1,721,011 research outputs found
Analysis of the positivity rate in IgE positive patients to food allergens in Verona hospital laboratory during 2003
No full textBackground: It has been known for some time now that reactions to allergens, not only those inhaled but also those in food, varies with age in atopical patients. Objective: To evaluate the specific IgE positivity percentage in order to improve laboratory diagnosis in subjects with suspected food allergy. Methods: The positivity percentages of specific IgE were analysed (UniCAPIOO-Pharmacia) taking into consideration the two age brackets of below and above 12 years. The below 12 years age bracket was then further divided into pre-school age (3-5 years) and school age (6-12 years). Results: By measuring the simple positivity percentage for specific IgE to food allergens, there is a clear decrease as the child matures in reactions to milk and eggs and an increase towards food IgEs that cross-react with grass and tree pollens or other inhaled allergens like moulds and mites. Conclusion: It will be necessary in the future to have the diagnostic means to identify this cross-reaction problem by using recombinant allergens that can demonstrate the combined reaction between inhaled and food allergens
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
Extensive carrier testing and CF birth prevalence: evidence for a negative correlation
Full text linkAim of the study was to evaluate if extensive CF carrier testing may be connected
with the progressive decrease of CF birth incidence recorded in North Eastern Italy.
From 1993 to 2007 an average 52,000 newborns per year underwent Neonatal
Screening (NS), and 198 newborns with CF were detected (1/3937). A time related
contraction in birth prevalence was confirmed, with an average annual percent
decrease of 0.15 per 10,000 neonates (Poisson regression analysis p 0.003). In
the NS area two sections were identified: the Western Region (WR), where CF
carrier testing is not offered to couples from the general population, and the
Eastern Region (ER), where CF carrier testing is widely offered to couples from
the general population. In ER from 1995 to 2007 such testing practice has been
steadily expanding, with a total of 87,721 CF carrier tests performed, 3460 carriers
identified, and 238 carrier couples detected (data collection in progress). The
prevalence of CF decreased by time (p<0.001) but the rate of decrease was more
enhanced in ER as suggested by the existence of a statistically significant (p = 0.014)
interaction term between time and region in the Poisson regression model. The
overall negative trend in North Eastern Italy is due to a contraction of CF births
in its Eastern part. In ER a negative correlation was found between CF incidence
and the number of carrier tests (p 0.012). Prenatal diagnosis data collection is in
progress. These data support the hypothesis that carrier screening may modify the
incidence of CF
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
Effect of high-dose steroid therapy on T-cell subpopulations. A longitudinal study in MS patients.
No full textEvaluation of four portable self-monitoring blood glucose meters.
No full textSelf-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) is a cornerstone of diabetes care. However, the effectiveness of any glucose-monitoring programme depends on the ability to integrate SMBG into a program of self-care and therapeutic decision-making. Because the accuracy of SMBG is instrument dependent, we analysed 45 heparinized whole blood specimens using four marketed portable glucose meters to evaluate whether their precision and accuracy would be efficient and safe for clinical use. All measurements were standardized and performed by a single expert health-care professional at the same clinical chemistry laboratory. Results were compared with those obtained on the same plasma samples by the hexokinase method on a secondary reference analyser and further analysed according to the error tolerance criteria and the current American Diabetes Association (ADA), Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), and National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) guidelines. The within-run imprecision ranged from 2.2% to 3.2%. Passing and Bablok regression analysis yielded slope values from 0.93 to 1.07 and correlation coefficients between 0.994 and 0.998. When compared with the secondary reference analyser, mean variations were between -4.9% and 14.1%, fulfilling in three out of four cases the 5.5% current desirable analytical quality specifications for total error. Nevertheless, when considering the two standard deviations level of this bias, several results exceeded this limit. Although three out of four devices tested achieved or came closer to the NCCLS C30-A2, CLIA and error tolerance targets, none of them met the current analytical ADA thresholds. Despite the acceptable analytical performances, we demonstrated that standardization and harmonization of results in SMBG have not been fully achieved. © 2006 The Association for Clinical Biochemistry
[Early diagnosis of myocardial infarct: value of the combined use of creatine kinase and MB isoenzyme determinations].
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