130,730 research outputs found
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
An analysis of trends and determinants of health insurance and healthcare utilisation in the Russian population between 2000 and 2004: the 'inverse care law' in action.
No full textBACKGROUND: The break-up of the USSR brought considerable disruption to health services in Russia. The uptake of compulsory health insurance rose rapidly after its introduction in 1993. However, by 2000 coverage was still incomplete, especially amongst the disadvantaged. By this time, however, the state health service had become more stable, and the private sector was growing. This paper describes subsequent trends and determinants of healthcare insurance coverage in Russia, and its relationship with health service utilisation, as well as the role of the private sector. METHODS: Data were from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, an annual household panel survey (2000-4) from 38 centres across the Russian Federation. Annual trends in insurance coverage were measured (2000-4). Cross-sectional multivariate analyses of the determinants of health insurance and its relationship with health care utilisation were performed in working-age people (18-59 years) using 2004 data. RESULTS: Between 2000 and 2004, coverage by the compulsory insurance scheme increased from 88% to 94% of adults; however 10% of working-age men remained uninsured. Compulsory health insurance coverage was lower amongst the poor, unemployed, unhealthy and people outside the main cities. The uninsured were less likely to seek medical help for new health problems. 3% of respondents had supplementary (private) insurance, and rising utilisation of private healthcare was greatest amongst the more educated and wealthy. CONCLUSION: Despite high population insurance coverage, a multiply disadvantaged uninsured minority remains, with low utilisation of health services. Universal insurance could therefore increase access, and potentially contribute to reducing avoidable healthcare-related mortality. Meanwhile, the socioeconomically advantaged are turning increasingly to a growing private sector
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Universal health coverage: a quest for all countries but under threat in some.
No full textOver the past 50 years, health care has been making a growing contribution to population health in many countries. Yet its benefits are still denied to many people worldwide. This article describes how many countries, both developed and developing, have pursued the quest to achieve universal health care. This has been an explicitly political process. In Europe, it emerged from a belief in solidarity, a fear of revolution, and a changing view of the role of the state. In developing countries, progress was more erratic, characterized by debates about the affordability of universal health care, until it was realized that functioning health systems were essential to deliver development goals. Throughout, the United States has been an exception. An analysis of progress toward universal health care, combining a review of existing theories and new empirical analysis, identifies five factors as important: the strength of organized labor and left-wing parties, adequate economic resources, absence of societal divisions, weakness of institutions that might oppose it (such as organized medicine), and windows of opportunity. Having noted the substantial benefits accruing from universal health care, the article concludes with an analysis of how universal health care is under threat in some European countries and a warning about the risks posed by current radical austerity policies
Prescription for change: accessing medication in transitional Russia.
No full textBACKGROUND Many Russians experienced difficulty in accessing prescription medication during the widespread health service disruption and rapid socio-economic transition of the 1990s. This paper examines trends and determinants of access in Russia during this period. METHODS Data were from nine rounds (1994-2004) of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, a 38-centre household panel survey. Trends were measured in failing to access prescribed medication for the following reasons: unobtainable from a pharmacy, unable to afford and 'other' reasons. Determinants of unaffordability were studied in 1994, 1998 and 2004, using cross-sectional, age-adjusted logistic regression, with further multivariate analyses of unaffordability and failure to access for 'other' reasons in 2004. RESULTS After 1994, reporting of unavailability in pharmacies fell sharply from 25% to 4%. Meanwhile, unaffordability increased to 20% in 1998 but declined to 9% by 2004. In 1994, significant determinants of unaffordability were unemployment and lacking health care insurance in men. By 2004, determinants included low income and material goods in both sexes; rented accommodation and low education in men; and chronic disease and disability-related retirement in women. Not obtaining medicines for 'other' reasons was more likely amongst frequent male drinkers, and low educated or cohabiting women. Regional and gender differences were widest in 1998, coinciding with the Russian financial crisis. CONCLUSIONS Rapid improvements in drug availability in the late 1990s in Russia are a probable consequence of a more liberalized pharmaceutical sector and an improved pharmacy network, whilst later improvements in affordability may relate to expanded health care insurance coverage and economic recovery after the 1998 crash. A significant minority still finds prescription costs problematic, notably poorer and sick individuals, with inequalities apparently widening. Non-monetary determinants of affordability indicate its partly subjective nature, however. Ongoing research into access is needed, due to recent national changes in prescription drug subsidies, and into doctor- and patient-related influences on access and prescribing for individual conditions
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Characterization of Multi-element Profiles and Multi-isotope Ratio Records as a Tool for Determination of the Geographical Origin of Various Plant Species
No full textDetermination of food authenticity is an important issue in quality control and food safety. In recent years, many serious diseases appeared related to foodstuffs, so providing the motivation for the scientific community to work more intensively in this area. Authenticity is a quality criterion for food and food ingredients and is required more and more worldwide, as a result of legislative protection for regional foods. Reviews of analytical methods for the determination of geographical
origin of food and beverages have been published. However, organic components of a food crop production depend on various conditions (e.g. fertilization,
history of the field, climatic conditions in the year of cultivation, geographic location and soil composition), so it is not always possible to determine the origin of a
product by analysing the organic components. Additionally, methods based on elemental composition have been reviewed as have methods based on isotope ratios.
Over the past decade, with the development of new advanced analytical techniques
[e.g. thermal ionization MS (TIMS), inductively coupled plasma MS (ICP-MS) and dynamic reaction cell-ICPMS (DRC-ICPMS)], we can successfully retrieve elemental and isotopic compositions of any given food sample and determine the geographic origin successfully. The growing concern of the consumers stimulated scientific research and publications in recent years, including multi-element and isotope ratio methods of analysis in food authentication after statistical evaluation of the results. Several aspects will be described: (a) propose a new technique for evaluating spatially explicit trace element profile in various environmental samples
(with organic and inorganic complex matrixes); (b) evaluate whether element composition of the environmental samples can be attributed to large-scale geographic
trace element variation associated with underlying geology or fine-scale spatial differences related to foraging habitat; (c) determine whether element profiles along the individual species are autocorrelated (i.e. occurring in a predictable or random pattern); (d) prove spatially resolved multi-element information that could be used for identification of geographical origin of various environmental samples and foodstuffs
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
Scholarly Communication and Publishing Lunch and Learn Talk #11: The ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund
No full textAt the May 2014 talk, you will learn about the ULS Open Access Author Fee Fund--what it is, why we do it, how it works, and how the program is going so far
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