No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Ethical authorship and publishing
Abstract
Principles of Ethical Publishing in the International Journal of Cardiology: 1. That the corresponding author has the approval of all other listed authors for the submission and publication of all versions of the manuscript. 2. That all people who have a right to be recognised as authors have been included on the list of authors and everyone listed as an author has made an independent material contribution to the manuscript.3. That the work submitted in the manuscript is original and has not been published elsewhere and is not presently under consideration of publication by any other journal. The oral or poster presentation of parts of the work and its publishing as a single page abstract does not count as prior publication for this purpose. 4. That the material in the manuscript has been acquired according to modern ethical standards and does not contain material copied from anyone else without their written permission.5. That all material which derives from prior work, including from the same authors, is properly attributed to the prior publication by proper citation.6. That the manuscript will be maintained on the servers of the Journal and held to be a valid publication by the Journal only as long as all statements in these principles remain true.7. That if any of the statements above ceases to be true the authors have a duty to notify the journal as soon as possible so that the manuscript can be withdrawn.
... Ese orden es transmitido a los editores de la publicación que conservarán el mismo para el escrito final. Algunas publicaciones solicitan a los autores una carta de declaración de autoría para evitar posteriores inconvenientes, como reclamaciones de los autores por el orden de aparición, incluso reclamaciones por parte de terceros que afirman ser autores y que no han sido incluidos (Budd et al., 2016;Coats, 2009;Fraser, 1995;Moylan & Kowalczuk, 2016;Woolf, 1986). ...
... Así, los investigadores entrevistados manifestaron que gran parte de su producción, especialmente en los últimos años, se ha realizado en colaboración con otros investigadores, especialmente con quienes comparten afinidades académicas y personales. Este ejercicio de trabajo en coautoría con otros implica la negociación de significados y procesos que permiten la construcción del texto, que no solo surgen en el momento en el que se toma la decisión de escribir conjuntamente (Budd et al., 2016;Coats, 2009;Fraser, 1995;Moylan & Kowalczuk, 2016;Woolf, 1986) sino también en el proceso de escritura mismo, con las constantes sucesiones del documento (Swales & Feak, 2000. ...
La innovación educativa se genera a partir de procesos de investigación que se dirigen al mejoramiento de las condiciones para la educación. Entre la generación de la innovación y la adopción e impacto de esta, hay un elemento sin el cual la conexión no sería posible: la comunicación científica. Esta se da cuando los investigadores entregan los hallazgos a través de distintas formas, entre las que destaca el texto escrito. En las últimas décadas, las dinámicas en torno a la escritura, publicación y difusión de la producción científica se han transformado. En primer lugar, las instituciones generan políticas, lineamientos o normas en torno a la producción académica, acordes con las necesidades de reconocimiento e impacto. En segundo lugar, la llegada de la ciencia abierta que propone nuevas formas de difusión y de medición del impacto.
El presente estudio tiene por objetivo examinar los procesos de escritura, publicación y difusión del texto científico en comunidades de práctica de investigadores educativos y su relación con las nuevas dinámicas que estos procesos adoptan por las exigencias de las instituciones de investigación y la llegada de la ciencia abierta. Desde esta exploración se busca identificar aspectos para fortalecer la producción científica. A partir de un enfoque cualitativo etnográfico se aplican entrevistas y se realiza análisis documental, así como de políticas y/o lineamientos sobre producción académica de la institución a la que pertenecen.
Los resultados del estudio piloto y del estudio principal revelan distintos elementos notables en el proceso de producción académica. Se encuentra que los procesos de escritura, publicación y difusión del conocimiento científico están influidos por factores institucionales como valores y normas que los dirigen. Se identifica que las comunidades de investigadores educativos están institucionalizadas, y es en función de esta institucionalización que ellos producen los textos científicos. De igual manera, los factores institucionales también son manifiestos en el reconocimiento a la trayectoria y la identidad de los investigadores. Finalmente, se analizan distintas formas en la que las instituciones pueden aportar para cultivar las comunidades de práctica de investigadores educativos. Por último, se concluye el trabajo identificando los aportes, las limitaciones y potenciales líneas para futuros estudios.
... The designation of corresponding author, also known as responsible author, is important since he supervises the planning and execution of the study and the writing of the article (Burman 1982). Corresponding author responds to these comments and questions of journal before acceptance and publication and the readers about published publication; declares any competing or conflicting interest and explains the presence and order of co-authors (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors 1997); and has the approval of all other listed authors for the submission and publication of all versions of the manuscript (Coats 2009). Corresponding author was the one who contributed the most to the initial conception and supervision (Wren et al., 2007). ...
... The authors listed in one publication could be considered as the evidence of contribution (Coats 2009). There were 11,218 authors contributing to 4,710 top cited articles. ...
A bibliometric index called Y-index (j, h) is developed, taking the prominent first author and corresponding author positions into account for evaluation and comparison of scientific productivity. Y-index contained two parameters: publication performance j, which is related to publication quantity, and publication character h, which describes the proportion of corresponding author publications (RP) to first author publications (FP). The top cited articles with at least 100 citations from 1900 to 2012 were selected to examine the Y-index for the evaluation. Y-index and three indicators, number of total publications, FP and RP, were compared. The main contributors of authors, institutions and countries and their contribution characters were revealed by Y-index. Results showed that the topmost authors were more likely to being designated as the corresponding authors, and their contribution characters varied widely. Most institutions and countries had a balance of FP and RP. Y-index that accredits the important collaborators with weighted and comprehensive credit might be a better choice for the evaluation.
... The same study reports a 3% annual growth rate for biomedical and health sciences from 2009 to 2019, but an astounding 15% and 16% growth rate for each respectively in 2020. With this growth, new sets of academic standards for publication arise, along with increasingly important sets of ethical standards (Brand et al., 2004;Coats, 2009). As those standards are investigated and enforced, retraction of published papers from scientific journals becomes crucial to preserve scientific integrity and properly educate the general public and scientific community. ...
With the expansion of research volume, coinciding with the age of the internet, the retraction of published papers from scientific journals has become crucial to preserving scientific integrity. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, both public and professional interest in scientific literature has grown as people attempt to educate themselves on the virus. The Retraction Watch Database COVID-19 blog was accessed in June and November of 2022 and analyzed to ensure articles met inclusion criteria. Articles were then accessed on Google Scholar and the Scopus database to find number of citations and SJR/CiteScore. The average SJR and CiteScore for a journal that published one of the articles was 1.531 and 7.3 respectively. The retracted articles were cited an average of 44.8 times, which was significantly higher than the average CiteScore (p = 0.01). Between June and November, retracted COVID-19 articles gained a total of 728 new citations, presence of “withdrawn” or “retracted” before article title did not affect citation rates. COPE guidelines for retraction statements were not met for 32% of articles. We believe retracted COVID-19 publications may have been more likely to include bold claims that garnered a disproportionately high amount of attention within the scientific community. Additionally, we found many journals were not forthright with explanations for why articles had been retracted. Retractions could be a tool used to add to the scientific discourse, but currently we are only getting half the data, the what and not the why.
... But the wrongful and self-interested use of deception by researchers includes other behaviors too. For example, publication fraud, such as "gift" authorship (e.g., awarding authorship credit to an undeserving senior colleague who can reciprocate the good will at a later date; Jones and McCullough 2015) and "ghost" authorship (e.g., not attributing authorship credit to a coauthor who has a conflict of interest; Bosch and Ross 2012;Warren 2018), fall within the purview of research fraud (also see Claxton 2005;Coats 2009; Teixeria da Silva and Dobránski 2016). The detrimental after-effects of research fraud, such as unfairly rewarding deviant researchers, misguiding professional practices, and adversely affecting public confidence in science, justify the continued systematic investigation with an aim toward reducing its frequency. ...
Survey-based studies on research fraud often feature narrow operationalizations of misbehavior and use limited samples. Such factors potentially hinder the development of strategies aimed at reducing the frequency of wrongdoing among researchers. This study asked full-time faculty members in the natural, social, and applied sciences how frequently six types of research fraud (i.e., data fabrication, plagiarism, data falsification, authorship fraud, publication fraud, and grant fraud) occur in their field of study. These data come from mail and online surveys that were administered to a stratified random sample of tenured and tenure-track faculty members (N = 613) at the top 100 research universities in the United States. Factor-analytic modeling demonstrated that the survey items load on the hypothesized latent constructs and also confirmed the presence of a second-order factor. A specific type of authorship fraud—gift authorship—was perceived to be the most prevalent overall. The least common fraud was a form of data fabrication (i.e., creating data from a study that was never actually conducted). The results were largely consistent with previous studies indicating that serious forms of fraud like data fabrication are relatively rare. Future survey-based studies should pay careful attention to the multidimensional nature of research fraud.
... Number of publications for a country was used to evaluate the research contribution of a particular country or region in the field. As it was suggested by Coats (2009) that when an author of an article has made a contribution in a research work, thus the affiliated organization as well as the country associated with the author could also be considered as having an essential contribution in the research work. ...
Bibliometric methods have been mostly applied as a tool for analyzing research trends in various fields. Road feature extraction is a challenging research area despite the fact that it has been widely studied and a number of methods have been proposed. The increased complexity of road structure is caused by a number of factors such as objects alongside the road, trees, and buildings. In this research, we have identified annual publication trends in five major research areas working on this field, the most frequently used languages, worldwide distribution of research works in this stream of a domain, top active journals in the field and highly productive institutions. This study provides a statistical overview of existing research publications, meanwhile revealing the underlying patterns to provide a potential guide for future research works.
... The research area technology had 440 articles, taking 76 %, followed by physical sciences (253 articles; 44 %) and life sciences and biomedicine (56 articles; 10 %). Authorship, Institution and Country: Each author in one publication made contributions to the research work [43]. In the research of highly cited articles, scientists are the crucial factors in determining the distribution of institutes and countries [27]. ...
This study aimed to identify and analyze the characteristics of the highly cited articles published in corrosion related fields in the Science Citation Index Expanded from 1900 to 2012. Articles that have been cited more than 100 times since publication to 2012 (TC2012 ≥ 100) were assessed. Analyzed aspects concerned the publication patterns of decades, journals, categories, institution, country and citation life cycles. Citations in the first two years after publication (TC2), in 2012 (C2012) and since publication to 2012 (TC2012) and citations per year of each article (TCPY) were innovatively used to characterize the citation patterns. Most of the articles were published in 1990s and 2000s. Corrosion Science, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Corrosion and Electrochimica Acta were the core journals. Corrosion research is mainly published in technology and physical sciences research areas and multidisciplinary materials science, metallurgy and metallurgical engineering, electrochemistry and coatings and films materials categories. Seven industrialized countries: the USA, Germany, UK, France, Japan, Canada and Italy played an important role. In addition, the relation of citations with time and impact factor has been revealed.
... Several types of research misconduct warrant the retraction of a scientific paper. These include plagiarism, duplicate publication, fraud, authorship issues, ethical issues, and error[1][2][3]. It is now well documented that the proportion of published studies that are being retracted from the scientific literature is rapidly increasing[4]. One study found that while the number of studies published annually grew by 44% from 2001 to 2010, the number of annual retractions grew by 1000% during the same time frame[5]. ...
Background
The annual number of retracted publications in the scientific literature is rapidly increasing. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and reason for retraction of cancer publications and to determine how journals in the cancer field handle retracted articles. Methods
We searched three online databases (MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library) from database inception until 2015 for retracted journal publications related to cancer research. For each article, the reason for retraction was categorized as plagiarism, duplicate publication, fraud, error, authorship issues, or ethical issues. Accessibility of the retracted article was defined as intact, removed, or available but with a watermark over each page. Descriptive data was collected on each retracted article including number of citations, journal name and impact factor, study design, and time between publication and retraction. The publications were screened in duplicated and two reviewers extracted and categorized data. ResultsFollowing database search and article screening, we identified 571 retracted cancer publications. The majority (76.4%) of cancer retractions were issued in the most recent decade, with 16.6 and 6.7% of the retractions in the prior two decades respectively. Retractions were issued by journals with impact factors ranging from 0 (discontinued) to 55.8. The average impact factor was 5.4 (median 3.54, IQR 1.8–5.5). On average, a retracted article was cited 45 times (median 18, IQR 6–51), with a range of 0–742. Reasons for retraction include plagiarism (14.4%), fraud (28.4%), duplicate publication (18.2%), error (24.2%), authorship issues (3.9%), and ethical issues (2.1%). The reason for retraction was not stated in 9.8% of cases. Twenty-nine percent of retracted articles remain available online in their original form. Conclusions
Retractions in cancer research are increasing in frequency at a similar rate to all biomedical research retractions. Cancer retractions are largely due to academic misconduct. Consequences to cancer patients, the public at large, and the research community can be substantial and should be addressed with future research. Despite the implications of this important issue, some cancer journals currently fall short of the current guidelines for clearly stating the reason for retraction and identifying the publication as retracted.
... Beyond peer-reviewed publications, a universal unique author identifier system would allow researchers to better track and document the totality of their true scientific productivity: textbooks, textbook chapters, teaching, computer coding, Wikipedia editing and more. The implications of such a system are self-evident, 16 including everything from academic advancement to research funding and plagiarism. ...
... Most articles of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Bern and University of Copenhagen were inter-institutionally collaborative, with less than 10 % independent articles. Each author in one publication made contribution to the research work (Coats 2009). In the research of highly cited articles, scientists are the crucial factors in determining the distribution of institutions and countries (Fu et al. 2012). ...
This study aimed to identify and analyze the characteristics of the highly cited articles in Antarctic field using Science Citation Index Expanded from 1900 to 2012. Articles that have been cited more than 100 times since publication to 2012 were assessed. The analyzed aspects covered distribution of annual production, annual citations, journals, categories, countries/territories, institutions, authors, and research focuses and trends by words in title, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus. A total of 852 highly cited articles were published from 1959 to 2011, cited a mean number of 181 citations per article. Two famous journals: Nature and Science led 184 journals. Typically, the exploration of Antarctic needs multidisciplinary science, also involving more collaboration. The USA with the greatest manpower, took the lead position among 48 countries, while National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA and British Antarctic Survey of the UK were the two most productive institutions. European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica Community was active in Antarctic research. Moreover, the comprehensive analysis of keywords revealed that sea ice, Southern Ocean, climate change, and ozone depletion were recent focuses and would receive more citations in the near future. In addition, citations in the first 3 years after publication (TC
3), in 2012 (C
2012), and since publication to 2012 (TC
2012), and citations per year of each article (TCPY) were used to characterize the citation patterns and citation life of most cited articles.
... Calculation of p-values for interaction and association of haplotypes with cardiac iron concentration was performed with the SNPstats software [18]. [30]. ...
... Of these USA was most productive country with 17.11% global share and ranked first, while India contributed 1.91% global share and ranked 7th ( Figure 2). Coats (2009) argued that though each author of an article makes an independent contribution to research work, and therefore the country and institution of the author affiliated could beconsidering the important parameter for the evaluation of research. The countries performance in terms of publication count has been used in many aspects of research and fieldssuch as stem cell research (Li et al. 2009) and tsunami research (Chiu and Ho 2007). ...
An attempt has been made to analyse the growth of literature and research interest in Cholelithisis (Gallstones). The data owes to SCOPUS multidisciplinary database using keywords " Gallstone " , " Cholelith " , " Cholelithiasis " available in title, abstract and keyword field for a period of fifty years (1965-14). A total of 32,929 documents were retrieved during the period of fifty years. The average annual growth stood at 2.08 per cent 132 countries took part and the US (17.11per cent) emerged as the most productive country.India was ranked 8thamongst them with 621 (1.89 per cent) publications. The Cholelithias is literature was published in eight different document varieties, where journal articles were most frequently published document types with 73.42 per cent. 'Gastroenterology' (IF2013=13.926) was themost productive journal, which has published 506 (1.54 per cent) articles. VA Medical Center United States was the most productive institution.
... The author listed in one publication could be considered as the evidence of contribution [57]. The results of author analysis identified the main contributors. ...
The 5,320 top cited articles published between 1902 and 2010 in thermodynamic field were identified and characterized using Science Citation Index Expanded. The analyzed aspects covered characteristics of languages, publication years, Web of Science categories, journals, countries/territories, institutions, and authors. These articles were cited a mean number of 210, ranging from 110 to 399 times, with most of the articles in the 1990s and 2000s. Journal of the American Chemical Society was the most productive journal, followed by Journal of Chemical Physics, and Physical Review Letters in 686 journals. Three topmost categories of the 130 Web of Science categories were multidisciplinary chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, and physical chemistry. The top cited articles originated from 1,936 institutions of 63 countries. Eight industrial countries: the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, Italy, and Russia, took the lead with an overwhelming majority (87%), especially about three fifths for the USA. University of California, Harvard University, and Massachusetts Institution of Technology all from the USA led all the institutions. K.S. Pitzer, P.J. Flory (Nobel laureate), and P.A. Kollman advanced the development of thermodynamic field. Moreover, the most influential articles in the history and in the latest year with their citation life cycles were examined to provide some hints for research focuses and trends. Wigner function has been attractive and will probably continue to be popular in the thermodynamic field. Some emerging concerning related to frequency scale factors, OPLS all-atom force field, entanglement between two or more quantum objects, and some softwares including VAMP, NMRPipe, GRASP2, AutoDock, DMol3, and Maxent are likely to receive more attention in the near future.
... It was found that 33% of highly cited reviews in the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) were single-author reviews (Ho & Kahn, 2014). Conventionally, in a multiple-author paper, every author makes an independent material contribution to the manuscript (Coats, 2009). The identity and order of authors provide information about who deserves credit for the work and who is accountable for its integrity (Rennie & Flanagin, 1994; Savitz, 1999). ...
In this study, we identified and analyzed characteristics of top-cited single-author articles published in the Science Citation Index Expanded from 1991 to 2010. A top-cited single-author article was defined as an article that had been cited at least 1000 times from the time of its publication to 2012. Results showed that 1760 top-cited single-author articles were published in 539 journals listed in 130 Web of Science categories between 1901 and 2010. The top productive journal was Science and the most productive category was multidisciplinary physics. Most of the articles were not published in high-impact journals. Harvard University led all other institutions in publishing top-cited single-author articles. Nobel Prize winners contributed 7.0% of articles. In total, 72 Nobel Prize winners published 124 single-author articles. Single-authored papers published in different periods exhibited different patterns of citation trends. However, top-cited articles consistently showed repetitive peaks regardless of the time period of publication. "Theory (or theories)" was the most frequently appeared title word of all time. Leading title words varied at different time periods, and only five title words, method(s), protein(s), structure(s), molecular, and quantum consistently remained in the top 20 in different time periods.
... The authors would like to thank Dr. Jee Young Kim and Ms. Li Su for their help in primary data collection and analyses. The authors of this manuscript have certified that they comply with the Principles of Ethical Publishing in the International Journal of Cardiology [26]. ...
Background:
The role of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation on the association between personal exposures to ambient fine particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) and cardiac autonomic dysfunction, indicated by reduction in heart rate variability (HRV), has not been examined.
Methods:
We performed a repeated measures study on community adults in a densely populated inner city neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts. Continuous ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring and personal exposure to PM2.5 were measured for up to two consecutive days. Peripheral blood and spot urine samples were collected at 12-hour intervals for the measurements of markers of inflammation including C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, white blood cell (WBC) and platelet counts as well as for the analysis of urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a marker of oxidative DNA damage.
Results:
After adjusting for confounders, we found a pronounced decrease in nighttime standard deviation of normal-to normal intervals (SDNN): an interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM2.5 (13.6 μg/m(3)) was associated with an 8.4% decrease in SDNN (95% CI: -11.3 to -5.5). Compared with the lower eightieth percentile, significantly greater PM2.5 associated nighttime SDNN reductions were observed among subjects in the upper twentieth percentile of 8-OHdG by -25.3%, CRP by -24.9%, fibrinogen by -28.7%, WBC by -23.4%, and platelet counts by -24.0% (all P<0.0001; all P interaction<0.01).
Conclusions:
These data suggest that oxidative stress and systemic inflammation exacerbate the adverse effects of PM2.5 on the cardiac autonomic function even at ambient levels of exposure.
... The percentages of the top journals were not high, which indicated the breadth of article distribution in proteomics research as well as the broad interest in proteomics from various research angles (Li et al. 2011). This phenomenon also appeared in certain fields, such as Atmospheric Environment (8.7 %) in atmospheric simulation (Li et al. 2009b) and Geophysical Research Letters Each author of an article has made an independent contribution to the manuscript (Coats 2009), and therefore the country and institution the author affiliated could be consider the important contributors for the evaluation of research. Publication count of countries was a reference for evaluating countries research performance in a field and has been used in many aspects of research (Li et al. 2011; Chiu and Ho 2007). ...
A bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the global scientific output of proteomics research in the Science Citation Index Expanded from 1995 to 2010. The document types, languages, journals, categories, countries, and institutions were analyzed to obtain publication patterns. Research focuses and trends were revealed by a word cluster method related to author keywords, title, abstract, and KeyWords Plus. Bradford's Law and the correlation between keywords and institutions were identified to look deeper into the nature works. Proteomics and Journal of Proteome Research published the most articles in proteomics research. The researchers focused on the categories of biochemical research methods, and biochemistry and molecular biology. The USA and Harvard University were the most productive country and institution, respectively, while China was the fastest-growing country due to the support by Chinese government. The distribution of author keywords provided the important clues of hot issues. Results showed that mass spectrometry and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis had been the most frequently used research methods in the past 16 years; and cancer proteomics had a strong potential in the near future. Furthermore, biologists contributed significantly to proteomics research, and were more likely to co-operate with medical scientists.
... Each person listed as an author of an article has made an independent material contribution to the manuscript (Coats 2009). The results of author analysis have identified those researchers who have made significant contributions. ...
This study aimed to identify and analyze characteristics of classic articles published in the Web of Science social work subject category from 1856 to 2011. Articles that have been cited at least 50 times were assessed regarding publication outputs, distribution of outputs in journals, publications of authors, institutions, countries as well as citation life cycles of articles with the highest total citations since its publication up to 2011 and the highest citations in 2011. Five bibliometric indicators were used to evaluate source countries, institutions, and authors. Results showed that 721 of the most highly referenced articles, published between 1957 and 2008, had been cited at least 50 times. Child Abuse & Neglect and American Journal of Community Psychology published the most classic articles. USA produced 89 % of classic articles and also published the most number of single, internationally collaborative, first author, and corresponding author classic articles. The top 38 productive institutions were all located in the US. The University of Illinois was the most productive institution for the total classic articles while University of California, Los Angeles produced the most inter-institutionally collaborative articles and Arizona State University published the most single institution articles. Furthermore, a new indicator, Y-index was successfully applied to evaluate publication characteristics of authors and institutions. High percentage of authors had the same numbers of first author and corresponding author status of classic articles in social work field.
... Note: The authors of this manuscript have certified that they comply with the Principles of Ethical Publishing in the International Journal of Cardiology (30). ...
Several registries of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have been carried out in Spain, but few remain active. This work analyses the evolution of the characteristics and control of patients with AMI during the first 10 years of the PRIMVAC registry, initiated in 1995.
The demographical and clinical characteristics, therapeutic-diagnostic procedures and pharmacological treatment of patients admitted with AMI between January 1995 and December 2004, were analysed in 17 coronary centres in the Autonomous Community of Valencia (South eastern Spain).
The mean age of the 19,719 patients recruited was of 65. The percentage of women, hypertension, hypercholestrolemia and diabetes increased during registry period. The median time of symptoms onset-hospital arrival was 151 minutes, without a decrease over the time, and the delay of thrombolysis fell from 200 to 154 minutes (p<0.01). Percentage of thrombolytic treatment oscillated between 39% and 48%. The mortality in the coronary units decreased (14.1% vs. 8.9%; p<0.001). The number of coronary angiography and percutaneous revascularisation performed increased up to 61% and 32%, respectively, of patients included. On discharge, the use of beta-blockers (29.3% vs. 66.7%), angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (41.7% vs. 57.9%) and statins (29.3% vs. 71%) went up.
Overall mortality in the coronary unit decreased, without any variation in the incidence of serious complications. Time to thrombolysis was reduced over the time, with no significant increment in its use. The performance of coronary angiography and percutaneous revascularisation increased, with a low use of primary angioplasty. The use of beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins increased at discharge.
There are numerous articles and writings in relation to scientific and medical publishing, but surprisingly less written on the ethics of academic publishing. This chapter presents the importance of knowing and understanding the issues dealings with ethics in academic research. It identifies major issues and the possible penalties for failing to observe the formal and informal codes that exist. The purpose of dealing with this subject is to ensure that early career researchers who are involved in academic writing can readily identify expectations and adhere to them.
Purpose:
Despite the growing awareness of academic fraud, its prevalence in the field of neurology has not been fully assessed. This review aims to analyze the characteristics of the retracted papers in the field of neurology and the reasons for the retraction to better understand the trends in this area and to assist to avoid retraction incidents.
Recent findings:
A total of 79 papers were included, which pertained to 22 countries and 64 journals. The marking methods for retracting original papers included watermarks (89.04%), retracted signs in the text (5.48%), and no prompt (5.48%). The M (IQR) of citations in retractions in neurology was at 7 (41). Studies continued to be cited after retraction with a M (IQR) of 3 (16). The journal impact factor was between 0 and 157.335, with a M (IQR) of 5.127(3.668). 45.21% and 31.51% papers were mainly published in the first and second quartile journals, respectively. The M (IQR) time elapsed between publication and retraction was 32 (44) months. The reasons for retraction included two major categories, academic misconduct (79.75%) and academic unintentional mistakes (20.25%).
Summary:
The number of retractions in neurology has been on the rise over the past decade, with fabricated academic misconduct being the main cause of the retractions. Due to the long time lag between publication and retraction, a number of unreliable findings continue to be cited following retraction. In addition to the requisite standards of academic ethics, augmenting research training and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration are crucial in enhancing research integrity.
This paper presents an overview of all scientific contributions using agent-based modeling (ABM) methodology in routine dynamics research. That is a specialized area of study and our extensive literature search revealed only a total of 12 contributions. We did a quantitative analysis of these published literature using co-authorship, cross-citation and bibliographic coupling methods. We then complemented the overview with a content analysis of substantial focus of these literatures. We summarized their findings and showed how ABM is applied in routine dynamics research. By elaborating on what has been done, we provide an overview of this newly emerging research field and present possible directions for future work. Even though there are only a few publications in this research field, we expect that dialogue between ABM modelers and routine scholars would be beneficial to promote the development in this area. It would be conducive to advancing the understanding of complex internal structure, processes and dynamics of organizational routines.
Background
Recent studies have suggested an association between sleep apnea (SA) and atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to study the prevalence, characteristics, risk factors and type of sleep apnea (SA) in ablation candidates with paroxysmal AF.
Methods/Results
We prospectively studied 579 patients with paroxysmal AF, including 157 women (27.1%) and 422 men (72.9%). Mean age was 59.9 ± 9.6 years and mean body mass index (BMI) 28.5 ± 4.5 kg/m². SA was diagnosed using polygraphy for two nights at home. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), STOP-Bang Questionnaire, and Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) assessed the degree of SA symptoms. A total of 479 (82.7%) patients had an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5, whereas moderate-severe SA (AHI ≥ 15) was diagnosed in 244 patients (42.1%). The type of SA was predominantly obstructive, with a median AHI of 12.1 (6.7–20.6) (range 0.4–85.8). The median central apnea index was 0.3 (0.1–0.7). AHI increased with age, BMI, waist and neck circumference, body and visceral fat. Using the Atrial Fibrillation Severity Scale and the SF-36, patients with more severe SA had a higher AF burden, severity and symptom score and a lower Physical-Component Summary score. Age, male gender, BMI, duration of AF, and habitual snoring were independent risk factors in multivariate analysis (AHI ≥ 15). We found no association between ESS and AHI (R² = 0.003, p = 0.367).
Conclusions
In our AF population, SA was highly prevalent and predominantly obstructive. The high prevalence of SA detected in this study may indicate that SA is under-recognized in patients with AF. None of the screening questionnaires predicted SA reliably.
Introduction
The increasing blood glucose level due to insulin resistance which occurs in diabetes mellitus (DM) may cause vascular damage. This study aims to prove the effect of the polysaccharide peptide (PsP) Ganoderma lucidum on improving vascular damage through an increase of circulating endothelial cells and circulating endothelial cells (CEC) ratio, decreased H2O2, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and insulin resistance in type 2 DM.
Methods
Our study is a true experimental study with randomized posttest control group design that used 35 Wistar rats divided into five groups: normal, control (+) and three groups of different variant PsP doses 50, 150 and 300 mg/kg BW (n=7).
Results
By using one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Duncan test, the results show a significant increase of endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) concentration (p=0.000) and ratio EPC:CEC (0.000) by dose-dependent fashion and also reduced CEC concentration (p=0.001), H2O2 (p=0.03), TG (p=0.001), TC (p=0.01) and insulin resistance (p=0.003).
Conclusion
In this study, PsP induced endothelial repairing process and reduced the risk factor with 300 mg/kg BW as optimum dose. However, further research on EPC and CEC detection markers is important. Further research on PsP and clinical trial for commercial uses is also needed.
Achieving a place in the authorship of published scientific research is a matter of pride and fame associated with creativity, recognition, better evaluation, and financial gains. This had made assigning of authorship in a scientific publication, a complex and challenging issue. Gaining a position in authorship in scientific publications not only prompts or encourages authors to carry out more research but also recourse many of them to the unethical practice of different kinds of authorship abuses. These authorship abuses are done so cleverly and skillfully that neither the journal editors nor the readers of the journals realize that bias had crept in authorship of the publication. This nonstandard act of biased authorship has a tremendous potential to compromise the credibility of scientific research and scientific publications. The present review aims in focusing on issues pertaining to authorship and its misuse in biomedical research. Thus, it can be concluded from this review that new policies, guidelines, and laws should be made by the government agencies in association with journal editors, institution, and government agencies to curb this malpractice by protecting whistleblowers and providing adequate punishment for those who are involved.
Anatomic knowledge, in all Middle Eastern cultures, was investigated most often during surgical procedures. The Torah, the Hebrew Bible, is the written component of Jewish Law. Together, the Mishneh and the Gemarah are referred to as the Talmud. There are several surgical accounts in the Talmud, many surprising given their early date. The Qur'an and Hadeeth contain accurate descriptions of anatomical structures, surgical procedures, physiological characteristics, and medical remedies. In the centuries following the Mongolian conquest, the conquest of Baghdad (1258 CE), and the end of the Abbasid Caliphate, three power centers emerged in the Middle East: Persia, Turkey, and Egypt. A unique feature of Tashrih‐i Mansuri that is rarely found in earlier Persian and Islamic medical writings is its detailed chapters on human embryology. Ibn Jazlah was known for his care and generosity toward the poor, and for treating friends and relatives, and providing them with medications, free of charge.
Background
The formation of new blood vessels, known as angiogenesis, is critical for recovery from ischemic heart disease, and estrogen is considered an important factor in this process. Here, we investigated the effects of 17β-estradiol (17β-E2) on proliferation and migration of cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) in vitro.
Material/Methods
Rat CMECs were isolated and cultured with 17β-E2 (0.001–1 μmol/l) in the absence or presence of the estrogen antagonist tamoxifen. Then, the expression level of estrogen receptor alpha was evaluated by using immunofluorescence assay, RT-PCR, and Western blot. Cell proliferation was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium analysis and the cell migration was verified by a scraping assay and quantified by a Transwell chamber assay. CMEC differentiation was examined using a tube formation assay. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results
CMECs exhibited homogenous, polygonal, exhibited contact inhibition, and had characteristically ovoid nuclei with 1 or 2 nucleoli, and the cytoplasm exhibited red fluorescence after staining for von Willebrand factor. 17β-E2 treatment upregulated estrogen receptor alpha expression in CMECs. 17β-E2 treatment significantly promoted the proliferation, migration, tubular structure formation, and VEGF secretion in CMECs. The maximal proliferation occurred in the presence of 0.01 μmol/l 17β-E2. Furthermore, estrogen and VEGF were found to synergistically stimulate angiogenesis.
Conclusions
Our data show that 17β-E2 promotes angiogenesis in vitro and suggests that estrogen treatment as a novel therapeutic modality in the management of arterial insufficiency.
The explosive growing number of data from mobile devices, social media, Internet of Things and other applications has highlighted the emergence of big data. This paper aims to determine the worldwide research trends on the field of big data and its most relevant research areas. A bibliometric approach was performed to analyse a total of 6572 papers including 28 highly cited papers and only papers that were published in the Web of ScienceTM Core Collection database from 1980 to 19 March 2015 were selected. The results were refined by all relevant Web of Science categories to computer science, and then the bibliometric information for all the papers was obtained. Microsoft Excel version 2013 was used for analyzing the general concentration, dispersion and movement of the pool of data from the papers. The t test and ANOVA were used to prove the hypothesis statistically and characterize the relationship among the variables. A comprehensive analysis of the publication trends is provided by document type and language, year of publication, contribution of countries, analysis of journals, analysis of research areas, analysis of web of science categories, analysis of authors, analysis of author keyword and keyword plus. In addition, the novelty of this study is that it provides a formula from multi-regression analysis for citation analysis based on the number of authors, number of pages and number of references.
The main objective of this investigation is to contribute to understanding of the ways in which researchers conceive academic plagiarism and the people implicated in cases of plagiarism. In addition, it seeks to understand the way in which researchers make decisions about cases of plagiarism when they are implicated as evaluators or editors of scientific publications. For this investigation of a qualitative nature, in-depth interviews were conducted in order to account for personal experiences and perceptions narrated directly by 51 Mexican senior researchers. The results reveal contradictions in the importance that investigators state they give to plagiarism and their close-up perception of this phenomenon, with the actions they carry out in the face of plagiarism and their experiences over the course of their careers. Moreover, the study permits the identification of some prevailing criteria for deciding not to pursue certain cases of plagiarism fully.
Background:
Dietary guidelines are a key tool in the public health quiver. Single nutrients have been linked to cardiovascular diseases, but existing metrics do not capture the overall effect of diet on inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the association between dietary inflammatory potential and cardiovascular diseases risk factors (CVD-RFs) in a nationally-representative sample of non-institutionalized US adults using data from the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (2007-2012).
Methods and results:
A sample of 7880 non-institutionalized US adults aged ≥20years provided data on dietary habits and CVD-RFs (obesity; diabetes mellitus; hypertension; hypercholesterolemia). The total number of CVD-RFs was summed for each individual to create a CVD-RF morbidity index (range 0-4) as the outcome variable, used both as ordinal and dichotomous (no CVD-RFs versus at least one CVD-RF) variables. The association between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and at least one CVD-RF was dose-dependent, with participants in the 3rd and 4th quartile of DII (i.e., more pro-inflammatory dietary habits) being 1.37 (95%CI=1.11-1.68) and 1.50 (95%CI=1.19-1.90) times more likely, respectively, to have at least one CVD-RF, as compared to participants in the 1st quartile of DII scores. Similar results were obtained for the ordinal logistic regression using the CVD-RF morbidity index as the outcome.
Conclusions:
Among US adults aged ≥20years, pro-inflammatory dietary patterns, as assessed by the DII, were associated with increased odds for CVD-RFs. Dietary guidelines aimed at lowering the DII may reduce the CVD-RF burden in US adults.
Publishing is the currency of academia, it is in large part the measure of the worth of an investigator in any academic field. The need to publish, combined with other institutional pressures for funding, promotion, etc., may contribute to temptations to be named as authors inappropriately or worse. Institutional norms, and diverging norms among various fields, make the landscape for rules about authorship complex. To what degree and for what reasons must authors be named and in what order? What scientific norms demand which forms of behavior by an author regarding truth? What counts as authorship, and why is this important to science? I explore these issues below and offer some guidance for authors concerned about conflicts with norms of authorship within and among institutions, taking cues from the Mertonian norms discussed above.
Background:
Side-population (SP) cells, identified by their capacity to efflux Hoechst dye, are highly enriched for stem/progenitor cell activity. They are found in many mammalian tissues, including mouse heart. Studies suggest that cardiac SP (CSP) cells can be divided into SCA1(+)/CD31(-), SCA1(+)/CD31(+) and SCA1(-)/CD31(-) CSP subpopulations. SCA1(+)/CD31(-) were shown to be cardiac and endothelial stem/progenitors while SCA1(+)/CD31(+) CSP cells are endothelial progenitors. SCA1(-)/CD31(-) CSP cells remain to be fully characterized. In this study, we characterized SCA1(-)/CD31(-) CSP cells in the adult mouse heart, and investigated their abilities to proliferate, differentiate and migrate in vitro and in vivo.
Methods and results:
Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction, assays of cell proliferation, differentiation and migration, and a murine model of myocardial infarction we show that SCA1(-)/CD31(-) CSP cells are located in the heart mesenchyme and express genes characteristic of stem cells and endothelial progenitors. These cells were capable of proliferation, differentiation, migration and vascularization in vitro and in vivo. Following experimental myocardial infarction, the SCA1(-)/CD31(-) CSP cells migrated from non-infarcted areas to the infarcted region within the myocardium where they differentiated into endothelial cells forming vascular (tube-like) structures. We further demonstrated that the SDF-1α/CXCR4 pathway may play an important role in migration of these cells after myocardial infarction.
Conclusions:
Based on their gene expression profile, localization and ability to proliferate, differentiate, migrate and vascularize in vitro and in vivo, we conclude that SCA1(-)/CD31(-) CSP cells may serve as endothelial progenitor cells in the adult mouse heart.
Several studies have already shown the correlation between the right ventricle (RV) hemodynamic values and either glucose uptake or fatty acid uptake in the RV, respectively. However, there are few studies to compare the RV metabolic alteration before and after treatment for pulmonary hypertension. The aims of this study are to assess right ventricular glucose and fatty acid in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) patients before and after pulmonary thromboendarterectomy and to examine whether there is a correlation between right ventricular glucose and fatty acid uptake.
To assess glucose and fatty acid accumulation in the RV, [18F] fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET) and 123I-β-methyl iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) imaging were performed in CTEPH patients before (FDG: n = 20, BMIPP: n = 13) and after (FDG: n = 12, BMIPP: n = 8) thromboendarterectomy.
Both [18F] FDG uptake and 123I-BMIPP uptake in RV of post-PEA patients obviously decreased after this operation procedure (p < 0.01). The right ventricle [18F] FDG uptake was also significantly correlated with 123I-BMIPP uptake (r = 0.45, p = 0.04).
In this study, we observed that both glucose and fatty acid accumulated in the RV of patients with CTEPH. Although the exact details of the altered energy metabolism in the stressed RV remain unknown, this is the first study to evaluate both glucose and fatty acid uptake before and after thromboendarterectomy in patients with CTEPH, even though the number of the patient is limited.
Background:
We analyzed trends in the utilization of coronary angiography and revascularization - including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) - related to the first AMI and explored potential educational inequalities in such procedures.
Methods and results:
All first AMI patients aged 35-89, hospitalized during 2001-2009 were retrieved from 'The Cardiovascular Disease in Norway' project. Information on education was obtained from The Norwegian Education Database. Gender and age group-specific trends in coronary procedures were analyzed using Joinpoint regression. Educational inequalities were explored using multivariable Poisson regression and reported as incidence rate ratios (IRR). A total of 104 836 patients (37.3% women) were included. Revascularization rates increased on average 9.0% and 15.4% per year among younger (35-64years) and older (65-89years) men. Corresponding increases among women were 5.6% and 16.6%. Compared to patients with primary education only, those with secondary and tertiary education had 8% (IRR=1.08, 95% CI; 1.06-1.10) and 12% (IRR=1.12, 95% CI; 1.09-1.14) higher revascularization rates. Educational inequalities were entirely driven by educational differences in receiving coronary angiography (IRR=1.10, 95% CI; 1.08-1.11 for secondary versus primary and IRR=1.14, 95% CI; 1.12-1.16 for tertiary versus primary education level.) Among diagnosed patients, no educational differences were observed in coronary revascularization rates.
Conclusion:
Revascularization rates increased whereas educational differences in revascularization decreased among AMI patients in Norway during 2001-2009. Lower coronary revascularization rates among patients with low education were explained by educational differences in receiving coronary angiography.
Objective:
This study aims to study the prognostic impact of left ventricular function on mortality and examine the effect of age on the prognostic value of left ventricular function.
Methods:
We examined the myocardial ischaemia national audit project registry (2006-2010) data with a mean follow-up of 2.1 years. Left ventricular function was categorised into good (ejection fraction ⩾50%), moderate (ejection fraction 30-49%) and poor (ejection fraction <30%) categories. Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to examine the prognostic significance of left ventricular function in different age groups (<65, 65-74, 75-84 and ⩾85 years) on all-cause mortality adjusting for baseline variables.
Results:
Out of 424,848 patients, left ventricular function data were available for 123,609. Multiple imputations were used to impute missing values of left ventricular function and the final sample for analyses was drawn from 414,305. After controlling for confounders, 339,887 participants were included in the regression models. For any age group, mortality was higher with a worsening degree of left ventricular impairment. Increased age reduced the adverse prognosis associated with reduced left ventricular function (hazard ratios of death comparing poor left ventricular function to good left ventricular function were 2.11, 95% confidence interval 1.88-2.37 for age <65 years and 1.28, 95% confidence interval 1.20-1.36 for age ⩾85 years). Older patients had a high mortality risk even in those with good left ventricular function. Hazard ratios of mortality for ⩾85 compared to <65 years (hazard ratio = 1.00) within good, moderate and poor ejection fraction groups were 5.89, 4.86 and 3.43, respectively.
Conclusions:
In patients with acute coronary syndrome, clinicians should interpret the prognostic value of left ventricular function taking into account the patient's age.
To our knowledge, isolated dextrocardia in association with congenital complete atrioventricular heart block has not been previously reported. We report such a case, elaborate on the possible pathogenesis, and present our experience with management.
Background:
The 6-minute walk test (6 WT) is an established tool in the assessment of endurance and prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). For these patients there is very limited data on biological variation of 6 WT distances. We determined the minimal important difference (MID) for the 6 WT in patients with stable systolic CHF.
Methods:
Two cohorts of patients with stable systolic CHF were included from the outpatients' clinic of the University of Heidelberg. In these cohorts, two 6 WT measurements were performed - in cohort 1 (n=461) 180 days and in cohort 2 (n=512) 365 days apart. Stability was defined as the absence of clinical events (3 months before the first test, between both tests, and 6 months after the second test) and stability of symptoms (NYHA) between tests. Using a standard error of measurement (SEM)-based approach, we determined the MID for both cohorts.
Results:
The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.89 at 180 days and 0.88 at 365 days. The results were consistent for groups stratified for age, gender, etiology of CHF, and individual NYHA class. The MID for the 6 WT in stable CHF patients was 35 m and 37 m between presentation and 180 and 365 days, respectively.
Conclusion:
Submaximal exercise capacity as represented by the 6 WT varies little in stable CHF patients for up to 1-year intervals. The MID for changes in 6 WT values in patients with stable CHF over a period of 6 to 12 months is ~ 36 m.
The recent article referring to the use of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in assessing heart failure patients with diastolic dysfunction by Guazzi et al. in the Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention (May/June, 2010) was most enlightening.[1] Cardiopulmonary exercise testing has continued to reveal its usefulness in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications for cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Furthermore, cardiopulmonary exercise testing in heart failure patients, as reported by Guazzi et al., provides an assessment of a patient's current physiologic and functional status and provides a more meaningful comparison in evaluating benefits of a chosen therapeutic regimen.
Keywords:
Diastolic dysfunction, Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, Heart failure
Background
Over the past two decades, the promotion of collaborative partnerships involving researchers from low and middle income countries with those from high income countries has been a major development in global health research. Ideally, these partnerships would lead to more equitable collaboration including the sharing of research responsibilities and rewards. While collaborative partnership initiatives have shown promise and attracted growing interest, there has been little scholarly debate regarding the fair distribution of authorship credit within these partnerships.
Discussion
In this paper, we identify four key authorship issues relevant to global health research and discuss their ethical and practical implications. First, we argue that authorship guidance may not adequately apply to global health research because it requires authors to write or substantially revise the manuscript. Since most journals of international reputation in global health are written in English, this would systematically and unjustly exclude non-English speaking researchers even if they have substantially contributed to the research project. Second, current guidance on authorship order does not address or mitigate unfair practices which can occur in global health research due to power differences between researchers from high and low-middle income countries. It also provides insufficient recognition of “technical tasks” such as local participant recruitment. Third, we consider the potential for real or perceived editorial bias in medical science journals in favour of prominent western researchers, and the risk of promoting misplaced credit and/or prestige authorship. Finally, we explore how diverse cultural practices and expectations regarding authorship may create conflict between researchers from low-middle and high income countries and contribute to unethical authorship practices. To effectively deal with these issues, we suggest: 1) undertaking further empirical and conceptual research regarding authorship in global health research; 2) raising awareness on authorship issues in global health research; and 3) developing specific standards of practice that reflect relevant considerations of authorship in global health research.
Summary
Through review of the bioethics and global health literatures, and examination of guidance documents on ethical authorship, we identified a set of issues regarding authorship in collaborative partnerships between researchers from low-middle income countries and high income countries. We propose several recommendations to address these concerns.
The left anterior descending artery (LADA) is defined as the vessel that travels in the anterior interventricular sulcus (AIVS) supplying septal branches to the anterior interventricular septum. Duplication of the LADA entails that two vessels are located in the AIVS. This report presents some comments regarding a case of the so called "parallel LADA" which has been erroneously recognized as dual LADA.
Background: Serum S100B is found in the glial cells and is ele-vated with stroke. It can be used in the diagnostic and prog-nostic utility. However, the use of S100B in the emergency room is controversial. In our study, we wish to determine if the Na-tional Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) have utility in predicting the acute and first month poststroke mortality and morbidity in emergency room patients, as measured by serum S100B and clinical evaluations. Methods: A total of 62 consecutive patients who applied to the emergency service with acute ischemic stroke were enrolled in the study. Following a detailed neurological examination, GCS and NIHSS were used to determine the consciousness of the patients. Their serum samples were obtained as soon as they arrived into the emergency service and at the time of discharge. As outcome variables, the scores on the modified Rankin Dis-ability Scale (mRDS) at 1 month were determined. Results: The S100B level immediately after the stroke was sig-nificantly related to the NIHSS and GCS scores. In addition, the clinical state and S100B levels of patients varied with the length of time between the stroke onset and emergency room treat-ment. Nine patients (14.5%) died while in the hospital. The stepwise Logistic regression analysis showed that NIHSS was an independent predictor of mortality (odds ratio = 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-2.18; Pr0.05). Thirty days poststroke, the mRDS levels significantly correlated with the initial and later S100B levels and GCS and NIHSS scores. The linear Logistic regression analysis indicated that NIHSS score and age were independent risk factors of mRDS (odds ratio= 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-2.18; Pr0.05) in our study population.
This study aimed to identify and analyze the characteristics of the top-cited articles published in the Science Citation Index Expanded from 1991 to 2010. Articles that have been cited more than 1,000 times since publication to 2010 were assessed regarding their distribution in indexed journals and categories of the Web of Science. Five bibliometric indicators were used to evaluate source institutions and countries. A new indicator, the Y-index, is proposed to assess publication quantity and the character of contribution to articles. We identify 3,652 top-cited articles with 71 % originating from US. The fourteen most productive institutions were all located in US. Science, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, and Cell hosted the most cited publications. In addition, the Y-index was successfully applied to evaluate the publication character of authors, institutions, and countries.
A 56-year-old Caucasian male was admitted to our hospital with complaints of shortness of breath, joint aches, and chills in the absence of fever. During his hospitalization, he remained afebrile, but developed multiple episodes of bradycardia and intermittent second degree atrioventricular (AV) block, with both Wenckebach and Mobitz type II episodes. Laboratory evaluation demonstrated a chronically elevated amylase, without any significant electrolyte abnormalities. Abdominal computed tomography scan revealed prominence of the pancreatic head without any discrete pancreatic mass, suggestive of chronic pancreatitis. Pancreatic disorders, including acute pancreatitis or exacerbation of chronic pancreatitis, may be associated with intermittent transient AV block conduction abnormalities. Although the pathophysiology remains unclear, awareness of this entity is important for clinicians for appropriate management. Progression to more severe, permanent AV block necessitating permanent pacemaker implant to our knowledge has not been reported.
Kounis syndrome is defined as the coexistence of acute coronary syndromes with situations associated with allergy or hypersensitivity, as well as anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions, to a variety of medical conditions, environmental and medication exposures. We report a case of Kounis-Zavras syndrome type I variant in the setting of aspirin-induced asthma, or the Samter-Beer triad of asthma, nasal polyps and aspirin allergy. When there is a young individual with no predisposing factors of atherosclerosis and apparent coronary lesion, with or without electrocardiography and biochemical markers of infarction, the possibility of Kounis syndrome should be kept in mind.
The usefulness of peer review has been expressed as a method to improve the quality of published work. However, there has been a lack of systematic reviews to date to highlight the essential themes of the peer-review process.
We performed a search of the English language literature published prior to October 2011 using PubMed to identify articles regarding peer review. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were developed a priori. Data were extracted and then analyzed for the prevalence of peer-review themes contained within the literature.
Of the 941 articles found during our original literature search, 37 were selected for review. The majority were commentary/editorial articles. The themes in our search included the structure and process of the peer-review system, the criteria for papers, ethics, and the different forms of the peer-review process.
The criteria for submission will vary, but our systematic review provides a comprehensive overview of what reviewers expect from authors. Our systematic review also highlighted ethical considerations for both authors and reviewers during the peer-review process. Although the topic of peer review is expansive and its process may vary from journal to journal, the understanding of the themes outlined in this paper will help authors recognize how to write a more successful paper. Also, more research must be carried out to establish the efficacy of the different styles of peer review, and it would be presumptuous to draw conclusions until further research is established.
