1,720,983 research outputs found
Endo-hepatology: Why should we do endoscopic ultrasound-guided interventions to the liver that we could do through the skin?
Full text linkEndoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided interventions on the liver such as diffuse biopsy and portal pressure gradient measurement are emerging as potential alternatives to percutaneous procedures. The purpose of this editorial was to address all the indications that could potentially make an EUS-guided approach a possible alternative to the percutaneous procedures with respect to the procedures that could join the EUS examination such as upper endoscopy for gastroesophageal varices, pancreaticobiliary investigation with EUS, and other potential advantages in terms of patient safety. The issue of a holistic gastroenterologist approach was also discussed along with the potential for developing clinical research
Use of Industrial Food Waste for Chromium Removal from Tannery Wastewater
No full textTannery wastewater requires an adequate treatment for chromium removal before discharge, to prevent environmental pollution. Chromium sulphate, in fact, is the most used compound to stabilise animal hides, and therefore high concentrations of Cr(III) are found in spent tanning baths. To front the problem precipitation processes, based on lime addition, are frequently adopted, because of their low cost. Nonetheless, due to the colloidal form of precipitates, these processes have to be carried out with great attention to reach required performances. An interesting alternative to precipitation processes is represented by adsorption of chromium on low cost-materials, especially if chromium can be recovered from produced sludges, regenerating the adsorbent, and reducing sludge toxicity. Among others, chitosan, a carbohydrate obtained from deacetilation of chitin, the second polysaccharide for diffusion in the environment, seems to be very attractive. Previous studies, in fact, have shown that it has a good sequestrating ability towards many heavy metals, including chromium, and can be added during treatment as component of seafood shells, instead of being dosed as pure chemical product. Starting from these considerations it is presented an experimental study, whose aim is to better understand the advantages of chitosan use for tannery wastewater treatment. The study includes a preliminary investigation on the main mechanisms responsible for chromium removal in presence of chitosan, discerning between adsorption on polymeric groups of this polysaccharide, and formation of insoluble chromium hydroxide, caused by pH increase induced by chitosan addition. Process efficiency is also quantified, and treatment optimisation is proposed. This part of the study, carried out with synthetic wastewater to exclude any effects related to compounds other than chromium, allows to recognize adsorption as the main process causing chromium removal, and to assess the good performances related to chitosan as sequestrating agent. Successive investigations, carried out using real wastewater, concern, instead, the possibility of chromium recovery from produced sludge, and the possibility of process development using seafood shells instead of commercial chitosan. Obtained results, illustrated and discussed in the paper, show that chromium recovery from sludge is possible at very low pH values, and that shrimp shells use increases chromium removal efficiency, due to the development of precipitation processes together with adsorption ones
The pharmacological management of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.
No full textIntrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy is the most common liver disease occurring
in the second half of pregnancy, characterized by pruritus and elevated serum
bile acids often coupled to abnormal liver tests. Maternal prognosis is
favourable with a complete symptom resolution after delivery, while preterm
deliveries, fetal respiratory distress and stillbirths may occur. The goal of the
pharmacological treatment of the disease is to improve maternal symptoms and
biochemical alterations and, most importantly, to reduce fetal adverse events.The
present manuscript will review the current knowledge on the pharmacological
treatment of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy
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
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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