1,720,983 research outputs found
Risk factors associated with blood pressure variation in sickle cell disease in Cameroon
Get PDFBackground: In SCD patients, studies have shown that increased Blood Pressure (BP) is associated with higher risk of stroke and mortality, even in a range of systolic BP(SBP) and diastolic BP(DBP) that are considered relatively normal for the general population (i.e., lower than 140 mmHg). SCD patients, generally, have lower systolic, diastolic, and mean BP compared to age and sex-matched controls. Relative Systemic Hypertension (RSH) for SCD patients is defined as BP ranging from 120–139/70–89 mmHg, and Systemic Hypertension for SCD patients with BP above 140/90 mmHg. BP may be a potential modulator of clinical severity in SCD patients. BP is a heritable trait with estimates indicating that 30–70% of the trait variance is attributable to genetic variation. A recurrent deleterious and loss of function mutations in genes associated with lowering BP, e.g., variants in CLCN6, have been recently associate with long survival in SCD in Cameroon. Additionally, demographic, biological, and anthropometric factors have been reported to be associated with BP in SCD patients. Understanding the aetiology of BP variation in SCD patients and assessment of up-to-date evidence is key to early prediction of potential BP-related complications in SCD patients. Early prediction of BP-related complications in SCD patients could lead to better prevention and treatment of SCD and its associated causes of mortality. Herein, we investigated (clinical, genetic, and epidemiological) risk factors associated with RSH or Systemic Hypertension in SCD patients in Cameroon to gain insight into the pathophysiology of BP variation in this disease in an African setting. Objectives: 1) A systematic review and meta-analysis on BP variation (Normal, Relative Systemic Hypertension(RSH) and Hypertension) among SCD patients; 2) Investigate clinical and epidemiological risk factors for RSH and Systemic Hypertension in 815 SCD patients in Cameroon; 3) Identification of genetic variants associated to BP variation in SCD patients in Cameroon using a Genome-wide Association study; 4) Functional analysis on pathways and mechanisms underlying BP variation in SCD patients. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis: A protocol was developed and registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), registration number CRD42020168798. A search was conducted on the following electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- analysis (PRISMA) served as a template for reporting the review and meta-analysis. Independently, in collaboration with another reviewer, we screened studies, extracted relevant data, assessed methodological quality and risk of bias on each included study. A retrospective analysis to investigate risk factors associated with RSH or Systemic Hypertension in SCD patients in Cameroon. Participants who had incomplete/out of range BP readings were excluded from this analysis. Categorical variables were compared using Chi squared test or Fisher exact test if the expected count in a cell was less than five while continuous variables were compared according to BP category with the Kruskal–wallis test. Multivariate multinomial logistic regression modelling was used to examine the effects of the demographic, anthropometric, clinical, and laboratory factors to determine the potential independent risk factors for RSH and Systemic Hypertension. A final model was created that included all the predictors and interactions that were significantly associated at the level of P 18 years (P < 0.001), weight (P < 0.001), height (P < 0.001), BMI (P < 0.001), pulse pressure (P = 0.046), creatinine (P < 0.001), eGFR (P < 0.001) and haemoglobin (P = 0.020) . Multivariate analyses found that age [OR = 1.02, (95% CI = 1.01–1.05), P = 0.021], creatinine [OR = 1.310, 95% CI = 1.05–1.63, P = 0.016], BMI [OR = 1.09, (95% CI = 1.03– 1.16), P = 0.002] were independent risk factors for high BP values in SCD patients with RSH compared with SCD patients with normal BP values. Genome-wide analysis and meta-analysis: For SBP, we found two genetic loci including independent and suggestive SNPs. The first locus was found in RP11-727A23.5 on chromosome 11 (rs146072506, P=4.88x10-08), the second locus was found on DLGAP1 gene on chromosome 18 (rs35715722, P=3.408x10-08). Two other SNPs were found in the intergenic regions. For DBP, the only significant SNP was in the intergenic region. Additionally, we found one SNP (rs186536474, p=8.90x10-09) located on GPR39 gene on chromosome 2 with a statistically significant p-value associated with BMI. Identified variants in intergenic regions may play a role in specific genes regulating BP or BMI. The meta-analysis of the Cameroon SCD cohort and Silent Infarct Transfusion Trial (SITT) cohorts, and African American cohort of SCD patients, did not find significant SNPs. After performing genetic analysis and Gene-set analysis with none of the identified genes or gene-set reached a significant threshold. Additionally, tissue expression analysis did not reach significant thresholds. Conclusion: This is the first in-depth investigation of the non-genetic and genetic risk factors associated with BP variation (RSH or Systemic Hypertension) in SCD patients in Africa, i.e., Cameroon. Age, male gender, BMI was found to be statistically significant independently associated factors of RSH and Hypertension in the SCD patients in Cameroon. The GWAS analysis identified a few SNPs which were statistically associated with BP and BMI in Cameroonian SCD patients. These SNPs require follow up studies in larger SCD cohorts. Tailored interventions that consider both genetic and non-genetic risk factors have potential to lead to better management of BP pressure in SCD patients and prevent possibly prevent development of severe SCD complications
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
- …
