Search

Reading scientific papers in portable document format (PDF)-columned formats on computer screens is sometimes daunting and unfriendly. This is mainly due to the fact that PDF-columned texts are often truncated from the top or the bottom of pages so that readers have to scroll up–down repeatedly in the same page to get the whole text read. To make the reading process as smooth as possible, PDF viewers should be designed as responsive tools with responsive layouts that should automatically adapt the amount of readable text to the sizes of the displaying monitors so that readers will not waste time in repetitive vertical and horizontal scrolling movements within the same page. Here, I discuss such a problem-solving proposal that could be implemented in PDF viewers to improve the readability of PDF-columned texts and to make the reading process as flexible and painless as possible

AimsTo evaluate the relative efficiencies of five Internet-based digital and three paper-based scientific surveys and to estimate the costs for different-sized cohorts.MethodsInvitations to participate in a survey were distributed via e-mail to employees of two university hospitals (E1 and E2) and to members of a medical association (E3), as a link placed in a special text on the municipal homepage regularly read by the administrative employees of two cities (H1 and H2), and paper-based to workers at an automobile enterprise (P1) and college (P2) and senior (P3) students. The main parameters analyzed included the numbers of invited and actual participants, and the time and cost to complete the survey. Statistical analysis was descriptive, except for the Kruskal-Wallis-H-test, which was used to compare the three recruitment methods. Cost efficiencies were compared and extrapolated to different-sized cohorts.ResultsThe ratios of completely answered questionnaires to distributed questionnaires were between 81.5% (E1) and 97.4% (P2). Between 6.4% (P1) and 57.0% (P2) of the invited participants completely answered the questionnaires. The costs per completely answered questionnaire were $0.57-$1.41 (E1-3), $1.70 and $0.80 for H1 and H2, respectively, and $3.36-$4.21 (P1-3). Based on our results, electronic surveys with 10, 20, 30, or 42 questions would be estimated to be most cost (and time) efficient if more than 101.6-225.9 (128.2-391.7), 139.8-229.2 (93.8-193.6), 165.8-230.6 (68.7-115.7), or 188.2-231.5 (44.4-72.7) participants were required, respectively.ConclusionsThe study efficiency depended on the technical modalities of the survey methods and engagement of the participants. Depending on our study design, our results suggest that in similar projects that will certainly have more than two to three hundred required participants, the most efficient way of conducting a questionnaire-based survey is likely via the Internet with a digital questionnaire, specifically via a centralized e-mail.

Background Physical inactivity is an important cause of noncommunicable diseases. Interventions can increase short-term physical activity (PA), but health benefits require maintenance. Few interventions have evaluated PA objectively beyond 12 months. We followed up two pedometer interventions with positive 12-month effects to examine objective PA levels at 3–4 years. Methods and findings Long-term follow-up of two completed trials: Pedometer And Consultation Evaluation-UP (PACE-UP) 3-arm (postal, nurse support, control) at 3 years and Pedometer Accelerometer Consultation Evaluation-Lift (PACE-Lift) 2-arm (nurse support, control) at 4 years post-baseline. Randomly selected patients from 10 United Kingdom primary care practices were recruited (PACE-UP: 45–75 years, PACE-Lift: 60–75 years). Intervention arms received 12-week walking programmes (pedometer, handbooks, PA diaries) postally (PACE-UP) or with nurse support (PACE-UP, PACE-Lift). Main outcomes were changes in 7-day accelerometer average daily step counts and weekly time in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in ≥10-minute bouts in intervention versus control groups, between baseline and 3 years (PACE-UP) and 4 years (PACE-Lift). PACE-UP 3-year follow-up was 67% (681/1,023) (mean age: 59, 64% female), and PACE-Lift 4-year follow-up was 76% (225/298) (mean age: 67, 53% female). PACE-UP 3-year intervention versus control comparisons were as follows: additional steps/day postal +627 (95% CI: 198–1,056), p = 0.004, nurse +670 (95% CI: 237–1,102), p = 0.002; total weekly MVPA in bouts (minutes/week) postal +28 (95% CI: 7–49), p = 0.009, nurse +24 (95% CI: 3–45), p = 0.03. PACE-Lift 4-year intervention versus control comparisons were: +407 (95% CI: −177–992), p = 0.17 steps/day, and +32 (95% CI: 5–60), p = 0.02 minutes/week MVPA in bouts. Neither trial showed sedentary or wear-time differences. Main study limitation was incomplete follow-up; however, results were robust to missing data sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Intervention participants followed up from both trials demonstrated higher levels of objectively measured PA at 3–4 years than controls, similar to previously reported 12-month trial effects. Pedometer interventions, delivered by post or with nurse support, can help address the public health physical inactivity challenge. Trial registrations PACE-UP isrctn.com ISRCTN98538934; PACE-Lift isrctn.com ISRCTN42122561., In this follow-up of participants from two completed trials of pedometer-based walking interventions, Tess Harris and colleagues present evidence that increases in physical activity levels seen at 12 months are still present 3-4 years later., Author summary Why was this study done? Brisk walking for 30 minutes or more daily on most days of the week can help adults and older adults to achieve moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guidelines for health benefits, yet many do not achieve these levels. Previous pedometer-based walking studies have shown positive effects on increased step counts and time in MVPA for up to 12 months. For sustained health benefits, increased physical activity levels need to be maintained, yet there is a lack of data from interventions assessed using objectively measured physical activity levels beyond 12 months. What did the researchers do and find? We followed up participants from two primary care 12-week pedometer-based walking trials, including both nurse-supported and postal pedometer arms, to establish whether objectively measured physical activity increases seen at 12 months were sustained at 3–4 years. PACE-UP followed up 45–75-year-olds 3 years post-baseline and showed that both nurse-supported and postal pedometer interventions continued to have higher physical activity levels compared to the control group (approximately an extra 28 and 24 minutes/week, respectively, of MVPA in bouts and an extra 670 and 630 steps/day, respectively). PACE-Lift results were very similar. In 60–75-year-olds followed up at 4 years post-baseline, the nurse-supported pedometer intervention group spent about 33 minutes/week more time in MVPA in bouts compared to the control group. What do these findings mean? These findings suggest that adult and older adult participants receiving 12-week pedometer-based walking interventions, provided either by post or with nurse support, are still doing more physical activity 3–4 years later. Pedometer interventions can help address the public health physical inactivity challenge.

The need to complete multiple tasks concurrently is a common occurrence both daily life and in occupational activities, which can often include simultaneous cognitive and physical demands. As one example, there is increasing availability of head-worn display technologies that can be employed when a user is mobile (e.g., while walking). This new method of information presentation may, however, introduce risks of adverse outcomes such as a decrement to gait performance. The goal of this study was thus to quantify the effects of a head-worn display (i.e., smart glasses) on motor variability during gait and to compare these effects with those of other common information displays (i.e., smartphone and paper-based system). Twenty participants completed four walking conditions, as a single task and in three dual-task conditions (three information displays). In the dual-task conditions, the information display was used to present several cognitive tasks. Three different measures were used to quantify variability in gait parameters for each walking condition (using the cycle-to-cycle standard deviation, sample entropy, and the “goal-equivalent manifold” approach). Our results indicated that participants used less adaptable gait strategies in dual-task walking using the paper-based system and smartphone conditions compared with single-task walking. Gait performance, however, was less affected during dual-task walking with the smart glasses. We conclude that the risk of an adverse gait event (e.g., a fall) in head-down walking conditions (i.e., the paper-based system and smartphone conditions) were higher than in single-task walking, and that head-worn displays might help reduce the risk of such events during dual-task gait conditions.

Background There is widespread evidence that statistical methods play an important role in original research articles, especially in medical research. The evaluation of statistical methods and reporting in journals suffers from a lack of standardized methods for assessing the use of statistics. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate an instrument to assess the statistical intensity in research articles in a standardized way. Methods A checklist-type measure scale was developed by selecting and refining items from previous reports about the statistical contents of medical journal articles and from published guidelines for statistical reporting. A total of 840 original medical research articles that were published between 2007–2015 in 16 journals were evaluated to test the scoring instrument. The total sum of all items was used to assess the intensity between sub-fields and journals. Inter-rater agreement was examined using a random sample of 40 articles. Four raters read and evaluated the selected articles using the developed instrument. Results The scale consisted of 66 items. The total summary score adequately discriminated between research articles according to their study design characteristics. The new instrument could also discriminate between journals according to their statistical intensity. The inter-observer agreement measured by the ICC was 0.88 between all four raters. Individual item analysis showed very high agreement between the rater pairs, the percentage agreement ranged from 91.7% to 95.2%. Conclusions A reliable and applicable instrument for evaluating the statistical intensity in research papers was developed. It is a helpful tool for comparing the statistical intensity between sub-fields and journals. The novel instrument may be applied in manuscript peer review to identify papers in need of additional statistical review.

University scientific research ability is an important indicator to express the strength of universities. In this paper, the evaluation of university scientific research ability is investigated based on the output of sci-tech papers. Four university alliances from North America, UK, Australia, and China, are selected as the case study of the university scientific research evaluation. Data coming from Thomson Reuters InCites are collected to support the evaluation. The work has contributed new framework to the issue of university scientific research ability evaluation. At first, we have established a hierarchical structure to show the factors that impact the evaluation of university scientific research ability. Then, a new MCDM method called D-AHP model is used to implement the evaluation and ranking of different university alliances, in which a data-driven approach is proposed to automatically generate the D numbers preference relations. Next, a sensitivity analysis has been given to show the impact of weights of factors and sub-factors on the evaluation result. At last, the results obtained by using different methods are compared and discussed to verify the effectiveness and reasonability of this study, and some suggestions are given to promote China’s scientific research ability.

Good scientific writing is essential to career development and to the progress of science. A well-structured manuscript allows readers and reviewers to get excited about the subject matter, to understand and verify the paper’s contributions, and to integrate these contributions into a broader context. However, many scientists struggle with producing high-quality manuscripts and typically get little training in paper writing. Focusing on how readers consume information, we present a set of 10 simple rules to help you get across the main idea of your paper. These rules are designed to make your paper more influential and the process of writing more efficient and pleasurable.

This EAACI Task Force document aims at providing the readers with a comprehensive and complete overview of the currently available tools for diagnosis of nasal and sino-nasal disease. We have tried to logically order the different important issues related to history taking, clinical examination and additional investigative tools for evaluation of the severity of sinonasal disease into a consensus document. A panel of European experts in the field of Rhinology has contributed to this consensus document on Diagnostic Tools in Rhinology. ispartof: Clinical and Translational Allergy vol:1 issue:1 pages:2-2 ispartof: location:England status: published

When young children do not receive adequate amounts of the micronutrient iodine in their diet, their growth and cognitive development can be impaired. Nearly every country in the world has programs in place to track iodine intake and provide supplemental iodine if needed, usually in the form of fortified salt. The iodine nutrition status of a population can be tracked by monitoring iodine levels in urine samples to see if the median value falls in the range of 100-300 micrograms of iodine per liter of urine (μg I/L), which indicates adequate or more than adequate iodine nutrition. Many low and middle-income countries (LMIC) do not have a laboratory capable of carrying out this challenging assay, so samples must be sent out for assay in external labs, which is expensive and time-consuming. In most LMIC, population iodine surveys are carried out every 5-10 years, which limits the utility of the data for program monitoring and evaluation. To solve this problem, we developed a field-friendly paper test card that uses the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction to measure urinary iodine levels. A blind internal validation study showed that 93% of samples (n = 60) of iodide in an artificial urine matrix were categorized correctly by visual analysis as deficient, adequate, or excessive for levels set forth by the World Health Organization. Quantitative measurements based on computer image analysis had an error of 40 ± 20 μg I/L (n = 35 for samples in the calibration range) and these results categorized 88% of the samples (n = 60) correctly. We employed lifecycle analysis principles to address the known toxicity of arsenic, which is an obligatory reagent in the Sandell-Kolthoff reaction. Disposal of the cards in a landfill (their most likely destination after use) could let arsenic leach into groundwater; toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) tests showed that the level of arsenic leached from the cards was 28.78 ppm, which is above the United States Environmental Protection Agency's limit of 5 parts per million for solid waste. We integrated a remediation module into the card. This module contains oxone, to oxidize As(III) to As(V) oxyacids, and the iron oxide goethite. TCLP testing showed that the leachable amount of arsenic was reduced by at least 97.6%-from 28.8 ppm to lower than 0.7 ± 0.7 ppm (n = 20). This upstream intervention rendered the test card suitable for landfilling while retaining its functionality to perform a critical public health evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Teaching is an important professional role for most faculty members in academic health sciences centres. Careful delineation of educational workload is needed to foster and reward teaching efforts, and to facilitate equitable allocation of resources. AIMS: To promote recognition in teaching and facilitate equitable resource allocation, we developed, piloted, and qualitatively assessed a tool for delineating the educational workload of pediatric faculty in an academic health sciences centre. METHODS: A prototype educational workload measurement tool was developed. Between 2002 and 2004, three successive phases of pilot implementation were conducted to (1) assess the face validity of the tool, (2) assess its feasibility, and (3) develop and assess the feasibility of a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) version. Participants were interviewed regarding strengths, weaknesses, and barriers to completion. Data were analyzed for recurrent themes. RESULTS: Faculty found that the tool was usable and represented a broad range of educational activities. The PDA format was easier to use and better received. Technical support would be imperative for long-term implementation. The greatest barriers to implementation were skepticism about the purpose of the tool and concerns that it would promote quantity over quality of teaching. CONCLUSION: We developed a usable tool to capture data on the diverse educational workload of pediatric faculty. PDA technology can be used to facilitate collection of workload data. Faculty skepticism is an important barrier that should be addressed in future work.

Background Little is known about how adverse events are summarised and reported in trials, as detailed information is usually considered confidential. We have acquired clinical study reports (CSRs) from the European Medicines Agency through the Freedom of Information Act. The CSRs describe the results of studies conducted as part of the application for marketing authorisation for the slimming pill orlistat. The purpose of this study was to study how adverse events were summarised and reported in study protocols, CSRs, and published papers of orlistat trials. Methods and Findings We received the CSRs from seven randomised placebo controlled orlistat trials (4,225 participants) submitted by Roche. The CSRs consisted of 8,716 pages and included protocols. Two researchers independently extracted data on adverse events from protocols and CSRs. Corresponding published papers were identified on PubMed and adverse event data were extracted from this source as well. All three sources were compared. Individual adverse events from one trial were summed and compared to the totals in the summary report. None of the protocols or CSRs contained instructions for investigators on how to question participants about adverse events. In CSRs, gastrointestinal adverse events were only coded if the participant reported that they were “bothersome,” a condition that was not specified in the protocol for two of the trials. Serious adverse events were assessed for relationship to the drug by the sponsor, and all adverse events were coded by the sponsor using a glossary that could be updated by the sponsor. The criteria for withdrawal due to adverse events were in one case related to efficacy (high fasting glucose led to withdrawal), which meant that one trial had more withdrawals due to adverse events in the placebo group. Finally, only between 3% and 33% of the total number of investigator-reported adverse events from the trials were reported in the publications because of post hoc filters, though six of seven papers stated that “all adverse events were recorded.” For one trial, we identified an additional 1,318 adverse events that were not listed or mentioned in the CSR itself but could be identified through manually counting individual adverse events reported in an appendix. We discovered that the majority of patients had multiple episodes of the same adverse event that were only counted once, though this was not described in the CSRs. We also discovered that participants treated with orlistat experienced twice as many days with adverse events as participants treated with placebo (22.7 d versus 14.9 d, p-value < 0.0001, Student’s t test). Furthermore, compared with the placebo group, adverse events in the orlistat group were more severe. None of this was stated in the CSR or in the published paper. Our analysis was restricted to one drug tested in the mid-1990s; our results might therefore not be applicable for newer drugs. Conclusions In the orlistat trials, we identified important disparities in the reporting of adverse events between protocols, clinical study reports, and published papers. Reports of these trials seemed to have systematically understated adverse events. Based on these findings, systematic reviews of drugs might be improved by including protocols and CSRs in addition to published articles., In a document analysis, Jeppe B. Schroll and colleagues seek insights into potential bias and underreporting in documentation of adverse events from the mid-1990s clinical trials of the anti-obesity drug orlistat., Author Summary Why Was This Study Done? Most drugs have adverse effects, or harms, that may become evident in clinical trials. Pharmaceutical companies seeking to market a new drug must report adverse effects observed in trial participants in the Clinical Study Reports (CSRs), which they provide to regulatory authorities. Additionally, investigators may report harms in published reports of their trials. We sought to understand the accuracy, and potential bias, in harms reporting for trials of orlistat, a slimming drug from Roche approved in Europe in 1998 and still marketed in Europe today. What Did The Researchers Do And Find? Using a Freedom of Information Act request to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), we obtained CSRs describing seven clinical trials of orlistat. We studied protocol instructions to investigators for reporting harms, the actual reporting of harms in individual CSR records versus summaries, and the final reporting of harms in published papers. We found that protocol instructions to trial investigators had the potential to dilute the appearance of drug-associated harms. Between 3% and 33% of the total adverse effects from CSR summaries were described in published papers. In one trial, we counted adverse events individually and found that both the number of adverse effects and the number of days with adverse effects in participants taking the drug were understated in the corresponding publication. What Do These Findings Mean? The reporting of trials of orlistat in the 1990s understated harms in the summarised results submitted to the EMA for drug approval and in the published papers. Based on the characteristics of harms observed and reported in these trials, we suggest that reports of harms include duration of adverse effects. We also suggest that systematic reviews of drugs might be improved by including protocols and CSRs in addition to published articles.

Background: The use of linked data in the Semantic Web is a promising approach to add value to nutrition research. An ontology, which defines the logical relationships between well-defined taxonomic terms, enables linking and harmonizing research output. To enable the description of domain-specific output in nutritional epidemiology, we propose the Ontology for Nutritional Epidemiology (ONE) according to authoritative guidance for nutritional epidemiology. Methods: Firstly, a scoping review was conducted to identify existing ontology terms for reuse in ONE. Secondly, existing data standards and reporting guidelines for nutritional epidemiology were converted into an ontology. The terms used in the standards were summarized and listed separately in a taxonomic hierarchy. Thirdly, the ontologies of the nutritional epidemiologic standards, reporting guidelines, and the core concepts were gathered in ONE. Three case studies were included to illustrate potential applications: (i) annotation of existing manuscripts and data, (ii) ontology-based inference, and (iii) estimation of reporting completeness in a sample of nine manuscripts. Results: Ontologies for &ldquo, food and nutrition&rdquo, (n = 37), &ldquo, disease and specific population&rdquo, (n = 100), &ldquo, data description&rdquo, (n = 21), &ldquo, research description&rdquo, (n = 35), and &ldquo, supplementary (meta) data description&rdquo, (n = 44) were reviewed and listed. ONE consists of 339 classes: 79 new classes to describe data and 24 new classes to describe the content of manuscripts. Conclusion: ONE is a resource to automate data integration, searching, and browsing, and can be used to assess reporting completeness in nutritional epidemiology.

Here we describe an ultra-low-cost origami-based approach for large-scale manufacturing of microscopes, specifically demonstrating brightfield, darkfield, and fluorescence microscopes. Merging principles of optical design with origami enables high-volume fabrication of microscopes from 2D media. Flexure mechanisms created via folding enable a flat compact design. Structural loops in folded paper provide kinematic constraints as a means for passive self-alignment. This light, rugged instrument can survive harsh field conditions while providing a diversity of imaging capabilities, thus serving wide-ranging applications for cost-effective, portable microscopes in science and education.

In this months editorial, the PLOS Medicine Editors announce an upcoming Special Issue and call for papers, with Guest Editors Carol Brayne and Bruce Miller, on dementia across the lifespan and around the globe.

Much attention has been paid in the literature to the deleterious effects of errors in diagnostic reasoning due to underlying cognitive biases. This is an important topic since people’s lives and well-being are at stake. Empirical studies cited by Chapman et al. (2013) corroborate the view that gender, racial, or age biases exist in a significant number of clinicians, thereby limiting objective diagnosis. Croskerry (2003, 2013) endorses a so-called metacognitive (or cognitive ‘forcing’) approach to achieve de-biasing in clinicians, a key component of which is critical self-reflection on one’s own diagnostic reasoning (Croskerry, 2003). However, the first empirical study of its kind found cognitive forcing to be relatively ineffective in reducing biases in clinicians (Sherbino et al., 2011). It is the thesis of this paper that a more effective approach to achieve de-biasing in clinicians involves group assessments of colleagues’ diagnostic reasoning, since biases often resist critical self-reflection owing in part to the fact that many of them are unconscious. Objectivity has its roots in ideally diverse group-based critiques of medical decisions where others may be able to expose biases of which the person is unaware, which Epstein (2013) refers to as the ‘shared mind’ approach.

PLOS Medicine editors and guest editors announce a call for papers for submissions for a special issue on diabetes prevention.

BACKGROUND: Sponsors that seek to commercialize new drugs apply to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which independently analyzes the raw data and reports the results on its website.OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine if there are differences between the FDA assessments and journal reports on biologic agents developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.METHODS: Available data on FDA-approved drugs were extracted from the website, and a systematic literature search was conducted to identify matching studies in peer-reviewed medical journals. Outcome measures were the American College of Rheumatology response criteria ACR20 (efficacy) and withdrawal due to adverse events (safety). As effect size odds ratios were estimated for each active trial arm vs. control arm (i.e. for both sources: FDA and journal report), followed by calculation of the ratios of the FDA and journal report odds ratios. A ratio of odds ratios not equal to 1 was categorized as a discrepancy.RESULTS: FDA reports were available for 8 of 9 FDA-approved biologic agents for rheumatoid arthritis; all identified trials (34) except one were published in peer-reviewed journals. Overall, discrepancies were noted for 20 of the 33 evaluated trials. Differences in the apparent benefit reporting were found in 39% (24/61) pairwise comparisons and in 11 cases these were statistically significant; the FDA report showed greater benefit than the journal publication in 15 comparisons and lesser benefit in 9. Differences in the reported harms were found in 51% (28/55) pairwise comparisons and were statistically significant in 5. The "signal" in FDA reports showed a less harmful effect than the journal publication in 17 comparisons whereas a more harmful effect in 11. The differences were attributed to differences in analytic approach, patient inclusion, rounding effect, and counting discrepancies. However, no differences were categorized as critical.CONCLUSION: There was no empirical evidence to suggest biased estimates between the two sources. Increased and detailed transparency in publications would improve the understanding and credibility of published results. Further, the FDA report was found to be a useful source when data are missing in the published report (i.e. reporting bias).

In this month’s editorial, the PLOS Medicine Editors announce an upcoming Special Issue, with Guest Editors Elaine Mardis and Marc Ladanyi, on actionable advances in research on the cancer genome.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T16:33:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-05-11 Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Recent studies have reported incipient morphological caste dimorphism in the Van der Vecht organ size of some temperate Polistes paper wasps. Whether species other than the temperate ones show a similar pattern remains elusive. Here, we have studied some Neotropical Polistes species. By comparing females collected through the year, we showed caste related differences in the size of the Van der Vecht organ in P. ferreri (body size corrected Van der Vech organ size of queens = 0.45 +/- 0.06, workers = 0.38 +/- 0.07 mm(2), p = 0.0021), P. versicolor (body size corrected Van der Vech organ size of queens = 0.54 +/- 0.11, workers = 0.46 +/- 0.09 mm(2), p = 0.010), but not P. simillimus (body size corrected Van der Vech organ size of queens = 0.52 +/- 0.05, workers = 0.49 +/- 0.06 mm(2), p = 0.238). Therefore, it seems that queens and workers of some Neotropical Polistes have diverged in their ontogenic trajectory of the Van der Vecht organ size, providing clear evidence for incipient morphological caste dimorphism. As Polistes are distributed mostly in the tropics, we propose that physical caste differences may be widespread in the genus. Also, we highlight that morphological divergence in the queen-worker phenotypes may have started through differential selection of body structures, like the Van der Vecht organ. Univ Fed Vicosa, Dept Entomol, BR-36570000 Vicosa, MG, Brazil Univ Florence, Dipartimento Biol Evoluzionist Leo Pardi, Via Romana 17, I-50125 Florence, Italy Univ Fed Vicosa, Dept Biol Geral, BR-36570000 Vicosa, MG, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias Letras & Ciencias Exatas, Dept Zool & Bot, BR-15054000 Sao Paulo, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias Letras & Ciencias Exatas, Dept Zool & Bot, BR-15054000 Sao Paulo, Brazil CNPq: 143246/2011-9

Nicola Low and colleagues announce a call for research papers on sexually transmitted infections, to accompany a Collection on the topic.

Moderate-to-severe psoriasis is associated with significant comorbidity, an impaired quality of life, and increased medical costs, including those associated with treatments. Systematic reviews (SRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of randomized clinical trials are considered two of the best approaches to the summarization of high-quality evidence. However, methodological bias can reduce the validity of conclusions from these types of studies and subsequently impair the quality of decision making. As co-authorship is among the most well-documented forms of research collaboration, the present study aimed to explore whether authors' collaboration methods might influence the methodological quality of SRs and MAs of psoriasis. Methodological quality was assessed by two raters who extracted information from full articles. After calculating total and per-item Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) scores, reviews were classified as low (0-4), medium (5-8), or high (9-11) quality. Article metadata and journal-related bibliometric indices were also obtained. A total of 741 authors from 520 different institutions and 32 countries published 220 reviews that were classified as high (17.2%), moderate (55%), or low (27.7%) methodological quality. The high methodological quality subnetwork was larger but had a lower connection density than the low and moderate methodological quality subnetworks; specifically, the former contained relatively fewer nodes (authors and reviews), reviews by authors, and collaborators per author. Furthermore, the high methodological quality subnetwork was highly compartmentalized, with several modules representing few poorly interconnected communities. In conclusion, structural differences in author-paper affiliation network may influence the methodological quality of SRs and MAs on psoriasis. As the author-paper affiliation network structure affects study quality in this research field, authors who maintain an appropriate balance between scientific quality and productivity are more likely to develop higher quality reviews.

Background Loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) provides an opportunity for improved, field-friendly detection of malaria infections in endemic areas. However data on the diagnostic accuracy of LAMP for active case detection, particularly low-density parasitaemias, are lacking. We therefore evaluated the performance of a new LAMP kit compared with PCR using DNA from filter paper blood spots. Methods and Findings Samples from 865 fever patients and 465 asymptomatic individuals collected in Zanzibar were analysed for Pan (all species) and Pf (P. falciparum) DNA with the Loopamp MALARIA Pan/Pf kit. Samples were amplified at 65°C for 40 minutes in a real-time turbidimeter and results were compared with nested PCR. Samples with discordant results between LAMP and nested PCR were analysed with real-time PCR. The real-time PCR corrected nested PCR result was defined as gold standard. Among the 117 (13.5%) PCR detected P. falciparum infections from fever patients (mean parasite density 7491/µL, range 6–782,400) 115, 115 and 111 were positive by Pan-LAMP, Pf-LAMP and nested PCR, respectively. The sensitivities were 98.3% (95%CI 94–99.8) for both Pan and Pf-LAMP. Among the 54 (11.6%) PCR positive samples from asymptomatic individuals (mean parasite density 10/µL, range 0–4972) Pf-LAMP had a sensitivity of 92.7% (95%CI 80.1–98.5) for detection of the 41 P. falciparum infections. Pan-LAMP had sensitivities of 97% (95%CI 84.2–99.9) and 76.9% (95%CI 46.2–95) for detection of P. falciparum and P. malariae, respectively. The specificities for both Pan and Pf-LAMP were 100% (95%CI 99.1–100) in both study groups. Conclusion Both components of the Loopamp MALARIA Pan/Pf detection kit revealed high diagnostic accuracy for parasite detection among fever patients and importantly also among asymptomatic individuals of low parasite densities from minute blood volumes preserved on filter paper. These data support LAMPs potential role for improved detection of low-density malaria infections in pre-elimination settings.

BackgroundThe objectives of the study were to develop web-based Spanish and Catalan versions of the KIDSCREEN, and to compare scores and psychometric properties with the paper version.MethodsInternet and paper Spanish and Catalan versions of the KIDSCREEN-52 were included in a cross-sectional study in school-age children. Web-based and paper Spanish or Catalan versions of the KIDSCREEN-52 were administered to students aged 8 to 18 years from primary and secondary schools in Palafolls (Barcelona, Spain, n = 923). All students completed both web-based and paper versions during school time with an interval of at least 2 hours between administrations. The order of administration was randomized. The KIDSCREEN-52, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and sociodemographic variables were collected. Missing values, floor and ceiling effects, and internal consistency were compared between both versions, as well as mean score differences, level of agreement, and known groups and construct validity.ResultsParticipation rate was 77% (n = 715). Web-based and paper versions showed low percentage of missing values and similar high ceiling effect (range 0 to 44%). Mean score differences showed an effect size (ES) lower than 0.2 in all dimensions. Internal consistency ranged from 0.7 to 0.88, and degree of agreement was excellent (Intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] range 0.75 to 0.87). Expected differences were seen by sex, age, socioeconomic status and mental health status.ConclusionsThe web-based KIDSCREEN-52 showed similar scale score and reliability and validity than the paper version. It will incorporate the child population in the assessment of quality of life providing a more attractive format.

The objective of this paper is to assess tobacco industry views and research on potential health effects of menthol and menthol cigarettes. A search was conducted among the documents included in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library. An initial set of words was used, followed by snowball design search. Relevant documents addressed the following subject areas: (1) pharmacology of menthol; (2) menthol’s effect on nicotine metabolism; (3) short and long-term effects of menthol and menthol cigarette use, including carcinogenesis; (4) role of menthol on disease risk; and (5) menthol’s effects on biomarkers of smoking exposure. It is important to underscore that, regarding the health effects of menthol, most of the information tobacco companies used and based their decisions on came from the biomedical literature and not from studies carried out by the companies themselves, who seem to have conducted very little in-house research on the subject. Although menthol pharmacology is well documented, the effect of menthol on levels of biomarkers of smoke exposure is less well examined; however, results collected in the present white paper suggest that menthol does not seem to modify them. In addition, menthol itself appears to be non-carcinogenic, though no documents related to in-house studies analyzing its role in absorption of other carcinogens were found. Reported short-term effects were rare. The tobacco industry documents did not discuss long term long term studies on menthol’s health effects, making it difficult to assess any link to disease risk. We conclude that the tobacco industry works under the assumption that menthol is an innocuous and widely use additive without adverse effects.

Publicly available internal tobacco industry documents were analyzed to answer the following questions regarding menthol’s role in nicotine dependence: 1) What are the addiction and exposure measures and what are their relationships to menthol cigarette use? 2) Do menthol smokers show different signs or levels of nicotine dependence compared to non-menthol smokers? 3) Does menthol affect cigarette consumption (cigarettes per day) and do menthol smokers smoke more or fewer cigarettes per day compared to non-menthol smokers? 4) What is menthols’ effect on nicotine metabolism (i.e. glucuronide formation) and do menthol smokers experience different nicotine exposure and/or altered nicotine metabolism as compared to non-menthol smokers? (i.e. serum cotinine levels) 5) Does menthol have an effect on nicotine delivery? 6) Does menthol alter the addictiveness of smoking through sensory stimulation? Tobacco industry documents reveal at least two important reasons for menthol’s use in cigarettes. A final collection of 309 documents was analyzed for this report, of which 72 were deemed relevant to one or more of the research questions and cited in this paper. Our analyses of these documents indicate 1) menthol is used in cigarettes to override the harsh taste of tobacco; 2) menthol has physiological effects, and it synergistically interacts with nicotine; 3) menthol makes low tar, low nicotine tobacco products that would otherwise be tasteless and unsatisfactory acceptable to smokers. Tobacco manufacturers manipulated menthol levels to produce tobacco products that would be easier to consume, especially for new and inexperienced smokers.

Publicly available internal tobacco industry documents were analyzed to answer the following questions regarding the sensory qualities of menthol and its possible effects on topography: 1) What properties does menthol contribute to the smoking experience? 2) Does menthol contribute to the sensory qualities of the smoke and affect smoking topography? 3) Do changes in smoking topography lead to greater exposure to toxic substances, increased nicotine dependence, or greater chance of tobacco-related disease? 4) What are the various ways menthol is measured and how are menthol yields determined? 5) Does the menthol content and/or yield have an effect on how the cigarette is smoked or cigarette preference? 6) What is the relationship between menthol and intensity in use of cigarettes (i.e., does menthol lead to a higher delivery of smoke per cigarette)? A final collection of 252 documents was analyzed for this report, of which 67 were deemed relevant to one or more of the research questions and cited in this paper. Our analyses of the documents indicate the following: 1) Menthol has cooling and anesthetic properties that moderate the harshness and irritation of tobacco; 2) Menthol contributes to the sensory qualities of the smoke and affects smoking behavior and cigarette preference depending on the level of menthol and nicotine in the cigarette; 3) It is unclear whether menthol’s effect on smoking behavior leads to greater exposure to toxic substances; 4) Menthol is measured in milligrams or micrograms that are distilled from a cigarette before and after smoking; 5) It is unclear whether the menthol content and/or yield have an effect on how a cigarette is smoked because most testing that we were able to locate in the documents was done on new mentholated products by in-house smoker panels; and 6) It is unclear what the tobacco industry knew about the relationship between menthol and intensity in use of cigarettes. The documents provide evidence that cigarette manufacturers not only use menthol as a flavorant, but also as an ingredient that has physiological effects, and synergistically interacts with nicotine.

The first Workshop on Security and Privacy in GIS and LBS (SPRINGL 2008) was organized on November 4, 2008 at Irvine (CA) in conjunction with the SIGSPATIAL International Conference on Advances in Geographic Information Systems (ACM GIS 2008). The goal of the SPRINGL workshop series is to provide a forum for researchers working in the area of geospatial data security and privacy. Both security and privacy are critical for geospatial applications because of the dramatic increase and dissemination of geospatial data in several application contexts including homeland security, environmental crises, and natural and industrial disasters. Furthermore, geospatial infrastructures are being leveraged by companies to provide a large variety of location-based services (LBS) able to tailor services to users. However, despite the increase of publicly accessible geospatial information only little attention is being paid to how to secure geospatial information systems (GIS) and LBS. Privacy is also of increasing concern given the sensitivity of personally-identifiable location information. This is despite major advancements that have been made in secure computing infrastructures and the secure and privacy-preserving management of traditional (relational) data in particular. The discussion at the workshop spanned across security and privacy aspects, as they relate to the management of geospatial data and to the development of emerging LBS. The present special issue of Transactions on Data Privacy contains four extended papers, focusing on privacy, that have been selected from the papers presented at SPRINGL 2008.

This interdisciplinary meeting of 20 behavioral science and health researchers explored the connections among social risk theory, cultural constructions of health and risk, and spatial analysis of health. The purpose of the meeting was to establish common grounds for new interdisciplinary research proposals that bring together spatial analysis with work looking at perception of health risk. The agenda and position papers of papers of participants are presented in this document.

In advance of the meeting, 34 researchers prepared position statements on the following kinds of questions: • What is the current state of knowledge with respect to spatiotemporal constraints on social networks and informationflows, particularly from a meta-network perspective? • How can theories of social network interaction be extended to incorporate the constraining effects of space, time, theInternet, and mass media? • Can probability distributions be developed for networks or network metrics that are parameterized by spatial andtemporal separation? • What rich sources of data can be found to calibrate and parameterize these new models? • What new metrics and models can be developed for assessing critical nodes, groups, and trails in and throughnetworks that take spatio-temporal constraints, the Internet, and mass-media effects into account? • Can we develop novel methods for visualizing the operation of spatio-temporal constraints and their effects on the flow of ideas and information through meta-networks? • What methods of inference are appropriate for detection of spatio-temporal and network constraints in crowd-sourced data, and what are appropriate metrics of uncertainty?

Publicly available internal tobacco industry documents were analyzed to explore questions regarding menthol cigarettes and cessation behavior, using the following as initial questions: 1) Compared to non-menthol smokers, do menthol smokers have a harder time quitting, report more or fewer quit attempts, and/or have higher or lower quit rates? 2) Compared to non-menthol smokers, are menthol smokers more or less likely to relapse or delay quitting, and/or to experience different odds of maintaining abstinence long-term? Tobacco companies largely considered reviews of the academic literature on these questions; therefore, documentary evidence was employed to refine research questions. More than 500 relevant documents were identified on 1) perceived sensory and taste rewards of menthol and potential relation to quitting; 2) motivation or desire to quit among menthol users; and 3) socio-demographic correlates of both menthol usage and cessation patterns. Menthol’s cooling and anesthetic effects mask the short-term negatives of smoking such as throat pain, burning, and cough. This may provide superficial physical relief as well as psychological assurance against concerns about health that would otherwise motivate smokers to quit. Menthol smokers, particularly women, also perceive the minty aroma of menthol cigarettes to be more socially acceptable than non-menthol cigarettes, a perception that lessens the impact of smoking denormalization on quitting motivation. Relative to the overall smoking market, menthol smokers tend to be younger, female, and non-white; this description also fits those smokers who have a harder time of quitting and staying quit. Document analysis suggests that menthol in cigarettes may encourage experimenters who find non-mentholated cigarettes too harsh, including young or inexperienced users, to progress to regular smoking rather than quitting, and may inhibit the desire to quit among established menthol smokers who have become accustomed to the taste and sensation of menthol cigarettes.

Publicly available internal tobacco industry documents were analyzed to answer the following questions regarding menthol cigarettes and the uptake of smoking by youth: 1) Does menthol make it easier for young or new/inexperienced smokers to start smoking cigarettes? 2) Do menthol smokers start smoking earlier than non-menthol smokers? Is there a higher use among youth who have been smoking for less than one year? 3) Did current smokers start smoking menthol cigarettes before switching to non-menthol cigarettes? 4) Does menthol accelerate progression toward established smoking? 5) Did the tobacco industry market menthols to the youth market and what images did they use? 6) To what extent do non-menthol smokers use menthol cigarettes? Researchers reviewed 2,634 documents and 102 were deemed relevant to one or more of the research questions. The internal business records of the tobacco industry make it clear that menthol flavoring is added to cigarettes in part because it is known to be an attractive feature to inexperienced, primarily youthful smokers who perceive menthol flavored cigarettes to be less harsh and easier to smoke and because of their availability from friends and family. Secondarily, the tobacco industry found that some youth smoke menthols because they perceive them to be less harmful than non-menthol cigarettes. Because of the acknowledged importance of capturing a large share of the youth market to long term profitability, all of the major cigarette companies have introduced menthol brands. A key product design issue concerned whether to increase brand menthol levels to appeal to the taste preferences of long-term menthol smokers or keep menthol levels lower to appeal to inexperienced smokers. Internal marketing studies showed that the companies carefully researched the menthol segment of the market with an eye towards recruiting younger smokers to their brands. The tobacco industry tracked menthol cigarette usage by age, gender and race to inform product development and marketing decisions. Studies were done to test how menthol impacted the ease of smoking, consumer perceptions of menthol flavoring, and brand loyalty. Based upon this review, menthol as a characterizing flavor has been a prominent design feature used by cigarette manufacturers to attract and retain youthful smokers.

The objectives of this meeting were:(1) to demonstrate, showcase, and benchmark state-of-the-art tools and to facilitate interaction among specialized software developers; (2) to promote a dialogue among the wide range of developers about priorities and guidelines for software design, data and model standards, inter-operability, and open environments, including specific open source standards for spatial data analysis; and (3) to introduce CSISS' open source software development initiative, the "OpenSpace" project. A brief introduction is followed by position papers from meeting participants.