Background
Preoperative nutrition risk is often underrecognized and undertreated. The perioperative nutrition screen (PONS) was recently introduced as an efficient tool to rapidly screen for ...preoperative nutrition risk. The relationship between identification of “nutrition risk” via PONS and adverse postoperative outcomes remains undescribed.
Methods
Preoperative nutrition risk was assessed via PONS from 01/01/2019 to 09/30/2020. Key clinical outcomes were compared with individual and composite PONS components.
Results
A total of 3151 patients with PONS evaluations were analyzed. Multivariate regression adjusted for key covariates demonstrated positive responses for specific PONS questions was associated with adverse clinical outcomes as follows. (1) Unplanned weight loss (>10% in 6‐months preoperatively) associated with a 22.4% increased length of stay (LOS) (P < 0.0001) and increased 30‐day readmission rate (odds ratio OR, 2.44, 95% CI, 1.73–3.44, P < 0.001). (2) History of <50% of previous oral intake in past week associated with a 25% increased LOS (P < 0.001). (3) Preoperative serum albumin level <3.0 g/L associated with a 29.9% increased LOS (P < 0.001) and increased 30‐day readmission rate (OR, 2.66, 95% CI, 1.63–4.35, P < 0.001). (4) Low body mass index was not associated with increased LOS by adjusted analysis although was predictive by univariate analysis.
Conclusions
The PONS and its individual components appear to predict risk of adverse postoperative outcomes, even independent of a validated malnutrition diagnosis. Further studies are needed to assess the impact of specific preoperative nutrition interventions on adverse outcomes predicted by PONS when delivered to patients identified via PONS screen.
Almost 30 years ago, a distinguished soil physical‐chemist, Grant W. Thomas, voiced serious concern about what he saw in the soil science literature as more a preoccupation with style than with ...substance. The present article argues that, similarly, there are reasons to be worried at the moment because of a tendency in much of the literature on soils, both within and outwith soil science, to systematically ignore certain bodies of “old” literature, even when they are extremely relevant, and also to unduly inflate the potential significance of research achievements. These two practices, referred to as “bypass” and “hyperbole”, are illustrated by several examples dealing, respectively, with soil “aggregates”, soil quality/health, soil “contributions to ecosystem services” and whole‐soil metagenomics, in the case of bypass, and with biochar, the “4 per 1000” initiative, and the role of soils in achieving Sustainable Development Goals, in the case of hyperbole. It is hoped that the present review article will lead to a healthy debate on where our discipline stands at the moment in terms of how we build on the achievements of our predecessors and how accurately we describe the significance of our work. This debate should allow soil science to evolve to meet the daunting challenges it faces in the years ahead.
Highlights
The literature on soils seems characterized by a significant amount of bypass and hyperbole
Bypass is described, related to soil “aggregates”, soil quality/health, soil “contributions to ecosystem services” and whole‐soil metagenomics
Hyperbole is described in connection with the research on biochar, the “4 per 1000” initiative, and the role of soils in achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
The need to curb these deviances is stressed.
•Five ‘character traits’ of the ANT researcher are identified.•Each is discussed in relation to an account of an empirical case study.•Their contribution to determining research quality is assessed.
...The use of actor-network thinking is increasingly evident in tourism research. ANT offers the researcher a practical, fieldwork-based orientation, emphasising detailed description of relationships between actors in practice. However, questions which arise for the researcher in using ANT are seldom confronted in the literature. This paper contributes to the growing ANT literature in tourism by identifying five ‘character traits’ relating to selection and use of method in ANT research. It uses an empirical case study to show how these traits are performative in the researcher’s ‘hinterland’ of methodological choices, providing theoretical and practical reflections for future researchers. It ends by considering how acknowledging these traits in the account can demonstrate adherence to accepted criteria for research quality.
•The Excellence Initiative is a policy intervention aimed at increasing the international visibility of German university system by incentivizing word-class research universities.•But, output ...maximization instead of impact maximization has been rewarded.•The Excellence Initiative does stimulate the rewarded universities as well as the rest of the system to improve research performance in terms of quantity.•The Excellence Initiative does have detrimental effects if the quality of research performance is concerned.
This paper analyses the impact of the Excellence Initiative (EI) in Germany, a policy intervention aimed to promote and select outstanding active research universities by competitively allocating additional public funds. Academic debate on efficiency and effectiveness of higher education policy does not addresses issues such as treatment and selection effects, suffers from generalizable measurement problems, and does not take a comparative approach. Our objective is to fill this gap by adopting Italy as a control country. In doing so, this paper examines (1) whether this policy approach is suitable to stimulate the system and the awarded institutions, (2) how the performance impact can be measured and (3) whether the results are driven by country specific effects or are generalizable. To this end, we applied a triple difference-in-differences analysis (DDD) on a dataset of 72 German and 51 Italian state universities during the first round of the EI, from 2004 to 2013. We found that the EI has had a positive effect on research quantity, but a reverse effect on research quality.
•There are few widely acknowledged quality standards for research.•A graphic representation of concepts related to the quality of research practice was developed.•Four main areas: Credible, ...Contributory, Communicable, and Conforming.•A model with 18 concepts and their relationships was needed to define the quality concepts.
There are few widely acknowledged quality standards for research practice, and few definitions of what constitutes good research. The overall aim was therefore to describe what constitutes research, and then to use this description to develop a model of research practice and to define concepts related to its quality. The primary objective was to explore such a model and to create a multidisciplinary understanding of the generic dimensions of the quality of research practice. Eight concept modelling working seminars were conducted. A graphic representation of concepts and their relationships was developed to bridge the gap between different disciplines. A concept model of research as a phenomenon was created, which included a total of 18 defined concepts and their relationships. In a second phase four main areas were distilled, describing research practice in a multidisciplinary context: Credible, Contributory, Communicable, and Conforming. Each of these was further specified in a concept hierarchy together with a defined terminology. A comprehensive quality model including 32 concepts, based on the four main areas, was developed for describing quality issues of research practice, where the model of research as a phenomenon was used to define the quality concepts. The quality model may be used for further development of elements, weights and operationalizations related to the quality of research practice in different academic fields.
Citation data and journal impact factors are important components of faculty dossiers and figure prominently in both promotion decisions and assessments of a researcher’s broader societal impact. ...Although these metrics play a large role in high-stakes decisions, the evidence is mixed about whether they are strongly correlated with indicators of research quality. We use data from a large-scale dataset comprising 45 144 journal articles with 667 208 statistical tests and data from 190 replication attempts to assess whether citation counts and impact factors predict three indicators of research quality: (i) the accuracy of statistical reporting, (ii) the evidential value of the reported data and (iii) the replicability of a given experimental result. Both citation counts and impact factors were weak and inconsistent predictors of research quality, so defined, and sometimes negatively related to quality. Our findings raise the possibility that citation data and impact factors may be of limited utility in evaluating scientists and their research. We discuss the implications of these findings in light of current incentive structures and discuss alternative approaches to evaluating research.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by an unprecedented amount of published scientific articles. The aim of this study is to assess the type of articles published during the first 3 months ...of the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare them with articles published during 2009 H1N1 swine influenza pandemic. Two operators independently extracted and assessed all articles on COVID-19 and on H1N1 swine influenza that had an abstract and were indexed in PubMed during the first 3 months of these pandemics. Of the 2482 articles retrieved on COVID-19, 1165 were included. Over half of them were secondary articles (590, 50.6%). Common primary articles were: human medical research (340, 59.1%), in silico studies (182, 31.7%) and in vitro studies (26, 4.5%). Of the human medical research, the vast majority were observational studies and cases series, followed by single case reports and one randomized controlled trial. Secondary articles were mainly reviews, viewpoints and editorials (373, 63.2%). Limitations were reported in 42 out of 1165 abstracts (3.6%), with 10 abstracts reporting actual methodological limitations. In a similar timeframe, there were 223 articles published on the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. During the COVID-19 pandemic there was a higher prevalence of reviews and guidance articles and a lower prevalence of in vitro and animal research studies compared with the H1N1 pandemic. In conclusions, compared to the H1N1 pandemic, the majority of early publications on COVID-19 does not provide new information, possibly diluting the original data published on this disease and consequently slowing down the development of a valid knowledge base on this disease. Also, only a negligible number of published articles reports limitations in the abstracts, hindering a rapid interpretation of their shortcomings. Researchers, peer reviewers, and editors should take action to flatten the curve of secondary articles.
The quality of research and scientific publications is an essential concern in managing higher education institutions. Therefore, this research aims to examine the policies and strategies for ...enhancing the quality of research and scientific publications in State Islamic Religious Colleges. This is a qualitative study that gathers data from library and field research. The findings show that each university already has regulations based on provisions from the Ministry of Higher Education, including the Internal Quality Assurance System (SPMI) and External Quality Assurance System (SPME), for managing research quality. Additionally, UIN Antasari Banjarmasin, UIN Samarinda, and IAIN Palangkaraya are improving the quality of research and scientific publications of their lecturers with policies such as allocating 30% of BOPTN funds and implementing the LITAPDIMAS system. However, the outputs and benefits of these policies have not been fully realized due to budget absorption issues that limit the development of a research and publication culture. Therefore, developing such a culture presents a significant challenge that requires a long-term commitment and the participation of all stakeholders. The culture-building process should start from upstream to downstream aspects.
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