1,720,974 research outputs found
Life and death with Multiple Sclerosis: 20 years reappraisal of Verona prevalence cohort
No full textIntroduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating condition which results in increased mortality rates in people with MS compared to general population (GP). Recent data suggest a potential rise in survival over the past 20 years. Objectives: Evaluate the 20-year (2001-2021) survival rate and assess clinical factors associated with mortality among people with MS in Verona, Italy. Methods: We evaluated all the prevalent cases of MS residing in Verona, Italy at 31/12/2001. We retrospectively investigated the survival state of each patient at 31/12/2021 through the consultation of medical records to assess if patients were still on follow-up; for those with no records, we surveyed the death certificates from Verona municipality to verify death notification and date. The groups of survived and deceased patients were compared by sex, variables related to disease onset (age, clinical phenotype, number and type of functional systems involved, oligoclonal bands) or collected at prevalence date (clinical phenotype, disease duration, exposure to disease-modifying treatment, EDSS, annual relapse rate). Results: Of the 273 prevalent MS cases (189 females) as of 31/12/2001, 73 patients (48 females) had died by 31/12/2021. Mean life expectancy deviation of deceased MS patients was - 17.0±12.4 years compared to the GP. Deceased patients had a higher mean age at onset (36.4±12.5 vs 30.5±10.0 years; p<0.001) and a higher median EDSS score at prevalence date compared to survived patients (6.5, range 1.0-9.5 vs 2.0, range 0-8.0; p<0.001). The relapsing-remitting phenotype was more prevalent in survived patients both at onset (92.2%, p<0.001) and prevalence date (76.2%, p<0.001). Visual or sensory impairments were more common in survivors (82.5%; p=0.023). The survival rate was significantly lower in patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS) or an EDSS score greater than 3 at prevalence date. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that a progressive disease type at prevalence date (PPMS or secondary progressive MS), longer disease duration at prevalence date and older age at onset were independently associated with lower survival. Conclusions: After 20 years from initial observation, the 2001 Verona cohort of MS prevalent cases showed a lower life expectancy compared to the GP. Higher age at disease onset, longer disease duration, and a progressive clinical course were independent risk factors of shorter survival of patients with MS
Pearls & Oy-sters: An unusual case of varicella-zoster virus cerebellitis and vasculopathy.
No full textCNS complications of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) occur mainly in immunocompromised or elderly patients and include meningitis, myelitis, acute encephalitis, vasculopathy, and, rarely, cerebellitis.(1-8.
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 use of sensory action potential to evaluate inferior alveolar nerve damage after orthognathic surgery.
Full text linkTo assess and monitor the common event of neurosensory disturbance to the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) after bilateral sagittal split osteotomy, we used clinical sensory tests and neurophysiologic test sensory action potentials. The diagnostic value of these tests was evaluated by comparing them with the degree of nerve damage reported by patients. Fourteen patients undergoing bilateral sagittal split osteotomy were analyzed preoperatively and 2 years postoperatively. Patients were evaluated bilaterally for positive and negative symptoms: light touch sensation, paraesthesia, hyperesthesia, and dysaesthesia; a "sensation score" was then calculated for each patient. Patients were also asked if they would be willing to repeat the procedure knowing the sensation loss they had now. Next, the right and left IAN were evaluated using sensory action potential and correlated with the other results. Before surgery, the medium latency difference between left and right was lower compared with postsurgery, with all patients having some deficit. The reduction in medium amplitude of 67% after the intervention was statistically significant. The frequency of abnormal findings in the electrophysiologic tests indicating IAN injury correlated with subjective sensory alteration. All patients said that they would repeat the surgery. Electrophysiologic testing is recommended for the evaluation of nerve dysfunction and seems a sensitive method for accurately assessing postsurgical nerve conduction
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
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