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Local Studies (local + studies)
Selected AbstractsTwenty years of external quality assurance in clinical cell analysis , A tribute to Jean-Luc D'HautcourtCYTOMETRY, Issue 1 2007Bruno Brando Abstract External quality assurance (EQA) programs in clinical cell analysis are now a consolidated item of laboratory practice. All the flow cytometric testings with an impact on clinical decision making have been submitted to regular EQA programs during the last 20 years, and this has produced internationally homogeneous guidelines, with a remarkable improvement in result reproducibility. Jean-Luc D'Hautcourt was a pioneer in this field, and his valuable contributions to flow cytometric method standardization and to the dissemination of the educational aspects of EQA programs are recognized. The different methodological approaches undertaken in the United States and Europe are discussed. The educational role of SIHON in the Benelux Countries and of UKNEQAS for Leucocyte Immunophenotyping worldwide is emphasized. Accredited and accreditating EQA programs require an impressive degree of organization and technical knowledge, so that only major international providers can afford such a task nowadays. However, small local studies still provide the necessary stimulus to the continuous improvement of the scientifical aspects of EQA schemes. © 2006 Clinical Cytometry Society [source] The Audit Commission review of diabetes services in England and Wales, 1998,2001DIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 2002B. Fitzsimons Abstract Aims of the Audit Commission The Audit Commission has a statutory duty to promote the best use of public money. It does this through value for money studies, such as that reported in Testing Times[1]. This work has been followed with a review of innovative practice in commissioning. These initiatives aim to support the implementation of the diabetes national service framework. The Audit Commission also appoints external auditors to NHS organizations who assess probity and value for money in the NHS; the latter by applying national studies locally and by carrying out local studies. Methods Research for Testing Times consisted of structured visits to nine acute trusts, a telephone survey of 26 health authorities and a postal survey of 1400 people with diabetes and 250 general practitioners. Local audits used a subset of the original research tools. Case studies were identified through a cascade approach to contacts established during Testing Times and through self-nomination. Results Rising numbers of people with diabetes are placing increasing pressure on hospital services. Some health authorities and primary care organizations have reviewed patterns of service provision in the light of the increasing demands. These reviews show wide variations in patterns of routine care. In addition, there is a widespread lack of data on the delivery of structured care to people with diabetes. People with diabetes report delays in gaining access to services, and insufficient time with staff. There are insufficient arrangements in place for providing information and learning opportunities to support self-management. Conclusion As the number of people with diabetes continues to rise, the potential for providing more care in a primary care setting needs to be explored. This will enable specialist services to focus more effectively on those with the most complex needs. [source] Human papillomavirus prevalence and cytopathology correlation in young Ugandan women using a low-cost liquid-based pap preparationDIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010Janis M. Taube M.D. Abstract Screening for HPV-driven cervical dysplasia and neoplasia is a significant public health concern in the developing world. The purpose of this study was to use a manual, low-cost liquid-based Pap preparation to determine HPV prevalence in HIV-positive and HIV-negative young women in Kampala, Uganda and to correlate cervical cytopathology with HPV-DNA genotype. About 196 post-partum women aged 18,30 years underwent rapid HIV testing and pelvic examination. Liquid-based cervical cytology samples were processed using a low-cost manual technique. A DNA collection device was used to collect specimens for HPV genotyping. HIV and HPV prevalence was 18 and 64%, respectively. Overall, 49% of women were infected with a high-risk HPV genotype. The most common high-risk HPV genotypes were 16 (8.2%), 33 (7.7%), 35 (6.6%), 45 (5.1%), and 58 (5.1%). The prevalence of HPV 18 was 3.6%. HIV-positive women had an HPV prevalence of 86% compared to 59% in HIV-negative women (P = 0.003). The prevalence of HPV 16/18 did not differ by HIV status. HIV-positive women were infected with a significantly greater number of HPV genotypes compared to HIV-negative women. By multivariate analysis, the main risk factor for HPV infection was coinfection with HIV. HIV-positive women were four times more likely to have abnormal cytology than HIV-negative women (43% vs. 11.6%, P < 0.001). These data highlight that HIV infection is a strong risk factor for HPV infection and resultant abnormal cervical cytology. Notably, the manual low-cost liquid-based Pap preparation is practical in this setting and offers an alternate method for local studies of HPV vaccine efficacy. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010;38:555,563. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Fire history and the global carbon budget: a 1°× 1° fire history reconstruction for the 20th centuryGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Florent Mouillot Abstract A yearly global fire history is a prerequisite for quantifying the contribution of previous fires to the past and present global carbon budget. Vegetation fires can have both direct (combustion) and long-term indirect effects on the carbon cycle. Every fire influences the ecosystem carbon budget for many years, as a consequence of internal reorganization, decomposition of dead biomass, and regrowth. We used a two-step process to estimate these effects. First we synthesized the available data available for the 1980s or 1990s to produce a global fire map. For regions with no data, we developed estimates based on vegetation type and history. Second, we then worked backwards to reconstruct the fire history. This reconstruction was based on published data when available. Where it was not, we extrapolated from land use practices, qualitative reports and local studies, such as tree ring analysis. The resulting product is intended as a first approximation for questions about consequences of historical changes in fire for the global carbon budget. We estimate that an average of 608 Mha yr,1 burned (not including agricultural fires) at the end of the 20th century. 86% of this occurred in tropical savannas. Fires in forests with higher carbon stocks consumed 70.7 Mha yr,1 at the beginning of the century, mostly in the boreal and temperate forests of the Northern Hemisphere. This decreased to 15.2 Mha yr,1 in the 1960s as a consequence of fire suppression policies and the development of efficient fire fighting equipment. Since then, fires in temperate and boreal forests have decreased to 11.2 Mha yr,1. At the same time, burned areas increased exponentially in tropical forests, reaching 54 Mha yr,1 in the 1990s, reflecting the use of fire in deforestation for expansion of agriculture. There is some evidence for an increase in area burned in temperate and boreal forests in the closing years of the 20th century. [source] DNA barcoding Central Asian butterflies: increasing geographical dimension does not significantly reduce the success of species identificationMOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 5 2009VLADIMIR A LUKHTANOV Abstract DNA barcoding employs short, standardized gene regions (5' segment of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I for animals) as an internal tag to enable species identification. Prior studies have indicated that it performs this task well, because interspecific variation at cytochrome oxidase subunit I is typically much greater than intraspecific variation. However, most previous studies have focused on local faunas only, and critics have suggested two reasons why barcoding should be less effective in species identification when the geographical coverage is expanded. They suggested that many recently diverged taxa will be excluded from local analyses because they are allopatric. Second, intraspecific variation may be seriously underestimated by local studies, because geographical variation in the barcode region is not considered. In this paper, we analyse how adding a geographical dimension affects barcode resolution, examining 353 butterfly species from Central Asia. Despite predictions, we found that geographically separated and recently diverged allopatric species did not show, on average, less sequence differentiation than recently diverged sympatric taxa. Although expanded geographical coverage did substantially increase intraspecific variation reducing the barcoding gap between species, this did not decrease species identification using neighbour-joining clustering. The inclusion of additional populations increased the number of paraphyletic entities, but did not impede species-level identification, because paraphyletic species were separated from their monophyletic relatives by substantial sequence divergence. Thus, this study demonstrates that DNA barcoding remains an effective identification tool even when taxa are sampled from a large geographical area. [source] Choice of stakeholder groups and members in multicriteria decision modelsNATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 1 2000Steve R. Harrison Abstract Simplistic economic objectives such as maximisation of producer profits are of little relevance in generating information to assist in the management of natural resources beyond the individual firm level. To provide data and information to support decision-making in natural resource management, it is necessary to take into account the views of various stakeholder groups and the multiple objectives of each group, through the use of some form of multicriteria analysis (MCA). Important decisions arise in the choice of stakeholder, since this will influence the management advice generated. Many groups and individuals can be affected by resource management decisions, but it would be impractical to attempt to identify the objectives and estimate their importance for each group. Also, questions arise concerning whether or not to include government agencies (which represent the broader community) and researchers as stakeholders. A further issue concerns choosing representative samples of stakeholder groups, from which to obtain preference data. Discussions with modellers and a reading of the literature would suggest that the choice of stakeholder groups and representatives is conducted haphazardly and is perhaps biased, and that a more systematic approach is needed. This article explores the above issues with reference to a number of multicriteria analyses, including local studies. [source] The burden of lung disease in Hong Kong: A report from the Hong Kong Thoracic SocietyRESPIROLOGY, Issue 2008Moira CHAN-YEUNG Background and objective: The burden of lung disease in Hong Kong is not known. This study determined the mortality and hospitalization rates of respiratory diseases in Hong Kong in 2005, their trend in the past decade and their incidence/prevalence. Methods: Mortality data were obtained from the Department of Health and hospitalization data from the Hospital Authority, Hong Kong. Incidence/prevalence data were obtained from local registries or local studies. Trends of mortality and hospitalization rates of various respiratory diseases from 1997 and 2005 were calculated after age standardization and were tested for significance using negative binomial regression analysis. Age standardized mortality rates in Hong Kong were compared with those of the UK and globally. Results: Respiratory disease was the most common cause of mortality and hospitalization in Hong Kong in 2005. Globally and in the UK, cardiovascular disease ranked first in mortality. Respiratory infections ranked first in respiratory mortality, followed by respiratory tract cancer and chronic obstructive lung disease. Respiratory infections also ranked first followed by chronic obstructive lung disease in the utilization of respiratory inpatient bed-days. While mortality rates from all respiratory diseases decreased in the past decade, hospitalization rates remained unchanged. Unlike other respiratory diseases, mortality from respiratory infections have increased since 2001. Smoking is the most important risk factor in non-communicable respiratory diseases. Conclusions: Respiratory disease is responsible for the highest health-care burden locally. Increased efforts in improving management and prevention of these diseases, including tobacco control, improving air quality and vaccination against influenza and pneumococci, are necessary. [source] | |||||||||||||