Evaluating an alcohol harm-reduction campaign advising drinkers of the alcohol-cancer link.

INTRODUCTION: Public awareness of the alcohol-cancer link is low. Provision of this information could reduce alcohol consumption and related harms. The Spread campaign is a multi-media education campaign implemented in Western Australia to inform people about the carcinogenic properties of alcohol and associated harms. The aims of the present study were to (i) examine attitudinal and behavioural outcomes of the Spread campaign and (ii) identify demographic and drinking status factors associated with enactment of harm-reduction behaviours resulting from exposure. METHOD: A cross sectional survey of Western Australian drinkers (consumed alcohol at least a few times in the previous 12 months, n = 760) examined campaign recognition, campaign perceptions, and behaviours resulting from campaign exposure. Chi-square analyses and a generalised linear model were used to identify demographic and alcohol-related factors associated with behavioural outcomes. RESULTS: Around two-thirds of respondents recognised the campaign (65%), and of these, 22% reported successfully reducing how often or how much they drank due to seeing the campaign. Three quarters (73%) of all respondents considered the campaign message about the alcohol-cancer link to be believable. Respondents drinking at levels above the Australian guideline were less likely to have positive perceptions of the campaign than those complying with the guideline, but were more likely to report enacting the assessed harm-reduction behaviours as a result of campaign exposure. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results suggest that provision of information about the alcohol-cancer link has the potential to motivate reduced alcohol consumption. Implementing such campaigns could constitute an effective alcohol harm-reduction strategy.

Fast and Noise-Resilient Magnetic Field Mapping on a Low-Cost UAV Using Gaussian Process Regression.

This study presents a comprehensive approach to mapping local magnetic field anomalies with robustness to magnetic noise from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV collects magnetic field measurements, which are used to generate a local magnetic field map through Gaussian process regression (GPR). The research identifies two categories of magnetic noise originating from the UAV's electronics, adversely affecting map precision. First, this paper delineates a zero-mean noise arising from high-frequency motor commands issued by the UAV's flight controller. To mitigate this noise, the study proposes adjusting a specific gain in the vehicle's PID controller. Next, our research reveals that the UAV generates a time-varying magnetic bias that fluctuates throughout experimental trials. To address this issue, a novel compromise mapping technique is introduced, enabling the map to learn these time-varying biases with data collected from multiple flights. The compromise map circumvents excessive computational demands without sacrificing mapping accuracy by constraining the number of prediction points used for regression. A comparative analysis of the magnetic field maps' accuracy and the spatial density of observations employed in map construction is then conducted. This examination serves as a guideline for best practices when designing trajectories for local magnetic field mapping. Furthermore, the study presents a novel consistency metric intended to determine whether predictions from a GPR magnetic field map should be retained or discarded during state estimation. Empirical evidence from over 120 flight tests substantiates the efficacy of the proposed methodologies. The data are made publicly accessible to facilitate future research endeavors.

Enhancing utility of interfacility triage guidelines using machine learning: Development of the Geriatric Interfacility Trauma Triage score.

BACKGROUND: Undertriage of injured older adults to tertiary trauma centers (TTCs) has been demonstrated by many studies. In predominantly rural regions, a majority of trauma patients are initially transported to nontertiary trauma centers (NTCs). Current interfacility triage guidelines do not highlight the hierarchical importance of risk factors nor do they allow for individual risk prediction. We sought to develop a transfer risk score that may simplify secondary triage of injured older adults to TTCs. METHODS: This was a retrospective prognostic study of injured adults 55 years or older initially transported to an NTC from the scene of injury. The study used data reported to the Oklahoma State Trauma Registry between 2009 and 2019. The outcome of interest was either mortality or serious injury (Injury Severity Score, ≥16) requiring an interventional procedure at the receiving facility. In developing the model, machine-learning techniques including random forests were used to reduce the number of candidate variables recorded at the initial facility. RESULTS: Of the 5,913 injured older adults initially transported to an NTC before subsequent transfer to a TTC, 32.7% (1,696) had the outcome of interest at the TTC. The final prognostic model (area under the curve, 75.4%; 95% confidence interval, 74-76%) included the following top four predictors and weighted scores: airway intervention (10), traffic-related femur fracture (6), spinal cord injury (5), emergency department Glasgow Coma Scale score of ≤13 (5), and hemodynamic support (4). Bias-corrected and sample validation areas under the curve were 74% and 72%, respectively. A risk score of 7 yields a sensitivity of 78% and specificity of 56%. CONCLUSION: Secondary triage of injured older adults to TTCs could be enhanced by use of a risk score. Our study is the first to develop a risk stratification tool for injured older adults requiring transfer to a higher level of care. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic and Epidemiolgical; Level III.

Cost-effectiveness of LiveLighter® - a mass media public education campaign for obesity prevention.

BACKGROUND: The Western Australian LiveLighter® program has implemented a series of mass media advertising campaigns that aim to encourage adults to achieve and maintain a healthy weight through healthy behaviours. This study aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of the LiveLighter® campaign in preventing obesity-related ill health in the Western Australian population from the health sector perspective. METHODS: Campaign effectiveness (delivered over 12 months) was estimated from a meta-analysis of two cohort studies that surveyed a representative sample of the Western Australian population aged 25-49 years on discretionary food consumption one month pre- and one month post-campaign. Campaign costs were derived from campaign invoices and interviews with campaign staff. Long-term health (measured in health-adjusted life years (HALYs)) and healthcare cost-savings resulting from reduced obesity-related diseases were modelled over the lifetime of the population using a validated multi-state lifetable Markov model (ACE-Obesity Policy model). All cost and health outcomes were discounted at 7% and presented in 2017 values. Uncertainty analyses were undertaken using Monte-Carlo simulations. RESULTS: The 12-month intervention was estimated to cost approximately A$2.46 million (M) (95% uncertainty interval (UI): 2.26M; 2.67M). The meta-analysis indicated post-campaign weekly reduction in sugary drinks consumption of 0.78 serves (95% UI: 0.57; 1.0) and sweet food of 0.28 serves (95% UI: 0.07; 0.48), which was modelled to result in average weight reduction of 0.58 kilograms (95%UI: 0.31; 0.92), 204 HALYs gained (95%UI: 103; 334), and healthcare cost-savings of A$3.17M (95%UI: A$1.66M; A$5.03M). The mean incremental cost-effectiveness ratio showed that LiveLighter® was dominant (cost-saving and health promoting; 95%UI: dominant; A$7 703 per HALY gained). The intervention remained cost-effective in all sensitivity analyses conducted. CONCLUSION: The LiveLighter® campaign is likely to represent very good value-for-money as an obesity prevention intervention in Western Australia and should be included as part of an evidence-based obesity prevention strategy.

Microbiome Analysis of Malacopathogenic Nematodes Suggests No Evidence of a Single Bacterial Symbiont Responsible for Gastropod Mortality.

Nematodes and bacteria are prevalent in soil ecosystems, and some have evolved symbiotic relationships. In some cases, symbionts carry out highly specialized functions: a prime example being entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), which vector bacteria (Xenorhabdus or Photorhabdus) into insect hosts, killing them to provide a food source for the nematodes. It is thought that the commercially available malacopathogenic (kills slugs and snails) biocontrol nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita vectors a bacterium (Moraxella osloensis) into slugs to kill them. To investigate this further we used a metagenomic approach to profile the bacteria present in the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita, a wild strain of P. hermaphrodita and two other Phasmarhabditis species (P. californica and P. neopapillosa), after they had killed their slug host (Deroceras invadens). We show that these nematodes do not exclusively associate with one bacterium but a range of species, with members of the phyla Pseudomonadota, Bacillota, Actinobacteriota and Bacteroidota the most prevalent. The commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita had the least diverse bacterial community. Furthermore, we found that the bacterium P. hermaphrodita has been cultured on for 25 years is not the expected species M. osloensis but is Psychrobacter spp. and the only strain of the Phasmarhabditis species to associate with Psychrobacter spp. was the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita. In summary, we found no evidence to show that P. hermaphrodita rely exclusively on one bacterium to cause host mortality but found variable and diverse bacterial communities associated with these nematodes in their slug hosts.

Improving Attitude Estimation Using Gaussian-Process-Regression-Based Magnetic Field Maps.

Magnetometers measure the local magnetic field and are present in most modern inertial measurement units (IMUs). Readings from magnetometers are used to identify Earth's Magnetic North outdoors, but are often ignored during indoor experiments since the magnetic field does not behave how most expect. This paper presents methods to create, validate, and visualize three-dimensional magnetic field maps to expand the use of magnetic fields as a sensing modality for navigation. The utility of these maps is measured in their ability to accurately represent the magnetic field and to enable dynamic attitude estimation. In experiments with motion capture truth data, a small multicopter with three-axis inertial measurements, including magnetometer, traversed five flight profiles distinctly exciting roll, pitch, and yaw motion to provide interesting trajectories for attitude estimation. Indoor experimental results were compared to those outdoors to emphasize how spatial variation in the magnetic field drives the need for our mapping techniques. Our work presents a new way of visualizing 3D magnetic fields, which allows users to better reason about the magnetic field in their workspace. Next, we show that magnetic field maps generated from coverage patterns are generally more accurate, but training such maps using observations from desired flight paths is sufficient in the vicinity of these paths. All training sets were interpolated using Gaussian process regression (GPR), which yielded maps with <1 µT of error when interpolating between and extrapolating outside of observed locations. Finally, we validated the utility of our GPR-based maps in enabling attitude estimates in regions of high magnetic field spatial variation with experimental data.

Pathogenicity of wild and commercial Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita exposed to the pestiferous slug Deroceras invadens.

Many terrestrial gastropods are pestiferous and pose a significant threat to agriculture, horticulture and floriculture. They are usually controlled by metaldehyde based pellets but an alternative control method is the slug parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, which has been formulated into a biological control agent (Nemaslug®) for use by farmers and gardeners to kill certain pestiferous slug species in 4-21 days. The current strain of P. hermaphrodita (called DMG0001) has been used in commercial production since 1994, but there is little information about the pathogenicity of wild strains of P. hermaphrodita towards slugs. Here, we exposed the pestiferous slug Deroceras invadens to nine wild isolated strains of P. hermaphrodita (DMG0002, DMG0003, DMG0005, DMG0006, DMG0007, DMG0008, DMG0009, DMG0010 and DMG0011) and the commercial strain (DMG0001) to three doses (0, 500 and 1000 nematodes per ml). Survival and feeding were recorded over 14 days. All wild P. hermaphrodita strains (other than DMG0010) and P. hermaphrodita (DMG0001), applied at 500 nematodes per ml, caused significant mortality to D. invadens compared to an uninfected control. Similarly, all P. hermaphrodita strains applied at 1000 nematodes per ml, caused significant mortality to D. invadens compared to an uninfected control. Overall, all wild P. hermaphrodita strains (other than DMG0011) caused significantly more mortality than P. hermaphrodita DMG0001 at one or both nematode concentrations. In summary, we have found some wild P. hermaphrodita strains were more virulent than P. hermaphrodita (DMG0001). Ultimately, these strains could potentially be developed as alternative, efficient biological control agents for use against slugs.