1,720,994 research outputs found
Flow-mediated dilation benefits of mesoglycan in peripheral artery disease
No full textAIM:
Mesoglycan, composed of natural glycosaminoglycans, is used for treatment in arterial and venous disease for its benefits on endothelial glicocalix. Little is known about mesoglycan impact on endothelial blood flow regulation. We sought to evaluate the effects of mesoglycan intermittently added to back-ground treatments on impairment of endothelial function in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients.
METHODS:
We studied the effects of a 2+2 months oral treatment with 50 mg b.i.d. of mesoglycan, intervalled by 2 months without mesoglycan, in 540 PAD patients on four occasions (visit 1: baseline, visit 2: 2 months, visit 3: 4 months and visit 4: 6 months). At these time visits we assessed brachial artery endothelial-dependent flow-mediated dilation (FMD), together with femoral intima-medial thickness (IMT), and walking distance (WD).
RESULTS:
There were significant changes in FMD (1.88%, CI 95%: 1.13, 2.63; P<0.001), IMT (-0.05 mm, CI 95%: -0.07,-0.02; P<0.001) and WD (38,9%, CI 95% 33.2, 44.8; P<0.001). The positive effects and benefit were maintained during the two-months interval without mesoglycan treatment. Significant changes in FMD were observed in a number of patient groups, stratified for risk factors (aging, sex, smoke, diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension).
CONCLUSION:
Two months cycles with mesoglycan improved endothelial function in PAD patients, with a parallel reduction of atherosclerotic damage and amelioration of clinical conditio
The CEAP-L classification for lymphedemas of the limbs: The Italian experience
No full textAim. A method to classificate lymphedema has been needed to gather all the important information on the clinical evolution of the disease using a common language and an easy clinical applicability. Methods. The proposal for a new classification of the limb lymphedema was inspired by the C.E.A.P. classification for chronic venous insufficiency of the lower limb. The classification adopts the acronym C.E.A.P. by adding the letter L to underline the aspect "lymphedema" and is based on clinical data such as extension of lymphedema, presence of lymphangitis, leg ulcers and loss of functionality of the limb and instrumental criteria that permit to confirm and precise diagnosis. The Clinical classification is based on the most objective sign in these patients, the edema which is subdivided into 5 classes depending on the clinical manifestations. The etiological aspect considers 2 types of alterations of the lymphatic system: congenital and acquired. The anatomic is aimed to locate the anatomical structures involved. Pathophysiological conditions are gathered into 5 groups: agenesia or hypoplasia, hyperplasia, reflux, overload, obstruction. Results. The classification has already been appraised after 4 years of activity at the unit of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery of Ferrara, at the S. Giovanni Battista Hospital in Rome, at the Umberto I Ancona Hospital and at the S. Giovanni- Addolorata Hospital in Rome. Conclusion. The proposal for a new classification of lymphedema C.E.A.P. - L was developed in order to categorize patients with definite and objective marks, creating clinical reports with a common vocabulary, clear to all clinicians, permitting to stage the disease, evaluate treatment and finally obtain epidemiological and statistical data
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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