1,720,970 research outputs found
Side effects to levamisole given to neoplastic patients as adjuvant to surgery: A new case of agranulocytosis
No full textSide-effects to levamisole given as adjuvant to surgery in a consecutive series of 203 neoplastic patients are reported: Thirty-four patients (16.7%) suffered gastric adverse reactions; 8 (3.9%) allergic; 6 (2.9%) intestinal; 6 (2.9% neurologic; 4 (1.9%) severe hyperthermia (more than 40.5 degrees C); 3 (1.4%) flu-like illness; 1 (0.4% leucopenia; and 1 (0.4%) agranulocytosis. Withdrawal rate was 5.4% or 11 patients. Side effects appeared sex-related (39.0% in females, 17.7% in males; with seven female dropout out of 11), unrelated to other eventual adjuvant treatments, and reappearing at a new challenge with levamisole. The opportunity of very close control of patients taking levamisole for at least the first months is discussed
Early recognition of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus surgical site infections using risk and protective factors identified by a group of Italian surgeons through Delphi method
Full text linkBackground: Surgical site infections (SSIs) constitute a major clinical problem in terms of morbidity, mortality, duration of hospital stay, and overall costs. The bacterial pathogens implicated most frequently are Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The incidence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) SSIs is increasing significantly. Since these infections have a significant impact on hospital budgets and patients' health, their diagnosis must be anticipated and therapy improved. The first step should be to evaluate risk factors for MRSA SSIs. Methods: Through a literature review, we identified possible major and minor risk factors for, and protective factors against MRSA SSIs. We then submitted statements on these factors to 228 Italian surgeons to determine, using the Delphi method, the degree of consensus regarding their importance. The consensus was rated as positive if >80% of the voters agreed with a statement and as negative if >80% of the voters disagreed. In other cases, no consensus was reached. Results: There was positive consensus that sepsis, >2 weeks of hospitalization, age >75 years, colonization by MRSA, and diabetes were major risk factors for MRSA SSIs. Other possible major risk factors, on which a consensus was not reached, e.g., prior antibiotic use, were considered minor risk factors. Other minor risk factors were identified. An adequate antibiotic prophylaxis, laparoscopic technique, and infection committee surveillance were considered protective factors against MRSA SSIs. All these factors might be used to build predictive criteria for identifying SSI due to MRSA. Conclusions: In order to help to recognize and thus promptly initiate an adequate antibiotic therapy for MRSA SSIs, we designed a gradation of risk and protective factors. Validation, ideally prospective, of this score is now required. In the case of a SSI, if the risk that the infection is caused by MRSA is high, empiric antibiotic therapy should be started after debriding the wound and collecting material for culture
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
Laparoscopic adrenalectomy for hemorrahagic adrenal pseudocyst discovered during pregnancy: Report of a case
No full textAdrenal pseudocysts are rare cystic masses usually nonfunctional and asymptomatic, discovered incidentally during diagnostic imaging or when complicated by rupture and hemorrhage or infection. Few cases of hemorrhagic adrenal pseudocyst during pregnancy are reported, but a causal relationship between pregnancy and pseudocyst formation has not been shown. We describe a case of a 30-year-old pregnant woman referred to our surgical unit at the 20th week of gestation for incidental detection of left-side upper abdominal cystic mass, with signs of intralesion hemorrhage. The lesion was monitored and the woman gave birth at the 39th week, without complications. After 3 months from delivery, a multislide computed tomography scan confirmed a cystic mass measuring 10 x 7 x 10 cm. An elective transperitoneal laparoscopy was performed and a well-capsulated, hemorrhagic adrenal pseudocyst was removed. The optimal surgical treatment for hemorrhagic adrenal pseudocyst during pregnancy is still controversial. The present case shows that adrenal pseudocyst should be carefully monitored and can be treated by elective laparoscopic surgery after delivery
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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