1,721,118 research outputs found
Nociceptive blink reflex habituation biofeedback in migraine
Full text linkReduced habituation of the nociceptive blink reflex (NBR) is considered a trait marker for genetic predisposition to migraine. In this open-label randomized controlled study, we aimed to test the efficacy of a biofeedback training based on learning of habituation of the NBR (NBR biofeedback) compared with pharmacological (topiramate) treatment and NBR biofeedback plus topiramate treatment in a cohort of migraine without aura patients eligible for prophylaxis. Thirty-three migraine patients were randomly assigned to three months of treatment with: 1) NBR biofeedback, 2) NBR biofeedback plus topiramate 50 mg (b.i.d.), or 3) topiramate 50 mg (b.i.d.). Frequency of headache and disability changes were the main study outcomes. Anxiety, depression, sleep, fatigue, quality of life, allodynia and pericranial tenderness were also evaluated. NBR biofeedback reduced the R2 area, without improving R2 habituation. However, it reduced the frequency of headache and disability, similarly to the combined treatment and topiramate alone. Reduced habituation of the NBR is a stable neurophysiological pattern, scarcely modifiable by learning procedures. Training methods able to act on stress-related responses may modulate cortical mechanisms inducing migraine onset and trigeminal activation under stressful trigger factors
Slow and fast beat sequences are represented differently through space
Full text linkThe file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.The Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Codes (SNARC) suggests the existence of an association between number magnitude and response position, with faster left-hand responses to small numbers and faster right-hand responses to large numbers. Recent studies have revealed similar spatial association effects for non-numerical magnitudes, such as temporal durations and musical stimuli. In the present study we investigated whether a spatial association effect exists between music tempo, expressed in beats per minutes (bpm), and response position. In particular, we were interested whether this effect is consistent through different bpm ranges. We asked participants to judge whether a target beat sequence was faster or slower than a reference sequence. Three groups of participants judged beat sequences from three different bpm ranges, a wide range (40, 80, 160, 200 bpm) and two narrowed ranges (“slow” tempo, 40, 56, 88, 104 bpm; “fast” tempo 133, 150, 184, 201 bpm). Results showed a clear SNARC-like effect for music tempo only in the narrowed “fast” tempo range, with faster left-hand responses to 133 and 150 bpm and faster right-hand responses to 184 and 201 bpm. Conversely, a similar association did not emerge in the wide nor in the narrowed "slow" tempo ranges. This evidence suggests that music tempo is spatially represented as other continuous quantities, but its representation might be narrowed to a particular range of tempi. Moreover, music tempo and temporal duration might be represented across space with an opposite direction
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
Effects of botulinum toxin a on allodynia in chronic migraine: An observational open-label two-year study
No full textBackground: Onabotulinumtoxin A (OBT-A) is a treatment option for chronic migraine (CM), though the possible effect on central sensitization and allodynia is still unknown. Aims: The present study aimed to evaluate (1) the long-term outcome of allodynia in a group of CM treated with OBT-A (2) if the presence and severity of allodynia could predict the long-term effect of OBT-A (3) if the improvement of allodynia, could contribute to the clinical efficacy of OBT-A. Methods: This was an observational, open-label, cohort study conducted on 99 CM patients treated for 1 year and 44 patients treated for 2 years with periodic OBT-A 155-195 U injections. In basal condition (T0), after 1 year (T1) and 2 years (T2) treatment, allodynia, migraine disability, and headache frequency were the main variables. Anxiety, depression and sleep deprivation were also considered potentially correlated factors to allodynia. Results: Allodynia decreased after 1 year (Student t test p = 0.0001), and decreased further after the second year of treatment (p = 0.015). There was a relationship between allodynia severity at T0 and reduced headache frequency change at T1 (r = 0.22) and T2 (r = 0.37). The effect of OBT-A on allodynia correlated with the reduction of MIDAS score after 1 year (r = 0.4) and 2 years (r = 0. 63) of treatment. Conclusions: OBT-A seems to have an effect on central sensitization, expressed by allodynia. This action could be exerted by modulating nociceptive transmission, and reducing the global burden of migraine. Patients with more severe allodynia display a limited long-term effect on headache frequency. The modulation of central sensitization could reduce migraine disability, in spite of the persistence of frequent headache
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
- …
