1,720,983 research outputs found
Secondary diabetes associated with principal endocrinopathies: the impact of new treatment modalities.
No full textThe secondary occurrence of type 2 diabetes with various hormonal diseases (e.g.
pituitary, adrenal and/or thyroid diseases) is a recurrent observation. Indeed,
impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and overt diabetes mellitus are frequently
associated with acromegaly and hypercortisolism (Cushing syndrome). The increased
cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with acromegaly and Cushing
syndrome may partly be a consequence of increased insulin resistance that
normally accompanies hormone excess. Acromegalic patients are insulin resistant,
both in the liver and in the periphery, displaying hyperinsulinemia and increased
glucose turnover in the basal post-absorptive states. The prevalence of diabetes
mellitus and that of IGT in acromegaly is reported to range 16-56%, whereas the
degree of glucose tolerance seems correlated with circulating growth hormone (GH)
levels, age, and disease duration. Moreover, a family history of diabetes and
concomitant presence of arterial hypertension have been found to predispose to
diabetes as well. GH has physiological effects on glucose metabolism, stimulating
gluconeogenesis and lipolysis, which results in increased blood glucose and free
fatty acid levels. Conversely, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) enhances
insulin sensitivity primarily on skeletal muscles. However, in acromegaly,
increased IGF-I levels are unable to counteract the insulin-resistance status
determined by GH excess. Therapy with somatostatin analogues (SSAs) induce
control of GH and IGF-I excess in the majority of patients, but their inhibitory
effect on pancreatic insulin secretion might complicate the overall effect of
this treatment on glucose tolerance. Hypercortisolism produces visceral obesity,
insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia that together with hypertension,
hypercoagulability, and ventricular morphologic and functional abnormalities
increase cardiovascular risk, and persist up to 5 years after resolution of
hypercortisolism. Hypercortisolism leads to hyperglycaemia and reduced glucose
tolerance, determines insulin resistance, stimulates hepatic gluconeogenesis and
glicogenolisis. In Cushing syndrome the prevalence of diabetes varies between 20
and 50%, but probably this prevalence is underestimated, as not always an oral
glucose tolerance test is performed in the presence of an apparently normal
fasting glycaemia. Again, disease duration, rather than hormone levels, seems to
be the major determinant in the occurrence of systemic complications in Cushing
syndrome. Due to the impact they have on mortality and morbidity in both
acromegaly and Cushing syndrome, these complications should be treated
aggressively. In patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) the occurrence of
altered glucose tolerance may be due to a decreased insulin secretion, like it
happens in patients who underwent pancreatic surgery and in those with
pheochromocytoma, or to an altered counterbalance between hormones, such as in
patients with glucagonoma and somatostatinoma. Moreover, SSAs represent a valid
therapeutic choice in the symptomatic treatment of NETs, and also in this case
the medical therapy of the primary disease, may have a significant impact on the
prevalence of glucose metabolism imbalance. In thyroid disorders, an abnormal
glucose tolerance may be principally encountered in hyperthyroidism. The
pathogenesis is complex and scant data on prevalence and severity are found in
the literature. Adequate treatment for glucose imbalance is mandatory in these
peculiar patients in line with the American Diabetes Association and the European
Association for the Study of Diabetes consensus statement. In particular, since
traditional insulins have two features that may complicate therapy (absorption
profiles, delayed onset of action and peak activity), the new insulin analogues
could be of particular interest in the management of the secondary diabetes
associated with endocrinopathies, considering the frailty of these patients.
Indeed, it has been demonstrated that insulin glargine, given once daily, reduces
the risk of hypoglycaemia compared with other formulations, and can facilitate a
more aggressive insulin treatment in this class of patients
Hyperprolactinemia and bone
No full textProlactin (PRL) has direct and indirect effects on bone metabolism. Experimental studies showed that in the presence of high PRL levels bone resorption was increased as well as bone formation was suppressed. Increased PRL levels in humans caused a reduction in sex hormone levels which turn may have detrimental effects on bone. Patients with hyperprolactinemia did have often decreased bone mineral density as well as an increased risk of fractures. Since PRL control may be relevant to bone health it is a clinical open issue the inclusion of skeletal health in future guidelines as indication to proactive screening, prevention and treatment particularly in high risk patients such as hyperprolactinemic women after menopause and patients with drug induced hyperprolactinemia
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
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
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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