1,720,982 research outputs found
Liver Stiffness measurments using Fibroscan after three months of IFN-based antiviral therapy is unlikely to predict viral response in cirrhotic patients.
No full textBackground and Aims: Chronic HCV infection (CHC) is the leading cause of mortality from liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Antiviral therapy can prevent disease progression.
Transient Elastografy (TE; Fibroscan) is an accurate surrogate marker to liver fibrosis, by measuring liver stiffness (LS). LS decrease has been associated with sustained virologic response (SVR). In this study we aimed to assess the changes of LS measurments in CHC patients during and one year after Interferon (IFN)-based antiviral
therapy (IFN/ribavirin) or (telaprevir+IFN/ribavirin).
Methods: This is an ongoing study, in which consecutive 69 CHC patients (53.6% females, mean age 57.9±11.4) who underwent antiviral therapy for at least 20 weeks were enrolled. LS was measured using Fibroscan at baseline, after three months, at the end of treatment and one year after treatment discontinuation.
Fibrosis was graded using METAVIR score. Results: Twenty patients were treated with triple therapy and 49 with IFN/ribavirin. Fifty patients had SVR and 19 were non-responders. LS changed significantly in all patients and
independently from the initial fibrosis stage, genotype, type of treatment, basal ALT and BMI. Twelve months after treatment discontinuation, we found that in SVR patients: F0–F1, F2 and F3 patients (39.1%, 7.2% and 17.4%; respectively) showed no significant LS decrease (P = 0.186, 0.068 and 0.075; respectively). Conversely, in
F4 patients (36.2%) LS was significantly decreased (P = 0.015) after one year of treatment completion. In all patients with no SVR, no significant decrease in LS was observed. Interestingly, all Patients with F4 fibrosis (even non-responders) showed an initial significant decrease in LS (P = 0.024) at 3 months after the start of treatment.
However, this decrease was not predictive of SVR; area under the ROC curve 0.369 (CI %: 0.145–0.592) P = 0.265.
Conclusions: Performance of LS measurements for fibrosis assessment confirmed results from previous studies. Our
preliminary data suggest that LS changes significantly in CHC patients treated with IFN-based antiviral therapy (standard and triple therapy with telaprevir) and it decreases significantly in responders with high initial LS measurements independently from the type treatment. Initial significant decrease in LS measurements
in such patients is unlikely to predict an SVR
METODO E KIT PER LA DIAGNOSI DELLA SENSIBILITA’ AL GLUTINE NON ASSOCIATA ALLA CELIACHIA
No full textLa sensibilità al glutine non celiaca (dall’anglosassone, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, NCGS) è una condizione caratterizzata da sintomi intestinali ed extra-gastrointestinali, provocati dall’ingestione di glutine in assenza di una diagnosi certa di malattia celiaca. La NCGS interessa tra lo 0.6 ed il 6% della popolazione e non sono attualmente disponibili biomarcatori a fini diagnostici. Pertanto, la diagnosi viene ipotizzata, ma difficilmente provata con certezza, in base al miglioramento dei sintomi in seguito all’esclusione del glutine dalla dieta ed alla loro ricorrenza in seguito alla reintroduzione del glutine nella dieta. Uno dei problemi legati alla diagnosi della NCGS risiede nella difficoltà nel distinguerla, in base alla sintomatologia, dalla sindrome dell’intestino irritabile. La presente invenzione permette di diagnosticare la sensibilità al glutine non celiaca e di differenziarla da patologie intestinali funzionali quali la sindrome dell’intestino irritabile. L'invenzione si basa sul dosaggio di una proteina sierica, la zonulina, e sulla raccolta di dati clinici
New insights in the selection and management of cancer patients applicants for ovarian tissue cryopreservation
No full textOvarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC), representing a promising strategy to preserve ovarian function in cancer patients, is recommended to women younger than 35 years. This study aimed to identify endocrine and biometric parameters as additional selection criteria for OTC. One hundred and ninety-one cancer patients before chemoradiotherapy and OTC and 43 controls were investigated. Mean ± SD, median, quartiles, 5th and 95th centiles and correlations of FSH, LH, estradiol, inhibin-B, anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), ovarian volume and antral follicle count (AFC) were assessed. Most ovarian reserve parameters presented typical variations of ovulatory menstrual cycle, except AMH and AFC showing minimal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle. The 5th centiles of AMH (0.31and 0.4 ng/mL in controls and cancer patients, respectively) and AFC (five follicular structures in both groups) could be conjectured as minimum thresholds to include patients aged <35 years in OTC; below this threshold patients of any age should be excluded from OTC. Conversely, patients with AMH and AFC above the 25th centiles (1.2-1.6 ng/mL and 9-10 follicular structures in controls and cancer patients, respectively) might be inserted in OTC regardless of age. Baseline assessment of AMH and AFC might be considered as selection criteria, in addition to chronological age, to take decision of OTC in cancer patient
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
Liver Stiffness improvement in subjects with advanced chronic hepatitis C treated with direct antiviral agents.
No full textVariations 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
Survey on attitudes of Italian pediatricians toward cough
Full text linkContext: Children’s cough is a daily concern for most pediatricians. The management of both acute and chronic cough requires a systematic and comprehensive approach. Despite the approved protocols for management, the pediatric assessment of cough and the corresponding prescribing attitude frequently do not fit these protocols, which can be affected by parental suggestions - sometimes substantially. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate both the perception and the behavior of a representative sample of Italian pediatricians toward cough in real life. Methods: A specific questionnaire consisting of 18 questions was prepared. The questionnaire was completed by 300 pediatricians (all members of PAIDOSS: Italian National Observatory on Health of Childhood and Adolescence) who represented ~300,000 children. Results: A vast majority of children have cough throughout the year (99.3% of respondents have cough during autumn/winter and 64.7% in spring/summer). Allergic disease is the most frequent suspected cause of chronic cough in children (53%), and this is supported by the high demand for consultations: 73% seek the opinion of allergologists, 62% of otorhinolaryngologists and only 33% of pulmonologists. The majority of pediatricians (92%) reported that they prescribe therapy in acute cough regardless of cough guidelines. Moreover, the survey pointed out the abuse of aerosol therapy (26% in acute cough and 38% in chronic cough) and of antibiotics prescription (22% in acute cough and 42% in chronic cough). Conclusion: Our survey suggests that some Italian pediatricians’ therapeutic attitudes should be substantially improved in order to achieve better management of cough in children and to minimize the burden of cough
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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