1,721,222 research outputs found
Hepatitis C virus-associated mixed cryoglobulinemia. Clinical manifestations, histopathological changes, mechanisms of cryoprecipitation and options of treatment
No full textChronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is frequently associated with a variety of autoimmune phenomenons. Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) appears in up to 50% of chronic HCV-infected patients. Cryoglobulins consist of immunoglobulin complexes precipitating in vitro when cooled below body temperature. In most cases IgM with rheumatoid factor activity is found in cryoprecipitates which could lead to vasculitis induced by the deposition of immnuocomplexes in small vessels. This vasculitis is thought to cause clinical symptoms called Meltzer's triad. This triad is represented by purpura, arthralgia and weakness. One third of patients suffering from HCV-associated mixed cryoglobulinemia are developing typical symptoms during their course of disease. The striking association between HCV infection and MC has conduced to the hypothesis that HCV is of major importance in the production of MC with followed vasculitis. Both hepatrophism and lymphotrophism, have been reported for the hepatitis C virus. Infection of B-cells by HCV could probably lead to a bcl-2 translocation and immunoglobulin gene rearrangement which results in clonal lymphoproliferation and in synthesis of monoclonal IgM with rheumatoid factor activity. These IgM form immunocomplexes with IgG in the cold, which are finally responsible for the described vasculitis. Histopathological changes of the liver are dominated by chronic HCV infection. The majority of times mild activity of hepatitis or mild fibrosis could be found. Nevertheless, cirrhosis is more often found in HCV-infected patients suffering from MC compared to patients without MC. Conventional treatment of MC is aimed to reduce circulating immune complexes by immunosupression and plasmapheresis. With the emerging concept of a viral pathogenesis the therapeutic approach has changed during the last decade. Interferon treatment of MC, particularly of HCV-associated MC is well established nowadays
Partial compression of the right atrium caused by a haematoma after coronary artery bypass angioplasty
No full textDie Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek München, hrsg. von Gerhard Schott. Bd 3 : Die lateinischen mittelalterlichen der Folioreihe. 2. Hälfte, beschrie ben von Natalia Daniel, Gerhard Schott, Peter Zahn
No full textMacken Raymond. Die Handschriften der Universitätsbibliothek München, hrsg. von Gerhard Schott. Bd 3 : Die lateinischen mittelalterlichen der Folioreihe. 2. Hälfte, beschrie ben von Natalia Daniel, Gerhard Schott, Peter Zahn. In: Scriptorium, Tome 35 n°2, 1981. pp. 341-342
Is laparoscopy an advantage in the diagnosis of cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C virus infection
No full textAIM: To evaluate the potential of laparoscopy in the diagnosis of cirrhosis and outcome of interferon treatment in HCV-infected patients. METHODS: In this retrospective study, diagnostic laparoscopy with laparoscopic liver biopsy was performed in 72 consecutive patients with chronic HCV infection. The presence or absence of cirrhosis was analyzed macroscopically by laparoscopy and microscopically by liver biopsy specimens. Clinical and laboratory data and outcome of interferon-alfa treatment were compared between cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients. RESULTS: Laparoscopically, cirrhosis was seen in 29.2% (21/72) and non-cirrhosis in 70.8% (51/72) of patients. Cirrhotic patients were significantly older with a significant longer duration of HCV infection than noncirrhotic patients. Laboratory parameters (AST, y-GT, y-globulin fraction) were measured significantly higher as well as significantly lower (prothrombin index, platelet count) in cirrhotic patients than in non-cirrhotic patients. Histologically, cirrhosis was confirmed in 11.1% (8/72) and non cirrhosis in 88.9% (64/72). Patients with macroscopically confirmed cirrhosis (n = 21) showed histologically cirrhosis in 38.1% (8/21) and histologically non-cirrhosis in 61.9% (13/21). In contrast, patients with macroscopically non-cirrhosis (n = 51) showed histologically non cirrhosis in all cases (51/51). Thirty-nine of 72 patients were treated with interferon-alfa, resulting in 35.9% (14/39) patients with sustained response and 64.1% (25/39) with non response. Non-responders showed significantly more macroscopically cirrhosis than sustained responders. In contrast, there were no significant histological differences between non-responders and sustained responders. CONCLUSION: Diagnostic laparoscopy is more accurate than liver biopsy in recognizing cirrhosis in patients with chronic HCV infection. Liver biopsy is the best way to assess inflammatory grade and fibrotic stage. The invasive marker for staging, prognosis and management, and treatment outcome of chronic HCV-infected patients need further research and clinical trials. Laparoscopy should be performed for recognition of cirrhosis if this parameter is found to be of prognostic and therapeutic relevance in patients with chronic HCV infection
Recurrent failed ICD therapy of ventricular tachycardia
No full textImplantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) are used as standard therapy to prevent sudden cardiac death in heart failure patients. Today, physicians in emergency and intensive care medicine are often confronted with problems of ICD therapy in these patients. We report a case of a patient suffering from recurrent ventricular tachycardia (VT) requiring antiarrhythmia treatment with amiodarone. With an increasing drug loading, the VT cycle length was progressively prolonged resulting in a slow VT undetectable for the ICD. Subsequently, the patient was scheduled for VT ablation after which the patient became free of arrhythmia recurrences
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
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