1,720,981 research outputs found

    Osteonecrosis of the jaw during sorafenib therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

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    Introduction: Sorafenib is an oral multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitor and is currently the only evidence-based treatment recommended for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. We report a case of osteonecrosis of the jaw that occurred during sorafenib therapy in a patient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma not treated with bisphosphonates or other antiangiogenic drugs. Methods: A systematic search in PubMed yielded some cases of osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients treated with antiangiogenic agents, alone or in combination with bisphosphonates, for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The only case of osteonecrosis observed during sorafenib therapy not combined with other predisposing agents was described by Guillet et al. Results: A 74-year-old man diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma ensuing in hepatitis C virus infection, who was treated with sorafenib at a daily dose of 400 mg, developed osteonecrosis of the right mandibular body. The lesion was documented by a dental CT scan and surgical evaluation did not lead to an indication for curettage treatment. Sorafenib was discontinued because of the radiological and laboratory features of hepatocellular carcinoma progression and the high risk of jaw fracture. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first description of osteonecrosis of the jaw detected in a cirrhotic patient on sorafenib therapy not combined with bisphosphonates

    Posterior hippocampal stroke presenting with transient global amnesia

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    The acute onset of isolated amnesia is an intriguing challenge for neurologist, because the lack of associated signs can be misleading for diagnosis. The most common cause is transient global amnesia (TGA), a benign condition, but rarely it results from abuse of substance/alcohol or cerebrovascular diseases. In the latter, the brain region involved is the hippocampus. We describe a patient with presenting symptoms of TGA, but affected by an ischemic hippocampal stroke. The computed tomography angiography helped the etiologic diagnosis showing an hemodynamic stenosis of the posterior P2P segment. Interestingly, neuropsychological features were consistent with those found in patients suffering TGA

    Increased intracranial arterial tortuosity is associated with worse cardiovascular outcome in patients with Loeys-Dietz syndrome

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    The aim of our study was to evaluate the association between intracranial arterial tortuosity and cardiovascular outcome in patients with Loeys-Dietz syndrome (LDS). We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients with genetically confirmed LDS who underwent at least one brain MRA at our institution (n = 32); demographic and clinical features were evaluated in relation to the tortuosity of intracranial arteries as measured by tortuosity index (TI), which was calculated using the formula: [(centerline length) / (straight-line length)-1] x 100. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for intracranial TI and the binary end point of aortic surgery showed vertebrobasilar TI (VBTI) to be the best classifier among the examined arterial segments (AUC = 0.822). Patients with higher VBTI showed a greater incidence of aortic surgery (p < 0.001) and underwent more surgical and endovascular procedures (p = 0.006), with a higher rate of operations (p = 0.002). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a significantly longer surgery free survival in patients with lower arterial tortuosity (p < 0.001). At multivariate analysis, higher VBTI was associated with an increased risk of surgery (p < 0.001), which was independent of gene mutation and patient age. Increased VBTI is a marker of adverse cardiovascular outcome in patients with LDS, which can be easily measured on brain MRA, and may be useful in the management of this heterogeneous patient population

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The 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

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    “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

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    We 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
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