1,720,960 research outputs found
Surgically Treated Symptomatic Prolapsed Lumbar and Sacral Intervertebral Discs in Females: A Comparative Study of Incidence and Causative Factors and Treatment
Get PDFBackground and Objective: There are various postulated possible causes of surgically symptomatic prolapsed intervertebral discs in the lumbar and sacral regions. They may be acting singularly or collectively. Yet, these factors, which could vary in different environments, have not beensatisfactorily confirmed. The intention of this study is to share the experience of the author in the occurrence, possible causative factors, and treatment of surgically symptomatic prolapsed lumbar and sacral intervertebral discs in females, and to compare this experience in Switzerland, Nigeria, and Jamaica using surgery records for a period of over 39 years.Materials and Methods: Records of these cases were examined and analyzed with the intent of comparing the frequency of occurrence and possible causative factors of this lesion in some countries. Results: There were 60 locations in 51 patients in Basel (Caucasian population only), 4 locations in 1 patient in Imo and Ebonyi States (African population only), and none in Jamaica (mixed population). The patients’ ages ranged from 19 to 71 years in Switzerland, and the only patient in Nigeria was 49 years old.Conclusion: The study revealed that surgically treated symptomatic prolapsed lumbar and sacral intervertebral discs in females occurred more in Basel, Switzerland, than in Imo and Ebonyi States of Nigeria and none occurred in Jamaica, West Indies. Racial differences, certain sporting/recreational activities, smoking, and type of profession could have contributed to the development of this disease.Keywords: Females, possible causes, prolapsed disc
Case series of ruptured Jamaican berry aneurysms four decades ago
Get PDFObjective
From our personal experiences, it is our wish to examine the incidence of ruptured intracranial aneurysms about four decades ago in Jamaica, the West Indies, with regards to postoperative deterioration of neurological/psychological functions.
Materials and Method
The author, while working in Jamaica, the West Indies, from 1975 to 1977 (3 years), operated on 6 cases of ruptured intracranial aneurysms of 5 females and 1 male. The source of these data is from the author′s surgery records.
Result
There were 4 aneurysms from the posterior communicating artery, and 1 each from the anterior communicating artery, and the middle cerebral artery. Their ages ranged from 31 to 64 years. They presented with diverse neurological disturbances. Their aneurysms, which were diagnosed through contrast carotid angiography, were all clipped through fronto-lateral craniotomy under general anaesthesia. The procedures were well tolerated by the patients. There were no complications and no gross additional neurological deficits postoperatively. The wounds had healed by primary intention. The patients were discharged home 12 days postoperatively, the stitches having been removed 2 days earlier. Follow-up checks started about 7 days after discharge. The neurological deficits had cleared about 3 months later.
Conclusion
Having bled, the aneurysms exposed themselves by causing sudden severe headaches, and various neurological problems, depending on their locations. We found more females than males. The posterior communicating artery aneurysm was predominant. There were no cerebro-vascular spasms postoperatively.
Greek ANEURYSMA (Ana= up or across, eurys - wide or broad
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
Comparative Studies of Spinal Celes in Switzerland, Jamaica, and Nigeria, and Possible Relationship with Environmental Pollution
No full textObjective and Background: The need to sanitize our environment from elements hazardous to life on earth is hereby high-lighted, as well as a properly organized and efficiently run prenatal health care system.Clinical Methods and Materials: From 1975 to 2008,17 spinal celes (including 2 meningoceles) were routinely repaired in Imo and Ebonyi States of Nigeria, and 5 in Jamaica,the West Indies; none in Basel, Switzerland. All 20 meningomyeloceles were incontinent of urine and faeces, had severe paraparesis to paraplegia, sensory loss in both lower limbs, and bilateral pedes equino-varus in 16 cases. In addition, 2 were hydrocephalic, and all meningomyeloceles were ulcerated. All celes were midline. The meningoceles were normal. The operations were carriedout under routine general anaesthesia.Results: The pre-operation status remained the same in all 20 meningomyeloceles 60 months later, though, they were able to sit up and shift around on their buttocks. The meningoceles remained normal. The hydrocephalus in both cases was arrested. There were no deaths within the hospitalization period of about 14 days.Conclusion: Vigorous endeavor to sanitize our environment from obnoxious elements(environmental pollution, hazardous waste sites, agricultural chemicals, organic solvents, water disinfection by-products, etc.), good and adequate antenatal care, with antenatal diagnosis of the malformed foetus and termination of the pregnancy, must be strived at, folic acid supplementation must begin before conception..Niger Med J. Vol. 50, No. 4, Oct.–Dec., 2009: 84–86Key words: comparative studies, spinal cele
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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