1,721,030 research outputs found
Biologic treatments for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies
No full textThe idiopathic inflammatory myopathies are a group of acquired, heterogeneous, systemic diseases of skeletal muscle. As these conditions are uncommon, current treatment of myositis is based mainly on case reports and few randomised studies with small numbers of patients enrolled. Therefore, the current treatment paradigm is still relies primarily on clinical experience. High dose corticosteroids continue to be the first line therapy. In order to avoid side effects, the prednisolone dose should be reduced based on patient’s clinical response. Other immunosuppressive drugs are used in refractory cases, as well as steroid-sparing agents. Nevertheless, a Cochrane review concluded that there was insufficient evidence from the available studies to confirm the value of immunosuppressive agents in myositis. In patients with myositis resistant to conventional treatment, rituximab is a potential treatment option. Several agents could be of interest for future studies of myositis treatment; however more randomised controlled trials are needed to identify eligibility criteria, outcome predictors and the adequate regimen. The identification of responsive patients and specific therapies targeting the correct myositis subset may be cost-effective and potentially prevent incorrect use of biologics
Current pharmacological treatment of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies
No full textThe idiopathic inflammatory myopathies are uncommon and heterogeneous disorders. Their classification is based on distinct clinicopathologic features. Although idiopathic inflammatory myopathies share some similarities, different subtypes may have variable responses to therapy, so it is very important to distinguish the correct subtype. There are few randomised, double blind placebo controlled studies to support the current treatment. High dose corticosteroids continue to be the first-line therapy and other immunosupressive drugs are used in refractory cases, as well as steroid-sparing agents. Some novel therapeutic approaches have emerged as potential treatment including tacrolimus, intravenous immunoglobulin and rituximab, following good outcomes reported in case studies. However, more randomised controlled trials are needed. This review considers the current and the potential future therapies for inflammatory myopathies
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
Autoimmune gastrointestinal complications in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: case series and literature review
Full text linkThe association of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with gastrointestinal autoimmune diseases is rare, but has been described in the literature, mostly as case reports. However, some of these diseases may be very severe, thus a correct and early diagnosis with appropriate management are fundamental. We have analysed our data from the SLE patient cohort at University College Hospital London, established in 1978, identifying those patients with an associated autoimmune gastrointestinal disease. We have also undertaken a review of the literature describing the major autoimmune gastrointestinal pathologies which may be coincident with SLE, focusing on the incidence, clinical and laboratory (particularly antibody) findings, common aetiopathogenesis and complications
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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