1,721,212 research outputs found
Response to: 'Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and antisynthetase syndrome: Contribution of antisynthetase antibodies to improve current classification criteria' by Greco et al
Full text linkIn an effort to improve and harmonise the classification of ASSD, the CLASS (classification criteria of ASSD) project
has recently been funded by the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism. It will be interesting to see if similar results can be repeated using a large
and carefully selected cohort
Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)
No full textAntineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are specific antibodies for antigens in cytoplasmic granules of neutrophils and monocyte lysosomes, first reported in 1982. These antibodies can be detected with indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. Two major patterns of staining are present: cytoplasmic ANCA (c-ANCA) and perinuclear ANCA (p-ANCA). Specific immunochemical assays demonstrate that c-ANCA are mainly antibodies to proteinase 3, and p-ANCA are antibodies to myeloperoxidase. ANCA are important serological markers for the primary systemic small-vessel vasculitis including microscopic polyangiitis, Wegener granulomatosis, Churg Strauss syndrome, and drug induced vasculitis. Numerous reports have established the clinical utility of ANCA titers in monitoring disease activity, relapses, and response to treatment. The c-ANCA pattern is highly specific for Wegener's granulomatosis; p-ANCA is found in sera of individual patients with microscopic polyangiitis and Churg Strauss syndrome. A rapid diagnosis of ANCA small-vessel vasculitis is critically important, because life-threatening injury to organs often develops quickly and is mitigated dramatically by immunosuppressive therapy
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
Consideration of Antisynthetase Syndrome Features in Classifying Patients as Having Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy: Comment on the Article by Lundberg et al
Full text linkIn conclusion, further attempts should be made toencompass the whole spectrum of conditions associated withIIMs. These efforts should take into account the potentialassociation with ILD, which generally represents the mainprognostic factor in these patients (13), as well as the possibleassociation with joint involvement, which is not a rare findingin this settin
Novel Surrogate Markers of Cardiovascular Risk in the Setting of Autoimmune Rheumatic Diseases: Current Data and Implications for the Future
No full textPatients suffering from rheumatologic diseases are known to have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although the pathological mechanisms behind this excess risk have been increasingly better understood, there still seems to be a general lack of consensus in early detection and treatment of endothelial dysfunction and CVD risk in patients suffering from rheumatologic diseases and in particular in those who haven't yet shown symptoms of CVD. Traditional CVD prediction scores, such as Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE), Framingham, or PROCAM Score have been proposed as valid assessment tools of CVD risk in the general population. However, these risk calculators developed for the general population do not factor in the effect of the inflammatory burden, as well as other factors that can increase CVD risk in patients with rheumatic diseases, such as glucocorticoid therapy, abnormal lipoprotein function, endothelial dysfunction or accelerated atherosclerosis. Thus, their sole use could lead to underestimation of CVD risk in patients with rheumatic diseases. Therefore, there is a need for new biomarkers which will allow a valid and early assessment of CVD risk. In recent years, different research groups, including ours, have examined the value of different CVD risk factors such as carotid sonography, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, flow-mediated arterial dilation and others in the assessment of CVD risk. Moreover, various novel CVD laboratory markers have been examined in the setting of autoimmune diseases, such as Paraoxonase activity, Endocan and Osteoprotegerin. Dyslipidemia in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is for instance better quantified by lipoproteins and apolipoproteins than by cholesterol levels; screening as well as pre-emptive carotid sonography hold promise to identify patients earlier, when prophylaxis is more likely to be effective. The early detection of subtle changes indicating CVD in asymptomatic patients has been facilitated through improved imaging methods; the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) shows promising results in more recent studies. Even though the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases has been examined in multiple studies, as we continuously gain an increased understanding of this comorbidity, particularly in subclinical cases we still seem to fail in the stratification of who really is at risk—and who is not. A the time being, a multipronged and personalized approach of screening patients for traditional CVD risk factors, integrating modern imaging and further CV diagnostic tools and optimizing treatment seems to be a solid approach. There is promising research on novel biomarkers, likewise, methods using artificial intelligence in imaging provide encouraging data indicating possibilities of risk stratification that might become gold standard in the near future. The present review concentrates on showcasing the newest findings concerning CVD risk in patients with rheumatologic diseases and aims to evaluate screening methods in order to optimize CVD risk evaluation and thus avoiding underdiagnosis and undertreatment, as well as highlighting which patient groups are most at risk
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
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