Cancer statistics, 1998

The Surveillance Research Program of the American Cancer Society's Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance reports its 32nd annual compilation of cancer incidence, mortality, and survival data for the United States and around the world.     

Science, statistics, and paired comparisons

A prologue on science and statistics focuses attention on the role of statistics in science. Statisticians must be trained as scientists and to meet the needs of science. Those needs surely involve the formulation, modification and verification of stochastic models designed to represent natural phenomena. The method of paired comparisons provides a simple experimental technique but one with a literature rich in model development.     

American Psychological Foundation contributors, 1993.

Presents a list of the 1993 donors to the American Psychological Foundation, which sponsors programs in the practice and the science of psychology for the understanding of behavior and the benefit of human welfare. Donors' gifts have provided scholarship assistance, grants, and awards for exemplary individuals and projects that promote psychology's benefits to the public. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conventional statistics and useful statistics

Differences between conventional statistical methods and more useful, modern methods are demonstrated using a statistical analysis of data from therapeutic research in rheumatology. The conventional methods, t-test and graphs of mean values and the boxplot, detect almost no differences between treatment groups. A more recent procedure for analysing group differences is the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. The associated graphs are based on the cumulative distribution function of the two treatment groups and the synthetic Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). Special differences, namely baseline dependencies, can be visualized in this way.     

试论统计模型在统计认识中的作用

统计工作是社会经济管理中一项重要的工作.传统的统计方法主要是描述性统计,数据资料主要靠统计报表来搜集整理,所得出的结论往往与实际情况有较大差距.本人通过长期讲授<统计学原理>,深感统计模型在统计工作中的重要作用.应用统计模型,可以提高数据资料应用的可靠性和可行性,从而可以对经济现象的发展前景,做量上的预计和推算,对经济决策、计划管理提供重要的参考依据.     

Report of the Ethics Committee, 1993.

The 1993 report of the Ethics Committee of the American Psychological Association (APA) addresses the revision of the APA bylaws related to ethics, the revision of the ethical principles, the Ethics Committee membership, and the ad hoc Policy and Education Committee. Ethics case data are presented, and 5 policy statements issued by the Ethics Committee during 1993 and published in the APA Monitor are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Summary report of journal operations, 1993.

Presents a summary of journal operations compiled from the 1993 annual reports of the Council of Editors and from Central Office records. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detailed diagnoses and procedures, National Hospital Discharge Survey, 1993

This report presents statistics on conditions diagnosed and surgical and nonsurgical procedures performed in non-Federal short-stay hospitals. The statistics are based on data collected through the National Hospital Discharge Survey from a national sample of the hospital records of discharged inpatients. Estimates of first-listed diagnoses, all-listed diagnoses, days of care for first-listed diagnoses, and all-listed procedures are shown by sex and age of patient and geographic region of hospital.     

Occupational burns in Washington State, 1989-1993

Occupational burns cause significant morbidity in the United States each year; however, there are few studies that report industries or workplaces where workers are at an increased risk of burn injuries. Washington State's Department of Labor and Industries (L and I) computerized workers' compensation database was used to describe work-related burns over 5 years. From 1989 to 1993, L and I accepted 27,323 claims for occupational burns, 71.4% of them thermal burns and 26.8% chemical burns. The most common sources of injury were cooking oils (14%) and hot water/steam (13%). Workers involved in food preparation or food handling accounted for the highest proportion of injured workers (30%). Industries involved in the smelting, sintering, or refining of ore had the highest rate for thermal burns, with a rate of 15.0 burn injuries per 100 full-time equivalent workers per year, followed by paper, pulp, or wood fiber manufacturing, with a rate of 5.8, then roof work, with a rate of 4.3. Industries involved in hazardous waste landfill clean-up had the highest rate for chemical burns, with a rate of 4.9, followed by portable cleaning and washing, with a rate of 3.5, and paper, pulp, and wood fiber manufacturing, with a rate of 2.6. Further study is needed to identify work practices that result in burn injuries in order to decrease the incidence of this preventable occupational injury.     

An epidemic of tuberculosis in an elementary school, Sanremo, Italy, 1993

In late 1992, three cases of tuberculosis were identified in school children attending a small elementary school in Sanremo, Italy. In order to identify further cases and determine the source, an epidemiologic investigation was undertaken. Tine test and X rays were performed on all students and school personnel. A total of 80% of the 59 students in the school had positive tine test reactions, as did 100% of the 12 teachers. All but one of the positive students had converted since last tested, as had the nine teachers who had been previously negative. The source of the outbreak was a teacher who had been in direct classroom contact with two of the five classes and had worked closely with the rest in building of a Christmas creche for the school. This outbreak suggests that increasing attention should be paid to school as potential foci for the spread of tuberculosis and that greater attention be paid to teacher screening, particularly in areas of higher tuberculosis prevalence.     

Forensic autopsies from 1984 to 1993 in Vienna, Austria

In Austria every death is subject to an examination by a medical doctor authorized by the local health authority. If death is suspected to be natural and/or perpetrated by another person, this doctor has to report it to the police. Depending on the investigation results, the examining magistrate in charge demands a judicial autopsy at the Institute of Forensic Medicine. In 1989, 41 murders of old patients by nursing assistants in a Viennese public hospital were disclosed. The main aim of this retrospective study was to determine any change in the demand for forensic autopsies by the Viennese health authority, as well as by the criminal court, after 1989. Furthermore, it was of interest to analyze the reporting practices of medical doctors examining corpses, as well as thr reaction of the criminal court during the study period. After 1989, there was a significant increase of non-judicial and judicial autopsies, performed by Viennese forensic pathologists. In addition, there was a significant increase of reports to the police by coroners as well as by forensic pathologists, paralleled by a higher rate of forensic autopsies demanded by the examining magistrate. This increase of forensic autopsies took place even though the overall rate of deaths in Vienna significantly decreased during the 10-year study period. Thus, the disclosure of 41 murders in the Viennese hospital in 1989 can be assumed as a turning point in the reporting practices of Viennese coroners, as well as the autopsy rate handled by Viennese forensic pathologists.     

A citywide survey of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus--New York City, 1993

Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) has become an increasingly important nosocomial pathogen. Questionnaires were sent to all New York City (NYC)-licensed laboratories to ask about testing procedures used, number of isolates identified, species identified, and vancomycin susceptibility for enterococcal isolates in 1993. Of 127 laboratories, 118 (93%) responded. Fifty-three (45%) of the 118 laboratories reported both the number of enterococcal isolates tested and the number of VRE isolates identified during 1993; 15 (28%) of the 53 laboratories did not isolate VRE, and the remaining 38 laboratories identified 3,822 (8.1%) VRE isolates. VRE was first identified by a NYC-licensed (commercial) laboratory in 1988. Among NYC hospital laboratories, 65 (97%) of 67 identified at least one VRE isolate during 1989-1993. This survey demonstrates that there has been a marked increase in the number of VRE isolates identified in NYC laboratories.