1,720,956 research outputs found
Lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio predicts survival after radiofrequency ablation for colorectal liver metastases
No full textAIM: To test the correlation between lymphocyte-tomonocyte ratio (LMR) and survival after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for colorectal liver metastasis (CLMs). METHODS: From July 2003 to Feb 2012, 127 consecutive patients with 193 histologically-proven unresectable CLMs were treated with percutaneous RFA at the University of Foggia. All patients had undergone primary colorectal tumor resection before RFA and received systemic chemotherapy. LMR was calculated by dividing lymphocyte count by monocyte count assessed at baseline. Treatment-related toxicity was defined as any adverse events occurred within 4 wk after the procedure. Overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR) were estimated from the date of RFA by Kaplan-Meier with plots and median (95%CI). The inferential analysis for time to event data was conducted using the Cox univariate and multivariate regression model to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95%CI. Statistically significant variables from the univariate Cox analysis were considered for the multivariate models. RESULTS: Median age was 66 years (range 38-88) and patients were prevalently male (69.2%). Median LMR was 4.38% (0.79-88) whereas median number of nodules was 2 (1-3) with a median maximum diameter of 27 mm (10-45). Median OS was 38 mo (34-53) and survival rate (SR) was 89.4%, 40.4% and 33.3% at 1, 4 and 5 years respectively in the whole cohort. Running log-rank test analysis found 3.96% as the most significant prognostic cut-off point for LMR and stratifying the study population by this LMR value median OS resulted 55 mo (37-69) in patients with LMR > 3.96% and 34 (26-39) mo in patients with LMR ≤ 3.96% (HR = 0.53, 0.34-0.85, P = 0.007). Nodule size and LMR were the only significant predictors for OS in multivariate analysis. Median TTR was 29 mo (22-35) with a recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate of 72.6%, 32.1% and 21.8% at 1, 4 and 5 years, respectively in the whole study group. Nodule size and LMR were confirmed as significant prognostic factors for TTR in multivariate Cox regression. TTR, when stratified by LMR, was 35 mo (28-57) in the group > 3.96% and 25 mo (18-30) in the group ≤ 3.96% (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Our study provides support for the use of LMR as a novel predictor of outcome for CLM patients
Role of vaptans in the management of hydroelectrolytic imbalance in liver cirrhosis
Get PDFAscites and hyponatremia are the most common complications in patients with liver cirrhosis and develop as a consequence of a severe impairment of liver function and portal hypertension. Increasing evidences support the central role of renal function alterations in the pathogenesis of hydroelectrolytic imbalances in cirrhotic patients, thus implying a dense cross-talk between liver and kidney in the systemic and splanchnic vascular homeostasis in such subjects. Since Arginin Vasopressin (AVP) hyperincretion occurs at late stage of cirrhosis and plays an important role in the development of refractory ascites, dilutional hyponatremia and finally hepato-renal syndrome, selective antagonists of AVP receptors V2 (vaptans) have been recently introduced in the therapeutic algorithm of advanced cirrhotic patients. Despite the promising results of earlier phase-two studies, randomized controlled trials failed to find significant results in terms of efficacy of such drugs both in refractory ascites and hyponatremia. Moreover, concerns on their safety profile arise, due to the number of potentially severe side effects of vaptans in the clinical setting, such as hypernatremia, dehydration, renal impairment, and osmotic demyelination syndrome. More robust data from randomized controlled trials are needed in order to confirm the potential role of vaptans in the management of advanced cirrhotic patients
Serum ferritin as a new prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with radiofrequency ablation
No full textBackground and Aim: Hepatic iron accumulation is considered to be a cofactor that
influences liver injury and hepatocarcinogenesis. Aim of this study is to determine whether
serum ferritin (SF) levels relate to overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR) in
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with percutaneous radiofrequency ablation
(RFA).
Methods: We measured SF levels in 103 HCC patients (median age 70, M/F = 82.5%/
17.5%) who underwent RFA between 2005 and 2010. Correlation between SF and other
prognostic factors at baseline was analyzed. SF levels were entered into a Cox model and
their influence on OS and TTR was evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: SF did not correlate with α-fetoprotein (rho: −0.12, P = 0.22), neutrophil/
lymphocyte ratio (rho: −0.1020, P = 0.30), Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (rho: 0.18,
P = 0.06), Child-Pugh score (P = 0.5), or Barcelona Cancer of the Liver Clinic stage
(P = 0.16). A log-rank test found the value of 244 ng/mL as the optimal prognostic cut-off
point for SF. Median OS was 62 months (54–78) and survival rate was 97%, 65%, and 52%
at 1, 4, and 5 years, respectively. Performance status and SF were the only predictors of OS
at multivariate analysis. Median TTR was 38 months (34–49) with a recurrence-free
survival rate of 82.5%, 26.2%, and 23.3% at 1, 4, and 5 years, respectively, while SF and
age were the only predictors of TTR.
Conclusions: SF level, possibly reflecting the degree of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis,
is a negative risk factor for survival and recurrence after percutaneous RFA in HCC
patients
Serum ferritin as a new prognostic factor in hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with radiofrequency ablation
No full textBackground and Aim: Hepatic iron accumulation is considered to be a cofactor that
influences liver injury and hepatocarcinogenesis. Aim of this study is to determine whether
serum ferritin (SF) levels relate to overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR) in
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with percutaneous radiofrequency ablation
(RFA).
Methods: We measured SF levels in 103 HCC patients (median age 70, M/F = 82.5%/
17.5%) who underwent RFA between 2005 and 2010. Correlation between SF and other
prognostic factors at baseline was analyzed. SF levels were entered into a Cox model and
their influence on OS and TTR was evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: SF did not correlate with α-fetoprotein (rho: −0.12, P = 0.22), neutrophil/
lymphocyte ratio (rho: −0.1020, P = 0.30), Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (rho: 0.18,
P = 0.06), Child-Pugh score (P = 0.5), or Barcelona Cancer of the Liver Clinic stage
(P = 0.16). A log-rank test found the value of 244 ng/mL as the optimal prognostic cut-off
point for SF. Median OS was 62 months (54–78) and survival rate was 97%, 65%, and 52%
at 1, 4, and 5 years, respectively. Performance status and SF were the only predictors of OS
at multivariate analysis. Median TTR was 38 months (34–49) with a recurrence-free
survival rate of 82.5%, 26.2%, and 23.3% at 1, 4, and 5 years, respectively, while SF and
age were the only predictors of TTR.
Conclusions: SF level, possibly reflecting the degree of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis,
is a negative risk factor for survival and recurrence after percutaneous RFA in HCC
patients
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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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