1,721,048 research outputs found
Profiling Inflammatory Extracellular Vesicles in Plasma and Cerebrospinal Fluid: An Optimized Diagnostic Model for Parkinson's Disease
Full text linkExtracellular vesicles (EVs) play a central role in intercellular communication, which is relevant for inflammatory and immune processes implicated in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's Disease (PD). We characterized and compared distinctive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-derived EVs in PD and atypical parkinsonisms (AP), aiming to integrate a diagnostic model based on immune profiling of plasma-derived EVs via artificial intelligence. Plasma- and CSF-derived EVs were isolated from patients with PD, multiple system atrophy (MSA), AP with tauopathies (AP-Tau), and healthy controls. Expression levels of 37 EV surface markers were measured by a flow cytometric bead-based platform and a diagnostic model based on expression of EV surface markers was built by supervised learning algorithms. The PD group showed higher amount of CSF-derived EVs than other groups. Among the 17 EV surface markers differentially expressed in plasma, eight were expressed also in CSF of a subgroup of PD, 10 in MSA, and 6 in AP-Tau. A two-level random forest model was built using EV markers co-expressed in plasma and CSF. The model discriminated PD from non-PD patients with high sensitivity (96.6%) and accuracy (92.6%). EV surface marker characterization bolsters the relevance of inflammation in PD and it underscores the role of EVs as pathways/biomarkers for protein aggregation-related neurodegenerative diseases
Evolution of computed tomography-detectable adrenal nodules in patients with bilateral primary aldosteronism
Full text linkIdiopathic hyperaldosteronism due to bilateral autonomous production of aldosterone is the most common subtype of primary hyperaldosteronism and is diagnosed by adrenal venous sampling. The aim of our study was to assess the over time evolution of computed tomography (CT)-detectable adrenal nodule(s) in patients with idiopathic hyperaldosteronism. Thirty-two patients (23 males and 9 females; age 50±9 years) diagnosed as bilateral PA and having nodular adrenal lesions (median diameter 12 mm, range 8 to 28 mm; 28 unilateral and 4 bilateral), were studied. Adrenal was described as nodular when unilateral or bilateral nodule(s) of at least 8 mm in diameter were detected using CT with contrast and fine cuts. The diagnosis of a benign adrenal nodule rested on the following CT criteria: size <4 cm, regular shape with well-defined margins, homogeneous and hypodense content. All patients had CT imaging re-evaluated 3 to 6 years (median 45 months) after diagnosis. A unilateral nodular lesion enlargement ≥25% was detected in 2 cases; a slight increase (<25%) or no variations or a decrease of nodule size occurred in the remaining 30 cases. No patients showed appearance of radiological picture of malignancy or new masses in the ipsilateral/contralateral glands. At follow-up all patients reported compliance to medications, and 29/32 patients had a persistent clinical/biochemical control of the disease. Three patients showed hypertension resistant to a combination of four different antihypertensive drugs. Over time CT variations of adrenal nodules are uncommon and without apparent signs of malignancy in patients with AVS-confirmed bilateral PA. A diagnosti
Pharmacological Treatment of Arterial Hypertension in Children and Adolescents: A Network Meta-Analysis
No full textPharmacological treatment is indicated in children and adolescents with hypertension unresponsive to lifestyle modifications, but there is not enough evidence to recommend 1 class of antihypertensive drugs over others. We performed a network meta-analysis to compare the results of available randomized clinical trials on pharmacological treatment of pediatric hypertension. From a total of 554 potentially relevant studies, 13 randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials enrolling ≥50 patients and a follow-up ≥4 weeks were included. The reduction of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) after treatment were the coprimary end points. A total of 2378 pediatric patients, with a median age of 12 years, were included in the analysis. After a median follow-up of 35 days, lisinopril and enalapril were found to be superior to placebo in reducing SBP and DBP, whereas only for DBP, losartan was found to be superior to placebo and lisinopril and enalapril were found to be superior to eplerenone. Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers were associated with a greater SBP and DBP reduction compared with placebo, likewise the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist was inferior to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in DBP reduction. The analysis was adjusted for study-level mean age, percentage of women, mean baseline blood pressure, and mean weight, only the latter significantly affected DBP reduction. According to the present analysis, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers could represent the best choice as antihypertensive treatment for pediatric hypertension. However, because of the paucity of available data for the other classes of antihypertensive drugs, definitive conclusions are not allowed and further randomized controlled trials are warranted
Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring-Derived Short-Term Blood Pressure Variability in Primary Aldosteronism
Full text linkThe aim of this study was to investigate the short-term blood pressure (BP) variability (BPV) derived from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA), either idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA) or aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), in comparison with patients with essential hypertension (EH) and normotensive (NT) controls. Thirty patients with PA (16 with IHA and 14 with APA), 30 patients with EH, and 30 NT controls, matched for sex, age, body mass index, and antihypertensive therapy, were studied. The standard deviation (SD) of 24-hour, daytime, and nighttime BP; 24-hour weighted SD of BP; and 24-hour BP average real variability were not different between patients with PA and those with EH (P=not significant). All BPV indices were higher in patients with PA, either IHA or APA subtypes, and patients with EH, compared with NT controls (P<.001 to P<.05). ABPM-derived short-term BPV is increased in patients with PA, and it may represent an additional cardiovascular risk factor in this disease. The role of aldosterone excess in BPV has to be clarified
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
De novo DNA methylation induced by circulating extracellular vesicles from acute coronary syndrome patients
Full text linkA dynamic clamping approach using in silico IK1 current for discrimination of chamber-specific hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes
Full text linkAppropriate 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
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