1,720,966 research outputs found
Prevalence, Risk Factors and Genotypes of Giardia duodenalis in Sheltered Dogs in Tuscany (Central Italy)
Get PDFIn sheltered dogs, the prevalence of Giardia duodenalis is frequently high and may include potential zoonotic genotypes. The prevalence, genotypes and potential risk factors of G. duodenalis were assessed in 168 dogs from four kennels (Pistoia, Prato, Florence, Valdarno) in Tuscany, central Italy and compared with data from previous Italian studies. The prevalence of other intestinal parasites was also investigated. Individual dog faecal samples collected from each kennel were examined by parasitological techniques and a rapid immunoassay for the detection of G. duodenalis and Cryptosporidium faecal antigens. On Giardia-positive samples, molecular analysis was performed for genotype identification. Overall, 69 dogs scored positive for G. duodenalis (41%), but significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were found among the four kennels and sampling seasons. The potentially zoonotic assemblages A and B and the canine-specific assemblage C (Pistoia: A-AII, B, C; Prato: A-AII, B; Florence: A-AII; Valdarno: A and C) were identified. Toxocara canis (8.9%), Trichuris vulpis (3.6%), hookworms (1.19%) and Cryptosporidium sp. (0.6%) were also identified. The high prevalence of G. duodenalis and the identification of potentially zoonotic genotypes in all examined kennels underline the need to improve routine parasite monitoring and control measures and to provide insights into the zoonotic potential of G. duodenalis
Final destination: The Mediterranean Sea, a vulnerable sea. The long journey of Giardia duodenalis cysts
No full textThe Mediterranean Sea is considered a “litmus paper” of pollution risks for any parameter, including faecal contamination.
Giardia duodenalis is one of the most important protozoan parasites responsible for diarrhoea in a
wide range of hosts, including humans, domestic and wild animals, worldwide. The degree of contamination related
to the protozoan's resistant forms on land, and the consequent transport through rivers from point sources
to the sea are important aspects to better understand the processes involved in the microbiological pollution of
aquatic ecosystems. However, land-sea transfer routes and the complex transmission patterns often remain neglected.
This contribution deals with the contamination by G. duodenalis of the Mediterranean Sea through its inhabitants
(shellfish, marine mammals, fishes), and provides data on the origin of such contamination on land
from humans and animals to soil, fresh produce and waters; this scenario allows to understand the long journey
of the protozoan following the drainage basins (i.e., natural watersheds) from the mainland towards the final
destination. The Mediterranean Sea contamination is also explained in the light of the Giardia survival in water
and the effects of climatic change with the related consequences. Addressing faecal contamination threats in the
Mediterranean Sea is a difficult task, but a number of mitigation measures need to be implemented and/or in
some countries even applied. Effective management must become a priority in the agenda of policy makers of all
Mediterranean Countries for the implementation of successful measures and can only be applied in the perspective
of the One Health approach
Final destination: The Mediterranean Sea, a vulnerable sea. The long journey of Giardia duodenalis cysts
Get PDFThe Mediterranean Sea is considered a “litmus paper” of pollution risks for any parameter, including faecal
contamination. Giardia duodenalis is one of the most important protozoan parasites responsible for diarrhoea in a
wide range of hosts, including humans, domestic and wild animals, worldwide. The degree of contamination
related to the protozoan’s resistant forms on land, and the consequent transport through rivers from point
sources to the sea are important aspects to better understand the processes involved in the microbiological
pollution of aquatic ecosystems. However, land-sea transfer routes and the complex transmission patterns often
remain neglected. This contribution deals with the contamination by G. duodenalis of the Mediterranean Sea
through its inhabitants (shellfish, marine mammals, fishes), and provides data on the origin of such contamination on land from humans and animals to soil, fresh produce and waters; this scenario allows to understand the
long journey of the protozoan following the drainage basins (i.e., natural watersheds) from the mainland towards
the final destination. The Mediterranean Sea contamination is also explained in the light of the Giardia survival in
water and the effects of climatic change with the related consequences. Addressing faecal contamination threats
in the Mediterranean Sea is a difficult task, but a number of mitigation measures need to be implemented and/or
in some countries even applied. Effective management must become a priority in the agenda of policy makers of
all Mediterranean Countries for the implementation of successful measures and can only be applied in the
perspective of the One Health approach
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
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