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HIV/AIDS
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Abstract
This research project aims to identify, analyze and evaluate the main causes of HIV/AIDS, and the dynamics and structure of the paradigmatic research fronts that help develop fundamentals of biomedical knowledge on the disease. One of the major and most important points is that HIV/AIDS is different from other diseases and epidemics, and it requires a broader and better response. We have also talked about the history of the diseases to help others understand the consequences of HIV/AIDS (Espejo, 2012).
Introduction
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is the spectrum of complications caused by the specific virus known as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Once a person is affected, he may not be able to perform his day-to-day tasks efficiently and is likely to experience a period of influenza-like illness. With the passage of time, the infection keeps progressing and interfering with the immunity. It eventually increases the risks of developing other infections such as tuberculosis that hardly affect people with strong immune systems. Sudden weight loss is one of the most visible symptoms, followed by fatigue and anxiety. HIV spreads because of unprotected sex (such as oral and anal sex), hypodermic syringes, unhygienic breastfeeding and contaminated blood transfusion (Wagner, 2008).
It is one of the most studied diseases to date with over 230,000 papers published on the internet. HIV/AIDS is studied as part of immunology, virology, drug development, epidemiology, social sciences, humanities, and zoology. All these disciplines depend on scientific consensus, which talks about the clinical manifestation of the disease regarding virus interaction with the immune system. Paradigms are the key components of our research project, and they helped us define the rules, standards, and questions that drive research efforts. Previously, the studies only focused on basics of HIV/AIDS. But today, a lot of things are paid attention to, such as how the disease spreads, what are the possible causes, what are its different stages, and how to prescribe medications (Yount, 2003).
It should be noticed that some of the bodily fluids like tears and saliva do not transmit the virus. The best methods for prevention are needle exchange programs, hygienic breastfeeding, safe and protected sex, and treating the infected people in entirely separate environments. HIV/AIDS has impacted the society in one way or the other; the disorder also has various economic impacts and has become the subject of numerous controversies. In short, HIV/AIDS has always attracted media and public attention. By combining different network analysis and text mining techniques, we sought to understand the causes of HIV/AIDS and how the disease evolved (Fatoki, 2016).
Methodology
We built a network model with papers found on the internet, and then analyzed or visualized it with the help of Cytoscape. The degree of distribution was determined with the help of law function (y = ax^b). Similarly, a sub-network of papers with degree ≥ 28 was closely observed and studied. We chose the papers with a degree ≥ 28 because of their reliable results and workable quantities that account for over 50 percent of the online resources. We also performed a cluster analysis based on the Newman modularity, which was divided into sub-networks for our ease (Espejo, 2012). These sub-networks were displayed with the help of organic algorithms. We knew that the most amazing, informative and outstanding output would be the list of distinctive papers describing the focus of the research. We also knew that cluster analysis would be needed, so we opted for Clust&see to be assured of accurate and reliable results (Wagner, 2008).
Results
More than 60,000 articles and journals on HIV/AIDS were found by keyword search over the Thomson Reuters Web of Science. Cytoscape was used to perform the structu...