1,720,964 research outputs found
Quadrivalent influenza vaccine: a new opportunity to reduce the influenza burden
No full textInfluenza illness is caused by influenza A and influenza B strains. Although influenza A viruses are perceived to carry greater risk because they account for the majority of influenza cases in most seasons and have been responsible for influenza pandemics, influenza B viruses also impose a substantial public health burden, particularly among children and at-risk subjects. Furthermore, since the 2001-2002 influenza season, both influenza B lineages, B/Victoria-like viruses and B/Yamagata-like viruses have co-circulated in Europe. The conventional trivalent influenza vaccines have shown a limited ability to induce effective protection when major or minor mismatches between the influenza B vaccine component and circulating strains occur. For this reason, the inclusion of a second B strain in influenza vaccines may help to overcome the well-known difficulties of predicting the circulating B lineage and choosing the influenza B vaccine component. Two quadrivalent influenza vaccines, a live-attenuated quadrivalent influenza vaccine (Q/LAIV) and a split inactivated quadrivalent influenza vaccine (I/QIV), were first licensed in the US in 2012. Since their introduction, models simulating the inclusion of QIV in influenza immunization programs have demonstrated the substantial health benefits, in terms of reducing the number of influenza cases, their complications and mortality. In the near future, evaluations from simulation models should be confirmed by effectiveness studies in the field, and more costeffectiveness analyses should be conducted in order to verify the expected benefits
Governance delle reti sanitarie: i Dipartimenti Inter-Aziendali Regionali (DIAR) nel nuovo sistema sanitario ligure
No full textIl lavoro prende spunto dalla recente riforma del sistema sanitario ligure verso un modello a rete, volto a rispondere ai bisogni di salute delle persone, integrando i processi di cura dei singoli erogatori. La caratteristica piu rilevante e costituita dal coordinamento delle ASL preesistenti, attraverso l’istituzione dei Dipartimenti Inter- Aziendali Regionali (DIAR) e di un’azienda capogruppo, A.Li.Sa. Lo studio ha due obiettivi. In primo luogo si descrive come, per accompagnare la delicata fase del cambiamento, si sia proceduto a intervenire sul contesto culturale di riferimento con un’attivita di formazione ai professionisti in collaborazione con l’Universita. In secondo luogo, si illustrano le attivita preliminari e i primi risultati prodotti dalla riforma, con riferimento al caso dell’area chirurgica del DIAR cardiovascolare.
Universal influenza virus vaccines: what needs to happen next?
No full textIntroduction: Influenza occurs worldwide and causes significant disease burden in terms of morbidity, associated complications, hospitalizations, and deaths. Vaccination constitutes the primary approach for controlling influenza. Current influenza vaccines elicit a strain-specific response yet occasionally exhibit suboptimal effectiveness. This review describes the limits of available immunization tools and the future prospects and potentiality of universal influenza vaccines. Areas covered: New 'universal' vaccines, which are presently under development, are expected to overcome the problems related to the high variability of influenza viruses, such as the need for seasonal vaccine updates and re-vaccination. Here, we explore vaccines based on the highly conserved epitopes of the HA, NA, or extracellular domain of the influenza M2 protein, along with those based on the internal proteins such as NP and M1. Expert opinion: The development of a universal influenza vaccine that confers protection against homologous, drifted, and shifted influenza virus strains could obviate the need for annual reformulation and mitigate disease burden. The scientific community has long been awaiting the advent of universal influenza vaccines; these are currently under development in laboratories worldwide. If such vaccines are immunogenic, efficacious, and able to confer long-lasting immunity, they might be integrated with or supplant traditional influenza vaccines
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
Monitoring influenza vaccination coverage among healthcare workers during Covid-19 pandemic: a three-year survey in a large University Hospital in North-West Italy: Flu vaccination coverage among HCW during Covid-19
No full textIntroduction. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are one of the highest priority group recommended for seasonal influenza vaccination (SIV). A greater awareness of influenza vaccination importance among HCWs was observed after the arrival of Covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to analyze SIV coverage rate in the 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons among HCWs employed within the IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino in Genoa, in order to observe how acceptance has changed before and during Covid-19 pandemic.
Methods. The vaccinated population was stratified by gender, age, job and area and the characteristics of vaccinated HCWs was analyzed.
Results. The observed SIV coverage was below the recommended target for all seasons, but a sharp increase was observed in the 2020/2021 (12.8%; 40.9%; 23% for 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 season, respectively). There was an increase in the mean and median age in the 2020/2021 vaccination campaign (46.7 and 49, respectively), comparing to the 2019/2020 season (43.5 and 45 respectively). A higher proportion of vaccinated physician in the 2019/2020 and 2021/2022 season was found. The proportions of vaccinated females were constantly higher than vaccinated males. A higher representation of vaccinated subjects working in medical areas was observed, but over the three-years the most evident increase in proportion of vaccinees was found for subjects from the services area.
Conclusions. This survey highlights the importance of studying the determinants that influenced vaccination adherence and how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected SIV coverage
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