1,720,980 research outputs found
First clinical case of effective medical treatment of the vitreoretinal traction with recovery of the visual acuity.
No full textThis case-report evaluates the effectiveness of the medical treatment on vitreomacular traction through the use of palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), orally administered. Our 69 year-old patient reported a significant eyesight reduction, metamorphopsia and photopsia. He underwent the following investigations, before and after medical treatment: visual acuity evaluation, dilated fundus examination, OCT. The treatment consisted of the administration of two tablets of PEA per day over 7 days. We observed that, while the visual acuity in the right eye was 2/10 compared to the initial 11/10, the dilated fundus examination highlighted a foveal hole. Moreover, the OCT confirmed the presence of a vitreomacular traction due to the incomplete posterior vitreous detachment. At the end of the treatment with PEA, the visual acuity was equal to 8/10 and the OCT showed a disappearance of the hyperreflective streak with recovery of the physiological retinal and foveal profile. The therapy was eventually carried on for 10 more days with a final visual acuity of 10/10. In conclusion, PEA orally administered, beyond a rare possibility of a spontaneous resolution of the vitreomacular traction, probably contributed, by anti inflammatory action, to the vitreolysis and thus to the disappearance of the vitreomacular traction and foveal hole with a subsequent recovery of the eyesight and of the metamorphopsi
Spontaneous porto-systemic shunts in liver cirrhosis. Clinical and therapeutical aspects
Full text linkSpontaneous porto-systemic shunts (SPSS) are frequent in liver cirrhosis and their prevalence increases as liver function deteriorates, probably as a consequence of worsening portal hypertension, but without achieving an effective protection against cirrhosis' complications. Several types of SPSS have been described in the literature, each one associated with different clinical manifestations. In particular, recurrent or persistent hepatic encephalopathy is more frequent in patients with splenorenal shunt, while the presence of gastric varices and consequently the incidence of variceal bleeding is more common in gastrorenal shunt. In the advanced stage, the presence of large SPSS can lead to the so called "portosystemic shunt syndrome", characterized by a progressive deterioration of hepatic function, hepatic encephalopathy and, sometimes, portal vein thrombosis. The detection of SPSS in patients with liver cirrhosis is recommended in order to prevent or treat recurrent hepatic encephalopathy or variceal bleeding
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
Simultaneous detection of IgA/IgG anti-tissue transglutaminase/deamidated gliadin peptides in serodiagnosis of celiac disease
No full textBackground: Celiac disease is a common autoimmune disorder that is diagnosed based on clinical case identification, serological screening, and duodenal histology. However, the existence of mild clinical forms, such as seronegative cases with patchy atrophy and potential celiac disease, can make it difficult to determine a definitive diagnosis. The seronegative patients with celiac disease can include those with discordant antibody results and false-negative results, due to unknown origins or selective IgA deficiency. Case presentation: We present two cases with discordant antibody results in order to evaluate if the simultaneous detection of specific antibodies can improve the serodiagnosis of celiac disease. In both patients, the simultaneous detection of IgA/IgG anti-tissue transglutaminase/deamidated gliadin peptides gave discordant positive results by the same antibodies assayed individually. Conclusion: Although further studies are needed to confirm and extend our findings, the simultaneous detection of specific antibodies seems to improve the serodiagnosis of celiac disease in patients with discordant antibody results
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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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