1,720,968 research outputs found
A review of allergic rhinitis
No full textAllergic rhinitis (AR) is the most widespread type of non-infectious rhinitis. In 2001, the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) group classified AR as intermittent/persistent or mild/moderate-severe, based on the duration/chronicity and the severity of symptoms and the impact on patient’s quality of life. It is generally associated with co-morbid disorders such as conjunctivitis, sleep disturbances and obstructive sleep apnoea, with a severe impact on quality of life. The most relevant co-morbidity is asthma (38% of all AR patients present with asthma symptoms) in accordance with the recent definition of united airway disease (UAD). Pharmacotherapy must be considered as the cornerstone intervention and, particularly, antihistamines and intranasal corticosteroids. The treatment for AR is effective in the majority of patients, a remaining 20% do not achieve symptom control with an adequate pharmacological treatment; they suffer from severe chronic upper airway diseases (SCUADs). Specific immunotherapy (SIT) is considered the only curative treatment against AR. It reduces the clinical manifestations of the disease and drug consumption with a carry-over effect (long-lasting persistence of effects after discontinuation) and it seems to prevent the onset of new sensitisations, reducing the risk of asthma onset. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) was first accepted as a viable alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) in the 1998 World Health Organization (WHO) position paper; it is widely used in Europe and other countries, and registrative studies are ongoing in the US. Chemically altered allergens, allergoids, recombinant allergens and relevant T-cell epitope peptides are expected to be promising approaches for the future of SIT
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
The contribution of sublingual immunotherapy to the achievement of control in birch-related mild persistent asthma: A real-life randomized trial.
No full textBackground: Asthma control represents the main goal of asthma management and differentstrategies aim to avoid the long term downsides of inhaled corticosteroids. We investigated inreal-life conditions the contribution of sublingual immunotherapy in achieving the control ofbirch-related mild persistent asthma compared to two usual step-up therapeutic options.Methods: A three-year open randomised study included 84 asthmatics, uncontrolled during theprevious birch pollen season, despite a treatment with budesonide 400 g/day. Patients ran-domly received budesonide 800 g/day, budesonide 1600 g/day, budesonide 400 g/day plusmontelukast 10 g/day and budesonide 400 g/day plus carbamylated allergoid of betulaceaepre-coseasonally. Asthma Control test, combined allergy symptoms and medications score,albuterol consumption, lung function, nasal eosinophils and nasal steroids usage were assessedas changes from the first to last pollen season.Result: Seventy-six patients concluded the study. All options, except budesonide 800 g/day,produced an improvement of mean monthly Asthma Control test (p < 0.05). Patients undergoinglow-dose budesonide plus immunotherapy achieved, after three years, an appreciable control(ACT mean score 24). A significant improvement was seen in all groups for allergy symptomsplus medications and bronchial reactivity. Albuterol consumption and lung function improvedin all but the first group. Only budesonide plus immunotherapy reduced nasal eosinophils andnasal steroids usage. Two mild self-resolving adverse events were reported
The link between allergic rhinitis and asthma: the united airways disease
No full textRhinitis and asthma are often associated and the two disorders interact at various levels. Rhinitis typically precedes the development of asthma and can contribute to unsatisfactory asthma control. The presence and type of asthma is influenced by sensitization, and the duration and severity of allergic rhinitis. Nasal symptoms, airflow and markers of inflammation directly correlate with lower airway involvement. Local tissue factors, such as microbial stimuli and systemic inflammatory mechanisms, play a role in the clinical expression of the allergic airway syndrome. There is increasing evidence that suggests a major involvement of airway epithelial cells in the pathogenesis of both asthma and allergic rhinitis. Even in patients with rhinitis who do not have asthma, subclinical changes in the lower airways and inflammatory mediators can be detected. The pathogenic role of paranasal sinus infections in respiratory allergy has been better elucidated but there remains a need for further research. Treatment of established rhinitis may affect asthma control and could have some impact on airway obstruction, but a direct effect of rhinitis therapy on lower airway inflammation remains to be clearly established
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
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe 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
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