New quality and quantity indices in science (NewQIS): results of the first decade-project progress review

Strategies employing information science and scientometric approaches were introduced to science policy and management over the past decades. As a rapidly evolving field, new bibliometric parameters are proposed and discussed continuously and the fields also benefits from the introduction of novel visualization techniques. The present article summarizes the experiences with a platform that combines geographical mapping with scientometrics. It was established between 2005 and 2008 at the Charité in Berlin and termed “New Quality and Quantity Indices in Science” (NewQIS), consisting of the integration of common scientometric parameters such as the h-index and novel visualization techniques including density equalizing mapping. NewQIS was used to assess socio-economic important fields of medicine and sciences. Within NewQIS studies, research activities, citation patterns and their relation to socio-economic figures were analyzed with regard to time periods, countries, continents or even single cities. Within the decade after its establishment, more than 80 NewQIS articles were peer-reviewed and published. Being a non-funded low budget project, it was used by many medical students to conduct their MD thesis. The narrow technical frame led to the chance of a comparison of research output between different fields of science. This article summarizes NewQIS 1.0 activities, discusses its limits and gives a look into the future of NewQIS 2.0 with a target of 200 evaluated entities of the biomedical field of sciences.

Aversive control of Betta splendens behavior using water disturbances: Effects of signaled and unsignaled free-operant avoidance and escape contingencies

The vast majority of research on aversive control of behavior using animal models employs electric-shock based procedures with avian and mammalian species. Notwithstanding that pragmatic aspects explain this prominence in the field, there is still a need for testing well-established facts about shock-based aversive control using other, perhaps more ecologically valid or biologically relevant, forms of stimulation with other species. Following up on an observation that water disturbances appear to be aversive to Betta splendens (bettas), we developed a preparation for studying free-operant avoidance with this species in which water flows (WFs) replaced electric shocks. Fish changed compartments in a shuttle tank to escape or avoid 10-s WFs, which were delivered with 30-s flow-flow and response-flow intervals. We tested the effect of adding a warning stimulus (curtains of air bubbles) to the last 5 s of the response-flow interval (i.e., signaled avoidance) on the bettas' temporal distribution of crossings and swimming patterns. Escape was the predominant response, which importantly reduced the exposure to the WFs. Avoidance responses rarely exceeded the frequency of escape. The warning stimulus did not produce the expected postponement of responses to the last segment of the response-flow interval. Distinctive swimming patterns emerged, dissipated, and reappeared during baseline and treatment conditions. These findings confirm the aversive function of WFs for bettas and expand the generality of negative reinforcement phenomena using non-shock-based procedures with a less-frequently studied species. Further developments of the WFs paradigm show promise for replicating other aversive control phenomena (e.g., punishment), and analyzing spatiotemporal patterns produced by aversive contingencies.

Intravital Imaging to Understand Spatiotemporal Regulation of Osteogenesis and Angiogenesis in Cranial Defect Repair and Regeneration

Angiogenesis plays a critical role in skeletal repair and regeneration. Our understanding of the intricate relationship between osteogenesis and angiogenesis at a repair site has been hindered by the lack of an effective approach that allows tracking of bone healing and neovascularization simultaneously at a high spatiotemporal resolution in living animals. To overcome this barrier, we have recently established a cranial bone defect window chamber model in mice that enables high-resolution, four-dimensional imaging analyses of bone defect healing using multiphoton laser scanning microscopy (MPLSM). The windowed defect model confers imaging of the defect through both micro computed tomography (microCT) and MPLSM in vivo, facilitating lineage tracing and longitudinal analyses of osteogenesis and angiogenesis in repair. The windowed chamber model further permits insertion of cellular implants or bone graft materials, aiding in spatiotemporal analyses of the interactions between biomaterials and vascular microenvironment in living animals. In this chapter, we describe the improved technique for establishing the chronic cranial defect window chamber model for long-term imaging as well as the imaging analysis protocols for quantitative analyses of osteogenesis and angiogenesis at the site of bone defect repair.

Association between satellite-based estimates of long-term PM2.5 exposure and coronary artery disease

BACKGROUND

Epidemiological studies have identified associations between long-term PM2.5 exposure and cardiovascular events, though most have relied on concentrations from central-site air quality monitors.

METHODS

We utilized a cohort of 5679 patients who had undergone cardiac catheterization at Duke University between 2002-2009 and resided in North Carolina. We used estimates of daily PM2.5 concentrations for North Carolina during the study period based on satellite derived Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements and PM2.5 concentrations from ground monitors, which were spatially resolved with a 10×10km resolution, matched to each patient's residential address and averaged for the year prior to catheterization. The Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) index was used to measure severity of CAD; scores >23 represent a hemodynamically significant coronary artery lesion in at least one major coronary vessel. Logistic regression modeled odds of having CAD or an MI with each 1μg/m(3) increase in annual average PM2.5, adjusting for sex, race, smoking status and socioeconomic status.

RESULTS

In adjusted models, a 1μg/m(3) increase in annual average PM2.5 was associated with an 11.1% relative increase in the odds of significant CAD (95% CI: 4.0-18.6%) and a 14.2% increase in the odds of having a myocardial infarction (MI) within a year prior (95% CI: 3.7-25.8%).

CONCLUSIONS

Satellite-based estimates of long-term PM2.5 exposure were associated with both coronary artery disease (CAD) and incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) in a cohort of cardiac catheterization patients.