1,721,067 research outputs found
Bimekizumab: dual inhibition as a promising tool in the management of hidradenitis suppurativa
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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
Covid-19 pandemic: an unconventional social media. A way to solve unresolved health issues?
No full textOver the last decade, social media has come to influence human lives in an unprecedented manner and have played a leading role in the Covid-19 pandemic. On one hand, social media has increased the degree of clarity and democracy in sharing scientific data on Covid-19; on the other hand, it has mined democracy by increasing the credibility of personal opinions. Mass media and social media refer to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. It is our opinion that the Covid-19 pandemic itself should be considered a form of social media. Conventional media has taken advantage of this unexpected and not-developed media to expand its capacity of distribution. The name we propose for this new media is pandemic media; a strong media capable to reach the largest audience and promote unresolved health issues, like the importance of washing hands, the need to get vaccinated, the fight against presenteeism, and the usefulness of telemedicine. (www.actabiomedica.it)
Review: A safety profile of dalbavancin for onand off-label utilization
No full textIntroduction: Dalbavancin is a bactericidal lipoglycopeptide active against gram-positives. Its use has been approved for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). Methods: We conducted a narrative review of the literature on the safety profile of dalbavancin. The bibliographic research was carried out on the PubMed database on 6 November 2020 by seeking combinations of the following keywords: Dalbavancin, adverse effects, safety, drug interactions, and skin infections. Results: Five double-blind Phase 3 randomized clinical trials, 2 open-label randomized trials, and 4 retrospective studies were identified. No statistically significant differences were found between dalbavancin and comparators in the incidence of adverse events. Retrospective studies confirm the low incidence of adverse events. Conclusion: Dalbavancin is a therapeutic option that has demonstrated an excellent safety profile, also in relation to the other MRSA therapies available. Its use represents a costeffective solution for the treatment of those patients with ABSSSI who would need hospitalization. One limitation of this study is that most of the available data are from Phase III clinical trials. Further real-life studies with a larger sample size are therefore needed to better assess the safety profile of the dalbavancin, especially to investigate the true incidence of rare adverse events
Filmdemics: the History of Modern Pandemics Through the Lens of Cinema
No full textThe 21st century has been shaped by the COVID -19 pandemic, which impacted on social behaviour and artistic production. Cinema was not unaffected. The “pandemic movie” has become a genre of its own in the entertainment press. A review of the feld conducted in the context of a film club coupled with literature review could trace the history of pandemics since the beginnings of cinema. Spanish Flu, Asian Flu, Hong
Kong Flu, Ebola, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, bio-weapons the SARS and COVID-19 pandemics have all been described through the lens of cinema and science. Fiction predicted, described and infuenced contemporary and future healthcare experiences. Behind the scenes, a new hero is emerging in the panorama of cinematography, the epidemiologist as a trademark of the future pandemic movies. For all
these reasons, cinematic representations of disease are a valuable resource for those involved in the education of medical professionals
The Italian lazarets of the Adriatic Sea: from their institution to the fight against the economic and demographic collapse caused by epidemics
No full textSince antiquity, with the growth of the human population and the expansion of nuclei of people (aggregations), infectious diseases have been a constant presence which decisively changed the course of history. The word “lazaret”, meaning hospital for the hospitalization and treatment of plague victims and later, also leprosy, is Venetian. It was coined in the 14th century, and was exported to the world; it is still in use although it has slightly modified its meaning: “hospital in general, and shelter for infectious diseases”. Lazarets perhaps arose from the overlapping and crossing of the name Nazareth associated with Lazarus, protector of leprosy patients and from other contagious diseases in general. The island of “Lazzaretto Vecchio”, overlooking the Li-do di Venezia, was named Isola di Santa Maria di Nazareth before the 15th century. However, the first city to take an official step in this direction was the Republic of Ragusa (Croatia), a city-state and flourishing Maritime Republic which was a trading pivot between the Otto-man Empire and the West. In 1377, for the first time in history, the city established a thirty-day quarantine on the three uninhabited islands of Mrkan, Bobara and Supetar for people arriving from infected places. The Republic of San Marco (Venezia) devised one of the oldest and most far-sighted sanitary solutions to contain the spread of the plague: a lazaret, or sanitary model of isolation and treatment that spread, with the name radiating from Venice, around the world. Venetian lazarets were the site of the Republic’s innovative strategy to prevent and combat the plague, not only by isolating people for quarantine and goods from infected countries, but also by implementing complex procedures of ‘contumacy and purgation’ that required a constant investment of economic resources and slowed down traffic. Venice’s governors quickly realized that spending money to prevent and fight the plague in lazarets was the only way to counter the economic and demographic collapse caused by epidemics. In the wake of the Venetian and Ragusian lazarets, Trieste also established its first lazaretto in 1717. This was because ships laden with goods from the Near East began to arrive in the city, and this new situation necessitated the adoption of a regulation of contumacy and the construction of a lazaret. This study aims to bring light to the main lazarets over the centuries, particularly those in the Ferrara district and those located in the upper Adriatic Sea, such as Trieste and other neighbouring cities built to fights pandemics
Plasma oxidation status and antioxidant capacity in psoriatic children
Full text linkPsoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease, is associated with oxidative stress of serum lipoproteins. In psoriatic children we evaluated the activity and levels of myeloperoxidase, the activity of paraoxonase-1 (PON1) and biochemical markers of lipid peroxidation, to investigate wether an unbalance between oxidant-antioxidants occurs very early in psoriasis. A total of 52 patients affected by psoriasis and 48 sex-age-matched healthy controls were enrolled. Serum MPO levels were measured using ELISA method. MPO and PON1 activities (paraoxonase, arylesterase and lactonase) were evaluated by spectroscopic methods. Our results demonstrated a significant increase of MPO levels and activity in psoriatic subjects. PON1 activities were found to be significantly decreased. A positive correlation has been established between the MPO/PON1 ratio and levels of lipid peroxides in all psoriatic patients. These results suggest that an unbalance between MPO and PON1 can reflect in higher oxidative stress in serum lipoprotein
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