1,720,991 research outputs found
Obesity phenotypes and dyslipidemia in adults from four African countries: an H3Africa AWI-Gen study
No full textIntroduction: the contribution of obesity phenotypes to dyslipidaemia in middle-aged adults from four sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries at different stages of the epidemiological transition has not been reported. We characterized lipid levels and investigated their relation with the growing burden of obesity in SSA countries.Methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa. Participants were middle aged adults, 40–60 years old residing in the study sites for the past 10 years. Age-standardized prevalence and adjusted mean cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, triglycerides and non-HDL-C were estimated using Poisson regression analyses and association of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WTHR) with abnormal lipid fractions modeled using a random effects meta-analysis. Obesity phenotypes are defined as BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2, increased WC and increased waist-to-hip ratio.Results: a sample of 10,700 participants, with 54.7% being women was studied. Southern and Eastern African sites recorded higher age-standardized prevalence of five lipid fractions then West African sites. Men had higher LDL-C (19% vs 8%) and lower HDL-C (35% vs 24%) while women had higher total cholesterol (15% vs 19%), triglycerides (9% vs 10%) and non-HDL-cholesterol (20% vs 26%). All lipid fractions were significantly associated with three obesity phenotypes. Approximately 72% of participants in the sample needed screening for dyslipidaemia with more men than women requiring screening.Conclusion: obesity in all forms may drive a dyslipidaemia epidemic in SSA with men and transitioned societies at a higher risk. Targeted interventions to control the epidemic should focus on health promoting and improved access to screening services
The effect of genetic variants, anthropometry and the environment on lipid profile in adults in Northern Ghana
No full textA thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Human GeneticsGenetic polymorphisms, environmental factors and gene-environment interactions are associated with variations in lipid levels. This evidence comes from studies in mainly Europeans and people of African descent but little or no data exists on the influence of these factors on lipid levels in indigenous black African populations. The aim of the current study was therefore to characterize the principal environmental and genetic factors that influence serum lipid levels in a rural, adult Ghanaian population and to determine if gene-environment interactions further modulate lipid levels. It was a cross-sectional survey that recruited 2016 men and women resident in the study area and aged 40-60 years.
Self-reported socio-demographic and behavioural data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Simple anthropometric measures were taken using standardised procedures and visceral and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness were measured using ultrasound. Whole blood was collected for DNA extraction and serum was used for the measurement of total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglyceride (TG). Genotyping of candidate genes was performed using the H3Africa single nucleotide variant genotyping array. Multivariable linear regression analysis was used to test the association of environmental factors with lipid levels. The effect of genetic polymorphisms and geneenvironment interaction on lipid levels was tested using regression models with Bonferroniadjusted p values.
The prevalence of dyslipidaemia among the total population was as follows: low HDL-C: 60.30%, high LDL-C=5.55%, high TC=4.02% and high TG=2.12%. A greater proportion of women had low HDL-C compared to men (p=0.005). Subcutaneous abdominal fat was associated with TC (β=0.067, p=0.015) and TG (β=0.137, p<0.001) among women and LDL-C (β=0.139, p=0.006) and TC (β=0.071, p=0.048) among men. Body mass index was associated with TC (β=0.010, p=0.043) among men while waist circumference was associated with LDL-C (β=0.116, p<0.001) and TG (β=0.094, p<0.001) among women. Hip circumference was negatively associated (β=-0.053, p=0.043), while visceral fat was positively associated with TG (β=0.033, p=0.022) among women. Socioeconomic status, education, being unmarried and employment were associated with HDL-C (β=0.081, p=0.004), LDL-C (β=0.095, p=0.004) and TG (β=0.095, p=0.001) respectively, all among women, and TC (β=0.070, p=0.010) among men.
Tobacco smoking (β=0.066, p=0.024) among men and alcohol intake among women (β=0.084, p=0.001) were associated with HDL-C levels. For the genetic association analysis the lead variants for association with HDL-C were rs17231520 (β=0.139, p<0.0001) and rs34065661 (β=0.137, p<0.0001), both in CETP. The interaction between tobacco smoking and ABCA1 (rs10124686) was associated with higher TC levels (p=0.041) while that between CETP (rs34620476) and tobacco smoking was associated with lower TG levels in men (p=0.020).
Associations of education, employment and adiposity with lipid levels suggest that future societal advances and increases in the prevalence of obesity may lead to associated adverse health consequences. Variants in CETP strongly modulate HDL-C levels in the study population. Total cholesterol and TG levels may be modestly influenced by gene-environment interactions of ABCA1 and CETP, respectively, with smoking among men in the study population.TL (2020
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
Diabetes care cascade and associated factors in 10 700 middle-aged adults in four sub-Saharan African countries: a cross-sectional study
No full textAbstractObjectives We investigated progression through the care cascade and associated factors for people with diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa to identify attrition stages that may be most appropriate for targeted intervention.Design Cross-sectional study.Setting Community-based study in four sub-Saharan African countries.Participants 10 700 individuals, aged 40–60 years.Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome measure was the diabetes cascade of care defined as the age-adjusted diabetes prevalence (self-report of diabetes, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥7 mmol/L or random plasma glucose ≥11.1 mmol/L) and proportions of those who reported awareness of having diabetes, ever having received treatment for diabetes and those who achieved glycaemic control (FPG <7.2 mmol/L). Secondary outcome measures were factors associated with having diabetes and being aware of the diagnosis.Results Diabetes prevalence was 5.5% (95% CI 4.4% to 6.5%). Approximately half of those with diabetes were aware (54%; 95% CI 50% to 58%); 73% (95% CI 67% to 79%) of aware individuals reported ever having received treatment. However, only 38% (95% CI 30% to 46%) of those ever having received treatment were adequately controlled. Increasing age (OR 1.1; 95% CI 1.0 to 1.1), urban residence (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.6 to 3.5), hypertension (OR 1.9; 95% CI 1.5 to 2.4), family history of diabetes (OR 3.9; 95% CI 3.0 to 5.1) and measures of central adiposity were associated with higher odds of having diabetes. Increasing age (OR 1.1; 95% CI 1.0 to 1.1), semi-rural residence (OR 2.5; 95% CI 1.1 to 5.7), secondary education (OR 2.4; 95% CI 1.2 to 4.9), hypertension (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.4) and known HIV positivity (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.2 to 4.4) were associated with greater likelihood of awareness of having diabetes.Conclusions There is attrition at each stage of the diabetes care cascade in sub-Saharan Africa. Public health strategies should target improving diagnosis in high-risk individuals and intensifying therapy in individuals treated for diabetes
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
- …
