186,315 research outputs found
Taccuino persiano
No full textFoucault segue in presa diretta la rivoluzione iraniana, guardata attraverso le sue classiche categorie analitiche
Modeling the Role of Baseline Risk and Additional Study-Level Covariates in Meta-Analysis of Treatment Effects
No full text: The relationship between the treatment effect and the baseline risk is a recognized tool to investigate the heterogeneity of treatment effects in meta-analyses of clinical trials. Since the baseline risk is difficult to measure, a proxy is adopted, which is based on the rate of events for the subject under the control condition. The use of the proxy in terms of aggregated information at the study level implies that the data are affected by measurement errors, a problem that the literature has explored and addressed in recent years. This paper proposes an extension of the classical meta-analysis with baseline risk information, which includes additional study-specific covariates other than the rate of events to explain heterogeneity. Likelihood-based inference is carried out by including measurement error correction techniques necessary to prevent unreliable inference due to the measurement errors affecting the covariates summarized at the study level. Within-study covariances between risk measures and the covariate components are computed using Taylor expansions based on study-level covariate subgroup summary information. When such information is not available and, more generally, in order to reduce computational difficulties, a pseudo-likelihood solution is developed under a working independence assumption between the observed error-prone measures. The performance of the methods is investigated in a series of simulation studies under different specifications for the sample size, the between-study heterogeneity, and the underlying risk distribution. They are applied to a meta-analysis about the association between COVID-19 and schizophrenia
Integrazione o esclusione? Società europee e migranti
No full textLe società europee sono davanti a un bivio: o includono gli immigrati, anche attraverso la rivisitazione dei loro modelli d'integrazione culturale, o rischiano di produrre al loro interno conflitti e fenomeni di reazione che possono condurre a radicali contrapposizioni identitarie
Expression of mucin-like carcinoma associated antigen in the cyst fluid differentiates mucinous from non mucinous pancreatic cysts.
No full textOBJECTIVES: Differential diagnosis of pancreatic cystic lesions may be difficult: the main problem is to distinguish mucinous neoplasms from nonmucinous cysts. We evaluated the usefulness of the mucin-like carcinoma-associated antigen (MCA) in the fluid of pancreatic cysts for detecting mucinous neoplasms. Results were compared with those of CA 15-3, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and CA 72-4 fluid content, and cytology.
METHODS: Twenty-four pancreatic cyst fluids were collected from 10 pseudocysts, eight mucinous cystic tumors, and six serous cystadenomas.
RESULTS: MCA was elevated in seven of eight mucinous tumors (sensitivity 87.5%, specificity 100%). A significant difference was found between MCA levels in mucinous neoplasms versus pseudocysts (p = 0.0003) and serous cystadenomas (p = 0.001). Mean MCA levels were higher (133.7 U/ml) in mucinous cystadenocarcinomas than in cystadenomas (37.5 U/ml). The sensitivity of CA 15-3, CEA, and CA 72-4 in detecting mucinous neoplasms was 50, 87.5, and 87.5%, respectively, with a specificity of 94%, 44%, and 94%, respectively. Cytology showed mucinous epithelial cells in only four of eight mucinous neoplasms, with a specificity of 100%.
CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that MCA determination in the cyst fluid is a promising new tumor marker for the preoperative diagnosis of mucinous cystic neoplasms of the pancreas
Capillary rising damp in Venetian context : state of the art and numerical simulation
No full textThe fragility of Venice and its buildings are linked to the floods, observed since
ancient times and emphasized in recent years: the periodic sea level rise, accompanied by rising
damp, are the main causes of the alteration. In particular, the rising damp causes a series of
complex diseases in the historic buildings, such as physical decay, chemical or biological, with
loss of aesthetic and economic value. In addition, greater heat dispersion and reduced thermal
comfort can also occur in interior spaces, with consequent risks for human health. This is a sign
of “Sick Building Syndrome”. It is very important to develop models for assessing the
vulnerability of assets and to manage sustainable plans related to maintenance processes and
activities, satisfying the requirements of effectiveness and compatibility.Basing on numerical
models performed with the WUFI 2D software, the paper analyses the different behavior of rising
damp in relation to materials or masonry structures. In particular, the construction techniques
and typical materials used in Venetian buildings were investigated, such as clay brick walls, lime
plaster, Marmorino and Cocciopesto, adopted mainly to limit the capillary rise also caused by
the phenomenon of “acqua alta”
matthew-p-brown/E_cells_2023: E_cells_2024
No full text<p>This page contains the code used to analyze behavior and voltage imaging data from <strong>Brown et al., 2024</strong>. Further questions can be sent to the corresponding author, Dr. Mark N. Wu ([email protected]).</p>
The role of the reference building in the evaluation of energy efficiency measures for large stocks of public buildings
No full textWith the last European Directive 2018/844/EU, EU Member States have to outline effective strategies for the energy renovation of existing buildings, so as to achieve the objectives set respectively for 2030, 2040 and 2050, taking advantage of new financing instruments. In this process, public buildings are identified as important drivers for energy-behavioural changes among citizens and, in addition, they can benefit from encouraging mortgages for certified energy efficient renovations. However, the problem of dealing with existing public buildings is their sample size combined with the current necessity of significant renovations. In this scenario, the reference building acquires a key role as the starting model for the evaluation of primary energy needs and of retrofit measures. In this work, a reference building selected by a previous work is further analyzed, testing selected potential retrofit interventions by means of model simulation. The implemented measures are then evaluated using a cost-optimal approach, in order to integrate their priority with respect to cost-effectiveness. The aim of the work is to test on a building centrotype selected retrofit measures, to be then extended to the other buildings similar for their main geometrical and thermophysical features
Data for 'X-ray eruptions every 22 days from the nucleus of a nearby galaxy'
No full text<p>Data used to produce Figure 1 of 'X-ray eruptions every 22 days from the nucleus of a1 nearby galaxy' by Muryel Guolo, Dheeraj R. Pasham, Michal Zajacek, Eric Couglihn, et al. to appear in Nature Astronomy. Units in the files are the same as appear in the Figure 1 of the paper.</p>
Laparoscopic adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma: Is it really more difficult?
No full textObjective: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) has become the gold standard technique for almost all the adrenal masses, but several Authors still debate about LA in pheochromocytoma. Background: The purpose of this study was to compare feasibility and safety of LA for pheo and analyze the results relative to LA for incidentaloma, Conn's disease and Cushing's disease. Methods: Between January 1994 and March 2006, 167 LAs were carried out in 160 consecutive patients at our Department and 46 of them were affected by pheo, 60 by Conn's disease, 34 by adrenal incidentaloma and 20 by Cushing's disease. The following parameters were statistically analysed: Side and size of lesion, conversion to open adrenalectomy (OA), operating time, length of hospital stay, intraoperative blood pressure variations, blood loss, blood transfusion, need for postoperative analgesia, resumption of oral nutrition and postoperative complications. Results: Successful LA was performed in 159 out of 167 cases (95.2%). Significant statistical advantages were observed for pheo, even if its average size was larger (p > 0.001), in terms of average operating time (p < 0.001), average length of hospital stay (p < 0.001), average intraoperative blood loss (p > 0.001), postoperative analgesia (p < 0.001), oral nutrition (p < 0.001). LA for patients with Cushing's disease (average length of hospital stay and intraoperative blood loss, p < 0.023 and p > 0.002 respectively) and with adrenal incidentaloma (intraoperative blood loss p < 0.009) seems to be a more challenging procedure. Conclusion: The evaluation of this relatively large monoinstitutional experience suggests that LA could be considered the most suitable method for removing pheochromocytoma. This tumour tends to be larger than most functional cortical adenomas, neverthless it allows even a significant reduction in operating time with a faster recovery. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Osteopathic manipulative therapy in patients with chronic tension-type headache: A pilot study
No full textCONTEXT: Nonpharmacologic treatment, such as osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMTh; manipulative care provided by foreign-trained osteopaths) may be a beneficial complementary treatment for tension-type headache. However, to the authors' knowledge, the benefit of OMTh in the management of tension-type headache has not been explored, especially chronic tension-type headache (CTTH). OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of OMTh compared with traditional treatment in reducing pain intensity, frequency, and duration of CTTH, and to evaluate the objective postural measurement of the forward head posture (FHP) as an integral parameter in the assessment of the effects of OMTh and traditional management of CTTH. METHODS: Patients with CTTH were registered at the Headache Centre of Trieste in Italy. At the time of the study, none of the patients had been taking any headache prophylaxis in the past 3 months. A 3-month baseline period was recorded by all patients with an ad hoc diary. Patients were randomly placed in the test or control group using a simple randomization program in Excel (Microsoft). Patients in the OMTh group underwent a 3-month period of OMTh, and patients in the control group were treated with amitriptyline. Pain intensity, frequency, and duration of headaches, as well as FHP were analyzed. RESULTS: The study enrolled 10 patients (mean [SD] age, 42.6 [15.2] years) in the OMTh group and 10 patients (51.4 [17.3] years) in the control group. The final assessment of OMTh patients showed statistically significant changes in all headache parameters: pain intensity decreased from a mean (SD) score of 4.9 (1.4) to 3.1 (1.1) (P=.002); frequency decreased from 19.8 (6) to 8.3 (6.2) days per month (P=.002); and the duration of headaches decreased from 10 (4.2) to 6 (3) hours (P=.01). Significant improvement of all parameters was found in the control group as well: pain intensity decreased from a mean (SD) score of 5.9 (0.7) to 4.2 (1.75) (P=.03); frequency decreased from 23.4 (7.2) to 7.4 (8.7) days per month (P=.003); and duration decreased from 7.8 (2.9) to 3.6 (2.1) hours (P=.002). Forward head posture significantly improved in OMTh patients (P=.003). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggested that OMTh may be an effective treatment to improve headaches in patients with CTTH. Our results also suggest that OMTh may reduce FHP
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