iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Proud of the work we did here exploring the effects of a quasi-random increase in gun availability on different varieties of gun violence, and thrilled to get a byline! Write-up in Times Ideas based on our study published BMJ:

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

Chris Worsham @chrisworsham.com · 17/04/2025

Our latest out today in @bmj.com finds increases in firearm incidents during the beginning of deer hunting season in the U.S.--both hunting realted AND non-hunting related firearm incidents--using data from the Gun Violence Archive. www.bmj.com/content/389/...

bmj.com

Firearm availability and firearm incidents: quasi-experimental analysis using start of US hunting seasons

Objective To take advantage of the arbitrarily timed increase in firearm and ammunition availability brought on by the start of deer hunting seasons to study its impact on hunting, and importantly, no...

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

NBER @nber.org · 15/02/2025

The US WW2 medical research and development effort catalyzed postwar science, modernized drug discovery, and fueled the postwar National Institutes of Health — reshaping biomedical innovation for decades, from Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat www.nber.org/papers/w33457

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

Chris Worsham @chrisworsham.com · 21/12/2024

Check out our new piece (with video!) in @time-magazine.bsky.social, about how science is often used to justify someone’s values, rather than inform tradeoffs based on those values, in debate on health issues (More to come with @time-magazine.bsky.social Ideas, too!) time.com/7198764/scie...

time.com

Column: Why We Can't Rely on Science Alone to Make Public Health Decisions

Discussing the tradeoffs in public-health decisions might help us make better choices, write Dr. Christopher Worsham and Dr. Anupam Jena.

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

NBER @nber.org · 13/12/2024

ADHD diagnoses among children increase on Halloween, consistent with changes in behavior and highlighting subjectivity in the medical diagnosis, from Christopher Worsham, Charles Bray, and Anupam Jena www.nber.org/papers/w33232

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Chris Worsham @chrisworsham.com · 17/12/2024

Beep beep! Which occupations are associated with the lowest risk of death from Alzheimer's disease? Check out our analysis in @bmj.com Christmas Issue with some interactive graphics to explore links between Alzheimer's and navigational jobs 🚕🚑✈️🚢🚌 www.bmj.com/content/387/...

bmj.com

Alzheimer’s disease mortality among taxi and ambulance drivers: population based cross sectional study

Objective To analyze mortality attributed to Alzheimer’s disease among taxi drivers and ambulance drivers, occupations that demand frequent spatial and navigational processing, compared with other occ...

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

Chris Worsham @chrisworsham.com · 18/12/2024

Check out this great writeup in @planetmoney.bsky.social by @elliswonk.bsky.social about our working paper and the types of cognitive biases that might be affecting medical care surrounding various holidays--or really any day www.npr.org/sections/pla...

npr.org

How the holidays could be affecting your medical care

A new study suggests that holidays can affect your provider's decision making.

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

Anna Clark @annaleighclark.bsky.social · 20/05/2024

🚨👀 Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles with the secrets that 3M kept from her and the world. www.propublica.org/article/3m-f...

propublica.org

Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe

Decades ago, Kris Hansen showed 3M that its PFAS chemicals were in people’s bodies. Her bosses halted her work. As the EPA now forces the removal of the chemicals from drinking water, she wrestles wit...

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Reposted by Charlie Bray

Senator Ron Wyden @wyden.senate.gov · 12/12/2023

It turns out that the major pharmacies in the U.S. routinely provide patient medical records to law enforcement without a warrant. The potential ramifications of this for anyone on birth control, ordering abortion pills, or medication for mental illness and other personal conditions are staggering.

An infographic showing how major US pharmacies respond to law enforcement requests for patient data

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

Right, they were. That’s not what I’m talking about. When are most births happening, in any generation, has been a fairly fixed window (25-34), but there has been a lot of movement by generation within that window. I’m not deliberating over how long women can give birth

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

No, the same ages are not being compared. Mortality within age range, where the makeup of births by age is unknown within that range, is reported. One gen could have 90% of births at age 25, but another gen could have 90% at age 34 (extreme example), but it would be the “same” group

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 16/12/2023

It’s a huge range given the context it’s in. It would be reasonable to splice it finer, or at least tell the audience it’s age-adjusted, because outcomes differ significantly across that range and the report may just be presenting a compositional effect

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

Yes, I’ve seen that too, but if the report’s authors are in fact using the age-adjusted rather than raw statistics, they certainly don’t say so. Not sure how reporting criteria not changing over 10 years is relevant to the cross-generation comparisons—report even says the comparisons may be bunk.

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

Agree, but my point is that the report tries to define a problem—that it’s more dangerous to be pregnant at the *same age* than it was in the past—but does not in fact compare people at the same age to each other. It’s already known that mothers are older now and pregnancy more dangerous as a result

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

That being said, maternal mortality spiked--across all ages--during the pandemic. Clearly not a non-issue! But any problem, if it really is a problem, needs to be captured with apples-to-apples comparisons.

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

Should really be age-adjusted. 25-34 is a huge range (it's much of the fertility window) and we know that a higher % of Millennial women give birth at the high end than past gens. So is it an age--or some other--effect? Along w/changing reporting standards, can we appropriately draw any conclusions?

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Charlie Bray @braycharles.bsky.social · 15/12/2023

Should really be age-adjusted. 25-34 is a huge range (it's most of the fertility window), and we know that a much higher % of Millennial women give birth at the high end than past gens. So is it an age or healthcare effect? Along w/changing reporting standards, it's difficult to draw any conclusions

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