1,721,043 research outputs found
Factors Affecting the Implementation Process of Pertussis [Tdap] Immunization in Pregnant Women in an Italian Region: A Qualitative Study
Full text linkWhooping cough (pertussis) represents one of the most prevalent vaccine-preventable diseases in Western countries, capable of causing disease in infants, with a high risk of severe complications. To protect new-borns from pertussis, many countries have introduced the acellular pertussis adult vaccine in combination with tetanus and diphtheria toxoids for women in the third trimester of pregnancy. Thanks to the approval of the new National Immunization Prevention Plan 2017–2019: Italy is among those countries. The Italian health-care system is a regionally based National Health Service, therefore, regions organize and implement new vaccination strategy on their own. This study focuses on Tuscany's experience in implementing the maternal pertussis vaccination. The present study had a qualitative design: we obtained information about the implementation process through interviews with relevant stakeholders involved in the planning or implementation of vaccination programme at different levels. We noticed heterogeneous implementation's status between Tuscan Health Care Departments. The most frequently reported barriers influencing the success of the implementation process of this prevention strategy included: lack of accountability, lack of enabling instruments, financial constraints, logistics barriers, training deficiencies, attitudes of health care workers, and lack of communication experts. The implementation of new vaccination programs is complex and challenging. Often the importance of education and information activities targeting health professionals are underestimated and underfunded. These elements would need to be carefully considered and adequate provisions should be made to address them when designing and implementing effective vaccine interventions
Knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning pertussis maternal immunization in a sample of Italian gynaecologists
No full textInfants are at risk of developing serious diseases as a consequence of pertussis infection. Thus, to protect newborns, many countries, including Italy, have introduced pertussis maternal immunization. However, despite the compelling evidence supporting Tdap vaccinations, the rates of coverage among Italian pregnant women have remained consistently very low. Numerous studies have shown that healthcare providers’ recommendations are critical for achieving high maternal vaccination coverages. This study explores Italian gynecologists’ knowledge, attitude and practices concerning pertussis maternal immunization. Between July 2018 and September 2018, we performed a national cross-sectional survey administered by e-mail using the mailing list of the Association of Italian Hospital Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AOGOI): the mailing list included more than 3500 members. A total of 451 respondents distributed throughout Italy completed the online survey. Overall, 275 (60.97%) respondents did not routinely recommend pertussis vaccination to pregnant women, mainly for suboptimal knowledge of the maternal pertussis vaccine, protocols, and guidelines: furthermore, 15.44% (69/447) of gynecologists were not aware of the pertussis vaccination program for pregnant women. Gynecologists working in the South or in the Islands of Italy were less aware about the need of administering Tdap in expectant mothers, suggesting that there is a potential risk of health inequalities based on differing levels of vaccine knowledge and recommendations across Italy. In order to enable healthcare professionals to provide accurate and timely information on pertussis immunization to pregnant women, targeted educational programs to improve gynecologists’ knowledge on pertussis vaccination are needed
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
One drug and two diseases: A case of multidrug-resistant hidradenitis suppurativa and psoriasis treated with apremilast
No full textHidradenitis suppurativa and psoriasis are chronic inflammatory skin disorders. The onset of these pathologies is due to the interaction between genetic, environmental, and immunological factors making them classifiable as immuno-mediated inflammatory diseases, deriving from immunological deregulation. The coexistence of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) and psoriasis in the same patient is rare and choosing the right therapy to treat both the conditions can be challenging. Here, we report the case of a patient affected by multidrug-resistant psoriasis and HS who reached a complete healing with apremilast, suggesting its possible therapeutic role in patients showing both the diseases
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
The dark side of gefitinib: reflectance confocal microscopy applied to hair hyperpigmentation
No full textAppropriate 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
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