1,720,971 research outputs found
Reduced coronary flow reserve and parasympathetic dysfunction in patients with cardiovascular syndrome X
No full textOBJECTIVE:
Although cardiovascular syndrome X was described many years ago, its causes are still unclear. Many studies have addressed the autonomic function, whereas others have investigated the coronary reserve. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between parasympathetic dysfunction and coronary flow reserve deficiency.
BASIC METHODS:
Eleven consecutive women suffering from cardiovascular syndrome X were enrolled in the study. All the patients underwent the analysis of heart rate and blood pressure variability, the cold face test and noninvasive evaluation of the coronary flow reserve by transthoracic echocardiography. Comparison was made with healthy volunteers.
RESULTS:
Seven patients (64%) showed vagal impairment in the analysis of heart rate and blood pressure variability and a pathological response to the cold face test, whereas four patients (36%) did not show significant differences from the control group. In these three groups, patients with and without vagal impairment and controls, there was a difference in the mean diastolic coronary velocity reserve (1.94+/-0.48; 3.73+/-0.95, 2.88+/-0.55, P=0.0005) and in maximal diastolic velocity reserve (2.00+/-0.48, 3.26+/-0.64, 2.65+/-0.57, P=0.0047). Post-hoc analysis demonstrated that the mean and maximal diastolic velocity reserves of the patients with vagal impairment seemed to be reduced compared with those of the other groups (P<0.05), which were similar.
CONCLUSIONS:
This study confirmed that syndrome X patients represent a heterogeneous group. More than half of the patients exhibited vagal dysfunction. In these patients, coronary flow reserve was abnormal compared with controls and other syndrome X patients without vagal impairment
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
Patterns of referral in first-episode schizophrenia and ultra high-risk individuals: results from an early intervention program in Italy
No full textPURPOSE:
This study set out to investigate the patterns of referral in a sample (n = 206) of patients having first-time access to an Italian comprehensive program that targets the early detection of and early intervention on subjects at the onset of psychosis. The primary goal of the study was to investigate the duration of untreated illness (DUI) and/or the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) in the sample since the implementation of the program.
METHOD:
Data on pathways of referrals prospectively collected over a 11-year period, from 1999 to 2010; data referred to patients from a defined catchment area, and who met ICD-10 criteria for a first episode of a psychotic disorder (FEP) or were classified to be at ultra-high risk of psychosis (UHR) according to the criteria developed by the Personal Assessment and Crisis Evaluation (PACE) Clinic in Melbourne. Changes over time in the DUI and DUP were investigated in the sample.
RESULTS:
Referrals increased over time, with 20 subjects enrolled per year in the latter years of the study. A large majority of patients contacted a public or private mental health care professional along their pathway to treatment, occurring more often in FEP than in UHR patients. FEP patients who had contact with a non-psychiatric health care professional had a longer DUP. Over time, DUP and DUI did not change in FEP patients, but DUI increased, on average, in UHR patients.
CONCLUSIONS:
The establishment of an EIP in a large metropolitan area led to an increase of referrals from people and agencies that are not directly involved in the mental health care system; over time, there was an increase in the number of patients with longer DUI and DUP than those who normally apply for psychiatric services
The use of psychotropic drugs in an Italian psychiatric hospital: a two-year-long follow-up study.
No full textFollowing the introduction of guidelines of rational drug use, the pharmacoepidemiology of psychotropic drugs was investigated in a sample of long-stay patients living in a Italian psychiatric hospital.A prospective, longitudinal two-year follow-up study was carried out. Information about sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the inpatient population, and about medications prescribed, was collected at baseline and after one and two years of follow-up.Three wards of the psychiatric hospital of Milan.Number of patients taking psychotropic drugs, number of patients taking more than one neuroleptic or benzodiazepine, mean neuroleptic dose, psychopathological status according to the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).70 patients were recruited and followed for two years. At follow-up a reduction in the number of patients taking neuroleptic drugs was recorded, together with a 50% decrease in the number of patients taking more than one neuroleptic. A reduction in the use of depot formulations was in addition shown. Patients taking benzodiazepines decreased of 50%. According to the BPRS, no psychopatological changes were observed during the study.These data suggest that education in psychopharmacology may guide towards a more rational use of drugs; longitudinal clinical audits should be implemented to monitor everyday practice
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
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