1,720,956 research outputs found
Short and long-term results of Air-filled intragastric ballon in obese patients
No full textThe intragastric balloon is a temporary endoscopic treatment of obesity. It enables modest short-term weight loss with little side effects, although mid/long-term follow-up may entail partial weight gai
Enterococcal meningitis associated with Strongyloides infection: a case report and literature review
Get PDFStrongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode endemic throughout tropical and subtropical areas, with a life cycle consisting of free-living and parasitic components. Unlike other soil-transmitted nematodes, it is capable of self-infection, which can cause chronic disease that lasts for decades, or cause overwhelming hyperinfection in people taking corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive drugs or who have impaired Th2 cell-mediated immunity, particularly those infected with human T-lymphotropic virus 1. During hyperinfection, a large numbers of larvae have access to the bloodstream, lungs, central nervous system, and other organs. Bacteremia and polymicrobial meningitis can occur due to disruption of the intestinal mucosa and the presence of bacteria on the surface of foreign larvae. Enterococcal meningitis for instance may occur concurrently with strongyloidiasis as a consequence of haematogenous dissemination. We present a clinical case of a 45-year-old, man from Bangladesh, in which co-infection occurred. The patient was not immunocompromized and had no apparent risk factors, which represents the unusual aspect of this case report. A literature review on enterococcal meningitis and Strongyloides coinfection in adult patients was performed encountering 21 cases. Cases have been reviewed and discussed. Clinicians may suspect S. stercoralis co-infection when identifying an enterococcal meningitis in adult patients coming from endemic areas
Short- and Long-Term Efficacy of Intragastric Air-Filled Balloon (Heliosphere® BAG) Among Obese Patients
No full textAbstract
Background Obesity is an increasing health problem worldwide.
The intragastric balloon as a temporary endoscopic
treatment of obesity can play an important role among the
aforementioned group of obese individuals. It can also be
used as a preoperative test before subjecting patients to
restrictive bariatric surgery. Furthermore, the intragastric
device may be applied to patients affected by severe obesity
as a “bridge treatment” before they undergo major surgery
in order to reduce chances of operation-related risks. To
date, there are insufficient data in the literature on the
long-term results of the intragastric balloon. Methods Our study includes an analysis of our experience
with Heliosphere® BAG from 2006 through to 2010,
concerning early weight loss and weight loss maintenance
over at least 18 months since the device’s removal. The 32
patients who completed the 6-month treatment had recorded
a mean weight loss of 12.66 kg and a mean overweight loss
of 24.37 % (SD, 12.74).
Results A total of 16 patients are subjected to an 18-month
follow-up. Their pretreatment and long-term body mass
index (BMI) were calculated: 6 months later, when devices
were removed, they showed a mean weight of 99.75 kg (SD,
17.90; p<0.001) and a mean weight loss of 13.62 kg and
26.14 % (SD, 12.79). 18 months after removing Heliosphere
® BAG, the 16 patients’ mean BMI was
37.28 kg/m2 (SD, 5.41; p=0.004), with a mean weight
of 103.56 kg (SD 17.25; p=0.0125), and a mean weight
loss of 9.8 kg or 18.2 % (SD, 12.07).
Conclusions Heliosphere® BAG enables modest short-term
weight loss with little side effects, although mid/long-term
follow-up may entail partial weight gain. We believe it can
be considered a useful bridge treatment in bariatric surgery
in order to reduce chances of preoperative risks
Intragastric Balloon Device: Weight Loss and Satisfaction Degree
Get PDFAn intragastric balloon is a non-surgical device enhancing a sensation of early satiety and reducing food intake. The aim of this study is to analyze the results in terms of weight loss and patient satisfaction undergoing intragastric balloon implantation
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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