Bridging the gap between science and policy: an international survey of scientists and policy makers in China and Canada.

Background: Bridging the gap between science and policy is an important task in evidence-informed policy making. The objective of this study is to prioritize ways to bridge the gap.

Methods: The study was based on an online survey of high-ranking scientists and policy makers who have a senior position in universities and governments in the health sector in China and Canada.

Burden and trend analysis of injury mortality in China among children aged 0-14 years from 2004 to 2011.

Objective: To track changes of the burden and trends of childhood injury mortality among children aged 0-14 years in China from 2004 to 2011.

Design: National representative data from the Chinese Disease Surveillance Points system and Chinese Maternal and Child Mortality Surveillance system from 2004 to 2011 were used. Rates and 95% CIs of aged-standardised mortality, as well as the proportions of injury death, were estimated.

Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 3. Discipline, inter-discipline distance, and selection of discipline.

Background/purpose: Multiple disciplinary efforts are increasingly encouraged in health research, services, education and policy. This paper is the third in a series. The first discussed the definitions, objectives, and evidence of effectiveness of multiple disciplinary teamwork.

Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 2. Promotors, barriers, and strategies of enhancement.

Background/purpose: Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams are increasingly encouraged in health research, services, education and policy. This paper is the second in a series. The first discussed the definitions, objectives, and evidence of effectiveness of multiple disciplinary teamwork.

Daily step goal of 10,000 steps: a literature review.

Background: This review looks at ways to increase physical activity, by walking and other sports and home activities, to reach the daily 10,000 steps goal. It also looks at a number of issues associated with achieving the daily step goal, such as considerations in walking, step counting and physical activity.

Methods: The review is based on MEDLINE (1982-2006) and Google searches using keywords "pedometer", "daily step goal", "physical activity", "exercise".

Achieving the daily step goal of 10,000 steps: the experience of a Canadian family attached to pedometers.

Background: Health experts recommend daily step goals of 10,000 steps for adults and 12,000 steps for youths to achieve a healthy active living. This article reports the findings of a Canadian family project to investigate whether the recommended daily step goals are achievable in a real life setting, and suggests ways to increase the daily steps to meet the goal. The family project also provides an example to encourage more Canadians to conduct family projects on healthy living.

Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in health research, services, education and policy: 1. Definitions, objectives, and evidence of effectiveness.

Background/purpose: Teamwork involving multiple disciplines is increasingly emphasized in health research, services, education and policy. The terms multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary are increasingly used in the literature, but are ambiguously defined and interchangeably used. This paper is the first of two in a series.

Understanding and minimizing epidemiologic bias in public health research.

Awareness of potential biases is important for both researchers and policy-makers in public health: for researchers when designing and conducting studies, and for policy-makers when reading study reports and making decisions. This paper explains the meaning and importance of epidemiologic bias in public health and discusses how it arises and what can be done to minimize it. Examples of counting participants in a meeting, to which many policy-makers can relate, are used throughout the paper to illustrate bias in general, random error and systematic error, the effect of sample size, the three main categories of bias (selection, information and confounding), stratification and mathematical modeling.

A catalog of biases in questionnaires.

Bias in questionnaires is an important issue in public health research. To collect the most accurate data from respondents, investigators must understand and be able to prevent or at least minimize bias in the design of their questionnaires. This paper identifies and categorizes 48 types of bias in questionnaires based on a review of the literature and offers an example of each type.

A method for comparing and combining cost-of-illness studies: an example from cardiovascular disease.

This paper describes a method for comparing and combining the results of various cost-of-illness (COI) studies. The method consists of seven steps: identify the study design; stratify according to the cost components; create concatenated cost components; adjust for inflation; adjust for population growth; compare cost estimates; and combine cost estimates. Based on this method, and using published data from 1986, 1993 and 1994, the cost of cardiovascular disease was estimated to be $20.