1,720,983 research outputs found
Potential guidelines for cataract surgery and rehabilitation in visually impaired patients: literature analysis
Full text linkCataracts can reduce the quality of vision in visually impaired patients who already have a visual impairment. The most common causes of low vision include age-related macular degeneration (AMD), high myopia (HM), diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma (GL), and inherited degenerative ocular diseases. The surgery aims to improve their independence, quality of life, and ability to engage in daily, social, and work activities. Phacoemulsification and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation, combined with visual rehabilitation, can improve visual acuity of visually impaired patients. Therefore, comprehensive guidelines for cataract surgery in patients with low vision would be beneficial to ensure optimal surgical outcomes by improving surgical planning, execution, and postoperative care, along with a well-coordinated rehabilitation process. In cases of reduced metabolism, such as low vision, oxidative stress can be aggravated by light exposure and surgical interventions. Thus, maintaining redox balance is crucial for stabilizing retinal conditions. Patients with visual impairments rely on retinal regions with the greatest residual function, and cataract surgery aims to enhance focus on these areas, improving reading quality and reducing scotoma perception. Thorough informed consent is crucial, ensuring that patients are fully aware of the potential risks, benefits, and limitations of surgery. Close postoperative follow-up in the first 6 months is crucial to detect and manage any complications promptly, such as reactivation of maculopathy. The aim of this work is to establish potential guidelines for optimal rehabilitation outcomes through careful literature analysis
Regenerative Therapy by Suprachoroidal Cell Autograft in Dry Age-related Macular Degeneration: Preliminary In Vivo Report.
No full textThis study is aimed at examining whether a suprachoroidal graft of autologous cells can improve best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and responses to microperimetry (MY) in eyes affected by dry Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) over time through the production and secretion of growth factors (GFs) on surrounding tissue. Patients were randomly assigned to each study group. All patients were diagnosed with dry AMD and with BCVA equal to or greater than 1 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR). A suprachoroidal autologous graft by Limoli Retinal Restoration Technique (LRRT) was carried out on group A, which included 11 eyes from 11 patients. The technique was performed by implanting adipocytes, adipose-derived stem cells obtained from the stromal vascular fraction, and platelets from platelet-rich plasma in the suprachoroidal space. Conversely, group B, including 14 eyes of 14 patients, was used as a control group. For each patient, diagnosis was verified by confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope and spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). In group A, BCVA improved by 0.581 to 0.504 at 90 days and to 0.376 logMAR at 180 days (+32.20%) postoperatively. Furthermore, MY test increased by 11.44 dB to 12.59 dB at 180 days. The different cell types grafted behind the choroid were able to ensure constant GF secretion in the choroidal flow. Consequently, the results indicate that visual acuity (VA) in the grafted group can increase more than in the control group after six months
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
BCVA Changes after suprachoroideal graft of autologus cells in dry AMD
No full textThe idea of cell therapy using the systemic or local injection of stem/progenitor cells in the area of injury to treat multiple chronic disorders received close attention in the last decade.
Our prior study showed in eyes affected by Dry AMD a significant improvement of ERG data, recorded after the suprachoroidal autologous graft.
Dry AMD is an atrophic retinal disease where the cells die progressively and irreversibly with a loss of central visual function.
From the choroid the growth factors could arrive at the retinal cells. Their interaction with membrane receptors of retinal cells can activate an intracellular pathway. Consequently, we can have in the cell nucleus genic responses. We can obtain an antiapoptotic effect which can explain the neuroenhancement. This suggests a greater potential increase of BCVA in the grafted group
Mesenchymal stem cell surgery, rescue and regeneration in retinitis pigmentosa: clinical and rehabilitative prognostic aspects
Full text linkPurpose: To assess whether treatment with the Limoli Retinal Restoration Technique (LRRT) can be performed in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), grafting the autologous cells in a deep scleral pocket above the choroid of each eye to exert their beneficial effect on the residual retinal cells. Methods: The patients were subjected to a complete ophthalmological examination, including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), close-up visus measurements, spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), microperimetry (MY), and electroretinography (ERG). Furthermore, the complete ophthalmological examination was carried out at baseline (T0) and at 6 months (T180) after surgery. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess the normality of distribution of the investigated parameters. A mixed linear regression model was used to analyse the difference in all the studied parameters at T0 and T180, and to compare the mean change between the two groups. All statistical analyses were performed with STATA 14.0 (Collage Station, Texas, USA). Results: LRRT treatment was performed in 34 eyes of 25 RP patients recruited for the study. The eyes were classified in two groups on the basis of foveal thickness (FT) assessed by SD-OCT: 14 eyes in Group A (FT≤190μm) and the remaining 20 ones in Group B (FT > 190μm). Although it had not reached the statistical significance, Group B showed a better improvement in BCVA, residual close-up visus and sensitivity than Group A. Conclusions: Previous studies have described the role of LRRT in slowing down retinal degenerative diseases. Consequently, this surgical procedure could improve the clinical and rehabilitative prognostic parameters in RP patients. On the other hand, further clinical research and studies with longer follow-up will be needed to evaluate its efficacy
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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