1,721,260 research outputs found
Temporal trends in the association between temperature and firearm mortality
No full textIntroduction: Firearm violence is a leading cause of mortality in the U.S., with recent evidence linking increased firearm incidents to high temperatures, disproportionately affecting those in lower socioeconomic status. This study analyzes firearm mortality trends attributed to high temperatures in Alabama and Georgia (2000-2020), focusing on differences by race/ethnicity and sex, to inform targeted interventions and address health inequities. Methods: We analyzed a total of 44,957 individual-level firearm mortality data (2000-2020) from Alabama and Georgia, two states with the highest firearm death rates. Using a time-stratified case-crossover using conditional logistic regression with distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM), we estimated annual attributable fractions (AFs) of firearm deaths linked to temperatures above the 90th temperature percentile, with stratified analyses by race/ethnicity and sex to identify vulnerable populations. Results: From 2000 to 2020, heat AFs for firearm mortality rose by 0.05 % (95 % CI: -0.01, 0.12) per year. Females showed a higher annual average percent increase (APC) in heat-related AF of 0.12 % (95 % CI: -0.03, 0.28) compared to males (APC: 0.02 % (95 % CI: -0.04, 0.08)). Black/African Americans experienced a higher APC of 0.10 % (95 % CI: 0.01, 0.19) than the White population with APC of 0.02 (95 % CI: -0.06, 0.09). Discussion: Extreme heat contributed to increases in firearm mortality in Alabama and Georgia, with varying health impacts across sex and racial/ethnic groups. Raising awareness of the impact of heat on firearm mortality within public health initiatives is crucial for enhancing community protection against climate change.
Temperature-Mortality Relationship in North Carolina, USA: Regional and Urban-Rural Differences
Full text linkBACKGROUND: Health disparities exist between urban and rural populations, yet research on rural-urban disparities in temperature-mortality relationships is limited. As inequality in the United States increases, understanding urban-rural and regional differences in temperature-mortality association is crucial. OBJECTIVE: We examined regional and urban-rural difference of the temperature-mortality association in North Carolina (NC), USA, and investigated potential effect modifiers. METHODS: We applied time-series models allowing nonlinear temperature-mortality associations for 17 years (2000–2016) to generate heat and cold county-specific estimates. We used second-stage analysis to quantify the overall effects. We also explored potential effect modifiers (e.g. social associations, greenness) using stratified analysis. Analysis considered relative effects (comparing risks at 99(th) to 90(th) temperature percentiles based on county-specific temperature distributions for heat, and 1(st) to 10(th) percentiles for cold) and absolute effects (comparing risks at specific temperatures). RESULTS: We found null effects for heat-related mortality (relative effect: 1.001 (95% CI: 0.995–1.007)). Overall cold-mortality risk for relative effects was 1.019 (1.015–1.023). All three regions had statistically significant cold-related mortality risks for relative and absolute effects (relative effect: 1.019 (1.010–1.027) for Coastal Plains, 1.021 (1.015–1.027) for Piedmont, 1.014 (1.006–1.023) for Mountains). The heat mortality risk was not statistically significant, whereas the cold mortality risk was statistically significant, showing higher cold-mortality risks in urban areas than rural areas (relative effect for heat: 1.006 (0.997–1.016) for urban, 1.002 (0.988–1.017) for rural areas; relative effect for cold: 1.023 (1.017–1.030) for urban, 1.012 (1.001–1.023) for rural areas). Findings are suggestive of higher relative cold risks in counties with less social association, higher population density, less green-space, higher PM(2.5,) lower education level, higher residential segregation, higher income inequality, and higher income (e.g., Ratio of Relative Risks 1.72 (0.68, 4.35) comparing low to high education). CONCLUSION: Results indicate cold-mortality risks in NC, with potential differences by regional, urban-rural areas, and community characteristics
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
Heat-mortality relationship in North Carolina: Comparison using different exposure methods
No full textBackgroundMany studies have explored the heat-mortality relationship; however, comparability of results is hindered by the studies' use of different exposure methods.ObjectiveThis study evaluated different methods for estimating exposure to temperature using individual-level data and examined the impacts on the heat-mortality relationship.MethodsWe calculated different temperature exposures for each individual death by using a modeled, gridded temperature dataset and a monitoring station dataset in North Carolina for 2000-2016. We considered individual-level vs. county-level averages and measured vs. modeled temperature data. A case-crossover analysis was conducted to examine the heat-mortality risk under different exposure methods.ResultsThe minimum mortality temperature (MMT) (i.e., the temperature with the lowest mortality rate) for the monitoring station dataset was 23.87 degrees C and 22.67 degrees C (individual monitor and county average, respectively), whereas for the modeled temperature dataset the MMT was 19.46 degrees C and 19.61 degrees C (individual and county, respectively). We found higher heat-mortality risk while using temperature exposure estimated from monitoring stations compared to risk based on exposure using the modeled temperature dataset. Individual-aggregated monitoring station temperature exposure resulted in higher heat mortality risk (odds ratio (95% CI): 2.24 (95% CI: 2.21, 2.27)) for a relative temperature change comparing the 99th and 90th temperature percentiles, while modeled temperature exposure resulted in lower odds ratio of 1.27 (95% CI: 1.25, 1.29).SignificanceOur findings indicate that using different temperature exposure methods can result in different temperature-mortality risk. The impact of using various exposure methods should be considered in planning health policies related to high temperatures, including under climate change.Impact StatementWe estimated the heat-mortality association using different methods to estimate exposure to temperature.The mean temperature value among different exposure methods were similar although lower for the modeled data, however, use of the monitoring station temperature dataset resulted in higher heat-mortality risk than the modeled temperature dataset.Differences in mortality risk from heat by urbanicity varies depending on the method used to estimate temperature exposure.
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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
The effect modification of greenspace and impervious surface on the heat-mortality association: Differences by the dissimilarity index
No full textRecent studies have shown that heat-mortality risk differs by level of greenspace and impervious surface. However, these studies do not consider both green spaces and impervious surfaces simultaneously, and further did not fully consider community- and individual-level characteristics. In this study we explored the effect modification of greenspace and impervious surface on the association between heat and mortality and how it differs by race/ethnicity dissimilarity index levels in North Carolina, USA. We aggregated datasets for greenspace, impervious surface estimates, temperature, and mortality for 1275 census tracts for North Carolina, USA, for 2000 to 2016 for 5 warm months (May to September). We used distributed lag non-linear models to estimate the heat-mortality relationship in each census tract. Heat-mortality relative risk (RR) was higher for census tracts with low greenspace than high greenspace (RR comparing risk at 99th temperature and minimum mortality temperature: 1.08 (1.02, 1.15) for low greenspace and 0.97 (0.87, 1.08) for high greenspace). Heat-mortality RR was higher for tracts with high impervious surface than low impervious surface (1.04 (1.00, 1.09) for high impervious surface and 0.94 (0.84, 1.05) for low impervious surface). Census tracts with high dissimilarity value and low greenspace had the highest heat-mortality risk compared to the tracts with high dissimilarity value with and high greenspace (1.13 (1.02, 1.24) for high dissimilarity index and 0.97 (0.86, 1.09) for low dissimilarity index). Communities with low greenspace or high impervious surfaces had higher heat-mortality associations, and this effect modification was higher for high race/ethnicity dissimilarity regions.
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
