In addition to regular (white and brown) eggs, alternative types of table eggs (e.g., free-run, free-range, organic) are available in the Canadian market, and their market growth rate has been high during the last decade in British Columbia (BC). The objective of our research was to identify associations between consumers' ...

Singapore, the fastest growing economy in Asia last year, has enjoyed a decade of free-flowing research funding. Money is still pouring in, but the question remains whether money can buy international-class science, especially after the sudden attachment of strings to grant money starting last fall. Perhaps the best person to ...

Improving eyewitness identification evidence remains a key priority for research. Basic laboratory research has consistently demonstrated that allowing participants to withhold answers about which they are unsure leads to improved accuracy. Surprisingly, this approach has not been the subject of comprehensive investigation in the eyewitness identification literature. In this article, ...

Bioenergy crops currently provide the only source of alternative energy with the potential to reduce the use of fossil transportation fuels in a way that is compatible with existing engine technology, including in developing countries. Even though bioenergy research is currently receiving considerable attention, many of the concepts are not ...

The Nordic countries have a long tradition of register-based epidemiologic studies. Numerous population-based specialized registers offer high-quality data from individuals, and the extensive use of register data further improves the quality of the registers. Unique personal identity codes given to every resident and used in all registers guarantee easy and ...

Abstract:The current guidelines of evidence-based medicine (EBM) presuppose that clinical research and clinical practice should advance from rigorous scientific tests as they generate reliable, value-free knowledge. Under this presupposition, hypotheses postulated by doctors and patients in the process of their decision making are preferably tested in randomized clinical trials (RCTs), ...

To provide an update of the advantages of new-generation molecular diagnostics as regards acute diarrhea, and to evaluate how they can help clinicians and researchers diagnose this condition. Thanks to real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques, many enteropathogens can now be identified simultaneously within hours. Most techniques are based on amplification ...

In cooperation with Indian health authorities, the GAVI Alliance (GAVI) is introducing Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccination into the immunisation programmes of 11 'better-performing' Indian states. This article describes the concerns and interests of major stakeholders in the programme, including GAVI partners and the Indian government, and summarises Indian debates that ...

BioSig is an open source software library for biomedical signal processing. The aim of the BioSig project is to foster research in biomedical signal processing by providing free and open source software tools for many different application areas. Some of the areas where BioSig can be employed are neuroinformatics, brain-computer ...

Human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) informs the understanding of the neural basis of mental function and is a key domain of ethical enquiry. It raises questions about the practice and implications of research, and reflexively informs ethics through the empirical investigation of moral judgments. It is at the centre ...

There is an increased awareness of evidence-based methodology among psychologists, but little exists in the literature about how to access the research. Moreover, the prohibitive cost of this information combined with limited time are barriers to the identification of evidence to answer clinical questions. This article presents an example of ...

Proliferation of supercavitating torpedoes has motivated research on countermeasures against them as well as on the fluid phenomenon which makes them possible. The goal of this research was to investigate an envisaged countermeasure, an acoustic field capable of slowing or diverting the weapon by disrupting the cavitation envelope. The research ...

Case-control studies are frequently performed in prenatal and perinatal epidemiology. For data collection, these studies often rely on self-administered questionnaires or personal interviews. Although of importance, validation of these measurement instruments received little attention in epidemiologic research so far. In this letter, we stress the need for more well-conducted validation ...

From September 2008 to March 2010, 397 ticks (315 larvae, 33 nymphs, 23 females, and 26 males) were collected from captive and free-living wildlife species in northeastern Brazil. Six tick species were identified, including Amblyomma auricularium (Conil) on Tamandua tetradactyla (L.), Amblyomma dubitatum Neumann on Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (L.), Nectomys rattus ...

The traditional epidemiologic modes of data collection, including paper-and-pencil questionnaires and interviews, have several limitations, such as decreasing response rates over the last decades and high costs in large study populations. The use of Web-based questionnaires may be an attractive alternative but is still scarce in epidemiologic research because of ...

Among older adults, everyday competence is often expressed in the context of other participating individuals. Although this active human context may be occasionally comprised of mere acquaintances, long-term partners (such as couples) often act as a unit in engaging in everyday actions or reporting on familiar domains. This special section ...

In 1862, the veterinarian Loman reported the first sheep in The Netherlands with symptoms associated with lentiviral infection, although at the time the symptoms were ascribed to ovine progressive pneumonia. In the following century, similar cases were reported by South African, French, American, and Icelandic researchers. Extensive research into the ...

Epidemiology is at the center of translational science. Uniquely among biomedical disciplines, the methods and perspective of epidemiology span research from discovery to effective interventions and ultimately to their dissemination and implementation. However, shorthand designations for various phases of translational science, such as "T1, T2, T3, and T4," may be ...

Epidemiologic research that uses administrative records (rather than registries or clinical surveys) to identify cases for study has been increasingly restricted because of concerns about privacy, making unbiased population-based research less practicable. In their article, Nattinger et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2010;172(6):637-644) present a method for using administrative data to ...

This follow-on article (see below) comparing the differences between the Edwards-Sapien valve (ESV) and the Medtronic CoreValve (MCV) discusses transcatheter valve technologies from the point of view of a world-renowned team of cardiac experts led by Dr Sanjeevan Pasupati from Waikato Hospital, New Zealand, which has deployed both the ESV ...

Seasonality is one of the oldest and most resistant-to-elucidation issues in suicide research. However, in recent years epidemiological research has yielded new results, which provide new perspectives on the matter. This qualitative review summarizes research published since the 1990 s. In particular, the focus is on studies dealing with the ...

Though archival literature states that schizophrenia occurs equally in males and in females, recent epidemiological studies report higher incidence of schizophrenia in men than in women. Moreover, there is longstanding evidence that women may be under-represented in non-epidemiological research literature. Our first goal was to quantify gender ratios in non-epidemiological ...

Many morbid-mortality atlases and small-area studies have been carried out over the last decade. However, the methods used to draw up such research, the interpretation of results and the conclusions published are often inaccurate. Often, the proliferation of this practice has led to inefficient decision-making, implementation of inappropriate health policies ...

The inspiration to undertake epidemiologic research comes from many sources, but little has been written about when it is time to quit pursuing a given topic. Perseveration of research beyond that point may result from: (1) hope that our intuition about risks and benefits can be proven empirically correct, despite ...

The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program is a commonly used data source in cancer research. This article provides an introduction to the SEER database, describes important data items available from SEER on the most commonly diagnosed urologic malignancies (prostate, bladder, and kidney cancers), and reviews limitations of SEER ...

Physical activity has a fundamental role in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. The precise measurement of physical activity is key to many surveillance and epidemiological studies investigating trends and associations with disease. Public health initiatives aimed at increasing physical activity rely on the measurement of physical activity to ...

This article describes the clinical services for EB in Australia and New Zealand. The history and epidemiology of EB in Australia is described. Current treatment and research achievements are described.

This commentary responds to Sudhinaraset and Blum's article in this issue, and seeks to integrate a growing body of development research into existing occupational health and safety (OHS) research, policy and practice. We suggest that it is useful to distinguish between research questions regarding minimum age restrictions for hazardous tasks ...

Cordless and mobile (cellular) telephone use has increased substantially in recent years causing concerns about possible health effects. This has led to much epidemiological research, but the usual focus is on mobile telephone radiofrequency (RF) exposure only despite cordless RF being very similar. Access to and use of cordless phones ...

New research in asthma epidemiology in children includes the development of the ISAAC programme, which has shown large variations globally in the prevalence of asthma symptoms. Time trends in the prevalence of asthma symptoms have shown a mixed picture of increases in low prevalence centres, and a plateau or even ...

Since the early 20th Century, epidemiological research has brought benefits and burdens to Aboriginal communities in Canada. Many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit continue to view Western research with distrust; quantitative methods are perceived as especially inconsistent with indigenous ways of knowing. There is increasing recognition, however, that rigorous epidemiological ...

High quality research is essential to the provision of excellent health care in both primary and hospital settings. Midwives, health visitors, other community practitioners and allied health professionals should be encouraged to initiate and participate in research. No one should undertake research in isolation. Those who are novices should make ...

While there is a growing body of information about hazards of nanomaterials, little is known about the risks to workers exposed to them. However, workers are the first people in society that are being exposed to the growing inventory of "nano-enabled" products in commerce. The number of workers involved in ...

Many philosophers ignore developments in the behavioral, cognitive, and neurosciences that purport to challenge our ideas of free will and responsibility. The reason for this is that the challenge is often framed as a denial of the idea that we are able to act differently than we do. However, most ...

Basic science and clinical investigations in cancer research have contributed to our understanding of the genetic causes of various neoplasms and discovery of novel therapeutic interventions to fight malignancies such as lymphoma. During this exciting time, we have witnessed the advent of new technologies to further characterize primary intraocular lymphoma ...

The final decision of study design in molecular and genetic epidemiology is usually a compromise between the research study aims and a number of logistical and ethical barriers that may limit the feasibility of the study or the interpretation of results. Although biomarker measurements may improve exposure or disease assessments, ...

Renewed efforts in tuberculosis (TB) research have led to important new insights into the biology and epidemiology of this devastating disease. Yet, in the face of the modern epidemics of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, and multidrug resistance--all of which contribute to susceptibility to TB--global control of the disease will remain a formidable ...

The age-related loss of muscle mass, also called sarcopenia, is receiving increasing attention in aging research. While the concept is frequently being used in research settings and introduced to clinical settings, thus far no consensus on its definition has been established. This article provides an overview of the history of ...

The use of epidemiologic research designs and analytical methods is common in dietetics research. Food and nutrition professionals who seek to perform evidence-based practice or participate in research design, analysis, and communication need skills in the essentials of epidemiology. This is one of a series of monographs on research methodology ...

Lyme borreliosis has been widely recognized in Europe, but diagnostic and therapy concepts are still a matter for discussion. False-positive microbiologic results can lead to unnecessary antibiotic treatment, which even in genuine cases is sometimes unnecessarily prolonged. This review addresses new research on diagnosis, treatment, and eco-epidemiology. Recent research work ...

The proverb "Words are like cherries", meaning that when you start talking subjects pop up and you end up with long conversations, just like cherries coming out of the plate in chains when you pick one, may also be applied to epidemiological research. A sequence of epidemiological studies, each being ...

Salivary cortisol measures are increasingly being incorporated into large-scale, population-based, or epidemiological research, in which participants are selected to be representative of particular communities or populations of interest, and sample sizes are in the order of hundreds to tens of thousands of participants. These approaches to studying salivary cortisol provide ...

Epidemiological studies of the senses of olfaction (smell) and gustation (taste) are needed since impairments in these senses have important implications for health. Only a few attempts have been made to measure the prevalence of olfactory and gustatory or taste dysfunction, and many methodological challenges remain to be addressed. These ...

These wounds can be devastating for patients and challenging for practitioners. This article, the first in a series, examines the research literature on their aetiology and presentation, and suggests how they might be most effectively assessed

Epidemiological studies have linked the consumption of apples with reduced risk of some cancers, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and diabetes. Extensive research exists on apples and the health benefits of their beverages and phytochemicals. The purpose of this paper is to review the most recent literature in this area focusing on ...

Microscopic colitis (MC) causes chronic diarrhea, abdominal cramping, nausea, and weight loss. Colonic mucosa appears normal on endoscopy; however, biopsies show abnormalities such as intraepithelial lymphocytosis in lymphocytic colitis, and a thickened subepithelial collagen band in collagenous colitis. Epidemiologic data demonstrates that MC is a more common cause of diarrhea ...

With the economic development of China, research in atrial fibrillation has improved progressively, but due to a lack of international communication, many significant achievements have not been widely recognised. A brief overview of epidemiology, current therapy and research on atrial fibrillation in mainland China is provided. Chinese electrophysiologists would like ...

Schizophrenia epidemiology can provide us with valuable information to guide research directions. However, while epidemiology is useful for generating candidate risk factors, it can not always deliver studies that prove causality. We argue that the field needs more translational research that links schizophrenia epidemiology with molecular, cellular, and behavioral neuroscience. ...

This review is based on the proceedings from the Second Lebow Conference, held in Chicago in 2007. The conference concentrated on developing a framework for innovative studies in the epidemiology of environmental exposures, focusing specifically on the potential relationship with brain tumors. Researchers with different perspectives, including toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and ...

Epidemiologists' discussions on causation are not always very enlightening with regard to the notion of 'cause' in epidemiology. Epidemiologists rightly work from a science-based approach to causation in epidemiology, but largely disagree about the matter. Disagreement may be partly due to confusion of the question of useful concepts for causal ...