1,720,967 research outputs found
Transmural density of interstitial cells of Cajal in the large bowel of children with inflammatory bowel disease
No full textLocal corticosteroid versus autologous blood injections in lateral epicondylitis: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Full text linkBACKGROUND:
Lateral epicondylitis is a common painful elbow disorder. Several approaches to treatment have been proposed, with a local injection of corticosteroids being the most frequently used. Recent insights into the pathophysiology encouraged the introduction of autologous blood injections as an alternative treatment method.
AIM:
The aim of this meta-analysis is to summarize quantitatively the evidence regarding the efficacy of corticosteroids and autologous blood injections for treatment of pain in lateral epicondylitis.
DESIGN:
Meta-analysis.
SETTING:
Outpatient treatment.
POPULATION:
Studies were considered eligible based on the following inclusion criteria: adult human, diagnosis of lateral epicondylitis, randomized controlled trials comparing corticosteroids versus autologous blood injections, pain assessment. Exclusion criteria were previous surgery for lateral epicondylitis or for other elbow disorders, concurrent treatment with drugs or physiotherapy, diagnosis of musculoskeletal systemic disorder.
METHODS:
A systematic search of literature was performed according to PRISMA statement. Effect size of each included study was calculated and analyzed in a random-effects model.
RESULTS:
Four studies, enrolling total of 218 patients (139 females and 79 males), were included in quantitative analysis. At 2 weeks there was a trend towards a reduction of VAS score in the corticosteroid group (WMD = 2.12 [95% CI: 4.38 to 0.14], P=0.07). No significant differences were recorded in the medium-term (4-12 weeks; WMD = 0.85 [95% CI: -0.44 to 2.15], P= 0.19) and long-term (24 weeks; WMD = 0.63 [95% CI: -2.40 to 3.66], P= 0.68) follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS:
Few high-quality trials compare the efficacy of corticosteroid and autologous blood injections in the control of pain related to lateral epicondylitis. Available data indicate that corticosteroids tend to reduce VAS score in short-term follow-up, although these data are not statistically significant. No differences were recorded in the medium and long term.
CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT:
Contrary to popular opinion among medical professionals, and despite pathophysiological cues, the currently available data offer no support for the effectiveness of autologous blood injections in medium- and long- term follow-up. Further studies are necessary to establish which treatment has more impact on pain in lateral epicondylitis. These data could be then used as a basis for practical guidelines and new protocols of treatment
Worksite Energy Cost Assessment in Non-surgical versus Surgical Medical Residency Programs
No full text
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
Soccer fields in synthetic and natural grass: a comparative study on muscolar injuries of the lower limb.
No full textResearch has shown that the surface of artificial turf soccer fields has caused more injuries than the natural
turf surface in amateur footballers. The objective of the research was the detection of muscular injuries of
the lower limb on a sample of one hundred senior athletes aged between 40 and 50 with an average age of
44.7 (sd +/- 4.26) for an average weight of 77.4 (range 68-89 kg.) and an average height of 178.3 cm
(range 168- 187 cm). Study was conducted for eight months, from September 2018 to April 2019, on
athletes divided into four teams, each composed of twenty-five members, who carried out four months of
training and competitions on each surface and the results showed a greater percentage of accidents on
artificial turf pitches compared to natural turf pitches. Yellow and red teams, which carried out training for
the first four (September – December) on fields in synthetic turf, have shown, in the following four months
(January - April), an improvement in performances in terms of continuous attendance during the official
races. The monitoring was carried out by detecting the number and type of muscular injuries, classified
according to the time of absence from sports activity, of the lower limb considering the conditions that
induced a player to leave the field, therefore to interrupt the activity, which had an impact on participation in
training and matches. The data collection relating to the number of muscular injuries of the lower limb,
showed that, in total, the athletes sample suffered 67 muscular injuries (of which 5 relapses). These events
mostly occurred during training (about 73%) compared to competitions (about 27%). There were 22 minor
injuries (contractures - around 33%), 33 moderate injuries (stretches - around 50%) and 12 serious injuries
(tears - around 17%)
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe 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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