1,721,062 research outputs found
The Interactions of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Cardiovascular Diseases
No full textA complex interaction among metabolic factors, adipose tissue lipolysis, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance results in a deleterious process that may link nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with severe cardiovascular (CV) outcomes. Patients with NAFLD are at higher risk of atherosclerosis, new onset of CV events, and overall mortality. The strong association between NAFLD and CV disease should affect clinical practice, with screening and surveillance of patients with NAFLD. This review discusses the data linking these major diseases
Non-invasive markers of steatosis and liver fibrosis.
No full textLes méthodes non invasives d'évaluation des lésions tissulaires hépatiques les plus utilisées et les mieux validées sont l'élastométrie et le FibroTest. La stéatopathie non-alcoolique (NAFLD) est devenue la forme la plus fréquente de maladie hépatique. Différentes études suggèrent que la NAFLD est associée à un risque accru de mortalité, en particulier d'origine cardiovasculaire. Les objectifs de cette thèse étaient 1) de mieux définir certaines limites des méthodes non invasives d'évaluation de la fibrose hépatique; 2) d'évaluer la valeur pronostique du FibroTest et d'un biomarqueur de stéatose, le SteatoTest chez les patients ayant un diabète et/ou une dyslipidémie. Le travail réalisé a permis de montrer une variabilité interobservateur notable de l'élastométrie entre deux opérateurs expérimentés dans l'hépatite chronique virale C. La stéatose du foie, estimée par le SteatoTest, a été identifiée comme un facteur indépendant associé à la surestimation de la fibrose du foie par l'élastométrie chez les sujets ayant un diabète de type 2. Nous avons également mis en évidence une variabilité du test APRI et l'impact de l'activité nécrotico-inflammatoire sur ce test dont la formule comprend l'aspartate transaminase exprimée en multiple de la normale dans l'hépatite chronique virale C. Chez des patients à haut risque de NAFLD, nous avons pu démontrer la valeur pronostique à 10 ans du FibroTest et du SteatoTest, pour prédire la mortalité globale indépendamment des facteurs métaboliques. Le FibroTest était également prédictif de la mortalité d'origine hépatique et de l'incidence des complications cardiovasculaires et le SteatoTest de la mortalité d'origine cardiovasculaireSeveral non-invasive methods have been proposed to replace liver biopsy. Transient elastography and FibroTest are the most widely used and best validated non-invasive methods to assess liver fibrosis. Subjects with metabolic disorders such as type-2 diabetes or dyslipidemia, have a high risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Evidence was previously provided to indicate that NAFLD is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality. The aims of this thesis were. 1) to evaluate the main limitations of non-invasive methods to assess liver fibrosis. 2) to evaluate the prognostic value of liver biomarkers, such as FibroTest and SteatoTest, in patients with type-2 diabetes and/or dyslipidemia. We demonstrated a marked interobserver variability of transient elastography between two experienced operators in chronic hepatitis C. Hepatic steatosis, estimated by SteatoTest, was identified as an independent factor associated with an overestimation of liver fibrosis by transient elastography in patients with type-2 diabetes. We could also show the variability of the APRI test, based on the expression of aspartate aminotransferase relative to the upper limit of normal and the risk of overestimating fibrosis stage by this test due to necro-inflammatory activity in chronic hepatitis C. We reported that FibroTest and SteatoTest had a 10-year prognostic value for prediction of overall mortality independently of metabolic factors in patients at high risk of NAFLD. FibroTest was also predictive of liver-related death and incidence of cardiovascular events. In addition, SteatoTest had a prognostic value for cardiovascular-related death
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
Care of patients with chronic hepatitis C and HIV co-infection: recommendations from the HIV-HCV International Panel
No full textStatins, antidiabetic medications and liver histology in patients with diabetes with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Full text linkBackground: Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a risk factor for progressive non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Drugs commonly prescribed in patients with T2DM may affect liver histology by interfering with lipid metabolism and insulin resistance/secretion. Aim: We studied if statins or antidiabetic agents were associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and significant fibrosis (SF). Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 346 diabetics with biopsy-proven NAFLD. T2DM was defined as fasting glucose ≥7 mmol/L or glycated haemoglobin ≥6.5% and/or use of antidiabetics. NASH was defined according to the FLIP algorithm and SF as F2-4 Kleiner's stages. Results: 84% of patients were on antidiabetic therapy and 45% on statins. NASH and SF were present in 57% and 48% of patients. Statin-treated patients were older, more frequently male and with poorer glycaemic control despite more frequent antidiabetic therapy than those without statins; however, the prevalence of NASH (57%vs56%, p=0.868) and SF (48%vs48%, p=0.943) was not different between statin users and non-users. NASH was more common in patients on metformin or insulin than in those not treated with these drugs (60% vs47%, p=0.026; 68%vs53%, p=0.017). SF was more common in those treated with sulfonylureas (57% vs44%, p=0.030). Multivariate analyses confirmed that use of statins was independently and negatively associated with both NASH (OR (95% CI) 0.57 (0.32 to 1.01), p=0.055) and SF (OR (95% CI) 0.47 (0.26 to 0.84), p=0.011). Moreover, we found independent associations between insulin use and NASH (OR (95% CI) 2.24 (1.11 to 4.54), p=0.025) and sulfonylureas use and SF (OR (95% CI) 2.04 (1.11 to 3.74), p=0.022). Conclusions: Several medications used in patients with diabetes are differently associated with NAFLD histology. Statin use is negatively associated, while insulin and sulfonylureas are positively associated with NASH and SF. A wider use of statins may be warranted in this high-risk population
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