Different Bodies Of Evidence Research Articles

Cells coexpressing both myeloid and endothelial markers are detectable in the spleen and bone marrow of patients with primary myelofibrosis

Different bodies of evidence support the existence of a common origin of hematopoietic and endothelial lineages; moreover, recent studies have indicated the presence of a hemogenic endothelium and a common hemato-endothelial precursor both in the embryo and in the cord blood. Conversely, to our knowledge, there is no evidence of such bipotential cells in human postnatal tissues or blood. In this study, we investigated the presence and phenotype of "transitional" cells in different tissues of patients with primary myelofibrosis (PMF). Using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry, we identified a rare cell population in the bone marrow and spleen of patients with PMF, which coexpresses the endothelial marker CD144 (vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin), the pan-hematopoietic marker CD45, the early myeloid marker CD33, and CD34, a common endothelial and hematopoietic antigen.

Re-imagining what counts as femicide

This Special Subsection on Re-imagining what counts as femicide brings together five original articles which, from different perspectives, seek to push, challenge, and redefine what counts as femicide. The contributions offered here excavate the conceptual issues of what, who, and where femicide ‘counts’. In order to do so, the articles engage with epistemological and methodological questions regarding how different bodies of evidence on femicide are formed and which take priority, the ethical implications of including or excluding deaths from counts of femicide, and prospects for legal intervention, specifically in Latin America, in contributing to who and what is counted as femicide. Together, these articles seek to challenge how existing concepts of femicide and approaches to counting have focused policy and practice attention on some women’s lives whilst neglecting to count (and thereby acknowledge) others.

Efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in COVID-19 based on evidence for COVID-19, other coronavirus infections, influenza, community-acquired pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Very little direct evidence exists on use of corticosteroids in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Indirect evidence from related conditions must therefore inform inferences regarding benefits and harms. To support a guideline for managing COVID-19, we conducted systematic reviews examining the impact of corticosteroids in COVID-19 and related severe acute respiratory illnesses. We searched standard international and Chinese biomedical literature databases and prepublication sources for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies comparing corticosteroids versus no corticosteroids in patients with COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) or Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). For acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), influenza and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), we updated the most recent rigorous systematic review. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses to pool relative risks and then used baseline risk in patients with COVID-19 to generate absolute effects. In ARDS, according to 1 small cohort study in patients with COVID-19 and 7 RCTs in non-COVID-19 populations (risk ratio [RR] 0.72, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55 to 0.93, mean difference 17.3% fewer; low-quality evidence), corticosteroids may reduce mortality. In patients with severe COVID-19 but without ARDS, direct evidence from 2 observational studies provided very low-quality evidence of an increase in mortality with corticosteroids (hazard ratio [HR] 2.30, 95% CI 1.00 to 5.29, mean difference 11.9% more), as did observational data from influenza studies. Observational data from SARS and MERS studies provided very low-quality evidence of a small or no reduction in mortality. Randomized controlled trials in CAP suggest that corticosteroids may reduce mortality (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.50 to 0.98, 3.1% lower; very low-quality evidence), and may increase hyperglycemia. Corticosteroids may reduce mortality for patients with COVID-19 and ARDS. For patients with severe COVID-19 but without ARDS, evidence regarding benefit from different bodies of evidence is inconsistent and of very low quality.

The strategic uses of evidence in UK e-cigarettes policy debates

Background Current debates on e-cigarette policy in the UK are highly acrimonious and are framed in terms of evidence-based policymaking. Aims and objectives The article aims to understand the use of evidence in policymaking in the context of both political controversy and limited policy-relevant evidence via a case study of UK e-cigarette debates. Methods The study draws on a series of semi-structured interviews with policy actors to examine their positions on e-cigarette policy process and their use of evidence to support this. Findings Policy actors articulate a strong commitment to evidence-based policymaking and claim that their positions are evidence-based. Some actors also claim emerging consensus around their positon as a rhetorical tool in the debate. Respondents argued that actors adopting opposing policy positions fail to follow the evidence base. This is attributed to a lack of understanding or disregard for the relevant evidence for political or ideological reasons. Discussion Respondents adhere to a rationalist understanding of policymaking in which policy disputes can be settled by recourse to ‘the evidence’. Interpretative policy analysis suggests that multiple legitimate framings of policy issues, supported by different bodies of evidence, are possible. Policy differences are thus not due to bad faith but to policy actors framing the issue at stake in different terms and thus advocating different policy responses. Conclusions Process of ‘frame reflection’ may help to overcome the acrimony of current policy leading to more effective engagement by public health actors in the e-cigarettes policy debates.

Social cognition in schizophrenia: cognitive and neurobiological aspects

Social cognition in schizophrenia is currently one of the major fields of interest in studies of this disorder. It is commonly conceptualised as a set of mental operations underlying social interactions and therefore related to the ability to interpret and predict the behaviour of others in different social contexts. The research community has defined the functional areas that constitute the domain of social cognition, including, at least, the theory of mind, sensory perception, social perception, and attributional bias. Different bodies of evidence have shown that alterations in these functions in patients with schizophrenia are linked to some of their main psychopathological dysfunctions, such as defects in sensory perception, insight and attributional origin, and authorship of human acts. These behavioural alterations have been linked to structural and functional disturbances in the constituents of the so-called social brain. This includes a set of medial parietal, temporal, and pre-frontal areas that have been associated with some anomalies in the theory of mind, the perception of emotions, and the ability to consider the perspective of others, phenomena commonly found in schizophrenia. Future research in the domain of social cognition should be aimed at clarifying its relationship with the social brain and neurocognition.

Comparison of the new improved combination approach that deal with conflict data with Yager’s solution approach

Dempster-Shafer evidence theory is the most effective approach to process imprecise and incomplete information. But Dempster’s combination rule can not deal with conflicting data and can lead to illogical results. That’s why the combination of conflicting bodies of evidence is one of the most difficult problems. Yager’s solution approach can process conflicting data, but correlation among evidences is not taken into account. It was proposed a new combination method, that uses correlation among different bodies of evidence and give accurate results.

Theory-Containment in Controversies: Neurath and Müller on Newton, Goethe, and Underdetermination

Olaf Muller’s book (More Light) develops a new case for underdetermination (prismatic equivalence), and, as he is focusing on theories of a ‘limited domain’, this assumes the containability of the theories. First, the paper argues that Muller’s theory of darkness is fundamentally Newtonian, but for Newton’s optical theory the type of theoretical structure Muller adopts is problematic. Second, the paper discusses seventeenth-century challenges to Newton (by Huygens and Lucas), changes in the proof-structure of Newton’s optical theory, and how these affect Muller’s reconstruction. Muller’s book provides empirically equivalent theories, yet the historical theories were not empirically equivalent, and the same experiments were used to extract different bodies of evidence to rebut the opponent. Third, Goethe’s multi-layered critique of Newton’s experimental proof is investigated, including his developmental account of prismatic colours, the role of experimental series in rejecting Newton’s observations, and his incorporation of the ‘limited domain’ of prismatic colours in a broader framework. Two key elements of Goethe’s method, polarity and strengthening are discussed in contrast to Muller, who only utilises polarity in his account. Finally Neurath’s attempts to come to grips with the optical controversies and the prism-experiments with ‘blurred edges’ are recalled. Muller also discusses in detail some of these experiments and heavily draws on Quine. Neurath developed Duhem’s and Poincare’s conventionalist insights and had good reasons to be pessimistic about theory-containment. Their differences provide some additions to the history of the Duhem–Quine thesis.

Cognición social en esquizofrenia: aspectos cognitivos y neurobiológicos

Social cognition in schizophrenia is currently one of the major fields of interest in studies of this disorder. It is commonly conceptualised as a set of mental operations underlying social interactions, and therefore related to the ability to interpret and predict the behaviour of others in different social contexts. The research community has defined the functional areas that constitute the domain of social cognition, including, at least, the theory of mind, sensory perception, social perception, and attributional bias. Different bodies of evidence have shown that alterations in these functions in patients with schizophrenia are linked to some of their main psychopathological dysfunctions, such as defects in sensory perception, insight and attributional origin, and authorship of human acts. These behavioural alterations have been linked to structural and functional disturbances in the constituents of the so-called social brain. This includes a set of medial parietal, temporal, and pre-frontal areas that have been associated with some anomalies in the theory of mind, the perception of emotions, and the ability to consider the perspective of others, phenomena commonly found in schizophrenia. Future research in the domain of social cognition should be aimed at clarifying its relationship with the social brain and neurocognition.

The Sufyānī in Early Islamic Kerygma: An Enquiry into His Origins and Early Development

AbstractThe present study aims to contribute to the quest for the origins of belief in the eschatological figure of the Sufyānī, a matter of hot debate since the late nineteenth century. To this end, three different bodies of evidence are produced and analysed: reports indicating that the Sufyānī was, indeed, thought of as a redemptive personality in some Syrian quarters, traditions on him in the Muslim endtimes literature that contain an ex eventu pronouncement, and reports concerning the propaganda activities of the first Sufyānī claimant, Abū Muḥammad Ziyād ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yazīd “al-Sufyānī”, in the historical record. Making use of hitherto unavailable sources and looking afresh at the previously studied sources, it is argued that the myth of the Sufyānī emerged during the counterrevolutionary revolt of Abū Muḥammad al-Sufyānī in 132ah, with vague residues of it traceable to his earlier military activities, against the Umayyad caliph Yazīd III, in 126ah.

A multicriteria approach for analysis of conflicts in evidence theory

Dempster–Shafer Theory (DST) or Evidence Theory is regarded as one of the leading theories for modeling uncertainty in imprecise situations. The main advantage of this theory arises from the possibility of combining different bodies of evidence originally developed by using Dempster's combination rule. However, this rule leads to counter-intuitive results when the bodies of evidence conflict with each other to a high degree. Thus, different combinations of conflict management rules have been developed over the years where, regardless of the method used, what should be identified first of all is the level of conflict between the bodies of evidence. Therefore, different metrics were used to classify or quantify the conflict but no single one of these was successful because it is impracticable to represent all situations of conflict in this theory by using only one metric. Therefore, the contribution of this article is to analyze conflict within DST by using a multi-criteria analysis, for which the Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method considered was ELECTRE TRI. On modeling the problem, three classes of conflict (low, medium and high), were considered. To validate the model, a numerical analysis was conducted that included the use of a method to point up conflict so as to infer parameters.

Infections and Brain Development.

Several different bodies of evidence support a link between infection and altered brain development. Maternal infections, such as influenza and human immunodeficiency virus, have been linked to the development of autism spectrum disorders, differences in cognitive test scores, and bipolar disorder; an association that has been shown in both epidemiologic and retrospective studies. Several viral, bacterial, and parasitic illnesses are associated with alterations in fetal brain structural anomalies including brain calcifications and hydrocephalus. The process of infection can activate inflammatory pathways causing the release of various proinflammatory biomarkers and histological changes consistent with an infectious intrauterine environment (chorioamnionitis) or umbilical cord (funisitis). Elevations in inflammatory cytokines are correlated with cerebral palsy, schizophrenias, and autism. Animal studies indicate that the balance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines is critical to the effect prenatal inflammation plays in neurodevelopment. Finally, chorioamnionitis is associated with cerebral palsy and other abnormal neurodevelopmental outcomes. In conclusion, a plethora of evidence supports, albeit with various degrees of certainty, the theory that maternal infection and inflammation that occur during critical periods of fetal development could theoretically alter brain structure and function in a time-sensitive manner.

P071 Guidelines For Guideline Developers: A Systematic Review Of Grading Systems For Medical Tests

BackgroundDevelopment of guidelines for medical tests are challenging given the indirectness of evidence on patient outcomes. We compared grading systems for medical tests in terms of basic guideline quality requirements...

Guidelines for guideline developers: a systematic review of grading systems for medical tests

BackgroundA variety of systems have been developed to grade evidence and develop recommendations based on the available evidence. However, development of guidelines for medical tests is especially challenging given the typical indirectness of the evidence; direct evidence of the effects of testing on patient important outcomes is usually absent. We compared grading systems for medical tests on how they use evidence in guideline development.MethodsWe used a systematic strategy to look for grading systems specific to medical tests in PubMed, professional guideline websites, via personal correspondence, and handsearching back references of key articles. Using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) instrument as a starting point, we defined two sets of characteristics to describe these systems: methodological and process ones. Methodological characteristics are features relating to how evidence is gathered, appraised, and used in recommendations. Process characteristics are those relating to the guideline development process. Data were extracted in duplicate and differences resolved through discussion.ResultsTwelve grading systems could be included. All varied in the degree to which methodological and process characteristics were addressed. Having a clinical scenario, identifying the care pathway and/or developing an analytical framework, having explicit criteria for appraising and linking indirect evidence, and having explicit methodologies for translating evidence into recommendations were least frequently addressed. Five systems at most addressed these, to varying degrees of explicitness and completeness. Process wise, features most frequently addressed included involvement of relevant professional groups (8/12), external peer review of completed guidelines (9/12), and recommendations on methods for dissemination (8/12). Characteristics least often addressed were whether the system was piloted (3/12) and funder information (3/12).ConclusionsFive systems for grading evidence about medical tests in guideline development addressed to differing degrees of explicitness the need for and appraisal of different bodies of evidence, the linking of such evidence, and its translation into recommendations. At present, no one system addressed the full complexity of gathering, assessing and linking different bodies of evidence.

Combination rule of D–S evidence theory based on the strategy of cross merging between evidences

Recent studies on the combination rule of D–S evidence theory can be summarized as two categories, i.e. the methods based on modification for Dempster rule, and the methods based on correction to original evidence sources. However, both of them fail to deal with the role of cardinality of focal elements in process of combination, leading generally to the imperfect final results which are hard to show the inherent differences between different bodies of evidence. In this paper, we propose a combination rule based on the strategy of cross merging between evidences, a newly developed methodology which can better reflect the focusing degree of focal elements between bodies of evidence, and make final combination results more succinct, reasonable and valid. Throughout the process of combination, such global information as reliability, focusing weights, and expected support of evidences is thoroughly taken into account. In addition, an effort is made to allocate evidential conflict in proportion only among combination propositions in order to refine combination results and reduce their decision range. A numerical example and its modified version demonstrate that the presented approach has good adaptability to the evidences in accord or with high conflict, and significantly outperforms other combination methods of a similar kind.

Death and everyday life

This essay highlights the relationships between the realm of the symbolic world expressed in the funerary sphere and the realm of the maintenance activities of quotidian life, focusing on the Argaric culture of Southeast Iberia (c. 2250—1450 cal BC). The article begins by summarizing engendered mortuary archaeology in relation to maintenance activities and by briefly reviewing the funerary record of the Argaric societies. We then expand on the Argar culture, presenting in more depth two different types of archaeological evidence: grave goods deposited in tombs and paleoanthropological analyses conducted on Argaric skeletons. In the first case, we evaluate the relationship of grave goods to material culture integrated in practices related to the management of everyday domestic life, discussing the socio-symbolical significance that the exclusive association between awls and women may have had. In the second case, we report on those skeletal studies that allow us to infer information about sex differentiated tasks. To conclude, we bring these two different bodies of evidence into a focused dialogue in order to reach a better understanding about the relationship between the social perception and construction of Argaric women's identity and the practices that they may have carried out on a quotidian basis.

The policies–inequality feedback and health: the case of globalisation

Background:Major research contributions aimed at explaining the association between economic inequality and health have concentrated on the plausibility of the material deprivation and psychosocial factors pathways. However, little work has...

Evaluation of work-related psychosocial factors and regional musculoskeletal pain: results from a EULAR Task Force

Objectives:To establish whether review articles provide consistent conclusions on associations between workplace psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal pain and, if differences exist, to explore whether this is related to the methods...

Mothers, Sons and Lovers: Fidelity and Frugality in the Overseas Chinese Divided Family Before 1949

AbstractThe predominance of men, including married men, among Overseas Chinese emigrants gave rise to a distinctive family structure, in which the male emigrant lived apart from his wife and other family members who remained back home in China. This article considers two very different bodies of evidence, archives concerning Overseas Chinese efforts to recover property lost during World War II and magazines and newspapers published for Overseas Chinese in North America and Southeast Asia, in order to discuss tensions within the Overseas Chinese divided family in the early twentieth century. Family members who remained in China came to play important roles in the management of the family estate, including remittance-funded investments. Heightened anxiety about female sexuality and the trustworthiness of family members in general reflected the concern of absent Overseas Chinese men that their family members back home might make decisions about family management that were different than those desired by the migrants themselves.

On the axiomatic justification of Dempster's rule of combination

Within the theory of belief functions Dempster's rule of combination is of particular importance for the integration of different bodies of evidence. In this article a set of axioms is presented that uniquely determines this rule. As the axioms reflect just the intuitive idea of partially moveable evidence masses the presented results emphasize the unicity of Dempster's rule. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.

Two perspectives of the Dempster-Shafer theory ofbelief functions

This study presents two different perspectives of the Dempster-Shafer theory ofbelief functions. The first view of the theory, called the compatibility view , constructs the belief function for a frame of discernment by using the compatibility relationship of the frame with another frame called evidence frame for which the probability function is known. The second view referred to as the probability allocation view provides a generalization of the Bayesian theory by allocating the probability mass to the propositions which may not necessarily be singleton sets of possible answers, based on some vague body of evidence. Both these views are useful in the design and implementation of expert systems. The belief functions constructed using the evidence frames are useful in situations where limited information regarding the relationship between two frames of discernment is available. The belief functions based on the allocation of probability mass are useful when the evidence cannot be explicitly expressed in terms of propositions, but probability allocation based on evidence is possible. A successful implementation of these two views requires a rule for combining evidence. However, the Dempster rule of combination cannot incorporate dependencies among different bodies of evidence. This study illustrates a possible method for incorporating dependencies based on limited information.