1,721,105 research outputs found
Bortezomib with or without dexamethasone in primary systemic (light chain) amyloidosis
Full text linkPURPOSE To assess the efficacy and tolerability of bortezomib with or without dexamethasone and to define prognostic factors for patients with primary systemic light chain (AL) amyloidosis treated with bortezomib or both. PATIENTS AND METHODS Ninety-four patients from three centers were analyzed: 19% received the combination as first-line treatment, 81% had a median of two previous therapies, and 69% had refractory disease, while most patients had symptomatic heart involvement or elevated serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Results A hematologic response was achieved in 71% within a median of 52 days, including 25% complete responses (CRs). Previously untreated patients had a 47% CR rate. Age 65 years or younger (P = .043) and twice weekly administration of bortezomib (P = .041) were associated with higher response rates. A cardiac response was documented in 29% of patients, in most as sustained improvement of functional class and less often as a decrease in wall thickness. Hematologic responses were associated with a cardiac response and NT-proBNP reduction. After a median follow-up of 12 months, 29% of patients had organ progression and 27% had hematologic progression. Median survival has not been reached and the 1-year survival rate is 76%. Baseline NT-proBNP was independently associated with survival (P = .001), while in a landmark analysis, survival was associated with NT-proBNP reduction of > or = 30% (P = .006) and achievement of hematologic response (P = .001). Toxicity was manageable and mostly consisted of neuropathy, orthostasis, peripheral edema, and constipation or diarrhea. CONCLUSION Bortezomib with or without dexamethasone is active in AL amyloidosis and induces rapid responses and high rates of hematologic and organ responses. Serial measurement of cardiac biomarkers is a powerful predictor of outcome
Natural history and outcome in systemic AA amyloidosis
No full textBACKGROUND:Deposition of amyloid fibrils derived from circulating acute-phase reactant serum amyloid A protein (SAA) causes systemic AA amyloidosis, a serious complication of many chronic inflammatory disorders. Little is known about the natural history of AA amyloidosis or its response to treatment.METHODS:We evaluated clinical features, organ function, and survival among 374 patients with AA amyloidosis who were followed for a median of 86 months. The SAA concentration was measured serially, and the amyloid burden was estimated with the use of whole-body serum amyloid P component scintigraphy. Therapy for inflammatory diseases was administered to suppress the production of SAA.RESULTS:Median survival after diagnosis was 133 months; renal dysfunction was the predominant disease manifestation. Mortality, amyloid burden, and renal prognosis all significantly correlated with the SAA concentration during follow-up. The risk of death was 17.7 times as high among patients with SAA concentrations in the highest eighth, or octile, (greater/equal 155 mg per liter) as among those with concentrations in the lowest octile (< 4 mg per liter); and the risk of death was four times as high in the next-to-lowest octile (4 to 9 mg per liter). The median SAA concentration during follow-up was 6 mg per liter in patients in whom renal function improved and 28 mg per liter in those in whom it deteriorated (P < 0.001). Amyloid deposits regressed in 60% of patients who had a median SAA concentration of less than 10 mg per liter, and survival among these patients was superior to survival among those in whom amyloid deposits did not regress (P=0.04).CONCLUSIONS:The effects of renal dysfunction dominate the course of AA amyloidosis, which is associated with a relatively favorable outcome in patients with SAA concentrations that remain in the low-normal range (< 4 mg per liter)
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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