1,720,997 research outputs found
Removal versus retention of cervical cerclage with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes: systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textObjective: To evaluate maternal and perinatal outcomes of removal versus retention of cervical cerclage after premature preterm rupture of membranes (pPROM). Study design: Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were searched electronically on February 2023 utilizing combinations of the relevant medical subject heading (MeSH) terms, keywords, and word variants that were considered suitable for the topic. Either prospective or retrospective trials were considered suitable for the inclusion. The coprimary outcome of this study were pregnancy latency >7 days from pPROM and pregnancy latency >48 h from pPROM. Random effect head to-head meta-analyses were performed to directly compare each outcome, expressing the results as summary odds ratio (OR) for dichotomous outcomes and as mean difference (MD) for continuous outcomes, plus relative 95% confidence interval (CI). Quality assessment of the included studies was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Six studies involving a total of 377 women (169 in the "removal" and 208 in the "retention" group) were included. The rate of pregnancy prolongation >48 h was significantly lower in the removal compared to retention group (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.07-0.31; p < 0.0001), as well as the rate of pregnancy prolongation >7 days (OR 0.30 95% CI 0.11-0.83; p = 0.02) and pregnancy latency expressed in days (MD -2.84 days, 95% CI -5.40 to -0.29; p = 0.03). The rate of chorioamnionitis was significantly lower in the removal compared to the retention group (OR 0.57 95% CI 0.34-0.96p = 0.03) as was the rate of Apgar score < 7 at 5 min (OR 0.22 95% CI 0.08-0.56; p = 0.002). There was no difference between removal and retention groups for all the other maternal and perinatal outcomes. Conclusions: The decision whether to remove or retain cerclage in case of pPROM should balance the prematurity-related risks with that of infectious complications, thus highlighting the need for tailored management based on gestational age at occurrence of pPROM
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
The use of cervical gene therapy for the prevention of infection-related preterm birth
Get PDFIntroduction: Approximately 40% of preterm births are preceded by microbial invasion of the intrauterine
space, with ascent from the vagina being the most common pathway. Antimicrobial peptides
(AMPs), in combination with mucin and other immune cells, constitute a barrier within the
cervical canal which prevents ascending infection. I investigate whether overexpression of
human beta-defensin 3 (HBD-3), a potent AMP, in the cervical mucosa prevents bacterial
ascent from the vagina into the uterine cavity of pregnant mice. / Methods: Models of ascending infection and preterm birth: Mice received E.coli (non-pathogenic K12 or pathogenic K1 with integrated luxABCDE operon)
intra-vaginally at E16.5 and bacterial ascension was monitored by live whole body
bioluminescence imaging. / AAV gene therapy: An adeno-associated virus vector (AAV8) containing the HBD-3 transgene was synthesised
(AAV8-HBD3). AAV8-HBD3 or control vector AAV8-GFP control was administered intravaginally
into E13.5 pregnant mice. This was followed by induction of ascending infection at E16.5 as
described above. / Results: Following vaginal infection with E.coli K12, bioluminescence imaging showed bacterial ascent
into the uterine cavity but this did not lead to preterm birth. Following vaginal infection with
E.coli K1, bioluminescence showed bacterial ascent into the uterine cavity leading to
subsequent premature delivery and a reduction in pups born alive, compared with uninfected
controls. Following intravaginal infection with E.coli K12 or K1, there was significantly less uterine
bioluminescence in the AAV8-HBD3 treated mice at 24 and 48 hours after infection compared
with the AAV8-GFP controls, signifying reduced uterine bacterial ascent in the AAV8-HBD3
treated mice. Although there was no increase in the gestation length in the E.coli K1 dams
following AAV8-HBD3 treatment, there was an increase in the proportion of live pups at
delivery compared with AAV8-GFP controls. / Conclusion: AAV-HBD3 may be a promising candidate for augmenting cervical innate immunity to prevent
ascending infection-related preterm birth
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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