1,721,086 research outputs found
Signs and genetics of rare cancer syndromes with gastroenterological features
No full textAlthough the genetic bases of most hereditary cancer
syndromes are known, and genetic tests are available
for them, the incidence of the most rare of these
syndromes is likely underestimated, partially because
the clinical expression is neither fully understood nor
easily diagnosed due to the variable and complex
expressivity. The clinical features of a small pool of rare
cancer syndromes include gastroenterological signs,
though not necessarily tumors, that could require
the intervention of a gastroenterologist during any
of the phases of the clinical management. Herein we
will attempt to spread the knowledge on these rare
syndromes by summarizing the phenotype and genetic
basis, and revising the peculiar gastroenterological signs
whose underlying role in these rare hereditary cancer
syndromes is often neglected. Close collaboration
between geneticists and gastroenterologists could
facilitate both the early identification of patients or
relatives at-risk and the planning of multidisciplinary
and tailored management of these subjects
Case report: Pembrolizumab plus Axitinib related hypothyroid myopathy in two kidney cancer patients
No full textThe first-line therapy in advanced kidney cancer has changed in recent years due to the introduction of combinations of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFR) and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Although immune-related adverse events are well-known, in the case of combination treatments, the determination of which drug is related to an adverse event may be challenging. We reported two cases of patients who developed muscle enzyme elevation in association with hypothyroidism during therapy with pembrolizumab plus axitinib for metastatic kidney cancer. The myopathy rapidly resolved after hormone replacement therapy with levothyroxine. Hypothyroid myopathy is a scarcely known and underreported adverse event. This adverse event may be relevant in the differential diagnosis with immune-related myositis, which has an autoimmune pathogenesis and a potentially fatal course
Direct healthcare costs of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer in Italy
Full text linkObjectives: The management of non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC)
is rapidly evolving; however, little is known about the direct healthcare costs of nmCRPC. We
aimed to estimate the cost-of-illness (COI) of nmCRPC from the Italian National Health Service
perspective.
Methods: Structured, individual qualitative interviews were carried out with clinical experts to
identify what healthcare resources are consumed in clinical practice. To collect quantitative
estimates of healthcare resource consumption, a structured expert elicitation was performed
with clinical experts using a modified version of a previously validated interactive Excel-based
tool, EXPLICIT (EXPert eLICItation Tool). For each parameter, experts were asked to provide
the lowest, highest, and most likely value. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses
(PSA) were carried out to test the robustness of the results.
Results: Ten clinical experts were interviewed, and six of them participated in the expert
elicitation exercise. According to the most likely estimate, the yearly cost per nmCRPC patient
is €4,710 (range, €2,243 to €8,243). Diagnostic imaging (i.e., number/type of PET scans
performed) had the highest impact on cost. The PSA showed a 50 percent chance for the yearly
cost per nmCRPC patient to be within €5,048 using a triangular distribution for parameters, and
similar results were found using a beta-PERT distribution.
Conclusions: This study estimated the direct healthcare costs of nmCRPC in Italy based on a
mixed-methods approach. Delaying metastases may be a reasonable goal also from an economic
standpoint. These findings can inform decision-making abou
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
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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