1,720,967 research outputs found
Burden of Infectious Disease in a State of India: A Comparative Analysis
No full textThe present study aims to analyze data from the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (ISDP) to estimate the rates of selected infectious diseases in the state of Maharashtra in comparison to the rest of India
A factor analysis of the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence for bidi smokers and smokeless tobacco users (FTND): findings from India
No full textBackground
Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine
Dependence (FTND) is widely used screening instrument for physical nicotine
dependence. Psychometric properties of FTND have been validated among cigarette
smokers, but the reliability and validity of its variant for smokeless tobacco users and bidi smokers is not well documented. The present study aims to evaluate reliability, construct
validity, and structure model of FTND among bidi smokers and smokeless tobacco
users.
Methods
A cross sectional survey was conducted
among
1350 patients visiting primary care facilities in
two states of India in 2016. FTND contains six items that evaluate the quantity
of tobacco consumption and dependence. Cronbach´s coefficient alpha was estimated to evaluate reliability of
the FTND scale. We applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal
component extraction and varimax with Kaiser Normalization rotation to
ascertain the factor structure of the FTND scale. Eigen values greater than 1
were used as a criterion for factor extraction.
Results
Out of 1350 tobacco users 406 (30%)
were smokers, 818(60%) were smokeless tobacco
users with mean FTND scores of 4.29 ± 1.67 and 4.42 ± 1. 72 respectively. Cronbach´s alpha coefficients were low for FTND among bidi smokers (FTND-0.47) and
smokeless tobacco users (FTND-0.32). FTND score did not predict the intention
to quit tobacco use. The results of exploratory factor analysis suggest eigenvalues greater
than1 for item 1(How soon after you wake up do you smoke your first cigarette) and Item 4 (How many cigarettes per day do you
smoke?). The other items in the scale add no relevant information.
Conclusions
Items of
the FTND are best modeled as two correlated factors on tobacco use. A
short version of FTND i.e. Heaviness of smoking index may represent an alternative to FTND. Future research should focus on refining questionnaires
that more precisely measure nicotine dependence in bidi and smokeless tobacco users in primary care
Cessation attempts in dual users (smoking plus smokeless): findings from two states in India
No full textGoing 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
Cessation attempts in dual users (smoking plus smokeless): findings from two states in India
No full textBackground
Concurrent use of
smoking and smokeless tobacco products is common, but little is known regarding
the association of smokeless tobacco use with smoking cessation. The present
study aims to compare intention to quit and quit attempts among current smokers
who also use smokeless tobacco (dual users) and exclusive smokers
Methods
A cross-sectional
study was conducted among 1360 respondents (542 smokers and dual users; 818
smokeless tobacco users) visiting 22 primary care facilities in two high
tobacco burden states of India in 2016. The health facilities and patients were
chosen using systematic random sampling. We compared intention to quit between
dual users and exclusive smokers, using multivariate regression model
Results
Out of 542 tobacco users, about 70% (378) were smokers and 30% (164)
were dual tobacco users. Exclusive Smokers (62%) were more likely than dual
users (38%) to have an intention to quit tobacco even after adjusting for
demographic differences and tobacco dependence levels (OR:1.75; 95% CI
1.19-2.57). About 27% of smokers made an attempt to quit as compared to 23% of
dual users. The quitting attempt last for less than 6 months for about 20% of
smokers (19%) and smokeless tobacco users (17%). Less than 10% of smokers and smokeless
tobacco users used counseling technique for tobacco cessation.
Conclusions
Smokers are more likely to intend to
quit smoking and have recently made quit attempts as compared to dual
users. Findings
document a high level of interest in quitting among smokers than dual users
suggesting the need to develop targeted interventions for dual users and
smokeless tobacco users to enhance cessation attempts. Further population prospective
studies are needed to
understand the issues faced by
dual users as they make an attempt in quitting
tobacco
A factor analysis of the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence for bidi smokers and smokeless tobacco users (FTND): findings from India
No full textVariations 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
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
- …
