1,721,058 research outputs found
Clinical outcomes following stent placement in refractory benign esophageal stricture: a systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textBACKGROUND: The management of refractory benign esophageal strictures (RBESs) is challenging. Stent placement has been proposed as a possible rescue strategy. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of this strategy in the long-term resolution of dysphagia.
METHODS:
PubMed, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar were searched (up to January 2015). Studies recruiting adults with RBES treated with stent placement were eligible. The success, adverse event, and migration rates were pooled by means of a random-effect model to obtain odds with a 95 % confidence interval (CI).
RESULTS:
Eighteen studies (444 patients) were eligible for inclusion. The pooled clinical success rate was 40.5 % (95 %CI 31.5 % - 49.5 %), yielding odds of 0.68 (95 %CI 0.46 - 0.98) with high heterogeneity (I(2) = 65.0 %). The meta-regression analysis showed stricture etiology as the only influencing factor. Treatment with self-expanding plastic (SEPSs) and metal stents (SEMSs) did not result in significantly higher success rates than treatment with biodegradable stents (BDSs) (46.2 % vs. 40.1 % vs. 32.9 %, respectively). The migration rate was 28.6 % (95 %CI 21.9 % - 37.1 %), yielding odds of 0.40 (95 %CI 0.28 - 0.59), with migration rates for SEPSs and SEMSs reported as being not significantly higher than BDSs (33.3 % vs. 31.5 % vs. 15.3 %, respectively). The adverse event rate was 20.6 % (95 %CI 15.3 % - 28.1 %), yielding odds of 0.26 (95 %CI 0.18 - 0.39) with no significant difference between stent types (19.4 % vs. 21.9 % vs. 21.9 %, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS:
Stent placement in patients with RBES is effective in about 40 % of cases. Further studies should investigate whether the clinical success rate varies according to the stricture etiology.(PROSPERO registration number: CRD42015019017.)
The analysis of longitudinal data from life-span carcinogenicity bioassays on Sprague-Dawley rats
Full text linkBackground and aim of the work: Long Term Carcinogenicity Bioassays (LTCB) are among the best instruments to strengthen the evidence on which regulatory agencies base their decision to classify harmful agents as human carcinogens, so they are fundamental to protect public health. The statistical analysis is essential to validate the results from cancer and non-cancer outcomes in carcinogenicity bioassay. This work proposes and applies some methodologies for the analysis of non-cancer outcomes, such as body weights. Methods: We use data from studies already concluded, evaluated and published: 4 bioassays aimed at testing the carcinogenic potential of Coca-Cola on Sprague-Dawley rats of different ages. The analysis of body weights of the second generation of rats was performed using mixed-effects models: linear models were fitted for nonlinear models we considered human non-linear growth functions. Results: Linear models were fitted using the log-transformation of time and polynomial term of third order for time. Sex and treatment influence body weight, age of dams during gestation doesn’t. Growth models: Jenns-Bayley, Count and 1st order Berkey-Reed growth functions were evaluated; the latter best describes the data. Sex and treatment significantly influence all parameters. The direction, magnitude and significance of the effect variable is substantially similar in all models. The analysis of residuals highlights the same issues for all models: the extreme trends in the last part of life heavily affect the models’ performance. Conclusions: Mixed-effects models allowed to account for the structural effect of covariates that act the same way on all individuals, and to add random effects that introduce a correlation among subjects if clustering happens; nonlinear human growth models added information about the whole growth process, therefore these may be useful methods in studies focused on development and sexual maturation
First-ever admitted psychiatric inpatients in Italy: Clinical characteristics and reasons contributing to admission. Findings from a national survey
No full textColorectal cancer screening: Assessment of CEACAM6, LGALS4, TSPAN8 and COL1A2 as blood markers in faecal immunochemical test negative subjects
Full text linkPrevention is essential to reduce Colorectal Cancer (CRC) mortality. We previously reported a panel of four genes: CEACAM6, LGALS4, TSPAN8, COL1A2 (CELTiC) able to discriminate patients with CRC. Here, we assessed the CELTiC panel by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, in the blood of 174 healthy subjects, who resulted negative to the faecal immunochemical test (FITN). Using non-parametric statistic and multinomial logistic models, the FITN were compared to previously analysed subjects: 36 false positive FIT (NFIT), who were negative at colonoscopy, 36 patients with low risk lesions (LR) and 92 patients with high risk lesions or CRC (HR/CRC). FITN showed a significantly lower expression of the four genes when compared to HR/CRC. Moreover, FITN showed a significantly lower expression of TSPAN8 and COL1A2 compared to NFIT and LR patients. The multinomial logistic model confirmed that TSPAN8 alone specifically discriminated FITN from NFIT, LR and HR/CRC, while LGALS4 was able to differentiate FITN from false positive FIT. Finally, ROC curves analysis of the comparisons between FITN and HR/CRC, LR or NFIT reported AUC greater than 0.87, with a sensitivity and specificity of 83% and 76%, respectively. The CELTiC panel was confirmed a useful tool to identify CRC patients and to discriminate false FIT positive subjects
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
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