We assessed factors associated with increased risk to loss of follow-up with infectious diseases staff in OPAT patients. Discharge to subacute healthcare facilities is strongly associated with loss to follow-up. We did not identify sociodemographic disparities. Poor communication between OPAT providers and subacute healthcare facilities remains a serious issue.

In recent years, we have seen several new models of dependent type theory extended with some form of modal necessity operator, including nominal type theory, guarded and clocked type theory and spatial and cohesive type theory. In this paper, we study modal dependent type theory: dependent type theory with an operator satisfying (a dependent version of) the K axiom of modal logic. We investigate both semantics and syntax. For the semantics, we introduce categories with families with a dependent right adjoint (CwDRA) and show that the examples above can be presented as such. Indeed, we show that any category with finite limits and an adjunction of endofunctors give rise to a CwDRA via the local universe construction. For the syntax, we introduce a dependently typed extension of Fitch-style modal λ-calculus, show that it can be interpreted in any CwDRA, and build a term model. We extend the syntax and semantics with universes.

In recent years, several initiatives have sought to encourage redemption of food assistance benefits at direct-to-consumer (DTC) market venues such as community supported agriculture programs and farmers’ markets in the USA, with the dual goal of increasing access to healthy foods for low-income families and sales of locally-grown foods for farmers. Proponents of these interventions assert that these programs have a positive impact on local economies yet there is limited evidence to validate this argument. This research project used a customized input-output model to simulate potential economic impacts of programs and policies that enable Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to shift purchases from traditional food retailers to DTC venues in four states. Two different scenarios were explored: (1) increased outreach to low-income consumers and (2) financial support for using SNAP benefits at DTC market channels. We found a positive, though modest, economic impact at the state level under both scenarios when accounting for (a) business losses in the food retail and wholesale sectors, (b) a shift in acreage from commodity to specialty crops and (c) the cost to taxpayers. Since most of the increased economic activity would be in the produce farming sector, we discuss the opportunities and challenges for this sector along with potential policy implications.

We apply cross-correlation to Pléiades satellite images to generate accurate, high-resolution monthly surface velocity maps of Monte Tronador glaciers between March and June 2012. Measured surface displacements cover periods as short as 19 days, with a precision of ∼0.58 m (11 m a−1). These glaciers follow a radial flow pattern, with maximum surface speeds of ∼390 m a−1 associated with steep icefalls. The lower reaches of the debris-covered tongues of Verde and Casa Pangue glaciers are almost stagnant, whereas Ventisquero Negro, another debris-covered glacier, shows acceleration at the front due to calving into a proglacial lake. Low-elevation debris-covered glacier tongues show increasing velocities at the beginning of the accumulation season, whereas higher-elevation, clean-ice tongues reduce their speed during this period. This contrasting behavior is probably in response to an increase in water input to the subglacial system from winter rainfall events at low elevations and a decrease in meltwater production at higher elevations. These sequential velocity maps can help to identify the controls on glacier surface velocity, aid in the delimitation of ice divides and could also contribute to more realistic calibration of ice-flux-mass–balance models in this glacierized area.

Background: Persistent high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary prerequisite for development of cervical cancer and its precursor lesion, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). However, HPV infection is not sufficient to drive this process, and genetic and environmental factors may also play a role. Methods/Design: The Cervical Cancer, Genetics and Environment Twin Study was established to investigate the environmental and genetic influences on variation in susceptibility to cervical pre-cancer in 25- to 69-year-old monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins recruited through the Australian Twin Registry. Reviews of Papanicolaou (Pap) screening histories were undertaken to identify individual women with a history of an abnormal Pap test. This was followed by detection of HPV in archival Pap smears of selected twin pairs to determine HPV persistence. Selected twin pairs also completed a detailed questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, sexual behavior, and HPV knowledge. In future analyses, under the assumptions of the classical twin design, case-wise concordance for persistent HPV infection and HSIL will be calculated for MZ and DZ twin pairs, and twin pairs (both MZ and DZ) who are discordant for the above outcomes will be used to assess the contributions of measured environmental risk factors. Discussion: The study examines factors related to HPV persistence and development of HSIL among female MZ and DZ twins. The results will contribute to our understanding of the natural history of cervical HPV infection and the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors in disease progression.

Mandatory influenza vaccination is associated with improved healthcare personnel vaccination rates, but institutional barriers to implementation and enforcement are reported. We explored barriers and facilitators to mandatory vaccination among a national sample of hospital administrators. Support from employees and administration were cited as key to the success of a mandate.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(6):724-727

Correct handling of names and binders is an important issue in meta-programming. This paper presents an embedding of constraint logic programming into the αML functional programming language, which provides a provably correct means of implementing proof search computations over inductive definitions involving names and binders modulo α-equivalence. We show that the execution of proof search in the αML operational semantics is sound and complete with regard to the model-theoretic semantics of formulae, and develop a theory of contextual equivalence for the subclass of αML expressions which correspond to inductive definitions and formulae. In particular, we prove that αML expressions, which denote inductive definitions, are contextually equivalent precisely when those inductive definitions have the same model-theoretic semantics. This paper is a revised and extended version of the conference paper (Lakin, M. R. & Pitts, A. M. (2009) Resolving inductive definitions with binders in higher-order typed functional programming. In Proceedings of the 18th European Symposium on Programming (ESOP 2009), Castagna, G. (ed), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 5502. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, pp. 47–61) and draws on material from the first author's PhD thesis (Lakin, M. R. (2010) An Executable Meta-Language for Inductive Definitions with Binders. University of Cambridge, UK).

This is the second of two papers in which we estimate transition probabilities amongst levels of disability as defined in the Australian Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers. In this paper we describe our estimation procedure, followed by its implementation, discussion of results and graduation of the estimated transition probabilities.