1,721,108 research outputs found
Linking endocannabinoid system, palmitoylethanolamide, and sarcopenia in view of therapeutic implications
No full textSarcopenia, a debilitating skeletal muscle disease closely connected with elderly, is becoming a major public health problem with the increasing of life expectancy. In the aim to found effective, targeted and side-effect-free therapies, understanding the endocannabinoid system (ECS) role in muscle homeostasis is of strategic importance. The skeletal muscle expresses all the ECS elements; in particular, a central role is played by the nuclear receptor PPARα and its main endogenous ligand, palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), an endocannabinoid-like molecule with an important anti-inflammatory effect. It is worth highlighting that in muscle the expression level of both PPARα receptor and its coactivator PGC1a, decreases with age, suggesting a causative relation between the lower PPARα function and sarcopenia. Therefore, the administration of PEA to the muscle can be a promising approach to counteract sarcopenia. In this regard, to promote the muscle targeting, innovative drug delivery systems, such as solid lipid nanoparticles, can be considered
Biomaterials, spinal cord injury, and rehabilitation: A new narrative
Full text linkSpinal cord injury (SCI) is the most frequent disabling injury among spine diseases generating important personal, societal, and economic costs. Nowadays, the only accepted treatment is represented by systemic administration of methylprednisolone that unluckily carriers heavy side effects that sometimes are not so manageable in terms of balance with efficacy. The most probable reason for these disappointing results could be sought in SCI progression itself: SCI is characterized by a temporal development of biochemical pathways of degeneration and it is reasonable to think that different therapeutic targets should be considered. This chapter aims to describe the different possibilities behind the use of biomaterials (hydrogels, scaffolds, and colloids) in the treatment of SCI. This approach is highly interdisciplinary and involves not only medicine and biology but mostly chemistry, physics, and engineering. The interdisciplinary research proposed here allows to look at this complex problem from an unconventional perspective, developing smart cells or drug delivery systems, providing local multiple administrations able to reduce systemic side effects of single treatments and synergize their treatment efficacy
Meal Disposal After Bariatric Surgery
No full textThe meal disposal after bariatric surgery can change depending on the surgical procedures, it is influenced by the gastrointestinal rearrangement and by its functional adaptation to the new anatomical condition.
Roux-en Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB), considered a restrictive and malabsorptive technique, is characterised by a rapid delivery of food into the jejunum that contributes to a rapid appearance of glucose in peripheral circulation and hormonal adaptations. Thus post meal increase of insulin secretion, increased glucagon-like peptide-1 and gastric inhibitory polypeptide, paradoxical increase of glucagon and reduced suppression of endogenous glucose production contribute to the post meal glycaemic pattern observed and characterised from an initial increase in plasma glucose levels followed by a sharp drop. Furthermore, after RYGB, protein digestion and amino acid absorption appear to be accelerated. A reduction of postprandial triglyceride concentrations is observed, suggesting reduced lipid absorption or increased clearance.
Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD), an example of malabsorptive technique, is characterised by major metabolic improvements. BPD determines an important amelioration of insulin sensitivity with a reduction of plasma glucose. However, on the contrary of RYGB, postprandial glycaemic time-course is not influenced. Furthermore, after BPD, the absorption of proteins and, especially, lipids is reduced
COVID-19 myocarditis: Features of echocardiography
No full textCOVID-19 myocarditis represents an important clinical condition, having a heterogeneous presentation from subclinical cases to cardiogenic shock requiring intensive level care. The exact physiopathological mechanisms of myocardial injury are not well established, contributing acute inflammation, vasoconstriction, and atherothrombosis. Bedside transthoracic echocardiography is rapid, noninvasive, and represents the initial exam to detect and monitor cardiac involvement and to guide therapeutic interventions in COVID-19 patients. During the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the high contagion risk associated with transthoracic echocardiography, all operators should have adhered to preventive measures. The two-dimensional (2D) echocardiographic features are not specific only for COVID-19 myocarditis and should be complemented by new echocardiographic applications, such as speckle tracking echocardiography analysis, to identify patients with a poor prognosis. Right ventricular failure is a common finding in patients with COVID-19 and is associated with a poor outcome. Transthoracic echocardiography can help clinicians diagnose right ventricular dysfunction both with conventional 2D parameters and with new echocardiographic applications, such as speckle tracking echocardiography or three-dimensional right ventricular ejection fraction
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
The lidocaine patch: Features and applications: Post-thoracotomy pain and beyond
No full textThe chapter goes on to discuss the efficacy of Lidocaine 5% patch in adjunction to standard analgesic treatments for reducing acute post-operative pain, opioid consumption, and length of hospital stay. A systematic review of literature was performed and 10 papers were selected to investigate this issue. The results were difficult to compare due to the different surgical populations, and the lack of a standard protocol for measuring post-operative pain and for postoperative analgesia. Despite all, Lidocaine patch seemed to not provide any significant benefits as it significantly reduced postoperative pain in seven papers, while in all papers but two it was not associated with a reduction of opioid consumption neither of hospital stay. However, it remained a safe procedure as no specific side effects were found in all studies. Future larger and well-designed studies are needed to better clarify the efficacy of Lidocaine patch for treating acute postoperative pain
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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe 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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