1,721,032 research outputs found
Adiponectin and migraine: systematic review of clinical evidence
No full textAlthough the pathogenesis of migraine is very complex and has not been thoughtfully elucidated, general consensus exists to date that this condition should be considered a primary neurovascular disorder with an important inflammatory component. Owing to epidemiological evidence of increased risk of migraine in overweight and obese subjects and to the inverse relationship that exists between serum adiponectin concentration and obesity, we performed an electronic search on Medline, Scopus and Web of Science, using the keywords "migraine" and "adiponectin" with no language or date restriction to explore the existence of an association between serum adiponectin and migraine. According to our search criteria, five studies were finally included in this systematic review, four cross-sectional (totaling 300 patients with migraine and 177 controls) and one interventional. Collectively, the results of our analysis suggest that a link between serum adiponectin and migraine remains elusive, at the best. The four cross-sectional studies failed to find any significant association, whereas the outcome of the single interventional study reported a rather modest variation of serum adiponectin concentration in a very limited sample size. Further larger studies are needed to firmly establish the existence of a relationship between adiponectin metabolism and migraine
E-Cigarettes and Cardiovascular Risk: Beyond Science and Mysticism
No full textCigarette smoking is the most important cause of premature death, and it is currently listed as a major independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Because of restrictive measures and widespread control policies, tobacco companies are now using aggressive marketing strategies in favor of smokeless tobacco, including electronic nicotine delivery systems, which are also known as electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes. Although the regular use of these devices appears less hazardous than traditional cigarettes or other forms of smokeless tobacco, recent studies have shown that various potentially harmful substances, especially nicotine, ultraparticles, and volatile organic compounds, may be effectively inhaled or liberated in exhaled air during repeated e-cigarette puffing. This would enhance the risk of cardiac arrhythmias and hypertension, which may predispose some users to increased risk of cardiovascular events, which may be further magnified by other potential adverse effects such as arrhythmias, increased respiratory, and flow respiratory resistance. Some cases of intoxication have also been described, wherein large amounts of nicotine and other harmful compounds may be effectively absorbed. As the use of e-cigarettes is continuously rising, and it is also considered a potentially effective method for smoking cessation, more focused research is urgently needed to definitely establish the cardiovascular safeness of these devices
Homocysteine and migraine. A narrative review.
No full textRecent evidence suggests that migraine is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disorders, so that it is increasingly hypothesized that this primary form of headache my be linked to thrombotic diseases by some biological pathways and risk factors. Homocysteine, a sulfur-containing molecule, is now recognized as an independent risk factor for a variety of thrombotic disorders, especially ischemic heart disease and stroke. This article is hence aimed to provide an overview of epidemiological evidence about the association between homocysteine and migraine published in cross-sectional, prospective or interventional studies. Overall, the evidence gathered from cross-sectional studies that measured plasma homocysteine levels suggests that the epidemiological link between the plasma concentration of this biomarker and migraine is very weak, at best. Contradictory evidence emerged from interventional studies, in which treatment of hyperhomocysteinemia with folic acid or vitamin B supplementation was effective to lower plasma homocysteine and decrease frequency and/or severity of migraine. The association remains largely speculative, however, since it could not be clearly demonstrated that these two biological effects were directly linked. The only study that has assessed homocysteine in cerebrospinal fluid reported that the concentration of this biomarker in migraine patients was significantly increased compared to controls. Although this evidence must be obviously confirmed in larger trials, some putative mechanisms may support a causal link between increased generation of homocysteine in the brain environment and migraine
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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