1,721,272 research outputs found
Biomarkers for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Acute Heart Failure
No full textHigh mortality, morbility and hospitalization as a result of acute heart failure (AHF) represents an increasing public health dilemma. A prompt and appropriate therapeutic approach in the management of AHF has been demonstrated to be of great importance in reducing patient mortality and in-hospital length of stay. As consequence, at the moment of patient presentation, it is of great importance to make a fast and accurate diagnosis and risk stratification. Although an global clinical evaluation is mandatory, in some cases the signs and instrumental findings are not sufficient for a complete patient’s diagnosis and risk stratifications. Multiple studies demonstrated that biomarkers assessment plus clinical judgement provide additional diagnostic and prognostic value in AHF patients. Moreover, data from the literature demonstrated the utility of a multimarkers approach in patients with heart failure in order to ameliorate diagnostic and prognostic accuracy. This paper is dedicated to addressing the actual state of the art on the utility in the management of acute heart failure of the following biomarkers: natriuretic peptides, procalcitonin, MRproADM, copeptine, neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin and galectin 3
Italian RED Study Sub-Analysis: 30-Day Post-Discharge BNP Levels Predict 6-Month All-Cause Mortality and Cardiac Events
No full textIntroduction:Rehospitalization of patients after acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is a major medical problem. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels are very prognostic at discharge, but their role in the weeks after discharge have not been elucidated. Hypothesis:Our aim was to determine if BNP levels after discharge for ADHF had significant prognostic ability.
Methods: This was a 8 center Italian observational study. 287 patients with ADHF were studied with physical exams, lab tests, CXR, ECGs and BNP values at admission, 24 hours, discharge, and 30/90/180-day post-discharge. In this analysis, 104 patients were included whom were all recruited at the main study site. This population had more hypertension, coronary artery disease, and beta-blocker use in the hospital. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the ability of BNP levels at 30 days post-discharge to predict future events up to 6 months. Results: Of the 104 patients, 15 had events (all-cause mortality, re-hospiatlization, or cardiac events) within 6 months of discharge from the hospital. Logistic regression demonstrated that BNP levels 30 days post-discharge were significantly predictive of future events (OR=12.2, p=0.03)..Discharge levels were not predictive of future events. On ROC analysis, BNP values above 400 pg/mL at 30 days had the maximum area under curve at 0.780. Conclusion:
Our analysis demonstrates that 30-day BNP levels post-discharge also have significant prognostic value. Patients with BNP levels greater than 400 pg/mL 1 month after discharge should be considered high risk for hospitalization and death, and considered to optimize therapeutic and preventative strategie
The emerging role of biomarkers and bio-impedance in evaluating hydration status in patients with acute heart failure.
No full textThe quantitative and qualitative estimation of total body fl uid
content has proven to be crucial for both diagnosis and prognosis
assessment in patients with heart failure. The aim of
this review is to summarize the current techniques for assessing
body hydration status as well as the principal biomarkers
associated with acute heart failure (AHF). Although clinical
history, physical examination and classical imaging techniques
(e.g., standard radiography and echocardiography)
still represent the cornerstones, novel and promising tools,
such as biomarkers and bio-electrical impedance are achieving
an emerging role in clinical practice for the assessment
of total body fluid content. In the acute setting, the leading
advantages of these innovative methods over device are representedby the much lower invasiveness and the reasonable
costs, coupled with an easier and faster application. This article
is mainly focused on AHF patients, not only because the
overall prevalence of this disease is dramatically increasing
worldwide, but also because it is well-known that their fluid
overload has a remarkable diagnostic and prognostic significance. It is thereby conceivable that the bio-electrical vector
analysis (BIVA) coupled with laboratory biomarkers might
achieve much success in AHF patient management in the
future, especially for assisting diagnosis, risk stratifi cation,
and therapeutic decision-making
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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