Proximate causes

Pew et al. (1981), developed a series of "Murphy diagrams" (named after the well-known Murphy s Law If something can go wrong, it will). Each decision element in the Rasmussen model has an associated Murphy diagram, which specifies possible direct "proximal") causes of the internal malfunction. Each of these causes are then considered in terms of indirect "distal") causes which could mfluence or give rise to the primary cause. A Murphy diagram for the... 

Reproductive success measured where there is effective contraception is, of course, of limited value in assessing the evolutionary utility of a given human behavior. Under these modem conditions it may be better to measure mate value, i.e., sexual attractiveness, as a proxy for reproductive success (e.g., Dong et al., 1996 Weisfeld et al., 1992). Sexual attractiveness, of course, refers to an emotion and as such is a proximate cause of ultimate biological success. 

It is of more than a little interest to note that the sites of tumor formation do not always match across species. Benzidine, a substance once widely used in dye manufacture, was shown many years ago to be a carcinogenic risk for the bladder in workers exposed to excessive levels. The rat bladder is not responsive to this substance, but its liver is. It wasn t until Wilhelm Hueper turned to the dog that bladder cancer could be reproduced in a laboratory animal. It is now understood that benzidine metabolism is similar in dogs and people, and that metabolism in the rat takes a different course. It is also understood that certain benzidine metabolites, and not benzidine itself, are the proximate causes of tumors. Knowledge of metabolic differences helps explain the species similarities and differences in tumor response. If we had available the rat data and no human data, we would be in error to conclude that benzidine was a cause of human liver cancer. 

Proximate Cause—The causal factor that directly produces the effect without the intervention of any other cause. The cause nearest to the effect in time and space. 

In Mongolian gerbils (M. unguicuhtus a biparental species), males avoid their newborn sons until they are 3 days old. The pups surge of testosterone around birth is seen as the proximate cause for this behavior. The males appear to respond to an odor from the neonates, because if rendered anosmic by zinc sulfate infusion they do not avoid neonatal pups. The male faces conflicting... 

However, Perkins claimed that the pistol is defective in that it is unreasonably dangerous in normal use, that the hazard of injury to human beings exceeds the utility of the pistol and this defect constitutes a proximate cause [of the injury]. ... 

A. In the investigation of causes, we must begin by phenomena sufficiently varied, and well observed and proceed in order from proximate causes to the more remote. 

Steric interactions of atoms in close proximity cause deformation of electronic configurations and may give rise to feeble dipole moments in certain polycyclic hydrocarbons. The observed moments in Debye units (Bergmann et al., 1951) are 0-45 + 0-15 D for perylene (5) and 0-70 + 0-07 D for 3,4-benzophenanthrene (3). Triphenylene (6) and tetrabenzonaphthalene (4) had no dipole moments. 

The analysis that follows begins with a consideration of the proximate causes of systemic endothermy, an issue that can be approached by asking, How does an ectothermic vertebrate like a reptile differ from a mammal in terms of mechanisms for supporting endother-... 

The proximate cause of the putative higher level of sodium and potassium ion flux in cells... 

Coyle JT. 2004. The GABA-glutamate connection in schizophrenia Which is the proximate cause Biochem Pharmacol 68 1507-1514. 

Medication errors occur primarily because of two reasons lack of knowledge or lapse in performance. In either case, if safety systems are not in place to prevent the error from going forward, an error can result. The more safety systems are in place, the greater the chance of the error being trapped before it gets to the patient. Leape and colleagues identified a number of proximal causes of medication errors in their study of causes of adverse drug events (Table 16.2). ... 

The fire that burns is nothing other than a matter placed in movement but all matter is not proper to receiving, keeping and communicating this movement of ignition, the proximate cause of heat. One has been forced to recognize that there is in the nature a substance essentially endowed with this property, bodies more or less provided with the inflammable principle. It is this principle, considered in the composition of bodies, abstraction made from the movement, that Stahl has named phlogiston. 

The fourth element of negligence is proximate cause, sometimes referred to as legal cause, which serves to tie together the negligent act (or failure to act) and the resulting injury. 

For example, failure to use a mydriatic drug for a fimdus examination may be the proximate cause of a clinician s failure to detect an intraocular disease. Expert testimony is necessary to link together what the practitioner did (or did not do) and the injmy. 

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