1,721,227 research outputs found
Assistenza di fine vita e cure palliative : l'esempio della Regione Toscana
No full textThis paper summarizes a research of the Regional Agency for Health in Tuscany (Florence, Italy) on end-of-life and palliative care. The evolving concepts and definitions at the international level as well as some relevant experiences of research and intervention are reported. The national context is described through recent legislation and the state-of-the art of health services. The experience of Tuscany is discussed with respect to regulation, health services and significant experiences in epidemiological research, education, and cultural promotion. The population needs for palliative care are estimated on the basis of mortality rates and hospital admissions in the last year of life. Seventy-five percent of people dying in 2003 had at least one hospital admission in the 12 previous months, while 42.1 percent of deaths occurred in hospital (more than half of them in Internal Medicine or Intensive Care Units)
Dietary Factors and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: A Case-Control Study in the Nort heastern Part of Italy
No full textThe role of various life style factors, including dietary habits, in the etiology of non-Hodgkin‘s lymphoma was investigated using data from a case-control study conducted in the northeastern part of Italy. This study was done on 208 histologically confirmed non-Hodgkin‘s lymphomas and 401 control subjects who were in the hospital for acute, nonimmunologic, or neoplastic conditions. Dietary histories concerned the frequency of consumption per week of alcohol, beverages that contain methylxanthine, and 14 select food items or groups of foods (including major sources of proteins, fat, fibers, and vitamin A in the Italian diet). The consumption of milk, liver, butter, oil (chiefly polyunsaturated oils), coffee, tea, and cola was positively related with non-Hodgkin‘s lymphoma risk. The consumption of whole-grain bread and pasta showed a protective effect. When a logistic model was fitted that included the aforementioned food items in addition to major nondietary covariates, all of the foods, except liver and beverages that contain methylxanthine, remained significant. Interestingly, these associations are in agreement with the positive correlation that is emerging internationally between the consumption of fat and proteins and non-Hodgkin‘s lymphoma
Occupation and soft-tissue sarcoma in northeastern Italy
No full textThe influence of occupation and exposure to different agents on the risk of developing soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) was assessed in a case-control study based on 93 cases of STS (53 men and 40 women) and 721 controls (371 men and 350 women), conducted in northeastern Italy. No risk elevation was found in subjects employed in agriculture (odds ratio [OR] for greater than 10 years = 0.8, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 0.4-1.5), nor in those who reported exposure to pesticides or herbicides (OR = 0.4, CI = 0.1-1.2). Similarly, neither occupation in the furniture, upholstery, and mechanics industries, nor exposure to livestock or meat processing, wood dust, metal dust, and dyes or paints were associated with STS risk. Workers who reported exposure to chemical agents or to benzene or other solvents for more than 10 years had, respectively, a 1.8-fold (CI = 0.7-4.4) and a 2.2-fold (CI = 0.9-5.5) higher risk of developing STS. Although the small number of STS cases limits the interpretation of the study results, these findings weigh against the hypothesis that pesticides, herbicides, or other exposures related to agriculture, play an important role in the etiology of STS. The direct associations with exposure to chemical agents and benzene or other solvents, albiet not statistically significant, may provide a useful hint for future investigations
Invasive cervical cancer as an AIDS-defining illness in Europe
No full textObjective(s): To evaluate the frequency and correlates of invasive cervical cancer (ICC) as an AIDS-defining illness (ADI) in Europe. Design: Statistical analysis of data from: national AIDS surveillance systems of 15 European countries with ≥ 50 female AIDS cases; and from population-based cancer registries of the same nations. Methods: AIDS cases notified between 1993 (when ICC was included among ADI) and 1999 in women aged 20-49 years were taken into consideration. The association between the presence of ICC as an ADI and potential determinants was assessed by calculation of odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Country-specific incidence rates of ICC in women aged 20-49 years were correlated with selected AIDS-associated variables by means of the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Results: The OR of having ICC as an ADI increased with age and was significantly elevated in southern (3.1) and central (2.5) compared with northern Europe. It was also increased among injecting drug users (IDU; 1.5). The proportion of ICC as ADI was inversely correlated with incidence rates of ICC in the general female population, but directly correlated with the proportion of IDU among female AIDS cases. Conclusions: The frequency of ICC as an ADI in Europe was independent from the background risk of ICC in the general population. It was higher where IDU predominated among female AIDS cases and where population-based ICC screening programs were less effective
HIV transmission and Kaposi's sarcoma among European women
No full textObjective: To assess the association between the presence of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) as an AIDS-defining illness and HIV transmission categories among European women with AIDS. Design: Comparison of the prevalence of KS as an AIDS-defining illness in different HIV transmission categories. Methods: Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for KS were computed by means of unconditional multiple logistic regression equations. Results: KS was reported in 344 (2.2%) out of 15 809 women diagnosed with AIDS. Women who reported HIV infection via heterosexual intercourse had a >twofold increase of KS risk than intravenous drug users (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.9-3.0). Particularly elevated OR were observed among women originating from African or Caribbean countries (OR, 4.9; 95% CI, 3.7-6.5), and in partners of bisexual men (OR, 4.8; 95% CI, 2.8-8.2). Such risk patterns for KS were consistent in different countries, age groups and year of AIDS diagnosis. Conclusions: These results are in agreement with similar analyses from the United States, and support the existence of some putative KS agent(s) which can be acquired via sexual intercourse with bisexual men, or earlier in life in countries where non-AIDS-associated KS is frequent
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
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