1,720,956 research outputs found
[Management of color-Doppler imaging in dialysis patients]
No full text: In recent decades, the survival of dialysis patients has gradually increased thanks to the evolution of dialysis techniques and the availability of new drug therapies. These elements have led to an increased incidence of a series of dialysis-related diseases that might compromise the role of dialysis rehabilitation: vascular disease, skeletal muscle disease, infectious disease, cystic kidney disease and cancer. The nephrologist is therefore in charge of a patient group with complex characteristics including the presence of indwelling vascular and/or peritoneal catheters, conditions secondary to chronic renal failure (hyperparathyroidism, anemia, amyloid disease, etc.) and superimposed disorders due to old age (cardiac and respiratory failure, cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, etc.). Early clinical and organizational management of such patients is essential in a modern and ''economic'' vision of nephrology. The direct provision of ultrasound services by the nephrologist responds to these requirements. A minimum level of expertise in diagnostic ultrasonography of the urinary tract and dialysis access should be part of the nephrologist's cultural heritage, acquired through theoretical and practical training programs validated by scientific societies, especially for those who choose to specialize in these procedures and become experts in imaging or interventional ultrasonography
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
Prevalence of hypertension in a large cohort of Italian hemodialysis patients: results of a cross-sectional study
No full textBackground: Hypertension is very common among patients receiving hemodialysis; however, little is known about its prevalence and control following the publication of the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) recommendations.Methods: This was a multicenter, observational, prospective, cross-sectional study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of hypertension and its awareness in a large sample of hemodialysis patients in Italy, and assessing possible relationships between high blood pressure (BP) values and traditional and nontraditional cardiovascular risk factors. Predialysis hypertension was defined as systolic BP (SBP)/diastolic BP (DBP) = 140/90 mm Hg, and postdialysis hypertension as SBP/DBP = 130/80 mm Hg or the use of antihypertensive medications.Results: We collected data for 4,022 patients (men/women 2,478/1,544, mean age 67.14 +/- 14.08 years) from 77 dialysis centers. Of these, 2,832 patients (70.3%) were defined as having predialysis hypertension. At logistic regression analysis, diabetes, months on dialysis, serum albumin levels and treatment with erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA) were independent factors predicting predialysis hypertension. Antihypertensive agents were used in 57.7% of the patients, leading to adequate BP control in only 40% of them. Factors independently predicting inadequate BP control were diabetes, ESA therapy, high serum cholesterol and higher Kt/V values.Conclusions: Hypertension is highly prevalent in this Italian hemodialysis population; achievement of adequate BP control is inadequate. It is unclear whether this may reflect suboptimal diagnosis or treatment of hypertension or, more likely, the allowance of higher predialysis BP values to try to avoid abrupt BP falls during the dialytic session
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
Genetic polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor and calcium sensing receptor gene in uremic secondary hyperparathyroidism: a multicentric italian study
Full text linkThe pathophysiology of hyperparathyroidism (HPT) relates to
the loss of normal feedback control of parathyroid hormone
secretion by extracellular calcium. Why the parathyroid cell
loses its normal sensivity to calcium is unknown. Consistent
with the essential role of vitamin D in parathyroid cell regulation,
restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) at
the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene locus have been recently
postulated to be responsible for differential VDR transcription
and/or mRNA stability, contributing to the parathyroid tumorigenesis.
Particularly, common VDR allelic variants have been
related to differences in the incidence of both primary and
secondary HPT, and in serum PTH levels as well as in calcium
regulation of PTH release. However, agreement on these relationships
is not universal among different populations. In this
study we investigated the role of VDR and calcium sensing receptor
(CaSR) gene RFLPs in 100 uremic secondary HPT patients
(mean age 58.2±6.7 yrs; mean dialytic age 7.1±2.0 yrs)
compared to 200 age and sex matched controls. Apa I, Bsm I,
and Taq I RFLPs at the 3'-end of VDR gene locus as well as
Fok I RFLP at the translation initiation codon of the VDR gene
were determined after PCR amplification and indicated respectively
as A-a, B-b, T-t, and F-f, uppercase letter signifying
the absence and lowercase letter the presence of the restriction
site. The 3 polymorphisms in exon 7 of the CaSR gene
(T/G at codon 986, A/G at codon 990, and G/C at codon 1011)
were evaluated by PCR amplification and direct sequencing.
Chi squared analysis revealed no significant difference in the
distribution of any of the VDR or CaSR genotypes in subjects
with secondary HPT compared to controls. Secondary HPT
patients were divided into two major groups according to
serum PTH levels: group 1 with higher PTH levels, requiring
parathyroidectomy, and group 2 with serum PTH levels below
120 pg/ml. Interestingly, a trend for a higher prevalence of
VDR genotype aabbTT in group 1, with respect to group 2 was
observed (P=0.07; Chi-squared test). Taken together, these results
suggest that VDR and CaSR gene RFLPs are not directly
involved in parathyroid tumorigenesis and in determining the
incidence of secondary HPT. However, VDR gene RFLPs
might be useful in predicting the progression of secondary
HPT as well as the severity of the diseas
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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