Simple graphical methods of displaying multiple clinical results

A common challenge in clinical research trials is for applied statistics to manage, analyse, summarize and report an enormous amount of data. Nowadays, due to advances in medical technology, situations frequently arise where it is difficult to display and interpret results. Consequently, a creative approach is required to summarize the main outcomes of the statistical analyses in a form which is easy to grasp, to interpret and possibly to remember. In this paper a number of clinical case studies are provided. Firstly, a topographical map of the brain summarizing P-values obtained from comparisons across different EEG sites; secondly, a bulls eye plot, showing the agreement between observers in different regions of the heart; thirdly, a pictorial table reporting inter- and intra-rater reliability scores of a speech assessment; fourthly a star-plot to deal with numerous questionnaire results and finally a correlogram to illustrate significant correlation values between two diagnostic tools. The intention of this paper is to encourage the effort of visual representations of multiple statistical outcomes. Such representations do not only embellish the report, but aid interpretation by conveying a specific statistical meaning.     

Occupational Cultures and the Embodiment of Masculinity: Hairdressing,Estate Agency and Firefighting

Drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded project, this article explores the implications of different occupational cultures for men's masculine identity. With a focus on embodiment and individual agency, it explores the argument that it is within ‘scenes of constraint’ that gendered identities are both ‘done’ and ‘undone’. In this article we examine embodied experience in occupational cultures commonly stereotyped as ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ (hairdressing, estate agency and firefighting), showing how men conform to, draw upon and resist the gendered stereotypes associated with these occupations. What we argue is that gendered conceptions of ‘the body’ need to be differentiated from individual men's embodiment. Instead, processes of identification can be shown to emerge via embodied experiences of particular kinds of gendered body, and in the ways in which men negotiate the perception of these bodies in different occupational contexts.     

Joining up children's services: safeguarding children in multi‐disciplinary teams

In this article we reflect on the complexity and the contested nature of the roles of multi‐disciplinary teams working with children. This is an increasingly important issue in the current UK child welfare policy environment. The article uses the theories of Etienne Wenger to understand data gathered from five multi‐disciplinary teams working with children. We explore key issues relating to location; information sharing; models of understanding; and professional identities. We hope to demonstrate that the teams addressed tensions creatively through their engagement with diversity while at the same time developing common team values. We argue that effective strategies for making multi‐disciplinary teams work will combine inter‐agency issues with internal team‐specific aspects. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What's sex got to do with it? A family‐based investigation of growing up heterosexual during the twentieth century

This paper explores findings from a cross-generational study of the making of heterosexual relationships in East Yorkshire, which has interviewed women and men within extended families. Using a feminist perspective, it examines the relationship between heterosexuality and adulthood, focussing on sexual attraction, courtship, first kisses, first love and first sex, as mediated within family relationships, and at different historical moments. In this way, the contemporary experiences of young people growing up are compared and contrasted with those of mid-lifers and older adults who formed heterosexual relationships within the context of the changing social and sexual mores of the 1960s/1970s, and the upheavals of World War Two.     

LIMIT THEOREMS FOR STANDARDIZED PARTIAL SUMS OF WEAKLY EXCHANGEABLE ARRAYS

A symmetric array of random variables is weakly exchangeable if, when the same arbitrary permutation is applied to rows and columns, the joint distribution remains the same. We consider the asymptotic distribution of the standardized sums of the elements of the upper left hand corner of the partitioned array, generalizing results on U-statistics. In general, the asymptotic distribution is normal, but if the array is first standardized by subtracting row and column means, then it is a linear form in a normal variable and independent squares of normal variables with coefficients depending on the limits of the eigenvalues of the array.     

Tobacco use and quit behaviors among delinquent youth: a pilot study

With rates of adolescent tobacco use steadily increasing over the past 20 years, assisting youth to quit, particularly those youth most susceptible to tobacco use, has become a national focus. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine and profile the smoking patterns of a small sample (n = 37) of juvenile offenders in Texas. In contrast to anecdotal reports, the sample group from this study did not differ clinically from the general population of adolescent tobacco users. Importantly, the study participants indicated previous attempts to stop smoking. The authors conclude that delinquent youth may be responsive to cognitive behavioral smoking cessation programs that also address the management of peer networks.