1,720,967 research outputs found
Effect of short-term treatment with low dosages of the proton-pump inhibitor omeprazole on serum chromogranin A levels in man.
No full textBACKGROUND:
Measurement of chromogranin A (CgA) levels in blood can be used to monitor neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). CgA levels may also be elevated in several other endocrine and non-endocrine diseases. It is well known that drugs affecting acid gastric secretion can increase gastrin. Proton-pump inhibitors are extensively used but only a few data have been reported on their effects on CgA secretion.
DESIGN:
The aim of the study was to evaluate the short-term effect of low dosages of omeprazole (OM) on CgA levels and to sensitize endocrinologists to possible false positive values of CgA in order to prevent expensive diagnostic work-up in searching for NETs.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
Thirty-five female and nine male in-patients (18-81 years) were studied. Mild or severe hypertension in 20 patients needed therapy. Endocrine and metabolic diseases were diagnosed in the majority of patients. CgA levels were evaluated before and during OM therapy (10 mg/day, orally).
RESULTS:
Without OM therapy, CgA levels were 64+/-6 microg/l. Elevated baseline CgA levels were found in nine subjects. CgA levels were significantly related to age (P<0.001), creatinine levels (P=0.03) and the severity of hypertension (P=0.002). On short-term OM therapy (n=42; 18.8+/-2.4 days; range 5-90 days) a significant (P<0.001) increase in CgA (145+/-22 microg/l) from baseline (63+/-7 microg/l) levels was found. The average net CgA increase on short-term OM therapy was 93+/-20 microg/l. There was a significant correlation between baseline CgA levels and CgA increase on short-term OM therapy (P=0.004) but not between the increase in CgA and the duration of the therapy.
CONCLUSIONS:
An increase in CgA levels quickly follows the start of low dosages of OM. This release is more pronounced when the baseline CgA levels are already increased by slight renal insufficiency or severe hypertension. In this common clinical situation an intensive work-up for NETs is not justified before reassessment of CgA after the withdrawal of OM
Safety and efficacy of administering 0.2 mg of recombinant human TSH for two consecutive days as an adjuvant to low-dose radioiodine therapy in out-patients with large non-toxic multinodular goitre.
No full textRecombinant human TSH (rhTSH) has recently been used as an adjuvant to the treatment of non-toxic multinodular goitre (MNG) by means of 131I. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of 0.2 mg rhTSH or placebo administered im on 2 consecutive days before a fixed therapeutic dose of 14 mCi of 131I. Thirteen elderly patients (71±7 years) with large non-toxic MNG (group 1) were treated with rhTSH plus 131I. While a control group of 8 patients, matched for age and non-toxic MNG volume, was treated with placebo plus 131I (group 2)
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
Safety and efficacy of administering 0.2 mg of recombinant human TSH for two consecutive days as an adjuvant to therapy with low radioiodine doses in elderly out-patients with large nontoxic multinodular goiter
No full textAIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) as an adjuvant to radioiodine therapy for nontoxic multinodular goiter (MNG) in elderly subjects.
METHODS: Twelve elderly out-patients with large MNG (group 1) were studied. The effect of adjuvant rhTSH administration (0.2 mg i.m. on 2 consecutive days) before low-dose (131)I was compared with that of radioiodine alone in 8 out-patients matched for age and MNG volume (group 2). The follow-up period was similar in both groups.
RESULTS: The number and severity of side-effects during the first month of treatment were similar in both groups. On final examination, the number of patients symptomatic for goiter was significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2 (P=0.03). In group 1, TSH levels peaked at 40.3+/-9.5 mU/L on day 3, from the baseline value of 0.5+/-0.1 mU/L (P<0.001). In group 2, baseline TSH was 0.4+/-0.1 mU/L. Although a marked increase in f-T3, f-T4 and Tg (P<0.001) was noted in both groups during the first 2 weeks of treatment, peak values were much higher in group 1 than in group 2. On final examination, a slightly significant increase (P=0.01) in TSH levels from the baseline was noted in both groups (group 1: 1.2+/-0.2 mU/L; group 2: 1.4+/-0.3 mU/L). The percentage of patients who did not need therapies to control TSH secretion at the last examination was higher in group 1 (83%) than in group 2 (38%). Only in group 1, a significant reduction was noted in mean anterior-posterior lobar width (31+/-1.7 mm) from the baseline value (24.5+/-1.7 mm, P=0.04). Thyroid volume was reduced from 78.1+/-11.7 mL to 49.4+/-13.4 mL (P=0.001) in group 1 and from 89.8+/-25.2 mL to 67.1+/-20.5 mL (P=0.04) in group 2. Six months after (131)I therapy, slight changes in thyroid length and tracheal lumen were noted in both groups.
CONCLUSIONS: This long-term controlled study demonstrates that 0.2 mg of rhTSH on 2 consecutive days increases the efficacy of ambulatory (131)I dosages in treating nontoxic MNG in elderly subjects. Adequate drug preparation generally prevents side-effects due to short-term but marked thyrotoxicosis that is aggravated by rhTSH administration. An increase in thyroid volume reduction seems to be the most important effect of rhTSH administered before (131)I
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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