131,034 research outputs found

    Il gel piastrinico nel trattamento del “piede diabetico”: esperienza preliminare

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    IL GEL PIASTRINICO NEL TRATTAMENTO DEL “PIEDE DIABETICO”: ESPERIENZA PRELIMINARE Massimo Chiaretti*, Giancarlo Ferrazza+, Rita Maria Fracassi@ , Andrea Negro°, Domenico Tuscano* (*) Dipartimento di Chirurgia Generale, Specialità Chirurgiche e Trapianti d’Organo “Paride Stefanini” Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” (+ ) Servizio di Immunoematologia e Medicina Trasfusionale Azienda Policlinico Umberto I, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” (@) Servizio di Immunoematologia IRCCS Ospedale Bambino Gesù, sede di Roma. (°) Azienda S. Andrea, II Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia dell’Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” La nostra esperienza evidenzia l’utilità del gel piastrinico (GP) nel trattamento ambulatoriale delle piaghe torpide della pianta del piede in paziente diabetico. Il GP guarisce in tempi prevedibili ulcerazioni torpide che richiedevano lunghissimi periodi di medicazioni complesse senza raggiungere il risultato prefissato. La nostra esperienza, analogamente ai risultati di altri autori, depone favorevolmente per questo trattamento. La metodica personalmente messa a punto prevede il curettage dopo disinfezione, l’inoculazione di 1 UI di insulina pronta alla base del cratere ulcerativo e quindi l’applicazione di 5 ml di GP con 1 ml di Trombina autologa attivata. L’applicazione può essere eseguita mediante un puntale spray o cannula a seconda delle esigenze dell’operatore o del tipo di lesione. In caso di ferite più piccole o man mano che la ferita in trattamento si riduce di ampiezza, il prodotto può essere aliquotato e congelato per successive somministrazioni. Il GP e la trombina vanno spalmati in situ e su un supporto inerte riassorbibile di acido ialuronico (Hialogel) con il quale si zaffa la cavità e che impedisce la dispersione della parte liquida e non completamente gelificabile, ricca dei fattori di crescita (PDGF, TGF, EGF, ed altri). Il rapporto strettamente collaborativo tra dermatologo, chirurgo, ortopedico, immunotrasfusionista, diabetologo e cardiologo, risolve questa problematica con un approccio multidisciplinare. Lo stretto coordinamento tra centro trasfusionale ed ambulatorio chirurgico evita inutili attese al Paziente, accorcia i tempi di esecuzione della medicazione, abbatte i costi per l’impiego di materiali e alla lunga diventa conveniente rispetto al tradizionale trattamento.Our study proves the usefulness of platelet gel in the treatment of the diabetic foot. We started in January 2006 to treat diabetic wounds of the foot in the outpatients’ surgical department with encouraging results. Despite its expensive and complex preparation, the platelet gel is useful and convenient because it succeeds in shortening the ambulatory treatment period. Besides, in our opinion, the multidisciplinary approach of this treatment is rather important: actually, it implies the cooperation of dermatologist, surgeon, orthopaedist, immunologist, diabetologist and, if necessary, the cardiologist. That is why it reduces wastes of work-time and the expenses for consultants, medications and dressing material

    USE OF AUTOLOGOUS PLATELET GEL FOR RECURRENCE OF PERINEAL AND SACROCOCCIGEAL FISTULA

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    USE OF AUTOLOGOUS PLATELET GEL FOR RECURRENCE OF PERIANAL AND SACRO-COCCIGEAL FISTULA A. Giuliani, G. Ferrazza, D. Crocetti, L. de Anna, E. Orsi, F. Guerra, F. La Torre Coloproctology Unit, Department of Emergency, Policlinico Umberto I, University of ‘‘La Sapienza’’, Rome, Italy Abstract The treatment of Sinus Pilonidalis and Perianal Fistulas is still not entirely standardised due to the frequency of relapses, the inconvenience for patients and last but not least, for the economic commitment by the health-care structure. The potential therapeutic value and versatility of products stemming from blood and platelets have long stimulated research and interest in the field of surgery. The autologous gel platelets (PG), generated by activated human thrombin and platelets, represent a new biotechnology for angiogenesis stimulation on speeding up the healing and regeneration of tissues. Do not underestimate its effect as analgesic. Our study shows the employment of gel platelets in the treatment of complicated wounds and recurrences following surgery for Sinus Pilonidalis and Perianal Fistulas . From January 2006 to May 2009, we selected eight patients (6 males and 2 females, aged between 19 and 54 years) with infected wound following surgery for Sinus Pilonidalis and 10 patients (6 males and 4 females, aged between 31 and 72 years) with recurrence after Perianal Fistulas Our results, although obtained on a small group of patients, support the safety and efficacy of PG in the treatment of infected wounds following surgery for the excision of Sinus Pilonidalis and Perianal Fistulas relapses. Further studies and longer follow-up are needed to come to any conclusion

    Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in the functional and prognostic evaluation of patients with pulmonary diseases

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    Exercise testing is increasingly utilized to evaluate the level of exercise intolerance in patients with lung and heart diseases. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is considered the gold standard to study a patient's level of exercise limitation and its causes. The 2 CPET protocols most frequently used in the clinical setting are the maximal incremental and the constant work rate tests. The aim of this review is to focus on the main respiratory diseases for which exercise tolerance is indicated; for example, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease, primary pulmonary hypertension and cystic fibrosis. This review also focuses on the variables/indices that are utilized in the functional and prognostic evaluation. The recognition of abnormal response patterns of ventilatory, cardiac and metabolic limitation to exercise may help in the diagnostic evaluation. In addition, CPET indexes can provide important functional and prognostic information regarding patients with pulmonary disease. Exercise indices, such as peak oxygen uptake (V'O 2 peak), ventilatory equivalents for carbon dioxide production (V'E-/V'CO2) and arterial oxygen saturation (S pO2), have in fact proven to be better predictors of prognosis than lung function measurements obtained at rest. Moreover, useful information on the effects of therapeutic interventions may be obtained by CPET by studying the changes in endurance capacity during high-intensity constant work rate protocols. Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG

    MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations

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    Information overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    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

    "Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"

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    Both spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
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