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    Ionised serum calcium concentration as a potential indicator of hypophosphataemia and refeeding syndrome in extremely low birthweight babies in the first 2 weeks after birth

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    Preterm babies, especially those born at extremely low birthweight (ELBW; birthweight < 1000 g), are at risk of being malnourished in utero and developing refeeding syndrome after birth. The initiation of intravenous nutrition (IVN), which ELBW babies require soon after birth, increases the risk of biochemical derangements, most notably hypophosphataemia and hypercalcaemia, and also of a diagnosis of refeeding syndrome. Providing adequate nutrition is essential, but refeeding syndrome has been associated with increased mortality, health complications such as intraventricular haemorrhage and sepsis, and adverse neurodevelopment. To monitor the biochemical derangements associated with refeeding syndrome, blood samples are taken from ELBW babies on several days across the first two weeks after birth. Although the quantity of blood taken may appear small, for a baby with such a low birthweight and blood volume, the amount is relatively large. The risk of anaemia of prematurity, painful stimuli, and scarring are all increased with this type of monitoring. The aim of this thesis was to investigate whether ionised serum calcium concentration is a reliable indicator of hypophosphataemia and refeeding syndrome in ELBW babies in the first two weeks after birth. This research is a secondary cohort analysis of the 434 babies involved in the ProVIDe trial, a multicentre, two-arm, blinded, parallel, randomised controlled trial conducted across 6 New Zealand and 2 Australian neonatal intensive care units. De-identified trial data were retrieved from the ProVIDe database, including routine bloods and study bloods, allowing variables for hypophosphataemia (serum phosphate 2.8 mmol.L⁻¹) to be derived in line with the ProVIDe trial definitions. Ionised calcium concentrations were significantly higher on days 3-5 in babies who had severe hypophosphataemia at the last test (mean time of last test: 4.84 days after birth) compared to those who did not (day 3: 1.42 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.32 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.01); day 4: 1.48 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.38 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.01), and day 5: 1.54 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.39 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001)). Similarly, ionised calcium concentrations were significantly higher on days 3-5 in babies who had refeeding syndrome at the last test compared to those who did not (day 3: 1.42 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.33 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.01); day 4: 1.50 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.37 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.001), and day 5: 1.58 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.39 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001)). However, it was not possible to identify a clinically useful threshold of ionised serum calcium concentration for predicting hypophosphataemia, severe hypophosphataemia, or refeeding syndrome. Phosphate concentrations were significantly lower in the first five days after birth in babies who had hypophosphataemia at the last test compared to those who did not (day 1: 1.58 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.88 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.01); day 2: 1.45 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.79 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.01); day 4: 1.03 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.59 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001), and day 5: 0.89 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.66 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001)). Similarly, phosphate concentrations were significantly lower in the first five days after birth in babies who had severe hypophosphataemia at the last test compared to those who did not (day 1: 1.42 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.77 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001); day 2: 1.32 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.66 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.05); day 3; 0.95 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.41 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.05); day 4: 0.75 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.38 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001), and day 5: 0.68 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.28 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001). In babies who had refeeding syndrome at the last test, their phosphate concentrations were significantly lower compared to babies who did not have refeeding syndrome, on days 4 and 5 after birth (day 4: 0.80 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.30 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.05), and day 5: 0.73 mmol.L⁻¹ vs 1.19 mmol.L⁻¹ (p < 0.0001)). A threshold of phosphate concentration of 1.83 mmol.L⁻¹ on day 0 after birth appears potentially to be clinically useful at predicting future hypophosphataemia, but the small sample size of 12 available serum phosphate concentration results limits the validity of this threshold without confirmation from further, larger studies. Nevertheless, these data indicate that it may be possible to identify babies at risk of hypophosphataemia as early as the first 24 hours after birth, suggesting that monitoring serum concentrations during this interval merits further investigation. These results suggest further research in another large cohort would be useful to validate our results

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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

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    We 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

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We 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 Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902

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    In Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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