1,720,989 research outputs found
Effects of pulmonary rehabilitation during acute exacerbations of COPD
Full text linkUncertainty exists about the safety and beneficial effects of delivering pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) during acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD). We explored the effects of a home-based PR programme during moderate AECOPD. A randomized controlled trial was conducted (NCT03751670). Patients with AECOPD were randomly assigned to the control (CG, i.e., standard medication) or experimental (EG, i.e., standard medication plus 3-weeks of PR [breathing control, airway clearance, exercise, psychoeducational support]) group within 48h of the diagnosis (baseline). Symptoms (COPD assessment test, London chest activities of daily living, functional assessment of chronic illness therapy–fatigue), handgrip and quadriceps muscle strength, and functional capacity (short physical performance battery, 1-minute sit-to-stand test, Chester step test) were assessed at baseline and after 3 weeks. Comparisons within/between groups were explored with (non-)parametric mixed ANOVAs. We included 44 patients (77% male, 68±10yrs; FEV1 48±18%pred). After 3 weeks, the EG presented significant improvements in all outcomes; symptoms and muscle strength improved significantly in the EG in comparison to the CG (table 1).). No adverse events were reported. A 3-weeks home-based PR programme is safe and more effective than only standard medication in improving patients’ symptoms and muscle strength during recovery of moderate AECOPD, outcomes often associated with poor prognosis.publishe
Giving voice to patients: experiences during acute exacerbations of COPD
Full text linkBackground: Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) have a negative impact on patients’ health status anddisease progression, regardless of the severity. However, their clinical presentation is heterogenous and still littleunderstood. Improving our understanding of AECOPD, during their occurrence, from patients’ own livedexperience may allow the development of person-centred interventions and enhance recovery. Thus, we aimedto explore patients’ experiences during a mild to moderate AECOPD.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews with patients with a mild or moderate AECOPD treated in the communitywere conducted, at their homes, within 48h of the diagnosis. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed in fulland analysed by deductive thematic analysis using the Web Qualitative Data Analysis software. A preliminaryanalysis focused on the impact of AECOPD was conducted and illustrated with representative quotes.
Results: 11 patients (9 male, 67±10y, FEV1 41±16pp) participated. 7 subthemes demonstrating high impact ofAECOPD emerged: symptoms, limitations in activities of daily living, emotional challenges, physiological
changes, limitations in recreational and social activities, work and family disturbances (Fig. 1).
Conclusion: AECOPD, even when not requiring hospital admission, have a huge impact on patients’ daily lives.This study contributes with a foundation for the development of meaningful person-centred interventions during AECOPD.publishe
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
- …
