1,720,959 research outputs found
Pre-pandemic cognitive function and COVID-19 mortality: prospective cohort study.
Full text linkPoorer performance on standard tests of pre-morbid cognitive function is related to an elevated risk of death from lower respiratory tract infections but the link with coronavirus (COVID‑19) mortality is untested. Participants in UK Biobank, aged 40 to 69 years at study induction (2006-10), were administered a reaction time test, an indicator of information processing speed, and also had their verbal-numeric reasoning assessed. Between April 1st and September 23rd 2020 there were 388 registry-confirmed deaths (138 women) ascribed to COVID-19 in 494,932 individuals (269,602 women) with a reaction time test result, and 125 such deaths (38 women) in the subgroup of 180,198 people (97,794 women) with data on verbal-numeric reasoning. In analyses adjusted for age, sex, and ethnicity, a one standard deviation slower reaction time was related to a higher rate of death from COVID-19 (hazard ratio; 95% confidence interval: 1.18; 1.09, 1.28), as was a one standard deviation disadvantage on the verbal-numeric reasoning test (1.32; 1.09, 1.59). While there was some attenuation in these relationships after adjustment for additional covariates which included socio-economic status and lifestyle factors, the two pre-pandemic indicators of cognitive function continued to be related to COVID-19 mortality
Emotionally stable, intelligent me live longer: the Vietnam Experience Study
No full textObjectives: To determine whether neuroticism, cognitive ability, and their interaction predicted mortality and to test whether neuroticism or cognitive ability effects were mediated by socioeconomic status (SES), physical health, mental health, or health behaviors. Methods: Participants were 4200 men followed up for > 15 years. Participants took part in telephone interviews and medical and psychological evaluations. The neuroticism measure was based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which was administered during the psychological examination. Cognitive ability was measured via the Army General Technical Test given at induction and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale subtests administered during the psychological examination, approximately 17 years later. We used covariance structure modeling to analyze the data because it enabled us to conduct Cox proportional hazards analyses with latent variables and mediator variables. Results: Even after adjusting for age, ethnicity, and marital status, high neuroticism and low cognitive ability were independent mortality risk factors. A significant interaction indicated that participants high in neuroticism and low in cognitive ability were particularly at risk. In a second series of models, we examined whether education, income, seven physical health measures, two mental health measures, drinking, and smoking were related to mortality. SES and physical health variables attenuated the effect of cognitive ability but not that of neuroticism. A third series of models revealed that cognitive ability was related to mortality via its direct effects on income and health. Conclusions: The effects of high neuroticism, low cognitive ability, and their interaction predict mortality. Cognitive ability effects are mediated by health, income, and education
Are Current UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Obesity Risk Guidelines Useful? Cross-Sectional Associations with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in a Large, Representative English Population
Full text linkThe National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently released obesity guidelines for health risk. For the first time in the UK, we estimate the utility of these guidelines by relating them to the established cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. Health Survey for England (HSE) 2006, a population-based cross-sectional study in England was used with a sample size of 7225 men and women aged ≥35 years (age range: 35-97 years). The following CVD risk factor outcomes were used: hypertension, diabetes, total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, glycated haemoglobin, fibrinogen, C-reactive protein and Framingham risk score. Four NICE categories of obesity were created based on body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC): no risk (up to normal BMI and low/high WC); increased risk (normal BMI & very high WC, or obese & low WC); high risk (overweight & very high WC, or obese & high WC); and very high risk (obese I & very high WC or obese II/III with any levels of WC. Men and women in the very high risk category had the highest odds ratios (OR) of having unfavourable CVD risk factors compared to those in the no risk category. For example, the OR of having hypertension for those in the very high risk category of the NICE obesity groupings was 2.57 (95% confidence interval 2.06 to 3.21) in men, and 2.15 (1.75 to 2.64) in women. Moreover, a dose-response association between the adiposity groups and most of the CVD risk factors was observed except total cholesterol in men and low HDL in women. Similar results were apparent when the Framingham risk score was the outcome of interest. In conclusion, the current NICE definitions of obesity show utility for a range of CVD risk factors and CVD risk in both men and women
IQ in early adulthood, socioeconomic position, and unintentional injury mortality by middle age: a cohort study of more than 1 million Swedish men
No full textThe authors evaluated the little-examined association between intelligence (IQ) and injury mortality and, for the first known time, explored the extent to which IQ might explain established socioeconomic inequalities in injury mortality. A nationwide cohort of 1,116,442 Swedish men who underwent IQ testing at about 18 years of age was followed for mortality experience for an average of 22.6 years. In age-adjusted analyses in which IQ scores were classified into 4 groups, relative to the highest scoring category, the hazard ratio in the lowest was elevated for all injury types: poisonings (hazard ratio (HR) = 5.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.25, 7.97), fire (HR = 4.39, 95% CI: 2.51, 7.77), falls (HR = 3.17, 95% CI: 2.19, 4.59), drowning (HR = 3.16, 95% CI: 1.85, 5.39), and road injury (HR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.91, 2.47). Dose-response effects across the full IQ range were evident (P-trend < 0.001). Control for potential covariates, including socioeconomic position, had little impact on these gradients. When socioeconomic disadvantage -- indexed by parental and subject's own occupational social class -- was the exposure of interest, IQ explained a sizable portion (19%-86%) of the relation with injury mortality. These findings suggest that IQ may have an important role both in the etiology of injuries and in explaining socioeconomic inequalities in injury mortality
Intelligence in early adulthood and subsequent risk of assault: cohort study of 1,120,998 Swedish men
No full textObjective: To examine the association between low intelligence (IQ) and increased risk of assault. Previous studies have been relatively small, have not adjust for socioeconomic status, and have not examined method-specific assaults. Methods: Cox proportional hazards regression was used to explore IQ associations with assault by any means and by four specific methods in a large prospective cohort of 1,120,988 Swedish men. Study members had IQ measured in early adulthood and were well characterized for socioeconomic status in childhood and adulthood. Men were followed-up for an average of 24 years, and hospital admissions for injury due to assault were recorded. Results: A total of 16,512 (1.5%) men had at least one hospital admission for injury due to assault by any means during follow-up. The most common assault was during a fight (n = 13,144), followed by stabbing (n = 1,211), blunt instrument (b = 352), and firearms assaults (n = 51). After adjusting for confounding variables, lower IQ scores were associated with an elevated risk of hospitalization for assaults by any means (hazard ratio per standard deviation decrease in IQ, 1.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.49, 1.54) and for each of the cause-specific assaults: fight: 1.48 (1.45, 1.51); stabbing: 1.68 (1.58, 1.79); blunt instrument: 1.65 (1.47, 1.85); and firearms: 1.34 (1.00, 1.80). These gradients were stepwise across the full IQ range. Conclusions: Low IQ scores in early adulthood were associated with a subsequently increased risk of assault. A greater understanding of mechanisms underlying these associations may provide opportunities and strategies for prevention. <br/
Lymphocyte sub-population cell counts are associated with the metabolic syndrome and its components in the Vietnam Experience Study
Full text linkObjective: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. MetS is also associated with increases in the number of circulating white blood cells. Lymphocyte sub-population counts have also been implicated in cardiovascular disease; this analysis will examine whether or not they are associated with MetS.Methods: Participants were 4255 Vietnam-era US veterans. From military service files, telephone interviews, and a medical examination, occupational, socio-demographic, and health data were collected. MetS was ascertained from: body mass index; fasting blood glucose or a diabetes medication; blood pressure or a diagnosis of hypertension; HDL cholesterol; and triglyceride levels. Circulating T, T4, T8 and B lymphocytes cell numbers were determined by flow cytometry.Results: In fully adjusted logistic regression analyses, high lymphocyte sub-population counts were associated with an increased risk of MetS: T cells, OR = 2.68, 95%CI 1.99–3.61, p < .001; T4 cells, OR = 2.37, 95%CI 1.78–3.15, p < .001; T8 cells, OR = 1.79, 95%CI 1.43–2.24, p < .001; B cells, OR = 1.82, 95%CI 1.51–2.19, p < .001. High lymphocyte sub-population numbers were also associated with an increased likelihood of possessing each of the MetS components, as well as the number of components possessed.Conclusions: These results extend previous research which has largely been confined to total white blood cell or overall lymphocyte counts. If the present associations arise in prospective research, it is possible that simple lymphocyte cell counts could provide an additional prognostic indicator of risk for MetS.<br/
Cortisol, DHEAS, their ratio and the metabolic syndrome: evidence from the Vietnam experience study
Full text linkDesign: The analyses were cross-sectional. Methods: Participants were 4255 Vietnam era US army veterans. From military service files, telephone interviews and a medical examination, occupational, socio-demographic and health data were collected. MetS was ascertained from data on body mass index; fasting blood glucose or a diagnosis of diabetes; blood pressure or a diagnosis of hypertension; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; and triglyceride levels. Contemporary morning fasted cortisol and DHEAS concentrations were determined. The outcomes were MetS and its components. Analysis was by logistic regression, first adjusting for age and then additionally for an array of candidate confounders. Results: Cortisol, although not in the fully adjusted analysis, and DHEAS were both related to MetS. Whereas high cortisol concentrations were associated with an increased risk of MetS, high DHEAS concentrations appeared protective. By far, the strongest associations with MetS were observed for the cortisol:DHEAS ratio; the higher the ratio, the greater the risk of having MetS. The ratio was also significantly related to four of the five MetS components. Conclusions: The cortisol:DHEAS ratio is positively associated with MetS. Prospective analyses are needed to help untangle direction of causality, but this study suggests that the cortisol:DHEAS ratio is worthy of further study in this and other health contexts. <br/
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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