1,720,992 research outputs found
CORPUS: Novel COmplete Reconstruction of the Posterior Urethral Support After Robotic Radical Prostatectomy: Preliminary Data of Very Early Continence Recovery
No full textIntroduction To determine whether a novel intraoperative technique of COmplete Reconstruction of the Posterior Urethral Support (CORPUS) improves early urinary continence after robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). In this prospective study, between November 2012 and June 2013, 36 consecutive patients suitable for non-nerve-sparing RARP were alternatively assigned to either CORPUS surgery or Rocco's standard reconstruction. Technical Considerations In the CORPUS group, fibers of the bilateral portions of the puborectalis muscle were used to create a sort of posterior hammock for the urethra. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire, Short Form Questionnaire (ICIQ-SF) and International Prostate Symptom Score were collected for all patients preoperatively and then ICIQ-SF at 1 day and both tests at 30 days after catheter removal after RARP. Intraoperative and/or postoperative complications were evaluated. Pearson chi-square test compared urinary continence according to ICIQ-SF at 1 and 30 days. Statistical significance was set at P <.05. Conclusion Fifty percent of CORPUS patients were continent immediately after catheter removal and 83% after 30 days. In controls, the respective percentages were 16% and 61%. The differences were statistically significant in both cases. The International Prostate Symptom Score at 30 days did not show obstructive symptoms in either group. One limitation of this study is the low number of cases, "superselected" to evaluate the true effect of CORPUS reconstruction. The very early continence rate of the CORPUS patients was significantly improved compared with that of patients undergoing Rocco's standard technique. Further studies extending the inclusion criteria are needed to confirm the impact of the new CORPUS technique in a more heterogeneous group
Effect of Hypertension on Outcomes of High-Risk Patients After BCG-Treated Bladder Cancer
Full text linkImmunotherapy with Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) is the most efficacious treatment for high-risk bladder cancer (BC) (Ta/T1 or carcinoma in situ) to reduce the risk of recurrence. Our aim was to evaluate whether hypertension and diabetes influence the outcome of patients with noninvasive BC treated with BCG instillations.
In order to collect homogeneous data, we considered as "hypertensive" only those patients who had previous diagnosed hypertension and a history of taking medical therapy with antihypertensive drugs (AHT), and as "diabetic" only those prescribed oral antidiabetics or insulin (ADT).
We analyzed 343 high-risk BC patients undergoing BCG 1995 2010) with a median follow-up of 116 months (range 48-238). The distribution of various kinds of AHT and antidiabetic drugs was homogeneous, with no significant differences (p > 0.05).
In both univariate and multivariate analyses, the only statistically significant parameter propostic for recurrence after BCG treatment was AHT. Recurrence-liee survival curves showed a significant correlation with AHT (p = 0.0168, hazards ratio [HR] 1.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0692-1.9619); there was no correlation ( p = 0.9040) with ADT (HR 0.9750, 95% CI 0.6457-1.4721). After stratification of AHT and A.DT according to drug(s) prescribed, there were no significant differences in the BC recurrence rate (p > 0.05).
In this study with a very long-term follow-up, hypertension alone (evaluated by AHT) revealed the increased risk of BC recurrence after BCG treatment.
Several hypotheses have been formulated to support these findings, but further prospective studies are needed to both evaluate the real influence of hypertension and identify a possible prognostic factor to be used in selecting poor-prognosis BC patients as early candidates for surgical treatment
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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