1,721,025 research outputs found
Predictive factors for postoperative pancreatic fistula
No full textThe goal of the ISGPF, clearly stated in the title of the article, was to define the complication and to grade its severity but not to provide any prognostic value. Indeed, the data necessary for the grading system cannot be analyzed before one of the events occur or at the end of the course of patient care and therefore, by definition, cannot be of any predictive value. What has to be done now is to analyze the data of several centers, expert and not so expert, to determine the independent predictive factors and then validate the results in another independent population, prospectively.What has to be done now is to analyze the data of several centers, expert and not so expert, to determine the independent predictive factors and then validate the results in another independent population, prospectively
Routine near infra-red indocyanine green fluorescent cholangiography versus intraoperative cholangiography during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A case-matched comparison
No full textBACKGROUND:
The aim is to evaluate safety and efficacy of near infra-red (NIR) indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence structural imaging during laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) (Group A) and to compare perioperative data, including operative time, with a series of patients who underwent LC with routine traditional intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) (Group B).
METHODS:
Forty-four patients with acute or chronic cholecystitis underwent NIR-ICG fluorescent cholangiography during LC. ICG was administered intravenously at different time intervals or by direct gallbladder injection during surgery. Fluorescence intensity and anatomy identification were scored according to a visual analogue scale between 1 (least accurate) and 5 (most accurate). Group B patients (n = 44) were chosen from a prospectively maintained database of patients who underwent LC with routine IOC, matched for age, sex, body mass index, and diagnosis with group A patients.
RESULTS:
No adverse reactions were recorded. In group A, mean time between intravenous administration of ICG and surgery was 10.7 ± 8.2 (range 2-52) h. Administered doses ranged from 3.5 to 13.5 mg. Fluorescence was present in all cases, scoring ≥ 3 in 41 patients. Mean operative time was 86.9 ± 36.9 (30-180) min in group A and 117.9 ± 43.4 (40-220) min in group B (p = 0.0006). No conversion to open surgery nor bile duct injuries were observed in either group.
CONCLUSIONS:
LC with NIR-ICG fluorescent cholangiography is safe and effective for early recognition of anatomical landmarks, reducing operative time as compared to LC with IOC, even when residents were the main operator. NIR-ICG fluorescent cholangiography was effective in patients with acute cholecystitis and in the obese. Data collection into large registries on the results of NIR-ICG fluorescent cholangiography during LC should be encouraged to establish whether this technique might set a new safety standard for LC
Effects of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Quality of Life Related to Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
No full textPurpose: Effects of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) on gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms are controversial. Our aim is to evaluate the effects of LSG on GERD symptoms in obese patients using a validated quality-of-life questionnaire. Methods: Records of 100 patients (median body mass index [BMI] 44.4 kg/m2, range 35-63.6) without hiatal hernia or severe GERD were analyzed. GERD symptoms were evaluated by GERD Health-Related Quality-of-Life (HRQL) questionnaire before and after surgery. Weight loss and comorbidity resolution were recorded. Results: Median GERD-HRQL scores decreased from 7 (range 0-44) to 3 (0-34) (P = .025) (median follow-up 56 months [range 7-136]). GERD-HRQL scores improved in 55 patients and worsened in 21; de novo GERD was observed in 10; no change occurred in 14 patients (differences being statistically significant: P = <.0001). On multilinear regression analysis, total preoperative GERD-HRQL score and postoperative BMI were independent variables for overall postoperative GERD-HRQL score: higher total preoperative GERD-HRQL score was associated with improved postoperative GERD-HRQL scores, whereas higher postoperative BMI was associated with worse total postoperative GERD-HRQL score. Resolution of diabetes, hypertension, and sleep apnea syndrome occurred in 84.4%, 68%, and 89.7% of patients, respectively. Conclusions: In obese patients, although LSG was associated with statistically significantly improved postoperative GERD-HRQL scores at mid-term follow-up in 55% of patients, only preoperative GERD-HRQL score and postoperative BMI were independent predictors of GERD after LSG. Higher overall preoperative GERD-HRQL score was associated with improved postoperative GERD-HRQL score. However, further research is needed to assess how to predict GERD outcome
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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