1,720,957 research outputs found
Hormone replacement therapy, renal function and heart ultrasonographic parameters in postmenopausal women: an observational study.
No full textBACKGROUND AND AIM:
A certain degree of impaired kidney function is related to an increased cardiovascular risk. The cardiovascular protection exerted in the postmenopausal state by the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is debated. No studies have so far explored the relationship between menopause, renal function and cardiovascular risk profile in healthy menopausal women in relation with HRT.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
A total of 362 postmenopausal healthy women with normal albumin excretion rate were recruited and divided into two groups (HRT+ and HRT-) according to the presence or absence of HRT. All participants underwent a complete routine biochemical analyses and an echocardiogram.
RESULTS:
Clinical characteristics of the two groups were similar, but HRT+ showed a significantly higher estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR; by CKD-EPI formula). Regarding the heart ultrasonography, HRT+ had a significantly lower size of the aortic root and left atrium diameter (p = 0.038 and p = 0.012, respectively); no differences were found in the ejection fraction and Left Ventricular Mass Index (LVMI). In the whole study group, eGFR correlated inversely with LVMI and with the size of the aortic root (both p 80 and 80 women, in comparison with < 80, showed a significantly lower LVMI and lower size of aortic bulb, further reduced in the HRT+.
CONCLUSION:
In a cohort of healthy, drug-naïve, postmenopausal women, HRT seems to positively affect glomerular filtration and is associated with lower values of left ventricular mass and aortic root size, thus offering a further mechanism through female hormones exert cardioprotection
Syphilis iridocyclitis in a patient with type 1 diabetes
Get PDFWe present a rare cause of iridocyclitis in a patient with vitiligo and type 1 diabetes who showed poor metabolic control, and suffered from remitting fever, weight loss, fatigue, diffuse arthralgias and reduced visual acuity. Mild systemic symptoms coupled with increased cholestasis enzymes, insulin resistance, mild inflammation and a functioning adrenal gland focused our clinical work-up on granulomatous causes of iridocyclitis. Specific tests confirmed syphilis, with no involvement of the central nervous system. Ocular syphilis, despite being unusual, can be the only manifestation of the disease. The work-up of any unexplained ocular inflammation should include testing for syphilis so as to not delay the diagnosis
The complex P2X7receptor/inflammasome in perivascular fat tissue of heavy smokers
No full textOBJECTIVE:
Smoking is a recognized cardiovascular risk factor. Perivascular visceral adipose tissue (PVAT) is a source of inflammatory molecules, thus contributing to atherosclerosis progression. The P2X7 receptor (P2X7 R)-inflammasome complex, crucial in determining IL-1β and IL-18 release, participates in this scenario. We evaluated whether smoking might affect the PVAT inflammatory phenotype and explored the putative role of the axis P2X7 R-inflammasome in this picture.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS:
TNFα, IL-6, RBP4, MCP-1, as well as P2X7 R and inflammasome components NLRP3, ASC, caspase-1 and IL-1β and IL-18 expression was determined in adipocytes isolated by PVAT of healthy smokers (Smok) and nonsmokers (No-Smok) subjects. Plasma and culture medium levels of these cytokines were also determined.
RESULTS:
Perivascular adipose tissue of Smok had a higher expression of P2X7 R and inflammasome components; via P2X7 R activation, it released more IL-1β and IL-18, whose serum levels were also higher in Smok than in No-Smok. Linear correlations of NLRP3 with P2X7 R and IL-18 expression and release emerged. Smok also had a higher PVAT expression of the chemotactic factor MCP-1. However, no difference was observed in the PVAT expression of genes more strictly related to insulin resistance, like TNFα, RBP4, IL-6; this was coupled with similar plasma levels of TNFα and RBP4 in the two groups.
CONCLUSION:
Smoking contributes to the pro-inflammatory status of the PVAT by enhancing expression and activity of the P2X7 R-inflammasome complex; the effect on adipocytokines more related to insulin resistance and metabolic abnormalities appears trivial
Going 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
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
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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