Background The extent of tick-borne disease (TBD) risk in the United States is generally unknown. Active surveillance using entomological measures, such as presence and density of infected nymphal Ixodes scapularis ticks, have served as indicators for assessing human risk, but results have been inconsistent and passive surveillance via public health systems suggests TBDs are underreported. Objective Research using various data sources and collection methods (eg, Google Trends, apps, and tick bite encounters [TBEs] reports) has shown promise for assessing human TBD risk. In that vein, and engaging a One Health perspective, this study used multimodal databases, geographically overlaying patient survey data on TBEs and concomitant reports of TBDs with data drawn from other sources, such as canine serological reports, to glean insights and to determine and assess the use of various indicators as proxies for human TBD risk. Methods This study used a mixed methods research strategy, relying on triangulation techniques and drawing on multiple data sources to provide insights into various aspects of human disease risk from TBEs and TBDs in the United States. A web-based survey was conducted over a 15-month period beginning in December 2020 to collect data on TBEs. To maximize the value of the covariate data, related analyses included TBE reports that occurred in the United States between January 1, 2000, and March 31, 2021. TBEs among patients diagnosed with Lyme disease were analyzed at the county level and compared to I scapularis and I pacificus tick presence, human cases identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and canine serological data. Spatial analyses employed multilayer thematic mapping and other techniques. Results After cleaning, survey results showed a total of 249 (75.7%) TBEs spread across 148 respondents (61.9% of all respondents, 81.7% of TBE-positive respondents); 144 (4.7%) counties in 30 states (60%) remained eligible for analysis, with an average of 1.68 (SD 1.00) and median of 1 (IQR 1) TBEs per respondent. Analysis revealed significant spatial matching at the county level among patient survey reports of TBEs and disease risk indicators from the CDC and other official sources. Thematic mapping results included one-for-one county-level matching of reported TBEs with at least 1 designated source of human disease risk (ie, positive canine serological tests, CDC-reported Lyme disease, or known tick presence). Conclusions Use of triangulation methods to integrate patient data on TBE recall with established canine serological reports, tick presence, and official human TBD information offers more granular, county-level information regarding TBD risk to inform clinicians and public health officials. Such data may supplement public health sources to offer improved surveillance and provide bases for developing robust proxies for TBD risk among humans.
This study examined environmental and geological determinants of radon concentration in subway stations by applying spatial statistical model to the integrated GIS database. The data were collected for 254 underground...
Over the past 20 years, professional and collegiate baseball has undergone a transformation, with statistics and analytics increasingly factoring into most of the decisions being made on the field. One particular example of the increased role of analytics is in the positioning of outfielders, who are tasked with tracking down balls hit to the outfield to record outs and minimize potential offensive damage. This paper explores the potential of location analytics to enhance the strategic positioning of players, enabling improved response and performance. We implement a location optimization model to analyze collegiate ball-tracking data, seeking outfielder locations that simultaneously minimize the average distance to a batted ball and maximize the weighted importance of batted ball coverage within a response standard. Trade-off outfielder configurations are compared to observed fielder positioning, finding that location models and spatial optimization can lead to performance improvements ranging from 1 to 3%, offering a significant strategic advantage over the course of a season.
BACKGROUND The extent of tick-borne disease (TBD) risk in the United States is generally unknown. Active surveillance using entomological measures, such as presence and density of infected nymphal I. scapularis ticks, have served as indicators for assessing human risk, but results have been inconsistent. Passive surveillance via the public health system suggests TBDs are underreported. OBJECTIVE The aim of our study was to geographically overlay electronic patient survey data of human tick bite encounters (TBEs) and concomitant reports of tick-borne disease with multimodal data sources, such as canine serological reports, to assess the use of various human TBD- risk proxies. METHODS This study employs a mixed-method research strategy, drawing on multiple data sources to provide insights into various aspects of human disease risk from tick-bite encounters (TBEs) and tick-borne diseases (TBDs) in the United States. TBEs among patients diagnosed with Lyme disease (LD) were analyzed at the county level and compared to Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus tick presence, human cases identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and canine serological data. Engaging a One Health spatial approach, analyses employed multi-layer thematic mapping. RESULTS Results revealed spatial matching at the county level among patient survey reports of TBEs and disease risk indicators from official sources. The results included one-for-one county-level matching of reported TBEs with at least one official source of human disease risk (i.e., positive canine serological tests, CDC-reported LD, or known tick presence) as demonstrated by thematic mapping. CONCLUSIONS Use of triangulation methods that integrate electronic patient data on tick bite encounter recall with established canine serological reports, tick presence, and official human disease information offers clinicians and public health officials with more granular, county-level information regarding tick-borne disease risk. Data other than official public health sources may serve as robust proxies for tick-borne disease risk among humans. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable
Evaluating residential property prices or land values is quite important for urban planning and government taxation as well. But it is generally difficult to predict land values accurately due to the dynamics of land prices, particularly in urban areas. Urban land values are mostly affected by natural environmental changes and various social and economic factors (Colwell & Munneke, 1997). Also, such socio economic factors are influencing both temporal and spatial aspects of land value, and therefore spatio-temporal clusters of land price changes will show local variations of land values very well. Specifically, the spatio-temporal hot spots might indicate highly increasing demand of lands in the urban area. In those areas, regulation against real estate speculation must be needed from the public perspective because such areas might impact on other area land prices and ultimately national economic status. Therefore, analyzing spatio-temporal aspects of the land price is essential for efficient urban planning and policy making.
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