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    Plaque-Type Psoriasis Treated with Calcipotriene Plus Betamethasone Dipropionate Aerosol Foam: A Prospective Study on Clinical and Dermoscopic Predictor Factors in Response Achievement and Retention

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    Introduction: Little information on possible local factors that can influence the achievement and retention of response of plaque-type psoriasis to calcipotriene plus betamethasone dipropionate aerosol foam is available. The aim of this study was to assess possible correlations between baseline clinical/dermoscopic features of psoriatic plaques and therapeutic response, and between residual dermoscopic findings in clinically improved/healed lesions and post-treatment relapse. Methods: For each target lesion, we calculated the local psoriasis severity index and assessed dermoscopic findings at baseline and at the end of a 4-week treatment, correlating the therapeutic outcome with the initial clinical and dermoscopic features. The lesions were also followed for a 4-week post-treatment period, and possible associations between relapse and (1) baseline clinical/dermoscopic features and (2) dermoscopic findings detected at the end of the treatment were assessed. Results: A total of 105 lesions from 35 patients were included in the analysis. After 4 weeks of therapy, 13 lesions showed no/limited improvement, while partial and optimal response were observed in 51 and 41 plaques, respectively. Poor outcomes were correlated with both legs localization and degree of lesion infiltration at baseline. Similarly, presence of globular vessels at baseline dermoscopy was more commonly associated with no/limited response and lesions on the legs, particularly those showing resistance to treatment. A correlation was also found between dotted vessels on the baseline dermoscopic examination and good outcomes (partial/optimal response). After a 4-week post-treatment follow-up, 58.7% of the lesions achieving improvement at the end of the therapy showed relapse, with a correlation between recurrence and vessel persistence on dermoscopy at the end of the therapy. Conclusion: Clinical response of plaque-type psoriasis to calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate spray foam may be adversely affected by the degree of infiltration of lesions at baseline and by legs localization, and the presence of globular vessels at the baseline dermoscopic assessment is related to poor outcomes. A significant post-treatment relapse rate was observed, and persistence of vascular changes on dermoscopy seems to play a role in promoting disease recurrence

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We 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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