126,937 research outputs found
Fluoxetine as disease modifying treatment in multiple sclerosis : rationale, evaluation of the use of MRI to monitor treatment, and preliminary findings
No full textPatients with multiple sclerosis (MS) lack astrocytic β2-adrenergic receptors and this may contribute to the focal inflammatory demyelinating lesions and axonal degeneration that characterize this disease. We hypothesized that the antidepressant fluoxetine might be able to compensate for the loss of the β2-adrenergic receptors. In this thesis we evaluated the use of cerebral MRI scans to monitor disease activity and we performed several exploratory studies to evaluate effects of fluoxetine on patients with MS.
A convenient way to find out whether a drug is able to reduce disease activity in MS is by measuring the development of new focal lesions on serial MRI scans of the brain.
MS patients who received fluoxetine during 6 months had a trend towards the development of less new focal lesions compared to patients receiving placebo. To assess whether preventing new lesions formation reduces disability on the long term, we studied the relationship between the focal (T2) lesions and disease progression. The number of focal lesions predicted progression of disability and conversion to a progressive disease course in patients with relapsing remitting MS. However, once patients had entered the progressive phase, T2 lesions were no longer predictive for further progression of disability. In another study, we found that 2 weeks use of fluoxetine resulted in an increase in NAA/Cr (a marker of axonal function) in the white matter of MS patients.
These preliminary studies suggest that fluoxetine reduces new focal lesion formation and may improve axonal metabolism in MS patients.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
A network perspective on adult ADHD
No full textContains fulltext :
157658.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) is often associated with very active children. However, when these children become adults many still experience symptoms of inattentiveness and high impulsivity. Little is currently known about what causes ADHD in adulthood. Cognitive functions such as attention rely on several brain regions that together form functional networks. Jeanette Mostert investigated whether the symptoms of adults with ADHD can be explained by reduced communication within functional brain networks. She found that hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms are associated with stronger coherence within one of the investigated networks. This network is important for controlling emotions and inhibiting automatic responses. However, this does not explain the symptoms of all adults with ADHD, due to large inter-individual differences. Jeanette Mostert therefore separated the adults into subgroups based on their cognitive functioning. While some adults with ADHD performed poorly on memory tasks, others showed highly impulsive responding. This provides novel insides into the variation between individuals with the same diagnosis. Future research should therefore be focussed on individual differences in order to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie adult ADHD. This is the first step towards a more personalised treatment of ADHD.RU Radboud Universiteit, 10 juni 2016Promotores : Franke, B., Norris, D.G
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe 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
Improved heat tolerance in air drives the recurrent evolution of air-breathing
No full textThe transition to air-breathing by formerly aquatic species has occurred repeatedly and independently in fish, crabs and other animal phyla, but the proximate drivers of this key innovation remain a long-standing puzzle in evolutionary biology. Most studies attribute the onset of air-breathing to the repeated occurrence of aquatic hypoxia; however, this hypothesis leaves the current geographical distribution of the 300 genera of air-breathing crabs unexplained. Here, we show that their occurrence is mainly related to high environmental temperatures in the tropics. We also demonstrate in an amphibious crab that the reduced cost of oxygen supply in air extends aerobic performance to higher temperatures and thus widens the animal's thermal niche. These findings suggest that high water temperature as a driver consistently explains the numerous times air-breathing has evolved. The data also indicate a central role for oxygenand capacity-limited thermal tolerance not only in shaping sensitivity to current climate change but also in underpinning the climate-dependent evolution of animals, in this case the evolution of air-breathing. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.link_to_subscribed_fulltex
Pragmatic Case Studies as a Source of Unity in Applied Psychology
No full textTo unify or not to unify applied psychology: that is the question. In this article we review pendulum swings in the historical efforts to answer this question—from a comprehensive, positivist, “top-down,” deductive yes between the 1930s and the early 60s, to a postmodern no since then. A rationale and proposal for a limited, “bottom-up,” inductive yes in applied psychology is then presented, employing a case-based paradigm that integrates both positivist and postmodern themes and components. This paradigm is labeled “pragmatic psychology” and, its specific use of case studies, the “Pragmatic Case Study Method” (“PCS Method”). We call for the creation of peer-reviewed journal-databases of pragmatic case studies as a foundational source of unifying applied knowledge in our discipline. As one example, the potential of the PCS Method for unifying different angles of theoretical regard is illustrated in an area of applied psychology, psychotherapy, via the case of Mrs. B. The article then turns to the broader historical and epistemological arguments for the unifying nature of the PCS Method in both applied and basic psychology.Peer reviewe
Prioritising bird species of special concern for monitoring and conservation action in protected areas Esther Anna Mostert.
No full textIncludes abstract.This thesis focused on developing an approach for prioritising Bird Species of Special Concern for conservation and monitoring action within the South African National Parks (SANParks). SANParks is in the process of developing a Species of Special Concern Monitoring Programme (SSC MP) which forms part of the larger SANParks Biodiversity Monitoring System. Birds are known to be good indicators of biodiversity for a number of reasons
Dr. Edwin Wright Collection: Author Unknown
No full textNotes - The author relates several short stories about his neighbours including Alex McDonell, homesteading and life around Meanook and Athabasca (1 page
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(B0→K∗0γ )/B(B0s→φγ ) and the directCP asymmetry inB 0→K∗0γ
No full textThe ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0→K⁎0γ and B0s→ϕγ has been measured using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 of pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=7TeV. The value obtained is
B(B0→K⁎0γ)B(B0s→ϕγ)=1.23±0.06(stat.)±0.04(syst.)±0.10(fs/fd),
where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is the experimental systematic uncertainty and the third is associated with the ratio of fragmentation fractions fs/fd. Using the world average value for B(B0→K⁎0γ), the branching fraction B(B0s→ϕγ) is measured to be (3.5±0.4)×10−5.
The direct CP asymmetry in B0→K⁎0γ decays has also been measured with the same data and found to be
ACP(B0→K⁎0γ)=(0.8±1.7(stat.)±0.9(syst.))%.
Both measurements are the most precise to date and are in agreement with the previous experimental results and theoretical expectations
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