1,721,026 research outputs found
Safety and Pharmacokinetic Profiles of Subcutaneous Administration of Beta-Lactams: A Systematic Review
No full text: Beta-lactams are extensively used antibiotics known for their safety and effectiveness. The rise in patients who receive care in outpatient settings has increased the interest in subcutaneous administration (SA). The aim of the study is to assess the safety and pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of SA of beta-lactams compared with other routes. The protocol was registered in the PROSPERO database and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were followed. Online databases were searched, and the quality of the eligible studies was assessed. The data extracted related to adverse events (AEs) and PK were summarised narratively. Sixteen studies were included. The reported AEs were generally mild, localised, and temporary. Although SA and intravenous administration had similar PK profiles, SA resulted in lower peak drug concentrations and slower absorption. Heterogeneity in the populations, medication delivery, outcome measures, and methodological quality emerged across the studies. The mild severity of AEs suggests that SA is a viable route. Additionally, SA appears to demonstrate effective PK profiles and delays drug release, with potential to reduce the dosing frequency and prolong the therapeutic effects. SA of beta-lactams is a promising viable alternative to intravenous administration, potentially enhancing treatment in the outpatient and long-term care settings
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
Renal Function and Its Impact on the Concentration of Ceftazidime-Avibactam: A cross-sectional study
No full textObjectives: This study measured the effect of renal function on the plasma concentrations of ceftazidime and avibactam in critically ill patients. We also sought to measure the concentration ratio of ceftazidime to avibactam. Methods: This was a cohort study at a tertiary referral centre in Italy, on patients treated with continuous infusion of ceftazidime-avibactam (CAZ-AVI) between November 2019 and December 2023. The association between creatine clearance (CrCl) and free plasma ceftazidime and avibactam concentration, as well as CAZ-AVI ratio was explored to assess correlation and potential risk to fail to achieve target therapeutic concentration. Results: 52 patients, predominantly male (75%), with a median age of 68.5 years were included. Our analyses provided strong evidence for inverse correlation between CrCl and both free-CAZ (r=-0.627; R2=0.3936; P<0.001) and free-AVI plasma concentration (r=-0.619; R2=0.3832; P<0.001). Overall CrCl alone could explain about 40% of overall variation of either free-CAZ and free-AVI. Linear models suggest that free-CAZ and free-AVI concentration drop of about 7.31% and 9.23% for each 10 point increase of CrCl, respectively. . Assessment of the CAZ-AVI ratio supports a direct linear association with CrCl suggesting that free-AVI concetration is more affected by CrCl variation than free-CAZ concentration. Patients with CrCl ≥130 mL/min showed a significantly higher risk of suboptimal drug exposure (i.e. less than 4 times the MIC) both to CAZ and AVI. Conclusion: The findings emphasize the need for individualized dosing strategies of CAZ-AVI based on renal function, for antibiotics used in critically ill patients. The study suggests that underdosing in patients with high CrCl is likely to be common and as such could affect drug effectiveness
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