1,720,955 research outputs found
Assessment of possible small fiber Neuropathy in early-stage vitamin B12 deficiency using electrophysiological methods
No full textBackground Small fiber neuropathy (SFN) affects thinly myelinated and unmyelinated fibers, often presenting with subtle clinical signs that are undetectable in routine nerve conduction studies. Vitamin B12 deficiency is a known risk factor for SFN, yet early-stage cases frequently remain undiagnosed. Sympathetic skin response (SSR) and cutaneous silent period (CSP) are noninvasive electrophysiological techniques used to assess autonomic and somatic small fiber function. Objective The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of SSR and CSP in detecting possible subclinical small-fiber neuropathy (pSFN) in individuals with early-stage vitamin B12 deficiency. Methods The present observational study included 28 patients with vitamin B12 deficiency who had nonspecific complaints, Douleur Neuropathique en 4 Questions (DN4) scores < 4, and normal nerve conduction studies, along with 25 healthy controls. Electrophysiological testing involved SSR recordings from all extremities and CSP measurements from the right median and sural nerves. Results In the patient group, Median Nerve Cutaneous Silent Period (MN-CSP) and Tibialis Anterior -Sural Cutaneous Silent Period (TA-sural CSP) durations were significantly shorter, while termination and onset latencies were prolonged compared with controls. MN-CSP and TA-sural CSP durations demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy. Sympathetic skin response latencies were significantly prolonged in both hands and feet, indicating autonomic dysfunction. No significant differences were observed in SSR amplitudes. Conclusion Sympathetic skin response and CSP are valuable tools for detecting possible subclinical SFN in vitamin B12 deficiency. Sympathetic skin response effectively identified autonomic dysfunction, while CSP provided additional diagnostic value for somatic small fiber impairment. Combining SSR and CSP may enhance early detection of pSFN in vitamin B12 deficiency and allow timely intervention
Injection-induced sciatic nerve injuries in Turkey: a public health and patient safety analysis of Supreme Court decisions
No full textBackgroundIntramuscular injections are routine interventions worldwide, yet when executed incorrectly they can cause sciatic nerve injury (SNI) that leaves patients with lifelong motor-sensory disability. Although international guidelines recommend the ventrogluteal site, the dorsogluteal region remains dominant in Turkey, potentially elevating risk. This study analysed Turkish Supreme Court decisions on injection-induced SNI from public-health, ethical and legal perspectives.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional content analysis of all publicly available Supreme Court criminal and civil decisions issued between January 2006 and April 2025 that contained SNI-related keywords. After deduplication and relevance screening, 92 unique cases were eligible. Two investigators independently coded each judgment; disagreements were resolved by consensus. Variables recorded were legal category, injection site, clinical indication, drug class, injector profession, defendant identity, symptom latency, electrophysiological pattern, first-instance verdict and Supreme Court outcome. Frequencies and percentages were calculated with SPSS v.29.ResultsNegligent bodily injury was the leading charge (50/92, 54%); 32% of files also sought monetary compensation. Gluteal injections accounted for 79% of cases, most administered for postoperative analgesia (33%) or antibiotic therapy (27%). Nurses performed 60% of injections, physicians 9%. Individual health professionals (physicians +/- nurses) were defendants in 65% of lawsuits, while hospitals (alone or jointly) appeared in 23%. Symptoms emerged immediately or within 1 h in 76% of plaintiffs, and electromyography typically revealed severe axonal damage-predominantly of the peroneal division. The Supreme Court overturned 100% of firstinstance convictions and 32% of acquittals, most often citing inadequate expert evaluation (35%), contradictory reports (20%), uncertainty over negligence versus complication (18%) or missing informedconsent documentation (10%).ConclusionsInjection-related sciatic nerve injuries in Turkey remain potentially preventable. The entrenched use of the dorsogluteal site, limited anatomical awareness, inadequate informed consent practices, and inconsistencies in medico-legal evaluations continue to contribute to both patient harm and an increased burden of litigation. Transitioning to the ventrogluteal technique, mandating annual refresher training, standardising consent forms, and accrediting neurophysiology expert panels could help reduce both injury incidence and courtroom burden-advancing the WHO's zero harm patient safety goal
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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