1,720,972 research outputs found
Asma, malattie respiratorie e apporto nutrizionale di acidi grassi e olio d'oliva: studio caso controllo in una popolazione italiana
Full text linkBackground. Fat intake has been associated to respiratory diseases, with conflicting results. Objective. To assess the association between respiratory diseases and animal and vegetable fats, monounsaturated (MUFA), saturated (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Design Population-based multi-case control study (Genes Environment Interaction in Respiratory Diseases (GEIRD) study) conducted in seven Italian centers. Participants. Subjects aged 20–84 years from the general population. Measurements. Clinical status and nutrient intake information was collected for 962 subjects: 145 with Current Asthma (CA), 77 with Past Asthma (PA), 77 with CB, 301 with Allergic Rhinitis (AR), 164 with Non Allergic Rhinitis (NAR) and 344 Controls. Food intake was collected through the Food Frequency Questionnaire EPIC (European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition). The associations between fats and respiratory diseases were estimated by means of multinomial or logistic models. The different fats and foods were analyzed both as continuous variables and as quartiles. Results. A negative association between the intake of vegetable fats, MUFA, oleic acid and the risk of CA was found (RRR=0.69; 95%CI: 0.49;0.97 for oleic acid). The same association for MUFA (p=0.028) and oleic acid (p=0.022) against CA was found when they were categorized in quartiles. Olive oil was associated to a reduction of the risk of CA (RRR=0.79; 95%CI: 0.65;0.98). An increased risk of AR was associated with moderate animal fat intake, and an increased risk of NAR was associated with SFA intake. Conclusions. Dietary fats affect the risk of respiratory diseases in adults. High dietary intake of oleic acid and of olive oil are associated to a lower asthma risk
Calorie restriction, endothelial function and blood pressure homeostasis
No full textA number of experimental animal studies have demonstrated that a
chronic reduction in calorie intake decreases BP levels and prevents the
development of hypertension [6–11]. The mechanisms through which
this effect is mediated are not precisely known, but may include reductions
in inflammation and oxidative stress, enhanced insulin sensitivity,
and modifications in neuroendocrine and sympathetic nervous system
function [12]. Data from short-term randomized clinical trials and of
volunteers practicing long-termcalorie restriction (CR)without malnutrition
have confirmed that a chronic reduction in calorie intake significantly
decreases blood pressure and other related cardiometabolic risk
factors that have been implicated in the pathogenesis of endothelial
dysfunction [13–16]
Body weight and mortality in COPD: focus on the obesity paradox
Full text linkThe positive association between overweight, obesity, and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality is well established, even though this relation is typically U shaped with an increased risk also in low-weight subjects. However, being overweight or obese has been associated with a better prognosis in subjects suffering from chronic diseases, id est the "obesity paradox". In both community-dwelling and hospitalized patients with COPD, several studies have reported a significant protective effect of obesity on all-cause mortality, indicating that also in obstructive pulmonary diseases, an obesity paradox may be present. Interestingly, the "paradox" is more evident for subjects with severe bronchial obstruction (i.e., a lower FEV1), while in mild-moderate conditions, the weight-related mortality shows a behavior similar to that observed in the general population. Several factors may confound the relation between COPD, obesity and mortality. The lower FEV1 found in obese people may be linked to a restrictive defect rather than to an obstructive one. Due to the modified chest wall mechanical properties-related to increased fat mass-obese COPD patients may present, respect to their lean counterpart, a lower lung hyperinflation which is associated with higher mortality. The traditional classification of COPD attributes to obese "blue bloaters" a low-grade emphysema in opposition to lean "pink puffers"; the fact that emphysema extent is related to mortality may bias the relationship between weight and survival. It is also to underline that the majority of the studies, consider BMI rather than body composition (a better predictor of mortality) when studying the intriguing relation between weight, COPD, and mortality. Reverse bias has also to be taken into account, hypothesizing that an unintentional weight loss may be the deleterious factor related to mortality, rather than considering obesity a protective one. Further prospective studies are needed to shed light on the complexity of this emerging issue
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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