1,721,009 research outputs found
Injecting network structure determines the most efficient strategy to achieve Hepatitis C elimination in people who inject drugs
No full textTransmission of Hepatitis C (HCV) continues via sharing of injection equipment between people who inject drugs (PWID). Network-based modelling studies have produced conflicting results about whether random treatment is preferable to targeting treatment at PWID with multiple partners. We hypothesise that differences in the modelled injecting network structure produce this heterogeneity. The study aimed to test how changing network structure affects HCV transmission and treatment effects. We created three dynamic injecting network structures connecting 689 PWID (UK-net, AUS-net and USA-net) based on published empirical data. We modelled HCV in the networks and at 5 years compared prevalence of HCV 1) with no treatment, 2) with randomly targeted treatment and 3) with treatment targeted at PWID with the most injecting partnerships (degree-based treatment). HCV prevalence at 5 years without treatment differed significantly between the three networks (UK-net (42.8%) vs. AUS-net (38.2%), p < 0.0001 and vs. USA-net (54.0%), p < 0.0001). In the treatment scenarios UK-net and AUS-net showed a benefit of degree-based treatment with a 5-year prevalence of 1.0% vs. 9.6% p < 0.0001 and 0.15% vs. 0.44%, p < 0.0001. USA-net showed no significant difference (29.3% vs. 29.2%, p = 0.0681). Degree-based treatment was optimised with low prevalence, moderate treatment coverage conditions whereas random treatment was optimised in low treatment coverage, high prevalence conditions. In conclusion, injecting network structure determines the transmission rate of HCV and the most efficient treatment strategy. In real-world injecting network structures, the benefit of targeting HCV treatment at individuals with multiple injecting partnerships may have been underestimated.</p
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Hepatitis C transmission and natural history of newly acquired hepatitis C in people who inject drugs
No full textBackground: Structural and pharmacological interventions (for example, needle syringe programs and opioid substitution therapy) are partially effective for preventing hepatitis C virus (HCV) in people who inject drugs (PWID) but additional strategies are required. Individual behavioural interventions (counselling and education) are common, but little is known about their effectiveness. Prophylactic vaccines are the gold standard for infectious disease prevention, but there is no HCV vaccine. Research on correlates of successful naturally acquired immune responses to HCV can help to inform HCV vaccine development. Interventions that take the injecting social network structure into account are an area of ongoing research.
Aims: The broad aim of this research was to inform HCV prevention efforts in PWID, including vaccine development and other prevention strategies. Specific aims included synthesis of evidence on individual behavioural interventions to prevent HCV transmission; assessing whether the injecting-social network is important for HCV transmission in order to understand whether it should be a target of HCV prevention programs; and understanding the epidemiology and biological markers of HCV reinfection and spontaneous clearance of reinfection in order to inform vaccine development.
Methods: Research involved a systematic review (Chapter Two), analysis of data from the Networks 2 study (a cohort study of HCV in PWID in Melbourne, Chapters Three, Four, and Six), data from the InC3 study (pooled data from nine cohort studies of incidence HCV and HIV internationally, Chapter Five), and simulated data (Chapter Six). Analysis of data from the Networks 2 study combined social network epidemiology, phylogenetics, time-to-event regression, and Bayesian post-estimation. Analysis of simulated data was undertaken using Bayesian post-estimation. Analysis of data from the InC3 study involved mainly time-to-event regression.
Key findings: Few controlled trials have evaluated the effects of individual behavioural interventions on HCV incidence, and those that have done so vary in study design, outcome measures and magnitude, direction and statistical significance of findings between studies. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that behavioural interventions can have a substantial effect on HCV transmission, at least in isolation. HCV phylogeny was associated with the social-injecting network in the Networks 2 study in Melbourne, highlighting the importance of the injecting network in HCV transmission. Collectively the studies presented in Chapters Four–Six suggest that reinfection occurs at least as frequently as primary HCV infection, but in reinfection there is a greater propensity toward spontaneous clearance due to naturally acquired immunity. Spontaneous clearance of reinfection was predicted by female gender and INFL3 rs860-CC genotype, indicating that these factors are associated with ongoing natural immune protection from persistent HCV infection.
Conclusion: Prevention of HCV in PWID requires a multifaceted approach. It is unlikely that individual behavioural interventions can substantially reduce HCV transmission. The injecting social network appears to be important for HCV transmission; ongoing research is required to assess its role in HCV prevention. HCV reinfection spontaneously clears more commonly than primary infection, suggesting naturally acquired immunity. Females with INFL3 rs860-CC genotype appear to have ongoing protection from persistent HCV infection. Elucidation of the mechanism behind this may inform vaccine development
Hepatitis C transmission and natural history of newly acquired hepatitis C in people who inject drugs
No full textBackground: Structural and pharmacological interventions (for example, needle syringe programs and opioid substitution therapy) are partially effective for preventing hepatitis C virus (HCV) in people who inject drugs (PWID) but additional strategies are required. Individual behavioural interventions (counselling and education) are common, but little is known about their effectiveness. Prophylactic vaccines are the gold standard for infectious disease prevention, but there is no HCV vaccine. Research on correlates of successful naturally acquired immune responses to HCV can help to inform HCV vaccine development. Interventions that take the injecting social network structure into account are an area of ongoing research. Aims: The broad aim of this research was to inform HCV prevention efforts in PWID, including vaccine development and other prevention strategies. Specific aims included synthesis of evidence on individual behavioural interventions to prevent HCV transmission; assessing whether the injecting-social network is important for HCV transmission in order to understand whether it should be a target of HCV prevention programs; and understanding the epidemiology and biological markers of HCV reinfection and spontaneous clearance of reinfection in order to inform vaccine development. Methods: Research involved a systematic review (Chapter Two), analysis of data from the Networks 2 study (a cohort study of HCV in PWID in Melbourne, Chapters Three, Four, and Six), data from the InC3 study (pooled data from nine cohort studies of incidence HCV and HIV internationally, Chapter Five), and simulated data (Chapter Six). Analysis of data from the Networks 2 study combined social network epidemiology, phylogenetics, time-to-event regression, and Bayesian post-estimation. Analysis of simulated data was undertaken using Bayesian post-estimation. Analysis of data from the InC3 study involved mainly time-to-event regression. Key findings: Few controlled trials have evaluated the effects of individual behavioural interventions on HCV incidence, and those that have done so vary in study design, outcome measures and magnitude, direction and statistical significance of findings between studies. Nonetheless, it seems unlikely that behavioural interventions can have a substantial effect on HCV transmission, at least in isolation. HCV phylogeny was associated with the social-injecting network in the Networks 2 study in Melbourne, highlighting the importance of the injecting network in HCV transmission. Collectively the studies presented in Chapters Four–Six suggest that reinfection occurs at least as frequently as primary HCV infection, but in reinfection there is a greater propensity toward spontaneous clearance due to naturally acquired immunity. Spontaneous clearance of reinfection was predicted by female gender and INFL3 rs860-CC genotype, indicating that these factors are associated with ongoing natural immune protection from persistent HCV infection. Conclusion: Prevention of HCV in PWID requires a multifaceted approach. It is unlikely that individual behavioural interventions can substantially reduce HCV transmission. The injecting social network appears to be important for HCV transmission; ongoing research is required to assess its role in HCV prevention. HCV reinfection spontaneously clears more commonly than primary infection, suggesting naturally acquired immunity. Females with INFL3 rs860-CC genotype appear to have ongoing protection from persistent HCV infection. Elucidation of the mechanism behind this may inform vaccine development
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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
- …
