1,720,954 research outputs found
Changes in selected electrolytes in adult intensive care patients at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
Get PDFThe importance of regulating potassium and sodium levels is well recognized in most Intensive Care Units (ICU). Various institutions across the globe have found varying figures on the extent and causes of electrolytes derangements in ICUs. Some tertiary hospitals in Africa similar to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Lusaka, have reported prevalence’s of over 66% of the patients in ICU having multiple electrolyte abnormalities. However, the extent of electrolyte derangements in patients admitted to the Main Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at UTH, Lusaka, Zambia is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the twenty-four-hour changes in selected electrolytes in adult patients admitted to MICU at UTH, Lusaka, Zambia. An Observational Cross-Sectional Study. Blood samples obtained from a peripheral vein in Heparinized bottles for renal function tests were measured using the Beckman Counter/Au480 (Serial: 2013102691) machine at UTH. Normal serum concentrations of sodium and potassium were considered as 135-145 and 3.5 - 4.5mmol/L, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed with Stata. A total number of one hundred (100) patients were enrolled in this study with a mean age of 36.8 (SD = 12.1). The mean value of sodium level was 136.7 (SD = 8.9) mmol/L and 139.0 (SD = 11.6) mmol/L, on admission and 24 hours post admission respectively. This difference in serum sodium level was shown to be statistically significant with a P-value = 0.005. Hypernatremia was shown to be associated with an increased risk of death (p = 0.02) in the Unit with an odds ratio of 4.3at 95% confidence interval of 1.3 to 13.9. Hyponatremia was the most prevalent electrolyte imbalance but was neither shown to be associated with mortality (P-value = 0.2) nor prolonged ICU stay at 24 hours post admission. The mean value of potassium level was 4.2 (SD = 1.1) mmol/L and 4.3 (SD = 1.1), on admission and 24 hours post admission respectively. This difference was shown to be not statistically significant (P-value = 0.6). Neither hypokalaemia (p = 0.2) nor hyperkalaemia (p = 0.1) were associated with mortality at 24 hours post admission and there was no association with duration of stay in ICU. There is a significant change in serum sodium levels after 24 hours post admission but there is no significant change in potassium level. Hyponatremia being the most prevalent. Hypernatremia remains significantly associated with mortality and therefore, correcting electrolyte imbalances in ICU patients is an urgent necessity.
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Keywords: Hypernatremia, Hyponatremia, Hypokalaemia, Hyperkalaemia, Electrolyte
Changes in selected electrolytes in adult intensive care patients at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
No full textThe importance of regulating potassium and sodium levels is well recognized in most Intensive Care Units (ICU). Various institutions across the globe have found varying figures on the extent and causes of electrolytes derangements in ICUs. Some tertiary hospitals in Africa similar to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH), Lusaka, have reported prevalence’s of over 66% of the patients in ICU having multiple electrolyte abnormalities. However, the extent of electrolyte derangements in patients admitted to the Main Intensive Care Unit (MICU) at UTH, Lusaka, Zambia is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the twenty-four-hour changes in selected electrolytes in adult patients admitted to MICU at UTH, Lusaka, Zambia. An Observational Cross-Sectional Study. Blood samples obtained from a peripheral vein in Heparinized bottles for renal function tests were measured using the Beckman Counter/Au480 (Serial: 2013102691) machine at UTH. Normal serum concentrations of sodium and potassium were considered as 135-145 and 3.5 - 4.5mmol/L, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed with Stata. A total number of one hundred (100) patients were enrolled in this study with a mean age of 36.8 (SD = 12.1). The mean value of sodium level was 136.7 (SD = 8.9) mmol/L and 139.0 (SD = 11.6) mmol/L, on admission and 24 hours post admission respectively. This difference in serum sodium level was shown to be statistically significant with a P-value = 0.005. Hypernatremia was shown to be associated with an increased risk of death (p = 0.02) in the Unit with an odds ratio of 4.3at 95% confidence interval of 1.3 to 13.9. Hyponatremia was the most prevalent electrolyte imbalance but was neither shown to be associated with mortality (P-value = 0.2) nor prolonged ICU stay at 24 hours post admission. The mean value of potassium level was 4.2 (SD = 1.1) mmol/L and 4.3 (SD = 1.1), on admission and 24 hours post admission respectively. This difference was shown to be not statistically significant (P-value = 0.6). Neither hypokalaemia (p = 0.2) nor hyperkalaemia (p = 0.1) were associated with mortality at 24 hours post admission and there was no association with duration of stay in ICU. There is a significant change in serum sodium levels after 24 hours post admission but there is no significant change in potassium level. Hyponatremia being the most prevalent. Hypernatremia remains significantly associated with mortality and therefore, correcting electrolyte imbalances in ICU patients is an urgent necessity.
vi
Keywords: Hypernatremia, Hyponatremia, Hypokalaemia, Hyperkalaemia, Electrolyte
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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