Debris flow susceptibility mapping at a regional scale

Debris flow susceptibility mapping at a regional scale has been the subject of various studies. The complexity of the phenomenon and the variability of local controlling factors limit the use of process-based models for a first assessment. GISbased approaches associating an automatic detection of the source areas and a simple assessment of the debris flow spreading may provide a substantial basis for a preliminary susceptibility assessment at the regional scale. The use of a digital elevation model, with a 10 m resolution, for the Canton de Vaud territory (Switzerland), a lithological map and a land use map, has allowed automatic identification of the potential source areas. The spreading estimates are based on basic probabilistic and energy calculations that allow to define the maximal runout distance of a debris flow.

Validation of the German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and its relation to orientations to happiness and work stress

Career adapt-ability has recently gained momentum as a psychosocial construct that not only has much to offer the field of career development, but also contributes to positive coping, adjustment and self-regulation through the four dimensions of concern, control, curiosity and confidence. The positive psychology movement, with concepts such as the orientations to happiness, explores the factors that contribute to human flourishing and optimum functioning. This research has two main contributions; 1) to validate a German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), and 2) to extend the contribution of adapt-abilities to the field of work stress and explore its mediating capacity in the relation between orientations to happiness and work stress. We used a representative sample of the German-speaking Swiss working population including 1204 participants (49.8% women), aged between 26 and 56 (Mage = 42.04). Results indicated that the German version of the CAAS is valid, with overall high levels of model fit suggesting that the conceptual structure of career adapt-ability replicates well in this cultural context. Adapt-abilities showed a negative relationship to work stress, and a positive one with orientations to happiness. The engagement and pleasure scales of orientations to happiness also correlated negatively with work stress. Moreover, career adapt-ability mediates the relationship between orientations to happiness and work stress. In depth analysis of the mediating effect revealed that control is the only significant mediator. Thus control may be acting as a mechanism through which individuals attain their desired life at work subsequently contributing to reduced stress levels.

Prevalence and risk factors for gastro-esophageal reflux disease in the North-Eastern part of Bangladesh.

Despite a common disorder population-based data on gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) in Bangladesh is lacking. This epidemiological study was designed to determine the prevalence of GERD and its association with lifestyle factors. This population-based cross-sectional study was done by door to door interview of randomly selected persons in both urban and rural areas of North Eastern part of Bangladesh by using a validated questionnaire. A cutoff point 3 was chosen as a valid and reliable scale to confirm GERD. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS-12 version and the level of significance was set at P < or = 0.05. A total of 2000 persons with an age range of 15 to 85 years were interviewed; 1000 subjects from urban area and 1000 from rural area. Among the study subjects 1064 were male and 936 were female. A total of 110 persons (5.5%) were found to have GERD symptoms and among them 47 were men and 67 were women. The monthly, weekly and daily prevalence of heart-burn and or acid regurgitation was 5.5%, 5.25% and 2.5% respectively. Female sex, increased age and lower level of education were significantly associated with GERD symptoms. Prevalence was found more among city dwellers (approximately 6.0% versus 4.8%), married (6.23%, n = 86), widowed/widowers (16.83%, n = 17) and day labourer (8.78%). Level of education inversely influenced the prevalence. No significant association of GERD was found with body mass index (BMI) and smoking. Prevalence of GERD in North-Eastern part of Bangladesh was lower than that of western world. Prevalence was found higher in urban population, women, married, widowed/widowers and in poor an dilliterate persons. BMI and smoking had no significant association with GERD.

Rockfall hazard and risk assessments along roads at a regional scale: Example in Swiss Alps

Unlike fragmental rockfall runout assessments, there are only few robust methods to quantify rock-mass-failure susceptibilities at regional scale. A detailed slope angle analysis of recent Digital Elevation Models (DEM) can be used to detect potential rockfall source areas, thanks to the Slope Angle Distribution procedure. However, this method does not provide any information on block-release frequencies inside identified areas. The present paper adds to the Slope Angle Distribution of cliffs unit its normalized cumulative distribution function. This improvement is assimilated to a quantitative weighting of slope angles, introducing rock-mass-failure susceptibilities inside rockfall source areas previously detected. Then rockfall runout assessment is performed using the GIS- and process-based software Flow-R, providing relative frequencies for runout. Thus, taking into consideration both susceptibility results, this approach can be used to establish, after calibration, hazard and risk maps at regional scale. As an example, a risk analysis of vehicle traffic exposed to rockfalls is performed along the main roads of the Swiss alpine valley of Bagnes.

Severe traumatic brain injury in Switzerland - feasibility and first results of a cohort study.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to study the incidence and outcome of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Switzerland and to test the feasibility of a large cohort study with case identification in the first 24 hours and 6-month follow-up. METHODS: From January to June 2005, we consecutively enrolled and followed up all persons with severe TBI (Abbreviated Injury Score of the head region >3 and Glasgow Coma Scale <9) in the catchment areas of 3 Swiss medical centres with neurosurgical facilities. The primary outcome was the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) after 6 months. Secondary outcomes included survival, Functional Independence Mea - sure (FIM), and health-related quality of life (SF-12) at defined time-points up to 6 months after injury. RESULTS: We recruited 101 participants from a source population of about 2.47 million (ie, about 33% of Swiss population). The incidence of severe TBI was 8.2 per 100,000 person-years. The overall case fatality was 70%: 41 of 101 persons (41%) died at the scene of the accident. 23 of 60 hospitalised participants (38%) died within 48 hours, and 31 (53%) within 6 months. In all hospitalised patients, the median GOSE was 1 (range 1-8) after 6 months, and was 6 (2-8) in 6-month survivors. The median total FIM score was 125 (range 18-126); median-SF-12 component mea - sures were 44 (25-55) for the physical scale and 52 (32-65) for the mental scale. CONCLUSIONS: Severe TBI was associated with high case fatality and considerable morbidity in survivors. We demonstrated the feasibility of a multicentre cohort study in Switzerland with the aim of identifying modifiable determinants of outcome and improving current trauma care.

Présentation de l'adaptation française de « l'échelle de coparentage » de McHale pour familles avec jeunes enfants [Presentation of the french adaptation of McHale's coparenting scale for families with young children.]

The aim of this paper is to present McHale's coparenting scale,a self-administered questionnaire enabling assessment of the quality of coparenting, and first steps in structural and construct validation of the French version. A total of 41 French speaking Swiss families and 84 US families completed this questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, a measure of marital satisfaction. The results of the Swiss families correspond to those of US families: first, items distributed into four factors (family integrity, conflict, affection and disparagement) and second, a partial link was found between quality of coparenting and marital adjustment. This finding supports the construct validity of the questionnaire, reflecting the established link between these two family sub-systems. Given that coparenting quality has a major influence on children's socio-affective development, the questionnaire will find great use in assessing not just negative features of coparenting, such as conflicts and disparagement, but also positive components such as warmth and support. This will be an important asset for research as well as clinical purposes.

Poor value of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to investigate long-term scale epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is widely used for epidemic investigations of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In the present study, we evaluated its use in a long-term epidemiological setting (years to few decades, country to continent level). The clustering obtained from PFGE patterns after SmaI digestion of the DNA of 20 strains was compared to that obtained using a phylogenetic typing method (multiprimer RAPD). The results showed that the analysis of small PFGE bands (10-85kb) correlates better with multiprimer RAPD than the analysis of large PFGE bands (>85-700kb), suggesting that the analysis of small bands would be more suitable for the investigation of long-term epidemiological setting. However, given the technical difficulties to obtain a good resolution of these bands and the putative presence of plasmids among them, PFGE does not appear to be a method of choice for the long-term epidemiology analysis of MRSA.

Revisiting the size-R&D productivity relation: introducing the mediating role of decision-making style on the scale and quality of innovative output

We develop a mediation model in which firm size is proposed to affect the scale and quality of innovative output through the adoption of different decision styles during the R&D process. The aim of this study is to understand how the internal changes that firms undergo as they evolve from small to larger organizations affect R&D productivity. In so doing, we illuminate the underlying theoretical mechanism affecting two different dimensions of R&D productivity, namely the scale and quality of innovative output which have not received much attention in previous literature. Using longitudinal data of Spanish manufacturing firms we explore the validity of this mediation model. Our results show that as firms evolve in size, they increasingly emphasize analytical decision making, and consequently, large-sized firms aim for higher-quality innovations while small firms aim for a larger scale of innovative output.

Sleep disorders in children with cerebral palsy.

To determine the frequency and predictors of sleep disorders in children with cerebral palsy (CP) we analyzed the responses of 173 parents who had completed the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. The study population included 100 males (57.8%) and 73 females (42.2%; mean age 8y 10mo [SD 1y 11mo]; range 6y-11y 11mo). Eighty-three children (48.0%) had spastic diplegia, 59 (34.1%) congenital hemiplegia, 18 (10.4%) spastic quadriplegia, and 13 (7.5%) dystonic/dyskinetic CP. Seventy-three children (42.2%) were in Gross Motor Function Classification System Level I, 33 (19.1%) in Level II, 30 (17.3%) in Level III, 23 (13.3%) in Level IV, and 14 (8.1%) in Level V. Thirty children (17.3%) had epilepsy. A total sleep problem score and six factors indicative of the most common areas of sleep disorder in childhood were obtained. Of the children in our study, 23% had a pathological total sleep score, in comparison with 5% of children in the general population. Difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep, sleep-wake transition, and sleep breathing disorders were the most frequently identified problems. Active epilepsy was associated with the presence of a sleep disorder (odds ratio [OR]=17.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.5-115.3), as was being the child of a single-parent family (OR=3.9, 95% CI 1.3-11.6). Disorders of initiation and maintenance of sleep were more frequent in children with spastic quadriplegia (OR=12.9, 95% CI 1.9-88.0), those with dyskinetic CP (OR=20.6, 95% CI 3.1-135.0), and those with severe visual impairment (OR=12.5, 95% CI 2.5-63.1). Both medical and environmental factors seem to contribute to the increased frequency of chronic sleep disorders in children with CP.

Frequency and determinants of unprotected sex among HIV-infected persons: the Swiss HIV cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Access to antiretroviral therapy may have changed condom use behavior. In January 2008, recommendations on condom use for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive persons were published in Switzerland, which allowed for unprotected sex under well-defined circumstances ("Swiss statement"). We studied the frequency, changes over time, and determinants of unprotected sex among HIV-positive persons. METHODS: Self-reported information on sexual preference, sexual partners, and condom use was collected at semi-annual visits in all participants of the prospective Swiss HIV Cohort Study from April 2007 through March 2009. Multivariable logistic regression models were fit using generalized estimating equations to investigate associations between characteristics of cohort participants and condom use. FINDINGS: A total of 7309 participants contributed to 21,978 visits. A total of 4291 persons (80%) reported sexual contacts with stable partners, 1646 (30%) with occasional partners, and 557 (10%) with stable and occasional partners. Of the study participants, 5838 (79.9%) of 7309 were receiving antiretroviral therapy, and of these, 4816 patients (82%) had a suppressed viral load. Condom use varied widely and differed by type of partner (visits with stable partners, 10,368 [80%] of 12,983; visits with occasional partners, 4300 [88%] of 4880) and by serostatus of stable partner (visits with HIV-negative partners, 7105 [89%] of 8174; visits with HIV-positive partners, 1453 [48%] of 2999). Participants were more likely to report unprotected sex with stable partners if they were receiving antiretroviral therapy, if HIV replication was suppressed, and after the publication of the "Swiss statement." Noninjection drug use and moderate or severe alcohol use were associated with unprotected sex. CONCLUSIONS: Antiretroviral treatment and plasma HIV RNA titers influence sexual behavior of HIV-positive persons. Noninjection illicit drug and alcohol use are important risk factors for unprotected sexual contacts.

Prognostic ability of practitioners of traditional arabic medicine: comparison with Western methods through a relative patient progress scale.

The ancient Greek medical theory based on balance or imbalance of humors disappeared in the western world, but does survive elsewhere. Is this survival related to a certain degree of health care efficiency? We explored this hypothesis through a study of classical Greco-Arab medicine in Mauritania. Modern general practitioners evaluated the safety and effectiveness of classical Arabic medicine in a Mauritanian traditional clinic, with a prognosis/follow-up method allowing the following comparisons: (i) actual patient progress (clinical outcome) compared with what the traditional 'tabib' had anticipated (= prognostic ability) and (ii) patient progress compared with what could be hoped for if the patient were treated by a modern physician in the same neighborhood. The practice appeared fairly safe and, on average, clinical outcome was similar to what could be expected with modern medicine. In some cases, patient progress was better than expected. The ability to correctly predict an individual's clinical outcome did not seem to be better along modern or Greco-Arab theories. Weekly joint meetings (modern and traditional practitioners) were spontaneously organized with a modern health centre in the neighborhood. Practitioners of a different medical system can predict patient progress. For the patient, avoiding false expectations with health care and ensuring appropriate referral may be the most important. Prognosis and outcome studies such as the one presented here may help to develop institutions where patients find support in making their choices, not only among several treatment options, but also among several medical systems.

Knowledge of Glasgow coma scale by air-rescue physicians.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the theoretical and practical knowledge of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) by trained Air-rescue physicians in Switzerland. METHODS: Prospective anonymous observational study with a specially designed questionnaire. General knowledge of the GCS and its use in a clinical case were assessed. RESULTS: From 130 questionnaires send out, 103 were returned (response rate of 79.2%) and analyzed. Theoretical knowledge of the GCS was consistent for registrars, fellows, consultants and private practitioners active in physician-staffed helicopters. The clinical case was wrongly scored by 38 participants (36.9%). Wrong evaluation of the motor component occurred in 28 questionnaires (27.2%), and 19 errors were made for the verbal score (18.5%). Errors were made most frequently by registrars (47.5%, p = 0.09), followed by fellows (31.6%, p = 0.67) and private practitioners (18.4%, p = 1.00). Consultants made significantly less errors than the rest of the participating physicians (0%, p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences were shown between anesthetists, general practitioners, internal medicine trainees or others. CONCLUSION: Although the theoretical knowledge of the GCS by out-of-hospital physicians is correct, significant errors were made in scoring a clinical case. Less experienced physicians had a higher rate of errors. Further emphasis on teaching the GCS is mandatory.

Ascertaining late-life depressive symptoms in Europe: an evaluation of the survey version of the EURO-D scale in 10 nations. The SHARE project.

The reported prevalence of late-life depressive symptoms varies widely between studies, a finding that might be attributed to cultural as well as methodological factors. The EURO-D scale was developed to allow valid comparison of prevalence and risk associations between European countries. This study used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Rasch models to assess whether the goal of measurement invariance had been achieved; using EURO-D scale data collected in 10 European countries as part of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) (n = 22,777). The results suggested a two-factor solution (Affective Suffering and Motivation) after Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in 9 of the 10 countries. With CFA, in all countries, the two-factor solution had better overall goodness-of-fit than the one-factor solution. However, only the Affective Suffering subscale was equivalent across countries, while the Motivation subscale was not. The Rasch model indicated that the EURO-D was a hierarchical scale. While the calibration pattern was similar across countries, between countries agreement in item calibrations was stronger for the items loading on the affective suffering than the motivation factor. In conclusion, there is evidence to support the EURO-D as either a uni-dimensional or bi-dimensional scale measure of depressive symptoms in late-life across European countries. The Affective Suffering sub-component had more robust cross-cultural validity than the Motivation sub-component.