Reasons women give for abortion: a review of the literature

The aim was to identify from empirical research that used quantitative or qualitative methods the reasons women give for having an abortion. A search was conducted of peer-reviewed, English language publications indexed in eight computerized databases with publication date 1996–2008, using keywords ‘abortion’ and ‘reason’ (Medline: ‘induced abortion’ OR ‘termination of pregnancy’ OR ‘elective abortion’ and ‘reason’). Inclusion criteria were empirical research on humans that identified women’s reasons for undergoing an abortion, conducted in ‘high-income’ countries. 19 eligible papers were found. Despite variation in methods of generating, collecting, and analysing reasons, and the inadequacy of methodological detail in some papers, all contributed to a consistent picture of the reasons women give for having an abortion, with three main categories (‘Woman-focused’, ‘Other-focused’, and ‘Material’) identified. Ambivalence was often evident in women’s awareness of reasons for continuing the pregnancy, but abortion was chosen because continuing with the pregnancy was assessed as having adverse effects on the life of the woman and significant others. Women’s reasons were complex and contingent, taking into account their own needs, a sense of responsibility to existing children and the potential child, and the contribution of significant others, including the genetic father.     

“Publish or Perish” as citation metrics used to analyze scientific output in the humanities: International case studies in economics, geography, social sciences, philosophy, and history

Traditionally, the most commonly used source of bibliometric data is the Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge, in particular the (Social) Science Citation Index and the Journal Citation Reports, which provide the yearly Journal Impact Factors. This database used for the evaluation of researchers is not advantageous in the humanities, mainly because books, conference papers, and non-English journals, which are an important part of scientific activity, are not (well) covered. This paper presents the use of an alternative source of data, Google Scholar, and its benefits in calculating citation metrics in the humanities. Because of its broader range of data sources, the use of Google Scholar generally results in more comprehensive citation coverage in the humanities. This presentation compares and analyzes some international case studies with ISI Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar. The fields of economics, geography, social sciences, philosophy, and history are focused on to illustrate the differences of results between these two databases. To search for relevant publications in the Google Scholar database, the use of “Publish or Perish” and of CleanPoP, which the author developed to clean the results, are compared.     

Revisiting Christfried Jakob’s concept of the dual onto-phylogenetic origin and ubiquitous function of the cerebral cortex: a century of progress

This paper revisits a concept combining the evolution, ontogeny and histophysiology of the cerebral cortex, presented, in a quest to explain cognition and behavior, by the neurobiologist Christfried Jakob (1866–1956) at the Second Annual Meeting of the International Society for Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy, organized by Oskar Vogt (1870–1959) in Munich in 1911. Jakob suggested a dual onto-phylogenetic origin and a ubiquitous cortical function, claiming that most receptive pathways end up in an ‘outer fundamental layer’, which derives from the rhinencephalic apparatus, whereas the ‘inner fundamental layer’ contains effector elements and derives from the striatum. With advancing evolution, the two fundamental layers become intermingled. By attributing a functional homogeneity to the cortex, Jakob contradicted the theories of Flechsig and Cajal on ‘association’ and ‘mnemonic’ areas. The merit of Jakob’s concept rests, a century later, with the current resurgence of biological research at the evolutionary–developmental interface and the broadening anticipated from the re-integration of these two fields, especially by adding a functional dimension to the morphological traits.     

New developments in the use of citation analysis in research evaluation

This paper presents an overview of research assessment methodologies developed in the field of evaluative bibliometrics, a subfield of quantitative science and technology studies, aimed to construct indicators of research performance from a quantitative statistical analysis of scientific-scholarly documents. Citation analysis is one of its key methodologies. The paper illustrates the potentialities and limitations of the use of bibliometric indicators in research assessment. It discusses the relationship between metrics and peer review; databases used as sources of bibliometric analysis; the pros and cons of indicators often applied, including journal impact factors, Hirsch indices, and normalized indicators of citation impact; and approaches to the bibliometric measurement of institutional research performance.     

国际肝干细胞研究文献可视化分析

［摘要］ 目的 对国际肝干细胞研究文献进行可视化分析,为把握重点研究方向、选择前沿技术课题、进行科学合理的科技布局提供决策信息支持。 方法 利用文献计量学方法和信息可视化方法对Web of Science中的SCIE数据库收录的国际肝干细胞研究文献的时间、国别、机构、期刊、学科、主题进行分析。 结果 科学引文索引扩展版（SCIE）收录了1092篇肝干细胞研究文献,自2000年开始文献数量进入快速增长期;在文献数量上中国与美国、日本差距较大;肝干细胞研究属多学科交叉领域,但发表期刊相对集中;其研究基本上经历了肝干细胞的发现辨认、来源和基础应用研究阶段;研究前沿有肝干细胞的识别和移植后鉴定、参与肝再生机制、诱导分化、外源基因的表达等。 结论 中国应加大肝干细胞资金投入、加强与顶级科研院所的交流合作、自主创新,引导肝干细胞从基础研究向临床研究转化。     

Age-related features of the interaction of learning success and characteristics of auditory operative memory

The characteristics of the interaction between learning success and measures of auditory operative memory were studied by psychoacoustic testing of 42 medical workers aged 20–65 years trained to work in areas new to them (information science). Three age groups were identified: 20–35 years, 36–50 years, and 51–65 years. The acoustic test consisted of a single presentation via headphones of 12 sequential target words from information science with subsequent presentation of 12 target and 12 masking words in random order. The subjects’ task was to recognize the target words. Stepwise linear regression analysis identified a relationship between the efficiency with which the new material was learned and measures of auditory operative memory, whose role in learning success increased with age. Since subjects older than 35 years showed a reduction in remembering efficiency, it was suggested that age-related changes in the characteristics of auditory operative memory are one of the major reasons for degradation of the ability to learn new material. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 268–275, May–June, 2007.     

Changes in agent variability and time course of disease incidence during a year (as exemplified by dysentery)

The vulnerability of epidemic process during the period of minimum annual incidence of the disease is validated. Biological properties ofShigella sonnei are studied and their variability examined using the index for evaluation of the mean number of variations for a sign. Minimum agent heterogeneity coincides with minimum incidence of disease and maximum heterogeneity with its seasonal rises. Translated fromByulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 130, No. 11, pp. 558–560, November, 2000     

Biomechanics

This review covers research achievements in the field of biomechanics that have been obtained in the past few years and provides information to researchers in other fields of study. This article is a translation of an article that appeared in The Japanese Journal of Artificial Organs 2007;36:204–206     

Muscle microanatomy and its changes during contraction: the legacy of William Bowman (1816–1892)

Striated muscle fine structure began to be really understood following a comprehensive survey of the matter carried out by William Bowman in the late 1830s. The publications resulting from such a study, the first of which earned for the author a precocious election as Fellow of the Royal Society, are herewith examined in the context of contemporary views on the subject as well as of their subsequent repercussion and current knowledge today. It is shown that not only Bowman succeeded in establishing the true architecture of striated muscle fibres to the extent possible with the most advanced technology available in his day – explaining and eradicating alternative erroneous concepts in the process – but also in correctly describing the basic microstructural changes associated with contraction. In addition, although unrecognized by him or others at the time, his experiments with muscle provided direct evidence for the existence of a selectively permeable cell membrane – in the present meaning of the word – over half a century before its officially accepted discovery. Yet, in spite of these remarkable advances, Bowman arrived at the conclusion that the structure of striated muscle fibres is essentially irrelevant for the mechanism of contraction. Possible reasons behind Bowman’s breakthrough accomplishments as a pioneer of modern muscle research, and his failure to understand their significance for muscle physiology, are discussed.     

Where we publish

Pathologists provide the link between the clinical and the natural science aspect of medicine and are often integrated in translational research projects. We wanted to analyse the spread and position of research led by pathologists in the scientific literature. Publications from institutes of pathology of 21 randomly chosen German university cities between 2004 and 2006 were analysed. To validate our findings we subsequently extended our analysis to 45 university cities from Italy, France and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). We detected publications directed by pathologists in numerous biomedical journals, most of which not categorised as “pathology” journals. In the analyses from Germany and Italy, Virchows Archiv led the ranking in terms of absolute number of publications. Meanwhile, Anticancer Research and the International Journal of Cancer took the lead concerning publications from pathologists from the Nordic countries. Our results mirror the wide diversification in scientific pathology and the overlap with other medical subspecialties, especially oncology, cell biology and biochemistry. This explains the problem of defining “pathology” journals and deducting pathological research activity from these publications. However, the general notion that pathology journals are the most important communication medium of pathology research was affirmed.     

The use of citation indicators to identify and support high-quality research in Poland

In large, mostly English-speaking countries, where the “critical mass” of scientists working in different subfields of science is achieved, the peer review system may be sufficient to assess the quality of scientific research. However, in smaller countries, outside the Anglo-American circle, it is important to introduce different systems to identify research of high quality. In Poland, a parametric system for assessing the quality of research has been introduced. It was largely based on the impact factor of scientific journals. While the use of this indicator to assess research quality is highly questionable, the implementation of the system in the Polish reality is even worse. Therefore it is important to change and improve the system currently used by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education to both evaluate and, more importantly, finance science in Poland. Here, a system based on three factors, i.e. the impact factor, the institutional h-index, and the institutional number of citations, is proposed. The scientific quality of institutions in Division VI: Medical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences were evaluated and the results were compared with the existing system. Moreover, a method to identify high-quality researchers and institutions at the national level based on the quantity of highly cited papers is shown. Additionally, an attempt to identify the highest quality Polish research on an international level is proposed. This is based on the number of individual citations, the individual h-index, the number of publications, and the priority of the discovery.     

Human herpes virus 8: a new virus discloses its face

The human herpes virus 8 (HHV8) or Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) is present in all Kaposi’s sarcoma, and the detection of the virus using polymerase chain reaction or in situ hybridization is a highly sensitive and specific diagnostic test for the diagnosis of this neoplasm. HHV8 is furthermore invariably present in primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and has also been detected in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-associated multicentric Castleman’s disease (MCD) as well as, to a lesser extent, in non-AIDS MCD. In contrast to Kaposi’s sarcoma, in which the tumor cells show primarily latent HHV8 infection, a higher rate of lytically infected cells can be observed in MCD. Epidemiological surveys indicate that the seroprevalence for HHV8 parallels the risk of developing Kaposi’s sarcoma – 5–10% in the general population of the Western world but ranging up to 20–70% in homosexual human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, and the infection precedes the development of Kaposis’s sarcoma. Finally, HHV8 has been reported in a number of other diseases, especially in multiple myeloma. However, the highly controversial role of HHV8 in these lesions has to be clarified. Based on the data available today, HHV8 can be assigned as a new human virus, associated with tumors. Received: 23 August 1999 / Accepted: 27 October 1999     

Development of a biosensor test system with GFP reporter protein for detection of DNA damages

A sensitive biosensor test system was developed for evaluation of premutation effects of propellants on the cell genome. __________ Translated from Byulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 141, No. 1, pp. 38–40, January, 2006     

Stephen Paget and the ‘seed and soil’ theory of metastatic dissemination

Abstract The outcome of cancer metastasis depends on multiple interactions between selected metastatic cells and homeostatic mechanisms unique to some organ microenvironments. The English surgeon Stephen Paget (1855–1926) is credited with being the first to postulate the important role played by microenvironment in metastasis formation. The concept of his ‘seed and soil’ theory has been supported and confirmed by numerous publications. This review article summarises the most important literature data about this matter.     

Use of morphostructural reaction of blood serum for toxicological evaluation of drugs

We prorposed a simple and economic method for determination of general toxic effects of drugs consisting in evaluation of serum morphology by polarization light microscopy. Translated fromByulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 138, No. 7, pp. 113–117, July, 2004     

Generation of free oxygen radicals and clastogenesis in bone marrow cells in MRL/1 mice

The level of chemiluminescence induced by phorbol myristate acetate or opsonized zymosan in the bone marrow cells of 5–6-month-old male MRL/1 mice is significantly higher than that in the same cells of 1–2-month-old mice. The number of chromosome aberrations induced by the prooxidant mutagen dioxydine in bone marrow cellsin vivo is significantly higher in 5–6-month-old MRL/1 mice than in 1–2-month-old mice. It is suggested that these effects are more pronounced in 5–6-month-old animals due to progressive development of rheumatic pathology in this mouse strain. Translated fromByulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 123, No. 1, pp. 22–25, January, 1997     

Histochemical study of mast cells from the thymus of mice receiving ACTH<Subscript>1–24</Subscript>

Synthetic ACTH_1–24 analogue administered in a daily dose of 0.01 mg/kg decreased the number and size of mast cells and increased intracellular serotonin concentration. ACTH_1–24 induced degranulation of young mast cells and release of undersulfated heparin. Correlation analysis showed that hormonal imbalance produced by ACTH_1–24 was accompanied by redistribution of bioamines. Translated fromByulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 138, No. 7, pp. 107–110, July, 2004     

Accurate Determination of Imaging Modality using an Ensemble of Text- and Image-Based Classifiers

Imaging modality can aid retrieval of medical images for clinical practice, research, and education. We evaluated whether an ensemble classifier could outperform its constituent individual classifiers in determining the modality of figures from radiology journals. Seventeen automated classifiers analyzed 77,495 images from two radiology journals. Each classifier assigned one of eight imaging modalities—computed tomography, graphic, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine, positron emission tomography, photograph, ultrasound, or radiograph—to each image based on visual and/or textual information. Three physicians determined the modality of 5,000 randomly selected images as a reference standard. A “Simple Vote” ensemble classifier assigned each image to the modality that received the greatest number of individual classifiers’ votes. A “Weighted Vote” classifier weighted each individual classifier’s vote based on performance over a training set. For each image, this classifier’s output was the imaging modality that received the greatest weighted vote score. We measured precision, recall, and F score (the harmonic mean of precision and recall) for each classifier. Individual classifiers’ F scores ranged from 0.184 to 0.892. The simple vote and weighted vote classifiers correctly assigned 4,565 images (F score, 0.913; 95% confidence interval, 0.905–0.921) and 4,672 images (F score, 0.934; 95% confidence interval, 0.927–0.941), respectively. The weighted vote classifier performed significantly better than all individual classifiers. An ensemble classifier correctly determined the imaging modality of 93% of figures in our sample. The imaging modality of figures published in radiology journals can be determined with high accuracy, which will improve systems for image retrieval.