1,720,989 research outputs found
Predictors of surgical outcomes of retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy
No full textObjectives: To evaluate surgical outcomes in a series of laparoscopic retroperitoneal partial nephrectomies. Methods: A total of 147 patients who underwent laparoscopic retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy by a single surgeon were evaluated. Pre-operative parameters (body mass index, ASA score, tumour size, cTNM stage, PADUA score risk, surgeon experience) and intraoperative and postoperative outcomes (operative mean time, warm ischemia time, blood loss, transfusion rate, length of hospitalization, and margin-ischaemiacomplications [MIC] success rate) were considered. Results: For 134 patients (91.1%) the success of the treatment, defined by a MIC = 3, was obtained. When the statistical significance of each of the independent variables was tested, surgeon's experience added statistical significance to the prediction of operative time (p = 0.000), warm ischemia time (p = 0.000) and blood loss (p = 0.000); tumour size (p = 0.046) to the prediction MIC (p = 0.010), operative time (p = 0.000), warm ischemia time (p = 0.003) and blood loss (p = 0.010); ASA score to the length of hospitalization (p = 0.009). Conclusions: Laparoscopic retroperitoneal partial nephrectomy represents an adequate and safe technique for the treatment of T1 renal cancer. Optimal MIC success rate can be achieved, although intraoperative outcomes tend to be related to the learning curve even in a very experienced laparoscopic surgeon. Length of hospitalization depends on general health condition of patients
Quality of bladder cancer treatment information on YouTube: May the user’s profile affect the quality of results?
Get PDFProstate and gut: Any relationship? A narrative review on the available evidence and putative mechanisms
Get PDFBackground: Gut microbiome is a community of microorganisms that lives in the human intestine and exerts various functions on the host, including metabolic, immunoregulatory, and control over cell proliferation. Gut microbiome alterations have been associated with various pathological conditions, such as diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. Gut-prostate axis is explained by the association between gut microbiome quantitative and functional alterations along with increased intestinal epithelial permeability with prostatediseases. However, the pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical importance of this association are not completely clarified yet. Methods: We conducted a narrative review of the most relevant articles in the Medline (US National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA), Scopus (Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Web of Science Core Collection (Thomson Reuters, Toronto, ON, Canada) databases. No chronological restrictions were applied, and the most related papers published until December 2023 were included. Results: Gut microbiota (GM) and its metabolites are capable of modifying host androgen level, as well as prostate cancer (PCa) therapy response. Moreover, patients with inflammatory bowel disease have higher rates of prostatitis-like symptoms and a potential risk of developing PCa. Conclusions: There is evidence that interventions on the GM and its metabolites have a high potential to serve as diagnostic and therapeutic tools for prostate diseases, including PCa
Sexual Dysfunction in Patients With Chronic Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases: A neglected Issue
No full textIntroduction: Normal sexual activity is an important determinant of quality of life. Unfortunately, several chronic health disorders are associated with an impaired sexual function. Objective: To provide coverage of the current literature on prevalence and pathophysiology of sexual dysfunction in patients with gastrointestinal and liver disorders. Methods: A Comprehensive review of the literature on the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in chronic gastrointestinal and liver disorders, assessing the underlying mechanism (s) was performed. Results: Many gastrointestinal disorders, either functional or organic, are associated with some degree of sexual dysfunction. The main pathogenic mechanisms are: (i) the disease itself causing fatigue, anxiety or depression with a potential alteration of self-esteem; (ii) worry of transmitting a potential infectious agent through sexual activity; (iii) alteration of the endocrine mechanisms which are necessary for normal sexual functioning; (iv) chronic pro- inflammatory conditions which may cause endothelial dysfunction and abnormal vascular responses; (v) iatrogenic. Conclusion: Based on this review, a thorough evaluation of sexual function through validated questionnaires and/or psychological interviews with patients with chronic gastrointestinal disorders should be part of the clinical assessment in order to timely diagnose and possibly treat sexual dysfunction in this clinical setting
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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