1,720,977 research outputs found
A new case of idiopathic recurrent acute pericarditis due to R104Q mutation in TNFRSF1A successfully treated with anakinra: expanding the questions
Full text linkA new case of idiopathic recurrent acute pericarditis due to R104Q mutation in TNFRSF1A successfully treated with anakinra: expanding the questions
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Idiopathic recurrent pericarditis treated successfully with tumour necrosis factor alpha blocking agents (anti-TNF-α)
Pulmonary hemorrhage: not only vasculitis
No full textA 54-year-old man was admitted to our Unit for evaluation of a 4-week history of worsening dyspnea, mild productive cough, fatigue and chest pain. He also reported some episodes of haemoptysis in the prior month. The patient was affected by congenital bicuspid aortic valve disease associated with aortic root aneurysm, mild-severe aortic regurgitation and arterial hypertension. He was an active smoker (around fifteen cigarettes/day). Home therapy was ramipril and acetylsalicylic acid (voluntarily discontinued 2 weeks before admission). The physical examination revealed tachypnea, peripheral cyanosis, hypotension, and fever. He also reported severe fatigue. Arterial blood gas analysis showed hypocapnic respiratory failure. Electrocardiography signs of sinus tachycardia and incomplete right branch block were also present. Laboratory data showed a mild normocytic normochromic anemia (Hb 10.6 g/dl, MCV 92.1 fL, MCH 29.9 pg), leukocytosis (13.7 × 109/L) with neutrophilia (12.11 × 109/L), an increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (83 mm/h) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (40 mg/L), and mild acute renal failure (GFR 53 ml/min). Oxygen (2 L/min), i.v. hydration and empiric antimicrobial therapy were promptly administered. A preliminary thoracic computerised tomography (CT scan) was performed, and pulmonary embolism or neoplasms were ruled out. However, it did show apical peripheral bullous pulmonary emphysema with sparing of the medullary or central portion of the lungs, hilar lymphadenopathies, and multiple bilateral heterogeneous parenchymal opacities, with a ground-glass appearance, some of them with interlobular septal thickening and air bronchograms (Fig. 1). The Ziehl-Neelsen test on sputum was negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Serological tests for atypical pathogens, and both Legionella pneumophila and Streptoccocus pneumoniae urinary antigens were also negative. The patient did not have any previous history of COPD. At this point, a fibre optic bronchoscopy was performed, demonstrating significant tracheal and bronchial bleeding in the absence of proliferative or traumatic lesions. A bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected and tested for microbiology, cytology and lymphocyte immunophenotyping analysis. No evidence of infectious disease was detected in BALF, and the search for pandemic influenza virus H1N1 was negative. Only a few copies of HSV1 DNA were detected, probably due to oral contamination
Depression, Anxiety and Sleep Alterations in Caregivers of Persons With Dementia After 1-Year of COVID-19 Pandemic
Full text linkBackground: Social isolation due to COVID-19 pandemic has an important psychological impact particularly in persons with dementia and their informal caregivers. Aim: To assess frequency and severity of long-term stress-related symptoms in caregivers of patients with dementia 1-year after the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic and to identify predictors of psychological outcomes. Methods: Eighty-five caregivers were involved in a longitudinal study with 1-year follow-up during pandemic in Italy. At baseline in April 2020 a telephone interview assessed socio-demographic characteristics of caregivers and self-perception of distress symptoms. After 1 year, between March and April 2021, the same standardized interview was delivered to the caregivers' sample. In addition, scales assessing levels of depression and anxiety (DASS-21), sleep disturbances (PSQI) and coping strategies (COPE-NVI) were administered to the caregivers and to 50 age and sex-matched non-caregivers subjects. Linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the power of baseline variables to predict long-term psychological outcomes. Results: After 1 year of pandemic frequency of caregivers' stress-related symptoms increased respect to baseline: depression (60 vs. 5, 9%; p < 0.001), anxiety (45, 9 vs. 29, 4%; p = 0.035), irritability (49, 4 vs. 24, 7%; p < 0.001), and anguish (31, 7 vs. 10, 6%; p < 0.001). Frequency of severe depression was higher in caregivers than in non-caregivers (p = 0.002) although mean levels of depression were comparable in the two groups. Long-term higher depression was predicted by a model built on baseline information (r2 = 0.53, p < 0.001) where being female (t = −3.61, p < 0.001), having lower education (t = −2.15, p = 0.04), presence of feelings of overwhelm (t = 2.29, p = 0.02) and isolation (t = 2.12, p = 0.04) were significant predictors. Female sex was also predictive of anxiety (t = −2.7, p = 0.01) and poor sleep quality (t = −2.17, p = 0.03). Discussion: At 1 year follow-up caregivers of patients with dementia reported higher prevalence of all stress-related symptoms respect to the acute phase of lockdown, particularly depression. Long-lasting stressful conditions may cause exhaustion of resilience factors and increased depression. Planning interventions should support caregivers to enable them to continue with their role during pandemic
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
Helicobacter pylori: Usefulness of an empirical fourth-line rifabutin-based regimen
No full textEvaluation of: Gisbert JP, Castro-Fernandez M, Perez-Aisa A et al. Fourth-line rescue therapy with rifabutin in patients with three Helicobacter pylori eradication failures. Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 35(8), 941-947 (2012). Helicobacter pylori represents the major cause of gastric cancer, gastric lymphoma and peptic ulcer diseases. In some cases, the infection persists even after three rounds of treatment. The evaluated article reports on the efficacy of an empirical multicenter, prospective fourth-line rescue study with rifabutin in patients with three consecutive eradication failures. A total of 100 patients (31% peptic ulcer and 69% functional dyspepsia) were included to receive a fourth-line with rifabutin (150mg twice daily [b.i.d.]), amoxicillin (1g b.i.d.) and a proton-pump inhibitor (standard dose b.i.d.) for 10 days. The end point was H. pylori eradication, determined by 13C-urea breath test 4-8 weeks after therapy. H. pylori eradication was achieved in approximately 50% of patients. Adverse events (mainly metallic taste, nausea and diarrhea) were reported in 30 patients. Thus, a fourth-line rifabutin-based rescue therapy constitutes a valid strategy after multiple previous H. pylori eradication failures with key antibiotics, such as clarithromycin, metronidazole, tetracycline and levofloxacin. © 2012 Expert Reviews Ltd
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
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