Objective evaluation of shoulder function using body-fixed sensors: a new way to detect early treatment failures?

Background: Variable definitions of outcome (Constant score, Simple Shoulder Test [SST]) have been used to assess outcome after shoulder treatment, although none has been accepted as the universal standard. Physicians lack an objective method to reliably assess the activity of their patients in dynamic conditions. Our purpose was to clinically validate the shoulder kinematic scores given by a portable movement analysis device, using the activities of daily living described in the SST as a reference. The secondary objective was to determine whether this device could be used to document the effectiveness of shoulder treatments (for glenohumeral osteoarthritis and rotator cuff disease) and detect early failures.Methods: A clinical trial including 34 patients and a control group of 31 subjects over an observation period of 1 year was set up. Evaluations were made at baseline and 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery by 2 independent observers. Miniature sensors (3-dimensional gyroscopes and accelerometers) allowed kinematic scores to be computed. They were compared with the regular outcome scores: SST; Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand; American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons; and Constant.Results: Good to excellent correlations (0.61-0.80) were found between kinematics and clinical scores. Significant differences were found at each follow-up in comparison with the baseline status for all the kinematic scores (P < .015). The kinematic scores were able to point out abnormal patient outcomes at the first postoperative follow-up.Conclusion: Kinematic scores add information to the regular outcome tools. They offer an effective way to measure the functional performance of patients with shoulder pathology and have the potential to detect early treatment failures.Level of evidence: Level II, Development of Diagnostic Criteria, Diagnostic Study. (C) 2011 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees.

Bootstrapping pairs in Distance-Based Regression

La regressió basada en distàncies és un mètode de predicció que consisteix en dos passos: a partir de les distàncies entre observacions obtenim les variables latents, les quals passen a ser els regressors en un model lineal de mínims quadrats ordinaris. Les distàncies les calculem a partir dels predictors originals fent us d'una funció de dissimilaritats adequada. Donat que, en general, els regressors estan relacionats de manera no lineal amb la resposta, la seva selecció amb el test F usual no és possible. En aquest treball proposem una solució a aquest problema de selecció de predictors definint tests estadístics generalitzats i adaptant un mètode de bootstrap no paramètric per a l'estimació dels p-valors. Incluim un exemple numèric amb dades de l'assegurança d'automòbils.

Building a Social Accounting Matrix within the ESA95 Framework: Obtaining a Dataset for Applied General Equilibrium Modelling

This research provides a description of the process followed in order to assemble a "Social Accounting Matrix" for Spain corresponding to the year 2000 (SAMSP00). As argued in the paper, this process attempts to reconcile ESA95 conventions with requirements of applied general equilibrium modelling. Particularly, problems related to the level of aggregation of net taxation data, and to the valuation system used for expressing the monetary value of input-output transactions have deserved special attention. Since the adoption of ESA95 conventions, input-output transactions have been preferably valued at basic prices, which impose additional difficulties on modellers interested in computing applied general equilibrium models. This paper addresses these difficulties by developing a procedure that allows SAM-builders to change the valuation system of input-output transactions conveniently. In addition, this procedure produces new data related to net taxation information.

Assessing tobacco dependence among cannabis users smoking cigarettes.

INTRODUCTION: This study examines the relationship between nicotine exposure and tobacco addiction among young smokers consuming either only tobacco or only tobacco and cannabis. METHODS: Data on tobacco and cannabis use were collected by a questionnaire among 313 adolescents and young adults in Western Switzerland between 2009 and 2010. In addition, a urine sample was used to determine urinary cotinine level. Nicotine addiction was measured using the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). In this study, we focused on a sample of 142 participants (mean age 19.54) that reported either smoking only tobacco cigarettes (CIG group, n = 70) or smoking both tobacco cigarettes and cannabis (CCS group, n = 72). RESULTS: The FTND did not differ significantly between CIG (1.96 ± 0.26) and CCS (2.66 ± 0.26) groups (p = 0.07). However, participants in the CCS group smoked more cigarettes (8.30 ± 0.79 vs. 5.78 ± 0.8, p = 0.03) and had a higher mean cotinine value (671.18 ± 67.6 vs. 404.32 ± 68.63, p = 0.008) than the CIG group. Further, the association between cotinine and FTND was much stronger among the CIG than among the CCS group (regression coefficient of 0.0031 vs. 0.00099, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Adolescents smoking tobacco and cannabis cigarettes featured higher levels of cotinine than youth smoking only tobacco; however, there was no significant difference in the addiction score. The FTND score is intended to measure nicotine dependence from smoked tobacco cigarettes. Hence, to accurately determine nicotine exposure and the associated dependence among young smokers, it seems necessary to inquire about cannabis consumption.

Testing Spatial Autocorrelation in Weighted Networks : the Modes Permutation Test

In a weighted spatial network, as specified by an exchange matrix, the variances of the spatial values are inversely proportional to the size of the regions. Spatial values are no more exchangeable under independence, thus weakening the rationale for ordinary permutation and bootstrap tests of spatial autocorrelation. We propose an alternative permutation test for spatial autocorrelation, based upon exchangeable spatial modes, constructed as linear orthogonal combinations of spatial values. The coefficients obtain as eigenvectors of the standardised exchange matrix appearing in spectral clustering, and generalise to the weighted case the concept of spatial filtering for connectivity matrices. Also, two proposals aimed at transforming an acessibility matrix into a exchange matrix with with a priori fixed margins are presented. Two examples (inter-regional migratory flows and binary adjacency networks) illustrate the formalism, rooted in the theory of spectral decomposition for reversible Markov chains.

The prognostic value of semi-quantitative i-123 mibg scintigraphy at diagnosis in high risk neuroblastoma: validation of the siopen score method

Purpose: SIOPEN scoring of 123I mIBG imaging has been shown to predict response to induction chemotherapy and outcome at diagnosis in children with HRN.Method: Patterns of skeletal 123I mIBG uptake were assigned numerical scores (Mscore) ranging from 0 (no metastasis) to 72 (diffuse metastases) within 12 body areas as described previously. 271 anonymised, paired image data sets acquired at diagnosis and on completion of Rapid COJEC induction chemotherapy were reviewed, constituting a representative sample of 1602 children treated prospectively within the HR-NBL1/SIOPEN trial. Pre-and post-treatment Mscores were compared with bone marrow cytology (BM) and 3 year event free survival (EFS).Results: Results 224/271 patients showed skeletal MIBG-uptake at diagnosis and were evaluable forMIBG-response. Complete response (CR) on MIBG to Rapid COJEC induction was achieved by 66%, 34% and 15% of patients who had pre-treatment Mscores of <18 (n¼65, 29%), 18-44 (n¼95,42%) and Y ´ 45 (n¼64, 28.5%) respectively (chi squared test p<.0001). Mscore at diagnosis and on completion of Rapid COJEC correlated strongly with BM involvement (p<0.0001). The correlation of pre score with post scores and response was highly significant (p<0.001). Most importantly, the 3 year EFS in 47 children with Mscore 0 at diagnosis was 0.68 (A ` 0.07), by comparison with 0.42 (A` 0.06), 0.35 (A` 0.05) and 0.25 (A` 0.06) for patients in pre-treatment score groups <18, 18-44 and Y ´ 45, respectively (p<0.001). AnMscore threshold ofY ´ 45 at diagnosis was associated with significantly worse outcome by comparison with all other Mscore groups (p¼0.029). The 3 year EFS of 0.53 (A` 0.07) of patients in metastatic CR (mIBG and BM) after Rapid Cojec (33%) is clearly superior to patients not achieving metastatic CR (0.24 (A ` 0.04), p¼0.005).Conclusion: SIOPEN scoring of 123I mIBG imaging has been shown to predict response to induction chemotherapy and outcome at diagnosis in children with HRN.

High prevalence of osteoporosis in Swiss women aged 60 and older: a 2-year pilot screening campaign.

Background: Osteoporosis (OP) is frequent in postmenopausal women, but remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. In Switzerland, DXA is not reimbursed by the insurances for screening, even if it is recommended to test women's Bone Mineral Density (BMD) at the age of 65. Methods: To assess the feasibility of a screening program for OP, the Bone diseases center of Lausanne has been mandated to perform a 2-year information and screening campaign (3 days per months) for women age 60 and older through the state of Vaud using a mobile unit for bone assessment. This project is still ongoing. Women are informed by media for dates and screening locations. Appointments are taken by phone. Women known for osteoporosis or already treated are excluded. During the evaluation every women is assessed by a questionnaire for risk factors, by a DXA measurement (Discovery C, Hololgic), and by Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) for Genant's grades 2 and 3 prevalent vertebral fractures (VF). Women are considered at high risk of fracture if they have a hip fracture, a VF, another fragility fracture with a BMD T-score ≤-2 or a BMD T-score ≤-2.5. Results: After 17 months (50 days of screening), 752 women were assessed, mean age 66±6 yrs, mean BMI 26±5 kg/m2, mean lowest T-score -1.6±1.0 SD. 215 women (29%) were considered at high risk, 92 of them (12%) having established OP and 50 (7%) having one or more fragility VF. VF were unknown for 83% of the women and discovered by VFA. The number needed to screen (NNS) were 3.5 for high risk women, 8.2 for established OP and 15 for VF. Conclusions: After near ¾ of the project, prevalence of women at high risk of fracture was high, with a NNS below 4. Knowing the global cost of OP and that current treatment have a high efficacy for fracture risk reduction, such a screening program could have a positive economic impact. VFA allowed discovering many women with unknown VF, who were at very high risk of further fractures. A systematic screening for VF should be added to BMD measurements after the age of 60.

Multi-level modeling of aspects associated with poor mental health in a sample of prehospital emergency professionals.

BACKGROUND: The goal of this paper is to investigate the respective influence of work characteristics, the effort-reward ratio, and overcommitment on the poor mental health of out-of-hospital care providers. METHODS: 333 out-of-hospital care providers answered a questionnaire that included queries on mental health (GHQ-12), demographics, health-related information and work characteristics, questions from the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, and items about overcommitment. A two-level multiple regression was performed between mental health (the dependent variable) and the effort-reward ratio, the overcommitment score, weekly number of interventions, percentage of non-prehospital transport of patients out of total missions, gender, and age. Participants were first-level units, and ambulance services were second-level units. We also shadowed ambulance personnel for a total of 416 hr. RESULTS: With cutoff points of 2/3 and 3/4 positive answers on the GHQ-12, the percentages of potential cases with poor mental health were 20% and 15%, respectively. The effort-reward ratio was associated with poor mental health (P < 0.001), irrespective of age or gender. Overcommitment was associated with poor mental health; this association was stronger in women (β = 0.054) than in men (β = 0.020). The percentage of prehospital missions out of total missions was only associated with poor mental health at the individual level. CONCLUSIONS: Emergency medical services should pay attention to the way employees perceive their efforts and the rewarding aspects of their work: an imbalance of those aspects is associated with poor mental health. Low perceived esteem appeared particularly associated with poor mental health. This suggests that supervisors of emergency medical services should enhance the value of their employees' work. Employees with overcommitment should also receive appropriate consideration. Preventive measures should target individual perceptions of effort and reward in order to improve mental health in prehospital care providers.

Self perceptions as predictors for return to work 2 years after rehabilitation in orthopedic trauma inpatients.

Purpose This study aimed to identify self-perception variables which may predict return to work (RTW) in orthopedic trauma patients 2 years after rehabilitation. Methods A prospective cohort investigated 1,207 orthopedic trauma inpatients, hospitalised in rehabilitation, clinics at admission, discharge, and 2 years after discharge. Information on potential predictors was obtained from self administered questionnaires. Multiple logistic regression models were applied. Results In the final model, a higher likelihood of RTW was predicted by: better general health and lower pain at admission; health and pain improvements during hospitalisation; lower impact of event (IES-R) avoidance behaviour score; higher IES-R hyperarousal score, higher SF-36 mental score and low perceived severity of the injury. Conclusion RTW is not only predicted by perceived health, pain and severity of the accident at the beginning of a rehabilitation program, but also by the changes in pain and health perceptions observed during hospitalisation.

Community Policing in Switzerland's Major Urban Areas: An Observational Study of the Implementation and Impact Using Geospatial Data Mining

La présente étude est à la fois une évaluation du processus de la mise en oeuvre et des impacts de la police de proximité dans les cinq plus grandes zones urbaines de Suisse - Bâle, Berne, Genève, Lausanne et Zurich. La police de proximité (community policing) est à la fois une philosophie et une stratégie organisationnelle qui favorise un partenariat renouvelé entre la police et les communautés locales dans le but de résoudre les problèmes relatifs à la sécurité et à l'ordre public. L'évaluation de processus a analysé des données relatives aux réformes internes de la police qui ont été obtenues par l'intermédiaire d'entretiens semi-structurés avec des administrateurs clés des cinq départements de police, ainsi que dans des documents écrits de la police et d'autres sources publiques. L'évaluation des impacts, quant à elle, s'est basée sur des variables contextuelles telles que des statistiques policières et des données de recensement, ainsi que sur des indicateurs d'impacts construit à partir des données du Swiss Crime Survey (SCS) relatives au sentiment d'insécurité, à la perception du désordre public et à la satisfaction de la population à l'égard de la police. Le SCS est un sondage régulier qui a permis d'interroger des habitants des cinq grandes zones urbaines à plusieurs reprises depuis le milieu des années 1980. L'évaluation de processus a abouti à un « Calendrier des activités » visant à créer des données de panel permettant de mesurer les progrès réalisés dans la mise en oeuvre de la police de proximité à l'aide d'une grille d'évaluation à six dimensions à des intervalles de cinq ans entre 1990 et 2010. L'évaluation des impacts, effectuée ex post facto, a utilisé un concept de recherche non-expérimental (observational design) dans le but d'analyser les impacts de différents modèles de police de proximité dans des zones comparables à travers les cinq villes étudiées. Les quartiers urbains, délimités par zone de code postal, ont ainsi été regroupés par l'intermédiaire d'une typologie réalisée à l'aide d'algorithmes d'apprentissage automatique (machine learning). Des algorithmes supervisés et non supervisés ont été utilisés sur les données à haute dimensionnalité relatives à la criminalité, à la structure socio-économique et démographique et au cadre bâti dans le but de regrouper les quartiers urbains les plus similaires dans des clusters. D'abord, les cartes auto-organisatrices (self-organizing maps) ont été utilisées dans le but de réduire la variance intra-cluster des variables contextuelles et de maximiser simultanément la variance inter-cluster des réponses au sondage. Ensuite, l'algorithme des forêts d'arbres décisionnels (random forests) a permis à la fois d'évaluer la pertinence de la typologie de quartier élaborée et de sélectionner les variables contextuelles clés afin de construire un modèle parcimonieux faisant un minimum d'erreurs de classification. Enfin, pour l'analyse des impacts, la méthode des appariements des coefficients de propension (propensity score matching) a été utilisée pour équilibrer les échantillons prétest-posttest en termes d'âge, de sexe et de niveau d'éducation des répondants au sein de chaque type de quartier ainsi identifié dans chacune des villes, avant d'effectuer un test statistique de la différence observée dans les indicateurs d'impacts. De plus, tous les résultats statistiquement significatifs ont été soumis à une analyse de sensibilité (sensitivity analysis) afin d'évaluer leur robustesse face à un biais potentiel dû à des covariables non observées. L'étude relève qu'au cours des quinze dernières années, les cinq services de police ont entamé des réformes majeures de leur organisation ainsi que de leurs stratégies opérationnelles et qu'ils ont noué des partenariats stratégiques afin de mettre en oeuvre la police de proximité. La typologie de quartier développée a abouti à une réduction de la variance intra-cluster des variables contextuelles et permet d'expliquer une partie significative de la variance inter-cluster des indicateurs d'impacts avant la mise en oeuvre du traitement. Ceci semble suggérer que les méthodes de géocomputation aident à équilibrer les covariables observées et donc à réduire les menaces relatives à la validité interne d'un concept de recherche non-expérimental. Enfin, l'analyse des impacts a révélé que le sentiment d'insécurité a diminué de manière significative pendant la période 2000-2005 dans les quartiers se trouvant à l'intérieur et autour des centres-villes de Berne et de Zurich. Ces améliorations sont assez robustes face à des biais dus à des covariables inobservées et covarient dans le temps et l'espace avec la mise en oeuvre de la police de proximité. L'hypothèse alternative envisageant que les diminutions observées dans le sentiment d'insécurité soient, partiellement, un résultat des interventions policières de proximité semble donc être aussi plausible que l'hypothèse nulle considérant l'absence absolue d'effet. Ceci, même si le concept de recherche non-expérimental mis en oeuvre ne peut pas complètement exclure la sélection et la régression à la moyenne comme explications alternatives. The current research project is both a process and impact evaluation of community policing in Switzerland's five major urban areas - Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, and Zurich. Community policing is both a philosophy and an organizational strategy that promotes a renewed partnership between the police and the community to solve problems of crime and disorder. The process evaluation data on police internal reforms were obtained through semi-structured interviews with key administrators from the five police departments as well as from police internal documents and additional public sources. The impact evaluation uses official crime records and census statistics as contextual variables as well as Swiss Crime Survey (SCS) data on fear of crime, perceptions of disorder, and public attitudes towards the police as outcome measures. The SCS is a standing survey instrument that has polled residents of the five urban areas repeatedly since the mid-1980s. The process evaluation produced a "Calendar of Action" to create panel data to measure community policing implementation progress over six evaluative dimensions in intervals of five years between 1990 and 2010. The impact evaluation, carried out ex post facto, uses an observational design that analyzes the impact of the different community policing models between matched comparison areas across the five cities. Using ZIP code districts as proxies for urban neighborhoods, geospatial data mining algorithms serve to develop a neighborhood typology in order to match the comparison areas. To this end, both unsupervised and supervised algorithms are used to analyze high-dimensional data on crime, the socio-economic and demographic structure, and the built environment in order to classify urban neighborhoods into clusters of similar type. In a first step, self-organizing maps serve as tools to develop a clustering algorithm that reduces the within-cluster variance in the contextual variables and simultaneously maximizes the between-cluster variance in survey responses. The random forests algorithm then serves to assess the appropriateness of the resulting neighborhood typology and to select the key contextual variables in order to build a parsimonious model that makes a minimum of classification errors. Finally, for the impact analysis, propensity score matching methods are used to match the survey respondents of the pretest and posttest samples on age, gender, and their level of education for each neighborhood type identified within each city, before conducting a statistical test of the observed difference in the outcome measures. Moreover, all significant results were subjected to a sensitivity analysis to assess the robustness of these findings in the face of potential bias due to some unobserved covariates. The study finds that over the last fifteen years, all five police departments have undertaken major reforms of their internal organization and operating strategies and forged strategic partnerships in order to implement community policing. The resulting neighborhood typology reduced the within-cluster variance of the contextual variables and accounted for a significant share of the between-cluster variance in the outcome measures prior to treatment, suggesting that geocomputational methods help to balance the observed covariates and hence to reduce threats to the internal validity of an observational design. Finally, the impact analysis revealed that fear of crime dropped significantly over the 2000-2005 period in the neighborhoods in and around the urban centers of Bern and Zurich. These improvements are fairly robust in the face of bias due to some unobserved covariate and covary temporally and spatially with the implementation of community policing. The alternative hypothesis that the observed reductions in fear of crime were at least in part a result of community policing interventions thus appears at least as plausible as the null hypothesis of absolutely no effect, even if the observational design cannot completely rule out selection and regression to the mean as alternative explanations.

A test of Jessor's problem behavior theory in a Eurasian and a Western European developmental context.

PURPOSE: The current study tested the applicability of Jessor's problem behavior theory (PBT) in national probability samples from Georgia and Switzerland. Comparisons focused on (1) the applicability of the problem behavior syndrome (PBS) in both developmental contexts, and (2) on the applicability of employing a set of theory-driven risk and protective factors in the prediction of problem behaviors. METHODS: School-based questionnaire data were collected from n = 18,239 adolescents in Georgia (n = 9499) and Switzerland (n = 8740) following the same protocol. Participants rated five measures of problem behaviors (alcohol and drug use, problems because of alcohol and drug use, and deviance), three risk factors (future uncertainty, depression, and stress), and three protective factors (family, peer, and school attachment). Final study samples included n = 9043 Georgian youth (mean age = 15.57; 58.8% females) and n = 8348 Swiss youth (mean age = 17.95; 48.5% females). Data analyses were completed using structural equation modeling, path analyses, and post hoc z-tests for comparisons of regression coefficients. RESULTS: Findings indicated that the PBS replicated in both samples, and that theory-driven risk and protective factors accounted for 13% and 10% in Georgian and Swiss samples, respectively in the PBS, net the effects by demographic variables. Follow-up z-tests provided evidence of some differences in the magnitude, but not direction, in five of six individual paths by country. CONCLUSION: PBT and the PBS find empirical support in these Eurasian and Western European samples; thus, Jessor's theory holds value and promise in understanding the etiology of adolescent problem behaviors outside of the United States.

Development and validation of a symptom-based activity index for adults with eosinophilic esophagitis.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Standardized instruments are needed to assess the activity of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and to provide end points for clinical trials and observational studies. We aimed to develop and validate a patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument and score, based on items that could account for variations in patient assessments of disease severity. We also evaluated relationships between patient assessment of disease severity and EoE-associated endoscopic, histologic, and laboratory findings. METHODS: We collected information from 186 patients with EoE in Switzerland and the United States (69.4% male; median age, 43 y) via surveys (n = 135), focus groups (n = 27), and semistructured interviews (n = 24). Items were generated for the instruments to assess biologic activity based on physician input. Linear regression was used to quantify the extent to which variations in patient-reported disease characteristics could account for variations in patient assessment of EoE severity. The PRO instrument was used prospectively in 153 adult patients with EoE (72.5% male; median age, 38 y), and validated in an independent group of 120 patients with EoE (60.8% male; median age, 40.5 y). RESULTS: Seven PRO factors that are used to assess characteristics of dysphagia, behavioral adaptations to living with dysphagia, and pain while swallowing accounted for 67% of the variation in patient assessment of disease severity. Based on statistical consideration and patient input, a 7-day recall period was selected. Highly active EoE, based on endoscopic and histologic findings, was associated with an increase in patient-assessed disease severity. In the validation study, the mean difference between patient assessment of EoE severity (range, 0-10) and PRO score (range, 0-8.52) was 0.15. CONCLUSIONS: We developed and validated an EoE scoring system based on 7 PRO items that assess symptoms over a 7-day recall period. Clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT00939263.

Comparison between artificial neural networks and maximum likelihood classification in digital soil mapping

Soil surveys are the main source of spatial information on soils and have a range of different applications, mainly in agriculture. The continuity of this activity has however been severely compromised, mainly due to a lack of governmental funding. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of two different classifiers (artificial neural networks and a maximum likelihood algorithm) in the prediction of soil classes in the northwest of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Terrain attributes such as elevation, slope, aspect, plan curvature and compound topographic index (CTI) and indices of clay minerals, iron oxide and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), derived from Landsat 7 ETM+ sensor imagery, were used as discriminating variables. The two classifiers were trained and validated for each soil class using 300 and 150 samples respectively, representing the characteristics of these classes in terms of the discriminating variables. According to the statistical tests, the accuracy of the classifier based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was greater than of the classic Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC). Comparing the results with 126 points of reference showed that the resulting ANN map (73.81 %) was superior to the MLC map (57.94 %). The main errors when using the two classifiers were caused by: a) the geological heterogeneity of the area coupled with problems related to the geological map; b) the depth of lithic contact and/or rock exposure, and c) problems with the environmental correlation model used due to the polygenetic nature of the soils. This study confirms that the use of terrain attributes together with remote sensing data by an ANN approach can be a tool to facilitate soil mapping in Brazil, primarily due to the availability of low-cost remote sensing data and the ease by which terrain attributes can be obtained.

Relationships between anthropometric measures and athletic performance, with special reference to repeated-sprint ability, in the Qatar national soccer team.

The aim of this study was to determine potential relationships between anthropometric parameters and athletic performance with special consideration to repeated-sprint ability (RSA). Sixteen players of the senior male Qatar national soccer team performed a series of anthropometric and physical tests including countermovement jumps without (CMJ) and with free arms (CMJwA), straight-line 20 m sprint, RSA (6 × 35 m with 10 s recovery) and incremental field test. Significant (P < 0.05) relationships occurred between muscle-to-bone ratio and both CMJs height (r ranging from 0.56 to 0.69) as well as with all RSA-related variables (r < -0.53 for sprinting times and r = 0.54 for maximal sprinting speed) with the exception of the sprint decrement score (Sdec). The sum of six skinfolds and adipose mass index were largely correlated with Sdec (r = 0.68, P < 0.01 and r = 0.55, P < 0.05, respectively) but not with total time (TT, r = 0.44 and 0.33, P > 0.05, respectively) or any standard athletic tests. Multiple regression analyses indicated that muscular cross-sectional area for mid-thigh, adipose index, straight-line 20 m time, maximal sprinting speed and CMJwA are the strongest predictors of Sdec (r(2) = 0.89) and TT (r(2) = 0.95) during our RSA test. In the Qatar national soccer team, players' power-related qualities and RSA are associated with a high muscular profile and a low adiposity. This supports the relevance of explosive power for the soccer players and the larger importance of neuromuscular qualities determining the RSA.

Assessing the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GCL-15) Questionnaire, Goldmann Tonometry and Moorfields Motion Displacement Test in Glaucoma Case Finding

Purpose: To compare the performance Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) Questionnaire, intraocular pressure measurement (IOP Goldmann tonometry) and a measure of visual field loss using Moorfields Motion Displacement Test (MDT) in detecting glaucomatous eyes from a self referred population. Methods: The GQL-15 has been suggested to correlate with visual disability and psychophysical measures of visual function in glaucoma patients. The Moorfields MDT is a multi location perimetry test with 32 white line stimuli presented on a grey background on a standard laptop computer. Each stimulus is displaced between computer frames to give the illusion of "apparent motion". Participants (N=312, 90% older than 45 years; 20.5% family history of glaucoma) self referred to an advertised World Glaucoma Day (March 2009) Jules Gonin Eye Hospital, Lausanne Switzerland. Participants underwent a clinical exam (IOP, slit lamp, angle and disc examination by a general ophthalmologist), 90% completed a GQL-15 questionnaire and over 50% completed a MDT test in both eyes. Those who were classified as abnormal on one or more of the following (IOP >21 mmHg/ GQL-15 score >20/ MDT score >2/ clinical exam) underwent a follow up clinical examination by a glaucoma specialist including imaging and threshold perimetry. After the second examination subjects were classified as "healthy"(H), "glaucoma suspect" (GS) (ocular hypertension and/or suspicious disc, angle closure with SD) or "glaucomatous" (G). Results: One hundred and ten subjects completed all 4 initial examinations; of these 69 were referred to complete the 2nd examination and were classified as; 8 G, 24 GS, and 37 H. MDT detected 7/8 G, and 7/24 GS, with false referral rate of 3.8%. IOP detected 2/8 G and 8/24 GS, with false referral rate of 8.9%. GQL-15 detected 4/8 G, 16/24 GS with a false referral rate of 42%. Conclusions: In this sample of participants attending a self referral glaucoma detection event, the MDT performed significantly better than the GQL-15 and IOP in discriminating glaucomatous patients from healthy subjects. Further studies are required to assess the potential of the MDT as a glaucoma screening tool.