1,721,217 research outputs found

    THE EUROSCAN STUDY

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    The Euroscan group was created to undertake a study across Europe on the feasibility of routine ultrasound scanning for congenital malformations, and to evaluate the prenatal detection rate of all congenital malformations in an unselected population using data collected by congenital malformation registries

    Prenatal diagnosis of dysmorphic syndromes by routine fetal ultrasound examination across Europe

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    OBJECTIVES: Ultrasound scan in the mid-trimester of pregnancy is now a routine part of prenatal care in most European countries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prenatal diagnosis of dysmorphic syndromes by fetal ultrasound examination. METHODS: Data from 20 registries of congenital malformations in 12 European countries were included in the study. RESULTS: There were 2454 cases with congenital heart diseases, 479 of which were recognized syndromes, including 375 chromosomal anomalies and 104 syndromes without chromosomal anomalies. Fifty-one of the 104 were detected prenatally (49.0%). One hundred and ninety-two of 1130 cases with renal anomalies were recognized syndromes, including 128 chromosomal anomalies and 64 syndromes without chromosomal anomalies; 162 of them (84.4%) were diagnosed prenatally, including 109 chromosomal anomalies and 53 non-chromosomal syndromes. Fifty-four of the 250 cases with limb defects were recognized syndromes, including 16 chromosomal syndromes and 38 syndromes without chromosomal anomalies; 21 of these 54 syndromes were diagnosed prenatally (38.9%), including 9 chromosomal syndromes. There were 243 cases of abdominal wall defects including 57 recognizable syndromes, 48 with omphalocele and 9 with gastroschisis; 48 were diagnosed prenatally (84.2%). Twenty-six of the 187 cases with diaphragmatic hernia had recognized syndromes, including 20 chromosomal aberrations and 6 syndromes without chromosomal anomalies. Twenty-two of them (84.6%) were detected prenatally. Sixty-four of 349 cases with intestinal anomalies were recognized syndromes; 24 were diagnosed prenatally (37.5%). There were 553 cases of cleft lip and palate (CL(P)) and 198 of cleft palate (CP) including 74 chromosomal anomalies and 73 recognized non-chromosomal syndromes. Prenatal diagnosis was made in 51 cases of CL(P) (53.7%) and 7 of CP (13.7%). Twenty-two of 188 anencephalic cases were syndromic and all were diagnosed prenatally. Of 290 cases with spina bifida, 18 were recognized syndromes, and of them 17 were diagnosed prenatally. All 11 syndromic encephaloceles were diagnosed prenatally. CONCLUSIONS: Around 50% of the recognized syndromes which are associated with major congenital anomalies (cardiac, renal, intestinal, limb defects, abdominal wall defects and oral clefts) can be detected prenatally by the anomaly scan. However the detection rate varies with the type of syndrome and with the different countries' policies of prenatal screening

    EVALUATION OF PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS OF ASSOCIATED CONGENITAL HEART DISEASES BY FETAL ULTRASONOGRAHIC EXAMINATION IN EUROPE

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    Ultrasound scans in the mid trimester of pregnancy are now a routine part of antenatal care in most European countries. With the assistance of Registries of Congenital Anomalies a study was undertaken in Europe. The objective of the study was to evaluate prenatal detection of congenital heart defects (CHD) by routine ultrasonographic examination of the fetus. All congenital malformations suspected prenatally and all congenital malformations, including chromosome anomalies, confirmed at birth were identified from the Congenital Malformation Registers, including 20 registers from the following European countries: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK and Ukrainia. These registries follow the same methodology. The study period was 1996-1998, 709 030 births were covered, and 8126 cases with congenital malformations were registered. If more than one cardiac malformation was present the case was coded as complex cardiac malformation. CHD were subdivided into 'isolated' when only a cardiac malformation was present and 'associated' when at least one other major extra cardiac malformation was present. The associated CHD were subdivided into chromosomal, syndromic non-chromosomal and multiple. The study comprised 761 associated CHD including 282 cases with multiple malformations, 375 cases with chromosomal anomalies and 104 cases with non-chromosomal syndromes. The proportion of prenatal diagnosis of associated CHD varied in relation to the ultrasound screening policies from 17.9% in countries without routine screening (The Netherlands and Denmark) to 46.0% in countries with only one routine fetal scan and 55.6% in countries with two or three routine fetal scans. The prenatal detection rate of chromosomal anomalies was 40.3% (151/375 cases). This rate for recognized syndromes and multiply malformed with CHD was 51.9% (54/104 cases) and 48.6% (137/282 cases), respectively; 150/229 Down syndrome (65.8%) were livebirths. Concerning the syndromic cases, the detection rate of deletion 22q11, situs anomalies and VATER association was 44.4%, 64.7% and 46.6%, respectively. In conclusion, the present study shows large regional variations in the prenatal detection rate of CHD with the highest rates in European regions with three screening scans. Prenatal diagnosis of CHD is significantly higher if associated malformations are present. Cardiac defects affecting the size of the ventricles have the highest detection rate. Mean gestational age at discovery was 20-24 weeks for the majority of associated cardiac defects

    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

    Evaluation of prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart diseases by ultrasound: experience from 20 European registries.

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    Objectives To evaluate prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart diseases by ultrasound investigation in well-defined European populations. Design Data from 20 registries of congenital malformations in 12 European countries were included. The prenatal ultrasound screening programs in the countries ranged from no routine screening to three ultrasound investigations per patient routinely performed. Results There were 2454 cases with congenital heart disease with an overall prenatal detection rate of 25%. Termination of pregnancy was performed in 293 cases (12%). There was considerable variation in prenatal detection rate between regions, with the lowest detection rates being in countries without ultrasound screening (11%) and in Eastern European countries (Croatia, Lithuania and Ukraine; 8%). In Western European countries with ultrasound screening, detection rate ranged from 19–48%. There was a significant difference in prenatal detection rate and proportion of induced abortions between isolated congenital heart disease and congenital heart disease associated with chromosome anomalies, multiple malformations and syndromes (P < 0.0001). There were 1694 cases with isolated congenital heart disease of which 16% were diagnosed prenatally. Malformations affecting the size of the ventricles were detected prenatally in half of the cases. Conclusions Prenatal detection rate of congenital heart disease varies significantly between countries even with the same screening recommendations. The presence of associated malformations significantly increases the prenatal detection rate

    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

    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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