1,720,961 research outputs found
Shock wave over hand muscles: a neurophysiological study on peripheral conduction nerves in normal subjects
Full text linkBackground and purpose: shock waves are defined as a sequence of single sonic pulses largely used in the treatment of bone and tendon diseases and recently on muscular hypertonia in stroke patients. Our purpose is to investigate the short and long term effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on the peripheral nerve conduction and central conductions from the treated muscles in normal human subjects in order to define safety criteria. Methods: we studied 10 patients normal subjects. Motor and sensory nerve conduction velocity and F response from right ipothenar eminence (abductor digiti minimi) of the hand was recorded. Furthermore MEP latency and amplitude and central conduction from the same muscles by transcranial magnetic stimulation was evaluated. In all subjects each neurophysiological measures were monitored before, immediately after, 15 minutes and after 30 minutes from the active ESWT treatment (1600 shots with an energy applied of 0.030 mj/mm2). Results: no significant short or long term changes were noted in sensory and motor peripheral nerve conduction and in central motor conduction in all the subjects evaluated after ESWT.
Conclusions: the ESWT has no effect on sensory and motor peripheral nerve conduction and in central motor conduction. The ESWT using low level of energy represent a safety method for treating the muscles in human subjects without involvement of motor or sensory nervous trunks. Different mechanisms of action of ESWT are discusse
Effect of shock wave stimulation on hypertonic plantar flexor muscles in patients with cerebral palsy: A placebo-controlled study.
Full text linkBackground: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy has been reported to be effective in reducing muscle hypertonia in adults. Aim: To evaluate the effect of shock wave treatment of spastic muscles in children with cerebral palsy. Methods: Twelve children with spastic equinus foot (6 boys, 6 girls; mean age 8 years (standard deviation (SD) 2.31)) were monitored. Clinical (Ashworth Scale, passive range of motion) and instrumental (pedobarography) examination were performed. This is an open study with one placebo treatment session, followed 6 weeks later by one active shock wave treatment session. Gastrocnemius muscles and soleus muscles were treated. Results: After placebo stimulation no clinical or instrumental effect was seen. After a single active shock wave stimulation a significant decrease in the Ashworth Scale (from 3 to 2), an increase in the range of motion (from 20 degrees to 50 degrees), and an increase in the whole plantar surface area of the treated limb (from 40.3 to 80.2 cm2) were observed in all patients. This effect lasted for 4 weeks in all patients. Conclusions: A single active shock wave stimulation produced a significant long-lasting reduction in hypertonia in the plantar flexors in children with cerebral palsy
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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