1,720,992 research outputs found
Subclinical myopathy and colorectal cancer: identification and role of new muscle damage and regeneration biomarkers
Full text linkBackground
Skeletal muscle is the major reservoir of body proteins and it can be affected in conditions associated to altered protein turnover and metabolism such as cancer. Although severe wasting is seen primarily in patients with advanced malignancy, some of them present degree of wasting at the onset of disease. Autophagy has been recently described to play a relevant role in muscle wasting.
Materials and Methods
We performed morphometric studies and immunohistochemical analyses on intraoperative rectus abdominis muscle biopsies from 50 consecutive weight stable colorectal patients and 25 weight-stable patients operated for non-inflammatory benign diseases with no clinical signs of myopathies. Biochemical and molecular analyses have been performed in order to evaluate protein profile, the presence of autophagy induction and their correlation with clinical outcome.
Results
In cancer patients, we observed a subclinical myopathy characterized by an abnormal distribution of myonuclei relocated from the periphery inside the myofiber. The percentage of myofibers with abnormally located myonuclei was significantly higher in patients compared to controls. Analyses on serum samples showed that, in the absence of systemic inflammation, in the prevalence of cancer patients the levels of albumin and prealbumin were below the normal range and the mean value was significantly lower compared to that detected in controls. Molecular analyses showed an accumulation of p62, a typical marker of autophagy induction, significantly higher in cancer patients compared to controls. We found an inverse correlation between the number of abnormally nucleated myofibers and the presence of lymph node metastasis. Cancer relapse was correlated with low serum levels of prealbumin and high levels of p62 in myofibers of cancer patients.
Conclusions
Colorectal cancer patients have a subclinical myopathy characterized by myofibers with internally located myonuclei. In the absence of inflammation, cancer patients show low levels of prealbumin and albumin as markers of altered protein turnover and persistent high levels of p62 in myofibers as expression of autophagy induction with an impairment in physiological autophagic flux. Up to now our data indicate that skeletal muscle fibers show nuclear abnormalities that seems to be associated to a better prognosis, while the presence of an altered protein turnover at an early stage of disease, with an impairment in the physiological autophagic flux, that could be predictive of cancer relapse and onset of cancer cachexia
Common femoral artery endarterectomy for occlusive disease: an 8-year single-center prospective study
No full textMo1441 Lymph Node Ratio and Para-Aortic Node Involvement Are Not Independent Predictors of Survival After Resection for Pancreatic Cancer
No full text
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
Revascularization to an isolated ("blind") popliteal artery segment: a viable procedure for critical limb ischemia.
No full textIF 3.603
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to analyze our experience of bypass procedures to an isolated (“blind”) popliteal artery segment (IPAS) to revascularize the perigeniculate arteries in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI), to establish whether such revascularizations could yield acceptable results in terms of patency and limb salvage (LS) rates.
Patients and methods Over a decade, 347 above-knee arterial revascularizations were performed in 293 patients and in 51 (14.7%) of these the outflow vessels were the perigeniculate arteries arising from an IPAS, through a reversed saphenous vein or spliced veins (n = 30, 58.8%; group I) or polytetrafluoroethylene (n = 21, 41.2%; group II) prosthetic grafts. Patency, LS and survival rates were assessed using Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis. A complete follow-up (range, 0.1-10.4 years; mean, 5.6 years) was obtained in 49 patients.
Results The IPAS was chosen as the last resort in 39 patients (76.5%) because no other infrapopliteal artery was identified as being available at angiography; in 12 patients (23.5%) it was chosen because of an invasive foot infection or ischemic necrosis overlying the dorsalis pedis or the posterior tibial arteries. The study series was mainly male, with significantly more younger patients in group I (72 ± 1 years vs 74 ± 5 years, p = .037). Group I had a statistically higher incidence of diabetes mellitus (76.6% vs 47.6%, p = .033), insulin dependence (56.7% vs 28.6%, p = .047) and history of smoking (80% vs 47.6%, p = .016) than group II. None of the patients died in the perioperative period. There were 3 early graft failures (two in the group I), prompting 3 major amputations. Kaplan-Meier analysis identified 5-year patency and LS rates of 51.4 ± 9.6% and 90 ± 4.3%, respectively, in the series as a whole, and the two groups had comparable 5-year patency, LS and survival rates.
Conclusions Revascularizations to an IPAS can be performed with acceptable results in terms of patency and LS rates, even when there is no infrapopliteal runoff vessel. Finding perigeniculate arteries arising from an IPAS with no tibio-peroneal vessel reconstitution at arteriography does not justify a pessimistic attitude to the performance of such revascularizations for LS
Résultats de la duodénopancréatectomie chez les octogénaires: expérience monocentrique et revue de la littérature
No full textINTRODUCTION:
Pancreatic and perampullary neoplasms in patients aged 80 or older trouble the surgeons because of the risk of surgical treatment. We have reviewed our experience and literature's reports of pancreaticoduodenectomy in octogenarians, evaluating early results and long-term survival in pancreatic cancer group.
METHODS:
Three hundred eighty-five patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy for neoplasms from 1998 to 2011 were included in the study, and were divided in two groups: group 1, patients younger than 80 years of age, and group 2, patients 80 years of age and older. Operative morbidity, mortality, disease-free and long-term survival were analysed. English literature was systematically searched for pancreatic resection's outcome in octogenarians.
RESULTS:
There were 385 pancreaticoduodenectomies: 362 patients were in group 1 and 23 patients in group 2. There was no significant difference regarding gender, and pathologic findings between the two groups. Complications' rate (40 vs. 43%), mortality rate (4% vs. 0%), and overall median survival for pancreatic cancer patients were not statistically different in the two groups (median 21 vs. 19 months). Literature's review showed 14 reports of pancreatic resection in octogenarians. Most of the studies (particularly in centres with high-volume pancreatic surgery) showed that outcome after pancreatectomy was not different in octogenarians or in younger patients.
CONCLUSION:
Pancreaticoduodenectomy is an acceptable option for elderly patients. Age alone should not be considered a contraindication to major pancreatic resection, but a careful preoperative evaluation and an accurate postoperative management are mandatory
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