1,720,965 research outputs found
The hypothalamic-pituitary axis and autoantibody related disorders
Full text linkThis review summarized different studies reporting the presence of autoantibodies reacting against cells of the pituitary (APAs) and/or hypothalamus (AHAs). Both APAs and AHAs have been revealed through immunofluorescence using different kinds of substrates. Autoantibodies against gonadotropic cells were mainly found in patients affected by cryptorchidism and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism while those against prolactin cells were found in different kinds of patients, the majority without pituitary abnormalities. APAs to growth hormone (GH) cells have been associated with GH deficiency while those against the adrenocorticotropic cells have distinguished central Cushingâs disease patients at risk of incomplete cure after surgical adenoma removal. AHAs to vasopressin cells have identified patients at risk of developing diabetes insipidus. APAs have been also found together with AHAs in patients affected by idiopathic hypopituitarism, but both were also present in different kinds of patients without abnormalities of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Despite some data being promising, the clinical use of pituitary and hypothalamus autoantibodies is still limited by the low diagnostic sensitivity, irreproducibility of the results, and the absence of autoantigen/s able to discriminate the autoimmune reaction involving the pituitary or the hypothalamus from the other autoimmune states
Combination of transfemoral balloon-assisted tracking and the knuckle wire technique as a solution in a challenging urgent percutaneous coronary intervention
No full textReduction of Total Brain and Cerebellum Volumes Associated With Neuronal Autoantibodies in Patients With APECED
No full textContext: In autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy (APECED), autoantibodies (AutoAbs) labeling brain neurons were reported; conversely, brain MRI alterations associated with these AutoAbs were never reported.Objectives: To describe brain alterations in APECED and to correlate them with AutoAbs
against glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)-, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-, and 5-tryptophan
hydroxylase (5-HT)- neurons.
Design and participants: Fourteen Sardinian APECED patients and age-matched control
subjects were recruited for MRI analysis and blood sampling to detect AutoAbs to GAD-,
TH-, and 5-HT- neurons using rat brain sections. The majority of patients (n=12) were
investigated for AutoAbs a decade ago and 7/12 were positive for AutoAbs to GAD and TH
neurons.
Main outcomes: APECED patients had smaller cerebellum and gray matter volumes, with a
ventricular enlargement and a total liquor increase, compared to controls (p<0.01). In 11/14
patients, brain abnormalities were associated with AutoAbs to GAD and/or TH neurons (titer
1:100–15000), that had persisted for 10 years in 7/11 patients. AutoAbs to 5-HT neurons
were revealed in all patients with AutoAbs to TH neurons. A decrease in whole brain and
cerebellum volumes (p=0.028) was associated with AutoAbs to GAD neurons while a liquor
increase with AutoAbs to GAD- and TH/5-HT neurons (p<0.05). HLA alleles did not appear
to be involved in neuronal autoimmunity.
Conclusions: For the first time, brain alterations together with neuronal AutoAbs were
observed in 78.6% Sardinian APECED patients, suggesting a brain autoimmune reaction.
Prolonged clinical follow-up must be conducted for the possible appearance of clinical
neurological consequences.
We revealed that APECED patients had smaller cerebellum and gray matter volumes, with a
ventricular enlargement and a total liquor increase, all associated (in 11/14) with brain neuron
AutoAbs
Relationship Between The First Diagnostic Ecg And Time To The Start Of Symptoms In Acute Myocardial Infarction
No full textQ wave is typically a late finding on ECG during STEMI and consequently, when Q wave is found on the first ECG, many patients do not receive reperfusion therapy. In reality, the Q wave can also appear early in the course of the infarct and may represent a large reversible myocardial damage. The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between ischemic time and the appearance of the Q wave in STEMI acute phase and to assess whether the presence of an early Q wave can affect the management of STEMI patients. Materials and Methods: From January 1st 2009 to December 31st 2014, 248 consecutive patients with STEMI were transported from Emergency System to our CCU. Patients were divided into two groups based on the presence of Q wave in infarction leads at first ECG: group Q-wave (QWG) with 44 patients and group No Q-wave (NQWG) composed of 204 patients. For each patient following intervals were calculated: - the time between pain onset and first ECG (pain to ECG time ); - the time between the first ECG and the first intervention that restored the necrosis vessel patency (first medical contact-to-balloon time, FMC);- The time from the arrival of the patient to the hospital, and the reopening of the necrosis vessel (door-to-balloon time, DTB). Results: Pain to ECG time was greater in patients with Q-wave (119 ± 97 vs 113.02 ± 92.6 minutes, p = 0:09). The percentage of patients with early Q-wave increased progressively with increasing pain to ECG time from 2.5% in patients with Pain to ECG less than 30 minutes to 11.6% and 18.2% respectively in patients with Pain-to-ECG more than two hours and four hours (p for trend = 0.011). The DTB time, was quite comparable in both groups, 55 ± 54 vs 24.6 ± 31.2 min, p = 0.9. The FMC did not present statistically significant differences between groups (102.2 ± 35.9 minutes vs 97.8 ± 40.05 minutes, p = 0.48). Conclusions: The appearance of the Q wave is a time dependent phenomenon and is therefore affected by the delay between the onset of ischemia and the performing ECG, with a tendency to be present even in the earliest stages of the infarct itself. Despite the presence of Q waves at the first diagnostic ECG, management standard protocol of STEMI was applied in all patients, ensuring the similar reperfusion times
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
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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