Search results for "causality"
showing 10 items of 258 documents
The effects of age at menarche and first sexual intercourse on reproductive and behavioural outcomes:A Mendelian randomization study
2020
SummaryThere is substantial variation in the timing of significant reproductive life events such as menarche and first sexual intercourse. Life history theory explains this variation as an adaptive response to the developmental environment. In environments characterized by harsh conditions, adopting a fast life history strategy may increase fitness. In line with this, there is evidence demonstrating that greater childhood adversity is associated with earlier age at menarche. Here we applied Mendelian randomization (MR) methods to investigate whether there is a causal effect of variation in age at menarche and age at first sexual intercourse on outcomes related to reproduction, education and…
Osmophobia as an early marker of migraine: a follow-up study in juvenile patients.
2012
Background: Osmophobia is frequent in children with migraine (20–35%) but can also occur in up to 14% of cases with tension-type headache (TTH). So far, the prognostic role of this symptom in children with primary headaches has never been evaluated. Methods: A longitudinal prospective study was conducted on 90 young patients with TTH (37 with osmophobia, 53 without osmophobia). We evaluated whether osmophobia could predict the diagnosis transformation from TTH to migraine after a 3-year follow-up. Results and Discussion: In our cases the rate of diagnosis change was significantly greater in cases with osmophobia (62%) than in those without (23%). Osmophobia persisted at a 3-year follow-up …
Tobacco, Cannabis, and Other Illicit Drug Use Among Finnish Adolescent Twins: Causal Relationship or Correlated Liabilities?*
2010
Contains fulltext : 90566.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Objective: Among Finnish adolescent twins, we compared (a) a model that describes a direct impact of liability to tobacco use on cannabis and other illicit drug use with (b) a model that included a shared underlying liability for these substances. Furthermore, the extent to which genetic and environmental influences contribute to the covariation between liabilities to use these substances was examined. Method: Tobacco and illicit drug use were assessed at age 17.5 years. Twin data on 3,744 individuals were analyzed using standard biometrical methods. Two alternative multivariate models were fit and compared with Mx, a statis…
erman case control study on childhood leukaemia - Basic considerations, methodology and summary of the results
1998
In order to explore potential risk factors of childhood leukaemia, a case control study was performed including all incident cases from 1992 to 1994. The study was based on the German Childhood Cancer Registry. It was restricted to cases from West Germany and extended retrospectively until 1980 for children who were living in regions covered by a previous incidence study on nuclear installations (21). The study was conducted in close correspondence with a preceding case control study in Lower Saxony (13). Results of this study and of others published in the literature were used to define explicit hypotheses for the present study. This paper presents the methodology of the study and gives an…
Opioid switching in patients with advanced cancer followed at home. A retrospective analysis.
2013
Abstract CONTEXT: Opioid switching has been found to improve opioid responsiveness in different conditions. However, data on opioid switching performed at home are almost nonexistent, despite the fact that most patients are followed at home. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this retrospective survey was to determine frequency, indications, usefulness, and safety of opioid switching when treating advanced cancer-related pain in patients followed at home. METHODS: A retrospective review of data from patients with advanced cancer followed at home by three home care teams for a period of two years was performed. Patients who had their opioids switched were selected. Reasons for switching opioid doses and…
Assessing the role of evidence of mechanisms in causal extrapolation
2020
Extrapolation of causal claims from study populations to other populations of interest is a problematic issue. The standard approach in experimental research, which prioritises randomized controlled trials and statistical evidence, is not devoid of difficulties. Granted that, it has been defended that evidence of mechanisms is indispensable for causal extrapolation. We argue, contrarily, that this sort of evidence is not indispensable. Nonetheless, we also think that occasionally it may be helpful. In order to clarify its relevance, we introduce a distinction between a positive and a negative role of evidence of mechanisms. Our conclusion is that the former is highly questionable, but the l…
MEDIATING ROLE OF DISSOCIATION SYMPTOMS BETWEEN ADOLESCENT COMPULSIVE INTERNET USE ACROSS TIME
2020
The aim of this study was to examine adolescent compulsive internet use (CIU) across a one-year period, to examine associations with symptoms of depression, anxiety and dissociation, as well as to analyze the potential mediating effect of dissociation symptoms. Previous studies have indicated that dissociation might serve as a coping strategy and/or as a consequence of problematic internet use. Participating in the study were 80 adolescents (39 girls and 41 boys), ages from 12 to 18 (mean age 14.90 years) at the time of the first measurement. At Time 1 and one year later at Time 2 measurement points the participants completed the Trauma Symptom Checklist (Briere, 1995) and items from the …
The impact of work accidents experience on causal attributions and worker behaviour
2008
Abstract It has recently been suggested that the experience of work accidents is an important variable to be considered as a predictor of workers’ perceptions (e.g. causal attributions) and behaviours. Departing from the literature, this study has two goals: (1) to analyse the relationship among work accident experience, causal attribution of accidents and workers’ behaviour; and (2) to test causal attributions as a mediating variable in the relationship between work accident experience and workers’ behaviour. To test the stability of the results, the same analyses have been performed in two Portuguese organizations, one in an industrial context and the other in an R&D context. In the indus…
COVID-19 Vaccine and Death: Causality Algorithm According to the WHO Eligibility Diagnosis
2021
The current challenge worldwide is the administration of anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines. Even if rarely, severe vascular adverse reactions temporally related to vaccine administration have induced diffidence in the population at large. In particular, researchers worldwide are focusing on the so-called “thrombosis and thrombocytopenia after COVID-19 vaccination”. This study aims to establish a practical workflow to define the relationship between adverse events following immunization (AEFI) and COVID-19 vaccination, following the basic framework of the World Health Organization (WHO). Post-mortem investigation plays a pivotal role to support this c…
‘Zeitgeist’and minority influence—where is the causality: A comment on Clark (1990)
1995
Does the mood of the time (Zeitgeist) facilitate the influence minorities are able to exercise, or is it itself a direct product of minority influence ? It is argued, from a social psychological definition of the minority-majority relation, that the former interpretation fails to explain many of the observed effects and in particular the conversion effect. A model is offered that is consistent with the second interpretation.