1,721,281 research outputs found
Anti-leukotrienes in the treatment of allergic conjunctivities and comorbidities in children: an update
No full textThe term “Allergy” actually includes a variety of different diseases (rhinitis, conjunctivitis, asthma, urticaria, and dermatitis) with a common pathological basis linked to the release of chemical mediators such as histamine, platelet-activating factor, arachidonic acid metabolites, and chemotactic factors secreted by mastocytes, basophils, and eosinophils. The key-role of leukotrienes (LTs) as mediators in allergic and inflammatory response justifies possible therapeutic use of leukotriene antago-nists in other allergic diseases beyond asthma. LTs modifiers reduce asthma symptoms, short-acting beta2-antagonist (SABA) use, and asthma exacerbations, and improve all indexes of pulmonary function, as measured by the increases in forced expiratory flow at one second (FEV1), peak expiratory flow (PEF), quality of life, and indices of bronchial inflammation (blood eosino-phils, inflammatory cells in the bronchial mucosa, exhaled nitric oxide, substance P, neurokinin A, eosinophil cationic protein, and serum myeloperoxidase). Anti-LTs have also been successfully used by some authors to control allergic diseases such as rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, chronic urticaria and allergic conjuncitivitis. Moreover, recently, new reports have been published concerning other conditions (migraine prophylaxis, sleep disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, and nasal polyposis) that broaden the future range of clinical applications. Topical ocular montelukast can be a potential therapeutic drug with a new route of administration that can be used for treatment of allergic conjunctivitis
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
The hepatitis B vaccine and celiac disease: more lights than shadows?
No full textNO ABSTRACT AVAILABL
Evaluation of Helicobacter Pylori eradication in pediatric patients by triple therapy plus lactoferrin and probiotics compared to triple therapy alone.
No full textBACKGROUND: To evaluate whether the addition of a probiotic could improve Helicobacter pylori (H.P.) eradication rates and reduce the side effects of treatment in children.
METHODS: Between July 2008 and July 2011 all patients with a clinical, laboratory and endoscopic diagnosis of H.P. positive gastritis referred to our Unit were included in the study. Patients suffering from allergy to any of drugs used in the study, with previous attempts to eradicate H.P. and those who received antibiotics, PPIs or probiotics within 4 weeks were excluded from the present study. Patients were randomized into two therapy regimens (group A and B): both groups received standard triple treatment (omeprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin) while only group B patients were also given a probiotic (Probinul - Cadigroup). Patients compliance was evaluated at the end of the treatment. Successful eradication was defined as a negative 13 C-urea breath test (C13-ubt) result four weeks after therapy discontinuation.
RESULTS: A total of 68 histopathologically proven H.P.-infection children (32 male and 36 females) were included in the study. All of the patients in both groups used more than 90% of the therapies and no patients were lost at follow up. All side effects were selflimiting and disappeared once the therapy was terminated. Epigastric pain was observed in 6 (17.6%) group A vs 2 (5.8%) group B patients (P<0.05), nausea in 3 (8.8%) group A vs 1 (2.9%) group B patients (P<0.05); vomiting and diarrhea were observed in 2(5.8%) and 8 (23.5%) group A patients, respectively and never in group B (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of constipation (5.8% in group A and B). Four weeks after the completion of therapy, 56/68 patients (82.3%) tested negative for H.P. on C13-ubt. H.P. was eradicated in 26 patients (76.4%) in group A and in 30 patients (88.2%) in group B. There was no significantly difference in the rate of H.P. eradication between group A and group B (p=0.1), although the success rate for H.P. eradication was higher in group B than in group A.
CONCLUSION: The addition of a probiotic formula to triple therapy significantly decreased the frequency of epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea
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
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