Project description:Researchers collaborate on scientific projects that are often measured by both the quantity and the quality of the resultant peer-reviewed publications. However, not all collaborators contribute to these publications equally, making metrics such as the total number of publications and the H-index insufficient measurements of individual scientific impact. To remedy this, we use an axiomatic approach to assign relative credits to the coauthors of a given paper, referred to as the A-index for its axiomatic foundation. In this paper, we use the A-index to compute the weighted sums of peer-reviewed publications and journal impact factors, denoted as the C- and P-indexes for collaboration and productivity, respectively. We perform an in-depth analysis of bibliometric data for 186 biomedical engineering faculty members and from extensive simulation. It is found that these axiomatically weighted indexes better capture a researcher's scientific caliber than do the total number of publications and the H-index, allowing for fairer and sharper evaluation of researchers with diverse collaborative behaviors.
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most serious global challenges to delivering affordable and equitable treatment to children with cancer we have witnessed in the last few decades. This Special Report aims to summarize general principles for continuing multidisciplinary care during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. With contributions from the leadership of the International Society for Pediatric Oncology (SIOP), Children's Oncology Group (COG), St Jude Global program, and Childhood Cancer International, we have sought to provide a framework for healthcare teams caring for children with cancer during the pandemic. We anticipate the burden will fall particularly heavily on children, their families, and cancer services in low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, we have brought together the relevant clinical leads from SIOP Europe, COG, and SIOP-PODC (Pediatric Oncology in Developing Countries) to focus on the six most curable cancers that are part of the WHO Global Initiative in Childhood Cancer. We provide some practical advice for adapting diagnostic and treatment protocols for children with cancer during the pandemic, the measures taken to contain it (e.g., extreme social distancing), and how to prepare for the anticipated recovery period.
Project description:BackgroundDiet quality indices can provide important information about relationships between diet and health independent of energy balance. The Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) is widely used and has been extensively evaluated. However, due to imperial units the HEI-2015 is difficult to apply in countries with metric systems. Our objective was to develop a metric version of the HEI-2015 and compare it to the original. The metric Healthy Eating Index-2015 (mHEI-2015) is intended to simplify the application of a dietary quality index in countries using the metric system.MethodsWe developed a metric database logic following the methodology of the HEI-2015, which allows the application to metric databases and was applied to Food Patterns Equivalents Database (FPED). The HEI-2015 was calculated for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-2018 and the scoring standards for each component of the mHEI-2015 was calibrated against it. For the assessment of agreement between indices, HEI-2015 and mHEI-2015 were calculated for NHANES 2015-2016 and a Bland-Altman plot was created.ResultsHealthy Eating Index-2015 and mHEI-2015 for the NHANES 2015-2016 averaged 52.5 ± 13.5 and 52.6 ± 13.2, respectively. The total scores as well as component scores of the indices were strongly correlated. The Bland-Altman plot revealed a high agreement of the total scores. An illustrated analysis of six different menu plans showed only minor differences between the HEI-2015 and mHEI-2015 component scores.ConclusionThe mHEI-2015 allows for superior analysis of metric dietary data to better examine the relationship between chronic diseases and diet. The streamlined metric methodology enables straightforward application to metric food databases and thus the development of country-specific indices.
Project description:BackgroundOnchocerciasis causes a considerable disease burden in Africa, mainly through skin and eye disease. Since 1995, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) has coordinated annual mass treatment with ivermectin in 16 countries. In this study, we estimate the health impact of APOC and the associated costs from a program perspective up to 2010 and provide expected trends up to 2015.Methods and findingsWith data on pre-control prevalence of infection and population coverage of mass treatment, we simulated trends in infection, blindness, visual impairment, and severe itch using the micro-simulation model ONCHOSIM, and estimated disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to onchocerciasis. We assessed financial costs for APOC, beneficiary governments, and non-governmental development organizations, excluding cost of donated drugs. We estimated that between 1995 and 2010, mass treatment with ivermectin averted 8.2 million DALYs due to onchocerciasis in APOC areas, at a nominal cost of about US$257 million. We expect that APOC will avert another 9.2 million DALYs between 2011 and 2015, at a nominal cost of US$221 million.ConclusionsOur simulations suggest that APOC has had a remarkable impact on population health in Africa between 1995 and 2010. This health impact is predicted to double during the subsequent five years of the program, through to 2015. APOC is a highly cost-effective public health program. Given the anticipated elimination of onchocerciasis from some APOC areas, we expect even more health gains and a more favorable cost-effectiveness of mass treatment with ivermectin in the near future.
Project description:The impact of individual scientists is commonly quantified using citation-based measures. The most common such measure is the h-index. A scientist's h-index affects hiring, promotion, and funding decisions, and thus shapes the progress of science. Here we report a large-scale study of scientometric measures, analyzing millions of articles and hundreds of millions of citations across four scientific fields and two data platforms. We find that the correlation of the h-index with awards that indicate recognition by the scientific community has substantially declined. These trends are associated with changing authorship patterns. We show that these declines can be mitigated by fractional allocation of citations among authors, which has been discussed in the literature but not implemented at scale. We find that a fractional analogue of the h-index outperforms other measures as a correlate and predictor of scientific awards. Our results suggest that the use of the h-index in ranking scientists should be reconsidered, and that fractional allocation measures such as h-frac provide more robust alternatives.
Project description:ObjectiveTo update the Dutch Healthy Diet index, a measure of diet quality, to reflect adherence to the Dutch dietary guidelines 2015 and to evaluate against participants' characteristics and nutrient intakes with the score based on 24 h recall (24 hR) data and FFQ data.DesignThe Dutch Healthy Diet index 2015 (DHD15-index) consists of fifteen components representing the fifteen food-based Dutch dietary guidelines of 2015. Per component the score ranges between 0 and 10, resulting in a total score between 0 (no adherence) and 150 (complete adherence).SettingWageningen area, the Netherlands, 2011-2013.SubjectsData of 885 men and women, aged 20-70 years, participating in the longitudinal NQplus study, who filled out two 24 hR and one FFQ, were used.ResultsMean (sd) score of the DHD15-index was 68·7 (16·1) for men and 79·4 (16·0) for women. Significant inverse trends were found between the DHD15-index and BMI, smoking, and intakes of energy, total fat and saturated fat. Positive trends were seen across sex-specific quintiles of the DHD15-index score with energy-adjusted micronutrient intakes. Mean DHD15-index score of the FFQ data was 15·5 points higher compared with 24 hR data, with a correlation coefficient of 0·56 between the scores. Observed trends of the DHD15-index based on FFQ with participant characteristics, macronutrient and energy-adjusted micronutrient intakes were similar to those with the DHD15-index based on 24 hR.ConclusionsThe DHD15-index score assesses adherence to the Dutch dietary guidelines 2015 and indicates diet quality. The DHD15-index score can be based on 24 hR data and on FFQ data.
Project description:BackgroundQuality assessments of gonococcal surveillance data are critical to improve data validity and to enhance the value of surveillance findings. Detecting data errors by systematic audits identifies areas for quality improvement. We designed and implemented an internal audit process to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of surveillance data for the Thailand Enhanced Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (EGASP).MethodsWe conducted a data quality audit of source records by comparison with the data stored in the EGASP database for five audit cycles from 2015-2021. Ten percent of culture-confirmed cases of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were randomly sampled along with any cases identified with elevated antimicrobial susceptibility testing results and cases with repeat infections. Incorrect and incomplete data were investigated, and corrective action and preventive actions (CAPA) were implemented. Accuracy was defined as the percentage of identical data in both the source records and the database. Completeness was defined as the percentage of non-missing data from either the source document or the database. Statistical analyses were performed using the t-test and the Fisher's exact test.ResultsWe sampled and reviewed 70, 162, 85, 68, and 46 EGASP records during the five audit cycles. Overall accuracy and completeness in the five audit cycles ranged from 93.6% to 99.4% and 95.0% to 99.9%, respectively. Overall, completeness was significantly higher than accuracy (p = 0.017). For each laboratory and clinical data element, concordance was >85% in all audit cycles except for two laboratory data elements in two audit cycles. These elements significantly improved following identification and CAPA implementation.DiscussionWe found a high level of data accuracy and completeness in the five audit cycles. The implementation of the audit process identified areas for improvement. Systematic quality assessments of laboratory and clinical data ensure high quality EGASP surveillance data to monitor for antimicrobial resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Thailand.
Project description:Quantifying and comparing the scientific output of researchers has become critical for governments, funding agencies and universities. Comparison by reputation and direct assessment of contributions to the field is no longer possible, as the number of scientists increases and traditional definitions about scientific fields become blurred. The h-index is often used for comparing scientists, but has several well-documented shortcomings. In this paper, we introduce a new index for measuring and comparing the publication records of scientists: the pagerank-index (symbolised as π). The index uses a version of pagerank algorithm and the citation networks of papers in its computation, and is fundamentally different from the existing variants of h-index because it considers not only the number of citations but also the actual impact of each citation. We adapt two approaches to demonstrate the utility of the new index. Firstly, we use a simulation model of a community of authors, whereby we create various 'groups' of authors which are different from each other in inherent publication habits, to show that the pagerank-index is fairer than the existing indices in three distinct scenarios: (i) when authors try to 'massage' their index by publishing papers in low-quality outlets primarily to self-cite other papers (ii) when authors collaborate in large groups in order to obtain more authorships (iii) when authors spend most of their time in producing genuine but low quality publications that would massage their index. Secondly, we undertake two real world case studies: (i) the evolving author community of quantum game theory, as defined by Google Scholar (ii) a snapshot of the high energy physics (HEP) theory research community in arXiv. In both case studies, we find that the list of top authors vary very significantly when h-index and pagerank-index are used for comparison. We show that in both cases, authors who have collaborated in large groups and/or published less impactful papers tend to be comparatively favoured by the h-index, whereas the pagerank-index highlights authors who have made a relatively small number of definitive contributions, or written papers which served to highlight the link between diverse disciplines, or typically worked in smaller groups. Thus, we argue that the pagerank-index is an inherently fairer and more nuanced metric to quantify the publication records of scientists compared to existing measures.