1,721,037 research outputs found
[Erythrocyte deformability: critical evaluation of the study methods]
No full textThe rheological behavior of red cells in macrocirculation and in capillaries is briefly described. The following methods measuring red cell deformability are critically evaluated: a. degree of red cell 'packing' after centrifugation; b. single erythrocyte passage through microchannels (micropipette technique, rigidometer); c. filtration techniques of washed red cells; d. polymicroviscosimetry (paper filtration, filtrometer) and viscosimetry (ektacytometer). It is considered the adequacy of each method in assessing the different factors responsible for the variations of red cell deformability (internal viscosity, surface area/volume ratio, viscoelastic properties of the membrane
La deformabilità dell'eritrocita: valutazione critica dei metodi di studio.
No full textThe rheological behavior of red cells in macrocirculation and in capillaries is briefly described. The following methods measuring red cell deformability are critically evaluated: a. degree of red cell 'packing' after centrifugation; b. single erythrocyte passage through microchannels (micropipette technique, rigidometer); c. filtration techniques of washed red cells; d. polymicroviscosimetry (paper filtration, filtrometer) and viscosimetry (ektacytometer). It is considered the adequacy of each method in assessing the different factors responsible for the variations of red cell deformability (internal viscosity, surface area/volume ratio, viscoelastic properties of the membrane
[Palliative care for children]
No full textWHO's definition of palliative care appropriate for children and their families is: the active total care of the child's body, mind and spirit, and also involves giving support to the family. The aim is to improve the quality of life for children and their families therefore for most patients, home represents the ideal setting of care. Cultural, emotional, educational and organizational reasons explain why paediatric patients rarely benefit of this approach. Everyday life shows how paediatric patients experience all the clinical, psychological, ethic and spiritual problems related to serious illness and death. According to international survey the prevalence of life limiting diseases is 10 per 10,000 children aged 0-19 years; and the annual mortality is 1 per 10,000 children aged 0-17. A stable homogeneity regarding the needs of these patients, in spite of the geographical, cultural, organizational and social variability of different areas of the world, is emphasized by international surveys: the desire to be assisted and receive care at home, of a better communication among health workers involved and of more supporting services. Different models have been carried out in different areas in the world. Two models are residential (Hospital or Paediatric Hospice) and two are home care founded (domiciliary hospitalisation and integrated home care). Professionalism, development of skills, training, research and organization represent the mainstays in order to face up a often underestimated and forgotten condition
[Palliative care for newborns and children]
No full textChildren suffering from terminal disease, as well as their families, show complex and peculiar needs. They require competent, organised and continuous support from a team of paediatric palliative care. WHO defines paediatric palliative care as the active global care of body, mind and soul of children, encompassing the active support to their families. Its objective is the quality of life of the little patient and his family. In Italy there are 11,000-12,000 children suffering from incurable diseases, of whom 1,100-1,200 die every year. Up to now, the assistance to these patients is mostly given in hospitals, especially in intensive care departments. There are few pilot experiences on paediatric palliative care in Italy. The assistance models studied at national and international level are essentially two: residential (with hospitalization in paediatric hospices or intensive care departments) and domiciliary (domiciliary hospitalization with integrated assistance). None of these models alone is optimal. A joint utilisation of the two assistance models is auspicable and can better meet the needs of the child according to his clinical evolution. Training, research and organisation are the necessary pillars to face such a complex problem
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
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