1,721,006 research outputs found
The confidence in the results of physiotherapy systematic reviews in the musculoskeletal field is not increasing over time: a meta-epidemiological study using AMSTAR 2 tool
Full text linkObjectives: To assess the confidence in the results of systematic reviews on the effectiveness of physiotherapy for musculoskeletal conditions in the past ten years and to analyze trends and factors associated. Design: This is a meta-epidemiological study on systematic reviews with meta-analysis (SRs) of randomized controlled trials (RCT). Methods: MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CINAHL, and PEDro were searched for SRs of RCT on physiotherapy interventions for musculoskeletal disorders from December 2012 to December 2022. Two researchers independently screened the records based on the inclusion criteria; a random sample of 100 studies was selected, and each journal, author, and study variable was extracted. The methodological quality of SRs was independently assessed with the AMSTAR 2 tool. Any disagreement was solved by consensus. Results: The confidence in SRs results was critically low in 90% of the studies, and it did not increase over time. Cochrane reviews are predominantly represented in the higher AMSTAR 2 confidence levels, with a statistically significant difference compared to non-Cochrane reviews. The last author's H-index is the only predictor of higher confidence among the variables analyzed (OR 1.04; 95% CI 1.01 - 1.06). Conclusion: The confidence in SRs results is unacceptably low. Given the relevance of musculoskeletal disorders and the impact of evidence synthesis on the clinical decision-making process, there is an urgent need to improve the quality of secondary research by adopting more rigorous methods
An Investigation on Super- and Sub-Terminal Drops in Two Different Rain Categories and Climate Regimes
Full text linkThe pressing need for accurate and reliable precipitation measurements and forecasting poses theoretical and technological problems. Remote-sensing instruments with increased coverage and sensitivity (such as space-borne and ground-based radar) are available; however, their full exploitation requires physical calibration and validation based on a deep knowledge of precipitation microphysics. This study reports a detailed analysis of the evidence of non-terminal velocities in a mid-latitude (Bologna, Italy) and a tropical location (Kolkata, India). The data from two identical disdrometers OTT-Parsivel2 were analyzed to shed light on the nature of the raindrops that fall at a velocity that is significantly higher (i.e., super-terminal drops) or lower (sub-terminal drops) than the terminal velocity expected for the raindrop sizes. The results show a significant fraction of super- and sub-terminal drops in both locations. The percentages of both super- and sub-terminal drops were higher in Kolkata. However, the difference was more notable for convective rain. The percentages of both super- and sub-terminal drops were found to be high within a drop diameter of 1 mm. The number of sub-terminal drops seemed to increase with an increase in diameter for drops larger than ~2.5 mm. The natural rain in Bologna showed stronger evidence of drop break-up in correspondence with the evolution of non-terminal velocities. Moreover, this study once again pointed toward the fact that the process of break-up cannot be neglected in natural rain of tropical or mid-latitude locations. We found that 7% and 10% of rain samples in Bologna and Kolkata seemed to be subjected to drop break-up. The results indicate that radar measurements of rain in the tropics or mid-latitude regions, relying on the Gunn–Kinzer relationship between velocity and diameter, should be verified by observations of disdrometers for a high precision QPE
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
Frequency of awake bruxism behaviours in the natural environment. A 7-day, multiple-point observation of real-time report in healthy young adults
No full textThe aim of this study was to assess awake bruxism (AB) behaviours in a sample of
healthy young adults using a smartphone-based
application for a real-time
report (ie,
ecological momentary assessment [EMA], also called experience sampling method
[ESM]). Forty-six
dental students used a smartphone application that sent 15 alerts
at random intervals during the day for 1 week to collect AB self-reports.
They had to
answer on time by tapping on the display icon that refers to their current condition of
jaw muscles: relaxed; teeth contact; teeth clenching; teeth grinding; jaw clenching
without teeth contact (ie, bracing). The average frequency of relaxed jaw muscles, as
a percentage of answers over the 7 days, was 71.7%. Teeth contact (14.5%) and jaw
clenching (10.0%) were the most frequent AB behaviours. No significant gender differences
were detected. Interindividual differences were quite relevant, but the
overall frequency was in general only moderately variable from day-to-
day.
Coefficient of variation (CV) was low for the condition “relaxed jaw muscles” (0.44).
At the individual level, teeth contact was the most prevalent behaviour, with a 39.1%-52.2%
proportion of subjects reporting it at least once a day. During a 7-day
observation
period, the frequency of real-time
report of AB behaviours in a sample of healthy
young adults was 28.3%. The low daily variability in the average frequency value for
the relaxed jaw muscles condition suggests that EMA may be a reliable strategy to
get deeper into the epidemiology of oral behaviours. This investigation introduced
EMA principles to the study of AB and provided data on the frequency of AB behaviours
in young adults that could be compared to populations with risk/associated
factors and possible clinical consequences
Self-reported mandible bracing and teeth clenching are associated with anxiety and depression traits in a group of healthy young individuals
Full text linkTo assess the correlation between awake bruxism (AB) behaviors and psychological status in a group of healthy young adults. Participants were recruited at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy, by advertising the initiative. The reported frequency of AB behaviors was evaluated through the Oral Behavior Checklist (OBC). The 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) was adopted to evaluate the participants’ psychological status. Student’s t-test was used to detect differences between genders. The Pearson correlation test was performed to assess the correlation between the two questionnaires. Mandible bracing showed the strongest correlation with anxiety and depression traits (r = 0.62), followed by teeth clenching (r = 0.54). Teeth contact (r = 0.33) and teeth grinding (r = 0.32) had the lowest level of correlation. In a sample of healthy young individuals, there is a moderate-to-high correlation between the reported teeth clenching and mandible bracing frequency and the degree of anxiety and depression symptoms. Such findings suggest the importance of the psychological assessment in awake bruxers
Awake Bruxism Is Unrelated to Smoking, Despite the Different Psychological Status: A Pilot Study
Full text linkObjective: The aim of the present study is to get deeper into the complex interplay that might exist between awake bruxism (AB), tobacco smoking, and anxiety and/or depression symptoms in a group of healthy young adults. Materials and Methods: The study participants were recruited by advertising the investigation at the University of Siena, Siena, Italy. The inclusion criteria were being in good general health, without systemic diseases or oral diseases. People with ongoing medical or dental treatment and those with a history of systemic disease or temporomandibular disorders were excluded. The participants who were included in the study received a questionnaire containing three sections for the assessment of AB behaviors, anxiety and depression symptoms, and the number of cigarettes smoked. Results: A total of 141 healthy young adults met the inclusion criteria. Different awake masticatory muscle activities showed different strengths of association with anxiety and depression symptoms. However, no relationship was found between the number of smoked cigarettes and the frequency of the various masticatory muscle activities considered. Conclusions: The result of the present study shows no clear-cut association between the frequency of self-reported AB behaviors and smoking in healthy individuals
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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