353 research outputs found
An unusual spontaneous recanalization by multiple palmar arteriovenous connections of a chronically occluded radiocephalic hemodialysis fistula
No full textPreservation of a vascular access is crucial in the management of hemodialysis patients. In this regard, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is an effective tool if performed after an adequate understanding of preliminary fistulograms. The present case showed a chronic dysfunction of a radial-cephalic arteriovenous fistula (AVF) due to arterial occlusion and partially relieved by the spontaneous development of multiple small arteriovenous connections in the palmar region of the hand. This dense network had been so far able to ensure a sufficient retrograde blood flow for an effective hemodialytic performance. The angioplasty of the post-anastomotic stenotic segment of the radial artery was effective in restoring this neoformed AVF patency
An unusual spontaneous recanalization by multiple palmar arteriovenous connections of a chronically occluded radiocephalic hemodialysis fistula
No full textPreservation of a vascular access is crucial in the management of hemodialysis patients. In this regard, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is an effective tool if performed after an adequate understanding of preliminary fistulograms. The present case showed a chronic dysfunction of a radial-cephalic arteriovenous fistula (AVF) due to arterial occlusion and partially relieved by the spontaneous development of multiple small arteriovenous connections in the palmar region of the hand. This dense network had been so far able to ensure a sufficient retrograde blood flow for an effective hemodialytic performance. The angioplasty of the post-anastomotic stenotic segment of the radial artery was effective in restoring this neoformed AVF patency
Locally advanced rectal cancer: T2w-MRI-based radiomics may detect responder patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy
No full textPurpose or Learning Objective
To investigate whether in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) treated with neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT), radiomics on T2 weighted (T2w) MRI sequences can discriminate responder (R) and non-responder (NR) patients based on the Tumour Regression Grade (TRG) assigned after surgical
resection
Methods or Background
This study retrospectively enrols 40 patients undergoing pre-therapy 1.5T-MRI. Regions of Interest (ROIs) are manually outlined in all slices of the tumour’s site on T2w sequences in the oblique-axial plane, acquired with 3 mm slice thickness. Based on TRG, R patients have complete and partial nCRT response (TRG=[0,1], n°15) while NR patients have a minimal and poor nCRT response (TRG=[2,3], n°25). Eighty-four local first-order radiomic features (RFs) are extracted from tumour ROIs. To prevent overfitting, only single RFs are investigated to discriminate Rs and NRs. The most performing feature is selected through a univariate analysis guided by one-tail Wilcoxon rank-sum test (p=0.05 significance level). To assess the feature discrimination capability, ROC curve analysis is performed, through AUC computation, Youden Index (YI) for sensitivity and specificity.
Results or Findings
One RF measuring the local heterogeneity of T2w values within tumour ROIs discriminates Rs and NRs with p~10-5, AUC=0.90 (95%CI, 0.73-0.96), with YI=0.68 corresponding to sensitivity=80% and specificity=88%. The separation achieved highlights 3 false positives and 3 false negatives.
Conclusion
Pre-therapy baseline tumour heterogeneity measured from T2w-MR images has a very promising role in predicting the TRG histological classification. Patients with lower tumour heterogeneity at pre-therapy show a better response to nCRT.
Limitations
This study involves a small number of patients. However, one-only feature is considered and such a strong discrimination stresses the future role of the feature in a classification study
Adriana Lunardi's time and turn: feminine writing and biographeme
No full textThe purpose of this work, “Adriana Lunardi's time and turn: feminine writing and biographeme” is to analyze some narratives contained in Adriana Lunardi's Vésperas, published in 2002, and to make evident the relation of the fictional work with the concept of biographeme, formulated by Roland Barthes, and the intertextuality, that the author uses to build her stories. Biographies are residual traces of a person's life, interpreted by the
reader or the biographer. We seek to analyze the composition of the narratives and the effects of this form of organization, revealing the way Adriana Lunardi fictionalizes women writers from these biographies and the contexts that relate to them or give an account of the lives of fictionalized authors. Then, we present the construction of the writer characters that had real existence, which the writer fictionalizes, creating for herself a
literary canon of her own, which reflects her condition as a writer in Brazil. At this juncture, it was possible to understand the stories of the characters, and through the considerations observed in the narratives we chose to analyze and discuss the proposal with the intention of verifying the effect of the meanings present in the narrative process erected from fragments of lives, that is, of biographemes.Tese (Doutorado)A proposta deste trabalho, “A hora e a vez de Adriana Lunardi: escrita feminina e biografema” é analisar algumas narrativas contidas em Vésperas, de Adriana Lunardi, publicado em 2002, e tornar evidente a relação da obra ficcional com o conceito de biografema, formulado por Roland Barthes e a intertextualidade que a autora utiliza para construir seus contos. Os biografemas são traços residuais da vida de uma pessoa,
interpretados pelo leitor ou pelo biógrafo. Buscamos analisar a composição das narrativas e os efeitos dessa forma de organização, revelando o modo como Adriana Lunardi ficcionaliza as mulheres escritoras a partir desses biografemas e os intertextos que se relacionam a eles ou dão conta das vidas das autoras ficcionalizadas. Então, apresentamos a construção das personagens escritoras que tiveram existência real, as quais a escritora ficcionaliza, criando para si um cânone literário próprio, o que reflete sua condição de escritora no Brasil. Nessa conjuntura, foi possível perceber as histórias das personagens, e por meio das considerações observadas nas narrativas escolhemos analisar e discutir a proposta com a intenção de constatar o efeito das significações presentes no processo narrativo erigido a partir de fragmentos de vidas, ou seja, de biografemas
Writing Psychology at University
No full textCoordination: Virgínia Castillo, Enric Serra (UAB); Author, Guide in Catalan: Joel Feliu (with Maria Verdaguer, Eva Penelo i Adriana Gil-Juárez); Adaptation to English: Emma Hitchen; Revision of English: Pere Drou MorilloPublishing date: December 2021Second edition (adapted to accessibility criteria): February 2023User guide to written communication in academic disciplines (in this case Psychology) for teachers and studentsGuia que ajuda els destinataris (professorat i alumnat) a comunicar-se, sobretot per escrit, en la seva disciplina acadèmica; Psicologia en aquest casAquest projecte ha rebut un ajut Interlingua de la Generalitat de Cataluny
Uterine Artery Embolization for the Treatment of Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids of Different Sizes: A Single Center Experience
No full textThe present study aimed to evaluate the clinical and radiological 1-year outcomes of uterine artery embolization (UAE) performed in a selected population of women with symptomatic myomas and who do not wish to conceive. Between January 2004 and January 2018, a total of 62 patients with pre-menopausal status and with no wish to conceive in the future underwent UAE for the treatment of symptomatic fibroids. All the patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or transvaginal ultrasonography (TV-US) before and after the procedure at 1-year follow-up. Clinical and radiological parameters were recorded, stratifying the population into 3 groups according to the size of the dominant myoma (group 1: 80 mm). Mean fibroid diameter was significantly reduced (42.6% & PLUSMN; 21.6%) at 1-year follow-up, with excellent improvements in terms of both symptoms and quality of life. No significant difference was observed regarding baseline dimension and the number of myomas. No major complications were reported (2.5%). The present study confirms the safety and efficacy of UAE in the treatment of symptomatic fibroids in pre-menopausal women with no desire to conceive
The prominent role of percutaneous transarterial embolization in the treatment of anterior abdominal wall hematomas: the results of three high volume tertiary referral centers
No full textPurposePercutaneous transarterial embolization (PTE) represents a fast, safe and effective option for life-threatening anterior abdominal wall hematomas (AWHs) and those unresponsive to conservative treatment. Our study aims to assess cumulative results of safety, technical and clinical success of PTE performed in three high-volume tertiary referral centers and to evaluate the efficacy of the different embolic materials employed.Materials and methodsA consecutive series of 124 patients (72.8 & PLUSMN; 14.4 years) with AWHs of different etiology submitted to PTE were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Clinical success, defined as absence of recurrent bleeding within 96 h from PTE, was considered as primary endpoint. The results of the comparison of three groups based on embolic agent employed were also analyzed.ResultsSpontaneous AWHs accounted for 62.1%, iatrogenic for 21.8% and post-traumatic for 16.1% of cases. SARS-CoV-19 infection was present in 22.6% of patients. The most commonly embolized vessels were epigastric inferior artery (n = 127) and superior epigastric artery (n = 25). Technical and clinical success were 97.6 and 87.1%, respectively. Angiographic signs of active bleeding were detected in 85.5% of cases. Four (4%) major complications were reported. The comparison of the three groups of embolic agents (mechanical, particulate/fluid and combined) showed no statistically significant differences in terms of clinical success. SARS-CoV-2 infection was found to be an independent factor for recurrent bleeding and poor 30-day survival.ConclusionPTE performed with all the embolic agent employed in our centers is a safe and effective tool in the treatment of life-threatening anterior AWH of each origin
Identification of PET/CT radiomic signature for classification of locally recurrent rectal cancer: A network-based feature selection approach
No full textBackground
The modern approach to treating rectal cancer, which involves total mesorectal excision directed by imaging assessments, has significantly enhanced patient outcomes. However, locally recurrent rectal cancer (LRRC) continues to be a significant clinical issue. Identifying LRRC through imaging is complex, due to the mismatch between fibrosis and inflammatory pelvic tissue. This work aimed to develop a machine learning model for predicting LRRC using radiomic features extracted from 18F-FDG Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT).
Methods
CT and PET images of PET/CT examinations were retrospectively collected from 44 patients, with 29 cases of recurrence (66 %) and 15 cases with no local recurrence (34 %). The whole analysis was conducted separately for CT and PET images to evaluate their different predictive power. Radiomic features were extracted from suspected lesion volumes identified by physicians and the most relevant radiomic features were selected to predict the presence or absence of LRRC. Feature selection was performed using a novel approach derived from gene expression analysis, based on the DNetPRO algorithm. The prediction was done using a Support Vector Classifier (SVC) with a 10-fold cross-validation. The efficiency of the pipeline in predicting LRRC was evaluated according to the sensitivity, specificity, Balanced Accuracy Score (BAS) and Matthews's Correlation Coefficient (MCC).
Results
CT features were found to be the most predictive, showing a sensitivity of 0.80, a specificity of 0.82, a BAS of 0.81 and an MCC of 0.61. PET features obtained a sensitivity of 0.93, a specificity of 0.61, a BAS of 0.77 and a MCC of 0.52. The combination of PET and CT features obtained a sensitivity of 0.80, a specificity of 0.75, a BAS of 0.77 and a MCC of 0.53.
Conclusions
To the best of our knowledge, the DNetPRO algorithm was applied for the first time to medical image analysis and proved suitable for the selection of radiomic features with the highest predictive power, a crucial step in a radiomic pipeline. Our results confirmed the efficiency of radiomic features in predicting LRRC, with CT features outperforming PET features in identifying the characteristic texture of LRRC. The combination of both yielded no performance improvement
Caminhos de Úrsula, de Maria Firmina dos Reis
No full textDissertação (mestrado) — Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literaturas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, 2024.O objetivo desta pesquisa é investigar a trajetória do romance Úrsula, da escritora e intelectual
Maria Firmina dos Reis, evidenciando sua importância para os estudos sobre sua vida e obras e
para o início dos caminhos da literatura afro-brasileira, como uma escrita que inaugura no país
o romance de autoria de mulheres negras e que delineia novas perspectivas no texto literário.
Inicia-se, a partir de Úrsula, a insurgência de um corpus de romances de autoras negras
brasileiras, por meio do qual se pensa a pessoa negra por representações mais complexas
(Miranda, 2020). Desse modo, nesta dissertação, pensa-se o romance de Maria Firmina dos Reis
em perspectiva com a intelectualidade da autora presente na obra, sobretudo a partir de Mirian
Santos (2018), bell hooks (1995), Conceição Evaristo (2020) e Fernanda Miranda (2022). Além
disso, disserta-se sobre o silenciamento diante da escritora e os caminhos de Úrsula a partir de
1970, considerando as novas edições do romance e as pesquisas acadêmicas brasileiras. Essas
pesquisas, como exposto nesta dissertação, foram essenciais para a formação dos discursos
sobre a autora e também para a sua divulgação. Úrsula, assim, é a porta de entrada para que,
tardiamente, porém relevantemente, Maria Firmina dos Reis e suas obras sejam inseridas na
história literária brasileira.The objective of this research is to investigate the trajectory of the novel Ursula by Maria
Firmina dos Reis, highlighting its importance for studies on the life and works of the writer and
for the beginning of the paths of afro-brazilian literature, as a text that inaugurates in the country
the novel authored by black women and that delineates new perspectives in the literary text.
Starting from Ursula, the insurgency of a corpus of novels by black brazilian authors begins,
through which the black character is thought by more complex representations (Miranda, 2020).
Therefore, this research thinks the novel of Maria Firmina dos Reis in perspective with the
intellectual of the author present in the work, especially from Mirian Santos (2018), bell hooks
(1995), Conceição Evaristo (2020) and Fernanda Miranda (2022). In addition, it discusses the
silence before the writer and the paths of Ursula from 1970, considering the new editions of the
novel and the brazilian academic research. These researches, as exposed in this dissertation,
were essential for the formation of discourses about the author and also for its dissemination.
Ursula is the gateway for Maria Firmina dos Reis and her works to be inserted in brazilian
literature history.Instituto de Letras (IL)Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literaturas (IL TEL)Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatur
¿Is common good really common?: Dialectics between training and enabling regarding the common good and human rights according to Ignacio Ellacuría
No full textNos interesa profundizar en la producción filosófica de Ignacio Ellacuría (Portugalete, 1930-San Salvador, 1989) las nociones de bien común y de derechos humanos, como realizaciones históricas de la humanidad, a fin de enfocar alguna respuesta a la cuestión de ¿por qué tales conceptos han servido con inusitada frecuencia a la negación real del bien común y de los derechos humanos? Lo hacemos a la luz de los principios de capacitación y posibilitación, propuestos por el autor, los cuales introducen una peculiar dialéctica que permiten historizar aquellas nociones.We intend to study in depht the notions of common good and human rights as human historical achievements in Ignacio Ellacuría’s philosophical production (Portugalete, 1930 - San Salvador, 1989) in order to answer the question of why these concepts have turned so frequently into their opposites, more specifically, into the denial of common good and human rights. We do this in light of the principles of training and enabling proposed by the author, which introduce a particular dialectic and allow giving a historical context to those notions.Fil: Arpini, Adriana Maria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentin
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