1,720,980 research outputs found
Nephrotic syndrome in a patient with IgM myeloma with associated neutrophilia.
No full textAn unusual case having IgM monoclonal gammopathy with clinical and pathologic features of multiple myeloma (MM) in association with neutrophilia and nephrotic syndrome is reported. The patient showed lytic bone lesions, decreased IgG and IgA levels, Bence-Jones proteinuria, nephrotic proteinuria with edema, and histological plasma cell infiltration typical of MM. Moreover, mature neutrophilic leukocytosis, hepatomegaly, high leukocyte alkaline phosphatase score (LAP), absence of Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome and bcr gene rearrangement were also evidenced, all these features representing findings typical of the recently described plasma cell dyscrasia-associated neutrophilia. After the diagnosis, the patient was treated with melphalan and prednisone, with an excellent response to the treatment. Different from the 30 cases so far reported, this is the first case of plasma-cell dyscrasia with associated neutrophilia due to IgM-producing monoclonal gammopathy. At the same time, this is the first reported case of nephrotic syndrome secondary to IgM myeloma
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
Sex differences in adverse drug reaction and liver disease
No full textAdverse drug reactions represent a significant public health problem. A share of no small adverse reaction is particularly serious and can even lead to patient’s death. Furthermore, hepatitis induced by serious drug reactions is a rare event but potentially fatal. Finally, we know that epidemiological studies have highlighted male gender as an independent predictor of fibrosis progression towards cirrhosis in hepatitis B and C-virus, as well as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The importance of considering the differences between the male and female sex in clinical decision-making is crucial. The physiopathology of liver disease is different in the two genres, but these differences are not yet fully known and several potential mechanisms have been identified
Induction of neutrophil chemotaxis by leptin - Crucial role for p38 and Src kinases.
No full textLeptin is involved in energy homeostasis, hematopoiesis, inflammation, and immunity. Although hypoleptinemia characterizing malnutrition has been strictly related to increased susceptibility to infection, other hyperleptinemic conditions, such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), are highly susceptible to bacterial infections. On the other hand, ESRD is characterized by neutrophil functional defects crucial for infectious morbidity, and several uremic toxins capable of depressing neutrophil functions have been identified. In the present study, we investigated leptin's effects on neutrophil function. Our results show that leptin inhibits neutrophil migration in response to classical chemoattractants. Otherwise, leptin is endowed with chemotactic activity toward neutrophils. The two activities, inhibition of the cell response to chemokines and stimulation of neutrophil migration, could be detected at similar concentrations. On the contrary, neutrophils exposed to leptin did not display detectable [Ca2+]i mobilization, oxidant production, or beta2-integrin upregulation. The results demonstrate that leptin is a pure chemoattractant devoid of secretagogue properties but capable of inhibiting neutrophil chemotaxis to classical neutrophilic chemoattractants. This effect is dependent on the activation of intracellular kinases involved in F-actin polymerization and neutrophil locomotion. Indeed, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Src kinase, but not extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK), were activated by short-term incubation with leptin. Moreover, p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580 and Src kinase inhibitor PP1, but not MEK inhibitor PD98059, blocked neutrophil chemotaxis toward leptin. Serum from patients with ESRD inhibits migration of normal neutrophils in response to N-formyl-methionine-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) with a strict correlation between serum leptin levels and serum ability to suppress neutrophil locomotion. The serum inhibitory activity can be effectively prevented by immune-depletion of leptin. Taking into account the crucial role of neutrophils in host defense, we show that leptin-mediated ability of ERSD serum to inhibit neutrophil chemotaxis appears to be a mechanism contributing to neutrophil dysfunction in ESRD
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