1,721,055 research outputs found
Exploring the ethical issues of digital therapeutics (DTx)
No full textDigital therapeutics (DTx) are innovative evidence-based medical interventions, driven by high-
quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat diseases of patients. DTx are also defined
as “drugs” where algorithms are the active ingredient instead of a chemical or biological
substance. DTX can be used alone or in combination with other devices or medications.
DTxs are finding application in a variety of areas, including chronic diseases (type II diabetes,
hypertension, obesity, insomnia, Alzheimer’s), and above all addictions (alcohol, smoking, and
drugs). Today there are roughly 35 to 40 products on the market, 8 of which approved by
regulatory agencies. The value of the global DTx market has been estimated at USD 1.8 billion in
2018, and it is expected to reach USD 8.9 billion by 2027.
DTx differ from common wellness apps or medication reminder tools in that they require
“rigorous” clinical evidence. However, their use raises a number of ethical concerns. Aim of the
present work is to provide an overview of the main ethical issues pertaining the assessment of this
emerging technology. The final purpose is to support and facilitate an open and transparent
ethical debate with regard to DTx
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe 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
Full text link“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
Full text linkWe 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
Full text linkWe 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
The concept of the mask and the doctor-patient relationship: insights from a (re)reading of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author
No full textThe concept of the mask and the doctor-patient relationship: insights from a (re)reading of Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. The aim of this article is to explore the concept of the "mask" and its relevance within the doctor-patient relationship, as well as within the broader medical-scientific context. The primary reference for this analysis is Luigi Pirandello's work Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921), which embodies universal themes, supplemented by examples from figurative art. What emerges is the patient's necessity, utilizing artistic expression, to narrate their own experiences through a mask that serves as the vessel for their innermost emotions
Il ruolo dei Real World Data (RWD) nell’Health Technology Assessment (HTA). La lezione della filosofia della scienza e del Progetto VALIDATE
No full textBackground
Si afferma spesso che l’HTA debba molto del suo successo al legame con l’Evidence-based Medicine (EBM),
un approccio alla medicina che pone enfasi su un particolare tipo di “evidenza”, ossia quella proveniente
dagli studi randomizzati (RCTs) e le revisioni sistematiche. In tempi recenti, tuttavia, i processi di HTA
sembrano sempre di più incorporare nelle valutazioni dati provenienti da studi non randomizzati e di Real
World Evidence. È un fenomeno preoccupante? L’HTA sta forse abbassando la qualità delle sue indagini? I
report di HTA hanno bisogno necessariamente di dati provenienti da RCTs e revisioni sistematiche per
essere realizzati?
Obiettivi del lavoro
L’obiettivo del lavoro è quello di provare a fornire una risposta a tali quesiti. In particolare, l’obiettivo è
quello di esplicitare, da un punto di vista epistemologico, il ruolo che gli studi non randomizzati e i RWD
possono svolgere nei processi di HTA.
Metodologia del lavoro
L’analisi verrà condotta attraverso un processo di rivisitazione delle principali conclusioni a cui è pervenuta
l’odierna epistemologia della scienza sul tema dell’evidenza e della loro applicazione al campo dell’HTA
nell’ambito del progetto VALIDATE (VAlues in Doing Assessments of healthcare Technologies). Quest’ultima
è una ricerca finanziata dall’Unione Europea nell’ambito del programma Erasmus+ per la formazione della
prossima generazione di esperti nell’HTA. Per l’analisi autori di riferimento saranno coloro i quali hanno
contribuito, a vario titolo, al superamento in ambito filosofico della c.d. dicotomia “fatti-valori” come
Popper, Khun, Duhem, Quine, Gadamer, Habermas e Putman.
Conclusioni
Gli studi randomizzati e RWD non rappresentano una minaccia per l’HTA. Le questioni che accompagnano il
loro uso non sono questioni di legittimità ma di rilevanza
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
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