1,720,969 research outputs found
Validity and variability of xBRS: instantaneous cardiac baroreflex sensitivity
No full textSpontaneous oscillations of blood pressure (BP) and interbeat interval (IBI) may reveal important information on the underlying baroreflex control and regulation of BP. We evaluated the method of continuously measured instantaneous baroreflex sensitivity by cross correlation (xBRS) validating its mean value against the gold standard of phenylephrine (Phe) and nitroprusside (SNP) bolus injections, and focusing on its spontaneous changes quantified as variability around the mean. For this purpose, we analyzed data from an earlier study of eight healthy males (aged 25-46 years) who had received Phe and SNP in conditions of baseline and autonomic blocking agents: atropine, propranolol, and clonidine. Average xBRS corresponds well to Phe/SNP-BRS, with xBRS levels ranging from 1.2 (atropine) to 102 msec/mmHg (subject asleep under clonidine). Time shifts from BP-to IBI-signal increased from <= 1 sec (maximum correlations within the current heartbeat) to 3-5 sec (under atropine). Plotted on a logarithmic vertical scale, xBRS values show 40% variability (defined as SD/mean) over the whole range in the various conditions, except twice when the subjects had fallen asleep and it dropped to 20%. The xBRS oscillates at frequencies of 0.1 Hz and lower, dominant between 0.020.05 Hz. Although xBRS is the result of IBI/BP-changes, no linear coherence was found in the cross-spectra of the xBRS-signal and IBI or BP. We speculate that the level of variability in the xBRS-signal may act as a probe into the central nervous condition, as evidenced in the two subjects who fell asleep with high xBRS and only 20% of relative variation
Dynamic adaptation of cardiac baroreflex sensitivity to prolonged exposure to microgravity: data from a 16-day spaceflight
No full textDi Rienzo M, Castiglioni P, Iellamo F, Volterrani M, Pagani M, Mancia G, Karemaker JM, Parati G. Dynamic adaptation of cardiac baroreflex sensitivity to prolonged exposure to microgravity: data from a 16-day spaceflight. J Appl Physiol 105: 1569-1575, 2008. First published August 28, 2008; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.90625.2008.-This study explored the process of arterial baroreflex adaptation to microgravity, starting from the first day of flight, during the 16-day STS-107 Columbia Space Shuttle mission. Continuous blood pressure (BP), ECG, and respiratory frequency were collected in four astronauts on ground (baseline) and during flight at days 0-1, 6-7, and 12-13, both at rest and during moderate exercise (75 W) on a cycle ergometer. Sensitivity of the baroreflex heart rate control (BRS) was assessed by sequence and spectral alpha methods. Baroreflex effectiveness index (BEI); low-frequency (LF) power and high-frequency (HF) power of systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), and R-R interval (RRI); the RRI LF/HF ratio; and the RRI root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) index were also estimated. We found that, at rest, BRS increased in early flight phase, compared with baseline (means +/- SE: 18.3 +/- 3.4 vs. 10.4 +/- 1.2 ms/mmHg; P < 0.05), and it tended to return to baseline in subsequent days. During exercise, BRS was lower than at rest, without differences between preflight and in-flight values. At rest, in the early flight phase, RMSSD and RRI HF power increased (P < 0.05) compared with baseline, whereas LF powers of SBP and DBP decreased. No statistical difference was found in these parameters during exercise before vs. during flight. These findings demonstrate that heart rate baroreflex sensitivity and markers of cardiac vagal modulation are enhanced during early exposure to microgravity, likely because of the blood centralization, and return to baseline values in subsequent flight phases, possibly because of the fluid loss. No deconditioning seems to occur in the baroreflex control of the heart
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
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
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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