Questions of Address: For Meaghan Morris

Meaghan Shaffer

Landscape ecology is an emerging branch of science, incorporating a multitude of principles and theories. Landscapes can be loosely defined as ecosystems occurring over an area in a similar form (Forman, 1995). This science includes such aspects as scale, the spatial configuration of the landscape, energy flows within the system, the boundaries, and the heterogeneity within the system (Wiens, 1...

Using databases to address important but neglected clinical questions.

The rate of cesarean sections has been increasing substantially over the last several decades, and, accounting for approximately 27.5% of deliveries in the general population in 2004, is much higher than the target rate of 15% established in 1991 as a United States health objective for the year 2000 [1, 2]. There are a number of intertwined medical and societal explanations for the increased ra...

Cancer: the big questions to address in coming years.

Research Designs That Address Evolutionary Questions about Medical Disorders

Diseases result usually from webs of interacting causes of enormous complexity, while human minds seek explanatory principles of extraordinary simplicity. This conflict gives rise to a central problem for medicine. Explanations of disease, and most programmes of medical research, tend to emphasize a single cause, while most diseases result from multiple environmental factors interacting with se...

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers: A Case Study for Using Biomonitoring Data to Address Risk Assessment Questions

The use of biomonitoring data holds promise for characterizing exposure and informing risk assessment. Biomonitoring data have been used successfully to track population trends, identify susceptible populations, and provide indications of emerging environmental health issues. However, there remain challenges associated with interpreting biomonitoring data for risk assessment. An international b...