1,721,117 research outputs found
Development of a novel diagnostic technique and geospatial database for soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Malaysia / Romano Ngui
Full text linkThe main objectives of this thesis are two pronged which include the development of a novel diagnostic technique and the creation a geospatial database for soil-transmitted helminthiasis in Malaysia. These aims have been successfully accomplished and the outcomes are detailed out in Chapters 5 and 7. Nonetheless in order to achieve these good outcomes, prior work in getting appropriate samples for high resolution melting (HRM) analysis and current data for geographical information system (GIS) had to be conducted in some epidemiological studies in the human and animal populations and these are illustrated in Chapters 3, 4 and 6. Therefore, this abstract will summarize our main findings relevant to the two main objectives.
In the present study, we have successfully developed a cost-effective and practical diagnostic tool based on real-time PCR coupled with HRM analysis which can serve as a reliable alternative technique for rapid and accurate identification of the five major hookworm species, namely Necator americanus, Ancylostoma duodenale, Ancylostoma ceylanicum, Ancylostoma caninum and Ancylostoma braziliense that are known to be endemic in Malaysia. These five hookworm species can be easily distinguished from one another based on their unique and distinct melting characteristic HRM curves. Each species has their own curve profiles and characterized by different melting temperature (Tm) peaks (i.e., N. americanus: 79.24 ± 0.05°C and 83.00 ± 0.04°C; A. duodenale 79.12 ± 0.10°C; A. ceylanicum: 79.40 ± 0.10°C; A. caninum: 79.63 ± 0.05°C; A. braziliense: 79.70 ± 0.14°C). The present real-time PCR-HRM assay (100%) also has higher sensitivity compared to conventional semi-nested PCR (84.1%). However both techniques gave similar sensitivity (100%). The establishment of this new alternative diagnostic tool in this study has allowed accurate determination of
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parasite prevalence, increased the understanding of transmission dynamics and provided important information particularly on the zoonotic potential of hookworm in high risk communities (i.e., Orang Asli communities). In these socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, the poor levels of hygiene and overcrowding, along with a lack of veterinary attention and zoonotic awareness coupled with uncontrolled population of stray and semi-domesticated dogs or cats exist in close proximity with humans, exacerbating the risk of zoonotic transmission. Our findings shown that N. americanus (89.6%) was the most common hookworm species found in human fecal samples, followed by A. ceylanicum (19.0%) while no A. duodenale infection was detected in this study. This result indicated that almost a quarter of hookworm-positive individuals are infected with A. ceylanicum, a zoonotic hookworm species that utilizes dogs and cats as definitive hosts. In fact, our study among dogs and cats inhabiting the same locations showed that hookworm infections (61.9%) were significantly higher in both animals compared to other parasite species. Of these hookworm-positive samples, 47.1% of the infected dogs and cats were also harboring A. ceylanicum. It is especially evident in these poor and deprived communities as uncontrolled populations of dogs and cats co-exist with the Orang Asli communities as demonstrated in our earlier epidemiological analysis which showed that close contact with dogs and cats were significantly associated with hookworm infections in the Orang Asli communities. Furthermore, our analysis via molecular tool on these A. ceylanicum positive isolates indicated that some of the A. ceylanicum strains from both human and animal host within the same geographical location were clustered together within the same group based on phylogenetic analysis. This provided evidence to show that dogs and humans may share genetically similar genotypes of A. ceylanicum within the same geographical location. Thus, the present study highlighted that it is essential to recognize that accurate
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diagnosis through practical, sensitive and specific analytical tools are crucial factors to address key epidemiology and population genetic questions to support surveillance, treatment and control program of STH infections.
Besides advancement and improvement in diagnostic tools, it is also vital to understand the STH biology and epidemiology with regards to their environmental and ecological limits. Significantly, we have demonstrated how the utilization of GIS coupled with remote sensing (RS) technology can play an important role in providing basic information for the implementation of sustainable and effective control programs for STH infections. We believe that findings of this study will have direct beneficial implications to STH control programs in Malaysia. This is particularly relevant that an accurate estimation of the total disease burden has not been fully explained although STH infections in Malaysia are still highly prevalent especially in rural and remote communities such as the Orang Asli. Moreover, these data are rarely available in the public domain in a form that is accessible to policy maker or relevant authorities for control program intervention. The current study has successfully utilized GIS to collate and map the geographical distribution of STH infections from available empirical survey data in peninsular Malaysia and highlighted areas where such information is lacking. The current assembled database represents one of the largest and comprehensive survey coalitions of STH infections in the country, consisting 99 survey locations conducted between 1970 and 2012 through our combined search strategies. As illustrated in our prevalence maps, the geographical distribution of STH vary considerably with no clear pattern across the surveyed locations. Given that only few survey data is available for most regions in Malaysia as illustrated in our prevalence maps, thus it is important to generate predictive risk map of infection on the basis of their ecological limits such as climate and other environmental factors. In the present
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study, our correlation analysis between infection patterns and ecological factors indicated that Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were significantly associated with the observed prevalence of A. lumbricoides. On the basis of these two significant variables, we have managed to extrapolate predictive risk map of A. lumbricoides particularly in areas for which no data are available. The predictive risk map can serve as a baseline data in the estimated number of population at risk, numbers requiring treatment and cost of delivering anthelminthic at broad scale by prioritizing areas and populations at greatest needs. Our A. lumbricoides predictive risk map showed that prevalence of infection is low along the west coast and southern part of the country, whilst the prevalence is high along the central plain and northern part. Based on our estimation according to the latest available national census in 2010, it is estimated that up to 3.5 million individuals would be infected with A. lumbricoides. Of these, we estimated that there are 587,482 school-aged children in 75 out of 81 districts corresponding to 359 out of 842 sub-districts in the country who warrant mass drug administration (MDA) treatment at least twice a year according to WHO recommendations. Thus, this study reinforces that the utilization of GIS and RS techniques can provide the way forward in developing and implementing sustainable national control programs at realistic scale by identifying key endemic areas, providing more accurate estimates of populations at risk and basic information on treatment intervention by reducing the costs involved at both upstream (e.g., survey and design) and downstream (e.g., targeting, monitoring and evaluation) particularly when the recourses for control program are limited
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
Author Under Sail The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902
No full textIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Spirit Truth -- 2. From Absorption to Theatricality and Back Again -- 3. "I Will Build a New Present" -- 4. Sons as Authors -- 5. Fathers as Publishers -- 6. The Daughter as Author -- 7. Lovers as Authors -- 8. At Sea with the Family -- 9. Yellow News, Yellow Stories -- 10. The Return Home -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About Jay WilliamsIn Author Under Sail, Jay Williams offers the first complete literary biography of Jack London as a professional writer engaged in the labor of writing. It examines the authorial imagination in London's work, the use of imagination in both his fiction and nonfiction, and the ways he defined imagination in the creative process in his business dealings with his publishers, editors, and agents. In this first volume of a two-volume biography, Williams traverses the years 1893 to 1902, from London's "Story of a Typhoon" to The People of the Abyss. The Jack London who emerges in the pages of Author Under Sail is a writer whose partnership with publishers, most notably his productive alliance with George Brett of Macmillan, was one of the most formative in American literary history. London pioneered many author models during the heyday of realism and naturalism, blurring the boundaries of these popular genres by focusing on absorption and theatricality and the representation of the seen and unseen. London created an impassioned, sincere, and extremely personal realism unlike that of other American writers of the time. Author Under Sail is a literary tour de force that reveals the full range of London as writer, creative citizen, and entrepreneur at the same time it sheds light on the maverick side of machine-age literature.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
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