1,720,984 research outputs found
Evaluation of the Metasin assay for intraoperative assessment of sentinel lymph node metastases in breast cancer
No full textAims: Sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy is the preferred surgical technique for staging the axilla in clinically node-negative breast cancer. Accurate intraoperative staging allows for the immediate performance of an axillary clearance in node-positive patients. We assessed the Metasin assay for the intraoperative analysis of SLNs in a prospective evaluation of 250 consecutive patients undergoing intraoperative SLN analysis at the Breast Unit, University Hospital, Southampton, UK.Methods: Metasin uses a quantitative reverse transcription PCR to detect two markers of metastasis: cytokeratin 19 (CK19) an epithelial marker and mammaglobin (MGB) a breast specific marker. Metasin results were compared with the results from routine paraffin block histopathology.Results: Metasin was robust, with a failure rate of <1%, and demonstrated excellent accuracy and reproducibility. The average turnaround time for the Metasin assay was 42?min, the largest variable being the number of nodes assayed. A total of 533 SLNs were evaluated with 75 patients testing positive for MGB and/or CK19. Based on the analysis of individual SLNs, the overall concordance between Metasin and histology was 92.3% (sensitivity 88.7%, specificity 92.9%). When adjusted for tissue allocation bias, the concordance was 93.8% (sensitivity 89.8%, specificity 94.6%). In this evaluation, 57/250 patients (23%) proceeded to axillary clearance based on Metasin results and were considered spared a second operative procedure.Conclusions: Metasin has proven to be an accurate, reproducible and reliable laboratory test. The analysis time is acceptable for intraoperative use, and in comparison to routine histology demonstrates acceptable concordance, sensitivity and specificity.<br/
Alcohol-related cirrhosis – early abstinence is a key factor in prognosis, even in the most severe cases
No full textAims? To determine the effect of pathological severity of cirrhosis on survival in patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis. Design? Liver biopsies from 100 patients were scored for Laennec score of severity of cirrhosis, and medical notes were reviewed to determine various clinical factors, including drinking status. Up-to-date mortality data were obtained using the National Health Service Strategic Tracing Service. Setting? Southampton General Hospital between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2000. Participants? A total of 100 consecutive patients with biopsy proven alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis. Measurements? Laennec score of severity of cirrhosis and mortality. Findings? Most surprisingly, the severity of cirrhosis on biopsy had little impact on survival; indeed, early death was more likely in patients with the least severe cirrhosis. Abstinence from alcohol at 1 month after diagnosis of cirrhosis was the more important factor determining survival with a 7-year survival of 72% for the abstinent patients versus 44% for the patients continuing to drink. Conclusions? It is never too late to stop drinking, even with the most severe degrees of cirrhosis on biopsy. Early drinking status is the most important factor determining long-term survival in alcohol-related cirrhosis
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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