1,721,018 research outputs found
Efficacy and safety of a fixed combination of intramuscular diclofenac 75 mg + thiocolchicoside 4 mg in the treatment of acute low back pain. A phase III, randomized, double blind, controlled trial
No full textBackground: The management of acute low back pain (LBP) is directed to obtain early and maximum relief of the local and regional pain, and to improve mobility and physical function. Aim: To evaluate the effects of a 4 mL-volume diclofenac 75mg/thiocolchicoside 4mg fixed dose combination (FDC) for intramuscular (IM) injection (test) compared to the separate injection of the two components (reference). Design: Phase III, randomized, controlled, double-blind (blind-observer), parallel-group. Setting: Twenty-two General Practitioners in Italy. Population: Adult outpatients with acute moderate-severe LBP at rest (≥50 mm at VAS) and stable muscle contracture (increase <5 cm in the distance between the two fingers of the examiner in the Schober test). Methods: Eligible patients were randomized to the test (N.=111) or reference (N.=112) treatment, both given IM once daily for 5 days. The primary efficacy endpoint of the study was the change from baseline in pain VAS score (0-100 mm) measured at rest 96±2 hours (day 5) from the start of treatment, one hour after the last injection. Results: Pain VAS Score markedly improved in both groups and the test was non-inferior to the reference in primary endpoint, i.e. the upper bound of the 95% confidence interval of the adjusted difference was lower than the pre-specified limit of 4 mm. There were no statistically significant differences between groups for improvements of pain measured at all time points before and one hour after injection, time to resolution of pain, improvements from baseline of muscle contracture, and time to first resolution of muscle contracture. Approximately 20% of patients in the two groups used rescue paracetamol for pain relief. Both the test and the reference treatment were well tolerated in terms of adverse effects, laboratory parameters and vital signs. Conclusions: A 5-day treatment with IM diclofenac+thiocolchicoside FDC in a 4-mL volume was as effective and well tolerated as the separate injection of the two components in improving pain symptoms in patients with acute moderate-severe LBP. Clinical Rehabilitation Impact: The new diclofenac+thiocolchicoside FDC formulation may allow treating effectively acute LBP while reducing the number of injections and hence the risk of local adverse reactions, and improving the patient's compliance
Histone deacetylases in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: a role in the mechanism of disease and a target for inhibition
Full text linkAberrant activity of histone deacetylases (HDACs) is a pathological phenomenon in several diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In DMD, the upregulation of HDACs is driven by the disassembly of the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DAPC), which, under normal physiological conditions, provides mechanical stability to muscle fibres and acts as a signalling hub anchoring signalling proteins and molecules to their functional sites. In dystrophic muscle, DAPC disassembly causes delocalisation of signalling proteins and, therefore, disrupts signalling pathways. Displacement of epigenetic signalling molecules leads to the uncontrolled activity of HDACs and excessive removal of acetyl groups from histone proteins. Consequently, chromatin becomes tightly bound, preventing the expression of genes involved in muscle homeostasis. The pathological consequences of increased HDAC activity extend beyond muscle fibres, affecting several cell types, translating into a chronically activated immune system, promoting fibrotic and adipose tissue formation and impairing muscle regeneration. Here, we review the current evidence implicating HDACs as a key driver in DMD disease development and progression. We describe the mechanism of HDAC overactivity and the downstream consequences that contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease by disrupting muscle repair and regeneration. Finally, we highlight HDACs as targets for inhibition, offering a novel therapeutic strategy to counteract the multiple pathological events in DMD
Sex differences in cerebral palsy on neuromotor outcome: a critical review
No full textSex differences have been reported in children with cerebral palsy (CP), with males having a higher risk of developing CP, but it is not entirely clear whether sex may also affect the severity of motor impairment. The aim of the present study was to critically review the existing literature on sex influence on neuromotor outcome in children with CP. The published papers confirm that CP occurs more frequently in males than in females. Within different types of CP or individual level of impairment, however, there was limited evidence that sex also had an effect on their performance
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
Early assessment of visual function in preterm infants: how early is early?
No full textBACKGROUND: Several studies reported on various aspects of visual function at
term age and in the first months after birth but less has been reported in
preterm infants before they reach termequivalent age.
AIMS: To assess the suitability of a battery of tests of visual function for use
in infants born at <33weeks gestation (GA) and assessed before 34weeks
post-menstrual age (PMA); to evaluate the distribution of the findings according
to GA, and to compare the data with those previously published on preterm infants
assessed at 35weeks PMA.
STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SUBJECTS: Sixty-four preterm infants with a GA <33weeks were studied.
OUTCOME MEASURES: We used a battery of visual function tests previously validated
at 35 and 40weeks PMA in low-risk preterm infants. All the infants in this
current study underwent the same assessment before 34weeks PMA.
RESULTS: Before 31weeks PMA most infants could not be reliably assessed because
of clinical instability, whilst after 31weeks PMA most infants could be assessed
and they showed progressive maturation in their responses with PMA. Some items
(spontaneous ocular motility, horizontal tracking, tracking a coloured stimulus,
and ocular fixation) showed similar results at 32-33weeks PMA to those found in
low-risk preterm at 35weeks PMA. Ocular movements to a target and arc tracking
were the items with the most immature responses.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide further evidence that a structured assessment of
visual function can be used in clinical routine and for research purposes in
infants as young as 31weeks PMA
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