Web-based Query Research Articles

Age- and Sex-Related Differences in Nonfatal Dog Bite Injuries Among Persons Aged 0-19 Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments, United States, 2001-2017.

No studies using national data have evaluated changes in nonfatal dog bite injuries among children, adolescents, and young adults during the past 2 decades. We examined estimates of annual nonfatal dog bite injuries among persons aged 0-19 treated in US emergency departments (EDs) from 2001 through 2017. We examined data from the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System to compare estimates of the annual rates of nonfatal dog bite injuries in EDs among all persons aged 0-19, by age group (0-4, 5-9, 10-14, and 15-19), and by sex. We determined significance by comparing 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and we standardized rate calculations to the year 2000 population. During 2001-2017, an estimated 2 406 109 (95% CI, 2 102 643-2 709 573) persons aged 0-19 were treated in EDs for nonfatal dog bite injuries (age-adjusted rate of 173.1 per 100 000 persons aged 0-19). The estimated number of nonfatal dog bite injuries declined significantly, from 181 090 (95% CI, 158 315-203 864) in 2001 to 118 800 (95% CI, 97 933-139 667) in 2017. The highest rate was among children aged 5-9. Male children, adolescents, and young adults were significantly more likely than female children, adolescents, and young adults to be treated in the ED for nonfatal dog bite injuries, driven by male-female differences in children and adolescents aged 5-14. Although the estimated number of nonfatal dog bite injuries among persons aged 0-19 declined significantly in the past 2 decades, additional regulatory and educational efforts specific to age and sex may lead to further reductions in nonfatal dog bite injuries.

Association of designated open water swim area regulations and open water drowning rates

BackgroundAlthough most persons over 5 years of age drown in open water, few laws have sought to regulate open water swim sites. We examined the association between regulations for designated...

Suitability Mapping for Managed Aquifer Recharge: Development of Web-Tools

Suitability maps for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) are increasingly used and hold the potential to be integrated into sustainable groundwater management plans. However, the quality of the maps strongly depends on the input data quality as well as the expertise of the decision-maker. The maps are commonly derived through GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA). To date, there is no common understanding of how suitability mapping should be conducted, as there is considerable variability concerning used GIS data and MCDA methodology. This study presents two web-tools that were conceptualized based on a review of GIS-MCDA studies in the context of MAR suitability mapping. The data retrieved from the review was compiled into a web-based query tool making the MAR- and MCDA-relevant information easily accessible. Based on the most commonly used MCDA practices in the assessed studies, we conceptualized and implemented a second web tool that comprises a simplified web GIS as well as supporting tools for weight assignment and standardization of the criteria. Both web tools will enable decision-makers to engage in MCDA for MAR mapping in a more structured and informed way. As the tools are open-source and web-based, they can facilitate the collaboration between multiple stakeholders and the easy sharing of results.

The Association between Firearm Control Policies and Firearm Suicide among Men: A State-Level Age-Stratified Analysis.

This study examined the association between state-specific firearm control policies and firearm suicide rates among men after adjusting for state-level demographics. This cross-sectional study used state-level mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System and the Brady Campaign State Scorecard in 2017. An age-stratified (15-24 years, 25-44 years, 45-64 years, and ≥ 65 years) multivariable analysis was conducted to identify gun control policies that are associated with firearm suicide rates among men in each age group. Results indicate that the associations of specific firearm control policies and firearm suicide rates differ across the age span. In particular, more policies (for example, dealer regulations and waiting periods) are negatively associated with firearm suicide rate among men 15 to 24 years of age. The findings underscore the importance of designing gender- and age-specific policy advocacy programs directed at lowering the rate of firearm suicide. This study also suggests that California, known for its innovative gun safety legislation efforts, could serve as a model for other states starting preventive programs to reduce the firearm suicide rate. Implications of the findings for social work practice are discussed.

VDJbase: an adaptive immune receptor genotype and haplotype database.

VDJbase is a publicly available database that offers easy searching of data describing the complete sets of gene sequences (genotypes and haplotypes) inferred from adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing datasets. VDJbase is designed to act as a resource that will allow the scientific community to explore the genetic variability of the immunoglobulin (Ig) and T cell receptor (TR) gene loci. It can also assist in the investigation of Ig- and TR-related genetic predispositions to diseases. Our database includes web-based query and online tools to assist in visualization and analysis of the genotype and haplotype data. It enables users to detect those alleles and genes that are significantly over-represented in a particular population, in terms of genotype, haplotype and gene expression. The database website can be freely accessed at https://www.vdjbase.org/, and no login is required. The data and code use creative common licenses and are freely downloadable from https://bitbucket.org/account/user/yaarilab/projects/GPHP.

Unrecognised self-injury mortality (SIM) trends among racial/ethnic minorities and women in the USA

AimTo assess whether an enhanced category combining suicides with nonsuicide drug self-intoxication fatalities more effectively captures the burden of self-injury mortality (SIM) in the USA among US non-Hispanic black and...

RSATree: Distribution-Aware Data Representation of Large-Scale Tabular Datasets for Flexible Visual Query.

Analysts commonly investigate the data distributions derived from statistical aggregations of data that are represented by charts, such as histograms and binned scatterplots, to visualize and analyze a large-scale dataset. Aggregate queries are implicitly executed through such a process. Datasets are constantly extremely large; thus, the response time should be accelerated by calculating predefined data cubes. However, the queries are limited to the predefined binning schema of preprocessed data cubes. Such limitation hinders analysts' flexible adjustment of visual specifications to investigate the implicit patterns in the data effectively. Particularly, RSATree enables arbitrary queries and flexible binning strategies by leveraging three schemes, namely, an R-tree-based space partitioning scheme to catch the data distribution, a locality-sensitive hashing technique to achieve locality-preserving random access to data items, and a summed area table scheme to support interactive query of aggregated values with a linear computational complexity. This study presents and implements a web-based visual query system that supports visual specification, query, and exploration of large-scale tabular data with user-adjustable granularities. We demonstrate the efficiency and utility of our approach by performing various experiments on real-world datasets and analyzing time and space complexity.

The undergraduate learner translator corpus: a new resource for translation studies and computational linguistics

Around the world, a growing interest has been seen in learner translator corpora, which are invaluable resources for teaching and research. This paper introduces a new resource to support researchers from different interdisciplinary areas such as computational linguistics, descriptive translation studies, computer-aided translation technology, Arabic machine translation applications, cognitive science, and translation pedagogy. Motivated by the lack of learner translator resources that provide data about learners of translation from and into Arabic, the undergraduate learner translator corpus (ULTC) is an ongoing, error-tagged sentence-aligned parallel corpus of English, Arabic, and French, with Arabic as its main language. The present corpus, consisting of parallel texts of female learners of translation from English or French into Arabic, is the first of its kind in terms of the languages represented, tasks covered, and number of students involved. It is also unique in terms of combining many complementary corpora of cross-lingual data, each of which has its own web-based query interface and corpus analysis tools. This paper describes the ULTC compilation process, preliminary findings, and planned future expansion and research.

State Gun Laws and Pediatric Firearm-Related Mortality

Firearms are the second leading cause of pediatric death in the United States. There is significant variation in firearm legislation at the state level. Recently, 3 state laws were associated with a reduction in overall deaths from firearms: universal background checks for firearm purchases, universal background checks for ammunition purchases, and identification requirement for firearms. We sought to determine if stricter firearm legislation at the state level is associated with lower pediatric firearm-related mortality. This was a cross-sectional study in which we used 2011-2015 Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System and Census data. We measured the association of the (1) strictness of firearm legislation (gun law score) and (2) presence of the 3 aforementioned gun laws with pediatric firearm-related mortality. We performed negative binomial regression accounting for differences in state-level characteristics (population-based race and ethnicity, education, income, and gun ownership) to derive mortality rate ratios associated with a 10-point change in each predictor and predicted mortality rates. A total of 21 241 children died of firearm-related injuries during the 5-year period. States with stricter gun laws had lower rates of firearm-related pediatric mortality (adjusted incident rate ratio 0.96 [0.93-0.99]). States with laws requiring universal background checks for firearm purchase in effect for ≥5 years had lower pediatric firearm-related mortality rates (adjusted incident rate ratio 0.65 [0.46-0.90]). In this 5-year analysis, states with stricter gun laws and laws requiring universal background checks for firearm purchase had lower firearm-related pediatric mortality rates. These findings support the need for further investigation to understand the impact of firearm legislation on pediatric mortality.

Suitability maps for managed aquifer recharge: a review of multi-criteria decision analysis studies

Suitability maps for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) sites hold a strong potential for integration into sustainable groundwater management plans. An uprising method to identify sites suitable for MAR implementation is geographic information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). There are no guidelines or a common understanding on how suitability mapping should be conducted, and there is considerable variability as to what factors are assessed and how they are weighted. To increase knowledge on GIS-MCDA, a database has been built based on 63 studies applying GIS-MCDA in the context of MAR site selection. Information on the criteria, assigned weights, and methodologies has been retrieved from the documents. Statistical analysis of the database depicts the current state of art for suitability mapping methodologies as well as specific information for the different recharge methods. We further incorporated the compiled information into a web-based query tool that makes the information easily accessible and the utilization of the database more user friendly. This review as well as the created web-tool will help planners of MAR sites to engage in the MCDA in a more structured way by referring to previously conducted studies and by finding information suitable for their specific project. The application potential of suitability maps is discussed along with the shortcomings of this methodology.

Using Syndromic Surveillance Data to Study the Impact of Media Content on Self-harm

Using Syndromic Surveillance Data to Study the Impact of Media Content on Self-harm

The Changing Characteristics of African-American Adolescent Suicides, 2001-2017.

African-American (AA) adolescents (13-19years of age) have disproportionately higher rates of suicide. In this study, to explore the nature of suicidal deaths and suicide attempts in African- American adolescents, we utilized the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS) and the Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) database from years 2001 to 2017. The rate of AA male suicides increased by 60% and for AA females increased by 182% from 2001 to 2017. Suicides were the second leading cause of death for AA adolescents. Additionally, in 2017 alone, 68,528 AA males and 94,760 AA females made suicide attempts serious enough that they had to be treated by health professionals. Males were most likely to use firearms (52%) or to hang/suffocate themselves (34%) to commit suicide. Females used hanging/suffocation (56%) or firearms (21%) to commit suicides. The ten states with the greatest number of AA adolescent suicides (2015-2017) were: Georgia, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and Missouri. There is an urgent need to further explore the changing nature and epidemiology of AA adolescent suicides and to study for whom and under what circumstances interventions can reduce suicides and suicidal behaviors in AA adolescents.

Firearm Legislation Stringency and Firearm-Related Fatalities among Children in the US

Firearm-related injuries are the second leading cause of pediatric deaths in the US. We sought to evaluate the effectiveness of both state child access prevention (CAP) laws and gun regulations on pediatric firearm mortality. We hypothesized that states with more stringent firearm legislation had lower pediatric firearm mortality. We used 2014-2015 firearm mortality data from the Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, 2014 Brady scores (used to quantify stringency of state gun regulations) and CAP laws. State-level covariates were obtained from government sources, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Education. Spearman rank correlations and linear regression were used to determine the relationship between overall pediatric firearm mortality and gun regulations. We also examined the relationship between gun regulations and firearm-related homicides and suicides. Annually, there were approximately 2,715 pediatric firearm fatalities among children; 62.1% were homicides and 31.4% suicides. There was a moderate negative correlation between states' firearm legislation stringency and overall pediatric firearm mortality (ρ=-0.66; p < 0.001), and between CAP laws and firearm suicide rates (ρ=-0.56; p < 0.001). After controlling for poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, and the number of registered firearms, the association between firearm legislation stringency and overall pediatric firearm mortality remained significant (p= 0.04). The association between CAP laws and firearm suicide rate remained significant after controlling for socioeconomic factors, registered firearms, and other firearm legislation (p= 0.04). Strict gun legislation and CAP laws are associated with fewer pediatric firearm fatalities and firearm suicides, respectively, though no such association was identified with pediatric firearm homicides. Although more studies are needed to determine causality, state-level legislation could play an important role in reducing pediatric firearm-related deaths.

Suicide attempt trends leading up to and following gun lock changes in the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act

PurposeFirearms account for the majority of suicide deaths in the US military and general population. The percentage of suicides resulting from firearms is higher in the military, however, and as such, the ratio of non-lethal to lethal suicide attempts is lower in the military than in the general population. In 2013, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which facilitated a Department of Defense (DoD) shift toward allowing commanding officers and clinicians to inquire about personal firearms with service members perceived as being at risk and also began giving free cable locks to firearm-owning military personnel. The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary understanding of the effectiveness of this change, the authors examined trends in firearm suicide attempts within the US military and general population from 2010 to 2015.Design/methodology/approachData on non-lethal and lethal suicide attempts overall and within specific methods were extracted from the Department of Defense Suicide Event Report and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (2011–2015).FindingsContrary to expectations, firearms were not utilized in a smaller proportion of suicide attempts within the military post-law change. Consistent with expectations, however, the ratio of non-lethal to lethal suicide attempts increased, particularly after the change in law, with the ratio in the military converging somewhat with that of the general population.Originality/valueOverall, results were mixed, with only limited and tangential evidence that the change in law has proven effective. More precise data collection will be required in order to fully evaluate such laws.

Estimating the Economic Burden Related to Older Adult Falls by State.

Unintentional falls in older adults (persons 65 years of age and older) impose a significant economic burden on the health care system. Methods for calculating state-specific health care costs are limited. This study describes 2 methods to estimate state-level direct medical spending due to older adult falls and explains their differences, advantages, and limitations. The first method, partial attributable fraction, applied a national attributable fraction to the total state health expenditure accounts in 2014 by payer type (Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance). The second method, count applied to cost, obtained 2014 state counts of older adults treated and released from an emergency department and hospitalized because of a fall injury. The counts in each state were multiplied by the national average lifetime medical costs for a fall-related injury from the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. Costs are reported in 2014 US dollars. United States. Older adults. Health expenditure on older adult falls by state. The estimate from the partial attributable fraction method was higher than the estimate from the count applied to cost method for all states compared, except Utah. Based on the partial attributable fraction method, in 2014, total personal health care spending for older adult falls ranged from $48 million in Alaska to $4.4 billion in California. Medicare spending attributable to older adult falls ranged from $22 million in Alaska to $3.0 billion in Florida. For the count applied to cost method, available for 17 states, the lifetime medical costs of 2014 fall-related injuries ranged from $68 million in Vermont to $2.8 billion in Florida. The 2 methods offer states options for estimating the economic burden attributable to older adult fall injuries. These estimates can help states make informed decisions about how to allocate funding to reduce falls and promote healthy aging.

A National Comparison of Suicide Among Medicaid and Non-Medicaid Youth

In the U.S., youth enrolled in Medicaid experience more risk factors for suicide, such as mental illness, than youth not enrolled in Medicaid. To inform a national suicide prevention strategy, this study presents suicide rates in a sample of youth enrolled in Medicaid and compares them with rates in the non-Medicaid population. Data sources were death certificate data matched with Medicaid data from 16 states, and the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System. Deaths by suicide that occurred between 2009 and 2013 by youth aged 10 to 18 years were identified for Medicaid and non-Medicaid groups. Age-, gender-, and cause-specific mortality rates were calculated separately for both groups. Standardized mortality ratios were calculated to compare rates, and standardized mortality ratio 95% CIs were estimated with Poisson regressions. The data were analyzed in 2018. A substantial proportion (39%) of the total number of deaths by suicide (N=4,045) in youth occurred among those enrolled in Medicaid. The overall suicide rate did not significantly differ between groups (standardized mortality ratio=0.96, 95% CI=0.90, 1.03). However, compared with the non-Medicaid group, the suicide rate in the Medicaid group was significantly higher among youth aged 10 to 14 years (standardized mortality ratio=1.28, 95% CI=1.11, 1.47), females (regardless of age; standardized mortality ratio=1.14, 95% CI=1.01, 1.29), and those who died by hanging (standardized mortality ratio=1.26, 95% CI=1.16, 1.38). The population-based profile of suicide among youth enrolled in Medicaid differs from the profile of youth not enrolled in Medicaid, confirming the importance of Medicaid as a "boundaried" suicide prevention setting.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Querying Web Polystores

Data retrieval systems are facing a paradigm shift due to the proliferation of specialized data storage engines (SQL, NoSQL, Column Stores, MapReduce, Data Stream, and Graph) supported by varied data models (CSV, JSON, RDB, RDF, and XML). One immediate consequence of this paradigm shift results into data bottleneck over the web; which means, web applications are unable to retrieve data with the intensity at which data are being generated from different facilities. Especially in the genomics and healthcare verticals, data are growing from petascale to exascale, and biomedical stakeholders are expecting seamless retrieval of these data over the web. In this paper, we argue that the bottleneck over the web can be reduced by minimizing the costly data conversion process and delegating query performance and processing loads to the specialized data storage engines over their native data models. We propose a web-based query federation mechanism-called PolyWeb-that unifies query answering over multiple native data models (CSV, RDB, and RDF). We emphasize two main challenges of query federation over native data models: 1) devise a method to select prospective data sources-with different underlying data models-that can satisfy a given query and 2) query optimization, join, and execution over different data models. We demonstrate PolyWeb on a cancer genomics use case, where it is often the case that a description of biological and chemical entities (e.g., gene, disease, drug, and pathways) spans across multiple data models and respective storage engines. In order to assess the benefits and limitations of evaluating queries over native data models, we evaluate PolyWeb with the state-of-the-art query federation engines in terms of result completeness, source selection, and overall query execution time.

VariED: the first integrated database of gene annotation and expression profiles for variants related to human diseases.

Integrated analysis of DNA variants and gene expression profiles may facilitate precise identification of gene regulatory networks involved in disease mechanisms. Despite the widespread availability of public resources, we lack databases that are capable of simultaneously providing gene expression profiles, variant annotations, functional prediction scores and pathogenic analyses. VariED is the first web-based querying system that integrates an annotation database and expression profiles for genetic variants. The database offers a user-friendly platform and locates gene/variant names in the literature by connecting to established online querying tools, biological annotation tools and records from free-text literature. VariED acts as a central hub for organized genome information consisting of gene annotation, variant allele frequency, functional prediction, clinical interpretation and gene expression profiles in three species: human, mouse and zebrafish. VariED also provides a novel scoring scheme to predict the functional impact of a DNA variant. With one single entry, all results regarding queried DNA variants can be downloaded. VariED can potentially serve as an efficient way to obtain comprehensive variant knowledge for clinicians and scientists around the world working on important drug discoveries and precision treatments.

GLUE: a flexible software system for virus sequence data

BackgroundVirus genome sequences, generated in ever-higher volumes, can provide new scientific insights and inform our responses to epidemics and outbreaks. To facilitate interpretation, such data must be organised and processed within scalable computing resources that encapsulate virology expertise. GLUE (Genes Linked by Underlying Evolution) is a data-centric bioinformatics environment for building such resources. The GLUE core data schema organises sequence data along evolutionary lines, capturing not only nucleotide data but associated items such as alignments, genotype definitions, genome annotations and motifs. Its flexible design emphasises applicability to different viruses and to diverse needs within research, clinical or public health contexts.ResultsHCV-GLUE is a case study GLUE resource for hepatitis C virus (HCV). It includes an interactive public web application providing sequence analysis in the form of a maximum-likelihood-based genotyping method, antiviral resistance detection and graphical sequence visualisation. HCV sequence data from GenBank is categorised and stored in a large-scale sequence alignment which is accessible via web-based queries. Whereas this web resource provides a range of basic functionality, the underlying GLUE project can also be downloaded and extended by bioinformaticians addressing more advanced questions.ConclusionGLUE can be used to rapidly develop virus sequence data resources with public health, research and clinical applications. This streamlined approach, with its focus on reuse, will help realise the full value of virus sequence data.

Epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries among US Air Force Special Tactics Operators: an economic cost perspective

ObjectivesMusculoskeletal injuries (MSI) are an important concern in military populations. The purpose of this study was to describe the burden of MSI and associated financial cost, in a sample of...