Interrupted time series datasets from studies investigating the impact of interventions or exposures in public health and social science: a data note.

Objectives: The interrupted time series (ITS) design is commonly used to investigate the impact of an intervention or exposure in public health. There are many statistical methods that can be used to analyse ITS data and to meta-analyse their results. We undertook two empirical studies to investigate: (i) how effect estimates (and associated statistics) compared when six statistical methods were applied to 190 real-world datasets; and (ii) how meta-analysis effect estimates (and associated statistics) compared when the combinations of two ITS analysis methods and five meta-analysis methods were applied to 17 real-world meta-analyses including 283 ITS datasets.

Reporting of cluster randomised crossover trials: extension of the CONSORT 2010 statement with explanation and elaboration.

This article presents the CONSORT (consolidated standards of reporting trials) extension for cluster randomised crossover trials. A cluster randomised crossover trial involves randomisation of groups of individuals (known as clusters) to different sequences of interventions over time. The design has gained popularity in settings where cluster randomisation is required because it can largely overcome the loss in power due to clustering in parallel cluster trials.

More than just a name? From magnetic to optical skyrmions and the topology of light.

Topology is usually perceived intrinsically immutable for a given object. We argue that optical topologies do not immediately enjoy such benefits. Using 'optical skyrmions' as an example, we show that they will exhibit varying textures and topological invariants (skyrmion numbers), depending on how to construct the skyrmion vector when projecting from real to parameter space.

Incidence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Canterbury, New Zealand, 2018-2023.

Background: New diagnoses of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), can highlight health system burden and potentially give clues to disease aetiology. This population-based study aimed to measure the annual incidence of IBD over six years (2018-2023) in the Canterbury region of New Zealand.

Methods: The medical records from public and private gastroenterology clinics were examined for new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of IBD from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2023.

Metrology with a twist: probing and sensing with vortex light.

Optical metrology is a well-established subject, dating back to early interferometry techniques utilizing light's linear momentum through fringes. In recent years, significant interest has arisen in using vortex light with orbital angular momentum (OAM), where the phase twists around a singular vortex in space or time. This has expanded metrology's boundaries to encompass highly sensitive chiral interactions between light and matter, three-dimensional motion detection via linear and rotational Doppler effects, and modal approaches surpassing the resolution limit for improved profiling and quantification.