1,720,967 research outputs found
LOW - DOSE CYCLOPHOSPHAMIDE PULSES IN SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS - A PRELIMINARY EFFICACY STUDY
No full textBackground: Cyclophosphamide (CYC) is currently used in the treatment of active interstitial lung disease in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Two recent reports suggest a role of this drug (2 mg/kg/die per os) as a disease modifying agent in early diffuse SSc.Objectives: To assess the efficacy of low-dose (500 mg) CYC pulses in SSc patients with early diffuse disease.Methods: Eight patients with SSc (all females; aged 23-51 years, median 38) with early diffuse disease (disease duration ranging from 11-27 months, median 16.5) (Le Roy et al. 1988), underwent a prospective trial with low-dose (500 mg) CYC pulses administered at days 1-8-15 and subsequently every 28 days for 6 months - 1 year. Modified Rodnan skin score (mRss) and HAQ-disability index (d.i.) were investigated as outcome measures.Results: mRss declined from 18.6 ± 5.92 to 14.37 ± 4.56 at 6 months (P< 0.005) and 11.6 ± 1.34 at 12 months (P< 005). No significant difference was detected in HAQ-d.i. (T-0 0.96 ± 0.92; T-6 months 0.78 ± 0.74; T-12 months 0.48 ± 0.56), the absence of any significance depending on differences among patients in the behaviour of HAQ-d.i. over time: it decreased in 4 patients; increased in 2 patients and remained stable in the other two.Conclusion: Low-dose CYC pulses have been recently shown to be quite safe in SSc patients in whom orally administered CYC treatment is affected by a high frequency of side effects. The present study suggests that such CYC regimen may have a role in the treatment of early diffuse SSc. Controlled studies on large series are warranted
Low-dose intravenous cyclophosphamide in systemic sclerosis: an open prospective efficacy study in patients with early diffuse disease
No full textObjective: To investigate the efficacy of a treatment with low‐dose intravenous cyclophosphamide (CYC) and low‐dose prednisone in early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc).
Methods: Patients with dcSSc and a disease duration <24 months consecutively admitted to a tertiary centre underwent a prospective 1‐year study. They were treated with i.v. CYC 500 mg/pulses, 10 mg prednisone equivalent, and supportive therapy. Modified Rodnan skin score (mRss), Health Assessment Questionnaire – Disability Index (HAQ‐DI), forced vital capacity (FVC), and diffusing lung capacity for CO (DLCO) were assessed as outcome measures. In addition, the nine Medsger severity scale scores were evaluated.
Results: mRss and DLCO significantly improved at both 6 (p = 0.002 and 0.012, respectively) and 12 months (p = 0.002 and 0.003, respectively). HAQ‐DI showed a nearly significant reduction at 12 months (p = 0.06). Medsger's severity scores also improved for general condition (p = 0.001), peripheral vascular (p = 0.05), skin (p = 0.02), joint/tendon (p = 0.001), muscle (p = 0.05), and lung (p = 0.02). No treatment interruption was needed.
Conclusions: This preliminary study suggests a role for low‐dose i.v. CYC in the treatment of early dcSSc. Controlled studies are warranted
Does Ultrasonography Guidance Increase the Yeld of Temporal Artery Biopsy in Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis? Preliminary Results From a Single-Blinded Randomized Study
No full textGoing 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
[HAQ-DI Italian version in systemic sclerosis].
No full textAbstract
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate the Italian version of HAQ-DI (Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index) in systemic sclerosis (SSc).
METHODS:
121 SSc patients, satisfying ACR criteria for the classification of this disease and consecutively admitted to a tertiary Unit, were invited to participate to the study. The Italian version of HAQ-DI, as validated in rheumatoid arthritis, was administered to each of them. The relationships between this parameter and the following disease aspects: disease subset, wide extent of skin sclerosis, joint contractures, myopathy, active digital ulcers, were investigated.
RESULTS:
HAQ-DI resulted to be 0.772+/-0.074 (mean+/-SE) Statistically significant differences in HAQ-DI scores were detected between patients with and respectively without wide extent of skin sclerosis (ie modified Rodnan skin score >14) (1.158+/-0.176 vs 0.652+/-0.076; P<0.001), joints contractures (0.839+/-0.076 vs 0.159+/-0.147; P<0.001), myopathy (1.875+/-0.184 vs 0.656+/-0.071; P<0.001), digital ulcers (1.047+/-0.135 vs 0.680+/-0.109; P=0.006).
CONCLUSIONS:
Our data support the validity of the Italian version of HAQ-DI in SSc
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
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