1,721,538 research outputs found
Pyridoxine supplementation for levetiracetam-related neuropsychiatric adverse events: A systematic review
No full textObjective: Among people with epilepsy, levetiracetam (LEV) can cause neuropsychiatric adverse events (NPAEs) that impact negatively on quality of life. It has been suggested that pyridoxine can ameliorate LEV-related NPAEs. We conducted a systematic review of studies on the use of pyridoxine supplementation to relieve NPAEs associated with LEV therapy. Methods: The review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Medline, EMBASE, Scholar, Cochrane-CENTRAL (2000–2019), and EThOS platform were searched for studies on the use of pyridoxine in patients with LEV-related NPAEs. Proportions of patients reported to benefit from pyridoxine supplementation were tabulated, and a random-effect model meta-analysis was conducted. Results: Eleven retrospective studies/case reports and one randomized prospective study, mostly including pediatric populations, were identified. Retrospective studies, which were rated as low quality due to failure to control for bias, reported an overall improvement of NPAEs after pyridoxine supplementation in 72.5% (108/149) of patients. The proportion of patients showing improvement in a pooled analysis of the four largest retrospective studies (n = 134) was 72.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 47.1–88.3), although there was high heterogeneity across studies (I2 = 82%, pheterogeneity < 0.01). In the only prospective trial, patients randomized to pyridoxine supplementation were more likely to show relief from NPAEs than patients not receiving supplementation (p < 0.01), but outcomes might have been affected by assessment bias. Conclusion: This systematic review suggests that pyridoxine might be of benefit in relieving LEV-related NPAEs. However, the quality of the evidence is poor, and better-designed prospective studies that include quantitative as well as qualitative data are needed to define the role of pyridoxine in the management of LEV-related NPAEs
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
Inflessibilità Psicologica in soggetti con endometriosi e in popolazione generale
No full textPrecedenti studi suggeriscono che l'Inflessibilità Psicologica (IP) è coinvolta nello sviluppo del disagio psicologico (DP) e di bassi livelli di benessere psicologico (PWB) in campioni eterogenei di pazienti con dolore cronico. Gli obiettivi del presente studio sono: a) esplorare se tali risultati sono generalizzabili a soggetti affetti da endometriosi, b) indagare se l’IP si associa alla condizione medica oppure è un fattore di rischio generale.
Un totale di 126 pazienti ambulatoriali con endometriosi e 116 soggetti della popolazione generale hanno partecipato allo studio. Entrambi i gruppi sono stati a loro volta divisi in due sottogruppi (alta e bassa IP) in base ai punteggi dell'Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II). Misure di PWB e DP sono state ottenute tramite scale di valutazione autosomministrate. Le differenze di esito tra i gruppi in DP e in PWB sono state esplorate tramite ANCOVA.
I soggetti con endometriosi hanno mostrato alti punteggi in DP e bassi punteggi in Relazioni Positive, Auto-accettazione, Competenza Ambientale, e Proposito nella Vita rispetto ai controlli. Inoltre, i soggetti con alta IP hanno mostrato alti punteggi in DP e bassi punteggi in Autonomia, Relazioni Positive, Auto-accettazione, Competenza Ambientale, Proposito nella Vita, e Crescita Personale rispetto ai soggetti con bassa IP. Nessun effetto di interazione è stato rilevato.
Nel complesso, i risultati supportano IP come fattore di rischio di DP e di bassi livelli di PWB, non solo in endometriosi ma anche in popolazione generale
Psychological Inflexibility and distress in females with fibromyalgia, cancer and healthy controls
No full textPsychological inflexibility (PI) has emerged as an important process in understanding adjustment to different medical conditions. The objective of this study was to explore whether the effects of PI on psychological distress is moderated by the clinical condition and healthy status. Participants were 257 females (mean age = 42.8 years; SD = 14.5): 91 patients with fibromyalgia, 71 with cancer, and 95 healthy females. Each group was split off on two subgroups (high and low PI) according to scores on the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II. Participants also completed measures of anxiety and depression. Between-groups differences on depression and anxiety were explored by means of ANCOVA. The effects of the interaction between the health condition and PI factors were not statistically significant. The results showed a significant main effect of PI on both anxiety and depression scores. Women with high levels of PI showed higher levels of anxiety and depression than women with low PI. The results also showed a significant effect of the health condition on depression, with patients with fibromyalgia yielding higher levels of depression than the other groups. Findings in this study support PI as a general risk factor for a poorer emotional adjustment, regardless of the clinical condition or healthy status. The findings also suggest that depression in females with fibromyalgia may be related to other processes or characteristics that are specific for this group of patients
Two-dimensional structure of a polar coronal hole at solar minimum: new semiempirical methodology for deriving plasma parameters
No full textWe develop a new technique to determine the plasma parameters in a polar coronal hole. This method
makes use of the line intensities of the H i Ly 1215.6 line and of the O vi 1031.9, 1037.6 doublet, measured
with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) on board the ESA-NASA solar spacecraft
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) during 1996 August. The observed intensities are selfconsistently
reproduced with a two-dimensional semiempirical coronal hole model, for heliocentric distances
between 1.4 and 2.6 R and latitudes between 90 (north pole) and 40. Electron densities are derived by separating
the O vi doublet collisional components from those due to resonant scattering. The calculated electron
density radial profiles are consistent with typical polar coronal hole data and show only a moderate increase
with latitude decreasing, in regions close to the equatorial streamer. The outflow speeds of protons and O vi
ions are determined by means of the Doppler dimming technique. In the Doppler dimming analysis we use
kinetic temperatures Tk derived from UVCS observations of the line profiles, whenever available, or we keep
Tk as a free parameter if not provided by data. Mass flux conservation along the magnetic field lines is studied
adopting a simple analytical model for the geometry of the magnetic flux tubes. Our model shows that protons
and O vi ions accelerate outward, but their outflow speed turns out to decrease slowly as latitude
decreases. The O vi speed, initially comparable to the speed of protons, exceeds the proton speed beyond
1.7 R. Anisotropic O vi kinetic temperatures, Tk and T?, turn out to be necessary to ensure the consistency
of the model parameters with mass flux conservation, while the H kinetic temperature distribution is kept
isotropic. Results from our model are compared with those from other two-dimensional models recently
developed
Does Psychological Flexibility Longitudinally Predict Psychological Well-Being in Patients With Cancer?
No full textIntroduction: A growing body of research shows that psychological flexibility (PF) is associated with higher psychological well-being (PWB). Previous research in the field among patients with cancer is however sparse and limited by the cross-sectional nature of methodological designs. The objective of this study was to explore whether PF longitudinally predicts PWB in patients with cancer.
Method: A total of 87 females with cancer (Mean age = 50 years, SD=9.6, range=23-68 years) participated in the study. Patients completed the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II (AAQ-II) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWB) at Time 1 (T1) and at Time 2 (T2), 16 months later.
Findings: Results from hierarchical regression analyses – controlling for socio-demographic, clinical, and dependent variables at T1 – showed that PF at T1 significantly and positively predicted both Positive Relations and Personal Growth scores of the PWB as well as the PWB total score at T2.
Conclusion: Findings in this study support PF as a temporal antecedent of two important PWB dimensions. Psychological interventions designed to increase PF may be effective to improve PWB in patients with cancer
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