Opportunities For Surveillance Research Articles

Online news media reporting of football-related fatalities in Australia: A matter of life and death

ObjectivesWhile deaths in sports settings are rare, they do occur. To develop an understanding of the sports and people most at risk, and to identify opportunities for prevention, routine and systematic data detailing the occurrence of these fatalities is required. There is currently no routine reporting of data of this nature in Australia. As there is often strong community interest in these incidents, the media offers an opportunity for surveillance. However before this can occur, understanding of the terminology used by the media is required. The aim of this study was to identify the terminology most frequently used in online Australian news media coverage of football-related deaths. DesignRetrospective review of online news media. MethodsThree databases were searched for online news media reports of people who died while participating in football (all football codes) in Australia. A descriptive analysis of terminology was undertaken to identify the common language applied. ResultsThirty-four football-related fatalities in Australia were identified between 2010–2016, via 149 separate articles. The most frequent terms identified in the media items were: Family; Club; Rugby; Football; Player; League; Died; Game; Death; Life; Loved; Hospital; Match; Young; Community; Playing; Friends; Sport; Heart; AFL [Australian Football League]. ConclusionsThis study identified terminology used in reporting football-related fatalities in Australia, identifying common reference to terms relating to ‘death’ as metaphors and the frequent celebration of ‘life.’ The findings suggest that a reliance on researcher-generated terminology will be insufficient to reflect media discourse in prospective monitoring of sports deaths for surveillance.

Opportunities for post-market surveillance of high cost medicines in Australia: Observing trastuzumab-treated women from early through late stage HER2-positive breast cancer (HER2BC)

ABSTRACT
 ObjectivesIn 2001 the Australian government circumvented traditional drug subsidy listing processes to create the Herceptin Program (HP) for HER2 metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients; in 2006 trastuzumab was subsidised for early breast cancer (EBC) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) creating opportunities for data linkage and observing patients across both treatment settings. Clinical trials established the efficacy of trastuzumab for MBC in trastuzumab-naïve patients but little is known about patients initiating trastuzumab in the adjuvant setting and subsequently receiving trastuzumab for MBC. We characterise patterns of treatment and outcomes for these patients in Australia. We estimate time from adjuvant trastuzumab initiation to metastatic trastuzumab initiation and overall survival (OS).
 ApproachWe identified a cohort of patients with a trastuzumab claim in both PBS and HP records. We calculated duration of EBC treatment as date of first trastuzumab dispensing until 21 days after the last PBS dispensing for trastuzumab or observation of a trastuzumab dispensing record in HP claims, whichever came first. We used Kaplan-Meier methods to estimate time-to-MBC treatment and OS.
 ResultsOf 11,477 EBC patients treated with trastuzumab between December 2006 and December 2012, 637 were also treated with trastuzumab for MBC. Median age at EBC treatment initiation was 53 (range 17 – 87). 94% of EBC patients received a taxane, anthracycline, cyclophosphamide and/or carboplatin as part of their treatment protocol. 61% of MBC patients received trastuzumab with a taxane, 18% as monotherapy and 7% with capecitabine. Median duration of trastuzumab therapy in EBC and MBC therapy was 11.3 (95% CI 10.7-11.6) and 9.3 (8.6-10.4) months, respectively. Median time-to-MBC therapy was 27.3 (25.5-28.2) months. Median OS from initiation of EBC and MBC treatment was 58.1 (52.9-65.7) and 23.2 (20.5-25.4) months, respectively.
 ConclusionHER2BC patients initiating trastuzumab for EBC therapy and progressing to MBC treatment are little examined in the clinical trial and observational literature. Australia’s unique funding arrangements allowed us to clearly distinguish between treatment for EBC and MBC which is not always possible in dispensing claims alone. We demonstrated: most EBC patients are treated according to guideline recommendations; that this patient cohort receive approximately 20 months of trastuzumab therapy across both settings; and median OS from initiation of MBC trastuzumab is approximately 2 months shorter than in the pivotal clinical trial (25.1 months).

Overweight and Obesity in Children under 5 Years: Surveillance Opportunities and Challenges for the WHO European Region.

Many children who have overweight or obesity before puberty can develop obesity in early adulthood, which is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The preschool years (ages 0-5) represents a point of opportunity for children to be active, develop healthy eating habits, and maintain healthy growth. Surveillance of childhood overweight and obesity in this age group can help inform future policies and interventions. To review and report available prevalence data in WHO European Region Member States and determine how many countries can accurately report on rates of overweight and obesity in children under 5 years. We conducted a rapid review of studies reporting on overweight and obesity prevalence in children ages 0-5 in the WHO European region member states from 1998 to 2015. Currently, 35 of the 53 member states have data providing prevalence rates for overweight and obesity for children under 5 years. There was little consistency in study methods, impacting comparability across countries. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children under 5 years ranges from 1 to 28.6% across member states. Although measuring overweight and obesity in this age group may be challenging, there is an opportunity to leverage existing surveillance resources in the WHO European Region.

Explaining culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) parents\u2019 access of healthcare services for developmental surveillance and anticipatory guidance: qualitative findings from the \u2018Watch Me Grow\u2019 study

BackgroundRegular health visits for parents with young children provide an opportunity for developmental surveillance and anticipatory guidance regarding common childhood problems and help to achieve optimal developmental progress prior to school entry. However, there are few published reports from Australian culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities exploring parents’ experiences for accessing child health surveillance programs. This paper aims to describe and explain parental experiences for accessing developmental surveillance and anticipatory guidance for children.MethodsQualitative data was obtained from 6 focus groups (33 parents) and seven in-depth interviews of CALD parents recruited from an area of relative disadvantage in Sydney. Thematic analysis of data was conducted using an ecological framework.ResultsAn overarching theme of “awareness-beliefs-choices” was found to explain parents’ experiences of accessing primary health care services for children. “Awareness” situated within the meso-and macro-systems explained parents knowledge of where and what primary health services were available to access for their children. Opportunities for families to obtain this information existed at the time of birth in Australian hospitals, but for newly arrived immigrants with young children, community linkages with family and friends, and general practitioner (GPs) were most important. “Beliefs” situated within the microsystems included parents’ understanding of their children’s development, in particular what they considered to be “normal” or “abnormal”. Parental “choices”, situated within meso-systems and chronosystems, related to their choices of service providers, which were based on the proximity, continuity, purpose of visit, language spoken by the provider and past experience of a service.ConclusionsCALD parents have diverse experiences with primary health care providers which are influenced by their awareness of available services in the context of their duration of stay in Australia. The role of the general practitioner, with language concordance, suggests the importance of diversity within the primary care health workforce in this region. There is a need for ongoing cultural competence training of health professionals and provisions need to be made to support frequent use of interpreters at general practices in Australia.

3D reconstruction of cystoscopy videos for comprehensive bladder records.

White light endoscopy is widely used for diagnostic imaging of the interior of organs and body cavities, but the inability to correlate individual 2D images with 3D organ morphology limits its utility for quantitative or longitudinal studies of disease physiology or cancer surveillance. As a result, most endoscopy videos, which carry enormous data potential, are used only for real-time guidance and are discarded after collection. We present a computational method to reconstruct and visualize a 3D model of organs from an endoscopic video that captures the shape and surface appearance of the organ. A key aspect of our strategy is the use of advanced computer vision techniques and unmodified, clinical-grade endoscopy hardware with few constraints on the image acquisition protocol, which presents a low barrier to clinical translation. We validate the accuracy and robustness of our reconstruction and co-registration method using cystoscopy videos from tissue-mimicking bladder phantoms and show clinical utility during cystoscopy in the operating room for bladder cancer evaluation. As our method can powerfully augment the visual medical record of the appearance of internal organs, it is broadly applicable to endoscopy and represents a significant advance in cancer surveillance opportunities for big-data cancer research.

The contribution of passive surveillance to invasive species management

It has been recognised for some time that the community has an important role to play in invasive-species management. Reports from the community about new incursions can lead to significant cost savings when this early detection results in shorter management programs. Unfortunately there is little to guide invasive-species managers on cost-effective ways to elicit and incorporate information from the public in their pest-management programs. Not all community surveillance is equal: some information from the public about the presence of pests and diseases may arise from chance encounters, other data may be reported by stakeholders from a particular industry or by groups of volunteers organised on the basis of citizen science activities. While the resources, activities and effort required to encourage each type of community surveillance are known to differ, very little is known of the relationships that determine effectiveness, and thus the appropriate level of investment that would be required to encourage a particular level of reporting. In this research we focus on passive surveillance—the most fortuitous type of community surveillance—and review the current knowledge base on measuring its cost and effectiveness. We aim to stimulate the research required to improve our understanding of passive surveillance, and we provide guidance on the type of data that should be collected by agencies to enable this research. This information could then provide us with the ability to design optimal surveillance portfolios that integrate the surveillance opportunities provided by the public to best advantage.

Risk-Based Surveillance Planning: A Practical Value-of-Information Approach for Data Acquisition in Producing Fields

SummarySurveillance data can be critically important in managing producing oil and gas fields. To maximize value, it is necessary to identify those surveillance opportunities that are not only informative, but materially value-adding. For surveillance decisions in producing fields, applying conventional value-of-information (VoI) methods to every individual surveillance opportunity can be too time-consuming to be practical, considering the large number of relatively small data decisions to be evaluated, each possibly addressing multiple reservoir uncertainties and supporting numerous business decisions. This paper outlines risk-based surveillance planning (RBSP), a simple approach that is based on the observation that the vast majority of surveillance opportunities in producing fields are designed to manage risks. RBSP then evaluates surveillance opportunities with VoI principles, but exploits the fact that much relevant value data already exist as byproducts of risk-management processes. RBSP has been used successfully in dozens of oil and gas fields; two case studies are described herein.Many companies use a risk-management framework that documents risk events and their causes and consequences, assesses risk probability and impact, and identifies prevention measures to reduce the probability of the risk events occurring and mitigation measures to reduce the impact of risk events should they occur. If such a framework has been used, the risk assessment provides an estimate of the expected monetary value (EMV) lost because of a risk event (= probability × impact). Risk reassessment taking into account the planned prevention and mitigation measures reveals the EMV increment attributable to the risk-management measures. RBSP assumes this to be the theoretical value of “perfect” information (VoIperfect) for the package of surveillance that supports these measures.RBSP links each potential surveillance opportunity to the risk-management plan by determining how the surveillance would (a) help create or strengthen prevention measures; (b) detect the impending occurrence of a risk event, thus enabling mitigation measures to be triggered; or (c) help monitor both prevention and mitigation measures to detect any weaknesses that require improvement. The VoIperfect of a surveillance opportunity with respect to a given risk can then be estimated by attributing to it a proportion of the total VoIperfect of the surveillance package by use of a simple criticality score to estimate how dependent the risk-management measures are on each item of surveillance. A reliability score then discounts this VoIperfect on the basis of how likely the surveillance is to deliver the necessary information in reality, yielding the value of imperfect information. Where an item of surveillance affects several risk-management measures and multiple risks, the values are summed, providing a VoI for each item of surveillance.In case studies of an asphaltene-precipitation risk in a deepwater oil field and a water-influx risk in an offshore gas field, RBSP helped to create a logical value-based rationale for surveillance decisions, and the surveillance, when implemented, did facilitate effective management of the risks and added value.

Expanded Circulating Tumor Cells from a Patient with ALK-Positive Lung Cancer Present with EML4-ALK Rearrangement Along with Resistance Mutation and Enable Drug Sensitivity Testing: A Case Study

The emergence of liquid biopsy using circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as a resource to identify genomic alterations in cancer presents new opportunities for diagnosis, therapy, and surveillance. We identified EML4-ALK gene rearrangement in expanded CTCs from a patient with ALK-positive lung adenocarcinoma. At the time of radiographic progression, CTCs obtained from the patient revealed a drug resistance mutation (i.e., L1196M on the ALK gene). CTCs were expanded ex vivo and drug sensitivity testing was performed using two ALK inhibitors, crizotinib and ceritinib. The half maximal inhibitory concentration of ceritinib was 1664 nM compared with crizotinib (2268 nM), showing that ceritinib was a more potent ALK inhibitor. We show that it is feasible to detect serial genetic alterations in expanded CTCs and perform in vitro drug screening. These findings support the clinical utility of CTCs not only for diagnosis, but also a potential tool for drug sensitivity testing in distinct subsets of lung cancer and for personalized precision medicine.

Detection, identification and typing of Acidithiobacillus species and strains: a review

The genus Acidithiobacillus comprises several species of Gram-negative acidophilic bacteria that thrive in natural and man-made low pH environments in a variety of geo-climatic contexts. Beyond their fundamental interest as model extreme acidophiles, these bacteria are involved in the processing of minerals and the desulfurization of coal and natural gas, and are also sources of environmental pollution due to their generation of acid mine drainage and corrosion of cement and concrete structures. Acidithiobacillus spp. are therefore considered a biotechnologically relevant group of bacteria, and their identification and screening in natural and industrial environments is of great concern.Several molecular typing methodologies have been instrumental in improving knowledge of the inherent diversity of acidithiobacilli by providing information on the genetic subtypes sampled in public and private culture collections; more recently, they have provided specific insight into the diversity of acidithiobacilli present in industrial and natural environments. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of techniques used in molecular detection, identification and typing of Acidithiobacillus spp. These methods will be discussed in the context of their contribution to the general and specific understanding of the role of the acidithiobacilli in microbial ecology and industrial biotechnology. Emerging opportunities for industrial and environmental surveillance of acidithiobacilli using next-generation molecular typing methodologies are also reviewed.

Policy control framework-based algorithm for uncertain QoS harmonization in IP-based live video surveillance communications

There are around 15 million surveillance camera installed in US and about 10 % of it is IP based. This number of IP-based surveillance is constantly growing as it gives an opportunity for smart real time surveillance. When the number of camera increases, it create a challenge to smart surveillance both in terms of cost and efficiency. Cost—as to monitor so many views, there is a need to have enough people. Efficiency—due to overload of monitoring, there are chances that important tracking is missed. Intelligent surveillance helps in avoiding many such issues, however, there is a constant threat that due to lack of appropriate policy control framework, tracking may be affected due to inherent network issues or human glitches. The paper presents a novel way, where a policy control framework is deployed for IP-based surveillance which will help in efficient monitoring. The paper studies the QoS pattern where such a system is deployed and shows that the utility function used for such tracking follows a linear uncertainty distribution pattern. The paper also concentrates on illustrating the algorithm for finding the cameras where the QoS needs to be harmonized. It shows how to make the algorithm opportunistic, so that the number of messages in the network can be reduced while tweaking the QoS.

A Commonsense Knowledge-Enabled Textual Analysis Approach for Financial Market Surveillance

Market surveillance systems (MSSs) are increasingly used to monitor trading activities in financial markets to maintain market integrity. Existing MSSs primarily focus on statistical analysis of market activity data and largely ignore textual market information, including, but not limited to, news reports and various social media. As suggested by both theoretical explorations in finance and prevailing market surveillance practice, unstructured market information holds major yet underexplored opportunities for surveillance. In this paper, we propose a news analysis approach with the help of commonsense knowledge to assess the risk of suspicious transactions identified in market activity analysis. Our approach explicitly models semantic relations between transactions and news articles and provides semantic references to words in news articles. We conducted experiments using data collected from a real-world market and found that our proposed approach significantly outperforms the existing methods, which are based on transaction characteristics or traditional textual analysis methods. Experiments also show that the performance advantage of the proposed approach mainly comes from the modeling of news-transaction relationships. The research contributes to the market surveillance literature and has significant practical implications.

Do all commercial land uses deteriorate neighborhood safety?: Examining the relationship between commercial land-use mix and residential burglary

Criminologists often claim that neighborhoods with a higher proportion of commercial land uses are likely to be more vulnerable to crime because commercial facilities attract outsiders to the neighborhood, thereby increasing its exposure to potential offenders. Advocates of mixed-use neighborhoods, on the other hand, suggest that combining commercial and residential uses can reduce crime by increasing opportunities for surveillance, encouraging social interaction, and promoting a sense of community and social control among neighborhood members. This theoretical contradiction of the effect of land-use mix on crime makes it difficult to reach a conclusive agreement and thus warrants further investigation. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining the association of residential burglary with five commercial land-use types (i.e., offices, retail stores, shopping centers, restaurants, and grocery stores) most commonly found in residential neighborhoods in Seattle. The findings show that grocery stores, restaurants, and offices have a positive role in improving neighborhood safety, whereas neighborhoods with more shopping center areas have experienced higher levels of residential burglary. These results indicate that the effects of commercial land-use mix on residential burglary vary depending on the type of commercial facility, suggesting that not all commercial uses increase crime. This study claims that the possible positive effects of increased surveillance can outweigh the opportunity effect (i.e., attracting offenders to possible targets) when commercial uses encouraging legitimate activities are integrated within the neighborhood. The implications for commercial establishments in relation to neighborhood safety are discussed.

Enhanced B Cell Alloantigen Presentation and Its Epigenetic Dysregulation in Liver Transplant Rejection

T cell suppression prevents acute cellular rejection but causes life-threatening infections and malignancies. Previously, liver transplant (LTx) rejection in children was associated with the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9296068 upstream of the HLA-DOA gene. HLA-DOA inhibits B cell presentation of antigen, a potentially novel antirejection drug target. Using archived samples from 122 white pediatric LTx patients (including 77 described previously), we confirmed the association between rs9296068 and LTx rejection (p = 0.001, odds ratio [OR] 2.55). Next-generation sequencing revealed that the putative transcription factor (CCCTC binding factor [CTCF]) binding SNP locus rs2395304, in linkage disequilibrium with rs9296068 (D' 0.578, r(2) = 0.4), is also associated with LTx rejection (p = 0.008, OR 2.34). Furthermore, LTx rejection is associated with enhanced B cell presentation of donor antigen relative to HLA-nonidentical antigen in a novel cell-based assay and with a downregulated HLA-DOA gene in a subset of these children. In lymphoblastoid B (Raji) cells, rs2395304 coimmunoprecipitates with CTCF, and CTCF knockdown with morpholino antisense oligonucleotides enhances alloantigen presentation and downregulates the HLA-DOA gene, reproducing observations made with HLA-DOA knockdown and clinical rejection. Alloantigen presentation is suppressed by inhibitors of methylation and histone deacetylation, reproducing observations made during resolution of rejection. Enhanced donor antigen presentation by B cells and its epigenetic dysregulation via the HLA-DOA gene represent novel opportunities for surveillance and treatment of transplant rejection.

Ambient co-presence: transnational family practices in polymedia environments

In this article, I develop an argument about a new type of mediated co-presence termed ‘ambient co-presence’, which is the peripheral, yet intense awareness of distant others made possible through the affordances of ubiquitous media environments. Drawing on a long-term ethnography of UK-based Filipino migrants and their communication practices with their transnational families, I observe the increasing prevalence of an ‘always on’ culture of ubiquitous connectivity. The functions of a social networking site (SNS) such as the ‘news feed’, combined with the portability of internet-enabled devices and locative services, mean that users can be peripherally, yet constantly aware of the actions and daily rhythms of their peers. This peripheral awareness, which can be pervasive, complements other types of mediated co-presence and has powerful emotional consequences – both positive and negative – for relationships at a distance. Participants with weak relationships reported an increase in conflict especially through opportunities for surveillance. By contrast, those who enjoyed strong relationships associated ambient co-presence with low-level emotional reassurance. In this article, I also observe that ambient co-presence has implications for community and belonging. Notwithstanding the development of online norms that are culturally specific, I argue that the concept of ambient co-presence can have cross-cultural relevance for understanding the consequences of mediated communication.

Towards public health surveillance of intensive care services in NSW, Australia.

Outbreaks of known and novel pathogens causing very severe illness increase the risk to public health in a globalised community and alarm the public. Intensive care units (ICUs) may be an underused setting for public health surveillance. This study investigates the electronic Record for Intensive Care (eRIC), an electronic clinical information and management system being developed for New South Wales ICUs, and its surveillance opportunity offerings. The surveillance benefits being introduced by the eRIC were evaluated through consultation with stakeholders and the eRIC program team. The consultation process involved providing stakeholders with background information about the eRIC system. Based on the consultation, a draft data and information model for surveillance was developed. The model was evaluated using guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Population health stakeholders confirmed that the eRIC offers an appealing surveillance data source for pathogens and other hazards causing severe illness. Suggested application of the surveillance included, for known hazards, seasonal and pandemic influenza, enterovirus 71, Murray Valley encephalitis virus, enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli 0104:H4 and parechovirus. The proposed surveillance model uses syndromic rather than specific-cause surveillance. It may offer greater timeliness and sensitivity than relying on reporting of diagnoses of specific pathogens. Five syndromes derived from clinical pathways in the eRIC are proposed: severe acute respiratory disease, severe acute neurological disease, sepsis or septicaemia, jaundice or hepatitis, and acute renal failure. New intensive care clinical information systems offer a largely untapped resource for continuous, mainstream, rapid ICU surveillance of severe illness. A continuous, mainstream, rapid ICU surveillance facility that will readily adapt to emergency situations would be a valuable resource for protecting population health. This study establishes a firm basis on which ICU surveillance can be developed.

Mass gatherings: A one-stop opportunity to complement global disease surveillance

Emerging infections including those resulting from the bioterrorist use of infectious agents have indicated the need for global health surveillance. This paper reviews multiple surveillance opportunities presented by mass gatherings (MGs) that align with fundamental questions in epidemiology (why, what, who, where, when and how). Some MGs bring together large, diverse population groups coming from countries with high prevalence of communicable diseases and disparate surveillance capacities. MGs have the potential to exacerbate the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases due to various factors including the high population density and rigor of events, increase in number of people with underlying diseases that predisposes them to disease acquisition, mixing of people from countries or regions with and without efficient disease control efforts, and varying endemicity or existence of communicable diseases in home countries. MGs also have the potential to increase the opportunities for mechanical and even heat-related injuries, morbidity or deaths from accidents, alcohol use, deliberate terrorist attacks with biological agents and/or with explosives and from exacerbation of pre-existing conditions. Responding to these wider range of events may require the use of novel bio-surveillance systems designed to collect data from different sources including electronic and non-electronic medical records from emergency departments and hospitalisations, laboratories, medical examiners, emergency call centres, veterinary, food processors, drinking water systems and even other non-traditional sources such as over-the-counter drug sales and crowd photographs. Well-structured, interoperable real-time surveillance and reporting systems should be integral to MG planning. The increase in magnitude of participants exceeding millions and diversity of people attending MGs can be proactively used to conduct active surveillance of communicable and non-communicable diseases or indicators of global and national public health interest during MGs than can collectively complement efforts to enhance global health security.

The imperative to protect data and the rise of surveillance cameras in administering national testing in Russia

This article discusses the effects of the datafication and digitalisation of education policy in the context of the Russian Federation. It taps into the policies and practices invented as a result of rising audit cultures and the scientisation and datafication of education governance. These processes turn sites of public examinations into sites of numerical data production on education, and make school systems accountable to data production. The article draws on the notions of power and the non-human object, as developed by Actor-Network-Theory scholars, in order to make sense of the recent introduction of obligatory video surveillance equipment during public examinations. The article argues that demands for accountability and data objectivity have led to a complex surveillance regime – a surveillance assemblage – that leads to intensifying observation through various technical means and new data, i.e. data on data production. Video surveillance is called upon to act as a mediator that translates and holds parts of the fragile assessment-network together by coercing each participant into the role of docile data producer. The introduction of video surveillance manifests and endorses a deep mistrust of the human being, translates data objectivity into a procedural matter and opens up new business opportunities for commercial surveillance and security sectors.

Public Health Action Model for Cancer Survivorship.

Long-term objectives associated with cancer survivors have been suggested by Healthy People 2020, including increasing the proportion of survivors living beyond 5 years after diagnosis and improving survivors’ mental and physical health-related quality of life. Prior to reaching these objectives, several intermediate steps must be taken to improve the physical, social, emotional, and financial well-being of cancer survivors. Public health has a role in developing strategic, actionable, and measurable approaches to facilitate change at multiple levels to improve the lives of survivors and their families. The social ecological model has been used by the public health community as the foundation of multilevel intervention design and implementation, encouraging researchers and practitioners to explore methods that promote internal and external changes at the individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and policy levels. The survivorship community, including public health professionals, providers, policymakers, survivors, advocates, and caregivers, must work collaboratively to identify, develop, and implement interventions that benefit cancer survivors. The National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship highlights public health domains and associated strategies that can be the impetus for collaboration between and among the levels in the social ecological model and are integral to improving survivor outcomes. This paper describes the Public Health Action Model for Cancer Survivorship, an integrative framework that combines the National Action Plan for Cancer Survivorship with the social ecological model to demonstrate how interaction among the various levels may promote better outcomes for survivors.

Rural Kentucky High School Students’ Exposure to All-Terrain Vehicle Riding and Injuries

ABSTRACTFrom 1982 to 2007, Kentucky had 459 deaths related to all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), fifth highest among US states. By 2012, Kentucky ranked fourth highest, with 578 ATV-related deaths. Following the sentinel event of an ATV-related traumatic brain injury to an unhelmeted high school student, the authors developed a 19-item survey that collected data regarding rural Kentucky high school students’ years of ATV driving, second-rider frequency, typical duration of riding events, estimated weekly number of riding events, and frequency of helmet use. Of the 159 students involved, males scored significantly higher on each of these items, except frequency of any ATV driving and frequency of helmet use, which showed no gender differences. Overall, 9.3% of students reported always wearing a helmet when driving and/or riding; 61.2% reported never wearing a helmet; 132 (83.0%) reported that they either drove ATVs or rode as a second rider, and 72 of these (57.1%) reported having had an ATV incident, 33 (45.8%) of which resulted in an injury. Twenty-one of these were serious injuries, including concussions; unconsciousness; fractures to skull, nose, collarbones, arms, ribs, and legs; elbow and hip dislocations; lacerations to head, eyes, arms, legs, and back; and multiple contusions and sprains. Findings have implications for the design of responsibility to protect (R2P) interventions that will reduce exposure and prevent ATV injury and fatality. A method that leverages the relevance of a sentinel event as a community public-health surveillance opportunity is described. Study surveillance data showed higher exposure to ATV hazards than previously reported.

Weighted joint-based human behavior recognition algorithm using only depth information for low-cost intelligent video-surveillance system

Recent advances in 3D depth sensors have created many opportunities for security, surveillance, and entertainment. The 3D depth sensors provide more powerful monitoring systems for dangerous situations irrespective of lighting conditions in buildings or production facilities. To robustly recognize emergency actions or hazardous situations of workers at a production facility, we present human joint estimation and behavior recognition algorithms that solely use depth information in this paper. To estimate human joints on a low cost computing platform, we propose a human joint estimation algorithm that integrates a geodesic graph and a support vector machine (SVM). The human feature points are extracted within a range of geodesic distance from a geodesic graph. The geodesic graph is used for optimizing the estimation result. The SVM-based human joint estimator uses randomly selected human features to reduce computation. Body parts that typically involve many motions are then estimated by the geodesic distance value. The proposed algorithm can work for any human without calibration, and thus the system can be used with any subject immediately even with a low cost computing platform. In the case of the behavior recognition algorithm, the algorithm should have a simple behavior registration process, and it also should be robust to environmental changes. To meet these goals, we propose a template matching-based behavior recognition algorithm. Our method creates a behavior template set that consists of weighted human joint data with scale and rotation invariant properties. A single behavior template consists of the joint information that is estimated per frame. Additionally, we propose adaptive template rejection and a sliding window filter to prevent misrecognition between similar behaviors. The human joint estimation and behavior recognition algorithms are evaluated individually through several experiments and the performance is proven through a comparison with other algorithms. The experimental results show that our method performs well and is applicable in real environments.