1,720,965 research outputs found
Rapid accurate point-of-care tests combining diagnostics and antimicrobial resistance prediction for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium
No full textIn addition to inadequate access to early diagnosis and treatment with antimicrobial agents for patients and sexual contacts, management and control of STIs is significantly challenged by emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), particularly for STIs such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Mycoplasma genitalium. This is further compounded by use of nucleic acid amplification techniques for diagnosis, resulting in reduced phenotypic AMR testing for N. gonorrhoeae and absence or suboptimal AMR surveillance for guiding treatment of both STIs in many settings. Rapid accurate point-of-care (POC) tests for diagnosis of all STIs would be valuable but to significantly impact treatment precision and management of N. gonorrhoeae and M. genitalium infections, combinations of rapid POC diagnostic and AMR testing (POC-AMR) will likely be required. This strategy would combat STI burden and AMR emergence and spread by enabling diagnosis and individualised treatment at the first healthcare visit, potentially reducing selection pressure on recommended antimicrobials, reducing transmission of resistant strains and providing means for AMR surveillance. Microfluidic and nanotechnology platforms under development for rapid detection of STIs provide a basis to also develop molecular rapid POC-AMR prediction. A number of prototypic devices are in the pipeline but none as yet approved for routine use. However, particularly for N. gonorrhoeae, more knowledge is required to assess which antimicrobials lend themselves to a genotypic POC-AMR approach, in relation to genotypic-phenotypic associations and potential impact clinically and epidemiologically. Key for successful deployment will include also understanding cost-effectiveness, cost-consequences and acceptability for key stakeholders
The effects of sexually transmitted infections on the biological correlates of HIV-1 transmissions and pathogenesis in homosexual men
Full text linkIn men, the concentration of HIV-1 RNA in semen is an important determinant of HIV-1 infectivity. In sub-Saharan Africa, urethritis has been associated with increases in seminal plasma HIV-1 RNA load in those not receiving antiretroviral therapy. Less is known of the impact of urethritis both within the developed world and in those receiving antiretroviral therapy. In-vitro evidence also suggests that syphilis may stimulate HIV-1 replication, potentially impacting on HIV-1 disease progression as well as its transmission. In this thesis I present a series of studies that examine the effects of urethritis (due to gonorrhoea, chlamydia or NSU), early syphilis and their treatments on HIV-1 RNA loads in blood and semen in homosexual men in the UK. The impact of urethritis on the presence of drug-resistant HIV-1 mutants found in semen among those receiving antiretroviral therapy was also analysed. In addition, effects on CD4 counts were examined in those with early syphilis. Finally a study on the feasibility of research involving semen donation is presented. The research demonstrates that gonococcal and chlamydial urethritis, but not NSU, increase HFV-l RNA load in semen. In comparison with the increases previously demonstrated in Africa, the relative effects were similar but the absolute increases were smaller. Minimal effect was seen in those on suppressive antiretroviral therapy but among those on poorly suppressive antiretroviral regimes and those with gonococcal infection HIV-1 RNA loads in semen were high. In these patients multi-drug resistant HIV-1 was found in both genital and systemic compartments. The studies also demonstrate very little effect of early syphilis on either blood or semen plasma viral loads. However, early syphilis, particularly early latent syphilis, was associated with a reduction in CD4 count that was reversible on syphilis treatment. Studies involving semen donation in symptomatic homosexual men were shown to be feasible
The effects of sexually transmitted infections on the biological correlates of HIV-1 transmission and pathogenesis in homosexual men
No full textEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
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
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