1,721,093 research outputs found
The role of patient preferences in adherence to treatment in chronic disease: a narrative review
No full textAdherence to prescribed medication is important to the management of all diseases, especially those of chronic nature. Drug effectiveness is substantially compromised by therapy nonadherence. We reviewed the available evidences on the impact of patient preferences for therapy on adherence to a prescribed treatment in chronic diseases requiring long-term treatment. A search on PubMed retrieved 699 publications, leading to a selection of 12 publications: 6 on osteoporosis, 2 on moderate-to-severe asthma, 1 on type 1 diabetes, 1 on type 2 diabetes, 1 on kidney transplantation, and 1 on atrial fibrillation. Overall, 8 studies found a positive association between patient preference and adherence to therapy, while the others found no association. In general, overall adherence was considered to be high in the published studies. The reasons for a positive association included reduced dosing frequency, route of administration, lower costs, and favorable safety profile, which is related to the diverse nature of the pathology and its type and duration of treatment. A literature review suggests that achieving good adherence and persistence to therapy requires evaluation of patient preferences. In a period of increasingly limited resources, more effort is warranted to promote better adherence to therapy, especially when patients must self-manage their disease in the long term. Our results further highlight that insufficient attention has been given to the relationship between patient preference and adherence and point out the complex nature of adherence and the need for adequate patient education. More efforts are also needed to better understand the entity of cost savings for payers for specific treatments and the link with patient preference
Implications of Gestational Weight Gain in Studies of Gestational Diabetes
No full textA research article published in JAMA Pediatrics, “Associations of Maternal Diabetes and Body Mass Index With Offspring Birth Weight and Prematurity,” asserts that maternal insulin-treated diabetes and obesity in mothers with type 2 diabetes appeared to be associated with increased risks for the offspring being large for gestational age (LGA) and preterm births. Increased LGA risks were found also for mothers with diabetes with insulin treatment, with type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes (GDM) not treated with insulin. In addition, prematurity rose for mothers with type 2 diabetes, independent of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI). Prepregnancy BMI, with no diabetes, was associated with the risk for LGA and prematurity.
Large for gestational age is a stronger marker for risk of being overweight/obese in early childhood. Rates of being overweight/obese in childhood were highest in LGA children born to mothers with GDM.2 Gestational weight gain (GWG) is an important risk factor for macrosomia.3 The GWG is calculated as the difference between weight at the last prenatal visit and the prepregnancy self-reported weight. The research by Kong et al1 would have been enhanced by including the use of self-reported prepregnancy weight. In an important and significant study such as this, it would have been appropriate to indicate not only the pregravidic weight of women but also the GWG. If the GWG is not mentioned, the risks associated with it could be underestimated. The GWG may influence the grade of insulin resistance and subclinical inflammation that accompanies GDM. It is known that prepregnancy BMI is important, but perhaps it becomes even more important than the GWG. It is not certain that only nondiabetic women with an overweight prepregnancy BMI develop a GDM. It is possible that even normal-weight women before pregnancy, if they become overweight during pregnancy, can develop a GDM, which in turn may be associated with having an LGA infant.
It would be appropriate to stress from the beginning of pregnancy, not only in overweight or obese women, to avoid excessive GWG to reduce the risks of GDM and morbid obesity. In these women, adequate GWG may prevent fetal overgrowth
The "Adipo-Cerebral" Dialogue in Childhood Obesity: Focus on Growth and Puberty. Physiopathological and Nutritional Aspects
Full text linkOverweight and obesity in children and adolescents are overwhelming problems in western countries. Adipocytes, far from being only fat deposits, are capable of endocrine functions, and the endocrine activity of adipose tissue, resumable in adipokines production, seems to be a key modulator of central nervous system function, suggesting the existence of an “adipo-cerebral axis.” This connection exerts a key role in children growth and puberty development, and it is exemplified by the leptin–kisspeptin interaction. The aim of this review was to describe recent advances in the knowledge of adipose tissue endocrine functions and their relations with nutrition and growth. The peculiarities of major adipokines are briefly summarized in the first paragraph; leptin and its interaction with kisspeptin are focused on in the second paragraph; the third paragraph deals with the regulation of the GH-IGF axis, with a special focus on the model represented by growth hormone deficiency (GHD); finally, old and new nutritional aspects are described in the last paragraph
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
Does First Ray Amputation in Diabetic Patients Influence Gait and Quality of Life?
No full textIt has recently been suggested that first ray amputation in diabetic patients with serious foot complications can prolong bipedal ambulatory status, and reduce morbidity and mortality. However, no data are available on gait analysis and quality of life after this procedure. In the present case-control study (6 amputee and 6 nonamputee diabetics, 6 healthy non-diabetic), a sample of amputee diabetic patients were evaluated and compared with a sample of nonamputee diabetic patients and a group of age-matched healthy subjects. Gait biomechanics, quality of life, and pain were evaluated. Compared with the other 2 groups, amputee patients displayed a lower walking speed and greater variability and lower ankle, knee, and hip range of motion values. They also tended to have a more flexed hip profile. Pain and lower quality of life were related to worsening biomechanical data. Our study results have shown that gait biomechanics in diabetic patients with first ray amputation are abnormal, probably owing to the severity of diabetes and the absence of the push-off phase provided by the hallux. Tailored orthotics and rehabilitation programs and a specific pain management program should be considered to improve the gait and quality of life of diabetic patients with first ray amputation
A case of esomeprazole-induced transient diabetes and hepatitis: the role of liver inflammation in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance
No full textWe describe a case report of a patient who developed transient type 2 diabetes after a drug-induced (esomeprazole) sub-acute hepatitis. This case evidences the pathophysiological relevance, also in humans, of liver inflammation in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes
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
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