HowStuffWorks - How Force, Power, Torque and Energy Work

If you've read many http://howstuffworks.com/ articles, you've seen a lot of terminology thrown around -- words such as mass, force, torque, work, power and energy. What do the-se words really mean, and are they interchangeable? Go to http://howstuffworks.com/ and find the answer.

Why Dichotomizing Variables is a Bad Idea

This is a nice review from the research perspective, but may be not so practicable without using dichotomized variable of a continuous variable. For example, the criteria of diabetes and hypertension diagnosis are based on dichotomized variables from continuous blood glucose level and blood pressure level.

_From Bob

        It is well recognized in the methodological literature that dichotomization of continuous variables introduces major problems in the analysis and interpretation of models derived in a data-dependent fashion. Nevertheless, dichotomization of continuous variables is widespread in clinical research. Problems include loss of information, reduction in power, uncertainty in defining the cutpoint, arriving at a biologically implausible step function as the estimate of a dose–response function, and the impossibility of detecting a non-monotonic dose–response relation. Uncertainty in how to select a ‘sensible’ cutpoint to group a continuous variable into two classes has led researchers to use either the median or an ‘optimal’ cutpoint. The latter approach gives a highly inflated type 1 error probability, together with biased parameter estimates and variances that are too small [9, 11]. Although some remedies for these diffculties have been developed [9, 21–23], none of the authors of these papers actually recommends the use of ‘optimal’ cutpoints with their proposed corrections. In general, the situation seems hardly to have improved since the advice in 1993 of Maxwell and Delaney [1] to avoid dichotomization, quoted at the beginning of this paper.

Instead of dichotomizing a continuous variable, we prefer to obtain a prognostic index by methodology which combines selection of variables with selection of functions for continuous variables [4, 26]. As stated in an editorial [2] in an epidemiological journal a decade ago, ‘these elegant approaches [fractional polynomials and splines] merit a larger role in epidemiology.’ Clinical researchers should in general avoid dichotomization at the model-building stage and adopt more powerful methods.

Royston, Patrick (2006) Statistics in Medicine 25:127-141

Please share this with your son.

Gentlemen,

Yes gentlemen, you are no longer the little Tiger Cubs we started out with 5 years ago.  Each of you have grown up into nice young men during that time. It has been my pleasure being first a Den Leader and then the Cubmaster for your years in the Pack.  Over these 5 years  have seen you boys grow not only in size but as a human beings.  I hope that Cub Scouts has been a positive experience for you.  For those that have decided to take a break from the Scouting program I hope that you will find your way back to it at some point.  Either in a few years as a Boy Scout or later as an adult with your son in Scouting.  The mission of the Boy Scouts is to instill values in young people and to help prepare them to make ethical choices during your lifetime.  These values can be found in the Scout Oath and Law.  Please remember the 12 point of the Scout Law and try to live your life based upon these 12 points, not only as a youth but also as an Adult.

It has been a pleasure working with you young gentlemen.

YIS

Mr. Alan  

In memory of Dr. John Denis McGarry

In memory of Dr. John Denis McGarry

Dr. Denis McGarry was a great teacher and sage. His lecture affects my way of thinking on diabetes. Unforgettable.

“In 1992, he published a famous paper in Science entitled “What if Minkowski Had Been Ageusic?” (1). In this paper he suggested that scientific concentration on abnormal glucose metabolism had masked the critical importance of abnormal fat metabolism, especially in type 2 diabetes. Subsequent to this paper there was a huge swing by investigators toward the key role of abnormal lipid metabolism in insulin resistance and lipotoxic damage to tissues as diverse as the heart and the β-cell of the pancreas.”

Please find the full article here.

K M Venkat Narayan: A case of well-intentioned public health reductionism?

K M Venkat Narayan: A case of well-intentioned public health
reductionism?

Very good comments.

http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2010/03/04/k-m-venkat-narayan-a-case-of-well-in
tentioned-public-health-reductionism/