1,721,032 research outputs found

    Illicit drugs and cardiac arrhythmias in athletes

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    The current management of athletes with cardiac arrhythmias has become complicated by the widespread use of illicit drugs, which can be arrhythmogenic.The World Anti-Doping Agency annually updates a list of prohibited substances and methods banned by the International Olympic Committee that includes different classes of substances namely, anabolic androgenic steroids, hormones and related substances, β2-agonists, diuretics, stimulants, narcotics, cannabinoids, glucocorticosteroids, alcohol, β-blockers and others. Almost all illicit drugs may cause, through a direct or indirect arrhythmogenic effect, a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias (focal or reentry type, supraventricular and/or ventricular) that can even be lethal and which are frequently sport activity related.A large use of illicit drugs has been documented in competitive athletes, but the arrhythmogenic effect of specific substances is not precisely known. Precipitation of cardiac arrhythmias, particularly in the presence of a latent electrophysiologic substrate including some inherited cardiomyopathies, at risk of sudden death or due to long-term consumption of the substances, should raise the suspicion that illicit drugs may be a possible cause and lead cardiologists to investigate carefully this relationship and appropriately prevent the clinical consequences

    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

    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

    The intriguing problem of atrial fibrillation in competitive athletes

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    Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent cause of prolonged palpitations in young competitive athletes, even including those performing elite sport activity. This arrhythmia may occasionally affect impair athletes' ability to compete thus leading to non-eligibility at prequalification screening. Competitive sport has a significant impact on the autonomous nervous system. In fact, long-term regular intense physical training determines an increase in vagal tone leading to resting bradycardia. During physical activity, particularly in the setting of competition, a marked release of catecholamines occurs as a result of both the intense physical effort and emotional stress. Both of these adaptive phenomena may precipitate AF. Furthermore, in several athletes with AF an association with sick sinus syndrome has been found, even though the pathophysiological basis of this finding is not clear. This picture is further complicated by the increasingly intake of illicit substances, whose arrhythmogenic effect has been shown both at the ventricular and atrial levels. Moreover, the use of recreational drugs, such as amphetamines, ecstasy, alcohol, cannabinoids, cocaine and so called new drugs in clubs has dramatically increased, with several cases of drug-induced arrhythmic events. These effects are often exacerbated by the combined use of different drugs, especially in situations such as sports competitions, in which the adrenergic system is already hyperactivated. No data have been published on the efficacy of antiarrhythmic therapy in athletes with AF, but it has been reported that athletes are more predisposed to the development of pro-arrhythmic effects induced by antiarrhythmic drugs when compared to general population. Most recently, radiofrequency catheter ablation involving electrical disconnection of the pulmonary veins in athletes with AF limiting their normal training activity and participation in sports competitions has proven highly effective to restore stable sinus rhythm and enable subsequent re-eligibility
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