1,720,954 research outputs found
Clinical and laboratory-based approaches to investigating the development of biofilms in neonatal enteral feeding tubes: influence of infant care regime and environment
No full textPremature infants display a diminished immune system in comparison to full term infants. This, coupled with long hospital stays and increased exposure to invasive procedures, predisposes these infants to increased rates of morbidity and mortality. One such procedure is the placement of an enteral feeding tube. These devices deliver essential, highly nutritional, feeds to infants who are unable to do so naturally. The internal environment of these tubes provides the perfect replicative niche for biofilms to form. Biofilms are a well-documented clinical concern, owing to their difficulty to treat, potential to cause serious infection and ability to harbour pathogenic organisms. Many studies have been conducted into contamination of adult feeding devices and the impact on patient morbidity and mortality – however, there is very little research into the impact this may have in neonates. Initial laboratory-based experiments sought to understand the ability to adhere to and growth characteristics of a number of potentially pathogenic microorganism upon the tubes. The utilisation of liquid, static and flow-based feeding models allowed us to display the ability of different microorganisms to grow upon different NGT material types, within different clinically used infant formulas. The latter section encompassed a two-part clinical concept trial in which, via a combination of molecular and culture-based analysis, we demonstrated that not only is there a correlation between insertion time and increased colonisation but were also able to truly highlight the microbial diversity of this niche. Analysis of infant care regimes also demonstrated the impact specific patient factors have on these populations.The results generated throughout the initial laboratory-based models provided the groundwork for establishing, and understanding, the representative feeding model created. This model will provide clinicians and researchers with the ability to analyse multiple aspects of infant care, within a safe and controlled environment, on enteral tube contamination and blockage. The results from the clinical concept trial reinforced the accuracy of the flow model, as comparable levels of of contamination were observed over similar time periods, as well as demonstrating a link between increased insertion time and colonisation. The sequencing analysis is the first of its kind to truly represent the extent of microbial diversity within this niche, whilst also displaying how specific care regime factors, impact this diversity, such as increased abundance of Streptococcus with exclusive infant formula feeding
Negative pressure wound therapy and intra-articular antibiotics instillation (NPWTiai) for the treatment of chronic arthroplasty-associated infections and implant retention: An alternative approach
No full textDespite current low rates, the incidence of arthroplasty-associated infections (AAI) is likely to increase over the next few years as the number of joint replacement operations continues to rise worldwide. AAI pose a challenge for both patients and surgeons. They have become a major economic burden on healthcare systems. Debridement and implant retention is not a widely considered option for chronic AAI probably due to low success rates. Negative Pressure Wound Therapy and intra-articular antibiotics instillation using VAC ULTA/VeraFlo system is an alternative strategy in the management of chronic AAI where implant retention is sought. Further evaluations and studies are needed to address the efficacy of this strategy and its cost effectiveness.</p
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
- …
