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Recognition and management of antiphospholipid syndrome
No full textPurpose of review This article summarizes the recent developments in the recognition and management of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Recent findings Five Task Forces, created as part of the 14th International Congress on antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), published their systematic reviews. 'For the recognition of APS': the assessment of aPL profile is crucial for risk stratification; lupus anticoagulant positivity, especially in the context of 'triple aPL positivity' displays the highest risk; a panel of criteria and noncriteria aPL tests may help better risk-stratify the aPL-positive in the future. 'For the management of APS': direct oral anticoagulants are not currently recommended; statins ameliorate the proinflammator/thrombotic markers, whereas hydroxychloroquine reduces the risk of thrombosis in experimental models and lupus patients, which justify their use as an adjunctive treatment in refractory cases; B-cell inhibition may have a role in difficult-to-treat patients with hematologic and microthrombotic/angiopathic manifestations; and complement and mammalian targets of rapamycin complex pathway inhibition are promising targets in APS. Summary Warfarin, heparin, and/or antiplatelet drugs are the standard of care for aPL-positive patients. Recent studies suggest novel approaches that target new coagulation and immunomodulatory pathways; mechanistic and/or controlled clinical studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of these novel approaches
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
Antiphospholipid Syndrome Alliance for Clinical Trials and International Networking Clinical Database and Repository Cluster Analysis : Identification of Different Clinical Phenotypes Among Antiphospholipid Antibody-Positive Female Patients
No full textThe Frequency and Clinical Significance of IgA Anticardiolipin and Anti-β2-Glycoprotein-I Antibodies in Antiphospholipid Antibody Patients with and without Lupus
Full text linkBackground/Purpose: APS ACTION International Clinical Database and Repository was created to study the natural course of disease over 10 years in persistently antiphospholipid antibody (aPL)-positive patients with/without other systemic autoimmune diseases (SAIDx). Although, IgA aCL and IgA aβ2GPI were included in the new SLICC systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) classification criteria, the prevalence and clinical significance of IgA isotype have been controversial. Thus our objective was to better define the prevalence and clinical significance of IgA aCL and aβ2GPI in aPL-positive patients with/without SLE.
Methods: A web-based data capture system is used to store patient demographics, aPL-related history, and medications. The inclusion criteria are positive aPL based on the Updated Sapporo classification criteria at least twice within one year prior to enrolment. Patients are followed every 12±3 months with clinical data and blood collection. The baseline samples are analysed in the APS ACTION core laboratories to confirm aPL-positivity. For this cross sectional study, using chi square test, we compared the demographic and clinical characteristics of aPL-positive patients with/without SLE based on different aCL/aβ2GPI isotypes.
Results: As of April 2016, 638 aPL-positive patients recruited from 24 centers; 489 (77%) had core laboratory assessments of IgG/M/A aCL/aβ2GPI. Forty-two patients were excluded due to the diagnosis of a SAIDx other than aPL/APS and/or SLE. Thus, 320 (72%) aPL-positive patients without SLE (258 [81%] with APS) and 127 (28%) with SLE (96 [76%] with APS) were analyzed. The frequency of aCL and aβ2GPI IgG/M/A positivity (defined as > 20U) was not different between the two groups except the IgG isotype, which was more common in aPL-positive patients without SLE (53% vs 42% [p: 0.03] for aCL and 38% vs 21% [p: 0.03] for aβ2GPI). However, the frequency of IgA aβ2GPI positivity was 3-fold higher than IgA aCL positivity (33% vs 11% [p<0.001] in those with SLE, and 32% vs 12% in those without SLE [p<0.001]). The demographics and aPL-related clinical manifestations were not different among aCL/aβ2GPI IgG, IgM, and IgA isotypes (Table). The results were similar when the aCL/aβ2GPI ELISA cut-off was set to 40U. Of note, the frequency (%) of isolated aCL IgG/M/A- and aβ2GPI IgG/M/A-positive patients (independent of the LA status) were 22/19/1 and 11/11/8, respectively (when the ELISA cut-off was set to 20U); isolated aβ2GPI IgA positivity was significantly higher in aPL-positive patients with SLE, compared to those without SLE (p: 0.006).
Conclusion: Although IgA aβ2GPI positivity is more common than IgA aCL positivity, especially in SLE, the aCL/aβ2GPI IgA isotype does not distinguish between aPL-positive patients: a) with/without SLE; and b) with different aPL-related clinical events
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