186,744 research outputs found
The management of grey squirrels populations in Europe: evolving best practices.
No full textLove them or hate them, grey squirrels in Britain and Ireland evoke a wide range of reactions and emotions in people. Some consider these 'alien' invaders the usurper of our native red squirrel, a forest pest or a nuisance to gardeners but others love them and watch and feed them in woodlands, parks and gardens. To many people, grey squirrels are one of the few endearing wildlife encounters they may have. This volume presents a comprehensive and unique collection of peer-reviewed papers by scientists, experts and managers on critical aspects of grey squirrel biology, their parasites and diseases and management
Transcatheter treatment of the tricuspid valve: Current status and perspectives
No full textTranscatheter tricuspid valve interventions (TTVI) are emerging as alternatives to surgery in high-risk patients with isolated or concomitant tricuspid regurgitation. The development of new minimally invasive solutions potentially more adapted to this largely undertreated population of patients, has fuelled the interest for the tricuspid valve. Growing evidence and new concepts have contributed to revise obsolete and misleading perceptions around the right side of the heart. New definitions, classifications, and a better understanding of the disease pathophysiology and phenotypes, as well as their associated patient journeys have profoundly and durably changed the landscape of tricuspid disease. A number of registries and a recent randomized controlled pivotal trial provide preliminary guidance for decision-making. TTVI seem to be very safe and effective in selected patients, although clinical benefits beyond improved quality of life remain to be demonstrated. Even if more efforts are needed, increased disease awareness is gaining momentum in the community and supports the establishment of dedicated expert valve centres. This review is summarizing the achievements in the field and provides perspectives for a less invasive management of a no-more-forgotten disease
Implications of atrial volumes in surgical corrected Tetralogy of Fallot on clinical adverse events
No full textBackground: While left atrial (LA) size has been shown as a strong predictor of cardiovascular diseases in various studies, the role of right atrial (RA) enlargement, especially in the growing population of patients with congenital heart diseases (CHD) is largely unknown. We sought to evaluate (1) RA and LA volumes in patients with repaired Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and assess correlations to (2) functional parameters and (3) clinical adverse events. Methods: 169 patients with repaired TOF were enrolled following a targeted protocol for Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), Cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPET), Echocardiography and Measurement of NT-proBNP. Clinical history was assessed at enrollment and during a median Follow-up of 23 months (IQR 9–40). The primary clinical endpoint was a composite of all cause mortality, aborted sudden cardiac death and sustained VT. Prespecified secondary surrogate endpoint included worsening heart failure (NYHA III–IV), non-sustained VT and sustained supraventricular tachycardia. Results: RA Systolic indexed volume (RASVi) correlated with LA Systolic indexed volume (LASVi) (r = 0.59, p < 0.001) and both correlated with the patient age (r = 0.52, p < 0.001; r = 0.59, p < 0.001 respectively). Patients in the upper tertil of RASVi (>58 ml/m 2 ) had higher NT-proBNP levels, longer QRS duration, larger ventricle diameters, higher RV mass and lower peak oxygen uptake. RASVi was associated with the primary composite adverse event at univariate Cox-regression analysis (HR: 1.044, CI: 1.008–1.08, p = 0.01). Bayesian Multivariate model averaging revealed RASVi as predictor of secondary surrogate adverse outcome (HR: 1.06, CI: 1.053–1.068, Pb = 0,889). Conclusion: Among patients with repaired TOF, RA dilatation is an independent predictor for adverse clinical events. As such, routine assessment of RA volumes could be useful to further improve decision-making and management of these patients in the future
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Patient Specific Finite Element Analysis Results in More Accurate Prediction of Stent Fractures: Application to Percutaneous Pulmonary Valve Implantation.
No full textStent fracture is a recognised complication following device implantation. Magnetic resonance data from a patient who underwent percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation (PPVI) and had subsequent stent fractures was used to create a finite element (FE) model of the patient's implantation site. Simulated expansion of the PPVI stent into this right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) geometry was compared with free expansions of the PPVI stent up to a uniformly deployed configuration (conventional method employed in bench testing protocols), using FE analysis. PPVI biplane fluoroscopy images from the same patient were used to reconstruct the 3D shape and deformation of the stent in-situ and verify the FE geometrical results. Asymmetries were measured in all 3 orthogonal directions, in early systole and diastole. Although a simplified FE modelling of stent/implantation site interaction was adopted, this analysis gave useful information about the influence of the RVOT on the final geometry and mechanical performance of the stent. When deployed into the RVOT, the FE stent showed a non-uniform shape, similar to the geometry seen in the "real" fluoroscopy reconstructed stent, where the most expanded cells corresponded to the fracture locations. This asymmetrical geometry, when compared to the free-expanded stent, resulted in higher stresses in the portion of the stent where fractures occurred. Furthermore, fatigue fractures that were not predicted in the free-deployed stents, developed in the asymmetrically expanded device. In conclusion, the interaction between the PPVI device and the patient's RVOT is likely to be the crucial factor involved with this undesired event. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Big balloons achieve better dilatation results below burst pressure than small high-pressure balloons - A biomechanical analysis
No full textAppropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
No full textWe 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
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