1,721,083 research outputs found
Increase of interferon-γ inducible α chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)9 and CXCL11 serum levels in patients with active Graves' disease, and modulation by methimazole therapy.
Full text linkBackground: Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand (CXCL)9 and CXCL11 play an important role in the initial phases of autoimmune thyroiditis (AT); however their serum levels in patients with Graves'disease (GD) have never been evaluated in relation to thyroid function and treatment. Methods: To evaluate CXCL9 and CXCL11 serum levels in GD, to relate these parameters to the clinical phenotype, we measured CXCL9 and CXCL11 serum levels in 91 GD patients, 91 AT, 34 non-toxic multinodular goiters (MNG), 31 toxic nodular goiters (TNG) and 91 healthy controls (age- and sex-matched). Results: Mean CXCL9, or CXCL11, levels were higher in GD, in comparison with controls, or euthyroid AT, or MNG, or TNG (*p < 0.05, ANOVA; CXCL9: 274±265, *76±33, *132±78, *87±48, *112±56 pg/mL; CXCL11: 140±92, *64±20, 108±48, *76±33, *91±41 pg/mL; respectively). Hyperthyroid GD had significantly higher CXCL9 or CXCL11 than euthyroid or hypothyroid GD. GD with untreated hyperthyroidism had higher CXCL9 or CXCL11 than hyperthyroid or euthyroid GD under methimazole (MMI) treatment. Comparable CXCL9 and CXCL11 levels were observed in newly diagnosed untreated hyperthyroid GD vs. untreated patients with relapse of hyperthyroidism after a previous MMI course. Conclusions: Serum CXCL9, and CXCL11, levels are associated with the active phase of GD both in newly diagnosed and relapsing hyperthyroid patients. The reduction of serum CXCL9 and CXCL11 levels in treated patients with GD may be related to the immunomodulatory effects of MMI
Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy and TSH receptor autoantibodies in nonmetastatic thyroid cancer after total thyroidectomy.
No full textIn a 58-year-old woman with nontoxic nodular goiter, a fine-needle aspiration biopsy showed the presence of papillary thyroid cancer, which was treated with total thyroidectomy in June 2000 and a subsequent ablative dose of 131-radioiodine. A posttherapy whole body scan showed the presence of residual tissue in the neck. On physical examination, she did not exhibit any signs or symptoms of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. A subsequent whole body scan and serum thyroglobulin determination were negative. In July 2004, she developed left retrobulbar pain, discomfort, palpebral retraction, and exophthalmos associated with the appearance of antithyrotropin receptor autoantibodies. Symptoms progressively worsened, paralleling the incremental increase in autoantibodies, and then spontaneously remitted as autoantibodies disappeared. The parallel trend of antithyrotropin receptor autoantibodies titres and thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy suggests a role of these autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy
Prevalence of hypothyroidism and Graves disease in sarcoidosis
No full textBACKGROUND:The association of sarcoidosis (S) and thyroid autoimmunity has been reported by several studies in a wide range of variability. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of clinical and subclinical thyroid disorders in patients with S vs gender-matched and age-matched control subjects.
METHODS:Thyroid hormones and antithyroid antibodies, thyroid ultrasonography and fine-needle aspiration were performed in 111 patients with S who had been consecutively referred to the Respiratory Pathophysiology Section of the University of Pisa, and the results were compared to 333 gender-matched and age-matched control subjects from the same geographic area.
RESULTS:The odds ratio for subclinical hypothyroidism for female patients with S vs control subjects was 2.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 5.9); for anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody titer (AbTPO) positivity, 2.2 (95% CI, 1.2 to 3.9); and for thyroid autoimmunity, 1.9 (95% CI, 1.1 to 3.2). The mean values of thyroid-stimulating hormone and AbTPO were higher in female S patients than in control subjects (p < 0.01). A significantly higher prevalence of clinical hypothyroidism (four patients) and Graves disease (three patients) was observed in female S patients than in control subjects (none; p = 0.005 and 0.0026, respectively). Two cases of papillary thyroid cancer were detected in S patients. No significant difference between S patients and control subjects was detected for free triiodothyronine and thyroxine, antithyroglobulin autoantibodies, thyroid volume and nodularity, and subclinical hyperthyroidism.
CONCLUSIONS:Thyroid function, AbTPO antibodies, and ultrasonography should be tested as part of the clinical profile in female S patients. Subjects who are at high risk (female subjects, those with positive AbTPOs, and those with hypoechoic and small thyroid) should have thyroid function follow-up and appropriate treatment in due course
Cytokines and HCV-related autoimmune disorders
Full text linkCytokines are intercellular mediators involved in viral control and liver damage being induced by infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV). The complex cytokine network operating during initial infection allows a coordinated, effective development of both innate and adaptive immune responses. However, HCV interferes with cytokines at various levels and escapes immune response by inducing a T-helper (Th)2/T cytotoxic 2 cytokine profile. Inability to control infection leads to the recruitment of inflammatory infiltrates into the liver parenchyma by interferon (IFN)-γ-inducible CXC chemokine ligand (CXCL)9, -10, and -11 chemokines, which results in sustained liver damage and eventually in liver cirrhosis. The most important systemic HCV-related extrahepatic diseases-mixed cryoglobulinemia, lymphoproliferative disorders, thyroid autoimmune disorders, and type 2 diabetes-are associated with a complex dysregulation of the cytokine/chemokine network, involving proinflammatory and Th1 chemokines. The therapeutical administration of cytokines such as IFN-α may result in viral clearance during persistent infection and revert this process. Theoretically agents that selectively neutralize CXCL10 could increase patient responsiveness to traditional IFN-based HCV therapy. Several studies have reported IL-28B polymorphisms and circulating CXCL10 may be a prognostic markers for HCV treatment efficacy in HCV genotype 1 infection
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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