1,720,963 research outputs found
Phenomenological, subjective experience and neurobiological aspects of delirium
After briefly considering the main clinical manifestations of delirium, the authors concentrate on some aspects of the experience that is indeed lived during the course of this disorder. The opportunity to understand such experience would appear unlikely, although some debate subsists. The only source of information on the topic seems to be the a posteriori report provided by the patient, which inevitably includes the effects of a distorted recollection of the experience actually lived during delirium. However, such an experience would appear especially interesting and worth analyzing due to the deep psychological and ethological meaning that the contents of the hallucinatory and delusional symptoms seem to have. With regards to the neurobiological aspects involved in delirium, it seems that a decrease in central cholinergic activity causes a disturbance of consciousness, whereas an increase in dopaminergic activity appears to be responsible for the clinical manifestations of “hyperactivity” (hallucinations, delusions, insomnia, psychomotor agitation etc...) observed during the disorder. Lastly, the results of recent studies on the pathophysiology of delirium have led to new perspectives which appear to be especially promising from both the heuristic and therapeutic points of view. In fact, it seems that changes in the levels of some cytokines are involved in the pathophysiology of the disorder and that some endogenous substances, such as insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and somatostatin play a neuroprotective role and likely possess therapeutic properties in treating delirium
Gender identity disorder and reassignment procedures. The moment of sex reassignment surgery: a clinical research
Objective. The aim of this paper is to analyze the moment of sex reassignment surgery in individuals with gender identity disorder. Material and methods. During a period of seven months, the subjects undergoing sex reassignment surgery at the Urological Clinic of the Hospital of Cattinara of the University of Trieste (7 individuals, average age 40, all maleto-female subjects), participated in a semi-structured questionnaire interview and completed the Machover Test used in an atypical way, three-four days after the operation. Results. All the subjects demonstrated a negatory attitude to the anxieties and suffering related to the surgery, but these feelings were present at an unconscious level as revealed by the dreams told by the patients. Very little attention was given to body's concreteness and this was especially evident in the results of the Machover Test. The emotional dimension immediately after the sex reassignment surgery was euphoric, almost manic. All the subjects stated they were pleased and they did not regret at all undergoing the operation. Conclusions. These initial results confirm that sex reassignment surgery is an appropriate therapy for gender identity disorder and they underline the necessity of doing a follow-up study on the same patients
Un percorso stressante: la diagnosi differenziale tra Disturbo Psichiatrico e Condizione Medica
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
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