1,721,047 research outputs found
The qualitative assessment of general movements in preterm, term and young infants--review of the methodology.
No full textWe describe the state of the art of Prechtl's method for the qualitative assessment of general movements as a diagnostic tool for early detection of brain dysfunction. After discussing the optimal technique for video recording general movements in preterm, term and young infants, attention is focused on the proper analysis of this spontaneous motor pattern. Recently, a group of active researchers in the field reached consensus on the various qualities of normal and abnormal general movements. These definitions are reported here in full. Since it is a newly introduced method careful investigation into its reliability is required. Various groups of investigators have obtained data which demonstrate the robust character of the method (interscorer agreement: 78-98%). Finally, we discuss the validity of this early assessment method on the basis of the reports published so far. While the method's sensitivity is similar in all age groups studied (preterm, term, first month, second month, and third month age epochs), and averages 94.5%, the specificity of the method is age-dependent. It is low during the early ages, increases gradually and reaches 82 to 100% at 3 months post-term. This phenomenon is explained by spontaneous recovery of early dysfunction. In contrast, consistent abnormalities of general movements are linked to neurological deficits found at the 2 year follow-up
THE ROLE OF VISION ON EARLY MOTOR DEVELOPMENT: LESSON FROM THE BLIND
No full textFor a better understanding of the contribution vision makes to the development of other sensory systems and to movement and posture, we studied effects of early blindness by examining video recordings of 14 totally blind infants. Infants were born at term or preterm and showed no evidence of brain damage. During preterm and term periods no noticeable changes in motor activity were observed. Around 2 months postterm all infants showed clear delay in head control and abnormal, exaggerated type of 'fidgety movements'. Later, postural control was characterized by a prolonged period of ataxic features. Results indicate a lack of normal calibration exerted by vision on proprioceptive and vestibular systems. Early visuomotor coordination such as coordinated eye-head scanning and head orientating were present but disappeared after several weeks
PRECHTL'S METHOD ON THE QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF GENERAL MOVEMENTS IN PRETERM, TERM AND YOUNG INFANTS
No full textA quick, non-invasive, non-intrusive and cost-effective method with high reliability and high validity is much in demand for the early detection of neurological anomalies which point to cerebral palsy and developmental deficits later on in life. Over his years as a distinguished developmental neurologist, Heinz Prechtl has devised such a method; a qualitative assessment of general movements (GMs) as a specific predictor for neurological impairments. His method is described in this book. GMs form part of a distinct pattern of movements in preterm babies, term newborns and young infants. They are complex, frequent, and usually of sufficient length. Changes in the normal quality of GMs are a reliable indicator of brain dysfunction. Includes a CD-ROM giving 15 cases selected from the book. Each is of about one minute in duration and demonstrates the different age-specific movement patterns
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
The qualitative assessment of general movements in preterm, term and young infants - Review of the methodology
No full textWe describe the state of the art of Prechtl's method for the qualitative assessment of general movements as a diagnostic tool for early detection of brain dysfunction, After discussing the optimal technique for video recording general movements in preterm, term and young infants, attention is focused on the proper analysis of this spontaneous motor pattern. Recently, a group of active researchers in the field reached consensus on the various qualities of normal and abnormal general movements. These definitions are reported here in full. Since it is a newly introduced method careful investigation into its reliability is required. Various groups of investigators have obtained data which demonstrate the robust character of the method (interscorer agreement: 78-98%). Finally, we discuss the validity of this early assessment method on the basis of the reports published so far. While the method's sensitivity is similar in all age groups studied (preterm, term, first month, second month, and third month age epochs), and averages 94.5%, the specificity of the method is age-dependent. It is low during the early ages, increases gradually and reaches 82 to 100% at 3 months post-term. This phenomenon is explained by spontaneous recovery of early dysfunction. In contrast, consistent abnormalities of general movements are Linked to neurological deficits found at the 2 year follow-up. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd
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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