1,720,978 research outputs found
First case report of invasive pseudoterranoviasis in Italy
No full textMembers of the genera Anisakis and Pseudoterranova are the main causative agents of human anisakidosis: the disease is worldwide distributed, with major impact in countries with a large consumption of raw fish. Because of unspecific symptoms and limited diagnostic tools, incidence and burden of disease are probably underestimated. In Italy, all human infestations where the etiological agent has been properly identified, have been associated to the parasitic species Anisakis pegreffii, the most frequent anisakid in the Mediterranean area. Here, an invasive human case of pseudoterranoviasis is described for the first time in Italy: in 2015, a woman was found infected during a colonoscopy scheduled after the occurrence of nonspecific clinical symptoms. The nematode was found penetrating the ascending colon. The identification was performed by sequencing the mitochondrial region cox2 and by comparison to GenBank retrieved material using the BLAST search tool. The sample showed a 99% identity with Pseudoterranova decipiens sensu stricto. The record underlines the potential risk due to the consumption of raw or undercooked imported fishes
Sterilizzazione e disinfezione
No full textUn aspetto importante della microbiologia medica riguarda il controllo delle malattie infettive e la loro prevenzione. Sulla base di questo concetto, assumono notevole importanza la comprensione e l'attuazione delle metodiche utilizzate per ottenere in maniera efficace l'eliminazione di batteri, endospore, miceti, virus e parassiti. In microbiologia l'eliminazione dei microrganismi è necessaria non solo in campo medico ma anche nella ricerca di base poichè, in ogni procedura microbiologica, il materiale utilizzato deve essere originariamente sterile, cioè privo di microrganismi contaminanti che potrebbero falsare i risultati o addirittura l'identificazione del germe in esame. Per morte di un microrganismo si intende il blocco totale della sua attività metabolica e la perdita della sua capacità riproduttiva. Esistono diverse tecniche che permettono di eliminare o ridurre la quantità (carica) dei microrganismi presenti in un dato campione. Due sono i processi che permettono l'uccisione dei microrganismi: la sterilizzazione, processo che porta alla totale eliminazione di ogni forma vivente nel materiale trattato; la disinfezione, che al contrario della sterilizzazione porta all'uccisione della maggior parte dei microrganismi ma non alla completa eliminazione di tutte le forme viventi
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
Urinary tract infections: Can we prevent uropathogenic Escherichia coli infection with dietary intervention?
No full textUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common causes of infections in women. Via the fecal-perineal-urethral route, uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) can cause ascending urinary tract infections, including cystitis and pyelonephritis. These infections re-occur within six months or they account for, at least, three episodes within a year of recurrent UTIs (rUTIs). Long term and continuous antibiotic treatment or prophylaxis should be considered as the last options in rUTIs. Conversely, updated European Association of Urology guidelines recommend non-antimicrobial approaches to prevent rUTIs. Accordingly, several studies reported the efficacy of number of natural molecules in inhibiting UPEC adhesion to bladder cells, restraining bacterial growth, as well as stimulating the host innate immune defenses, and protecting the bladder and the kidney mucosa. Therefore, we propose an "anti-UPEC"diet enriched of foods containing natural compounds that were proven effective against UPEC, such as D-mannose, cranberry extracts and medicinal plants. Being a valuable and safe clinical approach to reduce UTI recurrence and limiting the detrimental effects of long and continuous antibiotic prophylaxis, dietary interventions should be evaluated in future clinical trials
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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