Defining Democracy: Voting Procedures in Decision-making, Elections and Governance

Book Review: Emerson, Peter, Defining Democracy: Voting Procedures in Decision-making, Elections and
Governance (2nd edn), Springer, London, 2012,

Smartphone and GPS technology for freeroaming dog population surveillance -a methodological study (Studio metodologico sull’applicazione di smartphone e tecnologia GPS alla sorveglianza delle popolazioni di cani vaganti)

Free-roaming dogs (FRD) represent a potential threat to the quality of life in cities from an ecological, social and public health point of view. One of the most urgent concerns is the role of uncontrolled dogs as reservoirs of infectious diseases transmittable to humans and, above all, rabies. An estimate of the FRD population size and characteristics in a given area is the first step for any relevant intervention programme. Direct count methods are still prominent because of their non-invasive approach, information technologies can support such methods facilitating data collection and allowing for a more efficient data handling. This paper presents a new framework for data collection using a topological algorithm implemented as ArcScript in ESRI® ArcGIS software, which allows for a random selection of the sampling areas. It also supplies a mobile phone application for Android® operating system devices which integrates Global Positioning System (GPS) and Google Maps™. The potential of such a framework was tested in 2 Italian regions. Coupling technological and innovative solutions associated with common counting methods facilitate data collection and transcription. It also paves the way to future applications, which could support dog population management systems.

Methodological variations in estimating apparent progressive visual field loss in clinical trials of glaucoma treatment.

OBJECTIVES:

To compare methods to estimate the incidence of visual field progression used by 3 large randomized trials of glaucoma treatment by applying these methods to a common data set of annually obtained visual field measurements of patients with glaucoma followed up for an average of 6 years.

METHODS:

The methods used by the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS), the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS), and the Early Manifest Glaucoma Treatment study (EMGT) were applied to 67 eyes of 56 patients with glaucoma enrolled in a 10-year natural history study of glaucoma using Program 30-2 of the Humphrey Field Analyzer (Humphrey Instruments, San Leandro, Calif). The incidence of apparent visual field progression was estimated for each method. Extent of agreement between the methods was calculated, and time to apparent progression was compared.

RESULTS:

The proportion of patients progressing was 11%, 22%, and 23% with AGIS, CIGTS, and EMGT methods, respectively. Clinical assessment identified 23% of patients who progressed, but only half of these were also identified by CIGTS or EMGT methods. The CIGTS and the EMGT had comparable incidence rates, but only half of those identified by 1 method were also identified by the other.

CONCLUSIONS:

The EMGT and CIGTS methods produced rates of apparent progression that were twice those of the AGIS method. Although EMGT, CIGTS, and clinical assessment rates were comparable, they did not identify the same patients as having had field progression.

Classifying cerebral palsy: are we nearly there?

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of physical disability in childhood in developed countries and encompasses a wide range of clinical phenotypes. Classification of CP according to movement disorder or topographical distribution is widely used. However, these classifications are not reliable nor do they accurately predict musculoskeletal pathology. More recently, the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) has been introduced and its validity, reliability, and clinical utility have been confirmed. In 2005 it was suggested that children should be described and classified according to the GMFCS in all outcome studies involving children with CP, in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics (JPO). This study aimed to describe utilization of the GMFCS in 3 journals: Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS Am), JPO, and Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (DMCN), over a 7-year period (2005 to 2011), and any relationship to the journal's impact factor. A secondary aim was to establish if differences in methodological quality existed between those studies utilizing GMFCS and those that did not.

METHODS: A targeted literature search of the 3 selected journals using the term "cerebral palsy" was conducted using the Medline database. Utilization of the GMFCS was assessed using report of these data in the methods or results section of the retrieved papers. The Methodological Index for Non-Randomized Studies (MINORS) was employed to evaluate the quality of papers published in JPO.

RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-four studies met the inclusion criteria and in 85 (68%) the GMFCS was used. Of these, 112 were published in JPO, of which 51 (46%) utilized the GMFCS, compared with 72% for JBJS Am, and 88% for DMCN. In the JPO, utilization of the GMFCS improved from 13% to 80%, over the 7-year study period.

CONCLUSIONS: Utilization of the GMFCS has increased rapidly over the past 7 years in the JPO but there is room for further improvement.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Not applicable.