1,720,961 research outputs found
Epidemiology, Anorectal Anatomy, Physiology and Pathophysiology of Continence
Full text linkContinence can be defined as the ability to retain flatus, liquid, or solid stools during
normal daily life, including while physically exercising, coughing, sneezing, and
changing positio
Editorial: Advances in proctology and colorectal surgery
Full text linkProctology and colorectal surgery for benign disorders and neoplasia represent a broad field of general surgery. Their relevance is well known, on the one hand because of the still extremely high frequency in Western countries of colon-rectal cancer (currently estimated as the third most frequent cancer in the world), and on the other hand because of the serious impact on the quality of life (QoL) of patients suffering from benign, inflammatory, and functional diseases of the lower gastrointestinal tract. This Research Topic of Frontiers in Surgery, composed by forty-five original articles on colorectal surgery and proctology addresses several topics including non-surgical solutions, diagnostic aspects, translational research, and specific scenarios
Use of mesoglycan in the acute phase of hemorrhoidal disease (the CHORMES study): study protocol for a double-blind, randomized controlled trial
No full textAbstract Background Hemorrhoidal disease (HD) is associated with substantial economic burden and negative effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aCute HaemORrhoids treatment with MESoglycan (CHORMES) study aims to evaluate the effects of orally administered mesoglycan, a natural preparation of glycosaminoglycans with antithrombotic and profibrinolytic properties, as an acute treatment in patients with HD. Methods CHORMES is a phase 2, double-blind, randomized controlled trial being conducted at two centers in Italy. Adults aged 18–75 years with Grade I–III HD according to Goligher classification or external thrombosed hemorrhoids, and a Hemorrhoidal Disease Symptom Score (HDSS) of ≥ 5, will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to mesoglycan or placebo and will be treated for 40 days (two capsules for the first 5 days and one capsule for the subsequent 35 days twice daily [after breakfast and dinner], equivalent to 200 mg in the first 5 days and 100 mg subsequently). Concomitant use of analgesics is permitted in both treatment groups. The trial aims to enroll 50 patients, with 25 patients in each treatment group. The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the efficacy of mesoglycan in reducing symptoms of HD, assessed via change in HDSS from baseline (day 0) to day 40 in the intention-to-treat population. Secondary objectives include changes in HRQoL from baseline to day 40 using the Short Health Scale for Hemorrhoidal Disease, safety (adverse effects, physical assessments, vital signs and laboratory parameters in the safety population), fecal continence assessed using the Vaizey score, bleeding assessed using the Bleeding score, the amount and type of analgesic taken, and pain. Patient enrolment began on 11 December 2023, and trial completion is expected by December 2024. Discussion The CHORMES trial will evaluate the efficacy and safety of mesoglycan, in addition to its impact on HRQoL, analgesic use and pain, in patients with HD. The results of the trial will assist clinicians in determining the most effective treatment for patients with HD. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06101992. Prospectively registered on 26 October 2023 at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT06101992
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
Short-Term Outcomes of Polycarbophil and Propionibacterium acnes Lysate Gel after Open Hemorrhoidectomy: A Prospective Cohort Study
Full text linkBackground: Pain is the most common complication after open excisional hemorrhoidectomy (OEH). We assessed the effectiveness of polycarbophil and Propionibacterium acnes lysate gel (Emorsan®Gel) on pain control after OEH. Research design and methods: Fifty consecutive patients undergoing OEH were included. All patients received stool softeners and oral analgesia in the post-operative period. Emorsan®Gel was also used topically by the last 25 patients (Emorsan®Gel group (EG)) until Post-Operative Day 20 (POD 20). The primary outcome was the effectiveness of Emorsan®Gel on pain relief using an 11-point visual analogue scale (VAS). Morbidity, wound healing (WH), and time to work were documented at POD 1, POD 10, POD 20, and POD 40. Results: Of the 50 patients enrolled, twenty-eight (56%) were males; median age, 49 (range, 28–73) years. The VAS score decreased over time in all patients, with significantly lower scores at POD 20 in the EG (1.44 (SD, 1.16) vs. 2.12 (0.93) in the control group (CG); p = 0.045). All patients in the EG achieved complete WH at last follow-up, compared to only 17 (68%) in the CG (p = 0.004). The likelihood of WH was 66% higher in the EG (OR, 1.66 [95%CI, 0.80–3.44; p = 0.172). Conclusions: Emorsan®Gel is safe and effective at reducing pain after EOH, promoting earlier WH compared to standard care treatment
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