HealthTwiSt: The Berlin Twin Registry

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 778-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Busjahn

AbstractThe Berlin Twin Registry began as a short-term local project and developed into a resource that now serves partners throughout Germany and Europe. A twin registry as a private company is a different approach with pros and cons. Compared to academic institutions, there are greater flexibilities in collaborations, as well as acquisition and use of research funds. Recruitment is based on invitation in the context of the mass media coverage of scientific results. Phenotyping in normal twin subjects is concentrated on intermediate phenotypes that can bear on common diseases. These phenotypes include proteomic approaches and gene expression. Some results are briefly described to give an impression of the range of research topics and related opportunities for retrospective and prospective collaborative research.

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Busjahn

The Berlin Twin Registry has its focus on health research. It is operated as a private company, making twin studies available to academic institutions as well as commercial partners in the area of biotechnology and nutrition. Recruitment is based on invitation in the context of mass media coverage of scientific results. Phenotyping in the unselected twin subjects is directed toward intermediate phenotypes that can bear on common diseases. These phenotypes include proteomic approaches and gene expression. Some results are briefly described to give an impression of the range of research topics and related opportunities for retrospective and prospective collaborative research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Ferrara ◽  
Jan Burns ◽  
Hayley Mills

Despite some changes to the way that people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are viewed in society, negative attitudes prevail. One of the aspirations of the 2012 Paralympic games was to influence the public’s attitudes toward people with disabilities. The aim of this study was to investigate whether stimuli depicting people with ID performing at Paralympic level of competition change attitudes toward ID. A mixed randomized comparison design was employed comparing 2 groups: those who viewed Paralympic-level ID sport footage and information and those who viewed Olympic footage and information. One hundred fourteen students, mean age 25 yr, were administered measures of implicit (subconscious) attitudes toward disability and explicit (belief-based) attitudes toward ID. Implicit attitudes significantly changed in a positive direction for both groups. The findings provide evidence that both Paralympic (ID) and Olympic media coverage may have at least a short-term effect on attitudes toward people with disabilities.


2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 712-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica D. Y. Lee ◽  
Lyle J. Palmer

AbstractThe Western Australian Twin Register (WATR) was established in 1997 to study the health of all child multiples born in Western Australia (WA). The Register has until recently consisted of all multiples born in WA between 1980 and 1997. Using unique record linkage capacities available through the WA data linkage system, we have subsequently been able to identify all multiple births born in WA since 1974. New affiliations with the Australian Twin Registry and the WA Institute for Medical Research are further enabled by the use of the WA Genetic Epidemiology Resource — a high-end bioinformatics infrastructure that allows efficient management of health datasets and facilitates collaborative research capabilities. In addition to this infrastructure, funding provided by these institutions has allowed the extension of the WATR to include a greater number of WA multiples, including those born between 1974 and 1979, and from 1998 onwards. These resources are in the process of being enabled for national and international access.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Z. Selden ◽  
Thomas J. Williams ◽  
Nancy Velchoff ◽  
Michael B. Collins

On August 19, 2016, selected Clovis artifacts from the Gault site (41BL323) were scanned in advance of a large collaborative research project. These data were collected using a NextEngineHD running ScanStudioHD Pro, and were post-processed in Geomagic Design X 2016.0.1. All data associated with this project have been made publicly available (open access) and are accessible in Zenodo under a Creative Commons Attribution license, where they can be downloaded for use in additional projects and learning activities. These data have the capacity to augment a variety of research designs spanning the digital humanities, applications of geometric morphometrics, and many others. Additionally, these scans will augment a wide range of comparative research topics throughout the Americas and beyond. Reuse potential for these data is significant.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Lehmkuhl ◽  
Nikolai Promies

Based on the decision-theoretical conditions underlying the selection of events for news coverage in science journalism, this article uses a novel input-output analysis to investigate which of the more than eight million scientific study results published between August 2014 and July 2018 have been selected by global journalism to a relevant degree. We are interested in two different structures in the media coverage of scientific results. Firstly, the structure of sources that journalists use, i.e. scientific journals, and secondly, the congruence of the journalistic selection of single results. Previous research suggests that the selection of sources and results follows a certain heavy-tailed distribution, a power law. Mathematically, this distribution can be described with a function of the form C*x-α. We argue that the exponent of such power law distributions can potentially be an indicator to describe selectivity in journalism on a high aggregation level. In our input-output analysis, we look for such patterns in the coverage of all scientific results published in the database Scopus over four years. To get an estimate of the coverage of these results, we use data from the altmetrics provider Altmetric, more precisely their Mainstream-Media-Score (MSM-Score). Based on exploratory analyses, we define papers with a score of 50 or above as Social Impact Papers (SIPs). Over our study period, we identified 5,833 SIPs published in 1,236 journals. We consider a power law fit with an exponent of about -2 to be plausible for the distribution of the source selection but cannot confirm the power law hypothesis for the distribution of the selection of single results. In this case, an exponentially truncated power law seems to be the better fit.


Author(s):  
Steven A. Safren ◽  
Susan E. Sprich ◽  
Carol A. Perlman ◽  
Michael W. Otto

This chapter outlines an optional session for clients with ADHD that focuses on procrastination. It describes how the therapist can discuss the attractive aspects of procrastination and how the client can learn to identify the negative consequences of procrastination. An exercise is presented where the client goes over the pros and cons of procrastination using a specific example. The chapter includes a discussion of how previously taught skills of problem-solving, adaptive thinking, and cognitive restructuring can be applied to procrastination. A case vignette illustrates the process of identifying the long-term and short-term effects of procrastination.


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Ginevičienė ◽  
Erinija Pranckevičienė ◽  
Kazys Milašius ◽  
Vaidutis Kučinskas

AbstractACE (I/D), ACTN3 (R/X), PPARGC1A (Gly482Ser) and PPARA (G/C) polymorphisms have been linked to the success in power-oriented sports through the intermediate phenotypes. The study involved 193 Lithuanian elite athletes and 250 controls. The measured phenotypic variables included short-term explosive muscle power (STEMP) and anaerobic alactic maximum power (AAMP). ACE DD genotype was more common among endurance athletes compared to the power athletes. The ACTN3 genotype frequencies of the elite athletes differed from those of non-elite athletes; however, there were no differences among the athletes and the control group across the PPARGC1A Gly482Ser genotypes. The frequency of PPARA CC genotype increased with the growing skill level of athletes (non-elite 2%, sub-elite 7.7%, elite 11.6%). The STEMP and AAMP were higher in the males than females and they were also higher in the power-oriented group compared to the endurance sports group. Success in power sports can be attributed to the ACE II, PPARGC1A SerSer, PPARA CC genotype in association with phenotypic characteristics such as AAMP and STEMP. ACTN3 XX genotype may not be critical but rather additive to endurance performance. The results show that high muscle power depends on both environmental and genetic factors.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Diana Kao ◽  
James Higginson

TitleQuality Tailors, Textiles and Embroidery (QTTE).Subject areaInternational business, emerging markets, strategy.Study level/applicabilityYear 3 and 4 university level.Case overviewKevin, an Indian citizen living in Oman, is the founder and president of Quality Tailors, Textiles, and Embroidery (QTTE). He is faced with a number of questions, including whether or not to establish a new division, in what direction to take the three existing divisions, and how to work with an organization culture that is resistant to change and reluctant to make decisions without his involvement. Perhaps, most pressing is the fact that the company's sponsor is demanding increased payments, since under Omani law, a foreign‐owned company must have an Omani sponsor who is entitled to a share of the profits and, in the extreme, can take over ownership and control of the business.Expected learning outcomesUpon completing this case, students will practice: identifying and using proper tools (5‐forces, SWOT, VRINE) to analyze the external and internal environments of the company; identifying key issues in the case, both long‐ and short‐term; identifying feasible alternatives and evaluating each alternatives for its feasibility, pros, and cons; and proposing an implementation plan with a time line.Supplementary materialsTeaching notes.


F1000Research ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Victor Kofia ◽  
Ruth Isserlin ◽  
Alison M.J. Buchan ◽  
Gary D. Bader

Networks that represent connections between individuals can be valuable analytic tools. The Social Network Cytoscape app is capable of creating a visual summary of connected individuals automatically. It does this by representing relationships as networks where each node denotes an individual and an edge linking two individuals represents a connection. The app focuses on creating visual summaries of individuals connected by co-authorship links in academia, created from bibliographic databases like PubMed, Scopus and InCites. The resulting co-authorship networks can be visualized and analyzed to better understand collaborative research networks or to communicate the extent of collaboration and publication productivity among a group of researchers, like in a grant application or departmental review report. It can also be useful as a research tool to identify important research topics, researchers and papers in a subject area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 2283-2313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Jennings ◽  
Clare Saunders

This article argues that the agenda-setting power of protest must be understood in dynamic terms. Specifically, it develops and tests a dynamic theory of media reaction to protest which posits that features of street demonstrations—such as their size, violence, societal conflict, and the presence of a “trigger”—lead protest issues to be reported and sustained in the media agenda over time. We conduct a unique empirical analysis of media coverage of protest issues, based upon a data set of 48 large-scale street demonstrations in nine countries. Time-series cross-sectional analysis is used to estimate the dynamic effects of demonstration features on media coverage of the protest issue. The findings show that violence can increase media attention in the short term and larger protest size sustains it over the longer term. The agenda-setting power of protest is structured in time.


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