1,721,133 research outputs found
Aging and the burden of multimorbidity: Associations with inflammatory and anabolic hormonal biomarkers
Full text linkBackground. Multimorbidity increases with aging, but risk factors beyond age are unknown. Objective. To investigate the association of inflammatory and anabolic hormonal biomarkers with presence and prospective development of multimorbidity. Methods. Nine-year longitudinal study of 1018 participants aged 60 years or older (InCHIANTI Study). Multimorbidity was evaluated at baseline and follow-up visits as number of diagnosed diseases from a predefined list of 15 candidate chronic conditions, defined according to standard clinical criteria. Linear mixed models were used to test cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between candidate biomarkers and multimorbidity. Results. At baseline, multimorbidity was significantly higher in older participants (p <. 001) and higher IL-6, IL-1ra, TNF-α receptor II (TNFAR2), and lower dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate were associated with higher number of diseases, independent of age, sex, body mass index, and education. The rate of longitudinal increase in number of chronic diseases was significantly steeper in participants who were older at baseline (p <. 001). In addition, higher baseline IL-6 and steeper increase of IL-6 levels were significantly and independently associated with a steeper increase in multimorbidity over time (p <. 001 and p =. 003, respectively). Sensitivity analyses, performed using 15 different models obtained by removing each of 15 conditions included in the original list of candidate diseases, confirmed that results were not driven by any specific condition. Conclusions. Accumulation of chronic diseases accelerates at older ages and in persons with higher baseline levels and steeper increase over time of IL-6. High IL-6 and increase in IL-6 may serve as early warning sign to better target interventions aimed at reducing the burden of multimorbidity
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
Energy Metabolism and the Burden of Multimorbidity in Older Adults: Results From the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging
No full textExcessively elevated resting metabolic rate (RMR) for persons of a certain age, sex, and body composition is a mortality risk factor. Whether elevated RMR constitutes an early marker of health deterioration in older adult has not been fully investigated. Using data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, we hypothesized that higher RMR (i) was cross-sectionally associated with higher multimorbidity and (ii) predicted higher multimorbidity in subsequent follow-ups. The analysis included 695 Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging participants, aged 60 or older at baseline, of whom 248 had follow-up data available 2 years later and 109 four years later. Multimorbidity was assessed as number of chronic diseases. RMR was measured by indirect calorimetry and was tested in regression analyses adjusted for covariates age, sex, and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry-measured total body fat mass and lean mass. Baseline RMR and multimorbidity were positively associated, independent of covariates (p = .002). Moreover, in a three-wave bivariate autoregressive cross-lagged model adjusted for covariates, higher prior RMR predicted greater future multimorbidity above and beyond the cross-sectional and autoregressive associations (p = .034). RMR higher than expected, given age, sex, and body composition, predicts future higher multimorbidity in older adults and may be used as early biomarker of impending health deterioration. Replication and the development of normative data are required for clinical translation
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
Loss of weight in obese older adults: A biomarker of impending expansion of multimorbidity?
No full textObjectives To determine whether weight loss in older adults may be a marker of impending burden of multimorbidity regardless of initial weight, testing the hypotheses that obesity but not overweight in elderly adults is associated with greater number of diseases than normal weight and that obese older adults who lose weight over time have the greatest burden of multimorbidity. Design Longitudinal cohort study (Invecchiare in Chianti Study). Setting Community. Participants Individuals aged 60 and older at baseline followed for an average of 4 years (N = 1,025). Measurements Multimorbidity was measured as number of diagnosed diseases. Baseline body mass index (BMI) was categorized as normal weight (2), overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m2), and obese (≥30.0 kg/m2). Loss of weight was defined as decrease over time in BMI of at least 0.15 kg/m2 per year. Age, sex, and education were covariates. Results Baseline obesity was cross-sectionally associated with high multimorbidity and greater longitudinal increase of multimorbidity than normal weight (P =.005) and overweight (P <.001). Moreover, obese participants who lost weight over follow-up had a significantly greater increase in multimorbidity than other participants, including obese participants who maintained or gained weight over time (P =.005). In nonobese participants, changes in weight had no effect on changes in multimorbidity over time. Sensitivity analyses confirmed that one specific disease did not drive the association and that competing mortality did not bias the association. Conclusion Loss of weight in obese older persons is a strong biomarker of impending expansion of multimorbidity. Older obese individuals who lose weight should receive thoughtful medical attention
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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