1,720,974 research outputs found
Subcutaneous suction drains do not prevent surgical site infections in clean-contaminated abdominal surgery—results of a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textPurpose: The role of subcutaneous prophylactic drainage in preventing postoperative abdominal wound complications is still controversial. We aimed to elucidate whether any difference in the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) exists between patients with or without subcutaneous suction drain following clean-contaminated abdominal surgery. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the CENTRAL were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCT) comparing drained with undrained surgeries featuring gastrointestinal (GI) tract opening. The aim of the analysis was to assess the incidence of wound infection. A meta-analysis of relevant studies was performed using RevMan 5.3. Results: A total of 8 studies, including 2833 patients, were considered eligible to collect data necessary. Globally, 187 patients (83 drained versus 104 undrained) experienced some SSI during the postoperative period. The use of subcutaneous suction drains did not exhibit any significant differences between drained and undrained patients in developing SSI (odds ratio 0.76, 95% CI 0.56–1.02; p = 0.07). Conclusions: According to the available, high-level evidence, the use of subcutaneous drains should not be encouraged on a routine basis, as it does not confer any advantage in preventing postoperative wound infection following clean-contaminated abdominal surgery. However, this does not exclude that there might be a benefit in a specific risk group of patients
Letter to the Editor regarding “Prophylactic subcutaneous drainage reduces post-operative incisional infections in colorectal surgeries: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials”
No full text
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
Conventional Versus Minimally Invasive Hartmann Takedown: A Meta-analysis of the Literature
No full textAlthough end colostomy closure following Hartmann’s procedure is a major surgery that is traditionally performed by conventional celiotomy, over the last decade there has been a growing interest toward the application of different minimally invasive techniques. We aimed at evaluating the relative outcomes of conventional surgery versus minimally invasive surgery by meta-analyzing the available data from the medical literature. The PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library and EMBASE electronic databases were searched through August 2018. Inclusion criteria considered eligible all comparative studies evaluating open versus minimally invasive procedures. Conventional laparoscopy, robotic and single-port laparoscopy were considered as minimally invasive techniques. Overall morbidity, rate of anastomotic failure, rate of wound complications and mortality were evaluated as primary outcomes. Perioperative details and surgical outcomes were also assessed. The data of a total of 13,740 patients from 26 studies were eventually included in the analysis. There were no significant differences on baseline characteristics such as age, BMI and proportion of high-risk patients between the two groups of patients. As compared to the conventional technique, minimally invasive surgery proved significantly superior in terms of postoperative morbidity, length of hospital stay and rate of incisional hernia. The current literature suggests that minimally invasive surgery should be considered in performing Hartmann’s reversal, if technically viable. However, due to the low level of the available evidence it is impossible to draw definitive conclusions
Comparison between robotic Nissen, Toupet and Dor fundoplication: Results
Get PDFMinimally invasive surgery has gained a role in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Robotic fundoplication is one of choice of treatment in minimally invasive surgical managements. As for conventional and laparoscopic approaches, Nissen, Toupet and Dor are the mainly performed techniques of fundoplication with the robotic surgery. They differ in wrap construction both for the grades and for the anterior or posterior rotation. Some authors compared the three techniques in laparoscopic field in terms of symptoms control, failure of treatment and reintervention rate. We aimed to attempt a comparison between the three techniques performed by a robotic-assisted approach. The available literature on robotic fundoplication and relative different techniques is still low scarce. Except for intrinsic technical characteristics, the three techniques do not show particular differences between them. Total fundoplication seems to better control the GERD symptoms but has a higher rate of postoperative dysphagia than partial ones. Nissen fundoplication (NF) is the most practiced, standardized and described since its early employments. The lack of specific investigations about robotic Toupet fundoplication (TF) and Dor fundoplication (DF) with relative data preclude to compare the three mentioned techniques accurately. Although robotic surgery had proper characteristics, we could consider it as an advanced laparoscopic approach and thus we could liken the available data concerning the three laparoscopic fundoplication techniques to the corresponding robotic ones
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
- …
