International Journal of Health GeographicsThis is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

This page shows you the latest items in this publication.

Pages: 1 2 3

134 records returned

Comparing objective measures of environmental supports for pedestrian travel in adultsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: Among three methods of aggregation examined, the method that accounted for distance from participant's home to the pedestrian facility (distance weighting) is promising; at the same time, it requires the most time and effort to calculate. This finding is consistent with the behavioral assumption that travelers may respond to environmental features closer to their residence more strongly than to more distant environmental qualities. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - November 19, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Elizabeth ShayDaniel RodriguezGihyoug ChoKelly CliftonKelly Evenson Source Type: journals

Pan-European Chikungunya surveillance: designing risk stratified surveillance zonesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The first documented transmission of Chikungunya within Europe took place in Italy during the summer of 2007. Chikungunya, a viral infection affecting millions of people across Africa and Asia, can be debilitating and no prophylactic treatment exists. Although imported cases are reported frequently across Europe, 2007 was the first confirmed European outbreak and available evidence suggests that Aedes albopictus was the vector responsible and the index case was a visitor from India. This paper proposed pan-European surveillance zones for Chikungunya, based on the climatic conditions necessary for vector activity and viral ...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 31, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Natasha TilstonChris SkellyPhil Weinstein Source Type: journals

Local indicators of geocoding accuracy (LIGA): theory and applicationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Three results are significant. First, the shape of the probability distributions of positional error (e.g. circular, elliptical, cross) has little impact on the perturbability of spatial weights, which instead depends on the mean positional error. Second, our methodology allows researchers to evaluate the sensitivity of spatial statistics to positional accuracy for specific geographies. This has substantial practical implications since it makes possible routine sensitivity analysis of spatial statistics to positional error arising in geocoded street addresses, global positioning systems, LIDAR and other geogra...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 28, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Geoffrey JacquezRobert Rommel Source Type: journals

A scan statistic for continuous data based on the normal probability modelEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Temporal, spatial and space-time scan statistics are commonly used to detect and evaluate the statistical significance of temporal and/or geographical disease clusters, without any prior assumptions on the location, time period or size of those clusters. Scan statistics are mostly used for count data, such as disease incidence or mortality. Sometimes there is an interest in looking for clusters with respect to a continuous variable, such as lead levels in children or low birth weight. For such continuous data, we present a scan statistic where the likelihood is calculated using the the normal probability model. It may also...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 19, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Martin KulldorffLan HuangKevin Konty Source Type: journals

Socioeconomic indicators of heat-related health risk supplemented with remotely sensed dataEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Thermal remote sensing data can be utilized to improve understanding of intra-urban variations in risk from extreme heat. The refinement of current risk assessment systems could increase the likelihood of survival during extreme heat events and assist emergency personnel in the delivery of vital resources during such disasters. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 15, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Daniel JohnsonJeffrey WilsonGeorge Luber Source Type: journals

Geographical variations in the correlates of blood donor turnout rates: an investigation of Canadian metropolitan areasEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: While a number of correlates of blood donation are observed across Canada, important contextual effects across metropolitan areas are highlighted. The paper concludes by looking at policy options that are aimed toward further understanding donor behaviour. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 12, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Pj SabertonAntonio PaezK. Bruce NewboldNancy Heddle Source Type: journals

Comparison of tests for spatial heterogeneity on data with global clustering patterns and outliersEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: SaTScan elliptic version is more efficient for outlier detection compared with the other methods evaluated in this article. Tango's MEET and Oden's I*pop perform best in global clustering scenarios among the selected methods. The use of SaTScan for data with global clustering patterns should be used with caution since SatScan may reveal an incorrect spatial pattern even though it has enough power to reject a null hypothesis of homogeneous relative risk. Tango's method should be used for global clustering evaluation instead of SaTScan. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 11, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Monica JacksonLan HuangJun LuoMark HacheyEric Feuer Source Type: journals

Evaluating geographic imputation approaches for zip code level data: an application to a study of pediatric diabetesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: Fixed imputation methods seemed to yield greatest accuracy at the individual level, suggesting use for studies on area-level environmental exposures. Fixed methods result in artificial clusters in single census tracts. For studies focusing on spatial distribution of disease, random methods seemed superior, as they most closely replicated the true spatial distribution. When selecting an imputation approach, researchers should consider carefully the study aims. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - October 7, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: James HibbertAngela LieseAndrew LawsonDwayne PorterRobin PuettDebra StandifordLenna LiuDana Dabelea Source Type: journals

Spatial trends of breast and prostate cancers in the United States between 2000 and 2005Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Background: Breast cancer in females and prostate cancer in males are two of the most common cancers in the United States, and the literature suggests that they share similar features. However, it is unknown whether the occurrence of these two cancers at the county level in the United States is correlated. We analyzed Caucasian age-adjusted county level average annual incidence rates for breast and prostate cancers from the National Cancer Institute and State Cancer Registries to determine whether there was a spatial correlation between the two conditions and whether the two cancers had similar spatial patterns. Results: T...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - September 28, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Rakesh MandalSophie St-HilaireJohn KieDeWayne Derryberry Source Type: journals

Choropleth map legend design for visualizing community health disparitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: Cumulative frequency legends are useful supplements for choropleth maps. These legends can be constructed using readily available software. They contain all of the information found in standard choropleth map legends, and they can be used with any choropleth map classification scheme. Cumulative frequency legends effectively communicate the proportion of areas, the proportion of health events, and/or the proportion of the denominator population in which the health events occurred that falls within each class interval. They illuminate the context of disease through graphing associations with other variables. (So...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - September 23, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Robert CromleyEllen Cromley Source Type: journals

Using hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive conditions to measure access to primary health care: an application of spatial structural equation modelingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Locating such clusters will be useful to health services researchers and health policy makers; doing so enables targeted policy interventions to efficiently improve access to primary care. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - August 27, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Md Monir HossainJames Laditka Source Type: journals

An agent-based approach for modeling dynamics of contagious disease spreadEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: The GIS-agent based model designed for this study can be easily customized to study the disease spread dynamics of any other communicable disease by simply adjusting the modeled disease timeline and/or the infection model and modifying the transmission process. This type of simulations can help to improve comprehension of disease spread dynamics and to take better steps towards the prevention and control of an epidemic outbreak. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - August 4, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Liliana PerezSuzana Dragicevic Source Type: journals

Combining Google Earth and GIS mapping technologies in a dengue surveillance system for developing countriesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: This dengue surveillance program allows public health workers in resource-limited settings to accurately identify areas with high indices of mosquito infestation and interpret the spatial relationship of these areas with potential larval development sites such as garbage piles and large pools of standing water. As a result, it is possible to prioritize control strategies and to target interventions to highest risk areas in order to eliminate the likely origin of the mosquito vector. This program is well-suited for resource-limited settings since it utilizes readily available technologies that do not rely on In...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 22, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Aileen ChangMaria ParralesJavier JimenezMagdalena SobieszczykScott HammerDavid CopenhaverRajan Kulkarni Source Type: journals

Musings on privacy issues in health research involving disaggregate geographic data about individualsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper offers a state-of-the-art overview of the intertwined privacy, confidentiality, and security issues that are commonly encountered in health research involving disaggregate geographic data about individuals. Key definitions are provided, along with some examples of actual and potential security and confidentiality breaches and related incidents that captured mainstream media and public interest in recent months and years. The paper then goes on to present a brief survey of the research literature on location privacy/confidentiality concerns and on privacy-preserving solutions in conventional health research and b...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 19, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Maged Kamel BoulosAndrew CurtisPhilip AbdelMalik Source Type: journals

Ecology and geography of avian influenza (HPAI H5N1) transmission in the Middle East and northeastern AfricaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Overall, we documented a variable environmental "fingerprint" for areas suitable for HPAI-H5N1 transmission. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 19, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Richard WilliamsA. Peterson Source Type: journals

Evaluation of sliding baseline methods for spatial estimation for cluster detection in the biosurveillance systemEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: The spatial estimation method should be chosen according to characteristics of the selected data streams. In this dataset with strong day-of-week effects, the overall best detection performance was achieved using subregion averages over a 28-day baseline stratified by weekday or weekend/holiday behavior. Changing the estimation method for particular scenarios involving different spatial resolution or other syndromes can yield further improvement. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 16, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Jian XingHoward BurkomLinda MonizJames EdgertonMichael LeuzeJerome Tokars Source Type: journals

Hantavirus reservoir Oligoryzomys longicaudatus spatial distribution sensitivity to climate change scenarios in Argentine PatagoniaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: According to our model the rates of temperature and precipitation changes observed between 1967 and 1998 may produce significant changes in the rodent distribution in an equivalent period of time only in certain areas. Given that changes maintain for 60 years or double in 30 years, the hantavirus reservoir Oligoryzomys longicaudatus may contract its distribution in Argentine Patagonia extensively. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 15, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Anibal CarbajoCarolina VeraPaula Gonzalez Source Type: journals

Spatio-temporal cluster analysis of county-based human West Nile virus incidence in the continental United StatesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Significant spatial clustering of human WNV incidence has been demonstrated in the continental United States from 2002-2008. The two techniques were not always consistent in the location and size of clusters identified. Although there was significant inter-annual variation, consistent areas of clustering, with the most persistent and evident being in the Northern Great Plains, were demonstrated. Given the wide variety of mosquito species responsible and the environmental conditions they require, further spatio-temporal clustering analyses on a regional level is warranted. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 12, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Ramanathan SugumaranScott LarsonJohn DeGroote Source Type: journals

Evaluation of the performance of tests for spatial randomness on prostate cancer dataEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Based on this specific example, results suggest that these tests provide useful tools for evaluating spatial clustering of disease characteristics, both before and after consideration of covariates. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - July 2, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Virginia HinrichsenAnn KlassenChanghong SongMartin Kulldorff Source Type: journals

Geographical clustering of lung cancer in the province of Lecce, Italy: 1992-2001Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of this paper is to study on a scientifically sound basis the spatial distribution of risk for lung cancer mortality in the province of Lecce. Our goal is to demonstrate that most of the previous explanations are not supported by data: to this end, we will follow a hybrid approach that combines both frequentist and Bayesian disease mapping methods. Furthermore, we define a new sequential algorithm based on a modified version of the Besag-York-Mollie (BYM) model, suitably modified to detect geographical clusters of disease. Results: Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for lung cancer in the province of Lecce:...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 30, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Massimo BilanciaAlessandro Fedespina Source Type: journals

Optimum land cover products for use in a Glossina-morsitans habitat model of Kenya.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: The method can be used to differentiate between various LULC products and be applied to any such research when there is a known relationship between a species and land cover. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 28, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Mark DeVisserJoseph Messina Source Type: journals

Estimation of undernutrition and mean calorie intake in Africa: methodology, findings and implicationsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: We conclude that the picture of Africa that emerges from anthropometric data is much less negative than that usually presented. Especially for Eastern and Central Africa, the nutritional status is less critical than commonly assumed and also mean calorie intake is higher, which implies that agricultural production and hence income must also have been growing at a pace at least high enough to keep up with population growth. In terms of methodology, our estimates form a base line for 2005 for the whole continent that can be easily updated with far less information for individual countries, as we show in an examp...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 26, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Cornelia van WesenbeeckMichiel KeyzerMaarten Nube Source Type: journals

Geostatistical evaluation of integrated marsh management impact on mosquito vectors using before-after-control-impact (BACI) designEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: The geostatistical analysis showed that OMWM demonstrated considerable potential for effective mosquito control and compatibility with other natural resource management goals such as restoration, wildlife habitat enhancement, and invasive species abatement. GPS and GIS tools are invaluable for large scale project design, data collection, and data analysis, with geostatistical methods serving as an alternative or a supplement to the conventional inference statistics in evaluating the project outcome. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 22, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Ilia RochlinTom IwanejkoMary DempseyDominick Ninivaggi Source Type: journals

The complexities of measuring access to parks and physical activity sites in New York City: a quantitative and qualitative approachEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: The combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses demonstrated the complexity of the issues around racial and ethnic disparities in park access. They revealed trends that may not have been otherwise detectable, such as the spatially inconsistent relationship between physical activity site density and socio-demographics. In order to establish a more stable global model, a number of additional factors, variables, and methods might be used to quantify park accessibility, such as network analysis of proximity, perception of accessibility and usability, and additional park quality characteristics. Accurate m...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 21, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Andrew MarokoJuliana MaantayNancy SohlerKristen GradyPeter Arno Source Type: journals

A spatial evaluation of socio demographics surrounding National Priorities List sites in Florida using a distance-based approachEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we use recently developed variations of the "distance based" approach to spatially evaluate and compare demographic and socioeconomic disparities surrounding the worst hazardous waste sites in Florida. Methods: We used data from the 2000 US Census Bureau and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to identify selected socio and economic variables within one (1) mile of 71 National Priorities List (NPL) or Superfund sites in Florida. ArcMap (ESRI, v. 9.2) was used to map the centroid locations of each of the NPL sites as well as identify and estimate the number of host and non-host tracts. The unit...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 16, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Greg KearneyGebre-Egziabher Kiros Source Type: journals

The 2005 census and mapping of slums in Bangladesh: design, select results and applicationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: The methodology used in the 2005 Bangladesh CMS provides a useful approach to mapping slums that could be applied to urban areas in other low income societies. This methodology may become an increasingly important analytic tool to inform policy, as cities in developing countries are forecasted to continue increasing their share of total global population in the coming years, with slum populations more than doubling in size during the same period. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - June 8, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Gustavo AngelesPeter LanceJanine Barden-O'FallonNazrul IslamAqm MahbubNurul Islam Nazem Source Type: journals

Risk of cancer in the vicinity of municipal solid waste incinerators: importance of using a flexible modelling strategyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: In most epidemiological studies distance is still used as a proxy for exposure leading to significant exposure missclassification. Additionally, in geographical correlation studies the non-linear relationships are usually not accounted for in the statistical analysis. In studies of weak associations it is important to use advanced methods to better assess dose-response relationships with disease risk. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - May 28, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Sarah GoriaCome DaniauPerrine de Crouy-ChanelPascal Empereur-BissonnetPascal FabreMarc ColonnaCedric DuboudinJean-Francois VielSylvia Richardson Source Type: journals

A graph-theory method for pattern identification in geographical epidemiology - a preliminary application to deprivation and mortalityEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Graph theoretical methods developed in computational chemistry may be a useful addition to the current GIS based methods available for geographical epidemiology but further developmental work is required. An important requirement will be the development of methods for specifying multiple complex search patterns. Further work is also required to examine the utility of using distance, as opposed to adjacency, to describe edges in graphs, and to examine methods for pattern specification when the nodes have multiple attributes attached to them. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - May 13, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Ravi Maheswaran, Cheryl Craigs, Simon Read, Peter A Bath and Peter Willett Source Type: journals

Spatial analysis of MODIS aerosol optical depth, PM2.5, and chronic coronary heart diseaseEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: There is a spatial variation of the relationship between PM2.5 and AOD in the conterminous USA. In the eastern USA where AOD correlates well with PM2.5, AOD can be merged with ground PM2.5 data to derive a PM2.5 surface for epidemiological study. The study found that chronic coronary heart disease mortality rate increases with exposure to PM2.5. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - May 12, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Zhiyong Hu Source Type: journals

Traffic exposure associated with allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis in adults: a cross-sectional study in southern Sweden.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Exposure to traffic was associated with a higher prevalence of allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis, but not with asthma or rhinitis triggered by non-allergic factors. This difference was suggested by the overall pattern, but only clear using GIS-measured traffic intensity as a proxy for traffic exposure. An association was also found with hand-eczema during the last 12 months. We suggest that asthma and rhinitis should not be treated as homogenous groups when estimating effects from traffic in adults. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - May 6, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Anna Lindgren, Emilie Stroh, Ulf Nihlen, Peter Montnemery, Anna Axmon and Kristina Jakobsson Source Type: journals

Socio-spatial inequalities and the distribution of cash benefits to asthmatic children in NorwayEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: To be able to refine the implementation of a welfare policy, a better understanding of the processes that generate the outcomes of the various welfare schemes and services is required. This can be achieved by adopting an approach to the study of outcomes of welfare policy that integrates both the social and geographic perspective, and that focuses on specific diagnoses or distributional procedures. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - April 23, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Jon Erik Finnvold Source Type: journals

A supervised land cover classification of a western Kenya lowland endemic for human malaria: associations of land cover with larval Anopheles habitatsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: A supervised classification of land cover types in rural, lowland, western Kenya revealed a largely human-modified and fragmented landscape consisting of agricultural and domestic land uses. Within it, larval habitats of Anopheles vectors of human malaria were associated with certain land cover types, of largely agricultural origin, and close to streams. Knowledge of these associations can inform malaria control to gather information on potential larval habitats more efficiently than by field survey and can do so over large areas. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - April 16, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: F M Mutuku, M N Bayoh, A W Hightower, J M Vulule, J E Gimnig, J M Mueke, F A Amimo and E D Walker Source Type: journals

An empirical comparison of spatial scan statistics for outbreak detectionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Our results suggest four main conclusions. First, spatial scan methods should be evaluated for a variety of different datasets and outbreak characteristics, since focusing only on a single scenario may give a misleading picture of which methods perform best. Second, we recommend the use of the expectation-based Poisson statistic rather than the traditional Kulldorff statistic when large outbreaks are of potential interest, or when average daily counts are low. Third, adjusting for seasonal and day-of-week trends can significantly improve performance in datasets where these trends are present. Finally, we recom...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - April 16, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Daniel B Neill Source Type: journals

Easier surveillance of climate-related health vulnerabilities through a Web-based spatial OLAP applicationEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Surveillance of climate-related health vulnerabilities may be more efficiently supported using a combination of OLAP and GIS concepts. The developed system respects Newell's cognitive band of 10 seconds when performing knowledge discovery. It also provides new operators for easily and rapidly exploring multidimensional data at different levels of granularity, for different regions and epochs, and for visualizing the results in synchronized maps, tables and charts. It is naturally adapted to deal with multiscale indicators such as those used in the health surveillance community, as confirmed by this project's e...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - April 3, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Eveline Bernier, Pierre Gosselin, Thierry Badard and Yvan Bedard Source Type: journals

Spatial modeling of personalized exposure dynamics: the case of pesticide use in small-scale agricultural production landscapes of the developing worldEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: This approach represents a conceptual framework for developing individual based models to carry out PEA in small-scale agricultural settings in the developing world based on individual patterns of movement, safety conditions, and dynamic contaminant distributions. The results of our analysis indicate our prototype model is sufficiently sensitive to differentiate and quantify the influence of individual patterns of movement and decision-based pesticide management activities on potential exposure. This approach represents a framework for further understanding the contribution of agricultural pesticide use to exp...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - March 30, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Stefan Leyk, Claudia R. Binder and John R. Nuckols Source Type: journals

Bacteriological assessment of urban water sources in Khamis Mushait Governorate, southwestern Saudi ArabiaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Water derived from traditional sources (wells) showed increases in most of the investigated bacteriological parameters, followed by surface water as compared to bottled or desalinated water. This may be attributed to the fact that well and surface water are at risk of contamination as indicated by the higher levels of most bacteriological parameters. Moreover, well water is exposed to point sources of pollution such as septic wells and domestic and farming effluents, as well as to soil with a high humus content. The lower bacteriological characteristics in samples from bottled water indicate that it is satisfa...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - March 21, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Eed L SH. AlOtaibi Source Type: journals

Towards the Atlas of human African trypanosomiasisEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: The use of GIS tools and geo-referenced, village-level epidemiological data allow the production of maps that substantially improve on the spatial quality of previous cartographic products of similar scope. The significant differences between our preliminary outputs and earlier maps of HAT transmission areas demonstrate the strong need for this systematic approach to mapping sleeping sickness and point to the inaccuracy of any calculation of population at risk based on previous maps of HAT transmission areas. The Atlas of HAT will lay the basis for novel, evidence-based methodologies to estimate the population...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - March 18, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Giuliano Cecchi, Massimo Paone, Jose R Franco, Eric M Fevre, Abdoulaye Diarra, Jose A Ruiz, Raffaele C Mattioli and Pere P Simarro Source Type: journals

Monitoring county-level chlamydia incidence in Texas, 2004 – 2005: application of empirical Bayesian smoothing and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) methodsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: Bayesian smoothing and ESDA methods can assist programs in using chlamydia surveillance data to identify outliers, as well as relevant changes in chlamydia incidence in specific geographic units. Secondly, it may also indirectly help in assessing existing differences and changes in chlamydia surveillance systems over time. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - February 26, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Kwame Owusu-Edusei and Chantelle J Owens Source Type: journals

Geographic analysis of low birthweight and infant mortality in Michigan using automated zoning methodologyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: Understanding the spatial patterns of low birthweight and infant mortality in Michigan was an important first step in conducting a geographic evaluation of the State's reported high infant mortality rates. AZM proved to be a useful tool for visualizing and exploring the spatial patterns of low birthweight and infant deaths for public health surveillance. Future research should also consider AZM as a tool for health services research. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - February 18, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Sue C Grady and Helen Enander Source Type: journals

Tracking the polio virus down the Congo River: a case study on the use of Google Earth™ in public health planning and mappingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: GE has the potential of making mapping available to a new set of public health users in developing countries. High quality and free satellite imagery, rich features including Keyhole Markup Language or image overlay provide a flexible but yet powerful platform that set it apart from traditional GIS tools and this power is still to be fully harnessed by public health professionals. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - January 22, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Raoul Kamadjeu Source Type: journals

Traffic-related air pollution associated with prevalence of asthma and COPD/chronic bronchitis: a cross-sectional study in Southern SwedenEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Living close to traffic was associated with prevalence of asthma diagnosis, COPD diagnosis, and symptoms of asthma and bronchitis. This indicates that traffic-related air pollution has both long-term and short-term effects on chronic respiratory disease in adults, even in a region with overall low levels of air pollution. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - January 20, 2009 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Anna Lindgren, Emilie Stroh, Peter Montnemery, Ulf Nihlen, Kristina Jakobsson and Anna Axmon Source Type: journals

Community health assessment using self-organizing maps and geographic information systemsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Our study demonstrated a positive relationship between environmental conditions and health outcomes in communities using the SOM-GIS method to overcome data and methodological challenges traditionally encountered in public health research. Results demonstrated that community health can be classified using environmental variables and that the SOM-GIS method may be applied to multivariate environmental health studies. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - December 30, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Heather G Basara and May Yuan Source Type: journals

Habitat analysis of North American sand flies near veterans returning from leishmania-endemic war zonesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: Sand fly habitats on military facilities can be detected using remote sensing techniques. These habitats present some hazard of exposure to human populations and may increase the risk of importing an exotic parasite with returning veterans from Leishmania-endemic war zones. The sand fly density prediction maps can be used to direct further surveillance, insect control, or additional patient monitoring of potentially infected soldiers. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - December 18, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: David M Claborn, Penny M Masuoka, Meredith G Morrow and Lisa K Keep Source Type: journals

Spatio-temporal analysis of the relationship between West Nile virus dissemination and environmental variables in Indianapolis, USAEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: Major environmental factors contributing to the outbreak of WNV in Indianapolis were the percentages of agriculture and water, total length of streams, and total size of wetlands. This study provides important information for urban public health prevention and management. It also contributes to the optimization of mosquito control and arrangement of future sampling efforts. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - December 18, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Hua Liu, Qihao Weng and David Gaines Source Type: journals

Spatial patterns of natural hazards mortality in the United StatesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: There is no consistent source of hazard mortality data, yet improvements in existing databases can produce quality data that can be incorporated into spatial epidemiological studies as demonstrated in this paper. It is important to view natural hazard mortality through a geographic lens so as to better inform the public living in such hazard prone areas, but more importantly to inform local emergency practitioners who must plan for and respond to disasters in their community. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - December 17, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Kevin A Borden and Susan L Cutter Source Type: journals

Spatial dependency of V. cholera prevalence on open space refuse dumps in Kumasi, Ghana: a spatial statistical modellingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: The results suggest that proximity and density of open space refuse dumps play a contributory role in cholera infection in Kumasi. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - December 16, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Frank B Osei and Alfred A Duker Source Type: journals

AccessMod 3.0: computing geographic coverage and accessibility to health care services using anisotropic movement of patientsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusions: By incorporating the demand (population) and the supply (capacities of heath care centers), AccessMod provides a unifying tool to efficiently assess the geographic coverage of a network of health care facilities. This tool should be of particular interest to developing countries that have a relatively good geographic information on population distribution, terrain, and health facility locations. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - December 16, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Nicolas Ray and Steeve Ebener Source Type: journals

Development of a wearable global positioning system for place and health researchEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study focuses on the design of a wearable global positioning system (GPS) data logger for the purpose of objectively measuring the temporal and spatial features of human activities. Person-specific GPS data provides a useful source of information to operationalize the concept of place. Results: We designed and tested a lightweight, wearable GPS receiver, capable of logging location information for up to 70 hours continuously before recharging. The device is accurate to within 7 m in typical urban environments and performs well across a range of static and dynamic conditions.DiscussionRather than rely on static areal u...
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - November 25, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Daniel Rainham, Daniel Krewski, Ian McDowell, Mike Sawada and Brian Liekens Source Type: journals

Geographic disparities in the risk of perforated appendicitis among children in Ohio: 2001–2003Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to differentiate rural dwellers with respect to outcomes associated with appendicitis as opposed to simply comparing "rural" to "urban". Risk of perforated appendicitis associated with commuting patterns is larger than that posed by several individual indicators including some age-sex cohort effects. Future studies linking the activity spaces of rural dwellers to individual patterns of seeking care will further our understanding of perforated appendicitis and ambulatory care sensitive conditions in general. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - November 4, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Robert B Penfold, Deena J Chisolm, Benedict C Nwomeh and Kelly J Kelleher Source Type: journals

Geographic disparities in the risk of perforated appendicitis among children in Ohio: 2001-2003Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to differentiate rural dwellers with respect to outcomes associated with appendicitis as opposed to simply comparing "rural" to "urban". Risk of perforated appendicitis associated with commuting patterns is larger than that posed by several individual indicators including some age-sex cohort effects. Future studies linking the activity spaces of rural dwellers to individual patterns of seeking care will further our understanding of perforated appendicitis and ambulatory care sensitive conditions in general. (Source: International Journal of Health Geographics)
Source: International Journal of Health Geographics - November 4, 2008 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Robert B Penfold, Deena J Chisolm, Benedict C Nwomeh and Kelly J Kelleher Source Type: journals