61 research outputs found
Why it is important to consider negative ties when studying polarized debates: A signed network analysis of a Dutch cultural controversy on Twitter
Despite the prevalence of disagreement between users on social media platforms, studies of online debates typically only look at positive online interactions, represented as networks with positive ties. In this paper, we hypothesize that the systematic neglect of conflict that these network analyses induce leads to misleading results on polarized debates. We introduce an approach to bring in negative user-to-user interaction, by analyzing online debates using signed networks with positive and negative ties. We apply this approach to the Dutch Twitter debate on âBlack Peteââan annual Dutch celebration with racist characteristics. Using a dataset of 430,000 tweets, we apply natural language processing and machine learning to identify: (i) usersâ stance in the debate; and (ii) whether the interaction between users is positive (supportive) or negative (antagonistic). Comparing the resulting signed network with its unsigned counterpart, the retweet network, we find that traditional unsigned approaches distort debates by conflating conflict with indifference, and that the inclusion of negative ties changes and enriches our understanding of coalitions and division within the debate. Our analysis reveals that some groups are attacking each other, while others rather seem to be located in fragmented Twitter spaces. Our approach identifies new network positions of individuals that correspond to roles in the debate, such as leaders and scapegoats. These findings show that representing the polarity of user interactions as signs of ties in networks substantively changes the conclusions drawn from polarized social media activity, which has important implications for various fields studying online debates using network analysis
Serum cholesterol and testicular cancer incidence in 45â000 men followed for 25 years
In a 25-year follow-up study of 44â864 men with measured serum cholesterol levels, the testicular cancer hazard ratios for the serum cholesterol categories 5.7â6.9 and â©Ÿ7.0âmmolâlâ1 vs the reference category (<5.7âmmolâlâ1) were 1.3 and 4.5, respectively; P-value for trend=0.005. This highly significant association suggests that high-serum cholesterol is a risk factor for testicular cancer
Breast cancer genetic risk profile is differentially associated with interval and screen-detected breast cancers
Background: Polygenic risk profiles computed from multiple common susceptibility alleles for breast
cancer have been shown to identify women at different levels of breast cancer risk. We
evaluated whether this genetic risk stratification can also be applied to discriminate between
screen-detected and interval cancers, which are usually associated with
clinicopathological and survival differences.
Patients and methods: A 77-SNP polygenic risk score (PRS) was constructed for breast cancer overall and by
estrogen-receptor (ER) status. PRS was inspected as a continuous (per standard deviation
increment) variable in a case-only design. Modification of the PRS by mammographic density
was evaluated by fitting an additional interaction term.
Results: PRS weighted by breast cancer overall estimates was found to be differentially associated
with 1,865 screen-detected and 782 interval cancers in the LIBRO-1 study (age-adjusted
ORperSD [95% confidence interval]=0.91 [0.83-0.99], p=0.023). The association was found to
be more significant for PRS weighted by ER-positive breast cancer estimates (ORperSD=0.90
[0.82-0.98], p=0.011). This result was corroborated by two independent studies (combined
ORperSD=0.87 [0.76-1.00], p=0.058) with no evidence of heterogeneity. When enriched for
âtrueâ interval cancers among nondense breasts, the difference in the association with PRS in
screen-detected and interval cancers became more pronounced (ORperSD=0.74 [0.62-0.89],
p=0.001), with a significant interaction effect between PRS and mammographic density
(pinteraction=0.017).
Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first report looking into the genetic differences between screendetected
and interval cancers. It is an affirmation that the two types of breast cancer may have
unique underlying biology.Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Cancer SocietyStockholm County CouncilBreast Cancer Theme Centre Consortium (BRECT)Accepte
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