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Post-thyroidectomy superior laryngeal nerve injury.
Voice dysfunction after thyroidectomy may be caused by damage to laryngeal nerves or lesions to strap muscles with laryngo-tracheal movement impairment. Injury to an external branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (EBSLN) is sometimes difficult to recognize clinically and its electromyographic incidence ranges from 0% to 58%. In this study we evaluated, 12-18 months postoperatively, 45 patients who had undergone thyroid surgery (6 total lobectomy, 5 subtotal thyroidectomy, and 34 total thyroidectomy), using a subjective interview, laryngeal videostroboscopy and spectrographic analysis with a multidimensional voice program. Vocal parameters included fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, noise-to-harmonic-ratio (NHR) and degree of sub-harmonics. Laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) of the cricothyroid (CT) muscles was performed in 21 subjects with voice problems (35 EBSLNs) using a modified method for the CT recording. In 3 patients of this group (14%) LEMG documented a unilateral EBSLN injury. Easy voice fatigue and decreased pitch range were the most common symptoms after surgery. Average values of vocal parameters pre- and postoperatively in patients without neural damage (n = 42) were: jitter 0.64% and 0.78%, shimmer 3.25% and 3.54%, and NHR 0.12% and 0.13%, respectively (P > 0.05). Acoustic analysis revealed altered patterns in some patients with no objective evidence of damage to EBSLNs, suggesting an extralaryngeal cause of vocal dysfunction, such as laryngo-tracheal fixation or lesions to strap muscles. We conclude that laryngeal videostroboscopy and spectrographic analysis are very useful to assess voice problems after thyroidectomy, including in patients without LEMG-proven neural lesions, in order to suggest early speech rehabilitation, especially in professional voice users
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
“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
Amoxicillin in tonsillectomy: preliminary data on the evaluation of serum and tissue concentrations
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