3,833 research outputs found
The truth will out: scientific pragmatism and the geneticization of race and ethnicity
No full textThis chapter sets out to understand why racial (and quasi-racial ethnic) categories continue to be used in contemporary genetic research despite sustained criticism from natural and social scientists
Letter from George W. Kimball, Tusayan National Forest, to Carl Hayden
No full textLetter from George W. Kimball to Carl Hayden with an enclosed map detailing the cattle and sheep allotments on the portion of the Tusyan Forest next to the Grand Canyon. Listed are names of permit holders in both stock and allotment that are most likely to trespass into the park. The names are: W. F. Griffin, W. W. Bass, H. R. Lauzon, Swanner and Griffin, Bankhead and Henderson, Martin Buggeln, Babbitt Brothers, Sanford Rowe, and P. D. Berry
Grace and Truth Vindicated, Or The Way to Heaven Manifested, From Scripture and Experience / By John Green, Late Curate of Thurnscoe, in Yorkshire
No full textVorlageform der Veröffentlichungsangabe: London: Printed by H. Cock, in Bloomsbury-Market; for the Author at his House in Great St. Andrew's Street, near the Seven Dials; and fold by G. Woodfall, near Charing-Cross; T. Trye, near Grey's- Inn-Gate; and T. James, under the Royal Exchang
Letter from J. Marion Wright, Attorney to Mr. George H. Hand, Chief Engineer, Dominguez Estate Company, January 19, 1925
No full textResponse to letter dated January 10, 1925 regarding employees of Mr. Hosokawa and California alien land laws. Land leases with Dominguez Estate Company and Maria de los Reyes D. de Francis. See related letter: Letter from George H. Hand, Chief Engineer, Rancho San Pedro, to Mr. T. Hosokawa, January 10, 1925
Letter from Geo. [George] H. Hand, Chief Engineer, Rancho San Pedro to Mr. [George] T. [Toshiro] Kuritani, January 14, 1927
No full textLand lease expiration notice and notice of sale of land owned by Dominguez Estate Company and Maria de los Reyes D. de Francis. Confirmation of sixty-day notice given on July 14, 1927
A new look at the pathogenesis of asthma
No full textAsthma is an inflammatory disorder of the conducting airways that has strong association with allergic sensitization. The disease is characterized by a polarized Th-2 (T-helper-2)-type T-cell response, but in general targeting this component of the disease with selective therapies has been disappointing and most therapy still relies on bronchodilators and corticosteroids rather than treating underlying disease mechanisms. With the disappointing outcomes of targeting individual Th-2 cytokines or manipulating T-cells, the time has come to re-evaluate the direction of research in this disease. A case is made that asthma has its origins in the airways themselves involving defective structural and functional behaviour of the epithelium in relation to environmental insults. Specifically, a defect in barrier function and an impaired innate immune response to viral infection may provide the substrate upon which allergic sensitization takes place. Once sensitized, the repeated allergen exposure will lead to disease persistence. These mechanisms could also be used to explain airway wall remodelling and the susceptibility of the asthmatic lung to exacerbations provoked by respiratory viruses, air pollution episodes and exposure to biologically active allergens. Variable activation of this epithelial-mesenchymal trophic unit could also lead to the emergence of different asthma phenotypes and a more targeted approach to the treatment of these. It also raises the possibility of developing treatments that increase the lung's resistance to the inhaled environment rather than concentrating all efforts on trying to suppress inflammation once it has become established.<br/
COVID-19 and the epistemology of epidemiological models at the dawn of AI
No full textThe models used to estimate disease transmission, susceptibility and severity determine what epidemiology can (and cannot tell) us about COVID-19. These include: ‘model organisms’ chosen for their phylogenetic/aetiological similarities; multivariable statistical models to estimate the strength/direction of (potentially causal) relationships between variables (through ‘causal inference’), and the (past/future) value of unmeasured variables (through ‘classification/prediction’); and a range of modelling techniques to predict beyond the available data (through ‘extrapolation’), compare different hypothetical scenarios (through ‘simulation’), and estimate key features of dynamic processes (through ‘projection’). Each of these models: address different questions using different techniques; involve assumptions that require careful assessment; and are vulnerable to generic and specific biases that can undermine the validity and interpretation of their findings. It is therefore necessary that the models used: can actually address the questions posed; and have been competently applied. In this regard, it is important to stress that extrapolation, simulation and projection cannot offer accurate predictions of future events when the underlying mechanisms (and the contexts involved) are poorly understood and subject to change. Given the importance of understanding such mechanisms/contexts, and the limited opportunity for experimentation during outbreaks of novel diseases, the use of multivariable statistical models to estimate the strength/direction of potentially causal relationships between two variables (and the biases incurred through their misapplication/misinterpretation) warrant particular attention. Such models must be carefully designed to address: ‘selection-collider bias’, ‘unadjusted confounding bias’ and ‘inferential mediator adjustment bias’ – all of which can introduce effects capable of enhancing, masking or reversing the estimated (true) causal relationship between the two variables examined. Selection-collider bias occurs when these two variables independently cause a third (the ‘collider’), and when this collider determines/reflects the basis for selection in the analysis. It is likely to affect all incompletely representative samples, although its effects will be most pronounced wherever selection is constrained (e.g. analyses focusing on infected/hospitalised individuals). Unadjusted confounding bias disrupts the estimated (true) causal relationship between two variables when: these share one (or more) common cause(s); and when the effects of these causes have not been adjusted for in the analyses (e.g. whenever confounders are unknown/unmeasured). Inferentially similar biases can occur when: one (or more) variable(s) (or ‘mediators’) fall on the causal path between the two variables examined (i.e. when such mediators are caused by one of the variables and are causes of the other); and when these mediators are adjusted for in the analysis. Such adjustment is commonplace when: mediators are mistaken for confounders; prediction models are mistakenly repurposed for causal inference; or mediator adjustment is used to estimate direct and indirect causal relationships (in a mistaken attempt at ‘mediation analysis’). These three biases are central to ongoing and unresolved epistemological tensions within epidemiology. All have substantive implications for our understanding of COVID-19, and the future application of artificial intelligence to ‘data-driven’ modelling of similar phenomena. Nonetheless, competently applied and carefully interpreted, multivariable statistical models may yet provide sufficient insight into mechanisms and contexts to permit more accurate projections of future disease outbreaks.
1. These biases, and the terminology involved, may be challenging to readers who are unfamiliar with the use of causal path diagrams (such as Directed Acyclic Graphs; DAGs) which have been instrumental in identifying the different roles that variables can play in causal processes (whether as ‘exposures’, ‘outcomes’, ‘confounders’, ‘mediators’, ‘colliders’, ‘competing exposures’ or ‘consequences of the outcome’) and revealing hitherto under-acknowledged sources of bias in analyses designed to support causal inference. For what we hoped might offer accessible introductions to DAGs (and how [not] to use these) please see: Ellison (2020); and Tennant et al. (2019). For more technical detail on ‘collider bias’, ‘unadjusted confounding bias’ and ‘inferential mediator adjustment bias’ (and its related concern, the ‘Table 2 fallacy’), please refer to: Cook and Ranstam 2017; Munafò et al. (2018); Tennant et al. (2017); VanderWeele and Arah (2011); and Westreich and Greenland (2013)
Identity and consumption practices of Northamptonshire Caribbeans c.1955-1989
No full textThe objective of this thesis is to delineate and analyse Northamptonshire Caribbeans' consumption c.1955-1989. Author-collected and other oral histories alongside complementary primary and secondary references dovetail to unearth and analyse aspects of Post-War Caribbean consumption in a British provincial location that have been significantly unexplored previously. Central to the argument is the contention that identity is fundamentally significant in comprehending and analysing Northamptonshire Caribbeans' consumption. Various conceptualisations of identity facilitated development of consumer materialisations and aspirations. This thesis explores how multiple forms of identity as Caribbean, Black and British people were significant in shaping local Caribbeans' consumption. The succeeding pages address and analyse how these multiple identities influenced consumption and how provincial consumer behaviour was shaped by Caribbeans' relative co-ethnic isolation in Northamptonshire. Chapter 3 delineates and analyses consumer practices and practicalities of Northamptonshire Caribbeans. Integral within these consumer practices and practicalities are changes in consumption over time, intergenerational differences in consumption, as well as aspects of consumption that could be considered 'typical' and/or 'atypical' Northamptonshire Caribbean consumption; all of which are incorporated within this chapter. Chapter 4 connects identity and consumption through enhancing understanding of Northamptonshire Caribbeans' consumer networks. These networks interacted with the combination of identities local Caribbeans psychologically felt part of within various Caribbean, Black and British permutations. Furthermore, such identities varied more widely amongst the younger generation than their co-ethnic elders, a concept which is also addressed. Education and cultural currency are two novel strands through which to analyse connections between consumption and identity. The final two chapters deploy these concepts in an innovative manner creating and developing greater understanding of Northamptonshire Caribbeans' consumption. Chapter 5 expounds on the concept that education can be used as consumption whilst shaping future consumer behaviour, both ideas significantly under-explored previously. Chapter 6 introduces the theory of cultural currency, the idea that aspects of culture have finite, but changing, values and must be shared to have value similar to monetary currencies having exchange values for other monetary currencies. This chapter demonstrates how Northamptonshire Caribbeans shared aspects of Caribbean culture as cultural currency, fostering co-ethnic strength whilst gaining inter-ethnic respect for Caribbeans. Through comprehending Caribbean identity, correlations between empirical and social history, local consumption, as well as educational and cultural circumstances that stimulated and inspired Northamptonshire Caribbeans, this thesis distinctively illuminates how local Caribbeans' consumption interacted with various permutations of Afro-Caribbean, Black and/or British identities whilst representing idiosyncratic local nodes within these larger amalgamations
Seasonal variation in blood pressure is modulated by gender and age but not by BMI in a large Taiwanese population, 1996-2006
No full textPrevious research has found that blood pressure tends to be higher in winter and lower in summer. The present study examined seasonal variation in blood pressure by gender, hypertension medication, age group, and body mass index using contemporary Taiwanese data. Over 400,000 health screening records collected biennially between 1996 and 2006 were used to calculate average monthly systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) measurements. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate the difference between the highest and lowest mean monthly blood pressure measurements. Mean monthly blood pressure measurements were higher in winter than in summer for all age groups, regardless of medication for hypertension. The largest difference in mean monthly blood pressure between summer and winter months was 5.3 mm Hg (Standard error = 0.7) for SBP and 3 2 mm Hg (Standard error = 0.7) for DBP. These differences were more pronounced: in SBP than in DBP; in men than in women; and in older than in younger participants. Body mass index was not clearly associated with seasonal variation in blood pressure. Seasonal variation in blood pressure among contemporary Taiwanese populations is modest and may only approach clinical significance for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension and the prevention of cardiovascular disease amongst older male individuals. J Am Soc Hypertens 2013;7(3): 216-228. (C) 2013 American Society of Hypertension. All rights reserved
Letter from Geo. [George] H. Hand, Chief Engineer, Rancho San Pedro to Geo. [George] T. [Toshiro] Kuritani, Gardena Valley Produce Company, April 15, 1928
No full textRequests rent payment for land being farmed in excess of lease agreement or face termination of the held lease. Mr. Hand representing the Watson Land Company
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