1,720,971 research outputs found
Author Correction: Estimated visceral adiposity is associated with risk of cardiometabolic conditions in a population based study
No full textInternational audienceVisceral adiposity is a major risk factor of cardiometabolic diseases. Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is usually measured with expensive imaging techniques which present financial and practical challenges to population-based studies. We assessed whether cardiometabolic conditions were associated with VAT by using a new and easily measurable anthropometric index previously published and validated. Data (1529 participants) came from the European Health Examination Survey in Luxembourg (2013-2015). Logistic regressions were used to study associations between VAT and cardiometabolic conditions. We observed an increased risk of all conditions associated with VAT. The total adjusted odds ratio (AOR, [95% CI]) for hypertension, prediabetes/diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia for the fourth quartile of VAT compared to the lowest were (10.67 [6.95, 16.39]), (6.14 [4.14, 9.10]), (6.03 [3.97, 9.16]) and (9.18 [5.97, 14.12]). We observed higher odds in women than in men for all outcomes with the exception of hypertension. Future studies should investigate the impact of VAT changes on cardiometabolic health and the use of anthropometrically predicted VAT as an accurate outcome when no biomedical imaging is available
Relationship between multimorbidity, functional limitation, and quality of life among middle-aged and older adults: findings from the longitudinal analysis of the 2013–2020 Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)
Full text linkPURPOSE
The increased burden of multimorbidity is restricting individuals' ability to live autonomously, leading to a poorer quality of life. This study estimated trajectories of functional limitation and quality of life among middle-aged (ages 50 to 64 years) and older (aged 65 years and older) individuals with and without multimorbidity. We also assessed differences in the relationship between these two trajectories by multimorbidity status and separately for each age cohort.
METHODS
Data originated from the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). In Luxembourg, data were obtained between 2013 and 2020, involving 1,585 respondents ≥ 50 years of age. Multimorbidity was defined as a self-reported diagnosis of two or more out of 16 chronic conditions; functional limitation was assessed by a combined (Instrumental) Activities of Daily Living (ADL/IADLI) scale; and to measure quality of life, we used the Control, Autonomy, Self-Realization, and Pleasure (CASP-12) scale. Latent growth curve modelling techniques were used to conduct the analysis where repeated measures of quality of life and functional limitation were treated as continuous and zero-inflated count variables, respectively. The model was assessed separately in each age cohort, controlling for the baseline covariates, and the estimates from the two cohorts were presented as components of a synthetic cohort covering the life course from the age of 50.
RESULTS
Middle-aged and older adults living with multimorbidity experienced poorer quality of life throughout the life course and were at a higher risk of functional limitation than those without multimorbidity. At baseline, functional limitation had a negative impact on quality of life. Furthermore, among middle-aged adults without multimorbidity and older adults with multimorbidity, an increase in the number of functional limitations led to a decline in quality of life. These results imply that the impact of multimorbidity on functional limitation and quality of life may vary across the life course.
CONCLUSION
Using novel methodological techniques, this study contributes to a better understanding of the longitudinal relationship between functional limitation and quality of life among individuals with and without multimorbidity and how this relationship changes across the life course. Our findings suggest that lowering the risk of having multimorbidity can decrease functional limitation and increase quality of life
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
Phytochemicals as modifiers of gut microbial communities
No full textA healthy gut microbiota (GM) is paramount for a healthy lifestyle. Alterations of the GM have been involved in the aetiology of several chronic diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, as well as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. In pathological conditions, the diversity of the GM is commonly reduced or altered, often toward an increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio. The colonic fermentation of dietary fiber has shown to stimulate the fraction of bacteria purported to have beneficial health effects, acting as prebiotics, and to increase the production of short chain fatty acids, e.g. propionate and butyrate, while also improving gut epithelium integrity such as tight junction functionality. However, a variety of phytochemicals, often associated with dietary fiber, have also been proposed to modulate the GM. Many phytochemicals possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may positively affect the GM, including polyphenols, carotenoids, phytosterols/phytostanols, lignans, alkaloids, glucosinolates and terpenes. Some polyphenols may act as prebiotics, while carotenoids have been shown to alter immunoglobulin A expression, an important factor for bacteria colonization. Other phytochemicals may interact with the mucosa, another important factor for colonization, and prevent its degradation. Certain polyphenols have shown to influence bacterial communication, interacting with quorum sensing. Finally, phytochemicals can be metabolized in the gut into bioactive constituents, e.g. equol from daidzein and enterolactone from secoisolariciresinol, while bacteria can use glycosides for energy. In this review, we strive to highlight the potential interactions between prominent phytochemicals and health benefits related to the GM, emphasizing their potential as adjuvant strategies for GM-related diseases
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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