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A rapid test using a single drop of blood to screen for schistosomiasis in non-endemic countries
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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
No progression of subclinical atherosclerosis in HIV-infected patients starting an initial regimen including tenofovir alafenamide/emtricitabine plus raltegravir, dolutegravir or elvitegravir/cobicistat during a two-year follow-up
No full textObjectives: Cardiovascular disease has become one of the most common comorbidities among HIV-infected patients, but available data about the correlation between antiretroviral drugs and progression rate of atherosclerotic disease are still limited. We evaluated the progression rate of carotid atherosclerosis in patients starting an initial antiretroviral regimen including one integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI).Methods: Observational, prospective study involving HIV-1-infected, antiretroviral therapy-naive, adult patients who started an antiretroviral regimen including tenofovir alafenamide/emtricitabine (TAF/FTC) plus raltegravir (RAL group), elvitegravir/cobicistat (EVG/c group), or dolutegravir (DTG group). Patients with known cardiovascular disease or diabetes mellitus were excluded from the study. The progression rate of atherosclerosis has been assessed by carotid Doppler ultrasonography at baseline and after 24 months.Results: Overall, 102 patients were enrolled into the study: 73 males, with mean age of 48.7 years: 32, 36 and 34 patients were included in the RAL, EVG/c and DTG groups, respectively. The baseline features of the enrolled patients were comparable across the three groups. At 24 months, the mean intima-media thickness (IMT) increase at the carotid bifurcation was 0.026 mm in the RAL group, 0.029 mm in EVG/c group and 0.032 mm in DTG group. The mean IMT increases after 24 months were comparable across the three groups and statistically not significant in all the evaluated anatomical sites.Conclusions: The initial antiretroviral therapy with TAF/FTC plus RAL, EVG/c or DTG for 24 months led to a comparable and not significant effect on the progression rate of carotid atherosclerosis
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
HBsAg seroreversion in HBsAg-negative/HBcAb-positive patients with HIV infection treated with direct-acting antivirals for HCV: A retrospective study
No full textNo data on the risk of HBV reactivation in HCV-HIV co-infected patients undergoing DAAs have been published yet. According to international guidelines , all HIV-infected and HBsAg-positive patients should be treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) containing nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) dually active against HBV and HIV, such as tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) or tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) plus lamivudine (3TC) or emtricitabine (FTC), with consequent no risk for HBV reactivation. However, there are not precise indications regarding HBsAg-negative and HBcAb-positive individuals with HIV infection (4.7%–12% of HIV population in Europe). To date, the risk of HBsAg seroreversion in HCV-HIV co-infected patients with HBsAg-negative and HBcAb-positive serology, treated with NRTI-sparing ARV regimens, and exposed to DAAs regimen, is not known. The authors retrospectively included all the HCV-HIV co-infected and HBsAg-negative/anti-HBc positive individuals, who started DAAs from October 2014 to September 2017 in Bologna. Since HBV DNA levels were not routinely measured at DAAs initiation, patients with undetectable or low HBV DNA viral load (VL) were indiscriminately included. the authors enrolled in the study 24 subjects, who met inclusion criteria. Two out of 24 patients (8.3%) developed HBsAg seroreversion during the observation period. Nowadays, DAAs regimens are widely used also among patients with HIV or with HBV coinfection. In the latter group, a risk of HBV reactivation has been reported of 21% in HBsAg positive and a risk of HBsAg seroreversion of 0.5% in HBsAg negative/HBcAb positive patients (all HIV-uninfected) treated with DAAs, by a recent metanalysis. In this study, the authors observed an unexpectedly high rate of 8% of HBsAg seroreversion among HCV-HIV co-infected subjects with HBsAg-negative/HBcAb-positive status.To our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing the risk for HBsAg seroreversion in HCV-HIV patients with isolated positive HBcAb serology who undergo DAA-regimens and receiving NRTI-sparing regimen for HIV. Such a high seroreversion rate (8.3%) was not reported before among patients with the same characteristics, but HIV-negative.
Our findings suggest that low CD4+-T cells nadir and history of AIDS might be potential risk factors for HBsAg seroreversion. Subjects with low CD4+-T cells nadir generally have a more compromised immune system even after they achieve good immunovirological control.
In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that people with HIV and HBsAg-negative/HBcAb-positive status receiving a NRTI-sparing ART might be at “high risk” for HBsAg seroreversion when treated with DAAs. Therefore, from our data one could recommend ART containing TDF, TAF, 3TC or FTC during DAAs treatment to prevent this potentially life-threatening event
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