1,721,207 research outputs found
Effectiveness and safety profile of anakinra in a HLA-B27 positive patient with multiple sclerosis-associated uveitis
No full textMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disorder of central nervous system (CNS) leading to neurological disability. A wide variety of ophthalmic and neuro-ophthalmic manifestations have been associated with MS. Although this link is well recognized, controversial is still the risk of developing MS in patients with ophthalmic manifestations. Intermediate uveitis followed by panuveitis are the most common manifestations among the ophthalmic involvement in MS. Timely management of uveitis, is a crucial step to prevent irreversible visual impairment. A multidisciplinary team including ophthalmologists together with other specialists is required in the majority of cases for an adequate diagnostic and therapeutic approach of uveitis. Corticosteroids represent the mainstay of therapy in the acute phase, whereas conventional immunosuppressive drugs such as azathioprine may allow a steroid sparing effect. Increasing evidence from anti-CD 20 monoclonal antibodies such as rituximab have proven the efficacy on clinical and radiological outcomes in MS, on the contrary anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) monoclonal antibodies such as infliximab and adalimumab are contraindicated in patients with demyelinating disorders, as they seem to worsen disease and neurological clinical symptoms. On this basis, MS-associated uveitis may deeply influence the therapeutic choices suggesting targeting inflammatory cytokines different from TNF. Recently, interleukin (IL)-1 blockade has been investigated as possible therapeutic tool in several inflammatory eye conditions such as Behcet's disease related uveitis, strengthening that IL-1 is also critical for the development of uveitis. Herein, we report our experience in a HLA-B27 positive patient with MS-associated uveitis successfully treated with the short-acting IL-1 receptor antagonist anakinra
Predictors of long-term clinical remission in rheumatoid arthritis
No full textAim: Little is known about possible predictors of long-term survival on biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARD) after achievement of deep clinical remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. We aimed at assessing factors associated with drug persistence of the first bDMARD in RA patients who achieved Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI) remission. Methods: The clinical charts of RA patients beginning a first bDMARD were retrospectively reviewed, and those who achieved SDAI-based remission were selected for this analysis. Drug retention rate and mean survival time (MST) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier curves, and hazard ratios (HRs) of discontinuing bDMARD were estimated by multivariate Cox-regression models. Results: Eight-six patients were on SDAI remission, and the survival rate of bDMARDs since ‘baseline-time’ was 82.6% (MST = 77.8 (95% CI: 69-86) months). Once on remission, patients not taking concomitant glucocorticoids had significantly higher survival rate (90.7%, MST = 86.3 (95% CI: 78-95) months) than patients who continued to intake low dose of glucocorticoids (68.8%, MST = 56.9 (95% CI: 45-69) months; P =.008). On the contrary, those patients assuming methotrexate (MTX) had significantly higher survival (87.7% (MST = 81.8 (95% CI: 73-91) months) than patients who were not taking MTX (66.7% (MST = 55.3 (95% CI: 40-71) months) (log-rank 4.72, P =.03). After the achievement of disease remission, stopping glucocorticoids (HR 0.31, 95% CI: 0.10-0.93) and methotrexate co-therapy (HR 0.34, 95% CI: 0.12-0.98) were independently associated with a lower risk of bDMARD discontinuation. Conclusions: Among RA patients on clinical remission with a first bDMARD, those stopping glucocorticoids and continuing MTX had much longer survival on bDMARD
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
Targeting Janus kinase 1 in refractory Behçet’s disease: a case report on the clinical efficacy of upadacitinib
No full textNot applicabl
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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