1,720,967 research outputs found
Type A botulinum toxin treatment for chronic anal fissure
No full textWe read with great interest the systematic review on efficacy
and safety of botulinum toxin treatment in patients with anal
fissure by E. Yiannakopoulou. The manuscript is well written,
complete and exhaustive. The review of the literature
data is careful and rigorous. This systematic review aimed to
answer several primary questions. The intention to give an
answer to all these questions makes the paper even more
interesting. We agree with the author that botulinum toxin
consists of an alternative effective therapeutic modality for
the treatment of anal fissure
Classification of the severity of acute pancreatitis. How much is really needed a new classification.
No full textNon present
Botulinum toxin injection for the treatment of chronic anal fissure: uni- and multivariate analysis of the factors that promote healing
Full text linkPurpose Anal fissure is caused by a pathological contraction of the internal anal sphincter. Lateral internal sphincterotomy remains the gold standard for the treatment of fissure. Botulinum toxin injections have been proposed to treat this condition without any risk of permanent injury of the internal sphincter. We investigate clinical and pathological variables and the effects of different dosage regimens of botulinum toxin to induce healing in patients with idiopathic anal fissure. Methods This is a retrospective study at a single center. The patients underwent a pre-treatment evaluation that included clinical inspection of the fissure and anorectal manometry. We collected and analyzed demographic data, pathological variables, associated pathological conditions, and treatment variables. Success was defined as healing of the fissure, and improvement of symptoms was defined as asymptomatic persistent fissure. Results The findings of 1003 patients treated with botulinum toxin injections were reported. At 2 months evaluation, complete healing was evident in 780 patients (77.7%). Resting anal tone (77.1 +/- 18.9 mmHg) was significantly lower from baseline (P < 0.0001) and from 1-month value (P = 0.0008). Thirty-nine not healed patients underwent lateral internal sphincterotomy, and 184 were re-treated with 50 UI of botulinum toxin. In these patients, the healing rate was 93.9% (171 patients). Dose and injection site of toxin correlates with healing rate. There were no relapses during an average of about 71 months. Conclusion Our data show that injection of botulinum toxin into the internal anal sphincter is a safe and effective alternative to surgery in patients with chronic anal fissure
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
Open versus laparoscopic colorectal surgery in the era of multimodality treatment of cancer.
No full textAIM:
To compares the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic surgery (LS) and open surgery (OS). To analyze early results of a single institution experience using adjuvant intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) presacral boost in locally advanced cancer.
MATERIAL OF STUDY:
264 patients with curable colorectal cancer undergoing laparoscopic (97) or open colorectal resection (167). In 41 patients (31 open and 10 laparoscopic resection) with locally advanced rectal cancer we performed IORT. Primary endpoints were the evaluation of postoperative clinical and oncologic results.
RESULTS:
Twenty (21%) patients underwent conversion from laparoscopic to open surgery. The overall morbidity rates were 17.5% in the LS group and 20.9% in the OS group (P= 0.5). Average operative time was shorter in the OS than in the LS series (P= 0.01). Use of parenteral narcotics was shorter in LS than in OS group (P <0.001), but there were more stoma creations in LS group than in OS group (P= 0.001). All patients are alive at different followup periods.
DISCUSSION:
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from malignancy in the industrialized world. The risk of local recurrence after treatment increases with tumor stage. The roles of radiochemotherapy and surgical procedures have been investigated extensively in the last decades, especially in locally advanced rectal cancer.
CONCLUSIONS:
Laparoscopic techniques can be applied to colorectal malignancies without sacrificing oncologic results. Multimodality treatment with LS and IORT is safe and feasibl
Extended or limited lymph node dissection? A gastric cancer surgical dilemma
No full textWe read with great interest the article by Memon and coworkers reporting the outcome of a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and drawbacks of limited (D1) versus extended (D2) lymphadenectomy for proven gastric carcinoma. This is a very excellent article; the basic organization of this report is clear and convincing, and the associated conclusions and recommendations are based on a review by investigators with long-standing interest in gastric disorders
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