1,720,981 research outputs found
Diesel exhaust and wood smoke : mechanisms, inflammation and intervention
No full textBackground Particulate matter (PM) air pollution is associated with increased respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Diesel engine exhaust (DE) and wood combustion are major contributors to ambient air pollution and adverse health effects. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the fate of inhaled combustion-derived PM, the subsequent effects on pulmonary inflammation and symptomatology and to explore the potential for particle filters to improve public health. Additionally, it aimed at increasing the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the adverse vascular effects of PM inhalation in man. Methods In study I, lung deposition of wood smoke-derived particulates from incomplete combustion was determined in healthy and COPD subjects. In study II, airway inflammation was assessed in healthy subjects exposed to wood smoke and filtered air. In study III, vehicle cabin air inlet filters were evaluated regarding filtering capacity for DE and whether they affected the toxicological potential of the filtered PM. Healthy subjects were then exposed to filtered air and unfiltered DE, as well as DE filtered through two selected filters. In study IV, healthy subjects were exposed to filtered air and DE. Nitric oxide bioavailability was assessed by plethysmography in the presence of an NO clamp (NO synthase inhibitor NG-monomethyl locally and systemically administered) with measurements of arterial stiffness, cardiac output and blood pressure (BP). Results Study I: The total PM number deposition fraction of the wood smoke was 0.32 and 0.35 for healthy and COPD subjects respectively. Study II: Inhalation of wood smoke caused CD3+ and mast cell infiltration in the bronchial submucosa along with CD8+ cell recruitment to the epithelium. In bronchial wash, inflammatory cells, myeloperoxidase and matrix metalloproteinase 9 levels decreased. Study III: An efficient cabin air filter with an active charcoal component was most favourable in in-vitro tests and reduced symptoms in the human exposure study. Study IV: Local NO synthase inhibition caused similar vasoconstriction after exposure to DE and filtered air, along with an increase in plasma nitrate concentrations, suggesting an increase in the basal NO release due to oxidative stress. Systemic NO synthase inhibition increased arterial stiffness and blood pressure after DE exposure along with an increase in systemic vascular resistance and reduced cardiac output, implying that the increased basal NO release could not compensate for the reduced NO bioavailability in the conduit vessels. Conclusion Wood smoke particles from incomplete combustion tend to have a greater airway deposition than particles from better combustion. The airway inflammatory responses to the former particles differ from what have been shown for other PM pollutants, which may be of importance for subsequent health effects. The vasomotor dysfunction shown after DE exposure may largely be explained by reduced NO bioavailability. A vehicle cabin air inlet particle filter with active charcoal was effective to reduce DE exposure and subsequent symptoms. This may conceptually be of benefit when it comes to decreasing engine exhaust-related adverse health effects
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
Exposure to source-specific air pollution in residential areas and its association with dementia incidence : a cohort study in Northern Sweden
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between source-specific ambient particulate air pollution concentrations and the incidence of dementia. The study encompassed 70,057 participants from the Västerbotten intervention program cohort in Northern Sweden with a median age of 40 years at baseline. High-resolution dispersion models were employed to estimate source-specific particulate matter (PM) concentrations, such as PM10 and PM2.5 from traffic, exhaust, and biomass (mainly wood) burning, at the residential addresses of each participant. Cox regression models, adjusted for potential confounding factors, were used for the assessment. Over 884,847 person-years of follow-up, 409 incident dementia cases, identified through national registers, were observed. The study population’s average exposure to annual mean total PM10 and PM2.5 lag 1–5 years was 9.50 µg/m3 and 5.61 µg/m3, respectively. Increased risks were identified for PM10-Traffic (35% [95% CI 0–82%]) and PM2.5-Exhaust (33% [95% CI − 2 to 79%]) in the second exposure tertile for lag 1–5 years, although no such risks were observed in the third tertile. Interestingly, a negative association was observed between PM2.5-Wood burning and the risk of dementia. In summary, this register-based study did not conclusively establish a strong association between air pollution exposure and the incidence of dementia. While some evidence indicated elevated risks for PM10-Traffic and PM2.5-Exhaust, and conversely, a negative association for PM2.5-Wood burning, no clear exposure–response relationships were evident
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
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