1,720,969 research outputs found
Antibiotic prescriptions to adults with acute respiratory tract infections by Italian general practitioners
No full textAida Bianco, Rosa Papadopoli, Valentina Mascaro, Claudia Pileggi, Maria Pavia Department of Health Sciences, Medical School, University of Catanzaro “Magna Græcia”, Catanzaro, Italy Purpose: The overuse, misuse, and underuse of antimicrobial agents often lead to the spread of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. The aim of our study was to describe the pattern of antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory tract infections (RTIs) among the adult population and the factors associated with antibiotic prescribing. Patients and methods: The study involved patients who visited a general practitioner with suspected acute RTI. Patients with diagnosis of acute sinusitis, acute pharyngitis, acute bronchitis, and influenza were included in the study. We evaluated the presence of an indication for antibiotic therapy for selected diseases according to international guidelines. The appropriateness of any prescribed molecule was also evaluated. Results: A total of 1,979 cases of acute RTIs were included: 1,196 (60.4%) pharyngitis, 359 (18.2%) bronchitis, 234 (11.8%) influenza, and 190 (9.6%) sinusitis. An antibiotic prescription was given in 67.3% of the consultations and was not indicated by the guidelines in 66.5% of the total RTIs. Macrolides were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics accounting for 32.5% of all those prescribed, followed by amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (31.1%) and fluoroquinolones (14.2%). The highest overprescription was associated with pharyngitis (65.9%) and the lowest with influenza (4.9%). A throat swab was performed only in 11 of all the patients with a diagnosis of acute pharyngitis. Conclusion: The present study showed a very high frequency of nonevidence-based prescription of antibiotics at the primary care level. Future improvement programs should focus on development of evidence-based guidelines, access to postgraduate training, and better availability of diagnostic tools. Keywords: antibiotic prescribing, appropriateness, general practitioner, primary care, respiratory tract infections, Ital
Parent perspectives on childhood vaccination: how to deal with vaccine hesitancy and refusal?
No full textImmunogenicity and safety of intradermal influenza vaccine in the elderly: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
No full textOver-the-counter drugs and complementary medications use among children in Southern Italy
Full text linkHPV vaccination coverage and willingness to be vaccinated among 18-30 year-old students in Italy
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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
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