1,721,130 research outputs found
Inhaled steroids in COPD: when should they be used?
No full textBecause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is defined as an inflammatory disease,1 anti-inflammatory therapy for these patients makes sense. Inhaled corticosteroids are well established anti-inflammatory drugs in asthma2 but their positioning in COPD is controversial.3 There is consensus that inhaled corticosteroids in combination with long-acting bronchodilators are indicated in patients with COPD at risk of exacerbation and in those with the asthma–COPD overlap syndrome, but never as standalone therapy
Cardiovascular mechanisms of death in severe COPD exacerbation: time to think and act beyond guidelines.
Full text linkThree important studies on acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (ECOPD)have been published in Thorax. Two of them, by Chang et al1(see page 764) and Hoiset et al2 (see page 775), show the importance of the cardiac biomarkers troponin T and NT-BNP (Nterminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide) as strong predictors of the increased risk of death of patients hospitalised because of ECOPD.1 2....
Global Initiative for the Diagnosis, Management, and Prevention of Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: The 2020 GOLD Science Committee Report on COVID-19 and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
No full textThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has raised many questions about the management of COPD patients and whether modifications of their therapy are required. It has raised questions about recognising and differentiating COVID-19 from COPD given the similarity of the symptoms. It is unclear whether COPD patients are at increased risk of becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2. During periods of high prevalence of COVID-19, spirometry should be used when essential for COPD diagnosis and/or to assess lung function status for interventional procedures or surgery. COPD patients should follow basic infection control measures including social distancing, hand washing and wearing a mask or face covering. Although data are limited, inhaled corticosteroids, long-acting bronchodilators, roflumilast, or chronic macrolides should continue to be used as indicated for stable COPD management. Systemic steroids and antibiotics should be used in COPD exacerbations according to the usual indications. Differentiating symptoms of COVID-19 infection from chronic underlying symptoms or those of an COPD exacerbation may be challenging. If there is suspicion for COVID-19, testing for SARS-CoV-2 should be considered. Patients who developed moderate to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization and pneumonia, should be treated with evolving pharmacotherapeutic approaches, as appropriate, including remdesivir, dexamethasone, and anticoagulation. Managing acute respiratory failure should include appropriate oxygen supplementation, prone positioning, noninvasive ventilation, and protective lung ventilation in patients with ARDS. Patients who develop mild COVID-19 should be followed as normal. Patients who developed moderate or worse COVID-19 should be monitored more frequently than normally with particular attention to the need for oxygen therapy
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
Spirometry: A practical lifespan predictor of global health and chronic respiratory and non-respiratory diseases
No full textObjectives: 1. To review and discuss available evidence supporting that spirometry is an overlooked global health marker, that could be used regularly through the lifespan to monitor human health and predict risk of chronic respiratory and other chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). 2. To discuss the challenges and opportunities that this proposal faces.Summary of key data. First, spirometry is essential to assess and monitor respiratory health. Second, spirometry adds prognostic value to other well-accepted health markers used in clinical practice, such as blood pressure, body mass index, glucose and blood lipids, by identifying individuals at risk, not only of respiratory diseases, but also of other NCDs, particularly cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.
Conclusion: Although we acknowledge that research gaps still exist, we propose that spirometry assessed during childhood, adolescence and early and late adulthood can be a reproducible, non-invasive, safe and affordable global health marker to identify individuals in the general population at risk of respiratory and non-respiratory NCDs. In this context, spirometry may act as the caged canaries that miners used to carry into mines to alert them of dangerous accumulations of gases, thus providing an early warning and save lives
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
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