1,721,102 research outputs found
"Transcranial direct current stimulation for upper extremity spasticity rehabilitation in stroke survivors: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials"
Full text linkObjectives: This review aimed to examine the impacts of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on upper extremity spasticity post-stroke and to define the most effective tDCS parameters.
Literature survey: Systematic review in the following databases: PubMed, SCOPUS, PEDro, CINAHL, MEDLINE, REHABDATA, AMED, and Web of Science databases. Studies up to June 2020 were included.
Methodology: Studies were included if the sample was composed of individuals with stroke, the intervention followed a tDCS intervention (alone or combined with another intervention), and the study was a randomized controlled trial including at least one measurement assessing upper extremity spasticity. Two authors independently screened the included studies. Conflicting decisions between authors were resolved by discussion with the third author. The methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool. The authors determined that the meta-analysis was not feasible due to the heterogeneity in the protocols among the included studies.
Synthesis: After the screening of 1204 records, a total of seven studies met the specified inclusion criteria and involved 320 participants (Mean age= 60.28), 31.1% of whom were females. Patients with ischemic stroke comprised 77.2% of the total patients, and 42.2% were with right hemispheric stroke. Six studies exhibited “high” quality and one exhibited “moderate” quality. Five of the selected studies that combined the tDCS intervention and other traditional interventions showed a significant reduction in upper extremity spasticity post-stroke following tDCS intervention. The other two studies that delivered tDCs alone did not show a significant difference.
Conclusion: The evidence for the effect of tDCS on upper extremity spasticity post-stroke was limited. The optimal tDCS treatment dosage remains unclear. Additional studies with large sample sizes and long-term follow-up are strongly warranted.
Keywords: Stroke; spasticity; neurological disorders; movement disorders; brain injury
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
Influence of Substitutions and Roles on Kinematic Variables in Professional Soccer Players
No full textIn soccer, roles and substitutions can make it unclear how different physical capacities decrease over time and impact performance. This investigation aimed to analyze kinematic parameters and their changes over game time, and provide information to effectively prescribe training programs. Data from four professional teams were analyzed, and all the teams competed in the Italian First Division (Serie A). Average metabolic power and high-intensity activities associated with critical moments in the match were considered in the comparisons. The video analysis system STATS SportVU collected the data during official matches. Players were assigned to a specific group according to their time played, categorized as follows: 0-15', 15-30', 30-45', 45-60', 60-75', 75-90', and > 90 min. Different roles, including forwards and wingers (FW), midfielders (MF), center-backs (CB), and side-backs (SB) were also considered. Significant differences (p<0.05) were found in different roles and within roles at different times played. The results highlighted how MF performance decreased over time, whereas CB was unaffected by time. SB spent more time at very high velocity than other roles, independently from the time played. These findings provide valuable information about the physical demands of official soccer matches and could be used to review training prescriptions
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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