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Radiation exposure with repeated radiography required at follow-up poses serious health concerns for scoliosis patients. Although spinous process angle (SPA) measurement of spinal curvatures with ultrasound has been reported with promising results, an evidence-based account on its accuracy for translational application remains undefined. This prospective study involved 952 idiopathic scoliosis patients (75.7% female, mean age 16.7 ± 3.0 y, Cobb 28.7 ± 11.6°). Among 1432 curves (88.1%) detected by ultrasound, there was good correlation between radiologic Cobb angles measured manually on EOS (E&#95;Cobb) whole-spine radiographs and automatic ultrasound SPA measurement for upper spinal curves (USCs) (r = 0.873, apices T7-T12/L1 intervertebral disc) and lower spinal curves (LSCs) (r = 0.740, apices L1 or below) (p < 0.001). Taller stature was associated with stronger correlation. For E&#95;Cobb <30°, 66.6% USCs and 62.4% LSCs had absolute differences between E&#95;Cobb and predicted Cobb angle calculated from SPA ≤5°. Ultrasound could be a viable option in lieu of radiography for measuring coronal curves with apices at T7 or lower and Cobb angle <30°., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Problem: This paper addresses the effects of driver factors and sign design features on the comprehensibility of traffic signs., Methods: A survey was designed to capture subjects' personal particulars, ratings on sign features, and comprehension scores, and then administered to 109 Hong Kong full driving license holders., Results: Years with driving license and education level were significant predictors of sign comprehensibility. Contrary to expectation, the driver factors of age group, years of active driving, hours of driving, last time driving, driving frequency, and non-local driving experience had no effect on comprehension performance. Sign familiarity was correlated with comprehension score for licensed drivers, whereas sign concreteness, simplicity, and meaningfulness were not., Impact on Industry: The results of this study provide useful guidelines for designing more user-friendly traffic signs in the future. It identified particular driver groups who lacked good understanding of traffic signs, and this information may assist the relevant organizations to better allocate traffic training resources, and better target future studies of traffic sign comprehension.

This experiment investigated the relationships between the characteristics of prospective-users of traffic signs (people who will use the signs in the future) and the guessability of traffic signs, and also examined the effects of sign design features on the guessability of traffic signs. Forty-one Hong Kong Chinese subjects guessed the meanings and rated the sign features of 120 Mainland Chinese signs. Contrary to expectation, cycling experience and previous experience with sign information had no effect on sign guessing. Males and females with similar education level had similar guessing performance. Previous experience of visiting Mainland China was a significant predictor of guessing performance. Family ownership of a vehicle was associated with guessing performance for subjects who intended to become a driver and for those with car game experience. Subjects who claimed to pay attention to traffic signs in daily life performed better at sign guessing than those who did not. Traffic incident experience did not seem to enhance awareness of, or knowledge about, traffic signs. Guessability of a sign varied with the five design features of; familiarity, concreteness, simplicity, meaningfulness, and semantic closeness of the sign. Semantic closeness was the best predictor of guessability score, followed by familiarity, meaningfulness, concreteness, and simplicity. In order to design more user-friendly traffic signs and effective ways of using them, it is suggested that designers develop and evaluate signs according to the relative importance of the five sign features.

Background: Little is known about the long-term consequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). We carried out an assessment on SARS patients after their recovery from their acute illness., Method: Postal survey comprising Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) questionnaires and anxiety and depression measures was sent to them at 3 months' postdischarge., Results: There was a significant impairment in both the HRQoL and mental functioning. Forty-one percent had scores indicative of a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); about 30% had likely anxiety and depression., Conclusion: SARS has significant impact on HRQoL and psychological status at 3 months.