16 research outputs found
Code extraction from Agda to HVM
No full textDependently typed languages such as Agda have the potential to revolutionize the way we write software because they allow the programmer to catch more bugs at compile time than classical languages. Nonetheless, dependently typed languages are hardly used in practice. One of the reasons is the lack of mature compilers for them.This paper describes the implementation of a new Agda compiler that targets the Higher-Order Virtual Machine (HVM). Firstly we outline the theoretical benefits of using an optimal functional language such as HVM. Secondly, we present the problems we faced and the solutions we devised in the implementation of the agda2hvm compiler. Lastly, we compare our implementation to the current best Agda compilers by running benchmarks and analyzing both time and space performance. We obtained results ranging from our compiler being exponentially faster than the state-of-the-art to being exponentially slower.CSE3000 Research ProjectComputer Science and Engineerin
Hydroxyl Ethyl Starch (HES) Preserves Intrarenal Microcirculatory Perfusion Shown by Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (Ceus), and Renal Function in a Severe Hemodilution Model in Pigs
No full textAcute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) is associated with low oxygen carrying capacity of blood and purposed to cause renal injury in perioperative setting. It is best accomplished in a perioperative setting by a colloid such as hydroxyl ethyl starch (HES) due its capacity to fill the vascular compartment and maintain colloidal pressure. However, alterations of intra renal microvascular perfusion, flow and its effects on renal function and damage during ANH has not been sufficiently clarified. Based on the extensive use of HES in the perioperative setting we tested the hypothesis that the use of HES during ANH is able to perfuse the kidney microcirculation adequately without causing renal dysfunction and injury in pigs. Hemodilution (n = 8) was performed by stepwise replacing blood with HES to hematocrit (Hct) levels of 20% (T1), 15% (T2), and 10% (T3). Seven control animals were investigated. Systemic and renal hemodynamics were monitored. Renal microcirculatory perfusion was visualized and quantified using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and laser speckle imaging (LSI). In addition, sublingual microcirculation was measured by handheld vital microscopy (HVM). Intrarenal mean transit time of ultrasound contrast agent (IRMTT-CEUS) was reduced in the renal cortex at Hct 10% in comparison to control at T3 (1.4 ± 0.6 vs. 2.2 ± 0.7 seconds, respectively, P < 0.05). Although renal function was preserved, the serum neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) levels was higher at Hct 10% (0.033 ± 0.004 pg/μg protein) in comparison to control at T3 (0.021 ± 0.002 pg/μg protein. A mild correlation between CO and IRMTT (renal RBC velocity) (r -0.53; P = 0.001) and CO and NGAL levels (r 0.66; P = 0.001) was also found. Our results show that HES induced ANH is associated with a preserved intra renal blood volume, perfusion, and function in the clinical range of Hct (<15%). However, at severely low Hct (10%) ANH was associated with renal injury as indicated by increased NGAL levels. Changes in renal microcirculatory flow (CEUS and LSI) followed those seen in the sublingual microcirculation measured with HVM.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.ImPhys/Medical Imagin
Bucket Foundation in Clay for OWT Subjected to Combined Cyclic Loads
No full textThis thesis project investigates the bucket foundation in clay subjected to cyclic loads. The cyclic irregular loading history in this thesis was represented by the equivalent number of cycles Neq with a certain level of cyclic to average stress ratio tcy / ta which can be derived using cyclic shear strain accumulation procedure developed in NGI. The first part is the bearing capacity analysis of bucket foundation in clay. The second part is to produce the displacement contour diagrams. The bearing capacity analysis used in-house software BIFURC from NGI. The normalized failure envelopes were investigated for different degree of cyclic degradation expressed by Neq, soil profiles and bucket foundation geometry h / D. The two soil profiles used in this thesis project were constant cyclic shear strength with depth for OCR=40 and linearly increase cyclic shear strength with depth for OCR=1 & 40. Drammen clay was used as basis for the evaluation. The mobilized ultimate capacity were plotted for pure horizontal load, pure vertical load and pure overturning moment. The loads were applied in the decoupling point, meaning that the pure horizontal load fail under pure sliding. It was found that the three load component were equally influenced by cyclic degradation and that the increase and reduction in the total failure as function of Neq and Fcy / Fa could be defined by one curve for a given OCR. The cyclic effect during combined loading was studied through normalized failure envelopes. The normalized failure envelopes do not change for changing cyclic loading history for the same soil profile. The normalized failure envelopes changed in HM load plane due to different h/D and different soil profiles. The failure envelopes describes a full surface in the 3D load space HVM. Besides, the failure envelopes could be described by formulas suggested by Gourvenec and Barnett with some modifications for the failure envelopes in HM plane. Displacement contour diagrams were produced for a wide range of load combination in HVM load space. MATLAB was used to interpolate the results from bearing capacity analysis to produce the displacement contour diagrams. The displacement contours gives the stiffness for bucket foundation under cyclic loading.European Wind Energy Master - EWEM Section of Offshore and Dredging EngineeringDepartment of Maritime and Transport TechnologyMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Intraguild predation enables coexistence of competing phytoplankton in a well-mixed water column
No full textAuthor Posting. © Ecological Society of America, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of Ecological Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecology, (2019): e02874, doi: 10.1002/ecy.2874.Resource competition theory predicts that when two species compete for a single, finite resource, the better competitor should exclude the other. However, in some cases, weaker competitors can persist through intraguild predation, that is, by eating their stronger competitor. Mixotrophs, species that meet their carbon demand by combining photosynthesis and phagotrophic heterotrophy, may function as intraguild predators when they consume the phototrophs with which they compete for light. Thus, theory predicts that mixotrophy may allow for coexistence of two species on a single limiting resource. We tested this prediction by developing a new mathematical model for a unicellular mixotroph and phytoplankter that compete for light, and comparing the model's predictions with a laboratory experimental system. We find that, like other intraguild predators, mixotrophs can persist when an ecosystem is sufficiently productive (i.e., the supply of the limiting resource, light, is relatively high), or when species interactions are strong (i.e., attack rates and conversion efficiencies are high). Both our mathematical and laboratory models show that, depending upon the environment and species traits, a variety of equilibrium outcomes, ranging from competitive exclusion to coexistence, are possible.HVM and MGN designed the model. HVM and MDJ designed the experimental test system. HVM performed the model analysis, conducted the experiments, and analyzed the data. All authors wrote the paper. We thank Susanne Wilken for generously providing axenic CCMP 2951 and 1393 cultures for our use. R. Germain, S. Louca, G. Owens, N. Sharp, P. Thompson, and J. Yoder provided valuable feedback on figure design. We also thank J. Bronstein, S. Diehl, J. Huisman, C. Klausmeier, and four anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. HVM was supported by a United States National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (Grant DBI‐1401332) and a University of British Columbia Biodiversity Research Centre Postdoctoral Fellowship. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants OCE‐1655686 and OCE‐1436169, by a grant from the Simons Foundation/SFARI (561126, HMS), and by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Investment in Science Program. Research was also sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Office and was accomplished under Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF‐19‐2‐0026 for the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Surgical outcomes of gallbladder cancer: the OMEGA retrospective, multicentre, international cohort study
No full textBACKGROUND: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is rare but aggressive. The extent of surgical intervention for different GBC stages is non-uniform, ranging from cholecystectomy alone to extended resections including major hepatectomy, resection of adjacent organs and routine extrahepatic bile duct resection (EBDR). Robust evidence here is lacking, however, and survival benefit poorly defined. This study assesses factors associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS) and morbidity and mortality following GBC surgery in high income countries (HIC) and low and middle income countries (LMIC). METHODS: The multicentre, retrospective Operative Management of Gallbladder Cancer (OMEGA) cohort study included all patients who underwent GBC resection across 133 centres between 1st January 2010 and 31st December 2020. Regression analyses assessed factors associated with OS, RFS and morbidity. FINDINGS: On multivariable analysis of all 3676 patients, wedge resection and segment IVb/V resection failed to improve RFS (HR 1.04 [0.84-1.29], p = 0.711 and HR 1.18 [0.95-1.46], p = 0.13 respectively) or OS (HR 0.96 [0.79-1.17], p = 0.67 and HR 1.48 [1.16-1.88], p = 0.49 respectively), while major hepatectomy was associated with worse RFS (HR 1.33 [1.02-1.74], p = 0.037) and OS (HR 1.26 [1.03-1.53], p = 0.022). Furthermore, EBDR (OR 2.86 [2.3-3.52], p < 0.0010), resection of additional organs (OR 2.22 [1.62-3.02], p < 0.0010) and major hepatectomy (OR 3.81 [2.55-5.73], p < 0.0010) were all associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Compared to LMIC, patients in HIC were associated with poorer RFS (HR 1.18 [1.02-1.37], p = 0.031) but not OS (HR 1.05 [0.91-1.22], p = 0.48). Adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatments were infrequently used. INTERPRETATION: In this large, multicentre analysis of GBC surgical outcomes, liver resection was not conclusively associated with improved survival, and extended resections were associated with greater morbidity and mortality without oncological benefit. Aggressive upfront resections do not benefit higher stage GBC, and international collaborations are needed to develop evidence-based neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment strategies to minimise surgical morbidity and prioritise prognostic benefit. FUNDING: Cambridge Hepatopancreatobiliary Department Research Fund
Risk factors for chronic venous insufficiency in women over 40 years
No full textBakalaura darba tēma „ Hroniskas venozas mazspējas riska faktori sievietēm pēc 40 gadiem”. Tēmas aktualitāti nosaka saslimšanas izplatība darbaspējīgām un sociāli aktīvām vecuma grupām, kas izraisa pacientu dzīves un darbaspējas kvalitātes samazināšanos ar augstu invaliditātes līmeni. Cilvēkiem, kam ir hroniska venoza mazspēja, izvērtēt riska faktorus un profilakses pasākumus ir būtisks priekšnoteikums ilgākai veselības saglabāšanai un komplikāciju novēršanai. Pētījuma mērķis: izpētīt un izvērtēt hroniskas venozas mazspējas riska faktorus sieviešu vidū pēc 40 gadiem. Pētījuma uzdevumi ir noteikt hroniskas venozas mazspējas izplatību un struktūru, noskaidrot nozīmīgākos riska faktorus, kas ietekmē hroniskas venozas mazspējas attīstību, hroniskas venozas mazspējas slimības ilgumu, visbiežākos simptomus, kā arī zināšanas par profilaktiskiem pasākumiem. Apkopot un analizēt anketās iegūtos rezultātus, izdarīt secinājumus par iegūtajiem datiem. Izvirzīta hipotēze ir: būtiskākie hroniskas venozas mazspējas riska faktori sieviešu vidū ir saistīts ar smagu fizisko darbu un ilgstošu statisko slodzi stāvus un sēdus pozā. Lai sasniegtu pētījumā izvirzīto mērķi un pierādītu pētījuma hipotēzi, autore pielietoja kvantitatīvo pētniecības metodi, izmantojot pētniecības instrumentu – aptaujas anketu. Iegūtie dati liecina, ka HVM riska faktoru izplatība sieviešu vidū bija dažāda, bet starp tiem pārsvarā dominē statiskā slodze stāvus un sēdus pozā, liekais svars un iedzimtība. Izvērtējot pētījuma datus, var secināt, ka hipotēze ir daļēji apstiprinājusies. Visizplatītākais riska faktors sieviešu vidū pēc 40 gadiem ir ilgstoša statiskā slodze stāvus vai sēdus pozā, bet smags fizisks darbs spēlē mazāku lomu. Atslēgvārdi – sievietes, hroniska venoza mazspēja, HVM riska faktori, profilakse.Bachelor’s thesis topic ”Risk factors for chronic venous insufficiency in women over 40 years”. The title of the bachelor thesis is about the risk factors for chronic venous insufficiency in women after the age of 40. The focus of the topic is determined by the prevalence of the disease in unimpaired and socially active age groups, which causes a decrease in the quality of life and working capacity of patients with high levels of disability. For people with chronic venous insufficiency, it is essential to evaluate risks factors and preventive measures to maintain health for longer and prevent complications. The aim of research is to verify incidence of risk factors of chronic venous insufficiency disease (CVI). The tasks of the study are to determine the prevalence and structure of chronic venous insufficiency, to determine the most important risk factors that affect the development of chronic venous insufficiency, the duration of chronic venous insufficiency disease, the most common symptoms, as well as knowledge of preventive measures. The hypothesis is that the most significant risk factor for chronic venous insufficiency among women is associated with hard physical work and prolonged static load in an upright and sitting position. In order to achieve the goal set in the study and to prove the research hypothesis, the author used a quantitative research method using a research tool - a questionnaire. In the research, the quantitative - survey method was used. The obtained data show that the prevalence of CVI risk factors among women various, but among them prevathe static load in an upright or sitting position, overweight and heredity. Evaluating the research data, it can be concluded that the hypothesis has been partially confirmed. The most common risk factor among women over the age of 40 is prolonged static pressure in an upright or sitting position, but heavy physical work plays a smaller role. Key words: women, chronic venous insufficiency, risk factors of CVI (chronic venous insufficiency), preventive measure
Habits of preventive measures in patients with chronic venous insufficiency of the lower extremities
No full textĀrsta palīgsVeselības aprūpePhysician's AssistantHealth CareDarba autore: Marta Andersone, Rīgas Stradiņa universitātes, Liepājas filiāles, Sabiedrības veselības un sociālās labklājības fakultātes studiju programmas ‘Ārsta palīgs’ studente.
Kvalifikācijas darba tēma: Profilaktisko pasākumu paradumi pacientiem ar apakšējo ekstremitāšu hronisku vēnu mazspēju.
Darbs izstrādāts: 2022./2023. gadā.
Pētījuma mērķis ir noskaidrot profilaktisko pasākumu paradumus pacientiem ar apakšējo ekstremitāšu vēnu mazspēju.
Teorētiskais modelis: Hroniska vēnu mazspēja ir slimības, kas pasaulē ir ļoti izplatīta, dažādos pētījumos tiek ziņots atšķirīgā izplatība, bet tā svārstās no 30-80% pasaules iedzīvotāju (Ortega, et al., 2021) (Alsaigh and Fukaya, 2021). Profilaktisko pasākumu ievērošana ir nozīmīga daļa no terapijas procesa, kā arī būtiska nozīme ir regulārai to pielietošana.
Pētījuma jautājums: Kādi ir profilaktiskie pasākumu paradumi pacientiem ar apakšējo ekstremitāšu hronisku vēnu mazspēju?
Pētījuma metode: Pētījumā piedalījās 100 iedzīvotāji, kuriem ir diagnosticēta apakšējo ekstremitāšu vēnu mazspēja, pēc KEAP klasifikācijas pakāpē C0, C1, C2, C3 un C4, kā arī iedzīvotāji, kuriem ir trīs vai vairāki HVS simptomi. Pētījumā piedalās gan sievietes, gan vīrieši vecumā 20-65 gadi.
Pētījuma rezultāti un secinājumi: Aptaujas datu analīze par hronisku vēnu mazspēju (HVM) liecina, ka šis stāvoklis ir biežāk sastopams sievietēm nekā vīriešiem, un dzimuma dalījums ir 67% sieviešu un 33% vīriešu. Iepriekšējie pētījumi ir arī parādījuši lielāku HVM sastopamību sievietēm, jo viņu ikdienas dzīvē ir paaugstināti riska faktori. Respondentu vecuma sadalījums bija salīdzinoši vienmērīgs, 28% vecumā no 20 līdz 35 gadiem, 36% vecumā no 36 līdz 50 gadiem un 36% vecumā no 51 līdz 65 gadiem. Tas ļāva salīdzināt profilaktiskos ieradumus visās vecuma grupās.
Visbiežāk ziņotie simptomi, ar kuriem saskarās respondenti, bija smaguma sajūta kājās (49%), kāju krampji (46%), kāju pietūkums (42%) un kāju nejutīgums (37%). Šie simptomi atbilda tiem, par kuriem ziņots iepriekšējos hronisku vēnu mazspējas pacientu pētījumos. Ilgstoša sēdēšana tika noteikta kā visizplatītākais HVM cēlonis, un 57% respondentu minēja to kā veicinošu faktoru.
Pētījumā pacientiem ieteikts vismaz vienu stundu dienā nodarboties ar mērenām fiziskām aktivitātēm, dzert daudz ūdens un veikt vingrinājumus, lai uzlabotu venozo hemodinamiku, kas var mazināt tādus simptomus kā sāpes kājās, smaguma sajūta un pietūkums. Iepriekšējie pētījumi arī atklāja, ka fiziskie vingrinājumi uzlabo vēnu hemodinamiku, tādējādi uzlabojot asins plūsmu apakšējās ekstremitātēs un uzlabojot simptomus.
Atslēgas vārdi: hroniska vēnu mazspēja, apakšējās ekstremitātes, simptomi, profilaktiskie pasākumi.The author of the paper: Marta Andersone, student of the study program 'Ārsta Palīgs' of Riga Stradin University, Liepāja branch, Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare.
The topic of the qualification work: Habits of preventive measures in patients with chronic venous insufficiency of the lower extremities.
Work developed: 2022/2023. year.
The aim of the study is to find out the habits of preventive measures in patients with venous insufficiency of the lower extremities.
Theoretical model: Chronic venous insufficiency is a widespread disease globally, with varying prevalence reported in different studies ranging from 30-80% of the world's population (Ortega, et al., 2021) (Alsaigh and Fukaya, 2021). Compliance with preventive measures is a significant part of the therapy process, and regular application is also essential.
Research question: What are the preventive measures for patients with chronic venous insufficiency in the lower extremities?
Research method: The study involved 100 residents diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency in the lower extremities according to the KEAP classification levels C0, C1, C2, C3, and C4, as well as residents experiencing three or more HVS symptoms. Both women and men aged 20-65 participated in the study.
Research results and conclusions: An analysis of survey data on chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) indicates that the condition is more prevalent in women than men, with a gender split of 67% female and 33% male. Previous studies have also shown a higher incidence of CVI in women, due to greater risk factors in their daily lives. The age distribution among the respondents was relatively evenly split, with 28% aged 20-35, 36% aged 36-50, and 36% aged 51-65. This allowed for a comparison of preventive habits across all age groups.
The most commonly reported symptoms experienced by respondents were a feeling of heaviness in the legs (49%), leg cramps (46%), leg swelling (42%), and leg numbness (37%). These symptoms were consistent with those reported in previous studies of CVI patients. Sitting for long periods was identified as the most common cause of CVI, with 57% of respondents citing this as a contributing factor.
The study recommends that patients engage in moderate physical activity for at least one hour per day, drink plenty of water, and perform exercises to improve venous hemodynamics, which can alleviate symptoms such as leg pain, heaviness, and swelling. Previous studies have also found that physical exercise improves venous hemodynamics, leading to better blood flow in the lower extremities and an improvement in symptoms.
Key words: chronic venous insufficiency, lower extremities, symptoms, preventive measures
Current Practice in the Treatment of Colorectal Liver Metastases by Irreversible Electroporation: An International Questionnaire Survey (LIVERMET-IRE-Q)
No full text\ua9 2025 S. Karger AG, Basel.Introduction: Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a form of nonthermal ablation that delivers pulses of high-voltage electric current between electrodes. Although IRE has been demonstrated to achieve tumor necrosis, its role in the treatment of colorectal hepatic metastases is unestablished. This study is an international questionnaire survey on the use of IRE for patients with colorectal hepatic metastases. Methods: A questionnaire addressing views on the use of IRE for colorectal liver metastases was circulated to clinicians with an interest and/or expertise in this technique. The questionnaire addressed indications for the use of IRE in a range of scenarios: methods of use, assessment of treatment response, and outcome. Results: 64 clinicians from 17 different countries replied to the questionnaire. The preferred mode of delivery of IRE was percutaneous treatment under computed tomographic guidance. Thirty-three (70% of 47 respondents) used IRE exclusively for lesions in proximity to inflow or outflow structures. Twenty (43% respondents) used IRE as their sole ablative treatment, while 19 (40% of 47 respondents) used IRE in combination with thermal ablation. The maximum number of lesions that could be treated by IRE was two and the preferred size of lesion was <3 cm. Conclusion: Respondents to this international questionnaire survey indicate that IRE is an acceptable ablative option for small colorectal liver metastases (<3 m in diameter) close to inflow/outflow structures
Outcomes After Liver Transplantation With Incidental Cholangiocarcinoma
No full textCholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is currently a contraindication to liver transplantation (LT) in the United Kingdom (UK). Incidental CCA occurs rarely in some patients undergoing LT. We report on retrospective outcomes of patients with incidental CCA from six UK LT centres. Cases were identified from pathology records. Data regarding tumour characteristics and post-transplant survival were collected. CCA was classified by TNM staging and anatomical location. 95 patients who underwent LT between 1988–2020 were identified. Median follow-up after LT was 2.1 years (14 days-18.6 years). Most patients were male (68.4%), median age at LT was 53 (IQR 46-62), and the majority had underlying PSC (61%). Overall median survival after LT was 4.4 years. Survival differed by tumour site: 1-, 3-, and 5-year estimated survival was 82.1%, 68.7%, and 57.1%, respectively, in intrahepatic CCA (n = 40) and 58.5%, 42.6%, and 30.2% in perihilar CCA (n = 42; p = 0.06). 1-, 3-, and 5-year estimated survival was 95.8%, 86.5%, and 80.6%, respectively, in pT1 tumours (28.2% of cohort), and 65.8%, 44.7%, and 31.1%, respectively, in pT2-4 (p = 0.018). Survival after LT for recipients with incidental CCA is inferior compared to usual outcomes for LT in the United Kingdom. LT for earlier stage CCA has similar survival to LT for hepatocellular cancer, and intrahepatic CCAs have better survival compared to perihilar CCAs. These observations may support LT for CCA in selected cases
Impactia: automating the study of the scientific production
No full textIntroduction
The Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA) was set up in June 2006. It consists of a regional government action with the aim of democratizing the health professional access to quality scientific information, regardless of the professional workplace.
Andalusia is a region with more than 8 million inhabitants, with 100,000 health professionals for 41 hospitals, 1,500 primary healthcare centres, and 28 centres for non-medical attention purposes (research, management, and educational centres).
Objectives
The Department of Development, Research and Investigation (R+D+i) of the Andalusian Regional Government has, among its duties, the task of evaluating the hospitals and centres of the Andalusian Public Health System (SSPA) in order to distribute its funding. Among the criteria used is the evaluation of the scientific output, which is measured using bibliometry.
It is well-known that the bibliometry has a series of limitations and problems that should be taken into account, especially when it is used for non-information sciences, such us career, funding, etc.
A few years ago, the bibliometric reports were done separately in each centre, but without using preset and well-defined criteria, elements which are basic when we need to compare the results of the reports. It was possible to find some hospitals which were including Meeting Abstracts in their figures, while others do not, and the same was happening with Erratum and many other differences.
Therefore, the main problem that the Department of R+D+i had to deal with, when they were evaluating the health system, was that bibliometric data was not accurate and reports were not comparable.
With the aim of having an unified criteria for the whole system, the Department of R+D+i ordered the BV-SSPA to do the year analysis of the scientific output of the system, using some well defined criteria and indicators, among whichstands out the Impact Factor.
Materials and Methods
As the Impact Factor is the bibliometric indicator that the virtual library is asked to consider, it is necessary to use the database Web of Science (WoS), since it is its owner and editor. The WoS includes the databases Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. To gather all the documents, SCI and SSCI are used; to obtain the Impact Factor and quartils, it is used the Journal Citation Reports, JCR.
Unlike other bibliographic databases, such us MEDLINE, the bibliometric database WoS includes the address of all the authors. In order to retrieve all the scientific output of the SSPA, we have done general searches, which are afterwards processed by a tool developed by our library. We have done nine different searches using the field ‘address’; eight of them including ‘Spain’ and each one of the eight Andalusian Regions, and the other one combining ‘Spain’ with all those cities where there are health centres, since we have detected that there are some authors that do not use the region in their signatures. These are some of the search strategies:
AD=Malaga and AD=Spain
AD=Sevill* and AD=Spain
AD=SPAIN AND (AD=GUADIX OR AD=BAZA OR AD=MOTRIL)
Further more, the field ‘year’ is used to determine the period.
To exploit the data, the BV-SSPA has developed a tool called Impactia. It is a web application which uses a database to store the information of the documents generated by the SSPA. Impactia allows the user to automatically process the retrieved documents, assigning them to their correspondent centres.
In order to do the classification of documents automaticaly, it was necessary to detect the huge variability of names of the centres that the authors use in their signatures. Therefore, Impactia knows that if an author signs as “Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena”, “HVM” or “Hosp. Virgin Macarena”, he belongs to the same centre. The figure attached shows the variability found for the Empresa Publica Hospital de Poniente.
Besides the documents from WoS, Impactia includes the documents indexed in Scopus and in other databases, where we do bibliographic searches using similar strategies to the later ones.
Aware that in the health centres and hospitals there is a lot of grey literature that is not gathered in databases, Impactia allows the centres to feed the application with these documents, so that all the SSPA scientific output is gathered and organised in a centralized place.
The ones responsible of localizing this gray literature are the librarians of each one of the centres. They can also do statements to the documents and indicators that are collected and calculated by Impactia.
The bulk upload of documents from WoS and Scopus into Impactia is monthly done.
One of the main issues that we found during the development of Impactia was the need of dealing with duplicated documents obtained from different sources. Taking into account that sometimes titles might be written differently, with slashes, comas, and so on, Impactia detects the duplicates using the field ‘DOI’ if it is available or comparing the fields: page start, page end and ISSN. Therefore it is possible to guarantee the absence of duplicates.
Results
The data gathered in Impactia becomes available to the administrative teams and hospitals managers, through an easy web page that allows them to know at any moment, and with just one click, the detailed information of the scientific output of their hospitals, including useful graphs such as percentage of document types, journals where their scientists usually publish, annual comparatives, bibliometric indicators and so on. They can also compare the different centres of the SSPA.
Impactia allows the user to download the data from the application, so that he can work with this information or include them in their centres’ reports.
This application saves the health system many working hours. It was previously done manually by forty one librarians, while now it is done by only one person in the BV-SSPA during two days a month.
To sum up, the benefits of Impactia are:
It has shown its effectiveness in the automatic classification, treatment and analysis of the data.
It has become an essential tool for all managers to evaluate quickly and easily the scientific production of their centers.
It optimizes the human resources of the SSPA, saving time and money.
It is the reference point for the Department of R+D+i to do the scientific health staff evaluation.Ye
