1,721,042 research outputs found
Acceptance of and Discontinuation Rate from Paroxetine Treatment in Patients with Lifelong Premature Ejaculation
No full textIntroduction. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are the most widely used agents for delaying ejaculation in patients with premature ejaculation (PE). Aim. The aim of this study was to assess the acceptance of and the discontinuation rate from paroxetine treatment in patients with lifelong PE. Methods. We analyzed the acceptance of and discontinuation rates of 93 consecutive potent patients (mean age, 37.6 years) seeking medical treatment for lifelong PE. The patients were assessed with detailed medical and sexual history, self-reported intravaginal ejaculatory latency time, self-administered International Index of Erectile Function, complete physical examination, and the Meares-Stamey test. The patients received a paroxetine prescription (10 mg daily for 21 days and then 20 mg as needed) for the first 3 months. Thereafter, the patients could either stay with the same on-demand treatment or take paroxetine 10 mg daily for 3 months. The patients were evaluated at 3 and 6 months, and requested to complete multiple-choice global assessment questions regarding specific reasons for eventual therapy discontinuation. Main Outcome Measures. The primary end point was acceptance and discontinuation rates for paroxetine treatment in patients seeking medical treatment for lifelong PE. The secondary end point was the reasons for nonacceptance of treatment or discontinuation. Results. Twenty-eight (30.10%) patients decided not to start paroxetine. Fear of using an "antidepressant drug" was the main reason (42.9%) for treatment nonacceptance. Twenty (30.8%) patients who initiated therapy eventually discontinued it. Treatment effect below expectations was the main reason of treatment dropout (75%) during the first 3 months, followed by temporary loss of interest in sex because of relationship issues (15%) and side effects (10%). Of the patients who continued treatment, 77.8% preferred daily paroxetine, while 22.2% continued as-needed therapy. Conclusions. Thirty percent of lifelong PE patients seeking medical treatment for complaints of early ejaculation freely decided not to start any paroxetine treatment, and roughly 30% of patients who started therapy eventually discontinued it. Salonia A, Rocchini L, Sacca A, Pellucchi F, Ferrari M, Del Carro U, Ribotto P, Gallina A, Zanni G, Deho' F, Rigatti P, and Montorsi F. Acceptance of and discontinuation rate from paroxetine treatment in patients with lifelong premature ejaculation. J Sex Med 2009;6:2868-2877. OI Gallina, Andrea/0000-0002-4540-956
Spinal cord ischemia is multifactorial: what is the best protocol?
No full textDespite the improved understanding of spinal cord anatomy and spinal cord ischemia pathophysiology, the rate of debilitating postoperative paraparesis or paraplegia is still not negligible after procedures for thoracic or thoracoabdominal aortic disease. Single studies have demonstrated the role of different treatment modalities to prevent or treat spinal cord ischemia. A multimodal approach, however, is advocated by most authors. Even after the employment of endovascular techniques become routine, the rate of spinal cord ischemia after treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic pathology remained unchanged over time. Spinal cord ischemia is often treatable by different means that concur to improve indirect spinal perfusion through collateral circulation; it should, therefore, be managed promptly and aggressively due to its potential reversibility. Ongoing technical improvements of non-invasive diagnostic tools may allow a better preoperative assessment of the spinal vascular network and a better planning of both open and endovascular thoracic or thoracoabdominal repair
Refractory chronic migraine: is drug withdrawal necessary before starting a therapy with onabotulinum toxin type A?
No full textOnabotulinum toxin A (BT-A) is now one of the authorized prophylaxis treatments for chronic migraine (CM) thanks to previous clinical trials, which usually required a pharmacologic washout as a precondition for demonstrating its efficacy. Aim of our study was to assess the efficacy in daily clinical practice of BT-A injections in refractory CM patients, regardless of medication overuse without any standardized withdrawal protocol and without stopping the ongoing prophylaxis treatment as well. We treated 44 refractory CM patients (37 females and 7 males) trimonthly without any modification in symptomatic, or prophylactic drug therapy. Main efficacy variables included number of headache, or migraine days and episodes, total cumulative headache hours, MIDAS and HIT-6 scores; all items were assessed at baseline and at the 12-, 24-, and 36-week follow-up. All variables showed a statistically significant improvement at week 36. In general, more than 50 % of patients had a good clinical outcome (including all improved patients, either partial or full responder) and that the percentage of drug abuser patients significantly decreased from 75 to 50 %, thanks to a spontaneous reduction of the symptomatic drug intake. Adverse events were uncommon and did not require treatment discontinuation. Onabotulinum toxin A treatment in refractory CM patients with unsatisfactory prophylactic drug treatments and pharmacological abuse is effective in improving clinical outcome and quality of life. This result may be achieved through a flexible pharmacologic approach tailored to each patient's needs; moreover, the patient himself can be often expected to reduce drug consumption spontaneously
Biomaterial to promote nerve regeneration: towards clinical trials
No full textThe peripheral nervous system (PNS) can regener- ate after injury but to fill a gap it needs to find a proper guide directing the axonal elongation. Many techni- ques and devices have been studied in order to pro- mote nerve regeneration but are still inadequate. The aim of this work is to validate an innovative high poros- ity collagen tube (medical devices, MD) in order to induce nerve regeneration in a 10-mm gap in the adult rat sciatic nerve. Nerves were retrieved for morpholog- ical and ultrastructural analysis at 8, 15, 30, 40 and 54, 90 and 120 days postoperatively and analyzed at differ- ent levels. Nerve conduction studies were also evalu- ated. At 8 days postoperatively fibroblast activation and extracellular matrix reorganization were already evident associated with a great number of mature endoneurial neovessels with tight junctions. In the fol- lowing time points an active process of axonal regen- eration was documented; after two months we showed, in the regenerated mid-graft, a normal num- ber of well myelinated axons with normal G-ratio and definite signs of reinnervation in the tibial and peroneal branch. No inflammatory cells were evident. Electro- physiological assessment showed a motor action potential at 90 days postoperatively distally, recordable at the paw. Overall, the neurophysiological and neuro- pathological data demonstrate the terrific quality of nerve regeneration using our MD which performs bet- ter in comparison to the collagen already available in clinical practice and the silicone tubes, used as a con- trol. These results make us confident in proposing our MD in clinical practice to treat injury of the PNS
Metachromatic leukodystrophy - Mutation analysis provides further evidence of genotype-phenotype correlation
No full textMetachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder resulting from the inherited deficiency of the arylsulfatase A (ARSA) enzyme. Currently, no valid therapeutic options are available for affected patients. A thorough knowledge of disease progression in its diverse clinical variants, together with the identification of reliable prognostic factors, could be instrumental in accurate patient selection for new upcoming therapeutic opportunities, such as enzyme replacement and gene therapy. The described correlation between genotype and clinical presentation proved helpful in predicting patient's prognosis, only in the minority of MLD patients harboring common mutations. Molecular characterization of a cohort of 26 MLD patients allowed us to identify 18 mutations, excluding the common 0 and R alleles, 10 of which are rare and 8 are novel. By categorizing the rare mutations, we were able to confirm a correlation between ARSA gene mutations, age at onset and patterns of disease progression, not only in those patients bearing common mutations, but also in those carrying rare mutant alleles. Moreover, in the case of absent or delayed molecular diagnosis, or of newly identified mutations, the involvement of peripheral nervous system from disease onset proved to be a sensitive prognostic marker predicting a severe progression. © 2008 The Author Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard
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
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