1,721,027 research outputs found
Performance profiling of Standardbred racehorses by means of Treadmill Exercise Testing
Full text linkTreadmill exercise testing can be performed on a horse to evaluate the level of fitness with the aim of predicting performance (Franklin and Allen, 2014). The speed at 2 mmol/L of blood lactate (VLA2), the speed at 4 mmol/L (VLA4) and the speed at 200 bpm of heart rate (V200) are indices that have been related to performance (Coroucé et al., 2002). Aim of the present work is to analyze these parameters in a population of high performance Standarbred racehorses.
Six healthy and at the same level of training Standardbred racehorses (average age 3,3±2,0 y.o.) underwent an incremental exercise test (Zucca et al., 2003) on a high speed treadmill (Sӓto I, SATO, Sweden). During the test heart rate (HR) was monitored with a heart rate meter (Polar horsetrainer, Polar, Finland). Venous blood was collected with the aid of a 14G teflon venous catheter placed in the jugular vein. Plasma lactate was measured with enzymatic colorimetric method lactate dry-fast kit for automatic system (Cobas Mira Classic, Roche, Switzerland). Data were analyzed with a dedicated software (Lactate Express, Mesics, Germany) and VLA2, VLA4 and V200 were calculated and statistically compared by T-student test for paired sample (Prism, GraphPad, USA). Statistical significance was set at p<0,05.
Average VLA2 was 8.3±0.5 m/s, average VLA4 was 9.2±0.4 m/s, average V200 was 8.1±0.9. There was a significant difference between VLA4 and V200 (Fig. 1). No difference was observed between VLA2 and V200
V200 is often reported to be close to VLA4, and considered as correspondent to the onset of blood lactate accumulation (Coroucé et al, 2002). According to our results, it may be argued that V200 is a measure that does not fit with the lactate threshold.
These data could be used as control for further studies on racehorses with poor performance syndrome
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
Creatine kinase reference intervals at rest and after maximal exercise in Standardbred racehorses
No full textDue to the high variability of data drawn from the literature, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of exercise on serum creatine kinase (CK) activity and to determine CK reference intervals (RIs) at rest and post-exercise in Standardbred racehorses. Data concerning history, physical examination, laboratory evaluation and ECG were collected retrospectively from a population of 258 Standardbreds in training that underwent incremental maximal treadmill exercise. Subjects with alterations potentially influencing CK were excluded. A reference sample of 194 healthy horses was eventually selected. Blood samples were collected 1 h before and 6 h post-exercise and analysed via a spectrophotometric method. Values were compared by Wilcoxon test for paired samples. The effect of age and sex was evaluated by Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s post-test (P<0.05). RIs were determined following Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines, approved by the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology. Using a macroinstruction set for Microsoft Excel (RefValAdv), RIs were determined with a non-parametric method. A significant increase (P<0.0001) in CK activity post-exercise was observed. Partition by sex and age did not show any statistical difference, either at rest or post-exercise. In determination of RIs no outliers were identified. RIs ranged from 25-394 IU/l at rest and from 44-734 IU/l post-exercise. To our knowledge, this is the first study considering CK post-exercise RIs in racehorses using CLSI’s guidelines and specific CK-related exclusion criteria. These RIs could be useful to discriminate between physiological and pathological post-exercise serum CK increases
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
Effect of post-exercise increase in creatine-kinase activity on performance parameters in Standardbred racehorses.
Full text linkIn equine sports medicine, the most considered performance parameter is the Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation (OBLA), fixed at 4 mmol/L (Courocè-Malblanc et Hodgson, 2014). Nevertheless, in human medicine several methods to define individual Lactate Threshold (LT) were developed (Faude et al., 2009). Horses with poor performance were reported to have post-exercise creatine-kinase (CK) activity higher than good performer (Fraipont et al., 2011). Aim of the study is to evaluate LTs calculated by different methods in horses with increased post-exercise CK activity.Data from a cohort of Standardbred racehorses that underwent poor performance evaluation, including incremental treadmill test with plasma lactate analysis at different speed steps, were retrospectively collected. A blood sample was collected 6hrs post-exercise and CK activity was evaluated with spectrophotometric method. A case group of 10 horses (3.1±1.0 y.o.) that did not present any other alteration potentially influencing performance than post-exercise CK activity greater than reference value (>735 U/L) was selected (Valli, 2017). An age-matched and sex-matched control group of 10 horses with no alteration potentially influencing performance and normal post-exercise CK activity was selected. Lactate concentrations obtained during treadmill test were analysed with a dedicated sotware (Newell et al., 2009) and LT was determined by the following methods: a)Inflection Point, i.e. the point of intersection between two linear splines, b)Lactate Threshold by logaritmic transformation, c)OBLA and d)Initial Rise of 1 mmol/L post baseline. Values of different LTs from the two groups were compared by means of unpaired t-test.Statistical analysis showed that OBLA was significantly lower (p=0.009) in case group when compared to controls. No differences between the two groups were observed for other LTs values.Results suggest that elevated post-exercise CK activity, consistent with muscular damage, has a negative impact on performance. Moreover, OBLA seems to be an appropriate parameter for performance profiling in racehorses
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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