1,721,163 research outputs found
The 5-Item mental health index predicts the initial diagnosis of nonfatal stroke in older women
No full textBackground: Relatively little is known about psychosocial risk factors for the onset of stroke. The aim of this paper is to identify independent psychosocial risk factors for subsequent reported new diagnoses of stroke in older women. Methods: A prospective cohort study of women initially aged between 70 and 75 years was first surveyed in 1996 and again in 1999. During this interval, from a final sample of 7839 participants, 174 women reported that a doctor had diagnosed them with stroke for the first time. A range of psychosocial risk factors measured in 1996 (life events, Mental Health Index [MHI-5], having a partner, Perceived Stress Scale, Duke Social Support Index, educational attainment, location of residence, feelings of time pressure) were entered into binary logistic regression models to examine which would predict the self-reported new diagnosis of stroke over the 3-year period after adjusting for a range of biomedical risk factors and the frequency of general practitioner visits in 1996. Results: Only the MHI-5 proved to be a significant predictor of self-reported new stroke diagnosis. The MHI-5 remained a significant risk factor (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.01-2.55, p < 0.05) even after adjusting for a range of other possible risk factors (body mass index, physical activity, alcohol status, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, nutritional risk) and frequency of general practitioner visits. Conclusions: Poor mental health appears to be a risk factor for the self-reported new diagnosis of stroke in older women. The 5-item MHI may be a useful instrument for researchers investigating the relationship between psychosocial variables and stroke in older women and for clinicians who wish to identify those at risk for stroke
Complexities in understanding the role of compensation-related factors on recovery from whiplash-associated disorders
No full textStudy Design. Focused discussion.Objective. To present some of the complexities in conducting research on the role of compensation and compensation-related factors in recovery from whiplash-associated disorders (WAD) and to suggest directions for future research.Summary of Background Data. There is divergence of opinion, primary research findings, and systematic reviews on the role of compensation and/or compensation-related factors in WAD recovery.Methods. The topic of research of compensation/compensationrelated factors was discussed at an international summit meeting of 21 researchers from diverse fields of scientific enquiry. This article summarizes the main points raised in that discussion.Results. Traffic injury compensation is a complex sociopolitical construct, which varies widely across jurisdictions. This leads to conceptual and methodological challenges in conducting and interpreting research in this area. It is important that researchers and their audiences be clear about what aspect of the compensation system is being addressed, what compensation-related variables are being studied, and what social/economic environment the compensation system exists in. In addition, summit participants also recommended that nontraditional, sophisticated study designs and analysis strategies be employed to clarify the complex causal pathways and mechanisms of effects.Conclusion. Care must be taken by both researchers and their audiences not to overgeneralize or confuse different aspects of WAD compensation. In considering the role of compensation/ compensation-related factors on WAD and WAD recovery, it is important to retain a broad-based conceptualization of the range of biological, psychological, social, and economic factors that combine and interact to define and determine how people recover from WAD
The University of Queensland study of physical and psychological outcomes for claimants with minor and moderate injuries following a road traffic crash (UQ SuPPORT): design and methods
No full textBackground: To date research investigating how mental health impacts physical recovery following a road traffic crash (RTC) has focused on cohorts with severe injuries. The UQ SuPPORT study aims to study the physical and psychological outcomes of claimants with minor injuries following an RTC under the Queensland common law compulsory insurance scheme. Objectives: This paper outlines the protocols of this study as a platform for future publications. Methods: The 2-year longitudinal cohort study collected interview and survey data from claimants at 6, 12, and 24 months post-RTC. Measures used in the telephone interview included the DSM-IV Composite International Diagnostic Interview for posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive episode, panic attacks, agoraphobia; and self-reported disability (WHO-DAS-II). Quality of life (SF-36v2), alcohol use (AUDIT), social support (MSPSS), quality-adjusted life years (EQ-5D), and return to work outcomes were assessed via postal questionnaires. Results: A total of 382 claimants consented to participate at the beginning of the study, and these participants were approached at each wave. Retention was high (65%). The average age of participants at Wave 1 was 48.6 years, with 65% of the sample sustaining minor injuries (Injury Severity Score=1–3). Conclusions: This study has collected a unique sample of data to investigate recovery patterns of claimants with minor injuries. Future publications will more fully assess the effects of the collected measures on recovery rates 2 years post-RTC
A history of heart interventions moderates the relationship between psychological variables and the presence of chest pain in older women with self-reported coronary heart disease
No full textObjectives This study examines the hypothesis that a past history of heart interventions will moderate the relationship between psychosocial factors (stressful life events, social support, perceived stress, having a current partner, having a past diagnosis of depression or anxiety over the past 3 years, time pressure, education level, and the mental health index) and the presence of chest pain in a sample of older women. Design Longitudinal survey over a 3-year period. Methods The sample was taken from a prospective cohort study of 10,432 women initially aged between 70 and 75 years, who were surveyed in 1996 and then again in 1999. Two groups of women were identified: those reporting to have heart disease but no past history of heart interventions (i.e., coronary artery bypass graft/angioplasty) and those reporting to have heart disease with a past history of heart interventions. Results Binary logistic regression analysis was used to show that for the women with self-reported coronary heart disease but without a past history of heart intervention, feelings of time pressure as well as the number of stressful life events experienced in the 12 months prior to 1996 were independent risk factors for the presence of chest pain, even after accounting for a range of traditional risk factors. In comparison, for the women with self-reported coronary heart disease who did report a past history of heart interventions, a diagnosis of depression in the previous 3 years was the significant independent risk factor for chest pain even after accounting for traditional risk factors. Conclusion The results indicate that it is important to consider a history of heart interventions as a moderator of the associations between psychosocial variables and the frequency of chest pain in older women
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
Psychosocial and non-psychosocial risk factors for the new diagnosis of diabetes in elderly women
No full textObjectives: Determine psychosocial variables associated with the new diagnosis of diabetes in elderly women. Examine whether variables remained significant predictors after controlling for non-psychosocial risk factors and the frequency of doctor visits. Research design and methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted using data from 10 300 women who completed a survey in 1996 and 1999. The women were aged between 70 and 74 years of age in 1996. The were asked to provide self-reports on a number of psychosocial and non-psychosocial variables in 1996 and on whether they had been diagnosed for the first time with diabetes in the 3-year period. The relationships between the potential risk factors and new diagnosis of diabetes were examined using binary logistic regression analysis. Results: Univariate results showed that not having a current partner, having low social support and having a mental health index score in the clinical range were all associated with higher risks of being diagnosed with diabetes for the first time. However the multivariate results showed that only a mental health index score in the clinical range and not having a current partner provided unique prediction of being newly diagnosed with diabetes. Of the non-psychosocial variables measured, only having a high BMI and hypertension were associated with increased risks of new diagnosis, while there was also evidence of a U shaped relationship between alcohol consumption and new diagnosis. Even after adjusting for frequency of doctor visits and non-psychosocial risk factors, a mental health index in the clinical range proved to still be a significant risk factor. Conclusions: A score on the mental health index that is within the clinical range is an independent risk factor for the new diagnosis of diabetes in elderly women. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved
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
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
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