ABSTRACT
Abstract Background Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) patients face several challenges due to the nature of the disease and its physical and psychological complications. Sleep disorders are among the most important concerns. Sleep disorders can aggravate the signs and symptoms of the disease and ultimately reduce the quality of patients' lives. This study uses a systematic review and meta-analysis to pool the reported prevalence of sleep disorders among AS patients. Methods To find related studies, the WoS, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Embase, and Google Scholar databases were systematically searched without a lower time limit. Heterogeneity among the identified studies was checked using the I2 index, and the Begg and Mazumdar correlation test examined the existence of published bias. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (v.2) software was adopted to analyze the data. Results In the review of 18 studies with a sample size of 5,840, the overall pooled prevalence of sleep disorders among AS patients based on the random effects method was found to be 53% (95% CI: 44.9-61). The highest and lowest prevalence was in Egypt at 90% and Australia at 19.2%, respectively. Our meta-regression results show that with the increase in 'sample size' and 'year of publication', the overall prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with AS decreases (p < 0.05). Conclusion The results of the present study indicate a high and significant prevalence of sleep disorders among AS patients. Thus, health policymakers and healthcare providers must focus on timely diagnosis and effective educational and therapeutic interventions for the prevention and proper treatment of sleep disorders in this population of patients.
ABSTRACT
FRBR is one of the models considered in cataloging and work-to-work relationships are introduced as types of bibliographic relationships present in this model. This study examines the distribution of dispersion relationships in medical subject areas based on FRBR model in Persian medical sources published from 2006 to 2010. This study is a descriptive survey. Data were obtained from Iranian OPAC online public access catalog]. To determine the areas of medical sciences, both LC [Library of Congress] and Dewey Classifications were applied. For data analysis, Excel 2007 was used. Using descriptive statistics, the researcher presented the results in the form of tables and graphs. According to Dewey Classification, 'diseases' was the subject area having the highest number of bibliographic relationships and the lowest frequency belonged to 'experimental medicine'. The analysis based on LC Classification, however, showed that 'internal medicine' had the highest number of bibliographic relationships; Botanic, Thomsonian, Eclectic Medicine, Chiropractic and Alternative medicine subject matters had the lowest bibliographic relationships. Distribution of work-to-work bibliographic relationships in Persian medical sources based on Dewey and LC Classifications is heterogeneous. Despite the obtained apparently heterogeneous results, such a difference cannot be due to differences in the frequency of bibliographic relationships of medical topics because the classification criteria of medical sciences are different in these two systems
ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: Self-citation, as one of the limitations of citation analysis, unusually affects the ranking of journals. This study aims to evaluate the degree of relationship between self-citation and immediacy index correlation of Iranian medical journals indexed in Scopus Citation Index between 2005 and 2009
Materials and Methods: The method of the study is survey-descriptive in which citation analysis is used. The study included all Iran-based English medical journals indexed in Scopus database up to May 2009. The control list was prepared and its validity was confirmed. Data were collected by referring to Scopus website and publication review resources, and analyzed by statistical software and appropriate methods
Results: The findings showed that self-citation rate of journals was 29.64 percent, which comprised 14.43 percent of the total number of citations. There was a significant relationship [at the level of 0.01] between self-citation rate and immediacy index of journals [p=0.591]. Besides, Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant relationship between the number of journals' articles and the journals' immediacy indexes excluding self-citation during the years of study
Conclusion: Self-citation has a direct effect on journals' immediacy index; that is, an increase in the rate of self-citation causes an artificial increase in the journals' immediacy index. On the other hand, immediacy index is affected by the number of journal articles. Therefore, the reduction or elimination of self-citation seems to be necessary for the journals and can put them in their right place