1,720,971 research outputs found
Bacterial extracts for the prevention of acute exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A point of view
No full textGiven the high prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the impact of exacerbations on quality of life, and the costs incurred, effective ways for the prevention of exacerbations, and for reductions in the severity and duration of COPD symptoms are needed. Bacterial immunostimulation has been advocated as a management strategy in COPD for the purposes of preventing acute exacerbations. In particular, it suggests that the use of oral multicomponent vaccines may reduce the severity and duration of acute episodes. The way in which bacterial extracts may exert their effects is not fully understood although a number of possible specific mechanisms have been suggested. Given the high prevalence of COPD worldwide and the high cost of acute exacerbations, some cost-effectiveness analyses suggest that bacterial immunostimulants may become a key element in the improved control of this condition. Nonetheless, larger and longer clinical trials are needed to investigate efficacy before oral vaccination could be recommended as part of the routine clinical management of COPD, mainly in advanced COPD. It remains also to be investigated whether this protective effect may be additive to the other treatments. In any case, it is well known that for Streptococcus pneumoniae, non-typable Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis, recurrent infections occur because of strain heterogeneity. Therefore, a single or even multiple strain vaccine with a killed whole cell formulation is possibly not the ideal vaccine. Moreover, the method of inactivation can affect the immunogenicity of essential antigens through denaturation. For this reason, the efficacy of bacterial immunostimulants should not only be assessed but also compare
Long-acting beta(2) agonists in asthma and allergic rhinitis
No full textBackground: Long-acting Î22 agonists (LABAs) are effective second-line bronchodilator controller agents in asthma, although they may also increase the risk of hospitalization and asthma-related death in certain situations. Despite the interesting findings obtained with short-acting Î22 agonists (SABAs), negative studies are available with LABAs in the treatment of allergic rhinitis. This is quite surprising given that there is now clear documentation of the link between asthma and allergic rhinitis. Objective: The aim of this review is to examine the role of Î2 2 agonists in patients with asthma who also suffer from allergic rhinitis and to try to explain the differences observed between SABAs and LABAs in rhinitis. Methods: SCOPUS, GOOGLE SCHOLAR and MEDLINE were searched for abstracts and papers; the search was completed in March 2008. No restriction was placed on language. Conclusion: The intriguing united airway concept led to the hypothesis that common therapies may influence both and asthma and allergic rhinitis. Consequently, better designed studies with LABAs in allergic rhinitis are now mandatory. In particular, further studies are necessary to investigate clinically relevant anti-inflammatory synergy between inhaled corticosteroids and LABAs in upper airways. It will also be interesting to assess whether ultra-LABAs (once-daily LABAs) are active in allergic rhinitis, although the information we have seems to exclude a role for these agents. © 2008 Informa UK Ltd
Extra-Articular Manifestations and Comorbidities in Psoriatic Disease: A Journey Into the Immunologic Crosstalk
Full text linkPsoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily affecting peripheral and axial joints, with the possible presence of extra-articular manifestations (EAMs), such as psoriasis, uveitis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Recently, the concept of psoriatic disease (PsD) has been proposed to define a systemic condition encompassing, in addition to joints and EAMs, some comorbidities (e.g., metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, hypertension) that can affect the disease outcome and the achievement of remission. EAMs and comorbidities in PsA share common immunopathogenic pathways linked to the systemic inflammation of this disease; these involve a broad variety of immune cells and cytokines. Currently, various therapeutics are available targeting different cytokines and molecules implicated in the inflammatory response of this condition; however, despite an improvement in the management of PsA, comprehensive disease control is often not achievable. There is, therefore, a big gap to fill especially in terms of comorbidities and EAMs management. In this review, we summarize the clinical aspects of the main comorbidities and EAMs in PsA, and we focus on the immunopathologic features they share with the articular manifestations. Moreover, we discuss the effect of a diverse immunomodulation and the current unmet needs in PsD
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
Severe uncontrolled asthma with bronchiectasis: a pilot study of an emerging phenotype that responds to mepolizumab
Full text linkGiovanna E Carpagnano,1 Giulia Scioscia,1 Donato Lacedonia,1 Giacomo Curradi,2 Maria Pia Foschino Barbaro1 1Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Institute of Respiratory Diseases, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy; 2Medical and Scientific Department, GlaxoSmithKline, Verona, Italy Background: Asthma and bronchiectasis are different conditions that frequently coexist. The prevalence of bronchiectasis rises considerably in subjects with severe asthma (25%–51%).Objective: We evaluated the clinical and biological efficacy of mepolizumab on our pilot population of severe uncontrolled asthmatics with bronchiectasis not related to other pathologies.Patients and methods: Four patients with severe uncontrolled asthma and diagnosed as bronchiectasis were recruited and started biological treatment with mepolizumab. Standard investigations were performed in all four patients at baseline (T0), after 3 months (T1) and after 1 year (T2) of treatment.Results: After 1 year (T2) of therapy with mepolizumab, patients showed a significant increment of asthma control test value (12±1.1 vs 24.5±0.3, P<0.01), a reduction of the number of exacerbations/year (5±0.7 vs 0.75±0.75, P<0.01), an increase of pre-bronchodilator FEV1 (1,680±500 vs 1,860±550 mL, P<0.01) and a reduction of eosinophils in blood (0.75±0.14 vs 0.12±0.02 cells/µL, P<0.01), in the sputum (9.6%±2.1% vs 5.6%±2.7%, P<0.05) and in nasal cytology (++ vs +).Conclusion: The efficacy of mepolizumab in terms of reduction of inflammation and increase of control that we observed in our patients might suggest that targeting the IL-5 in severe eosinophilic asthma with bronchiectasis may be a good therapeutic strategy. Keywords: severe asthma, bronchiectasis, mepolizumab, phenotype
 
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
Markers of anti-oxidant response in tobacco smoke exposed subjects: a data-mining review.
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