1,720,972 research outputs found
Physical activity level as an outcome measure for use in cancer cachexia trials: a feasibility study
No full textPurpose Cancer cachexia impacts on treatment options, quality of life and survival. New treatments are emerging but need to be assessed using outcomes which patients find meaningful. One approach is the measurement of physical activity levels by small lightweight monitors, but experience is limited in cancer patients. Materials and methods This study formally assessed the acceptability of wearing an ActivPAL™ monitor for 1 week using compliance based on analysis of movement data. The optimal period of monitoring was explored by comparing mean values of daily step count and energy expenditure (EE) for 2 or 4 and 6 days of monitoring. The relationships between step count, stepping EE and non-stepping EE were also explored. Results Sixty patients (mean age 68 years; Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status 0–2) with lung or upper gastrointestinal cancer took part. All but one found that the monitor acceptable and mean [95% CI] compliance was 98% [94–100%]. Median daily step counts and EE scores over 2 or 4 days were significantly higher than those from 6 days (p ? 0.01). Step count was strongly related to stepping and non-stepping EE (r?=
?0.911, p?<?0.01). Conclusions The ActivPAL™ is acceptable to patients with outcomes obtained over 6 days recommended for use in future studies
Cancer cachexia is associated with the IL10-1082 gene promoter polymorphism in patients with gastroesophageal malignancy
No full textBackground: The genetic predisposition of the host to local or systemic inflammation may contribute to the effect of cancer cachexia. Objective: We investigated the relation between cytokine polymorphisms (IL1B -511, IL6 -174, IL10 -1082, TNFA -308, and LTA +252) and markers of nutritional status among patients with gastroesophageal cancer to determine whether any such association was reflected by cytokine concentrations in the tumor or plasma compartments. Design: Patients (n = 203) with a diagnosis of gastroesophageal cancer underwent nutritional assessment (body mass index, anthropometric measures, dysphagia scoring, and estimation of dietary intake). Single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping was performed by TaqMan allelic discrimination genotyping. Serum cytokine and C-reactive protein concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Tumor tissue cytokine protein concentrations (n = 56) were determined by using the Cytometric Bead Array System. Results: IL10 GG and IL6 CC polymorphisms were associated with elevated serum C-reactive protein concentrations, and the IL6 CC genotype was also associated with elevated tumor tissue cytokine concentrations. At diagnosis, the IL10 GG, but not the IL6, genotype was linked with increased total weight loss: 4.9% for AA, 7.1% for AG, and 12.0% for GG (P = 0.007). Serum C-reactive protein concentrations correlated with increased weight loss (r = 0.24, P < 0.001). Compared with other genotypes, the IL10 GG genotype retained an independent association in determining the extent of weight loss on multivariate analysis (95% CI: 0.52, 3.43; P = 0.008). Possession of the GG allele was associated with a 2.3 times increased risk of developing cachexia (95% CI: 1.2, 4.3; P = 0.014). Conclusions: These data suggest that the IL10 genotype of the host can influence the development of cachexia among patients with gastroesophageal malignancy.<br/
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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