1,720,966 research outputs found
Effectiveness of ATP bioluminescence to assess hospital cleaning: a review
Full text linkIntroduction. Contamination of hospital surfaces plays an important role in the transmission of several healthcare-associated microorganisms, therefore methods for evaluating hospital surfaces' cleaning gain particular importance. Among these, there are visual inspection, quantitative microbiology, fluorescent markers and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence. The latter seems to provide interesting features, detecting the presence of ATP on surface (as Relative Light Units, RLU), a proxy of organic matter and microbial contamination. Several studies have investigated the effectiveness of this technology; with this research, we aim to summarize the most significant results. Methods. A systematic review was conducted. The keywords (namely, "ATP", "bioluminescence", "hospital" and "surfaces") were searched in PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus databases, in order to find relevant data, from January 2000 to October 2014. After the selection, we globally considered 27 articles. Results. Most of the studies were conducted in United Kingdom and in USA. Different threshold RLU benchmark values were identified by analyzed studies. Fourteen of these researches compared the ATP bioluminescence with microbiological methods, 11 identified a significant correlation between the two methods, although poor or not complete for 5. Discussion. ATP bioluminescence is not a standardized methodology: each tool has different benchmark values, not always clearly defined. At the moment, we can say that the technique could be used to assess, in real time, hospital surfaces where cleanliness is required, but not sterility
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
Environmental contaminants in hospital settings and progress in disinfecting techniques
Full text linkMedical devices, such as stethoscopes, and other objects found in hospital, such as computer keyboards and telephone handsets, may be reservoirs of bacteria for healthcare-associated infections. In this cross-over study involving an Italian teaching hospital we evaluated microbial contamination (total bacterial count (TBC) at 36°C/22°C, Staphylococcus spp., moulds, Enterococcus spp., Pseudomonas spp., E. coli, total coliform bacteria, Acinetobacter spp., and Clostridium difficile) of these devices before and after cleaning and differences in contamination between hospital units and between stethoscopes and keyboards plus handsets. We analysed 37 telephone handsets, 27 computer keyboards, and 35 stethoscopes, comparing their contamination in four hospital units. Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney tests were used. Before cleaning, many samples were positive for Staphylococcus spp. and coliforms. After cleaning, CFUs decreased to zero in most comparisons. The first aid unit had the highest and intensive care the lowest contamination ( ). Keyboards and handsets had higher TBC at 22°C ( ) and mould contamination ( ) than stethoscopes. Healthcare professionals should disinfect stethoscopes and other possible sources of bacterial healthcare-associated infections. The cleaning technique used was effective in reducing bacterial contamination. Units with high patient turnover, such as first aid, should practise stricter hygiene
Use of a fluorescent marker for assessing hospital bathroom cleanliness
No full textA fluorescent marker was used to assess the efficacy of daily cleaning in hospital en suite bathrooms. We applied the marker on 218 surfaces and we assigned a score according how completely the mark had been removed. We found significant statistical differences among different surfaces and wards (P < .05). Microbiologic contamination and marker removal score did not seem to be correlated. Differences in cleanliness may indicate discrepancies in cleaning procedures. Fluorescent marker proved to be a practical and effective method and it could be adopted as a first-level control system to assess hospital cleanliness
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