1,720,973 research outputs found
Comparison of procedures for controlling hot waterLegionella pneumophila contamination in health structuresP. Borella, I. Marchesi, P. Marchegiano, A. Bargellini, G. Ferranti,S. Cencetti
No full textIn a big hospital of northern Italy colonized by L. pneumophila, the effectiveness of various procedures in controlling contamination and preventing case onset was evaluated. Application of superheating showed the lest capability in reducing Legionella and is not suitable for large buildings as flushing with water >60°C at each outlet cannot reliably be maintained. In emerging situations, shock hyperchlorination is preferable as a more effective germ reduction method although requires higher manpower and pipes corrosion cannot be excluded. Point-of-care filters achieve the goal of 100% negative samples, and are adopted where transplant, oncological and other high risk patients are hospitalized. Also electric boilers installed on cold water line in high risk patient rooms guarantee absence of contamination, provided that temperature is maintained above 58°C. Continuoustreatment with chlorine dioxide is highly efficient in reducing germ concentration, but does not eradicate Legionella from the system, and at least 0.3 ppm at outlets are requested for the goal of L. pneumophila concentration below 100 cfu/L. More satisfactoryresults were obtained by injecting monochloramine, as control of contamination was evident just within the first month of application. Monochloramine level associated with germ below the detection limit approximate 3 ppm, but 2 ppm were sufficient for reducing legionellae below 100 cfu/L. Application of different procedures according to patient risk appear to be the best strategy and no cases of nosocomial Legionnaires’ disease were detected in the hospital during the observation period
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
Sorveglianza clinica attiva per la ricerca di polmoniti da Legionella. Risultati e considerazioni per le strutture sanitarie.
No full textIn an university hospital of about 900 beds, a clinical surveillance was activated to detect cases of Legionnaires' disease in patients affected by community and/or nosocomial-acquired pneumonia. In the hospital Legionella spp was detected in the hot water distribution system and various disinfecting and control procedures were adopted to reduce contamination. Contemporary, the clinical surveillance began with the systematic detection of Legionella urinary antigen among recovered pneumonia, seroconversion as confirmation test and the collection of respiratory secretions or other biological materials to isolate the microorganism in patients positive to the urinary antigen. From September 2003 to May 2005, 486 pneumonia were followed, 98 of which considered of nosocomial origin. In total, 15 cases of community-acquired Legionnaires' disease were detected by the urinary test, whereas no cases of nosocomial origin were found. The characteristics of the detected cases are described in comparison with the other pneumonia and the surveillance cost was evaluated. The systematic clinical surveillance for Legionella infections is feasible with limit costs, allows to detect community-acquired cases otherwise unknown and to ascertain the absence/presence of nosocomial-acquired pneumonia, irrespective of the environment contamination
Il controllo della qualità dell'aria in sala operatoria come fattore di prevenzione delle infezioni associate al processo chirurgico: il ruolo della pressione differenziale e del particolato aerodisperso
No full textPREMESSE: I controlli ambientali nelle sale operatorie (SO) sono di primaria importanza nel processo di prevenzione delle infezioni nosocomiali della ferita chirurgica, problema che comporta conseguenze, anche gravi, per la salute dei pazienti e costi aggiuntivi per il sistema sanitario.OBIETTIVI: Il monitoraggio in continuo della pressione differenziale e della contaminazione particellare è stato effettuato per rilevare, in modo tempestivo, eventuali condizioni rispettivamente di depressione ambientale e di superamento dei limiti di concentrazione particellare, fattori entrambi frequentemente associati ad un aumentato rischiodi contaminazione microbiologica.METODI: Il protocollo di lavoro ha previsto una prima fase di convalida per la classificazione ambientale, secondo la normativa UNI EN ISO 14644, delle SO di un blocco operatorio dell’Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Policlinico di Modena. I dati di pressione differenziale e di contaminazione particellare forniti dal sistema di monitoraggio ambientale per il controllo in remoto della qualità dell’aria, sono stati seguiti nel tempo per rilevare eventuali valori non compresi nei limiti specificati.RISULTATI: I dati ottenuti dal monitoraggio in continuo ci hanno permesso di raggiungere i seguenti risultati:1. rilevare criticità di sistema e mettere in atto tempestivamente azioni correttive;2. individuare comportamenti “non corretti” degli operatori su cui si è intervenuto con incontri di formazione ad hoc;3. seguire nel tempo l’andamento dei parametri di qualità dell’aria per individuare altri eventuali episodi di criticità.CONCLUSIONI: Il monitoraggio in continuo di pressione differenziale e particolato aerotrasportato può fornire importanti indicazioni sul mantenimento di uno standard di sicurezza in SO che, insieme ad altri indicatori di qualità dell’aria, va a costituire il cosiddetto “cruscotto ambientale”. Ciò permette di avere sotto controllo in ogni momento la situazione ambientale nelle SO per potere rilevare e correggere tempestivamente eventuali situazioni “a rischio” per pazienti ed operatori
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