1,721,336 research outputs found
The Wide Band Spectral Analysis: A New Insight Into Modulation of Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Baroreflex Sensitivity
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Person measurement and rehabilitation outcome : the new perspective of Rasch analysis
No full textAccording to the World Health Organization (WHO) 1980 definition, disability consists in any restriction or lack of ability (resulting from impairment) to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being [1]. The new WHO model (2001) gives to the term disability a broader, more general connotation, but nonetheless confirms the importance of activities as the constitutive elements of a person's functioning [2]. Disability and activity are viewed in relation to the person as a whole. For example, a heart condition (according to the 1980 WHO model) might be defined as a lessening (or malfunctioning) of one body part. Difficulty going up stairs likewise represents a deficit with respect to an activity (since a whole person, only, can climb stairs). A deficit in one or more activities defines a malfunctioning of the whole person and is therefore called a disability. Usually, the definition of function is misunderstood. In the context of rehabilitative medicine, a recent definition [3], [4] - namely, energy or information exchange - is useful. For although this definition is general, it makes an important distinction between physiologic functions (breathing, nerve conduction, etc.), and functions that take place between the person and environment - in other words, activities
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
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) and Cardiovascular System
No full textThere is increasing evidence of a relationship between Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and cardiovascular diseases. The strong association between OSA and arterial hypertension, in particular in patients with resistant hypertension and/or a non-dipping profile, has been extensively reported. The relationship between OSA and high blood pressure (BP) has been found independent from a number of confounders, but several factors may affect this relationship, including age and sex. It is thus important to better assess pathophysiologic and clinical interactions between OSA and arterial hypertension, also aimed at optimizing treatment approaches in OSA and hypertensive patients with co-morbidities. Among possible mechanisms, cardiovascular autonomic control alterations, altered mechanics of ventilation, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system should be considered with particular attention. Additionally, available studies also support the occurrence of a bidirectional association between OSA and cardiovascular alterations, in particular heart failure, stroke and cardiac arrhythmias, emphasizing that greater attention is needed to both identify and treat sleep apneas in patients with cardiovascular diseases. However, a number of aspects of such a relationship are still to be clarified, in particular with regard to gender differences, effect of sleep-related breathing disorders in childhood, and influence of OSA treatment on cardiovascular risk, and they may represent important targets for future studies
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