1,720,961 research outputs found
Health related quality of life (HRQoL) after cystectomy: comparison between orthotopic neobladder and ileal conduit diversion
No full textINTRODUCTION: Radical cystectomy and urinary diversion carries a high morbidity. Quality of life and body image are important considerations for urinary diversion (UD). We wanted to conduct a systematic review of literature to see which form UD offers a better quality of life (QoL).METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, Pubmed, EMBASE, CINAHL and the Cochrane library for studies using the following key words: 'quality of life' and 'ileal conduit', 'orthotopic neobladder', 'continent diversion' and 'urinary diversion'. All English language articles on UD surgery were included in the original search from 1990 to 2014. To improve the quality of evidence, we stratified our inclusion criteria into studies that report on QoL in both forms of UD using at least one validated questionnaire.RESULTS: Twenty-one studies (2285 patients) were included in our study all of which used at least one validated tool. The most frequently used tools were the SF-36, EORTC QLQ-C30 and FACT BL (10, 8, 5 studies respectively). None of the studies were randomised and only 4 studies were prospectively designed. Sixteen studies reported no difference in QoL between the two types of urinary diversion and four studies reported a better QoL with orthotopic neobladder of which 2 studies had younger and fitter patients. On the other hand, one study reported a better QoL in ileal conduit patients.CONCLUSION: Orthotopic neobladder urinary diversion shows a marginally better quality of life scores compared to ileal conduit diversion especially when considering younger and fitter patients.</p
Case series: Adult testicular dermoid tumours - mature teratoma or pre-pubertal teratoma?
No full textAdult testicular dermoid tumours are rare tumours with no reported potential for recurrent or metastatic spread. Despite this they are currently classified as mature teratoma and managed as if they have equivalent malignant potential. This report describes two cases of adult mature teratoma of dermoid type and questions the classification and pathogenesis of this disease. In one of the cases there was a clear history of a testicular lump arising pre-pubertally, raising the possibility that some adult dermoid tumours may in fact be pre-pubertal teratomas that have persisted into adulthood. Classification as a mature teratoma carries with it a follow-up regimen that includes numerous radiological investigations with their attendant radiation exposure. A positive histological diagnosis and separate classification of adult dermoid tumours would allay clinical fears of recurrence and metastasis and negate the need for repeated radiological investigation
Multidrug resistant (MDR) bladder cancer cells express the angiogenesis/metastasis mediator tissue factor
No full textCellular resistance to mitomycin C is associated with overexpression of MDR-1 in a urothelial cancer cell line (MGH-U1)
No full textObjective: to compare multidrug resistance (MDR)-1 and MDR-3 gene expression in a new urothelial cancer cell line (MGHU-1, with resistance to mitomycin C) against controls and the established (epirubicin-resistant) MDR clone, and to correlate MDR with cytotoxicity data.Materials and methods: resistance to mitomycin C was induced by the long-term exposure of wild-type MGHU-1 cells to increasing concentrations (20–400 nmol/L) of mitomycin C. The cytotoxicity of mitomycin C or epirubicin was then compared in MGHU-1, MGHU-MMC (mitomycin C-resistant) and MGHU-1R (established MDR) cells, using the tetrazolium biomass assay. The expression of MDR-1 and -3 was investigated by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, using cDNA-specific primers after titration, and compared with DNA and negative controls.Results: MDR-1 and -3 were significantly and equally overexpressed in MGHU-1R, and associated with a dramatic increase in the 50% inhibitory drug concentration (P < 0.001) for mitomycin C and epirubicin against controls. In MGHU-MMC, the overexpression of MDR-1 was three times greater than that of MDR-3. The cytotoxicity profile for both agents was very similar to that of MGHU-1R. Trace amounts of MDR-1, but not MDR-3, were identified in the MGHU-1 wild-type.Conclusions: Urothelial cancer cell resistance to mitomycin C is associated with cross-resistance to epirubicin and overexpression of MDR-1, suggesting that mitomycin C falls within the MDR category. Clinical application of this methodology may allow patients to be identified who are unlikely to benefit from intravesical chemotherapy
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
Sex cord stromal testicular tumors: a clinical series - uniformly stage I disease
No full textPURPOSE:Sex cord stromal testicular tumors are rare. Historically 10% of lesions are said to be malignant but to our knowledge there are no clinical or histological features that can accurately predict potential malignant behavior. Because of this, groups at some centers have advocated prophylactic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection in patients with clinical stage I disease. We reviewed our experience with these tumors to determine whether this policy is justified.MATERIALS AND METHODS:We retrospectively reviewed the records of all 38 men older than 18 years with sex cord stromal testicular tumors who were referred to the Wessex regional cancer center for treatment or pathological review during the 25-year period of 1982 to 2006. We then compared our series with a malignant sex cord stromal testicular tumor database generated from the world literature.RESULTS:All Wessex patients were treated with excision of the primary tumor alone and metastatic disease developed in none. All remained disease-free with an overall median survival of 6.8 years (range 1.4 to 25). Features in the literature favoring malignant behavior, ie metastatic disease, included larger tumors (mean 6.43 vs 1.71 cm), a high mitotic rate, tumor necrosis, angiolymphatic invasion, infiltrative margins and extratesticular extension (each p <0.0001). The malignant group had an overall median survival of 2.3 years (range 0.02 to 17.3).CONCLUSIONS:No patient had disease progression in our study, which is to our knowledge the largest reported United Kingdom series of sex cord stromal testicular tumors. Our data suggest that malignancy is uncommon and prophylactic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection is unjustified for clinical stage I disease
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