1,720,974 research outputs found
Glycemic control in the clinical management of diabetic patients
In clinical practice, glycemic control is generally assessed by measuring and interpreting glycated hemoglobin levels, however, this test should be run under standardized conditions. We focus here on the crucial steps to ensure IFCC standardized HbA 1c results, pointing out several residual weak points, mostly relating to the laboratory end-user (calibration, quality control materials, and EQAS). We also review the use of HbA 1c for diagnosing diabetes and the various indicators useful for assessing glucose variability because in some cases they seem to represent a patient ' s glucose profile more accurately than one-off HbA 1c assays. Finally, the potential utility of glycated albumin and the glycation gap, the costs involved and the laboratory management issues are briefly discussed
The analytical goals for hemoglobin A1c measurement in IFCC units and National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program units are different
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
“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
We 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
Glucose meters : fit for clinical purpose
Glucose meters have improved considerably since they were first introduced in 1960, but many questions are being asked about their accuracy and reliability in certain clinical situations. These questions have arisen because of the widespread use of these meters into clinical areas they have not been designed for such as critical care. The lack of understanding by some health professionals on factors that affect glucose results, such as sample type, glucose test strip methodologic limitations, calibration to recognized reference methods, and interferences, leads to misleading results that may affect patient care. Much debate continues on the quality specifications for glucose meters. Because there is an extensive use of these meters in different clinical scenarios, the setting of quality specifications will remain a challenge for regulatory and professional organizations. In this article, we have attempted to collect and provide rele vant information addressing the limitations above. Pivotal to obtaining the best quality of results is education, parti cularly for diabetic patients monitoring their glucose. The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine through its Point-of-Care Testing Task Force and its Working Group on Glucose Point-of-Care Testing is actively working toward improving the quality of glucose results by improving education and working with the industry to improve strip performance and work toward the better standardization of strips
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We 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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