Critical Thinking, Intelligence, and Unsubstantiated Beliefs: An Integrative Review.

A review of the research shows that critical thinking is a more inclusive construct than intelligence, going beyond what general cognitive ability can account for. For instance, critical thinking can more completely account for many everyday outcomes, such as how thinkers reject false conspiracy theories, paranormal and pseudoscientific claims, psychological misconceptions, and other unsubstantiated claims. Deficiencies in the components of critical thinking (in specific reasoning skills, dispositions, and relevant knowledge) contribute to unsubstantiated belief endorsement in ways that go beyond what standardized intelligence tests test. Specifically, people who endorse unsubstantiated claims less tend to show better critical thinking skills, possess more relevant knowledge, and are more disposed to think critically. They tend to be more scientifically skeptical and possess a more rational-analytic cognitive style, while those who accept unsubstantiated claims more tend to be more cynical and adopt a more intuitive-experiential cognitive style. These findings suggest that for a fuller understanding of unsubstantiated beliefs, researchers and instructors should also assess specific reasoning skills, relevant knowledge, and dispositions which go beyond what intelligence tests test.

Comparison of bovine in vivo bioavailability of two sulfamethazine oral boluses exhibiting different in vitro dissolution profiles.

The bolus (or oblet) is a dosage form that can be used for the oral administration of pharmaceutical compounds to ruminating species. Unlike traditional tablets, oral boluses may contain quantities of drug on the order of grams rather than milligrams. Due to its size, it is only recently that USP-like in vitro dissolution methods have been developed for this dosage form. However, whether or not these dissolution tests can predict product in vivo performance has yet to be determined. The importance of this issue is apparent when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine is faced with the decision of whether to require additional in vivo bioequivalence study data to support the approval of changes in product chemistry or manufacturing method. The current study was undertaken to determine whether an in vivo/in vitro correlation can be established for bovine sulfamethazine oral boluses and to acquire insight into the magnitude of changes in in vitro product performance that can occur before corresponding changes are seen in in vivo blood level profiles. Based upon the results of this investigation, it is concluded that marked changes in in vitro sulfamethazine bolus performance can be tolerated before resulting in altered in vivo blood level profiles. However, the data also suggest that rumenal absorption may occur for some compounds. Therefore the degree to which variation in product in vitro dissolution profiles can be tolerated may be compound specific.

Analysis of the sociodemography of gonorrhoea in Leeds, 1989-93.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the epidemiology of gonorrhoea in an urban area in the United Kingdom. DESIGN: Analysis of all cases of gonorrhoea with regard to age, sex, ethnic group, and socioeconomic group with 1991 census data as a denominator. SETTING: Leeds, a comparatively large urban area (population around 700,000) in the United Kingdom. SUBJECTS: All residents of Leeds with culture proved cases of gonorrhoea during 1989-95. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Relative risk of gonorrhoea. RESULTS: Sex, age, race, and socioeconomic group and area of residence were all independently predictive of risk of infection. Young black men aged 20-29 were at highest risk, with incidences of 3-4% per year. Black subjects were 10 times more likely than white subjects to acquire infection, and subjects from the most deprived socioeconomic areas were more than four times more likely than those from the most affluent areas to acquire infection. CONCLUSIONS: Different ethnic and socioeconomic groups vary in their risk of infection with gonorrhoea within an urban area. Targeted interventions and screening to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted disease are now priorities.

Environment of infants during sleep and risk of the sudden infant death syndrome: results of 1993-5 case-control study for confidential inquiry into stillbirths and deaths in infancy. Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths Regional Coordinators and Researchers.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of sleeping arrangements as risk factors for the sudden infant death syndrome after a national risk reduction campaign. DESIGN: Two year population based case-control study. Parental interviews were conducted for each infant who died and for four controls matched for age and date of interview. SETTING: Three regions in England with a total population of 17 million people. SUBJECTS: 195 babies who died and 780 matched controls. RESULTS: Prone and side sleeping positions both carried increased risks of death compared with supine when adjusted for maternal age, parity, gestation, birth weight, exposure to smoke, and other relevant factors in the sleeping environment (multivariate odds ratio = 9.00 (95% confidence interval 2.84 to 28.47) and 1.84 (1.02 to 3.31), respectively). The higher incidence of side rather than prone sleeping led to a higher population attributable risk (side 18.4%, prone 14.2%). More of the infants who died were found with bed covers over their heads (21.58; 6.21 to 74.99). The use of a dummy had an apparent protective effect (0.38; 0.21 to 0.70). Bed sharing for the whole night was a significant risk factor for infants whose mothers smoked (9.25; 2.31 to 34.02). No protective effect of breast feeding could be identified on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the importance of certain risk factors for the sudden infant death syndrome and identifies others-for example, covers over the head, side sleeping position-which may be amenable to change by educating and informing parents and health care professionals.

Smoking and the sudden infant death syndrome: results from 1993-5 case-control study for confidential inquiry into stillbirths and deaths in infancy. Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths Regional Coordinators and Researchers.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of exposure to tobacco smoke and of parental consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs as risk factors for the sudden infant death syndrome after a national risk reduction campaign which included advice on prenatal and postnatal avoidance of tobacco smoke. DESIGN: Two year population based case-control study. Parental interviews were conducted for each infant who died and four controls matched for age and date of interview. SETTING: Three regions in England with a total population of 17 million people. SUBJECTS: 195 babies who died and 780 matched controls. RESULTS: More index than control mothers (62.6% v 25.1%) smoked during pregnancy (multivariate odds ratio = 2.10; 95% confidence interval 1.24 to 3.54). Paternal smoking had an additional independent effect when other factors were controlled for (2.50; 1.48 to 4.22). The risk of death rose with increasing postnatal exposure to tobacco smoke, which had an additive effect among those also exposed to maternal smoking during pregnancy (2.93; 1.56 to 5.48). The population attributable risk was over 61%, which implies that the numbers of deaths from the syndrome could be reduced by almost two third if parents did not smoke. Alcohol use was higher among index than control mothers but was strongly correlated with smoking and on multivariate analysis was not found to have any additional independent effect. Illegal drug use was more common among the index parents, and paternal use of illegal drugs remained significant in the multivariate model (4.68; 1.56 to 14.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the increased risk of the sudden infant death syndrome associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy and shows evidence that household exposure to tobacco smoke has an independent additive effect. Parental drug misuse has an additional small but significant effect.

Pathways of coronary care--a computer-simulation model of the potential for health gain.

A computer-simulation model of the need for cardiology services is described. The model simulates the potential for health gain, in terms of a fall in mortality, determining the effect of alterations in prevention and treatment rates. The model was initially developed from a pathways-of-care flow chart, which originated from a working group consisting of a consultant cardiac surgeon, cardiologists, and public-health physicians, together with statisticians and an operational-research analyst. The original purpose of the model was as a communication tool, to help nonclinicians to have a better understanding of how and why doctors work as they do, but it has since been developed for use in setting and meeting health targets. It enables quantification of the effects of changing different combinations of key variables over time. It is designed to answer 'what if?' questions of the type 'What would the effect of a 10% reduction in the incidence of angina be on the number of deaths, angiograms, angioplasties, and coronary-artery bypass grafts. The model has been made available in a form which only requires a Lotus 123 spreadsheet package to enable it to run, and it is designed to be easy to use with the assistance of simple two-key commands throughout. The model has been used by district health authorities to calculate the response required in their own local areas to achieve targets for the year 2000.

Standardized mortality from cervical cancer: a measure of performance?

A retrospective cohort analysis, using data extracted from clinical notes, examined the validity of standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for cervical cancer as an indicator of the quality of health services by exploring the mortality at five years of patients presenting with cervical cancer, identifying factors associated with survival, and studying the relationship of those factors to SMRs for the disease. The subjects were 1038 women aged 15-64 registered at the Yorkshire Cancer Registry as having invasive cervical cancer between 1979 and 1983. It was found that independent risk factors for mortality within five years of presentation were stage at diagnosis and smoking habit. Method of treatment had an effect that failed to reach statistical significance. Independent risk factors for late stage at presentation were absence of a history of cervical smear and increasing age. Considerable variation remained unexplained in both models. District SMRs were not related to five-year survival, stage at presentation or screening history. SMRs were related to proportions of smokers. It is concluded that SMRs are subject to considerable influence from a range of unidentified factors, as well as identified risk factors. They are too broad an indicator to be a valid measure of health service performance. The health service's ability to reduce case fatality does not outweigh the effects of incidence and severity. Better indicators would be survival to five years of those presenting at stage II or less and distribution of stage at presentation.