Meconium aspiration syndrome: Incidence and outcomes using discharge data.

Background: Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among term, otherwise healthy newborns, yet population studies are rare. Definitions, outcomes and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes are heterogenous, complicating estimates of incidence, outcomes and risks.

Aims: To measure population incidence, risks and outcomes of MAS by ICD codes.

Assessment of implantable infusion pumps for continuous infusion of human insulin in rats: potential for group housing.

Group housing is considered to be important for rats, which are highly sociable animals. Single housing may impact behaviour and levels of circulating stress hormones. Rats are typically used in the toxicological evaluation of insulin analogues.

Serological follow-up after non-typhoid salmonella infection in humans using a mixed lipopolysaccharide ELISA.

In industrialized countries, non-typhoid salmonella are a frequent cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. Diagnosis is usually made by stool culture, which is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Sensitivity depends on handling of stool samples and delay from illness onset to sampling.

Campylobacter seroconversion rates in selected countries in the European Union.

As a major foodborne pathogen, Campylobacter is frequently isolated from food sources of animal origin. In contrast, human Campylobacter illness is relatively rare, but has a considerable health burden due to acute enteric illness as well as severe sequelae. To study silent transmission, serum antibodies can be used as biomarkers to estimate seroconversion rates, as a proxy for infection pressure.

Biomarker dynamics: estimating infection rates from serological data.

The marginal distribution of serum antibody titres in a cross-sectional population sample can be expressed as a function of the infection rate, taking into account heterogeneity in peak levels and decay rates. This marginal model allows estimation of incidences, as well as simple tests for homogeneity across age, gender or geographic strata, using likelihood ratio tests. An example is given using Campylobacter serum antibody data.