1,720,954 research outputs found
Occupational risk of scabies among healthcare workers: problem focus and personal experience
Full text linkBackground: scabies (causative agent: Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis) is a contagious parasitic disease, widespread in the general population, which can cause hospital outbreaks, with possible involvement of sanitary staff, and considerable economic and managerial implications. The Policlinico San Matteo of Pavia (Italy) adopts (since 2005) a protocol for the management of index cases, based on early patient isolation, identification of close contacts, and their prophylactic treatment (with temporary removal from duty).
Objectives: acquiring descriptive data on reported cases of scabies in the hospital under study, and on the preventive effectiveness of the operative protocol adopted for their management.
Methods: retrospective study (2005-2014) of the index cases, collected in ad hoc computer archive. For each case, personal and clinical data were collected, as well as information on the healthcare workers who had dealt with the patient within the 6 weeks (maximum scabies incubation period) preceding the diagnosis.
Results: 30 index cases were identified: 11 females and 19 males; mean age 60 years; range: 2 months - 92 years. 9 patients had been transferred to the Policlinico from other health facilities. 11 were immunosuppressed: of these, 3 were suffering from Norwegian scabies (or crusted scabies: a highly contagious variant, difficult to diagnose, in which the number of mites on the patient’s skin is very high, up to several millions).
Close contacts included 894 health professionals, mainly nurses, physicians and students; of these, 158 had provided assistance to cases of Norwegian scabies: 15 (1.7% of the entire sample) were infected. This percentage is below the rates of infection (sometimes > 30%) reported in other case series.
Almost all involved personnel received (prophylactic or therapeutic) acaricide treatment.
Conclusions: scabies is a major occupational hazard in hospitals, especially for nursing staff, including students in training. Caution is particularly needed for immunocompromised patients, since they develop with greater frequency Norwegian scabies. The operative protocol adopted by the Policlinico San Matteo is effective for risk containment
Scabbia occupazionale in ambito ospedaliero: studio retrospettivo
No full textIntroduzione: la scabbia (agente eziologico: Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis) è una malattia parassitaria contagiosa, diffusa nella popolazione generale, che può essere all’origine di focolai epidemici in ambito ospedaliero, con possibile coinvolgimento del personale e notevoli ripercussioni economiche e gestionali. Il Policlinico San Matteo di Pavia adotta (dal 2005, con revisioni triennali) un protocollo operativo per la gestione dei casi indice, basato sul precoce isolamento del paziente infestato, sull’identificazione dei contatti stretti e sul loro trattamento profilattico, con temporaneo allontanamento dalla mansione.
Obiettivi: acquisizione di dati descrittivi sui casi di scabbia riscontrati nell’ospedale oggetto dello studio e verifica dell’efficacia preventiva del protocollo adottato per la loro gestione.
Metodi: studio retrospettivo (2005-2014) dei casi indice, raccolti in apposito archivio informatico. Per ognuno di essi, sono stati raccolti i dati anagrafici e clinici, e informazioni sugli operatori sanitari che erano venuti in contatto con il paziente nelle 6 settimane precedenti la diagnosi (periodo massimo d’incubazione della malattia).
Risultati: sono stati identificati 30 casi di scabbia tra i ricoverati (11 femmine e 19 maschi; età media 60 anni; range: 2 mesi – 92 anni); 9 di loro risultavano trasferiti da altre strutture sanitarie; 11 pazienti erano immunodepressi: di questi, 3 erano affetti da scabbia norvegese (o scabbia crostosa: variante clinica ad alta contagiosità, di difficile diagnosi, nella quale il numero di acari sulla cute dell’ammalato è assai elevato, fino ad alcuni milioni).
I contatti comprendevano 894 operatori sanitari, in prevalenza infermieri, ausiliari e studenti infermieri; tra questi, 158 avevano prestato assistenza ai casi di scabbia norvegese: 15 (1,7% dell’intero campione) risultavano contagiati. Questa percentuale è molto inferiore ai tassi di contagio (talora > 30%) riportati in altre casistiche.
Tutti gli operatori identificati come contatti stretti sono stati sottoposti a trattamento (profilattico o terapeutico) con permetrina crema al 5% o ivermectina per os (200 μg/kg), ad eccezione di 6 che -a un’indagine più approfondita- sono stati riclassificati come contatti occasionali con casi di scabbia classica, a rischio di contagio trascurabile. La compliance al trattamento è stata totale.
Conclusione: la scabbia continua a essere un importante rischio professionale in ambito ospedaliero, soprattutto per il personale infermieristico, compresi gli studenti in formazione. Particolarmente pericolosi, sotto questo punto di vista, sono i pazienti immunocompromessi, nei quali può con maggior frequenza manifestarsi la scabbia norvegese. Il protocollo operativo adottato dal Policlinico San Matteo risulta efficace per il contenimento del rischio
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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