1,720,961 research outputs found
The role of polymorphisms of thiopurine methyltransferase in therapy with Azathioprine: preliminary study Journal of Biological Research
Full text linkAzathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug belonging to the class of thiopurines widely used in clinical therapy. Its immunosuppressive action is linked to the substantial action mechanism in the inhibition of the synthesis of nitrogenous bases purine carried out in T-lymphocyte. The level of such medication limit resides in side effects such as myelosuppression and the development of tumours. The occurrence of side effects is linked to the presence of genetic polymorphisms of Thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT). To date, 40 allelic variants for TPMT have been detected. However, those responsible for the reduction of enzyme activity are three: *2, *3A, *3C. The presence of one of the three polymorphisms makes the enzyme susceptible to degradation at proteasome level, and exposes the patient to high levels of the active drug that increases the probability of an occurrence of its side effects. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration imposed the execution of a genetic test of TPMT typing in order to determine if the drug therapy is appropriate to the metabolic characteristics
of the patient. The study had the aim of identifying the prevalence of the three aforementioned polymorphisms related to TPMT in a sample population in Palermo, Italy, highlighting the differences related to the sex of the patient and highlighting the main phenotypes. The results showed prevalence in the population of the
absence of polymorphism. Among the most frequent polymorphisms is the *3A (3%). A percentage of 1.5% was found for the polymorphism *3C. No polymorphism *2 was identified in the population analyzed
Methadone versus buprenorphine data detected from Caltanissetta SER.T
Full text linkIn last years, heroin-addicted have exponentially increased: this has made it necessary to identify a pharmacological strategy as effective as possible. With this purpose, a statistical investigation was conducted in a sample of individuals, aged between 18 and 50.They were diagnosed and subjected to different treatments at Ser.T of Caltanissetta (Sicily-Italy) during the period 2013-2017. The analyzed patients were treated with three different pharmacological therapy: methadone 0.1%, methadone 0.5%, buprenorphine and suboxone. We obtained percentages of responders, low responders and non-responders patients from data processing, based on used therapy. Considering pharmacological responses of the sample examined, it is possible to observe that the treatment with buprenorphine has led to 71.98% of responders subjects, 23.52% of low responders and 4.5% of non-responders. Instead, the administration of methadone 0.1 % has produced 82.82% of
responders subjects, 11.08% of low responders, 6.1% of nonresponders. The therapy with methadone 0.5% has resulted 88.98% of responders subjects, 7.8% of low responders, 3.22% of nonresponders. Finally, through the administration of suboxone, we obtained 86.34% of responders subjects, 9.84% of low responders
and 3.82% of non responders. In conclusion, although it has emerged that treatment with methadone 0.5% is the most successful therapy, it is preferable to use suboxone (except in relapsing subjects) since it has also produced a high number of responders subjects and a good safety profile for heroin addicted patients
Immuno-oncological treatment of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) in advanced stage with Nivolumab
Full text linkImmuno-oncology marked a therapeutic revolution in the treatment of cancer. Thanks to the new strategy that aims to awaken the immune system to fight cancer cells, there has been a change in the clinical course in the treatment of advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Our study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of nivolumab monotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer beyond the second line. The results showed a progression-free survival of 7.35 months and an improvement in the quality of life of patients compared to other treatments. In addition, no type 3 and type 4 adverse reactions were detected in
patients treated with Nivolumab. We hope that these results, already promising, will lead to an increase in overall survival in the future
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
Statistical survey focused on diffusion and knowledge of energy drinks, conducted in Palermo
Full text linkIn recent years energy drinks consumption has increased, due to their ability to improve physical and cognitive performance. Unfortunately, because of poor or incorrect information, people are not always aware of the harmful consequences of these drinks such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, tachycardia until death. Therefore, we conducted a statistical survey in the Palermo area, submitting a paper questionnaire to 1003 people. Data analysis shows that only 29% of the audience never consumed energy drinks, while 71% tried them at least once in their life, especially in adolescence; 81% never or rarely drink them, 14% drink them a few times a month, while 5% drink them several times a week. Energy drinks are mostly consumed in disco, sport and study contexts; 93% of respondents are aware of the risks caused by the excessive consumption of them; 91% know that it is not appropriate to associate them with alcohol, but 9% think it is better to mix them; 72% of interviewees know that people should never drink energy drink with alcohol, 13% do it only in the weekend, while 15% think it is appropriate to do whenever they want. In fact, 14% do not believe it is risky to take energy drinks together with alcohol, and 40% do not know whether it is risky or not, while 46% know it can be risky; 45% associate the idea of cigarettes with alcohol and energy drinks. In conclusion, it is appropriate to highlight their risks to prevent some fatal consequences
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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