1,721,026 research outputs found
Certolizumab: Efficacy and safety profile of a novel pegylated TNF-alpha blocking agent
No full textThe treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has changed since the introduction of biological agents. In particular, the anti Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α molecules have been the first group of drugs showing a good efficacy and safety profile. Among these, a new anti TNF-α antibody has been recently indicated for the treatment of RA: certolizumab pegol (CZP). In the main clinical trials this new pegylated anti TNF-α has shown to be efficacious on clinical, functional and prevention of structural damage in patients with active RA and with inadequate response to traditional disease modifying drugs, including methotrexate. Moreover CZP showed to be well tolerated and most adverse events occurred were mild or moderate.Therefore, results obtained showed that this new molecule can play a role in the treatment of RA. © Mattioli 1885
Psoriatic arthritis: imaging techniques
No full textImaging techniques to assess psoriatic arthritis (PsA) include radiography, ultrasonography (US), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) and bone scintigraphy. The radiographic hallmark of PsA is the combination of destructive changes (joint erosions, tuft resorption, osteolysis) with bone proliferation (including periarticular and shaft periostitis, ankylosis, spur formation and non-marginal syndesmophytes). US has an increasing important role in the evaluation of PsA. In fact, power Doppler US is useful mainly for its ability to assess musculoskeletal (joints, tendons, entheses) and cutaneous (skin and nails) involvement, to monitor efficacy of therapy and to guide steroid injections at the level of inflamed joints, tendon sheaths and entheses. MRI allows direct visualization of inflammation in peripheral and axial joints, and peripheral and axial entheses, and has dramatically improved the possibilities for early diagnosis and objective monitoring of the disease process in PsA. MRI has allowed explaining the relationships among enthesitis, synovitis and osteitis in PsA, supporting a SpA pattern of inflammation where enthesitis is the primary target of inflammation. CT has little role in assessment of peripheral joints, but it may be useful in assessing elements of spine disease. CT accuracy is similar to MRI in assessment of erosions in sacroiliac joint involvement, but CT is not as effective in detecting synovial inflammation. Bone scintigraphy lacks specificity and is now supplanted with US and MRI techniques
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
Etanercept in psoriatic arthritis
No full textIn this update on etanercept (ETN) in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) we analyze this drug's mechanism of action, clinical efficacy/effectiveness, optimal dosage, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) association, radiological progression, safety, switching aspects, and pharmacoeconomy. The efficacy/effectiveness of ETN in PsA has been demonstrated in randomized placebo-controlled trials as well as in observational studies representing routine clinical practice. At 1 and 2 years, ETN inhibited radiographic disease progression, assessed by the modified total Sharp score. ETN (generally at a dosage of 50 mg/weekly) can be used either in monotherapy or in combination with DMARD such as methotrexate. A systematic search of randomized, placebo-controlled trials of ETN to treat adults with plaque psoriasis or PsA suggests that the short-term risk/benefit ratio is favorable. Longterm studies, such as observational studies, confirmed this safety profile of ETN. A variable percentage of patients withdrew anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) inhibitor treatment owing to inefficacy or poor tolerability. Observational studies showed that in the case of treatment failure with 1 agent, switching to the other agent may also be useful in patients with PsA because of the different molecular structures and targets of available TNF-α blockers. The clinical effect of ETN is associated with favorable pharmacoeconomic considerations. The Journal of Rheumatology Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved
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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