1,720,965 research outputs found
Impact of the birth's season on the development of celiac disease in Italy
No full textCeliac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated systemic disorder induced by a trigger factor in genetically susceptible individuals. There is emerging evidence about the impact of the month of birth on the development of several autoimmune diseases. Our aim was to investigate whether, in Italian CD children, the season of birth is associated with development of CD later in life. We report a survey conducted at two Italian referral centers for CD in Rome and Bari. The CD database was created to enable retrospective examination of the data of all the consecutive patients, born between 2003 and 2010, who had received a diagnosis of CD. This CD patient group comprising 596 children was compared with a reference group that included all subjects born in the same period and in the same cities (439,990 controls). Overall, there was a summer birth preponderance in CD patients compared to controls (28.2 % of CD patients vs 23.0 % of the control population; OR 1.315; 95 % CI 1.100 to 1.572). Stratifying the caseload by gender and age, the summer birth preponderance was maintained for females (28.6 % CD females vs 22.6 % control females; OR 1.368; 95 % CI 1.069 to 1.750)
The overweight: A rare presentation of celiac disease
No full textWe describe the nutritional status of a cohort of celiac disease (CD) children at presentation and during follow-up on gluten-free diet (GFD). Two Italian centers (Rome and Bari) prospectively enrolled 445 biopsy-confirmed CD children, diagnosed between 2009 and 2013. Body Mass Index was used as a measure of nutritional status according to Italian growth charts of Cacciari. The overweight/obese subject was 7.8% at onset and did not significantly increase during follow-up (9.8% at final assessment). The prevalence of overweight/obesity was significantly higher among males than females. Furthermore, overweight/obesity children as compared with those with normal weight were significantly older and had significantly lower levels of tTG antibodies. This study shows that some CD children are obese/overweight at diagnosis; therefore, overweight/obesity can be considered a rare but a possible mode of CD presentation. Thus, CD diagnosis must be considered even in overweight/obese children where this diagnosis can be easily missed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Pyridostigmine improves feeding tolerance in pediatric intestinal pseudo‐obstruction: A single‐center analysis
No full textObjectives: Primary and secondary forms of pediatric intestinal pseudo-obstruction (PIPO) are severe intestinal dysmotility disorders with a high risk of mortality and poor quality of life. Nutritional supports and current management have improved in part the prognosis, although several unmet needs challenge physicians. Prokinetic drugs may facilitate enteral nutrition (EN)/oral feeding (OF) and decrease parenteral nutrition (PN). Pyridostigmine has been effectively used in adults with severe gut dysmotility; however, experience in PIPO patients is still limited. Methods: Patients intolerant to EN/OF in the previous 6 months were treated with pyridostigmine. We studied nutritional outcomes (caloric intake by EN/OF and PN as well as growth) at the beginning and after 6 and 12 months of pyridostigmine. Also, we collected clinical outcomes 12 months before and after pyridostigmine treatment. Results: A total of 10 patients were included in the data analysis. Pyridostigmine (0.44-3.4 mg/Kg/day) resulted in a significant increase in EN tolerance: median caloric intake by EN/OF was >25% at 12 months (p = 0.0156). In two patients, we achieved complete weaning from PN. In all patients, there was an amelioration of growth (increase in median weight z-score from -1.3 to -0.9) and a reduction in the number of hospitalizations and central line-associated bloodstream infections in the year following pyridostigmine treatment. Only one patient developed pyridostigmine-related bradycardia. Conclusions: This study showed that pyridostigmine supported the nutritional management by improving EN/OF tolerance and reducing PN dependence. Our data provide a basis for future, ad hoc designed clinical trials testing pyridostigmine in PIPO
Novel insect-based child nutrition: the position of the nutritional committee of the Italian society of pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition (SIGENP)
No full textBackgroundThe European Union (EU) approved the placement on European market of insect-based novel foods. Those foods were defined safe for the consumption for all European population, including children.Main bodyThe nutrition committee of the Italian society of Paediatric Hepatology and Nutrition (SIGENP) performed literature research to understand benefits and risk of those use of those NF for Italian children. A special attention was reserved to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) reports upon which those novel insect-based were approved.ConclusionsBased on the current knowledge, despite a possible ecological advantage, the group of expert suggests additional researches before pronouncing on a possible use for children diet, because of insufficient evidence on nutritional benefits and possible food allergies
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