1,720,983 research outputs found
PROCESSI MOTIVAZIONALE E VOLITIVI NELL'APPRENDIMENTO: analisi di alcune variabili predittive della riuscita scolastica
Merete Amann Gainotti Alessandra Farneti, Paolo Renz
Comparison of two different epidemiological profiles of otorhinolaryngology emergencies
Silent sinus syndrome and maxillary sinus atelectasis in children
Objective Silent sinus syndrome (SSS) and chronic maxillary atelectasis (CMA) are unusual conditions having subtle symptoms with a possible progressive evolution. They are particularly infrequent in the pediatric population. Our objective was to review our experience with pediatric patients having SSS or CMA, and to review all cases involving patients under 14 years of age reported in the literature. Methods A retrospective review of 6 patients diagnosed with SSS or CMA surgically treated from 2001 to 2014 was carried out. All cases reported in literature were reviewed. Results All patients underwent functional endoscopic sinus surgery with an improvement in symptoms after surgery. Diplopia disappeared in two patients who presented with it and enophthalmos improved in all five patients presenting with it. Only one patient out of four presenting with headache had a persistence of the symptoms which were, however, milder than they had been preoperatively. Endoscopic examination demonstrated a reventilated maxillary sinus in all cases. A radiological examination at follow-up was performed in 5 cases and demonstrated a reexpansion of the maxillary sinus as compared to the contralateral side in all patients except one. None of the patients required an orbital floor reconstruction. Eleven similar cases reported in the literature were analyzed and compared. Conclusion Endoscopic uncinectomy and middle meatal antrostomy should be the treatment of choice for these conditions in patients presenting with enophthalmos and/or hypoglobus and symptoms related to it. Orbital floor reconstruction should be performed as a delayed procedure only in selected cases. Chronic maxillary atelectasis or SSS should be considered as a possible cause of persistent headache of unknown origin in pediatric patients
Ultrasonographic assessment of tonsillar volume in children
Sir, we read with great interest the recent article by Asimakopoulos et Al. entitled “Ultrasonographic assessment of tonsillar volume in children”1. The study has been well planned and we would like to appreciate the effort made by the Authors to shed light on this topic. However there are few points regarding the methodology with which we have some reservations and would like to highlight these through your prestigious journal . First, the clinical utility of tonsillar volume as a predictor of OSAS severity has not been clearly demonstrated despite its widespread use. The etiologies of pediatric OSAS are diverse. Tonsil size is not the sole factor and this could explain why tonsillectomy is not 100 % curative2. Because the tonsils are larger relative to the airway size a better way to assess tonsil size clinically is to evaluate the tonsils within a more 3-dimensional/volumetric framework to capture the impact of the tonsils on the upper airway. Second, since in the paper by Asimakopoulos et Al indication for tonsillectomy was recurrent tonsillitis in about 70% of the patients, it could be hasty to conclude that “Preoperative ultrasound assessment of tonsillar anatomy and size may be an additional and suitable, objective method in the development of a risk stratification system in children with obstructive sleep apnoea undergoing tonsillar surgery”. Certainly, as supposed by the Authors, tonsillar ultrasound may have a role to assess for tonsillar asymmetry and potentially prevent patients from undergoing unnecessary diagnostic tonsillectomies. Finally, even if assessment of tonsils size is an effective screening tool for the clinical diagnosis of paediatric OSA , the true effect of tonsils volume on sleep disordered breathing requires further exploration. Particularly, in the case of a child who may be at higher risk for complications during surgery only a PSG may have real value in firmly establishing the risk of postoperative respiratory compromise potentially needing for ICU overnight observation3
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
“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
We 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
Usefulness of three-dimensional computed tomographic anatomy in endoscopic frontal recess surgery
The endoscopic bidimensional vision offered by the endoscope during endoscopic sinus surgery involves difficulty in visualizing surgical field depth which makes it difficult to learn this surgical technique and makes it necessary for the endoscopic surgeon to mentally create a three-dimensional (3D) picture of the paranasal sinuses anatomy. In particular, frontal recess surgery requires good knowledge of its anatomic position, also since it is necessary to use angled endoscopes, which distort the view, and angular instruments which are difficult to use. Purpose of this project is to offer to the endoscopic surgeon a detailed 3D model of the nose and paranasal sinuses with particular attention to the frontal recess
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
We 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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