"Starting Research in Clinical Education" is written by a global team of experienced and emerging clinical education researchers who have a wealth of knowledge designing rigorous research projects ...and expertise in contemporary methods. Covering a broad spectrum of methods used by clinical education researchers, the book is split into five parts: research design, evidence synthesis and mixed methods research, qualitative research, quantitative research and succeeding in clinical education research. These sections are also accompanied by a companion website which provides further resources. The methods discussed are illustrated with real life examples and case studies to support the reader in designing their own project. The new edition includes information on: (1) Getting started in clinical education research, constructing a research question, clarifying research paradigms and design, using educational theory, involving stakeholders, sampling and recruiting participants and conducting ethical research; (2) Evidence synthesis, realist research, mixed methods research, action research and emerging possibilities in online data collection; (3) Interviews and focus groups, visual elicitation, ethnography, narrative research, thematic analysis and struggles new researchers often face in qualitative research; (4) Survey research, experimental methods, statistical analysis and big data; and (5) Maximising opportunities, project management, writing dissertations, writing for publication, research dissemination and career development. This edition is designed to support those new to clinical education research, including those undertaking intercalated or postgraduate degrees in clinical, medical, dental or health professions education.
Rapid cell type identification by new genomic single-cell analysis methods has not been met with efficient experimental access to these cell types. To facilitate access to specific neural populations ...in mouse cortex, we collected chromatin accessibility data from individual cells and identified enhancers specific for cell subclasses and types. When cloned into recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) and delivered to the brain, these enhancers drive transgene expression in specific cortical cell subclasses. We extensively characterized several enhancer AAVs to show that they label different projection neuron subclasses as well as a homologous neuron subclass in human cortical slices. We also show how coupling enhancer viruses expressing recombinases to a newly generated transgenic mouse, Ai213, enables strong labeling of three different neuronal classes/subclasses in the brain of a single transgenic animal. This approach combines unprecedented flexibility with specificity for investigation of cell types in the mouse brain and beyond.
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•High-quality single-cell ATAC-seq dataset for adult mouse visual cortex•Enhancer AAVs targeting distinct subclasses of excitatory projection neurons•New TIGRE-based transgenic reporter line with three-color readout•Combined enhancer AAVs label up to three distinct cell populations in one brain
Graybuck et al. generated a single-cell chromatin accessibility dataset for adult mouse cortex and identified functional enhancer elements. They created a suite of enhancer-containing adeno-associated viruses to label genetically defined cell populations in the mouse brain.
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Summary As highland regions of Africa historically have been considered free of malaria, recent epidemics in these areas have raised concerns that high elevation malaria transmission may be ...increasing. Hypotheses about the reasons for this include changes in climate, land use and demographic patterns. We investigated the effect of land use change on malaria transmission in the south‐western highlands of Uganda. From December 1997 to July 1998, we compared mosquito density, biting rates, sporozoite rates and entomological inoculation rates between 8 villages located along natural papyrus swamps and 8 villages located along swamps that have been drained and cultivated. Since vegetation changes affect evapotranspiration patterns and, thus, local climate, we also investigated differences in temperature, humidity and saturation deficit between natural and cultivated swamps. We found that on average all malaria indices were higher near cultivated swamps, although differences between cultivated and natural swamps were not statistically significant. However, maximum and minimum temperature were significantly higher in communities bordering cultivated swamps. In multivariate analysis using a generalized estimating equation approach to Poisson regression, the average minimum temperature of a village was significantly associated with the number of Anopheles gambiae s.l. per house after adjustment for potential confounding variables. It appears that replacement of natural swamp vegetation with agricultural crops has led to increased temperatures, which may be responsible for elevated malaria transmission risk in cultivated areas.
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Malaria epidemics in African highlands cause serious morbidity and mortality and are being reported more frequently. Weather is likely to play an important role in initiating epidemics but limited ...analysis of the association between weather conditions and epidemic transmission parameters has been undertaken. We measured entomological variables before and during an epidemic of malaria (which began in February 1998) in a highland region of south-western Uganda and analysed temporal variation in weather data against malaria incidence (estimated from clinic records), mosquito density and entomological inoculation rates (EIR). Indoor resting density of
Anopheles gambiae s.l. was positively correlated with malaria incidence (
r = 0·68,
P < 0·05) despite extremely low vector densities. EIR totalled only 0·41 infectious bites per person during the entire 8-month study period. Rainfall during and following the El Niño event in 1997 was much higher than normal, and rainfall anomaly (difference from the mean) was positively correlated with vector density 1 month later (
r = 0·55,
P < 0·05). Heavier than normal rainfall associated with El Niño may have initiated the epidemic; the relationship between temperature and transmission parameters remains to be defined. The results from this study indicate that, in this highland population, epidemic malaria may occur at extremely low inoculation rates.
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The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Literature in Englishcontains forty-four articles. The study of medieval literature has experienced a revolution, which has reinvigorated many parts of the discipline ...and changed the shape of the subject in relation to previous scholarship. ‘New’ texts (laws and penitentials, women's writing, drama records), innovative fields and objects of study (the history of the book, the study of space and the body, medieval masculinities), and original ways of studying them (the Sociology of the Text, performance studies) have emerged. This has brought fresh vigour and impetus to medieval studies, and has impacted significantly on cognate periods and areas. This book brings together the insights of these new fields and approaches with those of more familiar texts and methods of study, to provide a comprehensive overview of medieval literature. Topics covered range from the canonical genres of Saints' lives, sermons, romance, lyric poetry, and heroic poetry; major themes including monstrosity and marginality, patronage and literary politics, manuscript studies and vernacularity are investigated; and there are close readings of key texts, such as Beowulf, Wulf Eadwacer, and Ancrene Wisse and key authors from Ælfric to Geoffrey Chaucer, Langland, and the Gawain Poet.
Several highland regions of Africa recently have suffered malaria epidemics. Because malaria transmission is unstable and the population has little or no immunity, these highlands are prone to ...explosive outbreaks when densities of Anopheles exceed critical levels and conditions favor transmission. If an incipient epidemic can be detected early enough, control efforts may reduce morbidity, mortality, and transmission. Here we present three methods (direct, minimum sample size, and sequential sampling approaches) that could be used to determine whether the household indoor resting density of Anopheles gambiae s.l. has exceeded critical levels associated with epidemic transmission. Data on Anopheles density before, during, and after a malaria epidemic (December 1997–July 1998) in the highlands of southwestern Uganda were evaluated to demonstrate the application of these three approaches. During this epidemic, a density of 0.25 Anopheles mosquitoes per house was associated with epidemic transmission, whereas 0.05 mosquitoes per house was chosen as a normal level expected during nonepidemic months. The direct approach to calculating mean Anopheles density with an allowable error of 20–50% of the mean would require the sampling of 102–16 houses, respectively. In contrast, with only seven houses, the minimum sample size approach could be used to determine whether Anopheles density had exceeded the critical level. This method, however, would result in an overestimation of the risk of an epidemic at low Anopheles density. Finally, a sequential sampling plan could require as many as 50 houses to conclude that risk of an epidemic existed, but this disadvantage is offset by the ability to preset the probabilities of concluding that risk of an epidemic exists at both the critical and normal Anopheles densities. Our study illustrated that it is feasible, and probably expedient, to include monitoring of Anopheles density in highland malaria epidemic early warning systems.
Report of the Council for 2012 Simpson, Sarah; Baxter, Paul; Shah, Hetan ...
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, Statistics in society,
10/2013, Volume:
176, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
For the year ended December 31st, 2012, presented at the 179th Annual General Meeting
of the Royal Statistical Society held at 12 Errol Street, London, on June 26th, 2013
President's foreword
We had ...marked out 2012 as a year of consolidation for the Society as we charted our way through difficult financial times. The challenges of the wider economic climate and the future threat to our revenue from proposals for ‘open access’ publishing, coupled with a deficit in our budget, caused us to begin the year with some concern.
Thanks to a magnificent effort from our Executive Director, Hetan Shah, and all the staff at the Society, we have ended the year in a much stronger position. Through a combination of good cost control and imagination the budget deficit has turned into a year‐end surplus. Our reserves going into 2013 are healthy, at the upper end of the policy range agreed by Council. All members of the Society owe the team at Errol Street a great debt. Thank you for all your hard work.
Although attrition continues to eat into our membership base we recruited 399 new members during the year: 88 more than in 2011. Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to our thriving Society. We also saw a record number of professional awards since the year 2000—44 ‘CStat’ and 106 ‘GradStat’ awards were made.
Our excellent conference at Telford greeted 390 people from 27 countries, with 173 talks and 47 poster presentations. Hal Varian, Chief Economist of Google, reminded us that statistics is the current ‘sexy profession’. Julian Champkin brought along one of the original Enigma machines to recall the power of mathematical and statistical thinking. The Young Statisticians were everywhere enthusing and encouraging delegates.
The year saw journals submission numbers up for all three series. Thanks to our partnership with the American Statistical Association we increased publication of Significance magazine from four to six issues in the year. The on‐line version had 415 000 visits from 209 countries. Our global reach for examinations took a further step forward, being offered for the first time in Japan, thanks to our licence agreement with the Japan Statistical Society.
New Sections for Applied Probability and Statistics in Sport were created as well as a History of Statistics Study Group. Existing Sections and Local Groups thrived with a bumper crop of meetings on an incredibly diverse range of topics. I especially enjoyed debates at Local Group meetings in Edinburgh and Plymouth.
Our ‘getstats’ campaign really took off, thanks to the support of the Nuffield Foundation. 30 workshops at 25 venues reached 350 students, 70 practising journalists and 100 press officers. Well‐attended events in Parliament, supported by SAS UK and Ireland, explored the use of statistics in health, crime and education as well as a more light‐hearted look at sport. Most promising of all, we worked closely with a wide range of others on improving the position of statistics in education.
Danny Dorling, our Beveridge lecturer, issued a challenge to the Society to extend its reach and impact. Our long‐term strategy review has been reviewing the opportunities during the year, ready to report in 2013. In our membership survey, 94% of respondents indicated that they would recommend membership to a friend or colleague. 80% indicated that they would be interested in actively contributing to the Society. We are now ready to step up for 2013, the International Year of Statistics.
John Pullinger
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ABSTRACT
Swine manure slurries were ozonated at a dosage of 1 g/L and tested for their toxicity to the house fly (Musca domestica). The observed toxicity of ozonated swine manure was consistent and ...independent of origin of the swine manure. A dose (dilution) response curve was performed. A 50% dilution in the ozonated swine manure slurry resulted in 90% reduction in toxicity. Neither the synthetic nor ozonated synthetic swine manure, both of which contained higher concentrations of formaldehyde and three other unidentified carbonyl compounds than the ozonated swine manure, were toxic to the flies. Ozonated swine manure slurry was centrifuged and passed through a 0.45‐μm filter. The liquid phase was as toxic as the unfiltered slurry; as such, the toxicant appears to be present in liquid phase. Neither ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, formaldehyde, nor other simple aldehydes appeared to be the toxic agent. The toxic agent appears to be a polar chemical compound and is concentrated in the urine. Several possible compounds have been identified. The toxicity of untreated and ozonated manure slurries from different livestock was compared. Six animal manure slurries (beef and dairy cattle, horse, poultry, sheep, and swine) were ozonated (dosage of 1 g/L) and tested for toxicity to the house fly. Ozonated dairy cattle manure slurry showed 78% mortality after 72 h, whereas ozonated swine manure slurry achieved a 100% mortality rate in 48 h. Neither the unozonated dairy nor swine manure slurries, nor any of the other raw or ozonated manure slurries, were toxic to the flies.
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