Analysis of the National Childhood Obesity Database 2005-06

This report looks at the first year of data collection on childhood obesity and the difficulties of this project. This report summarises the data available and provides high level analysis of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the children measured in 2005-06. The report was produced for the Department of Health by the South East Public Health Observatory on behalf of the Association of Public Health Observatories, and published in December 2006.

Analysis of the national childhood obesity database 2005-06

A report for the Department of Health by the South East Public Health Observatory on behalf of the Association of Public Health Observatories. The report looks at the first year of data collection on childhood obesity and the difficulties of this project. This report summarises the data available and provides high level analysis of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the children measured in 2005-06.

Epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis through spatial analysis, in Belo Horizonte municipality, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

The geographic information system approach has permitted integration between demographic, socio-economic and environmental data, providing correlation between information from several data banks. In the current work, occurrence of human and canine visceral leishmaniases and insect vectors (Lutzomyia longipalpis) as well as biogeographic information related to 9 areas that comprise the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, between April 2001 and March 2002 were correlated and georeferenced. By using this technique it was possible to define concentration loci of canine leishmaniasis in the following regions: East; Northeast; Northwest; West; and Venda Nova. However, as for human leishmaniasis, it was not possible to perform the same analysis. Data analysis has also shown that 84.2% of the human leishmaniasis cases were related with canine leishmaniasis cases. Concerning biogeographic (altitude, area of vegetation influence, hydrographic, and areas of poverty) analysis, only altitude showed to influence emergence of leishmaniasis cases. A number of 4673 canine leishmaniasis cases and 64 human leishmaniasis cases were georeferenced, of which 67.5 and 71.9%, respectively, were living between 780 and 880 m above the sea level. At these same altitudes, a large number of phlebotomine sand flies were collected. Therefore, we suggest control measures for leishmaniasis in the city of Belo Horizonte, giving priority to canine leishmaniasis foci and regions at altitudes between 780 and 880 m.

Phlebotominae spatial distribution asssociated with a focus of tegumentary leishmaniasis in Las Lomitas, Formosa, Argentina, 2002

Las Lomitas, Formosa, Argentina, reported 96 cases of tegumentary leishmaniasis during 2002. The urban transmission was suggested although previous outbreaks were related with floods of the Bermejo river (BR) 50 km from the village. Phlebotomine collections were performed during March 2002 to define the spatial distribution of risk, together with satellite imaginery. The phlebotomine/trap obtained was 1679.5 in the southern BR shore, 1.1 in the periruban-rural environment and 2.3 in the northern Pilcomayo river marshes. Lutzomyia neivai was the prevalent species (91.1%) among the 2393 phlebotomine captured, and it was only found in the BR traps. The other species were L. migonei (7.9%), L. cortelezzii (0.9%), and Brumptomyia guimaraesi (0.1%). The satellite images analysis indicates that the fishing spots at the BR were significantlyoverflowed during the transmission peak, consistent with fishermen recollections. This spatial restricted flood might concentrate vectors, reservoirs, and humans in high places. Therefore, both the spatial distribution of vectors and the sensor remoting data suggests that in Las Lomitas area the higher transmission risk it is still related with the gallery forest of the BR, despite of the urban residence of the cases. The surveillance and control implications of these results are discussed.

The spatial distribution of Schistosoma mansoni infection before and after chemotherapy in the Jequitinhonha Valley in Brazil

Schistosomiasis prevalence and egg counts remained low one year after chemotherapy in most households in a hyperendemic rural area in northern Minas Gerais but several distinct spatial patterns could be observed in relation to IgE levels and to a lesser extent to exposure risk (TBM) and type of water supply. An inverse relationship between pre-treatment household prevalence and egg counts on the one hand and post-treatment IgE levels on the other were noted in two of the five communities. Low exposure risk was associated with the low pre-treatment infection rates in the central village but did not contribute to the decline of infection rates after chemotherapy in the study area, as indicated by the significant increase in water contact during the posttreatment period (p < 0.0001). Distance between households and the streams and socioeconomic factors were also unimportant in predicting the spatial distribution of infection. These results are consistent with the production and antiparasitic effect of high levels of IgE in Schistosoma mansoni infection.

Analysis and estimative of schistosomiasis prevalence for the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, using multiple regression with social and environmental spatial data

The aim of this work is to establish a relationship between schistosomiasis prevalence and social-environmental variables, in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, through multiple linear regression. The final regression model was established, after a variables selection phase, with a set of spatial variables which contains the summer minimum temperature, human development index, and vegetation type variables. Based on this model, a schistosomiasis risk map was built for Minas Gerais.

Northern Ireland Substitute Prescribing Database Report 31 March 2014

This bulletin summarises information on individuals referred to the Northern Ireland Substitute Prescribing Scheme (SPS). It relates to those referred up to and including the 31 March 2014 and focuses on those patients in contact with Substitute Prescribing treatment services during 2013/14.

Northern Ireland Substitute Prescribing Database Report 31 March 2013

This bulletin summarises information on individuals referred to the Northern Ireland Substitute Prescribing Scheme (SPS). It relates to those referred up to and including the 31 March 2013 and focuses on those patients in contact with Substitute Prescribing treatment services during 2012/13.

Desarrollo de un índice espacial para la extensión JASPA sobre H2

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo ofrecer una solución para la creación de un índice espacial para la extensión JASPA (Java SPAtial) sobre la base de datos H2. El algoritmo de indexación elegido para la implementación del índice espacial ha sido el Rtree.La implementación se ha realizado con el lenguaje de programación Java lo que ha facilitado su integración con la extensión JASPA y la base de datos H2, dado que ambos proyectos están codificados en el mismo lenguaje. El índice es persistente en memoria secundaria en una tabla de la propia base de datos H2.La solución que se propone está limitada a operaciones espaciales en dos dimensiones y es lo suficientemente flexible como para que no se haya necesitado modificar ni el código fuente de JASPA, ni de H2. Además, se ha previsto que el algoritmo de indexación se pueda mejorar o sustituir fácilmente.Por último, se ha tenido en cuenta que el proceso de creación y manipulación de los índices espaciales sea intuitivo y fácil de usar.

Reaction to novelty and spatial orientation in ALPHA1B(-/-) KO mice

Knockout mice lacking alphalb noradrenergic receptors were tested in behavioural experiments to test a possible effect of the absence of this receptor in reaction to novelty and spatial orientation. Reaction to novelty was tested in two experiments. In the first one the mice' latency to exit the first part of a two compartment set-up was measured. The knockout mice were faster to emerge then their littermate controls. Then they were tested in an open-field, in which new objects were added at the second trial. In the open-field without objects (first trial), the knockout mice showed a greater locomotor activity (path length). Then the same mice showed enhanced exploration of the newly introduced objects, relative to the control. The spatial orientation experiments were done on a homing board and in the water maze. The homing board did not yield a significant difference between the knock-out and the control mice. Both groups showed impaired results when the proximal (olfactory) and distal (visual) cues were disrupted by the rotation of the table. In the water maze however, the alphalb(-/-) mice were unable to solve the task (acquisition and retention), whereas the control mice showed a good acquisition and retention behaviour. The knockout mice' incapacity to learn to reach the submerged platform was not due to an incapacity to swim, as they were as good as their control littermates to reach the platform when it was visible.

Technical note: Implementation of a geodatabase of published and unpublished data on the catastrophic Vaiont landslide

On 9 October 1963 a catastrophic landslide suddenly occurred on the southern slope of the Vaiont dam reservoir. A mass of approximately 270 million m3 collapsed into the reservoir generating a wave that overtopped the dam and hit the town of Longarone and other villages nearby. Several investigations and interpretations of the slope collapse have been carried out during the last 45 years, however, a comprehensive explanation of both the triggering and the dynamics of the phenomenon has yet to be provided. In order to re-evaluate the currently existing information on the slide, an electronic bibliographic database and an ESRI-geodatabase have been developed. The chronology of the collected documentation showed that most of the studies for re-evaluating the failure mechanisms were conducted in the last decade, as a consequence of knowledge, methods and techniques recently acquired. The current contents of the geodatabase will improve definition of the structural setting that influenced the slide and led to the the propagation of the displaced rock mass. The objectives, structure and contents of the e-bibliography and Geodatabase are indicated, together with a brief description on the possible use of the alphanumeric and spatial contents of the databases.

Auditory spatial deficits following hemispheric lesions: Dissociation of explicit and implicit processing.

Auditory spatial deficits occur frequently after hemispheric damage; a previous case report suggested that the explicit awareness of sound positions, as in sound localisation, can be impaired while the implicit use of auditory cues for the segregation of sound objects in noisy environments remains preserved. By assessing systematically patients with a first hemispheric lesion, we have shown that (1) explicit and/or implicit use can be disturbed; (2) impaired explicit vs. preserved implicit use dissociations occur rather frequently; and (3) different types of sound localisation deficits can be associated with preserved implicit use. Conceptually, the dissociation between the explicit and implicit use may reflect the dual-stream dichotomy of auditory processing. Our results speak in favour of systematic assessments of auditory spatial functions in clinical settings, especially when adaptation to auditory environment is at stake. Further, systematic studies are needed to link deficits of explicit vs. implicit use to disability in everyday activities, to design appropriate rehabilitation strategies, and to ascertain how far the explicit and implicit use of spatial cues can be retrained following brain damage.

Spatial modelling of Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) whitmani s.l. (Antunes & Coutinho, 1939) (Diptera: Psychodidae: Phlebotominae) habitat suitability in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Lutzomyia (Nyssomyia) whitmani s.l.is the main vector of cutaneous leishmaniasis in state of Mato Grosso, but little is known about environmental determinants of its spatial distribution on a regional scale. Entomologic surveys of this sand fly species, conducted between 1996 and 2001 in 41 state municipalities, were used to investigate the relationships between environmental factors and the presence of the species, and to develop a spatial model of habitat suitability. The relationship between averaged CDC light trap indexes and 15 environmental and socio-economic factors were tested by logistic regression (LR) analysis. Spatial layers of deforestation tax and the Brazilian index of gross net production (IGNP) were identified as significant explanatory variables for vector presence in the LR model, and these were then overlaid with habitat maps. The highest habitat suitability in 2001 was obtained for the heavily deforested areas in the Central-North, South, East, and Southwest of Mato Grosso, particularly in municipalities with lower IGNP values.

Parts, places, and perspectives : a theory of spatial relations based an mereotopology and convexity

This thesis suggests to carry on the philosophical work begun in Casati's and Varzi's seminal book Parts and Places, by extending their general reflections on the basic formal structure of spatial representation beyond mereotopology and absolute location to the question of perspectives and perspective-dependent spatial relations. We show how, on the basis of a conceptual analysis of such notions as perspective and direction, a mereotopological theory with convexity can express perspectival spatial relations in a strictly qualitative framework. We start by introducing a particular mereotopological theory, AKGEMT, and argue that it constitutes an adequate core for a theory of spatial relations. Two features of AKGEMT are of particular importance: AKGEMT is an extensional mereotopology, implying that sameness of proper parts is a sufficient and necessary condition for identity, and it allows for (lower- dimensional) boundary elements in its domain of quantification. We then discuss an extension of AKGEMT, AKGEMTS, which results from the addition of a binary segment operator whose interpretation is that of a straight line segment between mereotopological points. Based on existing axiom systems in standard point-set topology, we propose an axiomatic characterisation of the segment operator and show that it is strong enough to sustain complex properties of a convexity predicate and a convex hull operator. We compare our segment-based characterisation of the convex hull to Cohn et al.'s axioms for the convex hull operator, arguing that our notion of convexity is significantly stronger. The discussion of AKGEMTS defines the background theory of spatial representation on which the developments in the second part of this thesis are built. The second part deals with perspectival spatial relations in two-dimensional space, i.e., such relations as those expressed by 'in front of, 'behind', 'to the left/right of, etc., and develops a qualitative formalism for perspectival relations within the framework of AKGEMTS. Two main claims are defended in part 2: That perspectival relations in two-dimensional space are four- place relations of the kind R(x, y, z, w), to be read as x is i?-related to y as z looks at w; and that these four-place structures can be satisfactorily expressed within the qualitative theory AKGEMTS. To defend these two claims, we start by arguing for a unified account of perspectival relations, thus rejecting the traditional distinction between 'relative' and 'intrinsic' perspectival relations. We present a formal theory of perspectival relations in the framework of AKGEMTS, deploying the idea that perspectival relations in two-dimensional space are four-place relations, having a locational and a perspectival part and show how this four-place structure leads to a unified framework of perspectival relations. Finally, we present a philosophical motivation to the idea that perspectival relations are four-place, cashing out the thesis that perspectives are vectorial properties and argue that vectorial properties are relations between spatial entities. Using Fine's notion of "qua objects" for an analysis of points of view, we show at last how our four-place approach to perspectival relations compares to more traditional understandings.