1,720,963 research outputs found
Pain Study in X-Linked Adrenoleukodystrophy in Males and Females
No full textIntroduction X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a metabolic disorder in which very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are accumulated in the nervous system and adrenal cortex, impairing their functions. Three main variants are described in males: adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN), a cerebral form (cALD or cAMN) and Addison's disease only (AD), while for females no classification is used. To evaluate pain and the functional state of afferent fibers, a series of tests was carried out in male and female patients. Methods Chronic pain occurrence and sensory phenotype profile were assessed in 30 patients (20 male: 10 AMN, 1 cAMN, 1 cALD, 8 AD; and 10 female). A set of instruments assessed the intensity, quality and extent of pain, while a battery of quantitative sensory testing (QST) procedures examined the functional status of A beta and A delta fibers. Principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering with sensory responses input were used to identify distinct clusters. Results Nearly half of the subjects reported pain, with a high prevalence in females and male AMN patients. No sex differences in pain dimensions were found. The sensory responses were heterogeneous, differing among the clinical variants and between genders. Male AMN/cAMN/cALD patients showed the worst impairment. A beta and A delta fibers were affected in males and females, but A beta fibers appeared undamaged in females when tactile sensitivity was tested. Abnormal responses were localized in the lower body district, according to the dying-back pattern of the neuropathy. Cluster analysis showed discrete clusters for each function examined, with well-interpretable sensory and clinical phenotypes. Conclusion The study of pain and of the sensory profile appears to indicate a difference in the mechanisms underlying the AMN/cAMN/cALD and AD clinical forms and in the treatment of the respective generated pain types
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
Endocrine Conseguences of opioid therapy
No full textGonadal hormones are known to be affected by morphine and other opioids. In this paper, we summarize data collected in recent years which clearly indicate that the opioid-induced effects on steroid hormones depend on the opioid used and in some cases on the sex of the subject. Indeed morphine is able to reduce hormones like testosterone and cortisol in both male and female subjects in just a few hours, probably acting directly on peripheral glands. These depressant effects of morphine on hormones are also present in the treatment of surgical pain and are quickly reversible once opioid administration is suspended. Similar actions were also found to occur in experimental animals and in vitro in glial cells, further confirming the morphine-induced reduction of testosterone cell content. Testosterone and its metabolites are well known substances involved in the development and maintenance of the brain and all body structures. Thus when treating pain with opioids, their effects on hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal-related hormones must be considered and, where possible, hormone replacement therapy should be started
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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