1,720,968 research outputs found
An Adaptation and Validation Study of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) in Italian Normal-Hearing Children
No full textThis study aimed to translate and adapt the English version of the Speech, Spatial, and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) for children and for parents into the Italian language; validate SSQ for hearing children and their parents; and evaluate the discriminant validity of the instrument. A group of 102 normal-hearing Italian children, aged between 9 and 16 years, and their parents were included in this study. A group of 31 parents of normal-hearing Italian children aged between 6 and 8 years was also included. A group of 57 hearing-impaired Italian children aged between 9 and 16 years, and their parents were also included, as well as a group of 30 parents of hearing-impaired Italian children aged between 6 and 8 years. Cronbach’s alpha in the SSQ for parents was 0.92; it was 0.95 in the SSQ for children. Guttmann’s split-half coefficient in SSQ for children for both λ4 and λ6 was 0.98; in SSQ for parents in λ4 was 0.96 and λ6 was 0.95. These data provide evidence for the discriminant validity of the SSQ scale (p-value < 0.001). Italian SSQ scales for children and for parents are now available
Cerebral intravascular lymphoma in dogs.
No full textIntravascular lymphoma (IVL) is a rare angiotropic large-cell lymphoma in which neoplastic lymphocytes
proliferate within the lumina of small blood vessels in the absence of a primary extravascular mass or
leukemia. IVL is described in humans, dogs, one cat and one horse. The clinical symptoms of the disease are
dependent on the specific organ involvement, which most often includes the central nervous system (CNS)
and skin. The aim of our study was to characterize the clinical and neuropathological features of 10 cases of
canine IVL restricted to the CNS. The study included 6 females and 4 males with an average age of 8 years
(range 2.5 to 13 years). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) using anti-CD3 and anti-CD20 antibodies was
performed to typify the neoplastic lymphocytes. Anti-CD44 and anti-CD29 antibodies were used to
investigate the pathogenetic mechanism leading to the intravascular aggregation of the neoplastic
lymphocytes, since CD44 and CD29 are molecules known to be involved in lymphocyte and endothelial
adhesion phenomena. The same IHC panel was also applied on 8 cases of primary and metastatic canine
CNS lymphoma in order to compare IVL immunoreactivity. The main clinical signs shown by dogs with
cerebral IVL were depression, seizures and gait deficits. Magnetic resonance imaging showed several areas
of hyperintensity distributed mainly in the forebrain with almost no significant enhancement post
intravenous gadolinium administration. Grossly, lesions were found in 6 cases and included focal extensive
or multiple hemorrhagic areas. Microscopic examination revealed numerous veins and capillaries filled with
neoplastic lymphoid cells, involving both neuroparenchymal and meningeal vessels, and accompanied by
various degrees of edema, hemorrhage and thrombosis. Three IVLs were typified as T-cell (CD3+), 3 as B-cell
(CD20+) and 4 as non-B non-T (CD3-, CD20-). Regarding primary and metastatic canine CNS lymphomas, 4
were classified as T-cell, 3 as B-cell, and one as non-B non-T. In IVLs, neoplastic lymphocytes showed
marked expression of CD44, whereas in primary and metastatic lymphomas CD44 positive cells were
detected only in 2 cases. CD29 immunolabeled cells were observed in 4 IVLs and in one primary CNS
lymphoma. In human IVL, CD44 is invariably expressed on the cytoplasmic membrane of neoplastic cells,
presumably predisposing to the formation of lymphocytes aggregates. Moreover, the transvascular
lymphocyte migration could be impaired because of lack of CD29 expression on neoplastic cells, limiting
their proliferation within the intravascular compartment. CD44 immunoreactivity in canine IVL was
consistent with the findings reported in human IVL, whereas CD29 was inconsistently immunonegative,
confirming only partially the pathogenetic mechanism suggested for the human counterpart
Pediatric version of speech, spatial and qualities of hearing scale (SSQ) in cochlear implanted children
No full textThe syllabic approach intervention supports early literacy skills in children with cochlear implants.
No full textObject: The aim of this study was investigate whether participation in a novel 12-week intervention program based on the syllabic approach (‘Simo-Syl’) leads to improvements in the language abilities that support literacy acquisition (or early literacy skills) in children with cochlear implant (CI) and normal hearing (NH). Methods: Three groups of children participated in the study: one group with CIs (n=10, mean age=62 months; SD=4.85 ) who participated in the intervention; all the children had profound congenital sensorineural hearing loss, the mean age at CI activation was 22.7 months (SD +/- 3.8; range 14-30); five children used bilateral CI, three children used monolateral CI, two children used bimodal stimulation. One group with NH (n=13, mean age=66.5 months; SD=3.50) who also participated in the intervention, and one control group of children with NH who did not took part in the intervention (n=17, mean age=61.70 months; SD=3.62). Children’s early literacy skills were tested in four tasks (syllable recognition, vowel recognition, syllable reading, word reading) using an ad-hoc computer-based assessment in two sessions, before and after the intervention for the CI and NH intervention groups and at corresponding time points for the control group. Results: Preliminary analyses showed that at T0 the syllable and vowel recognition abilities of the children with CIs did not differ between males and females, children with different modality stimulation, and did not correlate with maternal or paternal years of education completed (ps > .05). Their syllable and word reading skills were very weak (range = 0-1). A series of Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) on each of the four tasks showed significant Group x Session interactions for syllable reading (F(2,22)=3.57, p=.045) and word reading (F(2,22)=13.45, p<.001). Post-hoc tests with the Tukey correction showed significant improvements in syllable reading for all groups (CI: t(22)=-3.290, p=.003; NH: t(22)=-9.046, p<.001, Control: t(22)=-4.061, p<.001) and significant improvements in word reading between sessions only for the CI and NH intervention groups (CI: t(22)=-3.838, p<.001; NH: t(22)=-10.140, p<.001). At T1, the word reading skills of the NH intervention group were significantly better than those of the control group (t(34.4)=3.539, p=.003); those of the CI group were somewhat in between. Conclusions: These results show that participating in the Syllabic approach intervention benefits the syllable and word reading skills of children with CIs as well as those of children with NH, with potential positive consequences for their literacy acquisition process and school performance
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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