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Assessment and information gathering is a key part of the healthcare professional's role. But how much of the data gathered is useful and how much is repetitious? The study described here was designed to answer such questions and to determine whether assessment in a specialist medical unit could be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Julia Miller and colleagues describe a study to examine the role of contact assessment in primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A set of 49 national, intranational and international health atlases was surveyed to characterize their mapping methodology with respect to the populations covered, the diseases represented, the mapping techniques, and statistical methods. Little consistency was found concerning the choice of data function to be mapped, minimum event frequency requirements, method of age standardization, or map colour systems. Many atlases did not include basic epidemiological information; for instance, approximately half the atlases did not quote population denominators. There was a tendency to emphasize statistical significance over rate values, and to focus on high rather than low risk. Very few atlases included supplemental information on environmental factors. Most adopted a descriptive stance, and attempted no aetiological interpretation. We conclude that inter-atlas comparisons are made very difficult by methodological differences, and that even regional comparisons within atlases should be made cautiously. We propose a set of methodological guidelines for consideration in future atlases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The angle of incidence is a major variable for calculating transmission loss from field data [ASTM 336 77]. This suggests that the acoustical insulation of residential construction vary with the relative location of the flight paths and the housing. Alternatively, the number of reflected paths in normal residential areas may be so great as to override any such effect. This paper tests the hypothesis that the acoustical insulation of residential construction is affected by location relative to the flight path, using field transmission loss data collected during summer 1980 for thirty rooms in the Toronto area. Two cases are compared. In the first, the flight path is perpendicular to the plane defined by the element of interest, while in the second, the flight path is parallel to the same plane. Road traffic sites are also used as they are similar to the second case. For the first set of cases, the acoustical insulation for different sections of each flyover is also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]