Sources of uncertainty in estimating HIV infection rates by back-calculation: an application to Italian data.

The effects on back-calculated HIV diffusion estimates of the uncertainties in a number of factors that may potentially influence the estimation process are examined and compared. More specifically, the effect on HIV infection estimates of uncertainties in: (i) the sequence of periodical AIDS incidence cases; (ii) the estimation of the AIDS incubation period, including the influence of therapeutic treatment on the same; and (iii) the choice of a particular back-calculation method, including the stochastic uncertainty associated with each method, are examined. The choice of one particular back-calculation model over another, among three different methods considered, seems to be a minor component of the uncertainty, when compared to the uncertainty, due to all other sources.

[The general practitioner and clinical records: a survey of the knowledge of users of a software package].

The FATMA project--subproject 6, Line of Research 2--aims at implementing a new computerized information network for general practitioners using the same kind of software and homogeneously located throughout Italy. Thus, patients' case form data can be collected for public health purposes. After a study of literature in order to check whether other countries had implemented similar projects and what they consisted of, a survey based on a computerized questionnaire was carried out on a group of g.