1,721,152 research outputs found
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
Treatment of classical Hodgkin lymphoma in the era of brentuximab vedotin and immune checkpoint inhibitors
No full textThe majority of Hodgkin lymphoma patients are now cured with conventional first-line therapy; however, 10–15% of early-stage disease and less than 30% of advanced-stage patients are refractory(rare) or relapsed. Salvage second-line therapy combined with high-dose therapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation can cure 40–50% of patients. Recently novel agents (Brentuximab Vedotin and Immune Checkpoint inhibitors) have demonstrated evidence of therapeutic activity and are potential bridge to an allogeneic stem-cell transplantation. The review is aimed to present not only salvage strategies; indeed, the paper contains paragraphs about therapy and new treatment options at diagnosis
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
Analisi costo-efficacia di rituximab + CHOP versus CHOP in soggetti affetti da linfoma non Hodgkin aggressivo
No full textCost-effectiveness analysis of rituximab + CHOP versus CHOP in patients with aggressive Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Objective: Aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of rituximab + CHOP (R-CHOP) versus CHOP alone, in Italian patients with aggressive Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), in the NHS' perspective. Design: The economic analysis is based on an existing Markov model which was developed to evaluate costs and effects for two hypothetical cohorts of patients aged ≥ 60 years or aged < 60 years respectively, over a time frame of 15 years after administration of chemotherapy. The model is based on five health states (start therapy, complete response, no response, progression, death) and combines efficacy data from published clinical trials (GELA-98-5) with costs of therapies and follow-up after chemotherapy, based on Italian treatment patterns. Costs and effects were discounted respectively at 6% and 1.5% per year. Extensive 1-way and Monte Carlo sensitivity analyses were conducted to test the robustness of results.
Results: For the two cohorts (age ≥ 60 or age < 60 years), incremental discounted survival gains with R-CHOP vs. CHOP were respectively 1.08 and 1.02 years per patient; incremental QALYs were 1.15 and 1.04 per patient; incremental cost/patient was €14 838 and €13 938; the incremental cost per life-year gained (cost/LYG) was therefore €13 732 and €13 717, while the incremental cost/QALY gained was €12 879 and €13 362.
Conclusions: The clinical advantage of R-CHOP is supported by values of incremental cost/LYG and cost/QALY gained, which are well below the thresholds commonly indicated both in the international and Italian literature. R-CHOP is a substantial improvement in the treatment of aggressive NHL, at a reasonable cost, in the perspective of the Italian NHS
Costo-efficacia di rituximab nella terapia di mantenimento in soggetti affetti da linfoma non-Hodgkin follicolare refrattario
No full textObjectives: Cost-effectiveness of rituximab in maintenance treatment of refractory or relapsing follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma
Scope of this analysis was to estimate the cost-effectiveness of rituximab maintenance (r-maintenance) therapy vs. observation, in relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma patients following response to induction therapy with or without rituximab, based on data from a large multicenter study, in the Italian public payer's perspective.
Methods: This study models the impact of r-maintenance vs. observation using a 15 years, health-state transition model. All patients entered the model following response to chemotherapy with or without rituximab as induction therapy (progression-free health state, PFHS). On the basis of probability estimates derived from the clinical trial, the model simulates transitions of patients from PFHS to either progressed health state (PHS) or death. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) following r-maintenance are extrapolated from 2-year Kaplan-Meier curves from the study data (median trial follow-up 31 months) using a Weibull distribution (in the basecase PFS and OS clinical benefit is assumed to last 5 years). Quality of life utility values for the health states in the model were derived from a study of 165 patients using the EQ-5D questionnaire. Direct medical costs (including drug acquisition plus administration and management of adverse events) are reported in 2006 Euros and are derived from expert opinion and published sources. Costs and outcomes were discounted at a rate of 3.5%. In order to address uncertainty in point estimates, one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were also performed.
Results: The estimated lifetime incremental PFS is a 1.5 year increase for r-maintenance vs. observation (3.2 vs. 1.7 years). Overall survival analysis (based on 5 year extrapolation of the clinical benefit) yields an estimate of 5.9 life years (LY) for r-maintenance vs. 4.9 for observation (difference 0.99 LY gained). Total cost for r-maintenance is estimated as €26,027 vs. €16,146. R-maintenance results in a gain of 0.9 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) [4.22 vs. 3.3] at an incremental cost of €9,881. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of r-maintenance vs. observation is, therefore, estimated at €11,097/QALY gained. The ICER of r-maintenance is sensitive to the duration of treatment benefit and frequency of subsequent treatment; probabilistic sensitivity analysis shows that, over 2000 simulations, the cost/QALY never exceeds €14,000/QALY, a value well below commonly accepted cost-utility thresholds.
Conclusions: In patients with partial or complete response to induction therapy, r-maintenance improves overall survival and progression-free survival and produces more QALYs compared with observation alone, at an acceptable cost/LY and cost/QALY ratio. Maintenance therapy with rituximab is a cost-effective approach for the management of patients with refractory/relapsed follicular lymphoma
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