1,354,166 research outputs found
Gradenigo’s syndrome with abscess of the petrous apex in pediatric patients: what is the best treatment?
No full textBackground: Gradenigo’s syndrome is defined by the classic clinical triad of ear discharge, trigeminal pain, and abducens nerve palsy. It has become a very rare nosological entity after the introduction of antibiotics, so that has been defined as the “forgotten syndrome.” However, the underlying pathological process (apical petrositis) still represents a life-threatening condition that shall be immediately recognized in order to address the patient to the proper therapy. The therapy itself may be an argument of discussion: on a historical background ruled by surgery, reports of successful conservative antibiotic treatment have risen in recent years. Methods and Results: We reported a case of Gradenigo’s syndrome in a child with an abscess of the left petrous apex and initial involvement of the carotid artery. After multidisciplinary evaluation, we decided to encourage conservative treatment, until complete regression was observed. Discussion: The available literature of the last 10 years was reviewed, with particular attention to the presence of an apical abscess and the therapeutic approach. The principles of management with regard to conservative therapy versus surgical indications are therefore examined and discussed
P072 Epidemiological, clinical and histologic features of a pediatric cohort with eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases
No full textBickerstaff Brainstem Encephalitis and overlapping Guillain-Barre syndrome in children: Report of two cases and review of the literature
No full textBickerstaff Brainstem Encephalitis (BBE) is a rare autoimmune encephalitis, characterized by acute ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and altered state of consciousness. Together with Guillan-Barre Syndrome (GBS) and Miller-Fisher Syndrome, it forms a spectrum of post-infectious demyelinating diseases. Overlapping forms between BBE and GBS (BBE/GBS) are described in patients with lower limbs weakness and typical signs of BBE, suggesting a combined involvement of Central and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS), but only few reported cases are focused on pediatric population. We reviewed all cases of pediatric BBE in the literature, to determine if any patient showed features suggestive for BBE/GBS. Data analysis focused on the diagnostic tests performed (e.g. anti-GQ1b antibodies), neuroimaging and nerve conduction studies (NCS). Further attention was given to the therapeutic management and to patients' outcome. We additionally present two previously unreported pediatric cases. Our review retrieved 19 cases of BBE/GBS, only 2 of which were originally and correctly diagnosed by the authors. The prevalence was higher in male subjects (ratio 3:1) and median age at diagnosis was 8 years. Anti-GQ1b were positive in 46% of the patients, while NCS were altered in 64%. Only 25% of the patients that underwent brain MRI showed abnormal findings. The incidence of BBE/GBS has been underrated in the past, mostly due to an underestimation of the PNS involvement. We therefore suggest to investigate all patients with a clinical picture suggestive of BBE/GBS through electroencephalogram, NCS, brain and spine MRI in order to promptly achieve the correct diagnosis. (C) 2018 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe 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
Percutaneous valve interventions
No full textPercutancous valve interventions is a rapidly evolving field of cardiovascular therapy. New technologies for aortic valve replacement and mitral valve repair are now developing in addition to the well established techniques of balloon valvuloplasty for the treatment of mitral and aortic stenosis. A number of devices are under development and investigation, and are going to be used in humans in the next few years to treat valve disease as an alternative to surgery in selected clinical conditions. Several clinical benefits are expected to be linked to the PVI as compared to conventional surgery: less pain and trauma for patients, shorter length of stay in the intensive care unit and hospital, and faster recovery from the procedure. As these techniques are less invasive, they will be potentially performed in an earlier stage of valve disease, when the clinical benefits are more probable. However, several demanding issues are going to challenge the dissemination of PVI in the next coming years, including: technology development and application, regulatory issues for new devices and new indications, training of the operators and development of the clinical applications for such therapies, evaluation of the results and comparison with the surgical standards. The present review focuses on the opportunities as well as on the hurdles of PVI, with the awareness that the exact role for these techniques has to be determined yet, and is strictly depending on the results of the ongoing clinical trials, which will become available in the next coming years. © 2006 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd
Variations on the Author
No full text“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
Towards precision medicine in pediatric severe asthma: An update on current and emerging biomarkers
No full textPediatric severe asthma is actually considered a rare disease with a heterogeneous nature. Recent cohort studies focusing on children with severe asthma identified different clinical presentations (phenotypes) and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms (endotypes). Phenotyping and endotyping asthma represent the current approach to patients with severe asthma and consist in characterizing objectively measurable and non-invasive indicators (biomarkers) capable of orienting diagnosis, management and personalized treatment, as advocated by the Precision Medicine approach. The aim of this review is to provide a practical overview of current and emerging biomarkers in pediatric severe asthma
A comparison of blood pressure control in a hypertension hospital clinic between 1997 and 2000
No full textAims: (1) To evaluate the prevalence of clinic blood pressure (BP) control in a large sample of treated hypertensives followed in our hypertension clinic during the year 2000, and to compare it with our 1997 data. (2) To investigate the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) according to different levels of BP control. Methods and results: One thousand consecutive hypertensive patients who attended our hypertension hospital clinic in a period of 7 months during the year 2000 and who had regularly been followed by the same medical team were included in the study. LVH was assessed using two different electrocardiographic criteria (Sokolow-Lyon and Cornell). This population had similar clinical characteristics of a cohort including 700 patients seen at our centre during 1997 in which BP control rate was 34% (Cuspidi et al., J Hypertens 1999; 17: 835-41). During follow-up, 441 of the treated patients had clinic BP < 140/90 mmHg, 283 < 150/95 mmHg and 276 ≥ 150/95 mmHg, indicating that BP control was satisfactory in 44.1%, borderline in 28.3% and unsatisfactory in 27.6% of the cases. Thirty-five patients (3.6%) had LVH according to Cornell criteria and 25 (2.6%) according to Sokolow criteria. A significantly lower prevalence of LVH was detected in patients with optimal BP control (<130/85 mmHg) compared to those with unsatisfactory BP (2.3% vs 9.4%, respectively, p < 0.01). Conclusion: The study demonstrates that: (1) hypertensive patients in a hypertension clinic have satisfactory BP control in 44.1% of cases, indicating a significant improvement of BP control in this clinical setting during the last 3 years; (2) prevalence of LVH is significantly related to BP control
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe 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
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