Road-killed animals are easy and inexpensive to survey, and may provide information about species distributions, abundances, and mortality rates. As with any sampling method, however, we need to explore methodological biases in such data. First, how does an animal’s behavior (e.g., use of the center vs. periphery of the road) influence its vulnerability to vehicular traffic? Second, how rapidly...

We know little about how natural selection on a species is altered when a closely related species consuming similar resources appears in its environment. In a pond experiment with threespine sticklebacks I tested the prediction that divergent natural selection between competitors is frequency-dependent, changing with the distribution of phenotypes in the environment. Differential growth and sur...

INTRODUCTION Although rare, the atrioesophageal fistula is one of the most feared complications in radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation due to the high risk of mortality. OBJECTIVE This is a prospective controlled study, performed during regular radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, to test whether esophageal displacement by handling the transesophageal e...

Standard methodology for analysis of air pollution epidemiological time series expresses effects in terms of relative risk, i.e. increases in the number of events associated with a short term increase in air pollution. However, even large relative mortality rates may in fact reflect a very small effect in terms of person-years life loss. In Zagreb, mortality in 1995–1997 was significantly assoc...

The area of Walikale in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, is intensely affected by conflict and population displacement. Médecins-Sans-Frontières (MSF) returned to provide primary healthcare in July 2012. To better understand the impact of the ongoing conflict and displacement on the population, a retrospective mortality survey was conducted in April 2013. A two-stage randomized cluster...

BACKGROUND In cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), quadripolar (QUAD) left ventricular (LV) leads are less prone to postoperative complications than non-QUAD leads. Some studies have suggested better clinical outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS Clinical events were assessed in 847 patients after CRT-pacing or CRT-defibrillation using either QUAD (n=287) or non-QUAD (n=560), programmed to single...

BACKGROUND Efforts to prevent and respond to heat-related illness would benefit by quantifying the impact of summer heat on acute population mortality. We estimated years of life lost due to heat in 14 European cities during the 1990s accounting for harvesting. METHODS We combined the number of deaths attributable to heat estimated by the PHEWE project with life expectancy derived from popula...

INTRODUCTION Chronic subdural hematoma in adults (CSDH) has a global crude incidence of 14.1/100,000 per year in our institution captive population. There is no single treatment protocol. In our hospital we choose a minimal invasive technique (trans-marrow puncture) without general anaesthesia due to the age of the population. A descriptive study of patients with CSDH and treatment results, inc...

the government of the united republic of tanzania has initiated the integrated management of childhood illness program to improve the health and wellbeing of children.tanzania's under-five mortality rate is still 1.7 times higher than the world average and, in order to achieve its millennium development goal 4 target, its annual reduction rate is quite low at 2.2. the main aim of the study is t...

BACKGROUND Limited evidence suggests that being flooded may increase mortality and morbidity among affected householders not just at the time of the flood but for months afterwards. The objective of this study is to explore the methods for quantifying such long-term health effects of flooding by analysis of routine mortality registrations in England and Wales. METHODS Mortality data, geo-refe...