1,354,088 research outputs found

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    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

    Prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli strains simultaneously isolated from humans, animals, food, and the environment: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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    Ali Pormohammad,1 Mohammad Javad Nasiri,2 Taher Azimi2,31Student Research Committee, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranBackground: Antimicrobial resistance is a serious public health problem worldwide. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli strains simultaneously isolated from humans, animals, food, and the environment.Methods: Studies on PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library published from January 1, 2000 to January 1, 2018 were searched. The quality of the included studies was assessed by the modified critical appraisal checklist recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute. All analyses were conducted using Biostat’s Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2.0. Depending on the heterogeneity test for each antibiotic, we used a random- or fixed-effect model for pooled prevalence of drug resistance. Studies were eligible if they had investigated and reported resistance in two or more isolation sources (human, animal, food, or environment). To decrease heterogeneity and bias, we excluded studies that had reported E. coli drug resistance isolated from one source only. We included publications that reported drug resistance with minimum inhibitory concentration or disk diffusion method (DDM) as antibiotic-susceptibility tests.Results: Of the 39 included studies, 20 used the DDM and 19 minimum inhibitory concentration for their antibiotic-susceptibility testing. Colistin had the lowest prevalence, with 0.8% (95% CI 0.2%–3.8%) and amoxicillin the highest, with 70.5% (95% CI 57.5%–81%) in isolated human E. coli strains tested with the DDM. To assess historical changes in antimicrobial drug resistance, subgroup analysis from 2000 to 2018 showed a significant increase in ciprofloxacin resistance.Conclusion: Monitoring and evaluating antibiotic-sensitivity patterns and preparation of reliable antibiotic strategies may lead to better outcomes for inhibition and control of E. coli infections in different regions of the world.Keywords: antibiotic, drug resistance, Escherichia col

    Variations on the Author

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    “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

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    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

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    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

    Author, publisher and bookseller : a tripartite synergy in Nigerian book industry

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    This work is about the roles of Author, Publisher and Bookseller in Book development in Nigeria. The paper started by delving into the history of Book Publishing in Nigeria after which it proceeded by defining who an author, a publisher, and a bookseller is and expatiated on the indispensable roles of these key actors in Nigerian Book Industry and in the emerging Information Society. Furthermore, the various constraints to book development were identified while the paper advised on how the Book Industry can be further promoted in Nigeria. However, the paper concluded and made recommendations on how the Book sector can help in enhancing scholarship in the country

    The Thursday Murder Club: Launching a megabrand author - a publishing case study

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    In 2020, the Christmas book charts in the UK made headlines: Barack Obama’s eagerly awaited autobiography, The Promised Land, was beaten to the top spot by The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, a debut cosy crime novel set in a retirement village. Not only did Osman’s book beat the former US president’s expected bestseller, it also broke records, becoming the fastest-selling debut crime novel of all time. Although Osman has a certain level of fame in the UK from his TV appearances on shows such as Pointless, his celebrity status does not entirely explain the novel’s huge sales. This article tracks the acquisition, publication, and promotion journey of The Thursday Murder Club in order to understand the industry and cultural context of its success and to interrogate the role of celebrity in the creation of author brands. The findings suggest that the unexpected scale of the success of the book owed to a number of factors, including in-depth editing by the novel’s agent, editor, and author to tighten up the plot, an extensive and strategic promotional campaign, the pandemic (which drove interest in the book’s genre and themes), and the quality of the writing. We find that the book’s success was accentuated by Osman’s celebrity status rather than being entirely reliant on it. This research adds to the growing scholarship on celebrity authorship by means of an in-depth case study and provides insight into the processes behind publishing a ‘celebrity’ book and launching a megabrand author

    Latent tuberculosis infection in transplant candidates: a systematic review and meta-analysis on TST and IGRA

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    Introduction: The diagnostic accuracy of interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) and the tuberculin skin test (TST) for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in transplant candidates is uncertain. Methods: Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane library were searched to identify relevant studies. Quality of included studies was assessed with RevMan5 software (via GUADAS2 checklist). Accuracy measures of IGRAs and TST assays (sensitivity, specificity and others) were pooled with random effects model. Data were analyzed by STATA and Meta-DiSc. Results: Twenty-eight studies were selected for full review, and 16 were included in the final analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR) and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) for TST were 46% [95% confidence interval (CI) 38–54%], 86% (95% CI 75–93%), 46.3% (95% CI 40–52), 88.7% (95% CI 87–89), 3.3 (95% CI 1.6–6.4), 0.63 (95% CI 0.52–0.77) and 5 (95% CI 2–12), respectively. For QFT-G, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 58% (95% CI 41–73%), 89% (95% CI 77–95%), 72.7% (95% CI 68–76), 80.6% (95% CI 78–82), 5.3 (95% CI 2.0–14.0), 0.47 (95% CI 0.30–0.75) and 11 (95% CI 3–46), respectively. Likewise, for T-SPOT.TB, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, PLR, NLR, and DOR were 55% (95% CI 40–70%), 92% (95% CI 87–95%), 60.4% (95% CI 47–72), 90.2% (95% CI 86–92), 6.7 (95% CI 4.0–11.1), 0.52 (95% CI 0.31–0.85) and 16 (95% CI 7–37), respectively. Conclusions: IGRAs were more sensitive and specific than the TST with regard to the diagnosis of LTBI in the transplant candidates. They have added value and can be complementary to TST

    Insights into the synergistic antibacterial activity of silver nitrate with potassium tellurite against pseudomonas aeruginosa

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    The constant, ever-increasing antibiotic resistance crisis leads to the announcement of "urgent, novel antibiotics needed" by the World Health Organization. Our previous works showed a promising synergistic antibacterial activity of silver nitrate with potassium tellurite out of thousands of other metal/metalloid-based antibacterial combinations. The silver-tellurite combined treatment not only is more effective than common antibiotics but also prevents bacterial recovery, decreases the risk of future resistance chance, and decreases the effective concentrations. We demonstrate that the silver-tellurite combination is effective against clinical isolates. Further, this study was conducted to address knowledge gaps in the available data on the antibacterial mechanism of both silver and tellurite, as well as to give insight into how the mixture provides synergism as a combination. Here, we defined the differentially expressed gene profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa under silver, tellurite, and silver-tellurite combination stress using an RNA sequencing approach to examine the global transcriptional changes in the challenged cultures grown in simulated wound fluid. The study was complemented with metabolomics and biochemistry assays. Both metal ions mainly affected four cellular processes, including sulfur homeostasis, reactive oxygen species response, energy pathways, and the bacterial cell membrane (for silver). Using a Caenorhabditis elegans animal model we showed silver-tellurite has reduced toxicity over individual metal/metalloid salts and provides increased antioxidant properties to the host. This work demonstrates that the addition of tellurite would improve the efficacy of silver in biomedical applications.IMPORTANCE Metals and/or metalloids could represent antimicrobial alternatives for industrial and clinical applications (e.g., surface coatings, livestock, and topical infection control) because of their great properties, such as good stability and long half-life. Silver is the most common antimicrobial metal, but resistance prevalence is high, and it can be toxic to the host above a certain concentration. We found that a silver-tellurite composition has antibacterial synergistic effect and that the combination is beneficial to the host. So, the efficacy and application of silver could increase by adding tellurite in the recommended concentration(s). We used different methods to evaluate the mechanism for how this combination can be so incredibly synergistic, leading to efficacy against antibiotic- and silver-resistant isolates. Our two main findings are that (i) both silver and tellurite mostly target the same pathways and (ii) the coapplication of silver with tellurite tends not to target new pathways but targets the same pathways with an amplified change.Metals and/or metalloids could represent antimicrobial alternatives for industrial and clinical applications (e.g., surface coatings, livestock, and topical infection control) because of their great properties, such as good stability and long half-life. Silver is the most common antimicrobial metal, but resistance prevalence is high, and it can be toxic to the host above a certain concentration

    Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902

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    In 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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