Associations between author-level metrics in subsequent time periods

In Indian population, the estimated prevalence of OSA is 7.5% to 13.5%. Craniofacial anatomical variations and obesity are the major risk factors for OSA. Among the craniofacial anatomy, the neck circumference and abnormal craniofacial morphology play an important role in the pathogenesis of OSA. Obesity is the major risk factor for which waist and hip circumference and BMI are considered. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the impact of hyoid position, mandible body length (MBL) and anthropometric measurements on sleep indices in patients with snoring in North Indian population. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the position of the hyoid, mandible body length and anthropometric measurements, of 104 patients attending ENT OPD with the complaint of snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness. All subjects underwent a full overnight polysomnography. The position of the hyoid, MBL and the anthropometric measurements were compared with the sleep architecture of the subjects, and a p value < 0.05 was considered significant. A strong positive correlation is seen between the position of the hyoid, MBL and anthropometric measurements on the sleep indices in this study. Pearson 2-tailed correlation was evaluated, and upon analysis, it was found that at significance level of 0.01, obesity (BMI) is strongly correlated with overall AHI with correlation coefficient of 0.926, whereas AHI in supine position was having coefficient of 0.837 and AHI on right side and left side was almost same 0.597 and 0.575, respectively. Similarly WC is strongly correlated with AHI and RDI, having coefficient of 0.930 with both. NC and HC also showed strong positive correlation with overall AHI and RDI having correlation coefficient of 0.893, 0.926 with AHI and 0.893, 0.926 with RDI, respectively. The MBL also showed a strong positive correlation with AHI and RDI with correlation coefficient of 0.994 in both. The position of the hyoid also showed a strong positive correlation with AHI and RDI. Results indicated that significant positive correlation was found between position of the hyoid, MBL and anthropometric measurements on the sleep indices in patients with snoring in North Indian population.

Background: Accuracy in estimation of gestational age (GA) has become more demanding as technology used in ultrasonography has become more advanced. Patient’s expectations have also increased and they expect exact estimations to plan their pregnancies. Mean fetal kidney length (MFKL) alone or in combination with other biometric indices can be used for estimating GA more precisely. Objective: To measure the length of fetal kidney in normal singleton pregnancies in late second and early third trimesters, its correlation with GA derived from the first day of patient known last menstrual period (LMP) and comparison with GA derived from other conventional biometric methods. Patients and methods: This study was a prospective observational study, conducted at the department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Obstetrics & Gynecology Hospital, Assiut, 500 pregnant females were enrolled in this study from March 2018 to March 2020. Those women underwent measurement of the right and left kidneys and mean was taken. Comparison between gestational ages was determined by LMP. In addition, mean fetal kidney length as well as between mean fetal kidneys length and other fetal biometric indices was done. Results: Baseline data of enrolled women (n= 500) mean age of those women was 26.31 ± 4.87 years. Median parity and abortion was 2 with range of both was between 0-6 and 0-8 times, respectively. Mean gestational age was 30.29 ± 3.34 weeks while mean body mass index was 19.84 ± 1.20 kg/m2. Average fetal kidney length was 29.88 ± 3.33 mm. Gestational ages based on different fetal biometric indices. Age by date had strong positive significant correlation with different fetal indices but the strongest correlation was observed with mean fetal kidney length (r= 0.96, P< 0.001). Correlation between gestational age by date and expected age by MFKL based on regression equation. That there was significant strong positive correlation between gestational age and expected age by MFKL (r= 0.97; P< 0.001). Conclusion: Mean fetal kidney length can be used as an accurate new parameter for estimation of gestational age in combination with BPD, HC, AC & FL especially in late second and early third trimester (beginning from 24th week – 34th week). Using regression equation: Gestational age by date (weeks) = 1.56+ 0.97 (MKL in mm).

The global emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a critical issue for clinicians, as it puts the decades of developments in the medical field in jeopardy, by severely limiting the useful therapeutic arsenal of drugs, both in nosocomial and community-acquired infections. In the present study, a secondary analysis of taxonomic and resistance data was performed, corresponding to urinary tract infections (UTIs) caused by Gram-negative bacteria, detected between 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2017 at the Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center, University of Szeged. The following were identifiable from the data collected: year of isolation; outpatient (OP)/inpatient (IP) origin of the isolate; taxonomy; and susceptibility/resistance to selected indicator antibiotics. Principal component analysis (PCA) and a correlation matrix were used to determine the association between the presences of resistance against indicator antibiotics in each taxonomic group. Overall, data from n = 16,240 outpatient and n = 13,964 inpatient Gram-negative UTI isolates were included in the data analyses. In E. coli, strong positive correlations were seen between resistance to ciprofloxacin (CIP) and gentamicin (GEN) resistance (OP: r = 0.6342, p = 0.049; IP: r = 0.9602, p < 0.001), whereas strong negative correlations were shown for fosfomycin (FOS) and nitrofurantoin (NIT) resistance (OP: r = −0.7183, p = 0.019; IP: r = −0.7437; p = 0.014). For Klebsiella spp. isolates, CIP resistance showed strong positive correlation with resistance to third-generation cephalosporins (3GC) and GEN (r = 0.7976, p = 0.006 and r = 0.7428, p = 0.014, respectively) in OP isolates, and with resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) and FOS (r = 0.8144, p = 0.004 and r = 0.7758, p < 0.001, respectively) in IP isolates. For members of the Citrobacter-Enterobacter-Serratia group, the resistance among indicator antibiotics showed a strong positive correlation, with the exception of FOS resistance. In the Proteus-Providencia-Morganella group, the strongest association was noted between CIP and SXT resistance (OP: r = 0.9251, p < 0.001; IP: r = 0.8007; p = 0.005). In the case of OP Acinetobacter spp., CIP showed strong and significant positive correlations with most indicator antibiotics, whereas for IP isolates, strong negative correlations arose among imipenem (IMI) resistance and resistance to other drugs. For Pseudomonas spp., strong and positive correlations were noted among resistance to β-lactam antibiotics and aminoglycosides, with the exception of ceftazidime (CEFT), showing strong, but negative correlations. Though molecular tests and sequencing-based platforms are now considered as the gold-standard for AMR surveillance, standardized collection of phenotypic resistance data and the introduction of Big Data analytic methods may be a viable alternative for molecular surveillance, especially in low-resource settings.

Characterization and first flush analysis in road and roof runoff in Shenyang, China.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Until now, right heart catheterization is still the gold standard for pulmonary hypertension examination, but this examination is invasive, has a risk of action, and is limited. Echocardiography provides an alternative examination that is easier, safer, cheaper, and more effective in evaluating pulmonary hypertension. Various echocardiographic parameters have been used to assess pulmonary hypertension but no parameter can distinguish the hemodynamics of pulmonary hypertension. Echocardiography pulmonary to left atrial ratio (ePLAR) is a new echocardiographic parameter that is formulated by the maximal tricuspid regurgitation velocity (TR Vmax) divided by the mitral E/e'. This simple parameter can determine precapillary pulmonary hypertension Purpose The aim of this study is to determine the correlation of ePLAR with right heart catheterization parameters in pulmonary arterial hypertension patients. Methods This is a cross-sectional study in the pulmonary arterial hypertension group conducted at M. Djamil Hospital from August 2021 to May 2022. Respondents underwent an echocardiography and right heart catheterization prosedure. The correlation of ePLAR with right heart catheterization parameters was assessed using the Spearman correlation test. Result The research subjects were 32 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, 20 women and 12 men, the median age was 21.50 (8-54) years and the most common cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension was congenital heart disease. The median value of ePLAR was 0.44(0.30-0.77) m/s, while the mean value of mPAP was 54.40 ± 16.24 mmHg and the median value of PVR was 8.39 (3.21-29.50) WU. Based on the Spearman correlation test, it was found that the ePLAR had a moderate positive correlation (r=0.554) with the mPAP and was statistically significant (p=0.001). The ePLAR had a strong positive correlation (r=0.779) with the PVR and was statistically significant (p&amp;lt;0.001) Conclusion There was a moderate and significant positive correlation between ePLAR and mPAP, there was a strong and significant positive correlation between ePLAR and PVR in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Social media is increasingly used in the dissemination of medical research. Traditional measures of the impact of a paper do not account for this. Altmetrics are a measure of the dissemination of a publication via social media websites. The purpose of this study is to ascertain if the altmetric attention score of an article is a reliable measure of the impact it has in the field of critical care medicine. To this end, we investigated if a correlation exists between future citation count and altmetric attention score. The top nine journals by impact factor in the field of critical care medicine were identified for 2014 and 2015. The 100 most cited articles from these journals were recorded to form the Scientific Impact Group, i.e. those with the greatest impact on the scientific community. The altmetric attention score was recorded for each article. The top 100 articles by altmetric attention score were also identified to form the Media Impact Group, i.e. those that generated the most online attention. Their citation counts' were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed on each group to identify a correlation between altmetric attention score and citation count. There was a moderately positive correlation in the Scientific Impact Group, with a Spearman r score of 0.4336 (P = 0.0001). A weakly positive correlation was found in the Media Impact Group, with a Spearman r score of 0.3033 (P = 0.002). There is a positive correlation between traditional bibliographic metrics and altmetrics in the field of critical care medicine. Highly cited papers are more likely to generate online attention. However, papers that generate a lot of online attention are less likely to have a high citation count. Therefore, altmetric attention score is not a reliable predictor of future citation count in critical care medicine.

Increased levels of Fibrogen growth factor 21 (FGF21) is an emerging risk marker for cardiometabolic (CM) disease(1). Little detail is known about the impact of the human diet on FGF21 levels. The aim of this investigation was to assess potential associations between mean daily dietary macronutrient intake and FGF21 levels in a sample of 10 healthy normal-weight and overweight Caucasian adults aged 32–60 (80 % male) at increased CM risk(2). This pilot study received ethical approval from Liverpool John Moores University Research Ethics Committee (16/ELS/029) and was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Ref. NCT03257085). Participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups and asked to either consume 50 % energy from CHO for a duration of 8 weeks. Blood plasma samples were col- lected at baseline (BL), interim point (IP) and endpoint (EP) after a 12-hour overnight fast, immediately processed and frozen at −80°C. Thawed plasma samples were analysed via Quantikine® enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (R&D Systems) for FGF21 levels. Two-way mixed ANOVA and Pearson’s partial correlation adjusted for estimated weekly moderate and vigorous activity was undertaken using IBM SPSS 24®. There were no effects for diet between groups or over time (data not shown). Significant correlations between macronutrient intakes and FGF21 levels were found for both groups at IP, but not at BL or EP. Moderate and significant positive correlations were found in the overall group for intake (g/d) for glucose (rpartial = ·699, p = ·04) and fructose (rpartial = ·686, p = ·04) and strong and significant positive correlations for non-milk extrinsic sugars (rpartial = ·742, p = ·02). Strong and significant positive correlations were also found in the LC group for glucose intake (g/d) (rpartial = ·980, p = ·02) and fructose (rpartial = ·967, p = ·03) and for protein (rpartial =·998, p=·002) after adjusting for physical activity. Mean carbohydrate intake (g/d) was 160·0 (s.d. 124·5) overall and 44·2 (s.d. 14·9) in the LC group at IP. Mean protein intake (g/d) was 113·2 (21·4) 130·0 (s.d. 15·9) overall and in the LC group at IP. Mean FGF21 levels were 179·9 pg/mL (s.d. 144·9) in the overall group and 94.4 pg/ML (s.d. 48.6) in the LC group at IP. %TE Intake (g/d) PROT FAT CHO GLU FRU NMES PROT FAT rrrrrrrrrrr −·214 ·623 ·635 −·326 −·491 ·448 ·699* ·686* ·742* −·606 −·496 ·143 ·637 ·937 ·427 −·059 ·722 ·980* ·967* ·919 ·998** −·080 Total kcal CHO NMES T LC CHO-Total carbohydrates, FAT-Total fat, FRU-Fructose, GLUC-Glucose, LC-low-carbohydrate, high-fat group, NMES-non-milk extrinsic sugars, PROT-protein, T – total, %TE – percentage total energy, *p < ·05 **p < ·005. In conclusion, low-carbohydrate diets provide the opportunity to assess responses to even small amounts of CHO, which are likely to be replaced in part by proteins. Despite low overall intakes of fructose and glucose in the LC group, strong and positive correlations with FGF21 levels were observed. The lower levels of FGF21 in the LC compared to the overall group are in line with findings that FGF21 levels are elevated with high-carbohydrate, low-protein diets with dietary fats having only minor impact(3). However, the majority of studies have still been undertaken using rodent models. The impact of dietary macronutrients on FGF21 levels as novel CMR marker in humans and the mechanism behind this relationship warrant further investigation. 1. Lakhani I, Gong M, Wong W et al. (2018) Metabolism 2018 Feb 1. pii: S0026-0495(18)30023-4. [Epub ahead of print]. 2. Jebb S, Lovegrove J, Griffin B et al. (2010) Am J Clin Nutr 92, 748–58. 3. Solon-Biet S, Cogger V, Pulpitel T et al. (2016) Cell Metab 24, 555–565.

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE INFORMING SCIENCE INSTITUTE. Aim/Purpose................................................................................................................................................................................................. The Malaysian government has given numerous incentives to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including those in the food manufacturing sector, in an attempt to boost their performance. This study aims to assess the effects of these incentives, particularly financial and tax incentives, on the performance of SMEs in the Malaysian food manufacturing sector. Background................................................................................................................................................................................................. Millions of Ringgit has been allocated for the development of SMEs by the Malaysian government. The findings of this study aim to assist the policymakers in improving the current policies in incentive give outs to enhance the effectiveness and reduce the number of SMEs that were forced to close down in less than five years of operation. Methodology................................................................................................................................................................................................. The study was conducted using structure, conduct, and performance (SCP) paradigm on secondary data from 140 companies over a period of five years (2013 – 2017). Correlation analysis was done to explore the relationship between each explanatory market variables included in the SCP paradigm. Contribution................................................................................................................................................................................................. This study provides insights into the effect of different types of government incentives on the performance of SMEs in the Malaysian food manufacturing sector. Findings....................................................................................................................................................................................................... The study found that financial and tax incentives gave different effects on the performance of SMEs in the Malaysian food manufacturing sector during the study period. Financial incentive shows a weak positive significant correlation with advertising-to-sales ratio (ASR), return on assets (ROA) and market share (MS) ratio while showing negative significant correlation towards capital intensity (CAP). On the other hand, tax incentive shows a strong significant positive correlation with MS and weak significant positive correlation with CAP, ROA and return on sales (ROS). This shows that financial incentive strongly correlates with SMEs’ performance, whereas tax incentive is associated with market structure and conduct of SMEs in the Malaysian food manufacturing sector. Recommendations for Practitioners............................................................................................................................................................ Firstly, the government should consider providing extra assistance to SMEs in entering the sector as entry barriers for the sector is relatively high. Focus can be given in increasing financial incentives at a more competitive rate as it can reduce debt or increase the firm’s equity or aid firms in acquiring assets, which are crucial for efficient and effective production of processed food. Allocation of tax incentives should be reviewed as it does not have a strong correlation with firms’ performance. Recommendation for Researchers............................................................................................................................................................... There are limitations to the number of SMEs included in this study. Hence, researchers are recommended to have direct contact with more firms to ensure more accurate data. Impact on Society........................................................................................................................................................................................... With more efficient and effective policies in the government’s financial and tax incentives, more allocation can be channeled to other areas that have direct implications to the citizen. Additionally, with better policies, more jobs will be created in the market, and a highly competitive market will lead to a production of higher quality products that can be enjoyed by the consumers. Future Research............................................................................................................................................................................................... This study has contributed to the SCP paradigm as it demonstrated the effects of government financial and tax incentives on the market structure, conduct, and performance of SMEs in the Malaysian food manufacturing sector. Future researches might focus on non-financial incentives given out by the government such as human resource development, training, industrial infrastructure and amenities, technology development and capabilities, technology transfer, and organizational innovation.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between physiological, perceptual, and biomechanical variables during exercise on a non-motorized treadmill (NMT) in cross-country athletes. METHODS: Thirteen female cross-country Division II athletes (age, 20.77 ± 3.27 yrs; height, 161.92 ± 5.48 cm; weight, 55.54 ± 6.45 kg) participated in separate familiarization and testing sessions. On day one (familiarization), participants performed a treadmill protocol that consisted of a 5-min warm-up walk, 5-min walk, 5-min run, and 5-min cool-down on the NMT. Participants’ velocity was recorded every minute to determine average self-selected pace for walking and running. Day two (testing day) consisted of performing the treadmill protocol with the previously determined velocities. Heart rate (HR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), oxygen uptake (VO2), vertical GRF (GRFv), horizontal GRF (GRFh), power, and velocity was recorded and steady-state minutes were averaged and used for analysis. Separate Pearson’s r correlation analyses were used to determine the relationship among HR, RPE, VO2, GRFv, GRFh, power, and velocity. RESULTS: There was a significant strong positive correlation in walking between in HR and velocity (r = 0.75; p = 0.003), horizontal force (r = 0.73; p = 0.004), and power (r = 0.76; p = 0.002). There was a significant positive strong correlation in running between HR and velocity (r= 0.76; p= 0.002), power (r= 0.76; p= 0.002). There was a significant positive strong correlation in running between VO2 and running velocity (r= 0.71; p= 0.006), GRFh (r= 0.69; p= 0.008), and power (r= 0.72; p= 0.005). There was no significant (p > 0.05) correlation for all other variables in walking and running conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that VO2 has strong correlations with running velocity, force, and power, and that HR has strong correlations with running velocity and power. VO2 and HR are indicators of exertion in running conditions. Since the runners were in a steady-state condition, these results suggest that an increase in exertion—indicated by cardiovascular and metabolic responses—also requires an increase in kinetic measures. Because the NMT requires users to self-propel, the results suggest mechanics of running on a curved-NMT may influence physiological responses.

Counts of the number of readers registered in the social reference manager Mendeley have been proposed as an early impact indicator for journal articles. Although previous research has shown that Mendeley reader counts for articles tend to have a strong positive correlation with synchronous citation counts after a few years, no previous studies have compared early Mendeley reader counts with later citation counts. In response, this first diachronic analysis compares reader counts within a month of publication with citation counts after 20 months for ten fields. There are moderate or strong correlations in eight out of ten fields, with the two exceptions being the smallest categories (n = 18, 36) with wide confidence intervals. The correlations are higher than the correlations between later citations and early citations, showing that Mendeley reader counts are more useful early impact indicators than citation counts.

The purpose of the study was to establish the strength and general pattern of correlations between quantitative traits that form vegetative and seed productivity in white lupine. Research methods used included field, weighing and measuring, and mathematical and statistical methods. A significant positive correlation was found between the average strength of seed productivity and such traits as plant height, number of lateral shoots, number of beans from central and lateral clusters, etc. A strong positive correlation was detected with the vegetative development of plants, and a weak one with the number of seeds per bean and the weight of 1000 seeds. A significant strong positive correlation of vegetative productivity with such quantitative traits as the weight of beans from the central cluster and the weight of leaves and stems was established. A positive correlation of average strength was found with the number of beans from central and lateral clusters, weight of beans from lateral shoots, root weight, etc. It was found that the seed productivity of white lupine plants is mainly conditioned by the development of such traits as the number of beans from lateral clusters, weight of leaves and roots, number of seeds and weight of seeds from the central and lateral clusters. The formation of vegetative productivity primarily depends on the weight of beans from the central cluster and the weight of leaves and stems. The use of the established regularities of productivity formation will enhance the effectiveness of the selection of selective material according to the specified parameters

Storm surges and the resulting extreme high sea levels are among the most dangerous natural disasters and are responsible for widespread social, economic and environmental consequences. Using a set of 220 tide gauges, this paper investigates the temporal variations in storm surges around the world and the spatial coherence of its variability. We compare results derived from two parameters used to represent storm surge: skew surge and the more traditional, non-tidal residual. We determine the extent of tide-surge interaction, at each study site, and find statistically significant (95% confidence) levels of tide-surge interaction at 59% of sites based on tidal level and 81% of sites based on tidal-phase. The tide-surge interaction was strongest in regions of shallow bathymetry such as the North Sea, north Australia and the Malay Peninsula. At most sites the trends in the skew surge time series were similar to those of non-tidal residuals, but where there were large differences in trends, the sites tended to have a large tidal range. Only 13% of sites had a statistically significant trend in skew surge, and of these approximately equal numbers were positive and negative. However, for trends in the non-tidal residual there are significantly more negative trends. We identified 8 regions where there were strong positive correlations in skew surge variability between sites, which meant that a regional index could be created to represent these groups of sites. Despite, strong correlations between some regional skew surge indices, none are significant at the 95% level, however, at the 80% level there was significant positive correlation between the north-west Atlantic - south and the North Sea. Correlations between the regional skew surge indices and climate indices only became significant at the 80% level, where Nińo 4 was positively correlated with the Gulf of Mexico skew surge index and negatively correlated with the east Australia skew surge index. The inclusion of auto-correlation in the calculation of correlation greatly reduced their significance, especially in the short time-series used for the regional skew surge indices.

Deciphering the CXCL9-CXCL10-CXCL11/CXCR3 Axis in CLL-like Monoclonal B-Cell Lymphocytosis and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A New Target for Immune Activation?

The dissemination of brain imaging guidelines and recommendations.

The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition (Bayley-III) is a tool for measuring the developmental status of children, including cognitive and motor functioning, in the first three years of life. This study aims to evaluate the correlation between grating visual acuity and visual functionality in healthy children using the Bayley-III. Binocular grating visual acuity was measured using Teller Acuity Cards followed by the Bayley-III in healthy children aged 1-42 months. Visual acuity (logMAR) and Bayley-III scores for both cognitive and motor (gross and fine) skills were compared. Forty children (20 boys) aged 1.2-42.1 months were tested. Their mean visual acuity was 0.39 ± 0.27 logMAR, which was within the normal age limits for all children. There was a strong and significant negative correlation between visual acuity and age (r=-0.83, p<0.001). The mean cognitive raw data score was 49.92 ± 18.93 points, with a strong and significant positive correlation between cognitive score and age (r=0.81, p<0.001). The mean gross motor score was 41.72 ± 16.23 points, with a strong and significant positive correlation between gross motor score and age (r=0.75, p<0.001). The mean fine motor score was 39.75 ± 14.63 points, with a strong and significant positive correlation between fine motor score and age (r=0.77, p<0.001). Multiple linear regression demonstrated that older age and better visual acuity were significantly associated with higher Bayley-III scores. This study found a high correlation between grating visual acuity measured using Teller Acuity Cards and cognitive and motor scores measured using the Bayley-III in healthy children, demonstrating that the Bayley-III might be a useful tool for assessing the repercussions of visual impairment on the cognitive and motor development of young children.