1,721,063 research outputs found
Non-invasive evaluation of liver fibrosis using transient elastography
No full textTransient elastography (TE, FibroScan) is a novel non-invasive method that has been proposed for the assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic liver diseases, by measuring liver stiffness. TE is a rapid and user-friendly technique that can be easily performed at the bedside or in the outpatient clinic with immediate results and good reproducibility. Limitations include failure in around 5% of cases, mainly in obese patients. So far, TE has been mostly validated in chronic hepatitis C, with diagnostic performance equivalent to that of serum markers for the diagnosis of significant fibrosis. Combining TE with serum markers increases diagnostic accuracy and as a result, liver biopsy could be avoided for initial assessment in most patients with chronic hepatitis C. This strategy warrants further evaluation in other aetiological types of chronic liver diseases. TE appears to be an excellent tool for early detection of cirrhosis and may have prognostic value in this setting. As TE has excellent patient acceptance it could be useful for monitoring fibrosis progression and regression in the individual case, but more data are awaited for this application. Guidelines are needed for the use of TE in clinical practice.
Comment i
Is ACLF a distinct syndrome? In “Therapy in Liver Diseases”, Ginés P, Forns X, Fernandez J, Crespo G, Solà E, Rodés J, Arroyo V eds, Barcelona: Elsevier España SL 2015, 31-37.
No full textExperimental Evaluation of YAMATO, a SDN Control Plane for Joint and Fractional-Joint Switched SDM Optical Networks
No full textManaging (Fractional) Joint Switching will enable the deployment of cost-effective SDM networks. This paper describes a network model and the first control plane implementation handling these paradigms. We show, using an emulated testbed, that the system is responsive and scalable
Real-life effectiveness of sofosbuvir/velpatasvir/voxilaprevir in hepatitis C patients previously treated with sofosbuvir/velpatasvir or glecaprevir/pibrentasvir
Full text linkRuiz-Cobo J.C., Llaneras J., Forns X., Gallego Moya A., Conde Amiel I., Arencibia A., Diago M., García-Samaniego J., Castellote J., Llerena S., Rodríguez-Seguel E., Mateos B., Rodríguez M., Rosales Zabal J.M., Fernández I., Calleja J.L., Morillas R.M., Montoliu S., Andrade R.J., Badia Aranda E., Hernández-Guerra M., Maté C.J., González-Santiago J.M., de Cuenca B., Bernal-Monterde V., Delgado M., Turnes J., Lens S., Buti M
YAMATO: The First SDN Control Plane for Independent, Joint, and Fractional-Joint Switched SDM Optical Networks
No full textThe deployment of space division multiplexed (SDM) optical networks hinges on this technology being able to offer a beneficial ratio between the expected capacity gains and the resulting cost increase. In order to keep the cost of SDM low, several integrated devices have been proposed to perform the functions of transmission, reception, amplification, and switching; however, little or no work has been carried out in creating a network model to represent their behavior, and in actually managing and controlling them, especially with respect to those devices that are able to jointly switch multiple spatial dimensions. This paper describes YAMATO, the first control plane designed to handle any type of SDM fiber and switching paradigm. To do so, we present a network model capable of encoding any SDM link and node, and describe the design and functions of our network controller, which is based on the OpenDaylight framework. Furthermore, we investigate the additional complexity faced by optical restoration schemes for SDM compared to standard optical networks. We experimentally evaluate the proposed system via an emulated testbed, and report some performance measurements of our implementation
Albumin: for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis as well as no spontaneous bacterial peritonitis infections?
No full textPatients with cirrhosis often develop bacterial infections,
not only because they are more often exposed to the risk
of infection, due to frequent hospitalizations and invasive
procedures, but also, and mainly, because they present an
increased susceptibility. Enhanced bacterial translocation
from the gut and impairments in both innate and acquired
immunity account for this increased susceptibility1. In
addition, once infections have occurred, abnormalities
in the systemic inflammatory response coupled with the
peculiar cardiovascular background of cirrhosis, make their
consequences far more severe than in the general population2.
Thus, bacterial infections represent a common and severe
complication that physicians treating patients with cirrhosis
are frequently called to deal with
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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