1,720,953 research outputs found
Microbial, metabolic and molecular determinants of neonatal mortality in the rural areas of Limpopo Province, South Africa: umblical cord blood metabolomic profile and bacterial anaysis and their association with perinatal complications
No full textM.Sc. (Microbiology)Department of Biochemistry and MicrobiologyBACKGROUND: Neonatal mortality continues to pose a substantial public health challenge globally,
particularly in developing countries. Some primary contributors are microbial infections, adverse
pregnancy and birth outcomes (APBOs), and labor or obstetric complications. Despite this recognition,
the underlying molecular mechanisms of these infections and perinatal complications are poorly
understood. Interestingly, microbial and metabolomic approaches have emerged as effective techniques
for the early detection and identification of biomarkers for microbial infections and perinatal
complications, shedding more light on understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of these
adverse outcomes. Hence, this study employed microbial analysis (through 16S rRNA PCR assay and
antibiotic susceptibility test profiling) and metabolomic profiling of umbilical cord blood to identify
potential biomarkers for perinatal complications.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study utilizing purposive sampling was conducted at selected district
hospitals in the Vhembe district from May 2023 to September 2023. Following participants' consent,
questionnaires were used for data collection and umbilical cord blood samples were collected from 129
participants. Blood culture was done, and antibiotic susceptibility testing was conducted on the isolates.
Additionally, genomic DNA was isolated from the blood samples for the detection of pathogenic bacterial
strains, using a conventional PCR assay. Untargeted metabolomic profiling approach using Liquid
Chromatography-Quadrupole-Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-q-tof-MS) was conducted. The data
were entered into REDCap and exported to IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)
software, version 26, for analysis. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were
conducted, with statistical significance set at a p-value less than 0.05 at a 95% confidence level. For
metabolomic analysis, multivariate analysis approaches were employed to identify signals that differed
between perinatal complications and uncomplicated pregnancies. Metabolic pathway analysis of perturbed
metabolites was conducted using MetaboAnalyst 6.0.
RESULTS: Among 129 participants, the overall occurrence of perinatal complications stood at 35/129
(27.13%). The majority of participants, accounting for 55/129 (42.64%), fell within the age range of 20 to
29 years, while a significant portion (83.7%), were unemployed. Factors such as maternal age, birth
weight, maternal blood pressure, anesthesia use, and delivery mode showed associations with perinatal
complication risk, with corresponding P-values of 0.032, 0.027, 0.041, <0.001, and <0.001, respectively.
Additionally, bloodstream infection (bacteremia) prevalence, as detected by culture-dependent and 16S
rRNA PCR assays, was recorded at 30.23% and 26.36%, respectively. The majority of culture-confirmed
bacterial isolates (58.06%) were gram-positive, with S. epidermidis (36.73%) and S. aureus (20.43%)
being the predominant strains. Notably, E. coli infections showed a significant association with perinatal
complications (P = 0.001). Bloodstream infection (Bacteremia) correlated significantly with maternal
educational level, maternal blood pressure at birth, gestational booking stage, and pre-pregnancy BMI.
Most culture-confirmed isolates exhibited high levels of antibiotic resistance to ampicillin, ceftazidime,
and cefoxitin, while gentamicin, imipenem, amikacin, and ciprofloxacin proved effective against both
gram-positive and gram-negative isolates. Furthermore, 93.38% of the tested isolates displayed multidrug
resistance (MDR). Through untargeted metabolomic profiling analysis and multivariate analysis using the
orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model, 107 metabolites were identified,
showcasing differences between perinatal complications and uncomplicated pregnancies. Among the 107
perturbed metabolites, univariate analysis highlighted 50 upregulated and 57 downregulated metabolites
in perinatal complications at P<0.05. Furthermore, the affected metabolic pathways, including ethyl lipid
metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism, were identified as
statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: Our study revealed a high occurrence rate of perinatal complications (25.58%), with
maternal high blood pressure, maternal age (10-19 years), low birth weight, delivery mode, and anesthesia
for C-sections identified as significant contributors. Proactive healthcare interventions during antenatal
care visits are crucial to minimize complications. Additionally, when looking at microbial analysis, there
was no significant association between bacteremia and perinatal complications but highlighted a higher
prevalence of bloodstream infections, linked to factors like maternal education level and BMI.
Furthermore, upon conducting metabolic profiling, it was evident that specific umbilical cord blood
processes were closely associated with perinatal complications, indicating their potential as biomarkers
for assessment, prediction, and early intervention strategies.NR
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn 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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