11 research outputs found
Developing nanotechnology in Latin America
This article investigates the development of nanotechnology in Latin America with a particular focus on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. Based on data for nanotechnology research publications and patents and suggesting a framework for analyzing the development of R&D networks, we identify three potential strategies of nanotechnology research collaboration. Then, we seek to identify the balance of emphasis upon each of the three strategies by mapping the current research profile of those four countries. In general, we find that they are implementing policies and programs to develop nanotechnologies but differ in their collaboration strategies, institutional involvement, and level of development. On the other hand, we find that they coincide in having a modest industry participation in research and a low level of commercialization of nanotechnologies
Measuring co-authorship and networking-adjusted scientific impact
Appraisal of the scientific impact of researchers, teams and institutions
with productivity and citation metrics has major repercussions. Funding and
promotion of individuals and survival of teams and institutions depend on
publications and citations. In this competitive environment, the number of
authors per paper is increasing and apparently some co-authors don't satisfy
authorship criteria. Listing of individual contributions is still sporadic and
also open to manipulation. Metrics are needed to measure the networking
intensity for a single scientist or group of scientists accounting for patterns
of co-authorship. Here, I define I1 for a single scientist as the number of
authors who appear in at least I1 papers of the specific scientist. For a group
of scientists or institution, In is defined as the number of authors who appear
in at least In papers that bear the affiliation of the group or institution. I1
depends on the number of papers authored Np. The power exponent R of the
relationship between I1 and Np categorizes scientists as solitary (R>2.5),
nuclear (R=2.25-2.5), networked (R=2-2.25), extensively networked (R=1.75-2) or
collaborators (R<1.75). R may be used to adjust for co-authorship networking
the citation impact of a scientist. In similarly provides a simple measure of
the effective networking size to adjust the citation impact of groups or
institutions. Empirical data are provided for single scientists and
institutions for the proposed metrics. Cautious adoption of adjustments for
co-authorship and networking in scientific appraisals may offer incentives for
more accountable co-authorship behaviour in published articles.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Tracing the wider impacts of biomedical research: A literature search to develop a novel citation categorisation technique
There is an increasing need both to understand the translation of biomedical research into improved healthcare and to assess the range of wider impacts from health research such as improved health policies, health practices and healthcare. Conducting such assessments is complex and new methods are being sought. Our new approach involves several steps. First, we developed a qualitative citation analysis technique to apply to biomedical research in order to assess the contribution that individual papers made to further research. Second, using this method, we then proposed to trace the citations to the original research through a series of generations of citing papers. Third, we aimed eventually to assess the wider impacts of the various generations. This article describes our comprehensive literature search to inform the new technique. We searched various databases, specific bibliometrics journals and the bibliographies of key papers. After excluding irrelevant papers we reviewed those remaining for either general or specific details that could inform development of our new technique. Various characteristics of citations were identified that had been found to predict their importance to the citing paper including the citation’s location; number of citation occasions and whether the author(s) of the cited paper were named within the citing paper. We combined these objective characteristics with subjective approaches also identified from the literature search to develop a citation categorisation technique that would allow us to achieve the first of the steps above, i.e., being able routinely to assess the contribution that individual papers make to further research.Medical Research Council as part of the MRC-NIHR Methodology Research Programme, and Professor Martin Buxton
Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases
The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of
aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs)
can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves
excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological
concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can
lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl
radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic
inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the
involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a
large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and
inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation
of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many
similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e.
iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The
studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic
and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and
lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and
longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is
thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As
systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have
multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent
patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of
multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the
decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference
Evaluation of fracture risk and potential drug holidays for postmenopausal women on long-term bisphosphonate therapy
Matthew D Kostoff, Joseph J Saseen, Laura M BorgeltDepartments of Clinical Pharmacy and Family Medicine, University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USAStudy objective: To describe characteristics of postmenopausal women on long-term bisphosphonate therapy who fall into one of four fracture risk categories (low, mild, moderate, high), and to determine the prevalence of women eligible for a drug holiday.Design: Retrospective electronic health record review.Setting: Eight primary care clinics within a university-based health care system.Patients: A total of 201 postmenopausal women of ages 55–89 years, with osteopenia or osteoporosis, prescribed bisphosphonate therapy for >4 years, between October 10, 2002 and September 9, 2012.Main results: The patients' mean age was 71.4 (±8.2) years; their mean body mass index was 25.3 (±5.6) kg/m2; and 73.1% were white. Seventy-four out of 201 patients (36.8%) were low-risk; 10/201 (5.0%) were mild-risk; 72/201 (35.8%) were moderate-risk; and 45/201 (22.4%) were high-risk. Eighty-one women (40.3%) were eligible for a drug holiday or discontinuation. The estimated drug cost avoided per eligible patient was $574.80. Calcium and/or vitamin D supplementation was documented in 52.7% of women.Conclusion: More than one-third of postmenopausal women taking long-term bisphosphonate therapy had low fracture risk, and over 40% of our patients were eligble for a drug holiday or discontinuation. These data emphasize the need to accurately assess risk and benefit in patients treated with bisphosphonate therapy.Keywords: postmenopausal osteoporosis, bisphosphonates, drug holiday, fractur
Nanoscience and technology publications and patents: a review of social science studies and search strategies
Nanotechnology, Research and development, Productivity, Publications, Patents, Bibliometric analysis, Data mining, Search strategy, O14, O31,