Correlates of county-level nonviral sexually transmitted infection hot spots in the US: application of hot spot analysis and spatial logistic regression

Collisions with vehicles are a major threat to wildlife populations and often occur in identifiable patterns. To reduce wildlife road mortalities, mitigation structures including exclusionary fencing and wildlife crossings are constructed. Openings in fencing at road intersections may lead to concentration of road mortality hot spots at openings leading to a belief that these gaps concentrate road mortalities. However, it is also possible that hot spots existed at these locations before construction indicating that road mortality patterns have not changed with mitigation structure construction. Therefore, to assess mitigation structure effectiveness, it is important to examine both road mortality numbers and road mortality spatial distribution. Wildlife road mortality data was collected on a 15-km section of rural highway in Texas, USA before, during, and after the construction of wildlife mitigation structures. We expected that the number of road mortalities would decrease after construction compared to before construction and that road mortalities would become more concentrated around openings in the fence. We used ANOVA to compare numbers of road mortalities and emerging hot spot analysis and generalized linear modelling to assess changes in road mortality spatial distribution. Road mortalities were not significantly different in the before and after construction periods (p = 0.092). While there were no significant changes in road mortality patterns with construction, cluster intensity was greater when nearer to fence openings in all three time periods. Emerging hot spot analysis provides an effective and easy way to visualize road mortality patterns through time, however, due to low numbers of mortalities in many road mortality studies, including this one, the power of this analysis to detect significant changes in road mortality may be limited. This technique can provide both ecologists and transportation planners an effective tool for identifying patterns that may warrant further investigation using traditional statistical techniques.

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SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF CRIME HOT-SPOT IN THE NORTHEAST PENANG ISLAND DISTRICT AND KUCHING DISTRICT, MALAYSIA

PLANNING MALAYSIA JOURNAL ◽

10.21837/pm.v19i19.1057 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

Author(s):

Tarmiji Masron ◽

Mohd Norashad Nordin ◽

Nur Faziera Yaakub ◽

Norita Jubit

Keyword(s):

Spatial Analysis ◽

Drug Abuse ◽

Hot Spots ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Hot Spot Analysis ◽

Police Station ◽

Points Of View ◽

Spatial Analysis Of Crime ◽

Over Time ◽

Spot Analysis

Over time, the relation between criminal acts with drug abuse cases has been discussed pedantically. From social and spatial points of view, this paper aims to determine the hot spot areas of burglary cases in the Northeast Penang Island District and Kuching District. The gained results of burglary cases are then being correlated with the presence of drug abuse cases. Both study areas came with location coordinates of the incident based on police stations boundaries and police station sector boundaries from the year 2015. The type of analysis used for this research is Optimized Hot Spot Analysis. Results for burglary cases of both areas are divided into two (2) which are daytime and nighttime. The spatial analysis revealed that there are five (5) sectors identified as hot spots for the Northeast Penang Island District which involve Jelutong Police Station boundary and Ayer Itam Police Station boundary, while none of the areas identified as hot spot areas in Kuching District.

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Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions about HIV self-testing amongst college students in Namibia

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.55670.1 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

pp. 11

Author(s):

Malizgani Mhango ◽

Vuyiseka Dubula-Majola ◽

Leon-Say Mudadi

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Young Adults ◽

Logistic Regression ◽

Sexually Transmitted Infection ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Univariate Analysis ◽

Transmitted Infection ◽

Study Objective ◽

Sexually Transmitted ◽

Self Testing

Background: In 2019, the Namibian Ministry of Health introduced HIV self-testing (HIVST) as an additional strategy to increase uptake of HIV self-testing in traditionally hard-to-reach subpopulations, such as young adults and males. It is unclear how the utilisation of HIV self-testing iw optimised in young adults. The study objective is understanding knowledge, attitudes, and perception levels amongst college-going young adults in Namibia. Methods: This quantitative study utilised a sample of 97 young college students who received a pre-test structured questionnaire. One sample t-test was used to analyse the average score from the Likert scale. A cut-off p-value of 0.05 to determine statistical significance of variables was used. Logistic regression computation was used to identify independent variables significantly associated with the dependent variable. A univariate analysis was done on awareness and acceptability with statistical significance of p<0.05 to obtain preliminary insights into the association between independent and dependent variables. The net effect variables are assessed using multivariate analysis using STATA 13.1, taking into account confounding factors. Results: Out of the 97 participants, only 23.7% knew about HIV self-testing. The logistic regression had a significant association with awareness of HIV self-testing (p≤0.05): on condom use during a first sexual encounter; being with a single sexual partner in the last 12 months; not having a sexually transmitted infection. The univariate analysis revealed an association with the acceptability of HIV self-testing from females; those who live in urban settlements; having not had sexually transmitted infection in the last twelve months. Moreover, findings reveal there are low levels of awareness, yet participants had positive attitudes and levels of acceptability to HIV self-testing. Conclusion: This study shows promise if awareness through health education and promotion about HIV self-testing can be increased. This can form part of scaling up HIV testing in Namibia.

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Project Level Carbon Monoxide Hot-Spot Analysis for Level of Service D Intersections

Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board ◽

10.3141/1641-09 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 1641 (1) ◽

pp. 73-80 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Yu Meng ◽

Debbie A. Niemeier

Keyword(s):

Carbon Monoxide ◽

Air Quality ◽

Hot Spots ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Quality Analysis ◽

Level Of Service ◽

Background Concentration ◽

Hot Spot Analysis ◽

Spot Analysis ◽

Project Level

Hot-spot [localized carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM10) violations] analysis is often required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine project level air quality conformity of transportation projects in accordance with state implementation plans. EPA uses intersection level of service (LOS) as one of its major criteria for identifying potential CO hot spots. EPA’s 1992 Guideline for Modeling CO from Roadway Intersections states that hot-spot analysis is not required for those intersections operating at LOS A, B, or C (i.e., these intersections are automatically eliminated as potential CO hot spots), whereas intersections operating at LOS D or worse must undergo detailed CO concentration analysis. Of all possible LOS D intersections, clearly only a few will actually require detailed modeling of CO concentrations. A new screening methodology that introduces the concept of meteorological situation-orientated reference charts is presented. Variations on the basic reference charts can incorporate such effects as signal type (e.g., pretimed versus actuated) and future fleet characteristics. Once the desired reference charts have been developed, to use them the analyst needs only to identify the applicable reference chart on the basis of the location of the project at hand and an approximate background concentration. The proposed screening methodology should save both effort and money often wasted on the redesign of intersections that are predicted to be hot spots at the time of air quality conformity analysis and when detailed air quality analysis of LOS D intersections is undertaken for intersections that are unlikely to be CO hot spots.

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Maternal HIV and syphilis are not syndemic in Brazil: Hot spot analysis of the two epidemics

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0255590 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0255590

Author(s):

Mary Catherine Cambou ◽

Eduardo Saad ◽

Kaitlyn McBride ◽

Trevon Fuller ◽

Emma Swayze ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hot Spots ◽

Congenital Syphilis ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Z Score ◽

Hot Spot Analysis ◽

Southern States ◽

Maternal Hiv ◽

Maternal Syphilis ◽

In Pregnancy ◽

Spot Analysis

While the annual incidence of HIV diagnosis in pregnancy in Brazil remains relatively stable, rates of maternal syphilis increased over six-fold in the past decade. We hypothesized that maternal HIV and syphilis are two distinct epidemics. Data on all cases of maternal HIV or syphilis detected in pregnancy between January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2018 were requested from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. In order to evaluate how the epidemics evolved over the time period, ArcGIS software was used to generate spatiotemporal maps of annual rates of detection of maternal HIV and syphilis in 2010 and 2018. We utilized Euclidean-distance hot spot analysis to identify state-specific clusters in 2010 and 2018. From 2010 to 2018, there were 66,631 cases of maternal HIV, 225,451 cases of maternal syphilis, and 150,414 cases of congenital syphilis in Brazil. The state of Rio Grande do Sul had the highest rate of maternal HIV detection in both 2010 and 2018. Hot spots of maternal HIV were identified in the three most Southern states in both 2010 and 2018 (99% confidence, z-score >2.58, p <0.01). While syphilis incidence >30 per 1,000 live births in 2018 in four states, only the two coastal states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo in Southeastern Brazil were significant hot spots (90% confidence, z-score 1.65–1.95, p <0.10). Contrary to the general assumption, HIV and syphilis epidemics in Brazil are not syndemic in pregnant women. There is a spatial cluster of maternal HIV in the South, while syphilis is increasing throughout the country, more recently on the coast. Focusing on maternal HIV hot spots in the Southern states is insufficient to curtail the maternal and congenital syphilis epidemics throughout the country. New strategies, including ongoing hot spot analysis, are urgently needed to monitor, identify and treat maternal syphilis.

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