% response rate), which was below the goal. Facilities in the participating sample have similar demographic characteristics (ownership, total population in a location, and bed size) to the remaining homes not participating. There are greater IT capabilities in resident care and administrative activities, less in clinical support. The extent of use of these capabilities appears to be highest in administrative activities and lowest in clinical support. IT in resident care appears to be the most integrated with internal and external stakeholders. IT capabilities appear to be greater than IT extent of use in all health domains, with the greatest difference in resident care. National evaluations of nursing home IT are rare. Measuring trends in IT adoption in a nationally representative sample provides meaningful analytics that could be more useful for policy makers and nursing home leaders in the future. Discovering national baseline assessments is a first step toward recognizing nursing home trends in IT adoption. © 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.

Diabetes MILES--Australia (management and impact for long-term empowerment and success): methods and sample characteristics of a national survey of the psychological aspects of living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Australian adults

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Successful management of diabetes requires attention to the behavioural, psychological and social aspects of this progressive condition. The Diabetes MILES (Management and Impact for Long-term Empowerment and Success) Study is an international collaborative. Diabetes MILES--Australia, the first Diabetes MILES initiative to be undertaken, was a national survey of adults living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Australia. The aim of this study was to gather data that will provide insights into how Australians manage their diabetes, the support they receive and the impact of diabetes on their lives, as well as to use the data to validate new diabetes outcome measures. Methods/design The survey was designed to include a core set of self-report measures, as well as modules specific to diabetes type or management regimens. Other measures or items were included in only half of the surveys. Cognitive debriefing interviews with 20 participants ensured the survey content was relevant and easily understood. In July 2011, the survey was posted to 15,000 adults (aged 18-70 years) with type 1 or type 2 diabetes selected randomly from the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) database. An online version of the survey was advertised nationally. A total of 3,338 eligible Australians took part; most (70.4%) completed the postal survey. Respondents of both diabetes types and genders, and of all ages, were adequately represented in both the postal and online survey sub-samples. More people with type 2 diabetes than type 1 diabetes took part in Diabetes MILES--Australia (58.8% versus 41.2%). Most respondents spoke English as their main language, were married/in a de facto relationship, had at least a high school education, were occupied in paid work, had an annual household income > $AUS40,000, and lived in metropolitan areas. Discussion A potential limitation of the study is the under-representation of respondents from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin). Diabetes MILES--Australia represents a major achievement in the study of diabetes in Australia, where for the first time, the focus is on psychosocial and behavioural aspects of this condition at a national level. PMID:22325032

Three-dimensional distribution of random velocity inhomogeneities at the Nankai trough seismogenic zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, T.; Obana, K.; Yamamoto, Y.; Nakanishi, A.; Kaiho, Y.; Kodaira, S.; Kaneda, Y.

2012-12-01

The Nankai trough in southwestern Japan is a convergent margin where the Philippine sea plate is subducted beneath the Eurasian plate. There are major faults segments of huge earthquakes that are called Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai earthquakes. According to the earthquake occurrence history over the past hundreds years, we must expect various rupture patters such as simultaneous or nearly continuous ruptures of plural fault segments. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) conducted seismic surveys at Nankai trough in order to clarify mutual relations between seismic structures and fault segments, as a part of "Research concerning Interaction Between the Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai Earthquakes" funded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. This study evaluated the spatial distribution of random velocity inhomogeneities from Hyuga-nada to Kii-channel by using velocity seismograms of small and moderate sized earthquakes. Random velocity inhomogeneities are estimated by the peak delay time analysis of S-wave envelopes (e.g., Takahashi et al. 2009). Peak delay time is defined as the time lag from the S-wave onset to its maximal amplitude arrival. This quantity mainly reflects the accumulated multiple forward scattering effect due to random inhomogeneities, and is quite insensitive to the inelastic attenuation. Peak delay times are measured from the rms envelopes of horizontal components at 4-8Hz, 8-16Hz and 16-32Hz. This study used the velocity seismograms that are recorded by 495 ocean bottom seismographs and 378 onshore seismic stations. Onshore stations are composed of the F-net and Hi-net stations that are maintained by National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) of Japan. It is assumed that the random inhomogeneities are represented by the von Karman type PSDF. Preliminary result of inversion analysis shows that spectral gradient of PSDF (i.e., scale dependence of inhomogeneities) are the same overt the Nankai trough, but random inhomogeneities at smaller wavenumber shows anomalously large values at the southwestern part of Hyuga-nada and Kii-channel. Anomaly at Hyuga-nada is almost located at the subducted Kyushu Palau ridge. Similar random inhomogeneities were imaged near the remnant of ancient arc in the northern Izu-Bonin arc (Takahashi et al. 2011). We speculate these random inhomogeneities reflect the remnant of ancient volcanic activities. These results imply that random inhomogeneities at Kii-channel are possibly related to the subducted seamount, and that random inhomogeneities are useful to discuss the medium characteristics in subduction zone.

Strengthening Causal Estimates for Links Between Spanking and Children's Externalizing Behavior Problems.

PubMed

Gershoff, Elizabeth T; Sattler, Kierra M P; Ansari, Arya

2018-01-01

Establishing causal links when experiments are not feasible is an important challenge for psychology researchers. The question of whether parents' spanking causes children's externalizing behavior problems poses such a challenge because randomized experiments of spanking are unethical, and correlational studies cannot rule out potential selection factors. This study used propensity score matching based on the lifetime prevalence and recent incidence of spanking in a large and nationally representative sample ( N = 12,112) as well as lagged dependent variables to get as close to causal estimates outside an experiment as possible. Whether children were spanked at the age of 5 years predicted increases in externalizing behavior problems by ages 6 and 8, even after the groups based on spanking prevalence or incidence were matched on a range of sociodemographic, family, and cultural characteristics and children's initial behavior problems. These statistically rigorous methods yield the conclusion that spanking predicts a deterioration of children's externalizing behavior over time.

Unmet demand for training among mature age Australians: Prevalence, differentials and perceived causes.

PubMed

Adair, Tim; Lourey, Emma; Taylor, Philip

2016-03-01

To explore the prevalence of unmet demand for training by mature age Australians and to identify the main barriers to accessing training. A total of 3007 Australians aged 45-74 years were surveyed using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing. The sample frame was randomly selected and stratified based on the capital city and the rest of the state, and data were weighted to be nationally representative. Over one-third (37%) of respondents who had worked in the past five years reported wanting to attend some form of training but were unable to; these were most likely women and those aged 45-54 year. Commonly cited reasons for not being able to attend training included not being able to fit it in with work commitments, affordability and employer reluctance. Reduction of these barriers to workplace training can improve mature age people's ability to remain engaged in the workforce. © 2015 AJA Inc.

Multiple Imputation For Combined-Survey Estimation With Incomplete Regressors In One But Not Both Surveys

PubMed Central

Rendall, Michael S.; Ghosh-Dastidar, Bonnie; Weden, Margaret M.; Baker, Elizabeth H.; Nazarov, Zafar

2013-01-01

Within-survey multiple imputation (MI) methods are adapted to pooled-survey regression estimation where one survey has more regressors, but typically fewer observations, than the other. This adaptation is achieved through: (1) larger numbers of imputations to compensate for the higher fraction of missing values; (2) model-fit statistics to check the assumption that the two surveys sample from a common universe; and (3) specificying the analysis model completely from variables present in the survey with the larger set of regressors, thereby excluding variables never jointly observed. In contrast to the typical within-survey MI context, cross-survey missingness is monotonic and easily satisfies the Missing At Random (MAR) assumption needed for unbiased MI. Large efficiency gains and substantial reduction in omitted variable bias are demonstrated in an application to sociodemographic differences in the risk of child obesity estimated from two nationally-representative cohort surveys. PMID:24223447

Strategic wellness management in Finland: The first national survey of the management of employee well-being.

PubMed

Aura, Ossi; Ahonen, Guy; Ilmarinen, Juhani

2010-12-01

To examine the scope of strategic wellness management (SWM) in Finland. To measure management of wellness a strategic wellness management index (SWMI) was developed. On the basis of the developed SWM model an Internet questionnaire was conducted for randomly selected employers representing seven business areas and three size categories. Corporate activities and SWMI for each employer and for business area and size groups were calculated. Results highlighted relatively good activity in strategic wellness (SW) processes and fairly low level of SWM procedures. The average values (± SD) of SWMI were 53.6 ± 12.3 for large, 42.8 ± 11.7 for medium-size, and 32.8 ± 12.1 for small companies. SWMI can be a positive new, strong concept to measure SW processes and thus improve both the well-being of the employees and the productivity of the enterprise.

Getting stuck in the blues: persistence of mental health problems in Australia.

PubMed

Roy, John; Schurer, Stefanie

2013-09-01

Do episodes of mental health (MH) problems cause future MH problems, and if yes, how strong are these dynamics? We quantify the degree of persistence in MH problems using nationally representative, longitudinal data from Australia and system generalized method of moments (GMM), and correlated random effects approaches are applied to separate true from spurious state dependence. Our results suggest only a moderate degree of persistence in MH problems when assuming that persistence is constant across the MH distribution once individual-specific heterogeneity is accounted for. However, individuals who fell once below a threshold that indicates an episode of depression are up to five times more likely to experience such a low score again a year later, indicating a strong element of state dependence in depression. Low income is a strong risk factor in state dependence for both men and women, which has important policy implications. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Potential Economic Benefits of Paid Sick Leave in Reducing Absenteeism Related to the Spread of Influenza-Like Illness.

PubMed

Asfaw, Abay; Rosa, Roger; Pana-Cryan, Regina

2017-09-01

Most U.S. employers are not required to provide paid sick leave (PSL), and there is limited information on the economic return of providing PSL. We estimated potential benefits to employers of PSL in reducing absenteeism related to the spread of influenza-like illness (ILI). We used nationally representative data and a negative binomial random effects model to estimate the impact of PSL in reducing overall absence due to illness or injury. We used published data to compute the share of ILI from the total days of absence, ILI transmission rates at workplaces, wages, and other parameters. Providing PSL could have saved employers $0.63 to $1.88 billion in reduced ILI-related absenteeism costs per year during 2007 to 2014 in 2016 dollars. These findings might help employers consider PSL as an investment rather than as a cost without any return.

Biochemical Profile of Heritage and Modern Apple Cultivars and Application of Machine Learning Methods To Predict Usage, Age, and Harvest Season.

PubMed

Anastasiadi, Maria; Mohareb, Fady; Redfern, Sally P; Berry, Mark; Simmonds, Monique S J; Terry, Leon A

2017-07-05

The present study represents the first major attempt to characterize the biochemical profile in different tissues of a large selection of apple cultivars sourced from the United Kingdom's National Fruit Collection comprising dessert, ornamental, cider, and culinary apples. Furthermore, advanced machine learning methods were applied with the objective to identify whether the phenolic and sugar composition of an apple cultivar could be used as a biomarker fingerprint to differentiate between heritage and mainstream commercial cultivars as well as govern the separation among primary usage groups and harvest season. A prediction accuracy of >90% was achieved with the random forest method for all three models. The results highlighted the extraordinary phytochemical potency and unique profile of some heritage, cider, and ornamental apple cultivars, especially in comparison to more mainstream apple cultivars. Therefore, these findings could guide future cultivar selection on the basis of health-promoting phytochemical content.

Knowing hydrogen and loving it too? Information provision, cultural predispositions, and support for hydrogen technology among the Dutch.

PubMed

Achterberg, Peter

2014-05-01

This research note studies experimentally how the public translates information about hydrogen technology into evaluations of the latter. It does so by means of a nationally representative factorial survey in the Netherlands (n = 1,012), in which respondents have been given seven randomly selected pieces of (negative, positive and/or neutral) information about this technology. Findings are consistent with framing theory. For those with high trust in science and technology, positive information increases support, while negative information detracts from it. For those with low trust in science and technology, however, information provision has no effect at all on the evaluation of hydrogen technology. Precisely among the most likely targets of science communication, i.e., those without much trust in science and technology, providing positive information fails to evoke a more favorable evaluation from the latter.

Importance of the National Career Development Guidelines to School Counselors.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Brenda

1994-01-01

Surveyed opinions of national random sample of school counselors (n=1,510) toward importance of elementary, junior high/middle, and high school competencies in National Career Development Guidelines. Results indicated that school counselors considered the career development competencies in the guidelines to be "important" to "very important"…

Casino physics in the classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitney, Charles A.

1986-12-01

This article describes a seminar on the elements of probability and random processes that is computer centered and focuses on Monte Carlo simulations of processes such as coin flips, random walks on a lattice, and the behavior of photons and atoms in a gas. Representative computer programs are also described.

75 FR 68023 - Membership Availability in the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group Aviation Rulemaking...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-04

... National Parks Overflights Advisory Group Aviation Rulemaking Committee To Represent Environmental Concerns... NPOAG Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) for a member representing environmental concerns and invites... operations, environmental concerns, and Native American Tribes. The Administrator of the FAA and the Director...

[Results of national evaluation tests (primary schools) of CE2 and 6th classes of 73 students with congenital hypothyroidism screened at birth].

PubMed

Toublanc, J E; Riblier, E; Rives, S

1998-03-01

Assessment of school performance provides an excellent index of adequacy of therapy of congenital hypothyroidism. Scholarly achievement of 73 children with congenital hypothyroidism screened and followed-up in our clinic was evaluated by comparison to national tests calculated from a wide random sample. The 73 children were divided into three groups: 31 patients belonging to the CE2 class (third primary school class) (group 1); 13 patients belonging to the 6th class (first secondary school class) having already passed CE2 tests (group 2); and 16 patients also belonging to the 6th class but not having passed CE2 tests (group 3). The youngest patients showed better results in French than national means, with similar results in mathematics. The intermediate aged patients showed comparable scores to the national mean in both tests. The oldest patients showed significantly less achievement in mathematics, and somewhat (but not markedly) less achievement in French. Etiology of hypothyroidism did not seem to be a prognostic factor, with the athyreotic patients having better results in CE2 than ectopic ones. Age at onset of treatment and the duration of treatment before normalization of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) seemed to represent the main prognostic factors as does compliance to treatment, which depends on socioeconomic levels of families. Encouraging results are now obtained in those patients who have been screened in the neonatal period and treated very early. Compliance to the treatment remains an important factor of prognosis.

Exploiting Data Missingness in Bayesian Network Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodrigues de Morais, Sérgio; Aussem, Alex

This paper proposes a framework built on the use of Bayesian networks (BN) for representing statistical dependencies between the existing random variables and additional dummy boolean variables, which represent the presence/absence of the respective random variable value. We show how augmenting the BN with these additional variables helps pinpoint the mechanism through which missing data contributes to the classification task. The missing data mechanism is thus explicitly taken into account to predict the class variable using the data at hand. Extensive experiments on synthetic and real-world incomplete data sets reveals that the missingness information improves classification accuracy.

Temporal changes in randomness of bird communities across Central Europe.

PubMed

Renner, Swen C; Gossner, Martin M; Kahl, Tiemo; Kalko, Elisabeth K V; Weisser, Wolfgang W; Fischer, Markus; Allan, Eric

2014-01-01

Many studies have examined whether communities are structured by random or deterministic processes, and both are likely to play a role, but relatively few studies have attempted to quantify the degree of randomness in species composition. We quantified, for the first time, the degree of randomness in forest bird communities based on an analysis of spatial autocorrelation in three regions of Germany. The compositional dissimilarity between pairs of forest patches was regressed against the distance between them. We then calculated the y-intercept of the curve, i.e. the 'nugget', which represents the compositional dissimilarity at zero spatial distance. We therefore assume, following similar work on plant communities, that this represents the degree of randomness in species composition. We then analysed how the degree of randomness in community composition varied over time and with forest management intensity, which we expected to reduce the importance of random processes by increasing the strength of environmental drivers. We found that a high portion of the bird community composition could be explained by chance (overall mean of 0.63), implying that most of the variation in local bird community composition is driven by stochastic processes. Forest management intensity did not consistently affect the mean degree of randomness in community composition, perhaps because the bird communities were relatively insensitive to management intensity. We found a high temporal variation in the degree of randomness, which may indicate temporal variation in assembly processes and in the importance of key environmental drivers. We conclude that the degree of randomness in community composition should be considered in bird community studies, and the high values we find may indicate that bird community composition is relatively hard to predict at the regional scale.

Calibration of Discrete Random Walk (DRW) Model via G.I Taylor's Dispersion Theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Javaherchi, Teymour; Aliseda, Alberto

2012-11-01

Prediction of particle dispersion in turbulent flows is still an important challenge with many applications to environmental, as well as industrial, fluid mechanics. Several models of dispersion have been developed to predict particle trajectories and their relative velocities, in combination with a RANS-based simulation of the background flow. The interaction of the particles with the velocity fluctuations at different turbulent scales represents a significant difficulty in generalizing the models to the wide range of flows where they are used. We focus our attention on the Discrete Random Walk (DRW) model applied to flow in a channel, particularly to the selection of eddies lifetimes as realizations of a Poisson distribution with a mean value proportional to κ / ɛ . We present a general method to determine the constant of this proportionality by matching the DRW model dispersion predictions for fluid element and particle dispersion to G.I Taylor's classical dispersion theory. This model parameter is critical to the magnitude of predicted dispersion. A case study of its influence on sedimentation of suspended particles in a tidal channel with an array of Marine Hydrokinetic (MHK) turbines highlights the dependency of results on this time scale parameter. Support from US DOE through the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, a UW-OSU partnership.

Do Emotional Appeals in Public Service Advertisements Influence Adolescents' Intention to Reduce Consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages?

PubMed

Bleakley, Amy; Jordan, Amy B; Hennessy, Michael; Glanz, Karen; Strasser, Andrew; Vaala, Sarah

2015-08-01

Mass media campaigns are a commonly used approach to reduce sugary drink consumption, which is linked to obesity in children and adolescents. The present study investigated the direct and mediated effects of emotional appeals in public service advertisements (PSAs) that aired between 2010 and 2012 on adolescents' intention to reduce their sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption. An online randomized experiment was conducted with a national sample of adolescent respondents ages 13 to 17 years old (N = 805). Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions. Three experimental conditions represented PSAs with different emotional appeals: humor, fear, and nurturance, plus a fourth control condition. The outcome was adolescents' intention to cut back on SSBs. The direct effect of fear appeals on intention was mediated through adolescents' perception of the PSAs' argument strength; perceived argument strength was also the key mediator for the indirect effects of humor and nurturance on intention. Several hypothesized mediators influenced by the appeals were not associated with intention. This is the first study to test the effect of persuasive emotional appeals used in SSB-related PSAs. The perceived strength of the PSAs' arguments is important to consider in the communication of messages designed to reduce SSB consumption.

Evaluation of direct and indirect effects of seasonal malaria chemoprevention in Mali.

PubMed

Druetz, Thomas

2018-05-25

Randomized controlled trials have established that seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) in children is a promising strategy to reduce malaria transmission in Sahelian West Africa. This strategy was recently introduced in a dozen countries, and about 12 million children received SMC in 2016. However, evidence on SMC effectiveness under routine programme conditions is sparse. We aim to measure the effects of the nationwide SMC programme in Mali on the prevalence of malaria and anemia in children 6-59 months. We used data from the 2015 nationally representative malaria indicator survey. A post-test only with non-randomized control group study was designed. We fitted a generalized structural equation model that controlled for potential bias on observed and non-observed variables (endogenous treatment effect model). Having received SMC reduced by 44% (95% CI [0.39-0.49]) the risk of having a positive rapid diagnostic test for malaria. In addition, the programme indirectly reduced by 18% the risk of moderate-to-severe anemia (95% CI [0.15-0.21]). SMC in Mali has substantial protective effects under routine nationwide programme conditions. Endogenous treatment effects analyses can contribute to rigorously measuring the effectiveness of health programmes and to bridging a widening gap in evaluation methods to measure progress towards achieving malaria elimination.

National and Regional Representativeness of Hospital Emergency Department Visit Data in the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, United States, 2014

PubMed Central

Coates, Ralph J.; Pérez, Alejandro; Baer, Atar; Zhou, Hong; English, Roseanne; Coletta, Michael; Dey, Achintya

2016-01-01

Objective We examined the representativeness of the nonfederal hospital emergency department (ED) visit data in the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP). Methods We used the 2012 American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database, other databases, and information from state and local health departments participating in the NSSP about which hospitals submitted data to the NSSP in October 2014. We compared ED visits for hospitals submitting 15 data with all ED visits in all 50 states and Washington, DC. Results Approximately 60.4 million of 134.6 million ED visits nationwide (~45%) were reported to have been submitted to the NSSP. ED visits in 5 of 10 regions and the majority of the states were substantially underrepresented in the NSSP. The NSSP ED visits were similar to national ED visits in terms of many of the characteristics of hospitals and their service areas. However, visits in hospitals with the fewest annual ED visits, in rural trauma centers, and in hospitals serving populations with high percentages of Hispanics and Asians were underrepresented. Conclusions NSSP nonfederal hospital ED visit data were representative for many hospital characteristics and in some geographic areas but were not very representative nationally and in many locations. Representativeness could be improved by increasing participation in more states and among specific types of hospitals. PMID:26883318

Debiasing affective forecasting errors with targeted, but not representative, experience narratives.

PubMed

Shaffer, Victoria A; Focella, Elizabeth S; Scherer, Laura D; Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J

2016-10-01

To determine whether representative experience narratives (describing a range of possible experiences) or targeted experience narratives (targeting the direction of forecasting bias) can reduce affective forecasting errors, or errors in predictions of experiences. In Study 1, participants (N=366) were surveyed about their experiences with 10 common medical events. Those who had never experienced the event provided ratings of predicted discomfort and those who had experienced the event provided ratings of actual discomfort. Participants making predictions were randomly assigned to either the representative experience narrative condition or the control condition in which they made predictions without reading narratives. In Study 2, participants (N=196) were again surveyed about their experiences with these 10 medical events, but participants making predictions were randomly assigned to either the targeted experience narrative condition or the control condition. Affective forecasting errors were observed in both studies. These forecasting errors were reduced with the use of targeted experience narratives (Study 2) but not representative experience narratives (Study 1). Targeted, but not representative, narratives improved the accuracy of predicted discomfort. Public collections of patient experiences should favor stories that target affective forecasting biases over stories representing the range of possible experiences. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Recruitment of healthy participants for studies on risks for alcoholism: effectiveness of random digit dialling.

PubMed

Sorocco, Kristen H; Vincent, Andrea S; Collins, Frank L; Johnson, Christine A; Lovallo, William R

2006-01-01

To compare the effectiveness of two strategies for recruiting healthy research volunteers. Demographic characteristics and recruitment costs of participants who completed a laboratory study examining risk factors for alcoholism recruited through random digit dialling (N = 11) and community advertisements (N = 102) were compared. Advertisement yielded a more representative sample [76% Caucasian, less well educated (M = 15.2 years, SEM = 0.2; P < 0.05), more equally divided by family history of alcoholism (43% FH- and 57% FH+), and lower in SES (M = 42.8, SEM = 1.3; P < 0.05)] and was more cost effective (72 dollars vs 2272 dollars per participant) than random digit dialling. Findings are relevant to alcohol researchers trying to determine the recruitment strategy that will yield the most representative sample at the lowest cost.

U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science Report to the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Library and Information Services' Roles in the National Research and Education Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Washington, DC.

This report summarizes the results of an open forum conducted by the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) that provided an opportunity for representatives from library and service organizations and representatives from related agencies to offer comments, suggestions, and proposals related to the roles of libraries and…

National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Highlights

MedlinePlus

National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) is an ongoing, nationally-representative telephone survey that collects detailed information on sexual ...

Pattern formations and optimal packing.

PubMed

Mityushev, Vladimir

2016-04-01

Patterns of different symmetries may arise after solution to reaction-diffusion equations. Hexagonal arrays, layers and their perturbations are observed in different models after numerical solution to the corresponding initial-boundary value problems. We demonstrate an intimate connection between pattern formations and optimal random packing on the plane. The main study is based on the following two points. First, the diffusive flux in reaction-diffusion systems is approximated by piecewise linear functions in the framework of structural approximations. This leads to a discrete network approximation of the considered continuous problem. Second, the discrete energy minimization yields optimal random packing of the domains (disks) in the representative cell. Therefore, the general problem of pattern formations based on the reaction-diffusion equations is reduced to the geometric problem of random packing. It is demonstrated that all random packings can be divided onto classes associated with classes of isomorphic graphs obtained from the Delaunay triangulation. The unique optimal solution is constructed in each class of the random packings. If the number of disks per representative cell is finite, the number of classes of isomorphic graphs, hence, the number of optimal packings is also finite. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age Differences in Personality: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Australian Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucas, Richard E.; Donnellan, M. Brent

2009-01-01

Cross-sectional age differences in the Big Five personality traits were examined in a nationally representative sample of Australians (N = 12,618; age range = 15-84). Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Openness were negatively associated with age, whereas Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were positively associated with age. Effect sizes comparing…

Prescription Pain Reliever Abuse and Dependence among Adolescents: A Nationally Representative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Li-Tzy; Ringwalt, Christopher L.; Mannelli, Paolo; Patkar, Ashwin A.

2008-01-01

The study investigates the prevalence, patterns, and correlates of adolescents' abuse, sub-threshold dependence, and dependence on prescription pain relievers (PPRs) in a nationally representative sample. Results show dependence on PPRs can take place without abuse and that sub-threshold dependence could have implications for major diagnostic…

Leadership Coaching for Principals: A National Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wise, Donald; Cavazos, Blanca

2017-01-01

Surveys were sent to a large representative sample of public school principals in the United States asking if they had received leadership coaching. Comparison of responses to actual numbers of principals indicates that the sample represents the first national study of principal leadership coaching. Results indicate that approximately 50% of all…

Group identification in Indonesian stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nurriyadi Suparno, Ervano; Jo, Sung Kyun; Lim, Kyuseong; Purqon, Acep; Kim, Soo Yong

2016-08-01

The characteristic of Indonesian stock market is interesting especially because it represents developing countries. We investigate the dynamics and structures by using Random Matrix Theory (RMT). Here, we analyze the cross-correlation of the fluctuations of the daily closing price of stocks from the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) between January 1, 2007, and October 28, 2014. The eigenvalue distribution of the correlation matrix consists of noise which is filtered out using the random matrix as a control. The bulk of the eigenvalue distribution conforms to the random matrix, allowing the separation of random noise from original data which is the deviating eigenvalues. From the deviating eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors, we identify the intrinsic normal modes of the system and interpret their meaning based on qualitative and quantitative approach. The results show that the largest eigenvector represents the market-wide effect which has a predominantly common influence toward all stocks. The other eigenvectors represent highly correlated groups within the system. Furthermore, identification of the largest components of the eigenvectors shows the sector or background of the correlated groups. Interestingly, the result shows that there are mainly two clusters within IDX, natural and non-natural resource companies. We then decompose the correlation matrix to investigate the contribution of the correlated groups to the total correlation, and we find that IDX is still driven mainly by the market-wide effect.

A Geometrical Framework for Covariance Matrices of Continuous and Categorical Variables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vernizzi, Graziano; Nakai, Miki

2015-01-01

It is well known that a categorical random variable can be represented geometrically by a simplex. Accordingly, several measures of association between categorical variables have been proposed and discussed in the literature. Moreover, the standard definitions of covariance and correlation coefficient for continuous random variables have been…

Gender differences in depression in representative national samples: Meta-analyses of diagnoses and symptoms.

PubMed

Salk, Rachel H; Hyde, Janet S; Abramson, Lyn Y

2017-08-01

In 2 meta-analyses on gender differences in depression in nationally representative samples, we advance previous work by including studies of depression diagnoses and symptoms to (a) estimate the magnitude of the gender difference in depression across a wide array of nations and ages; (b) use a developmental perspective to elucidate patterns of gender differences across the life span; and (c) incorporate additional theory-driven moderators (e.g., gender equity). For major depression diagnoses and depression symptoms, respectively, we meta-analyzed data from 65 and 95 articles and their corresponding national data sets, representing data from 1,716,195 and 1,922,064 people in over 90 different nations. Overall, odds ratio (OR) = 1.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.88, 2.03], and d = 0.27 [0.26, 0.29]. Age was the strongest predictor of effect size. The gender difference for diagnoses emerged earlier than previously thought, with OR = 2.37 at age 12. For both meta-analyses, the gender difference peaked in adolescence (OR = 3.02 for ages 13-15, and d = 0.47 for age 16) but then declined and remained stable in adulthood. Cross-national analyses indicated that larger gender differences were found in nations with greater gender equity, for major depression, but not depression symptoms. The gender difference in depression represents a health disparity, especially in adolescence, yet the magnitude of the difference indicates that depression in men should not be overlooked. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Design and methods of the Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA), 2013

USGS Publications Warehouse

Garrett, Jessica D.; Frey, Jeffrey W.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Journey, Celeste A.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Button, Daniel T.; Nowell, Lisa H.

2017-10-18

During 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Project (NAWQA), in collaboration with the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA), and the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs assessed stream quality across the Midwestern United States. This Midwest Stream Quality Assessment (MSQA) simultaneously characterized watershed and stream-reach water-quality stressors along with instream biological conditions, to better understand regional stressor-effects relations. The MSQA design focused on effects from the widespread agriculture in the region and urban development because of their importance as ecological stressors of particular concern to Midwest region resource managers.A combined random stratified selection and a targeted selection based on land-use data were used to identify and select sites representing gradients in agricultural intensity across the region. During a 14-week period from May through August 2013, 100 sites were selected and sampled 12 times for contaminants, nutrients, and sediment. This 14-week water-quality “index” period culminated with an ecological survey of habitat, periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish at all sites. Sediment was collected during the ecological survey for analysis of sediment chemistry and toxicity testing. Of the 100 sites, 50 were selected for the MSQA random stratified group from 154 NRSA sites planned for the region, and the other 50 MSQA sites were selected as targeted sites to more evenly cover agricultural and urban stressor gradients in the study area. Of the 50 targeted sites, 12 were in urbanized watersheds and 21 represented “good” biological conditions or “least disturbed” conditions. The remaining 17 targeted sites were selected to improve coverage of the agricultural intensity gradient or because of historical data collection to provide temporal context for the study.This report provides a detailed description of the MSQA study components, including surveys of ecological conditions, routine water sampling, deployment of passive polar organic compound integrative samplers, and stream sediment sampling at all sites. Component studies that were completed to provide finer scale temporal data or more extensive analysis at selected sites, included continuous water-quality monitoring, daily pesticide sampling, laboratory and in-stream water toxicity testing efforts, and deployment of passive suspended-sediment samplers.

Perceptions of Radiation Oncologists and Urologists on Sources and Type of Evidence to Inform Prostate Cancer Treatment Decisions

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

Han, Leona C.; Delpe, Sophia; Shah, Nilay D.

2014-06-01

Purpose: To perform a national survey of radiation oncologists and urologists about the type of resources used and the level of evidence needed to change clinical practice in localized prostate cancer. Methods and Materials: From a random sample, 1422 physicians were mailed a survey assessing the types of information used and what level of evidence could alter their clinical practice in prostate cancer. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify differences in physician characteristics for each outcome. Results: Survey response rates were similar for radiation oncologists and urologists (44% vs 46%; P=.46). Specialty-specific journals represented the most commonly usedmore » resource for informing the clinical practice for radiation oncologists (65%) and urologists (70%). Relative to radiation oncologists, urologists were less likely to report utilizing top-tier medical journals (25% vs 39%; adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.50; P=.01) or cancer journals (22% vs 51%; adjusted OR 0.50; P<.001) but more likely to rely on clinical guidelines (46% vs 38%; adjusted OR 1.6; P=.006). Both radiation oncologists and urologists most commonly reported large randomized, clinical trials as the level of evidence to change treatment recommendations for localized prostate cancer (85% vs 77%; P=.009). Conclusions: Both specialties rely on their own specialty-specific journals and view randomized, clinical trials as the level of evidence needed to change clinical practice. Our study provides a context on meaningful ways of disseminating evidence for localized prostate cancer.« less

Neighbourhood social capital and adolescent self-reported wellbeing in New Zealand: a multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Aminzadeh, Kaveh; Denny, Simon; Utter, Jennifer; Milfont, Taciano L; Ameratunga, Shanthi; Teevale, Tasileta; Clark, Terryann

2013-05-01

The association between neighbourhood social capital and individual health and wellbeing has been explored mainly by focussing on adult outcomes. This study explores the relationship between neighbourhood social capital and adolescent subjective wellbeing, and its interaction with adolescents' socioeconomic status. Data was taken from a random sample of 9107 students who participated in a nationally representative health survey of high school students in New Zealand in 2007. Students' wellbeing was measured by questions on general mood, life satisfaction and WHO-5 Wellbeing Index. Neighbourhood social capital was assessed according to five indicators: neighbourhood social cohesion, facilities, physical disintegration, membership in community organisations, and residential stability. All neighbourhood measures were created based on students' responses aggregated to the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhood was defined as a Census Area Unit, with a median population of 2000 people. Analyses included only neighbourhoods with more than 10 students, and were conducted using cross-classified random intercept multilevel models controlling for students' age, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, with both schools and neighbourhoods treated as random effects. A total of 5567 students within 262 neighbourhoods were considered in the analysis. Students living in neighbourhoods characterised by higher levels of social cohesion and membership in community organisations reported higher levels of wellbeing. The association between student self-reported wellbeing and neighbourhood membership in community organisations varied according to the individual socioeconomic status of students. Neighbourhood membership in community organisations showed a stronger protective effect for students who were more socioeconomically deprived. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

"Under the radar": nurse practitioner prescribers and pharmaceutical industry promotions.

PubMed

Ladd, Elissa C; Mahoney, Diane Feeney; Emani, Srinivas

2010-12-01

To assess nurse practitioners' interactions with pharmaceutical industry promotional activities and their perception of information reliability and self-reported prescribing behaviors. Self-administered online survey. A nationally randomized sample of nurse practitioner prescribers was surveyed. Eligibility criteria included current clinical practice and licensure to prescribe medications in their state of practice. A total of 263 responses were analyzed. Almost all respondents (96%) reported regular contact with pharmaceutical sales representatives, and most (71%) reported receiving information on new drugs directly from pharmaceutical sales representatives some or most of the time. A large portion (66%) dispensed drug samples regularly to their patients, and 73% believed that samples were somewhat or very helpful in learning about new drugs. Eighty-one percent of respondents thought that it was ethically acceptable to give out samples to anyone, and 90% believed that it was acceptable to attend lunch and dinner events sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry. Almost half (48%) stated that they were more likely to prescribe a drug that was highlighted during a lunch or dinner event. Most respondents stated that it was ethically acceptable for speakers to be paid by industry. Nurse practitioner prescribers had extensive contact with pharmaceutical industry promotional activities such as pharmaceutical representative contact, receipt of drug samples, and regular attendance at industry-sponsored meal events and continuing education programs. They reported that industry interface with nurse practitioner prescribers in the form of sponsored meals, education events, and paid speakers was ethically acceptable.

Mitigating budget constraints on visitation volume surveys: the case of U.S. National forests

Treesearch

Ashley E. Askew; Donald B.K. English; Stanley J. Zarnoch; Neelam C. Poudyal; J.M. Bowker

2014-01-01

Stratified random sampling (SRS) provides a scientifically based estimate of a population comprising mutually exclusive, homogenous subgroups. In the National Visitor Use Monitoring (NVUM) program, SRS is used to estimate recreation visitation and visitor characteristics across activities on National forests. However, with rising costs and declining budgets, carrying...

Urban-Rural Comparisons in Hospital Admission, Treatments, and Outcomes for ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction in China From 2001 to 2011: A Retrospective Analysis From the China PEACE Study (Patient-Centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events).

PubMed

Li, Xi; Murugiah, Karthik; Li, Jing; Masoudi, Frederick A; Chan, Paul S; Hu, Shuang; Spertus, John A; Wang, Yongfei; Downing, Nicholas S; Krumholz, Harlan M; Jiang, Lixin

2017-11-01

In response to urban-rural disparities in healthcare resources, China recently launched a healthcare reform with a focus on improving rural care during the past decade. However, nationally representative studies comparing medical care and patient outcomes between urban and rural areas in China during this period are not available. We created a nationally representative sample of patients in China admitted for ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction in 2001, 2006, and 2011, using a 2-stage random sampling design in 2 urban and 3 rural strata. In China, evidence-based treatments were provided less often in 2001 in rural hospitals, which had lower volume and less availability of advanced cardiac facilities. However, these differences diminished by 2011 for reperfusion therapy (54% in urban versus 57% in rural; P =0.1) and reversed for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (66% versus 68%; P =0.04) and early β-blockers (56% versus 60%; P =0.01). The risk-adjusted rate of in-hospital death or withdrawal from treatment was not significantly different between urban and rural hospitals in any study year, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.13 (0.77-1.65) in 2001, 0.99 (0.77-1.27) in 2006, and 0.94 (0.74-1.19) in 2011. Although urban-rural disparities in evidence-based treatment for myocardial infarction in China have largely been eliminated, substantial gaps in quality of care persist in both settings. In addition, urban hospitals providing more resource-intensive care did not achieve better outcomes. URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01624883. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Extended-hours hemodialysis is associated with lower mortality risk in patients with end-stage renal disease.

PubMed

Rivara, Matthew B; Adams, Scott V; Kuttykrishnan, Sooraj; Kalantar-Zadeh, Kamyar; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Cheung, Alfred K; Katz, Ronit; Molnar, Miklos Z; Ravel, Vanessa; Soohoo, Melissa; Streja, Elani; Himmelfarb, Jonathan; Mehrotra, Rajnish

2016-12-01

Extended-hours hemodialysis offers substantially longer treatment time compared to conventional hemodialysis schedules and is associated with improved fluid and electrolyte control and favorable cardiac remodeling. However, whether extended-hours hemodialysis improves survival remains unclear. Therefore, we determined the association between extended-hours compared to conventional hemodialysis and the risk of all-cause mortality in a nationally representative cohort of patients initiating maintenance dialysis in the United States from 2007 to 2011. Survival analyses using causal inference modeling with marginal structural models were performed to compare mortality risk among 1206 individuals undergoing thrice weekly extended-hours hemodialysis or 111,707 patients receiving conventional hemodialysis treatments. The average treatment time per session for extended-hours hemodialysis was 399 minutes compared to 211 minutes for conventional therapy. The crude mortality rate with extended-hours hemodialysis was 6.4 deaths per 100 patient-years compared with 14.7 deaths per 100 patient-years for conventional hemodialysis. In the primary analysis, patients treated with extended-hours hemodialysis had a 33% lower adjusted risk of death compared to those who were treated with a conventional regimen (95% confidence interval: 7% to 51%). Additional analyses accounting for analytical assumptions regarding exposure and outcome, facility-level confounders, and prior modality history were similar. Thus, in this large nationally representative cohort, treatment with extended-hours hemodialysis was associated with a lower risk for mortality compared to treatment with conventional in-center therapy. Adequately powered randomized clinical trials comparing extended-hours to conventional hemodialysis are required to confirm these findings. Copyright © 2016 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Long-term consequences of childhood ADHD on criminal activities.

PubMed

Fletcher, Jason; Wolfe, Barbara

2009-09-01

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent mental health problems facing children. Little is known of the long-term consequences of ADHD on young adult outcomes. We examine the associations between childhood ADHD symptoms and criminal activities as a young adult. We use a nationally representative study of US adolescents and logistic regression analysis to examine our research question. We also control for common family factors using sibling random and fixed effects and test the robustness of our results in several ways. The empirical estimates show that children who experience ADHD symptoms face a substantially increased likelihood of engaging in many types of criminal activities. An included calculation of the social costs associated with criminal activities by individuals with childhood ADHD finds the costs to be substantial. Our study provides the first evidence using a nationally representative dataset of the long term consequences on criminal activities of childhood ADHD. Our results are quite robust to a number of specification checks. Limitations of our study include that our measures of ADHD are retrospective, we have no information on treatment for ADHD, and it remains possible that our results are confounded by unmeasured variables. Our results suggest that children showing ADHD symptoms should be viewed as a group at high risk of poor outcomes as young adults. As such, a good case can be made for targeting intervention programs on this group of children and conducting evaluations to learn if such interventions are effective in reducing the probability that these children commit a crime. Development of such intervention programs and evaluating them for efficiency could be dollars well spent in terms of crime and drug abuse averted.

Childhood diarrhoea management practices in Bangladesh: private sector dominance and continued inequities in care.

PubMed

Larson, Charles P; Saha, Unnati Rani; Islam, Rafiqul; Roy, Nikhil

2006-12-01

Monitoring for disparities in health and services received based upon gender, income, and geography should continue as renewed efforts to reduce under-five mortality are made in response to millennium development goal #4. The purpose of this survey was to provide a nationally representative description of current childhood diarrhoea management practices and disparities in Bangladesh. A nationally representative, cross-sectional, cluster-sample survey was carried out in randomly selected rural and urban populations across Bangladesh. The survey was completed over an 8 month period between November 2003 and June 2004. A total of 7308 children with a prevalent diarrhoeal illness episode within 560 clusters were identified and enrolled in the survey. In 61% of the cases help was sought from a health care provider, with over 90% practicing in the private sector. Caretaker practice disparities favouring males and higher income households were identified. Significant trends (P < 0.001) favouring higher income households were found for having sought help from any provider or a licensed doctor and for treating their child with oral rehydration solution or an antibiotic. Female children in urban households were less likely to be seen by a licensed allopath, adj OR 0.73 (95% CI 0.57, 0.94). Among rural households gender disparities were limited to females being less likely to receive an antibiotic, adj OR 0.74 (95% CI 0.65, 0.86). Households seeking help from a health provider overwhelmingly utilize the private sector in Bangladesh. Gender inequities in the utilization of licensed providers and purchase of antibiotics, favouring males were identified. Findings suggest that higher income, urban households tend to practice greater gender discrimination. In order to better understand health dynamics in urban populations, in particular slum-dwellers, there is a need to disaggregate survey data by household location.

Individual, household, and community level risk factors of stunting in children younger than 5 years: Findings from a national surveillance system in Nepal.

PubMed

Dorsey, Jamie L; Manohar, Swetha; Neupane, Sumanta; Shrestha, Binod; Klemm, Rolf D W; West, Keith P

2018-01-01

Despite substantial reductions in recent years in Nepal, stunting prevalence in children younger than 5 years remains high and represents a leading public health concern. To identify factors contributing to the stunting burden, we report multilevel risk factors associated with stunting in 4,853 children aged 6-59 months in a nationally and agroecologically representative random sample from the first year of the Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture, and Nutrition Community Studies, a community-based observational, mixed-panel study. Mixed effects logistic regressions controlling for multilevel clustering in the study design were used to examine the association of individual-, household-, and community-level factors associated with stunting. Stunting prevalence was 38% in our sample. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, maternal factors, including maternal height and education, were generally the strongest individual-level risk factors for stunting, adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.52, 95% CI [1.96, 3.25], short (<145 cm) versus not short mothers; AOR = 2.09, 95% CI [1.48, 2.96], uneducated mothers versus secondary school graduates. Among the household- and community-level factors, household expenditure and community infrastructure (presence of paved roads, markets, or hospitals) were strongly, inversely associated with increased stunting risk, AOR = 1.68, 95% CI [1.27, 2.24], lowest versus highest household expenditure quintile; AOR = 2.38, 95% CI [1.36, 4.14], less developed (lacking paved roads, markets, or hospitals) versus more developed communities. Although most factors associated with stunting are not rapidly modifiable, areas for future research and possible interventions emerged. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Prevalence of self-reported diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and associated risk factors in a national survey in the US population: SHIELD (Study to Help Improve Early evaluation and management of risk factors Leading to Diabetes)

PubMed Central

Bays, Harold E; Bazata, Debbra D; Clark, Nathaniel G; Gavin, James R; Green, Andrew J; Lewis, Sandra J; Reed, Michael L; Stewart, Walter; Chapman, Richard H; Fox, Kathleen M; Grandy, Susan

2007-01-01

Background Studies derived from continuous national surveys have shown that the prevalence of diagnosed diabetes mellitus in the US is increasing. This study estimated the prevalence in 2004 of self-reported diagnosis of diabetes and other conditions in a community-based population, using data from the Study to Help Improve Early evaluation and management of risk factors Leading to Diabetes (SHIELD). Methods The initial screening questionnaire was mailed in 2004 to a stratified random sample of 200,000 households in the US, to identify individuals, age ≥ 18 years of age, with diabetes or risk factors associated with diabetes. Follow-up disease impact questionnaires were then mailed to a representative, stratified random sample of individuals (n = 22,001) in each subgroup of interest (those with diabetes or different numbers of risk factors for diabetes). Estimated national prevalence of diabetes and other conditions was calculated, and compared to prevalence estimates from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2002. Results Response rates were 63.7% for the screening, and 71.8% for the follow-up baseline survey. The SHIELD screening survey found overall prevalence of self-reported diagnosis of diabetes (either type 1 or type 2) was 8.2%, with increased prevalence with increasing age and decreasing income. In logistic regression modeling, individuals were more likely to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes if they had abdominal obesity (odds ratio [OR] = 3.50; p < 0.0001), BMI ≥28 kg/m2 (OR = 4.04; p < 0.0001), or had been diagnosed with dyslipidemia (OR = 3.95; p < 0.0001), hypertension (OR = 4.82; p < 0.0001), or with cardiovascular disease (OR = 3.38; p < 0.0001). Conclusion The SHIELD design allowed for a very large, community-based sample with broad demographic representation of the population of interest. When comparing results from the SHIELD screening survey (self-report only) to those from NHANES 1999–2002 (self-report, clinical and laboratory evaluations), the prevalence of diabetes was similar. SHIELD allows the identification of respondents with and without a current diagnosis of the illness of interest, and potential longitudinal evaluation of risk factors for future diagnosis of that illness. PMID:17915014

48 CFR 1852.227-72 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... technology representative and patent representative. 1852.227-72 Section 1852.227-72 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES Texts of Provisions and Clauses 1852.227-72 Designation of new technology representative...

48 CFR 1852.227-72 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... technology representative and patent representative. 1852.227-72 Section 1852.227-72 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES Texts of Provisions and Clauses 1852.227-72 Designation of new technology representative...

48 CFR 1852.227-72 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... technology representative and patent representative. 1852.227-72 Section 1852.227-72 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES Texts of Provisions and Clauses 1852.227-72 Designation of new technology representative...

48 CFR 1852.227-72 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... technology representative and patent representative. 1852.227-72 Section 1852.227-72 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES Texts of Provisions and Clauses 1852.227-72 Designation of new technology representative...

48 CFR 1852.227-72 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... technology representative and patent representative. 1852.227-72 Section 1852.227-72 Federal Acquisition Regulations System NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION CLAUSES AND FORMS SOLICITATION PROVISIONS AND CONTRACT CLAUSES Texts of Provisions and Clauses 1852.227-72 Designation of new technology representative...

78 FR 42997 - Membership Availability in the National Parks Overflights Advisory Group Aviation Rulemaking...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-18

... commercial air tour operations over and near national parks. This notice informs the public of two vacancies on the NPOAG [now the NPOAG Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC)] for members representing commercial... 2001, and is comprised of a balanced group of representatives of general aviation, commercial air tour...

Recreation in the United States. National Historic Landmark Theme Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charleton, James H.

This report examines a number of outstanding and illustrative examples of a broad range of properties representing recreational activities that suggest themselves for possible National Historic Landmark recognition. The properties described in the study have been selected to represent places and activities that have had a major impact on American…

Cross-Validation of FITNESSGRAM® Health-Related Fitness Standards in Hungarian Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laurson, Kelly R.; Saint-Maurice, Pedro F.; Karsai, István; Csányi, Tamás

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to cross-validate FITNESSGRAM® aerobic and body composition standards in a representative sample of Hungarian youth. Method: A nationally representative sample (N = 405) of Hungarian adolescents from the Hungarian National Youth Fitness Study (ages 12-18.9 years) participated in an aerobic capacity assessment…

Labor Force Participation Rates among Working-Age Individuals with Visual Impairments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Stacy M.

2013-01-01

The present study analyzes four consecutive years of monthly labor force participation rates reported by the Current Population Survey that included nationally representative samples of the general U.S. population and nationally representative samples of the U.S. population with specifically identified disabilities. Visual impairment is one of the…

Associations among School Characteristics and Foodservice Practices in a Nationally Representative Sample of United States Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomson, Jessica L.; Tussing-Humphreys, Lisa M.; Martin, Corby K.; LeBlanc, Monique M.; Onufrak, Stephen J.

2012-01-01

Objective: Determine school characteristics associated with healthy/unhealthy food service offerings or healthy food preparation practices. Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data. Setting: Nationally representative sample of public and private elementary, middle, and high schools. Participants: Data from the 2006 School Health Policies…

Sex Differences in Tuberculosis Burden and Notifications in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Horton, Katherine C.; MacPherson, Peter; Houben, Rein M. G. J.; Corbett, Elizabeth L.

2016-01-01

Background Tuberculosis (TB) case notification rates are usually higher in men than in women, but notification data are insufficient to measure sex differences in disease burden. This review set out to systematically investigate whether sex ratios in case notifications reflect differences in disease prevalence and to identify gaps in access to and/or utilisation of diagnostic services. Methods and Findings In accordance with the published protocol (CRD42015022163), TB prevalence surveys in nationally representative and sub-national adult populations (age ≥ 15 y) in low- and middle-income countries published between 1 January 1993 and 15 March 2016 were identified through searches of PubMed, Embase, Global Health, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; review of abstracts; and correspondence with the World Health Organization. Random-effects meta-analyses examined male-to-female (M:F) ratios in TB prevalence and prevalence-to-notification (P:N) ratios for smear-positive TB. Meta-regression was done to identify factors associated with higher M:F ratios in prevalence and higher P:N ratios. Eighty-three publications describing 88 surveys with over 3.1 million participants in 28 countries were identified (36 surveys in Africa, three in the Americas, four in the Eastern Mediterranean, 28 in South-East Asia and 17 in the Western Pacific). Fifty-six surveys reported in 53 publications were included in quantitative analyses. Overall random-effects weighted M:F prevalence ratios were 2.21 (95% CI 1.92–2.54; 56 surveys) for bacteriologically positive TB and 2.51 (95% CI 2.07–3.04; 40 surveys) for smear-positive TB. M:F prevalence ratios were highest in South-East Asia and in surveys that did not require self-report of signs/symptoms in initial screening procedures. The summary random-effects weighted M:F ratio for P:N ratios was 1.55 (95% CI 1.25–1.91; 34 surveys). We intended to stratify the analyses by age, HIV status, and rural or urban setting; however, few studies reported such data. Conclusions TB prevalence is significantly higher among men than women in low- and middle-income countries, with strong evidence that men are disadvantaged in seeking and/or accessing TB care in many settings. Global strategies and national TB programmes should recognise men as an underserved high-risk group and improve men’s access to diagnostic and screening services to reduce the overall burden of TB more effectively and ensure gender equity in TB care. PMID:27598345

The Prostate cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial:VA/NCI/AHRQ Cooperative Studies Program #407 (PIVOT): design and baseline results of a randomized controlled trial comparing radical prostatectomy to watchful waiting for men with clinically localized prostate cancer.

PubMed

Wilt, Timothy J; Brawer, Michael K; Barry, Michael J; Jones, Karen M; Kwon, Young; Gingrich, Jeffrey R; Aronson, William J; Nsouli, Imad; Iyer, Padmini; Cartagena, Ruben; Snider, Glenn; Roehrborn, Claus; Fox, Steven

2009-01-01

Prostate cancer is the most common noncutaneous malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer death in men. Ninety percent of men with prostate cancer are over aged 60 years, diagnosed by early detection with the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test and have disease believed confined to the prostate gland (clinically localized). Common treatments for clinically localized prostate cancer include watchful waiting surgery to remove the prostate gland (radical prostatectomy), external beam radiation therapy and interstitial radiation therapy (brachytherapy) and androgen deprivation. Little is known about the relative effectiveness and harms of treatments due to the paucity of randomized controlled trials. The VA/NCI/AHRQ Cooperative Studies Program Study #407: Prostate cancer Intervention Versus Observation Trial (PIVOT), initiated in 1994, is a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing radical prostatectomy to watchful waiting in men with clinically localized prostate cancer. We describe the study rationale, design, recruitment methods and baseline characteristics of PIVOT enrollees. We provide comparisons with eligible men declining enrollment and men participating in another recently reported randomized trial of radical prostatectomy versus watchful waiting conducted in Scandinavia. We screened 13,022 men with prostate cancer at 52 United States medical centers for potential enrollment. From these, 5023 met initial age, comorbidity and disease eligibility criteria and a total of 731 men agreed to participate and were randomized. The mean age of enrollees was 67 years. Nearly one-third were African-American. Approximately 85% reported they were fully active. The median prostate specific antigen (PSA) was 7.8 ng/mL (mean 10.2 ng/mL). In three-fourths of men the primary reason for biopsy leading to a diagnosis of prostate cancer was a PSA elevation or rise. Using previously developed tumor risk categorizations incorporating PSA levels, Gleason histologic grade and tumor stage, approximately 43% had low risk, 36% had medium risk and 20% had high-risk prostate cancer. Comparison to our national sample of eligible men declining PIVOT participation as well as to men enrolled in the Scandinavian trial indicated that PIVOT enrollees are representative of men being diagnosed and treated in the U.S. and quite different from men in the Scandinavian trial. PIVOT enrolled an ethnically diverse population representative of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the United States. Results will yield important information regarding the relative effectiveness and harms of surgery compared to watchful waiting for men with predominately PSA detected clinically localized prostate cancer.

Somatosensory Modulation of Salivary Gene Expression and Oral Feeding in Preterm Infants: Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Maron, Jill Lamanna; Alterovitz, Gil; Song, Dongli; Wilson, Bernard Joseph; Jegatheesan, Priya; Govindaswami, Balaji; Lee, Jaehoon; Rosner, Austin Oder

2017-01-01

Background Despite numerous medical advances in the care of at-risk preterm neonates, oral feeding still represents one of the first and most advanced neurological challenges facing this delicate population. Objective, quantitative, and noninvasive assessment tools, as well as neurotherapeutic strategies, are greatly needed in order to improve feeding and developmental outcomes. Pulsed pneumatic orocutaneous stimulation has been shown to improve nonnutritive sucking (NNS) skills in preterm infants who exhibit delayed or disordered nipple feeding behaviors. Separately, the study of the salivary transcriptome in neonates has helped identify biomarkers directly linked to successful neonatal oral feeding behavior. The combination of noninvasive treatment strategies and transcriptomic analysis represents an integrative approach to oral feeding in which rapid technological advances and personalized transcriptomics can safely and noninvasively be brought to the bedside to inform medical care decisions and improve care and outcomes. Objective The study aimed to conduct a multicenter randomized control trial (RCT) to combine molecular and behavioral methods in an experimental conceptualization approach to map the effects of PULSED somatosensory stimulation on salivary gene expression in the context of the acquisition of oral feeding habits in high-risk human neonates. The aims of this study represent the first attempt to combine noninvasive treatment strategies and transcriptomic assessments of high-risk extremely preterm infants (EPI) to (1) improve oral feeding behavior and skills, (2) further our understanding of the gene ontology of biologically diverse pathways related to oral feeding, (3) use gene expression data to personalize neonatal care and individualize treatment strategies and timing interventions, and (4) improve long-term developmental outcomes. Methods A total of 180 extremely preterm infants from three neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) will be randomized to receive either PULSED or SHAM (non-pulsing) orocutaneous intervention simultaneous with tube feedings 3 times per day for 4 weeks, beginning at 30 weeks postconceptional age. Infants will also be assessed 3 times per week for NNS performance, and multiple saliva samples will be obtained each week for transcriptomic analysis, until infants have achieved full oral feeding status. At 18 months corrected age (CA), infants will undergo neurodevelopmental follow-up testing, the results of which will be correlated with feeding outcomes in the neo-and post-natal period and with gene expression data and intervention status. Results The ongoing National Institutes of Health funded randomized controlled trial R01HD086088 is actively recruiting participants. The expected completion date of the study is 2021. Conclusions Differential salivary gene expression profiles in response to orosensory entrainment intervention are expected to lead to the development of individualized interventions for the diagnosis and management of oral feeding in preterm infants. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02696343; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02696343 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6r5NbJ9Ym) PMID:28615158

Youth Hostels. Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Insular Affairs of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. House of Representatives, 95th Congress, Second Session on H.R. 13557 (August 14, 1978).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC.

Representatives from the House of Representatives, American Youth Hostels, Inc. (AYH), the Council on International Exchange, Amtrak, the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs, Trancare, Inc. of Maryland, and the East Coast Bicycle Congress testified in favor of H.R. 13557 at the August 14, 1978, hearing in Washington, D.C. H.R. 13557…

Estimating rate uncertainty with maximum likelihood: differences between power-law and flicker–random-walk models

USGS Publications Warehouse

Langbein, John O.

2012-01-01

Recent studies have documented that global positioning system (GPS) time series of position estimates have temporal correlations which have been modeled as a combination of power-law and white noise processes. When estimating quantities such as a constant rate from GPS time series data, the estimated uncertainties on these quantities are more realistic when using a noise model that includes temporal correlations than simply assuming temporally uncorrelated noise. However, the choice of the specific representation of correlated noise can affect the estimate of uncertainty. For many GPS time series, the background noise can be represented by either: (1) a sum of flicker and random-walk noise or, (2) as a power-law noise model that represents an average of the flicker and random-walk noise. For instance, if the underlying noise model is a combination of flicker and random-walk noise, then incorrectly choosing the power-law model could underestimate the rate uncertainty by a factor of two. Distinguishing between the two alternate noise models is difficult since the flicker component can dominate the assessment of the noise properties because it is spread over a significant portion of the measurable frequency band. But, although not necessarily detectable, the random-walk component can be a major constituent of the estimated rate uncertainty. None the less, it is possible to determine the upper bound on the random-walk noise.

[China National Lung Cancer Screening Guideline with Low-dose Computed 
Tomography (2018 version)].

PubMed

Zhou, Qinghua; Fan, Yaguang; Wang, Ying; Qiao, Youlin; Wang, Guiqi; Huang, Yunchao; Wang, Xinyun; Wu, Ning; Zhang, Guozheng; Zheng, Xiangpeng; Bu, Hong; Li, Yin; Wei, Sen; Chen, Liang'an; Hu, Chengping; Shi, Yuankai; Sun, Yan

2018-02-20

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in China. The results from a randomized controlled trial using annual low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) in specific high-risk groups demonstrated a 20% reduction in lung cancer mortality. The aim of tihs study is to establish the China National lung cancer screening guidelines for clinical practice. The China lung cancer early detection and treatment expert group (CLCEDTEG) established the China National Lung Cancer Screening Guideline with multidisciplinary representation including 4 thoracic surgeons, 4 thoracic radiologists, 2 medical oncologists, 2 pulmonologists, 2 pathologist, and 2 epidemiologist. Members have engaged in interdisciplinary collaborations regarding lung cancer screening and clinical care of patients with at risk for lung cancer. The expert group reviewed the literature, including screening trials in the United States and Europe and China, and discussed local best clinical practices in the China. A consensus-based guidelines, China National Lung Cancer Screening Guideline (CNLCSG), was recommended by CLCEDTEG appointed by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, based on results of the National Lung Screening Trial, systematic review of evidence related to LDCT screening, and protocol of lung cancer screening program conducted in rural China. Annual lung cancer screening with LDCT is recommended for high risk individuals aged 50-74 years who have at least a 20 pack-year smoking history and who currently smoke or have quit within the past five years. Individualized decision making should be conducted before LDCT screening. LDCT screening also represents an opportunity to educate patients as to the health risks of smoking; thus, education should be integrated into the screening process in order to assist smoking cessation. A lung cancer screening guideline is recommended for the high-risk population in China. Additional research , including LDCT combined with biomarkers, is needed to optimize the approach to low-dose CT screening in the future.

Novel approach to systematic random sampling in population surveys: Lessons from the United Arab Emirates National Diabetes Study (UAEDIAB).

PubMed

Sulaiman, Nabil; Albadawi, Salah; Abusnana, Salah; Fikri, Mahmoud; Madani, Abdulrazzag; Mairghani, Maisoon; Alawadi, Fatheya; Zimmet, Paul; Shaw, Jonathan

2015-09-01

The prevalence of diabetes has risen rapidly in the Middle East, particularly in the Gulf Region. However, some prevalence estimates have not fully accounted for large migrant worker populations and have focused on minority indigenous populations. The objectives of the UAE National Diabetes and Lifestyle Study are to: (i) define the prevalence of, and risk factors for, T2DM; (ii) describe the distribution and determinants of T2DM risk factors; (iii) study health knowledge, attitudes, and (iv) identify gene-environment interactions; and (v) develop baseline data for evaluation of future intervention programs. Given the high burden of diabetes in the region and the absence of accurate data on non-UAE nationals in the UAE, a representative sample of the non-UAE nationals was essential. We used an innovative methodology in which non-UAE nationals were sampled when attending the mandatory biannual health check that is required for visa renewal. Such an approach could also be used in other countries in the region. Complete data were available for 2719 eligible non-UAE nationals (25.9% Arabs, 70.7% Asian non-Arabs, 1.1% African non-Arabs, and 2.3% Westerners). Most were men < 65 years of age. The response rate was 68%, and the non-response was greater among women than men; 26.9% earned less than UAE Dirham (AED) 24 000 (US$6500) and the most common areas of employment were as managers or professionals, in service and sales, and unskilled occupations. Most (37.4%) had completed high school and 4.1% had a postgraduate degree. This novel methodology could provide insights for epidemiological studies in the UAE and other Gulf States, particularly for expatriates. © 2015 Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage in young Australian women is higher than previously estimated: independent estimates from a nationally representative mobile phone survey.

PubMed

Brotherton, Julia M L; Liu, Bette; Donovan, Basil; Kaldor, John M; Saville, Marion

2014-01-23

Accurate estimates of coverage are essential for estimating the population effectiveness of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. Australia has a purpose built National HPV Vaccination Program Register for monitoring coverage, however notification of doses administered to young women in the community during the national catch-up program (2007-2009) was not compulsory. In 2011, we undertook a population-based mobile phone survey of young women to independently estimate HPV vaccination coverage. Randomly generated mobile phone numbers were dialed to recruit women aged 22-30 (age eligible for HPV vaccination) to complete a computer assisted telephone interview. Consent was sought to validate self reported HPV vaccination status against the national register. Coverage rates were calculated based on self report and weighted to the age and state of residence structure of the Australian female population. These were compared with coverage estimates from the register using Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated resident populations as the denominator. Among the 1379 participants, the national estimate for self reported HPV vaccination coverage for doses 1/2/3, respectively, weighted for age and state of residence, was 64/59/53%. This compares with coverage of 55/45/32% and 49/40/28% based on register records, using 2007 and 2011 population data as the denominators respectively. Some significant differences in coverage between the states were identified. 20% (223) of women returned a consent form allowing validation of doses against the register and provider records: among these women 85.6% (538) of self reported doses were confirmed. We confirmed that coverage rates for young women vaccinated in the community (at age 18-26 years) are underestimated by the national register and that under-notification is greater for second and third doses. Using 2011 population estimates, rather than estimates contemporaneous with the program rollout, reduces register-based coverage estimates further because of large population increases due to immigration since the program. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Representing "Us" and "Them": Building Blocks of Intergroup Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baron, Andrew Scott; Dunham, Yarrow

2015-01-01

Three experiments explored whether group membership affects the acquisition of richer information about social groups. Employing a minimal-groups paradigm, 6- to 8-year-olds were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 novel social groups. Experiment 1 demonstrated that immediately following random assignment to a novel group, children were more likely to…

Portable and Error-Free DNA-Based Data Storage.

PubMed

Yazdi, S M Hossein Tabatabaei; Gabrys, Ryan; Milenkovic, Olgica

2017-07-10

DNA-based data storage is an emerging nonvolatile memory technology of potentially unprecedented density, durability, and replication efficiency. The basic system implementation steps include synthesizing DNA strings that contain user information and subsequently retrieving them via high-throughput sequencing technologies. Existing architectures enable reading and writing but do not offer random-access and error-free data recovery from low-cost, portable devices, which is crucial for making the storage technology competitive with classical recorders. Here we show for the first time that a portable, random-access platform may be implemented in practice using nanopore sequencers. The novelty of our approach is to design an integrated processing pipeline that encodes data to avoid costly synthesis and sequencing errors, enables random access through addressing, and leverages efficient portable sequencing via new iterative alignment and deletion error-correcting codes. Our work represents the only known random access DNA-based data storage system that uses error-prone nanopore sequencers, while still producing error-free readouts with the highest reported information rate/density. As such, it represents a crucial step towards practical employment of DNA molecules as storage media.

Clinical Applications of Stochastic Dynamic Models of the Brain, Part I: A Primer.

PubMed

Roberts, James A; Friston, Karl J; Breakspear, Michael

2017-04-01

Biological phenomena arise through interactions between an organism's intrinsic dynamics and stochastic forces-random fluctuations due to external inputs, thermal energy, or other exogenous influences. Dynamic processes in the brain derive from neurophysiology and anatomical connectivity; stochastic effects arise through sensory fluctuations, brainstem discharges, and random microscopic states such as thermal noise. The dynamic evolution of systems composed of both dynamic and random effects can be studied with stochastic dynamic models (SDMs). This article, Part I of a two-part series, offers a primer of SDMs and their application to large-scale neural systems in health and disease. The companion article, Part II, reviews the application of SDMs to brain disorders. SDMs generate a distribution of dynamic states, which (we argue) represent ideal candidates for modeling how the brain represents states of the world. When augmented with variational methods for model inversion, SDMs represent a powerful means of inferring neuronal dynamics from functional neuroimaging data in health and disease. Together with deeper theoretical considerations, this work suggests that SDMs will play a unique and influential role in computational psychiatry, unifying empirical observations with models of perception and behavior. Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

What Are Probability Surveys used by the National Aquatic Resource Surveys?

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) use probability-survey designs to assess the condition of the nation’s waters. In probability surveys (also known as sample-surveys or statistical surveys), sampling sites are selected randomly.

Representation of critical natural capital in China.

PubMed

Lü, Yihe; Zhang, Liwei; Zeng, Yuan; Fu, Bojie; Whitham, Charlotte; Liu, Shuguang; Wu, Bingfang

2017-08-01

Traditional means of assessing representativeness of conservation value in protected areas depend on measures of structural biodiversity. The effectiveness of priority conservation areas at representing critical natural capital (CNC) (i.e., an essential and renewable subset of natural capital) remains largely unknown. We analyzed the representativeness of CNC-conservation priority areas in national nature reserves (i.e., nature reserves under jurisdiction of the central government with large spatial distribution across the provinces) in China with a new biophysical-based composite indicator approach. With this approach, we integrated the net primary production of vegetation, topography, soil, and climate variables to map and rank terrestrial ecosystems capacities to generate CNC. National nature reserves accounted for 6.7% of CNC-conservation priority areas across China. Considerable gaps (35.2%) existed between overall (or potential) CNC representativeness nationally and CNC representation in national reserves, and there was significant spatial heterogeneity of representativeness in CNC-conservation priority areas at the regional and provincial levels. For example, the best and worst representations were, respectively, 13.0% and 1.6% regionally and 28.9% and 0.0% provincially. Policy in China is transitioning toward the goal of an ecologically sustainable civilization. We identified CNC-conservation priority areas and conservation gaps and thus contribute to the policy goals of optimization of the national nature reserve network and the demarcation of areas critical to improving the representativeness and conservation of highly functioning areas of natural capital. Moreover, our method for assessing representation of CNC can be easily adapted to other large-scale networks of conservation areas because few data are needed, and our model is relatively simple. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.

7 CFR 1260.113 - Established national nonprofit industry-governed organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Established national nonprofit industry-governed... national nonprofit industry-governed organizations. Established national nonprofit industry-governed... directors representing the cattle or beef industry on a national basis; and (c) Have been active and ongoing...

7 CFR 1260.113 - Established national nonprofit industry-governed organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Established national nonprofit industry-governed... national nonprofit industry-governed organizations. Established national nonprofit industry-governed... directors representing the cattle or beef industry on a national basis; and (c) Were active and ongoing...

7 CFR 1260.113 - Established national nonprofit industry-governed organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Established national nonprofit industry-governed... national nonprofit industry-governed organizations. Established national nonprofit industry-governed... directors representing the cattle or beef industry on a national basis; and (c) Have been active and ongoing...

7 CFR 1260.113 - Established national nonprofit industry-governed organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Established national nonprofit industry-governed... national nonprofit industry-governed organizations. Established national nonprofit industry-governed... directors representing the cattle or beef industry on a national basis; and (c) Were active and ongoing...

7 CFR 1260.113 - Established national nonprofit industry-governed organizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Established national nonprofit industry-governed... national nonprofit industry-governed organizations. Established national nonprofit industry-governed... directors representing the cattle or beef industry on a national basis; and (c) Were active and ongoing...

National Health Expenditures, 1978

PubMed Central

Gibson, Robert M.

1979-01-01

Outlays for health care in the Nation reached $192.4 billion in calendar year 1978--13 percent higher than in 1977, according to preliminary figures compiled by the Health Care Financing Administration. This estimate represented $863 per person in the United States and was equal to 9.1 percent of the GNP. This latest report in the annual series representing national health expenditures provides detailed estimates of health care spending by type of service and method of financing. Revised estimates are presented extending back to 1965. PMID:10309049

Observance of National Children's Day. Joint Hearing before the Task Force on Human Resources of the Committee on the Budget and the Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families of the House of Representatives. One Hundred First Congress, First Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on the Budget.

In observance of National Children's Day, this House of Representatives' joint hearing was concerned with children's health, education, and welfare issues. Its purpose was to discuss the first National Children's Day Report Card, which provides information about changes that need to be made in government spending and in the treatment of children…

Dying the right-way? Interest in and perceived persuasiveness of parochial extremist propaganda increases after mortality salience

PubMed Central

Frischlich, Lena; Rieger, Diana; Hein, Maia; Bente, Gary

2015-01-01

Research on parochial altruism demonstrated that hostility toward out-groups (parochialism) represents the dark side of the willingness to benefit one’s in-group even at own costs (altruism). Parochial aggression thereby emerged mainly under conditions of threat. Extremist propaganda videos, for instance by right-wing extremists, try to capitalize on parochial altruistic mechanism by telling recipients sharing their national identity that this nation is under threat wherefore they for have to join the extremist’s cause to prevent the extinction of their nation. Most of the time, propaganda videos are rated as uninteresting and non-persuasive by the target audience. Yet, evolutionary media psychology posits that the interest in and effectiveness of media increases when evolutionarily relevant problems are addressed. Consequently, interest in parochial altruistic right-wing extremist messages should increase under conditions of threat. The current study tested this assumption by randomly assigning German non-Muslims (N = 109) to either an existential threat (here: mortality salience) or a control condition and asking them to evaluate extremist propaganda that addressed them as either in-group members (right-wing extremists) or as out-group members (Islamic extremists). In support of the hypotheses, subjects under conditions of threat reported a higher interest in the right-wing extremist propaganda and perceived it as more persuasive. We discuss the results concerning the implications for evolutionary media psychology and the transmission of parochial altruism in propaganda videos. PMID:26322011

Dying the right-way? Interest in and perceived persuasiveness of parochial extremist propaganda increases after mortality salience.

PubMed

Frischlich, Lena; Rieger, Diana; Hein, Maia; Bente, Gary

2015-01-01

Research on parochial altruism demonstrated that hostility toward out-groups (parochialism) represents the dark side of the willingness to benefit one's in-group even at own costs (altruism). Parochial aggression thereby emerged mainly under conditions of threat. Extremist propaganda videos, for instance by right-wing extremists, try to capitalize on parochial altruistic mechanism by telling recipients sharing their national identity that this nation is under threat wherefore they for have to join the extremist's cause to prevent the extinction of their nation. Most of the time, propaganda videos are rated as uninteresting and non-persuasive by the target audience. Yet, evolutionary media psychology posits that the interest in and effectiveness of media increases when evolutionarily relevant problems are addressed. Consequently, interest in parochial altruistic right-wing extremist messages should increase under conditions of threat. The current study tested this assumption by randomly assigning German non-Muslims (N = 109) to either an existential threat (here: mortality salience) or a control condition and asking them to evaluate extremist propaganda that addressed them as either in-group members (right-wing extremists) or as out-group members (Islamic extremists). In support of the hypotheses, subjects under conditions of threat reported a higher interest in the right-wing extremist propaganda and perceived it as more persuasive. We discuss the results concerning the implications for evolutionary media psychology and the transmission of parochial altruism in propaganda videos.

Malaria prevalence metrics in low- and middle-income countries: an assessment of precision in nationally-representative surveys.

PubMed

Alegana, Victor A; Wright, Jim; Bosco, Claudio; Okiro, Emelda A; Atkinson, Peter M; Snow, Robert W; Tatem, Andrew J; Noor, Abdisalan M

2017-11-21

One pillar to monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is the investment in high quality data to strengthen the scientific basis for decision-making. At present, nationally-representative surveys are the main source of data for establishing a scientific evidence base, monitoring, and evaluation of health metrics. However, little is known about the optimal precisions of various population-level health and development indicators that remains unquantified in nationally-representative household surveys. Here, a retrospective analysis of the precision of prevalence from these surveys was conducted. Using malaria indicators, data were assembled in nine sub-Saharan African countries with at least two nationally-representative surveys. A Bayesian statistical model was used to estimate between- and within-cluster variability for fever and malaria prevalence, and insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) use in children under the age of 5 years. The intra-class correlation coefficient was estimated along with the optimal sample size for each indicator with associated uncertainty. Results suggest that the estimated sample sizes for the current nationally-representative surveys increases with declining malaria prevalence. Comparison between the actual sample size and the modelled estimate showed a requirement to increase the sample size for parasite prevalence by up to 77.7% (95% Bayesian credible intervals 74.7-79.4) for the 2015 Kenya MIS (estimated sample size of children 0-4 years 7218 [7099-7288]), and 54.1% [50.1-56.5] for the 2014-2015 Rwanda DHS (12,220 [11,950-12,410]). This study highlights the importance of defining indicator-relevant sample sizes to achieve the required precision in the current national surveys. While expanding the current surveys would need additional investment, the study highlights the need for improved approaches to cost effective sampling.

Observational studies of patients in the emergency department: a comparison of 4 sampling methods.

PubMed

Valley, Morgan A; Heard, Kennon J; Ginde, Adit A; Lezotte, Dennis C; Lowenstein, Steven R

2012-08-01

We evaluate the ability of 4 sampling methods to generate representative samples of the emergency department (ED) population. We analyzed the electronic records of 21,662 consecutive patient visits at an urban, academic ED. From this population, we simulated different models of study recruitment in the ED by using 2 sample sizes (n=200 and n=400) and 4 sampling methods: true random, random 4-hour time blocks by exact sample size, random 4-hour time blocks by a predetermined number of blocks, and convenience or "business hours." For each method and sample size, we obtained 1,000 samples from the population. Using χ(2) tests, we measured the number of statistically significant differences between the sample and the population for 8 variables (age, sex, race/ethnicity, language, triage acuity, arrival mode, disposition, and payer source). Then, for each variable, method, and sample size, we compared the proportion of the 1,000 samples that differed from the overall ED population to the expected proportion (5%). Only the true random samples represented the population with respect to sex, race/ethnicity, triage acuity, mode of arrival, language, and payer source in at least 95% of the samples. Patient samples obtained using random 4-hour time blocks and business hours sampling systematically differed from the overall ED patient population for several important demographic and clinical variables. However, the magnitude of these differences was not large. Common sampling strategies selected for ED-based studies may affect parameter estimates for several representative population variables. However, the potential for bias for these variables appears small. Copyright © 2012. Published by Mosby, Inc.

Psi Chi/APA Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award.

PubMed

2016-11-01

The Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award is sponsored jointly by Psi Chi, the national honor society in psychology, and the APA. The award is presented annually to the psychology graduate student who submits the best research paper that was published or presented at a national, regional, or state psychological association conference during the past calendar year. The Edwin B. Newman Graduate Research Award is given jointly by Psi Chi and APA. Members of the 2016 Edwin B. Newman Award Committee were Shawn Carlton, PhD, Psi Chi representative; Christina Frederick-Recascino, PhD; John Norcross, PhD, APA representative; Karenna Malavanti, PhD, Psi Chi representative; Steven Kohn, PhD, Psi Chi representative; Warren Fass, PhD, Psi Chi representative; Chris Lovelace, PhD, Psi Chi representative; and Cathy Epkins, PhD, APA representative. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Client Violence on Social Work Students: A National Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Criss, Pam

2010-01-01

This study uses a work stress theoretical framework to examine the effects of direct and indirect client violence on a randomly selected national sample of MSW and BSW social work students from the National Association of Social Workers (N=595). Client violence variables were analyzed in relationship to fear of future violence and occupational…

National Household Education Survey. Adult and Course Data Files User's Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brick, J. Michael; And Others

This manual provides documentation and guidance for users of the public release data files (adult file and course file) for Adult Education (AE) component of the 1991 National Household Education Survey (NHES:91). The NHES:91 was a random-digit dial telephone survey developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and conducted by…

Cross sectional analysis of the association between mode of school transportation and physical fitness in children and adolescents.

PubMed

Ostergaard, Lars; Kolle, Elin; Steene-Johannessen, Jostein; Anderssen, Sigmund A; Andersen, Lars Bo

2013-07-17

To investigate the associations between body composition, cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness in relation to travel mode to school in children and adolescents. Children and adolescents from 40 elementary schools and 23 high schools representing all regions in Norway were invited to participate in the study. Anthropometry, cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness were tested at the school location. Questionnaires were used in order to register mode of transport to school, age, gender and levels of leisure time physical activity. A total of 1694 (i.e. 60% of all invited participants) children and adolescents at a mean age of 9.6 and 15.6 respectively (SD = 0.4 for both groups) were analyzed for associations with physical fitness variables. Males cycling to school had lower sum of skin folds than adolescents walking to school. Higher cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents and male cyclists compared to walkers and passive commuters were observed. Among children, cycling and walking to school, higher isometric muscle endurance in the back extensors compared to passive commuters was observed. Based on this national representative cross-sectional examination of randomly selected children and adolescents there is evidence that active commuting, especially cycling, is associated with a favourable body composition and better cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness as compared to passive commuting.

Utilizing findings from the APACHE III research to develop operational information system for the ICU--the APACHE III ICU Management System.

PubMed Central

Knaus, W. A.; Draper, E. A.; Wagner, D. P.

1991-01-01

The APACHE III data base reflects the disease, physiologic status, and outcome data from 17,400 ICU patients at 40 hospitals, 26 of which were randomly selected from representative geographic regions, bed size, and teaching status. This provides a nationally representative standard for measuring several important aspects of ICU performance. Results from the study have now been used to develop an automated information system to provide real time information about expected ICU patient outcome, length of stay, production cost, and ICU performance. The information system provides several new capabilities to ICU clinicians, clinic, and hospital administrators. Among the system's capabilities are: the ability to compare local ICU performance against predetermined criteria; the ability to forecast nursing requirements; and, the ability to make both individual and group patient outcome predictions. The system also provides improved administrative support by tracking ICU charges at the point of origin and reduces staff workload eliminating the requirement for several manually maintained logs and patient lists. APACHE III has the capability to electronically interface with and utilize data already captured in existing hospital information systems, automated laboratory information systems, and patient monitoring systems. APACHE III will also be completely integrated with several CIS vendors' products. PMID:1807779

Assessment of pharmacy manpower and services in West Virginia.

PubMed

Robinson, Evan T; Bowyer, David

2006-09-01

The shortage of pharmacists across the nation has been much publicized and has been identified as one of the reasons for new schools of pharmacy to open or for existing colleges and schools of pharmacy to increase their class sizes. This article represents the assessment of a new school of pharmacy's evaluation of staffing and practice in its geographic area. This survey represents the first data point within the School of Pharmacy assessment plan and will be repeated at several intervals after the program opens to longitudinally evaluate its impact on pharmacy staffing and services within West Virginia. Using a modified Dillman survey methodology a random sample of 548 pharmacists in West Virginia, approximately one-third the active roster, were surveyed regarding staffing and services in West Virginia. A response rate of 32.78% was achieved and findings indicated that there is a staffing shortage of pharmacists within West Virginia, that staffing impacts the services pharmacists provide, and that more pharmacists would be willing to offer disease management services if staffing levels were at appropriate levels. A shortage of pharmacists does exist in West Virginia and it has implications on patient care. Longitudinal evaluation of the impact of a new pharmacy program will be conducted and the staffing and services within West Virginia should be continued to be studied.

Flipping Out: Calculating Probability with a Coin Game

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Degner, Kate

2015-01-01

In the author's experience with this activity, students struggle with the idea of representativeness in probability. Therefore, this student misconception is part of the classroom discussion about the activities in this lesson. Representativeness is related to the (incorrect) idea that outcomes that seem more random are more likely to happen. This…

Methodological Pluralism: The Gold Standard of STEM Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawrenz, Frances; Huffman, Douglas

2006-01-01

Nationally, there is continuing debate about appropriate methods for conducting educational evaluations. The U.S. Department of Education has placed a priority on "scientifically" based evaluation methods and has advocated a "gold standard" of randomized controlled experimentation. The priority suggests that randomized control methods are best,…

Representativeness assessment of research natural areas on National Forest System lands in Idaho

Treesearch

Steven K. Rust

2000-01-01

A representativeness assessment of National Forest System (NFS) Research Natural Areas in Idaho summarizes information on the status of the natural area network and priorities for identification of new Research Natural Areas. Natural distribution and abundance of plant associations is compared to the representation of plant associations within natural areas. Natural...

Ethnic Variations of Pathways Linking Socioeconomic Status, Parenting, and Preacademic Skills in a Nationally Representative Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iruka, Iheoma U.; Dotterer, Aryn M.; Pungello, Elizabeth P.

2014-01-01

Research Findings: Grounded in the investment model and informed by the integrative theory of the study of minority children, this study used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort data set, a nationally representative sample of young children, to investigate whether the association between socioeconomic status (family income and…

Are Canadian Adolescents Happy? A Gender-Based Analysis of a Nationally Representative Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weaver, Robert D.; Habibov, Nazim N.

2010-01-01

In this study, the authors analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of youth to study happiness amongst Canadian adolescents aged 12-17. Testing for differences in the level of happiness between female and male adolescents was conducted. Following this, multivariate analysis was employed to determine which factors were associated with…

Sex Education, First Sex and Sexual Health Outcomes in Adulthood: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sexual Health Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bourke, Ashling; Boduszek, Daniel; Kelleher, Caroline; McBride, Orla; Morgan, Karen

2014-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between school sex education and sexual health behaviours at first sex and later in adulthood, using nationally representative data. Respondents were adults from the 2010 Irish Contraception and Crisis Pregnancy Survey, a cross-sectional survey designed to assess knowledge, attitudes and behaviours relating…

Sexual Assault Policies and Consent Definitions: A Nationally Representative Investigation of U.S. Colleges and Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Graham, Laurie M.; Treves-Kagan, Sarah; Magee, Erin P.; DeLong, Stephanie M.; Ashley, Olivia S.; Macy, Rebecca J.; Martin, Sandra L.; Moracco, Kathryn E.; Bowling, J. Michael

2017-01-01

Campus sexual assault (SA) policies and sexual consent definitions have not been widely studied. The study team conducted a nationally representative review of college and university websites (n = 995), assessing the prevalence of publicly accessible online policies and definitions and examining associations with school characteristics. A content…

Depression and Suicidality among Bisexual Youth: A Nationally Representative Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taliaferro, Lindsay A.; Gloppen, Kari M.; Muehlenkamp, Jennifer J.; Eisenberg, Marla E.

2018-01-01

To address gaps in the literature on bisexual youth, we used the first nationally representative sample of high school students from the United States to determine profiles of behaviors related to depressive symptoms, a suicide attempt, and a medically-serious attempt. We examined the data from 922 bisexual students in grades 9-12 who completed…

What Puts Women at Risk of Violence from Their Husbands? Findings from a Large, Nationally Representative Survey in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuksel-Kaptanoglu, Ilknur; Turkyilmaz, Ahmet Sinan; Heise, Lori

2012-01-01

A large, nationally representative, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Turkey in 2008. In this survey, which used the WHO (World Health Organization) study module on violence, information about lifetime and current violence (past 12 months) was obtained using weighted, stratified, and multistage cluster sampling. This article describes…

Low-Energy Truly Random Number Generation with Superparamagnetic Tunnel Junctions for Unconventional Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vodenicarevic, D.; Locatelli, N.; Mizrahi, A.; Friedman, J. S.; Vincent, A. F.; Romera, M.; Fukushima, A.; Yakushiji, K.; Kubota, H.; Yuasa, S.; Tiwari, S.; Grollier, J.; Querlioz, D.

2017-11-01

Low-energy random number generation is critical for many emerging computing schemes proposed to complement or replace von Neumann architectures. However, current random number generators are always associated with an energy cost that is prohibitive for these computing schemes. We introduce random number bit generation based on specific nanodevices: superparamagnetic tunnel junctions. We experimentally demonstrate high-quality random bit generation that represents an orders-of-magnitude improvement in energy efficiency over current solutions. We show that the random generation speed improves with nanodevice scaling, and we investigate the impact of temperature, magnetic field, and cross talk. Finally, we show how alternative computing schemes can be implemented using superparamagentic tunnel junctions as random number generators. These results open the way for fabricating efficient hardware computing devices leveraging stochasticity, and they highlight an alternative use for emerging nanodevices.

Regional Response Teams

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

There are thirteen in the U.S., each representing a geographic region (including the Caribbean and the Pacific Basin). Composed of representatives from field offices of the agencies that make up the National Response Team, and state representatives.

77 FR 64796 - Availability of Seats for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-23

... the Conservation Representative, and the Business and Tourism Activity Panel (``BTAP'') co-chaired by the Business/Industry Representative and Tourism Representative, each dealing with matters concerning...

Random variable transformation for generalized stochastic radiative transfer in finite participating slab media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Wakil, S. A.; Sallah, M.; El-Hanbaly, A. M.

2015-10-01

The stochastic radiative transfer problem is studied in a participating planar finite continuously fluctuating medium. The problem is considered for specular- and diffusly-reflecting boundaries with linear anisotropic scattering. Random variable transformation (RVT) technique is used to get the complete average for the solution functions, that are represented by the probability-density function (PDF) of the solution process. In the RVT algorithm, a simple integral transformation to the input stochastic process (the extinction function of the medium) is applied. This linear transformation enables us to rewrite the stochastic transport equations in terms of the optical random variable (x) and the optical random thickness (L). Then the transport equation is solved deterministically to get a closed form for the solution as a function of x and L. So, the solution is used to obtain the PDF of the solution functions applying the RVT technique among the input random variable (L) and the output process (the solution functions). The obtained averages of the solution functions are used to get the complete analytical averages for some interesting physical quantities, namely, reflectivity and transmissivity at the medium boundaries. In terms of the average reflectivity and transmissivity, the average of the partial heat fluxes for the generalized problem with internal source of radiation are obtained and represented graphically.

Time-correlated gust loads using matched filter theory and random process theory - A new way of looking at things

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pototzky, Anthony S.; Zeiler, Thomas A.; Perry, Boyd, III

1989-01-01

This paper describes and illustrates two ways of performing time-correlated gust-load calculations. The first is based on Matched Filter Theory; the second on Random Process Theory. Both approaches yield theoretically identical results and represent novel applications of the theories, are computationally fast, and may be applied to other dynamic-response problems. A theoretical development and example calculations using both Matched Filter Theory and Random Process Theory approaches are presented.

Synchronizability of random rectangular graphs

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

Estrada, Ernesto, E-mail: ernesto.estrada@strath.ac.uk; Chen, Guanrong

2015-08-15

Random rectangular graphs (RRGs) represent a generalization of the random geometric graphs in which the nodes are embedded into hyperrectangles instead of on hypercubes. The synchronizability of RRG model is studied. Both upper and lower bounds of the eigenratio of the network Laplacian matrix are determined analytically. It is proven that as the rectangular network is more elongated, the network becomes harder to synchronize. The synchronization processing behavior of a RRG network of chaotic Lorenz system nodes is numerically investigated, showing complete consistence with the theoretical results.

Time-correlated gust loads using Matched-Filter Theory and Random-Process Theory: A new way of looking at things

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pototzky, Anthony S.; Zeiler, Thomas A.; Perry, Boyd, III

1989-01-01

Two ways of performing time-correlated gust-load calculations are described and illustrated. The first is based on Matched Filter Theory; the second on Random Process Theory. Both approaches yield theoretically identical results and represent novel applications of the theories, are computationally fast, and may be applied to other dynamic-response problems. A theoretical development and example calculations using both Matched Filter Theory and Random Process Theory approaches are presented.

The National Comorbidity Survey Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A): II. Overview and Design

PubMed Central

Kessler, Ronald C.; Avenevoli, Shelli; Costello, E. Jane; Green, Jennifer Greif; Gruber, Michael J.; Heeringa, Steven; Merikangas, Kathleen R.; Pennell, Beth-Ellen; Sampson, Nancy A.; Zaslavsky, Alan M.

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVE To present an overview of the design and field procedures of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A) METHOD The NCS-A is a nationally representative face-to-face household survey of the prevalence and correlates of DSM-IV mental disorders among US adolescents (ages 13–17) that was carried out between February 2001 and January 2004 by the Survey Research Center of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The sample was based on a dual-frame design that included 904 adolescent residents of the households that participated in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (85.9% response rate) and 9244 adolescent students selected from a representative sample of 320 schools in the same nationally representative sample of counties as the NCS-R (74.7% response rate). RESULTS Comparisons of sample and population distributions on Census socio-demographic variables and, in the school sample, school characteristics documented only minor differences that were corrected with post-stratification weighting. Comparisons of DSM-IV disorder prevalence estimates among household vs. school sample respondents in counties that differed in the use of replacement schools for originally selected schools that refused to participate showed that the use of replacement schools did not introduce bias into prevalence estimates. CONCLUSIONS The NCS-A is a rich nationally representative dataset that will substantially increase understanding of the mental health and well-being of adolescents in the United States. PMID:19242381

Calculating a Continuous Metabolic Syndrome Score Using Nationally Representative Reference Values.

PubMed

Guseman, Emily Hill; Eisenmann, Joey C; Laurson, Kelly R; Cook, Stephen R; Stratbucker, William

2018-02-26

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in youth varies on the basis of the classification system used, prompting implementation of continuous scores; however, the use of these scores is limited to the sample from which they were derived. We sought to describe the derivation of the continuous metabolic syndrome score using nationally representative reference values in a sample of obese adolescents and a national sample obtained from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2012. Clinical data were collected from 50 adolescents seeking obesity treatment at a stage 3 weight management center. A second analysis relied on data from adolescents included in NHANES 2011-2012, performed for illustrative purposes. The continuous metabolic syndrome score was calculated by regressing individual values onto nationally representative age- and sex-specific standards (NHANES III). Resultant z scores were summed to create a total score. The final sample included 42 obese adolescents (15 male and 35 female subjects; mean age, 14.8 ± 1.9 years) and an additional 445 participants from NHANES 2011-2012. Among the clinical sample, the mean continuous metabolic syndrome score was 4.16 ± 4.30, while the NHANES sample mean was quite a bit lower, at -0.24 ± 2.8. We provide a method to calculate the continuous metabolic syndrome by comparing individual risk factor values to age- and sex-specific percentiles from a nationally representative sample. Copyright © 2018 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Considering Context, Place, and Culture: The National Latino and Asian American Study

PubMed Central

Alegria, Margarita; Takeuchi, David; Canino, Glorisa; Duan, Naihua; Shrout, Patrick; Meng, Xiao-Li; Vega, William; Zane, Nolan; Vila, Doryliz; Woo, Meghan; Vera, Mildred; Guarnaccia, Peter; Aguilar-Gaxiola, Sergio; Sue, Stanley; Escobar, Javier; Lin, Keh-Ming; Gong, Fong

2009-01-01

This paper provides a rationale and overview of procedures used to develop the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS). The NLAAS is nationally representative community household survey that estimates the prevalence of mental disorders and rates of mental health service utilization of Latinos and Asian Americans in the United States. The central aims of the NLAAS are to: 1) describe the lifetime and 12-month prevalence of psychiatric disorders and the rates of mental health services use for Latino and Asian American populations using nationwide representative samples of Latinos and Asian Americans, 2) assess the associations among social position, environmental context, and psychosocial factors with the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and utilization rates of mental health services, and 3) compare the lifetime and 12-month prevalence of psychiatric disorders, and utilization of mental health services of Latinos and Asian Americans with national representative samples of non-Latino whites (from the National Comorbidity Study-Replication; NCS-R) and African Americans (from the National Survey of American Life; NSAL). This paper presents new concepts and methods utilized in the development of the NLAAS to capture and investigate ethnic, cultural and environmental considerations that are often ignored in mental health research. PMID:15719529

A Wildfire Behavior Modeling System at Los Alamos National Laboratory for Operational Applications

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

S.W. Koch; R.G.Balice

2004-11-01

To support efforts to protect facilities and property at Los Alamos National Laboratory from damages caused by wildfire, we completed a multiyear project to develop a system for modeling the behavior of wildfires in the Los Alamos region. This was accomplished by parameterizing the FARSITE wildfire behavior model with locally gathered data representing topography, fuels, and weather conditions from throughout the Los Alamos region. Detailed parameterization was made possible by an extensive monitoring network of permanent plots, weather towers, and other data collection facilities. We also incorporated a database of lightning strikes that can be used individually as repeatable ignitionmore » points or can be used as a group in Monte Carlo simulation exercises and in other randomization procedures. The assembled modeling system was subjected to sensitivity analyses and was validated against documented fires, including the Cerro Grande Fire. The resulting modeling system is a valuable tool for research and management. It also complements knowledge based on professional expertise and information gathered from other modeling technologies. However, the modeling system requires frequent updates of the input data layers to produce currently valid results, to adapt to changes in environmental conditions within the Los Alamos region, and to allow for the quick production of model outputs during emergency operations.« less

Parental attitudes towards vaccinating sons with human papillomavirus vaccine.

PubMed

Mortensen, Gitte Lee

2010-12-01

Male human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are frequent and lead to an increased risk of HPV-related disease in their female sexual partners. In males, HPV can cause head/neck, penile and anal cancer, as well as genital warts. In this study we assessed parental attitudes to HPV vaccination of their sons. Telephone interviews were conducted in a random, nationally representative sample of 450 Danish parents with sons aged 12-15 years. We gave them information about the main direct benefits of male vaccination and then asked them about their views on HPV vaccination of their sons aged 12-15 years. HPV vaccination of sons was accepted by 80% of respondents; 45% were willing to cover the cost themselves. Parents primarily wanted to protect their sons from cancer and genital warts. 20% rejected or had doubts about HPV vaccination of their sons. Their concerns were mainly due to lack of knowledge about the vaccine, fear of side effects and lack of recommendations from health care authorities. These high acceptance rates are similar to those reported for vaccination of girls prior to its inclusion in the Danish immunisation programme. General practitioners and national health services play a crucial role in providing parents with the information required to make an informed decision about HPV vaccination of sons as well as daughters.

Danish children born to parents with lower levels of education are more likely to become overweight.

PubMed

Matthiessen, Jeppe; Stockmarr, Anders; Fagt, Sisse; Knudsen, Vibeke Kildegaard; Biltoft-Jensen, Anja

2014-10-01

Little is known about whether the socio-economic status of parents is linked to their children becoming overweight. This study examined the association between parents' educational level and overweight Danish children in a nationally representative sample. Body mass index was calculated for a random sample of 512 children aged from four to 14 from the Danish National Survey of Diet and Physical Activity 2005-2008. Their parents provided weight and height data during an interview, together with details of their own educational level. Children were classified as overweight/obese in accordance with the International Obesity Task Force. Frequency estimates of prevalence and logistic regression models were used to correlate childhood overweight/obesity with the mothers' and fathers' educational levels as the main outcome measures. Danish mothers tended to be more highly educated than fathers and their educational level was inversely associated with their child being overweight, especially if it was a boy. However, the highest educational level of the parents was the only significant educational variable, suggesting that education was associated with overweight children irrespective of the gender of the parent. Public health initiatives should target parents with low educational levels to prevent, and reduce, social inequality in overweight children. ©2014 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Increased Educational Attainment among U.S. Mothers and their Children's Academic Expectations.

PubMed

Augustine, Jennifer

2017-12-01

Existing research provides strong evidence that children with more educated parents have higher academic expectations for themselves, but has yet to consider how an increase in the education of lower educated mothers might alter the expectations of their children. In light of the historic increase in U.S. mothers' pursuit of additional education, this study investigates this timely question using data from a nationally representative, intergenerational sample of U.S. children and mothers participating in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth ( n mothers = 3,265; n children = 8,027). Combining random and fixed effects procedures, the findings revealed that that an increase in mothers' educational attainment is linked to an increase in their children's expectations to earn a Bachelor's degree. Increased maternal education did not, however, buffer against the risk that children will downgrade these expectations upon approaching the end of high school. These results have theoretical importance to traditional models of status attainment, which typically view parental education as a stable feature of family background; extend a small but burgeoning literature that explores whether and why increased maternal education improves the mobility prospects of their children; and speak to current two-generation policy approaches that aim to leverage trends in mothers education to reduce inequality for future generations.

Psychological trauma and evidence for enhanced vulnerability for posttraumatic stress disorder through previous trauma among West Nile refugees

PubMed Central

Neuner, Frank; Schauer, Maggie; Karunakara, Unni; Klaschik, Christine; Robert, Christina; Elbert, Thomas

2004-01-01

Background Political instability and the civil war in Southern Sudan have resulted in numerous atrocities, mass violence, and forced migration for vast parts of the civilian population in the West Nile region. High exposure to traumatic experiences has been particularly prominent in the Ugandan and Sudanese of the West Nile Region, representing an indication of the psychological strain posed by years of armed conflict. Methods In this study the impact of traumatic events on the prevalence and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a random sample of 3.339 Ugandan nationals, Sudanese nationals, and Sudanese refugees (1.831 households) of the West Nile region is assessed. Results Results show a positive correlation between the number of traumatic events and the number of endorsed PTSD symptoms. Of the 58 respondents who experienced the greatest number of traumatizing experiences, all reported symptoms which met the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. Conclusions There is a clear dose-effect relationship between traumatic exposure and PTSD in the studied populations with high levels of traumatic events. In this context, it is probable that any individual could develop PTSD regardless of other risk-factors once the trauma load reaches a certain threshold. PMID:15504233

National Parks

Treesearch

Jill S. Baron; Craig D. Allen; Erica Fleishman; Lance Gunderson; Don McKenzie; Laura Meyerson; Jill Oropeza; Nate Stephenson

2008-01-01

Covering about 4% of the United States, the 338,000 km2 of protected areas in the National Park System contain representative landscapes of all of the nation's biomes and ecosystems. The U.S. National Park Service Organic Act established the National Park System in 1916 "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and...

Effect of almond consumption on vascular function in patients with coronary artery disease: a randomized, controlled, cross-over trial

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Objective: Almonds reduce cardiovascular disease risk via cholesterol reduction, anti-inflammation, glucoregulation, and antioxidation. The objective of this randomized, controlled, cross-over trial was to determine whether the addition of 85 g almonds daily to a National Cholesterol Education Progr...

Assessing Nutrition Knowledge and Dietary Habits of Adolescents Using Personal Data Assistants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murimi, Mary W.; Guthrie, Joanne; Landry, Danielle; Paun, Mihaela M.

2008-01-01

Objective: To assess nutrition knowledge and dietary behaviors of seventh graders in nine randomly selected middle schools in Louisiana. Methods: This descriptive study used personal data assistants (PDAs) to administer a pre-validated questionnaire developed from national instruments to 127 seventh grade students from nine randomly-selected…

Beneficial association between active travel and metabolic syndrome in Latin-America: A cross-sectional analysis from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009-2010.

PubMed

Sadarangani, Kabir P; Von Oetinger, Astrid; Cristi-Montero, Carlos; Cortínez-O'Ryan, Andrea; Aguilar-Farías, Nicolás; Martínez-Gómez, David

2018-02-01

There is limited evidence on potential health benefits of active travel, independently of leisure-time physical activity (PA), with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Latin-America. To investigate the relationship between active travel and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in a national representative sample of Chilean adults. Cross-sectional study of 2864 randomly selected adults' participants enrolled in the 2009-2010 Chilean National Health Survey (CNHS). Self-reported PA was obtained with the validated Global PA Questionnaire and classifying participants into insufficiently active (<150min/week) or active (≥150min/week). MetS was diagnosed from the modified Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III criteria with national-specific abdominal obesity cut points. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate associations of travel PA with MetS and its components at a regional level, adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics and other types of PA. 46.2% of the sample engaged in 150min/week of active travel and the prevalence of MetS was 33.7%. Mets was significantly lower among active travel participants. Active travel was associated with lower odds of MetS (OR 0.72; 95%CI 0.61-0.86), triglycerides (OR 0.77; 95%CI 0.64-0.92) and abdominal obesity (OR 0.82; 95%CI 0.69-0.97) after controlling for socio-demographics and other types of PA. Active travel was negatively associated with MetS, triglycerides and abdominal obesity. Efforts to increase regional active travel should be addressed as a measure to prevent and reduce the prevalence of MetS and disease burden in middle income countries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Infections Among Afghan National Army Recruits in Afghanistan.

PubMed

Todd, Catherine S; Mansoor, Ghulam Farooq; Buhler, Cyril; Rahimi, Habiburrahman; Zekria, Rohullah; Fernandez, Stefan; Mikhail, Amy F W; Scott, Paul T; Yingst, Samuel L

2016-08-01

To measure prevalence of prior/current Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum (PV and PF), Brucella spp. (BR), dengue virus (DENV), Leishmania donovani (visceral leishmaniasis; VL), and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus exposure among Afghan National Army (ANA) recruits. Randomly chosen, nationally representative serum samples from consenting men aged 18-40 years and who were screened between February 2010 and January 2011 were tested, with ∼25 samples/province. Samples were screened for PV and PF antigens and VL antibody with rapid diagnostic tests. Reactive malaria screening results were confirmed with polymerase chain reaction assay. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to screen for CCHF and DENV antibodies; reactive DENV samples were confirmed with the plaque-reduction neutralization test. BR screening and confirmatory testing was performed with slide and tube agglutination, respectively. Correlates of BR titres >1:80 were analyzed using logistic regression. Of 809 participants contributing specimens, 62% had previously lived outside Afghanistan, predominantly in Pakistan and Iran. CCHF (4.1%, n = 33), DENV (2.1%, n = 17), and VL (1.0%, n = 8) antibody prevalence was low. For PV and PF, only 7 out of 56 reactive samples had detectable nucleic acid. For BR, 8.0% (n = 65) of samples had screening titers >1:40, of which 83.1% had confirmatory titers >1:80. Participants from Kabul and surrounding provinces had lower odds (OR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04-1.00) of BR antibody compared with other regions. BR exposure was relatively common with a nearly national distribution, whereas geographic distribution for other pathogens aligned roughly with the expected vector distribution. Public health protection measures should include vector control, food safety, and enhanced diagnostics for acute febrile illness.

Evaluating the implementation of RxNorm in ambulatory electronic prescriptions

PubMed Central

Ward-Charlerie, Stacy; Rupp, Michael T; Kilbourne, John; Amin, Vishal P; Ruiz, Joshua

2016-01-01

Objective RxNorm is a standardized drug nomenclature maintained by the National Library of Medicine that has been recommended as an alternative to the National Drug Code (NDC) terminology for use in electronic prescribing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of RxNorm in ambulatory care electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions). Methods We analyzed a random sample of 49 997 e-prescriptions that were received by 7391 locations of a national retail pharmacy chain during a single day in April 2014. The e-prescriptions in the sample were generated by 37 801 ambulatory care prescribers using 519 different e-prescribing software applications. Results We found that 97.9% of e-prescriptions in the study sample could be accurately represented by an RxNorm identifier. However, RxNorm identifiers were actually used as drug identifiers in only 16 433 (33.0%) e-prescriptions. Another 431 (2.5%) e-prescriptions that used RxNorm identifiers had a discrepancy in the corresponding Drug Database Code qualifier field or did not have a qualifier (Term Type) at all. In 10 e-prescriptions (0.06%), the free-text drug description and the RxNorm concept unique identifier pointed to completely different drug concepts, and in 7 e-prescriptions (0.04%), the NDC and RxNorm drug identifiers pointed to completely different drug concepts. Discussion The National Library of Medicine continues to enhance the RxNorm terminology and expand its scope. This study illustrates the need for technology vendors to improve their implementation of RxNorm; doing so will accelerate the adoption of RxNorm as the preferred alternative to using the NDC terminology in e-prescribing. PMID:26510879

Point-Sampling and Line-Sampling Probability Theory, Geometric Implications, Synthesis

Treesearch

L.R. Grosenbaugh

1958-01-01

Foresters concerned with measuring tree populations on definite areas have long employed two well-known methods of representative sampling. In list or enumerative sampling the entire tree population is tallied with a known proportion being randomly selected and measured for volume or other variables. In area sampling all trees on randomly located plots or strips...

Random location of fuel treatments in wildland community interfaces: a percolation approach

Treesearch

Michael Bevers; Philip N. Omi; John G. Hof

2004-01-01

We explore the use of spatially correlated random treatments to reduce fuels in landscape patterns that appear somewhat natural while forming fully connected fuelbreaks between wildland forests and developed protection zones. From treatment zone maps partitioned into grids of hexagonal forest cells representing potential treatment sites, we selected cells to be treated...

A Model for Predicting Behavioural Sleep Problems in a Random Sample of Australian Pre-Schoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Wendy A.; Zubrick, Stephen R.; Silburn, Sven R.; Parsons, Deborah E.; Kurinczuk, Jennifer J.

2007-01-01

Behavioural sleep problems (childhood insomnias) can cause distress for both parents and children. This paper reports a model describing predictors of high sleep problem scores in a representative population-based random sample survey of non-Aboriginal singleton children born in 1995 and 1996 (1085 girls and 1129 boys) in Western Australia.…

The Random-Effect DINA Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Hung-Yu; Wang, Wen-Chung

2014-01-01

The DINA (deterministic input, noisy, and gate) model has been widely used in cognitive diagnosis tests and in the process of test development. The outcomes known as slip and guess are included in the DINA model function representing the responses to the items. This study aimed to extend the DINA model by using the random-effect approach to allow…

Supervised Home Training of Dialogue Skills in Chronic Aphasia: A Randomized Parallel Group Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nobis-Bosch, Ruth; Springer, Luise; Radermacher, Irmgard; Huber, Walter

2011-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this study was to prove the efficacy of supervised self-training for individuals with aphasia. Linguistic and communicative performance in structured dialogues represented the main study parameters. Method: In a cross-over design for randomized matched pairs, 18 individuals with chronic aphasia were examined during 12 weeks of…

Pseudo-random number generator for the Sigma 5 computer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carroll, S. N.

1983-01-01

A technique is presented for developing a pseudo-random number generator based on the linear congruential form. The two numbers used for the generator are a prime number and a corresponding primitive root, where the prime is the largest prime number that can be accurately represented on a particular computer. The primitive root is selected by applying Marsaglia's lattice test. The technique presented was applied to write a random number program for the Sigma 5 computer. The new program, named S:RANDOM1, is judged to be superior to the older program named S:RANDOM. For applications requiring several independent random number generators, a table is included showing several acceptable primitive roots. The technique and programs described can be applied to any computer having word length different from that of the Sigma 5.

National Randomized Controlled Trial of Virtual House Calls for People with Parkinson's Disease: Interest and Barriers

PubMed Central

Achey, Meredith A.; Beck, Christopher A.; Beran, Denise B.; Biglan, Kevin M.; Boyd, Cynthia M.; Schmidt, Peter N.; Simone, Richard; Willis, Allison W.; Galifianakis, Nicholas B.; Katz, Maya; Tanner, Caroline M.; Dodenhoff, Kristen; Ziman, Nathan; Aldred, Jason; Carter, Julie; Jimenez-Shahed, Joohi; Hunter, Christine; Spindler, Meredith; Mari, Zoltan; Morgan, John C.; McLane, Dedi; Hickey, Patrick; Gauger, Lisa; Richard, Irene Hegeman; Bull, Michael T.; Mejia, Nicte I.; Bwala, Grace; Nance, Martha; Shih, Ludy; Anderson, Lauren; Singer, Carlos; Zadikoff, Cindy; Okon, Natalia; Feigin, Andrew; Ayan, Jean; Vaughan, Christina; Pahwa, Rajesh; Cooper, Jessica; Webb, Sydney; Dhall, Rohit; Hassan, Anhar; Weis, Delana; DeMello, Steven; Riggare, Sara S.; Wicks, Paul; Smith, Joseph; Keenan, H. Tait; Korn, Ryan; Schwarz, Heidi; Sharma, Saloni; Stevenson, E. Anna; Zhu, William

2016-01-01

Abstract Background: Delivering specialty care remotely directly into people's homes can enhance access for and improve the healthcare of individuals with chronic conditions. However, evidence supporting this approach is limited. Materials and Methods: Connect.Parkinson is a randomized comparative effectiveness study that compares usual care of individuals with Parkinson's disease in the community with usual care augmented by virtual house calls with a Parkinson's disease specialist from 1 of 18 centers nationally. Individuals in the intervention arm receive four virtual visits from a Parkinson's disease specialist over 1 year via secure, Web-based videoconferencing directly into their homes. All study activities, including recruitment, enrollment, and assessments, are conducted remotely. Here we report on interest, feasibility, and barriers to enrollment in this ongoing study. Results: During recruitment, 11,734 individuals visited the study's Web site, and 927 unique individuals submitted electronic interest forms. Two hundred ten individuals from 18 states enrolled in the study from March 2014 to June 2015, and 195 were randomized. Most participants were white (96%) and college educated (73%). Of the randomized participants, 73% had seen a Parkinson's disease specialist within the previous year. Conclusions: Among individuals with Parkinson's disease, national interest in receiving remote specialty care directly into the home is high. Remote enrollment in this care model is feasible but is likely affected by differential access to the Internet. PMID:26886406

78 FR 4390 - Availability of Seats for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-22

...'') chaired by the Conservation Representative, and the Business and Tourism Activity Panel (``BTAP'') co-chaired by the Business/Industry Representative and Tourism Representative, each dealing with matters...

78 FR 14271 - Availability of Seats for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-05

... Representative, and the Business and Tourism Activity Panel (``BTAP'') co-chaired by the Business/Industry Representative and Tourism Representative, each dealing with matters concerning research, education, conservation...

Modified-Symbol Digit Modalities Test for African Americans, Caribbean Black Americans and Non-Latino Whites: Nationally Representative Normative Data from the National Survey of American Life

PubMed Central

González, Hector M.; Whitfield, Keith E.; West, Brady T.; Williams, David R.; Lichtenberg, Peter; Jackson, James S.

2007-01-01

Normative neuropsychological data for U.S. racial/ethnic minorities is limited. Extant norms are based on small, regional groups that may not be nationally representative. The objectives of this study were to 1) provide norms for a modified Symbol Digit Modalities Test (M-SDMT) based on a nationally representative sample of African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and non-Latino Whites (NLW) living in areas with large populations of Blacks, and 2) determine significant correlates of M-SDMT performance. The M-SDMT was administered to a subset of respondents from the National Survey of American Life in standard, face-to-face interviews. M-SDMT performance was influenced by race/ethnicity, age, education, and gender. African Americans and NLW groups had similar M-SDMT performances, which differed from Caribbean Blacks. The Black ethnic differences in M-SDMT were not explained by the sociodemographic factors considered in this study. Unlike previous work, this study supports the consideration of Black ethnicity when evaluating Black neuropsychological test performance. PMID:17493782

The epidemiology of sepsis in Brazilian intensive care units (the Sepsis PREvalence Assessment Database, SPREAD): an observational study.

PubMed

Machado, Flavia R; Cavalcanti, Alexandre Biasi; Bozza, Fernando Augusto; Ferreira, Elaine M; Angotti Carrara, Fernanda Sousa; Sousa, Juliana Lubarino; Caixeta, Noemi; Salomao, Reinaldo; Angus, Derek C; Pontes Azevedo, Luciano Cesar

2017-11-01

The sepsis burden on acute care services in middle-income countries is a cause for concern. We estimated incidence, prevalence, and mortality of sepsis in adult Brazilian intensive care units (ICUs) and association of ICU organisational factors with outcome. We did a 1-day point prevalence study with follow-up of patients in ICU with sepsis in a nationally representative pseudo-random sample. We produced a sampling frame initially stratified by geographical region. Each stratum was then stratified by hospitals' main source of income (serving general public vs privately insured individuals) and ICU size (ten or fewer beds vs more than ten beds), finally generating 40 strata. In each stratum we selected a random sample of ICUs so as to enrol the total required beds in 1690 Brazilian adult ICUs. We followed up patients until hospital discharge censored at 60 days, estimated incidence from prevalence and length of stay, and generated national estimates. We assessed mortality prognostic factors using random-effects logistic regression models. On Feb 27, 2014, 227 (72%) of 317 ICUs that were randomly selected provided data on 2632 patients, of whom 794 had sepsis (30·2 septic patients per 100 ICU beds, 95% CI 28·4-31·9). The ICU sepsis incidence was 36·3 per 1000 patient-days (95% CI 29·8-44·0) and mortality was observed in 439 (55·7%) of 788 patients (95% CI 52·2-59·2). Low availability of resources (odds ratio [OR] 1·67, 95% CI 1·02-2·75, p=0·045) and adequacy of treatment (OR 0·56, 0·37-0·84, p=0·006) were independently associated with mortality. The projected incidence rate is 290 per 100 000 population (95% CI 237·9-351·2) of adult cases of ICU-treated sepsis per year, which yields about 420 000 cases annually, of whom 230 000 die in hospital. The incidence, prevalence, and mortality of ICU-treated sepsis is high in Brazil. Outcome varies considerably, and is associated with access to adequate resources and treatment. Our results show the burden of sepsis in resource-limited settings, highlighting the need to establish programmes aiming for sepsis prevention, early diagnosis, and adequate treatment. Fundação de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Promoting state health department evidence-based cancer and chronic disease prevention: a multi-phase dissemination study with a cluster randomized trial component

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Cancer and other chronic diseases reduce quality and length of life and productivity, and represent a significant financial burden to society. Evidence-based public health approaches to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases have been identified in recent decades and have the potential for high impact. Yet, barriers to implement prevention approaches persist as a result of multiple factors including lack of organizational support, limited resources, competing emerging priorities and crises, and limited skill among the public health workforce. The purpose of this study is to learn how best to promote the adoption of evidence based public health practice related to chronic disease prevention. Methods/design This paper describes the methods for a multi-phase dissemination study with a cluster randomized trial component that will evaluate the dissemination of public health knowledge about evidence-based prevention of cancer and other chronic diseases. Phase one involves development of measures of practitioner views on and organizational supports for evidence-based public health and data collection using a national online survey involving state health department chronic disease practitioners. In phase two, a cluster randomized trial design will be conducted to test receptivity and usefulness of dissemination strategies directed toward state health department chronic disease practitioners to enhance capacity and organizational support for evidence-based chronic disease prevention. Twelve state health department chronic disease units will be randomly selected and assigned to intervention or control. State health department staff and the university-based study team will jointly identify, refine, and select dissemination strategies within intervention units. Intervention (dissemination) strategies may include multi-day in-person training workshops, electronic information exchange modalities, and remote technical assistance. Evaluation methods include pre-post surveys, structured qualitative phone interviews, and abstraction of state-level chronic disease prevention program plans and progress reports. Trial registration clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01978054. PMID:24330729

National occupant protection use survey : controlled intersection detailed study

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-02-01

In late 1994, NHTSA conducted the first National Occupant Protection Use Survey : (NOPUS). Shoulder belt use was observed at a random sample of sites across the : country for drivers and right-front passengers of cars and light trucks. In one : porti...

National Sample Assessment Protocols

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (NJ1), 2012

2012-01-01

These protocols represent a working guide for planning and implementing national sample assessments in connection with the national Key Performance Measures (KPMs). The protocols are intended for agencies involved in planning or conducting national sample assessments and personnel responsible for administering associated tenders or contracts,…

1985 National Science Foundation Authorization. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology of the Committee on Science and Technology. U.S. House of Representatives, Ninety-Eighth Congress Second Session on H. R. 4974 (February 3, 9, 28, 29; March 21, 1984).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Science and Technology.

These hearings focused on various topics and issues related to the fiscal year 1985 budget request of $1.5 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF), which represents a 13 percent increase over the 1984 level, as well as on NSF policies. Witnesses, representing government or scientific and technical organizations not directly part of the…

Math Growth Trajectories of Students with Disabilities: Disability Category, Gender, Racial, and Socioeconomic Status Differences from Ages 7 to 17

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wei, Xin; Lenz, Keith B.; Blackorby, Jose

2013-01-01

This study examined math growth trajectories by disability category, gender, race, and socioeconomic status using a nationally representative sample of students ages 7 to 17. The students represented 11 federal disability categories. Compared with the national norming sample, students in all 11 disability categories had lower math achievement…

The Polyethnic Competence of Class Teacher as a Resource for Ensuring the Psychological Security of Pupils in a Polycultural Educational Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kulikova, Tatyana I.; Shalaginova, Kseniya S.; Cherkasova, Svetlana A.

2017-01-01

In modern world the environment of any educational institution represents a spectrum of ethnoses, subcultures; and, thereafter, in a certain way, we can talk about it as the multicultural educational environment. Pupils who realize their national identity often demonstrate intolerance towards representatives of other nationalities which creates a…

What Influences Principals' Perceptions of Academic Climate? A Nationally Representative Study of the Direct Effects of Perception on Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Urick, Angela; Bowers, Alex J.

2011-01-01

Using a nationally representative sample of public high schools (N = 439), we examined the extent to which the principal's perception of their influence over instruction, the evaluation of nonacademic related tasks as well as academic related tasks, and their relationship with the school district relates to their perception of academic climate…

Aggressive and Violent Behaviors in the School Environment among a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescent Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajan, Sonali; Namdar, Rachel; Ruggles, Kelly V.

2015-01-01

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of aggressive and violent behaviors in the context of the school environment in a nationally representative sample of adolescent youth and to illustrate these patterns during 2001-2011. Methods: We analyzed data from 84,734 participants via the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance…

Cross-Informant Agreement of Children's Social-Emotional Skills: An Investigation of Ratings by Teachers, Parents, and Students from a Nationally Representative Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gresham, Frank M.; Elliott, Stephen N.; Metallo, Sarah; Byrd, Shelby; Wilson, Elizabeth; Cassidy, Kaitlan

2018-01-01

This study examines the agreement across informant pairs of teachers, parents, and students regarding the students' social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Two student subsamples representative of the social skills improvement system (SSIS) SEL edition rating forms national standardization sample were examined: first, 168 students (3rd to…

Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Speech and Language Impairment in a Nationally Representative Sample of 4- to 5-Year-Old Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Linda J.; McLeod, Sharynne

2010-01-01

Purpose: To determine risk and protective factors for speech and language impairment in early childhood. Method: Data are presented for a nationally representative sample of 4,983 children participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (described in McLeod & Harrison, 2009). Thirty-one child, parent, family, and community…

A Religious Experience? Personal, Parental, and Peer Religiosity and the Academic Success of Sexual-Minority Youth Using Nationally Representative Samples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gottfried, Michael A.; Polikoff, Morgan S.

2012-01-01

Using nationally representative transcript data, this study is the first to include a discussion of religiosity in the context of sexual-minority students' academic achievement. This study examines the issue in three capacities: first, by comparing school success of sexual-minority youth to a non-sexual-minority reference group; second, by…

Predictors of Suicidal Ideation in Late Childhood and Adolescence: A 5-Year Follow-Up of Two Nationally Representative Cohorts in the Republic of Korea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Sunhee

2013-01-01

This study explores the trajectory of suicidal ideation in childhood and adolescence and identifies its strong predictors. Secondary data obtained from two nationally representative cohorts of South Korean youth were longitudinally analyzed using frequencies, percentages, and discrete time survival analysis. This study revealed an increase in the…

Prevalence and Correlates of Drug/Alcohol-Facilitated and Incapacitated Sexual Assault in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescent Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCauley, Jenna L.; Conoscenti, Lauren M.; Ruggiero, Kenneth J.; Resnick, Heidi S.; Saunders, Benjamin E.; Kilpatrick, Dean G.

2009-01-01

Incapacitated/drug-alcohol facilitated sexual assault (IS/DAFS) is rapidly gaining recognition as a distinct form of assault with unique public health implications. This study reports the prevalence, case characteristics, and associated health risks of IS/DAFS using a large, nationally representative sample of 1,763 adolescent girls. Results…

Prevalence and Predictors of Grandparent Childcare in Ireland: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample of Infants and Their Families

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNally, Sinead; Share, Michelle; Murray, Aisling

2014-01-01

Anecdotal evidence suggests that grandparents provide a substantial amount of childcare support to parents of infants in Ireland yet there has been little attention to the provision of grandparent childcare at policy level. Using nationally representative data on childcare provision in the Republic of Ireland, this study examined the prevalence of…

Racial and Socioeconomic Gaps in Executive Function Skills in Early Elementary School: Nationally Representative Evidence From the ECLS-K:2011

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Michael

2017-01-01

This brief leverages the first ever nationally representative data set with a direct assessment of elementary school-aged children's executive function skills to examine racial and socioeconomic gaps in performance. The analysis reveals large gaps in measures of working memory and cognitive flexibility, the two components of executive function…

14 CFR 1274.906 - Designation of New Technology Representative and Patent Representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Designation of New Technology Representative and Patent Representative. 1274.906 Section 1274.906 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH COMMERCIAL FIRMS Other Provisions and Special...

14 CFR 1274.906 - Designation of New Technology Representative and Patent Representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Designation of New Technology Representative and Patent Representative. 1274.906 Section 1274.906 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH COMMERCIAL FIRMS Other Provisions and Special...

22 CFR 41.52 - Information media representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Information media representative. 41.52 Section... IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT, AS AMENDED Business and Media Visas § 41.52 Information media representative. (a) Representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other information media. An alien is...

22 CFR 41.52 - Information media representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Information media representative. 41.52 Section... IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT, AS AMENDED Business and Media Visas § 41.52 Information media representative. (a) Representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other information media. An alien is...

22 CFR 41.52 - Information media representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Information media representative. 41.52 Section... IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT, AS AMENDED Business and Media Visas § 41.52 Information media representative. (a) Representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other information media. An alien is...

22 CFR 41.52 - Information media representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Information media representative. 41.52 Section... IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT, AS AMENDED Business and Media Visas § 41.52 Information media representative. (a) Representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other information media. An alien is...

22 CFR 41.52 - Information media representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Information media representative. 41.52 Section... IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT, AS AMENDED Business and Media Visas § 41.52 Information media representative. (a) Representative of foreign press, radio, film, or other information media. An alien is...

Predicting Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Longitudinally in a Representative Sample of Hospitalized Injured Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zatzick, Douglas F.; Grossman, David C.; Russo, Joan; Pynoos, Robert; Berliner, Lucy; Jurkovich, Gregory; Sabin, Janice A.; Katon, Wayne; Ghesquiere, Angela; McCauley, Elizabeth; Rivara, Frederick P.

2006-01-01

Objective: Adolescents constitute a high-risk population for traumatic physical injury, yet few longitudinal investigations have assessed the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms over time in representative samples. Method: Between July 2002 and August 2003,108 randomly selected injured adolescent patients ages 12 to 18 and…

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.

77 FR 46802 - National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council (NEMSAC); Notice of Federal Advisory...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-06

...-0100] National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council (NEMSAC); Notice of Federal Advisory... Transportation (DOT). ACTION: Meeting Notice--National Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council. SUMMARY: The... NEMSAC is to provide a nationally recognized council of emergency medical services representatives and...

On the importance of incorporating sampling weights in ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Occupancy models are used extensively to assess wildlife-habitat associations and to predict species distributions across large geographic regions. Occupancy models were developed as a tool to properly account for imperfect detection of a species. Current guidelines on survey design requirements for occupancy models focus on the number of sample units and the pattern of revisits to a sample unit within a season. We focus on the sampling design or how the sample units are selected in geographic space (e.g., stratified, simple random, unequal probability, etc). In a probability design, each sample unit has a sample weight which quantifies the number of sample units it represents in the finite (oftentimes areal) sampling frame. We demonstrate the importance of including sampling weights in occupancy model estimation when the design is not a simple random sample or equal probability design. We assume a finite areal sampling frame as proposed for a national bat monitoring program. We compare several unequal and equal probability designs and varying sampling intensity within a simulation study. We found the traditional single season occupancy model produced biased estimates of occupancy and lower confidence interval coverage rates compared to occupancy models that accounted for the sampling design. We also discuss how our findings inform the analyses proposed for the nascent North American Bat Monitoring Program and other collaborative synthesis efforts that propose h

The Status, Quality, and Expansion of the NIH Full-Length cDNA Project: The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC)

PubMed Central

2004-01-01

The National Institutes of Health's Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) project was designed to generate and sequence a publicly accessible cDNA resource containing a complete open reading frame (ORF) for every human and mouse gene. The project initially used a random strategy to select clones from a large number of cDNA libraries from diverse tissues. Candidate clones were chosen based on 5′-EST sequences, and then fully sequenced to high accuracy and analyzed by algorithms developed for this project. Currently, more than 11,000 human and 10,000 mouse genes are represented in MGC by at least one clone with a full ORF. The random selection approach is now reaching a saturation point, and a transition to protocols targeted at the missing transcripts is now required to complete the mouse and human collections. Comparison of the sequence of the MGC clones to reference genome sequences reveals that most cDNA clones are of very high sequence quality, although it is likely that some cDNAs may carry missense variants as a consequence of experimental artifact, such as PCR, cloning, or reverse transcriptase errors. Recently, a rat cDNA component was added to the project, and ongoing frog (Xenopus) and zebrafish (Danio) cDNA projects were expanded to take advantage of the high-throughput MGC pipeline. PMID:15489334

A Web-Based Intervention to Reduce Indoor Tanning Motivations In Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial

PubMed Central

Hillhouse, Joel; Turrisi, Rob; Scaglione, Nichole M.; Cleveland, Michael J.; Baker, Katie; Florence, L. Carter

2016-01-01

Youthful indoor tanning as few as ten sessions can increase the risk of melanoma by 2 to 4 times with each additional session adding another 2% to the risk. Recent research estimates that indoor tanning can be linked to approximately 450,000 cases of skin cancer annually in the United States, Europe, and Australia. Despite these risks, indoor tanning remains popular with adolescents. This study tested the efficacy of a web-based skin cancer prevention intervention designed to reduce indoor tanning motivations in adolescent females. A nationally representative sample of 443 female teens were enrolled from an online panel into a two-arm, parallel group design, randomized controlled trial. Treatment participants received an appearance-focused intervention grounded in established health behavior change models. Controls viewed a teen alcohol prevention website. Outcome variables included willingness and intentions to indoor tan, willingness to sunless tan and measures of indoor tanning attitudes and beliefs. The intervention decreased willingness and intentions to indoor tan and increased sunless tanning willingness relative to controls. We also examined indirect mechanisms of change through intervening variables (e.g., indoor tanning attitudes, norms, positive and negative expectancies) using the product of coefficients approach. The web-based intervention demonstrated efficacy in changing adolescent indoor tanning motivations and improving their orientation toward healthier alternatives. Results from the intervening variable analyses give guidance to future adolescent skin cancer prevention interventions. PMID:27549602

A Web-Based Intervention to Reduce Indoor Tanning Motivations in Adolescents: a Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Hillhouse, Joel; Turrisi, Rob; Scaglione, Nichole M; Cleveland, Michael J; Baker, Katie; Florence, L Carter

2017-02-01

Youthful indoor tanning as few as ten sessions can increase the risk of melanoma by two to four times with each additional session adding another 2 % to the risk. Recent research estimates that indoor tanning can be linked to approximately 450,000 cases of skin cancer annually in the USA, Europe, and Australia. Despite these risks, indoor tanning remains popular with adolescents. This study tested the efficacy of a web-based skin cancer prevention intervention designed to reduce indoor tanning motivations in adolescent females. A nationally representative sample of 443 female teens was enrolled from an online panel into a two-arm, parallel group design, randomized controlled trial. Treatment participants received an appearance-focused intervention grounded in established health behavior change models. Controls viewed a teen alcohol prevention website. Outcome variables included willingness and intentions to indoor tan, willingness to sunless tan, and measures of indoor tanning attitudes and beliefs. The intervention decreased willingness and intentions to indoor tan and increased sunless tanning willingness relative to controls. We also examined indirect mechanisms of change through intervening variables (e.g., indoor tanning attitudes, norms, positive and negative expectancies) using the product of coefficient approach. The web-based intervention demonstrated efficacy in changing adolescent indoor tanning motivations and improving their orientation toward healthier alternatives. Results from the intervening variable analyses give guidance to future adolescent skin cancer prevention interventions.

Emotional abuse in childhood and suicidality: The mediating roles of re-victimization and depressive symptoms in adulthood.

PubMed

Lee, Min-Ah

2015-06-01

This study examined the effects of emotional abuse in childhood, along with physical and sexual abuse, on suicidality in adulthood, and whether and how emotional abuse and depressive symptoms in adulthood mediate the association between the childhood emotional abuse and suicidality. The data were drawn from the 2012 Korean General Social Survey, a nationally representative survey with a multistage area proportional probability sampling method. Random effects regression and the Sobel test were used to analyze the relationships between childhood emotional abuse and suicidality and the mediating effects. Random effects models showed that emotional abuse in childhood was positively associated with suicidality in adulthood, even after controlling for physical and sexual abuse in childhood. Emotional abuse and depressive symptoms in adulthood mediated the association between emotional abuse in childhood and suicidality. Depressive symptoms also mediated between emotional abuse in adulthood and suicidality. These findings suggest that emotional abuse in childhood has indirect harmful effects on suicidality in adulthood. It increases suicidality through higher occurrences of re-victimization and depressive symptoms in adulthood. Practitioners and policy makers should recognize that experiences of emotional abuse in childhood may result in re-victimization in adulthood, which, in turn, lead to suicidality. Early intervention programs to reduce the likelihood of experiencing re-victimization may be critical for people exposed to emotional abuse in childhood. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Drug reimbursement and GPs' prescribing decisions: a randomized case-vignette study about the pharmacotherapy of obesity associated with type 2 diabetes: how GPs react to drug reimbursement.

PubMed

Verger, Pierre; Rolland, Sophie; Paraponaris, Alain; Bouvenot, Julien; Ventelou, Bruno

2010-08-01

This study sought to identify the effect of drug reimbursability--a decision made in France by the National Authority for Health--on physicians' prescribing practices for a diet drug such as rimonabant, approved for obese or overweight patients with type-2 diabetes. A cross-sectional survey of French general practitioners (GPs) presented a case-vignette about a patient for whom this drug is indicated in two alternative versions, differing only in its reimbursability, to two separate randomized subsamples of GPs in early 2007, before any decision was made about reimbursement. The results indicate that (i) more than 20% of GPs in private practice would be willing to prescribe a non-reimbursed diet drug for patients with obesity complicated by type 2 diabetes; (ii) the number of GPs willing to prescribe it would increase by 47.6% if the drug were reimbursed, and (iii) such a drug would be adopted at a higher rate by GPs who have regular contacts with pharmaceutical sales representatives. In France, unlike most other countries, drug reimbursement status is a signal of quality. However, our results suggest that a significant proportion of GPs would spontaneously adopt anti-obesity drugs even if they were not reimbursed. Decisions about reimbursement of pharmaceutical products should be made taking into account that reimbursement is likely to intensify prescription.

Childhood abuse, personality traits, and depressive symptoms in adulthood.

PubMed

Lee, Min-Ah; Song, Rira

2017-03-01

This study examined associations among childhood abuse, personality traits, and depressive symptoms in adulthood, and whether and how the effects of childhood abuse on depressive symptoms are mediated by the Big Five personality traits (i.e., extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, agreeableness, and openness). The data were drawn from the 2012 Korean General Social Survey, a nationally representative survey using a multistage area proportional probability sampling method. Random effects regression and the Sobel test were used. Random effects models showed that physical and emotional abuse in childhood significantly increased depressive symptoms in adulthood, even after controlling for personality traits and socio-demographic factors. The coefficients of childhood abuse slightly decreased when personality traits were controlled, suggesting that personality traits mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and depressive symptoms. Among the personality traits, extraversion and emotional stability were negatively associated with depressive symptoms whereas agreeableness was positively associated with depressive symptoms. The results of the Sobel test showed that only emotional stability significantly mediated the effects of childhood abuse on depressive symptoms. Those who were exposed to childhood abuse had lower levels of emotional stability, which, in turn, led to depressive symptoms in adulthood. The findings suggest that childhood abuse may have a long lasting effect on mental health over the life course by influencing the formation of personality traits through developmental periods. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The study designed by a committee: design of the Multisite Violence Prevention Project.

PubMed

Henry, David B; Farrell, Albert D

2004-01-01

This article describes the research design of the Multisite Violence Prevention Project (MVPP), organized and funded by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC's objectives, refined in the course of collaboration among investigators, were to evaluate the efficacy of universal and targeted interventions designed to produce change at the school level. The project's design was developed collaboratively, and is a 2 x 2 cluster-randomized true experimental design in which schools within four separate sites were assigned randomly to four conditions: (1) no-intervention control group, (2) universal intervention, (3) targeted intervention, and (4) combined universal and targeted interventions. A total of 37 schools are participating in this study with 8-12 schools per site. The impact of the interventions on two successive cohorts of sixth-grade students will be assessed based on multiple waves of data from multiple sources of information, including teachers, students, parents, and archival data. The nesting of students within teachers, families, schools and sites created a number of challenges for designing and implementing the study. The final design represents both resolution and compromise on a number of creative tensions existing in large-scale prevention trials, including tensions between cost and statistical power, and between internal and external validity. Strengths and limitations of the final design are discussed.

The Study Designed by a Committee

PubMed Central

Henry, David B.; Farrell, Albert D.

2009-01-01

This article describes the research design of the Multisite Violence Prevention Project (MVPP), organized and funded by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC's objectives, refined in the course of collaboration among investigators, were to evaluate the efficacy of universal and targeted interventions designed to produce change at the school level. The project's design was developed collaboratively, and is a 2 × 2 cluster-randomized true experimental design in which schools within four separate sites were assigned randomly to four conditions: (1) no-intervention control group, (2) universal intervention, (3) targeted intervention, and (4) combined universal and targeted interventions. A total of 37 schools are participating in this study with 8–12 schools per site. The impact of the interventions on two successive cohorts of sixth-grade students will be assessed based on multiple waves of data from multiple sources of information, including teachers, students, parents, and archival data. The nesting of students within teachers, families, schools and sites created a number of challenges for designing and implementing the study. The final design represents both resolution and compromise on a number of creative tensions existing in large-scale prevention trials, including tensions between cost and statistical power, and between internal and external validity. Strengths and limitations of the final design are discussed. PMID:14732183

Paretian Poisson Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliazar, Iddo; Klafter, Joseph

2008-05-01

Many random populations can be modeled as a countable set of points scattered randomly on the positive half-line. The points may represent magnitudes of earthquakes and tornados, masses of stars, market values of public companies, etc. In this article we explore a specific class of random such populations we coin ` Paretian Poisson processes'. This class is elemental in statistical physics—connecting together, in a deep and fundamental way, diverse issues including: the Poisson distribution of the Law of Small Numbers; Paretian tail statistics; the Fréchet distribution of Extreme Value Theory; the one-sided Lévy distribution of the Central Limit Theorem; scale-invariance, renormalization and fractality; resilience to random perturbations.

Association of marketing interactions with medical trainees' knowledge about evidence-based prescribing: results from a national survey.

PubMed

Austad, Kirsten E; Avorn, Jerry; Franklin, Jessica M; Campbell, Eric G; Kesselheim, Aaron S

2014-08-01

In recent years, numerous US medical schools and academic medical centers have enacted policies preventing pharmaceutical sales representatives from interacting directly with students. Little is known about how pharmaceutical sales representatives affect trainees' knowledge about pharmaceutical prescribing. To determine whether there is an association between medical trainees' interactions with pharmaceutical promotion and their preferences in medication use. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of first- and fourth-year medical students and third-year residents by randomly selecting at least 14 trainees at each level per school. All trainees were asked how often they used different educational resources to learn about prescription drugs. Among fourth-year students and residents, we posed a series of multiple choice knowledge questions asking about the appropriate initial therapy for clinical scenarios involving patients with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and difficulty sleeping. Evidence-based answers followed widely used clinical guidelines, while marketed-drug answers favored brand-name drugs over generic alternatives. We used survey answers to build an industry relations index assessing each trainee's level of acceptance of pharmaceutical promotion; we used proportional odds logistic regression models to estimate the association between the index and responses to the knowledge questions. The 1601 student (49.0% response rate) and 735 resident (42.9% response rate) respondents reported common use of unfiltered sources of drug information such as Google (74.2%-88.9%) and Wikipedia (45.2%-84.5%). We found that 48% to 90% of fourth-year students and residents accurately identified evidence-based prescribing choices. A 10-point higher industry relations index was associated with 15% lower odds of selecting an evidence-based prescribing choice (odds ratio [OR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.79-0.92) (P < .001). There was also a significant association between the industry relations index and greater odds of choosing to prescribe brand-name drugs (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.00-1.16) (P = .04). Among physician trainees, our survey showed an association between positive attitudes toward industry-physician interactions and less knowledge about evidence-based prescribing and greater inclination to recommend brand-name drugs. Policies intended to insulate trainees from pharmaceutical marketing may promote better educational outcomes.

Use of Hearing Aids by Adults with Hearing Loss

MedlinePlus

... obtained annually from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The 2020 target lines represent the goals recommended ... Examination Survey (NHANES) and National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for ...

14 CFR 1260.58 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Designation of new technology representative and patent representative. 1260.58 Section 1260.58 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS General Special Conditions § 1260.58 Designation...

14 CFR § 1274.906 - Designation of New Technology Representative and Patent Representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Designation of New Technology Representative and Patent Representative. § 1274.906 Section § 1274.906 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS WITH COMMERCIAL FIRMS Other Provisions and Special...

14 CFR 1260.58 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Designation of new technology representative and patent representative. 1260.58 Section 1260.58 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS General Special Conditions § 1260.58 Designation...

21 CFR 1404.915 - Agent or representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Agent or representative. 1404.915 Section 1404.915 Food and Drugs OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY GOVERNMENTWIDE DEBARMENT AND SUSPENSION (NONPROCUREMENT) Definitions § 1404.915 Agent or representative. Agent or representative means any person who acts...

Fixation using alternative implants for the treatment of hip fractures (FAITH): design and rationale for a multi-centre randomized trial comparing sliding hip screws and cancellous screws on revision surgery rates and quality of life in the treatment of femoral neck fractures.

PubMed

2014-06-26

Hip fractures are a common type of fragility fracture that afflict 293,000 Americans (over 5,000 per week) and 35,000 Canadians (over 670 per week) annually. Despite the large population impact the optimal fixation technique for low energy femoral neck fractures remains controversial. The primary objective of the FAITH study is to assess the impact of cancellous screw fixation versus sliding hip screws on rates of revision surgery at 24 months in individuals with femoral neck fractures. The secondary objective is to determine the impact on health-related quality of life, functional outcomes, health state utilities, fracture healing, mortality and fracture-related adverse events. FAITH is a multi-centre, multi-national randomized controlled trial utilizing minimization to determine patient allocation. Surgeons in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia will recruit a total of at least 1,000 patients with low-energy femoral neck fractures. Using central randomization, patients will be allocated to receive surgical treatment with cancellous screws or a sliding hip screw. Patient outcomes will be assessed at one week (baseline), 10 weeks, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months post initial fixation. We will independently adjudicate revision surgery and complications within 24 months of the initial fixation. Outcome analysis will be performed using a Cox proportional hazards model and likelihood ratio test. This study represents major international efforts to definitively resolve the treatment of low-energy femoral neck fractures. This trial will not only change current Orthopaedic practice, but will also set a benchmark for the conduct of future Orthopaedic trials. The FAITH trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier NCT00761813).

Independent exercise for glottal incompetence to improve vocal problems and prevent aspiration pneumonia in the elderly: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Fujimaki, Yoko; Tsunoda, Koichi; Kobayashi, Rika; Tonghyo, Chong; Tanaka, Fujinobu; Kuroda, Hiroyuki; Numata, Tsutomu; Ishii, Toyota; Kuroda, Reiko; Masuda, Sawako; Hashimoto, Sho; Misawa, Hayato; Shindo, Naoko; Mori, Takahiro; Mori, Hiroko; Uchiyama, Naoki; Kamei, Yuichirou; Tanaka, Masashi; Hamaya, Hironobu; Funatsuki, Shingo; Usui, Satoko; Ito, Ikuno; Hamada, Kohei; Shindo, Akihito; Tokumaru, Yutaka; Morita, Yoko; Ueha, Rumi; Nito, Takaharu; Kikuta, Shu; Sekimoto, Sotaro; Kondo, Kenji; Sakamoto, Takashi; Itoh, Kenji; Yamasoba, Tatsuya; Matsumoto, Sumio

2017-08-01

To evaluate the effect of a self-controlled vocal exercise in elderly people with glottal closure insufficiency. Parallel-arm, individual randomized controlled trial. Patients who visited one of 10 medical centers under the National Hospital Organization group in Japan for the first time, aged 60 years or older, complaining of aspiration or hoarseness, and endoscopically confirmed to have glottal closure insufficiency owing to vocal cord atrophy, were enrolled in this study. They were randomly assigned to an intervention or a control group. The patients of the intervention group were given guidance and a DVD about a self-controlled vocal exercise. The maximum phonation time which is a measure of glottal closure was evaluated, and the number of patients who developed pneumonia during the six months was compared between the two groups. Of the 543 patients enrolled in this trial, 259 were allocated into the intervention group and 284 into the control; 60 of the intervention group and 75 of the control were not able to continue the trial. A total of 199 patients (age 73.9 ±7.25 years) in the intervention group and 209 (73.3 ±6.68 years) in the control completed the six-month trial. Intervention of the self-controlled vocal exercise extended the maximum phonation time significantly ( p < 0.001). There were two hospitalizations for pneumonia in the intervention group and 18 in the control group, representing a significant difference ( p < 0.001). The self-controlled vocal exercise allowed patients to achieve vocal cord adduction and improve glottal closure insufficiency, which reduced the rate of hospitalization for pneumonia significantly. gov Identifier-UMIN000015567.

Study design and rationale of the 'Balloon-Expandable Cobalt Chromium SCUBA Stent versus Self-Expandable COMPLETE-SE Nitinol Stent for the Atherosclerotic ILIAC Arterial Disease (SENS-ILIAC Trial) Trial': study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Choi, Woong Gil; Rha, Seung Woon; Choi, Cheol Ung; Kim, Eung Ju; Oh, Dong Joo; Cho, Yoon Hyung; Park, Sang Ho; Lee, Seung Jin; Hur, Ae Yong; Ko, Young Guk; Park, Sang Min; Kim, Ki Chang; Kim, Joo Han; Kim, Min Woong; Kim, Sang Min; Bae, Jang Ho; Bong, Jung Min; Kang, Won Yu; Seo, Jae Bin; Jung, Woo Yong; Cho, Jang Hyun; Kim, Do Hoi; Ahn, Ji Hoon; Kim, Soo Hyun; Jang, Ji Yong

2016-06-25

The self-expandable COMPLETE™ stent (Medtronic) has greater elasticity, allowing it to regain its shape after the compression force reduces, and has higher trackability, thus is easier to maneuver through tortuous vessels, whereas the balloon-expandable SCUBA™ stent (Medtronic) has higher radial stiffness and can afford more accurate placement without geographic miss, which is important in aortoiliac bifurcation lesions. To date, there have been no randomized control trials comparing efficacy and safety between the self-expanding stent and balloon-expandable stent in advanced atherosclerotic iliac artery disease. The purpose of our study is to examine primary patency (efficacy) and incidence of stent fracture and geographic miss (safety) between two different major representative stents, the self-expanding nitinol stent (COMPLETE-SE™) and the balloon-expanding cobalt-chromium stent (SCUBA™), in stenotic or occlusive iliac arterial lesions. This trial is designed as a prospective, randomized, multicenter trial to demonstrate a noninferiority of SCUBA™ stent to COMPLETE-SE™ stent following balloon angioplasty in iliac arterial lesions, and a total of 280 patients will be enrolled. The primary end point of this study is the rate of primary patency in the treated segment at 12 months after intervention as determined by catheter angiography, computed tomography angiography, or duplex ultrasound. The SENS-ILIAC trial will give powerful insight into whether the stent choice according to deployment mechanics would impact stent patency, geographic miss, or stent fracture in patients undergoing stent implantation in iliac artery lesions. National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Registry (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01834495 ), registration date: May 8, 2012.

PESTICIDE MEASUREMENTS FROM THE FIRST NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SURVEY OF CHILD CARE CENTERS USING A MULTI-RESIDUE GC/MS ANALYSIS METHOD

EPA Science Inventory

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the US Environmental Protection Agency, characterized the environments of young children (<6 years) by measuring lead, allergens, and pesticides in a randomly-s...

Assessing Sensitivity of Early Head Start Study Findings to Manipulated Randomization Threats

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Sheridan

2013-01-01

Increasing demands for design rigor and an emphasis on evidence-based practice on a national level indicated a need for further guidance related to successful implementation of randomized studies in education. Rigorous and meaningful experimental research and its conclusions help establish a valid theoretical and evidence base for educational…

Exploratory and Confirmatory Analysis of the Trauma Practices Questionnaire

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Carlton D.; Sprang, Ginny

2009-01-01

Objective: The present study provides psychometric data for the Trauma Practices Questionnaire (TPQ). Method: A nationally randomized sample of 2,400 surveys was sent to self-identified trauma treatment specialists, and 711 (29.6%) were returned. Results: An exploratory factor analysis (N = 319) conducted on a randomly split sample (RSS) revealed…

1977 Survey of the American Professoriate. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ladd, Everett Carll, Jr.; And Others

The development and data validation of the 1977 Ladd-Lipset national survey of the American professoriate are described. The respondents were selected from a random sample of colleges and universities and from a random sample of individual faculty members from the universities. The 158 institutions in the 1977 survey were selected from 2,406…

Efficacy of abstinence promotion media messages: findings from an online randomized trial.

PubMed

Evans, W Douglas; Davis, Kevin C; Ashley, Olivia Silber; Blitstein, Jonathan; Koo, Helen; Zhang, Yun

2009-10-01

We conducted an online randomized experiment to evaluate the efficacy of messages from the Parents Speak Up National Campaign (PSUNC) to promote parent-child communication about sex. We randomly assigned a national sample of 1,969 mothers and fathers to treatment (PSUNC exposure) and control (no exposure) conditions. Mothers were further randomized into treatment and booster (additional messages) conditions to evaluate dose-response effects. Participants were surveyed at baseline, 4 weeks postexposure, and 6 months postexposure. We used multivariable logistic regression procedures in our analysis. Treatment fathers were more likely than control fathers to initiate conversations about sex at 4 weeks, and treatment fathers and mothers were more likely than controls at 6 months to recommend that their children wait to have sex. Treatment fathers and mothers were far more likely than controls to use the campaign Web site. There was a dose-response effect for mothers' Web site use. Using new media methods, this study shows that PSUNC messages are efficacious in promoting parent-child communication about sex and abstinence. Future research should evaluate mechanisms and effectiveness in natural settings.

Effect of boundary conditions on the numerical solutions of representative volume element problems for random heterogeneous composite microstructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cho, Yi Je; Lee, Wook Jin; Park, Yong Ho

2014-11-01

Aspects of numerical results from computational experiments on representative volume element (RVE) problems using finite element analyses are discussed. Two different boundary conditions (BCs) are examined and compared numerically for volume elements with different sizes, where tests have been performed on the uniaxial tensile deformation of random particle reinforced composites. Structural heterogeneities near model boundaries such as the free-edges of particle/matrix interfaces significantly influenced the overall numerical solutions, producing force and displacement fluctuations along the boundaries. Interestingly, this effect was shown to be limited to surface regions within a certain distance of the boundaries, while the interior of the model showed almost identical strain fields regardless of the applied BCs. Also, the thickness of the BC-affected regions remained constant with varying volume element sizes in the models. When the volume element size was large enough compared to the thickness of the BC-affected regions, the structural response of most of the model was found to be almost independent of the applied BC such that the apparent properties converged to the effective properties. Finally, the mechanism that leads a RVE model for random heterogeneous materials to be representative is discussed in terms of the size of the volume element and the thickness of the BC-affected region.

A Trusted National Fusion Center Network: Are Baseline Capabilities and Accreditation Needed?

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan NCTC National Counterterrorism Center NEMA National Emergency Management Agency NFCA National Fusion Center...1997, during its mid-year conference, the National Emergency Management Association ( NEMA ) met to discuss the need for the development of nationally...and accreditation. EMAP is governed by a commission comprised of ten members, consisting of five representatives from NEMA and five

Evaluation of Model Specification, Variable Selection, and Adjustment Methods in Relation to Propensity Scores and Prognostic Scores in Multilevel Data

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Bing; Hong, Guanglei

2012-01-01

This study uses simulation examples representing three types of treatment assignment mechanisms in data generation (the random intercept and slopes setting, the random intercept setting, and a third setting with a cluster-level treatment and an individual-level outcome) in order to determine optimal procedures for reducing bias and improving…

Effects of Animation on Naming and Identification across Two Graphic Symbol Sets Representing Verbs and Prepositions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlosser, Ralf W.; Koul, Rajinder; Shane, Howard; Sorce, James; Brock, Kristofer; Harmon, Ashley; Moerlein, Dorothy; Hearn, Emilia

2014-01-01

Purpose: The effects of animation on naming and identification of graphic symbols for verbs and prepositions were studied in 2 graphic symbol sets in preschoolers. Method: Using a 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 completely randomized block design, preschoolers across three age groups were randomly assigned to combinations of symbol set (Autism Language Program…

Process monitoring in intensive care with the use of cumulative expected minus observed mortality and risk-adjusted P charts.

PubMed

Cockings, Jerome G L; Cook, David A; Iqbal, Rehana K

2006-02-01

A health care system is a complex adaptive system. The effect of a single intervention, incorporated into a complex clinical environment, may be different from that expected. A national database such as the Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) Case Mix Programme in the UK represents a centralised monitoring, surveillance and reporting system for retrospective quality and comparative audit. This can be supplemented with real-time process monitoring at a local level for continuous process improvement, allowing early detection of the impact of both unplanned and deliberately imposed changes in the clinical environment. Demographic and UK Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) data were prospectively collected on all patients admitted to a UK regional hospital between 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2004 in accordance with the ICNARC Case Mix Programme. We present a cumulative expected minus observed (E-O) plot and the risk-adjusted p chart as methods of continuous process monitoring. We describe the construction and interpretation of these charts and show how they can be used to detect planned or unplanned organisational process changes affecting mortality outcomes. Five hundred and eighty-nine adult patients were included. The overall death rate was 0.78 of predicted. Calibration showed excess survival in ranges above 30% risk of death. The E-O plot confirmed a survival above that predicted. Small transient variations were seen in the slope that could represent random effects, or real but transient changes in the quality of care. The risk-adjusted p chart showed several observations below the 2 SD control limits of the expected mortality rate. These plots provide rapid analysis of risk-adjusted performance suitable for local application and interpretation. The E-O chart provided rapid easily visible feedback of changes in risk-adjusted mortality, while the risk-adjusted p chart allowed statistical evaluation. Local analysis of risk-adjusted mortality data with an E-O plot and a risk-adjusted p chart is feasible and allows the rapid detection of changes in risk-adjusted outcome of intensive care patients. This complements the centralised national database, which is more archival and comparative in nature.

Poverty and blindness in Pakistan: results from the Pakistan national blindness and visual impairment survey.

PubMed

Gilbert, Clare E; Shah, S P; Jadoon, M Z; Bourne, R; Dineen, B; Khan, M A; Johnson, G J; Khan, M D

2008-01-05

To explore the association between blindness and deprivation in a nationally representative sample of adults in Pakistan. Cross sectional population based survey. 221 rural and urban clusters selected randomly throughout Pakistan. Nationally representative sample of 16 507 adults aged 30 or above (95.3% response rate). Associations between visual impairment and poverty assessed by a cluster level deprivation index and a household level poverty indicator; prevalence and causes of blindness; measures of the rate of uptake and quality of eye care services. 561 blind participants (<3/60 in the better eye) were identified during the survey. Clusters in urban Sindh province were the most affluent, whereas rural areas in Balochistan were the poorest. The prevalence of blindness in adults living in affluent clusters was 2.2%, compared with 3.7% in medium clusters and 3.9% in poor clusters (P<0.001 for affluent v poor). The highest prevalence of blindness was found in rural Balochistan (5.2%). The prevalence of total blindness (bilateral no light perception) was more than three times higher in poor clusters than in affluent clusters (0.24% v 0.07%, P<0.001). The prevalences of blindness caused by cataract, glaucoma, and corneal opacity were lower in affluent clusters and households. Reflecting access to eye care services, cataract surgical coverage was higher in affluent clusters (80.6%) than in medium (76.8%) and poor areas (75.1%). Intraocular lens implantation rates were significantly lower in participants from poorer households. 10.2% of adults living in affluent clusters presented to the examination station wearing spectacles, compared with 6.7% in medium clusters and 4.4% in poor cluster areas. Spectacle coverage in affluent areas was more than double that in poor clusters (23.5% v 11.1%, P<0.001). Blindness is associated with poverty in Pakistan; lower access to eye care services was one contributory factor. To reduce blindness, strategies targeting poor people will be needed. These interventions may have an impact on deprivation in Pakistan.

PUFKEY: A High-Security and High-Throughput Hardware True Random Number Generator for Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Li, Dongfang; Lu, Zhaojun; Zou, Xuecheng; Liu, Zhenglin

2015-01-01

Random number generators (RNG) play an important role in many sensor network systems and applications, such as those requiring secure and robust communications. In this paper, we develop a high-security and high-throughput hardware true random number generator, called PUFKEY, which consists of two kinds of physical unclonable function (PUF) elements. Combined with a conditioning algorithm, true random seeds are extracted from the noise on the start-up pattern of SRAM memories. These true random seeds contain full entropy. Then, the true random seeds are used as the input for a non-deterministic hardware RNG to generate a stream of true random bits with a throughput as high as 803 Mbps. The experimental results show that the bitstream generated by the proposed PUFKEY can pass all standard national institute of standards and technology (NIST) randomness tests and is resilient to a wide range of security attacks. PMID:26501283

PUFKEY: a high-security and high-throughput hardware true random number generator for sensor networks.

PubMed

Li, Dongfang; Lu, Zhaojun; Zou, Xuecheng; Liu, Zhenglin

2015-10-16

Random number generators (RNG) play an important role in many sensor network systems and applications, such as those requiring secure and robust communications. In this paper, we develop a high-security and high-throughput hardware true random number generator, called PUFKEY, which consists of two kinds of physical unclonable function (PUF) elements. Combined with a conditioning algorithm, true random seeds are extracted from the noise on the start-up pattern of SRAM memories. These true random seeds contain full entropy. Then, the true random seeds are used as the input for a non-deterministic hardware RNG to generate a stream of true random bits with a throughput as high as 803 Mbps. The experimental results show that the bitstream generated by the proposed PUFKEY can pass all standard national institute of standards and technology (NIST) randomness tests and is resilient to a wide range of security attacks.

An Evaluation of Bias in the 2007 National Household Education Surveys Program: Results from a Special Data Collection Effort. NCES 2009-029

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van de Kerckhove, Wendy; Montaquila, Jill M.; Carver, Priscilla R.; Brick, J. Michael

2009-01-01

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a random digit dialing (RDD) survey program developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. The surveys are designed to help NCES collect data directly from households about important education topics.…

Participatory democracy, representative democracy, and the nature of diffuse and concentrated interests: A case study of public involvement on a national gorest district

Treesearch

Christine Overdevest

2000-01-01

To evaluate whether public involvement on a national forest district fairly represents the public's values, this article proposes four hypothesis tests. First, it is hypothesized that public-involvement programs operute according to a participatory democracy logic, in which broad cross sections of the public participate in public involvement opportunities. A...

Food Stamp Participation is Associated with Fewer Meals Away From Home, yet Higher Body Mass Index and Waist Circumference in a Nationally Representative Sample

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jilcott, Stephanie B.; Liu, Haiyong; DuBose, Katrina D.; Chen, Susan; Kranz, Sibylle

2011-01-01

Objective: To examine associations between Food Stamp (FS) participation, meals away from home (MAFH), body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Nationally representative. Participants: Data from low-income, FS-eligible individuals (N = 945) ages 20-65 years, responding to the 2005-2006 National…

Teacher Autonomy in the United States: Establishing a Standard Definition, Validation of a Nationally Representative Construct and an Investigation of Policy Affected Teacher Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gwaltney, Kevin Dale

2012-01-01

This effort: 1) establishes an autonomy definition uniquely tailored for teaching, 2) validates a nationally generalizable teacher autonomy construct, 3) demonstrates that the model describes and explains the autonomy levels of particular teacher groups, and 4) verifies the construct can represent teacher autonomy in other empirical models. The…

Annual report of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (6th).administrative report including Technical Reports nos. 83 to 110

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1921-01-01

Report includes the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics letter of submittal to the President, Congressional report, summaries of the committee's activities and research accomplished, expenditures, House of Representatives bill 14061, a copy of the bill introduced to the House of Representatives to regulate air navigation, and a compilation of technical reports produced.

78 FR 45964 - Notice of Intent To Repatriate a Cultural Item: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-30

... sacred object. Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization... of sacred object under 25 U.S.C. 3001. This notice is published as part of the National Park Service... purchase that represented the life ways of the area people. The one sacred object is a red catlinite pipe...

Emergence of an optimal search strategy from a simple random walk

PubMed Central

Sakiyama, Tomoko; Gunji, Yukio-Pegio

2013-01-01

In reports addressing animal foraging strategies, it has been stated that Lévy-like algorithms represent an optimal search strategy in an unknown environment, because of their super-diffusion properties and power-law-distributed step lengths. Here, starting with a simple random walk algorithm, which offers the agent a randomly determined direction at each time step with a fixed move length, we investigated how flexible exploration is achieved if an agent alters its randomly determined next step forward and the rule that controls its random movement based on its own directional moving experiences. We showed that our algorithm led to an effective food-searching performance compared with a simple random walk algorithm and exhibited super-diffusion properties, despite the uniform step lengths. Moreover, our algorithm exhibited a power-law distribution independent of uniform step lengths. PMID:23804445

Emergence of an optimal search strategy from a simple random walk.

PubMed

Sakiyama, Tomoko; Gunji, Yukio-Pegio

2013-09-06

In reports addressing animal foraging strategies, it has been stated that Lévy-like algorithms represent an optimal search strategy in an unknown environment, because of their super-diffusion properties and power-law-distributed step lengths. Here, starting with a simple random walk algorithm, which offers the agent a randomly determined direction at each time step with a fixed move length, we investigated how flexible exploration is achieved if an agent alters its randomly determined next step forward and the rule that controls its random movement based on its own directional moving experiences. We showed that our algorithm led to an effective food-searching performance compared with a simple random walk algorithm and exhibited super-diffusion properties, despite the uniform step lengths. Moreover, our algorithm exhibited a power-law distribution independent of uniform step lengths.

National ITS architecture security

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-10-01

This Security Document presents an overview of security as it is represented in the National ITS Architecture and provides guidance for using the security-related parts of the National ITS Architecture. The objective of security, in the context of th...

Defining a Mechanism of Educational Interface Between NASA Life Sciences the Nation's Students

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamberland, D.; Dreschel, T.; Coulter, G.

1995-01-01

Harnessing our greatest national resource, as represented by the nation's students, will require a thoughtful, well developed and administered program that includes precise, executable strategies and valid evaluation tools. Responding to a national education outreach priority, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Life and Biomedical Sciences and Applications Division has initiated a process or organizing and implementing various strategies through a steering committee that includes representatives from Headquarters and three field centers with major Life Sciences programs. The mandate of the Life Sciences Education Outreach Steering Committee is to develop ways of communicating space life science issues to America's students through the nation's teachers by curriculum enhancement and direct participation in the education process with an emphasis in the primary and secondary schools. Metrics are also developed for each individually defined process so that the mechanis can be continuously refined and improved.

A randomized trial of survey participation in a national random sample of general practitioners and gynecologists in France.

PubMed

Legleye, S; Bohet, A; Razafindratsima, N; Bajos, N; Moreau, C

2014-08-01

Healthcare professionals play a critical role in women's choice of contraceptive methods. However, national surveys on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) among physicians are rare and present low participation rates. We conducted a randomized trial to test for the effectiveness of three interventions to improve survey participation of private physicians delivering reproductive health services in France. The study comprised a national random sample of 500 general practitioners and 500 gynecologists working in private offices. All received a postal invitation to participate either by completing a paper, phone or online questionnaire. Physicians were randomly assigned to six groups to test for the effect of three interventions: a non-monetary incentive in the form of a scientific book, telephone contact, and the possibility of completing the questionnaire by phone. Overall, 362 questionnaires were collected (26 online, 2 by phone) and 58 physicians were ineligible. The completion rate increased from 26.7% in physicians who received no intervention to 42.7% in those who received the book and a phone call. The phone call increased the completion rate by 11% percentage points (P=0.01), while the book had no significant effect. Results from multivariate logistic regressions also indicate that gynecologists (OR=1.6) and female physicians (OR=1.5) were more likely to participate than others. The results suggest that phone calls substantially increase participation of physicians in sexual and reproductive health surveys but have little impact on sampling distortion. Differentials in response rates by physicians' characteristics should be considered in future SRH studies among physicians. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

1973 U.S. national roadside breathtesting survey : procedures and results

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1974-10-01

Author's abstract: This first U.S. national roadside breathtesting survey was conducted at 185 roadside locations in 18 states. Random samples of 3,698 motorists were stopped between 10PM and 3AM on eight weekends in the fall of 1973. From these driv...

The Augmented Cognitive Mediation Model: Examining Antecedents of Factual and Structural Breast Cancer Knowledge Among Singaporean Women.

PubMed

Lee, Edmund W J; Shin, Mincheol; Kawaja, Ariffin; Ho, Shirley S

2016-05-01

As knowledge acquisition is an important component of health communication research, this study examines factors associated with Singaporean women's breast cancer knowledge using an augmented cognitive mediation model. We conducted a nationally representative study that surveyed 802 women between the ages of 30 and 70 using random-digit dialing. The results supported the augmented cognitive mediation model, which proposes the inclusion of risk perception as a motivator of health information seeking and structural knowledge as an additional knowledge dimension. There was adequate support for the hypothesized paths in the model. Risk perception was positively associated with attention to newspaper, television, Internet, and interpersonal communication. Attention to the three media channels was associated with interpersonal communication, but only newspaper and television attention were associated with elaboration. Interpersonal communication was positively associated with structural knowledge, whereas elaboration was associated with both factual and structural knowledge. Differential indirect effects between media attention and knowledge dimensions via interpersonal communication and elaboration were found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Geotagged US Tweets as Predictors of County-Level Health Outcomes, 2015-2016.

PubMed

Nguyen, Quynh C; McCullough, Matt; Meng, Hsien-Wen; Paul, Debjyoti; Li, Dapeng; Kath, Suraj; Loomis, Geoffrey; Nsoesie, Elaine O; Wen, Ming; Smith, Ken R; Li, Feifei

2017-11-01

To leverage geotagged Twitter data to create national indicators of the social environment, with small-area indicators of prevalent sentiment and social modeling of health behaviors, and to test associations with county-level health outcomes, while controlling for demographic characteristics. We used Twitter's streaming application programming interface to continuously collect a random 1% subset of publicly available geo-located tweets in the contiguous United States. We collected approximately 80 million geotagged tweets from 603 363 unique Twitter users in a 12-month period (April 2015-March 2016). Across 3135 US counties, Twitter indicators of happiness, food, and physical activity were associated with lower premature mortality, obesity, and physical inactivity. Alcohol-use tweets predicted higher alcohol-use-related mortality. Social media represents a new type of real-time data that may enable public health officials to examine movement of norms, sentiment, and behaviors that may portend emerging issues or outbreaks-thus providing a way to intervene to prevent adverse health events and measure the impact of health interventions.

Health concern, food choice motives, and attitudes toward healthy eating: the mediating role of food choice motives.

PubMed

Sun, Yu-Hua Christine

2008-07-01

This study addresses how various health concerns might influence not only consumers' food choice motives but also consumers' subsequent attitudes toward healthy eating. This study expects that those consumers with greater health concerns would have different food choice motives and better attitudes toward healthy eating. A self-completion questionnaire was used to gather information. Participants, a random sample of 500 undergraduate students from a national university in Taipei, Taiwan, provided a total of 456 usable questionnaires, representing a valid response rate of 91%. The average age of the respondents at the time of the survey was 21 years and 63% of respondents were females. The relationship between health concern and healthy eating attitudes was confirmed. The relationship between health concern of developing diseases and attitudes toward healthy eating was fully mediated by food choice motives. However, the relationship between calorie consumption health concern and healthy eating attitudes was only partially mediated by food choice motives. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Bibliometric study of articles on skeletal Class II malocclusions published in four high impact factor journals.

PubMed

Ousehal, Lahcen; El Aouame, Amal; Fatene, Nassiba; Lazrak, Laila; Traiba, Loubna; N'Gom, Papa Ibrahima

2018-04-11

Perform a bibliometric analysis of the orthodontic literature on skeletal Class II malocclusions during the first decade of the 21st century. A retrospective, observational, and comprehensive study ranging from January the first 2001 to December 31 2010, based on the articles published in four high impact factor orthodontic journals: Angle Orthod, OCR, EJO, and AJODO (Quotation Report Newspaper of the Scientific Information Institute). In the 4565 reviewed articles, only 338 were published on Class II malocclusions. Brazil, the United States, Turkey, and Germany are the nationalities, which have published the most. The cross-sectional descriptive studies represent 33%, randomized clinical trials (RCTs) 10.5%, meta-analyses 0.3%. Kanavakis et al. (2006) reported 72.34% of original articles, 2.83% of synthetic reviews, 8.89% of case reports, and 15.75% of unclassifiable articles. In conclusion, searchers in Orthodontics are invited to publish more clinical trials on skeletal Class II malocclusions. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Anthropometric Differences between HIV-Infected Individuals Prior to Antiretroviral Treatment and the General Population from 1998–2007: The AIDS Clinical Trials Group Longitudinal Linked Randomized Trials (ALLRT) Cohort and NHANES

PubMed Central

Atkinson, Benjamin E.; Krishnan, Supriya; Cox, Gary; Hulgan, Todd; Collier, Ann C.

2013-01-01

Objective To assess differences in body circumferences and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) between antiretroviral treatment (ART) naïve HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected persons. Methods Waist, arm, and thigh circumferences and BMI were measured within the ALLRT and NHANES cohorts between 1998 and 2007. ALLRT is a prospective, longitudinal study of U.S. participants enrolled in randomized HIV treatment studies conducted by the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG). NHANES is a representative group of the US population. The cohorts were analyzed in two time periods, to account for trends towards increased adiposity. Anthropometrics were displayed in percentiles by age and sex. Multiple linear regression models examined differences between cohorts. Results ALLRT had more males (82% versus 48%, p<0.0001), more black participants (32% versus 23%, p<0.0001), and less Hispanics (21% versus 30%, p<0.0001) than NHANES. Mean BMI was smaller in ALLRT males and females compared to NHANES by 1.6–2.4 kg/m2 (p<0.0001). Mean waist and arm circumferences in both sexes and time periods were significantly smaller in ALLRT than in NHANES (p<0.0001). Mean thigh circumference in ALLRT was also smaller than NHANES among males (p<0.0001 in both time periods) and females (p = 0.01 in the early time period). Conclusions Differences in anthropometrics existed prior to ART initiation, in this large national cohort of HIV-infected individuals, compared to a representative HIV-uninfected cohort, indicating that HIV and its complications have important effects on body shape. Further longitudinal examination of anthropometrics in this HIV-infected cohort may provide additional insight into disease risk. Trial Registration NCT00001137 at www.clinicaltrials.gov. PMID:23755215

Comparing pseudo-absences generation techniques in Boosted Regression Trees models for conservation purposes: A case study on amphibians in a protected area.

PubMed

Cerasoli, Francesco; Iannella, Mattia; D'Alessandro, Paola; Biondi, Maurizio

2017-01-01

Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) is one of the modelling techniques most recently applied to biodiversity conservation and it can be implemented with presence-only data through the generation of artificial absences (pseudo-absences). In this paper, three pseudo-absences generation techniques are compared, namely the generation of pseudo-absences within target-group background (TGB), testing both the weighted (WTGB) and unweighted (UTGB) scheme, and the generation at random (RDM), evaluating their performance and applicability in distribution modelling and species conservation. The choice of the target group fell on amphibians, because of their rapid decline worldwide and the frequent lack of guidelines for conservation strategies and regional-scale planning, which instead could be provided through an appropriate implementation of SDMs. Bufo bufo, Salamandrina perspicillata and Triturus carnifex were considered as target species, in order to perform our analysis with species having different ecological and distributional characteristics. The study area is the "Gran Sasso-Monti della Laga" National Park, which hosts 15 Natura 2000 sites and represents one of the most important biodiversity hotspots in Europe. Our results show that the model calibration ameliorates when using the target-group based pseudo-absences compared to the random ones, especially when applying the WTGB. Contrarily, model discrimination did not significantly vary in a consistent way among the three approaches with respect to the tree target species. Both WTGB and RDM clearly isolate the highly contributing variables, supplying many relevant indications for species conservation actions. Moreover, the assessment of pairwise variable interactions and their three-dimensional visualization further increase the amount of useful information for protected areas' managers. Finally, we suggest the use of RDM as an admissible alternative when it is not possible to individuate a suitable set of species as a representative target-group from which the pseudo-absences can be generated.

Analysis of breed effects on semen traits in light horse, warmblood, and draught horse breeds.

PubMed

Gottschalk, Maren; Sieme, Harald; Martinsson, Gunilla; Distl, Ottmar

2016-05-01

In the present study, systematic effects on semen quality traits were investigated in 381 stallions representing 22 breeds. All stallions were used for AI either at the Lower Saxon National Stud Celle or the North Rhine-Westphalian National Stud Warendorf. A total of 71,078 fresh semen reports of the years 2001 to 2014 were edited for analysis of gel-free volume, sperm concentration, total number of sperm, progressive motility, and total number of progressively motile sperm. Breed differences were studied for warmblood and light horse breeds of both national studs (model I) and for warmblood breeds and the draught horse breed Rhenish German Coldblood from the North Rhine-Westphalian National stud (model II) using mixed model procedures. The fixed effects of age class, year, and month of semen collection had significant influences on all semen traits in both analyses. A significant influence of the horse breed was found for all semen traits but gel-free volume in both statistical models. Comparing warmblood and light horse stallions of both national studs, we observed highest sperm concentrations, total numbers of sperm, and total numbers of progressively motile sperm in Anglo-Arabian stallions. The draught horse breed Rhenish German Coldblood had the highest least squares means for gel-free volume, whereas all other investigated semen traits were significantly lower in this breed compared to the warmblood stallions under study. The variance components among stallions within breeds were significant for all semen traits and accounted for 40% to 59% of the total variance. The between-breed-variance among stallions was not significant underlining the similar size of the random stallion effect in each of the horse breeds analyzed here. In conclusion, breed and stallion are accounting for a significant proportion of the variation in semen quality. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

HyDEn: A Hybrid Steganocryptographic Approach for Data Encryption Using Randomized Error-Correcting DNA Codes

PubMed Central

Regoui, Chaouki; Durand, Guillaume; Belliveau, Luc; Léger, Serge

2013-01-01

This paper presents a novel hybrid DNA encryption (HyDEn) approach that uses randomized assignments of unique error-correcting DNA Hamming code words for single characters in the extended ASCII set. HyDEn relies on custom-built quaternary codes and a private key used in the randomized assignment of code words and the cyclic permutations applied on the encoded message. Along with its ability to detect and correct errors, HyDEn equals or outperforms existing cryptographic methods and represents a promising in silico DNA steganographic approach. PMID:23984392

A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind, Split-face Clinical Trial Comparing the Efficacy of Two Topical Human Growth Factors for the Rejuvenation of the Aging Face

PubMed Central

Goldman, Mitchel P.

2017-01-01

Background: Cosmeceutical products represent an increasingly important therapeutic option for anti-aging and rejuvenation, either used alone or in combination with dermatologic surgical procedures. Among this group of products, topical growth factors have demonstrated efficacy in randomized, controlled clinical trials. However, comparisons between different products remain uncommon. Objective: The objective of this randomized, double-blind, split-face clinical trial was to compare two different topical growth factor formulations derived from either human fibroblasts or human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells. Methods: This was an institutional review board-approved, randomized, double-blind, split-face clinical trial involving 20 healthy subjects with moderate-to-severe facial wrinkling secondary to photodamage. One half of the face was randomized to receive topical human fibroblast growth factors and the other topical human mesenchymal stem cell growth factors. Treatment was continued for three months, and evaluations were performed in a double-blind fashion. Results: Both growth factor formulations achieved significant improvement in facial wrinkling. Blinded investigator and subject evaluations did not detect any significant differences between the two formulations in terms of efficacy, safety, or tolerability. Conclusion: Both human fibroblast growth factors and human mesenchymal stem cell growth factors are effective at facial rejuvenation. Topical growth factors represent a useful therapeutic modality. PMID:28670356

A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind, Split-face Clinical Trial Comparing the Efficacy of Two Topical Human Growth Factors for the Rejuvenation of the Aging Face.

PubMed

Wu, Douglas C; Goldman, Mitchel P

2017-05-01

Background: Cosmeceutical products represent an increasingly important therapeutic option for anti-aging and rejuvenation, either used alone or in combination with dermatologic surgical procedures. Among this group of products, topical growth factors have demonstrated efficacy in randomized, controlled clinical trials. However, comparisons between different products remain uncommon. Objective: The objective of this randomized, double-blind, split-face clinical trial was to compare two different topical growth factor formulations derived from either human fibroblasts or human adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells. Methods: This was an institutional review board-approved, randomized, double-blind, split-face clinical trial involving 20 healthy subjects with moderate-to-severe facial wrinkling secondary to photodamage. One half of the face was randomized to receive topical human fibroblast growth factors and the other topical human mesenchymal stem cell growth factors. Treatment was continued for three months, and evaluations were performed in a double-blind fashion. Results: Both growth factor formulations achieved significant improvement in facial wrinkling. Blinded investigator and subject evaluations did not detect any significant differences between the two formulations in terms of efficacy, safety, or tolerability. Conclusion: Both human fibroblast growth factors and human mesenchymal stem cell growth factors are effective at facial rejuvenation. Topical growth factors represent a useful therapeutic modality.

Multinational Corporate Penetration, Industrialism, Region, and Social Security Expenditures: A Cross-National Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Roger; Filinson, Rachel

1991-01-01

Examined determinants of spending on social security programs, using data from 75 nations representative of core, semiperipheral, and peripheral nations. Industrialization variables had strong effects in models involving all nations, as did multinational corporate penetration in extraction, particularly when region was controlled; such penetration…

A National Look at Children and Families Entering Early Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scarborough, Anita A.; Spiker, Donna; Mallik, Sangeeta; Hebbeler, Kathleen M.; Bailey Jr., Donald B.; Simeonsson, Rune J.

2004-01-01

The National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study (NEILS) is the first study of Part C of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) early intervention system with a nationally representative sample of infants and toddlers with disabilities. This article presents national estimates of characteristics of infants and toddlers and their…

The Superpowers: Nuclear Weapons and National Security. National Issues Forums.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, Greg; Melville, Keith

Designed to stimulate thinking about United States-Soviet relationships in terms of nuclear weapons and national security, this document presents ideas and issues that represent differing viewpoints and positions. Chapter 1, "Rethinking the U.S.-Soviet Relationship," considers attempts to achieve true national security, and chapter 2,…

English Learners' (ELs') Trends from the Nation's Report Card. Fast Facts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of English Language Acquisition, US Department of Education, 2016

2016-01-01

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, is the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what students know about mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, U.S. history, and technology and engineering literacy. This fact sheet reports…

Measuring Child-Staff Ratios in Child Care Centers: Balancing Effort and Representativeness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le, Vi-Nhuan; Perlman, Michal; Zellman, Gail L.; Hamilton, Laura S.

2006-01-01

Child-staff ratios are an important quality indicator. They are often collected by observing one randomly selected classroom several times during a 2-h period on a single day. However, it is unclear whether these measures represent the ratios that children actually experience during most of their time in care. This study compared ratio data…

Systematic review of Latin American national oral health surveys in adults.

PubMed

Duran, Doris; Monsalves, Maria Jose; Aubert, Josefina; Zarate, Victor; Espinoza, Iris

2018-04-27

Oral diseases represent a main public health problem worldwide. There is scarce information about oral health indicators in adults in middle-income countries in Latin America and Africa. To identify and describe national health surveys with national representative samples that included oral health assessment for adults in Latin America. A systematic review was conducted in scientific and regional bibliographic databases (PubMed, SciELO, Wos and Embase); this was complemented with searchings in grey literature (Google Scholar, Open Grey and government health organization websites), from August 2016 to May 2017 (from 2000 to date). Studies conducted, supervised or funded by Ministries of Health or National Health Institutes were included. Data extracted included country, year, methods, interview and dental examination. Two researchers independently performed search and data extraction. Results were discussed as a group. Only 5 countries in Latin America have developed national health surveys evaluating the dental status in adults, with overall national representative samples during 2000-2015: Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Chile and Uruguay. Main differences were observed in the type of dental indicators selected, measure of dental services access and the professional who performed the dental examination. While some dental surveys were specifically designed as oral health surveys (Brazil, Colombia, Panama and Uruguay) and the examination was performed by dentists, other surveys represent a module within a general health survey (Chile) and the examination was performed by nurses. There are a small number of Latin American countries that report research about dental status with national representation samples. Most of these studies have been conducted as national oral health surveys, and fieldwork was carried out by dentists. The development of oral health research in this part of the world should be promoted as these surveys provide relevant information to monitor oral health and evaluate the effectiveness of health programmes. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

14 CFR § 1260.58 - Designation of new technology representative and patent representative.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Designation of new technology representative and patent representative. § 1260.58 Section § 1260.58 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS General Special Conditions § 1260.58...

From cars to bikes - the feasibility and effect of using e-bikes, longtail bikes and traditional bikes for transportation among parents of children attending kindergarten: design of a randomized cross-over trial.

PubMed

Bjørnarå, Helga Birgit; Berntsen, Sveinung; Te Velde, Saskia J; Fegran, Liv; Fyhri, Aslak; Deforche, Benedicte; Andersen, Lars Bo; Bere, Elling

2017-12-28

The present study aims to increase bicycling and level of physical activity (PA), and thereby promote health in parents of toddlers, by giving access to different bicycle types. There is a need for greater understanding of e-bikes and their role in the transportation network, and further effects on PA levels and health. Moreover, longtail bikes could meet certain practical needs not fulfilled by e-bikes or traditional bikes, hence increased knowledge regarding their feasibility should be obtained. No previous studies have investigated whether providing an e-bike or a longtail bike over an extended period in a sample of parents of toddlers influence objectively assessed amount of bicycling and total PA level, transportation habits, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition and blood pressure. A randomized cross-over trial will be performed, entailing that participants in the intervention group (n = 18) complete the following intervention arms in random order: (i) three months access to an e-bicycle with trailer for child transportation (n = 6), (ii) three months access to a longtail bicycle (n = 6), and (iii) three months access to a regular bicycle with trailer (n = 6), in total nine months. Also, a control group (n = 18) maintaining usual transportation and PA habits will be included. A convenience sample consisting of 36 parents of toddlers residing in Kristiansand municipality, Southern Norway, will be recruited. Total amount of bicycling (distance and time), total level of PA, and transportation habits will be measured at baseline and in connection to each intervention arm. Cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition and blood pressure will be measured at baseline and post-intervention. Main outcome will be bicycling distance and time spent cycling. New knowledge relevant for the timely issues of public health and environmental sustainability will be provided among parents of toddlers, representing a target group of greatest importance. There is a call for research on the influence of e-bikes and longtail bikes on travel behavior and PA levels, and whether voluntary cycling could improve health. If the present study reveals promising results, it should be replicated in larger and more representative samples. Eventually, inclusion in national public health policies should be considered. ID NCT03131518 , made public 26.04.2017.

FTA National Transit GIS : data standards, guidelines and recommended practices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-01-01

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) National Transit Geographic Information System (GIS) is a representative inventory of the public transit assets of the country. Creation of this national system is an ongoing and collaborative effort on the pa...

Value of a national administrative database to guide public decisions: From the système national d'information interrégimes de l'Assurance Maladie (SNIIRAM) to the système national des données de santé (SNDS) in France.

PubMed

Tuppin, P; Rudant, J; Constantinou, P; Gastaldi-Ménager, C; Rachas, A; de Roquefeuil, L; Maura, G; Caillol, H; Tajahmady, A; Coste, J; Gissot, C; Weill, A; Fagot-Campagna, A

2017-10-01

In 1999, French legislators asked health insurance funds to develop a système national d'information interrégimes de l'Assurance Maladie (SNIIRAM) [national health insurance information system] in order to more precisely determine and evaluate health care utilization and health care expenditure of beneficiaries. These data, based on almost 66 million inhabitants in 2015, have already been the subject of numerous international publications on various topics: prevalence and incidence of diseases, patient care pathways, health status and health care utilization of specific populations, real-life use of drugs, assessment of adverse effects of drugs or other health care procedures, monitoring of national health insurance expenditure, etc. SNIIRAM comprises individual information on the sociodemographic and medical characteristics of beneficiaries and all hospital care and office medicine reimbursements, coded according to various systems. Access to data is controlled by permissions dependent on the type of data requested or used, their temporality and the researcher's status. In general, data can be analyzed by accredited agencies over a period covering the last three years plus the current year, and specific requests can be submitted to extract data over longer periods. A 1/97th random sample of SNIIRAM, the échantillon généraliste des bénéficiaires (EGB), representative of the national population of health insurance beneficiaries, was composed in 2005 to allow 20-year follow-up with facilitated access for medical research. The EGB is an open cohort, which includes new beneficiaries and newborn infants. SNIIRAM has continued to grow and extend to become, in 2016, the cornerstone of the future système national des données de santé (SNDS) [national health data system], which will gradually integrate new information (causes of death, social and medical data and complementary health insurance). In parallel, the modalities of data access and protection systems have also evolved. This article describes the SNIIRAM data warehouse and its transformation into SNDS, the data collected, the tools developed in order to facilitate data analysis, the limitations encountered, and changing access permissions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Appalachian National Scenic Trail pilot survey

Treesearch

Stan Zarnoch; Michael Bowker; Ken Cordell; Matt Owens; Gary T. Green; Allison Ginn

2011-01-01

Visitation statistics on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT) are important for management and Federal Government reporting purposes. However, no survey methodology has been developed to obtain accurate trailwide estimates over linear trails that traverse many hundreds of back-country miles. This research develops a stratified random survey design which utilizes...

Abundance and population characteristics of Northern Spotted Owls (Strix occidentalis caurina) in Olympic National Park, Washington

Treesearch

D. Erran Seaman

1997-01-01

We monitored the threatened Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) in Olympic National Park from 1992 through 1996. We used a stratified random sampling scheme to survey 35 plots totaling 236 km?, approximately 10 percent of the forested area of the park.

What do Americans think about federal transportation tax options? : results from year 2 of a national survey.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-06-01

This report summarizes the results of a national random-digit-dial public opinion poll that asked 1,516 respondents if they would support various tax options for raising federal transportation revenues. The 11 specific tax options tested were variati...

75 FR 35087 - Violent Criminal Apprehension Program; Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-21

... in 1985, ViCAP serves as the national repository for violent crimes; specifically: Homicides and attempted homicides, especially those that (a) involve an abduction, (b) are apparently random, motiveless... homicide. Comprehensive case information submitted to ViCAP is maintained in the ViCAP Web National Crime...

Utilization of breast cancer screening methods in a developing nation: results from a nationally representative sample of Malaysian households.

PubMed

Dunn, Richard A; Tan, Andrew K G

2011-01-01

As is the case in many developing nations, previous studies of breast cancer screening behavior in Malaysia have used relatively small samples that are not nationally representative, thereby limiting the generalizability of results. Therefore, this study uses nationally representative data from the Malaysia Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance-1 to investigate the role of socio-economic status on breast cancer screening behavior in Malaysia, particularly differences in screening behaviour between ethnic groups. The decisions of 816 women above age 40 in Malaysia to screen for breast cancer using mammography, clinical breast exams (CBE), and breast self-exams (BSE) are modeled using logistic regression. Results indicate that after adjusting for differences in age, education, household income, marital status, and residential location, Malay women are less likely than Chinese and Indian women to utilize mammography, but more likely to perform BSE. Education level and urban residence are positively associated with utilization of each method, but these relationships vary across ethnicity. Higher education levels are strongly related to using each screening method among Chinese women, but have no statistically significant relationship to screening among Malays. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cost-effectiveness of targeted versus tailored interventions to promote mammography screening among women military veterans in the United States.

PubMed

Lairson, David R; Chan, Wen; Chang, Yu-Chia; del Junco, Deborah J; Vernon, Sally W

2011-05-01

We conducted an economic evaluation of mammography promotion interventions in a population-based, nationally representative sample of 5500 women veterans. Women 52 years and older were randomly selected from the National Registry of Women Veterans and randomly assigned to a survey-only control group and two intervention groups that varied in the extent of personalization (tailored vs. targeted). Effectiveness measures were the prevalence of at least one self-reported post-intervention mammogram and two post-intervention mammograms 6-15 months apart. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were the incremental cost per additional person screened. Uncertainty was examined with sensitivity analysis and bootstrap simulation. The targeted intervention cost $25 per person compared to $52 per person for the tailored intervention. About 27% of the cost was incurred in identifying and recruiting the eligible population. The percent of women reporting at least one mammogram were .447 in the control group, .469 in the targeted group, and .460 in the tailored group. The ICER was $1116 comparing the targeted group to the control group (95% confidence interval (CI)=$493 to dominated). The tailored intervention was dominated (more costly and less effective) by the targeted intervention. Decision-makers should consider effectiveness evidence and the full recruitment and patient time costs associated with the implementation of screening interventions when making investments in mammography screening promotion programs. Identification and recruitment of eligible participants add substantial costs to outreach screening promotion interventions. Tailoring adds substantial cost to the targeted mammography promotion strategy without a commensurate increase in effectiveness. Although cost-effectiveness has been reported to be higher for some in-reach screening promotion interventions, a recent meta-analysis revealed significant heterogeneity in the effect sizes of published health-plan based intervention studies for repeat mammography (i.e., some studies reported null effects compared with control groups). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tobacco use among students aged 13–15 years in Greece: the GYTS project

PubMed Central

Kyrlesi, Athina; Soteriades, Elpidoforos S; Warren, Charles W; Kremastinou, Jeni; Papastergiou, Panagiotis; Jones, Nathan R; Hadjichristodoulou, Christos

2007-01-01

Background Data on the prevalence of tobacco use among teenagers in Greece are limited. We examined the prevalence of smoking among middle-school students in Greece using the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). Methods The Global Youth Tobacco Survey was implemented in Greece during the academic year 2004 – 2005 by the University of Thessaly and the National School of Public Health. Data were collected using the GYTS self-administered anonymous questionnaire, which was distributed by specifically trained field workers to a nationally representative sample of middle-school students aged 13–15 years (through randomly selected schools and classes), randomly selected through a two-stage cluster sample design. Data processing and statistical analyses were performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Results About one third of the students 32.1% (29.4 – 35.0) reported that they had tried tobacco in the past, while 16.2% (14.3 – 18.4) reported being current users of tobacco products. In addition, 1 in 4 of ever smokers reported that they began smoking before the age of 10 years old. Almost 1 in 5 never smokers reported being susceptible to initiate smoking in the next year and about 89.8% (88.3 – 91.1) of the respondents were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke in their homes and 94.1% (93.2 – 94.9) in public places. Finally, a strikingly high number of students 95% (89.5 – 97.7) reported that they were able to buy their own cigarettes without restrictions. Conclusion The results of the GYTS show that the prevalence of smoking in middle-school children is alarmingly high in Greece. Smoking among young people constitutes a significant problem that is destined to worsen in the absence of any comprehensive efforts focused on strict anti-smoking legislation, policies and tobacco control interventions targeting children at a young age. PMID:17207291

Non-utilization of public health care facilities: examining the reasons through a national study of women in India.

PubMed

Dalal, Koustuv; Dawad, Suraya

2009-01-01

This article examines women's opinions about their reasons for the non-utilization of appropriate public health care facilities, according to categories of their healthcare seeking in India. This cross-sectional article uses nationally representative samples from the Indian National Family Health Surveys NFHS-3 (2005-2006), which were generated from randomly selected households. Women of reproductive age (15-49 years) from the 29 states of India participated (n = 124 385 women). The respondents were asked why they did not utilize public health care facilities when members of their households were ill, identifying their reasons with a yes/no choice. The following five reasons were of primary interest: (1) 'there is no nearby facility'; (2) 'facility timing is not convenient'; (3) 'health personnel are often absent'; (4) 'waiting time is too long'; and (5) 'poor quality of care'. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate that respondents' education, economic status and standard of living are significant predictors for non-utilization of public health care facilities. Women who sought the services of care delivery and health check-ups indicated that health personnel were absent. Service seekers for self and child's medical treatments indicated that there were no nearby health facilities, service times were inconvenient, there were long waiting times and poor quality health care. This study concludes that improving public health care facilities with user-friendly opening times, the regular presence of staff, reduced waiting times and improved quality of care are necessary steps to reducing maternal mortality and poverty.

Prevalence and risk factors of visual impairment and blindness in Korea: the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2008-2010.

PubMed

Rim, Tyler H T; Nam, Jae S; Choi, Moonjung; Lee, Sung C; Lee, Christopher S

2014-06-01

To describe the age, gender specific prevalence and risk factors of visual impairment and blindness in Korea. From 2008 to 2010, a total 14 924 randomly selected national representative participants of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey underwent additional ophthalmologic examinations by the Korean Ophthalmologic Society. Best Corrected Distance Visual Acuity was measured using an international standard vision chart based on Snellen scale (Jin's vision chart). Independent risk factors for visual impairment were investigated using multivariate logistic regression analysis. The overall prevalence of visual impairment (≤20/40) of adults 40 years and older was 4.1% (95% CI, 3.6-4.6) based on the better seeing eye. The overall prevalence of blindness (≤20/200) for adults 40 years and older was 0.2% (95% CI, 0.1-0.3). Risk indicators of visual impairment were increasing age, low education status, living in rural area, being unemployed, being without spouse and the absence of private health insurance. The visually impaired were more likely to have eye diseases compared with the normal subjects, and they were less likely to utilize eye care. The prevalence of visual impairment was demonstrated to be higher while that of blindness was similar to previous population studies in Asia or U.S. Sociodemographic disparities are present in the prevalence of visual impairment and more targeted efforts are needed to promote vision screening in high risk groups. © 2014 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Comparison of different anthropometric measures in the adult population in Serbia as indicators of obesity: data from the National Health Survey 2013.

PubMed

Maksimović, Miloš Ž; Gudelj Rakić, Jelena M; Vlajinac, Hristina D; Vasiljević, Nadja D; Nikić, Marina I; Marinković, Jelena M

2016-08-01

The present study aimed to compare different indicators of obesity in the Serbian adult population. Cross-sectional study. A stratified, two-stage, national-representative random sampling approach was used for the selection of the survey sample. Data sources were questionnaires created according to the European Health Interview Survey questionnaire. Measurements of weight, height and waist circumference (WC) were performed using standard procedures. Anthropometric measures included BMI, WC and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Data for the study were obtained from the 2013 National Health Survey, performed in line with the EUROSTAT recommendations for performance of the European Health Interview Survey. Adults aged ≥20 years. According to BMI, out of the whole studied population (12 460 adults of both sexes) 2·4 % were underweight, 36·4 % overweight and 22·4 % obese. Using WC and WHtR as measures of adiposity showed that 22·5 % and 42·8 % of participants were overweight and 39·8 % and 25·3 % were obese, respectively. Men and women differed significantly in all variables observed. Overweight was more frequent in men and obesity in women regardless of adiposity measure used. In spite of strong correlations between BMI, WC and WHtR, substantial discrepancies between these three measures in the assessment of overweight and obesity were found, especially in some age groups. Which of these anthropometric measures should be used, or whether two or all three of them should be applied, depends on their associations with cardiovascular or some other disease of interest.

The impact of cessation media messages on cessation-related outcomes: results from a national experiment of smokers.

PubMed

Duke, Jennifer C; Nonnemaker, James M; Davis, Kevin C; Watson, Kimberly A; Farrelly, Matthew C

2014-01-01

Examine effects of exposure to two types of cessation advertisements on changes in cessation-related outcomes. Experimental data from a nationally representative, longitudinal sample of smokers, collected in three waves over 4 weeks. National. Subjects. Three thousand and two adult U.S. smokers aged 18+ completed baseline and follow-up interviews at 2 and 4 weeks, from December 2010 to February 2011. Six randomly assigned conditions consisting of repeated exposure to cessation advertisements: why-to-quit advertisements featuring emotional, personal testimonies (1: WTQ-T) or graphic images (2: WTQ-G); how-to-quit advertisements (3: HTQ), a combination of both (4: WTQ-T + HTQ; 5: WTQ-G + HTQ), and no-ad condition (6: control). Cessation-related beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and quitting behavior. Multivariable ordinary least squares and logistic regressions testing whether exposure to antitobacco television advertisements were associated with changes in tobacco-related outcomes. Exposure to WTQ-T or WTQ-G advertisements, both alone and combined with HTQ advertisements, elicited positive change in beliefs, attitudes, and intentions as compared to controls. Smokers in three of four WTQ conditions were substantially more likely to have quit smoking at 4 weeks than controls (odds ratios range from 5.9 to 10.1, p < .05 or better). No effects were found for the HTQ-only condition. Exposure to WTQ advertisements markedly increases the odds that a smoker will quit in the study period, suggesting positive movement toward successful, long-term cessation. HTQ advertisements did not enhance advertising effectiveness and may not be suitable as a primary message strategy.

Collecting Practice-level Data in a Changing Physician Office-based Ambulatory Care Environment: A Pilot Study Examining the Physician induction interview Component of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

PubMed

Halley, Meghan C; Rendle, Katharine A; Gugerty, Brian; Lau, Denys T; Luft, Harold S; Gillespie, Katherine A

2017-11-01

Objective This report examines ways to improve National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data on practice and physician characteristics in multispecialty group practices. Methods From February to April 2013, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) conducted a pilot study to observe the collection of the NAMCS physician interview information component in a large multispecialty group practice. Nine physicians were randomly sampled using standard NAMCS recruitment procedures; eight were eligible and agreed to participate. Using standard protocols, three field representatives conducted NAMCS physician induction interviews (PIIs) while trained ethnographers observed and audio recorded the interviews. Transcripts and field notes were analyzed to identify recurrent issues in the data collection process. Results The majority of the NAMCS items appeared to have been easily answered by the physician respondents. Among the items that appeared to be difficult to answer, three themes emerged: (a) physician respondents demonstrated an inconsistent understanding of "location" in responding to questions; (b) lack of familiarity with administrative matters made certain questions difficult for physicians to answer; and (c) certain primary care‑oriented questions were not relevant to specialty care providers. Conclusions Some PII survey questions were challenging for physicians in a multispecialty practice setting. Improving the design and administration of NAMCS data collection is part of NCHS' continuous quality improvement process. All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.

Olfactory Function in Wave 2 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project

PubMed Central

Wroblewski, Kristen E.; Schumm, L. Philip; Pinto, Jayant M.; Chen, Rachel C.; McClintock, Martha K.

2014-01-01

Objective. To investigate the sense of smell, including sensitivity and odor identification, and characterize the U.S. national prevalence of olfactory dysfunction in older adults, thereby facilitating further investigation of the substantial risks for older adults associated with this basic sensory ability. Method. The sense of smell was evaluated using the Olfactory Function Field Exam (OFFE), a measure designed specifically for field research, which assesses 3 components of olfaction: sensitivity to n-butanol (a standard testing odorant) and androstadienone (AND, a key social odor produced by humans), as well as the ability to identify odors. Respondents were randomly selected from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project Wave 2 sample to receive the OFFE (n = 2,304), and 2,212 consented to participate. Results. In the U.S. population aged 62–90, n-butanol detection ability was significantly worse at older ages (ordinal logistic regression, p < .001); however, there was no difference in detection ability between genders (p = .60). AND detection ability was also significantly worse at older ages (p = .003), but in contrast to n-butanol, women outperformed men (p = .001). As expected, odor identification ability was worse in older people than in younger (p < .001), and women were more accurate than men (p = .001). Discussion. We report for the first time 3 facets of olfactory function and its association with age and gender in a representative sample of U.S. older adults. Future analyses of these data are needed to elucidate the sense of smell’s role in physical, social, and mental health with aging. PMID:25360014

Parental Perceptions of Charter Schools: Evidence from Two Nationally Representative Surveys of U.S. Parents. Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series. PEPG 17-01

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrows, Samuel; Cheng, Albert; Peterson, Paul E.; West, Martin R.

2017-01-01

This first report of charter school parents' perceptions based on nationally representative samples finds that charter parents, as compared with parents from district schools, are less likely to see serious problems at their children's school, report more extensive communications with the school, and are more satisfied with most aspects of the…

Representing Value as Digital Object: A Discussion of Transferability and Anonymity; Digital Library Initiatives of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; CrossRef Turns One; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahn, Robert E.; Lyons, Patrice A.; Brahms, Ewald; Brand, Amy; van den Bergen, Mieke

2001-01-01

Includes four articles that discuss the use of digital objects to represent value in a network environment; digital library initiatives at the central public funding organization for academic research in Germany; an application of the Digital Object Identifier System; and the Web site of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. (LRW)

Wound research funding from alternative sources of federal funds in 2012.

PubMed

Baquerizo Nole, Katherine L; Yim, Elizabeth; Van Driessche, Freya; Davidson, Jeffrey M; Martins-Green, Manuela; Sen, Chandan K; Tomic-Canic, Marjana; Kirsner, Robert S

2014-01-01

Chronic wounds represent a major healthcare burden, costing $25 billion annually, and are associated with high mortality. We previously reported that cutaneous wound healing represented only 0.1% ($29.8 million) of the National Institutes of Health budget. This current study focuses on quantifying the contribution by federal agencies other than the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2012. Federal databases including USA Spending, Veterans Affairs, Tracking Accountability in Government Grants Systems, Health Services Research Projects in Progress, and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, were searched for individual projects addressing wound healing. Twenty-seven projects were identified, totaling funding of $16,588,623 (median: $349,856). Four sponsor institutions accounted for 74% of awarded funds: Department of the Army, National Science Foundation, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality. Research projects and cooperative agreements comprised 44% and 37% of awarded grants. New applications and continuing projects represented 52% and 37%. Wound healing represented 0.15% of total medical research funded by the non-National Institutes of Health federal sector. Compared with potential impact on US public health, federal investment in wound research is exiguous. This analysis will draw attention to a disproportionately low investment in wound research and its perils to American public health. © 2014 by the Wound Healing Society.

Multisite Randomized Trial of Behavioral Interventions for Women with Co-Occurring PTSD and Substance Use Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hien, Denise A.; Wells, Elizabeth A.; Jiang, Huiping; Suarez-Morales, Lourdes; Campbell, Aimee N. C.; Cohen, Lisa R.; Miele, Gloria M.; Killeen, Therese; Brigham, Gregory S.; Zhang, Yulei; Hansen, Cheri; Hodgkins, Candace; Hatch-Maillette, Mary; Brown, Chanda; Kulaga, Agatha; Kristman-Valente, Allison; Chu, Melissa; Sage, Robert; Robinson, James A.; Liu, David; Nunes, Edward V.

2009-01-01

The authors compared the effectiveness of the Seeking Safety group, cognitive-behavioral treatment for substance use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to an active comparison health education group (Women's Health Education [WHE]) within the National Institute on Drug Abuse's Clinical Trials Network. The authors randomized 353…

Sustainability of the Dissemination of an Occupational Sun Protection Program in a Randomized Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buller, David B.; Walkosz, Barbara J.; Andersen, Peter A.; Scott, Michael D.; Dignan, Mark B.; Cutter, Gary R.; Zhang, Xiao; Kane, Ilima L.

2012-01-01

Sustainability of an occupational sun safety program, Go Sun Smart (GSS), was explored in a randomized trial, testing dissemination strategies at 68 U.S. and Canadian ski areas in 2004-2007. All ski areas received GSS from the National Ski Areas Association through a Basic Dissemination Strategy (BDS) using conference presentations and free…

Voluntary, Randomized, Student Drug-Testing: Impact in a Rural, Low-Income, Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrington, Kyle D.

2008-01-01

Illegal drug use and abuse by the nation's secondary school students is a continuing public health issue and this is especially true for students living in rural, low-income areas where access to intervention and treatment services is often limited. To address this issue, some school districts have implemented voluntary, randomized, student …

Brief Strategic Family Therapy versus Treatment as Usual: Results of a Multisite Randomized Trial for Substance Using Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robbins, Michael S.; Feaster, Daniel J.; Horigian, Viviana E.; Rohrbaugh, Michael; Shoham, Varda; Bachrach, Ken; Miller, Michael; Burlew, Kathleen A.; Hodgkins, Candy; Carrion, Ibis; Vandermark, Nancy; Schindler, Eric; Werstlein, Robert; Szapocznik, Jose

2011-01-01

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of brief strategic family therapy (BSFT; an evidence-based family therapy) compared to treatment as usual (TAU) as provided in community-based adolescent outpatient drug abuse programs. Method: A randomized effectiveness trial in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network compared BSFT to…

The Social Security Administration's Youth Transition Demonstration Projects: Implementation Lessons from the Original Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, John; Fraker, Thomas; Manno, Michelle; Baird, Peter; Mamun, Arif; O'Day, Bonnie; Rangarajan, Anu; Wittenburg, David

2010-01-01

This report focuses on the seven original Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects selected for funding in 2003. Three of the original seven projects were selected for a national random assignment evaluation in 2005; however, this report only focuses on program operations prior to joining the random assignment evaluation for the three…

A Multisite Cluster Randomized Field Trial of Open Court Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borman, Geoffrey D.; Dowling, N. Maritza; Schneck, Carrie

2008-01-01

In this article, the authors report achievement outcomes of a multisite cluster randomized field trial of Open Court Reading 2005 (OCR), a K-6 literacy curriculum published by SRA/McGraw-Hill. The participants are 49 first-grade through fifth-grade classrooms from predominantly minority and poor contexts across the nation. Blocking by grade level…

Sampling in epidemiological research: issues, hazards and pitfalls.

PubMed

Tyrer, Stephen; Heyman, Bob

2016-04-01

Surveys of people's opinions are fraught with difficulties. It is easier to obtain information from those who respond to text messages or to emails than to attempt to obtain a representative sample. Samples of the population that are selected non-randomly in this way are termed convenience samples as they are easy to recruit. This introduces a sampling bias. Such non-probability samples have merit in many situations, but an epidemiological enquiry is of little value unless a random sample is obtained. If a sufficient number of those selected actually complete a survey, the results are likely to be representative of the population. This editorial describes probability and non-probability sampling methods and illustrates the difficulties and suggested solutions in performing accurate epidemiological research.

Sampling in epidemiological research: issues, hazards and pitfalls

PubMed Central

Tyrer, Stephen; Heyman, Bob

2016-01-01

Surveys of people's opinions are fraught with difficulties. It is easier to obtain information from those who respond to text messages or to emails than to attempt to obtain a representative sample. Samples of the population that are selected non-randomly in this way are termed convenience samples as they are easy to recruit. This introduces a sampling bias. Such non-probability samples have merit in many situations, but an epidemiological enquiry is of little value unless a random sample is obtained. If a sufficient number of those selected actually complete a survey, the results are likely to be representative of the population. This editorial describes probability and non-probability sampling methods and illustrates the difficulties and suggested solutions in performing accurate epidemiological research. PMID:27087985

Exactly solvable random graph ensemble with extensively many short cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguirre López, Fabián; Barucca, Paolo; Fekom, Mathilde; Coolen, Anthony C. C.

2018-02-01

We introduce and analyse ensembles of 2-regular random graphs with a tuneable distribution of short cycles. The phenomenology of these graphs depends critically on the scaling of the ensembles’ control parameters relative to the number of nodes. A phase diagram is presented, showing a second order phase transition from a connected to a disconnected phase. We study both the canonical formulation, where the size is large but fixed, and the grand canonical formulation, where the size is sampled from a discrete distribution, and show their equivalence in the thermodynamical limit. We also compute analytically the spectral density, which consists of a discrete set of isolated eigenvalues, representing short cycles, and a continuous part, representing cycles of diverging size.

Information Selection in Intelligence Processing

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

given. Edges connecting nodes representing irrelevant persons with either relevant or irrelevant persons are added randomly, as in an Erdos- Renyi ...graph (Erdos at Renyi , 1959): For each irrelevant node i , and another node j (either relevant or irrelevant) there is a predetermined probability that...statistics for engineering and the sciences (7th ed.). Boston: Duxbury Press. Erdos, P., & Renyi , A. (1959). “On Random Graphs,” Publicationes

Prazosin for Treatment of Patients With PTSD and Comorbid Alcohol Dependence

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-01

treat individuals with comorbid AD and TSD. The use of an alpha-! adrenergic receptor antagonist represents a novel approach to treatment that may... adrenergic ~ceptor antagonist that has been used successfully in the treatment of trauma nightmares and sleep disturbance in combat veterans with TSD, and...stressor, presented randomly. Outcome measures include self-reported measures of alcohol craving and anxiety . Subjects are subsequently randomized

A multi-site analysis of random error in tower-based measurements of carbon and energy fluxes

Treesearch

Andrew D. Richardson; David Y. Hollinger; George G. Burba; Kenneth J. Davis; Lawrence B. Flanagan; Gabriel G. Katul; J. William Munger; Daniel M. Ricciuto; Paul C. Stoy; Andrew E. Suyker; Shashi B. Verma; Steven C. Wofsy; Steven C. Wofsy

2006-01-01

Measured surface-atmosphere fluxes of energy (sensible heat, H, and latent heat, LE) and CO2 (FCO2) represent the ``true?? flux plus or minus potential random and systematic measurement errors. Here, we use data from seven sites in the AmeriFlux network, including five forested sites (two of which include ``tall tower?? instrumentation), one grassland site, and one...

[Prevalence and risk factors of bronchial asthma among Li nationality in Hainan province].

PubMed

Ding, Yi-peng; Yao, Hong-xia; Tang, Xiao-lan; He, Hai-wu; Shi, Hui-fang; Lin, Li; Li, Min; Chen, Shan; Chen, Jing; Wang, Hai-jiao

2011-02-01

To study the risk factors of bronchial asthma of Li nationality in Hainan. A total of 13 050 subjects of Li nationality were selected by random unequal ratio stratified cluster sampling method from southern, central and western part of Hainan and investigated with Hainan Epidemiological Asthma Survey Questionnaire of Li Nationality. There were 441 cases of bronchial asthma, and 1296 cases of control that were sampled by random number table method. The logistic regression method was used to analyze risk factors. The asthma prevalence of Li nationality in Hainan was 3.38%(441/13 050). The main risk factors of asthma were family asthma (OR = 4.323, 95%CI = 3.259 - 5.735), hypersensitiveness (OR = 7.775, 95%CI = 5.686 - 10.632), smoking (OR = 1.494, 95%CI = 1.174 - 1.902), cooking fuels and living environment. Cold air change (OR = 1.604, 95%CI = 1.286 - 2.001) and respirable dust or irritant gas (OR = 2.123, 95%CI = 1.702 - 2.648) were the important incentives. The main risk factors of asthma among Li nationality were family asthma, hypersensitiveness, smoking, cooking fuels by means of fuel oil, hay or wood, living environment by means of couch grass room and human-livestock mix live, cold air change, respirable dust or irritant gas.

National and Governmental Advisory Committees: Meetings

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Meetings and Teleconference Information for the National Advisory Committee and Governmental Advisory Committee to the United States Representative to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation,