186,331 research outputs found
Short-term evaluation of serum amyloid A after exercise in clinically healthy horses
No full textSerum amyloid A (SAA), the major equine acute-phase protein, is often measured after the race to investigate whether poor performances could depend on inflammation. The aim of this study was to assess whether there is an increase in concentration of SAA in serum samples collected from 12 clinically healthy Standardbred horses 1 hour after a standard race. Exercise induced an increase in red blood cells, hematocrit, and total proteins but not in SAA. However, a two- to threefold increase of SAA concentration as compared with prerace values was found in three horses. In conclusion, the concentration of SAA in most of the samples collected 1 hour after the race remains unchanged as compared with prerace samples. However, individual variability in response to exercise exists. The evaluation of SAA immediately after the race is not clinically useful
Prevalence of grey eosinophils in racing hounds and comparison of manual and instrumental counts
No full textGrey eosinophils (GE) reported to occur in Greyhounds, and occasionally in other breeds, have clear granules, probably due to abnormal staining properties. The aims of this study were to investigate the frequency of GE in Greyhounds and 2 other sighthound breeds, and to assess the capacità of the ADVIA 120 and Sysmex XT-2000iV hematology analyzers to correctly
identify GE. Blood samples from 20 Greyhounds, 29 Italian Greyhounds, and 24 Whippets were analyzed using the ADVIA and Sysmex hematology analyzers, and blood smears stained with May-Gru ̈ nwald Giemsa were evaluated microscopically. The frequency of samples with GE detected on smears was recorded for each breed. Manual and automated eosinophil
counts were compared using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Agreement between methods was assessed using Passing–Bablok and Bland–Altman plot. GE were detected in all 3 breeds: 9/20 Greyhounds (45.0%), 10/ 29 Italian Greyhounds (34.5%), and 5/24 Whippets (62.5%) with no significant differences in the frequency of GE among the breeds. In samples containing GE, both analyzers underestimated the percentage of eosinophils and occasionally eosinophils were not detected at all. When a novel “GE gate” was used, the percentage of eosinophils reported by the Sysmex was similar to that obtained by manual counting. GE are found in the blood of sighthounds other than Greyhounds. Hematology analyzers may underestimate the percentage of GE, probably due to their abnormal physical or chemical features. Underestimation is slight and usually clinically insignificant, but occasionally eosinophils are completely misclassified. Using the Sysmex analyzer, a GE gate can be designed to normalize the eosinophil count
Effects induced by 8 weeks of postural and aerobic training in people with low back pain
No full textPurpose: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the major spine disorders which seriously impairs many daily activities and limits functional skills. The role of exercise in LBP management is well documented, even if the debate about the most effective type of training is still present. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an 8 weeks specific training on LBP symptoms, trunk mobility and postural control in adult people suffering from this pathology.
Methods: Twenty people (age: 50-70 years old) were recruited for the study. All participants were untrained and affected from chronic non-specific LBP. Participants were divided into 2 groups composed by 10 people each one: Training Group 1 (TG-1) and Training Group 2 (TG-2). Both groups trained twice a week for 8 weeks with a duration of 60-90 minutes each session. TG-1 performed a set of exercises for the prevention and treatment of LBP (Back School Program) and TG-2 performed 30 minutes of aerobic training using bike (intensity: 70% of heart rate reserve) in addition to Back School protocol. All participants were assessed pre and post training to evaluate pain intensity (Numerical Rating Scale – NRS), functional disability (Roland and Morris Disability Questionnaire - RMQ), trunk mobility (Spinal Mouse) and postural control (Nintendo Balance Board® and MyPerfectPosture® Software - BAL). Spinal Mouse tested thoracic (THR), lumbar (LUM), sacral (SAC) mobility and spine length (LENGTH) of sagittal and frontal plane. BAL evaluated center of pressure during 30” static standing position in eyes open (COP-OA) and closed conditions (COP-OC).
Results:
NRS and RMQ significantly improved in both TG-1 and TG-2 (p<0.01) with no difference between groups. In Spinal Mouse evaluation, TG-2 significantly increased THR mobility during sagittal flexion (p<0.05) and SAC during right side bending (p<0.01) while TG-1 significantly increased THR mobility and LENGTH during sagittal standing (p<0.05) and SAC during right side bending (p<0.01) and sagittal flexion (p<0.05). In COP test, both TG-1 and TG-2 evidenced better COP-OA and COP-OC values with significance only in TG-1 for Y axis in OA condition. No difference between groups for all Spinal Mouse and BAL data.
Conclusions: Previous results suggest that combination of aerobic training and Back School Program doesn’t lead to better improvement in pain perception, quality of life, trunk mobility and balance compared to Back School Program alone. Although both kind of training were effective, TG-1 evidenced better improvement in spine mobility of sagittal plane and postural control. Consequently, these findings suggest that aerobic exercise positively influences the relation between respiratory system and thoracic mobility in people suffering from LBP.
Reference:
Barni L., Calabretta L., Lepori L., Pasquetti P., Gulisano M., Freddolini M., “Does an Aerobic Exercise Improve Outcomes in Older Sedentary Nonspecific Low Back Pain Subjects? A Randomized Controlled Study”, Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation 2018 Apr-Jun;34(2):88-9
Factores de nacionalización : nacionalismo, sociedad civil y prácticas culturales
No full textEs común leer en la bibliografía especializada que la nación es construida tanto desde arriba como desde abajo, que es una idea y un proyecto pero también un sentimiento. Al mismo tiempo, se viene destacando cada vez más la importancia que tienen ciertos factores culturales en la construcción y reproducción del nacionalismo. Este artículo sigue estas líneas de reflexión y contribuye al debate sobre la nacionalización, enriqueciendo la perspectiva historiográfica con las aportaciones de los trabajos comparativos entre naciones desde una metodología cualitativa entre historia, sociología, antropología, psicología social y ciencias políticas. El objetivo es pensar desde los casos del Quebec y Cataluña los aspectos culturales del nacionalismo, los factores de nacionalización, la socialización y el rol de las prácticas culturales para entender un proceso clave del nacionalismo: la nacionalización.Sovint es llegeix a la bibliografia especialitzada que la nació és construïda tant des de dalt com des de baix, que és una idea i un projecte, però també un sentiment. Al mateix temps, es destaca cada cop més la importància que tenen certs factors culturals en la construcció i reproducció del nacionalisme. Aquest article segueix aquestes línies de reflexió i contribueix al debat sobre la nacionalització, tot enriquint la perspectiva historiogràfica amb les aportacions dels treballs comparatius entre nacions des d'una metodologia qualitativa entre història, sociologia, antropologia, psicologia social i ciències polítiques. L'objectiu és pensar des dels casos del Quebec i Catalunya els aspectes culturals del nacionalisme, els factors de nacionalització, la socialització i el rol de les pràctiques culturals per entendre un procés clau del nacionalisme: la nacionalització.Contemporary studies on nationalism emphasize that the nation is built both from above and from below. The nation is an idea and a project but also a national feeling. At the same time, the importance of cultural factors in the construction and reproduction of nationalism has been highlighted. Following this perspective, this article aims to collaborate in the debate on nationalization, enriching the historiographical perspective with the contributions of the comparative studies between nations without state from a qualitative methodology between History, Sociology, Anthropology and Political science. Taking into account the cases of Catalonia and Quebec, the main objective is to think about the cultural aspects of nationalism, the factors involved in the nationalization process, the socialization and the role of cultural practices to understand a key process of nationalism, that is to say nationalization
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
Positive inversion tectonics in foreland fold-and-thrust belts: A reappraisal of the Umbria–Marche Northern Apennines (Central Italy) by integrating geological and geophysical data
No full textUnraveling the tectonic style in the outer zones of fold-and-thrust belts is generally puzzling because the basement–cover relationships are often hidden in the subsurface as in the outer Northern Apennines of Italy. This study aims to reconstruct the deep setting of the Northern Apennine foreland thrust belt by integrating surface structural–geological and subsurface seismic reflection profile and well data, corroborated by a gravity–magnetic modeling. A remarkable mountain ridge, the Umbria–Marche Apennine Ridge (UMAR), which corresponds to a prominent area of structural and topographic elevation, characterizes the morphology of the Northern Apennines. This mountain ridge is constituted by Meso-Cenozoic carbonates involved in Neogene compressive structures and is surrounded by wide exposures of foredeep deposits. The basement–cover relationships are poorly constrained and both thin- and thick-skinned tectonic styles have been applied. The interpretation of subsurface data allowed recognizing a thick pre-Jurassic sedimentary sequence filling a late Paleozoic(?)–Triassic symmetric fault-bounded extensional basin, lying directly below the UMAR. This deep-rooted basin underwent positive inversion during the Neogene compression and thrust–fold development. The reconstructed thick-skinned inversion tectonic model is consistent with both the modest amount of shortening and the remarkable structural elevation of the UMAR.
The outcomes of this study reveal that prominent mountain ridges occurring in foreland thrust belts are most likely related to the deep-rooted basement-involved positive inversion of pre-existing extensional basins
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