1,720,997 research outputs found
Effects of inpatient rehabilitation on health-related quality of life in breast cancer patients
No full textBackground: Major endpoint for the assessment of a complex inpatient rehabilitation program is the health-related quality of life. In a prospective longitudinal study we evaluated the subjective well-being of breast cancer patients by different methods. Patients and Methods: 183 breast cancer patients were asked to complete six different questionnaires at three different time points: t1: start of treatment, t2: end of treatment, t3: 3 months after t2. Results: In the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) we observed high mean scores for anxiety (8.73) and depression (5.55), as compared to a healthy control population (5.8 and 3.34, respectively). There was a significant improvement for both scores at t2 (6.84 and 4.77, respectively) and for anxiety at t3 (7.68). This was confirmed by the FBK questionnaire showing a significant decrease of the psychological distress in the t1/t2 and t1/t3 time periods as well. The global health score of the QLQ-C30 instrument increased significantly at the end of the rehabilitation and was maintained at the 3-month follow-up. This was true for most of the functional subscales as well. Older widowed women with 3-4 accompanying diseases had the most profit from the program. Using the Perceived Adjustment to Chronic Illness Scale (PACTS), we observed significantly less effort of coping with the illness at t2 and t3. Conclusions: At the end of a complex rehabilitation program for breast cancer patients, the health-related quality of life improved in several domains. While after a 3-month follow-up the scores were still better than before the treatment, anxiety and depression increased again. Therefore, the good results of the rehabilitation program should be maintained by continuous ambulatory treatment
Randomized controlled trial of a structured training program in breast cancer patients with tumor-related chronic Fatigue
No full textBackground: Cancer-related fatigue is the most disabling symptom experienced by breast cancer patients following the cancer treatment. The positive effects of physical activity in the rehabilitation of breast cancer patients are documented in several studies. In a randomized controlled study the effects of a structured physical training program on fatigue and health-related quality of life were evaluated. Patients and Methods: 63 breast cancer patients with cancer-related chronic fatigue were randomized at the beginning of the inpatient rehabilitation. The control group received the standard complex rehabilitation program, the intervention group a structured physical training program and additional muscle strength and aerobic exercises. The effects of the treatment were evaluated by questionnaires at the start of rehabilitation (t1), end of rehabilitation (t2), and 3 months after t2 (t3). Isometric muscle strength and aerobic capacity were evaluated at t1 and t2. Results: There was an improvement of muscle strength at the end of rehabilitation for both groups. The increase from t1 to t2 was significantly higher for the training group. The scores for global quality of life, physical well-being, and functionality increased from t1 to t2, but further improvement in the follow-up (t3) was only observed in the training group. The cancer-related fatigue was significantly reduced in the training group from t1 to t3, however, not in the control group. Conclusions: Structured physical training programs initiated during inpatient rehabilitation and continuously practiced in the time thereafter can improve symptoms of chronic fatigue and quality of life in breast cancer patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
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