scholarly journals Firearm-Related Deaths in Multnomah County, Oregon, 2010-2016: Linking Medical Examiner Data to State Vital Records Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46
Author(s):  
Jaime Walters
Keyword(s):  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Medical Examiner ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Manner Of Death ◽  
Predictive Values ◽  
Multnomah County ◽  
Routine Surveillance ◽  
Vital Records

Objectives: Violence due to firearms is a substantial public health problem. Death data from medical examiner and vital records were linked to evaluate the use of medical examiner data to augment routine surveillance and determine any differences in sex, age, manner of death, or race and ethnicity between the 2 data systems. Materials and Methods: Medical examiner data were searched for keywords of interest, and vital records data were obtained and linked for deaths occurring in Multnomah County, Oregon, from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2016. Both data sets were compared for the number and proportion of firearm-related deaths by sex, age, manner of death, and race/ethnicity. Sensitivity and positive predictive values were calculated for variables that had discordant results. Results: A total of 568 firearm-related deaths were identified in the medical examiner data. After matching with manual review, the 2 data systems had 100% case agreement. A reverse match showed that most cases not found in medical examiner data were due to transfer of case jurisdiction. The 2 systems matched nearly perfectly in sex, age, and manner of death but differed in characterization of race and ethnicity. Sensitivity was 62% for Hispanic ethnicity but 93% for white and black race. Practice Implications: Using medical examiner data was a useful way to augment routine surveillance of firearm-related deaths in our jurisdiction in close to real time. However, caution is needed when analyzing data by subgroups because of discordant classifications of race between the data systems.

scholarly journals TraceAll: A Real-Time Processing for Contact Tracing Using Indoor Trajectories

Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Louai Alarabi ◽  
Saleh Basalamah ◽  
Abdeltawab Hendawi ◽  
Mohammed Abdalla
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Infected Patient ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Exposure Period ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Real Time Processing ◽  
Recent Developments

The rapid spread of infectious diseases is a major public health problem. Recent developments in fighting these diseases have heightened the need for a contact tracing process. Contact tracing can be considered an ideal method for controlling the transmission of infectious diseases. The result of the contact tracing process is performing diagnostic tests, treating for suspected cases or self-isolation, and then treating for infected persons; this eventually results in limiting the spread of diseases. This paper proposes a technique named TraceAll that traces all contacts exposed to the infected patient and produces a list of these contacts to be considered potentially infected patients. Initially, it considers the infected patient as the querying user and starts to fetch the contacts exposed to him. Secondly, it obtains all the trajectories that belong to the objects moved nearby the querying user. Next, it investigates these trajectories by considering the social distance and exposure period to identify if these objects have become infected or not. The experimental evaluation of the proposed technique with real data sets illustrates the effectiveness of this solution. Comparative analysis experiments confirm that TraceAll outperforms baseline methods by 40% regarding the efficiency of answering contact tracing queries.

scholarly journals “Rust stain”: a rare mark in firearm suicide—a case report and review of the literature

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Tomassini ◽  
Daniele Paolini ◽  
Anna Maria Manta ◽  
Edoardo Bottoni ◽  
Costantino Ciallella
Keyword(s):  
Case Report ◽  
Medical Examiner ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Histological Findings ◽  
Porcine Skin ◽  
Manner Of Death ◽  
Prolonged Contact ◽  
Firearm Suicide

AbstractRust stains are marks left by firearms in case of prolonged contact with the cutaneous surfaces. These peculiar signs along with other well-documented findings can guide the medical examiner in the determination of the manner of death, especially in case of firearm suicide. This paper presents the case of a 33-year-old male soldier who committed suicide by using a short-barreled weapon, whose trigger remained in contact with the first finger of his right hand, leading to the formation of a rust stain that perfectly reproduced its design. The forensic examination of the scene, the external cadaveric inspection, and the autopsy are described. For the evaluation of the histological findings typical of rust spots, the authors decided to replicate the phenomenon in an experimental setting using porcine skin. In order to provide an exhaustive overview on the formation and the features of rust stains, a review of the forensic literature concerning this rare mark was performed.

Dynamic Measurement Modeling: Using Nonlinear Growth Models to Estimate Student Learning Capacity

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 284-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis G. Dumas ◽  
Daniel M. McNeish
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Testing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Growth Models ◽  
Dynamic Assessment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dynamic Measurement ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Longitudinal Assessment ◽  
Assessment Practice

Single-timepoint educational measurement practices are capable of assessing student ability at the time of testing but are not designed to be informative of student capacity for developing in any particular academic domain, despite commonly being used in such a manner. For this reason, such measurement practice systematically underestimates the potential of students from nondominant socioeconomic or ethnic groups, who may not have had adequate opportunity to develop various academic skills but can nonetheless do so in the future. One long-standing approach to the partial rectification of this issue is dynamic assessment (DA), a technique that features multiple testing occasions integrated with learning opportunities. However, DA is extremely resource intensive to incorporate into educational assessment practice and cannot be applied to extant large-scale data sets. In this article, the authors describe a recently developed statistical technique, dynamic measurement modeling (DMM), which is capable of estimating quantities associated with DA—including student capacity for learning a particular skill—from existing large-scale longitudinal assessment data, allowing the core concepts of DA to be scaled up for use with secondary data sets such as those collected by Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems in the United States. The authors show that by considering several assessments over time, student capacity can be reliably estimated, and these capacity estimates are much less affected by student race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status than are single-timepoint assessment scores, thereby improving the consequential validity of measurement.

scholarly journals Geographic Information and Geo-visualisation in support of Disaster Resilience

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Edward Kurwakumire ◽  
Paul Muchechetere ◽  
Shelter Kuzhazha ◽  
Guy Blachard Ikokou
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Disaster Resilience ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Information Infrastructures ◽  
Timely Access

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Society continues to become more spatially enabled as spatial data becomes increasingly available and accessible. This is partly due to democratisation of data achieved through open access of framework data sets. On the other hand, mobile devices such as smartphones have become more accessible, giving the public access to applications that use spatial data. This has tremendously increased the consumption of spatial data at the level of the general public. Spatial data has a history in planning and decision making as detailed in literature on promises and benefits of geographic information. We extend these promises to sustainability and disaster resilience. It is our belief that geographic information (GI) and geographic information infrastructures (GIIs) contribute positively towards the achievement of sustainability in cities and nations and in disaster resilience. This study carries out a review of geo-visualisation and GI applications in order to determine their suitability and impact in disaster resilience. Real-time GI are significant for cities to ensure sustainability and to increase disaster preparedness. Geographic information infrastructures need to be integrated with BIG data systems to ensure that local government agencies have timely access to real time geographic information so that decisions on sustainability and disaster resilience can be effectively done.</p>

scholarly journals Evaluation of Hookworm Diagnosis Techniques from Patients in Debre Elias and Sanja Districts of the Amhara Region, Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ayalew Jejaw Zeleke ◽  
Ayenew Addisu ◽  
Adane Derso ◽  
Yalewayker Tegegne ◽  
Meseret Birhanie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Accuracy ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Test Tube ◽  
Test Accuracy ◽  
Amhara Region ◽  
Perfect Agreement ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
Predictive Values ◽  
Flotation Technique

Background. Inappropriate diagnosis could intimidate the prevention and control of hookworm infection. Thus, this study was aimed at evaluating the performance of hookworm diagnosis methods. Methods. An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from patients in Debre Elias and Sanja districts of the Amhara region, Ethiopia, from November 2019 to January 2020. The study subjects were selected conveniently. After the data was entered into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, test accuracy, and agreement of the different hookworm diagnosis methods, namely, test tube flotation technique (TFT), McMaster (MM), formol-ether concentration (FEC), Kato-Katz (KK), and direct wet mount microscopy (DWMM), were calculated by using SPSS software. The composite reference standard (CRS) was used as the gold standard method. The kappa ( κ ) test was used to measure the level of agreement between diagnosis tests. Result. A total of 389 stool samples were collected from patients in the study. The overall prevalence of hookworm was 63.24%. The test tube flotation technique (TFT) was found to be the highest both in terms of sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy (100%). McMaster (MM) was the second most sensitive test (68.7%), followed by FEC (44.3%) and KK (38.2%). On the other hand, DWMM had the lowest sensitivity (37.4%), and its diagnostic accuracy was also the least (60%). Only TFT had a perfect agreement ( agreement = 100 % , kappa = 1 ) with the CRS. The sensitivity of DWMM, KK, and FEC showed a kind of linear function with the intensity of infection, but TFT and MM methods were not affected by the infection intensity. Conclusion. Hookworm is still a public health problem in the study area. TFT is by far more sensitive than MM, FEC, KK, and DWMM techniques.

scholarly journals Use of Diagnostic Criteria from ACR and EU-TIRADS Systems to Improve the Performance of Cytology in Thyroid Nodule Triage

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5439
Author(s):  
Davide Seminati ◽  
Giulia Capitoli ◽  
Davide Leni ◽  
Davide Fior ◽  
Francesco Vacirca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thyroid Nodule ◽  
Thyroid Nodules ◽  
Scoring Systems ◽  
Needle Aspiration ◽  
Data Systems ◽  
Predictive Values ◽  
Radiological Features ◽  
Benign Nodules ◽  
Design And Methods ◽  
The Eu

Objective: The American College of Radiology (ACR) and the European Thyroid Association (EU) have proposed two scoring systems for thyroid nodule classification. Here, we compared the ability of the two systems in triaging thyroid nodules for fine-needle aspiration (FNA) and tested the putative role of an approach that combines ultrasound features and cytology for the detection of malignant nodules. Design and Methods: The scores obtained with the ACR and EU Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (TIRADS) from a prospective series of 480 thyroid nodules acquired from 435 subjects were compared to assess their performances in FNA triaging on the final cytological diagnosis. The US features that showed the highest contribution in discriminating benign nodules from malignancies were combined with cytology to improve its diagnostic performance. Results: FNA was recommended on 46.5% and 51.9% of the nodules using the ACR and EU-TIRADS scores, respectively. The ACR system demonstrated a higher specificity as compared to the EU-TIRADS (59.0% vs. 52.4%, p = 0.0012) in predicting >TIR3A/III (SIAPEC/Bethesda) nodules. Moreover, specific radiological features (i.e., echogenic foci and margins), combined with the cytological classes improved the specificity (97.5% vs. 91%, p < 0.0001) and positive predictive values (77.5% vs. 50.7%, p < 0.0001) compared to cytology alone, especially in the setting of indeterminate nodules (TIR3A/III and TIR3B/IV), maintaining an excellent sensitivity and negative predictive value. Conclusions: The ACR-TIRADS system showed a higher specificity compared to the EU-TIRADS in triaging thyroid nodules. The use of specific radiological features improved the diagnostic ability of cytology.

Are "Accidental" Gun Deaths as Rare as They Seem? A Comparison of Medical Examiner Manner of Death Coding With an Intent-Based Classification Approach

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Schaechter ◽  
I. Duran ◽  
J. De Marchena ◽  
G. Lemard ◽  
M. E. Villar
Keyword(s):  
Medical Examiner ◽  
Manner Of Death ◽  
Classification Approach

scholarly journals What are the implications of using individual and combined sources of routinely collected data to identify and characterise incident site-specific cancers? a concordance and validation study using linked English electronic health records data

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. e037719
Author(s):  
Helen Strongman ◽  
Rachael Williams ◽  
Krishnan Bhaskaran
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Cancer Registration ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Death Registration ◽  
Case Definitions ◽  
Predictive Values ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Registration Data ◽  
Electronic Health

ObjectivesTo describe the benefits and limitations of using individual and combinations of linked English electronic health data to identify incident cancers.Design and settingOur descriptive study uses linked English Clinical Practice Research Datalink primary care; cancer registration; hospitalisation and death registration data.Participants and measuresWe implemented case definitions to identify first site-specific cancers at the 20 most common sites, based on the first ever cancer diagnosis recorded in each individual or commonly used combination of data sources between 2000 and 2014. We calculated positive predictive values and sensitivities of each definition, compared with a gold standard algorithm that used information from all linked data sets to identify first cancers. We described completeness of grade and stage information in the cancer registration data set.Results165 953 gold standard cancers were identified. Positive predictive values of all case definitions were ≥80% and ≥94% for the four most common cancers (breast, lung, colorectal and prostate). Sensitivity for case definitions that used cancer registration alone or in combination was ≥92% for the four most common cancers and ≥80% across all cancer sites except bladder cancer (65% using cancer registration alone). For case definitions using linked primary care, hospitalisation and death registration data, sensitivity was ≥89% for the four most common cancers, and ≥80% for all cancer sites except kidney (69%), oral cavity (76%) and ovarian cancer (78%). When primary care or hospitalisation data were used alone, sensitivities were generally lower and diagnosis dates were delayed. Completeness of staging data in cancer registration data was high from 2012 (minimum 76.0% in 2012 and 86.4% in 2014 for the four most common cancers).ConclusionsAscertainment of incident cancers was good when using cancer registration data alone or in combination with other data sets, and for the majority of cancers when using a combination of primary care, hospitalisation and death registration data.

scholarly journals A-07 Race, SES, and IQ Test Score Differences: The Case for Social Justice

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 780-780
Author(s):  
L Weiss
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Test Score ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Academic Expectations ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Iq Test ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Race Ethnicity

Abstract Objective To quantify potential mediators of observed IQ test score differences of Whites with Hispanics and African Americans in the WISC-IV, WISC-V, and WAIS-IV standardization data sets. Method Mediators included parent education, income and academic expectations for children and adolescents; and self-education, income and occupation for adults. Observed IQ score means are presented by race and ethnicity, unadjusted for demographics. A series of regressions quantify the variance in IQ test scores accounted for by race/ethnicity before and after controlling for SES related mediators. Results SES related mediators accounted for substantial portions of IQ score variance in all group comparisons and age ranges, but least for African Americans and adults. Conclusions The critical influence of cognitively enriching and impoverishing environments on the neurocognitive development of children, and the unequal distribution of these influences across social and economic groups are discussed as complementary with interpretations of acculturation and heredity.

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