Modern infectious disease epidemiology makes heavy use of computational model–based approaches and a dynamical systems perspective. The importance of analyzing infectious diseases in such a way keeps increasing. However, infectious disease epidemiology is still often taught mainly from a medical and classical epidemiological study design (e.g., cohort, casecontrol) perspective. While textbooks ...

To the Editor: Fox et al. used computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) techniques in an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis (1). Australian health agencies have used CATI for several years. A case-control study during an outbreak of Salmonella Mbandaka in 1996 employed CATI to interview 15 casepatients and 45 controls; contaminated peanut butter was implicated (2). Foodborne disease outbreaks ar...

OBJECTIVE: Giving recommended immunizations during sick visits for minor and acute illness such as acute otitis media has long been an American Academy of Pediatrics/Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice recommendation. An addition to the American Academy of Pediatrics policy in 2010 advised considering whether giving immunizations at the sick visit would discouragemaking upmissed well-ba...

Objective: To evaluate the association between use of benzodiazepines and incident dementia. Design: Prospective, population based study. Setting: PAQUID study, France. Participants: 1063 men and women (mean age 78.2 years) who were free of dementia and did not start taking benzodiazepines until at least the third year of follow-up. Main outcome measures: Incident dementia, confirmed by a neuro...

In the current issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Aronsson et al from The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young (TEDDY) study group explore the relationship between gluten intake and risk of celiac disease (CD) in genetically atrisk children. Although the data in this nested casecontrol study originated from Sweden where the rate of CD is highest, the TEDDY study g...

In 1993, Heimer, Kaplan, and associates (1) showed a reduction in the proportion of human immunodeficiency virus (HTV)-infected syringes among those returned to the New Haven, Connecticut, needle exchange in the months following the opening of the program. This reduction suggested a decrease in the circulation time of used needles among injectors who use the exchange, and this decrease can in t...

Research on the utilization of genetic testing services for mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 has focused on women with a strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer. We conducted a population-based casecontrol-family study of Australian women diagnosed with invasive breast cancer before age 40 years, unselected for family history, and tested for germ line mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 . Case ...

Aim: To analyse the epidemiological, clinical and immunological aspects of a recent epidemic of acute HCV in HIV co-infected individuals. Methods: The epidemiology was characterised using combined molecular and clinical studies. A phylogenetic analysis of the E1/E2 region of the HCV genome was performed to determine HCV transmission. Transmission risk factors were then explored in a multicentre...

The pathogenesis of preeclampsia involves many environmental and genetic factors. An excessive inflammatory response during pregnancy could cause an imbalance in the immune system, and thus contributes to the development of preeclampsia. Inflammatory cytokines produced by T-helper 2 cells, such as IL-4, contribute to inhibiting cellular immunity and inducing the placental growth. Two common gen...

The exact influences of thyroid functions on body mass index Background: (BMI) are ill-defined in euthyroid pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). To investigate the effect of GDM on maternal thyroid functions and Objectives: BMI. A casecontrol study was conducted in Saad Abualila Hospital, Methods: Khartoum, Sudan June to August 2015. Cases included women with GDM and healthy...