177,643 research outputs found
A prospective validation of the Bova score in normotensive patients with acute pulmonary embolism
No full textBackground: The Bova score has shown usefulness in the identification of intermediate-high risk patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE), but lacks prospective validation.The aim of this study was to prospectively validate the Bova score in different settings from the original derivation cohort.Methods: Consecutive, normotensive patients with acute PE recruited at 13 academic or general hospitals were stratified, using their baseline data, into the three Bova risk stages (I-III). The primary outcome was the 30-day composite of PE-related mortality, hemodynamic collapse and non-fatal PE recurrences in the three risk categories.Results: In the study period, 639 patients were enrolled. The primary end point occurred in 45 patients (7.0%; 95% Confidence Intervals, 5.2%-9.3%). Risk stage correlated with the PE-related complication rate (stage I, 2.9%; stage II, 17%; stage III, 27%). Patients classified as stage III by the Bova score had a 6.5-fold increased risk for adverse outcomes (3.1-13.5, p < 0.001) compared with stages I and II combined. Rescue thrombolysis increased from stage I to stage III (0.6%, 12% and 15% respectively). All-cause mortality (5.3%) did not substantially differ among the stages.Conclusions: The Bova score accurately stratifies normotensive patients with acute PE into stages of increasing risk of 30-day PE-related complications
Argumentation among family members in Italy and Switzerland: A cross-cultural perspective
No full textThe main goal of this study is to analyze to what extent family members engage to resolve differences of opinion during everyday interactions at home. Our aim is to point out the relevance of the context in the analytical reconstruction of argumentation carried out by parents and children at dinnertime. Trough the examination of everyday interactions, we analyze qualitatively how argumentation shapes the communicative practices of Italian and Swiss family members and how it can foster a critical attitude in their processes of decision-making. We integrate two theoretical and methodological approaches: the first one is the model of the critical discussion, derived from the pragma-dialectical perspective. It represents an ideal argumentative discussion against which real-life interaction can be analytically reconstructed and evaluated. The second one is the conversational and discursive approach that aims at identifying the sequential patterns of discourse produced by participants. The present study shows that within the setting of dinnertime conversations pragma-dialectical and conversational analyses are powerful tools to understand how argumentation fosters a critical attitude in the process of decision-making and of the building of consent. The results open a space of investigation about the management of family debates in different contexts, taking into account a double perspective on argumentation
FOREIGNS IN “TERRA DI LAVORO” DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
No full textThe presence of many foreigner merchants in “Terra di Lavoro”-Italy, during the Middle Ages drives civilisation historians to wonder about the role they had, what their culture and mentality were like, in which way they integrated with other foreign merchants (among which Greek, Rumanian and Hungarian ones), how they adjust themselves to native population and other Judaic ethny living in the wide territory way of living and customs.Economy, land use, planning, Amalfitans, Neapolitans, Pisans, Genoeses, Venetians, Florentins.
Alpha-1-adrenoceptor mediated formation of glycerophosphoinositol 4-phosphate in rat heart: possible role in the positive inotropic response
No full textIn the present study, we investigated whether phospholipase A2 (PLA2)/lysophospholipase activity producing glycerophosphoinositols from phosphoinositides was operating in rat heart and could be stimulated by alpha1-adrenergic agonists. PLA2/lysophospholipase activity was found in homogenates from rat right ventricles. The stimulation of PLA2/lysophospholipase activity by noradrenaline (NA) was prevented either by the alpha1-adrenergic antagonist prazosin or arachidonyl trifluoromethyl ketone, a selective inhibitor of the 85-110 kDa, sn-2-arachidonyl-specific cytosolic PLA2. The selective alpha1-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine induced a concentration- and time-dependent increase in glycerophosphoinositol (GroPIns) and glycerophosphoinositol 4-phosphate (GroPIns4P) in rat right ventricle slices prelabelled with D-myo-[3H]inositol. In electrically driven strips of rat right ventricles, prelabelled with D-myo-[3H]inositol, the positive inotropic effect induced by 20 microM NA in the presence of propranolol was accompanied by the formation of GroPIns and GroPIns4P. The concentration of the formed GroPIns4P (1.33+/-0.12 microM, N = 6) was similar to that previously reported to inhibit the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger in cardiac sarcolemmal vesicles (Luciani S, Antolini M, Bova S, Cargnelli G, Cusinato F, Debetto P, Trevisi L and Varotto R, Biochem Biophys Res Commun 206: 674-680, 1995). These findings show that the stimulation of alpha1-adrenoceptors in rat heart is followed by an increase in the formation of GroPIns4P, which may contribute to the positive inotropic effect of alpha1-adrenergic agonists by inhibition of the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
"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.
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
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