Word: skew
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Perhaps polio's other name, infantile paralysis, had something to do with it. Images of babies in wheelchairs and tots on crutches tend to skew one's perception. And just in case anyone wasn't scared enough, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis hammered the nightmare home with photos that seemed to show up everywhere of sad-looking children in leg braces. "Please give to the March of Dimes." Oh yes, indeed, five times at the same movie--or so it sometimes felt...
When the Brigham researchers looked at fiber intake alone, however, a different picture emerged. After excluding women who had already developed colon cancer or had other factors that might skew the data, the researchers found 787 cases of colorectal cancer from 1980 to 1996 among 88,757 women. Yet the nurses who consumed the most fiber (around 25 g a day) were no better off than the ones who ate the least (10 g a day). There was an indication that "fiber from fruit might protect against colon cancer," says Dr. Charles Fuchs, a gastrointestinal oncologist who led the study...
...There's a small group of people that are active. It might skew the view [by presenting] that small group as representing the whole," he says...
...wealthy and well-counseled have traditionally dominated Harvard's early admission pool, but the admissions office maintains that this year's 9.3 percent jump in early applicants will not skew the class...
This could skew the already tilting sex ratio even further in favor of boys. In the short term, such demographic shifts could cause enormous societal problems as men, for example, find it increasingly difficult to find women to marry. In the long term, however, both evolutionary and economic theories tell us that as girls become more scarce, they will become more highly valued, perhaps to the point at which more people will select for girls than against them...