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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
Malaria and salmonella infection: relationship or casuality?
No full textIntroduction: In Sub-Saharan Africa, non-Typhoid Salmonella (NTS) bacteriemia is a common and often
fatal complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Thus WHO protocols recommend to treat children with
severe malaria also with broad-spectrum antibiotics.
Case report: We describe the case of a four year old boy, born in Italy, admitted to our Department for
severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria after visiting relatives in Burkina Faso. The child presented high
fever, diarrhea and vomiting. Intravenous quinine therapy was promptly administrated with improvement of
the conditions and decrease of fever after 24 hours. During the third day of hospitalization the temperature
abruptly raised and child's conditions worsened. Laboratory testing showed increased CRP level (280 mg/L)
and decreased total White Blood Cells count (6940/mm3). Blood smear examination was negative for
Plasmodia while blood culture resulted positive for Salmonella enteritidis. The patient was treated with
parenteral ceftriaxone for 10 days and oral quinine for one week with a complete recovery.
Discussion: Recent studies in mice (Cunnington et al.,2012) showed that the increased risk for developing
NTS bacteriemia during malaria is caused by the hemolysis of red cells infected by Plasmodium.
Intravascular hemolysis releases heme which induces heme oxigenase-1 leading to reduced macrophage
antimicrobial activity and consequently impaired resistance to NTS with increased bacterial replication.
Conclusion: Concurrent malaria and salmonella infections are frequently described in endemic areas. This
vulnerability to NTS in malaria infection is being assessed in literature. In Medicine coexisting pathologies
are rarely explained by casuality
Ascessi cerebrali multipli: complicanza di banali infezioni
No full textGli ascessi intracerebrali in età pediatrica sono una patologia potenzialmente mortale e
invalidante.
Tra i fattori predisponenti più comuni (nel bambino immunocompetente non sottoposto a
interventi neurochirurgici o vittima di traumi) vengono annoverati anomalie cardiache
congenite, sinusiti, otiti medie e infezioni odontogene.
Presenteremo quindi il case report di un paziente affetto da ascessi cerebrali di probabile
origine odontogena.
CASO CLINICO
Bambino di 5 anni, ricoverato in altra sede per cefalea, vomito e febbre da 2 giorni. Per
comparsa di crisi convulsiva generalizzata eseguiva TAC cerebrale che mostrava, in sede
fronto-temporale destra, area pseudonodulare di 20 mm. Avviate terapia antibiotica con
Ceftriaxone, Vancomicina, Metronidazolo e terapie antivirale, antifungina, antiedemigena e
anticomiziale, il piccolo è stato trasferito presso il nostro Reparto.
La RMN eseguita a 48 ore dalla crisi, distingueva due formazioni ascessualizzate di 12 e 27
mm. L'EEG mostrava asimmetria dell'attività dell'emisfero destro. Il paziente si presentava
stabile, senza segni neuropatologici. Ulteriori accertamenti hanno escluso patologie
sistemiche cardiache, immunitarie, infettivologiche. Segnalata presenza di necrosi pulpare in
sede di 61. Non segni di flogosi alla visita ORL. In anamnesi recente ricovero per sinusite
frontale destra, confermata all’RX dei seni, trattata con Ceftriaxone ev per 5gg e Amoxicillinaclavulanato
per os per 10gg.
Visto l’aumento delle dimensioni delle lesioni all’RMN di controllo, il piccolo è stato
sottoposto, dopo 10 giorni, a intervento neurochirugico di evacuazione della maggiore delle
formazioni. All'esame colturale del materiale prelevato isolamento di Streptococcus
Anginosus Group (SAG). Si è quindi proseguita la terapia con Ceftriaxone e Metronidazolo per
8 settimane. Al fine di eliminare focalità di origine odontogena, è stata eseguita estrazione
dentaria di 61. Al follow up a 2 mesi dall'intervento il piccolo non presenta sequele
neurologiche e all'imaging persistono solo lieve ispessimento durale e piccolo nodulo di 5mm .
DISCUSSIONE
Il SAG è un gruppo di patogeni gram-positivi che costituisce la flora del cavo orale,
caratterizzato dalla capacità di formare cavità ascessuali. La diffusione di tali batteri avviene
per via ematogena o per contiguità. L’ipotesi più accreditata nel nostro caso è che l’infezione
odontogena si sia in un primo momento diffusa al seno frontale e di conseguenza abbia
formato le lesioni cerebrali.
CONCLUSIONI
Il perfetto outcome nei casi di ascesso cerebrale dipende da tempestiva diagnosi e adeguata
terapia. Una riflessione obbligatoria riguarda la prevenzione primaria nel trattamento di
infezioni troppo spesso considerate banali
Imported malaria in an italian paediatric department, 1996-2012
No full textImported malaria is progressively increasing in Italy in the last two decades. A significant number of malaria
cases is registered every year in North-eastern Italy due to the high immigration rate. Most cases are non -
immune African children born in Italy and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) in endemic areas without
proper chemioprophylaxis.
We described 65 paediatric cases of imported malaria (age range: 7 mo-15 yrs),admitted to our Paediatric
Department during the period 1996-2012. 39 (60%) were long-term immigrants VFR, 24 (38%) were new
immigrants arriving in Italy for the first time, 1 was Indian adopted child and 1 an Italian child visiting Africa
with parents for tourism. 64 children came back from Sub-Saharan Africa, while only one child came from
Asia. Non-appropriate prophylaxis was reported in all cases.
Up to 2009 Plasmodium falciparum was the only isolated parasite while, during the last 3 years, 7 cases of
mixed malaria (P. falciparum, P. ovale, P. malariae and P. vivax) were observed.
All the cases were treated with quinine and since 2011 with Artemisinin derivatives, according to WHO
Guidelines.
All patients survived, nobody reported neurological sequelae. We emphasize a case of severe malaria
complicated with rhabdomyolysis and acute renal failure due to delayed diagnosis.
These epidemiological data demonstrate how important should be the information about chemoprophylaxis
in long-term immigrants in order to prevent imported malaria.
Early diagnosis of malaria reduces severe complications: we recommend physicians to suspect this infection
in all febrile children coming from malaria endemic areas
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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