1,720,981 research outputs found
Long-term Results of Matrix-assisted Autologous Chondrocyte Transplantation Combined With Autologous Bone Grafting for the Treatment of Juvenile Osteochondritis Dissecans
No full textBackground: Osteochondritis dissecans is a pathology affecting
young patients that involves the entire osteochondral unit. In the
case of unfixable fragments, regenerative cartilage treatments are
a viable solution, but little is known about the use of these
procedures for the treatment of juvenile osteochondritis dissecans
(JOCD). The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term
results offered by matrix-assisted autologous chondrocyte
transplantation combined with autologous bone grafting for the
treatment of JOCD.
Methods: Nineteen patients have been enrolled. The mean age at
the time of treatment was 16.8 ± 1.5 years, with a mean body
mass index of 22.9 ±2.7. The average size of the defects was
2.8 ±1.2 cm2. All patients were evaluated prospectively before
surgery and at 12, 24, 60, and at a final follow-up of 120 months
with International Knee Documentation Committee scores, EuroQol-
Visual Analogue Scale, and the Tegner Score.
Results: A statistically significant improvement in all clinical
scores was observed from baseline evaluation to 120 months of
final follow-up. In particular, the International Knee Documentation
Committee subjective score improved from the preoperative
evaluation of 38.7± 17.3 to 74.0 ± 21.8 at 12 months
(P< 0.0005), with scores remaining stable for up to 120 months
(83.8 ±20.7), with all follow-ups showing a statistically significant
improvement compared with the basal value
(P< 0.0005). Three patients failed at 12 months, for a failure rate
of 16% at 10 years of follow-up. Lesions >3.5 cm2 obtained
worse subjective results. In addition, lesion size and female sex
were significantly associated with failures.
Conclusions: The matrix-assisted autologous chondrocyte transplantation
technique with autologous bone grafting is a valid
treatment option for JOCD in case of unfixable fragments. The
clinical improvement obtained is significant and stable, with
good results maintained for up to 10 years of follow-up and an
overall low failure rate. Lesion size and sex could influence the
clinical outcome and should be considered in the treatment
choice.
Level of Evidence: Level IV—case series
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
Scaffolds for cartilage repair of the ankle joint: The impact on surgical practice
No full textBackground: Ideal management of osteochondral lesions in the ankle joint is still theme of debate. Scaffold-based repair is emerging as a new approach for regenerative treatment. Methods: Articles published in PubMed from 2000 to January 2012 addressing cartilage scaffold-based treatment were identified, including levels I-IV evidence clinical trials with measures of functional, clinical or imaging outcome. Results: The analysis showed a progressively increasing number of articles from 2000. The number of selected papers was 19:15 focusing on two-step and 4 on one-step procedures; no randomized studies, 3 comparative studies, 11 case series and 5 case reports were identified. Conclusions: Regenerative surgical approach with scaffold-based procedures is emerging as a potential therapeutic option for the treatment of chondral lesions of the ankle. One step treatments simplify the procedure and the results reported are very close to the previous techniques. However, well-designed studies are lacking, and randomized long-term trials are necessary to confirm the potential of these techniques. Level of evidence: Review - IV
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
Study and analysis on the student response system adoption: experimentation in a programming course
No full textUnderstanding the impact of different types of questions on learning is still an open problem in the literature. Many tools allow teachers to ask different kinds of questions, such as closed (multiple-choice, true/false, associations, etc.) and open (tag clouds, short notes). Our work aims to compare the effect of open and closed questions on student learning. To analyse the differences in learning results between the two types of question approaches, we carried an experiment in a Programming course (Programming 1 - Italian academic course in a Bachelor of Computer Science degree), dividing the students into two groups. During the first half of the course, we asked multiple-choice questions to the students in the first group, whereas we used an open-ended approach for the students of the second one. In the second part of the course, we inverted the modalities.
For this work, carried out in the 2018/19 academic year, we used Mentimeter as Student Response System (SRS). We believe that identifying the right balance between explanation and verification and understanding the effects of the different evaluation types represent a significant contribution to the debate on formative evaluation in complex contexts. This contribution could be helpful in university classrooms where the high number of students does not allow easy interaction. Thanks to the data analysis and relative charts presented in this work, the authors share the learned lesson and offer several discussion points raising new questions that have to be addressed yet
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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