Creating the Social Question: Imagining Society in Statistics and Political Economy in Late Nineteenth-Century Denmark

Practices such as surveys, guided by scientific statistics and the discourse of political economy, were indispensable tools in the construction of “the social” as a field in Denmark in the late nineteenth century. Leading Danish statisticians were able to create new representations of the structures of society that could be accepted as truth by conservatives, liberals, and socialists alike. Two episodes serve as examples for close examination: the establishment of the “workers’ question” as a social problem in the 1870s, and the new categorization of death in infancy as a social problem around 1900.Des pratiques telles que les enquêtes, éclairées par des statistiques scientifiques et le discours de l’économie politique, ont été des outils indispensables dans la construction du « social » en tant que domaine dans le Danemark de la fin du XIXe siècle. D’éminents statisticiens danois ont été en mesure de créer de nouvelles représentations des structures de la société que pourraient accepter comme la vérité tant les conservateurs que les libéraux et les socialistes. Deux épisodes permettent d’examiner les choses de près : l’établissement de la « question des travailleurs » en tant que problème social dans les années 1870 et le nouveau classement du décès durant l’enfance comme problème social vers 1900

Cause-specific infant mortality in Copenhagen 1861–1911 explored using individual level data

This study explores cause-specific infant mortality in Copenhagen between 1861 and 1911, using newly available individual-level data from The Copenhagen Burial Register, as part of a larger comparative project within the SHiP network (Studying the history of Health in Port Cities). The aim is to determine the dominant cause of death patterns for infants and to explore how the ICD10h coding system performs with the Danish individual level-historical causes of death. The results show that in Copenhagen, infant mortality began a distinct decline during the period of study (1861–1911), but the city experienced only very few changes in the cause of death pattern. While a transition from symptomatic to more specific causes of death took place over time, the largest killers overall were the water-food borne and airborne diseases, with a respectively summer and winter peak. The airborne and water-food borne diseases were mainly dominant amongst the post-neonates, whose mortality made up an increasingly larger share of infant deaths. Finally, the results show that although coding the Danish causes of death to the ICD10h has proven successful, more attention needs to be paid to different uses of the same cause of death by different nations, such as the case of atrophy

Opplæring i ikke-eksperimentelle funksjonelle analyser eller FAK-analyser

Funksjonelle analyser er metoder som avdekker sammenhenger mellom atferd og miljøhendelser. En variant er deskriptive funksjonelle analyser der observatørene registrerer hendelser i miljøet i forkant og etterkant av den angitte atferden. Denne varianten kalles FAK-analyser (Foranledning-Atferd-Konsekvens). I studien undersøker vi om en opplæringspakke har effekt på deltagernes ferdigheter i FAK-analyser. Deltagerne hadde ikke tidligere mottatt systematisk opplæring i FAK-analyser. Deltagerne gjennomførte FAK-analyser basert på video-opptak av personer med utfordrende atferd. Første opplæringssekvens viser lav effekt, og data fra observatørene kunne ikke brukes til å trekke slutninger om atferdsfunksjoner. En ny og forenklet opplæring ble gjennomført. Deltagerne ble testet som tidligere, men skulle kun beskrive foranledninger og konsekvenser av atferd og ikke trekke slutninger om atferdens funksjon. Andelen av FAK-analyser som var korrekt utfylte etter andre opplæring var 90 %. Studien indikerer at det er mulig å lære opp personalet raskt i observasjon og objektive beskrivelser av foranledninger og konsekvenser av atferd

Effects of Anacetrapib in Patients with Atherosclerotic Vascular Disease

BACKGROUND: Patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease remain at high risk for cardiovascular events despite effective statin-based treatment of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels. The inhibition of cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by anacetrapib reduces LDL cholesterol levels and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels. However, trials of other CETP inhibitors have shown neutral or adverse effects on cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 30,449 adults with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive atorvastatin therapy and who had a mean LDL cholesterol level of 61 mg per deciliter (1.58 mmol per liter), a mean non-HDL cholesterol level of 92 mg per deciliter (2.38 mmol per liter), and a mean HDL cholesterol level of 40 mg per deciliter (1.03 mmol per liter). The patients were assigned to receive either 100 mg of anacetrapib once daily (15,225 patients) or matching placebo (15,224 patients). The primary outcome was the first major coronary event, a composite of coronary death, myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization. RESULTS: During the median follow-up period of 4.1 years, the primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (1640 of 15,225 patients [10.8%] vs. 1803 of 15,224 patients [11.8%]; rate ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85 to 0.97; P=0.004). The relative difference in risk was similar across multiple prespecified subgroups. At the trial midpoint, the mean level of HDL cholesterol was higher by 43 mg per deciliter (1.12 mmol per liter) in the anacetrapib group than in the placebo group (a relative difference of 104%), and the mean level of non-HDL cholesterol was lower by 17 mg per deciliter (0.44 mmol per liter), a relative difference of -18%. There were no significant between-group differences in the risk of death, cancer, or other serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with atherosclerotic vascular disease who were receiving intensive statin therapy, the use of anacetrapib resulted in a lower incidence of major coronary events than the use of placebo. (Funded by Merck and others; Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN48678192 ; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01252953 ; and EudraCT number, 2010-023467-18 .)