1,721,127 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

    The Ethics of Pain Clinical Trials on Persons Lacking Judgment Ability: Much to Improve

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    AIM: People lacking judgmental ability (newborn infants [NIs] and persons with mental impairment [PMI]) are reported to receive less analgesic treatments than people who can give adequate informed consent. We performed the present study to assess whether this also happens in clinical trials that should statutorily guarantee basic patients' rights. We examined those trials in which patients undergo painful minor procedures (PMP) because these procedures are frequent and severely stressful for NI and PMI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a Medline search to retrieve the studies published in 2009 and 2010, in which NI and PMI underwent PMP. RESULTS: We retrieved 46 studies that exposed NI to PMP; only in 14.2% of the studies, a validated analgesic treatment was administered to the control group. We retrieved only one article where PMP was performed in PMI for clinical reasons (venipuncture); in 13 more studies, pain was experimentally provoked by noxious stimuli such as heat, electricity, or arm mobilization. All these studies were not performed to evaluate a possible analgesic strategy but to assess PMI's pain responsiveness and no analgesia was used. CONCLUSION: PMI and NI enrolled in clinical trials as controls rarely receive analgesia; and few studies exist to find out analgesic treatments shaped on PMI's exigencies. These data raise concern about the actual guarantees for persons lacking judgmental ability enrolled in potentially painful trials. We also recommend more effort to find out analgesic treatments tailored to the specific exigencies of PMI

    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

    Intracranial and intraspinal hemorrhage following spinal anesthesia

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    Spinal anesthesia (SA), accounting for more than 50% of regional anesthesias in the spinal region, is generally perceived as simple and safe. Our purpose is to increase awareness of hemorrhagic complications following SA. A 69-year-old male without either coagulation disorders or anticoagulant/antiplatelet therapy developed acute radiculopathy, and severe mental confusion after SA for prostatectomy. CT showed intracranial subarachnoid and intraventricular acute hemorrhage. Cerebral angiography was negative. MRI showed subarachnoid and subdural hematoma in the dorsolumbar spine. Seven-year follow-up showed permanent cognitive and radicular damage. Multiple attempts for SA most likely caused spinal vessels rupture, either directly or indirectly by inducing differential pressure changes between cerebrospinal fluid and intravascular spaces; however, definite mechanisms have not been completely understood. Patients undergoing spinal puncture must report any neurological abnormality, which may result in irreversible damage. Cases of altered consciousness require an extensive neuroradiological evaluation. Proper competency of physicians responsible for spinal puncture is mandator

    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
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