Quantitative ultrasound techniques for the assessment of osteoporosis: expert agreement on current status. The International Quantitative Ultrasound Consensus Group

Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) methods have been introduced in recent years for the assessment of skeletal status in osteoporosis. The performance of QUS techniques has been evaluated in a large number of studies. Reviewing existing knowledge, an international expert panel formulated the following consensus regarding the current status of this technology. To date, evidence supports the use of QUS techniques for the assessment of fracture risk in elderly women. This has been best established for water-based calcaneal QUS systems. Future studies should include the predictive validity of other QUS systems. Additional clinical applications of QUS, specifically the assessment of rates of change for monitoring disease progression or response to treatment, require further investigation. Its low cost and portability make QUS an attractive technology for assessing risk of fractures in larger populations than may be suitable or feasible for bone densitometry. Additional investigations that assess innovative QUS techniques in well defined research settings are important to determine and utilize the full potential of this technology for the benefit of early detection and monitoring of osteoporosis.     

Immunogenicity of trivalent subunit versus virosome-formulated influenza vaccines in geriatric patients

The safety and immunogenicity of a commercial trivalent subunit influenza vaccine and an experimental virosome-formulated influenza vaccine were evaluated among geriatric patients in a double-blind, randomized manner. The virosome vaccine was produced by incorporating hemagglutinin (HA) into the membrane of liposomes composed of phosphatidylcholine. Both vaccines elicited a significant (P < 0.01) rise in the geometric mean anti-HA antibody titer to all three vaccine components 1 month after immunization. However, significantly (P < 0.005) more subjects vaccinated with the virosome preparation mounted a more than fourfold rise to the A/Singapore and A/Beijing strains compared with those who received subunit vaccine. The percentage of patients who attained protective levels (anti-HA titer > or = 40) of anti-A/Beijing antibody was also significantly (P < 0.005) higher in the virosome group. Subjects who possessed non-protective baseline antibody levels to the A/Singapore and A/Beijing strains were more likely (P < 0.005-0.030) to achieve protective levels after immunization with the virosome vaccine than with the subunit vaccine. Of particular clinical significance was the fact that 68.4% of subjects immunized with the virosome vaccine attained protective levels of antibody to all three vaccine components versus 38% for the subunit vaccine (P = 0.010).     

Analysis of a micro-optical light modulator

A light modulator with microlens arrays in a confocal arrangement and with various filters in the common focal plane of the arrays, which are translated with the help of piezoelectric actuators, is proposed. The theoretical analysis deals with the influence of the lens arrays on the performance of the modulator. The system is investigated for spatially incoherent beams. It is shown that the configuration is suited for efficient modulation of radiation emitted by multimode fibers. A choice of the proper focal length of the microlens arrays and lens pitch d results in a good transmission efficiency (above 90%) combined with a large number of possible switching states.     

A citation-based cross-disciplinary study on literature ageing: part II—diachronous aspects

In the first part of our study (Zhang and Glänzel in Scientometrics, 2017) we provided a view of the literature ageing based on a synchronous approach. Taking up the ideas by Egghe (Scientometrics 27(2):195–214, 1993) and Glänzel et al. (Scientometrics 109(3):2165–2179, 2016) we extend our study in the second part by applying a diachronous approach on the basis of citing literature. For this purpose we used the Prospective Price Index which was recently introduced by Glänzel et al. (Scientometrics 109(3):2165–2179, 2016). Finally, we compare the two aspects of literature ageing. In particular, we analyze the correlation between the share of recent references and the share of fast response, and found a generally positive correlation between both aspects at different levels of aggregation (subfields, major fields and the individual paper level). However, the consistence varies among different aggregations. For examples, on the level of subject fields, Chemistry, Biology, Neuroscience & Behavior are found with evidently better ranks by Prospective Price Index than Price Index, indicating their faster ageing process in the mirror of citations than references, while Engineering and Social sciences are found with the opposite ageing features. At the journal level, we observed a striking divergence between the reference and citation ageing patterns in some cases. Thus several journals proved ‘hard’ from the perspective of information sources (cited papers) but, at the same time, rather ‘soft’ in the light of information targets (citing papers).     

Role of resistance physical exercise in preventing testicular damage caused by chronic ethanol consumption in UChB rats

Ethanol consumption is associated with spermatogenesis damage and testosterone level alterations. Alcohol remains the most commonly used substance among athletes and sports enthusiasts. This study evaluated whether resistance physical exercise can reduce the testicular damage caused by ethanol exposure. A total of 36 ethanol drinking (UChB) rats were divided into four groups: C (control rats), ETOH (ethanol consumption), ETOH + T (ethanol consumption + physical training), and T (group physical training). The physical training component of the T and ETOH + T groups was based on a resistance training model consisting of four sets of 10 jumps, with an increasing overload of 50–70% of the body weight attached to the chest three times per week. Rats in the ETOH and ETOH +T groups received 10% ethanol. At postnatal day 90, the rats were sacrificed. Blood sample was collected for hormonal analysis, and the testicles were weighed and processed for histopathological, morphometric, and immunohistochemical analyses. The ETOH group showed an increase in testosterone levels. The immunohistochemical of androgen receptor and the absolute weight of the testes were higher in the ETOH and ETOH + T groups, while the ETOH animals showed a decreased weight gain index. The number of abnormal seminiferous tubules increased in the ETOH and T groups compared to those in the control group (C); however, the association with treatment (ETOH + T group) prevented this effect and decreased caspase‐3 production. In conclusion, these findings show that the combination of ethanol consumption and resistance physical exercise can prevent testicular damage in adult UChB rats.     

Garfield number: on some characteristics of Eugene Garfield’s first and second order co-authorship networks

In this note we give an overview of the first- and second-order collaboration network reflected by Eugene Garfield’s publications in scientific journals. Although he had only a quite limited number of co-authors and co-publications, his co-authors’ own collaboration networks generate a large world-wide and multidisciplinary coverage. The classical model of co-authorship network is the Erd?s network with the Erd?s Number indicating the shortest co-authorship path through which an author is connected with Paul Erd?s. The two networks, generated by Erd?s and Garfield, respectively, show completely different patterns and characteristics but illustrate the ways how ideas of great scholars and pioneers disseminate and influence the respective scientific communities.