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Health, cardiovascular disease and their determinants in the Kazakh population
Get PDFBackground: The high and fluctuating mortality and rising health inequalities
in post-Soviet countries have attracted considerable attention, but there are
very few individual-level data on distribution of health outcomes in Central
Asian countries of the former Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan. The main
causes of death driving the low life expectancy (some 12 years shorter than in
Western Europe) are chronic non-communicable diseases, particularly
cardiovascular diseases (CVD). //
Aim: The main aim of the thesis was to investigate the levels and distribution
of risk factors of CVD and the associations between a range of risk factors and
CVD in Kazakhstan. //
Methods: This thesis describes a population-based cross-sectional survey
and a case-control study of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and stroke in the
Astana (Kazakhstan capital city) region. The cross-sectional survey examined
977 men and women aged 50-74 years (493 in Astana city and 484 in a rural
area) randomly selected from primary care registers. Subjects in the crosssectional
survey served as controls for 348 cases of acute coronary syndrome
(ACS) and 235 cases of stroke hospitalised during the study period in two
hospitals covering over 80% of acute admissions for these two conditions in
the Astana region. The examination of both sets of cases followed identical
protocol, including a structured questionnaire, objective examination and
collection of blood samples. //
Results: The cross-sectional survey found high prevalence of cardiometabolic
risk factors and differences in the prevalence of risk factors by
socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, including less favourable
pattern in urban vs. rural residents. The case-control study identified associations between ACS and stroke and cardio-metabolic risk factors,
health behaviours and socioeconomic factors. A consistent finding was a less
favourable risk profile in the Russian vs. Kazakh ethnicity. //
Conclusions: The prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors in the Kazakh
population is high compared to Western Europe. The associations of ACS and
stroke with risk factors were as expected, and there were some specific
associations with socio-demographic characteristics. The pronounced sociodemographic
differences in prevalence of cardio-metabolic risk factors
suggest that preventive strategies may target population groups at higher risk
of CVD
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
COGNITIVE FUNCTION DETERMINANTS IN OLDER PERSONS IN URBAN AND RURAL POPULATION IN THE NUR-SULTAN REGION, KAZAKHSTAN: CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
Get PDFObjective: The data on the cognitive function and its determinants in older population in Central Asia
is limited. The objective of the present study was to assess the cognitive function and its determinants in
the population of Nur-Sultan city and adjacent rural area in Kazakhstan.
Methods: We implemented a cross-sectional study of urban and rural population samples (the state
capital Nur-Sultan and Akmol village). Men and women aged 50–74 years were examined; a total of 954
adults participated in this study with response rate of 59%. One of the major components of cognitive
function - verbal memory was assessed for this analysis using a word recall task consisting of 10 common
nouns, administered over three consecutive 1-min trials. Total number of words correctly recalled
for each trial was summed with an overall score of 30 at maximum. The examination also included the
standardized protocol with a structured questionnaire, objective examination and collection of blood
samples.
Results: After controlling for age and sex the presence of cardiometabolic risk factors (excluding BMI),
region, ethnicity, alcohol consumption, education levels and selected socioeconomic factors were all
significantly associated with cognitive function. Women, less deprived and higher educated participants,
and urban residents had significantly less decline in memory. Similar to other studies, higher cholesterol
levels were strongly associated with cognitive decline.
Conclusions: The associations of cognitive function and its determinants were as expected, and there
were some specific associations with socio-demographic characteristics. The pronounced socio-demographic
particularly regional differences suggest that preventive strategies may target population groups
at higher risk for cognitive decline
MRI-BASED STUDY OF VARIOUS COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS: CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
Get PDFIntroduction: Clinical and diagnostic criteria for cognitive impairments are based neurophysiological
tests or the presence of a history of vascular disease and stroke following the MRI scan.
Materials and methods: The clinical data of 497 respondents collected in the form of standardized
questionnaires and protocol, MRI data were examined. Respondents were divided by age groups (50-
54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-75) with approximately the same sex ratio in each group. Cognitive function
was evaluated according to the results of neurophysiological tests. Verbal memory was evaluated by
reminding a list of 10 nouns. Immediate recall was evaluated using correctly recalled words summarized
over 3 consecutive 1-minute trials (range 0-30). Delayed feedback was evaluated after the interval during
which other cognitive tests were introduced (range 0-10). Fluency was assessed by the number of animals
named by the respondents within 1minute. To assess attention, mental speed and concentration,
participants were instructed to cross out two target letters embedded in a random letter grid, as quickly
and accurately as possible, within 1minute (range 0-65). Brain MRI was performed with cognitive test.
Results: When analyzing the assessment of verbal memory (range 0-30), the gradient of memory decline
after 59 years per 1word was clearly expressed. The analysis of verbal fluency and the assessment
of attention and concentration also showed a decrease in memory (1-2words less in each subsequent
age group). According to the results of the final stage of testing, there was a tendency to decrease in the
activity of long-term memory of both sexes with increasing age (more in men than in women). According
to the MRI results, the respondents with the lowest cognitive function test results showed a picture of
white matter lesion in the form of multiple foci of ischemia and local postischemic nodules, which might
indicate the progression of dementia.
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, a correlation was revealed, with increasing age, the
concentration of attention, memory decreases and cognitive impairment develops due to damage to the
white matter of the brain due to ischemia, which can lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
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
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