1,720,999 research outputs found
Early treatment decisions with interferon-alpha therapy in early chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia
No full textPURPOSE: To determine, in patients with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) on interferon alfa (IFNalpha), whether combining pretreatment characteristics and early response profiles would distinguish patients with differential benefits that would allow better decisions on subsequent therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 274 patients treated from 1982 through 1990 with IFNalpha regimens were analyzed. A second group of 137 patients treated with IFNalpha and low-dose cytarabine (ara-C) between 1990 and 1994 was later used to confirm the guidelines derived from the original study group analysis. Patients' pretreatment factors and response to IFNalpha therapy at 3, 6, and 12 months were analyzed in relation to subsequent achievement of major cytogenetic response. After univariate analysis of prognostic factors, a multivariate analysis selected, at 6 months, independent pretreatment factors that added to the response status in predicting subsequent outcome. The results were then applied at the 3- and 12-month periods and confirmed in the subsequent population. RESULTS: Response to IFNalpha therapy at 3, 6, and 12 months was a significant predictor of later major cytogenetic response. The presence of splenomegaly > or = 5 cm below the costal margin (BCM) or thrombocytosis > or = 700 x 10(9)/L pretreatment added significant independent prediction to response. At 6 months, patients with a partial hematologic response (PHR) or resistant disease had a less than 10% chance of achieving a later major cytogenetic response, as were those in complete hematologic response (CHR) and who had pretreatment splenomegaly and thrombocytosis. Applying the model at 3 months showed that only patients with < or = PHR and pretreatment splenomegaly or thrombocytosis at 3 months had such a low major cytogenetic response rate. Finally, at 12 months, patients with CHR still had a 15% to 25% chance of having a major cytogenetic response later if they did not have pretreatment splenomegaly and thrombocytosis. CONCLUSION: This analysis allows better selection of patients with Ph-positive CML on IFNalpha therapy for continuation of IFNalpha versus changing therapy early in the course of CML. For treatment programs that choose to change patients to other investigational therapies (eg, intensive chemotherapy and/or autologous stem-cell transplantation [SCT]), baseline outcome expectations are provided for patients continued on IFNalpha therapy, against which the results of new approaches can be compared
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
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
Long-term follow-up results of alpha-interferon-based regimens in patients with late chronic myelogenous leukemia
No full textThe aim of this analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of alpha-interferon (alpha-IFN) regimens in late chronic phase (diagnosis >12 months) chronic myelogenous leukemia (CP-CML). Long-term follow-up results were evaluated in 137 patients with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive late CP-CML. The alpha-IFN programs were sequential studies with human leukocyte alpha-IFN (seven patients), recombinant alpha-IFN alone (15 patients) or with IFN-gamma (29 patients), hydroxyurea (HU) (19 patients), or low-dose cytarabine (Ara-C) (67 patients). Overall, 57% of the patients achieved complete hematological response (CHR), and 7% obtained partial hematological response. Nineteen patients (15% of the 123 evaluable patients) had a cytogenetic response which was major (Ph-positive <35%) in 10 patients (8%). A trend for better responses was observed with shorter disease duration. The median overall survival from start of therapy was 49 months, with an estimated 5-year survival rate of 41%. Some common pretreatment prognostic factors associated with response did not show statistical associations when applied in late CP-CML; however, characteristics such as smaller spleen size, and lower percentages of peripheral blood and marrow blasts and basophils were associated with better survival experience. When patients were subgrouped according to risk, no significant differences in the incidence of cytogenetic response and in survival outcomes were observed among various risk groups. This study confirms that alpha-IFN-based regimens have a modest activity in late CP-CML, and supports the need to develop investigational strategies aimed at improving patient prognosis in this phase
Specific activation of microRNA106b enables the p73 apoptotic response in chronic lymphocytic leukemia by targeting the ubiquitin ligase Itch for degradation
Full text linkChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by cells that exhibit dysfunctional apoptosis. Here, we show that deacetylase inhibition led to the E2F1- and myc-mediated transcriptional activation of the microRNA miR106b in primary CLL cells. Induction of miR106b was associated with a down-regulation in the levels of the E3-ubiquitin ligase Itch. Decreases in Itch protein levels were associated with a reciprocal accumulation of its proapoptotic substrate, TAp73 (p73), and induction of p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) mRNA and protein. This event was accompanied by mitochondrial dysfunction, processing of caspase-9, and apoptosis of CLL cells. Ectopic expression of miR106b in CLL cells demonstrated that Itch was a direct target of miR106b such that miR106b-induced decreases in Itch resulted in an accumulation of p73. Thus, our results identify a novel regulatory mechanism wherein microRNA regulate cell survival by mediating the posttranscriptional down-regulation of an ubiquitin ligase, leading to the induction of a proapoptotic regulator in malignant cells. Silencing of miRNA expression in CLL may selectively suppress proapoptotic pathways, providing such tumors with a survival advantage. Consequently, chemotherapeutic drugs that activate miR106b could initiate a p53-independent mechanism that targets CLL cells. (Blood. 2009; 113: 3744-3753
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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