1,721,038 research outputs found
Oncological and Functional Outcomes of Radical Cystectomy and Orthotopic Bladder Replacement in Women. Editorial comment
No full textDuring the last decades, orthotopic bladder substitution (OBS) after radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in women has been increasingly proposed. Meanwhile, strict patient selection criteria, improved surgical techniques, long-term follow-up in large patient cohorts, and validated evaluation have defined the role of OBS in men. Several issues must be clarified in women: oncological outcome, complication rates, functional results, quality of life, and sexual function. As a matter of fact, the results of OBS in women are substantially unchanged in the last decade as stated in this paper.
From the oncological standpoint, the patient outcome seems objectively satisfactory but selection criteria are different in the published series. Fortunately, the problem of urethra recurrence seems less relevant in properly selected patients.
However several issues are still a matter of debate. Functional results in terms of continence and hypercontinence are still unsatisfactory because the optimal way to reconstruct the pelvic anatomy is still undefined. Early and late complication rates are poorly evaluated. Little data are also available about the quality of life and sexual function.
Validated evaluation criteria in a large patient cohort are needed to objectively evaluate the results and to improve the substantially unchanged results reported in last decade. It's time to move forward!!
Continuing evolution of statistical tests in medical research(Impiego di test statistici nella ricerca medica:l’evoluzione)
No full textThe role of statistics in medical research starts at the planning stage of a clinical trial or laboratory experiment to establish the design and size of an experiment that will ensure a good prospect of detecting effects of clinical or scientific interest. Statistics is again used during data analysis (sample data) to make inferences valid in a wider population. In simple situations, computation of simple quantities such as P-values, confidence intervals, standard deviations, standard errors or application of some standard parametric or nonparametric tests may suffice. Moreover, despite the wide use of statistics in medical research, simple notions are sometimes misunderstood or misinterpreted by medical research workers, who have only a limited knowledge of statistics. This article, written for non-statisticians, is to explain what are the most common statistical tests used today in the field of medical research, tracing the evolution of statistical tests over time, in particular the introduction of nonparametric methods and, more recently, the NonParametric Combination (NPC) methodology. At the same time, this work seeks to identify some of the errors associated with their use, that often lead to an incorrect assessment and interpretation of results of medical research
Sexual Counseling Improved Erectile Rehabilitation After Non-Nerve-Sparing Radical Retropubic Prostatectomy or Cystectomy—Results of a Randomized Prospective Study
No full textAim. The efficacy of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1)-intracavernous injection (ICI) therapy for erectile dysfunction (ED) after non-nerve-sparing (NNS) radical pelvic surgery depends on patient compliance. The purpose of this study was to verify the utility of sexual counseling in ICI in terms of treatment efficacy, compliance, and dropout rate.
Methods. In this prospective randomized study, 57 patients with ED after NNS radical prostatectomy or cystectomy were divided: 29 patients (group SC+) were treated with sexual counseling and PGE1-ICI therapy; the others 28 (group SC–) were treated with only ICI. At the start of the study all patients were administered the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire and ICI training test; follow-up (at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months) was achieved by home Sildenafil test and ambulatory IIEF test; sexual counseling was provided only to group SC+.
Results. The mean IIEF score at the end of study was 26.5 (SC+) vs. 24.3 (SC–) (P < 0.05); eight patients (SC+, 27.5%) became responders to home Sildenafil vs. five (SC–, 17.8%) (P < 0.05); no dropout cases occurred (SC+) vs. eight (SC–, 28.5%) (P < 0.05). Moreover, we recorded best IIEF scores in group SC+ in sexual satisfaction (P < 0.05), sexual desire (P < 0.05), orgasmic function, and general satisfaction. Mean PGE1 doses were better in group SC+ (P < 0.05). ICI-oriented sexual counseling was utilized to motivate couples, to improve sexual intercourses, to correct mistakes in ICI administration. At the end of follow-up 21 patients (SC+) declared themselves satisfied vs. 12 (SC–).
Conclusions. ICI-oriented sexual counseling in ICI increased the efficacy of treatment, the compliance, and Sildenafil responders rate, decreased the dropout rate. Titta M, Tavolini IM, Dal Moro F, Cisternino A, and Bassi P. Sexual counseling improved erectile rehabilitation after non-nerve-sparing radical retropubic prostatectomy or cystectomy—results of a randomized prospective study
Do Weather Conditions Influence the Onset of Renal Colic? A Novel Approach to Analysis
No full textAbstract: Background/Aim: To investigate the seasonal variations of the incidence of renal colic by a computerized analysis of cyclic climatic features. Methods: 1,163 consecutive patients with acute renal colic were studied. Eigendecomposition and signal reconstruction of district temperature and humidity were performed to establish any cyclic variation. Average temperatures and humidity values were calculated at time periods of 15, 30, 45 and 60 days preceding each renal colic. Results: Patients were allocated to groups every 30 days, since eigendeanalysis suggested that intervals of this duration have homogeneous climatic features. With an average time period of 15 days preceding each renal colic, a positive correlation coefficient of temperature (r = +0.75 with CI 0.31-0.93, p < 0.005) and a cubic relationship at the regression analysis (R = 82.4%, p = 0.015) were found with the onset of colics. We observed a negative correlation between humidity and renal colic (rho = -0.70 with CI -0.92 to -0.21, p < 0.01), with an inverse relation as regression model (R = 57.9%, p < 0.05). Conclusions: We demonstrated an association between the onset of renal colics and exposure to hot and dry weather, particularly when temperatures rose above 27 degrees C and relative humidity fell below 45%. Copyright (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel
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
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