1,721,062 research outputs found
A Cluster-Randomized Trial of Symptom-based versus Tuberculin Skin Test-based Screening of Household Tuberculosis Contacts Under 5 Years of Age
Get PDFBackground: Interventions to prevent tuberculosis (TB) for children are poorly implemented worldwide. TB preventive therapy (TPT) is highly-effective at preventing TB disease in household contacts < 5 years old, but only 23% of child contacts received in 2017. In 2006, to simplify the process and improve implementation, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended symptom-based screening as a replacement for tuberculin skin test (TST)-based screening of child contacts. We aimed to determine the effectiveness of this recommendation.
Methods: A cluster-randomized trial was conducted to determine whether contact evaluation using symptom screening improved the proportion of identified child contacts <5 years who initiated TPT compared to TST-based screening. From October 2015 through February 2017 in the Matlosana sub-district of North West Province, 16 clinics were randomized to conduct child contact evaluations with either symptom-based or TST-based screening. Training and customized child contact management files were provided to all clinics. Outcome data were abstracted from clinical records. The continuum of care for child household contacts was determined.
Results: Contact tracing identified 549 and 467 children <5 from 1440 and 1597 TB index patients in the symptom and TST clinics, respectively (0.37 vs 0.28 per case; p=0.16). Of these identified contacts, 51% of children in symptom screening clinics and 57% in TST screening clinics initiated TPT (p=0.55) and 48% and 53% of children who started TPT completed therapy (p=0.65). Four children developed TB disease while on TPT, despite a negative screening at TPT initiation. There were no child deaths. Based on an historic average of 0.7 child contacts per index case in this district, we estimate 14% and 15% TPT coverage among child contacts exposed to TB in the symptom and TST clinics respectively (p=0.83).
Conclusions: Symptom- based screening did not improve the proportion of identified child contacts initiated on TPT when compared to TST-based screening. Further research is needed to identify bottlenecks and evaluate interventions to ensure all TB-exposed children <5 receive TB preventive therapy. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03074799
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr
Get PDFCDC 200-2009-32589./PHS HHS/United StatesR01 HD064354/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United StatesR01 HD064354-01/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United StatesR01 HL090312/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United StatesR01 HL090312-04/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United StatesRTW007370/PHS HHS/United StatesRTW007373/PHS HHS/United State
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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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