Reitinoptimoinnin hyödyllisyys metsävaratiedon keruun maastotyössä

TutkimusartikkeliReitinoptimointi maastossa ei ole ollut laajasti tutkittu aihe. Metsäkeskuksen metsäninventointityöhön soveltuvaa reitinoptimointimenetelmää on kehitetty muutaman vuoden ajan. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli testata menetelmää ensimmäisen kerran todellisen maastotyön yhteydessä. Testauksessa selvitettiin reitinoptimointityökalun toimivuutta, reitinoptimoinnin vaikutusta työn tuottavuuteen ja kerättiin testaajien mielipiteitä menetelmän hyödyllisyydestä. Reitinoptimointimenetelmän periaatteet havaittiin toimiviksi. Kehitetyllä reitinoptimointityökalulla pystyttiin tuottamaan yleensä toimivia reittejä. Toisinaan reitit olivat kuitenkin epäloogisia. Reitinoptimoinnin merkityksestä työn tuottavuudelle ei pystytty tekemään luotettavia johtopäätöksiä. Testaajien mielipiteiden mukaan menetelmästä oli kuitenkin vähintään jonkin verran hyötyä enemmistölle testaajista. Reitinoptimointityökalu vaatii vielä jatkokehitystä, jotta siitä saataisiin tuotantokäyttöön soveltuva. Kehitystyön jälkeen menetelmän hyödyllisyyden voidaan arvioida edelleen kasvavan. Käytännön soveltamisessa työkalun tuottamia reittejä tulisi pitää apuvälineenä, joiden avulla ihminen voisi päättää lopullisen käyttämänsä reitin. Menetelmä on sovellettavissa myös muuhun maastossa liikkumiseen. Tällöin reitinlaskentaan vaikuttavat lähtötiedot on selvitettävä tapauskohtaisesti

Modeling binding specificities of transcription factor pairs with random forests

Background Transcription factors (TFs) bind regulatory DNA regions with sequence specificity, form complexes and regulate gene expression. In cooperative TF-TF binding, two transcription factors bind onto a shared DNA binding site as a pair. Previous work has demonstrated pairwise TF-TF-DNA interactions with position weight matrices (PWMs), which may however not sufficiently take into account the complexity and flexibility of pairwise binding. Results We propose two random forest (RF) methods for joint TF-TF binding site prediction: ComBind and JointRF. We train models with previously published large-scale CAP-SELEX DNA libraries, which comprise DNA sequences enriched for binding of a selected TF pair. JointRF builds a random forest with sub-sequences selected from CAP-SELEX DNA reads with previously proposed pairwise PWM. JointRF outperforms (area under receiver operating characteristics curve, AUROC, 0.75) the current state-of-the-art method i.e. orientation and spacing specific pairwise PWMs (AUROC 0.59). Thus, JointRF may be utilized to improve prediction accuracy for pre-determined binding preferences. However, pairwise TF binding is currently considered flexible; a pair may bind DNA with different orientations and amounts of dinucleotide gaps or overlap between the two motifs. Thus, we developed ComBind, which utilizes random forests by considering simultaneously multiple orientations and spacings of the two factors. Our approach outperforms (AUROC 0.78) PWMs, as well as JointRF (pPeer reviewe

Sairausvakuutuslain ja vammaispalvelulain mukaisia matkoja on mahdollista yhdistellä

TiivistelmäLähtökohdat: Kelan sairausvakuutuslain perusteella korvaamia taksimatkoja yhdistetään yhteiskuljetuksiksi. Samoin voidaan yhdistellä taksimatkoja, jotka kunta järjestää vammaispalvelulain mukaan. Eri lakeihin perustuvia kuljetuksia ei sen sijaan yhdistellä keskenään.Menetelmät: Tarkastelimme paikkatietomenetelmin tällaisia matkoja, jotka oli tehty Oulun kaupungin alueella vuonna 2016.Tulokset: Matkoissa oli eniten yhdistelymahdollisuuksia, kun korvaava taho oli sama. Silti myös Kelan ja kuntien korvaamia matkoja olisi usein voitu yhdistää. Kelan korvaamilla matkoillaolisi tullut usein ainakin yksi ylimääräinen pysähdys, jos matka olisi yhdistetty kunnan maksamaan matkaan.Päätelmät: Taksimatkoja ja niiden kustannuksia voitaisiin vähentää nykyisestä yhdistämällä Kelan ja kuntien korvaamia matkoja. Yhdistelyssä on kuitenkin huomioitava matkojen erilaiset kohteet ja etenkin Kela- matkustajille aiheutuva haitta.AbstractBackground: There is an increasing trend towards sharing taxi trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance or trips funded by the municipalities. However, trips related to different legislations are never combined.Methods: Geospatial analysis methods were used to assess the destinations and shareability potential of taxi trips made in the city of Oulu, Finland, in 2016.Results: The destinations of taxi trips were different depending on the funding source. There was considerable potential for more extensive ride-sharing. While most potential combinations of trips consisted of trips related to the same funding source, the two types of trips could have been combined in many instances. As a drawback, at least one additional stop would be added to trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance as a consequence of ride-sharing involving two types of trips.Conclusions: Potentially a considerable reduction in the number of trips and travelled distances could be achieved by performing more extensive ride-sharing for taxi transport reimbursed by society. However, special requirements pertaining to accessible vehicles and inconvenience resulting from ride-sharing need to be taken into account. There is significant regional variation in the proportion of clients entitled to private transport without the presence of other passengers in the vehicle. Nevertheless, the study showed that this would not be a major impediment to more extensive ride-sharing.Tiivistelmä Lähtökohdat: Kelan sairausvakuutuslain perusteella korvaamia taksimatkoja yhdistetään yhteiskuljetuksiksi. Samoin voidaan yhdistellä taksimatkoja, jotka kunta järjestää vammaispalvelulain mukaan. Eri lakeihin perustuvia kuljetuksia ei sen sijaan yhdistellä keskenään. Menetelmät: Tarkastelimme paikkatietomenetelmin tällaisia matkoja, jotka oli tehty Oulun kaupungin alueella vuonna 2016. Tulokset: Matkoissa oli eniten yhdistelymahdollisuuksia, kun korvaava taho oli sama. Silti myös Kelan ja kuntien korvaamia matkoja olisi usein voitu yhdistää. Kelan korvaamilla matkoillaolisi tullut usein ainakin yksi ylimääräinen pysähdys, jos matka olisi yhdistetty kunnan maksamaan matkaan. Päätelmät: Taksimatkoja ja niiden kustannuksia voitaisiin vähentää nykyisestä yhdistämällä Kelan ja kuntien korvaamia matkoja. Yhdistelyssä on kuitenkin huomioitava matkojen erilaiset kohteet ja etenkin Kela- matkustajille aiheutuva haitta.Abstract Background: There is an increasing trend towards sharing taxi trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance or trips funded by the municipalities. However, trips related to different legislations are never combined. Methods: Geospatial analysis methods were used to assess the destinations and shareability potential of taxi trips made in the city of Oulu, Finland, in 2016. Results: The destinations of taxi trips were different depending on the funding source. There was considerable potential for more extensive ride-sharing. While most potential combinations of trips consisted of trips related to the same funding source, the two types of trips could have been combined in many instances. As a drawback, at least one additional stop would be added to trips reimbursed by the National Health Insurance as a consequence of ride-sharing involving two types of trips. Conclusions: Potentially a considerable reduction in the number of trips and travelled distances could be achieved by performing more extensive ride-sharing for taxi transport reimbursed by society. However, special requirements pertaining to accessible vehicles and inconvenience resulting from ride-sharing need to be taken into account. There is significant regional variation in the proportion of clients entitled to private transport without the presence of other passengers in the vehicle. Nevertheless, the study showed that this would not be a major impediment to more extensive ride-sharing

Paikkatiedoista apua astman ja allergioiden tutkimukseen

TiivistelmäPaikkatietojen avautuminen ja pitkät aikasarjat auttavat selvittämään ympäristötekijöiden vaikutusta sairauksien syntyyn.Tiivistelmä Paikkatietojen avautuminen ja pitkät aikasarjat auttavat selvittämään ympäristötekijöiden vaikutusta sairauksien syntyyn

Accessibility of tertiary hospitals in Finland : A comparison of administrative and normative catchment areas

AbstractThe determination of an appropriate catchment area for a hospital providing highly specialized (i.e. tertiary) health care is typically a trade-off between ensuring adequate client volumes and maintaining reasonable accessibility for all potential clients. This may pose considerable challenges, especially in sparsely inhabited regions. In Finland, tertiary health care is concentrated in five university hospitals, which provide services in their dedicated catchment areas. This study utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS), together with grid-based population data and travel-time estimates, to assess the spatial accessibility of these hospitals. The current geographical configuration of the hospitals is compared to a normative assignment, with and without capacity constraints. The aim is to define optimal catchment areas for tertiary hospitals so that their spatial accessibility is as equal as possible. The results indicate that relatively modest improvements can be achieved in accessibility by using normative assignment to determine catchment areas.Abstract The determination of an appropriate catchment area for a hospital providing highly specialized (i.e. tertiary) health care is typically a trade-off between ensuring adequate client volumes and maintaining reasonable accessibility for all potential clients. This may pose considerable challenges, especially in sparsely inhabited regions. In Finland, tertiary health care is concentrated in five university hospitals, which provide services in their dedicated catchment areas. This study utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS), together with grid-based population data and travel-time estimates, to assess the spatial accessibility of these hospitals. The current geographical configuration of the hospitals is compared to a normative assignment, with and without capacity constraints. The aim is to define optimal catchment areas for tertiary hospitals so that their spatial accessibility is as equal as possible. The results indicate that relatively modest improvements can be achieved in accessibility by using normative assignment to determine catchment areas

Medical deserts in Finland: measuring the accessibility and availability of primary health care services

Abstract Background: Well-functioning primary health care (PHC) systems are needed to meet the challenges of aging populations and increasing care needs. However, “medical deserts”, areas with poor accessibility and availability of PHC services, remain a significant issue throughout Europe, contributing to regional inequalities. Identifying the location of these areas is crucial for effective policymaking and for improving health outcomes. Our aim was to locate underserved areas in Finland by developing a medical desert index. In addition, we examined the impact of telehealth, care needs, and multiple funding sources on the index and analyzed its association with key quality indicators. Methods: The index was calculated using routinely collected municipality-level PHC consultation data from 2022 adjusted for population care needs (availability) and the average travel time to the nearest PHC center (accessibility). Telehealth and occupational healthcare consultations were included separately. Standardized index values were mapped and categorized using descriptive analysis, and compared with indicators of healthcare utilization, care accessibility and availability, care satisfaction, and continuity of care using correlation analysis. Results: The index displayed clear patterns of medical deserts, primarily in the rural areas of northern and eastern Finland. Approximately 13% of the Finnish population resided in medical deserts, defined as a standard score of -0.5 or lower. The inclusion of telehealth consultations appeared to improve the index values especially in some rural areas. Better accessibility and availability of PHC services, as indicated through the index, was significantly correlated with lower proportion of acute care consultations, fewer hospital care days, and lower continuity of care among clients aged 65 years and older. Conclusions: We were able to identify medical deserts in Finland utilizing novel methodology distinct from previous indicators, and thus providing important considerations for future research on regional inequalities in accessibility and availability of PHC services. Our findings demonstrated the potential of telehealth services in mitigating medical deserts, though its appropriateness for some population groups and care needs remains unclear. We call for health policy addressing PHC service provision especially in rural areas.Abstract Background: Well-functioning primary health care (PHC) systems are needed to meet the challenges of aging populations and increasing care needs. However, “medical deserts”, areas with poor accessibility and availability of PHC services, remain a significant issue throughout Europe, contributing to regional inequalities. Identifying the location of these areas is crucial for effective policymaking and for improving health outcomes. Our aim was to locate underserved areas in Finland by developing a medical desert index. In addition, we examined the impact of telehealth, care needs, and multiple funding sources on the index and analyzed its association with key quality indicators. Methods: The index was calculated using routinely collected municipality-level PHC consultation data from 2022 adjusted for population care needs (availability) and the average travel time to the nearest PHC center (accessibility). Telehealth and occupational healthcare consultations were included separately. Standardized index values were mapped and categorized using descriptive analysis, and compared with indicators of healthcare utilization, care accessibility and availability, care satisfaction, and continuity of care using correlation analysis. Results: The index displayed clear patterns of medical deserts, primarily in the rural areas of northern and eastern Finland. Approximately 13% of the Finnish population resided in medical deserts, defined as a standard score of -0.5 or lower. The inclusion of telehealth consultations appeared to improve the index values especially in some rural areas. Better accessibility and availability of PHC services, as indicated through the index, was significantly correlated with lower proportion of acute care consultations, fewer hospital care days, and lower continuity of care among clients aged 65 years and older. Conclusions: We were able to identify medical deserts in Finland utilizing novel methodology distinct from previous indicators, and thus providing important considerations for future research on regional inequalities in accessibility and availability of PHC services. Our findings demonstrated the potential of telehealth services in mitigating medical deserts, though its appropriateness for some population groups and care needs remains unclear. We call for health policy addressing PHC service provision especially in rural areas

Taksimatkojen yhdistelypotentiaalin arviointi paikkatietoanalyysillä

AbstractWhile being an indispensable mode of transportation, the occupancy rate of taxi vehicles is generally low. In this study, we used a large data set on actual taxi trips to assess how ride sharing could provide means to decrease the number of trips and traveled distance. We implemented a method based the notion of a shareability network, allowing us to determine the set of trips associated with the highest benefit of sharing. Due to the complexity of the problem, we only considered pairwise ride sharing. Even with this limitation, we found that potentially a considerable number of taxi trips can be shared. Our analysis suggested that up to two out of three trips are shareable with at least one other trip. Although shareability is dependent on the length of the time window, a significant proportion of sharing opportunities can be realized even in short time windows.Abstract While being an indispensable mode of transportation, the occupancy rate of taxi vehicles is generally low. In this study, we used a large data set on actual taxi trips to assess how ride sharing could provide means to decrease the number of trips and traveled distance. We implemented a method based the notion of a shareability network, allowing us to determine the set of trips associated with the highest benefit of sharing. Due to the complexity of the problem, we only considered pairwise ride sharing. Even with this limitation, we found that potentially a considerable number of taxi trips can be shared. Our analysis suggested that up to two out of three trips are shareable with at least one other trip. Although shareability is dependent on the length of the time window, a significant proportion of sharing opportunities can be realized even in short time windows

Geographical accessibility to primary health care in Finland : Grid-based multimodal assessment

AbstractGeographic accessibility of health services is one of the key dimensions affecting health care access, utilisation and may impact population health. We analysed countrywide space-time accessibility to primary health services by private car and multimodal walk-ride-walk travel chains of public transport in Finland. The analysis utilises register-based population grid cell data at 250m × 250 m resolution, road network with scheduled public transport data and geocoded locations of four types of primary health service. Our results show that the Finnish population reaches primary health services well, also by public transport, which is most beneficial in urban fringes, where health services are not immediately available. However, accessibility of services may be limited for some segments of the population, such as carless households located in remote areas, and teenagers who access health services independently. Distinct regional differences exist in accessibility, particularly in rural areas. The continuous pressure to reduce the number of service facilities may further deter service accessibility of these segments of the population. As this kind of transport disadvantage may create or reinforce social disadvantage and exclusion, as well as health inequalities, ensuring an equal access to primary health services is important.Abstract Geographic accessibility of health services is one of the key dimensions affecting health care access, utilisation and may impact population health. We analysed countrywide space-time accessibility to primary health services by private car and multimodal walk-ride-walk travel chains of public transport in Finland. The analysis utilises register-based population grid cell data at 250m × 250 m resolution, road network with scheduled public transport data and geocoded locations of four types of primary health service. Our results show that the Finnish population reaches primary health services well, also by public transport, which is most beneficial in urban fringes, where health services are not immediately available. However, accessibility of services may be limited for some segments of the population, such as carless households located in remote areas, and teenagers who access health services independently. Distinct regional differences exist in accessibility, particularly in rural areas. The continuous pressure to reduce the number of service facilities may further deter service accessibility of these segments of the population. As this kind of transport disadvantage may create or reinforce social disadvantage and exclusion, as well as health inequalities, ensuring an equal access to primary health services is important

The Effect of Physical Activity on Arterial Stiffness, Inflammation and Lipoproteins among 30–65-Year-Old Men

AbstractIntroduction: Obesity and an inactive lifestyle increase risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. We did a cross-sectional study on 120 men with and 80 men without metabolic syndrome to investigate the connection between patient-reported physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors.Methods: The subjects’ daily amount of physical exercise was assessed with a structured questionnaire regarding normal weekly amount, type and mode of physical activity. The subjects were stratified into different groups regarding their physical activity and metabolic syndrome status. We compared lipid levels, resting heart rate, hs-CRP, HbA1c and arterial elasticity of the subjects in different groups.Results: Subjects with metabolic syndrome and high amounts of daily physical activity had higher resting heart rate, hs-CRP, triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol than their counterparts without metabolic syndrome who reported lower levels of daily physical activity.Conclusions: An increase in daily physical activity was associated with lower HbA1c among men with metabolic syndrome up to the level of subjects without metabolic syndrome. Increasing physical activity solely is an insufficient strategy for improving all the unfavorable cardiovascular risk factors related to metabolic syndrome.Abstract Introduction: Obesity and an inactive lifestyle increase risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease. We did a cross-sectional study on 120 men with and 80 men without metabolic syndrome to investigate the connection between patient-reported physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors. Methods: The subjects’ daily amount of physical exercise was assessed with a structured questionnaire regarding normal weekly amount, type and mode of physical activity. The subjects were stratified into different groups regarding their physical activity and metabolic syndrome status. We compared lipid levels, resting heart rate, hs-CRP, HbA1c and arterial elasticity of the subjects in different groups. Results: Subjects with metabolic syndrome and high amounts of daily physical activity had higher resting heart rate, hs-CRP, triglycerides and lower HDL cholesterol than their counterparts without metabolic syndrome who reported lower levels of daily physical activity. Conclusions: An increase in daily physical activity was associated with lower HbA1c among men with metabolic syndrome up to the level of subjects without metabolic syndrome. Increasing physical activity solely is an insufficient strategy for improving all the unfavorable cardiovascular risk factors related to metabolic syndrome