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Information Leads (information + lead)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	50%

Selected Abstracts

Subject and informant characteristics influence the reliability and validity of family history information: an analysis based on the generalized estimating equations approach

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2000
Reinhard Heun
Abstract Family history information is a necessary surrogate for unavailable interview information in family studies. However, the reliability and validity of such information has rarely been assessed during the conduct of family studies. This paper presents a reanalysis of data on the reliability and validity of family history information for dementia and depression using the general estimation equations approach. All available relatives of patients and controls were interviewed and questioned about the psychiatric morbidity of other family members. Interinformant reliability of this family history information was evaluated as well as factors influencing this information. The validity of family history was investigated by comparing the informant derived diagnoses with interview-derived diagnoses. To account for possible lack of independence of family history provided by several family members on other family members, the generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used in statistical analysis. The interinformant reliability for depression (kappa = 0.13) was low. It was fair for dementia (kappa = 0.34). The informants more frequently agreed about the diagnosis of dementia when the subject was older. The sensitivity of family history was 35.2% for dementia and 31.8% for depression. The specificity of family history information was generally above 97%. The sensitivity of family history increased significantly with the severity of both disorders. The sensitivity of the family history for dementia was higher when the informant was a first-degree relative, when he was younger and when the index subject of the family suffered from dementia. The specificity of the family history was slightly reduced with higher age. The observed low sensitivity of family history information leads to underestimation of psychiatric disorders. The informants provide more useful information on more severe disorders. The sensitivity of family history was higher in families with an affected index subject than in control families, so familial aggregation of dementia might be overestimated in studies using the family history method. Copyright © 2000 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]

Dyadic processes of disclosure and reciprocity in bargaining with communication

JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING, Issue 1 2003
Kathleen L. McGinn
Abstract We offer a study revealing the mechanisms through which communication helps actual bargaining behavior outperform economic predictions. The possibility of individually strategic behavior in the presence of private information leads to game-theoretic predictions of less than full efficiency. We present a one-stage, simultaneous offers bargaining game in which buyers and sellers have independent, privately held valuations for the item being sold (i.e. a bilateral auction with two-sided private information). In three communication treatments, parties are: (a) allowed face-to-face communication prior to submitting offers; (b) allowed written communication prior to submitting offers; or (c) allowed no-communication prior to submitting offers. When parties are allowed pre-play communication, we find nearly full efficiency (98%). We examine two systematically predictable aspects of dyadic interaction,disclosure and reciprocity,to explain how negotiators achieve this efficiency. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Information Gathering and Changes in Threat and Opportunity Perceptions*

JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 3 2007
Marc H. Anderson
abstract Managers need to make sense of emerging strategic issues that could significantly impact their businesses. While models of this sensemaking process suggest that information gathering affects interpretations (which affect action and performance), researchers have argued that our understanding of the role of information in changing interpretations is underdeveloped. This paper investigates the role of the time managers spend searching for information and the diversity of the information they find in changing managers' perceptions that an equivocal, strategic issue represents a threat and opportunity for their businesses. The methodology involves a longitudinal research design in which managers recorded multiple, process-oriented measures of their information gathering activity. Results suggest that time spent searching for information leads to changes towards seeing the issue as more of a threat, while the diversity of information found leads to changes towards seeing it as less of a threat. We found no effect of information gathering on opportunity perceptions. [source]

When does a protein become an allergen?

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY, Issue 7 2008
Searching for a dynamic definition based on most advanced technology tools
Summary Since the early beginning of allergology as a science considerable efforts have been made by clinicians and researchers to identify and characterize allergic triggers as raw allergenic materials, allergenic sources and tissues, and more recently basic allergenic structures defined as molecules. The last 15,20 years have witnessed many centres focusing on the identification and characterization of allergenic molecules leading to an expanding wealth of knowledge. The need to organize this information leads to the most important question ,when does a protein become an allergen?' In this article, I try to address this question by reviewing a few basic concepts of the immunology of IgE-mediated diseases, reporting on the current diagnostic and epidemiological tools used for allergic disease studies and discussing the usefulness of novel biotechnology tools (i.e. proteomics and molecular biology approaches), information technology tools (i.e. Internet-based resources) and microtechnology tools (i.e. proteomic microarray for IgE testing on molecular allergens). A step-wise staging of the identification and characterization process, including bench, clinical and epidemiological aspects, is proposed, in order to classify allergenic molecules dynamically. This proposal reflects the application and use of all the new tools available from current technologies. [source]