1,720,971 research outputs found
Quality of life as measured by the short-form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire in patients with early systemic sclerosis and undifferentiated connective tissue disease.
No full textOBJECTIVE:
To investigate health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients affected by early systemic sclerosis (eSSc) and to compare it with that of patients with undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD).
METHODS:
At baseline, 31 eSSc and 35 UCTD patients underwent clinical evaluation, laboratory investigations, nailfold videocapillaroscopy, echocardiography, and lung function tests. All patients and 40 controls, matched for sex and age completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36) questionnaire and the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI).
RESULTS:
SF-36 scores were significantly lower in eSSc and UCTD patients than in healthy controls as regards the following domains: physical component score (PCS), mental component score (MCS), physical functioning, role-physical, bodily pain, general health and mental health. PCS was negatively correlated to the HAQ-DI (rho -0.59; p=0.0004) and ESR >20 mm/h (rho -0.58; p=0.0006) in eSSc patients. No statistically significant correlation was found between PCS, MCS and HAQ-DI in UCTD patients. Age, sex, disease duration, history of arthritis, low levels of either C3 or C4, a low DLCO (carbon monoxide lung diffusion) and inversion of the E/A ratio were not correlated to PCS and MCS in either eSSc or UCTD patients.
CONCLUSION:
Many eSSc or UCTD patients perceive they have an impaired quality of life in both physical and mental domains. This condition has to be taken into account by the clinicians involved in the care of these patients
Malattia esofagea nella Sclerosi Sistemica: opzioni terapeutiche medico-endoscopico-chirurgiche.
No full textSUMMARY
Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is a disease of the connective tissue involving
a large number of organs. Gastrointestinal tract can be
involved in a more than 90% of cases. Esophageal lesions are
present in 85-90%. Anatomically they consist in a progressive
fibrosis and atrophy of the muscolaris propria. Motor disorders
due to such lesions, very frequently cause a gastroesophageal
reflux disease. Often patients with SSc suffer from severe GER
and have an higher incidence of complication as peptic structures
or Barrett Esophagus. Usually BE patients undergo antireflux
surgery which provides a very strong protection against
the reflux. But antireflux operation, especially the Nissen fundoplication
can produce a postoperative dysphagia that can make
the quality of life of the patients with SSc worse. For this reason,
Authors believe that SSc patients with GERD complicated
by BE could be the best candidate for an ablative treatment by
Radiofrequency associated with a long lasting therapy with PPI.
In fact, Radiofrequency, recently proposed, seems to be effective
in order to obtain the complete ablation of the metaplastic epithelium
and to prevent the development of the adenocarcinomaSOMMARIO
La Sclerosi Sistemica (SSc) è una malattia generalizzata del tessuto
connettivo che interessa un notevole numero di organi. L’apparato
gastroenterico è coinvolto in oltre il 90% dei casi; lesioni
esofagee sono presenti nell’85-90%. Sul piano anatomico, tali
lesioni consistono in una progressiva fibrosi fino all’atrofia della
tonaca muscolare. Sul piano funzionale si determinano alterazioni
motorie che causano molto frequentemente una malattia
da reflusso gastroesofageo. Spesso nei pazienti con sclerosi
sistemica il reflusso è molto grave e quindi più elevato il numero
di complicanze come stenosi esofagee ed esofago di Barrett. Come
è noto, nei pazienti con esofago di Barrett è normalmente indicata
la chirurgia antireflusso per garantire una migliore protezione.
Gli interventi per il trattamento del reflusso, in particolare
la Nissen, possono comportare però, una disfagia post-operatoria
che può compromettere ulteriormente la qualità di vita
dei pazienti sclerodermici. Gli Autori pertanto ritengono che i
pazienti affetti da Sclerosi Sistemica ed esofago di Barret siano
i più indicati per un trattamento di ablazione dell’epitelio metaplastico
mediante radiofrequenza, associato ovviamente a terapia
di lunga durata con PPI. L’ablazione con radiofrequenze,
di recente introduzione, sembra in grado di poter trattare in maniera
completa la metaplasia, prevenendo l’evoluzione in senso
neoplastico della malattia
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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