1,720,977 research outputs found
Quality of life improved by multidisciplinary back school program in patıents with chronic non-specific low back pain: a single blind randomized controlled trial
No full text
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
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
Acupuncture may anticipate the antalgic effects of focused shockwave therapy to rotator cuff tendinopathy. A retrospective clinical study
No full textObjective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether the clinical effects of focused extracorporeal shockwave therapy (f-ESWT) and acupuncture anticipate the clinical response in patients with rotator cuff tendinopathy in the short term.Design: An observational retrospective clinical study.Setting/Location: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, Sant'Andrea University Hospital in Rome, Italy.Subjects/Interventions: We analyzed retrospectively thirty patients (22 females and 8 males) with rotator cuff tendinopathy.Fifteen patients underwent f-ESWT and acupuncture combined therapy (Group A) and fifteen patients underwent only f-ESWT therapy (Group B).Outcome measures: The outcome measures were the Visual Analogic Scale (VAS), Assessment Shoulder and Elbow Scale (ASES) and Roles and Maudsley Score (RMS). The follow-ups were T0 (pre-treatment), T1 (3 weeks after the start of the treatment), and T2 (at 8 weeks). In order to compare groups, the ANOVA and Friedman tests were adopted.Group A patients had a more rapid and statistically significant improvement trend in VAS (P <0.001), ASES scale (P <0.001), and a higher level of satisfaction to treatment assessed by RMS (P<0.001) than group B in the short term.Conclusions: The study showed that combined treatment decreases the recovery time of the shoulder involved in terms of pain and motor function in the short term. However, these results shall be confirmed by controlled randomized studies. (C) 2020 World Journal of Acupuncture Moxibustion House. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
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
Alpha-lipoic acid, palmitoylethanolamide, myrrh, and oxygen-ozone therapy improve pharmacological therapy in acute painful lumbosacral radiculopathy due to herniated disc
No full textBackgroundNeuropathic mechanisms largely contribute to radicular Low Back Pain (LBP) and an increase in oxidative stress is recognized as one of the possible causes of nerve damage, inducing axonal degeneration and myelin degradation of nerve fibers.ObjectivesWe investigated whether a combination of nutraceutical supplements and oxygen-ozone (O2-O3) therapy might reduce disability and improve clinical effects of pharmacological therapy in patients with acute radicular LBP.Study designThis is a prospective, open-label, comparative observational study approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Sapienza University of Rome (RS 6285/2021).SettingPhysical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit of Sant'Andrea Hospital.MethodsWithin the scope of this study, 62 patients with acute radicular LBP diagnosed with disc herniation were assigned into 4 groups. The first group was assigned pharmacological therapy (n = 16), the second group was assigned pharmacological therapy and nutraceutical supplements (n = 15), the third group was assigned pharmacological therapy and O2-O3 therapy (n = 15), and the fourth group was assigned pharmacological therapy, nutraceutical supplements, and O2-O3therapy (n = 16). All patients who participated in the study were evaluated at the beginning of the study, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks (T2) after the beginning of treatment using the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS-11), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and 12-item Short-Form Health Survey. Opioid analgesic intake was noted from baseline to end of treatment (T2).ResultsIn each group was observed a statistically significant difference for all measures compared to the baseline. At the T2 evaluation time between groups for the Mann-Whitney U test, a statistically significant difference was found: in the ODI scale between groups B and A (P = 0.004), groups C and A (P < 0.001), and groups D and A (P < 0.001); in the NRS-11 between groups B and A (P = 0.017), groups C and A (P = 0.002), and groups D and A (P < 0.001); in the 12-item Physical Component Summary score between groups B and A (P = 0.003), groups C and A (P = 0.002), and groups D and A (P < 0.001), while no significant differences between groups were observed in the 12-item Mental Component Summary score. The average days of opioid usage were similar in the 4 groups (8.33 in group A, 8.33 in group B, 8.33 in group C, and 8.75 in group D). However, the percentage of patients requiring adjuvant opioid therapy differed remarkably: 60% in group A, 40% in group B, 20% in group C, and 25% in group D.LimitationsA small number of patients were recruited, and we did not perform long-term follow-up.ConclusionsThis study supports a multimodal approach combining nutraceutical supplements and O2-O3 therapy with pharmacological therapy in the treatment of acute radicular LBP secondary to disc herniation. The combination of neurotrophic and antioxidant therapies represents an etiopathogenetic approach, not purely symptomatic, that reduces symptomatology and avoids progression of the nerve damage
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
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in early osteonecrosis of the femoral head: prospective clinical study with long-term follow-up.
No full textINTRODUCTION:
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) may exert beneficial effects in avascular necrosis of femoral head (AVNFH).
PATIENTS:
The current study evaluated the effectiveness of ESWT in reducing pain and in slowing down the progression of bone damage in 36 patients with unilateral AVNFH of stage Association Research Circulation Osseous (ARCO) I, II and III. At the beginning of the study, 10 hips were classified as stage I, 11 as stage II and 15 as stage III. Each treatment cycle included four sessions, with 2,400 impulses each administered at 0.50 mJ/mm(2), at 48-72 h intervals. Follow-up examinations were scheduled at 3, 6, 12 and then 24 months.
METHOD:
Clinical assessments included assessment of pain scores, Harris Hip Scores and Roles and Maudsley score. Plain radiographs and magnetic resonances of the hip were used to evaluate the size of the lesion, the extent of collapse of subchondral bone, and degenerative changes of the hip joint.
RESULTS:
Patients from ARCO stage I group and stage II group achieved significantly better results than patients from ARCO stage III group at all follow-up time points (p < 0.005). During the follow-up period, 10 of the 15 stage III ARCO patients received an arthroplasty. ARCO stages I and II lesions were unchanged on radiographs and on magnetic resonance images.
CONCLUSION:
ESWT in ARCO stages I and II may help to prevent progression of the area of avascular necrosis and manage pain
- …
