Annegret Kindler

Helicobacter pylori prevalence in Leipzig’s 1998 school entries: methodology and first results

The non-invasive, stable-isotope-aided Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) tests--breath and equivalent urine tests--were offered on a voluntary basis as part of the mandatory school entry medical examination to the 1998 school entry cohort of the City of Leipzig (480,000 residents). Parents of participating subjects were asked to fill out a detailed epidemiologic questionnaire. The response rate was 94% (n = 2228 of 2369 school starters born in 1991/92). Parent-completed questionnaires were returned by 1890 (80%) children. The overall H. pylori positive prevalence was 7.2%. The prevalence among children with a test and a parent-completed questionnaire was 6.5%. Prevalences among subsequently tested family members of the positive tested children was 65, 60 and 39% for mothers, fathers and siblings respectively. Though studies have shown that the direct transmission of the bacterium (oral-oral and fecal-oral) is a dominant pathway of infection, the questionnaire analyses indicate associations between H. pylori colonisation and living as well as environmental conditions.

Modeling airborne benzene in space and time with self-organizing maps and Bayesian techniques

An assessment of personal exposure to airborne chemical contaminants demands for individual-specific registration of their concentrations, a procedure which is expensive and difficult to implement. An alternative approach is the calculation of a spatial concentration field in high resolution where exposure can be assigned to individuals according to their dwelling locations. Self-organizing maps (SOM) and Bayesian Hierarchical Models (BHM) were applied to model the spatial concentrations of benzene, an airborne volatile organic compound (VOC), in the urban area of Leipzig, Germany. Different performance measures (mean absolute error, coefficient of determination, etc.) were adopted to evaluate and compare the performance of SOM and BHM. Relevant input factors related to VOC dispersion were stepwise selected with the BHM. Both modeling techniques identified seasonal as well as spatial variations of benzene, with the highest concentrations occurring in winter and the lowest in summer. SOM and BHM showed that high concentrations of benzene are correlated with low distances to the city center and with the major traffic routes. Both SOM and BHM were suitable to model the spatial distribution of benzene concentrations, with the latter yielding a better overall performance using input factors selected by BHM. Beyond this specific application the suggested approaches have potential for statistical spatiotemporal modeling of other environmental parameters, an issue that is currently under rapid development.

Land-Use Change, Risk and Land-Use Management

This chapter focuses on flood risk analysis and risk prevention in Santiago de Chile. It presents a conceptual framework for flood risk analysis in urban areas and demonstrates the utility of a mixed set of methods, including remote sensing and GIS techniques, to improve the methodological basis for flood risk assessment and risk prevention. Population growth and land-use changes are analysed as key elements of urban development and indicators of flood risk production. A conceptual framework comprising the core elements of exposure, elements at risk and vulnerability serves as a tool for risk analysis and risk assessment, and is applied to the municipalities of La Reina and Penalolen. The chapter reviews existing institutional responses to land-use and risk management and, based on expert interviews, detects their deficits. As a conclusion, recommendations to improve flood risk prevention in Santiago de Chile are made. The absence of a systemic view of flood risk resulting from complex ecological and social processes is the chief weakness of current risk prevention in Santiago de Chile.

Databases, data organization and data processing

In the age of transition towards the information society, many different kinds of information and data are being continuously produced and distributed all over the world. Faster computers, the internet, earth observation satellites, and the development of new software and new technologies for various disciplines shape the production, transfer and exchange of information in all spheres of life. Moreover, many questions cannot be solved on a local, regional or national level because they have an international or even global nature. Considering the sheer volume and diversity of information, ever greater demands are being made on the collection, processing, structuring, standardization, sources, accuracy, updating and presentation of data. One general rule is that data collection is very timeconsuming and expensive.

Social Atlas of Leipzig

The Social Atlas of Leipzig is the first atlas which considers the social and urban ecological structural changes in a large east German city after the unification of the two German States in 1990. It is an instrument for the sociological analysis and evaluation of urban development. The main objectives are as follows: 1. spatial registration, cartographic representation and assessment of these social consequences that accompany the abrupt transition from the centrally managed economy in the former GDR to the free market economy in an urban frame; 2. description of the social-spatial differentiation of residential areas by means of selected social, political and economic factors including the actual land use, as well as structural, infrastructural and environmental characteristics; 3. characterisation of the actual social situation in the city of Leipzig by registering the social conditions and their changes in time, their cartographic registration and interpretation.

Socio-Spatial Distribution of Airborne Outdoor Exposures – An Indicator for Environmental Quality, Quality of Life, and Environmental Justice: The Case Study of Berlin

Population growth and rapid urbanization accelerate the scarcity of limited environmental resources such as land, drinking water, energy, and clean air, especially in urban agglomerations (Kabisch and Kuhlicke 2014). Environmental pollution of air, water and soil, noise, and littering adversely affect the environmental quality and quality of life, especially of populations within cities and in their surroundings.

Mapping of Relative Risk

Environmental security involves the geo-referenced assessment of health risks. A straightforward estimation of relative risks can be based on aggregated health data, which are often routinely collected in administrative districts and, therefore, cheap and easily available. Disease maps based on raw data can be misleading, however. The value of the maps can be improved by applying a statistical model that, firstly, accounts for the spatial autocorrelation and, secondly, admits the inclusion of exposure data (e.g. from monitoring networks). A third important task is the inclusion of socioeconomic and further individual-specific confounders.