1,721,097 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
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
Automated Non-Sterile Pharmacy Compounding: A Multi-Site Study in European Hospital and Community Pharmacies with Pediatric Immediate Release Propranolol Hydrochloride Tablets
Full text linkPharmacy compounding, the art and science of preparing customized medications to meet individual patient needs, is on the verge of transformation. Traditional methods of compounding often involve manual and time-consuming processes, presenting challenges in terms of consistency, dosage accuracy, quality control, contamination, and scalability. However, the emergence of cutting-edge technologies has paved a way for a new era for pharmacy compounding, promising to redefine the way medications are prepared and delivered as pharmacy-tailored personalized medicines. In this multi-site study, more than 30 hospitals and community pharmacies from eight countries in Europe utilized a novel automated dosing approach inspired by 3D printing for the compounding of non-sterile propranolol hydrochloride tablets. CuraBlend® excipient base, a GMP-manufactured excipient base (pharma-ink) intended for automated compounding applications, was used. A standardized study protocol to test the automated dosing of tablets with variable weights was performed in all participating pharmacies in four different iterative phases. Integrated quality control was performed with an in-process scale and NIR spectroscopy supported by HPLC content uniformity measurements. In total, 6088 propranolol tablets were produced at different locations during this study. It was shown that the dosing accuracy of the process increased from about 90% to 100% from Phase 1 to Phase 4 by making improvements to the formulation and the hardware solutions. The results indicate that through this automated and quality controlled compounding approach, extemporaneous pharmacy manufacturing can take a giant leap forward towards automation and digital manufacture of dosage forms in hospital pharmacies and compounding pharmacies
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
Nanoparticules furtives pour l'imagerie préclinique à rayons X et multimodale rayons-X/IRM (imagerie à résonance magnétique)
No full textL’imagerie biomédicale est aujourd’hui un outil essentiel pour établir un diagnostic grâce à l’observation des tissus et des fluides biologiques. L’usage d’instruments à imagerie combinée avec des produits de contraste est la clé pour réussir à distinguer précisément un tissu ciblé via l’accumulation de produit de contraste dans le tissu. Les deux principaux appareils à imagerie utilisés sont le scanner à rayons X et l’imagerie à résonance magnétique (IRM). Ils sont fréquemment employés en complément de l’un et l’autre. Typiquement, de petites molécules iodées hydrophiles sont utilisées comme produit de contraste pour la radiographie à rayons X tandis que l’IRM implique des matériaux magnétiques tels que des nanoparticules d’oxyde de fer. Dans le cadre de ce projet doctoral, nous avons donc proposé deux nouveaux produits de contraste dont le premier visait à constituer une alternative aux produits iodés dont la rapide élimination et la toxicité rénale forment deux problèmes récurrents et un second produit, cette fois-ci bimodale, afin de faciliter les procédures d’imagerie bimodale. Pour le premier point, des nanoparticules de polymères iodés pour l’imagerie à rayons X ont été formulées et ce, par une technique de nanoprécipitation. Les paramètres de formulation ont été élucidés de telle sorte que les nanoparticules possédaient une distribution de taille adaptée pour l’administration par voie intraveineuse et une teneur en iode suffisante en iode pour contraster sous rayons X. Une étude in vivo a révélé le potentiel du produit de contraste à visualiser distinctement le foie et la rate et ce, tout en ne présentant pas les principaux problèmes des produits iodés commerciaux. La seconde étude a eu pour but de formuler des nano-véhicules lipidiques capables de générer un contraste pour l’imagerie à rayons X et l’IRM de par l’incorporation d’huile iodée et de nanoparticules d’oxyde de fer dans le coeur de nano-émulsions. Ceci avait pour objectif de fournir une plateforme nanoparticulaire bimodale pour réaliser efficacement et rapidement des procédures d’imagerie multimodale. Nous avons réussi à produire un efficace agent de contraste bimodal permettant d’observer distinctement le foie et les reins par IRM et le foie et la rate par imagerie à rayons X. La pharmacocinétique de la substance administrée a ainsi pu être mise en avant grâce à la bimodalité de l’agent. Employer l’IRM a permis de montrer qu’une fraction de la dose injectée était éliminée par voie rénale tandis que l’imagerie à rayons X a confirmé que les deux tissus, foie et rate,étaient passivement ciblés par l’agent de contraste. Ces deux études ont donc fournies de potentielles solutions pour répondre aux besoins en produits pour l’imagerie à rayons X et en formulations facilitant l’imagerie bimodale des tissus mous.Biomedical imaging is nowadays an essential tool to establish a diagnosis by means of observation of tissues and biological fluids. Combination of imaging instrument with contrast enhancers is a key to obtain clear delineation of a desired tissue by accumulation of a contrast agent into this specific target. The two main imagers are the X-ray scanner and the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).These imagers are frequently used in conjuncture. Typically, small hydrosoluble iodinated molecules are used as contrasting material for radiography whereas MRI involves magnetic materials like iron oxide nanoparticles. In this work, we proposed two novel contrast agents, the first one was aiming to form an alternative to iodinated contrast agents suffering from fast excretion and causing renal toxicity whereas the second one was aiming at providing bimodal contrasting ability to facilitate access to bimodal imaging procedure in clinics. In the first case, iodinated polymeric nanoparticles, serving for preclinical X-ray imaging were formulated by nanoprecipitation technique. Parameters of formulation were elucidated to provide nanoparticles with size distribution suitable for in vivo administration and high iodine content for contrast enhancement. In vivo study revealed the efficacy of our nanoparticles to clearly visualize liver and spleen and limiting current issues associated with marketed radiopaque contrast agents. The second work achieved was aiming at formulating bimodal lipids-based nanocarriers capable of yielding contrast enhancement for X-ray imaging and MRI by combining iodinated oil and iron oxide nanoparticles within a nano-emulsion core. This would provide bimodal nanoparticulate platform to carry out fast and efficient dual modal imaging procedures. In this context we succeeded to generate efficient dual modal contrast agent yielding clear visualization of liver and kidney by MRI and liver and spleen by X-ray imaging. Pharmacokinetic profile was so determined thanks to bimodal imaging. Using MRI allowed to show that kidneys eliminated a fraction of the dose whereas X-ray imaging confirmed that both tissues, liver and spleen, were passively targeted. These two studies proposed solutions limiting current issues of radiopaque contrast agents and novel formulations to facilitate bimodal imaging for soft tissues imaging
Iodinated nana-emulsions for preclinical X-ray imaging applications
No full textLa micro-tomodensitométrie à rayons X (dite micro-CT, CT = Computed Tomography), est une technique d’imagerie de haute résolution qui consiste d’une part à mesurer l’absorption des rayons X par les tissus, et d’autre part de reconstruire les images et les structures anatomiques en 3 dimensions par traitement informatique. L’agent de contraste est une substance capable d’améliorer la visibilité des structures d’un organe ou d’un liquide organique in vivo. Ce travail de thèse a eu pour objectif le développement d’agents de contraste iodés sous formes de nano-émulsions pour des applications précliniques en imagerie biomédicale. Nous nous sommes proposés d’étudier d’une part des nano-émulsions iodées afin d’avoir une longue rémanence vasculaire in vivo, une meilleure biocompatibilité et d’autre part de mettre au point une synthèse et une formulation plus simples que celles des agents de contraste nanoparticulaires commercialisés. Trois différentes huiles iodées ont été synthétisées et utilisées comme partie contrastante dans les nano-émulsions. Enfin, les nano-émulsions de l’α-tocophérol iodé nous ont permis d’atteindre l’objectif de cette thèse. Ces nano-émulsions iodées ont montré une très bonne biocompatibilité et combinent à la fois les propriétés d’un agent de contraste à longue rémanence vasculaire et un agent de contraste spécifique du foie.The X-ray microtomography (called mico-CT, CT = Computed Tomography) is a high-resolution X-ray tomography, uses X-rays to create cross-sections of a 3D-object that later can be used to recreate a virtual model without destroying the original model. The contrast agent is a substance used to enhance the contrast of structures or fluids within the body in medical imaging. The purposes of the thesis were the development of iodine-containing nano-emulsion based contrast for preclinical applications in biomedical imaging. We proposed to study blood pool contrast agents based on iodine-containing nano-emulsions and to develop simpler procedure for the preparation of these iodine-containing nano-emulsions. Three different iodinated oils were synthesized and used as the contrasting part in the nano-emulsions. Finally, nano-emulsions of iodinated α-tocopherol have been enabled us to achieve the purpose of the thesis. These iodinated nano-emulsions demonstrated very good biocompatibility and showed prolonged and significant contrast enhancement in both bloodstream and liver tissues
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