1,720,958 research outputs found
Assessment of the pharmacogenomics educational environment in southeast europe
No full textBackground/Aims: Pharmacogenomics aims to use the information derived from an individual's genomic profile in the context of individualizing medical treatment modalities. However, currently, pharmacogenomics education is not uniformly provided to health care professionals. This study investigates the status of pharmacogenomics education in Southeast Europe. Methods: University websites served as information sources in order to investigate the discrepancies in pharmacogenomics education in Southeast Europe. In parallel, a survey was conducted at the University of Cagliari (Italy) to test pharmacogenomics knowledge and understanding among specialists, residents and undergraduate students. Results: Our study shows that pharmacogenomics knowledge is not uniformly spread in universities in Southeast Europe and provides the basis for the harmonization of pharmacogenomics education that would directly impact on a smoother integration of pharmacogenomics into mainstream medical practice. Also, a considerable gap in pharmacogenomics education was obvious between the group of specialists and the groups of residents and undergraduate students. Conclusions: Pharmacogenomics education as well as the continuous enrichment of pharmacogenomics knowledge for health care professionals are fundamental approaches toward personalized medicine. Ideally, pharmacogenomics should be taught as a stand-alone course or at least in the context of genetics courses that already exist in universities in Southeast Europ
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
Pharmacogenetics of lithium effects on glomerular function in bipolar disorder patients under chronic lithium treatment: a pilot study
No full textBipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric disease characterized by alternating episodes of mania and depression. Lithium (Li) represents the mainstay treatment for BD, although a significant proportion of patients shows insufficient or no response. Li is also associated with potentially severe side effects, including renal effects. Several studies reported that Li may induce reduction of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in patients under long-term treatment. The biological systems and the genetic factors involved in susceptibility to Li-induced renal-side effects have been scarcely explored. The aim of our study was to test the contribution of putatively risk genetic variants in Li-induced reduction in estimated GFR (eGFR) in BD patients under long-term Li treatment. Tag SNPs, located in genes previously shown to be associated with kidney dysfunction or Li mechanism of action, were selected and genotyped in a sample of 70 BD patients of Sardinian origin. SNP rs378448, located in Acid Sensing Ion Channel Neurona-1 (ACCN1) gene, showed a significant interaction with duration of Li treatment on eGFR (F2=3.623, p=0.033). Our preliminary findings suggest that rs378448 could predispose BD subjects to a detrimental effect of chronic Li treatment on kidney functionin
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
Individualizing clozapine and risperidone treatment for schizophrenia patients
No full textSchizophrenia is one of the most devastating mental and neuropsychiatric disorder that affects almost 1% of the population. It is usually diagnosed during adolescence and later on, symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, depression, etc, appear. Environmental and genetic factors play important role in the development of schizophrenia, but, causes leading to it are still unknown.
Clozapine is essentially the first drug that falls under the banner of the’atypical’ drugs and is effective both in positive as well as in negative symptoms and cognitive dissonance. Risperidone is another atypical antipsychotic which is effective against negative symptoms and seems to be the treatment of choice for newly diagnosed patients.
According to various studies, candidate gene variants are associated with clozapine's and risperidone's response; in particular, dopamine, serotonin glutamate receptor genes, hormone-related genes, neurotransmitter transporter genes and nucleotide binding protein genes.
Our aim was to put together current research concerning those two drugs. Moreover, our work allows the comparative study of polymorphisms in specific genes for two commonly used drugs for the individualization of treatment.
Pharmacogenetic studies of clozapine and risperidone in SZ have thus far provided incongruent findings. However, the recent significant improvements in pharmacogenomics approaches and available technologies may lead to the identification of clear-cut determinants which, if implemented in a framework of molecular and clinical information, would significantly contribute to the prediction of treatment response and prevention of Adverse Drug Reaction
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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